Riggs can clearly see the fang imprints on the halfling's calf and he surmises the poison is in the halfling's bloodstream and that he is fatigued as a result. The poison is not deadly, it's more of a paralytic.
Walthus laughs at Alara's comment, "Yeah, if I'd wanted the company of neighbors, I wouldn't have picked this cabin in this god-forsaken swamp to make my abode, right?"
"This is rather out of the way. No doubt about that."
"Well, you were poisoned all right. But I don't think it's deadly. Do you feel stiff in your joints? It's the type that gives you a bit of paralysis, so you might struggle for a couple days, but you should be fine."
The halfling looks at Riggs with a dumbfounded look, "That's it? I thought you were going to heal me?! It's why I let you in!"
"No need to be aggressive, my friend. We never promised you healing, we offered aid. Do not be ungrateful for my friend's diagnosis."
"It would take a much stronger healer than myself to be able to remove paralysis, but as I said, it's not going to be terribly bad. You'll have some stiffnes sin your bones for a bit, and then you'll be fine soon after."
The little halfling smiles, "Thanks for the advice...now for lying to me, you will die!" The party is caught completely unaware as the halfling standing before you disappears and suddenly you now see what you assume is the the creature's true form: a wrinkled, hunch-backed humanoid creature with mottled brown-and-red flesh and a spherical head with no true face—only a crooked slit from which a rasp-like tongue periodically lashes and licks! It tries to punch the warpriest, but it underestimated Riggs' armor and the blow glances off harmlessly. The creature screams in frustration.
"Well, he didn't really lie to you--OH HEAVENS!" Alara cries out in surprise as the halfling suddenly transforms.
Without waiting for anything else, she leaps into position...
...and twirls her nunchaku to bring it down on its head!
"What the...." Kamashiro is floored when the little halfling attacks. "You evil bastard!" He moves toward the creature, drawing his crescent sword.
Riggs pulls his starknife and swings it at the creature.
Attack
Damage
The combination of blows between Kamashiro's crescent sword and Riggs' star knife ends the creature's life and it gurgles lifelessly to the floor, bleeding out.
"...okay, what on earth was that?!"
"I really have no idea...." Kamashiro runs outside and throws up. As he wipes his mouth, he sheepishly apologizes.."Sorry...never seen so much blood. The dummies I practiced on did not bleed and the thing in the swamp was a leech. This was a living thing.."
"I didn't even realize it wasn't a halfling when I inspected it. I've never seen such a strong illusion before. There's no telling what evil magic is around this place. We might look around and see if there are any usable items, while we are here though!"
"Hmmm, that didn't last long. Maybe we should search the rest of this house."
"Just to be sure there aren't any more surprises."
With that, Gôlgast will set about checking the house as best he can
The party suddenly hears from behind one of the bookcases down the hall a voice call out weakly, "Who is out there?"
Gôlgast stays where he is and calls out down the hall:
"Hullo! We were just passing by. Some thing tried to kill us just now."
Then, after a pause, Gôlgast snaps his fingers.
"Sorry! Manners. My name is Gôlgast. My friends here are Kamishiro, Riggs, and Alara."
A small halfling tumbles out of a secret passage from behind the bookcase, "Thank the gods!" You can see he looks just like the halfling the other creature was impersonating. The "real" Walthus is wounded as evidenced by the numerous bandages covering his torso and arm and falls to his knees, crying out of relief. After a minute, he composes himself and stands. "I am sorry....I thought I was done for...when that thing there attacked me in my home. Thank you all so much for saving my life. As a small token of my gratitude, I beseech you my magical cloak. It's the least I can do." "Excuse my manners, Walthus Proudstump at your service, local ranger to these parts. Not that I mind, but what you brings you to the marsh?" Walthus asks you to dispose of the corpse on the floor, if you do not mind, and then he sits carefully on a chair without opening his wounds and listens to your story.
Riggs repeats the story he told the imposter only a few moments earlier. "Well, this'll sound strange, I admit, but we are heading into the swamp over there, looking for a particular cave that one of us had a dream about. I told you it would sound strange. We saw your place, and figured we'd be neighborly and introduce ourself if nothing else. Since you are a ranger, perhaps there's some knowledge of the area you could lend..."
Alara waves hello at Walthus.
"It was no big deal, sir."
Walthus smiles through his pain at Alara, "Well, it was a big deal to me. As gratitude, you also stay the night in my home — I’ll even cook you all a decent meal and if you wish, you may use my home as a safe place, sort of base of operation, while you explore the swamp." To Riggs' question, the halfling pauses, "A dream about a cave? Now, why would that be stranger than any of the other things I've seen...Let me think. A cave in the Marsh?? Hmm, the only thing I can think of that may help you is that there are caverns rumored to exist near the goblin village." Walthus sees your surprised looks and continues, "Yes, there's an irritating tribe, the Licktoad goblins they call themselves. I've had some run-ins with them myself. They have been acting a bit braver than normal of late. I don't know what they're up to but I can confirm that the Old Fish Trail will lead you right to their village. Maybe you can find the cave that you dreamt of there." Walthus sees your puzzled looks and walks you outside and shows you the trail.
Alara bows to Walthus. "Your hospitality would be greatly appreciated, Walthus-san."
While everyone else is exchanging pleasantries with the real Walthus,
Gôlgast will set about disposing of the dead impersonator
"We might as well spend the night here."
"This will probably be the most comfortable part of our journey."
"Maybe Walthus can give us a nudge in the right direction to that cave."
"I'm sure he knows this area better than any of us could."
Kamashiro thanks the wounded halfling for directions, "Get some rest..we will do some exploring and be back by dark. Thank you for the hospitality."
The party follows the trail pointed out by the halfling, taking advantage of the sunlight still available. After about an hour of traveling, the appearance of carcasses (small gators, humans, etc.) half-buried in the marsh start to become a common occurrence and you feel like you have entered something's hunting grounds. You try to cross through the area quickly, your senses on alert for the slightest danger. However, as you approach the next bridge, a figure raises its head from the marsh in front of you (about 30' away), where it is feeding on a corpse, now aware of your intrusion. It is a hairless humanoid that lurches on back-bent, dog-like legs, its hideous mouth flanked by tiny arms with three-fingered hands, with a ranseur in its grasp!
Gôlgast calls out to the monster…
« Hei! Ruma! Maista yksi näistä! »
… and fires a sling bullet at the Sinspawn
The sling bullet hits the creature, cutting it! It screams in pain and rushes at the half-orc, its dog-like legs navigating the marsh with ease, ranseur in hand, but Golgast expertly deflects the blow away before it can harm him.
Riggs pulls out his starknife and moves to close distance with the creature.
Kamashiro takes a 5' step toward the creature and full-attacks with a flurry of blows with his seven-branched sword.
Alara is about to close the distance and attack the beast, but after Kamashiro steps in...
...she finds herself ducking and covering out of the way of incoming gore.
The Sinspawn was confident that its moniker as the Soggy River Monster would supply it with many victims in its lifetime from curious hunters and novice adventurers such as the ones before him....those were the thoughts of the creature before the monk stepped in the cut him literally in two spraying blood and gore all over the place. Thus ended its short-lived legend.
"...oh my heavens!" Alara peeks out from behind a nearby tree once the blood stops spraying about. It's difficult to determine if she's spooked about the monster or the brutal fashion in which it was dispatched.
"Uh...sorry about that. It seemed dangerous so I attacked and caught it at the right angle and when I do that, on rare occasions, the blade slices through things and flesh like butter. Apologies. Shall we proceed?"
"That sword. It's really impressive. And sharp, it seems," Riggs smirks as he watches the way it totally cleaved through the strange enemy.
You continue the conversation as you continue your trek toward the goblin village. About 2 hours later, you reach a filthy village-fort surrounded by a crude wooden palisade. It sits atop a low hummock of solid ground here. A wooden gate in the north wall of the palisade lies in shambles on the ground. Nearby, a large, algae-filled pool on the northeastern side breaks the palisade and allows a clearer view into the village’s interior,
which consists of a collection of ramshackle huts connected by wooden walkways, all built on thick wooden stilts.
"Hmm." Alara holds a hand up. "Want me to check it out first?"
"Be careful. It'll take me forever to climb that palisade in all this armor," Riggs warns. "If you find an easier way in, let me know."
Alara nods and prepares to scale the wall...
...and she climbs it with ease. Once she's on the other side, she fetches her length of silk rope out of her satchel and throws one end over the palisade.
"Something bad happened here", says the monk as he studies the wreckage of the door. The monk with ease climbs the gate and pulls anybody up who is having trouble climbing. "If you wish, Alara, we will wait for your scouting. Master Leng said to always allow those who excel in certain areas the chance to do so."
"Kamashiro-san, would you kindly hold the rope so the others can get over?" Alara asks before setting off into the village's interior to scout...
Riggs cast Guidance on himself before grabbing the rope and trying to scale the way over.
Climb with guidance and armor check penalty
"Well done, Kamashiro!"
"Looks like they had visitors before we could get here."
"And not very friendly ones at that."
You all scale the broken doors of the east gate. 20' directly in front of you is a pit area, where you see the cremated bodies of goblins. You can't tell exactly but you guess more than 10. The village is eerily quiet and appears to be deserted. There are doors to to buildings to the east and south.