Ratel nods his head, as he looks at the tracks, "We will be leaving soon, we have found a place, granted a rather unorthodox place, but we have found one. You go tell everyone to get ready to have a meeting, we will follow the tracks and tell you about the place when we return."
"Do you want to tell me more about the unorthodox place? Because people would be asking questions?" Geran asks.
Looking from Geran to his companions, Ratel shakes his head, "No" Hearing Nigel explain he smiles, "But Nigel will."
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Nigel nods.
"Ve have made a deal vith a tribe of Troglodytes - 'Ze Children of Stone'; in exchange for cooking, ve can share zeir cave system. It is highly defensible, and comes vith ze added advantage of a tribe of Troglodytes providing an extra layer of defense if someone should come across us. Despite zeir race's evil reputation, zis is apparently a splinter faction; zey listened to ze call of ze Stone, rather zan worshipping demons. In fact, zey seemed pretty scared of surface people, until ve sat down and talked vith zem."
He then gives rough directions, and an explanation of the cave layout.
"Ok, I can do that. Even if I don't know what Troglodytes are." Geran answers affirmative. "Hopefully that scoundrel isn't so bold as to strike during the day, since we still have people out foraging." Geran then heads towards the cabin leaving Ratel to follow the tracks.
The tracks loop around Fangwood forest,and at some points are hard to find, as if the person being tracked took deliberate effort to hide their trail, but eventually as it gets dark, the party finds, close to the cabin, a roughly constructed shelter made out of twigs. The party does not spot anyone in the vicinity, though Bear gets a little twitchy, as if smelling something weird.
An arrow flies out of the bushes striking Ratel in his chest. He finds the wound bleeding profusely.
Everyone hears a noise from a bush to the side and looks there, but sees nothing.
Grasping the arrow in his chest, Ratel snaps it off, but it does no good to stop the bleeding. Dropping the arrow, he uses his innate ability to speak with his friend, "Find the shooter Bear." Bear chuffs, sticking his nose in the air, smelling, then moving toward the smell. Ratel quickly follows, keeping a keen eye out for any movement.
Bear moves forward and growls at another bush, not the one where the sound came from.
Hobgoblin here.
Ratel doesn't see what bear is talking about but..well.
Nigel gropes into the bush, and pulls a bow wielding hobgoblin out of it!
Now everyone can see the hobgoblin Nigel pulled out of the bush.
Ratel gestures towards the bush that bear indicated, seeing Nigel grab the shooter. "Good now we can kill it."
Gren is saddened that Fizzbang was killed and vows to get justice, ”You will be avenged, my brethren.” He aids Ratel in tracking.
In Goblin:
Grenwold's Morningstar hits only bush, but Ringo manages to stab her with his horns.
Longsword, +2 vs Goblins.
Yeah. Add 2 to the attack roll for 15. And reduce damage by one.
Robert moves then draws his bow and shoots at the hobgoblin, hitting her in her abdomen.
Hedran wades up to her, swinging his longsword two handed,but it bounces off her leather armor.
She wiggles out of Nigel's grasp, steps out of the bush and draws her dagger.
Pushing out of the bush, Ratel arcs around the shooter, Just as he tells Bear, ”Flank” getting around quick enough Ratel, swings his shield as Bear snaps at the hobgoblin.
Gren continues his attempted assault with Ringo.
Ratel slams his shield against her side and Bear puts a nasty bite on her right calf, wounding her badly.
Grenwold clonks her on her head with his morningstar and she goes down.
On her, the party finds an oil of darkness, potion of cat’s grace (1); mwk studded leather, +1 dagger, shortbow with 18 arrows, 96 sp and a chunk of aquamarine worth 200 gp. In her rough shelter, the party finds an ink pot, ink pen and parchment, a pickled gnome heart in a jar, and in a nearby hollow tree, they find Fizzbang's head, his eyes still wide open in fear.
Seeing the archer drop, Ratel touches where he broke the arrow off and asks, "This thing is still bleeding, can someone get the rest of it out?"
Helping recover Fizzbang's head and heart, Ratel shakes his head, "Taking trophies? how gruesome. What would drive someone to do that?"
Once the team is ready to go he asks, "Shall we go after the wagon the wolves told us about?"
Realizing how late it is, Ratel shrugs, "We should take the rest of Fizzbang and bury them at the cabin then we can rest and go after the wagon tomorrow."
Grenwold taps Ratel with a wand of CLW.
As they approach the forest around the log cabin, the party notices that the place now smells of pine and the tree leaves are no longer yellow and are filled with new leaves. There are no goats to be seen and Geran is sitting with a lit stone at the cabin door. His shortbow is drawn as he scans the surroundings edgily. "Oh. So it's you. Did you manage to find who's responsible for this?"
Ratel nods, "We have returned with Fizzbang's head and heart, show me where you buried him so I may place these with him as well. It would be a shame to send him to Pharasma without the ability to talk."
"Have you dealt with the one responsible for this?" Geran asks, intently. "Look, I'm the only one on watch these days and I'd rather not get shot in the back like Azriel."
"We haven't buried him yet. And didn't you have a priest among you lot? Aubrin said that there wasn't anything she could do...especially not with parts missing, but we were hoping that your priest could help?" Geran asks Ratel.
Pulling his cloak back, Ratel shows Geran the hole in his armor from the arrow, "We found her, after she found us. I will be the last she ever shoots, baring bows in hell." Gesturing toward Grenwold, letting the clergyman answer for himself, he asks "Where is his body, I would return his head and heart to him."
"OK, good. I'll have a lot less nervous watch."Geran says, relieved. "It's stressful, you know, when a moments of inattention is going to cost you your life."
"We put his body in the cabin in a sack, next to Father Noelan's. Aubrin didn't want to put him to the earth without his mouth, since drinking is an important part of religious ceremonies for Cayden Cailean."Geran answers.
You could say things had gone a tad downhill. There I was in Cayden's Mead Hall. Not such a bad prospect you might say, but this wasn't that fine happening place in Absalom; it was the mead hall Cayden's initiates go to when they're late. As in the Late Mr. der Flinke. Bugger.
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Hedran would have liked to capture the hobgoblin for information, but he really could not forget the horror image imprinted on the face of Fizzbang - 'Dead will have to do. Bastard...' - he pondered in anger, remembering the few words he had exchanged with the nervous gnome - "He deserved a chance..." - the half orc muttered to no one in particular.
Gren performs a short prayer to Shelyn for guidance and then thinks for a little while about what are appropriate for services to Cayden Cailean.
”I will do what I can, but I am almost a lay person at this. Please give me a few minutes to prepare.”
"No I think Shelyn would be appropriate since he loved singing in Jet's tavern." Geran answers. "Cayden Cailean was because other then you, Aubrin's about the only priest we had, and she's most familiar with Cayden's rites, being a priestess of Cayden Cailean herself."
Grenwold remembers that funeral rites of Cayden Cailean usually involved bragging on all the brave deeds that the person had done during life, where everyone drinks a toast, then pouring a toast into the deceased's mouth, asking Cayden to welcome him to the halls of valour, where he would be able to extol on his great deeds, and have parties ever lasting.
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Nigel nods in satisfaction when the hobgoblin goes down, but then moves up and tries to stabilise it.
He then ties it up, and slings it over his shoulder, noting grimly:
"People need to see zeir boogeymen dealt viz, to help zem move on. Zere should be a public hanging."
On the journey back, Nigel looks thoughtful, before quietly asking the others:
"How vould you feel about using ze Dominion Jewel to bring Father Noelan back? Ze refugees have just taken a big hit to zeir morale, and I am sure zat it would help if ve brought him back; he seemed to have been a linch-pin of ze community..."
Once back at the cabin, he nods to Geran.
"Ve have captured ze one responsible. I thought it best if zey met zeir end publically, so zat everyone could have some sort of definite closure, and truly know zat zere vas one less thing to fear. A public hanging, yes?"
"I wouldn't mind. The question is, are we too late to a Raise Dead?"
"Yes, that would be best. Else we'd all be in fear on whatever was picking us off in the dark. Maybe Azriel will even come back on watch. Even with Aubrin's help, not sleeping for days still just feels weird." Geran admits.
"Community vote. Should we raise Father Noelan?"
"You can? Oh yes sure, I heard that Father Noelan put an arrow into the eye of a charging Auroch from a 100ft away. I'm pretty sure he'd at least have the balls to stand watch." Geran obviously still sounds a little miffed with his watch buddy, Azriel for abandoning his post.
"Well he saved me before when bandits tried to kill me and take my goats, so seeing him dead after he tried to save us...isn't right."Sandra answers.
"Yes, please." Aubrin votes. "I'm tired of juggling 2 gentle repose spells, and lesser restoration to keep Geran up on watch. I feel overtaxed, overworked and I don't even have the time, with 3 wolves in tow, to get a drink. And I still have to check on everyone's waterskins, refill the water supply. Rhyna and Ibrahim are helping me check on the general health of the group, but still."
"Oh I passed the puppies to Vincent, and put Edran on goat watch. He's surprisingly handy with animals, and Vincent likes dogs anyway."Aubrin mentions.
"Wait, wait. Have any of you thought what Father Noelan wants?" Lorethiel butts in. "Maybe he's happy wherever he is now?"
"Would Father Noelan be happy, if he knew that his community still needed him?"
Nigel nods thoughtfully.
"It vould seem zat ze general consensus is to try and bring him back. From all zat I have heard about him, he vas a devoted man, vho delighted in serving his community to ze best of his ability. He died defending it, and I am sure zat he would jump at ze chance to help it once again."
"So, we're in agreement, then?" Robert asks as the Dominion Gem is handed to Aubrin.
"I don't know what this is..." Aubrin looks at the jewel dubiously. "If you know how to use it, you should."She does bring the party to the bundle containing Father Noelan's body, and unwrap the bundle.
Father Noelan's body has been washed and his wounds sewn up. He looks suprising peaceful, as if asleep, except for the deathly grey palour.
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Nigel nods, and carefully takes the Jewel.
Clasping it firmly in his hands, he rests it on Father Noelan's chest, directly over his heart.
He then focuses inward, feeling the power in the gem, breathing slowly and deeply, and directs that power down, into Father Noelan.
"Fazer Noelan, your flock still needs you. Please, come back to us."
Realizing they are considering using the stone, Ratel asks, "Are we going to need the stone, for any other purpose? Some form of proof, when we rescue the queen? Even if it's magic is still used, it will serve as a verification that we were sent by the elemental, right?"
Strangely enough, when the power of the jewel is focused into Father Noelan, for the party, the world fades away, as they find themselves somewhere else.
Taking a moment to take stock of their wider surroundings, the party finds themselves standing on a wide paved stone path next to a calm river, its surface shimmering like diamonds in the sun. Following the wide stone path leads to a wide stone bridge leading across the river, with a signpost, that reads, ”Welcome to Sanctuary.”
Moreover, it appears to be a pleasant spring day - the sun is shining, clouds lazily drift across the sky, and the grassland that surrounds the in is full of flowers, between which bees flit on a regular basis. A herd of cows, spread out throghout the grassland can be seen grazing, and Orik the milkman, now having a halo and feathery wings, is watching over his herd, while flying around. ”Hey Hedran, how'd you get here? Did those hobgoblins get you too?” He asks Hedran sympathetically.
Further down the river is a claypit being manned humans with golden halos and feathery wings, linked to another stone building that looks like a brickworks, but the party is not close enough to identify who those are.
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Nigel frowns as he looks around, but quickly recovers.
He then bows politely to Orik.
"Greetings. Ve are looking for Father Noelan? Ve are not dead - in fact, ve are very much alive, fighting back against ze Hobgoblins. At present, ve are leading a group of about 40 refugees, hiding in ze vilderness north of Phaendar. However, zeir morale is starting to suffer. Ve have a magical gem vhich ve can use to bring someone back to life, and had hoped to use it to bring Father Noelan back; it vould be a significant boost to zeir morale, and his skills are sorely needed. Do you know vhere he is?"