Grenwold pants, clearly badly injured again, and shakes his head. He retrieves another potion from his pack and downs it while flying with Fenton to the narrow ravine to the east.
Nigel badly wounds the green sharpshooter with his bomb, who starts shooting Nigel, but shoots too high as he is trying to hit Nigel instead of Cavall.
You can go above the archer when you come out from the ravine, but you don't have the LOS to charge from where you are.
The troops volley fire Cavall and Nigel.
Nigel gets partially out of the way but Cavall gets the full brunt of the arrows.
Father Noelan fires at the remaining archer, while getting Cavall to attack him.
Father Noelan manages to put two arrows into the injured archer and Cavall bites out his throat.
+1 Adaptive Comp. Longbow on the troop.
Robert manages to kill some hobgoblins in the troop.
Grenwold and Fenton fly up and over to engage the last group of hobgoblins.
Grenwold manages to kill some hobgoblins with his cestus, while Fenton runs through a couple with his horns.
The troops fire at Grenwold, Fenton and Father Noelan, and fire another volley at Cavall and Robert.
Grenwold, Father Noelan and Fenton get slightly nicked by the arrow volley.
Robert gets slightly nicked by the arrow volley, but Cavall manages to get out of the way. The troops then move in on Cavall, stabbing at him with their longswords.
Father Noelan shoots at the troop of hobgoblins with his longbow, finishing it off, then goes to Cavall's aid.
On each of the sharpshooters, the party finds an elixir of hiding, 2 potions of cure moderate wounds, a +1 composite longbow (+2 str), a masterwork scimitar, a +1 breastplate, a mess kit, a masterwork backpack and 85 gp.
Grenwold also finds a Mimameith tree growing near the encampment.
On the wolf the party finds a large masterwork chain shirt barding, and a military saddle.
On the wolf riding hobgoblin, the party finds a masterwork breastplate with armor spikes, a masterwork heavy steel shield, a +1 flaming light flail, a cloak of resistance, a set of keys and a silver and enamel ironfang bravery medal.
On the troop of hobgoblins the party finds 20 longbows.
On 2 of the harpies the party finds a morningstar and leather armor each.
On the other 3 harpies the party findson each a +1 stidded leather armor, 5 javelins, a cloak of elvenkind, a ring of protection +1 and a bag of uncut gems worth 300 gp.
"That was very bad. I don't think your attempts at dealing with the harpies went unnoticed. Not too long after you went in, one of the hobgoblins went around riding his wolf rallying his troops saying there was an intruder in their midst." Father Noelan comments.
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With a shrug, Nigel downs the Potion of Invisibility, then spits it back out again.
He then starts downing Deathwines.
Nigel grins, and comments to Father Noelan:
"It is true, it could have gone better... but it could also have gone a lot vorse; after all, ve are all still breazing..."
He then casts Disguise Self to appear more 'normal', and moves to check on the prisoners up the hill.
"Hello... so, vho are you? I'm Nigel."
Nigel finds 6 miserable human prisoners and a miserable hobgoblin sitting in their respective cages.
"There was this gnome on a flying deer that killed the harpies. Could you get us out of here, please?" The human prisoners beg Nigel.
The hobgoblin on the other hand, stares at Nigel sullenly.
In the tent Nigel finds a cowed gnome chained to the table, and a locked chest as well as several valuable comuniques from other Ironfang outposts throughout the Hollow Hills, discussing the preparations for an all-out-assault on the walled city of Longshadow to commence in 12 days. These intelligence reports detail progress oat a warbeast training camp , securing a nesting location for new wyvern scouts, the siege engineers efforts to transport their warmachines to the rendezvous site, and recent developments at the munitions camp established in the conquered town of Ecru and Grenwold's rock crystal morningstar.
"Uh...do you mind if you get me out of here?" The gnome begs Nigel.
However in the chaos of battle, the tracks for the hobgoblin troop the party was following have become too badly damaged to be tracked any further.
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Nigel smiles at the Gnome.
"Of course! I'm Nigel; vho are you? Ve are heading to Longshadow; vould you like to come viz us?"
He then tries the keys to see if any of them work on the Gnome's shackles (as well as the chest, after checking it for traps).
Upon discovering the communiques, Nigel frowns.
"Zis is vorrying. Ve need to head to Longshadow vizout delay! Once ve have ze locals preparing for var, ve can zen try to hit zose ozer locations..."
Heading up to the hill, he nods to the humans.
"Of course! Ve are heading to Longshadow; do you vant to come viz us?"
He then eyes the Hobgoblin thoughtfully.
"Any of you know vhy he is locked up? He doesn't look very talkative..."
Father Noelan heals the party the best he can.
"I'm Nibbitz. I don't want to go to Longshadow. I want to get out of the region and far away from hobgoblins as possible!" Nibbitz squeaks, as Nigel frees her using the keys taken from the wolf riding hobgoblin.
"Oh we'd follow you anywhere. Anything's better then being eaten by harpies," The six humans agree. "I'm Abel, he's Ben, she's Claire, he's Danny, he's Edward, and she's Fabia." The first male human introduces the rest.
Ben sniffs disdainfully. "Him? He brought us here as food for the harpies, but he riled them off and so another hobgoblin brought him here and said that he could join us, hoping to appease the harpies.Serves him right, I'd say."
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Nigel smiles sadly at Nibbitz.
"Pleased to meet you, Nibbitz. I'm afraid zat travelling zrough zis area by yourself vould be tantamount to a death sentence - zere are just to many Hobgoblins... Vhy don't you come viz us, and help us convince the ruling elite in Longshadow of ze danger zat ze Hobgoblins pose? Zat vay, you vill be (relatively) safe, behind some nice, zick valls..."
Nigel smiles warmly at the Humans.
"Pleased to meet you all! Are you hungry? Ve have supplies to spare..."
He then looks calculatingly at the Hobgoblin.
"But I'm small, so I should be able to slip around unnoticed. Besides, what makes you think the humans would listen to a gnome like me? They think we're fickle and only think about having fun!" Nibbitz answers. "What they don't know is that a gnome that loses their sense of fun and joy will bleach and eventually die or go insane."
"Oh yes we're hungry and any food would be appreciated."The humans answer.
"I speak your tongue, werebeast," The hobgoblin looks down his nose at Nigel. "I would rather die of exposure then be taken prisoner to a human city."He declares.
And where's all that the only good hobgoblin is a dead one? You don't even have to rescue him per se.
Grenwold takes a breath, and calms himself down, patting Fenton, and calming down Fenton's focus from fire (to earth). He responds to Father Noelan. "Yes, they were stronger than normal harpies - they seemed to have the ability to study me like prey. If we ever do anything similar, we should attack simultaneously. That said, the main thrust did work - I managed to stop their song, which was the point of the endeavor, right? You were phenomenal by the way, Father. You all were, hats off to you all." He approaches and pats Father Noelan on the back. "Let's strip these troops of their things and see to the captives."
Grenwold returns to the prisoners and assists in freeing them by flying up and unlocking the cages, and has Fenton ferry each of them down. He greets them all briefly, and then asks for them to gather at the main tent to regroup. He ignores the caged hobgoblin for a moment. On the way, he explains "I hope you are all safe, I couldn't hear - sound dampening magic to block the song of the harpies. The fight was a big close, eh?" Well, just glad to be alive still..."
When he returns and finds the gnome, he appears suprised. "Oh, hello, my name is Grenwold Houtvester. Are you from around here?" He approaches and shakes the gnome's hand... gnomishly. He notices that his morningstar was found, and runs over to pick it up before continuing his gnomeversation. He sheathes it, and attaches it to the weapon cord on his belt, patting it. "Sorry, what were we talking about?"
When Nibbitz says he wants to chance the woods, Grenwold obviously blanches, "There are some creatures roaming the woods now that can sense vibrations in the ground, stealth is useless against them. Please, please come with us. We need all the help we can get, and with much of the Fangwood even more dangerous, there are few places to run to that are safer than Longshadow."
Grenwold will note that when everyone leaves, the civilians should be outfitted with some of the spare armor and weapons.
Grenwold also points out the Mimameith tree, and asks for a bit of time to harvest the bark.
"I don't think we should split the party next time. Unless it's just for scouting and you're sure you won't be discovered. " Father Noelan says, "Had we not heard the hobgoblin rallying his troops, we wouldnt even know that you were in trouble."
"Yeah we were yelling at you to get us out so that we wouldn't become Harpy dinner,"Edward answers.
Nigel manages to open the chest and finds 15,000 gp and an additional 4,500 gp in gems and jewelry. The chest also contains a reserve of potions, including five potions of cure moderate wounds, a potion of fly, and a potion of tongues.
"Oh! You're a gnome too!" Nibbitz squeals at Grenwold. "Dargg brought me here out here to check metal quality of the weapons. We were originally in a caravan coming from Lastwall when we were captured by hobgoblins and split up. I don't know what happened to the rest of the caravan, but I cooperated with the hobgoblins so I wasn't badly treated. "
" I don't think Longshadow is going to be safe for very long, sure, it has thick walls, but Kosseruk has an army of monsters at her command!" Nibbitz replies. " I think the safest thing to do is to get as far away from here as possible! Qadira sounds like a good idea!" She adds frantically.
"Fine. I'll walk. Being carried is undignified."The hobgoblin answers sullenly.
”As soon as I harvest the tree. In the meantime, who among you has experience with fighting? If we get attacked, it’s important that everyone be able to contribute.” Grenwold directs everyone to choose armor and weapons from the stash that are appropriate to their proficiencies.
The hobgoblin glowers at Nigel as he puts on the manacles, giving an angry complaint. "Look, if you chain me up like this, how do you expect me to keep up with you on the uneven jungle floor?"
"I don't know how to use a weapon," Fabia says shamefaced. "Neither do I, I worked in the mines in Ecru," Danny answers.
"And I was a grocery shop owner in Ecru. Why would I even touch a weapon?" Edward replies.
"I repaired clothing in Ecru," Ben adds.
"And I was the street cleaner," Abel says. "I know how to use a broomstick and a mop but nothing else."
"I don't believe violence is the answer to problems."Nibbitz replies. "That's why I'd rather just try to slip off alone. At least there's be less chance of being spotted."
"Ecru is West of Longshadow about a day travel away," Danny replies. "We were a happy sulfur mining community of about 100 of us or so."
The hobgoblin rolls his eyes at Nigel. "Even shackled I can't keep up with you on hills. Well you'll get the point once I start to fall behind."
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Nigel frowns.
"Zat is vhy I said you vouldn't be shackled, just manacled; zat vay, you can still valk around just fine, but vill have trouble doing anyzing hostile, or looking after yourself if you run avay. Are you listening to vhat I am saying...? I am not sure vhat ze confusion is, here..."
"Ah, a sulphur-mining town. Zat vould explain vhy ze Legion have turned it into a munitions dump."
”Nor do I, but believe me when I say that there are monsters here that don’t care about our beliefs. Didn’t you listen when I mentioned the creatures that burrow and can sense vibrations? If you walk through their territory, there’s a very good chance they will attack you. Some of them we can talk to, and others we can protect you from. It may not be perfectly safe but it’s safer than going alone.”
"The issue is that Longshadow won't listen to a little gnome like me and won't stand the Legion's invasion. And we'll all be captured by hobgoblins. I've got enough of hobgoblins and want to go far away from them as possible. If you were going anywhere but Longshadow, or other Legion controlled territory, I would follow you, but I'm not going to Longshadow." Nibbitz squeaks at Grenwold.
"There's Misthome, as well. And near the old Chernasardo forts there are some remaining forces, if you can find them. I can mark them on a makeshift map... but please come with us. We can keep you safe. We will protect Longshadow, on our lives. We know what's coming, and we're formulating a good plan to keep it safe."
"Hmm...Misthome...well anything that takes me away from the Hobgoblins is a good thing. But where is Misthome?" Nibbitz asks Grenwold. "You won't succeed unless you can warn the humans that the Ironfang Legion is coming. And even so, it may not be enough. There's a whole legion of them. I heard all that while being made to work for Dargg. And as I said I could yell in the middle of the town square the Ironfang Legion is coming and they'd regard me as crying wolf. "Nibbitz replies.
"They have persuaded the morlocks to leave their homes under the earth to join their army, trained voracious wild beasts to their beck and call," Nibittz explains with her eyes wide, "Trained for war every day...what can a complacent town full of soft civilians that has spent the last decade mired in commercialism do against a disciplined army?" Nibbitz says hopelessly.
"It's like trying to stand in the way of a flood. The best thing to do is just run away from it or you get washed away." Nibbitz counsels Grenwold. "Resisting them is futile."
"Words are cheap and easy to say," Nibbitz shakes her head. "You say you are formulating a plan, but what can a few people do against an army?"
"You're asking me to possibly sacrifice my freedom just to tell some humans who won't believe me? It won't make any difference, so why bother?" Nibbitz asks Nigel.
"Yes but it's delaying me from getting out of the way of the Legion. Will you promise me an escort out of Longshadow immediately once I've tried to convince the humans that they are a threat?" Nibbitz asks Nigel.
"And who's to say that the Legion will only be satisfied with just Nimrathas? Throughout history, how many conquerors have said, 'This is enough, let's stop here?'"
"I'm a small gnome. I'm not a hero."Nibbitz shrugs. "When I was younger I believed I could change the world and got ridiculed for it. I've learnt my lesson that life is like a river, and you need to learn to go with the flow and not against it."
"I know the Ironfang Legion is coming and nothing is going to stop them. You are welcome to try to stem the tides if you wish, but I've survived this long by being compliant and unnoticed."Nibbitz answers. "Don't mind me on being into self preservation since if all things go to hell, at least I can save myself."
"I will come with you to Longshadow and try to convince the humans that the Ironfang Legion are coming. Even if I think it is a waste of time on my part."Nibbitz replies. "In exchange, I want a teleport to Katheer in Qadira. Deal?"
Grenwold nods, and grabs a few more healing potions from the communal sack.
Abel, Ben, Claire, Danny and Fabia take the rations gratefully, thanking Nigel, while the hobgoblin takes the rations and eats them without saying a word.
After half a day of travel, the party comes across two overturned wagons lay on a rough dirt track, still hitched to a pair of disemboweled horses. A dozen humanoid corpses cover the ground around the wrecked carts, some bloated under the sun. Four majestic beasts that have the body of a lion, the head and forelegs of a great eagle, and a massive pair of feathered wings are feeding on the horse bodies. They mantle and screech at the party as they approach.
Grenwold recognizes the creatures as advanced griffons. They can pounce and understand common though they do not speak it.
In actuality, while intelligent, griffons are far less concerned with such vague abstractions as honor, and are more akin to the base animalsthey resemble in terms of motivations. Their love of horsemeat and their territorial natures often put the creatures at odds with civilized races, though for the most part griffons keep to themselves. Those who do find themselves in contact with humanoids may decide to join ones whose goals coincide with their own, casting themselves as mounts for particularly compatible riders or as protectors of treasure for those who bribe them with gifts. New riders are often surprised at how reluctantly their mounts respond to both spoken and unspoken commands, and it quickly becomes apparent to the uninformed that griffons are no mere beasts, but rather highly protective predators with intricate systems for interacting with others.
While unable to speak, griffons that grow up in the vicinity of humanoids quickly learn the local tongue, understanding even complex arguments and discussions, though the creatures themselves can only communicate via gestures, grunts, and cries. Griffons’ intelligence becomes even more apparent in the heat of battle as they execute complex maneuvers and basic tactics in order to gain the advantage against their enemies. Similarly, griffons possess a keen awareness of the more discreet plots taking place around them, and remain a figure representative of both silent strength and powerful insight.
Grenwold rears up Fenton, "we have a pretty good amount, if you'd just let us grab the miscellaneous items that fell. You wouldn't want to eat that stuff anyway, and we can strip them for you."
He waits for a response from the griffons.
The griffons eye Nigel speculatively then nod in his direction and wait for the offering of food. They shake their heads when vegetable matter is offered, only accepting meat products. It takes 40 provision points being poured out on the ground before the griffons give a caw and allow the party to search the wagon.
The party finds +1 studded leather armor, two masterwork light steel shields, two masterwork scimitars, two longbows, and 48 arrows among the wreckage—the scimitars and longbows clearly of hobgoblin design, as well as a crushed hobgoblin wearing a masterwork chainmail, a bulging coin purse holding 576 gp, and a +1 elemental bane longsword.