Surprise Round
Niveus fires his crossbow at the thing. Reloading it afterwards.
"Keeping your mouth shut? So I suppose it's fine to let some creature take over your home and replace you. Ever wonder what happened to the real one, that is if he is still alive."
He had nothing against shapechangers, he was one. But he did have something against things that killed or stole from people, be it their things or their lives.
Round 1
Niveus fires again.
Surprise Round:
Already jumping to their feet given the increasing strangeness of the situation, Aleon moves about to flank and Niveus attacks just as the creature is revealing its true form, but Niveus' shot a bit wide, leaving a bolt in the wall The beast then moves forward to strike at Saif as he still begins to stand...
... but fails to connect.
Round 1:
Aleon's an axe once again knocks over a potted plant that was most likely first upended when this creature first attacked the real Walthus.
Taking more careful aim, Niveus lands a rather solid hit, leaving the creature with a bolt in the shoulder in addition to a rather nasty pair of punctures on its leg, suffered before you arrived but still looking rather fresh.
Kairi casts a spell to bolster everyone, and Saif twirls with blade in hand, nearly penetrating the creature's tough hide with a glancing blow.
The beast then steps around, reaching towards Niveus...
... sinking claws deep into his shoulder, at which point three strange darting tongues emerge from its slit of a mouth to drain blood from the wound. (1 Con Damage)
Starting to freak out and nearly passing out from the whole thing his mind goes back to what the creature said before about snakes. Damning what came after he opens his mouth wide and feels a strange popping in his skull as a pair of fangs spring from his other teeth. Paying back the creature for grabbing him and biting it in turn as he tries to slip free of it.
aleon takes a step forward. Then attacks.
Oh, my bad Niveus. I guess this one really was a fake. In that case good job. We will look for the real one later, after we deal with this one.
"Stop hurting my friend."
Kairi moves toward the creature and swipes with her dagger.
Starting to freak out and nearly passing out from the whole thing his mind goes back to what the creature said before about snakes. Damning what came after he opens his mouth wide and feels a strange popping in his skull as a pair of fangs spring from his other teeth. Paying back the creature for grabbing him and biting it in turn as he tries to slip free of it.
[dice=Escape]1d20+2
[dice=Serpent's Fang]1d20; 1d4
Round 2:
You all crowd around the shapechanging brute, leaving it rather boxed in by the stairs, but its frantic movements make it difficult to land a blow. Niveus manages to wriggle free of its grasp however, and as his magical ancestry manifests itself in the form of a venomous pair of fangs in hopes of biting back, the creature begins to shriek with panic.
"A snake! A snake that walks like a man!" it screams, abandoning its attack and scrambling up the stairs in hopes of escaping.
AOOs for... all 4 of you actually. And if those don't drop it, it's slow enough that everyone should be able to reach it and get another hit in this round.
sweet, attack of opportuntity.
If I exercised more I'd be able to use this axe better.
Kairi pulls her right arm back and with the muster of all the strength she has, she thrusts the dagger forward in an attempt to pierce through the creature's tough hide.
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Patience Saif! Cry distant Manar, scolding her brother's clumsiness. The dervish adjusts himself once more and spins into another strike, that strikes the creature hard with the blunt of his blade.
Saif, satisfied with his strike, uncomplicates his motions and lays into the thing once more.
As you mob the fleeing creature, a few well placed strikes send it spinning to the ground in a heap, still barely alive, but quite unconscious. As the sounds of battle die down, you can hear a rather quiet and frightened "Hello? Is someone there?" from upstairs, followed shortly by what it is likely safe to assume is the actual Warden Walthus Proudstump, leaving the safety of some room above to check in on things.
Niveus spits the strange taste out of his mouth. His fangs noticeably absent. Quickly composing himself.
"Yeah what can I say I bite when some monster grabs me and tries to suck my blood."
Hearing the voice of the real Walthus, or so he thinks so far as he was not taking anything for granted just yet.
"Are you the real one?"
He sways slightly as he is in bad shape from the monster's attack and blood draining.
"You know what I am going to sit down regardless sense I think I may fall down if I don't"
Kairi moves as fast as she can to Niveus's side. She sets down the bloody dagger on the floor.
"Oh dear! Let me help you."
After a gesture of her hands and some words in Samsaran, she places her hands on Niveus's wound.
After having her hands tightly gripping on Niveus's wound for a few seconds, she lets go.
Is the place near a river or a swamp? If so, Aleon will drag the unconcious body out and dump it in the river or swamp to drown.
After stripping of its values that is.
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Saif breathes heavily as the shapechanger lies motionless on the floor. As Kairi tends to Niveus he takes the thing and moves it to a corner of the house, shooing away Aleon.
"I should have noticed you were not who you said you were." he mummers, slapping the thing to make sure its unconscious. His attention soon turns to his party, and notices Kairi healing Niveus.
"Are you alright, Niveus? You took a pretty nasty bite there..." he looks back at the shapechanger, "But so did he."
Hopeful that his joke lightened he situation some, he approaches the stairs to lay eyes on the new Walthus Proudstomp.
Walthus makes his way down to properly greet everyone. "Don't believe I've had the pleasure, but whoever you all are, I can't thank you enough for dealing with that brute. Nasty thing just crawled over the garden wall yesterday evening while was out feeding the snakes. Got to sucking out my blood with those tongues of it while we tried to fend it off. I barely managed to get off to the crawl space with some provisions, and I've been holed up there since. Have to say, I wasn't really sure what to do before you came along. Mainly I was just hoping one of the snakes might finish the nasty thing off. Have you had a long trip? Can I offer you some-" He notices the smells coming from the kitchen. "Well, I see you're already helping yourselves. Looks like I'll have to dig up something more substantial to thank you with. In any case, what brings you out this way?"
One set of small leather armor (5 GP) on the runt of a faceless stalker by the way.
Kairi grabs her dagger, wipes the blood off, and puts the dagger away.
"This creature was pretending to be you. I need to wash this blood off my hands. Yuck!"
She playfully skips to the kitchen. "I hope you don't mind if I cook for everyone, we can talk more once are stomachs are full. Just sit down, relax, and let me do my magic."
Kairi washes her hands of the blood. "Alright, now lets see." She starts grabbing food and spices. "Oh! Oh! I will use this! Did not know you had this Walthus! Excellent! This will smell great."
She grabs from her own pack of spices. " A little from my stash here."
Kairi starts cooking the food.
A wonderful aroma comes from the kitchen.
"I am not completely done with the food yet. Do you guys want some tea?"
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Saif smiles and approaches Walthus, giving the halfling a humble bow. "Thank the gods no harm has come to you Walthus Proudstomp. I am Saif al-Fajr, and these are my companions Aleon, Kairi, and Niveus. We have come seeking your guidance through this swamp so that we may put an end to the shenanigans of a local goblin horde. If you could provide us with that, then we will have more than enough to be on our way."
He turns to see a happy Kairi making something. "I suppose we can discuss these things over tea, which I'll take black thank you." he says this last part to Kairi. He approaches Niveus and places a hand on his shoulder, "How is your wound, friend?
Niveus feels a lot better after the healing but still a bit off from the loss of blood.
"Well the healing took care of the wound but the loss of blood is going to take a bit more time. Sorry if I slow us down, but I assure you I had no idea everything in this place tried to suck your blood from you."
He shakes his head slightly.
"I do apologize for imposing, seems your made of sterner stuff then me good Walthus."
"Ah yes," says Walthus, "the Licktoad tribe. They have been a bit bolder than usual these days, although I can't imagine where they may have found those fireworks. If they'd come off a cart, it would be found somewhere along the road, as they aren't exactly the sort to be hiding evidence. Must have been a stash left somewhere in a long forgotten crate from years ago. In any case, the safest way to reach them would be to double back along the old fishing trail." He rummages around to sketch out a bit of a map.
"Alternately, if you don't mind getting a bit wet, if you can keep heading east from where the trap bends back north until you reach a bit of a pond. The narrowest bit of this river is right before it breaks off, and there's another stream you can follow south from there right to their village. You'd be there and back before nightfall easily enough, but I'd be careful going down that way. There's been rumors of some right nasty creature you see, the size of a man but with bone white skin and glowing eyes, living somewhere in the northern expanse of the marsh. Think I may have even seen it once or twice myself.
"The goblins themselves shouldn't cause you too much of a problem. Dangerous when cornered true, but not much of a threat next to that monster you just dealt with... speaking of, one moment..."
He briefly excuses himself to retrieve a rather nice looking cloak from somewhere.
"Consider this here a gift. Bit of an enchantment on it to ward off harm, at least that's what I was told. Beyond that, you're all more than welcome to stay the night here if you aren't set on leaving right away. There's a guest room upstairs... although I think you might all be a bit big for the beds. Still, there's a roof, and four good walls. Beats camping along the side of the road if you're going to be stuck out this way for the night. And I wouldn't be above pointing out the trails myself if you have too hard a time making out my chicken scratch on the map."
Niveus cast a minor spell while everyone is looking the other way. Then with effort lifts himself from the chair he was in.
"Well let me see if you were told correctly if I may."
He looks over the cloak.
"You were told correctly. It is magical and a fine quality. If no one objects I would like to wear it for now. Would also request we take our host's offer of a good night's rest. I rather not deal with a swamp lurker and goblins unless I am at my best."
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"We will take as much time as you need, friend. I will put this fiend in a safe place to wake up, as I'm sure he'll be quite grumpy when he comes to. And thank you for your hospitality, Walthus Proudstomp, may peace always find you and yours."
With that, the dervish picks up the faceless stalker and fireman carries it outside, setting it some 100' or so away from Proudstomp's home.
Upon his return, he confirms with his party that he's disposed of the faceless stalker in a safe place and that they can rest easy tonight.
Unexpectedly, the smell of tea brewing and sound of oil popping draw Saif toward the kitchen. Seeing Kairi busy at work, he silently tries to steal something edible from under her nose and devours it.
"That was quite a surprise." he says, playing it off. "I hope this so called Licktoad tribe won't be too much trouble."
She looks behind, wanting to know who is making a racket in the kitchen.
"What do we have here? You must be rather hungry, sneaking around like that." She gives him 2 snack platters. "This should keep you occupied, please share it with everyone else, if you can." She smiles and gets back to work.
One set of small leather armor (5 GP) on the runt of a faceless stalker by the way.
Which I will put in my carrying inventory, sell off and split the gold later.
Excellent cooking Kairi, thanks.
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Saif grins sheepishly and takes the food from Kairi. Returning to the other room, the dervish sets down the h'orderves and turns his attention back to to Niveus. "I've never seen that before, a man growing fangs." he says in a friendly, though snooping voice. "You are unique as men go. Then again so is our lovely blue cook back there, blessings be upon her."
Niveus froze for a moment, his eyes widening a bit.
"Ha ha, you saw that did ya. Sorry but it's sorta a new thing. I really just reacted to having the life drained out of me. Not like I have them all the time.
Clearly he does not like talking about it and would rather stop.
"Anyways about that map. Which route should we consider come the morrow. I am no woodsman so I truly fear we may get lost, something deadly no doubt in this swamp."
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"Never apologize for gifts from the Gods; only they know why you deserve them." says the dervish. Turning his attention to the rest of the table he says, "We should head in the most direct way to the licktoad tribe. Better to stamp them out quickly than to not."
Saif then waits for the others' input.
Most direct route, yes, sounds like a plan.
Excellent cooking Kairi, thanks.
"Aleon! That is sweet of you."
"We should head in the most direct way to the licktoad tribe. Better to stamp them out quickly than to not."
Kairi walks in with a tray of tea for each person in the room. "Here is the tea. Your black tea is right here, Saif." She sets it down. If we boil down are choices, I see it as a danger vs. time issue. I am fine with either option, one of our burdens is lessened by either choice."
Kairi pauses for a moment.
"However, we should be careful no matter what choice we make."
Kairi walks back into the kitchen.
"The main course should be done soon."
Niveus mauls it over as he does the same to one of the snacks.
"Well if Walthus comes with us I would have nothing against braving the swamp. But if it is just us then unless I was not told of wilderness ability among us I would rather stick to the roads. Does not matter if we take a shortcut if we get lost by doing so. Costing us time and increasing the danger to us. We have been told that the swamp has worst creatures then goblins and I would not wish to test that."
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Saif mulls over Niveus's concerns. "Perhaps you are right, Niveus. The creature back there did take quite an amount of effort on the part of all of us to put down." he says, sipping his tea timidly lest he burn his tongue, "I would rather do what's comfortable. I will go along with taking the longer path. Until then let us rest up tonight and prepare ourselves for the journey ahead."
Saif stands and goes outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of the sunset before dinner.
After a quite pleasant meal, the sun sets over Sog's Bay, you spend a not-quite-so-pleasant night in the halfling's guest room, you awake with your injuries nicely healed, ready to take on the challenge of a proper goblin hunt.
With the warden's assistance, you easily navigate the marsh, crossing a narrow creek and making your way to the north side of a filthy village-fort surrounded by a crude wooden palisade 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.
Aleon does not go ahead of the party. We stick together, we explore together. All for one and one for all.
Niveus draws his crossbow and keeps towards the back. He was a little shy of getting with in arms reach of even goblins at this point.
"Anyone see signs of the goblins?"
Oh, yes, thanks for reminding us
"Hmm... lets see what we have here."
Things look oddly deserted as you approach and have a glance around. Between the rather large hole in the palisade, and the charred bodies of a few goblins you can see in the muddy pit beyond it, it looks at first like you were either beaten to the punch, or the goblins reduced their own numbers by getting a little carried away with their new explosive armaments. However, as you poke around, Kairi spots a goblin through a window of the nearest building, quickly ducking out of sight when she makes eye contact. Seems they're waiting for you to make the first move before they strike.
The doors to the goblins' various ramshackle shacks can generally be reached only by the various elevated walkways connecting them. They're only 5' off the ground, so the stairs are only really required if you have trouble doing a pull-up (DC10 climb). The goblin spotted through a window was in the second building down from the northwest corner... conveniently, this is also one of the few you could potentially enter with a solid surface below you. Making your way in through the ruined hut on the east may work out too, or any number of other options.
Looking around at the layout before him.
"Should we sweep the buildings? I would start from the one near the gate and work my way around sense that's where most seem to be clustered."
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"Ah, that would be a smart thing to do." Saif says as he puts a hand on his chin and ponders. "However there is still room for reason. If we could seek out their tribal leader, perhaps we can convince her to turn toward the light and away from this foolishness that puts her tribe in danger."
He stares for a while longer at the the village, then to Niveus and adds, "Are you hiding a silver tongue under those fangs, friend?"
He shifts uncomfortably at Saif's words.
"Um have you ever dealt with goblins? Their not really the dealing type, not all that reasonable. Not to mention they have numbers on us, one word from the chief and they'll come down on our heads. A few goblins are manageable but a swarm can endanger a whole town. Seen it personally at sandpoint a few years back. That's assuming we can even find the chief before running into other goblins. If they surrender I'm open to giving them a chance but otherwise I'm not holding back. Goblins respond to force over reason every time I have seen."
He was not the blood thirsty type but he had seen what goblins could do. He was not going to take chances or gamble on running into the one sane and reasonable tribe in all of Varisia. After all goblins that could kill their own kind with fireworks could hardly be seen as open to terms. Then their was the little matter of the whole purpose for their little trip, which was goblin hunting. That was very clear to him when he set out.
I say we draw all of them out of hiding, so we can take care of all of them at once. Aleon says this quietly enough so only those within 10 feet of him can hear in case one was hiding nearby.
Looking around at the layout before him.
"Should we sweep the buildings? I would start from the one near the gate and work my way around sense that's where most seem to be clustered."
The building closest to the gateis empty, should anyone have a close enough look. If you're continuing along from there, particularly if you're investigating the one just south of it where you caught sight of a goblin through a window, I am going to need to know who, specifically, is opening the door.
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"They are dangerous in large numbers, Aleon, as Niveus just pointed out. We should not attempt to draw them out in unmanageable numbers. Perhaps the more stealthy of us should do a quick sweep of at least that first building there. We'll go house by house if we must."
Saif takes a deep breath and grasps his sword tightly, feeling a long crawl coming on.
Kairi draws her dagger and speaks softly, "We need to stay together boys. I want to help, especially if one of you gets hurt. A good cook must be mindful of her friends and guests. If I cannot help you guys, I will not be able to help Koya in her time of need. I want to see every friend still alive and well to eat the next meal I make. After you Aleon, I will be right behind you."
[b]Thanks Kairi, and I agree we stick together and talk out strategy like we've been doing./[b] But since Saif said he opens door, Aleon is just behind him, but with his axe drawn, Aleon almost never has his gun drawn unless there is more than one enemy.
"Stay behind me Niveus" Kairi follows Aleon and Saif to the first building. Trying not to raise any attention, she lowers down while moving.
armor penalty of 1
He must be clumsy, running into everything.