"Definitely strange behavior for goblins." Treygan gives a look over to Mukluk and Toshiro. "It's good to put on a brave front, but remember we're counting on each other. If we need to turn back for you to recover, let us know."
Treygan turns back to the compound. "If they're afraid, perhaps we could try talking to them. Never known it to work before of course, but haven't heard of this either. Don't suppose anyone speaks goblin, do they?"
"Speak goblin? I didn't even think they were real....much less have a language of their own....doesn't everyone at least speak Common?" Jean looks at Treygan...."Maybe you'd better talk to them....I'm not good for this."
"I'll try. Be prepared in case things don't work out." Treygan moves up next to the fallen gate, weapon stowed. His back to the wall for a moment, he exhales deeply to calm himself, then pokes his head around enough to call out.
Seeing his attempts to minister to Mukluk and Toshiro are going to be rebuffed, György turns his attention to Treygan's appeal to the goblins. Absently running his hand over the symbol of Desna tattooed on his flesh, György adds "You look frightened. Has something happened here that you can tell us of?"
Mukluk keeps his dwarven trap shut.
We're costing ourselves good ear-gold money here...but something ain't right.
"You look frightened. Has something happened here that you can tell us of?"
1d20+1
Corvus whispers to György, "Not sure telling them they look frightened is a good idea with goblins. Having said that, I'm not sure what is a good idea when talking to goblins." She shrugs apologetically.
Toshiro begins to grow anxious when diagnosed with a fever.
"I-I-I'm sure I'm fine, just a little tired is all. I'm haven't been out adventuring this much in years, so I'm just getting acclimated to it all again. Don't worry about me, I eat nothing but fruits and vegetables, so I'm as healthy as can be!"
The old monk gets lost in his rambling, completely oblivious to everything unfolding around him.
Jean shifts nervously as the lack of response from the goblins is quite unnerving
. I wonder if something bad is standing right behind us ready to strike? as he furtively checks over his shoulders.
Perception
While nothing remains hidden over your shoulder, Jean, you do notice several beady little eyes peeking from the windows, underneath doorframes, and you even note one balloon-shaped head poking out from a chimney stack. The curiosity arrived shortly after Treygan's attempt at diplomacy. His attempt seems to have roused their wanderlust but is of no effect when it comes to doing what he intended. As the chimney goblin notices you looking, he attempts to duck back into the stack, but his head get stuck. He yanks on it for several seconds as you hear low tittering coming from the hut he's in - his allies are making fun of him. Eventually he frees himself and slides back down into the hut.
Nearby one of the larger huts is marked with several pikes holding the skulls of innocent animals the goblins have decapitated, hopefully post-mortem. A small plume of smoke radiates from its chimney and a pudgy goblin face presses itself to the glass, straining to see who is in the village. Despite their failure to remain inconspicuous none of the goblins seem keen to respond. The only one who does so is quickly hushed, "We not fright...".
Meanwhile Toshiro's illness appears to be getting worse. After staving it off for quite some time his body has weakened and he can barely hold himself upright. While Mukluk also suffers the effects, it appears his dwarven resiliency is staving off more of the disease than Toshiro's human body. The old man's age is likely a factor as well. He leans against a tree, ushering you to move forward into the encampment without him for now. He opens one of the vials of Remove Disease and quaffs it. It's regenerative abilities begin to take effect immediately but not so quickly as to rejuvenate the old sage.
"Corvus, lets be polite and we'll go knock on that door over there..." pointing to the hut with the smoking chimney..."anybody have some candy or something shiny and not sharp to offer in peace? Or maybe Mukluk, can I borrow some ale? Treygan is Toshiro gonna be alright?"
Mukluk coughs into his hand, giving the old man a look, as if to question the man's manhood and his lack of dwarfiness.
I'm sure this is nothing. Nothing at all.
"Oh sure, Elf. Help yourself." Mukluk offers whatever ale or food, as needed. "Yeah sure that goblins like ale? Maybe if we had some tindertwigs or the bangfopper fireworks, they might like them better."
Mukluk waits for Corvus and the rest of diplomacize, not trusting himself to kill them all based on his own dwarven nature and ear money that has been offered.
Corvus wanders over to the larger hut with Jean. She clears her throat loudly before speaking loudly and slowly.
"We wish to talk to your leader. We also wish to make a trade. We have some...songs to trade with you. Songs from far away that have never been sung on these shores."
She looks at Jean a little sheepishly. "I remember one of the facts about goblins. They love to sing. I figured you must have some sea shanties they've never heard of?"
"i think I might....let me think a moment" Jean starts to hum a catchy tune ...
"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...
That started from Riddleport aboard a tiny ship...
The mate was a scrawny human, the skipper a dwarf and stout...
Five pathfinders set sail that day, for a three hour tour...
A three hour tour..."
Perform
Jean checks the door..."So can we come in, or I can keep singing?"
Looks at Corvus....and shrugs
More balloon-shaped goblin heads peek out from the windows and a small creak comes from the big building. It's double wooden doors swing wide and you hear chattering come from inside. Several goblins step out carrying dogslicers and their voices rise in what seems like an argument. Finally three of the four gang up on the fourth and suddenly that goblin comes flying off of the raised house, tossed by his allies. He lands on his head and falls forward onto his back in a failed half-somersault, the dogslicer he'd held as he made his entrance now jutting out of his chest. All is silent for a moment save for the tittering laughs of the three remaining goblins before they realize their folly and fall again into an argument. After another short debate you hear a booming goblin voice rose from inside and the trio falls silent, turning to your party. They bare their fangs maliciously and slide down the ladder and planks of the raised house to reach the ground at your level. One of them falls halfway down the ladder when his foot slips but stands back up, menacingly eyeing you down as they approach. One of them inquires something in Goblin. It doesn't seem like they understood what your Common.
"Who are you? Why you come? And make him quiet. Hurts Chief head. Make me want to stab."
Jean shall bow and step back, motioning Corvus forward.
Corvus was never a good lier and with her slight frame, she appears no real threat, so she relies on her diplomatic skills to speak to the goblins.
Using Toshiro as translator she speaks to the goblins. "We will make the noisy one quiet for as long as you talk. If you try any stabbing, we'll let him sing again and that will make your Chief's head hurt even more. We come from Sandpoint and for now we want to speak with your Chief. We want to know what has happened here."
Treygan glances at Toshiro for a moment, thinking to himself, "I'd rather not begin a battle right this moment, not with Toshiro in bad shape."
Corvus takes up speaking to the goblins where he turns back, a sad look on his face at the one who fell and impaled himself. "I'm surprised they haven't wiped themselves out yet."
Regardless, he focuses back to the task on hand, "I'm sure we can come to some kind of agreement to stop this aggression, if we only sit down and discuss it like civilized people. Are you willing to talk?"
Mukluk watches as the dead goblin comes flying forward.
"Oooh!!! Get that one's ears! It's free money!"
Mukluk waits for Corvus and the rest of diplomacize, not trusting himself to kill them all based on his own dwarven nature and ear money that has been offered.
"Hey Mukluk, you remember that time...oh, nevermind. We'd better be ready if they decide to come spilling out here. Hopefully Toshiro's goblin is still good even when he's feverish." György watches warily in case what remains of the goblin village decides to suddenly charge the group.
Mukluk gives Gyorgy a look, a wry smiling coming over his face.
"I haven't forgotten that, Gyorgy. We both know who's fault that was," Mukluk says, still focused on the big picture...the goblin ears.
"We're going to hear this story again, Gyorgy, I'm sure."
Mukluk looks at Corvus, wondering if the young magesword was going to do anything to get them ears.
Atop the large house, a rotund goblin waddles out with a bone-like crown atop his head. Next to him a smaller goblin stands alongside. He whispers into the little one's ear and the little one responds in kind. "You have come to Licktoad Tribe to offer your service. You are in the grace of most honored chief of Licktoad tribe, Chief Gutwad. You not use chief name as it is too pure for your humie tongue." The chief continues whispering to his vocal representative. "Nothing happened that goblins not fix. We stab them skelly men dead! Long shanks want to help then longshanks make sure all skelly men dead." One of the goblins scuttles over to you while his chief speaks and drops a bone in front of you. Putting two and two together you surmise the bones are that of one of these 'skelly men'. To Treygan, they speak. "Most great Chief Gutwad has spoken. They hide in cave south of Licktoad home. You kill skelly men gone dead if you want Licktoads not kill dogs and babies." With that, Chief Gutwad teeters back into his hut and closes the door.
György stoops to look at the bone. "Skelly men? Do you think they mean skeletons? The dead risen? It sounds like we have an opportunity to make peace with these goblins instead of killing them all."
"But our money, Gyorgy." Mukluk gripes. "We ain't getting paid for skeleton ears. We get paid for them goblin ears."
Mukluk rubs his beard.
"Maybe we bar the door and set fires to the place? That might work...we might be able to gather some ears that way."
Clearly Mukluk has no love of goblins nor goblinkind. Whether that's a racial quality or a personal preference remains to be discussed.
"Sandpoint wants the goblins stopped. I think we've found that killing them all might not be the only way. That shouldn't prevent us from earning our reward. Perhaps we can convince this Chief to establish better relations with the town once we have dealt with this more serious threat. It might be helpful to have one of these tribes working for the town."
Corvus listens to György before responding. "I think a truce is as good as we can hope for. Getting them to keep away from Sandpoint would be a result if you ask me. But first we need to deal with these skeletons."
She turns to Jean. "I guess skeletons need no explanation?"
She turns to Jean. "I guess skeletons need no explanation?"
"No, those I understand. There are tribes of Garundi who are very emmanciated and thin because they don't eat well...so I can understand confusing them for being quite skeletal. What I don't is understand is how they would get here and why they would be attacking these goblins...unless they wanted their Chief Gutwad as food, but I haven't heard of any groups of Garundi wanting to eat intelligent humanoids before."
Jean stands with a self assured look concerning the veracity of his statement and obviousness of his explanation.
Mukluk goes up to grab the bone, muttering under his breath.
"...leaving the golden apples on the tree...just cut 'em off....stupid idea..."
Mukluk will retreat safely away from the huts and examine the bone.
"Interesting. You think these skelly men might be something other than skeletons Jean? That does look like a bone."
"Oh, well I thought it was used as a club...how is a skeleton going to attack someone? Theyare what's left of corpses and are dead."
Jean says quite matter of factly in a deadpan tone of voice."Gyorgy, What you're saying is just crazy talk....right?"
"To be honest, I didn't really expect the goblins to agree. I'm also not certain they would hold to such an agreement. But it's been offered, and if we can make peace with them, it would be a miracle worth pursuing. We should investigate these skeletons either way. If they are just men, perhaps they can explain what's going on. If rather the dead do walk, we should put a stop to it."
The bones certainly appear to be from a skeletal frame and it's a safe bet that what the goblins are saying about the skeletons is true. Until you actually see an undead, it'd be tough to tell.
The bone is a femur from the right leg of a human. The bone is old and has seen its heyday but appears muddled down by weather too. It's hard to tell whether or not it's been renimated, but it's certainly a skeleton.
While investigating the bone you note a small hairline fracture where some type of mossy substance seems to have become lodged.
The moss between the fracture of the bone is a rare moss that grows to the south and only in the swamp.
The few goblins milling about outside convince the others of the current safety of the situation and several other of the balloon-headed creatures make their exit out, talking amongst each other. You count twelve total creatures and they all gather together, muttering goblin-y things. The few that come within thirty or so feet of you issue a low growl as they attempt making a wide berth around you. Other than those few, however, the others appear quite friendly if for no other reason than because their chief did not order your deaths.
Perception
Corvus looks at the bone briefly and then to the others for some sort of guidance.
She keeps a wary eye on the goblins however. You don't get to adulthood in Sandpoint without a healthy mistrust of goblins. She rubs the scar above her eye absent-mindedly.
Mukluk examines the bone, grunting and scratching his head and beard as he gives the bone a looking over like a pitbull on a hamshank.
Mmmmmm....ham.
Know (Religion)
Heal (untrained)
Perception
"There is some moss here, but I ain't sure what it is. Anyone?" Mukluk points out the moss.
Mukluk's eyes go to the dead goblin that was offered up as tribute and to his precious, valuable ears. Shaking his head as if to knock the thought out of his skull, Mukluk lets the ear go.
"Welp, are we going to get goin'? If we ain't going to harvest them ears, might as well get working on the skellies, huh?"
"I agree, let's get on with this. But keep an eye on them, I worry still they may attempt something underhanded." Treygan shares Corvus's mistrust of the goblins. He had felt compelled to offer the chance at peace, but didn't honestly expect them to comply. He hoped that possibly they could be convinced to put aside their dark ways, but he wasn't about to walk into a goblin ambush because of it.
"So lets go check out this cave, but I still don't get this whole idea about skeletons. How could skeletons attack anyone without the rest of their bodies?"
Looking over at Corvus, "But hey these goblins didn't seem to be so bad. I don't understand what all the fuss was about..."
"Toshiro, you ready to go?"
Looking around at everyone "So which way is south? With all these trees and swamp I couldn't find my way anywhere. Who's on point?"
"I have no idea what that moss is, but I agree that we should head south." György looks around for any tracks and barring that to see if he can use the sun to pinpoint the way south in the swamp.
The goblins remain fairly indifferent to your presence at this point and you feel as if its safe enough to continue on your way should you choose to do so. Toshiro appears to have stabilized somewhat though he by no means appears to be getting better. As you work your way out of the encampment, your path forces you to backtrack slightly before taking a different direction.
You notice several muddy prints matching those from before that slowly fill with water. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice a brief glimpse of something aggressively close.
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Corvus follows the person in front of her, not particularly mindful of her surroundings.
Perception
"what in the deepest depths is that!"
Jean will pull his dagger out to join his rapier.
Initiative
Round of Surprise!, Init 9
Perception
Mukluk draws his heavy pick and clangs it against his armor, getting ready for battle.
You identify this soggy river monster as a sinspawn first created by the Runelord Alaznist during the ancient Thassilonian empire, the sinspawn are tortured mockeries of humans. Twisted by vile rune magic, they are consumed by an overwhelming wrath toward all others. You know they've been rumored to hold magical resistances against magic spells as well have shown immunities to mind effects during experimentation.
Gyorgy
Treygan
Soggy River Monster
Jean/Mukluk
Corvus
My sons been making my minis vanish so I'm using 3D Tabletop now. (Front to back, left to right) Treygan, Mukluk, Jean, Corvus, Gyorgy
Appearing overly voracious at the moment, the malnourished looking creature rushes at what it believes the be the tastiest morsel, Treygan. Ending its movement in front of the holy man, it unleashes a roar and separates its jawline attempting to clamp the mandibles down on Treygan.
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Sensing the terrible danger that he and his allies are facing, Gyorgy launches into a sermon, inspiring his allies in such a way that they feel more capable of fighting such a terrible aberration.
HP 10/12
AC 16 T10 FF16 CMD 14
F/R/W 4/0/2
Smite Evil 0/1
Effects
Sermonic Performanc
"Argh! Anyone know what this thing is?" Treygan draws out his falchion and brings it hard down upon the creature attacking him in a fierce blow.
"I have no idea, but Desna's lights will shine on our shields and swords while we bring it down. If this be a pitborn fiend, let us send it back to the Abyss." While calling out exhortations to his comrades, György circles the creature, holding his spear at the ready.
Round 1, Init 9
"I dunno what that is, but it don't look friendly."
Mukluk moves up 20' and readies his pick for battle.
Readied if it comes up to him:
cold iron damage;
damage.
With one rather anti-climactic blow from Treygan, treygan's blade slices through the creature like a hot knife through butter. The creature, drained of its life force by the power of Treygan's arm and the strength of his faith, falls in two to the ground, it's multijointed mandible loosening around Treygan then falling helplessly as well. The creature is dead. You have defeated this mysterious soggy river beast. Everyone else remains slightly disappointed but manage to shrug off the sudden desperation with which the creature attacked and live yourselves a moment of relaxation in order to let the adrenaline die before delving further.
You find tracks leading (if you detour to follow) from where you slayed the creature to the goblin encampment where it appears to have circled. In addition, the tracks lead back to Walthus' home as well as a decrepit piling of branches, twigs, and bone that form a small lair. A narrow opening along the south side of the 10-ft mound allows entrance into its cramped, dripping interior. The walls of the place are decorated with nearly two dozen articles of shredded and bloodstains clothing, from small clothes to jackets. These unfortunates number 11 in all. The monster's lair also contains a filthy bed of mud and reeds and brown grass, as well as a strange noun of what looks like a stack of nearly a dozen muddy spheres. Upon closer inspection, the spheres are revealed to be the poorly preserved heads of the monster's 11 victims, packed in mud in what was likely a grisly attempt to keep them as trophies. All that truly remains of these skulls are bone and scraps of hair. There is little else here.
György ceases his motion as Treygan's falchion slices cleanly through the creature. "That was a fierce blow Treygan. I'm not sure we're any closer to knowing what it was, but at least you seem to have ended the threat." György takes a quick look over the creature to see if there are any clues to what it might be or where it might have laired.
"I must admit, even I'm surprised." Treygan offers a prayer for his actions before aiding in the search. "Could this have been what left the footprints at the goblin village? It looks to be malnourished, and I'm not sure how to take a goblin's words at things."