Not talking? Being stoic? Awake at night?
Pick loves you, Shalelu.
Pick ... does similar, really. He much prefers the night watches, relaxing as much as he's able to in the night-time.
He does, however, show Ran-loy and Noisy One the very basics of the noiseless tongue. He gives them the signs for simple scout reporting-- fingers by the eye to indicate creatures seen-- fingers by the ear to indicate creatures heard-- number of fingers to indicate counting-- and some of the simple guides to distance to foes, two-legs-versus-four-legs-versus-flying...
Little steps, little steps. The equivalent of baby talk.
A'letta opens herself up to the song of nature, letting the winds speak to her and the earth tell its story in silence. Occassionally she'll talk about this and that with Khalbar, inform how Pick is doing and liking this big outside world and collect a branch of quality wood for her woodcarving activities.
Khalbar is happy to be outside the confines of the city walls, and back into the nature that his people revere so. He speaks in the Shoanti tongue with Aletta always moving with purpose and ready at a moment's notice to shift to combat mode.
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Flibble spends his time scouting ahead, but during camp time he chatters endlessly about all sorts of things. Some of the stories he comes up with may even be true, though you have heard at least 3 different stories of how he came across his bird. He also is prone to tricks. One of his favourites is using ghost sound to mimic the voice of the others, and after the umpteenth time he has used someone else's voice to call you away from your duties, you are beginning to see the merits of strangling him. He also spends time with Pick, learning the rudiments of his sign language, which he picks up very quickly.
At first, Rhanloi enjoys Flibbi's harmless pranks, but even the half-elf soon grows a little short tempered with the gnome. Once, late on the third day, when he was so tired and grumpy from the lack of sleep and the gnome's incessant chatter , Rhanloi actually dazed the little fellow. He will never admit it, and felt sorry about it later, but in that moment, he giggled a little as the poor gnome just stood there for a minute with a blank look on his face.
Rhanloi was enjoying the silent language tutoring from Pick. As a student of language, he tackled this task with enthusiasm and gusto, determined to master this unique form of communicating.
Also, Rhanloi was happy to see his friend Khalbar more relaxed and like himself. Understandable, he supposed, since Khalbar is a man of open spaces - the town of Sandpoint must have been a bit overwhelming. He shifted easily into their practiced travelling routine - walking or riding near but always a little behind the giant Shoanti man, watching his back and his spirits...
As the journey wore on, Kyra's attitude became more and more dour. It seemed to her that most of the others weren't taking this even remotely seriously. Khalbar and A'letta chatted pleasantly in their barbaric tongue, Pick taught Rhanloi and Flibble his strange gestures, and the gnome played pranks on more than a few members of the party, all while Kyra sulked. She didn't distance herself physically in the same way that Shalelu did, but she certainly expressed a degree of despondence.
The decision to leave was weighing on her for most of the trip, and she spent as much time looking back as she did looking forward. Long after Sandpoint was out of view, she scanned the horizon for smoke. It was nice to be out in nature again, to have the wind in her hair, and solid ground beneath her feet, but it wasn't relaxing her as much as she had hoped it would. More than anything, she really wanted to hit something.
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At first, Rhanloi enjoys Flibbi's harmless pranks, but even the half-elf soon grows a little short tempered with the gnome. Once, late on the third day, when he was so tired and grumpy from the lack of sleep and the gnome's incessant chatter , Rhanloi actually dazed the little fellow. He will never admit it, and felt sorry about it later, but in that moment, he giggled a little as the poor gnome just stood there for a minute with a blank look on his face.
Even as Shalelu warns that the group is traveling into goblin-infested territory, the trip is somewhat uneventful as the party ventures farther into the wood. Despite Kyra's reservations, smoke fails to curl into the sky behind them save for from the few fires that they set to warm themselves at night.
Just a day after leaving Sandpoint, high noon roaring overhead, as the sounds of water splashing against rock can be heard from the forest, Shalelu calls from up ahead. The rest of the party crunches through the undergrowth to reach her, and find her standing on the edge of a seaside cliff overlooking the Varisian gulf. She points, simply, down the coast.
Sitting about a quarter-mile down the coast, and a couple hundred feet away from the cliff, is a tiny, misshapen but ovular isle, atop which rests a strange amalgam-building. A round, wooden wall topped with four lean-to towers encircles a strangely-shaped and poorly-built wooden building. A swinging rope bridge connects it to the shore-cliff-face.
"Thistletop, lair of the aptly named Thistletop goblins. It's a coveted lairing-spot."
She cranes her head forward and narrows her eyes. "Strange."
She turns back to the party. "I don't see any goblins..."
"Maybe they're having some kind of meeting inside their lair? We should check it out .. in fact, let me consult the spirits, see how they react to our plans to enter this place .."
And with that, the tall woman kneels down and digs her fingers into the earth as supernatural whispers echo into this world. They are incomprehensible to all but the woman who called them into this world.
The base chance for receiving a meaningful reply is 70% + 1% per caster level, to a maximum of 90%; this roll is made secretly. A question may be so straightforward that a successful result is automatic, or so vague as to have no chance of success. If the augury succeeds, you get one of four results:
Weal (if the action will probably bring good results).
Woe (for bad results).
Weal and woe (for both).
Nothing (for actions that don't have especially good or bad results).
If the spell fails, you get the "nothing" result. A cleric who gets the "nothing" result has no way to tell whether it was the consequence of a failed or successful augury.
The augury can see into the future only about half an hour, so anything that might happen after that does not affect the result. Thus, the result might not take into account the long-term consequences of a contemplated action. All auguries cast by the same person about the same topic use the same die result as the first casting.
She almost immediately retracts her fists as echoes of impending doom overwhelm her. A'letta looks shocked and more than a little out of it. "We .. shouldn't go there, unless there is a mighty good reason for it accompanied by a brilliant plan. I felt the cold hand of death digging its nails into my back .."
A cold that no one else feels assaults her and she wraps her arms around herself, trying to fight off the cold.
Pick sees nothing of interest in the lair from where he watches. This is because he is staring at the ocean rather gobsmacked.
There are great lakes under the world, deep rivers and immense caverns full of black, still water.... there is nothing like this.
The waves roar and dance, move like a bucking horse, and the burning light glitters off the water like from a thousand fragments of glass. Pick makes a soft whining noise in his throat, his hands occasionally darting nervously up to his ears to try and muffle that ceaseless roar. How is it possible that there is this constant noise in the world, and it hasn't yet woken the Sleeper? He's very confused.
'Woe' says Spear-Woman, and Pick wholeheartedly agrees. There can only be woe to come from getting closer to the churning, booming noise. But he will go if he is ordered.
Believing in the omens and portents of his people, Khalbar is conflicted. He knows it is good tactics to attack the enemy at their home, but if the gods say to walk away, that is good advice.
"I will not force the issue if the omens are poor. But if we let the goblins attack us, are we also risking danger?"
He squints into the distance trying to precieve what the elfin woman sees (or doesn't see), but his human eyes are no match.
Her patience almost entirely used up already, Shalelu's knowledge of their being no goblins sends Kyra nearly over the edge. She rudely barrels through Pick and Khalbar as A'letta gets her reading, surveying the land herself. She curses quietly, before turning to Shalelu. "No goblins at all." Without taking her eyes from the building, Kyra speaks back to the group. "Looks like your chance to prove yourself, Flibble."
"Perhaps we can achieve our desired effect without entering the lair and facing the doom A'letta sees...what if we burn the bridge to the isle?" Rhanloi asks to the group.
It takes only a few minutes for Flibble and Sovola to circle the lair, flying low, with Flibble peering over the side of his bird to see down into the lair.
Both the lair and the area around the lair seem eerily still. Flibble does see a few goblins within the lair, behind the wall and a closed wooden gate, but only a dozen of them at most are visible. There may be more within, but based off of Shalelu's reports (the Thistletop tribe was supposed to be the largest and most powerful of goblin tribes in the area, and was reputed to be gathering more tribes to itself) you'd think there would be more apparent goblins.
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After flying low over the lair, Flibble returns to report.
"There are verra few goblins there, nought like thae numbers there should be, d'ye ken? It smells like a trap or somesuch. Either the goblins are hiding fer an ambush, which means they kenned we were here, or they've gone away. Shalelu, lass, would ye be able tae follow the tracks?"
(Pick doesn't mind Kyra pushing past him. She is a leader, he is not. Such is the way of things. He scoots deferentially out of her path.)
The elven woman turns to Flibble as he lands, nodding in affirmation that, yes, she is quite capable of tracking goblins. "I've been doing it for years. Of course I can."
"I'd rather blow up the entire damned island." Kyra replies to Rhanloi's suggestion as she watches Flibble's flight path with curiosity and apprehension.
The frown on her face deepens when Flibble returns, reporting such a small number of goblins. "I don't understand." she mutters, narrowing her eyes at the small island.
She says nothing more for a short time, and then replies to Flibble's theory. "Can't imagine they'd set a trap for us." She begins, thinking out loud. "I'm not sure they even know yet about what happened in the glassworks, or that we have Tsuto's journal." Narrowing her eyes, she turned to Rhanloi, "Then again, I do recall mention of a fiend managing to outwit the four of you."
Feeling slight better after having blamed someone else for the uncertainty of the situation, she turns next to Shalelu. "Is it possible that the army took another route past us and is already heading towards Sandpoint?"
"Maybe they've gathered inside their rotting hole and are forming up for the war to come. I do remember a bugbear being part of the enemy's forces .. a fierce bugbear could enforce some order upon them .. for some time anyways."
Narrowing her eyes, she turned to Rhanloi, "Then again, I do recall mention of a fiend managing to outwit the four of you."
Pick is very chastened. He lowers his head to avoid Hammer's anger. It is true, they had failed. She is right to be wrathful. But at the moment, her displeasure is focused chiefly on the drow-cousin, so Pick does his best to be invisible (sans actually turning invisible), and to let Ran-loy bear the brunt of her anger.
Look, he doesn't want to be punished, okay. Throwing one's colleagues under the bus chariot is a time-honored tradition.
Feeling slightly better after having blamed someone else for the uncertainty of the situation, she turns next to Shalelu. "Is it possible that the army took another route past us and is already heading towards Sandpoint?"
The elven woman strokes her chin, concern, apprehension, and fear strangely absent from her impassive face. "Yes, I believe so. I took us along a route that was unlikely to see any goblin patrols and took us along the edge of goblin territory. I figured we wanted to get to Thistletop as quickly as possible."
She unslings her bow and strings it quickly. "Do you believe this is what happened? If we hurry, and they left fairly recently, we should be able to find their tracks and go after them."
"Yes - a surprise attack from behind would be even better than a surprise attack on their camp! Let's destroy the bridge to the island before we leave, though. It seems a shame to waste the opportunity!"
"Let's go! Time is of the essence."
Pick swiftly draws his dagger and saws through the ropes on their end of the bridge, unless someone objects. He finds the idea of the noisy little goblins stranded on their island to be... amusing. Heh.
For some seconds, Kyra is too angry to even speak. 'You knew this was a bad idea.' runs through her mind over and over and over. When she speak, she lets out a very loud curse, almost certain to either terrify or annoy Pick.
She turns to Shalelu. "I'm not positive, but if it's possible we need to know. If we're not there to protect them, and plus with Ameiko taking an expedition underground... " She doesn't even finish the sentence. "You and A'letta start looking for tracks. Flibble, get on your bird and don't come down until you have something to report."
Without thinking, Kyra grabs Pick's hand to stop him from cutting the rope. After we stop them," she says evenly, "We're going to come back and burn down the entire island."
Kneeling close to the ground, Shalelu begins to look through the tracks, tramping through the undergrowth surrounding the goblin lair. After a few moments, she re-emerges, hailing Kyra. "I've found tracks, and they look like they're no more than a few hours old. If we hurry, we might still catch them, but it looks like there are...a lot of goblins."
"Let us go find them, and there will be less." vows Khalbar grimly. He makes ready to hurry along behind the goblins until they are found.
Pick twitches at the loud word from Hammer, and has a secondary twitch at her strong hand on his. Ack. Surface-siders touching, touching, touching.
Still, an order is an order.
He nods once, acknowledgment, and the dagger vanishes again into his many small pockets, the rope left uncut.
He starts after the others on the track that Shalelu has found. Short legs will have to work hard to keep up.
"Well, yeah, it's probably the invasion force. How many do you suspect?"
You're also sure that unless Kyra and the others are still at Thistletop, you would be very hard-pressed to find them again in the forest.
As she hurries into the forest, expecting the rest to follow, Shalelu expands on she estimation of the situation - this is, to your knowledge, the most that she's ever spoken around you. Not surprising, considering that she's a utilitarian hunter-woman..
"If that journal you showed me is to be believed, this "Tsuto" person expected there to be over two hundred goblins. Based off of my knowledge of the local tribes, though, and this mass of tracks here, I'd say that there's between a hundred and a hundred and fifty. I'm not sure what other resources this "Nualia" woman brings to the fore, either. Whichever way it is, Sandpoint is in grave danger."
With that, she rushes off into the forest and hopes that the rest of you can keep up .
Kyra took off running almost before Shalelu was finished speaking, already blaming herself for being stupid enough to leave in the first place. Scenes rolled through her mind of Ameiko and the sorcerers being caught in the tunnel surrounded by goblins, of Nualia laughing while Sandpoint burned, of a large and clawed black hand reaching out of the sky and squashing all that she had ever aspired towards.
Sovola and Flibble arrive in Sandpoint several hours ahead of the goblin horde, alighting first on the top of the Cathedral, Sovola screeching her warning wake-up. It's midafternoon, so people are out and about, and the pair draw many a questing eye.
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During the frantic hours riding back, Flibble had plenty of time to reflect and plan. It reminded him of the frantic ride, 15 years ago, racing to warn them of the Giants. He was too late then,
"Not this time." he muttered to himself.
Exhausted, Flibble alights outside the Inn and rushes to find Ameiko.
Flibble finds Ameiko inside her inn, in her room. She's got a cold pack to her forehead, which is bruised, and the fairly obvious signs of recently-healed wounds on her arms and legs. She looks up, wearily, as you enter. "Flibidnick! What's happenened, where are the others?"
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"The others are coming as fast as possible, Lass, but there are goblins on thae road. I came tae warn ye. I reckon ye've got aboot 2 hours afore they arrive. We need to rouse thae guards, and all the pipple. We have the fight o' oor lives comin', lass! I tek it yuir already seen some action? ye look like ye've tekken a whack to yuir heid. Does tha mean ye've cleared yon tunnels?"
"Yeah, absolutely." she says, taking the cold pack off of her head and casting it aside. She stands up, and moves back to her wardrobe to grab her gear again. "We took out that quasit, as tough as it was. Father Zantus took care of us and I've just been resting since."
Strapping her sword to her belt, she says, "Well, let's go!"
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"Och, lass, I like yuir style! We need tae try tae evacuate yon Nobles, yon southern quarter is indefensible. Tell them thae bridge will be destroyed when thae goblins appear. I will need to spek tae father Zantus, His wee church'll make the ideal command post, the guards must be roused; the people must be roused, too; and all the ships and boats must be commandeered.
Flibble and Ameiko get to work quickly, rushing across the cty in different directions to get the defense of the city jumpstarted. The first place that they go is the Cathedral, to get the bells ringing and the people roused. Next, Ameiko went to the nobles' houses (including her own house) and Flibble went to the garrison. Arming and armoring the guards and sending them where he'd like them takes only moments, and so Flibble is off once again, to Savah Bevaniky's smithy, to ask for weapons to arm the common people with. She complied, and there began a stream of people to the smithy to be armed.
Podiker was summoned to burst Sandpoint bridge, despite reservations that many of the citizens had about it, but not before Ameiko lead a line of nobles and their servants across the bridge. The only one who didn't comply was Ethram Valdemar, and he sent his son and the majority of his servants with. He was just too weak to move himself.
Many of the citizens began to sequester themselves in their homes or in the Cathedral, but around a dozen of them took to the streets, armed and ready to kick some goblin ass.
About two and a half hours into the war preparations, Kyra and Khalbar rush out of the undergrowth just down the Lost Coast Road from Sandpoint, having just passed the goblin host taking a short rest. Their fast feet carry them down the Road and the gates are hurriedly opened for the pair.
Pleasantries are exchanged, gladnesses to see one another and such, and then they each rush off to join one of the battle-groups.
The rush through the undergrowth is a rough one, but Shalelu shows them the easiest and fastest path. Pick, panting and waddling, has to rush extra-hard to keep up with his larger companions, but they don't leave him behind as they rush towards Sandpoint. Apologizing, Kyra and Khalbar decide to leave the group behind, rushing forward to get to Sandpoint a little faster.
After a few hours of such rushing, undergrowth is cleared to find the goblin horde just a few minutes away, visible, and rushing in an initial attack on Sandpoint.
Shalelu crouches as she sees the goblin host approach Sandpoint, gasping with shock and cursing with anger simultaneously. She point to the back of the line, indicating a muscular, crowned goblin riding atop a giant gecko. "Look, there, there's Warchief Ripnugget, the current Chief of the Thistletop Tribe."
Heading up the forces is a huge bugbear bearing a huge bone bow. He gnashes his teeth and spits at the walls as the goblin host approaches.
Approaching Tanner's Bridge is a second force of goblins. There is no warchief with this one. Instead, what heads up this force is a supernaturally beautiful woman with platinum-blonde hair, glowing white eyes, and a vile profane aura. Her left arm, instead of ending in a regular hand, ends in a huge red claw. At her side are three pale, profane canine creatures with a foul intelligence in their head. In her hands rests a huge falchion.
Behind her stand a pair of humans, one a dark-skinned woman wearing robes and carrying a huge tome, and the other an armored Varisian, shield-bearing and carrying a bastard sword.
The guards atop the wall and atop the Cathedral, as well as the guards on the ground steel themselves for the coming battle. They're heartened by the appearance of Kyra and Khalbar and look to the pair of them for orders and direction.
The various nobles of the city have taken refuge inside the Cathedral, but Father Zantus and Father Gormos (a local Erastilian priest) have elected to stay without the temple to better service the injured. Zantus is wearing a not-often-seen ceremonial chainmail and carrying the starknife indicative of his faith.
The central quarter holds itself in a stunned silence, each person doing their best and failing somewhat to prepare themselves for the goblin attack. The guards at Tanner's Bridge are joined by several citizens, Ilsoari, the Magister, as well as an elven cleric named Hannah, the weapon-forger, named Savah, and the general store owner, a man named Ven Vinder.
[ooc]This one is dumb and won't format for some reason.
The Southern Quarter is mostly quiet, but a couple of the citizens that live in this area prepare themselves for battle. Podiker is cleaning up from his detonation of the Sandpoint Bridge.
Initiative:
Flibble - 20
A'letta - 18
Rhanloi - 18
Goblins - 17
Kyra - 10
Sandpoint Denizens - 10
Pick - 9
Khalbar - 9
Nualia's Evil Party - 0