Talivar backed away from the advancing goblin into the fog and very nearly fell off the cliff. He grimaced and bit his tongue to stop himself crying out in fright (he'd never liked heights). Still there was a good view of the battle below where the enlarged Uruelleth was still taking on five goblins. Time to level the odds some more he thought as he summoned more ultra-cold energies. As before he took hit time in gathering the material, before sending a tiny pea sized urea-enchanced ball floating lazily out over the tree line where it exploded with all the fury of winter. Suddenly everything it touched turned white, trees rocks and goblins alike!
Spell slots used: 1st: 6/8, 2nd: 3/7, 3rd: 6/6, 4th: 3/5
Buffs: Mage Armor (5 hours)
Resources used: Urea Power Component: 36/40, Tangle Burn Bag: 1/3, Haste wand: 10/10, Daylight wand: 1/10, Lesser Extend Metamagic rod: 1/3, Lesser Selective Metamagic : 0/3
After the burst of cold energy, Uruelleth starts swinging away at the remaining goblins, starting with the most injured and working his way to the next if his attacks drop any.
Kilarra, blade in hand, leaps to her feet, takes a step forward, and swings her sword once at the yellow goblin. The goblin is more sluggish than usual thanks to Talivar’s rime and Kilarra’s blade connects, injuring him.
Uruelleth delays.
Talia offers, "Kilarra, if you could finish off Yellow, that would be supremely appreciated, it shouldn't take much more. With any luck, after the second in command falls down, the rest may falter. Talivar, feel free to keep pounding them with cold, each hit makes it easier Kilarra to clean up" The shaman is trying to think strategically as she observes Uruelleth promptly murder several of the goblins. She also manages to hex the light blue monkey goblin.
Talivar backed away from the advancing goblin into the fog and very nearly fell off the cliff. He grimaced and bit his tongue to stop himself crying out in fright (he'd never liked heights). Still there was a good view of the battle below where the enlarged Uruelleth was still taking on five goblins. Time to level the odds some more he thought as he summoned more ultra-cold energies. As before he took hit time in gathering the material, before sending a tiny pea sized urea-enhanced ball floating lazily out over the tree line where it exploded with all the fury of winter. Suddenly everything it touched turned white, trees rocks and goblins alike!
Though the brown and teal goblins manage to avoid some of the blast’s damage, even the reduced damage is too much and they fall to the ground dead. Light blue, white, and dark blue all take the full impact of the blast and light blue looks to be on the verge of collapsing.
Uruelleth, after the burst of cold energy, starts swinging away at the remaining goblins, starting with the most injured and working his way to the next if his attacks drop any. He has to take a step out of the mist to reach the white goblin. It only takes a single blow to fell him. Uruelleth continues his assault with the dark blue goblin and finishes that one off with his second blow.
Yellow Monkey Goblin turns on Kilarra and strikes at her twice. Both of his attacks miss.
Purple Monkey Goblin fires at Kilarra again. One arrow lands.
Gray Monkey Goblin copies the purple one again. He misses.
Brown Monkey Goblin is dead.
Light Blue Monkey Goblin fires two arrows at Kilarra and misses with both.
Teal Monkey Goblin is dead.
White Monkey Goblin is dead.
Dark Blue Monkey Goblin is dead.
Having left one of her sabres on the ground behind her, Kilarra quick draws one of her backup blades and attacks the yellow goblin.
Talia finally sees the fight coming to a close and tries to bring things to a swift end. She triggers her Evil Eye hex on on Purple, targetting its attack rolls.
Uruelleth flies back up to the rock and lands next to Kilarra. He takes a big swing at the light blue goblin.
Sensing that the tide of battle had turned, Talivar stepped out of the cloud to accompanied by a blast of arctic wind and snow, to stand next to Talia. He glanced down and noticed snow from his footprints melting under the hot Mediogalti sun. Almost casually he reached for more power and flung a jet of ultra-cold water at the closest goblin. This sent a spray of droplets so cold they burned over the other two nearby.
Spell slots used: 1st: 6/8, 2nd: 4/7, 3rd: 6/6, 4th: 3/5
Buffs: Mage Armor (5 hours)
Resources used: Urea Power Component: 36/40, Tangle Burn Bag: 1/3, Haste wand: 10/10, Daylight wand: 1/10, Lesser Extend Metamagic rod: 1/3, Lesser Selective Metamagic : 0/3
Kilarra, having left one of her sabres on the ground behind her, quick draws one of her backup blades and attacks the yellow goblin. Her first blow slices into the yellow goblin. It manages to dodge her second strike. Kilarra’s third blow proves to be the goblin’s undoing. Her blade slices across the goblin’s throat. A look of shock forms on his face for half a second before his eyes roll back into his head and he falls to the ground dead.
Talia finally sees the fight coming to a close and tries to bring things to a swift end. She triggers her Evil Eye hex on Purple, targeting its attack rolls. She hexes it once again.
Talivar, sensing that the tide of battle had turned, stepped out of the cloud to accompanied by a blast of arctic wind and snow, to stand next to Talia. He glanced down and noticed snow from his footprints melting under the hot Mediogalti sun. Almost casually he reached for more power and flung a jet of ultra-cold water at the closest goblin. This sent a spray of droplets so cold they burned over the other two nearby. His frigid blast collides with the purple goblin, nearly toppling him. The arc then continues to the gray goblin, who fares better, but still takes some damage. The light blue goblin was already on the verge of collapsing, so Talivar’s spell is enough to finish it off.
Uruelleth flies back up to the rock and lands next to Kilarra. The bloodrager takes a big swing at the purple goblin, cleanly slicing off his head.
Gray Monkey Goblin, seeing all his companions dead, lets out an embarrassing scream before running away… or trying to, at least.
Once the mist parts, you see Lork still sitting in his cage. The man seems disoriented for a moment before he realizes you won. He manages a small smile before glancing toward his hands that are currently tied behind his back. “Mind getting these things off me?”
Talia removes her defensive spell, satisfied that the defensive barrier had taken no damage, and seemed to be only limited by duration.
"Not a bad fight I think, all things considered. Considering that we were outnumbered more than three to one and still came through, bodes well for future attacks against the other tribes. Nice defensive spells Talivar, and excellent slaying skills Uruelleth and Kilarra. We should probably make a tactical withdrawal soon, we seem to be out of resources at present." Talia remarks, before walking over to Lork and attempting to remove the shackles as best as she can.
Talivar nodded at Talia and winced when he saw the state Kilarra and Uruelleth where in. "That" he said emphatically, "Was a close run thing."
He picked his way down the slope after Talia and while she was freeing Lork he asked mildly, "How'd you get here Lork? Your village is miles away."
Uruelleth takes a parting swing, but his heart isn't in it. Sometimes it's good to leave terrified witnesses to speak of your prowess.
He releases his rage and pants raggedly for a while. With the rage gone, many of his wounds suddenly feel much worse.
He stays watchful for a counterattack though he doesn't truly believe these goblins have it in them. Besides, they were supposed to have help. "Have the kobolds been signaled to begin their attack?" he asks.
Talivar could have slapped himself, "Yeah. Good point!" He paused for a moment before laughing, "Time to set the cat among the pigeons."
He visualised the most ridiculously large mantis, the size of an ox, colored red and dripping with blood. With a word this ridiculous sight was seen above the treeline - a clear signal for the Kobolds to attack under the pretense this had been an official red mantis operation.
With a devil may care attitude Talivar explained, "Might as well blame the enemy for this. They were gunning for us anyway. That's still true but we get to tweak their noses in return which I regard as a win."
Kilarra collects her weapons and sets about looting the dead.
When Talia has the chance, she makes the shaman use the healing wand on her.
Lork’s bindings are quite rusty, so it takes a couple minutes to remove them. It doesn’t help that the man smells quite foul. It appears he’s been in the cage for days if not weeks and the goblins didn’t bother to let him out to use the bathroom.
Once he’s finally free, Lork rubs his wrists where his manacles had once been. He grimaces at Talivar’s question and replies, “I don’t think it was ever my village, and it certainly isn’t now. The village elders… they decided to pledge their full support to the Mantis. They were in the process of gathering a mob to capture me as a ‘tribute’ to the Mantis when I caught wind of their plot and fled. To think that I fled only to be captured by a bunch of goblins.”
Lork shakes his head before continuing, “But I guess I made the right decision in the end, since you’re here now. Thank you.” He glances over at the skeleton in the cage next to his before adding, “I would have ended up like him if not for your arrival.”
He falls silent for a moment before awkwardly asking, “Do you… do you need help with anything?”
-----
You hear howls and screams in the distance as Talivar gives the signal to the kobolds. Without venturing out of the area yourselves, it will likely be close to an hour or more before you find out how the kobolds fare against the remainder of the Egg Suckers.
Once you get the chance to search the dead goblins, you find that most of their gear is rather mundane. The exception is Gawg’s gear. He has a few different noteworthy items on his body.
Gawg had:
A magical greatsword
Magical Lamellar (steel) armor
A magical amulet
A magical ring
A magical cloak
Everyone else had:
12 masterwork longbows
12 masterwork short swords
12 chain shirts
"I don't know Lork..." remarked Talivar mildly as he examined Gawg's gear. He glanced at the others as he said, "Do we?"
Talivar is able to identify a couple pieces of Gawg's magical gear.
Greatsword - still unknown
+2 Lamellar (steel)
Amulet - still unknown
Ring - still unknown
Cloak of Resistance +3
Talia doesn't sense any deception from Lork.
Talia's unable to help Talivar identify the greatsword or the ring, but she recognizes the amulet as an Amulet of Natural Armor +2.
"We should get out of here. I don't like the idea of running into something while low on resources." Talia remarks simply, trying to be practical about the whole thing.
"Afterwards, we could probably liberate Lork's village. They might know more members of the Mantis we could lure out or eliminate, or just remove as potential allies. I'd prefer to avoid doing that today though, after all the combat we just had though."
"Afterwards, we could probably liberate Lork's village."
"That's something to think on." replied Talivar, "But yeah I think you're right we should head back. Next time though, I'm not sure we'll have the luxury. I expect reprisals, so keep your eyes open even if they're possibly not coming today."
Uruelleth looks confused. "Liberate? Maybe that word means something different than I've used it for. Lork said the village elders decided to support the Red Mantis. That makes them our enemy. I think we should do what we talked about doing when we first got here. Raid it."
He looks down at his wounds, the pain coming from them loud and angry. "You know, later."
Lork grimaces as you discuss his village... or former village. He nods at Uruelleth's assessment. "I think he's right. There are a few that haven't bent the knee, but most of the villagers, and especially the elders, are now loyal to the Mantis."
Still uncertain of his standing with the party, Lork asks, "May I come with you? Between fleeing the village, getting captured and dragged here, and hanging in that cage for weeks on end, I don't exactly know where I would go on my own."
Through cracked lips, he adds, "Do you have any water I could drink?"
Talivar passes the lad a canteen and shrugs, "Sounds like we'd have to kill the majority of em and for what? Nah I think we've got bigger fish to fry."
Uruelleth shrugs at Lork's request to join them. He'd never trusted the man, but it's hard to believe he'd allow himself to be captured by goblins on the odd chance that they were going to liberate him just to insinuate himself in their mission.
"Sure, come on if you like. You must be tired of being rescued from goblins."
Lork takes Talivar’s canteen with a grateful smile, drawing several gulps before returning it.
He frowns a bit at Uruelleth’s pronouncement and ventures, “I think it was more like you assisted with the goblins the first time, but I’ll certainly grant that I was rescued this time.”
You head out from the heart of Egg Sucker territory. For about fifteen minutes you don’t encounter anyone, goblins, kobolds, or otherwise. However, soon after that time passes, you begin to pass several dead goblins, with the occasional kobold mixed among them.
Pixxiv and a few other kobolds appear from under some bushes as you’re walking. She waves at you, but still seems to be keeping a close watch on the surrounding trees. She glances at Lork, not sure what to make of the newcomer.
Speaking in her broken Common she says, “Most suckers dead, others flee, or most I think. Still must care. Good signal. Who this?” Pixxiv gestures to Lork after her question.
Uruelleth answers her in Draconic. "That's Lork. He was captured by the goblins. We've met him before, but we've never trusted him fully. Now that he has nowhere else to go, he's coming with us. He might be useful."
Talivar nodded once to acknowledge Pixxiv's words before before asking, "How many casualties did we suffer, and have you seen Makkatat?"
Pixxiv responds to Uruelleth in Draconic, "I see. Well, we'll have to hold you responsible for anything he does. The Thunderscale don't let just any outsider into our Warrens after all."
In Common, Pixxiv says to Talivar, "Too soon know number. Many less than Suckers. Makkatat at Warrens. He no fight. Was well last I saw him."
"I'm tapped out of magic unfortunately. Hexes, I have an unlimited supply of, but my defensive spells are gone and I'd like to recharge my magic" Talia remarks simply before turning to Pixxiv.
"I'll want a full meeting with Makkatat the moment we know the number of casualties. We still have the Spikespur, Knotsnarl and Longlung tribes to deal with, all before we go head to head with Firesinger and the Pulpdrool tribe. We still still need the numbers and there is a lot of fighting still to go. I'll also want to speak to Makkatat about when the tribe is willing to attack the next target, and the time and distances involved. I don't know much about kobolds but they might want a day or so to celebrate before facing the prospect of yet another savage battle."
"As for Lork, he can stay on the outskirts of the Warrens. It should keep him out of trouble, and it still lets you preserve the secret ways into and out of the Warren - meaning that there is a limited security concern. Someone will need to keep an eye on him, but this should be a compromise for now. I'm not as worried about the minor possibility of the Mantis setting this up - we know that they already know so much about the Thunderscale tribe that anything sneaky is likely to be of limited value."
"Hey, Lork. You like being bound, or what?" Kilarra remarks with a smirk to find the captive man. She helps set him free, but pays him little mind after that, focusing on her surroundings and any surviving goblins.
"Are we needed anywhere else?" she asks Pixxiv. "Any goblin holdouts I can help handle?"
“Most Suckers fled to northwest,” Pixxiv says. “Probably going to Ganda-Uj. Firesinger could kill as easy as take in.”
When Talia asks about time frames, Pixxiv says, “Could be few days before we know number of kills and deaths. Some kobolds zealousover. They pursue too far. Not ready for another battle in least a week, if I guess.”
Lork winces at Talia speaks of him and he answers Kilarra’s smirk with a frown. When there’s a quiet moment, he asks Kilarra, “How can you smirk in a situation like this? We’re in the middle of a battlefield in a jungle crawling with goblins, on an island ruled by the Mantis. Don’t you think that calls for some seriousness?”
"Yeah but we are still breathing, which is always cause for celebration. Its also amusing foiling the Mantis over and over again. I think Kilarra also likes being tied up as well. All reasons to not take the given situation seriously and crack a joke - life is short" Talia responds philosophically towards Lork's question before turning to Pixxiv.
"If its going to take at least a week before the force is ready again, I assume Makkatat would have no objections if my friends and I took care of a few other errands? Practically speaking, we will need more information on the remaining goblin tribes, and who Makkatat wants to next target, but asside from this, my schedule is pretty open."
Pixxiv shrugs and says, "Kilarra and Uruelleth Trampled. They do what they want. You with them? You do what you want, er, if it what they want."
True to form, Kilarra smirks back at Lork, despite being slathered in as much of her own blood as she is goblin blood. "Plenty of time to frown when I'm dead. But, if you want a serious rescuer you're welcome to hop back in the cage. Maybe the kobolds will give you a chance." She gives Lork a wink and saunters off. Calling back over her shoulder at him she adds, "Besides, I haven't clapped you back in irons. Sounds like reason for you to celebrate, at least."
"I suppose," Lork says to Talia's response.
His mouth slowly opens before staying slightly ajar at Kilarra's reply. He eventually recomposes himself enough to shut his mouth, but otherwise remains speechless.
Talivar glanced at Lork, "Cracknut Kilarra would smirk at death itself. Wouldn't bet against her if it came to a fight either....Anyway should be getting back." suggested Talivar adding, "I guess we should plan the next strike, and act before the tribes have a chance to realise what's up and unite against us."
Lork’s head swivels in a flash from Talivar to Kilarra at the sorcerer’s nickname for the slayer. Lork seems to expect some sort of retaliation from Kilarra.
“Um, I’m ready to head to the Warrens, I guess,” he says awkwardly.
Pixxiv leads you out of what was formerly Egg Sucker territory. It takes the better part of the day to get back to the Warrens as you move slower than normal to watch out for potential ambushes.
You make it back to the Warrens in one piece to find it abuzz with activity. It seems word of the successful battle has already arrived and a couple of the guards shout in excitement as the pair of Trampled appear.
As you arrive, Lork asks, “Where do I go?”
-----
Once you get back to Makkatat, the kobold leader greets you with a smile and dismisses Pixxiv before saying, “I heard the battle went well. The reports I’ve received were all second-hand, though. I assume you took care of Gawg and the rest of the Suckers’ leadership yourselves? Do tell.”
"You stay on the outskirts of the Warrens, I'm sure we can find a comfortable place for you to rest, recover and stay" Talia replies to Lork smoothly, still wanting to make sure he is looked after, but not really wanting to remove the protection the maze of corridors the Warren's rely on for security reasons.
~~~
"Infiltration didn't work unfortunately, so we attacked their meeting party head on and crushed them into retreat, before infiltrating further with invisibility spells. Gawg unfortunately had a fairly large escort of about 12 goblins with him, plus high ground, but we were able to get the drop on him and took him out without too much difficulty. Unfortunately all twelve goblins wanted revenge rather than retreating as we had expected, so it took us quite the time to clean up afterwards. By and large we emerged unscathed, but we were fortunate that there wasn't further combat to deal with, as much of our resources had been drained by this time." Talia responds to Makkatat, with a quick summary.
As one of the Trampled, Uruelleth gives a few words of their victory to the kobolds they pass as they are brought to Makkatat. It was the usual story; those who remain behind on a raid are always anxious for news. It was always important to make sure they knew how resounding their victory was.
He listens to Talia's wordy account of their battle while he thinks of their next move. Considering how many goblins escaped and likely headed to their central community of Ganda-Uj, he wondered if there was an opportunity to continue to sow more confusion and distrust among the goblin tribes.
"I think we should rest enough to be healed and for spellcasting to be restored, then we should strike another goblin tribe. The ruse didn't work, but maybe it will this time. We want to continue to make the goblins think that the Mantis have turned on them, right? Even if we don't destroy the tribe like the Egg Suckers, we can hurt them. Make them weaker for when it's time to finish them off."
"He's got a point, all those who saw through the ruse are dead." remarked Talivar. And then something occurred to him, "On another matter, we should come up with something for Lork to do. I think he wants to help."
”I don’t want to try the disguise strategy again. None of you can make strong enough disguises without my assistance, and it stretches my magic to cover this gap. It also requires all of our disguises to be successful - if one fails they all fail, and then it leaves me with a bunch of useless spells that I could have avoided. Furthermore, two goblins escaped the original meeting and there’s no telling how many people they told. It’s now too risky to try the tactic again” Talia replies.
Uruelleth has to try not to roll his eyes. "I didn't say we try to disguise our way in. I think we simply wear the disguises as we attack them and kill their leaders and champions."
Lork follows Talia’s instructions, staying on the outskirts of the Warrens. Before you leave him, he says, “I don’t think going back to Cuttle is going to be an option anytime soon, and I highly doubt Ilizmagorti will be any better. We share a common enemy. If you think of some way I can assist - that doesn’t involve me getting put in a cage again - please let me know.”
-----
Makkatat listens to your exchange for a bit before saying, “You’ll get no protest from me, whatever you decide. Attacking the next tribe now or a week from now both work for me. Just know that we won’t be able to provide support if you attack right away. If you plan to do so, I would recommend going after the Longlung tribe. They’re a bit out of the way, but they’re the smallest of the tribes. Their power comes from their ability to swim and scavenge from the various shipwrecks around the island.”
When Talivar mentions Lork, Makkatat asks, "Who's this Lork?"
"O.k, thats fine" Talia remarks in response to Rue, with her arms firmly folded in a tone that indicates it was anything but.
"You firstly need to first get past the scouts they all have, on high alert after the Egg Suckers went down. Disguises are out, and so is Stealth because Talivar and myself are, quick frankly, useless at it. Invisibility has a limited duration and requires too much magical investment, and still relies on the after-mentioned stealth to be successful. This leaves teleportation, which is being done blind. You don't have access to divination spells, so you cannot pin down your ideal destination any better, you dont have information on the leaders, and you can bet that most of their leaders are going to be in the middle of the city, highly defended."
Talia huffs slightly, before changing her tone to become a little more polite. She knew that she wasn't being fair on Uruelleth who was genuinely trying to provide a solid tactical plan.
"I'm...I'm not trying to take a dump all over your idea, but I don't see how you avoid the scouts, find a leader relatively isolated, silently kill said leader and then leave undetected without a ton of good fortune involved. If you have a solution though, I'm all ears."
"For instance I'm good at disguise, and I could polymorph myself into a goblin, get info, and then we can try and get an ideal teleport destination to execute a sneaky strike attack but I'm sure you would agree that its fairly risky since I'd be all on my lonesome. I don't see the value of you guys wearing disguises at all - there were two survivors that saw through the initial disguise that we did not kill. The ruse is now not going to be as successful as it could have been."
Finished with the topic, Talia responds to Makkatat.
"Lork is a friend who was captured in a cage by the goblins. We rescued him, and discovered that his tribe supports the Red Mantis, so he has nowhere to go. He is on the outskirts of the city - we wanted to respect your security of the Warrens. He is keen to help though - he has no love for the Mantis or the Goblins."
Crossing her arms, Kilarra asks Talia, "What do you suggest, then? We're not sitting on our asses for a week."
Talivar slipped behind some shadows and waited for a bit before creeping up behind Talia and whispering in her ear, "Boo!"
Grinning at her he said, "Speak for yourself Talia! Maybe I'm not as good as the real experts but I wouldn't say I was useless at hiding. Yes it's taxing to make us all invisible but I can make myself invisible for about an hour a day and I can fly for a similar length of time. Its true I wouldn't be able to do that and fight a battle but it is possible to scout one day and fight the next."
Talivar laughed as if he dismissed that idea before adding another, "Oh course that's far from the only way! I tend to think our original plan was sound, it's just we didn't think it through."
Grinning he mimicked Talia's voice and mannerisms as he explained, "Obviously we should have cast tongues on our best liar. Looking back now, how did we expect to not fail?!"