@Unk
You let the imp into the house hoping for the best and after a few minutes, Qrix reemerges triumphant with a curl of brunette hair from the elven girl.
Unk produces some twin from his robe and uses it to tie up the curl of hair before he places the tiny bundle inside his haversack.
"Dobre svŭrshenata rabota, dyavol. Sega da otidem da otkradnem nyakoi igrachki."Unk and Qrix attempt to spend the next few hours stealing hair from children in other houses.
Bogdirt became caught up in the killing frenzy, and didn't notice the lucky or more skilled bandit, so he called upon the hand of Alabarath, with a shout of devotion, once more to wield his weapon.
"Yes! Tua lawv! Alabarath tau tso cai rau peb lawv cev nqaij daim tawv! Peb yuav noj, noj tsau hwv lawm! Ces, peb yuav tsum coj lawv cov zoo nkauj cov nyiaj nyiag los thiab muab mus rau hauv cov nag-bringer rau tsaug!"
The dogslicer hurtled through the air toward the bandit thirty feet from him. As the dogslicer returned to his grip, he moved to the enemy closest to him.
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@Magda
The woman doesn't seem scared or threatening, but there is a certain defensiveness in her behavior. she sometimes seem to pay more attention to what is inside the house than you, possibly making sure she has backup.
At your mention of the origins of the swamp she has a reaction, confusion it seems, but is soon washed away by confidence.
"Your religion need some revising. It was no god who made this swamp but a mere human, although in possess of considerable magical powers. I believe he is dead now, or at the very least he abandoned this swamp for quite some time now. As for an alliance... you don't know me and I do not know the work you do for that god of yours. We don't even know if we might be of help, but most of all, we do not know how would that benefit us."\
@Unk
You and your Imp check other houses to steal locks of hair from other children. not having tracked others as meticulously as you did with the elf you sometimes end up having your Imp sneak into houses with no kids at all, but in general you manage to get another couple kids hair. a human and a half-elf.
@Bogdirt
You cut down another bandit with ease. while they might be a match for your goblins you realize they are no match for you.
The goblins continue their attack, mong the 3 attacking the one who proved able to defend himself one manage to hit but not deep enough to put him out of commission. and the volley of arrows this time missed their mark.
The goblins agility and their new armor prove to be a very effective defense, Except in one case. One of the bandits manages to strige a goblin hard on the shoulder, splitting his armor open, creaking the bones and getting deep into his abdomen. The bandit kicks his body away from the blade leaving him to bleed to death on the ground.
Bogdirt noticed that the bandits fell easily to his attacks. He let the aura of cold around his dogslicer fade away. He stabbed around himself, in complete joy at the smell of blood in the air. Two quick stabs were aimed at the bandits around him.
"Koj yog tsis to taub," Magda says, waving her off dismissively. She does not have the patience to educate an ignorant, blasphemous human. She takes a few measures steps to the side, gesturing the Biggest Stick towards the bloody tables. "Koj tuaj ntawm no mus ua ntshav ua hauj lwm, nyob deb ntawm prying ob lub qhov muag, tsis muaj? Tsis li ntawd, tsis zoo li kuv. Kuv tej kuv yuav nrhiav tau ib co kev them nyiaj uas yuav tsum tau tsim. Nyob rau hauv xa rov qab, kuv tsuas hais rau ib tug ob peb ntawm koj khawv koob dej qab zib."
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@Bogdirt
You easily slay the two bandits as the goblins in the back drop their bows, take their dogslicers and charge at the Bandits.
Surrounded the bandits panic, unable to fight back anymore, they would escape if only they didn't had their back to the wall.
The bandits get slaughtered by the goblins with ease.
At this point the goblins let loose to their more chaotic behavior.
Some persist to inflict injuries to the inert corpses of the bandits, some mock the one goblin who fell in this raid while others are already obening the boxes, taking the valuables or gorging on the bandits food.
@Magda
The Woman scoffs.
"Then I suggest you return when you actually have something to offer for our potions." She says as she is walking back on the hut but at that point she stops and looks back.
"Actually, I would hate for you to come back with no clue of what you can trade for our help, almost as much as I would hate have you back to just propose to us countless deals we are not interested about. So I will give you something.
There is a girl in Pashow. She has raven hair, pale skin and eyes of 2 different colors. If you manage to take her on our behalf and deliver her here, unharmed...."
She chuckles
"Well... if you do that, me and my sisters will be certainly impressed. Enough to part away with some potions and aid you in your work as you said."
Bogdirt meandered about the camp, taking in the carnage, before quickly confronting the goblins gorging themselves. He stared them down for a few seconds before shouting, "Tsis txhob! Peb yuav tsum tseg cov zaub mov mus txawv tebchaws! Qhov ntawd yog lub ntsiab yog vim li cas rau siv ceev xwmphem. Mus npaj lub longshanks rau lub dawm. NEEG TUA TSIAJ lawv! Yog hais tias koj nyiag zaub mov, koj yuav tsum hloov nws!"
Let them take that as they will.
Then he settled in to keep watch of his group after setting two lookouts.
@Unk
You and your Imp check other houses to steal locks of hair from other children. not having tracked others as meticulously as you did with the elf you sometimes end up having your Imp sneak into houses with no kids at all, but in general you manage to get another couple kids hair. a human and a half-elf.
Having gathered hair for Magda, Unk and Qrix sneak back into their rented room.
After less than 3 hours rest and preparation (made possible by his Ring of Sustenance), Unk purchases trail rations and decides to visit the small oasis he had passed by on the way to Pashow.|
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@Bogdirt
You try to assess the amount of loot you got your hands on.
there are 500 gp in coins and various goods, mainly bolts of silk and jars of spices. You are unable to assess their value (rolled your untrained appraise behind scene) but you assume that if the bandits kept it around that must have value. you will need someone else to assess the price or some of your human allies to bring it to a market to know how much is worth.
Aside from that you find food, enough for 47 rations (originally 48, 4 days of food per bandit but one ration is what your goblins where fighting over before you stopped them), and the bandits equipment: 6 scimitars, 6 spears, 6 shortbows and 12 leather armors)
The horses and camels are still there but goblins are afraid and distrustful of horses and not completely comfortable with camels.
You know that camels and horses sell for a good price but would be hard to have the goblins manage the animals. you probably would have better luck harvesting meat from them.
@Unk
After your rest you return to the desert.
You reach the oasis in a few hours and start to take note of things.
There are 2 main buildings, one in the opposite side of the oasis from the other. you assume those are 2 separate farms inhabited by 2 separate families.
Date palms are stacked around the oasis in an orderly manner so you have to assume that they were planted and tended to rather than growing naturally.
One of the two farms have a fence inside of which a dozen goats are living, while on the other side there is a hut and you can see a few chickens emerging from it.
you kept yourself at the right distance up until now and you have seen humans around but you will have to get closer to assess the full extent of the oasis resources.
Magda cannot stop herself from grinning. She has barely enough restraint not to cackle. "Just one girl? That will hardly be a challenge. I will contact you again when I have her. Until then..."
The priestess shifts once again, this time into the shape of a large vulture, and takes to the skies. She flies in a wide arc around the swamp, glancing back just to see if she's being followed by anything. She knows it wouldn't be hard to find the Grubstomp village if anyone came looking - the Spire would be visible from some distance away - but she was curious to see just how paranoid the witch and her "sisters" were.
Gesturing toward the horses and camels, Bogdirt shouted to the goblins butchering the humanoids, "NEEG TUA TSIAJ cov tsiaj thiab. Lo 'em tag nrho ntawm xib xub los ntawm deb. Lawv tej zaum yuav tsis kawm rau fights. Yog hais tias lub khiav, tsis txhob thab chasing. Peb yuav tsum tau txaus yum nqaij lawm. Faus rau nyiaj nyiag los qhov twg peb yuav nrhiav tau tom qab. Tsis txhob xav nqa nws yog hais tias peb tsis tas yuav."
Bogdirt made a mental note of the amount of loot gathered from the camp in order to detect theft so that it might be punished. His party will have to sleep through the heat of the day because night will end before all of the meat is ready. He set extra guards in case the smell of blood and death attracts any scavengers.
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Magda cannot stop herself from grinning. She has barely enough restraint not to cackle. "Just one girl? That will hardly be a challenge. I will contact you again when I have her. Until then..."
"Yes" says the woman chuckling "Just one girl... although. Voices are that she is now with a group of adventurers and became quite an accomplished sorceress. Hardly a challenge am I right?" she repeats imitating your tone and then bursting in laughter.
She enters her hut and closes the door behind her. as you fly away you do not notice any attempt to follow you nor coming out of the hut to search for Albarath. As far as you can say Moira and her sisters Seem either unconcerned or simply too busy with whatever they are doing in their house.
@Bogdirt
Your goblins butcher down the beasts. the result is far from the neatly organized rations from the bandits and you cannot tell how much will they last. Horse and camel meat taste extremely bland to the goblin's mouth as goblin, human rations are only slightly better. Goblins are used to brined food and anything short of being extremely salty feels tasteless to your kind, but you are sure that although not tasty the roasted meat will efficiently fill your troops bellies for 2 days tops. after that, consumed or not, the meat is going to spoil beyond repair in the heat of the desert and you do not have any way to preserve it.
While your goblins are resting all that comes to visit, attracted by the smell of blood, is a flock of vultures. it just takes a couple of goblin arrows to convince them to find easier preys somewhere else.
As the sun sets you are ready to either proceed your march towards the trading hub, return to your swamp or set a new course.
After Magda doesn't see anything trailing her, she returns back to the village and takes her own shape again. Although abductions were her specialty, taking a sorcerer - with friends no less - would take more intensive preparations than usual. She would have to come up with a suitable plan. Lure them out into the desert somehow and pick them off one by one? Perhaps. She would wait for Unk to return and find out what he learned before going any further.
@Unk
After your rest you return to the desert.
You reach the oasis in a few hours and start to take note of things.
There are 2 main buildings, one in the opposite side of the oasis from the other. you assume those are 2 separate farms inhabited by 2 separate families.
Date palms are stacked around the oasis in an orderly manner so you have to assume that they were planted and tended to rather than growing naturally.
One of the two farms have a fence inside of which a dozen goats are living, while on the other side there is a hut and you can see a few chickens emerging from it.
you kept yourself at the right distance up until now and you have seen humans around but you will have to get closer to assess the full extent of the oasis resources.
Unk rubs his beard while addressing his familiar, Qrix
"Qrix, I have a special mission for you. I'll return here in the morning after three nights have passed. Each night I'm gone, you will carve out 'Albarath' in the sand in front of the houses. During the days you will spy on them, pay special attention to anyone who seems in charge of water. Stay invisible until after we meet at my return, and do not cause the farmers material harm in my absence."With that, Unk leaves the oasis to head back to the swamp, back to Albarath.
After arriving back, Unk finds Priestess Magda and hands her the hair he gathered.
"Kuv tau rov qab los ntawm lub nroog. Ntawm no, kuv muaj dab tsi koj xav tau. Tej xov xwm?"
Bogdirt had been given a mission by the most holy Albarath, and by Albarath, he was going to see it through. He ordered two goblins to scout ahead and one to be rear guard. It is easier to hide in the darkness, but it goes both ways. He steps into the monotony of the march.
Magda eagerly snatches up her prize, gesturing for Unk to follow her into her home. She begins sorting each lock of hair meticulously in front of a wide bowl of clear water. "Pom ib yam dab tsi interesting rau hauv lub hav iav. Tab sis ua ntej ntawd, lwm yam ua lag ua luam. Magda tsis tau tawm hauv lub zos dawb do li ntev raws li cov neeg ruam yuav ua kom puas nws. Peb yuav tsum tau kev pab sab nrauv."
Magda crosses the room to the walls of the hut, covered by many generations of paintings. One of the older sections depicts a massive, goblin-like creature with the head of a wolf and a human corpse between its teeth. She places her hand over it almost reverently. "Peb yuav tsum tau qhov no."
We need this.
"Hah! Ntawm cov hoob kawm! Ib pab neeg ua nyob rau hauv ... ntuj raug txim."
Unk considers for a moment, admiring the artwork, "Kuv mam li nug Albarath yog hais tias nws xav kom hu tau tsis pub dhau los yog sab nraum ntawm nws dawb huv nws tus kheej.
Los ntawm txoj kev, uas kos ntawd?"
By the way, who drew that? "
"Cov ruam qub pov thawj pe hawm cov tsiaj qus nyob rau hnub ua ntej Albarath sawv. Peb yuav coj nws tus me vaj tswv thiab ua nws pab peb."
By now, Magda is talking to herself more than she is talking to Unk. She does seem to get some pleasure out of misusing the old religion so blatantly.
After dismissing the wizard, Magda gets to work scrying. Since she is only prepared to watch once today, she chooses at random which hair to use first. Tomorrow, she will dedicate the entire day to scouting them out and gathering information.
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@Bogdirt:
you proceed your march towards the trading hub. Camping during the day and making the most of the night.
After 2 more days of march your vanguard returns to announce you that they spotted the hub.
They spotted a little more than 10 guards patrolling the camp but they are likely to work in shifts and you can expect somewhere between 2 and 3 times that number if alerted.
@Magda
You start scrying on the children. A human, a half elf and an elf.
The half elf seems to be the least promising of the bunch.
He is the son of a single elven mother who struggles to give him attentions. He is still very young but he seems to be growing up as kind of a rebel, possibly a delinquent, and while you won't have a problem with that he seems hard to work with and shows no signs of being inclined to any academic of arcane pursuit.
The human seems docile and relatively well mannered. She is the daughter of a scribe and a housewife. She knows how to read and he does read a lot which could mean a good disposition towards learning, although none of her readings are even tangentially related to magic.
The elf is a rather active kid. He is the son of an elven wizard who works in a magic item shop and a bard who performs in local taverns. he is fond of both of them and flip flopping on which one of them he wants to be like growing up. He grew up in a household that is magically inclined, saw and "read" grimoires already but is likely way too young and unprepared to have grasped anything useful. while he has the pedigree to become a wizard, he still have to demonstrate if he has the discipline to succeed as one.
I'd appreciate a ping for sure. :)
I won't promise anything though :p