Vesi and Russ swiftly and efficiently skin and butcher the dead boar. Before you can depart from the area, though, a grinning goblin steps out into the clearing. Clad in leather armor and a skullcap, the goblin bravely strides toward you in a manner that borders on arrogance, but doesn't quite cross the line.
"You guys are wicked tough! I watched you fight that big pig. Bam! Whoosh! Pow! You really did a number on him!" the goblin says. He points at Knaxshi. "Especially this guy and his boom-stick! You all are real adventuring heroes, aren't ya? My name's Nok-Nok! I am a great goblin hero, and I'm ready to help you kill monsters!"
Vesi laughs delightedly at the goblin's introduction. "Hello, Nok-Nok, a pleasure to meet you! What brings you to the Stolen Lands? And before you help us kill monsters, would you help us eat this boar? I was going to make a hunter's roast for us tonight."
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Russ was starting to see what Jaethal meant when she asked if they picked up every stray as Vesi immediately started to work on recruiting this goblin. His tribe and goblins never really had a mutual understanding, a shared hatred for the hunting hounds of the humans in the area that's for sure, but that was never really enough to spur them towards working together. They were just too sporadic, spontaneous, and chaotic to be reliable partners in the field.
"Ah.. y-yes let's all make a suitable camp in the clearing and discuss with everyone so that they don't mistake you for one of the monsters. Some of us have a rather quick reflex to stab and poke before talking. Then you can tell us about yourself and why you want to join us in slaying monsters."
Vesi spends some time gathering wild onions, carrots and herbs to prepare Ekundayo's hunter's roast using a sizeable cut of boar.
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Blaze greets Nok-Nok with a look of real excitement on her face. "Maal ren! Sto durs kahl ket? Sto'n kahl'iy prerit mei sep yik piers? Ti awet, ti awet. Ten teequ ha talie, ten capp es kine, op ti oaqu ti con by sep dinnar op spidarkell. Ten'i nyala! Op meis imi Blaze!"
Knaxshi will add his two cents in Goblin as well.
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Vesi laughs delightedly at the goblin's introduction. "Hello, Nok-Nok, a pleasure to meet you! What brings you to the Stolen Lands? And before you help us kill monsters, would you help us eat this boar? I was going to make a hunter's roast for us tonight."
"Yes! I am happy to help you eat anything you need!" Nok-Nok says with a grin.
"I have come to be a hero! Though, I’m just getting started in that line of work. I am ready to help kill big, scary monsters! But I promise that I won’t kill my friends! Will you be my friends?”
"Hey cousin! What brings you here? What's your hustle out among these longshanks? I know, I know. My teeth are dull, my legs are long, but I'm invited to the cookout back in Chitterwood. I'm Nyala! But here they call me Blaze!"
"Huzzah, big burning cousin! Anybody who enjoys setting fires as much as you do is okay by me! Truth be told, there is no hustle. I am following my grand destiny! You see, I am the sole survivor of the village of Mudsip. A scary hydra attacked, devouring all the other goblins, but I stood bravely before it and defeated it in single combat! The great goddess Lamashtu herself then granted me these two very sharp kukris as a reward for my mighty deed! Since then, I have seen the signs Lamashtu placed before me, guiding me to these lands. She has chosen me to be a big damn goblin hero, so that is what I'm going to be!"
"I'm Knaxshi. Glad you like the boomstick."
"Yes! Such loud! Much boom. Wow!"
***
You set up camp for the night as Vesi prepares a roast from Tuskgutter's remains. Ekundayo proves to be talented at gathering wild edibles, and he has a knack at finding precise ingredients, pleasant spices, and medicinal herbs as he does so. When the roast is ready, the ranger digs in. "Mmmm. It is... acceptable," he remarks. Dog whines up at Ekundayo and licks his chops, and the man begrudgingly gives the animal a portion of the roast.
Amiri looks over at Nok-Nok between bites and grins. "I like the new guy's attitude. I think we should keep him!"
"Hmph," Ekundayo grunts noncommitally.
Raising an eyebrow at Ekundayo, Vesi prompts him. "Only acceptable? What is missing then? Or what would you do differently?" The druid examines some of the herbs and roots that the ranger had gathered. "Is this one primrose? It's a touch more orange than I know it."
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Russ sits down to eat with the group oddly uncomfortable with the goblin at first but eventually he starts to warm up slightly even though he doesn't understand the story.
He laughs dryly at Amiri's comment, "He is certainly um.. excitable, if it's the will of the group then I've no issue. We're quite the odd mismatched band as is. No finer a group to hold dominion over what will one day be one of Golarions' finest cities. One that may even rival that of Absalom one day!"
He raises a two-pronged fork with boar meat on it as if celebrating with a sort of toast to the group.
"Primrose. Rosemary. Thyme," Ekundayo says, pointing to various herbs. "I would have cooked the meat a bit less, to preserve some of the juiciness. But overall, a decent first effort."
He takes another bite, chews, swallows. "Do not worry, I will help you prepare the next roast. It will be better."
"Ae rivar?! Set ha sem za ten aim sreths tam fier ou dep tam connoc! Ade kahl fal sep sreth mei sep nyakah? Po ha kahl ae nyalcon? Ak not'ke gotin aftar Ekundayo's odd (es yik, nit, el trisrit ovar crey), not vie suke kat kahl'iy warit za braetrit!"
Turning to the others she takes a large bite of boar, "Mfe fez-" **gulp** "-He says he's a mighty hydra hunter, killed the beast that did for his whole village, and that was before he got his fancy kukris! Great roast Vez.
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"A hydra huh? That's quite a feat even for a substantial force, I hope we don't find any more of them here."
Russ doesn't have much to say to the new companions and is just happy to sit by and watch their gathered gaggle of adventurers make merry for the time. It almost reminds him of the diverse warren he grew up in.
"A hydra?! They are some of my favorite things to burn up, next to trolls. Did you do the thing with the torch? Or are you a firesneezer? Either way, if we're going after Ekundayo's nemesis (that's tall, dark, and broodsome over there), we can definitely use a hero like you."
"Yes! The torch!" Nok-Nok says. "I cannot sneeze fire, but I can swing it around!" He stands up to demonstrate, pantomiming fighting with knife and torch. "I gave him a ha! And a hai-yah! And then I kicked him!"
***
The next day, you journey west to continue exploring the thick forests of the Greenbelt. The ground slumps into a soggy mire, and a pair of ruined stone buildings jut from the ground.
As you approach, a lone boggard emerges from the nearest building. He holds up his hands and croaks out in Common, "Truce! Truce!"
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Russ finishes up his portion of the boar and yawns a bit before looking over to Blaze. "So how did such a... well respected member of society like yourself come to know the goblin tongue so well? Even my warren who had multiple run-ins with goblins didn't ever really pick it up."
Russ stops and raises his hand to his weapon, but relaxes when the creature calls truce. "Truce...hmm." He pointed to the house and the area around it. "You live here? Peaceful?"
The boggard blinks and points to himself. "Garuum. Me Garuum." He points to Russ'ruk. "Truce. You go?"
It doesn't seem like the boggard knows very many words in the Common language.
Vesi raises a hand in greeting to the boggard. "Garuum. I'm Vesi." The druid switches to Sylvan.
If the boggard speaks Sylvan, Vesi continues in that language. "Do you live here, Garuum?"
Through trial and error, it becomes clear that Garuum only speaks his native Boggard tongue. The only words he knows in Common are boggard, bug, snake, truce, hungry, me, you, die, and go.
Blaze holds up a finger in a hopefully universal single for just a second. "How far back is short, pale, and also broodsome? If you go around god-bothering far enough from home you've gotta have a knack for languages. Or just ask your god for that knack."
Vesi smiles at Garuum in hopefully another universal sign of "We don't want to fight you".
"Harrim, do you have anything that could help us communicate with Garuum here? they don't seem to speak common, or any other language that we speak."
If Harrim is unable to help, Vesi squats down at a non-threatening distance, breaking off a piece of reed and trying to sketch in the mud some basic ideas.
Does Garuum live here? Is Garuum alone here? Our group protects this area from bad people.
"I suppose. Though I don't see much point in trying to talk to somebody who will one day be nothing but dust, just like the rest of us," Harrim grumbles. Still he casts comprehend language on Garuum. While it doesn't allow him to speak the Common tongue, he can understand it, allowing for him to pantomime out answers to your questions.
Garuum lives here alone. He once lived with a larger group of boggards, but he was exiled for trying to usurp control from their chief. He doesn't want to cause problems. If you leave him be, he will reciprocate.
"Sounds like he wanted to cause at least some problems. What was the why about usurping? Getting to be the chief is pretty sweet, but if there's more we might actually help."
Garuum indicates the only reason he planned the coup was to gain power for himself. He still seems to be festering on his anger about how everything went wrong for him.
"Looks like an internal matter." he says. "Best to leave it alone. But we should note the boggards here."
Blaze scrunches her face in a 'not quite, bud, not quite' expression and shrugs elaborately before handing him a gold coin. "Harry, tell him this is for supplies to get somewhere else before he inevitably brigands. I'm not gonna pretend I don't have some uh, personal empathy for the plight of a thwarted couper, but if he brigands around in our new queendom, we will end up killing him."
She turns to the rest. "Oh - if that happens, dibs on whatever's left of my coin when it happens. Just seems fair, right?"
Garuum tells you the other boggards are far to the west, in the swamps of Hooktongue. It is outside the boundaries of your exploration charter from Brevoy.
The boggard eagerly takes the gold coin to secure your friendship. He offers his humble abode as a place to rest whenever you are in the area.
***
The next day, you continue to the northwest. Two hot springs bubble at the source of the Skunk River in the woods here, filling the surrounding area with the distinctive odor of rotten eggs. Despite the smell, the hot springs are rather pleasant to relax in. The springs overflow into the surrounding valley, forming a broad, swampy pond surrounding the source.
Vesi sinks into the hot spring with a blissful sigh, closing their eyes. "I heard that in some places people pay a lot of money to bathe into one of these. They smear the mud all over themselves, too, apparently it helps with all sorts of illnesses."
The undine cracks open an eye. "We could build a spa resort here. A bit of luxury for everyone."
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Russ dips his tail into the spring to check it, it's very hot for him, so he has to take his time acclimating to the pool.
"Haven't seen one of these myself, not that i've been anywhere that might have one, a few warm swamp bogs here and there but you never want to bask in those. Perhaps we could make a bit of a relaxation place here though."
He tried to enjoy the spring while they could do so, who knows when they'd be able to relax like this again or ever again for that matter. Out of his armor he stripped all the way, showing that Kobolds like many other reptilian races had no shame or external bits as he eased himself into the waters beckoning the rest of the group to join him and Vesi.
Blaze quickly shucks down and plops in, letting out a groan of relief from far back in her throat as she finally finds something the right temperature. "We only share this if I still never have to wait in a line."
Knaxshi will hang out on the edge, dipping his feet in. He keeps clean, but getting all his fur wet is not his style. Especially with the minerals of natural springs - if makes the fur stay stiff for days afterwards. And the smell tends to persist.
While most of your companions have little interest in a soak, Amiri and Linzi happily join the rest of the party in the warm waters. "Ah! I could definitely get used to this!" Amiri declares as the water bubbles around her.
Eventually, you dry off and continue your explorations. To the southwest, you come upon a fifteen-foot-tall statue of Erastil that stands a silent vigil, partially overgrown at the base but towering above the surrounding shrubbery. There is a strange sense of calm in the wilderness here.
Knaxshi will step forward and begin to trim back around the base. Not completely, as he feels that Erastil should have plants around, but enough that it won't be in danger of damaging or overgrowing the statue.
At the campfire, Vesi makes small talk with Nok-Nok, trying to find out more about the goblin.
"Hey Nok-Nok, how did you learn Taldane, this language that I am speaking to you now? Where is the rest of your tribe? What's your favourite food?"
After helping out with the partial de-weeding, Vesi sits down at the base of the statue, rubbing their aching feet. "This is a lovely place. And a welcome reprieve from getting attacked by the various creatures of these lands. The druid raises their gaze to the statue above them, placing a hand on the weathered stone. "I wonder how long ago this was built, and by whom. With that temple we found and this statue, it feels like the worship of Erastil is strong in these parts."
They look towards all their companions. "Don't feel compelled to answer this, but I am curious about your own faiths. I follow the old faith myself, the Wyrd, what you may know as the Green Faith."
"I picked up this language as I was following Lamashtu's signs through these lands!" Nok-Nok says to Vesi. "The rest of my tribe were eaten by the hydra I killed! My favorite food is baked spider legs! Crack open the shell and get to the juicy meat inside! Yum yum!"
Despite the goblin's enthusiasm in answering their questions, the druid doesn't feel like they're making a real connection with the grinning goblin.
Blaze shifts in her seat as she chows down on Vesi's cooking, though she doesn't look at all uncomfortable. "I don't really 'follow' anything like that. But if I live my life in a way that Cayden Cailean, Milani, and Lubaiko find interesting, maybe they'll keep Asmodeus and Urgathoa and Shelyn and the rest off my back. Desna too for luck of course. Zarongel has the best songs..."
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Russ hums at the food while they ponder over the statue. "I suppose Apsu or Dahak are the prime deities of Kobolds... But I guess I don't really follow or know any of their teachings. They don't often answer prayers you know."
He shrugs, "Not in my experience at least, though I suppose our dwarven companion is proof that they do bestow powers to some."
After resting near the statue of Erastil, you continue to the southeast. In this region, islets create a ford across a section of the Skunk River, two of them connected by rubble and log jams. The islands make for a natural choke point.
A reptilian creature lounges in the sun on one of the islets. It resembles a human-sized snake with two arms and a dragon's head. The creature lifts its head and lets out a snarl, puffing foul vapors from its nostrils. A second creature slithers out from within the rubble to hiss and growl, the two wyrms preparing to defend their lair!
The creatures move swiftly, swimming across the river to get to you! While one of them bites at Russ'ruk, the other belches a cloud of poisonous vapor in the kobold's face!
Success The target is sickened 1.
Failure The target takes 2d6 poison damage and is enfeebled 1 for 1 round.
Critical Failure The target takes 4d6 poison damage and is enfeebled 1 for 1 minute.
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Russ is quick to grab his blade, turning however to punch the wyrm in the jaw before it can snap down on him as the other sprays him with a caustic cloud, he coughs but seems to hold up against the vapors.
As his blade flies free he grabs the creature's fang before it can retract for another strike and stabs into it's throat. "You'll not get the best of me like that curworm!" He rears back to stab it a few more times keeping hold of the bucking beast for now. "Quick before they slither off!"
The creatures looked fierce and dangerous, the first thought for Vesi is to protect their current target. With a gesture and a few murmured words, a willow tree sprouts on the shore next to the kobold, its branches bending over him protectively. Then the druid turns their head to Knaxshi, silently urging the ysoki to take out the creature currently gnawing on their companion.
Knaxshi snaps up, gun sliding to his shoulder. With Russ holding it and the magic guiding him, it should be an easy shot.
He reloads and fires again before it slides free.
"Hold 'em still Russ and I'll sear us up some steaks!"
Blaze’s spell proves quite effective, badly burning both wyrms! Russ’ruk drives his blade into the throat of one of the creature’s and out the back of its neck, slaying it! He misses with his follow up attacks against the other foe, as does Knaxshi.
The surviving wyrm attacks Russ, but the tree Vesi conjured intercepts its attack!
Knaxshi continues to work his gun as fast as possible, starting with the most wounded and moving on if needed.
Blaze smears fire around the wyrm, lightning crackling between the hotspots.
With two well-placed shots, Knaxshi brings down the second wyrm!
Searching through their nest, you discover the skeletal remains of a long-dead explorer. The skeleton wears a suit of ruined scale mail and clutches a +1 cold iron bastard sword in one bony hand. Digging through the mud and rubble, you also find a rotting leather backpack that contains 12 gp, 62 sp, a pewter drinking stein worth 2 gp, a silver ring worth 7 gp, and a jade carving of a female elf worth 11 gp.
Knaxshi looks over at Vesi with amazement. "You just grew a tree?" He'll pick up the big branch that the creature lifted off and lash it back so that it can grow back.
Vesi blushes purple. "Well, it's only a small one, but it survived so hopefully it will continue to grow."
The druid looks with sadness at the remains of the explorer, gathering them up and burying them beneath the freshly-grown willow tree, then tying a ribbon on the branch above for remembrance.
"Rest in peace, stranger."
turning to the others, Vesi nods. "That was very well-done! Especially you, Blaze. I'm glad that nobody is hurt, and this crossing is now safer for people."
That night, at the campfire, Vesi tries to grill some of the wyrm meat, but the result is inedible.
"Oh no, I ruined it! Ekundayo, any ideas on how to cook this? I think it needs something acidic tenderize the cuts. Perhaps sour grape juice, what do you think?"
"Blech! Just put it back in the fire till it's ready. Like, if you could drop it on a rock and neither one breaks, put it back."
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Ekundayo shakes his head and chuckles softly. The sound is quite unexpected--this is the first time any of you have heard him laugh since you first met!
"Yes, sour grapes. Plenty of those in this group," he says, casting a bemused look at Harrim and Jaethal. "Here, Vesi, allow me to assist you."
By the time the ranger has finished, the wyrm meat has become palatable, if not particularly tasty. Still, you can tell something has changed within the dour ranger. He seems more willing to open up and talk to you. Perhaps there is hope for him after all...