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Chuffy walks into the swamp and, as far as anyone is able to tell, completely vanishes a few feet before he reaches the treeline.
Mic is a little less stealthy, and picks a hiding spot near a path that nearly all the seeking goblins walk by as they are looking; fortunately for him, none of them think to peek into the pile of slime that Mic is in.
Poog's eyes fly open as a club gives him a thump on the back, knocking him off the stump. "HA! Found you! Thought you could hide by closing your eyes, but I knows a secret!" exclaims Wartymug, the goblin who found him. "Secret is, closing your eyes doesn't make you not be seen, it makes you not see!" He dances around happily. As the two begin to head back, he adds, "I not thump you hard, Poog. Tell Zarongel I good gobbo, light lots of fires."
The three return to the tribe, and Slorb hands out prizes to Chuffy and Mic. "These are the Chief's prized Rings That Make You Climb Real Good! You give them back when you get back!"
Chuffy comes out of the forest, grinning from ear to ear.
"Good job Mic! You do almost as good as Chuffy, and much better than any other Goblin!"
"Heh. Chuff have soft spot for Mic. They go make whoops somewhere, they like each other so much. Only best gobbo is best!"
Mic looks at Gob, "Don't we still need to cut off an ear or something on you?"
Mic turns to Chuffy, "I tripped or i would have hidden better than you."
Mogmurch grins at Mic and Chuffy, "We so good at gob tests. We gonna be best gob heroes ever."
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Slorb steps up to the gathering of goblins, looking in particular at the two twin brothers who serve Zarongel. "So two goblins left not winning anything yet. One dare left, yes, one dare left! Bring out... THE RUSTY EARBITER!"
A half dozen eager goblins roll a 20-foot-long coil of rusty wires, barrel hoops, belt swords and thorny vines and branches out from behind the Moot house. One of the sticks a spike through his hand and screams in pain, running around waving his wounded hand in the air, to the amusement of all and sundry. A pair of old, dried goblin ears hang from a couple spikes in different parts of the coil, showing the reason for its name.
Mic pushes chuffy out of the way to get the first shot at this challenge. He rushes through it and makes it out of the outher side quite easily, with only 2 close calls. He looks over at Chuffy and sticks out his tongue. "You're next Chuf."
"Ooh! The Earbiter! What fun!"
Chuffy flips Mic the bird, and wriggles through the Earbiter like an eel through a greased pipe.
"See? Easy peasy! Now, you two try!"
"Goog will go through earbiter. You see!"
"OW!"
" MORE OW!"
"STUPID THING!"
"WHY GOOG DO THIS?!"
"GET GOOG OUTTA HERE!"
"OUCH OUCH!"
After getting stuck in the middle for what seemed like an eternity, Goog successfully slips out of the earbiter with only... well pretty significant injuries, actually.
Mic points at Gob, but is laughing so hard that he can't say anything.
"Chuffy thinks we may not need to take off ear to tell them apart; Chuffy thinks Goog now have some interesting new scars..."
He then waits with interest to see what happens to Poog...
Like his twin brother Goog, Poog is absolutely awful at navigating the earbiter. However, the devious goblin settles on a gambit to make it appear he does better than he does.
Each time the barbs scratch him, he does his best to hold his tongue and not cry out, despite the pain. Then, near the end, in a place he is mostly hidden, he taps himself with a stick he carries in his belt, and all his wounds are healed. He exits the other side without a scratch.
"Poog champion of earbiter!" he yells upon exiting. "Poog make it through and not even get hurt at all! Now everyone tell difference between Poog and Goog! Goog missing most of left ear!" he laughs maniacally.
"Hey! Poog cheats, he healys himself at end! CHEATING BROTHER!!"
However, Goog has to admit that Poog's idea was a stroke of goblin genius, and pulls out his own wand, healing his injuries.
"You see nothing of kind, half-ear brother!" Poog shouts as the two scuffle and try to gouge out each other's eyes.
"You just always jealous because my frog better than your frog! You think Poog use Magic Stick of Not-be-Dead, but Poog not do it! Poog just really good at not losing half his ear!"
"Goog and Poog make it through earbiter! Proof we is best gob heroes ever....besides Chief. Chief is bester goblin hero."
Mic watches as the other Poog takes on the same injuries. "Great, now they both have scars. Which one is which?"
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As both Poog and Goog get stuck for a while in the Earbiter, some of the goblins watching get bored, throw rocks, and wander off. However, when Poog emerges from the coils apparently unscathed, and the two start fighting, interest is restored, with the goblins chanting "Poog, Poog, Poog!" or "Goog, Goog, Goog!" depending on who they back. The names are so similar, however, that many of the chanters forget who they're chanting, and switch back and forth between the names.
"ENOUGH!" yells Slorb. "Goog hurt self, but got out quicker. Poog maybe heal self, maybe not, but took longer. Goog win!"
He hands over a patchy, muddy, ragged robe that you've all seen Chief Gutwad wearing sometimes. "This Chief's Personal Very Useful Robe That Is Useful. You figure out how to use it."
Chuffy looks a little crestfallen when the fight is broken up, but his interest is restored when the prize is awarded to Goog.
"Good job Goog!"
He then turns to the others, and grins.
"Goblin heroes ready to go off for adventure?"
Mic grins from ear to ear, "But first we must do something to the twins."
You hush, Mic. You knows Goog because Goog wears Chief's Personal Very Useful Robe That Is Useful. Poog inferior twin gobbo."
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"Journey begin in morning. We have more apples and food to eat!" Slorb states before resuming his glutting.
In the late morning, or possibly early afternoon, after shaking off their hangovers, the PCs begin their journey into the depths of the Brinestump Marsh. In addition to the prizes, the five of you carry the remaining fireworks from Scribbleface's stash: Two Desnan candles, four paper candles, and one skyrocket.
Desnan Candle: When lit, this foot-long wooden tube launches a flaming pyrotechnic "candle" every round for 4 rounds. Each projectile deals 1 point of nonlethal damage and 1 point of fire damage if it hits; on a critical hit, the target is also blinded for 1 round. The projectiles shed light as candles for 1 round and have a range increment of 5 feet. Attacking with a Desnan candle is a ranged touch attack and always has a –4 nonproficiency penalty.
Paper Candle: This finger-sized explosive detonates noisily 1 round after lighting. Anyone in the same square as a paper candle when it explodes must make a DC 15 Fortitude save or be dazzled for 1d4 rounds.
Skyrocket: When lit, this foot-long wooden tube begins to shake and emit a handful of white sparks, shedding light as a torch. One round later it takes flight, moving in a straight line with a fly speed of 90 for 1d6 rounds before loudly exploding in an burst of light and sound, dealing 2d6 points of fire damage in a 10-foot burst (DC 15 Reflex save for half ). If a skyrocket impacts a solid surface or a creature before reaching its maximum range, it detonates prematurely at the point of impact. Anyone who takes damage from the explosion is either blinded or deafened (a 50% chance of either) for 1 round.
Note: The rules aren't entirely clear about using these fireworks in combat, so I'll make a few ad hoc rulings to make it clear and more fun. I'll consider the desnan candle to be an improvised weapon and therefore Mogmurch doesn't take the nonproficiency penalty. If you try to aim a skyrocket at a particular target, it will function as an improvised ranged weapon as well. Paper candles can be lit and then thrown, going off after the throw. Lighting any of these is a move action if you have a torch or other source of fire available, a full-round action with flint and steel, and a standard action with a tindertwig. I've noticed none of the goblin pregens come with torches in their gear, but if anyone wants to bring torches, you can acquire them from your huts in the licktoad village easily.
After making preparations, the goblin heroes head off along the creek, following the map, towards the distant shipwreck containing the fireworks.
Mogmurch moves next to Chuffy and whispers in his ear, "You wanna use Chief's dogslicer? I not so good with choppy blades. More clubby and burny."
Chuffy grins from ear to ear.
"Sure thing!"
Goog will let the melee'ers go in front, and will stay toward the back.
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As you walk along the creekside, heading mostly south/southwest, everyone except for Poog (who is still plotting his revenge) notices spiderwebs in many of the trees above them. Even with this warning, only Mic notices the hulking, many-legged shape lurking on a limb 20 feet above them.
Mic throws on of his darts at the spider
"Licktoads as Lotslegs Eat Goblin Babies Many up there." he points.
"It's Lotslegseatgoblinbabiesmany! We can kills it!"
Goog casts magic stone on several small rocks as he picks them up, and gets ready to hurl them at the spider when it comes closer.
Only Goog really hears what Poog is muttering about.
"Death by stabbing? Death by drowning? Burning? Burning always good! Trampling? Scissors?"
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The dart barely nicks the spider's leg as it goes past.
Lotslegs responds by tossing a web at the nearest goblin (Chuffy).
It hits and Chuffy is entangled in its sticky strands.
Surprise round:
Mic: throws dart
spider: throws web, hits Chuffy
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First Round:
Goog: grabs a handful of pebbles and casts magic stone on them.
Poog
Mogmurch
Mic
Chuffy
Spider
Bold may act.
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Mogmurch quickly mixes up one of his bombs and hurls it at Lotslegs. He's gonna burn this spider and eat it!
"We gonna eat lotsleg. Gonna make it extra crispy!"
Poog gasps.
"Lotslegseatgoblinbabiesmany! We gonna die! I mean...kill it! Stab it with pointy things!" he says as he casts a javelin at it.
"Silly LotsLegs!"
Chuffy tries to escape from the web.