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As he does his grisly work, Wolfgang's clothes and face start to get stained by droplets of goblin's blood but he wears a huge grin and actually starts to whistle happily while decapitating the dead goblinoids. Only when Sammakko mentions one more goblin he stops what he's doing:"Are you sure? I'm loath to let one of these critters alive... but that could mean some extra work for us later, which is always a good thing! Well paid gigs are not that easy to come by, you know!"
Sammakko is sure he saw seven in the courtyard, and if memory serves him one of the goblins was a female.... Wolfgang points out that all the goblins he is collecting for payment are male.
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"Perhaps the more authoritative voice we heard?" Speaker suggests as she cleans the gore from her blade on one of the fallen goblins, leaving the Scimitar drawn in case they are ambushed. Stepping inside the gate, the Speaker looks around for signs of the apparent Goblin leader, uneasy at their disappearance.
The party acknowledges the 7th goblin is still missing and begin to look for signs of it...
...
Deldri screams out in pain as a goblin suddenly appears behind the gnome and stabs Deldri in the back...
But the female goblin has trouble pulling her short sword out of the gnomes back and is slow footed as a result allowing everyone else to attack first...
1st Round
Sammakko, Wolfgang, Eris, Deldri (-7, bleed), Speaker, Manaria
Goblin
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Lips curling in disgust at the cowardly goblin's attack, The Speaker bursts into action, beginning her sacred dance as her fingers dance along the edge of her scimitar bringing the Dawnflower's fire into being. Striking out at the wretched goblin, the Speaker continues their prayer to Sarenrae.
for
for
Deldri hears screaming as the group attacks the goblin and then realizes it sounds like his voice but sees Speaker and Wolfgang put the goblin down with well aimed shots....
alchemist’s fire (6); chain shirt, mwk short sword, potion of cure light wounds (6), leather armor (6), mwk heavy mace (6), shortbows (6) with 120 arrows
Once you search the immediate area and you loot the fallen you hear noises and muffled screams coming from beyond the gate and wall to the NW.
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Stepping back as Wolfgang undoubtedly gets back to his grisly work in carvin up the goblin dead, the Speaker starts when screams can be heard over the winds. Sword drawn, she turns her head in the direction of the muffled shouts before speaking to her companions. "Anyone else here that? We should investigate!" she states, moving off to bring the light of Sarenrae to the unfortunates.
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"Hey! Look here! We even got liquid fire! They just want us to set them on fire..." comments Wolfgang as he adds another head to his collection.
Once the group hears the noises he quickly changes his tune though:"Seems like there won't be time to roast them properly. Let's kill them first and then burn them down!" he comments following the Speaker.
The group approaches the gate passing by kennels, a storehouse, a shrine to some obscene deity, and other buildings they plan to inspect after checking out the noises...
Goblin cursing can be heard and then a loud thwack and a female voice crying out. The gate door, while closed, is unlocked and after Sammakko opens it you see a fleeing black haired human with bruises running from a mean looking bugbear who looks enraged accompanied by three goblin bodyguards...all the goblinoids appear to have some purplish fungus on their skin...
The woman speaks quickly "I am Nixa from Saringallow... defeat this beast before he kills more innocents!" and she falls down by the gate exhausted...
Expecting combat, the old gunslinger is quick to act, as is the gnome for some strange reason...
Combat First Round
Wolfgang, Deldri
Goblins, Bugbear
Manaria, Eris, Sammakko, Speaker
Wolfgang manages to hit the bugbear square in the chest with a well aimed shot drawing blood and incurring the goblinoids wrath "KILL THE HUMAN!" the bugbear yells at the other goblins pointing to the crossbowman... Deldri casts a beneficial spell upon the party.
The goblins rush forward with shortswords drawn...
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The bugbear follows suit and advances at Wolfgang as well...
...
Combat 1st Round
Manaria, Eris, Sammakko, Speaker
Combat 2nd Round
Wolfgang, Deldri
Goblins, Bugbear
Manaria, Eris, Sammakko, Speaker
Manaria buffs herself as Speaker does some flame dancing and skewers the yellow goblin shoulder to hip dropping him and then stepping in his place... allowing Wolfgang a bit of protection as the man tries to dodge only one goblinoid attacking him now instead of two...
which misses the retreating marksman...
Deldri continues the gnomish nature of pranking as now there are two of him in the area causing the others to groan...
Sammakko lands with his flurry but the bugbear blocks the grippli's first attack...
Eris jumps into the fray but misses with her attack and prepares to defend herself in the next instance...
The goblins howl and sing as the bugbear directs one to attack Speaker... as it attacks Sammakko for having connected earlier.
...
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All the goblins have luck as they connect as Eris misses with her riposte but takes a minor scratch however Speaker takes a well placed knife in the ribs and Sammakko feels the brunt of the hobgoblins anger and fury!
Combat 2nd Round
Manaria, Eris [-2], Sammakko [-11], Speaker [-6]
Combat 3rd Round
Wolfgang, Deldri
Goblins, Bugbear [-3]
Manaria, Eris, Sammakko, Speaker
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Speaker grits her teeth as the Goblin's dagger finds a gap in her mail shirt and catches her deep, spilling crimson blood on her fine vestments. Not one to be put off by the assault however, the Speaker calls forth her scarlet flames one more and strikes at the evil Bugbear, hoping to rid its blight from the face of Golarion.
for
Wolfgang, Eris and Speaker manage to drop the bugbear as Manaria drops the minion goblin with one strike.
The fallen human female lies unconscious at your feet. After waking her up she tells you she was abducted from Saringhollow along with her cousin and taken to a strange place. She remembers being given to the goblins who brought her here. She was trying to get the layout to escape but was being punished and beaten for her efforts. As she speaks you realize she is Nixa, the missing cousin of Nolaria.
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Once the Speaker reveals the wounded girl's identity Wolfgang approaches, sounding mightily pleased with himself:"Well met, well met, young Nixia! It's a pleasure to meet you. Make sure to remeber telling the good mayor how we saved you from the LEGION of bloodthirsty goblins and their monstrous demonic bugbear chieftain who were holding you captive, will you? In fact you understand how we saved you JUST BEFORE the abyssal bugbear and its dastardly minions got you and started eating you... ALIVE??? How lucky were you we were asked to get you back to Saringallows in one piece, eh?" he finishes giving Nixia a vigorous slap on the back, then takes out his knife and once more starts collecting heads...
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Rolling her eyes at Wolfgang'a crass comments, the Speaker helps the lady to her feet and calls upon the Dawnflower's magic to soothe any wounds she may have. The Speaker then smiles at the young woman and seeks to give a better explanation.
"We have recently dealt with the abductions in town and were told of your disappearance. Your cousin is safe and their friend that kidnapped you all was taken over by a malign influence, which we seek to cure him of. You may have noticed strange fungal patches on the goblins?" she begins, leading Nixia away from the corpses and Wolfgang's grisly work. "Have you learnt anything of why you were taken out here? Any mutterings? We seek to stop whatever is going on here."
As the group talk to Nixa they learn she cannot relate any significant details about her abductor, other than that the abductor seemed to know others who were also being held prisoner with the cousins.
Nixa does remember that during her captivity, she overheard the bugbear jabbering on about something named Wormgnash, and that Mezodarath often mentioned that name in connection with the old Sarini Estate. The bugbear seemed to be either praying to this Wormgnash or beseeching its favor, leading her to theorize that a potentially serious danger might now lurk in or near the estate.
Nixa tells the group that the bugbear interrogated her daily, demanding for her to tell him all about Saringallow’s defenses and how best to attack the city. She resisted as much as she could taking numerous blows but did not divulge any information.
"The Sarini Estate should be the next place to look. Help me back to town and speak with the Mayor, she may have more information for you on the estate." Nixa tells the group.
Once you return and explain your exploits in her office Mayor Sandra Trinelli sits, her long fingers folded together in thought. Her face is solemn as she surveys you all. She tosses a bag of coin on the table “Thank you for your quick attention to my request, and for the good hunting of goblinoids... I do owe you that” she says eyeing Wolfgang.
“I have done some research and reflecting after our last talk, especially after cleaning up the mess at the house and the warehouse that you left. I have found out the history of this town, I’m afraid, is written in blood.
More than a century ago, the family that founded Saringallow committed heinous crimes against the hard-working folks who toiled on their behalf. When all was said and done, these nobles—the Sarinis—kidnapped and murdered many local children. They were hanged for their crimes, but the bodies of the youths were never found, and our families still suffer those tragic memories today. After all of these years, they’ve never had closure, and our town has never been the same.
However, not long ago, while I was searching the town archives, I discovered a few old letters that seem to indicate that these evil nobles kept records of their victims and diabolical rituals. Finding these documents would go a long way toward healing the deep wounds the Sarinis inflicted on our poor people.
Unfortunately, the evidence is presumably stored in the Sarinis old, walled estate, which is located some distance from Saringallow proper. Around here, superstitions regarding the Sarini family still run deep, and the good men and women of our town watch— bless their hearts—are reluctant to help.
There’s no proof, however, that any of the rumors about the Sarini Estate are real, so I’d like to hire you help me solve this matter. Please, if you will, bring me any records of these terrible crimes that exist. Once you do, I believe our town will finally begin to heal. I trust that you are capable, and I hope that a reward of 100 gp will be enough to persuade you to help.”