Desmond casually lopes his swords around. "Might as well calm down and talk to us, a fight won't go your way."
Desmond casually lopes his swords around. "Might as well calm down and talk to us, a fight won't go your way."
Before RD 1 begins: One of the goblins give order to hold ground, then in broken common"spe'k"'
Oh damnit. Meath'd is easier to talk to than this. Desmond speaks slowly and clearly. "We don't want fight, we want trade. Good for goblins."
Scrunching up his face, Guud chewy things trade? Pop pop, bang bang boom trade?"
"Many things to trade. Boom-makers. Sharp knives. Armor. Gold and gems. Magic. Where is the big trade city? Show us and I will feed and water you all."
"boom boom-makers guud, Of korse we swap...me gots guud stuff." The speaker steps forward. Pulling out a squished toad and a jar of picked flies to show you.
Meath'd belly grumbles when he sees the jar of pickled flies. "Guud trade...tasty."
Dwarven:
Common: "I give you food, and one boom-maker, and you lead us to trade-city. Fair swap?"
"Pppsssssst...wh't 'bout guud pickled flies?' The loud hissing sound that suppose to be Meath'd being quiet is clearly directed to Karnog...chief negotiator.
"Trade we make, guud for us. Lemme see boom boom maker." He steps forward, most of the other goblins lower their weapons. The tension lessens. "I great, I smart, you show what you trade, if Gobbly like Gobbly scoutin' party lead you to great city."
"Me Gobbly, you not."
Desmond relaxes a bit, lowering his own weapons. Now that the situation is defused he leaves the better talkers to handle this, strolling around to scout the area.
Des you notice there is a small rockfall trap that the goblins had set up to prepare the battlefield. One of the goblin's bulbous eyes widen as Des walks near it, he frantically chatters at you.
Desmond acts blissfully unaware of the trap, walking right up to it before turning just slightly enough to avoid falling in. Then he glances at the goblin to see its reaction.
As Desmond walks near it the goblin rushes up to grab at your hand to tug you back.
Desmond enjoys the little bit of tormenting, but he also gives a smile. Good, I doubt goblins intending to trick us would have stopped me. He gives a surprised look and tries to convey a thank you to the goblin, then continues scouting around.
Karnog pulls a paper candle firework from his bag of holding, presenting it to the goblin leader.
"Hold up your buckets and cups, I will provide water now and food later."
"Pppppssssssst...flies." Uncertain you heard him before.
The goblin pulls out his dented stained copper cup and tells the others to gather round with theirs. "No no bad juju, not scribble...no funny biznes"
Grung plops down and takes out his mug and enjoys some beer
Three of the goblins comes over to Grung they plop down and one pulls out a rusty canteen, he extends it towards Grung mug, he makes an assortment of grunts and sounds as he appears to be sharing with you in exchange with what is in your tankard.
Grung tenses ready to strike then pauses
rather be killing them.... He gulps down all but the last quarter the. Offers it over and sniffs what is in the canteen
One of the goblins takes ha big swing before passing it Grung, it smells like dirty turpentine. Another goblin pulls out backs looks like marbles of various colors and shapes. the third produces a ball of tangled string and three flattened frogs.
He has a few interesting marbles that are more than simple colored glass.
Grung pulls out an alchemist Fire and puts it down
He points at it the. Gestures throwing it and makes a kapow sound followed by "screams " of pain
Their large bulbous eyes widen with the kapow sound and screams. the goblin pushes his little treasure pile forward, although he picks up a greenish "marble" frowns a bit then puts it backing the pile. He gives you 7 "marbles", three flattened frogs and ball of tangled string. Of korse, guud canteen juice is shared."
Several of the others see this trade going down and start to pull items out of their pockets and sacks in hopes to find a trading partner.
Using a quick cantrip Felicitas offers some advice
Karnog pulls out the pickled flies as suggested by Meathead.
"Perhaps you would like these, goblins?"
"Meath'd wants...Meath'd wants" He exclaims excitedly. "Bestest trade, yum." the ogre happily grabs the pickled flies as he twists the cap off the jar. The massive brute gulps down the briny juice and crunches the flies as he sits down happily. soon his tongue is probing the inside of the mason jar licking every curve.
"You guud stuff, we lead yous to big city." He looks everyone, "Try not to git eat'n."
The goblins gather their stuff but when they get to Karnog's bridge there is a lot of chatter in their native tongue. anyone speaking gobins will understand that they are real confused about where the bridge came from. Several drop to their knees and appear to be praying in their tongue.
"Yous don't steal words from head and put to paper do you? Not guud, not guud if yous do. Hows yous make crossing?" A few poke at it with speer tips to see if it's sturdy.
"No, goblins. I am no wizard, no book casting mage. I pray to the power of the All Creator t
Torag, and he grants blessings to his faithful. Observe."
Taking his holy symbol out from his surcoat, Karnog holds it aloft and casts create water over the stream, allowing the miniature rainstorm to trickle into the flowing water.
"See? No books. No magic words."
Malcolm, about to swing his sword at the nearest goblin, stops and contemplates the actions of the party as they begin to enter trade talks with the foul beasts. He simply stands aside with his arms crossed as the shenanigans continue.
Are we ready to move on to this great underground city? And, can someone tell me why we are going there again?
"Firstly, there's the matter of a large quantity of saleable treasure. Secondly, I assume the citizens of this place may have some usable intelligence about the dungeon we're exploring."
Fair enough, onward then?
Malcolm's helmetlight loses some of its vigor, and the hot springs’ swirling mists create a surreal effect of shimmering colors as they reflect the feeble light. A vast darkness can be seen moving against the distant, gloomy background. There are a mated pair of umbral dragons in the massive cavern. The male umbral dragon inspects the visitors to determine if they are friend (goblins) or food (anyone else). Your goblin scout scurries about speaking frantically to the dragons.
the other goblins provide a wide berth around you, just in case, the dragon decide you are food. But to everyone's relief they let you pass. The goblin who speaks broken common comments, "Eat all non-goblin, no eat you cuz me tells 'im you guud trad'rs. Bestest if you no come back this way, unless you goblin lookin'. Some goblin's sell pow'rful goblin mojo to make you look like mighti gobl'n, guud mojo not bad mojo like words stol'n from head." The group pauses. "I lead you below now, mighty troop stay behind." He points to his scouting force.
The once-natural tunnel has been worked and cleared. Lights shine dimly along the way, seemingly radiating from the rocks themselves. The sandy floor reveals evidence of wagon tracks and humanoid footprints.
Sloping slightly downward, the passage measures about 100 ft. across. Following this passage for about two miles, you discover the goblin
city (Level 12A). You will see an occasional goblin parties or trolls but your guide pacifies any tension. Permanent light spells, cast on rock walls every 100 ft., illuminate the way to the city.
The actual trip takes a few hours to make and your guide who introduces himself as Toe Lickin' Slorb seems to be taking his time. He enjoys the non-goblin company and likes the items Meath'd trades if for. of course, Meathd is thrilled to get his hands on a jar of pickled brown spiders.
He finally gets to his point and tell you."You and yous," pointing to Karnog and Malcolm, "have very bad mojo in city, goblins and others not as worldly as Slorb, they don't like evil symbols." He points to your holy symbols. "Plus you and yous" pointing to Karnog agian and now Grung, "be nasty dwarfies, not like those either." Then his little finger extends at Feli, "Pointy ears no guud either, need floppy ears like me." His bulbous eyes widen, 'Hidy...hidy if you can. Speak guud language if you can."
His big ole eye lids blink a few times, "Now you be heroes come and kill bad snaky, goblins like...even if dwarf...but not bad mojo symbols, still need to hide those."
"Guud language is goblin or undercomm'n"
"I thank I will try to be the spokesperson for us all. I can speak goblin, and I do speak orcish. Maybe this will help. I also have a scroll of tongues with me. It might be fine to hide your holy symbols, maybe put them deep under your cloths, close to your heart."
Undercommon: "I understand, Toe Licking Slorb. We will keep our identities under wraps, and appreciate your assistance thus far. Perhaps this gift will further encourage you to work on our behalf."
Karnog retrieves a skycandle firework and presents it to TLS.
Common: "Malcolm, you okay here? I feel uncomfortable as well but it really is for the greater good."
Desmond tenses up at the dragon. Woah, that's some serious guard duty.
"Ha, for once I'm one of the better choices for diplomacy. I'll let you handle all of that though Feli." Desmond seems fairly relaxed considering the high-stress environment.