Teima walks up to Argrim, staying by his side and keeping her ears perked
Perception
Stealth
The group has an uneventful departure from the cavern and track back towards the Coast Road.
Perception
Argrim attempts to pet the wolf Teima, but keeps her behind him in the tunnels. At the mouth of the cavern, he welcomes her by his side and Malcolm to the lead.
Perception
At the road you see a patrol approaching from the North, it consists of four people on warhorses and 14 footmen. They are half mile away and they appear to see you.
Anyone with survival or tracking can make check.
Malcolm calls back over his shoulder.
Riders approach.
He looks to Agrim.
Across the road and to the west is the split. Is that not where we are headed?
"Anyone recognize the riders or their garb?"
Survival
Across the road and to the west is the split. Is that not where we are headed?
Aye. Argrim replies and waits by the side of the road with the troop heading for Fentonville. He cracks out some water and rations resting on a rock. He gets to his feet when the riders get to bowshot range.
Sheyan you don't see any discernible tracks on this side of the road.
----
As the group approaches they are wearing similar looking official garb, that you recognize as a Sheriff.
As the patrol approaches the halt at about 100 feet and call out. "By the authority of Nirmathas, identify thy selves and state thy purpose."
Malcolm steps forward.
I am Malcolm Cavendish, Warrior of the Holy Light of Abadar, and we are cartographers out of Fentonville that have recently run across a goblin lair that we cleaned out with prejudice. We are continuing our job while some of our group returns prisoners freed from the confines of the goblins to Fentonville.
Diplomacy:
Knowledge (Nobility):
"Aye, as the lad says; we are a group of navigators and cartographers, working to explore and map this here territory. I don't mind telling you there be a problem with goblins round these parts. Less of one now, but I'm sure we didn't get all of the little blighters by a long shot."
Karnog steps up next to Malcolm, holy symbol of Torag proudly displayed.
"By any chance do you need medical attention? I can spare a few moments to assist in that capacity, should it be necessary. "
perception
Sheyan calmly walks to the front of the group next to Kio, who is staring intensely at the newcomers. He smiles and waves, letting the others talk
The troops approach a bit closer moving to 80 feet and a half-orc on a warhorse moves a bit closer (10 feet ahead of his squad), "Goblins you say...youall took it upon yourself to hunt 'em down and exterminate the group." He seems unimpressed with the story, you notice his lance has been raised. "never know whatcha find in this area...more often than not, often good-doers just git themselves kilt."
A higher ranking man on warhorse nods as female on her horse whispers something to him. This is followed by chuckle.
"Pardon me, perhaps my Taldan is less accomplished than I had hoped, but I was under the impression that a 'kilt' is a skirt worn by some northern men. If that was your way of saying 'killed' then ...well, obviously, we are quite alive. We also rescued the captives of the goblins. That was our primary reason for hunting down the wretches. The goblins stood in the way of said rescue. Now, they are dead."
Sheyan can't help but smile as Kalim insults the mans common. He pats his flat hand against his leg twice, and after a moment Teima pads up to him. He kneels down and whispers in her ear, and after a moment she walks off the road and vanishes into the trees. He watches her go and stands up, facing the newcomers with a serious expression "I do believe you misheard my dwarven friend, we were hired as cartographers who ended up running into a goblin problem. We dealt with it because we were able to, we did not come out here with the intention of starting a fight with them. And I believe you should appreciate it that we warned you of the problem ahead..." as he says this, Teima appears behind the group and growls "...before you are ambushed"
Teima Stealth
As soon as Teima growls in an attempt to startle them she sits down, making herself not a threat
Something funny? Are you friends to the foul beasts? We can point you to the lair, if you need to investigate. Otherwise, we would like to be about our business.
Diplomacy:
The man who chuckled comments before the wolf begins to emerge from trees, "Call your pet back before I have it run down and have you all hanging from the gallows for assaulting the law." The Sheriff commands.
You all, especially Malcolm and Karnog and those lawful characters, realize this is one of the coast road patrols. These patrols are not as frequent as folks would like as there are southern boarder troubles in Nirmathas.
The half-orc sergeant snarls at Kalim's jest.
The female in back simply puts her hand up after Malcolm speaks, a gesture that indicates the scene is quickly escalating to a hostile situation once the Sheriff warned about the wolf.
When the Sheriff interrupts his troops begin to instinctively react. The half-orc sergeant in front lowers his lance and the other rider, another half-orc, lowers his lance.
"Do you really mean to ride down an acknowledged cleric of Torag and a holy man blessed by Abadar? No offense intended, Sheriff, bit that seems a bit...short sighted...for a man of the law. We present no overt hostility, yet you lower lances at us? Hardly the charitable gesture I would expect for a dwarf who just offered free medical aid if needed."
Karnog seems sad and disappointed, but not exactly surprised humans and half-orcs act in such a manner.
Sheyan frowns. He doesn't make any move for his weapon, instead folding his arms "I am not from this area, but is this your idea of law enforcement? Where I come from they serve and protect the people. And pay no mind to Teima, I could hardly get her to attack if I wanted to. If I wanted to bring you to harm I would have sent Kio here" he pauses "We are cartographers that happened upon hostages taken by goblins. And so we rescued them. If it pleases you Malcolm and I were with another group who attempted the same thing, and we are the only survivors. So yes, I am well aware of the threat. Perhaps if the local authorities were more worried about doing their job and less worried about bothering groups that did it for them, we wouldn't be in this situation"
"Call the wolf back!" He responds. "These are hostile lands and trust is something earned."
They haven't really done anything corrupt that you know about. They simply approached cautiously to a squad of well armed adventurers. This is hostile area, they don't know if you are bandits or if those folks with you are prisoners or if they are in-fact rescued prisoners.
Sheyan whistles, and Teima trots back over. As she walks near the soldiers Kio raises his hackles, but a quick look from Sheyan and he calms down. He runs a hand through his hair "I believe we're all a little tense from a long day. I had to watch my friends die in battle, then spent time in a cage underwater at their mercy. And now I see that you are just doing your job by making sure we are not here under false pretenses. I apologize for my rudeness, I've had bad experiences with lawmen before"
The female pipes up, "Hold on now everyone...this seems to be getting out of hand on..." she looks at both groups, "...everyone's part. Our sergeant common is broken and gruff at times, and well...we've seen all kinds of ambushes, including those involving animals."
She motions to the Sheriff, "This is Sheriff Ostland and I'm Felrara."
"So where was that goblin warren you located?" She stands in her stirrups, "There was farm burnt down a half-day away, you know anything about that in your investigation?
"We found the missing children."
Sheyan indicates where they had found the goblins, but mentions he's been locked up for a few days and doesn't know about local going ons
Vatilda is certain clarity will prevail with Felrara, and maybe repetition with the Sheriff...
"We arrived at the farm the morning after it burned. There were two sets of tracks. We followed one set and found these people being held prisoner by goblins. After making sure these people are safe, we are following the other trail from the ruined farm."
The sheriff and Falrara nod, this is a regrettable misunderstanding, we will go check out that warren...those caves don't stay empty long. she makes sure everyone is put at ease. 'ain't much left of the frame...it's been burnt down and scavengers have picked it clean...Mrs. Probably better if you travel north to Fentonville.'
"Sheriff, Felrara, my offer still stands. If you or any of your soldiers require attention, I am happy to aid. If you seek me out when we are back at Fentonville, I will gladly do what I van at that time. "
After the map is shown to the woman, Malcolm adds, while pointing at the map.
While at the farm did any of your group track the set of prints from this fork that head away from the goblin warren located here? We were actually about to head out on that route, while some of our group returns the rescued individuals to Fentonville.
Argrim had kept his mouth shut. "Better to look like a fool, than open your mouth and prove it," the elders used to say. He follows Malcolm toward the sheriff, he offers, "we found that map in the gobbo's warren. It appears drawn by them, but the notes were made by our cartographer," Argrim nods toward Nibb.
"The map aligns with their cavern, the farm, and something on the other side where the other set of farm prisoner's tracks led. Their men were taken there," he nods toward Mrs. Farmer and her kids.
"Several of our group are going to escort Mrs. Farmer and her kids to Fentonville and to speak to our employer, Mr. Featherton." He waves an arm toward Varl, Ramm, and Nibb.
"The rest of us are going to recover their men. Over there. Would you like to come with us? Or maybe double escort these folks to Fentonville?" He asks.
"...because somebody's got to be doing your jobs. Maybe you should stop cruising the road and go where the bandits are actually hiding?"
Felrara waves off the clerics suggestion, "We're fine and in health."
She will mention to Malcolm, "We figure we arrived a day later and the house was picked clean by scavengers, there were trampled prints heading in three directions, we followed one of two trails that headed into the dragonmarsh for a bit but lost it in the swamp." She indicated on the map that they followed a more westerly path than the one on the map. She frowns a bit, "this one on your map was the other one we didn't follow, it skirts the edge of the dragonmarsh then turns inward towards....well, that could be the cloisters, that they've marked, and there are some other small marshy hillocks around there." She grimaces.
"Cloisters? As in old religious buildings? Any more you can share on those?"
She somewhat shrugs, "Just some old buildings and a remnant of the dead Frog-God sect there now. Damn...er, can't remember that God's name..." she calls out to the troops, "what's that Frog-God's name anyone know?"
There's a bunch of silence and shaking of heads, then one man speaks up, "Don't like...maybe begin wit a "Ts' can't rightfully say it anyway."
She raises her open hands, "Don't quite know it. But anyway it stands on a desolate ride overlooking vast swampland since before one can remember." She points to the map the lower marking, "round here."
"Oh, so you do get off-road! Well, what do you think that red, inverted V mark is there and the other mark further past the warren there?" Argrim asks not realizing how diplomatic he is.
There are several set of eyes that turn towards the gruff dwarf, none too pleased. "Haven't the foggiest. Lots of things lurking in those hills."
There are several set of eyes that turn towards the gruff dwarf, none too pleased. "Haven't the foggiest. Lots of things lurking in those hills."
"So you haven't gone off-road over there, then." Argrim sighs and walks back toward the group non-verbally communicating that he has no more use for these horsemen.
Dwarf's and half-orcs each have the diplomacy grace of dog in heat." She mumbles.
The Sheriff interrupts, "Alright lets get a move on." With that the patrol continues to march on by.
Vatilda rubs the palm of her hand along her jawline to alleviate the itch of her scar.
After the patrol is well out of ear shot she grumbles gibberish in a low bestial voice.
She takes a breath then asks "Return to the farm to try to pick up the trail? Or do we try to anticipate their destination, and head directly there?"