Still prone, Ki-Ah lashes out at the halfling that just jumped off the flaming dog.
Attack:
Confirm:
Damage:
Confirm Damage:
Then he stands up and glares at the remaining enemy.
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Ki-Ah's kick connects with the side of the hapless hafling's leg, shattering his femur and driving shards of bone through vital arteries. The hafling collapses on the road, watering the cobbles with his lifeblood. His shrill screams of agony quicky grow faint and cease completely.
Two-Fang turns to the surviving outrider and tries to throw his spear at it - then remembers he's already chucked his weapon. He didn't think this through very well, did he? Weaponless, he cheers you on. "Bravest new Gob Friends kill wicked dog rider! Kill good for Brambleclaws!"
Charge?
Attack:
Damage:
Fang face bite:
Damage:
Pecky continues to peck and claw at the halfling, while Makena attempts to line up a shot through the general melee now surrounding the halfling, her tongue sticking out of her mouth and a look of concentration upon her face.
"Owowow!"
Okki screeches at the vicious dog, then withdraws from the fight completely, hiding behind two of the other gobs.
After taking a moment to savor the scent of charred flesh, Vonk shouts something unintelligible about fire and charges at the remaining combatants, torch held out like a spear in front of him. Too distracted by the glorious sight of the bloodhound smoldering on the ground, Vonk misses his intended target.
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Makena's bolt thumps into the flank of the sole surviving war dog as her summoned eagle pecks and slashes at it. Bloodied, the dog whimpers and turns to run.
the dog dies pitifully under combined attack, and the battle is over as suddenly as it started. The delicious scent of roasting pig tickles your noses, and in the sudden silence you can hear a muffled "mmmph!" coming from behind the rock. Oblivious, Two-Fang cheers "Brambleclaws da bestest!"
Makena licks her lips, looking at the nearby pig before the sound of further struggles is detected behind the nearby boulder. She pulls out a dagger, slicing a strip of flesh off the pig before remounting.
"Oh. You can go now Pecky." she adds around a mouthful of meat. The bird disappears as Growly slithers across the path, and up onto the rock, Makena having to grip the saddle with both hands as her mount goes briefly vertical, before reaching the top of the rock, where she looks down on the other side, the generous chunk of pork sticking out of her reptilian maw.
Ki-Ah giggles crazily as last dog falls. He licks his smashed nose gingerly ans grins before grabbing a chunk of pork and beginning to feast.
Farg farg holds his lance into the air and cheers before slapping Fang Face in the back of the head. "You no get better at bite, I make you into blanket!"
"Yeah! We burn all the nasty dogs, and now we get the pig!" Vonk cheers, spiking his still-lit torch into the ground. He settles down to watch the fire and enjoy a chunk of pig meat. After finishing his meal and poking at the fire with a short stick, he goes to sift through the pockets of the dead halflings.
"Maybe has lots of greedy-ents in their pockets, make some good gluggadrink" he remarks to no one in particular as he rummages, sniffing anything of interest that he finds.
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Vonk's search turns up a load of camping gear sized for a creature with the stature of a goblin. There's three complete sets, including tent, bedroll, blanket, mess kit, and masterwork backpacks. In one of the backpacks is a scroll full of evil soul-stealing writing attached to a bulging coin-purse. Inside the purse is 400 gp.
Tied up next to the camping gear is a female goblin!
"We big bad heroes! I killed mostus halflinks! I would killed them all if Fang face better at bite." Agsin the goblin raises his hand to smack the wolf but Fang face's snarl makes him hold his hand. "I guess you ok, you do better next time."
The cavalier dismounts and tears off a portion of pig and devouring it before walking over to the dead halflings and checking them for loot.
Vonk snorts at Farg Farg's bravado. "Hmmf. Dogs way badder than haffinks," he grumbles. He takes one of the backpacks, and shows the other goblins what he's found.
"Lot of stuff here for us gobs! Just the right size for a gob, not biggo like humie things. And a gob! Gob tied up here"
Peering down cautiously at the female goblin Vonk asks "We kill haffinks, I untie you, you no hurt us, okay?" He uses a small knife to cut away the bonds tying her up.
Okki gingerly pokes at his shoulder where the riding dog nearly ended him with a single bite.
"Okki fine here I guess. Can anyone make magic that stops hurts?"
He slices off a hunk of pig then sheaths his swords and watches as Fireface is untied. He studies her for a bit, then turns to Two Claw while chewing.
"What now, new boss?"
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Two-fang looks uncomfortable. "I no boss. Great Chief is boss! You say you boss, Great Chief eat you! We go to Brambleclaw home now. Bring pig an' dog heads an' new brambleclaws! ".
He uses a small knife to remove the heads of the dogs and ears of the haflings, retrieves his spear, and slings what's left of the pig over his shoulder and continues down the road.
The road takes you swiftly to the forest's edge. As the treeline ends, you catch your first glimpse of the big longshanks town. "Dat Thornkeep!" exclaims Two-Fang happily. A stone fortress dominates the vista, perching atop a hill and overwatching the settlement. The keep has obviously seen better days - the walls are choked with ivy and the battlements have crumbled from neglect in several places. Despite this, it remains an imposing structure. Below the hill, a river runs past a mill into a large pond. Several juvenile longshanks fish and frolic on the banks, and cursing teams of burly longshanks men wrestle tremendous boards of hardwood into stacks and into carts. Ringed around these central features are a variety of houses and shops. The entire town is abustle with the activities of a busy frontier town. Despite the amount of merchant activity, a strong armed presence is clear: Swaggering men in mail armor and tabards with a wolf's head emblem patroll the town's streets. Two-Fang points them out as the Baron's guards. "Dey bad. Sometimes kick a goblin just for fun. Best to leave 'lone!". Besides the guards, scruffy badnits lounge about, drinking away their ill-gotten gains at several public houses. A diciplined file of professional mercenaries troops out of town as you watch. Clearly, a goblin's gotta watch himself around here.
Two-Fang leads you straight into the longshanks town. As discomforting as it must be for you wild goblins, the tall residents of Thornkeep seem to pay you no mind. Where experience tells you that you'll be met with iron and horse-demons, the longshanks barely deign to notice your existence. Several times, you are forced to dive aside as a demon-drawn cart rolls through where you were standing. As you pass a blacksmith's shop, a fierce dog barks aggresively and lunges against his chain, earning a curse and a kick from the shop's hulking proprietor.
Two-Fang doesn't look disturbed in the least, and calmly leads you to the southern outskirts of town. There you see the thicket he had mentioned. As promised, the Brambles are a massive patch of wildly overgrown thorns and vines. Two-Fang walks right into the thicket, and you find that you can slip in between the thorns just as easily. The vines are fist-thick and hard as steel, and the thorns are dagger sized and wickedly barbed. Truly, the Brambles are a perfect refuge for gobkind! Inside their shelter, about a dozen goblins lounge and work. One gob is industriously tanning some hides, and several are picking through piles of junk. A pair of goblins, so alike as to be identical, cheer and yell as a group of cat-sized beetles scrabble in an effort to escape a greased pot. When the first beetle escapes, one gob slams a lid on the part as the other spits the escapee with a knife. Curses and shinies are exchanged, and the gobs turn to roasting the beetle over a small fire. The huts in which the goblins live are scattered haphazardly through the brambles. They appear to be standard goblin quarters, complete with the characteristic clutter and stench that you love. The largest hut of all is roughly centered in the Brambles. Its wood-and-junk walls have been constructed in a slightly successful imitation of the town's keep. It has kind of towery-looking edifices, and decorative wood-plank "battlements". If you squint and turn your head funny, you can see the resemblance. Oh well, at least they tried. It is to this house that Two-Fang leads you.
He swallows nervously and gathers himself, then knocks on the door timidly. "Great Chief? Is lowly worm Two-Fang. I bring tribute! Bring pig for eats, half-man ears an' dog heads! Oh yeah, an' sum gobs for being new Brambleclaws!". After speaking, he jumps back from the door.
The thick wooden door flies open with vicious force, slamming against a discarded chunk of granite ore. Inside the door is an iron portcullis, which clanks slowly upward. As you pass through the fortified doorway, you encounter the biggest, smelliest goblin you've ever seen.
HUH, WHAT WE GOT 'ERE?
Great Chief Graalsk sizes you up. He is certainly a splendid paragon of goblinkind. The Great Chief stands a mighty four feet tall. Rolls of fat droop out of a suit of scrap iron "armor", but his massive arms and shoulders give evidence to power under all that lard. Upon his brow rests a surprisingly well-crafted crown of brilliantly colored glass, and a dogskin cloak adorns his shoulders. A pair of well-worn dogslicers rest in his lap He sits atop a wooden chair "throne" behind an enormous bubbling black iron cauldron. Some vile brew boils furiously in the cauldron, and a battered pewter mug of the stuff rests by his side. It smells delicious To the side of the throne, two scantily clad goblin girls work diligently at polishing a set of fine silverware and chopping various ingredients for the pot.
The Great Chief's red eyes linger on each of you in turn before he speaks.
"SO YA WANT TO BE BRAMBLECLAWS, YEAH? YA GOTTA BE SMARTEST AND BADDEST GOB TO BE A BRAMBLECLAW. YA GOT TO LOOK A HORSE-DEMON IN THE EYE AN NOT FLINCH! YA GOTTA STEAL FROM A LONGSHANKS AN NOT GET CAUGHT! YA GOTTA EARN A PLACE IN DIS TRIBE! WHO YOU BE? "
Farg farg sits atop fang face and raises his lance in salute to the Chief. "I be Farg farg, this here be Fang face. We heroes like in stories!"
Ki-Ah bows deeply. "I be Ki-Ah. Me jump and climb real good. Can sniff out evil dogs too. Like make dolls from their skins!"
Okki grins as he steps forward. He brandishes a few of his throwy stars and begins to juggle them with his eyes closed.
"Okki sneak and Okki stab..
Okki hide when humies mad!
Not cuz he scared like halflings, no!
Because he like to sneak and throw!"
At this, he tosses a star at the beetle on the spit, oblivious to whomever else may be in the way.
"Okki at yer service boss-gob! Pajama fighter he is, with sneaking and stabbing and throwing as what he do best."
"HUH. FINALLY A GOB WITH A SONG. YOU A BUNCH OF WEIRD NO-SONG GOBS?"
Vonk bows again and starts his song, waving his torch like a conductor's baton as he sings.
Use the torch to burn the dogs!
Find some bugs and find some frogs!
Vonk mix and Vonk brew.
Makes a yummy maggot stew!
Vonk fix tasty gluggadrink
Out of flowers what really stink.
But bombs is best of course.
Burn up anything, even horse!
With that, Vonk lobs a vial at the fire under the cauldron. The vial explodes with a loud crack and the flames leap up around the cauldron.
Having been suitably distracted by the fight and eating of pig Makena happily follows the others along the road again, still munching on a piece of pork. As the town hoves into view however she lets out a startled "Eeep!" as she remembers their destination.
By the time they reach the outskirts of Thornkeep she is leaned low over Growly's neck, making those odd noises that she uses to talk to her mount. As she actually takes in her surrounding however she sits up. "Those tall-ones? Longshanks?" she asks. "Hmm, they not like Mikmek said at all, they all soft and squishy looking." she appears cross for a few moments before breaking into a reptilian smile, looking around her with curiosity. Admittedly some of them did look a bit more fearsome, with metal shells and pointy weapons but they weren't anything like what she'd expected.
The goblin villiage is similarly quite intriguing to the kobold. "Everyone put trees and rocks and things together on surface, is strange." she observes, considering the differences. These gobs and humans probably didn't know how to dig properly, she would have to show them how to make proper tunnels that don't fall on their heads, she had always been good at that.
When they reach the chieftain's hut she falls silent, startled when the door flies open. She looks up at the large goblin as he bellows at them. She wondered how the goblins had bred a horse with a demon, and if it had horns. It takes her a while to come out of her daydream, realizing the others have all introduced themselves.
"Makena is not a goblin, but she ran into these gobs, and they said she could come with them. This is Growly, Makena's dragon friend, and Makena has lots of other friends that help her out, Pecky, and Squeaky, and Ribbit, and Sir Hiss, and Crawly, and Pony, and Bitey and Mr. Barks. They not allowed to stay very long yet though."
"Makena also knows spells to keep people safe and make hurts better, and can spit acid, and find magicky things, and make people better too. Also sometimes shoots things with a crossbow."
"Makena doesn't have song like Vonk or Okki..." she finishes, sounding disappointed, finally running out of steam.
"YEA YOU AINT A GOB FOR SURE. YOU BE ONE O' DEM KO-BOLDS. THAT DON'T MATTER, YOU CAN BE BRAMBLECLAW IF YOU SMART AN BAD. LONGSHANKS PROB'LY KILL YOU IF THEY NOTICE. YOU GET GOB HAT, LOOK LIKE GOB. SOMEONE TEACH DIS KO-BOLD HOW TO MAKE GOB SONG, DEN YOU BE REAL BRAMBLECLAW"
Great Chief Graalsk turns to the last member of your group and waits impatiently.
Fireface comes sneaking out of the dark corner of where she was. The tiny goblin is wearing a robe that hides most of her scaly greenness, though a long nose peeks out of the hood and occasionally an odd little glow shows through her numerous teeth.
From behind her peeks a cat, a dirty cat that may have once been white, with oddly mismatched green and blue eyes.
"My name is Fireface..." She nearly whispers, "And this is Clawface."
The cat spits.
"YOU WIERD AND QUIET, AND TALK FUNNY. GREAT CHIEF GRAALSK KEEP EYES ON YOU FOR SURE. MAYBE YOU OK, MAYBE YOU JUST WIERD GOB, BUT YOU SMELL LIKE GOB WHAT KNOWS ABOUT SOUL-STEALING MAGIC."
Graalsk shifts his bulk in his throne, and shifts his gaze to Two-Fang.
"WELL, TWO-FANG? WHAT YOU GOT TO SAY BOUT DEES GOBS?"
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Two-Fang gulps nervously, but apes the posture you saw of the mercenaries and stands at something approaching attention.
"Great Chief Graalsk, dis gob was innawoods, lookin for food. I sees dis bunch of gobs innawoods, an' I knew they wasn't Brambleclaws, but they not look like other gobs either. I tell them how good Brambleclaws got it an' how good Great Chief Graalsk is at bossin'! Dey say dey want be Brambleclaws too so we come here. Onna way, we find pig in forest being cooked, and Half-men on dogs jump us! Dees gobs fight real good!" He points to Vonk. "Dis gob set dog on fire with torch! Dat Ko-Bold make scary bird come from sky and peck half-men!" he continues, gesturing at Makena, then points to Ki-Ah. "Dat gob kick Half-man so hard he die screaming! Was funny! An' Dat gob," he continues, pointing at Farg Farg, "ride his wolf an' kill gobs like big scary longshanks night! Dees some good gobs inna fight! Dey make good Brambleclaws, make tribe larger and badder!. An Two-Fang fite real good too! I throw spear, kill half-man dog! Went right through! He die real funny, like dis! Aawwrrrroooh! Rrrrrawwrrhhh..... *gurgle*. Two-Fang brought dees gobs here, got pig, got dog ears, got half-man ears. Two-Fang bad gob!"
Great Chief Graalsk sits back contentedly on his throne.
"TWO-FANG DID GOOD JOB, YOU SMART AN' BAD FOR SURE. YOU GET FAVOR FROM GREAT CHIEF GRAALSK. YOU NO HAVE TO WORK FOR ONE TENDAY, CAN EAT AT GREAT CHIEF'S TABLE, AN CAN DRINK GREAT CHIEF SOUPDRINK TONIGHT. REST OF YOU, YOU CAN BE BRAMBLECLAWS. APPR... APPRENT... APPERENT... BRAMBLECLAWS WHAT ARE NEW TO BRAMBLECLAWS AN' NEED TEACHIN'." Graalsk grins wickedly, showing perfectly denticured fangs capped with gold. "HERE ARE RULES FOR BEING BRAMBLECLAW GOBS:
ONE. GREAT CHIEF GRAALSK IS BOSS. AIN'T NO OTHER BOSSES 'CEPT GREAT CHIEF GRAALSK. YOU SAY YOU A BOSS, YOU GO IN SOUPDRINK POT.
TWO. ALL BRAMBLECLAW GOBS GOTS TO WORK TOGETHER. AIN'T NO GOB ON GOB FIGHTIN. I CATCH GOB FIGHTIN' GOB, BOTH GO IN SOUPDRINK POT. YOU GOTS A PROBLEM WITH A GOB, YOU COME SEE GREAT CHIEF GRAALSK. I SMARTEST GOB, I FIGGER OUT WHO RIGHT OR WRONG.
THREE. ALL BRAMBLECLAW GOBS GOTS TO PUT IN WORK. AIN'T NO FREE LIVIN HERE. EVERY DAY, EVERY GOB GOTTA PUT IN ENOUGH WORK TO EARN KEEP. YOU GOTS TO BRING GREAT CHIEF FIVE SHINEY GOLD COINS OR STUFF WORTH DAT MUCH. YOU GOTS TO BRING SOME KINDA FOOD BACK TO BRAMBLECLAWS EVERY DAY TOO. YOU GOTS TO KNOW HOW TO MAKE SOME KINDA STUFF TOO - MAKE SLICER, MAKE WARMCLOTH FOR WINTER, MAKE FOOD REAL GOOD, SOMETHIN' LIKE DAT. DAT'S WHAT WRONG WITH OTHER GOB CLANS. LAZY, DUMB, AIN'T WORTH A TURD. IF YOU LAZY AN' DUMB YOU GO IN SOUPDRINK POT.
FOUR. ANYTHING ELSE, GREAT CHIEF GRAALSK TELL YOU WHAT YOU DO."
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With that, Graalsk waves you out of his hut. It's late in the day, and the collected Brambleclaw tribe have all returned home to the Brambles. You see that the tribe isn't very large - a couple dozen at most. The goblins look well fed, well equipped, and in good health, though. They seem somewhat insular and not very talkative, and on this first evening only Two-Fang keeps your company. As soon as the sun dips below the horizon, the Two-Fang turns in. He offers you space under his roof, and you spend the night fairly comfortably on a pile of furs and stolen longshanks cloth, with shoddy wooden walls to keep the breeze off.
The next day dawns bright and early. The world awaits you, gobs.
Vonk nods vigorously at Great Chief Graalsk's proclamations. That night, as Two-Fang shows the gobs to his hut, Vonk asks him "Does the longshanks like us gobs? Or gobs leave longshanks alone, then longshanks leave gobs alone?" A few minutes later, he is snoring softly, wrapped snugly in a moldy old pelt.
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An hour or so after sunrise, Vonk wakes up and pulls what may be a book out of his bulging pack. He leafs through the crinkled yellow pages, finding the section he is looking for. Three dried-up worms, one withered flower, and a small dragonfly are somehow adhered to this page, and at the bottom is a crude illustration of a goblin with ridiculously large muscles. Vonk wanders around the Brambleclaw village, searching for the ingredients. Once he finds them, he mushes up the worms, flowers, and dragonflies into a paste, and smashes it in a vial.
Whether or not any of the other gobs (or Makena) are awake at this point, he states "Today, build a house! Any other gobs helping? Gotta getta wood or rocks or things, make a sleeping place and a place for make booms." With that, he searches around the goblin village for suitable building materials and begin making a pile of stuff to build the house.
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Two-Fang tells you "Longshanks don't like gobs. Dey would kill gobs 'cept Great Chief Graalsk real smart an' important in town, an' he protect us gobs. Sometimes longshanks kick a gob or something, but no kill. Sometimes give gobs work to do. "
"Might I suggest we go and take the wood from the Longshanks?" Suggests Fireface. She really does talk funny for a Goblin. She remains hidden in her cloak, out and about this morning in her usual creepily quiet way, her filthy cat slinking after her.
"They will likely have better materials than this ..." She casts a disapproving eye over the brambles.
Farg farg wakes up and kicks Fang face in the ribs, the wolf snaps at the goblins leg in an effort to remove it below the knee as the cavalier dances away laughing. "You lazy fur ball Fang face!I been up for uh, hour now you lay here snoring! Get up we have things to do."
The goblin looks sideways at Fireface and shrugs. "This material good. Plenty bugs for yum-yums at night. I want go kill stuff, not build house. We get slave make them build house."
"Five is this manys, but which ones are gold? The shiny white one, the shiny yellow one, or the shiny orange?" Makena mumbles to herself as they are dismissed from the chief. She looks around at the other inhabitants of her new 'tribe' as they trickle back in that evening, before accepting Two-Fang's offer of hospitality.
The kobold rises bright and early the next day--kobolds were hard workers after all, it didn't pay to sleep the day away--and disarms the bear traps she had placed around herself for protection, stowing them in Growly's saddlebags, though the serpentine creature itself seems to be absent this morning.
When the others start talking about securing building materials for a house Makena shakes her head. "Makena not know why want to build flimsy thing from trees and rocks. Gobs should help Makena dig out lair instead! Much sturdier, only fall down when you want it to crush people trying to steal your things, and easier to put traps and other things kill enemies. It be perfect! We can even build secret tunnels to tall on... Makena mean, 'longshanks' houses so we can take their stuffs when we want, like Chief Graalsk say. Maybe even find some shiny metals to make coins for Chief!" Makena suggests enthusiastically, pulling out a pick from her lumpy pack and a folded up shovel. "Have to get more tools for gobs though..." she muses for a few moments before adding "Makena guess gobs could still build thing on top of lair entrance if they want. Make it hided. What's slave?"
Regardless of whether the other goblins agree with her or not, she will head out into town to look for additional tools and materials. She would need some lumber and the like for crafting supports and such, but it seems that shouldn't be too hard... She does her best to remain discrete and out of sight, Two-Fang had said the longshanks kicked gobs sometimes, she didn't want to find out what they did to Kobolds. She also attempts to make sense of these longshanks buildings, and if any have secret underground goodies, or just anything that catches her eye architecturally speaking really.
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Before Makena can make it out of the Brambles, she is intercepted by an elderly goblin crone. In her hand is clutched a bizzare mask - wicker ribs support a brim of cured chicken skin on which is sewn a patch of dog fur and a pair of halfling ears. The whole contraption has been rubbed with mud and a green dye, producing the effect of a goblin's head - albeit a truly hideous goblin. The crone presses the mask into Makena's hand.
"I Chewtallow. Great Chief Graalsk said I make you dis for tricking longshanks dat you gob. Great Chief say I no take shineys for mask. He give me mug of soupdrink!"
The wizened goblin licks her lips and smacks at the memory of that delicacy.
"You need more mask make say to Chewtallow. I make best masks an' hats. Cost shiney tho, unless Great Chief say no."
The longshans houses don't seem that impressive to you. Most do have basements. Where are you wandering?
Okki wakes up the next morning and considers the others. There's a lot they want to do, but he's the most worried about the 5 shiny fee.
Usually, he would simply steal the 5 gold from a boss gob and then pay him with it, but Graalsk seemed too smart for that trick.
"Hey gobs and not gobs. Okki needs to go get some things to help out around here. It not a lot, but it something. If someone want to come with to get him some ink, that be okay."
Okki leaves for the main part of town. He decides not to sneak. He sneaks good, but if seen sneaky gobs raise angry mobs.
"Heh.. that make song I think."
He looks for wherever seems like the best place to purchase some ink. He also buys some stoppered vials and some high quality tools to help.
On his way home, he keeps a look out for any meaty things.. mice or birds or rats or cats or little dogs. He does have to bring food!
Makena turns and looks at the old goblin as she? stops Makena. When the crone offers her the mask Makena looks at it curiously before taking it with a soft "Oooh..."
Giving it a sniff and a gentle chew Makena puts it on, looks around for a few moments and then goes running off to find a puddle to see how effective it is.
"Wow! Makena look like Goblin now!" she yells excitedly, running back to the others to show off her gift. "Rawr, me scary goblin with big head and um... sharp toes!" she says, 'menacing' the other goblins. "Me no like dogs for some reason!" she adds after a moment's thought.
Fireface tags along with Makena. :D
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As you crawl out of the Brambles, you come across several goblins who have rolled out carts or put up stalls full of goods in a ramshackle bazaar. An old female goblin sits picking her nose under an awning upon which has been scrawled "gud luck" in a substance that may or may not be rat blood. Her stand has piles of scrap metal and glass, and various body parts from a wide array of unfortunate forest dwellers.
Next to the charm shop sits a one-eyed goblin at a cart upon which is mounted a grindstone on an axle. A foot treadle provides power for sharpening. A battered sign announces "me sharp up anything 1 shiney".
Alongside that, a rail-thin goblin with a freakishly tiny head (for a goblin - its more like a normal size head for anything else) sits on a stool holding a wooden sign which simply declares "can steal 4 hire".
Nextdoor, a middle-aged goblin crouches by a large distillation device. In front of him are rows of glass vials labled with fanciful promises such as "grow taller" "fite better" "bugs go away" and "she like you". The propriator is too busy stirring a pot over a fire to notice you, but his apparatus has a sign saying "magic glug drinks".
Near the edge of the market, a sharply dressed young male goblin parades around a cart upon which are hung many hats. The goblin is dressed in a well-fitted double-breasted suit and ruffles, and upon his head perches an immaculate felt top hat. The goods on his cart are of similar high quality, and he stands out enough to not bother with advertising. As you pass, he cheerfully doffs his hat and beams a perfect smile at you.
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Just east of the Brambles stands this ramshackle and sagging hewn-log building. A sign over the door proclaims this to be The Thirsty Ogre, a Publick House. The sign is illustrated with an inebriated ogre passed out over a log. The creature's manhood is erect and a stream of urine arcs back to puddle in the sleeping ogre's mouth.
The door to the pub shows a patchwork of breaks, repairs, and splinters, while the slots for windows gape bare of any glass. A thin stream of greasy smoke issues forth from a cooking pit out back, while a badly beaten young longshanks male whimpers softly in the mud puddle that fronts the main entrance. A sign reading "piss off" hangs across the front doors.
Clearly, this is an extremely rough alehouse.
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As you venture north through the town, you initially find very little worth investigating. The houses here are run down and in bad repair, and the longshanks you meet are skinny and drawn. One building does catch your eye, though. It's expertly crafted from smoothed wooden planks, jointed with skill, and painted a bold red. The building has an understated sign by the door that says "F. Dundaban, woodwright". An enormous pile of sawdust sits alongside the house, and as you pass by you clearly hear the raspy sounds of a draw-saw cutting.
Boldened by her clever guise as a fellow Goblin, Makena enthusiastically leads the way from the brambles, a little surprised when the others seem to tag along. The bazaar catches her attention and she heads over to investigate, peering and sniffs at the various stalls.
"Good to have someone to steal things." Makena observes as she looks at the small headed goblin's sign, but doesn't stop. When she reaches the 'magic glug drinks' stall she pauses to examine his wares. "Why you want to make bugs go away. Bugs delicious!" she exclaims in exasperation.
Makena can't help but be curious about the sign on the nearby building, leaving the bazaar behind to get a closer look. "That disgusting." she murmurs, but she seems almost fascinated by the crude depiction. The man's whimpering finally draws her attention away, the Kobold shuffling over to look at him.
"You hurt good." Makena observes, roughly poking at his injuries. "You want become slave? You have to dig tunnels, but then Makena look after you." she offers, peering at the goblins for confirmation, the kobold rather new to this whole 'slavery' thing.
Makena wanders over to sniff at the sawdust for a few moments, before jumping into the pile without warning, rolling around in the wood shavings. She climbs out after a few moments and gives herself an experimental sniff. "Makena like this stuff." she observes, stuffing a handful into her pocket.