Floredana creeps into the room. When she gets to the closet she can see within.
There is a hole in the floorboards, and clothing and junk that was once in the closet is heaped around the man (whom you suspect is Alergast Barett). But it is clear that he is either unconscious... or dead. His head hangs down into the hole, and his body moves slightly as something tugs on his face and neck. Floredana can see movement within the hole.
She realizes that whatever it is that is moving in the hole... is chewing on the man's face!
Flo goes pale and becomes unsteady on her feet. She tips over a little and fumbles to support herself on the wall. Stammering, she points for the others to look at her discovery. It... it's eating him... What do we do? Do we pull him out? How do we tell his wife? They have a kid! Their dog is dead too!
"Nasty little f$#~er, goblin or not." Kargas rumbles softly and motions to the others. "When I clear the hole, send whatever it is to the Mother of Souls for judgement."
Gingerly stepping forward, the half-orc's weight loudly cracks a floorboard and he sighs in resignation. Darting forward, he reaches down with one hand suddenly and seizes the man's body by the ankle, dragging it backwards in one fluid motion.
Cade tries his best to catch up to the others.
Kargas waits until Cade enters, and gives him the nod.
As he takes the body by the ankles, the chewing sound stops. He yanks the body out of the closet... and there is a snarling scream from the hole in the floor of the closet!
Kargas can see a goblin there in the hole. Its mouth and face is covered in blood, and its face is a mess of scars. In one hand it holds a small shard of metal, possibly from a broken blade of some kind.
Round 1 Initiative!
Block 1: Cade, Colvyn, Floredana, Laurana, Rig
Block 2: the Screaming Goblin
Block 1: Kargas
"Get it Kargas!" Flo shouts, releasing a flurry of butterflies over him. The family can't see the body! What are we going to do?
________
Floredana places her blessing on Kargas, while Rig waits to see what he can do.
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No room to use a bow in here... Colvyn concentrates for a second while he focus on the divine energy granted by his faith. As he releases a deep breath that he was holding, his body start transforming. His fur gets coarser, his facial feature gets more primitive and his hands get slightly bigger. Also, his claws increase in size and looks a lot more dangerous. When everything is done, he looks more like a dire rat than a Ratfolk. After the transformation is over, he moves closer to the door where the danger seems to come from.
Cade is not sure what is going on as he just showed up but seeing the look on everyone face gives him courage to move forward. Drawing his weapons and moves past Kargas, he sees what gave everyone pause. His smile is still there but it is not a happy smile, it looks more like he is going to enjoy running this creature through the gut.
You f~@#ing uncivilized piece of Dwarven s$#*.
Cade tries to stab at the creature.
Cade stabs deep into the hole hoping that he is accurate with his aim. He keeps his other weapon ready to parry any attacking that might come back out.
Colvyn activates a blessing, while Cade charges into the fray!
He thrusts his rapier and it cuts a furrow in the goblin's cheek. The goblin shrieks incoherently with rage!
The goblin jumps out of the hole and stabs at Cade with his homemade dagger. His wild slash catches Cade in the abdomen!
The goblin's torso is already covered with blood and Cade's gash does little to change that. But the goblins armor has already taken quite a beating and there is plenty of dried blood as well.
Round 1 Initiative!
Block 1: Cade, Colvyn, Floredana,
Block 2: the Screaming Goblin
Block 3: Kargas, Laurana (delaying), Rig (delaying)
Round 2 Initiative!
Block 1: Cade, Colvyn, Floredana,
Block 2: the Screaming Goblin (-3)
Block 3: Kargas, Laurana, Rig
Flo backs away from the mongrel and out the door. That doesn't do Kargas any good, I'll try to give them more space. Maybe they can draw it out. "That goblin looks pretty beat, you should be able to take it down quickly!"
Looking at the rest of the party for the first time, she jumps a little. "I wouldn't go in there unless you have to. It's a grisly scene..."
________
Rig hears Cade's grunt as the goblin slices into him. He moves into the room, hopping on to the bed, and bursts into a song of glory, of those who have been wounded, but fought on.
Cade sees that he is in a tight spot and is prepared for such. As the screaming goblin Jumps out of his hole and attacks he attempts to block
Rather than striking the goblin as it emerges, Cade holds back, waiting to parry the goblin's next attack.
Rig begins his performance while Floredana clears out of the room.
Round 1 Initiative!
Block 1: Cade, Colvyn, Floredana,
Block 2: the Screaming Goblin
Block 3: Kargas, Laurana (delaying), Rig
Round 2 Initiative!
Block 1: Cade, Colvyn, Floredana
Block 2: the Screaming Goblin (-3)
Block 3: Kargas, Laurana, Rig
Cade feels the pain in his gut from the attack. He connected with the weapon but just could not get the angle on it to move it aside. He knew he needed to draw it out and felt he was the best suited to make the creature jump.
I got its attention, now do your thing.
Cade moves himself back behind Kargas to allow him to put the creature down.
Cade ducks back behind Kargas.
The goblin shouts and slashes at Cade as he disappears around the corner, but Cade is already out of his reach.
Round 1 Initiative!
Block 1: Cade, Colvyn, Floredana,
Block 2: the Screaming Goblin
Block 3: Kargas, Laurana (delaying), Rig
Round 2 Initiative!
Block 1: Colvyn, Cade, Floredana
Block 2: the Screaming Goblin (-3)
Block 3: Kargas, Laurana, Rig
Wordlessly the half-orc presses in as Cade leaps away from the hole, plunging his falchion into the gap in the floorboards even as his scars and eyes light up with fell power.
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Twice Lucky?: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 6 + 1 = 20
Kargas brings the falchion down and cuts the goblin in the collarbone. There is a flash of blood and a shriek, and the goblin falls back into the hole. Kargas can see that it is lying on the ground underneath, about 2 feet below the hole. It is not moving.
Combat Over.
The goblin is bleeding out and dying.
A quick examination reveals the following:
* The goblin's dagger was just a shard of metal with some cloth wound around one end. Kargas recognizes it as a piece from a "horsechopper," the traditional goblin polearm (a few of the goblins in the raid had them).
* The goblin's armor is a suit of studded leather, with a number of holes that look like the goblin was shot by arrows or crossbow bolts.
* The goblin also has a sling and a bag of small rocks and wooden balls. The wooden balls have nails and other sharp thing sticking out.
* There is a belt pouch with 39 silver pieces, two rings (one made of ivory and the other of electrum with a small opal) worth 5 gp and 20 gp respectively, and a pair of delicate (and slightly bent) gold earrings shaped like butterflies worth 10 gp. All the pieces of jewelry have bloodstains on them.
* There is a small vial of amber liquid. Laurana discerns it to be oil of magic stone.
* There are two pairs of shoes and one pair of boots, all human-sized. They have all been chewed on (literally - you can see the teeth marks) pretty badly.
* In the crawlspace under the house there is evidence that the goblin has been living there for several days at least.
* The small dog has had its throat cut. There is a collar with the name "Petal" written on it.
* The man also had his throat cut and subsequently it looks like the goblin was trying to eat his face.
"We can't let the family see their dog and father like this," Flo begins. "Should we ask one of those guardsmen to call a few more so we can move them to the temple to be washed and properly prepared for burial? There might be a spell to restore his face. Nobody deserves to see their loved one in such a state..." Flo slowly sheathes her weapon, face forlorn.
________
Rig places a hand on Cade. "He got you in a tight corner there, didn't he."
"There. That should help a bit." He smiles at the bloodied halfling.
"I'm inclined to agree with Flo. I'm not sure that such a magic exists, but it would not be right to have the man's family see him thus."
Kargas eyes the fallen goblin a moment, then raises his blade again. "People die, sometimes horribly. His shade is shlikk! now avenged. What more can anyone ask for?" Wiping the blade clean, he sheathes it and reaches down to haul the goblin's corpse from the hole and starts riffling through its pockets.
Cade smiles as Rig heals him
That is not so tight of a spot. It was my own fault as I did not get the proper angle on the weapon in order to parry properly. Thank you for the healing...wish it would heal my shirt.
Cade makes his way to the dead man. He kneels down beside him. His voice low and steady.
I am sorry we did not make it in time. Rest assured that your family is safe and you are free to move on.
With those words spoken he stand up and walks outside to get away from the smell.
Laurana looked for sheets to lay over the corpses until the watch could remove them. When that was done, she apprised the others of the potion. "This potion was found on the goblin. When used properly, the user will be able to hurl rocks with greater velocity and accuracy. Seems strange for a goblin to have magic on it. But the choice of weapon, a rock, seems appropriate."
"Let's hang around for a little while, I will plead with Desna for the appropriate spell to make this man presentable again," Flo says quietly.
"Desna, restore this corpse to it's pure state, may his family not be forced to bear witness upon the horrors of evil," she chants softly. As her incantation concludes, the corpses' flesh flows back over the ruined torso. "Shall we call for the guards to bring the family back home now? I think we have done the best we can here." We must be more diligent in our search, we can't let something like this happen again!
________
As Floredana meditates, two of the town guard return from the guardhouse. They inform the group that Sergeant Bartle is waiting with the Baretts at the guardhouse.
Floredana's magic restores Alergast Barett's body back to its normal shape, though his shirt is still covered with splotches of blood. The group prepares a stretcher to move the body, and the guards carry off the body to the temple to be looked after by Father Zantus.
They return to the guardhouse to find Sergeant Bartle trying to calm down Mrs. Barett by getting her to recount what happened. They overhear her as they arrive.
"Ever since the raid Aeren kept saying there was a monster in the closet. If only we listened! We just thought he was having nightmares because of the raid. We let Petal sleep in the room with him and sometimes Petal would bark and growl, but she does that sometimes. We thought nothing of it, like a cat had gone by the window or something."
"And then tonight, Petal started barking like mad, but then she yelped and was quiet. And Aeren started screaming! We ran into the room, and Petal was dead, and there was a goblin standing on my son's chest trying to eat him! Alergast chased him into the closet and yelled at us to run, so I took Verah and Aeren and ran out into the street."
She looks up as the group comes in.
"What happened? Where's Alergast?" She sees the drawn faces of the party, and becomes frantic. "Where's my husband?!?"
Rig approaches the woman and lays his hand gently on her shoulder. "I'm very sorry for your loss. But it sounds like he gave his life for his family. There is no higher love. He was clearly a good man."
Flo releases a breath she didn't realize she was holding when Rig responds first. "We have killed the goblin that did him in. I know words can't bring him back, but I hope you find some level of solace in knowing he died fighting for his family. His body has been taken to Father Zantus, if you wish to see him." This is easily the worst thing I've had to do in a long time. I might need a drink after this...
Not wishing to overwhelm the woman further, Flo waits to see how she responds to Rig's contact before slowly moving forward to embrace Mrs. Barett.
Cade remains uncharacteristically quiet while the conversation goes on. He does not move or say anything. Just stands there watching.
Please Kargas do not speak up... How the hell did we miss this one....That family did not deserve this...she is a human and not orc and will grieve in her own way...please do not speak up...are we even capable of handling this...Those f$~$ers back at the tavern are only interested in their own skins......please do not speak up. How can I continue to do this knowing that I caused this to happen. I had a hand in that mans death.
The half-orc doesn't go in, some instinct telling him that his rough edges wouldn't be helpful in the situation. He remains outside the guardhouse door, sitting on a rain barrel after locating the lid.
With the situation high on emotion, Colvyn just opens his mouth, but can't seem to find the proper words to say. I should be good at this... Priests are normally good at providing comfort... So instead of talking, he just points to himself and then the door leading outside, letting the group know that he will step out and waiting for them there.
"He's dead?" Amele Barett says querulously, and then a moment later busts into tears. She tries to clasp her hands over Aeren's ears as if the words might still be in flight and she might keep them from him, but he has already heard begins crying as well.
Rig and Floredana try to console Amele and Aeren while Cade and Laurana look on and Colvyn and Kargas wait outside.
Sergeant Bartle looks at a complete loss.
"I'm so sorry, Missus Barett. I wish there was something I could do," he mutters. "Yer 'usband was a good man."
Amele Barett begins to make some rather incoherent accusations at Sergeant Bartle, when Father Zantus walks in with one of his acolytes.
"My dear Amele, I just heard. How awful!" Falther Zantus gathers her up in his arms.
"But know this, my daughter; Desna has him in his keeping now. He now walks in that starry realm of hers and makes a place for you. You will meet again, I promise. He will always be in your heart, and you in his, and that connection will guide you to him when it is time."
He looks at the group with a pained expression, and turns back to Amele.
"Why don't you come back to the church tonight and we can get you sorted out tomorrow. Go with Brother Gavin here, and I'll be right behind you after I talk to the guards here for a moment."
Brother Gavin escorts Amele and Aeren out while the adventurers wait. Father Zantus turns to the group.
"She has a sister in Magnimar. It might be best if she stays with family for a while. I'll see what I can do. I take it this was another goblin incident?"
He waits for a few moments as the group explains, and then takes his leave.
"You have my thanks for what it is worth. I had better go. May Desna have you in her keeping," he gives his blessing before he leaves.
After Father Zantus leaves, the group slowly makes their way back to the Rusty Dragon. Their mood is somber but they have done all they can. Had this been one of Cyrdak's plays, they would have arrived to save Alergast just in the nick of time... but it doesn't always go that way, no matter how heroic you are.
After a few quiet drinks in the taproom, which is still supervised by Bethana (Ameiko is not around tonight), the group turns in, hoping for a brighter day tomorrow.
------------------------------------
The morning comes and the smells of home cooking waft up from the kitchen, but when they come downstairs they find Bethana again, and no sign of Ameiko, and furthermore Bethana is wringing her hands and is clearly worried.
"Have you seen Mistress Ameiko?" she asks nervously. "Maybe last night some time?"
"She left me in charge yesterday, and that's fine, I can handle everything just fine. That's what I told her. She had to run some errands. And that's fine."
"But I didn't see her last night, and this mornin' I went upstairs to check on her. But she didn't come home last night. Her bed's no been slept in."
"And that's fine, o' course too. She's an adult and don't answer to me. But there was this piece of parchment there on the floor, all torn to shreds. I couldn't figure out what piece goes where, but it looks like a letter to me. And this little bit looks like the signature. So now I'm worried."
She holds out a small piece of paper. There is a fragment of writing, but a large signature sits in the corner of the letter. It says, quite clearly, "... don't be late. TSUTO."
"Tsuto? Who is that?"
This doesn't bode well. And if the past couple of days have anything to say about it, more miserable events have transpired. Nursing her coffee, Flo examines the letter. "Bethana, you are right to have said something. These are peculiar times," she comments, still deep in thought. Tsuto?
Bethana shakes her head.
"Tsuto is Ameiko's brother. Or half-brother I should say. When Tsuto was born it caused quite an uproar. You see, he's a half-elf, and Lord Lonjiku is not an elf, and neither was his wife Atsuii. I'm sure you can imagine - you've seen what His Lordship's temper is like! Lord Lonjiku never looked the same at an elf in town since! His glassworks refuses to hire elves, an' that's why. But Atsuii was just as stubborn as Lord Lonjiku is, and she never said who the father was. Tsuto's older than Ameiko by a year."
"It's terrible what happened. After all it was hardly the wee bairn's fault, now, was it? But being that he couldn't possibly have been Lonjiku's son, Lord Lonjiku sent him away to be schooled privately and forbade Atsuii to ever see him."
"But Ameiko found out about Tsuto when she was still young, and started to see him secretly. She tried to help him out. I don't know what she was thinking she could do but she was always a good-hearted child."
"When she was sixteen though she got in a fight with Tsuto. He struck her badly, and she left town. I have no idea what they fought about, but she only returned for her mother's funeral a year later. Tsuto came the the funeral, and he openly accused Lonjiku of murdering his mother! Lonjiku nearly broke Tsuto's jaw, and he banished Tsuto from Sandpoint. There's no love lost between those two, as you can imagine. That was, oh.. perhaps five years ago."
"I suppose nobody can blame Tsuto for how he ended up, but I don't trust that man. He's all full of anger and bitterness. Ameiko is too forgiving of that man. If he's come back, he's up to no good, mark my words. I hope Ameiko's all right, and he hasn't drawn her into some scheme of his."