"Kargas no!" Seeing her friend fall, Flo does her best to pour more healing energy into him. You can't go down now, we are about to be set upon by even more of them!
________
Coughing wetly, Kargas groans and forces his eyes open, wincing when he sees that the number of goblins hasn't appreciably diminished. Pushing aside the pain he reaches for his falchion and slashes upwards at the nearest goblin's throat!
Luck finally turns in the party's favor, as Colvyn skewers the yellow goblin's head with an arrow, followed immediately by Guiness smashing through Ripnugget's defensive stance and caving his chest in with a powerful blow.
Flo resuscitates Kargas in time for him to grip his falchion and plunge it into the unconscious goblin next to him.
As three goblins expire, another screaming bunch of them stream in from the entranceway to the southwest. Kellek is ready in time and casts a grease spell to surprise them, sending a number of them slipping to the ground. The rest clamber over their allies' bodies as they stream inward! These goblins are all lightly armored in tattered leathers and wield rusty shortswords.
Furthermore, with no one to block it, the door to the southeast opens as well, revealing another armored pair of goblins! These carry horsechoppers and seem martially trained.
|||| ROUND 6 ||||
Colvyn
Flo
Kargas (18 dmg, prone, fatigued 7 rds)
Guiness (11 dmg)
Gob Yellow (prone)
Gob Red (prone)
Gob Green (prone)
Gob Light Blue (prone)
Gob Dark Blue
Gob Purple
White Goblin Guard
Black Goblin Guard
Gecko (prone, unconscious 1 round)
Rig
Kellek (mage arm.)
Orange Goblin Guard (8 dmg)
Bold are up!
Growling at the back of his throat, Rig spins around to thrust unexpectedly at the goblin he faces. "I don't have time for you. The second act has arrived!" he quips.
Rig stabs into the orange goblin's chest and sends him sprawling! He reaches for his weapon once and then expires.
|||| ROUND 7 ||||
Colvyn
Flo
Kargas (18 dmg, prone, fatigued 7 rds)
Guiness (11 dmg)
Gob Yellow (prone)
Gob Red (prone)
Gob Green (prone)
Gob Light Blue (prone)
Gob Dark Blue
Gob Purple
White Goblin Guard
Black Goblin Guard
Gecko (prone, unconscious 1 round)
Rig
Kellek (mage arm.)
Bold are up!
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Guiness' roar of victory at the defeat of the goblin warchief turns to a snarl of frustration as the reinforcements spill into the room.
"How many blasted goblins can be on this forsaken island?!" he grunts.
Seeing the lizard that bit him starting to wake up, Guiness recalls the words of Kargas and lines up a shot, bringing down his hammer hard on the thing's head.
plus Fortitude save DC = damage dealt + 10.
He then steps to the south to aid in confronting the new threat.
Stuck on the front line all of the sudden, Colvyn retreats back behind Kargas. Once there, he uses the energy of one of his spells to heal Kargas even more. "We need you to stand up big guy."
"YES!" Flo cheers, now having a second time in her life when she has cheered at the brutal savaging of sentient creatures. The internal ethical dilemma will surely be fierce tonight.
Unfortunately, her elation and subsequent crisis are both cut short as a veritable horde of goblins pours in through the walls. "And how!" she adds in, using the wand to heal even more of Kargas' wounds after skipping back a step.
________
"Aaahh, that's the stuff," Kargas groans contentedly as the worst of his wounds begin to close. Surging to his feet , a single long step takes him inside their reach as his falchion flashes again.
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Rig stabs into the orange goblin's chest and sends him sprawling! He reaches for his weapon once and then expires.
Kellek rips another scroll from his case!
"B'Dasle!"
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Guiness delivers a carefully placed crushing blow against the unconscious gecko, killing it instantly. Colvyn and Flo back up and deliver healing magic to bring Kargas closer to full fighting strength, though the fatigue that washes over the bloodrager can't be so easily alleviated. As Colvyn backs away to safety, the black goblin guard tries to strike at him, though the ratfolk is just too fast.
Kargas' fatigued blow nevertheless strikes with a burst of lightning strong enough to send the black goblin guard sprawling.
Kellek's burst of intense color sends two of the goblins to an early 'extended naptime', though the other two manage to shield themselves from the sensory overload.
The red and green goblins pick themselves up off the ground and run screaming towards Rig and Kellek, though they're not able to attempt attacks this round. The dark blue goblin angles his shortsword up and around the pillar and jabs Kellek in the thigh . The purple goblin scurries towards Flo and attempts the same, but her armor protects her. Finally, the white goblin guard steps into the room to replace his fallen ally. He takes a swing at Kargas and delivers another vicious cut.
|||| ROUND 8 ||||
Colvyn
Flo
Kargas (14 dmg, fatigued 6 rds)
Guiness (11 dmg)
Gob Yellow (prone, unconscious)
Gob Red
Gob Green
Gob Light Blue (prone, unconscious)
Gob Dark Blue
Gob Purple
White Goblin Guard
Rig
Kellek (4 dmg)
Everyone's Up
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Taking yet another slash, the repeated injuries and fatigue begins to tell on the big half-orc--until he sees his favorite priestess in danger. "Dwarf, take the armored one, I gotta save Flor!"
Sidestepping to get behind the goblin Kargas raises leaden arms for...not his best attack, to be honest.
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As Rig is rushed by the new onslaught of goblins, he steps back from them and casts a spell at their feet. "KRISKO".
As the goblin's shortsword scraps off of her armor, Flo takes a step back. Fortunately, not one, but two of her friends immediately come to her aid! Drawing the energy from her wand, she releases a minor swarm of butterflies to accompany her companions, surely a sign of Desna's favor.
________
Wanting to prevent Kargas from getting flanked again, Colvyn aims for the lone goblin in the back.
The latest set of goblins from the south west are far from tactically minded individuals, and Guiness slips by them without any interruption. He knocks out purple with a single blow.
Rig produces a wave of grease that leaves Red windmilling for a moment before he falls to the ground. Green and Dark Blue remaining standing, though obviously unsteady. Even with the blessing from Flo, Colvyn's arrow deflects harmlessly off the white goblin guard's armor.
|||| ROUND 8 ||||
Colvyn
Flo
Kargas (14 dmg, fatigued 6 rds)
Guiness (11 dmg)
Gob Yellow (prone, unconscious)
Gob Red (prone)
Gob Green
Gob Light Blue (prone, unconscious)
Gob Dark Blue
White Goblin Guard
Rig
Kellek (4 dmg)
Bold Up
--
--
As the red goblin gets up and steadies himself after slipping on grease once again, his big beady eyes lock onto the body of Chieftain Ripnugget. They widen (even further than normal) and he shouts out in goblin "THE LONGSHANKS KILLED THE CHIEF!!! YAAAA!!!" This exclamation throws all the remaining goblins into confusion as they start thinking less about saving their chieftain and more about saving their own hides.
Red spends his remaining action trying to flee through the grease to the south, but he doesn't get further than 5ft before he slips again and falls. Green proves a little more loyal as he advances upon Rig for a shortsword stab - one that Rig easily sidesteps as the goblin begins bawling "Nooooo! Gigger like Ripnugget! He very very good chief! Why? WHY???"
Dark blue takes this as his cue to get out of here, and while he manages to get traction on the grease, he neglects the danger of the dwarf next to him in his haste. . Only the white goblin guard is truly steadfast. He shouts out "You longshanks gonna pay!" and attacks Kargas, though his swing is shaky and easy for the bloodrager to avoid.
|||| ROUND FINAL ||||
Colvyn
Flo
Kargas (14 dmg, fatigued 6 rds)
Guiness (11 dmg)
Gob Yellow (prone, unconscious)
Gob Red (prone)
Gob Green
Gob Light Blue (prone, unconscious)
Gob Dark Blue (provoking AoO)
White Goblin Guard
Rig
Kellek (4 dmg, take two turns)
Bold Up
"Down on your knees! Kargas, the half-orc, is rightfully your new chieftain!" Rig says, pointing to Kargas with his left hand.
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"You got him, Dwarf? Yeah, I think you got 'im." Kargas extricates himself from the pair's duel and rushed to the doorway to prevent the goblins from fleeing. When Rig starts declares Kargas to be the little monsters' new chieftain the half-orc flashes a displeased snarl. "Don't you dare put that on me, Rig! Make Guiness do it, he killed Nugribbit or whatever."
Rig quickly eliminates the sobbing green goblin. Guiness takes out dark blue as the goblin does his best to flee, then steps over and deals white a solid blow (though the guard remains standing). Kargas attempts to slip away to the south-western exit, but draws an attack from white at he does so. The horse chopper slices into him once more , but fails to stop the bloodrager from moving on and executing the light blue goblin with his falchion.
|||| ROUND FINAL ||||
Colvyn
Flo
Kargas (19 dmg, fatigued 6 rds)
Guiness (11 dmg)
Gob Yellow (prone, unconscious)
Gob Red (prone)
White Goblin Guard (7 dmg)
Rig
Kellek (4 dmg)
Bold Up
"This one's feisty!" Flo says as she moves up to box in the goblin Guiness is engaged with. Feinting with her starknife, she does her best to open up the goblin's defenses for the Dwarf to deliver another mighty smash.
________
Colvyn tries one last arrow before the goblins reinforcement run away. But his aim is way off the mark and the arrow end up in a wall.
Though Colvyn misses his final shot, the remaining two conscious goblins are in poor state to fight against all these furious longshanks. Red slips a couple more times on the grease and then holds very very still, possibly hoping that your group will forget about him if he doesn't draw attention to himself. The white goblin guard attempts one final attack against Guiness, but isn't able to breach the dwarf's prodigious defenses. Though he grips his horsechopper hard, the look in big eyes turns hopeless. It seems he's lost his will to fight, but stubbornly refuses to flee.
All around you, the floor of the throne room is littered with goblin bodies and blood - most of it goblin, but quite a lot of it belonging to Kargas. As you stand there, victorious over the goblin horde, you come to the realization that no matter what else lies at Thistletop, you've dealt an incredible blow against the Thistletop goblin tribe. They'll be hard-pressed to mount an attack on Sandpoint in this state!
Then again... Ripnugget did speak of some far more dangerous beast down below...
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Well, Guiness can't waste the assist from Floredana against the white goblin, so he finishes off the guard, only realizing afterwards that the sounds of battle are fading as the goblin hordes are finally receding.
He looks up to see piles of dead goblin bodies and his companions still (mostly) standing, then goes over to pick up the Ranseur, handing it back to Kargas with a grunt of appreciation. "You fought well."
Rig picks up the (red) goblin by the scruff of his neck and shakes him til he drops any weapons. He carries him over to the others and tosses him to the ground at Kargas' feet. "What, you don't want an army of little bloodthirsty cannibals following your commands? I figured they'd accept you as leader easier than the dwarf," he says with a big smile. "If we have any more questions, it looks like we have a volunteer to answer them."
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Dragonfist is a unique Warhammer. In contrast to Guiness' battle-worn armor and shield, the hammer's material looks silvery and brightly polished, but the waves of heat distorting the surrounding air indicate a much rarer material. The striking surface of the head of the hammer is artfully sculpted into a scaled fist, and raised Dwarven runes line the hammer's shaft. The grip is a tough, red, scaly leather that, although thin, looks incredibly durable--you realize it must have come from a powerful beast, perhaps even a dragon.
"Glad that's over with and that we are all her in mostly one piece," she says, casting a long look at Kargas' wounds. "So Guiness, what's the deal with this hammer now? Looks impressive! Surely there's a story behind it," she asks while she patches up the party's injuries.
Once she is satisfied everyone is patched up, she will search the room and the fallen goblins for anything of worth. There is quite a bit of blood though.
________
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Smiling at Floredana, Guiness responds while subconsciously touching the runes on the hammer. ”Indeed. When I completed my term of service in the militia, I decided not to go into the family business (brewing, by the way), but instead strike out on my own as a mercenary. As a going-away gift, my mother gave me this hammer. It is a family heirloom, once wielded by my great, great, grandmother Garnet, a warpriestess of Torag. My father gave me a cask of our famous family brew, of course.”. His expression turns darker, then, and he adds, ”But I am sure these goblins have drunk it all by now.”
"You fought well,"
Kargas stares at the dwarf a long moment, trying to decide if he's being mocked. Then with a small grin he claps the dwarf on a pauldron. "You as well. "
As the adrenaline of battle fades the pain of his wounds rises, and Kargas gingerly limps over to retrieve his ranseur. Then he starts going through Ripnugget's pockets while listening to Guiness' tale.
The red goblin squirms and whimpers in Rig's grip, but doesn't offer any significant resistance.
Kargas and Flo begin the grisly task of looting the goblins and their leader for all of their valuables and recover the following massive pile of equipment and valuables:
6x Small Leather Armor
6x Small shortsword
6x Small shortbow
Plenty of small arrows
Assorted animal tails, pretty pebbles, bent scraps of metal, and a few glass beads - all worth nothing.
34 copper, 11 silver
1x Small studded leather armor
1x small whip
1x small dogslicer
1x ??? Vial of murky brown liquid
14 gold, 22 silver
1x ??? Crudely made wand
7x Small studded leather armor
7x Small masterwork horsechoppers
7x Small shortbows
5x ??? Vial of murky blue liquid
1x ??? Vial of thick white liquid
48 gold, 118 silver
1x Small masterwork breastplate
1x ??? Small Masterwork shortsword (A surprisingly well crafted blade with a bone crossguard and a rat's skull set as the pommel)
2x ??? Vial of murky blue liquid
A dented bronze crown worth 20 gp
A ring of thin bronze keys
1x Small whip
Furthermore, Guiness finds his pack sitting behind the chieftain's throne. Everything is still there, though the food supplies have been thoroughly pilfered and he finds that a lot of his gear and equipment sports sticky stains of some kind of jam. The goblins clearly rummaged through without cleaning their hands.
Flo looks through the battlefield for a memento and finds a pair of possible candidates:
The gecko was wearing a thick leather collar with a bronze buckle. In lieu of writing the creature's name, the goblins have inscribed two pictographs into the leather: a wooden stick and a goblin's foot.
At the bottom of the Warchief's potion satchel, you also find a large tooth made of bronze. The tooth is a molar, but large enough that it could only have been sized to match a creature of large or huge size.
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Guiness sighs as he looks through his pack, noting especially that his cask is completely empty. Looking over at Floredana and holding up the container he asks, ”A bit more water, please?”, using it to clean his equipment before storing it in its proper place and finally gripping his familiar shield while the others are sorting the loot.
"Here now, what's that?"
"Floredana, I would appreciate your guidance in looking these things over."
After arranging all the items, Flo sets to work meeting the demands of her companions. First, she raises her hand and releases the last of the holy energy stored within her, the butterfly shaped birthmark on the back of her hand glowing until it fizzles out. Then, she fills up Guiness' container with water, making sure everyone else is topped off too. Finally, she returns to the items they found to help Kellek where she can.
"Oh, I think that one made it's way into a story the Father used to tell!"
"My mother never liked those, said oak was the best wood for wands!"
"The consistency of the liquid in this bottle is like water! But that one... more like pond silt."
________
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Nodding his thanks for the water and the healing, Guiness rehydrates and cleans his items as best as he can from the goblin grime. He seems to be somewhat uninterested in the loot from the goblins, but he perks up as the mage starts identifying magic items. Striking up a conversation while waiting he asks Colvyn, ”You say your group is from Sandpoint? That’s where my caravan was headed, with supplies for the Swallowtail Festival, before we were ambushed by the goblin raiding party.”
Kellek studies the items carefully with Flo's aid, and in time manages to determine the magic associated with each of them.
??? Crudely made wand ---> Wand of Silent Image (5 charges)
??? Vial of murky blue liquid ---> Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds
??? Vial of thick white liquid ---> Potion of Remove Sickness
??? Small Masterwork shortsword ---> Small +1 shortsword
??? Crudely made wand....
Kellek explains the function of each of the items in excruciating detail to the party.
Colvyn is inspecting the arrows he recovered from the goblins when the dwarf start talking to him. "Yep. The festival was a bust. The goblins attacked the town during it. Lots of death." He shrugs and continues fiddling with the arrows. Trying to fix the fletching.
Kargas listens attentively to Kellek's explanations of the magic items, asking a few clarifying questions for how the wizard made this or that determination. Frowning a little as he looks at the small pile of items, he remarks offhandedly, "Wish I could see the magic. Some of the Stormscar spirit-warriors could do magic to...sometimes it feels like I'm right on the edge of something when the Thunderbird spirit takes me, but nothing ever happens."
He recedes into a thoughtful silence until the group is ready to finish exploring the rest of the surface patch of Thistletop.
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"Sounds like you have had your own share of adventures," replies Guiness to Colvyn dryly, "while I was a 'guest' of the goblins here. I am glad your group came here to eliminate the problem at its source."
Having sorted himself out and gotten healing, Guiness looks around to see what the tactical situation is.
"We came around the east side of this structure--I don't think there can be too much between the east wall of this room and the outer east wall of the palisade. Shall we check this door first, once we are ready to move on?" Guiness moves to the eastern door near the 'throne' and waits for the others.