Andrezi raises an eyebrow at Daelric's comment. "I'm not so sure that we can claim fault here, Daelric. From what I understand, the goblins we fought were not the only ones in town."
Turning back to Sheriff Hemlock, the priest adds, "That being said, I would like to be there as well."
"I will come along, but I do not believe that we could have been everywhere that day."Volkar sighed and shook his head.
The Sheriff nods and gives in under the pressure of the group. "As you wish.. but it will not be pretty." With a resigned sigh, he rises from his seat and heads towards the door. He leads the party down the hall to another room, where the sound of sobbing can be heard through the door. The Sheriff knocks, then enters with the party following.
Amele is sitting within, attempting to comfort the children. She looks up and sees the grim faces before her and cuts out in a horrendous cry of dismay and grief. Inconsolable, she peers through her tears at the collected group and sneers out "Some heroes you turned out to be! You couldn't save one man from a goblin!!" and collapses into her children, unresponsive to any further attempts at conversation. Eventually, the Sheriff ushers everyone out and back to his office.
"As I said, it is getting late. I will bring her family up from Magnimar to collect her, and will make sure the family is taken care of until they get here." he wipes a meaty palm across his face before looking about again. "Anything more tonight? We both have big days in not so many hours now.."
I look to Andrezi and Volkar before heading into the room, "I know what you say is true but I still feel responsible, as will others."
When we get into the room the sight brings a single tear to my eye, I lower my head before anyone can see, "S...sorry" I remain with my head lowered until the Sheriff ushers us out of the room.
Once out of the room I wipe my face with both hands and look to the Sheriff, "I cannot think of anything we need to do, apart from have some drinks. This is a terrible way to end such a fine day and I do not believe I will fall asleep easily."
"No, Sheriff, I have nothing further but hopes of finding a cold tankard of honey mead and good night's sleep," Volkar said as he started to head towards the door.
Kiera says sadly, "I guess there isn't much more we can do to prepare than that. We should get some rest and make sure we're ready for the poor man's funeral, though I suppose we might not exactly be welcome."
"Agreed. We should get some rest. As to the man's funeral, I believe we should keep our distance. Whether deserved or not, she blames us for not being able to save him, it will be difficult enough for her without us there."
"Aye, I agree with the healer," Volkar nodded his head as he spoke his right thumb and forefinger shifting the silver beard bead back and borth. "We have contributed to her future well being, rid the town of the monster, and have earned our rest. I say we head back to the inn, sip down a drink and get some sleep. Then plan over some morning sausages what we can do to keep the place safe while the Sheriff is gone."
Kiera nods her head and her expression continues to look downcast. She says, "Yes... I think you're right. I'm just a little... well, never mind. Let's get some rest. We'll have plenty to keep us busy on the morrow, I'd wager."
The party returns to their room at the inn, and awakens the next day to another bright, sunny day. As the party glumly eats breakfast and discusses the events of the night before, you are interrupted by a clearly distraught halfling woman.
"Pardon me, Sirs and Ma'am.. but may I have a word with ye?" She asks fretfully. "Me names Bethana Corwin, and I work for Ameiko over at tha Rusty Dragon, see? And we've a problem.. I need to speak to ye privately!" she gushes out, glancing back and forth between the party members and over her shoulders.
The party leads her off to a quiet room, where the little old halfling is barely able to contain herself.
"This morning, when I got up, I saw mistress Ameiko hadn't gotten the breakfast started! Now fer most people, that'd be just a lay in, ya know, but Mistress Ameiko is always tha first up and making breakfast a plenty well a'for e'en tha chickens 'r up. So I went ta look fer her. I knocked 'n called, but there was no answer at her door. Finally, gods forgive me, I pried tha lock. I know I should'na done that, but I was worried outta me mind! So I go in tha room, and not a thing has been touched.. not even a wrinkle in tha bed. But on tha floor, I found THIS" She hands over a scrap of parchment, but it is undecipherable to the party, written in another language.
"Its written in Kaijitsu's native language, but Ameiko has been teachin it to me just for giggles. I imagine he wrote it in their language ta keep other people from readin' it, but didn't know I have been learning it fer tha last few years."
"Tsuto was something of a scandal when he was born 21 years ago, since he's a half elf, but neither of his parents are elven! It was obvious old Lonjiku was't the boy's father, and his rage at the discover of his wife's indiscretion was the talk of the for months! Lonjiku's wife Atsuii never revealed who the father was, and its a testament to Lonjiku's stubbornness tha they remained married. Tsuto was handed over to the Turandarok Academy to be raised outside of the Kaijitsu family, ignored by his father and forbidden visits from his mother. His older sister Ameiko visited him in secret a few times a month to keep him company, bring him food, and ta promise tha someday things would get sorted out. Then, six years ago, everything changed! They all had a terrible argument, and Tsuto struck Ameiko. I donnat know what they fought about, but it sent Ameiko away for over a year. She made a life as an adventurer.. much like yeselves, and then she came back fer he mum's funeral. Tsuto was very publicly accusing his father of pushing Atsuii off a'tha cliff to her death. Lonjiku nearly broke Tsuto's jaw with his cane, and Tsuto cursed him and left town. Ameiko tried ta find him, but could never track him down. I know hes up ta no good now.. he was always trouble fer anyone around him. Please.. Go to the Glassworks and find out what happened!!"
"Seems as if there is always trouble afoot in this town." Andrezi comments.
"That being said, Ameiko has been pretty good to us so far, least we could do is go look into this, particularly in Sheriff Hemlock's absence."
"I quite agree," says Kiera. "This is right in our bailiwick of making sure that there's no trouble here in town while the Sheriff is busy."
"Oh, thank be to tha gods!" Bethana cries, obviously distraught over the missing barkeep.
Upon arrival to the building, you find the it curiously silent. Neighbors have noticed the lack of traffic into and from the building, but since the furnace chimney still plumes with smoke, most assume that the building was simply closed to allow Lonjiku and his workers some privacy while they worked on a big project. A quick investigation of the building perimeter reveals that curtains have been drawn over the windows and all the doors are locked.
I let out a sigh, "This place has more trouble than my hometown saw in a year! Well, let us go and see if we can find out what happened to Ameiko and collect the information about the Goblin attacks."
Once we get to the building I look to the others, "Should we knock on the door with his secret knock, or try to sneak in?"
"I'm not sure I have a preference, but I suspect if Ameiko is already here, Tsuto is not expecting anyone else and knocking may put whoever is inside on high alert." Andrezi says, beginning to convince himself that perhaps stealth is the better option.
"While I agree we shouldn't knock, I also wonder if we might be better served by finding a back entrance to the building," Volkar said while scanning the front of the glassworks. He stretched his shoulders and continued to look about the front of the building. "The note said a delivery entrance, I say we find that, and at least we will be on the same path that Mistress Ameiko was on."
Wandering around the building you find three doors. The main door is located in a circular outcropping from the building directly in front of you, a second door in the north west corner of the building appears to be the referenced service entrance, and the third door used for foot traffic is on the south east corner.
They had wandered about the glass works, smoke still rose from the chimney, but the place looked pretty quiet still. Volkar paused when he got back to where they had started, his forefinger and thumb twirling the silver forebeard bead without him even thinking about it.
"Well, no sign of people, and the factory furnaces seem to still be running right along." He pursed his lips and shrugged. "I just don't think we should go in the main door. I opt for either the one in the back or off to the side." He rolled his hand when he pointed to his left indicating the back side of the buidling, and then pointed to the right side of the building. He glanced about to see if anyone else was out and about on the street.
Some people are watching curiously, but word has been put out that the Heroes are in charge of maintaining order, so they are staying well clear of you, as you are obviously on the job.
"A bit of an audience," he said as he looked back to the group pointed with his thumb from a closed fist behind them. He tilted his head and then turned about and walked to a one of the younger lads watching. The boy diverted his gaze as the dwarf came towards him.
"Now, lad, I know you be curious as to what we are up to," Volkar said as he approached the young boy, the dwarf's hand fishing into the fold of his upper tunic beneath his armor. He pulled his hand free and with it a silver piece. He twirled it as he closed the distance on the youth, and spoke loudly so that others could overhear. "We need you to help us out. See we think there is some mischief afoot in the glassworks, and we are going to go in and take a look. But, if we are not out by mid-day, or if anything comes running out that doesn't look like us, you go find the biggest men in town and tell them to come help,ok?"
Volkar flipped the silver coin at the young lad, spun back and walked quickly to join back up with his colleagues.
Kiera adjusts her bandana and says, "All right, let's take a look."
I look up at the skylights, thinking hard. I walk to the wall beneath one and test it's structure for climbing, "You think we should try to turn these off?"
Either way, I will follow everyone else and once we get to the door we wish to enter, I will raise my shield and walk in at the head of everyone.
"Turning off the skylights would only cause Kiera and I to bring up a separate light source."
Volkar nodded at Andrezi and fished his hand into the top of his mail shirt. He pulled on a chord and out of the small leather pouch attached, he fished his fingers inside, eventually pulling out an old, somewhat large silver coin. He raised it to his lips, then with his thumb flicked it high into the air, his eyes rising to following its flight. With his right hand outstretched, he said, "Heads we take the side door to the right, tails we take the door in the back."
The coin's descent was quick and came to rest in the middle of the dwarf's palm. He looked down at it, shrugged with a smirk. "It seems that we have direction to go in from the back.
He fished the coin back into its pouch, it jingling with the others from his collection. He adjusted the pouch, his finely wrought chain mail, and his battle axe. Getting everything in its proper place, he headed across the left face of the glassworks tapping Daelric on the shoulder.
"Well, now let's go see what is keeping the Innkeep from pouring us some of her finest mead." He continued walking and working his way around the building.
I nod to Andrezi, "A very good point, now to decide which way to enter the compound." As I start to think about which way to go, Volkar flips his coin and leaves it to chance.
I look at him a little dumbstruck, "... that is one way to decide upon a door. Let us hope that Desna grants us her luck." I look to Andrezi, who has shown himself to be the follower of Desna, "She is the Goddess of luck, correct?"
With that I stand in front of the door and when everyone is ready, I open the door.
Andrezi nods and smiles. "Among other things." he says in response to Daelric.
Following the others around the back of the glassworks, Andrezi draws one of his starknives, expecting the worst.
Kiera pulls out her knife in one hand and her book in the other and advances nervously with the team.
The boy stares at Volkars silver piece with awe and shakes his head as he grabs for the coin. "You bet, mister!" he says.
daelric checks the building, but finds the smooth walls to be near impossible for the stout dwarf to attempt. Better heads prevail, though, as Andrezi redirects him.
The party leaves the choice of doors up to Lady Desna, and with a flip of a coin, the way forward is chosen. The gawky townspeople fade off from view as the party turns to the building and follow the curve around to the back.
As you approach the building, you can easily hear the rumble of the huge furnace used to melt the components into glass.
Dealric stands ready at the door and attempts to open it upon everyone being ready. However, as he turns the latch, he finds it securely locked.
Finding the door locked, Daelric grabs his ax and begins to bash at the door. After several minute.. its a very stout door.. the party is able to step over the wooden scraps of the door and enter the building. Directly in front of you are anotherr set of double doors, from which the rumbling furnace is clearly audible, along with sounds of mayhem: breaking glass, screeching, and squealing. To the side, the hall runs back towards the front of the building with two more doors and a curve.
"High pitch shrieks and sounds of general mayhem and destruction...more goblins perhaps?" Andrezi comments, following the lead of the two dwarves.
"If so, how'd they get inside? We had to break the door down!" says Kiera.
She pauses, then says, "... just like the question of how'd they get into the town. Unless... someone is letting them in?"
"I am not liking this, where are all of these nightmares coming from?" Volkar shook his head in frustration. "Friend Daelric, we have three sets of doors to choose from, which way do you think we should go?"
I whisper in response to Volkars question, "I think we should try to remove those Goblins before anything else, while we are still unharmed. Also they may be torturing Ameiko in there." If everyone agrees, I shall open the doors to the furnace.
Kiera shudders at the thought of someone torturing Ameiko. "I agree, if Ameiko is captive, the goblins will have to be guarding her. So follow the noise," she whispers.
"Agreed." Andrezi says in response to Kiera's suggestion.
Noting the close quarters, Andrezi stows his starknife and retrieves his crossbow.
"Since we are likely heading into battle once we open that door, a little divine aid couldn't hurt." he says as he begins reciting a brief prayer to Desna.
Volkar looked at his companions as he took his ac, one that had been his father's before him when his kin still held their keep before the diaspora, and twirled it in his hands. He nodded as Kiera expressed her concerns about the tavern keep.
When Andrezi began his prayer, Volkar dropped his head in deference to the priest. He took the moment to concentrate and see if he could determine if there was any way to differentiate the squeaks, screeches, and sounds above the furnace's rumblings.
When the priest was done, he looked at Daelric, and whispered, "let's dull our blades with the bones of our foes today and make our ancestors smile at our successes."
-Posted with Wayfinder
During the prayer my hand finds it's way to the green stone, my focus point during hard decisions and prayers. Once everyone is ready I nod to them and smile and Volkar's comment before pushing open the door.
As soon as the door is opened I raise my shield high in front of me, to protect us from any ranged weaponry that may come through the door. Unfortunately it also blocks off our vision significantly.
Upon entering the building and hearing the cacophony within the workshop, Andrezi calls the group together for a moment of prayer. The pious cleric then Blesses the party with the favor of his god before nodding to Daelric to open the door. Under the stout dwarfs hand, the latch turns easily to reveal the main workshop of the Glassworks. A long furnace burns along the southeast wall of this equally long room. Marble tables sit throughout the chamber, used to work raw glass into usable shapes, with nearby wooden tables cluttered with various tools of the trade. The main furnace burns at the northeast end, a large chamber that utilizes alchemically treated wood that burns with a hot blue light. As the furnace’s stone pipes run to the southwest, they reach smaller and progressively cooler furnaces used to keep glassworking projects at the proper temperature; glass shatters if it’s allowed to cool too quickly. Currently, this room is a gruesome display of goblin boredom. The bodies of the eight murdered staff ers lie in various stages of dismemberment; the goblins have been burning legs and arms in the furnace with glee, and pouring melted glass on the remains in an attempt to duplicate Tsuto’s masterpiece. This would be his father’s body, propped up in a chair in the central alcove and encased in thick runny sheets of hardened glass.
As the party piles into the room, The goblins are taken by surprise!
Bold May Post
Party
Goblins
~Red
~Orange
~Yellow
~Light Blue
~Green
~Purple
~Blue
~Pink
Feeling slightly braver thanks to Andrezi's prayers I take the initiative and as the Goblins look around slightly confused I rush up to the Goblin straight in front of us and bring my axe down upon it's grotesque head.
Volkar follows behind Daelric in the rush moving straight ahead at one goblin as his fellow dwarf shifted to the left of the long stone work table that ran down the middle of a good portion of the workshop.
He swung his ax hard at the goblin with the steel blade striking the grayish green beast. His face took on a hard, grim smirk.
Andrezi moves into the room crossbow at the ready
Staying behind the warriors, Kiera starts chanting her sleep spell in hopes of catching a few of the horrors once she is able to finish it.
The party rushes into the room, surprising the goblins as they caper about in murderous glee! Kiera and Volkar move to the right as they enter. The first goblin gives a squeak as its revelry is cut short by a dwarven ax, and Kiera begins to cast a spell.
Meanwhile, Andrezi and Daelric break left, coming around the table and pursuing the next goblin in line and sending him to an equally quick death! Andrezi loads his crossbow, ready to provide covering fire.
Bold May Post
Andrezi
Daelric
Volkar- attack
Kiera- Finish spell, note map
Goblins
~Yellow
~Light Blue
~Green
~Purple
~Blue
~Pink
Andrezi takes aim at the closest of the goblin, firing his crossbow. Reloading after the shot is away.
(bless)
(bless)
The momentum of his swing carried him past the goblin that dropped to the ground and Volkar continued to move forward to the next goblin. This one had a bit of yellow sails cloth tied about its arm. He raised his ax again and swung as he squared with the sharp toothed fiend.
His axe slashed the green skin. Volkar readied himself for it's counter.
Eager to remove more of the vermin and in hope of finding Ameiko still alive, I charge forwards again and as I get to my next foe I bring my axe up in hopes of clefting it's head in twaine.