"Yes, let's do that."
You catch Shalelu just as she is packing up to leave town. Despite her normally stoic and dour attitude, she smiles when she sees you.
"Hello, friends. What can I do for you?"
Asking her about Thistletop, she tells you what she knows.
"The ancient site known as Thistletop has long served as a den for goblins. Few go near the place, but occasionally there is some academic type looking for clues to an ancient past."
"Goblins are strange little monsters. Garbage pits, gutters, sewers-anywhere there's garbage, you can bet goblins are nearby. Goblins are weirdly adept at crafting weapons and armor from refuse, and are fond of killing people with what they throw away. They also hate dogs and horses with an unnatural passion."
"Goblins have wiry frames but wide heads. They live in cramped warrens. Sometimes too cramped. Also, know that goblins are sneaky. An excited or angry goblin is a noisy, chattering, toothy menace, but even then, he can drop into an unsettling silence in a heartbeat. This, matched with their diminutive size, makes goblins unnervingly adept at hiding in places you'd never expect: stacks of firewood, rain barrels, under logs, under chicken coops, in ovens ... The fact that goblins think of things like ovens as good hiding places reveals much about their inability to think plans through to the most likely outcome. That, and they tend to be easily distracted, particularly by shiny things and animals smaller than them that might make good eating."
"Given enough supplies, a goblin generally takes nearly a dozen meals a day. Most goblin tribes don't have enough supplies to accommodate such ravenous appetites, which is why the little menaces are so prone to going on raids. Sometimes you can use this hunger against them, though."
Shalelu notes that goblins generally live short, violent lives. It's unusual for a single goblin to achieve any real measure of notoriety, but when one does, it's well earned. Currently, six goblins in the region enjoy the status of"hero."
"Big Gugmut is an unusually muscular and tall goblin from Mosswood who, it is said, had a hobgoblin for a mother and a wild boar for a father. Koruvus was a champion of the Seven Tooth tribe, as well known for his short temper as he was for his prized possession-a magic longsword sized for a human that the goblin stubbornly kept as his own (despite the fact that it was too large for him to properly wield). Koruvus vanished several months ago after he supposedly discovered a "secret hideout" in a cave along the cliffs, but the Seven Tooth goblins remain convinced he's out there still, a ghost or worse, waiting to murder any goblin who tries to discover his hideout. Vorka is a notorious goblin cannibal who lives in the Brine stump marsh, a "hero" mostly to goblins other than the Licktoad tribe. Rendwattle Gutwad is the obese chieftain of the Brinestump goblins, a corpulent monster who, it is said, never leaves his throne. "
"Ripnugget is the leader of the Thistletop goblins and controls what the five tribes agree is the best lair. And then there's Bruthazmus, an infamous bugbear ranger who lives in northern Nettlewood and often visits the five tribes to trade things he's stolen from caravans for alcohol, news, or magic arrows. Bruthazmus has a particular hatred of elves, and we have fought on several occasions. I won't be the first to fall in this war between us!"
"Thistletop is a curiously round island about 6o feet off shore, located on the Varisian coast. Approaching by land is difficult since the tangles of Nettlewood are in the way, but otherwise it isn't too bad of a journey - about 2 hours by foot."
"Perhaps a small boat, then, if the land route is difficult?" Vulpidin suggests. "Surely we could borrow such for a day or two... though there would be the question of whether or not any of us could pilot it."
Tiyuvi nodded. "Yes, I like the idea of a boat. We might be able to hire a captain too."
You might have a hard time hiring a boat large enough for all of you with someone willing to hang out waiting for you. You can easily book passage on a ship headed north, though, willing to drop you off near the island.
"Perhaps we could buy a pair of canoes?" Vulpidin suggests. "We could carry them to near Thistletop and then paddle over to it."
"I like that idea. Would two be enough?"
"Moving by water, they might not expect that. I like it."
Sami is ready to head out to deliver justice as soon as the others are.
"We should probably paddle out to sea a bit, then come in from the rear. They might have defenses on the landward side."
Tiyuvi nods at Sami and Lucien. "I agree with you. This will be good. But before we go, I'd like to get a few things. I'll meet you at the dock." Tiyuvi goes back to his home and collects a small pack of food. On his to meet his companions he stops to buy a torch.
You wander around town until you find someone that has two canoes to sell you, along with 4 paddles and some rope.
Using two canoes, you paddle along the shoreline up to Thistletop. It takes a few hours.
Thistletop (slide 3) is a curiously round island about 6o feet off shore, connected to the mainland by a rope bridge. While you can certainly attempt to reach Thistletop by the sea or by traveling along the beaches, you'll still need to navigate the treacherous sea cliffs to get to the stockade built atop the island. The cliffs themselves are 50 feet high, and since the damp sea air makes the walls slick, it's a DC 15 Climb check to navigate them.
The cliffs along the beach you landed at are similar, but they are 80' high. You can take a path up that backtracks a ways, but won't require any climb checks.
Vulpidin frowns at the cliffs on the island. "That is an issue I had not thought of," he admits. "Are any of you good at climbing? It might be possible to reach the top and lower a rope... assuming there aren't goblins waiting at the top."
"Not me. Climbing has never been my forte."
[u] Before we leave. [/u]
"My friends I have been thinking. Maybe I should invest in a oil that can make my pistol silent. I am told that one would be effective for an hour, do you think it is worth 250 gold? It is a lot of money."
If one is available she will purchase..
[u] After boat trip. [/u]
"Climbing and sneaking are not really my strengths. I suggest the path may be our best option."
She makes sure he gun is loaded and, if she bought it, keeps the oil of silence in ready reach.
Tiyuvi gazes up the tall cliffs. "These cliffs are insane. I was really hoping for a nice little island that we could just float up to." He points out the path that the others already noticed. "Yeah, I think that's going to be our best bet."
Sami is able to find a potion of silence in town before you leave.
Taking the path up leads you up and around. The briars and thistles that grow so rampantly in Nettlewood are even more dense and tangled here, close to the shore. Although not quite dense enough to block the sound of waves crashing on the unseen shores to the west, the undergrowth is certainly thick enough to block sight back to the coast. Few trees grow this close to the edge of the sea, but the briars themselves often reach heights to rival them; here, the patch is nearly twenty feet high.
Tiyuvi, the only one of you trained at all in survival, tries to lead the way. Unfortunately, along the way, he also leads you right into a patch of stinging nettles.
After about 2 hours, Vilpidin notices that the briars here can be lifted aside to reveal a 4-foot-high tunnel leading into the briars.
Fortunately for Sami her armor and natural constitution are enough to overcome the problem with the nettles. When they find the door she pulls her pistol and trains it on the opening before anyone tries to open it.
Just in case some beast jumps out at us.
Vulpidin seems a bit woozy after the brush with the nettles, but not too bad off.
"Given the height, I'd say this is goblin work," he comments upon discovering the hidden tunnel. "Who will go in front?"
Tiyuvi barely notices the nettle scratches. He slides the thin rapier blade free from its scabbard and then prepares to open the door. "I don't mind going first. I can probably get through the door quickly."
Lucien nimbly avoids the stinging nettles. When they reach the door, he says "I should go second. I'm useless stranded in the back." While it isn't easy to fold his tall frame into such a short-ceilinged tunnel, he manages.
A four-foot-high tunnel winds through the dense briars and nettles. The floor is hard-packed earth, with patches of wiry plants growing stubbornly here and there.
Tiyuvi stoops to the ground for a closer inspection. "Well, it looks like something large was drug this way. I think we should follow that path. What do you think?"
"It seems likely that would lead us to them, so let us follow it."
Speaking quietly.
"That seems as good as any. Lets move quietly and see what we find." Sami is clearly uncomfortable tracking something through a natural setting, far more so then she was under the glassworks.
As you follow the path, you notice a few things along the way.
Three thistle tunnels open into a large cave-like chamber. Above, the thorny canopy grows thin enough that tiny slivers of the sky above can be seen , while below, the ground consists of trampled dirt. To the west, the distant sound of sloshing waves echoes up from a hole .
A rope bridge spans the gulf between the cliff and a roundish, flat-topped island sixty-some feet to the north. Thick patches of nettles and briars grow here and there atop the island, but its most impressive feature is a wooden one-story stockade. Two thirty-foot-tall watchtowers guard the stockade's southern facade. The rope bridge itself is made of hairy rope and thick wooden planks; the whole thing creaks and sways in the wind above the churning surf eighty feet below.
Vulpidin frowns at the watchtowers across the water, tails swishing uneasily. "A dangerous approach," he comments. "But we seem to have little in the way of better options, unless a tunnel goes under the water."
Lucien makes a sour face. "It's worth looking. Better than risking having to cross the bridge under arrow fire or something."
Feeling fully out of her element at the moment Sami is happy to let the others make the decision. As they turn to explore the other path she holsters her gun, loaded, and draws her longsword. Better quiet then loud at the moment. Use the gun once we get inside I guess.
"Hmm. A tunnel? It would be nice to have that option." Tiyuvi eyes the bridge. The rope and wooden planks sway slightly in the ocean breeze. "Walking across that would put us quite in the open. And who knows, maybe they have the other end of the bridge trapped. Instead of attacking us, they just might drop the whole thing." He turns to look back down the trail. "Let's check out the rest of this area. That sloshing sounding area was interesting."
"Very well. Back there, then?"
You find a large hole in the ground. Within, you see that a glittering grotto sparkles here, its walls dripping with moisture and alive with sea urchins, anemones, and other tidal life. The cave's roof rises to a natural dome ten feet above the water where a five-foot-wide chimney rises through the roof in a shaft (your hole). The waters here are slightly choppy. A five-foot-wide, fifteen-foot-long ledge sits just above the water level to the south.
Vulpidin looks around in wonder. "How odd that a place of wonder sits just below the paths of the goblins! But that doesn't mean it's not dangerous. We should look around cautiously."
Same hesitates, water is not he friend as she is a bad swimmer and wet powder is not much good.
"If we go down there, which we probably should, I will not be using my pistol. It needs to be dry to really work. Still it may be a way in. Do any of you have a rope to climb down?"
Tiyuvi looked down the hole. "If we go down there, we'll be back at beach level so we'd have to come back up that trail. Unless. Maybe there's a tunnel under the water that takes up over to that island."
”It’s worth a look, but we should make sure we can backtrack if it turns out to be nothing.”