Ithylia had been moving to check other rooms when she heard Triel start speaking in that funny sounding language of hers. 'Maybe I can ask her to teach it to me!'
[dice=Pre "end of the day" initiative]1d20+3[/dice]
Triel glares at the goblin and steps forward. "Я нашел гоблина." She quips.
Adopting a defensive posture, she swings her greatsword...
...unfortunately, due to the tight quarters, she misses wildly.
"There she goes again!" Realizing how cramped the house is and that there are two armored warriors between her and whatever is making Triel scream crazy talk again, Vanya stays put.
"Die šotek!"
As Triel taunts the goblin in her other worldly language, her blade misses it's target vastly as she almost strikes the wall instead. The goblin attempts to plunge it's crude weaponry into Triel as his unsteady and shaken hands steer the blade into another direction as Arathorn barely misses his attempt to plunge his scimitar through the tight quartered madness.
While Vanya stays out of the way, Cian approaches the room to see the commotion, realizing that he could end up doing more harm at this point, decides to say back. "Can you lure it out of the room? I don't think destroying the house would be a good idea..." he says as Ithylia moves over to see what is occurring. Seeing the two fighters miss the goblin, she worries for a quick moment and then starts to root them on to defeat the goblin.
"Гоблін, Гоблін, it be quick but can it stay on it's two feet!" With that she aimed her grease spell to coat the floor beneath the Goblin but not her friends!
Completely missing what the others are saying (the price of Gorum's favour, it appears), Triel opts to swing at the goblin even as she parries its clumsy thrust.
She then steps back and out of the goblin's reach so Arathorn can finish it.
Пусть эльф увидеть, если он может проявить себя. Он имеет два вида оружия; он скорее принесет гоблина вниз, если это не сделать.
She almost bumps into Ithylia as she steps back, her eyes still on the goblin.
Arathorn curses under his breath, mumbling something about Goblins and close quarters, but slides in front of Triel as she falls back, simultaneously pulling out his short sword.
As Triel plunges her blade into the goblin menace and pulls it back out of its body with a step back, Arathorn rushes in front of it, keeping it distracted with his scimitar, while plunging his short sword into the goblin as it coughs up blood out of its mouth. As Arathorn pulls his blade back as well, the little creature falls over, limp and lifeless.
Triel takes several breaths as she feels the battle fury start to fade. She closes her eyes briefly before turning to Ithylia and the rest.
"Aeren! Выходи! The goblin is dead!" She calls out into the house, walking out the bedroom door and trying the other door.
"Yes, well... But how did he get in here? From the festival and was just hiding out, or more secret passages?" Vanya casutiously peeks into the room. "Eww. This is bad. Who wants to tell Missus Barrett what happened?"
Triel doesn't reply to Vanya's questions, focused as she is on finding Aeren.
She steps into the other room, sheathing her greatsword. "Aeren? Please come out--your mother is worried sick about you. She sent us to find you." She asks again, her voice this time much softer and more concerned.
Please don't make this more difficult than it already is, foolish child.
As Triel calls out into the other room, nothing responds as the house once again quiets down to silence.
Triel turns to the others, her expression grim under her helmet.
"Search the house. Top to bottom, front to back." She turns back to the bedroom and begins searching it.
"This is.. unsettling." Cian murmurs as he helps search. Quiet houses were not something he particularly liked.
As you begin to search the house, you find no one other than yourselves and corpses. Very quickly into the search however, a large and heavily scarred man walks into the house with a dark, boisterous tone behind his voice. "What exactly is going on here? I was told that there was a problem going on here, and that you were coming here to investigate. I am Vachedi, Hemlock has me in charge until he comes back from Magnimar. Now can you tell me what exactly is going here?"
Triel looks up from her search at the new arrival. She narrows her eyes behind her helmet.
"We're looking for a little boy. His name is Aeren Barett, and his mother begged us to find him--a goblin hid in the house and murdered her husband and family dog." She folds her arms behind her back and straightens herself up. "Have you seen him anywhere?"
The Shoanti man walks past everyone as he heads towards the boy's room. "Yes, we found him. He was cowering in an alley just up the street from here." he starts to say as he peers into the bedroom. Closing his eyes and lowering his head, he begins to continue. "It is a shame though. I certainly did not expect to walk into this. Am I correct to say that the goblin was hidden in the closet? It is a common place for them when they hide. Mrs. Barett definitely chose wisely to allow you to come here. I will have some men come in and clean the room up before having her family return here. You should return back to the inn. There should not be anything further for you here."
And who does this guy think we are? Wait. Who do I think I am?
"I'd like to see the boy and his mom. Are they at the Dragon?"
Triel folds her arms and says nothing, scrutinizing Vachedi's words as well.
"If he's up for it, I'd like to talk to the boy too." Cian says quietly.
Arathorn stands quietly in the background, observing the conversation going on.
This man appears to know the situation, yet still asked what exactly went on? And when did they find the boy? Why was the boy unharmed?
"When was the boy found? Did he seem willing to speak about what he witnessed?"
I've only just arrived here, and already strange things have happened. Since when do Goblins lie in wait for days to attack their prey? Was he waiting for his clan? And why would he strike the father, when the son would've been so much easier to kill?
Vachedi looks at you all in response. "He was found on our way over here. It would seem that we took different paths, other wise I would not doubt that you would have found him instead of us. As far as speaking, I do not believe that you will get much out of him. He was fairly shaken when we found him. He is being taken to the garrison now. If his mother is at the Rusty Dragon, would you all be so kind as to escort her to the garrison? We can handle the clean up of this situation on our own. As I previously stated, you will not learn much here if you are trying to get information on the raid. That goblin in the room obviously will not be telling us anything as it now lacks the capacity to." And with that, he instructs a few of the guard to enter the bedroom and take the corpses out of the house, the goblin corpse to be burned and the corpse of Alergast to the cathedral.
After a pause, Triel nods. "Very well."
She moves to leave the home, letting Vachedi take care of things for now. "Come along--Mrs. Barrett is waiting for us."
She rapidly blinks as the sunlight hits her eyes behind her helm again.
"Well at least her son is not hurt." Vanya blinks, too though not from the sun.
Arathorn nods brusquely and follows the others out of the house, walking back to the tavern in silence.
The walk back to the Rusty Dragon is a silent one as you make it back. Walking in, you can see Bethana comforting Mrs Barett who is now once again holding her small infant. Bethana looks up at you in a face of worry, obvious of the many issues she's being confronted with. Mrs Barett also notices you walk in as she looks up. Noticing that her husband or Aeren isn't with you, she places a hand over her face as her eyes begin to swell up.
Without missing a beat, Triel approaches Mrs. Barett.
"Mrs. Barett? We've dealt with the goblin in your house. The watch found Aeren before we did--he was cowering in an alley, terrified out of his wits. He's staying at the garrison now." She stops before the distraught mother. "Would you please come with us to the garrison?"
I won't cry. Heroes don't cry! Vanya feels the warm salty tears slide down her cheek, but finds it difficult to make any words or eye contact with Mrs, Well, widow now... Barett.
Triel looks over her shoulder at Vanya, noting the tears sliding down her cheek.
She doesn't say anything, but her body language seems to say 'I understand.'
...it's not the worst thing I've seen, surprisingly. Let's just leave it at that.
Mrs Barett slowly gets up as she tries to hold back the tears. "I am so thankful that Aeren is safe... My husband, Alergast... Is he being taken to the garrison as well? I want to be at his side if I can..."
Arathorn kneels down in front of Mrs. Barett, taking her trembling hands into his own.
"I'm afraid we do have terrible news to bear. You husband was slain before we arrived on the scene. The goblin was killed swiftly, with merciless justice for the loss of your husband and the trauma your child has suffered. If there is anything we can do to help you in your time of need..." Arathorn's voice fades as a lump forms in his throat.
I've seen this time and again, but telling someone their loved one has perished is always the hardest part
"You should talk to Father Zantus before you see your husband. I know it''l be hard, but you asked us to help and now I am asking you to trust us one more time." We can't let her remember her husband half eaten!
Mrs Barett remains quiet at the grim news. She fights back the best she can, but tears still stream down her face. After finding a moment in which she can clearly talk. "I suppose... I suppose I should head to.. to the garrison. I need to be with... with Aeren right now..."
Triel wordlessly helps Mrs. Barett to her feet.
"Do you require an escort?" She softly asks.
How does Triel keep so strong? Vanya wishes she could offer more, but her empathy for the woman's suffering makes her feel like she had just lost a child.
Cian watches helplessly as Triel takes charge, more or less. What could he do? He'd never had to deal with a situation like this before.
The woman looks back at you and responds "I should be... should be fine. Thank you though... I appreciate the thought..." as she begins to walk out the door and heads out.
Vanya's relief is almost palpable as the grieving woman goes to fetch her son. "At least she still has that. Do you think the guard will be good enough to clean her house before she returns home?"
Triel watches Mrs. Barett leave quietly, her posture slumping a bit. Whether it's in relief at the meeting's end or something else is unclear.
...well, that was more awkward than I thought it would be.
"At least she still has that. Do you think the guard will be good enough to clean her house before she returns home?"
"Hopefully." She sighs.
She looks the party over as the widowed woman leaves. Vanya, with tear-streaks still on her face even as she expresses her relief. Cian, looking lost and helpless even in the aftermath of the meeting. Arathorn, with his trembling hands and his efforts to keep himself under control. And Ithylia, who hasn't said anything since they left the Barett home.
Oddly enough, it's Ithylia's silence that seems to affect Triel the most.
It's... odd. It's odd seeing her like this, not saying anything. Much like when we ran into those skeletons...
"No time to waste. Let's go." She straightens herself up as best she can and walks out the doors of the Rusty Dragon.
She blinks as the sunlight hits her eyes behind her helmet again. This time, she feels them watering.
Arathorn quietly walks with the others.
This is an interesting group. I can feel deep passion within this group for other people. I know I can be of use here.
The mage nods, smiling just a bit. A distraction from all this would be good.
"I'm ready to find out just what's going on in this town."