"Well done, Cyrus! Perhaps we can learn something from this one. It seems they've cause a bit of harm. Those injured, gather round.." Once the group is back together (and noticing the lack of wounds on the Goblin), Orren calls out to Nethys to patch their wounds.
"The brush is quite thick here!"
Jia collects the ears as they were asked.
"Thank you for the healing."
"That was less than ideal," he says as he sheaths his blade across his back, then goes to pick up his bow and test the string to ensure all is well. After which, he begins to scoop up goblin bodies and carry them to the bridge.
Once the fight is over, Navarro flops back into the tall grass and laugh nervously until he felt calm again. He got up and dragged his goblin back to the bridge, where he recovered his hat, crossbow and pack.
"Well now! This is a fine start to the expedition! Can anyone tell if there are any other tracks that we may follow?"
At this point, Chance begins to give a look about for the tracks as requested.
"May I have some rope?" Cyrus calls out, busied with pinning the conscious goblin down.
Once he's been given some and then tied up the goblin, kicking away the weapon, he picks up his falchion and carries the goblin under his arm to the others. "I don't think these goblins speak common so I don't know how you'll learn anything."
Eyeing the group, Orren decides to channel one last time.
Terwin raises a hand,
"I speak goblin actually, though I'm not the most threatening fellow, or, um, the most articulate. And my thanks for the healing Orren, my lightening bursts are handy, but they are not the most prudent form of combat. And, uh, I should probably mention what the goblins said at the beginning of the fight, let me see..."
"These longshanks are as violent as the others! They're probably looking for the banished one, but they attack us anyway! We fight!
Jia shrugs. "We agreed to collect goblin ears in exchange for coin. What matter is it that they have internal conflict?"
"Mmmm, well its always best to have all the information you can, you never know what it might tell you. But, uh, don't you feel a bit guilty, I mean they make us sound more savage than they are, and I'm not entirely certain I could argue the point given our current mission. But we have agreed to carry it out, I suppose, and goblins are a danger, and they would only send someone else..."
Another shrug. "Peoples war constantly. Pink. Green. Tan. All. It is savage. War is savage. There is little good, little noble, in war. The goblins and the townsfolk fight for resources -- land and pride. The town seems to be winning. They have town. The goblins have swamp. Are you now surprised that have they own tongue, their own inner lives?"
The woman looks vaguely exhausted stringing all those words together in her tortured accent.
"Well yes, aren't they supposed to be baby eating dog and horse hating pyromaniacs whose grasp on sanity is tenuous at best. I mean I don't suppose them considering humans precludes that, but still..."
She gives him a pitying look. "Much is said of one's enemies. 'They eat babies.' 'They lie with their dead.' Some true. Some not. An entire people only completely bad in the minds of their enemies. True evil is province of bad spirits."
"Mmmm, its an interesting philosophy, though not one I can subscribe to. We are thinking creatures who have a duty to evaluate our actions, their potential ramifications, and decide what moral codes we choose to follow if any. I'm not saying we are in the wrong, I think there is compelling evidence to the contrary, but I won't be party to something I believe crosses into evil. Now what do you want me to ask? If there is nobody with a more limber tongue who speaks goblin?"
Orren listens quietly to the exchange before chiming in: "The goblins are a danger, no doubt-- and regardless of their inner politicking or degree of humanity, their ilk is predisposed to violence." He pauses a moment to gather his words. "Still, I agree with Terwin. Any information we can get as to why their attacks have recently increased would provide security to the citizens of Sandpoint-- and, if it helps, a larger showing of gratitude." Orren picks up his quarterstaff as he finishes his statement.
"Given what you've told us Terwin, perhaps we should start with what they know about this 'banished one?'"
The monk falls silent. She frowns. Their tongue was difficult for her. She did not think that she disagreed with the mage. They were thinking beings as were the goblins. Their actions were there own. Only evil spirits were completely wicked. But he seemed to think they disagreed. She must have misspoke. Or maybe he didn't want to think that hunting down their fellow sentients for money wasn't a bad action? Maybe he thought that the war absolved his blood guilt? These were no acts of self defense. But they were the acts she had chosen to take so that she could afford to live in these strange lands.
Cyrus pats the goblin he tied up on the head and sets him near the pile of the unconscious goblins.
He then busies himself with searching the bodies for anything valuable, listening to the conversation while he does so.
Terwin nods and claps his hands,
"Right you are! Let's see..."
The goblin spits toward Terwin, but doesn't reply. He looks toward Cyrus with an almost pleading look.
He speaks to Cyrus, and then looks to Terwin as he finishes.
Terwin nods, and looks to Cyrus,
"She says that in goblin culture you and her are now married..." he grins, "we'll actually he says he wants to talk to you, not a fan of me apparently!"
Navarro loans Cyrus his rope, then climbs a tree to find a comfortable perch to look around while idly listening to the chatter.
Cyrus easily sees through Terwin's joke, mostly because he is quite sure the goblin is male. He plays along, however. "Oh, such a shame. And I was so looking forward to being with someone who understands me."
There's a brief pause before he continues, "So he and I will talk. What did he say to me?"
"Well nothing yet, hang on," Terwin turns to the goblin, pointing at Cyrus,
The goblin looks from Terwin to Cyrus, and begins (in Goblin).
"Why do you longshanks attack us? We are not the goblins you look for!"
Orren find a nearby seat and watches the exchange thoughtfully, trying to absorb as much information as possible.
"I do not believe we had a specific group of goblins we were after. Simply goblins. What does he think makes his goblins different?" He will hear the little one out, but he does not like goblins on general principle.
"Ten gold per ear. 300 gold for cheiftan's head," Jia confirms.
She has at this point collected all the goblin ears besides for the one that they are questioning.
"We assumed the worst when you surrounded us and responded in kind," Cyrus says, sidestepping any reasons for actually looking for goblins. "Where are the goblins we seek? Are they with the Banished One?"
The goblin responds, gesticulating wildly.
"We only surrounded you because we thought you were them! Those other longshanks! The ones that came to our village, attacking us, but looking for the Banished One! He is the one you want!"
Orren translates fluidly and without too much pause.
"Other longshanks?" Cyrus ponders, looking to the others in a silent signal that what he's saying shouldn't be translated. "Other humanoids looking for something. Hmm. Could they be why the goblins are being so aggressive?"
Wondering if stopping the attacks altogether rather than lessening the number of goblins would pay better, Cyrus thinks that all this speak of 'the Banished One' is possibly valuable as well.
He turns to speak to the goblin. "We are not with those others. Who is the Banished One? Do you know where he is?"
"Are you sure? How can I trust you? Longshanks can't be trusted." He says this last sentence almost under his breath, as if no one can hear him.
Despite his concern, he continues.
"He is a shame on our kind. He...he...he...," as if he can't bring himself to say the word.
"He...reads."
The goblin covers his ears, shocked that he even said the word. Seeing that no one else is as shocked as he is, though, he finishes.
"He lives in a cave in the swamp, lives with creatures that do his will."
Terwin brightens at the mention of a goblin that reads,
"And can you direct us to this, uh, naughty traitor's cave perhaps?"
Switching to common he asks the others,
"Perhaps we could spare him if he is willing to guide us there? I'd like to meet a goblin that reads! Although the creatures that do his will bit is a bit disturbing," he switches back to goblin,
"When you say creatures, what manner of creature do you mean?"
"Evil, nasty things. Things that walk, though they shouldn't! I will not go there, not with them, and with him there."
The goblin almost shudders as he speaks.
"What do they look like, umm, are they as tall as a longshanks? Do they have hands, do they carry weapons, can they speak, what colour are they, do they smell, can you draw a picture in the mud?" Terwin presses.
Chance watches and listens, absorbing things quietly.
The goblin hesitates, but tries to speak.
"They are as tall as...no! I cannot do it! Longshanks tricks me into speaking!"
At this point, the goblin has put his head to the ground and refuses to speak any more.
Turning back to the others Terwin shrugs,
"I don't think I can get anything more out of him, should we try to find this cave then?"
What of Proudfoot? He might be a... less risky first visit."
"I can try asking him, but he does not seem keen..." Terwin says, before switching back to goblin,
"Okay no more talk about goblins, surely you can tell us about a halfling, I think, who lives in the swamp, Proudfoot? Do you know where he is?"
The goblin looks up from the ground at Terwin.
"Halfling? Yes, I know a halfling—he leaves us alone, so we leave him alone. If I take you there, you won't kill me? Agreed."
Terwin looks to the others,
"He says, he can take us to the halfling if we agree not to kill him - or cut off his ears. I say we take him up on it, what about you?"
Jia shrugs. "Are we no longer going to attack their village? Sparing his life could doom ours if he reports our strengths and weaknesses. I would only spare him if we are abandoning this mission."
"We can spare him and tie him up, leave him with Master Proudfoot perhaps? It seems like there is something odd going on here anyway, I for one would like to know what it is before we go on with our original aim."
Though it seemed to her essentially arbitrary to spare this goblin, but not his fellows, Jia's tortured tongue did not have the energy to argue.
None of us know what we are doing. He is even less of a bounty-hunter than I. He seems so confused about what hunting for a bounty entails.
Jia Li shrugs again as she packs the ears the party has collected in salt.
"We were not sent out here to kill just one specific tribe. We were told one was being a problem and that they would be our primary task. A goblin is a goblin. They are evil and sadistic and have no place this close to a settlement. Whether there is one out there that is worse than them and causing them to be more aggressive is of little matter. I saw the glee they had at harming us...freedom is not an option with that level of joy. I'm all for second chances, but sadism like that won't be held in check."
Chance draws the string, an arrow notched, aiming at the goblin, "I would like a reason we do not put an end to him? I highly doubt the contact we have been sent to speak with will desire to play prison guard to something such as this and judging by what we know...halflings and goblins do not mix."
Point a thumb at Darren, Jia says, "He not wrong. You like little boy who sees butterfly when he should be gathering wood. Butterfly pretty, but it is not your duty. Picking up sticks your duty."
"I would rather err on the side of naiveté than murderousness, besides I think we are gaining a clear advantage. We would be giving up one set of ears for information we need, we wanted to find Proudfoot's home, letting one goblin live hardly seems too steep a price. We can tie him up and knock him out, we were not planning to be out here too long anyway, we should be done before he can give any warning. We are surely more likely to alert the goblins by blundering about with no idea where we are going."
"Ms. Li makes a valid point-- we cannot let him go, it would only endanger us and many others." He scratches his chin a moment, pondering their options. "Our purpose here is the protection of Sandpoint. I for one am curious about what has caused the increased violence of late, but if this one has outlived his usefulness..." Orren trails off, letting the thought finish itself.
"Except that I've already presented a couple of clear alternatives, do not try to delude yourselves into thinking you have no choice," Terwin stiffly.