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"Our stowaway...it appears to be a little goblin child that Thribden had taken a liking to and decided to adopt. It appears that Thribden had also been able to teach her a few words of common, though Thribden apparently did not teach her to stay put..."
"In any event, the child says she wants to help, and gave us these as a present. Assuming these weren't stolen from the caravan to begin, I suppose they will be more than enough to cover the cost of the provisions she had stolen? The dagger at least is exceptionally well-made and should fetch a nice price."
"As for what happens to the child, well, it is, as you say, your caravan, and Ameiko is the leader of this expedition, so I think it should ultimately be a call made by the two of you. Can't hurt to consider what the others think of this, though. Especially Shalelu. She might have a little more to say about it than the others."
"Shiori, Shiori Kaijitsu, I'm Ameiko's little sister, and as such I spend a great deal of my time in her shadow." Shiori says, introducing herself to the halfling. "I have my own reasons for detesting goblins, I'm sure you at least know partly why that is." She says looking away.
Mary hobbles over and places a reassuring hand on Shiori's shoulder. I am sorry. I did not recognize who you were or I would have been more concerned about the thief than I already was if it is a goblin. Indeed, even though I was injured and unconscious for a period of time when the goblins struck, my father told me afterwards what had happened. Although I did not have the same loss you had, I suffered as well. In some ways I feel as if the loss of my father was at the hands of goblins as well. Not directly mind you but I do not think he would have been so keen for me to leave Sandpoint if the goblins had not attacked. Those years I was gone I will never be able to get back to spend time with him. If you ever need someone to talk to about it I will listen without judgment.
Mary removes her hand and stuffs them in her cloak to keep them out of the drizzle. It seems like a lot and nothing has changed in the years I was gone. People I once knew when I was younger I don't remember as much, yet on the whole Sandpoint has remained as it always is. I remember stories of Shalelu but have not talked to her at all since I have been back. Sandru I know of from my father and referencing him as a merchant and businessman but nothing more beyond exchanging niceties. As for you and your sister, well like I said I have some years to catch up on. Hopefully we have the time to talk more and you can fill me in on what I have missed.
Darinius watches this entire strange exchange as the goblin gives Exiel the small box. Well at least it seems like Thribden taught it the importance of making good first impressions too.
why not just kill the beast and keep these trinkets? Sandru says lifting the dagger
no kill. Friend. the baby whimpers and squeezes tight to exiels leg, quivering.
Sandru frowns. . Well what do you think exiel?
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Exiel sucks in a deep breath through gritted teeth, his brow furrowed in consternation.
"She came to us without ill intent and with a genuine gesture of goodwill. Even if we take into account the food she stole, these items are likely more than enough reparation. The predilections of her kind notwithstanding, she has done nothing to deserve violence or wrath. To kill one for the sins of others of the same race is barbaric and evil, more so if it is a child. I think even Shalelu, for all her hatred of goblins, will not dispute the merit of this argument."
"I think that at the very least, these trinkets should be taken as payment for safe delivery to a church of Sarenrae. I believe the tenets of her clergy will compel them to take her in and attempt to raise her well. In fact, I would think that to be the best idea, since the ways in which she could potentially help an adventuring party are likely to put her in situations well beyond what she is capable of, and there are those among this group who have understandable reasons to loathe the very sight of her."
Fine we will see what the others have to say.
Sandru gathers everyone and let's Exiel explain the situation and his thoughts, the baby curls up on Exiel's lap and falls asleep, obviously exhausted.
The second Shalelu sees the goblin she draws her bow. we kill it and we kill it now! They are evil monsters all! she roars, the baby wakes bites her doll and scrambles into Exiel's pack where she whimpers, terrified
Koya steps back, shocked at the outburst. But says it may be evil, but it is a scared child...to kill it, wouldn't that make us just as bad?
Ameiko looks on deep in thought, perhaps she is waiting to see what the others say
Koytine looks at the goblin and shakes her head:
I have no love for the little green monsters. But, as Exiel has said, this one has brought a peace offering of sorts and has yet to harm us. Yes, it stole some food, but it is a hungry child.
She turns and looks at Shalelu:
Would you shoot every homeless child in a city that snuck behind a fruit vendor's cart and absconded with an apple? The logic is the same.
This is not my matter and not a child I have interest in caring for. However, I see no benefit in killing it either. I will let the others choose, but if it were my choice, I would seek an orphanage dedicated to the Dawnflower or the Dreamer or even the Eternal Rose or the Inheritor. Any of them should be able and willing to care for this child as we will not be able.
"I don't trust it, not one bit." Shiori says, turning to the goblin and uttering, "Ako nas izda, ja ću završiti vas."
Why would anyone else be willing to take it. Even if they are religious types? Darinius seems skeptical.
Mary sees the goblin and her first impulse is to pull her dagger. However she was taught to stifle such reactions and be an impartial arbitrator. It was easier said than done though and things would have been much easier if she would have just found the goblin the night before and ended the problem then. Now that Exiel seems to have laid a small claim on protecting it though made the matter much more difficult.
Standing up all of her almost 3 feet she makes her arguments. As the goblin has sought protection from Exiel and he has granted it respite I do not think we can simply kill it outright Shalelu. As Exiel has stated, and supported by Koya, although it has stolen from us it has offered to repay us for the damages and then some. The problem is that we are ill equipped to handle such an addition to the caravan as I see it. Of course Sandru could speak more on that.
As this caravan is being lead by Sandru on behalf of Ameiko, it is only befitting that they decide what should be done. I have not talked at length to either Sandru or Ameiko to know how long of a journey this will be so I can not give a opinion as to what should be done. My one piece of advice is that should the decision be made to allow it to stay with us and since Exiel has offered it his protection, that Exiel be in charge of watching over it and repay any damages that it may cause. The items that it brought with it are used to repay the supplies stolen already and the balance is Exiel's for future expenditures for the goblin. This seems the fairest and most reasonable approach. Likewise, if it is decided by Ameiko and Sandru that the goblin be brought to an orphanage then we take items equivalent to the damages the give the rest to the orphanage to help support them raising the goblin.
After she has said her piece Mary will look at the items a bit more closely, detecting magic and identifying items. She will also look at what the folded paper might say if anything.
Spellcraft if needed
Ameiko speaks up at last.
Goblins. Destructive, evil, murderous. How many have been killed by them over the years? Mary limps to this day because of goblins. For a long time I blamed them for my brother and father. But the truth is goblins are tools. When left to their own devices they are destructive and evil, but Sandpoint was almost destroyed because of Nualia and...and...our brother Tsuto who used them as a weapon. My initial thought is that we kill it, but perhaps I am being irrational. Perhaps this one is different.
Sandru replies. We have food for now, the real question is can this creature do anything for us? It is a baby, but on the other hand it has certainly managed quite the collection of things here. There is possibly more as well, this paper seems to be a map to a treasure cache, where it found this I have no idea.
Ameiko has been looking over the items. A minor healing potion, a potion of invisibility and an oil to give magical properties to a weapon. This wand is incredibly valuable, it can shoot fireballs, though it is almost tapped out
I know it is my caravan, but lets take a vote here. Who votes let it live under Exiel's stewardship and who votes tokill.
Kill Shalelu says.
Live Koya says
"I'm going to have to side with Shalelu here, no good can come of letting this creature live."
Koytine shakes her head:
Although most goblins are evil and destructive, this one has not yet shown itself to be so. I must vote to let it live until it is shown to be evil, and not just hungry and scared.
If Exiel takes responsibility for it and sees to it that it is raised properly and vows to cover any liabilities from the goblin then my vote is to let it live. If not, then it is better to kill it swiftly and with mercy than to abandon it.
Turning to Exiel she looks him in the eye even though she has to stand while he sits to be eye level. Do you understand the responsibility that this will entail and are you willing to follow through with your duty, both to us and to the goblin?
If Exiel wants to deal with it, it can live. Darinius shrugs and peeks over Mary's head to read the paper as well. Its not going to be my fault if this goes horribly wrong.
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Exiel sucks in a deep breath through gritted teeth, a recognisable sign to those who knew him well (which of the present group would probably only be Shalelu) of intense frustration.
"Shalelu, Ameiko, Shiori, I am well-aware of the pain that you have suffered by goblin hands. I know well why you hate their kind, and I understand it well, having myself suffered the pain of loss by the hand of evil ones. I want you to know that I have no particular love for goblin-kind. Of the those who recently went to Licktoad Tribe, there are none whose hands were soaked in more goblin-blood than my own. Shiori, you yourself are witness to that."
"But I am also bound by a code. My blade, metaphorical or physical, defends the helpless and my might upholds the weak, whilst my wrath is reserved only for the undoing of the wicked. And what I see before me now is a helpless creature who bears us no ill-will, who has not as far as any of us can tell harmed anyone, and who came before us with peace-offerings. Under the circumstances, I am bound to protect her, however reluctant I may be."
Turning to Mary, he adds, "but I am by no means offering to raise her myself, nor do I see it as my duty to take responsibility for her actions. To be clear, I am most certainly not on her side. But I am on the side of justice. It just so happens justice is at the moment on her side."
"So what I am proposing is that actions determine her own fate. If she proves to be like others of her kind, my wrath will be upon her as it would be any other person of any race who does evil. But to the extent that her gifts are worth more than enough to cover payment for passage and cover any damages she may inadvertently inflict, I propose that she be treated fairly as a customer paying for passage. For her payment, she gets passage to the first temple along our way that will take her in, and on top of that she gets no more than any one else."
"A chance."
and here I thought you growing up Exiel. Shalelu says with disgust and not a little venom
Turning to Mary, he adds, "but I am by no means offering to raise her myself, nor do I see it as my duty to take responsibility for her actions. To be clear, I am most certainly not on her side. But I am on the side of justice. It just so happens justice is at the moment on her side."
Mary looks at Exiel in contemplation before answering. she does not want to answer hastily as hasty words come from passion and feelings. Those 2 things tend to mess up more negotiations than anything else and this was nothing if not a negotiation. Yet she had to make him see the consequences of his actions. Exiel, I understand your arguments for sparing this goblin child. Yet in order for it to have the 'chance' you are talking about, someone needs to raise it properly. You propose dropping it off at the first temple that takes it in. What if it takes 2 years to find such a temple. As its protector, and therefore guardian, it falls to you to ensure that it does no harm. Without guidance it will do what comes naturally to it and in its child like state it does not know the difference from right and wrong. IF you do not take action to teach it these things then you are condemning it already to death for the first infraction it makes, knowingly or not. If you make excuses for the goblin that it is a child everytime it will just learn to manipulate you and the situation to the best advantage possible. This is not fair to the goblin either as your inaction is propagating a wrong behavior. I am willing to put behind my past to see that you have your 'chance' with the goblin but only if you know full well what you are doing. If you are not going to see this through then I must side with some of the others and insist that it be 'put to sleep' in the interest of all involved, including the goblin before it does something that you are opposed of but not willing to intercede before hand in raising it.
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"Damn it, Thribden, this was precisely why I said to leave the goblin children be."
"I think I need to clarify my position, Mary. I am not her protector, rather I only protect her for as long as justice is on her side. There is an important difference: should she herself prove that she bears the same evil that seems to come naturally to her kind in general, my own hand will be against her. Childish behaviour can be forgiven and controlled, for instance by supervision and keeping her confined in a carriage, and damages resulting can be paid for out of the treasure she herself provided. Malice or evil however will indeed condemn it, and indeed I propose no less. Justice and a fair chance, as Torag gives, not the endless mercy of the Sarenrites."
"Shalelu, what do you think. If you think this unwise, I would hear why."
goblins are evil murderers. Period. They once are my fingers and my eyes while I was awake. This one will grow up like them. Kill it now.
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"I'm sorry, Shalelu, I had no idea that was the extent of the pain they had inflicted on you."
Exiel pauses for awhile to consider Shalelu's words. A long while, as he considers how Shalelu's history with the goblins had shaped her.
At length, he finds the words he needs to speak. He turns to face Shalelu, his face contorted with concern for her.
"When you say that this one will grow up like them, is that your knowledge of goblins talking, or your hatred talking? You know I'll take you at your word, Shalelu, but before you answer, I ask that you consider this. I too have suffered much pain and wrong in my life. Two of the dearest men in my life were murdered, one my father, and the other almost a second-father. Myself, I was exiled from my home and forced to live in a jungle like a savage for years. All this at the hands of humans. Had I chosen then to view all humans as vile schemers who would abandon all honour for selfish ambition, and pursue a vendetta against all humankind, what kind of man would you view me as?"
"My teacher once told me, "There is no justice or righteousness in blind vengeance. Visiting wrath upon one for the sins of another sets one on a path of endless anger, for once you start on that path you will find another to visit wrath upon. You set yourself on a blood-soaked path that will never end, and with each act of vengeance your soul will twist and harden.""
"So if Shalelu Andosana whom I believe in tells me that this child is irredeemable, I will trust that. Because the alternative, that Shalelu will set herself on such a path that she would kill in cold blood, is not something I would be able to bear."
As he says this, Exiel will slowly step away from the goblin child, leaving her standing before Shalelu and her bow, his fearful eyes firmly fixed on her's.
Shalelu draws her bow
you have made the right choice. He has given me the choice I say it is evil and dies
She fires at the terrified goblin and misses
[rolling init]
Init order. Goblin, koytine, Mary, ex, Shalelu, darinius Koya, Sandru, Shiori
The goblin takes off, doll in mouth.
[ooc] gotta go in order
Koytine follows after the goblin and then raises her hands from which a spray of bright colors comes forth striking the goblin child, but not harming it.
Cast Color Spray - DC17 Will or unconscious, stunned and blinded for rounds and then stunned and blinded for then stunned for 1 more round
She then says to Shalelu:
Kill it in cold blood if you will, but recall this is how all here will remember your actions when this child has not harmed you. However, would you hold this hatred if it had been evil humans or gnomes that had harmed you? Would your hatred cause you to seek to kill all humans as you wish to do to this child?
Diplomacy:
Mary knows that she can not keep up with the goblin. Instead she looks to the heavens, Abadar, open your vault and aid this group, filling them with your blessings. The scales of justice have ruled against the goblin, now help us end it swiftly.
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Exiel looks sadly at Shalelu as she draws her bow on the goblin child, and for the briefest moment gives the faintest of smiles when the arrow misses. Then a glazed look passes over his eyes as he walks to over Ameiko whilst fishing something from his pocket. He slowly but firmly takes the box of 'presents' from Ameiko (and the map from Sandru if he had not returned it to the box).
"If you'll excuse me," he says softly.
To Koya, he says, "I'm sorry. I gambled on Shalelu's sanity, but it looks like I lost that bet, and her, years ago to the horrors of her war against the goblins. I cannot raise my hand against Shalelu, but I'm taking the child's gifts away and destroying them. No one here deserves them, least of all myself."
He looks over his shoulder as Shalelu nocks an arrow to her bow and draws a bead on the goblin child again.
"Tell Shalelu I'm sorry. I hope some day she will realise what I am sorry about. Good bye."
He takes one last look over his shoulder at the inevitable execution about to take place behind him, then walks away.
the goblin is not affected by the color spray, the goblin is out of sight in the darkness.
Shalelu slams down her bow and storms off.
If you can find it you can continue to try to kill it..
Ameiko watches surprised, Sandru speaks quietly to Shalelu across the camp.
Koya grabs Exiel.
Stop being a fool boy. She is not insane, she completely hates goblins, there are many in the world that feel about same about them. My studies show me that execution on the spot is the law in some places. Do you intend to flee now, or do you intend to try to fix this mess that you have made being blinded by your love of your friend? If you are her friend then you help her through this.
Mary does not know Exiel enough to interfer with what just transpired and lets those that know him more talk to him instead.
"Should we really be making all this fuss about a goblin?" Shiori asks, but she does not move to capture the creature. "I do not care if the goblin lives or dies honestly, those that I care who live or die are here with me now."
Perhaps not, but it is well that we are plunged into the fire now, before we are in true danger. We should be stronger after this. The fate of this creature is curious. It should not have withstood that spell from Koytine, But at the same time it should not be able to collect such a mass of treasure, nor should it be trying to tag along. Ameiko says to Shiori
Overhearing Ameiko and Shiroi talk Mary realizes it is time that she talks to Ameiko herself and asks a quick question to her. Excuse me, Ameiko, I haven't talked to you since I was more interested in the caravan, my duties, and just being happy to be on the journey, but now that you mention true danger I have to ask. Just exactly where are we going and what made you decide to leave in such a short notice? Don't get me wrong, I am happy to have joined up and have a chance to travel just like my father always wanted me to, but why now?
Diplomacy not to influence score but to be polite in inquiring as to our purpose.
I am not sure this is the proper time Mary, we can talk later, once this situation with the goblin is resolved. Let us see if they return with a corspe or not