AS the door moves slowly open with a small creak, it reveals a large throne room which is decorated with hanging furs along its walls, mostly black-and-red striped firepelt skins, various dog pelts, and in some cases, what look like horse hides. Four square timbers support the ceiling, their faces studded with dozens of iron spikes, with the lower reaches decorated with dozens of impaled and severed hands in various stages of decay. To the northeast, a wooden platform supports a throne heaped with dog pelts and horse hides. Dog skulls adorn the armrests and a horse skull leers over the throne’s back. A huge gecko lounges on the floor behind the throne.
A tall goblin wearing a pitted iron crown rises from the throne as you open the door. He addresses you haughtily, "Halt, Longshanks! You have no right to burst into my throne room like this!"
His eyes scan across you and settle on Kadrian, "You have a fine look about you. Maybe you know how to talk, rather than smashing everything like a thug. Sheath your blade and come parley with me." The goblin raises his empty hands, "I bear no naked blade."
Akuleh considers the goblin lord's offer to Kadrian and wonders, 'Could this creature truly be offering some kind of peace? Or is this only a trick?'
we can parley with out blades drawn. If... we come to a resolution. Then they will be sheathed. though I very much doubt that... Lelu responds, muttering that last bit under her breath. she scans the room while speaking.
"Sit down, you pitiful thing! Do you think we are blind? Your throne room shows us well enough what your offer of parley would lead to. Besides, the only peaceful end to this meeting is you being dragged out of here, bound and gagged, to stand trial before the people of Sandpoint." Akuleh brandishes his spear and points it at the goblin, "Now dismiss your pet and lay down on the ground, you miniature lord of filth!"
"Your crimes against Sandpoint are many, 'Goblin King'", Kadrian sneered. "The raid upon Sandpoint only your most recent violation of the law." Nodding over to the shaonti, the swashbuckler concludes, drawing his rapier, "Akuleh offered you the best deal you will receive from us. I suggest you take it!"
Rak nearly growls at the goblin's obvious subterfuge. He starts barking his thoughts in goblin, so as to be sure to be understood. "The fact my friends made you that offer is the only reason I'll honor it," he says, waggling the tip of his rapier. "I'd rather pin you to your throne now for all the trouble you've caused. Stand down and start begging for your life!"
The goblin shrinks back into his throne, gulping back tears of fear as he shrieks out in goblin, "ii difaaci boqorkaaga dila iyaga dila!"
the scaredy-king 1Shalelu
Akuleh
Rak
KadrianWarchief Ripnugget
Lelu, able to understand the goblin, fires off two arrows, hoping to follow through with Rak's threat.
Shalelu's first arrow strikes true but her second embeds itself in the throne beside the goblin king's head without harming the greenskin chief.
Suddenly, a goblin appears from the cavity around the pillars and lurches toward Kadrian, swinging a big goblin horsechopper over its head.
It's blade skims past Kadrian's surprised face, so close that he can hear the whistle of wind around the uneven blade. The young noble, however, is unscathed.
the scaredy-king 1Shalelu
Goblin Commando Green
Akuleh
Rak
KadrianWarchief Ripnugget (-7)
Barely able to see the goblin from the doorway, Rak darts in the room, slipping between Kadrian and Akuleh before circling around to strike at the goblin.
Akuleh can't quite get to the king, so he instead moves into the room far enough to give Shalelu some room to maneuver before calling on his ancestors to manifest their wrath on this would-be noble. A longspear with ritualistic decorations and carved with symbols and pictograms materializes in the hand of a faintly outlined shoanti warrior beside the goblin king. The warrior gives a ghostly cry, then strikes at the goblin king.
The goblin chief flinches as the ghostly weapon flies over its head. Rak's rapier slashes into the goblin's arm, drawing welt of blood which pools on the flagstoned floor.
Then three more goblins drop from the rafters.
One begins to sing a rasping goblin song.
goblins cut and goblins fight
longshanks flesh is good to bite
eat their hearts and their heads
kill them as they sleep in beds
...
While the others swing at Akuleh
the scaredy-king 1Shalelu
Goblin Commando Green (-5)
Akuleh
RakGoblin Warchanter
Goblin Commando Wood
Goblin Commando RedKadrian
Warchief Ripnugget (shaken, -7)
The swashbuckler stabs at the goblin warchanter, but slips on the uneven floor.