Karim's blade runs true, as it cuts into the side of the second goblin, who is unprepared for the sudden attack. He lets out a cough, with dark blood foaming in his mouth, and falls over dead.
On the bodies you find the following:
2 short swords
1 potion of CLW
You stand facing a bridge with a swift-moving river running under it. The bridge looks sturdy but dirty with the remnants of goblin filth (tossed garbage, grafitti, etc). The path continues onward on the other side into deeper woods.
Viktor bahhs loudly and pulls on his leash, trying to move onwards.
Karim looks down at his rapier and nods in approval. "That went better than the norm." He shoots the rest of the party a grin. "Never underestimate the power of ambush, boys." He scoops up the and stuffs it into his pack. "My prize for taking down the pair of them single-handed. Unless anybody has any objections, of course."
Trying to control Viktor, Yiniv cannot reach the enemy quick enough before Karim dices them
Bad wictor! You no let me fight! I did not get to break zpinal cordz between thighs
"Good work Karim. Yes, take the potion should you need it. Let us move on."
"All right, then," Karim says. "Let's get a move on."
Karim takes a short look through the assorted junk the goblins left on the bridge before crossing.
Looking through the junk that the goblins left lying around, Karim finds a full wineskin. Upon further inspection, it is full of what smells like water but with a faint sour odor to it.
Other than that, there's rocks and sticks of varying sizes and a few pieces of rotting meat lying about with flies all over it.
Moving on, the path begins to become overgrown with vegetation and difficult to move through. Viktor often tries to help by eating the leaves and grass in the way whenever you stop for a short rest. Otherwise, the path is difficult to follow.
Suddenly, Viktor stops to munch on some berries and refuses to move on, even when they are all eaten. When prodded, he bah's loudly and digs his hoofs into the ground, nodding his head left and right in an effort to now move forward another inch. The path looks as congested as before...
Curious.
"No birds, Viktor's acting weird... well, weird by goat standards, I guess..." He narrows his eyes and glances around. "Something weird going on here, gents. Let's proceed as carefully as careful can be. Never trust a quiet forest!"
Kromlite concentrates for a second and then starts speaking goat with Viktor.
"Wiktor! Vou zuch a waughty goatv! Ztahp plaving in ze grazz vou can wee vhen we make de campz"
Yiniv pats the goat thoughtfully and tugs on his leash
Viktor refuses to budge. bahhing loudly. A breeze blows through the trees above, rustling the leaves, and smelling of rain.
"BAHH! Wiktor wizten to me! VE HAVE TO KEEP MOVING! Wiktor do not wake me put vu in de time in! Vwaitt.. or iz it time out?"
Still holding on to Viktor's leash, Yiniv struggles with the concept as he plays through it in his mind
"Oy, big guy. If the goat doesn't wanna move, he doesn't wanna move. Maybe we should tie him off somewhere and proceed on without him. Something weird's going on here. Krom, can you tell us anything?" Karim tries his best not to be weirded out by Kromlite's conversation with the animal.
"Victor says he's tired and wants to rest. He said the tasty berries made him tired. Oh and the big guy shouldn't tug on his leash so hard. I'll tell him I was considering goat for dinner and see if that changes his mind."
Viktor baah's again, looking at Kromlite.
Kromlite says to the goat
He then draws his longsword and points at the spot and says "There is something in the leaves behind Viktor"
Karim, having already drawn his rapier, cautiously begins to circle around to Viktor's side in case something comes flying out of the brush.
The leaves rustle a bit more, and it sounds like whatever it is is getting closer.
Karim tries to hide behind the most solid-looking object nearby, hoping he can spring out and surprise whatever's coming, rapier in hand.
Kromlite positions himself to flank with Karim when the thing comes out.
Viktor decides to lay down right where he is standing. Suddenly, a black figure emerges from the brush. It's breathing is heavy, and it has a red grin as it steps closer to claim it's victims. As it approaches Vicktor, it trips over the goat and falls to the ground!
The Dark Creature starts to rise up from the ground, attempting to regain the menacing look it had before the trip. It focuses its gaze on Yiniv, and lets out a long, deep, laugh.
Initiative order:
Dark Creature
Viktor
Yiniv
Kromlite
Karim
Viktor gets up, bahhing loudly at being nearly stepped on. He bites at the creature's leg.... and naps only air.
Kromlite attempts to kill the creature and misses him.
Hoping his luck in the last battle has yet to run out, Karim maneuvers into flanking position and tries to run the creature through.
The creature moves just in time to avoid Kromlite's blow. Just on his heels, Karim attempts a thrust and it moves out of the way, being missed by millimeters. Enraged, the creature turns to Kromlite for an attack:
and Kromlite is able to dodge the blow easily.
After Viktor acts Kromlite begins to give a rousing song to buck up his comrades.
Karim grunts in frustration at missing and tries again, inspired by Kromlite's music.
Karim manages to strike true. His blade piercing the creatures side, and black ooze starts dripping out of the wound. It lets out a loud growl and says, blik gru men Nammuz!. As it says this, it draws its sword and strikes at Karim
and again strikes only air.....
and manages to lose footing, stumbling forward.
As the creature bends over, Karim stabs it's side, causing more black blood to ooze out. While Kromlite's blow merely scratches it's leg.
Kromlite keeps up his performance and attacks the creature again.
"Good show, Krom! Let's take it home!"
Karim dives in for another stab with his rapier.
As it tries to get up, Kromlite and Karim both impale the thing's body. It lets out a roar and falls to the ground, dead. On it's body, you find:
gp.
An amulet with the infinity sign
A scroll that, upon opening, you find is written in common and says,
My dear Porbos, I wish you had avoided sending those heroes to the temple. It really inconveniences me, and the loss of one of my messengers is not desirable. However, your services have proved valuable, so I can overlook this mistake for the time being. Keep moving forward with your preparations and you'll be paid accordingly. - Anonymous
The cramped area now has a putrid-sweet smell floating around. During the battle, some of the brush was trampled on and you can see the path continue onward. It is late afternoon and you notice that there's still several hours of sunlight left.
"Well, it looks like the good priest was in on it. We'll need to keep this and deal with him when we get back I think."
"To the temple!"
Karim stashes the amulet and half the gold, then nods. "Yup. Let's get back to it, friend." Thinking on the letter, he wonders who in their right mind would actually sign their letter "Anonymous." Then again, these are clearly not rational forces they're dealing with...