Talberon, crotched behind the wood railing, knocks another bolt.
'How did they all end up out there in the open?' he thought as he poked the crossbow through the slats.
He scanned the battlefield, 'Who has the greatest threat... he wondered.
'Thwang'
He squeezed the trigger sending the bolt loose at a Goblin that was engaging Gozer and Trapper. Then he pulled the crossbow back through the planks.
Tamilius sits on his Horse and does nothing. I was I could help, but my Magic Missile is gone, not much else I can do. Best to stay out of the way.
Gozer snarls at the two goblins...
Your dead!
Gozer power attacks the goblin who was gloating:
Attack:
As his axe connects he glares at the other and grins...
Maya slashes at the goblin in front of her with her sword.
Trapper, Gozer. Get back to the bridge!
Attack on Goblin:
Potential Damage:
This time Maya lands a decent blow on the goblin attacking her.
Gozer's axe cleaves a Goblin in clean in half, the ground around him is soaked in blood.
Once more Talberon's bolt flies unerringly at its target punching through his knee cap. The Goblin remains upright but barely.
Trapper manages to jump elegantly away from the fighting.
Maya's sword slashes the Goblin across the chest, it falls to the ground with the force of the strike. It still breathes.
Suddenly two arrows fly out from the bridge, looking you see your guides with bows in hand. One arrow bursts through the chests of the Goblin that Belethor is fighting. The other punches through the neck of the one that Talberon wounded.
The final Goblin near Gozer shrivels in fear before laying down his sword and speaking in broken common.
"Lg...Sl..sh...Sory." He bows down next to Gozer.
Gozer smiles down... lifts his axe and brings it down
on the kneeling goblin.
Power Attack:
Attack Crit:
Crit Damage:
:-0
The Goblin is virtually liquefied as your strike lands.
Gozer keeps his eyes peeled and looks around waiting for more goblins or something bigger...
Perception:
Talberon, sensing the battle's death, stood and finish loading his crossbow. 'Hmph,' a simple noise escaped him when he looked at Tamilius, "Your welcome..."
'That is one reason I keep my magic my own...' he thought, 'I expect more of myself.
Not waiting for a reply, Talberon turned and walked out where Gozer, Trapper, and Maya were. "That went surprisingly well," he chipped, as he set about searching the bodies of the dead Goblins.
Gozer will go about collecting right side goblin ears of the three he killed. He places them in a pocket in his backpack.
Don't forget to collect the proof of your kills for the reward... He grunts.
Maya points her sword at the throat of the wounded goblin.
Surrender you little git. We might let you live if you make yourself useful.
Gozer looks to Trapper
You have much courage my friend... and from what I can see rage... at least for goblins... There may be hope for you yet. He grins and walks past Trapper slapping him on the shoulder in good humor and walks over to Maya's still breathing goblin, peering down at it. He says to Maya.
Are you going to kill that thing?
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"Thank you, m'friend", Trapper says to Gozer. "Your fighting skills would be welcome any time in the Land of the Five Kings!"
Trapper returns to the foot of the bridge, puts away his warhammer, and gets out his short bow and notches an arrow. He is wide-eyed and alert ... and red-faced.
And, he thinks, I am angrier than a Dwarven warrior at a Wood Elf's wedding! Not one single hit. Holy Torag, I need ye iron fist now more than ever!
Responding to Gozer, Maya says calmly:
I wasn't planning on killing him just yet. He might be of use to us. If he isn't I'll give him to you, and you can eat him for all I care.
She then turns to the goblin with her sword still at his throat.
Speaking in goblin she says:
Spoiler for those who speak goblin
I'd ask you your name, but I don't care. I'm going to call you Git. So Git, here's the deal. If you answer a couple of questions and I like the answers I might be able to convince my friend Belethor to give you some healing for that wound of yours. If I don't like what you got to say, I'm going to hand you over to the big fella there, and he will do horrible things to you. Understood?
Maya continues to speak to the simpering little goblin in its native tongue
For those who speak goblin:
I'll start off simple. What is the name of your tribe and which other goblin tribe do you consider your worst enemy?
Gozer grins at Maya and then scans the area for Roque... and mumbles. Where is that little bastard...
Tamilius is shocked about what Gozer just did and sits on his horse motionless. Perhaps I really shouldn't mess with him.
As you search the bodies of the Goblins you find:
1 Dog slicer
7 Short bows
100 gold coins (Maybe a lot, Maybe not)
Trapper finds a map of the city of Sandpoint.
Git looks from Maya to Gozer then back again and whimpers in Goblin
He hisses then speaks again
Gozer you cannot see Roque however you do see drag marks and a trail of blood leading under the trees.
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Trapper folds up the map and puts it in his backpack.
He then takes his position at the foot of the bridge.
His short bow drawn and loaded with an arrow.
He makes a full 360 deg turn, his eyes taking in every detail of their surroundings.
As he scopes out the surroundings, he calls out to the group --
"I've got something important to show all of ye when we're finished dealing with that ... that Goblin."
Having heard and understood everything Git said, Trapper shivers a little.
He has a strange sense of deja vu when he hears the words "Bonesnappers" and "Licktoad".
He brushes this odd thought aside and remains vigilant.
He turns toward the water rushing under the bridge.
A babbling brook. Perfect cover for a second ambush.
Gozer follows the drag marks into the trees silently walking away from the party his axe out and ever alert.
Perception:
Gozer you notice that the blood trails ever further under the trees, you get the feeling that you are watched but you cannot see what is watching you.
Talberon collected up the coins and headed to the bridge where Trapper had gone.
As he arrived he began counting out four equal piles of gold pieces, five stacks of twenty, and then scooped on stack up.
He placed the coin in his belt pouch.
'Not alot, but it will do. At least I might be able to purchase a room, meal, and replace the bolts lost,' he thought.
"What you find Trapper? Don't forget your coin too."
Maya continues her chat with Git.
In goblin
Good start Git. Now tell me, do you know a big goblin with milky white eye who carries a dwarven axe. I owe him a debt of blood. If you help me find him, I'll see that you live.
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Trapper nods and takes the gold from Talberon.
Thank ye, m'friend. I have to collect enough of these little gold beauties to pay for m'brothers' travels. They're coming all the way from Absalom to help me figure out what happened to our kin here along the Lost Coast. Which leads to your question. That filthy vermin ... ", Trapper nods at the dead goblin, "was carrying a map of --"
Trapper stops mid-sentence when he hears what Maya says in the Goblin language.
His attention distracted, he says.
"Map ... of ... Sandpoint and ...
DWARVEN AXE! WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT A DWARVEN AXE??!!".
The Goblin begins muttering to himself.
We can't say we know Blank Eye, he will know if we tells.
The Goblin screams when Trapper starts shouting.
Talberon walked out into the battlefield and pulled a bolt from a dead Goblin. He straightened the quills as he walked toward the Goblin Maya was questioning.
He stuck the Goblin crusted tip in front of the Goblin's nose,
Blood dribbles from the Goblins previous wound when Talberon pushed the Bolt into his face. He squeals in fear.
He suddenly smiles viciously
Tamilius collects his Gold(and XP!) and has a confused look on his face after seeing the talks among the Goblin and other "Um, what are you talking about? It sounds like gibberish to me."
Switching to common, Talberon runs down what has transpired thus far with the Goblin, as well as explaining his suspicions about the map and wanting to find out what they intended to do.
As he did, he kept an eye on the Goblin to see if it could understand Common.
Gozer stops and stares harder into the tree feeling a tingle on the back of his neck.
Perception:
Not seeing anything he continues to follow the trail moving silently and with his weapon ready.
Stealth
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"That's because it is gibberish, Tamilius," Trapper says.
"Like talking dire rats, the lot of 'em."
Remaining watchful of the surroudings, Trapper tells Tamilius:
"He's part of a Goblin tribe called the Bonesnappers. Maya there asked him if he knows of a big goblin with milky white eye who carries a dwarven axe. Must be the one who killed her husband. And wouldn't surprise me in the least. I once saw a gang of these rabid vermin eat an entire litter of puppies that this family had taken in as pets. Talk about something that'll me ye blood boil. Turns out that little Git works for the big goblin. Called "Blank Eye" if my ears don't deceive me. He's offering to show us where Blank Eye is at."
Trapper continues to turn in a full circle as he talks, his short bow ready for anything that might come out of the woods or out of the stream.
"Tamilius? Could you do a Dwarf a favor? Could you find me a couple of those arrows that'll still shoot true? I have a feeling I'm gonna need 'em."
Gozer as you are sneaking you are suddenly able to hear a strange cackling from behind, "Separate from the group aren't you big guy." He laughs again however it soon breaks into coughing and choking sounds, you hear him spit. Threatened to kill me did ya. Well why don't you try and kill me now!!! You recognise the voice vaguely as Roque's however madness seems to have suddenly tainted it. As you turn you see nothing of what was once that man; bloody chunks of flesh hang from his body, he is missing an eye and his teeth are pushing through what was once his lips. As he talks blood drools from his mouth. He makes no motion to attack although he still holds his his longsword in the meat that is his hand.
Gozer turns and looks at the now ravaged Roque and a shadow passes over his eye.
Well this makes things easier. A slow grin crosses his face.
In response to Roque's kill me now... Works for me! He roars as he charges Roque axe held to the side.
Charging Power Attack:
You swipe at him but he just simply steps aside. He laughs as your axe blade swipes past him.
Maya is pretty oblivious to what Gozer is up to. She listens to Git and says.
In goblin
Blank Eye? That's probably the one I want. If you take me to him, you might live to see the your way out of this.
Talberon looked up at Maya, "He might try to lead us astray, or into a trap," he said in common.
Perception Check: well, what did I expect?!
Tamilius picks up some Arrows and gives them to Trapper
Before Gozer can try and strike again Roque's body begins to rot further, his flesh dissolves in chunks and the smell wafting from his Corpse is putrid. After a few second's all that is left is bone which quickly crumples and dissipates in the wind as dust. Then ever so slightly, as the air whistles past your ear, you can swear that you hear Roque's voice "Watch your back big man." faint cackling laughter then nothing.
You know that Gozer was attacking some strange rotted creature but you do not know why or what it was.
Git is just about to lead the way when he points to his chest.
Gozer grumbles under his breath... and you yours...
He heads back to the group trying to figure out what he saw.
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Trapper graciously thanks Tamilius for the arrows, then says,
"Gather 'round, all of ye if ye think it's safe. If I hadn't seen it with me own eyes I wouldn't believe it. Gozer had tracked down a man who rotted and turn to dust. I swear by the holy name of Torag himself."
Trapper is worried.
Very, very worried.
"I found a map of Sandpoint on that goblin there," he says. "I suggest we study it and see if it tells us anything about this Blank Eye, or gives us any clue about what just happened in the woods there."
Tamilius is shocked at what Trapper says "But, that's, that's not right. What kind of dark magic could do such a thing? Perhaps the map would be of use." Tamilius examines the map.
Studying the map shows a detailed layout of the city, there are red lines and circles detailing the guard routes and defensible positions. Finally you see that there is are two large X's marked on the map, one at the Dockyard the other just across the water marking what looks like a small home.