"Probably someone or something that ain't a goblin." Theron winces as he moves, slightly favoring his wounded leg, toward Father Zantus. "Don't usually know goblins to plan out these kinds of coordinated attacks all on their own." He watches the goblins running about with a hardened expression.
"Here, see what you can do," he says when he reaches Father Zantus.
Father Zantus reaches out to pray over Theron, and immediately the ranger's wounds begin to heal.
"P-please continue to help anyone you can - we are incredibly grateful for your bravery and support," the priest says before hurrying off to help others.
Here and there, the sounds of battle, clanging swords, calls of support by the town guard, and shrieking and singing goblins echo through the streets, but at the festival itself, most of the citizens have fled. One or two goblins remain behind to scavenge food, and many more lie dead (along with a few unfortunate citizens).
Despite the circumstances, a calm seems to have settled over the area around the festival itself - until you hear a man's scream and frantic barking come from north of the town square.
Rushing around the edge of the White Deer - a local tavern - you seem a well-dressed man huddling behind a rain barrel. A goblin riding a mangy looking dog with the flat nose, beady eyes, and protruding teeth is fighting a more normal looking dog that barks wildly. As you round the corner, you see the goblin lash out with a long blade and cut down the dog it was fighting with. Five more goblins come out from hiding along the town wall, cheering. They notice you moments later.
Nasty beasts. Theron steps forward a few feet, drawing and fitting an arrow. "Try not to directly touch that dog if you can. Otherwise you'll be itching for a good while." As he finishes his warning, he looses his shot at the goblin rider.
The mounted goblin sees Theron's arrow sink into its chest. He grabs the shaft and pulls it free, cackling as he spurs his mount forward, long blade pointed at the ranger. Unable to dodge in time, Theron takes a vicious gash across his bow arm from the goblin's attack.
Meanwhile, the other goblins, all wielding the short, curved blades you've seen other attacking goblins carry, charge toward the group. Four of them run directly toward Aria and Theron, slashing with their blades.
Overwhelmed, Theron takes two more slashes across his chest and collapses to the ground.
Aria blocks one goblin's blade, but the other gets past her defenses, cutting her leg.
Commando: 12/12 (-2 AC for charge)
Goblin Dog: 9/9
Red: 6/6 (-2 AC for charge)
Purple: 6/6 (-2 AC for charge)
Blue: 6/6
Green: 6/6 (-2 AC for charge)
Orange: 6/6 (-2 AC for charge)
Theron's aim is true, and he feels a sense of satisfaction as his shot connects with the goblin's chest. His satisfaction turns to shock when it apparently does nothing to the mounted goblin. "How--"
His words are cut off by its charge. Unable to react in time, Theron instinctively throws up his arm in front of him, earning him a deep cut there. He cries out in pain, losing hold of his bow and dropping to one knee. He frantically grabs for his weapon with his good hand. He manages to get his hand on it before he feels two more attacks connect with his chest, slicing him open.
He goes down, falling on his back. So this is what it was like... Unable to fight it off, Theron quickly succumbs to the darkness at the edges of his vision, falling unconscious.
Goblin Dog: 9/9
Red: 6/6 (-2 AC for charge)
Purple: 6/6 (-2 AC for charge)
Blue: 6/6
Green: 6/6 (-2 AC for charge)
Orange: 6/6 (-2 AC for charge)
Suddenly multiple blades where scything through the air towards her. Aria knew she couldn't block all of them, but the Goblin to the left's swing was wild and she could exploit that. She slapped his blade with the palm of her hand hard, hoping he'd hit the other goblin instead!
Unfortunately that exposed her to the the second goblin's blade. She tried to step out of the way but was too slow and he scored a painful red line down her arm. Gritting her teeth she cried "Ow!" before stepping back and half snarling the words to her warding spell. As before an insubstantial circle of force snapped into place, which moved to defend her!
Spells memorized:
Cantrip: Daze, Detect magic, Light
1st: Used, Used, Shield
Resources remaining:
Arcane Reservoir: 2/3
"My goodness. Why must there be more of them?" Wendell heaves out a large sigh. Wendell takes a step back and hurls a small ball of acid at the goblin as he says "Acidum adipiscing."
Unfortunately the sight of seeing someone in the throws of death and the treat to his own life standing before him is more than enough to rattle him and cause him to miss with his spell.
Lucino steps away as the goblins approach, and prepares to lob a second gloom into their midst as Aria steps back. When the He notices that the proadt who'd saved him before is in the line of fire, and shouts, "Look out, father! Sorry!"
Aria attempts to redirect the goblin's attack toward another goblin, but it dodges just out of the way before slicing its blade into her.
Lucino's bomb brings one of the goblins to the ground, and begins to spread its shadow energy on the others nearby.
Commando: 9/12 (-2 AC for charge)
Goblin Dog: 9/9
Red: -2/6
Purple: 4/6 (-2 AC for charge)
Blue: 2/6
Green: 2/6 (-2 AC for charge)
Orange: 6/6 (-2 AC for charge)
Verus dodges the worst of Lucino's bomb, though a bit of splash still catches his exposed skin. He swings his flail at the goblin in front of him, but the shadow energy from Lucino's bomb distracts him enough that he misses.
The mounted goblin steer's his mount around the group, slashing with his long blade at Aria, but the magus easily dodges the attack.
The rest of the goblins surge forward, stepping over their fallen companion and Theron as they swing again with their short, curved blades. One manages to slip past Verus's defenses, and another lands a lucky blow that somehow catches Aria off-guard.
(crit 19-20/x2)
(DC 15 Fort for half damage)
Commando: 9/12
Goblin Dog: 9/9
Red: -3/6
Purple: 4/6
Blue: 2/6
Green: 2/6
Orange: 6/6
Verus: 5/11
"Ahhh!" Lucino exclaims as the goblin rider draws closer. He tries to back away, stumbling over rocks and half-rolling his ankle, all the while preparing another vial produced from his waistcoat. He then lobs it toward the encroaching mangy dog and mangier rider, a soft prayer to the Black Butterfly scarcely audible under his breath.
Wendell looks over the scene before him with a hint of puzzlement in expression before a smile suddenly sweeps over his countenance. Wendell flings his staff out at the nearest goblin using Hand of the Apprentice. There. That should be sufficient to send the creature fleeing.
Aria saw the mounted goblin coming towards her, and it was obvious it was going to slash at her. She saw its pass coming and easily dodged before tapping the end of his weapon lightly with her rapier, hoping that would nudge it into the goblin next to her.
Aria tries to thrust past the mounted Goblin's blade but she was too slow and his mount moved him out of danger.
With a thought she sends a fraction of her power to enchant her weapon causing it to glow softly, and she then bats aside the goblin foot soldiers's blade and lunges!
Spells memorized:
Cantrip: Daze, Detect magic, Light
1st: Used, Used, Shield
Resources remaining:
Arcane Reservoir: 2/3
Lol, I don't suppose I can just roll my next few stabilization checks all at once, can I?
Lucino's bomb comes dangerously close to the goblin and his steed, but the goblin rears the dog out of the way just in time, and the bomb splashes harmlessly in front of them.
Verus takes a swing at the goblin in front of him, bringing it to the ground with a strong blow to the head. He then takes a step back to avoid the potential of a flank.
Meanwhile, both Aria and Wendell successfully attack their foes - Aria's attack brings down one goblin, and Wendell's severely wounds another.
(crit 19-20/x2)
(DC 15 Fort for half damage)
Commando: 9/12
Goblin Dog: 9/9
Red: -3/6
Purple: -3/6
Blue: -4/6
Green: 2/6
Orange: 2/6
Verus: 5/11
The mounted goblin continues southward, nervous at the threat of Lucino's bombs. It lashes out with its long blade, but the alchemist nimbly dodges.
The goblin struck by Wendell's staff runs forward toward the wizard. Verus misses with an attempted strike as the goblin moves by, and the creature lashes out with its blade at Wendell, but misses wildly.
The final goblin steps up to attack Aria, but is unable to slip past her magical shield.
That did not go as planned. Wendell steps back from the wild goblin and throws his staff at it again.
Not yet. Theron remains unconscious in the dirt, his dying mind flooding with a disorganized series of images, many of them scenes from his own life. Vaguely aware of his life fading from him, does everything he can to fight off his own impending doom. Not yet, damn it!
A soft groan escapes him as he fights to stay alive, and his body shifts ever so slightly, but he remains bleeding in the dirt where he fell, oblivious to the battle still going on just feet from him.
Aria lightly stepped towards the mounted goblin, and with a form that her teacher would have approved of, thrust towards his belly!
"Gah!" Lucino yelps, turning to the side to narrowly avoid a swipe from the goblin's steel. For a moment, the halfling locks eyes with its slavering steed, and he clambers backward. "You disgusting gutter hound! I've seen worse than you - black things you couldn't dream of before you saw them, and that you can't stop dreaming of once you have. And you, goblin - get back to where you came from before I send you someplace far darker."
The halfling produces something not entirely unlike a pipe, with a rounded bowl and a slender tube protruding from it. Yet it is clearly not a pipe, being that the bowl is entirely enclosed with no visible openings save for the tube, and the device appears to be wholly made out of metal. The halfling takes the tube in his mouth and sucks hastily.
+2 natural armor, +4 DEX, no WIS penalty (rolled 6 for unstable mutagen)
AC 20
TAC 16
FAC 15
CMD 13
Ref +8
Duration 10 mins
You see Lucino's arm and leg muscles visibly grow, stretching his waistcoat and trousers taut.
Wendell's flying staff finally does the trick, and the goblin in front of him collapses to the ground. Aria's blade also finds it's target, running straight through the mounted goblin. It's eyes glaze over for a moment, but it seems to remain conscious. Verus attempts to take out the final goblin on foot, but misses. He continues his slow retreat backwards to protect Lucino and Wendell.
The mounted goblin shouts something in goblin, seemingly encouraging his mount to attack. The dog snaps its jaws at Aria, but its teeth can't penetrate the leather armor she wears. The dog then moves backwards slightly, and the goblin takes advantage of the distance to pull a flask from its belt, drinking deeply.
The final standing goblin slashes at Aria and cuts into her leg. It cackles with glee.
(DC 15 Fort for half damage)
Commando: 12/12
Goblin Dog: 9/9
Red: -3/6
Purple: -3/6
Blue: -4/6
Green: 2/6
Orange: -2/6
Verus: 5/11
"Could one of you check and see if that man is still among the living?" Wendell says as he gestures to Theron with one hand while hurtling his staff towards the next closest goblin .
Wendell's staff flies out of his hand once more, slamming into the last remaining goblin on foot and brings it to the ground.
Lucino spares a glance at the man lying in the streets, apparently dead or near to it, before returning his attention to the mounted goblin.
Even as he yanks out another cloudy glass vessel, he tosses back over his shoulder, "I don't know the first thing about medicine, sir! I might have seen him breathing, maybe. Kind of have my hands full at the moment."
He gauges the erratic movements of the ratty canine, then hurls the bottle right at it, praying that his aim is true this time.
+2 natural armor, +4 DEX, no WIS penalty (rolled 6 for unstable mutagen)
AC 20
TAC 16
FAC 15
CMD 13
Ref +8
Duration 9 mins 54 secs
Aria winced as the Kobold's blade opened up a wound that felt like fire along her leg. She tried to lunge at it, but it was too painful to put pressure on her leg and she missed by several feet.
Lucino's bomb sails toward the dog, splashing in its face. Aria jumps out of the way as the bomb splashes around her, but the goblin rider isn't so lucky.
Verus bravely moves forward and takes a swing at the dog, which seems to be on the verge of collapse. He dodges the rider's long blade and takes an overhead swing at the dog, but misses.
Commando: 9/12
Goblin Dog: 0/9
Red: -3/6
Purple: -3/6
Blue: -4/6
Green: -4/6
Orange: -2/6
Verus: 5/11
The mounted goblin controls its dog and moves backwards, lunging out with its long blade at Verus. The blade clangs off of Verus's armor.
Wendell quickly changes his focus to the final threat before them. He hurls his staff at the mangy looking dog that the goblin is riding. If we can take the dog out from under the goblin we will quickly eliminate the goblins ability to flee.
Aria cursed inwardly when she missed. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she waited patiently till there was another opening. There! His wounds where slowing him down and he'd parried a Verus's attack aimed at hid dog, but this left himself open to Aira. She suddenly lunged, hoping to end this quickly by piercing something vital.
In one fluid motion, Lucino draws a dagger by the blade, cocks his hand back, and throws it right at the goblin's dog.
It flies wide, embedding itself in an unattended rain barrel.
Wendell's staff flies toward the dog, slamming into its head and bringing it down. The goblin rider falls as well, scrambling to find its feet. Distracted, both Aria and Verus move forward to attack. Both land true, and the goblin passes into unconsciousness.
Once he seems confident that the threat has passed, the well-dressed man stands up from behind the rain barrel and nervously approaches.
"Good heavens, what an ordeal. How can I ever thank you all - you saved my life! My name is Aldern Foxglove, at your service." He bows low, though still somewhat shakily, as his nerves are still getting the better of him.
He looks at each of you in turn, but makes particular eye contact with Aria, saying "that was some fancy sword-work, m'lady. I will be forever grateful."
Lucino retrieves his dagger after checking around to ensure that no more jabbering goblins were nearby. Satisfied, he pulls it from the barrel, only to have some rainwater begin flowing out onto his feet.
Great, now I'll be muddy wherever I go," he huffs impatiently. Then, getting an idea, he takes a cup and brings it to the unconscious man nearby. He takes a handkerchief and begins dabbing at the wounds. "I don't really know what I'm doing. Father, can you help?" Lucino asks Verus with a polite urgency.
Lucino addresses Aldern next: "Hello, sir. I'm Lucino Gardener, and it's a pleasure to meet you. Those goblins had you cornered! I'm glad we were able to stop them before..." He trails off.
Still bleeding, Aria was going into shock when the foppish man revealed himself. She glanced at the dead around her, the goblin blood on her blade and her own blood staining her clothes. She glanced back to the man and replied, "Uhh I guess the training worked, was all instinct, didn't have time to think. Anyway maybe we should find the Sheriff, might be more of them roaming about."
Wendell glances around at the others who had taken up arms against the goblin threat and sees that many of them are injured but at least they are all still breathing. "Would one of you go drag the priest over here. That young man is in need of more aid than we most likely can provide at this point." Wendell says while gesturing towards Theron.
Wendell kneels down next to the latest fallen goblin. He pulls out a small journal and makes a few notes regarding the creatures size, look, gear, and how it choose to fight.
So focused on his note taking Wendell misses the approach of Aldren Foxglove. it is only after looking up when he hears an unfamiliar voice that he sees the man. wendell seems almost startled to see him and looks around to see if he perhaps missed anyone else. Wendell stands up and brushes off the dust from his pant legs. "My apologies, who are you?"
Verus moves over to Theron, lays his hands on him, and heals him.
Meanwhile, the man responds to Wendell's question.
"As I mentioned, my name is Aldern Foxglove - I hail from Magnimar, and I happened to be visiting the area on business and heard of the Swallowtail Festival. Unluckily for me, I suppose, I decided to come check out the festivities, and . . . well, you know the rest."
Aria realized she was standing there bleeding and after marveling at Verus's healing she asked, "Are you able to do that again today? I'm not sure I'd wan't to get into another fight after getting cut..."
"That I do. You look to be a man of means. Might I enquire as to what business would bring you to the area of Sandpoint?" Wendell gives the man a once over as he speaks. "Oh, forgive my manners, I am Wendell Romanski, a hopefully soon to be recognizable Thassilonian scholar."
Lucino addresses Aldern next: "Hello, sir. I'm Lucino Gardener, and it's a pleasure to meet you. Those goblins had you cornered! I'm glad we were able to stop them before..." He trails off.
"Magnimar, you say?" Lucino straightens his waistcoat fastidiously, trying not to look nervous. The halfling had himself just arrived from Magnimar. Why is this fellow really here? Is "Foxglove" even a Varisian name? Doesn't he look the slightest bit Chelaxian?
Theron finds himself pulled suddenly from his near-death state and wakes with a start. He bolts upright, grimacing to find that some parts of him are still in pain. He fumbles around his chest, feeling the place where the mounted goblin had cut him deeply. Though a bit tender, he feels nothing out of place. The gash in his arm remains, though it's not nearly as deep as it was when he fell. Theron sighs. Not yet, it seems.
The young Varisian man is only vaguely aware of the conversation taking place next to him as he shakily gets to his feet, trying to refocus himself. Theron notes dryly to himself that nearly dying is a lot tougher than he'd realized.
Do we have any idea where the Sherrif might be?
Verus shakes his head sadly at Aria's request. "Sadly, I cannot - I've extended my healing for the day in an effort to save our friend here. We should get you to a place where you can rest, though."
Aldern responds as well. "Nice to meet all of you, and as I said, I am eternally grateful for you all saving my life. My family owns some property between here and Magnimar that needs tending to, so I traveled this way and thought I'd come see the festival."
"Well, anyway, it's a good thing we happened upon you when we did," Lucino finished lamely, dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief and staring keenly at Foxglove. "Is this the first time you've faced goblins?"
Lucino continues politely, all the while studying the man. He'd learned long ago how to watch people, even while holding a conversation or doing something menial. He doesn't strike me as an agent of Narikopolus. But they couldn't have beaten me here anyway... could they have?
"Well you a quite welcome good sir. I wish you safe travels as you go about your business. Be mindful and keep lookout for more of these little buggers. They appear to be quite a problem when they get into groups."
Aria nodded sadly at Verus, "Guess I'll stick with a stiff drink at the Golden Dragon later. No doubt there will be many stories to tell from today's events!"
She wasn't at all sure what to make of Aldern. If anything he seemed a bit foppish and useless, hiding in a fight, really! Still didn't mean she had to be rude, and as she had been taught - if you don't have anything good to say, keep your mouth shut.
Theron bends over to retrieve his bow from the ground where he dropped it earlier. Once replaced, he reaches for his flask, draining whatever is left in it in a few seconds. He then takes a moment to properly the man who identified himself as Aldern Foxglove. "Don't suppose you actually got in on the fight, did you? Or were you behind that barrel?" he asks. "Can't say I saw much of it past the first bit, though, so maybe I wasn't much better." He laughs and waves his bloodied arm about for emphasis.
Is this the first time you've faced goblins?
Don't suppose you actually got in on the fight, did you? Or were you behind that barrel?
"I've never experienced goblins before, no - which is why I stayed out of the way. I'm far less brave than all of you, and I can't say how much I appreciate you saving my life. In fact, I'll be in town for a few more days, and am staying at the Rusty Dragon - when you get a chance, I'd love for you to stop by so I can speak with you more and properly thank you."
With that, he hurries off toward the Rusty Dragon, eager to recover from the day's trauma.
As you move throughout the town, you see citizens returning home, but many of them stop to thank you for saving them, their families, and their village. You hear that the remaining goblins fled north, thwarted by Sandpoint's defenses.
By the evening, things seem to have settled down in Sandpoint. Each of you finds those who you were looking for are safe and sound - though not without a few bumps and bruises from the chaos. Not all are so lucky, though, and a number of toasts go up that evening to those lost in the attack.
The few captured goblins have little desire to share anything about the attack, and have little information to share, even when forced. All they reveal is that they were given orders to kill everyone in the town and burn down the place. None of the captured goblins can even remember their leader’s name, apart from the fact that he was one of “you longshanks.”
Before sunset, Ameiko Kaijitsu, the proprietor of the Rusty Dragon, finds each of you to thank you for your help in fending off the attack. She offers free drinks for life at the tavern, and free room and board to all those who don't already have a place to stay in Sandpoint.
The following morning, you awake to find the town subdued but determined to go on. You hear talk that the cathedral will still be consecrated, though in a much more subdued, indoor ceremony that afternoon. The (thankfully few) dead will be buried in the Sandpoint Boneyard in the presence of their families, and the rest of the just wants to put the events of the previous day behind them and move on.
In a Social Round, you spend time either trying to Discover information about an NPC through a Discovery check, or trying to influence an NPC through an Influence check. You may only make one of these checks per social round, and the check represents how successful you were in either discovering information about or influencing an NPC over the course of that part of the day.
Discovery Checks - if you choose to make a Discovery check, I will provide you a list of skills you can use to try to discover information about a particular NPC. If you succeed at the check, you can learn one of the following:
* Bias - an NPC's bias either for or against particular types of people
* Strength - a method of approaching an NPC that will make it more difficult for you to influence them (these approaches should obviously be avoided)
* Weakness - a method of approaching an NPC that will make it easier to influence them
* Skill - a skill that can be used to successfully influence the particular NPC[/list]
Influence Checks - if you choose to make an Influence check, you choose a skill to use to try to Influence the NPC. You might know which skills are effective (though a successful Discovery check), or you might just guess. Each NPC takes a certain amount of successes to influence them, and successfully influencing them will bring benefits, quests, etc.
Finally, the first time you attempt a Discovery check on an NPC, you can make a Knowledge check (I will tell you which ones you can use) to gain a +4 bonus on all Discovery checks on that NPC. If you listed an NPC as one of your allies or enemies during character creation, then you gain that +4 bonus automatically.
I hope this makes sense, and I think this will be a fun, flexible, but more codified way of running interactions with the people in Sandpoint, but please let me know if you have any questions or concerns! And you should obviously still roleplay any of these interactions - I think we'll get the hang of how to weave together the story with the checks.
A list of the NPCs that you can attempt to Influence, along with their primary location in Sandpoint, can be found here.
At the Rusty Dragon, Lucino spares a few moments to share a drink with his comrades-in-arms. He doesn't completely trust any newcomers to the town, but none of them struck him as the sort of people he'd been worried about. Taking his leave afterwards, the halfling still forces himself to stay awake long enough to prepare his alchemical brews, but only manages to keep a vigil through his window for an hour before he flops into bed, overtaken by exhaustion.
The next morning, he awakes early and takes his breakfast in his room once more, then makes his way - drawing as little attention to himself as possible, which may or may not be possible at all given his and his allies' heroics the day before - to the new cathedral, hoping to introduce himself to Father Zantus.
Story-wise it makes the most sense for Lucino to meet with Zantus, and while he introduces himself, he's going to make a Discovery check. What skills are the options for him? And what Knowledge check can I make for the potential +4 on all Discovery checks with him?