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One of Hokama's camel drovers manages a second attack, and knocks the sense out of his assailant. He turns to face the melee behind him, and with a newfound confidence, grips the bloodied stick in his hands a touch tighter, charging with a mighty scream towards the southern hobgoblin.
- crit
- hit
- hit
- hit
Crit Confirmation:
Damage:
Ultimately, the drover is unable to do anything to the hobgoblin, and he's greeted by a goblin on his flank for his troubles - ultimately, neither side manages to draw blood, but to the north, in the confusion of battle, a few rusty goblin blades make their way past the defenses of Eltran and Kavendell, and one of the drovers takes a hobgoblin arrow to the side. Despite the rather horrible wound, he manages to keep everything together for the moment. Notably, one of the hobgoblin commanders has taken advantage of the break in the line, and dropped his bow in favour of an rather exotic and exquisite looking scimitar - definitely not of goblin-make. He rushes to Kavendell and tries to attack him when his guard is down, but the bard evades the attack. Even Hokama himself manages to pull a dagger and plunge the curved blade into a goblin when he sees an opportunity to do so. The poor boy Atmar simply cowers at the situation, holding a bent knife that could barely cut bread, let alone draw a goblin's blood.
Current Party Status:
Durest (8/14 HP)
Eltran (7/13 HP)
Kavendell (7/17 HP, 3 non-lethal DMG)
Zephirine (3/10 HP, 4 non-lethal, unconscious)
NPC: Atmar (4/4 HP)
NPC: Drover A (3/9 HP)
NPC: Drover B (6/9 HP)
NPC: Hokama (8/8 HP)
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Kavendell slays his hobgoblin for in a single flash of his blade, and Eltran trips the goblin that was trying up one of Hokama's hired drovers, though a nearby goblin seizes the opportunity to try and slash at the kitsune while his back is turned.
Luckily, Eltran sees the attack coming, and dodges it without issue. The clamor of combat rages on, and the goblins press their advantage.
- crit
- hit
- hit
- hit
- hit
- hit
Crit Confirmation:
- miss, unconfirmed
Damage:
Current Party Status:
Durest (5/14 HP)
Eltran (5/13 HP)
Kavendell (7/17 HP, 3 non-lethal DMG)
Zephirine (3/10 HP, 4 non-lethal, unconscious)
NPC: Atmar (4/4 HP)
NPC: Drover A (-3/9 HP, dead)
NPC: Drover B (3/9 HP)
NPC: Hokama (8/8 HP)
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Kavendell fells another goblin, and Durest blasts the southern hobgoblin archer away with his musket. Eltran , showing prowess with his whip, trips another of the goblins with ease.
Goblin A attacks Kavendell.
- critical chance
- no crit
Kavendell succumbs to his non-lethal damage, and falls unconscious.
Goblin B stands up from prone and incurs an attack of opportunity from Drover B.
- critical chance
- crit confirmed
Goblin B is struck down by the Drover, and is no longer a threat.
Goblin C stands up from prone, and then moves to chase Durest.
Goblin D shifts to the southeast, and attacks Hokama.
- miss
Goblin E shifts to the south, and attacks Eltran.
- miss
The remaining Hobgoblin sends an arrow Kavendell's way.
- miss
The Drover steps north and attacks the goblin trying to sneak.
Hokama brandishes his knife at Goblin D.
Current Party Status:
Durest (5/14 HP)
Eltran (5/13 HP)
Kavendell (3/17 HP, 3 non-lethal, unconscious)
Zephirine (3/10 HP, 4 non-lethal, unconscious)
NPC: Atmar (4/4 HP)
NPC: Drover A (-3/9 HP, dead)
NPC: Drover B (3/9 HP)
NPC: Hokama (8/8 HP)
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Durest watches in horror as all but one of his troupe goes down for the count, he staunchly gulps as he stands back to back with Eltran. The dwarf cast a slight glance back, "If we don't make it outta this lad, t'was good tae fight by yer side!"
He then dropped his gun in the sand and drew his waraxe, "Be proud of me brothers, FER TORAG! RAAAAAAHH" He let out a very dwarven bellow with spittle flying from his mouth as he lurched forward axe in both hands to strike at the approaching goblinoid.
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Goblin A attacks Eltran...
- crit?
- crit.
... and after taking a mortal wound from the cruel goblin's blade, Eltran falls to the sand, bleeding out.
Goblin C attacks Durest...
- hit
... and the goblin draws more blood from the dwarven gunslinger.
Goblin D attacks Hokama...
- miss
... and Goblin E attacks the last Drover...
- miss
... and both miss, leaving Hokama and his remaining hireling to retaliate against their goblin attackers.
- hit
- hit
Both manage to hit their targets, but they still stand, threatening with curved blades and vicious grins.
Atmar, the slave boy has had enough, and flees the battle, withdrawing as he does so.
Seeing a target in the lad, the hobgoblin commander just smiles, content to knock an arrow and fire it blindly at the lad, just to toy with him and keep it sporting. "Hurry it up, clean up this mess, and let's get out of here!" he says in goblin-speak, which Durest hears all too well, even over the din of blustery sandstorm winds and the scraping of blades.
Current Party Status:
Durest (2/14 HP)
Eltran (-1/13 HP, dying)
Kavendell (3/17 HP, 3 non-lethal, unconscious)
Zephirine (3/10 HP, 4 non-lethal, unconscious)
NPC: Atmar (4/4 HP)
NPC: Drover A (-3/9 HP, dead)
NPC: Drover B (3/9 HP)
NPC: Hokama (8/8 HP)
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Durest hears his comrade get struck by the goblin's slicing blade and roars out at the parry and riposte from his own green menace before burying his waraxe between the goblin's beady eyes. He braces himself against the laying camels clearly losing alot of blood. Before he shouts in the goblin tongue.
"Ye wanna 'ear me scream ey? I'll bellow alongside ya bastard greenskins all th' way ta th' hells below as i'm buryin me fist in yer gullet! Come! Break yerselves against me axe afore i go! "
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”<<Hold your blades!>>” shouts the hobgoblin commander in the goblin tongue.
His goblin underlings part the way, and give him a clear path to Durest. ”<<Tell me, runt-man… do you know of the tradition of kalech-mar? No?>>"
He curls his tongue, and spits in the sand in the space between him and Durest. "<<Well, no matter. I find it no surprise that you know not of we hobgoblins’ traditions and culture.>>”
As he walks towards the dwarf, the hobgoblin doffs his helm, and discards his bow without care. ”<<The kalech-mar is a duel for honour, usually reserved for goblinkind. But refusal to answer such a challenge? Weakness. I think you’d make quite the fetching slave, and I'm curious as to how that fire-maker of yours works...”
He draws his curved blade, and performs a quick moulinette-style flourish. ”Come at me, hair-stump. Show me what you’re worth on the open market.”
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"<<A duel of honor then, aye i've got th' strength tae face ye on, know i won't do much good ta teach ya if'n i'm dead. Bu' th' same kin be said bout yer kin.>>" he chuckled weakly and spat a lump of blood onto the soaked sands.
'Witness me in all yer glory Torag, so i may drink within yer 'alls fer all time!" he charged forth attempting to end the fight quickly.
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Durest not so ceremoniously ducks under the hobgoblin's blade, trying to feign that he meant to do it and totally not due to the bloodloss. Before retaliating with a strike of his own hoping to chop the hob down before he got another chance as the dwarves vision wasn't quite all there.
<<"An Ironsight always 'its th' target when 'e wants!">>
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Durest ducks under the hobgoblin's spiteful slash, and embed his dwarven waraxe right in the clavicle of the foul warmonger. "GURK~! ... how?" he manages to utter a confused final word, then falls to the sand.
It takes a split second for the small goblins to realize what just happened, when they do, they look at each other, then begin fleeing in a panicked rout.
Eltran gives Durest a much-needed dose of cure light wounds, healing him for 7 hit points.
Current Party Status:
Durest (9/14 HP)
Eltran (5/13 HP)
Kavendell (3/17 HP, 3 non-lethal, unconscious)
Zephirine (3/10 HP, 4 non-lethal, unconscious)
NPC: Atmar (4/4 HP)
NPC: Drover B (3/9 HP)
NPC: Hokama (8/8 HP)
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Durest stands silently for a while over the dead hobgoblin bending down and grabbing the creatures helmet from the sands and placing it on it's chest. "Jus' luck."
He then took a moment to breath as Eltran healed him, "Tend ta th' others." he walked over to retrieve and dust off his rifle pouring out the sand that managed to get into the barrel. He then assisted in pulling together the dead. "reckon we ride about an hour afore ewe set up camp again. Desert critters'll be out on th' scent soon."
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Kavendell awakens, pleased to be alive. However, his face turns dour when he recalls that he is in the middle of the wastes of the accursed Qadira. Once again, swallowing his disdain, the bard now allows his gratitude to shine through.
"Many thanks, my friends, for keeping us alive." the nobleman remarks as he rises to his feet and surveys the aftermath of the battle. "It would seem that you have driven away the entire horde while managing to maintain our camels. Well done."
Upon hearing the dwarf's suggestions, Kavendell concurs. "I have no desire to remain here. I suggest we bring the body of the recently fallen with us, rather than leave it here in the wilds. Anyone have the means to prepare this man's body to accompany that of our fallen comrade?"
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As you gather your wits, you see that unfortunately, when rousing the camels, Hokama's remaining drover finds that one of the camels fails to respond to both commands and light prodding. When he looks around the other side of the beast, he sees an arrow of hobgoblin make.
He utters a curse in Kelesh, then begins stripping what supplies that are laden on the beast to make due.
As you retrieve your camel train, the sandstorm begins to taper off, finally ceasing a few minutes after the battle.
With visibility restored, you find that while Durest was able to successfully track Hokama’s camels, the Osirian water merchant actually lost sight of the rest of the caravan, and now you find yourselves astray with no sign of the caravan in sight, and with no real idea of where the Silken Way lies in this changed landscape of windblown dunes.
Returning to Hokama's part of the caravan, the merchant has recovered Atmar, who is thankfully unscathed from the battle. "The Gods must be laughing!" cries Hokama. "Well my friends, at this point, the best we can do is make our best guess - the caravan was heading northwest, along the trade route - all we can do is head that way and pray that we run across our compatriots. What say you?"
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Durest stuck a fat index finger into his mouth and slowly raised it to the air giving a grunt. The then placed the butt of his musket in a flatish part of the dunes and measured the shadow.
"North's that'a way so we need to head yonder tae try n catch th' group." he said pointing out to a direction that seemed to just be another series of hills, but his many years in the endless magwani expanse had taught him well how to tell direction with far less discernable details.
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You travel for another four hours or so, and have no sight whatsoever of the caravan. Whatever tracks they may have left would have been covered moments later by the wind storm and sand blowing off the erg-dunes.
Just before nightfall, you do have one bit of success; you come across a body, half-buried in the sand. You dismount alongside Hokama, Atmar, and the drover, only to see that the desert jackals have had their time with the corpse, making it rather hard to identify.
The drover digs out the body, and after dragging it out to examine, Hokama recognizes a richly embroidered Quadiran vest and purple fez that is crumpled beneath the body. It is the corpse of Mahmoud, weapons merchant and business partner of the Taldan knight, Gaspar du Mer.
Any question of it being an accident or simple mishap is quickly dispelled by the curved khanjar dagger that protrudes from Mahmoud’s back. "I saw such a piece of steel as one of many that he and Gaspar were carrying among their wares," murmurs Hokama. "... it appears... as if there has been a... murder on the silken caravan."
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"Ooo well done sir Dorf! You are more than a pretty, shaggy face." remarks Zephirine with a smile. Quickly she falls in line, keep her bow out.
Frowning as they discover the body, "Well...that's no good. It's like...perhaps this situation was foretold somehow... I am sorry for the lose of your companion. Should be be buried as well?"
Eyeing the dunes, she laments. "I fear we must stop for the night and set out again in the morning."
Like clockwork, 6 flowers blossom from her vines as the sun rises. She quickly snags one and begins to much away. "Five more if anyone wishes to eat. I suggest we set out as soon as we are finished with our morning preparations."
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Eltran is glad that the group came together to find the right route.
When they find the body he is grieving.
”Oh no! How could this happen? How could one of our own be dead?!“ he asks and when we all realise that this was a murder and not a natural death he is even more shocked.
”I can not believe that this was a murder! Surely somebody attacked the group and was able to grab one of the weapons and killed Mahmoud with the weapon! This cannot be an act of our own group?!“ he says full of doubt.
Eltran starts investigating the murder scene.
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Kavendell helps himself to any remaining berries.
He is fine with carrying the kitsune's wand and, with Eltran's approval, uses it once upon himself.
Upon spying the body of Mahmoud, Kavendell shakes his head. "Is there no end to the wretchedness of this accursed land ?"
The nobleman surveys the scene.
He then approaches Hokama and asks quietly, "Do you know of any who would have wanted the man dead? Though I am reluctant to cast aspersions upon one of my own countryman, murder often comes from one close to the victim. Further, this Gaspar does not seem as... refined... as most men of Taldor."
Once satisfied he has learned all he can at present, he accedes to moving along to the northwest, having no other options to propose.
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"Do you know of any who would have wanted the man dead? Though I am reluctant to cast aspersions upon one of my own countryman, murder often comes from one close to the victim. Further, this Gaspar does not seem as... refined... as most men of Taldor."
Hokama scratches his chin, and gives a small shrug. "I must say, I only met the man a few scant days ago, alongside Sir Gaspar and Mistress Jamila. I hate to point such a finger as well, but unless they too met with a raiding party such as the one we encountered..." he trails off, looking into the distance. "... I cannot say for sure. All I know is that we should give what kind of honours we can to the man and keep on the trail."
With space at a premium following the loss of one of the camels, transporting the body isn't much of a possibility, so Hokama and the Drover set to giving Mahmoud a prompt but respectful burial. They take the dagger as evidence, and the only belonging on his person, which is the jeweled pectoral brooch he was wearing earlier. Hokama shows you all the red inlaid gem. "... if it was raiders, one would think that they would have freed him of any possessions of value. I think we can reason that Mr. Mahmoud's death was not by the hands of bandits, unless they are terrible at their chosen profession."
Those who wish can give the departed a final word or two, and then it is prudent to be on your way.
- - - - - - - - -
Following your northwesterly heading, you reach the Zho Mountains near where the river Shat-al-Qadr flows through the Qadiran hinterlands all the way to Katheer itself.
The Silken Way is known to pass through the Zho Mountains somewhere near the river, and Hokama recognizes a nearby peak that he knows to mark a secondary pass that connects to the Silken Way on the opposite side of the mountains.
The canyon you follow through the mountains opens onto a wider vale, and should connect to the main route of the Silken Way not many miles ahead. However, your attention is arrested by a breathtaking sight: one wall of the mountain valley is occupied by a massive monument. A natural prominence in the red-and-brown-veined strata of the rock walls ahead has been sculpted on a grand scale into a gargantuan idol depicting a man seated in the lotus position with a tall, pointed crown on his head.
Though the years have worn the features of this sculpture into a nearly smooth finish with cave openings where mouth and eyes should be, there are enough details of face and clothing remaining to recognize the distinctive Eastern features and garb that the statue once bore. An eerie, forlorn song floats on the breeze that brings to mind a sense of bone-gnawing loneliness.
"My friends, if we follow this pass, we should be able to catch up with our caravan — if, of course, it has not yet fallen to a foul murderer's betrayal!" Hokama adds a touch of drama to the last few words for good measure.
Hokama eagerly tells you of the monument's history. "This is the Kamawgyar Shrine. It was constructed in ancient days when Vudran travelers first brought the faith of the Master of Masters along the Silken Way and into Kelesh and the West!"
As you get closer to the shrine, you can see many steps and small narrow ledges that are part of the shrine itself. In addition to a small cave at the base, the mouth of the sculpture is actually a smaller cave that looks as if pilgrims to the site climbed up to leave offerings to the idol.
Hokama continues. "That's right, my friends - believe it or not, this poor fellow is supposed to be the Irori himself, the Perfect Man! Ha ha! With the rise of the worship of Sarenrae in Qadira, Irori's followers were sidelined. At one point in time, this humble monument was once a famous stop on an older route of the Silken Way... but now, well, you can see the state of Kamawgyar Shrine for yourselves... I... well, I must see it closer for myself..."
Hokama, his Drover and his slave Atmar all dismount from their camels, and begin walking toward the shrine.
The fleeting notes of melody that seemed to glide in on the warm desert air begin to pick up in volume, and is the loveliest song you've heard in quite some time.
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• You begin to follow Hokama and the others towards the Irorian statue.
• You find the music that you hear irresistibly enticing, and want nothing more in the world than to climb the statue in order to see where exactly the song is coming from.
• For now, you can take no other action than to defend yourself.
RE: Perception: It is a woman's voice, very distant. Perhaps it is coming from atop the statue.
Zephirine and Eltran find the song to be pleasant, but nothing more. You're not clear as to it's origins, but it seems odd that it accompany an ancient religious site.
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As you see Hokama, his drover, Atmar, and Kavendell walk down the pass towards the monument, you see a bird spread it's wings and take off from the mouth of Irori himself.
As it gets closer, so does the origin of the song you're hearing. Durest squints, his intuition serves him well - save for the tattered wings and clawed talons on her feet, whatever it is in the sky resembles a feral woman with a wild look about her!
Round 1 (those who are bolded may act):
Battlemap!
16.3 Kavendell
16 NPC: Hokama
11 NPC: Drover
10 NPC: Atmar
09 Zephirine
08 Eltran
05 Durest
03 Enemy: Birdlady A