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Dimple gingerly makes her way across the stream, trying to stay dry. She sees the blood pouring from the very large elf. She then looks down at her very first every and totally powerful magical artifact. "Pish and posh" She heads over to the warrior and sends two magical charges into his body, though she jabs a little harder than she needs to. This was a lot more fun when it was Niza's wand! "Don't worry about your boots Lei-Garland. We can go back to the cobbler together when I get my rainbow boots. OOO, you could get a pair too. We can be 'Boot Buddies'! Doesn't that sound like fun?"
She then sees Fromagalli and walks toward him with a sigh. [i]Much more fun with Niza's stick. Head down, she wordlessly pokes him with the wand, listlessly lets her arm drop and she scuffles away.
Dimple looks up and down the stream for an easy way across. A little ways upstream there seems to be a tree-limb fallen across it but still mostly dry. She scuttles up there, crosses and comes back to heal up her bleeding allies. She grimaces a bit as her brand new wand begins its quicker than she hoped journey towards empty. But at least she has the consolation prize of getting to shop with Liet-Gar for new boots!
Some of the goblins are obviously dead. Some may be clinging to life. Two are definitely alive and wake up screaming as they find themselves tied up. This startles the shepherd who runs around to the other side of the trees yelling "AAHHHH THEY ARE UNDEAD GOBLINS NOW WHAT EVIL SORCERY DID YOU DO THEY ARE GOING TO EAT MEEEEEEE!!!"
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"They're not undead, young man. We left them alive and tied them up. Now get a hold of yourself; we need to interrogate them."
Kasvot makes his way across the stream back to the tied goblins, and leans in for questioning. He licks the tips of the orcish fangs that push up from his lower lip, letting his tongue linger on the pointy tips. "Let's start with the easy one, do you speak the common tongue, or is this going to be hard?"
They laugh nervously at the half-orc's attempt to scare them and chatter back and forth in a language you likely don't understand.
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With a loud yawn, the man slowly shrinks down. "Th--hhhhuhh---anks little one. I really outta buy one of them things."
Blinking a few times as the goblins chitter at Kasvot, LGZ stows his blade. Stifling another yawn, his eyes blink a few times before he waves a dismissive hand towards the bound beasts. "You can handle them now, right?"
Without waiting for a reply, he lowers himself to the ground and curls up. "I'm just **Hrrmmm** gonna **AAaaaarrrmmmmhhh** close m'eyes a bit. Let me k---now wha--henn ready."
Within a few seconds heavy breathing comes from the half-elf.
Dimple hears rustling in the woods, a few scattered words in a language she doesn't understand, then the rustling starts to sound like fleeing feet tromping through the undergrowth away from the group.
Fromagalli notices a couple faint magical auras on several of the goblins. Two come from vials hanging off each of the two tied up goblins. Two more come from similar vials on the angry lady goblin Niza beat up.
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"Well, we've won the battle at least." Kasvot looks down at the still-tied goblins sadly. "Though I don't think we can say we've won the day, yet. Not if these fellows aren't talking, and not if they still have friends in the woods."
He looks around for the shepherd. "Where's that boy? Let's go visit his home and see what more we can learn there." Kasvot makes sure that they've gathered up all the potions and weapons from the goblins, and makes ready to leave.
The shepherd boy comes out from around the copse of trees with his eyes wide, "WOW! You killed them all or at least most of them, why did you tie them up? Are you going to torture them! THAT'S SO COOL!!! Can I watch? I want to be a Holy Inquisitor when I grow up, tracking down evil monsters and slaughtering them!" He takes a stick and starts slashing it like a sword, "STAB SLASH HACK, TAKE THAT GOBLIN, THE MIGHTY INQUISITOR CARLO ESCORO SMITES THEE!!!"
At the mention of his home he seems to get anxious, "OH NO! We better hurry!"
The group rushes off into the woods after the shepherd boy. As the approach they hear chanting and growling from ahead, looking through the edge of the trees they see a nice farmstead with barn, there is a lone goblin riding one of those ugly rat-dogs around. It appears the residence is securely closed up and the barn is closed, though it sounds like a horse inside is trying to bust the door down to get free.
The goblin seems quite encouraged as obviously reinforcements have arrived. He cheers and waits for his horde of greenskinned allies to burst forth from the woods, pointing at the barn to be burned next.
When no one comes out of the woods, he rides over closer and motions you all to join him in burning the homestead down.
The goblin seems to be utterly shocked by the half-orc stepping out of the woods and his 'dog' is not quite sure what to do without a command.
roll off
Liet-Gar
Goblin & Dog
Kasvot
Dimple
Niza & Albis
Fromagalli
Bold is up.
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With a shrug as the creature pauses, LGZ steps out of the woods...drawing his ranseur.
"Well done Kasvot. You perplexed the simpleton!"
Holding the blade high, he smiles. "I suggest you surrender while you can little one. Perhaps we can talk this out."
for x3 crit
for x3 crit
The goblin points hungrily at the half-elf, speaking a language none of you understand. Obviously a threat, Liet-Gar strikes before the creature moves inside his range. The blow connects, but the green skinned jerk does not fall. The mount slips up next to the half-elf and bites. The rider pulls a small vial and slams it back. Fortunately, the half-elf isn't making himself a very easy target and the jaws snap closed on empty air.
Liet-Gar (round 2)
Goblin (-3 HP) & Gross Hairless Dog
Kasvot
Dimple
Niza & Albis
Fromagalli
Bold are up.
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Dimple stands perplexed. What is it with these guys and fire? Oh! Maybe its the wrong color! The little bard concentrates on the image. Well behind the combat, her 'will' takes effect. Slowly the bright yellow and orange flames transform into black and green. There, that oughtta do the trick. Dimple scans the field, only to find the goblin rider too far away and too distracted to notice. "Oh Pish!"
Niza moves up and seems to be punching at air, the goblin turns to her and starts to laugh... until his head snaps back as her uppercut connects. He rubs his jaw where a large bruise is forming. Liet-Gar steps to the side and slashes down at the small creature riding a small hairless gross dog, but misses both targets. Dimple scrunches her face up, concentration soooo hard until the flames turn a different shade. No one seems to notice.
Liet-Gar (round 2)
Goblin (-6 HP) & Gross Hairless Dog
Kasvot
Dimple
Niza & Albis
Fromagalli
Bold are up.
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Fromagalli threatens the poor penniless imigrant with violence if he doesn't speak the language of the land... or were goblins here first? Well whatever, it doesn't matter. The goblin does not understand and Fromagalli's slash misses. It's up to the mighty sorcerer to save the day!
Liet-Gar (round 2)
Goblin (-6 HP) & Gross Hairless Dog
Kasvot
Dimple
Niza & Albis
Fromagalli
Bold is up.
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Kasvot draws his dagger and steps up to the grotesque pair. He attempts to lightly tap the dog's flank, hoping to induce a bout of laughter, but the half-orc finds his concern over being hit himself to be too much; he swings his hand ineffectively, a country mile from the dog's hide.
At 1st level, you can cause a creature to burst out laughing for 1 round as a melee touch attack. A laughing creature can only take a move action but can defend itself normally. Once a creature has been affected by laughing touch, it is immune to its effects for 24 hours. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.
Kasvot waves his hand around a bit and a glowing little giggling fairy ball of light appears in his palm, he moves up while drawing his dagger and attempts to touch the doggy but simply waves the light at the goblin, who eyes him warily.
The goblin, yet to draw blood and with three fun targets in his immediate range takes a moment to decide whom to attack. Once his mind is made up, he spurs his mount to step to the side and attack as he slashes with his fancy little mace. The dog's bite misses, but the mace manages to connect even with Kasvot attempting to make himself harder to hit.
for
Liet-Gar (round 3)
Goblin (-6 HP) & Gross Hairless Dog
Kasvot (-5 HP)
Dimple
Niza & Albis
Fromagalli
Bold are up and yes, cake may be served if you defend the farm...
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Dimple decides to give up on the colorful, albeit useless, pretend fire. I really thought I had it this time! She sees her teammate stabbed and becomes concerned. Here we go again. "Hold on Kas! I'm coming."
The bard switches wands and moves up behind the half-orc.
I wish these guys were better at fighting. At this rate my wand'll be empty before the next new moon!
Dimple rushes up to help, whipping out her trusty wand on the way. Niza moves up and tries to play whack-a-goblin with her club, but like the other fighters in the group, she manages to miss the feisty little bugger and his little dog too!
Liet-Gar (round 3)
Goblin (-6 HP) & Gross Hairless Dog
Kasvot (-5 HP)
Dimple
Niza & Albis
Fromagalli
Bold are up and yes, cake may be served if you defend the farm...
Fromagalli slides off to flank with Kasvot and hacks away at the Goblin. His blade slashes right through the little jerk, carving him up like a Christmas ham.
for
Liet-Gar uses his newfound anger to increase his speed and slips around the back to flank with the other angry pathfinder, Niza. His blade stabs right into the dog, causing it to collapse and start bleeding out.
for
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With a sigh, Dimple pokes the sorcerer in the back. Seeing that he is still bleeding, she rolls her eyes with a soft, "Ugh! Of course." She vigorously shakes the wand in hopes getting the magic to the tip and then jabs the half-orc with the stick, thinking that more force will help close the wound entirely.
Dimple quickly patches up Kasvot's bruises and his broken ribs mend back together, the pain as he breathes subsiding.
The Escoro homestead is a small, one-story wooden house located in the southwest corner of a large fenced-in pasture. Thirty feet south of the house, separated by a wooden fence, is a large wooden barn. The barn’s door faces east and is shut and barred. A large animal is attempting to kick the door open from the inside.
The young shepherd who was totally identified before now as Carlo Escoro runs past the group towards the house. He yells at the barn as he rushes past, "I'll get you in a second Burnella, gotta check on mom and dad!"
As he approaches the homestead, the door flings open and Garreni Escoro, Carlo’s father, opens the door and falls to his knees weeping tears of joy as he grabs Carlo in a tight hug. He turns to the group, "THANK YOU THANK YOU! I don't know what we would have done, I thought they would be burning our house down anytime, I was getting ready to try to distract them so my wife could flee to the woods. Please, anything I can do to help. Stay the night if you need, we are happy to feed you though we don't have much more to provide." He hugs Carlo tight and then lets his boy go, pointing at the barn, "see if you can calm her down." His wife peeks out from behind him, obviously still quite shaken up.
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Slowly wiping the gore from his blade, LGZ glances towards the residents. "Oh, yes. Justice served an all that. So..." Glancing around the room, a smile spreads across his face "I don't suppose you've got an oversized cake about?"
"That aside, I imagine we'll happily take you up on your offer of shelter. Have the goblin issues been increased as of late?"
Garreni and Carlo Escoro manage to calm down their horse, letting her out to tromp around her pen for a bit and chew some hay. Garreni turns to Liet-Gar questioning, "weren't you sent out here to stop the goblins? I mean, we've been sending reports into town of missing animals and other signs of goblins in the woods. I figured you were sent out to track em down or at least collect a bounty. Were you just wandering by instead? Doesn't matter though really, we are incredibly thankful for all your help." He seems to ignore the very oddly pyromaniac-ish question from the gnome.
You are granted a nice meal, quite limited in scope but filling. A hearty stew with dry bread, water to drink. There isn't space in the home for the whole group, but it is suggested that the menfolk sleep in the barn on fresh hay and the ladyfolk stay on bedrolls in front of the fire in the house. An early breakfast supplies another filling meal, this one a bit more impressive with freshly cooked eggs, fresh milk and porridge.
After breakfast everyone remembers at about the same time... I wonder what happened to those goblins we tied up and left in the field?
Liet-Gar remembers that he asked about how to prove their bounty and the mayor specifically said heads, not ears.
The body of the goblin and goblin dog remain where they fell, flies are starting to heavily buzz around them and the stench from both seems to have gotten worse... which is impressive for goblins.
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Rather unceremoniously, LGZ pulls out a dagger and quickly saws off the head of the dog and the goblin.
Returning to the farmhouse, he sets them down on the floor with a smile. "Quite right, yes we were sent to handle the goblin problem. You happen to know where they are coming from? Would save us some time and perhaps end your troubles sooner."
He grimaces as the half-elf brings the heads up to his house, "please don't bring those inside." He turns to his boy, "Carlo said you killed a bunch of them back in the fields, maybe you could track them back to their clan or whatever from there?"
At his mention, Carlo mutters something informative, "“Four days ago, I was chasing a lamb that strayed past the fence. Out of nowhere, I saw two ugly, green little things out in the clearing. They were talking some nasty, jabbering language I didn’t understand. One of them, the one wrinkled like a raisin, was all scarred up. The other had a big blade for chopping tied to the end of a pole. They were arguing back and forth, and then they walked off in different directions. Once I was sure they’d gone, I ran home and told my ma and pa.”
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Dimple is stunned. It takes her a moment to fight off the wave of revulsion that passes through her. "Wait! You're actually gonna DO that? You are going to bring back a giant sack or wagon full of ...heads? That's horrifying! Are you sure she was serious? This can't be right. I mean, can you imagine how humans would react if someone did that to their dead? They would go to war over such a desecration! I get that the mayor wants her people safe, but at what cost to our souls? This is the epitome of barbarism. Am I the only one who sees how absolutely wrong this is?"
Overwhelmed with the moral implications, the defeated gnome plops down in the field. A small dust cloud rises around her an drifts off.
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. "Now let me see if I can remember tracking" muses Fromagalli "Ah yes looks like we had two goblins meet here and a human over here." He glances at the gnome thoughtfully before adding. "Strange most gnomes I have met have never been slow to bad mouth goblins and most seeem to think decapitation is a decent start to meeting a goblin"
Dimple seems to collapse, very frustrated with her teammates callous disregard for civility. Everyone else seems to ignore her and starts searching for the trail of more goblins to slaughter.
The trail is quite easy to pick up from either location and leads towards the mountains. Following it is also quite easy, the hard part comes from the fact that after traveling for an ENTIRE DAY you still have not located the home base of the goblins. A decision needs to be made. Camp here for the night or push on, risking fatigue and hoping that around the next bend is the goblin camp.
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Silently following Fromagalli as they walk, LGZ's mind wanders. After several hours, he turns to the little gnome and smiles. "Dimple, what's the harm? They aren't using their heads anymore..."
With a smile, he turns back to the task at hand...follow the leader.
As the day nears an end, he frowns. "I was really looking forward to completing this mission in a timely manner like our last one. I mean, seriously. What are we? Commoners or Adventurists? I feel fine...but I'll defer to the majority. Camp or finish this?"