Wait what?
Well, that does work. I thought he was a fighter/wizard...
Okay then, you all can’t fail to save all 5 if both wands are used one more time next round.
Scenario is complete with massive success. I’ll do a summary post later and start on chronicles tomorrow.
Kasvot might need a charge eventually too if no one can stop his bleed. Happy Easter!
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Dimple finally reaches Kasvot and funnels magical healing into the sorcerer. "That was a really close call. You nearly died. Wow! Was it weird being that close? Oooo, did you see Pharasma? Or any gods for that matter? Did you see your whole life pass before your eyes? Was I there? What was I wearing?"
Liet-Gar slashes and hacks and the goop covered human collapses to the ground and immediately his wounds stop spurting and he lays there unconscious, breathing easily . The half-elf flees out of the warehouse shortly after that, then sheepishly sneaks back in once he realizes the fear was just in his cowardly soul the whole time.
Dimple rambles for a bit to Kasvot, who never actually passed out, then realizes that other bodies might need her tender ministrations and rushes over to help Fromagalli heal up the bleeding ones . After a short bit, it is discovered that the five people seem to be drained and weak but will recover. The ones healed wake up after a few minutes with pounding headaches.
When asked what happened they say that the last thing they remember is going to see their friend Gellion and then either passing out after drinking something or getting a sharp blow to the head. One notices the goop covered man and yells, "GELLION! What happened to him?"
______________________________________________________________
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Kasvot wavers on his feet, simply trying to remain conscious as cries and yells, questions and concern float around him. Finally, Dimple clears away the fog with a charge from her wand, and his mind returns to the warehouse with clear understanding... he hurries to help uncover the other apprentices and is grateful to find them all alive.
"Gellion... what have you gotten mixed up in that you would do this to your friends?!?"
Gellion is the one who was attacking you, is covered in goo and still unconscious at this moment. Wait for him to wake up or heal him or...?
The group pulls the five apprentices out of the building. Three of them conscious and able to stagger under their own power. Fromagalli moves carefully around the warehouse, wiping out the ooze on the inside and outside. The building will need a massive cleaning out, but at least at this point isn't going to spawn more fiendish creatures. Gellion is still covered in goop and unconscious, the cold iron does nothing for that.
As you all leave, heading for the Temple for some healing the mayor comes up with a few of the town guards, "ah excellent! I can tell there is some progress being made. Tell me, what have you found and who is responsible?"
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"This young man is definitely the one responsible. Little Gellion here began experimenting with some wild stuff, and discovered this toxic goo. The goo is what ended up enlarging all of these various insects, and thus causing all of this chaos." Kasvot shakes his head. "It's a shame, you know. He's clearly a smart young man, to have figured all this out."
She nods her head and the guards come forward to take control of Gellion, "ah yes, okay. I'm sure the townsfolk will be harsh with their judgement of him but it is good that no one died, right?"
The mayor escorts the group, the survivors and the prisoner to the temple where they begin their recovery. The priest is ecstatic that his apprentice Nolaria Wintren is back, but is appalled out how closely she was to death and apologizes profusely to her and the group for not investigating.
News quickly spreads about town of the hired heroes success. Each apprentice's boss shows up in person to thank the group and show their support as their wards heal from the ordeal. Each boss rewards each pathfinder with various tokens of appreciation .
Majara Pricknettle is beside herself that Gellion was the one causing the whole deal. Her shop closes up for a couple weeks as she drops into a deep depression over blame piled upon herself. Some of her close friends manage to pull her out of it, but she takes a very long time to return to the happy gnome alchemist you all first met.
Gellion is treated and recovers from the disease, though his status as a town pariah for falling into demonic influence and leading other youngsters to harm, leads him to almost be thankful when the town banishes him forever. He is granted traveling supplies and escorted to the edge of town where he simply walks away down the road, happy to be trying to put his terrible mistakes behind him but sad at all the friendships he destroyed and loved ones he leaves behind.
A few weeks pass, injuries heal and strength returns. The group finds itself rewarded with the basic necessities for free as everywhere they go they are recognized as town heroes and any efforts to pay are repeatedly rebuffed. Each of them pursues various paths of improvement, from Niza delving deeper into her books and practices to improve her grasp over transmutation magic to Liet-Gar facing his fears and learning to channel anger to overcome them.
All of them have spent a good deal of money on expensive purchases or commissioned items from the local crafting community. A number of exquisite packages arrived almost daily, shipped in from various pathfinder lodges and full of magical items.
Then one day as everyone is enjoying breakfast together before heading out, they recieve a visit from Nolaria Wintren, the apprentice at the Temple of Erastil.
She informs them that her visiting cousin, Nixa Volsetti, is still missing. She advises that every resource available to her has been pursued but she is afraid, even though it seems unlikely, that her cousin has been abducted by Goblins. Nolaria says that while she was tied up in the warehouse, she heard Gellion rambling about his plans to kidnap Nixa and then watched him drag Nixa towards an area in the woods where goblins have been known to lurk. She says that prior to his banishment, Gellion was interrogated about the details, but had no memory of these events. She pleads to the group to go talk to the Mayor about it, as she thinks the mayor will have more information about the abduction since the town guard, who are doing the investigation, report to her.
The group arrive at the mayor's office and is ushered inside. Golden beams of light stream into this comfortable-but-official room’s picture window, illuminating a cluttered wooden desk and an empty chair pushed haphazardly to the side. Between the window and the desk strides Mayor Sandra Trinelli, who, brow furrowed, has clearly worn a pacer’s path into the plush red carpet. Noticing her visitors, she sighs in determined resignation and steps behind her desk, leaning over it gravely. “I’m glad you stayed in town and it is fortuitous you dropped by, I was about to send for you all,” she says, a measure of relief creeping into her strained voice. “Our town is dealing with its share of troubles right now, and this unknown menace beyond our walls has me the most worried.”
She takes a deep breath as if composing herself, and sits carefully in her chair, assuming a self-assured posture that seems to come to her much more naturally. “Specifically, we may have a goblin problem,” the mayor continues. “I’ve recently received reports of goblins lurking in the woods outside of town. There have been no attacks yet—only minor damage to fences and some stolen sheep, I’m told—but we can’t afford to let our guard down. Given how we suffered during the Goblinblood Wars, we can’t assume that these scattered sightings are meaningless when they might very well mean that a major warband is about to descend on our heads.”
“Even worse, it seems that these goblins are covered in some unholy manner of filth—even more so than normal! If word about that gets out, well, folks might start to panic. We are a superstitious lot here in Saringallow, as I’m sure you know.”
“In short, we need to move quickly and deal with these goblins before they become a larger threat. Sending members of the town guard out into the woods, though, could leave us open to attack. I’m sure you see my dilemma.”
“This is where I’d like you to intercede, my friends. Find out where the goblins are coming from and who—if anyone—is leading them, then take out the threat. I can offer you a bounty of 5 gold pieces for each goblin you kill, 10 gold pieces for each goblin dog, and an additional bonus of 100 gold pieces if you bring me proof that you’ve destroyed their camp or otherwise dealt with whatever additional threat they pose.”
“Most of the sightings have originated from the area northwest of town, particularly near the homesteaders out by Clover Stream. That’s probably a good place to start your investigation. Aside from that, I’m afraid I don’t have much else to tell you. Unless you have any specific questions?”
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Dimple's stomach ties itself in a knot when the mayor mentions the bounty. I know I am supposed to hate those guys, but I just don't know if I can kill them. Icky bugs and gobo dogs are one thing, but shooting something that can talk? I mean, I still feel bad for shooting the boat kid...Galleon?... Gellion? in the leg...and he lived.
"So, a couple of questions. First, what does 'intercede' mean? Cuz that sounds cool, but if its hard to get to, I'm not sure we can do that. Second, what if the Nixa girl is the one leading the goblins? You mentioned 'filth'. What color? Is it purple? Mind you, I think that's a great color, but all the bugs 'n stuff had purple goo, so I was wondering if it was the same thing. By the way, do you know where we can get a map? It would be silly to get lost in the woods. Number uh...I lost count. Anyone else keeping track? Well, lets call it seven. Do we have to stay outside of town until we're done? Imma need to buy a tent and stuff if that's the case."
She looks at the gnome oddly, "umm... intervene? Act for? Step up to the plate and help out?" The mayor shrugs and moves on, hoping her definition has supplied enough information and completely missing what Dimple was saying about needing to 'Enter Seed' and not knowing where that is located. "No reports have come back as to the color of the filth, but then again, goblins don't tend to strike in broad daylight so it's hard to get a good look at them."
She pulls out a map and starts pointing out a few locations, "So, up here and around the Escoro Farmstead is where we've gotten the reports from. Seems like just two or three at a time, sometimes riding goblin dogs."
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Most of the rest of the party is rather glad there is something to occupy Fromagalli from launching into one of his tirades against research wizards who can not create a simple Still metamagic rod or how much arcane research costs these days. There is a new wand tucked into his belt and a shiny new buckler on his arm
”when did you hear these reports and has anybody not been in that should have been in”
The mayor looks at her reports, "info has trickled in over the last couple weeks but scattered well enough apart to not show a trend until now. As far as missing, Nixa Volisa is the only one reportedly thus, though honestly we don't have any evidence on that case so just keep an eye out for her."
She drums her fingers on the desk, "any other questions?"
She replies, "heads would be most useful, since I honestly don't know the difference between a goblin ear and a goblin dog ear... as to the possible hidden threat, I'll leave that up to you as to how to prove it has been defeated."
The mayor sighs, "I know, I know. This is a hard task and not one for the squeamish. But think about the harm done to innocents if those dirty creatures get organized again and start pillaging towns. The Goblinblood wars were horrific, no one escaped the pain caused."
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"Heads...ew, gross" Maybe I'm not cut out to be a 'hero', let alone a Pathfinder. A though occurs to the gnome. She slides over to the half-elf and tugs on his jerkin to get his attention. She asks sheepishly, "So, are you gonna need a wagon or sumthin' for all those...ah...goblins? It might smell really bad. Maybe we should by flowers...or perfume."
"The uh what now?"
She squints her eyes at Dimple and mumbles, "a squeemish gnome storyteller with no actual knowledge of history, oh lord we are all doomed."
"Oh I'm sorry I had something in my throat, so as I was saying about the Goblinblood Wars. Almost twenty years ago, hobgoblins—bigger, stronger, more intelligent goblins—surged out of Chitterwood leading armies of goblinoids. They attacked the rest of Isger and overran much of the country before we could muster much of a defense. They even started spreading into Andoran, Cheliax, and Druma. The war lasted four years, but with help from our neighboring nations, we managed to drive the goblins back into Chitterwood. The effort set half the forest on fire, but we wiped them out.”
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"Well that's a heck of a story. So...since you burned down the forest, why is it called 'Goblinblood' instead of 'Goblin Wood' or something? Eh, no bother." muses the half-elven man, taking a step away from Dimple.
'That one has no sense of decency...such things shouldn't be done in public'
"So, anything else we should watch out for in the wilderness here? Should we try to keep our actions a secret from the farmers we run across? Any bandits in the region you need us to smite in your name?" he asks with a mischievous smile.
She smiles, "I'm happy to note we don't have any major bandit issues in the area. As for what to tell people, the truth is fine... just keep out some of the possible details about the goo until you actually know more, similar to your excellent discretion during the last mission. Something like... 'Investigating Goblin sightings with mayoral permission to eradicate any threat you run across' would work fine."
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Kasvot nods, seemingly in agreement with their mission and what else has been said, though it's hard to understand how he could be in agreement. The half-orc has clearly been spending most of his time adjusting his new outfit and striking various poses as he admires his profile in the Mayor's mirror; if he's been listening, he must be an expert at divided attention.
"As long as they don't have any of that ugly goo, we should be fine. And any day I get to kill goblins is a good day."
The mayor taps her desk, looking at the quiet gnome in the back scratching her hawk under its chin. "Well if that is all, then I'd suggest you head out to get any needed supplies and get a move on."
The journey through Saringallow’s outskirts is largely a pleasant one. The homesteads nearest to the city belong to farmers, who point the group farther down the road if they inquire about recent goblin sightings. Eventually, the dirt roads give way to smaller, worn-down trails.
Pastures thick with green grass and dotted with sheep and other livestock replace the rows of wheat and vegetables. Soon, the group can faintly make out the sound of running water nearby.
Suddenly, a young shepherd bolts across one of the nearby fields, clearly terrified by something behind him. He shouts and gestures frantically toward whatever he’s fleeing. “I saw them!” he screams. “Goblins! They’re in the woods! They took our sheep! You have to do something!”
Niza & Albis
Liet-Gar
Fromagalli
Dimple
Kasvot
Bold may Prepare
Niza does a similar thing, moving forward while drawing a wand and then activating it. Her clothes seem to shimmer with magical protection.
Liet-Gar
Kasvot
Bold may Prepare
Kasvot moves up, mirroring Niza's actions almost suspiciously so.
Liet-Gar, without any of those fancy preparations, simply moves forwards and braces for an incoming attack from behind the shepherd.
Instead of a horde of trampling goblins riding mastodons though... three sheep wander slowly out of the forest heading after their master. Their master continues fleeing past the group, looking quite fearful.
One of the sheep gives out a loud,
Everything goes silent, then you hear angry whispers, "You idiot, sheeps no go moo, sheeps go uh... *snick gurgle thud*."
A different sheep head pops up very unnaturally and the group clearly sees a goblin's face staring at you, "uh... hey they see us. GET EM!"
The goblins shriek and pull out bows, firing a flurry of arrows at Liet-Gar! Sadly though, they must have used the arrows without metal tips and the shafts simply thunk into Liet-Gar's armor and fall to the ground.
for
for
Goblins
Liet-Gar
Kasvot
Niza & Albis
Dimple
Fromagalli
Bold may Act!
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"gah Goblins. There is only one thing that hates goblins more than gnomes and that's my sword Anish Macor!" shouts Fromagalli as he moves up drawing his sword which suddenly leaps towards the blue goblin
Niza drops her wand and moves up, drawing her club to bash some goblin heads! Albis hops off her shoulder and pounces on the wand, grasping it in his talons, then taking to the air hopefully out of range of the goblin bows.
Dimple steps up and inspires the group with her accurate statement that fiendish goblins are definitely worse than fiendish sheep.
Fromagalli moves up and with a mighty toss, whips his sword right at one of the goblins. It forgets to duck and then doesn't have to worry about forgetting any more, as its head is now lying on the ground next to its body.
Inspire Courage is up!
Goblins (Blue -13 & Down, Red, Yellow)
Liet-Gar
Kasvot
Niza & Albis
Dimple
Fromagalli
Bold may Act!
Liet-Gar, not to be outdone, splits the goblin in front of him in two, straight through its bulbous head. The last goblin drops the stupid bow and rushes forwards to attack the group! It stumbles to a halt right as it gets to the group, its head rolling over to stop at Dimple's feet.
Niza's club misses her strike. LGZ sees an opportunity to strike as the goblin closes in.
Kasvot
Inspire Courage is up!
Goblins (Blue -13 & Down, Red, Yellow)
Liet-Gar (AoO & normal turn)
Niza & Albis
Dimple
Fromagalli
Bold may Act!
Rustling in the forest indicates that these are not the only goblins in the area. The group of pathfinders have a moment to breath and mend their... wounds?
Liet-Gar
Kasvot
Niza & Albis
Dimple
Fromagalli
Bold may Act!
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Dimple looks toward the dirt while she kicks a rock. "So, while we have a minute? I'm really having trouble with the idea of ...ya know...killing people. I know they're tiny little stinky buttheads, but it just seems wrong to kill, even them. Monster bugs? Sure! Delicious meat and bacon machines? You bet! I mean they're just asking for it being so tasty and all. But walking, talking thinking creatures? After the warehouse, I'm suddenly not so sure." She looks up at the team, fully expecting to be admonished for her confession.
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Kasvot, his mind on the spell he's about to begin casting, doesn't hesitate to deliver what Dimple seems to be expecting. "That's, ahhh, a nice idea and all, but remember...." Kasvot motions to the goblin corpses briefly, speaking swiftly as he's already putting the incantation in order in his head. "They wanted to kill you. And calling goblins 'sentient' is a bit generous. They don't think, they just look for the next thing to break or set on fire. It's a reflex."