Renae's lying didn't seem to do much good in getting Lullaby to spill the beans on the Roadkeepers organization. If anything, it looked to have inflamed her defiance.
The enchanter held her head in her hands in exasperation as the others attempted to crack the bandit leader. If she was being honest, she just wanted to simply throw Lullaby and other two Roadkeepers to Captain Thort's custody, but wasn't entirely sure that desire was built on logic and ethics or her own need to see the bandit pay for praying on her hometown. It was all rather frustrating, and was made even more so by Sorshen's voice buzzing her head and demanding that she simply kill all three bandits.
As Hal tried to play Lullaby's cohorts against their boss, Renae finally spoke to others in a low whisper. "I don't think we'll get a better deal out of Lullaby. Her freedom for information looks like the only thing she'll accept, and I can't say like that deal. Even if she's sincere that she'll leave the Churlwood, she and her gang still need to face justice for their exploitation against the Cove," she says with some visible anger before taking a breath and calming. "So happen about this? If Hal isn't able to get information out of her lackeys we hold them for a day. On the morrow I can prepare a charm enhancement that should make them far more pliant to answering our questions."
"You're right, they do need to face what's coming to them. I say we see what Hal can get out of the others, then I'll tell Lullaby how it's going to go," Kiley says, her eyes taking on a hardness that they were unaccustomed to. "Besides, didn't they kill some people in town? Isn't how this whole mess got started?"
"No wait, they just went after them. during the market. It was the Order of too-full-of-'emselves that killed the gang members," Kiley corrects herself before shaking her head.
"Either way, they just tried to extort money from us. That makes them bandits and I'm all for sending them back to Roderick's Cove to let the guards take care of them. Though I could try something to get the information from her, I don't think it's worth letting her go, especially when we could scout out the place ourselves. Stryn and I are sneaky enough for that."
Kiley walks towards the bandits, flourishing her sword in one hand with easy, graceful swings. It wasn't all that practical, but it did look impressive to those not trained in how to properly use the long bladed swords. She stops just a few paces from Lullaby and finishes a final flourish by putting her sword against a shoulder. A rakish smile spreads across her face as she sits on her heels.
"I'll be honest, I was trying to see how the hat and armor looked on me," she begins, her tone friendly and polite. "The hat clashed with my hair and outfit a bit, but the armor looked nice and well made, and I've got clothes to match it. I wasn't planning on stealing it, but I did want to see how it looked and if it'd fit me first."
Kiley looks over at the pile while scratching her chin.
"However, I have to wonder what made you think anything in that pile was still yours?"
Stryn just watches, with his eyebrow quirked trying to discern what exactly Kiley was attempting to do.
The two Roadkeepers are somewhat confused by Hal's very congenial approach, and are eyeing him askance - after all, not many people would talk about a straightjacket being comforting.
As he asks them for information, one says, "We're pretty new to the gang, but our leader goes by Mother Nightthrush. She's a weird old woman who supposedly has strange powers. Our camp is outside this old, crumbled stone house on the side of a hill. The gang's doing something underground there, but I don't know what - they haven't trusted us with that. There's usually anywhere from a couple to half a dozen members outside the stone house, keeping watch. That's all we know, we swear."
Lullaby looks at Kiley, eyeing the sword somewhat uneasily, then says, "Well, for starters, Roderic's Cove isn't Riddleport. I should know - I grew up there. Since you've captured me, you're required to turn me and my possessions over to the Watch Captain. She can decide whether to give you my things as payment, or keep them until my fate is decided in trial. If you take them without doing that, you're just as much a thief as I am."
Lullaby doesn't actually know the relevant law to this, but she thinks that this sounds reasonable, and if you are the law-abiding citizens you claim to be, you'd do that.
As her compatriots tell Hal some of the information she was trying to withhold, her shoulders slump a bit, and she looks at you with much less defiance. "I can tell you what's happening underground, and provide you with more details. I also know where the bodies of three guards from the Cove are, and tell you a little bit about the creature that killed them. My armor's got a little magic to it. You can keep it, and I'll give you all the information, if you let me take the rest of my things and leave. We really haven't done a whole lot to the Cove. We just ask a toll of a couple gold to people crossing through the Churlwood. We don't even ask them every time, just monthly."
Henric nods in response to Lullaby's assessment of the situation, but is surprised by her sudden honesty. He turns to his companions once more, "She's being surprisingly forthcoming, and that information could be worth more than bringing her to the Sheriff. What are your thoughts?"
When the men mention the stone house and then Lullaby says she will help the goblin swiftly changes his tune, still out of earshot of the woman he notes "Yeah, if she can tell us what is going on at the stone house then we should let her go."
Renae gave the two Roadkeepers a pointed look as they supposedly spilled the beans on their gang and its activities and tried to discern whether they was lying through their teeth.
In the end, she concluded that they likely weren't, Henric having seemingly put them an extremely fore-coming mood with his strange speech. Lullaby on the other hand liked to be making a plausible than outright lying. At least when it came to laws of Roderic's Cove anyway.
Renae sighed deeply. "She's making a lot of assumptions about the laws of Roderic's Cove, but I believes she's being honest about everything else," she tells the group, almost sounding disappointed that Lullaby was being honest. "You're right, Henric. Thort assuredly would want to know where the bodies of her guards are rather than some petty criminal. Also, knowing more about this creature would likely behoove us. I say we accept her deal as much I as I hate the idea of letting her go."
"Fine," Kiley says, not really happy about accepting the deal, but knowing better than to argue at this point.
"The armor and information and the three of you can scurry wherever you wish," she says as she sheathes the sword and unties Lullaby.
"Pray I never catch you at something like this again. I spent a few months nearly starving to death in Magnimar. A few gold would have feed me for months, and I bet you never have been so hungry you'd kill for anything even halfway decent to eat," Kiley whispers into the woman's ear as she undoes the bounds around her wrists. "I have."
"Up you go. Now, tell us what you know and you'll get your stuff back," Kiley says a few moments later as she helps Lullaby up, then goes to the pile to grab the armor and the hat. Before the woman can protest, Kiley flicks the hat at her like discus.
Lullaby rubs her wrists, then grabs the hat out of the air and puts it on her head.
"Thank you. Now, I'll tell you where the Cove guardsmen are, first. If you follow this narrow trail, you'll come to a clearing where the road circles around a tree. The guards' bodies are there - we haven't taken anything from them. That clearing is where the first and only person the Roadkeepers killed - before I joined them - is located. He rose as some kind of undead creature called a trailgaunt. Somehow, encircling him with the road keeps him trapped, and we maintain the road to ensure he stays there. After he was killed and came back as an undead, Mother Nightthrush banned the Roadkeepers from killing. She won't let us put the undead creature to rest as a reminder of what happens if we kill people. That's why we didn't try to kill you, just knock you unconscious."
The dreaded trailgaunt is a form of undead that plagues regions where travelers have long trod the roads. Legends hold that trailgaunts rise from the remains of seasoned travelers who became lost and then perished from exposure or starvation, suffering great shame and humiliation to have come to such unexpected and lonely ends in addition to their physical torment. Trailgaunts seek travelers to avenge themselves upon and are driven to feast upon the feet of those they slaughter, often leaving the maimed bodies to rise as new trailgaunts with the setting of the next sun. Trailgaunts with intact feet are rare, yet even those fortunate enough to retain all their toes are slow and clumsy.
"On the opposite side of the hill from our camp is a goblin den - the Bramblemouths. We usually try to avoid them, and they usually avoid us - I think it's better both ways that they do.
"These guys already told you about the above ground defenses. What they don't know is that there's a secret door in the back of the stone house. It leads to a stairwell down to a hidden vault in the hill. At the bottom of the stairs you'll find a barricaded door. There's some kind of invisible...thing...in there. When we first found the vaults, it got a couple of Roadkeepers, so we hammered it shut to keep it in there.
"Also out of the room with the stairs is a passageway to a long colonnade that is typically empty, but if you make too much noise or if Mother Nightthrush runs down there to warn them, the guards in the next room over will be waiting there to ambush you. A short set of wide stairs leads down to that room. Near the north wall, there's a statue of a woman made of red stone. She looks furious, with a sneer on her face and holding a clenched fist out in front of her. There are usually four or five Roadkeepers on guard in this room, but if they hear you coming, they might try to ambush you in the colonnade, like I said.
"I haven't spent a lot of time in those rooms - the make me feel uneasy. There's a stairwell past that last room that leads even further down, but I haven't seen those rooms. That's where most of the gang has been, exploring those chambers under the direction of the Roadkeepers' second-in-command, Dolland. He's a Dwarf whose spent a great deal of time studying alchemy. His apprentice, Sharlise, was killed by a trap there, and she came back as some kind of creepy ghostie."
Lullaby looks at all of you. "That's everything I know. Can you let me go, now?"
"I can," Kiley says, a mischievous smile spreading across her face, "but not yet."
She unties the two men and hauls them to their feet as best as she is able with her small frame.
"I figured you'd appreciate your lackeys, Miss Vancaskerkin,"KIley says with a mocking bow, "Thank you for the information and the armor. I'd head to town if I were you and get some mead for that nasty bump on your head."
Kiley's jab but a smile on Renae's face for a moment, but she quickly found herself feeling inexplicably guilty over it. Would her old herself relish the humiliation of others so readily? She wasn't sure and that maybe bothered more than anything.
Wishing to think on something else, Renae keyed on Lullaby's description of a trailgaunt. "Yes, I'm sure you had nothing to do with that murder," she says scornfully to Lullaby before she tells the group what she knew about trailgaunts. "Trailgaunts are indeed undead creatures. To be specific, they are the wraiths of experienced travelers who died in the wildness in shame and torment. Suffice to say, they are quite aggressive and will attack anyone they find in the wilds. They especially enjoy eating the feet of those they slain. We would done well to eliminate it if we find it on they way. Trailgaunts can make more of their kind just by maiming their victims and leaving them to experience the same pain that transformed them."
While Kiley's joking and smiling, there's a good bit of fear creeping into her tone and eyes if you notice it. It wasn't until the undead were brought up that she started to get so nervous.
Stryn chimes in with a question in his broken common "You know, goblins take dwarves?"
Lullaby scowls at Kiley's mockery, but answers Stryn's question, "Sorry, I don't know anything about that. Like I said, we avoid the Bramblemouths, and they avoid us."
Gathering the rest of her things, Lullaby storms off in the direction of Roderic's Cove. The two Roadkeepers, apparently greatful not to be arrested, follow after her.
After the bandits leave Stryn looks to the others "The undead sounds dangerous but contained. Maybe we leave it for now if we still have more of these Roadkeepers and the goblins to deal with?"
He pauses as he considers there options then notes "If the Roadkeepers and goblins leave each other alone, maybe we go to the goblins first, since that is where the dwarves may still be? Try and save them, and get them back to town, then see if we can't get any aid in fighting the undead thing to help recover the guards, then deal with the roadkeepers and whatever is going on in that stone house?"
While not happy with letting the bandits go, Henric stands aside to let them leave. They've got big fish to fry. "While I agree, that the safety of the dwarves is probably our highest priority, right now, the rest may be a 'see what happens when we get there' kind of scenario."
"Goblins! can we please fight the goblins first," Kiley begs, no longer trying to haide how scared she is now that Lullaby and her flunkies have gone. "I... I don't know if I can face the tr-trailgaunt or the g-g-ghost."
She shivers as she looks to the others, her eyes rimmed with a few tears, she hugs herself as she tries to keep from shaking even more.
Renae looked on as Lullaby and her thugs ran off in the direction of the Roderic's Cove. Realizing that glowering at their backs was more than a little unproductive she brought up her brought on what they should do next. "Agreed. Goblins should come first. The Trailgaunt we can take care of later," she says before seeing Kiley's pained expression and quickly adding, "Or never. Hopefully Stryn is right and the trailgaunt is contained. We needed go after it if that's troubling you Kiley."
"Th-thanks, Renae," Kiley says, managing a weak smile. "I-I'm sorry. After the Wreck, I guess I'm a bit of a wreck myself."
Having decided to journey to the goblin den, you follow the path into the woods that Lullaby indicated. After a couple hours, you come to a clearing with a dead tree, surrounded by a circular road. At the base of the tree is a decayed body, and inside the circular road you see the bodies of three of Roderic's Cove's guardsmen. You are able to tell that not only are they dead, but their feet have been chewed off.
You know that this means that, were they not contained by the road, the three guards would become trailgaunts themselves. Once you recover their bodies, you will have to make sure they are buried by sunset of the day you do so, otherwise they will return as trailgaunts.
Skirting the outside of the road, and making sure not to cross it, everything remains still in the clearing. Once past, it is another hour until you come to the low ridge housing both the den and the stone house. Turning down the west side, it is another hour until you reach the point where Lullaby indicated the Bramblemouth den was. Thick blackberry vines grow from the ground here and sneak up the walls of a ridge. Among the thorny vines, curls of smoke waft up from a cave entrance.
As you approach, Henric and Hal spot two goblins lurking in the bushes to either side of the cave.
Being more occupied by funny clouds and shiny beetles than the affairs of man and sword certainly came with some detriments. But one benefit of Hal's continuous nature gazing was that he tended to notice things not so obvious. Such as now, when he suddenly switched from leisurely stroll to hunched-down squat, gangly limbs making the position more awkward than necessary. He was staring at something ahead.
"Oh dear. Or is that 'oh joy'? We came out here looking for them, after all... Either way, there they are: goblins, in the bushes."
Regardless of appropriate emotional response to finding someone waiting to ambush them, the cleric didn't seem particularly perturbed. Instead he looked to Stryn. "Were you hoping to bluff your way past them? "
Hm. Had the goblins noticed them approaching?
As Hal crouches down, Henric motions for the others to stop, having also seen the goblins lurking in the bushes. How do we want to approach this?" he asks, directing his question mostly at Stryn. "I know that you don't have much association with other goblins, but they are your people."
Stryn shrugs "I can try and talk to them, maybe at least find out if the dwarves are still alive."
The goblins have noticed your approach - you were not taking any measures to be hidden.
Just as she was about to explain the need to grant the murdered guardsmen a proper burial if they wanted to avoid the creation of more trailgaunts, Renae's eyes spotted the duo of goblins who were staring right at them.
"Well it looks like the goblins found us," she japes even as she clutches her quarterstaff tighter. "Try to negotiate the best you can, Stryn. Hopefully that will succeed and we can avoid a fight and find out about the dwarves, but if not, we have your back."
"Would you like some help? I can speak the goblin tongue," Kiley offers, feeling a little better now that the tree and the undead were well behind them. "Besides, if they've seen us, they may not take kindly to you. I've heard goblins are cruel even to other goblins in the same tribe."
Stryn shrugs. "Sure." If they had seen the entire group, it's not like it would hurt having Kiley come along.
He looks to the others and notes "Be ready, but let's see if we can't deal with this, without bloodshed."
Stryn walks out into the open with his hands up and calls out to the goblins in his native tongue.
"I don't think we can, but it can't hurt to try, I guess," Kiley says, before following Stryn out into the open.
"ਹੋ ਸਕਦਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਕੁਝ ਭੋਜਨ ਅਤੇ ਅਚਾਰ ਨੂੰ ਮਿਸ਼ਰਣ ਵਿੱਚ ਸੁੱਟਣ ਦੇ ਯੋਗ ਹੋਵੋ," she adds to Stryn's opening negotiations.
"Might even be able to throw some food and pickles into the mix."
Stryn and Kiley step forward, talking to the goblins to try and negotiate. The goblins appear to be ready to shoot Stryn, but at Kiley's mention of pickles, they pause. At this point, a third goblin who you hadn't previously noticed calls out,
"We maybe talk. Why you come to Bramblemouth Den? You really have pickles?"
"ਅਸੀਂ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਡਵਾਰਾਂ ਦੀ ਭਾਲ ਵਿਚ ਆਉਂਦੇ ਹਾਂ ਜੋ ਤੁਸੀਂ ਲਿਆ ਸੀ. ਅਚਾਰ ਇੱਥੇ ਨਹੀਂ ਹਨ, ਪਰ ਅਸੀਂ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਪ੍ਰਾਪਤ ਕਰ ਸਕਦੇ ਹਾਂ. ਹਰ ਤਰਾਂ ਦੇ ਅਚਾਰ! ਜੇਕਰ ਤੁਸੀਂ ਚਾਹੁੰਦੇ ਹੋ ਤਾਂ ਮਿੱਠਾ, ਖੱਟਾ, ਸਵਾਦ ਵਾਲਾ ਅਤੇ ਕੜਾਹੀ," Kiley says, kicking herself for not having thought about this while in town, but smiling at the goblins all the while.
Stryn stands by as Kiley seems to be doing a much better job at talking to the goblins and just nods to what she says.
The three goblins converge into one spot, talking among themselves, then the one that was speaking steps forward and says, "ਚੀਫ ਚੀਕਟੂਥ ਦਾ ਕਹਿਣਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਸਾਨੂੰ ਖਾਨਾਂ ਦੀ ਮਦਦ ਲਈ ਡਵਾਰਵੇ ਦੀ ਜ਼ਰੂਰਤ ਹੈ. ਬੌਨੇ ਮਾਈਨਿੰਗ ਨੂੰ ਜਾਣਦੇ ਹਨ. ਤੁਸੀਂ ਸਾਡੇ ਲਈ ਅਚਾਰ ਲੈ ਕੇ ਆਓ, ਅਸੀਂ ਤੁਹਾਨੂੰ ਚੀਫ਼ ਨੂੰ ਵੇਖਣ ਲਈ ਦੇਈਏ."
"Chief Cheektooth say we need Dwarves to help mine. Dwarves know mining. You bring us pickles, we let you past to see Chief."
All three goblins nod affirmatively to their terms.
Henric watches cautiously with the others, just glad to see that negotiations haven't fallen through, so far. He keeps a watch out for any ambush or other surprises.
Stryn shrugs and looks to Kiley saying in common in a whisper "Better than a fight."
"Agreed," Renae whispers back. After the bandits she wasn't in the mood for a fight. That didn't mean she wasn't still cautious about whatever they were about to get into. Accordingly, her eyes looked around for any signs of fool-play or betrayal.
"ਫਿਰ ਬਹੁਤ ਵਧੀਆ. ਫਿਰ ਅਸੀਂ ਕਈ ਕਿਸਮ ਦੇ ਅਚਾਰ ਲੈ ਕੇ ਆਵਾਂਗੇ." Kiley says, figuring that Stryn was right and turns to get back to the others.
"Very well then. We'll bring many kinds of pickles, then."
"Well, this is embarrassing, We should have hung onto one of the bandits. We could have sent them to get some pickles instead of having to go back ourselves," she says, looking a little annoyed.
Stryn shrugs and turns to head back towards town. As they get a ways away from the goblins he relates to the others "Sounds like the dwarves are still alive, they are using them to mine something. Either way, we get them some pickles we can go talk with the chief and then see about getting the dwarves back without having to fight."
The party moves off, away from the goblins, heading back towards town to retrieve the pickles.
As the group heads back toward town and they pass by where the dead guards are he pauses and looks to the others "If we aren't going to fight the goblins, maybe we should take care of this undead thing so it doesn't kill anyone else? Get the bodies of the guards back to town for a proper burial?"
Henric looks out at the clearing where the bodies of the town guard are laying haphazardly for all to see. "I don't like the idea of facing more undead, but you're probably right. We shouldn't just leave them there to rot. They deserve a proper burial."
A few poor innocent birds alighted in fright as the elf threw back his head in laughter. It was a light, pearly thing, Hal's laughter, befitting his fragile frame.
"Undeath exterminators and pickle gofers for goblins! My, we are a silly bunch. But yes, clearing the road of danger would be very nice of us. Very nice."
Also very nice was hearing that the missing dwarves were still alive, news which had proven the cleric's dire predictions totally wrong. He was in high spirits at this. However, someone clearly not feeling her best at the thought of fighting more undead was Kiley. Hal thought back to the haunted mansion. Yes, perhaps the young woman was in need of some... assurance, physical and spiritual. Walking over to her in just a few long-legged strides, he stopped to loom over the far shorter tiefling. Raising one bony hand to gesture his way through the magic, the elf cast a protective spell onto Kiley, one that would hopefully give her courage.
"It is a universal truth among mortals," he suddenly smiled, "that we go to far greater lengths to avoid what we fear than to obtain what we desire, a fact every bit as tragic as it is comic. Our lives are meaningless, Kiley. In feeding our desires we have everything to gain and nothing to lose. At best we find meaning and happiness with it; at worst we have a bit of fun. Fear is the enemy."
Would this suffice, Hal wondered? Well, no, of course it wouldn't. People didn't change simply at hearing a few words. But it would suffice in fulfilling his own function, as a cleric of Groetus. Hal was no shepherd and the party was certainly not his flock. Hal considered himself nothing than a mad gnat, poking and prodding at people to break routine and reexamine life.
Kiley pales more and more as they discuss and approach the haunt of the trailgaunt. She wants to run. She needs to run. She has to run! She takes a shaky step forward, her pace now a crawl as her hands wring around the hilt of her sword.
Then Hal is there, smiling in that serene, slightly mad way, as he cast his spell. She tensed, expecting another burst of madness like the last time, but she feels something else. Slowly, she relaxes as feels something warm and comforting fall over her like a blanket.
"Thank you Hal," she says quietly, "I feel a little better, even though the thought of fighting this thing has me scared witless."
She readies her sword and looks to see if the others are ready before leading the attack on the undead monster.