Cindy marches out and looks at the poor goblin guard.
"Hey! You want to be safe from the rocks? You could come in here and clean up this mess you made! My lair was nice and pretty and clean when I left!"
Bob's rock smashes the goblin in the head and she falls over face first in the dirt, not moving.
As Cindy approaches the goblin girl, she all of a sudden falls down on her face. "Oh! You're going to pretend to sleep so you don't have to clean my lair! That's not happening!" Cindy grabs the creature's arm and starts laboriously dragging her into her little side room.
Good work, Skank. I'll take a look around, and if everything is as you say it is, then we have some trinkets for you and your tribe. If you're lying, then we will have an entirely different kind of purpose for those trinkets.
She reveals herself, and almost as an afterthought, mentions to Skank, Oh, if any of your people every try to stop me from entering this cave, ever again, you should just tell your entire tribe to jump in the zombie pit. It will be easier for everyone.
Tina proceeds back toward the entrance, far enough for her voice to carry to the rest of the group, Come on in, everyone. Bob, Skank has a welcome home hat here for you.
She then proceeds to float through the cave, ensuring that everything is, in fact, where it should be.
"Yay! Snowball go nap in shinies now."
Snowball quickly flies through the entrance and starts burrowing through the wall, heading directly for her island lair.
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Alloura raises an eyebrow at the exchange. For a short time she had contemplated staying with this motley crew, thinking they were some merry band of misfits that had come together for a purpose greater than themselves.
But she had grown bored of that. They were ghastly. And disgusting. And ghastly once again.
With a yawn and not a single word of farewell, she spreads her magnificent wings and takes to flight, destined to grace some other part of the world with her beauty.
Bob receives the feather headress (eventually) and you head into your cave to settle back in. You return to your various portions of the cave and find things more or less as you left them, plus a bit of a general mess and goblin paintings. The zombie pit, on the other hand, appears to be just as you left it. The zombies mill around and moan obediently.
Cindy drags the goblin inside but the goblin never moves again.
Happy to finally have some time to work on her projects, Cindy spends every hour of her time taking advantage of her non-sleeping, non-fatiguing state and works on several projects, alternating her time between them.
Firstly, she tries to build herself a basic set of shelves to keep all of her assorted trinkets on.
Secondly, she takes the goblin corpse and removes all of its clothing and accessories, using these along with any skin or other non-perishable parts and straw, cloth, and wood to build a life sized goblin doll that she can place at the door to her lair with a sign hung around its neck stating "No Goblins Allowed"
Lastly, she continues to improve the wall separating her 'lair' from the rest of the entrance area, shoring it up to strengthen it while also working on the higher portions she couldn't do much with back when she couldn't fly. She continues the trend of trying to build a wooden wall but coating the outer side in dirt and rocks so that it blends in with the cave
Snuggles takes the time to familiarize himself with his new home, with the occasional prompting from Cindy.
After being shown a safe path through the traps, he explores the immediate wooded area while spending his nights napping in the cave entrance across from the door to Cindy's lair hidden behind one of the stalagmites so that he is close to his doll but somewhat hidden from intruders.
Goldslip spends a lot of time in the two flooded chambers of Last Hill, getting familiar again with all the water-dwelling denizens. When not actively interacting, she practices her weaving skills, and makes a basket that Cindy can use to help her carry dirt for her construction.
Sendi took to exploring her new home. She flew around, stealing from the goblins and poking the zombies, and generally getting a feel for the place. While briefly disappointed to find that Tina wasn’t married, she found other ways to amuse herself.
On the second day she got to work. And all it needed was the corpse of the Paladin that the goblins had slain. Using forced goblin labor (a mixture of cajoling, music and death-threats) she had the paladin’s body nailed to the wall. The paladin’s coin purse (long since looted) was stuffed in the corpse’s mouth. It was, in her mind, the perfect trap. Paladins and clerics and other boring people would want to cut the body down. Fighters and rogues and other fun people would want the money.
And that was the beauty of it. Because the purse? It had a vial of alchemist’s fire that she had stolen from the goblins the day before. And she had weakened the vial so that it was *just* ready to break. Either taking the corpse down or removing the pouch would be enough to douse whomever disturbed it in alchemical flame! This made for the best possible welcoming gift for an intruder. She also made sure to tell the goblins not to disturb it and why, lest the little idiots ruin her fun.
Not too long after returning to her island, Snowball finally figures out how to pull the bracelet over her claw and does so instead of trying to wear it like a choker.
She gets bored when not hunting rats or cockroaches to eat, and helps dig Cindy's pit during her occasional visits.
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Tina grabs a drink from her stockpile, and floats back to Skank, Good work with the paladin. By all the gods, I hate paladins. Anyway, here's some rewards for keeping everything safe and orderly while we were out. She pulls some slivers of metal and wood from her pocket and tosses it into the air. In mid flight, they expand, and the weapons taken from their recent outing clatter to the floor.
"You've shown yourself worthy of at least some trust. I don't mind you ruling over the goblins, so long as you remember who is actually in charge here.
Tina then looks around for Snowball, and upon finding her, "Hey Snowball, I don't want to interrupt your, uh, busy schedule, but there's someone I think you should properly meet. I mean, not in the heat of combat. Or maybe that's what's going to make it work for you. Anyway, here's Claudette, your future wife."
A portal opens next to Snowball, and Claudette tumbles out, "What is it this time?" And then as she recognizes no immediate threats, and sees the little dragon, she nods her head at Snowball, with an inquisitive look toward's Tina, who just nods in response, and takes a pull from her flask. "Oh, hi, I'm Princess Claudette Serzim, of the Gluthurm-Hyronia Slerzims. Tina tells me that our child is going to be the greatest ruler in a dozen generations. You must have an impressive pedigree, and incredible skills, ah, Snowball, was it? Is that your full name?
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After feeling like his bigger size was actively interfering with his burgeoning mental powers, Top-Hat-Bob is very pleased to find his telepathic capacity increasing over the next two days. The obsidian hat sits snugly in his ooze, with just the brim submerged in acid and holding it in place. Whether it is the weight of the hat giving Bob the inertia he needed, or perhaps a hidden magic, Bob has again a much easier time flinging rock and soil about the entrance hall as he works to construct the ultimate defensible position.
He sings as he goes.
Top-Hat-Bob has a hat,
He likes to wear it while snacking on a bat,
It doesn't disappear or dissolve into goo,
It tastes much better than old rat poo.
Top-Hat-Bob is big and sleek,
His mind is strong though his muscles are weak,
He like to move dirt all day long,
And give Cindy orders when she does things wrong.
Top-Hat-Bob takes breaks here and there,
Like to eat another goblin or brush his acid hair,
But most days he just flings rocks around,
His perfect hat is like a bestest crown (ed).
Tina finds Snowball taking yet another break from digging, near Cindy's house. The tiny dragon rolls off her back onto all fours, and no longer looks like a dog hoping for stomach rubs.
"Yes. Snowball is Snowball. Snowball is best dragon! Cinder is dumb. Snowball can hunt good! And make spiky bones!" With her head, she gestures towards some of the rather obvious spike traps near the entrance.
With obvious practice, Claudette smiles at Snowball, but only with her mouth. She looks over at Tina, who gives her a big grin and two tiny thumbs up.
"Ah, Yes. those are very nice bones indeed. And if you say that Cinder is dumb, I can only imagine how positively moronic they must be. And hunting! My father, The King, goes on a hunt every year. He comes back with all kinds of trophies. Elk, Deer, Bear, one time, he even found an Owlbear.
Tina waves her arms, encouraging the princess to go on. Claudette mumbles, "I've guess I've been in more awkward situations before.". She looks around at the cave, and noticing Cindy asks, "Oh, Is this your dollie? I has one just like it when I was younger. No idea where it got off to though. Haven't seen it in years. Mine was named Claudette Jr. What is yours named?
"Cindy is my little sister!" Snowball answers enthusiastically, hopping in place.
"She makes dolls good. Like that goblin doll!" Snowball adds, indicating the grotesque mannequin made of goblin skin, a keep out sign, and essence of nightmare.
Cindy, who had been resting in place while she carefully eyed how to improve the goblin guard doll, hears Claudette and turns around. Seeing that the woman is referring to her, she floats up to eye level and slowly approaches.
As she begins to speak, her normal little girl voice and mannerisms slowly become less innocent and a little more...dark
"Hello Ms. Princess Lady. I am Cindy. I have dolls and lots of toys, but I ... am neither a 'dollie' nor a toy myself ... and would appreciate it ... if you did not treat me as such." She begins to circle around Claudette's head, and when she returns the the front she is the good old Cindy again. "So yeah I like dolls, I can make you a new Claudette Jr. doll! That'd be really cool, wouldn't it Princess Lady?"
Snuggles, who was happily napping when Tina and Claudette arrived, perked up his ears when he heard their conversation. Although his grasp of the common language was slim, he had learned to recognize some words.
As he caught the word "hunt" followed shortly by the word "bear", he lumbered to his feet and reared up menacingly, staring down the puny little princess but staying in place to wait for any command from his mistress.
Having finished introducing herself, Cindy lowers to the ground and happily toddles away back to her goblin doll, but then pauses and turns her head around to look back at Claudette. "Oh, and what did you say about hunting bears?"
Cindy significantly improves her wall while making her doll and shelves.
Sendi, meanwhile, creates a particularly devious trap. She has to repeat her warning to the goblins over and over, however, that there is only fire and no money in the pouch. They simply remain very skeptical.
The former king of the goblins, Skank, explains their skepticism to Sendi. "Can't tell if not shiny in there if I don't pull it out and see!" The other goblins nod emphatically, agreeing with this precise logic.
Skank and the goblins start dancing at the talk of rewards "Shinies! Shinies! Shinies!" Then Tina gives them weapons and they cock their heads then lift them and shout "Pokies to get shinies! Pokies to get shinies!" Skank nods happily and turns to Tina. "We take pokies, go get shinies from longshanks."
While Goldslip is swimming, she sees another shape approaching. A human-sized, bluish girl with bright eyes and smooth skin glides through the water and smiles then opens her mouth and speaks in melodious bubbles.
"Hello! I'm Elarinal and I'm exploring. Who are you?"
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Claudette hears Cindy's suggestion of recreating her childhood doll, and looks at the goblin corpse that has been strung up. "That is certainly a most interesting idea. My little Claudette Jr was, uh, smaller than that. And made out of wheat. And fabric. Soft Fabric. But thank you for the suggestion.[b] At seeing Snuggles loom over her, she turns to Tina, and hurriedly says, "This seems like a very long minute. I'm usually only here for a minute, right, that must be up any second now, no?"
Tina Shakes her head, and mumbles something to the effect of "Well there goes the ring-bear as she opens the portal to send the princess back home.
----
"Skank, this is a big decision, and it affects more than just you and your tribe. Go wait in the library, Lucian's old study. Bring food enough for a few of us."
Tina floats around the cave, look for everyone, and coaxing them into coming to the library. "Team meeting in the Library, 10 minutes. Skank is bringing snacks."
As the group comes together into the library, Tina notices how many of them don't actually eat food, which is probably for the best, since whatever Skank assembled is pushing the limits of the word "food" anyways.
"Hello, everyone. Skank has put forward the idea that he and his goblin tribe will go on raids, I'm assuming down to Trogsdale, to take loot and other valuables from the villagers."
Tina floats around the room, "I would like to state that I think this a bad idea. It seems that with my brother's plans developing, we will have to leave the cave more often. This means that if the Trogsdalians decide to take revenge on Skank's people, they will raid this cave. We won't be around to help defend the goblins, so they'll almost certainly be massacred." She lingers her gaze, locking eyes with Skank. "And they'll likely break down any walls, traps, or other improvements that any of you have made. You'd lose your home, and anything you've put in it."[b]
She meanders back to the head of the room. [b]"More important than any of that, though, is that Trogsdale is under my protection. I've spent no small effort over the centuries making it known as a place where disreputable magic items can be offloaded, and encouraging the shopkeeps to turn a blind eye towards unspeakable evils. It's the only village of its size in 1500 miles that has both a combination cheese- and magic-item-monger. The Eldritch fumes give the Camembert a truly unique flavour. So, Skank. If you harm a single Trogsdalian, I will visit the same fate upon your tribe tenfold. If you do not have enough tribe to do so, I will wait, and help you grow until you do. All the while, you will know that any success you achieve will only make your downfall more painful.
She flits back, no longer in Skank's face. That said, I do acknowledge that Goblins are, by nature, a raiding people. So, I think we should open the floor to ideas of places that Skank could raid, If not Trogsdale. There are other villages, further away, yes, but I don't care about them, and I know that you would be responsible, and make sure that the raids couldn't be trace back to here, Right Skank? I think the next village is over the big hills, but that puts it in the range of another Goblin Band? With any luck they'll take the retaliation for your actions"
Skank brings a well-expired bird's egg, some raw root vegetables, a live centipede, and a lizard that has been dead at least a week to the library as snacks. There he listens gravely to everything Tina has to say, nodding obediently, occasionally vigorously as well. When she mentions tenfold revenge, he has to take his shoes off for a brief period of mental calculations.
Snowball happily freezes and eats the now-crunchy snacks. Except the raw vegetables. Much like most goblins, she doesn't eat vegetables unless she absolutely must to survive.
"Snowball like shiny too!" she announces between crunchy mouthfuls.
"Goblin bring shiny?"
Goldslip spends more time in the second flooded chamber than in the first, once she discovers that a kelpie is living there. She is so excited to have another aquatic creature of intelligence in Last Hill!
"Hello Elarinal! My name is Goldslip. You're exploring? Where did you come from?"
"They won't be needlessly murdering, will they?" Goldslip asks. "I hope they're mostly just planning on thievery..."
Cindy sits impatiently, wanting to either get back to decorating and dollmaking or be back in the field in the wild under the stars with all the warm feelings the empty world provides.
"Tina is right. Those people are ours." she states tonelessly and then turns to Skank and says more cheerfully "You can play with the other people farther away! We have these, you have those. That's called sharing!"
Skank eyes Goldslip and cocks his head and states "Oh, um, No. No needles murd."
It looks like Skank isn't entirely sure what "needless murder" means as this is a kind of strange concept to him. But he certainly doesn't want any of the boss monsters to get upset wth him.
Elarinal smiles warmly and gestures gracefully back toward the east wall. "There's a small passage there. I had to squeeze but I could swim right in from the river. I live up the river several leagues." She looks around the flooded chamber. "Do you live alone in this cave? It seems like a very interesting place to live but being alone would be sad."
"I came from outside, too! I had a stream to myself down the river a ways, back then. But, no, I don't live alone in this cave--I have several friends. Would you like to meet them?"
- - - - - -
"Great! This sounds okay to me."
Snowball happily munches her frozen treats, unaware of any and all goblin shenanigans.
In her sweetest voice, Sendi said ”Oh Skank. If anyone of your goblins ruins my trap then I am going to need another corpse to replace it. Wouldn’t it just be horrible if I had to use you to send a message to the goblins that my toys aren’t to be broken? As they’re leader I am sure that they will respect you enough to ensure that doesn’t happen.”
Tina remains dubious of Skank's definition of the word "needless", and simply advises him "Stay out of Trogsdale. I'll be checking in with the villagers regularly, and if I hear the word 'goblin', or 'something's missing', even once, I know who I will be holding responsible." She flits around the room. "That said, so long as you stay out of there, and make sure nobody follows you home, have fun, and good raiding. DO you know where where you will be going?"
Skank nods nervously to Sendi when she explains to him what needs to happen.
Skank nods nervously to Tina when she explains to him what needs to happen.
"Sure!" cries Elarinal. "You are quite polite and nice so I'm sure it will be a pleasure to meet your friends." As you begin swimming up and out of the flooded chamber, she comments "I'm exploring because I love it. But also because some of my people have gotten sick and I'm looking for a cure."
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While you are in your meeting, you hear words in your head from the wizard adventurer you allied with to try to find the shards of the artifact needed to defeat shadow-Sevren, the first of which was Alloura's star. "Tylia here. Found a shard. There is another in Charon's Necropolis, a doomed city of dead one hundred miles south by southeast of you."
Snowball suddenly stops crunching her frozen treats and sits bolt upright. Usually she can feel others are nearby when she hears them talking. Snowball looks around wildly as she accidentally answers the Sending.
"Hi Talia. Where, 'here'? How you not smell? Auntie Tina, what's a necro-police?"
Snowball turns away from Tina and hops out of and back in through each entryway to the room in turn.
"Tylia good at hiding." She announces, upon finding neither hide nor hair of Tylia.