"Oh, and I want to see the Bumblebashers mascot!"
Warbal looks stricken at the mention. "Oh, I hope Big Bumble didn't get eaten by the dragons!"
Gellius nods at Revka’s comment, rubbing his bandaged wounds with a grimace.
“I definitely would like a good night’s rest,” he says. “But tomorrow at least, I think we should poke around the parts of the citadel we haven’t seen. Make sure there’s no more nasties lurking about to threaten the tribe. Or that those graveshells haven’t snuck back in to the Castle to cause more trouble. I mean, I know we were only tasked with defeating the not-dragon, but it can’t hurt to be thorough, right? I mean if everyone else agrees?”
He ends by looking around at the rest of the group, gauging their interest in continuing the exploration.
“And with their permission,” he adds quickly in answer to Aronida.
Under Helba's instruction, the Bumblebrashers are preparing to return back down the staircase, smothering their fire and gathering up what odds and ends they managed to carry away when fleeing the not-dragon. The first goblins down the stairs stop in consternation when they reach the premature end of the stairway.
From her position at the back, Revka cranes her neck to figure out what caused the goblins to stop. "తప్పేంటి?"
"I won't be able to cast any of my best spells until I rest," Darla tells the others quietly. "Still, a quick exploration before we head back to town seems prudent."
From her position at the back, Revka cranes her neck to figure out what caused the goblins to stop. "తప్పేంటి?"
"మెట్ల పగిలిపోయింది," one points out. "మాకు తాడు అవసరం."
A coil of thin and tattered rope is passed from hand to hand down to the broken end of the staircase. It appears to have been spliced and tied together from several smaller ropes of various thicknesses, some barely broader than a piece of string.
"That's the rope they let me down on to come fetch you," Warbal intimates with satisfaction.
Gethric follows along towards the middle of the bumble of goblins... lending a tad bit of skepticism towards the goblin-rope and wondering whether it would be strong enough for those endowed with more height than himself.
"Wow, Warbal," Revka says with pride, "you really are very brave."[b] She's switched to Common again for the benefit of her friends. [b]"But we have better rope now, don't we? That'll surely hold everyone." She looks down carefully and eyes the improvised rope, trying to gauge whether their length of rope would be.
Aronida is definitely not inclined to trust the goblins' 'rope.' "Here, use mine. It got us all up here with no problems."
Once again she loops the rope over the rusty hook.
Aronida deftly substitutes her own more reliable rope for the goblins' patchwork one, and the Bumblebrashers and their hero-guests safely reach ground level. Most of the goblins gather curiously around the remains of the slain not-dragon; Helba shows a greater interest in the buried corpse beneath the fallen stairs and collapsed tower.
The goblin chief again employs Warbal to translate. "That's the way we came up when we ran from the dragons," Warbal explains. "Underneath, there are stairs down to our home. We have another way in -- don't worry -- but Helba thought the dragons came down this way. Now she says it looks like the stairs are too small for them, so maybe they did come in our secret way. She was wondering, would you mind checking to see if there are any more downstairs before we all go back?"
Safely restored to relative ground level Gethric queries "Which way is it to the secret way?"
Warbal lowers her voice to a hoarse whisper, though it's not clear who she thinks may be eavesdropping. "You go out behind the castle. There's a door in the side of the hill. I can show you."
Gethric puts a solemn expression on his face and nods conspiratorially, before turning up to his companions "Should we go around back past the pond? That way we can keep the tribe safe and then clear up from there?"
"I for one could use a good night's sleep before any further adventures," Gellius says, wincing slightly in discomfort. "I think we should celebrate the victory in our first, real battle. It seems to me that we could rest in the first few rooms we entered through. Or maybe in the woods just outside the citadel?" turning to the chief, he continues for everyone to hear.
"Chief Helba," he begins with a slight inclination of his head, instinctively adopting a tone and stance for court, despite it being inappropriately formal. "Might I humbly suggest a night of rest and celebration, before we return you safely to your homes? The defeat of the not-dragon didn't come without cost and I'd be nervous should we meet another in our current state. There are a few relatively safe rooms down the halls that we entered from, perhaps a campfire and a shared meal outside the walls of the castle? Followed by a good night's rest? If you think it wise, of course."
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Revka the opportunity to 'translate' Gellius's words. She keeps a respectful posture towards the goblin chief and occasionally points this want and that while she speaks.
"చీఫ్ హెల్బా, ఇక్కడ నా స్నేహితుడు జెల్లియస్ మేము తలదాచుకునే ముందు రాత్రి ముందుగా విశ్రాంతి తీసుకోవాలనుకుంటున్నాము, తద్వారా మరింత ప్రమాదం ఎదుర్కొనే ముందు మాకు సరైన విశ్రాంతి లభిస్తుంది. అతను అక్కడ ఉన్న గదులలో, బయట అడవిలో, ఆహారాన్ని పంచుకునేందుకు మరియు రాత్రి నిద్రించడానికి ఇష్టపడతాడు. ఓహ్, మరియు అతను చాలా ఫాన్సీ పదాలను ఉపయోగిస్తున్నాడు, కానీ జెల్లియస్ ఎలా మాట్లాడుతుందో మరియు అన్నింటినీ అనువదించడం నిజంగా బోరింగ్ అవుతుంది, మనకు పదాలు కూడా ఉంటే."
Helba listens to Revka's interpretation, then nods judiciously. "నాకు అర్థమైనది. మేము మా భోజనం కోసం మేత చేస్తాము." She gets the attention of the Bumblebrashers growing brave enough to attempt to scale the sides of the not-dragon and begins to issue orders.
Noting that the decision to rest seems to have been confirmed, Gethric takes in the quantity of Bumblebrashers musing "Might be best in the woods? - rather than all squished into a room?"
Aronida concurs with the idea of taking a rest. "It's been a long day. We've put out a fire, frightened off graveshells, killed a not-dragon...I could use a break." She looks around at the gathered goblins. "Personally I'd be more comfortable staying in the citadel. It's more defensible. Out in the forest a group this size would attract the attention of every creature for miles, even if we didn't start a fire. Most wild animals would avoid us, but you never know what else is out there."
"Camping inside the fortress somewhere makes the most sense to me...unless there's a bear on the loose!"
"Oh, don't worry,"" Warbal reassures Darla. "Big Bumble wouldn't eat anyone ... as long as he's not hungry."
"ఎలుగుబంటి ఈ మెట్ల ద్వారా ఎక్కలేవు," Helba reasons, jabbing her stick at the collapsed staircase. "అది మరొక తలుపు ద్వారా బయటకు వెళితే, అతను కోటలో కాకుండా బయట ఉంటాడు."
Warbal nods in agreement. "Helba says Big Bumble can't come up this way because the stairs are all broke, and if he goes out the other way, he'll be outside."
Revka squats with her back resting to one of the intact walls. She seems bored of the conversation. "It doesn't really matter all that much, does it? We'll draw attention, anyway. But out group is large enough to scare off any predators/ Still, I think in her is easier, we're here already!" She grins, and seems ready to doze off on the spot.
With the not-dragon vanquished, there is now leisure to examine the room which opens onto the courtyard. Further inside the citadel, with no immediate access to the outside, the furniture in here is intact: rows of benches facing a wide dais. This must have been a meeting area of some kind for the Hellknights. In addition to the gate to the courtyard and the door into the turret by which the party entered the room, there are four other doors. Gellius is sure that the one in the northwest leads back into the citadel walls to continue circling the courtyard.
“I think the courtroom makes the most sense,” Gellius says ticking off the advantages he sees on the fingers of one hand. “We’ve already searched it and know it’s currently safe, it’s unlikely the graveshells would have set up there if it was the lair of something else, it’s defensible, we have the flexibility of being able to move out into the woods or deeper into the citadel, should we need to flee for any reason.”
“This other room seems safe too, but we have four unopened doors to guard and some of us are fairly worn out. I’d like to poke around in there eventually, but in the meantime...I vote for the rooms we entered through.”
"Agreed. I'd rather camp in a known area than somewhere new." Aronida shoulders her bow and starts walking back to the graveshell's area.
The party troops back into the corridor inside the walls to the courtroom, Bumblebrashers in tow. Revka can overhear Warbal excitedly telling the other goblins about the tricky corpse-tortoises and how the party vanquished and exiled them. Once they arrive, Helba sends some of the tribe out to hunt for food, while others begin gathering the scattered shard of broken furniture to build a fire.
Darla opts to explore the courtroom more thoroughly, mainly to make sure there are no giant bugs hidden amongst the rubble and shadows, but she also keeps an eye out for valuables.
Aronida joins Darla as she begins double-checking the area, not wanting to run into any surprises.
Gellius also searches, but spends most of his time at the breach of the wall, trying to assess the damage and form a view on the chances of being able to repair the citadel and rehabilitate it.
Darla joins the Bumblebrashers as they gather wood chips for the fire. As she turns through the debris with her toe, much more cautiously than the goblins grab at the fragments as she is wary of vermin, she hears a metallic chink. Examining the area beneath her feet more closely, she discovers that a couple of tarnished and mud-caked coins have clinked together among the refuse. With a thorough search of the filthy floor, she eventually turns up a sizeable pile of coins: 40 copper, 14 silver, and 6 gold.
Aronida doesn't risk opening any doors that haven't already been opened, not with the Bumblebrashers' safety to consider, but she double-checks the intact office in the northeast corner that Darla and Revka glanced through, to be sure that it harbors no dangers. As she checks the area under the desk, she notices some crumpled papers that are caught between the outside of the drawer box and the slide on which it travels back and forth. With some care, she removes them without tearing them. They are covered in writing that is unfamiliar to her.
Gellius begins picking up wood with the goblins, but he finds himself distracted by the collapsed walls and wondering what could be done to repair them. As he stares at the marshy ground where the graveshells had hidden, he remembers the dry fountain in the courtyard. Surely once there had been water flowing there and dry ground here. It's possible ... yes! Clearly the Hellknights had utilized an underground spring to divert fresh water to the heart of their citadel. The underground piping must have become either clogged or broken and the water backed up beneath the foundation. If the piping can be repaired, the fountain in the courtyard should once again flow and the ground here dry so that the walls can be replaced and made sturdy once more.
Revka chats with some of the Bumblebashers as they gather wood for a fire. She goes around bestowing Desna's blessing, and will check on any goblins that seem injured from their ordeal.
Seeing that the others are busying searching within, Gethric looks to stealthily search without. Keeping out of sight in the undergrowth he tries to snare a few coneys or forage for some mushrooms and tubers to aid their repast.
Revka finds the Bumblebrashers enthusiastic patients; after she has treated the goblins with actual wounds, the rest line up to display stubbed toes, moles, freckles, acne, and funny-looking warts.
Gethric joins the hunter-gatherers outside the citadel. Unfortunately, he finds that his hunting style is incompatible with that of the goblin hunters, which seems to consist of being as loud as possible and wandering in small groups at random, so that small animals panicked by the sounds are mathematically likely to run in the direction of more hunting goblins. The coneys Gethric attempt to stalk are wise enough to seek their dens with the Bumblebrashers on the loose, but the goblins still manage to kill several squirrels.
The Bumblebrashers who stayed behind quickly have a fire burning. They seem little interested in a fire ring, but fortunately the marshy ground limits the danger of the flames spreading where they aren't wanted. There is some lamentation that the cook pot was left behind in their subterranean home, as it is much faster and easier to just throw everything in together in the goblin delicacy known as a కాసేరోల్లో. When Revka explains that it is colloquially known as "try your luck" or "it all comes out in the end," the party is silently grateful for the absence of the cook pot, as they can at least pick and choose what they want to eat.
After a lot of grumbling about how long it takes to cook everything separately and at least three Bumblebrashers briefly catching fire to the applause of their compatriots, the gathered bounty is arrayed for the participants in the feast: roasted squirrel, handfuls of summer berries, a pile of cooked spiders a Bumblebrasher found swarming in a hollow tree, a salad of slightly wilted greens, roasted larvae of some sort, an assortment of lizards, a collection of toadstools, and some early nuts.
Aronida partakes in the spread, at least of the food she recognizes. Larvae are an excellent source of protein, lizards are fine, the berries look safe, and the toadstools...well, she avoids those. And the spiders. And discretely suggests the others do the same. "Not entirely sure I trust those to not be poisonous," she mutters.
Even with the food she's wary of, it's still a decent feast, certainly better than trail rations. She pats her slightly-distended belly with a sigh. "Revka? Could you thank Helba for me? It was a good feast."
Gathering the others, she suggests they set up a watch order. "Doesn't matter to me what watch I take, so long as someone's on watch at all times. We may have killed the not-dragon," (she's briefly distracted by amusement at the thought that she's adopted Revka's vocabulary), "but who knows what else is out there."
Revka does what she can to soothe the Bumblebashes that come to her with their variety of 'ailments'. She even manages to put out those goblins that catch themselves on fire, before they can inflict too much damage on themselves or anyone else.
After a busy day of adventuring, Revka greedily puts together a place of food. At Aronida's mention, she leaves the spiders. "Too bad, they looked nice and spicey..." She has an extra serving of lizards, hoping that those are spiced up nicely.
After dinner, she lets out a satisfying burp and thanks Helba and the rest of the Bumblebashers. "Setting a watch sounds good. But could I sleep first? It's been aaaages since I've had a decent nap." She yawns mightily to stress her point
Having grown up amidst the comestibles that the Orted bakery churned out daily... Gethric can't quite bring himself to engage in the culinary delights turned out by the Bumblebrasher gourmands. Left instead with a less than satisfying salad of berries and nuts, the halfling still has a gnawing hole in his gut as evening falls.
Volunteering for first duty he muses "I'm happy to keep my rest until later... be good to work out some of the stiffness in my leg." patting his still ginger limb where the bloodstains have mostly crusted and dried.
Swallowing nervously, Gellius tries to be polite but can’t face a meal so far removed from the chef-prepared meals of his home. He makes something of a performance of enjoying a berry or two, but resolves to sneak some trail rations later during his watch.
“Wake me up after a couple of hours? I’ll take second watch,” he says to Gethric, before retiring to a secluded corner to lay out his bedroll. Before bed, he takes out some paper, ink and a quill, jotting down notes on the structural integrity of the keep and what the group have discovered so far.
Darla nibbles some nuts and berries and then politely chews on a piece of cooked lizard...and chews...and chews....
"I'll take last watch," she chimes in when the watch schedule is being discussed. Then she cleans up a corner, removes her armor and uses it as a sort of half-arsed mattress, curls up and tries to sleep.
The night passes uneventfully. For the most part, the distractions of sleeping on a stone floor with a tribe of goblins are offset by the exertion of the previous day's trek to the citadel and fights with the graveshells and the not-dragon.
Helba and Warbal approach the group as they are making their preparations for the day.
"Helba had Babmub draw you this," Warbal offers a scrap of parchment. "He's our best draw-er. It's a map so you'll know where you're going when you get downstairs. That's where Big Bumble lives,"" she points to a room at the top of the map. "Bumblebrashers stay out of these halls because of the dead longshanks," she points to three openings at the bottom of the map, "and we don't go past these doors because of angry monsters," she concludes, with her finger at the right edge of the map.
When Darla awakens, she look a bit worse for wear (especially her hair, which seems to have particularly missed her favorite pillow back home). Yet there's also a certain glow about the young woman.
Well, you did it, girl! You're officially a hero after this and have proven yourself a true Uskwold!
When she sees the goblin drawing map, she diplomatically states that it appears very neat and thorough.
Big Bumble doesn't look all that ferocious....
"This is where you get in by the secret door" she continues, sliding her finger back to the left side of the parchment. "When you're ready, I can show you."
Gethric takes in the map with due appreciation to its colourful accoutrements. Musing he reconfirms their plans "So out and around to the secret way, take a look downstairs... then see if we can do anything about these dead longshanks or angry monsters?"
"No, no," Warbal shakes her head. "Dead longshanks and angry monsters are fine. They stay in their place, and Bumblebrashers stay in ours. Just make sure there are no more dragons ... except Pib and Zarf," she amends.
Gethric initially responds to the start of Warbal's warbles "But what about when Bumblebrashers tribe gets bigger, wouldn't you want the spa..." pausing... double taking... and musing with elevated eyebrow "What are Pib and Zarf?"
Revka sleeps well, although he has been quite some time that she's been surrounded by so many of her fellow goblins. She's eager to get back to it the next morning, wanting to live up to their new image of heroes among the Bumblebashers.
She studies the goblin-drawn map, along with Darla and Gethric. "What's this," she asks as she points near the middle of the map to what seem to be two short hallways running left-right and connecting the corridor that leads to Big Bumble.
Gethric initially responds to the start of Warbal's warbles "But what about when Bumblebrashers tribe gets bigger, wouldn't you want the spa..." pausing... double taking... and musing with elevated eyebrow "What are Pib and Zarf?"
"They say they are dragons," Warbal replies doubtfully, "but they don't look very much like the not-dragons. They're small like goblins, and they stand on two feet, but they have scaly skin...."
She studies the goblin-drawn map, along with Darla and Gethric. "What's this," she asks as she points near the middle of the map to what seem to be two short hallways running left-right and connecting the corridor that leads to Big Bumble.
Warbal peers at the map. "Doors. Shortcuts. So we don't have to go all the way back to the big hall to go from room to room. We mostly eat here," she points to the skinny room in the middle, "and sleep and play over here," she moves her finger to the cluster of rooms to the east. "Pib and Zarf live here." Her finger moves back to the single room on the west.
"That's clever", Revka nods at the explanation concerning the shortcuts. "So we have to go past Pib and Zarf to check on Big Bumble. Right?"