Believing that he had found a good route, the Gnome took off in another direction.
Anghariel stumbles as she tries to leap the cart while Gigon enters his mind palace before running down an alley that leads nowhere and Milo just falls on his ass.
Osveta and Pollo manage a much better time of things and start bearing down on Phinick!
The panicked goblin exits the market and heads down a road to some more houses in a dead run. You all manage to get onto his tail to try and catch up.
Milo swore as he wiped out. He sprang to his feet and rejoined the chase.
”Hey! Slow down!” Osveta calls out again after the goblin.
Pollo tries to control his breathing as he forces his legs to turn over faster and faster, bearing down on the goblin.
"We trying to catch the goblin or are we just racing?!" he flashes a grin as he matches pace with Osveta.
Catching back up to the others, the Gnome moved as fast as his legs could carry him.
”Why not both!” Osveta cackles back at Pollo.
Anghariel tries to judge distance for a spell but Phinick is just out of range. She desperately tries to keep up with the group while the rest of you turn out to be able sprinters and continue to gain on the little goblin.
Phinick slides into a muddy alleyway where the going gets treacherous thanks to an upended rain barrel.
Successes:
Osveta - 2
Pollo - 2
Anghariel - 0
Gigon - 1
Milo - 1
Gigon looked about for better route, but something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention for a moment. Focusing that direction, he saw nothing.
Milo ran into the alleyway, but slipped and lost precious time.
Pollo grins at the challenge, picking up his pace again just before turning down the muddy alleyway. Seeing the slick spot, he shifts his weight back a little and attempts to plant both feet in the mud, using his momentum to surf through the mess and stay on his feet.
Without missing a beat, the athletic young man coasts across the treacherous ground and effortlessly transitions back into a steady sprint, turning his legs over as quickly as he can to close the gap on the goblin, and increase the gap over Osveta.
Returning to the task at hand, Gigon gauged the distance of the goblin and threw the tanglefoot bag.
Rather than rushing heedlessly after the goblin and risking an altogether undignified spill, the elf pauses and considers whether there’s a safer or swifter way to catch up to him.
Gigon flings his tanglefoot bag... annnd misses. Anghariel continues to struggle to keep up - it turns out that her dreams of competing in the decathalon may very well be dashed. Anghariel, Gigon, and Milo all take spills in the mud as they try to catch up.
You all make your way through the alleyway which ends at a yard with a very, very large dog in it. You see Phinick flatten himself against the wall and creep through the bushes. However, you have almost caught him.
Osveta - 3
Pollo - 3
Anghariel - 0
Gigon - 1
Milo - 1
Milo retched and slowly got to his feet.
Osveta drops to all fours in prowl as she keeps up her pursuit.
Osveta manages to slink right after Phinick and just as he's about to leap out of the yard, she crouches, leaps into the air...
And tackles him!!
Phinick goes down with a yelp and Osveta mangaes to drag him by the scruff of his neck into the alleyway while everyone recovers from the chase.
Phinick immediately bursts into tears.
"IDIDN'TDOITIDIDN'TTHINKITWOULDKILLHIMITSNOTMYFAULTHEMADEMEDOITAHHHHHH!!!!"
Milo stood up and, covered in mud, made is way over to Phinnick. "OK, slow down and start from the beginning. Take your time and tell us what happened."
When Phinnick started telling his story, the Halfling observed him carefully, looking for clues about his truthfulness.
"Breathe Phinick, breathe..." Osveta softly tells the goblin.
Phinick inhales and outhales rapidly, trying to calm himself down as everyone speaks quietly and nicely to the little goblin. He gulps noisily and tries again.
"H-hallod made me put a special spice in Bort's porridge before it got to the table. He said it would make him sick, but I didn't know it would make him dead! I didn't have no choice Hallod was gonna take my thumbs! HE'S SO MEAN TO ME! I'M SO SORRY!!!!" Phinick starts wailing again.
Milo can't really tell if Phinick is lying or not. He seems pretty convincing.
Keeping her voice level Osveta gently pats the goblin on the head as she asks ”Who is Hallod?”
Milo commented to the everyone present, "He could be the 'H' in Bort's notes."
Addressing Phinick, he asked, "Can you tell us where we can find Hallod?"
Anghariel quietly walks up while the others are talking to Phinick, picking at the mud newly staining her robes for all the good that will do – it’s not like they were spotless before. She looks down at the snivelling goblin; it is a pathetic sight for sure, but she can’t help pitying him a little as well. At this point she feels she does have the vaguest of ideas what it’s like to be viewed with contempt by the rest of the world.
“I hope this Hallod is the ‘H’ we are looking for,” she says, “because if he isn’t, I don’t know what else is left for us to investigate.”
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Pollo stands warily in front of the dog, trying to keep his hand from shaking as he holds out a piece of dried trail rations. "Easy boy. Eeeaaaasy boy..."
In all of his focus to get past the dog, he completely misses Osveta beat him to the prize and the rest of the group interrogating the goblin.
The dog's growls seem to get softer and softer, turning into a low rumble. Unfortunately for Pollo, he is relatively untrained in the ways of handling a dog, and doesn't realize that it's hackles are still up.
Sudden snarling, barking and a high pitched yelp can be heard in the distance.
Pollo rushes up to the group, face flushed and his right hand tucked into his tunic. "Hey everybody. Nice work!" he says, breathing heavily.
"Don't ask." he answers the unasked question, unprompted.
"So, We finally find you Phinick. You are a sneaky one! After you answer their questions, tell me, how does a goblin find himself living with humans?"
Phinick slowly calms down. "I... I know where Hallod lives - Dead Willow. It's not.." He inhales sharply. "Old ruined house by a dead willow. Never visited him there. I can take you."
"So, We finally find you Phinick. You are a sneaky one! After you answer their questions, tell me, how does a goblin find himself living with humans?"
Phinick sniffles. "P-plague killed my parents when I was real little. After goblinblood wars my people spread out. My parents said our village was destroyed in the counter-attacks."
Milo asked the goblin, "Is Hallod the big bald man who hit you in the Feedmill, when we first arrived?"
He looked around at the group, "Everyone ready for a confrontation? I think it's time to go and talk to Hallod."
Osveta arches a brow as Pollo finally rejoins them before going back to keeping a calming hand on Phinick's head. "Yes, we have words for him." she says to Milo.
Gigon was hardly paying attention. He just could not shake the feeling that something was watching him, and it was making him quite uneasy.
Phinick nods wordlessly, confirming Hallod as the bully you saw the Feedmill earlier. You make your way to the Dead Willow.
---
A huge, dead willow stands in front of a house that appears to be in serious disrepair. It might have had a second story at one time, but that long ago collapsed into ruin, taking parts of the first floor with it. The windows are all boarded over, and the front door hangs open about a foot, kept from swinging wider by a frayed rope.
Phinick finishes leading you and points at it timidly. "E..everyone says he lives here. I don't fight though, can I go?"
"Nope." Osveta remarks as she head for the building.
Milo asked Phinick, "Where can we find you later? We don't want to have to be chasing you again."
After talking to the goblin, the halfling had a good look at the ramshackle house. "What a dump," he muttered to himself as he eyed the front door, wary that Hallod might have booby-trapped it.
Milo and Osveta boldly head for the door. As Osveta starts to move in after a quick check, Milo throws out a hand, stopping the woman.
Peering through the open door, Milo spots a stupidly large crossbow rigged to fire if the door is opened the entire way.
"A little paranoid this guy." Pollo rolls his eyes when the perceptive halfling points out the trap. "You think he is even home? I can circle around back just in case..." the young man adds. He stops short of actually drawing his weapon, but the thought crosses his mind a few times.
Pollo moves through the underbrush, peering into the house as he circles around the east side, looking at windows and possible doors. With a trap like that, his readiness is on edge, expecting that this H character might not be too inclined to talk, especially now that they believe he is responsible for the extra ingredient in the soup.
Milo waited for Pollo to check the back of the house.
Sticking close to (and staying behind) the others, the wizard focusses on probing these squalid new environs for any signs of magic. It doesn’t strike her as likely that there is anything to be found here, but who knows?
Gigon pulled out a vial of bluish liquid as they approached the house. Even out here, the Gnome still felt watched and it was starting to really get to him.
Gigon pulled out a vial of bluish liquid as they approached the house. Even out here, the Gnome still felt watched and it was starting to really get to him.
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Pollo and Milo move around to the back of the house and take a look at it while Gigon pulls out some weird liquid that nobody makes a big deal out of.
Pollo notices something odd - the boarded up window is missing some nails. Examining it a little more closely, he realizes that it's a secret entrance. The boards are attached to the window - but it's all on a hinge. However, it's latches. Some trickery or brute force could get the rear window open.
"Hey everyone, come check this secret door out. Wonder if we could get the jump on this guy through here." he says, not really considering that someone inside might be able to hear.
He moves towards it to see if he can get it open from the outside, but pauses, just in case one of his companions has a better idea.
Milo came around the house to check out the secret entrance that Pollo had found. After checking for traps, he looked for a way to open it the easy way.
The Gnome moved around to the others and kept an eye out for anyone coming.
Pollo sticks a dagger into the latch and with a thump of his fist, pops the window open.
The interior of the house is a ruin of rubble, piled high and nigh-impassable. However, as you start to look in, you notice a crawlway has been dug through the rubble which leads you into the remainder of the house.
Milo looked into the interior of the house, "I don't fancy crawling through there myself. Much safer to go in the front door, I should think."
"Woah woah woah, Milo. Isn't the front door a really bad idea?"
Milo replied to Gigon, "At least I'd be able to defend myself, if I met someone who wished to do me harm. Crawling in though here — not so much!"
"Fair point."
You can see the front door from this room and it just leads into the same area. The rest of the house is impassable without the crawlway or a lot of work hauling out junk.