You find yourselves in one of the many open and lush rooms of Katapesh. Like many others in the great trade city the room is appointed to conduct business but also offers comfort from the day’s sun and heat. This room also has many more furnishings for small humanoids. That and quietly snoozing goblin dog lounging in the shade near the splashing fountain tells that this is the office of the respected goblin merchant Yigrig Money Moneymaker.
As you settle in, your host, a well dressed elderly goblin gentleman enters with a following of smaller goblin children. “Okay, yungins. I have to take care of some work, go and play..CAREFULLY.. In the courtyard. I should be back out before sundown” The small entourage exits excitedly out towards the center of the house.
Yigrig Moneymaker, the powerful goblin merchant, slumps in a large chair. His face, normally so proud and assured, looks troubled. “It’s good to see you, Pathfinders! I have a lot of respect for the Society. You’ve been good to me in the past, and my family has aided you in return. But today I come before you, my hat in my hands, in need of help."
“My family and I have almost brokered a trade agreement between the cities of Solku and Oenopion. It’s a beneficial deal, one where Solku gains the materials it needs to defend itself, Oenopion gains a new trading partner, and everyone stands to make a heap of coin. There’s only one issue standing in the way of the negotiation being finalized: a bridge must be constructed over the Elemion River to facilitate safe travel between the two cities. My family is responsible for building and maintaining this bridge. It should have been a simple job… easy to pull off."
“It has been anything but easy.”
The old goblin leans forward. “Every morning at the work camp, it is discovered that more of my children have been pulled from their beds in the night, presumed dead. Every shipment of aid I send gets attacked. The last one I sent did not even arrive."
“There is a lot of money riding on this deal, but I admit this isn’t about money anymore. This is personal. Someone is harming my family and I can’t sit by and let that happen. I have contracted the Pathfinder Society to protect the bridge and surrounding work camp while construction is completed. I have a caravan ready to leave, filled with new workers and supplies for the bridge site. I want you on it. When you see it safely to the bridge site, I need you to stop the attacks on the camp by any means necessary until the job is complete. When you get to the work camp, you will meet my son Zig, the overseer of the project. Sweet kid… takes after his old man. He’ll be your liaison with the workers and see to your needs."
“Nothing is more important than family. Nothing. And so, I’m asking you to take care of mine. Our future is in your hands.”
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d'Log listens to the merchant man with great admiration, then turns a slideways glance at Dahros
Friend moneymaker. I have been traveling with this group for some time. They seem to be well diverse in their abilities. The other short lady, a gnome in fact, tends to be swooning over this large human oaf. They have a disgusting hobby of sharing laps. Truly degenerate. This elf is is an enigma to me. The dwarf over there seems to be angry and really doesn't preform too well in storms.
I, am Thelonious. My non goblin friends call me d'Log. I served as a doctor and smuggler during the wars.
d'Log pauses for a moment as is custom
Family.
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my mistake, this is Rolo, I have nothing but the best to say of him. He speaks our tounge and has always been kind to us small folk. I trust him as if he was one of mine.
d'Log turns to Dahros
Your people have a special view of goblins, and if I play into that illusion it becomes easier to blend in. A learned goblin sticks out like a human with a gnome on his lap.
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"Ohhh Another escort the wagon mission. No problem. There don't happen to be any magic shells you are carrying around huh?" she snickers to herself, as she finds herself in the room with some familiar faces.
"now I must agree with Rolo here. Do you think either city is trying to sabotage the agreement, or do you think this might be some sort of outside forces at play here."
"Nobody saw anything during the attacks, or at least no one who lived to tell anything. There were smudges in the ground that might have been paw prints, but might not have been as well. As forwho might want this plan stopped, well there are my economic rivals, of course, but there are so many of those it would be hard to point to a name. And I don't really think that is it. Not murder of this magnitude. But, I have been wrong before at the lengths to which some humans would go for profit."
This last was said with a bit of emphasis, as if there was a particular story he had in mind, though he chose not to share it.
"I'm sorry, magic shells? No, we use toilet paper like everyone else." Yigrig looked confused at Nali's statement.
"Humph! Just like these little ones! What good are goblin ears if you do not listen? All survivors are at the camp, and you will have a letter of introduction if you need it, though they already know I plan on sending a party of Pathfinders to help."
"The Camp is only two days a way. You will need to spend one night out on the road with the caravan. Though in the past we have not had any problems getting to the camp. Just at the camp."
“Zig will give you more information, but so long as you can prevent goblins from being killed or abducted, the bridge can be built on schedule. If the threats to the goblin workers persist, the builders will remain too scared to finish the job. Personally, I can’t blame them for that.”
Some of you know the area, or at least about the area. It is the natural habitat for great beasts such as lions, panthers, wolves, and more. Such creatures might be responsible for the attacks, though it is rare that such beasts would attack a defended camp like that.
Congrats on the critical success. You get a +1 circumstance bonus to all init rolls made against ANIMALS in this scenario.
Congrats on the critical failure. You get a -1 circumstance bonus to all init rolls made against ANIMALS in this scenario.
A small goblin child rushes in and starts pulling on Yigrig's sleeve. The old goblin smiles. "Soon Mamei. Let me finish with these nice pathfinders." The little goblin puts on an over exaggerated pout but then Yigrig produces what seems to be some type of candy and the child sequels and runs back out.
"If you have nothing else. You can see my next client is getting impatient. Gather what you may think you need here in Katapesh and then I will take you to the caravan"
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Dahros has no idea what is going on with all of this goblin talk. He's about to ask what the hell they are saying, but when he opens his mouth , Ava plops a date in and pats his cheek so he just smiles and chews it up instead.
When he's done chewing, he agrees. "Oh yeah, us humans will go to great lengths to get what we want."
He picks up a few items from the Society before heading to the wagon and patting his lap. "Time to make Log jealous!"
"I do not, but you can find almost anything in the markets of Katapesh. If you'd like to do some shopping, I can wait an hour before delivering you to the caravan. Or, if not, we can go now. Just let me know"
After finishing getting your supplies, Yigrig, leads you to a goblin caravan. The goblin caravan consists of 4 Huge wagons and 20 nervous goblin workers. It also contains a trove supplies including wooden beams and food. The leader of the caravan is a goblin named Muckmuck, who remains terrified of his responsibilities and fearful of what could happen on the ensuing journey. He has little to say to you and doesn’t contribute much beyond driving the caravan. Because many goblins loathe horses, the caravan’s wagons are pulled by camels.
Muckmuck laughs to himself.
"You longshanks think you can protect us? You can’t save Muckmuck. You’re weak. Face facts. We’re all going to die."
“You sit there in the back and talk to the workers. We’re all scared. Doesn’t matter what we do. We’re all going to die.
“Tell you truth, I don’t want to go. Yigrig reads too many books. He’s lost his mind. We all think about leaving before he gets us killed. Not help that the minstrel lost hand in teethbrushing accident. Much blood. Can’t play lute anymore."
“Tell you what. You want to help? You be the minstrel. Make fancy music. Make goblins feel less likely to run away. Convince them we’re not all going to die.”
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"You got it, Muckmuck!" Ava says, saluting the goblin. She concentrates for a few moments and her skin takes on a slight greenish tinge. Her hair turns a deeper, more putrid shade of green that matches the goblins around her.
Standing "tall" atop one of the wagons, she calls down to the workers in their native language. "Listen up, everybody! You've got the Pathfinders protecting you now. You're going to be safe from now on. So safe, in fact, that you can dance! It's the safety dance!"
She casts a quick spell of guidance, then she blows the opening notes on her kazoo and begins to sing: "Ah we can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind/ Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance/ Well they're ah no friends of mine/ I say, we can go where we want to, a place where they will never find/ And we can act like we come from out of this world/ Leave the real one far behind,/ And we can dance!"
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Nali makes her way up front and sits next to the leader Muckmuck. She talks just loud enough for him to hear, trying to keep the other goblins ears away.
"What is wrong with you. You are their leader and yet you act like a coward. Try leading them, and they will follow! Don't shake in fear, stand with honor!"
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Dahros listens to Muckmuck and explains to him "I know you don't know us, so you don't know what we're capable of. You don't have to trust me, but we're competent group. If it's protection that's needed, it will get done. Yes I think we can protect you. Watch, let me demonstrate that I'm not just a big longshank of words."
Ava's song begins to uplift the spirits of the goblins in the caravan, and soon all were singing along.
Nali did her best to bolster Muckmuck's spirits, though the goblin seemed to be the "doom and gloom" type. To him, every cloud had a silver lining only so someone else could get it.
What really seemed to cheer the goblins up, though, was Dahros' display of martial prowess.
After the days travel, you made camp, and the night is filled with fights and cackling laughter as the goblins try to impress you and each other with feats of physical prowess.
You are invited to join in the rivalry. You see goblins doing feats of strength (Athletics), feats of skill (Acrobatics), making fun of Muckmuck (Deception), and generally entertaining themselves (Performance). Other activities can also continue raise the mood.
Round 1
ava - performance (success)
d'log -
dahros - combat demonstration (critical success)
nali - diplomacy (success)
rolo -
thellira -
Round 2
ava -
d'log -
dahros -
nali -
rolo -
thellira -
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Even Thellira is impressed by Dahros's performance. When they stop, she hops off and walks over to a tree. She reaches into her bag and grabs her javelins, throwing them as hard as she can, burying them in the wood.
She sees a few goblins watching but knows she need to step it up. She removes the javelins and uses her knife to carve a small "x". She walks 10' away and grins before whipping her meteor hammer through the air, wrapping it around the tree before it embeds in the mark.
Ava continues to rouse the goblins' spirits with song, and Thellira put on a show with her weapons. Even Nali got into the act with some handstands and a joke that had the goblins rolling on the ground in laughter, while Muckmuck scowled from the fringes of the group.
Round 1
ava - performance (success)
d'log -
dahros - combat demonstration (critical success)
nali - diplomacy (success)
rolo -
thellira - athletics (success)
Round 2
ava - performance (success)
d'log -
dahros -
nali - acrobatics (success)
rolo -
thellira - combat demonstration (success)
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Rolo erects a quick structure with Dahros's help, setting a few wooden beams up and across the campfire. He grabs another smaller beam and heaves it over his shoulders, then walks across his makeshift tightrope while balancing a few drinks on his shouldered beam. As he finishes, he swings the beam in an arc, throwing drinks at his companions.
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[I] for the first go around d'Log climbs up the wagon and attempts to do some parcoblin. Running fulspeed off the wagons' rafters and does mostly a front flip into a tumble. Out of the tumble he lumps over the camp fire nearly getting scorched.
Then he takes a bit of dirt and throws into fire and disappears! Kinda[/b]
The goblins' mood was well shifted by the end of the evening's revelries, and everyone went to bed with a much higher morale than before.
Everyone waking up takes a bit of time in the morning. The goblins were too hyped up from the festivities from the night before to get to sleep early, but eventually all are able to be corralled, some still sleeping on the wagons as you all head out. The camels are tended to, as the goblins get along with them much better than horses. Muckmuck was certain that you would arrive at the bridge camp around mid-afternoon.
During the morning's travel, d'Log moved from wagon to wagon, talking with the goblins and trying to learn as much as he could. He learned a lot about Yigrit, the cook who was willing to take a tumble for a few coppers, Blurgle's loud snoring, and Captain Lubbo's penchant for telling tall tales - including the fact that the goblin had never been captain of anything larger than a rowboat, and his only crewman was a one-armed layabout named l'Dog. A total coincidence ont eh name there, but an unfortunate one to be sure. There were two things that were common, though. One, everyone loved Yigrig Moneymaker. Two, everyone was scared of the bandits, or animals, or rogue wizards, or whatever it was that was attacking the bridge crews.
Thellira and LunaBall scouted out ahead of the caravans, lookign for trouble. The area was wide savannah grasslands, with oases dotted here and there around the landscape. Unfriendly terrain, but not particularly difficult.
Because of the warnings you were given, and because you had sharp eyes looking about, you weren't caught completely unawares when a group of scruffy looking humans leaps out of the rocks and scrub near the oasis and lob jars of alchemical fire at the wagons. The three in the lead are hit, and immediately begin to smoke as the flames take root.
(dahros and d'log are up!)
R1: dahros, d'log, bandits, thellira, ava, rolo, nali
A PC who is adjacent to a wagon can spend 1 action and attempt a DC 14 Reflex save to Interact with the wagon to put out a fire using blankets, water, or some other appropriate tool. The fire is extinguished if its damage per round is reduced to 0.
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Nali quickly rushes to action, attempting to extinguish the flames on the blue wagon.
She shouts to her goblins friends around her. "Just like that! Don't let the wagons burn. I'll deal with this scum"
She then reloads her arms and steps off to the side of the wagon, in an attempt to draw the attention of the southern foe.
{A} Interact - blue wagon
{A} Focus - Tentatcular Arms
{A} Move
d'Log tried to convince the other goblins to help, but only one of the scared creatures managed to do anything but scatter. Blurgie, the perpetual napper, grabbed up a blanket and started beating at the fire to put it out. The blanket caught the goblin's clothes alight, and he ran screaming to plunge into the oasis. d'Log shook his head and tried to put out his own wagon, but was unable to.
Dahros leaped off of his wagon and ran to the bandit closest to him. With a mighty swing, he crushed the man's head.
The bandit in blue moved in closer, throwing the far of alchemist fire in his left hand, setting the rearmost wagon ablaze. The one with the yellow headscarf threw his bottle at Dahros, terrified at how easily the man had killed his fried. He drew his bow and fired at the warrior, missing him.
The three lead wagons continued to burn, the dry goods and oiled canvas making good fuel for the fires.
Dahros takes 1 fire damage
(everyone is up!)
R1: dahros, d'log, bandits, thellira, ava, rolo, nali
R2: dahros, d'log, bandits, thellira, ava, rolo, nali
bandit (blue) -0
bandit (yellow) -0