Moths and Flames

Game Master Signore di Fortuna

"I suppose it serves as proof. Otherwise, there wouldn't be much to stop people from just turning up and claiming they killed goblins for the reward." Lysithia suggests.

Kelda seems unsure of their motives so she just shrugs, "I don't know, but I don't kill them for a reward. I kill them because they pose a real threat to other people, and they seem to thrive off of killing and destruction. I don't know why they're showing up in such numbers lately, but hopefully we can put a stop to it."

The two men, barely out of boyhood, look at each other, the turn back to Kelda. One with shaggy blonde hair speaks up. "Ne'er been to Wodrick, eh? It's the one town in the woods there, aside from that tower. Anyway, goblins have been running all over the woods. My da's a woodcutter an' he can't do any work because of the buggers. All the trees closest to town 'ave all been cut down. My ma's too busy raisin' four other little 'uns to earn any money outside the house."

He gestures to the other man with neater blonde hair and the faintest trace of a beard on his chin. "My brother and I are good enough in a fight, so for a copper an ear, we can provide for our family."

He scratches his chin. "E'erybody's got problems with goblins 'round 'ere. We do what we hafta for our own home."

Sitting down at the table, she turns her chair around to hear their tail.

Giving them both an understanding and compassionate look she nods, "It's okay, I get it. We're actually on our way to Cooperton to help them with a bad goblin problem they're having. As I understand it, most of the people there have either been killed, or driven out by the goblins. They're in pretty bad shape as well, so we're hoping to make things a little better for them. If possible, find where the goblins are coming from so we can keep them from coming back....ever. Don't know how realistic of a plan it is, but we'll do our best."

"They come out of the woods, that's fer sure," the young man answers. "Question is where in the woods. There's a few rumors."

"Really? What have you heard?" She asks.

Lysithia leans forward, paying attention to the tale.

Lup crosses his arms before bringing up his closed hand to rap his knuckles gently against the side of his head while he half-listens, half-thinks. Goblins going after farmers in Copperton, goblins going after loggers in Wodrick, why the sudden aggression?

"Word is there is someone or somefin' leading the goblins, " the young man says. "An' that there are three generals leading them on raids. I only know of one. Rides a wolf, he does."

Looking thoughtful as she listens to him, she finally nods and looks up at him, "Okay, we really appreciate the information. I'm sorry to hear that things have gotten so bad, but hopefully we can help reduce they're numbers. We'll start in Cooperton, and see if we can track them somehow back to their camp. If the rumors are true, this is a lot more than just some random goblin attacks." She comments, while looking around at her new companions.

Standing, she takes out two gold and gives it to the two young men, "Thank you so much for the information, and for everything you do to try and make this area a little safer. I know it isn't much, but I hope it helps." She says, as she is sincerely grateful for the young mens willingness to take risks, so that others might feel a little safer.

The young man who had done the talking looks at the gold piece in his hand. "I'll not turn down your kindness, friend, but you shouldn't be so free with your coin. You might attract the wrong kind of attention."

Kelda just smiles, "That's okay, we can handle it. You two be careful out there."

Kelda turns around to sit back down at the table with everyone, "Well, we might end up having to deal with more than a few goblins, but I think we can handle it."

"Yes, sounds like they're amassing and spreading, possibly building toward something. If that's the case, Cooperton might just be the first town to be so strongly affected." the druidess points out.

Kelda nods, her expression thoughtful and concerned, "We'll just have to see how bad it is when we get there. We'll do as much for them as we can before moving on. I just can't believe how bad it's gotten out here. I knew there were some problems, but I never imagined it was this bad."

"We'll just have to take it as we go, and see if we can work our way toward finding the source."

Kelda just nods her head in agreement, as they wait for the older gentleman to come back.

The old man returns with bowls of soup and a platter of bread and cheese. "I've got water and ale to drink."

"I'll just take some water, thanks." She wanted to be able to keep her wits about her, in case something happened during the night.

Astoria smiles sweetly. "Water as well please."

"The same please." Lysithia adds.

Lup?

Gavril and the other dwarves also request water. The old man glances at Lup. "How about you?"

"Water's fine, thank you."

The old man goes to the back room and comes back with a pitcher of cold water and some tankards. After setting them on the table, he shuffles back behind his desk.

Kelda passes around the tankards and water as she thinks about everything they had found out about the goblin situation.

If you want to know more about the generals, make a knowledge local check. If you want to try and figure out why the goblins are organized, make a knowledge nature check.

Well, I have neither of those skills, so I have no bloody clue. Lol

Considering the actions of the goblins with what she knows of their usual nature, and the tales of them being directed by someone, Lysithia tries to reason what might be driving their actions.

Knowledge Nature: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15

Nature: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

”What could the Owlbears be up to,” Lup mumbles as he thinks about the goblin attacks.

You and the owlbears, I swear. *smh* Lol

Lysithia thinks that there maybe an unnatural cause to the goblins' sudden unified actions. While a strong leader can usually get a tribe or two to cooperate for a length of time, the development of a hierarchy and promotion of mutually beneficial actions for a large geographical area are simply unheard of. At least, for goblins...

In his musings, Lup realizes something that shakes him to his core: owlbears are probably not responsible for the goblin attacks. The pervasive horror of this realization makes his blood run cold. Unbeknownst to him (but beknownst to us), he also reaches the same conclusion as Lysithia.

"... crumbs."

What? LOL

Kelda looks over at Lup for a moment between bites of soup, "Did you say something?"

Unsure if she even heard him say anything, she turns her head to see Lysithia with a strange and far away expression on her face. Wondering if she was alright, Kelda places a hand gently on her knee, "Hey, are you alright?"

"Yes-no-yes! The goblins are definitely acting odd, but that puts too many owlbears onto the field, not less." he replies.

"Owlbears most likely have nothing to do with this." Lysithia chimes in. Giving Kelda a quick reassuring smile she nods. "Oh I'm okay, but what we're looking at might be a lot more serious than a few handfuls of raiding goblins. Their actions seem orchestrated on a level that's well beyond what even the strongest goblin leaders can possibly pull off. There's structure, and a kind of order that implies something strong, smart, and vicious is directing all of this."

”Some sort of Warlord perhaps? Most likely not even a Goblin but some outside context agent with enough power or sway to make them all work together.” Lup speculates.

"How many could there be? I doubt they could hide for long once the group gets too large." Astoria asks.

Kelda shrugs, "I have no idea, so when we get to Cooperton, we'll need to get as much information from the locals as possible. I'd like to find out where they're coming from, at least the direction, and try to find their camp if at all possible. We need to try and put a stop to this little green menance, and figure out who is controlling them and why. There might be something much more sinister at play here. We'll just have to take it a step at a time."

Finishing her soup, Kelda looks over at her parents, "When you two get a moment, I need to talk to you about something."

After finishing their soup, Gavril and Marina send Harnan and Gelda to bed. Gavril scratches his chin as Kelda speaks to them. "You're being quite serious. What's wrong?"

Taking the letter that Lewell gave her, she hands it to her Da and says, "Jerell gave me this letter, and asked if I could deliver it to Lord Dondrimm. Since we have to help the people of Cooperton, and I'm not sure when I'll get back home, could you give it to him for me? He made it sound pretty important."

Seeming to pause for a bit as she let's them consider her request, Kelda has a thoughtful look on her face, as if there was something else she was thinking about telling them.

After a couple of minutes she adds, "There was something else I wanted to speak to you about, but there's not really anything wrong." Giving Lysithia's hand a light squeeze and a little smile before looking back at her parents, "I've recently met someone, and I've started developing pretty strong feelings for them. I...I think I'm falling in love with her. I....I just wanted her to know how I feel before we get too deep into other things, and as my parents, I wanted you to know just...just how happy I am, and that I....I want to have a relationship with her....if she feels the same way, and would like to date me too." Feeling more nervous than she has in her entire life, Kelda stumbles over the words a little, but manages to get them out. She was falling in love with Lysithia, and she wanted her parents to know that she was in love and happy before parting ways.

Not sure what Lysithia's response would be to being asked to go steady in front of her parents, as well as their new companions, Kelda turns to look at her with nervous excitement in her eyes, "Lysithia, your kindness and compassion, are only matched by your beauty and intelligence. I would be proud and honored if you would have me as your girlfriend, and if you would be mine. What do you think?" Kelda asks with a nervous smile, as she lays her heart bare to the amazing woman beside her.

There is but a brief moment of surprise, Lysithia's eyes going wide as she realizes the shift in the conversation, to Kelda's moment of revelation. Glancing at Kelda's parents' faces for a moment, then her other two new companions, as Kelda turns to her, honey amber eyes meet deep green, and a warm, loving smile spreads across her face.

"I think, that I'm incredibly lucky to have met you, and I'd be overjoyed to be your girlfriend and to have you be mine!" she replies, beaming radiantly.

"A dwarf's heart, burning furiously and hearthly like a furnace in which cool metals become steadfast unwavering companions through tender ministrations." Lup thinks aloud as he eats.

I just can't help myself. I am just a mushy romantic, and Kelda wanted her parents to know how she felt before splitting ways. She didn't want to spring it on them at the last moment, and sometimes the heart just can't wait. I really didn't mean for her to become attached to someone so quickly, but you know how that usually goes. Lol

Kelda's eyes become damp with emotion as she exhaled a breath she didn't even know she was holding. Overcome by joy and emotion, Kelda wraps her arms around Lysithia in a warm hug, as she gives her parents time to process her revelation.

Lysithia wraps her arms around Kelda, beaming as she flashes Lup a smile of appreciation for the poetic words, and gives Kelda's parents a nervous smile.

Gavril tucks the letter into a belt pouch. "I'll make sure that he gets it."

"Aye, if you're happy, that's that, innit?" Gavril muses, not surprised by Kelda's admission. "Yer ma and I had an inklin' how ye felt about Lysithia. Ye've always gone yer own way, Kelda, and we'll always support ye and ye know that. Anyway, best get to bed...we've got another two days to go."

Marina smiles at Lysithia. "Treat our daughter well. We dwarves have long memories."

Ohhh snap!! Lol Well, I am their only child.

"Yes ma'am!" Lysithia says with a warm smile.

Letting go of Lysithia, she nods while wiping happy years from her eyes. "I know that you support me, you always have. I just wanted to declare publicly, what's already in my heart, and it was important to me to share it with you, because you're important to me, and even though you have always supported every decision I have made, your thoughts and feelings still matter to me."

As they start preparing to head off to the rooms for bed, Kelda gets up and goes to her parents to give them both a hug, "Thank you so much for everything, I love you so much. Have a good night's rest, and we'll see you in the morning." Turning back to Lysithia, she holds out her hand, "Ready to get some rest?" Kelda puts a couple of gold on the table, as she waits for her love.

"Sure!" she replies, taking Lysithia's hand. "Have a good night!" She says to Kelda's parents as well as Lup and Astoria.