Zeebo nods at Mos's words. Whether in agreement or simply in acknowledgement of them is hard to say, even for him.
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Ping has to fight hard to keep from staring at Mos in disbelief. He knows Zeebo is a disguise and that "he" is a gnome and he still trusts the old wizard? Is he insane? Is he lying? Her father had always told her that she couldn't trust others that they would take advantage of her and use her until they no longer needed her. He was the only one she could trust, and now he is dead. Has been dead for a year and more.
Some part of her wants to believe that Mos means what he says to have someone she can trust, but can she? Dare she? And if she does dare, how much can she really trust him?
A crack in the walls she and her father had built up appears as the questions come to her. She fears to look through it. Either she would see what she knows, nay, fears lays beyond it, or she would see that she and her father had been wrong. Both were equally as frightening for very different reasons as a flicker of hope stubbornly refuses to be snuffed by the litany of reasons she has for never, ever trusting anyone else.
After the goblins, she decides. After they finish with the goblins, assuming they all live through it, she'd get Mos on his own and find her answers.
As you slowly, unerringly, follow the bloody trail of the goblins upward into the darker forest, the conversation between Mos and Zeebo becomes a thing of the past.
Jaws set, and senses alert you all press onward and upward, then as the treeline thins the goblins trail snakes toward your likely destination: A small ruined redoubt nestling in shrub and between old trees.
Upfront Hûnidark and Spiro share a knowing look, as keen nose and sharp senses confirm this is where the goblin trail ends...
Within the fortified ruin a small campfire flickers, and harsh voices can be heard from within and without.
.
"I could sneak around to the left through the woods to see if I can get an idea of how many there are, and how prepared they might be".
Move Silently - Prime DEX Check
Listen - Secondary WIS Check
"Stay alert".
Rannock gives Spiro a curt nod. "Aye, scout ahead and be careful. We'll hold our position and stay out of sight until you return."
As Spiro moves off to the left through the woods, Rannock kneels down, his eyes scanning the surrounding area. He focuses his attention on the goblin voices, straining to catch any useful information.
He waits, ears tuned to the goblin tongue, ready to relay any critical details to the group.
Zeebo listens, but can't hear anything beyond the thunder of rushing blood as they wait.
Hûnidark hunkers down to listen and waits to roll into the goblin encampment hard and fast.
Mos stays near Zeebo for the moment, his bow out and an arrow knocked in preparation.
He whispers to the wizard, "Do you have anything that might take out a large body of enemies, or perhaps help us get in closer without them noticing?"
It's a sign of the halflings fraying nerves when he jumps a little at Mos' question.
"I do have one spell that could affect several of them, but i have to be close to use it," he says in a tone of voice that makes his desire, or lack thereof, to do that abundantly clear. "I have a few tricks that could be used as distractions, but that is all."
As befits his Ælfin blood Spiro moves off to the left with ne'er a sound.
You deftly skirt the trees, moving in an arc to give you sight upon the rear of the ruined fortification. What you see gives you pause...
A pile of bloodied bones lie behind the building, upon which rests a body. Around this macabre pile stands two goblins and one lanky goblinoid, all hair and belligerence tempered with an air of immaturity...
The hairy creature holds two blades and idly stabs at the body, whilst the goblins whine and mutter in dissent;
"Why you have to cut and stick Stab-Apples? Always sticking with them rusty knives... Spoils the meat..."
To which the lanky creature merely giggles...
Back with the group, Mos talks tactics, whilst all bar Rannock cannot catch the goblins conversation...
Your canny ears pick up the following snippets in Goblin;
"Once Boontah read secret magicks scroll we powerful!"
"... Horse Man easy pickings. Next time more..."
"...and so is stinky, flea ridden Stab-Apples. Buggebear wrong in head. Him bad luck... good in fight though..."
As you listen and mull tactics, a runtish goblin emerges from the ruin to stand before a pile of rocks near the entrance. It places a bow and quiver on the ground before dropping its breeches and squatting with a sneering grimace...
Before being launched with a screech by the boot of bigger goblin who bellows angrily;
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Stifling a laugh, Rannock shares what he has heard with his companions - "That one might be moving away to relieve himself, so we might be able to catch him alone"
"Should we try getting what we can out of it, or should we not bother and go for the safer option," Zeebo quietly asks the others.
You keenly note that at Boontah's waist sits an embroidered capsa (or scroll case). It bears the same sigil borne on the horses saddlebags - the symbol of the Guild of Messengers & Couriers..
At the berating from his Boss, Sleeg gets painfully to his feet then waddles toward nearby copse of trees.
Boontah for his part gnashes his teeth (and even at a distance you note several are missing from his jagged maw), before heading back inside the ruined redoubt.
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As the goblin does his business, Hûnidark clamps a hand over his nose. Didn’t know goblins eat gardigar*. Fearing that even more foul smells would come from the rest of the goblin’s diet, the monk (impulsively) weaves through the trees and tries to deliver a killing punch to the side of the goblin’s head.
|
Stun (1):
Fate (3):
Mos watches as the half-orc moves forward to smash the pooping goblin in the side of the head. He nods in admiration of the big brute's stealth as he moves forward.
Giving a quick wink to Zeebo, Mos moves off to a better position to fire his bow at the creatures still in the ruin. He moves silently and is nearly invisible in the underbrush.
Sleeg barely begins to pinch one off before he's aware of a rush from the foliage behind him...
The goblin's squeal dies on his lips as his runtish head is snapped to an odd angle by Hûnidark's iron-shod fist. His body drops before twitching a couple of times, then is still (save for the scat still poking from his backside)...
Zeebo sees the wink and nods, not sure what to make of it. Of what he sees at Boontah's waist, however, he knows exactly what to make of it.
"Did anyone else see what the big one has? I think this may turn out to be a more fruitful endeavor than I had thought," he whispers quietly before noticing that both Mos and Hunidark have snuck off somewhere.
"Hmm, what to do? What to do?"
Rannock keenly notes the embroidered capsa hanging at Boontah's waist, bearing the same sigil found on the saddlebags of the lost messenger's horse—the symbol of the Guild of Messengers & Couriers.
"We need that scroll case," Rannock whispers urgently to his companions. "It's from the messenger, and it could have vital information."
He tightens his grip on his warhammer, ready to support his companions. "I have no love for goblins, but let's try to be cautious. We might learn something valuable." He glances at the fallen goblin, Sleeg, a hint of disapproval in his eyes.
"This could be an outpost for a larger force or even a lair. We need to gather what we can from these goblins before we silence them. They might have information about a bigger threat. Let's be smart about this."
"Hmmm, how critical is it that we have this information," Zeebo asks. From his tone, it sounds as if he has an idea, and he isn't happy about it.
INT Check (Secondary)
Spiro looks back at the others and motions that he sees something, then makes a round gesture above his head to signal to the others that he's going to continue around the building.
Rannock nods at Zeebo's suggestion, though his face remains grim.
"If you can manage it quickly, Zeebo, it might be worth the risk. But we need to be prepared if things go south." He glances at Spiro, who is already signaling and moving into position.
"Spiro’s got the right idea. Let's keep our eyes open and cover each other. This might be more than just a small band of goblins. We need to be ready for anything."
"I'll need ten to thirty minutes and some privacy," Zeebo tells Rannock. "If it doesn't work, well..." Zeebo shrugs. If it doesn't work, there likely wouldn't be enough left to bother burying. He turns and looks at the goblin's corpse and grimaces. He really hoped that using the goblin's clothes would be worth it.
Sleeg's grubby corpse is dressed in ragged bandages of leather and cloth scraps (treat as Padded Armour) and a moth-eaten Leather Coif upon his broken head.
He's clearly a runt in the pecking order as his belt pouch holds just 5 silver pieces, 2 copper pieces and a rat skull.
Welcome back - hope you had a well earned break hombre.
Just to be clear, I've not shown the goblins you've observed or their lanky, hairy companion on the map yet. Am presuming you've scouted round the back of the copse of trees at the rear of the ruin?
What Spiro has seen gives you pause... A pile of bloodied bones lie behind the building, upon which rests a body. Around this macabre pile stands two goblins and one lanky goblinoid, all hair and belligerence tempered with an air of immaturity.
The hairy creature holds two blades and idly stabs at the corpse, whilst the goblins whine and mutter in dissent. To their grumblings the lanky creature merely growls and giggles... They look at each other fearfully then begin to trudge away. One of them holds a cleaver and a severed arm.
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"Mind helping get this poor sod out of sight and somewhere I can do this in peace," Zeebo asks the others once it's decided that he'll be sneaking into the goblin camp, a prospect he's even less thrilled about after seeing the state of the goblin's attire.
Too late to back out now, Ping thinks as Zeebo sighs. The old wizard looks around to see if anyone is around and motions for them to shoo if they are in sight. A wizard needs their privacy after all, especially when he is a she and over half her girth is from a pillow stuffed under her robes.
With nothing else for it, Zeebo begins stripping the goblin, making careful note of how everything goes together, before setting his pack down and opening it up.
Anyone, well anyone besides Mos, that spies on the halfling wizard might be surprised to see him take off his beard, his nose, and a wig after doffing his hat. He stuffs those and the pillow padding out his midsection into the pack before disrobing and revealing a young gnomish woman with bright red hair under the facade.
Ping starts to fully undress, but after a second look at the clothing she'd be donning, she leaves her underwear bottoms on and pulls out a strip of cloth to bind her breasts. She does her best to match Sleeg's skintone with whatever pigments she has on hand before pulling on the dead goblin's clothes and arranging them to match how he was wearing them and disguise the curves of her hips as best she could. It takes her longer than she would have liked to complete the disguise, getting the illusions to match the dead goblin's features and hide her own proves far trickier than she would have thought before the attempt. She hopes that it will do well enough to fool the goblins, and that she won't have to explain too much to the others.
There is no more delaying the inevitable. She makes sure that anything that could give Zeebo away as a lie is safely hidden in her pack and bundles the robes and hat on top before going to where Hunidark and Rannock are. At least the time it has taken has allowed her to acclimate to the smell and keep her nose from scrunching up at the stench of the dead goblin's clothing.
"Would you two mind keeping an eye on this, please," the dead goblin's doppleganger asks in Zeebo's voice. "I'd hate to have nothing to wear but this after we're done." He gestures to the ragged scraps that passed for the goblin's outfit.
In the 20 minutes it takes Zeebo to transform into a doppelgänger of Sleeg , two members of the goblin gang trudge from back of the ruin to the front. One bears a severed arm, which judging from the glee from within and lighting of a fire, they mean to cook...
Your keen ears note that in addition to Boontah and the two arriving gang members, there is perhaps 2-3 more goblins inside the ruin...
Of the creature Spiro observes there is no movement safe for the sticking and occasional slash of the corpse with one or both of its blades. The lanky goblinoid seems particularly gleeful when examining the damage it has caused; giggling to itself constantly.
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Zeebo makes sure that the others are ready before walking towards the ruin. he does his best to imitate the dead goblin's mannerisms, at lest those she observed before Hunidark had put him out of his misery. He wishes he had more time to practice or had heard Sleeg speak more, but alas, he will have to hope that the "news" is enough to distract them from any peculiarities that have creeped into Sleeg's actions and speech.
"B-boss? S-sleeg finded something. Wagonses. Few guardses," he snivels as he pokes his head in. The bait was set, hopefully, now to lure them into the trap.
Rannock watches Zeebo transform with a mixture of admiration and concern. The illusionist's dedication to their plan is impressive, but the risk is high.
"Alright, Zeebo. We'll be ready to back you up. Be careful in there."
Rannock motions for the others to take strategic positions around the ruin. He moves to a spot where he can maintain a clear view of Zeebo while staying hidden.
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Listen Check Secondary
With his positioning and the way, the wind was blowing Spiro is unable to determine anything by listening. He decides to keep his concealment and be ready to act when the situation requires. He keeps his bow and arrows ready to fire.
Zeebo fidgets a bit as he waits for Chief Boontah's reply.
Mos stays hidden until the majority of the goblins and other creatures have moved from the ruins into the open, then he fires upon the leader
The chittering din within the redoubts ruin lessens as DoppleSleeg addresses the chief.
Within the ruined fortification several goblins hunch near a pit fire as they roast the severed arm recovered earlier. Their eyes collectively glitter as the humeat sizzles and they barely register Sleeg entering.
At Zeebo's words however, two goblins do pay him heed.
Boontah rises from an old battered chest being used as a makeshift seat. The erstwhile chief is lean, hard looking with several missing teeth that give him a jagged smile. At his neck a necklace of fangs, some of which could be his own... at his waist the embroidered capsa bearing the same sigil found on the saddlebags of the lost messenger's horse—the symbol of the Guild of Messengers & Couriers.
"Wagons ye say Sleeg? Juicy wagons e' says Mulkkur..."
From the shadows Mulkkur nods eagerly - bony and black eyed, this goblin bears the trappings of one who uses magic arts. Its voice is a hissing whisper;
"How many guards Ssssleeg? More than ussss? Less than ussss? Tin canssss or Bow-folk?"
Don't panic. Don't panic. This is going to plan. Everything's alright. Just stick to the plan, Ping. The others want the goblins dead. You just have to lure them out.
"One, two... Sleeg seed three guardses," Zeebo disguised as the late goblin answers. "Seed one with bow, two with spears. No tin canses."
Please, let that be all the questions. Please, please, please!
He keeps his eyes on Chief Boontah and Mulkkur, hoping to appear more like a sniveling lickspittle than someone nervously trying to sell a lie and getting ready to run if caught in it.
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Gee. I wonder what's happening out front.
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Mos does the same...waiting until Zeebo has brought as many as he can out of the ruin before firing from concealment.
"I hope that silly "halfling" knows what they're doing!"
Boontah mulls DoppleSleeg's words, as a wide gap-toothed grin appears on his lean face.
"No tin cans'good... Easy pickings..."
His tongue pokes through where several fangs are missing and nods;
"You dones well Sleeg heheh... Who needs old Grundlegek an' them Sour Woders eh!?"
He grabs at a suit of rusty ringmail and begins donning it as he bellows to the assembled gang;
As Boontah barks his orders, the goblin rabble jump into activity, grabbing at weapons and stuffing some of the grilled arm into their maws.
Mulkkur's eyes glitter and the bony goblin reaches for a bag that Zleego Notagnome recognises as spell components.
"Sssssssleeeg. Hand me my bone stick."
The corpse thin goblin gestures toward a long thigh bone leaning against the redoubt's roughshod wall.
Outside you hear more gibbered conversation, before an excited shout goes up followed by a flurry of activity...
Ping tries her best not to let out a relieved sigh as Chief Boontah and Mulkkur seem to buy DoppleSleeg's story. She can't let her guard down, not yet, but things seem to be going well. All she has to do is stay in character for a few more minutes. As long as she doesn't wind up with a sword in her gut, that'll be a glowing review of her performance as far as she is concerned.
DoppleSleeg turns to Mulkkur when the goblin shaman asks him to grab his staff. He bobs his head and scurries over to it. As the gnome disguised as a halfling disguised as a goblin grabs the staff and brings it to the wizened spellcaster, Ping considers how best to handle this one. Really, though, there's only one option. She just hopes that it'll work.
You manage to hear the following being shouted:
:
Spiro hears something from inside, and strains to hear.
Wisdom (Secondary)
But though he speaks the language the distance and intervening wall render him unable to hear.
Well at least I hear no screams of pain.
Spiro settles in to wait... a bit longer.
Listen:
Rannock waits, until he sees someone coming out of the redoubt.
So you have a choice - either step in to retrieve the shaman's staff (that's the scenario I've reflected on the map)... However means one of the gang will exit to fetch Stab Apples.
OR
You hold position at the entrance and blast them from there..? Bear in mind Sleeg knows where the "wagons" are and I'm ruling that as Boontah and Mulkkur failed spotting the disguise - there's zero change of the run of the mill gang members clocking anything.
What do you do :D
DoppleSleeg holds out the staff to Mulkkur and bows his head.
You reach for the staff which uncannily resembles a long shin bone, perhaps of some giantkin. When you grasp it, you note it bears some runes and has a number of holes upon its length, making it appear like some oversized, macabre wind instrument.
Mulkkur's gnobbled hands reach hungrily for the staff;
"One Eye'sss gift. Black magickssss... blackest ssssssoundssssss...."
Outside a goblin bearing a rusty cleaver exits, struggling with a mail coif as it stumbles in the direction of the rear of the ruin.
Following it another steps out squinting, bow in hand, an arrow held between its teeth. Hissing back into the redoubt;
"Sleeg. Ne tarafa gidiyoruz? Nereye vagon?"
"Sleeg. What way we go? Where wagon?"