The little old goblin did not stir at the sound of the party intruding. Nor at Jaxom's words. Seeming deep asleep and more or less dead to the world. She mumbled lightly in her sleep, but otherwise did not shift.
However, there did come a voice from the garnet. The sound of an adolescent young woman that set the glow of the gem shifting with each syllable. "Mama Kurg is sleeping." it softly informed the party, "I'd ask you not to wake her. She is very tired."
Alden focuses on the gem and the elderly goblin, trying to determine it he degree of malevolence each possesses.
Jaxom looks at the strange gem and shakes his head. "Rocks don't talk. What are you?"
Kras'tak's tail-help during the crossing of the swamp helps keep Rabbit from getting more muddy than necessary, for which he gives her a thankful smile....
****
Rabbit is indeed surprised by-- the old goblin woman, the gem, the gem talking...
"Oh my goodness."
"Um-- hello there, what Mr. Buhr means is-- hello. I'm Rabbit. Who are you, please?"
Alden notes the sleeping goblin is evil, but lacks the aura that would accompany an undead or cleric of an evil deity. The old goblin continues to slumber... menacingly!
The candle like glow deep in the gem's center expands until the entire fist sized garnet is lit like an ember. "I'm not a rock!" it declares loudly, causing the goblin to stir. The light quickly fades after that, and the goblin settles back to a restful sleep.
"I'm the most important living thing in this little backwater shard."[b/] the gem continues, [b]"And my name is Garnet."
As Rabbit pipes up the melodic voice continues. "Hello little Rabbit. It is a pleasure to meet you. Oh, that would be a wonderful shard to join with. A field as far as the eye can see, and filled with bunnies."
Jaxom is initially overwhelmed at the idea of a talking rock. He glances over to Alden knowing that sometimes the man could sense if things were.... evil? Dangerous?
Immediately Kras’tak jumped at the voice, scrambling back behind Jaxom, eyes wide and hair on end. As it seemed to be no immediate threat she watched curiously, though cautiously, from behind the men.
"The goblin has a malevolent aura, as much as any of her kin, but it isn't overwhelming, like if she were a priestess of Lamashtu or Urgathoa. The talking gemstone isn't radiating evil, though."
Jaxom scowls at the talking rock, and the goblin. A female but a really old one. "So the rock, sorry, garnet isn't evil. OK. Kras'tak or Rabbit, do either of you detect any magic around the goblin? I wouldn't want to think that she's harmless only to find out she has some way to charm us all into killing each other."
RAbbit looks blinking at Jaxom and Alden as they discuss things in a sort of factual, tactical manner. The gem is talking! To them! That seems more important than anything else but then, this is why he's not a warrior, he supposes.
He trusts that Kras'tak can check for magic if she wishes, and bobs his head nervously at the gemstone. "Garnet! That's a lovely name. And yes, a field of bunnies would be lovely, wouldn't it? Peaceful and just-- sunny and grass and-- oh, would you like to meet Mr. Whisper? If you like rabbits. He's a rabbit," the halfling babbles.
"Please, what do you mean about a shard though? Or joining? I'm not really sure what you're talking about."
The thin crease of a smile crosses Siegfried's lips as Jaxom declares with great certainty that rocks don't talk. Jaxom just didn't know how to talk to rocks, or have the patience to listen. Then again, neither did Siegfried, not really. He was a Molgrade, not a Grimmark or a Runebinder or--gods forbid--a Vanderholl. Still, Siegfried didn't expect a human to understand stones, even if Jaxom was a respectable smith. It almost brings a certain joy that Garnet announces itself with such ferocity. It makes Siegfried wonder at that distant Runebinder cousin of his who had said once in a drunken stupor that he had coaxed a secret out of an opal. Siegfried had mostly believed him, but this was something else entirely.
"Let's leave Mama Kurg alone as Garnet has recommended," Siegfried chides. He steps forward and bows his head lightly in the direction of the brilliant gem. "And let's regard each other instead of talking about each other like we aren't here. It's a pleasure, Garnet. My name is Siegfried of Clan Molgrade, once of Highhelm." He looks at the others before continuing. "You have us at a disadvantage, I'm afraid, in seeming to know more than we do."
A bunny?!" the gem chimes in an excited tone, "Oh my, I love bunnies. I've never seen one, oh can I see him?" The radiance again increased with the apparent excitement at the though of rabbits.
Only to settle again. Her tone becoming dutiful as she carefully began to explain. "Greetings to you Siegfried of Molgrade. Yes, it is my purpose to join together this shard with other shards." Garnet explained, "But I cannot do that if my owner isn't the dominant party on this shard. Something Mama Kurg was supposed to do, but when her tribe failed she just gave up. It's been a very boring three years. Hopefully her son finishes the job now that he has taken over the tribe."
There is a pregnant pause before she hastily adds, "Or you make the goblins submit! Of course. I'm sorry... it's just been three years of this. I sometimes forget you might be the ones to come out on top. Or make peace with them. So many options I haven't been able to consider. Really."
Garnet sounded both embarrassed and frustrated at the same time. The glow coming from the inner core of the gem softly increasing and decreasing in luminance.
Rabbit tilts his head to the side, brows lightly furrowed as he listens to Garnet's words... while also fumbling with the catch for the satchel that holds Mr. Whisper.
The rabbit rewards him for its freedom with a prompt bite to his hand, making Rabbit wince. "Ow! I'm sorry, it was safer in there for you, I know you hate it! But please there's someone to meet-- Um, Garnet, this is Mr. Whisper, and Mr. Whisper, this is Garnet... Miss Garnet maybe? Mrs.?"
Rabbit holds his sulky familiar up towards the gem's soft glow for examination. His thoughtful look hasn't gone away.
"Shard.... do you mean like... what's left of the world? The part we can get to and explore, that's our 'shard' ? So -- so everyone else is all still out there, too, on their own shards?"
Siegfried's brow furrows about as hard as Rabbit's.
Owner? The dominant party?
They had spoken of "the sharding" before, but it was one of those theories as far as Siegfried had been concerned. The world was smaller than it had been before, and none knew exactly why. Passbog wasn't exactly filled with powerful diviners. Siegfried's auguries, back when he had the faith (and incense) to perform them, hadn't given clear answers to the questions he had asked. But the magic still came. The gods still provided, even if the provisions were smaller with each passing year.
"We've tried talking with the goblins before," Siegfried says. "Why didn't they mention this...goal?" He presses a bit further, too. "And how did Mama Kurg come to possess you?"
The longer Jaxom listens the angrier he gets. "You told the goblins they had to attack us? They had to take over the pitiful remains of this piece of the world? Are you part of the magic that broke the world? Or did it break you too? Were you trying to destroy the world and your magic broke you too!?!"
Jaxom realizes that he is angry enough to do something stupid, like smash the rock!, so he turns and leaves the hut. He needs to stand up and stretch out. He wants to scream but he chokes it back. He scans the area hoping the remaining goblins decide to attack. Maybe....
"It sounds like Garnet's been looking towards the end, rather than the means," Alden offers, a disapproving tone tinging his words. "Jaxom's questions are good ones," he adds, addressing the gemstone. "What can you tell us of the Sharding? How does your own power matter to it?"
There was a long pause as the various reactions to Garnet's words came through, and Kurg started to stir as Garnet spoke again.
"There are other shards, yes. If there are people on all of them I do not know. I do not know how I came to be, or how the sharding came to be. I only know I was birthed from it, and my purpose it to rejoin this broken piece of the world with another. Mama Kurg found me in the swamp after the world was broken. That is how she came to possess me. I did not tell the goblins to attack you. As I said, peace is an option to achieve dominance over the shard."
It was then that the old goblin woman slowly opened her eyes. "Peace was not an option." she spoke without moving in her chair. Her voice was weak and slow, but very deliberate. "You would be happy to kill us. If not... then we would eventually meet humans who would. No. Peace was never an option."
The old women paused, carefully looking from one member of the party to the other. Her head moving to the side to look after Jaxom's retreating figure. "After we failed to defeat you, our only option became to hide. My little one, Snag, he did not understand this." she explains, "So now we can not even hide, but then... I am done hiding. I am old, and I can barely snare food. My time has come, and soon you will kill my child as well."
There was no anger in her voice. The goblin seemed resigned to her fate, and Garnet shimmered in panic.
"Mama Kurg, you're not going to die!" she protested. The Garnet sounding even younger now. "They will take pity on you. I know they will."
The old goblin gave an amused wheeze and closed her eyes for a moment. Her brow furrowing as she coughed hard, dislodging some flem that dribbled down her chin to her chest. "They have no reason to." the goblin explained, "...and I would not want it."
Siegfried changes the grip on his hammer as Mama Kurg stirs. He listens to her hateful words, his face etched as much with vitriol as with pity.
Peace was always an option. But most forsook it. Old divisions, entrenched in millennia of warfare, led most of the races of Golarion to scramble for the limited resources they could choke out of a land scarred by the plots of the powerful. The dwarves' own Quest for Sky was brought on by the cataclysm known as Earthfall ten millennia hence, ushering in the endless conflict between Siegfried's kin and the orcs that they drove ahead of them. Few remembered exactly why such conflicts had begun in the first place, and most never asked their kings, gods, and generals why they continued to fight. But they did.
Peace was always an option. But most could not bury their hatred long enough for their vision to clear.
"Then you lack imagination," Siegfried declares to Mama Kurg.
Jaxom listens, disgusted at the way things had gone. He glances back to the hovel and practically snarls, "So the magical rock, and yes a garnet is a rock!, didn't understand goblins very nature and caused them to attack us. We defended ourselves and nearly exterminated the creatures, killing off all of the females that could be found. And now the goblins are killing each other while mutating themselves and trying again to destroy our little village. Death all around, just like the sundering of the world!" He pauses for a breath and shakes his head.
"Of course peace is always an option, but now the final goblin female, that hid and was missed, doesn't even want pity. If we just leave her she'll probably die of starvation, but we should do just that! We need to track the one survivor from the attack, and the killers that executed the other survivors. We need to know what is mutating them to be sure it doesn't affect us!"
"We're not going to murder you," Alden says to Mama Kurg. "But if you wish to fight a duel to the death with one of us, I'll oblige if that's the way you want to end your days. The goblins that attacked us and set fire to our town will not receive the same consideration."
Rabbit nervously twists his hands together in Mr. Whisper's fur. "Why wouldn't you take an offer of peace from us? Isn't there enough death and loss already? Maybe it doesn't have to be this way. What is happening to your son? Is your tribe sick?"
"I am a gem!" Garnet insists in an agitated trill, "Rocks are crude and made of different mineral combinations! Their structure is entirely different than mine! You're closer to a skunk than I am to a rock!"
The gem glowed bright and hot, to the point the red turned a darker shade.
Mama Kurg gave a rough chuckle at Alden's statement. Her frame stressed and shaking faintly after the amusement passed. "Oh yes, just give me a half hour or so." she mused, "I will get to standing... assuming I don't have to piss first." Again she favored him with a raspy cackle, all she seemed to be able to manage after her earlier chuckle.
Turning her gaze down to Rabbit, her indifferent gaze softened ever so slightly. "I don't care one way or another, but peace wouldn't be terrible." she admitted, "My son... he is an alchemist. Or maybe he is a she now. He might just be smart enough to do it. Either way, I suggest you take it up with him. I do think I need to piss."
The goblin starts to ever so slowly rise from her chair. Having to fight and struggle to get upright. Then, catch her breath while she hunched forward. Before starting to shift her hips back and forth, working her way of the chair to her feet. Even then, her frail hands clutched at the chair. Her arms shaking from the effort.
"Take Garnet with you." she bid them, "She will belong with the winner, and it spares either of you coming to bother me again."
Alden sheathes his sword, and offers his arm for Mama Kurg to steady herself. He looks around the small hut to see if she has a cane or staff nearby. If she does, he nods for someone to bring it to her. If not, he asks her, "Do you need help getting out of doors?"
Had the goblins being trying to change their sex to promote the procreation of a new generation? Siegfried didn't remember Passbog doing any sort of gynocide on the goblins, but maybe it had been unintentional.
The dwarf crosses his arms and sighs. "I'll sue for peace if I can," he says. "But I've always found my hammer more convincing than my words. So I'll pray that your kin are at least as receptive as you, or that my companions' tongues are sharper that our blades."
Thinking for a moment, he grimaces. "If we take Garnet, how do we know that they will not assume that we have killed you? Is there something we can say, or a favor of yours that we can show, to indicate that we have not been violent with you?"
Jaxom snickers at the garnet, getting angry? "A garnet is a gem, which is a rock just like a diamond is both. But the diamond is prettier and more valuable. And yes, a skunk is a red-blooded animal that would fight to the death to protect its home. We're similar like that! But I guess you're right. Good rock is useful, strong and trustworthy...."
He hears Siegfried's question and promptly replies, "Stuff it in a bag. If they can't see it we don't have to explain. But be sure to wrap it good so they don't hear it complaining. Another thing rocks are good at? Not talking.... when you don't want them to speak."
"I'm arguing with an idiot..." Garnet mutters before going quiet. Her glow simmering to it's original level.
As Alden move to help mama Kurg she viciously slaps his hand away. Her long nails didn't do any significant damage, but definately hurt. "Keep your filthy hands off me!" she growls, "I get around on my own." Despite her claim, it takes her time to catch her breath after the brief struggle. The old goblin wheezing before she makes her way around her chair. Grabbing up a cane to use.
"Don't... bore me... with peace." she struggles to say as she begins to make her way to the exit of her hovel, "You go talk... to the kid about such nonsense... he will be happy to burn you all." Her pace is pitifully slow, taking only a step at a time and having to stop to rest frequently. Still, she doggedly made her way to the exit. Showing no sign of paying the group any more attention.
Jaxom considers finding a large rock and smashing garnet.... But, since the thing was made by the magic that sundered the world doing that might just make things worse. He turns and leaves the hut. Someone else can pick up the stupid rock.
Siegfried glowers at Jaxom as he continues to treat Garnet as a common stone rather than an entity possessed of some measure of sapience. "That will be enough of that, Mr. Buhr. We should not be here to make enemies. We have enough of those already."
The dwarf does go to retrieve Garnet. As he picks it up, he sighs. "I've no mind to stroke your ego, Ms. Garnet, but I hope you know we're not all as thick-skulled as my friend. If you don't mind, I'll be putting you in my knapsack for now. Just until we deal with this sordid business. If there's a way to help you find a field of rabbits, we'll do what we can."
He does as he says he would and leaves Mama Kurg to her curmudgeonly ways. Outside, he takes a deep breath and begins looking once more at the tracks. Trap or no, they clearly needed to end this.
Kras'tak just seemed mesmerized by the Garnet, watching it twinkle and glow as she slowly inched towards it. She was about to snatch it up when Siegfried took it instead, an almost pained whine leaving her as she slumped in defeat. Turning to leave she noticed the Goblin leaving, in fact even ignoring them, and she glanced around before going ahead and looking around the hut. Her nose twitched as she sniffed at the air, turning her head this way and that as she peered at the objects collected, maybe even a snack?
Rabbit is wondering if he'll wind up carrying the gem and is relieved when Siegfried does it instead. He carefully tucks Mr. Whisper back into his satchel (incurring some scratches from the rabbit's hind paws as he does so) and bites his lower lip as he looks at Mama Kurg.
"--um, if I can, and if I don't die and get all burnt up by your son, I'll bring you some food, and, um, maybe something for that cough," he blurts out quickly before trotting out the door after the others.
Alden steps back and out of the way of Mama Kurg, as she makes her way out of the hut. He gives a small nod of respect to her, despite her cantankerous tone.
"We should be about it, then. There are still goblins out there who want to kill us and our neighbors."
He looks around at the ground, trying to pick up the trail.
Garnet is quiet as Siegfried plays the peacemaker, and remains so as she was placed into the bag. Meanwhile, Kras'tak pokes around the hovel. She doesn't find anything of particular value. Mostly the refuse that lingered in the cooking space and a few cobwebs clinging to the trunk.
The goblin gives an indistinct grunt at Rabbit, but she did at least look back at him briefly as she made a slow trek to the far side of the trunk. The party looks about at the tracks. Previously, they had found tracks heading in the direction of the spring. Siegfried was able to find the general direction once more, as he could likely find the spring in his sleep.
Alden, on the other hand, took over the actual pathfinding to lead the party out through the bog. The ground growing firmer and more green as they went.
After a while they spotted the two hill rise that marked the location of the spring. Pockmarked with mossy boulders and sporting less dense foliage. The trees that dotted the hills had thick roots sprouting from the ground. Serving as steps or tripping points in the climb. A thin line of smoke was billowing up from between the two hills. Likely from the spring in the glen.
Jaxom looks over the situation thinking tactics. They had tried a surprise attack on their home.... But the team wasn't goblins. No need to lower themselves to the level of the enemy! "I think we should approach over the hill. Take the high ground so they can't just throw a bunch of flasks of the alchemists fire on us! We ready missile weapons and then shout a warning. Our actions from that point depend on how they react. If they attack we return fire, looking for the leaders or any spell casters."
”These goblins have given a lot of thought to the location of their encampment. Walking in through the valley trail makes us easy targets. If we cross over the hill, they still have the advantage of being smaller, in familiar surroundings, and with a lot of trees and scrub to hide behind. Trees and scrub that we’re going to have to push our way through. If we had some means of goading the out into the open, that would be best. Any ideas on how to do that?” he asks the others.
"Problem is that doing that would be provoking them to fight. If we're OK with that.... We could go get the bodies that they killed, and throw them down the hill. The goblins that weren't there would probably think we did that and attack out of rage. ??"
"Mama Kurg said, 'Peace was never an option.' Everything else she stated alluded to the notion that her son and the rest of the goblins will not heed a petition for peace, regardless of our intentions or reasons. We're probably walking into a trap, with the attack on the town as bait. The question is, do we try to spring the trap or go around, and what is the best way to do either of those things?"
"An old crone thrust out of leadership may not speak for the rest of the tribe," Siegfried grumbles. "I'm still not keen on launching a surprise assault, especially when they may be expecting us regardless. But at least I agree that a hillside approach is best."
Rabbit puffs his cheeks up and then lets out the breath with a little sigh. He would much prefer peace. But even his optimistic nature is aware that it might be a tough sell.
"I don't know that... that it's a deliberate trap from them? They lost several goblins today. If the tribe has no women then they can't afford to lose anyone. I don't think things went the way they hoped today. But... but I don't know much about battle, and tactics. You are all more knowledgeable than me on that."
The halfing frets a little, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "I like Mr. Jaxom's idea of coming over the hill, and at least shouting a warning and trying.... trying to talk. If it goes wrong then we're on uh... high ground? Is that a thing?"
"Yes, high ground is a thing. If they decide to attack they have to come up the hill to us while we fire missiles down on them. Let's get up on the hill and see what happens. They've lost a significant number and shouldn't have too many warriors left. Maybe they'll get smart and talk...."
Rabbit falls into a spot near the end, if not actually at it.
Siegfried is too grumpy to pay clear attention. He isn't usually one to be so easily distracted, but his internal world calls for his attention as he begins considering tactical plans if negotiations proved impossible.
Kras’tak had been curiously circling the men as they spoke, not having a mind for tactics herself. Very much a point and shoot kinda gal. After they seemed to reach a conclusion she fell into line scratching at her chin. ”Peace with Goblins is not possible, no no. Old lady Goblin exception, not the rule, Goblins only cause problems and get antsy if in peace for too long,” she chirped, adjusting her tail bags as she prepared to assist Rabbit through the mud. ”High ground call out, yes, then mow them down as they come up! Yes yes, very good plan.”
Most of the group has their attention on potential ambush as they climb the uneven terrain of the hillside. Using tree roots as impromptu stairs and climbing as much as marching upward. Near the crest of the hill Jaxom pauses with his hand on "step" of earth created by a root. Noting a thin strand of crudely made twine pulled taut just above his fingers.
Stopping for the moment, he follows the twine into a bush near the tree, and carefully lifts branches aside to reveal where it leads. Finding a wooden branch inside. Bent backward and tied off with multiple sharpened stakes. Ready to snap outward and impale someone in the thighs (or abdomen if smol) once the twine was triggered.
It is an easy trap to bypass, requiring nothing more than holding the branch taut while the twine is cut. Then slowly releasing the tension. Looking about, Jaxom can see other similar spots near the crest of the hill where the same trap could be placed. If each had the same trap waiting remained to be seen.
As the group crests the hill they are treated to a view of the goblin camp that has been put up maybe fifty feet below them on the more gradual downward slope.
The center of the hill flanked dead end was the spring. Roughly twenty feet around and a few feet deep, the central pool of the spring had refuse and debre scattered about inside. The goblins not wise enough to not use it for a garbage pit. Three crude tents were assembled around it. Two were little more than large leans, made with actual tent poles, likely stolen, and sheets that were pockmarked with tears and mildew. The third was maybe eight feet in diameter. A rounded little hut. It was short, squat, and made of wood and thatch.
The ground around the spring had been trampled by the goblins enough that only moss and short grass remained for the most part. A few tree stumps dotted the terrain, some of the first victims to the goblin menace. In this open space was the source of the smoke. A large fire pit with a small fire set inside. A loose horseshoe of goblins were gathered around it, with a trio of goblins at the head of the firepit. The center figure was what seemed to all the world to be a young female goblin.
She was wearing a red slip of a tunic made of tattered red bedsheet and a headdress of skulls made from small animals. She also wore a harness across her body that held many vials and knickknacks. A hawkish nose sloped down dangerously between a thick, black unibrow. Her beady eyes blinking before the fire and darting around dangerously as the assembled goblins.
Flanking her on either side was a pair of freakishly large goblins. They were abnormally thick around the torso, each having a singular hulkish arm that made their bodies asymmetrical. They stood on longer, thinner legs, looking like some kind of freakish goblin bodybuilders. Both sported full sized clubs in hand, though it was doubtful if they could use them two-handed.
The eight or so remaining goblins in the horseshoe bore a smattering of weapons among them. Four had small clubs. One seemed to have a knife tied to his waist with a rope belt. Another had a small crossbow and was looking around as much as attending to the gathering.
As the party sat upon the rise of the hill, the goblin with the crossbow shrieked, spotting the unconcealed group. It pointed and called out in alarm. Siegfried, Jaxom, and Rabbit understanding it's words as it shouted in goblin, "They're here!"
The female leader points as well. "Kill them all!" she cries in goblin. Her voice was froggish and strained, sounding as if her larynx was badly afflicted with something.
- The nearest goblin is sixty feet from the party, with the leader and two bodyguards being eighty feet away.
- The bodyguards are technically medium creatures.
- The party has a height advantage, gaining a +1 circumstance bonus to ranged attacks.
- The slope of the hill isn't really "gradual" as I put it. It is fairly steep and a bit uneven. To move half speed up or down the slope requires a DC 7 acrobatics check. Full speed requires a DC 12 acrobatics check. Length wise, it is about twenty feet in front of the party.
- There are two trees in immediate range on the hill top that would serve as full cover if someone wanted to shoot and then take cover.
Should have rolled for the goblins by group, so I will go with the lowest roll. That puts initiative order at: Jaxom (surprising no one), Alden, Kras'tak, the goblin leader, the goblin bruisers, the goblins, Rabbit, and finally the very dwarfish Siegfried.
Hearing the commands Jaxom aims his crossbow at the goblin with a crossbow. "They made their decision! Only one with a missile weapon."
Nodding in acknowledgment of Jaxom's observation, Alden looses an arrow at the crossbow wielding goblin.
...and misses badly.
Dead-Eye, forgive me for not practicing more.
Kras'tak scrambled up after the other two and peered over the edge. "Mmm, too far for spells. Kras'tak has to get closer," the little kobold mumbled, sagely nodding her head as she did so. Instead, she dug her claws into the dirt and held her tail down for the other two to use as an assist, not in any real mechanical benefit but it certainly was an effort.