With the wargs defeated, the merchant Caradrian and his family come out from hiding to thank the Pathfinders. Their reaction to the hobgoblins is more mixed.
Following the skirmish with the wargs, Caradrian stumbles out from his hiding place near the campfire to ascertain whether his caravan guards are still alive. He is a man from Magnimar with simple, conservative traveling clothes that suggest an austere lifestyle. His partner, a Garundi man named Jharless, huddles with two youths near the fire to console them and shield their gaze from the carnage. When the Iolite Squad approaches, Caradrian retreats in fear, shouting that he doesn’t want any more trouble.
Sergeant Drussem, having been tasked with representing the better aspects of Oprak and hobgoblin cooperation and recognizing the potential benefit of helping distressed travelers, orders Gintka and Akrag to help the injured guards while she and Ozaril address Caradrian.
As Kat approaches, Akrag pulls out his own healer's tools and Gintka sets to work mixing salves. "Please don't use magic unless it's necessary," Akrag asks quietly, "We want to use our field medicine to prove that we want to help."
While they don't want the Pathfinders to solve the problem for them using magic, Akrag is more than willing to work with Kat. Together they assess the situation and stabilize the guards, but their condition is pretty severe.
Akrag takes over the treatment, while Gintka continues making and applying her salves. She's also looking for any fresh medicinal herbs to help.
Kat and Akrag, with the help of Gintka's medicines, treat both guards. They're both stable and happy to be alive after the injuries they sustained from the wargs, but it will take them a bit longer to be recovered enough to resume their guard duties..
Akrag and Gintka are in high spirits after their success.
The merchant Caradrian is grateful for the medical help, and gives the party a few items from his wares--an oil of mending and a lesser mistform elixir.
He still seems apprehensive around the hobgoblins, though.
The merchant and his family seem to relax a little, at least reassured that they aren't in immediate peril.
Though they still seem nervous around the hobgoblin soldiers, and keep looking over them and their uniforms while clearly preferring to address the Pathfinders instead. Ozaril and the sergeant look awkward and a little demoralized by the rebuff.
Perhaps the party could attempt to convince the merchant that the hobgoblins are trustworthy and explain the error of prejudice against them given their evolving role in the region . Given the prominent symbols of the Prismatic Ray, they may also be able to persuade the devout merchant with religious doctrines of tolerance, second chances, or similar arguments .
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Realizing that he is in front of a religious person, Zizarс approached from this side and began talking about his goddess, Nocticula. He told the story of how she had ascended from being a Demon Lord into a non-evil Goddess of Midnight. All the while, he casts expressive glances at the hobgoblins, urging the merchant to think.
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Voron attempts to explain that it is the hobgoblins that helped the party to journey here. Many types of peoples have skills with which to help each other achieve things. He does his very best to sound kind and not patronizing as he knows how he can come across.
Internally he is seething at them for their obtuseness, but he catches himself several times before that word accidentally slips out.
Caradrian expresses sincere thanks for the intervention and takes a long moment to ponder their argument. He then thanks Drussem and the Iolite Squad, acknowledges that he has much to learn about hobgoblins and will endeavor to have more faith in them.
Drussem and Ozaril seem pleased to have made something of a friend, and are also in high spirits.
It looks like the entire Iolite squad will have good morale for the training exercises in two days.
As the team continues on, nothing else bothers them for the rest of the day. After they rest for the night, the Pathfinders’ journey will continue to the southeast on less-traveled paths for nearly two days. During this time, the stoic Iolite Squad members plan to remain vigilant, knowing that danger could come from hungry monsters and distrusting humanoids alike.
The group’s next destination is a small valley containing a training ground that the Society has prepared for the Pathfinders in advance—their mission briefing includes directions on which paths to travel to find the site. The training ground is about four miles from the abandoned dig site that the Iolite Squad is tasked with exploring.
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Zizarc will have casual conversations with hobgoblins several times. He heard that they got Avistan through Darklands, and this is his native land (although much deeper than they most likely went), so there is a common theme of the journey. No specific purpose, just a little better to find out about them and let them know something about him.
Akrag and Gintka are eager to talk trade. "We do believe that the Pathfinder Society has much to offer in terms of knowledge, resources, and practical experience."
During this conversation, Kat also learns that Gintka, like most hobgoblins, does not have unruly bright orange hair. She has a hat... that is also a wig. "Isn't it the greatest thing you've ever seen? I found it by the side of the road lat week. I love it so much."
"It's disgusting."
"I did wash it."
The sergeant, standing nearby, puts in "It is also not part of the regulation uniform."
Gintka grins. "If she really hated it that much, she could just order me not to wear it while I'm on duty. But! She! Haaaaaasn't!"
Drussem gives an annoyed "hmmph" and walks further away.
The entire squad is interested in Zizarc's journey, as well as his experiences with the Pathfinder Society. Is he accepted there? And does being a member of the Society help in his other interactions with other people?
"Hobgoblins aren't always... popular. While we were ordered to join your Society as a military assignment, we do hope others following us find a place here."
The road from Kaer Maga continues south and east through the foothills. The Iolite Squad seems comfortable in the rocky terrain, and they grow more relaxed as the path takes the group farther away from the more crowded main roads. After a few miles, the winding path descends into a shallow, shrub-strewn valley. Soon, the path becomes obscured with foliage, but a small stream leads the way to a large cleared area. Small tables and a few crates of supplies stand neatly at the center of the area, and four nearby patches of flattened earth ring a sizable bonfire pit. To the south, a ramp leads into a labyrinth of trenches that stretches across the valley floor. About six feet deep, the trenches are blocked with a sign that reads “DANGER: for Pathfinder Society training purposes only. Keep Out!”
The Iolite Squad sets up camp in a matter of minutes. They move with efficiency and obvious eagerness to begin their joint training. Sergeant Drussem barks a few orders in guidance, and a minute later the four hobgoblins stand at the ready near the bonfire pit.
Drussem addresses the squad in Common. “Here begins your real training! We have fought together many times. This is something new. These Pathfinders have seen things that would surprise us. We know how to fight, how to scout, how to use every tactic to gain the slightest advantage. We are the Iolite Squad! But soon, we will be more. To become Pathfinders, we must learn from Pathfinders. But we are not lazy students who wish to sit and read books in a dusty building. We will learn through experience. These Pathfinders are part of our team now, but there is much we can teach them as well. Let us show them what the Iolite Squad can do!”
Hobgoblins enjoy bloodshed, but they also seek out practical solutions whenever possible. This is especially true when exploring dangerous areas such as ruins, where blood can be spilled due to traps and hazards as well as foes. The Iolite Squad recognizes that the Pathfinders are the experts in exploring ruins and getting out alive—their own past experience generally covers traps and snares used in war and hunting, not the myriad traps left by civilizations long gone. The course leads through a series of simple traps and obstacles laid out in the trenches and designed to demand a variety of strategies for avoiding such dangers.
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The entire squad is interested in Zizarc's journey, as well as his experiences with the Pathfinder Society. Is he accepted there? And does being a member of the Society help in his other interactions with other people?
"Hobgoblins aren't always... popular. While we were ordered to join your Society as a military assignment, we do hope others following us find a place here."
I think they've seen stranger creatures... Skeletons! Pathfinders nowadays really accept skeletons into their ranks! And they say that they can accept ghouls in the future... Yep, the undead cannibals, the very ones. So we, those who were considered "monster races" just ten years ago, now look to them like something cozy and homely, evoking memories of good old adventures. This is my honest impression.
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Zaizarc will try to pass on to the hobgoblins all the knowledge he possesses. Obviously, the House Misraria trained him primarily as an assassin, a master of infiltration and murder... Lectures on working with written sources are much more difficult for him.
You complete the obstacle course and teach the Iolite Squad a few new things about traps that often appear in ancient ruins.
Mindartis runs into a trap himself (though a practice trap loaded only with a bean bag), but the squad is particularly impressed with Zizarc.
A hobgoblin army’s traditional “exchange of hand-to-hand tactics” exercise (also known as a “fight”) typically results in serious injury or death for one or more parties. More modern and practically minded hobgoblins have reduced the lethality of these duels by allowing a participant to surrender; they still recognize that the loser might be weaker, but they can also learn something from their loss and grow stronger for it.
That doesn’t mean the hobgoblins go easy on you when you engage in this brutal wrestling exercise, however.
Zizarc matches the hobgoblins blow-for-blow and move-for-move. The Iolite Squad is impressed with his fighting abilities, and he learns a few tips from Sergeant Drussem about reading your opponent and keeping a clear head in a fight.
The Iolite Squad is similarly impressed with Mindartis.
After a few bouts, Kat and the hobgoblins size each other up and determine exactly how best to complement one another’s fighting abilities. With a few more rounds, they each learn something new and the Iolite Squad gains a newfound respect for how she handles herself in a fight.
Many hobgoblins fail to see the value in crumbling artifacts and forgotten lore—if it has no immediate practical use, why take the time to study it? The Iolite Squad, however, recognizes that they must understand such things if they are to become Pathfinders and help to elevate Oprak and hobgoblin-kind in the eyes of the Society. Lacking experience in such matters, they are eager for any advice that you have to offer in an impromptu field lecture.
The Iolite Squad becomes confused by Zizarc's expectations for handling and documenting ancient artifacts and lore—they try their best, but they do not engage enough to have learned anything useful.
Voron demonstrates the usefulness of ancient artifacts and lore with examples from his own knowledge and experience. The Iolite Squad sees the value of this new knowledge and demonstrates a fair understanding of how to recognize and document such findings.
You learn the essentials of hobgoblin smokeworking, which combines alchemy and engineering to bring fire and smoke to the battlefield. This hands-on training is quite dangerous!
Kat's medical skills are useful for treating small burns from heat and chemicals during the training. She gets hurt a few times while attempting to duplicate the techniques and processes that the Iolite Squad demonstrates, but after several attempts she succeeds.
It takes only a few attempts for Voron to duplicate the hobgoblins’ techniques. The Iolite Squad’s alchemist, Gintka, teaches him a few advanced tips and methods in the remaining time.
With the exercises complete, the Iolite Squad is quick to turn in, eager to be ready for the morning. As the group breaks camp to make for the dig site, Akrag spends longer than necessary making sure all camping gear is perfectly packed away. He checks and double-checks to be sure that any evidence of the campsite is eradicated and the area is returned to precisely its previous condition.
For thousands of years the dwarves of the Mindspin Mountains, a range not far to the northeast, have explored and mined the foothills surrounding their mountain halls. The region is pocketed with caves and mines both great and small, but most were stripped long ago of anything valuable and are abandoned or collapsed. Few people still bother to explore the area, and most long-lost dwarven settlements which might have existed have either been re-discovered and looted, or now house monsters and bandits.
Venture-Captain Sheila Heidmarch is familiar with the area’s history and has used the old settlements in the foothills as training sites for years. They offer an ideal mix of interesting (but not too interesting) discoveries and dangerous (but not too dangerous) threats. When she heard word that the Pathfinder Society would be training hobgoblins, she quickly ordered that this specific dig site be reserved for their use.
A few miles from the training grounds, a stone edifice rises against the northern slope of the valley. Thick vines drape over a fifty-foot-wide archway that leads into the structure and cover most of the rough-hewn stone around it. A cool wind carries the faint stench of dust and decay from the ruins.
The interior of the abandoned dig site is dark, though the room at the entrance is dimly lit by sunlight. The ceilings are about 10 feet high in most places, though they arch to 15 or 20 feet high in the larger chambers. The floor and walls are roughly hewn stone.
The Pathfinders were told to let the Iolite Squad take the lead, and to provide support and guidance while evaluating the Squad's performance.
Akrag takes a few moments to explore the entrance to the ruin. Rough stairs descend to the left and right and lead to multiple hallways. He holds up a hand to warn the others to halt. “Possible traps—all routes compromised. Status unclear. Request assistance locating, will attempt disposal.”
Not only does Akrag spot and disarm all the traps, he also finds a stash of ancient coins concealed behind a trapped slab of stone.
Rounding a corner, the Iolite Squad discovers a half-dozen skeletal dwarves. They shed centuries of dust and cobwebs as they rise to attack the intruders with ancient picks and shovels.
To proceed through this area, the Iolite Squad must defeat the undead. These foes pose little threat if the hobgoblins use good sense, so the Pathfinders should probably avoid getting directly involved and instead help with tips about battling undead foes or general battle tactics.
After the excellent training session in hand-to-hand combat, the Pathfinders are fairly confident they can handle it.
Knowing the skeletons will do little to prevent themselves from being surrounded, you suggest a quick flanking strategy. Sergeant Drussem and Ozaril leap into the fray, while Akrag and Gintka outflank the skeletons. After a brief skirmish, the enemies are defeated.
One of the skeletons wore a fine belt, which the hobgoblins give to the Pathfinders. They note that its good condition likely means it is magical, but without a way of knowing what it does, they have little use for it.
After dusting themselves off, the Iolite Squad proceeds a little further into the cave. A branch of the tunnel leads deeper off to the left, but there's a chamber ahead that calls for some investigation first. A ruined, rotting campsite occupies the east wall of this large chamber. The hobgoblins spend a few minutes picking through the wreckage. Sergeant Drussem says, “This must be where those dwarves made camp. A long time ago, it seems.”
After a few minutes, Ozaril exclaims, “I found something!” He lifts a small wood chest still largely preserved, and the hobgoblins open it to find ancient scrolls, a dusty tome, and a few miniature stone statuettes.
The Iolite Squad sets out to record their findings for submission to the Pathfinder archives. They'd like the more experienced Pathfinders to review that they're doing so correctly--and some scribing assistance wouldn't go amiss.
Following your advice (Voron's, mostly), the hobgoblins carefully translate the ancient dwarven texts and discover clues about when the site might have been constructed.
As Ozaril is painstakingly reviewing his notes and cleaning his tools, the Drussem looks at the next part of the passage. Thick cobwebs and hundreds of spiders choke this passage. “Our weapons will be no use here,” says the sergeant.
Gintka steps forward, already mixing a few vials of smoking liquid eagerly. “This should clear them out.”
Gintka passes a pair of fuming vials to each of her companions. She looks at the Pathfinders. "Which kinds of reagents are best for repelling spiders like this, you think?"
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"Oh, burning! That could work too!"
With the Pathfinders' help, Gintka creates a smoke that billows along the floor and creeps up the walls. She includes aromatic herbs that are harmless to humanoids but noxious to anthropoids, which swiftly disperses the spiders.
Also, she burns some stuff.
The lingering fumes stick to everyone, which isn't especially pleasant but should provide additional protection against insects and spiders.
With the four tasks complete, Sergeant Drussem orders her squad to regroup and rest for a moment. She thanks the rest of the Pathfinders for their guidance so far, and suggests they take a moment to rest as well. If they insist on pressing on, she orders the Squad to proceed through the previously spider-choked passage.