Torgar stops and turns. Lest someone lays a restraining hand on him he appears to be headed toward the goblin walking their way.
Reuben turns on his heel and pulls his orb from the ornate pouch hanging at his waist. He whispers,
"Badai Kesedihan dan Es, Aku memanggilmu!"
The orb begins to glow with white light again, but inside of the orb, dark storm clouds gather and roil. As he chants, the light seems to dim above the hobgoblins, and clouds begin to move with alarming rapidity towards them, gaining in size and becoming dark grey and waterlogged. With the final word of the spell, the clouds finish their movement, and release a downpour of cold, icy rain.
Reuben grins, and shoves the orb back in his pocket.
"Alright, let's go! We don't want to keep Haven waiting, do we? Lead on, Orlin!"
He gestures to Torgar and Augier,
"Fear not, I'm no diviner, but I have the feeling that killing goblins is certainly going to be in our future, so stow your axes, and we'll have another...meeting...with this Toade eventually. Then you can introduce him to the business end of your battleaxes!
"You should'a said you had one of those." Torgar says and reverses direction. "Let's get to Haven."
The goblins haven't actively spot you, but they hear Reuben trying to sneak. So they sent five goblins your way. It's a darkening, fall evening, so you have that on your side at least. Although Goblins have darkvision, they can see to 60 feet. You are 120 feet away from them.
They are definitely looking for the source of the noise.
Alright, unless there are any objections, just to keep things rolling, I'll cast Sleet Storm.
Reuben turns on his heel and pulls his orb from the ornate pouch hanging at his waist. He whispers,
"Badai Kesedihan dan Es, Aku memanggilmu!"
The orb begins to glow with white light again, but inside of the orb, dark storm clouds gather and roil. As he chants, the light seems to dim above the hobgoblins, and clouds begin to move with alarming rapidity towards them, gaining in size and becoming dark grey and waterlogged. With the final word of the spell, the clouds finish their movement, and release a downpour of cold, icy rain.
Reuben grins, and shoves the orb back in his pocket."Alright, let's go! We don't want to keep Haven waiting, do we? Lead on, Orlin!"
He gestures to Torgar and Augier,
"Fear not, I'm no diviner, but I have the feeling that killing goblins is certainly going to be in our future, so stow your axes, and we'll have another...meeting...with this Toade eventually. Then you can introduce him to the business end of your battleaxes!
Reuben's going to cast Sleet Storm centered over the goblins, which should create an 80 ft diameter circle of difficult terrain and effective blindness over them. That should keep them there for a while, while we make our escape.
Although, once we get some distance, it would probably be prudent to rest when we're safe. All I have left is three more 1st level spells, and my tiny hit die is telling me that that is a less than ideal situation. Specifically, I have a magic missile, an animate rope, and a shield spell left. I'm fine for a while, just whenever we get a chance, I'd like to rememorize. It can be when we get to Haven though, it doesn't have to be now.
Although Rueben's Sleet Storm spell has them caught off guard, as sleet is pouring on them and they feel colder than normal. They essentially stop and start shivering. It used to be a good, warm Autumn day (at least for the goblins), and they run to get out of the sleet storm that is happening around them. They are dressed in rags, of course, few goblins wear armor.
Augier grumbles at all the running away. Just bash the gobboes and get back to cooking!
Thanks for your help!
They work more like a traditional Mageware Shop. You might be able to get a spellbook or two, scrolls, magic potions, and a few minor magic items.
They work more like a traditional Mageware Shop. You might be able to get a spellbook or two, scrolls, magic potions, and a few minor magic items.Thanks for your help!
Collecting herbs is an option, yes. So you can. Just roll perception for them.
Reuben, as the party is moving, begins looking for herbs, specifically Chamomile, Black Bryony, or Arrowgum. Seeing the Vallenwood trees around Solace, he stops to strip the bark from one and tries to pool the sap into a small vial he has in his pouches. Vallenwood sap is rumored to have some curative properties. He collects what he can, and then follows the party, explaining,
"I've heard of Haven's Mageware shop, and it's owner is quite...obsessive about his herbs. If we find a goodly amount of medicinal herbs, we just might be able to sell them for a tidy profit, that we could use to finance our party's expedition to Xak Tsaroth. Who knows, he might have some imbued objects we could get a hold of as well.
I promise that any herbs I gather will be sold to the best of my ability, and the money will be split throughout our company, though I'm not sure how much I'll get for them, there's an entire street named 'Herbalists' Street,' we're bound to find some buyer there."
He'll then return to looking for herbs.
Stay, we must not lose our senses;
Men who stick at no offences
Will anon be here!
Piracy their dreadful trade is;
Pray you, get you hence, young ladies,
While the coast is clear
GIRLS: No, we must not lose our senses,
If they stick at no offences
We should not be here!
Torgar with both his knowledge of nature and survival decides he can help the wizard out so, as they walk, he begins to look around also.
Togar and Reuben find a lot of herbs, some are preparing for the winter that is coming. Some are fresh. Chamomile, Black Bryony, or Arrowgum are easily found. But not a lot of them.
One pound. Yep, each herb kind. Both of you searching has yielded up one pound of each kind.
Augier thinks the long legs are wasting too much time picking weeds. Get moven! Gobboes will hunt us down!
No, not yet.
Agggh is correct. I would caution about looking for herbs until we are safe. she warns as she walks with the Plainsmen.
Reuben nods gravely and asks,
"What's our plan? I only have a little bit of magic left, an incendiary projectile, a magical Ward, and a spell to give life to a hempen rope."
He draws his dagger,
"As well as my throwing daggers and staff of course..."
He looks to the others for what to do.
Keep walken till we get to big city? Steal a wagon?
Upon the mention of stealing, Reuben frowns, and admonishes the gully dwarf,
"I cannot condone such an action, save for a very just cause, and with just recompensation. However, if a cart is what we need, then perhaps we could trade to obtain it."
I suspect that the roads will be watched. It is not like we are an unassuming group, we do stand out in a crowd. Perhaps we should cut across country to make our way to Haven. she suggests.
"Let's get some distance and then we can think about what we want to do." Torgar says. "Our immediate course is to get these two safely away and have them explain a little more about what that staff is and why it needs to go to Xak Tsaroth."
Reuben ponders this for a moment,
"I agree, but there will be quite a few more dangers cutting across the country, so I propose we find somewhere to rest whenever possible, perhaps plot a swift route to Haven? It's already in the opposite direction of our destination, and I think haste is prudent. However, please, don't force the issue on my account, I still have some contingencies I can resort to."
Reuben grins as he walks, trying to exude a sense of good humor and serenity. The effect is somewhat spoiled by the dagger he still absent-mindedly tosses from hand to hand, revealing his masked anxiety.
Augier shrugs. Drop steel to pay for wagon then. Dat magic stick is important enough, yea? So we say sorry later.
A cool breeze comes off the lake. It's turning into a cool night.
"We should probably push into the evening as long as Orlin feels comfortable with where he's going. The staff seems to be quite the draw and may motivate them to search into the evening."The more distance between us and them the better.
Kadmos will keep his mouth shut, as he doesn't want the goblins to hear him. He will move up close to Augier and try to whisper, "You stick close to me and we'll whack them together.
Nods in agreement at cow-man's words.
Orlin continues on towards Solace, trying to guide the steps of the others through the dense forest. "Watch out for that there plant - causes itchin' everywhere it brushes, it does. We go on long enough, that one there has a root you can boil. Chewin' on the trees would be more appetizin', but it's better'n starvin', for certain." He shakes his head. "That's for if things go bad, though - we'll get goods in Haven with any luck."
As the group walks, Orlin hums quietly to himself, an old hunters' song that fades in and out of the forest's background noise - birds calling, insects buzzing, and so on. "Not too much farther to Haven - if we go by night, we might find some inn before it's too late to rest." He glares at Goldmoon. "Now, no blabbin' about the staff, Xak Tsaroth, or anything else that'll get us chased out ahead of a mob, y'hear me?"
Goldmoon just nods to Orlin. "The staff will still be conspicuous," she says.
"Can't you wrap it in somethin'?" Torgar asks her.
Kadmos is content to walk with his new "friends". Keeping the lady and her holy staff (?) out of the grasp of goblins or worse makes a lot of sense to him. When they rest he'll offer to take the last watch, so he can practice his kata's quietly, and keep his sense attuned to whats around him
Reuben follows the party to where they decide to rest for the night. Once he sets his pack down, and rolls out his bedroll, he stands up again, and walks towards the nearest woods. He stops and claps his hands together. Slowly drawing them apart, a shining dim light begins to glow between his palms. By its light, he gathers up enough dead fall and sticks foe a fire and brings them back.
He piles the wood into a pyramid shape and snaps his fingers. A brief flash of light cuts through the night, and the wood catches ablaze.
"I volunteer the first watch, as I must study my spellbook and relearn all I have learned. Thus is the Curse of the Magi. If you like, I would tell its story.
Long ago, the gods of magic granted three mages the power of wonders; a benevolent man, a passive man, and a selfish man. As you can probably guess, these three became the founders of the Conclave of Magic, each founding an order based on their style of sorcery: light, shadow, and dark.
However, as they learned more and more magic, they became exponentially more powerful, until they rivaled the very kings and queens who would dare oppose their quest for knowledge. The gods of magic realized the danger, and placed a terrible curse on the lines of mages. Each mage would be able to memorize a few spells each day, but once cast, the magic would slip like a wet fish from the memory of the caster. Thus, wizards are cursed to study their spellbooks constantly for their power, and shackled to the ways of diligence.
Now, wasn't that a pleasant story."
Reuben grins and reclines back on his bedroll, reading his spellbook by his conjured light.
After a moment's thought, he sits up and addresses Goldmoon.
"I agree with the others, by the way, you might want to be a bit more stealthy in your concealment of the staff. If you keep waving it around like that, you're liable to summon a horde of flesh-rending goblins, or worse, a kender.
For magic items like this, eespecially in these times, there's often a way to disguise an item's true nature, if it's conspicuous enough. I'll try to detect it's enchantment."
Reuben whispers a small incantation,
"Mas mata mencelik moipar mu pesona!"
He closes his eyes, and when he opens them again, they glow with a pale blue light. He stares at the staff for a second, a look of confusion on his face, but rapidly grabs his forehead, a grimace of mixed pain and wonder on his lips.
"I...I can sense an enchantment on this staff, but it's magic is unlike anything I've ever seen! Either this is the greatest breakthrough in magic in centuries, or...you are who and what you say you are...
He leans back, still rubbing his eyes.
Augier marches on through the day, occasionally muttering under his breath. When they make camp he begins making a firepit and puts up a cookpot. I should hunt for food. Maybe small animals. He then heads out to see what he can scrounge up.