Larry hears laughter and glances around.... "Well, I uh. Never mind. We were going hunting reagents, right?"
He swipes his hands across himself to flick off something, possibly imagined and turns to look away from town. "So who's leading the way?"
Once the team is ready to move on, they start by walking towards the farmlands. They can see that the farmers have had their own problems with goblins last night, though at a lesser level. Even then it seems like the farmers have taken care of it, with the bodies of goblins everywhere, and crows picking on the flesh.
"Damn", Darius lamented. "It looks like the attack was far larger than we expected." The shelynite looks out mournfully over the fields.
Larry nods at Darius’s comment. ”Such a waste of life. Now they’re just food for scavengers.”
"May the Shining light guide you and keep you at rest. She will guide you to the realm of the Grave mistress so she insure you swift and blissful transitions to your god's embrace"Dagny says as she then looks to the others.
"Maybe on our way back I can check on the farmers and see if they need any healing, or rights?"She says her hand on the hilt of her scimitar as her shield rests at ease on her arm.
"You shouldn't talk yourself down Larry. Everyone starts somewhere, nothing wrong with who you are. It's who you become that matters."
It's too early in the morning to be clever, so Wyssal just smiles at Larry's compliment without saying anything.
"Speaking of coming back, how far are we going before the coming back part begins?"
"May the Shining light guide you and keep you at rest. She will guide you to the realm of the Grave mistress so she insure you swift and blissful transitions to your god's embrace"Dagny says as she then looks to the others.
"Maybe on our way back I can check on the farmers and see if they need any healing, or rights?"She says her hand on the hilt of her scimitar as her shield rests at ease on her arm.
“That won’ be necesarry,” a gruff voice said, catching everyone by surprise. It’s a man of middle aged, with slightly torn overalls, a grizzled unkept grey beared, and a dark farmer’s tan. He holds a scornful look towards the group. “We already took care o’ our issues. Dem goblins got all cocky like, tried to set fire to our barn and slaughter our dogs ‘n horses. Kill em all with only a few scritches. Heard the town dealt with worse goblins?”
"Several deaths, Mr. Sterin.", Darius states. "Families unable to cope with such losses. Everybody's hurting. And everyone praying The Unpleasantness doesn't return."
Larry nods to Mr. Sterin. "Good work then. Farm folk are usually strong, and goblins are weak. Sometimes they get a lucky hit though. The attack on the town was strange, for goblins. Several goblin tribes seem to be working together, possibly with someone coordinating. They attacked different areas all at once."
'I expected people of the land to thrive and properly bury their own. My prayer is for the monsters. Though I doubt their afterlife is benevolent, I'd rather see their souls depart then reanimate as husks...Speaking of which, Good Master I would suggest you gather and burn the goblins, just for good measure. I would not like a repeat of such a tragedy with goblin undead as the villain's." She says with a gentle and soft voice.
The farmer gives a small grunt when he hears about what happened in Sandpoint. “That is strange, fer goblins…” Upon Dagny’s request, he sputters and scowls, “Now look here, I ain’ gonna be takin’ orders from some’un in the town. But…ya got a point. Only thin’ worse than a goblin raid is an undead goblin raid. Speakin’ o’ which,” he points in the direction they’re going, “Some there goblins got away. Not a whole lot, reckon your group’s just ‘nough. Think one o’ their leaders was with ‘em-nasty lookin’ fella w’ only one eye an’ an axe a lil too big for him to carry. That one almost lopped my head off had I not ducked in time. Not sure where y’all headin’, but if it’s in that direction, better for y’all to know.”
"Thank you, Good Master." She says with a respectful curtsy
" On a less dire note, what sort of produce do you all grow. I always look for good product for ingredients in my reciepes. And I am always up to learn what is grown around an area and learn about the produce, herbs, and meats I use from those who know them more intimately than I!!! she said with rhe fervent excitement of a youth who sees a knight for the first time, after hearinf stories all about the time!
Larry looks around at the group and nods to Mr. Sterin. "Well, maybe we'll see if we can spot any tracks. We weren't hunting goblins. But I wouldn't mind finding a few if they were in on the attack. It'd just be a few more dead!"
Straight up intimidated by the farmer, and not knowing what she could say that might not be taken the wrong way, Wyssal edges over to take cover behind Larry, trying to not be conspicuous.
"Thank you for the warning", Darius nods. "If we find him, we will end him."
The farmer is not pleasant with hearing Dagny’s question. “I only sell to honest workin’ folk. I’ve seen you with them brothel women, I ain’t havin’ business with those who associate with…” He looks down on Wyssal and gives a slightly disgusted look, “You lot. Now my patience is thin, get huntin’ them goblins b’for I get mad.” With that he storms back to his home.
Looking at the retreating Sterin with disgust, Darius said, "Let's be off. Simple, provincial halfwits have taken too much of our time already."
Larry looks around, a bit confused as the group breaks up. He shrugs and gets moving. "Right. Got some goblins to track down."
Wyssal is just relieved when the farmer goes away.
"Yeah, time to keep going."
" I'm sorry tbey offend you. I will leave, but please make sure to dispose of the goblin corpses." She curtsys then turns and begins to pray softly .
" Everlight, please emblazon these souls and thier fields with life and love. May they be prosperous and learn tolerance for others" she uttered giving a wink to Wyssal.
As you all continue your treck down to Ravenroost, you see a particularly gruesome sight-a large boar, lying dead, with all the meat, save for the head, stripped to the bone.
Larry moves up to examine the boar. Noticing the head wound he pulls his sword and matches it up for size comparison. "That was a good hit! I've heard boars can be dangerous...."
"Whatever de-boned this boar got stuck at one time in the skull. Perhaps Big-Axe Goblin passed by and left this."
"So no bacon, lion, chops, belly, sigh. They can make a lot with the head too. The bone can still make a good stock" Dagny says looking at the boar as a discarded carcass instead of potential observation of a threat.
'Oh, maybe it was the Farmers? Did anyone smell bacon while were we there? "
Larry sheaths his sword and looks ahead. "Don't have time to waste on a dead pig. Let's find the goblins."
Wyssal looks at the stripped boar carcass for only a couple of seconds before turning away.
"It's awful. Let's go."
Through his knowledge, Tomodai is able to find one of the reagants needed for potion making.
"Not sure how I can help, but if you teach me I can look for them. Also Tomo, do you know if any of these enhance food without sacrificing flavor?" She asks curiously looking around.
"These particular ingredients would not enhance food, however, we may find wild herbs and such as they grow in these regions as well."
As Tomo goes about searching he helps instruct Dagny on what kind of things to look for when searching for these particular ingredients as well as for searching for various herbs that he is aware of that they have found out here in the past.
The paladin watches the horizon, while those trained in wilderness craft forage for reagents.
Wyssal somewhat begrudgingly searches around for plants or mushrooms or bugs or whatever. She's still not sure how she got roped into this outing. Eventually her search for ingredients morphs into picking wild flowers and keeping an eye out for pretty rocks.
The paladin stops abruptly, holding his hand up to his ear, then closing his fist.
"Stop! Do you hear that? No birds chirping. No buzzing insects. Draw your weapons."
Darius concentrates as he seeks to detect evil, checking the major directions (N, S, E ,W).
Wyssal notices Darius's hand go up and clench.
She stage whispers "did you catch a bug?" to at him.
She seems serious asking the question.
Hearing Darius' warning Larry grabs his buckler in one hand an a chakram in the other. "Come out without weapons or die. We're ready for you!"
He turns, scanning the area, first focusing in the direction that the tracks had led.
Goblin Captain
Goblin Warrior 2
Goblin Warrior 3
Tomodai
Wyssal
Goblin Warrior 1
Lawrence
Darius
Dagny
They appeared out of nowhere; two goblins jump at Lawrence and Tomodai, while a portly goblin, with a wild look in his eyes and wielding an axe, jumps at Wyssal.
The two goblins that go after Lawrence and Tomodai take wild swings that miss by a long shot, but Wyssal sees to her horror the portly goblin taking a swing that cleaves right through her midsection. The portly goblin cackles "I'm having roasted halfshank tonight!"
And then everything goes black for Wyssal as she collapses.
Having readied his bow he was not prepared for close combat but skilled as he was he did not need to be. With but a thought he disappears from where he was and appears slightly behind Lawrence. Then he takes a moment to cast a spell upon Lawerence to make him much larger than he is.
The third goblin was going to get the jump on Lawrence, but now is standing gobsmacked by the longshank now being even bigger than before.
Goblin Captain
Goblin Warrior 2
Goblin Warrior 3
Wyssal (-1 HP, stabilized)
Tomodai
Goblin Warrior 1
Lawrence (enlarge person)
Darius
Dagny
Larry sees the goblin slice Wyssal open and turns, dropping the chakram and drawing his sword. He barely has time to draw a breath and he suddenly grows over 10' tall!?!
Round 1
Darius steps forward to the closest goblin raider.