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Bork scrambles into the room, eyes wide as he sees his noble construct slumped and sparking.
“Sir! No dying allowed! Not ‘til I say so!”
He skids to a stop, quickly lines up a shot, and looses an arrow toward the striped menace.
Then, with a sharp wrench-point to the exit, he shouts
“Duck and weave! Punch and scram!”
◆ Stride
◆ Strike
◆ Command
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Scripio dashes in, bouncing on top of the first two beds. He spots the blue warg and chides it. "Naughty warg!" He quickly ties the hair he took from Mikoceer to the end of his whip. The goblin lashes out with his whip to bring the warg to heel. "Human head lice for you!"
The battered knight lurches forward with one last dignified swing… then awkwardly pivots and stumbles back toward safety, gears grinding in protest.
◆ Strike
◆ Stride
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Norbwald dodges the worst of it, as does his chair.
Norbwald turns his attention to blue.
Critical Success You remember the creature's weaknesses, and as you empower your esoterica, you have a flash of insight that grants even more knowledge about the creature. You learn all of the creature's resistances, weaknesses, and immunities, including the amounts of the resistances and weaknesses and any unusual weaknesses or vulnerabilities, such as what spells will pass through a golem's antimagic. You can exploit either the creature's mortal weakness or personal antithesis (see below). Your unarmed and weapon Strikes against the creature also become magical if they weren't already.
Success You recall an important fact about the creature, learning its highest weakness (or one of its highest weaknesses, if it has multiple with the same value) but not its other weaknesses, resistances, or immunities. You can exploit either the creature's mortal weakness or personal antithesis. Your unarmed and weapon Strikes against the creature also become magical if they weren't already.
Failure Failing to recall a salient weakness about the creature, you instead attempt to exploit a more personal vulnerability. You can exploit only the creature's personal antithesis. Your unarmed and weapon Strikes against the creature also become magical if they weren't already.
Critical Failure You couldn't remember the right object to use and become distracted while you rummage through your esoterica. You become flat-footed until the beginning of your next turn.
And then swings twice.
Leggy then raises up its resting arms for protection.
Bork's arrow goes wide.
Scripio's whip is just as inaccurate as Bork's arrow.
Bork does boop the snoot, now before practicing the better part of valor.
Ironwolf lands a devastating blow on the blue warg to finish it off. His second swing misses Foroxicks.
Norbwald realizes that Foroxicks is vulnerable to fire then lands two mighty blows on him that knock him out of the fight (and life.)
You determine that the silk, rugs and furniture are valuable and collect them on your way out.
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Bork steps cautiously over the fallen warg, nudging its massive snout with the end of his wrench to be sure it’s not breathing.
“Well… that’s that. Big puppy’s been put to bed.”
He glances up toward the rest of the group, still catching his breath, then grins wide enough to show every goblin tooth he owns.
“But the rest of these bandits? They don’t know that yet.”
He gives the striped corpse a once-over, eyes gleaming with scheming pride.
“Sir Good-Longshanks Armor Pants—hoist the beast! Nothing says ‘surrender now’ like a hero dragging your boss through the snow. It’s about intimidation! And showmanship! Both are key pillars of goblin strategy.”
With Sir Good-Longshanks trudging along in the lead with Foroxicks held half overhead and half dragging on the ground, the group makes their way to the other set of barracks.
The stench of unwashed bodies and alcohol permeates this room. Dilapidated bunks jammed against every wall hold thick winter bedrolls, while worn traveling packs hang from each bedpost. Two stone stairways lead to doors fifteen feet above the floor in the north and southwest of the room.
As the door bursts open a quartet of bandits, each wearing various remnants of their former Irriseni uniforms intermixed with their clothing reach for their weapons.
They pause as they see their fallen leader, as though unsure of whether to fight or not.
As Scripio speaks, the actively Hostile expressions on the bandits' faces shift to Unfriendly, but it seems someone is going to have to Make more of An Impression to further Change their Attitudes.
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Bork bites his tongue... hard... trying not to step on his more silver-tongued goblin brother’s words. His foot taps in the snow, wrench fidgets in his hand like it’s picking up its own ideas.
Stay quiet, Bork. Let the fancy one talk. You can goblin logic later
He nods along a little too eagerly, bouncing in place as if sheer enthusiasm might leak out otherwise.
“Right, yes. What he said.”
Then, quieter—
“…but with slightly more fire.”
Scripio and Norbwald are silver tongued enough that the bandits slowly sheath their weapons and nod their agreement. Yet, they don't trust the interlopers too much and carefully back out of the room watching the group and their grizzly trophy.
With the keep solely in their hands, the Pathfinders are able to finish their explorations, though all that is truly left are the stables.
Booted and canine tracks lead from the large double door to each of the seven stalls in this stable. The sweet, acidic smell of rotting fruit hovers in the air, mingling with the fouler smell of rotting meat.
Crates, chests, and barrels containing a massive haul of stolen trade goods fill six of the seven stalls. Markings show their destinations were Winterhold, Kalsgard, Iceferry, and a dozen more cities in the Saga Lands. While furs, weapons, and more mundane goods fill several containers, others carry food, now rotting in the relative warmth of the stable. The seventh stall holds a supply sled. Harnesses hang on the wall.
The storm dissipates the day after you defeat Foroxicks. You can return the recovered trade goods to the Iceferry Lodge by procuring a horse capable of pulling the supply sled located in the stable from a nearby farm. Venture-Captain Bjersig, thrilled with your success, assures you that your mission will strengthen the growing alliance between the Pathfinder Society and Queen Anastasia, who orders a trial for the surviving bandits. This is in stark contrast to previous rulers, who put bandits and rebels to death. Word of the trial spreads quickly throughout Irrisen, providing additional evidence that Queen Anastasia’s kinder, gentler rule is sincere.