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Roger does indeed peek around the east side of the building, and he notices an unguarded set of cellar doors! He goes back to tell the others what he found. "So...the donkey had a friend who got horribly murdered. There's smoke everywhere in the house, and a cellar with nobody around the doors. I have a feeling that's where the smoke's coming from."
Roger confirms-the house is empty. He hovers around for just a little longer, just to make sure that the donkey is the only inhabitant of the place. After all, he's pretty sure the donkey didn't do that to himself.
Roger drinks the potion and giggles as the transformation happens. "Oh, that feels WEIRD." He flies over to the farmhouse, vowing to get himself a way to do this more often-flying is awesome! He seeps in through the roof. He figures it's probably safer that way, as there'll be less people up in the attic. In theory.
Roger looks at everyone looking at him and gulps audibly. "Right. Yeah. So I just gotta do some recon, is that right? How long does that thing last, anyways? Don't want to pop back into normal form in the middle of a goblin party...although come to think of it, that wouldn't be the first time I've done something like that before." He digs the snapleaf that he got in Cassomir out of his bag and puts it in his pocket, just in case he needs to be sneaky for even longer.
"Fair enough, but what if we just make it sleep for a really, really long time? Do we have anyone who can knock out a donkey? Or donkey tranquilizer?"
Wow, that's the second one of my games that's got a player with a kid on the way. Congratulations!
Roger doesn't realize that Iagon's and Liamae's hearing is back, and decides to take it upon himself to sign out what everyone says to them. He doesn't know sign language. He then points out the sleeping goblin and draws his finger across his throat.
Roger ditches his old shortbow for the new one, and grabs the arrows as well.
"Couple of dogslicers over here, if anyone has any dogs that need slicing..." He tries miming slicing a dog for the benefit of Liamae and Iagon, then nods in agreement with Attai.
Roger goes to loot the goblin who he shot. "Come on, daddy needs a new bow..."
"Who the hell you calling longshanks? Pretty sure you're taller than me, horse-face!" Roger screams back at the goblins in their own language, knowing fully well that calling them a horse is a grievous insult. He shoots again at the goblin by Kytes.
Roger sends another arrow flying at the blue goblin, hoping to give Kytes a bit of breathing room.
His bow lets out an audible *CRACK* as the arrow gently flops out and lands quivering in the ground in front of him.
"Oh gods!" Roger dives into a nearby bush, drawing his new bow and thanking himself mentally that he'd looted it. "Well, if you won't come down here so I can whack you, looks like I have to snipe you instead!" He heroically sends an arrow flying at the goblin Kytes is engaged in combat with.
"Oh gods!" Roger dives into a nearby bush, drawing his sword and wishing he had bought some sort of sling or something in the city. "Bring them down here, I wanna whack them!"
"This...this is bad. Keep your eyes out, there may be more goblins." Roger scans the are for goblins and other goblinoid creatures.
"Larger goblinoids...like hobgoblins? They're not active in this area, are they? That's really not good."
"What tracks? Oh my gosh, how did I miss those?"
"Huh, I've heard about these guys before. These are Belching Toad goblins, they're from the Blackwood swamp. It's weird though, they usually stay to their own area, which is way south of here. Wonder why they're all the way up here. It's never a good sign when the goblin tribes start moving them around. Usually means they've been moved by something or someone."
"Holy crap, that actually worked..." Roger mutters to himself. "I mean...hell yeah, that worked perfectly!" He confidently strides over to investigate the site, allowing himself a moment to breathe deeply. Between the fire and the goblins, his adrenaline is roaring in his ears.
"Ahh! Goblins!" Roger leaps back next to the fire and reflexively casts Grease on the goblin, his plan immediately forgotten in the fright the goblin gave him.
Roger pumps his fist in victory as the grass catches fire. "Yesss! I mean...OH NO, OUR CAMPFIRE IS BLAZING OUT OF CONTROL! IT'S GETTING EVERYWHERE!" He winks and elbows Kytes playfully, obviously excited about the fire.
Do we have a common language between us other than Common? I speak Goblin, Halfling and Common.
Roger looks around and lowers his voice, knowing that the goblins must be nearby. "Right, so-goblins like fire, right? But not any fire, they like untamed fire. Stuff that's going out of control. So here's what I'm thinking. We find an area on the bank where the fire shouldn't spread too much, get some water buckets and such in case we need to quench it in a hurry. Then we sit down and pretend to make camp-light a campfire, maybe make some snacks, sing some campfire songs...then we secretly let it spread to the brush. We pretend it's going out of control, make a lot of noise, that should attract them. They'll want to see the fire, and they'll take this opportunity to nick our stuff and maybe whack a few of us in the confusion. But what they don't know is that we know they're gonna do that. And that's when we whack them!" He looks around, smiling broadly. He's clearly very proud of this plan.
Hey, sorry guys-i've been out of town all week and haven't had much of a chance to post, I totally forgot to let you guys know ahead of time. I'll try to get something up tomorrow.
Roger raises his hand. "I'm fluent. My parents pushed me towards it. They said that it was a super useful language to know because it sounds like gibberish, so you can secretly use it to pass on messages. And even if you get captured by goblins it's still useful as a secret language, because half the time they don't even know what you're talking about!" He chuckles, as if he's heard a variation on that joke a million times.
Roger draws his sword. "Be prepared-they like their hit and run tactics, goblins. Wish we had some horses or dogs with us, we could use them as bait." He visibly mentally backspaces as he realizes what he just said. "I mean, we wouldn't let them get hurt. But you know what I mean. Actually...that gives me an idea. Goblins love fire, right? What if we set a decoy fire, think that might lure them out?"
Roger snorts, holding back laughter. "Elaborate bait and goblins. Pick one, mate. My mom once told me a story about a goblin 'ambush' where they dressed a cow up like a woman and then tied her up in the middle of the road, making it seem like she was a damsel in distress." He looks at the boat. "I dunno, this seems real. I think I agree with Kytes."
Roger remains tense for the entire rest of the night. As soon as he can, he reports the incident to Hans and the boat driver. "Hey, so last night I heard a few voices from the riverbank-they were talking in Goblin about attacking a boat passing by. I think I scared them off, but I'm kind of worried they might be back tonight."
Sorry all, I misread the post and thought Iagon was on watch. My bad!
As Roger is leaning on a railing, he manages to pick up the faint sound of what appears to be two goblinoids arguing to each other. A sly smirk emerges on his face. It's been a while since I spoke Goblin, but what the hell? Might be fun to mess with them a bit. Heck, might even save our skins while we're at it. He leans in a way that will hopefully keep the goblins from seeing his lips move, and then hisses out quietly in Goblin. "Would both you idiots shh, this not the right one! You're gonna make the longshanks hear us! When it be the right one, you toadlickers will know it!"
Yeah, I'm ready to go whenever.
Roger spends most of the day gazing at the passing scenery. It's clear from his wondrous smile that he's never been outside the city, and all this is new to him. His smile has a bit of a sad edge to it, as if this is a bittersweet moment for him. It takes him a moment to realize that Iagon and Liamae are talking before he snaps out of it. "Huh? Oh, I'm a morning person-I can take third shift for watch."
Roger nods, checking behind him. "Yep, yep yep yep, ready to go. More than ready, actually. How fast can this boat get us out of the city? Just out of curiosity."
Oh yeah, I forgot-anyone mind if I take Thom's dagger? Could be useful as a backup. Hopefully I don't destroy this one.
Roger's been uncharacteristically quiet all day, from a combination of the fight from the previous night and his dream. He keeps looking back at Cassomir-he should be thrilled to be leaving, but the dream about his parents has put him into a state of profound melancholy. Once I leave...there's gonna be nothing here to mark that they once lived here. I never got to bury them, the houseboat's gone...it's just me. He's so engrossed in his thoughts that he almost misses the Marquis's question. "Uhh...hmm. Good question. He went off during our shopping trip yesterday and I haven't seen him since. How about you guys?" he asks of his friends.
Welcome to the game! Sorry I wasn't able to post over the weekend, the weather was perfect here for literally the first time all year and I spent pretty much all weekend outside. Feels good to not have snow on the ground anymore...
I know that this wasn't on purpose, but Roger accidentally starting a fight, failing to help at all despite his best efforts, breaking his only weapon but still escaping without a scratch is EXACTLY how I pictured him when I was first creating him. Like, it's the perfect mix of just awful luck but also somehow really good luck.
Roger glances sadly at his bent knife and places it with a thunk on the bar, mouthing "Sorry" silently at Toddy. He turns back to Vice Admiral Montagne. "Roger McFarren, at your service! Thanks for the help there."
Roger's eyes widen as he sees Thom get knocked out. "Don't let him die! It'll be so much worse for us if he gets killed!"
Yep! I'm a teacher aide in a special ed room. Testing is even more annoying for my kids, haha. Art therapy sounds awesome! My sister originally wanted to do that, but she switched to graphic design during her undergrad.
Seeing as he has no better options, Roger shrugs and lashes out again with his broken knife. He stops maintaining his Luck, letting it slowly run out for a few more seconds.
Apparently he's just straight up never held a knife before in his life.
After accepting the dagger, Roger sidles over a bit and stabs at the thug.
He blinks in surprise as the knife blade bends instead of cutting like it's supposed to. "Uhh...Toddy, think you gave me one of the defective knives..."
Roger winks at Toddy as he takes the knife. "Thanks, darlin'. Appreciate it."
Roger looks around wildly for something that could help him. He calls to the barmaid. "You got any knives or anything here? I'm a sitting duck!" He searches the bar he's in front of for something that could be used for a weapon, hoping his luck will be on his side for now.
"Ack!" Roger shrieks as Thom's fist comes within feet of his head. He quickly stands up, taking advantage of Thom's lack of balance to get himself into a more defensible position. Moving around the corner of the bar, he mutters a quick incantation and coats Thom in a slippery solution, hoping to make him fall. "You always were a grease ball, Tommy-time you get a taste of your own medicine!" While his enemy is distracted, he looks around the bar, trying to find anything that could be used as a weapon.
Roger doesn't take his eyes off of Thom while talking to Kytes. "Old acquaintance. We kind of ran in the same circles."
Roger sees Thom and his face goes white. No, I was so close...oh, why’d I have to leave my sword upstairs? He looks around at his friends and gulps, hoping they'd figure it out and follow his lead. ”Hey, Tommy! Good to see ya, buddy.” he calls to Thom. When the other halfling gets close, he drops his voice and hisses to him. ”Keep it down, will ya? Stirge doesn’t want other people knowing I’m alive. We concocted a plan, me and him, that involved getting a direct line to a Marquis for Stirge. I had to fake my own death just to get where I am, and if you go around blabbing like ya normally do, Stirge is going to be so angry if he finds out it’s you who scuppered the whole operation, you hear me? And don’t go talking to him either, this plan is on a strict need to know.”
Roger quickly casts Prestidigitation on himself, cleaning himself off as best he can. Ugh, I hate cleaning myself with magic...it always makes me smell like lavender afterwards...he thinks to himself. When he gets to the bar, he rolls his eyes as Toddy mentions the clam chowder. Clearly someone is playing a joke on him today. "Do you have anything that isn't seafood? I'm sure the chowder is delicious but I've just had such bad encounters with it today."
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