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Early the next morning you all wake and head downstairs for breakfast. perception DC 15:
Ameiko is not serving breakfast, and was not serving last night either. You are served a fair breakfast, with well watered beer. After this meal you head out to do you morning 'patrol' through town as you agreed to do with the mayor.
She walks with you to the Inn and then pulled out a chair at one of the tables and orders a round of drinks for all of you. The meeting and negotiations took several hours and it is now past noon and heading into the early evening. As you tell her about everything you have done and seen here since the festival was interrupted true evening comes and you are served a portion of the Boar chili in fresh baked bread runners. Over dinner you talk of local politics and history, nothing of note or significance just dinner conversation. Once the food is eaten and taken away Shalelu leans forward and with a gleam in her eye she tells you of the local goblins, there are five major tribes in hone area. The Birdcruncher goblins live in caves in the Devil's Platter. The Licktoad live in the Brinestump Marsh. The Seven Tooth goblins live in Shank's Wood, these raid the local junkyard for gear. The Mosswood goblins live further east, as the largest group they could be a problem, but in fighting has always held them back. Finally there is the Thistletop goblins who live of the coast on a small island. The goblins also venerate any creature who in infamous enough, they refer to them as Goblin Heroes. There are five currently active in hone area, Big Gugmut(of the Mosswod), Koruvus(of the Seven Tooth), Vorka the cannibal(live in the swamp but is of no tribe), Ripnugget is the leader of the Thistletop tribe, and finally Bruthazmus(bugbear ranger in nettlewood). You learn all of the above over the course of the whole evening of moderate drinking. When most everyone has gone off to be Shalelu heads up to sleep as she needs to be up and gone early tomorrow.
Sheriff Hemlock nods and walks out of the room with Shalelu chatting about the next steps. After some haggling with the Mayor you agree to be paid 2 gold each per day, 10 days up front, and combat pay of 20 gold total per combat for the group. The Mayor does not seem pleased with this deal but she is clearly willing to pay for the services. As you leave the office to head back to your inn you run in Shalelu, she is clearly waiting for you.
Sherrif Hemlock seems suprised "Pay for more soldier? No, as we are a dependent city of Magnimar they are required per the charter to provide us aide in times like this, in a few days I will be back with professional soldiers from the Magnimar garrison. Hopefully Shalelu will have been able to find out more on what is going on, and find out who, or what, is uniting these things. Including of course any further information that can be gleaned from those foul goblins who took the Fathers bones. I leave that up to her discrestion she know more about tracking and hunting these things that I." Shalelu nods alone with the sherrif "If we can find the creature who is putting back bone in the goblins and break it then we will break the backbone of this united force and they should go back to fighting amongst themselves, and the danger to Sandpoint will be past. I will take a look as the trail that leads out of the grave yard and see if I can find the 'odd man out' of the tracks, if I can then I should be able to track them back to their lair. Otherwise I will need to resort to snooping around and seeing what information I can... squeeze... from the strays." The Mayor shows a lopsided smile "Well I had hoped that your earlier heroism was a indication that you felt some affinity for our city and would therefore want to protect out of a sense of civic duty... I can offer you a monetary reward if you stick around here for a few days and make a good show to keep to people calm until Sherrif Hemlock gets back with the soldiers. Would that satisy?"
"Until we know more about what is out there I don't want to hire anyone to go crashing around. Shalelu knows the area so she will be able to scout the area and get more info. Hopefully she will discover the person or creature uniting them and what the goal is. Once we have that information and some support from Magnimar we can move on then and clear them out!" the sheriff smiles and looks around for any other questions or ideas.
With a gusty sigh Sheriff Hemlock announces “I am taking a few of my men south to Magnimar to see about securing additional soldiers to station at Sandpoint for a few weeks, or at least until the extent of the goblin threat can be determined.” He shakes his head at the need to leave the town somewhat unguarded “While I am out of town, I asked Shalelu to sniff around Shank’s Wood, Devil’s Platter, and other places where goblins live to see if she can discover anything else about what’s going on. However she is not well suited to keep the people here feeling safe. The locals seem to have taken to you, and seeing you around town will do a lot for keeping worries down over the next few days.”
You enter a nice office on the second floor of the CIty hall. There are already two people sitting in this room Kendra Deverin, the Mayor of Sandpoint, and a roughly dressed elf, who sits at her ease fully armed and armored. They are currently deeply involved in a conversation when you walk in. The Sheriff introduces the Elf as Shalelu as he walks over the the remaining seats. Shalelu is a local survivalist, mercenary, and bounty hunter who works loosely with the local Guard. She usually stops by once maybe twice a season to provide reports for the town leaders on the area goblins and other dangers in exchange for a bag of gold. She last passed through town only a month ago and wasn’t expected until the last week of autumn. He goes on to recap her report that Sandpoint hasn’t been the only place in the region that’s had goblin troubles. In short, there’s been an increase in goblin-related raids along the Lost Coast Road, particularly in the dale between Nettlewood and Mosswood. Only a day ago, a farm south of Mosswood was burnt to the ground by a group of goblins. Shalelu was thankfully nearby, and while the farm couldn’t be saved, she did rescue the family and drive off the goblins; the family is staying at a nearby farm for now, but the goblin problem is obviously not going away. At this point Shalelu and the Mayor have finished their conversation and Shalelu looks the three of you over. “Belor’s told me of your work against the goblins—well done. I’ve dedicated the last several years of my life to keeping them from causing too much trouble around these parts, but they’re tenacious and fecund little runts. Like weeds that bite." She grins sardonically. “Anyway, there’s five major goblin tribes in the region, and, traditionally, they’re pretty good at keeping each other in line with intertribal squabbles and the like. Yet from what I’ve been able to piece together, members of all five tribes were involved in the raid on Sandpoint. A fair amount of the Mosswood tribe goblins I dealt with yesterday were already pretty beat up, and there was a lot of chatter about the ‘longshanks’ who killed so many of them. Now that I’ve met you, it seems obvious from their descriptions who they were talking about. Seems like you’ve made an impression. In any event, the fact that the five tribes are working together disturbs me. Goblin tribes don’t get along unless they’ve got something big planned, and big plans require big bosses. I’m afraid that someone’s moved in on the goblins and organized them. And judging by these recent raids, what they’re organizing seems like bad news for all of us.”
There are several outsiders who would take the bones of a vertious man, and the marker of a virgin does sound like something some demons and devils like but nothing comes to mind for theses items. Hemlock sputters for a moment the sighs and leads the three of you out of the Inn and to the town hall.
After returning to town you learn that it will take at least a day of cooking to roast the male boar and it two companions. Amiko decides that one boar should be butchered for dinner tonight and food tomorrow. She and her cooks helpers set to preparing a Boar Chili for dinner and the two others for a day of slow roasting. Tiberu, and Anton leave Gisdrok entertaining Alderan and head into town after a nice meal. They reach the Cathedral in time to see the end of the Father Zantus finish the prayer that will officially open it. The whole building glows with a soft light for a few seconds before settling back to a normal looking building. Father Zantus agrees to show Tiberu and Anton around the Cathedral and explain the building of the structure. A brief discussion about the nature of the seven gods that are housed here, and why this one cathedral serves all seven follows. Tiberu brings up the events that occurred in the graveyard, and Father Zantus expresses his confusion as to why these items were taken and what purpose they can possibly serve. The Father also mentions in the discussion that Nualia’s body was never recovered from the previous church, she was completely burned and incinerated, which is why only a marker was placed near the monument for the previous Father. The next morning Tiberu, Anton, and Gisdrok go to see the local Academy dean as he knew Nualia, and may have some insight as to what may have happened to cause the previous building to conflagrate. Sadly this yields to results as the Dean is just a simple old man with a basement filled with Knickknacks and mementos from his adventuring days. All three of you spent most of the day in this school looking for information, and when you return to the Rusty Dragon you find that the Feast is ready to get underway with two roast boars and several courses of succulent sides. You all drink and celebrate and the night fades into wine soaked obscurity, however you do remember that the celebrations rival, if not exceeding the celebrations of your first night here. The following morning you all wake with hangovers, when you head down to the common room, you are served Boar Steaks, and beer scrambled eggs with fresh Rye bread, to soak up the hangover. Over this meal Aldaren tells you he is heading back to his townhouse in Magnimar, and extends his invitation to come for a visit so he can show you around the town, and show you off to his friends there. After he gets up and leaves Sherriff Hemlock strides into the Inn looking around. When he sees the three of you finishing breakfast he comes over to ask if you would join him in a meeting with Mayor Deverin, himself, and Shalelu Andosana, a local Hunter, and survivalist who spends her time scouting the area and hunting goblins. The Hunter has returned to town more than two months early with odd news that the Sheriff thinks you may be interested in since you are investigating this odd attack on sandpoint and the surrounding events.
Once the boars are cleaned, dressed and loaded on the pack animals the group moves on to a new clearing to eat a lunch that was brought along. While the lunch is being unpacked and set up Alderan looks around with a big smile "Looks like everything is going well today, I bet we can get that Innkeeper to cook up not just this boar but a whole feast, and we can have a small festival for the whole town. It will be nice, especially since the last one was interrupted." The Lunch is set on a small folding table with camp stools, and the hired servants serve you cold meats, salads, and bread that had been baked that day. After lunch Alderan suggests that you ride straight back to town and give the boars to Amekio to give her time to prepare all the food, and give Alderan time to gather people for the celebration of your Heroism, and hunting prowess.
All three of the boars lie on hone ground dead and dying, Alderen stands up and give a huge WOOP! of joy. "Well that went well, just like I said. Although Anton, you do seem to have gotten a bit to the beasts horn there at the end" He move first to Anton but seeing he is not significantly injured he starts to dress the boars and calls out to the carriers to bring the poles and other tools now that the danger has past.
Gisdrok throws the spear that the male boar, killing it. Alderen moves behind the last female boar and stabs at it with his spear, glancing off it's think hide.
End of Round 1
The Boar give a grunting roar as the steel sinks into his side. The Boar stumbles but is not killed. Round 1
TIberu skewers Female Boar B, bringing it to the ground. Anton charge is inhibited by a branch lying in his path, his stumble causing his great-sword to miss Female Boar A by inches.
End of Round 0 (Round 1 starts now)
Alderen blows a bird whistle signaling to charge now, and then follows Gisdrok out of the woods. Gisdrok charges in carrying two spears stoping half way and readying one to throw. Aldreren slows when he realizes that he is passing Gisdrok, but still reaches the boar to attack missing the male board entirely.
Round 0
Alderen clearly hangs on every word Tiberu says, and asks many question looking for information on how to become an adventurer. After the ride into the woods Alderen begins to avidly search the ground for sign of boars. Around mid day just after you have all finished lunch and begun riding again he spots sign on the ground which leads to a small hallow with three boars, on Medium male, and two small females. Alderen immediately begins to plot the tactics to kill the "Savage Beasts." He plan is to have Anton, and Tiberu flank them, and he will then charge them from your current location, with Gisdrok supporting with gunfire from his musket. Gisdrok speaks up at this "Shooting these beast will be a waste, I will charge with you and my spear!" Alderen grins and accpets the alteration to his plan. Looking around he asks if this is what you want to do.
Riding out to the woods the day is bright and clear you ride along east the two miles to the Tickwood Ford, just north of the upthrust limestone escarpment known as the Devil’s Platter. Despite its ominous name, Tickwood is actually a relatively safe woodland, one well known to be the home of wild boars, deer, and perhaps one or two firepelt cougars—no goblin tribes dwell within its boundaries. The ride to Tickwood takes about a half hour, Alderen is a charming conversationalist, well-read and with a seemingly endless cache of stories about the high life in Magnimar. However he is more interested in asking you questions then telling stories.
"I come here for a hunt once or twice a year, plus I hunt south of here in the Wisperwood, but those hunts are far larger as those woods can be dangerous. Not for the likes of you of course, but for those poor fumbling nobles from Magnimar I usually hunt with the idea that they may run across goblins requires guards on the hunt."
Early the next morning you all come down to the Rusty Dragon Common room to see Alderen Foxglove standing near the door in a full suit of Studded Leather Armor, with a longsword on his hip. Both armor and sword look newly purchased and well fit to him. A grin splits his face when he sees you enter the room, striding over to you he trips over his sword stumbling into the table you were heading towards. His smile fading from his brilliant red face, he looks at the three of you “I am glad to see you all took rooms here” He glances around at all the visitors with an almost proprietary expression “This is a fitting in for the heroic adventurers who singlehandedly saved the town from being ravaged by the terrible goblin horde…”
29. Grocer’s Hall (selling fresh produce brought in from the surrounding farms.
I will be happy to provide more detail on any of these or other buildings on the map if you ask.
"It is nice to see that someone is staying here despite my brothers cold adherence to the old ways." The Sherriff was talking about the Innkeepers public dislike of the town and the fact that his forbears gave up the lifestyle of their people to come to Sandpoint and join it. Only his family and the fact that they want to stay keeps him from leaving.
The sales go well and you get the amount that Tiberu posted. Gisdrok you are able to craft the shot with the gold cost you listed.
Some bad blood exists between Ameiko and Cyrdak, and one never seems to miss a chance to badmouth the other, but no one in town really understands the reason behind their rivalry. Of greater concern to Ameiko is the long-running feud with her family—leaving town to become an adventurer scandalized her family enough, but when she returned, rich and successful (and with a seemingly endless supply of eccentric hairstyles), with a desire to purchase and renovate Sandpoint’s oldest tavern, her family officially took to shunning her. The Rusty dragon has been owned and operated for the past six years by Ameiko Kaijitsu. The Rusty Dragon is not only one of the town’s most popular eateries (made so, in large part, by the spicy and exotic food served here), but also a great place to meet visitors from out of town, since most newcomers to Sandpoint come upon this inn first, the north Lost Coast Road being less traveled. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Ameiko’s exotic beauty is more than matched by her skill at music, and few are the evenings that pass without at least two or three songs by the talented woman. People have told you that Ameiko claims not to care about her families shunning, but she becomes evasive when anyone asks her why she returned to Sandpoint when she was obviously doing well as an adventurer. Some believe she has a secret lover in town, while others theorize that something happened on her last adventure that took the bravery out of her. In any event, the Rusty Dragon is probably the most adventurer-friendly establishment in town, and while giving you free rooms will cost her gold, the draw of having the "Heroes of Sandpoint"(as all three of you are becoming know as) staying here will more then make up, in drinks and food purchases, for the expence.
Amekio eyes widen when TIberu mentions her brother. "I see you have been listening to gossip since you arrived. My brother, and I have not spoken to him in quite some time, more then six years, since I last talked with him. And I only got to see him rarely when my father was not looking. If this is a message to him, it is a odd way, and a bad place to leave it."
Gisdrok:
You can tell that Amekio has not been lieing about anything so far. No one in the inn common room seems to be paying undo attention you or Amekio. "Well I must admit I didn't come over here just to hear about your fights, or talk about my families sordid history. I wanted to come offer you free room here at the Rusty Dragon. my cliental tends to be more of the wandering type and having you here will make sure that the locals stop by for a drink. Well what do you say, free rooms?"
"Well that sounds even odder, coming all this way for a bag of bones. No offense intended to the good Father's memory of course." Her smirk move to a quick impish grin for a moment before he face returned to seriousness. "More importantly, I think you on the wrong track. While defacing my mothers grave would annoy my father, if you knew him and wanted to strike at his heart you would burn the glassmaking factory to the ground. All the money lost, not to mention the prestige of the building being one the first major buildings in town. No defacing my mothers tombstone sounds like the work of a bored man waiting for minions to finish the dirty work, if you don't mind the pun."
Amekio seems genuinely surprised by Tiberu's Story. " You think the raid was a cover for the golins to come in a deface my mother tomb? But why would they? From what I know Goblins wont shy away from doing anything, if it brings them food, fire or destrustion. But from the way you say it you seem to mean that my mother grave was the only one defaced. Which is out of the norm for goblins by quite a large margin" Glancing at each of you she pulls a chair out and sits, no longer waiting on an invite, her face growing more serious. Clearly she used the time to sort out her thoughts. "I am betting that there is more that you are not telling me, or you are keeping more to see how I will react to the idea that it was just my mothers grave. Between that and your friends silence and rather intense interest I am guessing you think I know more then I have said, or that my father was involved in this somehow. Well you are new in town it seems to handled the majority of the fighting today, so I will forgive you of the first. Also you don't know my father assuming so the latter is no great surprise. My father would need to actually talk to someone not of noble birth to plan this and that he is simply not capable of. More then that, while he may be a right bastard at times, he loves this town... not to mention the money it makes him." She leans back in the chair surveying the three of you, now with a crooked smile working up one side of her face.
Alderen stands from the table and walks jauntily up the stairs, presumable to head to his room. Amekio Kaijitsu, owner and operator of the Rusty Dragon, walks out from behind the bar and approaches your table. "I have heard some of the stories Alderen has been telling and if they are half true the town may owe no small part of it's current safety to you fine adventures. I would love to hear about what happened in town, I spent the entire raid keeping the vermin out of my Inn and away from the majority of my customers. Mind if I sit and join you?"
You will also want to remember that this is a city on the frontier, while goblin attacks in town don't happen, goblins have been a problem in this area since it was settled, they are neither new or special. It is not a fun time, but since the raid was, as far as anyone knows, wildly unsuccessful(except you, the sherif, the mayor, and the cleric), the fear of tonight will not linger long. A few pets were lots, lots of property damage was done, and some people did get hurt, but everyone will forget the hurts and damage quick because that is the world you and they live in. Also, I think the Adventure path expected you to go to bed after the combat and sleep off the hurts of the day, so more the an hour would have passed before you were invited to a country ride.
"Yes this has been a horrible event, it has but a definite pall over my whole trip. I came straight here when I left you cleaning out those vermin, and I have been drinking ever since. I have heard nothing.". He looks a little surprised you would expect him to know more. "As I am not a resident of this town I didn't think the sheriff or mayor would like me to pry into their affairs... But that is not why I asked you to join me! I mean I asked all of your to join me so I could reward you for your heroics." Alderen pulls a money bag from his waist and placing it on the table with a nice clink, then pushing it over to Tiberu. " Please take this, but also I wanted to ask if you, you all, would like to join my in a boar hunt in the Tickwood the day after tomorrow, the hunt was half the reason I came down here and I see no reason it should be ruined. It will also give us a change to get to know one another! What do you say, how about a nice relaxing hunt?"
By the time you all gather at The Rusty Dragon the common room of the inn is only about a quarter full. Most of the residents are home inspecting damage to their home or grateful there isn't any. Ameiko is wiping unnecessarily at the table top looking pensive. Alderen Foxglove is sitting in one corner near the fire place, staring into his goblet of dark red wine. When you walk in both Ameiko and Alderen look up with most of the rest of the common room. Several people raise a ragged cheer at the sight of the three of you, and Ameiko calls you by name and offers drinks, on the house. Alderen has stood up from his table, slightly wobbly, and is looking admiringly at all you, however most of his focus is clearly on Tiberu, and his assortment of weaponry. His face slips into a grin and he calls over to you to join him for a night cap.
Gisdrok and Anton search the entire grave yard from end to end, taking a full hour. During this time Father Zantus, Sheriff Hemlock, and Mayor Deverin come to the back of the cathedral to survey the ground and talk quietly. None of them approach either of you or leave the steps. During your search you find a few footprints that are larger then the goblin prints, booted, possibly human or some humanoid. You find nothing else of note in this area, no magic or undead auras. Meanwhile Tiberu heads into town, to talk to the locals in the wake of the chaos. While in town you hear many rumors as to who opened the north gate or left a ladder leading against the wall, but none seem to have any backing. Several People were not at the festivities, but that is not odd some people just like the quiet. You know that the Kitsune family has had some difficulties in the recent past. First the second child born to the family was a half-elven child, and the husband, Lonjiku, is human, just like his wife, Atsuii. This child was sent away to be raised in a monastery and never heard from again. Then their first born daughter, Ameiko(now the owner of the Rusty Dragon), left home and become an adventure for a few years before coming home for her mother funeral. About five years ago, just before the fire and the chopper, Atsuii fell from the back porch of their cliffside manor to her death.
"I am Belor Hemlock, sherif and head of the town guard. I will speak with the mayor about compensation for your aid today, as well as any possibility of hiring you in the future." He sighs wearily, "Hopefully this was just a odd event and we will be able to put everything behind us and move forward." Glancing at the White Deer Inn nearby, "Once I have spoken to the mayor and council I will come here to find you. It is nice to see that someone is staying here despite my brothers cold adherents to the old ways."
The sheriff blinks looking from Tineru to Anton. "Sadly the only woodsman who I can say is even unofficially associated with me or the town guard is out in the woods at the moment, She usually only checks in one or twice a year unless she has found something." He signals the rest of he guardsmen to continue into town. "Thank you for all your help today, I will check with Father Zantus on the disturbance in the graveyard. If all we lost today was the remains of Father Tobyn, we will have been lucky. Father Tobyn is beyond hurting where his is now." Then he shakes his head "Where are my manners today, I never got your names..." He trails off expectantly.
Looking around you notice for the first time that silence has descended on Sandpoint. Smoke rises from several points all over town, but you do not hear the sounds of panic that would come along with any building fires. The past few minutes have been so frantic and busy that looking at the sky you can hardly believe that the sun has only just set and the sky is still a bright blue. Sheriff Hemlock and several of the towns guard come limping from the North gate. ” Looks like you gentlemen kept yourself busy during the raid" He sighs with obvious exhaustion "Th north gate was left open, and they came swarming out from under a wagon in the center of town. Goblins are sneaky bastards but I'll not believe they did all this alone. Some one or something helped them plan this out." Hemlock gives a harrumph or displeasure, and looks south "I will need to be off to check how the rest of town faired through this... new unpleasantness" . With that he looks to start ambling off south, unless someone wants to speak with him before he leaves.
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