Warbal Bumblebrasher's page

"Yes!" Warbal enthuses. "Come and meet Bumblebrashers!" She leads the group around the back of the citadel to the secret entrance to the vaults.

Warbal seems confused by the council president's verbiage, but when she finds everyone looking at her expectantly, she repeats, "They slayed the naughty dragon and made sure it was safe for the Bumblebrashers to go back home. Helba gave them many rewards!" She nods emphatically.

"Yes, sir, Mr. Dwarf, sir," Warbal puts in eagerly. "They slayed the naughty dragon and chased away the corpse-tortoises and rescued Big Bumble from the frogmen. They are great heroes!"

"వారి అధిపతి ఎవరు?"

"అదే. కట్టుకున్న తల ఉన్నవాడు," Warbal whispers back, pointing at the young human woman dressed in a Qadiran headdress.

Warbal shakes both hands vigorously in the air in Dalvyn's direction, in her newly-acquired longshanks-style greeting. "They were great heroes," she assures the guardsman. "They slayed the naughty dragon! This is Des!"

Warbal gasps. "మీరు చెప్పేది నిజమా? ఇది చాలా ప్రమాదకరమైనది!" Turning to the heroes, Warbal explains, "This is Des, the Bumblebrashers' healer. That one time Stumpy tried to feed Big Bumble by hand, Des made him all better. Well, not all better; his hand didn't grow back -- but he didn't die!"

Warbal brightens. "That's true! You are heroes! You slayed the dragons and let us Bumblebrashers back into our home. I will go back with you and tell your Chief all the great and heroic things you did!"

Managing a wry smile as his close brush with death is beginning to fade "Oh, the usual... poked by a few skeletons and what not."

Warbal nods sagely. "Helba said there were dead longshanks," she says with satisfaction.

Some more shaken than others, the party retrats once again to the safety of the Bumblebrashers' lair.

"Oooh," Warbal eyes Gethric curiously, "what happened to him?"

Warbal nods sagely. "Helba said there were monsters." She seems deeply satisfied to have the chieftain's words verified.

"Is Revka around? We could use some extra healing."

"She's with Hairy," Warbal directs them. "Over there."

Revka is chatting in Draconic with the charau-ka.

Looks like Revka has three heals per day in her divine font. A three-action heal will get everyone in a burst, but a 2 action gives an extra d8 to 1 target. How do you want to arrange the healing?

As the party reenters the Bumblebrashers' domain, Warbal hurries up to them. "That was quick. What happened?" She looks wide-eyed at the acid-burned men.

When the group informs Warbal they intend to descend to the lower levels of the citadel, she sucks her fingers nervously. "I don't know how you'll get there. That's where the naughty dragons came up, and all the stairs fell in."

Warbal stares at Alek, anxiously sucking her fingers. "Oooh, a ring. Maybe Pib and Zarf found it."

Warbal nods. "We'll go back home where it's safe. If you need us, that's where you can find us."

"Did he have any markings? Like a ring of nails, all pointing outwards, maybe?" stepping forward, he mimes the shape of the Order of the Nail's emblem.

Warbal sucks her fingers nervously. "I don't know," she admits. "I didn't get that close."

The mention of the arriving tall person gives Gethric a moment's pause and he tries to seek some goblin-level scouting details "Was the man dressed in shiny stuff or boring colours? Was he carrying anything for poking or shooting?"

"Black," Warbal replies, "but clanky." She mimes a stiff walk, like someone wearing heavy armor. "And with a big, long sword on the back. I mean...," she glances at Revka anxiously, "not too long at all, actually. Exactly the right length, I'm sure."

"ఓహ్!" Warbal replies, blushing a muddy gray. "వారి పొడవైన, చురుకైన కాళ్ళ గురించి వారు సున్నితంగా ఉంటారని నేను గ్రహించలేదు! ఎర్...", she goes on, "వారు ఏమి పిలవబడతారు?"

"Hairy?" Warbal asks brightly. "He's great. We've been feeding him things to see what he'll eat. Oh -- and we think there's a Longshanks somewhere around the castle, maybe looking for you. It came up the road and went around the other side." She points toward the southern wing of the citadel.

The goblin makes no attempt to disguise her curiosity. "అతను బిగ్ బంబుల్ లాగా బొచ్చుతో ఉన్నాడు," she murmurs, staring, "మరియు అతని బుగ్గలు నీలం." With an effort, she recalls her attention from the charau-ka and nods. "I'll explain it to Helba," she assures the group, waving some more of the Bumblebrashers out to escort the prisoner into the citadel.

"That isn't Pib or Zarf or Big Bumble," she says decidedly, staring at the charua-ka in the group's custody. "What is it?"

When the group is ready, Warbal leads them through the graveshells' puddle, back outside the citadel, and north down its side wall. From there, they follow her across the open ground to where the back side of Hellknight Hill begins to descend. She scrambles down a rough foot trail for a few meters, then stops.

"Here is the Bumblebrashers' way in," she announces. With a bit of squinting, a well-hidden door can be discerned, covered with rough stone that matches the natural rock of the area and behind tall grass and brush.

If you look at the old overall map from Aronida and Gethric's scouting excursion, you can actually see the S for the secret door that I forgot to hide a little less than halfway down on the left edge. :)

"Oh, Big Bumble likes just about anything, especially if he's hungry, which he probably is." She sucks on her fingers a moment in thought. "You could take him some of the leftovers from the feast, if you want. He really likes honey, but you'd have to go find a bee nest for that."

Gethric initially responds to the start of Warbal's warbles "But what about when Bumblebrashers tribe gets bigger, wouldn't you want the spa..." pausing... double taking... and musing with elevated eyebrow "What are Pib and Zarf?"

"They say they are dragons," Warbal replies doubtfully, "but they don't look very much like the not-dragons. They're small like goblins, and they stand on two feet, but they have scaly skin...."

She studies the goblin-drawn map, along with Darla and Gethric. "What's this," she asks as she points near the middle of the map to what seem to be two short hallways running left-right and connecting the corridor that leads to Big Bumble.

Warbal peers at the map. "Doors. Shortcuts. So we don't have to go all the way back to the big hall to go from room to room. We mostly eat here," she points to the skinny room in the middle, "and sleep and play over here," she moves her finger to the cluster of rooms to the east. "Pib and Zarf live here." Her finger moves back to the single room on the west.

"No, no," Warbal shakes her head. "Dead longshanks and angry monsters are fine. They stay in their place, and Bumblebrashers stay in ours. Just make sure there are no more dragons ... except Pib and Zarf," she amends.

"This is where you get in by the secret door" she continues, sliding her finger back to the left side of the parchment. "When you're ready, I can show you."

The night passes uneventfully. For the most part, the distractions of sleeping on a stone floor with a tribe of goblins are offset by the exertion of the previous day's trek to the citadel and fights with the graveshells and the not-dragon.

Helba and Warbal approach the group as they are making their preparations for the day.

"Helba had Babmub draw you this," Warbal offers a scrap of parchment. "He's our best draw-er. It's a map so you'll know where you're going when you get downstairs. That's where Big Bumble lives,"" she points to a room at the top of the map. "Bumblebrashers stay out of these halls because of the dead longshanks," she points to three openings at the bottom of the map, "and we don't go past these doors because of angry monsters," she concludes, with her finger at the right edge of the map.

Warbal nods in agreement. "Helba says Big Bumble can't come up this way because the stairs are all broke, and if he goes out the other way, he'll be outside."

The nearest safe room would appear to be the one that opens onto the courtyard, although you haven't technically explored it fully yet. The other cleared area would be the courtroom with the collapsed wall where the graveshells were, which opens to the outside.

"Oh, don't worry,"" Warbal reassures Darla. "Big Bumble wouldn't eat anyone ... as long as he's not hungry."

Warbal lowers her voice to a hoarse whisper, though it's not clear who she thinks may be eavesdropping. "You go out behind the castle. There's a door in the side of the hill. I can show you."

The goblin chief again employs Warbal to translate. "That's the way we came up when we ran from the dragons," Warbal explains. "Underneath, there are stairs down to our home. We have another way in -- don't worry -- but Helba thought the dragons came down this way. Now she says it looks like the stairs are too small for them, so maybe they did come in our secret way. She was wondering, would you mind checking to see if there are any more downstairs before we all go back?"

A coil of thin and tattered rope is passed from hand to hand down to the broken end of the staircase. It appears to have been spliced and tied together from several smaller ropes of various thicknesses, some barely broader than a piece of string.

"That's the rope they let me down on to come fetch you," Warbal intimates with satisfaction.

"Oh, and I want to see the Bumblebashers mascot!"

Warbal looks stricken at the mention. "Oh, I hope Big Bumble didn't get eaten by the dragons!"

"Helba says...," Warbal stutters, seeming overcome with emotion, "she says thank you and invites you down to our home to receive rewards for your heroism."

"This is Helba" Warbal whispers reverently to her new friends. "అవును, వారు డ్రాగన్ను చంపారు," she replies to Helba. "వారు చాలా గొప్ప హీరోలు. మీరు చాలా తెలివైనవారు. వారు మమ్మల్ని రక్షించారు."

Once Gellius has climbed up to the stairs and Aronida has recoiled her rope, warbal urges them on. "Come with me! We must find Helba!" She leads them up what remains of the staircase, shading the courtyard side of her face with her hand to avoid seeing the ground.

The battlements of Citadel Altaerein provide a breathtaking view. To the east rise the majestic Five Kings Mountains. To the south, rolling foothills unfurl, Breachill's rooftops nestled within them beneath a thin remnant of smoke from the burned town hall. Warbal, however, hunches down below the level of the parapet and keeps her eyes resolutely on the stone rampart beneath her feet.

"స్వదేశీయుల!" she calls out. "నేను పట్టణం నుండి హీరోలను తీసుకువచ్చాను! వారు డ్రాగన్ను చంపారు!"

"Up there," Warbal points to Aronida on the stairs above the party's heads, "but the stairs are broken!"

"It's dead? You killed it? So fast?" Warbal stares at Darla in disbelief before jumping up and throwing her arms around the bard's legs. "You is the best heroes ever! Helba said the Longshanks town would help us, and you did! Helba is so very wise!"

"Is there any way past the dragon to meet up with the Bumblebashers? Could we maybe go outside and climb the walls?"

"Warbal? You know this citadel better than us. Is there any way to get to the Bumblebrashers that doesn go through the courtyard?"

Warbal shakes her head. "Bumblebrashers tied a rope to me and dropped me down, but it didn't reach all the way to the ground. I had to bump and roll." She stops and thinks. "Maybe if we all stood on each other's heads?"

“There is more of the citadel to explore, of course. But personally, I think we should continue seeking the route to the Bumblebrashers.”

Warbal nods her head eagerly. "Up the stairs out in the courtyard," she directs. "Bumblebrashers ran up the stairs to the top of the castle but couldn't get back down past the dragon."

"Warbal. Did the dragon say anything to your tribe? Make any demands, that sort of thing?" She'd been so focused on the idea that the predator couldn't possibly be a dragon that it hadn't previously occurred to her to ask.

Warbal unwraps her head enough to reply. "It said ... Grr, Argh," she answers with puzzlement. "Just like it's saying now."

"Draaa-gonnn," Warbal moans quietly, rolling herself into as tight a ball as she can manage.

Warbal trembles all over and pulls the tips of her ears in terror. "The dragon!" she gasps but does her best to keep quiet.

Aronida picks her way through the debris, scanning it for anything of use as she goes. Over her shoulder, she asks Warbal, "I presume the Bumblebrashers didn't know about the graveshells? It doesn't seem like they've been near this area recently."

"Noo-o-oo," Warbal shakes her head emphatically. "Bumblebrashers live underneath. Helba says we have other neighbors up here and staying away makes good neighbors!"

Glancing at Warbal, she asks, "Which side of the castle do the Bumblebrashers avoid? Is it the north side?"

Getting to her feet, Warbal looks intently at the citadel, turns her back to it, takes a few shuffling steps forward, moves her hands to one side, then to the other thoughtfully, apparently orienting herself to the underground part that can't be seen. "This side," she finally says decisively. "Bumblebrashers live here, this side is where the dead longshanks are." She seems to be indicating that the goblins live under the northern wing and avoid the southern side because of Helba's interdiction.

"Loo-o-oong time," Warbal answers. "When the longshanks who lived in the castle left, they left behind their dead longshanks. Helba says it isn't safe to go where the dead longshanks are, so Bumblebrashers never go on that side of the castle."

"I don't like that human corpse. There shouldn't be anyone here except the Bumblebrashers. Should there?" She looks at Warbal just in case she's mistaken and there are in fact humans at the citadel.

Warbal shakes her head vigorously. "Bumblebrashers," she begins to count out the known inhabitants of the citadel on her fingers, "Big Bumble, goblin dogs, Pib and Zarf, dead longshanks ... It could be the dead longshanks! Helba says the other parts of the castle are dangerous because of the dead longshanks. Bumblebrashers stay away!"

Revka digs some slightly bruised tomatoes from her backpack and starting eating them with visible delight. "They're my favorite! Do you want some as well?"

Warbal considers the squashy tomato with evident interest but shakes her head. "I will eat when the Bumblebrashers eat," she concludes with great self-abnegation.

"Eep!" Revka squeeks as she watches the structure. "You really climbed off that?!" She shivers then suddenly considers a different perspective (literally). "The view from up there must be really good. You can see reeeeaaaaly far, can't you?"

"Too far, too far," Warbal wails, shivering. "Looking so far can stretch out goblins' eyes; stretch too far and they break! Only Helba was brave and strong enough to look. She said she saw all the way to the Longshanks town." The goblin sounds awed at the thought.

"I suppose we have to go in the front door. Any idea what we'll find there, Warbal?"

Warbal shakes her head sadly. "The Bumblebrashers lived underground, where our eyes were safe from stretching. When the dragons came, we ran, ran up the stairs as fast as we could go; no time for looking around." She thinks hard a moment. "I know there is a big open place, hard dirt and weeds and stones, with walls all around and stairs going up, up, up."

It sounds like the battlements are accessed from an open courtyard or atrium.

"Is it also because of Hebla's leadership that your tribe has lived in peace with our town?"

"Ye-es?" Warbal answers Darla uncertainly. "Helba says the Bumblebrashers must be good neighbors to longshanks; then maybe longshanks will be good neighbors to us." She beams. "And you are! Heroes are coming to help Bumblebrashers! Helba is very wise."

"పందికొక్కులు పదునైనవి! ఎలుగుబంటికి కూడా ముక్కు నిండిన క్విల్స్ అక్కరలేదు," Warbal laughs before worry returns to her face. "We haven't seen Big Bumble since the dragons chased us outside. Please," she addresses Darla directly, "help the Bumblebrashers?"