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Nigel smiles warmly, obvious pleasure on his face.
"Aubrin, I am so happy zat Fazer Noelan has been able to do zis for you. You have suffered so much, and despite all of zat, managed to persevere. You deserve zis break."
He then grins impishly.
"In any case, someone has to keep an eye on ze people of Misthome vhen ve leave; vho better zan you?"
Being in an earthy situation, Grenwold and Fenton activate their earthy spirits and burrow to the surface, waving at the creature as they go, ”I should learn Terran, I think, so I can talk to our earthy friends. Probably all of the elemental languages, as Shelyn has allowed me to connect to all of them at my leisure.”
Grenwold thinks for a moment, then responds, getting more excited as he talks, ”I didn’t know that! Many gnomes are good engineers too, but they tend to focus on mechanical devices, like toys, weapons, gear systems, etc. Not all mind you... forest gnomes keep to the trees and visit with animals and the like, but rock gnomes and our deep cousins the Svirfneblin are quite good at gadgetry. We can focus like fiends on crafting these things it seems, in the same way we also ‘get it done’, though often that is because we can get obsessed on an individual basis. It sounds like the hobgoblins have had to work together to build bigger and more complicated things over time - that leads me to wonder... assuming they were treated fairly, could the legion be turned into a group devoted to building people’s infrastructure? There’s certainly enough need for it. They could travel around and offer their services for a good fee, building bridges and masonry buildings and the like. Instead of fighting, they could make the nations of Golarion pay them for their dedication and expertise. How many towns flood in the rainy season? How many people have unreliable sources of water? The dwarves live in their fortresses, rarely deigning to leave to help the other people - your people could serve a valuable need.” Grenwold takes a breath and realizes how much he’s been talking, then blushes.
”I’m sorry, as you said, we can be excitable. Maybe you could learn some of this and take it back to the Legion and help them rebuild? Assuming our group doesn’t perish attempting to stop them... Even if we dispatched the leaders, the other rank and file members will need someone to direct them, and give them a new path. The only problem is that it sounds like your people don’t care much for ‘traitors’. How would you ever get back in their good graces, much less convince them to follow a different path? Maybe it wouldn’t work...” Gren looks thoughtful and sad, for a moment. ”Shelyn teaches us to have mercy and to forgive people, even when they have harmed us - but it isn’t like we can just convert the ironfang Legion to follow her.”
The creature is content to eat the food that Nigel shovels down, and it takes 20 provision points worth of food before it's satisfied.
"Could someone please throw me a rope?" Father Noelan says plaintively from the bottom. "I can't burrow, you know."
"Not all of us are good engineers. Some of us are good alchemists. It's all about how to get the biggest booms you know. Sometimes a mountain gets in a way of the road. So you call it the demolition squad to boom it off." Skinder answers. "We're also pretty decent smiths, but you'll need to get us to stop producing weaponry I suppose."
"Dwarves are the worst of all when it comes to goblins. They patrol their lands diligently and they're all shoot on sight. No one holds grudges like a dwarf," Skinder replies. "To make matters worse, dwarves live a long time and are great sticklers for passing own their history, so prejudice gets passed along as well."
"I don't think I'll ever be in their good graces, or maybe several centuries later, they might have forgotten about this war, but by then I'll be long dead." Skinder mopes.
Robert tosses a rope down to Father Noelan, bracing himself so he can climb.
Father Noelan uses the rope and climbs out of the pit. Then he brushes himself off and the party heads on their way. Once out of earshot, Father Noelan comments, "That's one ugly motherfker."He jokes, "And I'm not sure if we were supposed to feed native species lest they get too accustomed to humans but hey it's better then ending up on the menu!"
Father Noelan channels to heal everyone.
The party travels through the Fangwood and runs into two hobgoblin patrols with crazed, eager expressions. They are outfitted with sturdy crossbows and several vials of unstable chemicals.
No one has any idea what they are.
"This territory is controlled by the Ironfang Legion. Surrender or be eliminated for trespass!" The troops order the party, as they ready actions.
They start hurling bombs at him as he transforms into a were raptor, which explode in a thunderous burst of flame.
Cavall dodges the first set of bombs, while Fenton, Father Noelan and Grenwold partially dodge the volley while everyone else gets the full blast.
Cavall and Steve completely dodge the second bomb volley while everyone else except Nigel manages to dodge the second volley.
+1 Adaptive Comp. Longbow at a Hobgoblin chosen by the GM.
Robert wounds a couple of hobgoblin with his arrows but doesn't seem to be doing very much to their numbers.
Seeing Robert's arrows have minimal effect, Father Noelan yells, "Nigel, this isn't one of those fights we can win! We need to scatter and get out of here now!"
"Robert, get on Cavall when you can!" Father Noelan orders, then casts blessing of fervor on the entire party then retreats. Cavall moves next to Robert.
Robert gets on Cavall. "Pila! Follow! Run!"
"We don't leave people behind Nigel, and you forget - Fenton is as fast as lightning!"
With almost unaccounable speed, Fenton wheels through the forest towards Nigel, and Grenwold's arm stretches out, "Grab my hand!", Grenwold shouts, and he tries to hoist his friend unsteadily onto Fenton's rear. Fenton wheels around and returns the way he came, ending far from the strange hobgoblin masses.
Grenwold manages to grab the rather burnt Nigel onto Fenton's back as Fenton speeds off in the other way at incredible speed.
The hobgoblin masses move slowly through the woods, hampered by the forest and are unable to catch up with Fenton. They throw another volley of bombs at Robert, Pila and Cavall.
Robert manages to dodge the first blast partially but Cavall and Pila get the brunt of the bombs.Cavall's ice armor is also melted by the bombs.
Father Noelan channels to wake Pila up so she can follow Cavall then proceeds to flee deeper into the woods.
Robert gets onto Cavall, gesturing at Pila to get up and follow as the party retreats into the Fangwood, leaving the slow moving masses of hobgoblins, bumbling through the woods, behind.
"That was unpleasant to say the least." Father Noelan says once they evade the hobgoblin masses."We need to find a better way of dealing with them."
He then begins to heal everyone.
"We need to heal up as we go on, but we should still keep moving."
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Nigel frowns.
"I'm all ears, if you have a suggestion..."
He then sighs.
"I just can't help feeling that we are going to do a lot of running away, from now on..."
He then uses Deathwine to convert 8 Potions of CLW to healing, and starts downing them.
After that, he looks only mildly singed.
"Right. I guess ve should be on our vay?"
”Could we have Robert or me scout ahead when traveling through the woods? With preparation we might be able to take those marauders, we just need a round or two. Alternatively, Fenton and I can scout. We’re both decent at it, I could adjust some things to get Fenton to be a bit better, too.”
"Well, if we're going to be running away all the time, how are we supposed to save Longshadow if those kind of forces are brought to bear?" Father Noelan asks Nigel.
"But how are we to take on those marauders? You saw how Robert's arrows didn't seem to do much to them. Certainly I could attempt to protect the party from fire if everyone was closer together."Father Noelan asks.
"Well that's true. But if we're going to be running a lot, are there any spells you'd want me to prepare to make it easier for us to run? I can only cast blessing of fervor once per day."Father Noelan answers.
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Nigel looks thoughtful.
"Not zat I can zink of? I mean, I am hoping to talk our vay past / bribe viz food most obstacles, but Hobgoblin patrols like zat vill need to be avoided... Anyzing else, Fenton and Cavall can run from, and I can (probably) fly avay from...?"
He then prepares another mutagen, just in case...
Nigel spends an hour making another dose of mutagen.
The party travels through the Fangwood uneventfully, except later during the evening, they get a unexpected giant snapdragon blossom headed visitor. ”Hey guys! I didn’t expect to see you here!” Hessilda the snapdragon leshy walks into the party’s campsite. ”So how have things been these days? I’ve visited Misthome with Bilo, Stef and Rej, who chose to stay there. I sang in the tavern too! And everyone applauded me!” Hessilda bubbles out.
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Nigel smiles, and greets Hessilda warmly.
"Hello! Good to see a friendly soul! Ve've been back to Misthome ourselves, and saw Bilo, Stef, and Rej. Apparently, ze community kept being hit by vaves of owlbears, vhich vere handily repelled; it turns out zat zey vere being riled-up by a local treant, vho zought ze community members vere destroying ze forest, and enslaving ze poor leshies! Fortunately, zey vere able to sort zings out, and ze treant left, amicably. Vhat have you discovered vandering around out here?"
”Owlbears? I didn’t see any owlbears while I was there,” Hessilda replies. ”Though I saw one of the troglodytes had a collection of owlbear skins, and thought the troglodytes went hunting.”
”Didn’t stay long, because I enjoy seeing the world, nice though Misthome is.” Hessilda continues.
”A treant?” Hessilda’s eyes widen in wonder. ”I should go talk to the treant! I’ve never seen one before!” Hessilda pipes up excitedly. ”But it’s a good thing you managed to sort out the misunderstanding, treants I heard are nice sorts, and it’d be a shame for good guys to be fighting each other.”
”Oh yes! I keep forgetting, thanks for reminding me. I saw your kind wandering in the woods earlier. They were a little green in their faces and clutching their stomachs like as if they had a stomach ache. I told them I’d go and get help.” Hessilda tells Nigel. ”You’re going to help them, right?” Hessilda says with child-like innocence.
”Oh they’re two hours north from here. Over the small hill, follow the stream, then turn left by the birch grove…” Hessilda explains where she found the other group.
Grenwold greets Hessilda warmly, "Hello again, my friend. It's good to see you found your way here safely." He listens as Nigel and Hessilda explain pleasantries, and a look of concern crosses over his face when Hessilda mentions the sick humanoids. "Yes, we should see if we can help them, though Hessilda, you should stay away from people, plants, and fey that look like they are very sick. There is a disease that is infecting part of the wood - be careful."
"Okie!" Hessilda claps her vines happily to Nigel agreeing to help. "I'll stay with you for the night then, before I go wandering off tomorrow to see new places!"
"Did you see the news board I left in Misthome?" Hessilda asks the party. "Cool, isn't it?"
"Hello gnome, I'm happy to see you too! Where's the one with the the Bear and the half orc? Weren't they travelling with you?" Hessilda asks.
"Yeah, what he said. We found that sick pixie you told us about and she tried to murder Nigel."Father Noelan adds.
Hessilda puts her vines to her mouth with a shocked expression. " Oh my gosh it was that bad? I thought she was just sick..."
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Nigel smiles at her.
"Glad to have you around. Yes, ve saw ze noticeboard; it is certainly a vonderful idea! Unfortunately, Ratel (ze one viz ze Bear) and Hedran (ze Half-Orc) opted to go off and investigate somezing by zemselves... ve haven't heard from zem since; I hope zat zey are alright."
When the Pixie is mentioned, Nigel sighs sadly.
"I asked her to stop, but she vouldn't listen; all I could do vas put her down. According to Gren here, she vas afflicted viz ze Blight - a fungal infestation zat had indelibly changed her, marking her as a cruel agent of Evil, but one zat is *extremely* resistant to magic; zere is, unfortunately, no vay ve could have cured her, vizout access to nearly-deific levels of magic. It seems ze best defence against it, is to avoid being afflicted viz it, in ze first place; which is undoubtedly vhy Gren vas varning you to be cautious."
"What Nigel says is true, and it was very unfortunate. We still don't understand much about it except that it seems to be horrible, and there doesn't seem to be a cure. I realize that I seem like a crazy person ranting about this - but it's very bad." He looks as serious as he can muster.
"OH, no, of course. You guys think I'm reasonable - but Hessilda may think otherwise, which is why I'm trying to stress to her to be careful. It's hard to impress upon people in Nirmathas that the ironfang legion is the second-most horrible thing happening to the country, when the evidence of this is not readily apparent."
Hessilda looks at Nigel, then says, her expression serious,”There is a place called the Othertown, which lies at a crossroads between the Material Plane and the Fey Otherworld. Some say on days where the barrier grows thin, beings can go to and from Othertown.”
”Legend has it that the criminals in the Othertown are lead by a shrewd, diabolical lady of questionable morals and the law enforcement, a paladin-constable named Dvyrwyn has been looking for stout adventurers to deal with whatever nefarious schemes she comes up with.” Hessilda explains. ”Perhaps Ratel and Hedran answered the call as the barrier grew thin.” Hessilda speculates.
”The blight?”Hessilda seems to look a little more faded. ”Supposedly the darkblight was responsible for Queen Gendowyn’s disappearance and the corruption of that region, at least so how the tales go.“
”I don’t want to be corrupted, I don’t want to become some creepy plant monster and lose all the joy in my life!” Hessilda wails while waving her vines in the air.
”Oh, so you’re Gren,” Hessilda says, as she points an accusing vine at him while pouting. ”You didn’t tell me your name the last time we met, so I called you gnome!”
”Well I thought he was…you know…overly…excitable…” Father Noelan struggles to find a way to diplomatically put that he previously thought Grenwold was a worrywart, ”Right till I saw the evidence with my own eyes.”