Rob:
Trying not to allow the sounds of battle to echo down the western hall, Indo grunts We need to try to keep one alive! before he steps over and pins his adversary against the wall and swings.
Each of you then hears him follow up, Not this one!
Round 1 summary
Skittle strikes at the goblin again, slashing its face.
Skittle draws his short sword and takes a swing in an attempt to finish off the first goblin.
They already know, Pindara thinks to herself. I'll have to deal with the consequences later...
She moves forward twenty-five feet (move action) to take up a position just inside the room and, with a few words spoken in an arcane language, gestures at Skittle's target in an attempt to Daze it (Will save DC 13).
D20 Rolls:
1d20=10, 1d20=9
"That's it Pindara!" encourages the dwarf.
He moves up next to Skittle and attacks a goblin (possibly dazed).
Lotus moves further into the room and spins right to get a clear throw at the southern goblin facing Skittle. She pulls back her arm a short distance and with a quick move forward she let's go of her dagger. It spins through the air towards her goblin opponent. Her dagger flies (1d20+4=16, 1d4+2=6) true with a big impact in the chest of the distracted goblin.
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Round 2 summary
Skittle draws his short sword and stabs at the goblin but misses.
Lotus moves further into the room and throws a dagger at the second goblin, impaling it in the chest. The goblin gurgles and falls to the floor, dying.
"We need to try to keep one alive!" Indo shouts, stepping forward and swinging his bastard sword mightily. "Not this…one?" his shout turning to a question as the goblin he was about to behead remains standing.
"That's it Pindara!" encourages Bedu as he moves next to Skittle, swinging his scimitar at the remaining goblin, who falls to the floor, disemboweled.
Pindara rushes forward, only to find the two goblins at the door have already been dealt with.
The party turns to face the goblin and dog engaged with Indo. The goblin blinks his eyes as sight returns, and although stunned, realizes the battle has turned against him. With a glance at the unconscious dog on the floor beside him, he raises his hands. “Narkya!” he barks.
Those who speak Goblin:
Status: The first two goblins are dying, the goblin dog is unconscious. The third goblin is currently stunned.
Here’s an updated map. Round 2 is over. It’s up to you whether or not combat continues.
"Goblin! Surrender!"
"Banta piddo rukkar!" continues Bedu pointing at the floor.
Those who speak Goblin
Pindara's tension is painfully evident as she takes a step back toward the corner, every muscle in her body tensed and ready to run. Her eyes scan her companions warily - she seems more cautious of her friends than of the unconscious dog or the hostile goblin. Her jaw set, she waits to see what reaction her comrades have to her spellcasting.
This is it. The moment of truth. I can't believe I just did that - how could I have been so foolish? I hardly even know these people... Something a bit like panic sets into her eyes as she realizes, We've been working for the government. I just did that in front of government agents!
Indo grabs the wounded goblin by the hair and tosses him into the room among his allies. He turns and stabs the monstrous dog in the chest . Your life is only worth the quality of your answers, goblin!
When all eyes are on the goblin, Indo sweeps his gaze over Pindara, nodding to her approvingly.
Lotus quickly retrieves her dagger from the dead goblin. Then steps back a bit to observe the others talking in goblin. You take it from here guys. I'm sure that you know better then I do. Now what did Pindara do just now? I must pay better attention to that.
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Indo dispatches the unconscious goblin dog with a well-placed coup de grace. Unfortunately, the stench from its carcass is now even worse than when it was alive. Indo throws the goblin into the center of the room, where it lies face down, hands above its head, babbling in what must be the Goblin tongue.
Those who speak Goblin:
The goblin continues to cower on the floor.
"He wants to leave, since the goblins have lost."
Bedu strokes his goatee and grins all around, "any questions, for this poor unfortunate goblin?"
Distaste crosses the dwarf's face as he notices the rank blood on his blade. Carefully he wipes it on the back of the goblin's ragged clothes.
"He is called Paxus by the way."
Lotus leaves the goblin to the others while she pokes around in the rubble in this room. She'll search this room in detail. If she finds nothing of interest she'll scout ahead down the eastern corridor.
We must be careful, Indo whispers, If we ask the wrong question, he may warn others. Ask him how many goblins there are down here, and who he works for.
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Without raising his face from the floor, the goblin answers the translated question.
"Just us. Pakus, Pesk, and Upchuk. And the goblin dog. We works for Vanjeer Simmul. Top yoo-man. Prince shaman-chief, I thinks. He tell us guard dig, so we guards good. No troubles. Nobody come down here much. Nobody like yous. He pay good, but not that good. You win, I leaves now. No trouble."
Sense Motive DC 20 (Goblin-speakers only)
Lotus:
Bedu laughs at Pakus. He says out loud to Indo (in common), "When I point at you, I want you to scare him but good!"
(in goblin)"Pakus is last of tribe? Shame but maybe better you die too. You tell us All about dig and chief shaman and his warriors."
Bedu roars and puts his face next to Pakus turning him so that the little urchin can see the group of adventurers. "You lie and I split your tongue and feed it to this one." Bedu points at Indo.
Sense Motive vs. DC 20 (1d20=13)
Pindara seems to collect herself, offering Indo an almost comically serious conspiratorial nod when their eyes meet. Her nervousness seemingly forgotten, she continues to scan the faces of her comrades. She locks eyes with Lotus momentarily, not certain what she reads in the other woman's gaze, but her attention is quickly drawn back to the captive. "Joba soto elphaba," she adds in a threatening whisper. "Joba hokkin syles."
For those who speak goblin:
Bluff check:
I'll know if you are lying (Bluff check). (1d20 9=27)
Indo fixes his most predatory gaze on the goblin. Though he is sure that the poor lighting makes no difference to the little monster, he angles his head away from the sunrod so yellow dots are reflected in his black eyes.
Slowly, deliberately , Indo runs the blade of his bastard sword across his tongue. Curling his face into a sneer, he spits the blood onto the floor before the pitiful goblin.
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"No, no, I not last of tribe. I mercenary. Works for money." He points to the two dead goblins. "They just hired muscle. Pretty weak muscle too."
He looks around, perhaps a little fearfully. "No worry. I not lie. I speaks good truth. But I mercenary. Maybe you gives me something for information? We makes good deal, ok?"
"Mercenary, ha? Ok, who are you working for?"
"That would be Vanjeer Simmul, I believe. The top yoo-man."
"So how many others helping Vanjeer with the dig, Pakus?" finishes the dwarf smoothly.
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"That good question. I not sure. People comes, people goes. Except diggers. I never saws them leave. He got maybe four or five yoo-mans working for him, too. Plus a couple of hobbos. And four more yoo-mans comes sometimes. But they not looks like diggers or thugs. I thinks they shaman-chiefs like Vanjeer Simmul."
"But they not here now. No, you needs to worry about the snake-men and the demon-goblins down there." Pakus points to the dark hole in the floor. "And the dead things. They down there too." He gives a shudder.
"So I tells you, you lets me go, yes? Fair pay for mercenary."
"How many snakemen? How many dead things? How many demon goblins? If you do not tell me then you cannot go free."
After searching the room for anything interesting Lotus starts to pay attention to the interrogation of the live goblin. Once she concludes that she won't understand what they are talking about anyway, she goes over the corpses of the slain goblins. You never know what they have on them.
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Lotus:
You do notice that the goblin being interrogated appears to have much better equipment, however.
Pindara crosses her arms, her thin lips forming a scowl. Fantastic. Everything we risked, and all we've managed to do is capture the hired help. She takes a couple of steps closer to the hole that was mentioned, squinting as she peers into the darkness. Her voice forming the guttural barks of the goblin tongue, she asks, "How large is this place?"
In harsh Iskandrian she adds, "If we're going to go down there, we had better make sure we have everything we need... I brought no provisions and no torches or lantern - I hadn't planned on an amateur spelunking expedition."
Bedu looks up at the party. "Can we afford to set Pakus free for this information? Anyone got any strong feelings? Liet?"
Bedu stretches and steps away from the little goblin, giving the others a chance to throw some more meaningful questions.
"What about demon-goblins and snakemen? Does anyone have any idea what he means?"
Indo wipes the rest of the (foul-tasting) goblin blood from his blade. He turns to Bedu and says, The combat is over. If he means us no harm and heads far away from this place, let him go and cause no trouble.
He thinks briefly about reports of "snake-men" in the jungle outside Miui Thrall.
It is on the tip of his tongue when the shock wears off and he realizes the crossbow bolt is still lodged in his lower abdomen.
Perhaps I should sit down. Would anyone kindly fetch a bandage from my pack?
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Indo:
After her observation she quickly turns to the fat dwarf. Bedu, the goblin you are interrogating seems to have much better equipment then the ones we killed. That might be significant I think. He might be a bit more then just hired help.
At Lotus' remarks, Indo rolls his eyes. Well, if the gobling is lying, let's be done with him then.
Sliding himself back up the dirty wall - and leaving a significant trail of his own blood, Indo reaches behind his neck and grsps the pommelof his sword.
Liars are no good to us. I guess I'll just kill him.
"Indo has the right idea," Skittle says, getting to his feet. Pointing to the hole, he continues, "Let's just throw him down there, then maybe whatever is down there won't be so hungry when it meets us."
"Pakus, we see you have good weapons and armour. Not like them. You are a leader not just the mercenary."
"My men want to kill you for not telling us. Tell us some new truths about this Vanjeer and his men and what he is doing, or I will walk away. When I do, you will join those two bodies. Dead."
Bedu finishes sadly, "truths or die."
He breifly explains to the others the deal he has offered, in case they take matters into their hands too quickly.
"Lotus - thanks for letting us know. Indo and Skittle I have given him one last chance to save his skin."
Lotus shrugs outwardly at the compliment the dwarf gives her. Not a problem Bedu. You just get the info we need from him. Inwardly she is thrilled at the compliment. Wheee, I helped. They'll know to trust my observations now. Another step closer to ancient riches for sure.
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The goblin covers his face with his hands. "Oh, the goblin gods do spits upon me! Goblin gods not good enough for Pakus, no, Pakus gots to go and work for stoopid yoo-man snake gods. Pakus stupid goblin!"
He looks up, and crawls over to Bedu on his knees, clutching at the dwarf's ankles.
"Please, fat dwarf chief, don't let your men kills me! I tells you the truth! I mercenary. I gots good stuff because I hires meself out. No tribe, mercenary. Crossbow in the dark. No muss, no fuss. No questions. Up to now, least. Thems two just hired on. Not works with thems before. Not knows them. Just put in charge of them to guard dig."
He looks up at Bedu, tears in his beady red eyes.
"Ok, ok. Vanjeer Simmul. He shaman. Snake god, I thinks. He serve her. Down there. The Queen with Burning Eyes. Never seens her, me, but she down there. I hears stories. Don't knows what she is. I works for Vanjeer Simmul, but more than once, he told those two he give them to Queen with Burning Eyes if they not shapes up. All the diggers. I thinks she ate them up too. They never cames back up. Only the shamans and their men."
"That's all I knows. I swear. I gives you my good stuff if you let me go."
Bedu:
"Give us your equipment, Pakus. I shall try to convince the others that you are not bad enough to kill now."
Bedu repeats what Pakus says for the benefit of everyone and adds, "This weakling seems genuinely afraid of the Queen with the Burning Eyes. My favoured view is that this is about all he has for us, that and the gear he is about to give up. Then I say we let him go. If you decide to kill him I want no part of it." Bedu shrugs a little.
The dwarf watches the goblin to ensure he does as he is told.