Zareby fires another burst of cold at the goblin dog menacing Herral.
Seeing she's now a ways away from the goblin, Addy takes the time to stand. After she gets up, she unslings her shortbow and readies an arrow. "Bastard!" she yells at it.
"Oh my!,... Erm,... Oops?" Will says as his bolt narrowly misses his 'friend'.
"My word!" He gasps again at hearing the swearing coming fromo the beautiful and formerly composed lady.
Bloodlust still on its mind, the goblin before Malatar ignores the sword swing and moves towards Adelaine - double-move for itself.
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The remain goblin focuses its attack upon the new target - Dayle - since it was pulled in that direction by it's mount.
But the blade scrapes off the Ranger's armor for a miss.
“Finally!” exclaims Mal in relief as his sword lops the goblin’s head from its shoulders as it continued to single-mindedly pursue Addy. “Gorum be praised.” He squints, hefting his sword in his hand. “Or maybe in my case, equal praise to Desna. I’m out of practice.”
Will looks equally relieved and aghast at Mal's casual attitude towards the decapitated goblin. The skinny mage looks for a shot on the remaining gobbo, but after that last close call, he is obviously reluctant to risk skewering his friends.
"Hey! Gobbo! Your mother is illiterate!" He shouts, hoping to distract the goblin and aid his companions.
As he realizes that perhaps his stinging insult might not be as devastating for the goblin as it would be for him, he hastily adds,...
"And you smell funny!"
Dagger:
Damage:
Enough to hit him, but not enough for outright slaying.
Will - not much has changed for you, except the goblin between Dayle and Herral has been poked. You have honors, if you choose to do something. We're down to the one quickly-being-surrounded goblin.
Will's crossbow shot proved inaccurate - whistling by Malatar and missing the goblin. While this engendered no response from the goblin, it certainly got his friend's attention! The sheepish look on his face only turns redder upon the hearing the cursing and swearing coming from the both the warrior and the wounded lady.
In the midst of all this comes an amazingly pious statement by the cleric about proper language.
Dayle's sword and axe flash in one combination to slice the goblin dog just below the neck - nearly cleaving head and chest apart. It's goblin rider seeks to strike the ranger, but the sudden drop by its mount collapsing causes him to miss. The side effect is that Zareby's cold beam misses overhead - having been aimed at where it was a moment ago. Meanwhile, Herral takes advantage of the goblin's predicament to poke it in the back, causing it to yelp in surprise!
The other goblin, meanwhile, seems to be taken with Addy's weakened state. As the half-elven lady gets to her feet, her anger seem to goad it on. To its dismay, the beastie continues to ignore Mal's sword swings until the fighter manages to cleanly sever its head! The body drops to the ground, but it's forward momentum rolls the head down to stop at Addy's feet - wicked grin still plastered on its face.
Emboldened by the others' cursing oaths, Will seeks to taunt the last goblin with a battle curse of his own.....one which seems to have had less of an impact than he had hoped. *wha-whaaa*
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Will turns yet another fascinating shade of scarlet as he realizes how lame his taunting really was,...
The previous strike by Dayle finds his longsword wedged in the goblin dog's ribs, and it slips out of his hand - stuck in the beast's body. His axe moves freely, though, and he brings it towards the remaining goblin in an upswing that connects.
Longsword:
Axe:
Damage:
The goblin had turned its head in response to Herral's strike, and failed to see the ranger's axe coming. The blow crushes ribs and organs and the beastie collapses dead atop the rat-dog.
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With the last goblin down, the only sounds on the trail are your elevated breathing and the quickly-receeding screeches of one panicked goblin. The smell of rat-dog blood and trail-dust gives the air an acrid scent. The drop in excitement brings some aches or sharp pains to new wounds.
Exp. points for each member: 357.
Addy collapses on her rear, exhausted. She's cut and bleeding from many wounds, and weakly looks to Herral. "Little help, Herral?"
Will looks around, looking a little stunned.
"Well, that was exciting!" He says with a small smile.
"Let's not do it again. Soon at least." He adds, still smiling.
He moves to inspect the creatures and their mounts, searching them for valuables, and then making quick sketches in his notebook.
Mal carefully wipes the blood off his sword on the rags worn by one of the goblins, taking the moment to catch his breath, before sheathing the blade and offering Addy his hand.
“Looks nasty,” he comments, nodding in the general direction of the worst of Adelaine’s wounds. “Everyone else alright?”
Dayle pulls his sword out of the goblin-dog and cleans his own weapons. He then scans the area for any further threats.
"I'm alright - some scratches but nothing serious," he replies to Mal's inquiry. "How's Addy?" he adds as he makes his way back to where he left his bow on the perimeter of the combat.
"I think I saw the nobles' carnival before we were attacked..." he adds dryly.
He moves to inspect the creatures and their mounts, searching them for valuables, and then making quick sketches in his notebook.
The goblins all wear a mish-mash of leather bits that serves as crude armor. They carry swords - a small piece of old iron cobbled into a blade. There are a couple of short bows and wooden shields as well. A collection of small coins amounts to about 10gp.
All four goblins carry what looks like a canine tooth dipped in red (paint or blood is uncertain) - your guess is fetish or token. The rest is apparent junk - bits of string, a small doll of quilt, a red wad of something sticky, and pieces of green stone.Even dead, the rat-dog's mangy skin seems to crawl and ooze a putrid scent. Touching them almost seems as bad as getting bit (if you want to, please say so). Other than a piece of tough leather around their necks, there's nothing remarkable on them.
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Question for Will & Addy:
Doing a reading of previous events in the posts. The artifacts that Addy removed from the manor - the statuette of the greenish, fish monster w/3 eyes and the silver bracelet. Reading the posts, it looks like Will examined them and then placed them in his pack. However, Addy asked for them back, but I don't think she ever got a response. So, just for a judgement call - who has them?
You two can decide or I can make a call.
Will & KoD
Addy & KoD,:
Herral strides over to Addy, and examines her wounds. He utters another call for Desna's blessing and wispy star-stuff extends from his hands. It swirls outward and as it touches her wounds the skin stitches together and her faltering energy is restored. There's still a sense of tiredness, but her battle-fatigue is gone. Anyone else close by feels similar effects if they were wounded.
Addy & Will:
OK - thanks for the update.
Addy has the statuette and the bracelet.
Will - you do have something. You managed to grabbed several (let say 4) of the Azalanti replica masks. As the Warden noted (since you didn't do a full check on the masks), these aren't true relics like the ones Addy grabbed (in your opinion), but are still ornate and detailed enough to be considered valuable to a collector or sage or the Pathfinder lodge.
“Well, they’re sending out parties to ambush us, must be spooking them,” Mal says, peering away into the night in the direction that the goblins approached from them. “You saw them Dayle? Say we keep moving.”
"Black bear in a cave!" utters Dayle - frustration clear in his voice.
"Had that whole train of people in my sight, but these goblins kept me from seeing where they went!"
"I spotted their campsite earlier, I think we'll have to head there and see if we can pickup their trail - shouldn't be hard."
He crouches to examine the trail for further clues, but otherwise is ready to continue when everyone else is.
"We'll catch up with them. You can't just hide a mob of people up your sleeve after all." Zareby reloads his crossbow and prepares to start moving again.
Will raises an eyebrow, then nods in agreement. The excitement (temporarily) over, he puts the safety on his crossbow, but leaves it loaded and in his hands. He waves off any concern about injuries.
"When we catch up to them,... I'm not much of a combat caster, but I do have that rainbow spell I used back at the party, If I can catch a group in that it should knock them out. And I can make one of you more, physical, types quite a bit larger. THAT should put the fear into the pesky lil' ankle-biters!" He adds with a smile of self-satisfaction.
Dayle moves slightly ahead of the party - glancing around as he follows the trail. An hour's travel sees the flat grassland is slowy moving into rocky hillocks here and there. The night remains cool, and the quiet murmur of the Jalrune river is heard in the distance. Unless you have a light source going, you find yourself occasionally stumbling over stumps or rocks or a gopher hole.
As you come down a small hill, a short distance away, you can vaguely see the remains of campground near a small pond reflected in the starlight. Spots where camels were penned, and rough patches of grass where bedding and materials were spread is distinctive in the high grasses of the area. A smell of burnt meat and manure comes and goes as the wind shifts.
Dayle seems to have spotted something just ahead of you. For a moment there is furitive silence, then his voice is heard: "Something here." "Lights up!" comes the warning.
A bright torch is lit up, and he examines a body lying flat on the ground. The man wears a simple costume - mostly just an ornate red and blue tabard, but is wearing real chain mail and a simple helm. He has no mask, and a longspear lays still half-clutched in an out-stretched arm. Several arrows are buried in the body, and a vicious strike has torn apart his armor and tabard on the left side of his chest.
The tabard's heraldry is that of Lady Vestang's guards from the party. This is one of the soldiers that were working for Itaden.
"One of Vestang's guards. Looks like the goblins got to him first."
Mal’s squinting out into the night.
“Looks like an abandoned campsite up ahead,” he says. “They were here, or some large group was. Not long ago.”
When it’s pointed out to him, he kneels down to examine the body. “Aye.” He looks up. “Good to know, despite this one being dead. Itaden might be out here somewhere with a few more men. He’s someone I’d have by my side in a fight. Good if we can find them and join forces.” He points to the rent in the man’s armour. “Don’t like the look of that blow though. Goblins aren’t usually that strong.”
Survival(Tracking):
Dayle continues to move around the area, looking around to find the direction the train has moved towards.
Zareby pats down the body. "What? It's not like he's going to be using any of it again?"
Originally avoiding the body squeamishly, Will finally admits his curiosity enough to come close enough to examine it over Malatar's shoulder.
Addy squeezes her way past Zareby to check the body. "Pay more attention, Zar, you're doing too much talking and not enough searching."
Int check
Besides the rent armor, Zareby finds a bag with rations, waterskin, a single potion marked as healing, and 5 gp worth of coins. There's also a silver ring hung on a simple necklace. Nothing unusual that you notice.
Will looks over the man's wound, and suddenly the lessons of anatomy from Proctor Kelvas at the Arcanimarium spring to mind. The blow has collapsed his lung and shattered all of the ribs on the left side - this kind of wound was done by a blunt weapon - most likely a mace or morningstar. Mal's right - no goblin could have done this kind of force trauma, based on what you have seen so far. From the placement, you'd guess it was also taller than the solider - which means much bigger than a goblin.
Addy realizes there's a blood trail that leads off to the south. This man wasn't killed here - he probably collapsed here from his wounds. More sinister is the fact that it looks like he was struck first, then shot at with arrows - he wasn't just assaulted all at once, it looks like his foes inflicted the attacks over time - possibly as torture.
Addy & Will:
You both notice that his other hand(the one not holding the spear) seems slightly twisted - as if to hide something. It is then that you spot the black ribbons of what looks like a pouch stuck in the sleeve of his ornate costume shirt. There appears to be writing on the string.
If you both reach for it, then give me an initiative roll.
As Zareby sets aside the dead man's inventory, Mal notes that in the dirt next to the gear is a large, clawed print. He kind of places his foot next to it and confirms that whatever stood here was as large (or larger) than a man. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to carry a man's weight in the impression.
"He's got a healing potion and some rations if anyone wants them." Zareby briefly looks at the ring on a chain before putting it in his pocket.
While some folks continue investigating the soldier's body, Dayle seems to be checking around the camp-ground for tracks. "Something's not right here..." you can hear him say on the other side of camp.
Meanwhile, Herral whistles softly as he looks around the camp-ground. Shortly, he's heard to shout out, "Will, Zareby, I found something magical! Come see and tell me what it says...."
His voice seems to have trailed off. "Desna's Bright Wings! Get over here somebody!"
_______________________________________________________________________
"Damn it. Herral, hold tight!" Zareby draws his crossbow and runs over to Herral.
Mal watches as Zareby and Adelaine search the body, and notes that Zareby pockets the ring. “You’re right – gods know he has no more use this stuff.” He picks up and hefts the man’s spear, then nods at Zareby. “If we ever do run into Itaden, I’d like to find out who this man was and, if he has family, get that ring to them.” He glances back at the body, then around at the night in general. “Don’t like leaving him to the scavengers like this, but don’t think we have time to bury him – the living are more important.”
He looks down at the body again, and it’s then that he notices the footprint, and measures his own foot against it, whistles low. “Any idea what might have made that Will, Zareby?”
After a few moments, Mal heads over towards Dayle, hearing him muttering in the dark over the other side of the campsite, meaning to ask him about the print … but when he hears Herral shout, he’ll come running, new spear in hand.
"I'll be right there, hold your horses. Hello, what have we here?" Will chimes, reaching for the dead man's hand,...