Kanyk sighs in relief as the tingling sensation of magical healing flows over his wounds, knitting the puncture marks back together and leaving hardly any scar.
"Thanks Celestra, Bunyip bites would've got infected for sure with out your magic."
Unhooking his pack and jamming it into the driest spot he can find, Kanyk spends a few seconds swishing his hammer through the water to get rid of the worst of the Bunyip blood.
"Help me get my armour off and I'll scout out the rest of the briar patch. Can move a lot quieter without the extra weight and with thorns going all the way over it isn't hard to remain unseen."
"If you need a second Cousin I'll go with you, otherwise I'll try find a dry and defensible spot in case we need to recuperate later"
"Thanks Celestra, Bunyip bites would've got infected for sure with out your magic."
"I am glad to help, my friend. It is the least I can do, considering you have saved all of our lives with your bravery!"
Celestra moves to higher ground to find a spot she can dry out. She also looks around to see if she can find any evidence of other creatures that sometimes come down here, or may have ended up as diner.
Perception
"Ha, ha, ha," he mutters sarcastically at Ser Karlan's remark. He glances at the rope and sighs. Rising onto his feet, he glances around, to see if there are any obvious threats nearby...
Celestra walks up to the witch and looks him in the eye. "Nieve, that laugh sounds almost ominous. Brighten up, my friend. You have a beautiful smile when you show it. Besides, I'm sure we're still hidden from the enemy. Karlan is right, if we're careful, we can last a long time down here. Even if the goblins do know of this place, I'm sure they will also know of the bunyips and think twice about coming down here. Hope is a wondrous thing, and it's always good to nurture it and help it grow. Besides, life is too short to live without it!"
There are no signs of danger anymore and you don't think this placed housed a third bunyip or any other kind of predator.
After Kanyk has undonned his armor and climbed back up the rope, he cautiously walks back to the black spot on your map
@ Kanyk:
You follow the briar corridor, closely pressing your body to the thicket and reach a low ceilinged chamber of about 30 feet diameter. A shallow fire pit smolders in the centre of the floor, while nine tangled reed and leaf nests line the walls. Several miserable looking goblins trudge around.
'Well my friends, do you think those Bunyips may hoard some sort of treasure down there in them bones? I wonder if those bones down there will reveal anything? Are any of you boys interested in making the swim down there to check it out?"
Moving as quietly as he can Kanyk backs away from the chamber back along the corridor, not ready to face a load of goblins and whatever was in those nests on his own with just a knife and a bow.
Creeping back past the entrance to the cave he makes his way further east into the thicket, keeping low and close to the sharp thorned walls as he does so.
You slowly sneak to the east and after some metres you come to another junction. From your left is stinks abhorringly of animal dung and you can hear high-pitched growling and barklng...
These must be surely be goblin-dogs.
As the unmistakeable smell of dog faeces wafts across Kanyk's face and the piercing barks assault his ears he very slowly lowers himself to the ground and peeks his head around the corner to try to count the number of dogs before returning to the cave and the others.
Dropping down on to the wet floor of the cave, Kanyk pulls his slate from his pack and adds to his map of the briar patch.
"Back to the west the Gobs have some kind of cookfire with a few of the ugly buggers huddled round it and to the east is another chamber which looks like where they keep their horrible dogs. I reckon if me and Happy work together we could take out the cook fire lot with out raising the alarm and then the lot of us to could take care of the dogs. They make enough noise most of the time that hopefully the Gobs won't notice any difference when they make a little more."
"You'd have to be quick." KArlan noted. "I better come with you and hang back for a bit in case one gets away. Not a very honorable way of fighting but every one we take out now is one less we ahve to face when we take out the demon witch."
Not a very honorable way of fighting but every one we take out now is one less we have to face when we take out the demon witch.
"Mr. Bladetwist. Who is the demon witch you are referring to? Are talking about Nualia? I know she has made some mistakes, but she is an aasimar. Not a demon! Why don't you think there is any hope of saving her?"
"Not a very honorable way of fighting but every one we take out now is one less we ahve to face when we take out the demon witch."[/b]
"Well the way I see it I'm not too much tied up in matters of honour, I am more about respect; the Goblins have acted in a way that says to me they deserve neither. Repay respect with respect, viloence with violence"
Harry straightens himself up and ensures his armour is well adjusted, he looks at the keen edge of his axe with a savage grin.
"Well cousin, shall we get in amongst them and repay the kindness they showed to Sandpoint?"
Karlan turns to Celestra and speaks with absolute calm. "Well, I do suppose you weren't with us when Harry here had nothing but a shirt and a stick to his name as we fended off dozens of the little buggers while they maimed, murdered, and stole everything and everyone they saw. That includes women...and children. Do you want to know why those people had to die?" Karlan paused for a second sparing a glance at the other three. "Because she wanted to dig up the rested bones of her adopted father and burn him on a pyre as a sacrifice to the dark goddess Lamashtu." He put down his pack and fished through it."Now we didn't know it at the time why or how. Heck, we just got deputized at the time. But, when we went into the glass works a couple of weeks later and found Ameiko's brother had done some rather horrific things to her father and his workers." He fished out the journal and started flipping to the last page. "Now in the past few weeks I've met a half orc who talks and acts like a pirate but has to my knowledge been an outstanding deputy, another half orc whose face has practically melted off with as stout a heart as any, so if you take these men who by all rights should be my mortal enemies and consider them my friends and allies then what do you call a woman of celestial blood raised by a priest who returns to the town she felt tormented her, kills people regardless of their standing, desecrates graves and removes her own celestial heritage to deform herself into something along the lines." Karlan shows her the entry just before the drawing of Nualia in a scarred, winged, and terribly monstrous form."Of This."
As celestra reacts to it he snaps the journal shut and replaces it in his pack. "These are not the actions of someone who cares one iota about redemption or makes mistakes. These are the cold calculating actions of someone with a twisted mind and has shaped their body to match. She has given herself wholly and willingly to evil and won't hesitate in slaughtering us given a chance. So you can get the thoughts of talking her down out of the way. I'm way past that. And believe me I'm always the first to try."
Harry nods at Karlans words, clearly in complete agreement.
"Blood in your veins does not make you a good or a bad person, that decision is yours and yours alone. Sure sometimes I feel a deep and angry rage when assailed upon by others, but it is my decision to let it control me to best fight them back. I know this to be a trait of my Orcish father, as it's not of my Elvish mother who got me then threw me to the streets, but that doesn't matter because I am the one who decides. For there to be a place where men can thrive and do well there must be order, whether at the design of a Pirate Captain and his crew and enforced by plank and lash, or by the good Knights like Sir Karlan here charged with bringing peace and justice to the land"
"As it is I see the benefits of both, but I'm of the opinion that his Knights have the right of it, and their ways bring good to the many rather than good to the few, but I will take either for the sake of stability"
"Now this Nualia, she doesn't respect that, and she brings chaos and destruction. No amount of well wishing understanding of her plight will bring back the dead girl I held in my arms as her blood spilled out onto the ground like a cracked flagon losing its fill. No amount of her condolences and seeing the error of her ways is going to raise from the dead the glassworkers in that factory whos families rely on their income, and I wont even get bloody started on that Goblin snuck into a house who left a family broken. No I don't intend to hear much from Nualia other than her last words of pennance for those she had killed. When her head is snapped from her body then you may feel free to go on up and say something pretty"
The three of you slowly sneak up to the goblin lair and...
Crawling apart so one's error wont give the other away
Stealth
Harry is silent; the whispering death sent unto the Goblins...
Nieve doesn't say much after Celestra's sudden ... confrontation? He stays back, picking up Elyn when the weasel comes climbing up the rope. He tucks the weasel under his cloak. When the question of Nualia and blood pops into view, he eyes Karlan with half a frown, but doesn't speak up. He only watches when Harry and Kanyk and Karlan sneak up to the briar patch, and he kneels down to get acquainted with Thumper.
Despite his big size and otherwise menacing appearance, the killer dog seems quite loyal and approachable. It seems that outward appearances of brutality simply mask a good inner nature. Like master, like hound.
Thumper wags his tail and responds well to the nice man.
Kanyk crab walks toward the cookfire, placing each step slowly and carefully as he moves up with Harry.
Keeping well behind KAnyk and Harry Karlan crawls through the various parts of the briar field.
As the paladin reveals the picture of Nualia to Celestra, she cannot hold back the tears that flow from her eyes as she collapses in a heap on the ground. After a moment, she regains some composure and gets up to address Bladetwist. "Forgive me, Sir Karlan. I'm so sorry. I did not realize how far she has fallen. Although it troubles me deeply, for she was an orphaned aasimar like myself, I now understand why you hold her with such contempt. Indeed, you have my full support. Such evil cannot ever be permitted to exist and those who have the power and the ability to do something about it, must stand and do something about it. I promise never to bring her redemption up again. In fact I will see to it myself that the demon witch is slain! Let us move onward and smite her down with all our strength and cunning that the rest of the world live peacefully with freedom and love for life! Lead us onward boys!"
Unnoticed by the goblins, Kanyk and Harry are able to approach the briar cave.
Upon observing the scene you notice that the goblins don't carry weapons and look rather weak.
Perception
"Hmmm, they have hidden their weapons. Must be outcasts from the tribe".
Once in place, he readies to charge into their midst and return the kindness they showed to Sandpoint.
Kanyk notes the lack of weapons but sees it as no reason to spare the goblins. He pulls out his hammer, signals for Harry to be ready and then springs from their hiding place. He charges straight into the middle of the gaggle of Goblins, swinging his hammer in a deadly arc as he runs.
What now ensues is a bloody and fast finishing off, of the mostly hapless goblins who besides some feeble scratching and biting have nothing to offer in resistance.
Harry's and Knayk's weapons draw bloody arcs and semicircles through the goblin's bodies and after only 30 seconds about ten of the small green gremlins lie on the ground, their bodies shattered and lives extinct.
"Well that was remarkably easy, Goblins seem a pretty effortless opponent when they aren't the ones setting an ambush"
Harry helps Kanyk clean up, and examines the area to work out what might have been going on... unarmed Goblins don't make sense.
After a quick examination of the place, you find some totems, which Shalelu back in Sandpoint, had told you belong to the Birdcuncher Goblins. Maybe these guys here were prisoners or slaves...that at least would explain their miserable condition. Their lair holds no weapons or valuables.
"Far too easy if truth be told. I mean even goblin children have weapons most of the time, how did these ones get so low in the goblin hierarchy to have nothing at all?"
After a few minutes of kicking of searching Kanyk is satisfied that the Goblins had nothing of value and heads back out of the chamber to where the others wait.
"Right then, that was unpleasant but painless. Next we have to deal with what sounded and smelt like the Goblin dog kennel. Those horrible things'll be making so much noise anyway that we might as well all just charge in and end the fight quick."
Harry has his blood up, and seems quite keen to get to it...
"Where are their mangy dogs?"
"Just to the east of the sea cave. You'll know it when we get close."
With the unspent adrenaline from the first fight still making him jittery, Kanyk leads the group quickly back past the entrance to the sea cave and down the briar tunnel to a few feet before the corner he had stopped at before. Holding a finger to his lips he sneaks as quietly as he can up to the corner to check the situation with the dogs, looking to see if they are tied down or caged in anyway.
Peering around the corner you can make out a musty-smelling chamber whose walls are covered with matted, wiry fur. Well gnawed bones lie scattered about the floor and a dozen wooden stakes have been driven into the ground near the walls.
To each of the stakes a goblin dog is tied via a leash of hairy, fraying rope.
Stealth
Perception
"That will be them eh? Guess this should be short and sweet too"
Scrambling through the hole behind them Karlan frowns at the carnage. "Could have taken them prisoner." He mutters.
"Fair comment Sir Karlan, don't suppose you know what the Goblin words are for 'Give up or be gutted like fish?', do any of us speak the runty tongue?"
"Maybe Orcish is something like it? We'll give it a go next time and see. That or knock'em out and tie them up before they wake up.. Anyway, we taking care of the dogs or what?"
"I'm just thinking we don't know what's ahead and they do. They might have even been grateful for the chance at gettign away from this. Too late for that now. Let's just get this ugly business done."
As you gather at the junction with the dogs to your left, debating if rather a swift strike or a cautious approach would be the right choice, you suddenly hear someone whistle the goblin tune from the right branch.
Harry goes silent, hefts his axe, and starts moving towards the sound...
Kanyk waves aside any further conversation and drops into a crouch, following Harry toward the source of the cheerful whistling.
Going silent immediately Karlan backs away ready to leap in quickly if he hears the sounds of real combat.
Harry gets a mischievous smile from ear to ear as he turns and looks at Kanyk.
"Sir Karlan was sort of right I think, perhaps we should get some information rather than just hack these runts limb from limb like they deserve... so lets get the information then hack 'em to pieces... follow my lead..."
Harry stands up straight and proud, swaggering full of braggadocio...
In a rough and gruff deep Orcish voice...
So there's this dead Paladin appears before Pharasma at the Boneyard. "Have you ever done anything of particular merit?" Pharasma asks.
"Well, I can think of one thing," the Paladin says. "I came upon a gang of tough pirates who were threatening a young woman. I told them to leave her alone, but they wouldn't listen. So I approached the largest, meanest, nastiest one. I smacked him on the head, knocked the parrot off his shoulder, ripped out his ear ring and threw it on the ground and told him, 'Leave her alone now or you'll answer to me.'"
Pharasma was right impressed, "When did this happen?".
The dead Paladin replies, "Just a couple of minutes ago..."
Harry lets out a large raucous laughter as he rounds the corner toward the whistling, encouraging Kanyk to do the same...
"I think this must be the place we were told about, reckon we should ask where the fort is eh? Hey you in there, wheres the camp at?"
Swaggering about like a pair of tough half-orc mercenaries as though not a care in the world, and right where they belong...Harry leads in to find the whistler.
It takes a few seconds for Kanyk to register what Harry is trying to do before realisation dawns and he returns his friend's grin. Swinging his hammer to up onto his shoulder he does his best to emulate Harry's swagger, still grinning, partly at the audacity of Harry's plan and partly at his crude joke. At the punchline he lets out a deep roaring belly laugh and slaps Harry heartily on the back.
"Haw haw haw.. good one cousin. Stupid Paladin shouldn't have talked to the pirates. Why talk when you've got a good blade eh?"
Rounding the corner, Kanyk pauses for a second and stares around at the walls of brambles, scratching at the thick stubble covering his chin as he does so and generally looking a bit stupid and confused.
"Eh, could be the place. Enough Gobbos around fer sure. You ask 'im but don't ask the way ya normally do. Dead Gobbo ain't much use fer giving directions."
"Eh, could be the place. Enough Gobbos around fer sure. You ask 'im but don't ask the way ya normally do. Dead Gobbo ain't much use fer giving directions."
Hahah thats a good 'un, nah it's just the stinkin Humans we send off along the plank to the watery depths, hope it's true these lot are hiring on for more raids down Sandpoint way, hope our time aint been wasted..."