2012-10-15
The party discussed what they should ask their goblin captives, and agreed that they wanted to cover two key points.
1) What happened to the people who owned the caravans strewn around the road?
2) What was the strange sigil found on the gear carried by the goblins?
While Ulfgar Firehands and Gerrant began stripping the useful equipment from the deceased goblins, Tyrus set about trying to wake one of the captives, who groggily came to. As Sero Flek was the only party member fluent in the Goblin tongue, he asked the questions. The conversation (as understood by Tyrus) went roughly as follows:
Sero: What happened to the owners of these Caravans?
Goblin: You killed them.
Sero: What do you mean?
Goblin: The humans belonged to us.
Sero: What does that mean?
Goblin: We brought these Caravans here to ambush you.
At this point Sero Flek decided to casually lean forward and try to break the finger of his captive, which as it turned out had the effect of broadcasting to even the most casual observer that he aimed to ascertain and exceed the snapping strength of goblin finger bones. This provoke an admonishing outcry from Tyrus and more decisive action from Brannock Genji who immediately grabbed the Bard by the wrist and restrained him. After providing the translation of the last comment from the goblin, Sero Flek eventually acceded to the demands of the rest of the Party that he would not harm the prisoner and the interrogation continued. At this point Tyrus realised that
a) He had prepared Comprehend Languages.
b) He had less than complete confidence in the translation being provided by Sero Flek and knowing what was being said might provide him with warning of any further impending violence.
When Tyrus cast the spell, Ulfgar Firehands relaxed visibly and went back to burning the bodies of the fallen, taking Gerrant with him.
Sero: Who sent you?
Goblin: The head of the tribe.
Sero: (brandishing sigil) What is this symbol?
Goblin: The sigil of our tribe, Swarm.
Brannock: (in Common) That's a shit name.
Sero: Your tribe has a shit name.
Goblin: I bet it's better than yours, Elf.
Brannock: (in Common) Alright, who have we upset now? Who sent them and why?
Sero: Why were you sent? Who have we offended?
Goblin: Beats me, I was just here for the ambush. Leader said "Gooo get 'em!" and we... didn't.
Sero: Who is the leader? Where is your base?
Goblin: To the east; about 1,000 miles. Uskough might recieve you.
Sero: So you tramped 1000 miles JUST to ambush us? I call shenanigans.
Goblin: We didn't ""tramp"", we flew.
Sero: On......whhhhhhat?
Goblin: One of the glorious spider eaters, favoured of our tribe! We, uh, couldn't keep them though.
Sero: What was your reward for us to be?
Goblin: Reward?
At this point Sero Flek tried to convince the party that he should break a finger, and when that didn't work various options were suggested, including:
- Sero Flek tying the prisoners up and marching them ahead of the party all the way to Uskough and then placing his testicles on their faces while Uskough watched.
- Brannock tying Sero Flek up and marching him ahead of the party all the way to Uskough while the goblin prisoners rode in the comfort of the cabin.
- Tying up the goblins and taking them to the nearest city, and handing them over as bandits.
It may or may not surprise the reader that the third option was decided upon.
Over the next week the group crossed the Rothyer chain of mountains and reached Eathe, sometimes referred to as the Human Bastion of the Frontier as it was the last large city before the end of the Golden Nations. On arrival the prisoners were handed over to the city guard and while the rest of the party sold the assets they had taken from the Goblin attackers, Tyrus went to visit the large temple to Nephe where he had previously spent most of his life and petition the priests there for accomodation.
Tyrus was advised that in exchange for room and board, they would like a favour. A village to the South called Pithfield had been experiencing a spate of missing livestock at night, and the villagers had come to Eathe to request help. It would appear to those managing the Temple that the providence of Nephe had readily produced a solution to the problem in the form of one of their own Clerics showing up with a group of Troubleshooters. They were not averse to allowing Tyrus to take time to commune with Nephe and reflect on his recent exploits, and Brannock Genji similarly wished to spend some time in town refining his fighting technique, however Gerrant, Ulfgar Firehands and Sero Flek suggested that perhaps they (along with Juxhil) could try to address the problem by themselves while this was going on.
Tyrus was somewhat concerned with this idea, and asked Nephe for guidance. Her response of “They would be wise to know when to call for assistance.” didn't deter the others, though Sero Flek did take a Scroll of Sending so that they would be able to contact Tyrus and Brannock Genji in an emergency, and Ulfgar Firehands waited to receive his new Belt of One Mighty Blow.
The Mayor of Pithfield introduced himself as Gelf. While he showed them to the field where the greatest number of cattle had gone missing he advised Ulfgar Firehands, Sero Flek and Brannock that he suspected that the missing livestock were taken by a nearby nest of Lizardfolk. Detect magic by Ulfgar Firehands showed up no trace of any supernatural cause, and there were no obvious signs of the cows wandering off. Juxhil said she didn't know much about Lizardfolk but she did know that they tended to prefer to join in combat from the water. The party decided to lie in wait and see what they could observe.
The foursome picked spots to allow them to observe the entire field while Ulfgar Firehands and Gerrant remained in contact via Message. While waiting for something to happen, Ulfgar Firehands and Gerrant discussed ~Cow-Tipping and the motivations for indulging in the passtime, as well as the weirdness of using the spell [|http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/message.htm Message]. Ulfgar Firehands told Gerrant about simple cup & wire telephones, which started a conversation about why society had a preference for using Magic instead of such Technology. During this conversation Juxhil heard something and grabbed Gerrant's attention. Once alerted, Gerrant noticed movement over by the fence about 50 ft away from his position, and Juxhil spotted the source: a group of 7 Lizardfolk who had stopped dead and were staring at them. After deliberating a few moments, the Lizardfolk began to walk over to meet Gerrant and Juxhil. The conversation (as translated by Juxhil:
**Lizardfolk:** You should probably leave.
**Gerrant** Why?
**Lizardfolk:** We are here on behalf of Imthaikalus. (Juxhil added that she had the impression that the Lizardfolk didn't like her much at all)
The largest of them began brandishing his weapon aggressively and she added
**Juxhil** In short they want us to leave or they will kill us.
**Gerrant** Regretfully, that's not something we can do. Might I enquire why they are here?".
Juxhil drew her Pick but seemed to remain calm while reciting the question. The conversation broke down at this point, and the Lizardfolk attacked. Ulfgar Firehands came charging over, casting Enlarge Person, Shield & Bull's Strength on himself as he did so. Gerrant tripped the leader while Ulfgar Firehands tried to convince the Lizardfolk to back down and parley, and while they appeared to waver they kept fighting. Once the fantastic foursome had knocked out three of their enemies the rest fled.
While checking the bodies, Sero Flek noticed that the one of the Lizardfolk had a sort of brand burned into it's chest. It seemed to resemble a skull, perhaps the head of a dragon. Sero Flek also noticed that Juxhil seemed unhappy with this revelation, she replied "Yeah I don't like that..." and when pressed for details asked "How much do you know about Kobolds?".
Juxhil explained that Kobolds were created by Eshnil. Hakatim created Dragons, and Eshnil stole one of his creations and (to hear Hakatim tell it) corrupted it. She "took the fire" from the Dragon and created a race without the same incredible power, a race which had to be more sneaky, more clever. Dragons tend to see Kobolds as a mockery of them, the Kobolds object to this attitude, so ~Dragon-Kobold relations aren't the best.
They dragged the unconscious Lizardfolk to a barn and set about waiting for them to wake up so they could be questioned.
Meanwhile in Eathe, Tyrus sat in the chambers that had been provided to him within the Temple of Nephe staring at the pink prism which he absent-mindedly tipped from one hand to another. The powdery taste of the crushed pearl still coated his tongue, but he barely noticed it. The spell had failed. That seemed to indicate to the best of his knowledge that this innocuous little stone might well be the most powerful magical artifact he had ever laid his hands on.
