Discretion is the Better Part of Valour

Monster in the Closet

Fresh from victory in the forest (and full of roast boar) the heroes once again find themselves in the comfortable common room of The Rusty Dragon. Ameiko's spicy fare always seems to hit the spot.  On this occasion however, their repast is noisily interupted by a distraught Amele Barett.  Her hurried tale involves poor Aeren, whose arm has been gnawed badly by a goblin commando, who had sneakily hidden in the closet. 

It appears the Gresgurt hid in the closet when the raid started to go bad for them....and then promptly fell asleep, completely forgetting to escape.  Aeren's dog, Petal, natural enemy of goblins, would launch into such a barking fit every time he tried to sneak out that he instead decided to make a nice little hole to hide in.  Aeren's father Alergast, didn't beleive the goblin in the closet story until they rushed in to Aeron's screams as Gresgurt was busy having a quick snack, having finally dispatched Petal with a piece of broken horsechopper.

After quickly seeing to Aeren's wounds, the heroes enter to the disturbing scene of Alergast being slowly eaten by Gresgurt in somewhat graphic, and let's be honest, pretty messy manner. They dislodge father Barett and Gresgurt leaps into the fray, angered at the loss of his dinner. Leena makes shot work of him. Despite Candrak's compassionate attempt to shield her from the worst of it, Amele Barett sees things in a less heroic light as the 2 1/2 foot wide bloody smear of Alergast across Aeren's floor leaves very little doubt that her husband is quite dead. 

Sheriff Hemlock takes in the scene with his usual stoicism and Adam recruits Hilda Higgins to help the kiddies. Amele is taken to the Cathedral and Father Zantus gives her a little something.  Being back in the cathedral unexpectedly giggles loose some distant memory in Blukvard, driving him to question the gravedigger, Edwards, about Father Tobyn's foster daughter, Nualia, who was also lost in the fire, although her body was never recovered.  Edwards is reluctant to speak ill of the dead, so the investigators seek out the Sheriff, who fills them in on some of the rumours about Nualia and a Varisian boy, Delek Viskanta.  They learn how Delek disappeared, and the beautiful Nualia was rarely seen outside the Chapel after that.  Six months later the church burned to the ground. 

Mobbed Up

Following the leads around town the heroes decide it's time to check out the seedier side of Sandpoint and head to the local Sczarni hangout, The Fatman's Feedbag.   The reception is frosty, the ale isn't.  Leena spots someone she knows and realises too late that it's Garrett, someone she definitely doesn't want to encounter again.  Tensions are raised as the tavern falls silent and the heroes are badly outnumbered.  A number of bandits stand up and Candrak and Blukvard wisely inch towards the door.  Not Leena though.  The bad goes start slowly towards our protagonsits, the smart ones keep moving towards the door.  Leena gets lippy.  In a (forced) stroke of insight Leena realises its the Sczarni (the Mafia) and that she should leave now or things could get bad.  I guess things got bad. More guys stand up and the way out s still clear.  Blukvard and Candrak have by this time made it outside and sent for the Sheriff's help.  There is still time to get out and yet more nefarious types stand up to join the others. Bewilderingly Leena stands her ground.

When the Sheriff returns with the watch and enters the Fatman's Feedbag, they search it top to bottom but there is no sign of Leena or the beating was heard to take.  Realising that the back door of the tavern faces onto the very same alley that Wacthman Joffrey's house also backs on to, a decision is made to enter and search the house.  Leena is found beaten unconscious and relieved of her weapons and coin.

Presumably in the hope that Leena has learned her lesson, Candrak re-equips her with a weapon out of his own pocket.  blukvard picks up some very fine work from the cranky tanner.

Grim News from Mosswood

The next day they are summoned to the Mayor's chambers where they meet Shelelu Andosana, and elven ranger who monitors the local goblins.  She bears grim news from Mosswood.  Sandpoint hasn’t been the only place in the region that’s had goblin troubles. In short, there’s been an increase in goblin-related raids along the Lost Coast Road, particularly in the dale between Nettlewood and Mosswood. Only a day ago, a farm south of Mosswood was burnt to the ground by a group of goblins. Shalelu was thankfully nearby, and while the farm couldn’t be saved, she did rescue the family and drive off the goblins; the family is staying at a nearby farm for now, but the goblin problem is obviously not going away.

Sheriff Hemlock announces that he’s taking a few of his men south to Magnimar to see about securing additional soldiers to station at Sandpoint for a few weeks, at least until the extent of the goblin threat can be determined. While he’s out of town, he’s asked Shalelu to sniff around Shank’s Wood, Devil’s Platter, and other places where goblins live to see if she can discover anything else about what’s going on. He would also like the heroes to maintain a public presence in Sandpoint over the next few days, if they don’t mind. “The locals seem to have taken to you,” he says, “And seeing you around town will do a lot for keeping worries down over the next few days.”

Shelelu joins you for dinner and regales you with tales of the goblin tribes and 'heroes' in the Sandpoint hinterlands. Canrak and Shelelu clearly share a lot of things in common.  They both like the outdoors and know a disturbing amount of goblin trivia for a start.

Experience

Party

600  Gresgut
900  investigations into Nualia

1500  Total Party Xp

Blukvard

500  (Party XP)
25  (RP - Heals Aeren Barett)
50  (RP - Help from Hilda Higgins)
75  (RP - "she's not dead")
100  (RP - discretion is the better part of valour)
25  (RP - "let's make our presence known" by patrolling)

775  Total XP

Candrak

500 (Party XP)
25  (RP - covers the barrett body so the family cant see)
100 (RP - discretion is the better part of valour)
50  (mystery bonus XP)

675 Total XP

Leena

500 (Party XP)
25  (cinematic moment - killing Gresgurt the closet commando)
--   (RP - discretion is th...no, wait...Leena was a dumbass)
75  (mystery bonus XP)

600  Total XP

Candrak's Fun Facts about Goblins #10

Goblins Believe Writing Steals Your Soul

The walls of goblin lairs and the ruins of towns goblins have raided are littered with pictures of their exploits. They never use writing, though. That’s not lucky. Writing steals words out of your head. You can’t get them back.

Candrak's Fun Facts about Goblins #9

They Get Stuck Easily

Goblins have wiry frames but wide heads. They live in cramped warrens. Sometimes too cramped.

Candrak's Fun Facts about Goblins #8

They Like Fire

Burning things is one of the great goblin pastimes, although they’re generally pretty careful about lighting fires in their own lairs, especially since goblins tend to live in large tangled thistle patches and sleep in beds of dried leaves and grass. But give a goblin a torch and someone else’s home and you’ve got trouble.

Candrak's Fun Facts about Goblins #7

They’re Voracious

Given enough supplies, a goblin generally takes nearly a dozen meals a day. Most goblin tribes don’t have enough supplies to accommodate such ravenous appetites, which is why the little menaces are so prone to going on raids.

Candrak's Fun Facts about Goblins #6

They’re A Little Crazy

The fact that goblins think of things like ovens as good hiding places reveals much about their inability to think plans through to the most likely outcome. That, and they tend to be easily distracted, particularly by shiny things and animals smaller than them that might make good eating.

Candrak's Fun Facts about Goblins #5

They’re Sneaky

An excited or angry goblin is a noisy, chattering, toothy menace, but even then, he can drop into an unsettling silence in a heartbeat. This, matched with their diminutive size, makes them unnervingly adept at hiding in places you’d never expect: stacks of firewood, rain barrels, under logs, under chicken coops, in ovens…

Candrak's Fun Facts about Goblins #4

Goblins Love to Sing

Unfortunately, as catchy as their lyrics can be, goblin songs tend to be a bit too creepy and disturbing to catch on in polite society.

Candrak's Fun Facts about Goblins #3

Goblins Raid Junkyards

Garbage pits, gutters, sewers… anywhere there’s garbage, you can bet goblins are nearby. Goblins are weirdly adept at crafting weapons and armor from refuse, and are fond of killing people with what they throw away.

Candrak's Fun Facts about Goblins #2

Dog Hate

Although goblins raise horrible rat-faced creatures called (creatively enough) goblin dogs to use as mounts (and ride wolves or worgs if they can get them—goblins are quick to explain that wolves are NOT dogs), their hatred of plain old dogs nearly matches their hatred of horses. The feeling is mutual. If your dog’s barking at the woodpile for no reason, chances are he smells a frightened goblin hiding in there somewhere.