I mean the language of threats are universal but what info do we want and can we ask those questions in a way that it would understand. I know many goblins speak common but not all of them. Anyway...maybe it's not important.
Scupper wipes his blade and slips it back in his sash. He looks over the bodies and back at the unconscious one. Then he points to the rather cleanly killed goblin he stabbed through the back of the neck and brain.
"That one. Hardly looks dead don't he? Now, not to offend you, Strix, but if that other gobo wakes up and catches sight of you feasting this friend o' his here what I stabbed in the brain, maybe with a bit of prestidigitation on someones part to help with some screams, we can have this wee shite believing he'll be eaten alive if'n he don't cooperate fully. Now I know this may seem a tad much but greenskins is fowl little monsters who would just as soon eat their own so we gotta be over the top here. ...Plus it'll be hilarious."
"Not know what ask, friend Scupper. It....not.. have friend? Might not stop at Gobblers. But, kneeways is slumbering. Still, Strix want help." He looks forlornly at his quarterstaff, which quite definitely did not help in the recent engagement and throws it aside.
He produces the remaining Goodberries - 3 in all (OOC : I think - of the 10, Strix had 4, Scupper had 3?) - and gives them to Scupper. Gingerly he places his hand around the throat of the least-dead looking goblin and mutters. "Um....Grrrr?." But his features remain as they were.
He can only do this once per short rest, but it doesn't achieve an awful lot - 3 temporary hit points and advantage on Will saves - so it's not much of a sacrifice if it gets us info. But if any of the goblins know Dissonant Whispers I'll be very cross! :P
Edit : changed based on us not resting earlier
BTW. Strix speaks Orc. Proper orc, not just me dropping 3rd syllables and 90% of pronouns :D
I believe that Strix already shifted during the first combat with the goblins, and it only lasts a minute. The group didn't then take a short rest, at least as I understood it.
Indeed he did - I thought the group agreed to rest for an hour at the dead horses though, I thought there was a reference to spending a HD to heal (which, since he was off his face on Goodberries, Strix did not do :D)
If we didn't, that's fair enough - I can edit that post.
If the Strix thing doesn't work out and if appropriate:
Varinth makes a small fire at the feet of the Goblin. As the Gooseberry is fed into it's slack jaw, Varinth starts chanting ancient words, his voice crackling along with the flames. He waves his left hand over the fire and with his right takes a swig of wine. He does not swallow but instead sprays it into the fire which hisses. And then they form. At first just one but then two more. Then two more after that. Soon the expanding fire is writhing with swirling snakes made of sputtering fire. Occasionally one will snap at the toes of the prone goblin.
Control Flamesfor the snakes
Then Varinth stands to his full height of 5'6" and pulls off his jerkin (having a little trouble getting it over his head, slightly blemishing the overall effect), revealing the tattoo that takes up a majority of the left side of his body. A huge barrel of flame as though he was ejected from the sun. He then bends close to the goblins face, and it now sees that Varinth has no eyes, just two holes filled with vertices of flame. Prestidigitationfor the eyes
Varinth only says three words in his best booming menace: HOW MANY MORE?
I don't see any mention of the goblin being tied up or otherwise restrained - did I miss that? Is that something you want to do before waking it?
I saw a mention of taking a short rest, but I didn't interpret it as a group decision that became an action. I will usually narrate a rest if it happens.
Decisions can be a bit tricky in PbP - in a table game, players can let the DM know they all agree to a course of action by nodding or other non-verbal cues, but in PbP that doesn't work. It's a bit of guesswork on my part sometimes, and if I get it wrong I can correct it if you tell me. At the moment I will wait for a majority to say they agree, and then assume that everyone else goes along with it. An alternative would be for the group, in character and when it makes sense in the story, to appoint a leader - that's up to you.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Waking the goblin up with a goodberry after being sufficiently tie up, Scupper has him facing the torture of the dead goblin.
Now listen to me good boyo...Cause I can't guarantee this'll come across well if'n I haves to explain me'self again. I likes you. I likes you better than your friend there. He didn't want to give me the information I wanted. Said to keep you and let him go. Me, I think he was full of lies. I think you was gonna be the helpful one so I says, says I...you lads have fun with him and I'd talk to you. Now don't make a fool of me for believin' you was the right choice. I'd be ever so awful sore. What they're doin' to your friend...well that's just lovey compared to what I'd do. What I'd do to you ifn' you don't help us is gonna be ever so much worse that your screams would be heard all the way to your gobo hellsies. I hope you understand me boyo. We want to know everything you can tell us about where your friends are and how many of yous and where's the captives...so speak up good and plain, eh? Don't make me asks twice.
Scupper has arranged that at least some of the prestidigitation will involve high pitched goblinesque screams coming from the corpse. Whatever that torture involves (flames, eating face, etc). On the off chance there's any difficulty in understanding, Scupper has done his best to use gestures and things like counting on his fingers to get the point across about the kind of information he's looking for.
The goblin squeezes his eyes shut and is obviously terrified. Please... do... not... hurt... me. I... can... speak. My... name... is... Ja... ta.
The goblin speaks common, and though he does so very slowly and obviously needs to think carefully about each word, what comes out is actually pretty good, clear speech in the common tongue.
The goblin pauses for breath, and opens his eyes. At the sight of the mutilated goblin corpse behind Scupper, he flinches, but his eyes stay open. The... tribe... is... in... Crag... maw. West... of... here. We... They... are... thir... ty.
He pauses, and looks at Scupper as if to see if his answers are going down well or not.
"Very good. You're looking healthier by the second. Now what kind of watches or security do you have? Do you use any signals or calls?"
Scupper proceeds to slowly interrogate the goblin. He looks for any and all information the creature has on the prisoners and even tries to get a rough map put together in the dirt putting twigs where Jata says there'd be guards and leaves for buildings or obstacles. If the goblin does a good job of everything, he suggests that they leave him tied up but alive. Quietly amongst his shipmates, he will admit that he doesn't much care if they keep him alive or dead. He only promised not to torture the goblin, but he'll honor that however the group decides.
After the interrogation of Jata, Varinth pops his jerkin back on and extinguishes any spot fires he may have created. Taking a swig he joins the whispered conversation;
Whoa now, I'm all for the eradication of peshts and goblins are way *hic* up there but I ain't too fond of the idea of killin' an unarmed and bound whatsie. Also, we now know his/hers/it's name which, for me, makes it altogether more hard to shwallow. Varinth stares into the middle distance. swallow. he murmurs, deep in thought.
A moment passes.
As though coming to a profound decision, Varinth kneels by the bound Jata. Uncorking his "water"skin he puts the end to the goblins lips. Drinkhe commands Believe it or no but this jusht might *hic* shave your life.
After some time, you learn that the goblins' leader, based in their nearby hideout, is a bugbear named Klarg. He serves, or at least sometimes obeys, the king of the goblins named Grol. Klarg received orders from the king three days ago, to look for a dwarf named Rockseeker on the road, and to capture him. The goblins followed this order, and Jata was part of the ambush group that carried the dwarf and a human to the hideout yesterday. Jata's group left again shortly afterwards, so he's not sure what has happened to the kidnapped pair. You also learn this: someone Jata doesn't know much about, an individual known only as the Black Spider, is paying the goblins for Rockseeker; that's why Grol ordered the kidnapping.
Finally, Jata describes the hideout, though he fails to comprehend or draw a map. Small... place. Ma... ny... rooms... and... tun... nels. But... small. Four... guards... out... side... but... more... near... door... can... come... quick. One... trap... pit... on... trail. Not... in... cave.
He's exhausted and seems unable to speak more. He doesn't appear keen to drink what Vaz offers him, but doesn't resist and drinks it as commanded.
"Rockseeker? Boss Rockseeker? Then who pay Strix??"
He puts down the dead goblin he has thus far failed to intimidate.
"30... 30... That... Um.... 5 each? 6 if staff keep missing.... We kill gobble now? Or... Gobble, give Strix token -or finger, maybe;Strix give 2 silver. We caught, they know you help us, you die. You go back, they know you sold out, you die. We win..."
Strix makes a show if inhaling close to the goblin's neck.
"...we track you. You join gang. Make fortune. Drink up."
While the interrogation is going on, Asher cuts the ear off of each of the dead goblins and pockets the ears. He doesn't care who happens to be looking while he's doing this.
"So, uh, yeah" Asher starts. "Isn't this Rockseeker fellow the guy who is paying us to deliver this cart of goodies?" If Rockseeker is killed, or remains kidnapped, then we can't complete this mission. Well this is just great. "I vote we kill this goblin and then go wipe out that cave. We can most certainly defeat a bugbear some goblins and a black spider. We just annhilated these goblins here. I doubt all thirty goblins are just chilling in the same spot. I say, we be tactical and go on a murderous spree of goblin killing. Who's with me?"
If we do kill this goblin, Asher also cuts off one ear.
Jata doesn't appear to understand much of what Strix says, but understands the command to drink up and does so, sucking up even more of the contents of Vaz's waterskin, and beginning to look a little queasy. Asher's casual mention of killing him doesn't help, but he doesn't say anything; he just keeps looking at Scupper now.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Vaz:
Still plying Jata with booze, Ookay this is gettin' beyond my Ken. Did anybody actually look at what we're haulin'?
Varinth will apply enough alcohol to the goblin to make it stupefied, making him no trouble for at least a day (or how much Varinth thinks that this is)
Investigation: 18
Please advise how many cups to take off, Have 10 left.
Vaz, Jata has drunk the equivalent of two cups of wine so far, and one more should render him extremely drunk and likely to start singing and/or crying. A fourth might put him unconscious or possibly kill him.
Just occurred to me...do we need someone that speaks goblin or do we think they're likely to understand common?
Vaz speaks undercommon. They may speak a version?
I mean the language of threats are universal but what info do we want and can we ask those questions in a way that it would understand. I know many goblins speak common but not all of them. Anyway...maybe it's not important.
"Not know what ask, friend Scupper. It....not.. have friend? Might not stop at Gobblers. But, kneeways is slumbering. Still, Strix want help." He looks forlornly at his quarterstaff, which quite definitely did not help in the recent engagement and throws it aside.
He produces the remaining Goodberries - 3 in all (OOC : I think - of the 10, Strix had 4, Scupper had 3?) - and gives them to Scupper. Gingerly he places his hand around the throat of the least-dead looking goblin and mutters. "Um....Grrrr?." But his features remain as they were.
He can only do this once per short rest, but it doesn't achieve an awful lot - 3 temporary hit points and advantage on Will saves - so it's not much of a sacrifice if it gets us info. But if any of the goblins know Dissonant Whispers I'll be very cross! :P
Edit : changed based on us not resting earlier
BTW. Strix speaks Orc. Proper orc, not just me dropping 3rd syllables and 90% of pronouns :D
Strix, Shifter Shadow Monk in Lost Mines of Phandelver ¦ Sihegiall Human Soulknife Rogue in In Search of Molly McGuffin
I believe that Strix already shifted during the first combat with the goblins, and it only lasts a minute. The group didn't then take a short rest, at least as I understood it.
Indeed he did - I thought the group agreed to rest for an hour at the dead horses though, I thought there was a reference to spending a HD to heal (which, since he was off his face on Goodberries, Strix did not do :D)
If we didn't, that's fair enough - I can edit that post.
Strix, Shifter Shadow Monk in Lost Mines of Phandelver ¦ Sihegiall Human Soulknife Rogue in In Search of Molly McGuffin
If the Strix thing doesn't work out and if appropriate:
Varinth makes a small fire at the feet of the Goblin. As the Gooseberry is fed into it's slack jaw, Varinth starts chanting ancient words, his voice crackling along with the flames. He waves his left hand over the fire and with his right takes a swig of wine. He does not swallow but instead sprays it into the fire which hisses. And then they form. At first just one but then two more. Then two more after that. Soon the expanding fire is writhing with swirling snakes made of sputtering fire. Occasionally one will snap at the toes of the prone goblin.
Control Flames for the snakes
Then Varinth stands to his full height of 5'6" and pulls off his jerkin (having a little trouble getting it over his head, slightly blemishing the overall effect), revealing the tattoo that takes up a majority of the left side of his body. A huge barrel of flame as though he was ejected from the sun. He then bends close to the goblins face, and it now sees that Varinth has no eyes, just two holes filled with vertices of flame. Prestidigitation for the eyes
Varinth only says three words in his best booming menace: HOW MANY MORE?
I don't see any mention of the goblin being tied up or otherwise restrained - did I miss that? Is that something you want to do before waking it?
I saw a mention of taking a short rest, but I didn't interpret it as a group decision that became an action. I will usually narrate a rest if it happens.
Decisions can be a bit tricky in PbP - in a table game, players can let the DM know they all agree to a course of action by nodding or other non-verbal cues, but in PbP that doesn't work. It's a bit of guesswork on my part sometimes, and if I get it wrong I can correct it if you tell me. At the moment I will wait for a majority to say they agree, and then assume that everyone else goes along with it. An alternative would be for the group, in character and when it makes sense in the story, to appoint a leader - that's up to you.
Waking the goblin up with a goodberry after being sufficiently tie up, Scupper has him facing the torture of the dead goblin.
Now listen to me good boyo...Cause I can't guarantee this'll come across well if'n I haves to explain me'self again. I likes you. I likes you better than your friend there. He didn't want to give me the information I wanted. Said to keep you and let him go. Me, I think he was full of lies. I think you was gonna be the helpful one so I says, says I...you lads have fun with him and I'd talk to you. Now don't make a fool of me for believin' you was the right choice. I'd be ever so awful sore. What they're doin' to your friend...well that's just lovey compared to what I'd do. What I'd do to you ifn' you don't help us is gonna be ever so much worse that your screams would be heard all the way to your gobo hellsies. I hope you understand me boyo. We want to know everything you can tell us about where your friends are and how many of yous and where's the captives...so speak up good and plain, eh? Don't make me asks twice.
Scupper has arranged that at least some of the prestidigitation will involve high pitched goblinesque screams coming from the corpse. Whatever that torture involves (flames, eating face, etc). On the off chance there's any difficulty in understanding, Scupper has done his best to use gestures and things like counting on his fingers to get the point across about the kind of information he's looking for.
Intimidation 23
The goblin squeezes his eyes shut and is obviously terrified. Please... do... not... hurt... me. I... can... speak. My... name... is... Ja... ta.
The goblin speaks common, and though he does so very slowly and obviously needs to think carefully about each word, what comes out is actually pretty good, clear speech in the common tongue.
The goblin pauses for breath, and opens his eyes. At the sight of the mutilated goblin corpse behind Scupper, he flinches, but his eyes stay open. The... tribe... is... in... Crag... maw. West... of... here. We... They... are... thir... ty.
He pauses, and looks at Scupper as if to see if his answers are going down well or not.
"Very good. You're looking healthier by the second. Now what kind of watches or security do you have? Do you use any signals or calls?"
Scupper proceeds to slowly interrogate the goblin. He looks for any and all information the creature has on the prisoners and even tries to get a rough map put together in the dirt putting twigs where Jata says there'd be guards and leaves for buildings or obstacles. If the goblin does a good job of everything, he suggests that they leave him tied up but alive. Quietly amongst his shipmates, he will admit that he doesn't much care if they keep him alive or dead. He only promised not to torture the goblin, but he'll honor that however the group decides.
Vaz:
After the interrogation of Jata, Varinth pops his jerkin back on and extinguishes any spot fires he may have created. Taking a swig he joins the whispered conversation;
Whoa now, I'm all for the eradication of peshts and goblins are way *hic* up there but I ain't too fond of the idea of killin' an unarmed and bound whatsie. Also, we now know his/hers/it's name which, for me, makes it altogether more hard to shwallow. Varinth stares into the middle distance. swallow. he murmurs, deep in thought.
A moment passes.
As though coming to a profound decision, Varinth kneels by the bound Jata. Uncorking his "water"skin he puts the end to the goblins lips. Drink he commands Believe it or no but this jusht might *hic* shave your life.
Two... pri... son... ers. We... took... them... for... Grol. Klarg... obeys... Grol.
After some time, you learn that the goblins' leader, based in their nearby hideout, is a bugbear named Klarg. He serves, or at least sometimes obeys, the king of the goblins named Grol. Klarg received orders from the king three days ago, to look for a dwarf named Rockseeker on the road, and to capture him. The goblins followed this order, and Jata was part of the ambush group that carried the dwarf and a human to the hideout yesterday. Jata's group left again shortly afterwards, so he's not sure what has happened to the kidnapped pair. You also learn this: someone Jata doesn't know much about, an individual known only as the Black Spider, is paying the goblins for Rockseeker; that's why Grol ordered the kidnapping.
Finally, Jata describes the hideout, though he fails to comprehend or draw a map. Small... place. Ma... ny... rooms... and... tun... nels. But... small. Four... guards... out... side... but... more... near... door... can... come... quick. One... trap... pit... on... trail. Not... in... cave.
He's exhausted and seems unable to speak more. He doesn't appear keen to drink what Vaz offers him, but doesn't resist and drinks it as commanded.
"Rockseeker? Boss Rockseeker? Then who pay Strix??"
He puts down the dead goblin he has thus far failed to intimidate.
"30... 30... That... Um.... 5 each? 6 if staff keep missing.... We kill gobble now? Or... Gobble, give Strix token -or finger, maybe;Strix give 2 silver. We caught, they know you help us, you die. You go back, they know you sold out, you die. We win..."
Strix makes a show if inhaling close to the goblin's neck.
"...we track you. You join gang. Make fortune. Drink up."
Strix, Shifter Shadow Monk in Lost Mines of Phandelver ¦ Sihegiall Human Soulknife Rogue in In Search of Molly McGuffin
While the interrogation is going on, Asher cuts the ear off of each of the dead goblins and pockets the ears. He doesn't care who happens to be looking while he's doing this.
"So, uh, yeah" Asher starts. "Isn't this Rockseeker fellow the guy who is paying us to deliver this cart of goodies?" If Rockseeker is killed, or remains kidnapped, then we can't complete this mission. Well this is just great. "I vote we kill this goblin and then go wipe out that cave. We can most certainly defeat a bugbear some goblins and a black spider. We just annhilated these goblins here. I doubt all thirty goblins are just chilling in the same spot. I say, we be tactical and go on a murderous spree of goblin killing. Who's with me?"
If we do kill this goblin, Asher also cuts off one ear.
Published Subclasses
Jata doesn't appear to understand much of what Strix says, but understands the command to drink up and does so, sucking up even more of the contents of Vaz's waterskin, and beginning to look a little queasy. Asher's casual mention of killing him doesn't help, but he doesn't say anything; he just keeps looking at Scupper now.
Vaz:
Still plying Jata with booze, Ookay this is gettin' beyond my Ken. Did anybody actually look at what we're haulin'?
Varinth will apply enough alcohol to the goblin to make it stupefied, making him no trouble for at least a day (or how much Varinth thinks that this is)
Investigation: 18
Please advise how many cups to take off, Have 10 left.
I just realized we have a drunk firebender in our midst lol seems like it could be a recipe for disaster and I can't wait for it to happen
Published Subclasses
Vaz, Jata has drunk the equivalent of two cups of wine so far, and one more should render him extremely drunk and likely to start singing and/or crying. A fourth might put him unconscious or possibly kill him.
Vaz:
Hmm*hic* I think he's hittin' Merry Maudalin. We need Shilent Shtonkered. It may kill him but we're runnin' outta opshons.
Varinth administers one last, perhaps fatal, cup.