Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Zee finishes clearing a single path through the Caltrops on the bridge. He turns around to get Redcorn's attention and motions for the caltrops to be picked up. He then waves his hands a bit frantic and then makes the *shhh* sign with extended pointer up to his mouth. He will make his way over to one goblin, mumbling a prayer of Guidence (3) Goblins and try to tie one of the foul smelling creatures up INT Slight of Hand: 5
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
(Arikon's Sleight of Hand: 17)
Arikon and Zee quickly move over to the goblins and pull out hempen rope to bind them. As they do so, they find in one goblin's hands a clay flask of liquid, while the other goblin was the one with the flaming arrow. The snoring goblinoids are motionless as they are hogtied, but just a few seconds later they awaken. They curse in their goblinoid language at you before trying to shimmy out of their bonds.
Acrobatics: 9, 6
The already injured goblin wiggles free and immediately draws a dagger and swipes at Zee's ankes with disadvanntage, as it is prone. prone. Attack: 16 Damage: 6
Mini-combat:
Sharloon: 20
Arikon: 4
Zee: 9
Goblin: 5
The goblin luckily misses and everyone else in the initiative can react, in any order. As all this is happening, Jeb goes over to examine the oxen team. He steps into the expanding pool of blood around the two oxen and sees that the goblin arrows have indeed killed them. Without them, the heavy wagon can't be pulled any further and is stuck where it is.
John makes his way with a few spare burlap bags, following Zee's direction to gather up the caltrops. As he does so, he stares the flowing river underneath the bridge. You notice that he's lost a lot of the zeal and excitement he's had at the start of the trip.
"That half-orc...that could have been me. And yet he was a skilled fighter, while I am not. What have I gotten myself into?" he whispers. He hears the goblin shout and sees the struggle that is taking place. He immediately drops what he's doing and runs towards Zee, and will be arriving the next round.
(Jeb and Murmen are still at the other side of the bridge and can't fight).
Zee pulls out his Mace and stands over the goblin. Zee points to the mace then points to the rope, points back to the mace, and then points at the goblin. "Life or death friend" Zee says after the goblin's failed stabs. Intimidation: 20
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
Arikon managed to tie one of the goblin up just before it awoken, the other one though was a little more resistant. It took another swipe at Zee but his companion's imposing presence seemed to defuse the situation with the goblin dropping the knife almost instantly. "You better start talking, creature! Or this won't end well for you.", he yelled at both of them. The young sorcerer prepared himself in case they tried something, readying an Eldritch Blast to fire upon them if they showed any further aggression. (Attack: 21 Damage: 2)
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
"Don't harm him! He can't speak your language. Just let him go, please, and I will tell you what youwant to know."
John shouts back, "Liar! You'll simply mislead us and strike at us when our backs are turned." His wild gaze turns to the rest of the party
"Give me the command, and I'll kill them."
Keeping his open hands outward and still obviously weaponless, Sharloon continued to walk closer to the belligerents, speaking calmly and soothingly as possible for a dragonborn as he closed the gap.
"There...is no need...for killing...now."
Staring intently at the young yelling human Sharloon continued, "Your clan seems to have the situation in hand. Killing now only results in lost knowledge...nothing more."
(OOC: Sharloon hopes that his calm and reasoning will settle John to allow reason to hold the day and not spoil an intel gathering opportunity. Persuasion 14
IC:
Turning his gaze back to the bound female, "Goblin treachery and violence has led us all down the path...to this place...noncompliance will end with more violence. Perhaps...you can find a new path...for all of us to gain something from the evil...that has now past. Why are you waylaying travelers? Are you targeting specific people...or anyone who came along? Who is this...Klarg...boss?"
"Choose wisely, young goblin..."
(OOC: DM - as soon is it seems reasonable to do so - situation, captives, and area secure - Shar will work his way through the scattered bits of gear etc. Trying to find a decent spear or short sword and hopefully a couple daggers...in addition, he will keep his eyes open for smallish bits of nicely colored, textured, or striated wood, branches, etc for carving purposes)
(The goblin female will not speak until her companion is freed. If you wish to change her attitude, you may take additional measures. Also, Sharloon, please give me a perception check).
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Jeb joins the others clustered about the goblins. His breathing is shallow as if in great discomfort, despite the healing he received from Murmen. He also favors his left shoulder.
As he joins the group, he keeps an eye on their surroundings. Perception: 5
He says to the group, "Well the team is dead. We're not going to be moving the wagon any further without a fresh team. I'm going to go see if I can find the acrobats body to give him a decent burial. John, why don't you accompany me?"
Jeb nods to Murmen and Zee, to note he is pulling the overwhelmed greenhorn out of the delicate interrogation situation.
When the female goblin goes silent despite Sharloon's attempts at reasoning his eyes narrowed slightly. He also winced and then looked slightly over his right shoulder at seemingly noone.
"I know...I was hoping that as well. Well, if she won't be reasonable, we'll have to try different tactics. Yes, of course I remember Master Halum. That was totally different, though."
Then, looking back up towards the rest of the assembly Sharloon shook his white mane dismissively while muttering to the air over his shoulder, "Can I please just handle this?"
"Perhaps," he then intoned to all assembled, "it would be best if we split them up to question them separately? I am familiar with the Orc tongue. It's not the same as goblin but there may be some similar words, etc. I can take this one (pointing to the male) over to the other side of the bridge and see if anything can be learned. I am not in favor of harming a bound innocent. However, these...attacked travelers on the road with murder and robbery as their goal. They are no longer...innocent."
"If they will not tell what they know (Sharloon raised his volume on that last to ensure the female hearing him) then I would find favor with stripping their gear, binding their hands, and leave them hanging by the feet from the highest branch we can manage."
"They can then test their fate with the creatures of the wild..."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
He could see the anger in Redcorn's eyes. "John, go ahead with Jeb. We will take care of things here." Zee says with a hand tout toward Jeb "We need to figure out what is going on here. It's times like these we need to keep our emotions tight." Zee says with a stern but relaxed nod.
Zee turns to their new comer with a look of suspicion on his face and says "Convenient that you can somewhat understand them and you're in the area during the fight. Are you their leader, or are you just switching sides to stay alive?" Zee looks to the others "We have a lot of finding out to do. I'm going to take this one.." motioning to the female "and question her behind the cart." He looks at the male "Don't kill him if possible, but if he chooses to fight or run, then there is little I can do" he looks to the female "Do you understand?"
Zee motions for the female goblin to start walking to the cart, the untied amount of rope being used as a leash of sorts, and his mace out. Once they get to his designated interrogation location behind the cart while mumbling a prayer (Guidance). Zee then turns the female goblin around and motions for her to sit on the ground. Zee takes out a pipe and puts it in his mouth and chews the mouthpiece.
"We should start with a name if you have one. I am Z." He keeps his mace in hand "I know you understand the position you're in, we can easily kill the both of you, but we are a goodly folk and will give you this one chance. We can't rightly free him and then get nothing from you if you are willing to die" He gives her a chance to say her name "Ok (name), You have a chance to tell me about your boss, where he is, and how many more are you? Tell me, n' you and the one you care about can go free together to live your own lives."
John storms off with Jeb, leaving Zee and Sharloon to their devices.
The female goblin says to her companion, "Love, tell them what they want so they will let us go," as they are dragged away from each other. Arikon stands on close watch, readying an energy bolt to make sure none would survive an escape.
At the wagon, Zee has lit his pipe as he begins questioning the female, who begins talking.
"My name? When did humans care about such things? It is Vaxia. I will tell you what you want to know."
She points into the forest by the road.
"There is trail there. Leads to cave lair, inside live less than twenty of us, and some wolves. Leader is Klarg, but he is no goblin. He is large, covered in hair...you humans would call "bugbear."
Vaxia frowns as she says Klarg's name.
"Klarg answers only to King Grol, Chief of Cragmaw tribe, who lives in castle in the forest to the northeast. Grol send messenger goblin to Klarg, tell us to capture brown-bearded dwarf named Gundren. We do that and take his map too, delivered both to Grol. The human is still in lair though, inside the eating cave."
Sharloon's questioning more or less reveals the same thing, though the male goblin relies a lot more on hand gestures. However, he also provides another piece of info.
"Grol...was paid." He taps his palm, miming money changing hands. Then, he moves his fingers over the ground, like crawling legs. "Black Spider..paid." He points at the Gundren's dead pony, and draws a square in the dirt. "For dwarf and map."
Meanwhile, John accompanies Jeb as they travel along the river in search of Berdach's body. They discover the trail hidden behind the thickets, running alongside the river. As they walk, John's anger has cooled and he's now on the verge of bursting into tears. Before Jeb can ask him what's going on, he makes a curious discovery.
A few hundred feet down from the bridge, there are tracks in the mud at the river bank. Someone must crawled out of there! Jeb discovers a small trail of blood, which leads south towards the mountains before stopping. Whoever left it must have been good at covering their tracks. Did Berdach survive? Half-orcs are famed for their endurance after all, but then why would he leave everyone behind?
The interrogations have been completed. The Vaxia stares back at Zee.
"We have told you what you want. Let me rejoin my love and free us!"
With a nod Zee puts his mace away. "I believe them" he says. "I would prefer we let them live since I gave them my word. We have more urgent and very pressing matters now. It seems we have two options. First, we can take these goods back and let someone in the town know what is happening, gear up, and then head out to help our captured employers, or second, we can move directly to save our employers. The second choice abandons our first task, and leaves those expecting us in the dark. The first gives time to the captures to do with what they will to our friends. We should have all of us here before we choose."
Zee rubs his hands on his face and sighs a bit. This was turning out to be more than he had expected.
Jeb is unprepared to follow the path into the wilds, wounded as he is and only supported by the distraught barkeep. He says to John, "Well it looks like our half-orc friend may have survived; but headed out on his own. Best of luck to him!"
Jeb regards John and sees he is upset and on the verge of tears. He says to him, "The bards rarely focus on the trivial matters of pain of wounds, nor the fear of an ambush. No, they focus on the heroics of embellished swordplay or sorcery. Buck up my friend. We are still alive. Even Berdach survived, though he did abandon us. I'm sure he had his reasons. You survived your first fight. That's something to be proud of. You didn't run or abandon your comrades. That is commendable."
Jeb slap John on the back as a gesture of camaraderie. He asks, "So John Redcorn, as a barkeep and innkeeper you have no doubt used knives in your day to day errands. How are you at throwing them? Let's say we work on that in our downtime? I've known some who could take the ace of a card with a well placed dagger at twenty paces. How's that sound?"
<OOC: Jeb is attempting to encourage John,offer a distraction in the evening, and increase his likelihood of surviving the rigors of his new life as an adventurer.>
Zee turns to their new comer with a look of suspicion on his face and says "Convenient that you can somewhat understand them and you're in the area during the fight. Are you their leader, or are you just switching sides to stay alive?"
"Animals live in the forest but they are not trees," Sharloon replies simply looking at his accuser. "I, as I have said, have the honor of being Sharloon," the blue scaly figure growls out as he opens his hands and bows towards Zee. "I am clearly no goblin or member of their kind. My Master, Jezzoc Shin, taught me to speak the Orcish tongue. He taught that it was the noblest language in all of creation. Of course, being an Orc, he may have been...biased."
"As to these..." the monk waved his hands indicating the goblins, "despite the injuries I have sustained (he indicates the bloody mass of hair on his head) I have no desire to kill the helpless. If you wish them dead...then return their weapons...and I will face them with you to strike them down. But fairly...in combat."
Feeling another wave of nausea and fatigue from blood loss Sharloon reached out a hand to the nearby wagon to steady himself. "However, if your need for killing is sated for the moment, then I suggest we secure the pair of them. Make camp somewhere nearby off the road where we can rest and keep watch on the goblin cave entrance. Once we are sufficiently prepared, bandaged, and rested...we can attempt to rescue the captured human inside..."
At that point Sharloon sits, exhausted, at the roadside.
(OOC: after a few moments, Shar will try to find some water and something to bandage his head. He will also seek out the weapons - spear preferred or short sword and a couple of daggers - mentioned earlier unless another group member tries to prevent him from doing so.)
Arikon watched as his companions interrogated their two goblin prisoners. The adrenaline in his veins was slowly receding and he took a minute to make a few deep breaths. It was the first real combat he had ever experienced and it was intense. One of his allies had died and two others probably would soon have followed if they hadn't managed to neutralize them.
But there were some good news too. It seemed like the had saved a survivor of a previous ambush. The dragonborn might be a great help in future encounters, which he was certain would happen soon.
After the interrogation concluded he approached the monk and extended his hand to greet him. "My name is Arikon. It is a pleasure to meet you even under these circumstances.", he announced. "I concur with you. I have no intention to kill unarmed prisoners but we probably need a plan to make sure that they won't warn the others in their lair.", he continued. "But first tell us friend, how did you end up here?"
(Ah, right. Forgot about that one.)
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Class Guides: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Bard General Guides: PvP
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
Zee finishes clearing a single path through the Caltrops on the bridge. He turns around to get Redcorn's attention and motions for the caltrops to be picked up. He then waves his hands a bit frantic and then makes the *shhh* sign with extended pointer up to his mouth. He will make his way over to one goblin, mumbling a prayer of Guidence (3) Goblins and try to tie one of the foul smelling creatures up INT Slight of Hand: 5
Drow enthusiast
Lover of lore and magic.
-The White Crow-
(Arikon's Sleight of Hand: 17)
Arikon and Zee quickly move over to the goblins and pull out hempen rope to bind them. As they do so, they find in one goblin's hands a clay flask of liquid, while the other goblin was the one with the flaming arrow. The snoring goblinoids are motionless as they are hogtied, but just a few seconds later they awaken. They curse in their goblinoid language at you before trying to shimmy out of their bonds.
Acrobatics: 9, 6
The already injured goblin wiggles free and immediately draws a dagger and swipes at Zee's ankes with disadvanntage, as it is prone. prone. Attack: 16 Damage: 6
Mini-combat:
Sharloon: 20
Arikon: 4
Zee: 9
Goblin: 5
The goblin luckily misses and everyone else in the initiative can react, in any order. As all this is happening, Jeb goes over to examine the oxen team. He steps into the expanding pool of blood around the two oxen and sees that the goblin arrows have indeed killed them. Without them, the heavy wagon can't be pulled any further and is stuck where it is.
John makes his way with a few spare burlap bags, following Zee's direction to gather up the caltrops. As he does so, he stares the flowing river underneath the bridge. You notice that he's lost a lot of the zeal and excitement he's had at the start of the trip.
"That half-orc...that could have been me. And yet he was a skilled fighter, while I am not. What have I gotten myself into?" he whispers. He hears the goblin shout and sees the struggle that is taking place. He immediately drops what he's doing and runs towards Zee, and will be arriving the next round.
(Jeb and Murmen are still at the other side of the bridge and can't fight).
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
Zee pulls out his Mace and stands over the goblin. Zee points to the mace then points to the rope, points back to the mace, and then points at the goblin. "Life or death friend" Zee says after the goblin's failed stabs.
Intimidation: 20
Drow enthusiast
Lover of lore and magic.
-The White Crow-
The goblin wavers, and drops his knife. He snarls at Zee in Goblin, the language close enough to Orcish for Sharloon to understand a few words.
"Klarg...boss...kill."
He puts his hands up as if surrendering.
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
Murmen kicks his knife away.
"Talk more. Or die."
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Class Guides: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Bard General Guides: PvP
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
Arikon managed to tie one of the goblin up just before it awoken, the other one though was a little more resistant. It took another swipe at Zee but his companion's imposing presence seemed to defuse the situation with the goblin dropping the knife almost instantly. "You better start talking, creature! Or this won't end well for you.", he yelled at both of them. The young sorcerer prepared himself in case they tried something, readying an Eldritch Blast to fire upon them if they showed any further aggression. (Attack: 21 Damage: 2)
The untied goblin immediately finds itself surrounded and threatened with death. It drops to its knees, shaking at the sight of your weapons.
John has made his way over to the pair of goblins. Drawing his quarterstaff, he yells, "This scum killed Berdach! Let me avenge him."
He raises his staff, but the second goblin suddenly screams,"No!"
The higher pitch of voice indicates that she's female, and she begins pleading in a fluent though accented Common.
"Don't harm him! He can't speak your language. Just let him go, please, and I will tell you what you want to know."
John shouts back, "Liar! You'll simply mislead us and strike at us when our backs are turned." His wild gaze turns to the rest of the party.
"Give me the command, and I'll kill them."
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
Murmen turns to regard John.
"Bloodthirsty, are we? Calm down, lad. If there's another ambush they can tell us. I'd prefer escaping with our lives than just taking one with us."
He snorts slightly.
"And this is comin' from a dwarf. Defendin' a goblin. Think the world just turned upside down."
Check out my Extended signature here
Class Guides: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Bard General Guides: PvP
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
Keeping his open hands outward and still obviously weaponless, Sharloon continued to walk closer to the belligerents, speaking calmly and soothingly as possible for a dragonborn as he closed the gap.
"There...is no need...for killing...now."
Staring intently at the young yelling human Sharloon continued, "Your clan seems to have the situation in hand. Killing now only results in lost knowledge...nothing more."
(OOC: Sharloon hopes that his calm and reasoning will settle John to allow reason to hold the day and not spoil an intel gathering opportunity. Persuasion 14
IC:
Turning his gaze back to the bound female, "Goblin treachery and violence has led us all down the path...to this place...noncompliance will end with more violence. Perhaps...you can find a new path...for all of us to gain something from the evil...that has now past. Why are you waylaying travelers? Are you targeting specific people...or anyone who came along? Who is this...Klarg...boss?"
"Choose wisely, young goblin..."
(OOC: DM - as soon is it seems reasonable to do so - situation, captives, and area secure - Shar will work his way through the scattered bits of gear etc. Trying to find a decent spear or short sword and hopefully a couple daggers...in addition, he will keep his eyes open for smallish bits of nicely colored, textured, or striated wood, branches, etc for carving purposes)
(The goblin female will not speak until her companion is freed. If you wish to change her attitude, you may take additional measures. Also, Sharloon, please give me a perception check).
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
Jeb joins the others clustered about the goblins. His breathing is shallow as if in great discomfort, despite the healing he received from Murmen. He also favors his left shoulder.
As he joins the group, he keeps an eye on their surroundings. Perception: 5
He says to the group, "Well the team is dead. We're not going to be moving the wagon any further without a fresh team. I'm going to go see if I can find the acrobats body to give him a decent burial. John, why don't you accompany me?"
Jeb nods to Murmen and Zee, to note he is pulling the overwhelmed greenhorn out of the delicate interrogation situation.
OOC: Perception check per DM request 8
Rats. I guess getting your brainpan rattled a bit isn't so great for perception, eh? :)
When the female goblin goes silent despite Sharloon's attempts at reasoning his eyes narrowed slightly. He also winced and then looked slightly over his right shoulder at seemingly noone.
"I know...I was hoping that as well. Well, if she won't be reasonable, we'll have to try different tactics. Yes, of course I remember Master Halum. That was totally different, though."
Then, looking back up towards the rest of the assembly Sharloon shook his white mane dismissively while muttering to the air over his shoulder, "Can I please just handle this?"
"Perhaps," he then intoned to all assembled, "it would be best if we split them up to question them separately? I am familiar with the Orc tongue. It's not the same as goblin but there may be some similar words, etc. I can take this one (pointing to the male) over to the other side of the bridge and see if anything can be learned. I am not in favor of harming a bound innocent. However, these...attacked travelers on the road with murder and robbery as their goal. They are no longer...innocent."
"If they will not tell what they know (Sharloon raised his volume on that last to ensure the female hearing him) then I would find favor with stripping their gear, binding their hands, and leave them hanging by the feet from the highest branch we can manage."
"They can then test their fate with the creatures of the wild..."
He could see the anger in Redcorn's eyes. "John, go ahead with Jeb. We will take care of things here." Zee says with a hand tout toward Jeb "We need to figure out what is going on here. It's times like these we need to keep our emotions tight." Zee says with a stern but relaxed nod.
Zee turns to their new comer with a look of suspicion on his face and says "Convenient that you can somewhat understand them and you're in the area during the fight. Are you their leader, or are you just switching sides to stay alive?" Zee looks to the others "We have a lot of finding out to do. I'm going to take this one.." motioning to the female "and question her behind the cart." He looks at the male "Don't kill him if possible, but if he chooses to fight or run, then there is little I can do" he looks to the female "Do you understand?"
Zee motions for the female goblin to start walking to the cart, the untied amount of rope being used as a leash of sorts, and his mace out. Once they get to his designated interrogation location behind the cart while mumbling a prayer (Guidance). Zee then turns the female goblin around and motions for her to sit on the ground. Zee takes out a pipe and puts it in his mouth and chews the mouthpiece.
"We should start with a name if you have one. I am Z." He keeps his mace in hand "I know you understand the position you're in, we can easily kill the both of you, but we are a goodly folk and will give you this one chance. We can't rightly free him and then get nothing from you if you are willing to die" He gives her a chance to say her name "Ok (name), You have a chance to tell me about your boss, where he is, and how many more are you? Tell me, n' you and the one you care about can go free together to live your own lives."
Persuasion: 8 plus Guidance: 3
Drow enthusiast
Lover of lore and magic.
-The White Crow-
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
With a nod Zee puts his mace away. "I believe them" he says. "I would prefer we let them live since I gave them my word. We have more urgent and very pressing matters now. It seems we have two options. First, we can take these goods back and let someone in the town know what is happening, gear up, and then head out to help our captured employers, or second, we can move directly to save our employers. The second choice abandons our first task, and leaves those expecting us in the dark. The first gives time to the captures to do with what they will to our friends. We should have all of us here before we choose."
Zee rubs his hands on his face and sighs a bit. This was turning out to be more than he had expected.
Drow enthusiast
Lover of lore and magic.
-The White Crow-
Jeb is unprepared to follow the path into the wilds, wounded as he is and only supported by the distraught barkeep. He says to John, "Well it looks like our half-orc friend may have survived; but headed out on his own. Best of luck to him!"
Jeb regards John and sees he is upset and on the verge of tears. He says to him, "The bards rarely focus on the trivial matters of pain of wounds, nor the fear of an ambush. No, they focus on the heroics of embellished swordplay or sorcery. Buck up my friend. We are still alive. Even Berdach survived, though he did abandon us. I'm sure he had his reasons. You survived your first fight. That's something to be proud of. You didn't run or abandon your comrades. That is commendable."
Jeb slap John on the back as a gesture of camaraderie. He asks, "So John Redcorn, as a barkeep and innkeeper you have no doubt used knives in your day to day errands. How are you at throwing them? Let's say we work on that in our downtime? I've known some who could take the ace of a card with a well placed dagger at twenty paces. How's that sound?"
<OOC: Jeb is attempting to encourage John,offer a distraction in the evening, and increase his likelihood of surviving the rigors of his new life as an adventurer.>
Zee turns to their new comer with a look of suspicion on his face and says "Convenient that you can somewhat understand them and you're in the area during the fight. Are you their leader, or are you just switching sides to stay alive?"
"Animals live in the forest but they are not trees," Sharloon replies simply looking at his accuser. "I, as I have said, have the honor of being Sharloon," the blue scaly figure growls out as he opens his hands and bows towards Zee. "I am clearly no goblin or member of their kind. My Master, Jezzoc Shin, taught me to speak the Orcish tongue. He taught that it was the noblest language in all of creation. Of course, being an Orc, he may have been...biased."
"As to these..." the monk waved his hands indicating the goblins, "despite the injuries I have sustained (he indicates the bloody mass of hair on his head) I have no desire to kill the helpless. If you wish them dead...then return their weapons...and I will face them with you to strike them down. But fairly...in combat."
Feeling another wave of nausea and fatigue from blood loss Sharloon reached out a hand to the nearby wagon to steady himself. "However, if your need for killing is sated for the moment, then I suggest we secure the pair of them. Make camp somewhere nearby off the road where we can rest and keep watch on the goblin cave entrance. Once we are sufficiently prepared, bandaged, and rested...we can attempt to rescue the captured human inside..."
At that point Sharloon sits, exhausted, at the roadside.
(OOC: after a few moments, Shar will try to find some water and something to bandage his head. He will also seek out the weapons - spear preferred or short sword and a couple of daggers - mentioned earlier unless another group member tries to prevent him from doing so.)
Arikon watched as his companions interrogated their two goblin prisoners. The adrenaline in his veins was slowly receding and he took a minute to make a few deep breaths. It was the first real combat he had ever experienced and it was intense. One of his allies had died and two others probably would soon have followed if they hadn't managed to neutralize them.
But there were some good news too. It seemed like the had saved a survivor of a previous ambush. The dragonborn might be a great help in future encounters, which he was certain would happen soon.
After the interrogation concluded he approached the monk and extended his hand to greet him. "My name is Arikon. It is a pleasure to meet you even under these circumstances.", he announced. "I concur with you. I have no intention to kill unarmed prisoners but we probably need a plan to make sure that they won't warn the others in their lair.", he continued. "But first tell us friend, how did you end up here?"