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With work being slow in (Fourn) and around (Reb) the gladiatorial arena,
the two are queueing at a local army post, work having been
advertised. Mat, a tall man, and a bunch of others are around.
Reb figures the work will probably involve killing goblins in the
broken lands to the north. A strange smell enters the room, followed
shortly after by a dishevelled, animal skin clad man. He stares at the
ceiling a bit, then takes to mumbling to himself in the corner.
A soldier appears at the counter, and briefs the room. As part of an
ongoing thing, people are being hired to kill goblins in the hills to the
north. Six (left) goblin ears will fetch a third class favour, useful for
maybe a metal weapon, or something similar. The rest of the grunts file
out, leaving Reb, Fourn, Mat and the weirdo in the corner. Figuring four
is better than three, the others bring him along outside to the adjoining
stables to discuss things.
The sight of the sky seems to snap him out of it a little, but when Reb
mentions boars (in the context of goblins using them in battle) he snaps
out of it completely. It appears as though Gruff can talk, but only about
boars for the moment. The rest discuss their options. Reb is familiar with
the terrain to the north, and also with an area frequented by a small
gobiln patrol, which should do nicely.
After purchasing some perishable supplies the group set off north through
the surrounding farmlands towards the broken lands. The group are stopped
no less than four times by patrols during the few miles north through the
farmlands. One of the guardsmen even has quill and paper, and takes the
names of the partymembers as they pass.
Only a short while after the last of the farms do the party enter the
broken lands. Reb takes the lead, and the group reach a rocky alcove
suitable for shelter by the end of the day. The evening is still quite
hot, but realising that fighting goblins in the dark would be a bad idea,
Fourn goes off to rustle up some firewood. Everyone takes two hours of
guard duty during the night, but by morning, nothing out of the ordinary
has occured. The group continue onwards towards the trail, but during the
afternoon the goblins come to the party, with the element of surprise.
Before anyone has a chance to act the group are beset by four
boars (as loosed by a bunch of goblins). Reb is gored badly, but luckily
nobody else is hit.
As the first round begins, Gruff begins grunting and chanting and
waving that bone he carries around with him at the boars. The boars seem
to lose interest in killing the party, sniff the ground a bit, then wander
off. In the meantime Fourn has thrown and missed an incoming goblin with
his net, and Reb swung and missed a goblin with his shortsword. Gruff
takes a little damage from the first goblin to close, and both Mat and
Fourn are missed by the goblins. In the next round none of the party
members take any damage, and three of the five goblins fall. One to
Fourn's spear, and two to Reb's shortsword.
As the next round begins, the two remaining goblins take to their
heels. Reb manages to take one of them down with his shortbow, but the
other makes it away. In total, that's four ears for the group. At this
point the boars kind of wander back, and start sniffing and hanging around
Gruff. He sends them on their way, then offers to tend to Reb's wounds.
Reb is a little skeptical, but after Gruff waves his bone in the
air, and spouts some gibberish, Reb's chest is indeed feeling a lot
better. With that, everyone heads off towards the trail, and duly arrive
by evening. Reb confirms the tracks, and reckons there should be another
goblin patrol through today.
Fourn again gathers wood in case the wait for the goblin patrol last 'till
nightfall. Everyone positions them behind boulders and other crap strewn
around, and begins waiting. Indeed, a patrol does arrive shortly before
sundown, but unfortunately from the wrong direction.
This time it is two goblins and two big guys, later identified as
gnolls. Again the goblins loose their boars, and again Gruff calms them
down with his gibberish and gesturing. One of the gnolls shouts for the
goblins to go for the smelly guy (Gruff), and all four close on him.
Mat slays one with a thrown dagger before they close, but Gruff is
hit twice, once by a goblin, once by a gnoll, and isn't feeling great, but
does manage to kill the second goblin with his spear.
Reb and Fourn close to join the battle, but Fourn slips as he winding up
to throw his net, and is rendered unconscious. Reb easily hits one of the
large gnolls with is first strike, even doing enough damage to kill the
creature. Gruff attacks the other gnoll, but misses. In the next round Mat
gets in first, scoring good damage on the remaining gnoll with his staff,
and Reb finishes it with the second attack from his shortsword.
Gruff slaps the unconscious Fourn awake, and then tends to himself with
his jabbering healing.
After removing the ears and deciding not to wait on the expected goblin
patrol, the group put about an hour in between themselves and the trail
before settling down for the night. Gruff says he needs to prepare his
healing stuff, so the other three take a long guard shift each, to ensure
two people are guarding at any one time.
Again the night passes uneventfully, and after a quick meal in the
morning, everyone heads south. By midday a group of men are spotted
heading towards the party. They are helping along a wounded comrade, and
say they're heading back to Corunglain. After Reb points them in the
correct direction and Gruff tends to their wounded man, the two groups
join up and head south.
The strangers have also met their quota of six ears, and are glad
of the extra numbers heading south. They seem to have had a good deal of
trouble with the boars, and Mat, Reb and Fourn are again thankful for
Gruff's presence. In due course the farmlands are reached, and then
Corunglain itself. The soldier at the post accepts the six goblin ears
from the party, and also says the group can be put up in the post for a
couple of weeks in lieu of the gnoll ears. The soldier is interested in
the fact that so many gnolls were travelling with so few goblins (or vice
versa) and asks if the party found any written material, suspecting them
to be envoys or messangers. No such items were found.
After taking detail of where this occured, the soldier enquires as to
whether the party will be going back out, to which the reply is yes.
In exchange for their 3rd class favour, the group ask for (and recieve) a
metal hooded lantern, and oil. Everyone decides to wait a couple of days
before heading back out. On the second day, Gruff is sent for, news of his
healing ability apparently having spread. A soldier lies in his death bed,
having grown progressively worse after a goring. Gruff does his best, but
to no avail. The soldiers don't seem to hold a grudge, as the outcome was
what they expected.
When everyone is back at full strength, the four set back out into the
broken lands. Again the group camp in the alcove on the first night, and
arrive at the ambush point by evening of the next day. Reb can't really
tell anything further from the tracks, but doesn't figure anyone has found
the (now smelly) bodies they dumped days earlier.
Setting up camp just within sight of the trail, everyone settles down. The
night passes uneventfully enough, but Gruff reports that a crow landed
beside the lantern during the night, apparently to deliver a message,
probably not intended for the party, but none of them can read it in any
case.
Everyone returns to the trail, and it is immediately clear to Reb that a
pile of creature passed through during the night. Maybe twenty, about half
of them boars, including some gnolls. After some discussion the group
again set up to ambush the large group on their return, hoping that Gruff
can again deal with the boars. The sky is overcast, and the waiting boring
as the day passes.
Gruff is the first to see a lone goblin haring towards the
trail. By the time anyone has had a chance to act, it has run past. Mat
gives chase, and Reb fires off a couple of arrows, but doesn't hit. Mat is
gone for about twenty minutes, and reports that the creature fled to a
cave about ten minutes away. Everyone hastens to the cave, but Reb really
isn't sure what to expect inside, and the decision is made to head back to
the ambush point. Again the waiting continues, and as night approaches,
the party set up just off the trail.
It is decided to have two people on guard at all times, and just as well
because crashing out of the night come a bunch of boars, with figures
barely visible in the darkness behind. Again Gruff placates the boars,
while Reb turns the lantern up full, and kicks Fourn awake. Mat is
awakened by the bustle also, but neither have a chance to act immediately.
In the first round the goblins again move to attack Gruff, who takes 4
points of damage. Reb stands his ground in the lanternlight, and slays a
goblin who comes to him.
Next round Gruff is faced with four attacks, 3 goblins and 1 gnoll, but
they suck, and they all miss. The other gnoll is attacking Mat, and the
last goblin on Fourn, but they both fail to hit too. Reb scores good
damage on the gnoll attacking Mat, and Mat attacks the goblin on Fourn,
which has taken to its heels with instructions (as translated by Reb) to
get help shouted by one of the gnolls. Fourn manages to hit the gnoll
attacking Gruff with his net, and takes hold of his spear to try and
finish it off. Gruff is fighting off the 3 goblins around him with his
spear too, but neither hitting nor being further hit by his opponents.
Reb finishes off his gnoll just as Fourn's is tearing its way out
of the net. Fourn finishes off the gnoll, and both he and Reb take to
attacking the remaining goblins attacking Gruff. The party gain the
initiative, and one goblin is killed and another injured before the
goblins get a chance to act. Gruff misses with his spear, albeit because
he was leaving room for the fighters, and Reb steps up and kills his
second goblin this round.
That leaves a solitary, injured goblin. With goblins not known for their
bravery, Reb and Fourn agree to jump on this obviously-going-to-flee
goblin that they might gain some information. Except Reb accidentally opts
to attack with his shortsword. Fourn manages to grab the goblin's leg as
it takes off, and even holds onto it when Reb's swing goes a little astray
and scores a deep wound across his back. In the next round they're both
agreed that they're going to grapple the goblin, which does well to free
itself from Fourn's grasp, only to find Reb landing square on top of it.
Mat returns from his chase in the meantime and the goblin's hands
are tied up by Fourn. Sensing the imminent removal of his left ear, the
goblin begins to offer to sell out everyone he knows. Almost forgetting
the ears from the corpses, the group head off back towards Corunglain,
hoping to stay ahead of the reinforcements the other goblin ran for. Gruff
again heals himself, and group get back to the alcove by midafternoon,
still with the goblin (Snot) in tow. Opting to sleep through the day it is
the next morning as the party are reaching the edge of the broken lands,
and wondering what Snot has got to say for himself.
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