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After some patching up, the party located Sheriff Hemlock and took stock. The shock of the unexepected attack had been the main killer, with several townspeople killed before they knew what was going on. Once the guard and militia members recovered from the surprise, they had met with success similar to the party's in beating off the goblins. Although the little monsters had resisted capture to the last, three had actually been taken prisoner and were currently in Hemlock's cells. Once it emerged that Figgy spoke their language, his offer to help interrogate them was accepted at once.
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The first goblin he spoke to was tied securely to a chair and lightly wounded. Despite this, it demonstrated the same manic, darkly humorous glee as the ones he'd fought. Most of his questions were responded to with cheerful rubbish; when he asked about the goblins' leader, the response was "He's one of you - a longshanks. Taller than you. Unless you're standing in a hole. Don't know his name. He went off to the graveyard on a secret mission. Whee! What was it? How should I know - it's a secret! Heheheheheheeee!" He did manage to drag out of the goblin that he came from somewhere called Thistletop, to the north.
Ten Fun Facts about Goblins 1: Horse Hate: Goblins excel at riding animals, but they don’t quite get horses. In fact, their hatred of all things horse is matched only by their fear of horses, who tend to step on goblins who get too close. 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. 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. 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. 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… 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. 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. 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. 9: They Get Stuck Easily: Goblins have wiry frames but wide heads. They live in cramped warrens. Sometimes too cramped. 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. |
This behaviour seemed so peculiar that Figgy got the town apothecary, Aliver “Pillbug” Podiker, to come and check to see if the goblins were drugged with something. The man was clearly out of his depth with goblin metabolism; "they act as if they are, but maybe they're like this all the time! I can't see any signs of chemicals, though. If you want to be sure, wait a couple of days and see if they come down."
The comment about the graveyard was interesting. Hemlock and Figgy gathered some guardsmen and headed over to the cathederal. As they rounded the building, a light was immediately visible in the graveyard, and weapons were drawn as they approached before they realized it was just the priest, Father Zantus. As they reached him, they could see that he was examining a recently-opened and clearly empty grave by the light of a lantern.
The grave was that of Zantus' predecessor, Father Ezakien Tobyn, killed in the fire that destroyed the old temple.
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With the aid of the guard, Figgy tracked the perpetrators away from the grave, down the cliff dividing the churchyard from the main town, and as far as Undercliff Way. There, the tracks blended into the well-used roadway and were lost. Frustrated, he explored across the bridge a little but to no avail.
It emerged that the only person in or around the village much accustomed to tracking goblins was the ranger Shalelu Andosana. Apparently she wasn’t quite a bounty hunter, a survivalist, or a mercenary, but a mix of all three. She usually passed through town once or twice a season to buy supplies and never remained more than a few days, always staying at the same room at the Rusty Dragon free of charge. All good, but no use now...
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On returning to their inn, the four friends found their landlady Ameiko tidying up with a couple of minor bruises. She greeted them effusively, praising their valour in helping defend the town, and declared their first week's bed and board at the Dragon to be on the house. Despite feeling that they'd rather struggled to survive than rescued anyone, the companions accepted gratefully and stumbled off to take advantage of the Dragon's bath-house and their beds.
The next morning, Figgy went to check on the prisoners again, but all were pretty much unchanged. After talking with Hemlock, he isolated the least hyperactive of the little ravers; in point of fact, the least intelligent. "You're going for a little walk," he told it. "Home." The hope was to use the creature to lead them to Thistletop. "Great!" squeaked the goblin. "You know the way?" Apparently, "longshanks" had done the navigating....
During the day, it became apparent to the party that they had acquired the status of local heroes in Sandpoint; the townsfolk making a point of stopping them in the street and thanking them or making friendly conversation. Figgy and Sumael especially found this a little strange and unnerving, but Rulf took it in his stride, regaling the villagers with tales of his younger exploits as a warrior, some of which might actually have been true.
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The following day, the young nobleman they had rescued, Aldern Foxglove, tracked them down and - good to his word - made a definite point of his gratitude for his rescue. It was noticeable that he heaped praise on Sumael's valour and skill, despite the fact that he'd never actually seen her fight! Apart from thanks and a bag of gold, he pressed them to accept an invitation to come out for a day of his favourite sport - boar hunting. Their objections that they didn't own horses, boar spears or hounds were waved away as Aldern had spares or could rent them in the village.
Although this didn't actually appeal, Figgy and Rulf went along to keep the peace. After some hours trekking, Aldern's dog flushed some boars which came racing down at the three hunters. Aldern veered off and took his kill with the effortless skill of one trained since childhood. Figgy took one look at his pig and sprang from the horse into a tree; his horse very sensibly fled, as did the boar. Rulf set his spear - always his favourite weapon - and braced himself; but the impact was far more than he expected and he went over the far side of the horse. Things might have gone badly for him but Figgy had prepared himself and promptly shot the boar with his bow from the safety of his tree.
If Aldern noticed anything different from the standard when he returned, he was far too well-bred to say so. He congratulated them on making their kill, and showed that he too had taken his prey. Seeing that any appetite for further sport was very much gone, he diplomatically ended the day at that point and led the way back to the Dragon, where the boars were passed over to Ameiko for cooking. The results of that were an absolutely delicious curried pork dinner and Ameiko entertaining the inn with a song celebrating the noble skills of the three hunters. Figgy and Rulf paid close attention to their tankards throughout.
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Once the hoo-haa was over, the four discussed once more their options. All wanted to stay together, and most felt that Sandpoint was quite a good place to make a base, or even a home. "We can help here," she said. "Whatever is going on, it's not over, and those things will be back. They could use our help - and that makes a place for us." General nods greeted this suggestion. "Well, we've a free week to think," Figgy pointed out.
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The next day, following recommendations, Rulf, Jord and Figgy went off to Savah's Armoury, to see what they could do to improve their protection, as goblin blades seemed to have made short work of their looted leathers. The northeast corner of this building bore a few scars from the Sandpoint Fire, but fortunately for its owner, Savah Bevaniky, the building escaped significant damage.
The smith was very keen to sell her wares to the new heroes, and to have them seen wearing them, and they were able to negotiate a pretty good deal for three shirts of good strong mail. Figgy paid a little extra for a lighter, more flexible one that would allow him to use his particular skills rather better. As they parted, Savah asked them to tell anyone who asked that she'd charged them her normal prices, as otherwise everyone would want "heroes' rates"!
They also took a few extra well-balanced throwing knives for Sumael, who otherwise disdained armour and weapons.
Two days later, as the party were stitting eating dinner in the Rusty Dragon, a commotion at the door caught their attention and a distraught young woman, clutching a baby and dragging a toddler, pushed through the crowd to their table. Between sobs and wails, they gathered that she had come seeking "the heroes" as there was "a monster" in her house. After some effort, they calmed her down and got her to tell her story.
Alergast and Amele Barett were a typical Sandpoint family, with two children (little Aeren and baby Verah) and a loyal family dog named Petal. They were present at the Swallowtail Festival, where Aeren saw a goblin light a cat on fire and then caper around the burning remains—the poor boy really hadn’t been the same since. Every night, his howls of terror sent Petal into a barking fit, and when his parents investigated, Aeren had claimed a goblin came out of his wardrobe. Alergast checked the closet dutifully but found nothing, and ever since the child’s complaints about the “warobe goblin” had grown more and more tiresome to his parents. Yesterday, Alergast threatened to make Aeren sleep in the woodshed if he couldn’t learn to “be a man” and sleep through an entire night without crying and telling stories.
She went on to say that, tonight, Alergast didn’t go to soothe Aeren when he had his night terrors. But then, a few moments later, they heard poor Petal cry out in pain and Aeren’s screams turn shrill. This time Aeren wasn’t just having nightmares. She paused, took a breath, and then showed the PCs Aeren’s arms - which were covered with fresh goblin bites. When Alergast burst into the room, he found a goblin crouched on his son’s chest. Petal was dead, a knife deep in his ear, and the goblin was frantically trying to chew off Aeren’s arm. Alergast attacked the goblin and chased it back into the wardrobe, where it clambered into a hole it had cleverly hidden under an old fur. Alergast flew into a rage, and as he started tearing apart the wardrobe in an attempt to get at the goblin, Amele panicked and fled the house with her children to seek out the PCs for aid.
Rather than rush off half-cocked, Figgy took the time to stop at the garrison and pick up some guards to come and help, and to place Amele in Hemlock's care. Then they went down to the Baretts' house, which was ominously quiet. Spreading his forces around to cover the exits under Rulf's direction, Figgy and Sumael went into the house, carefully searching each room until they reached Aeren's room. Jord remained on the landing to cover against attacks from elsewhere.
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Sprawled on the floor, with his head and shoulders through a hole in the floor under a wrecked wardrobe, was the still form of a burly man. Cautiously, Figgy covered her while Sumael pulled it out - and had just time to note that the man's face and shoulders had been horrifically gnawed and partially eaten before a blurred grey figure hurtled outwards, shrieking "No! No! My dinner!" in the goblin language.
Sumael backed rapidly off as the half-orc lunged in, intercepting the creature with his sword. The goblin seemed even more frantic than the others they'd fought, but Figgy was too busy to notice what Sumael did - it was clearly half-starved. It slashed at him with a weapon, improvised from a hinge by the look of it, and Figgy returned a wound with his sword. A thrown knife flashed dangerously close past his face, but the dancing, gibbering goblin was too tough a target and Sumael missed. A moment later, Figgy's sword buried itself in the goblin's skull and it dropped twitching.
| Hello, sis! I hope this letter finds you well, and with some free time on your hands, because we’ve got something of a problem. It’s to do with father. Seems that he might have had something to do with Sandpoint’s recent troubles with the goblins, and I didn’t want to bring the matter to the authorities because we both know he’d just weasel his way out of it. You’ve got some pull here in town, though. If you can meet me at the Glassworks at midnight tonight, maybe we can figure out how to make sure he faces the punishment he deserves. Knock twice and then three times more and then once more at the delivery entrance and I’ll let you in. In any case, I don’t have to impress upon you the delicate nature of this request. If news got out, you know these local rubes would assume that you and I were in on the whole thing too, don’t you? They’ve got no honour at all around these parts. I still don’t understand how you can stand to stay here. Anyway, don’t tell anyone about this. There are other complications as well, ones I’d rather talk to you in person about tonight. Don’t be late. Tsuto |
Sumael checked Alergast's still form, but there was nothing to be done. With heavy hearts, the PCs told the guards what they'd found and sent them back to break the news to Amele, before returning to the inn. Clearly, the town's security was much in need of upgrading, and Figgy was grimly determined to talk to the Mayor and Sheriff about it in the strongest terms.
The next morning, however, their attention was diverted by a different matter. Their hostess was conspicuously absent when they came down, and as they were glancing around for her, one of the inn's maids, Bethana Corwin, came to speak to them, worried that something bad had happened to her mistress and clutching a note.
As they read it, she explained that Tsuto was Ameiko's half-brother, and something of a black sheep. Tsuto was the Kaijutsu family scandal in that he was a half-elf - despite his "parents" being both human. It was obvious that old Lonjiku wasn’t the boy’s father, and his rage at the discovery of his wife’s indiscretion was the talk of the town for months. Lonjiku’s wife Atsuii never revealed who the father was, and it was a testament to Lonjiku’s stubbornness that they remained married. Tsuto was handed over to the Turandarok Academy to be raised outside of the Kaijitsu family, ignored by his father and forbidden visits from his mother. His older sister Ameiko visited him in secret a few times a month to keep him company, bring him some food, and promise him that someday things would get all sorted out.
That all changed six years ago, when they had a terrible argument in which Tsuto struck Ameiko. Bethana didn't know what the argument was about, but whatever it was it sent Ameiko away from Sandpoint for a year, during which time she made a living as an adventurer. She returned to Sandpoint five years ago to attend her mother’s funeral. Tsuto was quite public in his opinions that his father had pushed Atsuii off the cliff to her death, and during the funeral there was a confrontation. Lonjiku nearly broke Tsuto’s jaw with his cane, after which Tsuto cursed him and left Sandpoint.
Ameiko tried to reestablish contact with him ever since, but was never able to track him down. Bethana was now worried that Tsuto was back and up to no good. Since no crime appeared to have been committed, and the guard were busy locking down the town, the PCs were the only ones she could turn to. She begged them to head over to the Glassworks and find out what happened to Ameiko as soon as possible.
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Telling Bethana to keep quiet about the whole matter for Ameiko's sake, the four set out for the Glassworks immediately. On arriving, they found the doors to be locked and the windows covered, despite the time of day and the plume of smoke rising as normal from the chimney of the great furnace. After an abortive attempt to pick the locks on the front door led to him being surrounded by a curious group of villagers wondering what he was doing, Figgy and his companions relocated to the back of the Glassworks and managed to open the back door. Before they'd taken twenty paces inside, the half-orc's quick ears had picked up the sounds of smashing glass and goblin shrieks and giggling.
He immediately despatched Sumael to the garrison to alert them that there were goblins in the glassworks, before he, Jord and Rulf pressed on through the doors into the main forge-room.
A long furnace burned along the southeast wall of this equally long room. Marble tables sat throughout the chamber, used to work raw glass into usable shapes, with nearby wooden tables cluttered with various tools of the trade. The building’s furnace rumbled loudly, making it difficult to hear things. The main furnace was at the northeast end, a large chamber that utilized alchemically treated wood that burned with a hot blue light. As the furnace’s stone pipes ran to the southwest, they reached smaller and progressively cooler furnaces used to keep glassworking projects at the proper temperature; glass shatters if it’s allowed to cool too quickly.
The room was a gruesome display of goblin boredom. The bodies of the eight murdered employees lay in various stages of dismemberment; the goblins had been burning legs and arms in the furnace with glee, and pouring melted glass on the remains in an attempt to duplicate Tsuto’s masterpiece.
This was his father’s body, propped up in a chair in the central alcove and encased in thick runny sheets of hardened glass.
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Half-a-dozen goblins were scattered across the room, and inevitably one spotted the party opening the door. With a succession of shrieks and whoops, they charged at the intruders - but unlike any sane creature, they did so as individuals, each moving from his starting point straight towards them. In a mass, they could have been deadly; strung out, they were far weaker.
Jord, Rulf and Figgy sent a volley of arrows down the forge hall, inflicting several wounds, then Jord and Rulf dropped their bows and swung to meet the oncoming goblins while Figgy delivered another arrow from behind. Rulf skewered his first opponent with his trusty spear, and as Figgy moved forward his sword took down another. The remaining goblins continued to charge forward, though the first signs of doubt were appearing on their manic little faces.
As more ran up, Figgy and Jord killed another each and all of a sudden, the last two found themselves alone. In a fingersnap, their morale drained away and they fled back towards the far end of the forge room. Figgy grabbed his bow back up and managed to nail one of them, but the other ducked behind a stone table and dashed through the far door.
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Pulling arrows from goblin bodies as they ran, the three pursued the escaping creature. Through the doors lay a small store-room, with a door ajar at the far side. Through that was a flight of stairs leading down. Cautiously they descended to the cellar, where Figgy paused to listen and perceived raised voices - several goblins and a male human, apparently arguing though he couldn't make out details.
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Wounded as they were, the three decided to wait for reinforcements before going further, and barricaded the door to prevent any goblins getting out. Jord returned to the outer door to wait for the militia while Figgy did a quick search of the rest of the glassworks. Apart from the superficial but extremely messy damage left by the goblins, the place was clear.
Twenty minutes later, their old acquaintance Gerrold the guard appeared, leading five of the citizens' militia, and the reinforced group headed down the stairs again to check the cellar.
However, the delay appeared to have been a mistake, as the cellars were now empty of living creatures. Interestingly, walls had been broken down in two places to reveal much older-looking rooms and passages, including one that led off towards the sea.
Another room contained a wooden chair, brought from above, with pieces of cut rope dangling from it in various places as if a prisoner had been hastily cut free from it. Rulf cursed. "Here's where they were holding Ameiko," he growled.
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Another of the rooms appeared to have been set up as an office of some sort, and on the table the party discovered what turned out to be Tsuto Kaijustu's journal. This small, leather-bound volume contained two dozen parchment pages, most of which Tsuto had filled with maps of Sandpoint or erotic drawings of a lovely young woman with silvery hair and rather unearthly features. One on the last pages of the book depicts her with demonic hands, bat wings, horns, a forked tail, and fangs.
The maps each depicted different attack plans. The first set showed the attack plans for a group of thirty goblins—one of these battle maps was circled, and the party recognized it as the attack the goblins made on Sandpoint several days ago. Of more pressing concern were the next several pages, which illustrated an assault on Sandpoint by a force of what appeared to be two hundred goblins. None of these were circled, and while many were scratched out as if they'd been rejected, the implications were ominous nonetheless.