There was no mercy or pity in those reptilian eyes, but there was a definite willingness to exploit the abused goblin's vulnerability.
"If you want to live, you will tell us everything you know, everything we ask. How many bugbears are left, not counting the two we killed? How many humans? How many others? Where exactly is Cragmaw Keep? Who is in charge here? Who is their boss? Answer!"
DM The rapid-fire questioning by the dragonborn, coupled with the horrible and powerful bear that kills bugbears, sends the poor goblin into near panic and it takes him a moment to calm down enough to speak.
"There were this many bugbears," he holds up 3 fingers.
"Big bugbear Mosk one-eye," he spits on the floor after he says the name. From the bruises and gashes on his face you gather that this goblin suffered much at the hands of the bugbears.
You killed two and wounded one. You recall that the first bugbear that attacked you wore a jeweled eye patch. It's also obvious that counting is not the goblin's strength.
"Many many Redbrand! " he offers but clearly the work many is subjective and anything more than a handful might mean that.
"Cragmaw. Yes! North. Go to big log. Then around out cave under hill. Then with find big rock go there and up with no rope but have large wood. Me help find for you. Human run this place big. No like. Hide he does. Secrets are doors. Droop know secrets. Droop help new friends. Yes? No kill Droop please."
With the goblin suitably cowed, he will turn his attention to the other three beds, ripping the sheets off them to check if there is anymore small goblins hiding around, or perhaps there might be something of value either monetary or informative.
She smiles as she hears the goblin talk and Kriv accept him as a guide. It will be good to have advance information, especially as there are less of them now.
With a glance down the corridor to Kallista, who seems to be fine. She lowers her bow, still holding it in hand and heads down towards Kallista thinking that it might be helpful to provide cover for her.
There are several worn tables and chairs scattered around this larger room. Wooden benches are drawn up against walls decorated with draperies of brown and red, and seveal ale kegs are propped up and tapped. On one table in the center of the room Kalista finds stacks of coins and a set of knucklebones. It's apparent that the dead men wearing scarlet cloaks that the party slaughtered on the steps were drinking and gambling. treasure: 75 cp, 55 sp, 22 ep, 15 gp, adn a gold earing set with a tiny ruby worth 30 gp.
At the top of the steps, Chandan is keeping watch. Still somewhat dizzy from his brush with death, the monk stares across the crevasse from which the nothic had risen. There is an opening at the far north, on the other side of the spit cavern. OOC: Once Chandan levels up, please give me a perception roll. No minuses
Jaliera finds herself at the foot of the steps, and once she turns her back to the west wall she's able to look up towards Chandan, to her left to see what Kalista is doing and to her right to see Kriv and a large bear towering over a pathetic little goblin.
"Oh merciful one. Droop thanks you for sparing the life. Droop yes help new masters. Save you Droop from nasty bugs-bears. Are dead they all? Droop to help. No see Mosk one-eye."
Last edited by Neptune; Mon 15/06/1516:10 UTC. Reason: Updated tactical map
[ooc: Gypsy, thanks. I corrected the tactical view. Now Chandan is all alone ... again.]
DM The monk stands guard at the top of the steps and then he hears something from the far north end of the cavern and he also sees some movement but he cannot make out who or what it was. There's an opening into some storage chambers there. It may be where the sounds came from.
With limited usage of his shape-changing ability, he will remain in his bear form for now. Kriv looks to have the small goblin under control, so Davroar will wander over to the next room after finding nothing of value here.
"Stay with me, and you will see Mosk One-Eye die firsthand."
Browbeaten as he was, it wouldn't hurt to tap into his hatred and frustration to cement his loyalty. Kriv headed out after the others, pausing in the corridor to see if Chandan was sufficiently alert.
Fate (or circumstance for the less poetically-minded) might suggest the old vagabond monk is something of a lone wolf, but Chandan honestly considers himself more of a lone goat.
And so upon seeing the movement across the cavern, he quickly decides to warn the other goats of the nearby danger.
He turns and scrunches up his face, squeezing his fist tight and then punching out with his fingers in a symbolic gesture.
The torch on the west end of the corridor throws up a shower of sizzling sparks.
As Davroar starts to leave the bugbear barracks, the torch on the wall to his left starts to flare and shoot firework-like sparks against the wall. It's nothing harmful, but there's no doubt it is a sign of some sort. With a quick glance over his other shoulder he sees that Chandan was the cause of this elemental manifestation; the sparks seem to dance at his behest.
The women in the guardroom notice the flames immediately but Kriv realizes something is amiss by the frightened look on Droop's face.
Fear on the face of a near-worthless vermin was expected rather than an indication of something out of the ordinary: The only merit this one had was knowing the location of Cragmaw Keep. He was, however, keeping an eye on Chandan.
"As best as it can be, without piling all of this furniture and barrels on it." She looks at the far door where she had wedged one of the chairs in the room against the latch as hard as she could.
"At least that chair will topple and warn us if anyone tries to come in that way. Lets go see what's up."
She follows Jaliera back out to the corridor and looks up the stairs.
Approaching the stairs, she looks into the room the others just vacated and sees the goblin. She motions with her arrow that he should move ahead of her up the stairs. She does not like creatures behind her.
Keeping out of sight in the stairwell for now, he will stand up on his hind legs while poking his nose towards the ceiling to catch any scent of the enemy. There may be more than what is being seen, and if any are trying to sneak up, he hopes his excellent sense of smell might reveal more.
†Restricted forums can only be accessed by DreamLyrics members of the age of 18 years or older. Access which is granted by the Behind Closed Doors Procedure. ™DreamLyrics Play-by-Post. DreamLyrics Play-by-Post does not own copyright on DreamLyrics texts or graphics, except trademarked DreamLyrics logos and logotypes. The works contained in DreamLyrics are copyrighted (automatically, under the Berne Convention) by the original authors and may be available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence. (See Copyrights for details.) Privacy Policy
]