Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
5e playtest Heroes of Freeport: Currently in Chapter 2 - Skeletal Society
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Lwaxy" data-source="post: 6011439" data-attributes="member: 53286"><p>Sorry for the delay, eye inflammation makes everything slooow. </p><p></p><p>This concludes Rats in the Sewers, we already started Skeleton Society. </p><p></p><p>---------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>While the – partly exaggerated, I'm sure - story of how the goblins managed to get a gelatinous cube was certainly entertaining, it didn't help us to find the smith's son, and I was beginning to get impatient long before he came to the part about forcing some Goblins from the Rat Kingdom to be the bait. Still, we needed his help and I didn't want to appear impolite, so I laughed at all the right places and expressed my admiration for his shrewdness. </p><p></p><p>Towards the end of the story, Big Flurx mentioned that he detested the Rat Kingdom and didn't like being in an alliance with it, but with what the Centipede Kingdom intruding into their areas of gathering food, he supposedly had had little chance to avoid joining with them. We had the impression though that alliances were always fragile down here, and I saw our warlock scratching his meager beard. </p><p></p><p>"Big Flurx," he began, "if you dislike them so much – and from Gozzy we gathered that their leader is evil anyway – why don't you take over their kingdom? What name is Rat Kingdom anyway? A name of weaklings. Anyone can kill a rat. Centipede and especially slergrad sounds powerful, but rats? Rats are only a danger when they come in masses, and if you pick them off one by one, they aren't a threat at all." </p><p></p><p>Randa nodded. "We just came through a ratvalanche, we know."</p><p></p><p>The eyes of the goblin went over us, and he sniffed. Surely, we smelled off rat blood still. He blinked, then nodded. "Is true. But when boss rat in swarm is bad ass, other rats follow and you drown in. Rat Kingdom big. Not best fighters, but many. Take them one by one, we need years."</p><p></p><p>"But take out the boss rat alone, and the others might fall," Warfart suggested. </p><p></p><p>"We try. Korth Fat Rat clever. Never alone, and always veeery careful when us around." The goblin looked angry now. "They not quite right in head, the Rat Kingdom bosses."</p><p></p><p>"That's why we are here. We heard that they are stealing bodies," I added. "And sometimes, they make them bodies first." </p><p></p><p>"Yes, Korth do things like that. Drag bodies of humans around for some weeks. Makes no sense. Rat Kingdom is very strange goblins. I do not trust them.” </p><p></p><p>"Maybe..." the warlock seemed to think hard. "Maybe you can trick Korth. Maybe we can help you do that. Us... humans would like only one kingdom down here. One with a powerful and clever leader." Yes, Thorian was always good with words, and flattery has gotten him to lots of places before. Including beds he had no business in. And it worked like a charm this time, too. After a bit more sweet talking – most of it I drowned out – and a few ideas as to how to unite the kingdoms – mostly doable in my eyes – he had the goblin boss in his figurative pocket. </p><p></p><p>Thorian's main idea was that, as the Rat Kingdom was currently an ally, they would be receptive to tales of what the Centipede Kingdom had supposedly done. While Big Flurx made Gozzy draw a rudimentary map on the remains of a crate, Thorian listened to what the goblins had to say about both of the other kingdoms. Cusbath and our soldier gal had to offer a few ideas, too, but I kept back. It's not that I'm no good in tactical, mind you, but I'm more the 'get in, get your bounty, get out' type of person. Complex plans, unless there is a definite target to apprehend or kill or something specific to destroy, bore me out quickly. Asides, too much can go wrong with them, so detail planning in a group endeavor, especially something war-like as this particular plan, makes little sense to me. I'm the one to come up with ideas on the spot, and am more likely than not good in fixing the oversights of others. </p><p></p><p>But they kept talking. At this point, I'd really have loved a drink or two, but I dared not to mention it, because who knows what a goblin sees as drinkable. So instead, I looked around at the trophies collected in Big Flurx' audience chamber. Not much of value, really. Except maybe the mummified corpse of a halfling – must be kept by magic or something because I don't think the sewers lend themselves to creating mummies. I also went out to the gelatinous cube again and could watch a feeding of refuse from above. While a smelly process, it was also interesting – I never knew those things could grab up food so quickly. How did they move anyway? </p><p></p><p>But again, I digress. What came to me walking around a bit was that I had already figured out a weak point in my friends' plans. Home defense. By what I had overheard, our warlock planned for almost the whole warren to take part in decieving and defeating the other kingdoms. But who of us hasn't read about similar endeavors, just to find that not only had the enemy trapped their area, they also conquered your own while you were out with every man and mouse. So I talked to an older guard goblin who spoke passable common about defenses. He was not trusting me at first, until he heard the others talk tactics. He understood what I meant, and explained to me about what he called the "slergrad defense." They had a way to get the cube out of its confinement after all. An old water pumping system allowed them to float it up and set it free in the main entrance area, while the non combatants would hide in secret areas. They had done so twice before, once against a rogue lizard tribe and once against the kobolds of the dock warrens. Getting the cube back in involved a bit of magic and more water, but he assured me it could be done. Then he offered me a drink </p><p></p><p>I don't know how, but he had managed to find a bottle of fine red wine. From my inn, too. I need to talk to someone about preventing entrance from the sewers. Turns out wine isn't good for goblins, they get a stomach ache most of the time and the hangover is abysmal. But that was all the better for me as I now had something to get rid off the dirty taste in my mouth with. And one bottle really does not impact a dwarf child. </p><p></p><p>When I got back, the others, wondering where I had gone off to, started explaining the plan to me. All of them, including the goblin chief, and they were talking very fast. I suppose was I an elf, my ears would have been twitching. Luckily, I'm not, and as an innkeeper, I'm used to listen to several conversations at the same time. So I nodded at the right places, and grunted here and there, and then I told them about the home defense issue. For a second or two, they were quiet, probably berating themselves for the oversight. Just Big Flurx laughed. "We best defended warren in all under Freeport," he chuckled. "Not to worry. We goblins good with defense, you humans good with battle plan. Then when only Slergrad Kingdom left, we make trade, yes?"</p><p></p><p>Sure, I can think of so many things I want to trade in from Goblins. But there would be something, one way or the other. </p><p></p><p>In under one hour, my friends had their battle plan ready and were sure of its effectiveness. It involved splitting up, though, which didn't make our priest too happy. Something he had once heard from an adventuring friend of his was not to split the party, ever. The goblins couldn't be trusted to execute the plan as needed, though, even with the cleverness they displayed. Their way of thinking is different from us, and the ore carts of thought may run into directions we don't want them to go. So it was not to be helped. </p><p></p><p>Me, I'm used working alone, or at least only in 2-person teams. So I was fine with it, and the role I was given, a bounty hunter on search for the missing man, was my own. I only took Gozzy along because a goblin guide made sense and would be less suspicious than finding the warren of the Rats without one. </p><p></p><p>Randa went with the group that was supposed to lure the Rat fighters to a place where supposedly the Centipede folks were damaging their fresh water supply. Our priest went with the group that was to lure out the Centipedes to the same location, and Warfart was with the group to trap and trick the area at the water supply, including damaging the makeshift bridges over the canals. He was all exited about that, too. I know he's picked up some rogue skills from a gnome a while ago and was always one for practical jokes and a little trapping. Although – don't tell him that, but anywhere else but in a mess of sewers or abandoned mines, his tricks are often quite obvious. </p><p></p><p>Gozzy proved to be a quiet comrade, until I managed to start a conversation about the different races, and how us dwellers from above weren't all humans. Turns out the goblins knew this but keep getting confused about who is who, except for the orcs. And to my surprise, there is more than goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears in the wider array of goblinoid races. Big Flurx, for example, was half something called a goblet, which was like a goblin just bigger and with – and this part seemed important to him – a short nose. Probably as important as the pointed ears on elves to distinguish them. It seems we know little about the goblinoids, it might be a subject for my scholar friend to investigate. </p><p></p><p>When I told him what a goblet was in the above world, he could not stop laughing. And I can tell you, goblin laugh isn't all that pleasant. When he had finally calmed down, he explained that "empty cup" is a goblin phrase for totally dumb, and the goblets were said to have a lot of those who could be called that. Which makes me think that the goblets are probably the goblin version of barbarians. </p><p></p><p>On the way to the warren the Rats used, we met a few of them, mostly females and children, who were walking dire rats around on leashes. They stared at us, naturally, but didn't interfere as they knew Gozzy as a member of their allies. I don't particularly like being stared at, but I was a good dwarf and grinned back at them, making sure to show a lot of teeth. </p><p></p><p>Then we began meeting the patrols. While they didn't bother us, they raised my inner alarm. Compared to what I'd seen with the Slergrad Kingdom, those Rat warriors were astonishingly well equipped. Most them had new looking armor and arms, definitely not made by goblins. No, it rather looked as if someone had given them gnome or halfling armor, and some of it even looked dwarf made. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with goblins learning what the good things are, but I wondered how they had gotten them, as it wasn't likely that this was all just equipment of their past victims. Someone from above must have been equipping them. </p><p></p><p>The guards at the entrance to the Rat complex itself were a bit more attentive, but after Gozzy explained that the "small human" had business with their boss – making it sound like I had rejected dealing with theirs – they let us through, although they insisted on an escort. That was to be expected, of course. </p><p></p><p>About the same time we arrived there, Randa and her team must have reached the Rat barracks. Randa posed as a canal worker who had seen the Centipedes doing the damage, clogging up the canals in the process. She supposedly knew the Slergrads from having them help with clean ups, a story easy enough to believe as the "human" canal workers are usually from the small races and use the help of the goblins quite often. She later said it was no problem at all to have the enraged Rat warriors follow them. </p><p></p><p>Cusbath had a bit of a problem luring the Centipedes out, supposedly being followed by Slergrads who were angry because he had traded with some of their group. Not too many of the Centipede Kingdom manage to trade, but that he was a priest finally convinced them. While the Centipedes were closer to the planned battle site, the delay meant that the group arrived just barely before Randa's showed up. </p><p></p><p>Luckily, our warlock had been mostly sufficient to prepare some traps with his group. Goblins were dumped into the sewers, got stuck in mud and rubble and – his masterpiece – were scattered by the symbol of their own tribe, a really large giant centipede looking as if it wanted to eat every goblin. While it had been his idea, though, it was the goblin wizard, or shaman, or whatever they called it, who had conjured it up. Learned illusions from the gnome canal workers, so he said, and found it so hilarious and useful that he had chosen to specialize in it, next to the usual stuff they did. It was also helpful that he could not only make people, but also things invisible. The Rats thought the main bridge over an important canal was gone, destroyed by their enemies, when in fact it was just not visible. I wish I could have seen that, really. </p><p></p><p>By the time they had gone at each other for about half an hour and fallen to the traps like flies, the Slergrads only needed to clean up. Of course, those were not all the warriors of both sides, but a large contingent, and the Rats probably had their best armed and armored men and women there – yes, female goblins do fight, and quite a few other things, so I learned. Mostly when they can't have offspring, but it seemed for some reason almost "one room of each warren" full of women were infertile each generation. Maybe it's like with rats and they just stop multiplying so much when it is overcrowded. </p><p></p><p>Well, I didn't have nearly as much fun. Because when I met the boss of the Rats, a surprise was waiting for me. In the cavern we were led to, a fat goblin with greasy black hair sat upon an oversized wooden chair. He looked at me and sneered. “What bring humans to Fat Rat’s table?”</p><p></p><p>I almost didn't hear him, though, because it was the guard standing right behind him who held my attention. I knew him, though not his name. "Bounty hunter," he snarled at me. "What you want from us? Is there bounty on Fat Rat now?"</p><p></p><p>I shook my head in response, trying to think quickly. About a month or so, I had discovered, and not in a pleasant way, that goblins do, in fact, have bounty hunters, too, and that they tend to prefer to go after bounty marked by orcs, maybe because they feel closer to them. This particular goblin had been after the same target, a half-orc murderer who wasn't wanted in Freeport but the merchant of another free city had paid a lot to get the guy's head. I had been first to our prey, but as the goblin had given me a big advantage making the murderer run from him, I'd given him a share. Now, this situation was partly beneficial, because my story would be all the more believable. Yet, it was also dangerous because this goblin had seen what I was capable off. Including some not so nice tricks I had pulled to get to the murderer first. </p><p></p><p>"No, there is not, bounty hunter," I replied with a grin. "If there was, you'd have known and taken care to catch your own chief for the money, isn't that right?" It was the first thing to say that came to mind, and it was probably true, too. Couldn't hurt to sow some mistrust in their own rows, either. </p><p></p><p>The head of the fat goblin whirled around, and he stared at his guard. Then he waved for two of the escort that brought me to take him away. "You not tell me you go hunt for bounty," he growled. "You not trusted anymore." </p><p></p><p>That had gone well. I waited for the goblin to be removed before I finally addressed Korth. "I'm sorry to disturb, but I was told your people take a lot of dead people and sometimes make them dead, and may have taken, and probably killed, a... human I need to find. I don't much care if he is dead or not. I just need proof."</p><p></p><p>Korth tilted his head and listened to the description of the missing man without surprise. "Not remember. Maybe," he then said. "If you want check our storage, you pay me some as you get paid, too, yes?" He chuckled. </p><p></p><p>"Sure, but... storage? What in the name of all gods do you need stored stiffs for?" I asked, while making a move for my bag. </p><p></p><p>To my surprise – and Gozzy's - the goblin started talking. Seems there was some guy they called "The Pale Man" going around collecting bodies, and paying well for them if the Rats collected them for him. They were meeting this man regularly at an abandoned mausoleum. First, they jsut stole bodies, including from graveyards and undertakers, and wherever they could find them on the streets. But there are only so many bodies in Freeport, and while there is death everyday, it looked like it was never enough. So, they went out to kill whatever they found helpless in the streets. They thought, so Korth said, no one would miss the homeless rubble. Well, he was partially right about that. Except that they had killed the wrong guy. I told him that, while faking admiration - he bought it, too – for his freeing the streets of above from the unwanted. </p><p></p><p>What was that? I heard that, someone just said that this sounds way too easy. That's true. While i got my information, by this time I was beginning to get really worried. See, whenever a villain, in his own lair, starts to tell you all his plans without regard that you may tell someone who could do something about it, they are either stupid – what this goblin was not – or they intend to kill you. Another body to get money for, ya know, and getting rid of a problem as well. Or two, considering that Gozzy was with me. Goblin or not, he wasn't theirs, and I doubt that they would have spared him. </p><p></p><p>So once more, I did the first thing coming to mind, forgetting all about my bag. And I admit freely I had had some lessons from our warlock by now. Flattery. And a business proposal to top it off. I asked him if he would be willing to help me with a problem, considering he had use for bodies. Without waiting for his answer, I went on about my dwarf clan having a feud with a mountain dwarf clan – and to my surprise, Korth knew the difference, if barely. We had taken to killing the others off one by one while we ourselves had loaded up in magical protection, but throwing the bodies into the seedy part of the sea by the docks was getting bothersome and dangerous. We had, so I claimed, 2-3 bodies per day, not all of them dwarf but also their allies. If his buyer wouldn't mind their faces burned off to make identification harder, we'd pay him for getting rid of those dead – a silver each plus equipment – and he could get double pay for delivering them. </p><p></p><p>There is no better way to get to a greedy character than by the offer of profit. His ears perked up and his eyes lit up. "sounds like a plan to me. And maybe you can help find more people no one misses, yes?" </p><p></p><p>"Oh, probably," I nodded. "The docks are full of those no one wants around. Bit far from the sewer entrances, but I can lure them with promises of profit, and your Rats take them at the sewer entrances. The city will be all the better for it." I had trouble keeping my face straight at that, and Gozzy seemed unsure what to think. But my life was on the line here, and I was ready to promise the city to him if I could make it sound believable. </p><p></p><p>Korth chuckled. "We talk details, now. You..." He pointed at Gozzy. "Wait outside with the guards. This doesn't need listeners. No dumb Slergrads to know everything." </p><p></p><p>When they led Gozzy out, who seemed very worried for a reason, Korth looked at me. "You trust this one?" he asked. </p><p></p><p>"not really," I said, knowing that saying yes would make me look foolish. "But I pay him more than he gets from his chief, and he helps me without this... what's his name again.. Flax?"</p><p></p><p>"Flurx," Korth corrected, laughing like a goat on fire. </p><p></p><p>"Right, Flurx. Without Flurx knowing, and he's been the only reason I have found my bounty, dead or not, here with you."</p><p></p><p>"You are still paying to get proof, right?" he wanted to know while waving me closer. </p><p></p><p>"Sure thing, as I agreed on it. Where do you keep the stiffs anyway?" I came closer, going for my bag again. </p><p></p><p>He pointed behind him to a tunnel. "Next cave. You aren't going to damage him are you?"</p><p></p><p>"Nope, just need an ear. Long boring story about that."</p><p></p><p>Again, he chuckled at that and didn't pay attention what I took from my bag. I keep lots of things in it others would keep on their belts – like the manacles I need for bringing my targets back alive. He just saw a silvery glitter and bowed forward, and next thing he knew he had them slapped onto him. They were, of course, a bit big – haven't been able to afford those magical ones yet which adapt to the wearer – and then I pushed him on his back, counting on his fatness causing issues with him getting up to begin with. He only got out one little cry before I gagged him with a torn part of his own dirty pants. </p><p></p><p>Still, that cry could have been the end of me, considering that usually his guards would be close. However, this was the moment the others arrived. I could hear the faint sounds of fighting. I admit I was surprised, the plan had had so many things that could have gone worse than they did. I had not counted on a timely arrival. </p><p></p><p>The problem was, to me, that I was expected to kill the Fat Rat. It was part of the plan, and it made sense. Yet, killing someone helpless that was not, to my knowledge, a major villain, was not something I really felt like doing. Luckily, the decision was taken from me, as an upset and frightened Gozzy reentered the room. "They here," he shouted. "Gozzy not know what to..." He stopped right there when he saw the gagged and manacled Korth struggling to stand up. With amazing speed, he grabbed the next discarded rusty sword – their old weapons before they got new equipment, I guess – and ran it right through him. Not once. Not twice. I stopped counting at 10. A goblin is, after all, still a goblin even if you consider him a friend. I learned much later that the Rats had killed some of his family a while back when they weren't allies. </p><p></p><p>"Gozzy do help," he grinned at me after he was done. "Gozzy hero of Slergrads now." </p><p></p><p>No doubt about that. I took the gag and the manacles off. "Let's say he was free and you rescued me, yes?" I winked at him, a gesture that, so I had noticed, meant much the same among goblins. Can't hurt to make a useful friendship stronger. I'll probably go through the sewers lots of times in the future. </p><p></p><p>I went to search the room of course, and found a hidden compartment with some useful stuff in the... well, let's call it throne. Gozzy was too busy gloating over his achievement to even notice or want a share. </p><p></p><p>The Slergrads obliterated the warriors of the Rats that day and incorporated the rest into their Kingdom. A day later, they, with the help of our battle plan loving warlock, they drove the Centipedes so far back and out of their warrens that they are, for the moment, a non issue. </p><p></p><p>We found the body of Krag. While it already smelled very bad, we had little choice but to carry it back in the sack it was in. His father needed some closure. It was also hard to tell him that it had been goblins. Us having helped dealing with cleaning out the responsible Kingdom made him feel a little better. He promised to give us some weapons and armor if we needed it, and he sure meant it. </p><p></p><p>After we had cleaned up – it was almost morning already and luckily, not too many people had missed me at the inn – we had one ale before taking a good long nap. We were in a really good mood until Cusbath pointed out that this was not the end of it, that we needed to find the man the goblins had been selling the bodies to - and probably still were as Big Flurx wanted the stiffs out. </p><p></p><p>Leave it to the cleric to spoil the celebration.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lwaxy, post: 6011439, member: 53286"] Sorry for the delay, eye inflammation makes everything slooow. This concludes Rats in the Sewers, we already started Skeleton Society. --------------------------------------------------------------- While the – partly exaggerated, I'm sure - story of how the goblins managed to get a gelatinous cube was certainly entertaining, it didn't help us to find the smith's son, and I was beginning to get impatient long before he came to the part about forcing some Goblins from the Rat Kingdom to be the bait. Still, we needed his help and I didn't want to appear impolite, so I laughed at all the right places and expressed my admiration for his shrewdness. Towards the end of the story, Big Flurx mentioned that he detested the Rat Kingdom and didn't like being in an alliance with it, but with what the Centipede Kingdom intruding into their areas of gathering food, he supposedly had had little chance to avoid joining with them. We had the impression though that alliances were always fragile down here, and I saw our warlock scratching his meager beard. "Big Flurx," he began, "if you dislike them so much – and from Gozzy we gathered that their leader is evil anyway – why don't you take over their kingdom? What name is Rat Kingdom anyway? A name of weaklings. Anyone can kill a rat. Centipede and especially slergrad sounds powerful, but rats? Rats are only a danger when they come in masses, and if you pick them off one by one, they aren't a threat at all." Randa nodded. "We just came through a ratvalanche, we know." The eyes of the goblin went over us, and he sniffed. Surely, we smelled off rat blood still. He blinked, then nodded. "Is true. But when boss rat in swarm is bad ass, other rats follow and you drown in. Rat Kingdom big. Not best fighters, but many. Take them one by one, we need years." "But take out the boss rat alone, and the others might fall," Warfart suggested. "We try. Korth Fat Rat clever. Never alone, and always veeery careful when us around." The goblin looked angry now. "They not quite right in head, the Rat Kingdom bosses." "That's why we are here. We heard that they are stealing bodies," I added. "And sometimes, they make them bodies first." "Yes, Korth do things like that. Drag bodies of humans around for some weeks. Makes no sense. Rat Kingdom is very strange goblins. I do not trust them.” "Maybe..." the warlock seemed to think hard. "Maybe you can trick Korth. Maybe we can help you do that. Us... humans would like only one kingdom down here. One with a powerful and clever leader." Yes, Thorian was always good with words, and flattery has gotten him to lots of places before. Including beds he had no business in. And it worked like a charm this time, too. After a bit more sweet talking – most of it I drowned out – and a few ideas as to how to unite the kingdoms – mostly doable in my eyes – he had the goblin boss in his figurative pocket. Thorian's main idea was that, as the Rat Kingdom was currently an ally, they would be receptive to tales of what the Centipede Kingdom had supposedly done. While Big Flurx made Gozzy draw a rudimentary map on the remains of a crate, Thorian listened to what the goblins had to say about both of the other kingdoms. Cusbath and our soldier gal had to offer a few ideas, too, but I kept back. It's not that I'm no good in tactical, mind you, but I'm more the 'get in, get your bounty, get out' type of person. Complex plans, unless there is a definite target to apprehend or kill or something specific to destroy, bore me out quickly. Asides, too much can go wrong with them, so detail planning in a group endeavor, especially something war-like as this particular plan, makes little sense to me. I'm the one to come up with ideas on the spot, and am more likely than not good in fixing the oversights of others. But they kept talking. At this point, I'd really have loved a drink or two, but I dared not to mention it, because who knows what a goblin sees as drinkable. So instead, I looked around at the trophies collected in Big Flurx' audience chamber. Not much of value, really. Except maybe the mummified corpse of a halfling – must be kept by magic or something because I don't think the sewers lend themselves to creating mummies. I also went out to the gelatinous cube again and could watch a feeding of refuse from above. While a smelly process, it was also interesting – I never knew those things could grab up food so quickly. How did they move anyway? But again, I digress. What came to me walking around a bit was that I had already figured out a weak point in my friends' plans. Home defense. By what I had overheard, our warlock planned for almost the whole warren to take part in decieving and defeating the other kingdoms. But who of us hasn't read about similar endeavors, just to find that not only had the enemy trapped their area, they also conquered your own while you were out with every man and mouse. So I talked to an older guard goblin who spoke passable common about defenses. He was not trusting me at first, until he heard the others talk tactics. He understood what I meant, and explained to me about what he called the "slergrad defense." They had a way to get the cube out of its confinement after all. An old water pumping system allowed them to float it up and set it free in the main entrance area, while the non combatants would hide in secret areas. They had done so twice before, once against a rogue lizard tribe and once against the kobolds of the dock warrens. Getting the cube back in involved a bit of magic and more water, but he assured me it could be done. Then he offered me a drink I don't know how, but he had managed to find a bottle of fine red wine. From my inn, too. I need to talk to someone about preventing entrance from the sewers. Turns out wine isn't good for goblins, they get a stomach ache most of the time and the hangover is abysmal. But that was all the better for me as I now had something to get rid off the dirty taste in my mouth with. And one bottle really does not impact a dwarf child. When I got back, the others, wondering where I had gone off to, started explaining the plan to me. All of them, including the goblin chief, and they were talking very fast. I suppose was I an elf, my ears would have been twitching. Luckily, I'm not, and as an innkeeper, I'm used to listen to several conversations at the same time. So I nodded at the right places, and grunted here and there, and then I told them about the home defense issue. For a second or two, they were quiet, probably berating themselves for the oversight. Just Big Flurx laughed. "We best defended warren in all under Freeport," he chuckled. "Not to worry. We goblins good with defense, you humans good with battle plan. Then when only Slergrad Kingdom left, we make trade, yes?" Sure, I can think of so many things I want to trade in from Goblins. But there would be something, one way or the other. In under one hour, my friends had their battle plan ready and were sure of its effectiveness. It involved splitting up, though, which didn't make our priest too happy. Something he had once heard from an adventuring friend of his was not to split the party, ever. The goblins couldn't be trusted to execute the plan as needed, though, even with the cleverness they displayed. Their way of thinking is different from us, and the ore carts of thought may run into directions we don't want them to go. So it was not to be helped. Me, I'm used working alone, or at least only in 2-person teams. So I was fine with it, and the role I was given, a bounty hunter on search for the missing man, was my own. I only took Gozzy along because a goblin guide made sense and would be less suspicious than finding the warren of the Rats without one. Randa went with the group that was supposed to lure the Rat fighters to a place where supposedly the Centipede folks were damaging their fresh water supply. Our priest went with the group that was to lure out the Centipedes to the same location, and Warfart was with the group to trap and trick the area at the water supply, including damaging the makeshift bridges over the canals. He was all exited about that, too. I know he's picked up some rogue skills from a gnome a while ago and was always one for practical jokes and a little trapping. Although – don't tell him that, but anywhere else but in a mess of sewers or abandoned mines, his tricks are often quite obvious. Gozzy proved to be a quiet comrade, until I managed to start a conversation about the different races, and how us dwellers from above weren't all humans. Turns out the goblins knew this but keep getting confused about who is who, except for the orcs. And to my surprise, there is more than goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears in the wider array of goblinoid races. Big Flurx, for example, was half something called a goblet, which was like a goblin just bigger and with – and this part seemed important to him – a short nose. Probably as important as the pointed ears on elves to distinguish them. It seems we know little about the goblinoids, it might be a subject for my scholar friend to investigate. When I told him what a goblet was in the above world, he could not stop laughing. And I can tell you, goblin laugh isn't all that pleasant. When he had finally calmed down, he explained that "empty cup" is a goblin phrase for totally dumb, and the goblets were said to have a lot of those who could be called that. Which makes me think that the goblets are probably the goblin version of barbarians. On the way to the warren the Rats used, we met a few of them, mostly females and children, who were walking dire rats around on leashes. They stared at us, naturally, but didn't interfere as they knew Gozzy as a member of their allies. I don't particularly like being stared at, but I was a good dwarf and grinned back at them, making sure to show a lot of teeth. Then we began meeting the patrols. While they didn't bother us, they raised my inner alarm. Compared to what I'd seen with the Slergrad Kingdom, those Rat warriors were astonishingly well equipped. Most them had new looking armor and arms, definitely not made by goblins. No, it rather looked as if someone had given them gnome or halfling armor, and some of it even looked dwarf made. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with goblins learning what the good things are, but I wondered how they had gotten them, as it wasn't likely that this was all just equipment of their past victims. Someone from above must have been equipping them. The guards at the entrance to the Rat complex itself were a bit more attentive, but after Gozzy explained that the "small human" had business with their boss – making it sound like I had rejected dealing with theirs – they let us through, although they insisted on an escort. That was to be expected, of course. About the same time we arrived there, Randa and her team must have reached the Rat barracks. Randa posed as a canal worker who had seen the Centipedes doing the damage, clogging up the canals in the process. She supposedly knew the Slergrads from having them help with clean ups, a story easy enough to believe as the "human" canal workers are usually from the small races and use the help of the goblins quite often. She later said it was no problem at all to have the enraged Rat warriors follow them. Cusbath had a bit of a problem luring the Centipedes out, supposedly being followed by Slergrads who were angry because he had traded with some of their group. Not too many of the Centipede Kingdom manage to trade, but that he was a priest finally convinced them. While the Centipedes were closer to the planned battle site, the delay meant that the group arrived just barely before Randa's showed up. Luckily, our warlock had been mostly sufficient to prepare some traps with his group. Goblins were dumped into the sewers, got stuck in mud and rubble and – his masterpiece – were scattered by the symbol of their own tribe, a really large giant centipede looking as if it wanted to eat every goblin. While it had been his idea, though, it was the goblin wizard, or shaman, or whatever they called it, who had conjured it up. Learned illusions from the gnome canal workers, so he said, and found it so hilarious and useful that he had chosen to specialize in it, next to the usual stuff they did. It was also helpful that he could not only make people, but also things invisible. The Rats thought the main bridge over an important canal was gone, destroyed by their enemies, when in fact it was just not visible. I wish I could have seen that, really. By the time they had gone at each other for about half an hour and fallen to the traps like flies, the Slergrads only needed to clean up. Of course, those were not all the warriors of both sides, but a large contingent, and the Rats probably had their best armed and armored men and women there – yes, female goblins do fight, and quite a few other things, so I learned. Mostly when they can't have offspring, but it seemed for some reason almost "one room of each warren" full of women were infertile each generation. Maybe it's like with rats and they just stop multiplying so much when it is overcrowded. Well, I didn't have nearly as much fun. Because when I met the boss of the Rats, a surprise was waiting for me. In the cavern we were led to, a fat goblin with greasy black hair sat upon an oversized wooden chair. He looked at me and sneered. “What bring humans to Fat Rat’s table?” I almost didn't hear him, though, because it was the guard standing right behind him who held my attention. I knew him, though not his name. "Bounty hunter," he snarled at me. "What you want from us? Is there bounty on Fat Rat now?" I shook my head in response, trying to think quickly. About a month or so, I had discovered, and not in a pleasant way, that goblins do, in fact, have bounty hunters, too, and that they tend to prefer to go after bounty marked by orcs, maybe because they feel closer to them. This particular goblin had been after the same target, a half-orc murderer who wasn't wanted in Freeport but the merchant of another free city had paid a lot to get the guy's head. I had been first to our prey, but as the goblin had given me a big advantage making the murderer run from him, I'd given him a share. Now, this situation was partly beneficial, because my story would be all the more believable. Yet, it was also dangerous because this goblin had seen what I was capable off. Including some not so nice tricks I had pulled to get to the murderer first. "No, there is not, bounty hunter," I replied with a grin. "If there was, you'd have known and taken care to catch your own chief for the money, isn't that right?" It was the first thing to say that came to mind, and it was probably true, too. Couldn't hurt to sow some mistrust in their own rows, either. The head of the fat goblin whirled around, and he stared at his guard. Then he waved for two of the escort that brought me to take him away. "You not tell me you go hunt for bounty," he growled. "You not trusted anymore." That had gone well. I waited for the goblin to be removed before I finally addressed Korth. "I'm sorry to disturb, but I was told your people take a lot of dead people and sometimes make them dead, and may have taken, and probably killed, a... human I need to find. I don't much care if he is dead or not. I just need proof." Korth tilted his head and listened to the description of the missing man without surprise. "Not remember. Maybe," he then said. "If you want check our storage, you pay me some as you get paid, too, yes?" He chuckled. "Sure, but... storage? What in the name of all gods do you need stored stiffs for?" I asked, while making a move for my bag. To my surprise – and Gozzy's - the goblin started talking. Seems there was some guy they called "The Pale Man" going around collecting bodies, and paying well for them if the Rats collected them for him. They were meeting this man regularly at an abandoned mausoleum. First, they jsut stole bodies, including from graveyards and undertakers, and wherever they could find them on the streets. But there are only so many bodies in Freeport, and while there is death everyday, it looked like it was never enough. So, they went out to kill whatever they found helpless in the streets. They thought, so Korth said, no one would miss the homeless rubble. Well, he was partially right about that. Except that they had killed the wrong guy. I told him that, while faking admiration - he bought it, too – for his freeing the streets of above from the unwanted. What was that? I heard that, someone just said that this sounds way too easy. That's true. While i got my information, by this time I was beginning to get really worried. See, whenever a villain, in his own lair, starts to tell you all his plans without regard that you may tell someone who could do something about it, they are either stupid – what this goblin was not – or they intend to kill you. Another body to get money for, ya know, and getting rid of a problem as well. Or two, considering that Gozzy was with me. Goblin or not, he wasn't theirs, and I doubt that they would have spared him. So once more, I did the first thing coming to mind, forgetting all about my bag. And I admit freely I had had some lessons from our warlock by now. Flattery. And a business proposal to top it off. I asked him if he would be willing to help me with a problem, considering he had use for bodies. Without waiting for his answer, I went on about my dwarf clan having a feud with a mountain dwarf clan – and to my surprise, Korth knew the difference, if barely. We had taken to killing the others off one by one while we ourselves had loaded up in magical protection, but throwing the bodies into the seedy part of the sea by the docks was getting bothersome and dangerous. We had, so I claimed, 2-3 bodies per day, not all of them dwarf but also their allies. If his buyer wouldn't mind their faces burned off to make identification harder, we'd pay him for getting rid of those dead – a silver each plus equipment – and he could get double pay for delivering them. There is no better way to get to a greedy character than by the offer of profit. His ears perked up and his eyes lit up. "sounds like a plan to me. And maybe you can help find more people no one misses, yes?" "Oh, probably," I nodded. "The docks are full of those no one wants around. Bit far from the sewer entrances, but I can lure them with promises of profit, and your Rats take them at the sewer entrances. The city will be all the better for it." I had trouble keeping my face straight at that, and Gozzy seemed unsure what to think. But my life was on the line here, and I was ready to promise the city to him if I could make it sound believable. Korth chuckled. "We talk details, now. You..." He pointed at Gozzy. "Wait outside with the guards. This doesn't need listeners. No dumb Slergrads to know everything." When they led Gozzy out, who seemed very worried for a reason, Korth looked at me. "You trust this one?" he asked. "not really," I said, knowing that saying yes would make me look foolish. "But I pay him more than he gets from his chief, and he helps me without this... what's his name again.. Flax?" "Flurx," Korth corrected, laughing like a goat on fire. "Right, Flurx. Without Flurx knowing, and he's been the only reason I have found my bounty, dead or not, here with you." "You are still paying to get proof, right?" he wanted to know while waving me closer. "Sure thing, as I agreed on it. Where do you keep the stiffs anyway?" I came closer, going for my bag again. He pointed behind him to a tunnel. "Next cave. You aren't going to damage him are you?" "Nope, just need an ear. Long boring story about that." Again, he chuckled at that and didn't pay attention what I took from my bag. I keep lots of things in it others would keep on their belts – like the manacles I need for bringing my targets back alive. He just saw a silvery glitter and bowed forward, and next thing he knew he had them slapped onto him. They were, of course, a bit big – haven't been able to afford those magical ones yet which adapt to the wearer – and then I pushed him on his back, counting on his fatness causing issues with him getting up to begin with. He only got out one little cry before I gagged him with a torn part of his own dirty pants. Still, that cry could have been the end of me, considering that usually his guards would be close. However, this was the moment the others arrived. I could hear the faint sounds of fighting. I admit I was surprised, the plan had had so many things that could have gone worse than they did. I had not counted on a timely arrival. The problem was, to me, that I was expected to kill the Fat Rat. It was part of the plan, and it made sense. Yet, killing someone helpless that was not, to my knowledge, a major villain, was not something I really felt like doing. Luckily, the decision was taken from me, as an upset and frightened Gozzy reentered the room. "They here," he shouted. "Gozzy not know what to..." He stopped right there when he saw the gagged and manacled Korth struggling to stand up. With amazing speed, he grabbed the next discarded rusty sword – their old weapons before they got new equipment, I guess – and ran it right through him. Not once. Not twice. I stopped counting at 10. A goblin is, after all, still a goblin even if you consider him a friend. I learned much later that the Rats had killed some of his family a while back when they weren't allies. "Gozzy do help," he grinned at me after he was done. "Gozzy hero of Slergrads now." No doubt about that. I took the gag and the manacles off. "Let's say he was free and you rescued me, yes?" I winked at him, a gesture that, so I had noticed, meant much the same among goblins. Can't hurt to make a useful friendship stronger. I'll probably go through the sewers lots of times in the future. I went to search the room of course, and found a hidden compartment with some useful stuff in the... well, let's call it throne. Gozzy was too busy gloating over his achievement to even notice or want a share. The Slergrads obliterated the warriors of the Rats that day and incorporated the rest into their Kingdom. A day later, they, with the help of our battle plan loving warlock, they drove the Centipedes so far back and out of their warrens that they are, for the moment, a non issue. We found the body of Krag. While it already smelled very bad, we had little choice but to carry it back in the sack it was in. His father needed some closure. It was also hard to tell him that it had been goblins. Us having helped dealing with cleaning out the responsible Kingdom made him feel a little better. He promised to give us some weapons and armor if we needed it, and he sure meant it. After we had cleaned up – it was almost morning already and luckily, not too many people had missed me at the inn – we had one ale before taking a good long nap. We were in a really good mood until Cusbath pointed out that this was not the end of it, that we needed to find the man the goblins had been selling the bodies to - and probably still were as Big Flurx wanted the stiffs out. Leave it to the cleric to spoil the celebration. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
5e playtest Heroes of Freeport: Currently in Chapter 2 - Skeletal Society
Top