A dwarf in time IC

[Forgefly]

The goblin wretch

With faces like granite, the dwarves go about their bloody work quietly and efficiently, leaving a single goblin alive but well trussed.

As the gnome scholars gather around the goblin, it begins to stir, shaking of the last vestiges of Karienna's spell. As it regains consciousness more fully it begins to struggle in its' bonds tossing and twisting, eventually knocking itself prone, before giving up the obviously useless struggle.
After it gives up struggling it lies still for a little while and then begins to shudder slightly and Karienna, you get the impression that it is crying.

Dwarves:
As you busy yourselves searching the bodies and the surrounding area you notice that unlike previous ambushes this band of goblins all came from different tribes. Goblins within a tribe look very similar, but this is a widely disparate group of corpses, with different skin tones and clothing styles. Their presence in the dirt at your feet seems to be the only common thread.

A sweep of the surrounding area does reveal a single clue, in the form of fresh tracks, from a smallish horse or pony and from a very large wolf. The tracks are clearly there and judging from the steaming remains of the pony's last meal, quite fresh.

 

[pathfinderq1]

Karienna Maguen d'Sivis; gnome beguiler 3

"What bothers you, forest brother?," Karienna asked, as solicitously as she could manage before switching back to the goblin language. [sblock= goblin speech] "You are still alive, and if you can tell us why you attacked us, I might even get the dwarves to let you go..." [/sblock]

OOC: Bluff at +5, Sense Motive at +2 for the questioning- Karienna just isn't as devious as most gnomes

 

[FreeXenon]

Brorgar (Male Dwarf Fighter 3)

"Perhaps we have a horde gatherer on our hands. Its bad enough that we have war going on.

It looks like the tracks could be this ambush group's messenger or watcher and will report back to their leaders? We may have more and better prepared trouble on our hands in the near future.

We will want to look for their watcher next time and eliminate them before they can leave with their report."

He looks to the rest of the group for their thoughts.

 

[The Rolling Man]

Vonval Dwarf Cleric 3

"Perhaps we have a horde gatherer on our hands. Its bad enough that we have war going on.

It looks like the tracks could be this ambush group's messenger or watcher and will report back to their leaders? We may have more and better prepared trouble on our hands in the near future.

We will want to look for their watcher next time and eliminate them before they can leave with their report."

He looks to the rest of the group for their thoughts.

"We think alike Brorgar. It is possible that our presence here has alerted some local power. Perhaps it wanted to test us or gauge our abilities. I think we should finish extracting information from the wretch and leave this place quickly, either to avoid a real 'test' or to follow these tracks. I say we go after our watchers and put the holy fear of Khyber in them. Who knows, they might lead us closer to finding our Dhakhaani quarry."

 

[Jack of Tales]

Revek - Scout - Jack of Tales

Before we make any plans we should hear what this carcass of meat has to say. If he says anything remotely useful I may even be inclined to use him as our guide-dog or perhaps a trap-searcher rather then just killing him right away.

Revek grins at the goblin in a menacing way, assuming that the beast can't understand dwarven.

 

[Forgefly]

A girl?

"What bothers you, forest brother?," Karienna asked, as solicitously as she could manage before switching back to the goblin language. [sblock= goblin speech] "You are still alive, and if you can tell us why you attacked us, I might even get the dwarves to let you go..." [/sblock]

OOC: Bluff at +5, Sense Motive at +2 for the questioning- Karienna just isn't as devious as most gnomes

It takes several minutes to get the goblin to calm down enough to talk to you. The goblin seems calmer with you than with anyone else. As you wait for the goblin to calm down you make several interesting conclusions about her. The first is that this is a girl goblin, when 95% of goblin warriors are male, and secondly she is underage. You've almost got her calmed down when Revek's remark sets her wide eyed and sobbing again. You aren't sure if she understood it or just imagined the meaning for herself from the tone.

After another couple of minutes during which you have to convince the young goblin that: dwarves don't eat goblin children, that these dwarves have never set fire to goblins just to watch them burn, and that no one is going to skin her for a new backpack, you are finally able to get some useful information out of her.

OOC: What questions would you like answered?

 

[pathfinderq1]

Karienna Maguen d'Sivis; gnome beguiler 3

Karienna boggled a bit at the idea of young female warrior goblins, but the questioning had to proceed- she sort of hoped that none of the other goblins had been children or similar effectively noncombatant types...

She kept her voice soft and light, doing her best to reassure the goblin (and she was certainly not above using the "just us girls" conversational gambit, with all the male dwarves looming about). Mostly her questioning revolved around the obvious issue- why did goblins keep attacking them, besides the obvious traditional racial emnity?

OOC: Why did this group attack?

Were they intruding on some kind of important site?

How had the different tribes banded together, and was this a large scale arrangement or just a local thing?

Was there some important leader/shaman/warchief running the show? And if so, could they find him (just to meet peacefully with him, of course...)?

Were there any big ruins nearby?

Were there any other groups of "outsiders" in the area, and were they being attacked as well?

Were there other attack groups in the area, or other threats?

-That ought to do for a start- once we start getting answers, we can see where else we need to go.

 

[Forgefly]

Answers

You are able to piece together the following story from the answers that she gives you.

A hobgoblin bard, known as a Duur'kaala has been traveling to the local tribes and requesting warriors to attack and destroy some invaders (that's you, though she is trying to convince herself that you couldn't be the monsters the Duur'kaala described) were coming to despoil some of the sacred sites of the Dhakaani Empire. The older warriors weren't very interested, more concerned with day to day than with ancient history. The younger warriors, and in her case the underage apprentice to the local wise woman, were deeply moved by her tales of the great empire and long to return to the day of goblin supremacy. In each village a few more joined until they were a dozen strong. They were told both where you would be and when, and then a few days ago the Duur'kaala parted ways with the goblin warriors, riding off deeper into the mountains. She didn't know anything about any other groups or ambushes, the 11 others here were the only ones she had met, and she never heard them talk about anything like that either.

She knows of several ruined goblin cities and castles, near her village, which is on the other side of the mountain range. Though she tells you that she can never go back to her village after running away like she did.

It is clear by the end of your questions that even though she is still tied up, she views you, Karienna as a good friend, though she is still quite nervous about the dwarves.

OOC: Any other questions?

 

[pathfinderq1]

Karienna stepped away from the little goblin a reasonable distance, then switched to the dwarven language and related all that she had learned. After she finished, she looked around the group. "That explains at least some of the attacks, if a bard is rousing the local tribes- though I have to wonder how he could tell them where we would be. What should we do next?"

 

[Jack of Tales]

Revek looks from Karienna to the goblin. Have this creature lead us to the bard or to the next ruins. It would seem like the best way of progressing from here.