Scouring Thistletop
The place feels eerily deserted now. The silence, when compared to the previous chaotic scenes, just adds to the emptiness. It is only really now that you are alone amongst the corpses and the hastily deserted weapons and accumulated garbage of the Thistletop Goblins that you really start to notice the constant stench of excrement and sweat.
Your mission is really two parts. The first, to clear Thistletop of the goblins who were set to invade Sandpoint, appears to have been achieved. At the very least you have them on the run, and at best the death of their chieftain and best warriors may cause them to fragment and disappear.
The second part of the mission, of course, is to find and "deal with" Nualia, the young lady who appears to moving down the path to demon-hood in her worship for Lamashtu, and who is responsible for inciting the goblins to war.
You start to divvy up the treasure. There is no point carrying the silver and copper right now. You can always come back for that later, but the weight is too heavy.
Danth takes the scimitar and holy symbol. The symbol, when hung around his neck, looks incredibly impressive. The symbol takes the form of a silver statue of the goddess, heavily stylised, arms outstretched, with the radiant disk behind her, made out in gold and silver. It is about 5 inches tall, but very light (probably hollow). The chain is light weight and allows the symbol to hang low and also allows you to brandish it forward while still wearing it.
The others, with agreement from the priest, split the gold and platinum three ways. Each gets 29 gold and 1pp, with the 2 spare gold going to Danth.
You agree to take the necklace and sell it in town. Jovik carries it. The rest you leave for later, not wanting to be weighed down at this stage.
You then set out to explore (OOC: There are no goblins left, so I am going to speed up this section) ..
In Ripnugget's personal room, north of the throne room, several rugs made from dog or horse hair lie strewn over the dirt floor. Against the north wall stands an impressive collection of horseshoes, each nailed to the wall. A padded chair and rickety desk sit to one side. Against the west wall is a canopied bed covered with silk sheets and sporting a once-impressive headboard that features nymphs and satyrs cavorting in a forest. The bed's sheets are stained with ... dirt ... while the headboard is bashed and battered.
Jovik performs a perfunctory check and finds a holy symbol of Lamashtu stuffed under the pillow of the bed. The evil artifact is probably worth something to someone. Not quite knowing what to do with it, Jovik hands it to Danth, happy to be rid of the foul thing.
The rest of the small rooms making up the main building are pretty boring. There is a crude armoury south of the hidden treasure room. It contains a mish mash of terribly low quality weapons and leathers.
You find two store rooms to the west, one holding barrels and barrels of picked things, the other full of dried meats and mushrooms. Not the most exciting diet.
The western watch tower is abandoned, and climbing it offers a wide panorama. You see no movement, other than the odd bird lifting in the rain from the forest canopy.
To the west lies a large open courtyard. It is completely open to the sky. Tenacious clumps of partially trampled grass grow fitfully here and there in the hard packed earth. In places the ground is stained with blood or scratched with furrows. To the north, what looks like two dead goblins lie slumped at the entrance to an outbuilding.
The door to the outbuilding has been nailed shut, and additional boards have been nailed over these nails. The door itself is cracked and splintered in places. The two goblins you saw are dead enough, their heads crushed by something heavy, perhaps a day or so ago. They are covered in flies, their blood is sticky and black, their flesh ripening.
Behind the door you hear a snuffling noise, and then a stamp.
