hewligan
First Post
Razing Thistlepoint
The return to the surface is quick and easy. Jovik only needed to take one quick look at the trap to know that he had broken it quite magnificently. There was, unfortunately, no hope of lowering it again, or of it triggering again. Still, you all elect to make the short jump over it, Kael holding Mal. Better safe than sorry.
Jokad walks at the front, a sack slung over his shoulder with Nualia's head inside. it is a gruesome sight, seeing it swing about. The sack quickly become drenched in blood, leaving sticky lines down his torn undershirt.
The crates beside the nursery contain all sorts of junk scavenged from the Junk Beach by the goblin tribe. There is enough raw material of various sorts (wood, metal, glass, even bones and skins) to make furniture or weapons, or whatever other weird bits and bobs the little crazies needed. There is, without doing an exhaustive search, little of value to anyone other than a lunatic.
Upon your return to the surface, the sky is brooding and dark, thick with clouds, and threatening rain once again. You scout through the empty building carefully, checking each room just to make sure that nothing is lying in wait for you. The place feels strangely eery now, and the menacing air just adds to the tension.
Jokad stoops to pick up Ripnugget's decapitated head, and adds that to his trophy sack. You then loop back to get the horse. Danth leads the beast carefully out of the building. He seems calm now, albeit still very jittery, and clearly not in a great state (although is will be a magnificent mount if you can get him fed, trained, and healed over time).
The last loop takes you round the outside of the fort, again doing a final recon sweep, with Jovik creeping a good 20 yards ahead of the rest of you, walking low amongst the thick bushes and scrubs that dot this small island.
You find an ancient (and useless) rowboat and oars that appears to have been used for a game of cards recently, although it appears that the game was upset. This is probably a relic of your earlier adventures when the guards came rushing to their chieftain's defense.
At the back of the fort you find a long wooden plank, much like a bridge platform. This, it appears, is what they brought the horse across on, and not that rickety rope bridge. It takes a good 10 minutes of strenuous activity for you all to hall the long, thin bridge to the front and carefully edge it out foot by foot across the expanse to the other side. It is made from salvaged ship panels, nailed together by heavy lead nails. It is pretty thick, pretty stable, and obviously something that has seen much use. With it in place, with a good 5 feet or so of extra length on each side of the dangerous drop, it does looks pretty stable. Still, not something you would want to cross more than once! The rope bridge, however, swaying as it is in the wind, is an even less appetizing option, and there is NO CHANCE that you are going to ever get a war horse across a goblin rope bridge.
With the bridge in place, you return your attention to the fort. Burning this thing down is not going to be easy. It is always hard to start a fire at the best of times, and burning down a large wooden complex is, well, complex.
Flint, sparks, paper, little fire .... and then a slightly scorched wall. Lucky for you guys you brought Danth along with his SIX pints of lamp oil. What sort of reclusive book freak brings SIX pints of lamp oil on an adventure? Either one that is scared of the dark, or one that likes to eat chips with every meal.
Jokad raises an enquiring eyebrow, but even the Shoanti doesn't want to frame the obvious question when Danth, one by one, lifts out his cloth wrapped metal lamp oil containers. Six pints of liquid goes quite a long way, dousing the walls of the throne room. Jokad and Danth finish their task and then leave by the window of the throne room. The corpses in here will just have to burn - one last burnt offering!
With nary a backwards glance, Jokad throws an oil soaked flaming rag into the room through the window he just exited from. The stench of oil is strong, but then the roar takes the air away as the room ignites.
Standing at the edge of the rock together, looking back at Thistletop, ready to cross the wooden bridge and head back into the thistle briars, you watch the goblin fort billow thick palls of black smoke into the sky. If you are lucky, the people of Sandpoint may catch wind of your triumph even before you return home.
The crossing is slow, and heart-stopping. Jovik crosses first, followed by Kael leading a very brave Mal. Then Danth tries to lead the horse onto the bridge. It pulls against him nervously, perhaps recalling its last trip, perhaps just justifiable petrified by the drop. Danth whispers and calms the beast, eventually persuading him to make a single step, and then a second. it is slow work, taking some minutes to lead him across, but despite the perilous creaking of the wood, it is a successful journey.
Jokad, feigning impatience, strolls across casually.
On the opposite bank you all stop to take one last look at Thistletop. The clouds overhead break a little, casting some final sun onto the little island. The outline of the face on the ancient stone is caught in relief and thrust into shadow, making the time, water, and wind worn features more visible than before.
Atop it, the goblin fort burns, sending a fat finger of flame and smoke into the sky.
OOC: No post from me until Monday. Please feel free to post IC about your return trip en-route to Sandpoint.
The return to the surface is quick and easy. Jovik only needed to take one quick look at the trap to know that he had broken it quite magnificently. There was, unfortunately, no hope of lowering it again, or of it triggering again. Still, you all elect to make the short jump over it, Kael holding Mal. Better safe than sorry.
Jokad walks at the front, a sack slung over his shoulder with Nualia's head inside. it is a gruesome sight, seeing it swing about. The sack quickly become drenched in blood, leaving sticky lines down his torn undershirt.
The crates beside the nursery contain all sorts of junk scavenged from the Junk Beach by the goblin tribe. There is enough raw material of various sorts (wood, metal, glass, even bones and skins) to make furniture or weapons, or whatever other weird bits and bobs the little crazies needed. There is, without doing an exhaustive search, little of value to anyone other than a lunatic.
Upon your return to the surface, the sky is brooding and dark, thick with clouds, and threatening rain once again. You scout through the empty building carefully, checking each room just to make sure that nothing is lying in wait for you. The place feels strangely eery now, and the menacing air just adds to the tension.
Jokad stoops to pick up Ripnugget's decapitated head, and adds that to his trophy sack. You then loop back to get the horse. Danth leads the beast carefully out of the building. He seems calm now, albeit still very jittery, and clearly not in a great state (although is will be a magnificent mount if you can get him fed, trained, and healed over time).
The last loop takes you round the outside of the fort, again doing a final recon sweep, with Jovik creeping a good 20 yards ahead of the rest of you, walking low amongst the thick bushes and scrubs that dot this small island.
You find an ancient (and useless) rowboat and oars that appears to have been used for a game of cards recently, although it appears that the game was upset. This is probably a relic of your earlier adventures when the guards came rushing to their chieftain's defense.
At the back of the fort you find a long wooden plank, much like a bridge platform. This, it appears, is what they brought the horse across on, and not that rickety rope bridge. It takes a good 10 minutes of strenuous activity for you all to hall the long, thin bridge to the front and carefully edge it out foot by foot across the expanse to the other side. It is made from salvaged ship panels, nailed together by heavy lead nails. It is pretty thick, pretty stable, and obviously something that has seen much use. With it in place, with a good 5 feet or so of extra length on each side of the dangerous drop, it does looks pretty stable. Still, not something you would want to cross more than once! The rope bridge, however, swaying as it is in the wind, is an even less appetizing option, and there is NO CHANCE that you are going to ever get a war horse across a goblin rope bridge.
With the bridge in place, you return your attention to the fort. Burning this thing down is not going to be easy. It is always hard to start a fire at the best of times, and burning down a large wooden complex is, well, complex.
Flint, sparks, paper, little fire .... and then a slightly scorched wall. Lucky for you guys you brought Danth along with his SIX pints of lamp oil. What sort of reclusive book freak brings SIX pints of lamp oil on an adventure? Either one that is scared of the dark, or one that likes to eat chips with every meal.
Jokad raises an enquiring eyebrow, but even the Shoanti doesn't want to frame the obvious question when Danth, one by one, lifts out his cloth wrapped metal lamp oil containers. Six pints of liquid goes quite a long way, dousing the walls of the throne room. Jokad and Danth finish their task and then leave by the window of the throne room. The corpses in here will just have to burn - one last burnt offering!
With nary a backwards glance, Jokad throws an oil soaked flaming rag into the room through the window he just exited from. The stench of oil is strong, but then the roar takes the air away as the room ignites.
Standing at the edge of the rock together, looking back at Thistletop, ready to cross the wooden bridge and head back into the thistle briars, you watch the goblin fort billow thick palls of black smoke into the sky. If you are lucky, the people of Sandpoint may catch wind of your triumph even before you return home.
The crossing is slow, and heart-stopping. Jovik crosses first, followed by Kael leading a very brave Mal. Then Danth tries to lead the horse onto the bridge. It pulls against him nervously, perhaps recalling its last trip, perhaps just justifiable petrified by the drop. Danth whispers and calms the beast, eventually persuading him to make a single step, and then a second. it is slow work, taking some minutes to lead him across, but despite the perilous creaking of the wood, it is a successful journey.
Jokad, feigning impatience, strolls across casually.
On the opposite bank you all stop to take one last look at Thistletop. The clouds overhead break a little, casting some final sun onto the little island. The outline of the face on the ancient stone is caught in relief and thrust into shadow, making the time, water, and wind worn features more visible than before.
Atop it, the goblin fort burns, sending a fat finger of flame and smoke into the sky.
OOC: No post from me until Monday. Please feel free to post IC about your return trip en-route to Sandpoint.