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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2492024" data-attributes="member: 1210">Goblin GorgeIn the morning, before joining their friends, Cara and Cedric have a second passionate lovemaking session.  They’re both still a little drunk from the knight- er, night before.  It helps.  Sir Cedric, immediately afterwards, finds himself pining for his brothers in arms, and brusquely dresses, then gallantly helps Cara into her clothes before the hungry couple emerges for breakfast.  Sir Martin beams at his son, but for the nonce he says something.Jorgen has a large lump on his head.  He’s a little embarrassed about it, but when asked, he admits that he was sleepwalking and Bartholomew, Sir Martin’s footman, thumped him with a sap, mistaking him for an intruder.  Kyle continues his attempts to woo Dahlia, giving her a haiku written in Elvish:I see DahliaHer hair flowing like waterIf I could but drown.She finds herself moved more by this thing than by anything else that Kyle has tried so far. It is still mid-morning when our heroes set out for the goblin camp.  The eight miles goes much more quickly since they know where they are going this time.  Just shy of noon they reach the goblins, and again Brart and the painted goblin (that they take for a shaman of some kind) enter into negotiations with them, and once again the negotiations are fruitful.  Brart is quite reasonable, purchasing both the goats and the chickens.“Now then, we shall invethtigate thith creature that hath come into your gorge and driven you forth.  And then,” Sir Cedric admonishes with a shake of his finger, “you shall go home.”  Jorgen scowls threateningly at the goblins, and our heroes depart.“I still say we should have killed them, my lord,” grumbles Jorgen. ***Goblin Gorge is several days upstream, away from the more civilized areas of the Barony of Kamenda.  Our heroes know already that the journey will be dangerous, with many wild animals, renegade goblins, bandits and worse prowling the foothills.  Nonetheless, they bravely move west, following the gradual rise of the hills towards the mountains.  Though none of them have ever been there, they have all heard many rumors about it: Goblin Gorge, a terrible area overrun by the little red-skinned monsters.Although, perhaps, not anymore.  At least, according to Brart, not on the south bank.So our heroes travel along the south bank of the river, looking for trouble.  There are still bits of snow on the ground here and there, where the shade is deep and the sun rarely touches.  Our heroes disregard it; it is nothing special.  Soon it will be gone, melting into the ground and the burbling river that seems to climb fuller every week as the runoff from the mountains continues to make its way down, down, down towards- eventually- the sea.It is fear of what is in the dark, rather than fear of the dark itself, that provokes our heroes to keep watch.  They are rewarded for their efforts, for the first night of their trip they are beset by four bloated things like a cross between bats and mosquitoes.  Long proboscises stab and suck while our heroes struggle to defend himself, and though both Dahlia and Jorgen does manage to stab themselves at various points, the party does manage to slay all four of the beasts.  Despite the night’s misadventure, and despite growing misgivings, the group moves on in the morning.  And by the next day at noon, Cara, Kyle, Dahlia, Sir Cedric and Jorgen have reached Goblin Gorge. To either side of the river the land rises, with the water slicing a canyon between.  On the opposite bank, the north side of the gorge, our heroes can see a number of small mud and sod huts and wooden fortresses.  But here to the south, there is virtually nothing except burnt ground.  Something lies along the ground; it is too far away to identify but something about it makes our heroes profoundly uneasy.Cara gestures.  “Look at that- it’s like a whole village burned.  And all their crops, too.”The party cautiously advances into the burn zone.  Their boots crunch on the cracked earth and leave footprints on the ground.  Dahlia takes the lead to check for tracks, and soon she is frowning, her forehead creased in concentration.  Finally, she reports, “There’s been something here since the fire...”“An animal?” wonders Kyle.“No.  Some kind of humanoid.”“Goblins?” speculates Cara.“No,” Dahlia says, puzzlement obvious in her voice.  “Something with a foot like I’ve never seen.”  She studies the tracks carefully.  “Its foot is almost as wide as it is long, and it... it kind of splays open.”  She shakes her head.  “I have never seen anything like it,” she repeats slowly. “Hey, look over there!”  Jorgen points towards what appears to be the rough center of the area that had been a village. Our heroes turn and see a small area with life- but something about it looks wrong.  It is like a single 15’ diameter area of bizarre garden remains, choked with writhing weeds of strange hue- orange, magenta and chartreuse.  Six sunflowers with red centers and white petals loom six feet high.  Two long, thin, flesh-colored tendrils lie coiled like intestines near the edge of the thing.  “What the hell is that?” Cara asks, disgusted.“Dahlia, you know a lot about plants, roight?” Kyle queries.  “What is it?”“I have no idea,” the hermit admits.  “Let uth ekthamine it in more detail,” suggests Sir Cedric.The party approaches, but as they get within about 60’ of it, there’s a chiming sound and something appears next to them!  Similar to a humanoid beetle, it appears to be made of a shimmering iridescent substance.  Strange mucus-like slime drips off of it, but it evaporates almost faster than it can reach the ground.“What the-?” Kyle cries, startled, just as the thing begins squelching through its own slime towards our heroes.Next Time: ‘What the-?’ indeed!!  Our heroes fight- er- that is- what the hell is going on here anyway??</blockquote>

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