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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 3869399" data-attributes="member: 11">Session #15 – “(Aborted) Goblin Genocide!” (part 1 of 3) (1)“Hey! Do you see that?” Timotheus pointed to the flickering glow of a fire emerging from with a cave across the great gorge of the King Stones.  The signers of the Charter of Schiereiland were making their way back to the grove where they camped nightly to recover from the wounds suffered during their ambush of the goblins.  Their best guess was that those they ambushed were on their way to relieve another force set in ambush against them, and they were unsure of their ability to take on another such group so soon.Making their way back around the portion of the woods they feared the ambush awaited them, they found the main goblin trail once again and were alert for any attacks coming out of the darkness. Thankfully the waxing moon gave some light to see by.  Earlier in their journey they had heard the snuffling of a warg some distance away and worried that a second group was seeking them out.“Or perhaps the second group is avoiding us,” Timotheus suggested.  He was helping the critically wounded (2) Falco to walk along.  “I mean, we did kill… what? Two-dozen or more of them, all told?  They should be scared of us…”“This new captive may have the information we need to devise a plan of assault on the goblin camp,” Bleys said, pointing to the bound and unconscious goblin Tymon had hanging over his shoulders.“I see no reason to think it will be any more trustworthy or communicative as the last one,” Telémahkos sighed.They were not far from the treeline when they saw the glow emerging from the cave.  They squatted down behind some brush and trees to watch.  Telémahkos pulled out <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Map+-+The+King+Stones+%28Old+Adventurer%27s+Map%29" target="_blank">the map</a> and they determined that the light was within the southernmost of the two caves marked as having to do with <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Orcs" target="_blank">orcs</a>.“That was where we saw the figure looking over at us early this morning,” Telémahkos commented.“Who would be fool enough to make a fire in one of those caves and draw attention to themselves?” Bleys asked.   “Either it is someone who does not fear the attention, or a lure of some kind.  It could a trick of the goblins to have us go investigate… Or some other monsters looking for diversion…”“Or they are clueless adventurers who are endangering themselves,” Timotheus reasoned.“We should investigate,” Victoria suggested.  “At the very least watch for a while and see if anyone or anything approaches the cave, or leaves…”“If someone is in danger they should be warned,” Laarus of Ra said.“That is idle speculation,” Telémahkos replied. “There is no reason to think there are people there in trouble, or even that our help is sought…”Timotheus looked around the group and sighed.  “Normally, I would say let’s go take a look, just in case someone is just dumb enough to make a campfire and draw monsters their way, but most of us are hurt, and Falco and Bleys are particularly hurt.  We cannot risk it.”“We can always come back and investigate in daylight,” Bleys added.It was agreed, and the young nobles marched the rest of the way to the grove.A couple of hours later, the goblin began to stir, and it writhed frantically as it realized it situation. Telémahkos took a deep breath with his back turned to it and then spun around with the most fierce countenance that he could muster, barking in the hobgoblin language, and yanking the captive’s gag off.“Common! Common! Common! Common! Me talk Common” It yelped as it pathetically kicked at the ground to get away from Telémahkos, who leaned over him menacingly holding his dagger.  The goblin did speak the common tongue, or at least a few words of it, which along with the few words of the hobgoblin language it knew, meant Telémahkos could communicate with it much better than he had with the last captive.“Who are you?” Victoria asked, as she and the others gathered around, a lot more interested in the interrogation now that they could understand part of it.  She still had the idea of capturing some kind of goblin officer for better information.“Me goblin talk common!” It said.  “Me <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Takum%E2%80%99k" target="_blank">Takum'k</a>!”  It looked up at Victoria and its eyes grew wider and it raised its bound hands to point at the silver ankh-branded spear, symbol of her god, around her neck.“Test of <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Thutmose" target="_blank">Thutmose</a>!”   Its fear turned to awe and then fear again as it lifted its swollen head back to take in the rest of the group.  “You Test of Thutmose!”“Are you the boss of your goblins?” Victoria continued her questioning, but Telémahkos waved his hand dismissively.“Are you an important goblin?” Telémahkos asked it in hobgoblin tongue.“No goblin less important than Takum’k!”“We know of goblins less important than you,” Telémahkos replied. “We captured him, too, and then killed him when he betrayed us.  You will meet the same fate if you do not do as we say.”“Oh, Test of Thutmose! You say? Me do! Me pray pray Thutmose!” the goblins replied, growing reverent, and bowing down low to rub the side of its face in the dirt.  “I don’t care who you worship,” Telémahkos replied, yanking the goblin back up to its feet by the scruff of the neck.“No Thutmose? You like wolf god? Me pray wolf god!” The goblin was obviously trying hard to figure out what would please its captors.“What is Thutmose?” Bleys the Aubergine asked.“Eh, some goblin god,” Timotheus replied.“He is called ‘Son of Thoth’,” Laarus clarified.“What?” Timotheus was surprised by this information.“It is debated if <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Thutmose" target="_blank">Thutmose</a> should be included in the gods of the canon of <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Ra%27s+Pantheon" target="_blank">Ra’s Pantheon</a>, but it according the ancient tablets, <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Thoth" target="_blank">Thoth</a> poured all his negative thoughts and feelings into an urn, which was then stolen by <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Bes" target="_blank">Bes</a>.  He tried to hide in the home of Anhur, but ended up losing it to the war god in a wager instead.  Afraid to steal from Anhur, Bes poured the contents of the urn into a clay statue, and it came to life.  This was Thutmose.”“What does that have to do with goblins?” Bleys asked.“It said that Thutmose created figures out of the clay of <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/The+River+Prime" target="_blank">the River Prime</a> and poured into each of them a little of the negative energy that was originally Thoth’s. It was in this way that goblins were made.  According to legends of the hobgoblins, Anhur trained Thutmose in the arts of war, and afterward he came back and created new and better figures from the clay. These were hobgoblins…”“Yes! Thutmose! You Test of Thutmose!” The goblin echoed Laarus, and the priest sneered.“Who calls us ‘Test of Thutmose’?” Telémahkos asked the goblin, raising his hand to threaten a slap.“The Masters!” Takum’k cringed and then jabbered on quickly in a hodge-podge of tongues.  Telémahkos had to stop the creature and make it start over several times, and then asked some questions.  He let out a sigh.“The hobgoblins are gone,” Telie said, turning to the others.  “They left soon after we arrived.  We are the ‘Test of Thutmose’ because the goblin tribe has to prove itself by defeating us… They took the ‘Box of Magic Sticks…”“The box of wands?” Bleys asked.Telémahkos nodded, and continued.  “They killed the shaman because he served the wolf god, and they also killed the alpha warg…”“How will they know if we have been defeated if they have gone?” Victoria asked.“Don’t you get it?” Markos laughed.  “They aren’t coming back.  They wanted the Box of Wands, and they got it the easy way.”“There’s more,” Telémahkos said. “There was a priest of Thutmose among them, but also a <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Militant+of+Anhur" target="_blank">militant of Anhur</a>…”“What!?” Timotheus was dumbfounded.  “A hobgoblin militant of Anhur?!  Can that happen?”Victoria’s head bowed a bit as she replied, “It has been known to happen… Anhur is concerned with war and honor, and whatever else, it seems hobgoblins are capable of these…”“But we can fight ‘im, right?” Tim was worried.“Many times in history Militants of Anhur have found themselves on opposite sides of conflicts,” Victoria answered with great seriousness in her tone. “It does our god honor for us to test ourselves against each other. However, if he were to challenge me to a duel, I must be allowed to fight him alone, no matter what the outcome.”“That’s fine,” Tim smiled. “And if it kills you, we kill it!”Victoria of Anhur furrowed her brow. “I should hope that if that time came you would respect my wishes…”“Yeah, sure… Of course!” Timotheus rolled his eyes and tapped his forehead when Victoria was not looking.Telémahkos did some more questioning, and guessed that there were more than twenty-one goblins left at their camp. In fact, he had a feeling the number might be closer to sixty or eighty, led by a chieftain that was ‘powerful and sneaky’.  It could not tell him exactly how many ogres were around, but did mention a particularly big one called ‘Dunka.’Once again, the signers of the Charter of Schiereiland fell to arguing their next move.  The debate came to down to whether or not they should try to track the hobgoblin ambassadors, or whatever they were, or if their abilities were best put towards destroying the entire goblin tribe.“We may not be able to pursue these hobgoblins, but we may be able to deprive them of what resources they came to secure for any war to come, While these vermin all hate us humans anyway, perhaps it is time we remind them why,” Bleys said in his even tone, his voice not betraying any malice, just placid desire to do away with every last one of the Flor’Choo. “I don’t want to do either,” said Markos. “I want to investigate this pearl thing.  It is that that interests me most.”“The hobgoblins have too great a lead,” Bleys reasoned.  “It seems foolish to think we catch them, even if we knew where they were going…”“They came from the north…” Tim offered.“But how do we know they went back home, wherever that is?  They might be moving on to another tribe to try to recruit that one…”“The recruitment was a ploy,” Laarus of Ra commented. “They wanted the ‘Box of Wands’ and now they have it and can use it against Schiereiland. I think it is our duty to go after them if we can…”“For once old <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Rogues#cant" target="_blank">baldie</a> here makes sense,” Timotheus said.Consulting Falco, however, they realized that finding the hobgoblin trail would require searching the area in and around the goblin camp, as that was the last place they were known to be, and thus the only place a trail to follow could reasonably expected to be found.“But that also means we may have to kill all the goblins in that area to get the time and peace we need to search for a trail,” Falco said in his typical whisper of a voice. “That is, if signs of a trail are not destroyed in the process of the melee…”“Then perhaps we should just return to Thricia and warn the authorities of this danger,” Laarus of Ra suggested.The young nobles agreed to sleep on it and discuss again in the morning.…to be continued…--------------------------------------------------------Notes:(1)    Session #15 was played on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007.(2) Falco was bitten by a warg in Session #15 and dropped to negative hit points.</blockquote>

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