Greatfrito
First Post
"Oh, thank you sir. I'm much obliged."
Storms of Change [IC]
- Thread starter silentspace
- Start date
silentspace
First Post
Alan helps the guard strip the hobgoblin he killed. The hobgoblin wore studded leather armor, a small shield, a javelin, a longsword, and 6 sp. He sees the other guard stripping the other hobgoblins. There is a total of nine sets of equipment and 47 sp. The guards take all the equipment and silver. “Darien will sell this and give us a share later,” they say.
Moping, Alan climbs back onto his horse and rides slowly back to the rest of the caravan.
Rowyn lets her inspiring song die as she examines the battle site. She sees nothing out of the ordinary.
Zanock stops his charge and turns around, jogging back to the caravan.
Bert finds a suitable hole in the ground. Darien and the guards watch in astonishment as divine power flows the halfling, and the hole fills with water. All the animals head over to take a drink. Darien is even more astonished as Bert channels Fharlangan’s healing power into him. Alan is now at full health. Darien is cured 5 hp.
Back at the caravan, Dunathar remounts his horse quietly, while keeping his eye out for other intruders.
Meanwhile Moondance flies over the group, keeping an eye out as well. He doesn’t see any dangers.
Darien picks up a hobgoblin war banner and tucks it into his saddlebag. He looks troubled as he does so. Then he looks up and grins heartily at Rowyn, Zanock, Alan, and Bert. “Well done!” he says, very pleased. You help Darien and his men gather up any arrows and bolts that survived and return to the caravan.
On the way back the two guards start laughing about Dunathar and Etherial again. “Did you see those two frozen in fear? Imagine that, having good war horses and being afraid to chase after a few hobgoblins!” They start clucking like chickens again, laughing heartily. “It’s a good thing they’re not in our squad, eh? Wouldn’t want to rely on that sort when the going gets tough!”
Darien seems not to notice their goings on. You see him pull out a dagger and make some notches in his saddle. Looking closer, you see a lot of other notches there, more than you can count easily. He’s smiling to himself as he bandages his remaining wounds.
As you return to the caravan, there is a man standing in front of the carriage. He is tall, balding, and somewhat overweight, and wears rich blue colored robes. He gestures for Darien to approach.
"Darien, what do you think you are doing? Why chase fleeing creatures? What were they? If you're trying to get extra combat pay for that, you will not. I'm not paying you to chase every creature we see!"
"But Mr Glendrake, sir, those were hobgoblins!”
“They were hobgoblins?”
“Yes sir, they were hobgoblins. You know how dangerous hobgoblins are. It's safer to not let them go and alert their tribe that a caravan is passing by! As you know, the average hobgoblin tribe is over 150 warriors! Tribes with 300 warriors are not uncommon. The average orc band is only about 70 orcs. Hobgoblins are more disciplined than orcs, which makes them more dangerous. We would not be able to fight off a hobgoblin tribe if they decide they wanted to take this caravan.”
Glendrake peers off in the direction of the dead hobgoblins nervously.
“But its even worse than that, sir.” He pulls out the hobgoblin war banner, "this is the Red Claw Clan, they are an extremely powerful tribe. Word is they number over a thousand. If they decided they wanted to take the caravan, we could do nothing to stop them."
Glendrake examines the war banner thoughtfully. "Very well Darien. You did well. I will give you your combat pay for today's action." He looks at the new party members, his eyes darting from one to the next. He seems to be evaluating your worth. “Well, what are you looking at?”
(Only the four who were with Darien are present)
Moping, Alan climbs back onto his horse and rides slowly back to the rest of the caravan.
Rowyn lets her inspiring song die as she examines the battle site. She sees nothing out of the ordinary.
Zanock stops his charge and turns around, jogging back to the caravan.
Bert finds a suitable hole in the ground. Darien and the guards watch in astonishment as divine power flows the halfling, and the hole fills with water. All the animals head over to take a drink. Darien is even more astonished as Bert channels Fharlangan’s healing power into him. Alan is now at full health. Darien is cured 5 hp.
Back at the caravan, Dunathar remounts his horse quietly, while keeping his eye out for other intruders.
Meanwhile Moondance flies over the group, keeping an eye out as well. He doesn’t see any dangers.
Darien picks up a hobgoblin war banner and tucks it into his saddlebag. He looks troubled as he does so. Then he looks up and grins heartily at Rowyn, Zanock, Alan, and Bert. “Well done!” he says, very pleased. You help Darien and his men gather up any arrows and bolts that survived and return to the caravan.
On the way back the two guards start laughing about Dunathar and Etherial again. “Did you see those two frozen in fear? Imagine that, having good war horses and being afraid to chase after a few hobgoblins!” They start clucking like chickens again, laughing heartily. “It’s a good thing they’re not in our squad, eh? Wouldn’t want to rely on that sort when the going gets tough!”
Darien seems not to notice their goings on. You see him pull out a dagger and make some notches in his saddle. Looking closer, you see a lot of other notches there, more than you can count easily. He’s smiling to himself as he bandages his remaining wounds.
As you return to the caravan, there is a man standing in front of the carriage. He is tall, balding, and somewhat overweight, and wears rich blue colored robes. He gestures for Darien to approach.
"Darien, what do you think you are doing? Why chase fleeing creatures? What were they? If you're trying to get extra combat pay for that, you will not. I'm not paying you to chase every creature we see!"
"But Mr Glendrake, sir, those were hobgoblins!”
“They were hobgoblins?”
“Yes sir, they were hobgoblins. You know how dangerous hobgoblins are. It's safer to not let them go and alert their tribe that a caravan is passing by! As you know, the average hobgoblin tribe is over 150 warriors! Tribes with 300 warriors are not uncommon. The average orc band is only about 70 orcs. Hobgoblins are more disciplined than orcs, which makes them more dangerous. We would not be able to fight off a hobgoblin tribe if they decide they wanted to take this caravan.”
Glendrake peers off in the direction of the dead hobgoblins nervously.
“But its even worse than that, sir.” He pulls out the hobgoblin war banner, "this is the Red Claw Clan, they are an extremely powerful tribe. Word is they number over a thousand. If they decided they wanted to take the caravan, we could do nothing to stop them."
Glendrake examines the war banner thoughtfully. "Very well Darien. You did well. I will give you your combat pay for today's action." He looks at the new party members, his eyes darting from one to the next. He seems to be evaluating your worth. “Well, what are you looking at?”
(Only the four who were with Darien are present)
Last edited:
silentspace
First Post
Seonaid said:
Observing the guards’ interactions, Rowyn guesses that Guard 1 is the closest to Darien. No one asked him, but he volunteers his name. His name is Rekar, and he has a shaved head and a large scar on his left forearm. He replies “You mean hate the hobgoblins? Well..” He studies you for a moment before continuing.
“You haven’t been guarding caravans long, have you? When you guard caravans, hobgoblins are your worst enemies. The other bad ones are orcs and bandits. And sometimes bugbears. Oh, there are lots of wild beasts, not to mention ogres, owlbears and other creatures around these parts, but they are not as dangerous because they don’t belong to large groups.
“The reason hobgoblins, orcs, bandits, and bugbears will retreat from a caravan is because all those creatures belong to larger war bands. When they see a caravan, first thing they’ll do is retreat to tell their friends about it. Then, next thing you know, you’ll have 20 bugbears, or 100 orcs or bandits ambushing you. Believe me, that’s not pleasant.
"The hobgoblins, on the other hand, won’t even bother setting up an ambush. Why would you need to set up an ambush if you have 300 warriors? Or 1,000 if we’re talking about the Red Claw Clan. Nope, the hobgoblins just walk up and take what they want. If you’re very lucky, they might let you walk away, if you leave everything of value behind and walk away naked that is. So the best way for a caravan to survive is to have a good spotter like Darien, who can see the scouting parties, and take them out before they can return and let their tribes know there’s a caravan to be hijacked.
“Small groups of travelers don’t think much of hobgoblin scouting parties because that’s all they’ll be facing, the scouting party. The hobgoblins won’t be running back to call the whole tribe down on them. Caravans are different though. We have wagon loads of goods for them to loot and sell.
“Really, I’m surprised this hadn’t occurred to you earlier. You didn’t think guarding caravans would be a walk in the park, did you?”
You get a feeling that he’s holding something back. You realize that he hasn’t answered your question, and get the sense he won’t be divulging any personal information about his good friend Darien to a stranger. (barely failed diplomacy check.)
Last edited:
GPEKO
First Post
Bert
To Alan (and possibly Darien): "No problem, I'm just trying to help guard the caravan. We need to be strong and healthy to keep on travelling."
Later, as he hears Rekar, Blast the decadence of Shillen ! With all those bandits and humanoids running around, people can't travel safely and trade is endangered. I should do something to change this but what ? After all, I'm just plain old me. "Ok, Rekar, so hobgobelin are dangerous and organized and all that. But it doesn't explain why he seems to hunt them with a passion. He said he specialized in them and, after killing some, I saw him make more marks on his saddle. Did he lost family to them or something ?"
To Alan (and possibly Darien): "No problem, I'm just trying to help guard the caravan. We need to be strong and healthy to keep on travelling."
Later, as he hears Rekar, Blast the decadence of Shillen ! With all those bandits and humanoids running around, people can't travel safely and trade is endangered. I should do something to change this but what ? After all, I'm just plain old me. "Ok, Rekar, so hobgobelin are dangerous and organized and all that. But it doesn't explain why he seems to hunt them with a passion. He said he specialized in them and, after killing some, I saw him make more marks on his saddle. Did he lost family to them or something ?"
Argent Silvermage
First Post
Etherial rides Spirit up to Darien, Forgive my not following you sir. I had not wanted to leave the main caravan without Magical protections.
Greatfrito
First Post
Alan hears only a small bit of Rekar's information. He glances around the horizon, almost like a child waiting for a gift to come. He looks happier now than he did when he arrived.
Ha ha! Alan, my friend, there may be hope for some fun yet! More hobgoblins? Sounds fun. And I owe them one anyways... I hope there are more.
Ha ha! Alan, my friend, there may be hope for some fun yet! More hobgoblins? Sounds fun. And I owe them one anyways... I hope there are more.
