Why Did that Goblin Just Murder his Friend!!!??

[RhaezDaevan]

Perhaps one of the goblins was a doppleganger. Or maybe both goblins were dopplegangers. Maybe the whole party are dopplegangers and don't know it. Perhaps I'm a doppleganger and don't know it.

 

[5ekyu]

I'm introducing some friends to D&D and, as an intro adventure to familiarize themselves with the rules, so I whipped together a quick encounter just to let them get accustomed to combat. I had a few 'wolves' (mastiffs) and a goblin as the encounter. I was busy so I hadn't really put much thought in to what I was prepping.

The PCs are going through a mountain pass and, as they approach the spot with the encounter, I randomly describe a horrible shriek of someone dying. It was impromptu. As they crest a hill, I described a dead goblin and wolf in the middle of the path, next to a camp-site, freshly murdered and mauled. The other goblin and wolves, having heard the pack mules, hid and waited to ambush. I ended the session after they finished the fight.

Because added the murder of the goblin last minute, I hadn't really thought about why the other goblin had chosen to kill him. Typical goblin backstabbing seems an obvious but I have a week to think of something interesting. I'm imagining the dead goblin has something in his possession that the other wanted...a mid to long-term plot hook would be neat.

Any ideas? I'm sure I can come up with something but it's always fun to hear what creative ideas the community can come up with.


((If it's helpful, they were on their way to Greenest to start Horde of the Dragon Queen but it doesn't have to be related to that at all.))

"Any ideas? I'm sure I can come up with something but it's always fun to hear what creative ideas the community can come up with."

My go-to for "what do I add here" remains the same. Look at their pcs - races, classes, background, backstory. Pick a facet of one of those to build on so that it becomes more personal than just a goblin spat.

Got a cleric of Tymora? Hey, guess they find a Tymora coin in the dead goblins hand and it turns out the goblin shaman or cleric follows their rival -Besaba was it?
Got a warrior who is a former member of the Jade Guard? Guess the goblin squabble was over some bit of shiney they took off a Jade Guard they killed?
Got a wizard? Guess clutched in the dead goblins hand is a bloody piece of parchment or vellum with arcane symbols - maybe spellbook or scroll.

Random encounters dont have to be meaningless. I tend to always add a bit of something unexplained - that they can follow up on or not, that I can call back or not.

Depending on the crowd you could even "and you find something clutched in the dead goblins hand, in a literal death grip so tight you have to break fingers to get to it. And we will find out what next week!"

 

[Yunru]

Obviously it was to shut him up. God, that voice!

 

[Ratskinner]

The dead goblin wouldn't stop showing the other goblins "Dad Joke" youtubes?

By which I mean, do goblins need very much of an excuse? Maybe they were just hungry.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

By which I mean, do goblins need very much of an excuse? Maybe they were just hungry.

Yeah, that's the obvious thing but it's not very interesting.

 

[Satyrn]

The goblins were playing Stabby Stabby, the game where goblins take turns stabbing each other until one cries uncle.

The dead goblin actually won, and is now in the highest level Goblin Heaven.

 

[Ratskinner]

Yeah, that's the obvious thing but it's not very interesting.

Maybe not if the party also hears a voice shout "Looks like meats back on the menu, boys!"

 

[Mistwell]

The other goblin had just triggered the roof falling trap by recklessly tossing a discarded pigeon carcass onto the trap's trigger-point.

 

[77IM]

Somewhere around here is a goblin with a heart of gold. Literally; a mad wizard replaced the goblin's heart with a mechanical device made of gold. It's extraordinarily valuable. But nobody knows which goblin it is; not even the goblins themselves. And it clearly wasn't that guy. Only 1,628 goblins left...

 

[Unwise]

I might have missed it, but has anybody mentioned Barghests? They are shapeshifting Goblins that murder their kin to steal their souls. So there is already a monster designed to fill the role of 'goblin that kills goblins'.

https://www.aidedd.org/dnd/monstres.php?vo=barghest

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Barghest