My intrepid band of hero wannabees decided to not spend too much time wandering around town and headed back to the Shady Oak Inn to kill time until Pandorf decided to return with some word of a possible gig. The PCs didn’t know that the Shady Oak was hosting an open town meeting that night, but having nothing better to do they decided to go ahead and attend (not like they had to travel far).
The meeting was pretty bland, except for a small bit where some locals were PO’d that Pandorf had pretty much sold out of his lamp oil stock and the remaining amount was too expensive. Pandorf was trying to explain the basic concept of supply and demand when a lady named Kerna burst into the meeting muttering something about a goblin attack. The local Reeve was sent for while the Inn’s staff tried to take care of the lady and her two kids.
Once Sir Derrick the Reeve arrives the story is solidified that some Goblins had attacked her homestead, killed her husband Otto (a veteran of the Goblin Wars) and set fire to the homestead…..pretty much the goblin standard of rape, pillage, and plunder (not always in that order). Of course the locals in the Shady Oak are upset, but the Reeve calms things down by doubling the Watch and mustering up the local militia. Sir Derrick looks at the PCs and then glances over to Pandorf, asking if “his men” can check out the homestead at first light. Pandorf replies that this group doesn’t belong to the Adventurer’s Guild yet and because the town isn’t under a verifiable danger the Guild’s protection clause doesn’t kick in anyway.
Sir Derrick offers the PCs 50 GP each to investigate the homestead in the morning because he can’t spare the manpower. Of course the PCs accept and they head out at first light.
The trip to the homestead is pretty short, maybe an hour and a half, and when they get there things aren’t as they expected. The barn is burned down, but that is the only structure damaged. The grazing pen is occupied with livestock and the door to the shack serving as a dwelling is wide open. One of the party members does notice Otto’s body slumped up against the wall of the home. A rudimentary examination reveals that Otto was dragged from the spot he died at, his life-threatening wounds were crudely bandaged and that his sword was placed next to his body. The house proves to be in good order, with maybe a third of the provisions clearly missing from the shelves.
The party isn’t sure that this is the work of goblins, but Thale, Jace’s Elven Wardawg is 100% that goblins were here recently and their trail away from the homestead is quite clear. After a brief extended search of the surrounding area, the party follows the trail to the edge of the wood line where they come across some crude goblin encampment. The goblins are a bright orange color and their skin is badly peeling. This group seems to be mostly females and juveniles, but they have an older male who approaches a bit and calls out to them.
Through the goblin’s halting common they learn that his name is Thrask and he leads a small group of goblins who did steal some food from the homestead. The goblins are starving and they do not wish to start a war. They have been pushed out from their cave by some large creature. Thrask’s grasp of common wasn’t good enough to relay what the creature was. The party offers to help and Thrask promises his valued war-trophy (a necklace of human finger bones) as compensation should the PCs defeat the “Hizra-Krontos”. He also tosses them a small pouch of green berries, saying that they are still “good” for “one sun”.
The party returns to the homestead and brings back all of the remaining food, figuring that Otto’s family is being sheltered in the village and won’t need it. The goblins seem very thankful, but Thrask cannot relay that information. Maybe the goblins don’t have a word for “thanks”.
The party decided to head back to Goblin’s Tooth and relays what they’ve discovered thus far to the Reeve. Sir Derrick is happy with the results and promptly pays out the promised gold. He continues with the militia’s preparations and dismisses the party. Since it is late afternoon the party decides to try and get some information about the woods and where the caves may be. They ask Pandorf, who directs them to Jacob the woodcarver.
Jacob doesn’t have much to say, except that the main path in the woods is a giant figure 8 and where he knows good patches of particular hardwoods are. He doesn’t know anything about goblin caves and if he did he’d be staying well clear of them. The party asks more about some of the local townsfolk and anybody who might know more information. They get that Tavin gets around a bit, but that he’s “a lazy idiot”.
The search for Tavin……that is a story onto itself.
