Goblins: A Pathfinder Adventure (Chapter I)

[stack]

Unk leans back in the saddle, hand restraining Ook. "Let them go. What is left of their pack will not soon be attacking goblins again. We are not weak prey."

To the party, "Lets keep going. Can't let a few wolves slow our sacred mission."

[ninthbit]

Meepo frantically tries to ready another grenade to lob at the remaining wolf as it darts past him wimpering and on smoldering from alchemical fire. Unfortunitly the animal proves too quick.

Instead, Meepo pulls off his pack. Opens a folding chair and sits down as he lights a pipe and begins to smoke a fragrent herbal concaction. "Do I need to say it?" he gloats as he looks at his companions with a huge self-gratifing smile. Well.. do I?... I'm gonna say it. I F#$(ING TOLD YOU!!!"

Mocking Unk "Bah, forests safe this time of year. Perfect day for a walk."

In a more serious tone, Well I say we camp here. Those guys aren't likely to come back, we have fresh meat, it's getting late, and I could use a drink. Did anyone get seriously hurt?

[Katasi]

Cloud Watcher stands, rapier out, watching as his enemies flee before he ever even attacked. "Guess I need to move faster next time." he says, putting it away. "I suppose we could camp."


(sorry been quiet, my internet went lousy this past week)

[ninthbit]

Leaving the pipe to hang from his lips, Meepo take a puff as he rummages through is pack. "I'd say you need to move quicker... I thought you'd run off or something. I didn't expect to see you again. He removes a selection of powered substances and begins measuring a few out to mix in a vial.

[OOC: He'll be busy for a minute, prepairing an extract of Polypurpose Panacea]

[Chained Birds]

Glory

Glory still couldn't come up with a decent line of insults to say to the wolves, so he decided to let them go. Not like he could keep up with them anyways.

"Hey Kavak, you seem A Bit Damaged (ABD). Might as well heal you Just in Case (JiC) those wolves come back, or worse."

Glorious reaches out a hand and pats Kavak on the back.

"Lightly cure, with a touch so Pure."

Spoiler

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Heal: (1d8+1)[4]

[desertwalker]

Your party of six (welcome back Katasi :) ) rests down briefly after the encounter with the wolves as you take stock and lick your wounds (some literally). A frightening encounter, but quick and not too damaging; it shouldn't have a lasting impact on your journey.

As night rolls in, you bed down off the road, assign watch shifts and try to sleep with the sounds of hungry wilderness singing in your ears. In the quietness of the evening (apart from some light occasional singing), the reality of your task is starting to set in. You're in the world, alone, unsupported, traveling blind, and set out to face something that the bravest and best of your village are frightened of. What are you fighting? How will you find it? How will you fight it? Did the Oracle see any of you returning to your homes, or was this a one-way trip?

Morning rolls around without incident, and after a filling breakfast of gamey Wolf meat you return to the road. By your best estimations and memories, you're still on track to h the city sometime early this evening, and the road held out through the winter better than you expected.

Until you see the tree.

A massive old titan of the forest died at some point this winter, succumbing to years and insects and rot and snow. You can guess what brought it down (smart money: snow and ice), but the end result is all that matters, and in this case that means a tree fell into a river, swollen and rushing with mountain melt, and destroyed the only bridge you know that crosses this particular dangerous water feature. The tree itself remained in the stream as a natural if wildly slippery and unstable bridge, but it ends a good 10' from the far edge and is itself a precarious 20' walk onto foaming river that looks considerably colder than it has any right to.

What do you do, what do you do?

[Man on Fire]

"Well, that's the most unfortunate." Says Kremling, with a tone like he was talking about rain at the picnic." My dear Meepo and you, my dear Unk, do you happen to know some way we could close the gap between the three and the shore, so we can walk on it?"

[stack]

Unk scratches his head. "Anyone bring a rope? I could ride Ook across, make the jump, and tie it off." Never leave home without a rope!

[ninthbit]

Meepo sinckers at the notion.. who doesn't leave home without rope?


Ya, I got some. Let me get it out. Meepo then digs a length of 50ft of rope from his pack. Good luck on that tree... looks nasty.

[Chained Birds]

Glory

"Good Luck (GL) guys. The rope Will be Helpful (WBH)."

[stack]

Unk nods and takes one end the rope. "I wouldn't need it, but it will help the rest of you." Goblin and ape shamble off down the tree trunk at surprising speed, shaggy arms gripping branches, half swinging as he runs.

Spoiler

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I'm presuming the climb speed negates the need for a check to cross the trunk. If not:

acrobatics to cross (1d20+3)[13]

and an acrobatics check to jump (1d20+3)[17] (DC 5 per 5 ft)

swim, in case its needed (1d20+1)[5]

(edit to clarify that Unk took one end of the rope, not the whole thing)

[ninthbit]

Just to clarify... I'm not jumping in this water of my own free will. Be careful and don't fall in. That s#!t looks COLD.

[Man on Fire]

"You know, I'm not entierly sure if I and Julius Tolemeus will be able to cross the river on these ropes. We probably should search the place where the flow is the weakest and cross it there."

[ninthbit]

Can't say I'm too keen on crossing here either. Rash, why don't you and Fang run up river? Kremlin, you and Julius run down? How fast can you cover a few miles?

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Mounts speeds I'm guessing they could go at a hustle for a half-hour out, and then turn back. That should only take an hour and cover 8 miles of river, 4 up and 4 down.

[Omeganaut]

Kavak goes along with the group searching for a ford, as he does not trust the ropes to carry Notadog across the river. He does however bemoan his luck, as he will probably slay the one being that could have saved the world by crossing the river. Nothing to do though but carry on!

[Chained Birds]

Glory

Glory just sits around shouting kind things to each member in support of their individual actions.

[Man on Fire]

"Ford is a godo idea." Kremlin says as he joins others in their search.

[desertwalker]

(Sorry for the delay and the relatively sparse post, still drained from the convention.)

Your mounted companions scout up and down the river for alternate crossing sites, as the felled tree looks like a poor choice for crossing. Down the river is almost immediately apparent that it won't work; smaller tributaries feed into it from all directions, and the river just grows wider and angrier the further down you proceed. Upriver, though, there is potential, and in fact some two miles upriver you find a series of forking streams and tributaries that have collected some debris in them and seem to be shallow enough to walk across. There is still cold running water that will be biting at your legs and trying to sweep you under, and the stones and moss will be slick as ever, but working together this seems a considerably safer alternate to the leap of faith across the log.

[Katasi]

Cloud watcher looks at the tree. "I agree, we need someplace less strong to cross." he says "So long as we don't have to go more than a couple miles out of our way. If not we'll have to tie ourselves together and fight the current."

[ninthbit]

The group ties off to each other for additional safety in case someone slips. With each taking turns and stoping at steady spots, the group works to cross the water.

Spoiler

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Rolls for the group:
{table=header]Player|PC Name|Acrobatics|Swim
ninthbit|Meepo|(1d20+4)[5]|(1d20+0)[13]
Omeganaut|Kavak|(1d20+0)[7]|(1d20-8)[-6]
stack|Unk Ook-rider|(1d20+4)[20]|(1d20+0)[9]
Chained Birds|Glorious Death|(1d20+6)[11]|(1d20-3)[1]
Man on Fire|Kremlin|(1d20+1)[8]|(1d20+0)[3]
Katasi|Cloud Watcher|(1d20+4)[10]|(1d20+1)[5]
[/table]

LOL... and Unk saves the group

[ninthbit]

Spoiler

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acro (1d20+4)[17]
Swim (1d20+0)[20] say what.... he's an aquatic goblin. Who knew.

[Omeganaut]

Kavak decides to stay mounted, as Notapony is likely possessed of surer footing than he. Before they cross, he voices a suggestion. "Why don't I and Notadog stay here and hold one end of the rope, and our primate pal takes the other and starts across. When he gets over, I start so we have one steady anchor in case someone slips. Good plan?" If the group agrees, Kavak will stay true to his word.

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I'm guessing ride check. (1d20+10)[18](28) In case Notadog really needs it, acrobatics - (1d20+1)[9](10)

[Man on Fire]

"Bravo Julius. I knew you could do it." Kremlin says to his wolf, as they are on the other end of the river. Julius Tolemeus barks, as he tries to flick of the water from his fur.

[Chained Birds]

Glory

"Da, dadada, datada! Fanfare for all!"

[desertwalker]

With some steadying from the rope and help from the members of your party, everyone manages to successfully cross the overactive river without incident (darn), and within an hour you are all collected again on the road and ready to proceed onto the city.

It's just before noon. You've only lost a little time; if you pick up your pace a bit, there's every chance you'll still make the city around nightfall and be safely sleeping on an inn's beds tonight.

(I'll do another update later today to introduce the next item in the journey.)

[desertwalker]

The day continues forward as does your party. It is slightly slower going than you would hope, and as far as you can tell you're still a good few hours from the city as you notice the first signs of twilight appear in the sky. You also notice something else at the same time: The slight smell of smoke, definitely a campfire somewhere not too far off somewhere in the treeline. This strikes you as somewhat odd: While these roads aren't exclusively your tribes and there are several other forest-dwelling villages in the near vicinity, you can't think of any reason travelers would be moving up the road at this particular time or stopped at this particular spot, and as far as you know no other Goblins from your village have left recently...

[Chained Birds]

Glory

"How glorious is this? We've got some Mysterious Interlopers (MI) on our hands. Anyone want to Check it Out (CiO)?"

Glorious Death says in a hushed tone.

[Man on Fire]

"Careful, we do not know who it might be, or what their intentions may be. Is any of you skilled enough to sneak in to see, who is awaiting us, so we can know, if it's safe to approach them? Sadly, I'm too heavy armored for that, I would make more noise than our lovely Spring Festival." Kremlin says, and smiles at the memory of beautiful festival Goblins celebrate every year.

[ninthbit]

I got this. Be right back. Meepo the heads off to investigate.

Spoiler

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Stealth (1d20+11)[15]
Perception (1d20+4)[6]

[desertwalker]

Interesting rolls...

Meepo quietly ducks into the treeline and begins to look for the source of the smoke. Unfortunately, he gets disoriented as soon as the small Goblin gets past the first set of bushes and the smell of smoke is seeming to be coming from all around him. Quietly, ever so quietly, he paces around trying to find the source, but it is eluding him; he'll have to return to his companions empty-handed, or attempt to get a better read somehow. Climbing a tree, perhaps, or clearing some of the brush...