The Tribe! 3.5 goblin only with GGM (General Goblin Management)

[The BBEG]

"Let's go scout already. Enough talk."

[Kaptin Keen]

The three human towns form a neat little triangle - Hallow, Brooksglade and Riverford. Brooksglade is the nearest, with Hallow southwest of it, and Riverford southeast. Most of the worked land - fields and orchards and pastures - lies between the towns. Each of them is well defended, despite being of relatively minor population. Hallow is a solid township of at least 2000 souls, with Brooksglade and Riverford housing around 800-1200 each.

As scouts watch from the treeline, they can observe a strict order, a daily routine followed to the letter. Even enforced, perhaps, as soldiers seem to be always present. The workers rise before the sun, to be in the fields at first light. Five times a day, the bell tolls, and everyone (except the guards) lowers their heads - im prayer, or thanks, or contemplation. And then, well before dark, everyone heads home.

The towns are safe behind strong walls patrolled by vigilant guards.

Spoiler: OOC

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I need to know which town you go to - they're are fairly different. Brooksglade sits astride a small brook (and it has a glade too, no surprise). Riverford has a larger waterway, and some sort of dock, but it's no more accessible for that. Hallow is a veritable fortress.

A note on glades: See, a glade is a clearing. I'm not telling you this to educate you, but because I thought it was the opposite - like a copse. So, when I first envisioned Brooksglade, I had the wrong idea. But now, I have the right idea! Hooray. Brooksglade, besides having a large stream that runs through it, is also adjacent to one of the few naturally unforested areas in the valley, and wide tract of land or meadow, fertile and green and brimming with early, white flowers.

The glade is north of the town, outside the triangle of worked land between the three settlements. It has a few fields, but not many, and all right up to the town walls.

[JbeJ275]

Once darkness descends, Hekx attempts to scurry towards the base of the town’s walls on foot. Using the darkness and hoping that some of his brethren would accompany him forward he waits and creeps softly and silently as he can. He’ll get to within about 50ft of the wall before stopping to co-ordinate with any of the goblins that come with him.

[Kaptin Keen]

At 50', there's basically no chance for a noisy, smelly human to detect a goblin. Hekx is able to sneak about at his leisure, tracking patrol routes, noting watch changes, and looking for possibly entries. The obvious one - the grate where the brook flows through the wall north and south of the town - seems to be something the humans thought too. It's clear even at a distance that it's well secured: A lamp illuminates the entry, it's double barred, and the guards pay special attention to it.

It might be possible to simply go over the wall. Hekx is able to find a few spots, in shadow, out of sight when the guards have passed.

There are a couple of small sally gates, but these seem quite secure.

There's no sign of any caves or crawl spaces that lead under the walls. But surely there are human smugglers in any town, right?

[The BBEG]

Slanter will follow with Hekx. He suggestions staying stealthy and trying to climb up one of shadowy points of the wall. He keeps his eyes peeled and tries to stay well away and in the shadows. If he is able to find a nice hidey place to sit and observe with no chance of being seen he'll give it a go.

Stealth: (1d20+14)[32]
Climb: (1d20+7)[16]
Perception: (1d020+4)[8]

[JbeJ275]

Hekx nods to Slanter, and gets ready to cast sleep on any gaurds that spot Slanter.

[Kaptin Keen]

((It is becoming literally impossible to post - I've tried several times to reply to BBEG's post))

Noisy human guards are really no match for sneaky goblins. Slanter easily slips under the watchful gazes of the patrols, up the wall and into the dark space of the overhang of a tower roof. Here, he's virtually invisibly except if someone shines a light directly at him - while having full view of both sides of the wall, and a good bit of the village beyond.

Some observations are easily made. The town is riddled with holy symbols, on every door and every window. There are cloves of garlic everywhere. Most parts of the town are well lit - well, relatively, at least, a clever goblin could still slip from shadow to shadow.

The houses themselves are robust, solidly build. Not exactly little fortresses, but strong shutters cover the windows, and the doors are heavy timbers.

Just like the wall, the streets are also patrolled. No one walks alone, and there seems to be some sort of system: There are posts scattered throughout town, and each time a group of guards pass one, they do ... something.

Spoiler: OOC

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Further info will require rolls. Or .. better rolls =D

[The BBEG]

{I've had the same issue with posting.}

Slanter tries to note if there is any kind of pattern to the guards patrol. If so he will try to memorize it before dipping back out to let Hekx know what he saw. Slanter doesn't want to get to adventurous and he has no knowledge of holy symbols. He does try to take not of what they look like so he can relay them to Hekx.

When it seems like a good time, Slanter will dip back out and fill the others in.

He describes everything as he saw it to the others.

[Kaptin Keen]

From his perch below the overhang of one of the towers, Slanter is easily able to discern the time table for the patrols. Despite the overall watchfulness of the town, it won't be hard for a small group of sneaky goblins to get by - provided there are no other safeguards.

The holy symbols depict a mailed fist, black upon red. There is some sort of writing beneath.

Spoiler: OOC

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It is not a language you know, nor does it look like anything you've seen before.

[Kaptin Keen]

Slanter returns to the rest of the group to explain guard routes and routines, easy places to cross the wall, and the best timing for doing so. He also describes the holy symbol they all carry - a mailed fist, black on red, with some sort of writing beneath.

Spoiler: OOC

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If you follow Slanters instructions, all you need are a roll for climbing, and a roll for stealh - with quite beatable DC's. Of course, if you deviate from his instructions, things may get dicier. Oh, and maybe I shouldn't point this out, but the job is to 'clear a path' - and Slanter hasn't really looked for anything to clear, up on the wall.

Who knows. Maybe there's something there.

[JbeJ275]

Move Silently: (1d20+5)[23]
Climb: (1d20+1)[12]
I
Knowledge (Religion): (1d20+3)[4]
Knowledge (Arcana): (1d20+7)[16]

Hekx sneaks up onto the wall, once there he takes a moments to look for anything that could prevent a vampire entry into the town itself rather than just the individual houses. Then he ducks back down into hiding in the other side.

[Kaptin Keen]

Spoiler: OOC

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Generally, finding stuff will require a Search or at least a Spot roll. Knowledge skills are for later, when you've already found the thing you're looking to understand. But whatever, I've all but informed you already there's something to find, so let's just say you found it.

Once you spot it, the scale of the work is frankly staggering. It's everywhere. A lead seal, hammered into every flagstone atop the wall. The same, pressed into every brick of every wall in every house. It's on every door, every windowframe. You have no doubt it's on a string around every neck of every person in town. That mailed fist, the holy symbol of whatever faith these people hold, repeated over and over again.

That also means finding a way around it isn't easy.

It tells you something else: This little conflict is by no means new. This has been going on for as long as it took to build the town, and maybe longer. And the level of dedication is impressive - wouldn't it perhaps have been easier to settle somewhere without vampires?

Regardless, finding holes in the cover might take a while.

Spoiler: More OOC

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This is meant to be hard - but, let me know if I make it seem too impossible. There are several ways to beat this, and I don't expect you to read my mind. But even so, if you need hints, say so.

[JbeJ275]

Hekx looks back over the wall at the others, then drops down on the inside of the wall trying to get further into the town so any weakness can be observed on either side. He also scans for facilities that might hold tools or resources useful to himself or the tribe.

[Kaptin Keen]

All sorts of things are stored against the wall - little lean-to's have been built, covering everything from seed grain and field tools to carts and barrels of tar and piles of flagstones. Nothing immediately useful - although some of the lean-to's are more like proper sheds, and have locked doors. What is in ample supply is hiding places.

[JbeJ275]

Hekx swiftly roots through these containers, only just resisting the temptation presented by barrels of tar against the wall. Instead he creeps as far into the village as this plentiful cover extends, before casting Detect Magic and then Detect Secret Doors. Hoping to learn as much as possible about opportunities or target without having to spend to long here or give them to many chances to spot him.

[Xenopax]

Skimtop doesn't really have much here to do here. Should have taken detect magic or something. Either way, he kept a spell readied just in case. Charm Person Psionic for the record. he notes the cart and the seeds...Goblins didn't farm but he was sure if he threw enough into the ground some would grow. The gods might like a change in diet! So he pocketed some. A pity they can't steal a cart.