Ch.2 Goblins, why did it have to be Goblins?

"Bloody 'ell, how are you... so... fast...?" The Goblin leader's eyes are wide with surprise and disbelief as he falls back against the side of the nearby cottage, then grow dark as he slowly slides to the ground.

As he does, two more Gerblings pop around the edge of the building with what appears to be about half a chicken in each of their mouths. The look at their boss. They look at Naut standing over him. And then turn tail and run the opposite direction and out of sight.

The other two Gerblings quickly follow suit. The last remaining Goblin immediately throws down his weapon and holds his hands up, palms empty and visible, and backs away slowly. "No trubble, don' want no trubble. He made us!!!!" He briefly gestures toward the fallen boss, then raises his hands again.

Can everyone please make an Insight roll for me?

Insight check

Vilde takes a moment to regain her senses then slowly staggers up on her feet, a bit wobbly still. She grabs onto Caldra's shoulder to steady herself, giving a sheepish smile in appreciation, "Sorry, still learning this adventuring stuff."

She tries not to look at her bloodied robes or the wound in her side, not sure which one to be more annoyed at. Instead she watches the ensuing end of the battle, giving a tiny cheer as the goblin leader falls and gerblings dash away.

Caldra looks after the fleeing Gerblings, tracking them to ensure they truly left the town.

Saving his breath after the burst of swifness Naut only say single word answering fallen goblin leader Focus!

You watch as the fleeing Gerblings flee - without leadership, and especially after seeing their boss and his Bugbear henchmen getting taken down so handily, they don't seem to have much appetite to linger.

In the relative quiet after the battle, Thorne and Vilde hear the sound of scrabbly footsteps and the now familiar rough murmur of Goblin voices and spot two ratriders, with Gerbling passengers seated backwards behind them, on the far side of the square racing out of Merivale to the north. By the time you can react, you lose sight of them behind the shops and cottages at the far side of the plaza. The last thing you do see, are the Gerblings making very rude taunting gestures that shan't be described here but are fairly universally understood by most humanoid creatures.

Moments later, an old man, looking frail and disheveled, stumbles out of the structure nearest where you saw the ratriders. He stands, shoulders slumped, and stares after the departing Goblins, an expression of shock and bewilderment on his lined face.

Beyond that, all is quiet.

What do you do?

"Hmph, how rude." Vilde mutters to herself seeing the rude gestures. Her attention focuses on the old man and something clicks into place, what if this wasn't just a simple attack by the goblins, but rather a diversion.

"Excuse me, sir? You seem rather distraught, do you mind telling us what happened?"

Caldra joins Vilde but leave the man to her for now as she steps past to look into the building the man came from

Monk returns to the tree and sits there as if nothing just happened.

The old man shakes his head slowly. "I don't understand. It's not worth anything to anyone but us townfolk. It... it's like they're trying to rip the heart from this place. It makes no sense...," his voice trails off, eyes staring off into the distance.

In a non threatening manner, Vilde walks up to the old man, and in a calm, reassuring voice asks him, "Sir, we're here to help, but we need to know what it is that was taken?", assuming the worst that it's Moonblossom.

He looks at Vilde with eyes still clouded by incomprehension. "A religious memento, a trinket with no value to anyone but a member of this community. When Merivale was founded many years ago, the High Priestess of the Temple of Kyva in Farhope blessed the settlers with a ceremonial hand scythe, which has been used ever since in all the rites of the seasons. It's a simple, humble object of oak and and iron, devoid of any adornment but etchings of the holy symbols of out order." He gestures to the stole around his neck. "I'm Brother Amos," he adds with a short bow.

"They... they burst into the shrine here," he nods to the small building behind him, "shoved me to the ground, tore the scythe from its mounting place on the wall, and then raced out. It's clear that's what they were after... but... why?" He looks at Vilde imploringly, as if she might be able to give him an answer that would make it all make sense.

Vilde listens intensely to the man's story, trying to see if any of it correlates with things she's studied or heard before.

@ctme2000: It does, on all sorts of levels of troubling. First, you know from your study of magical artefacts that objects can gain energy - magical, spiritual, sometimes, especially with necromancy, the line is blurry - through repeated use. A home that has been the residence of a happy family will absorb some of that positive energy; likewise, a slaughterhouse will retain the energetic stink of terror and death long after it ceases to be active. In this case, a religious trinket, blessed by a high priestess and used for generations in countless rituals of reaping and sowing, the cycle of death and rebirth, could become a powerful tool in the hands of a sorcerer performing a ritual involving those elements. Your thoughts immediately go back to the idea of using Moonblossom, sacrificing her for components, or *as* a component in some dark rite. Even without her, the use of this implement, especially if somehow tied to Merivale or something from Merivale, could be potentially potent indeed.

Thorne waits and listens silently while Vilde talks to Brother Amos.

The mage's eyes widen and a troubled look crosses her face as the wheels spin and click into place over what dark matters the holy artefact may be used for.

Not wanting to further traumatize the man, she declines to answer his question, instead replying with a reassuring smile "Thank you Brother Amos, we will do our best to retrieve the town's holy relic."

In a low voice, to her companions, "We need to retrieve what the goblins stole, otherwise I'm afraid this will be much worse than their plans for Moonblossom."

Caldra tries to comfort the aged townsman. "As Vildde stated, we will seek out your order's scythe." and gives a kindly but firm pat on his shoulder.

Moving to join her comrades she addresses them "Twice is just a few days. The goblins again seek sources of power. I presume it to to power some profane ritual. Doubles they will head much the same way as last time. Hopefully this will aid us in tracking them down.

The note from when we rescued Moonblosom mentioned Pinky and KROGG. One of those goblins was Pinky and he likely is heading back to KROGG. We should check with Moonblosom and some of the more experience villagers about this 'KROGG'."

Glancing towards the Monk she calls out "Brother, what brings you here? You fought well but the conflict is yet unresolved. Will you join us?"

Thorne is ready to help the villagers once again. He stays quiet, though, as usual.