Trouble is a Grblin in a Hat

It was morning on Vrontag and a bunch of Freelancers were sitting at the long table lingering over their plates.  Maghris, the fluffy tuxedo nekomata, was explaining about "Trom" and his wolves, and how this person was actually a hag who hid around walls.  Damian, a human bard, was nodding enthusiastically and adding annotations to some notes, and sometimes interjecting.

Lorcan, a Pastoral gnome, steepled his fingers as he listened.  Minji, a grey nekomata in a green dress, was curious to hear what the hag looked like.  Dominic looked disappointed that the honey had been addictive and the hag had fed it to the wolves, and Peb was offended, a troubled expression across the Rock sagani's normally affable face.

Kairos decided at the end of the tale that he was up for a mission himself.  The bald dwarf rose, and headed towards the stairwell.  Peb followed him, and after a moment so did Lorcan and Dominic.  The two nekomata shrugged and brought up the rear.

As they filed into Arnari's office and Maghris rushed to the one chair he could sit on and accommodate his fluffy tails, Dominic walked up to the great mahogany desk, and presented a scroll to Arnari.  She looked at the dour druid, then slowly unrolled it, glancing at the maps on her wall, which he'd drawn.

It was a map of her desk, and all the stacks of paper thereon.

Arnari:  when–how–
Dominic <smiled>:  just been paying attention.  Your desk is the most complicated I've ever seen.

Then Dominic sat down right there on the bearskin rug, idly playing with the fur.  Peb sat on the floor next to the head of the bear, and Minji tried to also get on the bearskin rug next to Dominic.  It was plenty big enough.

Kairos sat back in the most comfortable chair he remembered, and Lorcan sat front-and-center, albeit behind the Freelancers occupying the bearskin rug.  The gnome watched Arnari guilelessly, fingers steepled below his chin.

Arnari set the "map" on top of another piece of paper, and Dominic pulled out a notepad to make a sketch.  She pulled out a dogeared paper, then hesitated.  Consulting a different paper in Nyls' handwriting, with lists in columns, she said, "House Liona needs gryphons, but you all have flying mounts.  Maybe leave for others."

"2nd Pirates Dream– you've all been there.  Go to there, if there's an aberration, make it dead; if it's a flying bear, make it a mount."

Maghris made a face.

"3rd mission– go to Stormhaven.  A few primes back, Freelancers traced petty theft of building supplies for the Wolfkiss Inn to people buying Daystar lotion from some contact in Stormhaven.  So, find out who that is.  100 eagles per person."

Lorcan asked, "Who's paying?"  Arnari replied, "Church of Storms."

"4th mission– followon to a long time ago.  Mayor Casimir Lightforger wants– up the Little Brother River valley, Lorcan chased a grblin who was fleeing.  Investigate:  if a small problem, deal with it.  If a large problem, bring back intel.

"5th– House Ha'aheo is having bullywug problems in the marsh again.  Go to Hindmarsh, and then go into the marsh."

Dominic:  how many times have the Freelancers done this mission?
Arnari:  at least 4 times.  It's kind of a perennial problem.
Dominic:  if this is a gravy train, I don't want to mess with it; but if not, we need to revisit tactics.
Lorcan:  the victory condition is poorly defined.
Arnari:  it is partly a gravy train, but the marsh is really big, and can't be cleared.  The people come in from the west, and the bullywugs are probably in the center.
Dominic <bitterly>:  I guess we don't interrupt a mark when they are making a mistake.
Arnari:  the last time someone tried to negotiate, a secondary rescue had to be sent.
Lorcan:  it might also be the cheapest route
Dominic:  am concerned we are simply training Freelancer-proof bullywugs
Maghris:  it will take a while
Dominic:  not as long as you think!
Peb:  what about that wizard?
Kairos:  down for pollution or following up on grblins or bullywugs
Maghris:  leaning towards the grblins, but want to avoid pollution.
Peb:  Ah'm down for all the things, most interested in grblins but also the Daystar thing.
Lorcan:  most interested in Stormview.
Minji: I would like to go there and talk to a bunch of people and learn all the things!

Dominic stood up, and looked at Arnari's desk.  He picked up the paper from Casimir Lightforger, looked at it, showed it to Arnari.  "This one, I guess," he told her, then put it back exactly where it had been in the stacks of paper before she pulled it out.

A frown creased Arnari's attractive face, and the half-elf fished the paper back out, inked a quill, and started writing on it.  "Your contact is Mayor Casimir Lightforger; it's 150 eagles per person.  This comes from when we raided the cave that had boas concealed in the entrance…"

Arnari was right:  the Freelancers did all have flying mounts, and they used these for the long overland trip to Marshfork.  By evening they were in Cliffgate, where the land finally flattened out into the central plains of Duquesne, and they took rooms at The Hippogryph's Wing for the night for 13 sp each.

From Cliffgate they flew straight on to Marshfork, roughly following the great road.  The weather was a little overcast with a light breeze, resulting in some starshine and some drizzle, depending on the vagaries of the locality.  After two nights of camping out under those conditions and a final long day of flying, the Freelancers arrived in Marshfork on the 4th evening.  They took rooms and the famous inn, The Cantankerous Goose, also for 13 sp each.

After getting their mounts stabled, they dropped a note at the Mayor's Office that Freelancers were in town and would want to meet with the Mayor in the morning, then returned to the inn to enjoy their evening.  Lorcan, feeling horsey from 4 days flying a pegasus in the drizzle, asked to draw a hot bath, which was another 2 sp.  Peb was amazed, having not realized one could get a warm bath at an inn, and also drew a bath.  Kairos followed Lorcan's lead, but in the end his bath was best of all because his drake, Helike, kept the bath hot.

Maghris, Minji, and Dominic eschewed a bath in order to spend time in the tavern, drinking and listening.  Maghris got sucked into listening to the latest news about the gladiator fights in Hindmarsh.  Dominic and Minji hears some hunters discussing where they were ranging northward for game.  Signs of grblins had made them reluctant to try northwest.

They also heard some wagonners gossipping about Freelancers, how they were giving away children who had been trained to fight.  Minji was amazed and asked Maghris if he'd heard of it, and Maghris tried to play it cool, but couldn't repress the chuckle.  However by that time, Lorcan showed up for dinner, happily clean.

The next morning, the Freelancers arose and visited the Mayor's Office after breakfast.  It was well-appointed, but not lavish.  Casimir Lightforger, the Mayor, was a human of notably unremarkable appearance, which led the Freelancers to wonder, vaguely, why he was the Mayor.

Casimir:  are you here to track down the grblins?  I'm concerned they will regain their strength.
Maghris:  we totally are
Casimir:  do you need anything from me?
Peb:  if't been a while, do you know anyone who interacted with them?
Casimir:  no interactions, but we have seen signs
Maghris:  livestock?
Casimir:  no, nothing
Lorcan:  what exactly do you want the outcome to be?
Maghris:  eradicate them, or just push them back?
Casimir:  I don't mind if an agreement is reached; i'd like some assurance that people won't be attacked.
Peb:  like, uh, on the main road?
Casimir:  on the road, or the town.  If an agreement can't be reached, then slay them, or push them back.

Armed with that knowledge, the Freelancers left, and decided to start at the cave they'd been to, in the mountains to the northwest.  Lorcan bought 10 days' worth of feed and rations, and upon seeing that, the other Freelancers bought similar supplies.

The Freelancers did their best to fly straight to the cave, which was several days' journey on foot.  Dominic led the others, with Lorcan's help.  They located some giant elk on the way, and decided the party was strong enough to hunt one, which made everyone happy.  Kebabs for the Freelancers and fresh meat for the gryphons.  

Late on the second day, they actually got to the cave, and approached it very quietly.  But they need not have bothered, because nobody was there.  Lorcan searched for traps, but found none; most of the others shrugged at why the cave was special.  Dominic and Peb pointed out the fire scars.  Lorcan tried in vain to remember where the grblin had fled when he was there before.  Blaze attached himself to the ceiling and took a nap, which made Peb try to wild shape a bat, which failed.

The Freelancers stayed in the cave overnight, and took watches:  Dominic & Maghris, Lorcan & Kairos, Minji & Peb.  But nothing of note happened overnight.

The next morning, the Freelancers consulted, and since Lorcan didn't remember where the grblin had gone, Dominic decided he'd just cast locate animal or plant and look for a giant bat.  Lorcan pointed out, "Then you''l find Blaze," and the druid was disappointed.  Finally he settled on a ritual cast and looking for a dire wolf.

The spell told him a dire wolf was east/northeast, but the Freelancers knew they needed to go northwest.  So they took off in that direction, with Lorcan in the lead. 

The Freelancers flew over the forest, unclear what they were looking for.  Peb cast guidance on the Pastoral gnome, to help him find the right direction.  After a couple hours, the forest opened up as they got to the river, and Lorcan remembered!  Here was where he broke off from following the fleeing grblin, who had flown straight up the river.

Lorcan told the others, and they circled and landed, carefully.  Peb looked for tracks, and the others followed suit except for Dominic, who pulled out his quarterstaff and ritual cast locate animal again for a dire wolf.

Maghris was just bemused at being surrounded by so much wild nature, but the others all found tracks.  Lorcan and Minji saw wolf tracks, which didn't really seem out of place.  Kairos saw some larger puddles, and became convinced these were dragon tracks; the more he examined them, the more he was convinced Mazandyth was following them.  Peb examined the wolf tracks carefully, and pointed out some of the wolves had riders, and those were travelling east-west.  <Narrator voice:  Kairos rolled a nat 1, Seamus rolled a nat 20, examining the tracks>

Kairos:  we better be careful, there's a dragon
Peb <surprised>:  what did Ah miss?!
Kairos:  look at these puddles, could be paws; look at these banks, could be tail.
<This logic convinced Maghris.>
Peb:  …no.  It's just a puddle.
Kairos:  we better be careful!
Peb:  well, uh, <shifted awkwardly> are we sure they are riding dire wolves?
Lorcan:  yeah, but even if they were on wolves…
Kairos:  odds of dire wolf in the wild are much lower
Dominic:  there's a dire wolf to the east of us, in the hills, 3 miles away.

Peb went back to the wolftracks and re-checked them all.  The wolves that had riders appeared to have come downriver.  "Sounds like we should be going upriver," they told the others.

The Freelancers mounted up, and headed slowly upriver, keeping their eyes on the tracks.  Well, Minji, Lorcan, and Peb were, anyhow.  Kairos and Maghris were looking for signs of Mazandyth.  Lorcan and Peb realized the ridden wolves were going both up and down river.

After 5 miles, the group landed again.  Dominic again ritual cast locate animal as the others examined the tracks.

Lorcan:  we should find out where they are goin', downriver.
Dominic <abruptly>:  ping!  Dire wolf north-northwest, directly upriver, 5 miles out.
Peb:  freshest tracks are headin' upriver.
Lorcan:  should we back track?
Peb:  no?  That's where we're goin'.
Maghris:  probably also where dragon goin'
Peb:  uh
Kairos:  dragons known for shape shifting
Peb:  that makes 'em hard to track.
Maghris:  we can ask the grblins where it's goin'
Peb:  that makes no sense!  If the dragon can shapeshift–
<Peb abruptly slapped their own hand over their mouth.>

The Freelancers looked around; the Daystar was westering.  Peb started looking for a place to camp away from the river, possibly 2 miles away.

Maghris:  do we want to be closer, so we don't miss them?
Lorcan:  no.
Peb:  that could lead to ambush.
Maghris:  or, we could ambush.
Lorcan:  like that better
Peb:  how about not

They set watches.  Maghris & Dominic heard just night sounds: birds and small predators.  Kairos & Lorcan noticed there were not a lot of predators to hear; no gryphons, no howling wolves.  Peb & Minji were last, and Peb wild shaped a dire wolf.  They also noticed a lack of big predators, not even in the distance.

Morning came, and everyone was awake.  Kairos concluded the lack of big predators confirmed there was a dragon.  They all realized it was too quiet, and there were no giant elk, either.  Minji puzzled over it.  "I expect we'd see some herd behaviour," she mused.

Peb was still a dire wolf, and they circled around the others and tried to smell.  No elk or deer were in evidence, and they thought there might not be large predators because there was no large prey, but being a dire wolf, they kept that to themself.

Dominic, meanwhile, renewed his ritual cast of locate animal.  After 10 minutes of drawing symbols in the ground with his quarterstaff, he located a dire wolf RIGHT THERE, because Peb had still not dropped the wild shape.  Disappointed, the druid walked over to Peb and dope-slapped them.  Peb dropped the wild shape and Dominic repeated the ritual cast, to find nothing.

The Freelancers returned to the river and resumed their tracking.  After about 3 miles, Lorcan and Peb started disagreeing.  Peb wanted to continue, and Lorcan was no longer willing to be visible from the river.  They finally decided to stay in the trees and be stealthy.

The Freelancers went another 3 miles up the river, staying in the woods, until Dominic, Peb, and Kairos heard some wolf barks coming from the water.  They stopped and Dominic did another ritual cast, to locate a dire wolf 4 miles upriver.

Lorcan:  what we doin'
Dominic:  get airborne.
Lorcan:  I mean, fight or negotiate?
Peb:  we're intimidatin'
Dominic:  good for negotiating.  Let's get in the air and spread out and see what's going on.
Minji:  send a couple people to negotiate and the others stay spread out?
Dominic <smiled>:  team Bat-Lock!
Peb:  Ah think Ah should wild shape
Everyone else:  bad idea
Lorcan:  you better be on Bettula!
Minji:  what am I doing, then?
Lorcan:  assurance they won't attack
Maghris:  the road or the town.
Dominic:  unlikely these [grblins] can agree.
Lorcan:  will need to follow up with the townspeople.

Minji and Maghris flew to the river, and started going upriver.  The other Freelancers followed, but stayed hidden in the trees.  After a short while, they saw 5 or 6 grblins on wolves.  They were wearing leather armour and carrying shields and weren't looking particularly paranoid or beset.  Most of them were bareheaded, their shocks of hair sometimes catching the light breeze; one was wearing a knitted yellow and orange hat with a pompom on the top that bobbled with the grblin's movement, and looked vaguely ridiculous when combined with grblin ears.  The group seemed in good health and well fed, but that hat had seen better days.

The grblins approached the two nekomata, and as they came close they too spread out, with the behatted grblin in the center.

Minji:  can we talk?  We just wanna talk.  <spread her hands>  we come in peace.
Bobble-hat:  peace?  O yeah, whaddya want. <scornfully> peace
Minji:  people in the area feel unsafe because of road raids.  We'd like to sit down to have a talk between you and them and see what we can do to help each other out
Maghris:  yeah, we wanna avoid any unnecessary violence.
<Maghris' attempt to be intimidating wasn't even noticed by the grblins, but Minji was irritated.>
Minji <to Maghris>:  damn it I just want to talk about helping each other out!  <to grblins>  just!  Just!  Just!  We are not here to start a fight.  We want the townspeople to be safe, prosper, healthy
Maghris:  yeah, what she said.
Minji:  we want you to be safe, go about your business, be prosperous, be healthy

The goblins looked at each other like, are these people for real.  Meanwhile the Freelancers in the trees watched and tried to listen, but really couldn't hear a lot.

Bobble-hat:  is it just the 2 of you?  They only sent 2?  We don't rate more?
Minji:  do you want to meet our friends?  That's what you are saying?
Maghris:  this is just opening negotiations–
<Minji shushed him.>
Bobble-hat:  I don't really trust you; maybe you go tell the townspeople that we are having our own problems, and to give us all their stuff.
Minji:  would you be amenable to trade?
Bobble-hat:  give us all your stuff, yes
Minji:  that's not trade
Bobble-hat:  we trade arrow, you trade stuff.  Yes
Minji:  if you trade arrows, you are more likely to get swords.

Silence fell as the grblin in the hat processed Minji's words.  The Freelancers shifted forward slightly carefully, as the entire forest seemed quiet.  Minji and Maghris shifted back slightly.  But with the shift they could hear better.

Maghris:  tell him to take us to his leader
Bobble-hat:  we don't want to be attacked we are already getting attacked
Minji:  can we help?  Can the townspeople help you?

The grblins remained silent, and even the pom-pom on the grblin's hat was still as they regarded each other suspiciously.  It was too much for the talkative nekomata.

Minji:  we have friends with us, they are waiting to see what happens.  If would help you not attack the townspeople, we can attack who is attacking you
Maghris:  depends on who it is– <shut up suddenly>

At Minji's words, their suspicious expressions deepened visibly.  But the Freelancers in the trees listened and waited.  Finally, the grblin spoke, but continued watching Minji suspiciously.

Bobble-hat: don't go near goblin fort near fork in the river.  Go past that, there are big people that are mean, mean to us.  Make them go away and maybe we'll stop messing with the town
Minji:  how will I know you won't attack the townspeople?
Bobble-hat:  we're busy with big mean people?
Minji:  I'm going to take care of the big mean people, but I need to know you will not attack the town
<The grblin hesitated, considering.>
Minji: there has to be trust between us, what if you lead us there and fight with us?
Bobble-hat:  no we will not!

Lorcan sent a message to Minji:  "Find out how many."  Minji continued without missing a beat.

Minji:  do you promise?  We have to trust each other.  Do you promise?
Bobble-hat:  no attack if you take care of big mean people.
Minji:  how many big mean people are there?
Maghris:  and how big?

At this, the grblins looked at each other, holding up fingers, speaking very fast in goblin, some gesticulating.  After a brief exchange, the grblin turned back to Minji, pom-pom bouncing.

Bobble-hat:  1, maybe 2, very big, very mean, bunch of others, very mean, not as big.
Minji:  how about compared to me?
Bobble-hat:  you not that big

Maghris thought that must be the dragon, but said nothing as the grblins walked their wolves back from Minji slowly.

Bobble-hat:  stay away from river fork!  Just go west!  West!
Minji:  I want you to see my friends, I want you to see we promise, but if there are too many we might need more friends

Minji raised her arm dramatically, and the other 4 Freelancers flew out of the woods to take positions spread out around Minji and Maghris.

Bobble-hat <narrowed eyes>:  maybe you take care of it, maybe you need more friends
Lorcan:  do we want to give them a token?
Minji:  a gesture of our good faith

That was the extent of Lorcan's idea.  What the token should be, he had no clue.

Dominic:  is it just people, or do they have pets or ride animals?
Bobble-hat:  they are all bipedal
Minji:  I will give you a token, and this is how you will know I keep my promise, and will return with more friends, and we will deal with the big mean people.
<Minji pulled out her Freelancer badge, and displayed it so the grblins could see.>
Minji:  anyone of our friends will have this symbol.  They will show it to you to know they are keeping my promise

Maghris dismounted, and without turning his back on the grblins, used magical tinkering to put the Freelancers logo on 2 nearby river rocks.  He showed them to the grblins, then put one in his pouch to give to the Mayor of Marshfork later.  Then he remounted on Blaze.

Lorcan:  can we know your name?
Bobble-hat:  you can, but I don't feel like telling you.  It's goblin secret name.  <shook bobble-hat importantly>
Lorcan <formally>:  I am Lorcan Puddingrass Pasternack Tuinstra of Clan Tuinstra
<The grblin bobbled his hat, la la la, as Lorcan made his pronouncement.>
Bobble-hat:  I still not telling you goblin secret name.  fuckoff.

At that, the grblins departed, leaving the Freelancers with the impression they would hold off attacks for a while, to see what would come of Minji's promise.

Two days later, the Freelancers were back in Marshfork to deliver this news, and a river rock, to the Mayor.  Casimir received the news about "big mean people" poorly.  While relieved to hear that a temporary truce has been negotiated, the Mayor was unhappy to learn the grblins have been attacking his town under pressure.  As the conversation progressed, it sank in that the grblins did not consider 6 Freelancers, some on gryphons, enough to handle it, and Casimir was even more displeased about the entire affair.

Minji tried to reassure him.  "Now you know they are there, we can deal with it," she told him, "Better than having them run over the grblins and come after you here!"

Grimacing, the Mayor paid out the fee of 150 eagles each, admonishing them to give the 10% cut to Arnari.  Then he sat down and pulled out a quill and paper.  After considering, he wrote a new mission request to send back with them as well.