Country Bumpkins: Mini- and King-Sized

Life, Achievement/ Win

The Sapphire Oath performs civil service adventures to earn acclaim as a means of getting an audience with the Vizconde Horith Iarnan

The next day, the Sapphire Oath went to the job boards to see what tasks they might be able to be of service to. The board only had two notices on it:
Bandit's Stole My Cow: 12g 17s 37c and free milk if you get Bessie back
and
Seaside Monster: A grendelous beast has been raiding the peasantry along the shore south of the city. 200 Gold for the beast's head.
  They accomplished the first of their tasks by saving a farmer's cow from rural bandits. Forgoing the reward of the obvious life-savings, the adventurers instead told the farmer to “Vote Horith” and spread the word around. A good deed to start winning acclaim from the people but not big enough to earn entry into the Vizconde Iarnan's court. In order to do that, they would be seeking out a larger prize: a grendelous creature was hunting the shores south of the city. That would be their next quarry.
  Seeking to continue gaining recognition for themselves and for their goals, the adventuring party known as the Sapphire Oath took up a city task board job to hunt down a grendelous creature. The monster had been raiding shoreline communities for a while and had recently expanded out to ships.
  The stories around the docks told of a large but nimble giantkin that savagely attacked in the night. It would quickly abscond with any cargo immediately available. If nothing was immediately at hand, it would quickly tear through to a low deck, pluck a crate out, and be gone with it. Any crew in the way were found dead with large claw marks raking across the torsos or having heads or limbs entirely torn off.
  The Sapphire Oath's continued investigations help Ravel narrow down the the epicenter of these events to a small stretch of coastline about half of a marching-day south of the city. Along the party's travel, they continued to speak with farmers, shepherds, and other locals the coastal villages. The victims of the raids also told of some smaller humanoid creatures that tagged along for the mainland raids. While some spoke of rumors that the monster was a made up scape goat for brigands, others spoke a stench that the monsters left behind to prove it wasn't a charade. The closer the party got to Ravel's deduced destination, the more locals could plainly point to the areas that sheep and goats had be attacked or gone missing.
  Approaching the final bluffs of a rocky shore, the party heard monstrous chattering ahead. Ravel reformed herself as a goat while Beatle dirtied himself up to look like a farmer. Goat-ravel and Thunderhoof the Donkey's presecne sold the image well. Marduk snuck ahead to plan an ambush but a misstep alerted the creatures. Climbing up the bluff's, the ruse of a farmer worked well enough as the far closer Marduk camouflaged in the bushes. The buggy eyed troglodytes attempted to charge the farmer and livestock to quickly be caught off-guard by Marduk's glaive and the goat's transformation back to a spellcasting, fiery haired woman.
  The Sapphire Oath ought their way down hill while the troglodytes fought their way up. A call of warning into a cave brought more of them pouring forth but the combination of fire, frost, thunder, psionics, and steel drove them to the ground. One creature fled back into the cave with the companions in hot pursuit. They slayed the creature before it could jump into an underground pool but only then had another pair to deal with. Originating from a center island, the two remaining troglodytes took to the dark waters. Ravel's blazing driftglobe blinded the creature's due to their sunlight sensitivity but also placed a sheen of light across the water proving cover as they stalked.
  Dealing with amphibiousness problem, Ravel took the form of a dolphin to allowed Marduk a mounted position to fight from in the water. Ravel's flaming sphere bubbled through the waters as they pursued aquatically. Beatle took to dancing along exterior rocks as the fight continued. The troglodytes were being handled as the true threat burst from the shadowy waters. Waylaying Beatle in a spray of water, an acquatic troll burst up and lashed out. The duo of Mar-dolphin returned to lend a had before Beatle's summoned mischief sent the scrag toppling through the water. One moment of danger befell Beatle as the final underestimated troglodyte brought him down but no sooner did Beatle fall than he sprung back up in adreneline skewering the creature in a surge of heroics.
  With only the scrag left, the trio tag teamed it. Even when Ravel was torn from her dolphin form, she did everything she could to maintain a flaming sphere upon the field of battle, to keep the troll's wounds boiling and open. The water positioned duo climbed up onto the central island to draws the grendelous creature from the waters to better sear it's flesh and drop it firmly and completely.
  After tending to wounds, the trio searched the waterlogged cave and refuse filled beach outside for any stolen goods not yet eaten or rotting. Within a corked and waxed container, Ravel found a sailing vessel's emergency raft in the form of an enchanted swan feather. Outside, the companions found a crate of paper bound, candlelike objects that Ravel ascertained to be explosives. Of the wasted crate, a quartet were still good enough to use. With the burned head of the troll as proof of their job's completion, the companions returned to Argil for their payday and to pursue their greater plan behind this resume-and-reputation-building.
  After returning to Argil, the Sapphire Oath reported in to the town hall to receive their reward. When asked if they wished to have their deeds announced by the town criers, the companions heartily agreed though it did take a moment to determine that they should simply use their name rather than rather than throwing further attributions toward Vizconde Iarnan. Before leaving, the adventurers requested a letter be sent to the Vizconde in conjunction with their deeds to request and audience. From there, they returned to the Moss Inn for the evening.