The Death of Phames Hawe
General Summary
Assassination
Octorum 24, 887 Af.
After sending Sancho and V8 out to scout towards the badlands, the party decided to take care of personal business. Akogi found Faora, and gave her a look that let Faora know she should return to her duties at the temple soon, although she could help the group first. She went to the wall to tell the others, running into Durdeg and updating him. From there, Faora ended up in the Jewel, where Phames was drinking with five of his knights. Sif and Sharlot went to the church (soon to be school) - Sif to attempt to study, Sharlot to figure out what they were doing with the pregnant goblins and children. Kasret had Enarzu lead most of the goblins in digging the trench, while Vizla took most of the rest to scavenge the local farms for food. He then took the last twenty goblins out towards the river to gather more wood for construction. Carta had a feeling that this would be a good time to find Sif, and figured out quickly that she would be in the closest building she could have established a school in. He found her at her studies, and promptly interrupted them.
Durdeg headed to the Dwarven section of town, looking for the priest of Fierte. He was disappointed to learn that he was one that had left after the goblin attack, but he was satisfied with the location of another that could teach him of Fierte's Steel. He was told that Hilda in the city of Craghold would be able to help him, and he resolved to visit as soon as he could. He then continued his work, setting up his power collector and working inside the open mouth of his specialized bag.
Faora eventually left for the church, to check in on the pregnant goblins and see if there was anything she could do to help. Carta decided he would leave Sif to work, and used the opportunity to enjoy the day, performing his exercises and equipment maintenance in the park at the town's center. Sharlot went to check on her house, and ended up running into Durdeg on his way to lunch at the Jewel. She decided to join him, and the pair headed towards the tavern. They spotted Carta working on his equipment as they went in, and exchanged waves.
At some point, a few goblins had begun following Durdeg around, and they entered the Jewel along with them. Dan was at the bar, and waved Durdeg and Sharlot over to talk and drink. He was being much friendlier than usual, although Ian had his normal scowl. The only others in the bar were Phames and his men, and they were sitting at the far end of the room. Dan offered the two a drink, and they took it out of politeness. Ian did not join them, as he pulled a bottle of wine from beneath the bar and filled what passed for a wine glass. Ian looked unhappy about everything as he took the glass to Phames in his seat next to the cold fireplace.
Dan continued to offer them drinks, and Ian came back and quickly grabbed a glass. Durdeg wanted to speak with Phames, so excused himself from any further drinking and went to stand before the nobleman. The goblins passed through the back door, leaving just the knights, the heroes, and the drunks.
Durdeg presented himself, telling Phames what they were working on, and then moving on to ask about what the commander was doing both here and in other places. Talk turned to jobs, and Phawes told him that he had been impressed by the group, and could certainly use a commando team to solve certain problems if they were interested. As he spoke, it became clear that Phames was experiencing gastric distress, and it was distracting him from carrying on. Eventually, he broke off the conversation, excusing himself to the the outhouse behind the Jewel.
The knights watched as their commander left the building, but none decided to follow him, thinking the town was safe enough. Moments after the door closed, however, they heard a scream and ran to the back door. Durdeg was already standing so he had the jump on them, and reached the door first, the knights and Sharlot following closely behind. Throwing the door open, they saw the outhouse door standing open as well, with Phames collapsed over the open hole, a scimitar buried through his torso and a goblin standing atop him.
The goblin made to flee, but Durdeg reacted quickly, magically summoning a thorn whip to ensnare him and draw him backwards.The knights drew their weapons, and while most focused on the goblin, one held his sword threateningly towards Durdeg. The others attacked, but the goblin was uncannily agile, barely keeping out of the way of the blows of all but one, and the one that did make it through was only enough to barely scratch the creature. Durdeg attempted to grapple with it as Sharlot moved to check on Phames, but the creature was surprisingly strong and easily broke away from the hold. For the fourth time since he had arrived on this continent, Durdeg watched as a goblin ripped a hole in reality and stepped through, disappearing as the hole closed. With the creature gone, the knights turned to Durdeg and Sharlot, demanding they back away from their commander.
The two did so, and the knights gathered his body and the sword, and left for their camp. As they rounded the building, Carta noticed them carrying the body away. He went up to offer any help, and was told to leave them be. He was more trusted than the others at the moment, both due to his status as knight and paladin, and because he only recently arrived and did not have a goblin entourage. But he was clearly not welcome right then, and he let them pass without learning more. He quickly went to the back of the tavern to see what had happened, and noticed the large amount of blood on the ground near the outhouse. With no other obvious evidence, he went into the tavern to see what else he could learn.
Aftermath
Carta saw Sharlot and Durdeg in the tavern, beginning to question Dan and Ian about what had gone on. Dan was clearly still under the effects of something, and between the three of them and their knowledge of magic they determined it must be a charm spell. Dan was sure that the goblin he had talked to was a good friend, and one who just wanted him to be friends with the goblins other friends, like Sharlot and Durdeg. Ian was no longer under the effects of magic, but he was having trouble accounting for why he had served wine to the commander - he was never the type to serve anything himself if someone was not at the bar. The group remembered some of the things Sif had done in the past, and guessed that he may have been subject to a powerful suggestion telling him to serve the wine. When Ian admitted that he had not seen the bottle of wine before that day, they began to put together what must have happened.
Durdeg got the wine glass Phames had been drinking from, and began to test with some of his alchemical reagents. It was quickly clear that it was not plain wine, although the tests couldn't show him exactly what it must have been. Testing the bottle showed the same results. Durdeg wondered if the taste of the wine that Phames complained about was due to whatever was in it, or if it was just bad wine, but he'd likely never know the answer to the question. They asked for more information from the two, and when they finally thought they had learned everything they could, they left to round up the others.
The group gathered at the church, and the news was shared. Once everyone was aware of the stakes - the heir to the Duchy had been killed in a city run by a possibly false relative of the king, brought down by poison served by that relative, and stabbed by a goblin that was in town as part of an army raised by the heroes themselves - they had to decide how they would react. They believed that they would not be held responsible for the goblins actions, although with Kasret already gone from the city, they were not sure how that would play out. They asked Sharlot to expend some of her magic to contact him and send a message about the events. He acknowledged the problem, but did not have a solution and said he would continue with what he was doing. The rest had various concerns about what would happen to the town, and whether they would still be able to repel the army that had to be approaching. The argument was made, and ultimately accepted by all, that they had already completed their mission to the area. They had found out about the threat and reported it back to the army, and could certainly move on with honor. But before doing so, they needed to talk to the new commander of the cavalry, and set out to meet them.
They arrived at the camp, to find everyone breaking down equipment and loading it onto the pack horses. The riders were armored and armed, and looked ready to charge into battle at a moment's notice. They found the new commander, Jacquin Fere, identified by a red rank braid on his shoulder and the way he was ordering around the others. They interrupted him, and he turned on them with anger in his voice and fire in his eyes. He was able to keep in control and not turn his anger at the party, but it quickly became clear that he intended to wipe out any goblins he could find, then leave the town. The group made several impassioned arguments to the man that his duty was to defend the town and eliminate the invaders. When he replied that as best he could tell, the goblins were the invaders and wiping them out and leaving would be within his orders, the group worried about the towns fate.
As the group moved away from the camp to discuss in private, Sif and Sharlot took it on themselves to send a message to Enarzu. She burned another bit of energy sending the message to him, and in response heard that they would flee immediately. Feeling like they had at least saved the relatively innocent goblins, they tried to come up with another argument to ensure the army didn't leave. They eventually pinned all of their hopes on Sancho, and went for broke, using visions of the future, magic, and musical inspiration to make their case. While Jacquin clearly did not like Sancho, he at least recognized the man's use as a scout and his utility to the army. He agreed that they would not leave until Sancho returned with information about what was facing them in the badlands.
Having done what they could, they left the cavalry behind and headed back towards the river, pushing through a bit after dusk to get to the crossroads. They picked up Kasret, his twenty goblin guard, and the wagon load of trees they had cut down on the way. Once there, they camped for the night and made plans for what they would do now.
New Possibilities
After an uninterrupted night's sleep, the group discussed what they intended to do from here. Kasret was worried about the goblins, but hoped that Enarzu would be wise enough to keep them safe until he could return to help them further. Beyond that, he didn't have much to say about where they would go from here.
Durdeg was eager to continue to the north and the city of Craghold. He had recreated his defender, now V9, and wanted to learn more things he could accomplish by learning from a devotee of Fierte. Sharlot was also happy to go along, knowing that her next big appearance was still a long way off. Faora and Akogi both intended to return to Bonum Prox and the temple there - while she had been enlightened by her time with the others, she was much more cut out to be running a temple than to be involved in a war.
Sif and Carta, however, were not in agreement on where to go. To Craghold, absolutely, but not beyond that. Carta was pushing to go after the artifact that Orchid had lost, while Sif was sure that they were being played for fools by her. They came to an impasse, which they broke with the help of Sharlot. Sharlot sent a message to Venfaren on Sif's behalf, asking whether the artifact was important to their cause. Venfaren told them that he would research the matter, and speak with her that night. With nothing more to discuss, the group set out to the north, and Bonum Prox.
As the sun was sitting low in the sky, the group noticed four large figures trudging across the grasslands they were currently riding beside. They could see they were large, much larger than humans, but nothing beyond that. Kasret and his archers decided to sneak in close through the grasses, hoping to be within striking distance if need be. As they closed, they could finally see that they were cyclopses, and were unlikely to detect them at much of a distance. When they had closed enough, the others followed openly.
When the rest of the party neared, the cyclopses raised weapons, but didn't attack. They shouted in giant at the heroes, brandishing their weapons, until the party stopped. As Kasret sent a goblin to attempt to steal the pouch one of the cyclops had, Sif cast a spell letting her understand the language. As the goblin hung from the pouch as he tried to cut the strap that held it in place, the party cringed, expecting a fight to break out at any second. But somehow, the cyclops didn't notice, and the goblin was able to slip away. Sif realized the cyclopses were just trying to shoo them away as they were attempting to return home. The party turned back, and ended up leaving without incident.
Arriving at the slope leading to Bonum Prox, the group stopped to talk before going in. They messaged Sancho to tell him what they could. He responded quickly, apologizing for the apparent death of V8, and said that there was no army incoming. As far as he could tell, the ogres and orcs were dispersing back to wherever they came from. Jacquin was pissed, he said, because there were no goblins to be killed. The group digested this, and moved on.
They ended up splitting up at the gates, to minimize what they had to pay in taxes by having Carta stay outside with the horses and goblins. The rest went in to sell as much as they could, freeing up wagon space by selling the lumber and getting some coin in exchange for their various gems. They restocked their dwindling supplies, taking advantage of the expert alchemists of the town to purchase some potions for future use.
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