Adventuring Troupe:
- Lucia the halfling
- Braum the cleric
- Olg the high Orc
Second-day of Week 20 found three of the adventurers going to Onida’s tower to accompany her on her journey. Given that there was no answer at her tower door, Onida did not appear to be awake. The next logical course of action would be to lie in wait until the door opened, and barge in then, which the group did. The door opening took the form of Ollen the Apprentice arriving to complete morning chores. He was swiftly ambushed and the group thus won their way into the tower.
Onida was preparing to walk down River Road to meet an old friend traveling from the Spring at the head of the Gleam. Despite finding adventurers in her tower rather earlier in the morning than she had anticipated, she agrees once more that they may walk down the road with her.
Stopping to camp the first evening, Lucia goes foraging in the trees down by the banks of the Gleam. There she meets a ferocious snake, also foraging for its dinner. They engage in a fierce battle, wherein Lucia breaks her shield to avoid a likely lethal bite. Lucia emerges from the forest victorious, with enough snake meat to feed her party and the merchant caravan sharing the camp.
That night the camp is swamped by mist, save for the area around the two roaring fires set up by the caravan guards and Onida respectively. Braum sleeps the night through, untroubled by the mist. Both Lucia and Olg, however, are greatly troubled by the mist. Or perhaps what lurks within it?
Midday of third-day of Week 20 finds the little company at the Hot Springs, where Onida elected to stay until the next morning. Braum speaks with a traveling knight, telling him of kobolds near Hullbeck and thereby offending the knight by revealing knowledge of the tongue of dragons. The knight is disturbed to be sharing the hot spring with those who so readily consorted with evil monsters, and took himself off to Hullbeck.
Deciding this was a good a place as any to strike up into the hills searching for the source of the goblin rumor, the three adventurers asked Onida if she would likely be here to consult in three days’ time. Given that she was going to walk up and then back down the road with her friend, she allowed as how she might be. Plus that gave her a reason to linger at the hot spring, which was barely a thing that needed justification at all.
Pushing hard, the group traveled north along unnamed farmer cart trails and arrived at a brothel situated at a major crossroads well into the evening. Gretchen, the establishment’s proprietor, was happy to see new faces. This being the fall, most of the farmers hereabout were too focused on harvesting and putting away food for the winter to come get a drink or anything else at her establishment. Fall was always her slowest season.
Lucia took happy advantage of the offered company, hiring the two women currently available and having a lovely evening. Olg was approached for a similar offer by one of the men there, but rebuffed the offered company. Braum focused on talking to Gretchen, asking about where he might buy molasses and if she had heard anything about goblins cattle rustling. Gretchen expressed sympathy for the goblins, trying to set up a Labyrinth among superstitious farmers as they were.
To the east of the brothel the next morning on forth-day the little company found the Birbeckle’s farm just as Gretchen had directed them, selling molasses. Little Sally Birbeckle made a straw hat for Olg, on account of the sun bothering him so terribly. The hat turned out so pretty that Braum and Lucia asked for hats, as well. Lucia asked Sally to weave a ribbon into her hat, understandably neglecting to mention to the child that the ribbon was a token of affection given to her by one of the ladies at Gretchen’s place.
The elder Birbeckles tell the party that Mike Stein is the loudest mouth around for complaining about the goblins bothering his cattle, and the party wound their way across the hills and north to the Stein farm. Lucy Stein greeted them on the porch working on some mending, and agreed to allow the small group to sleep in her field or barn in hopes of catching goblins in the act of stealing a cow.
The first night the troupe got nothing for their trouble but bags under their eyes. The second night, however, on the first watch the party surprised three goblins walking towards the cows, a pasture away. The goblins, very surly after being ambushed by trained fighting beasts and adventurers, largely fell back on elf-like metaphors to stymie the party.
“Who can say how drops of water come together to make the little streams,” they wheedle, when asked about their leader, and other such evasive answers. Eventually Olg used the power of law to compel one of them, and it was found that the goblins are “bothering” the cattle and other farm animals hereabout as entertainment, rather than for food as the party had assumed. It was then agreed that in 5 days’ time the party could meet with the local Goblin King at their Labyrinth, and each goblin was given a cask of molasses as a token of goodwill.
The goblins were sent on their way, much to the later dismay of Mike Stein. Lucy Stein, however, seemed at least open to the party’s idea of setting up a boar fighting pit or some such business to keep the goblins entertained and out of the way.
That morning, habitually short on sleep, the three adventurers again set out for the Hot Springs, to consult with Onida.