A Long Way Home - game thread, players only!

The Game Room
142

Ahh, I knew there was something I was forgetting about healing that made it way better than 1hp per hour. Exxxcellent.

The hour or two spent tending to Maxwell is probably the first time any of them have seen him out of his armor. His rather horrific wound doesn’t seem particularly out of place on the rest of his body, which is marred with scars that tell the tales of many battles.

Once his wounds have been patched up (and at least one or levels of plague gone), he wordlessly puts on his armor, checks his weapons, and gives a nod, narrowing his still feverish eyes.

“Let’s move far as we can. We don’t want to camp anywhere near here tonight.”

143

Cobar to the group:

“Works for me. I’ll keep my eyes out for a good spot to camp.”

144

The group gathers their gear and immediately sets off, trying to make as much distance between them and the caves as possible. While the group travels, they fill in Tasha on what happened in the cave. Her eyes light up gleefully as they describe the treasure, but she seems bored with the battle highlights. She seems particularly fascinated with the story about the goblin with the stealth enchantment.

“So he was just a regular goblin? Did his eyes glow like he was possessed, like the orc? Didn’t he make any sound at all?! Where did he go? What about the crown he promised? Why would an orc warlord have a crown, anyway? I’ll bet the crown isn’t even real. That goblin just tricked you, so you’d kill Garn for him. Where do you think he went, anyway? There’s nowhere for a lone goblin to survive around here…”

Soon darkness falls. A thin layer of clouds has rolled in, obscuring the stars and dulling the moonlight. It’s not safe to continue traveling in these conditions, and the horses are particularly reluctant to keep moving. Hopefully it doesn’t rain tonight!

The Blake party must set up camp for the night, or risk traveling with very little light in unfamiliar territory. With no more delays, the group should reach the town of Aven within two days, or late tomorrow evening if they make particularly good time. Everyone should decide now whether to make a detour to Fallenburgh after that, or leave the community to its fate in order to deliver Gerald to Preston Tower on schedule.

Cobar can describe the terrain of the campsite he chooses, so long as it is not out of the ordinary for this very lightly wooded landscape.

The group has traveled for two hours before nightfall. This is enough for Tasha to attempt to heal Maxwell twice. Both of Tasha’s attempts are successful, and Maxwell heals 6 damage. Note only 1 healing success per hour TOTAL is allowed. Different characters cannot each heal the same person twice in the same hour.

The arcane plague afflicting Maxwell has faded. Luckily the effects were only temporary! He will have a fantastic new scar to show for his fierce battle with a demon-possessed orc warlord, but to Maxwell, such injuries are simply the cost of doing business.

145

Wow… healing isn’t easy in this world, is it? Mosier, if you’re going to keep running Tasha as an NPC that’s awesome; otherwise, maybe you and I should talk about retro-actively training Moftar in the healing arts? Or is there the possibility of character advancement in this game, so I can learn it later on? Do skills improve?

As the party marches along waiting for Cobar to pick a good spot to stop for the night, Moftar fashions a sling out of strips of his clothing and straps his staff over one shoulder to free his hands. “Shoulda thought of this ages ago!” he muses to himself. Digging through his pockets, he retrieves a hunk of limestone and a few tools - files, rasps, and such - that he uses to carve the limestone into shape. It’s hard to tell at first what he’s making, but as the sunlight dims it slowly comes into shape as the crude but passable form of a kobold. As night falls and it becomes too dark to work well, he grudgingly puts his tools away and returns the staff to his hands.

Moftar, unfortunately, seems to be walking even slower than usual for some reason. The other members of the party, who thought they had gotten used to his presence, find themselves surprised when it turns out that he could, in fact, smell worse. Deep rumbling, disgusting gurglings, and the occasional muttered "erp…'scuse me!"s eminating from him indicate that something he ate recently doesn’t exactly agree with him, and the various gasses his body produces make it more important than ever to remain on his upwind side!

Eventually, Cobar tires of waiting for Moftar to catch up after ‘visiting a bush’ for the umpteenth time. “Fine, we’ll camp HERE for the night” Cobar says, choosing a spot.

Moftar does a terrible job of hiding as he patrols the campsite’s perimeter to set up his snares, then crawls painfully into a pile of dead branches away from the main party, to spend the night, huddled up inside his rags as the rain starts. “Lousy kobolds, lousy rain, lousy stinkin’ pigshit goblins…” he mutters to himself as he falls restlessly to sleep.

I can’t speak for everyone, of course, but I think it’s obvious we have to take the side-trip to visit Fallenburgh. People need our help, and there’s a good chance there’s another Demon involved. Plus of course you always follow the side-quests in these kind of games; that’s where the best loot is found! However, I’d like to stay in Aven at least for a little while… long enough to re-supply and talk to the locals, and visit a tavern for drinks and a hot meal. Might even find a good deal at the local used-horse dealership. Ultimately, however, the decision lies with Gerald Blake.

146

Maxwell silently helps to set up camp, but speaks up once everything important has been settled. He addresses Gerald Blake:

"We’ll have to keep a closer watch tonight in case that goblin’s been following us. For the instant, though, I reckon it’s time to talk about the treasure we liberated from that demon. Seems to me, everyone earned an even share.

147

Realizing that Moftar isn’t going to last much longer, Cobar scopes out a campsite in a small clearing. After the events of the day, it’s best to keep the site as small as possible so as to be less apt to be noticed. He tells the group that building a fire might not be the best idea tonight, seeing as how close they are to the caves. However, this does raise the risk of wild animal attacks.

He recommends that the three watches be doubled up tonight. Each pair takes one shift. The most alert of the group should naturally take different shifts. Cobar expresses no preference for any particular watch.

148

Gerald makes camp, sits and stares out into the darkness. He remains motionless as he responds to Maxwell.

“Yes, Mister Grey…equal shares for all…”

Still unmoving, he continues,

“I’ll take the first watch…who will join me?”

149

After many long minutes lost in thought, Gerald finally turns back to the group.

"Cobar, what to you know of this Fallenburgh? Apparently they are about to be overrun with orcs, goblins, and the like…should we warn them? *Can *we warn them? That is; do we have the time?

It’s one thing to take a quick detour in order that we can warn the fortress, so that they can prepare themselves and repel the attack…but it’s quite another to trudge for days out of our path, only to find that we are too late, or that our information is of no practical use…or worse yet, to walk directly into the middle of the battle…"

As a player, I’m all about ‘taking the side-quest’…but I’m not so sure that the character of Gerald would be quite so keen…

150

Tasha adds her own, surprisingly pessimistic viewpoint to the discussion about detouring to Fallenburgh.

“What’s in it for us?” she says simply. It’s a valid question, and surely at least in the back of everyone’s mind. There is no obvious reward for warning them of the attack, except possibly the goodwill of the people who live there…

I’ll update the game in a few hours later this evening, giving everyone a last-chance to discuss what to do between now and then. As it stands now, it looks like a majority of you want to take the detour, so we’ll proceed with that unless I hear otherwise.

151

The morning sun rises, and with it the damp fog clears. Cobar and Tasha, who were the last watch shift, feel their tense muscles begin to relax as the air grows warmer. The others begin to rise. Some of them eagerly embrace the idea of travelling to Fallenburgh, and doing good in the world. The others are only reluctantly considering the idea.

The decision does not have to be made immediately, though. The trading town of Aven lies before them, and if the group makes particularly good time today, they’ll reach the town by nightfall.

“What in the world?” Cobar says suddenly, and the others all follow his glance. The goblin from the caves is walking toward them awkwardly, his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender.

“Please, do not kill!” the goblin says. “Can help you!”

Cobar could get a pretty good shot on the goblin with his bow, if he chooses. The goblin has no obvious weapon, and he appears to be ready to flee at any sign of hostility.

Tasha mutters, “Poor thing just found out how tough it is to be alone. I bet he regrets getting you to kill that demon orc thing.”

152

Cobar addresses the goblin:

“Speak. Understand, we have no reason to trust you. We tied you up for that very reason. You escaped, which makes us inclined to trust you even less. In your defense, you simply escaped without betraying us, which is why I’m willing to hear you out, not to mention that I can kill you with my bow before you can so much as blink, even without it drawn. And if you take another step closer, I will. So state your case. And while you’re at it, what was that crown you spoke of? We found nothing of the sort.”

153

Maxwell reaches up behind him and slides free one of his two short javelins. If the goblin makes any move, including what looks like an attempt to flee the group, he’ll attempt to impale the creature.

154

Guys, I apologize for my lack of participating. I’m working huge hours lately and can’t jump in like I want. My hours will be reduced soon.

155

A rustling of leaves, the snapping of fallen branches, and a sound much like a goose being trod upon alerts the party to the fact that Moftar has awakened. As he crawls out of his ‘nest’, scratching at fleas, he approaches the group.

“I had the worst dream last night. And you were in it, and you were in it, and you were in it… what the HELL?” as he notices the goblin standing there. “It’s the goblin! You horrid little piece of pig shit, what are you doing here?!”

Moftar readies his staff and bravely takes up a strategic position behind Maxwell and prepares to run away from battle in a most heroic manner.

“You better have a good explanation for being here, after that trick you pulled back in the caves! You nearly got Mr. Meatshield here killed, you know, and then who would I hide behind?!”

Moftar will maintain a safe distance, but is prepared to strike if the goblin comes close enough.

156

The goblin stops in his tracks, and doesn’t dare take another step forward. "Never lied. Never! Never betrayed. Never harmed you. You think, just a worthless goblin, but can still trade.

My life, for the human city. Take me with you. Can not survive on my own. When we reach human city, will leave you. Will join the horde. Not all greenskins want to fight! Many will rebel, scatter the horde, stop the attack. I," again, he struggles with the concept of referring to himself as an individual, and stutters over the word. “Can…I can…lead them. Some of them, at least.”

The goblin ignores the question about the crown. It may have slipped his mind, or he may be trying to steer the discussion away from that topic…

157

Slowly, behind Maxwell’s back, Moftar reaches into his clothing and draws forth his best throwing knife. Keeping it out of The Goblin’s field of vision, he begins to take aim…

Moftar to Gerald: “Your move, boss. First big decison of the day and ya haven’t even had breakfast… glad I’m not in charge!” Moftar winks and glances meaningfully at his knife before returning his stare to The Goblin.

Moftar keeps his staff held high in his other hand. “Know, foul creature, that these people travel under the protection of Sovin the Righteous, and He is unlikely to allow a being such as yourself to cause them harm!”

Moftar glances at Maxwell. “Er… ya know, it was confusing, I didn’t have a chance to tell the orc that… sorry! But, hey, awesome new scar, right?”

Moftar would like to use his intrigue skill here; he doesn’t trust that goblin farther than he can throw him. How big is a goblin anyway, tho, 'cuz that might be pretty far actually…

158

Maxwell rolls his eyes at Moftar, but seems content to continue standing in front of him, all meatshieldesque.

159

It’s not easy to read expressions coming from a creature with psychology so different from humans. Even so, Moftar is pretty confident he would be able to tell if the goblin was lying. The goblin is almost certainly not telling the whole truth, but nothing he has said so far is an outright lie. It seems to Moftar that the goblin is not at all sure exactly how he could convince a portion of the horde to rebel.

Whether the group trusts the goblin or not, it’s still a pretty remarkable individual. There is no known history of a goblin leading any sort of organized group, or even having the ability to consider the possibility of doing so. This one seems to have intelligence and ambition bordering on human-like, though. He could end up being a valuable ally…or a very dangerous adversary.

160

Clayton is actually rather curious about the goblin at this point. “Moftar, keep your arrow ready to go, but do not aim fatally if it comes to it. I’d like to use this axe to wound or kill him if the need be.”

Clayton turns to the goblin, “Relax. If you really are telling us the truth, I’m not going to kill you or wound you at all. If not…well, either way we get to try something new.”

Clayton assume Gerald will decide about the goblin and following him and so forth.

161

Maxwell growls, “if we’re taking on a new set of conditions with this creature, there’s still the matter of past obligations. A crown was mentioned.”