You take a moment to observe your fellow goblin before speaking. She has lighter skin than you, an almost navy blue shade by comparison to your black. Her crimson hair is cut a little longer than your own, but still short. It looks like she's been doing it with a knife as well. She is only wearing basic linen shorts and a top (probably stolen), leading you to believe she spends most of her time in armour.
"Keep it down, ruskpes, you'll stir people up."The woman stares at you blankly for a moment, then bares her teeth and spits at you.
"You smunok-ruskpes! Get me the rato out of here or I'll-""Hey, hey! What did I just say about keeping it down? Also, watch your language, filth." The female draws herself up imperiously and gives you a death stare that would make a priestess proud.
"How dare you, you worthless slave! I demand you get me out of here this instant.""Who are you calling a slave, minion? How dare you address one of my rank so? Grazlocke Ng-lo'utsmf is a name worthy of respect.""Never heard of it, scum. Perhaps Snang Ostroolgo is worth more than that."You hold up a hand to interrupt the ritual exchange of insults / dominance contest upon meeting an unfamiliar goblin.
"Wait a moment. Snang Cutthreaten? That rings a bell." You try and remember where you heard it before. Or, in fact, read it before.
"Got it. I think I signed off a requisition for a set of steel hunting knives for you, what, eight months back?""Oh yeah, I still have them," says Snang, suddenly much more convivial.
"Well these bumpkins have them, wherever the hell they put my things." Her eyes light up.
"Hey, you were in Armoury then?""Ah sorry, no. Admin.""Argh, shadows damn it! I finally meet someone in six months who isn't a slave or a driver and they're a bloody bookworm! Guess that makes sense with a name like 'Inkweaver'. Any chance you can pick this lock anyway?""Sorry, not a snatcher.""Damn it, I could if I had my tools.""I thought you were a hunter? You were last year.""Yeah, but I was close to getting snatcher status. I'd plenty of practice sneaking, I could disarm traps and pick locks, but you know how hard it is to get promotion. Not like I hadn't snatched kids before either, but you can't do it officially unless you're a snatcher. I had it all planned out, you know, the heist that would've gotten me there? There was this kid in Waterhills, the Prince's son. Watertight security, but I'd been scouting the city out for weeks and I had it all under wraps. If I'd been able to get hold of that child, I'd have been set.""So what stopped you?""A little thing called our home being burned to the ground. You might remember it, yes? So, can you get me out of here? The slave in the next cell isn't going to last much longer.""The best I can do right now is this." You pass her a sprig of nightsbane.
"Should buy you a night if you hear the bogeymen coming. Any ideas on how I can get you past this lock?""Well, the village elder has a key. That's an old human named Thothil Bootbristles, lives somewhere near here. The blacksmith by the river actually forged these gibbets, as well as the keys, so I guess it's possible he has a copy too. Failing that, if you can figure out wherever these villagers hid my stuff, I've a set of lockpicks. Get those to me and I can probably work my own way out.""Or I could just buy you, I suppose."[Luck: 17]
"Yeah, that would work. They didn't recognise me when they caught me and they got the drop on me without a proper fight, so maybe they don't hold too much of a grudge not to sell me. You'd need a pretty good pitch, though. If you can get me free that way I'd still appreciate your help getting my things back.""And in return, you will serve me.""Well, duh. You're higher rank anyway."You bid Snang farewell and shuffle away into the village. On your way back to the wall you pass the stables and notice a crude board hammered to one of the wall posts. It appears to be a "wanted" board set up by the local adventurers. [Luck: 8] Most of these seem to be fairly mundane requests for tools or supplies, or else inane demands to go out and slay some sort of particular bog creature. There are a couple of general rewards for captured goblins, but nothing terribly helpful. You do notice among the bounties a reward for a human slaver, Speski Flukecertain, who recently fled into the swamp from justice.
Not that slaving is illegal in the Gilded Confederacy, of course. He must have been caught slaving citizens instead of foreigners, that's all.
There's a tiny bit of light left, so you quickly trek to the cottage you stowed your belongings away in. [Luck: 13] The cottage is occupied and there is a light on inside. [Stealth: 3+2] You poke your head up at the window and stare right into the eyes of a small child, who screams. You leg it away from the house before anyone comes out to see what the matter was. Hopefully, his parents will just assume he saw a bogeyman.
You clamber back over the wall, hurry back to your camp and get inside the tent before the cackling grows dangerously loud. You muse upon your plans for the next day. Skullduggery is always an option, but then it might be worth simply trying to buy Snang off the villagers. On the other hand, that would tip your hand to your presence here and make skullduggery harder to pull off if it fails.
Vitality: 4 (Heavy bruising, bound leg wound. Slowly recovering.)
Full
Status: Contemplative
Kills: 2 human hunters.
Inventory: traveller's garb & hood
1 plain iron hunting knife
1 -iron quill knife-
1 writing kit
crude maps
1 medical kit (+4 to medical checks, 4 uses remaining)
a fire piston
8 days' beef jerky
1 jug of strong spirits
4 sprigs of nightsbane (in packet)
8 copper coins (Gilded Confederacy - badger / three barrels)
In the Wagon
1 lantern (w/ 3 pints of oil)
8 snares
3 bear/man-traps
ragged, formerly fine black clothing
several jars of pickled swede
Book - Predatory Beasts in the Velvet Jungle by Torn Washworthy
Expert Administrator
Proficient Historian |
Proficient Law Scholar
Skilled Geographer
Competent Negotiator |
Competent Persuader |
Competent Liar |||
Competent Judge of Intent |
Adequate Dodger ||||
Adequate Leader
Adequate Knife-Fighter
Novice Wrestler ||
Novice Athlete |||
Novice Wound Dresser
Novice Stealther |||
Novice Animal Handler |
Dabbling Butcher |
Dabbling Forager
Dabbling Pump Operator
Dabbling Biter |
Dabbling Suturer
Languages: Perfect Goblin, Fluent Human, Broken Dwarven, Poor Elven
Contacts
Rist Easespices - A gregarious Dunish trader operating in the Mudcups area.
Snang Cutthreaten - A goblin hunter/snatcher you found imprisoned in Pilemurk.
Author
Topic: Goblin (Read 13507 times)