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[Cain12]

Watch them out of sight, warming ourselves from the lame torch/fire the goblin were using if they had one.

While doing so, carefully have a sip of the jug.  Hopefully this hard cider's like 'small beer'; unpurified water's not very safe but fermentation kills a lot of pathogens.  If that cider seems to have been distilled or anything, we can't use it yet; save it if it seems strong - we can use it to dilute into unpurified water when we find some.  If it's weak, that's good; drink a small amount to make sure we're sure it's weak and safe; we'll have more later.

Have a bite of each of the sausages and the bread.  Make sure that none seems bad for us, and that also none is too salty or spicy, especially if that cider's very strong.  If the sausages are edible and not too intense, eat up while we watch the goblins move on.

Stop once the goblins are out of sight.  Extinguish lame torch; it's really hard to sneak up on anyone paying any attention while carrying fire.  Get back into the woods, a bit off the trail that the goblins used to move the cart along and follow them.  If necessary track; a heavy cart should leave great tracks.  If needed, go slow, don't get too close.  Watch for others possibly watching/following them too.

+1, actually wanted to leave the bread for now and leave them on their way whilst we practice the orcania or read that book or whatever, but I guess adventure beckons us to follow.

[speedyth]

might as well follow them. since we probably are pathetically weak ATM, safety is in numbers

[LegendaryWoodBurner]

And the shit-for-brains gobbo mentioned a secret shipment! ADVENTURE HOOOOO!

[Detoxicated]

If we go to wilderness, and try to practice our hunting as well as trying to remember magic we might have an abundance of food at hand. Also gremlin meat, elfs and the likes sometimes indulge in sapient cannibalism...

[Imp]

If we go to wilderness, and try to practice our hunting as well as trying to remember magic we might have an abundance of food at hand. Also gremlin meat, elfs and the likes sometimes indulge in sapient cannibalism...

These gobbos (who may or may not know David Bowie) know the lay of the land.  They probably mostly were honest with us, they don't seem intellectually well suited for deception.  But they know where to get more food from, and more drink.  They know the dangers, where shelter is... they even know which enemies can be reasoned with or fled from, and which must be fought to the death because no quarter would ever be given.

They know all of the basics and at least some of the more advanced things that we need to know for survival.

We sort of tried hunting already.

You spot some birds and a couple small animals but they're much faster than you.

Until we have some sort of high accuracy projectile weapon, hunting's nuts.  Even when we do have a fast distance weapon, we still need to remember the sheer quantity of food a person needs to eat a day - we need to get significantly more calories from our prey than are used by the effort and time taken to catch it, or else we're just going to starve more slowly.

Furthermore we can always turn (back) to attempting to hunt - though finding carrion's more likely to bring us success given our resources and known skills.  But if we don't follow these guys more or less immediately, we lose the chance to get the information which following them will give us.  If that information's not immediately useful we can go right back to trying lower probability strategies and hoping for more luck.

[Detoxicated]

Play the ocarina, singing a song commenting the situation.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

You wait around a bit, planning to follow the goblins. The hard cider in the jug is fermented and ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS but you can tell it'll get you drunk if you finish the whole thing on an empty stomach. So you dig into one of the sausages - it's a bit like jerky in a casing, seasoned but not too spicy. It, too, is QUITE DELICIOUS. Your hunger pangs subside.

You play some ocarina. Oh hey, that's a nice tune.

You rub out your torch on the ground and stow it, circling around into the brush so you can follow the goblins. You catch up, and they haven't noticed your pursuit. They're working at moving the cart, and complaining, and bickering. They're obviously in a hurry.

A couple hours later they come to a place where a stream has been dammed, and a dilapidated watermill covered in moss. The mill-wheel's paddles are rotted out and the waterfall from the dam passes right through it. The water then plunges into a cave opening in the ground.

In a clearing behind the mill there's a thicket of woven branches between the trees, making an effective screen enclosing a quite large area. The woven wall goes up to about 15' off the ground. The trio of goblins pull their cart out of the tree line and up to the woven wall 50' away, where they give some signal - you can't see or hear very well from this distance. Goblins inside move a section of wall to let them in, then move it back in place.

There are other goblins in the area. One big goblin is stretching hides on wooden frames by the mill. He has a bow. A gang of six medium goblins are dragging a chopped-down tree toward the thicket entrance. They have axes and one carries a long two-goblin saw.

(For future reference, a "big goblin" is about your height. A "medium goblin" like Bork and Grep is waist-high. A "small goblin" like Vert is knee-high)

The sky is dimming. Big flakes of snow drift down. You're very cold.

Spoiler: Inventory: 20/20 (click to show/hide)

Equipment
Clothes: Fur Cloak, Belt with Dagger Sheath
Armor: None
In Hand: Dagger
Satchel [10/10] Big Heavy Book [Locked] (10 ENC)
Bottle
Floppy Boot
Rocks x3
Black's Magical Reference (5 ENC)
Sharp Stick
Torch
Lame Torch
Sausages x2 (1 ENC)
Bread Loaf
Jug (2 pints hard cider)

Small Items (No Weight)
Compass
Pocketknife
Engraved Lighter
Pack of Cards
Ceramic Ocarina
Handful of Bugs

>

[Detoxicated]

Play your ocarina for their entertainment, ask if they have a place for you to sleep.

[speedyth]

Play your ocarina for their entertainment, ask if they have a place for you to sleep.

+1 Also ask if there are any locksmiths/lockpickers nearby that could help us unlock our book. I've been dying to find out what is in the book for ages.

[Cain12]

Play your ocarina for their entertainment, ask if they have a place for you to sleep.

Based on how they act they are suspicious and dim witted, Vert and his lot might find it strange we followed them, also we have nothing to offer in return which again based on their actions thus far means they won't help us out. Would prefer we act more cautiously if we can.
Edit: After all these ones are armed and could take us in a fight.

[Detoxicated]

While I feel that you have a point there, you must admit that most of them are very small in comparison to us and also their stupidity should be to our advantage. Why? Because once we have their trust we could easily rise to power with our much greater intellect.

[Cain12]

While I feel that you have a point there, you must admit that most of them are very small in comparison to us and also their stupidity should be to our advantage. Why? Because once we have their trust we could easily rise to power with our much greater intellect.

Well it beats freezing to death, and you have a point even if they still out number us, so sure +1 to your thing, guess we could probably out run them anyway if push comes to shove. Let's hope don't already obey a smarter mind.

[LegendaryWoodBurner]

Maybe we should trick them again if they become hostile. These goblins seem easily frightened and with our magical reference knowledge we could shout out some magical sounding bullshit and use the lighter make them think we're a wizard. It would be very simple to do, though we would lose most of the lighters usefulness.

In a pinch we could sacrifice the lighter by breaching it's fuel store with our knife, then striking it to cause a ball of flame to explode from the lighter. Such a display could easily be mistaken for magic and would probably send the goblins running for the hills. I am however very unwilling of using up the lighter for such a purpose, as it would render it almost completely unusable (though we might be able to salvage the striker). If we ever find ourselves in a bad pinch that we can't fight our way out of it could be a backup plan.

Over-all i don't think we should be at much threat from these guys if we're careful exploring their camp. I say we go for it and try to get inside.

Edit: The same trick could likely be used in an attempt to gain power or status if we're willing to sacrifice the lighter for such a thing.

[Cain12]

Give the book a once through so to remind us before we go in then?

[Detoxicated]

Nah lets get in first and once they settle down to sleep we can try to read some.