Mits is sure to show off that she can catch butterflies without hurting them using magic, but she releases them immediately after. And offers a few tiny fireworks.
"Yeah. You got a point there."
Lunch: Lunch is provided free, at the expense of Sandpoint’s
taverns. Each brings its best dishes—this event is a marketing push
by the taverns as much to win new customers as it is to feed a hungry crowd. It soon becomes apparent that the darling of the lunch
is, once again, Ameiko Kaijitsu, whose remarkable curry-spiced
salmon and early winterdrop mead easily overshadow the other
offerings, such as the Hagfish’s lobster chowder or the White
Deer’s peppercorn venison.
Consecration: Finally, as the sun begins to set, Father Zantus
takes the central podium, uses a thunderstone to attract everyone’s
attention, and clears his throat as he prepares to recite the Prayer
of First Dreaming. Unfortunately, the thunderstone’s detonation is
also the prearranged trigger for the goblins, who have slowly been
infiltrating the town while its citizens are merrily distracted.
A sharp retort, like the crack of distant thunder, slices through the
excited crowd as the sun’s setting rays paint the western sky. A stray
dog that has crawled under a nearby wagon to sleep starts awake, and
the buzz of two dozen conversations quickly hushes as all heads turn
toward the central podium, where a beaming Father Zantus has taken
the stage. He clears his throat, takes a breath to speak, and suddenly a
woman’s scream slices through the air. A few moments later, another
scream rises, then another. Beyond them, a sudden surge of strange new
voices rises—high-pitched, tittering shrieks that sound not quite human.
The crowd parts and something low to the ground races by, giggling with
disturbing glee as the stray dog gives a pained yelp and then collapses
with a gurgle, its throat cut open from ear to ear. As blood pools around
its head, the raucous sound of a strange song begins, chanted from
shrill, scratchy voices.
( There are thirty goblins raiding Sandpoint, but there’s no need
to run combat with all of them. You can focus strictly on the goblins the PCs encounter, using the following three encounters to
introduce players to the kneebiting horror that is the goblin
At this point, ask the PCs to make Spot checks. Those who make
a DC 12 check see that the shape that raced by and killed the dog
now hides at the edge of the wagon—a single goblin, licking the
blood from its dogslicer as it looks excitedly at the crowd, seeking
out a new target. Characters who make the check may act in the
surprise round.
The song is a nameless goblin rhyme, performed by several goblin warchanters and intended to give the goblins a boost of bardic
music to spur them on.
http://i994.photobucket.com/al...GoblinWarchanter.jpg )