Having been a prisoner just moments ago Cunaar is familiar enough with where they kept things of value, in particular his backpack. He did not own much but it was his stuff. It seemed the mongrels had eaten his rations and ruined his waterskin, otherwise his items were in tact if rifled through.
As they gather the goblins into the one room for security and try to dispose of the bodies Cunaar will assist as best he can. At most dragging one to the edge of the pyre area.
I do not know if we are staying Maldor but it may keep scavengers from arriving before we are finished in the area.

Maldor furrows his thick brow.

"Scaven...?"

The fighter let go of a short groan.

"You plan on staying long? Me say we got prisoners free. We look around for a coin or two. Drop dumb bugbear down hole. Go to city like we first do. Sit in pub, drink ale and eat meat. No party at old fort."

The half-orc's impatience is obvious.

"ENOUGH "


Amiri eyes flame out slightly and she walks over to the dead goblins and burns them

Maldor is confused.

"Enough? Is that like enaknar? Honey on stick to put in fire? Taste good, but Maldor have no enaknar."

Mal watched the fire in mild fascination. How well the slain evil creatures were consumed by the flames. It was a pity that a wolfhound or two wasn't present to enjoy the nourishment that goblin meat would provide. But the watcher pets were not a part of the adventurers' group. The rangers that would come to the Black Scarab sometimes brought in the large canines. The wild dogs' pleasure for meat... from any source... was quite adorable to Mal. It must have been good to travel with such a protector.

Lureene frowns. "A moment, if you please. We are seeking a certain book and it wouldn't do if it was burnt... mistakenly." The priestess doubted that a goblinoid would carry a book around, but fire did have a tendency to spread. She started looked around for the tome.

Ero waves his arms frantically in an attempt to stop the half-elf.  "Not in here!  Not in here!"

Too late.  He covers his mouth as the room begins to fill with smoke and the stench of burning goblins.

"Everybody out!  Everybody out!  Get moving unless you want to die from smoke inhalation!"  The wizard helps escort out the prisoners from the caravan, taking a quick census to see if anyone is missing.

In reply to Ero Sulaanin (msg # 335):

Amiri heads out.


"Sorry sometimes I can be a bit hot headed."

Maldor does his best to step ahead of the group. If there is a foe waiting ahead, the fighter would want to be ready to handle it.

The stench of flesh burning stirs a memory within the amnesia-cursed half-orc. He's been near that odor before. But where? Mal did his best to push the thought from his head. He had to stay aware, just in case.

Artem does his best to help with the piling of bodies and then backs away when the pryrotechnics start.

"For the love of our noses...They smell worse burned than they do alive!" he sputters as he also leaves the area.

In reply to Lureene Raventree (msg # 334):

Looking at the pile of bodies now burning slowly to ash Cunaar hears the concern of Lureene about a book. Then tells her what her knew or it,
I doubt these peons would be holding it. The bugbear was trying to get Aria to translate it for him. So it is likely with them though  I do not know exactly where.
Covering his mouth to assist in breathing in the growing smoke he runs over to the bugbear still sitting upon the throne dead. Pats him down quickly, if nothing pulls him by the hair to topple to the ground to get a peek at the throne itself. Then exits should he find the book.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:32, Fri 17 Apr 2015.

Serena goes to one place she knows the gold is - the bugbear king. The others can bicker all they want, but once all the enemy is either killed or tied or and incapacitated, she immediately zips over to the king and starts searching for his bag of gold. A little heads up thanks to the goblins and such.

She avoids fires and such, but will search the bugbear as well as his throne and the area around it.

The smoke from the burning goblin bodies is a bad stench, but the ceilings of these ruins are mostly gone, so most of the smoke escapes out the top, especially once the flames get burning as the heat rises, taking the smoke with it.

The bugbear king is not dead yet. He was only rendered unconscious by Aria.

There's nothing on him of any significant value, but as Cunaar topples him forward onto the floor, a book is clearly visible sitting on the throne.

Serena also moves over to search the throne, too, and finds a concealed compartment underneath it that has a small coffer in it.


Everyone else that is searching the goblins eventually turns up an average of 10sp per goblin. They all have poorly maintained weapons, a dagger and either a short sword or a mace.

Maldor looks behind him to see if others are coming. When he notices that some are staying behind, curiosity gets the better of him. He turns and returns.

Once back from the handful of steps, he sees that some are investigating various spots. Mal scratches his head. He begins to speak... to ask a question... but he does not.

He turns to the burning bodies and for a moment is fascinated by the consumption of the evil goblins. But that interest only lasts for that moment. He studies the adventurers again still in the room.

A small grunt comes from the fighter. He's not sure what to do. Bashing in heads with his greatclub was his role. Anything more requires thought that he did not possess at the time.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:00, Sat 18 Apr 2015.

Serena checks the compartment for any obvious traps and such, as well as the outside of the coffer. She then takes her dagger and uses it to open the coffer. If all goes well, she definitely loots it!

Sylvester and Bleddyn bring Gundren and Sildar back inside. Although the two prisoners are a bit beat up, they are otherwise alright.

Mella and Sylvester then begin searching the whole place for the stolen supplies from the wagon shipment that was supposed to have come over the mountain. Most of it has been gone through, but about 80% of it is still salvageable.

Questioning the goblins reveals that the remaining wagon is outside hidden under some branches. Also, the wagonmaster escaped on his own. Bleddyn tried talking Frederich out of going off alone in search of the wagonmaster, but Frederich wouldn't listen, and wouldn't wait.

All told, there were 36 goblins in these ruins. From them, you've acquired 366sp, 36 daggers, 21 short swords and 15 maces. Additionally ten spears are found. Although these weapons are in poor condition, they aren't inferior weapons, just badly maintained. Fighters and weaponsmiths can get them back into good condition with a bit of work.

Each hobgoblin had a pouch with 50gp in it. Both also wielded falchions in good condition.

Finding the book required toppling the bugbear out of the throne. He landed with a thud, but that was enough to rouse him, whereupon Maldor hit him and knocked him back out.

Serena doesn't find any traps on the coffer, which is consistent with goblins. They are good at making pit traps and such, but the intricacies of trapping chests and such are beyond their ability. They think in broader terms: why trap the chest when you can dump anyone trying to get to it into a spiked pit?

It also turns out that the horses that pulled the wagons were killed and eaten, mostly fed to the grick in the goblin shrine and to the owlbear imprisoned in the southeast tower.

The party never went through the ruins searching room by room, which is why they never encountered these monsters.

Additionally, when searching for supplies, you find the hobgoblin barracks, readily identified as such by the larger bedrolls. Only thing is, there were six such bedrolls, but you've only found two hobgoblins.

Further questioning of the goblins reveals that a hobgoblin raiding party should be returning soon. It'll consist of four hobgoblins and two wolves.

Out of the goblins' earshot, Ero says to the others, "It would be wise to ambush the hobgoblins while in such close proximity to the goblins, unarmed though they may be.  I, though, have conceived a stratagem that may solve our dual problems simultaneously.  Let us propose an arrangement to our prisoners: they ally with us against the hobgoblins and they will gain their freedom.  I surmise that if we persuade them that they're better off without their bullying brethren that, bundled along with their lives and freedom, they'll leap at the opportunity."

Serena opens the coffer then, and examines the contents.

She shoos away anyone else who is curious until she can assess what's there. She may be free-spirited, but she overall is willing to share with those who feel the same. But first, she needs to take inventory of what's in there.

Securing the book Cunaar steps back a moment as the bugbear began to rise, only to be knocked out yet again by Maldor.
Thank you my friend.
He wonders if he is alive but is not too concerned really. At the same time he observes Serena finding a coffer from a hidden compartment within the throne. Satisfied they found the book he does not press as to the coffers contents.

Back with the group he reveals the book they were looking for. When Ero proposes his plan it would be poetic justice to have the goblins do their job. It would take some good convincing to maintain them.
That would be entertaining, do you think we can persuade them enough not to buckle when the hobgoblins show up?

Ero shrugs.  "They may not even accept the offer.  But before we inquire, we should first all be in agreement."

Seeing Maldor head back into the throne room, Artem scratches his head and then wanders back in. He is unused to looting after a battle since most of his scraps have been defending his village against bandits, wolves and the occasional bear gone crazy. Those didn't tend to have anything of value.

He watches with mild interest at the searching and looting while pausing now and then to clean his axe and tighten up his gear. When the comment about the goblins fighting the hobgoblins is made, he pipes up, "I reckon the little buggers would say they'd do anything to get free but as we've seen, they aren't worth much in a fight. Also they would prob'ly run just as well once it started. Still, I don't care much either way. I'm game for it if y'all want to see what will happen." he finishes in his somewhat country drawl.

"I mean no offense, master Elf", puts in Lureene, "But your plan sounds like a rather good way to get stabbed in the back, as soon as the goblins start feeling they might gain the upper hand again. We might seem scary to them now, but I suspect they've spent more time being scared of the hobgoblins, and invariably they'll side with whoever scares them the most."

"But we can use their fright against them," Ero replies to the half-human.  "If they are more frightened of their large cousins, they should be even more frightened of what will be done to them by being defeated so easily.  A chance at freedom should appeal to them more than a doubling of the beatings they likely already receive."

Maldor's mouth is open as his head switches from viewing one speaker to the next. This was all a new experience to the former tavern worker. He never had input before in his tasks. One person gave the order, the other complied.

Mal gave a short grunt, then walks to the exit and stares through. Bugbears may be coming? The fighter's interest was high. He twirled his greatclub in his hand.

In reply to Maldor (msg # 352):

Esserron is unconcerned by strategy, and all concerned by loot. As he spots Serena searching the throne he makes a beeline for the coffer, and with a charming smile he blithely ignores her attempts to shoo him off, making sure he gets to make a good inventory of the contents of the coffer as well.

As the debate over how to utilize the goblin continues the hobgoblins are getting closer and closer. To which he interjects,
There are only four of them with wolves abd there are more of us. Shall we just ambush them ourselves? THey draw closer as we talk and will be upon "US" unprepared.