Glum tried to smash the goblin's head against the floor.  He said quietly to Naomi as he worked.  "I'm going to be merciful.  I'll kill him as quick as I can rather than give him to his victim's widow."

21:35, Today: Glum rolled 2 using 1d6. Damage to goblin's head.
21:34, Today: Glum rolled 15 using 1d20+4. Grapple action (smash goblin's head)

Glum smashes the goblins head on the floor.  The goblins eyes glaze over and he goes limp.  A nasty gash on his forehead is bleeding profusely, the killers blood, black in the moonlight, mixing with his victims.  Glum gets up, his hands and clothes are covered in blood from grappling with the monster. Outside Naomi hears a voices from afar, "The Barett's have goblins", "Where, are they attacking again?"  As you stand there, the horror of the faceless man sheds a whole new light on the goblin menace.  Before they had seemed dangerous, but slightly comical.  Now....there's a young widow with 2 small children who needs to be told her husband had his face eaten off.

"We've had goblin problems before in my home village.  But this is something else.  These creatures are dumber, but more dangerous." Naomi says sadly.  "I'll go outside and talk to them." She continues as she turns to go out the door to the front of the house looking for the speakers she heard earlier.

As the goblin slips into unconsciousness, Glum snaps its neck and checks to be sure there's no pulse (and hopefully soon no more bleeding).  He stays alone for a few moments and cries, wiping his eyes with the backs of his bloodstained hands.  Only when he feels able to pull himself together does he go outside to join Naomi, still carrying the dead goblin which he drops when he realises he's still carrying it.

   There is a older man outside the door of the neighbors house where Amele Barett took her children.  He is nervously holding a spear, but visibly relaxes when he sees Naomi.  He breaths a sigh of relief when Glum dumps the goblin body on the ground, but then looks past Glum, looking for his neighbor, "Amele's in here, but where's..."  He trails off as he gets a look at Naomi and Glum's faces.  "Damn Gobs" as he lets Naomi in.  Naomi enters a cheery little room, where Amele is telling her son "Daddy will be here shortly, dear".

   Outside, Glum hears running feet, followed by a lantern, swinging furiously as a couple of guards come running up.  They take a look at the blood covered goblin and Glum and really don't know what to make of it.  "Any more, do you think?"

Walking slowly over Naomi lets her tears and expression do the main talking for her as she stands in front of the newly widowed woman.  When the lady looks up she gives a small shake of the head and quietly says "There was nothing we could do." She says followed by a saddened string of curses in Gnomish.

Naomi turns to the guards where they stand and says "If there's one hiding.  There's always more.  That's how goblins act.  We need to turn the town out before anything else happens." She says in a firm and resolute voice.

The poor woman is in denial until they bring her husbands body out, mercifully with his face covered.  Then she breaks down into tears.  After examining the scene the Sheriff refuses to turn the town out.  He brings in a goblin expert, Daviren Hosk.  His opinion is that this was a lone goblin who got trapped in a hiding hole by the family dog.  It was only after he became feral with hunger that he got the courage to kill the dog and attack the child.  If it makes Naomi happy, Daviren will help you look for goblin signs around town tomorrow.

Glum nodded to Daviren and said, "Of course, your help will be appreciated.  How does one become an expert on goblins anyway?"

The older man looks from the sobbing widow to Glum "Having someone you love killed by the bastards is a start.  Then you spend your life hunting them down and killing them.  If you survive, then you will be an expert."  There seems to be a haunted look in his eye.
    The next day Daviren shows up with a couple of dogs, 1 big and 1 small.  At first he has a little difficulty focusing, probably from the alcohol on his breath.  But that doesn't appear to diminish his effectiveness very much.  After a few hours he asks to take a break.  Glum senses he wants to broach a topic but isn't sure how.  Finally, he seems to come to a decision "So ya want ta help take care of the gob prob'em.  They's a tribe of gobs that keeps raiding our junktoss and stealin ta trash.  I've wanted to ambush 'em, teach 'em a lesson, but ta Sherriff don't want ta mak 'em angry.  Ya inerested inna this?"

Glum frowned.  "What on earth do they do with the trash?  I'm happy to ambush them, having seen what that little bastard did, but on the other hand, if they need what we throw away, maybe we could find a way to sell it to 'em".

Glum grinned as he watched the dark clouds pass over Daviren's face.  He let him fume for a while before adding, "and THEN kill 'em".

He laughs "I knew I liked ya.  Nah, gobs ain't much fur traden, them's prefer stealin.  Traden's too much like honest work.  Side's they ain't got nutten we wants.  This would haf ta be done on ta QT like.  Sheriff would get up set if he found out".

Naomi smirks at the Goblin Experts statements but doesn't share his zeal.

"This sounds just a touch like kicking a hornets nest.  However perhaps we're really the hornets and we were the ones kicked.  I'll support you, but I don't fully agree with attacking the encampment without the Sheriff's approval." She says.

Daviren looks astonished, then grins "For a wee lass ya think big.  No, I want ta ambush ta gobs tat come ta take our junk outa ta junktoss."  He is very impressed with the way you think.

<In the rumors in the sandpoint info thread is this;

"• Don’t go down to the junktoss after dark: goblins steal the
trash at night."

Daviren has wanted to ambush the goblins, but the Sheriff doesn't want to stir them up anymore than they already are.  After all, they're only stealing trash.
Zer-wedula in town at this point, but is recovering from serious injuries.  But you can ask him if you want.
Talis has either disappeared or is involved in something else>

"That's a bit better then.  It's one thing to ambush a village.  I'm not big on being a raider, even upon the evil races.  But ambushing a group that is stealing?  That is another matter.  Junk or valuables, theft is still theft.  And I do know that gobbies don't need human trash but rather wish it for their own."

Before an ambush can be arranged, you hear that Garth and Cat are back in town.  You get a summons to the Mayors office.

<Go to 1.2 Sandpoint>

Later, seemingly a lifetime later, Glum heard that someone from his order was waiting for him.  He nodded and waited until his meditation was complete.  He had prepared an interesting array of spells that might well keep him out of trouble for the day.  He smiled as he went to visit his friend and stranger.

"Good morning", he said cheerily as he entered the room.  "I heard you were looking for me. What can I do for you?"

   You go to the Turandarok Academy (a local orphanage) and are met by a matronly woman who directs you to the guest room.  Your fellow monk is staying there.  You realize he is probably here to escort an orphan to the monastery.
   As you enter the room and cheerfully greet the brother you are met with silence.  You weren't expecting enthusiasm, but an acknowledgment of some sort would be appropriate.  It is brother Jess, and he is dead.  There are no obvious wounds and it looks like he was meditating.

First of all, Glum checks Brother Jess's pulse and the temperature of his skin.  He then begins an intensive, detailed search for clues about how he died.  Initially this is a superficial search, but he will begin checking Jess's clothing should he find nothing.

   He is definitely dead.  His eyes, face, and neck are covered with tiny purple or red spots on the skin that are caused by small areas of bleeding under the skin.  Glum doesn't have the skills to determine cause of death, though he can say what didn't.  Jess was not subjected to obvious violence.  The only 2 things out of place are a small sack filled with a childs stuff (clothes, etc...), all of a quality consistent with an orphan, and a small piece of wood in his mouth.  Closer examination shows small scratches in his mouth and on his lips.  The wood has some faded paint on it and looks old.

I will follow him stealthily.  If he sees me and I think he recognizes me, then I move in for the kill, otherwise I will break contact and fade into the night.

Glum will find someone who can bring him a pair of forceps.  He will then wait with the body until forceps, tweezers or even a pair of chopsticks arrives.  Then he will remove the wood from Jess's mouth and examine it in great detail, writing down everything he can think of about it, length, shape, all other dimensions, colour, design, the writing, smell, texture.  He will nto attempt to taste it.

Next he will make an equally thorough examination of the orphqan's clothes.  He will also ask whether Jess brought a child with him.

   With the revelation of a dead body in his academy, Headmaster Gandethus will immediately send for the sheriff and then watch as Glum performs his investigation.  "No, that was an orphan your organization had agreed to take in.  Brother Jess was going to leave with him tomorrow after he talked to you.  I think he wanted to see if you had any messages for anybody.  Say, did you see a halfelf child in here?  His name is Bobby and he should have been with your brother."
You do realize there is no CSI lab to send it to?  ;)
To bad real life crimes aren't solved in an hour.
   The piece of wood seems to be from a child's toy, a dolls hand.  No toys were found in the sack.  The paint is old and faded.

"So where might the child be", asked Glum, "Assuming he has simply decided to hide?"  If he gets a clue, he will look for the child in the likely spots.  Failing that, he will begin a systematic search for which he will recruit what others he can.  If he has no clues at all, he will gather the others and suggest another goblin hunt.

OOC - I know there's no CSI lab but Glum is making notes etc. to ensure that, should anything prove to be a clue later on, he'll have a note... and so a memory... and so he will more easily deduce what happened.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:02, Fri 08 May 2009.

Talis has no trouble following the man through the dark streets.  While his quarry does look behind and takes a circular route, but it is obvious that he feels safe here.  In Riddleport, this behavior would get you killed.  The man goes to the Fatman's Feedbag, a local bar that is a notorious hangout for thugs and criminals.  Talis thinks the man is unaware of being followed.

  Headmaster Gandethus says, "Well, we often find him in the attic where there are some old toys.  Barry, go with him while I fill in the Watch.  The boys name is Tanrov, and he has problems, always getting into trouble and blaming it on his imaginary friend Bobby."  Barry is his raven familiar. As you climb the ladder, you notice the door in the ceiling is ajar.

give me a spot, listen and initiative rolls