Cato looked up at Kellan joined Liseth and him, and nodded in response to his question.  "I'm glad we were able to handle that gracefully.  Or you were at least."  Cato grinned.  "We actually know right where Pisca is."  Cato tapped the side of his head with his index finger.  "We've actually been in contact with her via magic while she's been exploring the Glassworks.  She found a door that no one appears to be watching on the other side of the building.  We're supposed to meet her there."  Cato grinned.  "And we should probably hurry.  She might get bored and start investigating herself."

Cato walked along with Liseth and Kellan, enjoying the feel of the sun on his face and the the smell of the sea washing over them as they approached the building.  At Kellan's question, his blood ran cold.  Cato tried to keep a straight face and avoid showing any panic.  What was Kellan asking?  Did he know something about Cato's previous life?  Cato focused on breathing.  No, the guardsman was probably just worried about a fight with Tsuto or anyone else who might be holed up with him in the Glassworks.

Cato breathed out, trying to keep his breathing steady.  "No.  I haven't had to kill anyone.  I've seen it happen to people.  Not a lot, but it wasn't easy."  The wizard didn't add that he certainly had helped his comrades kill people, and seen worse than death.  "Let's just hope it doesn't come to that today."

Lowering her hands while she went through a short blinking spell, Liseth watched as Mr G'Kar went through such a dramatic change.  His mean-spirited arrogance vanished immediately after he saw everyone's badges.  The teenaged girl almost felt sorry for him in his immense embarrassment; so much that he even looked ill.  She might have tried to offer a comforting word had she not so recently been the subject of his scorn.  At the moment though, Liseth couldn't stop feeling as though some amount of divine justice was at work.

To her immense relief, the crowd who had gathered around the scene took their side.  Liseth released a breath when Londo G'Kar fled; with the rest of the town clearly on the side of the 'Sandpoint Saviors,' she hoped that he wouldn't try to cause trouble in the future.  But she did make a mental note to show her badge first the next time someone decided to be a hassle.

"Thank you everybody."  Liseth was sure to thank the people before the crowd dispersed, "We'll get to the bottom of things here at the Glassworks.  Don't worry."

Liseth gladly followed after the two men when they were able to continue their investigation.  Hopefully they were through with the worst of their interruptions today.  She looked up at him when Kellan asked about Pisca, then waited while Cato replied first, "Pisca didn't use her whisper magic on you too?"

"Mr Storval!"  The young acolyte gasped and her hand shot to cover her mouth when Kellan asked Cato such a morbid question, "That is not a nice thing to ask!"  She was mortified, and shot Kellan a disapproving glance before Cato answered.  She couldn't imagine him taking such an inquiry well.

Liseth was relieved at the wizard's answer, even though she didn't like how interested she had become once the question was asked.  Of all of her new friends, she knew the least about Cato and it was good to know that he'd never done such a thing before.  But he did say that he had watched people get killed...Liseth decided that she wouldn't try to think about that.  And she certainly wasn't about to ask him to say any more than he wanted to.

"Don't worry."  Liseth placed a comforting hand on Cato's arm, "I won't let anybody get killed.  Even if you have to fight them."

---

---

The crowd continued to disperse in the wake of Londo G'Kar's humiliation.  Passersby took little notice of the group now that it had clearly established its authority to investigate the Glassworks.

Badges prominently displayed, Cato, Liseth, and Kellan strolled south-southwest down Glass Street and around the tower located at the south end of the Glassworks.  As they walked across the manicured lawn, the sound of ocean billows crashing on the rocks to the west grew louder and the screech of hunting gulls became more pronounced.  The sun shone brightly today; only a few wispy white clouds marred the perfectly blue sky.  A cool, welcome sea breeze blew gently eastwards, carrying with it the briny scent that permeated most of Sandpoint.

The three turned the building's southwest corner, heading north, and almost stumbled over Pisca!  The gnome stood somewhat proudly in front of a set of double doors.  Outside those doors, a flight of well-maintained stairs led down to the beach below.

The doors opened easily now that Pisca had bypassed their lock; these too were well-maintained and it was clear the hinges had been recently oiled.  They swung apart to reveal a five-foot wide, 25-foot-long stone corridor.  Two curtained windows faced south-southwest on the right side of the corridor, maybe 10 and 20 feet away from the entrance, respectively.  The walls stretched gracefully up to the 20-foot ceiling.  The stone of the floor was clean and polished.

A large painting that looks to be of Tianese origin dominated the corridor.  It hung on the wall across from the windows, depicting what looks like some sort of Tianese deity teaching the secrets of glassworking to eager human students.

Down towards the end of the corridor, it widened and swung off to the left.  A single door sat in the corner, leading into the tower-like structure located in the southmost part of the edifice past which Liseth, Kellan, and Cato had just walked.

To the left, less than ten feet away, lies a small alcove containing another set of double doors.  This set of doors is parallel to the ones just opened; they are offset by only a few feet.  The high-volume sound of furnace noises seems to be emanating from these doors.  It seems likely that the furnace's noise would mask the sounds of any activity taking place in the Glassworking Room where it is located.

Other than the sound of the furnace, the lack of activity is notable.  Standing in the doorway, you feel that the building has what can only be described as a sense of emptiness.  Whatever might be going on at the Glassworks, it is not happening in the building's southern corridor.

---

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 09:12, Sat 07 Dec 2013.

And they were in.  Just like that.  It seemed so abrupt.  No greeting.  No gloating words of evil from a demonic Tsuto.  Just the blank and inscrutable walls of the Glassworks building.

Well, not actually as inscrutable as all that.

These doors here were speaking pretty loudly.  They were saying that here's where the furnaces were.  They were running hot and hard, spouting black smoke out the chimney on the roof.  If there were glassblowers working here, this is where they'd be.  Even as empty as the place felt, this is where the glassblowers would have to be.

Pisca turned her eyes up to the humans, her fellow deputized heroes of Sandpoint.  "I think we need to see what's in there," she said, hooking a thumb back at the double doors.  "That will probably tell us nearly everything we need to know.  I'll take a look.  Try to open the door so as not to be seen.  Be ready for anything, though."

Pink barbarian glassblowers driven to frothing madness by a poisoned draught slipped into their tea by Ameiko's brother?  No.  The gnome shook her head.  The tutus alone ruled that idea out.  Even Lonjiku wouldn't have his glassblowers come to work dressed in dance wear.  "Get ready," Pisca warned the others.  Then she cracked the door open and took a look at what awaited on the other side.

---

Stealth check to open the door as wide as possible for a look.
And Perception check to peer in through the opening, please.

Kellan meandered in after Pisca, his chain mail and armaments clanking as he went. When it was evident that the gnome was going to attempt a less obvious approach, Kellan nodded and slowly worked his way over towards the door. It was not quiet by any stretch of the imagination, but it was not overtly loud either.

When Pisca indicated the double doors Kellan nodded and took a deep breath, lifting the butt spoke of his pole axe off the ground and readying it for whatever may come. He glanced behind himself to the others to see what they were doing before focusing on the gnome and her scouting attempt.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:22, Sun 08 Dec 2013.

---

---

As Pisca opened the door, the party could suddenly hear evil little shrieks and the sound of breaking glass.  When the gnome first peeked in the door, all she could see was another, single door about 15 feet away, set into a diagonal wall facing north that was probably almost directly across from the north-facing door she had previously seen down the southern corridor.

As she craned her head around to the left, Pisca saw the Glassworking Room.  And the horror that it had become.

The furnace roared along the southeast wall of this room.  Marble tables, used to work raw glass into usable shapes, sat in the chamber, with nearby wooden trestles cluttered with the tools of the glassworking trade.  The main furnace burned at the northeast end.

But the room was now a gruesome display of goblin boredom.  Pisca could see the partially-dismembered bodies of what looked like several humans; the goblins seem to have been cutting off body parts and burning them in the furnace.  Pisca can see at least nine goblins capering about the room.  They are all so involved in what they are doing, and the furnace is so noisy, that there seems little chance they would notice anything other than an outright attack.


W = Wall      SC = Glass Sculpture
D = Door       x = Shattered Glass (Treated as Caltrops)
I = Window    G# = Goblins
T = Table      F = Furnace Opening    P, C, L, K = Party Members

OOC:  The party can initiate combat (with the benefit of surprise) or quietly close the door and go on its way.

---

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 09:03, Sun 08 Dec 2013.

As the three rounded the Glassworks building, Liseth found her eyes drawn to the ocean.  The first time she had laid her eyes on it after arriving at Sandpoint, it had taken her breath away.  It was so big!  Much larger than Ember Lake, that's for sure.  And the sea birds were always flying and making their calls.  She loved birds.  And the water; even though she didn't like to swim.  The girl started to wonder if Kerr would want to visit Sandpoint's small beach with her...

But then they reached Pisca, and Liseth had to force herself to focus on the present.  Especially since they were on very important business here at the Glassworks.  "Everything is fine; the people know that we are going inside the Glassworks, but they also know that we represent the Mayor and Sheriff Hemlock."

Still, the knowledge that they were on official business did nothing to keep the anxiety away.  The only interaction the Liseth had ever had with Lonjiku Kaijitsu involved a rage-filled tirade, and she kept picturing him meeting them within the building in the same manner.  Doubt nagged in the back of her mind; what if he really HAD locked up the Glassworks just because he wanted privacy for himself and his workers?

When Kellan and Pisca advanced inside, Liseth followed after; giving them space to peek behind the next door off of the corridor.  The roaring furnace would mask any noise that anybody made and help to keep their group unnoticed.  Which was good, since Liseth was terrible at sneaking.  She had a hard enough time walking as it was; mucking things up by trying to make less noise was just too much.

Liseth paled and began to shake when the shrieks and noises reached her after Pisca had cracked the door open.  She gasped in fright; the only thing that kept her from crying out was the knowledge that doing so might alert the goblins beyond the door.

Goblins.  Their shrieks were just like the ones from days ago, when they attacked Sandpoint.  Liseth had tried to forget those terrible shrieks that they made, but now here they were again; inside of the Glassworks.  At least that answered the question of whether or not Tsuto Kaijitsu was involved with the goblin attack...

But what did that mean for Ms Kaijitsu!?  He couldn't call her to meet at the Glassworks just to let goblins get her...

The frightened acolyte found herself invading the personal space of Cato.  She made no attempt to see for herself what was within the building's glassworking room, the shrieks and breaking glass told enough.  Wide-eyed, the small blonde bumped into the wizard when she backpedaled away from Pisca, Kellan, and the door.

"There's goblins in there!"  She spoke in a loud whisper to get over the din of the furnace,  "How did goblins get inside the Glassworks?"  Liseth didn't point out the obvious: someone brought them inside.  Her hands fidgeted furiously, "What do we do?"

The sparkling fairy cloud of glass speaking tubes dashed itself against the hard and unyielding reality of goblin murder and mayhem.  The glassblowers were dead and the gobbies were in control.

Pisca eased the door closed with as much care as she had taken in opening it up.  "Nine.  I count nine of them," the gnome said to her three companion humans.  "I saw no humans alive in the furnace room."  Or in one piece, were words she left unspoken for the sake of the others.

Ideas came thick and fast, even in the face of the horror beyond the doors.  "I'm pretty sure we'll have them by surprise if we rush them now.  They look fairly ... occupied for the moment.  But this may also give us some time to explore the rest of the Glassworks.  See what else might be waiting out there.  It looks like this corridor runs around the outside of the furnace room.  And I think I saw doors on the other side of the room too."

The gnome began creeping the short distance to the corner, even as she laid out the option.  "One other idea that I had might be a bit more risky," Pisca said to Cato and Liseth over her Whisper Magic.  "I think I've developed a way to magically disguise myself.  I also speak goblin.  I could enter the furnace room disguised as a goblin and see if I can get them to talk about why they came to the Glassworks, where their home base is, and maybe, just maybe, get them to spill the name of their leader.  That is, assuming that it isn't Tsuto."

"By the by, give my apologies to Stomper.  I couldn't fit him into the Whisper Magic.  I'll work on expanding it later."

---

Stealth and Perception to the corner and peeking around, please.

Cato listened as Pisca described the carnage that lay inside the Glassworks.  "I like your first option.  We know where these goblins are, and we can take them by surprise.  No one else in the Glassworks is likely to hear the commotion in there over the roar of the furnaces."

"Of course, one of the goblins might escape, and warn someone else in the Glassworks.  If they're..." Cato grimaced and continued "...occupied in there, we could make sure the rest of the Glassworks is clear, and perhaps find Tsuto and Ameiko before taking on that body of goblins.  At least I hope that's most of the goblins here, and we're not going to run into another dozen somewhere else.  But then again, if we find Tsuto, he might try to flee and join up with these goblins here.  He might surrender if he knows we've already killed all the goblins.  And we certainly wouldn't want these goblins to surprise us somewhere else."

Cato looked at the other members of the group.  "I think I just convinced myself.  I think the best course of action is to attack these goblins here and now, while we know they're distracted.  It might make Tsuto surrender if he thinks he doesn't have any allies left, and we can be certain to have combat on our terms.  But if the rest of you think we should scout out the Glassworks first, I can go along with that."

Cato smiled.  "And besides, my Mage Armor now lasts for 2 hours, so I might as start with that."  Cato rummaged around in his spell component pouch, and pulled out a small piece of leather.  He said a few words, and a sparkling barrier sprung up around him, quickly fading to invisibility.

Kellan's expression became concerned as he watched Pisca's eyes. Peeking into the room he exhaled as if he had the wind knocked out of him. Listening to the proposals one by one he nodded now and again, occasionally glancing in to get a feel for the layout of the room.

"Attacking now while we have the advantage sounds good" he agreed with Cato "I'm concerned that they may route and run out the opposite doors, either towards the town or maybe to alert others. I've got manacles and a lock, as well as some rope, but it might be more trouble than it's worth working around to try and block them up"

"The doorway gives up a nice choke point, but if we can open the windows we would have the light at our backs, might give us an edge there as well. Either way I will try to hold them away from you as long as I can."

He took another deep breath, his gloved hands gripping his pole axe tightly "I'm ready when you are" he added, looking over the others.

"Wait!  Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait."

All that Pisca had time for was the briefest of peeks around the corner before she was drawn back to the door by the decision to charge in after the gobbies.  "Wait.  Lets get some idea of what we're going to be facing before we go in, alright?"

The gnome took a piece of chalk from her pouch and drew a quick sketch on the floor.  "This is a rough map of the room.  I saw goblins here, here, here and here.  That's pretty spread out.  I think we want them all clustered together when we go in, don't we?"  Looking up from the map, the gnome looks primarily to Cato for this confirmation.  "I think I can get them all gathered around in the center of the room.  Here."  She pointed at a table near the center of the room.  "I'll disguise myself as a goblin and gather them all around to hear some news.  I can even have get them all looking my way so you can slip in the door and set yourselves up."

"What do you think?"

---

What did Pisca see around the corner before coming back to the others?

"Nine?"  Liseth swallowed; there was only the four of them.  The last time they fought goblins Kellan and Pisca were nearly killed, and there was never that many all at once.  But what else could they do?  The Sheriff was out of town and everybody would be looking towards them to get rid of the goblins.  They were the Sandpoint Saviors after all; if they couldn't fight the goblins, who else could?

Not that this particular knowledge was a comfort to the shaken girl.  There was only a select few things that Liseth wanted to do less than become involved in another fight with goblins.  The image of the goblin rider bearing down on her with his vicious monster dog came to mind unbidden, sending a shiver to quake throughout her body.

With a frown she watched Cato bolster himself with his magic followed by Kellan readying himself to charge inside.  She knew that it wouldn't be long before blood was spilled...and she was left tending to any number of injuries.

When Pisca drew her map and laid out her plan, Liseth nodded agreeably right away.  If her magic disguise worked, they could learn a lot of useful knowledge that otherwise dead goblins couldn't share.  And if the gnome really could get them all gathered together in a group and have their attention focused on her, Cato could use his sleeping magic to end the fight before anybody was hurt.  But...

"I like Pisca's idea.  If it works we can learn a lot and reduce the risk involved with fighting them."  Anything to avoid too much bloodshed, "But Pisca, can your disguise magic fool all nine of them at once?  If one of the goblins sees through it, they could all turn on you."  Liseth frowned and looked at Cato and Kellan, "We have to watch closely so that we can jump in right away if that happens."  By 'we' it was obvious that the acolyte meant Cato and Kellan.

"Desna, please watch over Pisca and guide her with your divine hand."  Liseth prayed for divine aid, remembering that Pisca favored Desna.  She closed her eyes and laid a hand on top of the gnome's bandana-wrapped head, leaving it there for a moment while she channeled a minute amount of divine life energy into her.

"Be careful Pisca,"  She whispered to her before removing her hand and opening her eyes.  Liseth tried to steel herself for what was to come.

OOC:  I cast Guidance and Virtue on Pisca.  For the next minute, she can apply a +1 bonus to a single attack roll, saving throw, or skill check.  Whether she uses it for her Disguise or her Bluff is up to her.

She also has 1 Temporary Hit Point for that same minute, in case the goblins attack right away.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 23:07, Mon 09 Dec 2013.

---

---

Pisca had padded quietly to the bend in the hallway.  Although her footfalls were muffled by the roar of the nearby furnace, she had a strange feeling of being somewhere completely deserted.  There was no movement anywhere in the hallway; even the air seemed still.  As if it were waiting for something.  Or someone.

As she reached the bend, she saw that the nearby door in the Glassworking Room indeed emptied out into this hallway.  She also saw that the hallway extended straight for 75 feet or so, ending in a large set of double doors.  The only other exit from the corridor was a single door on the right-hand side, a little more than halfway down towards the double doors.  A pair of large Tianese artworks decorated the walls on either side of that door.

The corridor seemed impeccably clean.  Improbably so, given what she had just witnessed in the Glassworking Room.  It was also deserted.  Nothing stirred.  Only the omnipresent roar of the furnace differentiated the hallway from a tomb.

---

---

"Thanks, Lysa."  The gnome rose from her chalk map and eyed the corridor.  "It doesn't look like anyone else is in the building," she said.  "At least not this part of the building.  What I'm saying is to be ready.  If I have the chance, I might send a goblin out the door on an errand.  You'll have to kill it quickly and without much noise.  Hopefully the sound of the furnaces will cover things.  And if I do this, I'll be sure to make lots of noise as well.  In this way, we might be able to whittle down their numbers before anything even starts."

"Wish me Desna's luck," then said, and she took a deep breath before invoking the words of power.  With her hands she shaped the magic stuff of Seeming, and her form, to the outside eye, wavered and morphed.  In a blink, (or two) where once stood a gnome, now stood a female goblin warchanter of the Mosswood tribe, little different from the one that the three young humans had fought not a few days ago.

"Catu beeyuu," said the gnome.  It was a largely untranslatable goblin homily that literally referred to a particular consistency of lizard dung, but more broadly spoke of a greater philosophy of contentment.  Then, before she could change her mind, Pisca entered the furnace room.

[Language unknown: " ... Les oun are ca ta tich il,"] Pisca the Goblin Warchanter sung to herself as she boldly strode onto the Factory Floor of Horror and Death.  [Language unknown: "Nissta poic ofmo ic fi ut!"]

[Language unknown: "Nceastyin icaanyich!"] she shouted in the goblin language, her voice competing with the din of the roaring furnaces.  With bold authority she strode to the center of the room, all the while ensuring that she touched none of the goblins, and climbed atop the table.  [Language unknown: "Venol!  Stiha.  I cktoou nioswh!"]

[Language unknown: "Enc!  Ar.  Alanst.  Aiekfo."]

[Language unknown: "Olerro fo ch vereenest ch.  Siwiwh einopr tin niesmi eau ... "] cried the Gnome in Goblins' clothing, inciting the rabble with a stanza of the Goblin Song.  Then she quieted, a sign for them to quiet as well.  It was a quiet that drew in the attention.  "[Language unknown: Ilacev llri thincemanles ta in pl urear?"] she asked.  [Language unknown: "Lestratha A resromlin om artundica adolpr." ]

---

Pisca casts Disguise Self.

Disguise to Act in Character +14 (+10 from spell, +4 Cha) if necessary vs Perception.

Active Effects:  Disguise Self duration 20m Will vs DC15 if interaction w/the Glamer, Guidance 1m, Virtue 1m.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:38, Tue 10 Dec 2013.

Cato whispered a quiet prayer to Desna as Pisca stepped through the doorway. "Desna, protect Pisca and help her protect Sandpoint as you have helped me."
Cato waited a moment, savoring the quiet before the inevitable chaos of combat.   "I guess we have to wait," the mage said to Kellan and Liseth. "If things start to go poorly, I'll ever cast sleep on the goblins or," Cato grinned "make sure Kellan can really stomp the goblins."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:21, Tue 10 Dec 2013.

Kellan exhaled long and deep. Run A hand over his face. He did not look as nervous as the last time they had gone into battle but he was obviously on edge. Cato's humor did cause him to break a smile and roll his head on his neck to stretch.

"I think I might try to take one alive, if this goes well" he mused quietly to the others "Pisca can speak goblin, we might just learn something"

He cocked an ear and waited, listening to Pisca's song he chuckled softly to himself. "That gnome..."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:03, Tue 10 Dec 2013.

OOC:  Pisca - To which space are you moving?

OoC:  M4.

If that's possible without triggering a Will Save from any of the goblins.  Why take the chance?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:46, Tue 10 Dec 2013.

OOC:  You can do it, but you'll have to hop on the big table first if you want to assure yourself that you won't touch a goblin.  Do you want to stay on the big table or hop down and then hop up again to M4?

OoC: Hmmm.  How about hop onto the big table at G5, walk the entire length of the table in a dramatic fashion.  Hop down at L4.  Then climb up at M4?

Listening to the conversation in the furnace room, Cato leaned over and whispered to Kellan: "I'm ashamed to say that of the five languages I speak, Goblin is not one. What's going on in there?"

Liseth's hands clasped themselves at her chest when Pisca began chanting the magic words to disguise herself as a goblin.  Her face creased with worry when the transformation (or was that illusion?) finished and Goblin-Pisca entered the furnace room with all of the real goblins.

Stepping away, the acolyte moved a short distance down the corridor so that if a goblin did get sent out of the door it wouldn't see her right away.  And it might be a good idea for someone to keep watch just in case something showed up from another part of the Glassworks.  More goblins, or their monster dogs.  Or a mean half elf; with undead skeletons behinds him...

It didn't take long for her to frighten herself into changing her mind, and Liseth once again moved past the door that Pisca entered.  She spent a moment watching Cato and Kellan listening to Pisca's antics within; at least nothing bad had happened.  Yet.  Then the girl set herself up in the corridor nearer the building's exit.  Where nothing might sneak up on her.

And she waited.  Liseth couldn't hear Pisca speaking to the goblins over the furnace, but that didn't matter.  She doesn't understand the goblin language anyway.  Instead the young blonde prayed; keeping her eyes open so that she could watch Cato and Kellan's reactions to what was happening with the goblins.

He shrugged "Hell's if I know, but it sounds funny.  If she pulls this off...well, hopefully she pulls this off" the waiting was obviously getting to the boy, he licked his lips and rolled his head back, closing his eyes as if preparing himself for whatever comes.

It had all happened so fast.  Or, was it more proper and correct to say that she had happened it to herself so quickly?  She was in and amongst the goblin horde.  (Is nine a horde?)  She hadn't seen the goblin standing in the aisle on the opposite side of the table from the furnaces.  She didn't want to get too close, lest they test her disguise.  Fortunately, it had been just the thing to climb up onto the long table and march down its length, and as it had been just the thing, it's exactly what Pisca did.

This had given the disguised gnome the perfect vantage from which to observe the goblins themselves.  The goblins who had attacked Sandpoint on the day of the festival had come from all five of the tribes of the Lost Coast.  As Warchanter Pisca made her way down the length of the table her eyes searched for the accoutrements and markings that would tell her which tribes these gobbies had come from.

The long table had made the perfect runway upon which to display herself and establish an aura of authority.  Alternately, she had glared at individual goblins while at the same time egging them on, riling the goblins in a manner that the gnome imagined Warchanters were fond of doing.

---

Knowledge Local, please, to identify the goblin tribes represented here.  And, maybe something about the geography and habits of each tribe?

BTW, this is something of a flashback to cover the changes in our OoC exchange.

Cato smiled ruefully.  "I may have detected a slight flaw in our genius plan.  I thought that at least one of us other than Pisca knew goblin.  We might have a bit of trouble telling if anything is about to go down before the fighting actually starts."  Cato hunkered down again and tried to glean every bit of meaning from the intonation of Pisca's and the goblins' words, difficult as that was over the roaring furnace in the next room.
"I think part of the trouble here is that all goblin words sound sort of angry.  How are we supposed to tell if they're actually angry?"