Despite the predictions of impending ambushes, the night goes by relatively quietly. A rain storm passed through, but even it was comparatively silent. The morning comes with chilled bones and damp clothes and the ruins surrounded by the now ubiquitous fog and mist.

Haznut busies himself with preparing for the day by cleaning his armor as he dons it.

“One of the goblins had that same mud on them. And a drawing of something frog-like. We may be have been beaten there by some more local archeologists. Hopefully they didn’t set up their camp on the ruins themselves.”

Opening one eye just a bit, Samara growls, "What do you mean? Other archaeologists? You mean from now time, not years ago?"

“I mean the goblins. We’re looking for an elementalist’s lair and the goblins have elemental mud on them.”

"They brought with them a piece of uncured hide, which as he said has a frog picture upon it. And from the brand on the hide, it would pass to common fact that our assailants are fhe same ones as who would have claimed Professor Endro's beast of burden...


Saidou rifles through his memories, seeming to pantomime flopping pages as his face goes slightly lax and distant with thought.

Saidou seems intent upon the scrap of horsehide.

Looking a dead horse in the hide.

Saidou's expression is grim. I don't know the details for certain, but the scrap of hide there ... The styling matches the methods used for reverence of a patron deity, and used in rituals to the same. Might be superstition, might be empowered, it's hard to tell."

Vostiun comes over and takes a look at the hide.

Religion: 14
20:15, Today: Vostiun Hephaurio rolled 14 using 1d20+3 ((11)).

Confirming that the hide is indeed still dead.

Kon finally wobbles upright.  Experimentally he tilts his head back and forth slowly, wincing at first and then sighing with relief as a satisfying and audible cracking can be heard.  He ruffles and then smooths his facial fur back into place, replacing the bent and flattened "bed face" with its usual dimensionality.

"I'm more worried we didn't get another visit.  Perhaps we convinced them to leave us alone...  Mind, perhaps they are preparing another nightly ambush at their camp.  Oh..."  He pauses adjusting his armour to his frame to look up at the others, "Elemental mud, associated goblins, hide bearing deific totems...   Perhaps...  They are related...?


Elde Kon rolled 25 using 1d20+8.  Arcana (+1 for goblin noodling)

Attempting to Phoenix Wright the clues to determine whether the lesser elementals might be centered around the goblin camp, and if indeed the camp would likely be the ruins they seek.

This message was last edited by the player at 17:52, Tue 10 Oct 2023.

"Oh. too many pronouns, that's the problem. You think the Goblins made camp in the ruins we are looking for?"  Pushing partly erect in her cold, damp blanket, she bares her teeth and snarls, "Well, that would save us a lot of time."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:36, Tue 10 Oct 2023.

So many clues, so little time.

Kon recalls the past clues


"We know the goblins are brutal, having nailed that wolfhound to the tree, and painted markings on it.  Vostiun identified them as the Waterhead tribe, who have an affinity with frogs and boggards.  Then there's the cheer to Gogunta, a demon toad who leads those same boggards."

Kon stands and begins to pace, lost in thought and thinking aloud.

"Then there's the late professor Endro, speaking of the hound.  Beheaded, mutilated really, and left in his campsite.  A prolific note taker to which the Waterheads were not a fan.  But isn't it odd for a lone professor to be out here in the wilds away from safety with just an animal or two as guards?  Even for a scholar that seems a bit absent minded.  And what of his notes, destroyed, but why?  The goblins may dislike the written word, but they were very thorough and deliberate, wrecking even concealed documents so that the next people who found them wouldn't be able to determine their contents.  Maybe they were related to Gogunta."

Kon spins about and points to Saidou, "You yourself experienced visions regarding his notes.  You mentioned anger and betrayal, and a fiend that was amused at the grief and anger you felt."  Kon returns to thinking and pacing, "And then the confusion of "Where your children were."  As a single individual, certainly without family on this trip, why would you think that?  It is possible that the professor did not come here alone at all."

"And then this ruin, this temple to Drugog.  We've found signs of elemental mud strewn about and mephits (scamps, now?) further tying together the idea of Gogunta with the area, but also that this temple was a place of worship constructed near or on a site of elemental attunement." He points off in the direction of the goblin that ran away, the path the group took out and back again, "On our way back last night I had noticed many more signs that the temple grounds are much larger than we thought.  Markings similar to these-" Kon strides over to a large engraved stone and runs a hand along a its weathered surface, "-were hidden amongst the foliage and choked with vines.  And then there's the goblins with the same elemental mud on them as we found near our campsite.  As well as the hide with the frog picture, one that Saidou purports is a sign of reverence to a patron deity."



"It is clear to me now that the goblins worship Gogunta.  It was probably wise that we turned back when we did as invading the camp, spent, and encountering both the bulk of the goblin tribe and demon spawned boggards would likely have ended poorly for us."  Kon turns to face the others, "We can also say that the temple extends far, quite a distance into the marsh, and that the bulk of the temple's place of worship is where the goblins now call home.  There, we will likely find the source of the elemental mud."

Kon lowers his head and furrows appear between his eyes, "What bothers me more is the possibility that the professor was not alone, that he may have travelled with his children, or worse, in search of them.  We found no evidence of them at the campsite, but it makes no sense to me that a scholar would explore the wilds all alone without even signs of mercenaries to guard him.  He may have been arrogant, but even arrogance has its limits.  This points to invitation, desperation, or compulsion."

Turning aside and sitting with his gear once more, Kon readies leaves in his pot with boiled water for a morning tea with their daily rations, "We may have also found what we were looking for, in the end.  Runa had sent us to investigate the ruins supposedly belonging to Voran Earthmane.  While these are likely those ruins, it's clear Voran wasn't the owner of this place.  At best, it was a locus of elemental study for him.  At worst...  A doorway to Gogunta's realm."  He looks up from the pot hung above the campfire, "If the professor was not alone, then time is likely of the essence to rescue the others, if they still live.  If I'm Wright about the temple and its connection to Gogunta, then the goblins may plan to torture and sacrifice anyone and everyone of us as well, and we may see far worse than just a tribe of goblins invading the town.  It's clear we need to investigate, and possibly eliminate, the goblins."  Turning to look toward Saidou, Kon asks, "Is there anything else you can recall about your vision?  It may help us to learn about what the professor was up to."

Some poignant memories.

Saidou's expression as he follows the investigator's thoughts shifts a few times, but does show doubt at several clues.

Finally, he adds when Kon draws a breath to close; "The professor never traveled without two companions. I don't know if I would go as far as to consider them children, but I am not Endro, nor do I know his relationship to his companion hounds. In the nightmare, it may have been for his hounds that i felt loss and confusion..." Saidou shudders again.

"Do you know, of any definition of what Gogunta looks like? The horse-headed fiend, it laughed as the horror flowed, as the dark waters stole knowledge. The glimmers of thought about children, where were my children, might not have been from the knowledge ... But didn't we find at least one of his Wolfhound, staked to the tree and gutted?"

Samara throws a look at Vostuin, "See? They had help from their god, as I said. We absolutely have to take that into consideration."
Scowling as liquid seeps from her blanket as she rolls it up for transport, "And again I suggest we use a more cautious approach, assuming we aren't considering our mission successfully concluded. I mean, we found the ruins, we gathered some intel, that meets our requirements as I understand them."

Kon shakes his head toward Saidou, "Gogunta wouldn't be a horse, I don't think.  The Water Head goblins revere frogs and boggards, so it only stands to reason a deity of theirs would have to be something related to them.  Unfortunately I don't know much about that.  I'm also not aware of any horses that would be involved with elemental mud."  Pausing to think, he continues, "As for the children...  I'm not sure why humans consider animals to be their children.  I suppose it could be, but as you said, at least one of his dogs was killed in a very public way.  There's no chance he wouldn't know about that if it occurred before the end of his life.  And by the looks of things he didn't have much time to worry about someone else before his own untimely end.  No, I still think there's something else we're not aware of."

He turns to Samara next, "And we can't consider our work done, per se.  We were tasked with," he clears his throat, attempting to mimic Runa Hildrsdottir's mannerisms, "'meticulous notes of anything interesting, bringing back any and all artefacts we may find, and properly sketching out the ruins noting where any artefacts were found', which I know extends off into the marsh.  Fixing up this..." Kon waves at the dilapidated enclosure that makes up their campsite, "ruin and documenting a few things around it doesn't meet that requirement.  Where are the altars?  Where are the statues to Drugog?  There are no significant signs here that would suggest this was the main temple.  On the other hand, we were chosen, rather than a team of scholars, or even as escorts for scholars, because there was a high likelihood of trouble being here.  Well, we found that."  He pokes at the pot, observing the warmth of the water and letting it brew some more, "At the least, we should try to learn more about the temple proper and what we're up against before deciding to return.  If we learn that what we're up against is indeed something divine, or demonic more likely, and beyond our control, we'll seek further assistance.  Certainly Runa wouldn't expect us to face down such an overwhelming threat unprepared.  If there are indeed children to be sacrificed however, then we cannot wait until a small army returns in a few weeks or months."

"I got some notes for ya," Samara mutters as she checks and cleans her weapons.

Shouldering her pack, she ticks off items on her fingers, flicking here ears back and forth. "Let's stop and grab some rats for breakfast. With any luck, some goblins will come and sacrifice themselves, meaning there will be fewer at their main camp.
"I would very much prefer if, before we go charging in there, maybe we can draw them out a few at a time once we find said camp, so we're not fighting them all at once?
"Also, what further evidence do you need to know we are dealing with their deity?"