Game date: Tue 06 Sept 4711 A.R., 10:00 AM
Shalelu and the party met at Sheriff Hemlock's office at the appointed time. Mayor Deverin was also there, and introductions were made all around. Hemlock again complimented the party's work against the goblins, and referred to them alternatively as "unofficial town guardsmen" and "Sandpoint's latest crop of heroes." He said that the townsfolk had mostly taken a liking to them, and that he felt that the presence of the party in town was having a calming effect on the populace.
"Thankfully," he said, "most of the tales of 'Goblin Day' I'm hearing now are now leaning toward the comic and are emphasizing the bizarre antics of the little runts, rather than the horror they could have caused. Of course, that's a good thing, as I'm planning to take three men with me and take a fast ship to Magnimar. I want to ask the Lord Mayor if he can spare a couple of squadrons of the City Watch to help us out here. It would really ease my mind if you people would stick around town at least until I return with more men."
Shalelu replied, "Hmmm... Actually, I was hoping that I could ask you for a squadron of guardsmen. But we can discuss that in a moment. The five goblin tribes are definitely working together right now, and I believe that a contingent from each of the tribes were involved in Friday's raid. This is bad. The tribes are usually too busy fighting among themselves to pull off anything like this on their own-- some outside force is organizing them. But I'm not sure who or what that is, or why. Regardless, it can't be good."
She continued, "As you know, there are five tribes of goblins around here. The smallest and least aggressive tribe is the Birdcruncher goblins. They are located about half a mile from here along the western slopes of the Devil's Plateau, and they keep to themselves for the most part.
"Next are the Licktoad goblins of the Brinestump Marsh. They tend not to be animal riders, but are excellent swimmers. They are apparently still all afraid of the goblin cannibal Vorka, who reportedly stalks the marsh looking for more goblins to eat and steal their "essence."
"The Seven Tooth goblins aren't particularly aggressive either-- they tend to be the suppliers of weapons and armor to the other tribes, and they mostly use Sandpoint's trash to make them." She turned to the mayor, "I have asked you to stop that half-orc Gorvi from dumping the town's trash over the cliff, right?" Deverin shrugged. An annoyed look crossed the elf's face. "Anyway," she resumed, "they live in Shank's Wood. From what the Seven Tooth goblins have told me, they haven't seen their strongest warrior Koruvus in a while-- the goblin I questioned said that that Koruvus showed up with a human-sized glowing sword about a year ago, and that he told the chief that he found a secret treasure trove and would be coming back with more magic to become the new chief soon. But he never came back.
"The second-largest tribe is the Thistletop goblins, and all the goblins agree that they have the best hideout. They're located on a gigantic rock about twenty yards off the Nettlewood coast. They say that this island looks a lot like a giant skull when viewed from the sea. Ripnugget is their leader, and he's pretty aggressive.
"The largest tribe is the Mosswood goblins. They're led by a chieftain called Big Gugmurt, who stands head and shoulders above the rest of the goblins. He's rumored to have a hobgoblin father and a wild boar for a mother-- a picture I don't want to think much about. However, the Mosswood goblins have always been hampered by their size: there are at least four factions within the tribe, and they're always at each others' throats to the point that they usually aren't much of a threat to non-goblins.
"Right now, the Mosswood goblins are in a bit of disarray. For one thing, a lot of them seem to have been beaten up recently-- I think these were goblins that survived last Friday's raid on Sandpoint. They are also saying that the bugbear assassin Bruthazmus was now working with the raiders. I've also heard that there was a recent power struggle in Mosswood and that one of their warriors, Kneebreaker didn't want to attack the town proper, and instead took about two dozen warriors to raid the countryside instead. I guess this It's this splinter of the Mosswood tribe that I am currently worried about-- they're getting bolder too, and have been raiding near Ulmsford and the nearby thorpe of the same name. I'm afraid that it's only a matter of time before they stop hunting livestock exclusively and start attacking the farmers themselves. Belor, do you have some men you could spare? I'd like to nip this splinter tribe before they entrench themselves or kill anybody."
Hemlock said that he didn't have any men to spare, especially as he was about to go to Magnimar to get more men. Charrone volunteered the party to play whatever role the Mayor thought would be best. Deverin said that the goblins near Ulmsford seemed the most immediate threat, and Charrone volunteered to help Shalelu fight them. The rest of the party followed suit. Hemlock said that he could delay his trip to Magnimar for another couple of days, after this group was dealt with.
After the Mayor Deverin took her leave, Sheriff Hemlock let Shalelu and the party sit in on the interrogation of the goblin prisoner from the previous day. Unfortunately, the goblin had a lot to say, but not much to offer. After about two and a half hours of questioning, the only salient points revealed were:
- “We not Mosswood goblins—we Toadstool goblins!"
- “Gugmurt kick us out of Mosswood when we not want to attack big longshanks village. Kneecrusher our boss now."
- "We take food from small longshanks village. Just take stuff we need. Or is pretty. Or we want”
- “We not have good hunting ground. We wait for travelers on road, fight them and take stuff.”
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