"Pathfinder Campaign - A Call to Arms - S30b" Topic

[DMs Note: Given the scale of this engagement and the graphics involved I won't keep track of hit points on the tokens but rather I'll keep track of them separately.]

ROUND 1B – ENTER ASMARA

• Risandor backs off 20ft and begins to Inspire Courage.
• Thomas fires at one of the advancing goblins and just hits one of the goblins because of Risandors' inspirational song. He hits the goblin in the left leg for 4pts of damage.
• Halee fires at one of the advancing goblins but she misses.
• The men at arms focus fire upon the wounded goblin. They miss three times but the forth shot strikes true causing enough damage to kill the wounded goblin.
• Lifting his war axe, Uthalin charges the closest goblin and strikes it in the left shoulder for 12pts of damage, instantly killing the little monster.
• Ansic charges the closest goblin and hits it in the right shoulder, also for 12 pts of damage.
• The gate to the chateau opens and through it emerges a 5'2" armoured female who instantly puts one of the sleeping goblins to death with her scimitar.

ROUND 2A – ANOTHER DAY

• Of the original 14 goblins only 7 are not incapacitated or dead and the remainder need to take a morale check. They roll an 8 on 2d6 and fail their morale check.
• As they flee the party members with missiles fire parting shots. The men at arms hit once doing 3pts of damage. Halee hits doing 4pts of damage and Thomas hits doing another 5pts of damage. One goblin is killed and another is badly wounded but is able to get away.
• Asmara rapidly dispatches the two sleeping goblins.

But there is no time for introductions as Risandor quickly realises that they must go to the aid of the slave halflings.

The party regroups, is joined by Asmara, and rushes towards the western hill which as they crest they see a scene of depravity and horror. Some of the goblins are releasing their enslaved kin whilst others are dragging some of the halflings out from their humpy and terrorizing them.

Risandor calls out to charge and the four men at arms, Ansic, Uthalin and Asmara charge home whilst Thomas and Halee shoot arrows into the throng. It is over quickly as two of the goblins are killed in the ensuring surprise round and another two are killed when they break and run. The two remaining goblins are joined by six goblin slaves who are able to escape during the confusion. There remains six pitiful halflings and a dozen evil goblins.

And then, coming from the direction of the chateau emerges a man in his early 40s. He advances towards the party and extends his hands in a sign of gratitude. "Thank you. Thank Asmodeus. Thank you all for saving our house and our stock."

DEW

Ah amazing! Now that's an entrance. :D

Are there still goblins at the salve hut or have they all ran away?

Went a lot better than I expected being on the open and all, maybe because we were against goblins?

Halee winces inside at M. Worishofen's reference to saving, "stock."

She has decided she really dislikes these people she's being paid to save. But pay is pay at this point… maybe sometime later…

I think a total of 14 goblins got away…should be easy to track given their panicked retreat. Maybe Uthalin could collect the trophies and check out the tracks?

Risandor would like Halee to ask Master Worishofen for a gift as personal thanks for their successful defence of his home. While Ris would like to free all the halflings, thats unlikely to happen. So he would like one of the halflings gifted to the party, and would bear responsibility for their upkeep costs. If agreed, once they leave the farmstead, Ris would like yo arm and feed the former slave, asking him to stay on as Risandors freedman servant.

Risandor will of course introduce himself to Asmara Goblin-Slicer and see if she wants to join the group.

So who wants to collect our reward and who wants to hunt the goblins?

Asmara will smile at the nickname and thank the Halfling – yes she will join the group – and will aid Ris in feeding/arming etc whichever Halfling is freed.

Umm, I am not detecting any sense of urgency from players that we wish to chase down the remaining escaping goblins.

Seems all are content with cutting off ears, collect reward and outfitting a potential manservant (which we can collect and still do later), in the meantime gob's are escaping.

We have no clue if they are from the caves or are some other nearby tribe living in the forest.

They came to attack and loot, not to draw us to them, so it seems to me going after them now benefits us more than them…

We have a Ranger for tracking, we are only down one spell and they are on the run.

What say all?

Also, at least one of the goblins that escaped was seriously wounded.

Risandor is full of confidence, and votes we pursue them now before they get too far ahead and while they are still away from their home. It would be great to catch them in the open and continue the pursuit…. numbers wise, they are about the same strength as the group we just beat, but six of them are escaped slaves with no armour or weapons. Perhaps we could even take some prisoner and get a reward from Marishofen for bringing him new goblin slaves?

For Ris: While Halee would not mind respectfully posing at least the question to M. Worishofen of gaining possession of a slave halfling as reward, we have to keep in mind our narrative that your very talented self is already, "owned," by someone in the party and therefore (hopefully) not subject to capture and enslavement. It would also mean if we get possession of the halfling, he could not be your free manservant. At least not publicly.

Take into account local perception and local customs and attitudes… would we stand out in this place, attract attention or sideways glances from the leadership or elites in this area (Guard Officers/Church/Land Owners, etc.) if the halfling was open about his newfound freedom or it was discovered somehow?

And does him being free mean according to custom he is subject to possible recapture and enslavement again? We do not know yet.

I like the IDEA, and I'll roll with it if you want to, just want us to get more info from the GM and consider potential fallout first.

email me – I have big ideas for this place that will take quite a few levels to come to fruition -- we can partner up for the long term goal of freeing everyone.

Thomas was thinking about pursuing the goblins but didn't want to get distracted from the Hobgoblins and Orcs they're already fighting.

If we do pursue the goblins Thomas propose we capture them rather than kill them.
Perhapse we can trade the extra goblins for halflings.
But he wouldn't feel that great about enslaving one group to free another.

Asmara doesn't see the fleeing goblins as a threat, and will not actively agitate to follow them. The threat has been neutralised for the moment – now is the time to see to any wounded, to look after the halflings, and to make sure that the farm is secure.

They can be tracked later if necessary.

EDIT: But she will go with the party if over half of us decide as a group to follow now.

So Ris, Halee are for pursuit, Thomas unsure and Asmara against. DEW knows the rp notes for Ansic and Uthalin, so that should determine our actions regarding the goblins.

MD, will pm you separately re long-term plans. Ris is up for playing the role of retained slave overseer, skilled voicepiece and organiser of the hired help and other slaves, so agree publicly he cannot have the other halfling as his servant, but more as his assistant in looking after the adventurers.

If we dont pursue, we should strike while Marishofen still feels he owes us something. Once the excitement dies down, he night downplay the threat and our part in saving his family.

Re: Capturing goblins for slave exchange.

Halee is torn between capture and kill, leaning towards kill. Halflings are not as troublesome and can communicate well in comparison to goblins, so not sure what the exchange rate is – Killing them is final, earns gold, and no moral quandaries/complications to concern with.

As a Player, I am curious to see what a possible exchange rate could be and if we could free more.

Mechanically, we are not well equipped for capture. Striking for non-lethal damage with weapons designed for lethal has a substantial penalty. Hard to overcome at this low a level, may hit only on a 20+. Doubling up and Aiding Another would help mitigate that. Grappling them is not much easier at our level and CMB's.

Not saying it is unworkable, just be aware of all that in your decision making.

I was thinking of capturing the 3 sleeping ones but they were killed first.
No big deal.

Ris dos have that other spell slot, he could sleep more, then we could concentrate on killing some, capturing some before the end of the spell, tie them all up?

Yes, could certainly drop some more with a sleep spell…the others will probably have to be killed, Ris doesnt have an issue with that…. and trading goblins for halflings, or maybe more than the kill bounty, has got to be worth a try…