>>717482
Nico slips free of the shackles, and successfully bestows shadow armor on Sir Garaile. Not a moment too soon: half-formed plates of tenebrous force deflect a grazing hit from the snail's flailing tentacles.

Each casting of Infernal Healing would consume either a pint of sunwater or a drop of alchemically preserved devil's blood, worth about five pounds of coinage-grade silver on the open market, although the price is a moot point when Nico simply doesn't have any on hand. Even apart from that cost, the spell has some marked disadvantages compared to Least True Healing, such as inability to bring people back from certain types of injury or any type of death. For some reason I thought you'd taken Lesser Rejuvenate Eidolon instead, and I'll let you go back and switch to that if you'd prefer.

>>717525
>compass
Northeast gate, yeah. Misspoke because the corresponding borehole curves around to the south.
>split the swarm
Doesn't work. Marijke's got a little RTS mini-map in her mind, with three commandable units: self, parrot, swarm. Asking the spiders to split up is like asking her own right and left legs to walk in opposite directions.

>The Macaw can stay put for now. Hopefully it has the sense to hunker down and not attract arrows.
Parrot on shoulder, check. Eyepatch and peg leg on back-order. Let's hope you get through this without needing 'em.

>Is he at 1 too? You left him out in the summation.
Than took the precaution of sleeping on a rooftop, which made her inconvenient to carry over to the pillar. Yeven Sturgis disappeared overnight, perhaps noticing the impending ambush and effortlessly circumventing the outpost's perimeter security with her gravity powers. Sgt. Nick is, as far as you know, still at the bottom of a rancid pool, screaming himself hoarse. The other PCs - Marijke, "Sir" Garaile, Nico Nashville, and Dimitry "the White Snake" Nicola (we sure have a lot of folks named 'nic,' huh?) - were chained up to be sacrificed.

Snake has successfully unfastened his own restraints, and goes to work on Marijke's. She's the only one still in chains, apart from Garaile's improvised flail.

>If the snail is sapient, I wonder if I can order a few spiders to try and communicate with it.
Arachnids and gastropods have at least as little in common with each other as either do with mammals, and these particular spiders are intellectually on par with earthworms, or koalas; problem-solving and abstraction are utterly beyond their comprehension, never mind language. It would make more sense to attempt semaphore using a pair of live cuttlefish as flags... or, perhaps, simply wait for the Silence to expire and re-cast Whisperweb, including the snail and Nico as targets.

>In the real world at least, terrible.
Yep. When in doubt, I'm going for brutal realism here. One casting of Least True Healing on each of those two wounds would fix Than up good as new, though, and if that happens within the next in-game hour you won't even need to worry about infection.

>spiders can't split up
I'll send them after the gobos, then. Drive away the group of arrow shooting baddies, and leave Garaile to finish the priest.

>One casting of Least True Healing on each of those two wounds would fix Than up good as new
...too bad for than I've only got one of those prepared.

>>717556
Swarming spiders pursue into the barracks, leaving wounded, in some cases paralyzed and/or blinded goblins in their wake. When they're done, the place will most likely be more nearly free of fleas and bedbugs than on the day it was built.

The last pair of shackles opens. Marijke can feel the mechanism click, and see Dimitry's lips move, but the actual sound of his witty comment or request for gratitude is lost.

It looks like Mesifin Styx isn't quite out of the fight yet, and is in fact readying another pulse of killing energy even as Garaile and the flail snail begin to stave in his ribcage. Intervene, or flee?

rolled 5, 2, 2 = 9

---

>>717570
(I think I will indeed take rejuvenate eidolon rather than the unusable regeneration spell, yes)

After paling at the realization that he nearly broke his hands for reliance on a spell that he doesnt have and couldnt cast anyway, Nico will move around to the corner of the storehouse, and try his hand at tossing a blob of acid at the general area of Styx's face, considering that a burnt out tongue likely plays merry hell with verbal spells, regardless of arcane or divine nature.

After that he will simply try to keep out of the way of any fighting, and out of line of sight of any more goblin archers, rubbing his wrists and keeping the flail snail in his line of sight to learn as much of its vernacular as possible.

(Forgot to dice first time around)

>>717581
Brother Mesifin Styx's eyes melt and sizzle away into empty sockets where Nico's caustic ray strikes. The fallen priest lays, twitching, in an ever-broader puddle of his own blood. For a moment, all is still.

From the cracks in his accursed skull, a final spiteful blast erupts. Though it leaves no wounds, Garaile suddenly feels dizzy and short of breath, while Nico's joints and teeth ache like a deep full-body bruise. Some fifteen or twenty scattered goblins, already struck down by the first wave of negative energy, spasm and expire, joining their erstwhile ally in death.

A mass of phlegm and bile, more than the corpse could possibly have contained, rises like smoke and coalesces into a twisted, semi-humanoid shape, foul and demonic and bizarre, yet somehow bitterly familiar. "Mister Nashville," it says, not in any earthly language, not even in sounds, but rather through the refined medium of willful, malicious intent, direct from one soul to another and therefore clearly comprehensible to all sapient beings present, "You insulted my family, my faith, my future... weighed against that wounded pride, mere omnipresent pointless death scarcely stings. May your rapier tongue be forever sheathed!" Those last words spent, the specter falls down, deep into the earth, borne on a swirl of putrid green flame.

The snail simply shudders in horror and withdraws into it's shell.

I guess Than will just sit around until help comes. Anything more in action will make the injuries worse.

>>717597
There's more than enough clean cloth at hand to make bandages, and her own supply of fortified wine for sterilization. Is Than willing to plunder a shrine for first aid supplies?

rolled 1, 6, 1 = 8

---

>>717589
Pride?... Cultists, bah. Nico will test his sheathed tongue. "Ah, so am I to be robbed of speech or merely insult?"

That quandary satisfied, he will lend his surgery kit, as well as the use of his laudanum for painkilling and soap for cleansing, to Than, though he will leave the actual physicking to someone more competent in general, and to whom Than has given fewer mistrustful glances. An actor notices these things.

rolled 2, 2, 4 = 8

---

>Marijke can feel the mechanism click, and see Dimitry's lips move, but the actual sound of his witty comment or request for gratitude is lost.
I'll offer a smile and thumbs up in return, then attempt to move out of the silence.

>another spite blast
Was Marijke out of range from that? My Macaw is still feeling the first one.

>what do
First priority: Marijke checks that the contents of her coin purse are intact. (Charcter flaws are so much fun).

Second priority is treating Than's injuries. I think the proper procedure would be to use the surgery tools to remove the arrows, cast staunch bleeding to stop the blood loss that triggers, then cast least true healing on whichever of the two injuries is more serious. (Or to prioritize the leg shot, so she's not slowed as we flee). Unfortunately, I only have the one casting prepared, so the other will just have to be bound / bandaged normally.

Looks like Nico is assisting with the surgery or at least the cleaning the wounds? Marijke might have to shoo him away from the patient so she can cast, if he's still broadcasting silence.

Third priority is applying magic sight to Nico, see if Marijke can perceive anything about that curse.

(Uh, that's several things, do I need more rolls?).

Well it should be more noticeable to Nico with Than's broken mask. Making another can come another time or during the change between quest threads or whatever transition you're planning.

She'll accept help from Marijke, and looting for more medical supplies sounds like a good idea.

What happened to the Snake guy?

On a personal note, I don't think Nico will be muted at all. All he says is "may" conditionally, which is usually a hope, never a promise.

But hey, I'm not JamesLeng.

>>717601
>test his sheathed tongue
All the mouthparts seem to work normally, but no sound is produced. Nico Nashville can hear sounds originating more than ten feet away almost normally, though oddly distorted, but anything within that radius is utterly silent. Those standing close to him cannot hear anything at all.

>>717602
>Was Marijke out of range from that?
Might have been. Which way did she move, immediately after being unshackled?

>contents of her coin purse
All present and accounted for.

>Unfortunately, I only have the one casting prepared
Triage, bandaging, removal of the projectiles, and treatment for shock proceed in a mercifully uneventful manner. When it comes time to apply serious magic, the parrot recites a memorized phrase.
"Free samples, urawk! Limit one per customer per day, warrk!"
Sure enough, only the second application of miraculous healing actually uses up a prepared spell. Both puncture wounds and the cut on Than's forehead seem to be fully recovered, or near enough, although her mask remains cracked and hair disheveled.

So, you're all been barricaded inside the chapel, wounds treated, breath caught, 'free sample' healing passed around to anyone who seems to need it. Conversation is possible, so long as Nico is standing at the far side of the room. It's been about an hour since the fighting stopped when some goblin knocks on the door, shave-and-a-haircut, and shouts "Parley!"

rolled 4, 1, 3 = 8

---

New ISP, new ID, woo.
>Which way did she move, immediately after being unshackled?
Being a squishy caster, probably away from the writhing giant snail, the angry dark priest, and the teammate haphazardly swinging a chain around all engaged in melee.

>free sample healing
Bird has earned a treat when next Marijke gets the chance, and Brem Marst gets prayers of thanks.

>So, you're all been barricaded inside the chapel
Where's the snail? In the chapel with us, hunkered down by the site of battle still, or fleeing goblintown as fast as it can?

>what do
Immediately before the goblins arrived, Marijke would have been studying the curse placed on Nico with her magic sight. While there's a certain amusing irony in a gregarious chatterbox being silences, he's been nice to her. She's looking to see if she can tell if there might be a way to reverse it, or if a whisper-web could safely bypass it.

If there was time permitting in between the medical treatment and the goblin's arrival: I'd also liked to have given the interior of the shrine a quick inspection. Mostly so we can avoid anything unholy, cursed, or otherwise sacrosanct to the local vengeful dark deity. (And on the off chance anything else jumps out as enchanted or magical- stuff left behind by previous sacrifices, maybe)? If Garaile took Mesifin's weapon, I'd like to have inspected that too.

>"Parley!"
Since the most outspoken member of our party isn't on speaking terms with anyone at the moment: "We're listening".

rolled 3, 1, 4 = 8

---

>>717589
Garaile will equip the pilfered morningstar on the hip slot where the axe used to be.
Can I get an inventory check, so I know what they did and did not take?

Also, now that the fighting is over and a real weapon has been acquired, Garaile would like to more calmly take the time to remove the stubborn shackle and eliminate the dead weight.

Than will just do an inventory check on the shrine. With her mask broken, she's not in a good mood at the moment. She's not going to touch anything though, only look.

"Can you still communicate by writing on the ground using chalk?" she asks Nico not within his null zone.

>>717703
>squishy caster away from melee
After a dose of free-sample healing the bird seems to be fine.

>If there was time permitting in between the medical treatment and the goblin's arrival: I'd also liked to have given the interior of the shrine a quick inspection.
Not much time, if Marijke's the lead healer, but enough to get a basic layout. Semi-portable wooden altar up against the back wall topped by a cubit-high cast-iron idol of some bloat-bellied divinity, flickering black candles highlight focal points of an eight foot wide chalk diagram in the middle of the floor that looks like it's been smudged out and redrawn several times. Padded benches around the perimeter, shelves and cabinets of morbid devotional whatsits and grisly sorcerous lab equipment. Nothing stands out as especially valuable, or magical enough to be of immediate use, but it's badly organized enough that a comprehensive search could be fairly tedious and time-consuming. One of the spare robes hanging by the door was torn to strips for bandages, but the place is otherwise undisturbed.

>Mesifin's weapon
Apart from straightforward basic weapon enchantments, it is extraordinarily baneful to the softhearted, the generous, the righteous, all those who cleave to the principle of compassion and value the lives of others above their own.

>>717704
>Garaile will equip the pilfered morningstar
>>715749
>Definitely righteousness
Notably baneful against Sir Garaile himself, to the extent that gripping the unholy weapon feels like something's trying to rip out his soul through the palm of his hand. Not trying quite hard enough to actually succeed, but very nearly so, and intensely unpleasant in any case. The tearing sensation ceases immediately when the weapon is set aside.

>We're listening
"Kamlyss is me. Was second-in-command, until your elf shot my boss at the west gate. That shitsack 'emissary' and his horseface corspefucking god killed more of my boys than you all together, and then paying for that, you kept my hands clean. My dead boss, Morask, who you met in the healing-hall, he got greedy. Flicked the snake's head, forgot to put it down. Forgot why we're here. I say, you wanna go up and out, no more blood between us? You can go. Show you secret safe passage to the surface. We got lotsa supplies and six slaves locked up in storage, you take what you want from that too. All I ask is this: when home, to the king of the giants, tell her Greznek makes a better friend than enemy. Tell her Kamlyss, who holds this pass, talks before she fights, always listens, never lies."

>>717742
>all those who cleave to the principle of compassion and value the lives of others above their own
Oh, oops. That's not what I intended.

>>715386
>distill it into self-reinforcing righteousness against all things corrupt and unjust
I misunderstood this as self-righteous, against things I think are corrupt and unjust against me.
So, in the context of anger, I meant it like "You can't anger me because I'm superior to you and someday I'll be a big shot and you'll be nothing."
>>715749

In other words, I meant to go the lofty, discreetly arrogant hero path, not the paladin path, since it's a more gritty setting and paladin path will probably get me killed.

rolled 1, 1, 6 = 8

---

>>717769
Will discard unholy weapon anyway though, and look for more mundane one.

rolled 5, 1, 1 = 7

---

>>717716
'Chalk, or spell in pinch. If goblin trustworthy, thats best offer all ways but one; route out good but too much opportunity deeper.' Nico will write, and go about studying the less smudged markings on the chalken diagram, and look for some extra chalk. He will then look through any notes and such he can find, especially if the equipment here looks to be able to supply for the identification spell. Then he will stand back and cast detect magic.

After thus rummaging about, he will silently snap his fingers, and add an addendum to his writings. 'Also, should ask about why they are here, and about styx's acolytes.'

>>717776
I feel your pain, Nico. Choosing between concise and purple prose cannot be easy for you.

>goblin's offer, through the door
...dang it, Than's truthsense probably needs line of sight, doesn't it.

>>717769
Grand strategy goes over here:
>>/questdis/99268

>>717782
>truthsense probably needs line of sight
Than isn't actually sure! It doesn't come up much. Her mutation is not a sense for truth, as such; solidity shows the same blankness as being blind, because those eyes seek out vulnerabilities, whether that's a soft spot in armor, a crucial blood vessel, or a verbal argument's flawed foundation. Deliberate, explicit falsehoods may be clearer than distortion, evasion, misdirection, and omission, but always that synesthesia of a crack, a counterpoint that could be struck to devastating effect. Than can't see any serious flaws in the offer, but on some level can't escape the worry that she's simply distracted herself by staring at that iron-bound oak door in lieu of the speaker.

>>717776
>chalk
Drawer in one of the cabinets has finger-sized sticks in a variety of colors.
>supply for the identification spell
No such luck. There's an unlabeled bottle of what might be wine, but no owl feather to stir it with, and no wide, flat gemstone or blue glass lens. Disappointing lack of basic research equipment in general, really; to a seasoned occultist's eye it seems like this place is stocked with reagents for a few basic ward-maintenance and mid-range communication rituals, but not much else. Not even trans-etheric range... which, assuming some minimal competence, implies that whatever god they were praying to was believed to be personally holding court somewhere within that range, on the order of hundreds of miles at most.

> ask about why they are here,
Snake or somebody relays Nico's questions, and Kamlyss replies "We here to hold open the passage, for Greznek's use."
> and about styx's acolytes
"Slaves all yours now, if you want 'em. Already said that. Deal or not?"

>>717808
'It seems Styx's horned patron holds on this plane, less than 1000 miles. Some sendings decrease range w intervening mass. Can think of no better place than this dungeon? Maybe ask kamlys.'

Nico will then make a small tally field;
kamlys' offer
Y.N
/._
_._
_._
_._

rolled 6, 1, 3 = 10

---

>>717808
Marijke asks: do you know what became of the last member of our group? The woman yesterday's patrol found first, Yevon?"

Marijke will vote yes. She would much rather cut deals than fight our way out, and this one seems reasonable.

>>717826
>what happened to Yeven
There is some whispered discussion in the goblins' native language as Kamlyss checks with surviving witnesses before responding. "She drank almost nothing, ate like trained to avoid poison. While the rest of you sleep, asked her guards questions about latrine that make no sense, to distract them. Somehow made them dizzy and 'fall sideways.' Then she fled, maybe through south gate. If hurt, wasn't my boys."

Wanting nothing to do with the goblins anymore, Than votes yes.

>>717843
>>717826
>>717819
Three in favor, out of a quorum of five. Any counter-proposal, dissent, eleventh-hour unilateral treachery, etc.? Or shall we simply move on to division of spoils, as I queue up the start-of-thread-2 cutscene?

>>717935
Seems like a fine deal to Garaile... if it is true.
Having already been duped and nearly killed by goblins once today, Garaile finds the generous offer somewhat suspicious.
"How do we know is not another trick? This goblin can be offering any proof?"


Also, what about Sgt. Nick? Can we get some goblins to fetch him before we go?

>>717939
>not another trick
"Bad liar is Kamlyss. If only wanted to kill, be drilling on roof, pour burning oil by now."
>proof
"Open door a handspan, I give back your shield and axe. What fool arms an enemy?"
>what about Sgt. Nick? Can we get some goblins to fetch him?
"Your friend, lost near healing hall? Can't send a patrol out now. Too many dead or down, barely enough to hold the gates. Can't wait, neither. Better for everybody if you gone before reinforcements."

>>717946
Garaile will accept the axe and shield, check that they're still in good shape, and refit that axe belt loop so the axe no longer falls out at inconvenient times.

>Sgt. Nick
IC, I don't think it's right not to save him, but OOC, his player is gone and he'll be a burdensome vegetable that we'll be sacrificing our best change of escape to retrieve.

>>717961
If Garaile was down here by himself, OR with a proper expedition, the best option would be going out to find the fallen, maybe after providing some medical magic to goblin scouts to get them back on their feet in time. With the battered remains of three different lost adventuring parties, so close to the exit, and no map? Won't do Nick any good if you all get eaten before even finding him, and even less good to the other survivors. Honorable-yet-sane thing at this point is to get out, report him MIA to whoever cares, and think about retrieval after you regroup. Apologies, grieving, and somehow motivating the goblins to help when they become able, are all optional but recommended.

Refitting the belt loop is not a five-minute no-tools job. Fortunately, one of the kobold slaves is skilled and equipped for sewing or leatherworking. Another is a brownsmith and porter, while the third does cooking, tanning, and hazmat remediation. They are not recognized by the goblins as having names.
Of the three acolytes, all are more or less identically equipped and trained as ceremonial assistants and bodyguards, with black lacquered scale armor and small but elaborately-sculpted metal batons. Eswic, as already mentioned is a matronly woman, bald and pallid as a mushroom, who made some sarcastic comments about Mesifin Styx's career prospects and provided a blessing to Marijke. Goris is a younger woman, sluggish and taciturn as if stumbling through life half-asleep, kept her hood up the whole time, but performed her part in the group prayer with meticulous precision. Altsoba is lanky, androgynous, bursting with youthful energy, and has short black hair with green showing around the roots, but spent most of last night's party inside the chapel.

As to the supplies... hundreds of pounds of starchy dried mushrooms and wax-sealed green glass jars of dubious pickled meat, two massive barrels of Crack-Snout Ale that couldn't possibly fit up the spiral stair to the surface, two 4' cubic cages for the kobolds to sleep in, canvas, rope, sackcloth and coarse brown thread, some assorted animal bones and hides (small pig or large rat, hard to say) in various stages of tanning and dissection. Not much worth the trouble of carting off to resell, apart from a little bit of copper and iron bar stock, but many things potentially of direct use. Who's taking what, and how much?

rolled 6, 1, 5 = 12

---

Out of curiosity, what's the legal situation regarding slaves, or at least human slaves, on the surface? If it's not legal and we're headed thataways, that means the acolytes are either operating under the assumption their servitude will be temporary, or worried they might be headed for the black market.

Also, since it's liable to effect how my character sees the situation: how much is a slave worth, and does her faith have a moral stance on slavery? (I could rationalize opposite extremes from "people are just as much a commodity as all things are" to "souls are the currency of the Gods, and not for mortals to trade in").

For now, Marijke will regard their slaves with caution and wariness, but not cruelty or malice. The group's position isn't strong enough that they can afford to abuse or debase slaves with impunity safely, and we need all the help we can get to leave her alive and purses intact. Provided they aren't going to turn on us.

>what do
Marijke will cast detect poison on the eatables. And idly browse to see if any of that looks like it would make good familiar-chow.

"So, did you like Styx at all?" says Than in a joking manner.

She personally doesn't think Styx is a likeable man, but they could have gotten along, or only a business relationship, considering Eswic didn't seem to like him much.

A bit of friendliness may go a long way here. Give them a little smirk.

>>718025
>legal situation regarding slaves
Out on the frontier, for most practical purposes the law is whatever the toughest guy in town says it is.
Orc tribes and most pirate charters take prisoners for ransom, or sometimes recruit by pressganging and sword-point conversions, but prisoners don't do forced labor, and recruits get paid in shares of plunder proportionate to how much they helped, regardless of how they joined.
In civilized parts of the world, agricultural serfs are sometimes considered a component of real estate, like the buildings they live in, and various other sorts of indentured servitude are fairly common. There are humanitarian standards for fair treatment of sapient beings, varying wildly from one jurisdiction to the next in both formal phrasing and consistency of application.
One universal rule throughout the Drakocracy, however, forbids buying or selling any mammal, or nonskeletal part thereof, as a commodity denominated in any dragon-backed currency. Slavers and cattle-ranchers alike have to deal with the complexity of barter or trades mediated through bearer bonds, redeemable for specific containers of wheat or honey or whiskey or cheese at ancient vaults in elven lands, rather than actual gold and silver coins of guaranteed purity.
So, the kobolds would be much easier to convert to cash when you make it back to a settlement. Rule of thumb for pricing is, five years' wages from the best-paying job they'd be able to do, but morale, health, attractive appearance, and so on can swing that quite a bit.

>detect poison
Half the shroom starch and almost all the pickle jars are at least mildly fishy, possibly due to improper storage rather than malice. The alcohol is technically poison by definition, and would be met with revulsion by any non-goblin oenophile, but seems uncontaminated. The chemicals being used to tan leather should definitely not be consumed, or probably even touched without waterproof gloves.

>>>718036
>"So, did you like Styx at all?"
Eswic thinks for a moment before replying "Yeah. He wasn't so bad apart from all the complaining. Gave his best effort, on the few occasions when it mattered." Altsoba nods vigorously, and adds "He really knew how to handle a whip!" Goris simply shrugs, then goes back to nervously picking at her fingernails.
The kobolds don't seem to understand Humish much at all, and in any case have been trained not to respond on matters of opinion.

>>718024
Garaile will take a decent emergency ration of whatever mushrooms Marijke deems safe.

Also, lop off one of Mesifin's ears, as well as taking an ear off the rat-axe. Since there's an ample supply of thread, might as well start up an ear-necklace to keep that lower ambition in check.

>>718113
>ear-necklace
Eswic covers her face, then turns around and retches. Goris and two of the kobolds watch with an attitude of detached resignation, while the third moves to assist. Altsoba hesitantly squeaks, "D-do you want one of mine, too?"

So Styx wasn't a bad person, but definitely a fanatic or cultist. That's a shame.

Than flashes a nervous smile while narrowing her eyes, looks at Garaile, and all she can say is "Really?"

To Altsoba with a slight frown Than says "I don't think he takes trophies from living bodies from what I've seen so far."

Regardless of how Than feels, I feel it was a little funny.

>>718135
Eswic, thinking Than's comforting words were directed at her, waves defensively/dismissively and says "I'll be fine. Past thirty summers old but that squeamish streak is why I'm still just an acolyte." Then she takes a slug of the goblin ale, gargles, and spits it into the puddle of sick, which the chubbiest of the three kobolds has already begun cleaning up.

Altsoba calms down fractionally and lets out a sigh that might be relief, or disappointment.

>>718025
>good familiar-chow
Pure starchy stuff is unhealthy, but a marinade mix in one of the few jars of confirmed-safe pickled meat appears to include some whole walnu... nope, nope, those are rabbit brains.

Fortunately, given that you're headed for the surface, one day's standard trail rations for a human is about a week's worth for a two pound parrot, if supplemented by similarly modest amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables.

rolled 4, 1, 2 = 7

---

>Half the shroom starch and almost all the pickle jars are at least mildly fishy, possibly due to improper storage rather than malice.
>nothing good for the Macaw
Well, I guess Marijke is on a shroom diet, and the bird is eating from any proper rations I have left. I'll take a few meals worth of the safe stuff, and store them in some canvas, assuming the canvas looks fit for that. (Actually, it might be worth asking the kobold who's good with a needle to make some sacks to carry things in). I'll recommend safe stuff to anyone else too. (The slaves should probably be encouraged to take food for themselves if they don't make a move to. Everyone needs to eat, and can carry the weight of their own food).

>cages
Giving the objects of denigration and undesired carrying weight an unpleasant glance Marijke asks "are those really necessary?"

>takes an ear from the body
...the body that had it's face melted by acid and had a corrupt mass of phlegm and bile erupt from it? That's gonna be one nasty trophy. Garaile earns a weird look from Marijke.

>Altsoba hesitantly squeaks, "D-do you want one of mine, too?"
I can't tell if that's fear speaking, or if she's (?) that broken / ready to please / has a perverse tendency towards self harm. (Any could be possible, from their background).

"Keep your parts attached, they do more good that way. And I've patched more than enough bleeding for one day, I think."

>what do
Once supplied, Marijke will take the time to study Nico's condition with her sight. I'd also like to ask the acolytes if they're familiar with this effect.

>>718184
>study Nico's condition
The outward-facing portion is more or less straightforward magical silence, but instead of being a freestanding echo-manipulation that will eventually dissipate, it's rooted to a persistent structure. The overall effect might usefully be compared to a lotus: there's the visible flower (blocking sound), fed by a 'stalk' trailing back down the length of Nico's tongue to the throat chakra, fed in turn by roots deep into his identity and capacity for speech.

>ask the acolytes if they're familiar with this effect
Dying-breath curses? Yeah, definitely. Not exactly just-another-day-on-the-job stuff, but it's in all the stories. This specifically? No, pretty much every one is unique.
Obvious treatment options, ranked approximately by increasing feasibility and decreasing thoroughness:
1) Bring Mesifin Styx back to life. A dying curse whose speaker isn't dead falls apart like a tree with no trunk. Downsides: requires magic of the 9th circle or divine intervention, he'd immediately resume trying to murder you all.
2) Bring Nico back to some major city, hire a licensed and bonded curse-unraveler. Downsides: expensive, doesn't always work.
3) Bring Nico somewhere with no ambient magic. Downsides: magic is useful for a lot of other things, curse resumes as soon as he leaves.
4) Cut off the tip of Nico's tongue and put it somewhere more than 10' away from him, or into a suitably sealed container. Downsides: surgery is messy, curse resumes normal functioning as soon as tongue grows back. Upside: curse causes tongue to grow back when it otherwise wouldn't.
5) Develop some kind of sign language and/or upgraded variant of Whisperweb as a workaround.

>>718261
Hmmm. Would applying my class ability to barter and trade with various deities be an option? Not that I'm even close to willing to try something as ballsy as asking Orcus to un-curse someone who slew a priest of his without anything significant to offer as compensation, but it might be an option, in the long term.

>>718306
As a hedge witch, you barter and trade with mortals and local spirits. One specific deity facilitates that, for reasons of it's own, the way somebody might help a blacksmith set up shop in their basement to get free under-floor heating. With all three acolytes' help, you could maybe use the stuff in the chapel to contact Orcus, but there's... no real plausible positive outcome, from there. Undoing curses isn't really the Horned One's style. There's no long term where it would make more sense, either. It's like...

Say you're James Bond, in the villain's lair. You slip out of your restraints, shoot him in the leg before he hits the Big Red Doomsday Button. On the floor, plan foiled and bleeding out, he shoots your girlfriend-of-the-week. Asking for Orcus's help with this would be equivalent to activating the doomsday device yourself on the off chance it somehow fixes the girlfriend.

I was thinking it was more equivalent to walking into the villian's base and asking if they wouldn't mind terribly releasing that person they're having so much fun torturing, and not using this as an opportunity to smite me?

But yeah, even if this god were amenable to letting people buy out of his curses, I doubt we'd be able to afford (or willing to pay) the asking price.

Marijke will make sure Nico is aware of what she learned, and will thank the acolytes she consulted with.

Nothing she can really do to help him, for now. Tongue surgery (even if he wanted it) is too risky in our current situation (especially since his condition would block healing magic if we cut the big blood vessel to the tongue and he starts bleeding out or drowning in his own blood before the silence is cleared). Experimenting with modifying Whisper-web would be possible, on a day when I have experimental miscellany prepared, and I can afford to spare magic. (Paying for an expensive cure is currently a non-option, as far as Marijke is concerned. Nico would either have to be a lot more important to her, or she'd have to be wealthy enough for the cost to be inconsequential).

So, just to review the inventory... you're taking all six captives, along with their equipment, some burlap sacks full of as much of the safe food as everyone can reasonably carry, Garaile is taking Styx's ear for a necklace, and Acolyte Goris stole Styx's belt while she thought nobody was looking. Is that all? Any goods or services you're planning to leave behind as a goodwill gesture for the goblins?

>anything else
Someone should probably take some rope, just on general principles.

I can't think of any immediate use for the metal stock, at least not one that wouldn't require melting it down and casting it. Which I don't think we have time for. The cages seem too cumbersome / heavy to bother taking.

>Any goods or services you're planning to leave behind as a goodwill gesture for the goblins?
We don't have much in the way of material goods we can afford to spare. (Short of gold, which Marijke's flaw / ambition would prevent).

I'm going to assume the spider-summon expired and I don't need to order them to leave?

I suppose I could offer to spam staunch bleedings if the goblins have people in need of medical treatment, although with spiderbites, they're more likely to be in danger due to poison and/or infection, so I don't know how much help that might be. The slaves might be of more use, if they still have better healing spells prepared, or if any of them know cure poison. (I'm sort of assuming we'll be rested up by the next session so spending spells on diplomacy won't cripple us).

If the snail is still in city limits, I might be able to use Whisper-web to communicate with it, and persuade it leave / guide it to an exit so it doesn't cause the goblins further problems.

Nico's aura of silence might be useful, if there's a persistent magic effect somewhere in town they're like interrupted.

Can't really think of any other "sorry we killed up your town when you betrayed us to a dark priest" gestures.

>>718619
>gold
Actually, Brem Marst had quite a bit to say on the difference between coinage and wealth. Leaving behind, say, two or three gold coins, out of hundreds in your purse, and hundreds more still at the bottom of that foul pool, in exchange for the goblins maybe not feeling like this new leadership screwed up, like they've been robbed, and thus being willing to work with you again in the future? Could be a pretty good deal, long term. Depends how you spin it.

>spider-summon expired
Yep, gone after three minutes.

>rope, just on general principles
Most of what they've got for rope is actually treated cave-fisher filament. Each strand is twenty yards, slightly sticky and almost too thin to grip, like a rolled-up post-it note. Over 300 pound test, which compares favorably to conventional 3/8" rope. Weighs about a pound each, so three strands would displace two man-days of food, and the goblin stockpile holds more than you could reasonably carry. As with tallow candles, the stringy extrusion is edible in an emergency, though even goblins find it unappetizing. How much are you bringing?

> if the goblins have people in need of medical treatment
Very much so. Fortunately, it seems you can still hand out more true-healing 'free samples' to anybody who hasn't had one yet today. After a bit of experimentation, the parrot can even deliver touch-range magic on your behalf, for occasions when somebody is inconveniently far away or too grody to touch. Only one 'sample' can be delivered before recharging, though.

>staunch bleeding
Most of the time, if it's been an hour or more since the damage was inflicted, it's too late for Staunch Bleeding to do any good. The rare exceptions would be when somebody's got slowly-deteriorating internal injuries, or hemophilia plus an enchanted anti-dehydration tattoo that makes it possible for them to keep bleeding an abnormally long time without being dead, or something weird like that. Even in such a case, True Healing is better to the point that Staunch Bleeding would be completely redundant (unless they got injured again after the healing, or something like that).

>Whisper-web to communicate with the snail
It is unresponsive to the point of catatonia, and Nico's translation capabilities are effectively unavailable. With so many scouts and officers back on their feet earlier than expected, though, the goblins readily agree to roll the snail back outside by their own labor.

>Nico's aura of silence might be useful, if there's a persistent magic effect somewhere in town they're like interrupted.
Magically-imposed silence and a null-magic zone are completely different things. They cannot coexist; the active presence of either one is sufficient evidence of the absence of the other. Creating a null-magic zone outside lab conditions requires spellwork of the 6th circle or major geomancy. If Mesifin Styx had anything like that up his sleeve, you'd probably all be a lot less alive right now.

rolled 2, 4, 5 = 11

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>Actually, Brem Marst had quite a bit to say on the difference between coinage and wealth. Leaving behind, say, two or three gold coins, out of hundreds in your purse, and hundreds more still at the bottom of that foul pool, in exchange for the goblins maybe not feeling like this new leadership screwed up, like they've been robbed, and thus being willing to work with you again in the future? Could be a pretty good deal, long term. Depends how you spin it.
Fiiiiiiiiine.

Marijke will invest a few gold coins of blood money with Kamlyss for diplomatic purposes, recognizing she might have to pass this way again (perhaps more prepared to clear the remaining gold from that pool?) and that maintaining good relations could be profitable in the longer term.

>Fortunately, it seems you can still hand out more true-healing 'free samples' to anybody who hasn't had one yet today
Well if the god if feeling generous, no reason not to spread the love. Free goodwill and evangelism.

>How much [treated cave-fisher filament] are you bringing?
I'll take one strand, I suppose.

If Than has any money, leave half of it, she has no use for gold really. She can have some makeshift things made on the surface (if possible) and hunt for her own food.

Anything else noticeable in Styx's (heh river of the dead) death liquid pile thing? The goblins will sweep him out and he may become undead. She really doesn't want that at ALL. She wasn't disgusted at Garaile, only disappointed to be honest, desecration isn't her favorite thing to do, but when she has to do it she'll do it.

>>718691
Styx's robes are pretty nice material, apart from being drenched in goo, and he's got some chainmail on underneath them. On his left hand there's a ring, some silvery metal with a pretty big blue gem. And, of course, that spiky skull-rod Garaile dropped like a hot potato.

Try taking everything but the chainmail. The robe can be washed, ring could be useful, maybe give it to Marijke (if it's not cursed), skull-rod is like welp why not