Editing Journal - Goblins West of Freeport (section)

==The Rescue==

Falcor kept jogging until he reached me, pulling apart the remainder of bars that I had loosened. Almost immediately the mob inside started running for their lives, despite us telling them to wait as it might not be safe. Twats.

Falcor and I moved into the room with them, shouting for them to stay behind us, that we didn't know what might be out there, and behind us was the only safe place. Falcor noticed that the other passage in the room, that had appeared blocked, had a faint flickering light behind the debris at the entrance. There was a mixture of earth and stone, almost like a dividing line rather than an obstacle, and it would be easy to clear or climb over.

Arad was on the edge of the light in this room, and saw the captives for the first time. They were mostly adult humans, certainly at the front, and wore normal clothes - although they had been heavily distressed due to what capture by goblins had put them through. Arad tried to calm them as Falcor shouted "stand still!" He asked Arad to lead the bedraggled lot out of here. Arad walked forward, asking them to be calm as he entered the light slowly, and encouraging them to stay inside the light. I had no patience for the ungrateful fools, and just yelled "Get into the light if you value your lives" whilst looking for my daggers, which were just outside the light unfortunately. The humans screamed at the voice in the dark ahead of them at first, and when Arad was visible properly, saying "here I am, I mean you no harm" they screamed all the louder! "Elf demon, run for your lives!" They panicked again and some ran past him into the dark.

I ran into the light, shouting "Idiots, just because we look different doesn't mean we're evil, we're not goblins, we're not here to hurt you, just stop!" Arad was still trying to calm them, despite obviously terrifying them, walking into the centre of light and saying "we are here to save you, not to harm you - I am here solely to bring you to salvation. The evil has been vanquished." Well, it has apart from these racist pricks, I was thinking but kept it to myself.

It probably didn't help that Falcor had been investigating the stones and the light beyond, so he was out of sight. He found a dressed stone corridor beyond the rubble, wide and clear, and the rubble seemed to have been deliberately piled there. Torches mounted on the walls provided light in the corridor, although it was too long to discern what it led to. 

Now he stepped back into the light, picking up a child that had been running away from Arad (and got a finger bitten for his trouble); the sight of him seemed to calm the humans. They were still wide-eyed with fright, and asked what "that" is (Arad) - was he a demon of Karmana's creation, they asked? Are you here with him? They spoke of the Elvrabor as if they were evil, but that wasn't right, and Arad certainly didn't seem to be. Falcor said that Arad was a friend, and that Arad should be a friend to them too, as he had helped save their lives.

I piped up with "I know nothing of any gods, but there were goblins here, now dead at our hands, and we are the ones that saved you. A little gratitude would not go amiss!" They seemed confused, thinking still that I was a child (a mistake I was not keen to correct given their reaction to Arad). Falcor urged them to follow Arad, being met with wails of "but he is an elf, he will eat the children!" But Falcor was firm, telling them to follow him and do what he says! Reluctantly they started to follow Arad, who picked up the burning faggot and started to lead them towards the exit (or what was left of it - do doubt they would suspect some demonic trap when they found it blocked).

As Arad entered the other room, he reached the bound goblin, where he found one of the missing captives repeatedly knocking the goblin's head against the floor - it was pretty certainly dead at that point. Then of course he saw Arad, screamed "Demon!" and started backing away in panic. Arad tried again to calm him, showing that his friends were just behind him, and asked him to follow the light to safety. Instead he shouted to the others, urging them to kill the demon. Falcor interjected again, urging them loudly to calm themselves, repeating that Arad was a human friend. "This one is not a demon," he said, "this is a friend, as am I. Please follow him." He also asked me to take a look at the stone corridor, but urged me not to go too far, not to step into the stone area.

I promised, sort of, I didn't want to go too far anyway; I just wanted a light so I could get my daggers! I easily climbed over the blockage, didn't find any obvious traps, and then took a torch from the wall. I could just about see a set of double doors at the end of the corridor, which was over a hundred feet long in total, possibly more like two hundred, but I wasn't in a hurry to go any further. There were regular torches alight all the way down, although they only provided a dim light. Rather gruesomely, there was a ring drawn crudely on the floor in blood (dry, but not that old) on the stone corridor side of the rubble... I avoided it.

I took a torch and climbed back into the goblin's room as Falcor shouted to me - the entrance had been blocked by the escaping goblins, causing it to collapse in such a way that it was unsafe to dig through. Now we would have to explore the new passage, regardless of what dangers lay ahead. Arad investigated the dead goblins by the entrance, and then the latrine, as I picked through the bodies at my end. We found some coins, and my daggers of course, but no weapons of any worth. Arad decided to arm the humans with them anyway, if nothing else to calm them down a bit. I also found what looked like a nice ruby... not sure whether I will mention that to the others. I'll see.

We gathered in the skull room with the stone passageway to discuss what to do next. Arad asked the humans if they wanted us to give the bodies a burial or burn them, but they dismissed the idea. Apparently they believed that once the soul had left the body (to go to their "great creator") it was just a husk of no value. Arad said a prayer for their souls, asking the great creator to ease their passage, which impressed and amazed the humans. They asked if he was the "one that Malek had foretold" - something about a demon priest of the great creator that would come to save them (an impressively accurate prophecy on the face of it). More importantly, this meant I was free to poke about in the human remains to see if there was anything of value. A lengthy search at arm's length (in case of tentacles) revealed a leather scroll case and a couple of jars with a viscous fluid inside.

The humans said that they had belonged to Malek and should go to the demon priest (Arad). He took them respectfully, and sniffed at the jars, announcing that they would be used for healing wounds. He also read the scrolls, recognising a couple of prayers that he could recite if needed. This ability to decipher the scrolls seemed to convince the humans that he really was the one that Malek foretold, and now he had gone from despised demon to trusted friend and ally. Gullible twats.

Falcor and I checked the rooms to the south now that there were more light sources to use, finding the cage to be a bare prison as expected. The other room seemed to be what one might generously describe as a throne room... so basically it had a chair and less shit in it. There was a chest, but it had been opened and emptied, which is probably why I had found a ruby and quite a lot of coin in my search of the bodies.

The only way forward, as we thought, was the stone passage. It seemed of fine construction, and the humans spoke of an ancient Duarev race (Elvradhil as I knew them) that once made their home on the island. It seems all the tales of Karmana's creations were true after all, but where were they now? The goblins' excavations had interrupted this corridor, but there were what looked like some kind of door at the far end. The blood circle, which I had seen in evil rituals on my own kind, was a worrying sign of a greater evil. At least we were on the right trail.

I moved ahead of the others, keeping to the left, as Falcor took a torch and followed further back on the right. Arad stayed with the humans at the pile of rubble, arrow notched in case of danger. The humans also avoided the blood circle, saying that they knew to avoid the mark of the "Destroyer" and saying that this did look like a construction by the "Lost Ones" (Elvradhil).

Eventually I could see an opening on the left, just before the stone doors that marked the end of this corridor. I approached cautiously, taking a quick look around the corner and pulling back in case of a threat. There was none, though, or none obvious. It was a ramp, roughly cut into the soil, but reinforced with wood. It led up to what looked like daylight - a way out! I called back to the others, and Arad started moving forward with one of the humans, telling the others to wait until we knew it was safe.

I used my acrobatic skills to flip past the gap quickly, reaching the doors to have a closer look. They were completely made of stone, with two symbols carved on each door (the same on each) that looked almost like a mountain and an "under mountain" - not that I had seen anything like it before. None of the others seemed to know of them either. There were recessed handles carved into the door, offering a way to pull or push on them easily, and were each square-shaped... it reminded me a little of home - the narrow, tall doors of humans seemed wrong in proportion and these felt much more welcoming... if a little on the large side. I checked for any obvious traps, not finding anything. As I did so, Arad brought the humans up to join us.

We climbed out of the hole, emerging into sunlight once more, but light that was starting to dim. We reckoned that we had an hour or two of the day left, and it would take that long to get back to the village. Although I was keen to explore more, it was only right that we look after these wretches first and return them to their homes, so we set off for the plateau at the centre of the island again. We would have to stay the night with them, and they told Arad that if the temple could be "reactivated" it would provide protection for them.

As we got close, with the light fading, we saw smoke up ahead. Fearing the worst, we came to the edge of the plateau and sure enough the village was in flames. We asked the villagers to stay out of sight and moved forward, Falcor in the centre with me flanking right and Arad left. Falcor would reach the village first, then Arad and finally me with my shorter legs. Not that I'm complaining - it suited me to be the last one into danger!

As Falcor got closer he saw a circle of humanoids seated in the centre of the village, talking. They were orcs - well equipped and relaxed, not looking for danger. He walked up with his weapons drawn, shouting in common for them to drop their weapons. Knowing orcs, I thought that this was unlikely, especially when they clearly outnumbered him! They predictably jumped to their feet, drawing swords or notching bows, and one stepped forward shouting "you drop your weapons, human!" The archers fanned out slightly, moving back from their swordsmen, and both parties stared each other down for a second. The orc that had spoken stepped forward again, saying "declare yourself, human - you are not of this place!" The orcs' armour was marked with the symbol of a red skull, but they were not moving to attack.

Falcor took a step back, keeping his weapons ready, and shouted "close up friends, I don't like this encounter!" I started running forward, but was still some distance off. Arad was closer, using a burning building to approach without exposing himself to most of the orcs. Their leader shouted again "declare your allegiance, you are not of this place!" Falcor reacted by acting like a lunatic, shouting "what's going on!" repeatedly, waving his arms around, and jogging swiftly to the south, moving around but not at the orcs.

As I got closer and Falcor moved round, he came into my line of sight. I could also see a couple of the orcs, and I feared that the situation needed defusing as orcs can be hot-headed at times. Falcor was shouting "leave this village alone" now, continuing his movement around to their rear. Their leader moved with him, shouting "cover the one behind that building" - indicating where Arad was (not that I could see him at this point). He then said "you leave this village or declare your allegiance!"

I started shouting as well, saying "we are not your foes, we are here to aid Malek's people!" But as I did so, Falcor lost it and charged into the nearest orc, knocking him to the ground, before running at another and punching him, sword still in hand, causing him to reel backwards. Well that blew it, there was going to be a fight now!

The orcs attacked, without any commands, loosing arrows and charging into melee depending on what they were holding. Falcor was the main target, but his armour kept him safe initially. The leader engaged Arad, and he too was only saved by his armour. For fucks sake, why were they fighting?! Arad loosed an arrow at point blank range, hitting his mark and making the orc leader grunt in pain. Falcor continued to punch any orc he could reach, leaving one a bloody mess on the floor and another a little stunned. Arad dropped his bow and tried to punch the leader, but the blow was easily dodged.

I shouted "Why are you attacking? Stop fighting! We are not foes!" One had his bow trained on me, but my words and actions (I had put away my weapon) stayed his hand. Falcor was cut by a sword as he fought on, but the orc leader stepped back, shouting "what are you idiots doing?!" Arad responded by putting his shield between them and saying "you attacked me with a bloody sword, back off!"

Falcor shouted "Stop! Stop! Stop fighting!" but continued to engage the nearest orc, knocking his bow aside as he was about to fire. Bloody cheek - he was the one that started it! I cursed "for Treddar's sake, stop fighting!" I was walking now, hands open and forward, and had not been attacked. The nearest orc said "but the giant attacked us first!" There was not much argument with that, as Falcor knocked another orc to the ground! Their leader shouted "call off your giant - he's gone crazy!" but Arad countered with "he is still being attacked!" I pleaded with Falcor: "Falcor, please just stop and stand down!"

Falcor thankfully responded, at least partly, sheathing both swords. He still walked menacingly towards the nearest orc, shouting "back off, go away! This village burns because of you, does it not?" The orcs immediately replied "we tried to save this village, you idiot, who are you?!" I remained still and kept shouting, "Falcor please stop!" Whilst talking to the orcs, saying: "may we help your fallen, I apologise for my friend's actions, please let us help."

Falcor was confused, and still full of adrenaline, and I tried to explain that orcs were not necessarily enemies, although I could understand that the green skin might confused him, he should not leap to conclusions. The orc with a bow was still looking terrified and likely to fire, and Falcor was doing nothing to calm him down! Arad asked the leader to trust him, and then jogged forward, pulling out one of the scrolls I had found, reading from it when he was close enough. The prayer was quite entrancing and seemed to calm the archer down, stopping him from firing, although Falcor was still looking aggressive. The orc leader called again for us to "call off your giant" but made no aggressive moves of his own.

Falcor moved around the orcs, towards what looked like a simple temple - the only building untouched by the fire. He called "Don't kill them, leave them, come with me!" then promptly jogged straight into an invisible barrier and ended up flat on the floor himself. Yeah, we weren't planning to kill anyone you knob. I moved to the nearest orc, finding him breathing but unconscious; I said "thank goodness he is alive, Karmana is with us!" Arad said that "the giant has disengaged, please let us heal your people" and also moved forwards to help.

The orc leader said "there is no need for healing, Karmana will provide." Falcor picked himself up, again looking confused, saying "what is happening, I don't understand, I cannot enter this house!" He looked quite dismayed. Arad tried to insist that he should help with healing, as there had been a misunderstanding, but the orc leader was adamant that they did not need our help, and that Karmana would provide for them. Instead he asked what our intentions were.

We explained that we had rescued the villagers from the goblins, and that they were safe just a short distance away. They informed us that they had killed more goblins that had come to raid the village, and the dead lay in the hall to the south. This apparently marked the end of some kind of debt that they had honored for Malek, which they now considered repaid. Falcor was still a little confused, asking if they were not allies of the goblins. That angered the orcs - their leader said "the Red Skull Clan has honour! How dare you suggest we are in league with goblins?@

At that they started picking up their stunned friends and preparing to leave. They said, once again, that they did not need healing from an elf priest, when they could invoke Karmana's power. I hurriedly asked them if they knew anything about the evil driving the goblins to such acts. He admitted that the evil was from beyond this world, but that was all he knew. I thanked him, saying that the Red Skull Clan had acted with honour and they went with Karmana's blessing. At that he seemed to relax a little, and warned that they were fleeing from the "shadows of death" that drove them from their lands. It is these shadows that we hunt, and seek to destroy. I cannot remember how it came up in the conversation, but I noticed that the orcs knew of the legions that Falcor had spoken of - referring to their leader as the "false god."

The orcs left, and Arad went to fetch the humans. While we waited, Falcor and I located the village well and started extinguishing what flames we could. It wasn't very effective until the villagers arrived and we could set up a proper chain to help, and even then we could only hope to tackle the blaze in one building. Only the temple stood untouched, surrounded as it was by protective magic of some kind.