Session 8: Goblinoid Machinations Report

General Summary

Recap:

1. Decided on pursuing more information on the goblins north of Groven, the party moved past the outpost they had discovered, and headed to bed for the night. During Tadrel's watch, he noticed a lanky furred humanoid, with unusually long arms roaming the forest nearby. He opted to not engage the creature, as did Nutae during his watch.
2. A cold, lightly snowy morning followed, and the party continued to make their way further north. Several days later, Sam narrowly prevented Nutae from falling into a spike pit trap, and a plan was hatched by the party to lure a goblinoid close by.
3. Nutae pretended to be a feeble old man who'd fallen into the trap while the rest of the party hid nearby. Nutae's pleas drew the attention of a nearby bugbear, who began suspiciously asking Nutae questions. Some members of the party were not well hidden, and eventually the bugbear's suspicion turned into hostility, with everyone closing in when the bugbear tried to escape.
4. The bugbear was captured and briefly interrogated, until the party realized that he genuinely knew nothing of the goblinoid war-band's plans; yet, he did allude to the fact that a hobgoblin would likely know something. Nutae tied him up, and the party continued further north in search of a hobgoblin who'll have some idea of their plans.
5. Another few days of travel later, the party came across the first major break out of the forest, and Sam used the opportunity to have Lucky scout ahead. While she did so though, it was a boring hour of waiting for the group, and Erika used that time to attempt to find her son's location using the golden ball the witch had given her; discovering that he was somewhere west of their position.
6. With a few details about the main goblinoid camp, Sam also detailed that Lucky apparently had seen some kind of yellow bird-like creature flying over the forests the party were resting in. Opting to look for a scouting party instead of investigating that sight, the party continued through the forests in the northeast, and but half a day later, finally encountered their quarry.
7. While arguing over where to go, a goblinoid scouting party overheard them, and began to flee in order to call for reinforcements. A mad dash through the forest ensued, with Lia eventually guiding the party to entrapping the fleeing goblinoids; a hobgoblin captain among them.
8. Most of the goblinoids were killed, with only the party's target, the captain, spared and knocked unconscious. Having what they needed, the party began to return south, intent on getting their information from the hobgoblin when he awoke.
9. As they got to the end of another day of travel, the hobgoblin finally came to consciousness, and the interrogation began. Nutae and Lia started by trying to physically intimidate the hobgoblin, much like they did with the bugbear, but this one proved to have a much stronger resolve, saying that death would only do him a favor. Lia then tried to come up with a more emotionally intimidating front, which did shake the hobgoblin, but ultimately, he stood strong.
10. Almost out of options, Nutae tried one last thing, and in a last ditch effort, fed the hobgoblin months old fluorescent mushrooms. The hobgoblin was immediately induced into a lethal psychedelic trip, but confused Sumo for his leading general; someone named General Tensho. The hobgoblin was tricked into revealing that there has been contact between merrow and goblinoids, and that the goblinoids have been exchanging corpses for "forces" provided by the merrow. The hobgoblin died before he was able to reveal when the next planned attack was to take place.
11. As this torture played out, Tadrel and Sam sat awkwardly out of earshot, wanting to avoid whatever the hell Erika, Lia, and Nutae were doing to that poor hobgoblin.

Notes

In Game Date (dd/mm/yyyy): 15/07/1195—05/08/1195