Tallag the Goblin and the Mystery Ruins

After sunrise we departed eastward. The weather was rather pleasant, a light breeze and that slight tickle of the sun on your skin before reaching the zenith. Or so I would have imagined it. This paradox-thing really turned out to be a drag…
Minor conversation was going on. I was still sceptical about our new companions so I asked them about Tragnor but no one seemed to have ever heard of anyone named that way. Khionk told us she used to be a waitress at a place called “Wiatshus”. She also told us about that fateful day she met Sable when she was running from the town guard. Apparently at this point in time, Sable owned a fruit stall and hid her in between his goods (mostly watermelons) as the guards passed them. I didn’t believe a word she said but decided to put a pin in it. Meanwhile, Rimvaul took a liking to Sable and climbed into him. While her approach was less subtle I couldn’t really blame her for I too had been thinking about the possibilities of a walking undead fortress at my command. On the other hand I felt compassion toward the poor bastard; after all we weren’t all that different. So I conjured a flame beneath his bottom to smoke out the wench. Needless to say, she was treading quite straddle-legged for a while.
 
A day of tedious roaming eventually came to an end and we set up camp near a small stream merely centimetres deep. Oxton decided to deepen the riverbed in order to provide a place for us to wash up so I borrowed him my shovel. I did not see what happened next but after the first few cuts of the spade he suddenly started screaming and ran off. Cid and Rimvaul were next to follow. Shortly after approaching the stream and touching the water, they bolted. I tried to tackle Cid in order to stop him from running but missed him by a few meters. We eventually caught up to them and the spell began to fade. Something in that river seemed to impose a fear spell. Before we got the chance to decide on how to proceed, Rimvaul and Oxton ran back to the creek. Oxton seemed affected again as he turned on his heels but this time I was prepared. I swung my shovel and hit him right on the forehead dropping him to the ground. Rimvaul however unleashed the fury of an old hag upon the stream whilst screaming out the name of her beloved god Gromman. A stream of water suddenly rose and formed into a humanoid shape. Apparently we had awoken a water spirit. He begged us to leave him alone and so we did.
 
We continued our journey the next day. Everyone, including myself seemed mostly lost in their own thoughts as we kept marching. With the exception of Rimvaul, who seemingly had taken an interest in Cid. Suffice to say Cid did not reciprocate her approaches.
The group startled up as the treeline before us suddenly creaked and burst. A small figure appeared running toward us: a regular-sized goblin, gasping, sweating and weirdly enough, carrying a hedgehog followed by a giant owl which finally broke through the trees. As the owl descended, the goblin passed by Cid and Rimvaul, jumped onto Sable, lifted the helmet of the armour and crawled inside. The blink of an eye later the owl landed on Sable knocking him prone and continuously picking at the metal in hopes of reaching its prey. Panic spread as Sable’s moans of agony grew louder drowned out only by Khionk’s insults and curses. Cid and Oxton somehow knew how to communicate with the animal, which led to a very bizzare scene as two adult humans started chirping to the bird. They eventually traded a pile of left-over deer-steak for the goblins life and the owl took off.
The goblin introduced himself as Tallag and explained that he had saved his best friend Mr. Stachelich from the murder-hobo owl. The hedgehog however didn’t like Tallag one bit so Nabi convinced the goblin to let him go in return for saving his life.
We then followed Tallag to his village next to some ruins of dwarfen origin. Rimvaul, delighted to have found potential acolytes of Gromman, immediately bonded with the tribe and started a brawl.
Tallag led us deeper into the last dwarfen building standing which appeared to have been some kind of brewery once upon a time. The majority of the building had yielded to time and harsh weather and seemed submerged in the boggy ground of the area. Only the massive architecture and a few casks filled with beer and wine were left to tell the tale.
I asked Sable to explore further parts of the building. We attached a rope to his torso and sent him on his way. Hours passed before he finally returned with a rough outline of the building. Since the sun was about to set, we decided to call it a day. We would spend the night inside the cellar guarded by Sable’s massive body blocking the entrance from goblins and other intruders.
 
The following day we reorganized our belongings, taking only what we could easily carry on our bodies while diving further into the ruins. We discovered three separate areas, one room filled with bones and weapons thrust into the stone floor, the other containing three rooms connected by a straight corridor. The first two rooms were empty, while the last one was filled with blank golden coin.