Chocobo Tales: Jade Regent

[Cowpies77]

Chapter 1:
___Fires over Brinestump

___This adventure begins in the town of Sandpoint with reports that the Licktoad goblins of Brinestump Marsh have grown unusually aggressive. The reason for this uncharacteristic bravery seems clear—the goblins have somehow managed to arm themselves with what appears to be a considerable supply of fireworks. The problem stems not so much from the additional “firepower” these fireworks provide as from the inflated sense of ego and power that the devices have given the goblins—the fireworks have made them dangerously brave.

___Several merchant caravans and travelers have been attacked so far, and according to the victims, the damage caused by horses panicking at the sight and sound of exploding pyrotechnics is almost as destructive as the goblin attacks themselves. With the last few attacks resulting in severe injuries to three unfortunate travelers, the problem has escalated from an annoyance to a threat.

___However, as none of the attacks have yet inconvenienced Magnimar (only Sandpointers and other Lost Coasters have been hit so far), the city has been slow to react.

___Unwilling to idly sit by and wait for the goblin problem to escalate to actual deaths on the Lost Coast Road in order to attract Magnimar’s attention, Sandpoint’s leaders have put out the call for goblin exterminators.

___But after a time of upheaval a few years back involving goblins, giants, and even a dragon, Sandpoint has since returned to being a relatively sleepy town. It doesn’t take long for life to settle down once things return to normal, and with Varisia’s adventurers now more eager to try their luck at finding their fortunes in legendary Xin-Shalast there simply aren’t a lot of volunteers to fight goblins around. Always running at a lean enrollment, Sandpoint’s city watch can’t afford to send patrols into the trackless expanse of Brinestump, although they have stepped up their presence along the Lost Coast Road itself. The task of wading into the notorious local wetland falls instead to adventurers—be they concerned locals honestly eager to aid the town or greedy mercenaries looking to make relatively easy coin. A few adventurers have already made the attempt, but nothing has been heard of them in the 3 days since they entered Brinestump Marsh, and just last night, another round of colorful explosions burst over the wetlands south of Sandpoint.

___The goblins are doubtless readying a new attack!  

[Cowpies77]

It's a slightly warm early morning when Ryoga heads downstairs. Looking over the inn as it's sparsely filled, he sees an empty seat next to the towering Davros, who is in the process of eating what looks like a plate of bacon, bacon and bacon with a side of bacon and beer. Chad-for-Short is manning a grill as he cooks some fish noodle soup for Ryoga. Taking a long chug of his beer, Davros lets out a loud and rather foul-smelling belch, making Chad-for-Short get puffed up as he grabs his beak in tries his best to not scream in horror due to his acute sense of smell.

Ryoga feels little pity for the Tengu, instead enjoying the riverfish flake from the soup.

Davros waits a few moments before starting up conversation with Ryoga. "Hey Slim, you hear what Cap'n Hemlock did? He reinstated that old Goblin Bounty progrum. Ten gold for some fresh-ish gob'in ears, and a 300 gp bonus on some gobbo chief. Flitwick?"
Chad-for-Short, recovering his composure, says "Chief Gutwad."
"Shut up. Anyway, so you gonna go try it? Apparently, dem gobbos done punched the tickets for several adventurers already. Me? I'm not worried. Just a tromp through the swamp and bam-pow-kersplatter. Easy gold, yeah?" Puffing up a bit, he says "I only ask because I know I'd get more than you at least, but spirit of competition says I 'vite you."

Chad-for-Short chimes in "You DO know that swamp is like, super dense, right? And covered in fog in the morning and night? Shits aaaaaaall possessed up in there. And then I heard the Soggy River Monster was seen again!" Turning to Ryoga, he says "I heard that it's like, twice as tall as me and has a mouth that goes all the way down his throat. The only reason Basir got away is because he saw the white monster as it bit the head off a goblin!"  

[Kombinant]

Ryoga lounges easily in his chair regarding the two companions. "Is that so? It'd be a good way to get out of here and try my skills against somebody new. God knows I gotta find someone who poses an actual challenge, and Davros if your clumsy fists can do better than me I'll eat my shirt." He waves off the tales of the white soggy river monster. "Chad, it isn't something we should have to worry about. I'm certainly not too worried, but yea. I'll be taking this offer up."

Ryoga finishes off his breakfast, and moves away from the table. "Wanna come with us, Chad? It'd be nice having a good meal during, y'know?"  

[Cowpies77]

Grumbling, the Tengu says "It's 'Chad-for-Short', which is already a shortening for you all that don't speak Tengu. Please don't shorten it further. That's like me calling you 'Rrrr' or him 'Da'..."
Shrugging, Chad-for-Short says "I guess it'll be alright. Everything here's already cooked, just needs to be kept warm. Besides, Gods know I could use the gold, and you two need someone to keep y'alls alive. So, I guess I'll come along. I'll need a bit to go get my gear on. We can't all just run out in our pajamas into a swamp and be totally fine after all. I like something between monster teeth and my beautiful plumage."

As Chad-for-Short leaves for his gear, Davros just comments "I don't see why you'd need him to cook for you, Slim. You're going to be dining on your own shirt anyway."  

[Kombinant]

Cowpies77

Ryoga simply waves off Davros's comment. "Ya need to grab anything? I've got a bag I've had packed for a while, I've just been waiting for an excuse to go off on an adventure; but other than that as Chad-for-Short said I can go out in my pajamas basically and still be fine."  

[Cowpies77]

Coming down after a few minutes, Chad-for-Short says "So, we're heading into a place with no map and has no valuables and is crawling with monsters. This has a giant 'kill me' sign all over it."

"Do us a favor and grow a pair, Chicken Little."

Ignoring the half-orc, Chad-for-Short continues "I suppose we could follow the New Fish Trail and see what's-what with that weird a** halfling that lives in there. He lives deep in the Swamp, and kinda looks over the place. I think he might know the best where we should go look out."

Davros says "The man keeps snakes. Mother ******** snakes everywhere. I don't like snakes. He fawns over them them as pets.like my niece does with Mrs. Butterscotch." After a moment of blank stares from Ryoga and Chad-for-Short, he adds "It's her pet rabbit."

"Look, if you're not man enough to go in-"

"Shut your beak. I'll do it... I just won't like it."

The trio head out for the home of Walter Proudstump, retired adventurer and semi-hermit. The swamp is a dark and murky smelling place, even during the day. Animal calls and bird chirps which normally sound charming in the countryside sound warped and eerie, sending small chills up everyone's back whenever a crow flies out of some trees or a wild cat darts between bushes. The bridges, which are soundly built, are missing planks here and there and are sometimes growing moss in parts. Ryoga can feel his heart in his mouth sometimes when, crossing over a bridge, he hears a splash and sees something swimming away in the water.

There's also the occasional mangled animal corpse. Sometimes a hollowed out pony, other times a severed arm just lying in the pathway. Slightly more creepy is the way Chad-for-Short licks his beak sometimes upon seeing these, picking them up before his eye catches sight of Davros' and Ryoga's disturbed expressions. "Uh... heh heh... I'm just... y'know... moving it off the path. It's not what you were thinking! That's uh... wrong. Yeah."

Eventually, late in the afternoon after trekking though swamp muck most of the day and swatting flies and mosquitos (to which, Davros seems to be the only one paying attention to how many actual insects are being swatted, and sometimes slaps some out of the air near Ryoga or Chad-for-short and calling out "That one counts!"), the trio arrive at the end of the trail at a shack at the edge of the marsh. Davros points at the side of the house, saying "Well, his little boat's in. So he's not out fishing."

A breeze comes in from the water, and Chad-for-Short perks up, saying "Smells of Death. Recent."

The other two wait for a few seconds for some sort of details as the bird man continues to sniff the air. "Uh... Ryoga... you don't think Shortstack is-"

Before he finishes his thought, the front door opens up and out limps the halfling Walter. He has deep bags under his eyes and his clothes appear very ruffled. "Uh, hello there. Something I can help you boys with?"

"You smell odd."

"We're in a swamp. ******** you."

Chad-for-Short's brow furrows a bit as he folds his arms and continues to smell the air.  

[Kombinant]

Cowpies77

"Ya all right there, old man?" Ryoga says as he takes in the halfling's ruffled appearance and limp.
"We came here to take out some goblins, anything you can tell us to help us find 'em?" Ryoga states plainly when the halfling asks.

(a perhaps unnecessary perception check to determine if Ryoga can notice anything off about the halfling besides his disheveled appearance. Perception +7)  

[Cowpies77]

Ryoga can tell that Walter has several deep cuts and looks like he hasn't slept in a while. Ryoga also sees something "off" on Walter's face, but can't quite put his finger on it.

Walter fidgets a little and says "I found a large snake here and had to chase it off, and the bugger went and bit me before I managed to lance him. As for the... goblins? I think they set up in some abandoned hamlets south-west of here. They looked like they were getting ready for an all-out attack! You can take the Old Fish trail and it'll lead to them eventually. Go head 'em off before they attack the village. Hurry, before it's too late!"

Chad-for-Short says "Uh... Is it cool if we stay here for a bit? I'm a little afraid of running into the Soggy River Monster at night..."

"No, it's not 'cool'. My house is a mess. Definitely not presentable for visitors."

"I'll cook..."

"I'd rather not have guests inside."  

[Kombinant]

"Ya hiding something from us, old man? Ya seem pretty keen for us to get out of here quick." Ryoga rudely marches past the halfling and goes to enter the dwelling. "Hope ya don't mind if I check out what's in here..."  

[Cowpies77]

Grumbling a bit, Walter says "It's just a mess... Well, fine. If you all insist. Come in for a drink."

Sighing, he opens up the door and ushers the characters in to his small house's dining room. The place is rather disheveled, and the dining room only has a few broken potted plants, a wooden table and a single chair. "I really just don't like guests when everything's in this shape, you see." He begins making the motions of starting to cook, getting some pots and starting a fire.

Pecking at some crumbs on the table, Chad-for-Short chirps out "So... There was a dead giant snake in here?"

"Eyup."

Davros says "And you killed it? Cuz if that s**t slithers up on me, we're gonna have some problems."

"Eyup."

Chad-for-Short stops pecking a bit and looks at Ryoga quizzically.  

[Kombinant]

Ryoga wanders about the small room looking around for interesting things. (Perception +7)

"So what kind of snake was it? Was it one of yours? I've heard you raise 'em... I mean I don't want ya dying in your sleep from some venom, old man."

Ryoga meets Chad-for-Short's gaze and shrugs, moving to the nearest seat and lounging after he finishes satisfying his curiosity.  

[Cowpies77]

Kombinant

Ryoga wanders about the small room looking around for interesting things. (Perception +7)

As the monk begins to wander around, Walter says rather sternly "Please don't go anywhere and don't touch anything!"

Grumbling, Walter says "Damn slithering bastards. I don't know what kind it was. It's the kind that bites me, that's what kind."  

[Kombinant]

Cowpies77

"Alright, alright, old man. Sheesh..." Ryoga moves over and takes a seat. "So, you're around in this swamp a lot. Can ya tell us anything about this Cheif Gutwad. or whatever his name was?"  

[Cowpies77]

Kombinant

Cowpies77

"Alright, alright, old man. Sheesh... So, you're around in this swamp a lot. Can ya tell us anything about this Cheif Gutwad. or whatever his name was?"

Walter just shrugs and says "Uuuuuh... I can't tell 'em apart. I don't know anything other than what I've told you already."  

[Kombinant]

Ryoga quickly loses interest in the old Halfling, figuring that anything else about the goblins will have to come after following the lead he provided them. He lounges about until the drinks are served.