Episode 1: Festival and Fire

If Jenna comes to my door I'll go with her to the Sheriff. Doubt that he's going to listen to a little girl, even if she's just relaying information but he might be willing to listen to me. Since Alaric wants to get the town fortified maybe I can talk the Sheriff into getting his militia to build the fortifications. It might help if I can get Aery's assistance with drawing up plans for the defenses.

Aery, think you might be able to use your engineering skill to come up with some plans?

Aery opens the door to his room and yawns considering the hour of night and scratches his side in just a tunic holding a candle holder. His room is littered with notes from talking to the townsfolk about their trade, notes on gossip, and sketches of the area.

"I guess but it took them how long to rebuild the church after the last fire? Between harvests to get people with the know how and the materials for the rebuild. They'd need wood cutters and carpenters to focus on this specifically versus their crops and anything else they're doing for their livelihood even with defenses up though farmers are more likely to jump off the wall versus fight a raiding party worth their salt in truth. I don't think they have time to gather the materials or the man power to make it fully worthwhile though in a short time, it'd be a few months if they stop everything or a long project over a half to full year I figure if the Sheriff is mostly just doing things solo for the area. It'd be a rather long project plus the Sheriff would likely have to train a town guard or conscripts. We could see about something quick and dirty that gets the job done I guess..." Aery states pessimistically before walking away from the door and grabbing a hunk of cheese while looking for blank parchment and quill to scribble some things down.

He mutters to himself about the kinds of trees in the area and dirt sand and gravel plus looks at rough sketches of the town scribbling away and doing a bit of math now and again to figure things out. "It's more likely he'd want us to find out who's behind this all and the raiding parties versus put the villagers in danger just protecting themselves though so keep that in mind." he adds while he looks at some numbers he's scribbled, "You a people person? Talking to people and what not?" Aery asks chewing on another piece of cheese.

Dead men gather no crops and have no concerns for gathering wood. Would the men of this town rather die and have their wives become slaves and their children starve? Carpenters shouldn't be needed. We're talking about cutting down small trees, roughly sharpening with an ax and placing them upright around the town. The women and children can do the lashings of the small crosspieces. They can work half days and still probably put up a rough palisade around the town within a few days, maybe a week depending on the size of the town. The towers will take longer, but we could just build onto the rooftops of existing buildings around the perimeter of the town.

Aery stops writing and stares at the man as he talks and blinks a few times until he's stated his thoughts on the matter. Aery starts to chuckle quietly before laughing openly for a bit before sighing and wiping a tear away. "You do know using words is sort of my professional. It's like me quoting litany for a morale or ethical impasse to you. You'd suss out the donkey cakes falling from my mouth quite quick." he says with a tired half smile pointing at himself before slipping off his stool and grabbing one of the grenades.

Unwrapping it he hands it to Jimmy to inspect, "Look, You caught one of those big guys swords on fire so I think you know a thing or two about such effects of fire and combustion, and you saw the effects of one of these granted it was on a cart full of alcohol but what do you make of these? You get the picture I'm looking at what defense would you suggest to combat this?

Explosives change what should be done for defenses regardless of they have stronger charges or not, also few people want to see or deal with an injury caused from something like this it's quite horrific. Mind you those were just goblins with crappy weapons and armor when I inspected the bodies, but these; these are definitely not crappy and probably not goblinforged. Why would you let goblins, who by nature will openly stab another goblin from another tribe for looking at them cross eyed just as quickly as any of us be given something like this? To break through something in town? To get to something? I really have no idea but considering it's the only thing I could have come up with really.

Okay so the town decides no it's their town they do what they want they don't build it but lets say they do build a pallisade or rough and tumble get a wall up in a few days made of heavy timbers, if you can see it from afar, it's easy to figure out the weak points and sap a wall collapsing it and rush in. That false sense of security the sudden panic of having to change gears, that's for conscripts and trained men of combat not a few farmers thinking of their families and community. Maybe complicated if it was just goblins but i don't think we're just dealing with just goblins. If what you're suggesting this is enough I agree it's the best move... but the truth is... granted I was going to wait until later this morning and we were all together, but we just don't know. We don't know if this was a scouting force that got greedy and opted to try and raid. Maybe they were searching for something and a more powerful warparty is coming to get it if it's here. Maybe they have something to fly on and snatch up the children. I really have no idea.

I have a lead on where they probably got the materials for those crappy armements for raiding, we've seen the explosives which came from somewhere or someone, and another thing that concerns me the most, this is more than one tribe of goblins; goblins never work together between tribes unless someone bigger and meaner beats them into submission and it's for survival to follow orders." Aery states frowning a bit feeling like his old tutor and shakes his head, his eyebrows weren't nearly that bushy.

"Watchtowers added to roofs need to be looked at for weight so they can be supported and not cave in the building. Full defensive wall on the perimeter means a water brigade in case fire is launched in." he points out as well.

"We need to figure out who's behind this all and why then put a stop to them doing what they're doing." he finally states nodding to his own words.

"My apologies I haven't gotten much sleep after going over things yet... so I may be a bit dickish." Aery states in self realization.

"We can talk to the sheriff and who all is in charge come the morning and we can give him the plans for where to set up barriers. Ultimately they're going to do what they're going to do and we do what we do." Aery adds stroking his chin.

Jimmy raises his hands in mock surrender, smiling at Aery.

Ok, not a big deal. I realize now that I shouldn't have bothered you with this. I'll go with Jenna tomorrow and talk to the Sheriff about it. If he's not interested, so be it. Please don't bother yourself with it any further.

Jimmy holds the explosive carefully as he turns to go back to his room.

Do you mind if I take this bomb back to my room and examine it? I would love to compare notes with you tomorrow and see if we might be able to figure out where these explosives came from and see where things go from there.

Jimmy bows respectfully to Aery.

Good night to you Aery.

Jimmy turns to Jenna. Jenna, if you want, I'll ask the innkeeper to get you a room next to mine.

I'm continuing to follow the Goblins. SelectiveAmnesia; please let me know what dice rolls I need to make in order to keep following them? BTW, cool map.

Oh Mama. SA hates me... Epic fail coming up...

I'm sleeping in tomorrow, IRL and in game.

After I wake up, I'd like to find Jenna and go talk with the town Sheriff to see if we can convince him of the merits of putting up some rough barricades around the town to at least slow down future attacks rather than let enemies walk right into the town.

Sheriff Hemlock, Alaric followed the Goblins out of town last night. He sent back some information with his daughter Jenna. Jimmy motions to Jenna. This was not just a casual raid sir. There are Goblins from several tribes banded together. Sandpoint is currently a soft target for Goblin attacks because there are no defenses and the town militia, though brave, is in need of more seasoning. Jimmy shows the Sheriff the disassembled bomb. Alaric recommended that we construct a rough palisade around the town. It wouldn't fix everything but would buy precious time for the militia to gather and respond to future attacks. I'm sure that he would be aid you in training your militia when he returns from his scouting trip as well. Sheriff Hemlock, I realize that additional work may not be met with enthusiasm by your townspeople, but for a minimal investment of time, we could help you make your town safer and more secure.