Part 2: The meeting of paths

The party makes their way across the city, cutting back up to the Heartlands Trivard and taking it to the center of town. Street signs and the din of a crowd of beings indicate that the center of town is a massive, open-air trading center: the Amber Market. Suddenly thrown in with packs of beings making their way in and out of the market, the party gets somewhat swept away with the crowd. They move in the unmarked, but closely followed currents of beings making their way past carts and stalls and shops with trinkets and foods and weapons and sundries and flowers and all manner of things. Even though the day quickly approaches evening, the place is still bustling with activity. A close, bright star marks the eastern point of the market. It sits atop an ornate cathedral, shining a pleasant amber color and bathing the entire market in sunlight, despite the near sunset. Ascian recognizes this to likely be the Temple of Pelor. Before desire begins to pull the man and his wolf that way, he can see that the temple is closed for the evening. Best to come back tomorrow. Still being swept away by the current of beings, the party passes by a large tree surrounded by a small, fenced-in park. Upon closer inspection, it seems to mark the center of the market. The flow of people in the nearby area of the tree is lessened, and the party can see that a shining red line of cobblestones about two meters thick runs to the center of the small park area from the southwest, likely representing the arm of the Heartlands Trivard that the party came in on from Fireblade. Another arm branches out to the northwest, headed off to Karnopolis. Two yellow strips of cobblestone, less splendid than the red lines but still ornate in presentation, branch off to the northeast and southeast, headed to Dragonvale Harbor, and Bresselvik, respectively.  Moving past an enormous tavern with a glowing glamoured sign out front denoting it as the "Amber Meadhall," the party finally washes out of the current of people as they head up into the northeast side of town. The capitol building proves to be a massive structure with grand pillars made of white marble, with beings in demure dress moving quietly in and out. Continuing past the capitol, the party finally comes to its destination: a small, quiet square with a few unmarked buildings and homes around its perimeter, and a understated fountain in the center. A single shop sits quietly along one of the square's sides. The simple wooden sign out front reads: The Arcane Minded. Most of the square is made up of the city's typical grey cobblestones, but one radial section of the fountain and a small section of the cobbles by it is the same shining red as the cobbles that marked the Trivard back in the Amber Market. It looks to be just large enough for a single humanoid being to stand next to the fountain. After waiting for just under an hour, during which time the capitol building nearby grows even more quiet and foot traffic through the square remains minimal, the moon looks just about right.

Katrin pulls the coin from her pocket, flipping it over in her hand. "This must be the place." She walks forward until the tips of her boots just barely touch the red stones. She looks up, the moon just cresting the top of the capitol. She looks over at her companions. "Here goes nothing, I suppose." She takes a deliberate step onto the red stones, and holds the coin up. With a swift flip, she tosses it into the fountain.

With barely a ripple, the coin slips into the water and touches down on the bottom. For a few long moments, nothing happens. The water's surface is still, shining in the dull moonlight like a mirror. The silver of the coin seems to glow softly. Then, the metal coin floats to the surface of the water, bobbing on its own ripples as it moves of its own volition back to where Katrin is standing.

She frowns at the coin as it comes back. Tentatively, she reaches down to pluck it from the surface of the fountain. It's slightly warm to the touch, and the face of the coin bears text where there had been none before. She steps away from the fountain. "The coin has....changed. Seems the Wayfarer's want us to solve a problem. Some goblins who have taken up residence beneath someplace called The Cauldron's Shine. Then we return here." 

"Just goblins?"  Thezra sighs, her shoulders relaxing, "I don't want to sound disappointed here but I'd been expecting something a bit more, well..."  she shakes her head, "it matters little. We need to speak with the Wayfarer's and if dealing with goblins is the path to that, then lets get going."  She stretches and starts to look around the square, her eyes flitting from sign to sign. Turning finally to Lilliana, she motions about,  "Mage, you've been living here for a bit, yes? Have you heard of this place? A cauldron would seem right up your alley somehow." Beat. "That is not meant as an insult, of course."

"Lilliana."  She corrects Thezra. "My name, is Lilliana."  For a moment, she wanted to throw back a comparatively insulting phrase back at the woman, but instead she takes a deep breath. "No insult taken, because I actually do  know of this place. It's an alchemist shop in the Amber Market. I can show you all. Are we planning on handling this task this evening? I can lead the way whenever we are prepared to leave after having replenished my mana." She thought back to the meditative state she had sought out during the time while they had waited for the moon to strike just the correct angle, sitting cross-legged on the ground. Using her innate magic, she'd lifted the black gemstone from around her neck and manipulated the gravity around it to hold it aloft above her palm and it spun and twirled rapidly around. She found it difficult to describe the energy within herself that she manipulated to change the world around her, but... it was like a spring. Draw too much from it and you drain the water; it will refill itself eventually, but not immediately, but she had found that if she manipulated her gemstone in a likewise manner that she could draw more into herself as if refilling the spring with a stream. 

Akiran  wipes a bit of dirt of off his armor, as Thezra speaks. His mind already thinking of the hours it will take to clean the grime of the sewer off of his shining new mail. Shaking his snout he realizes that the orc is right, goblins seemed like small change for a group like the Wayfarers but a job is a job.  The Dragonborn chuckles as Lilliana responds "Thezra your charm knows no bounds." Looking over to the newcomer "Timing could be part of the test. Being a Wayfarer comes with prestige and the opportunity to earn cart loads of gold. I wouldn't be surprised  if they are trying out other crews on this same gig. It would be a shame if someone stole the job out from under us while we slept. If you can Lilliana, my vote is to press on." 

The Cauldron's Shine proves to be closed at this late hour, but as the party approaches, a halfling steps out and waves the party up the stairs to the shop's single door. "Ah, welcome. Come in. You must be with the guild." The halfling introduces himself as Deneb Fironze, the proprietor of The Cauldron's Shine. After offering the party cups of tea, he begins describing his problem. "The goblins showed up only a few days ago. Troublesome little shits. I used to use the sewers as a storeroom, but now I can't get down there. I've got the passage down blocked off." He gestures to a heavy-looking steel-banded barrel sitting slightly askew on what appears to be a trap door. "I don't know much, but I'll answer what questions you have."

Thezra bends down to take a small cup of tea from the little man, giving him a courteous nod as she does so, "Appreciated, Deneb Fironze. I am Thezra, we are indeed here in service to the guild, and we have come to make work of some pests." She takes a sip from the cup in her hand, swishing the tea around in her mouth before swallowing, "Tell us, by your estimate, what number of goblins have made home here, and what manner of force or weaponry have they used? Has anyone been attacked by them?"

"I couldn't say for sure," Fironze says, scratching his head. "A dozen, perhaps. They pursued me when I was moving things down to my storeroom down there. I was too busy running to look at their weapons."

"Dozen's fine,"  she rolls a shoulder, looking to the others for agreement. "Anything else you can tell us about the sewers? Things to watch out for, where to go, so on...? Otherwise I'm personally ready to get moving."

"Well, like I said, I used to use it as a store room. Be on the lookout for any chemical and alchemical hazards. Green fog, purple smoke, invisible deadly gasses, that sort of thing," Fironze says offhandedly. 

Katrin raises an eye. "And why exactly would you mention that specific sort of thing?" 

Fironze looks up at Katrin with a puzzled expression on his face. "I don't know what's down there. If they've been mucking about with the chemicals, then who knows  what gasses could be floating around down there."

She purses her lips. Great. Goblins with dangerous chemicals. "Well, thank you for the warning. I suppose we'll just hold our breath, if that is the case." 

Lilliana found she was having a difficult time keeping her mouth closed, not asking the myriads of questions forming in her mind as the fellow spoke about his plight, but this was not her quest and she felt uncomfortable butting in. Once talk began moving towards poisonous gases, she perks up and smiles. "I can help with that! I have the ability to move the air around with a gust of wind. Perhaps I can push away anything in the air?"

"Is that so? I was liking Katrin's idea of just holding my breath, but sure, that could work too."  Thezra looks to the others eagerly, reaching up to pull the locks of hair on her shoulder back behind her, "So shall we head in then? We know all we can hope to learn, we have strength and experience, and we have the ability to move the air around a bit with some wind," she grins towards Lilliana, "if that does not a group of ready warriors make, I don't know what would."

Katrin rolls her eyes, a slight smile on her lips. As much as she disliked the half-orc, the woman had her moments.  "I think Lilliana's idea is likely the more practical." She chuckles under her breath. "Though I'm sure we can use it as a last resort."

Ascian, not needing to breathe, offers to scout ahead. Thezra and Akiran move the barrel sitting atop the trap door and Ascian descends. A few minutes later, the man returns, unscathed other than a foul smell clinging to his skin and clothes. He reports that a few of the goblins have mutated, in different, strange ways. Some have grown in size, with bloated muscle and enraged features. Some have arcane energy pulsing about them. There are at least five that Ascian could see -- he couldn't get past those to get further in without alerting them. Ascian says that they seem feral, snapping at each other over their scraps of food like animals.

Lilliana stops and thinks of what Ash reports back to the group. "We likely aren't going to be able to do this quietly. Those beasts will start screaming the moment they spot us. So we should do it quickly and then try to force the rest into a single tunnel maybe? Plug a hole with the stalwart warriors we have."  She glances over at Akiran with a smile when she says this. 

"Ahh I see how it is, throw us meat shields into the grinder while you fancy magic folks sip tea in the rear."   Akiran chuckles as he checks the straps on his shield are secure and tightening his sword belt,   "Can't lie it's good strategy... if not a bit hurtful".  Throwing the mage a wink at the last bit.  Looking around he says "Well lets get moving. If I'm going to be eaten by a mutant goblin, I'd rather not have to wait for the experience" 

The party makes their way into the sewers. They clamber down a set of metal rungs mounted into the stonework of one of the tunnel walls, and then down a short staircase. The air becomes caustic as they spot several crates, boxes, barrels, and bins that seem to have been potion and component storage. Shattered glass bottles lay scattered across the stonework, shimmering dimly in the light of the braziers in the first room. The party begins to hold their breath, the fumes still stinging their eyes. Ember gives the air a tentative snuff , and then barks softly in disgust. The party advances around a corner, where they can see the crackling of a campfire and hear angry goblinoid exclamations. Four goblins sit around the fire, one of them grotesquely mutated with bulging muscles. Another stands across the river of muck in the center, ragged robes and leathers gleaming with corrupted arcane energy. The physically mutated goblin turns to see the party and clacks its jaws once, then once more. "FRESH MEAAAAAAAAAAT!"  it cries.

Kaed rushes one of the goblins around the campfire. Before the little greenish-grey cretin is even fully on his feet, Kaed has succeeded in removing its arm just above the elbow. The creature looks down at its arm, looks up at Kaed, looks back down at its arm, looks back up at Kaed and lets out a blood curdling scream of terror and pain.  Kaed, for his part, just grins. The physically mutated goblin hurls itself across the fire at Kaed, bulging muscle appearing to rip the already stretched-taught green flesh. But the karnathi tribesman is faster. Kaed blocks the first blow with his sword and the second with his shield, still grinning. Katrin's action.

Katrin grips her shield firmly in her hand, and a faint pulse of energy spreads out from her. Akiran, Thezra, and Ash suddenly find themselves feeling a little bit...warmer, and their skin seems to hold a reddish glow for a brief second as Katrin places Tempus' blessing upon them. She steps across the sewer to stand next to their newest friend. "Want to see a trick?" She stamps her foot, and a massive hammer appears opposite of Kaed and comes crashing down on the goblin, squashing it flat to the stones. She grins.

Akiran rushes in hot on Kaed's heels, his broadsword angled in front of him he jumps out and plunges his blade forward placing his considerable might behind the stab. The blade pierces the goblins armor and knocks the muscular goblin to the ground. The dragonborn then slams his armored foot into the man repeatedly.

Lilliana gives a small start as the goblins shriek and scream and her her hands begin to shake from the sudden rush of battle; prior to today she could not recall a time where she had ever fought so much or even to the death. Even so, these creatures were playing for keeps and would quite literally eat the flesh from her bones as she watches the quiet one, Kaed, and Akiran rush forward to engage the frenzied goblins. She quickly rushes through the stench-filled sewers to close the distance as her hand reaches up to the jet crystal around her neck. As she slows to a stop she draws her hand away, pulling a dark matter which she begins to mold quickly into a sphere the size of an orange before snapping her fingers and the sphere disappears. It then immediately reappears behind one of the goblins and rapidly expands into a 5’ diameter sphere, which then begins to rotate at an impossible speed before collapsing down once more into a tiny sphere. As the tiny star collapses, it’s gravitational pull yanks the goblin back, hard… both of its arms yanking backwards too fast and nearly ripping them from their sockets as the goblin is held in place by the massive pull of this little star.

"Stay," Ascian murmurs to Ember beside him, leveling his bow just over Thezra's shoulder at the goblin lurking in the shadows. Releasing the string, he watches the arrow thread through his friends to sink with a dull thwack in the arcane goblin's shoulder.

The goblins begin to scatter to the wind, sprinting away down tunnels as fast as their legs will carry them. A braver soul, one that's across the river of storm water takes a shot at Kaed, but the barbarian smacks the arrow away. The arcane goblin across the way frowns contemplatively down at the arrow stuck in its arm, then disappears back into the darkness. Thezra's action.

Thezra tries to swing around Kaed and Akiran but the tight confines of the sewer and bulky armor of the dragonborn get in her way of the downed goblin, as her blade goes wide, carving a chunk off the wall instead.

Kaed's blade flashes in the firelight, removing the stronk goblin's left leg. Then, Kaed shatters his right leg with the shield. The goblin crumples to the ground, a bleeding mess of twisted limbs. Katrin's action.

Seeing the goblins within sight fall, Katrin leaps back across the sewer, ducking around Lilliana. She passes through the ethereal hammer, as she rounds the corner. With a wave of her hand, it follows after her. She catches a glimpse of something crouching around another corner. A goblin. "Thought you were sneaky, eh?" The hammer comes forth, slamming down on the poor creature.

Seeing the archer across the channel take a shot at Kaed, Akiran roars and charges through the sewer leaping across the foul smelling liquid and reaching the would be marksmen. Slashing out with his broadsword as he lands his first blow leaves a deep cut in the goblins stomach and sends the archer falling to the ground. As the Goblin hits the ground the Dragonborn begins stomping out his fallen foe. His first blow breaks the goblins arm and the second caves the man's head in.  Looking around he says a bit sheepishly  "I fucking hate archers." adding belatedly to Ash "Present company excluded."

As the goblins break and the rest of the group rushes out to confront them, Lilli hesitates for a moment as she is unsure what to do exactly, but the excitement of the fight overwhelms her caution and confusion and she rushes forward up near the small fire. She looks around, seeing only one goblin still standing. As she reaches an empty hand out with a grasping like motion, her eyes begin to shine with a bright silvery light, and she makes a yanking motion. Behind her the small, spinning orb seems to almost get sucked into an almost imperceptible bend or hole or something ! She expands her hand back out, opening it up and the spinning star pops back into existence directly next to the goblin trying to flee from Kaed. The goblin lets out a horrible squeal of pain as it's arm is wrenching out and a away from it's body, not quite ripped off, but muscle and bone are mangled from the gravitational forces as blood sprays from the wound. The goblin collapses to the dirty floor of the tunnel as the blood droplets are abruptly sucked into the star... 

"Stay safe. I'll be back,"  Ascian says quietly to Ember, before taking off after the goblin who had disappeared into the shadows and taken his arrow with it. Leaping over the sewage and bounding past the others, he shudders to a stop just in time to hear Akiran's voice from the darkness and glances toward the dragonborn, noting the corpse of the goblin at his feet. He blinks blandly down at it, and then up at Akiran, before vaulting across the remaining sewage and into the passageway. "I'm still thankful I don't sleep." Those increasingly-familiar wisps of pale grey lift from him as he steals down the corridor, rising lackadaisically from his joints before burning with sudden, vibrant speed around a corner. He pulls to a halt and lifts his bow just in time to see noxious green gas rise in front of the goblin not ten feet away from him, summarily dispelling the wisps of energy as if they had been brick and not vapor. At once he frowns, and not for the first time wishes Thrandimir were here to explain to him how it was possible.

Ember steps back into the darkness as Ascian takes off. A few goblins come around the corner, panting and seemingly out of breath as they surround Thezra -- perhaps not a smart move on their part. The goblin caster looks alarmed at Ascian's abrupt arrival. Arrow still stuck in its chest, it lets out a gout of flame that impacts the stonework behind Ascian, then turns to run. The rogue lets off a shot, but the distinct twanging sound of an arrow skipping off water lets Ascian know that he has missed. Another mutated goblin appears far down the tunnel, this one mutated similarly to the one that just ran away. It conjures three smoky balls of energy and throws them down the hall at Katrin, Lilliana, and Akiran. They make contact, letting out soft hisses as their magic digs into the flanks of the three adventurers. But no spells dissipate, and none of the targets seem to be critically injured. Thezra's action.

The trio of goblins swarm around Thezra, blades at the ready, and in a moment of feigned fear she stumbles backwards. Immediately two of them slash out, one glancing off of her armor while the other just barely nicks her uncovered arm. ”Oh gods no!”  she cries out. Her desire to miss with the little bastards overriding her sense to continue holding her breath, she i hales sharply, immediately tasting the acrid air singe her sinuses. Strangely though, it isn’t painful - far from it in fact, she actually feels warm, her brain abuzz in a whirl of thoughts and impulses. In this heightened state, she drops the scared act and blitz forward, dropping her blade clean through the first one’s shoulder blade and out the other side. The little goblin can scarcely scream before passing out. Not missing a beat as her neurons all fire at once, she spins on her heels, her blade crossing rapidly across the width of the sewer, cleaving the second nearly in half. The third just stares up at her, weakly raising a shield to try and stop the hammer-like fall of the blackened blade upon its head.  With all three down for the count, she nods to the bodies and bows put into the greater sewer, her focused mind picking up instantly on another of these arcane goblins down to the south.

As the goblin in front of him succumbs to Lilliana's neutron star, Kaed whirls around. "Hey!" he says, pointing back at Lilliana with a smile on his face. "That one was mine. You stole that!"  He prepares a running leap to hurl himself down the tunnel to his right after the arcane goblin, but his foot catches and he slips into the murky water. He surfaces and wades his way across before continuing to run. "It's just storm runoff," he says as he runs. "Mostly." Katrin's action.

Katrin watches the goblin back up and run from the hammer. She fully rounds the corner, her free hand thrusting forward, a small mote of radiant fire flying towards the goblin. He looks up just in time, and dodges out of it's path. She curses silently in her head, this time thrusting her shield forward. The hammer floats ominously towards the goblin. As it reaches the enemy, she stamps her foot, and the hammer strikes the goblin square on the head, dealing a debilitating blow. She can almost see his eyes rolling in his head, and she grins again.

Akiran rushes through the sewers hurtling towards the spell caster, rearing his head back he lets our a roar followed by a torrent of wind and ice the goblin manages to evade the worst of it but still is buffeted by the assault.

Lilliana turns with a worried glance to Kaed, but she returns his grin with a dazzling toothy smile of her own with a wink. As he rushes off to maim more of the goblins, she turns her full attention now to the goblin caster who had sent the magic missile at her. The little bastard was just on the edges of her visual range, being not much more than a shadowy figure behind the massive bulk that was Akiran. She realizes her dark star would not reach the creature and leaves it hovering in the air, rapidly spinning as she runs up behind Thezra, passing the orcish woman just enough to clear her line of sight. The moment she passes Thezra, she stops and begins to swirl her arms around as if gathering something up to her. "Darkstar, grant me the powers of your entropy."  In her hands a mass of fluctuating energy begins to form, flashing all sorts of colors and energy types as it crackles with lightning, while burning, and freezing all at the same moment. Lilliana seems to fight against the energy flux as it tries to escape her control, but she seems able to contain it within the confines of her grasp between her open palms. With a quick spinning gesture she sends the mass towards the goblin and as it impacts, there is a thunderous cacophony! The goblin clutches the side of it's face as blood begins to trickle from its nose and ears.

Ascian takes off after the goblin, pulling to an abrupt stop only upon making eye contact with Kaed across the channel. Giving the barbarian a short nod, he wheels around to head back toward the others, feeling that mist again slough off his limbs. The garbled cry of the goblin behind him and the resulting thud is already some thirty feet behind Ascian by the time he stops again, training his bow on another of its ilk just in front of Akiran. Yet the screen of the dragonborn and sloshing liquid around him makes it impossible to get a good angle, and when he releases the bowstring milliseconds later it's to send an arrow soaring harmlessly into the darkness.

The arcanely-mutated goblin shrieks as Akiran swiftly closes the distance and bathes the small creature in ice. Ice is met with fire as the little goblin lets out a spray of flame that washes over the dragonborn's armor. Then, its eyes go glassy and it wavers on the spot as more of its lifeblood drains from its body. Thezra's action.

Thezra hops into the muck of the sewer intending to full-on charge the arcane goblin engaged with Akiran, but underestimated its depth and density. Wading as far as she can, it is all she can do to raise her blade up over her head and fruitlessly swing down towards the creature. She nearly forgot her own tendrils wrapped around its blackened metal, which cascade off the end in wisping tendrils of inky darkness. The tendrils lash far out past the edge of her reach, compounded by the force of her swing. With a nearly-silent slice, they drop right through the top of the goblin's head and out its chest, leaving no sign of any physical injury at first... until the goblin stumbles backwards a moment later, eyes splayed out to opposite directions. It convulses, sucking in for breath as its own brain bisects into mirrored realities; one real and present and the other deformed and eldritch. In both though, Thezra stands but a dozen feet away, towering over it and glaring it down as it lets out one final primal shriek, then collapses with a splash into the muck, a twitching wreck of frayed nerves.

Kaed glances over his shoulder at Ascian. "Now you're stealing kills. This hurts me." But his face is locked in a grin as he races back around the corner. "This is a conspiracy," he says, glancing at Lilliana again. "What did I ever do to deserve this?" Meanwhile, an arcane goblin rounds the corner and launches three bolts at Ascian, winding the pale man. Katrin's action.

Watching the goblin disappear to the left, Katrin runs after him, calling back, "One ran around the corner, Kaed, I'll be back." She raises her hand in preparation to bring her hammer down on the hapless creature once more. But as she rounds the second corner, she can see his unmoving form, limp arm trailing in the sewer water. Dead. With a flick of her wrist, she sends the hammer back towards the others. On the edges of her vision, she can see a goblin across the sewer.  Back to it, she thinks grimly. 

Akiran rushes through the sewers searching for more of these treacherous mutants. Nearly slamming into another of the muscle bound freaks he lowers his stance angling his blade against the goblin

As Akiran suddenly rushes off into the darkness, Lilliana cannot help but get a sinking feeling that these goblins were intentionally trying to separate the group. ‘Together we are strong, but divided we are weak.’  She looks for a way to follow and realizes there is no way across the muck, but through it. Swallowing past a gag that threatens to push into her throat she steps into the foul waters and rushes through it as quickly as she can, not allowing herself to look down. She straddles the corpse of the goblin caster as she looks down the walkway to just barely spot Akiran so far down.  Using the same motions as before, she yanks her neutron Star into being half the distance between her and Akiran. She glances over her shoulders to the newly found group and calls out, realizing this would take much of her precious air, but resigning to it anyway. “Everyone gather here! Akiran is far ahead!”

Ascian isn't sure if it's pain or surprise that lodges firmly in his spine, only that when he whirls to look down the path he'd just sprinted from it's to see the last remnants of magic fading from the air. If he'd needed oxygen to start, the sheer force of it might have been enough to wind him, but dull shock takes its place instead. For a moment he considers lifting his bow and shooting into the darkness, but Lilliana's cry from the far end of the sewer draws his attention and instead he takes off toward the others, rounding the corner and pulling to a stop just in front of the sorceress. Raising his bow and releasing an arrow at the goblin swinging at Akiran in one fluid motion, he watches it find purchase in thick flesh, arms lowering as he says flatly without looking at the woman, "Don't talk down here."

A goblin raises his greatsword and brings it slashing down toward Akiran. The quick dragonborn parries the first blow and allows the first one to soak into his armor. The blow knocks a bit of wind from the mercenary's lungs, but doesn't draw blood. Thezra's action.

Thezra finds the sludge-like water pulling down at her waist and side, but summons her might to leap through the muck rather than fight to wade against it. With another bound she's back on the stone walkway, albeit retching, and takes off towards the sound of the clashing metal up ahead, coming within view of Akiran and the bulky goblin.