((If that's close enough for a preliminary distribution, we can call it fine and send you back to HQ. Nikohl indicated to me out of forum that it's fine, Theis didn't seem to have any major wants or needs that haven't been addressed, and Mines was happy with whatever as long as he got his rope. Asks hasn't popped back in, so I'm assuming he's fine with whatever, as long as he gets Bloodsong back (defense was his biggest need, and he'd be getting that). If the two of you are good for now (the rapier/dirk could be considered pending if you want, and you can sort it out later), and Theis is ok with things, you lot can get back to the HQ before the bard is gone.))
Because I don't want to go through figuring out which leather/metal is contributed to upgrade the armor,
Ormila realizes that she dropped a tree on a henchman a while ago, and has some broken and crumpled metal and leather armor that is of no good for anything else but scrap, and she gives it to Mantagar to use.
Mantagar thanks her for the meal, takes some measurements, grabs the chainshirts and helmet, materials from
Ormila and bids you all farewell. He promises to visit in a few weeks with
Costa and
Ormila.
He has an uneventful journey back to his forge, where he finds the goblin and pup playing in the grass. Together they grab the bowl and blade and head into the woods, eventually arriving at the yellow leaved plant that the minotaur had described. They carefully collect a bowl of leaves, being certain not to get the flesh corrosive sap on themselves and return to the forge. As they unwrap
Bloodsong from her linens, her muffled screaming grows louder.
"...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..."
They notice that where once there was a only a jagged patch of troll skin close to the hilt of the blade, and the rest had been dangling viscera that the blade had fused with, the blade was now sheathed in troll flesh that was covered by a pebbly green skin. Indeed, if
Remedy were to inspect the patch of troll hide she'd collected, she would also notice that it was now covered on all sides by newly grown skin.
The minotaur and goblin form the clay into a sheath around both blade and troll flesh, and pack the inside with the yellow leaves, the troll flesh developing pock marks where the sap contacts it. Closing the clay off in front of the hilt, but leaving a vent hole to release gasses, they sword wrapped in troll, wrapped in leaves, wrapped in clay out to harden overnight. Thankfully, with clay around the blade and wrapping linens back around her hilt, much of the screaming is muffled. The next day, with the clay hardened,
Mantagar gently stokes up his forge and kiln fires the clay sheath. As the heat penetrates, fire hardening the clay into ceramic, the leaves react further with the troll flesh, and a noxious yellow green vapor jets from the vent hole and up the chimney. Eventually it ceases, and the minotaur removes the blade from the forge, laying her across the anvil to cool. The screaming has stopped, replaced instead with quiet sobbing, that elicits a matching cry from
Costa, who doesn't like to see his life partner in pain.
When the clay has cooled, the minotaur hands
Costa a smaller forging hammer and grips the hilt to hold it still for the goblin, giving him a nod to swing away. It takes a few blows, but the ceramic shatters and falls to either side of the anvil. The blade and the inside of the ceramic sheath is covered with blackened charred goo, but a swipe of a rag reveals shining metal underneath. Sobbing with relief,
Costa drops the hammer and cradles the blade in his arms, rocking her back and forth and mumbling about how sorry he was, and what a good job she did. His tears become a stream when he finally hears her voice able to speak words, she assures him that she would do anything for him, and an eternity fused to nasty troll flesh wouldn't be too long if it meant keeping him safe.
Mantagar leaves a clean rag and some oil for the goblin to clean and tend to the blade once they've finished their reunion, and takes a walk in the woods with the pup.
In a series of montage shots over the next few weeks,
Costa reestablishes his bond with his blade, she's not come out of the experience unscarred, but it seems that most of the damage seems to be psychological rather than physical. He does what he can to reassure her and make her feel safe, and there does seem to be some improvement, though her mood swings much more wildly than before her troll encounter. When he is not tending to his blade, the goblin serves as an apprentice to the minotaur blacksmith, helping him in the commissioned work for his questing companions.
Mantagar fills him in on everything he missed, the squirrels chasing the others, the swarm of mosquitoes, working their way through the webs, Moric's shadiness, the henchmen arriving and the final battle with the spiders and druid on their side. Eventually they finish what work they can, both the custom items and a few others that
Mantagar has the supplies for, and they load up the cart in preparation of the trip back to the GAL.
Costa suggests that there might be some less well equipped members that might still be able to make use of the crude arms and armor that the minotaur had acquired from the hoppers and thralls, so they leave that in the cart, loading it up with the blacksmith's sharpening wheel and the gear they'd worked on. Before they leave,
Mantagar hands the goblin a cloth wrapped bundle.
"This was my hammer when I was an apprentice smith...I... I want you to have it. I know you've got a life of adventure, rather than smithing ahead of you, but hopefully you find it useful."
Costa unwraps the
Apprentice Blacksmith's Hammer and thanks his large friend, who seems to be struggling with his emotion, resorting to
"C'mon, lets get going."
► Show Spoiler
Apprentice Blacksmith's Hammer: ATT +1, can be used to repair minor dents or other damage to metal items. Has sentimental value to Mantagar Ironhorn, who gifted it to Costa.
As the cart rumbles out from the clearing they head up the trail, stopping and loading any bodies into one side of the cart. They are getting pretty ripe by now. The pair (plus the pup) make a detour and head out into the swamp, following the dancing wisps, picking up the scattered remains of the dead swamp hoppers and the more intact bodies of dead thralls. It seems the scavengers of the swamp don't like the taste of thrall any more than
Bloodsong. When they get to the tower on the island in the middle of the swamp, the continue gathering bodies and begin building a bonfire to burn the corpses. It is
Costa who makes the unnerving discovery that the body of the troll is not where they left it... instead there are old tracks from a large set of feet heading into the swamp. They finish burning the bodies and head back to the forest trail, picking up the stakes along the way.
Acting on an idea he got from
Mines suggestion, the minotaur pulls up his signs and places them at the start of the stone pathway into the swamp. If they arouse more interest than they deter, future adventurers may head into the swamp rather than on to his clearing... Perhaps
Ormila has some way for him to better disguise the trail heading to his forge...?
The druid meanwhile, has finished work on the custom items requested by the goblins, and with time to spare waiting for the blacksmith and sixth goblin's arrival, imbues them with a little something extra. Her spiders work on repairing web and clearing them of the remaining mosquitoes, who seem to have settled back down to relatively normal mosquito behavior since the defeat of Mother. As the spiders finish making a meal of the henchmen, she collects the silken husks and cuts them open and extracts the gear. Uncertain whether human skeletons have any market value for goblins, she bundles them up to take along just in case. Her spiders drag back the bodies of three thralls in black leather armor, she strips and cleans the gear before disposing of the bodies in the forest.
When
Mantagar arrives, introductions to
Costa are made, and the trio (plus pup) head back to the crossroads to head to the Goblin Adventuring League Headquarters.