Monday, March 19, 2012

The Paladin's Guide to Reforming Goblins

The Paladin's Guide to Reforming Goblins
(a lesson in training goblinoids from Session #10 of the Aeternal Realm of Sylvaeon)


Previously, thirteen goblinoids had surrendered to the party at the Moon Well. Great evil had been wrought under the leadership of the goblin shaman, as the Red Moon was summoned.

The problem that the party had was that goblnoids had never surrendered before. In the past they either fought maniacally to the death or ran away to fight again another day. Some of the PCs wanted to kill them outright anyway, but Sir Parcifal decided that an attempt to reform the goblinoids should be made.

The party marched their prisoners to the Warden Outpost. Once they arrived, Parcifal began the process of reeducating the goblinoids. One spoke the common tongue, so he was the go-between for the Paladin and the rest of the creatures. The Sword SIster Airyka spoke their tongue, so she made sure that everything was as Parcifal said. She also helped oversee the dastardly little devils and maintain some semblance of order when things would go wrong.

In a conversation with the  only of the unlucky 13 goblinoids that could communicate with him, Parcifal discovered that they did not understand the concepts of hope and freewill; knowing only fear, servitude, strength and weakness. As a man of virtue, Parcifal began to lecture the goblinoids about ethics and civilized concepts, during which the goblinoids stared blankly at him. One even fell asleep. Later, the green-black miscreants became even more bored, because they had no mischief to do. To relieve the monotony, they began to poke each other with sticks or knock one another over the head with rocks.

Seeing that this approach was not working, the Warden Master GIldaril suggested that Parcifal give the goblinoids the task of building their own shelter somewhere outside of the Outpost. Parcifal took a risk that eventually turned out to be a wise decision: he marched them to the river to resettle them in an area somewhat removed from the Outpost. It was risky, because the little terrors were not under the direct supervision of the Wardens anymore.

Gibble, the goblin that spoke the common language, announced that the thirteen had decided that they wanted to build a fort, like the Wardens had. Parcifal agreed and gave a hatchet to Gibble with the instructions that Gibble would give it to the one most capable of using it -  Gibble announced that he was and raised it in triumph, announcing that he was now the leader of the thirteen goblins, at which they all cheered. At last, the goblins set to work in a pathetic attempt to replicate the fort. Airyka had to teach them how to cut and drive small trees into the ground as post and how to make lean-to shelters as places to sleep. The goblins renewed their efforts, taking to the work gleefully.

However, during the night, the goblinoids began to fight amongst themselves again, as there were only 6 shelters built and there was thirteen of the goblins. Only 2 could fit into a shelter at a time, so one hapless goblin was kicked out of every shelter and decided he was going to drag one of his brothers out of a shelter, so that he would have room to sleep. Airyka had to break up the fight and made another shelter. Now everything seemed to be alright… but it was not, because later in the night the goblinoids were fighting again about who would et single occupancy of the new shelter. The next day, Airyka made sure that each of the malcontents had made their own shelter to sleep in and that solved the problem.

After some days of working, a five foot high post wall was created and a wooden gate attached. The goblin fort was ready! Working together finally made the goblins more of a team and there was less trouble over time.

Once the fort was finished, Gibble asked if the goblins would continue to receive rations from the Wardens or if they could have weapons and go hunting. Airyka was a bit concerned about giving the little greenies weapons, but Gibble convinced Parcifal to lend them a dagger so that they could sharpen makeshift spears for themselves. Parcifal allowed the goblins to go out in pairs. Because their were thirteen, the goblins drew lots using darker and lighter stones, determining which one would remain behind at the goblin fort. Parcifal approved, as the goblins were showing increased signs of community and less aggression when conflict or self-interest came into play.

Charging them not to go more than a day's journey away, Parcifal released the pairs to go hunting. Some did not return that night. Parcifal rode off to find them the next day. He found some sleeping in the woods, no more than a day's journey away. Upon seeing Parcifal, they waves and showed him the squirrels they can hunted, chattering at him in their incomprehensible language. Hoisting their kill, they marched confidently back to the fort without being told to.

Upon seeing that it might be possible for the goblins to exist now as a cohesive community, he set up a shield with the White Rose standard of the Lady over the small gateway. The goblins jumped and cheered, because in their minds, they were now just like the Wardens and their outpost.

Before taking leave, Parcifal charged the creatures with a few simple guidelines, which Gibble scratched into wood with his claws. Parcifal said he would return sometime to check on them. The goblins waved goodbye to the paladin and the sword sister and began their new existence as semi-reformed goblins.

Hopefully they will not cause too many problems in the future  ;)

4 comments:

  1. Ha! Very cool. That's something few paladins have attempted, I'd imagine.

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  2. I was wondering how it would go for Sir Parcifal... at least they didn't burn anything else down as they have been so fond of before!

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  3. I've got more I want to blog about from session #10, but I could not resist this comedy of errors ;)


    Looking forward to any player write-ups, too, as always :)

    I hope everyone reading this blog has a great day!

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