The Hoof and Hound Raid
The Hoof and Hound Raid
“The goblins took the horses and dogs for a reason. Finding them means following a trail of ash, blood, and hungry singing into the dark.”
— Hook · kill
“Mara Venn grips the guild counter with both hands. "Someone broke into my barn last night, but they did not touch the cattle or goats. They took every horse and every livestock dog, and if those animals are still alive, they are somewhere beyond Isharan's walls with goblins."”
— Hook · kill
Mara Venn brings the party to her farm outside Isharan's eastern gate. The barn doors are splintered inward, yet the cattle and goats remain untouched. Horse tack has been dragged through the mud, dog collars lie cut beneath a window, and a child's crude drawing of a horned goblin has been painted on the barn wall in ash. Sergeant Oren Vale arrives soon afterward and warns that the tracks appear deliberately confusing.
Mara Venn
Mara Venn approaches the party at the Adventurers Guild shortly after dawn. She is exhausted, muddy, and carrying a broken dog collar in one hand. If the party asks about payment, she admits that the guild has agreed to supplement her limited funds because Isharan's officials want the goblin threat ended quickly.
Rumours
d5 · table- 01Goblins hate horses and ordinary dogs, so no one understands why they stole both.
- 02A ruined aqueduct beyond Sootroot Gulch has begun glowing red at night.
- 03Someone saw a goblin carrying a brass horn near the old quarry.
- 04The missing animals can be heard whinnying and barking underground after sunset.
- 05Isharan's patrols searched the western ravine, but found only burned grass and false tracks.
If the party fails, the goblins use the stolen animals to relocate through the aqueduct and begin raiding farms in coordinated attacks. If the fiendish relic remains active, the goblin tribe becomes increasingly violent and may eventually assault Isharan itself.
Background Lore
Beyond Isharan's eastern walls, the bramble-choked ravine called Sootroot Gulch shelters the Ash-Tooth goblin tribe. The tribe has survived for years by raiding farms, but recent floods destroyed their food stores and collapsed part of their warren. Their new leader, Varka Ash-Tooth, ordered a desperate raid for horses and dogs, believing the animals can pull carts and guard the tribe while the goblins relocate. The goblins' hatred of ordinary dogs and horses is a familiar Pathfinder trait, but this tribe has developed an unusual plan that makes the theft more dangerous than a simple livestock raid.
A farmer outside Isharan's walls has hired the adventurers to recover several missing horses and livestock dogs. The animals vanished during a nighttime barn raid, while the farm's other livestock was left unharmed. Evidence points toward a goblin tribe hiding in the ravines beyond the city, and the longer the animals remain missing, the greater the risk that the goblins will raid another farm.
