Galinndan shakes his head.
"No. Some of the priests back in my home village could commune with the gods, but that was more deliberate."
You move through the tunnels of the Underdark quickly, pushing along at a somewhat desperate pace.
Jimjar moves along, shoulders slumped and eyes downcast.
As you journey, Shuushar's familiarity with the tunnels proves invaluable. Twisting and turning tunnels lead off in many directions. You do follow one long tunnel with no branchings for several hours until it opens up into a cavern.
Large stalagmites fill the cavern, which is partially lit by Kanzen's dancing lights. They stand 20 feet tall and are somewhat flatter on top than normal, though not strikingly so.
You hear multiple creaking, stretching noises and hear a raspy voice.
"Time to get our shinies, boys and girls!!"
Emerging into the half-light on top of the stalagmites around you, you see beady-eyes goblins with taught bowstrings and unsettling toothy grins
Goblins typically speak Goblin and Common, if you care to know.
Galenus shrugs off the bad night's rest.
I know at least some of you speak common, Galenus says in common, Now you best drop your weapons or at least point them elsewhere before you get hurt.
The goblin boss sneers at Galenus but seems to have lost a little confidence given the dwarf's assurance.
"Bahh!! Stupid dwarf! Have high ground! What you do us? We get shinies!!! Wait long time for stupids to rob!"
Kanzen looks around at his companions. We only have five gold... Maybe we should just give it to them? He doesn't sound entirely convinced though.
Seeing the goblins on a 20' ledge made of earth, he casts Mold Earth to excavate the ground underneath the lead Goblin, hopefully making him fall down to our level - and preferably by making him slide down to us so he lands on his bottom.
If it works, Galenus will give the goblin a look that says, "What high ground?"
Irdril speaks up in common.
"Perhaps we can make an arrangement instead of fighting. You see we don't have many shinies, but perhaps some gold to let us pass through?"
or perhaps not lol..
well the dice like me..
The goblin eyes Irdril suspiciously. "Go ahead and throw up all shinies!!"
Galinndan does notice Jimjar's gloom and debates speaking with him, but then the matter of the goblins take precedence over his musings.
Over the mind spore link (or whispering if that isn't up):
We should run for it. The goblins will surely fire on us whether we throw the gold or not. Or we throw the gold as a distraction.
One Goblin a little ways back says something, looks displeased, and lessens the tension on his bowstring somewhat. The boss snaps something at him and he pulls his bowstring back to firing position but does so with a disinterested look on his face.
The Goblin in the back grumbles that you all are not worth the trouble but the boss spits back that they aren't likely to have a better target any time soon.
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I'm wearing a loincloth, iffen I 'ad any shines, I'm not sure you'd want 'em
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Tiberius appraises the situation, and while he doesn't like goblins, sees a golden opportunity to aid the group, should the goblins be willing, and easily manipulated. He speaks up to the goblin boss.
I have no gold, We clearly aren't worth your valuable time, as you will get nothing of any worth out of us, and a fight, even with the high ground, will cost you lives, energy, and trouble. Let us pass, and you can ambush a small drow party following us, they will have a lot more shinies than we, or you, could dream of. There won't be too many, I am sure your great warband could easily handle them if you shoot first before demanding. Tiberius decides to try and negotiate themselves out of this situation.
To make it better, we will give you what little, if any gold, any of us have.
A great idea Tiberius. Let us hope the goblins agree.
The goblin boss eyes Tiberius, intrigued.
"What?! That sounds nice... But almost too nice... And what the hell is he doing!?!!!? Stop that or we'll fill yer dwarfy hide with shafts!!"
He points down at Galenus, who is concentrating hard on casting spells at the bottom of the stalagmite.
Cyrus steps up and says.
The goblin boss stops paying attention to other things. He holds out a hand to his subordinates, who lower their bows somewhat. With a toothy yellow grin and a gleam in his eye, his gaze locks greedily onto Cyrus.
"9 shares for us and one for you lot. And I command the ambush. Deal, big-lover?"
What is it saying Cyrus? And what do you lot think? Tiberius thinks telepathically to the NPCs and Cryus.
he also puts a hand on the Galenus's arm, giving him a nod. It is stopped. He says back to the goblin.
I've offered our aid n ambushing the drow, they want most all the spoils though. I think we take whatn we can get. Cyrus answers back.
I would rather leave them to fight the drow, it would be a large risk. See if you can at least negotiate getting weapons and armor for our allies, seeing as any drow armor would be too large for them.
Galenus relents his feeble soellcasting with Tiberius' lead.
I would prefer to ditch them, let the gonlins and drow fight it out. Heck, the scout team is only two or three drow. These Goblins might be able to fend them off. But once the rest of the regiment comes to bear, we'll all be screwed.
However, I'll not leave anyone behind who wants to stay. If any one of you stay, I'm staying with you.
Additional arms and armour would be helpful. But good work both.
Kanzen concentrates, moving all of his dancing lights to hover above the goblins, two of them 10 feet up directly above the leader's head. He then steps forward next to Tiberius and speaks.
"We outnumber you, and there are more of us coming down the tunnel, a quaggoth among them. Perhaps you can beat us, but you don't know the skills and powers we have. We need equipment, weapons, armour, and you have those things. There may be some who wish to stay and fight with you, but maybe not all. If you push for battle with those who will not fight the drow with you, we will be forced to destroy you, and take your equipment. Best for you if you let those of us who wish to pass through without battle."
"Perhaps Tiberius is right.. If you ambush the drow you can surely defeat them.. We would have already destroyed them but we haven't much weapons. You don't seem to have that problem."
Galinndan says nothing out loud.
He thinks to himself:
I know where my strengths lie. And it is not in words.
The goblin boss eyes you lot and then spits.
"Achh! We don't want big cowards fighting with us! And these Drow sound easy... But how me know you not work for them!?"
He points a bony, accusing finger at Kanzen.
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Galinndan thinks quickly and gives Kanzen a swift smack on his head.
He looks up at the goblin, and calls: "Proof enough?"
The Goblin grunts and smiles wickedly.
"Ok then Biggins. On with ya."
He waves you to pass through to the other side of the cavern but keeps a wary eye on you.
Kanzen blinks after Galinndan's whack on the head, not quite understanding what just happened, only that they seem to have a pass from the goblin boss. Rubbing his scalp, he prepares to move on with the others, the drow patrolman in him keeping a sharp eye on the goblins as they do.
As you pass out of the cavern, Eldeth confides "I don't like deception to send these goblins to do our dirty work but the choice not to fight Ilvara was a wise one. I've seen her kill and entire gang of raiders in seconds with a swarm of horrible wasps. It was... Gruesome..."
You recognize the description of this spell as insect plague and you are familiar with how the spell works.
As you move along quickly, you become thankful for your food reserves. Signs of edible life are becoming scarcer as you get farther from the river. And foraging for food would make your fast pace incredibly difficult.
Once out of the cavern and well out of sight and hearing of the goblins,Galinndan says: "Kanzen."
He wants to make sure that Kanzen is looking at him before continuing.
Kanzen looks over at Galinndan, then moves towards the surface elf. "Yes?"
Galinndan looks Kanzen in the eyes.
"I apologise for striking you earlier. I felt it was necessary to convince the goblins you weren't in charge, but that doesn't make it right. If it would make you feel better to strike me back-"
He stretches out his arms, with no weapons in them, leaving his chest and face exposed.
"-then do so."
Galinndan is serious.
Kanzen looks at Galinndan for moment blankly, then starts laughing, a genuine belly laugh. "Why would I...? Haha... You think...?" Words seem to fail him, and more chuckles bubble from his lips.
On seeing Kanzen's reaction, Galinndan, confused and a little embarrassed, resumes a more normal stance.
"Kanzen, you have the singular honour of being the one drow I feel *bad* about striking. Shall we journey on?"
Kanzen claps Galinndan on the shoulder. "You're a funny man, Galinndan," he smiles. "Let's continue."
Oy! You two. Stop kissing and get a move on! Galenus says as he passes the drow and the wood elf.
Irdril rolls her eyes at the displayed of manliness.
"Boys will be boys.. Shall we continue?"
Galinndan says nothing, but smiles slightly.
That could have gone worse., he thinks to himself.
*******
"We should slow the pace a little. Finding food and water is getting difficult."
Tibby nods in agreement to Galinndan. Yes, and those goblins will at least slow the drow down. He glances to Kanzen for a brief moment. In a soft voice, he speaks to Galinndan.
You seem to trust the drow more than I can say I do. I've seen what his people can do... what they do. Do you truly think we can trust him? I mean truly trust him?
Galinndan thinks for a moment.
"Every drow I had encountered acted very differently. Utterly selfish, murderous creatures, happy to use slaves to do their dirty work. And I was - and am - still happy to kill them as I am able."
He pauses.
"Kanzen...as strange as it seems, I believe is different. He does not act like any other drow I have ever seen. I did originally suspect that he was a spy of some sort, but if is he, he has done more damage to the drow than to us. What do you make of him?"
The hulking quaggoth stands next to Kanzen and grumbles in his thoughts
"Necessary or no, it is not fit for one of us elves to strike another. I do not see why you make light of the matter, good Kanzen!"