Giving short nod at Tex as Eberrac starts to rush forward like a mad bear, greataxe raised high above his head while bellowing incoherent warcry, trying to force the enemies focus on him
wondering if Eberac's warcry would draw the goblins to attack him or flee from him, Jack follows Tex's lead and send an acid ball toward a goblin the back.
The group takes but a moment to survey the situation, and then Aren kicks things off with a "Bang." One of the goblins screws its face up as if in concentration or discomfort, but it doesn't clutch its head or squeal in pain. There isn't much time to wonder about that, though, as Eberac rushes forward, his axe up and ready to swing. The goblins shriek in surprise, and the dwarf brings the weapon down in a mighty blow, chopping straight through one goblin's skull and into another's shoulder. The first topples over, stone dead, while the second gives a mighty holler. Jack hurls a bolt of acid into the fray, and it splashes across the rearmost of the critters, sending up a plume of acrid smoke and another scream.
The posse has the edge on things, and with the goblins still in shock, they have an opportunity to press the attack!
\
"Feels good bein' back here," Tex muses, squinting one eye and taking a shot at the goblin furthest back.
"Boom!" Aren says as he fires at the goblin that got hit in the shoulder by the axe.
Keeping up with his murder spree, Eberac began his stepping forward, sliding with his dominant left foot forward and twisting body. Reaching his end momentum, his upper body snapped like arrow released from the bow as he brought his axe towards the remaining goblins
Jack looks briefly at his components to make sure they hadn't gotten wet or something to explain the little effect his past spell had. Concluding that all looked in order he decides to try again with another dart of acid.
Once more, the goblins resist Aren's mental assault, perhaps fortified by their fear. Jack fires another spray of acid that smokes against the furthest goblin, causing it to cry out in pain once again. Eberac cleaves his second target in twain, separating head from shoulders, and the axe even slips across the final critter's chest, drawing a line of blood. Tex follows it up with a well-aimed shot, and the goblin falls dead to the ground.
There are two paths leading from this chamber, one with rough stairs leading down, and one that slopes upward. Both look to head westward, and the stairs accompany the stream from the pools, likely headed back toward the entrance.
Tex whistles unsubtly, moseying up to the dead goblins and grabbing a spare handaxe from one of the corpses, giving two of them a kick to be sure and leaving Eberrac's alone. "Well, takes care o' that," he says, popping a spare bullet into his gun, spinning the cylinder and checking the sight before holstering again. "Up or down, fellas?"
"We should probably search them to see if they have anything worth taking."
Eberac turns and starts to answer to Tex's question before stopping and raising his arm to others, trying to keep them quiet as he hears something.
Keeping his ears open and looking at the both ways as if thinking before Eberac speaks to others and gruffs "Hearing voices from the tunnel...".
Straining his ears as if to make sure before speaking again "Make it both of them. My dwarven senses are tingling and telling me that these two are connecting at some point along the way"
"Take a look, lad," says Tex, nodding to Aren and the bodies before glancing over to Eberrac. [b]"Reckon it's better to take the high road then, pard? We can keep a height advantage, hopefully."[/b
"What about tricking them down one of the tunnels, by one person, as the others go around the other tunnel and hit like a bull from the back of these gobbies. Between hammer and anvil so to say" Eberac inquires about the possibility
"Well, that sounds like a solid plan," says Tex. "Reckon I'll take the low road, y'all take the high. I'll walk slowly, then when I see 'em I'll fire a shot off--y'all come running in from the high road and hit 'em hard."
Tex checks his gun, spins the cylinder, and holds it in his main hand with one of the goblin handaxes in his left. He'll wait a minute to see if Aren finds anything, then set off.
Aren searches the goblins while the dwarves begin to hatch a plan. The little varmints don't have much on them, just crude weapons and hides, and overall there's nothing of real value here--even their weapons are so beat up that it's unlikely there'd be a market for them.
Once that's finished, the party begins moving down the passageways, with Eberac taking the lead of those going high, and Tex leading the way going low.
The group begins to prowl up the corridors--the high path takes a turn and slopes sharply upward, while the lower path continues to wind downward. Everyone quickly becomes aware when they converge: the higher path tunnels out into the wall of the lower, opening about twenty feet above the floor below. Another opening is on the other wall, with a shoddy but serviceable bridge stretched between them. Crouched on the bridge is another goblin, lazily watching down the tunnel--looking toward the entrance of the caves. At the moment it's completely unawares of the party, leaving it open to attack.
Jack motions to Aren for him and the psychic to try to quietly drop the creature with surprise attacks. If they fail to kill the goblin, the sound of Tex's revolver hammer dropping should be the last sound the creature ever hears.
Aren nods, points, and says "Bang."
From their spot in the tunnel, Aren and Jack raise their hands and invoke their mystical powers. The goblin clutches at its head, suddenly writhing in pain as trickles of blood spout from its ears, and then a splash of acid singes across its back, smoking in the dark of the tunnel. Still, the creature is standing at the moment, and it starts to turn toward its attackers.
Tex draws, raises his arm, closes one eye and finishes the goblin off. Giving a nod up to Aren and Jack, he quietly spins his cylinder out, places another round in his six-shooter, and keeps it out and low. He takes a look around, trying to get a better since of his surroundings. Assuming no more goblins come rushing down, he'll motion up to the party and point back to the tunnel, then up and around to where they are before taking off to join them.
Seeing as the others attacked and giving time for them, Eberac rushes forward and kicks the goblin, trying to drop him down from the bridge to the ground
As the goblin turns, Eberac steps forward, ready to move in and knock it from the bridge, but Tex quickly raises his six-gun and fires. The goblin's head blows back with a spatter of blood and bone, and it collapses onto the bridge as the blast of the gunshot fades down the corridors. The group remains tense and quiet for a few moments, wondering if there will be any reaction, but nothing happens in the next seconds. They seem clear for now.
As the goblin turns, Eberac steps forward, ready to move in and knock it from the bridge, but Tex quickly raises his six-gun and fires. The goblin's head blows back with a spatter of blood and bone, and it collapses onto the bridge as the blast of the gunshot fades down the corridors. The group remains tense and quiet for a few moments, wondering if there will be any reaction, but nothing happens in the next seconds. They seem clear for now.
"We should probably take the bridge across and see what's on the other side."
Eberac grunts in agreement as he watches the dead golin lying with bulletholes on his head
"Well, I dunno but might as well see what there is still left. Big boss we have already taken over. Only small fries left"
After some thought, the party reconvenes up top and crosses over the bridge. The passage winds around a few dozen feet, and then widens out into another cavern. The cave is divided by a ten-foot cliff rise that juts out halfway in, the rough escarpment facing the entrance. A rough, natural staircase provides a path to reach the raised area inside. The air here is hazy with smoke from a cooking fire, and the pungent stench of purely cured hides and unwashed goblins is thick in your noses.
The goblins themselves apparently heard the gunshot from down the tunnel, and are wary in a state of some preparation. Two are near the entrance with spears in hand, and two more further back have bows, although they haven't yet drawn arrows. A fatter goblin stands atop the escarpment, an oversized robe and headdress lending it a sense of comedic "superiority." Kneeling beside the goblin is a silver-haired human man--Sild Winter, from the look of him, the retired Marshal who's head of security for Gundrenn Rockseeker. He looks bruised, and a gash of dried blood runs across one cheek, but he's alive and breathing.
The robed goblin is pressing an old flintlock pistol to Sild's side, and it gives a brutish little grin as it sees the posse. "You! You come kill goblins? We make deal, you and me!" It speaks in the common tongue, a little chipped and broken like most goblins, but understandable.
"Whoa now, pardner," says Tex, putting his hands up and spreading his fingers. "I'm sure you think y've got a real good handle on this here situation, but I'm here to tell you that this ain't gonna go down how you think it does." He smiles lopsidedly and tips his hat to Mr. Winter. "So why don't you start by telling us what you want with that there Marshal."
"Mar-shall?" The goblin gives a curious look for a moment, then tries to mask it without much subtlety. "This longshanks good for me reason. But you get you friend if we make deal. There bigbad chief, bugbear name Klarg. You kill him, me make chief. Then you get longshank friend."
Sild, for his part, looks up, his eyes struggling to focus for a moment as he looks at the party. "Don't trust it," he calls. His voice is hoarse and laced with desperation. "Don't make deals with these--"
The man's warning is cut off by the goblin shoving the pistol into his ribs. It turns back and grins at you. "What you say? We make deal, you get you friend?"
Tex gives a long glance back at the other three and tries to inch his way forward without being too obvious. "Now listen, you hurt him more it ain't gonna put us in a mood to cooperate," he says. Sniffing and snorting for a second, he continues. "But I got some good news for you. We already took care o' your problem. So you just hand over Mr. Winters' and we'll be on our way." He sniffs again, taking another subtle half-step. "'Course, you might wanna come back up the tunnel with us and see Klarg's body, I reckon."
Aren just leans against the wall, gun holstered, but hand on the handle.
Jack stands uncomfortably in the back with a readiedaction to acid orb the boss goblin if he tries to hurt the marshal.
He also tries listening to the other goblins to hear what they are saying to one another, if anything trying to get a gauge on if the others are going to attack or not.
"Hey!" The robed goblin shouts as Tex creeps forward, and it jabs Sild's ribs with its pistol. "No tricksies, bigbeard! You already kill Klarg? That good, that good." It muses for a moment, and then calls out to the other goblins in their own language. Jack is able to follow along--the conversation focuses on whether to hand Winter over, and they quickly decide to try and get some gold out of it too. Finally, it grins and leers down at the posse. "You! You give you shinies all, and you get longshanks friend. Good deal, yeah?"
"Allow me to counter offer with we'll kill you all and take the marshall."
"The boy's got the right of it," says Tex, with a gleam in his eye, his feet sliding to a stop. "Can't move the goal posts just 'cuz you lost the game, I reckon." He brushes back his duster, his fingers hovering in air above his holster.
"We've put about a dozen of y'all's kin in the ground since they tried ter jump us this morning. You wanna go say hello?"
"Ah, wat we be doing here?" Eberac speaks with dark tone, grumbling as he shakes his axe
"Since when be us dwars making da deals with da gobbies? Blood and bones it be always been, I say"
"Be that as it may, We probably don't want the marshal to die more than we want to kill the goblins. Probably."
The goblin pauses when Aren and Tex make their threats, clearly hesitant. When Jack calls out in their own language, the creatures give a start, and the leader continues to wait, actually chewing as it thinks. After a long pause, it finally nods. "Alright. Me no want trouble. You bigbeards crazy, you longshanks crazy, and you--" It points at Jack, clearly unsure of what to call the gnome. "You crazy too. You take longshanks here, you get out. No tricks, no trouble. You leave us 'lone, you want more goblin trouble, you go talk King Grol in castle. Now get!"
It shoves Sild Winter sideways a little bit, and the Marshal grunts and gets to his feet. He staggers down the stairs toward the posse and gives a weak smile. "Best we get going, fellas, before they decide to shoot us in the back."
Tex hustles the old ex-marshall past himself and brushes his fingers along his pistol grip for a fraction of a second. His brow furrows as he glares at the goblins, his eyes alighting on their new chief. Between Eberrac's breathing and knowing for a fact that Jack's out of spells, he thinks better of it, letting his duster fall back over the holster. "Always come back later," he mumbles, barely loud enough for anyone to hear. He slowly and painstakingly walks backwards out of the room until the goblins are out of sight.
At the end of the passage leading up to the bridge, he takes one of Mr. Winter's arms over his shoulder. "Might be a little short ter carry you, Marshall," he says, "But I reckon you can lean on us at least. You gonna keep 'til we get you outta this here cave?"
"I can manage." Sild does gladly lean on Tex for support, though, and stays with the dwarf as the posse makes their way out of the cave. The light of the evening hits their eyes as they step back out to the clearing, and after a deep breath of the free air, they begin the trek back down to the wagons.
"Well," Tex says with a lopsided smile, still holding onto the wounded Mr. Winter, "Reckon we're earnin' our keep already. Right fellas?" He blinks, even in the low light of the evening, when they leave the darkness of the cave.
"So, we gonna camp out for the night or push on over to Phandalin?" He asks. "I reckon I can fix up the Marshall, but I might need to rest a while. Setting Eberac's jawbone took a lil' extra outta me." He grins over at the other dwarf. "Worked out alright though. You hit like an ox, fella."
"I think a nights rest may do us all some good. I doubt we will have any more goblins takin pokes at us for a bit. "
"We should probably get away from here first. I'd rather not have my throat slit in the middle of the night."
"Alright, how 'bout we hedge our bets. I'll drive us a bit up the road and we can catch some shut-eye," says Tex, setting Mr. Winter down on the edge of the party's wagon. "Then we'll press on for Phandalin come first light." He pauses, scratching his beard as he sits on the bench of the wagon, huffing. "Wish we could go back in and clean the rest of the scum outta that cave. Later, I reckon."
"I coulda see, if I could do some nasty stuff here? Poison fer example on da food, which we passed on that hobgoblins place. Pests be pests" Eberac mentions with indifferent voice as he eyes Marshall
"but I, well guess, that be better to get out of her before da gobs decides to come back... but there be still plenty of space to paint da walls in red" Eberac grunts in the end