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You turn the goblin loose and it disappears into the undergrowth, heading in a northeasterly direction. Waiting a reasonable amount of time to give it a head start, Caelryl examines the area the goblin passed through. "Hmmm. The damnable little thing moves like an elf," he says. "I can find no trace even though I know it went this way."
He leads the party to the northeast, eyes constantly watching the ground ahead. Finally, about 100 yards from where you began, he stops again. "Got it!" he announces after several minutes of searching. He begins to follow the trail which meanders to the north.
After following it for a mile, Caelryl looks again to find the trail which is rapidly growing cold. It goes a short distance to the east, then doubles back upon itself, apparently trying to throw potential trackers off the trail. The ranger is undaunted and quickly picks it up to the north again. You follow it for another half-mile and then, through the trees, you catch sight of a ruined tower sitting upon a hillock, about a mile or so in front of you and slightly to the west.
Tasius was impressed, there was no way he'd have been able to read the trail like that. "Good show Caelryl!" he enthused before pointing out the tower, "Well now, I'd say that's worth checking out, wouldn't you?"
He starts walking towards the hill...
Caelryl smiles when he sees the tower, proud of himself of following the goblin. "Thank you, Tasius. It seems all that practice and training didn't go to waste," he says as they continue towards the tower.
"Excellent work, Caelryl," Eristinian says, unshouldering his pack as he examines the cave entrance. "Let's see if cutting the head of the chieftain will break the resolve of these goblins." He withdraws a torch, and lights it with a few strikes of his flint and steel.
In front of the dark cave-entrance Tasius remarks cautiously, "I agree with the sentiment Eristinian, but lets not count our chickens before, they've hatched." It had occurred to Tasius that chieftains tended to be strong and charismatic, getting to him and killing him would be easier said than done.
Tasius wasn't the sort to idle about, once Eristinian lit his torch, Tasius realized it was pretty gloomy in there. He concentrated and whispered a few spidery words, and a soft radiance issued from his sword. He cautiously ventured within.
Friar O'Grady casts LIGHT upon the holy symbol hanging around his neck and cautiously follows his companions into the entrance.
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Galfon gives a small chuckle when his allies all prepare some kind of light source. "I guess our approach won't be a stealthy one. But I suppose that wouldn't do much good unless we could see, eh?"
Without another word he draws his bow an nocks an arrow, ready for any goblins that might leap out of the dark.
Eristinian nods to Galfon in response. "Try to keep too many of the bastards from raising an alarm deeper within their warrens. That's probably as good as we can hope." Once he has the torch lit, he draws his rapier and begins to head into the cave mouth with the rest of his allies.
Eristinian creeps along the eastern wall, keeping his eyes on what might be hiding in the western alcove, trusting his ally to follow along and watch the eastern.
"We have to remember that our friend may have already alerted the tribe to our presence," Caelryl says as he puts away his bow and draws his sword at the sight of the alcoves. He waits for Eristinian to move up to peek into the alcoves, ready to rush to his aid if there are guards.
Tasius nods, that was a distinct possibility. It was no matter, Saranrae taught that to be merciful was a worthy thing even if, or especially if, it made the way harder.
Now the area was somewhat lit by the Good Friar's spell, Tasius watched Caelrl creep ahead, ready to rush to his aid if needed.
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The alcoves prove to be empty, and the party creeps forward to another, similar set of alcoves. These prove empty as well and the group continues until, ahead at the edge of the light, those with low-light vision can see a horrific sight, the scene of a battle. At least four bodies lay in the intersection.
Eristinian's eyebrows raise as he spots the carnage, and approaches the nearest body, attempting to see if he can determine how the people died.
Seeing the bodies slumped on the floor,
Tasius whispers "Saranrae have mercy!" Following Eristinian, Tasius edges closer hoping to get an idea of what happened here, while keeping an eye out for possible danger.
Caelryl also moves up slowly to inspect the area, weary of attack.
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There are five bodies in the crossroads:
Body 1 is a human warrior, slumped against the wall. His sword is broken in half and his armor has been stripped.
Body 2 is a mage of some sort, impaled against a wall. His robes are mageguild, and though he rots, he is held upright by a spear thrust through his body and broken off.
Body 3 is another warrior, this time a dwarf. He lies face down just east of the intersection. It appears he crawled here, dragging blood, and died as a trail of blood leads from the steps to where he is, and pooled. The blood is now long dried. The dwarf is lying on top of a broken war hammer and beside him lies a money bag, turned inside out.
Body 4 is a human female, also stripped of her armor, sprawled against the northeast corner.
Body 5 is small and lithe, a halfling, with dark clothing and a mask.
All of the bodies have begun to decompose and the smell is horrible!
With a chill in his heart, Tasius whispers, "This could be us. We must not underestimate them." Somehow in his heart Tasius knows they have been arrogant in their approach to the goblins.
Friar O'Grady waves his hand over the dead bodies, and utters a prayer..."Desna Domine, in aeternum benedicta Mater, Miserere miserorum ostendere mortuis. Via ad sanctam inducere."
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Galfon wrinkles his nose. He wished that he could pinch it shut, but he needed both hands free to hold his bow. He cautiously approaches the bodies, taking in their grim demise.
"Could this really be the work of goblins?" he says to no one in particular, looking at the remains of the mage pinned to the wall by a spear. "I know they can be dangerous in numbers, but this is a show of sheer force if I've ever seen one."
"That goblin claimed their chief was a mighty warrior." pointed out Tasius, although he didn't sound entirely convinced. More confidently he carried on, "In a way that's beside the point, something around here is apparently quite formidable. We must be careful, and perhaps bold too or we'll never get anything done."
Having gleaned as much as he was likely able from the corpses, he peered down the passageways forming the intersection wondering which way they should venture next. Of course the gloom didn't help.
"Agreed. Let's make sure we don't come to the same fate," Caelryl says as he peers down the hallway.
Eyeing the intersection, Tasius asks softly, "Hard to know which way to go, are there any tracks? I can provide light if needed."
"Given how long ago this battle took place and the hard floor, I doubt I can find any tracks, but I will try."
"I don't see any. Why don't we try the door ahead on the left," Caelryl says pointing. He then moves up and searches the door.
Eristinian lends his eyes to Caelryl's endeavors.
"Seems safe enough," Eristinian says, opening the leftmost door.
Tasius glances through the door and if it seems clear, he cautiously enters within.
Caelryl follows Tasius in, looking around the room.
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This long room is unlit. The skinny room was once a place of food preparation and storage. There are cooking pits, a chimney too small to
climb (10” square), long tables with scattered and spilled materials such as flour, and various cooking utensils like spatulas and spoons. Hanging from the ceiling in the Southwest corner near a cooking pit is a cast iron kettle two feet across. It is hung from a chain near the ceiling and shows signs of regular use, judging by the char in the fire pit beneath.
"Now that's interesting," Eristinian says, taking to examine the materials on the prep tables. "Goblins aren't much for spending everlong cooking, especially not something as mundane as bread. If someone's been making baked goods, then there's threats here other than goblins we're unaware of." He takes some time to investigate the tables for more clues as to what might be walking these halls.
Caelryl moves carefully down to the end of the room. "Someone come down here to keep an eye out while I lower this pot," he says. Once someone joins him, he puts his sword away and lowers the pot.
Tasius chews on Eristinian's observation and concludes, "You may well be right. I wonder are the goblin tribe living on the coat tails of someone more powerful?"
He tries to keep watch whilst Caelryl lowers the pot, but in truth he was distracted by all the possibilities.
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Caelryl, you notice as you look the kettle over that something about it just seems to be wrong. You can't quite put your finger on what it is, but something is off about it.
Eristinian, you find only an interesting assortment of molds. It appears that there has been no active baking activity here for some time.
Caelryl, you notice as you look the kettle over that something about it just seems to be wrong. You can't quite put your finger on what it is, but something is off about it.
Caelryl looks at the kettle closely, trying to figure out what doesn't look right. He walks over to one of the tables and picks up a spoon. Returning to the kettle, he drops the spoon into it, watching to see what happens.
"A magical pot?", said Tasius dubiously, "Seems unlikely but I suppose I could check."
He muttered a strange phrase attuning his senses to any magical energies that might or perhaps more likely might not be present.
Caelryl smiles at the find, proud that he discovered the key. "Hmm, I wonder what this goes to? Seems like a strange place to hide a key," he says as he puts the key in his belt pouch and looks around again taking a close look at the walls at the end of the room.
He shrugs his shoulders. "Let's try the room across the hall," he says as he moves back into the hallway and searches the door across the hall.
Drawing his sword, Caelryl nods at his companions towards the door and enters the room.