Luca looked at Fluffy. The Eidolon just raised one foot and scratched behind one of its ears. "I... don't think so." she said, edging back from it. Neither she nor the creature seemed to have any talent at tracking others down - the best they could hope for was looking around and trying to see if they could spot anything.
You cannot see anything past a bend in the path some fifty feet away. The noise of the people behind you is louder than anything else you hear.
Norren shrugs at Luca's words. "Long as they can bludgeon some greenies if they come at us, it's enough for me. We're heading this way," he says as he points to the left branch.
After another few twists and turns, the tunnel opens up onto a smallish cavern. The smell is terrible, and as you glance around you see piles of old rags and poorly-cured, crude leather piled into what looks like bedding. It appears you have entered some kind of lair or living area. There are the ashes of a small fire in one corner. A forgotten spit sits on two stones above the firepit, chunks of meat still hanging greasily from it.
Two tunnels leave the cavern, roughly opposite each other. Both seem level for as far as you can see.
Luca's companion growled quietly as it paced around the area, occasionally poking its claws into the piles of rags to see if anything was inside of them before searching for any routes deeper into the lair. Luca just watched, taking care to stay well back from trouble as the strange monster investigated the area.
Dante again sends his lights down the side corridors to see if anything is there. If that reveals nothing he gives the room a cursory glance. They were in enemy territory right now so no point in taking more time than necessary.
Luca's monster worries through one of the piles of furs, apparently unbothered by its rank smell. Dragging something free with its teeth, it returns to Luca and present a small sack. Inside are a variety of coinage and an etched pewter and silver bracelet.
You notice that the ashes of the fire still give off a thin curl of smoke.
Luca quietly gathered the coins together, intent on passing them out to others later on, and took a moment to cast Detect Magic on the bracelet before stuffing it into her pack for later appraisal. She wasn't expecting it to be particularly valuable or magical, but it was best to be sure. "Um, d-do you see anything?" she squeaked out, looking at Dante.
Dante's fall to the fire as Luca speaks to him. "Yeah. Whoever was here hasn't been gone long. I hope we're close but I have no idea which way they went. Left's as good as right for now." He looks at Norren for a decision assuming he had a preference like he did at the fork. Probably going to be a long day of walking in the dark.
The bracelet is not magical.
Seeing her inspect it, Norren, asks to see the bracelet. "This belonged to Terril, one of the guards I had on the tunnel diggers. No blood on it... might be a good sign." He hands it back to Luca.
"Left again, then. From here on out, we stop every so often to give a good listen. Maybe we'll hear something."
The path continues for awhile without branches this time, though every so often you see small openings - perhaps to tunnels navigable by goblins alone - in the wall. No amount of stopping and listening brings any sound for several attempts. Then you come across another branch, almost a crossroads of sorts. The uneven cavern looks part-natural, part-hewed. There is again a left and right branch, but now there is also another tunnel about fifteen feet above. The "stairs" up is uneven and might require a bit of climbing.
"Everyone quiet. If we're gonna hear anything it'll be here. Not a damn sound," Norren says.
"This smells like a trap."
Luca's Eidolon was rather better at listening than she was - being up front and ahead of the others, it wasn't surrounded by quite as many other sounds, though its current form was rather limited in terms of what it could actually sense, and already the Void was considering fixing that. It had others to be soldiers - this minion could be... different.
Luca herself, on the other hand, was keeping her mouth squeezed tight and trying to avoid so much as twitching.
Sights. Sounds. Smells. It was hard to tell exactly how the Void-spawned creature perceived the world. But one thing it knew - there were many smells coming from the right-hand tunnel. Both goblin, and human.
Luca's Eidolon shuffled around slightly, then quietly padded back to the group and approached Luca, putting its mouth right next to her ear before growling softly. The girl nodded, then quietly pantomimed the information it had relayed in Aklo - humans and goblins down the right-hand tunnel, and at least some of them were hurt. It seemed they'd discovered their course of action... though it also looked like the girl had another idea.
Luca quietly held her hands together, indicating something small. Those who'd been paying attention the night before might remember that she'd summoned a small creature with a disturbing cry, and that had had some sort of effect on the goblins. Boy, wouldn't it be interesting if one or two of those creatures could shoot into the goblin den, scream to sicken them, and allow the rest of the group to charge in afterwards and hopefully attack them while they were too ill to fight back well?
Norren nods at Luca's signal. "Alright, boys, weapons to hand, and pray to any gods who'll listen that some of our mates are still alive to carry out of this s!&#hole."
Norren and Dante lead the way down the tunnel, and after a couple bends they begin to hear the murmur of non-human voices and can smell smoke from torches. The torchlight appears around the next bend, and then one final twist of the passage reveals a larger cavern.
There are goblins and bugbears before you, some standing and some perched in higher places with bows and arrows - though the arrows are not yet nocked. The goblinoids look wary, but make no move to attack as the humans appear around the corner. In the center, behind a pair of bugbears, several humans kneel, their hands bound before them. They look up in hope at the sight of Norren, but say nothing.
Up in one corner of the cavern, an older-looking goblin sits upon a natural plinth of rock that juts from the cavern wall. It holds out it's hands.
"No attack," it croaks out in mangled but understandable Obanese. It points to the prisoners below it. "We give these. We be no-fight now."
Norren glances to Dante with a bit of confusion on his face. It is obvious he was not expecting an attempt at bargaining by an Obanese-speaking goblin.
You and the most seriously wounded amongst the fighters from the battle are taken back to the ship which lay at anchor near the river mouth. The breeze is gentle, but several hours later you arrive back at the ramshackle town.
Kris meets you when you step onto the pier. "What's the news from the war?" he asks with a hint of dry mirth.
As you two speak, the wounded are taken off the ship and sent to the temporary hospital Tyrus had set up. A few replacement fighters board the ship, mostly men and women who were wounded in the initial surprise attack and have recovered at least enough to be useful again.
"I can send the... the creature... to go get them, if you'd like." Better to risk her Eidolon than any human, right? At least, that was how she thought about things like this... and at least the goblins were speaking the common tongue of the area. She'd much rather risk it than any human's life, and the presence of an obviously-dangerous animal ought to be enough to... ah... encourage them not to try anything funny.
"Too many hostages," Dante says out of the side of his mouth to Luca. He also adds a gesture for her t stay out of sight. "Send it to check our rear. I didn't like those holes."
Then loud enough so that the hostages can hear. "Is this everyone?"
"Everyone still alive, I think," responds one of the kneeling prisoners.
Norren nods and looks to the goblin who spoke. "And we can leave in peace?"
The goblin speaks again. "Leave. Peace. We not take these," with a gesture to the prisoners. "Other... other 'we.' Different 'we.' Here 'we' take back, give you. No fight."
"What 'we' are you and what is this other 'we'?"
'It's time to show you.'
The words echoed in Tyrus' head while he works. It seems reasonable that the mining is to unearth some underground complex; a complex it seems likely that is group found.
If he is brought in on the secret, does he tell?
On one hand, he can't tell: he has made promises.
On the other hand, he seems to have thrown his lot in with the Pirates. Eventually they will tunnel through to the complex and discover he has been holding out on them.
Either way, there is no good answer. The dilemma haunts him. The only way out might be to leave... but at the thought his stomach clenches.
They respect me here.
He's not sure he could leave even to pursue a cure.
He feels the echo of his own distress in Torble, till he passes out of range.
Tyrus works himself to exhaustion avoiding the confrontation to come. Surgery after surgery. Driving himself to keep going. Eventually he collapses, shaking with fatigue.
The pirates pack him on the ship and send him back with the wounded.
Kris meets you when you step onto the pier. "What's the news from the war?" he asks with a hint of dry mirth.
"We're winning, I'm told. The butcher's bill is not as bad as I'd feared, but not free." There's a haunted look on his face as he continues "I don't even know the names of the ones who didn't make it."
"The Captain is taking the fight to the goblins. I... need to rest. And I've a list of reagents I need."He swallows. Perhaps it won't be so bad. Maybe it is something else.
"The Captain said to tell you that it is time to show me."
"...There's more than one tribe here?" Luca asked quietly from where she was hidden at the rear of the group. That was... unsettling news. And while she could believe that the beasts were cowed for now - last night couldn't have been fun for them - there was certainly no telling when they'd change their minds and decide to try again... from what she'd seen of them, they did appear rather opportunistic.
You do not notice anything in particular that marks out this group of goblins from the ones you saw last night. Several of the creatures in front of you seem to have relatively fresh wounds, but none of them are particularly serious.
The goblin frowns as it attempts to answer. "Here we, no attack-we. No want fight."
The same prisoner speaks up. "They telling the truth about one thing, Cap'n. We were being kept elsewhere before they stormed in and beat around some other goblins an hauled us here."
Norren nods again, and looks to Dante as he speaks in a low voice. "Good enough for now. We're getting my people out of here." He looks to the goblin leader. "We agree. Give me my people. We go. No fight."
"The Captain said to tell you that it is time to show me."
"Mm. Did he now. Quicker than I thought it'd be - he obviously thinks highly of you."
Kris seems to muse over something for a brief moment, then shrugs. "Well, if he says so, he says so. But the 'when' is up to you. We can go now or after you're rested."
Luca's Eidolon stared straight at the apparent leader of the goblinoids for a good five seconds before visibly pulling its claws back and hiding its teeth. It was clear the beast was still ready for violence should it be necessary, but the difference was now similar to the one between a warrior with his weapon out, pointed at someone's throat, and one who merely had his hand on the hilt so he could draw a sword at any time. It didn't even bother looking at the prisoners, instead electing to keep a wary eye on the creatures and show no sign of weakness or fright.
The last week has been some of the most stressful and hectic days of my life. I must be exhausted... even if I am somehow still going strong
"Let me rest, first. Oh - and firstly do a round of checks on how the injured have settled in when I wake up, of course."
The goblin motions to some of its brethren, and they cut the bonds of the prisoners. The humans get up cautiously, rubbing chaffed wrists, and make their way over to their rescuers while throwing wary glances at their (hopefully now former) captors.
"Get to the middle," Norren says as he lets them pass between him and Dante. "Anybody with a spare blade, hand it over to 'em." Then he looks to the goblin. "We leave."
The goblin, seemingly understanding, nods.
"Back it up, boys and girls. Let's get out of here," Norren tells his group. "But keep your eyes open."
"Of course. I shall be in the hall when you are ready."
Luca's Eidolon quietly passed through the group and out to the other side, sniffing around as it traced the way back towards the entrance, staying a little ways ahead of the others in an attempt to ferret out any foes. "Are you sure we got everyone?" Luca asked quietly, still doing everything she could to keep away from the goblins and remain within the safety of the group.
This was easy. A little too easy. Did this have something to do with the blood they found on the way here? Was there two groups? There seemed to be no difference between this group and the one that attacked them but he wasn't sure he could really tell. Either way they were leaving with the prisoners and without a fight. Win-Win. But it still bothered him. If there was two groups of goblins here, why just hand over valuable hostages. He didn't think goblins were that benevolent. Peace offering maybe? Did they not want to incur the wrath of the humans? Or did they just want to weaken the other group?
"I don't like this," he says to himself.
Dante keeps an eye out for trouble on the way out. He even goes so far as to call for a halt and walks alone into the tunnel with the holes in the wall. He walks up to one of said holes and guides his lights up to very edge of his visibility.
Tyrus find sleep elusive.
His mind hummed - the bed was uncomfortable, and he designed a gel-based mattress for someone of his girth. An insect bit him, and he plotted death against its kind. Someone moaned, and he saw again the fighting at the Wall...
But over and over his mind returned to Kris, waiting to talk to him. It seemed evident he was never going to get to sleep, and if he did then a realm of predictable nightmares awaited him.
After an hour he gave up, dressed and stomped over to the hall, sleepy and irritable.
"They're asleep. I'm not. Let's go."
Pointless to take my anger out on Kris.
"Sorry..." he adds in excuse "I'm tired, but I just can't sleep."
"Are you sure we got everyone."
One of the former prisoners answers. "We haven't seen anybody else alive."
"It's strange to me too," Norren tells Dante as the group starts to return back the way they came, keeping Luca and the newly-rescued men and women in the center. "But we need to get out of here and think it over. If we can play the goblins against each other it'll save a lot of bloodshed on our part. We'll collapse the main tunnel on the way out, see if we can't stir up their feud a bit."
Norren halts the group as Dante inspects the smaller openings in the rock wall.
As the magical light disappears into the hole, you hear a faint skittering. It gets more and more faint as you probe deeper, but there are too many twists in the passage for you to see what is making the noise.
Dante puts his ear to the opening and tries to follow the noise for as long as possible. Unfortunately this gives him little insight in to what actually is in there. He heads back to the group to tell them of his find. "Something is in those holes. I don't know if we got lucky the first time or if the goblins laid a trap or what but we have non-combatants now. If there is another way out I suggest we take it otherwise, we need to circle up and prepare for a fight. I am guessing an insect, probably spiders or, " then the memory of the fort comes back to him. "Or centipedes. It didn't seem fond of light so light all the torches."
Kris doesn't seem to respond to Tyrus' surliness or his apology. He just nods and gestures towards the door again. As Tyrus follows, Kris leads him out and around the Hall, towards the path that leads up the cliff face.
The stairs are regular and finely-cut, ascending at a measured, shallow pace with several landings where they turn or wind a different direction. At the top, Tyrus finds an entrance into a dimly-lit cavern.
The cave is tall and appears to be natural, with a sloping ceiling that extends up past the reach of the torch on the wall. In the center of the cave is a pool of water, strangely pure-looking.
"Lady!" calls Kris. "Lady, we would speak to you."
A ripple passes through the water, and a moment later a faint blue glow takes hold. The water seems to rise up, forming the shape of a head, then, shoulder, then a body. It resolves into the form of a woman, still glowing softly, but here and there the light and form gives way for a moment and blurs before sharpening again, as if the figure is struggling to hold on to its image.
She - or It - looks at Tyrus with eyes that seem both friendly and strangely dazed, as if the water-woman were caught in a dream.
"It has been so long since you've brought a new face to see me, Kris. Who are you?" she asks Tyrus.
This women seems to be some kind of naiad, creatures with a strong tie to the plane of Elemental Water (though found on other planes as well).
Her appearance leads you to believe she is hurt, or sick, in some way.
"Maybe just goblins," Norren says. "Some of 'em are skinny enough to move around in those little tunnels. Either way, none of us know these tunnels well enough to risk a detour. Eyes on the holes, and stab anything that tries to come out." he tells the group.
Despite the nervousness with which the party regards them, nothing shows from the openings.
"Keep moving," Norren commands.
Tyrus looks on in fascination as the woman emerges from the pool
He hesitates, momentarily wary of giving a name to this creature. Legends abound with what the Fey, for instance, can do with a True Name... then he smiles.
"Tyrus Regulus Veneficius, madam." he bows in courtesy "Delighted to meet you."
Then turns to the Pirate beside him
"Another patient, Kris?"
Luca quietly continued to move forward with her Eidolon, which occasionally growled at the holes along the wall. It seemed to be using its animal nature for all it was worth - goblins and the like might be willing to attack a normal party of humans, or hunt down animals, but large, violent animals and well-armed humans could well be more than they wanted to face, especially after what said humans had just finished doing to them the night before. At least, that was what it seemed to be hoping for. Luca herself remained within the rest of the group, ready to summon another servant if necessary. Stone walls weren't a problem for the Vilstrak, and the Sagari could flit through some mighty small passages if it had to.
After what seems like an eternity shuffling through the cramped tunnels, natural daylight starts to shine around the corners of the passage. You have made it back to the entrance. Norren sheathes his blade and takes out the pick which had been slung across his back. "Tools out, boys and girls. We're closing this door right now. Four at work, four on watch. Dante, can you keep one of those lights down the tunnel?" Norren points the way you came. The tunnel runs nearly straight for about forty feet.
All the pirates with heavy blades or axes start to work on the support timbers. Each cut shakes a bit more dust from the tunnel ceiling...
Dante doesn't stop them from getting started but this situation seemed odd and he needed to voice his concerns before the work started. "You sure about this?" he asks Norren. "I don't like goblins either but they did you a favor here. Even if they had ulterior motives they rescued your men from gods knows what. Maybe there are two groups here. Maybe we can use them. Or maybe they are trying to get close so they can use us. Either way, if we are careful, its a win-win. At least ask the ones they saved what they think."
Luca's companion growled something in its alien language, and the girl hesitantly looked at it, then back to the group. "Um... i-it says that... uh... it doesn't think they're trustworthy long-term..." she said nervously, heading out of the tunnel with her companion and apparently trying to guard them from that direction as they worked. Be quite awkward if goblins tried to drive them back into the tunnel and collapse it on top of them...
"Delighted to meet you."
"And I you, Tyrus Regulus Veneficius."
"Another patient, Kris?"
Kris grunts. "Of a sort. This, Tyrus, is the naiad princess Lianna, divine servant of the goddess Arrond. This is the man who distilled the sea essence we gave you, Lady."
"Ahhhh," Lianna eyes close in ecstasy. "My first taste of the Living Sea in soooo long! I thank you for that, Tyrus Regulus."
"It gave her strength, but that strength is already fading quickly," Kris tells Tyrus. "The lady was trapped here long ago by some mad wizard, trying to steal her power. Lianna can only move through naturally flowing water, and she's dying because she's cut off from the sea."
Lianna laughs faintly. "I died long ago, friend Kris. My mortal body withered away quickly in this stagnant puddle."
Kris acknowledges the correction with a tilt of his head. "But if we can return you to the sea, that will not be so great a problem, is that not true?"
She nods, and looks to Tyrus as she explains. "The taste of divinity I have from my mistress lets my spirit outlive its husk, just as it allows me to create a new one - if I can gather the strength. But that divinity now fades as well. Soon it, and I, will fade completely."
Kris turns to Tyrus as well. "Norren and I discovered the Lady Lianna a couple years ago. The tunnel we were having you prisoners dig leads to this cavern. If we can cut a pathway to that cliffside, the water will flow down through the rubble - and out to sea. She, in turn, has sought to aid our own desires. The establishment of a free city here on the island, a haven away from the trade guilds and kings' taxmen."
Kris shrugs. "At this rate, with these goblin problems, we'll never cut the tunnel in time to save her. Norren and I are hoping you might have ways to buy us more time."
Norren looks at Luca's monster. "Your beastie and I think alike, then. Which is damned odd, but the world is odd. Goblins only make peace for one reason - because they know you can beat them into the mud. Soon as they gather strength, they take another swipe at you. They do it amongst their own kind and they do it with everything else. I've got bigger things in mind for this island than a constant battle with the little bastards." He gestures back down the tunnel. "If we're lucky, this'll make one faction look weak enough that the others try to wipe them out. So, we're already using them."
All were valid points and Dante didn't have the conviction to defend goblins anymore than that. Just voicing alternatives. He joins the effort to bring down the tunnel and keeps his floating orbs of light far down the tunnel in case the goblins caught on and attacked.
Outside of the immediate considerations, Luca wasn't going to immediately forget the way the goblins had attacked the fort... and despite literally her best efforts and everything she could throw, they'd still nearly broken the group and slaughtered every one of the humans. She was willing to give creatures a chance, but... not to the point of risking people she knew were nice, especially for a group that apparently consisted entirely of backstabbing monsters. Together with her Eidolon, she quietly continued to keep watch on the surrounding area.
The humans cut, crush, and burn everything that can be cut, crushed, and burned in the tunnel mouth. Using the supports, a large bonfire is set alight inside the tunnel when it begins to look like it might give way, to stress the rock and make the area more difficult to clear and rebuild. More and more dust and stones begin to shake loose as they go to work with their picks, until finally...
You see the signs of a catastrophic cave in and call out a warning to the workers.
... the whole thing gives way with an extended dull roar of splintering and falling stone. A choking cloud of dust and ash is thrown out and you are forced to shield your eyes and hold your breath until it settles down enough to see through.
He wasn't sure what gave it away but some sixth sense told him the cave was going to collapse before they thought it would. "OUT! NOW!" he yells as loud as he can over the sound of shifting rock and swinging picks. He grabs as many men as he can who didn't seem to hear or react quickly enough on his way out.
Luca had been well away from the caves to begin with, and her Eidolon focused even more on the surrounding area as the tunnels finally came down. The goblins probably wouldn't be getting through that any time soon... though for all they knew, the little buggers had plenty of other tunnels. Worst-case scenario, they dug new ones. Sigh. Well, she didn't plan to be on this island for the rest of her life, so that was a bit less important than it might have otherwise been... "I-is everyone all right?" Luca asked meekly once the dust and noise had settled a bit.