Bending over the corpse of the goblin he slew, Leynus meticulously wipes the blood off his sword, watching Bellicus from the corner of his eye. There seems to be no reason to fear for the goblin's immediate future, as Bellicus does not put him to the sword immediately. Leynus is not overly concerned about its fate regardless, but the thing could still prove useful.
What the goblin tells them is expected, though there is one discrepancy that Leynus did not anticipate.
The elf stands, sheathing his blade and approaching the rest of the group gathered around, leaving the goblin, momentarily, to Bellicus and Akshara.
"Did you hear? Three others? It seems our vanished friend Karakas did indeed find his way down here with Grachius and the Hucrele twins. Unless they picked up some other ally that we've yet to catch wind of."
Leynus turns his head towards their captive, nodding at it and spreading his arms magnanimously. "Goblin, tell us also of these three others that traveled with the knight. Describe them. What did they look like? Did you hear names? How did they fight you? Speak quick and true, and you may yet live."
Elion is still in the hallway closely examining his sling and mumbling to himself.
With Bellicus and Akshara interrogating the goblin prisoner, Valeria examines the other fallen goblins. While not acting to hasten their deaths, she does not seem particularly keen on helping any of them while they bleed out. She does, however, rifle through their pockets for anyting of interest or value.
"It looks like the rest of the goblins are dead. Friends, are any of you hurt?"
The goblin, desperate to save his skin, cringes away from Akshara and tells all he knows:
"Tree Keeper is named... Bella... Bolka... no.... Belak! Yes, Belak! He comes here, long time ago, says he has great power, can heal Goblin Chief! Just needs to go deep below, where goblins dare not go. We let him in, and he cures Goblin Chief! No more sickness! We not see him in long time... he stay below... with great powerful tree! Sometimes he give fruit to us... we sell to those who live above. I never seen him before... he very lonely big folk!"
"Big knight came and asked about Belak, was looking for him. Three others... one was bastard Karakas! We hate hate HATE Karakas! He goblin hunter, knows all our secrets and strat.. statergeese? Also they were with younger warrior man, and lady with icky magic book." The goblin scrunches his face in disgust when he mentions the "magic book."
Speaking to the rest of the party as if the goblin wasn't there, "It sounds like our melonheaded prisoner has seen who we're looking for! At least the Hucrele twins were alive when they left the goblin lair."
Val turns to the goblin, running her left thumb across one of the blades of her starknife. "And what exactly did you do with the kobolds' dragon, anyway? Is it still alive? And where are you keeping it?"
"D-dragon is dead! Very dead! We kill it!"
The goblin gets a shifty, malevolent look for a moment, and then looks a bit too innocent for his own good.
Meepo lets out a bark of dismay and shouts "LIAR! DRAGON POWERFUL! NOT DEAD!"
Elion thinks the dragon is probably still alive, and the goblin is trying to trick you into thinking you're safe.
"Your not a very good liar little goblin. I'd advise sticking to the truth from here on out." Elion will say with a snicker.
Still fingering her starknife, Val turns again to the goblin. "Yes. What did you really do with that dragon?"
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A look of disgust crosses Bellicus' face, and he backhands the goblin with his gauntleted hand. "What did I say? What did I say?!?" The icy calm that he had portrayed dropped in an instant, and he grabbed the goblin again, lifting the thing from the floor and pinning it against the wall. "My patience is at an end, goblin! Where is the dragon?!? Tell me, or so help me I shall see you suffer before your death!" His cheeks are reddened in rage, and a deep scowl mars his face.
The goblin cringes and shuts his eyes, clearly expecting Bellicus to bite his head off. When this doesn't happen, he whimpers "the d-dragon is through the next hall, in the t-trophy room to the n-n-northeast. It broke free from its chains, and Balsag the b-b-bugbear hasn't returned yet to l-l-lock it up again."
It broke free from its chains, and Balsag the b-b-bugbear hasn't returned yet to l-l-lock it up again.[/b]"
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Bellicus throws the goblin to the ground, aiming to land the creature at Akshara's feet. "Very well, wretch," he says, the rage that overtook him gone as quickly as it arose. "I feel your usefulness is at an end, but I am certain this lot will disagree, and counsel me to spare your life out of misguided compassion. Tell me, then, why am I wrong? Why should we keep your worthless hide alive?" He stands over the goblin, his eyes narrow, waiting for an answer. "And, of course, if I don't believe your words, then I'll kill you anyway. So this would be an absolutely idiotic time to lie to me."
With a wry grin, and still fiddling with her starknife, Valeria adds, "Or, we could just hand you over to King Yusdrayl for judgement..."
"Or... if you impress us, we could escort you past the kobalds and set you free. It's up to you." Elion shrugs.
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"Two-leggers bark more than dogs," Akshara idly notes as she runs her fingers through her tangled locks of dark hair, one brow raised and a helpless look on her face. Much of the finer points of the interaction are lost on her, but Anton can see that despite her simple nature the tiefling girl has been intently observing the broad strokes of the interaction, learning piecemeal the ways in which the strong impose their will on the weak.
One of Akshara's furry ears flicks to the side and she glances at a corner of the room intently. Then, sure that nothing is stirring, she turns her attention back to Bellicus and the goblin, sitting down on the floor. After a few more moments, she starts to lick clean the blood that has crusted on her hands.
For some reason the sight of Akshara licking blood from her hands causes the goblin to turn very pale. "Please, spare me! I still useful to you! I tell you anything you want to know! I tell you all about goblin lair! If I tell you, you set me free outside stinky castle?"
"Maybe. Tell us what you know, and then we'll make our final decision. And don't try haggling, you're in no position to bargain. Tell us about your lair and your tribe. And not the domestic details - numbers, martial prowess, anything they might use against us that we may not see coming. Er, though if that pertains to anything domestic, then you can tell us about it."
"And the great powerful tree that lays below... tell us about that, as well. Where would one go if they wished to find this tree?"
The look Leynus gives the goblin is neither pitying nor threatening. His posture is relaxed, one hand running along the border of his cape and the other gesturing as he speaks.
Valeria turns to the rest of the party and says,
"Eu cred că ar trebui să facem ca afacere: Informații pentru libertate. El ne spune ce știe, și-am dat drumul."
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Eyes a little wide and visibly puzzled by the goblin's change in attitude, Akshara seems content to try and discern exactly why it is shrieking so, right up until Valeria speaks in an alltogether alien tongue. One of Akshara's ears flicks in the direction of Valeria and the tiefling's head swivels towards that unusual sound a moment after, one brow raised.
No longer interested in the goblin or cleaning her hands, she rises up into a stooped posture and slinks over to the Varisian's side before crouching down on the floor next to her. "Whrr?" Akshara nonverbally queries with her head quirked to the side.
Valeria scowls at the goblin, then leans toward Akshara and whispers into her catlike ear, "I said that if he really tells us what we want to know, we should let him go."
Elion replies thoughtfully in Varisian, "It might be better to tell it that we will leave it with Teral and the kobolds until we return. It would be less likely to leave out something important if it thinks it will be turned over to the kobolds if we fail to return."
"Great tree always been here, longer than goblins! It have magic power of life and death. Tree Keeper also been here long time, longer than us. We try to kill him, but he has powerful plant servants! They too tough for us goblins, with nasty sharp claws. We agree, if we not bother him, and if we bring great fruit to surface, he also not bother us. Big knight comes, he wants to find Tree Keeper... he seems angry. We think, maybe he wants to kill Tree Keeper, and then we can have power of Great Tree and kill nasty kobolds! We have many goblins, but not enough to beat stupid magic Kobold King. We have... lotsa goblins! Maybe forty? It change a lot. But not all fight. We also have hobgoblins and Balsag. He much bigger than us, so we not mess with him. Now you let me go? Leave stinky castle?"
"He tells us his secrets! Now we kill him, yes?!"
Val glances at Meepo when he suggests killing our goblin hostage, then regards the goblin cooly, as if weighing its words. Hmmm... Is he telling the truth?
Val steps next to Bellicus, leans in and whispers into his ear.
She leans back, and says in a louder voice, "What do you think?"
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"Believe it or not, I agree. He's filled in some blanks for us, and revealed some new ones we didn't even know existed. If he knows what's good for him, he'll run as soon as he we throw him out and never look back. Even if he tries to sneak in, he'll find no succor from the kobolds. He is not a threat."
After conferring with Valeria, Bellicus moves towards the fallen goblin. "I think this one has bought his life with his words. Listen closely, worm, for this is what is to happen. We will escort you through the citadel above ground, and from there what you do is no concern of mine. If you ever make mischief upon us again, however, I shall not stay my hand a second time. I shall send you back into the Abyss chasing after your stinking broodmates, and I am sure they will have had plenty of time to devise revenge upon you for spilling your secrets to us. If you somehow sneak back into the warrens past the kobolds, then not only will I subdue you again, then I will give you to dispose of as he pleases." Bellicus points towards Meepo as he finishes, glancing sidelong to see how the kobold reacts to this news.
A small crease forms between Leynus' eyebrows as he frowns. "We're all to escort him back out? That seems a rather formidable guard for one of his sort. Surely we could find a use for the rest of us while one or two go to take him outside. Though I'd not envy those who take on the duty."
Leynus glances sideways at the goblin as he says this, his nose wrinkling. He doesn't maintain the expression long; after a moment he looks at the group and grins. "So, any volunteers?"
Val raises one eyebrow. "Do we need to bother escorting him all the way to the surface? Once we've put him out of this sunken fortress, I think he can find his own way out." She glances at Meepo again. "Especially if he has the threat of kobolds following him."
Looking around the room, she adds, "And I don't think that we're quite ready to tackle taking on a whole tribe of goblins without resting a while. I'm getting a bit winded. And a few of us are injured. Let's head back to Meepo's people and accept their... um... hospitality?"
Her voice raises at the end of that sentence making it amost a question... possibly as if she were questioning the wisdom of her own words.
"I don't mind finding someplace to rest, but not with the kobalds. Did you see the look on the kings face when I suggested that before? It was... predatory." Elion shudders at the memory, "Why don't we hole up in the corridor outside the cistern room? There are only two doors to watch and we'd have access to fresh water."
Casting a wary eye to Meepo, Valeria nods at Elion's words. "That sounds safer." Gesturing to their prisoner, she continues, "Let's put this wretch out of the fortress, then let's settle in for the night. Are we in agreement?"
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"Fine," Bellicus says, waving his hand in dismissal. "I only offered the escort as you all seemed to care so much about his continued survival. As for camping, that seems a wise plan. Even if the goblins don't have a dragon, there's a much larger number of unknowns in this than we previously knew. If it was just goblins, I'd push for pressing on, but with all these other forces arrayed against us, I think we'd find ourselves overwhelmed. We still may. We're giving up the element of surprise. Let's make sure it was worth it."
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Contentedly seated beside Valeria, Akshara crosses her legs and rests her hands in her lap, tail swishing behind her from side to side, ears flicking and twitching in the direction of noises. Every so often she shoots Anton a look of curious interest, but finds herself drawn to watching Bellicus argue with something half his size.
"Not tired," Akshara admits, looking up to Bellicus from her spot on the floor. "Why sleep?" Rubbing at the tangled hair at the back of her head, the bestial tiefling tries to straighten her dark locks and only winds up tangling them worse.
Affectionately patting Akshara's shoulder (almost as if she were an oversized housecat), Valeria responds, "Several of us are injured and I should tend to everyone's wounds." Glancing at Anton, Teral, and Leynus, she adds, "And I think we're running low on magic. Every time you use magic, it takes a little... something out of you. But you get it back after a good night's sleep."
The goblins were in possession of a sack containing several rather old and dusty-looking vials, some in the shape of dragons or other monsters. Each contains a magical liquid; with your combined expertise you easily identify the contents.
You drag the goblin back the way you came - barely managing to keep the kobolds from killing it on sight - and release it. It scampers off into the dark rubble, not daring to look back.
The corridor outside the water-room has not been disturbed since last you passed through, and the stench of the mephit's magic is thankfully gone. You set watches and lay out your bedrolls, eat, and recover from your various minor wounds. Meepo grabs a blanket from the "Dragon Room" and curls up in the cistern room.
During your rest you're fairly certain that several kobolds come prowling around the "Dragon Room," but they do not come near the door to your hall or otherwise disturb you.
After a good, long rest, you feel ready to venture forth once more...
Yusdrayl narrows her eyes. "You take green feather? Fine, fine... that your first item. You get two more items or key... after you bring dragon back! You wish go find dragon now? Meepo show you back way into goblin place?"
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Squinting at Valeria, Akshara slides her tongue over the front of her teeth as the concept of how magic works at its most basic level is explained to her. One of her ears twitch, a single brow lowers incredulously and she scratches at a fleck of dried blood still on her chin. Then, finally accepting that there's no other choice but to rest for the night if everyone else is, Akshara sniffs the air and begins circling the group restlessly.
She'll likely be up all night chasing mice.
Once the party settles into the "dragon room," Valeria plays her song of healing again, summoning those magical incorporeal butterflies that heal wounds. She also examines everyone to be sure thay they are all healed, offering bandages or a poultice if her healing music isn't enough. Once that's completed, she plays a couple of quieter songs, and volunteers for first watch.
The next moring, after having a cold breakfast, she fixes the rest of the party with a wry grin and suggests, "Well, shall we pay the goblins a visit?"
The night, for Leynus, is spent peacefully. Val's healing brings some relief to minor irritations, and his sleep remains mostly undisturbed, aside from his turn at watch.
In the morning, Leynus rises with undisguised discomfort. He stretches his arms above his head, seated cross-legged on his bedroll. His joints cracked, Leynus breaks out the food. He takes a swig from his waterskin, rations held in his other hand, to respond to Val.
"I suppose. Though there's many a place I'd rather be going. They're not the most pleasant of company, are they?"
The elf pauses to stuff some food in his mouth, hastily chewing and swallowing.
"Still, I feel much refreshed. Your performance was beautiful, Val. And with our magics restored for the day... well, we're ready for anything! Hopefully."
You make your way through the kobold lair, the beady eyes of the reptilian creatures following you through their territory. Meepo shows you once more how to pass the pit trap guarding against goblin intrusion, and you cautiously make your way into the goblin guard room. The bodies have all been removed, and a pile of kobold skulls sits in the center of the room.