As Nime doles out healing, a chorus of high-pitched voices echoes from deeper in the smelly cave:
Bramblemouth tribe tough and strong!
Stab the longshanks all day long!
Pierce the lips and whet the knives!
Bramblemouths will take your lives!
Calendula stands and cracks her neck. "Care to poke me a few more times, friend?"
Nime tips her head to the side and smiles as she holds out the wand again. "Is that a double entendre? I think that was."
She giggles. It's a bubbly, happy sound. She then touches Calendula twice more.
She then turns to Rudrik.
"No need to be selfish with the pokes," she says, touching him with the wand and giggling again.
Rudrik cracks his neck and fetches his javelins. "Better be ready to face the horde!" he says. "Thanks for the timely poke, Nime."
"Now I really wish I'd learnt burning hands - this seems like the perfect place for it."
Nime's smile broadens when Rudrik responds in kind to her attempt at playful banter.
"Now let's go find those little monsters and stop that horrible singing."
"The stupid thing would be to charge them head on," Calendula mutters, comfortable in the light from her weapon. "But if'n we head the other direction, we're liable ta end up pinned." She looks back and forth as if seeking the approval of her comrades. "So let's be stupid."
Calendula leads the way down the tunnel, reaching the point where it splits in two directions. Before she gets far, however, a female goblin pops up from behind the low wall to the southwest and fires an arrow into her leg! The goblin is clad in a breastplate, and has one eerie blue eye instead of the normal red color.
"Nighteye shoots the longshanks dead!
Sees you in both blue and red!
Bestest hunter, knows her role!
Nighteye fills you full of holes!"
Before you can react, Nighteye fires two more quick shots, hitting Calendula once more!
"More sticks! Sticks that hurt! You ... ! " Nime blusters, apparently unable to think of something bad to say to the heterochromatic goblin, she settles with, "Go soak your head!" and with a gesture of her hand, a small deluge of water pours down on the archer.
"You know, I'm kinda impressed that the goblin's song actually rhymes in Taldan."
"I wish they'd just be quiet!" Shenuska responds, before trying to impale the goblin on one of its own arrows.
"I bet there's a trap around here somewhere..." mutters Rudrik as he advances on the goblin and slices again with his sword, uselessly.
"Yes," Nime says with uncharacteristic annoyance. "And it probably involves sticks."
Calendula pushes forward despite her dire state, running around the back of this, Nighteye, flanking with Rudrik.
She, too, swings her sword, but the goblin proves too quick.
Moving up with Calendula and sliding past Rudrik, Theo lashed out with his spear once more.
Nime's water doesn't seem to do much more than irritate the goblin. Rudrik and Calendula miss, but Shenuska bashes the goblin with her projectile and Theo stabs her with his spear.
The goblin steps away and turns from Calendula, dropping her guard. She fires two arrows into Theo, taking the sorcerer down!
Using the last bit of her rage, Calendula thrusts forth with her sword, aiming for the goblin's ugly little eyes. "Don't like you much, either," she murmurs.
Shenuska continues to attempt to make a distraction...
Rudrik moves around to box the goblin in again.
"Sticks again. I hate sticks," Nime grouses to herself as she moves to be next to Theodric and touches him with her wand.
The arrows were something of a surprise for Theo. He'd been injured before but the shock of impact and finding one buried a little too close to his neck for comfort knocked him into momentary shock. Which was countered in moments by Nime's healing wand, the flesh knitting back together just enough to force the arrows out of his body and reinforce around his nearly-cut artery, but not much else.
The shock pushed aside, Theo scrambled back to his feet and pushed forward to try and finish the goblin off.
Calendula slicesvthe goblin two more times, badly wounding her! Unfortunately, Nighteye is able to dodge the rest of your attacks.
Shrieking with rage, the goblin drops her bow, draws her dogslicer, and slashes Calendula's thigh!
wiff
Seeing the goblin's blade come out, Theo stepped back and raised his hand towards her. "Right; put that down!" he said as the blade started to heat up in the goblin's hand.
Calendula, fatigued, falls beside the goblin and begins to tie her up. "Nime, stabilize her. Maybe we can trade the life of their best hunter fer our people."
Calendula points her sword at the goblin woman's throat.
"Surrender. Best hunter or no, yer unarmed and outnumbered. We're just here fer our people, that's it. No need for this to get any worse."
The goblin is too slow to drop her weapon. She screams as it burns her hand, then she passes out from the pain! Calendula quickly ties her up.
Nime steps close and, with a spark from the touch of her hand, stabilizes the goblin hunter.
"Sad little creatures," Nime says with a frown. "I think it's time to stop that horrid singing."
Shenuska whisks away the goblins weapons, although she has no intention of using them better to keep them and have an angry, unarmed goblin than a happy, armed one!
Calendula sits down on a rock, dead tired. "Does anyone have a potion or two, case this gets violent?"
"I'm pretty sure this stick will work one more time," Nime says, waving said stick around. "And didn't you say you had healing potions in your bag, Theodric?"
The oracle makes a face.
"Those always taste like flowers, though. Ewww. Good for smelling, but for drinking ... not so much."
Shenuska examines the goggles carefully, before adjusting the straps somewhat and sliding them over her own eyes, giving her strange, too-large violet eyes.
"These improve how perceptive you are." She says, looking around. "Does anyone mind if I use them for now?"
When Shenuska dons the goggles, Nime steps close and puts her hand on the side of the woman's face.
"Awww... you can't see your pretty eyes that way," she says.
"Way ahead of you, Nime, but thank you for the reminder anyway. Also these were made by an alchemist working at one of our wineries, so the base for it is actually mostly grapes. Not wine, though; that would... cause complications, we'll say. Anyone else need one? I feel like I should've passed these out."
As he spoke, he pulled out and popped the cork on one of the potions.
"I dunno if'n we can wipe these gobbos out, but we can likely barter for the release of their prisoners. Failing that, we can charge in full ahead or die trying. Anyone else have any suggestions?"
"Depends if they like that one." Shenuska replies, pointing back to the unconcious form of Nighteyes. "Can anyone speak Goblin?"
Calendula grunts and jerks her head in the direction of Nighteye. "Who cares. She can speak our tongue well enough to sing. Maybe we c'n establish communication through her. Barrin that, I remember hearin a good deal more singin when we first came in."
Indeed, you still hear goblin voices jabbbering, jeering, and free styling rhymes deeper in the caves as they wait for you to come to them.
Rudrik retrieves his javelins. "Yeah I know the goblin language."
Calendula sets her jaw and squats against the cave wall. "Fancy in yerself much of a diplomat, kid?" she asks, glowing sword held loose in her grip.
"Worst case, just try and get them into a group. I have magics which should knock them out." Shenuska offers.
A small fire casts a flickering glow across this oblong cave, illuminating a haze of smoke that hangs in the ceiling. A low wall of rocks and broken masonry partially blocks the opening on the west side of the cave, and a tunnel in the east wall heads south. A number of piles of rags lie along the walls.
Six goblins lurk in this cave, including the two who fled from your initial assault. They shriek and brandish their weapons, but hesitate when they see you hauling an unconscious Nighteye along.
The massively scarred woman throws Nighteye at her feet, standing straight and tall (relative to the goblins), praying desperately to avoid a coughing fit.
"Here lies yer most skilled hunter. We have kept her alive, but she is our prisoner. Think: if'n we could dispatch her this easily, what threat do ya pose us? But we have not come here to slaughter you needlessly, but to take what's ours. Your prisoners."
She rests a foot on the goblin, and pushes her bloody, glowing sword gently against Nighteye's neck. "Either we trade captives and leave in peace, or first, we kill Nighteye, and then th rest of ya."
"You wanna translate, Rudrik?" she murmurs.
As Calendula speaks, Nime does her best to stand regal and look intimidating. "And then we'll hit you with a stick," the Undine adds in her best threatening tone when the woman finishes.
The goblins chatter among themselves, then one of the wounded ones steps forward. Rudrik translates.
"This is our last stand! By decree of Chief Cheektooth, we supposed to fight to the death to defend our lair. But, uh, Chief Cheektooth not here. So maybe we not have to die? You here for beardy-dwarves? They down in spooky caves!" He gestures behind him.
Rudrik listens to Calendula, then translates to the barking, guttural language of the goblins.
"Well? Go and get them then!" Shenuska snaps at the crawling little vermin!