"We can't help them if we're dead," Kiley argues before sighing and rubbing where the the goblin dog had tried to tear her throat out. "But you're right. We don't know how long we can hold off before we don't have anyone to rescue."
She looks to Stryn and Hal, wondering what the two of them thought.
"Stryn, Hal? Are you okay to keep going?"
"I don't know about everyone else, but my spells are exhausted and I'd prefer not to get into another fight if it can be avoided."
"Then let's not make it a fight," the elf smiled vacantly, head askew and pressed up against the marginally higher ceiling in an attempt to stretch out his back; Hal's posture was always abysmal, but even his spine had its limits - he could do without anymore crouching and crawling through the confined quarters. As for his words, it was anyone's guess as to whether he meant that the three remaining goblins could be slaughtered easily enough without the cramped terrain advantage, or that those three had proven willing to negotiate earlier and surely had all the more reason to do so now. Both held some truth to them. Perhaps that was his point. And perhaps acknowledging any such insight would also be giving his mad mind too much credit.
"I'm perfectly lovely, Kiley. How are you?" the cleric replied to the tiefling's query, as if she had greeted him with a 'how-do-you-do'. "The Harbinger's power is such that I can manage another protective spell if needs be. That, or some curative magic. Speaking of..."
Hal reached into a deep pocket of the ill-fitting robes. "We still have this resource available from the good Audrahni," he said in retrieving the wand.
Seeing her wounds heal up completely, Kiley smiles in thanks at Hal before looking to the others.
"I'd forgotten that we had that. It it'll last, then we may be able to push through. At this point, I think stealth isn't an option. Stryn and I will take the lead, Hal will keep us up from behind while Henric and Renae keep them honest from the back. If you target the goblins in the back, you may have an easier time of it than trying to hit those we're engaged with. Let's just hope we can find something to use as a barricade. That will help us stretch our healing out if they can't hit us."
Stryn nods "Good to go. Maybe we can still bribe them with pickles? Those goblins that ran off, they were the ones who agreed to our deal. Maybe we can still smooth things over." he shrugs.
Before they continue though, Stryn checks each of the other dead goblins for anything that might come in handy, either in a coming fight or to potentially negotiate with.
"I... I really don't know goblins that well," Kiley admits as she follows Stryn to go get her sword. "Would that work? I would think that option would be off the table since we killed a half-dozen already. It would for most people I know of."
Stryn frowns and shrugs "Honestly, its about 50/50. Most of them are pretty stupid and easily distracted. You distract them with something shiny or tasty enough it doesn't take much for them to 'forget' about more recent wrongs." He lets out a defeated sigh as he bashed his own kind, even if it was the truth.
Hearing Stryn's sigh, she turns back for a moment before retrieving her sword and coming back to Stryn. She sits on her heels, making her about the same height as he is.
"This is hard for you, isn't it," she asks.
Renae mulled over Kiley's plan in her head. It seemed a prudent one by the wizard's estimations given their circumstances, and Renae quickly moved to the back of the party with her crossbow ready and eyes alert for danger.
Henric nods in agreement. "Let's just be sure to take it slow. We don't need any extra surprises."
Stryn shrugs "Maybe a little, I mean it's no different from Renae and Henric fighting those bandits, their own 'people' but in general there are a lot more good humans than there are bad. That's not so much the case for goblins... I'll deal, don't worry." He forces a smile before asking "We all ready? I'll start scouting ahead."
When the group gives him a yes he will start to move up the tunnel.
Seeing Stryn's force smile almost breaks Kiley's heart. Before he can get too far down the tunnel, she pulls him in for a tight hug. She lets him go a moment later.
"You don't have to hide how you feel from me, Stryn. I"m your friend, and what are friends for if not supporting each other?"
After Stryn starts making his way down the tunnels, Kiley follows a few paces behind.
Stryn finds that the goblins are surprisingly well-equipped for their kind. The two from the entryway each carry two dogslicers and several vials. Of the four dogslicers taken from them, one each is actually of good quality. Their bows are nothing special, however.
The archer has a well-made longbow, and her armor is actually a metal breastplate, as opposed to the leather of the other goblins. She also has a bag of cracked gemstones and a pair of very good goggles.
Goblin Sneaks:
2 x masterwork dogslicer (small)
2 x dogslicer (small)
2 x studded leather armor (small)
2 x shortbow (small)
40 arrows
36 gp
8 x alchemist's fire
4 x smokesticks
8 x thunderstones
6 x vials of unknown liquid, 3 different colors
Goblin archer
1 x breastplate (small)
1 x masterwork longbow (small)
20 arrows
goggles
bag of cracked gems (Appraise DC 20)
The final cave on this level you haven't seen yet contains a small fire casting 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 pils of rags lie along the walls.
Kiley carefully moves through the chamber, searching through the rags with the tip of her sword.
As they moved deeper into the cavern Renae took the time to examine cracked gemstones one of the goblins had on their person, checking to see if they were any true value given their damaged state.
Unfortunately, she ultimately unable to wage their worth given just how cracked they are.
Stryn gathers everything up in a pile in one of the rooms inside, though most of the others cna't really use any of it he points out the vials of liquid "Anyone know what those are, may be magic."
He struggles for a moment with the urge to put to goggles on to see what they do, but his more logical side of his brain wins out and he holds them up, "Can we make sure these aren't some sort of dangerous magic too?"
Henric holds out his hands for the items. "I believe that I can discern their use."
"Sorry Stryn, that's more Henric and Renae's department," Kiley says as she continues her search.
Kiley finds nothing in the rags - this cave appears to be some kind of sleeping chamber.
Henric spends a few minutes handling the items, successfully identifying them for what they are.
Once you've finished searching the area, you head down the tunnel that leads to the south. The ceiling is a comfortable height, and the whole thing slopes downward.
Kiley appreciates the chance to walk upright again as she follows Stryn down the path with her sword ready. Her eyes glow like sapphires holding stars within their hearts as she peers into the dark and listens for what lays ahead.
Henric tosses the goggles back to Stryn. "Those could come in handy. Improves your keen eyesight even further. The potions are various. Healing, falling protection, and jumping improvement."
Once they've dealt with the loot and are ready to move on Stryn takes up a position at the lead scouting ahead a good 30 feet in front of Kiley who is likely at least 15 feet ahead of the others.
Renae released a sigh of relief as they finally reached a part of the cave system that wasn't so cramped. With a lot more wriggle room to work the wizard cast a detection spell to see if any concerning magical energies lay ahead them.
Stryn ghosts ahead of the group as the tunnel winds further underground until he sees it opening up into a larger cave. The air also feels cooler this far down, and ancient masonry begins to intersperse with the natural rock formations.
There appears to be no light in the cave, which is no impediment for Stryn. As he approaches, he sees the next defensive point the goblins have set up. The cavern ceiling rises 15 feet over head, and several low walls have been set up in a maze-like pattern. Behind the walls crouch goblins - nine in all. They appear to be unaware of Stryn.
Renae detects no magic as they walk.
Stryn stops when he sees the ambush laid out and immedietly turns to slink back toward Kiley. Holding a finger up to his lips he directs her back toward the others. When a good distance away he explains what he found "Lots of goblins waiting ahead. Nine in all behind walls. Completely dark. Going to be rough unless you all have some trick up your sleeve."
The pendant around his neck glowing with magical light, Henric does his best to stay far enough back from Stryn and Kiley to make sure that they are not seen. As soon as he sees them approach, he holds his hand over the pendant, letting only bare trace of light literally slip through his fingers. "That is definitely a lot. Do we have enough to deal with them? I've got a fair bit of power left, I can do my best to burn through them... I just don't know if it will be enough, or if will wind up draining us too far."
"What if we lured them out into an ambush of our own? There's still that barrel of pickles we have," Kiley mentions, "If they all gather around that, we'd have a fair chance of hitting most of them with a spell, wouldn't we?"
Stryn nods "Yes, maybe we can try and trick them, call out saying we are leaving but can't take the pickles with and then leave it somewhere we can ambush them. Make it seem like we are leaving. I'm pretty good at selling a lie, so I think I could bluff them into buying it maybe..."
He looks to the others as he asks "Where would we want to setup though? Back outside the cave, somewhere else? The room ahead is at least tall enough you all could fight without being cramped."
Renae intently listens to the others as they went through their stratagems. To Stryn she says, "We should do it back outside if possible, I think. At least there we'd have the benefit of natural light and an easier method of escape if necessarily. As for spells... " Renae looks through her scroll case. "I have an scroll that could aflame several goblins and another that could enlarge one of us in battle."
"That could work," Kiley says as she keeps an eye on the passage leading to the ambush. "I just worry they'll take too long making there way up there, or not give us enough time to set the trap."
Stryn nods "Ok, let's try it, you all get setup first and give a whistle when you are ready then I will try my ruse and make a run for it. Kiley, mind helping me with my ruse? I have an idea to make it a bit more believable."
Stryn turns to Kiley as he suggests "So, why don't you act like you are tired of crawling around through the tunnels and demand that we leave and I will say something about how I thought we were going to try and give them pickles, then you say how they don't seem to want the pickles and would rather fight and I'll say something about how we can't lug all those pickles back so we might as well leave them at the entrance and maybe they won't be so angry next time." He looks to her a moment for any suggestions.
"I like it, but are we going to say that in goblin? Do you think they'd see through that? Taldane or Varisian would be better, I think, but I'm not used to pulling cons on goblins."
Stryn crinkles his nose as he considers. Kiley had a good point so he suggests "Maybe you say your part in Taldan and I'll reply in goblin and you can throw your reply back in common maybe with a bit of disgust thrown in?"
"I think I can do that," she says and goes quiet as they wait for the whistle.
"I'm sorry it turned out this way," she says after a moment. "Did you know you're the first goblin that I've ever met that didn't try to kill me?"
Stryn smiles the Kiley as he notes "No worries, though I'm glad we could be friends. Often as not I think people would rather kill me too."
When Kiley is ready for their charade, Stryn plays along trying his best to make it seem like he was here just trying to make friends with the goblins, though the rest of the group apparently wants no part of it anymore now that they have had to fight, but he makes sure to 'convince' Kiley they should at least leave the pickles behind, outside for the goblins to have as a bit of an apology.
Stryn and Kiley play their ruse before running out to the cave mouth, where the others have already gone. The set the barrel of pickles outside the cave, then everyone takes positions.
Kiley feels that she really needs to work on her acting skills as she hurries out with Stryn. She finds a place in the brush opposite of the sneaky rogue to hide and wait in.
Henric waits in the bushes, trying to get a good angle on the goblins as they make their way out of the cave. While he certainly doesn't have any better options, he has reservations about how well this plan will work out.
Stryn finds a place near the entrance, hoping to draw the goblins out so he can get behind them.
Hal clumsily sat his lanky frame down in a bush, breaking twigs and rustling leaves loose in the process. But once there he waited patiently and calmly for Stryn and Kiley to return. While the elf required constant stimulation, he was also mercifully easy to entertain. Most of the time his mind managed that all on its own. Sitting in a bush was a riveting good time! The sounds of the forest were only made more interesting by not being able to see where they came from. And the light shining through the leaves provided all sorts of images to an imaginative mind. Look, there was a butterfly, made out of scintillating sunlight. And there, a farmer carrying his produce to market. There was a bear vaulting over a three-legged stool, and there a whale climbing a mountain. And there was a family of elves being slaughtered by amphibious toad-people, golden blood running down their shining bodies, their screams still echoing in the cleric's head...
No. No, don't think on that one. Ooh, a cat!
Renae stead low within the bush as her eyes looked intently on the cave mouth. Her hands were already gripping her scroll of burning hands, its just magic wanting to be unleashed on any approaching goblins. All she had to do was stay out of sight and wait for the moment.
Three goblins come out of the cave mouth to surround the barrel of pickles. You can see a couple more behind them as they all jabber in Goblin.
"Hey, look, there is a barrel of pickles!"
"Really? Great! Let's take them back into the cave."
"No way, then we'll have to share with everyone else! We can just eat them ourselves."
"I like tha - wait, I see three longshanks! One's got pointy ears!"
"I see them, too, but we've got extra help! Quick, get them!"
One of the goblins looks at Stryn and says,
"Help us kill the longshanks, and we'll give you pickles!"
Stryn nods and replies to the goblin.
Stryn draws his weapon but doesn't move hoping that his lie will work.
Kiley almost attacks but holds for a moment as she hears Styn's ruse.
Three of the goblins rush towards where Renae and Henric are hiding, dogslicers coming out as they go.
All three prove to be competent combatants as they swing their dogslicers. One gets Henric , while the other two both hit Renae .
Renae - 4/12
Henric - 17/19
Henric is taken by surprise when the goblins rush him and Renae. Quickly recovering his wits, he focuses his attention on a spell to (hopefully) turn the tides. "Ignus!" he chants, spreading out his hand to release a fan of flames into the goblins.
Unfortunately, he can't maintain his concentration and the flames peter out before they can inflict any damage.
Henric is taken by surprise when the goblins rush him and Renae. Quickly recovering his wits, he focuses his attention on a spell to (hopefully) turn the tides. "Ignus!" he chants, spreading out his hand to release a fan of flames into the goblins. Unfortunately, he can't maintain his concentration and the flames peter out before they can inflict any damage.
Stryn stabs the unsuspecting goblin before him.
The goblin lets out a noise of surprise as Stryn's rapier sends it to the ground.
Yellow Goblin - 0/6
Renae - 4/12
Henric - 17/19
"Sunlight through treetops and dimples on faces
Colorful ribbons and death of all races
Rich chestnut grave soil with worms that it brings
These are a few of my favorite things,"
The knife at the end of the spidery limbs lashed out to run across the goblin's back, sending a spray of red through the air. The cleric had waded out of the bushes with smile and song on his lips.
"Floppy-eared puppies and crisp lemon sweetmeats
Drumbeats and heartbeats and fresh linen bed sheets
Final demise nearing on silent wings
These are a few of my favorite things."