Ep. 3 - I Can't Quite Put My Finger On It...

When last we left our heroes, they were back at the Green Dragon in the city of Neverwinter taking a well deserved rest. Bess had been rescued and and was back home with her family.  The party was planning their journey to Phandalin. They'd agreed to escort a cart of supplies for their good friend Gundren Rockseeker, who had promised them each 10 gold pieces for what they thought should be a fairly simple task.

Unfortunately for them, the task did not turn out to be as simple as they'd planned. It rarely does.

About two thirds of the way to Phandalin, the woods ahead narrowed and came in close to the path. There were two dead horses who had been there for about two days, judging by the flies and the bloat. They had been shot with black fletched arrows - a sure sign of goblin mischief. The party carefully went closer to investigate and was not surprised when they were ambushed by goblins. Two jumped out of the woods and two stayed hidden in the woods, keeping a steady barrage of black arrows raining on the party. The goblins were no match for the archery skills and daggers of the party. One of the goblins was knocked unconscious and taken as a prisoner. When the goblin came to, he was feisty but cooperative. As cooperative as one could expect a disgruntled goblin to be.

He told the party that they had captured both Gundren and Sildar. He also told the party that "the tall human" was "at the hideout" but he didn't know where they'd taken "the fat dwarf and the map." The party, Dinkelburg in particular, coaxed the goblin to take them to the hideout. The goblin tried to trick the party into taking into traps that had been set to along the path, and Dinkelburg ruthlessly cut off some of the defenseless goblin's fingers as punishment. 

Quildhotar, being much more compassionate than Dinkelburg, felt sorry for the goblin and tried to be nice. The goblin let them to the mouth of the cave but refused to go any further. "I will not face Klarg. Not as a captive. I'd rather die." Quildhotar's compassion was taken advantage of as the goblin, with lightning speed, took her dagger and stabbed his own neck, falling dead rather than facing the wrath of Klarg, whomever... or whatever Klarg is. 

The goblin hideout was a a cave, carved out of the base of a large stony wall.  There was a small stream flowing out of the cave that was less than a foot deep and not moving very fast.  They found themselves on the west side of the stream but the path going into the cave was on the east side. The adventurers stealthily checked the path and noticed two guards who were half dozing instead of watching the entrance. Cailee was a remarkable marksman and killed them both with the same arrow.

Our intrepid adventures cautiously entered the mouth of the cave and were greeted with snarls and growls as their eyes adjusted to the dim light. Three wolves, hungry and angry, were chained to stalagmites. They were in a small, domed room of the cave preventing anyone from entering the long, dark tunnel behind them. Tid, in what was becoming a less uncommon show off compassion gave the wolves some salted pork from the wagon and earned their trust. He slowly inched forward and loosened their collars. Two of the wolves bolted off immediately, grateful for their freedom. The third wolf stopped at the mouth of the cave and turned, a look of gratitude gleaming in its eyes, then ran off to find his pack.

The party searched the room and discovered a steep, narrow crevice that looked like a trash chute for a room about 30 feet above them. Tid quietly climbed up to take a look. He saw a large room lit by a fire. There was the gleam of gold reflecting the firelight.  Watching the gold and basking in the warmth of the fire was who Tid assumed to be Klarg, a giant bugbear, his enormous wolf, and another goblin. Deciding that ascending a narrow passage single file would make them too easy of a target, Tid tied the rope onto a stalagmite and descended back down the rope without alerting the room to his presence. 

The party decided to go into the dark passage way next to the stream and see where it took them.  After going a few yards those with dark vision were able to barely make out a swinging rope and wood bridge 60 feet in front of them, being guarded by a single goblin.  To their left, back across the stream, there was another passageway that gradually sloped up.  They could see the glow of of a cooking fire and heard several goblins talking arguing about how to cook whatever stolen meat they had found.  On hands and knees, barely peeking into the room, Quildhotar had a clear view of the room.  What was there.... will be revealed to the party during their next adventure. 


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