"Nasty Klarg was big leader. Yeemik tell we that kill Klarg and no more beatings we'll get."
To emphasize his point, the goblin spits in the direction of the dead bugbear. There seems to be no love lost between Klarg and the goblins, at least from this goblin's point of view.
"Sure. Let him drink it slowly. I'd suggest we do whatever we can to heal up, but try to save at least one of those for an emergency. The Goblins left know we're here."
She looks at the cave mouth.
"First question is do we go after Chandan? If so, we probably need to do so now, before the Goblins get tired of him."
Turning back to Davroar she says, "Can't hurt. Assuming we're negotiating with them and not killing them. Let's tie and gag this one too." She gestures to the Goblin. "Bind his hands behind his back and put a noose around his neck but leave his feet free. I can hold onto the noose's other end. We'll take him with us. He might know more."
**And**, she thinks, **He might make a nice meat shield if we meet more archers.**
Jaliera goes over to Kriv. He's breathing steadily. She gently lifts his head and pours the crimson liquid into his mouth. Within seconds his wounds close and his eyes open.
As stated earlier, he's at 7hp
The goblin hears all this and seems somewhat relieved. He believed that he was about to die. Hearing that his hands will be bound means that he still has time to live. He doesn't resist when they move to secure him.
With Kriv up and the goblin secure, the group is ready to move.
She waits to hear from Davroar about whether he needs healing, after all he saved her earlier. She doesn't want to go on a rescue mission though without drinking a potion first.
He rises up with a start, maul swiftly in hand, eyes darting first to the bugbear corpse and then to the captive goblin. He conducted a quick headcount,
"Welcome back." She grins, then shrugs. "Chandan was in the other room", she nods towards the exit at the far end, "with 4 Goblins last I saw him. After this thing died", she kicks the Bugbear corpse, "I went to check. No blood, but no sign of him or the Goblins. So either he ran off and they chased him or they took him prisoner. Can't say which."
"As for Gundren. This one", she nods towards the bound Goblin, "says they have a prisoner in another room. But he said it was a human, so maybe it's Gundren's traveling companion? Don't know."
"What was he doing in there by himself? No matter. You, Goblin. There was a dwarf brought to these caves at the same time as this booty and the human prisoner. What happened to him?"
Less fearful now because he was a prisoner and not dead, the goblin responded.
"Klarg say that Black Spider pay Cragmaws for dwarf-man name is Grunden Rockseeker. Orders to us to grab Grunden and all stuff and send to King Grol in Cragmaw Castle."
He still feels sore from his fall in his attempt to climb up, but shakes his head at Jaliera's offer for one of the potions. "Best to save one just in case."
When Kriv is healed and is walking again, Davroar smiles and greets him by saying, "Sure glad you're alright. That was one tough bugbear."
In regards to Chandan with Kallista saying there is no signs of a fight he says, "Four against one, Chandan was probably surrounded and caught. Sounds like we got two to rescue now."
Davroar's words about not wanting a potion and about rescuing the prisoners makes her mind up. She will be no use to anyone if she dies on first contact. She drinks the second potion.
"Nice to see you looking better Kriv."
She moves back to the chest and packs the remaining potion away making sure it is safely buried in her clothing. She add the small statuette and the silver to her pack. Copper is too heavy and they can return for it later.
"I have the third potion, statuette and silver in my pack. Thought we could return for the copper later."
She let's the others know what she has done. This is her new life. She is no thief.
You've decided to move quickly to see if you can rescue Chandan and whoever it was that is being held captive by the goblins.
Jaliera picks out the goods stuff from the chest. Eventually the group will need to figure out what to do with the supplies here. They have some good value and since there's a Blue Lion stamp, it probably belongs to someone.
There are two exits from this room. You can slide back down the way most of you came or you can go to the room that the stairs lead down to. Kallista has been there, but not the others. The cavern has two empty pools that once contained water. A flickering light around the bend is where Chandan dropped it.
I drew in 4 colored paths to take. Which color do you choose to follow? Red, Blue, Green or Yellow? My apologies to anyone that's color blind.
(OOC - Just to make sure everyone knows the Red path leads across the bridge. All the other paths leads down below it.)
The area which had been stove-in by the Bugbear's morningstar was restored, but as much as the Dragonborn might try to conceal it, still tender. He nodded appreciation to his colleague's concern, and finally got around to cleaning the wolf's face off his maul. He deliberated,
"An expensive victory but a victory, though our battles are not over. They have a place where they keep prisoners: If Chandan was captured, it seems likely they took him there. From what you describe, that indicates crossing that bridge we saw earlier."
They were not in good shape, but they couldn't very well rest here.
"Let's keep moving then. Across the bridge, I don't need another bath for a week now." he said with a toothy grin. He started out, expecting the others to follow again.
He is not relishing the idea of crossing the bridge with more goblin archers trying to shoot them. Quickly he looks over the supplies to see if any crates or barrels have lids that can be used as a crude shield.
"We can't go rushing in again. That hasn't worked so well. I suggest we take the route that is the most defensive for the longest time and that we scout ahead first. I am quite good at scouting but not so good seeing in the dark."
[OOC she is proposing the blue route if there is a way to get onto that bridge as I think the blue route leads below it.
After looking over my maps I can see that they're probably a bit confusing. Really there are two choices with some flavor. There are two potential entrances get to the unexplored area. I labeled them A and B. Some of you were in passage A to avoid the flood. It was filled with rubble and it looked like you would need to do some climbing up. Passage B is already at your level and looks like it was well traveled.
The reason for my colored lines is that there are potential encounters along the way as the goblins are well aware of intruders now. Even Zeim doesn't know where encounters might happen now since I'm going to need to change things up a bit.
Also, you have a prisoner that needs to be dealt with. Does he alert his friends when you are close? Does he help you negotiate with the other goblins? I'm leaving this wide open for you to handle any way you like.
"There is that passageway that we passed on our way in. There might be a way in that way. They will expect us to cross the bridge.. and be ready. Maybe we should try to do the unexpected? We can get to it by going down the hole. Worth a try?"
She is thinking hard.
"And that torch lying in the corridor. Likely left there to lure us that way."
"Just be careful", she chimes in. "The ones who were confronting Chandan were in the Waterfall room. They could have gone anywhere. They could have crossed the bridge to where the others must be, or even gone back to the Wolf Den."
She looks across to all the party members.
"As I see it while the Goblins have two things we want, Chandan and whoever the other prisoner is. We also have things they want. If we guard the exits across the bridge, both above and below, they lose their access to water. We also have that Bugbear's treasure. And according to him", she points at the Goblins prisoner, "they hated the Bugbear. And they don't know he is dead."
"So, seems we have three options. One, we charge across the bridge into the teeth of an unknown number of Goblins. Two, we block them in and wait them out. Three, we negotiate."
"We could scout ahead", she adds, gesturing across the bridge, "but we've all seen how good they are at hiding. Probably as good a chance we lose our scout as we find them first."
"Let's see if the vermin are willing to negotiate. Killing their leader has value on two counts: They didn't like him and what he made them do, and he was much bigger and tougher than them."
He gave their prisoner a disgusted sneer, then turned back to the others.
"They'd rather live, subservient to one not of their kind, than risk their lives. They know we're capable of killing things tougher than them. Let's try and negotiate from a position of strength, and graciously allow them a chance to live."
"Yes. Goblin no want fight. Hated Klarg. Yeemik tell we when we kill Klarg friends to powerful humans will be. Prove to Yeemik that Klarg is dead and fight no more have you to do with goblins."
Evidently the goblin sees a way to survive so he is encouraging you to take the path that will keep him alive the longest.
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