Episode 5

The party arrived at the site where Perin Twofoot and his companions were ambushed. With Fellarr's aid, the party spots and manages to capture one of the two goblins who were hiding behind the trading carts. Salvaging what they can from the strewn goods, the party hides the carts deeper into the forests edge, out of sight of the trade route. The party pushes on with the goblin prisoner pointing the way.

On the way to the goblin hideout, the party spots some movement in the bushes up ahead a few times and Nok-Nok attempts to cast some magic in the direction of the movement, but manages to only scorch some trees. Eventually reaching their destination, the party ties and gags their prisoner to a tree. With Dusk starting to set in, the party finds themselves staring at a overturned heavy goods wagon.

With some inspection and a couple of arrows finding their way to the party, they figure out that the cart has been turned into a makeshift fort and is well defended from two of the four sides. They also establish that there are some goblins inside the makeshift fort, shooting arrows at them. Cade is sent to check out the western side of the fort and find that there is shovel and what looks to be a slight hole under the north-west corner of the wagon which is used for entry and exit. He informs the party and they move closer to inspect. Needing a way to get into the fort, the party comes up with a few ideas, eventually settling for Zaren's idea of smoking them out with a makeshift smoke ball.

Zaren proceeds to make two smallish smoke balls and with some teamwork, they lift the wagon and toss one underneath. In the process a few spears jut out from under the wagon and narrowly misses Taman. With the smoke ball deployed the party waits, hearing the sounds of scuffling and attempts to put it out. A few coughs later everything falls silent. Satisfied that they threat inside the fort is neutralized, the party turns the wagon on its side, revealing a ladder leading down a 15 ft shaft into the ground. Not sure weather they should throw in another smoke bomb or just go in, Zaren senses that Fellarr is extremely excited and enjoying himself. Zaren asks Fellarr to peak inside and Fellarr immediately heads into the shaft. Confirming that the way is clear, the party moves down the shaft and finds themselves in a underground tunnel system about 10 ft wide and 9 ft high. They proceed down the tunnel with Taman completely in darkness and being led by a party member.

After a few moments the party stumbles onto an old, blind goblin, who is pointing at the wall. Behind the goblin there seems to be a gated barricade which stops them from moving further down the tunnel. Taman moves forward in the darkness and walks straight into the barricade to which the old goblin responds with a slight snicker. The party decides to use a torch to figure out what is going on. After a short discussion with the old goblin (Jesax), they learn that they need to answer the riddle in order for the gate to open. The riddle reads: "I start high, I end low. Always wet & love to flow. Say my name." The party doesn't take long to solve it and Zaren speaks the word "River" loud enough for the old man to hear him clearly. In response to Zaren answering correctly, they hear some scuffling and noises behind the gate and then see a plank lifted and dropped to the ground with the gate opening slightly before stopping. The old goblin informs the party that they may proceed and the party obliges by moving forward through the gates. With nothing on the immediate other side, the party carries on further until the tunnel makes a 90 degree turn to the right. Unable to see enough, Cade sneaks around the corner to get some more information. A few moments later a battle ensues.

It was quite a tough battle with Taman falling unconscious and Nok-Nok barely staying conscious. The back of the party is ambushed by three additional goblins, but Zaren puts them to sleep making sure they cannot cause further damage. With Nok-Nok and Taman reaching the main tent and fighting Bixx, they managed to beat Bixx and his goblin crew into submission. Begging for his life, the party started to asks some questions. They learn that Bixx and his fellow goblins where chased out of their village and that they are just trying to survives by which ever means they can. They also learn that the other caravan members are held captive in the big tent. Taman immediately searches and finds Jarin unconscious with Rowan holding him begging for help. The party manages to stabilize Jarin and with Nok-Nok watching over Bixx, they tie up the rest of the goblins to make sure there a re no further surprises. Zaren searches Jesax and finds a shiv like weapon in his sleeve. He quickly confiscates it and ties Jesax up with the rest. They also confirm that there is only one of the goblins crew missing, which they assume is the one they tied up outside. The party finds a ring and goggles which seem to be magic.

After looking around some more the party finds most of the goods are kept in the main tent. They decide to use the goblins as pack horses to carry the goods out of the tunnels back to the carts. With it getting a bit late and the party quite injured, they decide it may be a good idea to take a rest to recover some of their strength before heading back out.

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