The half-orc barbarian claimed that normally those of the goblin clans emerged from a large cave toward the mountain range. None of the orcs had ever ventured into the cave before and lived, according to the orcs.
On the cart Zilo and Maldrek are forming theories while May and Aria are taking care of Sparky in the back of the cart. Zilo remarks, "Do you think the lost orcs were overpowered by the goblinoids? Like maybe if they have Bugbears?"
"It's possible I guess. An orc would still have the edge in a fight, but if it was an ambush a bugbear would have the edge. That or the goblinoids out numbered them, but a cave would make it tough to flank in."
Sparky shouts from the back, "Gobs no probOW!"
"Hold still!" Responds May as Sparky sits up on his cracked ribs Zilo snaps his fingers and says,
"He's right! The hobgoblins and bugbears would be limited, but goblins would be fantastic cavern fighters thanks to their small size. With enough of them, they could take down an orc."
"Oh please! No way a scrawny goblin even in a group could take down a hulking orc scout." remarks Maldrek with a dismissive snarky grin before he remembers the events of the orc camp and quickly puts on a nervous smile and says, "Other than our scrappy little firefly here, of course."
Sparky flexes his arms only to strain his ribs again and let out a small yelp. as he grips his mid section he turns to may and says, "May can fix with her 'powers, right?" When the goblin says powers he waggles his fingers a bit.
Aria forces the goblin back down and says. "Not before I set your bones back, If you're healed before we straighten them then you'll heal weird. Just let us finish."
"Fine." Grumbles Sparky getting his bones set back and wincing as they go. Aria sits back to let May begin using healing spells. Aria speaks to the Goblin, saying "By the way Sparky, thank you for covering me in the fight, you saved me an Zilo, big time."
Zilo shouts back, "Yeah little guy, we owe you. If you ever need a favor, just let us know."
Sparky, now fully healed sits back up and smiles with a thumbs up, "Sparky welcomes they."
Maldrek face palms and says, "We really need him to go to a scribe and pay to learn common better, anyway, there's the cave up there."
The group exits the cart and Zilo begins applying some hobgoblin make up to the group. Maldrek's horns were a small issue, so he put his hood up to hide them. The cave looked to be shaped into the side of the mountain, mostly structured from an existing cave, but is chiseled on the edges to make entering and traveling into it more easy for larger groups to navigate.
The group, with the sickly skin and pointed ears of the goblinoid race, entered the cave and after a few minutes of walking they came to a fork in the cave with sign written in goblin. The group seemed worried before Sparky came forward and read through the sign. After a few moments he pointed his thumb to the left passage.
"This the way for groups."
The group squints at the fact that they have a group entrance, but shrug an walk along. The left passage did look slightly better shaped anyway. After another few minutes more of walking the group came to a hole into the ground of the cave that looked to be a one way trip down.
"I don't like this." Says May with a grimace.
"This the way to go." Says Sparky with a shrug.
"I know, but jumping down holes into the dark is a bad sign, remember what happened the last time we did that?"
"...No", says Sparky with a head scratch. Maldrek shakes his head and pats Sparky on his scalp, saying, "That's cause you were down that hole buddy, as was the Dungeon mother."
"Dungeon mother?" Asks Aria. The four adventurers turn to her in tandem and all respond at the same time,
"Bad times."
Zilo smiles and says, "Whelp, last one in's eggs gone bad." Before leaping in. Maldrek slaps his face again before jumping in himself and says, "okay, so we'll need a scribe for the both of them."
Aria looks to May with a head tilt and says, "well... I think its sorta cute." Before leaping down herself. Sparky hops up to May and grabs her hand with his toothy little smile and says, "Mayhaps May gut may be in wrong may."
"What?" She speaks back before Sparky drags her over into the hole as well.
Zilo was sliding along the smoothed out stone and blinks out his eyes to see a bit better with his darkvision. As his eyes opened to see with heat instead of light he spotted the slope seemed to be getting very steep, and then even more steep. Eventually the bard was in free fall as he went off the slope and could see a giant source of heat only 50 ft down.
"GODS NO!" Shouted the bard, his voice echoing in the huge cave. Fearing his fate he reached for his belt and snapped out his scorpion whip and managed to wrap it about a craggy rock above him on the slope. He breathed deeply as he looked above, hearing more people approaching the slope.
"GUYS It's a trap!"
As he finished Maldrek came sprawling over the slop and fell past Zilo faster than the bard could act. Maldrek fell about 30 ft as he frantically looked through his spellbook before he cast Fly On himself, and flew back up to Zilo.
"That is Lava! How is this a group entrance!" Shouted the wizard.
"I don't- OH COME ON!" The bard was interrupted as Aria came flailing over the slope. As she pasted Zilo, he kicked of the wall and angled his body to catch up, he grabbed onto her and the two of them disappeared into the lava bellow.
"ZILO! ARIA!"
As Maldrek looks down to try and see if they had gripped the edge or not he remembers May and Sparky. He rises back up and then takes out a wand, he points the wand to the slope and shouts, "Web!" And a collection of sticky stands shoot out from his wand and as the woman and goblin approach they become suspended in the strands, looking down at the lava pit.
"Gods that was close." Sighs May with relief.
"Maldrek save Sparky, good good Maldrek."
"Whatever, I gotta go for a sec." Quickly responds Maldrek, panicking. He flies down to look for any trace of Zilo and Aria... but he saw nothing. On his way up he made note of another cave way, but it was too far up for the two of them to have retreated into. May was struggling to get more comfortable.
"I found a cave to keep going, I can carry you both over to it." Responds Maldrek in a monotone manner. Sparky looks down to the cave he speaks of and back to Maldrek and asks, "Aria and Zilo there?"
Maldrek bites his lip and takes a moment. "Y-yeah, I sent them on ahead to scout the caverns, Aria's intuition and Zilo's shadow familiarity make them ideal scouts."
"Sounds good, let's get moving." Says May, getting somewhat loose. As Sparky and May get safely out of the web, Maldrek floats over to the rock face and collects Zilo's Whip. The Tiefling grips the whip firmly as he hides his face from his other two companions.
"I'm sorry, my friend."
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