Amibar uses the time to go over the goblin's sleeping forms, looking for anything of value or interest.
He finds that the goblins altogether have 42 English gold royals. Presumably those that Forte kicked into the water and the one that fell in had some coins too, but Ami isn't that greedy!
"What strange coins," Forte says while examining Amibar's haul. He looks up at the group, especially Tag, and says, "They aren't from around here, are they?"
"No Forte, they look like coins from England. See the picture of their king here on the back. Valuable though."
The coins bear the face of Richard II, whom Tag recalls was ousted by Henry IV, one of the many civil struggles going on at this time in that land.
"What would goblins in Italia be doing with coins from England?" muses Forte.
"My guess is that they probably found them somewhere" says Ullar, butting in (as usual).
After some moments without signal from Dakath, Ullar leads the group across the bridge. Dreading encountering the rogue's sprawled form, they instead see the dimly torch lit chamber. It appears to be some sort of guard room, but the goblins were clearly more enjoying themselves than guarding, as there are pints of bad-smelling beer thrown about. There are also several spots where the apparently not house-trained wolves decided to eliminate their waste. Some appear quite old.
All the very crude furniture is hewn out of stone and goblin-sized. Seeing little of interest here, and no sign at all of Dakath, the group moves through the area cautiously into a more open area. The walls surround a great tree in the middle of the clearing. The tree has a dozen chains attached to it with iron collars at the end. All are empty. There are more piles of defecation here, and the place smells quite a bit. It is unlit, and the group must use Kyo's torch to find their way. They look hopefully into the sky for another sign of Dakath, but see nothing.
There is only one means of departing and the group uses it, crossing to the opposite side of the open area. They then see something of an intersection ahead, with rough stone corridors heading left, right, and straight ahead. In the center of the intersection, they see what most likely caused the cracking and thumping sound, as a broken stone bough lies smashed into pieces in the open area. There is no sign of Dakath here either.
The group marvels that they have seen no further sign of the goblin that fled. Perhaps those in the guard room were the only ones here?
"I fear this is not over my friends. This complex looks as though it has been made by more than Goblin hands. Although I am not saying it is any Duomo." Tag checks his equipment over. "Some power must have turned this forest to stone, Si. I wonder if it can do the same to us if it wishes?"
"I agree, Taglio. My people tell stories of creatures that can turn just about anything to stone with just a glance. But trees.......that would take great magic I think. We should all be very carefull," Rhune nods in agreement.
Looking around for Dakath, Rhune speaks, "I don't like leaving him behind. Perhaps we should wait for him to return before going any further.... Though when we do leave I wouldn't mind going to the right. If you guys want I will see about scouting ahead a bit, though I will have to remove the chain."
"How long do we wait?" asks Forte impatiently. "I mean, we should wait...but staying in one spot just makes me nervous." He looks at the opening. "Although, with a single door here, it's pretty defensible."
"Yes but we have that intersection to defend as well. I just wish I knew where Dakath was at this moment. I do wish he would hurry up as well," Rhune replies. "I don't think we should wait very long. That one goblin got away. And there is no telling...hmmmm.... Amibar, could your Natasha tell which way that goblin went?" Rhune turns to the man.
"Hold on a moment, Rhune. Let's see if Natasha can sniff something out first. After all, she's better equipped to face those wolves' sense of smell than any of us, and less likely to alert them..." Ami sets the ferret down, pets her lovingly and chatters softly to her in her tongue. After a moment, the little rodent is on her way.
Looking at the man, "Yes that is true she would be better equipped to sniff them out. I have excellent hearing but the nose is not so good,” she replies with a smile for him.
Natasha scrambles up one of the stone trees as if it was natural for her. She proves to be a much better climber than Dakath ever was. She returns in a few minutes and chitters to Amibar, telling him what she found. Translating to all of you, he reveals that she went around the top of the stone wall ahead of you. There she saw some little men being quiet behind a big tree. She was going toward the other paths when she heard something up in the tree. She reveals that the small bald man is hanging in the trees above like a bat.
Looking up, Asif can see something definitely moving about just a bit on a tree-branch some ninety feet above your heads.
Rhune looks toward the direction of the big tree Natasha was talking about. Then looking up she squints hard to see if she can make out the bat man feeling a bit self conscious about this she makes motions in the air toward the tree. Then looking toward the others, "If someone could help me and boost me to the top of the wall I could try and sneak around and set up a covering fire while the rest of you head down the pathway. With the chainmail on I won't be able to be to quiet but perhaps if I go slowly enough the noise won't be to bad,” she offers with a smile.
Asif stares with hawk like intensity up into the trees. With slow movements he unsheathes an arrow from his quiver and slowly....
"Asif wait I think it is Dakath and I think he is about to fall," Rhune calls out.
Asif lowers his bow slowly as he exclaims: "What by Aten is he doing up there?"
Dakath can feel his strength leaving him. What a way to go, he thinks to himself. "Hey down there, it's me Dakath, I can't hold on much longer, I'm going to fall. Move out of the way, so I don't kill anyone, other than myself." With that he tries his best to hold on for as long as he can.
Hearing Dakath's voice......"If you fall now, you won't make it....try to hold on..." Rhune calls out abandoning the plan she had thought of....."Someone give me a rope quickly!" Shrugging out of the armor as quickly as possible, Rhune takes the rope offered to her and ties it around her waist as quickly as possible. then going to the tree she tries to scramble up the tree being careful but also trying to reach Dakath before he falls, letting the rope play out behind her.
Some ten feet up the tree, she loses her grip and slides down, landing nimbly on her feet. Only slightly discouraged, she begins to climb again, only to fall once again near the same spot, landing a bit harder this time. Seeing that Dakath is not long in his spot, she struggles to climb up again. This time she manages to make it all the way up.
Praying she reaches him before he falls. "Hold on...just hold on." Hoping that her lighter weight won't cause the branch to break, Rhune settles herself into the arm of the branch and tree trunk....pulling up the rope she loops it and ties it off and then tosses it over to Dakath, bracing herself against his weight if he should grab it and then fall.
Dakath summons his last reserve of strength and holds on for all he's worth.
Amibar looks anxiously at the dangling form of the rambunctious rogue, and Rhune's lithe form as she makes her way towards him. "I don't think he'll be able to hold on long enough," he says worriedly. "Maybe we should hold a stretched blanket under him, you know, to break his fall...." He looks in the direction Natasha indicated the ambush of goblins was. "If those greenskins don't interrupt, that is."
"Good idea!" exclaims Forte excitedly. "Who's got a blanket with them?!"
Tag resists the urge to use his climbing skills also and follow Rhune up, realizing that the more bodies on branches the more likely it is that they will break. "Amibar your suggestion seems sound. Here I have a blanket in my pack and perhaps Forte, Asif and I can hold it under Dakath you and Ullar should guard our backs against the goblins return, Si."
As those on the ground stretch out Tag's blanket below Dakath's struggling form, they see that Rhune has managed to toss the rope out to Dakath, who grabs it with one hand, releasing the branch with his other. He then awkwardly swings over to the trunk Rhune tied the rope to, still some fifty feet up in the air. Struggling, he manages to shimmy down, his arms shaking with the effort. Rhune follows him down, almost slipping on the same spot once again, but they both come down without further trouble.
Amibar sighs with relief as the two climbers make it down safely.
Dakath jumps the last couple of feet to the ground and collapses onto the floor. He rolls onto his back. "Thank you Rhune, I remember now why I hate climbing so much.” He takes a moment to recover his composure before readying Asif's bow, looking over at him. "Do you want this right now ?" he asks about the bow.
Rhune smiles at him as she makes it down the last few feet, her arms shaking with the strain.
Putting away the safety blanket, the others gather themselves as Amibar sends Natasha out to scout out the right and left passages. She returns and chitters to Amibar that there are little and big men in the north (right), and she seems very upset by something there, though Amibar is unable to figure out what it is. To the south (left), she seems very excited, and keeps talking about giants. She wants very much to go in this direction.
Ullar watched the whole scene with interest. As Dakath assured him, he didn't intend to die, so Ullar pretended not to be worried, although the situation was kind of awkward.
When both Rhune and Dakath are safely on firm ground again, Ullar compliments Rhune on her successful rescue attempt.
"Thanks Ullar," Rhune replies.
"But let's get back to business. It seems we have Goblins to the north and Giants to the south. I would prefer to handle the Goblins first," Ullar speaks, while rubbing his chin.
"But if the giants hear something, they will probably show up as reinforcements," wonders Forte. "We need to plan this quickly, but carefully."
"I hope that this is that Goblin leader and his sidekicks, including their prisoners. With my current physical state I'd rather face them right away."
Shaking from the effort of the climbs and the slips and rubbing her butt when she thinks no one is looking, Rhune sighs deeply, "I think we may need to go to the right.....though I am not sure about having giants at our back. What do you guys think?" she asks.
"Definitely them before the giants!" agrees Forte. "But the giants may not be too far behind." He turns to Amibar, "Does Natasha know how far away these two groups are?"
"Yes I would rather face the goblins at the moment also," Rhune nods in agreement
The warrior is anxious to get into action. Eager to free Stephen, he hopes the group will face the Goblin on it's wolf as Ullar saw in his vision.
"Amibar, are you able to cast another sleep spell or something similar? I think your abilities will come in very, very handy".
"Extremely handy," agrees Forte with a smile at Amibar. "And your pet has already helped with this situation, too."
"No," the Gnome's cheeriness on the safe return of his friends fades. "I don't have another Sleep spell memorized. I do have something else, like I used on that gargoyle on the island," he offers. "It's only good for one target, though...."
Though Forte speaks of making a plan, no one has anything particularly strategic to offer, and before Dakath decides to go charging in alone, the party heads toward the consensus choice, right.
Cautious, and knowing what they will face, they emerge into a well-lit room. A large goblin, wearing a magnificent white wolf's skin, glares at you from a throne on the far side of this grand, fur-decked chamber. Before him, a bodyguard of goblins stands poised to attack.
As the warriors stride into the room with weapons exposed, the glaring goblin (not the one from Ullar's dream, as that one was much taller and garbed differently) looks with great anger at them. Spotting tiny Amibar among them, he yells out harshly at him. Surprisingly, Amibar discovers that he is speaking in his native tongue. He translates to the rest of the group, "He says what do we want here? He has done nothing to harm us, and if it's treasure seeking we are doing, we will find little of that here."
Rhune enters cautiously and alertly, her sword drawn.... Watching the goblins every step of the way, she waits to see if anyone else in the party answers the questions. This is not what she expected to have happen and it has thrown her off some.
Forte looks at Amibar. "We seek Stephen, a prisoner of the goblins, not treasure. He has red hair." He turns his attention back to the white wolfskin garbed goblin, hand still on his mace.
Tag loads his crossbow with one of the few remaining bolts and aims at the head goblin, a grim look of determination on his face. He scans the room for spell casters and remains behind the line of the warriors and close to the door. "Release our friend or my first bolt will take your right eye you fat fiend!" He says in Italian. (At any sign of spell casting he targets the spell caster)
There is no sign of any spell-caster. As Taglio targets his weapon, the five larger goblins move in close to the one on the throne, holding spears. The other five in the room also hoist their spears up, ready to throw. They show no comprehension of what Taglio says.