Chapter 7

After the group’s short rest, it’s early midday and the sun is shining, creating a natural warmth found in the late spring season. The adventurer’s follow Grindlefoot, in wolf form, away from the Ha-derech, North towards the narrow trail that leads off into the forest and the foothills of the Lower Jaw mountain range. His wolf’s snout sniffs the trail, head moving side to side and lifting up every once in a while to catch any air scents.

It doesn’t take long for the mood to alter, as the trees become denser, pushing closer to each other, and creating a stillness in the air. The temperature drops significantly, even though they know that the sun is shining and warming those who can feel its rays. The path grows increasingly difficult to traverse, more like a game trail than one frequented by people.

After about an hour of walking, they discover that they’re crossing the same stream they did a short while ago. The creek’s water disrupted the scent that Grindlefoot was following and they inadvertently circled back. He’s able to find goblin foot prints that coincide with the doll’s scent and they move forward. Soon enough, they discover additional paw prints on the trail and Gven notices some scat, both of which belong to wolves. It appears as though the trail is frequented by a local wolf pack.

They continue walking forward in a diamond shape, with Grindlefoot leading, Gven and Xantic side-by-side, and Dolor bringing up the rear. Within minutes, Dolor hears significant movement in the forest and brush around them as they come upon a large boulder that is blocking the trail about 20 feet in front of them. A large wolf jumps to the top of the large rock and five more spread around its base, all of them growling an audible warning and baring their teeth. Dolor knocks an arrow in his shortbow, Grindlefoot prepares to defend himself with his staff, and Xantic lifts his loaded crossbow to his shoulder.

As a barbarian who follows the Path of the Totem Warrior and has chosen the wolf as her totem spirit, Gven is well-tuned to the nature of animals. Embracing her animal handling ability, she senses that this pack of wolves is not aggressive, they’re preparing to defend themselves or their territory. She moves in front of Grindlefoot and holds out her arms in a peaceful manner, calmly saying to the pack leader “we mean you no harm, we’re just passing through, trying to find someone who needs our help.”

Suddenly, a figure drops from the trees above, landing softly and without a sound onto the path in front of them, separating them from the wolves. The hooded figure begins to speak in growls, barks, yips, and whines. Within a few minutes, the wolves demeanor becomes less aggressive and they slowly turn away, moving off into the surrounding forest.

The peace broker turns towards the adventurers, revealing a female half-elf with long, braided, dark hair. Silently and while watching them closely, she directs the group to move backwards, away from the boulder. Once they’re far enough away, she smoothly jumps up onto a low branch and introduces herself.

“I’m Lyra Swiftarrow and I keep track of things in this part of the wood; make sure those who belong here aren’t bothered by those who don’t. You didn’t attack that pack…that tells me you have some mettle and sense about you. Their den is close by and they’ve been through a lot lately, having lost four of their pack to those damned goblins up in the hills. I appreciate you recognizing they were only protecting what’s theirs and staying your weapons. Now, what are you doing in my forest?”

The adventurers tell Lyra why they’re headed that way, revealing what little they know about Prema and her missing husband and daughter. Lyra is familiar with the tale and even expresses some regret that she was away and unable to be of much help when that occurred. She tells them that she’s suspicious of a particular cave, further up in the hills, where she’s tracked the goblins. She’s only one half-elf, though, and a wee bit claustrophobic, so traipsing through caves to face a bunch of goblins isn’t high on her to-do list. But she’s happy to show them where it is, and maybe even keep watch outside while they’re investigating inside, just in case any goblin heads poke out and need a decorative arrow.

They follow Lyra through the forest for about an hour, finally arriving at the cave entrance. There’s not much to see from their vantage point, it will require going in to look around. By this time, the sun has moved further to the west and it’s late afternoon, so the party decides to wait until the next morning to venture inside.

Lyra knows of a place where they can rest overnight, a small opening in the forest, not quite large enough to be considered a clearing. She heads off into the forest to finish her rounds, scouting the area for anything out of place, saying that she’ll be back by dinner time.

Xantic takes advantage of the downtime to focus on his next project. The group watches him pull various pieces from his pockets and pack, push and pull them together in various ways that eventually take shape into a small biped-shaped creature that stands motionless at about 1 foot tall with wings. From his pack, Xantic pulls the shiny gem he bought from Skeller and places it in an open cavity in the middle of the creature’s chest. As Xantic stands up and moves backward, the homunculus servant begins to move its body and arms, looking at their appendages and overly large hands with curiosity. With tears in his eyes and a very big smile, Xantic says “welcome, McGillicutty.”

The rest of the group is amazed and begins peppering Xantic with questions. He informs them that his little pal is about as smart as a ten-year old child and understands what they say, but cannot speak and must communicate by other means, like drawing or pantomime. To demonstrate, he asks McGillicutty to dance. In a slightly jolting manner and with a big grin on its face, the small homunculus begins doing the Carlton to music no one else can hear.

Lyra walks back into the clearing a few minutes later, sees the dancing McGillicutty and shakes her head in resignation. Showing them the rabbits in her hand, she says “is that thing going to help me cook the rabbit stew or is it only the evening’s entertainment?”

After they enjoy Lyra’s tasty stew and some tales of her time in the wood, Xantic finally asks McGillicutty to stop dancing. They’re all feeling tired and a little anxious about what they might find in the tunnels the next day. Lyra has put the word out to the other rangers that the adventurers might stir up the goblins. They’ll keep an eye out for goblins and any captives they might have with them. She assures the group that they’re safe for the night in this tiny clearing and they all enjoy the rest before what will likely be a long day.

Long rest….

Early in the morning, before the first light of pre-dawn, Dolor wakes up with a start after reliving the fight with the chimera in his dreams. “Chimera’s Bane, that’s what we should call ourselves. The Mixed Nuts was fun for a time, but we’re past that now. A real name for real adventurers.” The rest of the group wakes up shortly after and agrees with Dolor, they’re now known as Chimera’s Bane.

They follow Lyra through the woods and arrive at the cave as the early morning light reaches down through the trees, creating angled pillars of sunlight that shine on the forest’s floor. The cave is dark and there’s no activity, but they use quiet whispers to communicate, not wanting to alert any sentries that might be posted out of sight. Since McGillicutty has darkvision, Xantic sends them in to scout the first part of the cave.

McGillicuty returns several minutes later and sketches out a rudimentary map in the dirt. The cave’s tunnel twists and turns several times before opening up into a cavern of indeterminable size, since they don’t know if the drawing is to scale. Xantic asks if they saw any goblins and McGillitutty shakes their head no. The group decides to enter the cave together, with Dolor stealthily leading them into the darkness.

Shortly after entering the tunnel, Grindlefoot wild shapes into a giant rat, so that he can silently scout ahead with its darkvision. Since he’s such a large rat, McGillicutty hops on for a ride, at Xantic’s suggestion. They continue to move forward through the winding tunnel, not seeing any goblins.

Soon they come to the entrance to the cavern that McGillicutty referenced. They all do their best to remain quiet and enter the cavern slowly. Ironically, the usually stealthy Dolor trips over something unseen on the floor and lets out a quiet curse. A few seconds later, four goblins move out from the dark edges of the cavern where they were hiding behind crates and supplies. They aren’t interested in conversation and begin advancing towards the adventurers with their bows drawn and arrows knocked.

Fight choreography

• Xantic shoots a goblin with his crossbow, causing 9 damage.
  • McGillicutty casts Frostbite at a goblin and misses.
• Dolor misses with his shortbow.
• Grindlefoot shifts out of the rat form and unexpectedly finds himself completely blind to their surroundings as a halfling. He starts to slowly move backwards, towards the presumed safety of the empty tunnel they just left.
• A goblin fires an arrow at Gven for 7 damage.
• A goblin hits Dolor with an arrow for 7 damage.
• Dolor reacts with Hellish Rebuke, causing 6 damage and briefly lighting up the room.
• A goblin fires an arrow and misses Grindlefoot, who somehow knew to step sideways at that very moment.
• A goblin pierces Xantic with an arrow for 6 damage.
• Gven swings her greatsword at the goblin closest to her, who Dolor lit up with his Hellish Rebuke spell, killing it instantly.

• Xantic shoots a goblin with his crossbow again, causing 3 damage.
  • McGillicutty casts Frostbite again, instantly freezing and killing the unbalanced goblin, leaving it to slowly fall over onto its side.
• Dolor misses the final goblin with his shortbow.
• The last living goblin turns to flee the large room, heading deeper into the tunnels.
• As swiftly as she’s able, Gven pulls a handaxe from her belt and hurls it at the retreating goblin. Twirling through the air unexpectedly fast, the axe lands in the middle of the creature’s back, embedded all the way to the cheek of the blade. In midstep of fleeing, the goblin stops suddenly and gently topples over to the ground, dead.

The group pauses for several moments to collect their breath, grateful that they made it this far without any alarms being sounded. Xantic creates a glowing rock for Grindlefoot to carry and use as a lantern.

Looting the goblin corpses, they don’t find much of value except for 10 silver pieces, 30 copper pieces, and a rusty old sword. Given Dolor’s experience with jewelry and watches, he takes an extra close look at the sword to discover it’s more than it appears. What they initially thought was rust is only dirt and grime from the lack of cleaning. It’s extremely well made and still exceptionally sharp, even shiny in the spots that Dolor wipes away. He replaces his rapier with the shortsword, wondering if he might discover any other secrets about it in the future.