Having concluded there was nothing more to learn in the tower, the team headed to the keep and the caves below, thinking both of possibly clearing out the goblins for good and also find the flake mentioned in the scrap of parchment.

There were only 3 goblins on guard this time; 2 were dispatched, but the other one ran away down the far corridor. After a bit of discussion they decided to follow (cautiously). They extinguished your lights to avoid alerting anyone to their presence and sneaked in. The corridor turned to the left, and then the space opened out. Yunan just managed to avoid falling down a hole in the middle, so after that everyone kept carefully to the edges.

Since they had already explored the right-hand opening with the goblin common room, this time they headed down the left-hand corridor instead. A short way along, they came across a door on the right. Listening at it they heard a rumble of voices, so gleefully burst in…to find these were not goblins but two bugbears. They were playing cards and were not pleased to be disturbed.

There then ensued a mighty battle which involved at least one character on the verge of death (from a single mighty blow), but the team eventually triumphed.

As they were gathering their breath they heard the sound of marching feet in the corridor. Quick-thinking Yunan closed the door, and the marching feet went past heading towards the entrance. Once it was quiet outside again, they sneaked out along the corridor in the other direction, further in. They came to one door, but heard voices so decided to continue. Another door was silent; they entered quietly, to find themselves confronted by goblins with bows trained on them. One of them called out and an incredibly ugly goblin in a dirty robe appeared.

He spoke decent Traladaran and asked the characters what they were doing. He then told them the goblins were enslaved by an Ogre, and asked the characters’ help in killing the Ogre and freeing the goblins. Since that was what the characters were there to do, they negotiated and agreed. The goblin said his name was Sar and he was the religious guide of the goblins. Looking around, the room was obviously some sort of shrine; there were eldritch symbols on the walls and an altar at the far end. The characters feigned interest in the symbols (although Reed was able to tell them that the symbols were just gibberish) in order to butter up Sar.

Sar offered to let the characters rest in this room, and to tell them when the Ogre was sleeping because that would be the best time to attack. When there was a knock on the door and another goblin asked if he had seen any intruders he said not, and the party were able to get a good rest.

And there we leave them for another night…