4 July 1280, Morning (Looking Around)

"Many thanks Gaven," says Varros

"You are welcome Varros. The Light shines on us this day," answers the cleric.

Oloc says: "I guess the gobs came from the door to the west. Let's hurry and check the door to the north." This time Oloc waits for some 'muscle' before moving on. "On second thought, maybe we should get 'dirtbag' in here. What do you say?" he asks of no one in particular.

"Oloc, why don't you take Dirtbag back down the hall for a moment?" says Varros. Gaven also suggests that Oloc ask Dirtbag how the gobs came under the orders of a hobgob and why he doesn't care that Grimtooth is dead.

Oloc pulls the charmed goblin aside, and turns him away from the wounded Drazz, while Varros moves quickly across the room and dispatches the suffering goblin, showing him a merciful death. Varros also discretely cuts the right ear from each of the two dead goblin underlings here and in the previous corridor, as well as from the head he tossed into the room earlier.

Oloc keeps Dirtbag distracted from Varros' activity by asking Gaven's questions. Dirtbag's face turns to a scowl.

"We goblins often work with our larger cousins," says Dirtbag in reply to the first question. "They are bigger, so they command when we join with them."

In response to the second question he adds. "Grimtooth beat me because I was the smallest. And he named me 'Dirtbag'. When he started to call me that, so did the others. I hate Grimtooth."

Oloc interprets Dirtbag's words as Duran and Gaven scout the two doors.

Readying his bow, Duran looks through the door that is ajar, to the north. Beyond the door is a 30' x 30' room. The light is exceedingly dim, but Duran sees no enemies. To get a better look, the fighter quickly grabs the torch from the wall sconce to illuminate things, and can make out a cider press, as well as several barrels and vats. As best he can determine from the doorway many of the barrels are empty. The ones right next to the doorway where he stands now contain only vinegar. Along the north wall is a set of shelves containing several bottles. Most are broken or empty, but a few are completely intact. Stepping a short way into the room, Duran can see that there are five stoppered and unbroken bottles, each bearing the label "Golden Orchards Fine Brandy – 1243." Duran also spies a closed door in the northern section of the west wall of the room.

Meanwhile, Gaven retrieves his spear (still in good condition), and rapidly searches Grimtooth's body for any clues, including tattoos, or brandings, or emblems of rank or clan. The hobgoblin wears a silver chain around his neck (which you guess to be worth about 30 gp) as well as a silver ring with a cheap red stone (probably worth around 25 gp). In addition, in a pocket within the chief's tunic, Gaven finds the following document:

Gaven asks Stan to overturn the blankets and bedding to search for clues and treasure, "Make sure to use your spear, in case of any nasty surprises," he adds.

Stan finds nothing but filthy goblin rags. "Blimey!" he exclaims, "If we brought any of this garbage back, I'd wager we'd have to pay to have it taken off our hands."

Gaven hands the document he found to Oloc who sees immediately that it is written in goblin. The document says:

"Main force gathering on north bank. Scout enemy positions only. Do not engage or take prisoners. – Bloodfang"

As Oloc translates the missive aloud, Gaven approaches the open west door carefully and closely examines the frame for traps. Finding nothing, he asks Ollie to shed some light with his torch, and carefully looks through the door. Here he sees another 30' x 30' room. A fair number of old tools lean against walls or hang from hooks – pruning implements, spades, wheelbarrows, empty barrels, and the like. All appear quite old, rusted, rotted and entirely unserviceable. Also some sacks of what look like they were once apple seeds, are piled in various parts of the room. The ones near the doorway where Gaven stands appear to contain nothing more than tiny dry, cracked husks, or else rotten clumps of dark mush, depending on the sack and how exposed to water it has been over the years. The cleric, too, sees a closed door, in the norther wall of the tool room.

As the party prepares to make its next move, Varros pulls Grimtooth's body back through the doorway into the corridor and collects the hobgoblin's head – out of Dirtbag's sight, just in case. He then returns to the group, ready to help decide what to do next.

**********

OOC: Actions?

I've noted that Varros will take an ear from each of the goblins previously killed when the party backtracks out. I will assume that he does this discretely without Dirtbag watching.

Time Update: it's now 11:00 a.m.