Hobgoblins!

6 November, 595
Part One

The next morning our heroes meet back at Keygan's shop and continue exploring the malachite dungeon. Plenty's secret door is investigated and it leads to a secret armory, containing a number of weapons, and pieces of armor. Plenty and Fario don new sets of banded mail, and Nodonn claims a set of plate mail, which is hauled up to Keygan's for safe-keeping.

Both the ogre's den and the armory is searched and a secret door is found which leads into a forge. Lyra sneaks into the large room and finds it occupied by 2 halflings and a female dwarf, working as slaves, and a guard consisting of 3 goblins and 4 hobgoblins. Lyra attempts to sneak up on the goblins but gives away her presence. The goblins rush to swarm her and she is soon joined by her comrades. In the ensuing battle several are severely wounded and Felian is slain. After the conflict, Fario grieves for his fallen friend and begs to return to the surface to attend to his corpse. It is agreed and the prisoners are brought to the temple of St. Cuthbert for an interview with Jenya, while Fario goes off with Felian's body.

Jenya questions both the prisoners and the party members about the missing children, and Keyan Gehlve's role in things. She says that Keygan should be dealt with when this is all over, but that he should not be interfered with until after the children are found. Jenya agrees to have the members of the party healed on the condition that they return to the search right away, as time is clearly of the essence.

The group returns to the forge area and decides to investigate one of the doors in the room. The door opens into a hallway, and Lyra sneals out to explore it. She spies two figures around the corner, but can't make out much more in the dark. Bruinor goes to look and confirms 2 hobgoblins standing guard in front of a set of double doors. Throckmorten casts a light spell on one of the guards, momentarily blinding them both. The party then rushes the two while Nodonn and Lyra hang back. One is slain but the other manages to get off two critical actions before he falls. First, he pulls a lever activating a spike pit trap. Lyra is nimble enough to avoid the trap but Nodonn falls gracelessly onto the spikes. The second thing the creature does is bang a warning on the doors. Unfortunately for Lyra she is caught on the other side of the trap when 4 more hobgoblins come springing out of another room. Plenty makes a running jump but misjudges the distance and falls down into the pit with Nodonn. Bruinor thinks quickly and closes the trap door, allowing the hobgoblins to run over the trap, at which point he pulls the lever again, trapping 2 of them down in the pit. Plenty and Nodonn make short work of the unlucky ones. In the meantime more hobgoblins start entering the hallway, overwhelming the party. Their only exit cut off, the group has no option but to fight to the death. Nodonn helps Plenty out of the trap, but he is subdued by javelins thrown by the hobgoblins on the other side. Plenty and Bruinor go down, but Bruinor is revived and plays a key role in the outcome of the battle. Fario is cut down by an axe before the group finally wins out. Checking their losses, the fallen in the group are healed, except for Fario, who is a lost cause.

The bodies are pillaged and the team once again returns to the surface. Throckmorten takes Fario's corpse to the temple of Wee Jas for burial. Nodonn and Bruinor head to the mayor's office to find out who should be notified about the deaths of Fario and Felian. The receptionist is not immediately helpful, telling them that the mayor is not available at this time. Bruinor blows a gasket and uses his axe to turn the administrator's desk into firewood. The scared receptionist calls out for the guard, who immediately come and arrest Bruinor and Nodonn, after a short confrontation. The two are put into a holding cell and left alone...