The four adventurers, along with Krago, agree to investigate the disappearance of Blasingdell’s men. After a night of rest, they depart on a beautiful autumn morning. They skirt the edge of Blasingdell Mine road, heading north. It’s a simple gravel road, but it is broad and in good repair. It winds its way up into the hills through farms and orchards, which soon give way to woods.

Not far from town, there is a spot where the road is flanked by 2 stone outcroppings. An iron chain has been drawn across the road and is secured by spikes driven into the stone.  A placard swings from the center of it. Written in a firm, clear hand is the statement: “Private Property. Road Closed.” Then in small letters: “Blasingdell Mining Coop / Wend Property Management Company.”  It is signed with a flowing black letter S. 

They duck under the chain and proceed up the road. Before long, Fuzzidong alerts to a disturbance. Pausing to look back, Cycek notices a wild canine of a some sort, perhaps a fox or a coyote, warily observing them. Curious, Cycek tries to speak to the animal, much to the chagrin of the mistrustful Davros, who would rather shoot it. The animal steps behind a tree, and momentarily an elven woman emerges from the other side of the tree. She speaks to the group, introducing herself as Gré, druid of the northern woods. She informs them that she was sent by Bontelan Wright, to seek news of the four of them, and to deliver a message. Despite Davros’ mistrust and threatening words, she provides the following information:

Bontelan is in the town of Rennet’s Cove, far to the south in the County Moldavia. He, traveled there to pay respects to the recently deceased elder Count Moldavia, but has learned the the new Count (the old count’s son), has gone mad and is believed to be responsible for a massacre on the grounds of their estate. What this means is that Wright may be delayed in Moldavia while they deal with the upheaval in that county. Meanwhile, Bontelan is concerned for the safety of his crew, and hopes for the success of their mission to retrieve the cache of Durgeddin weapons. He has evidence, gathered by another team of operatives, that the movement of hobgoblins into settled provincial lands is escalating. Furthermore, he has reason to believe that wealthy, influential powers from as far away as Tethyr may be supporting the hobgoblins. Bontelan encourages them to get the weapons to the authorities in Shadowfurst in all possible haste, as open conflict between the hobgoblin horde and Provinicial populations becomes more imminent. Worse, he fears that the aggressive gnolls are not far behind.

Gré then offers them a set of four flasks containing healing potions. On her trip here, she was wounded in a skirmish, and had to take one of the four potions she had brought from her alchemical mentor. To replace it, she brewed one of her own. But she is new at potion making, and fears that the remaining one may not be as effective as intended. Nevertheless, the explorers accept the gift, again, despite Davros’ concern that she is trying to poison them. Sartan agrees to take the “uncertain” potion. Her mission now complete, Gré speaks a few hushed words to Fuzzidong, and then disappears. Cycek notices a bit of rustling in the leaf bed, and believes that Gré has transformed herself into a tiny animal, perhaps a mouse, to elude their detection and ensure that she cannot be followed.

The group continues up the road, and Cycek fades back to make sure they aren’t being followed. He detects a movement in a treetop across the road, and soon notices that a blue-haired goblin is observing them, leaping from tree to tree like a squirrel, following the progress of the party. Cycek fires an arrow, triggering activity from a second goblin which had been unnoticed. The first one engages the party in an exchange of arrow fire, while the other one tries to flee and perhaps raise an alarm. But, the goblins don’t make it. Sartan and Cycek shoot them down.

Continuing on, they soon arrive at a clearing at the entrance to the mine. This area appears to be a staging area for transport in and out of the facility. Peering from the cover of the encroaching forest, the party sees a pair of hobgoblin guards standing before a huge set of heavy wooden doors set into a cliff face. Heaps of rubble, broken boulders resulting from years of excavation, are piled around the perimeter of the clearing and heaped up against the cliff wall. To their right is a low wooden outbuilding, perhaps a storage shed or stable, with a modest, wooden-framed watchtower attached. A single cart with a pair of draft horses harnessed to it, sits unmoving with its inattentive hobgoblin driver napping in the seat. They notice a steady column of grey smoke streaming from the crown of the hill behind the mine entrance. They smell a curiously delicious aroma, like smoked ribs. The group is reluctant to approach the well-guarded entrance more closely, but is interested in investigating the source of the smoke. They withdraw from their vantage point and disappear into the woods.

Cyceks leads the group quietly through the woods, gradually circling around to the northwest and uphill. They observe a great deal of disturbance along the way. Heavy, booted footprints mar the ground, and the sound of birdsong is nearly non-existent. In several places, the cautious Cycek notices pit-traps placed along the trails. The pit are are concealed with canvas tarps covered with leaves. The pits are armed with sharpened wooden poles, and they seem to have been recently placed.

When they arrive at the top of the hill, they find a partial clearing. The density of the woods has been thinned out and maintained as such. The hill provides a view to the south where one can catch glimpses of Blasingdell a few miles down the road. There are a few trees, rocks, and some pieces of ancient stone masonry, but the area is mostly open. Their exploration reveals that the smoke is issuing from a circular hatch. An iron collar approximately 3.5 feet in diameter juts about 2 feet up from the ground. It is capped by a flanged grate. It is hinged on one edge, and fastened with a padlock at the other. A double-chain runs down into darkness. It appears the chain is attached to the flanges, allowing them to be pivoted into a closed position, or pulled back open.

Searching the area more, they also discover the body of a repulsive creature which Cycek identifies as his favored enemy: a gnoll. It wears a necklace of desiccated ears and teeth: hobgoblin, elf, maybe even human. It wears coarse skins and leather. Its mangy fur is festooned with fungus, and parts of its body are scarred with swathes of seared, melted wounds. They leave it where is lies, partially hidden in the shade of a shrub.

It is difficult to peer down the hatch with the amount of smoke billowing out. It still smells delicious. They decide to plug the opening by tearing down a limb from a nearby tree and laying it across the opening. The weight of the branch also partly closes the flanges and does an effective job staunching the flow of smoke. They all hide in different locations surrounding the hatch and wait to see what happens.

About 30 minutes later, they hear hobgoblin voices. Two hobgoblin guards, dispatched to investigate the problem with the hatch, emerge from a trail from the east side of the hill. The “goblin” speakers in the group understand the gist of the conversation. One of the guards is complaining about having been sent up the hill into the sunlight. He deems it beneath the dignity of a warrior, and he resents being ordered about by Scaythe. Furthermore, he does not like what Scaythe and “Slender James” are up to in the mine… “making monsters.” His companion argues that as soldiers, it is not their place to argue. Their superior officer has made the decision to work with Scaythe, their “ally,” for a strategic purpose, for the betterment of the Impaled Heart tribe. He asserts that they should shut up and do their jobs.

The two guards arrive at the hatch and examine the tree branch. They look a bit puzzled. They examine  the branch and the nearby tree. One of them grunts that stupid humans should never have left trees in the vicinity of this hatch. They seem to accept that a random act of poor landscape maintenance led to this mishap. They toss the branch aside, and head back down the hill to report their findings.

Very little smoke now comes from the hatch. It appears that the source of the smoke has been quelled.

Cycek and Davros follow the guards, quietly, and the rest of the group follows further behind. They find that the access trail leads down though the woods and down the east side of the hill, eventually wrapping around to the far side of the mine entry clearing they had observed earlier. From their new vantage point, Cycek and Davros can see that behind the wooden building, a pair of hobgoblin guards is attending to a large bulky reptilian creature. It has blue green scales, eight legs, and is outfitted with a saddle and riding harness. A large, imposing hobgoblin sits on the saddle while the two attendants seem to be inspecting and adjusting straps, readying their leader to ride. The two returning guards salute the rider and then head to to main entrance, where now only one guard stands. They pull open the two enormous doors. One of the guards heads into the mine, and the other remains stationed outside the doors, which they swing shut again.

The group decides to retreat to to top of the hill and figure out their next move. They consider their options: sneak in the main entrance, fight their way in, or explore the area seeking another entry point. They decide not to explore, recognizing that there may be more goblin scouts in the vicinity who may raise the alarm. Realizing that the outpouring of smoke from the chimney has all but ceased, they take a closer look at it. They find a straight shaft descending into darkness, lined with corrugated metal. It is capped with a flanged vent hatch, which is hinged at one side and locked with a padlock at the other. Davros picks the lock and Sartan and Mishok carefully open the lid, trying to stay quiet. The sides of the shaft are somewhat greasy, but Cycek figures he can get down the shaft without having to use the chain which would almost certainly make noise. They tie a long length of rope to him as a failsafe. He carefully descends and about 60 feet down he slips. The rope holds him and he regains his foothold, but in doing so, he bangs against the metal hard enough to make a it clang. He waits quietly, listening. He hears unintelligible grunts and moans from below, and sees a dark silhouette moving against an dimly glowing orange background. He seems to hear voices raised in anger, but muffled as if farther away. Once the noice subsides, he continues downward. He realized that by the time he hits the bottom of the shaft, it would have been 120 to 150 feet down. He stops his progress about 20 feet above a creature, that has come into clearer view. It appears to be humanoid, with an awkward stance, and extra limbs that move haphazardly. The creature has brownish skin, and it moves restlessly within the confines of the shaft. It stands upon a grate, under which embers glow, giving off a small amount of smoke. It still smells delicious, reminiscent of maple, applewood, peppercorn, herbs and meat. Cycek notcies that there seems to be slivers of light entering from an uneven seam of a door in the side of the metal shaft. The creature lurches back and forth flailing its limbs. It is unfettered but does not seem to have the wherewithal to consider climbing the shaft. A sharp word from beyond the door seems to chasten the creature. It quails at the raised voice and stills its clumsy, agitated movements.

In the relative stillness, Cycek hears a bit of angry conversation. A booming voice scolds, “I sent you to see how all this smoke backed up into the workshop, and you come back telling me that a branch fell onto the vent! A branch? Just happens to fall directly on the vent on a perfectly calm day!? Don’t you know there are gnolls about? Or those interlopers from Blasingdell? I want a fully staffed party out there now, investigating this situation. Go to your captain with my orders and see that it is done now!” Cycek climbs back up and reports what he has seen and heard.

Knowing that trouble is coming, they close up the hatch, disguise their disturbances and retreat a fair distance into the woods to the west of the hill’s crown. Some 30 minutes later, more hobgoblins emerge. This time a huge hobgoblin captain rides the back of the large reptile they had seen earlier. He is accompanied by a couple of guards on foot and a pair of goblin archers. The reptile seems to have an acute sense of smell and it soon leads them to the dead gnoll. It sniffs around some more, apparently detecting various scents, perhaps confused by the ever-present aroma of smoked meat. But the hobgoblins leader seems to believe that gnolls may be nearby. His small group retreats down the hill to gather more forces to seek the culprits.

The group emerges from their hiding places, uncertain of the location of the goblin scouts. Carefully, they take several items from the dead gnoll, and prepare a scent trail back down the west side of the hill. They leave a necklace of teeth and ears and a spear along the way for any pursuers to find.

Returning to the road, they sneak back up to the entry plaza just in time to see a larger force of foes emerging from the mine. They count 6 hobgoblins, 6 goblin archers, the hobgoblin captain on his fearsome steed, and a grotesque, leathery-skinned creature that towers above the rest. It’s lanky form features four sinewy, muscular arms and four legs. The torso seems to be composed of two human torsos stacked one atop the other. Two heads, with grimacing shriveled faces, peer in opposite directions, and appear to be fused to the top of one gangly, long neck. This menacing group heads up the access path, bound again for the top of the hill, and out of sight.

From their vantage point, the party sees that there are still two guards at the door, an archer in the tower, and a cart driver still sitting, bored, on the horse-drawn cart. They decide that this is their opportunity to strike. They hatch a plan, whereby Davros will sneak up the tower and assassinate the archer. At that same moment, the rest of the group will assault the guards, hopefully taking them out before an alarm can be raised.

The execution of the plan is less that perfect. Davros ascends the tower quietly and moves to run the goblin through with his rapier. But his ill-timed sword thrust is deflected by a piece of leather armor. The startled goblin squawks with alarm. The rest of the group springs into action, still managing to get the drop on their foes. Sartan wreaks havoc with his bow, immediately slaying the two guards stationed at the door. However, unbeknownst to the party, the rubble around the mine conceals a number of goblin archers. Several goblin arrows hit home, injuring Sartan and Davros. Cycek and Krago climb the roof of the out building, where they can get a better shot at their enemies. Davros’ opponent fights back and then escapes down the tower’s ladder. Before the fleeing goblin can get too far, Cycek shoots him down. Shots are fired back and forth, and slowly the numbers of goblins diminishes. Mishok, in frustration, runs at one of the pesky remaining goblin and smashes him to smithereens with his mace. Sartan and Davros finish off the last two before they can flee and finally all is still.

They quickly gather up the dead and hide the bodies in the rubble. For now, they have unimpeded access to the doors of the mine.