Having decided to investigate the iron door that Mishok had spied in the main passageway, the party heads back up the narrow, curving tunnel. They don’t get far, however, before they realize that there are voices ahead. Keen to avoid detection, they decide to retreat back down the tunnel to the where the Stoneyard’s battered drilling machine sits, pitched forward and tipped to the right-side of the tunnel, revealing the opening it had recently bored into a large chamber beyond.
Mishok cautiously crawls alongside the heavy machine and peers into the hole.
He sees what appears to be a natural cavern, with beams of pale light filtering from above. A path has been carved, certainly long ago, around the perimeter of open pits leading to the darkness of unknown depths. The bore hole penetrates the cave wall approximately 10 feet up from a hewn stone floor. It is into this open space that the business end of the drill protrudes. He sees no sign nor hears any sound of the salt golem. He does however, notice two humans, crouched in the shadows across a natural stone bridge. They seem frightened and eager to keep their distance from two angry hobgoblin guards patrolling the opposite side of the chamber. One of the hobgoblins commands in the common tongue that the two should accompany him back to headquarters. One of the men speaks up, resignedly offering compliance. Mishok detects something familiar about the voice and he soon registers that this is the foreman from the Shadowfurst Stoneyard. As he observes the pair of humans dejectedly submitting to being retaken into custody by the hobgoblins, the unsteady drill shifts and dislodges some stones that clatter to the floor. One of the hobgoblins looks up and shouts, “You there! Stop!” to which Davros replies with an arrow shot. The party, preparing to scramble down the rocky slope into the cavern, upsets the balance of the drilling machine. It pitches forward, tumbles and crashes to the floor with a reverberating clang!
A short fight ensues and quickly the two hobgoblins are killed. The two humans come forward and express their gratitude for having been saved. Foreman Sy is astonished to meet his former prospective employee, Mishok, in this Divoc-forgotten place. Equally astonished is his companion, none other than Caso – one of the friendly patrons of the Three Javelins Inn where the party lodged during their first night in Shadowfurst. The two explain that they brought the drilling rig to Blasingdell several weeks ago, after being contracted to do so by Saryes Wend, in order to help in the expansion of the mine, which the Wend family now owns. Sadly, they found themselves virtually enslaved by hobgoblins taskmasters who are apparently leasing the mine from the Wends. The situation grew more dire once they learned what the upper management of the mine was really up to. The head of this operation is one called Scaythe. He and a companion who goes by the moniker “Slender James” have been performing horrible experiments on people… the stuff of nightmares.
Before they can offer more details, Krago, who has stayed at the bore-hole entrance to keep watch, hisses a warning that he hears voices approaching. Krago hops down to join the party and they hastily dispose of the fallen hobgoblins, tossing them down into one of the chasms. It is a long time before they hear a dull, distant thud. They gather where they hope to remain out of sight, under a low bridge at the west side of the cavern..
Before long a small but imposing party of foes emerges from the bore hole. Two hobgoblins and two revolting, leathery mishmashes of distorted human parts climb down into the cavern. Another figure follows. This is a tall, lanky human with a shock of red hair. He wears goggles shoved high up on his forehead, leather armor, and a grease- and blood-stained leather apron. He calls out commands in a wheedling voice, “Now, we know someone’s down here. So just come on out. You’ve caused enough trouble plugging up our smoke stack. Give up and come with me to talk to the boss. You have some explaining to do!” Then, addressing the two leathery abominations, he continues, “Go on, sniff ‘em out boys!”
Foreman Sy remarks, “Ah criminey… it’s Slender James, that evil bastard!”
The larger of the two creatures ambles off to the left, sniffing the air, and it doesn’t take long before it detects the ripe aroma of the bloodied adventurers. Realizing that they are found out, they abandon their hiding place and retreat to the far side of the cave. Sartan hopes that if the creature should charge him, he could shove it over the side, into the chasm. He positions himself accordingly and waits for the inevitable onslaught. This proves to be an excellent ploy, because it works exactly as planned. The horrific monster rushes at him, and before it can strike, Saran shoves it over the side.
Slender James clambers down from the bore hole and directs his other monstrosity up and to the right, trying to flank the party, while two hobgoblins pursue their quarry to the left. Slender James calls out in anger, “Now look what you’ve done! You lost one of my best specimens! I have a lot of powerful magic, so you’d better just give yourself up. Come on, drop your weapons and Lieutenant Damn will take you into custody!”
The drunken Sartan soon finds himself in a tough melee with the hobgoblins. His inebriated state hinders his martial performance. Krago steps forward to fight by his side, as they once did years ago. Meanwhile, Cycek bravely moves forward to directly engage Slender James and his creature. Drawing near, he recognizes this creature as the one he had encountered at the bottom of the smokestack. More disturbingly, he realizes that one of the twin heads is that of Wicklow’s father, Shadwick. His familiar face stares out in helpless terror as the second disfigured head commands the actions of the vile four-armed, four-legged monstrosity. Cycek fails to inflict any damage in his initial attack. Before he can flee he is hemmed in by a floating sphere of flame that has been conjured by Slender James. The monster steps up to Cycek and pounds him to the ground with a flurry of crushing blows. He loses consciousness as he vaguely feels his life slipping away.
Meanwhile, Mishok casts a zone of silence over Slender James, effectively preventing him from casting any additional spells. The evil spell caster retreats out of the sight line of any who might target him with ranged weapons, and leaves his creature to finish off Cycek.
Before the monster can finish the job, Davros rushes to Cycek’s rescue. He administers first aid, keeping his companion from dying immediately. Davros flees back to safety, unfortunately leaving the fallen elf behind. The monster looms over Cycek and raises four powerful arms, seeming to savor the moment before striking to smash all hope of Cycek’s recovery. In that moment of hesitation, Fuzzidong scurries forward and straddles Cycek’s open mouth. With a squeak and a tiny grunt, the loyal weasel squeezes out what appears to be a small poop nugget. It is in fact a magical goodberry. Cycek instinctively swallows. Fuzzidong follows this up with no fewer than eight additional goodberry turds. The weasel leaps off of Cycek as the woozy elf staggers to his feet. A massive fist comes down, attempting to flatten the fuzzy creature, but manages to only smash the tail of the fleeing animal. Before Cycek can get away, three more fists come down on him and he is immediately laid low again.
In the triumph and tragedy of this scene, somehow Slender James has disappeared from view. It soon becomes apparent that more sorcery is afoot as arrows of magical acid are flung at the valiant adventures by an unseen assailant. Mishok and Sartan are both wounded by these attacks.
Mishok realizes that Cyeck will be done for if he does not step in, so he runs forward to heal him. He succeeds in doing so. Cycek regains his feet and flees out of striking distance. Unfortunately, the brave cleric has drawn the ire of the enraged creature. It turns on him and rains four punishing blows upon the dwarf, smashing him to the ground. Now the situation is critical for Mishok. Once again the highly mobile Davros runs forward to administer first aid. He saves Mishok from the brink of death, but he also hits upon an idea. Hearing the desperate cries of Shadwick calling, “Help me…” Davros decides to target the more aggressive of the two heads. He sinks an arrow into its eye socket and then another one into the side of its head. This seems to leave the monster somewhat unsteady. Cycek strikes the creature with a couple arrows as well, hitting the body, but then finally connecting with another arrow into the wounded head. The head flops to the side, dead. Control of the body seems to shift to Shadwick’s head. The traumatized man breaks down, doubling over and bringing the hulking distorted body to its four knees and weeping in pain and fear. They are able to speak to Shadwick. He is in great pain and torment, and barely clinging to life, such as it is. He beseeches them to help stop the abominable work of Scaythe and Slender James. He will do whatever remains in his power to help save the imprisoned citizens of Blasingdell.
On the other side of the cavern, Sartan and Mishok finally dispatch the hobgoblins, but not without injury. Tired of an unseen opponent lobbing acid at them, Sartan figures that if he runs up the narrow path, slashing wildly, he is bound to hit his opponent at some point. This proves to be a good strategy, and he does indeed run into the invisible foe. However, he does not manage to injure him, or toss him into the abyss. Slender James flees and Sartan follows still slashing randomly, this time managing to draw blood. Davros and Cycek take up positions on the bridge within Mishok’s zone of silence and try to ascertain where the hidden foe might be. They are unable to connect with any arrows fired into the vicinity of his voice. Sartan, however, hears the sound of fleeing footsteps. He realizes that Slender James is retreating back to the bore hole. Before Sartan can do anything about it, he is hit by a crossbow bolt. He drops to the ground, unconscious and dying.
Mishok, realizing that Sartan is now in dire straits, calls upon Divoc to heal his friends. The gracious deity bestows this blessing upon his cleric’s flock, and immediately Sartan is up on his feet again.
There is a sudden dimming of the light, and the group realizes that Slender James’ flaming sphere has winked out. They take this to mean that the conjurer has fully fled the scene. They realize, of course, that he will be back with reinforcements. As weakened as they are, they recognize that they need to hide and heal. They collect themselves and prepare to explore further into the cave, hoping to find a safe place to hole up.
Before they go, Davros performs his roguish duties by looting the bodies of the fallen hobgoblins. From the hobgoblin soldier he finds a scroll bearing the poetic telling the Impaled Heart Tribe’s prowess in a legendary battle. Lieutenant Damn also carried a scroll, this one containing details pertaining to troop movements. It is written in a form of hobgoblin military shorthand, in which Davros is not fluent, so he cannot at first glance understand the details contained therein. He also retrieves a fine longsword. He inspects it and finds that it is inscribed with the royal seal of Tethyr. Finally, he also finds a small pouch containing 6 gold pieces, 1 silver piece, and 6 copper pieces.
The party, along with the civilians, gather together and prepare to move deeper into the cavern.