Karmoli's A Great Upheaval

Ryndar whispers in reply. "Yes, we are here to help. Torem, Alara, and Kaelen sent us to find you, assuming you'd take refuge in this cave." He continues, careful sidestepping the current condition of Lady Nandar, "We have cleared the entrance to the cave, but we believe there to be more goblins and possibly worse. It would be best to hurry and get those who can't defend themselves out sooner rather than later. Are there any among your number with martial training?"

Helena just tries not to move, and to breathe only as little as needed. She waits to see how the hushed conversation goes, eyes on the few bats flitting around already.

Sphyboe carefully observes the interior of the sunken chamber, especially the 5 feet opening of the innermost cavern draws her attention. She decides to hand over the glowing dart to the dwarf male and whispers a request:

"Hold the light in an upright position, wouldn't you mate? I have an idea, and if it's successfully materialized, the swarm of bats might be barred from leaving the cave temporarily."

The sorcerer woman will attempt to climb down and then move towards the opening. She removes the Bedroll that's been strapped to the side of her backpack, and finally she will be trying to cover the entrance with the material.

Strength: Athletics 12

Dexterity: Stealth 11

Charisma: Persuasion 20

“Gods be praised!” responds the dwarf to Ryndar, still whispering. “We have a half dozen town guards with us, but their weapons were taken and they are all injured to some degree. Speed is our best friend now, if there are no enemies between us and the exit.” When Sphyboe suggests that she may have a solution to the bats, the dwarf nods, takes the dart, and watches her curiously. He quickly sees what she is trying to do and assists her with holding one end of the bedroll and securing it with rocks, so it doesn’t fall in. It just barely reaches across the opening lengthwise and only covers half the width.

(You’ll need a second bedroll or blanket, if anyone has one to offer.)

Helena moves slowly, pulling out her own bedroll. She offers it down to those working near the opening.

As seems to be here preferred method, Daerthe will continue to do her best to stay hidden away, not wanting to deal with being spotted. While she may be with the rest she did not want to put up with any distrust.

Once the second bedroll is secured with rocks, the dwarf moves around the chamber, whispering to the groups on each alcove, “Quickly, we must go. Help the children down.” He calls on a couple of people to hold the bedrolls just in case the rocks are not enough. And soon a couple dozen women, men, and children make their way down from the alcoves and then back up to the exit passage. They are mostly human, but there are a couple of tieflings and a halfling woman and her four children. These last young ones cry out a little in fear and anxiety, but most of the group is quiet. You all do hear increased noises from below the bedrolls as the colony of bats is disturbed and tries to fly out. They thump against the fabric, but it seems to hold.

(What do you all do as the villagers make their way out?)

"Shall we go and see about this boss?" Helena asks the others once the villagers are out, and they have moved away from the bat area.

Daerthe nods as she finally shows herself, keeping her ragged cloak pulled down low over her head. "Let is end this. Since we may have an advantage we should set an ambush for this goblin and end him quickly."

The dwarf is one of the last of the villagers to leave. He pauses to say, “Again, we can’t thank you enough. If you plan to take out the foul leader of these goblins, you will be doing Nightstone yet another favor. Be warned that he has some ‘pets’ - a few giant rats. Some villagers have been taken away and not returned. I fear they were food for the ogres or the rats. I wish you luck against these devils. I would stay to assist you, but I feel I must help everyone get back to safety. My name is Morak Ur’gray, by the way. I hope to see you back in the village soon.”

"Of course", Ryndar replies, "Here, take these. I understand your guards may be a little worse for wear, but I'd rather you had some type of way to defend yourselves as you travel back to Nightstone." He offers 2 handaxes,  2 scimitars, and a quarterstaff to the group as they leave the cave in an attempt to arm the guards. "I am plenty well-armed to deal with anything we encounter, you would make much better use of these right now."

Morak looks at Ryndar with some surprise as he pulls out multiple weapons. He takes a handaxe and passes the other items to the guards. “I hope we will not need these weapons, but I am glad to have them. The walk home is short, but apparently areas we thought were safe are not. Good luck.”

When everyone is busy exchanging words of encouragement and handing over weapons, Sphyboe has been trying to hold the bedrolls together. She can feel the angry reaction of the swarm of bats who are making thumping sound against the material. What happens if the bedrolls fail to hold them inside? 

"What should we do with the angry swarm of bats? I don't think I can hold them in any longer, they're about to burst out of their lair and possibly attack the closest oppressor they can find."

A woman helping Sphyboe hold the bedrolls whispers, “It may depend on whether you want to take the bedrolls. Then they will surely swarm up and we should run. If you don’t mind leaving them behind, we could try piling more rocks on the edges and hope they hold. What do you think?”

Essie had moved around, lending people a hand as they all got moving. She seems especially enamored with the small children and is as gentle as she can be with them. She steers the villagers toward the exit, giving a quiet warning to the adults about the ogre bodies near the entrance, should they want to shield the kids' eyes from that gruesome sight. Then she draws back to the others. She drifts closer to Helena and D, listening to them speak.

Her head tilts to the side, as if she's listening to something besides the two of them. Then she nods. "If this head goblin and his pets are harming innocents, then we should not allow them to carry on. But I'm not sure that just a stern talking-to would stop this boss," she says. Her fingers trace the etching on her holy symbol, and she nods again. "So if we must end him, then I am with you."

Hearing this, Daerthe steps farther away from the chamber where the bats would he coming from. Pulling her hood lower on her head she moves to wait near where where soon to be diposed goblin leader was. "Should I move ahead and scout?"

"I'd say leave the bedrolls." Helena says, not sure she would want hers back even if it were an option. She moves out of the chamber as well, not wanting to be close by if the extra rocks did not hold. "Yes, scouting the path for us would likely be a great idea." She says to the drow.

Daerthe nods as she moves to go forward, drawing his rapier as the purple glow of the strange energy faded from her hand. Soon enough she disappears as she attempt to scout ahead.

Stealth: 23

Perception: 17

"Alright, I will leave the bedrolls here"- Sphyboe decides to agree with the woman and assist her to pile up more rocks to increase the weight on the temporary covering. She follows the scouting Drow while inspecting the surrounding area for any kind of ambush or hidden path. In fact, she has not forgotten about the passage ways that lead to more chambers. One of these side ways can be a back entrance but she had to examine these ways before taking any hare-brained decision.

Intelligence: Investigation 5

Once the group is ready, Helena will stay in the middle and follow in the direction the drow is scouting. She is not interested in other tunnels, just in dealing with this boss goblin, so they can get out of these tunnels and back to civilization again.