While his words seem mostly truthful, you detect a slight hesitance when the topic of black magic and dragons comes up, Stonebitter seems very bothered by it, despite his efforts not to show it

“Well we most certainly don’t have 500 gold to trade, but the goal is to not kill them all. So it is the best option still. I don’t see any other way, thank you Kor for you magical talents. It did really help us get some information as to what we’re walking into.” Mav sits quietly waiting for the rest of the group to chime in.

Taking the leaders sounds good.  If we only have to fight the leaders that is

Valathar steps forward, probing the goblin for more information about the black magic. “This Yeemik practices magic you say? That would have been handy to know before we started. He’s clearly insightful enough to detect Kor’s familiar, so he must have some familiarity with the conjuration magic. If he can practice, why isn’t he already the clan leader? Klarg must have some magic wards then?” 

“What’s worse, a brute leading a clan of Goblins, or one that can spell weave? Feels like two losing options to me.” 

I’m sure there will be some resistance from some of them.

“Yeemik’s not always been as strong ‘s he is now. He always be taking trips, ‘ere and there, but ‘be day ‘bout a month ago, ‘ went to the neverwinter woods, and ‘e came back... different. Darker, meaner. He ‘lways used to be a dragon ‘kook, but ‘e started really spouting off the propaganda ‘t ‘bout the same time as the change. The clans starting to split, those that follow Klarg and the kings orders, and those who be agreeing with the dragon lover, if it wasn’t for you guys, a confrontation between the two would have started sooner rather then later. Bat-Ears one of ‘em crazies, ask ‘em ‘bout it.”

Valathar will step back and approach Bat-Ears. Kneeling down, Valathar speaks in a low, deep voice, "Stonebiter tells me you're a fan of Yeemik's. What can you tell me about his magic, and the Green Dragon of the Neverwinter Woods? I want to know everything I can about him before we go in there. I have a certian affinity for dragons myself, particularly the green variety." 

“Yeemik be the prophet!” Bat-says in a very highpitched voice. He’s probably a very young goblin, hence the fanatical tone. “The king only cares about Money and ‘imself! We little guys get nuttin, then we grow old and die like our parents, and their parents! Venomfang offers us magic, like ‘e gave Yeemik! Alls we got to do is serve ‘em nice and good! I’m sure ‘ell give you powers too if you pledge yourselves! Make sure to put me down as a reference!” Bat-Ears cries with glittering, excited eyes. He seems to have gobbled up everything Yeemik has been feeding him, and he completely believes what he’s saying. 

“Interesting…” Valathar trails off. “Sounds to me like neither of these are goblins fit for rule. Siding with Yeemik might be the quicker and less bloody route though. If we can get Bat-Ears or Yemmik to lure Klarg outside, it would be easy enough to ambush him. That would solve Yeemki’s problem, and honestly, we might be able to talk him into helping. That being said, this Yemmik character doesn’t sound like one to keep promises.” 

While the others grill the goblins for more information, Kor rubs his temples to ease the headache caused by looking through his familiar's eyes. Can't trust one, can't afford to pay the other. I wonder what these supplies are worth, maybe we can still convince Klarg to trade. With that thought, he stands and begins to inspect the supplies in the cart. Over the years he'd become quite practiced at appraising an item's potential value at a glance. He attempts to figure out the value of supplies and then the dynamite, hoping the supplies themselves would be valuable enough to allow to withhold the explosives from the deal.

”We would definitely need the dynamite to get the 10 gold originalLy promised. But Kor might be on to something. Maybe we can trade the other cargo. Speaking of gold, this job definitely went up in cost when he was kidnapped...” Mav says this as he smiles a little. He might be a pacifist monk that grew up away from the world, but he has been out in the world enough to know that gold is the way the world works.

Kor, using your vast knowledge of marketplace prices and economics, you calculate the prices of the supplies and dynamite (including all the sticks in the backpack) to be about 350 GP. That however is not including the box of heavy machinery, which is a bunch of odd looking drills, and what seems to be scanning equipment that you could not estimate the prices of. 

However, you only know this price because of your high intelligence. At a quick glance, it does look like a wagon filled with valuable supplies.

"Well that might work. Klarg might come out if we give him the stuff, and then we could possibly take him out if things go south. It would be perfect because it would be just him and his captains most likely." Mav says this and peers over Kor to take a gander at the equipment. Mav turns to Bat-Ears and Stonebitter and asks, "How many of your friends in there would be loyal to Klarg. If we explained to them the intention of only taking out Klarg how many would you say would protect him.?"

"I'm liking the sound of this plan more and more. We could walk away from here with Gundren and his goods, and only kill a few goblins. If more of the goblins are on Yeemik's side, we could be done and away in no time." Valathar gestures to his staff. "Once they're out of the cave, I can hold them in place with magic while you guys lay down the hurt!"

The goblins look at each other wearily and Stonebitter speaks up. "'t depends on how you phrase it. Goblins Cultur' be odd at times for outsiders. If you's assassinate or otherwise kill Klarg without a good's reason, most of the clans gotta attacks ya outta' tradition ya know. Even them Dragon lovers, unless Yeemik's convinced them to throw away that tradition too. However, if one of ye's challenges Klarg to a duel, nobody's but Klarg can attack you, even 'is captains. But sames goes for you, one of your friends buttin' in would be cheating ya know. The t'ing is, no offense to any of ya's, Klarg could kill ya with his pinky finger. That's be why Yeemik is so afraid to challenge 'im in a duel. I'd just stick to the trade and 'ope nothing goes wrong." 

Bat-Ears pipes up about this perceived insult towards Yeemik, and spews more propaganda about the great powers of the Dragon's prophet, and how his leader is too smart and important for a simple duel to gain the position. 

"If he is as strong as they say, I wouldn't want to risk a duel. I think trying to trade is still the best option..."

"That's a good point. I don't think I could fight him one and one and win, I hardly make it out of my confrontation with Bat-Ears. I don't know if I like the trade idea though. What if we convinced Yeemik to work with us in bringing down Klarg? That way the goblins have a new ruler, without sewing chaos, and we still get Gundren and keep our stuff. I have a few tricks I might be able to use to convince him we're more powerful than we seem!" 

As you talk and discuss, twilight turns to dusk, and you find yourselves under the thick oppressive curtain of night. You see the cave, and the outpost by the mouth of the cave both light up with torches, and hear loud  laughter and celebrations echoing off the walls of the cave and the surrounding hills. 

If you set up camp where you are, the lights would most likely be seen from the goblins of the cave, although they most likely already know you are somewhere around. The two goblin prisoners you do have start to look uncomfortable with their bindings, and the fact that they are prisoners for a group of non-goblins. 

The deadline for any trade is tomorrow morning, the time for planning is now

"So for the trade, we should have him come out? If so I think we might be ready, well as ready as we can be." 

(If everyone is alright with it Mav would like to send Stonebitter back in to let Klarg know that we are outside with supplies worth way more than 500 GP and to come out and get them. Yes I want him to know we have more than the ransom. Hopefully our friend here can tell a little white lie.)

"I'm still not sold on trading. If we give Klarg the gold, we're only encouraging them to capture other travelers, and hold them for ransom. I think dethroning Klarg is still our best option." Valarhar turns to Kor, "Do you think you could send that familiar of yours back in and find Yeemik? Working with him might still be our best bet to get Gundren back without loosing our supplies or our lives. If we can just get him out here to talk with us, I think we could convince him to stage a revolt, which would let us get in, get Gundren, possibly kill Klarg and get out without too much trouble." Valathar seems to be getting agitated as time wears on and the darkness grows. He's doing his best to hide it, but he's starting to look around more frequently, and seems to jump slightly at the nighttime forest sounds.