"Badger, want some spackle on those wounds?"

Taxidea comes down the stairs with Thor bleeding from a couple wounds.  “Damn Hob cut me up pretty good - I’ll take some first aid if you have any left.  So is Oskar dead or do we need to rescue HIM too?”

Deragor and Bolin hold the boat steady as Orion approaches. Deragor gets into the boat and grabs the rope that will take them to the other side of the river.

Prim stands to the side of the boat rope, where she can see the stairs and the boat (by turning her head), ready to blast assailants.  She tries to be 55 ft from the stairs.

"Hey Badger, want to stand back to back while we wait?"

“Sounds good Prim - anyone tries to get past us is gonna regret their life choices.”

Okay. Deragor and Bolin make it across with Orion. Bolin unties Svelta while Deragor goes back with the boat to pick up the rest of the party. Oskar is nowhere to be found. He has apparently disappeared either in the caves or in the fortress above you.

"Move quickly," Svelta says as the rest of you arrive on the other side of the river. "I think you got most of them, but more goblins may be lurking around down here."

Orion, you hear a noise coming from one of the smaller tunnels leading to the river cave. A familiar figure comes from out of the shadows.

Enter Alora Blaze, your companion who disappeared from the sheltering cave where you destroyed the pigeni (orcs).

"Somebody show Svelta the underground Hobgoblin map when we get to a safe place."  (Looks at Svelta)  "They apparently know you're down here but we couldn't translate the map."

Then

"ALORA!  Thank the God's you're safe!  What happened?"  Prim runs forward with arms open for a hug, then stops short and angrily wags her finger at Alora.

"Don't you EVER scare us like that again young lady!

With a pained expression, Prim whispers to herself "Gods, no.  I'm becoming my mother!"

Alora looks up with surprise and happiness

. “I finally found you guys! Sorry I was ambushed and captured for a while! I’ve been trying to get to you since I got away I was loosing hope.”

Prim opens her arms to complete the hug, waiting for Alora to accept or decline. 

Alora eagerly accepts the hug and returns it visible relaxing.

Orion smiles broadly at Alora, and keeps an eye out for any lurking goblins.

“Hey Alora - welcome back. Glad you’re not dead.”

Svelta examines the map Prim has given her. "Why this looks like a map of the major settlements here in the Frelian Underdark. See, here is the river," she says pointing at a blue line on the map. "And it seems to come out at this dwarven fortress-city of ..." she pauses as she looks at a second map "... Thorurabek. Also, this first map shows the main underground waterway that runs between boveni (minotours) and nibleni (deep gnomes) territory as well as through drolefi (dark elves) land. According to this, it joins with the sewer systems of the dwarven capitol of Gilainack and the human city of Freeport before flowing into the sea. And look here," Svelta says, pointing eagerly at a spot on the first map. "It shows the two primary mine shafts of the recently founded Daruinjak. And here, by the seaside between Freeport and Thorurabek, it looks like a dragon's lair." Svelta goes on back and forth between the two maps, eagerly explaining every detail.

Here is a sketch of the underground map: https://inkarnate.com/m/JX0m6q-under-frelia/

Prim pulls out her notebook and frantically tries to write down & draw what Svelta is saying.

"Could you repeat that part?" (if needed)

"Are there dates for attacks?  Do the hobgoblins have any allies?  Is there any way to warn our allies?"

"Well, it's hard to tell," Svelta explains, "but it looks as though the hobgoblins are planning to attack each of the major cities in Frelia from the Underdark. If they are allied with the Dark Realm and its Lord, they will probably have the help and support of Lord Darek's perversions, like the pigeni (orcs), boveni (minotaurs), black akreni (bird-men), and others." She points to each of the settled areas on the maps, pointing north of Fort Kill to indicate the Dark Realm and the Akrolith Mountains. "I have no idea as to when they might attack. These maps look like scouting reports more than battle plans.

"As for warning your allies," Svelta continues, "you could take this river to Thorurabek," she says indicating the one on whose shore you rest and tracing a blue line on the map, "and try to contact the Frelian Defense Forces there, or you could try to get to Gilainack or Freeport, but you would have to go through drolef (dark elf) territory to get there."

"Well, does this river have breathable air space all the way to Thorurabek?  Are there any more boats?  And how long would each option take?  What about taking us back to the cave where we left the horses?"

"I don't know about breathable air space down the river, and i do not see any other boats," Svelta says. "And I think it will take several days no matter which path you take. I could take you back to my settlement.  Where you go from there is up to you."

"What about the orbs?" Deragor asks. "Don't we still need to get one of them for the FDF? Or have they found a way to stop the goblinoid invasion already?"

"Yes," Bolin agrees. "We should try to get one of the orbs from the hobgoblin fortress. Of course, I would like to get some clean clothes and weapons and armor first," he says looking at his ragged condition.

"Yeah, and I could use a good night's sleep before we go charging into any hobgoblin fortresses.  Not that it doesn't sound fun - I'm all for lighting Hobs on fire, but I'm pretty well tapped out in terms of any powerful magic."  Taxidea says.  

"Svelta, if we could ask for the kindness of your people to stay overnight & recover.  We should also check on the horses if someone can lead us to the cave we came from.  Do you have magic to seal the stairs (she poins at the stairs across the river) until we're ready?  And I've got a detect object if we can sneak back up."

Orion says, regardless of where we go tomorrow, we all need a rest.  Thank you, Svelta, for your hospitality.