"Hmm... Not even we can see in true darkness," Grimm comments, "and if trouble starts we'd have to waste time creating a source of light so that half of our group can be effective. Torches in the middle, night eyes up front, clunky movers towards the back. Just, something to consider."

Zanigur smiles. "My eyes must work differently from yours. Darkness is...my old friend," he says, reaching behind his back and softly plucking a faint minor triad on his lyre. "Let the cat and I see what there is to see, and we'll report back."

Zanigur Dexerity (Stealth): 12

Zanigur Wisdom (Perception) x3: 15 1 6

"The 'Cat' says shhhhhh and let's hurry up then, before we get caught in a shift change."

Puck waves Zanigur towards him and enters the cave's mouth,  moving slowly and keeping his ears trained for any errant noises. He sticks closely to the right wall of the tunnel, and extends his claws ready to stick to the side of the wall if need be to stay out of sight.

Zanigur makes a face as Puck turns around, but keeps it serious and professional where it counts as he creeps quietly behind the Tabaxi.

After they arrive back outside the cave, Zanigur lets Puck do the talking, but draws a fairly accurate representation of what they saw in the cave in a 5’ square topographical cutaway, using a minor illusion targeted on the ground in front of the group. He tries to stay responsive to input from Puck as to the accuracy. 

Puck rubs his paws together anxiously and follows Zanigur's lead, using his diagram to point out points of interest.

"Alright, here's what we're looking at. The mouth of the cave leads into a long, wide tunnel with a pretty loud, active stream flowing out of it. The tunnel curves to the right, and has a somewhat steep, natural incline to it--though it looks like the goblin have turned the stone floor in this area into stairs."

"A few feet past the entrance, on the right, is an entrance to another room--and I could definitely detect the sound and smell of dogs, possibly wolves, as well as the noise of chains banging around from inside. My guess? Guard dogs they've got penned up in there. Best bet may to be to avoid that room completely, or else the dogs my start barking. But if we don't think we can make it past that area sneakily enough, it might be smart to plan a way to take them out before they can the chance to yip and yap."

"A little further down and on the adjacent wall looks to be a partially collapsed tunnel; not sure what's on the other side, and would likely be pretty loud if we try to get it open enough to pass through."

Puck kneels down.

"And then we get to the big ticket item. As the tunnel continue to curve, I could see some light at the far end--possible it leads to some sort of central chamber. But about halfway down the tunnel is a bridge suspended about 20' off the floor, and connecting to openings on either side. And standing guard at the bridge is a goblin."

Puck emphasizes the placement of he goblin on the map.

"He is high up--so if he sees us, it will be damn hard for us to stop him before he can escape into one of the tunnels connected to the bridge and alert his cohorts. So, again, our best bet is to either sneak past completely, or take him out silently."

Puck turns to Irena.

"Miss Irena, I think between you, me, and Z, if we all attack simultaneously like we did before, there'd be a good chance we get him before he sees us--normally, that'd be a risk I'd be willing to take. But that may be tough for you if you can't really see in there. And that makes the decision here a bit riskier."

Puck turns to the rest of the group.

"So what do you guys think? How do we handle the pups? And how do we deal with the guard?"

Puck takes a beat and thinks.

"Any of you guys particularly good with animals? Maybe we could just set the dogs free, as long as we think we can approach without alarming them."

“Guard dogs? The question is, what are they guarding?” Asks Zanigur, his criminal background coming to the front as he thinks about the angles. “Could be our friends are in there somewhere. If we give the dogs some food, maybe we could get past them and avoid the watch-goblin altogether. Seeing as how not all of us can see well in the dark. I mean, I don’t have a problem there at all, I could see lots of things in that cave. Lots of things. But you know, if, ah, any others have trouble.”

Grimm responds, "To quote Urag, 'Human prisoner in our sleep, eat place across bridge. Go up to water place take bridge.'"

After a thoughtful moment Grimm continues, "Zanguir makes a good suggestion regarding the dogs - food may keep them quiet. The bodies you disposed of could work - it's nasty work and I'm not enthused by the desecration of the dead."

"And my suggestion is that we don't split the party. Any and all help will be useful as we go in. No need to hamstring ourselves. Torches are an unfortunate necessity," Grimm concludes. 

"So the bridge is the way to the prisoner...but which way across the bridge? And how to get up onto the bridge in the first place? Perhaps the dogs guard something else of value..." Zanigur stares at the map he's made. "Unfortunately, I suppose you are right, Grimm. Torches will be necessary at some point. Perhaps we could attempt to take out the lone goblin stealthily, before he alerts any others. Puck, do you think you could climb the bridge without him noticing? If you can try to take him out quietly, I will be your backup. I have a couple of spells up my sleeve, and I could kill him quickly and silently."

"As for food, I have several pounds of salted meat. I was going to be eating some more of it at some point today, but our wagon back at the road has plenty more. We needn't resort to anything too messy," Zanigur winks at Grimm. "And dogs love salted pork!"

"I was thinking of quick solutions, but you're right - and it would make me feel better not to disturb the bodies more than they have been."

Zanigur gets an armful of rations from his pack. (he has 5 pounds, and will take out 3)

"Very well - so are we going in?" asks Grimm.

"Puck & Zanigur about twenty feet ahead of Irena with Kara and I just behind her? I can wedge a torch within the straps of my shield as I hold it so that her hands are free to use her shortbow."

Apparently I never actually submitted the post I wrote up last night. Zanigur, are your plans to sneak back in and toss the food into the room with animals? How would you like to proceed?

Grimm proposes that we all proceed together from this point on (as described in post 195), so that should trouble arise assistance is nearby. 

Irena agrees with Grimm.

Once there's a general consensus we will move forward!

// Right before the rest of the party enters, Zanigur will cast sleep on the goblin up on the bridge, which will hopefully allow us to figure things out without alerting any other goblins. //

“Here, take some meat for the dogs,” Zanigur will hold out a couple rations so that multiple people can be there to hand them out as doggie snacks. 

"Friends, I can see in the dark, but I am not quite so quiet. Still, if you take out the goblin on the bridge, I can take point and lead us closer to the chamber that has our friends. I hope the water can provide cover for my heavy footsteps," Kara offers during the discussion on how to proceed. With regards to the dogs, "I would not mind being the one to feed the animals. I am armored enough that should one get loose a bite or scratch won't harm me much. I leave it to you though," she gazes at her companions appreciatingly, "tactics are not quite my strong suit."

“Now—just to ensure we’re all on the same page. This is a rescue mission. The goblins have kidnapped our friends and killed their horses. They are obviously not averse to taking a life, so I’d rather it be their lives lost than ours—does everyone agree?” Zanigur makes sure that he is taking quietly and out of earshot to the entrance of the cave.

"I would prefer not to take any more lives than necessary, for how can they seek forgiveness for the transgressions of this life if they are dead, but..." Kara loosens her stance a bit. "I can see how letting a few of them live might cause undue pain to our friends. I only ask you to exercise restraint, but, I trust you to make the correct calls."