The second creature sees its friend fall and shrieks, but its scream is cut short as it catches an arrow through it's eye and collapses on top of the other goblin. You prepare another arrow and stand on guard.

Attack: 10 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll.When it is Bartholomew’s turn, he will fire Eldritch Blast at the goblin.

(I won’t bother rerolling the damage)

(Yikes, unlucky.)

It is now the goblins turn. most of you are on the stairs, so you hear the rattling of chains and a small grunt. Coming around the corner is another goblin and it gets ready to strike at Grum, but then a voice behind him yells (in common so you all understand):

"Stop! Truce with me or this human dies!"

You all see a second, taller goblin behind him and he is holding a human over the edge of the ridge who you now recognize as Sildar Hallwinter, Gundren's mercenary escort from when he left Neverwinter. Sildar looks very beaten and bruised, and there is blood covering his face and the rags he wears. The first goblin doesn't attack but instead says (in goblin)

"What!? Yeemik what? We must kill!"

Yeemik responds "Shut up Glink. This is my time now!" as he shakes Sildar over the ledge. "I'll drop him if you don't do what Yeemik asks" You can see from his wounds that Sildar may not survive a drop from that height.

"Woooooaaah there, don't do anything you'd regret. What is it ye want?" Brandor tries to put on his best negotiator face and starts to slowly move closer hoping to get close enough that he might be able to jump under the beaten humanoid in a 'catch' of sorts. 

(If we are still in rounds, holding my action to leap forward and try to catch Sildar if he gets dropped. Purposefully or because everyone just shot this guy full of arrows lol)

The goblin in front is preventing you from getting close enough to Sildar where you can catch him unfortunately, and it places its blade between you and him. Yeemik replies:

"I only want simple thing: kill the bugbear Klarg and his wolf the end of this cave and bring me their heads, then leave me alone so that I can be the new leader of this cave! King Grol will have to give me many shiny things then."

Sildar croaks, barely able to make enough noise for you guys to hear.

"Don't trust this one... He won't let me leave. Kill him."
"Shut up human! I will drop him over this ledge if you don't help me. You were going to kill him anyway, weren't you?"

(It is now the end of combat, so anyone can talk to Yeemik and the other goblin but if you wish to continue attacking we will continue with initiative order.)

"I don't see that you're in any position of power, goblin. If you drop our friend, we kill you. If we go kill this Klarg, and come back for our friend, why should we let you live after that, knowing the state we found him in under your care? Seems to me your only chance to live is to put him down safely, run  now, and not be here when we get back."

Make an Intimidation check

(I should really stop negotiating with goblins! I don't suppose a party of friends with their weapons out and several dead goblins littering the room counts as help? lol)

Intimidation: 5

(I lowered the DC per dead goblin but too unlucky!)

Yeemik seems unmoved by the threat, instead scoffing and flashing his sharpened teeth.

"Pah! I could take you all on! But not Klarg because his wolf is too scary for Yeemik. So you kill him or I kill your friend."

"And what guarantee do we have that you won't kill him while we're killing Klarg? Perhaps you should come and fight him with us. Let him see that you were the one with big enough teeth to stand up and betray him. Prove yourself worthy to run this place. Or are you too much of a coward to look him in the eye?"

Oof make a persuasion check now

(Sorry, I wasn't fishing for more chances to roll well - just figured Grum didn't know he failed his Intimidation check!)

Persuasion: 1

(Well, there you go...) 

<Squelch> watches the exchange, and attempts to determine if the goblin is speaking the truth, and how ready he is to drop Sildar. (assuming he is speaking common)

Insight: 22

He also attempts to load his crossbow without being noticed.

Sleight of Hand 22

The goblin is very ready to drop Sildar, in fact he looks rather impatient and is on the verge of simply dropping him and continuing the attack if nothing happens soon. His actions and words strike you as cocky, and despite the numbers stacked against him his confidence is unwavering. It seems the only reason he wants you to take out Klarg is because of the wolf which he seems genuinely afraid about, as you saw his lips tremble just the slightest when he mentioned it. He also doesn't seem to care about the goblin in front of him, merely seeing it as an obstacle.

They do not notice you load your crossbow -- you sneakily load the arrow in behind Callie's armour.

Callie's mind is racing a mile a minute trying to come up with something that could help them, but she isn't coming up with much, save for one of the many lessons she'd been forced to learn back at home. It isn't much, she thinks, but hopefully it's enough to distract the goblins and let her friends figure something out. Ready at a moment's notice to spring back into action if the goblin dropped Sildar, she clears her throat and says, "Actually, how do you know King Grohl will give you anything? If Klarg is his subordinate, then wouldn't having him killed be an act of war? In fact, the more quickly you take up his reign after Klarg's death, the more suspicious you look!"

Persuasion(?):  16

Yeemik looks past Grum and Brandor at you, who he hadn't yet taken much notice of.

"B-but... if I take Klarg place I become boss and Grol no hate me? or... wait? Huh?"

The goblin on the stairs looks backwards at Yeemik and says "They're right Yeemik! King Grol will be very mad!"

"Shut up Glink! Yeemik think first." A few moments past as Yeemik begins to ponder, and his arms grow tired. "But... King Grol must appreciate the strong! Or, maybe..." Unable to make a decision, he brings Sildar back on to the ridge, muttering to himself.

The moment Sildar is far enough from the edge to be safe, Brandor shoves past 'Glink' and charges Yeemik in his confusion. He gives a glare(Intimidation4) as he shoves past hoping to dissuade an attack from the goblin on the stairs. 

(If Brandor makes it to Yeemik)

He raises his staff in his now 'classic' knock-out strike following directly into a round-house to try to separate the goblin from the injured human.

Staff Attack: 7 Damage: 6

Kick Attack: 21 Damage: 6

Seeing the sudden hesitation in the formerly determined goblin, Callie decides to keep going. "I think we both know that the smart play is to let us kill Klarg and give us our friend: in one fail swoop you'll both be rid of your main rival and we'll have no reason to stick around! Then you can take the remaining goblins and leave, and come back in... oh, say a month, to reclaim this place. You can tell King Grol that Klarg was a weakling who died to outsiders, while you spent a month bravely gathering up what remained of his forces and re-established a foothold here! Everything that went wrong was Klarg's fault, and once Grol sees that, he will reward you as any king should." Callie gives her best knowing smirk, hoping that Yeemik takes the bait.

(Whoops, didn't see Jaster's post, feel free to ignore this.)

So as you begin your sentence Callie, Brandor jumps in and strikes twice at Yeemik, missing with the staff but following up with a kick. The first goblin noticed too late as it's head was turned towards Yeemik, and your glare is just enough to prevent it from attacking. Your kick doesn't push Yeemik but his concentration is all on you now, and he yells in anger before attacking. (Essentially you got a round of surprise since Yeemik was in thought)

"Fine, Yeemik will kill you all!"

Everyone roll new inititatives please :)