(Lumen was just talking about Frida's body, and bringing it back to the town -- he was fine with burning the rest.)

OOC: That's true, but in that case we'd still need a story for how she died.

(To be clear, Chrys's suggestion was to burn the non-Frida corpses, while someone brings Ellywick in as a witness to prove Frida was the ringleader from a native townsperson.  She's not suggesting to burn Frida's corpse as some kind of way to get rid of the evidence, haha... not very paladin like to do that anyhow XD )

"Thanks Chrys!" Krackle would say after her compliment as he looks around the room in the mask. "I like this mask. It makes me feel brave! Everyone will like me more now cuz they wont know I'm a kobold!"

"Krackle, that's not a mask you wear around. We might not know if it was designed for some cult purpose, but at the very least it was designed to creep people out. I'm sure that when we get back to Yartar you can buy a pleasant-looking mask that hides your features."

“Also, it might be cursed. Who knows why Frida took up this life. Might be she put on a mask and it started calling the shots.” Lumen says this with a bit of intrigue once-removed, half smirking. 

He volunteers to go get Ellywick and bring her back to see what’s inside, explaining everything to her along the way.

"Go get Ellywick, she might have a better idea of why she's doing this. Right now our only guess is that living in Melton isn't exactly profitable."

krackle religion check... just to see what he knows..

10

"Aww, maybe it could be my tough mask!" He would say from behind the mask, his snout nearly poking out from beneath it. 

Vesper exits, following Lumen to meet Ellywick on the outside.

Vesper and Lumen make their way back through the temple, retracing their way in, and they exit the temple during night time. The moon is nearly full, and its silver light filters through the sparse forest. Judging by it's position in the sky, you guess that it is past midnight.

Walking over to the mound where they had left Ellywick, they see her sitting in front of a very small, mostly shielded fire that she has built in a small hole dug into the dirt. Next to her, you see Harriet, sleeping soundly beneath a blanket on a soft bed of leaves. 

"Oh goodness...Hello!" the gnome says. "It's you two! Are you ok? Where are the others?"

"They're fine. But there's something in there that you should see." And Vesper will lead Ellywick through the caves back to the room with Frida's dead body. "She was working as their boss." She takes the black mask and shows it to Ellywick. "I don't know if you know anything about this mask, but she was wearing it when she was leading the goblins. It doesn't seem like it has any magic powers, but it made them think that she was some big scary monster and so they followed her." 

Lumen will offer time carry a slumbering Harriet back with them.

“What do you think people in Melton will think when they hear about this? Anything we should know?”

Ellywick appears quite concerned when you tell her that there's something important that she should see inside the temple. She's not too keen on going in there, but with a little persuasion, which mostly involves letting her know that you have killed all of the goblins inside, she reluctantly agrees to accompany you, providing, of course, that you bring Harriet as well, since she doesn't want to leave the exhausted halfling inside. 

You agree to that notion, and Lumen scoops up Harriet in his arms. She's still very much asleep, which is no surprise, after what she endured inside at the hands of those horrible goblins. Ellywick covers the embers of his little fire with a few handfuls of dirt, and then the four of you make your way back inside the temple and return all the way to the High Priest's chamber at the northeast corner of the underground complex.

The gnome greets the rest of you and is aghast when you show her Frida's body and explain the situation. 

"This is most unusual! I almost cannot believe what I'm seein', except that it's right in front of me own peepers. You say that Constable Frida here was callin' the shots and raiding caravans? I've known her for a few years, and I'll be honest, she weren't my favorite person, but it's hard for me to see crabby ol' Frida Crabapple as the head of an entire goblin gang.

"Tween you and me, she weren't a very good hunter, and it don't seem as if she were ok with her lot in life, bein' just a poor constable in our tiny little village. Not much gold in Melton, if you get me drift. We all do what we do and none of us comes by a lot o' coin for doin it. Fact, most of us in Melton just barter with each other."

"I guess if'n I give her some mind, I would say that crabby ol' Friday had become even crabbier in the last few months. I figured it had to do with the increase in goblin raids... funny... turns out that she was behind 'em. What kinda mystery is that? What crazy games the gods play with us sometimes. I have no idea how she got mixed up in all this, and I can't say that I know anything about that mask, but she was obviously able to get them goblins' attention. Then again, I ain't known any goblin to be very smart."

"So what's the plan here? We headin' back to Melton in the mornin? I got a nice little spot up on that little hill where we could all spend the night, and it's gotta be a whole lot safer 'round here now that you got rid of all them nasty little greenies. By the way, you find anyone else in here besides Frida and her bad little band?"

“You are out in the woods more than most, apart from the half-orc gentleman back in town, and neither of you saw her in the woods, which is odd. Was she away from town for long stretches? Sleeping outside sounds like a good idea. There is a locked door, back around the corner, the Harriet seemed to say had some sort of undead behind it. Outside is better. We found two captive barbarians who the goblins were torturing and riding like animals. Other than that, nothing. Now, we don’t want any of the bodies of the goblins in here rising like the monstrosities Harriet mentioned so we were going to burn them. Do you think we should bring Frida’s body back, for family and friends, or to make sure the town understands what happens and doesn’t have to take our word for it? We also have one or two more doors to check. And Chrys will probably want to cleanse this place - it’s dedicated to Shar and I guess that’s bad. There’s a room with a creepy pool in it we don’t really understand, longer story. I vote we burn the bodies outside so the smoke doesn’t stink the place up, go sleep in shifts where Ellywich said was good, and try the pool room tomorrow.”

"Honestly, my friend, I didn't pay too much mind to crabby ol' Frida. I generally go about my business, do my hunting and bring back whatever I catch also I can give it to Mr. Fenwick and a few other folks in Melton. I never saw her out there in the woods, but then again, I generally keep myself away from goblins. And I can't say either way for ol' Thorn. He's a good trapper; spends more time in the woods than I do. Dunno... maybe he saw something. You can ask him when we get back."

"And I don't see a need to bring Frida's body all the way back. That's an awful long way to haul a corpse. Not to be too blunt here, but I don' think there's someone special who's gonna miss her. When we get back, I'll be happy to explain things to the locals for ye."

"Anyway, it sounds like you still got some work to do here, so best thing is for us all to get outside o' this creepy place and get a good night's sleep amongst the trees. I'm happy to do a watch, but I can't stay up the whole night. I need my beauty sleep, ya know!" she giggles, as she gets ready to head back outside. "So, you all comin'?"

"Yeah, I'm ready to go."

Lumen is ready to go!

"I'm ready!" Krackle would say excitedly. "If we burn the bodies outside, I can help bury them!" He would add bouncing up and down. "I can help keep watch when Ellywick needs a break, I can see real good in the dark." He would add pointing to his eyes. "I don't think I want to go back to that pool room... I can probably just pile a bunch of dirt inside the entrance and then no one can get in or out! He would say with a smile. "But if ya think you wanna go back inside.. I can help" He would finish with a nervous smile.

"Frankly, I'll be grateful to be below the skies once again, instead of this endless darkness," Kessdarra managed, stifling a yawn; all the fighting they had been doing had made her a bit weary. "And I think you've the right idea, Krackle. Don't worry, little friend. I'm personally ready to conclude our business here and be rid of this foul place and the memory of that horrid woman. A crabapple, indeed, to the end it would seem. I don't know, is it terrible that the phrase 'good riddance to bad rubbish' comes to mind in this circumstance?"

((*whistles nonchalantly while just sliding back in* Heyo... so... uh... how much arrows did I use?))

(Three or four)