The most recent command to Pocket was a simple one: "Stay behind Frilvoril at all times." And Pocket is dedicated to that cause.

Frilvoril, your shield absorbs the damage once again at the last moment! You then indeed dismember the goblin as you've described, right in front of the bugbear. The goblin bleeds out almost instantly and its torso falls dead. With that you burst forward and you sword connects into the bugbear's furry flesh. It yells out in pain, takes the damage, then starts laughing wildly. "Ha ha ha ha ha! Xanathar's Guild!" You all then see the bugbear start to shake violently. It starts to continue to yell "Ha ha ha ha ha! Xanathar's Guild!" and it repeats this over and over, but as it is repeating, the speech gets slower and slower and sllloowwwerrrr and ssssssllllloooowwwweerrrrr.  (sorry I can't describe it any better than that in PbP!) and then the bugbear's head explodes and another devourer bursts forth. The bugbear's lifeless body now flops to the ground, and the brain creature emerges, shaking and skittering about. The creature expelled itself from the bugbear before the bugbear died. The bugbear body is now dead, though. Really dead. 

This new ID will have its turn next round.

Cami, your cannon emits the protecting energies once again. (Everyone would get this as it's 12 and/or you've been injured from your previous temp hp.) You also grab the little sucker once again, and this time its not able to survive the electric damage from your glove. It fries in your hand and stops moving. 

(I have to also thank all of you for how you post your moves. Like with all of the detail with each step of the turn itself. It helps me SO much)

Pocket flies south to remain close to Fril.

Next Round: Korba, Goblins, Fril, Cami, Pocket, ID

Korba is catatonic.

The goblins actually look very scared right now. Goblin #1 actually runs away and heads into another room trying to hide but there's nothing to hide behind in there.

Goblin #8 swings its scimitar at Cami in a desperate attempt to cut her: Attack: 22 Damage: 3 and the blade gets through the armor and cuts her deep.

Fril is up! Then Cami, then Pocket

Maps are updated

Cami uses the last remaining energy given to her by the Protector to absorb the blow. It still chips on her a bit. Seeing the current state of the fight, she calls to Frilvoril again. "Hey, there's another one? I can handle it too. As long as my path is clear..." She looks down at the goblin staying in front of her.

Fril yells an Auran curse in surprise as the Intellect Devourer simply explodes the head of the bugbear in front of him. He then takes advantage of what little distance he currently has to stumble backwards to where he dropped his bow and replace it on the ground with the rapier before launching two arrows over the Devourer and at the back of the goblin in front of Cami hoping to give her the clear path she needs to deal with the terrifying walking brain. He then shouts to Cami, "I'm not sure how much longer we can keep doing this if they keep coming like this."

"I don't think there are many more. We should leave after this Devourer, though..." Cami's path gets cleared, and so she gets a direct view of the Devourer. Before attacking, she switches out her electric glove for a trinket she had already used before. It looks like a metallic tube that's used as a small cannon for the flammable pellets it shoots. She points it towards the Devourer and fires.

This time, the button for the Protector doesn't get clicked, Cami had already noticed Fril was too far away by the time she remembered about it.

Since using the Protector wasn't working, Cami asks Pocket to leave it with her before they go confirm whether there are any more threats deeper inside. Pocket follows the orders, leaving the Protector on her feet behind her, and it stands up still since it has little legs that are incapable of movement, but they help so it doesn't fall.

Fril, your first arrow skewers the goblin, and it falls dead. Your other arrow also connects. It sticks right into the brain creature, and while the creature seems to take it relatively well, it still hurt. (-5, resistant to piercing non magical)

Cami, the flammable pellets spatter all over the ground, but they miss the brain. 

Pocket follows the path you've described. They do not see any other hostiles in these rooms, except for the fleeing goblin. Also, they noticed that all of the doors that they see in these rooms are open. 

The devourer still has its attention on Cami since she just tried to attack with those pellets. It jumps at her with the claws again: Attack: 20 Damage: 6 and the claws dig into her again. This is really starting to hurt. 

and tries to get into her thoughts.... INT: 20   Cami remains rock solid. 

Next Round: Korba, Goblins, Fril, Cami, Pocket, ID

Korba is still catatonic.

The goblin runs further into the room and starts to yell "Please! No hurt!" and he actually throws down all of his weapons and starts sobbing in the corner.

Fril is up! Then Cami, and Pocket.

Maps are updated.

With the portable cannon being a bad option at close range, Cami switches the last two of her trinkets back again. In her hand now is the electric glove. She has to tap them to her shield one more time before the electricity really starts surging through, but once it's done, she goes for a grab on the Devourer.

Whether that hit or not, she now presses the button for the Protector since at least she'd benefit from it this time around, and she was needing it.

Fril pulls out two more arrows, and although he knows they won't be fully effective, there is no point in running after a surrendered goblin at this point, so he fires them both in the direction of the walking brain. As he nocks the arrows, he mutters under his breath, "This had better be the last one, because I don't like the thought of running into something that can suck my brain out again."

Fril, both of the arrows penetrate the brain, although it only takes some of the damage from the arrows (8).

Cami, you feel the protective energies from the cannon. Your grasp this time also shocks the devourer to death, and it eventually smolders away to a black charred mess in your hand as it then drops to the ground, dead. 

As the turns cycle, combat will end as the remaining goblin is still crying in the corner, unarmed. He is saying things in goblin and in common. You can hear "please no kill! no kill! let live!"

Korba remains in the other room with the pillars and destroyed magic gate, drooling. He's alive nonetheless. 

There are a lot of rooms now in this apparent guard outpost/watch that have been exposed on the map which you have not explored. Please roll any desired checks you want to make as you let me know which room(s) you want to inspect and/or what bodies you want to search. There is also the Korba situation which you might want to discuss and/or deal with first. And the crying goblin. 

If you go into a room which requires some type of check to determine if something happens, I will let you know. Otherwise please make your own checks as you see fit and what your character would do.

The maps are updated.

Have at it!

Cami picks up the Protector and puts it back into her Bag of Holding, where it was before this fight started. As she's doing so, she's receiving information from Pocket through their telepathic link together, so when she's done, she's ready to explain to Fril the situation. "Pocket didn't see anyone ahead except for a goblin. I think I heard it, too. They got good eyes, so I trust we can go in and explore with no fear. If there were any Devourers inside, Pocket would have seen them. Should we get Korba back to the surface first, though?"

"I think that would probably be best," Frilvoril says matter-o-factly. "Although what to do with this quivering mess of a creature is beyond me," he says pointing to the goblin. "Perhaps we should bring him with us. At least until we figure out what else to do with him. It doesn't feel right to kill him like this. I can take care of him while you take Korba back up, if that sounds alright with you. We don't need two people to put a body in a bucket." Slinging his bow over his shoulder, he approaches the goblin slowly with both hands raised, "I'm not going to hurt you. How long have you been down here?"

"I thought we'd have one of us go with him to make sure he's safe, and I can't do that on my own, but if you think it's not needed, I'll trust whoever finds him on the other side." Before leaving, Cami gets Pocket to fly back to her, and then tells Fril about her idea. "I'll leave Pocket with you. You protect them, and they'll protect you by telling me whether you find any dangers while I'm away." Pocket perches on his shoulder.

Cami's ready to go and grab Korba and drag him all the way to the bucket, with no other better ways to carry him.

Before Cami leaves, Frilvoril cocks his head at the mention of leaving him without someone to care for him at the top, so he writes a quick note saying, "Please have this man delivered to the nearest temple for restorative services. This is a down payment. Full payment can by the end of the week." He then places the note as well as 10 GP in a pouch on Korba's belt (or wherever else it would make sense on Korba's body). Turning to Cami he says, "Hopefully this should take care of him. I really do feel bad, but this is the best way to keep the city safe, and if that creature had made it out, then it could have caused much more havoc than this." He then turns back to the goblin and repeats what he said earlier.

(OOC: The gold has already been subtracted from my inventory)

Cami waits for the letter to be written and delivered to Korba's belt pouch, and then she drags him all the way back to the entrance with the bucket where the group had originally entered. Trying to be resourceful, she takes one gold coin from Korba's pocket to pay for his climb up as he'd probably have paid it for himself anyway if he wasn't in that condition.

Frilvoril, the goblin says with a confused look on his face "thank you. please no hurt. live! life. No, live. I life down here. I live down here all life. Work for Bugbear. Bugbear work for Xanathar Guild. Bugbear pay goblin good. So goblin live here. life. no, live. Yes, live. Very long time. Good pay so life here. Live."

Pocket perches on Fril's shoulder while Cami drags Korba to the main room. No roll required, but this would take a few minutes for sure. There are no encounters as you drag the body. (Fril has lots of time to converse with the goblin) The bucket is not there, but assuming you call out and/or pull on the rope, there is someone there as it hasn't really been all that long since you came down. (this has been a real unlucky go for Korba!). So, along with the note and the gold from Fril, you load the catatonic Korba into the bucket once it gets down like a sack of potatoes. No roll required, but again, it's likely a pain in the ass and takes a few minutes at least. 

Once Korba got to the top, a few people from the Yawning Portal would grab the body and read the note, and immediately take him away following the directions on the note. They eventually take him to a temple and he is checked in as a patient. The Yawning Portal is a nutty place, but Durnan does listen to the note, likely because it says he's going to get the full payment for the treatment in a week. And he will likely ask for more once the writer of the note surfaces.

Then, a wave of discussions would then light up the entire inn, even louder than the normal noise of the pub at night. what happened to him? good lord look at him? BAHAHAHAHA  what a dumb fool!! Oh no someone needs to help him! Wow that didnt take long... HEY you owe me money now! and it continues.

Durnan yells out to the crowd in the Yawning Portal "Bahahahaha! Well, who's going to be the next brave soul to head down into the dungeon!!" He's a bit drunk by now. 

(Kev - do you want to enter your new character in this moment? Would be a pretty bad ass moment to have someone just speak up and go alone down after Korba came up in his state.)

I have updated the Overview map only. For now.

(minus the gold Cami took - noted!)

Fril stays with the goblin in the same place until Cami gets back, but he talks to the goblin slowly trying to help the goblin understand what he is saying. His goal is to find out where the bugbears were keeping their treasure (or wherever the bugbear went before he paid the goblin) and retrieve it if it is nearby, otherwise he continues to talk to the goblin and attempt to find out how much the goblin was paid by the bugbear, whether the goblin knows anything else about the dungeon, and if the goblin knows anything else about the Xanathar Guild presence in the dungeon. He also takes a ration out of his backpack and hands it to the goblin. He then sits down next to the goblin with a ration himself and he munches on the food and chats as they wait for Cami. He also feeds a bit of his rations to Pocket, who is perched on his shoulder.

If Cami is not back by the time they are finished eating (5-10 minutes), he takes the goblin with him and collects as many of his arrows as he can from the dead bodies of the goblins, bugbears, and intellect devourers.

(OOC: Rations already subtracted from my inventory and let me know how many of the arrows I was able to retrieve)

Seeing the commotion by the entrance to Below, Farok finishes his beer, and calmly stands up, sheathing his great sword straight down his back. Tall and very muscular for an elf, Farok is an imposing figure. Ashen skin, a bushy beard, dark eyes and hair... he’s clearly not a Dark Elf, but his kind isn’t seen around often. Walking to the well, he sees the dark elf being dragged out, and whispers something to himself, almost as if a prayer to a patron. He then sets a gold coin on the wall of the well, steps over the edge, and holds onto the rope with one hand, placing a foot in the bucket and hangs over the edge looking down. He then simply gestures to Durnan to lower the rope.

Fril, since you have spared its life and been somewhat friendly to it, along with giving it food, I see no reason why it wouldn't be open and honest with you about everything it knows. Keeping in mind it is only a goblin. Low end recruit.

The goblin says "weekly pay. weekly pay, yes. One gold. One gold a week. goblins work for bugbears, bugbears work for Xanathar. Treasure? No treasure. Just Guild. Dungeon huuuuuuuge! Yes. Huge dungeon. Soooo many levels. Even here. Yes. This level even huge. Xanathar guild fight with Undertaker gang here. Mean humans Undertaker gang are. Not funny they are. Think they are though." *chomp chomp chomp* that's all it says for now as it just focus on eating. You can ask it other questions if you'd like as you'd have a lot of time to do so. It will tell you what it knows. 

Fril, you and the goblin spend some time searching for your arrows and are able to retrieve half of them. (I can't remember exactly how many that is! Perhaps 3? Perfect about the rations.)

(I really like Farok)

Farok, Durnan is definitely taken back by your imposing figure and stature, and he is quite big and muscular for a human himself. "Heyyyyy big fella! Yeah!! We got our next participant for the DUNGEON! YEAHH!!" (he is trying to get the patrons excited. It is working. Coins are flying everywhere, betting is happing like wildfire.) Durnan gives Farok an awkward look after awhile seeing the lack of reaction in the stoic looking figure, and then almost whispers "hey... good luck down there guy." (to be honest Durnan is a bit shocked at how quick the dungeon took out Korba. And that is odd reaction for Durnan.) Farok, you are then slowly lowered down the same way as the party was, down the long, slow 140 ft ride to the bottom into that empty room that used to have the shields.

Depending on if Cami is there or not, which way would you go?

Cami, would you still be in that room, or are you back with Fril and the goblin by now?

If Cami and Farok end up in the same room together, you can RP their meeting. 

I think I will wait again to update the map until the next post as I will have a better idea of where everyone is.