They left the forge, consulted the goblin's crude map, and turned left. The corridor led for fifty paces before branching off into two tunnels, one leading south, the other southwest.
They took the southwestern tunnel, which ran straight for fifty paces and turned due south. They walked down a long corridor, silent, lit by torches, and saw no signs of any hobgoblins.
After fifty yards, the corridor ended at a closed wooden door, with a second door set into the wall to their left. Bloom listened at the southern door, but heard nothing behind it.
They carefully opened the door, and the corridor continued south and turned left after forty paces. This hallway ran east to a closed door, and a passage opened up to their right, ten paces down the corridor.
The turned right, walking south for twenty five paces, before turning east. This hallway ran for forty yards, passing two intersecting hallways, and ended at a huge set of double doors.
Bloom put her ear to the doors for half a minute, then turned to the others.
"It sounds like they're having a party in there. I'm figuring about ten hobs. Do we press on?"
"Of course," Ganth said. "Now remember, Runt, to cast that spell."
"I already have the material component in hand," the goblin said, his eyes watering fiercely.
"All right." The dwarf sucked in a deep breath. "This is it. Hit the door!"
Deft shouldered one of the massive wooden doors, and it swung open. He surveyed the room in three quick seconds. Against the far wall, some fifty feet distant, a huge hobgoblin sat on a wooden throne carved from some black wood, with two guards armed with spears standing on either side of the throne. Standing in front of the throne, with its back to the party, was a human sized figure in a grey cloak, with the hood pulled up over its head. Six other hobs were seated around a huge burning fire in the middle of the vast room.
The king, who had perfect line of sight to the door, shouted out a warning in his own tongue, before standing up on the throne and brandishing a huge broad sword.
The party spilled into the room, leaving room for Runt to cast his spell without any of them getting in the way. The goblin spoke a litany of magic words as his hands gestured in bizarre patterns. In his hand he held a rotten egg, and he threw it towards the fire pit. The egg streaked through the air, and exploded over the fire pit, creating a huge cloud of greenish vapor that enveloped the six hobgoblins sitting around it. Immediately they fell to the ground, choking and vomiting, clutching their burning eyes.
With cries of defiance, the others charged towards the king and his soldiers.
Deft ran across the room, swerving to avoid the green cloud, and set his sights on the figure in black. It turned around, and the fighter saw a dirty, gray face peeking out of the hood of the robe.
His eyes and mouth opened in surprise, and Deft saw that his teeth were filed to sharp points. Beneath the cloak, he wore a full suit of plate armor. Deft assumed he was a human male, but he couldn't be sure. It didn't much matter who he was.
The guards stepped forward and brought their spears to bear to protect their king. Ganth and Twix engaged the one to the left of the throne, and Gareth and Bloom took the other. The sound of metal clashing on wood filled the hall. One of the guards screamed in pain. Deft focused on the enemy before him, who pulled a mace from his belt. At least he wasn't a magic-user, since they usually didn't carry weapons, and when they did, it was usually a dagger, staff, or sling.
A streaking bolt of energy suddenly flew over Deft's shoulder and struck the hooded one in the legs. He snarled in rage and pain, and leaped at the fighter. Before he could bring up his sword to block, the mace caught him in the side. His chain mail armor was good protection against arrows and swords, but not so much against blunt weapons. The breath flew out of his body, and when he inhaled, sharp pain lanced through his side. It felt like some of his ribs were fractured or broken. Deft went on the offensive, but whenever he got a strike in on the hooded one, his sword struck chain or plate armor. Focusing on striking at his head, Deft managed to slip in a chop that grazed the top of the man's head. The hooded one shrieked and crumpled to the ground.
Deft looked up to see King Bash leap off his throne and go for Ganth. The fighter called out a warning, and the dwarf disengaged from the guard to face the king. They fought furiously, neither of them gaining any ground, then the dwarf got a strike in on the king's shoulder. Bash grunted, and furiously went on the offensive.
The hobs around the fire staggered out of the green cloud of stench, but they fell to the ground again, gagging. One of them fell right in front of the magic-user. He cast another spell, and leaned down to touch the hob's head. The brute suddenly screamed and convulsed as an electrical charge went through his entire body. He went limp, his body smoking. Runt wrinkled his nose in disgust.
Deft attacked the guard that Twix was fighting. Ganth was not only holding his against Bash, but he was winning. The hob was too large and slow, and the dwarf got several good strikes in while easily blocking with his shield the king's furious swings.
Behind him, the other guard suddenly shrieked in agony, and the scream was abruptly cut off. That was a death cry, the fighter thought to himself.
Having killed one hob, Runt leaped on the next closest one and began furiously stabbing him with his dagger. The hob was vomiting and choking, and his burning eyes were clenched shut, but he ineffectually tried to grab Runt's knife hand and stop the deadly assault.
The guard fighting against Deft and Twix was losing badly, and as he engaged the fighter, Twix got in an overhand chop to the monster's back. The axe blade sank through the guard's leather armor and into his spine. The guard crumpled.
Suddenly Ganth cried out in pain, as Bash got in a lucky swipe that clipped the side of the dwarf's head. Blood ran down the side of his head, and he staggered, lowering his defenses. Bash raised his great sword to bring it slamming down on the dwarf's head.
Shouting to distract the king, Deft ran up behind him and stabbed with all his might. His sword sank into the king's leather cuirass, but it was far from a mortal blow.
Gareth suddenly appeared to Deft's left, and the king was surrounded. He withdrew to the wall behind him, snarling and swinging his great sword. He was trapped, and he knew it.
The two dwarfs, the fighter and the bard assailed him with all their strength and skill, but even facing off against four opponents, the king held his own. He took several minor wounds, and suddenly got his revenge when Twix fumbled a swing with his axe. The broad sword slammed down on the halfling's head, and Twix shrieked in pain.
"Fall, you filthy bastard!" Deft cried, doubling his strokes. The two dwarfs closed in, while Twix dropped his axe, staggered a few feet, and collapsed. Bash began screaming at the top of his lungs in his own tongue, and went into a frenzy, lashing out with his huge sword.
The three remained calm, and that was the king's undoing. He was lashing out in a rage, not fighting with any strategy. He knew it was the end.
And that end came right after the thought left Deft's mind.
Gareth suddenly rushed in, swinging his hammer at the great sword. It went flying from the king's hand and clattered on the floor. Bash snarled and prepared to throw himself bodily against the dwarf, but before he could, the dwarf screamed and brought the hammer down right on his face. Bash's head cracked, and his face was caved in. He fell back against the wall, and slowly sank down it as his legs gave out beneath him.
With the sudden silence, Deft heard hobs shrieking behind him. He whirled around and saw that Runt and Bloom were taking out the gagging and choking hobs. The fighter looked at all his friends to see if any of them needed immediate aid. Bloom, Runt, and Gareth were unscathed. Twix and Ganth were bleeding from their head wounds, and Deft's breath came in short, painful gasps. He dropped his flaming sword to the ground and sank down, groaning.
Ganth dropped his mace and pulled off his backpack, rummaging through the contents. He pulled out several small bottles, and he and Gareth distributed them.
Deft uncorked one of his bottles and drank down the contents. The pain immediately subsided, and the fighter got back to his feet. While Runt and Bloom were finishing off the hobs, the fighter ran to the door and shut it, in case any hobs had heard the fight and were coming to investigate. He stayed by the door, since there was no lock.
Ganth and Twix each drank a Potion of Healing, and their wounds were instantly cured. They took stock of their situation, glancing at the bloody corpses of the king and his bodyguards. Twix walked up to Bash's body and kicked it.
"That's for my father, my mother, my two brothers, my sister, my aunt, my uncle, and my four cousins, you jerk! I hope you burn in the Nine Hells for all eternity."
"It's over," Ganth sighed.
"Not yet," Bloom grinned. "Now comes the fun part, searching for treasure!"
The thief and the goblin searched the bodies, examining their weapons and gear. The only items that showed any promise were four keys that the king had in his belt pouch, one of the bodyguard's spears and a key he had in his belt, and golden ring set with a ruby that Bash had been wearing.
While the dwarfs sat on the floor and shared some water from the cleric's skin, Twix went over to guard the door with Deft while Bloom and Runt searched for treasure.
There were two closed doors in the great hall in the northern end, and they were locked. Using the keys, the two were able to open both doors. The room in the northeast part of the chamber held a large, blush bed, a table, a wooden chair, and two soft armchairs. Three woolen tapestries hung from the walls. Bloom looked at them with interest. They were of shoddy craftsmanship, but also colorful. They depicted battle scenes in which King Bash's heroic exploits were prominently featured. The thief chuckled, and wondered if they'd be worth anything.
Bloom and Runt searched the room thoroughly, but didn't find anything of interest. They went to the other door, unlocked it, and walked into a room similar to the first. Two soft beds, a table, two chairs, and a wooden chest were the only items of furniture in the chamber. The table held a bottle of wine and two glasses.
The thief examined the bottle of wine, and took a sniff. It seemed to be a good vintage, but she wasn't about to drink anything that hobgoblins had their filthy paws on. Her attention was on the chest.
Bloom knelt in front of the chest and examined it carefully. Even though she thought the hobgoblins were too stupid to create any sort of an elaborate trap, the last thing the thief needed was to die from a poison needle trap.
After a thorough examination, she stuck the key into the lock and turned it. She moved around to the back of the chest and opened it slowly. Nothing happened.
Sighing in relief, she rummaged through the chest. It held two woolen cloaks, two short swords, a large sack, and a sapphire necklace. She took these out and lay them on the floor, then picked up the sack and dumped the contents onto the floor. I was filled with coins, mostly silver and gold pieces. She did a quick estimation and figured their value, about one hundred and fifty golds. The necklace looked to be about five times that value.
The thief pocketed the necklace, scooped the coins back into their sack, and put the sack into her backpack. The swords were of ordinary quality, so they wouldn't be magical, and cloaks were old and moth-eaten.
Bloom and Runt returned to their pile of treasure, telling the dwarfs about the sack of coins they had found. The goblin pulled out his magic wand and waved it over the pile of items they had collected from the hobs. The ring and the spear glowed, but they had no way of knowing anything about their powers. The magic-user slipped the ring on his finger, thinking that perhaps it might reveal its powers if worn.
Deft noticed that Twix seemed troubled and introspective.
"Are you okay," he asked.
The bard turned towards him and smiled absently. "Sure. My wounds are all healed…"
"No, that's not what I meant."
The Halfling hung his head, staring at the floor. "Oh. Well…I don't really know. You see, I used to be a very happy and carefree halfling. Always whistling, always smiling. But after my village was wiped out…I guess I changed. The only way I could deal with it was making a vow to all my friends and family that I wouldn't rest until I had taken my revenge on the hobgoblins. I vowed I would kill every hob I ever came across. But the more hobs I killed, the worse I felt. I'm not like that, Deft. I'm not that kind of person. And now that Bash is dead…I don't know what to do, or how I feel. I'm relieved, in a way, but I don't feel as good as I thought I would. I mean, Bash is dead, but so are my friends and family. But I'm tired, Deft. So tired of holding onto the hate and the sorrow. It's killing me inside."
"Then maybe it's time to give up your vendetta," the fighter said softly. "Even if you slew every hob in the world, it won't bring your family back."
The bard sighed. "You're right. Absolutely right. I think I am going to give it up. Try to find the real me again."
"Maybe you could write a song or an epic poem about what happened to your family, and how you avenged them."
The bard glanced up at the fighter and grinned. "What a great idea! You'd think I would have thought of that already, being a bard and all. Thanks, Deft, for helping me kill Bash. You're a real nice guy, and I'm glad I met you. You know, I have an adventuring group, or I should say, I belong to an adventuring group. It's not really mine. We're called the Righteous Rovers. Our leader is a paladin named Sara Bootblack. She's in the Most Holy Order of the Silver Staff. Then there's Gurp. He's a ranger and a druid, as well as a half-ogre. Dumb as a rock, but he's a real softie. We're looking to expand our membership. I'd be honored if you would join us."
Deft grinned. "Thanks, Twix! I wholeheartedly accept. I've never known an ogre who was a ranger as well as a druid."
"I'll ask the others, too. You're all nice people. I consider you all my friends."
Having finished their treasure hunting, Bloom and Runt, followed by the dwarfs, walked over to the others. Runt held a long, beautifully-crafted spear.
"Is that magical?" the bard asked.
"Sure is," Bloom grinned. "It'll bring a pretty price."
"Let us leave this place," Ganth said. "Once we return to the fort, we shall get a force together, and return here to wipe out the rest of the hobs."
They left the royal hall of King Bash, glad that their adventure was over. They had rescued Gareth, and King Bash was dead.