The Queen of spider Mountain

After a few days of shopping you get back together and plan to hit the road again. This is when you all remember Grapthor's little problem and decide to visit the temple together.
To your surprise there seems to be a great lack of healing spells as other adveturing groups have just been through. So the prices went up considerably and now reside well beyond your budget.
But the head priest there is willing to help "pro bono" if you are willing to do some good for a smaller temple a few days down the road. There have been reports of hightened goblin activity there. Sereval merchant caravans and also the village storages have been plundered. Merchants have begun to avoid the area around spider mountain and the food supply is beginning to run low.
In exchange for your holy oath to investigate and if humanly possible solve the problem there you will recieve the healing right now.
You are informed that this oath is magical and if broken will have dire consequences. On the other hand you are allowed to keep all loot you find other than the stolen goods. You agree and your oaths are taken on the statue of the god behind the main altar. You recieve a short notice to the cleric.

Grapthor is lead into a side room and after half an hour of chanting and rituals he feels a bit brighter again.

And so you pack your stuff on you new mule cart and packsaddle and hit the road towards said village down the road.
Some days later you arrive in a poor looking village with a small wooden temple. A skinny young acolyte is the only cleric there. He waves your welcome.

What do you do?

Veldebrand bends down and studies Grapthor's countenance for signs of increased intellect. "Grapthor, if an egg and a half cost a copper and a half, how much would a dozen eggs cost?"

Barekeln greets the young acolyte.

May the day finds you in good spirit my fellow man of faith. Me and my hardy band of companions are a band of adventurer sent on a mission by the priests of the goddess of healing to investigate the goblin attacks in the area around Spider Mountain. Can you tell us anything about those attacks?

gives Grapthor a good laugh.
"How 'bout I put a few dozen egg-sized bumps on that bloody overgrown head of yours?" Grapthor growls. But thinking about eggs starts Grapthor thinking about omelettes, and soon it is his stomach that is growling. He wonders if there is a decent inn anywhere in this little town. An omelette and sausages would be bloosy good after cracking some damn goblin heads.

Farandor grinned at Grapthor's response to the puzzle. Do dwarves really use half-coppers? He thought to himself.

Farandor then stepped up alongside Barekeln, eager to hear what news the Acolyte might share about the goblin problem.

The young acolyte greets you warmly. "The gods be with you and thank them you are here. These are really not good times. The goblins have taken almost everything and the merchants are avoiding the area. If this raids don't stop we will have to leave our village. We are already almost starving. We don't have an inn here butyou can sleep here in the temple for tonight. I'll bring you some more blankets and a braizier. In the morning I'll point you the right way to Spider Mountain. Sadly i don't have any food to share. I hope you brought som rations..."

I have a few days worth on myself. Hopefully my companions were also that farsighted. I'll be glad to share with you anything I have in surplus, I'm afraid it might not be much though...

"A charity case, boys!" Veldebrand sighs as he unfurls his bedroll. "Well, maybe those goblins have been raiding wealthy merchants!" The wizard says as he plops onto his makeshift bed and sips from a wine bottle.

"Liquid lunch" he smiles, offering the bottle to Farandor.

Farandor scratches his head... "rations eh?", he makes a show of searching through the cart. "Trail Mix! Did you eat my rations?"

He sits down next to Veldebrand and takes the offered wineskin.
"I may have to slip out to do some hunting. Maybe I'll be able to find something big enough to feed us all."

Is there still any daylight at the moment?

"I'd rather hunt some bloody goblins already! Who needs to wait for daylight? Oh right, the humans do!" Grapthor squats down and takes a long pull on his ale skin.

To the acolyte he says, "Why don't you tell us about this Spider Mountain, boy. Sound like a fun place!"

"I'll get a fire going!" Veldebrand states, hoping for some rabbit or venison.

It is about dusk. The wildlife also seems sparse but Farandor manages to score skinny rabbit to go with your bread, hard cheese and jerky. The Acolyte brings a grill to put on the braizier and soon you have roasted rabbit.
The Acolyte doesn't have much to tell about Spider Mountain. It is a solitary mountain in the middle of Spider Forest. An old trail leads there. He points out the mountain in the distance. "There are some old horror stories about a witch who used to live there long time ago but thats only for scaring children, if you ask me."
After the meal you lay down and sleep. This night is quiet only disturbed by a lonely wolf howling in the wee hours. In the morning shortly after you get up some of the villagers stop by for a morning prayer and whish you luck on your quest.

"So... Spider mountain, spider forest, hmmm... Sounds like a pleasant hike ahead of us" Farandor mentions as the group prepares to depart.

Indeed my elf friend... I guess suggesting to look out for spiders is unnecessary...

"Roasted spider. If you burn off all the hair first and close your eyes it's not so bad. Roast goblin, on the other hand, stinks like hell."

You have reminded me of a cousin of mine who has a mechanical arm, and who travelled with a half-demon pyromancer, a half-elemental archer, and a very rude and grumpy paladin. Apparently they also got some spider problems and resorted to cook some...

"Oh this didn't happen while adventuring. My friend Grokk the half-orc invited me to his home for dinner. His grandmother cooked for us. I was merely being polite."

What? You befriended a green-skin? Next think I know, you'll tell me you put sugar in your porridge...

So you track your way though the eerily quiet forest in the direction pointed out to you. On some trees you find fetishes of rotting wild animal's heads. You can't spot any living specimen though. You find the overgrown but clearly used path up the mountain and soon stand in front of a natural cave mouth.

"So... after that fun trek through the Spider forest, we find the cave into Spider mountain. Anyone want to wager how long until we meet some spiders? My guess... twenty metres..." He looks over at Grapthor and Rollo to see if they're in on the wager.

"Will Trail Mix and Asnar be okay alone out here?" He asks the rest of the party as well.

We can always leave the mules in this small town, they should be safe here. We can always bring them back if there's any heavy loot to carry. I doubt there's going to be a trail for the cart through that forest all the way to spider mountain anyways...

OOC: You say, you leave the fat juicy donkeys with the starving villagers? :-)

Veldebrand walks the donkeys a good distance away from the entrance and ties them to a tree where they can munch grass. "Now if you see any spiders, give them a swift kick".

After taking care of the donkeys you stand in front of the cave... A lonely cicada is chirping and then falls silent again.

Veldebrand queues up behind the warriors and nudges them forward. "This cave isn't going to clear itself"

"Right-o... wait... you don't want me to lead us do you? I mean, I'm a ferocious warrior, but let's not be ridiculous" Farandor makes a show of looking brave while shuffling behind Grapthor.

But I am sure you're teh best suited to find all those nasty traps the goblins will have left behind to protect their lair... Barekeln says a bit facetiously.

"Bah!" Grapthor shoulders his way to the front. "You ladies follow me." He hefts his warhammer and strides into the cave mouth.

Numerous goblin trails lead in and out of the cave mouth. The entrance forms a short slightly curved tunnel. As you enter the cave you are greeted by darkness.
But maybe it is your luck you didn't think about lighting torches. There is a shimmer of light around a short bend and you hear two Goblin guards squabbling loudly instead of keeping watch.

Eager to bash some skulls, Grapthor rushes in and smashes one goblin's head in with his warhammer.