Chapter 1: Making Introductions

Lurzook nods. We will take you and show you the place. But we don't go now. We wait an hour so Zrus can take you. He has chores to do first. the goblin boss says with a smile. You can sit in there, or find a cave that you like. Don't touch our things or you won't see our spot. he says grimly.

It's clear from his tone, there'll be no negotiation on the subject of timing. Seeing the lack of flexibility, your group spends the next hour in the goblin caves making whatever plans and preparations you'd be able to in advance of seeing the place. Based on your talking together, you figure that setting up a fake camp wouldn't be too difficult, though you won't have anything that resembles a wagon or cart. If you're out at night, the campfire will cast 40 feet of bright light and another 40 feet of dim light beyond that (so long as the fire is actively burning). Once it dies down, the lighting drops to the 20 feet bright and 40 feet dim of a torch.

After about an hour, Lurzook and Zrus come find you, the smaller goblin clearly nervous looking. Zrus is ready to take you now. Good luck. Lurzook says, shoving Zrus towards you all.

With his piece said, the goblin boss disappears back into the caves and Zrus nervously leads you back to the entrance you all used earlier. When you get outside, you can see that the sun is starting to set, brilliant flame colors splashed across the sky. Over the two hours it takes you to walk from the cave entrance to their observation spot, you notice you've left the one wooded grove you had been in and are approaching a second. This one is smaller and has the remnants of camps along the edge of the wood. Here is where we watch. These woods. They come down on that side, see where the trail comes close? That's where they attack. Zrus says, pointing out a barely etched in set of dirt trails in the grass.

As you start setting up your camp, Zrus climbs up into a tree and hides, though you notice he didn't bring any weapons with him. It will take you about forty minutes or so to set up a convincing camp and find your own hiding places in the woods.

Your group manages to get your fake camp set and a fire blazing. Alan, you're able to easily find a few rabbits on your hunt, taking another thirty minutes to do so, causing you to hunt as the sun sinks below the horizon.

Claudius, you're easily able to find a place about 100 feet away in the edge of the trees. You take about twenty extra minutes to ensure that the stones and brush around the camp is turned into difficult terrain, forming a ring of about 25 feet around the camp.

Esal and Milaki both find hiding places as well, just out of range of the light from the camp.

You settle into your positions and wait, the sounds of evening bugs chirruping in the otherwise calm night. Your bonfire continues to burn brightly, sending flickering shadows across the ground. What seems like hours pass by as the stars prick the velvet sky. Finally, as the sliver of the moon swoops high overhead, you all hear movement in the distance. Just at the edge of the light, you see three humanoid figures and one four-legged creature. The four-legged creature only comes up to about the knee of the humanoids. They are approaching from the opposite side of the camp from where you are set up. One of the humanoids raises a hand in a fist and the group stops. They make some short hand movements and the group splits apart. Two humanoids move around one side of the light while the four-legged creature and the other humanoid move along the opposite side.