On the road

Raven shrugged, "No telling for sure."

The young man paused to consider. "We could easily loose the goblin's tracks, so might be best to follow the trail they took our friends."

"Y'all quit yappin' and let's go," Decklan snaps.

With Raven and his tracking abilities in the lead, and Tatiana's assistance, the group travels quite quickly down the path. Raven you are able to see before anyone has any issues a large pit carved into the center of the trail. The pit is 6 feet wide, 10 feet deep, and it would trigger if something or someone stepped on it.

A good place to store the goblin bodies once we are done, Alex mutters as he attempts to disarm the trap.

It only takes Alex a few moments before the whole of the pit is revealed as the top cover crumbles inside. The pit is now easy to see and avoid.

"This much tapping is a bit much."

Tatiana nods. The pit's exposure will also help avoid trouble during the group's return trip.

"Let us continue." Tatiana's eyes remains on the trail to assist Raven in spotting more traps, but she fights the urge to split her attention for potential ambush.

Ammos follows closely behind the rank in front, being certain to step carefully exactly where they stepped as to avoid further traps.

As they continue, Raven summons nature's blessing to help guide him. Although he has been in the forest most of his life, he usually does not have others relying on him and didn't usually have this many traps to deal with.

"They must not want visitors" he moves off slowly, more looking for traps than tracking as the trail is fairly obvious, but he does occasionally stop to confirm they are on the real trail that the goblins dragged the men.

Continuing along the goblins’ trail, you come across a clearing, to the north is a large cave mouth in the hillside. A shallow stream flows out of the cave mouth. The stream is screened on the far side by dense briar thickets and a narrow dry path leads into the cave on the right-hand side of the stream. You are on the opposite side of the stream from where the path leads into the cave.

Tatiana whispers, "If that goblin beat us here, the nest will be on alert. Since I see no visible guards, they're probably hidden somewhere."

She looks upward, reminded of someone's warning to check for hunting blinds in the trees, before asking, "How should we approach this?"

The farmer squats low at the edge of the clearing, "They are good at hiding and apparently like traps. We should expect both here."

Raven scans he area for any signs of hidden goblins or signs of trap, making a quick gesture to summon nature's aid.

"I wonder if we have enough time to find him before the night."

"Split into two groups and circle their clearing. If they're in the brush expecting us to charge into their area to ambush us we'll find them. If we meet on the other side, we know we have to go into their cave," Decklan says with a growl.

"I have access to the lesser charms of Minor Illusion and Dancing Lights, both of which could either draw our opponents out of their hiding or have them reveal themselves?" Ammos speaks quietly to the gathered group as he finishes casting Mage Armour upon himself.
His eyes nervously dart around the clearing trying to soak in every detail.

Examining the clearing the group sees this:

Raven will quietly point out the goblins he has spotted to the others.

"A few of us could try to sneak behind them or we can try to lure them out. Could be more of the though."

"Take them out, quietly," Tatiana suggests as she looks at Surge, Raven, and Decklan. "We can try Decklan's idea with the rest of us approaching from across the stream. It doesn't look like we'll have any cover, but we would definitely draw their attention if they're alert for us. Perhaps that will give you the opportunity to ambush them before they shoot.