Jeff Inlo - Chain of Bargains

Satisfied her arrows were not needed, Holli took the opportunity to gauge the conditions of the warehouse. She could not help but notice several piles of gems and precious metals scattered about the warehouse floor. Additional storage boxes lined the far walls. Goblins had been crating the treasures when she and Ryson entered. She wondered how much wealth rested within crates that had been nailed shut and waited by the locked bay doors.

She then turned her attention to the hole in the center of the floor. The boards had been ripped away which allowed access to the dirt beneath the building. A large hole formed a tunnel that led below ground and out of her sight. Several ladders poked out of the underground passage. She couldn't believe it, but it almost appeared as if the goblins had been mining.

While the concept seemed too bizarre to accept as reality, she could not discount certain facts. Everything within the warehouse pointed to accessing and extracting precious minerals. Nothing else could explain the goblins' activities. In fact, she found no other reasonable alternatives.

The monsters were certainly not ready for a battle. Only a handful wore weapons. A few short swords, crossbows, daggers and short bows rested in corners, but none of the goblins could reach them before Ryson cut them off. Clearly, they were not preparing for a raid, nor were they preparing to go out on any hunt. Most appeared dispatched for manual labor, nothing more. Shovels and picks were plentiful. They were not acting like goblins at all.

Holli redirected her focus to a few of the stunned goblins that made an effort to reach the center of the warehouse. She watched as some managed to scramble down ladders into the tunnel. Escaping down a mine shaft was usually a plan of last resort, as it often led to a dead end. She believed the fleeing goblins might have hoped to alert others below ground. Perhaps they thought they could regroup and defend themselves within the tunnels. It didn't matter. The warehouse itself, and thus the entrance to the mine, was nearly secure.

When the last goblin dropped out of sight, and Ryson had the others rendered unconscious, Holli leapt from her perch and moved to assist the delver in tying up close to two dozen unconscious monsters. She would force one awake soon, but first she needed to discuss her peculiar findings with Ryson.

"Well done," the elf congratulated the delver, "more prisoners than I hoped."

"Thanks, but this was easy. Most of them weren't even armed."

"No, they appear to have set themselves up as miners."

Ryson looked about and could do nothing but concur.

"Goblins mining. This just keeps getting stranger."

Holli had longer to contemplate the situation, and while she agreed to the sentiment, she believed she finally began to see some semblance of reason.

"I admit it bothers me, but goblins taking treasure is not uncommon. It actually fits them more than attempting to grow crops."

Ryson looked upon the piles of gems and precious metals.

"At least they seem better suited for mining than farming."

"Do not be fooled. Goblins do not make farmers or miners. They are thieves, nothing more, but at least part of this begins to make sense."

"How so?"

"I know enough of human corruption to understand how powerful such wealth can be. There is enough here to buy off several town leaders. It explains, at least to some extent, why the captain of the guard here in Huntston and the council members at Ashlan agreed to allow goblins to enter their towns."

"They're being paid off," Ryson acknowledged.

"At least some of them are."

"Do you think the goblins are paying off Prilgrat?"

"In all honesty, no. As a regional steward, he has the power to obtain riches well beyond what we see here. He remains a mystery to me."

"So what do we do now?"

"We explore this mine shaft."

Ryson grimaced as he looked into the wide expanse that broke through the ground before them.

"You know there's quite a few goblins down there."

"I do, but it is worth the risk."

"Can I ask why?"

"As I said before, goblins are not miners, they are thieves. Though some of this makes sense, it also creates other questions. Why would goblins mine precious minerals just to give them away? Why wouldn't they keep the treasure for themselves?"

"Maybe they are. Maybe we're wrong about the payoffs."

"We are not. Look at how the treasures are being divided and crated. This matches human organization, not goblin desire."

Ryson couldn't disagree.

"So we need to know what's really going on down there," Ryson allowed. "Should we wake up some of these other goblins first… question them as to what they're doing?"

"I would rather obtain more information first."

"Okay, but I'm not too thrilled about going into a dark shaft where they could ambush us from any point."

"I agree, so we will take a precaution. I'm going to cast a sleep spell into the mine." Holli saw Ryson's enthusiasm with the idea and tempered his expectations. "It is not a spell I like to use. It takes a great deal of energy and only works under certain conditions. Outside, it is almost pointless, unless of course you have Enin's level of energy and his control. I do not come close to that, but it can be effective in enclosed places with little air flow. Anyone touched by the mist will drift off into sleep, but they are not unconscious. They can wake if we are careless. The spell is a mix of water, air, and light; none of which are my natural power. The spell can be offset easily, but for our purposes, it should keep us out of harm's way."

Holli bent her head and stared down into the gloomy shaft. She could see the ladders anchored to a flat platform directly below. A tunnel formed that led off toward the west and angled downward out of sight.

Focusing her magical powers on the sleep spell, she phrased an incantation from the powers of light, air and water. A green octagon formed around her wrists as she pressed her palms together in front of her chest. While lowering her arms slightly and pulling her palms apart to press them down over the hole, the magic turned to a light green mist that sunk deeply and quickly into the shaft. Within moments, all of the green energy separated itself from Holli's wrists and traveled into the depths of the mine.

Realizing the spell was complete, Ryson wondered aloud as to how long they would have to wait.

"How fast does it work?"

"Upon contact. The water portion of the spell will force the mist to sink to the lowest point of the shaft, but eventually it will dissipate." Holli watched the green fog float further down the tunnel, leaving the platform below clear. "It should be safe for us to descend now."

Ryson moved to a ladder, but then focused on a new concern.

"What if there's another spell caster down there… one that can counteract the spell?"

"Goblins are not normally efficient with magic."

"What if there's something else down there that is efficient?"

"Then we would be in trouble regardless."

"I guess that's true."

"Remain quiet and careful," Holli advised.

Ryson almost laughed. He appreciated the concern, but he certainly wasn't going to be loud and careless, not while descending into a deep cavern filled with goblins. He checked his emotions as he moved as silently as a shadow down one of the ladders. He did not, however, allow himself to become a target. He slid down using the rails as opposed to stepping upon the rungs. He hit the ground as silently as a feather but with much greater speed. Once on solid footing, he twirled about and used his keen delver vision to peer down the mine shaft. He spotted several goblins upon the ground, apparently sleeping. He motioned to Holli that the area was secure.

The elf guard moved with less speed as she inspected the edges of the break in the ground that led down to the tunnel platform. Upon completing her descent, she moved quickly to the stone walls of the shaft and placed her hands upon the rock. She rubbed her palm across the stone gently at first, then with greater force.