The paladin was almost caught in the second trap, a covered pit, but he was nimble enough to not fall in.
Following the trail for a few miles, the group came across a large cave in a hillside. A shallow stream was flowing out of the cave entrance, screened by dense bushes. On the right side of the stream, across from the adventurers, they saw a narrow dry path that led into the cave. Trying to be as quiet as possible, they all walked through the stream to get to the other side. And right there, partially hidden, there were 2 goblins, supposedly guarding the cave entrance, but they seemed lazy and distracted and din;t notice the adventurers. Morgan and Serafina sneaked up behind the guards and knocked them out unconscious, before dragging them into the woods. They tried to ask them questions, to figure out more details about the hideout and the kidnapping but none of these goblins would speak common and none of the adventurers would speak goblin, so they had no choice but to kill them before they could alert their companions.
They had not much on their bodies, except a few silver pieces and the weapons, two scimitars that Morgan decides to keep.
The adventurers had no idea how big the cave was or what they could find in there, so they asked the little thief Serafina to sneak in and report back what she saw. After what felt like a very long time but it was only a few minutes, Serafine came back of the cave reporting of two chained wolves in a room right at the entrance but nothing much else because going further the cave was so dark and she couldn’t see much except for the river that kept going inside the cave.
They all went into the first room with the chained wolves. They managed to be stealthy enough not to alert the wolves except Smippeth, who stumbled down making noise, alerting the wolves. They started snarling and pulling the chains. A few unsuccessful tentatives were made by Smippeth to try and calm the animals down without having to kill them, but the wolves were so aggressive. Eventually she poisoned one of them. The other managed to loosen the chain from the wall before having his head ungracefully smashed by the paladin’s mace.
No goblin rushed out, so the guess was that they were used to the barking and snarling of the wolves and they did not pay any attention to it.
In the wall next to where the wolves were chained there was a narrow opening that went up. At the base of the opening there was lots of rubble and dirt. That opening may have led somewhere but only Smippeth and Serafina could actually fit in there so they decided to go all ahead on the main passage.
The main passage climbed steeply upwards. In the shadows, they saw a side passage across the other side of the stream. Smippeth, the only one that could see in the dark, told the others that not much further she saw a wooden bridge crossing over the main passage, twenty feet above the floor, connecting another passage. She saw a guarding goblin on the bridge.
There was a roaming sound of a waterfall coming from somewhere deeper inside the cavern, the source of the stream.
The best thing would have been to shoot an arrow at that goblin but, oh well, the only member of the party with darkvision didn’t have any ranged weapon! Should they all have given up and left and adventured elsewhere? No, they did the most insensate thing ever, They split. The two little ones, the halfling carrying a lantern, climbed up the side passage across the stream, ending up in what could have easily been the breakroom of the goblin’s cave. Three goblins were just there. So the two little ones just ran away on the bridge.
The other three lit a candle each and tried to go under the bridge. Two humans, one of whom heavily armored, and a giant dragonborn. Carrying a candle. In a goblin cave. In hindsight, not the best choice they ever made!
Obviously the goblin on the bridge saw them, and didn’t even bother attacking them, he just ran away, probably alerting other goblins.
While Morgan, Sebastian and Even kept walking upwards through the tunnel, a huge flood of water rushed down from above. The two humans managed to grab some rocks on the wall and they lost their candle but they were not washed away. The dragonborn was not so lucky and he found himself soaked, back at the cave entrance. The bard and the paladin, after the water flood had passed, could see a dimly lit cave with one empty pool and another filled pool of water. The goblins had built rock dams to control the flow of water coming from a loud waterfall on the eastern wall. Two goblins were just next to the first empty pool (they opened the dam to try and wash away all the intruders). Without any hesitation, Yarrick mauled the first goblin next to him. Two more goblins are at the other end of the cave, one of them presumably the same one that was on the bridge and just warned the other three. Morgan plays her sleep melody and two of them just fall asleep.
Even reached the two humans, panting but ready to fight.
After a few seconds Serafina and Smippeth also arrived, just in time to hear: “I’d spit on you, but you’re so filthy no one would be able to tell the difference” said out loud by the bard, in an attempt to emotionally crush the remaining non-sleeping goblin. With the help of the druid, the second goblin was killed, his face sucked away. It was then the turn of the two asleep goblins, that got their head smashed by the paladin.
After a short rest to recover some energy, the group went to check the goblin bedroom. Nothing there except dirt and the smell of filthy animals. At the other end of the room there was a steep natural staircase going up to another portion of the cave. There was no trace of the three goblins initially seen by the gnome and the halfling, but they had to be nearby. The group adventured on the staircase. At the top of it there was another small cave room. They all saw 2 big cages holding two prisoners. One of the prisoners is clearly Sildar, even if he is severely injured and almost dead. The other one is a tiefling, apparently without a scratch. The three goblins were there, one of them bigger than the others, could have been the goblin leader. It was this big one that grabbed the cage holding Sildar and moved it over the edge of the room, next to the stairs.
<<Who is captain?>>
Everybody, for some unknown reason, pointed at the bard.
<<I want captain. You kill Klarg. Kill captain. I don’t kill human. I want be captain. Deal?>>
So, this goblin was not the leader but he wanted to be the leader and just asked the group to kill the actual captain so he could take his place. He would free the prisoner in exchange.
Morgan agreed but Serafina came forward and tried to negotiate to release at least the tiefling prisoner since he was not hurt and could be useful in the killing of the captain. She was very convincing so the tiefling was released.
There was not much time for pleasantries, the new guy seemed like he could be a good aid in battle, so off they went to find the actual goblin boss in the back of the cave. They found him in the room adjacent to the pools cave. It was a bugbear, a big goblinoid kind of creature, with two regular goblins behind him and a wolf next to him. They were easily taken out by the group, which was becoming more skilled by the hour. In that cave they found the goblin’s stash.
In addition to some money they found some nice healing potions and a few crates with the symbol of Lionshield Coster, a trading post in Phandalin. They also tried to look for the missing map.
The adventurers went back to the wannabe boss goblin that was still holding Sildar hostage, and managed to get Sildar released. He was pretty beaten up but still alive. He refused to give much explanation. He was clearly in a rush to go back to Phandalin and he did not know where his partner Sildar was. He only knew that the goblins took both of them after killing their horses but they were separated.
They got the Lionshield crates out of the cave and back to the cart they left on the side of the road. Unfortunately they only recovered half of the supplies but the cart itself and the oxen were in good shape. So they loaded the new crates on the cart and started back to Phandalin.