The first thing Jax noticed as he reached the battlements was that the hobgoblin on watch was still alive. The creature's chest rose and fell faintly, a sign of life. Calis stood nearby, her eyes fixed on the stairway. The party rested comfortably atop the tower, their temporary perch secure.

As Jax watched, Calis crept toward the stairwell and shot a series of rapid hand signs back at the group. Jax didn’t understand her gestures, but Nia quickly translated.

“She says her people are going to take the walls. She’s asking us to descend the tower and secure it. Try not to make too much noise,” Nia whispered.

Jax nodded to Jerg and Derg before inching toward the stairwell. Before he could step inside, the mercenaries vaulted over the edge of the tower, drifting silently down to the walls to begin their work.

Jax turned back to the stairwell, a dark, gaping hole in the floor of the tower. A faint torchlight glow flickered from below. The two large Gong followed close behind him, hunching down as they crammed into the narrow stairwell.

Jax led the way down the stairwell, each step slow and deliberate. The absence of a railing made the descent precarious, and the faint torchlight from below threw flickering shadows on the rough stone walls. He glanced over his shoulder. Nia’s drifted silently behind him, a faint shimmering presence that was overshadowed by the other light. The two Gong, Jerg and Derg, crouched awkwardly to fit the cramped stairwell, their weight causing the wooden steps to creak ominously. At the rear of the group, Drell moved with practiced stealth, his eyes darting nervously downward.

The group paused halfway down when the next floor came into view. From their vantage point, they could see into a large, torchlit room about ten feet below. Ten hobgoblins occupied the space. Seven were seated around a crude wooden table in the center, playing some sort of card game, their gravelly laughter and muttered curses punctuating the clink of mugs and shuffling of cards. Three others were scattered around the room: one leaned against a wall, nursing a drink, while the other two stood near the table, observing the game and occasionally commenting on the play.

Jax turned back to the group, his hand raised for silence. Nia floated closer, her translucent form almost invisible in the dim light.

"They're distracted for now, but if we don't plan this carefully, they'll raise an alarm," she said into his mind.

Jerg’s massive hands gripped his club tightly as he willed his voice at them. "Smash 'em all at once? Quick and clean."

Derg nodded in agreement, but Jax frowned, shaking his head. "No, too noisy. If there's another group nearby, they'll hear."

Jax glanced at Nia. "Can you scout further ahead? See if there’s anyone else nearby?"

The spirit nodded and phased silently through the floor, vanishing into the room below. Jax was surprised he didn't actually know she could do that.

Jax turned back to the group. "We wait for Nia's report. Then we move—quietly. No smashing unless we have no choice. Jerg, Derg, stay behind me. Drell, stick to the shadows. If we time this right, they won’t even know what hit them."

The group nodded in agreement, tense but ready. A faint, low hum of energy began to emanate from Jax's enchanted glasses, sharpening his grayscale vision as he focused on the scene below.

Moments later, Nia reappeared, her form flickering faintly. "It’s clear beyond this room," she said. "No reinforcements nearby."

Jax tightened his grip on his axe. "Alright," he whispered. "We do this fast and quiet. Let’s move."

The group descended the remaining steps, the faint sounds of their breathing and the creak of wood drowned out by the hobgoblins’ rowdy game. Jax took a deep breath. This was it.

Jax took a moment, steadying his breath. He drew his seax, its long blade reflecting the dim torchlight, and his dagger, its smaller, wickedly sharp edge glinting. His gaze locked onto the largest of the hobgoblins. It towered over the others, its broad shoulders hunched as it leaned over the table. The creature's fur, once gray, was matted and stained deep red, as if it had been dyed in blood—a grim trophy of countless battles. Its face was a mask of scars, with one eye covered by a crude metal plate. The hobgoblin's muscular arms bulged beneath its patchwork armor, and beside it rested a massive, spiked club that looked capable of shattering stone.

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Jax glanced at his companions. Each had already chosen their targets. With a brief pause, Jax crouched and handed one of his knives to Drell, the goblin’s eager grin flashing in the faint light.

Nia shimmered faintly and darted downward, her incorporeal form slipping soundlessly through the floor. Below, the hobgoblin leader grunted, slamming its cards on the table in triumph, oblivious to the ghostly figure approaching its side. With a swift motion, Nia flicked her hand, and the club resting by the leader’s chair lifted into the air and vanished, pulled into her intangible grasp.

Before the hobgoblin could react, Nia extended her other hand. A faint, silvery light pulsed from her fingertips, spreading in a web-like pattern around the table. The hobgoblins seated there froze mid-motion, their feet stuck fast to the floor, as if rooted in place by invisible tendrils. Mugs clattered, cards fell from stiffened hands, and their laughter turned to startled shouts.

At the same instant, Jax sprang into action. He leaped over the edge of the stairwell, activating his Sneak Attack ability mid-air. The energy coursed through him, sharpening his senses and steadying his aim. His dagger spun from his hand, slicing through the air to bury itself in the throat of a hobgoblin standing near the wall. The creature dropped instantly, gurgling its last breath.

Jerg and Derg followed his lead, their enormous forms hurtling down from the stairwell. Each lobbed a fist-sized rock as they fell, their throws precise and devastating. The missiles smashed into two of the hobgoblins at the table, crushing skulls and sending lifeless bodies slumping forward.

Drell, quick as a shadow, darted from the stairwell's darkness, the knife Jax had given him flashing as it found its mark in the chest of a hobgoblin who had just begun to rise from its chair.

By the time Jax landed, the chaos had already claimed four lives. Before the hobgoblin leader could bark out orders, Jax, perched atop the table, lashed out with a brutal kick. His boot struck the leader square in the face, sending the hulking creature reeling backward. The red-furred hobgoblin staggered, but his feet refused to move, bound tightly by Nia’s enchantment. With a bellow of rage and frustration, he toppled to the floor, landing hard on his back, his scarred face contorted with fury.

The remaining goblins scrambled to respond. Two of them near the table exchanged panicked glances before making a break for the far end of the room, abandoning their companions. They shoved past chairs and overturned mugs in their haste, bolting toward the wooden door. One of them yanked on the handle, only to find it immovable.

“What? It’s locked!” one of them screeched, pulling at it desperately.

Nia shimmered into view, her spectral form materializing just above the door. "Leaving so soon?" she said in their minds, her voice dripping with mockery. She raised her hand, and a cascade of silvery sparks rained down on the fleeing goblins. They yelped, flinching from the harmless but dazzling display, momentarily stunned.

Behind them, Jerg and Derg wasted no time. The two Gong surged forward, their heavy footfalls shaking the ground. Jerg swung his spiked club with a vicious roar, caving in the skull of one hobgoblin who had been fumbling for his weapon. Derg hurled another fist-sized stone, striking the second in the chest with bone-crushing force. The goblin crumpled to the ground, motionless.

Now only four enemies remained: the red-furred leader, still writhing on the floor; the two goblins who had tried to flee, trembling by the door; and one goblin who stood frozen near the table, his hands raised high in surrender.

Jax narrowed his eyes, focusing on Drell, and activated the mental link they shared. “Tell them if they want to live, they need to drop their weapons and surrender.”

Drell nodded, his grin replaced by a serious expression. He stepped forward, his voice sharp and commanding as he relayed the message in the guttural hobgoblin tongue. The two near the door hesitated, glancing at each other nervously, their hands hovering over their weapons.

But the leader would not submit. With a furious growl, he rose from the floor, wrenching his feet free of the enchantment with brute strength. Blood dripped from his nose where Jax had struck him, and his yellowed teeth bared in a snarl. He lunged at Jax, swinging a massive fist where the club should have been.

Jax sidestepped easily, his movements fluid and precise, leaving the leader overextended and vulnerable. "You're done," Jax said coldly as he backed away.

Before the leader could recover, Jerg and Derg were on him. The two Gong attacked with unrelenting ferocity, Jerg’s spiked club smashing into the leader’s side while Derg’s fists rained down like hammer blows. The red-furred hobgoblin’s enraged roars turned to choking gasps as he fell under the brutal assault. Within moments, the leader lay still, his blood pooling on the stone floor.

The three remaining hobgoblins didn’t need further convincing. They dropped their weapons with a clatter, hands rising high in the air. One of them, trembling, muttered something in a pleading tone.

Drell turned to Jax. “They surrender.”

Jax nodded, wiping the blood from his seax. “Smart choice.” He stepped forward, his voice calm but firm. “You live for now" he threw a few sets of manacles he had purchased during their shopping spree at the cowering hobgoblins and said "Put these on, when we are done we will return" and then as they did the party began circling around the door ready to move to the next room.