The following sunrise found the party back at that same table eating breakfast and trying to plan out the day. They wanted to participate in some of the Verdance Day celebrations but they also wanted to immediately start hunting for whatever the goblins had been digging. They decided to split up the day. They would stay in town until lunch and then head out to hunt for the dungeon.
After breakfast they walked over to the town square to find about two dozen booths set up with folks selling various items. Daw, one of the town guards, was walking down the street and saw them and walked over to talk to them, “It’s not much of a celebration this year. Normally we have nearly three times as many booths and decorations on the buildings. Some of the folks wanted to cancel the celebration all together but the mayor insisted that we needed it. I think she was right.”
Arden nodded, “It’s always important to give people something to take their minds off their worries.”
“Exactly!” Daw replied. “Well, I’m going to continue my patrol. But you be sure to check out the fourth booth on the right up there. That’s Ms. Tizita and she’s selling bowls of wat with injera. Give it a try and thank me later.”
As Daw wandered off, the party looked to one another, shrugged and went to go meet Ms Tizita.
The morning passed with the party meeting far more people than they had thus far in their time in Wildemill. And for once, people seemed to be somewhat friendly. There were planting rituals where some of the townspeople planted gardens or trees, symbolizing the growth hoped for. A band played while some folks did some sort of interpretive dance. The party didn’t understand it but a bystander explained that it was to mimic the flow of nature, from the gentle sway of growing plants to the lively bursts of blooming flowers.
They tried a number of different foods and even bought a few odds and ends from the townsfolk. The mayor came and got the party and lead them to the shrine, explaining that part of the celebration was to make offerings to the gods, honoring them and seeking their blessing for the season ahead. Of course no one else was at the shrine, though there were a couple offerings already there so evidently some folks in town still worshiped the gods.
It was near lunchtime when they left the shrine but no one was hungry so they grabbed their packs and headed out of town to go dungeon hunting. Hazel insisted on keeping Ewan with them this time. A guard named Jerome was at the north gate and reminded the party of the feast and lighting of lanterns that would happen later.
The party spent the next few hours just wandering around the forest east of the village. They were all in a good mood and not trying to be quiet in the least. They played games with Ewan and generally just enjoyed their time together. Arlo and Twix ran around playing with one another and chasing whatever they came across. Willow even turned into her bear form and let Ewan ride on her back for a bit. Hazel kept casting various spells to drain her mana so that she could use her [Mana Recovery] class ability.
Before they realized it, the sun was starting to set and they had wandered quite a ways from the village. They took a moment to get their bearings and started back toward the village going a more direct path then what they had been on.
With less than an hour of sunlight remaining Arlo suddenly started sniffing around in circles and growling.
“Willow, what’s he smelling?” Nolan asked
“He said he smells goblins.”
“Equip armor,” Arden ordered while triggering his preset to equip his own. He then made a throwing motion and set a few light orbs floating around them. “It’s getting a bit dim out here for my human eyes,” he said as he toss up a few light orbs. “Everyone line up about six or so feet apart and let's walk forward in a line looking for any tracks.”
The party fanned out, and started to walk. They had gone about about forty feet when Hazel tripped and fell.
“A whole new world, and you’re still clumsy?” Arden joked
“I guess so,” Hazel said, smiling as she stood back up.
“What did you trip over?” Nolan asked as he knelt down and inspected the area. “Uh, guys. I think Hazel found something.”
Everyone gathered around as Nolan lifted what looked like a cover made of interwoven tree limbs revealing a sloping tunnel under it. It hadn’t covered the entire hole and Hazel’s foot slipped into the gap.
Arlo walked up and put his head the in the tunnel, and started growling.
“He says there are goblins in there,” Willow said with concern in her voice.
“Did they find the dungeon core under ground?” Arden asked.
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Hazel shook her head, “I don’t think so. I’m still able to absorb mana from the area without any issue.”
“Shit!” exclaimed Nolan. “That means they’re tunneling under the wall and into the village. I’d bet all the gold I have on it.”
“Surely not,” Arden said in disbelief. “We’ve got to be a couple miles from the village aren’t we?”
“A few years back, smugglers dug a tunnel from Mexico into the US that was nearly a mile long. And that was without magic,” Nolan stated.
“Someone hop in the tunnel and see if it’s big enough for us to follow,” Arden directed.
Hazel volunteered and quickly learned the tunnel wasn't even four feet tall.
“Arlo says he can fit.” Willow announced.
“By himself?” asked Arden
“I guess. He wants to go.”
“Tell him to go until the tunnel levels out or he loses contact with you. Let’s walk above the tunnel as he goes.”
With that Arlo took off down the tunnel and the party followed above ground. There were a few times were the tunnel curved but Willow was able to keep them on track. By the time Willow motioned for them to stop, they had moved another four hundred feet. “Arlo said it just now leveled out. He’s pretty deep now. Probably more than fifty feet down.”
“Does he see, hear, smell anything close to him?” Nolan asked
“No sir.”
“I’m not sure what to do here, folks. I don’t want Arlo to make contact with the goblins. But we kinda need his and Willow’s connection to know where the tunnel leads.”
“Willow, tell Arlo to sneak down the tunnel slowly and to stop if it starts to rise up or if he detects anyone close to him.” Nolan advised. “But ask him to please go slow.”
Willow passed on the instructions and they continued to follow the direwolf from above ground. Soon the sun had completely set and the party was exiting the forest into the killing field outside of town.
“Tell Arlo to stop. It’s obvious the tunnel is heading under the town,” Arden ordered. “Willow, can you move enough dirt to open up the tunnel so that we can get Arlo out without having to back track?”
“It’ll take me a few minutes, but I can.”
It took nearly half an hour to move enough dirt to reach Arlo and make a ramp for him to be able to climb out. Once Arlo was out they all started running toward the village, hoping they weren’t too late.
As they got to the gate, they saw Daw and Simon standing watch. “Fellas, do you know where Christi is?” Arden asked
Simon just glared at the party but Daw answered, “I assume she’s at home. The celebration ended about an hour ago. You all missed the feast and lantern lighting.”
“Apologies for that Daw. Can one of you go and let Christi know that we just found a goblin tunnel leading under the eastern wall? It seems the goblins are trying to tunnel into the village. We’re not sure where it comes out, though.”
The guards just looked at the group as if they were crazy before Simon spoke up, “You're asking this time? You're not going trip me again when I try to do my job?"
Arden stepped forward toward Simon and answered in a flat voice, "If I hadn't tripped you that time, my daughter and her wolf would have ripped you apart. I'll not apologize to you for saving your life. But if you're so petty, that you're willing to let your home be invaded just out of spite, maybe I should go apologize to the village for not letting you die."
Daw, seeing Simon biting off more than he could chew, spoke up, "We'll get your message to the guard captain. Good luck in your search."
Arden thanked Daw and lead his group into town, straining his senses to the limit hoping to see, smell, or hear something.
“Girls, are those half elven eyes picking up anything we’re not?” Nolan asked.
“No. The lanterns they hung for the celebration are helping a lot but there’s nothing to see.” Hazel answered as she set Ewan on Arlo’s back.
“I hate to say it, but I think we’re going to need to split the party,” Arden said.
“Come on, man. You know you should never split the party,” Nolan said.
“Then we need to walk faster or something. We’re not going to find” Arden is cut off by the sound of a man’s scream a few blocks away. The party started running toward the sound. After a couple empty streets, they finally rounded a corner and saw a man lying on the ground crying while hugging his midsection.
Nolan ran ahead and started healing the man. By the time the others arrived, the wounds in the man's midsection had closed up and he was taking deep breaths trying to regain his composure.
"What happened," Hazel asked.
"Kids jumped out of the dark and stabbed me, then ran away." Wobbling a bit, the man stood and looked at Nolan, "Thank you for healing me, but you didn't have to sober me up, too."
"Apologies sir. Please go on home and lock your doors and windows," Nolan told him.
As the man walked away, both Twix and Arlo hit on a scent and followed it into a empty alley. With nothing to see, the party went back to patrolling the town looking for any sign of the goblins. Three streets later, Willow called out. The rest of the party turned to see that she had taken a few steps into an alley and was now surrounded by 3 goblins. As they ran toward Willow, the goblins broke and ran further in the alley. Willow managed to catch one with her staff but the other two seem to almost vanish.
“They’re trying to separate us. Pick us off one at a time.” Nolan said in a bitter tone. “Good thing we didn’t split up.” Arden bobbed his head and took the chastising.
“Should we chase them further into the alley?” Hazel asked
Before anyone could answer, the sound of two wolves snarling and a goblin screaming rang out from up the street. The party ran back out of the alley and saw Arlo, Twix, Ewan, and another man all surrounded by goblins about 25 yards down the street.