The Beginning: Zigil-Dûm

Erlanger grumbles to himself while he quickly places his pistol back in the holster. He bends down, picks up three stones, and speaks an incantation while imbuing the rocks with magic. Taking aim at the goblin directly in front of him, he chucks the rock at the goblin's head.

Attack: 18
Damage: 4

Thrazar sees a goblin step right in front of him. He takes his pick, already dripping with goblin blood and takes another swipe (Goblin #3)

Attack: 18
Damage: 10

Though Drannar looks poised to land a crushing revenge blow to the final goblin, Erlanger urgently shouts,

wait! Don't crush his skull just yet, Drannar. Let's see if it knows anything useful.  If not, then crush its skull.  Grab him!

Drannar hears Erlanger's plea. And for a second he relaxes a bit. Maybe listening to what this Gobbo has to say is the smart thing to do.

But then he feels the sting of the freshly opened wound in his side, warm blood flowing down his leg. The final goblin running screaming towards him, mouth wide open with horribly crooked teeth.
The stench of goblin hangs fresh in the air.

Before he even realizes it his fists clench around the handle of his maul, still resting on the remains of the previous Goblin. He swings his hammer towards the goblin's groin in an upward arch while screaming.

RAAAAAHHHHHH!

Code:

attack: 25 to hit, 16 dmg

Erlanger pockets the remaining stones and removes his pistol from the holster once more. He spends a moment clearing the jammed ammunition and places it back again. He then walks over to the newly crushed goblin, cradles its skull and places another hand under its jaw.

Tell me what you know you disgusting creature, where are our dwarven friends!

Now moving the goblin's jaw like a marionette, Erlanger says in a high pitched voice,

I'm not telling you nothing you stinkin' dwarf

Now shaking the goblin corpse, Erlanger says

we'll put you in a world of hurt if you don't talk!

Again in the high pitched voice, Erlanger says

ok, ok, I'll tell you what you want to know. Just don't hurt me.

Erlanger chucks the body on the ground and sifts through its pockets.

Perception: 16

After launching the final goblin into the air, but without waiting for its corpse to fall back to the ground, Darann drops to one knee, places his maul in front of him, head down, and closes his eyes.
He speaks a prayer.

Mighty Tyr, we thank you for guiding our hands in battle, in your name we have delivered swift justice upon this goblin filth invading our lands

As he opens his eyes again, he notices the two meaty lumps lying on the ground in front of him, he spits on them and swipes them off the bridge with his gauntlet.

Darann turns around and sees Erlanger having a conversation with the remains of the last Goblin.
Feeling slightly guilty he sheepishly asks.

So .... euh ... Erlanger. Get any good information out of that one?

Erlanger replies to Darann,

He said he likes fetid cheese and feces sandwiches, or at least that's what he smells like.

He spits on the ground and wipes his face with his jacket sleeve.

Did you guys see the look the last goblin gave before he was turned into goo? He looked to me like he wanted to run away but something down the hall was more terrifying than us.

Erlanger removes a cigar from his pocket, lights the end and takes a few puffs.

This mission just might get a little interesting.

Darann produces a smile, which turns into a painful grimace as he feels a sharp sting from the wound in his side.

More scary then us? I think he made a mistake because there is nothing more scary then us down here.

Darann squints his eyes.

Unless it's Orcs, if there is one thing I hate more then Goblins it's Orcs .... I bet it's dirty no-good bloody Orcs!

You do have good instincts. There probably are orcs.

Erlanger tears off the tip of the cigar and tosses it into the lava. He then pockets the remainder.

Let us go kill some orcs!

Darann uses the rags that remain of the clothes of one of the Goblins to remove the worst of the Goblin goo from his maul.
He looks at Erlanger and says

Me mighty maul has never tried Orc before ... but she's looking forward to getting a taste

He then turns towards Thrazar and Gunderson

What say you fellows: shall we push on and see if we can still save our brethren!?

Sure. You guys push on forward. I'll be right behind you.

Darann nods

It's good to know you have our backs Gunderson

Thrazar smiles and cleans the goblin blood from his pick.

Killing more things? Count me in. Let's keep moving.

The party steps over the mangled corpses and across the bridge, into the gaping mouth of the next mine tunnel. The tunnel becomes more crude as they decent further. Now and then, a faint, hollow growl can be heard from within the walls. You all know it's coming from an air shaft, so nothing that can be done about whatever is in there.

After half an hour of walking, the occasional corpse appears on the road, first goblins, ripped to shreds by what looks like razorsharp teeth. Eventually, the previous party can be found near an entrance. The only way to identify them as being the patrol of guards, is the dented and battered shields and the shredded pieces of scrap clothing with half an insignia on. Whatever it is that did all this killing and maiming must be beyond this entrance.

When they reach the first Goblin corpse, Darann kneels beside it and beckons over Erlanger. He points at the teeth marks on the dead body.

Erlanger, you are clearly a man of science. Can you tell me what could possibly make marks like that?

When they arrive at the entrance where the previous patrol got slain, Darann utters the words

By Tyr, our brethren mauled and slain! Those orcs are gonna pay for this atrocity!

He quickly looks around to see if there is an immediate danger and takes his maul from his back to make sure he is ready for any incoming attacks.
He then searches the remains for any means of identification.

Code:

perception: 5
investigation: 6

Erlanger kneels next to Darann. He also looks at the goblin body in front of him and then glances at the dwarf bodies.

Such a shame what happened to our brothers. What in Avernus could do this indeed?!

Erlanger studies the teeth marks.

Darann, come here a moment, I think I may have an idea what did this.

Perception: 17

The placement of the marks make it clear they're from teeth chomping down and ripping away, yet the shape of each tooth looks more as if it's a stab of a knife. Due to his long time spent tinkering with various materials, Erlanger notices faint traces of iron in the bite marks. He concludes it looks like some creature with iron, knife-like teeth chewed these poor souls up.

The five dwarves who died here are well known to all of you. Some of you studied alongside them, others amongst you drank ale with them in the tavern. You know one guard has a ring with the family seal he always wore. Another one always carried a heirloom axe with him. A third always wore the first metal clip his daughter ever made, right in his beard. It had: "Love you daddy" etched in one side, and the kid's name, in notably different handwriting on the other. The fourth could never be separated of a personalized mug, and the fifth wore a steel eyepatch, encrusted with a fiery ruby.

You look for and gather these personal belongings.

For now, the outside of the entrance seems relatively safe. It has been a while since the faint, hollow growl last has been heard. There, however, is a rather loud growl that sometimes comes from inside the entrance.

Gunderson sidles up to Horryl Mighthand and surreptitiously slips the steel eyepatch off from around his head and pockets it. In a rush of emotion, Gunderson forgets to hide his movements from the others. Seeing them notice him, Gunderson blushes and wipes a tear from his eye.

I gave him the ruby to decorate his ugly patch after a night of...

Gunderson trails off and lets the rest of the sentence fill with the unfinished innuendo.

It always touched me that he kept wearing it all these years. Don't tell anyone else... Horry never wanted anyone to know.

Darann puts a hand on Gunderson's shoulder in a comforting manner.

Aye, I have also spent many a night drinking and conversing with me mates until the early hours. I am sure Horryl's wife would have given him hell if she knew what he was up to in the middle of the night when she thought he was working overtime again. But good friends always watch each other's ass. Isn't that right Gunderson.

Darann holds a battered axe in his hand and lifts it a little higher. It is ornately decorated with runes and engravings.

Like the owner of this axe right here. less than a fortnight ago I spent some time in the tavern with old Bardohr Silverstorm. He was going on and on about his upcoming retirement. How he would finally get to spend some more time with his grandchildren. He was going to give this mighty axe to his eldest son. A symbol that he was now the leader of the family.

Darann sighs and attaches the axe to his belt.

I will make sure this heirloom will find it's way to Bardohr's son. That's what the old goat would have wanted.

Thrazar looks down at his fallen comrades. He's sad, but like a volcano, feels anger bubble to the surface.

The best way we can pay our respects to these lads is to kill that what done this to them. Be on your guard men, something nasty lies ahead.

Darann looks at Thrazar and nods, then he peers into the entrance.

Aye Thrazar, ye be right. There will be time for grieving later. Right now it's clobbering time!

Darann grabs his maul, and you see his knuckles turn white from squeezing the handle with all his might.

Guys, check this out, there's some teeth marks but there's more...

Erlanger trails off when he looks up to see the other dwarves mourning their brothers.

Did Gunderson just imply that he was shtupping Horryl?!  I guess now I won't feel so bad about what I have been doing to his wife.

Erlanger chuckles to himself and then clears his throat remembering the gruesome scene surrounding him.  He removes his cap and says a prayer to Dugmaren Brightmantle before putting it back on and standing up.

Ahem.  So, I was studying these teeth marks and I realized that it's more akin to a dagger stab than actual teeth.  I think that whatever, or whatevers, did this has iron on their teeth.  Very lethal indeed.