The battle against the remaining two goblins went both better and worse than expected. No longer underestimating their monstrous strength and toughness his next ambush started out better. Unfortunately, the second goblin sounded the alarm right away bringing the third goblin to join the fight. Utilizing his Hasten ability he was able to defeat them with overwhelming speed but it still took more effort than he wanted. Even the one glancing blow from the club had caused a ton more damage than he expected. He was even worried his arm might have been fractured. But after retreating several hours away to camp for the night he was as good as new the next day. Sleeping allowed him to heal from, so far, every wound but it wasn't like he could run off and take a power nap after every fight either.
Rather than rushing he spent the next few days scouting out the goblins. On top of leveling up his stealth skill, he learned a lot about their habits. They emerged from a single tunnel entrance that always had two guards. These unlike the others these guards had what looked like a leather cuirass, hide shields, and machete-like swords. Best he could tell there were four of them that rotated.
Three goblins would come out twice a day to make rounds. Hoping to find a route he could set up ambushes on he found that they were highly unorganized. Some would come out and once out of the line of sight of the tunnel would just camp out, never leaving until it was time to return to the cave. Others would camp for a while before making a patrol similar to the first group. A few did come out and go straight to patrolling but there didn't seem to be any set route. Just wandering around near the tunnel area.
He'd butchered the three corpses from his first ambush hoping to get something good but instead, he just got Goblin Meat. It did at least get rid of the corpses and as far as he could tell the missing patrol didn't seem to raise much suspicion. That said other than the patrols no other goblins came out, no raiding parties or shipments. They had a few basic traps set for animals which did catch a few smaller things like fanged rabbits and eight legged squirrels the size of small dogs. But even if he hadn't stolen their kills from them, and leaving the traps triggered but emptied just to annoy them, he didn't think it would have been enough to support them.
Best he could figure there were fifteen patrolling goblins and the four guards. He'd seen a few of them eating and they always seemed ravenous. So he kept expecting them to head out for more supplies, yet they continued the same routine even after he started ambushing them slowly. On the fourth day, he managed to ambush and kill two more goblins. While the fifth day he managed to get a full three wiping out an entire patrol.
Slowly he was getting used to fighting against humanoids. Their use of weapons was completely different from fighting the Antger or the Conri. Plus they were as tough as the Conri though thankfully not as fast. His once a day use of Hasten was utilized both days to get him an easy kill or two in the case of the second day. This helped him further increase his skills bringing both Spear Proficiency and Thrust to level nine while his stats started slowly creeping up again.
On the sixth day, the patrols changed from three goblins to five. They were far more cautious and never went off solo. There were always two or three of them together. During that time he continued to empty their traps and did his best to learn more about them. Oddly enough he was starting to pick up bits of their language. Understanding from the contents of their actions, body language and simply hearing the same grunts repeatedly allowed him to start making sense of them. Considering he'd always been more of a math brain and struggled with languages it was a bit surprising.
"Perhaps it is because of increasing my intelligence? I don't exactly feel smarter. I just feel like I'm able to process things faster but this could be part of it. I'm so glad I decided to round out my character instead of my normal min max style."
The enhanced patrols ended up having a second benefit. Since he wasn't able to ambush them like before he chose to do more scouting of the plateau. Hoping his growing stealth abilities would keep him from being spotted he looped around to scale the plateau a bit. While the Red Rock Plateau was small in the grand scheme of things it did rise a good hundred and twenty feet up and there were plenty of ridges and ledges around.
It was up on one of these, a good eighty feet above the forest, that he found a second entrance hidden from below. The cave was only about ten feet deep with a hole that disappeared down into the darkness. With the light from the cave entrance, he inspected the hole.
"Tool marks. This one is cut into the stone." He ran his fingers over the weathered rim of the hole. "Hmm, I think. Wait, how do I even know that...Intelligence again maybe? If I come up with a catch phrase I might even become a great detective. Hopefully, I don't need to turn into a kid and wear a bow tie though." Sniffing he also breathed in the scent of wood smoke. At three feet wide it was big enough for him to head down but it was pitch black below. Chewing on his lip for a while he decided to store his spear in his inventory and started the descent.
Working his way slowly down the shaft was actually easier than he expected. It was still shocking how different his body had become in the short time he'd spent in the new world. Still, he went slowly while stopping often to listen to strange sounds that could be faintly made out from below. After what felt like forever and he was sure was enough time to get him all the way back down to the ground floor his feet brushed against a set of bars below him.
Below the grate there appeared to be an empty fireplace. A grate in the back of the fireplace, allowed smoke and faint sounds to trickle in. For a long time, he sat there listening, trying to stretch his senses out to the room beyond the fireplace. As the minutes passed he was pretty sure nothing was in the room below but the grate was stopping him from proceeding.
"The smart thing to do would be to get out of here. Getting caught in this chimney would be suicide. But going back feels like quitting." He muttered quietly to himself before taking a deep breath and holding it as he gave a tentative kick to the grating below him. He felt the metal give a bit but once again froze. Focusing on his senses until his ears started to ring he slowly let out his held breath after sensing nothing. Taking another breath he gave a stronger kick still trying to be quiet. As the metal gave he put his weight into it and pushed against it while bracing his arms on the chimney wall.
Slowly it started to move and then suddenly the grate shot down to rattle against the stone fireplace. Yanking up his feet as they dropped below into the fireplace he again held his breath. Listening to the room and even the faint sounds coming from the next shaft. He waited for what felt like hours before with another deep breath he dropped down into the fireplace. Landing in a crouch he summoned his spear into his grip and stared into the dark room ahead.
The room wasn't completely dark as a phosphorescent moss streaked one of the walls. Still, it didn't help much and he strained his eyes looking for any movement. The decent sized room was completely empty, devoid of even furniture. From his inventory, he called his light wisp. It was a gift from Dego before they parted as payment for his help hunting the Antgers. For one hour a day, it would follow him around lighting the area in a pale silvery light. It was far from bright but better than the moss and besides too bright of a light would have made it stand out more than it already did. For now, it hovered just above his head providing enough light to confirm the room was empty. Only a single door across from the fireplace led out of the room. Approaching it he reached up to cover the wisp before slowly opening it a crack.
*********
Grawmaw'nagul the ninth demon lord's general was a towering eight foot tall muscular humanoid. He lacked horns most people expected from a demon and his skin was pitch black instead of red. From the top of his head flowing down his back were quills similar to those of a porcupine. Powerful talons instead of finger nails tipped his fingers and his legs were reverse joined like the hind legs of a dog complete with a wicked dew claw.
His smile was something out of nightmares as rows of needle-like fangs protruded in multiple directions. Right now that smile was strained as he ran one clawed finger down the ancient iron bars of the cell causing a thin bit of the metal to curl away. He'd waited nearly a week since his last visit to let the fairy stew in her own despair, solitude could be its own type of torture. Looking down he could see the trails her fingers had left in the dust reaching for the now rotting apple that despite her efforts, she had been unable to acquire. She was more gaunt than before, her dress further ruined and soiled. Her lips were chapped with thirst but her eyes were still just as defiant as before. "Have you considered my offer princess? Pledge to be my subordinate and I will treat you well. It would be in my own good interests after all." She refused to reply just glaring at him defiantly. "Perhaps you would prefer to be my bride? Once you give yourself to me I could even let you go. Isn't that true? Only I would have the power to break our bond then, true? It is a good deal for you. Or if you prefer you could stay as mine." With a cruel laugh, he kicked the rotten apple towards her. "See I am such a generous provider."
Hatred filled her gaze as looked at him and hunger when she glanced at the rotten fruit but made no move towards it. "Very well. You will make up your mind soon or we will help you. I can't have you dying on me now can I. We will see how long your defiance lasts once the fun starts." Turning away he left his prisoner to her solitude and fears. He was surprised she had lasted so long. Most likely it was her power helping her, just thinking about it made him want it for himself even more.
Once she was sure the demon was away she reached out plucking the sticky rotten apple out of the dirt. With more effort than she expected she allowed a bit of vitality to fill the fruit turning the spoiled thing into a healthy apple once again. Ignoring the dirt she ate the apple whole, including the core and even the stem. Her stomach hurt from the first meal she'd had since being taken captive but she didn't care. She knew she was getting weak and it was only a matter of time. "Why hasn't anyone come to save me. Mother?" She rested her head on the top of her knees and would have shed tears if she had the moisture left. Even the Vitality of Summer couldn't sustain her much longer.
*********
Beyond the doorway lead to a stone hall just as dark as the fireplace room had been, save the same streaks of glowing moss. One way led to a dead end where the ceiling had collapsed, dropping tons of rubble into the path. As best as he could tell it was far from a recent collapse.
In the other direction, he found a set of stairs leading down to a heavy solid metal portcullis. Even if it was rusted the door seemed solid and next to it on the wall was a crank wheel he assumed would raise the barrier. Pressing his ear to the door he listened intently but after only hearing his own heart beat he moved his attention to the crank.
Discovering nothing from his simple investigation he shrugged and gave it a tentative pull. He expected it to be stuck or groan in protest of his attempt. Instead, it slowly rotated causing the door to shift and rise. Dust and rust fell free from the door as the wheel locked against the first notch in the gear. Once he was sure the wheel wasn't going to release he moved down to peek through the narrow gap at the bottom. More darkness and silence greeted him from beyond. "Ugh, this seems too easy. If I was smart I'd retreat now… But the quest said there was treasure… damn my greed." He stood up and started slowly working the wheel raising the portcullis.
Even stopping several times to make sure the coast truly was clear he managed to raise the barrier in less time than expected. Once he made sure he knew how to close the barrier again he headed into the hallway beyond. His path was longer than he expected, the hallway seemed to go on for ages. Several times he found other doorways with their doors broken apart. Inspecting the scenes much of the damage looked recent but each room was as empty as the one upstairs had been. Unless you counted the occasional pile of feces there were no other signs of the goblins using any of the rooms. After dozens of empty rooms, the hallway turned sharply before finally coming to a split. In one direction he could faintly make out the flicker of fire light around a corner and the grunting sounds of goblins. Only more darkness and silence awaited in the other direction. Listening to the goblins he was able to pick out enough words to understand they were discussing the missing patrols. Several times he heard what sounded like a name, Grawmaw'nagul, mentioned. It stood out because each time it was sad their harsh tones carried a mix of fear and reverence. After a brief internal debate, he headed down the dark path away from the goblins. After all, he wasn't here to kill them, only to scout and if possible snag something useful with minimum risk. While he crept silently down the corridor four pairs of eyes watched him from their hiding spot before scurrying away to report what they had seen.