Clayton to the group:
“Let’s find out what is going on. Besides, demons sounds interesting. Let’s go.”
Maxwell makes a small warding gesture with his free hand, unconsciously, then turns his head to the side and spits: a common superstitious gesture among sellswords.
“We have to get the horses back, I reckon, but let’s be cautious. My job is to get you two across the continent safely - not to chaperone a demon hunt.”
Moftar, over his shoulder: “Yes. Interesting. As in oh god oh god we’re all gonna die”
The group follows Cobar as he leads them toward the caves to the east. As the group pursues the horse thieves, the tracks become fresher. Cobar sees this as a sign that the thief is leading the horses on foot, not riding the animals, or the party would not be gaining on them.
Before long, the group is standing before an odd feature in the landscape. It’s a series of caves with both natural and dwarf-constructed openings. The dwarves that carved into the hill have been long lost to history, but their legacy remains.
Strangely, Cobar still sees no evidence of a goblin infestation in the area. The disgusting creatures would have left piles of refuse in their wake. There’s no way a filthy goblin hovel would have gone unnoticed.
“Turn back,” an ethereal voice speaks. All of the party can hear it. Everyone instinctively turns toward where they believe the sound came from, but nobody catches sight of the source. An uneasy feeling creeps over the group as they all realize that perhaps Moftar isn’t quite as crazy as he seems…
This is the critical point. Will curiosity get the better of the party? Will they enter the caves to search for the horse thief and the source of the mysterious voice, or cut their losses and leave?
Gerald levels a long gaze at Moftar, then appears to come to some internal decision. He turns to face the nearest cave entrance and shouts
“I take no orders from those who hide behind shadows! Show yourself, or be silent!”
Clayton starts walking forward.
“Let’s go into the caves.”
Am I correct in my interpretation that there is more than one single cave entrance here? If so, could you describe them in more detail, please? If not, just change the plurals in the following to the singular form. Thanks.
Moftar walks up to each cave entrance, and spends a few moments examining them; he waves his staff in an intricate pattern before the opening, he sprinkles pinches of herbs and powders about, and other forms of mystical mumbo-jumbo that don’t seem to make any logical sense. Then he moves on to the next entrance, and repeats the process; he seems to be searching for some reaction to his spell-casting (if it can be called that) before chosing an entrance.
He does NOT enter any cave yet, even if someone else does, just to be perfectly clear. 
Cobar surveys the area to see if he can figure out which cave, if any, the voice might have come from. As far as entering the caves is concerned, he will go along with whichever decision the party makes. They’re the ones with places to go, he’s just along to help them get their in one piece.
The “caves” are actually a combination of actual natural caves, and ancient dwarven mining tunnels, interconnected to become a structure combing both dwarven and natural elements.
Cobar will know that this is a pretty impressive (by human standards, not dwarven) network of tunnels. The cave/tunnels have several entrances, some of which are natural openings, and many of which were constructed and reinforced by dwarven hands. Each of the tunnels connects to the others at various points within the labyrinth.
Moftar’s hand-waving has no obvious effect. He can’t find any evidence of tripwires or other traps, and there certainly isn’t anyone outside. The only conclusion Moftar can reach is that the thief led the horses into the caves. It would be a tight squeeze for the animals, and the horses would surely resist being led into the dark and cramped tunnels, but there’s really no other explanation.
Cobar leads the party to a large cave mouth, the most likely entrance the thief would have used. As the group stands outside of the entrance, they can hear the echoing protest of one of the horses, whinnying from inside…
“Follow me,” Clayton says as he enters the cave.
Maxwell watches Clayton move into the cave and shakes his head. He turns to Cobar.
“That bow of yers won’t be much use when things get crowded. Stay behind me and to my right. Kick the back of my leg if you need to take a shot at something - I’ll get down and out of your way.”
He looks to the rest of the group.
“Once we make it past the first set’ve branches we run the risk of getting attacked from behind. Keep your eyes open and don’t stray from the group.”
With that, he hefts his shield, unsheathes his blade, and heads into the cave.
Cobar to Maxwell:
“Agreed. I’ll signal you if I need you out of the way. And if all else fails, I’ve got a nicely made dagger as backup. It’s good in a pinch.”
Cobar than follows behind Maxwell into the cave.
Feelin’ like the pace has slowed down quite a lot here; not entirely sure why. Weekdays maybe?
Moftar to Tasha and Gerald: “Fools rush in where angels (and demons) fear to tread; horses oft need to be led by the reins. Shall we also follow and find ourselves dead, or wait for our friends to come back out for brains?”
Tasha stumbles halfway after the group, incredulous they’re going into the caves, but looks back at Moftar. She shares his feelings on the matters. “You’re right, they’re crazy. Right? Going in there after the Voice spoke into our heads? This is crazy… but he said to follow…” Tasha takes a deep breath and runs after the group disappearing into the cave’s mouth, digging for a torch before catching up, making sure to follow just a little too close so as not to lose the group even for a moment.
Once she hits the cave threshold her voice automatically lowers to a whisper, anxiety making the words flow out in an almost incomprehensible blur. “The cave is fine, we are going to find the horses and leave, there are no demons, we are going to be fine, maybe there will be bats, bats are cute, bats are not demons, bats don’t eat horses…”
Maxwell and Clayton take the first, cautious steps into the caves, with Cobar next behind them. The rest of the group, who are less battle-hardened, follow them. The caves darken ominously the further they get from the entrance. Soon, the only light comes from Tasha’s torch, which casts flickering shadows all around them.
There are skittering noises from up ahead, and whispers nearly too faint to hear. The whispering is in a language none of the group is familiar with, save Cobar, who isn’t too surprised to hear the crude language spoken by kobolds*.
“Not me,” a voice whispers. “Him! Him first, me next.”
“Quiet! Light-fire coming. Master’s orders. All together, attack!”
The party is in a room in which 3 different tunnels intersect. Tasha’s torch reveals six of the runty creatures, glancing among each other uncertainly. They seem to be gathering courage to attack the party. The creatures are holding rusty knives clumsily in their tiny hands.
In one corner of the room is the two horses, tied to a support beam. The horses are not happy to be here, and dance nervously in place upon seeing the party.
Combat is imminent! Describe what your character intends to do, and I’ll resolve the actions with dice rolls. All of the rolls so far have been “hidden,” but combat rolls will be included in the resolution post.
All combat participants will have an initiative roll to determine the order in which they attack. This is a WITS test. Any actions that modify future attacks, like “Inspiring,” will occur before any attack actions. Any player may attempt to have his character draw the attention of either 1 particular enemy, or ALL enemies who can see/hear him. This is a SOCIAL test. Enemies that fail the test must attack the character who challenged them. A character may use abilities like “Inspiring” and magic spells, or issue challenges to enemies, and attack in the same combat round.
*kobolds are to goblins, what goblins are to humans. They’re timid and small, and can be pushed around even by goblins. However, something seems to be dominating these particular kobolds, who probably wouldn’t even ordinarily consider launching an attack with such even numbers. Kobolds live in small groups, and are not usually considered dangerous. The personality capable of uniting a kobold horde is so rare, and their natural social ability so stunted, that they are hardly ever able to do any significant damage to human populations.
Maxwell snorts, nearly laughing. Kobolds. Filthy little creatures. He takes a step forward and to the side (giving Cobar a better shot) and raps his sword against his shield.
“Come on, then!” he shouts. “All together, runts!”
Maxwell will attempt to use his sentinel ability to draw the attention of as many of the kobolds as possible, and will attack the first kobold to make it in range of his blade.
-
Clayton inspires the group, saying, “This will be easy! These foes pose no challenge to the likes of us!”
-
Then, he attacks the nearest enemy to himself.
Moftar is uninterested in kobolds. He stays back, out of combat range as best as possible, although he will defend himself if any kobold gets within staff-range.
He examines the horses closely, worried about their spooking and pulling down the support beam. If he sees a safe chance, he’ll attempt to un-hitch them; otherwise he waits, checking his healing supplies to be ready at the end of the ‘battle’.
Cobar draws his bow and nocks an arrow; he watches the kobolds and will unleash arrows against any who approach the party (one they get into active melee he will choose targets that aren’t in melee).
He addresses the party:
“Hold until you are attacked. Kobolds aren’t typically this agressive.”
He then addresses the kobolds in their own language:
“You don’t stand a chance here. It might not be too late to surrender. You might live. You fight us, you die.”
apologies folks. I’m on-call this week, and it’s kicking my butt. Luckily, my paycheck next week will make up for it…but my time here may be scarce through the weekend
Gerald draws his dagger, planning to guard the party’s rear…and to try to keep an eye on the other entrances to the room while his companions make (hopefully) quick work of their foe.