Nightstone's Last Stand

After preventing any major fire damage in the temple, the party carefully made their way south towards the keep. The passage was not easy as several goblins were encountered on the way with more wounds being inflicted by bow and crossbow fire. The keep was well defended by being on an island with a single, bridge connecting the high elevation island to the rest of the village. A ten foot section of the bridge had been recently destroyed, most likely in an attempt to prevent the goblins from overrunning the keep. With difficulty, the party managed to make their way across the the gap and near the guard houses of the keep itself. Thomas took the initiative to hail the guards, informing them of the party's intentions to help the villagers but also being in need of some aid and a short rest to bind wounds and prepare to purge the goblins from the village. The guardsmen Gregg and Ford warned the party against any funny business and admitted them into the keep where they discovered to Lord of the village had been slain by goblin arrows prior to the sabotage of the bridge. It was also learned that none of the able bodied males were here at the keep, just the women and children. The lack of mass villager casualties in the streets convinced the village guards that the fighting force must have been overrun and fled the city to the Whispering Caves where they could regroup before returning to take the village back.
 
After completing a short rest in the keep the party, along with Gregg and Ford set out on a mission to eliminate any remaining goblins from the village. Thomas took point and stealthily made his way from building to building, identifying where goblins were and organizing the attacks against said goblins. Few of the goblins expected any resistance from the villagers at this point, so the mission proceeded quickly and relatively painlessly with only minor wounds being suffered in the skirmishes. Upon reaching the inn and defeating the lone living goblin downstairs, a presence upstairs was made known. Not knowing whether it was a goblin or a villager, Prax attempted to lure the being downstairs by making some erie whispers magically sound at the bottom of the stairs. Ironically, there were two dead goblins pinned to the wall with arrows already at the bottom of the stairs. A crashing sound was heard and Thomas noticed a shadowy form fall to the ground outside the inn. Rushing outside and hailing the form which was clearly not a goblin, Thomas engaged in a quick conversation where the woman wielding a bow explained that she was a guest at the inn and hid upstairs during the goblin assault. Drawing the conclusion that this was the person that dispatched the goblins at the bottom of the stairs, Thomas and Ruby attempted to convince the stranger to accompany them as they finished their rounds of the village. The stranger denied responsibility for the goblins and stated that it was most likely the inn keeper that dispatched them. Feeling that she would be of little help to the party, she insisted on heading to the keep where she might be able to offer some aid there. Seeming honest, albeit a little unwise in not sticking with the group, the party and guardsmen let her go on her way while they continued to seek and destroy the last remaining goblins.
 
Upon returning to the keep, a crude, rope bridge had been erected across the gap in the bridge, seemingly by the recently met stranger, making entrance to the keep much easier. The guards remaining at the keep confirmed that it was the stranger that had constructed the bridge as she made some investigation into the status of the remaining villagers. However, the stranger was nowhere to be found at this time but no one had seen here leave. This bit of news left the party a bit baffled but Ruby was in desperate need of more rest and wound attending so the party once again took a rest to prepare for an expedition to the Whispering Caves to retrieve the villagers that fled. However, things weren't going to be that easy...