Norfwood Cave
"...their domain was granted to them by the Woodland King..."
This cave is the home of the Goblins of Norfwood.
Led by GRiNdaL, this band of Goblins live in a cave near the banks of the Swinko, a stream that runs through the Creepy Crawly Woods.
They claim the area of the woods known as 'Norfwood', delineated by a stream called the Tinkle that divides the woods into roughly equal north and south areas.
The Entrance to the Cave is fairly small, uninteresting and often lost in the shadows of the rockface, which is absolutely perfect for the Goblins and just the way they like it.
Entrance Hall
Like many caves, the first thing you will notice is how dark it is. So dark, in fact, that, if you walked through the cave opening and wandered forwards through the narrow tunnel until it opened out into the main entrance cave, you would lose sight of your own hand in front of your face.
It’s so dark, that the noises of water bubbling, streams trickling underground and moisture dripping off the stalactites become very loud.
Small veins of rock with a delicate colour that faintly glows, patches of lichen and moss that shimmer as though they have captured the moonlight, and small crystals that twinkle gently in the cave light.
Main Hall
At this point, you may even see the hint of yellow torchlight far ahead as you make out the rough steps at the end of the entrance cave.
These lead down to another, much bigger open area. This is the main cavern and Hall of the Goblins. It is dominated by a huge, long and low, rough stone table with lots of stump stools surrounding it.
Depending on the time of day or night, it might be scattered with eating bowls, food, Goblins, maps, hunting tools or (rarely) swept bare for important meetings.
Bilge's Stove
Beyond the table and along the rear wall is Bilge’s Stove.
This is a large carved-out hollow at the back of the hall with a brick-built stove and a crude chimney which leads up to the woods above. This keeps the worst of the smoke out of the cave.
Standing on the stove is a giant cauldron and it usually has something tasty bubbling away in it.
Bilge’s Stove provides most of Norfwood Cave with heat, as well as cooking food for the Goblins, and the fire is rarely left unattended.
To either side of the Stove are giant tables (by Goblin standards anyway!). On one side sits the wooden chest containing the Goblet Army for when anyone wants a drink.
On the other side, are Bilge’s Knives, Spoons and other cooking utensils.
In fact, if you didn’t know that Bilge was the cook, you might worry about the sheer variety and quantity of iron and steel implements hanging near and above the Stove! They would not look out of place on the wall of a castle dungeon!
Living Quarters
To either side of the Main Hall are entrances to other parts of Norfwood Cave.
One goes down to darker and quieter halls where the goblins sleep.
Here, there is a smaller cavern where the underground stream crosses a stone floor from a small fountain in the far wall (which serves as the drinking water for the Goblins). The goblins hang their cloaks up in this part of the cave.
Across the stream and further down, the caverns become varied and many as they break off into individual hollows where the goblins have their own quarters strewn with odd bits of rugs and fur hides.
The Larder
On the other side of the Main Hall, the cavern descends via carved steps towards the Larder and the Alchemy Lab.
Both are places that make lots of smells and produce useful things for the Goblins. The Larder is full of barrels, boxes and wax-sealed vases. Only Bilge knows where everything is.
Passage to who knows where?
At the back of the larder is a dark passageway that only a few Goblins have explored and none have gone far enough along it to discover where it leads.
occasionally, a party of goblins will get lost for a day or two somewhere down this passage and then reappear a few days later with an armful of glowing mushrooms or a small pet lizard.
The Alchemy Laboratory
If you are brave enough to have been invited this far, you will notice that the Lab, lower down the carved steps, is even cooler than the Larder.
Beyond the tables of books, scales, gourds, tubes, pipes and jars of colourful unmentionables, there is a passageway that leads down to a clear and still pool called the Sump.
The Sump
The water from the Sump has strange properties and can make alchemy experiments quite interesting.
This is probably because any alchemy experiments that don’t quite work right are sometimes thrown into the Sump to get rid of them.
Don’t drink the Sump water!
Secret doors and passages
Visitors to the cave often find the Goblins sometimes seem to appear in different places in the Cave without passing through others.
This is because the Goblins also have lots of secret passageways and tunnels leading to and from all the other areas of the Cave.
They have these because it helps practice their sneaky skills and it is tremendously good fun to try and make other Goblins jump.
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