Tom Liberman

We did not have any trouble tracking the goblins back to their lair where the unfortunate Frederick is being held. We cautiously entered the cave and immediately were attacked by a group of spiders. Grisban threw a bottle at them which exploded doing some damage. I rushed forward and splattered one of the beasts with my mace but suddenly Jain went mad and attacked me from behind. I suspect the dark presence that attempted to influence me back when we were fighting the ettin somehow penetrated her feeble intellect. I must be cautious in the future when putting my back to the archer. Luckily she shook off the malign influence quickly enough.

Several of the remaining spiders bit me. Jain fully recovered from her momentary madness joined me and between us we slew the spiders. I looked over to see what happened with Grisban and saw a look of profound fear on his face. He clearly suffers from a terrible fear of spiders. It is another thing I must keep in mind if our adventurs together continue, which I suspect they will.

After dispatching the spiders we rushed toward a door ahead of us but more trip-wires and traps littered the way and our progress was greatly slowed. By the time we opened the door an awful surprise was waiting behind it. A ten foot long dragon belched forth a blast of fire that engulfed Jain and myself. Meanwhile an incredibly rotund goblin, carrying a man who matched the description of Frederick Mercury Sr under his arm appeared. We were too late!

Grisban did his best to slay the goblin but the beast was too big, too strong, and the presence of the dragon and some smaller goblins distracted us from our goal. Splig, as he called himself, dashed through the door before we could stop him and the terrible dragon positioned itself in a way as to prevent pursuit. We had failed.

By the time we dispatched the little dragon, Splig and his captive were nowhere to be found. We must now return to the farm and tell his brother the bad news. Perhaps there is hope though, they wanted Frederick alive after all. We might be able to track this Splig and save the man yet.