We regrouped at the inn and then decided to track down Doogaar. Bobbin had indicated he might know more of the gossip regarding the local miners and be able to shed more light on who Zhatkeenmora wanted me to track down. It was still early in the day when we headed several miles west to Doogaar’s mine.

A handful of wooden buildings were set up outside the mine to guard the entrance, but it did not seem like there was much activity going on in the mine itself. A few gruff employees pointed us over to where Doogaar was, and we were eventually able to track down the dwarf. He was arguing with several of his employees about going back in, but we interrupted the conversation before fully eavesdropping.

Doogaar informed us that he had a bit of an issue at hand. Some miners went missing yesterday and the ones that went in today were driven off by massive bees and spiders. I tried just getting the information I wanted and leaving, but everyone else was more interested in the 125 gold he was willing to pay for us to find his men and clear out the mines again. Apparently, he had recently uncovered a vein of adamantium ore and expected to be rich once the mine became operational. One of the other miners asked us to find his favorite pickaxe, named Sandy, that he had dropped when the spiders and bees scared him off. What kind of person names their pickaxe? Maybe it is a dwarf thing.

We ended up making a deal where we would clear the mine and allow Doogaar and his men to get back to work in exchange for the money and information. We entered the mine consisted almost entirely of a natural cave system. We travelled through several caverns and forking passages before eventually hearing voices ahead. Zephyr peaked around the next corner and saw several goblins talking and picking up mining supplies. Zephyr also spoke goblin and relayed that they were talking about taking all of the supplies for their clan. We had previously heard rumors of some goblin bandits to the east of Sandy Burrow, and although this mine was west of the town it seemed a good bet that we had run into the same crew of thieves and miscreants.

Zephyr kept the translation going and said they were talking more of their family than of stealing and killing, which was a little odd for bandits. We decided to try to take the group out without killing them in case they were not the real bandit group. I ran in first and attempted to tackle the biggest one in the group; yelling for them to surrender as I did so. I didn't realize it until later, but I was yelling in common, and I doubt any of the understood what I was saying. The hobgoblin leader managed to sidestep my tackle and a proper fight broke out. Olrok, Velon, and Zephyr managed to kill one goblin and injure the leader that I had attempted to tackle. Phelenia used her magic to cause all but one remaining goblin to fall asleep. The remaining one dropped into a lower passage with knee high water and tried to flee but was grabbed and pulled back by Zephyr. The leader saw his team losing and took out a bomb. I grabbed at it and tried to pull it from his grasp, but as we struggled the thing exploded.

I somehow reflexively absorbed some of the fire and managed to stay conscious despite the concussive force and flames. Phelenia saw me struggling with the hobgoblin's bomb and managed to jump away before the thing exploded. Velon and Zephyr had already jumped into the lower tunnel to pursue the fleeing goblin. Olrok was caught in the blast and went down. The goblin leader and the four goblins that Phelenia had put to sleep were incinerated. They smelled like cooked meat which made me salivate slightly despite the pain. Phelenia was able to heal Olrok while Zephyr and I scouted several of the nearby corridors to see if any reinforcements were coming. I didn’t hear anything and came back to help guard the area while me allies searched the goblins for anything useful. Zephyr returned from his scouting trip with his hands waving saying there were many goblins on their way.

Olrok and I were still quite wounded, so we retreated a few rooms to a more defensible position near the cave entrance. I had my bow out and was ready to shoot the first goblin that appeared. Olrok and Velon were near the room entrance to cut into the first that walked in while Phelenia and Zephyr were farther back. Instead of goblin footsteps, we started hearing some skittering noises echoing through the room. As we started to look around and reconsider what we were doing, four giant spiders emerged from cracks in the walls and ceiling. Only one came through the front and Velon and Olrok started cutting into that one. One dropped from the ceiling, nearly landing on Phelenia. She managed to run, but it bit into her shoulder as she made her way to the mine entrance. I shot several arrows into it and retreated with Phelenia.

Olrok and Velon managed to get the one that came from the expected entrance but ended up surrounded by the other two. One bit into Velon several times and he started looking woozy as he tried to fight them off. Olrok snuck by the two surrounding him and Velon. He got to Phelenia, Zephyr, and I as we continued holding off the spider on our side. Olrok still looked in rough shape from the bomb but had luckily managed to avoid getting hit by the spiders. Velon yelled for us to flee while he kept the two spiders near him occupied. He may have been ready to die, but I wasn’t going to let him. I shifted into a jaguar, ran between the legs of the one near me and jumped on one of the spiders that was trying to attack Velon. As I clawed and bit into its carapace it was distracted enough for Velon to cut off its head with his greatsword. With the second spider dead and one of the remaining two heavily injured the remaining ones climbed the walls up to some cracks and fled.

After we fled and reported what happened to Doogaar, Zephyr and I snuck back into the cave. We were able to stay relatively silent and Zephyr translated that the goblins were healing and consoling the spiders. We could also hear them reinforce their defensive position, although there was little that we could do about it at this point. We left the area and told Doogaar we would be back tomorrow to have another crack at them. We then returned to Sandy Burrow to recouperate. Zephyr and Velon are out right now purchasing some surprises for those goblins. I hope their idea of using oil and fire to burn them out works like they think it will.

We returned early in the day and found the buildings outside of the mine empty of life. There were some bodies, but fewer bodies than people that we saw the previous day and none of the corpses were of the goblin miners that Doogaar had been employing. While no one was looking, I took a few bites of one of the corpses. It had been killed by poison and I ended up vomiting and now my friends think I have a weak stomach for this type of thing. The mine entrance itself had been densely covered by spiderwebs and there were several drag marks in the dirt near the entrance indicating that some hostages had been taken. We also did not see the body of Doogaar amongst the deceased.

Rather than go through the front, we searched around for a secondary entrance to the mines. I traced an overland path above where I recalled the mine traveled underground and we eventually found a few small cracks in the rocks that were natural skylights for some of the near surface caverns. There ended up being a few holes large enough for Zephyr to be lowered by rope into. The first one he was lowered into was covered by spiderwebs and had several traps set up involving some black powder. Also, several goblins were watching the entryway of the mine. The second cavern that Zephyr was lowered into was very large and half covered by water. When he was only halfway through being lowered in, Zephyr was noticed by the goblins.

Despite Zephyr’s somewhat off-putting demeanor he managed to convince the goblins that he was intentionally there to parley for the safety of the hostages. The goblin leader, a pale hobgoblin named Dotz, took him seriously and Zephyr indicated for us to lower him the rest of the way into the cavern. At the time I couldn’t hear any of the conversation, but Zephyr later explained that Dotz was willing to trade the lives of all of his captives for the official deed to the mine. Dotz explained to Zephyr that his Shadowgarb Tribe had to relocate due to something with demons and that the mine would make a great home. They were in there a while, so I suspect there were more details than Zephyr has shared. Given the situation, I am guessing Zephyr wasn't paying close attention to the sob story. Doogaar was adamant that the deed must not be given up and he was willing for him and the rest of the miners to die for it. Zephyr and Dotz talked some sense into him and eventually Doogaar said that the deed was in a lockbox in his house at the mine entrance. Dotz gave us one hour to return but did not say what he would do should we fail.

Dotz escorted Zephyr out the front entrance of the mine. Zephyr then collected the rest of us, gave us the summary and we started rummaging through Doogaar’s house. Zephyr found the box ten minutes later while him, Olrok and I were searching Doogaar's bedroom. Just to check that the box was the right one, Zephyr picked the lock on it and immediately yelled for everyone to run. The box was a fricken bomb. Olrok was next to the window, and I tackled him through it as flames shot out of the house. The bomb only managed to destroy the top level of the house, so it was fortunate that Phelenia and Velon were searching the first floor when the thing detonated.

Phelenia suggested that Bobbin might had the deed since he dealt in merchant contracts. We ran as fast as we could for Sandy Burrow. Bobbin looked a little surprised at how much we were rushing him, but he knew we were working for Doogaar, so he helpfully went back to his office area and produced the actual deed for Doogaar’s mine. We then sprinted back, went into the mine as a group, and were escorted over to Dotz and the prisoners. I was amazed by how much spiderwebs had been added by the spiders in such a short period of time. As our temporarily designated negotiator, Zephyr handed over the box with the contract in it. Doogaar started edging to a spot where he could dive into the water when it was opened, but Olrok and Velon blocked him. He looked really scared when it was opened and then surprised that we had obtained the actual contract.

Doogaar being willing to kill us and his miners really soured my opinion on him and I am not embarrassed to say that I enjoyed him being strong armed into signing over the deed to Dotz. I still needed his information on the mines in the area, so I had to play nice and fake concern for the time being. Dotz was a hobgoblin of his word and he let the hostages go once the mine was officially his. As we walked out, I caught a glimpse of huge pure white spider on the cavern ceiling watching the whole ordeal. It was quite beautiful.

I had a friendly interrogation with Doogaar while we walked back to Sandy Burrow. According to him the Killgrind Corporation owned several mines in the Sandy Burrow area. The Firebrand family also had several mines and their mine outside of Gracklesnark was producing a large amount of silver. They had some sort of designs of producing enough silver to make it the main coinage of the region. Based on his assessment, the Firebrand mine seems the next place to investigate.

After my conversation with Doogaar wound down, the rest of us had some musings on the morality of what we accomplished. Velon wondered if we had done anything good since we had gotten together. Phelenia sort of echoed his opinion, but thought we needed longer to find our footing. Zephyr was quite happy that the goblins new owned the mine. He is holding quite the grudge at almost being blown up. Olrok is hard to read but doesn't seem upset by anything we have done so far. None of the morality matters to me. So long as I track down the people Zhatkeenmora wants me to, the owners of some insignificant mines are irrelevant. Maybe we can do something more objectively 'good' to make Velon happy before going into more mines. So long as it is not too time consuming.

I have been trying to reflect on what Zhatkeenmora wants me to do. I can almost feel her watching me and smiling sometimes. I can almost feel her approval and disapproval at my actions. She does not want me to spread my lycanthropy without her blessing and the thought of others doing so in violation of her will made me furious the moment I thought of the idea. I am still hungry and feel this constant urge to hunt. Hopefully when I get to the Firebrand mines the people there put up a fight so I can eat them without getting any strange looks.