Chapter 5: Interrogation Techniques
The Loud Boys in the Lost Mine of Phandelver, a D&D report
It was mid-morning when the three adventurers returned to the location of the goblin ambush. The log that had formed the roadblock had mostly stopped burning, with only a few wisps of smoke still rising from beneath its charred bark. The corpses of the goblins and horses, minus armour and weapons, still lay where they had been left, just entering into the most offensive smelling stage of decomposition. It had been a muggy day or two since the three men had left the site. There were no signs of the bodies having been disturbed.
"I wonder why the fire didn't spread through the forest," mused Jake. "It must have been too humid for it to take hold."
Uayak had squatted down next to a dead horse and was rummaging in his pack. Kila drifted over. "What are you doing?"
Instead of answering, Uayak gave a cry of triumph and pulled a handful of arrows out. Then, with great care and dexterity, he dipped the tip of each arrow into the clotted puddle of blood oozing from the animal's wound. He scraped out a patch of dirt amidst the grass and rubbed it on the arrowhead. He repeated the process several times with each arrow, before wrapping the arrows in a scrap of leather and put them back in his pack.
Jake also came over with interest. "Are you making poison arrows?"
"Yep," said Uayak. "They're not very very poisonous, they won't kill you straight away, but they're poison enough."
"Can I try?"
"You can do what you like."
Jake took a handful of arrows from his pack and copied Uayak's actions. The halfling scrutinised his attempt. "Not bad for a first go," he said encouragingly.
In the meantime, Kila had started poking in the treeline. "Hey, there's these long, kind of snaky lines in the dirt over here, like maybe something was dragged through here?"
"Or someone?" said Uayak, getting up and inspecting the ground.
Jake pointed into the trees. "I think that's a path."
The path was fairly uneventful, apart from an easily spotted snare and a pit trap that would have posed rather an obstacle if it weren't for Kila's sharp eyes spotting the change in soil camouflaging it. "Gosh, this is easy, isn't it?" he remarked as they edged successfully past it.
Ten minutes later the trio came out of the forest to a cheerful little stream burbling briskly out of a looming cave mouth set in a large hillside. Dense briar thickets made it impossible to see directly into the cave mouth from where they stood, and lined the opposite bank of the stream. Birds flew overhead, cawing, but a strange and heavy silence oppressed the air around them.
"What do we-" started Kila loudly, only to be hushed by Uayak, who narrowed his eyes at the bushes opposite the stream. The others looked in the same direction and saw glimpses of movement through the bushes.
"What are-" started Kila again, only to be glared at by Uayak.
"Watch how it's done, boys," said Uayak in a whisper. He motioned for Kila to get his bow ready and then slipped behind a tree. Somehow it was hard to keep one's eyes on him as he slid from shadow to shadow, crossing the stream noiselessly as only a halfling trained in roguish arts could, until he had reached the bushes on the other side. He nodded back at Kila, who drew his bow to full stretch and let fly a red-fletched arrow through the thicket. A yelp sounded.
Jake hurried across the stream, the hems of his robe sodden and heavy, as his fingers sketched mystical symbols in the air. With a word he released the spell as he climbed onto the far bank. Fire emanated from his outstretched hands and burnt the thicket to a crisp, along with the goblin that was on the other side of it. His robes flared out behind him, suddenly light and dry.
Jake and Kila blinked at the clearing that was revealed by Jake's spell and suddenly, Uayak was standing behind the second goblin who was still standing in shock beside the little campsite, gawping at the charred remains of his companion. In a flash, his dagger was at the goblin's throat and as the creature opened its mouth to squeal he said cheerfully, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. We've just got a few questions to ask you. You can nod yes or shake your head no. But not too much, or your head might just fall off."
The goblin slowly tipped its head forward.
"Um," said Jake, "I think you're scaring it."
"Yes," said Uayak. "That's the idea. Now, firstly: are there more of you in the cave?"
The goblin nodded minutely.
"Did you ambush a dwarf and a human recently?"
Another tiny nod.
"Are they still alive?"
A slightly uncertain nod.
"Last question: do you want to live?"
The goblin's eyes opened wide and it started a vigorous nod, then remembered to keep its movements minimal. The resultant motion resembled the bobbing of a pigeon.
Kila raised a hand. "What if it warns the ones inside?"
Uayak glared at the goblin. "Are you going to warn the ones inside?"
A definite but small shake.
"I think we'd better make sure... Right. You know we can kill you?"
Nod.
"My big friend over there," pointing his other blade, the one not held at the goblin's neck, at Kila, "you can see he's got a bow, can't you? He's a very good shot."
Nod.
"Kila, chop off the dead goblin's head and bring it here."
The big fighter blanched. "That's yucky!"
"Yes, that's right. It is. And now, Mr Goblin, hold your friend's head. I'm going to blindfold you. You need to walk down this stream, away from the cave. My big friend Kila is going to be watching you. If you don't keep walking down this stream, you'll get an arrow in your head. And you'd better keep a hold of your friend's head, as a friendly reminder... That's what we could have done to you. But we didn't. Because we're all friends, aren't we?"
The blindfolded goblin, clutching the blackened skull, nodded uncertainly. Uayak gave him a little push. "Now, off we go!" he said merrily.
Jake, meanwhile, had just finished throwing up in the remainder of the briar thicket.
"Ready to go?" said Uayak brightly.
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Onward to Chapter 6!
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Start again in Chapter 1!