Searching the Cloak Wood

The following morning, the Party collected some potions from Fayed and set off to the Cloak Wood to root out the Red Fang goblin lair. Leaving the city they journeyed south and soon approached the wood's outer boundary; as they reached its margins a group of wolf mounted goblins surprised them from nearby cover. The fast moving wolves proved an unusual target as they feinted in to snap at the party members, whilst the goblins used their weapons. The party managed to overcome the riders and Varis chased down one surviving rider that attempted to flee the scene, only narrowly overcoming his foes.

Seeing the goblins bore the Red Fang markings, the party moved on deeper into the shadowy woods. The ground rose steadily as they approached a hilly area in the woods interior and ahead Faweh spotted a strange creature resting on a large rock. As the party stealthily approached, they made out more details; the creature looked insectile and appeared to be roped to something behind the boulder. Faweh bade the group halt nearby and circled round the creature to the heights above it, here he saw the rope was tied to a stake. They approached with care and when in clear view, realised the creature was a Rust Monster; it still hadn't moved and they selected a nearby branch, before prodding the immobile creature. Its unmoving body made them bolder and they proceeded to investigate carefully, spurred on by part remembered tales of riches that may lie inside the creature's body. Finally turning the body over they found it dead & gutted, laid out as a display to warn others.

Leaving the corpse behind, the party moved on through a short tunnel ahead; carefully checking at the far end, they found a small dell, on the opposite side of which was another tunnel mouth surrounded by some sizable rocks and behind these they could see glimpses of goblins guarding the approach. Assuming they were on the right track, they sat back to formulate a brief plan to get across the open ground to the goblin position minimising their exposure before they could engage them.