After help arrived the party made their way back into the cave, performing a thorough sweep around the goblins den. Besides unknown animal remains and some poorly maintained weapons and tools, they didn't find anything of interest. Before heading back out they made a pile in the center of the cave of everything questionable they found and set it on fire. Once the fire burned out, they also collapsed the hole in the ceiling from the bottom and with given directions had a crew member on the outside fill in the hole from the top, to prevent any goblins who might not have been present from returning to the nest.
As they left that section of the cave Krysis reminded the party they still had two cave paths they were contractually obligated to explore. With a few sighs and groans they party members headed down the next logical path, the center. After a little ways they came to a locked door that almost seemed too sophisticated to belong to the goblins. With a swift kick, Zander was able to break the lock off the door. Upon opening they found a wall torch, which they lit. The torch revealed a room full of shiny trinkets. Mostly what they believed to be stolen silverware from neighboring towns, a few jewels, a shiny chalice probably made of brass, a small silver box that was sealed magically, a decorative mirror, and a note written in a language none of them could decipher. They assumed the note was in some form of primitive language used by the goblins.
The party headed back toward the fork in the cave and proceeded down the leftmost passage. For the most part uneventful till they came around a corner and saw a faint light in the distance. The party gave each other a concerned look and proceeded with caution. At the end of the hall, they found a room from which the light was emitting. As they made the turn to peer into the room, the light vanished, but not before making out the appearance of two large hooded men that appeared to have a symbol on their cloaks. Off into a portal of sorts, they were gone quicker than they were there.
"Y'all saw that right?" Felix questioned the group.
"Nope, didn't see a thing." Dabi replied as he turned around to leave.
"No, that definitely just happened." Roxie spoke up.
They searched the room the men were in and found essentially nothing, just a table, four chairs, and a painting of the map of Octarvia. Having had enough adventure for the day, the party leaves the room, verifies nothing else of interest lay in the tunnel, and promptly get out of the cave.
When the party exits the tunnel for what they hope is the last time they're greeted by the local guard. Felix begins to fill the guard in on what went down in the cave, as the guard leads them over to the victims they found. "We've managed to identify all of the victims, and sent men with the younger ones to get them back to their villages. These four however." The guard says as he gestures to the older victims. "They have no homes to return to."
After thinking for a moment Felix says "We'll take them back to the capital with us, and set them up in a support home." Roxie smiled at this suggestion. The party gathered the young adults together and introduced themselves to them.
"Hello I'm Felix, this is Roxie, Dabi, Zander, and Krysis." Said Felix as he pointed to each member of the party. "And what are your names?" Felix asked.
"My name's Silvia." The first girl spoke up wearily, before glancing at the others and realizing she was the only one with the strength or will to speak. "That's Liber, Maya, and Calypso, and if it's alright with y'all can we refrain from any further questions?"
"Yea that's fine." Roxie said sorrowfully.
The party finished collecting anything of value the goblins had hoarded in the cave, finished up with the guard, and started back towards the capital with the survivors. They stopped about halfway to set up camp. Zander had an extra tent the survivors could share. With the party all settled in, the four survivors were off a short distance talking amongst themselves when Zander called them over to eat. As the day drew further into the night everyone had made their way to sleep except Silvia and Calypso, who were down by a river talking.
They were childhood friends who were kidnapped at the same time a couple of years ago. They were staying in a small cabin together by themselves, because a plague had swept through their village taking their families with it, when the goblins busted down the door and grabbed them. At first the goblins showed no interest in them, but after a couple of days the goblins realized how old they were and things changed quickly. Spending the last couple of years with the goblins, the two girls realized the goblins were only after young children, but didn't know what for. They never harmed or touched them, just brought them in one day, and took them out a few weeks later.
In total there were ten young adults they saw get mistaken for children, six of which died from one form of torture or the other. Liber and Maya were the two most recent captures, only having to endure a couple of months of abuse. Calypso spent months wishing the goblins would just let her bleed out, but they had a spell caster who would seal her wounds. Now alone with her friend, free from the saving grace of the goblin witch doctor, it was finally her time.
Calypso pulled out a dagger she took during the confusion of their rescue. "We can finally be free Silvia, free from this world, free from these scars, free from these memories." Calypso said, smiling at her friend as tears rolled down her cheeks. Calypso pressed the dagger into her heart and collapsed onto the ground smiling. She spoke softly to Silvia "I love you Silvia, join me in Caeli's kingdom." Silvia held Calypso in her arms as her friend's life slipped away.
Silvia cried uncontrollably as she removed the dagger from her best friend's heart. She stared at the blade for what felt like hours before pressing the tip of it against her chest, but she couldn't find the strength to press it in. Exhausted, she collapsed there by the river, Calypso in one arm, dagger in the other, where she slept till morning.
Zander woke up first and went to check on the survivors, but found two missing. In a panic he ran around the campsite, yelling out their names till he got close enough he could see them down by the river. For a moment he felt relieved till he noticed the pool of blood that surrounded them. He called out for help to the rest of the party before sprinting down to the river. Analyzing the scene, he ripped the dagger from Silvia's hand and hurled it a half mile away before checking her pulse and realizing she still had one he felt another wave of relief. He shook her awake as the rest of the party arrived at the scene. "What the hell happened?" Zander asked angrily.
Coming to, Silvia saw Zander and last night started to hit her like the club of a giant, her eyes widened before darting to Calypso and filling with tears all over again. She pulled Calypso tighter to her, continuing to ball her eyes out. "I'm so sorry Calypso, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." Like the ramblings of an insane person Silvia continued to repeat "I'm so sorry" over and over again.
Felix ran up and pulled Calypso out of Silvia's arms before pulling Silvia into his. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, calm down, you need to get a hold of yourself." Felix said firmly.
Silvia whispered softly one last time. "I'm so sorry, Calypso I love you too." Through her tears Silvia started to explain. "For years, you have no idea the level of abuse we suffered at the hands of those monsters, for years we begged for the mercy of Mortarum, and for years we were ignored. You don't get to stand there and cast judgment on us. A person can only be strong for so long, we weren't heroes, we weren't soldiers, we weren't warriors, we were people, everyday ordinary people."
"You managed to stay strong though." Felix stated.
"Strong? Me? I'm the weak one." Silvia said sadly. "Calypso had the strength to set herself free, I tried, I tried and I let her down." Silvia said, as she showed the mark on her chest from the dagger. "I'm weak and pathetic, I didn't have the resolve to go through with it, and I don't have the will to go on. I have nowhere to go, and no one to go there with."
Zander grabbed the dagger and slid it away from Silvia. "Don't bother, I've now learned I don't have the resolve to end my own life, I'm no threat to myself." Silivia said, before explaining her and Calypso's lives up to this point.
The party takes some time to really take in their story, they give Calypso a proper burial, Zander makes everyone a large breakfast, and they all somberly continue the rest of the trip back to the capital in silence.