The Creeps

   Cursing himself for being outwitted by an inbred hobgoblin, Reke silently directed his band to reverse their march and dashed ahead of them to lead them down the passages to Mid-Tunnel. As the closest hatch and with direct access to both the large chambers near the Door and to the Cavern of Spikes, Mid-Tunnel would provide his only chance to enter the caves before Zigny and his force charged the miners.
   Half of the Fourth Rank of the warmwatch still waited to take out the urd and rescue the watchers in the listening post. Reke's sudden appearance startled Mand'r Scaris, but he quickly recovered and snapped to attention. He had kept only two of his men with him, sending the rest to answer the summons of Master Zigny to reinforce the brigade at Spike Seat.
   "Throw the switch. Then go free the listeners. Once they are safe, reseal this hatch and join Master Zigny. Tell him the Door is blocked and no one is coming to help us," Reke commanded Mand'r Scaris. Though the Mand'r of the Fourth Rank didn't understand, he obeyed, throwing the switch to allow the coldcrew into the caves and motioning for his men to follow him up to the ledge.
   Reke took his First and Second Ranks with him, sending the Third Rank to secure the Door caverns. He knew the half-goblins and female sub-chiefs were in the Cavern of Spikes along with the majority of the goblin tribe, but he feared the leader remained in his chambers. Command decisions sometimes required him to send his warriors into deadly situations. But he was nearly certain he was sending an entire Rank to their deaths. At the split in the tunnels he again divided his force, sending one rank up to secure the openings and the other to clear the caverns near Drippool. Reke alone turned to sneak toward the Cavern of Spikes to spy on the progress of the goblin miners when the soft rumble of the wall giving way shook the passage. He steadied himself against the ground on one knee and waited for the minor earthquake to subside.
   He was close enough to hear the eerie cheer rise from the goblins and see the dust pour from the cavern's opening. He gave up on stealth and raced to the cavern. His head poked around the doorway and back to safety. He saw Zigny jump from the hatch built into the listening post as the combined warmwatch poured through the fresh opening in the stone wall.

   Surprised goblins shrieked, some dropped stones and dashed for weapons, others used the mining equipment they had at hand to defend themselves, many others just rushed for the doorway. Bolts and darts dropped many in their tracks. The miners were quickly engulfed in gnomes and slain without loss among the svirf. The others gathered together under the command of the half-goblins and charged the gnomish host. Yshtra and Ilk were rounding up the disorganized kobolds into two ranks. Yshtra had the shard-slingers lined up in moments, while Ilk had the Sikli together and worked into a fury in no time at all. They joined the fight as soon as they became organized.
   Zigny's bolts tore into Yshtra and several of her small slingers, the shard-slingers who got hit fell writhing on the ground, Yshtra however retained her feet and continued to fire her short bow into the battling svirfguard. Master Zigny fell back toward Reke's position, firing as he went. He managed to drop half the shard-slingers by the time he reached the entrance to the Cavern of Spikes. The Sikli charged him, Ilk having seen the danger Zigny posed, but as the kobold berserks reached the doorway, Reke stepped out with twin picks waving in well timed unison. He dropped several of the chattering creatures before they could halt their charge. Reke continued to battle the twenty or so wicked hopping things as Zigny fired over and over into the goblins and the Sikli almost at random. Reke realized his Master was saving the most deadly of his bolts and only using his mundane artillery on the goblinoids.
   Both Reke and Zigny heard the sound of marching feet in the passage behind them simultaneously. The cadence seemed too well matched in unison to be goblins, however both warriors risked a glance away from their opponents to check. The returning First Rank marched down the tunnel at a steady but hurried pace. Reke waited for them to reach the cavern opening before swinging wildly into the Sikli and taking a large step back.
   "Drippool clear," said the Mand'r, as he and his warriors filled the doorway. Reke turned to Zigny and saw the young Master was slightly wounded. Zigny pulled the glass chip from between his lowest ribs and examined it. If there had been poison on it, no evidence of it remained.