Franna would have liked to have given Diplomatic means more time,  but she didn't argue with the big womans version of it.
She waited, sword in hand,  for the reaction of the goblins

     Startled by Zokkara's intimidating figure and weapon, the goblins screeched and scrambled away from the party.  Three left through a door to the north, while the rest continued to urge the older goblins out the eastern door.  After a few seconds, the last of them had departed.

     Erky spoke up from the back of the party, having moved to the other door in the 'throne room' to watch them depart.  "Yup, they left.  Without their leaders, they'll probably head back into the woods or find a way to the ocean to flag down some of their sea-faring brethren," he said.  Goblins and hobgoblins were notorious for being pirates.

Franna looked around, feeling a weird, empty frustration like she was on a date with a gentleman caller who had to leave after some passionate hand holding.
She looked around, seeming confused and suspicious.
"So....wait.  What just happened???  Was that too easy, or is that normal?  What do we do now?"

     Erky shrugged, glancing to the door to the west, and back to the throne room with the hole descending to the 'garden.'  He then pointed to Admiria and Zokkara who were still injured.

     "Perhaps a short rest to bind these wounds before proceeding further?  Also, did someone say something about potions?" Erky asked.

OOC:

     LEVEL UP! Everyone advance to Level 3.

     Send me a PM if you need help with your advancement.

     Anyone who advances in the same class to level 3 gets to choose an archetype, oath, or primal path.

"I'd say it was normal", said Zokkhara. "Goblins have never been known for their bravery, and we slew the strongest among them. They weren't keen on fighting us after that. You speak wisdom, goodsir Erky. Let's have a rest."

Corra nods.  "Pretty sure I terrified them with my grand entrance," she says, ruefully.  Looking back into the throne room, she suggests, "If we bar the two doors in, we could both rest more safely, and be more sure they won't give us trouble when we come back up?  And Relba can finish getting that box sorted out."

She frowns a little, looking around the room for anything in the junk that might be useful for said barring of the doors, and then pauses.  "Someone did, didn't they?  Oh, yeah!  That was me."  She pulls out the little pouch she'd found earlier and looks inside again.  "One pink and two yellow ones.  Is there any way to tell what they do without trying them?  They're probably safe," she muses.  "He didn't seem like the type to keep dangerous potions on him.  I mean, in the brief time we knew him," she grins.

Smiling at her friends' antics, Franna helped fortify the place

     The party begins to head back into the throne room.

     As they are moving, Zokkara notices some unique bedding and items.  She finds what seems to be components of a Healer's Kit and a Poisoner's Kit among the gear.

     Also, Admiria catches a glint of light from the pile of refuse.  Moving closer, she sees a dusty chain shirt that must have been bumped and now has a spot of shine to it.  Next to it, is a statue the size of a beer bottle.  It is a single piece of multi-hue pink quartz, and seems to resemble an elf.  [Private to Admiria Moonwhisper: Up to you if you want to take either or both.]

     Once back in the throne room, Franna begins barricading the doors with the little furniture and barrels she finds there.  She seems to get squeamish around the dead hobgoblins, but she also notices that one is wearing a fine pair of moonstone earrings, and another has a matching necklace.  [Private to Franna Padlock: Up to you if you want to remove them.]

     Relba returns to the chest, and finds two onyx gems about the size of baseballs.  Also, there are a wide variety of coins, but in total they equal 231 gp.

     Corra still has the Hucrele ring, and the 'king' is wearing splint armor bearing the family crest as well.  She also finds a set of iron keys on the king.
[Private to Corra Farborne: Up to you of you want to remove the armor.] Poking around the throne she only finds an empty pot with some disturbed dirt inside.

     Erky takes a look at Zokkara's unintelligible scroll and reveals it to be some kind of arcane transmutation magic, but he is not sure of the exact spell.  He is also able to determine that Corra's pink bottle is a healing potion, and the yellow vials are antitoxin.

     The pit in the middle of the throne room has a two-foot-tall stone wall around it, like a large well.  Thick, pale vines run up from the bottom of the pit on all sides, some reaching over the wall.  It's easy to see where some of the vines have been chopped at the top of the wall, and where others that had been chopped were starting to regrow.

     No one can see the bottom of the pit (meaning it is more than 60 feet deep).

In reply to Omni-Tent (msg # 904):

Admiria picks up both. "Interesting."

Franna stared at the dead bodies for a full minute, debating with herself internally.
One the one hand, it felt extremely disrespectful, and super icky, to loot the dead.   Gathering coins from pouches was one thing, but removing an earring from a cold and rigor mortised ear was something entirely different.
On the other hand, this was how Adventurers made much of their money, with the "Spoils of War".   She'd read about such things in many of her romance novels, as well as much from tavern tales listening to bards and other drunks.
On another hand, she certainly wouldn't want someone taking jewelry off her dead body, or one belonging to a relative or a friend.
On another hand, the jewelry wasn't doing anyone any good here...
On another hand.....Franna quickly realized that she'd run out of hands several people's worth of hands ago, and was just stalling.   She winced and took a breath to steady herself, then undid the earrings and necklace.
She steeled herself, berating her squeamishness.
~You're an Adventurer, darn it!!!  And you can't very well fight and kill evil things and then be a big baby about dead bodies.  You're a warrior, girl!!! Act like it!!!~

Zokkara collected the components for the two kits, particularly the healing kit. "No sense wasting these things", Zokkara said. "They might come in handy later. I don't suppose anyone has a light spell? We could throw a lit pebble into the pit to see what's at the bottom. Or at least throw one without it to determine how deep it is."

     Once the doors are barricaded and items are collected, a gutteral shout comes up from the pit.  It sounded like an angry exclamation, and was followed by a few very faint words and then the sound of digging.

Franna was still trying to clean off her hands when she heard the sounds.  Tentatively,  she looked to the pit's edge, sword in hand, and peeked over the edge
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:51, Sat 01 Dec 2018.

After oohing a bit over Relba's shoulder, Corra gets somewhat bored and finally decides to take the time to wrestle the armor off of the king's corpse.  She squares up the pieces and straps it to her backpack, saying, "Maybe we shouldn't tell them where we found this."  Thoughtfully, she wipes a smear of the king's blood off the chest piece with her sleeve.

She doesn't bother confirming her lack of Light spells, instead joining Franna at the edge of the pit.  She looks over at the warrior and shrugs.

     The pit shows only darkness below.  It is at least 60 feet deep.  The digging sounds faded slightly.

Franna looked at her companions
"So....do we just leave the pit alone?  Let sleeping dragons lie, as the saying goes?"

"Can't.  Down the pit is where the whatsit, warlock or whatever, that took the Hucreles is supposed to be," Corra reminds Franna, "So if we're going to find them, that's where we have to go."

She shrugs.  "I say we just get climbing."

In reply to Corra Farborne (msg # 913):

" Yes, let's start climbing. "

Admira begins climbing.

"We should set a rope, so that we can climb back up in a hurry if we need to. Come to think of it, does this pit get used as a passage often? If so, how, do they have a rope or ladder somewhere?"

Having tucked her trinkets and baubles away, Relba casually strolled to the side of the pit and glanced down.  While everyone else talked, she opened her backpack, produced some rope, then proceeded to knot one end so it could be attached to the lip of the pit.  "My rope is probably fifty meters in length.  Perhaps someone has more? she asked.

In reply to Relba Nightswain (msg # 916):

Admiria stops and tosses up her 50 foot long rope, then continues down.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:35, Fri 14 Dec 2018.

Franna bit her lip indecisive
'Should we all go down, or should someone stay topside to guard the rope?"

Corra watches the others curiously, and then shakes her head a little and pulls herself onto the wall.  "That's why we blocked the door," she reminds Franna.  "Don't worry, you'll be fine."  Ignoring the various ropes, she starts climbing down the vines.  "This is kind of fun," she adds, looking up and grinning.

Securing her weapons,  Franna attempted to climb down.

[Private to GM:
16:42, Today: Secret Roll: Franna Padlock rolled 11 using 1d20+1.  Climbing roll with Athletics
]

     Easily descending the root-covered walls of the shaft, or using a well-secured rope, the party makes their way into the darkness.

     Admiria is the first to reach firm ground.  The roots dangle down from the edge of the shaft, creating a type of natural curtain.  She can easily see where some of them have been broken or cut, forming a slight opening to the east.

     Through the opening, the tabaxi can see glowing fungus on the walls of a large room.  The sound of light shoveling continues to the north.

     Corra hops to the ground shortly after Admiria.

     Zokkara is about 15 feet up in the hole, still descending, and Franna and Relba are about 30 feet up.