After discovering that Crackjaw is not just a hideout but an entire suspended goblin city built into the cavern wall above the Underdark, the party pauses at the entrance to interrogate their captured goblin.
Alyviel takes the lead, using a mix of charm, flirtation, and menace to coax information out of him. The goblin reveals that the city has a large barracks where the goblin leader, Big Ears, is based, and that The Prophet is likely being held somewhere nearby.
Alyviel then has a long, strange exchange with the goblin about whether he will come back with reinforcements. To prove her point, she fires an arrow far out into the desert and warns him that she can shoot from a very long distance and will be watching him. The goblin, unimpressed by the logic, points out that this would require her to stay up on the ridge staring into the desert instead of actually exploring Crackjaw. Aly scoffs, and the goblin takes his chance to flee into the sands.
With that bit of intelligence secured, the party descends by rope into the cavern city.
Their first obstacle is Crowbar Colin, a large, unusually intelligent ogre armed with a magic crowbar and backed by goblin allies. Fern quickly deals with the goblins, while the rest of the party brings Colin down with surprising efficiency. For all his size, reputation, and enchanted tool of destruction, Crowbar Colin proves less a roadblock than a warm-up.
The next encounter is far more dangerous.
The party reaches a wooden overhang leading to a twenty-foot drop and the first cluster of buildings below. There, a Nilbog and several goblins wait for them. A goblin shaman stands above on scaffolding, hurling grease spells across the approach and turning the terrain itself into a trap. The party is forced to slide, leap, and scramble their way toward the lower stone platform.
The fight splits the group. Alyviel and Nys remain above, but Nys slips and nearly falls into the depths of the Underdark. Alyviel drops to her stomach and catches her by the hand, leaving Nys swinging over the abyss.
Below, Fable, Behzad, and Fern face the Nilbog, only to discover that killing it is much harder than expected. Its absurd charm and magical cuteness overwhelm them again and again, leaving the group too infatuated to finish it off. Finally, Fable breaks the deadlock in the most direct way possible: she picks the Nilbog up and throws it into the Underdark.
Above, Alyviel manages to pull Nys back from the edge, then turns and kills the goblin shaman with a well-placed arrow. With the fight won, Fern searches a nearby building and discovers a glowing orb, an object that likely belongs to The Prophet.