of the companions walking into another creature's home and expelling it into the deadly weather? Drizzt recalled another goblin he had once met in his travels, long before and far away, a creature who was not evil. These goblins, so far out and so high up in nearly impassable mountains, might have never encountered a human, an elf, a dwarf, or any other of the goodly reasoning races. Was it acceptable, then, for Drizzt and his friends to wage war on them in an attempt to steal their home?
"Hail and well met," the drow called in the goblin tongue, which he had learned during his years in Menzoberranzan. Though the dialect of the goblins of the deep Underdark was vastly different from that of their surface cousins, he could communicate with them well enough.
The surprise on the goblin's face when it discovered that the intruder was not an elf, but a dark elf, was obvious indeed as the creature neared - or started to approach, only to skitter back, its sickly yellowish eyes wide with shock.
"My friends and I need shelter from the storm," Drizzt explained, standing calm and confident, trying to show neither hostility nor fear. "May we join you?"
The goblin stuttered too badly to even begin a response. It turned around, panic-stricken, to regard one of its companions. This second goblin, larger by far and likely, Drizzt surmised from his understanding of goblin culture, a leader in the tribe, stepped out from the shadows.
"How many?" it croaked at Drizzt.
Drizzt regarded the goblin for a few moments, noted that its dress was better than that of its ugly fellows, with a tall lumberjack's cap and golden ear-cuffs on both ears.
"Five," the drow replied.
"You pay gold?"
"We pay gold."
The large goblin gave a croaking laugh, which Drizzt took as an agreement. The drow pulled himself back out of the cave, set Guenhwyvar as a sentry, and rushed off to find the others.
It wasn't hard for Drizzt to predict Bruenor's reaction when he told the dwarf of the arrangement with their new landlords.
"Bah!" the dwarf blustered. "If ye're thinking that I'm givin' one piece o' me gold coins to the likes o' smelly goblins, then ye're thinkin' with the brains of a thick rock, elf! Or worse yet, ye're thinking like a smelly goblin!"
"They have little understanding of wealth," Drizzt replied with all confidence. He pointedly led the group away as he continued the discussion, not wanting to waste any time at all out in the freezing cold. Regis in particular was starting to look worse for wear, and was constantly trembling, his teeth chattering. "A coin or two should suffice."
"Ye can put copper coins over their eyes when I cleave 'em down!" Bruenor roared in reply. "Some folks do that."
Drizzt stopped, and stared hard at the dwarf. "I have made an arrangement, rightly or wrongly, but it is one that I expect you to honor," he explained. "We do not know if these goblins are deserving of our wrath, and whatever the case if we simply walk in and put them out of their own home then are we any better than they?"
Bruenor laughed aloud. "Been drinking the holy water again, eh, elf?" he asked.
Drizzt narrowed his lavender eyes.
"Bah, I'll let ye lead on this one," the dwarf conceded. "But be knowing that me axe'll be right in me hand the whole time, and if any stupid goblin makes a bad move or says a stupid thing, the place'll get a new coat o' paint - red paint!"
Drizzt looked at Catti-brie, expecting support, but the expression he saw there surprised him. The woman, if anything, seemed to be favoring Bruenor's side of this debate. Drizzt had to wonder if he might be wrong, had to wonder if he and his friends should have just walked in and sent the goblins running.
The dark elf went back into the cave first, with Guenhwyvar right behind. While the sight of the huge panther set more than a few goblins back on their heels, the sight of the next visitor - a red-bearded dwarf - had many of the humanoid tribe howling in protest, pointing crooked fingers, waving their fists, and hopping up and down.
"You drow, no dwarf!" the big goblin protested.
"Duergar," Drizzt replied. "Deep dwarf." He nudged Bruenor and whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "Try to act gray."
Bruenor turned a skeptical look his way.
"Dwarf!" the goblin leader protested.
"Duergar," Drizzt retorted. "Do you not know the duergar? The deep dwarves, allies of