Arnith’s suspicion, that his guide would not be useful in finding a spot to make into a hideout turned out to be correct. What the goblin thought as a good spot would not serve their needs.

The first spot had been a veritable hole in the ground that probably would serve as a temporary spot to take a rest in, but could barely fit the two of them.

The second spot had been closer to their objective. Tokki brought him to an empty goblin barrow; it was a mound with many tunnels dug through it, with a central chamber large enough to serve as a home for a large number of inhabitants.

The barrow had been occupied relatively recently, there were remains of recent habitation and signs of the fate of the inhabitants who had occupied the place. Many bones littering the chamber and the ruins of the adobes that the goblins had built inside it.

After considering the spot Arnith decided that it would not serve as their home, there were too many entrances that could not be guarded with only the two of them and since the mound was well known, there would certainly come a time that they would be receiving unwelcome visitors.

What made Arnith want to leave the place faster than maybe would have been necessary were the crimson circles that had been painted in several spots inside the mound. The Red Mark tribe had left their calling card behind to warn anybody who visited the place, of the fate of those who crossed them.

After many nights of searching, Arnith was considering that maybe it was best to leave the great cavern, the problem with the area was that it was too open and all of the good spots were already occupied.

They had covered much ground already, with the guidance of Tokki it had been easy to skirt the territories of the various goblin settlements and the scamp was adept in avoiding the many traps that had been constructed around the area, they had even chanced upon a trap that had caught a four-foot-long rat which they had liberated to serve the needs of their bellies.

The direction that they had been searching in was opposite to the dwarf hold that the Red Mark tribe had occupied, Arnith reasoned that being further away from the greater power was a rational idea. From what he understood of Tokki's description of the area they were nearing the edge of the cavern furthest away from the Red Marks.

Currently, they had been following a gorge, it was not very wide, but enough so that it was impassable for even Arnith to jump over, and the river running through it was fast and deadly.

“Master! we must turn away.”

“Why? What is further from here?”

Tokki pointed in the direction along the canyon, “Bad place, master, Brightwater, not good.”

Arnith looked further ahead, there was a large stalagmite ahead of them blocking the view, but behind it was a glow of light that seemed stronger than in other parts of the cavern. He could make out the ceiling above rather clearly in the glow, he had been wondering about that for a while now.

“What happens if you go there?”

“There is water full of light, bad spirits come and hurt those who go, take their eyes into the water, then never return.”

Arnith was not a stranger to the concept of spirits and ghosts, It was well documented that the spirits of ancient and powerful elves would often haunt the living world after their bodies had perished and it was the foolhardy adventurer who explored elder crypts or roamed battle sites where such beings had fallen. What he had not heard of before was the phenomenon of a great source of light that accompanied such places.

“We will go closer still Tokki, If needed I can summon fire to cover our escape.”

The goblin seemed reluctant to continue, so Arinth told him to follow behind him.

When they passed the pillar Arinth saw the reason why the place was called Brightwater. They had reached the edge of the cavern and from the side of it fell a waterfall, seemingly made out of light. This was the source of the river that flowed through the gorge. They were still some distance from the light source bur Arinth could feel his eyes, so long been deprived of the sun, begin to ache.

They stopped for a moment and he waited for his eyes to begin to adjust. After a little bit, he decided to continue, having gotten used to the light.

Arnith concentrated on his magical senses to judge if there was any merit to the story about spirits, he was no expert on the subject, but he guessed that if there were any revenants or elemental spirits around, he would feel their presence before they would confront them.

He did feel a rise in ambient magic as they neared the waterfall but did not consider it too abnormal, such places were not uncommon.

The source of the light seemed to come from behind the waterfall and the water amplified it to a light bluish glow. Arnith found the light to be soothing and welcome, after the long period of near darkness.

The goblin following behind him did not seem to share his sentiment, Tokki had begun to whimper, which Arnith ignored until he felt the goblin stumble into him.

Arnith turned to look at his companion; Tokki was covering his eyes with both of his hands and clearly could not follow in his current state.

Arnith realized that though for him the light was pleasing and welcome, the goblin had probably never experienced anything so bright before in his life and his eyes had no way to adjust as fast as he did if they even could. This was a problem, he felt that he did not want to turn back before exploring the waterfall thoroughly, but he was reluctant to leave the goblin far behind, the scamp would probably wander off and then he would lose a useful minion.

Then Arnith came to an Idea that could help and he unslung his shoulder bag. “Easy Tokki, sit down and turn away from the light, I have a way to help you.” The goblin did as he was told but still seemed afraid, visibly shaking from fright.

Arnith had remembered that when as a child, his father had taken him along on a visit to the far northern lands of the snow elves. The locals there had adapted to the endless winter of their homeland in many ways, one of which was that they had begun wearing masks when going about during the day, the glare of the sun from the surface of the snow could be blinding.

The masks had tiny horizontal slits to see through and when he had asked about it, he was told that the shape was meant to minimize the amount of light that would come through while maintaining good visibility. Taking a lesson from the snow elves, Arnith cut a strip of lizard skin and fashioned it into a similar mask for Tokki.

Arnith tied the mask to Tokki's head. “This is a gift for being a good servant, now the spirits will not take your eyes.” The goblin was reluctant to open his eyes even with the protection of the mask, but with a little encouragement from Arnith, he did so and seemed to be unaffected by the light.

After dealing with the issue, the pair continued following the side of the gorge towards the waterfall. When they drew near to the bottom of the fall the reason for the light became apparent, The entire face of the wall behind the falling water was covered in crystal growths and it was these that were emitting the light.

Arnith reasoned that the cause for the heightened ambient magic in the area was these crystals, which had gathered enough mana into them to glow constantly.

The closer to the waterfall they got the more hopeful Arnith became, this might finally be what he had been looking for. They could approach the water easily from the side of the gorge and to his joy he found that there was an opening behind the waterfall and it was accessible without getting too wet.

There seemed to be a cave behind the fall and it was also possible to access the other side of the gorge from here.

Exploring the cave they found it to be spacious and with ambient light from the entrance and the occasional crystal that had formed inside it. It was not too large but could accommodate their needs well.

Arnith gave a prayer to the lord of waters for this boon; he had not felt like he had been favored by fortune in such a long time that he felt truly grateful.

The waterfall was a blessing, he suspected that Tokki was not the only creature of the underground that avoided the place so that it would be as secure as it got. Also in the event that they had to flee, there would be access to either side of the gorge, and it would be tactically easy to defend in the event of a siege.

“Tokki, here will be our new home,” Arnith said with an enthusiastic voice.

The goblin knew that there would be no sense in voicing his own opinion, so like he had many times before, he simply answered: “Yes master.”

After closely examining their new home the two of them left some of their belongings in the cave and went out to see what they could forage, to make the cave into a more hospitable space to live in.

The immediate vicinity of the waterfall was without any creatures, except small insects but there was an abundance of dried moss, which they gathered to bring back to the cave, to use as bedding, or to make a fire with.

There did not seem to be any signs of goblin settlements nearby, probably out of fear of the legends that surrounded the waterfall, so the two of them felt it was safe for them to lay out some small traps to catch lizards or rats.

Tokki had spoken to Arnith about how the goblins harvested parts of the giant mushrooms as food but there did not seem to be any clusters close by, so an expedition to do that would have to wait for a later date, for now, Arnith wanted to remain near to Brightwater so they could settle in and familiarize themselves with the surroundings.

When they went to check on their traps for the first time, they found a good-sized salamander caught in one of them, and later while sitting by the fire in his own home Arnirh felt a small measure of happiness flow through him.

He was slowly savoring a piece of the grilled lizard when he caught a whiff of something disgusting in the air that immediately ruined his appetite.

He wondered about the source of it and when he looked around he spotted Tokki using the cave as an outhouse, the goblin had an oblivious expression, having no idea that he was doing anything wrong.

Arnith stood and was about to begin shouting at the goblin before he thought of a better idea, he simply went to the goblin and lifted him off the ground by one arm, he walked up to the waterfall and pushed him into the streaming water and held him there until he was sure that the minion was clean before bulling him back.

“Massstr, mass..teeer, WHY!” the goblin cried from between coughing up mouthfuls of water.

Arnith used the most serious voice that he could muster without actually screaming at his minion, such behavior was beneath the rightful heir of his household. “There will be NO! SHITTING! IN! THE! CAVE!” Then he plunged the goblin back into the water, so the lesson would sink in.