Rogar just shrugs and half jumps, catching himself on the wall and scrambling up the wall at practically a run, leaving small indents in the wall from where his hands dug into the stone. He then looks down expectantly at his allies as they descend, "Well? Are ye coming?" he jokes.
Wulfram looked into the pool of water at the bottom of the well.
After that he climbed up the side of the well. He allowed someone more stealthy than he to look out from the top, before he decided on how to exit the well shaft.
The water at the bottom of the well looks clear and clean. There doesn't seem to be anything of interest down there.
As you clamber up the well shaft, Rogar stealthily pokes his head out and looks around. This large courtyard contains a pair of partially constructed trebuchets to the southwest. A wide, tall tower to the northeast dominates the courtyard. To the northwest, two low buildings flank an overgrown garden. A building to the southwest emits a rank, animal smell, and a double door provides access to a large building to the southeast. Wooden bridges exit the courtyard to the north, west, and south, spanning the gorge that surrounds the fort.
Three hobgoblins in chain shirts are in the courtyard, each one training a human-sized bird--immature rocs. The hobgoblins don't notice the dwarf in the well, and he overhears some conversation, which he relays to Karla to translate:
"Did you hear Nisa got reamed for insubordination last night? Eygara made her work off the demerits by sparring with her personally. Give me the lash, I say!"
"I wouldn't want to face the lieutenant, either! I don't understand how Ibzairiak is still in command of this operation. That dragon's got no rank, no discipline, and he keeps running off for three days at a time. And you know he's not going for orders; he flies off north, not south!"
"This whole place is chaotic. Can't shake the feeling that Marrowcrack and her little pet have been eyeballing us when we sleep. I know Eygara confined that creepy goblin chaplain to the forge, but it wasn't some flu that turned Turgut to stone!"
Most dragons will choose the largest and highest space available to make their lairs. It's a pretty safe bet that Ibzairiak's lair will be at the top of the tower.
After listening to Karla's translation, Wulfram replied in a low voice, "The dragon could be away, or it could be sleeping, I suppose. We're ready now, so I think we should attack. If we move quickly, we should be able to overwhelm the hobgoblins before the dragon can intervene, assuming it's even here.
"We might want to try to capture the birds; they sound like they could be useful down the road."
"Let's try. We can always run away if we need to across the bridge if we can't get to the smelly building." Eustoma looks worried but ready to try.
She climbs over the edge of the well and moves North East to stand against a wall out of the hobgoblin's on the bridge sight. She has Sia follow
Wulfram took out his wand of hold person and waited for Eustoma and Rogar to move into position, listening for any sign that the enemy was aware of their presence.
Eustoma and Rogar stealthily move across the courtyard, but when Sia moves to follow, some scent tickles the wolf's nose. She lets out a sneeze, and the hobgoblins at the bridge and in the courtyard turn at the sound to see you. They begin to shout in alarm!
While everybody is still close by, Karla casts haste, granting the party increased speed.
The hobgoblins at the bridge raise their bows and fire on Sia. One of them scores a good hit, while the other's arrow gets stuck in the wolf's barding.
Wulfram cursed and climbed up out of the well, to stand beside Sia. He glanced at the birds to see if they had saddles, and looked as if they could carry a hobgoblin in flight.
Rogar moves with lightning speed, sending a wave of earth at the hobgoblins by the bridge, attempting to knock the one that just hit Sia into the water.
Rogar sends a wave of earth at one of the hobgoblin archers. It slams into him with crushing force, knocking him off the bridge! He cries out as he plummets into the gorge, though you're too far to determine his ultimate fate.
Eustoma quickly fires a series of arrows, but only one scores a good hit--the other two plink off the archer's breastplate. Sia rushes in to snap at him, but he dodges her attack.
The hobgoblin roc trainers each cast a spell on themselves, causing their skin to harden and take on a barklike appearance. They command their birds to move in, and with shrieks, the rocs swoop down to attack Wulfram and Rogar. Their mundane and magical defenses keep them safe for now.
Wulfram stabbed at the bird as it moved in to attack him.
The further hobgoblin resists Karla's spell, but the other howls in alarm as he is blinded. Nik'o jumps at the rock, gnawing on its leg before dropping back to the ground.
The archer by the bridge drops his bow as he steps forward and draws a battleaxe. He swings at Sia, but the wolf dodges away.
Wulfram stepped back and said a prayer to the fire spirits. A glowing, red bead streaked from his outstretched hand to a point in between the bird handlers, and exploded in a ball of fire.
Pele poked her head out of Wulframs backpack and barked, *Burn, baby, burn!*, before disappearing back inside.
Rogar tries to eliminate the other archer as well, repeating his tactic from before, hopefully sending the hobgoblin hurtling to the ground below. This time, though, he focuses more on the pushing power of his blast and less on its damage.
The second archer suffers the same fate as the first as Rogar's blast sends him screaming off the edge of the bridge.
Wulfram's fireball engulfs the three hobgoblin bird handlers. The nearest one dodges the worst of the blast, but the other two are badly burned!
Eustoma shifts her aim to pick off the wounded roc with one arrow. She then shoots another one twice, badly injuring it. Sia rushes the roc her master wounded, but is unable to hit the agile bird.
The hobgoblins step closer, each one grabbing a flask from their belts and chugging its contents. They let out snorts that sound akin to bulls as they flex their muscles--you recognize it as tapping into an animal focus in the same way that Eustoma does. The blind one remains unable to see.
The two remaining rocs land as they bite and claw at Rogar. Neither one manages to get through his defenses--one manage to hit with a talon, but his damage reduction negates the wound.
Karla uses her wand to engulf the hunters in a stinking cloud. The two more injured ones also succumb to the fumes, gagging and retching.
In the distance, you can see the pair of archers who were guarding the southern bridge hustling to join the battle.
Wulfram dropped his spear and waited for Rogar to step backwards, so he could take his place in the front line. Once there was an opening, he moved up and tried to subdue the birds.
Eustoma fires three arrows at hobgoblins. "You take care of the birds."
Sia takes a step back out of the way of the others.
Rogar steps back and tries to blast the uninjured roc, but the bird dodges his attack.
Wulfram steps up and swings on the injured roc, striking it once and knocking it out cold.
Eustoma shoots into the stinking cloud, managing to critically hit the hobgoblin who resisted the nausea! Her follow-up shots miss, though.
The remaining roc continues to follow its last command, pestering Rogar but doing no harm to him.
The nauseated hunters stagger out of the cloud in search of fresh air, while the one still in control of its faculties moves in and scores a good hit on Wulfram.
Rogar slips aside, not letting the bird pin him to the wall, and unleashes a boulder at the hobgoblin, trying to free the shaman up to deal with the roc as he wanted.
Rogar's blast sends the hobgoblin flying. He hits the ground with a sickening crunch and lies still.
Wulfram switched to subduing the other bird.
Sia bounds over and bites at the hobgoblin.
Eustoma fires at the same hobgoblin Sia attacked.
Wulfram bashes the roc with his mace, then Sia jumps up and takes it down with a bite and a claw. The big bird falls, unconscious.
Karla blasts the closest hobgoblin with a magic missile, then Eustoma shoots him with two arrows. Sia bounds over to try to bring him down, but his armor keeps the wolf's teeth at bay.
The wounded soldier steps back as he tries to fight off his nausea. The other one staggers around the building for cover.
The two archers from the southern bridge come into view as they round the stinking cloud.
Once the last bird was unconscious, Wulfram moved up to attack the Hobgoblin near Sia. "When you came to this forest, you came to you doom!", he snarled.
Sia moves into a flanking position with Wulfram, and bites.
Eustoma fires three arrows at the goblin coming up behind Sia.
Rogar runs up at lightning speed and slides into position, interposing himself between Sia and the new threat, leaving a furrow of disturbed earth behind him. Without losing momentum, he directs this loosened stone at the closer of the two hobgoblin archers and sends a torrent of stone at him. However, his aim is thrown off and it just crashes into the wall beside his target.
The archer flinches away from Rogar's blast just in time to dodge the attack.
Wulfram bashes the badly wounded hobgoblin with his mace. Sia and Nik'o pounce on the hunter, bringing him down.
Karla and Eustoma shoot one of the archers with magic and arrows, seriously wounding her.
She grabs a potion from her belt and drinks it, healing some of her injuries. The other one drops her bow, drawing axe and shield as she steps forward to slash at Rogar. The axe grinds against the dwarf's stony skin, and the hobgoblin seems surprised as it does no harm!
The remaining hunter takes several gulping breaths, overcoming his nausea.
Rogar merely grins, "Yer gonna need a bit more ta hurt me, missy. How do ye like this?"
With a pair of quick movements, he sidesteps slightly, pulls a stone out of the ground and launches it at the hobgoblin, trying to push her into the stinking cloud.
Missing with her axe, Rogar blasts the hobgoblin into the stinking cloud. She's critically wounded, but manages to resist being nauseated.
Wulfram moved to attack the enemy that Rogar pushed into the cloud.
Wulfram's mace connects with the hobgoblin's skull, and she goes down!