"Stick together, fight as one, and we can not lose!" shouts Edvard loud enough to be heard.
Raska follows up on the acid Quinn burned the legionnaire with, striking just as she is trying to wipe acid from her eyes, and he gets an up close and personal view of her eyes going wide in brief pain and shock as he buries his knife up under her jaw and into her brain.
Following Raska's shouted orders, Oreld leads the others across the open yard, tracing a wide circle around the melee in the middle, to reach the water trough.
The last surviving hob turns toward William and tries to get revenge for his cracked ribs with a heavy overhead swing. The attack is as useless as his previous one is, and it is clear that the hob is no longer fighting to survive - just to try to hurt you some before he dies.
,
"Vindictive little bugger aren't you!" William says to the hobgoblin as he attacks him.
Seeing her attempt at dousing the flames only slowed the fire down instead of extinguishing it Calliae turns to the other survivors, "Be ready to move quickly once this last hobgoblin bites the dust."
She herself once more turns to the fire and condenses more water from the air, hopefully of keeping the flames from spreading.
Quinn looked from the remaining hob to the townspeople running to the water trough and quickly weighed his options. He settled on moving around the melee to stand on next to the small fence by the trough. That way they could begin a bucket brigade and pass the water over the fence.
Once again skirting outside of the hobgoblins reach, Raska moved around putting himself between the remaining attacker and the quickly forming bucket brigade. He lunged for the exposed flesh in the crevices of it's armor.
William and Raska together manage to finish off the last hobgoblin, and the bucket brigade is able to swing into gear. With Quinn helping to scoop buckets as well, the bucket brigade forms, stretching across the Trading Post yard. Two buckets splash onto the nearest patch of flame, which is almost doused thanks to the water from trough and that which Calliae is conjuring.
Inside the Trading Post, it would seem that they have come to some realization about their danger, as you begin to hear calls for help from inside.
William goes and opens the door, "Come quick and help put this fire out!"
Wordlessly, Edvard stabs his spear into the remaining hobgoblin before he can further harm his allies.
Raska wipes his bloodied dagger on the shirt of the expired hobgoblin before it disappears into the folds of his clothes. As he hears the calls for help from inside the building, he rushes in, trying each door until he can find a way inside.
"Calm down, we'll have the flames under control in just a moment. Don't panic! If you draw any more attention to us, we're all dead!"
William, the door does not open. It appears to have been barricaded from the other side. You can try a Strength check, but I'll tell you now you can't succeed on the check on your own.
Seeing the issue, Aubrin hobbles over. "If you need to break the door in, I have a spell that might help - but we would lose access to it later."
William looks a Aubrin and answers her, "One moment. Let me see if I can see inside first and get them to unblock the door." He then looks for a window and sees if he can see inside, if not then nods to Aubrin and points to the door.
As he passed an empty bucket back he looks over at Edvard and William, "What's the point in playing at being a hero if, between the two of you, you can't get a bloody door down?!" With a fresh bucket in hand, he turns back around, "I'd hate to have to come make you look bad!"
The windows appear to be as blockaded as the door, and indeed the cries from within the Trading Post suggest that the occupants fear they cannot unblock the doors or windows before the smoke overtakes them. Aubrin nods, and the ebon-skinned archer called Edvard over to the door to be ready to receive her magic.
With a grunt Raska gives up on the door and moves to give Aubrin space to work her magic. Realizing that her injury may prolong the casting, he begins to move around the perimeter of the building and busting out the windows with the butt of his dagger. "I'm breaking the windows to let some fresh air in. Keep back!"
The windows have been boarded over and barricaded just as the doors have been.
While the others are working on the door Calliae remains busy trying to put the fire out.
One last magical dousing, and the first section of the roof is finally out. It almost immediately tries to re-spark again, but the roof is still very damo, and it can't catch.
Aubrin begins casting her spell. The people calling inside sound increasingly frantic. Another six gallons of water splash onto the fire.
William joins the bucket brigade to try and put out the fire quicker until the door is open
William's help adds another bucket's worth of splash to the flames.
After seeing that the windows are just as impenetrable as the door, Raska huffs in defeat. Seeing no other way he can help those trapped inside, he sheathes his dagger and joins William in helping with the bucket brigade.
Quinn couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation as Raska joined the line, "Does this feel a bit like cannibalism to you?"
With Raska's aid, the last remaining area of flame is put out, and after a few more moments, Aubrin finishes her spell on Edvard, making him grow to close to 12 feet in height.
It takes him a few moments, but the now-enlarged Edvard is able to bash in the door. Smoke rolls out of the Trading Post, but shortly thereafter seven figures cough and gasp their way out into the clear night air. In the lead is Kining Blondebeard, the infamously sour-tempered dwarf owner of the Trading Post and smithy. She and the others with her join Vane and your band of refugees, bringing with them some supplies from within the Trading Post. One of the refugees mentions Kining's stock of "adventuring supplies" still in the shop, earning a glare from Kining but no voiced opposition to the group taking them. The stock includes a longsword, two battleaxes, an alchemical silver rapier, a masterwork light steel shield, a masterwork backpack, a climber’s kit, and eight waterskins.
As the group considers its options, there is a noise from within the smithy itself, like something heavy and metal was just knocked over by someone or something within.
William goes in to pick up some of the "adventuring supplies" and notices a loose floorboard and picks it up. He then rises up with a nice buckler in his hand. "Mistress Blondebeard, anything we leave will just be looted by the hobgoblins, so it's better we take it all. If any of you can use these weapons you're welcome to carry them out of town." He says as he emerges and then looks at the smithy suddenly as the noise is made.
Raska heaves a sigh of relief as the fire is finally out. He quickly shields himself from flying debris as the enlarged Edvard bashes in the door. He moves inside and quickly grabs the rapier, sliding it into his belt. He spins on his heel as he hears the noise from within the smithy. He quickly retreats, "Did you all hear that?" He turns to Kining, "Is someone else in there? Who are we missing?"
Everyone shakes their heads to Raska's question, murmuring, "No, we're here," and the like.
From inside the smithy, there is another thunk.
Edvard will use his new-found size while it lasts to quickly grab large stacks of supplies and haul them into the courtyard.
"It's probably one of the hobgoblins. What do you keep in there?"
With the fire doused and the people out of the building Calliae felt rather useless. She wasn't that good in combat and most of what she could do magic wise was already spent. Hopefully they'd all just get out of here soon.
Quinn dropped the empty bucket at his feet, "Who cares if it's a hob?! We need to get moving."
He raised his crossbow nonetheless and aimed towards the smithy. Quinn had never been a great shot, or even a good shot but he knew that if a hob tried to come out of the smithy he would do his damndest to put a bolt in the bastards chest.
As inevitable as it was, Raska couldn't just run away. He wouldn't let his town fall to this wicked horde. As soon as he realized all the townsfolk were accounted for, he silently moved up to the smithy and peered inside.
"It is why I want to know what's in there. If it could turn the hobs into an even bigger danger we'll have to stop it." The man was starting to get somewhat annoying. He had proven to be useful but his feigned wisdom and sensibility was getting on her nerves.
William walks over toward the smithy and backs Raska up, making no attempt at stealth.
For centuries, the forge here provided ample space for working iron and steel as well as limited farrier services. The hobgoblin raiders have already targeted the smithy, snatching up any weapons or armor in their meaty paws - but it seems that something ill befell them in the process of looting. A single hobgoblin still lies in the middle of the floor.
The smithy is lit by an everburning torch set near the forge. Hanging from a nail over her workbench is a large key ring. Several notes, apparently regarding some work Kining was doing on the Marideth Bridge are scribbled in chalk on a large piece of slate leaning against the wall.
For a moment, there is no sign of movement in the smithy, then the ground ripples and bubbles, and a humanoid figure composed of earth and stone rises up from the smithy floor. About the size of a preadolescent human child but much bulkier, it glares around and roars before rushing toward Raska in a fury.
Edvard will move up to the smithy as the being of earth arises and stand his ground, readying an attack when it gets within range.
"Blondebeard do you know anything about this creature in here? Is it yours and can you call it off?" William yells back to Blondebeard
As the thing materialized from the ground and rushed Raska, he reacted without considering the creature's true intentions. He rushed in and tried to stab at the living earth.
"Go back from whence you came before we put you down!"
Raska cannot even manage a small gouge from the rock and stone of the creature, and he doesn't seem to have had any impact on the creature's attitude with his shouting. It's possible it doesn't even understand him.
Kining calls back, "No idea what it is, but if you could get it out of my smithy, I'd be a lot happier!"
As the elemental looms to threaten the group, Edvard strikes with his now-massive spear.
With a single swing, Edvard crushes the earthen creature with his spear, and it collapses into a pile of dirt and rocks.
Even as Edvard is kicking the remains of the elemental, there is more movement in the smithy: two humanoids, up in the hayloft. They quickly resolve themselves into two half-elves, siblings by their age and similar appearance. Hands raised, they introduce themselves as Lirosa and Taidel, hunters from the nearby woods in town for the Festival. "We were laying an ambush for those hobbos," Lirosa says, and Taidel finishes, "but that earth-creature came up and beat them down, so we decided to stay hidden."
"Thanks for getting rid of it," Lirosa adds, shouldering a longbow.
"You can take care of the townsfolk now," Taidel says. Lirosa adds, "We’ve got hobgoblins to hunt."
Raska stops in stunned silence for a moment as Edvard turns the elemental to rubble with one blow from his spear. He snorts to himself and with a slight shake of his head he sheathes his dagger. "Well, we've got ourselves a little entourage now. To the Shrine next?"
He gives a quick search of the smithy, looking for any other useful gear before moving on.
Felix had been watching the commotion through one of his airholes in the satchel and was excited to see the small elemental. Surely, the druid would be able to sway it to help them.
As the brutish one with the spear killed the elemental, his tiny heart sank....and also jump at seeing the death. Death is always nice. Though, in this case, he would've preferred the help.