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The sounds of her own breathing are loud in Issi's ears and she can make out little else. She winces, seeing the body of Father Noelan - he had always been kind to her and the other children of the town. A small, selfish part of her admits that that is why she wanted to come here, to save the kindly priest rather than the cantankerous Kinning.
She points towards the temple, and waits for Doumane to signal his readiness before entering.
Doumane, loaded gun in hand, nods sadly at the fallen priest. The gunslinger had never spent much time in town but he knew Noelan was a good man. Had been, anyway.
He nods to Issi, 'Let us hurry. This attack is obviously more then a mere raid. they intend to wipe this place off the map."
Wooden statues of both Erastil and Desna—both now chopped and marred by hobgoblin weapons—stand in their own alcoves in the northwest end of the shrine, while alcoves on either side serve as general shrines to
the variety of other gods and spirits worshiped by the locals. A dozen human bodies lie scattered across the floor and pews.
A fairly short and stocky hobgoblin is standing guard next to the door and reacts quickly to the appearance of intruders, charging towards Issi longsword raised.
At the back of the shrine a female hobgoblin is struggling to dislodge her axe from the altar.
Issi's attack goes wide, striking the doorframe rather than the hobgoblin.
Tyrek struggles to get through the hobgoblin's studded leather armour with his initial attacks, but eventually manages to find a weak point in the armour and scratches the hobgoblin's relatively unprotected thigh.
Doumane turns from the tussle at the door and aims through them, the hobgoblin at the altar. Sighting along the barrel, the gunslinger hopes to remove this one before it has time to attack.
Doumane's shot hits the female hobgoblin near the altar and she grunts in pain. Having freed the axe, she lays it aside, drawing a bow from her back and aiming and firing at Doumane in return.
The arrow misses Doumane, hitting the door, where it sticks, quivering.
The other hobgoblin swings at Tyrek.
The sharp steel bites deep into the young dragon's flesh.
Doumane outwardly doesn't change expression but inwardly grins. An arrow! It was no match for his musket...
He raises the firearm again, sighting on the still distant hobgoblin.
The first hobgoblin falls beneath Issi and Tyrek's concerted assault.
The second hobgoblin is winged by Doumane's bullet and aims again with her bow.
Again the arrow misses, sticking beside the first arrow in the door.
"Thanks." Doumane says as Issi charges across the temple. It galled him to miss. Maybe he needed to check the sights.....
Issi hits the hobgoblin but Tyrek is unable to find an opening to press his attack. The hobgoblin leans back against the altar for support, clearly on its last legs but still trying to put up a fight.
Seeing the hobgoblins till alive Doumane softly curses and re-loads his gun. They didn't have time for this, they had to move on and save who they could...
With Issi's final cut the hobgoblin drops to the ground and moves no more.
The pair of hobgoblin's seem to have stripped the shrine of most of its valuables, placing them in a sack.
an aegis of recovery,a silver cup, a hand-sized darkwood carving of a butterfly (20 gp), three bottles of Oldlaw whiskey (20 gp each), 100 gp worth of gold dust, 27 small semiprecious stones (worth 1 gp each), and 76 gp, as well as a round ivory amulet engraved with Erastil’s bow-and-arrow holy symbol strung on a leather thong (10 gp).
The bow the female hobgoblin was using is a well made composite longbow with a considerable draw weight . She also has a small tent and 3 provision points worth of food in her backpack.
Issi recognises the holy symbol of Erastil as belonging to her friend Lirosa, who often hangs the amulet in the shrine to "recharge".
As you are sorting through the items you have recovered, a blonde woman with a blue swallowtailed butterfly perched on her shoulder, Rhyna, Father Noelan's assistant, cautiously approaches the entrance to the shrine from the direction of Noelan's cabin. Spotting Issi and Doumane she speeds up, a smile beginning to grow on her face.
"Ulysses suggested that it was safe to return to the the Shrine but I wasn't sure. When the fighting started I took the children and hid in Father Noelan's cabin but he refused to leave the Shrine. Is he alright? Have you seen him?" At that point Rhyna catches sight of Tyrek and gasps.
"A Dragon! A baby dragon! Oh, I've never seen a dragon before. He's so cute. Ooh and he's hurt. Poor thing." she reaches hesitantly towards the dragon's injured flank. "Is it alright to touch him? I can heal him if that's okay. Ooh, I can't believe I'm seeing a dragon. Where did he come from? Does he have a name?"
Rhyna's questions come at a prodigious rate, not waiting for one to be answered before asking the next as she fusses over Tyrek.
Doumane frowns at the questioning woman. There was not time for this (also, while not being overly religious, seeing a temple looted so bothers the gunsligner more then he'd admit).
'Peace, woman." Doumane barks. "The town is under attack and people are dying. This is not the time for questions. Now, gather up what you can, you have to get to the woods." leaving the finer diplomacy to Issi, the gunsligner heads tot he window to see what he can see.
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Tyrek is almost as taken aback by the barrage of questions as Doumane is. Taking his cue from Little-Flame, who seems rather less bothered, Tyrek lowers his head towards the woman and allows her to stroke the end of his nose.
"I welcome your healing, although you must attend to Little-Flame first." He rumbles.
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Issi grins when Rhyna shows up, the pain in her shoulder easing at the sight of her friend. She steps in for a hug, wincing slightly at the motion tugging on her injured arm. "Yes, go ahead. He won't bite or anything. His name is Tyrek." The biting comment is said with a glare in Tyrek's direction - encouraging him to be on his best behaviour.
"If you've saves the children then we need to get them out! Aubrin has been hurt but we've got a number of the others and they're all heading out of town to the White Oak tree. Get the children to bring as many of these things as they can and make for the oak tree. We'll meet you there with the rest. We need to try and rescue Kinning before we leave though. We need her to take down the bridge." Issi pauses for a second and looks Rhyna in the eye. "Can you do that for me Rhyna?" before bending to the pile of items.
She slips the longbow over her shoulder, still kicking herself for leaving hers in her hunting cache outside town. Muttering a word she learned from Tyrek she allows a slight haze to creep across her eyes, causing the Aegis to glow slightly. She examines it and then tosses it to Doumane, before slinging Lirosa's amulet around her own neck. "That will protect you from harm. Rhyna is going to get the children out so we need to go. I don't think we've got much more time."
As they're crossing through the streets again Issi speaks quietly. "Thank you for your help Doumane. I know these aren't your people."
Rhyna eagerly returns Issi's hug, noticing her stiff arm as she does so. She blushes slightly at Doumane's rebuke and nods apologetically.
"Of course. I'm sorry, I just get a little carried away sometimes. Focus Rhyna, focus, pull yourself together."
She lays a hand on Issi's shoulder, just above the injury.
"Hold still, this might tingle just a little bit"
A warm glow leaves her hand and Issi's flesh starts to knit back together around the wound before abruptly stopping. Rhyna frowns.
"Hmm. That didn't seem to work as well as I'd hoped. I'm really sorry, I'd try again but for some reason this doesn't work on the same person twice in the same day. I'm not sure why. Maybe it will work better for your friend Tyrek?"
Rhyna gentle strokes Tyrek's wounded flank and again her hand begins to glow and the wound begins to heal over. In place of the fresh injury is one that looks like it has had several days to heal.
"That's the best I can do I afraid, unless Mr Doumane is also injured" Rhyna says in an abashed tone. "I can certainly try to get the children to the White Oak. Maybe Father Noelan will be there as well and everything will be alright" she adds with a forced smile.
You part outside the shrine, Rhyna heading towards the cabin while Doumane, Issi, and Tyrek head towards the Phaendar Trading Company. Father Noelan's body is no longer in sight, possibly dragged off by another wolf, off which you notice increased numbers as you make your way to Kining's. You have to stop and hide several times to avoid being spotted by large groups of hobgoblins escorting prisoners to the centre of town, and it is clear that there is not much time left until the whole of Phaendar is under Goblinoid control.
A signpost by the road announces the clapboard wooden shop and barnlike smithy sharing a single large, stone wall to be the Phaendar Trading Company. The smithy’s double doors stand open, revealing a large, still-glowing forge within. Two slaughtered goats and a dead horse fill an adjacent animal pen. Many fresh scratches and dents mar the trading post’s heavy wooden door, and a chair leg juts through one broken window. Small flames lick at the thatch rooftop where a red-hot iron has been tossed.
At least three hobgoblins prowl around the lot in front of the shop, although they all sport injuries of some sort.
At Issi's remark about 'his people' Doumane is surprised. While he didn't live in town and was generally an itinerant farmhand (who just killed things instead of raised crops), he had always considered himself part of the area. And a big part of the area was the people who lived on it.
"Well, they are more then the hobgoblins are, certainly."
As they move he whispers to Issi's, "This is probably our last stop. We better make it count."
As they near the house he mutters, "I wonder if anyone is left alive, within?" The gunslinger begins to doubt if it is worth attacking.
Piled up furniture is visible at the windows of the shop. Approaching closer you notice there are several bodies in the yard, including three hobgoblins. It looks like the hobgoblins have so far been unsuccessful at forcing their way into the shop and are instead trying to smoke those inside out.
There also seems to be something large moving about inside the smithy.
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Issi draws her bow and nocks an arrow. "Let's try and take them at range. Tyrek, can you get up to the roof and get rid of the burning thatch? We don't want them all being burned alive inside."
Once Tyrek and Doumane signal that they are ready Issi puts her sword point first in the ground next to her for easy retrieval and sights on the first hobgoblin. "3...2...1..."
Doumane secretly wonders if they really should break the siege but Issi's actions make that a dead letter. Following her lead he perpares a bullet and fires it at one of the more healthy looking hobgoblins.
Issi's arrow strikes one of the three hobgoblins in the throat, dropping him soundlessly. The other two look around for their assailants in a panic when they are caught by Tyrek's breath attack.
As the pair are still looking around in shock Doumane's shot grazes the arm of one of the two, alerting them of their position.
The Hobgoblins scramble for their bows in an effort to respond. Deciding the dragon looks the most threatening, and is the larger target, they loose their arrows, one of which finds its mark, the other glancing off Tyrek's scales harmlessly.
Issi's shot hits the hobgoblin in the side and he drops to the ground, clutching his wound.
Tyrek tears into the roof with gusto, sending burning thatch flying and even ripping out a rafter that had caught alight.
Doumane sights at the remaining hobgoblin. The siege had been broken very quickly..he makes a mental note to compliment the dragon.
He is distracted by his thought and miss entirely.
The remaining hobgoblin moves behind a nearby barrel and fires in the direction the shots are coming from.
The arrow misses Doumane and Issi and lands in the dirt near them.
Issi's arrow hits the hobgoblin in the calf, inconvenient but little more than a flesh wound.
Tyrek lands heavily, just missing the hobgoblin but still knocking the barrel aside.
Watching the falling dragon, Doumane pulls up his musket and fires at the remaining foe. This was taking too long...
The hobgoblin drops his bow and drawing his sword swings at the dragon that's suddenly threatening him in a panic, but the blow glances off Tyrek's thick scales, doing no damage.
Perhaps still disoriented from the fall, Tyrek fails to land any meaningful hits on the hobgoblin, although Issi's arrow does connect.
Doumane carefully makes his way past the fighting and to the door of the trading company shop. Testing the door he finds that it is, as he expected locked and barred. Knocking on the door elicits a response from a gruff, male voice.
"Who is it? What's going on out there?
The Hobgoblin, driven by a combination of fury and fear of the beast in front of them, lands a mighty blow on Tyrek's head, and deciding that discretion is the better part of valour, decides to run for reinforcements, hopefully while the dragon is still stunned from the blow. Unfortunately for the hobgoblin the blow is cushioned by Tyrek's horns, and the dragon is able to react as he tries to run past him.
'Hello in there!" Doumane shouts, 'We are trying to save you from the hobgoblins. How many are trapped inside? We are trying to get you to the forest..."
Tyrek's bite fells the hobgoblin, which collapses to the ground. The hobgoblin is alive, but unable to stand and faint from pain and loss of blood it is clear that it poses no further threat.
The voice from the shop replies. "There are five of us still in here. There were more of us, but two got hit by arrows before we got the barricades up and Kining got captured. Is it safe to open the door? It will take just a moment to move the barricade out of the way."
After about a minute of thuds and muffled swearing a large bearded man opens the door. Two men and two women stand behind him, all of whom appear to have armed themselves with various weapons and bits of armour from the shop. They are sooty, and a couple of them have minor injuries, but they seem proud at having held of the assualt so far.
The shop is well stocked with supplies for would be adventurers and mercenaries, including 8 provision points worth of dried meat, a silver shortsword, plenty of rope, 20 musket bullets, 10 cold iron arrows, and two masterwork backpacks. Issi also spots a hinged floorboad behind the counter of the shop, containing a +1 buckler decorated with a carving of a fire under a stone arch.
You recognise the symbol on the buckler as the holy symbol of Droskar, The Dark Smith, a dwarven deity of cheating, slavery, and toil.