"Dammit!"
"See how you like this, you overstuffed dog!"
Calla goes to Izbahn's defense, placing herself between him and the creature. She also takes a wide swing at the goblin but the quick goblin is just to fast for her and ducks under the blow.
Venmirl hustles back to the center of cathedral square to look for father Zanthus. He finds that the holy man has taken refuge just behind the wooden stage. Zanthus' face shows a mix of shock and horror as he looks all around.
The unarmed townsfolks continues to flee the battle, moving farther SE.
Round 3
Goblins' turn 3
The weaponless (and wounded) goblin takes a step back from Zelazny and looks around for a weapon. His gaze ends up on the huge (for him) ceramic mugs of ale on a nearby table. He grabs one and throws it at the rogue with all his might. The mug breaks as it hits Zelazny's face, opening a gash on his forehead and splashing him with ale.
On the other side of the square, the goblin facing Calla tries to cut her but the huntress avoids the blow without too much problem.
Your turn
Syeira uses her magic to create the illusion of cage covering the wounded goblin. The goblins quickly trades his wide grin for a look full of rage and surprise. He doesn't understand how he could become a prisoner this suddenly. Zelazny is just as surprised by this turn of events.
Izbahn mutters "Thanks, Calla. I owe ya one!". Looking around, he doesn't see any immediate threats to the children, still hanging back, frightened out of their wits, he was sure.
Then he noticed the goblin, trapped in what looked like a cage, but studying it further...
,
...realized it was a magical figment cast by that Varisian dancer he saw earlier. Realizing the goblin would jump to the same conclusion shortly, he gripped his club tightly and, cocking it to throw, advanced towards the group.
Oops,
Damage
As Venmirl spots father Zantus hiding and apparently safe from harm, he hears a load crash as fragments of a mug of beer land near his feet. He moves next to the goblin and swings his new but trusty morningstar
When I see the initial attack under control, I walk back to Venmirl.
Cautiously looking around the square for signs of more golins hiding.
Izbahn's club leaves his hand with more speed and force then would seem possible. The club violently hits the 'caged' goblin and a great cracking sound can be hear. The creature, already weaken by his rapier wound, can't take more punishment. He fall on the ground and lays there motionless. His work done, the club comes flying back to the wizard who casually catches it.
Calla doesn't seem to hear Izbahn say anything, and it's uncertain whether it's because of all the noise of because of her state of mind. She screams at the goblin, "Get... back!" and punctuates the second word with a swing of her axe.
Calla overcomes the last goblin's defense and plunges her axe in the little humanoid body. He has a few spasms then falls down as Calla pulls her axe free.
And, with this, a relative calm returns to the cathedral square. You take a moment to look around and catch your breath. It seems like all the closest goblins have been beaten but sounds of combat and panic can be heard in all directions. To the west, on Junker's Way, you see a goblin who has climbed a small house. As a young woman carrying a baby runs under him, the little freak tries to jump down on her. Fortunately, he badly times his jump and breaks his neck by landing face first behind her. Great clash of weapons can be heard to the north while a plume of smoke is rising from somewhere down south. In the square, there are a few wounded, including one of the boys with Galdor. He young half-orc approaches his sister. "Nice work, Sis! Can you give me an axe? I can fight!"
The 5 of you were able to deal with the first goblins, but who knows how many of the little humanoids are now in town? Perhaps sticking together would be a good idea.
1: Horse Hate: Goblins excel at riding animals, but they don’t quite get horses. In fact, their hatred of all things horse is matched only by their fear of horses, who tend to step on goblins who get too close.
2: Dog Hate: Although goblins raise horrible rat-faced creatures called (creatively enough) goblin dogs to use as mounts (and ride wolves or worgs if they can get them—goblins are quick to explain that wolves are NOT dogs), their hatred of plain old dogs nearly matches their hatred of horses. The feeling is mutual. If your dog’s barking at the woodpile for no reason, chances are he smells a frightened goblin hiding
in there somewhere.
3: Goblins Raid Junkyards: Garbage pits, gutters, sewers… anywhere there’s garbage, you can bet goblins are nearby. Goblins are weirdly adept at crafting weapons and armor from refuse, and are fond of killing people with what they throw away.
4: Goblins Love to Sing: Unfortunately, as catchy as their lyrics can be, goblin songs tend to be a bit too creepy and disturbing to catch on in polite society.
5: They’re Sneaky: An excited or angry goblin is a noisy, chattering, toothy menace, but even then, he can drop into an unsettling silence in a heartbeat. This, matched with their diminutive size, makes them unnervingly adept at hiding in places you’d never expect: stacks of firewood, rain barrels, under logs, under chicken coops, in ovens…
6: They’re A Little Crazy: The fact that goblins think of things like ovens as good hiding places reveals much about their inability to think plans through to the most likely outcome. That, and they tend to be easily distracted, particularly by shiny things and animals smaller than them that might make good eating.
7: They’re Voracious: Given enough supplies, a goblin generally takes nearly a dozen meals a day. Most goblin tribes don’t have enough supplies to accommodate such ravenous appetites, which is why the little menaces are so prone to going on raids.
8: They Like Fire: Burning things is one of the great goblin pastimes, although they’re generally pretty careful about lighting fires in their own lairs, especially since goblins tend to live in large tangled thistle patches and sleep in beds of dried leaves and grass. But give a goblin a torch and someone else’s home and you’ve got trouble.
9: They Get Stuck Easily: Goblins have wiry frames but wide heads. They live in cramped warrens. Sometimes too cramped.
10: Goblins Believe Writing Steals Your Soul: The walls of goblin lairs and the ruins of towns goblins have raided are littered with pictures of their exploits. They never use writing, though. That’s not lucky. Writing steals words out of your head. You can’t get them back.
Izbahn looks around at the carnage around him and, feeling the battle lust ebb from his body, thinking to himself Wow, that was intense... Now noticing the decapitated goblin corpses and goblin blood splattered over the place, a feeling of nausea starts to overwhelm him and his body starts to shake. Urrr...don't feel good.... Seeing Calla coming towards him and the kids, he fights the urge to vomit and turns to face her, a wan grin on his face. My first kill, thought it would feel better than this.
Looking around him, he waves the Varisian dancer and her Shoanti companion over, along with the rapier wielding man., saying Hey over here, it would be a good idea to stick together." Realizing these are goblins, he wracks his brain to remember what he knows about them...
Calla breathes deeply and cleans her axe, resisting the temptation to go chase more goblins- she knows she has to stay with Galdor. The boy asks for one of her axes, and she smiles proudly but says, "If I fall, you take my axes and kill as many goblins as you can. Until then, you don't fight. You stick with me, or Ma and Pa. I fight for all of us, but only when I must."
She looks to see who else has stuck around in the square to fight the goblins. "Izbahn, are you all right? You don't look well." It seems that earlier in the day, he was saying something similar to her. Death changes everything... she thinks to herself.
Venmirl runs to meet Syeira "Are you alright?" He looks her over. Before she can answer he says "Come, let us go over to those other brave souls and see if we can get them to help us kill more of these foul beasts."
Izbahn nods at Calla and says "Yeah, I'll be ok. Just not used to battle..."
Looking around now at the goblins corpses, he just realized something important. Calla, these goblins are not from the same tribe!". He points out the different marking on the corpses body and armor. "That means the leader of this band is still out there somewhere, if we can find him, we can put an end to him!"
Calla narrows her eyebrows and thinks about what Izbahn has said. "Not from the same tribe? What could it mean? And why would these goblins attack Sandpoint?"
Still heated from the battle, and very much liking the excitement she follows Venmirl gladly.
He has proven himself with that new morninstar of his, it's nice to have a decent man near you in these situations.
She turns to Izbahn.
"Hi ... Excuse me ... But did I just hear you say these goblins are of different tribes?"
"That means someone went through alot of trouble to bring together these tribes."
"And ... I'm guessing it's no coincidence they've attack on this particular day."
"Perhaps we should go look for the sheriff ..."
Izbahn noticing the pretty Varisian approaching him, could not help but notice her flushed features. Thinking to himself, Glad to know SOMEONE is having a good time. Aloud he says to Syeria "Nice to meet you. I am Izbahn, and this is Calla. That was a nice spell you cast, gave me the perfect opportunity to strike. You are right, we should find the sheriff.
He pauses for a moment, and collects his thoughts. Do you have any idea who could have organized these beasts?
"If I fall, you take my axes and kill as many goblins as you can. Until then, you don't fight. You stick with me, or Ma and Pa. I fight for all of us, but only when I must."
"It's not fair! I never get to do anything." He says dejectedly. "Pa is alway telling me stories of stuff he did at my age. I want to do the same."
Calla sighs, and, listening to the chaos around her, decides that it might not be such a bad idea for Galdor to have some means of defending himself. "Here, take this axe. It's balanced for throwing, but it kills just fine close-up. I only want you to use it if your life is in danger. If I ever find out that you have used it wrongly, you know how angry I will be. And when we are together, you must do as I say." She gives him a hard look as she hands him the axe.
"Thanks sis!" Galdor says as he receives the axe and proceeds to take a few practice swings to check its balance. Around him, most of the other boys aren’t so keen with the idea of fighting goblins. You hear a few of them murmur "I need to find my mom … I’ll try to get home … I wish dad was here." and they slowly start to disperse.
"I'm not sure which tribes these "goblins" are from, but they are still attacking the city!" Venmirl looks around in various directions, the screams of people and the sound of battle fill the air.
Perception
"Then let's not stand here idly .. and go find the sheriff."
"Perhaps we can be of assistance."
"I may not live in Sandpoint, but goblin attacking a city is never a good sign."
"Who's coming ?"
Izbahn turns to Calla and asks "Will your brother be able to take care of himself?"
Once he gets a reply from Calla he says to everyone else "The sheriff went off this way."
"Galdor... go home and make sure that Ma and Pa are all right. I need to find the sheriff and see how I can help. I will be home soon, don't worry." Calla will accompany the others.
I recognize Calla from the alteration earlier.
"Wait a minute ... I remember you."
"You stopped that bald guy in his tracks."
"Nice work there."
I look back at Izbahn.
"Which way did the sheriff go again ?"
"A young boy.. a half-elf. Have you seen him? I brought him and others here to enjoy the festival, and now I don't see them anywhere. I need to find my brother before something happens to him!"
"That's right... and you were dancing, yes? Very beautiful. I think the sheriff went..... that way, with the bald man." Calla shoulders her axe and points in the direction that the sheriff went.
Izbahn turns to Syeria and says "I saw the sheriff go this way."
"Thank you for your help. Eratil's blessing be with you this day."
Naomi hurries south, hoping her family is okay...
Galdor looks sad, all the sudden, as if he finally realised the gravity of the situation. He nods at Calla and starts running toward your home with his axe. After a few paces, he turns back to his sister. "Don't take too long, sis … You know Pa and Ma will be worried."
You all make your way south of Cathedral square down the ramp leading to High street. At the intersection of Tower and High street, the bright light of a roaring fire draws your attention. Further down High street, a group of 6 goblins has found a cart full of fuel that was keep aside for tonight's bonfire. They are carrying torches and have lit the cart on fire. One of them, an emaciated female, is singing the rhyme you've been hearing and the rest of them are gleefully dancing around the fire. The large amount of dry wood has created a huge fire and could easily spread to the nearby houses if left unchecked.
Izbahn muttered a vile curse under his breath, as it didn't take a genius to figure out what will happen if the buildings around the burning cart catch fire.
"We can't let them get away with this. Somehow, I don't think its going to matter to them if Sandpoint goes up in flames!
"I don't think these creatures care about anything but mayhem and destruction."
"So far .. they're succeeding."
"Perhaps we should run off these goblins first and then deal with the fire."
I highly doubt we can do anything about it, with these little bastards around."
"Anyone have any bright ideas ?"
It occurs to Venmirl that if he were able to move the cart that is on fire away from any buildings that it may save the structures.
He runs towards the cart and tries to push it to an open area.
Izbahn sees the Shoanti warrior running off towards the cart. Knowing he has to buy him some time, quickly says to Calla " Please keep them off of me." Without waiting for a reply, he moves closer to the group of goblins and starts gesturing towards the beasts, while droning his incantation.
It occurs to Venmirl that if he were able to move the cart that is on fire away from any buildings that it may save the structures.
He runs towards the cart and tries to push it to an open area.
I take a double move, running after Venmirl and Izbahn.
Taking care not to pass them, I'm staying behind them at all time.
"Perhaps a bit too rash gentlemen, but we need to get that cart away from there ... fast."
Patience, grasshopper, LOL
Edit,
Naomi runs until she notices the goblins and the burning cart. Others seem to be making a stand against the tiny cretins, and she's still agry about being seperated from her family. She stops just behind the group and draws her mace, ready to bash some skulls...
I remained quiet during the discussion, not having anything particularly useful or witty to add. I clenched and unclenched my left hand, feeling irritated and a little out of my depth. Fighting off hordes of goblin raiders isn't exactly my area of expertise, and dammit, I'd been enjoying myself.
Seeing the goblins around the burning cart, I stalked towards them, slowly swinging my rapier back and forth menacingly as I approached them and their little inferno "So you want to play? C'mon, lets play."
Fascinated: A fascinated creature is entranced by a supernatural or spell effect. The creature stands or sits quietly, taking no actions other than to pay attention to the fascinating effect, for as long as the effect lasts. It takes a –4 penalty on skill checks made as reactions, such as Perception checks. Any potential threat, such as a hostile creature approaching, allows the fascinated creature a new saving throw against the fascinating effect. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon, casting a spell, or aiming a ranged weapon at the fascinated creature, automatically breaks the effect. A fascinated creature's ally may shake it free of the spell as a standard action.
Fascinated: A fascinated creature is entranced by a supernatural or spell effect. The creature stands or sits quietly, taking no actions other than to pay attention to the fascinating effect, for as long as the effect lasts. It takes a –4 penalty on skill checks made as reactions, such as Perception checks. Any potential threat, such as a hostile creature approaching, allows the fascinated creature a new saving throw against the fascinating effect. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon, casting a spell, or aiming a ranged weapon at the fascinated creature, automatically breaks the effect. A fascinated creature's ally may shake it free of the spell as a standard action.
Izbahn says to Venmirl before he runs off: "Hold up, sir. Follow me, I have something that should distract them long enough to let you get the cart away from them."
As Venmirl is about to run towards the burning cart, Izbahn catches his attention. He waits to see what Izbahn has in mind.
I stop running when Venmirl stops at Izbahns' mention of a distraction.
"Interesting .. I have to see this .. mind if I tag along?"
"If it all goes wrong somehow, it's better to have someone at your back, other than goblins."