Shaken: A shaken character takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. Shaken is a less severe state of fear than frightened or panicked.
Raska cannot manage to land a second strike, but Quinn's magic is unerring, causing the scout to jerk as it hits her. The Ironfang warrior, still reeling from William's blow, decides he is the greater threat and turns his sword to the fighter. It's a clumsy thrust, perhaps because of the injury William himself inflicted, and William's staff knocks it expertly aside.
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Semfet 10/19hp, shaken
As William turns aside the recruit's sword he pounds him with his quarterstaff and then moves up next to Edvard.
William's staff goes into the hobgoblin's eye and comes out the back of his skull. The body slumps down among all the others the hobs left here, and William and Edvard prepare to do the same to the scout.
"Nice work." says Edvard before launching his own assault.
Calliae moves into the shrine, looking for a better shot, and reloads her sling.
Quinn winced at the gruesome demise of the shielded hob, "Yes, let's try to make the wizard retch in the middle of a fight!" He activated the wand again.
Raska shields his eyes from the gore before him before quickly hurdling one of the pews in an attempt to finish off the scout.
Quinn's magic is relentless, knocking the scout back again, while Raska moves up alongside his companions and looks for a way to get past her defenses. Even three on one, and with just a handaxe in her off-hand, she seems to be holding off her foes quite well. With her free hand, she finally manages to wrench the battleaxe free - but she leaves an opening at last, and all three of her foes try to take advantage. It turns out to be a costly - and fatal - mistake.
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It's clear the hobs had already begun claiming spoils from their pillaging, as there is a large sack on the floor next to the altar that contains an elm wand, a silver cup, a hand-sized darkwood carving of a butterfly, three bottles of Oldlaw whiskey, a large quantity of gold dust, 27 small semiprecious stones, and 76 gp, as well as a round ivory amulet engraved with Erastil’s bow-and-arrow holy symbol strung on a leather thong. Peeking in from outside, Lirosa gives a small cry and runs in, scooping up the ivory amulet. "I thought I'd lost this!" she sighs in relief.
William flings the gore off his quarterstaff and begins to look around for useful things. He spots a hidden alcove in the altar and pulls out it's contents. "Look at what was hidden in the altar!" He then hands the wand to Quinn and adds "Let's grab what we can and head out of here. I hate to leave this place to their desecration."
Edvard will pull security will the others secure what they can.
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"Oh great lord Erastil. We thank you and all the other gods for extending your blessing to the poor souls of this town for many years. As the vile hobgoblins sack our beloved town we would bid thee farewell from this place before they befoul this shrine. May you see to it we escape unmolested so we can erect a new shrine elsewhere." Calliae seemed to speak to no one in particular, addressing the very air within the shrine. Once she's done she makes a short bow before joining the others in taking what they can use to escape and survive.
As Callie completes the brief speech to decommission the Shrine, you are all swept with a sense that the gods venerated here are pleased with her words: warmth, hope, and vitality pervades each of you.
Quinn recovered and reloaded his crossbow while William searched and Calliae performed the small service. He pulled the double doors closed and headed towards the group, ”No one needs to see Stagsward right now.”
Quinn held the elm wand at eye level and looked down the length of the wand,
When he was finished looking over the elm he rolled the willow wand between his thumb and forefinger,
Raska winced in pain as the last hobgoblin fell. The adrenaline of battle temporarily numbed the pain of his sword wound, which now hit him full force. He bent down with a groan and ripped a strip of cloth off of one of the bodies and tied off the gash, hoping to stop the trickle of blood.
He waits a moment as Calliae recites her blessing and, thankfully, he feels a bit invigorated by her words. "Thank you for that." He says to her, "It is a hard truth that we must leave this place. This place we've both known for so long."
He busies himself with gathering up whatever extra supplies he could carry. He nods to William, indicating he is ready to depart.
"Okay, let's head out to our next stop." says Edvard
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Having done what you can here, you grab your followers and move on.
Somewhat unsettlingly, by the time you reach the Taproot Inn, the town has begun to quiet, and you realize most of the town's resistance is spent. It's been much less than half an hour since the attack even began, but the speed and thoroughness of the Ironfang's assault has been relentless, and left almost no opposition alive... except for you. So far.
The two-story inn’s walls are made of hewn timbers stained a dark green, all capped with a pine shake roof. A wooden statue of a rearing grizzly bear normally guards the front door, but now lies on its side, its head broken off and missing. In the distance beyond the inn you can see torches flickering over the Phaendar Bridge, your hope for escape from the town.
War cries and breaking glass sound from inside the inn. Shadows on the windows indicate a number of figures moving within the taproom.
Before leaving the shrine, Quinn handed the wand of CLW to Calliae,"You will probably get more use out of this than I." He held the wand he had using above his head,"Anyone here know how to use one of these?This one is quite easy. You just focus and BOOF!"
Afterwards, with the Taproot in sight, Quinn sighed and stared after the lights in the distance. He hefted the crossbow over his shoulder, "Well, we've come this far, might as well see if anyone is alive in there, right? his expression belied his tone. "Who's going first?"
William breaths deeply and then says, "I'll go first, but what do you guys thing about going in the back door instead of the front?"
Calliae just nods as she accepts the wand before stowing it away. It should help them and, in case the healing would need to be spread out, she could even use it to infuse one of her poultices.
When William suggest going around the back Calliae nods, "That sounds like a good idea. If only we had a way to draw them out just a few at a time."
Raska mumbles to himself as he also spots the torches on the other side of the bridge, "Well, there goes that plan."
He nods along with Calliae's and William's reasoning, "Yes, I suggest we head around back and create a choke point at the door, that way the mob inside can be easily managed. It'll also provide us some cover from their arrows."
Raska focuses for a moment and after a time he seems to be reinvigorated.
"I will go in with William, so I can assess the situation on the ground and make adjustments."
Quinn and scratched at his beard, "That seems well and good but, what happens when they decide to ignore us and turn any survivors inside into hostages?"
He paused as some more glass shattered, "The backdoor is smart. And the choke point is smart. I just think that it may be too smart."
"The chokepoint has the same hostage problem, but if William and I can keep them focused on us. You might be able to sneak in and free hostages."
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"Back door. Let's go now. I meant all of us but if some of you want to stay here and sneak in fine. Edvard and I are going now." William says as he heads toward the back door, not waiting for anyone.
Edvard grins and follows William.
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Edvard moves through the back door and goes to keep pushing into the main room.
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Raska moves forward with the others, poised just outside the rear door with dagger drawn. He keeps an eye out for any signs of the looters and rushes in as soon as battle is joined.
Quinn sighed as the three left left him and Calliae before shouldering his crossbow, ”If we come in from both sides, we might make quick work of the hobs.”
He moved up to the front door and pressed his back to the wall nest to it.
Edvard throws open the back door and steps into what is clearly the Taproot's kitchen. A pantry leads off to the southeast, and the outhwest door - presumably into the Inn's common room, is closed. The kitchen and pantry are each about ten feet square, linked by an open doorway. A large trapdoor in the floor, just inside the pantry doorway, is closed. Just inside the kitchen door, a single Ironfang Legion soldier rests his foot atop a large, sealed water barrel, balanced as though he were ready to roll it with his boot directly into the path of anyone entering the kitchen.
Edvard moves to the recruit and stabs him with his spear.
Raska quickly follows the massive man, following up the spear with a downward slash of his dagger.
With two quick thrusts, Edvard and Raska together cut down the hobgoblin fighter. The barrel of water he was standing on remains untouched - likely a valuable resource, when the time comes to flee into the forest.
William steps into the room and looks around. He walks over to a lock box and opens it and shows the others what is in it. He then points to the door to the main room and nods.
Edvard nods and leads the way into the room by kicking open the door. "Anyone who doesn't want to die, leave."
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A massive fireplace and the horns of two dozen elk make up most of the bar’s decor. The Taproot can accommodate dozens of locals and travelers, but the barroom has been ravaged and destroyed, with tables smashed and a dozen bodies dead on the floor. A stairway on the east wall rises up to the only second floor in all of Phaendar. A pair of Ironfang hobgoblins are still tossing through the inn’s wreckage, and raise their blades to meet Edvard's challenge.
Outside, the noise of the door being kicked in is quite audible.
Raska's heart sinks as he surveys the wreckage of the Taproot's common room. He pauses, thinking back to all the late nights spent here, talking and boasting with his neighbors into the small hours. With a renewed sense of rage, he wastes no time charging in after the brazen human with a growl, rushing the first hobgoblin.
William follows the others into the room yelling at the hobgoblins, "You'll pay for this mess!"
With the of a the door being kicked in, Quinn knew the fight had begun. He pushed the door open and quickly ducked back behind the wall.
Quinn catches a loose splinter in the hand, "Calistria's sting!" he cursed, ruining his attempt at being sneaky.
Raska's knife stabs deep, but the Ironfang legionnaire grunts and readies a counter. He cuts at Raska a=even has his companion lashes at Edvard. Clearly still taken aback on the suddenness of the assault, neither blow lands.
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Calliae takes a last look at those trailing them, "Try to stay out of sight of the hobs." Then she's off into the inn.
Once inside she doesn't need any time to see what is going on and swiftly draws both her sickle and her shield.
Not wanting to risk shooting Calliae -- andfiguring that the hobs probably knew he was there anyhow-- Quinn dropped the crossbow and stepped out from behind the wall, wand in hand.
After quickly dodging the hobgoblins cut, Raska plunges his dagger into the bastard's vitals, hoping to put him down for good.
William moves up next to Edvard and attacks the hobgoblin there.
Raska keeps driving his blade home with one vicious stab after another, and although the Ironfang fighter has not fallen yet, he is clearly badly wounded. Likewise, his companion suffers a terrible wound on William's hands, the sound of cracking ribs barely audible beneath the sound of the blow itself.
Edvard stabs the one next to William then takes a 5' step to set up the flank for Raska.
Edvard finishes one of the two hobs off with a precise thrust to the heart, then moves to distract the other. This makes him a target, at least so it seems, as the surviving fighter turns to attack Edvard instead of Raska. The hob fumbles the swing, though, nearly dropping his sword and potentially exposing himself to a lethal counterstroke.
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