Victor tears at the vines and yanks himself free of the devilish plants grasping at him. Against the hedge wall, Sophy sees the wounds of her burns start to fade away as the unusual magical power that resides within her seems to sense a need to keep her whole.
Belril keeps his sling loaded and ready to hurl another stone at the Goblin or any other blatantly hostile foe should they re-appear/appear.
Wren will hold her action, wondering if the creature has fled or will be returning to try and get the drop on them.
Kern continues to push his way through the vines, still grumbling.
Eponine will delay and say to the area where the goblin disappeared You can't hide forever. Especially if we burn this place clear of every last leaf and seed!
Belril stays at the ready, looking for any perceived attack from the surrounding thicket. Likewise Wren eyes the briars where the goblin faded slipped away from view ready if he should return. Kern pulls his way through the entangling vines trying to get away from their embrace. Eponine holds still and threatens to burn the thicket to the ground, but the goblin dose not respond or reappear anywhere. Victor is close to escaping the entangling vines, but before he can break completely free he feels the thickets ensnare him again, the thorns ripping at his skin. Belril jumps over a wriggling vine as it comes close to wrangling him as well, but the quick halfling remains free of the grasping thicket.
Eponine will move to BC42 to scout ahead and make room for the others fleeing the area of entanglement.
"We can either sit here and fight with the terrain and get picked off, or we can try to find and burn that stupid goblin," the mage rages, at the partially occupied group.
"We can either sit here and fight with the terrain and get picked off, or we can try to find and burn that stupid goblin," the mage rages, at the partially occupied group.
"No burning," Sophy whispers urgently from the corner; the flame is just a little too recent for her. "This whole thicket will go up, with us in the middle of it." She gives an anxious glance toward her crossbow, far beyond reach in the midst of the entangling briars.
"Almost there," Kern grumbles. "The battle will probably be over by the time I get out of here."
Victor rips another mess of writing vines from around his body, tosses them to the ground and steps out of the thickets grasping mass. Sophy waits, nervous about what 'burning' the goblin out would entail. Belril decides to not tempts fate anymore and skips out of the swirling mass of plant life. Instead of trying to break free, Kern continues to slog his way through the entangling thorns pulling his way closer to freedom. Wren waits, eager to 'burn' the goblin and contemplates what that would entail.
Eponine moves south into the next briar cavern. In it she sees a tangle of vines hang from the thorny ceiling, each suspending a clattering collection of bird skulls, rib bones, teeth, and other bits of gruesome decor. In a few places the vines droop all the way to the floor. A large nest of nettles and thorny vines sits to the south, a halo of half-eaten dead birds and rats indicating that whatever sleeps there eats in its bed.
The sound of the ocean surf makes hearing anything difficult, but you can hear shouting carrying on the wind from the west. It is the course language of the goblins and difficult the hear the whole of it, but you can pick out some of the words. "curs...march...intruders... move it...longshanks..."
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I expect we're going to have trouble soon. The sounds of battle will likely attract others. I would suggest you make any preparations for a struggle. We can use the entanglement to our advantage- it will stop us being flanked. Don't go too far Eponine.
Belril casts a spell, enhancing his trusty sling so that the bullets fired from it are particularly dense and dangerous.
Hearing the warnings, Wren casts a defensive magic, and standing near her suddenly appear multiple versions of the ill tempered Mage.
HA!HA! I am free! Now it is my turn you stupid plant controlling... plant controller!" Too irritated to come up with anything clever, Victor nocks an arrow while looking for the plant controller.
"Is there any way out up there?" Sophy calls forward softly to Eponine, with a glance at the entangling briars overgrowing the path they came in by. "Or are we trapped in here?"
I don't see a way out... but it sounds like the goblins are grouping up to come after us. From that way she says pointing to the west.
Sophy turns to look west with wide, frightened eyes. "They'll have to call off their vines to get through. At least we'll know when they're coming. But they'll have us in a corner."
Victor moves after Eponine with his bow at the ready, now that his hands are free to move. Sophy considers that they may in fact be trapped by the tangling mass of lifelike plants. Moving into a better position, Belril enchants his sling to make each strike more deadly. Kern continues to pull and drag himself through the mass of briar's that keep trying to drag him back. Finally he breaks free of the writhing thicket and is free of the entangling effect. With a gesture and some invoking words, Wren is suddenly surrounded by Wren's identical in sight and action to the original so that it is impossible to tell which is real and which are illusions. Eponine alerts the others to the possible threat of goblins coming from the West, but it is clear that this chamber is a dead end. Suddenly the twisting and grasping mass of vines cease their reaching and fall limp. The sounds of goblins shouting curses is coming from the west behind the thicket wall.
Victor smiles. "Do not worry, Miss Sophy! Let them come! They shall all fall on this day! Oh, and just to let you all know, there's around a half dozen or so coming our way."
Seeing the entangling magic dismissed, Sophy moves away from what she assumes will be the front lines as quickly as she can in the cramped conditions.
Wren holds her ground, hoping to get one good spell in before having to fall back to safer territory.
Kern pushes his way through the last of the vines and is in the process of breathing a sigh of relief as the vines vanish. "Oh that just figures," he mutters. At the sound of the goblins, he grips his flail tightly and prepares for their arrival.
Round 7, Eponine will move to AX41.
Perhaps if we go in deeper, we might find someplace more suitable to fight them. she says, struggling to move through the close quarters.
Victor readies his bow, keeping his eye out for a goblin target. Sophy moves deeper into the thicket caves to get away from the advancing goblins. Belril moves back towards the goblins, and takes a position ready to take a shot at the first one he sees. Kern grips his flail ready to smash some goblin heads. Wren is at the ready to cast her magic while Eponine moves past Sophy to get closer to the direction the goblins will be coming from.
In the dead chamber where Sophy is seeking refuge the flame wielding goblin appears with a wicked grin on his face. Sophy screams and Victor looks back over his shoulder, but can not see past the ticket wall what has startled her.
A goblin pokes its head into view and Belril fires a ready shot at it leaving a nasty mark on the little creatures flesh. It rushes at the halfling as Victor takes as shot at it, the shaft narrowly missing the warriors target. Victor must have been pulling left so as to not accidentally his Belril. It swings its dogslicer at Belril, missing the halfling by a great deal.
More goblins rush into the area where the vines and thickets had temporarily come alive. As one rushes to surround Belril, he swings his fist at the little bugger and smacks it good on its way by.
Six goblins with short blades press close to the halfling, while a seventh with a short bow hangs back.
Sophy gives a yelp as the goblin who burned her before suddenly reappears. "" she commands it, backing away toward the rest of the group. "It's back. It has fire," she tells Victor as she slips past him.
"Hide your eyes, Belril!" Wren shouts a warning to the halfling. She then casts a spell before falling back, allowing Kern to move ahead of her.
When the goblins don't quite reach him, Kern waits a moment to let Wren cast her spell and then moves up to attack.
In response to Sophy's shout, Eponine nimbly squeezes her way back behind Victor. As soon as she spots the druid, she moves up to engage it.
Double move to BC41.
As Eponine moves past him, Victor doesn't hesitate to follow. As soon as he gets a clear shot, he aims his bow and fires at the druid, yet unable to remove that lingering fear he may hit Eponine.
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Seeing that Kern is bravely using him as a shield from the Goblins, Belril nevertheless notes the utter obliteration of the human's target. Deciding that Kern would just get himself gutted if he pulled back to act as a ranged combatant, Belril heroically holds his ground, twirling his staff in defensive motions and gracefully dodging strikes as he pummels a goblin with it. Whether he lands a blow or not, he takes a hand off his staff for a moment to make a rude gesture at his attackers, taunting them.
Magical power flows out of Sophy as she shouts, "Don't Attack" The goblin hesitates and she takes advantage of his pause and moves back away from him, only to find herself getting closer to a swarm of goblin warriors. Already starting to feel the unity of fighting with this group, Kern holds back allowing Wren to work her arcana. With a wave of her hands and a muttering of ancient words she causes a cloud burst of glowing sparkles to fill the thicket cavern centered on the goblin archer. Upon completing her spell, Wren backs away from the forming front lines. Kern then steps forward and pulverizes the face of the nearest goblin, knocking its nose to the inside of the backside of its now shattered skull. Eponine moves to defend the back line advancing upto the tricky goblin. It looks at her with hate and rears back with the flaming blade formed in it's hand, but it is unable to swing the flames at her. Bellril leans back, going on the defensive but not without lashing out and scoring a hit on the shoulder of one of the surrounding goblins. Victor leaps to defend the back with Eponine, firing his bow at the fire wielding goblins but the arrow flies into the thicket wall lost forever. It looks at Victor as if it is going to lob a ball of fire into his face, but it can't seem to complete the action. The goblin archer and two at the back of the advancing mob ae stuck with blindness and are unable to do anything. One near the back, unaffected by the spell, takes a step forward and slashes his small blade at Kern who, hampered by the tight quarters, feels the blade sting his flesh and draw blood. The two others press Belril, but neither is able to get past his defenses.
Despite the fact that she is trapped between two front lines, Sophy feels safe enough with Kern and the halfling on one side and Victor and Eponine on the other that she replaces her dagger in its sheath and clumsily wrestles Father Zantus' wand out of her pack and away from the grabbing spirits so she can be ready to heal anyone who needs it.
"Sophy, go help Kern and Belril. I think I blinded most of their foes, but the could probably use that wand. I'll help Epi and Victor.". The Mage moves to Ba 42 and fires one of her force missles at the Druid.
Damage
AC 12, HP25/25. Mirror Image spell in effect.
Relieved to see Victor coming up behind her, Eponine focuses her attention on the druid. She lashes out with her curved blade, hoping to put a quick end to him.
To hit -4 included for cramped quarters.
Damage