Joshua jumps out of the way of the small javelins the goblins throw at him, and keeps singing trying to infuse courage in his comrades and the people of Sandpoint.
"See! they're in disorder!
Comrades, keep close order!
Ever they shall rue the day
They ventured o'er the border!
Now the Goblins flies before us!
Vict'ry's banner floateth o'er us!
Raise the loud exulting chorus
Sandpoint wins the field!"
he then takes a step back to P20, putting the grease spell area between him and the goblins.
Ko'Kori levels another strike at a nearby goblin.
Malen rises, and the goblins see an opportunity- two blades stab into his back and chest as they laugh and yell at eachother in the goblin tongue.
Malen's strike lands, severely hurting his goblin foe.
Kjell's arrows strike true, silencing the singing goblin forever.
Joshua's single shaft downs the goblin covered with Malen's whip-wounds.
With a fierce blow, Ko'Kori downs another green-skinned foe.
With many of their own number fallen, the goblins gulp, look at each other, then turn and flee. Some scream, some focus on dodging carts and civillians.
The ghastly quiet that fills the air gives a moment to take stock. On the stage, the mayor helps Father Zantus to his feet; ash and smoke fills the air as carts and houses burn; women and men weep over fallen civilians, some close to death, others beyond saving.
Joshua feels awfully inadequate, as he doesn't know anything about healing, both mundane or magical, and is unable to help the wounded.
He moves to the middle of the square, and readies a bow attack against any goblin returning to attack.
He focus on the combat, trying to ignore the screams of the wounded or mourners. He has to keep focused, and don't let the pain immobilize him.
The goblins fleeing Ko'Kori moves amongst the injured, stabilizing any she can.
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Kjell draws another arrow and sights at one of the goblins as it flees, but Arne's talons clench on his shoulder for a moment. Healing. He glances to the bird, who cocks its head to one side and lets out a short, small screech. With a sigh, the Ulfen brings the arrow back to his quiver and slings the bow over his shoulder, moving to assist the wounded. He helps up those who can rise, uses his healing touch on those who need it, and performs brief prayers over those who have drawn their last breath. This is why I've come here. To help. I couldn't save them all... But how many more might have died without us? He looks over to his new allies and a small smile ghosts across his lips.
Malen cracks his neck, replacing his whip at his belt and looking around for anything he can do, or fallen citizens that the healers haven't noticed.
"Come! We must get to safety." Quee met with the mayor and Father Zantus. Given his delicate condition, he felt the matter would be expedited if he helped him along.
Escorting the two - if willing - back to a bastion of safety, he felt the need to ask the mayor. "Why would they attack us? Was it the festival somehow?"
Ko'Kori catches up with and downs another goblin as the rest flee.
"I... I don't know..." Father Zantus unsteadily gets to his feet. "They attacked just as I struck the thunderstone for the end of the festival..."
Kjell finds three people, badly wounded and on the verge of death, a couple and an old woman; his holy light saves them, leaving them hurt but conscious.
The priest snaps back to full alertness, and turns to his acolytes. "Sons, fetch the wands, the potions, the scrolls; Edrick, get as many wounded inside the temple as possible." Zantus drops off the stage and quickly walks to the wounded in turn, letting loose his simplest spell of healing, enough to stabilize what few can be so saved.
In tears at everything, Mayor Deverin rubs them away and turns to Quee. "Thank you... thank you for saving us. We'd all be dead if not for you."
As she speaks from across in other parts of town, plumes of smoke ignite and screaming starts.
Malen's head turns, and he quickly moves towards the nearest screams, his whip again in his hand.
While moving to heal the wounded, Kjell sends Arne back into the sky and seeks to regather his arrows, knowing they won't have broken thanks to their fine construction. As he finishes, though, he bolts upright as screaming once again breaks the air. More of them?
In tears at everything, Mayor Deverin rubs them away and turns to Quee. "Thank you... thank you for saving us. We'd all be dead if not for you."
Quee blushed. "It was not me mostly, but this bunch." He waved his hand in a wide gesture at the group.
More trouble? What do these goblins want?!
From his position high in the sky, Arne spots something that fills him with concern, sending that through his empathic link with Kjell. From what he can figure out, what concerns him seems to be on the other side of the Cathedral, at the edge of town.
"I... I should try and find others who've been driven out; keep them together, keep them safe. Sheriff Hemlock and volunteers like you are who's needed here right now..." says the Mayor.
Jushua deep voice try to calm the mayor.
"Stay here, keep these people safe. We will look to find people that needs help."
He turns towards the others.
"You have proved yourselves in this hour of need. And we should keep helping. I am glad to have you here with me."
Kjell quickly gathers his arrows and has just collected the last when he gets the message from Arne. Without pause, he sets the last arrow on the string of his bow and hustles around the Cathedral towards where Arne has spotted trouble, ready for more danger if he finds it. Though he doesn't call out to the others, the Ulfen makes no secret of where he's headed.
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Joshua sees Kjell start moving towards the Catedral, and he quickly kisses the Mayor's hand.
"Proper introductions will have to way for a better time, I fear. But I will count the minutes until we can spend some time alone, and get to know each other a little bit better."
He then runs after Kjell and Ko'Kori, calling at the others.
"Let's go people! Sandpoint need us!"
Quee hesitates, but his emotions overpower his caution, and he follows the trio.
Moving around the Cathedral, the group comes across an odd sight. Three goblins, crude spades at hand, digging in front of a headstone in the graveyard. Five goblin warriors stand guard armed with bows; their weapons and armor are of significantly better make than on the goblins you faced before, and they seem older and more seasoned fighters.
Supervising them is a hooded humanoid figure with his own bow, very finely made; he turns and sees you, muttering something that Ko'Kori recognizes as a Tien swear. He raises his bow. "Back, sirs, ladies." The figure's head nods at the smoke behind you. "Sandpoint's burning, hadn't you better go?"
Joshua deep voice trembles with rage.
"We have come, and this madness stops now!"
He starts moving his arms and chants the arcane words of power to bend his enemy will.
The figure speaks simply- "No."
"Final chance. Flee or die."
"You die!"
Joshua casts again, now conjuring a coat of magical grease on the cloaked humanoid bow.
Kjell doesn't waste time with words. "You defile holy ground." Acting on instinct, he calls for Erastil's power to fill him with righteous might, and he looses a pair of arrows at the cloaked man.
Ko'Kori summons a divine aura to augment her weapon.
The hooded figure shakes his head, then raises his bow, launching a volley with his goblin allies. "You still have a chance to run."
Once Joshua is knocked unconscious and bleeding, the figure raises his hand and the barrage ceases. A few of the digging goblins point and laugh but are silenced with harsh slaps from the goblin archers. "Even now, you do."
More smoke rises from the rest of the city.
Malen immediately steps over Joshua's fallen form, his whip in hand. You dare come here and threaten this city, harm its citizens, then expect us to back down? You are sadly mistaken if you estimate that we would do such a thing.
Quee put his hand over his mouth in instinctive shock, seeing his ally dispatched with haste. His eyes became wet, and the summoner shook his head.
"No! You leave. OUT!" He rushed to Joshua's side, concerned to see if the man had actually died. "You will have no qualm from me, but leave him be."
His actions were not entirely without foresight, however...
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Kjell draws his arrows, one on the string and the other held between two fingers, ready to join its twin, and stares down the shaft at the hooded figure. "You come to this town and wreak ruin on its people. You lead monsters in killing these good folk on their day of celebration. You taint this holy ground with your presence and your irreverence." At this point Arne swoops down to perch on the Ulfen's shoulder and lets out an angry screech, punctuating his stern, cold tone. "And now you've made another mistake--harming one of my friends while I stand here already prepared to put you down."
He pauses a beat and breathes heavily. "I give you one chance. Lower your weapons and call off your beasts. Leave off digging and remove yourself from this place and this town forever. If you don't, or if you ever return, the last thing you feel will be an arrow tearing through your eye. You understand?"
If the man or the goblins make a move against him, Kjell releases the arrows.
"No. This town deserves everything that will come to it; if you stand with them, you deserve it too, ju tou mo lou xia bi." Bows rise and arrows are aimed. Ko'Kori recognises a short torrent of Tien swears.
While the others made threats, Quee attempted to salvage the musician's life.
He tore part of his shirt, dabbing the wounds, mimicking some sort of wrapping he'd seen, but it did little good. His emotions took over sensible actions, and soon he was grasping at straws.
I can't do anything! I have no idea how!
Kjell sighs as the man refuses to give in, but he isn't surprised. "Then Estig give me the aim to end you." With that, the young Ulfen is filled with righteous vigor and he lets fly his arrows as Arne shrieks beside him.
Attack 1: 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 6 + 2 + 1 = 24
Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 + 3 + 1 = 8Attack 2: 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 6 + 2 + 1 = 22
Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 + 3 + 1 = 13
Kjell's arrows hit their mark, sending the hooded figure almost to his knees as blood trickles from his wounds. The movement is enough to pick out pointed ears beneath his hood.
Upon seeing Kjell's attack strike true, Malen steps closer to a nearby archer and sends him tumbling to the ground,
Leaning back, the figure blocks Malen's trip with a graceful sweep of his free hand.