Hearing the dog in pain, Isaac takes off like a shot towards the goblins. The strange little boy has not bothered to draw his dagger and instead leaps at the goblin, his mouth seeming to open impossibly wide and revealing teeth that were far, far from human that seemed to slot into place as his mouth opened.
James flashes behind Isaac, skipping round the corner and letting loose with his sling.
"Yah!" he adds, hoping goblins spook like horses.
Quiin also ducks around the corner, letting fly with his sling at the closest goblin attacking the hound.
"Go, my serpentine friend." Almos urges as Chakacoatl slithers his way around the corner towards a goblin as Almos watches with his hands still gripping the pumpkin hammer.
James' sling bullet knocks off his target's leather helmet, but leaves him mostly unharmed. The same can't be said of the one attacked by Isaac, who recoils from the hit but manages to retaliate with a slash of the dogslicer . Another goblin rushes at Chakacoatl, joyfully screaming "Tasty snaaaaake!". On the road he gets bitten by the mastiff, but he still manages to deliver a glancing blow to the eidolon . The mounted one, meanwhile, barks some unheard order, pointing his weapon at you.
Isaac simply shrugs off most of the damage, partially lifts the goblin from the ground and gives a vicious shake of his head, not unlike the dog he had rushed to the defense of. Sharp teeth shred more flesh, though Isaac is silent.
Quiin unloads his sling once again onto the mounted goblin, screaming as he does.
James rockets on towards the mounted goblin, screaming as he unloads his sling.
Bitter goblin blood fills Isaac's mouth as his target goes slack between his teeth. Quiin and James let loose at the same time, but if the former manages to hit despite the distance, the latter is overly enthusiastic: together with the bullet, his own sling leaves his hand. Luckily, if the bullet flies in the distance, the sling itself lands close.
The goblin attacking Chakacoatl goes wide as the snake slithers to the side, and the one nearest to the hound has his aim thrown off by a massive paw hitting his arm. The mounted one, meanwhile, charges on his disgusting beast, using his dogslicer to slice the dog, making it yelp again.
Sammy creeps forward, anxiety about the battle overwhelmed by a desire to know what's going on. Simultaneously, several things start flying towards the nearest goblin, but that's surely just a coincidence.
James curses, hops to the left and stoops to pick up his sling. Desperately he punches another rock out at the mounted goblin.
Unperturbed by the blood or taste of goblin, Isaac drops his victim and pulls his little dagger. Stepping up next to the dog, he slashed at the closest goblin as best he could.
Quiin unloads his sling again, keeping his distance after the last fight.
Almos, not sure what he could do besides try and back his newly formed friends up with his magic or distract the goblins by swinging the hammer wildly, ran forward to be next to Chakacoatl and drew on a little wellspring of magic that was different from the rest. It let him see how near to death those in front of him were.
As this goes on Chakacoatl hisses angrily and strikes out at the goblin that had dared to hurt He Who Sheds Death! Much like his young priest, however, he seems to be quite out of practice.
Under the double assault of Isaac and James, the mounted goblin falters, but he answers with a cruel and well-aimed slash with his dogslicer . Though bloodied and weakened, the mastiff manages to take advantage of the moment to deliver an opportunistic strike, and knocks the rider off the other beast, savaging the goblin with strong, carnivore jaws. The next closest one jumps on his companion's former ride, trying to harry it far from you.
The last goblin tries to strike Almos, but his blow is intercepted by the serpentine entity, taking a blow for his prophet. Chakacoatl's form dissolves, unable to anchor itself to the Prime Material any longer.
Isaac looked down at the line of pale blood staining his clothes with moderate interest, then repaid the goblin in kind.
No longer worried for the snake-thing, and with his first target dispatched by dog, James sights on the goblin ahead of him. Taking his time he aims, corrects, and then unloads from point blank range
Isaac's knife finds the goblin's lungs, causing the pest to collapse on the ground wheezing. Deprived of two riders in short time, the wretched animal chooses to take off and gallops away. Quickly thereafter, James' sling gets the last remaining fighter square in the forehead, sending it sprawling on the ground.
The mastiff whines and starts licking his wounds as the dandy emerges from behind the crates, wiping dirt from his fancy clothes. "A-Are they gone?"
James looks disdainfully at the dandy, then concentrates on trying to calm the poor dog.
"They are still here but they are dead," Isaac said from where he was spitting out goblin blood.
"Yeah, we beat them sir. Don't worry. Who are you?"
James looks over dog & dandy, doing his best to see how injured they really are. 'Don't wanna head back already, but I can't let someone die.'
The dog laps James' hands. He's hurt and battered, but doesn't seem to be in immediate danger.
Meanwhile, the man from behind the barrels rises, straightening his fancy clothes and picking up a cane from the ground. He looks filthy rich.
"Ah! Then of course I should introduce myself to my saviors! My name is Aldern Foxglove from Magnimar, you may have heard of my family's home, Foxglove Manor. My diminutive friends, rest assured that nobody who helped someone from my ancient family ever went unrewarded, and I shall be more than pleased to grant you gifts as soon as this attack is finished. Which, judging from the noise, could be quite soon."
The sound of battle had indeed shifted: rather than the clanging of weapons and the goblin's battle-cries and songs, you mostly hear human victory cheers.
"Righto." James said, disdain audible in his voice "Head back that way and you'll find safety. We're off to find our families, make sure they're okay." He glowered "You should look after your dog, mister. Best friend 'n' all."
James points to the others and then the goblins, speaking quickly "Let's wrap 'em up afore they wake up. See if they've got weapons, too. Even decent sling bullet's'd help."
He gave a distrusting sideways glance to the bloody-mouthed Isaac. "You 'kay?"
"Chaka..." Almost says quietly as he stares at the spot his patron was sent back to the Other Planes. Angry at this, he ran over and gave te goblin that did the deed a hard kick before he calmed down.
"I'm sorry, everyone, I can't heal anymore today, and Chakacoatl's gone until tomorrow. I'm not going to be very helpful aftr all, it seems."
"I appear to be bleeding," Isaac noted and poked at an ugly slash on his belly that leaked his strange pale blood. It would likely have been enough to have any of the others rendered insensate with the pain. With his usual mannerisms it was hard to tell if the boy was in shock or operating at what could be considered 'normal' for Isaac.
"d'you two want to head back?" James asks, doubt in his voice "Or keep going?"
"Are you OK Isaac? If you are, I vote we head on. Surely there can't be many more of them?"
"Myself, I would much rather head to safety. I'm sure the militia will take good care of your families, and I would appreciate an escort." says Foxglove, sticking a finger inside a cut in his jacket. "Ah, it's ruined. At least it's not the red one..."
"I have to find the Professor," Isaac said with flat insistence, seemingly in response to both Quiin and the nattering Foxglove. He took off one of his scarves and tied it around the wound in his gut and seemed ready to go.
"You know..." James said slowly as a thought occurred to him "If you were to help us find our families, people might think you were a bit of a hero." 'And we might not get in trouble for running off without an adult.'
"We're hurt and.. and in over our heads. I.. I want to go back."
Isaac looked at the others and then down at himself. His face scrunched up into a look of nearly comical consternation as he weighed situation. Clearly acting against his instincts, he slumped his shoulders and gave in.
"We should retreat for now but I am coming back out here as soon as I can. I must find the Professor."
"Well... Alright, I guess." James sighs as the weight of opinion shifts against him.
Sammy pipes up then. "Um... maybe if we get back, we can find someone to heal Isaac's wounds then try again? I'm worried for Auntie and Granny Kolya."
You arrive back at the garrison shortly before the sheriff and the rest of the militia come back triumphantly from the battle, scratched and burned but without casualties. They are accompanied by several citizens who lent a hand: Ameiko is cleaning her cooking knives, Abstalar Zantus, the freshly-appointed high priest, has scorch marks all over his robes and even old Ilsoari Gandethus, the retired adventurer and wizard who runs the orphanage, is holding a gnarled staff studded with amethysts.
Your families and friends are all safe and sound: Mirut Farso had taken shelter in the Hagfish, Sammy and James' aunt in the Rusty Dragon, Koya had quickly run to the garrison and Professor Drossel had goblin-proofed her laboratory through a generous application of nettle essence.
Damage is assessed before you return to your homes: the widespread opinion is that the goblins were attracted by the large amount of food ferried from the countryside into the city for the festival: if their raid luckily made no victims, they managed to steal every scrap of meat from the butchery, and more than a few burned homes will need repairs.
After the adults finish their chats, Sheriff Hemlock approaches you, his nose still bruised from the goblin's stone, and smiles. "You were very brave today, you didn't run but you held your ground, and probably saved my beef in that ambush. Therefore, I think that you deserve a reward. Come with me."
You follow him to the armory, where he shows you to the weapon racks. "You proved to know how to handle weapons, so I think that you can have a few real ones, instead of those old things, in case you need to defend yourselves. I've spoken to your families and they agree, on condition that you don't use them foolishly. If I see you threaten another child, so help me Desna, you won't hear the end of it."
The following day, as Sandpoint starts rebuilding, tales spread of your valiant actions in defense of the town: you are essentially worshipped by the other children, who gape at the weapons, a few girls blush when they steal a glance of James and Almos, Cyrdak Drokkus won't stop pestering you for your account of the fight, and, perhaps most surprising, many of the grown-ups stop treating you like babies.
Aldern Foxglove, before returning to his room at the Rusty Dragon, has insisted that you should visit him for a proper reward at your convenience, and as you meet near the main square you encounter Aeren Barett, a boy your age, heading groggily towards Alma Avertin's bakery. He looks rather sleepy.
Isaac seems distinctly uncertain as how to approach the Professor once she has been revealed to be alive and well. He settles for sticking as close to her as possible for as long as he can, still ignoring the horrible wound that had stained his scarf with his strange blood. It is clear by the sudden onset of shyness that he has become very self-conscious after his abnormal nature has become clear to the town.
Almos had gone to his small room at the Red Dragon Inn and collected his own weapons but given the chance to get a new one he cheered up a bit. He even tried a few to see which he liked best before settling on a one of the smaller crossbows. It wasn't like he'd been useful up close after all.
The next day his mood was noticeably better as he was able to bring Chakacoatl back to this plane. Serpentine friend back at his side, Almos began walking around town again. He didn't understand what everyone was so impressed over, though he had to admit his new crossbow looked nice.
It wasn't until he spied someone not in high spirits that he thought something might still be wrong in Sandpoint.
"Hey there, uh..." He pauses and flicks his fingers a bit. "Aeren! Yeah, Aeren. Are you okay? Did you have a bad dream or something? Did you eat carrots? I know I have bad dreams if I eat carrots before bed."
Chakacoatl, for his part, stays back a foot or two.
James enters the armoury like a child in a candy shop. When he is informed he is to have his pick he jumps a few times - before restraining himself - and carefully takes to moving through the aisles like a cleric through hallowed halls. "You got it, sir." he informs the Sherrif carefully, as his dreams literally come true before his eyes.
He moves first to the longbow, giving a few a test draw and discovering his arms are simply not long enough for a full draw. Next he moves to the shorter bows, but then stops as he spots a massive sword - taller than the boy himself - in the corner.
Deferentially he moves over to the weapon and with muscles wrought hard through long hard work in the fields manages to draw it.
The next day is the best in James' life. Sword strapped to his back on a harness where more belt dangles than holds, he moves down the street with a cocky attitude. He notices the blushes of girls who barely gave him the time of day before. His stride is long, his back straight - and if his muscles scream from eight pounds of steel, nothing shows on his face.
Seeing his fellow 'hero', Álmos, he heads over despite the strange snake thing. 'Was it Charcoaltl?' he tries to remember.
After ensuing that his uncle was indeed fine, and in fact hadn't even noticed the fighting until it was almost over, Quiin wanders the aisles, eyes flicking over the blades, hammers and spears arrayed before him before settling on two blades that are basically his daggers scaled up, a cutlass and a machete.
After a day at home, his wounds on the mend and well looked after, Quiin sought out his new friend, Isaac. "I was thinking of taking that noble up on his offer of a reward, want to come to the square with me?"