Koriko brings around her bade for another cut.
Realizing her attack misses, she disengages and opens the hobgoblin for shots and charges from the other party members by moving further inside the walls where she can potentially intercept them.
Fingers fires another arrow, this one takes the hobgoblin in the shoulder and it almost collapses. Unfortunately Zoresk and Koriko both miss their attacks; Koriko then moves to cut off the escape of the frightened hobgoblin. Narciso, behaving strangely meekly, remains hidden in the bushes.
Zoresk
Nilan
Koriko
Irina
Fingers
Narciso
---
Purple Hobgoblin (frightened)
Yellow Hobgoblin (15 dmg)
The heavily wounded hobgoblin looks around in a dead panic and lets out a thunderous cry in an attempt to warn the rest of the town.
"BLAAARGHH!"
He then makes a dead run for Koriko! Koriko takes a nasty slash as the second hobgoblin tries to run past her, opening himself to attack.
Nilan moves forward into the town, preparing to heal Koriko whenever he gets a chance.
Zoresk curses as the hobgoblin shouts in alarm. Rushing up, he drops his sling to take hold of his longsword in two hands. As he arrives behind the hobgoblin, he viciously swings his longsword in an overhanded blow.
Koriko continues to focus on the wounded hobgoblin.
Koriko swings out twice to no avail while Zoresk is parried by the hobgoblin. Both look very keen on getting the hell out of the fight.
Fingers will rush forward to the gates, unleashing one more shot at Yellow Hobgoblin, trusting his mates to subdue the other one.
Conscious of the repercussions of the escaping hobgoblin Irina weaves her way through her friends and foes to put herself within arms length of the moving hob...
Fingers fires off an arrow which goes wide while Irina vaults past the fleeing hobgoblin to attempt to stop it. The fleeing hobgoblin's eyes suddenly clear, and he shouts at Nilan.
"You! You cast spell! Die human! We kill magics!"
Nilan's life flashes before his eyes for a moment as a sword cuts for his neck, but is deflected into a shallow gash along his chest.
The second hobgoblin, near death, calls out another warning cry in a desperate hope to summon reinforcements before it maneuvers to avoid a flank and attacks Nilan as well. The cleric barely ducks the blow.
The two hobgoblins natter at each other in their language, somewhat angrily, but appear to agree on something.
Zoresk
Nilan (3 dmg)
Koriko
Irina
Fingers
Narciso
---
Purple Hobgoblin
Yellow Hobgoblin (15 dmg)
Nilan will be holding to see if one of the hobgoblins goes down, if he does Nilan will 5' step into that square and cast CLW on Koriko
If not, Nilan will withdraw north out of melee range.
Frustrated and breathing heavily from his dash through the gate, Zoresk dashes past the group -dodging past the hobgoblin's guard as he goes- to cut off his foe's escape. Pivoting, he swings his blade in a glittering arc, hoping to end the threat.
Zoresk tries to maneuver around but gets slashed for his efforts. The irate warrior retaliates, and with a single sweep of his sword sends the hobgoblin's head flying off!
Irina narrows her eyes and swings her arms widely as she adopts a new fighting stance, focusing her mind in a split second to adopt fighting style of the scorpion then lashing out at the lesser of the two damaged hobgoblins...
Irina focuses into a different fighting stance, her hands outstretched. The hobgoblin looks at her curiously, and then promptly has his jaw broken by her foot. It collapses, unconscious and bleeding on the ground.
End of Combat
Irina waves at everyone to get inside as fast as possible, motioning to drag the bodies out of the middle of the gate while she tries to close it once everyone is inside, It might buy us time if we hide them and the gate is closed... Nilan are you okay?
Nilan nods at the tough female warrior. Let's hurry before more come.
Narciso rushes in after the group, and Marit sneaks in after him.
The group takes a bit to look around Douleurs. The town shows off its poverty as much as its wealth. Far down the road to the east is a spectacular cathedral to Pharasma, on the opposite side of town. Around you are small wattle-and-daub homes that appear to be largely abandoned. Roads lead to the east and south, although it is a small matter to cut around houses themselves.
It appears that a large winch by the southern turrent controls the gate.
A ways down the street is a proper stone building with a baker's sign on it. You can see a burly woman peering through thatched windows at you.
You can hear some distant shouts around the town from the southeast.
"Nice work, crew!" says Fingers, patting them on the back. "Let's hide these bodies, an' close t'gates, try t'make it look all normal-like. Prop them hobbies up in t'gatehouse."
"Padre, good work!You hurt much? If not, can y'help t'others wit' their wounds? Looks like we got hit a couple o'times." He nods to Nilan, appreciating the courage it took to stand in front in the open.
Looking down the street, hoping he doesn't see or hear the approach of more hobgoblins, Fingers notices an old baker woman who seems to be watching them from her porch. Uh, Marit. You know a good-sized woman at t'bakery? She friend or foe?" If she answers that the woman is friendly, Fingers will make a wave to her, motioning her their way.
Fingers also whistles for Narcisso, motioning the unstable sorceror into the gate before it closes completely. He also asks Marit to point out the armory, the jailhouse, and any other structures in town that make sense. If they have to climb to the wall to get a good look, then they will, staying out of sight.
Heaving a sigh, Zoresk looks over the bleeding gash on his arm for a moment before deciding it's not life threatening. He nods his acknowledgement of the wisdom of Fingers' plan and assists in closing the gate and moving the hobgoblins to the gatehouse as quickly as is reasonable. He makes a point of fetching his sling as he returns to the group. Once done, he tries to pick out the woman that Fingers points out, but sees nothing. "It'd also be handy to know which way we need to go to get to the jail. We'd best get a move on before reinforcements arrive. Back alleys will be our friend so that they have to search for us."
Nilan holds his symbol of Pharasma up high and
Nilus sends out blasts of energy, repairing Koriko's poor spleen while Marit babbles excitedly.
"We're inside! We need to be quick, the hobgoblins go around the city a lot and the ones at the gate made an awful lot of noise. The woman there is Ysania the baker!"
The burly woman shakes her head at Nilus, and spots Marit before waving frantically. She waves her hand at the group quickly.
"Get in here you daft fools!" she calls as softly as she can manage with her voice still carrying.
Nilan hustles to usher everyone into the Bakery
As Fingers asks questions of Marit Irina will motion at the others and tug on her ear and point to the Southeast, motion with her hand out of her mouth to in show she hears yelling in the indicated direction.
After removing the dead hobgoblins from the street, Fingers hustles with the others into the bakery, where Ysania is motioning them. Not injured himself, he nods as the healing magic of Pharasma washes over the crew.
"Made it this far, it's a bit o' wonder. Now, where t'next? We need to get weapons an' free t'prisoners, likely in that order, eh? I seen the temple to t'Gray Lady down t'road, now where's t'armory? How's it guarded? Can Madame Baker help us any?"
He looks at the plus-sized woman, hopeful she has some good news.
Zoresk dashes after the others after he finishes assisting in the disposing of the hobgoblin corpses. Hustling into the bakery, the Kellid man nods his thanks to as Nilan's healing energy seals the bleeding gash on his arm. "Thank you, Father"
Zoresk notices Irina's motioning and glances out the window in the direction she points. That can't be good, we need to move fast. He listens, fidgeting nervously, as Fingers makes his suggestion. "We'll need to get to the jail and armory next, aye. The hobgoblins will lock it down fast once they figure a few guards are dead."
Nilan smiles and shrugs at all the thanks he is receiving.
Could Narcisco and I create a diversion? Setting something on fire might draw the hobgoblins away from the Armory?
The group quickly stows the bodies of the hobgoblins in a refuse pile behind a house and ducks into the bakery. Ysania is a towering, busty woman with ruddy skin and a plain, friendly face. She slams the door and shutters once everyone is in before embracing Marit with a bear hug.
"You fool I thought you'd be killed, I can't believe you found someone!" She then turns and looks over the group. "Name is Ysania, I bake the town bread and have been feeding those filthy buggers for the past few days. Who are you lot? Do you have a plan? Are you here to get rid of the gobbers?"
"Aye, we aim t'try a'least." says Fingers wryly. "Can y'tell us anythin' 'bout the hobs? We were thinkin' o' headin' t'armory then freein' t'people from t'jailhouse to help fight. Make sense still, given what you know o' t'enemy?"
Fingers talks to the large woman, hopeful that she has some great answer rather than storming the armory and jail directly.
Ysania peeks out the shutters and speaks quickly.
"That gate is open, dunno how much time before they come here. I've been baking bread for the bastards so I know a bit since they all speak Taldan."
She breaks a shares out a few loaves of bread as she speaks. The bread is dark and dense, with a molasses-like flavour.
"Eat this. It's good, keep you alive, Lady of Graves permitting," she draws a spiral of Pharasma over her chest as she speaks. "There's a couple dozen of them and an ogre. Rarely more than four at a time, but they coordinate fast. Smell bad, but they ain't dumb."
Ysania grabs a risen loaf and begins kneading it as she speaks, slapping it down rhythmically.
"The hobgoblins keep that damn ogre near the armory, you can hear it bellowing sometimes or the sound when it eats some poor bastards pig alive. But it's dumb and often unattended, real dumb. See..."
She leans in a bit, despite the privacy of the setting. "The hobbers, they're spread thin. This is a big town, not enough of them to patrol, guard, and rest at the same time. They been going door to door, rounding up slaves, and stealing valuables and I reckon they want to leave soon before this falls apart."
She sets the loaf aside to rise. "Armory, barracks, and jail is close to here, but you'll pull the whole lot of them on ya if y'ain't careful, and that ogre is there. So..." she shrugs helplessly. "Good luck. The hobgoblins are all staying at the inn though. Better rooms."
Could we lock them in the Inn?
Irina tilts her head, Surely with enough supplies we could trap them in but then they would all be together and then fortify it? Might be they have hostages too. I like distractions, break em up, thin em out, put em down. Irina puts her fist into her palm for emphasis as she smiles at her companions.
Zoresk accepts the bread mutely, listening as Ysania outlines the situation in the town. He whistles softly at the numbers of hobgoblins. Right, well that makes things difficult. Going to be bloody putting that many down. At least they're spread thin and probably tired. Zoresk remains silent though, chewing slowly on bites of bread from time to time.
Zoresk nods his agreement with Irina and opines, "A distraction sounds like just the ticket here. No disrespect, Father, but they'll just break out even if we managed to lock them in. If we weren't so outnumbered we might be able to pick them off as they come out." Zoresk pauses a sec, looking over the group before his eyes settle on Narciso, "Maybe a distraction from the docks? Some of your fireworks or something to make them think they're under attack from over there? Then we get folks out of the jail and to the armory. From there we fight for our lives."
Zoresk nods to Fingers, "What are you thinking?"
Ysania blinks as Nilus speaks and she properly notices the soft-spoken cleric. She quickly draws the spiral and bows her head. "I am sorry father, please welcome to my home. It is good to see a holy man."
She brushes some flour from her tunic, to little effect and nods.
"They react pretty quickly to disturbances. Speaking of which, if the hobbers come here, you're all out the back window, clear?"
Narciso nods over to Zoresk rapidly. "My fireworks will attract a lot of attention and I can cast them up to 500 feet away."
Fingers shrugs his shoulders. "No good plan, but I still am thinkin' tha' gettin' t'weapons, an' then freein' prisoners gives us a whole army o' help, 'stead o' t'few o' us. Tha' ogre presents a problem though, hard t'take 'im out quick an' quiet."
Fingers looks around the bakery, his mind turning as fast as it could. "Baker, d'yeh 'ave somethin'....I don't know...somethin' tha' migh' make t'ogre sick, if 'e ate it? It's 'ungry all t'time righ'? If we sickened it, maybe it'd go down easy? An' we take t'armory?"
Ysania grunts and shakes her head as she moves to work on another loaf of bread.
"Uh. I don't make a habit of poisoning my customers. There's an apothecary in town who might be able to get you something to get an ogre sick. Short of a chamber pot I don't have much. Apothecary is on the Calphvaso way, big road, just head down the street that way and turn right. That road leads to the inn and town square though, which is where you'll find more hobbers."
She points eastwards, and then to the south.
Nilan says I can go into the town and speak with the apothecary, I do not think the hobgoblins will stop me...
Ysania looks skeptically to Nilan. "They stop everyone, father. But they may listen to your excuses better than others. It's easier to just time your movements between patrols. The hobbers like things to be precise, which means they're predictable."
Fingers ponders the problem. "I ain't thrilled wit' splittin' up t'group fer solo missions, but all o' us can't sneak anyplace. Sendin' t'padre to t'poth'cary makes some sense. Maybe that I can keep cover on yeh, an' holler if there's trouble, eh"
"And by extension we'd be looking for a way to poison the ogre. If we can find something to get him sleeping, that'd be good as well. I can't say I like the idea of splitting up, but I don't know how else to deal with the ogre." Zoresk shrugs and nods his assent to Nilan and Fingers.
Nilan nods at Fingers and Zoresk.
to Fingers he says If we are stopped, you run and warn the others. I will not be able to keep up with you. My Fate is in the Lady's hands now.
As the group speaks, the sound of regular footsteps, loudly, comes from outside. Ysania peeks out the shutter and swears.
"I knew that hobber made a lot of noise! There's four of 'em and they can see the gate is open! Best make yerselves scarce and do whatever plan it is yer planning on!"
She opens a shutter in the back of the bakery and points outside.
Leaving his pack behind, taking only his bow, quiver, dagger, rapier, and lock picks, Fingers nods to the Nilan. "Ready to go when you are..."
His plan is to follow the friar from a distance, flitting in and out of whatever cover is available, but trying to keep his eyes on the situation should it go badly. When the priest reaches the apothecary, Fingers will help with the entry should the place be locked.
Nilan nods and sets off as soon as he can.
"EVERYONE. OUT." she says firmly. Loud cries come from outside, and a horn sounds. Outside through a crack in the shutters, four hobgoblins can be seen down the street, frantically looking around for something. One has paused to let blast on the horn.
"Split up or stay together, but get out that back window and away from my home! If it helps, that horn means most of the hobbers are coming here rather than anywhere else. But they're gonna go door to door, they always do. It's how they keep us scared."
As Koriko dives out of the window she let's out a Tien swear. "The alarm is raised, I doubt you can just barge in there now. They will probably deem anyone they don't recognize an intruder."
"Let's get to that ogre, I think I have the magic to weaken it. Possibly blind it too. That will have to do."
Not one to waste time when a clear path was presented, Zoresk follows Koriko out the window after handing his fauchard through. Recovering his weapon, Zoresk nods his agreement with the magus. Talking in a soft undertone so his voice wouldn't carry, "Right, we'll need to move now as we won't have the skill to stay hidden. We should all go and arm the prisoners. Then we'll just need a bit o' Desna's luck."
Nilan was already heading out the door, the window was just a smaller opening.
Aaaah. he stumbles through the window and lands awkwardly outside.