Gilbert launches two attacks at the goblins who are yet to engage Caewryn in melee. As the arrow lands, he lets out a bestial roar.
Hearing the roar, Duchess attempts to lunge for the throat of the Goblin, , , but decides to spit out the dogslicer first.
Gilbert's arrow pierces the sleeping goblin in the eye, killing it.
The goblin with the tube tries to aim at Ikoma again!
The second flaming projectile gets stuck in the tube, much to the goblin's consternation. He turns it around to see what's wrong with it, and the motion accidentally jostles the projectile loose.
The flaming sphere flies out into the goblin's eye, causing it to shriek in pain and start blundering around, falling off the walkway into the mud below!
Another goblin cackles at its comrade's mishap, charging at Ikoma with its dogslicer drawn!
Unfortunately, while the dogslicer connects with Ikoma's armour, all it accomplishes is making the hilt come loose from the blade. Another botched attempt like that will likely result in the weapon being destroyed. The goblin stops and looks at its broken weapon as if it's been betrayed.
Another goblin follows suit, this one demonstrating more intelligence than its fellows by not immediately moving to engage the blood-soaked samurai.
Gilbert continues his rampage
As the goblin shrieks as fire comes in his eyes, he is shot in the head by another arrow flying from Gilbert's bow, and is subsequently impaled , bleeding viscera on the ground. Another arrow flies towards one of the goblins on the ground, waking him up with a shriek.
Duchess sees her enemy uncouncious on the ground and sinks her teeth in its throat, blood flying everywhere.
Gilbert's arrows fell the goblin with the broken weapon and grievously wound one of the sleeping ones!
Caerwyn dashes across the courtyard and as he climbs the ladder to the other watch tower, yells to Nestasha "Don't forget the ears!". Once in the tower he opens the door immediately to the south.
The prone goblin tries stabbing at Caerwyn as he runs past!
The goblin misses Caerwyn's leg, stabbing the mud.
Nestasha, kukris in hand, moves around near the two goblins before taking a slice at the goblin that's still an immediate threat.
The prone goblin manages to roll away from Nestasha's wild swing. It gnashes its teeth at her in defiance.
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Yui's shadow antics start proving to be quite a distraction for the prone goblin by Nestasha. Windspirit's attack misses the downed beast, but Ikoma's charge does not--the goblin he charged at does down in a spray of blood.
The goblin Nestasha & Windspirit are flanking tries to stand up...
...and manages to dodge both strikes somehow. The goblin lunges desperately at Windspirit!
And manages to carve its dogslicer into Windspirit's leg!
The blinded goblin finally manages to clear its eyes in time to see that almost all of its comrades are dead. In a rare display of common sense, the little bugger runs for its life across the mud, scrambling up a ladder onto the walkway and races along it, darting between buildings as it goes.
The wooden tube it dropped fires off the last of its payload...
...with the first shot firing at Ikoma's back!
The samurai feels a burning projectile hit him squarely in the back!
The recoil from the first shot sends the tube spinning around, firing over Ikoma's shoulder into the building in front of him.
Seeing a chance to really hurt the foolish goblin, Nestasha seizes the opportunity. Taking her kukri, Nestasha slices it at the goblin's unprotected back.
The kukri narrowly misses the goblin as it ducks in anticipation of attacking the horse again.
Gilbert runs inward of the corridor, slightly hunching towards the ground, and moves through, closely following Ikoma. If one looks closely, he's breathing heavily, eyes and nostrils opened wide.
Duchess leaps towards the goblin harassing Nestasha and Windspirit and attempts to tear off his left leg.
Her jaws snap around a thickly armoured flank, but still draw blood as she tackles the goblin to the ground.
Duchess' jaws rip open the goblin's side as she drags the monster to the mud, spilling blood everywhere. The goblin shrieks in pain and loses consciousness.
Caerwyn moves along the catwalk looking to rejoin his friends.
The goblin promptly does an about-face and starts scrambling towards the two-story hut in the southeast corner of the village. It yanks one of the double doors open, babbling something indistinct and panicked as it forces its way inside. The door slams shut behind it.
Gilbert looks at the last goblin slamming the door and he lowers his bow. In a couple of breaths, he slows down his breathing and whistles loudly. Duchess trots along in a short time, licking her lips, her tongue sticking out of her mouth.
"Ha! That was fun! Shall we set the building on fire and let them burn? There could still be fireworks in there!" he says, apparently having the time of his life. Looking over at the others, he notices some wounds, and offers, "Shall I take a look at your wounds? Who's been slashed by those little vermin?" He sheathes his arrow and looks around for injured people.
With one sleeping goblin nearby, Nestasha takes the time to kill it, ending the threat with a quick slice of her kukri.
With her task finished, she goes and collects her shortbow and wipes her clothing off before checking the dead goblins for anything of value. Once she has accomplished her task she returns to where the others are gathered.
The sleeping goblin gurgles and dies choking on its own blood as Nestasha's kukri slices its throat open.
Gilbert follows Ikoma, drawing an arrow along the way. "Exciting, is it not?! Having the beast trapped in its hole, waiting for the trap to be sprung! Bah! It's in these moments that they fight the hardest, and the victory is twice as sweet!", completely oblivious to the fact that the others probably don't need to hear that the goblins are going to be fighting twice as hard now.
Gilbert moves to the hut closest to the goblin hideout.
He then assumes a position and begins looking around, trying to shoot any goblin that pokes their ugly head around, or simply when the door is opened, and whistles loudly. Duchess comes around, licking her lips of goblin.
The huts are mostly empty, save for random bits of debris and foul-smelling muck. No living goblins can be seen in the vicinity of the hut or the surrounding village.
H4s: Watch Posts. Cleared.
H5s: Goblin huts. Basically living quarters, but now without any life signs.
H6: A storeroom of some sort. Packed to the rafters with piles of junk and garbage. Nothing useful to be found.
H7: This hut seems better furnished than the others--then again, that's not saying much. This was likely once the home of a high-ranking goblin.
Standing next to the wall, Gilbert shouts to the others, "Come over here! There's fireworks!"
When someone closes next to him, he continues, "I suggest we fire one of them at the goblin hut, and see what happens! It's going to be exhilarating!"
Gilbert uncovers a stash of fireworks and some pocket change.
As the rest of the party gathers around, they take stock of the double-doored hut the goblin retreated to. It's built on a mound of earth and mud, its timbers slathered in mud and moss and its roof made of hastily-thatched water reeds. No windows can be seen around the building--a possible sign that its occupants value privacy. Judging from the size of the hut compared to the rest of the village, it is likely that the leader of the goblins dwells here. Chattering can be heard coming from inside...
Looking around the back of the hut, the party notices a ladder leading up to the south wall of the building.
Resting the mechanism of her spring loaded sheath, Nestasha returns the kukri to it before moving cautiously through the goblin living quarters. When she finds the door that leads into the big hut she listens to try and find out if anyone is inside.
Gilbert sees Ikoma climbing up the stairs, and raises an eyebrow, before being told there's a ladder there. "Ah! It makes sense! Shall we cut off their escape through there, or simply all attack through there? A pincer movement, as they call it?", as he sheathes his arrow in his quiver and looks expectedly at the others.
"I believe that it would be best if we all went through there. If we're lucky, the stupid goblins barricaded their entrance, and we can cut them down before they release it!", beginning to move towards the trapdoor.
Yui looks around for trouble like the others and sticks to the shadows, almost becoming invisible as she melds with the walls, objects and longshanks around the area.
At Gilbert's suggestion she shrugs, she hasn't had much experience with battle tactics.
Nestasha hears the chattering of several goblins inside... there's at least six of them in there, counting the one seen fleeing the battle.
Unfortunately, as she leans against the secret door, one of the voices suddenly raises, this one shrill and nasally. It speaks with an air of bullying authority.
"Co to bylo?"
The other goblin voices suddenly stop talking.
Not knowing what they just said, Nestasha draws both kukri and stays very still, ready to strike if something opens the door near her.
"Ha! It's the big goblin!", Gilbert exclaims, drawing his bow. In the loudest whisper possible, he mumbles at the others, "I say Ikoma goes first! He has the heaviest armor!"
"I can throw in another on of those sleep bombs as soon as you open the door. Should take out a couple of them." Yui whispers back.
Ikoma kicks in the back door of the goblin hut... and is rewarded with the sight of an entirely crowded room of goblins. There are six rank-and-file goblins standing in the room, recoiling in surprise as the samurai makes his entrance. The last goblin is clearly the leader of the group, judging from his vicious-looking spiked crown and poorly-maintained high-chair of a throne. This must be Chief Rendwattle Gutwad, the party's quarry.
"Dostat je, vy idioti!" The leader barks before brandishing what appears to be a firework similar to the ones Gilbert uncovered!
Caerwyn scrambles up the ladder and tumbles into the room.
Coming to his feet he turns and faces the goblin chieftain.
Yui starts casting a spell from the back.
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Yui quietly climbs up the ladder behind Ikoma and squeezes past him through another door. The room she finds herself in is mostly empty, save for a beautiful red treasure chest, smudged by mud and goblin hands. An archway on the opposite wall leads into what appears to be a bedroom of sorts.
Chief Gutwad snarls at Caerwyn, lighting the firework in his hands and pointing it at the scout! "Nebudete mít mě naživu, Dlouhán!"
Caerwyn tries to capitalize on the distraction the firework provides, but misses as the chief leaps back!
Caerwyn smiles at the chief before responding "Nemám v úmyslu."
Gilbert puts his fingers in his mouth and whistles an ear-piercing tune, the tune ending in a croaking noise, resembling a frog.
Duchess runs around, trying to flank the goblins were they to leave the building, and attempts to jump up, , landing up, as Gilbert readies to shoot the goblins.
Nestasha decides to follow Yui and is glad she does as the room seems to be crowded. She slips through the door into the room where Yui is and then prepares to slip into the bedroom quietly.
Ikoma's blade narrowly misses the goblin chieftain!
The goblins, having recovered from the initial shock of the party's sudden entry, ready their weapons and shriek a battle cry! Two goblins swing their dogslicers at Caerwyn...
The first goblin rams its dogslicer into Caerwyn's gut, drawing a great deal of blood and a bout of mad giggling. The second one misses entirely.
Another goblin lifts a bar off of the front doors while another opens it... and narrowly avoids being bitten by Duchess. Undaunted, the goblin swings at the wolfhound!
The goblin manages to score a minor wound on the wolfhound's muzzle!
Another goblin races out the door to engage the wolf...
...and Duchess takes the opportunity to rip the approaching goblin to pieces, clamping her jaws around the goblin's neck and violently shaking it around!
The last goblin to act charges headlong at Duchess, heedless of the wolf having killed one of his buddies earlier...
The goblin manages to score a lucky blow on Duchess' flank!