"If we are to successfully take out their leaders without getting ourselves killed we will need to be stealthy and be able to run away quickly if they notice us. This is the type of people we will most need."
After Alma's rousing speech many of the mercenaries give a small cheer.
"That's right, these are our lands."
"We must drive the creatures back into the mountains."
"Chase them into the mountains and exterminate them in their holes."
Sav interrupts them, "Many of you will still be needed here to protect this area. Alma and Warren choose out four to go with you in this mission. Make haste. Goblins will most likely attack at night, but if they are feeling bold they won't hesitate to attack during the daylight."
Eying the crowd, Warren points to several. "Let's be off, then. If we cut across the land we can make it early and see what Calid thinks of the situation."
The four mercenaries with you are talkative at first, but soon become silent as perhaps the dangerous nature of the mission they have joined you on sinks in. The first few hours pass uneventfully and you reach the wooded area without difficulty. The trees are sparse, with 20 to 30 feet between each. They have a wide spread of low hanging branches. Many are showing signs of the drought with some wilting. Still perhaps a mile away you can see a few thin tendrils of smoke rising in the western sky. Most likely these are from cooking fires in the settlement.
Realizing that the goblins are too close to effectively sneak up on, Warren mutters an enchantment and then runs towards them.
Alma follows as quickly as he can.
Irina dismounts, moves up to the tree in front of her, readies her crossbow and motions for the mercenaries to as well. She gestures to the one in J10, and gives the ready signal.
When Warren is close, Irina gives the "loose" signal and fires.
Attack:
Confirm:
Damage:
As everyone starts moving the mercenaries all draw their short bows and move up to the tree behind Irina.
Warren and Alma do not get very far and Irina has just reached the tree with her loaded crossbow when the goblins spot the group.
Warren will move another 40 feet forward.
Yes. That massive hit must not go to waste!
Alma continues to ride his horse towards the goblins as quickly as possible.
Markov also takes a shot with his crossbow
but the shot is short.
The four mercenaries loose their arrows, trying to take down the goblin indicated by Irina.
Between Irina's bolt and the archers one of the goblins falls over
High pitched yelps of surprise and fear come from the two goblins still standing.
Alma races forward to L15
Frantically stepping backward to get some cover under the tree the lead goblin pulls forth a short bow and takes a shot at Alma.
All the while the goblin is screaming, "Bijí na poplach! Bijí na poplach!"
The second goblin also steps under the overhanging branches and pulls a small horn from its belt and gives a panicked blow on the horn, the burst of sound coming to you clearly.
Warren charges past the first goblin towards the second and swings at it with his sword.
Attack:
Damage:
Irina picks up her skirts and dashes forward.
Action: run to K12
The sound of the horn sputters as the goblin takes a wound from Warrens attack.
The four mercenaries knock another arrow each as they move forward, then let loose another volley,
but for fear of striking allies are unable to land a hit.
Markov reloads his crossbow then advances as well, hoping to reduce the range before taking another shot.
Sliding off his horse while drawing his long sword and shield, Alma slashes at the adjacent goblin.
Alma is unable to land a hit.
The goblin with the bow drops it and pulls free its short blade, stabbing at Warren.
The blade is deflected by Warren's armor.
The goblin with the horn attempts to flee, running full speed due west.
Alma swings again.
Alma drops the remaining nearby goblin and begins chasing after the fleeing one. It is plain though that in his heavy armor he isn't going to be able to catch up to the creature.
AoO:
Damage:
After swinging at the goblin, Warren runs after it--Stopping just short of it's position.
The poor goblin doesn't make it more than about two steps before Warren cuts it down with his blade. Alma having started into motion to chase it down pulls up short a few feet past the creature.
"That horn blast was a warning signal. 'Sound the alarm' that one had said. If one blast is 'danger', I wonder if two is all clear. There's no way the other goblins didn't hear that, as abbreviated as it was."
Irina picks up the horn, wipes it off with a grimace, and unless somebody has a compelling argument against trying it, she blows two blasts into the horn.
Clearly playing goblin horns is not her special talent, but she should be able to make a couple sounds.
"We should try to take some form of defensive posture until we know if more are coming."
Alma slices off a ear from each goblin, wiping off the blood in the grass, then looks for long enough grass to wrap the ears in. He then puts the wrapped up ears in his backpack.
The horn is poorly made from the horn of a mountain goat. The entire thing is filthy. Irina gives it two blasts that sound loudly in the thin woods.
There are plenty of short weeds and other plant growth to place the grisly ears in, though they bleed only a little.
One of the mercenaries looks at Alma expectantly, "Was my arrow that felled that one." he says gesturing the the one with two arrows and Irina's crossbow bolt sticking out of it.
"I don't believe there is a good way to confirm who officially got the kill. The fair thing to do is simply split the reward for it between those who made accurate strikes. Wouldn't you agree?"
Warren pulls out his bow and looks to the north for any more goblins.
Perception:
Without turning around, Warren speaks to the others, "We can discuss the distribution of bounty later. Right now we need to be ready to fight more goblins."
Diplomacy assist:
The mercenary somewhat reluctantly agrees to Alma's plan to split any gold later. All four of them take up positions behind trees, looking to the north with bows drawn and arrows nocked.
Half an hour passes with no sign of movement or life in the woods beyond a few birds and squirrels.
I suggest we continue on towards our destination, but cautiously.
"Agreed. Everyone should keep their weapons out. Let's move on"
Another ten minutes of travel gets you within sight of the settlement. Plowed fields and scattered buildings can be seen to the southwest of you.
Mercenaries stand atop the two northern most buildings, short bows out and arrows nocked loosely. More mercenaries can be seen on the ground standing behind picket lines, also with bows drawn. One figure stands out among those on the roofs, a man in a burnished breastplate, also with a bow in hand.
To the north of the settlement, about 150 feet away are numerous goblins taking cover behind trees or under the branches. Here and there on the ground between the two forces you can see the occasional feather of an arrow sticking up from the ground. Even farther north are more goblins milling about, perhaps twice as many as those taking cover. Walking among them is a larger creature, larger than a human, though you can't make out much at this distance.
Both the defenders and the goblins spot you making your way towards the buildings. After a very brief commotion in the goblin camp over a dozen of the creatures start sprinting from the encampment heading east and slightly south, then turn almost due south, clearly looking to head you off.
"This is gonna be close. I suggest we run for it."
Or lead them south and into arrow range for those inside the town."
Initiative:
"That might work better, unless the rest of the goblins choose to make use of the distraction and attack en mass."
Init:
init:
Turning to Alma, "What is your call?"
"Let's hope the goblins are not smart enough to attack en mass. Let's lead them south and get some free shots from the town archers."
After a quick discussion the group heads south trying to draw the goblins past the archers.
A dozen men from the settlement move eastward a short distance. Unable to gain ground on you the goblins slow, wary of the archers. A number of shots are fired at long range by both goblins and men.
Two goblins and one of the men take arrow wounds.
With some shouting from the settlement to save their arrows the archers back off, likewise the goblins retreat back to safety.
With the goblins safely in the distance again you are able to approach the settlement. The man in the breastplate climbs down from the roof and strides confidently over to you, extending a hand, "If you've come to help against the goblins you are a welcome addition, though things look grim, we are badly outnumbered here. And..." he pauses to take a breath, concern on his face, "...they have prisoners."
Eyes widening in surprise, Warren quickly recovers his emotions and begins asking questions. [ooc](I'm too lazy to ask these one at a time, but Warren will wait for a response between each question before asking the next.}[//oc]
"How many prisoners?"
"How long ago?"
"Do you know where they are being held?"
"Are all of these prisoners fighting men, or are there women and children as well?"
"Sorry, I didn't introduce myself, I'm Calid. Calid Lyeran. I believe at least three more prisoners, but we haven't really been able to get close enough to tell for sure, or verify gender or ages. They are held in the center..."
A loud bellowing from the north draws your attention. The large brutish creature is striding forward, a bound human held aloft in front of it. The creature stops 100 feet or so from the picket line. It shouts, clearly being heard across the distance, speaking with a thick accent in common, "Surrender puny humans, or another one dies."
Calid's face goes pale and many of the mercenaries start cursing under their breath.
Knowledge Nature to identify this creature:
"Ogre. Smart one, too. It turns my stomach, but that prisoner is already dead. We're here to save a settlement, not just one man."
"While I agree Irina, perhaps we can we can distract them, that will have them pay more attention to us then to their prisoners. Perhaps, try to draw the goblins out from the left flank, so we can pick several goblins off from the right or vice versa."