Jie frantically looks towards the door after Lissa takes down the hobgoblin she was fighting. "I've got the door' she exclaims. She darts out the door, trying to be inconspicuous.
Standing on the Taproom's porch she looks and calls for Feng.
The door was destroyed, I believe, so closing it is not an option.
** spoiler omitted **
Grum's blade, glinting with hints of magical power, knocks aside the hobgoblin's shield with ease and carves down, opening the soldier from shoulder to hip. There is a spray of blood, and his body joins the others on the floor.
Jie runs outside and is intensely relieved to see Feng still tied to his hitch, although he is rearing and snapping at the line, his eyes rolling. Behind him, the town is bloody chaos: houses and market stalls burn, screams of pain and death fill the air, and dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of hobgoblin soldiers roam the streets. At the center of it all is the black onyx tower, looming two stories taller than any other building in Phaendar save the inn itself, and from the archway entrance at the base, yet more hobs continue to pour forth.
Jie quickly unties and soothes Feng as best she can, and although he takes some persuading, manages to get him inside the inn. As she does so, Aubrin pushes herself to a sitting position, although she hisses in pain and clutches her ribs as she does so. "It... it sounds like there’s an army outside the door. How did they fall on us without being seen? These damn plains are so flat you can see an elk from two days off, let alone an army!" She winces and presses her hands against the bloody hole in her chest. "They sound large. Too large to fight on the ground like honest fools. We need to gather what we can, cross the bridge, and hide out in the Fangwood. I — I know a few secrets that may keep us safe. Should probably figure out how to take down the bridge while we’re at it, else they’ll just march themselves across before we have the chance to hide."
At this point, no one living remains in the common room besides the five of you, Feng, and Aubrin - everyone else has fled, one way or another. Aubrin recommends stripping the hobs' bodies for their weapons and armor, for those who are lacking such, and she offers her longbow to anyone who might use it.
"Sounds like a plan commander. I think we'll want to save our arrows for the forest. Is there any way we can get to the smithy? Well want his tools if we're going to try to take down a bridge. Either way, bridge or smith, let's move quickly."
Lissa takes the wand, the scroll, and food and packs them away. If there is a longbow/sword left over she'll take those as well. She then looks for a rear exit. If there isn't one she'll put her glaive away and be ready to go out the front with shield&sword/dagger.
Amkarang kneels down by Aubrin and offers his arm for her to support herself, before saying loudly, "Come on, we've got to move. Those hobgoblins will be coming back, so we need to get out before they do."
Aubrin nods as Amkarang helps her up. "The Trading Company, yes. There will be people there, I'm sure, and supplies. Oreld's shop and the Shrine too, I thin-" she breaks off as you all clearly hear something splinter in the kitchen, through the northern door.
"To the smith. Rescue Kining if we can, and get what tools we can."
He picks up a sword and shield from a fallen hobgoblin, takes his dagger back, and gives Aubrin her sword.
Hearing the crash, he hurries to share a thought.
"I can use magic to appear as a hobgoblin for a brief period of time. I speak their language and now have some of their gear. If I should need to use this trick, we may not have time to strategize, so play along."
Jie feeds Feng an apple to calm him down while she grabs the remaining Shield and Longbow and arrows. "There is some sort of black tower rising from the middle of the square and hobgoblins are pouring out it. The town is going to be overrun in minutes, so we'd better hurry." Athe crash in the kitchen she asks. "I think we'd better use the back door of this place, too many hobs out front. So who wants to see what the noise is?"
Benedict quietly says "I've got this."
He becomes shorter and stockier. His eyes shrink and his skin takes on a grey hue. Small fangs appear. He walks through the kitchen door, sword and shield out.
The Taproot’s kitchen and pantry line the back wall of the building and normally store plenty of food, but much of it has been looted or destroyed by Legion soldiers. A trap door in the pantry floor leads down to the root cellar, and another door leads out to the northeast, hanging half open on broken hinges. What little food and supplies remain here are currently being ruined as a young soldier searches for hidden valuables.
Jie seems nonplussed as to Benedict's change of appearance. She steps aside from the door to just out of sight, bow at ready, listening intently. She is ready to act should Benedict's ploy fail.
Is the smithy adjacent to the Trading Company, since the same dwarf runs both?
What directions are the Trading Company and the bridge from here?
Lissa keeps watch on the other door, aware of the army raging beyond, and keeping guard on Jie's flank.
The Ironfang soldier in the kitchen looks up to see Benedict in the doorway. He gestores toward the doorway to the common room, then points toward the trapdoor in the floor. "Të gjitha përfundoi në atje? Unë mendoj se ka disa skllevër që mund të pretendojnë poshtë në bodrum ende."
Benedict growls at the hobgoblin, seeking to pull rank.
"Whelp, are you a burglar or a soldier? I bested their warriors, I will take the slaves. I have a mission for you. The ones I took begged for their lives with information. Their ranger leader left just before we arrived. Headed north. Get a squad after her."
, hopefully with some circumstance bonuses for plausibility.
The soldier frowns, then nods. "Po sigurisht. Unë vetëm nevojë për të mbledhur një gjë të fundit," he says, starting to turn away.
And then he spins back around, blade flashing toward Benedict's throat. The aasimar warrior heard the doubt in the hobgoblin's voice, though, and is ready, dodging backward from the blow.
Jie steps forward to get a look into the kitchen and curses at the sight of the melee going on. She takes aim and lets loose with an arrow.
Jie steps forward to get a look into the kitchen and curses at the sight of the melee going on. She takes aim and lets loose with an arrow.
[dice=Attack]d20+4
[dice=Damage]d6
Benedict himself is taking up most of the doorway, and between trying to avoid hitting her ally and fast moving exchange of blows between the two warriors, Jie's arrow slams into the doorframe overhead rather than into the legionnaire.
Rather than risk exposing himself, Grum moves up to the kitchen and readies an attack should the hobgoblin come into his reach.
Aubrin disentangles herself from Amkarang's arm to free him from having to support her; she grunts in pain, but puts her weight onto the bar instead. One shaking hand - covered with her own blood - touches the shoulder of the Tian-Sing warrior, and he feels a surge of holy energy through him. "Go get him," Aubrin murmurs heavily.
Amkarang smiles at the power coursing through him and locks eyes with the hobgoblin. He whirls his meteor hammer and roars, "Gladly!" Moving behind Benedict he tries to hit the hobgoblin, but his hammer crashes against the doorframe.
Lissa squeezes through the doorway, doing her best to dodge the hob, and slams her glaive into the creature's back, pinning it to the frame.
"If we're quite done playing with him, let's gather the supplies and get out of here. This is only going to get worse the longer we stay. Where did Jet go anyways?"
She sounds tired, but she cleans the blood and body off her glaive professionally.
Move - into flanking
Standard - Crit hobgoblin
If required after combat (we took more than 3 damage)
Assuming the recruit does not drop Lissa with an AOO crit, Benedict ducks to one side as Lissa decapitates the hobgoblin.
"He said there were people hiding in the cellar. I'll take a look outside. Move quickly."
Benedict, still looking like a hobgoblin, steps out through the northeast door to keep watch. To look like he's being a useful Ironfang and not just loitering, he'll stand outside cleaning and sharpening his sword. Nine rounds of Alter Self left.
,
The legionnaire's blade scrapes across Lissa's armor - for a moment, the Ironfang warrior stares in shock as a human appears from the common room to join Benedict's side - but he dies confused as Lissa cleanly separates his head from his neck.
While the rest of the group begins to search for anything useful on the hob or among the kitchen and pantries contents, Benedict steps outside to keep guard. Aubrin stumbles into the kitchen and calls out, "Jet! Jet, you tumble-brained girl, if you're dead, I'll strangle you with your damn scarves, see if I won't!" The words are broken up by several bouts of labored coughing, some of which includes small drops of blood, but by the end of the sentence there is a scraping below the pantry trap door, which then slowly opens. In the cellar, Jet's dusky skin and dark eyes look more shadowed than before, but she seems unharmed - and with her are a few other members of the inn's patrons who must have followed her down there in the confusion. The well-dressed dwarf - his fine white garments dirty now - and his bodyguard are among them. Five in all, the refugees climb back up the ladder and crowd into the kitchen once they are reassured that there is no immediate threat.
With the less than a minute that he has, Benedict observes the troop movements. He tries to figure out the safest way to the Trading Company. Right before the effect wears off, he ducks back inside to report.
Benedict comes back inside, changing back to his "human" form (DC 15 perception to tell otherwise).
"They are swarming the main road and the Green, but they don't have a perimeter yet and we may be able to make it to the Trading Company through the alleys. The more spots we hit, the more of Phaendar we can save, but the greater risk of running into more soldiers, I think."
He looks around.
"I don't think any of you are from around here, are you? I am. These are good people. I would like to do what we can."
Jet looks around, a bit shakily, and asks, "Did they get upstairs? Because I had tenants..."
|
"I would also like to not get ourselves killed. We grab who we can, but this town is lost. The hobknobs stopping to take slaves is probably the only thing slowing them down. We avoid the main road and green, and grab anyone we see on the way."
Grum hated being 'the voice of reason' in a time like this, but a huge group of refugees fleeing would just alert the hobgoblin army and would mean that they would be run down. Best to get out alive than to die a hero.
Jie puts up her bow after Lissa's strike, feeling a little inept, and steps into the kitchen. She smiles and tries to reassure the refugees as she looks around the room. Although looking for food to feed the group, she keeps an eye out for some old bread or seeds to feed birds.
At the mention of tenants she asks Jet. "Are you saying there are people still upstairs?"
"I don't know, but there could be... if those maniacs didn't get up there first..."
"Then let's check. This is going to be quite the camping expedition.
Even if the people fled, we'll want the blankets."
Jie picks up the longsword, then going back into the main room, she lays her hand on Feng tells him she'll be right back. She then warily heads up the stairs, sword drawn.
She starts knocking on doors, saying "Come on downstairs. The hobgoblins are dead."
Most of the rooms Jie checks are empty, either with beds unslept-in or, in a couple cases, signs of rapid departure. But one is firmly locked, and her call is rewarded with a gruff, "Go away! You'll draw them here!"
Amkarang follows Jie to provide backup in case of any incidents. Upon hearing the voice he gets close to the door and says, "If you stay in there, they'll find you, enslave you, and kill you. We're here to help, and if you come with you'll have a fighting chance of making it out alive. Make your choice!
"Time to move lads, if he wants to stay and die when the inn burns down that's on him, but we can't stay any longer or this all goes bloody gorey splaty splorey on us."
Jie tries to help Amkarang talk the man out of his room. "If you want an escort out of the town, then you have to leave now. We are leaving immediately."
She then turns to her newfound friends and shrugs.
and then starts to head back to the stairway.
There is a short pause after Amkarang's demand, but then a click announces the door unlocking. "Pssst!" you hear someone say beyond the door. "What are you doing?!"
"You heard them! If we stay, we die! I'm running, and you should too!"
The door opens, and a human man in his early thirties, dressed in well-made travelers' clothes with a fine cloak over one shoulder for a bit of class, appears in the gap. He hurriedly jumps out into the hallway, dragging a heavy cedar chest behind him. "I'm Farrow," he says. "Venison trader. That's Clidon in there, he's in aurochs jerky, but he's too scared to come out still."