He cursed lowly whistling again for Sebastion and adjusting his grip on his axe.
The cold realization of the fact his mount and friend wasnt already in the building led him to realize that something was terrible wrong with his mount. The thunk into the wood was less than sastisfying.
"I have to go! You try m'am!"
He began worriedly leaving his axe with Faeriaeth and spinning about for the exit.
"Take it with you. It isn't safe out there!" Faerith says, handing him back the axe. As he heads out she tries using her sickle against the haft of the ballista, trying to cut the ranger free.
Round 3 completed___________
.
"RUUSSETT!!" Arlen screams again, trying to get the creature to bust out of the stables. But he doesn’t really think his horse can hear him over the commotion. Meanwhile, he tries to finish off the hobgoblin with his cestus before gripping his bardiche again.
Again he connected with the Hobgoblin’s face hard, doing modest damage.
.
I need to get outside where I'll have the space to shoot... And to do that, I'll need those fighting back to clear me a path... So, I guesd it's time to help them out.... Yaron closes his eyes for a moment, centering himself, then opens them, a mischievous spark in his eye as he begins reciting,
"There once was a goblin named Creet
/Who was remarkably light on his feet
/He asked an Irregular to dance, and ended up on a lance
/Little beast should've known he was beat.".
.
Big John takes the blow without comment. His eyes burrowing into his foe’s with furious hatred. The two swing and block one another’s blows until the big man sees an opening and thrusts the tip of his sword towards hobgoblin 1’s abdomen.
Big John shoves his sword through his target up to his elbow. The hobgoblin slid slowly off John’s blade in a fountain of blood.
”Put up a fight, escape to the hills, save who you can, but do something!” He shouted, a terrifying sight covered in blood.
.
Elandra finally draws her bow and feathers a shot between Arlen and Sor.
Her shot brings down Hobgoblin 2.
Her Eagle then 5ft flaps to the west and attacks the next one, but is unable to penetrate the soldiers armor.
.
The sight of the sheer numbers of enemies distracts Sor as he thrusts at his direct foe, and he missed..
.
Darry cursed lowly whistling again for Sebastion and adjusting his grip on his axe.
But his hack was unable to penetrate the iron haft of the bolt.
The cold realization of the fact his mount and friend wasnt already in the building led him to realize that something was terribly wrong with his mount. The thunk into the haft was less than sastisfying.
"I have to go! You try m'am!"
He began worriedly leaving his axe with Faeriaeth and spinning about for the exit.
Sprinting through the melee and pools of blood, Darry rushed outside to see the horses dancing with terror and his trusty mount tripping another Hobgoblin soldier. Both are wounded.
.
"Take it with you. It isn't safe out there!" Faerith says, handing him back the axe. As he heads out she tries using her sickle against the haft of the ballista, trying to cut the ranger free.
She too was unable to cut her way through the iron haft of the bolt.
.
Aubryn the Green gasped as Faerith hacked at the bolt.
"Oh my thats painful. I must be alive then..." She whispered.
.
(npc) Ghosteye, seeing the battle in hand turned to the panicky patrons. Using his size and intimidation, he backed up the barkeep Jet to keep them in order.
.
Hobgoblin 4 continued to attack Zor.
for a possible slashing damage.
.
Outside, Sebastion is hit by Hobgoblin 5 and in turn hits and trips the hobgoblin. Both look very hurt.
Round 4___________
Players take their turn in order of posting, enemies will go last.
What with all the blood, all terrain is Difficult now.
Effects:
Bless; +1 morale bonus to hit and vs +1 fear checks.
Inspire courage; +1 competence to attack and damage; +1 morale v. fear and charms
Seeing the peril Sebastion was in, he rushed over as close as he could withdrawing one of his daggers as he ran. He wasnt sure he would make it time, but he threw the blade none the less
Sebastion's tail picked up speed at the sight of his little friend and half hopped to the side like he had been trained forcing the hobgoblin foe to be split between the two of them. His jaws snapped wildly at the creature harrying him.
One problem at a time. Sor strikes more surely this time.
Elandra carefully maneuvers past all the blood and gore as she heads up the stairs, looking for a good window/vantage point.
Meanwhile her hawk continues to assault the hobgoblins, ripping and tearing with all its little might.
Big John drops out of rage.
His chest heaves as he takes stock of the ruin.
Seeing that his former commander was already being seen to and apparently alive gave him hope, but seeing that she was incapacitated, caused him to revert to his training. He unconsciously slipped back into protocol based on the incident command structure of his old unit.
He looks for someone familiar in the crowd.
”Is anyone here a healer?”
”You there!”, he said picking his way a few steps through the wreckage.
”Yes you!” The big man points to a teenaged boy. ”Grab what you can and put pressure on that wound. No! Leave her she’s done. That one there. Yes”
He points to another two villagers.
”You two, secure that door.”
”And you. See which direction the attack is coming from.”
John looks down to see what weapons and armor the fallen hobgoblins have and if there is any identifying insignia or orders.
"Lots more out there," Sor snarls. He looks for a back way out. He looks out flatly over his veil at the dead and wounded. Nothing he could do but cut short their suffering, and that would probably be seen as uncouth.
"Somebody help me cut her free!!" Faeriaeth screams as she works to get Aubryn off the mantle. "I can help heal the wounded."
"Somebody help me cut her free!!" Faeriaeth screams as she works to get Aubryn off the mantle. "I can help heal the wounded."
"Big human, your heft is needed, but make it quick. I sense this respite will be brief. "
Elandra calls down from the stairs "I don't see anymore coming this way right now, but there's at least a hundred more out there. The center of town looks relatively empty but the sea of tents is already lost and there's an ominous black tower out there too..."
Having gotten to the end of her description the sheer enormity of the slaughter sinks in as Elandra is unable to stop staring.
From her viewpoint at a open window at the top of the stairway...
Behind them, above the flames and humble rooftops, rises a strange tower of black stone.
It looks to you that the majority of the troopers are attacking out of Phaendar proper and into the sea of tents and campfires surrounding the Hamlet during the festival. The area in Phaendar center is fairly free at the moment.
She gasped in pain as someone finally hacks through the haft pinning her to the wall and she is lowered to the floor.
She grasped Faerith's hand tight.
“It... it sounds like there’s an army outside the door." She whispered.
"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 winced and pressed her hands against the bloody hole in her chest. “They sound large. Too large to fight on the ground like honest fools."
She pulled in Faerith.
"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.”
Five sets of basic hobgoblin equipment:
*Studded Leather Armor
*Ironfang Legion uniform
*Light Steel Shield
*Longsword
*Dagger
*Longbow with 20 arrows
*20 silver pennies, 30 copper farthings
The hobgoblins already carry the spoils of some looting:
One traveller's masterwork backpack (Ultimate Equipment) stuffed with
A soldier's heavy crossbow (with 20 bolts and 9 masterwork bolts);
A salesman’s case with eight clearly labeled potions of guidance.
A Wizards Wand of magic missile (11 charges) Caster level 1
A Cleric's wooden scroll tube with;
A divine scroll containing the spells calm animals, cure light wounds, and magic stone (CL1)
and, all collected together; dried goat meat, sheep’s cheese, and a jug of sheep’s milk worth a total of 5 Provision Points.
"I'm in. I agree that the Fangwood is our safest option. How should we gather others from town as we go?"
Arlen is badly hurt and very concerned for Russet. With the square apparently clear, he runs outside to get Russet and bring him around to where the others are gathering for escape.
Aubrin is right. We should have seen them coming...
When arlen checks the stables out back, he finds all sixteen horses there frightened but intact.
Big John’s head snaps up.
”What!? A tower in the middle of town? What sorcery is this? Hundreds of troops? This is no simple raid.”
”There is a lot of gear here. Let’s gather it all. Does anyone have a mount? I guess it doesn’t matter. If anyone can get mounts readied we need to secure them.”
”Move people!”, he yells to get some of the less brave moving with a purpose.
”Grab what you can and get ready to move out!”
He crosses over towards Sor.
”It’s Zhehalel right!? You are a woodsman and scout right? Fleeing into the wood we will need provisions. We can move building to building as we pull out of the hot zone. Gather as many as we can. The people will need Aubren and someone who knows how to make it out there.”
”You can help save these people, yeah!?”
”If you need time, I’ll cover you and the others as you get them out.”, he says with a grim determination.
He then heads over towards where Aubren was pinned to the wall, but is now being worked on on the floor. He places a ham hock sized hand on the half-elf woman’s shoulder.
”Good work getting her down. Can you read a cleric’s spell? They had some scrolls and spells with them. It might be a healing spell.”
”Can we move her?”
Big John takes a longbow and arrows and throws them on his back.
”Can any of you use longbows!?”
Yaron blinks at the declaration, then swallows, This is like last time, and, again, I may have lost a parent... He pushes away the dark thoughts and says, "Agreed, if we're to fight back and win, we need to fall back and regroup... But we need to get the townfolk out, too, otherwise, there's nothing to fight for."
He looks up and says, "I think we need to raid the kitchen here for supplies - whatever we can carry, though if there are horses in the stables, then, whatever we can strap to them. Same with the weapons from the hobgoblins. Take it all -- especially since there may be other townsfolk who have the skills to fight but not the gear."
When John asks his question, the bard raises his hand, "I can. Taught to shoot by elven hunters... and it'd pack more of a punch than my shortbow." He reaches forward, taking one of hobgoblins' weapons and testing the pull, Seems to be made relatively well... about as well as you'd expect from a race bred for war, really, before sliding it over his shoulder and swapping his quiver. "But, for the same reason, let's hold on to this shortbow."
Arlen returns to the common room. "There are about sixteen horses out in the stables. They're a little spooked but we should be able to calm them down."
[b}"Aubrin, do you have the strength to channel the heroism of Cayden? Some of us were hurt in the fight."[/b]
Big John offers the half-orc his hand.
”I like how you think and an archer is always welcome, an archer trained by elves even more so. I am hoping they taught you something of wood craft as well.”
”My name is, well, it doesn’t really matter at the moment. Just call me John. Everyone else does. Can you grab these bags and get to the kitchen?”
”Oh and do you need to load up on more arrows?”
He turns to the dark haired man with the scar.
”Sixteen? Great! We can move wounded and supplies. And eventually, strike back if possible.”
”Have I seen you before? You look familiar, are you with one of the mounted units?”
”Can you handle keeping that many horses together?”
”I see you are a little banged up so just be straight up if you aren’t up to it.”
"Not quite a mounted unit, no. Sixteen is a lot when they're spooked like this. I can do it but I could use a hand."
"We'll get as many out of here and with us as we can, just rest for now." Faerith says softly to Aubrin reassuring the ranger. Turning to the activity of the others, she reaches into a pouch at her belt, taking out a vial of a frothy thick yellow liquid, and hands it to Arlen.
"Here, drink this. It's strong but it should take care of some of your injuries. We'll need all the able bodied fighters we can get."
"...Check the Riverwood Shrine for medical supplies..." Aubrin whispered. "I can walk... If I have a couple of people to help."
"My mount here... hes hurt pretty bad, If anyone can spare some sort of healing magic, I'll see what i can gather torwards the shrine. No one looks down often enough not even hobgoblins."
He muttered glad that Aubrin had made it. His heart was cold though. So many dead and dying, possibly The Applebaugh girls.
"Anyone sneaky want to help liberate the Shrine of its supplies?"
He asked glancing torwards the tall folk.
Jet, who was not just the barkeep but the owner as well, shouted out; "OK, we're all escaping! I'm gonna need help carrying supplies! Come on!"
She threw open the doors to the kitchen and stormed through.
Elandra, looking down the hallway in the upper floor, spotted the Inn's vault down at the other end. There might be supplies or other valuables there as well.
"Aubrin, do you have the strength to channel the heroism of Cayden?"
She winced and shook her head.
"I am at the moment in no fit state to command the holy power granted by Cayden." She said, glancing at the haft of the bolt still piercing her chest.
Elandra eventually snaps out of it and shouts down. "I may be able to help with the scrolls, lets gather what we can and make haste."
Durun comes over to offer his assistance as well. ”I may not have the strength as some of these younger men, but I can move quickly and quietly when needed. I also know the lands around here quite well. Tell me where you need me.” Durun’s mismatched eyes flare with a burning hatred and frost gathers around the fringes of his beard.
To Aubrin he says
"Is there anything we can do about that bolt now? We need you to be able to lead us out of here without passing out."
To Darry he answers "I can go with you almost immediately."
Yaron offers his hand to John, "Yaron. I'd say well met, but not in the circumstances."
The thin man turns and says, "I'm pretty light on my feet and don't need a lot of light to see... Plus, I'm not injured. I can go with the group heading to the shrine. "
He crosses over towards Sor.
”It’s Zhehalel right!? You are a woodsman and scout right? Fleeing into the wood we will need provisions. We can move building to building as we pull out of the hot zone. Gather as many as we can. The people will need Aubren and someone who knows how to make it out there.”
”You can help save these people, yeah!?”
”If you need time, I’ll cover you and the others as you get them out.”, he says with a grim determination.
Several emotions quickly wash over the veiled elf's eyes. Most of them are annoyance.
"I can."
"Thank you for 'elping him mam. He's a big ol dufus most of the time, but a loyal friend."
He said in earnest thanking miss Elandra for using it on his mount. He quickly adjusted his axe onto his belt and slid atop to wardog nodding to the others from almost their height now.
"Right then, Stealth mission for supplies, before we go I need to ask. Are we stopping to provide assistance to any folk under hobgoblin attack or is it a straight mission for supplies. I'm all for helping folk as much as we can, but I dont want to bring down their army on us if I can help it."
He began glancing at Arlen, Durun and Yaron.
Arlen drinks the herbal concoction. He screws up his five at the taste and then slams it down. "Oof. Thank you. Let's get going."
"Agreed. Darry, was it? Name's Arlen. We'll help those we can and say a prayer for those we can't."
He peeks out the door to be sure it is still relatively clear and then ducks out into the night, longbow drawn and arrow at the ready.
Russet follows along, staying abreast of Arlen.
Sor slips out the door as quietly as he can manage.
Yaron keeps his new bow in hand, following along, moving from cover to cover.
Elandra will stay on lookout for now, hopefully taking a useful position from one of the inn's upper windows or potentially the roof if accessible.
She pulled in Faerith.
"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.”
"Rest while they get the supplies we need. Once they get back we'll start moving. Let me take a look at your wound." she says studying the shaft piercing the other woman's chest closely.
Durun nods his agreement and silently slips into the night...
Mounting Sebastion and readying himself he slid out with the others keeping low and leading the way torwards the shrine.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
John thinks about the bridge that needs to be dropped.
How is it constructed?
”We can find oil, wicking material and prepare a few flame arrows. If we can’t drop the bridge entirely, we could at least put a flaming cart on it to block the way.”
”Did anyone see a hay wagon loaded up anywhere?”
Big John asks as he loads the heavy crossbow and finds something to make a simple sling from.
”If needs be, I’ll put you over my shoulder and carry you out of here commander.”
"Is there anything we can do about that bolt now? We need you to be able to lead us out of here without passing out."
Aubrin nodded, whispering; "Bolt... has to be extracted. Can't... move with it in place. Have to stop... bleeding when you pull it through..."
...Once they get back we'll start moving. Let me take a look at your wound." she says studying the shaft piercing the other woman's chest closely.
One of the small servitors ran past Elandra on the second floor down to the stairway.
"Miss Jet! Miss Jet! Those southland merchants won't come out of their rooms!" She piped.
John thinks about the bridge that needs to be dropped.
How is it constructed?
He never paid attention before, but he vaguely remembered stone blocks maybe?
”Did anyone see a hay wagon loaded up anywhere?”