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Not truly understanding what was happening, Brunhild decided to find a place to hide. If the goblins turned violent again, she’d at least be able and to snipe at them again.
Brunhild sneakily hurries herself towards the wall. No goblin (alive) has seen her, won't they be surprised....
Green: "Enough, elf. This place is ours, you go away."
His buddies open fire at the newly arrived Daniel.
One arrow comes very close to hitting him, flying only just past his neck.
===================================
The courtyard, round 4
Astella, Estelle
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Green
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Brunhild & Daniel
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Orange & Yellow
Seeing an arrow whip past through the crumbling barricade and hearing it clang off of something metallic in the direction of her friends, Estelle hardens her resolve. "I guess that settles it."
She takes another swing at the makeshift barrier in front of her.
*CRACK*, the barricade comes down.
Estelle sees a glimpse of one orc far ahead, but was sure she'd just heard several. Probably to her right and out of sight? Hm... there was a well of sorts just in front. Maybe she could sneak closer and cut off a direct path to her friends? But there was a lot of rubble that could get in the way' too, and who knew how many archers there were up there?
She shuffles forward slightly, hedging her bets.
Ah, here and I thought we were starting to understand each other. Maybe my teacher was right when he said that Goblins were uncivilized cretins. As I explained, this is OUR HOME. You can't own it just because you were squatting here while the owner was away. That isn't how things work. If you want to live here, you need to ask, and we can find someplace for you to work.
Astella shoots Green.
(nope)
Green takes a solid hit from Astella's arrow.
He grabs a small bottle from his belt and uncorks it as he goes to drink it.
, certainly not the best of remedies, but every bit helps, as far as he's concerned. He then moves into one of the horse boxes for cover from her arrows.
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Brunhild & Daniel
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Orange & Yellow
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The arrows flying through the air were proof that the parlay had broken down. So it was time to fall back on traditional dwarven negotiation tactics. Namely a sharp pointy object to the face. From her hiding spot Brunhild let two arrows fly at the goblins.
Daniel Just barely manages to raise his shield to block the arrow.
Well, that was rude.
He says moving forward and drawing another javelin. Hurling it at Yellow (or Orange If yellow Drops from Brunhild).
Brunhild, from a distance behind Estelle, sees a small glimpse of green.
In her enthusiasm, she quickly lets fly two arrows, but they greatly miss their intended target.
Some arrows ending up in the other wall of the horse stall, his eyes dart briefly into the gate's direction.
"Another archer outside. Stick to cover."
Cover the goblins have, but the well aimed javelin nonetheless hits yellow.
----------------------
Both goblins takes shots at Daniel, after the strong display of throwing.
Orange misses on his shot, but yellow, irritated from the injury, manages to hit Daniel in a soft spot.
===================================
The courtyard, round 5
Astella, Estelle
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Green (-6)
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Brunhild & Daniel
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Orange & yellow (-7)
Astella takes the opportunity to scramble down the debris into the courtyard and behind her own cover. Then she casts Cure Light Wounds on herself.
Seeing Daniel and Astella to the south now, Estelle moves in towards them, drawing a javelin on the way and throwing it towards orange! She stops next to the well, hoping that would provide some cover against incoming shots from the side.
"Daniel! Astella! Are you all right?" she asks, just as it seemed the Javelin she threw was on course to hit the ramparts instead of the injured goblin.
Astella's feeling pretty good right now, after that healing spell takes effect. The arrow wound closes near completely.
Even more people enter, as Estelle moves in, tossing a javelin at orange.
It hits the wall, though, falling down onto the stone floor.
---------------
Green (-6) repositions, and takes a shot t Estelle.
His arrow flies just accurate enough to hit, planting its arrowhead in her leg.
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Brunhild & Daniel
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Orange & Yellow (-7)
I'm okay. Check Daniel.
Brunhild frowned. It seemed that hitting the goblins was going to be an issue given their defenses. She advanced, looking for a way to get into the castle, all the while firing off a shot at the injured goblin.
Yellow takes an arrow to the chest, and you see him disappear behind the fortifications.
I'm fine! He shouts back to Estelle before moving up to Orange, drawing his blade as he does and lashing out.
And he moves closer to Green.
Orange grimaces, wriggling the javelin from his flank.
He steps 5ft back, out of sight of anyone below.
He pulls a flask and downs it.
================================
The courtyard, round 6
Astella, Estelle
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Green (-6)
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Brunhild & Daniel
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Orange (-7)
Astella moves and then shoots at Green.
Grimacing from the pain but knowing better than to remove the arrow without healing or burning the wound closed, Estelle moves around the fountain to the north side and...
Green sees the arrow fly by, but also sees another of his friends fall.
The javelin goes even more off target.
Being cornered by three combatants, and pretty wounded, he frowns, and drops his bow, crossing his arms.
----------------------
Brunhild & Daniel
In Common (not Goblin) Astella asks
Ready to stop killing each other and talk then?
Green just nudges at his dropped weapon, not saying anything right now.
Brunhild nodded at Astella, indicating that she should continue.
Astella tells the others
Don't let your guard down. There were supposed to be at least a dozen. He could just be playing for time. I'm not going to shoot him, but when we talked before, he encouraged the others to just start shooting again rather than discussing the situation, so I wouldn't trust this silence either. If he won't talk, then tie him up or knock him out until we know the place is secure.
In Goblin she adds
If you are willing to work with us, then say something. Nobody wants to kill you, or your friends, but we are going to fight to take control of our property.
"Words only, elf. This town is human, but i'm looking at humans, an elf, and a dwarf. Not very convincing for new arrivals to say this abandoned castle is theirs. For me, fighting now is pointless.
But if you're going to try and take this place, good luck."
He has a slightly mocking look in his eyes as he speaks, but otherwise makes no motion to do anything other than that.
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Ugh, honestly. I am sick of people thinking that I am lying. We have the paperwork. We won some contest, and a Lord dumped his unwanted property on us. Yeah, this isn't the most ideal place, and yeah I'm a freaking elf, but we STILL WON, and I WANT TO HAVE A PLACE TO LIVE! Finally, after the ... after the war took everything from me. Can't anyone understand that!? I'm standing here and offering to negotiate with you because I am sure you all have needs too, and your own frustrations in your life, but we have to start from a position of trust, or just give up and kill each other. So yeah, either talk to me like I am an actual honest individual or just shut the crap up. I am done with you, but there is no way in... there is no way I am walking away. I get this castle that was given to me, or I die trying for it. No one is taking anything else away from me today!
The group sees Astella lose it and start yelling at the goblin, but isn't sure what exactly she is saying... but she does look near tears.
Estella's eyes narrow and the grip on her weapon tightened as whatever this goblin was saying had greatly upset Astella. And it wasn't like they had a lot of time or opportunity to spend on this one either, with *eleven* or so more of them inbound at any moment.
She shares a glance with Brunhild and Daniel. "I think we have to subdue him before more of them come, either by quickly tieing him up or knocking him out. What should we do?"
To Astella, she adds: "Hey... Astella? I didn't catch any of that, but... we're here for you. And we're doing great so far! We're definitely going to retake this castle for ourselves, right?" She tries a smile to see if it worked on her Elven companion.
Daniel tightened his grip on the hilt of his blade. These goblins had raided to village, likely harmed or killed people. He wondered, how many had asked for mercy and gotten none? For an instance, he saw himself slaying the goblin, a just punishment. But then something his mother said sounded in his head.
A weapon is not an instrument of death, but a tool used to protect lives.
He lets out a sigh. If the goblin was no longer a threat, then for now that was good enough.
he sheathes his blade and approaches the "surrendered" goblin. Drawing out rope as he does so.
The goblin does not resist, nor does he speak further, for whatever reason.
Daniel does also relieve him from his sheathed weapon, a hand axe.
Astella ignores the pep talk, still trying to pull herself together, but once the immediate threat was neutralized, she goes over and starts moving some of the sandbags aside so they had room to proceed.
She says
The goblin seemed pretty confident that we wouldn't be able to take the place, so be on the lookout for traps and such.
Then, sighing, she readies her weapon and starts up the ramp.
Just as the Green Goblin is bound, Estelle channels a wave of healing energy. "Wait, let me try this before we go. I haven't done this in a while, and I know none of us are hurt that badly, but still... for safety, and practice for more dangerous times."
She folds her hands in prayer and a soothing wave of healing energy washes over everyone!
She looks at herself and removes the arrow along in the afterglow of the spell. "I used to be able to direct it better, but for now, I'm happy Shaymara shares this gift again! So, let's get going and see where the other goblins are hiding."
Afterwards, she tries to follow the others up the bags and up the ramp.
The bags take some effort, but come away, giving access to the stairs.
On the walkway above, you see a large hole in the stone, were presumably another catapult's boulder connected. You can see into what looks like a nearly emptied storage room, but not too big, from what you can tell from up here.
The single door to the room is on ground level.
A thin log was placed over it to allow movement to the other side of the walkway. The double doors into the castle are just across the hole.
There is no sign of the fourth goblin.
Well, we can press on, before they have much time to further prepare, or we can take it slow. There are risks either way. He says as he collects his Javelins.
And, do we want to knock out the captured goblin? Likely to cause problems or try to escape if we don't.
"If you don't feel confident your rope can hold him, Daniel, then we'll have to knock him out, yes. I really don't like striking down prisoners, but I think we have to stop him from getting help in case some of them are out of the castle now. The safety of ourselves, and the villagers by extension in case they'd try to take revenge, comes first," Estelle replies as she picks up her javelin near the captured goblin. The other was stuck in the woodwork near the one who'd disappeared and would probably take too long considering the group seemed to press on right away.
If no one else steps forward and Daniel doesn't object, she non-lethally knocks out the bound goblin with her polearm, then does a quick vitals check before leaving him behind.
When they reach the hole, she attempts to cross and heads to the single door into the castle alongside the others, wary for danger on the way.
Not seeing any goblins nearby, Astella goes closer to the log and thoroughly examines it and the hole underneath to make sure it isn't trapped or that someone isn't lying in wait down there. Green's words were wearing on her and making her paranoid.
But clearly everything was perfectly and completely safe, so she confidently followed Estelle across.
”Blunt force trauma to the head. A good way to kill him if we leave him alone.” Brunhild said. ”Any internal bleeding could prove fatal. I’d rather take him with us. Both as a negotiation tool and as someone who can point out enemy numbers. If he betrays us then we can just kill him.”
"I disagree. Any amount of magical healing, no matter how small, instantly stops any amount of internal bleeding - excluding supernatural wounds. That's just how magic works. You could give him a red potion afterwards and leave him here and he'd be safe. At least... I believe it's safer for both us *and* him, as he then can't turn on us, nor would he be a living humanoid shield against fire from his friends. Either of which has a good chance of happening if you put him in front of us. And that aside, actively using him as a hostage makes us no better than Sal when he took Sally," Estelle responds.
After having spoken, she sighs and looks away. "...Sorry, that might have come across as harsh. I understand what you're saying, Brunhild. But if we're trying to do this honorably, as I think the intent was, we shouldn't use hostages. And if we want to go a step further and do this as honorably as possible, that probably means leaving this goblin behind unharmed, hoping that decision doesn't come back to bite us later."
She turns around and starts towards the ramparts. "If you want me to subdue him now, I will. But I think it's more important to keep going before they can organize further."
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"Nay, it's fine. But I can't say that I agree. Sally was an innocent, taken as a hostage against us. This here is an enemy warrior, who has invaded our lands, stolen from us, and ambushed us once we approached our own property. Unlike Sally, he has plenty of friends waiting inside, ready to fill us with arrows. I'd prefer nay to leave him here to die from a brain-bleed, because that would fell awful sore on me conscience, but I don't see any problem taking him prisoner and bringing him with us. We don't need to use him as a human shield, but he can point out to us. And we can use him as a bargaining chip. Safe passage off our lands and their comrade unharmed in exchange for them leaving, that sort of thing." She shook her head. "Honor. Can't say I can rightly define it. All I know is that I'd prefer nay to see any of us die, and walking into a fortress occupied by armed intruders really makes that somewhat likely to happen. I just suggest that we lessen the chances of having a funeral when this is all over."
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"Hm... maybe. I can't say I'm sure I have the right of it either. What do the two of you think, Astella and Daniel? He's bound now. Should we take this goblin with us?"
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We could trust nothing he said. Nor can any of us deign to watch him during another fight. I say we check, make sure they are not in danger of death, then leave them here for now. Even if we make a small secure shelter to keep them in.
Daniel is hesitant to take an awake goblin with them.
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I'm fine with taking him with us, if Brunhild wants to. She can be in charge of him. Maybe we can learn more about each other that way. Happy to translate if he chooses to say anything.
Brunhild sighed. ”I’d rather focus on sniping as before. Knock him out or leave him. Let’s just get a move on.”
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January 16th, 1168.
Halfway morning, a newly appointed group of people for management of Castle Harmondale, and Welnin, has arrived by coach.
A group of varied composition, two humans, a dwarf, and an elf.
Custodian Maine and myself, have explained the challenges our region faces these days.
The four seem interested and willing, but only time will tell how this will turn out. For now, we must await the result of their effort in liberating Castle Harmondale from occupation of a unit of goblins.
Signed,
Welnin Tweed, Court Historian of Castle Harmondale.
So it was three to one in favor of leaving them behind - assumed to be the option of unconscious and stable.
"In that case..."
Estelle takes a few steps towards the bound goblin. "I'm really, really sorry about this. But it's the safest option for us both, so..."
She looks up and points towards the building. "Say, what's that over there?"
The moment he turns, or not, she strikes him in the temple as hard as she possibly can.
Afterwards, she rubs her first and makes a pained grimace from the force of the strike. "Ow... haven't hit someone like that since training... but I'm sure he'd like that over a warhammer. Now, let's go before we lose more time!"
Estelle sees the goblin still up after her hit. But he does look dazed from the impact.
She gives him a second for , and he goes unconscious.
The team heads up the stairs, and opens the doors to the interior.
============================================
Castle Harmondale has been here for ages, and had been fairly kept maintained, during meaningful occupation. Despite occupying unfriendly forces, it's still a somewhat decent interior.
As you enter, there is another small well in the center ahead. Like the one outside, it is not as clean as it would be, but not as dirty either. A small opening on the top suggests it could be a low flowing fountain, would it be in working order.
Rails where banners would normally hang on to, are empty.
There are a three large trash piles located in the reception hall. Searching one for anything of use, would certainly depend on manual effort.
Two hallways lead to either your left or right.
Two doors within the reception doors, diagonally located from the front door, stand closed. Lighting is dim, with the few windows above are covered in grime and dust.
