After about a minute, Maidie returns from her recon flight.
”A single passage lead further south. I suspect that is where we’ll find the tribal leader. I did not dare venture close enough to make contact, but we should be able to move on without having to worry about enemies outflanking us.”
”Alright. Let’s go find out. Histya, with me.” Bow ready, Moon stalks along the southern path.
Arrows (45): xxxxx
Blunts (45): xxxxx
Iron Arrows (3):
Lead Blades (1):
Hero Points (3):
Kassen Battle Boon: 1x
Kassen Death Boon: 1x
Lead Blades – Rnd x of 10 – all my melee weapons act as one size larger
Histya pads along with her mistress, moving from cover to cover.
Histya and Moon find what Maidie saw, a path heading south and curving west.
Moon moves along the path, passing an alcove off to the north as it curves in that direction. Shortly after that, she and Histya come to another widening of the path into a clearing where the goblins have set up another camp.
Betzolte shoulders her axe and looks to the less stealthy members.
"Wait for her to report back or follow at a distance? Don't want her to get in over her head..."
"We follow as fast as we can." Erigga says. "Maidie already scouted ahead, so Moon is just finding a place to set an ambush. They already know we are here, so the best we can do is trying to catch them before they are ready."
With that, Erigga moves ahead, shield ready in front of her.
"Agree, we must not get too far separated. Follow Moon and Histya as close as you can without giving away their position." Maidie says before taking flight and zipping back down the trail, keeping to the shadows.
You spot a goblin trying to hide behind one of the tents.
Moon considers the furtive little figure. So… the weak link in an ambush? Or a goat staked out to draw us in? Either way, it didn’t really matter. Moon was going to test how this trap sprung, either way. Hitting a goblin mostly hidden behind a tent was a tough shot but not impossible, especially if it didn’t see the arrow coming.
She signals Histya to be ready for anything then draws an arrow to the bow’s full length, the fletching tickling her nose. Even if I miss, we’ll get a response. She sends the arrow down field then immediately tries to sink back into cover.
Arrows (45): xxxxx
Blunts (45): xxxxx x
Iron Arrows (3):
Lead Blades (1):
Hero Points (3):
Kassen Battle Boon: 1x
Kassen Death Boon: 1x
Lead Blades – Rnd x of 10 – all my melee weapons act as one size larger
Betzolte begins tromping through the snow to keep up with the others.
The others see Moon's arrow open up the goblin's throat, killing it on the spot. It seems that your movements have gone unnoticed for the moment.
"Go, go, go!" Erigga says shooing the others ahead.
Betzolte follows Erigga's instructions and goes.
”No, wait!” Maidie hisses from her higher vantage point.
”It was just one goblin and Moon killed it. We don’t know where the rest of them are, so lets not rush blindly into what is likely a trap. “
Flying closer to Moon, she says.
”Can you find any fresh tracks that show where they might be hiding? I can summon Cragg-el again, his tremorsense can help us find them.”
She holsters her wand and pulls out a scroll, struggling a bit to manage the oversized parchment as she prepares to read the magic symbols aloud.
It smells like a trap… but what sort? Are they concealed underground or going to come out or over the brambles? Moon points toward the center of the hoop around which they’ve walked, it was large enough area to hold a lot of troops, and why be where anyone expects?
She nods at Maidie’s suggestion. Perhaps the enemy didn’t hide their tracks as well as they expected. She moves forward quietly out of habit. The ranger anticipates the goblins already know where they are. But let them think she doesn’t know that. She scans for any sign of trouble but also signs of poor troop concealment.
Histya slides along the edges of the brambles.
The goblins made no effort to hide their tracks. Moon is able to sort out Three sets, one going down each of the passages branching off from the camp. She also sees a smaller passage mostly hidden by the stacks of crude crates and barrels. From all appearances, the goblins left this camp in a hurry.
Through the eerie quiet you hear the chittering of goblin voices coming from the center of the ring. The words are impossible to make out, but the tones appear to be fearful and angry.
Erigga raises a hand to get Maidie's attention, before whispering to her. "Silly idea, but do can we... smoke them?"
Moon moves back to the team and reports what she's found.
Betzolte listens and nods, before turning back to Erigga who's talking to Maidie.
"Erigga? Maidie? Whatcha sayin'?"
Erigga raises a hand to get Maidie's attention, before whispering to her. "Silly idea, but do can we... smoke them?"
"That's not silly at all, Erigga. But we'd have to do it with regular firewood...I have no magic that can help us, only an alchemical smokestick that won't do much."
She looks at the narrow path.
"As mentioned, I can still call Cragg-el one more time. He can travel underground and sense the location of the enemies. Perhaps even poke his head up for a quick look."
Hesitating, she adds.
"I can also send Tanglefoot. I have a magic ring that lets me see through his senses for a brief period. It's risky, but it could be worth it to learn what we're up against."
Erigga gives a smile that looks both innocent and full of malice, like a kid about to do something nasty. She flips her bandolier to fish two flasks with a dark orange liquid inside. "We can do better than that... these are alchemist's fire, Betz has a flaming axe and... does Cragg-el has a flaming cousin perhaps?"
While the group discusses strategies, Moon sneaks over to the narrow path and enters it, trying to suss out what sort of force awaits.
Arrows (45): xxxxx
Blunts (45): xxxxx x
Iron Arrows (3):
Lead Blades (1):
Hero Points (3):
Kassen Battle Boon: 1x
Kassen Death Boon: 1x
Lead Blades – Rnd x of 10 – all my melee weapons act as one size larger
The path widens and curves just past the narrow opening. With less foilage in the way, you can hear a lisping goblin berating it's unseen minions.
"Ushlesh Wormsh! I'll feed you to Shkitterfeetsh! Dere ish only shix of dem!"
Arrows (45): xxxxx
Blunts (45): xxxxx x
Iron Arrows (3):
Lead Blades (1):
Hero Points (3):
Kassen Battle Boon: 1x
Kassen Death Boon: 1x
Lead Blades – Rnd x of 10 – all my melee weapons act as one size larger
Grobradon has moved ahead as Erigga suggested. At the mention of smoke and fire, the Druid frowns, but then, all this is getting unnatural anyway and fire can be cleansing force if need be.
You creep around and see dozens of goblins cowering in fear as a middle-aged goblin matriarch with gold spiderfangs where her teeth should be rages and howls at the gathered throng. One unfortunate goblin tries to calm the furious goblin leader, only to scream in pain as the spider the matriarch rides devours it alive.
As you all wait for Moon's return, a pained and piercing scream cuts through the silence of the woods around you.
Emerald clutches her bow in a white-knuckled grip as she waits for Maidie's answer.
Moon silently retraces her steps back to the team and reports. ”Found them - including their leader Goldfang. There are five spiders, three with riders, including Goldfang. There are two gobbo platoons, and a half dozen others… they look like those spellcasters and rangers we fought before. There are also three exits from their enclosure, so we can’t burn them out or cook them.” She points north, at the two paths ahead of the group. ”I think that right-hand path will meet up with an entrance to the enclosure and then we’ve got this one right over here. I was able to get pretty close without being detected. Morale is low. Some of the gobbos are nervous about fighting the ‘six of us’ and Goldfang is keeping them in line by force. If we can hit fast and very hard, we might make some of them bolt.”
”Our obvious choice is to either move in together along a single path or we split forces and try to hit them from two sides at once. Obviously, that carries risks as well as opportunities.”
Arrows (45): xxxxx
Blunts (45): xxxxx x
Iron Arrows (3):
Lead Blades (1):
Hero Points (3):
Kassen Battle Boon: 1x
Kassen Death Boon: 1x
Lead Blades – Rnd x of 10 – all my melee weapons act as one size larger
"Anyone got illusion spells? If they're scared of six of us, they might be terrified of yet more?" The Druid looks to the arcane types.
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Maidie quickly processes the info Moons scouting trip has revealed as well as Grob's question.
"I don't really have any useful illusion spells, but we have other options that might shift the odds in our favor.
She floats close to the ground and sketches a quick map of the goblin camp and surrounding bramble-lined paths that lead to it.
"All the paths that lead to the camp are narrow enough for one or two of us to block them. Ideally, we want to reduce their advantage in numbers as much as possible. By using the paths as choke points, we can make sure only a few of them can attack at once, while leaving anyone who panics a way out."
She continues, pointing to the rough map as she speaks.
"It's risky, but I'm thinking we could split up and come at them from the two southernmost paths at once. If we're all bunched up in one, we can't fight effectively either and we're vulnerable to area spells."
"Erigga, you have the best armor and protection, so you're a natural choice to lead one of the groups, perhaps with me and Betz behind you. Moon and Grob, you can take the other path with Histya and Emerald."
"Now, in terms of evening out the odds. As mentioned, I can use a scroll to call back Cragg-el or another elemental warrior or magical beast. I can also call fewer, weaker creatures. If I recall correctly, you can do the same with natural allies, Grobradon. Between us, we can drop a fair bit of extra help behind our enemies. A pack of eagles or stirges, perhaps?"
"We also have other magic that should be useful. Bets, you have a color spray ready, and another scroll. That is an excellent spell against multiple weak enemies in close quarters. I can blind many off them with glitterdust and summon a pit in the center of the camp, which Cragg-el can then bullrush more goblins into."
She pauses for a bit and looks around, suddenly aware how quickly she's speaking in her high-pitched fairy voice.
"Obviously, we'll want to cast any protection spells before we move in. Betz, perhaps this is a good time to enlarge? I also have a protection from evil that can grant a bit of extra protection. "
"I'll take it," Betzolte replies with a nod. "Unless someone else wants that protection."
She casts the spell to enlarge herself, growing into a small giantess and grunting a bit as her head scrapes against the canopy of thorns overhead.
"I--I can make a couple of us invisible for a few minutes," Emerald says. "I can also try charming a couple of them."
Erigga nods to Maidie. "I'll do my best to hold one side, but if things go bad, it would be better to have one of us able to heal on each group, so Grob takes the wand and we swap Betz for Emerald?"
With Emerald's suggestion, Erigga adds. "If they are having second thoughts about fighting us, then taking of the leader could hopefully demoralize the rest into scattering away... so perhaps you make Moon invisible so she can get the drop on the boss?"
”Yes, we definitly want to focus on the leader and other elites first. If we defeat them, the rest will break.”
"I can get another Stone Brother instead of stirges if you want, Grob nods to Maidie "But I see your point. Yeah, use the protection on Bezolte."
"If we are supposed to be the sneaky team... Giant Betz makes that difficult."
Betzolte frowns a bit.
"Loosed the bolt too soon, did I?" she rumbles.
"Don't worry about it, Betz. We can still make it work. You can join me Erigga and Emerald. We'll go up the southwest passage, and draw their attention. Then Moon, Grob and Histya can sneak up the southeast passage, to take them by surprise and try to eliminate the leader. Just don't go into rage before you have cast your spells."
She turns to Grobradon.
"I trust your judgement about which ally to call. They won't be as strong and hardy as the ones I can summon, but their main purpose is to cause confusion and draw attacks away from us."
"For my part, I think I'll summon a small air elemental to help up. It can transform into a whirling vortex that should make life very difficult for their archers and spellcasters."
"Everyone ready? Then we'd better move quickly, before Betz's spell wears off. Team Stealth, we'll give you a minute to get into position, then start to move up the southwest passage."
Grobradon winces at mention of stealth as his current armor isn't friendly towards it "Maybe I should take on Wildshape."
Erigga nods, checking the straps in her shield. They were fine, she was sure, but she checked them anyways. Twice.
Arrows (45): xxxxx
Blunts (45): xxxxx x
Iron Arrows (3):
Lead Blades (1):
Hero Points (3):
Kassen Battle Boon: 1x
Kassen Death Boon: 1x
Protection from Evil – 4 mins – +2 Deflection AC, +2 Resist bonus on saves.
Lead Blades – Rnd x of 10 – all my melee weapons act as one size larger
Betzolte nods.
"Magic requires a different kind of concentration than battle-wrath, yes."