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I did, but I can't say I remember them clearly any more. XD
More likely they'd be charmed by Ziphora's idealistic pacifism, right? ...right? Anyway, thanks all! It's been fun (if a bit exhausting at times). Maybe someday I'll have the urge to revisit the Hydra's Vale. :D
The hobgoblin army settles into the vale--somewhat to Sir Torlgrith and the lizardfolk's dismay, but with you around to, ahem, 'mediate' any disputes, everyone reluctantly agrees to it. And thus ends our tale, with the Great Hydra triumphant over all their foes, Lords and Lady of the Hydra's Vale. Whether in days to come they used their new army to spread their dominion, or whether their valley became a place of unusual piece between species, this tale does not tell. But it is for this reason that what was once called Bloodsworn Vale is known even now as Hydra's Vale. The rest... can wait for another telling.
Look how popular you guys are. :D If you don't have anything more to add, I'll write up a wrap-up post sometime in the next few days.
"We lost the war." The hobgoblin seems to prefer short, direct statements to long explanations. Ziphora can't think of any good places nearby off the top of her head. It's possible somewhere in Varisia would work--it was mostly unclaimed by humanoid nations--they'd just have to deal with the giant tribes and other dangers, first. Oh, and travel through lands claimed by Korvosa, which might not approve of an army of hobgoblins. They're apparently already running away from Nirmathas, which rules that out. Nidal is right out of it. There *might* be some other valleys and such here in the mountains that could work... honestly, Bloodsworn Vale is about their best bet for hundreds of miles. Though it does seem a bit small for a population of thousands, it's at least defensible.
"No. That was the idea of trying to take the Vale."
We ready to bring this to an end? Any last words on what you'll do with your new hobgoblin army?
"Under three thousand warriors, with a few beasts left and about six thousand elders, children, and other non-combatants," the hobgoblin replies. "We're retreating from the war in Molthune and Nirmathas."
There's actually several hobgoblins waiting as you turn towards the army. It seems like they were watching. They... punch themselves in the chest as you walk towards them. "General," one of them says to you. "What is your command?"
Grash completely misses the goblin. The minotaur goes for Grash.
He *also* completely misses. Your two remaining dumb heads focus their attacks on him.
They finish him off, and he goes crashing to the ground. Your body, confused by the two impossible commands, stands and does nothing. With two of his three big distractions gone, the goblin decides that its chances of avenging the general are pretty low. He steps back and vanishes from sight. The dragon, subsequently, decides it doesn't want to be the sole focus of your attacks and takes off.
Beachhead tears ferociously into the minotaur, causing many grievous wounds, but not killing him. The dragon sees an opportunity and flies to one side, then breathes a line of acid that hits all of your heads except Beachhead.
This kills one of your dumb heads. The goblin goes for another of them.
He does enough to kill another of your dumb heads.
With the third stab of her horn, Ziphora downs the hobgoblin general. The minotaur snarls in rage and attacks her in vengeance.
His rage makes his strikes inaccurate, however, and only one hits. Grash beats on the goblin a little, his target having gone missing. Your dumb heads spread their attacks around.
You body hesitates a moment, then floats slightly up in the air, whirls about, and flies at the dragon with forelimbs extended. +??? The dragon avoids your awkward attempts at... whatever that was, though.
Beachhead tears viciously into the hobgoblin general, but she's a tough one--she refuses to go down. "Focus on the body, not the heads!" she orders.
They inflict grievous wounds on your hindquarters, but they swiftly start healing.
The dragon, amazingly enough, evades you as you surge forwards, but the hobgoblin and the goblin do not.
And I forgot about this... tomorrow. Sorry.
The minotaur charges forward and takes a swing at Ziphora.
Your dumb heads snap at the targets near them.
Then you suddenly surge forwards, sending those in front of you tumbling out of the way.
The hobgoblin, goblin, and dragon charge forwards. General Gordru swings her long hammer at Grash.
She strikes him right on his head, hard. Beachhead surprises the goblin, but in spite of that it manages to dodge the worst of the first bite, and the second bite misses entirely. Reflexively he tries to stab back with a dagger.
He's way off, though. The dragon targets one of your dumb heads with a bite.
It takes a nasty bite out.
"Very well, then. We begin." General Gordru throws aside the flag and readies her long hammer-thing.
The dragon seems unimpressed with Grash's glare. "I am General Gordru," the metal-skinned hobgoblin replies, "We fight for a place to call our own. Here will be just fine for our battle."
As they get close, you can see that the hobgoblin has a really fancy metal skin. And also that the dragon has black scales. The hobgoblin stops several paces away from you, sets the post of the flag she's carrying on the ground, and looks you up and down. "So you're the one," she says. "You're actually the leader of this lot, aren't you? Well, I think we both know how this has to end. You against me and my best soldiers. No point in wasting more men trying to fight past you. Whoever wins gets to say what happens to the losing side." She looks to you, almost daring you to contradict her 'offer'.
Before anyone can respond, there's a commotion from further down the pass. Four figures march towards you under flag of truce--a hobgoblin, a minotaur, a goblin, and a small dragon.
You return to heal. After patching you up, the various healers tell you they're about out of magic for the day. Your advisors suggest you return to the front, as the foe is likely to try again soon.
Hmmm... I suppose that means we should just skip to the end.
Apologies that this isn't turning out as interesting as I'd hoped.
It seems like the hobgoblins are retreating right now, too. Two more heads sprout from the stump of your other dumb head and start joining in the feast, resulting in you feeling quite full very quickly.
Between the two of you (with a bit of help from your sibling-heads), the last two minotaurs fall. Your dumb sibling heads immediately begin chowing down on the fallen foes.
Beachhead tears another of the minotaurs to shreds.
Your remaining dumb head takes a bite out of one of the two remaining minotaurs.
You can smell the fear on the remaining minotaurs but they grimly keep fighting.
One succeeds in loping off your other dumb head... only for two more to burst from the stump of the first that had been severed!
Between the three of you, you kill two more of the minotaurs.
Your remaining dumb sibling takes a bite out of another. With Beachhead being unseen the remaining three each pick a target.
Only one gets a hit. Responding to Grash's urging your body suddenly surges forward!
But the minotaur it was going for dodges aside.
Is it going to live long enough for that to matter? :D Which Linnorm Curse is it?
Beachhead rends one of the minotaurs limb from limb, while Ziphora and Grash wound two others. Your dumb brother-heads do their biting.
The minotaurs note Beachhead's effectiveness and two focus on him, while the rest spread out their attacks.
They are considerably more effective this time around, even succeeding in cutting off one of your dumb heads.
You dive at the minotaurs, who have only enough time to switch to their axes and scatter before you plow into them.
In spite of their efforts your body actually veers towards one and crashes into it, knocking it to the ground and then standing on it.
You can hear bones breaking beneath your bulk. The remaining minotaurs attack with their axes.
But their attack are rather ineffectual.
Awww, too bad. :( But I certainly understand.
Grash? Mazzoss?
Half of the minotaurs avoid the worst of the fireball. They get out great bows and return fire.
One of your dumb heads get a big arrow through it, but the rest fail to penetrate.
You zoom back over the wall and see a half-dozen armored minotaurs charging through the pass towards the swampy area.
Ziphora thinks she hears "Minotaurs!" in one of the loudest shouts.
As Mazzoss heals you, you charge back into the fray. Seeing what wounds they've inflicted being undone seems to be the final straw for the hobgoblins, and they start to break and flee. Once you've thoroughly put them to flight, you zoom back to the back lines and get healed up. You don't have many powerful healers on your side, but since they haven't had to do much yet they can heal you up. As soon as they're done, you hear shouts of alarm from the other side of Mazzoss's wall.
Sense Motive 20: While the hobgoblins are wary about approaching you, you get the sense that if you left they'd recover quickly if you left. On the other hand, you might be able to completely break their morale if you did something sufficiently impressive right now.
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