His brow furrowed having missed yet again, Mark reverses his swing and desperately pulls it back in and effort to stop the fleeing goblin from getting away.
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Grendel's cry prompts Marc to strike out with his Lucerne hammer using it's long reach to bunch towards the goblin's back.
Grendel slogs forward through the mud, trying to reach the combat. "Marc, get in there and cut her off from escaping!" He calls, knowing the slippery nature of this particular goblin.
Seeing Tannithil challenge the goblin, Marc is hesitant to continue his involvedment in the melee and thereby challenge the Samurai's honour. He sees the wisdom in the halfling's words though, so he ducks under the walkway to his right and moves around to the side of the building to try and get into a position to assist if needed, or to aid Tannithil should the samurai get in trouble.
Marc squats down, reluctant to crawl in under the building after the goblin, as much for the mud, as for the compromising position it would leave him in. He decides for the alternate approach. holding his weapon defensively in front of him to ward off any further bow shots he kneels down so he can clearly see the hiding goblin. 'We have you surrounded, out-numbered, and out-armed,' he says. 'Continuing to fight can only have one outcome. Surrender and you will be shown mercy.'
'The one with the bow; she's down here under the building,' Marc calls to the others, hampered in his efforts to reach her.
Marc's eyes rove the darkness under the building for sign of the elusive bow wielding goblin.
Marc supresses another curse as his hammer fails to connect with the elusive goblin, and instead trains his eyes on the dark under the buildings, intent on not allowing her to slip away again.
Marc scrambles down from the walkway, keen to close the distance between Reta and ensure she can't easily slip away. He then swings out at her with his hammer, hoping for a better connection than his last strike.
Tannithil takes the brunt of the negative energy
Reta steps back from Marc’s hammer, ducking back under the raised floor of the building and fires up at the cavalier. Marc curses at the weak impact of his hammer, and then curses again, louder, when another arrow finds a joint in his armour and pierces his flesh.
Marc strides along the rickety boardwalk, moving into striking range of the BigBad. He swings the hammer down at her, using it's reach to reach despite his higher position.
He's deader than corduroy. Ha, nice.
The goblin ‘hero’ Reta Bigbad re-emerges from underneath the building and, blinking in the light, fires her bow up at Marc. Marc drags his Lucerne hammer back towards himself and is about to turn his attention to the goblin spellcaster within the building when he feels a thump in his back, followed by a sharp pain. He reaches a hand over his shoulder groaning at the pain the action elicits. Locating the arrowshaft that punched through his armour, he steels himself and pulls the shaft clear of his skin, grunting with pain. Feeling the warm flow of his own blood running down his back, turns to try and find the archer.
"Take that, thou feckless, grass-combing wretch." 'Remind me not to get on your bad side!' Marc grins as Yumiko makes short work of one, then a second goblin. Seeing Xargin and Haelynn facing the single remaining goblin within site, Marc strides towards the building after Tannithil. Seeing continued fighting within, he punches out with his lucerne hammer from the doorway, using it's reach to strike at the goblin opposite.
Marc grins as the goblin that ducked under his previous blow is run through by Haelynn. But his celebration is short lived as he hear's Tannithil hiss in pain as one of the goblins facing him breaches his defences. Marc hauls up his hammer and crashes it in at the goblin's back.
Surrounded by ramshackle buildings, appearing and disappearing goblins, goblins scuttling down walls like spiders and flame bolts flying out of buildings, Marc shakes his head. 'Time to return some semblance of order to this chaos!' he mutters, before swinging his lucerne hammer at the goblin before him.
Marc gives a slightly embarrassed look left and right to see if anyone had noticed his failed effort to climb up onto the building. He feels a certain level of relief at finding Haelynn occupied with the goblin to his left and Haelynn still unconcious to his right, though immediately feels guilt for the thought. The whoop of newly arrived goblins provides him with the perfect excuse to abandon the rooftop, and he retraces his steps along the walkway towards Tannithil. Noticing a goblin running under the walkway, he swings down at it with his hammer as he goes.
Marc is relieved when he see's the worst of Yumiko's wounds cease spurting blood under Haelynn's care. Seeing Xargin under pressure on the roof not far away, he eases past the still prone Haelynn and attempts to get to the bard's aid.
Marc punches out at the dog with the reach of his hammer, trying to clear the space for Haelynn to attend to her sister.
Alerted by Yumiko's gurgled curse, Marc whirls towards her and sees her feebly trying to stop the blood flowing freely from her head. He only slightly registers the sting from the hurled sword, ignorant of how close the sword came to inflicting a more serious wound. 'Haelynn, can you help her?!' he exclaims, wishing he had a second healing potion handy.
The sound of the splinter cage alerts Tannithil to danger behind him. As the spider scuttles at him, he swipes at it with his Katana.
Seeing Haelynn's spear sweep past him and knowing that it was only his hindrance that caused her to miss, Marc glances over his shoulder. Beyond her, he sees the goblins spilling from the other doorways and threatening Yumiko. 'We're OK here; help your sister Haelynn!' he instructs, before lifting his voice to be heard by the whole party. 'Everyone pair up where you can and work together!'
He turns back to the goblins in the doorway and raises his sword and readies his shield.
As the goblin cackles after making it past Tannithil, Marc sweeps his sword in low trying to catch it before it flees.
Seeing the chance at regaining his honour and avenging his mistress, Tannithil seeks the quickest way up towards the goblins. Seeing no ladder nearby, he decides to climb up to the low walkway, using the building wall behind him for extra leverage. Once up, he draws his weapons and hurries over towards the doorway.
Tannithil looks for a way up onto the walkway from his position.
Marc starts to try and duck to avoid being hit by the fireworks, but soon see's it shoot off in a completely random direction. He shakes his head at the risk of using such an imprecise weapon in combat. Abandoning his lucerne hammer given the tight space, Marc draws his longsword and strikes at the goblin with the sword.
Marc looks quickly over his shoulder and gives Haelynn a quick smile when he notices her behind him. He then shifts his glance beyond her to Grendel, nodding when he is sure the diminutive man is at the ready. He turns to Yumiko to do the same, but seeing her scowl quickly returns his gaze to the door. Taking a breath and gripping his lucerne hammer tightly, he uses it to prod the door, attempting to push it open, keeping close to the wall to reduce the angle of any potential attack.
"Noisesome enough? Us spied movement in yonder building, an' something's moving up there too. Could just be Grendel being sneakily." Marc's face turns a deep shade of red at Yumiko's chastising, all to aware of his own blundering efforts to stay quiet. 'I know, I know,' he whispers apologetically. 'I never was much good at hide and seek; always the first found, so spent lot's of time seeking.' When Yumiko points out Grendel, his focus returns firmly to the door above. 'Well, that eliminates Grendel as the source of the noise. I think it might be worth heading up and taking a look.' He scans the walkway above for a good spot to pull himself up. 'Cover me?'
Willing his body to move quietly but concious of every squeal of his armour and squelch of his footfall, Marc moves up behind Yumiko to get a better view of what she has seen.
"A muffled sound," Haelynn says in reply to Marc, her voice still low, "A bird most probably, though muffled. Coming from the south." 'Perhaps someone or something trying to remain hidden?' Marc whispers back to Haelynn. 'The question is, are they hiding from us or something more sinister? I have a feeling it is the latter.' 'Where has Grendel gotten to?' Marc moves further south, making for the the edge of the building so he can look both South and West.
"Wait!" Haelynn exclaims, trying to keep her voice low. "I heard something to the south." Though he had heard nothing himself, Marc stops immediately, heeding his companions warning. 'What did you hear?' he whispers to Haelynn. 'Grendel is heading that way so we need to keep moving, but keep your eyes peeled and let's stay together.'
So, Grendel is going to head around the perimeter walkway (the western walkway, heading south) with the others roughly shadowing him at ground level?
Marc follows Grendel and Yumiko in the direction indicated, feeling very conspicuous as they melt into the shadows and he loses sight of them. He grips his lucerne hammer tightly and concentrates on looking and listening for any sign of danger.
Grendel climbs back down the ladder, and moves back up to Marc, Haelynn, and Tannithil, whispering to his companions. "It looks like something may have already taken care of the goblins. That gate was knocked down from the inside, and I thought I heard some kind of scream just as I entered. Somethings not right." "I'm inclined to agree with you,' Marc whispers, looking nervously around the camp and feeling slightly unnerved. 'Better the enemy we know.' he mutters, before straightening and setting his face into a determined smile. 'Well, we came here looking for a fight and it's likely a fight we'll get, even if the enemy might have changed. Let's push on and spread out a little, but ensure we remain within sight of each other until we work out what we're dealing with. Grendel, are you game to check the walkways and we'll follow below?'
Seeing Haelynn start moving forward, Marc raises his eyebrows to Tannithil, shrugs and then starts down the track after her. He softly instructs Taletheus to follow, while keeping his eye's peeled for any sign of danger.
Marc attempts to track Grendel's progress but almost immediately loses sight of the stealthy figure among the undergrowth of the swamp. He continues to scan the village for any sign of danger, an unease growing within him. He whispers soothingly to Taletheus, preparing his trusty stead for battle.
'What did Old Walthus say about the goblins uniting under someone, or something?' Marc asks the group as he continues to scan the camp for weaknesses and clues as to the goblins' whereabouts. He also scans the still water for any signs of dangers that might be lurking within.
'I'm afraid I've never been much good at getting around quietly, but the first sign of trouble and Taletheus I will be there before you can say "slime and snails or puppy dogs tails".'
'The gate appears broken which is odd,' Marc observes, scanning the village for opportunities to enter. 'It's also very quiet; is that normal for goblins during the day?' He turns to the group. 'How would you like to approach the camp? It would be good to know where they have the fireworks stashed, so we can minimise their chance of using them if it does come to blows. Does anyone feel up for sneaking into camp?'
'Sorry boy, back into the swamp,' Marc says to Taletheus, patting his neck affectionately. He then falls in behind Grendel, hammer held before him at the ready and horse following behind him.
Learning a little more about the Algotis', Marc raises his hands in concession. 'If you are confident that they are well equipped to hold their own, then perhaps it would be a needless detour and we should keep our focus on the goblins.'
Marc frowns slightly at Grendel's comment. 'If we don't check on them then we'll never know. I'm sure if Old Walthus were here he would suggest we check in on them.'
'What do we know of the Algoti's?' Marc asks the others as they start to pass the signed trail. 'Is it a well-defended property, or are they vulnerable like Old Walthus proved to be? Should we check in on them before proceeding to the Licktoad's village?'
'It seems likely the trail will be watched by the goblins,' Marc agrees. 'Would it be prudent to scout ahead to try and spot any sentries before they spot us? With Jasminder gone we are one fighter down, so maintaining the element of surprise will be even more important.'
“Well, this adventure has not gone how I thought it would,” she says. “I’ve fallen into almost every stream we’ve crossed, and been bitten and scratched by far too many monsters without seeing a single goblin. I’ve had enough – I’m going home.” She looks about. “Is anyone coming with me?” There is a flash of disappointment across Marc's face at Jasminder's announcement, but he quickly hides it with an easy grin and steps forward to clasp hands with the warrior. 'I wish you a safe journey back into town, but I will not be joining you.' he says. 'I have pledged my help on this undertaking and mean to see it through.' He steps away and busies himself with checking the straps on Taletheus' saddle.
Seeing Jasminder's wounds close up still further after Haelynn's administrations, much of the concern on Marc's face drains away. But vestiges of concern remain, and he eyes the surrounds warily. 'Is everyone ready to continue on?' he asks the group. 'With creatures like that lurking around, I don't relish the prospect of spending more time in this cursed swamp than needed.'
Her eyes flicker, she groans and sits up as some of her wounds rapidly close or shrink. “I feel like hell,” she rasps. 'Feel like hell? That's good for you, right?' Marc jokes, masking his relief at her recovery with the quip. He reaches out a hand and gently pulls her up out of the mud from the trail, careful not to exert too much strain on her still-visible wounds. Once he sees she is on her feet and able to support herself, Marc moves over to retrieve his dropped hammer and go back for Taletheus. Seeing Grendel's discovery of the knife, he admires the craftsman ship but has little interest in taking the weapon. 'It looks like a fine blade, but not my personal choice of weapon.' He scans the surrounds, checking to see if there battle has attracted the attention of any goblins or other local residents of the swamp.
As the creature and Jasminder almost simultaneously fall, Marc drops his hammer, drags his pack off his back. Rummaging around he finds the potion bottle within given to him by Koya prior to setting out. He rushes to Jasminder's side, kneeling down and lifting her head as gently as possible. raising the vial to her bloodied lips, he attempts to pour the potion down her throat, careful not to spill it. 'Drink!' he implores her.
Buoyed by Xargin's inspiring song, Marc grips the Lucerne Hammer at the end of it's shaft and swings in at the creature from the left side, the weapon reaching out across the water between them.
Marc rushes forward hot on Jasminder's heels to help Tannithil against the creature. When he finds his way blocked, he bustles through the undergrowth, moving into position to get a clearer view of it.
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