Rellios cautions everyone to stay put, and makes an attempt to sneak closer to the balcony to see what he spots.
Rellios approaches the balcony with great caution keeping low to the stairs and practically sliding up them. As he lifts his head to see the surface of the balcony, his eyes meet those of a goblin who was crawling on all fours trying to identify that unusual smell.
"Sliding, sneaky, sneaky elf," grins the goblin.
"Damn!"
Initiative (1d20+3=10)
"Damn!"
Initiative (1d20+3=10)
Before the elf can react, the goblin whips his dogslicer over his head and down cutting deeply into Rellios' back.
SURPRISE ROUND:
Goblin
Rellios
ROUND ONE:
Clareg 15
Goblin 12
Rellios 10
Klyndak 2
Hru?
Rellios attempts to grab the goblin, in the hopes of either flinging him over the side or at least getting him out of sight so that the others can take him out.
Rellios attempts to grab the goblin, in the hopes of either flinging him over the side or at least getting him out of sight so that the others can take him out.
Rellios attempts to grapple the goblin but the goblin slips out of it. All Rellios manages to get is his shirt which, as it is pulled off of him ends up disarming him as well.
The goblin crawls back from the stairs yelling at the top of his lungs.
"F%$#!"
Clareg races up the stairs and slams his axe down in the stone inches from the goblin's head.
As the party arrives on the platform they see four wooden hut dotting the edges of the platform staring out over the drop. From each hut, a thin line of smoke rises. The bridge is between the huts and the hole is patched with a few logs roped together in a temporary solution.
Four goblins (including the one who tussled with Rellios) are on the platform, armed, and ready to fight. By the shouts you know that others soon will be.
The goblins are rushing towards you swining the long-poled scythe's you recognized from the battle with the batriders.
ROUND 1
Clareg 15 (acted)
Goblin 12 (acted)
Rellios 10
Klyndak 2
3 more goblins
Hru?
Rellios pulls his bow and tries to stop the goblin's squealing, but the scramble to hit him fails to hit the mark. Also, the gash in his back probably didn't help either.
Longbow (1d20+3=7)
Klydak charges on to the platform and hits one of the four goblins who is ready to fight. The goblin swings back with his scythe and hits the dwarf's arm.
now couple combat rolls for the ensuing rounds:
attack;damage (1d20+4=16, 2d6+4=12, 1d20+4=14, 2d6+4=6)
Hru leaps up the stairs as the melee commences with the inevitable low rumble of "Gorummm-haha!"
ROUND 1
Clareg 15 (acted; missed)
Goblin 12 (acted)
Rellios 10 (acted; missed)
Klyndak 2 (acted; wounded)
3 more goblins (acted; 1 hit Klyndak; 2 missed)
Hru (acted; killed 1)
Hru joins the fray with his now-familiar battlecry and kills one goblin. Two of the other goblins that were prepared for battle on the platform are so startled by the half-orc's shout that they miss in their attacks on the dwarven defenders.
ROUND 2
Clareg 15 (acted; killed 1)
Goblin 12 (acted; missed; killed by Clareg)
Rellios 10
Klyndak 2 (acted; killed 1)
2 more goblins ready (missed or died before they could attack)
Hru (acted; killed 1)
5 new goblins entering battle
Clareg gets into the swing of things and kills the one that wounded Rellios. Klyndak kills the one he had been fighting. Hru finishes off yet another leaving the elf only the new batch of goblins, who leapt out of the huts at the first cry of the sentry,
Assuming he has range and hasn't been further rushed by any goblins, Rellios will take another shot with his bow. However, it looks like Hru's shout unnerved him a bit as well - since the shot goes wide.
All five of the crazy little beasts that emerged from the huts rush the half-orc and attempt to grapple him with the clear intention of dragging him off of the platform to his death.
Rellios misses as the goblins rush the half-orc.
Four of the little buggers try to get ahold of the half-orc. Two succeed while one dies trying.
ROUND 3
Clareg 15
Rellios 10
Klyndak 2
4 goblins trying to grapple Hru
Rellios attempts to take out one of the unsuccesful grappling goblins - hoping to even the odds and keep the pile on from continuing.
Rapier (1d20=3) Rapier Damage (1d6+2=3)
Short Sword (1d20=15)Short Sword Damage (1d6+1=2)
Hru's stroke comes around after felling a goblin to take the arms off a grappler,who peals back in a great gout of blood as his arms still cling to Hru's leather armored side
Clareg sweeps his axe towards a grappling goblin but, not wanting to hurt the half-orc, pulls his swing at the last second and misses.
Three goblins remain. Another has only managed to climb up the half-orc's leg. The one living grappler is maintaining his grapple.
Hru's AofO
Clareg kills another goblin. Only two left, both grappling Hru.
BZANG!!
The area around Hru is starting to have the look of a riot at an abattoir with blood, heads, and, limbs flying everywhere, amidst persistant feral laughter and cries of "BLOOD AND SOULS FOR GORUM!! GORUMM!!"
Attempting to remove the last goblin from Hru, Rellios dives in and strikes at him - hoping to avoid the half-orc.
Rapier (1d20=7) Short Sword (1d6+2=6)
Short Sword (1d20=12) Short Sword Damage(1d6+1=5)
Less than 30 seconds after taking the platform, the party has slain nine of the too-stupid-to-be-afraid goblins.
It was a short but noisy ruckus.
What do you do now?
"Say," asks Clareg casually as if he hadn't just been engaged in an epic battle "Whatever happened to the little lizard the gobbos were playin' with?"
"I think we was after leavin' it in the cage," I reply equally casually, "Why do you ask? 'Ungry?"
I survey the platform and the huts. In particular I am interested in whether or not it is possible to enter the spire from here and whether the stairs continue on up.
"How bad are ye 'urt," I ask aloud of everyone in general. "I don't mind sayin' me 'ammer arm is getting a bit of work today."
Rellios looks around to see if the gobbos kept a some loot stored around, while also pointing at the gash on the back of his leather armor.
"I should be alright, but that goblin sentry gave me a nasty shot across the back. So when we get around to healin', I wouldn't mind a little patching here. "
Each of the crude huts contains a few casks, some sleeping mats, arrows and iron braziers with burning coals in them.
Clareg has no qualms about searching through the blood and grey matter: he finds 23 gp. and 43 silver.
The stairs do continue up the spire on the other side of the balcony. The balcony does not have any direct access to the spire.
There are three directions you can go from here that don't involve flying: down the spire, up the spire, or across the bridge.
"Thanks be to Gorum" says Hru as he cleans up a bit-mostly his coveted sword, he seems to have missed liberal amounts of gore spatter on his face and arms. "I'm for going up, no sense leaving enemies behind us, if we're going across that." as he gestures woriedly toward the goblin-fixed bridge, then adds "good Elf, let me have a look at that wound" which seems ironic judging from the amount of goblin parts scattered around the area.
Hru checks the elf's wound and calls upon Gorum to draw down a burst of positive energy (hope there's no goblins that haven't bled out yet)
As the healing energies wash across the platform, I walk just a little easier.
"That is very thoughtful of ye," I acknowledge and then turn my attentions back to the steps.
"Up it is fer me as well."
"Try not ta be lettin' 'em know yer comin' this time lad," I advise the elf a moment later in good humor as I use a bit of rag to be cleaning my hammer.
"Shall we be divvyin' up those coins now or later," I ask Clareg helpfully.
"Try not ta be lettin' 'em know yer comin' this time lad," I advise the elf a moment later in good humor as I use a bit of rag to be cleaning my hammer.
"Shall we be divvyin' up those coins now or later," I ask Clareg helpfully.
"Aye - looks like I'll have to be bit quieter this time - so up we go," Rellios adds with wink.
"I'll take mine gore-free, if you please. Of course, maybe a purseful of goblin stunk coin will makes us less obvious...heh heh."
Rellios only needs to ascend the stairs a few feet and peer around the spire to see three goblins with bows drawn waiting 20' up the stairs. As short as the combat was, it didn't go unnoticed. Beyond the archers, Rellios can see a platform on which three batriders are saddling up.
Commands are being shouted from within the spire but at this distance they are undecipherable.
"Looks like we stirred the goblins nest!" Rellios calls out.
"Three archers and some batriders ahead. Get yourselves ready."
Rellios will punctuate his retreat with a bowshot at the outside of the three goblin archers - hoping to minimize his own exposure by sticking to the wall.
"Bring them down ta us lad," I yell when I hear the elf's news. Drawing my crossbow out, I ready myself near the door of one of the huts, ready to fire at the first goblin I see.
"We can be usin' the 'uts for some cover from the air," I suggest to my comrades near me, "A few more gobbos and maybe we'll be seein' the last of them fer the day."
If indeed Hru can get into a hut he moves to one farthest from the edge and closest to the stairs, if he can't he'll flatten himself against the spire (again far from the edge) sword held in front of him, he begins a low chant to Gorum in orc.
Rellios hits and wounds one of the little buggers causing him to release his arrow into empty air.
He learns quickly and moves back and behind the others. If you peak around the corner again, you will find they are now in a line, close to the wall, using the stairs to allow them to fire over the goblin in front of them. These here are the smart ones of the clan.
There are two huts within 30' of the stairs. Hru crouches in the entrance of one, Klyndak of the other. Each contains an iron brazier full of coal, some casks, and some straw mats. None are inhabited.
How long will you wait?
How long will you wait?