'Thäoran, help our friend hold the line and I'll see what I can do for Dok.'
Thäoran gave a quick birdlike dip of his head in acknowledgement, then drew his rapier, a look of grim determination on his face. However, this was dampened slightly by the weariness that had crept into his bones. Elves were well known for their strength and stamina, but even they cannot endure forever and the seemingly endless tide of onrushing foes were beginning to wear him down. However, he knew that to stand still was to die.
The elf stayed out of range of the bugbear's deadly weapon and readied a Protection spell to defend Gerdar from any attacks from the morningstar wielding brute.


((OOC: Sorry if I can't attack and cast a spell on the same turn. I'll edit if I've made a mistake))

Feeling the protective magic sorround him Gerdar nodded in thanks and swung at the bugbear.

 

(He attacc.)

Standing her ground, the witch hurled another firebolt into the closest of their enemies 

((OOC: Firebolt))

The group had finally made it out of the gulley and behind the thin shelter of the wall of brush.  But the situation remained tenuous.  The newcomer, the dwarf Gerdar, stood like a rock in the opening in the brush wall, but he was being pressed by a bugbear and there were numerous goblins ready to pick up the fight – and shoot arrows at the stout dwarf.  Others seemed to be moving forward to push through the wall itself.  The group had shelter for now, but it didn’t look likely to last.

               Thaoran and Silver stood back a bit but sent shafts towards the bugbear towering over the dwarf.  Silver’s shot glanced off the creatures armor and flew past it into the vegetation beyond.  But Thaoran’s shaft found a new home it the creatures upraised arm, bringing a scream of pain as it struck home.  (-8 hp)  Behind those two Hornet worked quickly to try and stabilize the unconscious Dok.  They had spent so much time trying to bring the dwarf out he didn’t want to see him die now.  The dwarf was losing blood quickly, but the elf seemed to be able to slow his bleeding with some well-placed bandages.  Hornet was no Doc, but the dwarf’s breathing seemed to steady.  Hopefully they could now move out.  (Successful med. Check – Dok is stabilized.)  Pleased with his work Hornet looked up and noticed that the mist over the river was continuing to thicken.  It was almost a full-blown fog by now and he could barely see 15’ across the water.  The far side, or even the middle of the stream, was completely obscured.

               Soledad saw the crowded entry to the gulley and hesitated, concerned that she might hit an ally.  But with the bugbear towering above the dwarf she had a clear shot – and took it.  Her firebolt slammed into the shoulder of the bugbear and seared a blistering wound across it.  (-5hp)  The creature was bloodied and badly wounded.  But it was also angry and seemed intent to crush the dwarf with its morning star.  Before it could do so, however, the dwarf attempted to take it out at the knees with his axe.  But in the limited room of the doorway he couldn’t get a good swing and missed.

               The narrow confines of the entrance and continuing effects of the dwarf’s bane spell (It lasts one minute unless he loses concentration on it) also caused the beast trouble and it again missed with it’s attack.  He did some damage to the surrounding brush, but none to the dwarf.   Two goblins moved up next to the beast and also struck at the dwarf.  One missed, but the other did not.  (-5 hp)  (Gerdar made his concentration save to keep the Bane spell.)  Archers from the back lined up shots as well – 4 were in a position to do so.  Gerdar couldn’t understand how they could even see him to shoot and apparently, they couldn’t do so well as all four shots missed.  But two came extremely close and he grinned as he felt sure that he had been saved again by his bane spell.   Still other goblins moved up to the wall and started to work their way through the brush.  It was slow going – probably a couple of turns get all the way, but they had started the task. 

 

Overview

Gerdar stands alone in the entrance to the brush wall.  One badly injured bugbear and two goblins face him from the other side.  A couple of other melee fighters stood behind those.  There are archers behind those, but they can’t see much to shoot.   At least a half dozen are currently working their way through the wall.  It will likely take them two turns.  In the meantime, they are in the midst of the brush wall.  The brush gives them half cover from any ranged attacks.  A melee weapon with reach could get to them.  You don’t know total numbers remaining in the gulley.

               The rest of the party is about 10-15’ beyond the wall which puts them 5-10’ from the water.  The ford is directly behind you. 

               Current HP totals will be posted in the Q&A thread. 

With Dok stabilized, Hornet focuse don how to get the rest of the group to safety.  "Pull back!!  Everyone to the river!"  Hornet motioned to Thoaran to help him pull Dok to safety then caught Soledad's attention.  "Do you have any spells that might throw them off our trail?  Maybe make them think we are going upstream instead of across?"  Hornet moved into the stream and made his way across with Dok.  When he was most of the way across he called out in a low voice, "Boris, are you here?  We could use your help."

OOC: moving 45' if Thoaran helps or 30' if not

Soledad followed the other elf in fording across the water. Their retreat was long past due, if the gods were with them all would make it safely to the otherside into the fog. Even beyond the water they needed providence, none would last long if the fight continued. Thankfully goblins were a stupid bunch and that she could use. 

Moving into the cover of the fog the golden witch snapped of her fingers to summon four hovering balls of light that she directed to move in the opposite direction of the party.

((OOC: Soledad will move 30 ft and then cast dancing lights, 10 ft away from the party (so they we are not caugh in their light) and moves them 15 ft if possible)) 

Thäoran acknowledged his fellow elf's words, giving Hornet a curt nod. He left the unconcious dwarf in his hands and made his way 30ft into the thick fog that was spreading its ghostly tendrils over the surface of the river. Upon seeing Soledad's Dancing Lights spell, Thäoran cast an incantation of his own to accompany it and, he hoped, would bolster the appearance that the party was moving in the opposite direction to what they really were. The elf cast a Minor Illusion to summon a shadow in the fog of what seemed to be the silhouettes of the party fleeing in the same direction as the Dancing Lights. With luck, their enemies would mistake the two spells as if the party really was travelling in that direction when in actuality, they were going in the opposite direction. He sincerely hoped this plan worked, otherwise they could soon be nothing but corpses sleeping with the fishes in the freezing waters of the river.

((OOC: Casts Minor Illusion))

Feeling the heavy hit, Gerdar gasped as he strenghtened his hold of the axe once more, raising it above his head and bringing it down towards the bugbear with divine wrath in his eyes and dwarvish warcry on his tongue.

 

(Attacc with smite, last spell slot goes poof)

With Dok finally stabilized and the group having reached the edge of the river, the time had come for a full-on retreat.  Silver moved over next to Hornet and the pair of them lifted the still unconscious dwarf and hauled him riverward.  They reached the shore and moved quickly out into the flowing water.  The water here didn’t get more than a couple feet deep at most, but that still meant they had to watch their step on the stones on the river’s bottom and try to keep the dwarf as much out of the water as possible.  They each stumbled a couple of times but managed to get the dwarf 30’ out into the water.  (45’ total move) If they remembered correctly, they were not yet halfway across but the fog around them was already extremely thick all around them – giving them visibility of not much over 10’ in any direction.  Boris called out when they were well out into the water, “Boris are you here?  We could use some help!”  Around him the fog swirled.

              Soledad and Thaoran also moved quickly into the water, but their intent was to try and distract the enemy and lead them in the wrong direction.  Soledad sent some dancing lights moving slowly downstream hoping to lure the goblins away. Thaoran attempted to add some realism to the lights with dark shadows in the same area.  He couldn’t make them move, but he could give the illusion of figures.  They were about 15-20’ out into the river and now stood looking to see if the newcomer, the dwarf who held the rear guard would make it out with them.  A second dwarven rescue would almost certainly kill them all.

               Gerdar found himself the last to stand against the enemy as his newfound comrades-in-arms were in full flight.  He would need to flee as well, but he was going to try and leave the bugbear with one last parting gift.  He swung his axe in a vicious arc and smote the creature across the chest while investing this blow with a divine smite.  The creature’s eyes bulged as blade and magic simultaneously struck.  It stumbled backwards into the goblins behind it and collapsed in a bloody mess on the ground.  Dead.  Gerdar looked up from his fallen foe to realize there were still two goblins directly in front of him, several more behind those and now emerging from the path up the gulley a pair of wounded but now very much awake gnolls.  Throw in a few archers and a half dozen more goblins now halfway through the brush wall and there was no way the dwarven paladin could hold this position for long.  He turned and ran towards the river. 

               The goblins screamed in glee at seeing the dwarf run.  The two closest to him swung their blades at the dwarf as he turned to leave, but only managed to clang their blades together in the place he used to occupy.  They ran after him and attempted to swing again as the group reached the river but again missed.  Two of the archers also shot, but still affected by the dwarf’s bane spell they also missed.  Goblins streamed out of the gulley after the party but nobody could see clearly how many there were or how quickly they followed.  The fog and fallen bugbear seemed to give them some pause. 

 

Overview

30’ in to the river – Hornet and Silver with Dok

15-20’ into the river – Thaoran and Soledad

10’ in to the river – Gerdar and two goblins

               They are still in melee

At the shore – Some unknown number of goblins

Further onshore – goblins of unknown numbers and 2 gnolls

               About 6 goblins with 1 more round before they get through the brush wall.

 

You can only see about 10 feet or so in the fog.  This means you can only see some of the other party members and many of you can’t see any of the goblins except maybe the 2 near Gerdar.  None of the goblins have yet had a chance to see the spells yet. 

 

Total Killed so far:

19 goblins

2 Gnolls

2 Bugbears

Hornet made his way across the river with Dok in hand,  Several times he slipped but managed to keep his footing. Focues on getting his companion to safety, Hornet continued across the river hoping that the others would follow and the goblins would be distracted by the spells,  He could not see the others but trusted the would follow the plan and he would wait for them on the far side.  

Finding the motivation to continue their retreat was far from difficult. This was an urgent situation and Soledad wanted nothing more than to be as far as she get from the wretched of the Varlog. Still, she was highly offended that such vile and smelly vermin had dared to overwhelm them. Once she had a moment to rest and replenish her magical energies, the little witch had every intention of plotting a truly horrible revence. BLOOD. WILL. FLOW. 

...but for now she moved as quickly and as carefully as she could, across the river and deeper into the fog. All the while, Soledad maintained the floating lights in the distance, guiding them to justle slightly like torches in the night.

"Big one's down!", gerdar hollered to  the others as he backed up to them, his wounds giving a limp to his steps, "Might be a good moment to regroup and come sweep the small ones later."

Thäoran took Soledad's queue and likewise hastened a much needed retreat. The longer they stood still, the higher the chances the fiendish goblins and mighty bugbears would discover them-even while the thick fog enveloped the river in a cool, damp grey blanket. While maintaining the shadows of the Minor Illusion spell, the Eldritch Knight elf made his way 30ft across the river.

((OOC: Maintaining Minor Illusion))

The fog swirled around the party as everyone ran for the river.  They had abandoned the gulley and the retreat was on.  Silver and Hornet continued to haul the unconscious Dok across the river.  It was treacherous movement and they went as fast as they could.  All they cold see around them was fog.  They knew they had to be nearing the other side of the river but weren’t there yet.  Behind them things were eerily quiet.  It was a white and misty world.

Thaoran kept his illusion near the dancing lights hoping it would lure the goblins away.  But he also needed to continue his retreat.  He held it as long as he could – well past the time he could see the shapes himself in the fog – and then let them disappear as if the group was fading into the mist.  He moved backwards in the fog 30’. His partner in magical misdirection had the advantage of a spell with a longer range and so Soledad took off at a dash across the water.  Dashing in water wasn’t easy, but neither was getting flayed by goblins, and she had every intention of making sure she had a chance to return and be the one doing the flaying.  She ran.   She caught up with Hornet and Silver.

And as it had previously, that left Gerdar as the rear guard.  He was confronted by the two goblins in front of him and he knew numerous others were just a little mist away.  He disengaged from his opponents and backed up further into the river.  He saw Soledad’s dancing lights as he moved and was temporarily uncertain of what he was seeing, but as they were moving away from him, he was content to ignore them himself. 

The goblins followed Gerdar and he heard a great deal of splashing behind them.  One of them charged the dwarf and struck at him with his blade.   But, still affected by the dwarf’s bane spell, his attack was easily parried by the dwarf.  The other one also followed but paused about 10’ away to look at the lights, clearly confused about what was there.  Suddenly the creature screamed as something grabbed it and dragged it back into the fog.  At that distance Gerdar had no idea what had happened to the goblin, but he heard the scream followed by a splash and a gurgle.  Whatever had happened, the goblin was no longer threatening him. 

Towards the shore he had just left the dwarf could hear a lot of noise, but it was hard to tell what much of it meant.  He heard yelling and snarls.  Lots of splashing.  A scream.  He saw a several shapes in the mist.  A couple seemed to look to the lights and move that way.  One ran out of the fog and stood a mere 10’ away with his bow at the ready.  (But unable to shoot this turn.) 

 

Overview

75’ in to the river – Hornet and Silver with Dok.  Soledad.

45’ – Thaoran

40’ in to the river – Gerdar and two goblins

               In melee with one – the other is actually 10’ back

20’ into the river – approximate location of the dancing lights – a bit downstream.

 

Anything 30’ or closer to the shore you left is invisible to anyone in the group – the fog.

"I think there's something in the damn water!", Gerdar informed the others as he continued his retreat after them, "Might not be too friendly, neither with us with the goblins."

 

(Another disengage and keeping up the escape.)