Uthal, relieved that he managed to protect his ears from Lily's hoopack swinging and chuffed with freezing his foe, he twirled his quaterstaff and went on in striking it at the closest Gnoll.

"By my ancestors, I never thought goblins were smart but I didn't know they'd be stupid enough to deliberately run into my axe!", Gerdar chuckled as he moved towards the next target, "Let them come! Let them all come!"

 

(If I can get into range of whatever enemy is closest I wanna chop-a-gob.)

Dok utilizes Spiritual Weapon against the enemies closest to the twins, after he moves up 20 feet to get a closer look, while brandishing his natural weapon!

The area along the River Hreusen by the ford was pure chaos.  The party launched attacks and a few goblins and a couple of gnolls stood and fought.  But beyond that it seemed to be a goblin free-for-all, with goblins running every which way.  Meanwhile the gulley seemed to continue to vomit forth more of the little beasts, although not all of them were fighters it seemed. 

               The first to act, as before, was the little but noisy Kender.  Lily silenced her hoopak and instead attempted to put it to a more mundane use – poking a goblin with the sharp end of it.  She moved quickly up to the edge of the brush in front of the gulley and attacked the goblin running out.  But she hadn’t planned on a creature in full flight and missed badly.  Frustrated, she peaked into the gulley to see what was coming.  Goblins.  More goblins.  She wasn’t sure how many as she ducked back behind the brush, but they cave the others had mentioned seemed to be emptying out.

               Hornet suddenly found himself confronted by two very large gnolls and decided the time had come for a blade.  Pulling his rapier from his scabbard he then slid it easily into the side of the gnoll in front of him.  If blood was his goal, it was a success and the creature started leaking profusely from the hole.  (-7HP)

               Soledad, freed from the terrible sound of the Kender’s hoopak, again sought to target a bugbear with a spell – sending dissonant whispers into the head of the nearest gnolls causing to it feel extreme pain and horror.  Even as the creature raised its spear to strike at Uthal it suddenly let out a massive shriek of pain (-12hp) and turned to run.  All it wanted was to get away from whatever was causing it such a pain.  But Uthal, seeing it desperate and trying to run, reached out and smacked it with his quarterstaff.  It hit with a meaty thunk on the creature’s side and staggered it as it turned to run.  (-9 hp, attack of opportunity as a creature you were engaged with attempted to move out of combat.)  Still feeling the effects of the witch’s magic the gnoll fled 60’ into the river.  Uthal than moved up to the other gnoll and swing his staff again.  (His regular attack) But his attack seemed to rebound from the creature’s armor with no real effect. 

               Thaoran moved forward quickly in the chaos and handed the half-elf prisoner a dagger.  The prisoner took the knife and Thaoran turned quickly around to try and take out the biggest threat to the party – the gnolls.  He drew and arrow, took careful aim, and fired – aiming for the chest of the large beast.  A brief second later a massive red burst blossomed on the creature’s chest as the arrow buried itself in its chest.  It staggered backwards a step stunned, its eyes rolled up into its head, and it toppled backwards into the water.  The corpse started to float downriver.  (A nat 20 for a crit and -20 hp!  Now that is a shot!)

               This left the prisoners to react.  The ½ elf at the back of the group was offered a dagger by Thaoran and happily took the blade.  Seeing two goblins near his potential-rescuer he let go with a firebolt and blasted one of them into a living torch.  Even as the creature died Fenris Kaine was taking his shot at escape and moved quickly 30’ South along the river back towards the trees Thaoran had come from, dagger in hand. 

               One of the twins in the middle had escaped his goblin holder but the other had not.  The one still held by a rope grabbed onto the rope again and tried to yank it out of the hands of the much smaller goblin.  But the creature was stubborn.  He seemed still shaken by the Kender’s noise and only vaguely aware of what was going on around it, but the evil little creature hung onto that rope like a lifeline, even as the well-muscled farm lad yanked him around.   His twin, seeing his brother again fail to escape, reached down and grabbed a spear dropped by one of the other goblins and plunged it into the back of the one still holding the rope.  Skewered on a goblin-spear, the creature finally let go of the rope and sagged to the ground.  The twins glanced around and seemed to decide that South along the river seemed to be their best be and started moving in that direction, ducking down as if it would help them remain unseen.  The human that had been in the lead and was dressed a bit nicer had already moved 60’ north along the river.  By now he had reached some more difficult terrain but continued to move northward as quickly as he could.  Around him were several goblins fleeing in that direction as well.  They will quickly be lost from consistent sight in the brush, trees and rocks of the ridgeline. 

               Numerous goblins were already out in the river.  Three had been captured by the current and were being carried downstream.  Two of the these were awake and the third, at least the last time anyone looked at him, was asleep, but all continued to be dragged away from the battle.  Two other goblins had managed to wake up and stood up in the ford.  They grabbed their bows and fired on Hornet and Uthal.  Two of the advance guard also stood in the river still and fired back at the two had been engaged with the gnolls.  Of the four arrows two were too high and flew off into the heights of the ridge.  But two found their mark.  One struck Uthal (-5 hp, a crit, but very bad rolls from the goblins perspective.) and one struck Hornet.  (-6hp, he is at -9 overall.)  Another goblin, hiding behind a tree to the North took a shot at Thaoran, but failed to hit. 

               The goblins continued to flee and as they did so Gerdar remained solidly in position and swung his axe at what came at him.  Pulling his axe from the gore that was all that remained of his first target he swung again at another goblin.  Again his axe struck the creature’s torso and the large blade lit up with radiant light.  Blade and light crushed its chest and another ex-goblin pile o fmuch fell at the feet of the dwarven paladin.               

               Dok used his spiritual weapon to crush one of the goblins trying to flee South.  He swung his weapon at another as it ran, but missed.  Not many, but some were getting past the group and into the woods beyond.  

               The goblins continued to flee.  There were goblins running everywhere.  Some were male and some were female.  Had few were dragging younger ones.  Some carried goods, others carried weapons.  All those that had filled the area between the gulley and the river continued to dash out into the water.  More poured out of the gulley.  A group of 6 or 7 ran out into the water about 20’ where they spun around and stood with bows ready.  (They dashed and so don’t get an action this turn but appear to be positioned to protect the ford.)  10 more followed this group out and now filled the area between the gulley and the river.  Lily, near the entrance and watching the entire parade race right past her nose, looked into the gully and saw only an empty path leading back up the ridge.  The gully that to the Vargolg appeared to have finally run out of goblins. 

 

Ovewview

Dead goblins so far:  11  (1 gnoll)

There are 5 goblins out there that have shot at you so far. 

There are another 6 that are lined up in the water to shoot next turn.

There is one gnoll (injured badly) in the middle of the river.

There are another 10-20 goblins running around that seem more interested in fleeing than fighting.

Of the 4 prisoners, Fenris has joined the fight, the twins killed a goblin and are running South, and the other human is running North. 

Some goblins are reaching the far side of the river or reaching a spot along the shore (North or South) where they are almost out of sight. 

 

There will be a map, but it will take a bit. 

 

The Map

Party Members (Plus the Twins) are circled.  

And goblin with an arrow can be assumed to be running away and doesn't currently appear to be trying to fight at the moment. 

There should be about 6 more goblins further out into the river - I forgot to add those that had already made the river.  All of those are running.  

Note that this shows more than the other images and the gulley entrance (which is right by Lily) is no longer quite in the center to accomodate the distance those to the right have gone.  

Those on the far right are getting out of sight - both goblins and the prisoner who ran that way.  

If you want a sense of distance - from Hornet to the gnoll in the middle of the river is about 60'.  

The scribbly, cloudy looking things are trees or bushes.  The shaded bits are large boulders.  

If you have questions, please ask.

Lily had retreated from the outrushing of Goblins back to the bush from where she had attacked.  She saw that the goblins were not interested in attacking, but were fleeing.  She saw young and females among the Goblins, and realized there were noncombatants among flood.  She also realized that they were only interested in fleeing.  She would not attack the innocent, even if they were these creatures.

“LET THEM GO!”, Lily yelled in common, “THERE ARE FEMALES AND CHILDREN HERE!”

She would take a couple steps back from the exit while holding her hoopak defensively in front of her.  She would not attack unless she was being threatened.  But she would start yelling wildly to try and drive any Goblins away from her, either towards the river or better yet towards the far side away from the party.  

((OOC: She is strongly against killing noncombatants, so if she sees any party members striking at the ones fleeing, she will yell at them to stop.))

Thäoran's lips stretched into a satisfied smile as he delivered a critical hit on the gnoll, felling it instantly. That was one less threat to the party. He snuck forward 30ft, again using the trees and bushes as cover. After he had gone 30ft, the elf nocked another arrow, this time aiming for the other gnoll that had just recovered from Soledad's spell. Aiming once again at the beast's chest, he let the shaft fly, hoping to at least injure it badly enough to slow it down so his fellow comrades could finish it off. Once again, he hoped his elven nightvision would aid him.

    Hornet watched the chaos unfold all around.  Goblins seemed to come from everywhere and be running to anywhere not here.  The prisoners were free and some fled and others attacked their former captors.  The main goal was achieved, the prosiners were released.  Taking aim at teh gnoll standing in the river Hornet released a bolt and then called out to the others.  "Let those who are fleeing go.  We have freeded the prisoners and there are too many of them if they decide to stand and fight.  We need to make our way back to town."

Wincing in pain from the arrow that struck him, Uthal stares daggers at the foe that shot him. If only looks could kill! Perhaps not yet for the solitary goliath. Ignoring the arrow's wound, he moves to the river's edge, reaches down and puts his hand in the water. Standing, he selects a goblin in the river surrounded by its kin, drops some of the collected water in his other hand, and creates an ice knife, flinging it at the selected goblin (cast ice knife at 2nd level toward the most compact group of goblins within range. I am thinking the centre goblin in the line of 6 retreating goblins in the river).

Narrowing her eyes at the sight of the shooting goblins, Soledad spat a curse and hurled her sleeping hex into their number.

((OOC: Cast Sleep, targets the 6 goblins in the river armed with bows))

Dok kept concentrating his Spiritual Weapon to eliminate any enemies that were a threat to the Twins escaping, while he brandished his natural weapon to eliminate any foes headed his direction.

"And what do you think my late great-grandfather, may his lordship rest in peace, would say", Gerdar looked at Lily as he moved down another goblin, "if he heard I left alive a goblin that ran straight at me as if asking to be split in half?"

 

(Unless someone has bubblegum Imma just keep swinging thx.)

As Fenris quickly made his way behind first a second then a third bush he took a quick of those "rescuing" him. Other then the other Elf and his gift of a dagger Fenris did not know if these were the good guys or bad guys. Another firebolt sent to the closet activily fighting enemy, Goblin or Gnoll within range, he knew that was a question that he hoped would be on good guy side.

The battle had reached a point of almost total chaos.  Some goblins were still standing and fighting, but many more were simply running for it.  The Kender clearly didn’t like the idea of killing those that were trying to flee and shouted, “Let them go!” But the reactions of the rest of the party were mixed.  In the mean time she backed away from the entrance to the gulley a bit and kept shouting and making noise to try and encourage the retreat.  Although it was impossible to tell if her yelling had any additional effect, the retreat continued in a rush. 

               Hornet clearly didn’t want to see the gnoll return to the fight.  He lined up his crossbow and fired a bolt straight at its eye – at 60’ that was a pretty tricky shot but the bolt flew straight and true and took the creature as it tried to turn back towards the fight.  The bolt when in its eye exactly as the elf had envisioned it and the gnoll crumpled into the water.  (Nat. 20 for another crit – 15 points of damage.) 

               Soledad thought that conscious goblins were a waste and decided to put more of them to sleep.  As her hex flew towards the line of goblins near the shore preparing to shoot at the party the 4 closest to shore collapsed into the water asleep.  Uthal was also targeting those goblins and formed an ice knife out of river water and threw it at the last part of the line remaining upright.  The knife struck the creatures armor and didn’t pierce it.  But an ice knife being what it was it then exploded like an ice grenade.  The last two goblins in the line and another one unlucky enough to be running by at just that moment were blasted.  All died quickly. 

               Thaoran moved closer to the river and was lining up his shot at the gnoll when he saw Hornet’s bolt take the creature down.  There was no sense wasting his arrow there, so he shifted his aim slightly to the right at one of the goblin archers still standing in the water and let the shaft fly.  The arrow struck square in the creature’s chest and knocked it backwards into the river.  It didn’t rise again.  (-7hp)

               Fenris Kaine continued his retreat into the shelter of the brush but stayed in the fight.  His likely targets were all falling before he could hurl fire at them, but there were still a few archers left.  A firebolt took one of those that had been near the line of six and blasted it full in the chest.  Collapsing backwards into the water of the river seemed to put the flames out, but it was too late to do the goblin any good as it was already dead.  (-8 hp)

               Dok was next.  He moved his spiritual weapon towards the twins to protect them in case anything should threaten them, but nothing did.  The two hunkered down behind a tree and watched the chaos, holding goblin spears at the ready and watching the approaching glowing axe warily.  The last prisoner was now out of sight running north along the river.  Dok used the weapon in his hand to cut down a goblin that came running at him with a short sword.  (-7hp)

               Gerdar was not willing to let goblins get away and saw one with a spear running his way.  However just as he was prepared to split the beast in two it swerved behind a tree and dodged the attack and kept running.  The dwarf shouted at the coward and spun around and met him on the other side of the tree and this time did not miss.  The creature fell to the ground in two parts.  (Missed first attack, but that put them in melee so when the goblin continued to flee Gerdar got an attack of opportunity which did not miss.  (-10 hp) 

               All around the battlefield the party was blasting any goblin that held a weapon and the goblins seem to have noticed.  There were several others that had been fighting the previous turn but seeing almost every other fighter go down the fight went out of them.  Some threw down their weapons while a few kept hold of them, but all turned and ran.  About 8 of so of them reached the far shore of the river, another 10 or so were past midriver and another group was about at midriver.  Another group of about 8 were at various distances running North along the river and a half dozen ran South past the two dwarves.  Several goblins are quite a way downstream in the grip of the river and 4 are now sleeping and being pulled at by the current right in front of you.  Nobody seemed to be continuing the fight. 

 

Overview:

Dead goblins:  17

Dead Gnolls:  2

Sleeping goblins:  4

Running goblins:  35??  Not all are visible anymore.   No goblins are within melee range of anyone anymore.  

 

**I will not be doing another map unless it is necessary.  I can certainly provide details upon request.  

What had been chaos now turned into a nightmare for the goblins.  Hornets bolt took out the last gnoll and goblins fell like wheat at harvest.  Now there was nothing but a full retreat by the goblins.  "Everyone rally on me!  Let them run.  We will do a search of the area and then the cave."  Hornet then noticed the former prisoner who had taken a stand and fought the goblins.  "You there.  Thanks for the help.  You free now and can flee like the others or if you wish you can talk with us and see if our goals are in alignment and perhaps you can join our little group."