The arrow that Dane looses catches one goblin in the side, who staggers a little, but is still standing as he moves behind a tree.

All four goblins then aim and fire at the charging Pavel! The black arrows fly, bouncing off his armor and shield, except for one which catches him under the shoulder.

[Goblins deal Pavel 5 points of damage]

[Goblin's Status:]
Goblin1: 7
Goblin2: 7
Goblin3: 7
Goblin4: 1

Dane could almost feel his arrow as it struck the side of the goblin. Even as he sprinted for the trees he grinned as the beast stumbled. Sadly, it didn't fall, but kept moving with Dane's arrow embedded in its side.

As Dane reached the tree line he saw Pavel charging across the stream at the enemy deflecting arrows left and right. Crap! Most of the arrows, anyway - one of them struck home. But like the goblin carrying Dane's fletching, Pavel also did not fall.

It would do no good to let him fight alone. Dane quickly grabbed another arrow from his quiver, drew and fired - aiming for the one he had injured previously. The shaft flew straight and true right at the beast, only to be deflected by a branch as the creature stepped into the tree line for shelter. Leaves and bark flew into the air, but the arrow zipped harmlessly past his target into the woods. Dang! 'Maybe the flying bark and leaves will distract him' he thought grimly as he reached for another arrow.

(OOC: Rolled a 10 on the dice - +2 for proficiency still yields only a 12, which I believe you said missed. I aimed at the same one as last time because that would be his preferred target and it seemed likely to be the one furthest from Pavel. If it isn't, please modify the target as aiming away from Pavel is priority #1.)

Pavel charges into the trees, and heads towards the closest goblin. It foolishly steps out to meet him, a sword in hand, growling. But with one sure, quick slash, Pavel slices open the creature's chest with his longsword, causing to fall the ground, groaning, blood gushing from it's wound.

The other three are stepping out from behind their trees to attack Pavel head on. As they do, something you didn't notice before suddenly materializes out of the wood - it's an elf of some sort, wielding two short swords. She jumps into the fray, stabbing the goblin Dane wounded in the back before the other two notice she's there. It falls to the ground.

The cornered goblins look worried, but are also surrounded, so they prepare to fight to the death. The two go for the elf, hoping she's an easier target!

She deftly doges the first attack, but the second goblin gives her a nasty cut on the arm with it's sword!

As Dane ducked back behind the tree the fight in front of him changed drastically. Almost all at once, his arrow flew harmlessly off into the woods, Pavel skewered one of the little creeps and a strange elf emerged from the woods to aid in their fight! Dane had no idea where the figure had come from or why, but he was glad they were here - and effectively taking down a goblin as well!

Seeing the newcomer receive a wound, however, stirred the young rogue to action. His bow would now be a danger to friend an foe alike and so he grabbed his blade and charged. He had some experience with big scrums and an opponent was always most vulnerable when already focused on someone else. He sprinted across the open area to try and prove it so again!

OOC: Sorry for the delay in posting. This week was the deadline for the paper I work at and it has been absolutely crazy!

IC: Pavel saw the newcomer take a goblin down, and then get swarmed. Though unsure about who this person was or what her intentions were towards us, she was helping us now. With only one goblin standing between Pavel and the ones attacking her, he pressed the attack to close the distance, hoping to dispatch the goblin facing him quickly

OOC: I'm not entirely sure how crits work in 5e so I'm rollng it like 3.5e...
I rolled a Nat 20. second roll nat 19
Damage roll 6 X 2 = 12+4 = 16
That should drop him...

IC: [assuming] Pavel dispatches the one goblin standing in his way, he moves forward, coming to the aid of this strange elfin warrior.

Pavel Keeps up his advance. The goblin that engages him tries to parry the incoming blow with his axe, but Pavel's sword cut clean through it, and continues on to splt the poor creature's head literally in half, reddish gray matter exposed as it drops like a rag.

The elf takes care of it's opponent with a feint and then a slice that cuts open it's throat, ending the battle.

She looks at you both, her weapons still in hand, at her sides. "Hold." she calls in a loud but controlled voice that has a quality of confidence and authority. "I'm Aspara, the ranger of these parts. What business do you all have here?"

Dane charged across the open area to aid his companion and the newcomer. With her arrival the odds had suddenly shifted in their favor - 3 on 2!

As he ran he saw first Pavel and then the newcomer bring down a goblin. 3-on-0! The fight was won. They had taken down a second group of goblins! He slowed his sprint as he approached the stream and the stranger. When she called out "halt!" he was more than willing to obey. He stopped a short distance away as she introduced herself. He kept an eye on the cave entrance as they talked in case someone on the inside had heard the disturbance.

"Aspara? You are well-met and welcome. You have good timing and my companion and I thank you for your assistance with the goblins." He turned to look at Pavel as he spoke to include him in the conversation. "I am Dane Turnblade." He thought about introducing his companion, but decided his name was his own to give out. "We were following these goblins. We believe they attacked our employer and his guard. We think there is a chance they are still alive - and if so, they are in that cave. One of the missing is also a relative of a friend of ours. Our path leads into that cave," he added with a long look at the opening.

He looked again to Pavel. "Is it common for rangers to wander these wild lands on their own? If my companion agrees, we would welcome your aid in finding those the goblins took." As he waited for the other two to speak he began rummaging through his supplies looking for something to use for light. Two goblin fights, a mysterious ally appearing in the wilderness and now heading underground - this was turning into a real adventure!

Her eyes changes their focus as Dane speaks to her, and she has an air of wariness, changing her glance from Dane, to Pavel, to the cave, and then in different directions.

"I see..." she hesitates. Her gaze settles on Dane for a few moments, and then she suddenly seems to relax a little and says,

"To be honest, I've been following for a bit. I had found a bit of a scene earlier...I'm assuming you did too. But there were four goblins guarding it, so I decided not to investigate further. You two took care of those? Impressive.

"I crossed the river a little bit ago and decided to see if you'd head for this cave, and it seems you did, though being that the goblins attacked you instead of welcoming you, I suppose that means you aren't here to help or trade with them." She sighs.

"And you're right, we don't usually range this far south. But my post was getting a bit dull so I decided to see if the reports of increased goblin activity down here were true. Seems like they are.

"Look, I'll help you, but do me a favor: If anyone asks, you never saw me. Now can you give me a hand with this?" She rips away any clothing covering her wound and produces some bandages and a fluid for cleaning wounds.

"Dane why don't you keep an eye out," Pavel said to his companion.
"Aspara, I'll make you a deal. I'll help bandage you, if you help me look a little less like a pin cushion."

Pavel set his shield down gently so as not to disturb the arrow in his (left) shoulder any more than necessary.

Once everyone was bandaged up, and in 'working' order... Pavel picked up his shield again testing the weight on his injured arm.

Turning to Aspara, "Thank you. Though you don't notice it much in the heat of battle, wounds start to hurt when the heat of battle settles, and that arrow didn' tickle!"

Speaking so as to include Dane, "Shall we continue our quest, and see what goblins we can send to their Maker?"

OOC: all of that assumes that nothing attacks us while we were licking our wounds.

The three of you tidy up and get ready to enter the cave.

You enter the cave mouth, following the ledge on the right, the stream flowing slowly to your left. The passage is narrow, less than 10 feet across, and it's much darker than right outside the cave, but you are not completely blind.

Not far from the entrance, you see the cave start to open up to your right, with a small rise with four steps leading up to a room set a bit higher than the passage. You hear growls and snarling coming from there.

Proceeding, you can see inside the room to the right...there are three wolves chained to spikes in the ground on the far side of the room. They notice you immediately and move towards you, saliva slavering from their muzzles, snarling.

You notice the chains aren't long enough to let then out of the room, but they could probably reach anyone inside the room. You don't notice any goblins, but it's not bright enough for you to see all the way to the other side of the room.

"Sure, why not wolves in the dark?" thought Dane. Why wouldn't a hero crawl into a wolves den? It could be fun. He shook his head at what he was doing, but was still grinning. At least these little pups seemed to be chained. That was convenient.

He allowed their new friend the ranger to move past him and try whatever it is she was going to try. But he put an arrow to bow and moved up right next to the entrance - remaining 99% hidden by the wall in case there were goblins in there. But he had the arrow ready to go - if the a wolf broke free or something else happened, he was ready to fire.

Now just let those wolves stay quiet.

Aspara takes out some of her food, which appears to be dried meat, and confidently walks into the room, holding her hand out, smiling at the creatures. One gets close, still snarling, baring it's teeth, while the other two trail behind it. It stops growling long enough to sniff the food in Aspara's hand. After hesitating a moment, it gently takes the food into it's mouth, and the other wolves approach, and Aspara commences to feed them. She signals with her hand that the rest of you should wait, and after a couple of minutes of feeding and petting the creatures, she investigates the room.

After doing so, she returns, the wolves seeming calmer, and she says: "So...looks like there is a crack on the far side of the room over there...with some refuse on the ground. Looks like if you're strong enough you could climb up it but it's dark and I don't know what's at the top of it." She pauses, with a grin. "And I'm not sure the wolves will like you as much as they like me. Other than that, nothing much interesting in this room. We can try the crack, or keep going down the main passage."

"Aspara did it look like the goblins were climbing the crack? Because if they are, we should consider having a look up there," Pavel whispers.

She considers the idea for a moment, and replies, "I doubt it. It looks more like they're using it as a dumping area. Probably there is a chamber directly above the crack, and from there they are dropping bits of garbage. It's accumulated in a pile and is not a little smelly....however...." She thinks, biting her lip.

"Well, it's unlikely that any goblins would suspect us coming from a garbage chute. But the problem is it's dark, and I'm not sure how quietly we can climb it, or if it's climbable at all. Or if when we pop out we'd be surrounded."

Pavel nods, and replies in a whisper, "Well I don't think that it is a good idea to go up there, and chance being surounded, or worse cut off. At least if we follow the ledge, we can find our way out again."
'At least in theory,' he adds under his breath.

Pavel peers further into the tunnel. "How long do you think we can go without lighting a torch?"