Seeing his comrads focus on the closer goblins, Galydan rubs his hands together and launches another fire both directed at goblin #8 hoping to finish him off.

Loradove seemed annoyed that the goblins were shooting back at her.  But luckily she had the wall of the hut to hide behind and they had nothing but the open road.  She fired again and again her arrow found her mark.  Perhaps all of this target practice at goblins was paying off?  Goblin #2 took the arrow with a loud grunt but did not go down. 

Galydan decided to continue with the barbeque and wanted to finish off another of the goblins.   He sent a firebolt flashing towards goblin #8.  The goblin patrol was now down to half of their original number as #8 burst into flame like a very ugly and smelly old Christmas tree.  He would shine a light no more. 

Goblin #4 seemed outraged that his comrades had managed to free himself and he had not.  Perhaps that was the motivation he needed as the last of the goblins held by the entanglement spell freed himself.  (#4 made his strength save and will be able to act next turn.)

Goblins 3, 4 and 7 all took aim at the hut.  Goblin #3 took aim at Loradove.  His shaft whipped past just as she attempted to duck back behind the hut after firing her own arrow.  It left a rip in her cloak as it just missed its target.  Goblin #4 attempted to target the mage that was cooking his friends, but in his haste to get off a shot fired his arrow directly into the open doorway of the hut, missing his target bya  good 5 feet. 

Goblin #7 saw the goblin next to him (# blasted by a firebolt and fear burned in his eyes.  He quickly targeted the mage that seemed the gravest danger and fired.  This time neither the huts partial cover nor his reflexes were enough to save the mage as the goblins scored their first hit of the encounter.  The goblins arrow slammed into the mage (-7hp) as he tried to duck back behind cover.  Wincing in pain behind the wall the mage could hear the goblin celebrating his success. 

Finally, it was time for Ghiberti to attack.   He moved up quickly on the goblins that had just escaped the entanglement spell.  They didn’t seem to know he was there and he lined up his strike was precision to take advantage of the situation.  But just as he swung his staff in a bonecrushing arc the goblin staggered to the side, struck by Loradove’s shaft.  He missed!  The goblins eyes grew big as they realized there was another assailant behind them.  (Even with advantage, a miss) 

8 goblins entered the fray – their current situation is as follows:

1- Dead

2 – Had been entangled, now free - injured

3 – Had been entangled, now free

4 – Had been entangled, now free

5  - Dead

6 – Dead

7 -  Had been at the front of the group and are the furthest away from the hut.  Badly wounded.

8 – Dead

Galydan - -7 hp. 

"THAT WAS MY FAVORITE CLOAK, YOU STINKING ORC-FACED TOE-LICKER," Loradove shouted at the goblin as she prepared her next arrow.

"IT GOES WITH EVERYTHING," she growled, and fired at goblin #3.

Galydan grunted out in pain "AHHHH" and fired magic missile at first level targeting goblins 8, 2, & 3.

Fight, fight fight! Ghibs takes another swing!

Furious that her cloak had been damaged, Loradove quickly took aim at the offending goblin and put a hole in more than just its cloak.  Her arrow stuck deep in its side and it groaned as it felt the force of her vengeance.  Little did it know the anger it had unleashed with that one rip of cloth. 

Bu the goblin was not to have time to learn from it’s mistake as it quickly became the target of one of Galydan’s magic missiles.   The glowing dart quickly finished off what the arrow had started and the goblin with fashion anger issues collapsed to the ground dead.  Next he aimed at goblin #7 (not #8 as suggested as that one is already dead.  Unless attacking corpses was really the intent.)  This one was already badly wounded and the lone dart was enough to finish it off.   The last dart went to lucky goblin #2.  The mage’s rain of death continued as a third straight injured goblin found the magic dart too much to survive.  Goblin #2 also collapsed dead.

Goblin #4 was now the last runt standing.  He seemed startled to see three of his fellows fall in quick order to the group’s attacks.  He turned and gave a hard whack at the Tortle with his sword, but the Ghiberti’s natural armor saved him.  After that the creature turned to run. 

Ghib’s seemed frustrated that his surprise attack the previous turn had yielded no contact and swung hard with his staff and caught the creature on the side of the head as it turned to run.  It was a crushing blow and the creature collapsed like a slashed cloak before it could take another step. 

The battle was now over.  Where a moment before a group of goblins had stood, now there were only corpses.  These goblins, at least, would be harming nobody in Botkinburg.  As the group surveyed the wreckage from the battle, they could discern nobody else in sight.  With the noise and tension of the battle gone, it was a quiet, clear night with the stars shining above.  It was only a little after midnight with most of the night still ahead of you.   Galydan was the only group member to sustain an injury.

(For your next post feel free to deal with the immediate situation and your next step in the big picture.  You are at the first hut on a path/road that switchbacks its way up the ridge.)

Ghilberti casts Goodberry and offers a few to Galydan and then hides back in his shell and takes a nap.

Galydan smiled and ate the berries thankfully. Then he set to searching the goblins for anything that might help with their search or anything of interest or value.

Loradove watches the falling goblins with great satisfaction, and when the last hit the ground, she put away her bow and arrow. 

"I GUESS THESE GOBLINS WON'T BE ANSWERING ANY QUESTIONS TODAY! OOPS!" She was trying to speak quietly so as not to disturb the snoozing tortle, but was still a bit pumped up from the battle so she was not doing a very good job of it.

She then made her way to the fallen goblin that was furthest from Galydan and started searching it for weapons, valuables, and/or any useful information or items. "YOU TAKE THAT HALF," realizing she was still speaking too loudly, she cleared her throat. "And I'lltake this half over here," she said to her companion in her best attempt at a whisper. Alongside Galydan, she continued to search the remaining goblins, being sure to set aside any items which she or her companions might be able to use. Once they had all been examined, she suggested they move the bodies off the path into a more concealed area. "IN CASE *ahem* ...in case anyone else comes along, you know? Then maybe we can have another rest as well."

Galydan nodded and helped move all the bodies hiding them behind the small shed or in the best spot they could find to hid them all. He also tried to cover up any traces of the ambush so nobody passing by would ever suspect a thing.

The battle over, Ghiberti cast Goodberry and handed some to Galydan.  (Assuming 7 of the 10 since he took 7 points damage, but please be specific.)  Then he simply dropped to the ground and took a nap – a little to the side of the path. 

That left Galydan and Loradove to search the bodies of the newly fallen goblins.  As the gnome noted, none of these would be answering any questions today.  The group hadn’t carried much with them, just a small amount of coinage and sack with a few dead critters in it.  In total you found:

*Coinage:  33 SP and 18 CP.

*8 shortswords

*8 shortbows, 6 of them probably worthy of using, and a bunch of arrows

*small sack containing the bodies of a rabbit, what might be a large rodent and a stirge.

It was time to rest.  It seemed the group would attempt to resume their rest.  The rest of the night passed uneventfully and this time the group was able to get a solid 8-hour break.  They roused themselves in the morning to an overcast day.  The path continued upwards towards the top of the ridge or back towards the bridge they had crossed the previous day. 

**Check out the Q&A thread for a few general comments**

Ghilberti wakes to a tumbling rummy and digs in his pack for a bit of packed edible leaves. Munching on a few, he thinks immediately how good some mushrooms would taste great with them.

Leaving L&G at the hut, Ghilberti does a ten minute walk around the hut looking for any grubs, edible weeds or mushrooms. He trys to stay within 150 feet of the hut as he circles around the area. He is also looking for a place to hide some bodies.

When he gets back to the hut, he collects the extra equipment from the goblins and puts them in a corner of the hut. And then he encourages the group to bring the dead to the best place he found as he circled the hut.

Afterwards, he packs up his stuff and waits for L&D to be ready to leave.

Galydan helped stache the weapons in the hut and then following Ghiberti's lead he helped hide the bodies in the spot that he thought was best.

"Should we go up to the top and try to see where the goblins came from?" He asked the others. Assuming we go to the top Galydan will look for signs of where the goblins came from or assist someone else in looking.

Loradove awoke refreshed and happily assisted her companions with moving the goblin bodies to the spot Ghilberti found. After that, she looked through the gear they had collected from the goblins to see if there was anything worth taking. 

"HEY LOOK! If we divide the coins into three piles, they are exactly equal! We should each take a third!" she exclaimed, putting her third into her coin pouch, and gestured at the other two piles for Ghilberti and Galydan to claim their own share.

"What do you guys think about these weapons?! I could always use more arrows, and a spare bow or two! Some extra swords probably wouldn't be the worst thing either! OH! Do either of you know detect magic? I guess I never learned that spell, I don't know why, I probably should have I guess but I didn't, anyway if you do it might be a good idea to check this stuff to see if any of it is special, I certainly don't need ALL of the swords and bows, but do you guys mind if I take a couple of the bows and swords and if you don't want any of the arrows, I'll take em all but if you do want some then we should divide those up too, so what do you guys think?" she barely paused to take a breath while speaking as she looked over the items. She hopped around rather cheerfully as she moved from place to place feeling the excitement of the day's impending adventure. 

[If no one else wants any of the weapons, then Loradove would take the two best looking swords and bows, and as many arrows as she can reasonably carry.]

After assessing the goblin weapons, she would pack up the rest of her gear and prepare to leave. 

"I agree with Galydan! It would be good to go up to the top and look around! No point in going back where we came from!" And with that, she bounced out the door onto the path. "TO THE TOP!" 

              In the morning Ghiberti spent some time looking around the hut to find a place to hide the bodies. He attempted to go about 150’ in a circle, but the terrain didn’t really allow for that. It went uphill at a reasonably steep rate. It was climbable, but there was a very good reason that a long time ago somebody had built a switchback road into it. Generally, within about 10’ of either side of the road (or behind the hut) the land quickly becomes very difficult with significant elevation changes, trees, brush and rocks. Movement is difficult, but if your looking for a place to hide some bodies, it won’t be difficult to find one. Luckily goblins are small, so it wasn’t overly difficult to haul them to a spot about 50 feet in back of the hut. It seemed unlikely anybody would find them unless they were specifically looking there or had an extremely good nose. The view was blocked from all directions by rocks and brush.

               With the bodies disposed of it was time to split the loot. The coins, as Loradove loudly noted, easily split into three piles, with each of the three adventurers putting a small pile into their pouches. The weapons were piled in the hut, with only Loradove taking something. (Feel free to change this.) She claimed a couple of shortswords. They were goblin work so even the best were only average, but they were serviceable. As were the two bows and pile of arrows she added to her collection. She was beginning to look like a walking armory. Luckily all of the items had “short” as part of their title. Still, her limit on what she could carry wouldn’t include many more bows and swords.

               Leaving the hut behind, the group started up the road towards the top of the ridgeline. Just a couple hundred yards up the path, not even yet to the next hut, (Remember there is a small hut like the one you stayed in at each turning of the switchback path.) you found a medium sized round object on the side of the road. As you approached you remembered seeing the goblins kicking something along the path as they came down the previous evening. It was about the size of a decent ball, but when you got a closer look you realized it was no ball – it was a head! An orc head, to be precise. But an orc head that had been used as a football by some goblins. It was in rough shape from being kicked down the path and was partially covered in sticky strands. It was gross, but not otherwise noteworthy.

               Moving on up the path the group traversed several more switchbacks. As they approached the hut near the turning of the path, they could see that the hut and surrounding terrain was covered with webs. The hut was about 10’ to the side of the path and the entrance was not passable due to webs. About 5’ uphill of the hut a desiccated orc body (minus a head) hung in the webs. It looked like the webs had once crossed the path, but had recently been cut. The road itself is thus relatively easily passable. There is no obvious sign of whatever made the webs.

               Looking upward you can see that there are about 5 or 6 more switchbacks before you will reach the top of the ridge. The broken off remnant of a stone tower rises from the top of the ridge. It is a ruin. From the angle you are looking up at it is hard to tell how tall it is since you are unable to see the tower’s base. The top of it is crumbling and uneven.