Bou listened as Crow described the situation with the Gobbers. He liked what he heard. The ranger clearly had the courage to scout ahead and the wits to look for the key information. And the others in the group of guards all immediately stood ready to take action. The combat hadn't started yet, but so far there was much to like in the small group.

Bou didn't say anything directly, as he had already asked his question and generally felt that the real fighters were best suited to plan the attack. He was a little surprised that Crow's plan called for bringing the enemy to them - and giving up their presence. But, he had to admit, it seemed like a good plan. So instead he just shook his head to indicate that he had no more questions or suggestions and pulled out his sling and nodded to indicate his readiness to do his part. He wanted these others to know they could rely on him just as he needed to be confident in them.

Alòndas settles into the routine of traveling; while they ride his mind is occupied with other things, namely his new staff. He had done a lot of work during the winter, casting spells, studying tomes, and in the end he did learn a few things. He learned a few of the stave's abilities, but he knew that other powers remained hidden. He suspected that the mage who owned the staff previously used an Ancient language for the command words, perhaps Old Sendarian. He spent several of the winter months studying Ancient Languages, including what he could find on Old Sendarian. It was difficult to learn however as there weren't many who still knew that ancient tongue.

Now as they rode, he tried to drown out the bickering of the Caravan owners as the argued constantly, by studying his notes on Old Sendarian and tried to guess which ones might activate what power in the staff.

On the second night, he continued his studying while several of the others spend there time hunting up some better food that the oats and berries the Caravan provided for them. As they dined on the Rabbits and Phesants that Crow, Jarik and Kiki had killed, the brothers argued on until suddenly the yelling stopped and fell asleep. Everyone looked to the sleeping brothers and then suddenly turned to look at him; he shrugged in ignorance and went back to eating. Afterwards he spent more tying researching his staff and trying words and phrases in Old Sendarian until he grew tired and went to bed.

The next day, as they traveled, Crow came back from scouting ahead and told them of trouble ahead.

"Ok we have a dozen Gobbers ahead scavenging another caravan. Looks like possibly no survivors as I did not see any"

"Excellent work Crow, not sure how you heard them over the racket here." Jarik gave a stern look at the brothers. "It is best if we pick the place to fight the Gobbers rather than letting them pick." 

Looking at where Jarik had Crow had to agree however an idea came to mind however Bou spoke first.

"If we're planning on sneaking up on them, I'm guessing my best role is to stay to the side and pick them off with my sling. But I'll close if needed." Turning to Crow "Did you see how many of them have bows or the like? Can we pick them off from a distance?" 

"As far as I could see none had such weapons." Taking a moment to think through his plan Crow brought it forth. "Ok here is what I think. Lets use the brothers bickering to lay a trap. With the way they yell and such it would be the perfect way to distract the Gobbers into charging straight at the caravan. Now we leave two of us as plain seen guards while the other four hide in the tree's and attack out of surprise. Now as Kiki and I have bows we stay with the caravan and act as we are the only defenders. We will attempt to enrage the Gobbers to get to us after we kill one or two of them. Dudley, Bou, you both have slings so you need to be closer so you two along with Alondas and Jirak hide on the sides of the road and let them pass you. Then once past you hit their rear from out of the tree's behind them. In that way hopefully we will make this a quick fight. Does anyone have something better in mind?"....... 
"Sounds like a good Plan," Alòndas nodded, and turning to Crow he continued "You have certainly grown since we first met, Crow. You have shown me that you are worthy to lead our little group, if you wish to do so."

The mage had always had doubts about Crow and his demeanor during there there earlier adventure, but by the end he had shown to have a clear mind for strategy and survival. He was willing to follow Crow's Lead, since he knew him and Dudley the most, and he wasnt about to allow Dudley to lead; no telling where they would they would end of with that Cidal in charge.

Once the plan was agreed upon, Alòndas would move into his assigned position and await the signal to begin his attack upon the goblins.

(OOC: He will prepare his mind for spell casting. If they are grouped together and the wind is light or nonexistant, he will cast a stinking cloud upon the Gobblers. If the situation is not right, or winds are strong, he will stick to more basic spells such as Magic Missles to pick off opponents, especially anyone who looks like a leader. The largest of them, or most elaborate or well dressed.)

"They are only gobbers so splitting up might not be too bad. Sounds like a trap might work." Jarvic readied himself for the coming fight.

Crow gave his plan,"Ok here is what I think. Lets use the brothers bickering to lay a trap. With the way they yell and such it would be the perfect way to distract the Gobbers into charging straight at the caravan. Now we leave two of us as plain seen guards while the other four hide in the tree's and attack out of surprise. Now as Kiki and I have bows we stay with the caravan and act as we are the only defenders. We will attempt to enrage the Gobbers to get to us after we kill one or two of them. Dudley, Bou, you both have slings so you need to be closer so you two along with Alondas and Jirak hide on the sides of the road and let them pass you. Then once past you hit their rear from out of the tree's behind them. In that way hopefully we will make this a quick fight. Does anyone have something better in mind?".......
"The cleric thought about having to walk again, "Well.... you could lure them into the bramble ...I can cast Entangle and then you just pick off at leasure."

"Well.... you could lure them into the bramble ...I can cast Entangle and then you just pick off at leisure."

Crow thought about Dudley's idea and had to admit it could help.

"Ok we stick to the ambush idea but we add in the entangle spell. Also we need not lure them into the bramble for it to work."

Having looked over the path on his scouting trip the Syl Ranger knew there was enough scrubs and weeds to make the spell work.

"Dudley once they pass you, use the weeds and scrub on the path to entangle them and then the 4 of you attack. That way if any should break free of your spell we still have them in a crossfire.... Are we agreed?"


(Ok am assuming here but there should be enough of the above vegetation to do the job. If not and I'll change the post)

Kiki sighed to himself. Protection details were usually easy coin. Its why he took them so often. If the brothers who hired him kept pointlessly bickering however, they might need to pay the others extra to protect them from him.

No common bandits or might-have-been thugs this time around. Not yet, at any rate. This time around it was gobbers. Information was scarce so far as it went, and the details seemed to change with each rumormonger he asked. So far they seemed to most resemble hobgoblins, at least superficially.

He breathed a small sigh of relief as the scout returned. The report from Crow seemed to have finally gotten Mario and his brothers to shut up. For now. He hoped. They had better, or he was going to see if Alondas would 'accidentaly' put them out for awhile. And not neccessarily to sleep at that.

Kiki frowned slightly as he listened to the plans as they were created, considered, and modified.. They were all fine, but something about the whole situation was bothering him. A round dozen? That would most probably not be a challenge for their assembled group, element of surprise or no. So to have taken on an entire caravan....

He had to speak up. "Fine plans, but something here is amiss. Nothing I've found out since arriving at Portua points to a scenario like this being possible. Only twelve gobbers, no ranged weaponry, and Crow reports no other groups have joined with this main one. It feels like something else is going on here. Either there are more waiting in ambush somewhere, or something else has hit this caravan, and the gobbers are playing scavanger. Either way, we need to move carefully.

"Fine plans, but something here is amiss. Nothing I've found out since arriving at Portua points to a scenario like this being possible. Only twelve gobbers, no ranged weaponry, and Crow reports no other groups have joined with this main one. It feels like something else is going on here. Either there are more waiting in ambush somewhere, or something else has hit this caravan, and the gobbers are playing scavanger. Either way, we need to move carefully."
This thought brought to the fore by the Human Fighter Kiki caused Crow to turn his gaze once more up the path for a moment deep in thought. There was no denying the wisdom of the Fighters words, yet he had seen nothing to suggest there were other foes then the Gobbers themselves.

"You may be right Kiki and I agree with you, but we have no way to confirm that. I saw nothing that would suggest more then just the Gobbers await our caravan. I say we go as the plan is and stand ready if it should turn out that the Gobbers indeed are not alone." A pause to gather his breath and Crow started the plan to action. " Ok everyone off to your places and I'll kindly ask the brothers to start making a lot of noise once all are ready."

You take you places and prepare to set a trap to draw the Gobbers to you. The brothers are none too happy to be used as bait but that leads to yet another argument so the question becomes moot quickly.

You wait for some time. Those of you with sharp hearing can pick up the odd noise or grunt but the group does not come charging in as you had hoped. Instead they are moving slowly, spread out and hiding among the foliage and plants in hopes to attack from both sides of the caravan. While it seems that these Gobbers have a leader with some sense of tactics, they are not very good at hiding, sneaking or anything covert and you see them coming from the plant movement.

OOC: Smarter than your average bear Gobbers? Those of you hiding to ambush them are now in danger of being the first to engage with the enemy.

As usual, the best laid plan fails when the enemy is not following it. Seeing the gobbers doing their best to sneak, Jarvic figured he could educate them on how it is done. Pulling his short swords he moved in behind the nearest gobber for a backstab attack.

Dudley was hoping to stay out of the reach of the Gobber and cast a spell of entangle to capture the whole group. But his Cidal hearing told him that the gobbers had split up and were very poorly trying to flank them from both sides of the road. Their clomping rustling in the brush made it was easy to tell where each group was. But as he prepare to capture one of the groups he heard Jarvic sneaking up and attack one.

"Well so much for them." The little cleric then turned, raised his with ring of his goddess glinting in the sun and cast the spell on the other group. It should started about ten feet in front of the not so sneaking gobbers. With luck it woulf form a area that caught all the gobbers on that side of the road.

(O.O.C. Keeper needs to say which side of the road Jarvic attacked.)

As Bou prepared for the plan outlined by Crow he was forced to confront the realization that this plan, like so many of the best laid plans, was not going to work quite as anticipated. The gobbers just didn't seem to want to play along. Bad, Bad Gobbers!

Still, the situation hadn't changed that much. Gobbers seemed to be incapable of being sneaky so their march through the woods was easy to spot. The overall plan didn't need to change all that much. only the path the creatures took on their way to entanglement had changed.

So Bou quietly slipped back a little bit further down the road. The space he had been occupying would now be needed for the entangle spell and Bou had no wish to be entangled. 10 steps back and his sling remained at the ready.

*Bou's exact actions depend on the side of the road the first attack is made on. If Bou was on that side he will back up 15 feet past the location of the furthest back x on the map and target (with his sling) the second furthest forward gobber. If Bou is not on the side of that first attack, he will Back up 10 feet past the last x and target any gobber that seems to be outside of the spells area of effect. I hope that makes sense - it all depends on if he is on the side of the attack or the side of the spell.
****Based on the map, Bou would just move back a few feet and sling at those across the road.