Sarah aims for the nearest target -- the limping hellish dog.

But she misses.




08:17, Today: Sarah rolled 10,3 using d20-1,d6 with rolls of 11,3.  Hellhound (14 to hit).

 Marklin walked out into the road and examine the fallen for signs of life, He bashed in the heads with his mace, until he came upon his spear. The Warrior changed weapons and continued and speared those prone.

Having brushed with death, Aldara can only watch as the hobgoblins and hell hounds retreat.  Then, she remembers that there are some stragglers.  Sleeping stragglers!

"WAIT!" The mage snaps out of her daze.  She bounds towards the resting and wounded hobgoblins, on the double when she sees that Marklin is preparing to kill them.  "Keep one of them alive!  Keep one alive!  We can pump it for information!" She pats her spell book.  "I can get them to talk!"

 Marklin paused in mid spear thrust on a still live Hob Gob, upon hearing Aldara's scream. The Warrior went to an on guard position out of second nature. " What?"

Sarah ventures out from her hiding place (which may not be where the party thought she was).  She is beginning to enjoy firing her crossbow, so she looks for usable spent quarrels.

And she checks the dead to see if they have quarrels.  Or other interesting stuff.

The surviving hobgoblins retreat further into the dark woods, unhindered by the lack of light and easily able to pick their way through the dense vegetation. The party seems content to allow the hobgoblins to escape and nobody gives serious chase. After a few moments, the hobgoblins' hasty withdrawal is complete and an eery silence sets over the ambush site.

All but one unconscious hobgoblin is slain, the sole remaining brigand being one of the unfortunates whom Aldara put to sleep and whom his companions either forgot to or neglected to waken him before fleeing. He sleeps happily, unaware his skull is about to be crushed in before Aldara calls for Marklin to stay the coup de grace.

Meanwhile, Sarah sweeps in among the dead, searching for quarrels, but none are equipped with crossbows.

The hobgoblins are outfitted with chainmail, steel shields, longswords, longbows and quivers with 20 arrows each. Additionally, each has a small cache of coins stashed away in their field gear. A total of 120 gp is found.

"If I can charm this one, or if we can interrogatw it, it might be able to give us inside information!" Aldara seems convinced.

 " Right,.....interrogate. With all respect, Aldara,ye be brave,aye, but I nay see ye sticking a red hot dagger blade, up this here Gobs bung hole, til he sings a like a minstrel. So I hope yer spell works."

  Marklin remained over the unconscious Gob,with his mace at the ready. " We got any rope, to tie this Gob up with?"

"I have some. Take what you need."

Eoni watched the wounded dog disappear into the darkness and looked over at the four bowmen.  She was not happy that they hadn't taken a last shot and was going to find out why.

"What happened?" she asked tersely, stomping up to them while pulling on her sodden padded jacket.  "You could have at least finished that infernal beast."

She was impatient to hear their response but tried to remain calm.  They had won their first battle and they had done well.  No need to diminish what they'd all accomplished.

[Private to GM:
If it was an accidental oversight, then make it purposeful.  Perhaps Jorr just couldn't see the beast killed and convinced the other three to hold their fire.

I'm a big believer in rolling with oversights rather than retconing what's already happened.  It doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be entertaining.]

"Warband? Hardly. They turned tail more like a band of cowards." He pats Marklin on the side with a chuckle.

 "  They be bloody well equipped,that be for sure. Take a look at their gear, Valthur." Said Marklin,as he took some of the rpe from Kane and  tied the Hobgoblin up at the wrists and ankles,after he disarmed it,of course.

"And they'll be back," Valthur adds, turning somber at the thought. "With more equipment, more hobgoblins, and more of those devil dogs. Let's question this one and get out of here before they return."

The four bowmen each claim they didn't have a shot. "Too damn dark in the woods at night!" Jorr spits out. "We're lucky it was near full moon. We wouldn't have seen dung on a wedding dress otherwise."

"All right," she relented with a frown.  They had a point, her light only reached so far.

"Strip their armor and weapons, we're taking them with us and getting out of here.  If Aldara can beguile this last one, we'll take him with us.  We can't stay here any longer than to take their gear.  If they do have reinforcements at the keep, it won't take them long to return.

"Valthur," she said, turning to the dwarf, "if you could keep an eye out to ensure they aren't coming back, you have the best night vision."

 Once the prisoner had been secured, Markland let the hired help, collect the war booty. He stood guard to make sure the Gobs that retreated did not return..

  "It mayhap been the light tricking me eyes, but just for a brief moment, I thought I saw someone in Knight’s armor with the Gobs.”

"You might be right. Once I saw that devil-dog comin' your way, I was focused on it more than the goblins."

“ Devil Dogs? I was calling em Fire Dogs, but is that what they be called? I gave me all in a blow with a mace, and the bloody thing still was on its feet.”

After doing her part to loot the dead enemy, Sarah yawns and waits.

 Marklin trades his mace for one of the Hobgoblin swords, after he decided he could weld the thing. A Longbow and a quiver of arrows would rather nicely,as well.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:46, Fri 25 Aug 2017.

Valthur keeps an eye and ear toward the keep in case the hobgoblins return sooner rather than later. It didn't take an expert to see that the warband was far more organized than any of their earlier foes. And although he mocked them for their hasty retreat, the fact that they retreated with such speed and discipline promised they were no laughing matter.

"No sign of them that I can see, but I'd still prefer we get out of here as soon as possible."

The others were right, the hobgoblin needed to be charmed, but time, pesky time, was of the essence!  Fortunately, Aldara learned that there were other ways to make others comply and talk.  Sloppy ways, and troubling to some, but still valid!  "Well, since we are kind of pressed for time, I'll have to improvise.  So, I won't be using magic, just rope."

As she speaks, Aldara loops some of her rope around the hobgoblin's neck.  Then, she kicks it over onto its back.  "Rise and shine!" Both ends of the rope are tight in her hands, and her foot finds its way onto the hobgoblin's chest.  "We've got questions, and you've got answers.  I've also got your life in my hands and under my feet, so if you value it, you'll give us the answers we want!"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 15:31, Fri 25 Aug 2017.

"Aldara," Eoni said urgently, "this doesn't look like charming and we don't have much time!"

She looked at the men stripping the armor and weapons from the dead to gauge their progress.  The one Aldara was choking still had his chain mail on.  Eoni had been hoping that Aldara's magic would geas him to help them carry some of the load.

"We only have as long as it takes for us to strip their gear.  We need to get out of here.

"If this is as good as you've got, let's knock him on the head and carry him!"

“Bloody well, right. They could be back with another patrol, sooner than we think. I’ll carry our guest, Let us make haste.”

Marklin gagged the hobgoblin with a rag he tore from the Gobs on garment, and then hefted him over his shoulder.

By the time the party breaks camp and completes their sweep of the fallen to remove armor and weapons and tie and bind the sleeping hobgoblin, it is an hour or so after midnight. Most party members are operating off of at most 3-4 hours of fitful and interrupted sleep after a hard day's journey through the sweltering heat, nearly eaten alive by insects all day and night long.

Needless to say, nobody is rested and once the adrenaline wears off, all will be quite weary.

Eventually, all their tasks are complete and the party loads themself down with the hobgoblins suits of armor, weapons and shields and prepares to set out.

Jorr suggests the nearest shelter is a log shelter about  two miles south of the ambush site and about a 1/4 mile from the northern edge of the Blackwater Causeway. This shelter is about three miles south of the footpath leading to Vraath Keep. Beyond the causeway, Jorr knows of another log shelter located about a mile south of the swamp. In total, about 5 miles of travel to reach this location. Alternatively, Jorr suggests the party could head back to his cabin, about 6 miles travel.

"So, what's it going to be?" the grizzled woodsman asks, eager to put distance between himself and whatever forces might soon fly out of Vraath's Keep.