Chapter 1: The Road to Morgansfort
Carnalore 6
Gilly 5
Veskard 4.5
Argon 4
Leleanne 3
Wyrran 2
Glanduil 1.5
Goblins 1
Carnalore held her dagger, waiting for a goblin to make a move.
Gilly's ruse works, and as the goblin stands in the wagon bed holding his discarded boot and looking confused, the halfling strikes! Unfortunately, his weapon is blocked by the goblin's chain mail. The creature turns on him with a look of pure rage...
Veskard's arrow sticks into the goblin, who screeches in pain and rage. He struggles up from the mud.
Argon holds off the charging goblin with his shield, then answers him with his own blade. It bites, but not quite deep enough to finish the creature.
Moving Wyrran up in the initiative order for clarity...
Wyrran casts his dagger across the battlefield and it is buried to the hilt in the forehead of a goblin archer. The vile creature's eyes cross and he falls forward, his face landing in the mud. As Wyrran falls to his knees, life ebbing from him, he feels the caring touch of Leleanne and is restored nearly to his full health and vigor.
Glanduil's dagger attack isn't quite as successful. The target goblin is watching him intently to see if the demonic creature the elf spoke of will show up. He ducks under the thrown blade, then draws a dagger of his own and throws it, but it tinks harmlessly off Glanduil's shield.
The goblins see there is no "creature from the depths of hell" arriving, and begin to move forward a bit hesitantly. Two seem to be coming for Leleanne and Wyrran, but won't reach them right away. The goblin facing Argon screeches with rage and swings its sword at him, but the warrior turns the attack aside with his shield. As he pushes the creature aside, Carnalore sees and opening and throws a dagger, but it misses and sticks into a tree trunk along the road.
In the cook wagon, the enraged goblin chops down at Gilly, who nimbly dodges out of the way.
The goblin Veskard shot is advancing on him when the sounds of a horn, the shouts of men and galloping hooves ring out from the northwest, the direction you were traveling before the attack. Armed men on horses burst onto the scene, riding along the edges of the road and scattering goblins everywhere. Each is carrying a long, spear-like lance and more than one goblin is haplessly skewered. In fact, one of the warriors thunders past Veskard and skewers the goblin who was advancing on him.
As the horsemen wheel about and return to the caravan, you get a clear look at their shields and tabards for the first time. The shields are a deep blue, just a few shades lighter than navy, and they are marked with three stylized white waves.
Deep in the forest, another horn sounds, and every remaining goblin begins to run toward its call. They melt into the woods. The expression of the goblin in the wagon with Gilly turns from hate to surprise and trepidation, and he leaps from the wagon and runs toward the forest.
Veskard, you get your wish this one time! I need a player to roll party initiative. If you win, you guys can react to this fleeing goblin. If you lose, all of you but Gilly are too distracted by all the other chaos and won't get a chance to act before he runs flat out into a thicketand disappears. No matter what the result, Gilly may make a ranged attack if he wishes.
The goblin's roll is a 2.
Next time I post, I'll give out XP for this combat.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:32, Wed 25 Oct 2017.