Up ahead was a rising column of smoke-- the goblin camp was burning!

Snowblind cursed and rushed towards the town.

Raiders were indeed attacking, injuring and throwing goblins in cages!

(OOC: Time to go to combat. Initiative - Snowblind rolled 11 using 1d20+1)

It's going to take at least a round to reach them no matter what, if you want to cast any spells in preparation.

Snowblind cast mage armour on herself as she went.

She was in range!  And the raiders were distracted...

(OOC: Casting Firebolt at one of them. Attack roll - Snowblind rolled 13 using 1d20+7. Nerts)

Roll with Advantage for surprise!

(OOC: Second roll - Snowblind rolled 11 using 1d20+7. Seriously?!)

Well, that drew the attention of the raiders, at least-- and now arrows were coming in her direction!

(OOC: Casting Shield. 3 1st level slots left.)

The arrows were safely deflected, and she could act again!  Tucker had hit the enemy lines like w whirlwind, in the meantime, and Charla was close behind, while Kej lay down suppressing fire.

(OOC: Casting Firebolt again - Snowblind rolled 10 using 1d20+7. Another miss.)

Luckily, more arrows missed, but now a couple of raiders were heading straight for Snowblind!

Snowblind let out a lash of purple energy at one of the approaching raiders.

(OOC: Tasha's Mind Whip - Park Yu-Jin rolled 8 using 3d6. Int Save, DC 15)

One of the raiders screamed and fled; Tucker struck that one down in passing.  Another reached Snowblind and slashed at her, luckily missing; an arrow from Kej downed that one.  Snowblind was free to act for the moment.

Snowblind headed for another of the slavers and cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter on them.

The raider went down.  They were becoming demoralized, and starting to scatter...

Snowblind looked for the carts the slavers were putting the goblins on. Once she found an area with several, she cast hypnotic pattern to keep them from fleeing.

That certainly shut down some carts-- even if some of the raiders resisted, the horses didn't!

Snowblind cast a firebolt at one of the ones not charmed.

(OOC: Firebolt Attack - Snowblind rolled 17 using 1d20+7. Damage if it hits - Snowblind rolled 19 using 2d10)

The raider fell with a scream of outrage!

Tucker was leading the goblins in a counter-attack that was overwhelming the raiders, but... had one wagon escaped already?  She could see it retreating over there...

"I'm going after it!" Snowblind said, heading for her horse.

It would take some hard riding... but did Snowblind have a plan beyond hard riding?

She was going to cast a web spell underneath the wagon as it went.

Dex check to get within range long enough.

(OOC: Dex check - Snowblind rolled 18 using 1d20+1)

The wagon was snared!  She only had a short time to act, though-- the horses could pull free soon, with their vast might.

Snowblind had her horse slow as she cast Hypnotic pattern.

The horses were helpless against this, and stood still as the web dissolved.

Snowblind went over to help the goblins.

There was a flurry of arrows from the wagon!  It appeared that not all the raiders had been caught in her spell...

"Hey! You had better give up!" Snowblind said. "I'm more than willing to roast you guys with a fireball if you don't!"

There was arguing in the wagon.

"She's bluffing!  She won't burn our prisoners!" came a loud voice.

"I can make it so it gets you and not them. I'm not an idiot," Snowblind said.

Make a suitable skill check

(OOC: Deception Check - Snowblind rolled 26 using 1d20+7)

The slavers, panicking, ran from the wagon and headed for the hills at a blind sprint!

"You guys okay in there?" Snowblind asked, heading for the cage on the back.

There were fairly feeble cries from the caged goblins, but no cries of pain, at least.

Was there anyway left to open the cage or did the slavers run off with the keys?

The keys were not present, but surely there were options, especially with her allies...

"I'm gonna have to take you guys back to the village. I can't get the cage open," Snowblind said as she climbed into the wagon to bring it and her horse back.

"...ah, locks?" said Tucker, examining the cage.  "I can do locks, if needed."

"Good. 'Cause I can't," Snowblind said.

Tucker fiddled with the lock and popped it open without undue trouble.

"...Learned how to do that when chains too strong," she explained.

Snowblind nodded.

"You do great work!" she said and hugged her.

Tucker hugged back, although her short arms made it a bit of a challenge.

"...never stop fighting," she said.

"I won't, don't worry," Snowblind said.

"I can't," said Tucker, and the ghosts chained to her flickered.  The goblins, in the meantime, poured out of the wagon, some crying with relief.

"We did it this  time though," Snowblind said. "We can rest easy for a bit."

"Hope so," said Tucker.  "Should have chance to rest now, though."

"Let's just do one last sweep to make sure everything's okay," Snowblind said.

It looked like the raiders had all been defeated.  But... the problem wasn't gone forever.

"They need more guards or something," Snowblind said.

"Their guards fell quickly, I'm afraid," said Charla.  "They weren't expecting the raiders to hit this deeply into their territory."

"Than what can we do?" Snowblind asked.

"I can train them," said Tucker.  "But better would be to discourage them from raiding again..."

"We did kill a lot of them," Snowblind said.

"Well, yeah, but who do they work for?" Kej asked, stepping out of shadows.  "I don't think those soldiers were wealthy enough to keep a bunch of slaves.  Someone sent them."

"That's a good point," Snowblind said. "Did we capture any of them?"

"Yeah, there's one that I shot in the leg that's still around," said Kej.  "He's over there."

"Oh good, let's go talk to them," Snowblind said.

On the ground, a human groaned in agony as he held tight to his leg, trying to not move the arrow stuck in it that was causing him such pain.

"Hey there, slaver, we have some questions for you!" Snowblind said.

"...fiends like you might try, but you'll never get answers out of a true man!" he snarled.

Insight check plz

(OOC: Insight check - Snowblind rolled 13 using 1d20+4)

He wasn't that good a liar, and was bluffing.  He was terrified of what they might do to him.

"You can see that I'm a drow, right? You know what we like to do, right? You can save yourself a lot of time and pain if you just tell me right now," Snowblind said, sweetly.

(OOC: Intimidation Check - Snowblind rolled 20 using 1d20+4)

He turned pale.

"Don't-- don't-- what do you want to know?" he gasped.

"Who hired you?" Snowblind asked.

"We're soldiers from Haramas," he said, naming a human kingdom nearby.  "We need farmers and laborers.  Better gobbos than our own!"

"Wasn't that easy?" Snowblind said with an evil smile, leaning down over him.

"...what are you going to do?" he asked.

"I'm not sure...I mean, you co-operated. I'd probably let you go," Snowblind said.

"You will?" said the man, shocked.  "Thank you!"

"Ya better get moving!" Snowblind said to the man. "And get a different job."

He attempted to scuttle away at top speed.

"That works," Snowblind went to share the information she got.

"So, what's our next move?" Kej asked.  "A strike against their camps?  Could be risky..."

"It could be, but they need to be taught a lesson," Snowblind said.

"Always ways to be less risky," said Tucker.  "Just different tactics."

"Yeah, we should check it out at least," Snowblind said.

"Plan with others, first, though," Tucker insisted.  "Need good plan."

"Okay, okay. Let's do that," Snowblind said.