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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eccles" data-source="post: 489003" data-attributes="member: 5675">Jared Blackspawn’s JournalPart 4----------------------------------Eleasis 7th - Waking up this morning I was relived that my wound had finally healed up sufficient for me to go on. Stedd also was fit for travel, and the ever resilient Braddoc was likewise. We were then ready to continue our pursuit of the bandits, though I fear that from now on, the tracking falls solely to my expertise, which led to a small argument with Taeghan. As though he could follow a two tenday old trail any better than me. The arrogance of the man! After a day’s trek I spotted a triangular clearcutting at the base of the mountains, abutting a small cliff. We decided to camp out of sight of this and investigate tomorrow. I got in a good nights sleep, no doubt because they want me fresh to do the scouting.Eleasis 8th - As I had surmised, I got volunteered to go and scout out the clearcutting I spotted yesterday. The clearcutting turned out to be forest that had been cut back from the entrance to a cave. I will hand it to the guards posted on the caves mouth, they were certainly alert and I was spotted and chased by three of them. I had to use my potion of stealth to enhance my hiding skills in order to elude them. From what I saw, the cave appears to be the entrance to a small mine of some sort, as I could clearly make out a mine cart on rails in the centre of the cave's entrance. The guards who chased me were hobgoblins. I reported my findings back to the rest of the group, and after a lengthy debate on tactics, myself and Stedd devised a plan of attack. Our plan was to use Braddoc and Taeghan as a frontal assault to draw on the hobgoblins joint hatreds of dwarves and elves, and hopefully prompt them to do something rash. Myself and Stedd would then launch our attack from the other side of the clearcutting and use our speed to best advantage to close the hobgoblins in a pincer movement. Rand was to stay at the edge of the clearing opposite the cave mouth, and direct his spells as he saw fit, to cause maximum disruption. For once one of our plans actually worked as we intended, and the fight was very one sided in our favour. I failed to have much effect on the outcome though, and I continue to live only because of Taeghan's timely intervention, after a hobgoblin felled me with a lucky strike. Braddoc nearly won the day singlehanded, wading through his foes, clearly revelling in the battle. We rescued the tax collector and his retinue of guards, who had been forced to work as slaves enlarging the cave and hacking out a vein of silver, though it looks all but exhausted. The former slaves alerted us to a camp of hobgoblins not far away, where the silver ore was taken to. We set off down the trail towards this camp, joined by two of the captives; a human soldier called Tannas, and an orc barbarian with a thirst for revenge. Half a mile or so away, the trail ended abruptly at a large cleared area at the base of low cliffs. The camp turned out in fact to be a fort, complete with 20' high walls, and twin 30' watchtowers flanking the gate. We retreated back into the forest to plan a strategy and recover from the few wounds we had taken earlier. Eleasis 9th - During the night some large kind of bat apparently tried to eat Rand's owl familiar. I care not. None of our group, who stayed up on watch saw any traffic on the trail between the fort and the mine. With the combination of a good nights rest and another of Taeghan's spells, I am back to fighting fitness. We spent today camped halfway between the mine and the fort in the vain hope that the hobgoblins might check on the mine... they didn't. When the others went to sleep, I decided to go and recon the fort. I was able to sneak over the walls and sketch out a map of the fort's interior before I was discovered. I made good my escape as arrows were fired at me in the dark, evading them all. Eleasis 10th - Woke up and presented the party with my map of the fort. They were a bit shocked, and Taeghan was appalled, that I left the group sleeping without anyone on guard. when I pointed out that the Orc was awake and in their area, they did not thank me. Honestly, if they trust a drow to watch over them as they sleep, I wouldn't have thought they would be so picky. The quiet of the day was broken as Stedd came running back from the trail (where he had been keeping watch), shouting "They are coming!!" We then began to see what the noise was all about, as we could just make out shapes moving off the trail and into the trees, heading after Stedd en masse... many shapes! I immediately took action, and sought cover in the nearest tree, scrambling halfway up the trunk and hiding there as the rest of the group backed up and formed battle lines to receive the hobgoblins onslaught. I remained where I was as around two dozen hobgoblins surged past the tree I was in to engage my comrades. The Orc fell in seconds, and the full fury of the humanoid assault smashed into Braddoc and Taeghan. Stedd and Tannas joined in as a ferocious melee broke out across the far side of the clearing. I couldn't get a good look, but from what I could make out, it looked like the hobgoblins were throwing much of their murderous efforts at Taeghan. Picking my moment carefully, making sure that the entire horde had passed my hiding place and were engaged, I slipped down from the tree and circled about, drawing my blades and went to work, picking off the stragglers of the force, moving swiftly amongst the trees and bushes, and assassinating the rearguard of the horde, as I sliced my way towards the cleric who commanded them. To my immense annoyance, as myself, Rand (who had been zipping about the battlefield using that speed spell of his to stay out of the reach of his pursuers while blasting them with those orb things he conjures up) and Braddoc (who had literally hacked his way towards the cleric) closed in on him, the slippery bastard quaffed a potion and flew off! Still he was the only escapee, as the rest of his attack force we had reduced to bloody ruin, their bodies covering a great deal of the clearing. Once we had tidied up, patched any nearly fatal wounds (such as those sported by Braddoc), and stripped the corpses of anything of interest, including an enchanted javelin and suit of chainmail, and also much needed coinage (I mean for when we get back to Clearwater, obviously its not needed right now), we set off back to the mine as it was a dry, and semi-defensible position. Rand set us up with a fire, and Taeghan built a ramshackle wall of rocks and corpses across the entrance to the cave. I sat near Braddoc as he drifted in and out of consciousness, his fierce rage having waned once the fighting was done. His capacity to take wounds and survive them is frightening. I need to recover from my own wounds, as does most everyone else. Despite half the hobgoblin horde throwing themsleves at Taeghan, he has nary a scratch on him, truly his god stood with him this day, and much as I might loathe Larethian and his children, I envy Taeghan right now for the feeling he must have had in the battle, knowing the love of his god upon him as he fought. I was woken up by Rand a little later after night had fallen, as wolves were scavenging the bodies of the dead hobgoblins from the wall across the cave mouth. We both waved fire to drive the wolves back, and then dragged the bodies clear of the cave and into the forest edge, where the scavengers can feast without disturbing us. Eleasis 11th - Stedd, Rand, Tannas and myself went off to scout out the fort early this morning, to ascertain how many we still had to deal with. It would seem the pests were busy yesterday after their attack failed, as Tannas and I fell into a newly dug pit trap, and were then confronted by two of the vile humanoids attempting to push a boulder from the top of the cliff into the pit, some 30' below them. While I easily climbed up out of the pit, Tannas found himself trapped. Myself and Rand did our best to keep their heads down, while Stedd looked for a branch he could lower down to help haul Tannas out, but to no avail. The hobgoblins succeeded in dropping the boulder, along with a small landslide into the pit, both killing and burying Tannas. The others of us deciding that he could not possibly have survived, left him in the pit. Rand was reluctant to do so, but Stedd and I reasoned with him. We headed back to the mine, the others having determined that at least half a dozen, if not more hobgoblins were still guarding the fort. I noticed that Braddoc seems to have started work on something, but didn't think to pry as to what it was. Eleasis 12th - We remained at the mine today, trying to decide on a strategy to tackle the fort. All we got through was more of our depleted rations, and a lot of arguments. Eleasis 13th - Braddoc presented us with the results of his work these past couple days, a wooden tower shield, well crafted too. Quite why he has made this is beyond me, and after asking him about it, it is beyond him too. I guess he did it to keep busy while his wounds healed, lest his thoughts dwell on his own mortality. After sketching out a map of the fort on the floor of the cave, we continued to plot strategy... with just as much arguing as yesterday. For my part I gave up fairly soon, and left the arguing to Rand, Taeghan and Stedd, while I sharpened my swords. My own plan of using the last miner (a crazed fellow who despite being freed continues to feebly hack away at the silver vein down the far end of the cave), as bait to get the hobgoblins to open the forts gates (assuming they don't just shoot him on sight) was turned down. In the mid afternoon we sprang to alert upon hearing an incoming traveller. I opened fire upon sighting the shambling figure of Tannas, as it appeared that fiend cleric had raised him from his rocky grave and sent him to bedevil us. I missed, and it turned out that he wasn't undead after all. During the past two days, by some incredible feat of willpower and strength, Tannas had survived the rockfall and had dug himself out of his own grave, having been buried alive. I got shot some dirty looks from the others as it was my voice that was strongest for leaving him in there. Like I was meant to know he was still alive! Eleasis 14th - We decided to smoke out the hobgoblins. Our plan is to fire as many fire arrows as possible into the fort, and hopefully set alight the roofs of the interior buildings, creating more fires than their cleric can douse with his magic. We took up positions in the forest edge opposite the forts gate, and opened fire with the others aiming for the fort, while I sniped at any hobgoblin who stuck their head up over the parapets. the assault had the desired effect, and the cleric led a force of the remaining hobgoblins out to fight us. We engaged and handily beat this force, though the cleric himself proved a canny foe, utilising numerous potions and scrolls, including at one point levitating and showering us with crossbow bolts from above. The fires did their work, but before the fort burnt down we managed to drag out five heavy chests filled with silver ingots from the mine, thousands of coins worth! We spent the rest of the day patching up wounds and searching bodies and making sure we had gotten all we could from the ruin of the fort. Deciding that we could not possibly bring all five chests back to Clearwater between the six of us, we marked out a spot and buried two of them in the forest where we can go back to retrieve them soon. Eleasis 15th-20th - Travelling back to Clearwater lugging 3 heavy chests of silver ingots. Thankfully our journey back home was without any incident as I think all of us, including Braddoc, would have been far too tired from carrying the chests to have much effect in a fight.</blockquote>

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