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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Medriev" data-source="post: 4493933" data-attributes="member: 21864">Chapter 4 - Valiant Defeat (Part 2)The five entered the cave cautiously with weapons drawn and spells ready. Within, the lair was dark and shadowy but by the light of Mandratan’s staff, all could see that more than a dozen kobolds scurried in and out of sight through the cave. Screams, shouts, and cries of alarm reverberated throughout the torch lit hollow.The kobolds came forward then, spears in hand and Mandratan met them with a burst of flame that threw one against a wall and felled it. A javelin came from the left and drove painfully into the wizard’s leg forcing him to stagger. Another drove into his shoulder and sent him reeling away. Enlishia turned towards them and fired two arrows at once. They separated in flight and each struck a kobold in the chest. Both fell, to the cavern floor, slain. Dulvarna strode forward and cut down another with her sword while behind her, another javelin came from the left and flew past Enlishia’s head. Dulvarna glanced back over her shoulder and then turned back to look ahead just as another kobold emerged from an alcove to her left and stabbed a spear into the armour that covered her thigh. She cried out and turned to swat the spear away with her blade.Another javelin struck Enlishia’s shoulder and spin her around to the left as she reached for another arrow. Another shaft flew past her then, clattering into the cave wall beside Lavren. Another kobold came from the right towards Dulvarna but she parried its spear thrust and backed away a step. A third rounded a corner and advanced carefully to aid it companions. Lavren was at Dulvarna’s shoulder then, cursing the kobold in elvish and then loosing black crackling energy that flew past the kobold’s shoulder. Another javelin flew from the massed kobolds to the right and then they cried out and surged forward with spears in hand. Erlmoor came forward and met the kobold charge while Mandratan hurled silvery bolts that felled each creature it struck. Enlishia shouldered her bow and drew forth her sword to stand beside Erlmoor. She slashed out with the blade and cut down the first kobold that came near. Behind her, Dulvarna retreated as the kobolds she faced stabbed at her and at that moment, the full weight of kobold charge crashed into Erlmoor and Enlishia.A spear grazed Enlishia’s side while Erlmoor parried the spears thrust at him. A high spear thrust nicked Dulvarna’s cheek and she stepped back another step, now facing three fierce kobolds that were bigger than the rest. Lavren hurled more black fire but again it flew wide of the kobold and left it unharmed. The lizard-like humanoids cried out taunts and battle cries and surged forward again. Erlmoor roared his anger then and breathed acid from his mouth that showered the kobolds before him. Two fell to the cavern floor, their skin and flesh burning and smoking as they went down. The dragonborn slashed out wildly with his blade and dared the last two kobolds before him to come at him. Mandratan lashed out with a silvery bolt that seared through the chest of one of the kobolds and felled it while Enlishia surged forward to meet the last with her blade.Dulvarna stepped towards her enemies then and slashed out with her blade, cutting across the chest of one of the kobolds and slashing the blade down into the leg of another kobold. One stabbed a spear into her shoulder and the other two drove their own weapons at her. She stepped back and swept her blade down to knock both spears aside. Lavren loosed more black flame but again it flew wide of the kobolds but Erlmoor saw Dulvarna’s plight and turned aside to aid her, leaving the last of the other group of kobolds to Enlishia. He thought victory was in sight then but at that moment, a harsh, bleating horn heralded the appearance of a burly, battle-scarred goblin. Around him, kobolds scurried as if afraid to get too close. A great tattoo depicting a skeletal ram’s head marked the goblin’s face and he wore a wolf fur cloak and a chain shirt. In both hands, he wielded a large battle axe.Dulvarna slashed her blade across the belly of the kobold before her and then drove it into the side of another. Both roared their anger and surged forward, apparently buoyed by the arrival of the goblin. The kobold before Enlishia also came forward then and drove its spear into her stomach just above her hip. She cried out and staggered back and away. Lavren tried to call forth fire from within the kobold before him but instead flame burst behind the creature and the kobold taunted him again. Erlmoor instead surged forward, slashing his blade across the belly of the kobold before him and forced the creature back. He searched around for the goblin then and could not see him. Then he heard cries from behind him and glancing back saw more kobolds rounding the rock wall at his right to charge at Mandratan and Enlishia.Mandratan loosed flame that felled another kobold and halted another but more were coming and he knew his plight was desperate. Enlishia rushed to his aid then, driving her blade into the side of the kobold and twisting around on the spot to block its path to the wizard. Mandratan saw Dulvarna draw back, breathing heavily and bleeding from several wounds. The kobolds watched her then and waited for a moment before they came at her fiercely again. She parried, seemingly banishing her tiredness and the kobolds were held at bay. Before Mandratan, another kobold, robed and with a spear strapped to its back rounded the rock wall and with a roar, it unleashed fiery breath on the gathered companions. All cowered and ducked but then another kobold rounded the rock wall, passing the robed creature. It charged at Enlishia, stabbed out with its sword and drove the blade into the archer’s stomach. She cried out, gasped and fell to the cavern floor. The goblin surged through its kobold minions then and hacked at Mandratan with his axe, slashing a wound in his forearm. He drew back and the goblin slashed the other blade of its axe into the back of Lavren’s thigh. The elf cried out and reeled while Mandratan felt cold fear seize him.A spear drove into Erlmoor’s thigh as he parried the shaft downwards and he cursed himself silently. He knew their plight was desperate and each small wound sapped some of his strength and so he channeled the pain he felt into wrathful anger. Behind him he heard Lavren chanting desperately and then the goblin cried out, reaching up to grab its head with the hands that still held its bloodied axe. Erlmoor glanced over his shoulder and saw the goblin stagger back as though dazed and confused. Its kobold minions let it pass through them and wavered and Erlmoor took his chance. He stepped forward with a prayer on his lips and drove his sword into the belly of the kobold before him. It fell, blood pouring from the wound and grasping desperately at its stomach. Erlmoor heard Mandratan chanting behind him and felt comforted by the fact that the wizard yet lived and then turned on the next foe before him.Dulvarna looked back at Enlishia and noted that her friend yet breathed and then turned back to her enemies. She feinted to the left and then swept her blade down from the right, cutting open the belly of the kobold before her and then slashing her sword on into the hip of the last kobold. From behind her she heard one of the kobolds raising its voice in some chant or exhortation and the foe before her roared its answer and came at her. The other kobolds surged forward at Lavren and Mandratan and Dulvarna heard the wizard cry out. Lavren cursed and gasped and, glancing back, Dulvarna saw him fall. She parried the spear that was thrust at her then and stepped back as she desperately tried to think of a way to aid her companions.The same thoughts raced through Erlmoor’s mind as he turned away from the fallen kobold at his feet and moved to aid his fallen friends. He uttered a prayer and extended a hand, engulfing the goblin in searing ribbons of radiance. The goblin cried out and Erlmoor moved to meet it.“We fight to the death, goblin scum,” the paladin called out and then blade met axe and the last battle began. Another kobold came at Erlmoor from the left and stabbed its blade into his hip. He staggered and cried out and reeled away, knowing that he would fall in this cavern beside his companions. He saw a flash of movement from the left as the robed kobold hurled an orb of blue flame. It flew straight and true and struck the dragonborn in the chest. He fell back as his ribs cracked and his skin burned and then he staggered and fell.Dulvarna had similarly decided that she too would fall here and the realization made her angry. She had not served Lathander as she would have liked and falling to kobold blades was not the fate she had imagined for herself. She lashed out with her blade and then reversed the swing, drawing blood from the kobold but her foe faught on ferociously. She heard rushing steps at her back and twisted to the right, a blade slicing along the bottom of her back. Another kobold was behind her and this foe held a sword, now stained with her blood. The goblin looked down at Erlmoor who lay, burned and wounded at his feet, and then the war leader leapt over the fallen form and slashed at Dulvarna with his axe. She parried desperately, surrounded by enemies now. She dodged to the right and turned her back to the cavern wall as her original enemy stabbed his spear at her. It struck the rock next to her and she swatted it away with her blade. Another kobold came at her from the left of the goblin, stabbing with a sword and she parried. She could fall or flee now, she realised and then made a decision. With a sudden stab and slash of her sword to drive her enemies back, she turned and fled, darting around the rock wall and running towards the pale light that filtered through the waterfall. An orb of blue flame flew past her and struck another wall of rock to her left. She readied herself to leap through the waterfall and out of the cavern but then a kobold rushed at her from the right. She could not stop and parry as the enemy drove its blade forward and into her side. Dulvarna staggered, stumbled and then fell headlong, her head striking the cavern floor beneath the cooling water of the waterfall. She smiled for a moment then as she felt the cool water and then blackness took her.Mandratan’s eyes flicked open and he turned his head towards the kobolds, all facing away from him and pawing the bodies of Erlmoor and Enlishia. Quietly and slowly he slid on his back towards the cavern entrance, glancing back towards the goblin and the kobolds to be sure they had not turned to look at him. They had not and so, with a sudden effort, he pushed himself over and rolled out of the cavern onto the grass beneath the winter sunlight. Rising to his feet he started to run then, heading back towards the trail and Winterhaven beyond that seemed a world away.</blockquote>

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