NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Medriev" data-source="post: 4495339" data-attributes="member: 21864">Chapter 5 - Bonds of Blood (Part 3)Mandratan led them eastwards back along the East Way past Winterhaven until they came upon the trail to the kobold lair that led south into the wooded slopes of the southern part of the vale. The day was cold, even as noon approached with only pale sunlight shining down on the travelers. Suddenly, Mandratan stopped just at a point where the overgrown path meandered through the forest and revealed a stone promontory abutting the road.“I hear weeping from the woods on the right,” he hissed to the others as they halted.“As do I,” said Gila.“And there,” said Audin. “The branches are bent back as though someone passed that way recently.”Dau moved off the trail at once but even as she did so, low grunts in a growling tongue came from ahead of the group further down the trail. Then, the grunts escalated to shouts when the companions’ attackers — big, brutish goblins — were sure they had been seen.“Hobgoblins!” Belrin spat as the creatures broke into a charge. “They live for war and battle!”“So do dwarves!” shouted Falain from the back of the group. Then the first of the hobgoblins reached the companions and battle was joined.The hobgoblins came forward in a strong phalanx with shields before them and swords or spears or flails slashing down over the barrier. Three surrounded Belrin and forced him back just as Dau burst from the trees. The dragonborn loosed a ribbon of twisting darkness from her wand that struck the nearest hobgoblin, searing into its heart and felling it while all the while making her stronger. The hobgoblins surged towards her then too but as they did so, her armour began to pulse with energy, protecting her and at the same time driving the hobgoblins back with the intense reverberation. Mandratan began firing silver bolts from his wand as Audin danced forward to join the battle and plunged both his blades into one of the hobgoblins, felling it. Another took its place, swinging a flail at the dragonborn and wounding him with its chains. He fell back a step beside his sister just as Falain joined the battle at last and the tide steadied.Dau retreated before the hobgoblins, loosing black energy from her wand as she did so and felling one of the hobgoblins. Beside her, Gila healed Audin with a powder that she blew on him to mend his hurts and as she did so Mandratan unleashed flame upon the hobgoblins that scorched them and forced them back. The wizard smiled for a moment but then an arrow lanced down from the rocky promontory and drove into his shoulder spinning him away from the battle. On the other side of the trail, Falain scythed into the hobgoblins with his hammer, felling one with a blow that split its helmet and driving another back. He faught beside Belrin and the dwarves drove the hobgoblins back before them.Dau and Mandratan circled around the battle to try to reach the archer, loosing black bolts and silver ones at the hobgoblins as they picked their way through the trees. Gila joined the battle line as the wizard and the warlock left, swinging left and right with her own hammer to keep the hobgoblins at bay. Mandratan emerged from the trees onto the grass next to the trail and heard a sudden whoosh as an arrow came from his right. It drove into his side, spun him around and felled him where he stood.Dau leapt over the fallen Mandratan and darted forward and out past the trees before lashing out with her wand and blasting the archer with black, crackling energy. The hobgoblin reeled back and away from her but then steadied itself and fired an arrow that drove into Dau’s shoulder. She snapped it free and roared her anger, starting towards the rocky outcropping. Behind her, her brother roared and breathed acid while spinning his blades around him, slashing at the hobgoblins. They seemed to shrink back before the wrathful dragonborn but then one struck him with a flail and slowed his deadly dance. He roared again and came at his enemy with both swords before him. Falain and Belrin and finally Gila took up the roar and the companions surged forward as one.The biggest of the hobgoblins leveled its spear as the charge came at him and Belrin saw the deadly point too late. The force of his charge drove him onto the spear and it drove through him, emerging from his back, tearing flesh and armour before it. Belrin gasped and fell as the hobgoblin tipped his spear forward to allow the dwarf to slide to the ground. Beyond the battle, Dau blasted the archer again with dark energy and then put away her wand, drawing instead the huge morning star she carried on her back. She charged the hobgoblin then with a roar and it wavered, throwing down its bow and reaching for a sword at its belt. Behind Dau, Gila cast more restorative compound into the air and created a cloud that was infused with arcane energy to bolster her and the others. Belrin and Mandratan both woke and rose while the others gained new strength. Only Dau, fighting on the rock with the hobgoblin archer was beyond its power. Mandratan moved away into the trees and turned back to the battle, hurling silvery bolts at the hobgoblins.On the rock, Dau cursed the archer before her and lashed out with her hammer, striking its shoulder and forcing it further back. Behind her, Belrin rose with a roar and lashed out with his hammer, striking the big hobgoblin in the chest. Gila came forward with him as did Falain and Audin. The big hobgoblin reeled as a silver bolt struck him in the back and then Audin saw his chance, driving both his blades into the goblin’s belly. He fell, gasping and gurgling to the blood soaked trail and beside him fell Audin the dragonborn as another hobgoblin brought its flail down on his head. Falain roared his anger and surged at his own foe and the hobgoblins wavered. The phalanx was broken at last, and they were vulnerable.The end was swift but fierce. Dau felled the archer with a blast of black energy as she retreated back towards her companions. Belrin struck down one of the two hobgoblins with a mighty hammer blow and Mandratan felled the last with a hail of silvery bolts of force. Quickly, Gila tended to Audin, who was now close to death and the others made their way to the crying sounds that had first drawn them off the trail. Behind the rocky outcropping, Belrin and Falain found two merchants and two men at arms who had been with the wagons on the East Way. Belrin gave them food and water and bade them wait where they were until they returned.“We’ve kobolds to slay,” he said and turned away from them.</blockquote>

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