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They came in search of Paradise (A Story of Erth) - Updated 23rd April
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<blockquote data-quote="robberbaron" data-source="post: 1733432" data-attributes="member: 14771"><p><strong>A bit of a scrap ...</strong></p><p></p><p>May 19th</p><p></p><p>Bright and early next morning the party asked the desk sergeant where they could get hold of coriander root. The sergeant told them that it wasn't really used in the town but there was a herb farm 10 miles to the north. They supplied much of the culinary herbs, including coriander, which the town’s restaurants and inns used.</p><p></p><p>Over breakfast, Gaelle wondered how she managed to get involved with this semi-incompetent crew. </p><p>Helga was impressed by their charismatic "leader" - Seigfried. </p><p>Gaelle was incredulous as she thought he was an idiot who can't even speak the local language.</p><p>Cord suggested that perhaps Seigfried should lead them today, so they could all see his leadership in action.</p><p></p><p>Seigfried actually thought they had been fairly successful since they joined up. Cord stood and showed Seigfried his back, "this is my sore back from carrying your sad arse around!"</p><p>Helga, however, didn't think Seigfried’s arse looked at all sad. </p><p></p><p>Fast satisfactorily broken, they scuttled off to investigate the herb farm, Helga taking the absent (and now fugitive) Kron's horse.</p><p></p><p>When they got within sight of the farm they saw workers in the fields who ran away towards a barn when they spotted the party.</p><p>They appeared to be Goblins! Out in the daylight? How strange?</p><p></p><p>The party attempted to ride the goblins down, but only Helga reached them before they disappeared into the barn.</p><p>She did, however, manage to impale one of the goblins, pinning it to the barn wall, and stopped her horse before it ran through the barn door.</p><p></p><p>They all dismounted and handed Li Kung their reins to hold (absent player duty). He rode off a short distance into the nearby woods to wait for them.</p><p>The party noticed a hayloft door above the entrance, to which Helga failed to climb. Gaelle had no trouble, scrambling up the side of the barn like a rat up a rope, and Helga reached the door while Gaelle hung from the loading beam above.</p><p></p><p>The rest stepped through the doorway.</p><p></p><p>Straight into four heavy crossbow bolts, fired by a row of hobgoblins waiting for them. </p><p>The goblins were disappearing down a hole at the other end of the barn.</p><p></p><p>Luckily, only one bolt hit, taking half Seigfried’s life with it. The hobgoblins swiftly exchanged their bows for shortspears and shields, while our heroes decided upon their next move.</p><p></p><p>Gaelle destroyed the bar on the hayloft roof door with remarkable show of strength and silently tumbled past any as yet unperceived guards. Observing the lack of guards Helga made her way quietly to the edge of the loft, which covered half the barn and looked down. Only the four Hobgoblins were in view and all were out of reach of even her longspear.</p><p>On the ground, Seigfried and Cord charged the hobgoblins whilst Gracientus blessed the party. Seigfried’s charge was unsuccessful but Cord cut his opponent down and cleaved through Seigfried’s for good measure.</p><p></p><p>Gaelle attempted to shoot the hobgoblins from the loft but missed and Helga dropped down behind one of them, failing to strike him and twisting her ankle from the height of the hurried drop. Still she could give one of the fighters a flank. The remaining hobgoblins, stunned by Cord’s ferocious efficiency and the aerial assault, failed to respond with any useful attacks. Seigfried moved into the attack again but his sword cut only air while Cord cut through his own, helped by Helga’s flank, and then cleaved through Siegfried’s hobgoblin (again). The upright German was beginning to feel embarrassed at Cord’s effectiveness and his lack.</p><p></p><p>With the immediate threat dealt with the party did not push on down the 10’ wide ramp into the hobgoblins’ subterranean lair, but instead gathered their energies in the barn. Gracientus attempted to heal Seigfried, ineffectively, while Gaelle stripped the studded armour off of a hobgoblin and began stuffing it with straw. Cord and Helga positioned themselves either side of the ramp where they might gain a height advantage, should any more enemies emerge. Cord picked up one of the hobgoblin corpse to use as a pavise and Helga inched back to lose herself in the shadows. They can hear more creatures approaching and signal this to the others. Gracientus responds by curing some of Seigfried’s wounds. Gaelle continued stuffing the armour with straw. What is she up to?</p><p></p><p>A single hobgoblin ventured forth and failed to shoot Gaelle as she constructed her scarecrow. Helga, having a crossbow prepared, failed to shoot the scout, as did Gaelle, as she dropped the straw man and flipped her bow into her nimble hands. </p><p>Suddenly, numerous hobgoblins charged up the slope and into combat with everyone although, in the limited space, only six could safely engage. Of these two attacked Gaelle, one successfully. The same is true of Cord with the hobgoblin’s spear driven much deeper into his flesh. Helga and Seigfried were both missed by their single opponents.</p><p></p><p>Cord struck back, neatly bisecting one hobgoblin and slaying the other with a single strike of his mighty Fullblade. Gaelle retreated a few steps firing her bow rapidly but the swift rain for once lacked accuracy and her aggressors remained unharmed. Helga and Seigfried both returned their hobgoblins’ ineffective attacks in kind, while Gracientus snatched up one of the fallen heavy crossbows and carefully loaded it, moving back from immediate danger.</p><p></p><p>Everyone’s eyes widened as more armed and armoured hobgoblins erupt from below ground and assaulted at speed. Seigfried was swiftly surrounded and Helga found herself fighting two of the smelly brutes. They had both remained untouched but knew their luck couldn’t hold. Observing the entrails hanging from Cord’s blade and the dark blood pulsing from the several bodies lying at his feet two hobgoblins shot at him but he was nicked by only one arrow. Again Gaelle was missed as her assailants ignored Gracientus.</p><p></p><p>Cord moved to aid Seigfried, decapitating one of his opponents but could not recover the awesome blow to cleave another. Still, the hobgoblin’s body pumped blood high into the air showering all nearby as his head exited the barn through the doorway thanks to the ferocity of the impressive blow. Gaelle managed to hit one of her aggressors but failed to drop him. Helga fought defensively and ineffectively while Seigfried and Gracientus finally managed to strike and shoot effectively, Seigfried downing another of his surrounding enemies and Gracientus shooting one out of combat, winging it.</p><p></p><p>What seemed an endless tide of hobgoblins continued to wash against the party, now seeking the obviously weaker members. Three of them surrounded Helga and battered her to a stagger while two moved in on Gracientus and combined to take most of his health (and blood) from him. Seigfried was struck by a charging new combatant, as his only remaining foe was filled with the terror of his neighbour’s headless body staggering about by the side of him and the grinning visage of the blood-soaked Cord close by. </p><p>The hobgoblins were avoiding the bloody man of muscle but one made an attempt to shoot him, ineffectively. Cord laughed as his bloody blade tore through another of Seigfried’s opponents. Gaelle retreated further and rapid shot, killing his own and Seigfried’s terror-struck opponents. Helga, already staggered, attempted to tumble out of her predicament and was taken down by a hobgoblin’s reflexive strike. Gracientus ran from his attackers to hide behind Gaelle and Seigfried moved to attack Helga’s attackers, waving his sword ineffectively as he worried about Helga bleeding to death on the dirt floor.</p><p> </p><p>Helga’s circle of admirers moved to surround Seigfried but only one spear scratched him. The hobgoblin that had been facing Gracientus was torn between attacking him, Gaelle or Cord, courageously chooses the latter. He was joined by a quivering hobgoblin crossbowman who was heartened by the thought of a flank, but still neither managed to strike the blood-drenched warrior. </p><p>The tiring heroes noticed that no more hobgoblins were venturing from their lair and hoped they were running out of opponents. </p><p>Cord attempted to cleave through his pair of foes but for once they evaded his massively telegraphed attack, one dodging straight into the path of one of Gaelle’s arrows. </p><p>Helga lay bleeding on the floor, Gracientus struggled to reload the unfamiliar heavy crossbow and Seigfried waved his blade about a bit.</p><p> </p><p>Despite their advantage in numbers and positions only one hobgoblin managed to hit anyone, Seigfried again. </p><p>Cord made no mistake this time and his Fullblade sent hobgoblin limbs spinning in all directions as two corpses hit the ground, adding to the mountain of inhuman flesh that surrounded him. Gaelle shot and wounded one of Seigfried’s, Helga continued to bleed.</p><p>Seigfried, almost out of blood himself, managed to kill one of his three opponents and disengaged to gain support from Cord, also allowing Gracientus a free shot, which he failed to use to his advantage.</p><p> </p><p>Only two hobgoblins remained and one of these had an arrow in his shoulder, but still they fought on in a desperate effort to save their mates and children from the predation of the humans. The uninjured one gathered up every last ounce of courage and threw himself at Cord with a murderous roar, impaling him and revealing that some of the visceral material was human after all as Cord fell to the many minor injuries he had accrued. The injured hobgoblin likewise hurled himself at Seigfried but slipped on a strange puddle of goo that had been slowly seeping from Helga along with her blood, stabbing himself. </p><p></p><p>Gaelle shot the injured hobgoblin with two arrows, finally dispatching it. S attacked the uninjured hobgoblin, knowing that he himself was only a scratch from death, striking it but not putting it down. Now they were equals. </p><p>Gracientus ran in and tried to aid Cord but there was so much blood he found it very difficult to find an actual wound.</p><p> </p><p>The last hobgoblin thrust his spear past Seigfried and stepped away shouting something in his own tongue before Gaelle’s black fletched signature arrow took him down. Bravely Seigfried approached the ramp and peered down, but couldn’t see anything.</p><p>Helga and Cord bled some more but Gracientus uses the mystic power of Set find their wounds, seal them and restore them to consciousness.</p><p></p><p>Battered and bruised, with only Gaelle having any fight left in her, the party retreated to the nearby woods. They could hear Goblin voices from down the ramp but even with Gaelle and Gracientus combining their efforts they could not restore any fighting spirit to Helga although Gaelle’s healing potion did instil some life back into Cord. </p><p></p><p>In the relative safety of the woods the party reflected on the hobgoblin encounter that was more challenging than they expected. </p><p>After six hours of rest everyone is fighting fit and ready to continue. Nightfall came and went, renewing Gracientus’ mystical ability.</p><p>Returning under cover of darkness, not that this would bother goblins and hobgoblins much, they sneaked back into the barn. Helga and Gracientus lit torches and Gaelle unmasks her lantern. The dead hobgoblins had been removed, dragged down the ramp into the lair. While Gaelle confirmed this was accomplished by smaller creatures, muffled scuffling could be heard from the loft.</p><p>Gaelle threw her lantern aloft, starting a fire but not the immediate conflagration she had hoped for. There were immediate squeals of alarm from above and Helga moved to one of the ladders to take an opportunist poke at any goblins that might use it, but the goblins threw themselves down instead, some hurting themselves as others of their kind charged up the ramp frothing at the mouth, shrilly crying out in their guttural tongue.</p><p></p><p>Gaelle targeted one of the goblin jumpers and one who was partially aflame, putting them out of their misery.</p><p>Cord shoot at one with his crossbow, missing by yards, and threw the treacherous device aside, drawing his trusty sword. Gracientus blessed the group while Seigfried charged into combat, his obviously blunted Fullblade bouncing off the goblin’s padded armour. Helga struck at the same gobo but also missed.</p><p></p><p>The goblins, energised by the highly calorific hobgoblin flesh they had just enjoyed, frantically charged. Five threw themselves at Gaelle, three drawing the bow woman’s blood, two struck at Cord, one hitting. These goblins have no fear of the huge man with the enormous chopper; they did not witness his fine batch of double strikes in the previous battle and he has cleaned himself up a bit since then. Four attacked Seigfried, two hitting and one worked his way over to Hegla but missed her. Gaelle stepped back and made kebabs of two opponents, Cord cleaved through both his and steppe across to threaten Helga’s. Gracientus unloads a crossbow in the vague direction of a goblin, Seigfried and Helga waved their weapons around to no avail, though Helga slashed an unwary goblin as it ran within reach of her weapon.</p><p> </p><p>The goblins went for it while they still could. Two missed Cord, three attacked Seigfried but only one managed to hit, three missed Gaelle and Helga’s only attacker realised he was poking her with the soft end and spent valuable combat time turning his spear around. In response Gaelle extracted a goblin’s eye through the back of its skull with a perfectly aimed arrow, Cord cleaved through his and moved to give Seigfried a flank, despite leaving himself flanked, but then Seigfried killed the flanked goblin while Gracientus missed a shot and Helga managed to wound hers. </p><p> </p><p>Only three goblins remained and two turned tail and ran; Gaelle shot one down, Gracientus missed the other but Seigfried outran it and slayed it easily while Cord finished the last persistent attacker who was still worrying Helga. </p><p>By now the loft was well ablaze and the group decided to leave to investigate the other buildings. Cord looked for any smoke issuing from other exits but saw none.</p><p> </p><p>The farmhouse was in poor repair but solid and Helga took a crossbow bolt to the chest having failed to spot the trap on the main door. The building itself and remaining goods were of human design and a thorough investigation discovered a male and a female human with their throats cut in their sleep and a younger male cut down in a fight. There was only one other outbuilding and this had been ruined sometime in the past so the party moved the corpses and bedded down until the barn burned itself out.</p><p> </p><p>The next morning the party investigated the barn again; Gaelle revealed that the females and young led by a human left about eight hours ago, probably while they were engrossed in searching the farmhouse. </p><p></p><p>Moving burnt beams from the ramp into the earth, they moved into the gobbos’ lair. After half an hour of sneaking around all they could find was a cartload of coriander and a lot of smelly goblin nests.</p><p>Suddenly, movement caught their eyes. </p><p></p><p>Something was still down here.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="robberbaron, post: 1733432, member: 14771"] [b]A bit of a scrap ...[/b] May 19th Bright and early next morning the party asked the desk sergeant where they could get hold of coriander root. The sergeant told them that it wasn't really used in the town but there was a herb farm 10 miles to the north. They supplied much of the culinary herbs, including coriander, which the town’s restaurants and inns used. Over breakfast, Gaelle wondered how she managed to get involved with this semi-incompetent crew. Helga was impressed by their charismatic "leader" - Seigfried. Gaelle was incredulous as she thought he was an idiot who can't even speak the local language. Cord suggested that perhaps Seigfried should lead them today, so they could all see his leadership in action. Seigfried actually thought they had been fairly successful since they joined up. Cord stood and showed Seigfried his back, "this is my sore back from carrying your sad arse around!" Helga, however, didn't think Seigfried’s arse looked at all sad. Fast satisfactorily broken, they scuttled off to investigate the herb farm, Helga taking the absent (and now fugitive) Kron's horse. When they got within sight of the farm they saw workers in the fields who ran away towards a barn when they spotted the party. They appeared to be Goblins! Out in the daylight? How strange? The party attempted to ride the goblins down, but only Helga reached them before they disappeared into the barn. She did, however, manage to impale one of the goblins, pinning it to the barn wall, and stopped her horse before it ran through the barn door. They all dismounted and handed Li Kung their reins to hold (absent player duty). He rode off a short distance into the nearby woods to wait for them. The party noticed a hayloft door above the entrance, to which Helga failed to climb. Gaelle had no trouble, scrambling up the side of the barn like a rat up a rope, and Helga reached the door while Gaelle hung from the loading beam above. The rest stepped through the doorway. Straight into four heavy crossbow bolts, fired by a row of hobgoblins waiting for them. The goblins were disappearing down a hole at the other end of the barn. Luckily, only one bolt hit, taking half Seigfried’s life with it. The hobgoblins swiftly exchanged their bows for shortspears and shields, while our heroes decided upon their next move. Gaelle destroyed the bar on the hayloft roof door with remarkable show of strength and silently tumbled past any as yet unperceived guards. Observing the lack of guards Helga made her way quietly to the edge of the loft, which covered half the barn and looked down. Only the four Hobgoblins were in view and all were out of reach of even her longspear. On the ground, Seigfried and Cord charged the hobgoblins whilst Gracientus blessed the party. Seigfried’s charge was unsuccessful but Cord cut his opponent down and cleaved through Seigfried’s for good measure. Gaelle attempted to shoot the hobgoblins from the loft but missed and Helga dropped down behind one of them, failing to strike him and twisting her ankle from the height of the hurried drop. Still she could give one of the fighters a flank. The remaining hobgoblins, stunned by Cord’s ferocious efficiency and the aerial assault, failed to respond with any useful attacks. Seigfried moved into the attack again but his sword cut only air while Cord cut through his own, helped by Helga’s flank, and then cleaved through Siegfried’s hobgoblin (again). The upright German was beginning to feel embarrassed at Cord’s effectiveness and his lack. With the immediate threat dealt with the party did not push on down the 10’ wide ramp into the hobgoblins’ subterranean lair, but instead gathered their energies in the barn. Gracientus attempted to heal Seigfried, ineffectively, while Gaelle stripped the studded armour off of a hobgoblin and began stuffing it with straw. Cord and Helga positioned themselves either side of the ramp where they might gain a height advantage, should any more enemies emerge. Cord picked up one of the hobgoblin corpse to use as a pavise and Helga inched back to lose herself in the shadows. They can hear more creatures approaching and signal this to the others. Gracientus responds by curing some of Seigfried’s wounds. Gaelle continued stuffing the armour with straw. What is she up to? A single hobgoblin ventured forth and failed to shoot Gaelle as she constructed her scarecrow. Helga, having a crossbow prepared, failed to shoot the scout, as did Gaelle, as she dropped the straw man and flipped her bow into her nimble hands. Suddenly, numerous hobgoblins charged up the slope and into combat with everyone although, in the limited space, only six could safely engage. Of these two attacked Gaelle, one successfully. The same is true of Cord with the hobgoblin’s spear driven much deeper into his flesh. Helga and Seigfried were both missed by their single opponents. Cord struck back, neatly bisecting one hobgoblin and slaying the other with a single strike of his mighty Fullblade. Gaelle retreated a few steps firing her bow rapidly but the swift rain for once lacked accuracy and her aggressors remained unharmed. Helga and Seigfried both returned their hobgoblins’ ineffective attacks in kind, while Gracientus snatched up one of the fallen heavy crossbows and carefully loaded it, moving back from immediate danger. Everyone’s eyes widened as more armed and armoured hobgoblins erupt from below ground and assaulted at speed. Seigfried was swiftly surrounded and Helga found herself fighting two of the smelly brutes. They had both remained untouched but knew their luck couldn’t hold. Observing the entrails hanging from Cord’s blade and the dark blood pulsing from the several bodies lying at his feet two hobgoblins shot at him but he was nicked by only one arrow. Again Gaelle was missed as her assailants ignored Gracientus. Cord moved to aid Seigfried, decapitating one of his opponents but could not recover the awesome blow to cleave another. Still, the hobgoblin’s body pumped blood high into the air showering all nearby as his head exited the barn through the doorway thanks to the ferocity of the impressive blow. Gaelle managed to hit one of her aggressors but failed to drop him. Helga fought defensively and ineffectively while Seigfried and Gracientus finally managed to strike and shoot effectively, Seigfried downing another of his surrounding enemies and Gracientus shooting one out of combat, winging it. What seemed an endless tide of hobgoblins continued to wash against the party, now seeking the obviously weaker members. Three of them surrounded Helga and battered her to a stagger while two moved in on Gracientus and combined to take most of his health (and blood) from him. Seigfried was struck by a charging new combatant, as his only remaining foe was filled with the terror of his neighbour’s headless body staggering about by the side of him and the grinning visage of the blood-soaked Cord close by. The hobgoblins were avoiding the bloody man of muscle but one made an attempt to shoot him, ineffectively. Cord laughed as his bloody blade tore through another of Seigfried’s opponents. Gaelle retreated further and rapid shot, killing his own and Seigfried’s terror-struck opponents. Helga, already staggered, attempted to tumble out of her predicament and was taken down by a hobgoblin’s reflexive strike. Gracientus ran from his attackers to hide behind Gaelle and Seigfried moved to attack Helga’s attackers, waving his sword ineffectively as he worried about Helga bleeding to death on the dirt floor. Helga’s circle of admirers moved to surround Seigfried but only one spear scratched him. The hobgoblin that had been facing Gracientus was torn between attacking him, Gaelle or Cord, courageously chooses the latter. He was joined by a quivering hobgoblin crossbowman who was heartened by the thought of a flank, but still neither managed to strike the blood-drenched warrior. The tiring heroes noticed that no more hobgoblins were venturing from their lair and hoped they were running out of opponents. Cord attempted to cleave through his pair of foes but for once they evaded his massively telegraphed attack, one dodging straight into the path of one of Gaelle’s arrows. Helga lay bleeding on the floor, Gracientus struggled to reload the unfamiliar heavy crossbow and Seigfried waved his blade about a bit. Despite their advantage in numbers and positions only one hobgoblin managed to hit anyone, Seigfried again. Cord made no mistake this time and his Fullblade sent hobgoblin limbs spinning in all directions as two corpses hit the ground, adding to the mountain of inhuman flesh that surrounded him. Gaelle shot and wounded one of Seigfried’s, Helga continued to bleed. Seigfried, almost out of blood himself, managed to kill one of his three opponents and disengaged to gain support from Cord, also allowing Gracientus a free shot, which he failed to use to his advantage. Only two hobgoblins remained and one of these had an arrow in his shoulder, but still they fought on in a desperate effort to save their mates and children from the predation of the humans. The uninjured one gathered up every last ounce of courage and threw himself at Cord with a murderous roar, impaling him and revealing that some of the visceral material was human after all as Cord fell to the many minor injuries he had accrued. The injured hobgoblin likewise hurled himself at Seigfried but slipped on a strange puddle of goo that had been slowly seeping from Helga along with her blood, stabbing himself. Gaelle shot the injured hobgoblin with two arrows, finally dispatching it. S attacked the uninjured hobgoblin, knowing that he himself was only a scratch from death, striking it but not putting it down. Now they were equals. Gracientus ran in and tried to aid Cord but there was so much blood he found it very difficult to find an actual wound. The last hobgoblin thrust his spear past Seigfried and stepped away shouting something in his own tongue before Gaelle’s black fletched signature arrow took him down. Bravely Seigfried approached the ramp and peered down, but couldn’t see anything. Helga and Cord bled some more but Gracientus uses the mystic power of Set find their wounds, seal them and restore them to consciousness. Battered and bruised, with only Gaelle having any fight left in her, the party retreated to the nearby woods. They could hear Goblin voices from down the ramp but even with Gaelle and Gracientus combining their efforts they could not restore any fighting spirit to Helga although Gaelle’s healing potion did instil some life back into Cord. In the relative safety of the woods the party reflected on the hobgoblin encounter that was more challenging than they expected. After six hours of rest everyone is fighting fit and ready to continue. Nightfall came and went, renewing Gracientus’ mystical ability. Returning under cover of darkness, not that this would bother goblins and hobgoblins much, they sneaked back into the barn. Helga and Gracientus lit torches and Gaelle unmasks her lantern. The dead hobgoblins had been removed, dragged down the ramp into the lair. While Gaelle confirmed this was accomplished by smaller creatures, muffled scuffling could be heard from the loft. Gaelle threw her lantern aloft, starting a fire but not the immediate conflagration she had hoped for. There were immediate squeals of alarm from above and Helga moved to one of the ladders to take an opportunist poke at any goblins that might use it, but the goblins threw themselves down instead, some hurting themselves as others of their kind charged up the ramp frothing at the mouth, shrilly crying out in their guttural tongue. Gaelle targeted one of the goblin jumpers and one who was partially aflame, putting them out of their misery. Cord shoot at one with his crossbow, missing by yards, and threw the treacherous device aside, drawing his trusty sword. Gracientus blessed the group while Seigfried charged into combat, his obviously blunted Fullblade bouncing off the goblin’s padded armour. Helga struck at the same gobo but also missed. The goblins, energised by the highly calorific hobgoblin flesh they had just enjoyed, frantically charged. Five threw themselves at Gaelle, three drawing the bow woman’s blood, two struck at Cord, one hitting. These goblins have no fear of the huge man with the enormous chopper; they did not witness his fine batch of double strikes in the previous battle and he has cleaned himself up a bit since then. Four attacked Seigfried, two hitting and one worked his way over to Hegla but missed her. Gaelle stepped back and made kebabs of two opponents, Cord cleaved through both his and steppe across to threaten Helga’s. Gracientus unloads a crossbow in the vague direction of a goblin, Seigfried and Helga waved their weapons around to no avail, though Helga slashed an unwary goblin as it ran within reach of her weapon. The goblins went for it while they still could. Two missed Cord, three attacked Seigfried but only one managed to hit, three missed Gaelle and Helga’s only attacker realised he was poking her with the soft end and spent valuable combat time turning his spear around. In response Gaelle extracted a goblin’s eye through the back of its skull with a perfectly aimed arrow, Cord cleaved through his and moved to give Seigfried a flank, despite leaving himself flanked, but then Seigfried killed the flanked goblin while Gracientus missed a shot and Helga managed to wound hers. Only three goblins remained and two turned tail and ran; Gaelle shot one down, Gracientus missed the other but Seigfried outran it and slayed it easily while Cord finished the last persistent attacker who was still worrying Helga. By now the loft was well ablaze and the group decided to leave to investigate the other buildings. Cord looked for any smoke issuing from other exits but saw none. The farmhouse was in poor repair but solid and Helga took a crossbow bolt to the chest having failed to spot the trap on the main door. The building itself and remaining goods were of human design and a thorough investigation discovered a male and a female human with their throats cut in their sleep and a younger male cut down in a fight. There was only one other outbuilding and this had been ruined sometime in the past so the party moved the corpses and bedded down until the barn burned itself out. The next morning the party investigated the barn again; Gaelle revealed that the females and young led by a human left about eight hours ago, probably while they were engrossed in searching the farmhouse. Moving burnt beams from the ramp into the earth, they moved into the gobbos’ lair. After half an hour of sneaking around all they could find was a cartload of coriander and a lot of smelly goblin nests. Suddenly, movement caught their eyes. Something was still down here. [/QUOTE]
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They came in search of Paradise (A Story of Erth) - Updated 23rd April
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