A blazing wagon filled the street with light. Several
excited goblins were grouped around it, chattering loudly. The fire seemed to
excite them so I presumed they had been the ones to set it. Several wielded lit
torches.
They hadn’t seen us yet so we charged. The dancer gracefully
flicked her scarf full of knives and sliced a goblin from top to bottom. The
grey cat hissed and leapt at a second, clawing and biting. The goblin howled
and lit the cat’s fur with the torch in his hand. A louder bellow sounded as a
large humanoid goblin rushed in. She slammed full force into the dancer. She
hefted her weapon and egged on the goblins to attack.
But she didn’t remain standing for long. The Shoanti woman
hefted her spear and thrust it right through the chanter’s chest. Her voice
abruptly cut off and she fell dead to the ground.
Now that she was silenced, I could hear human screams over
the crackling of the fire. I ran towards the sounds, vaguely aware of the cat
running away. The others followed and we came upon a disturbing scene. Several
goblins had a young human male cornered behind some crates and boxes. One of the
goblins was huge. A commander probably.
The dancer finished off the goblin which came running up
behind us. Unfortunately, the large goblin was armed with a bow and mounted on
a mangy dog. He raised it up and took aim at her but he missed.
Feeling that another archer was my territory, I took aim and
fired, hitting the goblin dead center. He howled and I felt a searing pain. A
goblin had rushed up and cut me with his dogslicer. The bear pounded up and with one swipe of his
huge paw crushed my attacker.
Another arrow whizzed past us and hit the large goblin. I
looked around and saw a female halfling standing with bow raised. I had no idea
where she’d come from but I was glad for any assistance. These goblins weren’t
hard to beat but their numbers made them highly annoying.
The dancer twirled back into the fight, catching a goblin
unawares and tripped him. The large goblin’s next arrow nearly hit the halfling.
He needed to be taken out so I shot him in the chest again.
The goblin who the dancer had tripped sprang to his feet.
She wasn’t quick enough to hit him again. He slashed at her, cutting a bloody
streak through her clothes. The bear roared but his swipe didn’t connect
because the goblin dodged cleverly.
However, the goblin wasn’t quick enough to dodge the Shoanti’s
spear. A snarl and the dog upon which the commander rode tried to bite the
bear. It missed, though, skidding on the cobblestones.
Suddenly I heard the halfling chant something. The feel of
magic surrounded me and the pain from my wound diminished. Then the feel of
magic changed and it was the dancer chanting this time. A viper materialized
and attacked the large goblin and his dog. Both fell dead, bloody from their
wounds.
A sudden loud noise startled me and I raised my bow once
again. However it was merely the young man clapping.
“Well done!” he cried as he leapt out of hiding. His clothes
were of a fine cloth. I guessed him to be a noble. “Thank you for rescuing me,
great heroes! My name is Aldern Foxglove. Please, I’d like to give you a
reward. Come and see me at the Rusty Dragon for a feast on me!”
He approached me with a gleam in his eye. I still had my
crossbow half raised, so I made to put it away.
“Your shooting was fantastic. You must make sure to come to
the Rusty Dragon. All of you, come and eat at my expense.” He still looked a
little rattled so he bowed and trotted briskly away and out of sight.
I shook my head. He was an odd one and a coward to boot. The
others had already begun searching the bodies. Most of the weapons were of low
quality but I found a short sword to my liking as well as a healing potion. We
divided up the gold between us and trudged back to the square. I opened my
mouth to suggest Foxglove, I was hungry, but several loud screeches interrupted
me. They emanated from a northward direction. However, as soon as we entered
the square Father Zantus rushed up to us.
“Heroes! Please help! The house of our healer, Hannah, is on
fire and we can’t find her anywhere.”
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