Just before midnight, the Goblin drumming and chanting has stopped and two groups charged the compound in a coordinated effort. The traps and other defenses that had been set up did a good job of breaking the charge, though in the melee, Eranthil the Elven ranger had sustained an injury and fallen off the top of the tower.
After dragging him back inside, it was revealed that he was dead, either from the sling bullet wound to the head or the near 50 foot fall that broke his back. It was decided to lock the homestead back down and continue picking off the skirmishers with missile fire from the second floor.
Before anyone could get back into position though, a loud crash could be heard from upstairs followed by barking, growling and screaming! Quickly Marcel, Draven and Griffin rushed upstairs to find out what was going on. One of the dire wolves had somehow managed to work his way up to an undefended second floor window on the west end of the homestead and force his way in. Taras and Alfana were trying to deal with the creature and Burik was coming to their aid just as the others arrived.
Marcel quickly stepped in with his sword and shield and engaged the wolf while Griffin moved along the edge of the room and maneuvered around the back of the beast. Draven moved in as well, trying to drive the creature back while Burik, Taras and Alfana provided assistance. Taras and Marcel both took minor bites from the large wolf and Draven, unaccustomed to fighting wild animals, stepped in too close and the wolf's teeth found the flesh of his neck, ripping a large wound in the holy man. Draven stumbled and fell to the ground but managed to remain consciousness while the fight progresses. After a few more minutes, the wolf had sustained a good number of wounds and Marcel stepped in, putting his weight behind his shield and smashed the wolf to the ground, unconscious. Quickly it was put out of its misery as no one wanted it waking up later and wreaking more havoc. Just as the battle was over, Draven fell to the ground, unconscous from his wound and blood loss. Marcel quickly bandaged him up to stop the bleeding. Taras quickly produced a healing potion that got Draven back on his feet.
After the wolf was defeated, the Goblns outside began to fall back. The homesteaders, with much help from the visiting adventurers, were able to repel the attack. Kuzma, Pytor's mother called upon the patron immortals of the Traladaran people and they blessed her with the ability to heal the Thyatian's wounds.
Once retreated to their position in the woods, the Goblins take up their drumming and chanting again. After some time, it seems as if they are settling in and waiting. No more attacks come, only the occasional volley of sling stones pelt the side of the building. Eran is covered and some prayers and words are spoken for their fallen comrade.
Eventually, Pytor convinces everyone to try to get some rest before the next assault comes. The adventurers are allowed to take first rest, along with a few of the homesteaders. Pytor promises to awaken everyone when more trouble starts. Marcel camps out in the west end of the second floor after he puts up a makeshift covering on the broken window. Griffin, Akaios and Burik hang out in the main room near their friend, Eran, talking about old stories and remembering good times.
Draven finds a quiet corner and spends some time in prayer and meditation while Remar and Ree both sit on opposite sides of the 2nd floor balcony and study their spell books for a while before falling asleep.
Somewhere around 3am, the Goblin drums and chanting abruptly stops again and the forest goes silent. The absence of the drumming is enough to wake Griffin up. He hears someone moving around on the balcony above and goes to find Taras frantically going from window to window to see if he can detect any movement in the darkness outside. Several other folk wake up as well and tension builds, until the drums pick up again and when the chanting starts back up, it almost sounds like the Goblins are laughing.
A few more hours of fitful sleep follows until just before dawn, the drum beat slows down and the chant changes into a slow, droning type of noise. This continues as everyone in the homestead begins making preparations, believing that the Goblins are going to make one last foray before the sun comes up, and they are right.
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| The Goblins rush across the clearing! |
Within a moment, the entire group of Redblade Goblins are charging across the north clearing toward the homestead. There looks to be 30 to 40 of them, and as they approach, several of them can be seen carrying makeshift ladders. They enter the compound with a good number of them firing sling bullets in timed coordination. Griffin, Ree and Bahaznic take shots from the top of the tower while the rest of the archers fire from second story windows. Marcel joins them on the second floor to help repulse any Goblins trying to climb into the homestead. Draven and Akaios man the first floor, ready to hold the doors in case of a breach there. Draven had made some preparations in advance and put some protective magics on Marcel and Akaios, making them harder to hit while casting a heavy Armor spell on himself, giving him the ability to soak up incredible amounts of damage!
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| The Goblins pour into the homestead, the leader and his guards head for the door. |
The initial moment are quite chaotic as the entire war-band pours into the homestead. The defenders send arrow after arrow, stone after stone, bolt after arcane bolt, but the Goblins continue to press forward. During the assault, Griffin notices a small group of Goblins moving through the yard toward the door to the main hall. These five burly Goblins wear heavy chain or brignadine armor and wield normal sized broadswords. The Goblin at the center of this group carries himself with a cool confidence not normally seen in Goblins and Griffin immediately takes him for the leader. He points him out to his companions and begins firing down on him, but the surrounding Goblins seem to be ready for this type of tactic and quickly throw up their shields, protecting their leader from any attack.
Meanwhile, the continuous onslaught of Goblins against the front wall of the homestead is too much and one of the ladders gets propped up. Two Goblins leap through and into the far room where Marcel and Alfana had been defending. Marcel quickly engages the first Goblin as Alfana steps back and readies a nearby spear.
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| Marcel and Alfana square off against some Goblins. |
Griffin tries to coordinate the efforts of those on the roof of the tower in raining down death from above when death is rained down from above them in the form of 2 more Foul Bats! The large, fluttering creatures swoop down and start attacking, making it impossible to continue shooting down into the yard below. Griffin fast draws his blade and engages while yelling at Ree and Bahaznic to quickly head downstairs.
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| Griffin, Ree and Bahaznic are harried by some foul-smelling Giant Bats. |
Down below, the knot of Goblin leader and his guards quickly make it to the main door and they waste no time in hacking through the wood. Their blades smash through the door easily, and in just a few moments, there is a wide enough space for one of the Goblins to poke his head through, only to be met by Akaios's wide axe blade, sending him to the ground in a heap, though taking out another large chunk of the door at the same time. The other Goblins waste no time piling into the room after that. Draven steps to the side of the door and lets them clamber through, then takes a shot at one, hitting him from the side. These Goblins were tougher and more skilled than their shortsword wielding counterparts and proved to be a much more difficult endeavor. Akaios takes a nasty gut shot from the leader and falls to the ground incapacitated and unconscious. Draven presses the attack at the leader but is unable to get any telling shots in while the leader hits him several times with his red painted broadsword. Fortunately for Draven, his protective magic absorbs the brunt of these attacks and he only takes minimal damage. From up above, Remar contributes to the melee by casting some spells. He makes one of the Goblins faint from terror and another one run into the room screaming and shaking his hands over his head. Meanwhile, Pytor and Burik come to the top of the stairs to help with the breach as two of the Goblins charge up the stairs, leaving Draven and the Goblin leader to face off in front of the door. Draven knows it will be only a matter of time before more Goblins start pouring into the room.
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| Draven faces off with the Redblade Goblin leader! |
After defeating the giant bats, Griffin chances one more glance over the battlements of the tower and sees down below that the main door has been breached and that a whole mess of Goblins are making their way towards it! Quickly, he heads for the stairs leading back down into the homestead.
