The battle against the goblins was going as well as could be expected, with half the guards either dead or cut off from the rest of us in the initial moments of the ambush, and several of those remaining sporting deep wounds, while the merchants huddled in their wagons. They were merchants, not warriors. The priest of Mystra was in the first wagon, which looked like it had been caught in the rockslide along with the mounted guards riding in front. Who knew if he still drew breath?

Melinda’s Attack: 1d20+10 = 21 (Hit)

Goblin Ranger 1’s Opportunity Attack: 1d20+6 = 14 (Miss)

Damage: 1d8 = 8 Bludgeoning

Damage: 3d6 = 8 Cold (Dead)

I ignored the goblin ranger in front of me. The second one was going for the crude lever that would send more rocks tumbling down upon the caravan. Not only would the caravan be trapped in the pass, but it would likely take out most of the guards as well. The shouted warnings meant that the goblins had planned for this possibility, and would likely retreat, leaving only the guards to suffer the impact of the falling rocks.

I could leave them to their fate, simply fight my own battle. But that was the coward’s way. I may have been exiled, but I was still a child of the Tribes of the Dale. I wasn’t going to simply let goblin scum do what they wished. These lesser beings should learn their place!

With a quick flap of my wings, I rose from the ground. The goblin in front of me tried to lash out with his blade, but it was no use. I flew over his head, and came down behind the second bowman, my fist wreathed in icy blue power as I combined the Hideous Blow and Hellrime Blast abilities for the first time.

The result was… spectacular. My fist caved through the goblin’s skull, and you could see the blood and grey matter freezing upon contact, shattering into frozen crystals. I pulled back my hand, and the goblin fell to the ground, dead.

Goblin Fighter Group 1 Attack: 1d20+5 = 16 (Miss)

Goblin Fighter Group 2 Attack: 1d20+5 = 18 (Miss)

Goblin Fighter Group 3 Attack: 1d20+5 = 25 (Crit Threat)

Confirm: 1d20+5 = 24 (Confirmed)

Guard 3 Damage: 3d6 = 9 (6/42)

Goblin Fighter Group 4 Attack: 1d20+5 = 8 (Miss)

Goblin Fighter Group 5 Attack: 1d20+5 = 19 (Miss)

Guard 1 Attack of Opportunity: 1d20+9 = 13 (Miss)

Guard 2 Attack of Opportunity: 1d20+9 = 17 (Hit)

Damage: 1d8+3 = 7 (Dead)

Guard 3 Attack of Opportunity: 1d20+9 = 14 (Miss)

Guard 4 Attack of Opportunity: 1d20+9 = 28 (Crit Threat)

Confirm: 1d20+9 = 11 (Normal Hit)

Damage: 2d8+6 = 11 (Dead)

Guard 5 Attack of Opportunity: 1d20+9 = 17 (Hit)

Damage: 1d8+3 = 10 (Dead)

Guard 6 Attack of Opportunity: 1d20+9 = 15 (Hit)

Damage: 1d8+3 = 11 (1/12)

The Goblin Fighters attacked again, striking at the guards, attempting to weaken them even a little, not knowing that I had stopped the second ranger from setting off the trap. Another of the guards looked to be in critical shape, and I did not know how much longer they could stand against the numbers they were presented with.

Having struck their blows, the fighters retreated up hidden paths in the rubble, but, in their haste, they left themselves open to retribution from the guardsmen. Three more fell to the longswords of the guards, and the group that had been attacking Hagrun had only a single survivor in it, and that one looked to be holding on by the barest of threads. The caravan’s guards were clearly better than the goblins, and if they could put together a unified defense, then they had a chance.

Melinda’s Attack of Opprotunity: 1d20+10 = 25 (Hit)

Damage: 1d8 = 5 (10/15)

Guard 1 Reflex Save: 1d20+2 = 10 (Fail)

Guard 2 Reflex Save: 1d20+2 = 4 (Fail)

Guard 3 Reflex Save: 1d20+2 = 16 (Half Damage)

Guard 4 Reflex Save: 1d20+2 = 3 (Fail)

Guard 5 Reflex Save: 1d20+2 = 11 (Fail)

Guard 6 Reflex Save: 1d20+2 = 11 (Fail)

Damage: 4d6 = 18

Guard 1: (17/42)

Guard 2: (3/42)

Guard 3: (Dead)

Guard 4: (13/42)

Guard 5: (Dead)

Guard 6: (24/42)

I saw a flash of green rush past me. I struck out with my fist, but did not have time to summon the magic that infused the attack I’d launched on the other ranger. It hit the goblin, but it did not stop him. With a screeching yell of defiance, it pulled the lever the other goblin had been reaching for.

The result was immediate. Rocks both large and small rolled into the pass, lined up for the area where the guardsmen were still gathering their wits after the goblins suddenly pulled back. Stones crashed and clattered all around them. Some hitting them, some not, but leaving nowhere to completely avoid the onslaught. Two of the guards, including Hagrun, were dead. One was on death’s door and two more were not far from it. The battle had suddenly taken a very grim turn indeed.

Goblin Warrior Group 1 Attack: 1d20+3 = 6 (Miss)

Goblin Warrior Group 2 Attack: 1d20+3 = 22 (Hit)

Guard 2 Damage: 4d4 = 9 (Dead)

Goblin Warrior Group 3 Attack: 1d20+3 = 12 (Miss)

Goblin Warrior Group 4 Attack: 1d20+3 = 10 (Miss)

Goblin Warrior Group 5 Attack: 1d20+3 = 13 (Miss)

The goblin warriors did not give the guardsmen time to recover their senses. Another volley of javelins flew from where they were perched, and while most missed, several struck an already perilously wounded guardsman, and he, too, joined his comrades in death. All to the cheers of goblins.

Guard 1 Will Save: 1d20+2 = 14 (Fail)

Guard 4 Will Save: 1d20+2 = 16 (Fail)

Guard 6 Will Save: 1d20+2 = 18 (Fail)

That proved too much for the guardsmen’s courage. There were still over thirty of the enemies left, and only three of them. One guard broke first, turning to clamber over the fallen rocks, leaving his horse behind, and with nothing but the pack on his back for supplies. That caused the other two to follow suit, abandoning the wagons, and the merchants who wailed in terror as their defenders left them.

Melinda’s Attack: 1d20+10 = 28 (Hit)

Goblin Ranger 1’s Attack of Opportunity: 1d20+6 = 10 (Miss)

Damage: 3d6 = 16 Cold (Dead)

I didn’t bother with any of the formalities. A Hellrime Blast ripped through the last goblin ranger’s chest, throwing him back against the rock wall, where it slumped down, eyes staring dumbly at the frozen hole where his heart once was. Roars of anger came my way from the other side of the pass, as the goblins saw my actions. Thirty-one. There were thirty-one goblins remaining.

AWOOOOOOO!

Initiatives:

Melinda

Frostmane

Goblin Fighters x11

Goblin Warriors x20

Goblin Warriors Reflex Save: 1d20+1 = 15 (Fail)

Breath Weapon damage: 4d6 = 11 Cold

Recharge: 1d4 = 2 rounds

A wolf’s howl echoed in the mountain pass. From above, cloud of icy mist billowed down upon one group of the goblins that had been perched on their ledge. Six goblin warriors were caught in the area of the blast. None of them survived it.

All eyes turned to where the breath, and the howl, had come from. A massive wolf, white-furred save for a patch about its shoulders that looked almost like ice simply moved, breaking the concealment it had enjoyed up to that point. It dwarfed the goblins below it, for this was no mere wolf or even a worg, this was a Winter Wolf, a creature born of the cold and snow. Larger than some of its kin, it stood five feet tall at the shoulder! I had never seen one up close, until now.

New Goblin Fighter Group 1 Attack: 1d20+3 = 18 (Hit)

Damage: 3d4 = 5 (67/72)

New Goblin Fighter Group 2 Attack: 1d20+3 = 11 (Miss)

New Goblin Fighter Group 3 Attack: 1d20+3 = 15 (Miss)

New Goblin Fighter Group 4 Attack: 1d20+3 = 10 (Miss)

The Goblin Fighters, better trained than the Warriors, quickly focused themselves into new groups, to sort out their numbers as best they could. But they did not try to charge uphill to save their warrior kin, instead electing to use javelins to try and strike the massive wolf. And while they had some success, their attacks did little but annoy the great beast.

New Goblin Warrior Group 1: 1d20+5 = 14 (Miss)

The warriors also regrouped, with one group of seven trying to swarm the wolf, while the other seven ran to try and collect the javelins they had thrown earlier. Only those who were trying to recover lost javelins had any success, however, as the winter wolf was far too canny for the goblin weapons to reach its flesh. And yet, I’d already seen with the fate of the guards how weaker creatures could win out through numbers and trickery.

Melinda’s Attack: 1d20+10 = 18 (Hit)

Damage: 3d6 Cold (Dead)

Whether the wolf chose that moment to interfere simply so it could steal the goblins’ kill, or because of something else, I didn’t know, and I didn’t much care. What I did know is that I wasn’t going to run from this fight, not while it looked like a powerful ally had appeared. Taking wing, I flew over the battlefield and blasted one of the goblins who was attempting to gather javelins, the force of the spell splattering him across the rocky ground. It would not do to let the goblins forget she was here!

Frostmane’s Attack: 1d20+13 = 22 (Hit)

Damage: 1d8+9 = 16 Bludgeoning

Damage: 1d6 = 6 Cold

Goblin: (Dead)

The winter wolf’s jaws snapped at one of the goblins that was closest to it, and it brought up half-remembered images of horror movies when I was in my old world. Like a shark just coming out of nowhere to snatch up a person in its jaws and end them in one fell swoop. Everything above the goblin’s head and below its ankles remained, but the rest? It disappeared in the wolf’s maw, only to be thrown to the side with what I could only interpret to be a look of disgust at the taste.

New Goblin Fighter Group 1 Attack: 1d20+3 = 22 (Miss)

New Goblin Fighter Group 2 Attack: 1d20+3 = 6 (Miss)

New Goblin Fighter Group 3 Attack: 1d20+3 = 5 (Miss)

New Goblin Fighter Group 4 Attack: 1d20+3 = 11 (Miss)

The Goblin Fighters seemed to understand that the tide was turning against them. But with two threats, one that could fly and another that could track by scent, escape was impossible. Which was most likely why, this time, they turned their javelins on me, though their aim left much to be desired. One of the goblins called out commands to the rest, as the goblin fighters began to retreat away from the wrecked caravan.

New Goblin Warrior Group 1: 1d20+5 = 21 (Hit)

Damage: 6d4 = 13 (54/72)

New Goblin Warrior Group 2: 1d20+3 = 7 (Miss)

The Goblin Warriors around the Winter Wolf attacked, and they were able to score some hits with their morningstars, but I could see that they were nowhere close to taking down the creature, not yet. The ones who had been reclaiming thrown javelins cast a volley at the wolf, that all flew wide, before scurrying up the rocky incline towards where the fighters were backing away to. To my eyes, it looked like the goblins were retreating, and leaving some of their number to die by wolf to buy the rest of them time. Perhaps they hoped that the wolf would be satisfied with just a few bodies, or were hoping that the wolf and I would fight it out when they were gone. Or perhaps they were just scared, and barely maintaining some kind of discipline. Either way, they were trying to escape.