After returning to Fallcrest and getting some much needed rest, Janic begins his search for some assistance with his mission. After several days with nothing to show for his efforts Janic finally found two adventurers drinking at an inn on the more unsavory side of town called Tharn's Keep. Stelios, a dragonborn paladin who had the look of someone not keen on conversation and Murleck, a half-elf garbed in what could only be the gear of a ranger, had been sitting next to each other at the bar each eying the other while working on their mugs of ale. Janic, not seeing this interaction at all, interjected, cutting whatever tension may have been there and told his tale. Much to Janic's surprise both Murleck and Stelios, their reasons their own, save their interest in a possible reward, decided to join Janic in his quest.
After a day of preparation, which meant restocking on supplies and having a few more pints of ale, the small band set off back to the goblin lair. Upon arriving at the lair, they find the entrance way left surprisingly unguarded so the group makes their way into the first antechamber. The team is immediately met by two goblin cutthroats.
"INVADERS!! INVADERS!!" the rear goblin shrieked as the fore goblin made ready to attack the new unwelcome visitors.
"Well, here we go" Stelios chided, his falchion at the ready. Quickly surveying the room, the paladin notices a large black horse tethered to the far wall.
The goblins moved quickly to attack, slipping in and around the band slashing their short swords wherever they found an opening to strike. Stelios, finding an opportunity for counter dealt heavy damage with an ardent strike of pious energy. Murleck loosed arrow upon arrow at his targets while Janic stayed a few steps behind unleashing plasma blast energy. With the melee fully engaged, the rear goblin continued to cry "INVADERS!!! INVADERS!!!" which brought a swarthy looking goblin into the room. This goblin looked different than the skirmishers currently engaged. He wore loose robes and carried a large oaken staff. Seeing the battle before him, the newcomer quickly started waving his staff in intricate patterns in the air.
"Watch out, I think we have a hexer on our hands!" Janic yelled to his companions. Just then from a door to the right leapt forth a crimson scaled drake. The drake immediately locked onto a target, charging towards Murleck snapping it's fierce jaws but thus far missing his prey. The battle raged for what seemed like hours, but was in fact only minutes, the goblins and their draconic ally clearly having the upper hand. Stelios was the first to shed blood as goblin warriors continued to find openings. Janic took wounds almost as quickly and was bleeding badly soon after while Murleck was having some very inopportune sighting issues with his bow. The goblin Hexer unleashed a vexing spell into the scrum, affecting the party's ability to see their enemies clearly. Things were not going well... but then Stelios begun to turned the tide with a mighty blow to one of the goblin warriors, rending his body, causing massive amounts of blood to spill. Janic unleashed a powerful wall of searing flame behind Stel's attack, the same goblin caught in the eternal flames, it's blood boiling until it burst from his body like a swollen tomato. Blood splatter drenched the drake, which sent in into a wild frenzy it's wild thrashing and bites missing their intended targets. Murleck, taking advantage of the moment buried two arrows deep into the drakes skull, far more blood than a being should have within came pouring from the dead creatures head and body, painting the floor tiles crimson. As the two creatures fell, the numbers had shifted in favor of the crew, but with two already sustaining bad wounds, the fight was far from won.
Janic lured the remaining goblin swordsman into his eternal fire causing the goblin to strike violently at the tiefling mage while sustaining heavy burns across it's body... burns that proved to much for the goblin to take as the flames engulfed and consumed him.
As the remaining swordsman was being roasted on a spit, Stelios and Murleck turned their attention on the Hexer who was now backing away. Clearly out numbered, the hexer continued to weave arcane powers directed at the "invaders". Several hexes struck Stel cleanly, causing his already open wounds to bleed worse.
"I got this guy" says Stel through gritted teeth.
Moving in for an ardent strike against the Hexer, Stel calls forth the divine strength of his god Ilmater, but the Hexer seeing the power surge through the dragonborn dodged at the last possible minute.
"AARRRRR! Dammit!" roared Stel, punching the stone wall next to him in furious anger.
As soon as Stel's massive fist moved from the deep impression in the stone, cracks spidering out from the center, he hears the resounding "THOK. THOK" sound as two arrows embeded themselves deep into the crater, Murleck's bow trained on the Hexer but missing it's mark by inches. The Hexer seeing his good fortune, shifts away and doubles his arcane efforts.
"DIE INVADERS!!!!" cries the goblin mage, hands and staff weaving intricate patterns at break neck speeds.
Just then another blinding cloud engulfs the band, making it difficult to see and causing painful needle like pain throughout their bodies.
"We need to end this!" one of them calls through the mist
Suddenly the deadly cloud is illuminated as a plasmic blast of energy streaks past Stel and Murleck and strikes the hexer in the chest! With the aide of this illumination, Stelios swings his blade and scores a direct hit on the hexer, the mage screaming in pain! Sudden flashes of quicksiver slice the air and just as quickly as the scream had started it suddenly stopped... a headless Goblin hexer falling to the tile, his blood spraying into the air almost looking multicolored in the mist, Murleck Oakstone's two blades dripping with blood as he stands over the body of the fallen mage. Looking down at his kill, the half-elf licks a little of the blood off of his fouled blade.
"I think that's all of them" wheezes Janic from the other side of the room.
The 3 adventures, winded and in pain, sit where they were standing, catching their breath and tending to their wounds. After a few minutes, the magical mist dissipates and the three can see each other clearly. Grinning at their fortune and silently acknowledging the fact that this is going to be a little more difficult than they had planned on, they being to explore the newly vacated rooms.....
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