Asif leans his weight against the wall to support himself. He waves reassuringly to Rhune as she darts off.
"There is no fear of that my love. The path I walk is yet to be completed. Aten shall tell me when my penance for my past is complete."
Forte picks up his mace, puts the sword away, and wipes his bloody cheek with his one good sleeve.
Once back in the confines of the room Dakath leans against the nearest wall and gingerly checks his side wound. "Well that went well, what about the large goblin who escaped through that door?" he indicates the opposite door with a nod of his head. With that he tries his best to bind his wound.
Forte, having gotten a sword from Arkady, hands Dakath back the one he borrowed so long ago (and never used).
Dakath grins despite his injury "I was wondering when I was going to get this back, you'd make a great thief, Forte, forgetting to return a borrowed item." He then places it in it's scabbard.
Rhune goes back to join the group......"Let's go if everyone is feeling up to it. How is Pietro? can you go on?" she asks the hurt man.
As Pietro is standing there, there is quite a lot of bewilderment in his eyes, and it takes quite a while before he realizes that there is no immediate danger anymore. He crashes down to the floor and sits with a very vague look in his eyes. The usual spark that is there is almost completely gone. It takes a while before some color returns to his face, and he starts to look around. "Sorry for that guys, I am not too much of a warrior, and this is the first time in my life that I had a really serious injury. I can tell you that it is not funny." Then suddenly the spark returns in his eyes. "Looking at all of you I know it is not funny!" He can't help himself but laugh, even though you see that is pretty painful.
Rhune looks at the man....then suddenly chuckles at his ability to laugh about the injury...."You are alright....Not many could laugh about their injuries like that."
Asif smiles at Pietro. "There is no shame in feeling pain efendi. The path of a warrior is hard but even I do not enjoy when my blades are too slow to fend off a blow. You who possesses skills in other areas, should feel no shame either. Rejoice in it. For thanks to the gods it is recognition by them that you still live. A dead man feels no pain. Indeed the pain of wounds is something new to me as well. My time upon the world has been short and until recently very sheltered. With honor I still bear scars on my left thigh of one of the first battles I fought in this land."
Moving toward the door that Ullar dashed through, the group sees what must be the main hall of the goblin chambers. In it are a rough wooden platform with a seat upon it, an equally crude table. Hanging above the platform are ten skulls in helmets, human-size, a tattered, unrecognizable flag, a decorated hunting horn, some jeweled spurs, and a beautiful golden goblet.
Through the other doorway, they hear what must be Arkady yelling in pain. Seems there was more combat to be had on the other side as well.
Picking up her bow, Rhune goes to join the others in the other room, "Let's go....Arkady is in trouble...." she yells as she makes her way toward the sound.
Forte heads for the door, mace at the ready, to help in whatever way he can. He doesn't have quite the spring in his step as when they first entered this building.
Pietro sits there, smiling thankfully to everyone standing around him, when suddenly there hear Arkady yell. "Can I walk? I will have to don't I. Stupidity, let's go! Warriors first, the rest closely behind that. Go pretty fast to the heart of the trouble. Us at the back will take everything that you will leave or attack in the back." Pietro tries to stand up, and is obviously glad that he can actually stand. When the warriors start for the other room, Pietro follows with his quarterstaff in his hands.
His spell seems to have restored his ability to walk, though it was far from regaining all his strength. He is fully able to follow the group, though. He still has one curative spell left in his repertoire.
Practically useless in combat now, Ratlin helps Pietro walk.
Seeing the others charge through the doors, Dakath moves towards the entrance and drags the dead goblin back into the room, he then risks a look outside to see if anyone can see them before closing the door and hopefully finding a way to lock it. He then makes his way to were Arkady was.
Unfortunately, there are no locks on the doors. Seems this tribe of goblins was a cocky bunch.
Arkady tries to stand but his wounds are too great. "Mats!! Mats!! Pochemu ya??" He sobs as he struggles to stay alive.
The group finds that Ullar appears to have cleaned house here, as eight more goblins lie about on the floor. The big one is nowhere to be seen, however, and Arkady and Tolik both appear to have taken pretty nasty injuries in assisting the big fella.
With a daze in his eyes, Ullar points to the door. "He.. is ... that way!" he says, before falling on his knees, the pain in his shoulder and leg pulsating through his body.
A look full of anger, Ullar turns around to face Forte: "Get him.. my friend, for he is as exhausted as I am!"
Having this said, the large warrior rests on Forte's greatsword; head on his left arm, facing the ground. The pain is gruesome, but somehow he manages to stay conscious. With his last remaining strength Ullar goes for his pack, scrambling to find the potion the faeries gave him when they visited the lake for the second time. In one mighty toss he gulps it down, closing his eyes in relief.
The potion's effects are minimal, however, as it was on Forte. Seems the little people do not know how to mix a proper dose for big men.
Treating the various injuries as best they can, Ratlin and Pietro bandage and clean practically everyone except the pretty elven maid. They do an excellent job, quieting Arkady and restoring his ability to fight. However, Tolik remains unconscious and Forte is quite unsteady, though walking about. Pietro and Arkady are still badly injured, Asif and Ullar, troopers that they are, once again bear several injuries, but seem okay. Amibar and Dakath bear only light wounds, and Ratlin is just fine.
The goblins are all the same yellow-skinned tribe, with heavy iron collars around their necks and iron bands around their arms as well. This seemed to be a strong tribe, for their lack of cowardice and the fact that each of them seemed to have a bow as well as a sword, remarkably well-trained for goblins. Amongst the bodies, there are some thirty quivers of arrows and short bows, along with five long swords and two dozen short.
They are also fairly wealthy for goblins. In addition to the various coins, of all shapes and sizes, upon their bodies, there is a heaping pile of coins upon the large table in the central chamber. It would take a tremendous amount of sorting, but there appears to be something like 16000 coppers, perhaps a thousand silver, and five hundred gold. The decorated hunting horn on the platform is worth around 50 gp. and the golden goblet is worth perhaps 200, estimated by Dakath.
"Ratlin, Pietro! Thank you! Sbasibo! I......." Arkady's voice fails as he sees the piles of treasure. "I've never seen so much money in my life!!"
Ullar, trying to get ready for his pursuit on the Chief, can't resist to blow the horn, in a memory of Taglio. "Sorry guys, but I've always wanted to do this!" he says, while taking a mighty puff before blowing the horn.
Then the warrior calls out to his companions: "We got to keep going, there can't be much more of them and their Chief is about to fall! He MUST die!" says Ullar, nearly shouting. The adrenaline is still floating through his veins, the blow on the horn didn't do him any good on that account.
"Ullar, that may be or there may be more of them...goblins breed like field mice. and most of the fighters are hurt. Let's see what happens after we have done some healing." Rhune responds.
Reluctantly Ullar accepts, feeling so close to finishing the job his eagerness makes him nearly forget all the lessons he learned from Master Morphius when he was being trained in the arena. "Never underestimate your opponent, and never count on an easy fight!" he repeats softly. "You're right Rhune, you're right."
"Okay, okay, calm down Ullar for a second, Ullar." Forte turns to the others. "Can you archers pepper him with arrows and then let us move in to finish him off?" he asks Rhune and the other archers. He turns toward the door to which Ullar pointed earlier and takes a step, but waits for an answer from the archers.
Then, hearing Forte's words, Ullar is back to reality, his eyelashes blinking like hell, trying to get away all the sweat which is dripping from his forehead.
Glad that someone still has his brain working, Ullar awaits the answer of the archers as well, impatient, since he is more than willing to finish the job.
Coming back into room, Rhune joins the others and helps with the wounded, going first to Asif to make sure he is alright....."I think we need to rest and do some healing before going any further.....Yes I know it may give our enemy time to prepare or even attack further, but most of us are hurt at the moment......this place is easy to defend, I propose we stay here for now, heal and rest and then go further." she says looking around
"As eager as I am to fight, I must agree with the beautiful young elf. We are in no condition to continue today Ullar. We must rest and have sutures before we continue. Plus Tolik is unconscious." Arkady gently pats Tolik's face trying to wake him.
Asif gladly accepts Rhune comforting his injuries. The dark material of his robes barely disguises the large degree of blood loss from his abdomen. Dropping his sword scabbards and harness to the ground and stripping of his blood stained upper robes, he examines his wound.
"Thank Aten Rhune, that this cut is not as deep as I thought. It hurts much and bleeds greatly, but the damage is only slight. A few stitches I think and I shall be fine."
"Unfortunately I don't know how to sew, love." Rhune utters gravely as she looks at the wound and tries to daub at the blood gently.
The group attempts to do their best to clean themselves up. However, there is only so much bandaging you can do, and the party still looks rather ragged even when the attempts at binding have concluded.
Forte is able to gimmick up the strap on Ullar's shoulder, though he will not be able to replace the shoulder plate until he gets to a forge, most likely no time soon.
In any case, the only ones in fighting trim are Dakath, Rhune, Ratlin, and Amibar, not the most martial people in the world. Debating what to do as far as regaining strength, the decision is made for them when the door that the biggest goblin fled through flies open. Rushing into the room are several more goblins, but most frightening is that fact that each is holding one of the baboons on a leash, and once the door opens, they release them! Several more goblins stand outside the door, perhaps a dozen, and you cannot tell how many have the pet monkeys, who are rushing toward you madly.
"By the gods!" Rhune mutters in elvish, drawing her sword and stepping near Asif to protect her lover and intended....she is ready to attack any of baboons or goblins that come near. Shouting over the whooping and hollering, "I think we need to back out of here."
Pietro looks quite astonished for a moment, frantically looking in all directions. "Ol' fearless leader", Pietro addresses Ullar, "three options: flee, surrender, fight. Say the word." A small grin on his face, Pietro stands a moment waiting before the action begins. "Dance of Death."
"Amibar! Do your trick!" yells Ullar, taking a defensive stand and gesturing to the group that they have to move backwards.
Cautiously walking backwards, Ullar eyes the baboons, greatsword drawn. "Get to the other room.." he calls out, ".. I'll keep them away as long as possible!"
Hearing Ullar's words Rhune smiles, "Asif get going, my love. hurry." she utters behind her as she begins to back up toward the other door....."Ullar don't stay to long." she shouts to the man.
The tall young Arab his face flushed with shame, staggers to his feet his left hand clutching a bandage seeping blood, his right weakly clutching one of his scimitars. Tormented by his weakened condition and his inability to protect his love, and the need to keep face Asif is indecisive as to what to do. He takes a few tentative steps towards the doorway before turning ready to assist any of his friends if they needed it.
Rhune intent on being back up, she does not see Asif's tormented moment.
Pietro runs out of the door as fast a possible, saying only one word. "Transport!
To everyone's surprise, the greatest his own, Amibar steps forward instead of heading away from the charge. Flinging some sand from a pouch at his belt, he incants shortly, waiting for some of the monkeys or goblins to drop.
His mind once again focused, Ullar stands ground, facing the monkeys running at them. He observes the speed of the beasts at the best of his ability to make sure his timing in striking them is correct.
Dakath draws his longsword and stands next to Ullar, careful to stay out of the reach of his sword "Oh please, in your current state I could defeat you. We'll move back slowly, If the last thing I see before I die is the fangs of an orange baboon, then I'll not be happy."
Laughing briefly at Dakath's words, Forte also steps up. Mace in hand, he waits for the baboons to reach him.
With a quick glance sideward, Ullar looks at Dakath. Without saying it out loud, his eyes show the words "THANK YOU!" as best as possible. However, almost directly Ullar is facing the 'incoming' baboons again, getting ready to strike them down with a mighty roar of his own!
Dakath returns Ullar's glance and gives him a slight nod of his head. "Besides I can't stand heroes." he says before engaging his nearest opponent.
Although the situation looks awkward, there reappears a faint smile on Ullar's face.
"You'll not stand alone Ullar!!" Arkady says as he limps to stand near the greatswordsman. His head is free of voices and his eyes gleam with a lucidity you haven't seen for a while. He weaves his blades in an intricate pattern full of style.
As with Dakath, Ullar gives Arkady and quick thankful look and then refocuses on the 'incoming' baboons.
"Pietro rushes in the direction from the door, as he suddenly remembers something. "Man......" He turns around again, walking towards Tolik, who is still lying unconscious. Pietro tries to get him out of the fight, and starts moving him towards the door.
Amibar's spell takes out two of the baboons, but three more come rushing in right behind. They are so quick that they reach the core of fighters before he can cast his second spell.
Ullar cuts one down with a mighty sweep of his sword. Forte smashes the head of a second in with his magical mace. Arkady stabs the third in the leg and almost drops it, but it stays up. It attacks Arkady wildly by trying to bite him, but his armor keeps the creature at bay.
With some sort of loud battle cry, Ullar tries to impress the incoming goblins: "DIE YOU FILTHY SCUM! MAY MERCURY BE MERCIFUL ON YOUR SOULS!"
A wave of goblins comes rushing in behind, seemingly not dismayed by the losses of four of their pet beasts. Happily, there do not seem to be any other domesticated baboons among them.
Amibar, feeling his oats now, casts another spell, this time dropping six of the goblins. At the same time, Dakath lunges and takes out the remaining monkey. The final three goblins, seeing they are in serious trouble, turn around and dash away, once again leaving you alone with cash and lots of bodies.
Forte takes out his borrowed longsword and begins slitting the throats of the sleep goblins. When just one remains sleeping, he turns to the others and asks, "Do you want to tie him up and question him? You have about 30 seconds before I slit his throat." The large warrior then walks over to the sleeping baboons and performs the same task.
"Let's keep one a live so we can question him about where the others are and Stephan." Rhune says with a smile. Seeing that the fighters have everything under control, Rhune goes to help Forte take out the six goblins before they can wake up, all but the one, which she ties up.....then, "We have a prisoner......let's barricade the doors now before any more manage to return with troops." she calls out.
When done slitting throats, he wipes the sword on one of the goblins' clothes and puts the sword away. "Dakath," he asks the spice merchant, "Wanna help me search the bodies?" Without waiting for an answer, Forte begins to search the goblin corpses for treasure.
Dakath turns his head as he begins to follow the fleeing goblins. "I'll leave in your capable hands Forte. I'll be back in a moment." With that he begins to stealthily follow the fleeing goblins.
Smiling as Dakath starts to head out, "Be careful, Dakath." She then turns back to Asif to see how he is doing.
Dakath pauses a moment "Am I ever anything else but?"