Session 5 - Into the Woods Report

General Summary

Feeling refreshed after taking a short break to clean themselves up and catch their breath, the group continues to move deeper into the woods searching for any sign of bandits or the missing weaponry. It is not long before a glint of steel in the underbrush catches the group’s attention. They extract a helmet from the brush and upon inspection are given affirmation that they are on the right course as the helmet had a Burmerian crest stamped onto it. They refocus their attention on tracking the bandit(s) and Liber  finds a path through the trees in short order. The rest of the party, having missed the path completely, decide to let Liber lead the way.

Liber continues to lead the group deeper down the trail until after a couple of hours, he is forced to admit that he lost the trail and the group was completely lost. After some searching around the immediate area, Haeni discovers clues that put the adventurers back on a path, and lacking any other viable direction, the group heads that direction. They make good progress until the party stops as they collectively get the feeling of being watched. Despite their most concerted efforts, no one is able to identify anything out of the ordinary, so they cautiously begin moving forward again, hands-on weapons, moving slowly and quietly. The silence is abruptly broken as Haeni breaks out in a song of the trail while offering his stock of orange oil to anyone interested. The party tries to explain the point of remaining stealthy to Haeni and what he can do with his orange oils only to find their path blocked by three goblins as they turn back to continue. The goblins demand to know who they are and why they are in this part of the wood. The group begins to explain that they are but travelers who are just passing through the forest on their way elsewhere. The goblins grow obviously skeptical and they challenge the ‘travelers’ citing that this part of the forest is far from any commonly traveled routes for passing through. It is at this time that two more goblins make their presence known from behind the group.

Olut, having quite the fascination with hats, notices one of the goblins is wearing a helm matching the one they found with the Burmery seal. Growing tired of the talk that was clearly not working, he confronts the goblins with their true purpose in the forest. To hunt the group responsible for stealing weapons and armor from Burmery. The armor that these goblins just happen to be wearing. Always willing to take advantage of any opportunity to make a beneficial financial arrangement, he begins to suggest that maybe the goblins themselves didn’t steal the goods, but maybe just liberated them from another group of ne’er-do-wells. The goblins bristle at the revelation that the group was searching for the weapons, but they continue to talk. After some back and forth between the groups, a conclusion is made that there might be a line of mutual benefit in getting out of this altercation without bloodshed. Everyone agrees to sheath weapons as they are led back to what turns out to be a complete goblin encampment hidden in the woods.

Wary at entering a goblin camp, the party is on high alert as they survey the area. The camp is somewhat untidy, but not anything approaching filth or squaller. The edges of the camp are marked by roughly hewn logs driven into the ground and loosely bound with rope. It is clearly a lived-in community occupied by what seem to be common folk of the goblin race. The bulk of the residents all seem to be farmers, gatherers, hunters, and children. The group does not perceive any threat until they see the hulking frame of a bugbear outside the tent they are being led toward. They pass through the opening of the tent without incident and are greeted by an elderly female goblin shaman. The leader of the goblin band that led the group to the camp confers quietly with the shaman, relating the course of events of the last hour. She nods her understanding and turns to address the group. She explains that it was indeed her group that took the weapons from Burmery as they were being wasted, unused in a dusty storehouse, when they could be serving a purpose. In truth, they were hoping the theft would go unnoticed. Regardless, she insists that the camp is in need of weapons for the defense of a new threat edging closer every night. She continues to explain that the wildlife in the area are becoming increasingly threatening at night. Approaching close and closer every rise of the moon with their glowing blue eyes. One of their members, Weerct the Gardener, has already been missing for a week and she fears whatever took him was eventually coming for them all.

The mention of the blue eyes heightens the attention of everyone in the group. Without giving too much detail of their own involvement in the demise of the blue-handed goblin, they recount the story and how he controlled wolves against them. This type of ability was not known to the woman, but she conceded that it could be possible that something similar is what they were dealing with. It was then that she proposed a deal to the group. If they could rid the forest of this threat, then they could have all the weapons back. The goblins would feel safe again, and the party could claim the reward from the Burmery guard. After a quick conferral amongst the group, they decide to help the inexperienced goblins defend their home. Noticeable ease of tension takes place and the woman makes introductions. She is called Rofmol and is the leader of this particular goblin clan. The head of the scouting party that escorted the group is called Ezork. Lastly, the bugbear who had entered the tent is the head of defense for the camp and goes by Thurk. She leaves the planning of defense to the group and Thurk.

Thurk leads the group to a fire pit and they all take seats to eat some rations and discuss the defense of the camp. The bugbear spends a few minutes relaying events over the past couple of weeks. The missing gardener, the increasing closeness of the wild animals that usually keep a distance, and evidence of elevated aggression among said animals. Afterward, the company sets about inspecting the perimeter of the camp, suggesting the felling of a few trees that bordered the eastern wall to eliminate a point of entry. It was during this discussion that Rofmol overheard the plans and questioned if they meant to make battle within the camp and amongst the civilians. After some discussion, the group concedes the defense of the walls and agrees to take the primary engagement to the woods with the camp as a fallback position. The party heads east to find a spot to maximize field advantage and begin to formulate a plan. Once the spot was chosen, the plan was made to use Liber as bait, surrounding him in multiple trip lines to slow any attackers and make them easier targets for backline archers to pick off. Haeni used songs of encouragement to inspire the goblins in the felling and striping of a couple of trees in order to rig two rolling log traps. As the work commenced, Lerissa and Olut returned to the camp to recoup and rest in preparation for the upcoming battle. On the return walk, the pair queried Rofmol on the need for additional weapons and armor in an attempt to secure trade and income, but the goblin leader was initially uninterested as it might shed unwanted attention to their presence in the wood. She did, however, agree to further discussion after the battle.

The rest of the day passes without incident and the party travels with Thurk and a small contingent of goblin archers to the battle site. Everyone takes up their positions and waits in silence. As darkness falls, Prince and Haeni notice movement coming from the east and give the signal to the company. Liber makes his presence known to the pack of wolves making their way toward the camp, drawing their attention. The wolves speed their advance, fanning out, making for Liber’s position. As they do so, the group begins to execute their attack. As two wolves pass under their position, Haeni and a goblin shoulder a log over the edge and watch as it descends, clipping one wolf as the other deftly jumps the rolling hazard. Prince immediately follows with a leaping attack, somersaulting in the air as he brings his sword down over his head to cleave deeply into the dirt next to his target. Surprised at the sudden arrival of a new foe, the wolf lashes back and the battle is fully commenced. Before joining the battle in earnest, Olut commands the archer next to him to hold all attacks on anything not attacking Liber. The goblin obeys and launches arrows at anything within striking distance of the Tiefling. Arrows, however, were the least of the concerns of anything attacking the Wizard. As the wolves snapped and clawed at Liber, and that made a solid connection felt the biting sting of cold as his defenses lashed back at his attackers. The trip lines that were initially effective as the first wave approached were rendered useless as the trailing wolves began to blink from one position to the next, bypassing the hazards. All members of the party, alongside Thurk and his goblins, exchanged attacks with the wolves. Slowly the numbers of the wolves began to thin, aided by Haeni unleashing a devastating concussive wave that eliminated two combatants in one thunderous blast. Looking to end the battle, Lerissa unleashes a bolt of pure chaotic energy which hits the mark but not with enough power to bring the contest to a close. As the power leaves her fingers, she feels the pendant flash warm on her chest causing a look of worry and panic to cross her face. Moments later, Prince, inexplicably, launches himself up into the air, hovering above the battlefield. Fixing his eye on the nearest target he flies directly above the foe before drop straight down, sword extended to pin the animal to the ground, silencing the theater of war.

Having not seen anyone or anything that could have been controlling the beasts, the group immediately fans out in search. Prince, once again, takes to the air to survey the trees east of the combat zone. It is amongst that tree line he hears a low feral growl emanating from within. The group focuses their attention, peering intently looking for any movement. It's then that they see a single pair of glowing blue eyes taking stock of them. Then another pair. And another. . . .