With the river crossing complete. the party turned north toward the pyre.  "Silver and I will take the lead as we move towards the pyre.  Keep your eyes and ears open for any goblin along the way.  There is no way to know how many goblins are at the pyre but we should have surprise on them.  If we can take them out before they can raise an alarm we have a good chance to get to the cave quietly."  Hornet moved north.

Once again I dry land, Soledad snapped her fingers summoning threads of magic to clean away the dirty and watery remnants from the raft trip across the river. It was a cleaning service she happily visited upon her companions as well. Poise and beauty would be maintained, even if they were wandering through the woods and smashing goblins. With the cleaning and coiffing complete, the fey elf released the magics maintianing the ice raft and watched with satisfaction as it melted back into the river, leaving no trace of their passing.

Turning toward the direction of the pyre, the witch uttered a word of power and snapped her fingers to spin protective threads of magic to cover her being. She would be ready for whatever they face. Nodding, she let Hornet and Silver lead the way. 

((OOC: Cast Prestidigitation and Mage Armor))

Sighing at what he was doing, Gerdar followed the group as stealthily as his plates allowed him to, mumbling to himself in dwarvish.

*I know not everyone got a chance to post due to site issues, but I wanted to get something up so that we kept moving despite the long gap.

 

Having safely crossed the river on an ice boat the group cleaned up, dried off, and prepared to move northward.  They were about a mile south of where Boris (Who has currently disappeared again.) indicated the pyre would be located.  It wasn’t hard to spot – a greasy tower of smoke rose out of the ridge ahead.  Silver and Hornet took the lead – scouting a path while carefully looking for goblin scouts. The rest of the group trailed behind in various positions.           

               The hope was to sneak up on the creatures and so the group moved slowly, looking for any sign of guards and scouts from the enemy.  As the smoke tower drew closer the scouts began to see some signs of recent activity.  All around you are scrubby trees and brush with the occasional towering oak or pine climbing the ridge which rises steeply to your right.  (East)  Dead brush and branches appear to have been broken off or cut and dragged away – apparently the goblins were not hiding their search for fuel. 

               As you approached within 100 yards of where the smoke was heading skyward, Silver suddenly froze and quickly indicated to Hornet to do the same.  The rest of the group was a bit further back but saw the sudden stop and did so as well.  Silver slipped around a tree and disappeared for a moment from everyone’s eyes but Hornet.  She quickly reappeared and whispered to Hornet – who came back to the group.  Silver stayed where she was, looking ahead out from behind a tree and over a rock. 

               When Hornet reached the group, he quickly explained what they could see.  About 30’ ahead of Silver’s position there was a goblin about 25’ up one of the tall trees right near the river.  The “path” the group was on that had been beaten down by goblins throughout the day lead right past the tree.  About 20’ inland the ridge headed upward at a steep angle.  The lower 100’ or so (of height) were very tough going but could be climbed.  Beyond that it got very steep, in places almost straight up.  About 50’ up the ridge was another goblin hiding in a rock pile.  These are the only two goblins Silver had seen.  She did not think she had been seen.

 

Overview

The ridge is steep and rough but can be climbed for the first 100’ or so at this point.  You would not be able to reach the top (a long way up) without some serious climbing equipment.  Given where the goblin in the rocks is located, it would be hard to reach him unseen.  You might be able to reach within 20’ or so, but he chose this position for a reason – it has a fairly good vantage point.  Both the goblin in the rocks and in the tree have what would be considered partial coverage in terms of attacking them.  (That means disadvantage on attack roles – roll twice and take the lowest roll.)  The path by the river here is fairly easy walking thanks to the goblins previous efforts. 

               These guards appear to be a little under 100 yards away from the pyre.  You can’t see any other creatures besides the guards – just the smoke tower.  From what you can see the pyre appears to be located about 100 feet or so up the ridge.  Earlier Boris had indicated that there was a flat space there.  It seems like it is about the spot where the ridge transitions from tumbled down rocks and a steep climb through brush and rock to a vertical wall.  The pyre is at the base of that wall.  Which means getting above it would be very hard.  As far as you can tell from your current location, since you can’t see anyone at the pyre from where you are at it seems likely that they can’t see you or the guards either.  Probably. 

"Does this mean that we can't be going in like rats after all?", Gerdar asked, unable to hide his smirk.

Thäoran gazed up at the two watchful goblin scouts perched on the mountain ahead of them, his cat-like eyes narrowing slightly as he thought how best to proceed. After a moment's consideration, he turned to the group and proposed a plan:

'If the two scouts Silver saw are the only ones on watch, then we outnumber them which is, of course, to our advantage. However, we cannot know for sure if they truly are the only two up there because in order to see more, we would have to venture further out which would be, of course, risking exposure and discovery, the two things we are trying to avoid. So we will just have to do what we can with what we can see. I propose several of us target the same scout, while the rest target the other. Having more than one attacking the same goblin will increase the chances of one of us felling it. I will strike at the one perched upon the rocks with my bow. Who will join me in attacking the same one? We should decide who is attacking which, then split into two groups. What say the rest of you?'

Thäoran waited patiently for the group's response while drawing his bow from its white oak tube that laid across his narrow back.

Lilly had gone along with the group, even though no one really spoke up and said she was welcome to come.  It seemed that they would need the help, as it didn’t seem they had faired too well the last time.  It sounded like they had been outnumbered, but had managed to survive, though not without injuries.  Maybe if she tagged along they might manage to make it through this time.

The ice ‘raft’ had been fun she thought, it had been a wild trip but they had all gotten across and close to the location from where they wanted to approach their destination.

They moved through the forest and they paused as the sentries were spotted by their forward spotters.  She had moved along the right flank of the group, using the foliage to mask her movements.  She wasn’t trying to hide from the group, so any of them could have looked her way and spotted her as she moved, but she was still unsure of this group, and she was used to working alone for the most part.  

Once they reached the spot where they stopped and discussed their plan, Lilly listened and considered their suggestions on how they would approach and take out those sentries.  She didn’t give any suggestions of her own; how could she match the magic some of them were talking about using in this fight.  She would listen further, and if no one asked her to do anything specific, she planned to follow along and look for a place where she could maybe use her hoopak sling for distance attacks.  

(OOC: Still not sure how this will work, so her action will be to follow the main attackers and if she sees a chance to target a sentry, or other enemy, she will use the sling in her Hoopak to strike at them using stones. )

The paladin pulled out a javelin and sighed, nodding at Thaöran. "I have only three of these left and once they're gone I'll have to actually go in there to really do anything. But sure, lets do it."

Hornet nodded at the plan.  "The archers should target the far one with maybe magical help.  Javelins and my crossbow can reach the closer one.  Perhaps our new frind can show us how that stick works on the close one as well.  If all goes well they will die quickly but if not we need to be ready to charge them."  Hornet readied his crossbow for the attack.

Uthal readies his sling with a stone (Sling bullet) and takes aim at the closest goblin (ooc: Not sure I have the range for this shot). "Ready when you are."

Wanting to avoid ingiting the tree and not the goblin, Soledad set her sights on the cretin in the rocks and then hurled a bolt of magical flame.

((OOC: Firebolt. Targeting the goblin in the rocks.))

Thäoran waited a second or two so Soledad's fireball would reach the goblin first so his (Thäoran's) arrow wouldn't collide with the flames and burn up. Then the elf readied his bow, took careful aim and let the shaft fly towards the scout perched upon the rocks.

Once in position, Gerdar joined the assault with a javelin targetet at the nearest goblin.

The group moved up to where Silver was watching the guards.  At this point they were a mere 30’ from the closest guard who was 25’ up a tree near the riverbank.  The other was further away – about 100’ up the ridge – a difficult climb, but doable.  The party members split their targets and took aim, hoping to silence the guards before they could react. 

               The group firing on the goblin in the tree coordinated their attacks and all stepped clear of coverage together to launch.  Hornet groaned as his bolt lodged itself in a branch partially blocking the creatures head while Uthal was similarly disappointed to see his sling shot ricochet off of a branch.  But the goblin didn’t have time to react to those misses as Lily whipped a stone at it and struck it right between the eyes.  She would never be sure if the stone alone killed it as Gerdar’s trusty javelin slipped through the branches and skewered it at the same time.  With barely a sound the creature slipped off its perch.  The silence didn’t last, however, as the body crashed through 25’ of branches on its way to a hard impact with the ground.  The noise hadn’t been very loud, but it was certainly not silent.

               That left Soledad and Thaoran to deal with the other guard.  To protect his fletching Thaoran allowed the witch to hurl her fire first.  The firebolt flew up at the goblin but splattered on the rock that partially protected it.  Thaoran’s arrow met a similar fate.  The goblin nearly jumped out of its skin and had to grab the rocks in order to avoid tumbling down towards the group.  It screamed and tried to hunker down behind the rocks but remind partially in view. 

               The scream and sudden blast of fire may have drawn some attention from those at the pyre.  You may have heard noise from that direction, but at over 100 yards it is hard to be certain. 

 

Overview

One goblin guard is dead.  The one on the rock above you is unharmed.  You are about 100’ away from that goblin with a climb up to get to it.  It can be targeted with spells or arrows – but at disadvantage.  The pyre appears to be about 100 yards (yards – so 300 feet) up stream from you.  So, imagine going 300’ north along the river and then turning right – up the ridge for another 100’ or so – that is approximately where the ledge under a shear cliff with a pyre on it is located.  Travelling along the river here is very easy but traveling up the ridge to reach the guard would be at ½ speed.  How quickly one could go up to reach the pyre is uncertain as that path is no visible. 

With only one goblin dead the sneak attack failed.  Now it was time to focus on the remaining goblin guard before it could sound an alarm.  "Everyone aim for that goblin in the rocks.  Hopefully we get lucky and kill it quick" Hornet sent another bolt towards the goblin in the rocks