(079) What a Gnome Knows

[Tonneau]

"Arrgh, yug zaggsish," swears the last standing hobgoblin, spitting a yellow tooth out along with a mouthful of slag. It's clear this guy is one hard-nosed bastard. He points his bristly chin toward Zax with an evil glare...

Zax responds with a puff of his now bloody moustache, and hurls a throwing axe at the bristly chin.

Zax is suddenly feeling decidedly unwell. If his throw is blocked by the attack of The Herald and others, he will simply sit down for a breather

[flightcommander]

Akbar minds Zax as the others attend to business — so, he assumes a defensive posture.

[waysoftheearth]

Zax drops the short distance onto his backside, and Akbar moves to defend him while The Herald and Karl press the last hobgoblin back with thrust and parry.

It develops in to a two-on-one duel, with neither side gaining the upper hand immediately, but before long Men are able to leverage their numerical advantage, with both landing non-fatal blows. The battered hobgoblin eventually has nowhere to go, and succumbs with a resigned but still defiant snarl, before Karl suddenly decapitates him with one swift stroke.

The headless corpse falls, and the battle is over.

Combat Turn 2; Melee Segment

There is no surprise, missile or magic segment this turn (Zax decides to not risk flinging his hand-axe into the melee); so it's straight into another melee segment which will (potentially) comprise a number of rounds of combat.

Up to 3 rounds may be fought per turn, depending on what--if any--movement precedes fighting (S&S p17). In this case combat is already joined, so the full 3 rounds will be fought (if necessary).

1st Round
The ref dices for initiative: Players d6 → 3, Non-players d6 → 2. The players have it yet again!

Karl (FC Man+1): 1 # d20+1 → [5], miss.
Brother Herald (FC Man): 1 # d20 → [8], miss.

Last hobgoblin (FC Man+1): 1 # d20+1 → [8], miss.

Neither side has the upper hand, so no morale check required.

2nd Round
Initiative: Players d6 → 1, Non-players d6 → 1, so simultaneous attacks.

Karl (FC Man+1): 1 # d20+1 → [14], hit.
Brother Herald (FC Man): 1 # d20 → [20], hit.
Last hobgoblin (FC Man+1): 1 # d20+1 → [5], miss.

2 # d6 → [1, 1], so 2 hp damage. He survives! This guy really is hard.

The ref wonders briefly whether a morale check would be appropriate, but as the game doesn't detail morale at an individual level, the idea is dismissed.

3rd Round
Initiative: Players d6 → 6, Non-players d6 → 1. The players regain the initiative.

Karl (FC Man+1): 1 # d20+1 → [21], hit.
Brother Herald (FC Man): 1 # d20 → [4], miss.

1 # d6 → [6] So 6 hp damage, a killing head hit.

Thus concludes the second combat turn, and also the melee.

[sully]

The Herald lets out a long sigh of relief.

Well played, Karl. Your arrival was well-timed. Zax, you ok? I'd hate to have to carry your stubby little body out of here instead of coin and jewels.

The Herald will keep watch while the others loot the bodies and/or bind their wounds.

[Tonneau]

"Just a scratch , long-legs," replies Zax, blood dribbling down his beard in a stream, "and I'll be carry'n all you lot out'a here befo' ya get to pick this dwarf up."

He pulls himself to his feet with obvious effort.

"Must be the pipe weed, not a good sort, I'll wager" he adds with an accusing glance at Akbar.

[acodispo]

Wetzel makes his way down the passages, following the noises of battle until they cease, then attempting to zero in on the voices of his compatriots.

[waysoftheearth]

Brother Herald inspects the slain goblinkind while Zax and Karl take rest and refreshment for a few minutes.

The five goblins and three hobgoblins each have a grubby little purse containing a mix of tin and brass tokens as well as copper and silver coins, the Herald counts out 14 silver and 60 copper coins among the chafe. The hobgoblins wore weevily padded jacks and iron helmets; the smaller goblins carried only simple black bucklers for protection. Between them they were armed with hard and spiked cudgels, and a few cruel knives and axes. Karl's helmet was ruined--he could replace it with an ugly hobgoblin helm...

Wetzel arrives to join the intrepid band.

Let us suppose that Dungeon Exploration Turn 6 was a rest turn, and that the goblin ambush therefore occurred at the beginning of Dungeon Exploration Turn 7.

The remainder of Turn 7 will be subsumed with the usual post-melee rest, refreshment, and looting. Everyone who was injured will recover one normal hit worth of hp. Which is to say, if your figure was wounded in the fighting before the Turn 6 Rest, then the Turn 6 Rest would have recovered some hp:
Turn 6 Rest: (Zax, Karl, Akbar, Brother Herald) 4 # d6 → [3, 5, 3, 3]

If your figure was wounded in the Turn 7 Ambush just now, then the End of Turn 7 Rest will recover some hp:
Turn 7 Rest: (Zax, Karl, Akbar, Brother Herald) 4 # d6 → [5, 6, 6, 4]

The ref dices for some goblin purses:
5 # d6 - 1 → [2, 3, 1, 0, 5]
3 # d6 + 1 → [3, 4, 6]
Sum = 24 sp.

[Tonneau]

Zax probes his bloody beard with a mailed digit, "Argh...and I already 'ad a bath this year."

Feeling recharged from the rest, he shuffles around in his armour for a moment checking all is in place, then steps over the slain foe to peer - at last - around the corner.

Zax has regained full health from his rest - its the dwarf constitution

[sully]

The Herald, also at full strength due to barely being injured in the first place, follows closely behind Zax.

No getting into trouble on your own like last time. I'm keeping my eye on you.

The Herald recovers the 1 HP he had lost.

What was the result of the looting?

[acodispo]

Wetzel enters the room, spear (hopefully) back in hand, and takes a look at the carnage. He seems to gulp a bit, but has no comment other than a nod.