Rodda hugged the base of the left tower from the round outer edge, past the broken gate, and following the curve, listening to a struggle that was going on within the tower itself. The din of battle included several goblins cursing while spears and arrows were being used on something that hissed and shrieked instead of talked. There was a solid thud that was followed with a crash, what sounded like a body hitting some wood, Rodda guessed that was courtesy of whatever they were fighting, it had enough strength to throw goblins around. A few steps forward and Rodda spotted a pair of goblins that were watching a set of stairs that led into the tower. Both were armed with bows, and neither of them had the worn travelers look of the party the group was pursuing. Looking across the well worn path at the keep’s entrance, Rodda looked towards the second tower, but saw no visible sentry or sign that it was being looted. She could see the thin opening of arrowslits, but unless goblins were just being curious for the moment, Rodda guessed she had gone undetected. She made her way back to the opening to wave the party in.
-
Inside the tower, a goblin boss named Brokentooth, watched as two of his men cornered and tried to stick an unexpected guest that had been nesting in the tower. Their guest, eight legs, covered in the darkest red that often appeared black until the light caught the fur just right and he could see the individual strands that reminded him of human blood. It had sent Snapgrin into a broken table, the goblin was still trying to roll himself up to a standing position after taking the blow.
“The boss should talk to one of his two guests and see if they can put the charm on this beast,” Brokentooth used his thumb to scratch the rough surface of his missing canine, thus his name, lost in battle when he used those teeth in combat and paid for it by the loss of a tooth that paid him. On the other side of it, his mother lost a finger, she also never raised another hand again as long as she lived, which a month later cut that short after they attacked the caravan and that damnable human who put a sword through her.
Snapgrin was in a sitting position, watching the other two goblins dance and stick, their spears did superficial damage to the legs, they had to strike a vulnerable spot on the body. “Are we playing with this thing, or trying to kill it?” Snapgrin asked angrily.
“The boss would have liked to use it as a guard if he had his way, but we might as well call in the archers and see if they can wear it down with a few arrows,” Brokentooth said before looking to Snapgrin, “Get ‘em.”
-
Rodda had signaled the party by drawing a handkerchief that was stained royal purple, one of a small set that Vernor had purchased when the couple went into Kelvin Keep the year prior for supplies and to enjoy the sights. It was not all excitement and adventure for Rodda Teegan. As the party approached, she replaced her handkerchief and set another rock in its place, moving cautiously back towards the front entrance of the tower, keeping herself discreet as possible by using the stonewall as cover, she peered around the corner and watched both goblins draw and hold their first arrows in their hand. There was a roar within the keep, whatever was in there was getting tired of playing games. She even heard one of the goblins shout: “It’s got me! It’s got… put the spear in its eye.”
From above, Rodda could hear the sound of footsteps at the top of the stairs, “Move in and try to take it. It’s about to finish that Notch and we can’t afford to lose too many boys-” Rodda stepped around the corner and hurled a stone that caught the first archer in the eye. His head snapped backwards from the blow, the only sound he made was a short cry of pain before his legs twitched and became stilled.
“The hell?” The goblin at the stairs said.
Rodda half-turned as she dropped her sling and grabbed for her sword. She stepped far enough as to avoid the goblin jumping down and landing on her. The two squared to one another, Rodda with her sword in hand, her grip loose from a hasty draw. On the other side, Snapgrin had his curved dogslicer sword held out in front of him, grinning maliciously as he thought he had the halfling pinned down.
Snapgrin made the first move, bringing his sword to bear with a strike that missed Rodda’s head by inches when she deflected the strike. She was pressed against the wall, nearly stumbling to the ground, a sweat running down her brow as she gave ground to the menacing goblin. There was a sound to her right, a hint of a silhouette passing behind her, she could tell the rest of the party had arrived by how wide Snapgrin’s eyes had become.
Leowyn had reached the scene, rushing in front of the group with sword and shield in hand. The goblin had broken its gaze from Rodda and saw the approaching fighter with a cold chill riding up his body. He tried to swing and bring his sword up, only to see the tip of Leowyn’s longsword reaching for his eye.
“You,” Snapgrin softly said, he was one the ones who cornered the shield maiden earlier in the week at the caravan.
Leowyn turned and brought her shield up, gritting her teeth when she felt the thump of an arrow against her shield, the point on the head bent as it struck against the metal, making a small dent but not breaking through. Leowyn lowered her shield enough that her fiery eyes could pierce over the edge of her shield. Her longsword trailed behind her as she advanced on the archer. She caught another arrow with her shield, the archer had tried to angle the shot to try and hit the body or her swordarm. She felt another solid thump, but never yielded.
Over Leowyn’s shoulder she heard Brokentooth call out, “What the hell is going out here?” His voice was cut off when the goblin half turned and took Onatah’s quarterstaff to the face, breaking his nose. The Minotaur reached up, snatching the goblin and spiking him into the ground like a dart. Brokentooth’s boots, partly broken and showing claws, twitched from the blow. It was enough of a message that the archer broke into a full run towards the keep.
“Enemies at the gates! Enemies at the gates!”
Leowyn cursed as she started to give chase. The goblin had a distance on her, plus he was wearing only a light leather cuirass fit for an archer, he was not weighed down by chain, shield, and her bags.
Templeton drew his crossbow up and pulled the trigger. The quarrel sailed, but it also was affected by enough wind that it landed too far to the right and short of the retreating goblin. When he saw Rodda looking over his shoulder, Templeton said, “I only had basic training with this weapon.”
“What about your spells?”
“I have a few, but they do not have that kind of range,” Templeton’s ears twitched when he heard another goblin shout, footsteps hitting the stairs within the tower as the spider within the tower growled angrily at all of these disturbances.
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