Jana handed the sword she was carrying to Nedoma, who exchanges it for the cleaver and axe he had been holding. The sword has a decent length to it, quite more than the axe he had been holding, and he moves it side to side as he feels the weight of it in his hand. Probably meant to go with a shield. He thinks about possibly taking back the axe from Jana to have something in both hands, but then decides that having a free hand might come in handy in case he needs to grab or push something. Screaming and cackling coming from outside the house through the door remind everyone of the situation they are in. The realization that these noises are not joined by any bells ringing dawns upon Nedoma. He tries not to wonder what that could mean.
Emi speaks out “We have weapons to protect ourselves, and I took the money we have saved up. We need to leave the village and head towards Luton. The guild outpost should have sent a signal for help, but Luton's half-a-day away. By the time anybody comes most of the village will already be destroyed.”
Nedoma thinks to himself. Walking into Ayrith, we're in the back-left corner right now. My house is towards the middle-right. If I run with Jana and Emi to the entrance of the village, they can keep going forward while I backtrack to my parent's house. Nedoma nods his head, visibly agreeing to Emi's plan while also his own. With a nod from Jana as well, Emi starts up again.
“We'll make a run straight for the entrance to the village. If we come across more goblins...we'll figure out whether to keep running or if we have to fight then. We'll go on three. One. Two! Three!”
Nedoma rushes outside of the house and immediately begins looking around, trying to figure out the status of the village at large. Out in the distance, he sees smoke floating into the sky, birthed by the flames engulfing some of the villager's homes. The road leading up and down the street is littered with corpses. Villagers lay motionless in their own puddles of blood. Some even dismembered – a result of the goblin's savagery. Skid marks of blood appear, a likely result of villagers being dragged off to the forest as prizes for the goblins to enjoy. A single party of adventurers can be barely made out, their presence obfuscated by the large ring of goblins that are presently encircling them. For a brief instant, Nedoma thinks about helping them, only to realize that his fight with the lone goblin already proved difficult and his presence would amount to nothing in the face of those kinds of numbers. He mentally thanks them for their heroic sacrifice, and continues to run towards the entrance of the village with Jana and Emi.
As Nedoma's eyes dart around, trying to remain vigilant for any signs of goblins as they move, Jana shouts out from behind him, “They're coming out of that house, up on the right!”
Sure enough, three goblins leave the second closest house on the right. They leave covered in traces of blood, a grim revealing of what happened to the occupants. Besides that, they appear to have snagged some things as part of their looting, as one of the goblins was carrying a small sack along with it. The goblin in front takes notice of the three villagers, and begins to shout and point at them. The two other goblins turn their focus to the direction being pointed at, and all three begin to charge towards them.
“Stay behind me!” Nedoma shouts. He quickly tries to take in this scene. Three goblins. The one in front has a hatchet, the two behind look like they don't have weapons...Although the one with the sack might have a weapon in there. I can't fight three on my own. I'm not even sure if I can fight two on my own, but I don't think Emi or Jana can handle two. So....I'll take the front two, and they can deal with the one with a sack and then help me out. “I'll try and get the attention of the front two, you two take the one with the sack! Deal with him and then help me!”
“Alright!” “Got it!” resounded from behind Nedoma. Now, how to actually get them to split up like that? Nedoma tried veering off to the side, separating himself from the other two and hoping that the goblins might change their path to go more towards him. However, seeing Nedoma veer off seems to have not change the goblins' course of action at all as they continued towards Jana and Emi, ignoring Nedoma. Plan already failed, huh? Nedoma quickly rejoins the pair of Jana and Emi, positioned relative to him left and right respectively. Maybe we can kill one early and fight three versus two?
Nedoma stops moving and Jana and Emi follow suite. “Change of plans- it looks like they won't group up on me. Let's just stay close, and help each other where we can.” A pair of agreements could be heard again.
The three steadied themselves for what was about to come. They were all sharing the same thoughts. Not only did they need to defeat these monsters here to keep going, but they needed to do it quickly before more goblins appear to overwhelm them. As the goblins were about to reach them, they began to splinter off toward their intended targets, revealing what the three pair of combatants would be. The one with the sack is going for Emi, Jana has the unarmed one, and the axe wielding goblin is going for me, like I thought it would.
Nedoma's vision begins to tunnel on the goblin moving toward him. It is as if the rest of the world has ceased to exist, leaving only him and this goblin. He realizes he is feeling much less adrenaline and more anxiety now than when he was ambushed in Jana's house, likely a result of instinct having taken over then and this situation being much more anticipatory. His mind begins to formulate learnings from his previous scuffle with these creatures. Watch for claws. The goblin is close. Look out for thrown weapons. The arm holding the axe begins to rise. Don't let him get on top of you. It's going to throw it. Its elbow betrays the owner's intentions. Nedoma begins to move toward the goblin. It's going to throw it. Nedoma focuses intently on the hand grasping the axe as it releases it. It threw it. The axe sails toward him. Nedoma shifts himself right to avoid it. This time around, he is able to dodge it completely. Nedoma picks up speed and begins to rush forward. Good, now to finish it. Having thrown it's only weapon, the goblin's range of attack is now considerably shortened. Nedoma twists as he executes a horizontal slash. The blade runs through the goblin's neck, it's path leaving an explosion of blood in it's wake. The goblin's head flies off, it's final expression one of shock. As the body crumples forward, Nedoma immediately begins to turn back toward his companions to figure out who to help next, only to find his answer with a scream coming from Jana.
