The unarmed goblin was pinning Jana down, it's hands secured around each of her wrists in a deadlock. Neither of them looked as though they could do anything to the other from this position besides scream and gnarl at each other until either the goblin releases Jana or an intervention by another combatant. Nedoma ran to help Jana, fueled by both his second goblin kill, as well as the secret desire to be the hero that saved her. He held his sword close to the hip, jutting forward as though he were imitating a horse-rider carrying a lance. As he finally reached striking distance, Nedoma shouted “Jana, stay still!” as he transitioned from his run into a lunging motion, stabbing ahead with his sword. The word of warning he shouted to Jana grabbed the goblin's attention, which lifted and turned its head to face the owner of that voice. As a result of this movement, Nedoma missed his mark slightly – rather than running the sword straight through the side of its head he instead clipped through both its eyeballs, severing its vision completely. The goblin unleashed a blood curdling howl at this combination of pain and darkness, startling everyone within the vicinity. It grabbed at it's own face, as if hoping to somehow reopen its closed windows to the world. Horror quickly turned to rage as the futility of this action dawned upon it. Remembering that it was still on top of that girl, it decides to take out its anger on her, and prepares to release its fury with its bare hands.
Nedoma puts an end to this thought quickly with a well aimed kick to the jaw of the goblin. He lets go of his sword and opts to follow up with a tackle, sending himself and the goblin off of Jana and near her side. Nedoma grapples with the monster, a struggle of weight and strength similar to the one earlier that day, only this time with the positions of monster and man switched. As Nedoma locks down its arms, the goblin flails underneath, trying to break free. Nedoma through gritted teeth barks at Jana “Jana–ugh–cut the neck!” The goblin thrashed about in a desperate attempt to escape whatever was holding it down. Still unable to see, it kicks upward while stretching out its head, searching for anything it could bite with the jagged teeth in it's mouth as a last ditch effort. Jana twisted herself to finish the goblin off with her hatchet.
“Move your head!” Nedoma leaned backwards to give her a better angle. She swung the hatchet down at the neck, leaving a deep wound, releasing blood and more screams from the goblin. Jana likely believed that the first swing would be enough, for in contrast to her steady first swing, her follow up cuts were much more energized, giving off an appearance more so of a frenzied butcher than a village girl. Each swing making a symphony of flesh meeting metal accompanied by the screaming of the goblin. At some point, the goblin choir ceased its song, yet the mashing of meat and metal continued. Nedoma looked up at Jana and was met with an expression he had never seen before. It was as though she was in some kind of trance, stuck between rage and fear that thought only of destroying the green throat.
“Enough, Jana!” called out Nedoma. At the sound of his voice Jana stopped and looked at him. “It's dead already! Go help Emi!” Jana looked at him with an almost puzzled look, before she seemed to snap back to reality. As Nedoma lifted himself back up off of the bloody mess that lay beneath him, Jana ran off to go help Emi. He looks at the separated head and bloodied eyes of the goblin. Nedoma feels a twinge of remorse at having not finished the fight in the first blow. Despite the barbaric treatment that humans typically face at the hands of goblins, he did not think he could stomach doing the same himself. Dying...in complete darkness. Feeling pain out of nowhere, with no way to anticipate or stop it. What a horrible way to go. Nedoma picked up his bloodied sword. Focus. You shouldn't be standing around mourning a goblin while Emi and Jana are fighting. Looking towards the two, he is surprised to discover that the fighting is already finished. The goblin's sack lay motionless in it's hand as it lays face down on the ground. A single, giant gash can be seen in the back of it's head. Looks like Jana got it in one swing this time. He he hurries over to the two as he sees Jana hanging over Emi. He fears the worst as he approaches.
“Mom, what happened?!”
“Hit...leg...then...head...” Each of her words comes out slowly, and with a sense of great effort behind them.
“Can you use the spell that you used on Nedoma to heal yourself?”
“Can...try...” Emi muttered. Her loose grip on the staff did it's best to tighten. She twisted her other palm towards herself, and slowly spoke the incantation's words. ““Gift..of..Mortae...Recover.” A small light emanated from her hand, signaling that the spell indeed was successful but did not appear to greatly improve Emi's condition.
“Can you use it again?” Nedoma asked.
Emi shook her head lightly. She seemed much more tired now.
“Nedoma, we have to stop the bleeding. Do you have any spare cloth?”
“No...” Nedoma said as he looked around, before he revisited the corpse of the third goblin. “Maybe the sack?”
“Never mind that, help me tear off a piece from my clothes.” Jana stretches out the bottom of her tunic so that a piece can be torn off. Nedoma looks at the sword and seeing that it has adopted more of a crimson red than it's original metallic shine, wipes it on the exterior of his pants in an attempt to get some of the blood off. As he carefully uses the blade's edge to cut the fabric, Jana gives off a faint smile and says “How considerate of you.” Despite the gruesome scene that surrounds them, Nedoma cannot help but feel happy that he still managed to score points with Jana. As she tries to treat Emi's head injury, Nedoma looks around to make sure that no goblins were approaching. Off in the distance, he sees a few goblins running through the streets and in and out of buildings, but no where near as many as the large group he saw fighting the adventurers before. They must still be holding out somehow.
He starts preparing to move out again by fetching the hatchet that the first goblin had thrown. Despite having missed him, it still had an edge that looked dipped in blood. Looking past that, he could tell that the blade on this one was not as sharp as the one Jana had. But a weapon is still a weapon. Taking the hatchet and sword, he heads over to finally sate the curiosity which hungered in his mind. Opening the sack, he finds what he had expected, a few rocks, but also discovers something that made him cringe. A few severed fingers, with a ring or band covering each one. His conscience bounced a thought in his mind back and forth, before he finally began to remove each piece of jewelry from the fingers and placing them back in the sack. For a better start to a new life. Removing the rocks, he places the spare hatchet into the sack as well and ties the sack to his waist for safekeeping. While finishing the knot he sees Jana has finished treating Emi with the makeshift bandage. He assists Jana in helping Emi stand up. Placing each of Emi's arms around one of them, they both support her as they slowly continue to make their way towards the entrance of the town.
