The Battle For Zosia's Warehouse

Zosia looks terrified at hearing the ultimatum and the Council Members start to panic as well, barking to each other in dwarven.

Winnacer is strangely calm, drawing forth 'Old Bohavia' while he turns to Faewen'il.

"Can you diffuse this? We may be able to use the Nyemetz to aid us in our defensive efforts. But under no circumstances can they have the child."

He glances upwards at OwlYaz, looking for a clue as to what's out there.

OwlYaz doesn't hesitate; immediately he flies through the small window at the top of the warehouse and circles around, trying to determine what there is outside.

As he does so, Winnacer strides into the stables and summons Milan:

"Get the horses ready to move out fast," he says to the squire. "And take care of the Kristus family as well. We're going to have our work cut out in giving them an escape route."

Milan nods his agreement and starts to saddle up all of the horses in the stables.

Winnacer then returns to the meeting room to see what the dwarves are up to.

One of the masked dwarves, a burly looking character, pulls his cloak aside to reveal that he is in half-plate. From behind his back he pulls forth a mighty looking double-headed battleaxe made from a bright type of metal that none of the others have seen before:

"I knew it would come to this sooner or later," he says in a gruff voice that is alive with excitement rather than fear.

He looks around at the other masked dwarves:

"The Bohavians have already proved that they can kick some ass. What about the rest of you? Which of you are assets in this situation and which of you are liabilities?"

One of the other dwarves produces a heavy hammer from behind him:

"I can handle myself," the dwarf says. "If I'm going down, then I'll take a few of those scumsucking greenskins with me."

His voice does not sound quite as confident as the first dwarf to speak, however.

Another of the dwarves speaks, the one who you are pretty sure is, in fact, CornerStone Rockrender:

"I have some talents for commanding the Earth to my bidding," he says.

"I'm going to make sure those bastards burn," another of the dwarves says with an enthusiasm for the word 'burn' that reminds them all a little of Flint.

"I have the ability to conjure phantasms and the suchlike," another of the 'dwarves' offers.

"What about you two?" the first dwarf asks those that have not yet spoken.

"I-I-I'm n-n-not a fighter," replies one of the two formerly silent dwarves, obviously petrified out of his wits.

"M-m-m-m-m-me n-n-n-n-neither," says the last one, equally as terrified.

Just as the last of the dwarves has finished speaking, OwlYaz flies down and lands on the table. He immediately starts to transform into his regular shape, flapping his wings frantically.

Yaz hasn't even quite finished his transformation before he starts to speak:

"There's hundreds of them," he says excitedly. "They've got the place surrounded, ten goblins on each side and there's a goblin in robes with them."

"Then they've got archers on the roofs of buildings to the north and south of here, and in the bushes next to them. There's another forty of them there and another goblins in robes."

"There's more as well," he adds. "Looks like they're keeping the best they've got in reserve. There's twenty of them to the west on the road and another twenty hiding behind the building to the south. Both units have got goblins in robes with them."

Winnacer looks carefully at the assembled dwarves, nodding appreciatively:

"It seems that they are not looking to smoke us out. You didn't see any pitch or oil or lit torches, did you Yaz?"

Yaz just shakes his head.

"They want the child, and they want it alive," Winnacer continues. "So it looks like we make our stand here."

"They have set their archers for an escape from the stables. We should give them what they are looking for, with an illusion. That will keep them quite busy once the fireworks start."

The masked illusionist nods:

"I should be able to summon such an image. I regret not memorizing the most effective of all of the types of illusion at my disposal, but I hope that it will prove to be sufficient for the task."

"Unlike the Nyemetz, we should have no qualms about setting fires," Winnacer continues. "It seems one of the good dwarves with us has a penchant for such things. If we can set both warehouses to ablaze, we will take the two sets of archers out of the equation quickly."

"That would be my pleasure," the dwarf replies, obviously grinning beneath the mask. "The problem is that I have to be able to see the targets in order to summon forth the forces and that would leave me as a sitting duck."

"I think I can help you there," the masked illusionist responds. "I have memorized a spell that allows one person to become invisible. It is an improved form of the standard spell that will allow one to cast while shielded by the illusion of invisibility."

"I have only the one such spell at my disposal today, however."

Winnacer nods and then continues:

"With that done, it may be smart to split up the able bodied fighters into two groups to man each side of the warehouse. The back of the warehouse is a good place to make our start. When we open the doors, the robed goblin is in easy range of our missile weapons without any archer support behind him. Two able-bodied warriors should be able to take him down, then prepare themselves against the goblin charge. If the warehouses are being lit up, the archers won't have time to move to support them. A few warriors should be able to hold that defensive position pretty well as long as they are not the target of spells or missile fire."

Zosia interrupts:

"Please note that the only doors that are operational are on the east side of the building," she says. "When this abandoned warehouse was chosen as a good place for a secret meeting place, a brick shell was built inside the crumbling wooden outside of the building. Therefore the double doors on the west side of the building just lead straight into a brick wall."

"The only functioning doors, therefore, are on the east side of the building; the double doors into the stables and the single door into the hallway."

Winnacer then looks at Yaz:

"You can get a very good position above the fray and cast down upon the tightly packed groups. They are positioned amongst Prirodna's creatures. Is there anything you can do to neutralize them?"

Yaz isn't listening, however as he is currently morphing from his familiar druid form into the shape of a bat. Without saying a word, to the others, he immediately flies back up to the rafters and flies out of the building, with Gertrude following closely behind him. The bat and the owl head toward the gates of the undercity as fast as their wings will carry them.

Lastly Winnacer looks towards Faewen'il:

"Any tricks up your sleeves today?"

Faewen'il simply shakes her head:

"I nae be havin' too many tricks taday. I can be castin another lightning bolt and three o ma magickal missiles an I can be containin them in a web if they be comin inside, but that be all that I can be doin for now."

The young Lord then looks at the masked CornerStone:

"An Earth Elemental could be of use in this situation also," he adds.

The masked CornerStone shakes his head:

"I would prefer to use this as a last resort," he replies. "When summoning such a force, there is always the chance that I will lose control of it and it will turn on anyone in its path, friend or foe. It is, therefore, very risky for me to summon it unless under the most desperate of circumstances."

The voice of the goblin cries out once more:

'OUT COME IN NOW WITH CHILD AND HANDS IN AIR OR IN COME WE TO GET YOU."

The young Lord casually speaks to those around him as the goblin makes its final demands:

"We really need a way to watch the enemy movements," Winnacer says, "considering that a stone shape spell is all that is separating us from having two fronts."

"Are all the bricks laid solid?" he asks Zosia.

She nods in response:

"Yes, the bricks are secure," she replies. "It would take an awful lot of effort or spellcraft to get through them."

Winnacer then turns to the CornerStone:

"Perhaps you could arrange for our non-fighting colleagues to keep an eye on things where our eyes are not."

The dwarf nods in agreement:

"That's a good idea. Let all of those not involved directly in the combat each watch one of the rooms. If they see any sign of the greenskins coming through, then they should alert the rest of us."

He calls over to the others not involved in the combat and shouts out to them in dwarven. The two non-combatants from the Council, Zosia and the Kristus family all spread out among the rooms in order to keep a look out.

The illusionist speaks up at this point as well:

"If you need to take a look outside, then I can take on an insubstantial form and have a scout around as well."

Winnacer nods and then returns his attention back to the CornerStone:

"You may want to think about making an escape route if need be."

The dwarf nods once again:

"That shouldn't be a problem. I asked Zemnye to bless me with one enchantment today that helps me shape rock to my bidding. I also have the ability to tunnel through the earth as well, if need be, although this could be quite risky, as there is always a chance of cave-ins when tunneling through anything other than bedrock."

The LawBringer then turns his attention to the illusionist:

"It might be better to hold off on using your illusions for the moment, as an illusionary escape attempt through the back door, after the CornerStone has made a way through the brick, may serve us best if it looks like we are going to be overwhelmed."

The illusionist nods:

"OK, let's save it for later then."

Winnacer then turns to the priest of Ohen:

"It probably would be best if we can get you up to the roof to cast your spells rather than have you sneak out and wander around until the spell wears off. From up there, you can cast with no restriction and serve as another set of eyes as well.

The priest agrees:

"Sounds a pretty good idea to me. But how am I going to get up there?"

Winnacer turns to Faewen'il:

"Could you use your rope to help get him up there?"

Faewen'il takes the coiled rope from her shoulder and mutters the incantation to set the rope unfurling. Magickally, the rope starts to rise upwards, knotting itself as it does so in order to make climbing easier. As the rope continues to climb up to the roof, the illusionist starts to cast upon the priest of Ohen. After a little more than a few seconds, the priest of Ohen disappears from view. The rope starts to sag a little as the priest starts to make his way up the rope ladder.

Winnacer looks around at the others:

"Now we need to secure the two doors in. Milan and Rowan, perhaps you could assist me in guarding the door to the hallway. The two dwarves can perhaps look after the stable doors. I suggest that the CornerStone, the illusionist and Faewen'il all stand back a little somewhere where they can assist either of the two groups."

The dwarves nod and start to head for their positions. Winnacer takes the two calivers from his pack and sets them up close to the doorway from where he is fighting. He positions Milan a little way from behind him so that Milan is protected from the worst of the attacks.

Immediately that everyone gets into position, the goblin voice shouts out once again:

"HAD CHANCE HAVE YOU. NOW IN WE COME."

With that, slow but powerful thumping noises can be heard coming from the door as vibrations pulse through the three doors into the stable as the goblins start to use tree-trunks as battering rams in order to start to smash the doors down.

The doors to the warehouse are not reinforced and were not designed in order to resist such a battering and, after less than a minute, the doors to the stable and the halls are both easily smashed in.

The door to the stable is the first to fall. As it does so, the goblins drop the tree trunk that they were using as a ram to the ground and grab their spears before rushing in. The double doors to the stable are 20' wide and so the goblins are able to pour through the gap. They are, however, unprepared for the two masked dwarves waiting behind the doors that lash out at the goblins as they pour through.

However, it appears as if the two dwarves that are protecting the door are equally as unprepared for the invasion. Although the pair of them lash out at the greenskins as the burst in, neither of them are able to land a blow on them. Both of the dwarves are fairly well armored and so the greenskins have difficulty in hitting them with their spears. However, with four goblins on both of them, the goblins' numbers make up for the dwarves' armor and both of them take a little damage. Both dwarves are able to fight off the damage, however.

Rockrender, the illusionist and Faewen'il hiding at the back of the stables watch the combat unfolding, grasping their spell components in case the two dwarven fighters are unable to deal with the first wave of goblins.

Winnacer, Rowan and Milan at the door to the hall have things a lot easier, however, as the door is narrow, meaning that Winnacer and Rowan are able to stop more than two goblins getting to them with their spears.

Immediately that the door is battered down and the goblins drop the ram in order to take their spears, Winnacer and Rowan are upon them. Winnacer easily manages to take the first two down. As the next two run forward to fill the place at the front of the line, Rowan lashes out at them. The goblin before him dodges the first thrust from Chanticleer, but the swashbuckler immediately follows up and runs the goblin through. As he does so, Chanticleer glows slightly and then a frantic squeaking comes from the sword, adding to the guttural grunting that is familiar from the rapier. Rowan does not let the sword spoil his concentration, however and easily manages to plunge his main-gauche into the neck of a fourth goblin, killing it too.

Another wave of four goblins steps forwards over the bodies of their fallen colleagues with their spears poised to try and take out the Bohavians. None of the goblins have much chance to get through the warriors' impressive amount of protection, however.

The combatants are interrupted for a moment by an almighty 'WOOOOFFFFFFF' coming from above, followed by an even louder 'WWWWOOOOOFFFF' from the warehouse to the south of Zosia's. The sound of the fire is quickly joined by the sound of tortured greenskin screaming. It doesn't last for long, however, and the cry of maniacal glee from up above seems to suggest that the priest of Ohen was successful in taking out a good number of the goblins.

The dwarven fighters in the stable find their form at last, with one of the dwarves taking two of the goblins down and the other finishing off another. The remaining seven goblins retaliate by lunging at the dwarves with their spears. Once again, both of the dwarves are slightly injured, but there's little chance of them falling too soon.

In the entrance to the hallway, Winnacer takes another of the goblins downs and wound another of them. Rowan manages to wound another one with Chanticleer, but the thrust causes only a flesh wound. The swashbuckler follows up with his main-gauche and manages to finish it off.

The goblins try once again to retaliate but, yet again, they can find no way of getting past the warriors' defenses.

From above, the party hears another 'WWOOOOFFFFFF' as the priest of Ohen fires off another fireball. There is another explosion, this time to the north of the warehouse you are in. As was the situation a minute earlier, the fireball's impact is quickly followed by the sound of tortured screams, which quickly stop as the goblins are immolated.

The battles at the two doors continue. At the stable doors, the two dwarves holding the entrance only manage to down one more greenskin. In response, two of the goblins manage to hit one of the dwarves, but they are little more than nicks and the dwarf hardly seems to react from them at all.

Back in the hallway, Winnacer easily manages to finish off the one that he previously injured, but the other one that he aims at manages to duck away from the young Lord's blow from 'Old Bohavia'. Rowan is well on form, however, and manages to run two of the goblins through with Chanticleer and lashes out at the last remaining goblin with his main-gauche. The blade nicks the last goblin but does not manage to fell it.

The goblin sees, however, that there is no chance of beating the two warriors facing him and so turns tail and attempts to run. Before he has managed to run more than a step, however, Rowan skewers him and the last of the greenskins attacking the hall entrance drops to the ground, leaving the door free for the moment.

From inside the stables, they all hear the voice of the priest of Ohen calling down from the roof:

"I managed to take out all of the archers to the south and the warehouse is burning nicely," he says. "I managed to take out those on the roof of the northern warehouse as well, but the wood is damp from the snow and so it hasn't gone up. There are still ten of them in the trees to the northeast that I couldn't get."

"It seems like they're not just going to stand around and let me blast them any longer," he continues. "The platoons immediately to the north and west of this warehouse have taken cover behind the wall of the warehouse to the north now. Those in reserve to the east have fallen back into the trees and spread out so that I'm not going to get too many of them if I try another fireball on them."

Winnacer calls out to Rowan and Milan:

"The dwarves seem to be in need of our assistance."

The young Lord then heads back into the hallway with Rowan and Milan accompanying him, not risking the fire of the goblin archers in the bushes that would surely target them were they to go outside.

They see that the two dwarves are still locked in combat with the six remaining goblins.

The arrival of the reinforcements seems to spur on the dwarves, as the pair of them manage to hack down three of the goblins between them.

The three remaining goblins strike back at the dwarves. One of them is cut quite badly by one of the goblins and he seems to have taken a fair amount of damage now.

As Winnacer, Rowan and Milan arrive, they see a wall of fog materializing ten feet away from the stable doors.

The warriors decide to take out the goblins before dealing with whatever is being obscured by the fog. One of the goblins strikes at the most injured of the dwarves, but the armor that the dwarf wears beneath his coat saves him from damage. Another of the goblins lashes out at Rowan, but the nimble swashbuckler is easily able to dodge the blow. One of the dwarves takes one of the goblins out, cleaving it in two with his axe. The injured dwarf takes down another of them, leaving just one remaining. The final greenskin doesn't last long, however, as Rowan is easily able to run it through with Chanticleer.

With the first wave of goblins all dealt with, Winnacer turns to Rockrender, the illusionist, Faewen'il and the still invisible priest of Ohen that is dangling from Fae's magickal rope:

"How much time do we have left on the invisibility sorcery? With the goblins hidden and massed behind the building, all we need to do is get our Fiery Friend into range."

"One of our number says he can alter stone. If we can alter the stone by the doors in the rear, we can then access the back doors and let some of our number sneak out the rear. If our invisible dwarf can maneuver into position, they are done for."

"It has a little under ten minutes left to run," shouts the illusionist in response.

"That should be enough," the disembodied voice of the Ohen priest replies.

"Come with me and I shall open up an exit in the west wall," Rockrender says.

The magickal rope starts to swing wildly as the fire priest descends quickly. The invisible fire priest and Rockrender then start to head out of the stables in order to go to the back of the warehouse.

Before they have got too far however, there is an almighty thunderclap and the darkness of the warehouse is lit up as a bolt of lightning flies from the edge of the foggy area and smashes into Winnacer, Rowan, Milan and the two dwarves at the doors of the stable.

The two dwarves are just on the edge of the lightning bolt's area and so they are not too badly effected by the blast. One of the dwarves is already badly injured, however, and is starting to look badly beaten up.

Winnacer, Rowan and Milan are right in the center of the blast, however. Although Winnacer is not too badly harmed by the blast (for a change), Rowan is decidedly shaken. Milan, however, is immediately hurled to the ground by the blast where he remains, smoldering badly and obviously unconscious.

Before anyone can react, hordes of goblins dressed in half plate and looking a lot better trained than the first wave charge forwards out of the fog heading for the door.

Meanwhile, BatYaz has been flying through the cold night sky heading for the gates to the UnderCity. After less than two minutes, he reaches the gates and sees that there are a couple of companies of goblins guarding the gate, with one at the bottom and a platoon in both of the towers. They are fairly alert at the moment, but none of them pay any attention at all to a small bat flying into the gloom of the Opava proper.

Once through the gates, BatYaz continues onwards towards the Cathedral of Zemnye. He reaches it after another three minutes. He circles around and checks that no one is watching, but all is quiet and so he lands on the ground just behind the Cathedral and quickly morphs back into his regular form

Realizing that time is of the essence, he immediately runs through the large iron doors of the Cathedral as soon as he has returned to his regular state.

Entering the Cathedral, he sees that the place is fairly quiet at the moment, but that there are six priests currently on duty in the dark Cathedral, all of them wearing the brown robes of their faith.

As the goblins surge forwards, Winnacer shouts out to the spellcasters behind him:

"Someone get Milan out of here and take care of his wounds, we'll keep the goblins away."

The CornerStone immediately changes direction and runs forwards in order to take care of the badly injured Milan.

"Someone needs to keep an eye on the hallway door as well," the young Lord adds.

"I'll take care of it," the illusionist shouts and heads to through the connecting door to cover the hallway."

Winnacer, Rowan and the two dwarven warriors then form a line and get ready to take the goblins' charge.

In the narrow confines of the stable doors, not all of the 15 goblins can crowd the warriors, meaning that each of them only has a couple to contend with.

The two goblins attacking the first of the dwarven warriors both miss. The dwarf, however, has no such problems and his mighty axe easily manages to cleave through the goblins' half plate and he fells the pair of them each with a single mighty blow. Two more goblins behind them step over their comrades' bodies and lash out at the dwarf with their broadswords. Once of them manages to cut the dwarf quite badly.

Next to him, the more injured of the two dwarven warriors swings at the two goblins facing him, but misses quite badly. One of the two goblins makes him pay for his mistake by cutting into him and the dwarf is looking close to falling now.

Two more of the goblins launch themselves at Winnacer, but neither of them are able to penetrate his platemail. The goblins are far tougher opponents than the first wave, but two good blows from 'Old Bohavia' are sufficient for Winnacer to fell one of them. Another goblin takes advantage of the gap and joins the fight, but Winnacer easily manages to dodge the goblins' blow.

Next to him, two goblins try and land blows upon Rowan, but the swashbuckler manages to dodge them with ease. He manages to injure one of the goblins badly with Chanticleer but, on his next lunge, he loses his grip on the weapon and the rapier tumbles to the ground. He immediately ducks down to try and pick it up and, as he does, the two goblins lunge at him once more. Rowan is ready for this, however, and nimbly manages to dodge out of the way.

The CornerStone runs up and grabs Milan's unconscious body from behind the line of warriors and drags it to the rear of the stables, whereupon he immediately lays his hands upon the dormant squire and utters the words of the healing incantation. The results are weak, however, and Milan does not come round.

The invisible priest of Ohen sees that one of the dwarven warriors is in danger of falling from his wounds. He comes up behind the warrior and lays his hands upon the warrior's back as he utters the words of the healing ensorcellment. The results are highly successful and the warrior is in no longer danger of dropping any time too soon.

The illusionist stands in the doorway watching for any potential attack through the other door. As he does so, five duplicate illusionists appear from nowhere and it becomes impossible to tell which is the real one.

Faewen'il casts a quick incantation and raises her hands towards the goblins. As she does so, three bolts of magickal energy fly out towards the goblins. All of them hit their targets damaging the greenskins, but none of them fall.

However, the allies are not the only ones able to pull such magickal tricks and a volley of three more magickal missiles emerge from the fogbank ahead of them. One of them hits the strongest of the dwarven warriors, while the others hit Winnacer and Rowan respectively. In each case, however, the damage caused is only slight.

The melee at the gates of the stables continues. Two more goblins attack the stronger of the two dwarven warriors, with one of them managing to injure him. One of the goblins he is facing has already been injured by Faewen'il's magickal missile, but such is the strength of the goblin that it still takes two blows from the dwarf's axe to cut down the goblin. Another greenskin joins the battle with the warrior and manages to get another good blow against him.

The other dwarven warrior is also attacked by a pair of goblins. Both of them manage to find a way through the dwarf's armor, but in neither case is the damage too severe. The dwarf manages to damage one of the goblins in response, but the blow is not heavy enough to drop the goblin.

Winnacer is rather shocked to find that both of the goblins he is facing are able to get through his armor. However, Spravedelna smiles upon him due to the fact that both of the blows are little more than scratches, which he hardly notices. This seems to be the end of Spravdelna's assistance, however. The injuries put the young Lord off his stride and he misses the first of the goblins by a wide margin. He concentrates on the second and brings 'Old Bohavia' crashing down upon the goblin with all of his might. The goblin brings up his shield to take the blow and Winnacer feels the sword imbedding itself in the goblin's shield. The young Lord pulls on the sword to try and dislodge it from the goblin's shield as the goblin tries to pull the sword out of the LawBringer's hand. The goblin's grip on the handle of his shield is stronger and he manages to pull the sword out of the young Lord's hand, leaving him weaponless temporarily.

Next to him, Rowan struggles to retrieve Chanticleer into his hand. As he stoops down to pick it up, the two goblins upon him strike out at him once more. He manages to dodge out of the way of one of them, but the other manages to strike him in the back as he picks up the weapon. Rowan is starting to look fairly beaten up now, but he manages to retrieve the rapier and turns to face the goblins once more.

Just then a burst of flames emerges and gives the four goblins fighting against the two dwarven warriors a good grilling as the invisible Ohen priest casts burning hands. All four of the dwarves immediately fall to the ground, overcome by their terrible burns. This sets the priest of Ohen laughing maniacally once more.

Faewen'il adds to the goblins' woes with another volley of three magickal missiles aimed at those upon Winnacer and Rowan. Once again the goblins are badly singed by the missiles, but none of them fall from their wounds.

More magickal missiles fly from the fog in retaliation. Two of them impact upon Winnacer, while another catches the stronger of the two dwarves. Although Winnacer and the dwarf are the strongest of the combatants, both of them are starting to become badly injured as a result of a multitude of minor injuries.

The CornerStone once again brings his hands down to Milan's forehead and casts another healing enchantment. Once again, however, the healing spell is weak and the squire does not come around.

In the doorway to the hall, the illusionist sees a squad of five goblins quietly moving through the door into the hallway, attempting to gain entry to the rest of the warehouse while the others are tied up at the stable door. Immediately that he sees them try to enter, the illusionist takes a white feather from his pouch and begins to utter an incantation while gesticulating toward the greenskin squad. This immediately sends four of the goblins running away in terror. The fifth goblin charges towards the six illusionists standing by the entrance and lashes out at the closest one with its broadsword.

Much to the illusionist's surprise, the goblin gets lucky and hits the real illusionist, causing a minor wound upon him.

With the priest of Ohen's burning hands spell taking care of all four of the dwarven warriors' opponents, the remaining three goblins charge in to take their places, with one upon the stronger of the two dwarves and two upon the stronger.

The stronger of the dwarves lashes out at the one coming for him and hacks it in two before it has a chance to strike. The other dwarf is not so lucky and misses the one he is aiming for. One of the goblins manages to find a way through the dwarf's defenses and cuts him badly with his broadsword.

With 'Old Bohavia' still embedded in the goblin's shield, Winnacer immediately grabs the magickal mace from his belt and starts to assault the goblin that took his sword from him. He is slightly out of practice with the weapon and so his first blow is short, but the second catches the goblin and hits him full square on the shoulder. The two goblins facing him retaliate by lashing out at him, with one of them finding a chink in his armor and damaging him slightly once again.

Rowan, with Chanticleer back in hand, tries to make up for lost time against his greenskin opponents. He manages to run one of them, already badly injured through being on the receiving end of a couple of Faewen'il's magickal missiles, through, but his other attack from the rapier and also the main-gauche are dodged by the other goblin. He manages to dodge out of the way of the goblin's counter-attack.

There is another burst of light from in front of where the weaker of the two dwarves is trying to fight off a couple of goblins as the priest of Ohen casts another burning hands. One of the goblins immediately falls to the ground screaming, although the other manages to fight off the agony and continues to fight.

Faewen'il casts another of the ensorcellments and, for the third time, another three bolts of mystical energy flies from her fingers aiming for the four remaining goblins. Two of them hit one of the goblins Winnacer is fighting, and the third hits the other. The goblins scream from the damage, but neither of them fall.

This time there are no magickal missiles emanating from the fogbank. However, the magic user that is within there is obviously up to some trick as the four goblins that the illusionist scared away immediately stop running and turn on their heels before heading back into the hallway.

The six illusionists inside the hallway see the goblins running back in and the real one of them knows that he is going to have trouble fighting off all of them. Immediately, the illusionists all pull forth crystal rods filled with phosphorus and start to dance a mystical dance in front of the goblins. Four of the goblins immediately stop in their tracks once more and stare at the illusionists' gyrations, transfixed by the dance.

One of the goblins ignores the hypnotic patterns, however and starts to hack away at the illusionists:

"Shit," the illusionist cries. "I need some help here. I'm no good in a direct fight."

Faewen'il turns to see what aid she can give to her fellow magic user.

Meanwhile, the CornerStone tries, yet again, to work his healing magick upon the unconscious Milan. This time the spell works well and the squire comes to, moaning and groaning in agony from his wounds.

With just four badly wounded goblins facing the warriors at the gate of the stables, everyone redoubles their efforts to finish them off in order that they may go on the offensive. One of the goblins gets a final strike in upon Winnacer that manages to find a way past his armor, but just scratches him. Another tries to hit Rowan, but the strike is parried by the swashbuckler's main-gauche. Another of the goblins manages to thrust its broadsword into the weaker dwarf's flank, which causes him an horrendous injury, almost felling him to the ground. The last of the goblins also manages to get past Winnacer's armor although, yet again, the wound is nothing more than a scratch.

Winnacer has had enough of being scratched to death now and launches himself at one of the two dwarves upon him. Unfortunately, the goblin manages to parry the blow from the young Lord's mace with its shield. Rowan has better luck, running through the goblin upon him with Chanticleer. He strikes out at one of the two upon Winnacer with his main-gauche, but is unable to find a way through the dwarf's armor.

The weaker dwarf realizes that he is fighting for his life now and strikes back at the one that caused him such a terrible injury. He is very weak from his wounds now, however, and the goblin avoids the blade. Seeing how close his comrade is to falling, the stronger of the two dwarves comes to his assistance and easily manages to cleave the goblin through. He tries to help Winnacer out by taking on one of the goblins upon the LawBringer, but is unable to find a way through the blur of steel to land a blow upon either of the greenskins.

The invisible priest of Ohen realizes that one of the dwarven warriors is on his last legs and so quickly comes over to him and casts a healing ensorcellment. The results of the spell are only marginally effective and the dwarf is still not far from keeling over.

Back in the hallway, the sole goblin that is unaffected by the illusionist's gyrations continues to strike out at the six illusionists. He lashes out at one of the replicas and the illusion immediately blinks out. With Milan now out of the danger zone, the CornerStone looks over to the illusionist and realizes that he needs a helping hand. The dwarf grabs his pick from his belt and runs over to the combat and lashes out at the lone goblin. The goblin, preoccupied with the illusionists, does not see the CornerStone entering the combat and so the dwarf brings the pick crashing down upon the goblin's skull, easily piercing the greenskin's helmet and killing the goblin instantly.

The goblin or goblins in the fogbank are not standing still while the battle rages. The allies notice that the fog, which is starting to thin a little, starts to billow up again as the spell is renewed. In addition, the stronger of the two dwarfs starts to sweat a little as his armor starts to warm up. A worse fate is to befall Winnacer, however, as he is instantly struck completely rigid.

There are just two goblins left at the mouth of the stable now and everyone realizes that they must be taken out as quickly as possible. Rowan manages to injure one of them with a well-aimed blow from his main-gauche. The weaker of the two dwarves manages to finish this one off with a good blow from his hammer. The last of the goblins tries to finish off the badly injured dwarf, but his strike is off-target and the dwarf survives. Rowan manages to finish the last of the goblins off by running it through with Chanticleer. The stronger of the two dwarves starts to grimace as his armor starts to heat up and he begins to feel his flesh burning from the heat.

The invisible priest of Ohen realizes that the badly injured of the two dwarves is still in dire danger of being felled by a stray blow and so attempts to provide him with more healing. His healing attempts are only slightly better than before, but at least it takes the dwarf out of the danger zone.

Before the warriors at the door can act though, more disaster strikes as Rowan and both of the dwarves at the stable mouth are all held rigid, leaving the entrance to the stables wide open.

Rockrender sees all of the warriors struck down and immediately realizes that he has to do something in order to stop more goblins from charging in. Returning to the stables, he starts to gesticulate towards the held warriors while shouting a hurried incantation. The results of the incantation are impressive, as all four of the warriors are immediately released from being held.

However, it seems as if there is no letup in the goblins attack, as more greenskins start to charge through the fog, with ten of them headed towards the stable door and another five heading for the hallway.

Immediately that he sees the new force of goblins charging towards them, Winnacer's eyes start to glow with Holy wrath:

"DISPERSE FOUL GREENSKINS LEST SPRAVEDELNA INFLICTS HER DIVINE WRATH UPON YOUR UNJUST SOULS."

At such close range, only half of the goblins are within the area of effect of Winnacer's sight, but all those within sight of him immediately submit to the Fear and immediately turn upon their green heels and run back into the fogbank, screaming in terror as they do so.

The other five carry home their charge against the four warriors in the doorway. Two of the goblins attack the largest of the dwarves, with one of them managing to inflict a modest injury upon him. The dwarf strikes back, missing one of the greenskins with his first blow, but hacking the second of them in two.

Another goblin goes after the second dwarf, but stumbles as he reaches him, falling upon the ground. Thus incapacitated momentarily, the dwarf easily manages to crush the goblin's brains with his hammer.

One more goblin presses home his attack upon Winnacer. The greenskin approaches at incredible speed and runs the broadsword through a chink in the young Lord's armor. The LawBringer cries out with pain from the damage that the sword caused. The goblin tries to pull its broadsword out of Winnacer's flank, but the sword seems to be stuck fast.

Rowan also finds himself the target of an attack from one of the goblins, but he manages to dodge it with ease. In retaliation, Rowan manages to injure the goblin with a thrust from Chanticleer, but is not able to finish the goblin. He thrusts again with the rapier, but the greenskin manages to duck out of the way. He follows up with an attack from his main-gauche, which manages to inflict a small wound upon the greenskin, but not enough to finish it.

To the south of them, at the entry to the hallway, the illusionist starts to panic as sees another five goblins heading to join the four that he has hypnotized by his enchantment:

"I need some help here," he cries. "If I stop this spell, then the first four are going to get free."

Faewen'il, who has been waiting to be of some assistance in the combat, immediately turns to assist the illusionist.

"Get out o tha way," she says as she takes a piece of cobweb from her pouch and starts to gesticulate towards the hallway.

The illusionist leaps through the door into the stable just as the goblins rush in, brandishing their broadswords. Immediately that they get into the room, Faewen'il utters the final words of the incantation and the room is suddenly filled with sticky web-like strands that bind all of the goblins securely. The last of the goblins to enter sees the strands coming down and leaps out of the way. The four that were spellbound by the illusionist's hypnotic pattern and the other four that charged in are stuck fast in the web, however.

Back at the stable doors, another volley of spells comes from the goblin or goblins in the mist as first Rowan and then the stronger of the two dwarves go rigid. Just then, the shape of the formerly invisible priest of Ohen starts to appear as the invisibility wears off amongst the warriors at the stable door. Seeing that two of the four warriors protecting the stables doors are held, the priest immediately starts casting towards them. The stronger of the two dwarves is released from being held, but Rowan remains stuck fast.

The priest of Ohen curses loudly in dwarven and joins the two dwarven warriors and Winnacer in taking care of the remaining goblins.

The goblin that narrowly avoiding getting webbed runs around to join in the combat at the stable doors, targeting the recently revealed priest of Ohen. The priest sees the goblin coming, however and dodges his blow. The priest holds his hands before him and a burst of flame shoots from his hands, which instantly fries the greenskin.

Another of the goblin attempts to land a blow upon the stronger of the two dwarves, but it is absorbed by the dwarf's armor. The dwarf retaliates with an almighty blow that hacks the goblin in two.

Seeing that Rowan is no longer a threat, the goblin that was fighting him changes target to the other of the dwarven warriors. Its blow, however, is stopped by the dwarf's armor. The dwarf thrusts at the goblin, but his blow is parried by the goblin's shield.

Winnacer is still grimacing from the broadsword embedded in his thigh. He lifts the magick mace once again to rid himself of the pesky goblin that he is fighting so that he can concentrate upon removing the blade. The blade is causing him agony, however, and the pain puts him off his stroke and the goblin easily manages to avoid the blow. The goblin that lost its sword scrambles around and picks up one that was dropped by many of his fallen comrades.

All of a sudden, the goblin corpse that the priest of Ohen immolated suddenly explodes in a mass of colorful fireworks. The two remaining goblins at the stable doors are immediately blinded by the sight, as are the stronger of the two dwarven warriors. Further back in the stables, Faewen'il also succumbs to the sight and can see nothing.

But that's not all.

In addition, a billowing mass of noxious vapors arises from the midst of the warriors. The second of the dwarven warriors, Winnacer and the priest of Ohen all start gagging from the noxious vapors and fall to the ground, coughing their guts out from the fumes, leaving all five at the entrance to the stables incapacitated.

A cry comes up from the rear of the stables:

"ENOUGH!" cries Rockrender as he pulls forth a lump of granite from his pouch and starts to utter a quick incantation.

As he finishes it, there is an almighty creaking and a stonewall appears from nowhere, raising up from the ground in order to completely seal off the front of the warehouse, enclosing both the doors to the stable and the hallway.

A silence descends upon the warehouse only broken by the gabbling of the goblins held by the web.