Reinforcements

Round 3

Seoni reacts to Poots alarmed cry and whirls around to face the onrushing pack of goblin dogs. She steps to Poot's side, presses her thumbs together with fingers splayed forward, and a sheet of flames shoots forth. The lead dog takes the magical flames head on and goes down in a burned heap. The dog behind it manages to duck under the worst of the attack, and though badly burned, keeps coming, as do the two more goblin dogs behind it.

Sasha also tries to come to the aid of the party's spell casters. She takes a final stab at the goblins fighting in the bottleneck and as the little beast jumps back to avoid her thrust, she side steps away behind Shalelu and tries to make her way to Poot and Seoni, but the confined passages of the maze slow her progress to a literal crawl, and she watches in frustration as the burned goblin dog leaps onto Seoni, knocking her over and sinking its teeth into her forearm.

Poot, not confined by the tight spaces here like his larger friends, manages to avoid the snapping fangs of the dog pack easily. Then he catches movement out of the corner of his eye and turns just in time to see a strange sight. A wild eyed goblin dressed in furs bursts out of the bramble wall behind the halfling, runs across the intervening space and dives headfirst into the opposing wall of thorns, disappearing from sight as quickly as he appeared. Before Poot has a chance to figure out what he just saw, a Firepelt ( a Varisain variety of cougar sporting a silky coat of red and black spots) comes tearing up the southern passage and pounce at Poot. Poot again manages to roll away from the snarling animal with only some slight scratches, but the firepelt's attacks are far more ferocious than the clumsy goblin dogs.

Meanwhile, a dozen feet away at the bottleneck Gerund, Yola and Shalelu struggle with the remaining goblins there. The low ceiling and scratching walls begin to take their toll on the heroes, and the more nimble goblins manage to avoid all their blows, one managing to land a slight blow in return on Shalelu.

Round 4

Seoni shakes free of the goblin dog attacking her long enough to scramble backward a few feet and let loose with a pair of magic missiles that explode in the beast's face, killing it instantly. Then Sasha is there, crawling over the thing's body to stab at the next dog. Unfortunately, the rogue gets more than she bargained for as both remaining goblin dogs jump at her. The confining tunnels deny Sasha her usual mobility and one of the dogs sinks its teeth into the shoulder of her sword arm.

Poot also backpedals, trying to fend off the claws and fangs of the firepelt, and though he manages to avoid getting pinned under the big cat it does take a painful bite out of him as he slips away.

The goblins in the bottleneck grow bolder as they see their foes fumbling in the briers and one makes daring lunge at Gerund, drawing a deep wound across his torso. The goblin's victory is short lived however as the paladin grabs the creature's wrist and runs him through. Beside him Shalelu continues to struggle with the goblin she is facing, neither one landing a blow on the other.

Yola shouts encouragement to Gerund and prepares to jump into the space her friend just opened up when a searing pain slashes across her back. Behind her the wild eyed goblin that Poot had sighted moments ago has emerged from the thorns, a curving blade of fire in its hand. The pain of his attack drives Yola into a killing rage and she spins around, catching the goblin druid across the mouth with the reverse end of her blade...

Gogmurt the goblin druid and his trusty firepelt companion Tangletooth have joined the fun. Remember that the tight passages of the maze are imposing a -4 penalty to hit and AC in melee combat ( except for small creatures like Poot, and all your enemies), and the odds are starting to even out against the party. Seoni has used 3 of her 6 1st lvl spells. Poot's inspire courage will last for 3 more rounds. Everybody's current HP are listed in the sidebar for easy reference. Please post any changes in your strategy you would like to make based on these new threats, otherwise the next post will go up Wed night.