#7: "Enbel is a fake, the real one was killed before going into stasis!"
"Echo, your dog is a bomb!"
"#8 isn't here to help you, he's a spy."
Numerous other things were shouted at the party - all of which they were sure were untrue. Altus, happy that Rufus was out of the woods, turned his attentions to Carlana, and as he was assisting her, she disappeared, and reappeared at the other side of the room - in 2 places! Meanwhile, #7 knocks the rest of the group into the back wall, and showers them in flames.
#7: "I thought I could trust you, but you're acting like that bitches (indicating Carlana) lackies!! And you! (indicating Carlana) They killed a goblin, and spun lies - the whole Set story is a fake! They're disposing of Goblin bodies in your town - they're going to start a war!"
The tide turns, and #7 is pinned down, and beaten to the ground. During the fracas, Carlana has disappeared. #8 and Enbel leave to check on the power cells and bring them back. Rufus has sunk into an armchair and seems to be leaking blood through the dressing which Altus had hastily applied. Despite the wound, he is not fazed. He appears to be of few words, but perhaps this is just an attempt to conserve his strength. He thanks them for their help, giving a nod to Altus. After talking to them briefly, and answering their question on his age: "north of half a century", he politely asks for the doctor, and then falls asleep. Echo pulls out #7's memory card.
They split up - #8 goes to the gate to retrieve the power cells while the others fetch the doctor, and then they locate Carlana and talk to her. Carlana apologises for her hasty exit- saying that she had to be sure that #7's intent to kill her wasn't shared by the rest of the group. She thanks them for neutralizing #7, and tending to Rufus. She reveals that she is an illusionist, and one of her talents is making copies of herself. She can control up to 2 copies at the same time. This explains why there were 2 of her at one point - she was actually never in the room with them to begin with. Rufus had come to talk to her, and had just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
#8 informs them that when he was retrieving the power cells from outside the gate, the goblin - Tep - that they had tied-up had escaped. Carlana tells them that they will have a meeting the following day to discuss things, and there will be a steak dinner for them too! The party relax for the evening - although the definition of 'relax' varies for each person. Echo and Enbel eventually go to bed. Echo has never needed much sleep - part of the Mul constitution, however she feels that passing up on a good night's sleep in a safe place after the day she's had would be foolish. Before they woke up in this world, she was a council worker - used to using her hands to work on the power grid for the town, or any other oddjobs that came her way. Slaying goblins and droids would never have fallen under her job description. It feels slightly surreal, that the world could change so fast.
Altus patrols through the town around the inner perimeter of the wall, and #8 takes up residence in one of the towers by the front entrance, to stand night watch. #8 does not need sleep, and doesn't feel human hunger, thirst, or physical tiredness. He scans the horizon, and reflects on the progress made towards his goal of restoring Firestrong, and what is still left to be done. At about 3am, #8 detects a noise. However, neither he nor the other guards posted on the wall can see anything outside. He reaches out to Altus telepathically to warn him of possible danger. Altus quickly goes and rouses Echo and Enbel. #8 descends the tower and uses his knife of entry to get outside the fortress without opening the gates. He stands in front of the portal he has just opened to make sure no-one else can use it to get in and out. When it closes, he looks around, and sees no-one. Seconds later, a guard falls from the tower to the ground. #8 looks up, and a guard falls from the other tower. However, there is a guard in place. #8 uses a power to pull that guard down from the tower to the ground, believing it to be an imposter, but it is another one of the city guard, gagged. The guard did not see who had assaulted him.
The gate is opened for #8 to re-enter the fortress, and it becomes apparent that goblins are attacking. It isn't possible to see exactly how many there are, but some have taken the guard towers. At this point, Enbel and Echo have arrived on the scene, and Echo sends Ranger to alert Carlana to this threat. One guard is thrown from the wall by a goblin who then jumps down after him, lands on him, and slits his neck. Altus tries to stabilize him but he is very weak.
As Carlana was made aware, she organised the off duty guard and the army. They marched from the guard towers at the back of the fortress and along the grounds within the fortress in a tightening loop towards the front entrance. The party realise that the goblin leading the attack is none other then Tep, the goblin who had slipped his bonds when they captured him. Tep's allies begin to falter, especially as #8 is particularly effective at repelling the assault at the front gate. Altus, bring made aware of the snipers of the moat, telepathically reaches out to inform the resident alligators or a nearby snack. Goblin screams are heard shortly thereafter. Altus, Echo, and Enbel come to a realisation almost at the same time, that if the moat was to be searched now, finding the corpse belonging to Set wouldn't raise any eyebrows with the gnomes. The moat was going to end up littered with them at this rate. #8 continues to scare the goblins back, one of which runs into the mouth of an alligator who hadn't yet had its fill.
Echo tries to take on the leader, Tep, who is similarly proficient with hammers. Tep quickly realises that his position is weakened, and turns tail and runs for one of the gate guard towers. Echo gives chase and despite being only steps behind him when entering the tower, does not catch up to him on the stairs. She believes that he must have used a secret escape route. Looking down from the wall to the outside, she sees him climbing out of the moat below. She yells, alerting the others, who all make chase. #8 accelerates ferociously towards Tep, only to falter and collapse to the ground just on reaching his side. Enbel and Altus are hot on his heels and leap in, but the goblin drops his hammer and surrenders. He has a few words to say while being bound. He in unhappy, clearly - more with other issues than the failed attack.
Tep: "We were provoked into attack. You broke the truce - you killed our leader, and stole our power cells. Are we just meant to take that?"
As the party take him into custody, another figure appears distantly - one of the goblins from the attack. He calls out:
"I'll keep your seat warm for you... brother"
He then turns and melts into the night. Tep is taken and put in the prison. The gnomes search the guard tower that Tep escaped through, and find a secret door - where an excavation has taken place from the moat through the floor of the guard tower. This wasn't something which was made in a day, it took a deal of work and meticulous planning to not be found by the gnomes. The guard immediately get to work on sealing it, and searching for possible others. Despite getting medical attention from the doctor, the man of the guard whose neck was cut died. Carlana spoke with the party, saying that their plan for a meeting to discuss tactics would continue as planned the next day, but now it would be an emergency meeting, where the head of the guard and the army would be called in. She was quick to let them know that their presence would be desired, as without them the whole fortress would have been overrun. She told them that there would also be a memorial for the fallen guard. She asks if Altus and #8 would help to stand guard for the remainder of the night, as 2 men have been seriously injured and 1 dead so the numbers are down. They agree, and she takes her leave.
Of all the goblins that attacked, all had escaped or were killed except Tep, and one other unconscious female. Enbel and Echo, their adrenalin waning, made their way back to the guest quarters and a few hours of sleep. #8, unfazed, makes his way to the top of the wall to resume watch. Altus silently follows. Two of the city guard tie up the goblin female, and carry her - heels dragging- through the doors into the prison.
*End of Game 5*
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I really enjoyed this game, and the party seemed to also. The #7 fight didn't work as well as I had hoped - the parties plethora of status effects really helped them neutralise the threat. However, the allowed finally dishing the hurt out on #7. They had been distrustful of the character from the start, and it was nice to have the payoff from that. #7 was never meant to be a recurring character/villain anyway, and i'm going to try and not be scared to kill off characters - I want the game to have that touch of reality.
The goblin invasion encounter was clearly the highlight of the game. The players really did well - I had allowed for a number of outcomes - including the goblins successfully taking all the walls and demanding a surrender. #8's successful perception checks meant that they became aware of what was going on at an early stage, so it gave them the optimum chance to fend off the attack successfully. All the goblin corpses falling in the moat covered up the disposal of Set's body there. I'm excited for the next game now.
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