Feeling a bit confused after missing so much context from the skirmish, Aeran spends a few moments taking in the scene in front of him. With the immediate danger seemingly out of the way for the moment, the paladin pulls the reins to stop the wagon and jumps off it, longsword in hand just in case some more enemies make their way out of the forest. 

"You stay here, boys," the high elf tells the oxen as he runs towards where Alden is lying. Is he dead? Wounded? Knocked out? The two arrows sticking out of the man's body are not a good sign, but not all hope is lost. 

Once he gets closer, Aeran will check if Alden is alive and provide some first aid if needed.

Medicine: 7

Aeran's ministrations stabilise Alden but he remains unconscious.

"You should get to live another day, my friend, " Aeran mutters as he does all he can to make sure Alden will survive the injuries. Seeing that the ranger remains unconscious, the paladin turns and rushes back to the wagon, jumps in the driver's seat, and urges the oxen to get moving again. 

In the fragile state that Alden is, it will be best if Aeran drives the wagon closer before any attempts to move the unconscious man. The high elf plan is to stop next to the fallen ranger, and attempt to carefully move him to the wagon, instead of leaving him to lie there in the dirt. 

Strength or athletics check if needed: 5 (they have the same modifier but I am not sure which would be more suitable for `lifting unconscious teammate`) 

 Mayres, cheeks flaming, padded over to Alden. Mayres, after examining the ranger, concluded that he almost certainly had a good chance of survival; the goblins' arrows weren't piercing anything vital, although there was quite a bit of blood -- blood that was mixing into the dusty road to make mud -- so it was probably best to get Alden to Phandalin as quickly as possible.

 Without hesitating a moment, Mayres started assisting Aeran with moving Alden to the wagon.

Athletic or Strength Check (If Needed): 8

Once Aeran had stanched the bleeding, he and Mayres manage to lift the stricken ranger up onto the wagon bed, shifting some sacks of flour to give him the most comfortable position they can.

 Mayres, after retrieving his spellbook, satchel, and other personal belonging, decided to walk alongside the wagon from then on. There was no telling when there might be another attack.

Luk pulls the arrow out of his thigh and rolls medicine to staunch the bleeding.

14

Bad new, rolled an 8-1

What? Didn’t mean to roll on post. My bad

"Ah, thank you," Aeran grunts in approval to Mayres, after they manage to move Alden to the wagon. The high elf then kneels besides the unconscious ranger, gently pressing a hand to the human's chest. Closing his eyes for a moment of concentration, Aeran calls upon the divine, and a radiant aura soon envelops his hands. A warm, soothing energy flows from his touch, infusing Alden's form, as the paladin tries to mend some of the wounds.

Casting Lay on Hands for 2 HP.

Lukuth drags a goblin corpse. “We should set up camp here for tonight. I’ll also prepare the goblins to eat, never know hen times get tough.” He grunts before gathering some logs.

12

Athletics has a +5

Survival has a +1

Alden feels new life spirits in his body and opens his eyes with a painfully groan.

"Wha..W...What happend?" My back and my shoulder are burning like hell" "Last thing I remember are these two sneaky golblins in the bushes and then...totally darkness"

Visibly shaken, he straightens up and looks around

It seems unusually still and quiet after the sudden burst of violent activity. It was all over so quickly yet the peaceful journey and idle chat that preceded it feels an age ago. Even the birds have stopped singing.

Alden comes round to a searing pain in his back and right shoulder. He looks up at the elf in some confusion. His head feels stuffed with sheep's wool and he has no memory of anything after loosing that arrow at the goblin in the trees. It takes him a moment to figure out where he is, but eventually recognises it as the inside of their wagon. The radiant energy spreading from Aeran's hands gives him a feeling of warmth and safety despite the pain.

Lukuth's gruff offer of dinner breaks the silence. Whilst moving goblin corpses and collecting logs, he notes tracks and scrape marks on the road that indicate about a dozen goblins have passed this way recently, and have dragged off something large in a northerly direction, possibly two somethings. Likely human-sized.

Between you you estimate that Phandalin is about a day's travel from here. It is still late morning. If you push on you could arrive tonight, albeit late and will be travelling in the dark.

"You should rest, " Aeran says to Alden as the radiant light dissipates, and he moves away from the wounded human to give him some breathing space. "You lost a lot of blood, so take it easy."

The paladin jumps off the wagon and walks towards the two horses, so he can inspect the surroundings properly. He will check to see if the animals are unharmed and whether they can be used for transport, before looking at the goblin corpses, perhaps they might carry something interesting on themselves.

Animal handling if needed: 8

Investigation: 9 (sad detective noises)

As Alden and Luk had earlier, Aeran recognises the horses as belonging to Gundren and Sildar. One of them has an arrow protruding from its rump but otherwise they seem unharmed and fit for use. The scattered objects in the road appear to be Gundrun's and Sildar's belongings that had previously filled their saddlebags. The map case, presumably Gundrun's, is lying open and empty.

The goblins themselves are nothing remarkable. They carried shortbows and scimitars, and had small round shields slung on their backs along with their quivers. They look small, ugly, and pathetic in death. Aeran does notice, however, that their teeth seem to have been filed to savage points. He finds nothing of note on their bodies

 "You know, I never liked goblins," Mayres announced, "they look like they should be all slimly, like toads, but they're not, which is also a a characteristic they share in common with toads. I never liked toads, either."

 Mayres shucked off his leather coat and was examining it for damage, when he said, in a much more cheerful tone, "Granted, toads don't actually exist. So there is that."

  He seemed oblivious to the group's stares.

Alden stays in the back of the wagon for now to regain some strength - the goblins have done more damage to him than he expected.

"Thanks friends - I owe you something once we arrive in Phandalin"  he said and you could tell he was trying to suppress the pain. "Thats Gundrens horse - seems that these sneaky little fellas ambushed him as well"

Shouting over to Aeron "do you recognise any traces of gunderen or anything that indicates that they took him?" - he tries to stand up to get a better overlook but immediately notices that it was a bad idea as the burnig pain suddenly shoot into his shoulder again

Aeran takes in the whole scene with growing concern. It is bad enough that the group got ambushed, but to see that the horses are actually the very same ones that Gundren and Slidar rode off on a few days ago is even worse. The only silver lining he finds in the situation is that he doesn’t see anything to suggest that their employers have been killed, at least not at this location. Which means that they were probably taken someplace else, and what is their current fate is unknown.

“We should get moving,” the paladin states bluntly, after thinking for a few minutes. “We need to get this wagon out of here and find help for Alden. Then perhaps we return and try to find what might have befallen Gundren and Slidar. There is no blood here, so I can only think they might still be alive...” He replies to Alden's question.

The high elf gets on one of the horses, leading the other one by the reins back towards the cart. He takes in the slender build of Mayres and nods to him. “'Can you take the reins and guide the wagon from here?”

Of course, his observations are not orders, but Aeran seems to think the best action in their current state is to move away from this dangerous area. There is no telling if the goblins might return with reinforcements if the group sets camp here. Even with the goliath, the party would stand no chance against a couple dozens of goblins or even less, especially considering the state of the ranger.

 "I don't see why not." Mayres said, as he briefly considered climbing over the crates, flour bags, coiled ropes, lanterns, and other supplies that were stockpiled in the wagon. He decided not to do that, instead, hopping down, and walking over -- patting the oxen on the way -- before swinging himself up to the bench.

 Mayres grabbed the reins.

Animal Handling Check: 19

Luk packs up camp and takes one of the horses that was on the road. He rides along at the back of the carriage. “Hey Alden feeling fine?” 

*Can I loot the goblins shield as well real quick.*