Tangle glances around as everyone stands still, near the pit, the forest unusually quiet, the birds silent, the insect still, the wind gone. The party glanced at one another, wondering what strange omen this sudden silence might mean. They stood there, time passing like molasses, each moment ticking by with infinite slowness. After a time, they could each scarcely tell how long they'd been in this moment, as if it could stretch for infinity. Perspiration broke Tangle's brow as an ominous feeling of being trapped, being captured in some infinite time bubble by some insidious creature leaped through her mind. How long had she been here?  How long would she be here?  A fly hung in the air nearby, it's wings caught in frozen in mid flight, the sunlight glistening off of its green chitin shell. 

With a sudden inaudible "thump", the world un-freezes. The fly zips past through the air, the chirps of birds echo through the forest, and the scrunch of leaves and twigs underfoot can be heard as the group quietly move.  Tangle investigates the pit, pushing aside the branches and leaves that conceal it.  The bottom of an 7 foot pit is predictably dotted with spikes, the sides of the pit are slanted and easy to climb out of. No bones, litter, or otherwise are in the bottom aside from more leaves and twigs.  Rosella continues her scouting mission ahead of the main party.  Ahead the forest thins out a bit and the sound of rushing water can be heard. You've gone perhaps five miles from the road. The ground rises up into a hill ahead, and you see a narrow stream bubbling out of a sizable cave in the side of the hillside.  Dense briar thickets shroud the outside of the cave. You see the path crosses a shallow part of the stream and then continues into the cave on the right side of the stream.  

Peran's shoulders bunch up as he eyes the cave. Softly he lets out a groan, clearly unhappy about the situation ahead of him. Still, he's scared to talk, not knowing what might be out there, listening for any sound, so he keeps quiet.

For a man used to a moving deck under his feet and the expanse of the sea and air around him, it's fair to say he does not like caves much. Often tight and cramped, the air dull with immobility, he could think of many other places he'd like to explore, not to mention with the constant threat of an ambush looming over his shoulders.

Rosella looks to the rest of the party. "This appears to be where they've made their base of operations. I would recommend caution above everything else. They know this area better than we do and it wouldn't be a good idea to split up from this point forward." She points to the briar, "And we should most likely assume they have some guards around that."

Diodato moves wide around the briar with his bow at the ready, taking heed of Rosella's words of warning. He looks cautiously around as he does so.

Perception: 19

Diadoto, you see two goblins crouching within what looks to be a small alcove inside the bushes across the river, seemingly arguing with each over over what you believe to be a large branch between them. You can't see what they're saying, but you can see they're in a heated argument and almost entirely unaware of your presence.

Using his hands, Diodato silently indicates to his friends that there are 2 goblins behind the briar. He steps aside, just out of sight, keeping his bow trained on where they would appear.

Tangle quietly draws her sword, and, taking a look at the lay of the land tries to figure out how to sneak around to where the goblins are, from behind them so they can't see her. 

Stealth: 6

From there she'll watch and wait to see what the rest of the group does. She plans to try and ambush them after the party engages, but if they notice her, she'll just wade right in, hoping to silence them quickly.

Grum also silently draws and readies his bow, and moves in closer to Diodato, to try and see where the goblins are. 

Stealth: 6 

Peran slowly takes out his hand-axe. A good throw might silence whomever they encounter before they cry out, although he wasn't sure if they would go in unnoticed. Even he could hear both Grum and Tangle walking on the dry underbrush as they approached, he could imagine the Goblins would be able to ready up in time as well. Still, didn't hurt to try his own best to stay unnoticed. Perhaps he'd get an open shot before they noticed him, after all.

Mechanics:

Rosella joins Diodato, watching the rest of the party attempt to creep around the edge of the briar, ready to shoot the moment any goblins appear around the edge of the briar. 

Now all of you notice the goblins and as you wade through the shallow stream, your footfalls causes some loud splashes and one of the goblins looks up sharply, its eyes wide and growing wider when it sees the five of you. You see the goblin look over to its companion which is still focused on the twig poking it as though it were something alive before its shoved when it finally recognizes you, it's face dropping. 

The goblins are fifteen feet in front of you, but between you is the hedge they were hiding behind. They make no moves to wade towards you, as if they're waiting for your approach.

Initiative Rolls:

 OOC: Goblins go first, but in order to make things go smoother, go ahead and make your posts with your actions. Once you have, I'll resolve everything with a post of my own. A reminder as well, the hedge is considered rough terrain, so you get half movement within it.

Rosella moves along once she hears the sounds of commotion to try and get line of sight on the goblins. If she is successful she will shoot an arrow at one of the goblins.

With a mighty hurl, Peran launches the hand-axe towards the hedge, hoping to catch the Goblin that poked its head up behind it. He'd known the silent approach wouldn't work, but it still chafed that he hadn't even taken a precautionary look before simply sloshing through the stream.
He knows the Goblins are tricksy creatures from all the traps that were laid out in advance, so he decides against charging forward, instead content to seek cover behind a tree.

Mechanics:

Cursing at the total lack of stealth from the whole group, Grum realised now is the time, and will fire his bow at the goblin Peran threw his axe at.

Attack: 18 Damage: 9

EDIT: Not sure what's going on with these dice rolls. I'll try again and see if it works.

OOC: Rolling again to see if it works in a new post...

Attack: 11 Damage: 7

Tangle curses her clumsy approach, taken by surprise that she's been so loud and obvious she stands there, shaking her head in disappointment for a moment, before finally reacting.  As a bonus action she casts expedious retreat, and she charges the goblins drawing her sword and taking a swipe at one of them, using her extra dash to get close enough to attack if possible.  

Attack:  8    Damage: 11

(OMG, I have had THE WORST ROLLS for EVERYTHING this campaign!!! From stats to now!!!  lol.  Moving on.....)

As soon as he sees Tangle charge toward the goblins, Diodato steps to the side, bringing them back into view, and lets his arrow fly at the second goblin.

Initiative: 17

Shortbow: Attack: 8 Damage: 5

Peran wades through the shallow water and chucks his handaxe at Goblin A just before he goes behind a particularly thick part of the brush as cover. The axe itself spins and lodges itself deep into the goblin's left arm. It screeches in pain as it stumbles back. Injured but alive.

Goblin A: Screeching in pain at the axe in its arm, its snarls incoherently at you all, filled with both rage and a rush of adrenaline. The goblin grabs his shortbow, then fires at Peran, the bastard that injured it. 
Attack: 19 Damage: 8 (Peran, you have 3/4 cover, so you get a +5 bonus to AC)

Goblin B: jumps back instinctively from the whizzing axe that struck its companion. It takes a moment to look at the wound, all but forgetting its twig. It too snatches up its own bow and fires at Tangle
Attack: 24 Damage: 7

Grum cursing in ways only a half-orc can, raises his bow and fires at the screeching Goblin A, watching as the arrow flies straight through its neck. The creature stumbles, confused  and surprised for a moment, giving him a hurt look before dropping to its knees and falling back. Dead.

Rosella watches as Goblin A falls and dies, and thus takes aim at Goblin B, however, because her entire concentration was focused entirely upon her target, her boot catches into some of the rock at the bottom of the stream just as she's about to fire, causing her to trip and fall prone into the water and sending her weapon flying out of her hands onto the other bank.

Tangle jumps over the now prone Rosella and dashes towards Goblin B and swings at it, however the creature in its surprise from her sudden appearance leans back and is able to barely dodge her blade.

Diadoto sidesteps Rosella, and being careful where he places his feet, takes aim, however the splashes next to him and the fact that Tangle is also engaged with Goblin B and the fear of hitting her is enough to throw his aim off. Thus, the fired arrow flies just wide, whizzing past the goblin's face and thrumming into a tree bark far behind it.

A sharp intake of breath is heard as the arrow clatters into the bushes Peran is hiding behind. Somehow he felt the force behind the arrow, knowing it would have done some serious damage if he hadn't taken the effort to duck for cover. With a grunt he steels himself for close combat, knowing some of the others had already made it over there, and runs out from behind cover, shield forward and his other hand searching for the flail at his belt.

He has time for one whip of the chain before he arrives, aiming the flail head for the Goblin caught in a melee with Tangle.

Mechanics: