Happy gets ready to fight, but tries to stand at the back of the group. He is eager to show his skills. 

Initiative: 13

(So I'll give it two or three more hours, but to keep things moving I'll roll initiative for Nox & Helio. After that I'll post the order and we'll go from there.)

Edit: Seeing as it's new years eve and I don't know what everyone has in store tonight, I'll make the roll(s) if either one isn't made by mid morning tomorrow. Enjoy y'all's night!

Initiative for Helio and Nox:

Helio: 3

Nox: 6

Initiative order:

Nox

Goblins

Arlo

Happy/Helio

Catherine

Sieghart

Nox, you're up first!

You are at the crest of a hill that gently runs down to the stream they are at. The goblins begin hiding behind trees about 60 ft away, although you can still see them as you're a bit quicker. They each grabbed a short bow and the three center goblins grabbed a spear. You see no swords of any kind either on them or lying around.

(Edit: To keep things moving I'm going to instate this rule: If you do not post for 24 hours, then I will take over your character to keep things moving. Concerning combat: I will have your character engage in the conflict, but I will not throw them into a scenario that means certain death, lose items,  or expend a heavy amount of spell slots. Concerning everything else: I will not have your characters open dialog with any NPC's. If your character is in the middle of a conversation, whether NPC or PC, I will attempt to rp it out to keep it going, but obviously cannot meet the expectations you might have for them. Your character could be liable to become quiet for the remainder of an interaction, because I'm not in their head space as you all are; We can play it off as lost in thought or what have you. If you are anticipating that your next 24 hours are going to be hectic, then let everyone know via this thread, put it within () along with a projected time in which we can expect you to return. We can pause until the estimated time, unless you give the green light for me to take over when necessary in the meantime, then we'll continue. If there are no objections to that rule, then I'll give it another 2 hours before I make Nox's move. If this rule doesn't sound reasonable, then make your concerns heard and we can adjust as needed.

Another question that has been brewing in my head is whether everyone would like a separate area for ooc content: planning, player to player or to DM questions, general discussions, and I could use that to upload visual aids instead of uploading to a public share site and then post that link here. This stems from the request by Sally_JDoe. I have discord, if anyone would like to explore that option.)

(discord is super helpful with pbp.  i'd like that option.)

(I’m absolutely on your side with this. Discord would also be a nice addition. )

(I have no objection to this. Discord would make it a lot easier to get notifications too.)

(All sounds good to me. There absolutely has to be some kind of rule about timeliness of posts or the thread will never move. And I have Discord if we decide to go that route.)

(I think we may have lost Sally_JDoe. Everything has been deleted, but I still have the character sheet. I might control the character for a little while and maybe see if they come back. If not, then Helio will be going out in a blaze of glory. I'll hopefully get a channel going on discord by tonight. If you all could PM their discord id, then I'll send an invite when it happens. In the meantime;)

Nox pulls a short bow from beneath her cloak, draws an arrow, peeks her head over the fallen log, and trains her eye on the goblin that appears to be starting to bark orders. she'll steady her aim and release. Not wanting to take a hit, she'll duck behind the log between Arlo and Sieghart.

Attack: 23

Damage: 6

Attempting to take control of the situation, the lead goblin starts pointing to trees and rocks all while yelling at the other goblins. What he didn't notice was the arrow that came soaring down the hill and piercing him between some ribs. He doubles over while making it to cover, dragging a spear along with him. The two goblins fire off arrows directed at the log, more as a message to dissuade you all from further attacking, and then duck behind the trees. The two other goblins with spears will make their way across the stream and take position behind some trees, blocking your all's view. The spear men are about 15 ft apart from each other and about 30-35 ft down the hill. The goblins with arrows and the heavily wounded leader are still behind the stream, about 60 ft away and behind cover.

Your go, Arlo!

Arlo sees a goblin with a spear move to cover and rushes forward to clear him out (hopefully keeping the tree between him and at least one archer. 

Attack: 20 Damage: 9

Attack: 13 Damage: 5

Arlo swings his hatchets with the short and long chops he’s trained with for close quarters butchery

You cleave off an arm at the shoulder and imbed the second axe through their clavicle and a few of the upper ribs. The goblin falls limp to the ground, leaving behind black blood covering your axe heads.

Arlo, you are completely covered from one archer and half covered from the other.

Happy's up!

(Can I hit someone or are all the goblins behind cover? I will roll an attack anyway)

Happy looks over to the goblin archers and starts casting Eldritch Blast against one of them. 

Attack: 22
Damage: 3

Both archers are only slightly behind the cover of some trees. You see one poking their head out a little too much and capitalize on their mistake. You send a bolt of sickly green energy towards them. A quick yelp of pain is heard before the body of the goblin falls dead from behind the tree with a smoking, charred head.

Edit: Forgot Helio's turn

Helio will step to the top of the hill with little fear of what a goblin will do. She begins  swirling her hands up to the sky while speaking some sort of incantation, ending with a raised fist and bringing it down. A column of radiant fire descends from the sky and strikes at the last archer with sacred flame

Giblin's dex save: 22

Damage: 3

The goblin sees the energy streaking towards them and dives out of the way.

Helio steps back behind the hill a little perturbed. 

Catherine, your go!

One archer remains behind a tree about 60 ft away, a severely wounded goblin is taking cover behind a rock at about the same distance, and there is one goblin with a spear about 30 ft away behind a tree.

Catherine feels her blood beginning to pump as the violence unfolds before her. It truly has been too long.... her teeth flashing in a snarl, she rushes forward, seeking the spear-holder hiding behind his tree. Her axe comes down in an arc as she steps around to face him, intending to cleave him in two.

Attack: 18
Damage: 10

As soon as you step around the tree, the goblin turns to put his back to the tree. Your axe cuts clean through the goblin and a half foot further into the tree. It's upper body resting on top of your axe as his legs fall to the forest floor.

Sieghart you're up!

Two goblins remain. An archer and a severly wounded spear men beyond the stream. You'll have to make a wide flank to see either, but you'll be able to do it with your movement.

Seeing his companion dispatch the goblins fairly easily, Sieghart decides to join the fray. He trusted that his companion could finish off the wounded one and turned his attention to the archer beyond the stream. Running out of cover, he circles left around the tree providing the goblin protection. He extends his arm and nocks an arrow. Pulling the string and releasing in the direction of their foe.

Attack: 10

Damage: 11

The arrow looks to be flying true, but it buries itself into the tree just behind the goblin's head. His head whips around to meet your eyes.

Nox will take a note from Sieghart, but flank around the opposite side. Level her bow at the goblin archer, she'll take the shot.

Attack: 6

Damage: 5

Nox's arrow almost makes it to the goblin, before it glances a off a low hanging branch she failed to take into account causing the arrow to strike the dirt 15 ft before her target.

Both goblins take off into the woods as they realize they cannot fend you lot off.

:End of combat:

Peace returns as the sound of the wind through the leaves and the babbling stream come back. Three goblins lie dead on the forest floor... most of them dismembered to various degrees. You all haven't felt that jolt of adrenaline in what seems like forever... It was sorely missed.

Arlo looks through the bodies for signs of tribalism etc. Any indications of a larger goblin problem. 

Investigation 3

Apparently, they chopped things up a little too well.

”We should report this when we return. Can’t build a road and expect anyone to use it as long as goblins are in the immediate area. They’ll need to be cleared out eventually.”

You find that they have various beads, but you're unsure if they have any sort of symbolism. One has a necklace of canine teeth, of the beast variety.

Just looking at them you come to believe that they are not like the goblins who set ambushes and raids in the empire, where they are armed with stolen blades of steel and and crafted bows. These seem more primitive like. They have simple leather clothing, their weapons are simply sturdy sticks with flint tips and crude short bows.

Sieghart makes his way back to the group. He picks up the arrow that failed to hit its mark, then turns over to the bodies. One of the goblins that ran away had been injured. Perhaps it had left some tracks that they could follow. Sieghart started to investigate for such tracks.

(I imagine this is survival. If not, I’ll change it) Survival: 19

You easily see where the wounded goblin hid and the direction it fled, but it's not long before the blood trail thins out to nothing. It probably managed to hold off the blood flow just long enough to conceal their tracks. The trail went in a fairly straight east northeast direction.