The doctor nods to his ally in appreciation then turns back to his captive patient. He begins bandaging the wound and splinting the leg, but does s slowly while asking questions.

”Why here? Where your kin? Who boss?”

The goblin answers in its grating voice. ”Klarg is boss! But big boss, King Grol, he Big Boss. Klarg say ‘kill dwarf friends’, but he stay back there.” The goblin jerks its head backward, gesturing along the path. “Now done talking. Man, hurry, fix!”

    With battle over and no immediate threat in sight, Yed slowly let’s the warhammer slip from his hands as the adrenaline slowly escapes his body to be replaced by aching pain. Seeing that Doc and the others will are handling their lone surviving attacker, Yed slowly drags his weapon to the back of the cart. He then tentatively and stiffly sets himself against one of the wheels of the cart, in a direction where he still has eyesight of his companions. Looking down at his bloody body, Yed looked at his nails already caked with blood from trying to stem the flow from his wounds.

”I know. I know Alice. Very sloppy. I should’ve guessed that something was amiss, I know you wouldn’t have been surprised by some measly goblins. You were always better in our spars”, muttered Yed under his breath as he seemed to almost sleepily watch the others interrogate the tiny goblin. His body unknowingly puts itself in a fetal position as he unconsciously begins to make himself smaller.

Doc tightens the bandage intentionally uncomfortably on the goblin, causing a brief burst of pain for the creature.

"Where dwarf friends now? Where Klarg? Where Grol?"

Ena sees the others immediately go to work and, unsure of what to do with herself, she opts to stay on the wagon. She occupies herself by talking to her cat, which had been undisturbed by all the conflict. "A few ugly goblins were no match for us, isn't that right Niko?"

She watches Yed approach the cart, resting on the wheels. She raises a brow in reaction to seeing his wounds up close, surprised at the amount of blood that had formed, and she leans above him, gazing at him curiously. She listens closely enough to hear what he was saying, if only barely. The way he shrank inward while being so wounded made him seem strangely pitiful, despite his massive frame, and it made it easier to speak to him when he had seemed so intimidating earlier.

"Alice? Who's that?" She spoke to the Goliath's head from above, leaning forward with her arms folded over the side of the wagon.

Big Bear keeps an eye on the tracks as he approaches Doc, Shamash, and the goblin prisoner. Leaning over to Doc, he whispers

"I found tracks from both the goblins and 2 bodies they were dragging" (Pointing down along the trail) "they went that way." (pointing over his shoulder to Yed, collapsed along the cart) "When we are done here, could you take a look at some of Yed's wounds? I only have enough energy to replicate what I did for you maybe once more, and it looks like we are headed for more trouble soon."

Big Bear stands back up and walks over to Shamash, outstretching his arm to him. "Excellent work out there! Where'd you learn to do that?"

The goblin yelps, and starts talking again. "Klarg still back there," he gestures along the path "with other dwarf friend. King Grol at castle, he want dwarf for Black Spider." The goblin cackles, launching spittle into Doc's face.

Shamash turns to Big Bear sheepishly, taking his offered hand gratefully, "I dunno, but in the lower city streets of Baldur's Gate, you always have to be ready to defend yourself. Once I grew to be this size, I became something of a target. And seeing the ambush of these poor horses, and then seeing what happened to Doc....it just wasn't alright. I needed to fix it. And how are you able to see where the tracks lead? This whole area just looks like wilderness to me. What do you think we should do next?"

    Hearing Ena, Yed slightly lifts his head in her direction. Barely audible Yed mutters absentmindedly, 

”Alice taught me to read. She sat down with me for hours and sounded out anything I needed. The first book we read together was about a great adventure between friends, she promised me that would be us one day. We’d slay dragons and monsters. And she’d protect me from the particular scary ones.” 
    As Yed says this he begins to shake slightly, his hands going to his wounds almost without thought. Looking up fully to meet Ena’s face, Yed softly says

”You’re an extraordinarily brave young woman Lady Ena.”

Big Bear points along the path.
"there are drag marks from two bodies, multiple small footsteps and scratch marks in the dirt along the path. That leads me to believe they went that way, relatively recently, judging from the state of the horse corpses. I think we should follow it, investigate whether the people they took are alive. But we should make sure everyone is ready for trouble, and we will want to either hide, or take the cart with us, since the job is to transport the supplies safely."
Walking back to the cart, Big Bear tends to the oxen.

Doc internalizes everything said as he finishes the bandage. Just before though, he removes all the goblin’s weapons.

“Fine. Kept Promise. You go now! Never see again or die!”

He yanks the goblin up by the neck of his armor and gives a slap to the back before sending him off. 

He then turns to the rest of the group upon hearing the discussion between Bear and Shamash.

”I’ll examine any of us that are injured; but we  should make haste. Our employer and his aide appear to have been the victims of this same ambush. As Bear has mentioned there appears and our captive confirmed: they seem to have at least a small hideout nearby, down that path. Our goblin friend was kind enough to offer up their bosses names. Klarg appears to be the one in charge of these roadside attacks, while King Grol is above him and some figure going by “The Black Spider. I’ll begin healing those that need it but if we intend to aid Gundren and ideally get paid for this mess, we should hurry.”

(Healer’s Kit on Yed)

7

The goblin scurries off, limping, into the forest and away from the path. It's not long before you lose sight of it.

Shamash turns to the group, and says "I agree with Big Bear and Doc, I think we should stop whatever devilry is afoot here. I can offer some small healing if need be, but I agree, we should be off quickly."

Ena listens as Yed tells her about Alice. She tilts her ear slightly towards him so that she can hear his soft voice more easily. She can't help but smile at the image that forms in her mind of this huge Goliath towering over what she presumed to be a young girl, clumsily pronouncing words in children's books and promising to go on adventures together with her. "Sounds nice..." She grimaces as she thinks back to her own family, being reminded of the hostile jealousy which permanently divided herself from her sister, and she feels envious of the bond he had formed.

She blushes as Yed looks towards her and suddenly compliments her. "O-of course I'm brave! A craven would have collapsed under the darkness that I'm bearing long ago! Foolish mortal." She gives sudden attention to Niko as she scoops the cat up and grooms his fur. Her face continues to redden, flustered from how pleasing the remark was while also embarrassed by her strange knee-jerk reaction.

She listens to Big Bear's information about the environment and Doc's conclusions from the interrogation. She frowns, having not considered that the party's mutual dwarf friend might be endangered, and she picks up her staff and book.

"We'll make those goblins pay for what they've done!" If the group decides to drive the cart towards the threat, she remains seated, but if not she hops onto the ground and begins walking towards their destination.

   Yed gets up stiffly, rotating joints and getting his body ready for the journey ahead. Looking to the Doc he then speaks in his soft tone and eloquent cadence ,

”I am eternally grateful for the assistance Doctor Jennings...I  trust you and the group with whatever you all decide with our next course of actions.” He then bows his head ever so slightly towards Doc Jennings, before collecting the gaudy, silver warhammer once again and securing it on his back. If the group drives the cart towards the trail then Yed will walk, but will unconsciously end up on the side Ena is on. It’s as if the wires in his head that tell him to protect are guiding his natural instincts when going through foreign land. If all going on foot he will try to be in front of either the Doc, Ena, or even both.

The trail is only wide enough for the party to march single file, so the cart can't fit in it. You could easily find somewhere to put the cart and oxen where they can't be seen from the road, if you wanted to continue without it.

Shamash asks for Big Bear's guideance on how to best hide the cart, but gets to work trying to hide it so nothing befalls it. He goes to work with little hesitation, speaking to years and years in service at his temple. He noticeably calms as he takes part in manual labor.

As we walk on the trail, Shamash doesn't feel comfortable taking the lead, but he would try to trail behind some of the smaller party members, and possibly protect the back of the group, unless someone else prefers to.

Big Bear assists Shamash with hiding the cart, then will take the lead following the tracks from his previous survival check.

”would someone keep an eye out for any ambushes? I would prefer to not have a repeat of what just happened”

OOC: Assuming Big Bear leading, following the tracks Yed will be following close behind.

”I’ve got your back Big Bear. I won’t let you all down again.”says Yed firmly as he keeps vigilant watch for threats or movement as the party walks along the trail.

Perception: 12