Upon seeing the goblins emerging from the brush, Lorahzt scoffs and snatches the whip from her belt and the shield from her back. It was time to earn her keep...

Initiative: 20

Cade initiative: 10

...

Ologu identifies which pair of goblins are the furthest from the party. Right or left, it doesn’t matter. In an instant, decisions and actions are put into motion. Ologu focuses on the further of the two goblins in the pair of furthest goblins. He releases his offhand from the hilt of his greatsword. He begins his charge to engage that furthest goblin. With sword in one hand, he accelerates to full speed and visually analyzes the ground near the goblin to plan his stopping point.

Here is where the hundreds of hours spent in training will be tested. Back home and under tutelage of swordmasters, he practiced similar charge and strike combos on uneven surfaces, on grass, on gravel, in mud and in winter, in snow and on ice. The muscle memory was drilled into him in how to skid to a stop, be balanced and end up at the optimal distance to strike.

Having two targets at his destination was also rehearsed. The optimal positioning is to end the charge in a location where the first attack leaves the attacker within range of the second target and in a stance which will allow an attack of opportunity should the target(s) provoke it.

None of this, except for the locating of the optimal stopping point, is consciously evaluated. Ologu is relying on instinct and muscle memory as he charges.

As he runs, the sword tip is kept low and in front of him. When he arrives and stops, he instinctively is in a stable stance and ready to counter-weight the thrust/slash and expected resistance his blade will encounter. Here again, Ologu will be relying on the muscle memory of proper edge alignment trained into him by cutting through dozens of pig carcasses. Good cuts and poor cuts were determined by the slightest of deviations in wrist rotations.

His offhand re-clasps the hilt. With the sword tip still low, Ologu thrusts the blade low, groin level or lower. A quick instinctive wrist alignment, then with a mighty constriction in the muscles of his broad back, he violently raises the sword while drawing it back towards himself to minimize the chance of the blade binding on clothing or body parts.

If performed correctly, he should be in a high guard position, blade up, ready for a reactionary attack, should the enemy provide the opportunity.

Attack: 14 Damage: 10

Seeing Ologu charge down the furthest goblin, Lia goes after the next-furthest (the other archer?).

She hops down from the cart, and immediately tucks into a neat roll as she hits the ground, and is up and running again with surprising speed. Becoming an amber blur!

As she runs, she spins her quarterstaff in a wide flourish. And before the goblin-archer knows what’s happening, she’s bringing her staff down from above, and following up with a roundhouse kick...

Attack action (2-handed quarterstaff attack): Attack: 12 Damage: 10 

Bonus action (martial arts unarmed strike (kick)): Attack: 19 Damage: 7 

((OOC: for now, Lia is going for non-lethal damage, aiming to knock the goblin-archer out))

Lorahzt charges after the towering form of Ologu, but instead of attacking the back line of archers, she uncoils her whip, swings it in a wide arc to gain momentum, and cracks it down on one of the shield-wielding goblins. Still squinting from the sunlight, her aim may falter...

Attack: 7 Damage: 6

Arame, seeing the two goblins, mutters under her breath, 'mark' as she prepares to hurl a mote of fire towards the goblin whose attention is on Olugu. 

Attack: 14 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll. 

[ ooc - I'm pretty sure I put formula in wrong but if I erase it, it will return something saying I might have cheated so I'm going to just add what I think is the correct way here...sorry ]

Attack: 18 Damage: 8

Ologu's blade runs true, slicing at the goblin ahead of him. The sheer power of the swing and the deep blow leave the goblin, dead, on the forest floor.

The second goblin archer, confused by the amber blur that was once Lia, barely manages to dodge her quarterstaff attack, but as it does so, her unarmed strike hits the goblin squarely in the chest, knocking the wind out of it and sending it, unconscious, to the ground.

Lorahzt swings her whip at one of the goblins, but the light from the sun nearly blinds her, and misses the goblin widely. Arame's mote of fire hits the goblin while it is distracted by Lorahzt's poor aim, as the smell of burning flesh begins to hint.

The two goblins still standing now ready their attacks. The one engaged with Lorahzt swings its scimitar at her (Attack: 6 Damage: 5). The other goblin runs forward to engage with Cade, also pulling out its scimitar and attacking (Attack: 7 Damage: 4).

Cade deflects the strike from the goblin, taking it on his shield. he then lashes out with his own scimitar...

Attack: 20 Damage: 10

The battle joined, Thror allows the arcane energy within him to build. Suddenly his eyes flash red and his beard turns firery red for the briefest of moments before he points at the goblin furthest away, and lets lose a mote of fire at it from his fingertips.

Attack: Cast Firebolt at the furthest goblin. Attack:10 Damage: 5 fire damage.

Round 2:

Ologu quickly nods to Lia in appreciation of her ability to quickly incapacitate the goblin archer. His concern is the health of his comrades. He glances to the other side of the road in time to see Cade masterfully deflect the goblin’s scimitar strike only to follow up with a death blow. He sees that the other goblin, though smoldering a little, was still an immediate threat to Lorahtz. Ologu leaves Lia to guard the unconscious archer and runs to engage the last standing goblin.

Attack: 11 Damage: 15

Lorahzt deftly parries the incoming strike with her shield, frustrated by her failure to strike the goblin down. From the sound of things, her companions are doing well enough, so all she needs to do is finish the fight. Hearing Ologu barreling towards the goblin, Lorahzt once more brings her whip around, hoping to either catch the little creature herself or force it into Ologu's path.

Attack: 19 Damage: 5

Cade's scimitar strikes the goblin, slashing it across the side, and it crumples to the ground, dead.

The other goblin nimbly dodges Thror's mote of fire, and it fizzles out. As Ologu rushes in to strike at the goblin, it once again dodges away from the attack. The effect of the sun seems to have worn off on Lorahzt, as the goblin is caught off guard by her perfectly aimed whip, and also falls dead to the ground. You all may drop out of initiative.

You are all surrounded by three dead goblins and one unconscious one. What do you all want to do?

Lia (seeing the rest of the party expertly take down the remaining goblins), turns her attention back to the one she knocked out...

She quickly searches the body: initially looking for the missing map from the empty map case, but also checking for anything else the goblin might have.

After looting the unconscious goblin, she’ll drag it (rather unceremoniously) back across the ground, towards the cart. She’ll bind it’s hands and feet with rope, before sitting it up. Then she’ll splash it with some water, or slap it a little, to try and wake it up for questioning.

She calls to the party, “We’ve got a live one!”.

Ologu will clean his sword before re-sheathing it.

”Is anyone hurt?”

While the team begins the search of the bodies and possible interrogation of the surviving goblin, Ologu will search the wagon to see if Gundren had supplied a healing kit, “just in case”.

Lorahzt coils her whip with a nod of satisfaction as her adversary falls to the ground. She looks around at the bodies of the would-be ambushers, impressed at how well her new comrades handled the situation. Gundren has picked his hires well, she thought to herself. Turning to Ologu, she speaks in accented Common, "I am unhurt, and it would appear that we are all unscathed." She kneels down to examine the goblin she's just killed, then glances over at Lia and her... prisoner? "And what did you have in mind for that one? We should not linger here long..."

Thror makes his way over to join the rest of the party.  "Bah a goblin ambush. Can't these greenskins get more creative?" The dwarf looks over at the horses, "Poor sods whoever got caught. Goblins are not the best prison masters. Not that I have any personal experience ofcourse."

as the others  check out the horses and look over the dead and unconscious bodies, Cade moves into the trees to verify no more are  around.

Perception: 25

Stealth: 7

Ologu searches through the wagon, but does not find any healing supplies. Gundren clearly wanted to stock up on other things such as ale and traveling gear.

As Cade goes into the trees, he notices no more goblins, however he does notice a small trail hidden in the thicket. He determines that this has been the site of multiple goblin ambushes.

While you all are investigating the horses, etc., the unconscious goblin wakes up as Lia splashes water on it, thrashing in its bands. "Hey, what are you doing?" it yells in a shrill voice.

"By an ogre's morning breath!" Thror swears as he finally recognizes the horses as Gundren and Sildar's. He quickly rejoins the rest with a grave look on his face,  "The horses are Gundren's and Sildar's. The goblins got 'em."

Lia kneels down in front of the captured goblin, “What are WE doing?!... What are YOU doing?!... We, were just delivering supplies. You’re the ones who ambushed us”, she blurts out, surprised.

She straightens her monk’s robes and regains some composure, “The two who were on these horses, our friends, what have you done with them?”.