Ambush on the Road!

1 May 850 AUC: The Valerian expedition meets a traveler, one Cupricus of Epirius, who is going to Rome to buy a copper-pipe-making machine.  Cupricus says that goblins and orcs used to raid caravans and even towns in this region in the bad old days of the Thirties, but the Army fixed their wagon and burned down their breeding places. Since then it's been safe, until last summer, when travelers began to go missing again. But no one's survived to tell the tale, so who knows if it's goblins, orcs, or just plain old criminals?

The next day, Donnel, Rosa's wolf, alerts as they approach a hill. He doesn't like it. Vesuvius detects magic on the hill in two spots, to the left and right of the road.

Junius calls his troops into a wedge. Rosa causes faerie fire to flicker insubstantially around the goblins waiting in ambush, completely spoiling their concealment. Donnel and Rosa go in after them, with Sylvia shooting a well-timed arrow to protect Rosa from being stabbed.

Junius' wedge charges! They chop through the goblins into the woods.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the road, a green flame swells into a catapult of green fire, which hurls a fireball. Vesuvius reverses the fireball and blows up the goblin shaman, who flees with his head on fire.

Pouncequick sneaks up and finds a series of little silver figurines at the site where the shaman was hiding. Then an orc, who snuck up on him, bashes Pouncequick over the head. Pounce plays dead and rolls down the hill and the orc, deceived, sneaks past him to put an arrow into Vesuvius, the wizard. Pouncequick pounces. No more orc.

Thirty goblins attack from the woods! Vesuvius stops one mob with a wall of fire. Retarius steps into the crowd, asking, "Who dies first?" One of the goblins, hearing this, hangs back and lets his buddies go first. They lose. "Who dies second?" But there are many volunteers.

A dying goblin hangs on Retarius' shield, dragging it from his grasp. So he hurls his weighted net, trapping five or six of the beasties, and fights the rest all at once. Some blows clang on his distinctive helmet and gladiator shoulder plates, but only one scratches his tough hide. Goblins continue to die until the goblin supply is expended.

One group, however, has gone around the wall of fire! Brother Junius sets his spear to receive the charge. One goblin bounds over his spear point, but Sylvia shoots him. Then she shoots the others.

Vesuvius discourages the last group of goblins with an erupting ball of fire, which kills them and sets the wagon containing everyone's possessions on fire. Sylvia puts it out before things are too badly ruined.

An air elemental comes down the road, arms of wind wailing! Junius and Rosa see several goblins whose shapes are blurred, making it hard to attack. Connel the wolf doesn't like this at all. It's unnatural. Rosa peers into the gloom, illuminated helpfully by the fires Vesuvius started, and spies the other goblin mage hiding behind a tree. Rosa points him out, and Centurion Aponus hurls a pilum (spear) with all his might, transfixing the shaman through the branches of the tree.

The air elemental and blurring effect vanish with the shaman's death. The remaining goblins run away.

Junius catches one for interrogation. He knows that the orc, Wulga, was in charge of the ambush, whose mission was to keep people away from the village of Civula. He doesn't know a lot else.

Update: the dead orc had a brand-new gold coin on his person, bearing the face of the current Emperor and the current year. It likely was struck in Constantinople, and therefore was probably part of the missing tribute.

Everyone earns 1 xp for this encounter.