The party are highly suspicious of this being a toll station (as Queetin has spotted, a toll station is paid for clearing the road, not blocking it) and this is confirmed when the Ogre uses his tree-trunk to nudge the Goblin.
The Goblin promptly gabbles in poor Common “We;re hungry. Give us your horses! Then we move boulder.”
The Ogre looks at Silverfoot (Johannes’ mount) and licks his lips.
Whilst this is happening, Dorric takes the opportunity to dismount and Sneak into the bushes on the South of the road.
Quentin and Dale are at the front, ready for action
Dorric is Sneaking through the bushes, ready to fire
John has Magic Missile in mind
He uses Detect Evil and gets mild Evil from both the Ogre and the Goblin. This confirms that it’s not a toll, but pure blackmail.
Johannes decides to dismount (so the Ogre can’t take a bite out of Silverfoot!) and mutters to Quentin that they can both take on the Ogre (leaving room for Dorric to fire), whilst Dale hammers the Goblin.
He suggests to John that the Ogre is dangerous, so a spell would be useful!
Finally Johannes reminds Plixican his help is valuable too.
Quentin and Johannes rush at the Ogre. They make sure Dorric has a clear shot at the huge humanoid.
Dale comes forward to engage the Goblin, whilst John stays back and casts Magic Missile at the Ogre.
Plixican and Spot stand on guard next to John.
The Ogre looks a bit puzzled that anyone would take him on, but then swings his tree-branch at Quentin.
The Goblin fights with Dale.
Meanwhile (to nobody’s surprise, since Dorric and Quentin both suggested it might happen) two more Goblins appear from the boulders to the North. They make their way towards Johannes.
Quentin gives a battle-cry and swings at the Ogre. However his sword slides off the makeshift armour.
Johannes also attacks the Ogre and strikes successfully.
Dorric suddenly appears in the bushes to the South and fires his sling at the Ogre, inflicting another wound.
John casts Magic Missile at the same opponent (automatically hitting).
The Ogre staggers, but still smashes the tree-branch at Quentin and apparently does a lot of damage. However the Ogre is confused as Quentin cries out “Just a scratch!”
Just behind this combat, Dale takes on the first Goblin.
Dale does useful damage and the Goblin looks horrified.
The Goblin waves his sword and thrusts.
He doesn’t look hopeful and is blocked by Dale’s shield.
Seeing the approaching Goblins, Johannes hisses to Quentin “OK if I fight Goblins?”
Quentin replies “Sure!” and chops with his Two-handed Sword at the Ogre.
His blow does massive damage - the Ogre instantly drops and fails to hit back.
Johannes turns to face the two arriving Goblins.
He thrusts, but does no damage.
Dorric sees the Ogre die and fires his sling at one of Johannes’ opponents.
His sling bullet strikes home.’
The two Goblins yell something in their language, in the direction of the boulders they came from. (Plixican speaks Goblin and translates for the party the message “Hurry up, sleepyheads!”)
Then the Goblins attack Johannes, but fail to penetrate his Plate Mail.
Dale swings successfully at his Goblin and the Goblin is slain before he can strike back.
Two more Goblins appear from the boulders, yawning.
They hesitate briefly, then one runs at Dale and the other towards John, Plixican and Spot.
The Spellcasters are not surprised and look ready for action…
Quentin turns to stand alongside Johannes and successfully attacks a Goblin.
The Goblin collapses.
Johannes also attacks a Goblin and hits.
This Goblin collapses too.
Dorric aims his sling at the Goblin charging at Plixican and John.
His sling bullet thuds home, but the Goblin keeps coming.
Dale takes on his second Goblin and the swipe from his mace hits.
The Goblin looks surprised and crashes to the ground.
As the sole remaining Goblin approaches the spellcasters, Spot the wardog leaps forward to guard his master.
One bite later, the Goblin is slain.
Plixican relaxes his spell-casting finger as all opponents are defeated.
Johannes surveys the situation.
"Jolly good show, everyone! Now for the tidy-up.
Dale, will you cure Quentin?
Let’s check there are no more Orc-kind about and search these bodies.
We need to move that boulder off the track - any ideas?
Where did these chaps come from?"
Dale heals Quentin fully, using up all his 3 memorised Cure spells. (Dale still has a Scroll of Cure.)
Dorric Sneaks behind the boulders, but finds no danger.
He sees that the Goblins waiting in ambush were crowded together, so clearly this is not the Orc-kind lair.
Plixican confirms the Ogre and Goblins are dead. Most of the their stuff is worthless, but he collects the Goblin’s swords (which will sell.)
He finds a key on the Ogre and shows it to Dorric, who recognises its shape. It typically opens a large chest.
Quentin finds tracks of the Ogre + Goblins leading from the ambush site into the wilderness.
Johannes stores the swords in his saddlebags and reminds the party that they should try to clear the boulder off the track…
Johannes explains “As the boulder is right in the middle of the track, wagons and carts will be blocked. And remember this is a trade route between Freeport and Sherwoodshire…”
“Oh, I see. We don’t need to move it for ourselves, this is one of those ‘pro bono’ things. The track is on a hillside, it seems, with rough scree uphill and a steep slope down into the water. How about we undermine it on the downhill side, then give a good shove. Once it’s rolling downhill, it ought to continue on into the river.”
Johannes gives Dale a look. “Moving the boulder is a good thing to do. You don’t have to be paid for everything!
If you like, tell folk in a tavern about how we defeated robbers on the road. We can all confirm it and that should be good for a free drink. :)”
He pauses for thought, looking at the Ogre’s tree-trunk. “Dale is right though about just needing to get the boulder started rolling downhill.
Now I seem to remember a chap entering a tavern and saying 'Give me a place to stand and I will move mountains … something like that.”
Dale and John scrape some dirt away from under the boulder, then Johannes and Quentin use the Ogre’s tree-trunk to lever the boulder downhill, away from the track.
The boulder hits the river with a satisfying splash and the path is cleared.
Quentin shows the party the tracks he found of the way the Ogre and goblins came.
Johannes is all for following them, but reminds the party there may be further Orc kind ahead…
Quentin follows the tracks up the slope. There are bushes and boulders here, so Dorric takes the opportunity to sneak around. A nearby waterfall also helps him.
The tracks lead to a cave mouth, so the rest of the party stands still in the bushes whilst Dorric checks ahead.
He decides there are no traps in front of the cave and also hears loud snoring from wiithin.
In the dimness of the cave, Dorric can just make out a large sleeping humanoid. There is stuff piled haphazardly around, but no sign of anyone else. The cave is not very deep.
Dorric quietly reports back to the party, then he, Jinx and Sneakerpuss all enter the cave steathily. Their combined assessment to the party of the cave contents:
the large sleeping figure is another Ogre
a chest that might fit with the key they have
several piles of animal furs (mainly used for sleeping)
a collection of weapons and armour (all human-size or smaller)
As requested, Johannes points his Longsword at the cave and concentrates.
“I’m picking up evil” he whispers. “So there’s no moral problem - the Ogre can be attacked without warning.”
He mutters to Dorric “If you want to Sneak back in and wait on the far side of the Ogre with your Backstab, Quentin, Dale and I can then charge in. We can all attack together!”