07.2 Side Trek to the Mines

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Kalans Revenge Mercenary Company
Company members:-
A cast of extras
Axemen
Spearmen
Crossbowmen
Elven cavalry
Other appearances by a Bard, Priest of Manananan Mac Lir, Thief type, a Gnomes apprentice Mage

Trek to the Mines

A ship carries the hordes of warriors to within a days march of the mines.  They arrange themselves into riding order and start the journey through hostile territory, a similar journey their seniors had made some time earlier to rid the mine of the Giants.  Not long into the journey they are met by a hail of arrows fired from a distance by a group of bugbears.  The artillery return fire and the spearmen and axemen gallop to close the distance.  The bard hurls a fireball at one group of creatures and blows them away.  The fighting sways back and forth for a few rounds with ultimate victory going to the party.  With so many men and only one cleric a number of the group are forced to carry wounds until we get a chance to rest at nightfall.
Later that same day a hill giant bellows at us that we need to pay him money to let us pass.  We look around at the 20 or so of us, only one of him and the Bard makes our mind up for us by hurling a lightning bolt at the critter, wounding him somewhat.  Again we let the missiles loose as the foot soldiers close the distance.  This battle is more one sided, the giant makes a couple of huge swings with his club, missing completely before he is swarmed by men with axes and spears.  Just as we are looking around the area to see if there is anymore danger we are assailed by a pack of owlbears.  They attack us from the rear and wound several of our soldiers before we can bring our forces to bear and batter them down.  Several of our soldiers have dropped unconscious so we make camp and allow the priestess to regain her spells to cure the critically wounded troops.
The next day we close to within looking distance of the mine entrance.  The thief cloaked in invisibility scouts close to the entrance and reports back that there are a group of goblins outside the mine and more noise including wolf howls coming from inside.
We move up cautiously and let loose our missiles at the pack of goblins outside, we kill them off quickly and move fast into the mouth of the mine.  We are soon met with more goblins and Worgs, these huge wolves prove very hard to take down.  Our men are starting to take more wounds and there is extremely difficult close quarters fighting before we can secure the first cavern and form lines across the two passageways before reinforcements arrive.  More worgs and goblins pour forth and while the goblins are taken down relatively easy, the worgs are a much tougher prospect. Several of the axemen sport grievous wounds and have to withdraw, the spearmen having killed off the goblins rush over to fill the gap in the lines and beat the attack off.
We reform our group when the last of the creatures is killed and the Bard informs us that there is a secret passage that leads to the rear of the chiefs quarters and it is likely we can surprise the leaders with a swift attack, also he informs us that he has a Horn of Valhalla, which can summon forth warriors to aid us in our cause.  Bolstered by this we advance down the passageways and form up behind the secret door.
The Bard instructs the priestess to hurl a stone from his necklace into the group beyond which will explode into a fireball, he will also cast a spell.  The door is opened and a huge crowd of goblins and worgs have their backs to us, we hurl the fireballs which explode for devastating effect.  Over half of the creatures are instantly killed with many more wounded, missiles are fired at the survivors before the foot soldiers rush in together with the summoned warriors.  Once again the worgs fight back and a devastating fireball is hurled back at the archers by a goblin spellcaster, this takes out the elven cavalry archers and lays low two of the crossbowmen.
The chieftain who was hit by both the fireballs and several crossbow bolts flees the chamber telling the last of his guard to hold us back.  We eventually overcome the last of the creatures in here but about half of our force are unconscious.  The Bard casts a web spell across the entrance and we gather the treasure we find in here and with our unconscious comrades slung over our shoulders retreat from the area.  
We will return when we are healed up to kill off the last of the goblins, knowing that we have dealt with all their spellcasters and the elite guard.