The massive hobgoblin was on him before he had time to process the hobgoblins surrounding them. He ducked the weighty swing of a comparably stubby square blade and jabbed up with his spear. It cut straight through the thick leather armor and into the dense flesh of the threaded hobgoblin, and the hobgoblin's backswing caught him in the shoulder, clashing off his armor and rattling his bones as he stumbled aside. He dragged the spear out along with him and all the hobgoblin did in response was smile and swing his free fist in to follow up. Andrew brought his shield up and weathered the blow, grounded his stance and thrust his spear up through the armpit of the hobgoblin. The spear dug deep into the flesh and the arm went limp, the hobgoblin turned and swung wildly at Andrew who backed up leaving the spear stuck fast as he skipped back along the dirt path as comfortably as he could. Beside him he could hear Po wrestling with the other threaded hobgoblin, and Kalan calling out orders to a crowd of surrounded survivors. He drew his hammer, stiff armed a wild swing with his shield, and brought it down on the hobgoblin's knee. It felt like he was dragging the hammer underwater at first, then as it picked up speed all Andrew could do was try to aim the dense missile. It slowed enough for Andrew to regain control as it disintegrated the hobgoblin's knee. The hobgoblin dropped and Andrew swung the hammer back and through the hobgoblin's skull with ease.

I definitely need to make more of these.

The defenders were a controlled mob, carefully toeing the edges of the carnivorous kalam as they fought against the lightly injured hobgoblin skirmishers pressing in against them on all sides. A blast of air mana came down on one position from the distorted flames above, exploding behind them and knocking two people screaming into the Kalam pits to be devoured, instantly breaking the position. Kalan rushed to help the surviving defenders in the area hold the line as Andrew ran to Po with an Idea.

Within moments he was flying through the air on a giant-assisted leap. He suspected the hammer would fuck with his trajectory so he left it behind, instead recharging the accumulation circle on the speartip and taking that with him instead. He burst through the wall of flaming kalam blooms and into a swirling wall of wind which threw him slightly off center as he opened his arms wide to grasp on to the floating blue threaded hobgoblin. Whatever magic was keeping it afloat was entirely unable to support the both of them, and the sphere of strong winds surrounding the hobgoblin mage created a riot of ash and cinders around them as they drifted to the floor of the grove. The mage clearly had some control of their descent because he guided them to a relatively clear patch of ground on the outskirts of the fighting. Andrew could already see some hobgoblin skirmishers breaking off to charge at them as the wind wall fell. The mage saw them too and turned to shout at them as they drew closer to the ground. Andrew took the advantage of the mages distraction to position his spear pointing directly up at the bottom of the hobgoblin's chin. Then he released two charges one after another and they fell the last few feet to the ground. The ground shook and the third threaded hobgoblin dropped to down the rocky slope, fifty feet from Andrew on a clear path. It charged right at him as he was climbing to his feet.

What do I have? A flash shield, empty. A spear, two charges. Fire resistant armor, well used. My chisel, always handy. That’s it. I'm a bit fucked this time, I think.

Andrew fired a bolt of silvery metal mana into the charging hobgoblin's leg to no effect, then he was ducking swings, bringing his shield up to deflect hits as he jabbed out with his spear, pricking the hobgoblin's thick skin here and there. He was faster, but he wasn't doing any serious damage, and this opponent was not kind enough to allow a clear line to his head. An ache was growing in Andrew's arm, each strike he had to block it got worse. The edges were split from the hobgoblin's heavy strikes. The light circle was done then. His arms were heavy. He stabbed out with his spear and the hobgoblin caught it in one hand beneath the speartip. He brought his blade down with a flash, snapping the end of the spear and tossing the speartip aside.

Andrew heard the hob skirmishers getting closer to his back and shuffled onto the soil bridge to his left, backing frantically away from the threaded hobgoblin as he did so. His shield was raised high and it was all he could do to keep it up and between himself and the hulking brute without losing his grip on his chisel in his other hand. He heard shouting above and someone slid down the rocky slope behind the hobgoblin, bow drawn. Andrew shouted and slammed his shield forward at the hobgoblin as an arrow burst through it's chest from behind, still burning. A second and third followed quickly after and the hobgoblin barely completed it's turn before it was an absolute pincushion of arrows. Andrew spared a glance for the group of scouts gathered at the bottom of the slope as he pocketed his chisel and picked up his broken spearhead. The group was led by Isaac, who quickly raised a hand in greeting and rushed towards him. Their clothes were tattered and roughly patched in several places. Spots of blood both fresh and old stained them in various places and there were only four in total.

"Fight's that way! We could really use your help!" Andrew shouted, pointing towards the oncoming hobgoblins and the chaotic mass of defenders and hobgoblins clashing by emberlight. He turned and started skirting around the kalam pits on a parallel path as the scouts stopped as one, readied bows and rained death on the oncoming hobgoblins. They had just enough time to skid to a stop and look for cover before they started to go down. Isaac was firing arrows wreathed in flame that had a habit of punching entirely through the lightly armored Hobgoblin skirmishers. Hopefully he knew better than to use those against the hobgoblins already mixed into the defender's lines.

Andrew rushed around the group of punctured skirmishers and to the edge of the clashing defenders. He stabbed an unsuspecting hobgoblin in the back of the neck with his broken speartip and was quickly consumed by the chaos of the crowd. Swords clanged against shields everywhere. Andrew fended off a blow from one hobgoblin, then another grabbed him by the ankle. It was bruised and bloodied and it's hand was closed shut around his ankle like a vice. Andrew kicked at the arm, then had to snap his head and shield arm up to block another blow. The hobgoblin on the ground tried to pull his ankle out from under him and Andrew fought to keep his feet. An arrow flew in from over Andrew's shoulder striking the hobgoblin in front of him right in the head as it raised it's blade to bisect a distracted Andrew. It twitched, made a weird noise and continued to bring it's blade down with a howl. Andrew stabbed up with his speartip while allowing the hobgoblin below to pull his leg out from under him. He fell hard, but his speartip was planted firmly into the chest of the unicorn hobgoblin on the way down. It collapsed onto the prone hobgoblin as it crawled it's way up Andrew's leg and he began kicking out violently at the whole writhing mass, scooting backwards on his hands and dragging all three of them along the ground towards the outskirts of the churning crowd. Arrows zipped through the air above him, each one striking an otherwise occupied hobgoblin. Whatever they did over the last week, it improved their accuracy considerably. They were also shooting from about fifteen feet away, which probably helped a lot. Andrew's boot crunched into the head of the crawling hobgoblin and it went limp. Andrew glanced at the archers behind for a moment, raising a hand before he climbed to his feet and bashed his way back into the mob.

The fight was over a few moments later. Andrew stabbed a hobgoblin in the neck with his chisel, Kalan beheaded one, and another fell to a swarm of arrows as it broke off to flee. It became disturbingly quiet. The kalam above still crackled and popped as it burned, their ceiling was getting steadily lower as it burned. The heavy panting of the standing fighters, the hoarse, sometimes wet calls of the injured lying about the clearing. The soft sob of Leah, face in hands at the edge of a writhing kalam pit. Andrew did his best to shake of the strange, dissociative shock at the battle's end and rushed to pick through the clearing for survivors.