The sounds of twenty goblins shrieks and their prisoners cries for help got louder. Irzen could now hear the sound of drums as something much larger lumbered out of a cave entrance towards the victims. Irzen and Willow had seen this kind of giant before in their travels, or at least heard of them. It was an Ettin, the loathsome two-headed giant wearing animal hide about its body with a crude necklace of skulls.

Irzen made a quick assessment of their situation, "I count twenty Goblins, one Ettin, possibly more in the cave, maybe their prisoners are there too. I have an idea. Alyson, the last time I checked you're a Fire Elementalist. Can you whip up a flash grenade in the form of a floating ball of light and send it into the midst of the Goblins and have it explode?"

Alyson conjured up a fireball in the form of a glowing orb just as the swordsman asked and threw it down into the mass of goblins.

"I see your logic, Irzen," Willow quickly surmised, "By doing that, you can swoop down there and take care of the Goblins while Alyson and I pick off the Ettin with my bow and her magic. Serna, you can join Irzen and give him shielding should we fail to deal with the monster. Any questions?"

"TOO LATE!" Caliaphy screeched as the fire bomb went off taking out half of the goblins and knocking the Ettin prone.

"Well, go and kill things, swordsman!" The elementalist hissed at him. "I wouldn't wait too long because from where I'm looking that ettin is pretty pissed off now.

"Thanks!" Irzen sprang into action as he charged forward to cut down the remaining ten goblins.

"Wait for me!" Serna cried as she ran forward activating her shield, "YYYYAAAHHHH!!"

The remaining goblins grabbed their weapons and beat their war drums louder. The ettin roared in frustration from being blinded and stunned by the fire ball.

Irzen waded into the staggered Goblins with his sword and lopped off the heads of two Goblins with one stroke.

Without a moment's hesitation, Prince Willow quickly nocked an arrow and drilled the Ettin in the right eye with one of his deadly shafts.

For her part, Serna executed one of her trademark shield bashes against two more Goblins and sent them flying backward to the ground unconscious.

The ettin rolled over and pulled out the arrow. The other head looked up at the ranger snarling in rage, "KILL ELF ON RIDGE!"

Willow Bark cut loose with another arrow and took out the left eye on the same head he had just struck.

The war drums called out ten more goblins that avoided the swordsman and shield maiden and came at Willow. Their natural spider climb ability made it easy for ones with spears to charge the ranger. "KILL THE ELF! BIG BOSS SAYS TO KILL ELF! SO WE KILL THE ELF!"

The Bronze Man put a shield spell on the ranger to improve his armor for a bit and hit the closest one in front of Willow with a guiding bolt. The goblin dropped immediately but it didn't deter the others from advancing.

Willow saw the nine Goblins heading towards him and switched his target drilling the nearest Goblin to him with an arrow in its left eye.

From inside the cave three more goblins came flying out and collapsed on the ground dead. Out came the black-shadow draconian, Dragolem. He gave the swordsman a toothy grin as he caught another mid air and snapped its neck like a twig. "Took you long enough, swordsman!"

"What can I say, Dragolem, I've always been late for dinner but I've never been late for a party!" Irzen smiled from ear to ear, "Take your pick! You want the Goblins closing on Willow or the half-blind Ettin? Serna and I will take your sloppy seconds but choose now!"

"Dragolem! You're back! YAY!" Serna leaped for joy, "Boy, do we need your help! Can you help us?"