Use rope

I couldn’t risk hitting the priestess, and we still had some time before resorting to shooting it down.

“Hook it and pull it down.” I call out.

The guards pull out several hooks and tie them to the ropes we brought. We get almost right under the balloon and after a couple swings the ropes and hooks fly towards the balloon. A couple hit the basket and bounce off, but two of them connect and land inside. The guards immediately grab hold of the two ropes and pull causing the basket to jerk.

We see a goblin peak it’s head over the side and yell something to his ally as they try to pry the hooks free, but the prongs are dug in tight and the balloon slowly starts to descend.

The goblins leave and we hear the fire on the balloon roar and glow brighter and the balloon jerks back upwards pulling the guards off their feet. The rest of us join and grab hold and pull the balloon back down to counter it.

“Pull!” They yell and we start making progress again. “Tie the rope to the horses. Over here.” One guard yells.

“HEADS UP!” Another yells and we glance up to see a goblin dropping something round with a fuse down towards us.

“SCATTER!!!” I shout as we let go of the rope and take cover as the bomb hits the ground and explodes sending shrapnel in every direction.

I hear several guards cry out, but I get back to my feet unscathed thanks to my heavy armor only to see the ropes dangling free as the balloon starts to rocket upwards. I see one rope come loose and make a break for the second one in time to grab hold and apply pressure keeping them from freeing it, but by myself I can’t stop the balloon from drifting upwards.

I glance around to see a large tree coming up and wrap the rope around my arm. I unhinge my mace from my waist and swing it hard into the tree core, splintering it and burying the end of my mace deep into the trunk.

“AHH!” I cry out in pain as my body is pulled between the leather strap on my mace and the rope.

I pull with all my might, using the light to reinforce myself and slowly manage to start pulling the balloon back. I hear the goblins yelling up above and look up in time to see them prepping another bomb and I start to panic when I see the fuse light and it starts falling towards me.

As I see the bomb come towards me The guard from earlier steps in front of me and grabs the shield from my back. He turns and shields us both as the bomb detonates feet from us. I expect him to get thrown backwards, but his feet only skid a little as the shrapnel hit smy shield.

“I’m ending this.” I hear behind us.

Before I can turn to look I see the rogue from earlier sprint past us and jump onto the guards back, before jumping off and grabbing the rope. With mind boggling agility he swings himself on top of the rope and nearly runs up it towards the Balloon. The goblins throw the bomb at him, but he throws a dagger at it in response and it redirects the bomb harmlessly to the side. A look of shock appears on their faces followed quickly by the foot of the rogue as he reaches the top and draws his blades. We can’t tell what is going on, but after a couple of seconds we see him helping the priestess over the side of the basket and dropping her.

“The crazy bastard!” The guard calls out as he drops my shield and runs to catch her.

The rogue follows the priestess and jumps out himself.

“LET GO!” He calls out as he descends and my tired arms don’t need to be told twice.

As I watch the two of them fall I see the priest wave her hands and magic wraps around her and the rogue slowing their fall to a crawl as the balloon takes off with the two goblins escaping us.

I collapse against the tree as I lament them getting away, but at least the priestess was safe as she gently lands in the guards arms.

“What? Not going to catch me too?” The rogue shoots him a snide remark as he smiles.

The guard raises his hand to answer, but we’re all interrupted with a massive explosion overhead as the balloon is engulfed in a ball of fire.

“Oh yeah. They had a couple extra bomb up there, so I lit one.” He says with a smile.

I laugh despite my shocked face as I realize my first quest was a success. The guard comes over and helps me to my feet with a smile and a nod. I glance back to see a lot of the guards were in rough shape from the first explosion, but the priest runs over and immediately starts tending to them.

We slowly make our way back to town to see it was still standing, but there were a lot of wounded guards. The priest and I do our best to save who we can and work well into late afternoon.

The mayor announced a celebration to thank everyone who fought and everyone starts gathering at the inn tavern for brews and a feast. My head and body are still filled with adrenalin as well as questions and I'm not sure I want to really be around people, but then again maybe that's just what I need.