Well, considering that 18 goblins, even if they are all CR 1/3 warriors, works out to encounter level 5, while the party of 9 ECL 1 and 1 ECL 2 characters has party level 2.9, we're basically going up against a boss-level fight that is more than 2 levels over our heads compared to your typical ECL = average party level encounter.<br/><br/>Or at least, that's what the encounter calculator (http://www.d20srd.org/extras/d20encountercalculator/) tells me.<br/><br/>That's before you factor in the goblins' advantage of attacking from ambush too, which could add +1 to the encounter level.<br/><br/>And these goblins? Masterwork gear? Longbows? Feats swapped to give them point blank shot? The ability to use aid another on ranged attacks? They're more like level 1 fighters than level 1 warriors, so probably CR 1/2 each. Which makes 18 of them encounter level 6, plus the ambush that would be encounter level 7, compared to party level 2.9 I can only conclude that Zaer is trying to kill us all.<br/><br/>Which he is succeeding at, not surprisingly at all.  :P