Journey Into the North

Griffinkeeper wrote:They rode several minutes in silence after the wards. Valin stopped, signalling them to dismount.

"Listen carefully. We're trying to draw the goblins away from the main group. So, the further we can bring them from camp, the better Seraph's chances will be."

"Here's what we're going to do. With the exception of Alden, we all have bows and arrows. We're going to use them. If they seem to be getting close, we'll retreat back until we can engage them again. Alden, we'll be counting on you to take care of any goblin that gets too close."

"I think I can handle it," Alden responded confidently.

"What if we get seperated?" Tan'quin asked.

"Climb up a tree and hide. Goblins don't like looking up and Alden should be able to spot you if you climb high enough," Sirloaz responded.

In the distance there was a faint rumbling.

"Remember, let's be stealthy about this. No charges, no war crys, just shoot them with an arrow. Retreat when I signal," Valin said quickly. With that, they continued riding.

OOC: So, we're completely disregarding my old post?

Don't worry.

First, these sort of things should be posted in the discussion thread. A lot of us have been using this as a discussion thread. Let's keep this on topic.

Adrian stood next to the horses. He should be helping yet he was still afraid. Ursa just sat their an yawned boredly. Adrian turned round "I get the idea you don't really want to be here Ursa."
"could be worse, you human are so predictable, pretending to be noble and honourable. When all you want out of most things is something for you."
Ursa continued "Take Henry he a thief, all he wants is to rob you all blind and you trust him. Then the hot headed dwarf who in it for treasure and adventure. Then their you the weak hearted paladin, who wants to prove himself."
Adrian gritted his teeth "So why journey with us then?"
Ursa put his paw on his chin "hmm, guess i like entertainment."
"So why you not helping everyone in this fight?"
Ursa shrugged "Can't be bothered i guess."
Adrian clenched his fist "Fine if you won't help i will."
Ursa look bemused "you, you who afraid." Ursa laughed.
"You sure are stupid you humans."
Adrian move his hand to his belt. Ursa looked at him "ah ah ah you do realize i can rip you to peices."
Adrian clenched his fist and angerily strode off. If that bear wasn't going to do anything then he will

"Wait here until I've freed the others. You'll know when to move."

I moved from Finn's post to the next, which Henry was bound to. It almost disturbed me that my heart was not pounding in my ears. I prodded Henry with a mailed finger until his muscles stiffened with awareness.

"Don't say anything. I'm going to cut you free, then give you my dagger. It's going to be me and you against those five goblins. I know you aren't great with a blade, so merely cover my back."

As I spoke, I severed his bonds with my dagger and then handed it, hilt first, to him behind his back. Then I melted back into the shadows and looked to the next post.

Tied to it, apparently sleeping, was an elf woman. She looked healthy, if undernourished. I ignored her for the moment, intent instead on killing the drunken goblins playing knuckle bones. Crouching beside a rotting crate, I slid my father's longsword from its scabbard and slipped my hand through my shield's straps. I took a deep breath and held it. With silence and grace that had caught many an enemy by surprise, I stepped out of the shadows and leaped into action, cleaving my blade toward the goblin with its back to me.

The goblin facing me saw me a second too late and tried to screech a warning, but his open mouth was instantly covered in the blood of his companion as my blade hacked through the surprised goblin's torso.

As quickly as they could manage, the goblins staggered to their feet and snatched weapons from the table: one, a dagger, a second, a club, and the third missed his mark and grabbed a leg of mutton. His mistake cost him his life. I spun on my heel and swung my shield wide to catch the weak swing of the club-wielding goblin, then drove my sword through the chest of the meat holder.

"Watch out!" I heard Henry hiss. In a blur of motion, the nimble thief had leaped from the pole he was tied to and hurled my dagger toward the dagger wielding goblin. The small blade stuck the thing in its weapon arm, making it screech in pain and drop its own dagger. Henry was all over it, then, ramming it with his body and scooping up the fallen dagger in one deft motion.

As I turned to battle the last goblin, I saw that it had thrown down its weapon and bolted for the center of the camp.

I swore furiously then went for my dagger at my hip. It was, of course, where Henry had thrown it; in the arm of his opponent.

I took two steps before Finn threw herself at the fleeing goblin, knocking it into a stack of crates. Good girl, I thought to her. The woman had some instinct after all.

I hurried toward them to find that the goblin had somehow wound up on top of her, its wiry fingers wrapped around her throat. She only had one hand free, her other arm trapped beneath its leg as it straddled her chest.

My sword took its head from its shoulders.

(I realize my mistake and altered my post, is this correct now?)

Pretending to be asleep, Carmenia peered from beneath her lashes. She caught sight of something lurking in the shadows. An ally? Perhaps, but she could not tell, for the being was so well camouflaged that even her sharp Elvin eyes could not define the race.

Suddenly the tip of a sword came into view, slashing the rope binding the male captive. Ah ha! A friend, so it seemed thus far. The silver blade once again danced slyly in and out, cutting the bonds of the female captive beside her.

Please, oh please, she begged inwardly, cut the ropes keeping me from freedom. But she was extremely disappointed, for he did not, and instead began killing goblins with the other two. Great, she thought despairingly, leave me here, tied up, the perfect target for some bloodthirsty goblin to slit my throat. She shed her sleeping disguise and watched the fighting with a great hopelessness.

Suddenly the rusty knife of a dead goblin fell near her feet. Elated, she managed to bring it closer by scraping it towards herself with the heel of her foot. That much closer to freedom, she cradled the knife in the slope of her foot.

Blindly, she flipped it backwards; desperately hoping it would fall into her bound hands. Miraculously it did, but sliced her palm too, which was something she did not want to happen. Wincing with pain, she sawed her ropes in two.

She ducked into the shadows, and realized with a relief that none of her foes had seen her. She considered leaving these unhelpful people without help but grudgingly decided to aid them.

With little determination she came back and surveyed the scene. They had made a lot of progress, but she noticed one was about to escape. With a twist of her hands, she caused large branch to crack off of an oak tree right above the escaping goblin. It came crashing down and opened his skull.

But she was hungry, and this caused her to be weakened already. She looked at the others whom she supposed she was now siding with. She had already been a captive of the goblins for a few days when they had been brought in, and this was evident as they had more strength.

Being idle had made her out of practice with her wood warping, but as she continued to persevere the motions became smoother, and she would need experience, because her strength was slowly being drained. She wondered how long she could continue this.[/b]

Finn swallowed hard as she felt the ropes drop from her wrists, clenching her hands into fists and pressing them close together. Her eyes never strayed from her captors, though for the next minute or so she was able to follow Seraph's movements by listening. A sidelong glance told her that the older warrior had armed Henry after freeing him; annoyance bit at her for a moment. Why did the thief merit a dagger, but not Fionnabhair Chant?

A moment later, though, her attention was ripped away from the many complaints she expected to lay at the nobleman's feet and towards the drunken goblins, who seemed quite displeased at having their games interrupted. Shouting an expletive, Finn dodged away from her post and towards the barrels that had sheltered Seraph a few minutes earlier. He and Henry appeared to make quick work of the goblins, but Finn's attention was--again--stolen, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw the third captive, a woman, make good her escape.

Finn was just about to follow the other woman's lead when she heard something drop, and then the pounding of footsteps. She whipped around to see the last goblin racing for the cave's mouth, and Seraph scrambling for a weapon.

Aw bugger 't. With a shriek, she dove at the goblin, knocking him back into a pile of crates. Pain lanced through her body--between the force of impact, the awkward position in which she fell, all of the metal armor and accoutrements worn by her assailee, and the splintering wood, she was not at the moment a very happy girl. Her situation wasn't much improved when, a moment later, she found herself pinned beneath the goblin with his long fingers wrapped around her throat.

She kicked and struggled, put being petite (though feisty) as she was, Finn really had no chance against her assailant. Her vision was beginning to blur when a sudden, unfamiliar noise was accompanied by a slackening of the fingers around her neck. Gasping for breath, she opened her eyes to see Seraph sheathing his sword. She inhaled deeply again, then rolled up into a sitting position and stood, rubbing her bruised throat; the skin was tender under her fingers, and it hurt to breathe.

"An' what now?" she rasped, looking around at the corpses before lifting her eyes back to Seraph, who was moving towards the mouth of the cave. She followed as quickly as her weak, stiff limbs allowed, waiting for an answer.

"Sirloaz, Tan'quin, search the bodies for anything useful. I must heal myself. Alden, do what you will with those that aren't useful," Valin said.

Alden grabbed a bag from a goblin. There was some rotten rations, a sword, a knife, and not much else. He knew better than to try to eat them. He came across one of the former leaders. He carried a map in addition to the other things. Alden pocketed that.

"Nothing really here to salvage," Alden said. Tan'quin frowned.

"I was just telling them that this isn't enough. There's at least fifty more back at the mountain," Tan'quin said.

"Seraph isn't going to get into the mountain with those numbers. He's needs some help," Alden said

"There only a few miles away, we can get there pretty quickly with the horses," Valin said.

"I'll meet you there," Alden said. He took to the sky, free of the trees. Below him the group moved in single file towards the mountain.

The camp came into view quickly. Cyrus was surrounded by goblins, he was fighting a man in a white robe. The others weren't visible, but Alden knew they couldn't be far. Cyrus was in trouble, so Alden dove to help him.

I thought about helping Finn to her feet, then thought better of it; Cyrus needed my attention more.

I turned away from her and Henry and stalked toward the mouth of the cave.

"An' what now?" Finn asked from behind me.

I stopped at her question. I would need Henry and Finn's help if I were to hope to lay siege to the remaining goblins.

"Gather your weapons. We'll need to be ready to fight," I told her without looking over my shoulder.

"An' what? We're jes' gonna...gonna run in there an' kill 'em all, are we?" She was upset, and rightfully so. However, I didn't have time to consul her. It would cost me her opinion of me (no loss), but that was nothing to the lives of my men.

"Henry and I will. You stay here. With the corpses." I smiled inwardly. That would at least keep her close.

"So...you and me against the rest of the goblin tribe, eh?"

Suddenly Henry was beside me, loading his crossbow.

"Indeed."

The axe and blade clashed together. The priest sent Cyrus flying around the ring again. Cyrus threw an axe, but the priest dodged it, it killed the goblin behind him instead.

"Having fun?" the priest taunted. Cyrus shouted and lunged at the priest. The priest sidestepped, slicing at Cyrus's head. It bounced off the top of his helmet.

"I guess being short has it's benefits." The battle continued.

The blades locked again. The priest laughed as he made Cyrus's handle red hot. Cyrus let go of the axe in pain. His eyes widened as the priest kicked it to the side. The priest stalked him.

"You didn't really think you could defeat a combat mage did you? There is nothing that can. How does it feel to be helpless? Does it humiliate you?"

"Are you going to talk me to death?" Cyrus said.

"No, I'll execute you in due time. In the meantime, I think I'll shave you." Cyrus's eyes went wide.

"Fear?" the priest asked with a smile.

"Not in your life," Cyrus said, before diving for his axe. A shriek rang out above the battle ring as Alden barrelled towards the priest. What happened next happened instantly.

The first thing the priest saw was that the goblins surrounding the camp suddenly got hit by arrows. He felt a thud, before noticing that an arrow had struck him. Cyrus had gotten his axe and threw it into the priest. It also hit him. The last thing the priest saw before he died was feathers.

(OOC:So, overall, not much happened different from the original post except seraph saveed the captives? I will post tomorrow, after work, cuz I'm a little drunk right now)

(Go ahead and sleep it off Sab. Valin and Co. took out the goblins on the perimeter with arrows, so they should join the battle momentarily. On a side note, it might be neat if there was some controversy over who killed the priest: was it Henry with the arrow, Cyrus with the Axe, Alden with the claws, or was it Colonel Mustard in the conservatory with the revolver? Too much sparkling cider for me.)

"Henry and I will. You stay here. With the corpses."

To say that Finn felt slighted did not even come close to the truth. To say that she was upset wasn't much better. No, Finn was out for blood at the moment, she was so angry--and if it was goblin blood, rather than Seraph's, well, so much the better. The shouldered past Seraph and knelt amongst a few of those corpses (and wondered how he figured death would bother her, since she'd been camping all alone amongst the mutilated remains of the loggers), rifling through their pile of flotsam. After a moment, her fingers closed on something familiar; she pulled one of her sheathed daggers out of the pile, then a second, then a third and a fourth. The fifth she would have to leave, as Seraph and Henry were already outside and fighting.

"Bugger 'f I'll let these boys have all th' fun," she muttered, strapping three of the sheaths to her upper arm and whipping out the first. Armed, now, she looked around--Seraph fought like a fiend, and Henry's bow was constantly in motion, sighting yet another victim. No sooner had she found Cyrus and made a mental check next to his name than the white-robed fellow he'd been fighting collapsed under what appeared to be the weight of a large griffon. Alden! The others were coming!

An inarticulate (and noisome) roar brought Finn's attention away from her fellow travelers; she threw herself out of the way as a goblin came pounding towards her, sword bared. Scrambling to her feet, she retreated back a ways before whispering a little prayer and sending her dagger flying with just as much accuracy as Henry had displayed earlier. When seeing the goblin drop to the ground didn't send her either into a panicked state or retching, she unsheathed her second dagger and searched for another target from her spot in the shadows.

The sweat trickled down Henry's hot face as he spotted another Goblin attempting to swarm over Seraph. He pulled the trigger and the crossbow twanged, the bolt thudding into the collarbone of the Goblin in half-jump. Henry had never felt more hot and scared in his life.

Seraph was cutting and thrusting and slicing with his sword like a demon. At first they caught the Goblins by surprise -- most of them had been watching the fight, and several had fallen before they had even realised what was going on. But the fight had been interrupted, and even the arrival of Valin and others had made it harder for them in a stranger way. Suddenly the Goblin tribe were fighting for their lives, and the smaller group were hopelessly outnumbered by the greenskins.

Henry had never found his fast-reloading crossbow more valuable.

At least five or six Goblins had already found out why. But Henry knew its worth was failing -- the Goblins were beginning to surround him. He scrambled for his sword, swinging it uncomfortably from his scabbard. He took a deep breath.

The Goblins threw themselves at him.

Henry deflected two blade stabs frenziedly. As he smelt the Goblins upon his nostrils, he knew it was his last moments.

An arrow slammed into one Goblin. Henry heard the heavy flapping of wings and hoped he wasn't dreaming when he saw the shape of a Griffon block out the sun and cast the area around him in darkness.

Even as the Goblin dagger sliced through his side he smiled.

Alden tore the goblins off of Henry. An arrow appeared in one of them, Alden raked the remaining one with his talons.

Henry was bleeding badly.

"It's going to be okay" someone said. Alden turned to see a female elf. She bent down and put pressure on the wound, covering it some cloth.

The others were being pushed back towards the caves. The entire group was engaging the goblins. A large shadow flew over them. It covered the entire battlefield in shadow.

Alden's eyes grew wide and he saw the same thing happen with Seraph's.

"GET HENRY ON MY BACK NOW!" Alden screamed. His voice barely was heard over the roar of the dragon.