As the siblings listen, it sounds like the goblins have moved away, crunching through the dried leaves of the entryway and outside.
"I don't know where they came from, but I know wherever they are headed, it's up to no good." He opens the door slightly and peeks into the hallway. "I don't see or hear anything. Be ready to pull the door shut behind me if I come back in a hurry, would you?"
Unfortunately, the door scrapes the floor quite loudly as it opens and all of you freeze, listening intently. Cautiously proceeding, Tyhal disappears from sight for a minute, maybe two, before returning.
"I think they went directly out the gate. It's getting on toward dark - if they are the reason those travelers disappeared on the trail, they might be a hunting party."
His sister takes a long, deep breath. "If we can do something to prevent them from ambushing another merchant, we should do it. Mother would not approve if we just sat back and hoped no one was hurt."
The singing is not terribly close or at least not very loud.
** spoiler omitted **
Looking at their poorly hidden camp, Ashia whispers to Elwin, "You think We should go check it out?"
Looking at their poorly hidden camp, Ashia whispers to Elwin, "You think We should go check it out?"
Seeing the leaves falling off of the top of Ashia's bedroll, exposing the colors below, he could only imagine the poorly laid branches along his back showing just as much if not more.
"I think you are right. If we are to be caught, I would rather be caught on my feet, then laying down here." he whispered back. He then slowly moved the branches off of himself as to not make a sound, and then helped Ashia with her bedroll.
When finished the two slowly shuffled from tree to tree along the edge of the forest to investigate the voices.
It's like the woman is in her element as she seems to notice things a split second before the elf and she actually is doing a good job of keeping out of sight. In fact, at one point, he's not sure where she's gotten herself to!
YD, DO, ER GR
As you approach the camp, the trees themselves seem to be preventing Elwin's quiet progress and as they get almost close enough to see a shielded and smokeless fire, the singing mercifully falters, then starts again.
Two more steps, and you both see a small camp, seemingly well-laid-out, with four bedrolls and the aforementioned tiny fire. A dwarf with thick black hair and an elaborately plaited beard of thick black hair sings as he sharpens a battleaxe. Across from him sits an elf with long golden hair and a quite bored expression. A shortbow and a rapier lie beside him and his hand rests on the pommel of the rapier, absently stroking the weapon.
Ashia stops and turns to Elwin raising an open palm. Waiting for him to stop, she glances from side to side seeming to check out their escape route.
In what seems to be ages, Elwin finally stops moving as he see her single. Seeing this, Ashia holds up 2 fingers and points to behind her, motioning in the direction of the dwarf and elf. She then holds up two fingers, one in each hand. Pointing both fingers at the camp site now in front of them, she then divides her figures and sweeps one counter clockwise, and the other clockwise, finishing at 4 and 7 o'clock.
Ashia
Following Ashia's fingers pointing ahead, he see a dwarf sitting with an elf, starts to think, we can handle this. It is only two of them and we have the surprise on them.
But then he sees the dwarf slip while sharpening his blade, and relizes the dwarf is on edge. A feeling a dread quickly floods through his vains has his eye dart over to the elf. The quick flash of the elf's eye gives it away, as he relizes they know they are there.
Questions fill his mind, "Why are they just sitting there?", "Why are they on edge?" What is going on here?"
He looks back at Ashia as she swings her fingers appart and stops at 4 and 7 o'clock. It then hits him. They are trying to trap them!
Looking at Ashia with big eyes, he quickly points at her followed by pointing at him, and then pointing back the way they came. He then reaches down and pulls his rapier.
Standard Action
Move Action
Pulls Rapier
As if seeing the party trying to encircle them wasn't enough, Ashia's heart starts pounding in her ears as see see Elwin draw his blade and take off back the way the came.
Quickly taking stock of their situation, she realizes her best chance is to go slightly off from where Elwin disappeared into the underbrush. "Hold on." she said in a quick whisper to Timber who had climbed into her backpack.
Move action
(Timber in pack)
Standard Action
The two pair of siblings wait to see if any more goblins follow the first few out as well as to let the first group get far enough out that they don't immediately give themselves away trying to follow them.
Elwin turns to Ashia, putting one finger up to his mouth.
- To see if outside the path of the circling elf.
- To see if noticed by the elf
If not noticed and outside the cicling path
He motions to Ashia to squat down and not move. He will do so trying to hide and not move any more. He will ready an action to attack the elf if he or she gets within 5 feet.
- Hiding while not moving.
If noticed or inside the cicling path
he motions to Ashia to move farther to the right to get outside of the path and uses cover to stealth during movement.
- 1st 15' of movement
- 2nd 15' of movement
Ashia follows Elwin's lead.
- To see if outside the path of the circling elf.
- To see if noticed by the elf
If not noticed and outside the circling path
She squats down try to hide. She will ready an action to cast "Command on the elf if he comes at them and is going to get within 5' of them.
- Hiding while not moving.
If noticed or inside the cicling path
She moves farther out to try to get outside of the circled radius.
- 1st 15' of movement
- 2nd 15' of movement
The one sneaking on your side pauses, listening and peering into the darkness, but he doesn't appear to be looking in your direction. His focus appears to be roughly the area you left - in fact, it's pretty obvious he didn't actually know where you were, exactly.
The other missing camper remains undetected.
Ashia pauses waiting to see they have been found.
Elwin holds his breath waiting to see if they have been detected or have lost their pursuers.
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I agree, we have to stop them if they are up to no good. He follows the siblings out.
I agree brother. I don't know their goals but Goblins are very rarely up to good. I will come last so as to help us keep up. She proceeds to follow her brother, trying very hard to be quite this time around. We both know that I am not the greatest at stealth. I will keep an eye on our back with my low-light vision.
So where do you think they are headed? And remember to stay on the side through the gate. We were wary of a possible trap
Trying to watch for the goblins ahead
Brother, be quiet. We must be wary of any Goblins following. Or possibly sitting back to watch their back trail, even if that's unlikely
Watching for any goblins along the back trail.
The siblings have no trouble following the goblins through the darkening woods between their enhanced vision and the goblins' sheer disregard for their backtrail.
However, after following them for over a mile through the thick woods - they were savvy enough to avoid the road to the keep - you notice a few things all at once: a low campfire in the middle distance, a rather bad rendition of a dwarven drinking song you have heard, and the goblins have gone completely silent.
To prevent your blundering from alerting them to your presence, you had to let them go on ahead, but now they have effectively disappeared, other than their tracks, and you can't be sure if they are still moving or not.
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Trying to discern the location of where the Goblins stopped
Trying to discern the location where the Goblins stopped
None of the siblings are successful in locating the goblins. They are not close enough to the camp to see much more than the glow of a small fire and they only hear the single voice.
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As the two travelers and the four siblings wait for some sign of what is to come, a shout comes up from the underbrush and arrows pierce the darkness around the campsite!
The dwarf, unarmored in preparation for a night's rest, is hit by three arrows, surely wounding him badly, but seemingly only anger him as he yells out in pain.
The elf, who was actually facing the direction of the attack, is hit by three arrows, but two of them strike him at odd angles and fail to penetrate while the third draws blood. His hiss of pain is audible, but his reaction is to shout out, "Eildrim!"
At least one additional arrow can be heard as it completely misses the campsite and sails into the darkness well over both dwarf and elf.
The arrows coming out of no where surprised Ashia. The sound of the quick intake of air as she gasped was hidden by the yell of the elf. Quickly gaining hold of herself, looks to Elwin not know if the arrows are from friends or foes.
Seeing that Elwin's gaze was not meeting her's she starts to look around for this new threat.
The sound of a crossbow being worked can be heard from the trees and another arrow flies forth striking the dwarf again before he can react.
The twang of a bow can be heard in the trees. You don't see the resulting arrow, but you hear cries of surprise from where you think the archers are hiding and you see a goblin jump from the underbrush, only to hit the ground limply with a 3' yew shaft sticking out of his back. He's not moving.
The elven archer that was sneaking in your general direction jumps and runs into the campsite to the other elf. Taking a knee between the other elf and the source of the arrows, he draws back confidently and sights down the arrow, waiting for a target to present itself.
The stricken elf's hands fly through the weaving of a spell as he speaks words of power and his clothes seem to take on a momentary glow. In Common, "Goblins. We let ourselves be ambushed by bottom-feeders of the lowest order?"
The sound of more bows twanging comes from the trees. Two target the archer protecting the other elf, striking him solidly. Two more appear to target the one he protects, but both are stymied by the presence of the elf protector. A last arrow digs into the ground right behind the dwarf that has still not reacted in the mere seconds since the attack began. The elven archer responds almost immediately, letting fly with his own missile, which disappears into the trees, passing just over the dwarf's head, and leading to a meaty thud and a scream of pain.
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Elwin's eyes follow the arrows into the trees. "Goblins!" he thinks to himself. He starts moving off in the direction the elves are shooting turning only quickly to catch Ashia's eyes as he motions with an open hand with his palm pushing to the ground, the puts one finger to his mouth as if to quiet her by himself.
He turns back in the direction of the goblins, and tries to sneak around the side of them as to not get between the volleys of arrows being exchanged between the two parties.
"I hate goblins, and any elf trying to kill them, is a friend of mine. At least until the goblins are killed that is." he thinks to himself.
-> Locating the Goblins
-> (Move) Move 15' around Goblins
-> (Standard) Move 15' around Goblins
-> Listening for the Goblins responding to him
Trying to move as far and as quietly as possible
Trying to track goblins still in case we missed seeing them.
As the four of you approach, one of the goblins jumps up yelling and points back at you - specifically Lalandar.
The oft-perforated dwarf can finally react, jumping to his feet with a scream of anger, "Y' little rats! Sneak around my campsite like the vermin you are and shoot me in the back! I'm gonna take the head off of your shoulders, each and every one of you!"
Brandishing his (newly-sharpened) waraxe, he charges toward the shooters, leaving a fairly significant amount of blood in a pool where he had been sitting.
His attack barely passes over the head of his target, who giggles maniacally.
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"This is more than I thought would be here. I am scared we stumbled into something more than we can handle." she thinks to herself. "Where did Elwin go? I can't believe he would leave me here."
She then moves slowly in the direct Elwin disappeared, trying to not make a sound.
Move Action
Standard Action
Ashia is able to roughly follow the elf's path to her left, but can't quite make him out in the darkness when she stops, a spell on her lips.
The dwarf's axe strikes true, but doesn't fell the goblin. Badly wounded, the little humanoid still manages to put a bolt in the dwarf's right leg, eliciting another torrent of what might be very inventive dwarven curses, but no one speaks Dwarven to know for sure.
The twang of another arrow being fired among the trees can be heard, but no accompanying scream of pain.