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"And what about you? And Anya, is she alright?" She questions steadily, doing her best to keep her wounds as hidden as possible from Uriel and the other villager.
Agreis looks around, then returns his gaze to Kaelynne. "She's ok. I just wanted to check on you. You fought off those goblins and wolves -- you saved us!"
Uriel is at first resistant to being calmed, but slowly subsides.
"I will miss him too. Our griefs do not compare, but I would not like you to think you were alone in your loss. If I can help you, you have only to ask."
His tears start to flow again as he remembers Hareh.
The human woman embraces Gratitude, but cannot pull her eyes from Hareh's body. "Th-thank you, Gratitude," she sobs.
"I'm fine, truly" Kaelynne assures the man as she lightly strokes Uriel's hair to help continue calming him "It's the others you should be thanking, I just did the best I could.. but please go rest, everyone will need to try their hardest to relax once more we have more travelling to do."
Khronos moves to one of the wathc fires and grabs a burning brand before hopping onto the backboard of the nearest wagon. He calls to the crowd, trying to make his voice heard over the din
"Good people, we need calm! The immediate threat has been dealt with and now we must look to ensure we're all accounted for." He waves the torch to increase its effect and hopefully gain the attention of the more panicked people.
"Gather your families or friends and meet at wither of the wagons so we can assess the situation. IF there are some who are missing we need to act now before the darkness makes it to hard to find them." he turns then and speaks to Varlis
"Varlis, I may need your help with the children. Can you and your wife see what can be done to help calm them and get them settled with their families?"
Gently returning the embrace, Gratitude listens to Khronos's words.
"That's sensible you know Walta. Go and find your family and your friends and let me bury Hareh. I'll show you his resting place and you can mark it in your own way."
Disengaging himself from the widow, he pushes his way through the crowds to Khronos, waiting for a good moment to catch his attention. Then he says discreetly,
"I think it would comfort the bereaved to know their dead are buried honourably away from scavengers. I will bury Hareh for his widow. If you think we can spare another man, we can sweep the edges of the camp after that, just to check our defences and see if there's anything else out there."
"Just because we lost a piece, doesn't mean the game stops."
After Khronos has addressed the refugees Teven approaches him and asks. "What will we do now will we stay here the rest of the night or should we begin on the march once again? Either way I believe we should send out a small tracking party to see if we can find where the Goblins came from and if they are preparing more raids against us."
As Khronos is directing the crofters and trying to get them back under control he hears the voice of the young warrior who helped them that night. Turning to Gratitude he smiles and bows low.
"Thankyou for your efforts tonight Gratitude. It would seem the elders underestimated at least one of the crofters. You are welcome to grab whomever is willing to help bury the dead. I will of course do a reading for the family if they so wish. Can I advise we also bury the goblins and the wolf, but only after we take what useful items we can from them."
To Teven, the big Knight says "I am torn between tracking these fiends down myself or staying here, Teven. I ask that we first get the crofters settled and a better arrangement for defense organised before we entertain tracking these things."
" I think we have to stay here tonight, as moving this many people and animals through a dark wood is to invite disaster. I leave the decision to track or not to you, my friend. Talk to Adar as well, he has some knowledge of the goblins in these woods, but please be gentle, the experience wasn't good." He nods in the direction of the young warlock, hoping tonights events hadn't shaken him too badly.
As Khronos is directing the crofters and trying to get them back under control he hears the voice of the young warrior who helped them that night. Turning to Gratitude he smiles and bows low.
"Thankyou for your efforts tonight Gratitude. It would seem the elders underestimated at least one of the crofters. You are welcome to grab whomever is willing to help bury the dead. I will of course do a reading for the family if they so wish. Can I advise we also bury the goblins and the wolf, but only after we take what useful items we can from them."
Gratitude returns Khronos's bow with an equally low and appreciative one of his own, sweeping his tail up over his arm.
"The elders know me as a chess player and a woodcarver. They're right of course, but it seems that there is more to find and perhaps I can be helpful."
The flamboyant tiefling turns to catch Teven in his gaze.
"If you would be willing to help with the burials, we could probably arrange some defences at the same time. Adar too, although ..."
Gratitude considers the volatile young warlock
"... maybe he shouldn't do any digging. In any case I promised Walta I would bury Hareh myself."
At the thought of his dead friend, his eyes fill again and he turns away rather quickly.
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Agreis reaches out as if to touch Kaelynne, then shifts and gives Uriel a pat on the shoulder. "Yes, more traveling . . . " He trails off, then, "Do you think we'll be attacked again?"
***
Between Khronos, Varlis, and several of the more level-headed villagers, the camp begins to return to order, when a voice calls out loudly -- "You, Khronos! What are we going to do now, wait for those things to attack us again, and kill more of us?" It is Stanislav Cartwright, a man known in town as something of a troublemaker, always looking for a quick profit by whatever means.
***
Walta tears herself away from the scene of Hareh's death and disappears into the crowd. When Gratitude looks to Adar, the young man has turned away, and is being spoken to by his stepfather, Gareth. Gareth notices Gratitude's gaze and silently gestures in the negative.
"I failed, Gareth," Adar looks over the carnage and wipes a tear away, "Someone died." He absorbs the older mans words of comfort without comment for a few minutes and then turns toward the carnage.
He sniffs and goes over to the corpse of the goblin hexer, then sits abruptly next to it and lifts the corpses head to look it in the eye. He glances up, all to aware that the crofters are watching, and stands up. He takes a stick and begins writing scratching out the names of every goblin he can remember from his servitude around the body. He mumbles to himself and stares up toward the stars above, then grumbling returns to his work.
After a time Aerith comes up to him. Adar looks up, "I'm sorry, Aerith. I wasn't able to protect everyone."
Aerith shakes his head, "It's not your fault."
"I knew the goblins would come, Aerith. Now I can only hope they remember how to read. They're forbidden to write, you know. It scares them... especially their names. It doesn't matter why.... They will find this goblin, Aerith, and with luck they will fear that we knew his name, and be hesitant to follow. Our trail is to visible to hide." He mutters as he scribbles the names into the dirt. "And maybe those that follow us, even the humans, will think this is goblin work, for they will know no better."
He mutters something under his breath in a bit of a singsong as he scribbles. "Goblins bite, goblins bark, goblins strike and miss their mark, goblins cut, goblin bleed, goblins provide the ink I need..." His voice is low as he ignores everything but his work. Aerith just watches. "It's not wise, Aerith," he says very quietly, not looking up, "It's not. Even I know that. They might get angry... or panic." He sighs as he finishes his work.
"Aerith..." he reaches out to hold Aerith's fingers gently, "Go to the wagons and watch after your younger brother. Do your best to calm the others. I have a watch to finish." He walks away, tears still running down his face. He begins his circuit again, walking around the camp, but makes a stop to ask Gareth to watch over Aerith while he circles the camp.
***Between Khronos, Varlis, and several of the more level-headed villagers, the camp begins to return to order, when a voice calls out loudly -- "You, Khronos! What are we going to do now, wait for those things to attack us again, and kill more of us?" It is Stanislav Cartwright, a man known in town as something of a troublemaker, always looking for a quick profit by whatever means.
***
Khronos stares silently at the man for a long moment, his face grim and his clothes still bloodied form the attack. A slow trail of blood winds it's way down from the torm muscle of his bicep and drips unnoticed from his hand. The blood pools thickly at his foot, an indication of the severity of the wolfs attack, yet Khronos has ignored it thus far in order to direct the people he has sworn to protect.
Blinking his eyes he suddenly smiles at the man and speaks, so all can hear him within a few feet. "Yes Stanislev, we remain here this night. We'll set a double watch and we'll be more prepared. We'll move the camp to better prepare for defense so we cannot be picked off in our sleep. We'll be ready."
"We shall bury our dead and in the morning we shall pray for his safe passage to Desna's paradise. The we shall move on"
"What we won't do is rush off into the night, trailing a group of 100 odd people through the woods, in the dark. Goblins can see in the dark. We can't."
"If they come at us again, we shall defend ourselves and make everyone of them suffer for the affront. Have no doubt my friend, I will defend you to the best of my ability"
The tone is neutral for the entire speach, neither overly firendly nor overtly hostile but certainly not the same tone Khronos usually uses.
He steps forward suddenly, and leans down to talk more quietly to the possible trouble maker "We may be planning to scout and raid the goblins tehmselves, as a message not to interfere with us. Perhaps you'd care to help us on this mission? We must be quiet about it"
More loudly again he states " or Maybe you'd be best served organising the family groups around the wagaons and repositioning those for a better defense. Perhaps speak to Kaelynne and Donaar as they will possibly plan our defence from this point on"
With that, he turns away from the man and continues his work. Blood drips from his hand.
As Khronos speaks to Stanislav, Gratitude's tail twitches slightly. Stanislav is a nuisance and a bully, usually looking for ways to make himself important. He stays close to Khronos, listening to him intently and as he finishes, taps the troublemaker lightly on the shoulder.
"Stanislav - how good to see you concerned for others. I'm happy to have misjudged you. Will you join us burying the dead?"
Diplomacy/Intimidate rolls to stop Stanislav being a pain: (1d20 7=17, 1d20 7=20)
Although there is no overt threat in the words, Gratitude knows the man to be a coward who would rather keep to the back if possible. If he's stirring up trouble, he'd rather he had Stanislav under his own eye and away from Khronos.
Smiling politely as he waits for an answer, he goes to Khronos.
"Let me keep him with the burial party if we can. We can watch him and he'll be useful. Look at the shoulder muscles.", he says quietly.
"You'll have enough to do keeping everyone calm and confident without this idiot disturbing things with his foolish talk. Don't be afraid to ask us to help you Khronos."
His admiration for the half-elf's handling of this tricky situation is plain to see.
Agreis reaches out as if to touch Kaelynne, then shifts and gives Uriel a pat on the shoulder. "Yes, more traveling . . . " He trails off, then, "Do you think we'll be attacked again?"
Kaelynne shifts a little awkwardly as Agreis gets closer to her and exhales slowly to steady herself. "It will be a difficult path, there may be even more hardships ahead but we have to remain positive. We will make it through this, I will do my best to ensure it. All I have to offer is my blade but hopefully that will be enough to help"
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Agreis looks about to reply to Kaelynne when he suddenly looks up at something behind her. It is Anya, carrying a large, wrapped bundle that seems heavy. Agreis quickly steps back. Anya gives a disapproving look, then turns to Kaelynne.
"Kaelynne, one of the other families asked me to give this to you . . . It seems you could use it." With a smile for Uriel, she then collects Agreis and they leave the young eladrin alone.
If Kaelynne opens it:
******
While Adar is working around the hexer's corpse,
******
Cartwright looks about to reply to Khronos when the half-elf lowers his voice. He blanches, then seems to take the opportunity of a burial detail as a rescue. Looking at the tiefling, he blusters, "yes, of course we need to give the man a decent burial. But somebody needs to do something about those goblins." He waves in a general way around the woods before submitting.
******
"I leave the decision to track or not to you, my friend. Talk to Adar as well, he has some knowledge of the goblins in these woods, but please be gentle, the experience wasn't good." He nods in the direction of the young warlock, hoping tonights events hadn't shaken him too badly.
With the decision left in his hands Teven recruits Marsel and Timon, two of the refugees who seamed to treat Teven with respect, to join him. He then seeks out Adar ask. "What can you tell me of the goblins in these woods? I plan to track the once who attacked us and see if they are a part of a larger party."
Opening the package Kaelynne's eyes fly wide in amazement. Quickly putting it and her son down she dashes after the other woman. "Anya!" She calls out "Anya, who gave you this?" she questions gesturing back to the bundle beside Uriel "I really can't accept something so generous, I have to return it"
"I.. umm.." Kaelynee falters as she looks around, utterly clueless as to who could have been so generous, and to why they didn't want her to know who they are. After a moment she looks at Anys once more and bows her head a little "Could you at least thank them for me?" She asks with a weak smile.
"Alright, take care, both of you" She tells the other woman with a small smile before turning away quickly to hide the tears threatening to form in her eyes at how difficult the exchange is. Shaking her head a little she forces herself to not mourn the dying friendship and instead focuses on returning to her son and keeping him calm.
Varlis finishes helping get the camp into order and then he goes over to his family.
Silently the four join hands and move in close. Helsinia and Varlis grip their children tightly. Varlis buries his face in Helsinia's hair, murmuring softly. He rubs his son's hair.
Breaking the moment, the half-elf moves back to Khronos and the others to await further instructions.
Gratitude nods at Stanislav.
"Shall we go then?"
In sombre mood, the tiefling leads the way back to where Hareh's body lies in the mud. Gratitude looks around. "We'll bury him in the trees. Look I've marked the area. At least 6 feet. No scavengers will disturb our dead."
Leaving Stanislav to start digging, he carefully moves Hareh's body onto the back and cleans away the worst of the mud and filth. He binds the lock of his own hair tightly round the dead palm and talks to his friend for the last time.
"You're our symbol Hareh. You represent everything we have to lose and all we must protect. Good friend, when we planned our campaigns in wood over the winter we joked about testing them in reality. You won't do that now, but I will. You will be remembered Hareh."
His personal observances finished, he helps with the digging and with Stanislav lowers the corpse into the newly dug grave. The earth thuds over with comforting finality. Hareh will rest peacefully here, and the dreams he carried with live on with his widow and his friend.
Duty done, Gratitude and Stanislav return to the camp.
"Thank you. I was glad to have your company, but you should return to your family and see that everything is well with them." It's a dismissal, but not harsh one. The tiefling appears quietly beside Khronos.
"What now Kronos? Do you have a plan and can I help in any way?"
As the crofters settle and everyone is accounted for, Khronos turns to the leaders gathered near him. He speaks quietly so none of the villagers can hear him "Teven is planning to track backwards and see if there are more of these goblins nearby. If that is the case and we feel we can handle the situation, we might just go and pay them a "visit". If we can pursuade them it's too dangerous to strike us we may not get raided again. If there are to many, then we see if Adar can give us a clue on how to warn them off." Khronos looks over the where the young warlock has started patrolling the perimiter and frowns in concern for the man.
"I would stick everyone of their heads on a pike and grind their tribe to dust for what they have done this night, but I doubt that would be possible. Plus, it would upset the children" he sighs, releasing the pent up frustrations the last few days have brought him.
"Varlis, could you check on Adar and see how he's holding up. I believe Teven was going to talk to him as well. Gratitude, I think you may be able to help me better plan our camp to prevent attacks such as this casuing people to flee wildly into the woods. We need a rally point, maybe a light or fire in the centre, the wagons near that. I don't know really, you seem very capable at long strategy and planning from all I've heard. What say you?"
"What happened to Adar?" Varlis asks of Gratitude and Khronos.
Then he heads out to join the warlock on patrol, gathering his thoughts as he goes.
Kaelynne looks up from her now reasonably settled son and feels suddenly guiltstricken at seeing the others planning. Quickly she gets to her feet and makes her way over to Khronos "I'm sorry, I had to settle Uriel, I couldn't put that burden on anyone else, and then Agreis.. and Anya.." She exhales sadly and looks pained for a second before shaking it off "Is there anything I can do to help you and the others?"
Kaelynne looks up from her now reasonably settled son and feels suddenly guiltstricken at seeing the others planning. Quickly she gets to her feet and makes her way over to Khronos "I'm sorry, I had to settle Uriel, I couldn't put that burden on anyone else, and then Agreis.. and Anya.." She exhales sadly and looks pained for a second before shaking it off "Is there anything I can do to help you and the others?"
"If young Uriel is fine, we need to plan our defnses here. If I might ask you both for a moment of indulgence, I need to dress this wound, and 'd like to check on Jonas Jensen and his family. I was a little angry and swinging a big axe when the children awoke. I need to repair some of that fear I believe." He leaves the two to discuss plans with the campsite and moves over to the Jensen family.
Realising he's still carrying a big axe covered in wolf blood and matted fur, he lowers his weapon to the ground and unslings his shield. A piece of bandageing gets wrapped around his arm to stop the blood flow. Then he squates on the floor to be more head height with the two children and opens his arms wide, hoping they'll give him the hug he needs. It's been a long night and the love of a child goes a long way to relieve the stress and burdon of guilt he felt about Hareh's death.
Gratitude, I think you may be able to help me better plan our camp to prevent attacks such as this casuing people to flee wildly into the woods. We need a rally point, maybe a light or fire in the centre, the wagons near that. I don't know really, you seem very capable at long strategy and planning from all I've heard. What say you?"
Gratitude looks thoughtful. He sits down and marks out a set of squares in the ground. From his pocket, he pulls his chessmen and sets them out, thinking out loud as he does so.
"The wagons are a problem. They will always define how fast we move, so they need to be protected. So, I'd suggest that those who must travel in them always have someone armed in the group as well. Armed and capable. Have we enough manpower to accomplish that?
We can spread out ourselves, but that isn't the best plan to my mind. We need the flexibility to defend on any front, and that means we must remain centrally placed. There is added merit in that as we become an automatic rallying point for the people. They will run towards us rather than away. Fewer casualties.
The defence of the wagons can be delegated. Nearly every family or group has someone capable of defence. We need to make sure they know their duties and responsibilities, offer continued training and make tactical suggestions. If we're attacked again, the wagons need to move instantly to a defensible formation. That will need practice and drilling, but we're Woodcrofters. We're not stupid any of us. Everyone will understand the need."
He shrugs. "It's a start anyway. Let me think some more."
Kaelynne gives a tiny sigh and clasps her hands together as she leaves the others to do what they need to do. Feeling a little at a loss for what to do with herself she stands herself near Gratitude, listening to his plans but unable to offer any good advice she instead emains silent.
"Kaelynne, do you play chess?"
Gratitude looks up at the graceful eladrin girl with a wide, welcoming smile.
"Look. The pieces each have their moves and the roles they need to play, but a player can change that. See here," he passes her the lovingly carved pieces one by one as he talks.
"This is the King. He can move in any direction, but only once. All the other pieces protect him because if he is lost, the game ends. But he can defend himself as well, if he has to.
He's flanked by the Queen - she can go in any direction as long as it's a straight line. She can swoop down on an ememy from any distance and all the pieces are right to fear her. Then the Bishops. Their limitation is that they must move diagonally and only on their own colour, in play they wind through the opposition, but an enemy need only stay on their opposite colour and they can do nothing...
Castles are power players. Charging down the field, nothing stops them except a diagonal. Their special charge is protecting the King. In dire need they can swap places with him. But only once in any game. Knights are clever. The only piece to be able to jump another. Who knows where they'll appear from? So dangerous to take your eye off them.
And pawns. A whole row of them, and they may be the most important pieces of all Kaelynne. A pawn that moves up the whole board can become any piece it wants to be. Any pawn at all can do that. And a pawn can capture any other piece."
Stretching out his hand, he takes the pieces back.
"Kaelynne, we may be pawns in this, but we are not powerless."
"Kaelynne, we may be pawns in this, but we are not powerless."
"Not powerless but expendable" Kaelynne replies in a dark utterance before she can stop herself. "Sorry, I mean tactically I hope none of us truly are pawns, I would hate to see any of you have to sacrifice yourselves for the greater cause" She adds quietly, laying a fingertip on the king playing piece.
Gratitude half-smiles
"The whole point of strategy is not to die. Let's just be very, very good at it."
Kaelynne gives a brief nod of agreement. "Sorry to be so dark" She apologises, rubbing briefly at her temples "I just, didn't need stress on top of the fighting" She confides quietly.
"Adar, I've come to help." Varlis walks with the warlock.
Having checked on the safety of the Jensen's and bound his wounds, Khronos moves back to Gratitude and Kaelynne. "Sorry for my absence, how do you think we should proceed?" he asks. He also briefly fills them in on Tevens plan to backtrack the goblins to check if there is a larger force following them.
"I admit my skills in planning mass defense are limited. I have only ever been in one large battle and my mentor planned our strategem on that day. Do we stay this night or do we travel? I will need to tell the crofters soon so they can get resettled."
He leaned down and picked up the Knight from Gratitudes chess set, turning it over thoughtfully in his hand before handing it back. "We could use some knights about now" he says quietly.
"Until now the only battles I've fought have been with these." Gratitude indicates his beloved chess pieces.
He looks thoughtful, stroking his horns, piecing things together.
"Night is for goblins. They can see, the crofters can't. If Teven is scouting for danger, that gives us valuable information. Khronos, it's not for me to say, but I think starting again at dawn makes more sense. Let people rest. Light fires, move the wagons to a defensive position, keep watch.
When Teven comes back with whatever he's managed to find out we think again. We stay alert, resting in shifts ourselves and we don't walk panic-stricken into whatever lies ahead."
As always when thinking about potential strategy, Gratitude's voice becomes a little distant and dreamy as though he's seeing a huge chess board in his head.
"Whatever happens, we need calm or we're going to lose more. Maybe a lot more. We can't spare anyone."
"Agreed Gratitude. Calm it is. We light more fires to better see and maybe set a double watch. The fires will not give our position away any more than the fight earlier did, and has the bonus of providing us with better light." Khronos says, his fingers twirling his beard thoughtfully.
"These are frontiers folk, and not unused to hardship. They will pull through this. Let's get them settled"
He stands and gestures for the other two to help him direct the villagers to their new posts. He smiles his thanks at them both for the guidance they've given him.
Varlis stays close and quiet, patrolling with Adar. The wizard looks to the warlock occasionally to see if he is recovering his balance.
If necessary, Varlis will put his arm around the man. No words.
Having noted Khronos' claiming a hug from the Jensen children, Kaelynne reaches out shyly and gives the paladin a brief hug herself before quickly stepping away and turning her attention to Gratitude once more. "I agree too, besides with so many children we need to keep as close to a routine as we can to save them getting too confused, tired and upset to be moved easily."
Khronos eyes widen in surprise at Kaelynne's initial touch. His body stiffened at first then he relaxes into the hug, accepting the gesture and returning it warmly.
"Thankyou Kaelynne. It's been a long few days, but we will get through this." he too turns to continue directing and resettling the camp when the embrace is over. For some reason it's as if a big weight had lifted from his shoulders and he felt light hearted again. He smiled.
"I agree too, besides with so many children we need to keep as close to a routine as we can to save them getting too confused, tired and upset to be moved easily."
"You're right and it's something I never thought of. Good. Let's do this."
Now he has a purpose again, Gratitude is positively bouncy as he makes his way around the camp, offering help where needed, and concentrating on making sure that every family has all the equipment and food they need. His good spirits are infectious and he hopes that looking competent will give others confidence as well.
For the DM:
Adar walks slowly around the camp, trying to ignore the cries of the frightened children and instead focusing on the darkness of the woods. He is shaken by the attack, but the woods are like a home to him, and a prison too. He notes the wizard joining him, but he cannot bring himself to talk about the goblins. He tries to catch a glimpse of the stars now and then, and while he does not converse, he mumbles prayers to Desna under his breath to try to keep the goblin songs out of his head... trying to forget that as the shaman's pet it used to be his job to make up new ones for his master.
For Teven:
After several circuits around the camp, Adar stops and peers into the woods, waiting for the wizard to catch up to him. "I watched these goblins eat my family," he says quietly. "I watched them cook my father on a spit, alive and in pain. They sang in tune with his screams. What they did to my mother... that was worse. And they are coming. Goblins are never alone. Never just one." He looks the wizard in the eye, "We must make ourselves frightening. Goblins are cowards at heart... they might leave us alone if they were scared enough. I'm just not sure how to do it. What I did to the hexer is a start, but it won't be enough."
The half-elf listens with one hand on the man's shoulder. The hand tightens as he hears all about the tortures.
He looks across at the villagers and out into the woods. "I do not have many words of comfort. With such pain, words do not end the loss. Maybe Desna has set you on this path with us to face the goblins and repay them for that evil."
"Everyone is making plans to ambush and kill them," he points at Gratitude. "Give some thought to how our spells can best protect the villagers."
Gratitude ambles back to Varlis and Adar in time to overhear the end of Adar's story of that happened to his parents.
"With your knowledge you could be the best weapon we have Adar." he comments quietly.
"How easy would it be for you to identify the leader of any goblin group?"
He drops to the ground again, sketching a map of the camp and jabbing at the ground as he makes his points.
"We must keep you two protected so you can cast your spells from a safe distance. Kaelynne will always be needed near the front line, Khronos too, for his fighting skills and his healing gifts. The crofters will be happier seeing him there as well. Teven is our key piece here. He and I are mobile. Our role must be to stay flexible, picking off what we can and keeping a path clear for you two. And in the worst case, we may need to build and keep an escape route for the village."
He looks up at the two casters.
"Look, I have to do this as a chess game. If I think about what's likely to happen if the goblins take anyone, anyone at all, I can't function. Tell me, what kind of damage can you do. Can any of your spells be used together to build an ambush, pulling enemies into areas of danger?"
Seeing everything had settled at last, Khronos reset his own bedroll closer to the edge of camp. He then donned his armour, readying to start his double watch for the night, knowing sleep was not going to come easily.
The underlay chain shirt pinched at his bandaged arm and he winced slightly as the wound flared pain again. Flexing the fingers of his hand, he got the blood flowing through the arm again and loosened the bandage slightly. The blood had stopped flowing from the wound, now he needed the healing of his body to get to work.
He looked around and saw Gratitude, Varlis, Aran and Teven all conversing on the side of the camp, probably planning the scouting and the raid. He frowned, hoping Teven was prepared for a night scouting attempt in the goblins home woods. No matter what, Khronos was hoping to be ready the next time an attack came.
Tomorrow marked the third morning of their trip. Tomorrow was the day the forces of the false god would attack Woodcroft. Tomorrow would see the death of his friends and the place he'd sworn to protect. Sighing deeply, Khronos stood from strapping his leg greaves and gave an exploratory swing of his big axe. The arm seemed to be working fine, it would hold up in battle. Tomorrow was another problem, for now he looked around the camp.
He noted that the bodies of the dead goblins had yet to be moved. Thinking they may attract vermin or other scavanginf beasts he moved over to them. Seeing Adar had scrawled writing all over the ground near the magic using goblin, he paused. Killing the goblins in retribution might be good for now, but tricking them into attacking the pursuit of the False Gods forces was a more refined idea. He would work on the concept. Meanwhile he looked over the corpses for anything useful, including the weapons they'd brought. Maybe some of the smaller crofters could use these strange slicers they used. The weapons were crude but certainly effective. He also looked over the dead wolf, trying to determine if its pelt could be salvaged.
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Kaelynne:
Adar:
In your patrol, it looks as though these are the only goblins in the immediate vicinity, though you realize they're almost certainly part of a larger tribe -- especially if they're sufficiently organized as to have trained wolves. You think it good that none escaped.
Khronos:
The camp settles for the night, but setting double patrols. Many of the villagers are restless, and some younger children are quite distressed by the general feeling of strain and worry. But the rest of the night passes without event.
"Gratitude, I have several spells that can hurt one or more at distance. My sleep spell will leave them unharmed. Also I know a ritual to make a place quiet from the outside, it costs gold but it would allow for privacy for a time."
Khronos collected the gear he had found on the goblins. The crude weapons he smashed to the best of his ability and buried the pieces. He then moved to Kaelynne and showed her the gold and silver he had collected.
"I think we should use at least part of this to help Hareh's widow. I know we aren't in a place to trade or barter now, but hopefully we will be sometime soon. There will be others who will need this type of money soon as well. We should keep it safe for the moment, and maybe discuss with the others how to use this."
He looked at the woman who had done so well in the battle and looked so worn now "How are you holding up?" he asked, offering a friendly ear if she needed it.