FC0 - CH 2: Night Stalker

[HorizonsDream]

Tavi raises up slightly upon the stone slab now that she got their attention. She keeps hold of the woman goblin, but she looks to the male. "So one of you does speak common," she says with a smirk. "See, I don't think you want to kill me after you have went through all the trouble of patching me up," she says. "Plus, it would probably be against your orders. Tell me what I want to know, and I'll let her go."

[JadedDM]

"Tch," the goblin responds. "Can't escape. Even if kill her and me, there many, many goblins between here and escape." He glances down the hall, then looks back toward Tavi and the female goblin. "What want to know?" he asks, his red eyes locking with hers.

[HorizonsDream]

"Why did you go through the trouble of capturing us?" Tavi asks quickly. There was no point to beat around the bush. She wanted to know what their purpose was. "And who ordered you to capture us?" Naturally, she would build on those questions once she got some answers.

[JadedDM]

"New Chieftain say so," the goblin responds matter-of-factually. "If pure, go to Shaman, be used as sacrifice. If not pure, be slaves. If lucky, join Chieftain's women. If not, make work mines."

[HorizonsDream]

"Sacrifice? Sacrifice to what?" Tavi asks. She was trying to hide the fact that this caused her some worry. The three of them were pure, as far as Tavi knew. Hallie and Sparrow weren't ones to just sneak off in the middle of the night, and Sturnheim was the closest town.

[JadedDM]

"Maglubiyet, goblin god," he says. "Maglubiyet tell Shaman it time to change. No more little raids, no more risking lives for scraps of food. Shadowbite Clan chosen. Will rise up, take land back from humans. Live well, eat well, forever. Shaman need sacrifice first. Blood ritual. Help get ready for big takeover."

The goblin takes another step forward. "Talk enough. Let go now, or die. Still have other two can use for sacrifice."

[HorizonsDream]

"When is the sacrifice?" Tavi asks as she pushes the female goblin away from her towards the male. She needed time to prepare for an escape now. Of course, she didn't have a damn clue as to how to escape, but she would get to that later.

[JadedDM]

The female goblin, chattering in her native tongue, runs away and hides behind the male guard, quivering. The guard starts walking backward, shepherding her back, too, until they are both outside the gate. The guard then swings the gate shut and re-locks it.

"Shaman want to wait, until you wake up. Awake now. Will tell him. Should be soon now," the guard says, sheathing his blade. He then ushers the frightened woman down the hall.

[HorizonsDream]

"Great," Tavi mutters in annoyance. "So we need to get out of here now, except we don't have a clue as to where we are going or how to get out of here. I don't have any weapons to speak of, and I'm not exactly in the best health to fight anything anyway. This is just...perfect," she says dejectedly. "Hallie, when you were brought here, were you awake? Do you remember anything?"

[JadedDM]

"Sparrow and I were both awake, yes," Hallie says. "It was very dark, so we didn't see all that much, though. They took us deep into the wilderness, and into some underground cave. That's all we really know, though."

[HorizonsDream]

Tavi walks up to the metal bars, and tries to pull them apart with all of her strength. She strains for a couple of moments, but the bars won't budge. "The most we can do right now is wait for them to come for us," Tavi says. "I have this tray. Maybe I can try to knock them out with that," she suggests.

Bend Bars(24, fail)

[JadedDM]

It is a couple of hours before anything new happens. Tavi spends that time planning and re-bandaging her wounds. Only a couple of sips of water remained in the fallen cup, and the food didn't look very good before it touched the floor as it was. It's a wonder how anyone can live in such filth. It seems like the goblins should have all died out of infection and disease ages ago.

After two hours, Tavi again hears someone approaching. Several goblins step up to her cell door. One of them lights a candle, causing the other goblins to groan and look away. As long as she's been down here in the dark, the light of the candle burns her own eyes almost as much as the goblins.

Once her eyes adjust again, she can now see the goblins before her. There are four of them. One is the same guard she spoke to before. He pulls out his keyring to unlock the cell.

Of the other three, two look like typical guards. Both are wearing leather armor, bucklers and one carries a spear while the other carries a mace. The fourth goblin, however, is quite different. He wears no armor, but instead black robes. He has a fancy headdress made of bone upon his head, and a necklace of bone, as well. He carries a walking stick in one hand, and the candle in the other. Around his neck is a silver medallion with a wolf carved on it. What really makes him stand out among his companions, though, is his skin is coal black.

Once the cell door is open, the guard remains by the door, his hand on his sword hilt. The other three goblins enter. The two warriors have their weapons at the ready. The strangely dressed black one makes no effort to protect himself. Instead, he just looks Tavi up and down in assessment.

"Feeling better, are we?" he asks in surprisingly good Common. "Strong enough to threaten your caretaker, in any event."

[HorizonsDream]

"I wouldn't say I'm feeling better," Tavi says as she crosses her arms over her chest. "I guess you are the shaman or whatever, right?"

[JadedDM]

The shaman grins. This grin seems even more sinister due to the light of the candle. "You took quite a nasty blow to the mouth there. But unlike the other two, I am told you took out at least five of our people before you went down. Impressive...for a human. And a woman, at that." Tucking his walking staff under his arm, he reaches out and takes hold of her chin.

At first, this causes her pain, but to her surprise, the pain begins to lessen as he speaks in his native language. A blue glow engulfs his hand, and seeps into Tavia's jaw.

"There. Isn't that better?" he asks cordially, as if a host speaking to a welcomed guest.

======================

Shaman casts a spell. Tavia regains 8 HP. Her jaw is completely healed, and her knee is partially healed.

[HorizonsDream]

Tavi jerks back from the shaman's touch after he is done. She places her hand to her jaw, opens her mouth and closes it, and looks satisfied for the most part. She even lifts her knee a bit to make sure it isn't fractured anymore. "....Thanks," she says grudgingly. "But why are you healing me up if you are just going to maybe throw me away to be sacrificed?"