FC0 - CH 3: Trollbane

[JadedDM]

After several hours, Barlemus wakes Tavi up so she can take the rest of the watch. She notices the corpse of the worg is now missing. Barl explains he dragged it away, so it wouldn't attract scavengers to their camp. Tavi's watch passes uneventfully as the night slowly fades and the dawn arrives.

When it is time for Barlemus to wake up, he rolls up his sleeping bag and puts it away. "All right," he says. "So how should we deal with this problem?"

[HorizonsDream]

"I've been thinking about that for awhile now," Tavi admits. "My first idea was to just raid the caverns that they are in, but I'm not exactly sure where those caverns are. So that idea is out. The other idea I have is to act like I really did capture you. The goblins, I think, would then lead us back to their base. We will probably be blind-folded, so we really wouldn't get the chance to attack them until we were in the cavern again. If we were to do that though, you would have to be unarmed. When we did attack, I could loan you one of my weapons."

[JadedDM]

Barlemus sits down, taking off his cap and setting it into his lap. "Wouldn't they disarm you, too?" he asks.

"Ut, sounds difficult. Don't know where the caverns are, and even if we did, you said you don't know where in the caverns your sisters are. Any idea how many of them there are?"

[HorizonsDream]

"The shaman said that they had a whole army, but I'm not sure I believe him or not," Tavi says with a sigh. "I can tell you that there is one in there that wears scale mail. I'm not sure how a goblin managed to get a hold of it, but he has it."

[JadedDM]

"Same way gobbos get anything. Probably stole it off some poor sap's corpse or made off with it in a raid," Barlemus says. "Ut, an army, huh? That's kind of vague."

The warrior considers this. "So we don't know where their camp is, how many there are, what defenses they have, and what the layout of their camp is. Sounds pretty tricky then." He gets to his feet and dusts himself off. "Can't make a plan without information, so we need to figure out how to learn more first. Any ideas?" he asks, offering her a hand.

[HorizonsDream]

"Capture a goblin from that clan," Tavi suggests as she takes his hand. "That is how I managed to learn that my sisters and I were captured for the specific reason of being sacrificed. Actually, I threatened one of the females which seemed to be enough to get the guard to talk."

[JadedDM]

"Good idea," he says, helping her to her feet. "I know a little something about setting up gobbo traps. I can set up the snare, and then it's just a matter of waiting for a gobbo to get caught in it."

[HorizonsDream]

"The chance that they speak common is low though," Tavi points out. "Do you know how to speak their language?" she asks curiously.

[JadedDM]

Pulling off his pack, Barlemus begins searching for something inside of it. "Yep," he says, pulling out a wrapped up net. "Gobbo's language is really easy and simple. Even a guy like me could learn it. That should tell you how simple it is," he says with a boyish grin.

[HorizonsDream]

Tavi giggles lightly at his little joke as she watches him prepare. "Is there anything you want me to do?" she asks. "Or would it be better if I just stay out of your way while you set up the trap?" She wanted to be somewhat useful to Barlemus since he was going through this trouble to help her save her sisters.

[JadedDM]

"Go ahead and break camp," he says. "This won't take long." He begins unfurling the net. "Oh, and cut off some meat from that worg. It'll make nice bait."

[HorizonsDream]

Tavi sets about breaking camp. Once she was done, which didn't take very long, she runs off to find the worg so she can cut off a slice of meat off of it. The idea of slicing off a piece of meat from the worg didn't bother her much. She had worked around animals on the ranch for the longest time, so she was treating it sort of like killing a chicken, and then stripping it of its feathers.

Running back to Barlemus, she hands him the piece of meat for the trap. "Hope this works," she says. "Um, why do you hunt goblins anyway?"

[JadedDM]

"Thanks," he says, accepting the meat. He sniffs at it. "Ugh, rancid. This should definitely get some gobbos' attention." He then proceeds to start building a net trap.

"Why?" he repeats, his face going blank. "Well, uh...it's...uh..," he stammers, blinking. It seems as if he's never really considered that question before. Finally, he shrugs and says, "Someone's gotta, right?"

[HorizonsDream]

"Okay, so does that mean you live around here then?" Tavi asks. "I don't know of any other families that live out here, but then again my sisters and I didn't get out very much. Mom and dad said it was too dangerous."

[JadedDM]

"Nah," he says. "I grew up way over on the coast. I came here when I heard about the gobbo infestations. I don't have a home anymore. I just wander the countryside, hunting gobbos and camping outside. Now and again I go to a village or farm and trade for food and such."

After he finishes the trap, he dusts his hands together. "Well, gobbos only come out at night, so we can come back and check on this trap then." He turns to her. "Just gotta figure out what to do until then."