FC0 - CH 4: Ambushes!

[HorizonsDream]

"I have a lantern. It just needs a light," Tavi says as she pulls it out. She knew that this was probably going to come up again, so it was a good thing she managed to take the lantern from the barn in the first place before she tried to runaway.

[JadedDM]

"Allow me," Barlemus says, using his tinderbox to light the lantern.

"Wait here," Arvin commands. "I'll scout out the entrance. Do not make any noise." He then disappears in the darkness, leaving the two humans with the goblin corpses.

[HorizonsDream]

"While he is doing that, we should probably hide these bodies," Tavi says as she sets the lantern down. She pats down the dead goblins, grabbing the whistle and looking for anything that might be useful. "Might be a good idea to carry them to those bushes over there, so it doesn't look like they were dragged off."

[JadedDM]

Each goblin has leather armor, a spear, a buckler, and a whistle. The goblin that Arvin shot also has 6 silver pieces and and three rusty forks (one of which is missing a tooth). The one that Barlemus took out has 13 silver pieces.

With Barlemus' help, she carries the dead goblins to the bushes. Now the only evidence they were ever here are the blood stains on the ground where they died.

[HorizonsDream]

Tavi pockets the silver pieces and looks over the blood stains. "How do we get rid of those?" she asks, looking up to Barlemus. "I would suggest just kicking dirt over them, but then wouldn't that make it look like dark mud?"

[JadedDM]

"Better than nothing," Barlemus points out. He helps her conceal the blood as much as possible.

Arvin reappears, arching an eyebrow at their actions. "There are ten inside the entrance chamber," he says.

"We can handle ten easy," Barlemus responds.

"Perhaps so, but can we do it without alerting the entire clan in the process?" the ranger asks.

[HorizonsDream]

"The chances of them blowing a whistle to get the attention of the clan is high in here," Tavi says thoughtfully. "Did you see any way in which we could just...sneak past them?"

[JadedDM]

Arvin shakes his head. "Not with that," he says, pointing at Tavi's lantern. As an afterthought he adds, "Or that," by pointing at Barlemus.

"Hey!" Barlemus says.

[HorizonsDream]

"...Any suggestions then?" Tavi asks. She was still new at this, so she didn't have all of the answers. Actually, she didn't have any answers. She came up with plans that sounded okay, and the fact that a lot of them worked was surprising.

[JadedDM]

"If I knew where they were holding your sisters, I'd just go in and get them myself," Arvin says. "Or the Shaman. If I could take him out, they can't enact the ritual."

"Or the slaves," Barlemus adds. "Goblins always have slaves, and they would probably help us if we freed them. But we'd need to know where they were first."

"In any case, we can't stay out here. Sooner or later, someone will come along to relieve those guards we killed. Or a hunting party will return," Arvin points out.

[HorizonsDream]

Tavi lets out a small sigh, as whatever they had to say weren't really suggestions. "Okay, we know what we have. What do we need?" she asks.

[JadedDM]

"We need better information," Arvin says. "We should withdraw for now, find a way to develop better intel and then act on that."

"Ut," Barlemus grunts. "Typical elven strategy. Just sit around and wait, doing nothing. I have a better idea. Let's go in, full-force, right now. The gobbos won't expect it, and by the time they organize, it'll be too late."

"They won't expect it because it's suicide!" Arvin argues. "Typical human strategy: charge recklessly into an unknown situation half-cocked, with no idea of what he's doing!"

"We don't have time to sit around on our hands. There are lives at stake. Oh, but they're human lives, so I guess they'll keep, huh?" Barlemus says.

Tavi realizes that if this argument escalates any further, they'll be shouting their presence right to the goblins.

[HorizonsDream]

"Guys...Guys!" Tavi says, raising her voice just a little bit. "Okay, the shaman gave me a week to get the Nightstalker, and return to the tree. If I wasn't back by then, he would use my sisters to raise his God," she explains. "We have some time to plan this out, but not a whole lot of time." Tavi runs her fingers through her hair as she thinks. "Let's go ahead and retreat back to the camp. If they find those bodies, they are going to be on alert, but that is something we are going to have to deal with when we have a better plan."

[JadedDM]

"Tavi, are you sure about that?" asks Barlemus. "We still have the element of surprise. But if we leave now, they'll know their base is compromised and might beef up defenses even more."

"It's the right choice," Arvin says. "We can't assault an entire goblin complex with only three people without better intel."

[HorizonsDream]

Tavi gave a small nod to Barlemus to show that she was sure about her choice. "We need to do more planning," she says. "I can't get this far and then just die because there were too many of them," she explains. "My sisters are depending on me."