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In the Shadow of the Wood - a frontier campaign - UPDATED 12/28
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<blockquote data-quote="Enkhidu" data-source="post: 1901532" data-attributes="member: 351"><p><strong>Ninthday, 7th week of Spring, 2476 ER</strong></p><p></p><p>Jex grimaced as the wind shifted. For much of the morning, he had had the good fortune of being upwind of his new traveling companions. Admittedly, that position came with a few distinct disadvantages – most notably the view – but he had supposed that following the big brown bear’s backside was preferable to smelling it. Now it looked, and smelled, like he would have to deal with both.</p><p></p><p>He supposed that it could be worse; he could be directly in front of the animal, like the tall, rangy man Ezekiel called Fen. Then he would be the one dealing with the bear’s breath and drool, much as he had when the beast roused him from his sunrise meditations by resting his great, furry head on the monk’s shoulder while trying to say good morning in his own bearish way.</p><p></p><p>Just as Jex’s nose was hit by the first wave of bear musk, he saw the trunk of a fallen tree just off the trail. Its passing had left a hole in the canopy and rays of sunlight streamed down. He hopped atop the log to bask in the sun and looked ahead at his companions:</p><p></p><p>Chase, in the form of an eagle, flew ahead of them, landing occasionally to preen his feathers as he waited for the rest. It seemed to the monk that the shapechanger almost preferred his bird form to his natural one: an observation Jex had made early the previous evening when Chase cocked his head to the side while listening to Ezekiel and Fen discuss where the goblins had come from. </p><p></p><p>Well behind Chase, Ezekiel moved purposefully over the trail at the head of the short column. Jex watched him as he stomped through the forest, glancing back occasionally at Fen for direction but unwilling to let the older man lead. The Servant of the Son moved as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders – as so many of the Misled did – and Jex wondered if the younger man had let the previous day’s events could his judgment.</p><p></p><p>A few feet behind Ezekiel strode Tach Fenwood or, as he had said many times, simply Fen. The tall man seemed uncomfortable walking on the trail; twice he had pulled and nocked an arrow at the sound of a bird in the trees. The man looked competent, practiced, and more than a little uneasy. Jex supposed that if he were the one in front of Pug the bear he would be uneasy too.</p><p></p><p>The bear had appeared the night before, lumbering into the quickly made camp as the four men studied the clues the goblins had left behind. Fen, for the fourth time, was listing the clues aloud as Ezekiel interrupted. The taller man had just named the eagle talisman that each goblin wore, right after the fact that the goblins bore both war and throwing axes in a style uncomfortably close to Imperial make. Next, he would say that burning and slaughter was not normal for a goblin war party after which Ezekiel would interrupt by railing against the savages, as he had done three times before. When the bear plodded into the camp and bowled over Chase, Jex almost welcomed the danger as a diversion from the argument brewing. When the alarm proved to be false, with Chase laughing heartily and introducing Pug to the new companions, and the argument died Jex thanked Rao twice.</p><p></p><p>Jex stood for a moment more. Here he was, far from home, no closer to finding what he sought than before he came so far west, and saddled with fur unlikely companions, two of which at any one time had either fur or feathers. </p><p></p><p>Rao certainly had a strange sense of humor.</p><p></p><p>With a shrug and a sigh, Jex hopped off the trunk and trotted to catch up to his companions.</p><p></p><p></p><p>**</p><p></p><p><strong>Tenthday, 7th week of Spring, 2476 ER</strong></p><p> </p><p>Fen scanned the forest for signs of the inevitable ambush. He saw all of the signs – the thickening canopy of leaves blocking out sunlight, the sudden quiet, the lack of forest debris to hide under and behind. The forest seemed so tidy, as if someone had gone through and cleaned the forest floor to deny him cover. It set his teeth on edge.</p><p></p><p>Worst, it had been hours since he lost the backtrail of the goblins that burned the farm. While the lack of undergrowth should have made their tracks easier to see, their trail was quickly lost in a jumble of others. Since mid morning he had been leading his unlikely companions down a lightly traveled road, and for the last hour they had been following a set of new wagon ruts. It was all entirely too easy, and he expected at any moment that a full goblin war party would materialize from out of nowhere armed to the overly large teeth.</p><p></p><p>Instead he heard screech of an eagle overheard as Chase flapped his wings and landed on the ground. The druid motioned toward the wagon ruts and gouged out a single line in the dirt in a prearranged signal.</p><p></p><p>“One mile?” Ezekiel asked, a little too loudly for Fen’s liking.</p><p></p><p>“Right,” Fen answered, “and keep your voice down. How many, Chase?” The druid flapped his wings more than a dozen times. “That many? This could be difficult.” He glanced over at Pug, who had begun roaming about sniffing at tree trunks. “Do you think you can get him to cause a disturbance?” </p><p></p><p>Chase cocked his head to the side and then nodded once. </p><p></p><p>“Good. OK, this is what we’re going to do.”</p><p></p><p>**</p><p></p><p>Fen darted quickly from tree to tree as he approached, cursing the lack of cover and hoping that the others wouldn’t be seen before they got into position. He peeked around trunk to see a score of goblins, large and small, less than one hundred yards away. Easily close enough for BlackScore to take its toll should something go awry, yet far enough away that they wouldn’t know what hit them until it was too late. For a minute, he half expected to see one of the lieutenants out of the corner of his eye, motioning the Company toward their target. Then he heard panicked shouts in goblin tongue, “Its got me! The tree’s got me!” followed by a roar from Pug.</p><p></p><p>In a heartbeat, Fen cleared the trunk and ran toward the noise. A few hundred paces away, a score of goblins of varying sizes gathered around a fallen tree, chopping at it with axes as its limbs entangled them. Behind them, Pug roared and Chase, standing on the bear’s back, screeched and the few goblins not tangled in the tree’s moving limbs threw an ineffectual volley of axes at the new threat. </p><p></p><p>Fen raced toward the tumult, drawing an arrow as he ran more out of reflex than anything else. Ahead, the goblins had begun to regroup, and he heard one of the larger ones begin barking orders. He slowed for a moment, ready to stop long enough to dispatch the goblins’ commander, when a bolt of lightning from the sky struck the goblin dead mid command; when he glanced upward, he saw no hole in the canopy and the hint of a cloudless sky. A moment later, Ezekiel slammed into the goblins’ flank, leading with his maul and felling one of the smaller goblins in a single blow. Likewise, Jex streaked across the forest floor as if flying, his feet barely touching the ground as he bounded over the patchy ground faster than any man should. With an open hand, he struck a large goblin in the neck. It dropped its axe and simply stood there, stunned.</p><p></p><p>The hint of a smile played over the warrior’s lips. Not only had his plan gone flawlessly, his new companions had proved even more capable than he had hoped. All that was necessary now was to feather another one of the goblin’s leaders and then hope the rest would parley. Scanning the field, he picked his target, a large goblin struggling to free something stuck in the entangling tree limbs.</p><p></p><p>Thirty paces away, Fen slowed and drew BlackScore back to his ear. “It’s almost too easy,” he said to himself. </p><p></p><p>Then, with a yank, the goblin pulled his prize free from the branches and to use as a shield against his attackers. The shield was gaunt, human, and female. She screamed in terror.</p><p></p><p>Fen growled. “Almost!”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Enkhidu, post: 1901532, member: 351"] [b]Ninthday, 7th week of Spring, 2476 ER[/b] Jex grimaced as the wind shifted. For much of the morning, he had had the good fortune of being upwind of his new traveling companions. Admittedly, that position came with a few distinct disadvantages – most notably the view – but he had supposed that following the big brown bear’s backside was preferable to smelling it. Now it looked, and smelled, like he would have to deal with both. He supposed that it could be worse; he could be directly in front of the animal, like the tall, rangy man Ezekiel called Fen. Then he would be the one dealing with the bear’s breath and drool, much as he had when the beast roused him from his sunrise meditations by resting his great, furry head on the monk’s shoulder while trying to say good morning in his own bearish way. Just as Jex’s nose was hit by the first wave of bear musk, he saw the trunk of a fallen tree just off the trail. Its passing had left a hole in the canopy and rays of sunlight streamed down. He hopped atop the log to bask in the sun and looked ahead at his companions: Chase, in the form of an eagle, flew ahead of them, landing occasionally to preen his feathers as he waited for the rest. It seemed to the monk that the shapechanger almost preferred his bird form to his natural one: an observation Jex had made early the previous evening when Chase cocked his head to the side while listening to Ezekiel and Fen discuss where the goblins had come from. Well behind Chase, Ezekiel moved purposefully over the trail at the head of the short column. Jex watched him as he stomped through the forest, glancing back occasionally at Fen for direction but unwilling to let the older man lead. The Servant of the Son moved as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders – as so many of the Misled did – and Jex wondered if the younger man had let the previous day’s events could his judgment. A few feet behind Ezekiel strode Tach Fenwood or, as he had said many times, simply Fen. The tall man seemed uncomfortable walking on the trail; twice he had pulled and nocked an arrow at the sound of a bird in the trees. The man looked competent, practiced, and more than a little uneasy. Jex supposed that if he were the one in front of Pug the bear he would be uneasy too. The bear had appeared the night before, lumbering into the quickly made camp as the four men studied the clues the goblins had left behind. Fen, for the fourth time, was listing the clues aloud as Ezekiel interrupted. The taller man had just named the eagle talisman that each goblin wore, right after the fact that the goblins bore both war and throwing axes in a style uncomfortably close to Imperial make. Next, he would say that burning and slaughter was not normal for a goblin war party after which Ezekiel would interrupt by railing against the savages, as he had done three times before. When the bear plodded into the camp and bowled over Chase, Jex almost welcomed the danger as a diversion from the argument brewing. When the alarm proved to be false, with Chase laughing heartily and introducing Pug to the new companions, and the argument died Jex thanked Rao twice. Jex stood for a moment more. Here he was, far from home, no closer to finding what he sought than before he came so far west, and saddled with fur unlikely companions, two of which at any one time had either fur or feathers. Rao certainly had a strange sense of humor. With a shrug and a sigh, Jex hopped off the trunk and trotted to catch up to his companions. ** [b]Tenthday, 7th week of Spring, 2476 ER[/b] Fen scanned the forest for signs of the inevitable ambush. He saw all of the signs – the thickening canopy of leaves blocking out sunlight, the sudden quiet, the lack of forest debris to hide under and behind. The forest seemed so tidy, as if someone had gone through and cleaned the forest floor to deny him cover. It set his teeth on edge. Worst, it had been hours since he lost the backtrail of the goblins that burned the farm. While the lack of undergrowth should have made their tracks easier to see, their trail was quickly lost in a jumble of others. Since mid morning he had been leading his unlikely companions down a lightly traveled road, and for the last hour they had been following a set of new wagon ruts. It was all entirely too easy, and he expected at any moment that a full goblin war party would materialize from out of nowhere armed to the overly large teeth. Instead he heard screech of an eagle overheard as Chase flapped his wings and landed on the ground. The druid motioned toward the wagon ruts and gouged out a single line in the dirt in a prearranged signal. “One mile?” Ezekiel asked, a little too loudly for Fen’s liking. “Right,” Fen answered, “and keep your voice down. How many, Chase?” The druid flapped his wings more than a dozen times. “That many? This could be difficult.” He glanced over at Pug, who had begun roaming about sniffing at tree trunks. “Do you think you can get him to cause a disturbance?” Chase cocked his head to the side and then nodded once. “Good. OK, this is what we’re going to do.” ** Fen darted quickly from tree to tree as he approached, cursing the lack of cover and hoping that the others wouldn’t be seen before they got into position. He peeked around trunk to see a score of goblins, large and small, less than one hundred yards away. Easily close enough for BlackScore to take its toll should something go awry, yet far enough away that they wouldn’t know what hit them until it was too late. For a minute, he half expected to see one of the lieutenants out of the corner of his eye, motioning the Company toward their target. Then he heard panicked shouts in goblin tongue, “Its got me! The tree’s got me!” followed by a roar from Pug. In a heartbeat, Fen cleared the trunk and ran toward the noise. A few hundred paces away, a score of goblins of varying sizes gathered around a fallen tree, chopping at it with axes as its limbs entangled them. Behind them, Pug roared and Chase, standing on the bear’s back, screeched and the few goblins not tangled in the tree’s moving limbs threw an ineffectual volley of axes at the new threat. Fen raced toward the tumult, drawing an arrow as he ran more out of reflex than anything else. Ahead, the goblins had begun to regroup, and he heard one of the larger ones begin barking orders. He slowed for a moment, ready to stop long enough to dispatch the goblins’ commander, when a bolt of lightning from the sky struck the goblin dead mid command; when he glanced upward, he saw no hole in the canopy and the hint of a cloudless sky. A moment later, Ezekiel slammed into the goblins’ flank, leading with his maul and felling one of the smaller goblins in a single blow. Likewise, Jex streaked across the forest floor as if flying, his feet barely touching the ground as he bounded over the patchy ground faster than any man should. With an open hand, he struck a large goblin in the neck. It dropped its axe and simply stood there, stunned. The hint of a smile played over the warrior’s lips. Not only had his plan gone flawlessly, his new companions had proved even more capable than he had hoped. All that was necessary now was to feather another one of the goblin’s leaders and then hope the rest would parley. Scanning the field, he picked his target, a large goblin struggling to free something stuck in the entangling tree limbs. Thirty paces away, Fen slowed and drew BlackScore back to his ear. “It’s almost too easy,” he said to himself. Then, with a yank, the goblin pulled his prize free from the branches and to use as a shield against his attackers. The shield was gaunt, human, and female. She screamed in terror. Fen growled. “Almost!” [/QUOTE]
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