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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Paka" data-source="post: 926131" data-attributes="member: 100">Story Post #5Boots the Goblin (N.P.C.)Boots the Goblin did what the tall sun-haired Northman Wildlander said because Karhoun seemed to mean what he said and the Orcs didn’t contradict his orders.  The Goblins fanned out in front of the Legate’s procession.  A few were up with the Wildlander and a few were between the Wildlander and the Legate.  It was Boots’s job to communicate what the Wildlander found back to the Shadow Legate.He got this job because when the Northman asked who the fastest was they all pointed at Boots.  Boots shrugged.  He was fast but not so much because his legs were strong or his feet speedy but because he knew precisely when and where to run.The Wildlander had a name too.  Karhoun…Karhoun something or other.  To Boots all of the human names sounded alike.  The Northman found tracks; the Fell had been near here.  For two days they kept east along the road, and they continued to find traces of the undead’s movements.They made camp and the Orcs set up watches and ordering the Goblins to set up camp.The Elf took out his book, his Lorebook he called it.  The Goblins stopped what they were doing and gathered around it.“Is that a book?”“Yes, my Lorebook, I am writing of the things I have seen today.”Another Goblin asked, “Are…are we in this Lorebook?”The Elf showed them pictures of the burns often found in the Burning Mother Tribe.  There was a picture of a Goblin there.  Boots and his fellow Goblins were in awe.“Could you put us in the book?  Then we would be immortal.”Kindly, the Elf took out his quill and wrote down all of their names.  The only one he knew offhand was Boots.  Everyone now knew Boots, Karhoun’s little helper.The next day, a few hours after high sun they came over a hill and there was Whitecliff.  Goblins back at Theros Obsidia whispered that Whitecliff was a place where a Goblin could find a home and not be ordered by anyone.  A Goblin could stay there and be free.  That sounded like a big lie to Boots, a tale told around the campfire.Karhoun took notice of three cook fires throughout the city.  They all took notice of different things.  Thannil the Gnome noticed a hidden Gnomish barge in the bay.  The Orcs noticed the unspoiled white buildings reflecting sunlight, making their heads hurt.  Prince Vorden noticed where the trees had become overgrown in the time it had been since he had seen Whitecliff.  Suk the Orc looked for a safe place to make camp.Again the Northman and the Goblins scouted ahead.  Karhoun pointed and Boots followed his finger.  In an overgrown square in the abandoned city a pack of Fell zombies were digging through a pile of rubble.  A house had fallen on top of itself somehow and they were digging for the meat they smelled.  Odd that, most of Whitecliff was untouched by ravages of war.The Gnome began to pick up rocks to throw at the Fell, prompting the jeers of the Goblins.  The Gnome threw a rock; hit a Goblin square in the face.  Boots tried not to laugh at that too.  Suk the Orc explained to the stupid Gnome the price for assaulting an agent of the Shadow.  The Gnome apologized and put his rocks down and handed his only weapon to the Orc, a knife he used for eating.Karhoun separated the Goblins into two groups.  They would flank the undead while the Legate led the Orcs in a charge.Suk screamed a battlecry and the battle was on.  The Fell turned to see the Legate’s entourage.  Their stomachs were distended and their mouths twisted in pain.  Obviously, these peasants had died of hunger and when their mortal hungers killed them, a deeper hunger brought them back again.  Boots gripped his spear and shuddered.  He didn’t want to charge but he did, following Karhoun because he knew he would be killed if he didn’t.The battle was fast.  The Legate controlled half of the Fell while the Orcs put others under the Kadatch.  The Elf used magicks on Suk to make him larger and stronger while the Gnome actually picked up rocks and hurled them at the zombies, missing one and hitting an Orc in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.  Karhoun sent some Goblins out of the square where the battle took place, to scout the perimeter, make sure there were no surprises.The wounded were bandaged but not yet healed.  The Orc who had been hit by the Gnome’s rock lay unconscious but not dead.  Lucky for the Gnome, no one saw the stone hit him.Happy that he had survived the battle, Boots put his spear down in the rubble, tip first so that it would stick up, easy to grab if trouble happened.His tip hit something soft and the rubble exploded.  A blur of red fur and roaring erupted all around them.  A feral human face bit at a Goblin standing next to Boots and claws shredded two Orcs.  Great black wings shrugged the rubble off of the lion-like body and a tail hovered above it, spikes quivering, looking for a likely target.Boots ran behind Karhoun and the Northman drew his hand and a half sword.  He stood ready for a bit and then swung at the creature, who deftly avoided the sword.Boots gripped his spear, too frightened to use it just yet.The Gnome, still a stone's throw back from the main battlefield, ran away into the city of Whitecliff. The Elf opened his book, frantically, looking to see what the creature was.The Legate spoke from across the square, “Lord Manticore!  We are brothers in the Shadow.  Allies!  I am a newly frocked Legate and these are my entourage.  Please, we meant you no harm.”As quickly as it had begun the Manticore stopped his rampage and in one scoop of a paw scooped out a pit for cooking.He piled up the dead Orc bodies and purred, “Well met, young Legate.  Let’s eat.”</blockquote>

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