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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThirdWizard" data-source="post: 6227809" data-attributes="member: 12037">Nohnee picked up the trail of the cultists without much issue. The overgrown forest left little opportunity to hide one’s tracks, especially for those who were not accustomed to the back country. And, from the looks of the trail, these cultists knew nothing of travel of this nature. Not only did they leave a trail of hacked vines and broken tree limbs behind them, but they discarded anything they might have used along the way – torn clothes, food wrappings, used up water flasks, and more. Following this trail eventually led upon a mixed trail of other humanoids, much smaller. These new trails were more like the elven trails from before. They looked like game trails, very distinct from the cultists’. There was no overt destruction in their path, just heavily used trails that a lesser tracker would probably have missed, but Nohnee caught the signs. Some kind of small race of humanoids definitely hunted this area. From these were the goblins that the elves had warned her and her companions about. She knelt down, signaling the others to slow down as they entered goblin territory. It was likely that the goblins easily came upon the cultists, who didn’t appear to be hiding themselves. Maybe that was okay for them, but she would rather go through this area unnoticed. At her lead, the group slowed to move more quietly, and she listed as they moved for any signs of danger. Following the cultists trail, she saw at some points the cultists’ tracks intermingling with those of the presumed goblins. These were not the tracks of a battle or other conflict. And, at some points the goblins were even appearing to travel with the cultists. The two groups were working together. She had hoped that skirmishes between the two groups would have slowed the cultists’ advance, but the opposite was probably true. With the help of the goblins they would be able to move through the underbrush more quickly, finding better routes, and moving in a better direction toward whatever their end goal was. She still didn’t know where that might be. As the group moved around a rather large tree, Pup’s ears perked up and he started to let out a very low growl. Taking the cue, the group took cover in the underbrush, and peeked out around the tree before proceeding. That’s when they saw the goblin patrol. Four goblins on lookout moving through the tangled vines and branches of the forest just as easily as the elves moved through. The goblins’ movement didn’t change, indicating that they did not spot the group, thanks to Pup’s warning. With silent signals, Nohnee send her companions into a flanking position. As the goblin passed the group sprung an ambush, Nohnee standing and shooting what seemed to be the leader, aiming for the leg to make it more difficult for them to run away. Pup and Malrock charged in amongst the goblins. However, her arrow flying wild, the goblin group scattered in all directions, choosing to run instead of stay for a fight! The group jumped into action. Malrock was able to fell one of the goblins before it escaped, but two more dashed in different directions. Nohnee and Pup took off after the goblin she had initially fired at and missed. The thing moved quickly, ducking and dodging, even rolling, between tangled underbrush, thickets, and snaking vines. It took everything she had to keep up. Malrock was nowhere to be seen, the goblin, elf, and wolf having lost the human in the dense forest. Leaping over a giant root, Pup took a quick lead ahead of his master and caught up with the fleeing goblin, jumping onto its back and dragging the creature down to the earth. It hissed and rolled out from under the beast, pulling out a dagger. It was too late, though, and Nohnee’s bow was already out, shooting an arrow and hitting its arm. The goblin wasn’t dead, but was heavily injured. It spewed curses at the elf, spitting toward her as she walked to stand over its prone form. As she did so, the thing cowed, but the anger in its eyes did not subside. It clutched its wounded arm, an arrow still stuck in its scrawny bicep. “Where are the humans?” she asked simply. “The south! The south!” it yelled out, obviously in pain. “What is your relationship with the elves?” “The elves? We love the elves!” “You love them?” She was a bit confused by this response. Had she been mistaken about the goblins? “They’re delicious! But, not you! I won’t eat you if you let me go.” Nope. Not mistaken at all. “Where is your village?” “I’ll take you there. We can go. It’s a nice place. You’d like it.” The creature looked a bit more hopeful. “I won’t be going to your village… Tell me more about the humans.” “They’re to the south, I said.” It looked defiant for a moment, but then its face fell once more. “They go to the ruins. Old city there, long gone. Goblins don’t want to go near it. Humans go there. I take you!” She did not need the goblin to take her there. She merely wanted to some information. The cultist trail was more than enough to take her wherever they were going. But, a ruined city wasn’t quite what she was expecting. She had heard of it, though, long ago in stories told to her. Those were a distant memory, the city of Dalv. She only knew them as an old warlike people who were killed in the wars that they started. Beyond that, she couldn’t recall. Maybe something would come back to her. Grimacing, she looked down at the pitiful goblin beneath her. She could not let such a vile thing live. She would show no mercy. Her sword fell on the creature, finishing it off with a scream escaping its throat. Malrock caught up with them as she was cleaning her sword. The stoic man said nothing, merely nodded at the sight of her dead quarry. And, with that the group was off again, following the trail of the cultists once more. It wasn’t long before the group came upon the ruins that the goblin had talked about. Nohnee racked her brain some more. She did remember some things about the city from the stories she had been told. One of those things that came back to her, looking at the ruined ramparts above, was that the people of Dalv had performed sacrifices to imbue their warriors with great strength. This was a fitting place for the cultists to gather to perform a ritual of their own.[sblock]Being a ranger, the player used the Hunt and Track class Move that the ranger has in order to follow the cultists’ trail. She rolled, I believe, a 10, so she also got a bit of useful information about the cultists. I let her know that it appeared that the cultists were traveling off and on with goblins, so the two groups were definitely working together in some way. The player gave Pup, the animal companion, the Keen Senses strength, and I wanted that to be a benefit, so I used the companion to alert the group to the coming goblin patrol. Pup also took the Stealth strength, so it was able to hide extremely well. Finally, when the chase started, it had the Quick Reflexes strengths, so it could move through the forest to give chase very quickly. I had it actually catch the goblin, knocking it down. It’s also frightening after all! As for Nohnee starting a fight with the goblins, the player regretted that afterward. She figured she could have followed them and played it safer. But, there’s no guarantee that would have worked either. The shot at the goblins leg was a Called Shot trying to hobble it so that it couldn’t escape. If that had hit, things would have gone much smoother for her. However she rolled a 6 on the Called Shot attack. That means I get to make a move. In that case, I opted to use the goblin move “Retreat and return with (many) more.” I wanted to give her a chance, though, so she pursued, caught and killed the goblin, and went back into hiding. The goblins from then on were on alert, but she managed to keep that from being a problem, somewhat negating the GM move. That’s okay. I like it when something a player does gets around obstacles. Also, she got an XP for the 6, so it wasn’t all bad.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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