[DeadPigeonGolem]

"Yeah, definitely saw a brand of some kind," said Wre'kesa, nodding to himself as he answered Vithar's first question. Idly, he noticed Warwick talking to her horse off to the side. Eh. "I doubt that anyone knows if there's anyone training them. I heard them shout something about a "evil pride" or something like that; it's likely that everyone here thinks they're hell beasts sent to terrorize them."

---

{Wre'kesa Idle Animation}

Wre'kesa sat on the edge of the building's roof and pulled out an oiled rag. He began to clean his crossbow of any grit or dust, making sure that all the constituent parts slid smoothly to ensure maximum efficiency.

{end Wre'kesa Idle Animation}

[Rilla Treespirit]

As Trinita checked her arm over Ilnari'se examined the dented armour she'd removed. It wouldn't do her any good to put it on again. Some of it seemed to be crushed beyond repair and what might be salvageable she hadn't the ability to fix. She sighed, at least it had served its purpose. Dread to think what might have happened if she wasn't wearing it. She'd just have to be careful not to let anything get her arm in future. "Yeah right," she snorted disgustedly at her thoughts. As if she didn't try to avoid getting hit already, whoever attacked her in future would definitely go for her injured, unarmoured arm. She settled back to listen to the others.

The content of the conversation wasn't particularly riveting. As far as she could tell the other raiders were all there, she hadn't seen any left behind so they must have got back to town at least. The idea that the lions might be trained didn't really surprise her, they hadn't acted like wild animals. That they were branded was a little more interesting. That might tell them who they belonged to. She decided to make a suggestion. "Get a closer look an you could ask the humes if they recognise the mark."

[django]

Jemilla looked at Vithar and gave him a knowing look, it just happens not even ten minutes ago, she was talking to the leaders of this place about demons in the form of lions. "Well this doesn't look good." Jemilla said as she looked at the humans running around like scared sheep. Packing up there belonging and getting ready to leave, so it would seem. It was just then Trinita spoke up "Mam." "What?" "The humans... their talking about the branding on the lions and rebel armies... and."

Trinita paused for a moment to listen in on what the human warriors were talking about. "Mam, they think the war in the north is coming here. They think a force... or tribes are coming here."

"Were still going in." Jemilla said coldly to the raiders around her. The thought of getting trapped here in the middle of a human war sent a chill up Trinita's spine. "We'll go off road and the humans will keep the war themselves. I'm not going to get scared off this mission because some hairy bastards want to kill each other."


Trinita eye's went wide at that remark. He looked at Ilnari'se to see if she thought the same thing. "To hell are going in." Trinita uncharacteristically spoke out against his orders "You cant be serious." "Trinita, if you speak against me again I'll flog you." While Trinita and Jemilla argued, some of the humans started to make a move towards their horses.

[DeadPigeonGolem]

Wre'kesa snapped the pieces of his crossbow back together with the speed of a long-time devotee to the weapon. Call him paranoid, but nobody that wasn't a Raider was approaching the horses without being confronted.

"Oi! You there!" he shouted, raising his loaded crossbow and leveling it at the moving halmes. "Halt! Back away slowly; hands where I can see them!"

Granted, the hairy apes probably didn't know drowish, but body language and tone of voice were surprisingly universal.

[Dice Warwick]

Warwick watched as Wre’kesa threaten the goblin, and all she could think was (another male throwing his wait around because a small taste of power, this is way the Sarghress are seen as savages) "Oy, if you want the dumb-ass goblins to stay away, then just glare at then, that works much of the time." Warwick sighed "threatening them with violence only brings more of them, trust me, they like to group together when threatened." She could remember her grandmother telling her story's about proud warriors being killed off by anger mobs of goblins over the accidental death of younger goblins. Warwick took the story to heart, and the goblins were high-strung as it is here, and so she rather not see them vent on the group.

[Alric]

Vithar heard Jemilla state their next course of action. This wasn't going to be easy, but they didn't pay him to come along for an easy ride. "We'll just stay out of sight...how hard could it be?" he grunted dryly. It was an evenly split chance as to what armed humans would do if they ran into them; either they'd let them go or they'd attempt to slay them just because they could. They weren't too different from drow in that regard.

A few humans made their way towards the horses, only to be dissuaded by Wre'kesa aiming his crossbow at them. Vithar quickly prepared himself for a fight; such a quick escalation could get ugly in short order. "Step away from the horses!" Vithar firmly stated in his best attempt at the local language.

[DeadPigeonGolem]

Wre'kesa didn't take his eye off the goblins, but listened to Warwick's advice.

"I understand," he said, unloading the weapon but keeping the string pulled back so he could load and shoot if necessary. "I apologize for my actions; I guess I'm still a bit jumpy after the battle."

Still, he didn't like the situation they were in. If he was guessing correctly, these halmes were the extra-superstitious kind. The Raiders were just as likely to be sacrificed to appease the goblin "gods" as they were to get help from the goblins.

[django]

Trinita went tight lipped when Jemilla threaten to flog him if he continued to argue with her. Things were bad as it is with the humans fighting with themselves, they didn't need in fighting in the pack. They'll need each other to get out.

With all the attention from the dark skinned elves, the human stopped what he was doing and bolted in the opposite direction. The horses just weren't the trouble Trinita guessed.

"Raiders get your things." Jemilla said, clearly disgusted with the humans around her "These animals have lost their minds."


* * *


On that same night they left the village, the army appeared. It was large and unorganized and like a swarm of locus, it swallowed up the village and devoured everything.


Seeing that army from a distance still unnerved Trinita even after traveling for goddess knows how long. The group traveled at night and rested during the day. It was harsh but it quickly became their favorite tactic since they started crossing deserts on their own outside of caravans.

Drinking from a pool of water in the moon light, Trinita rose up to join the others to continue their journey. The day before they could see ruins in the distance. Jemilla told the group to wait until night fall. "Finally, we get see something other then just sand dunes. How far do you think it will be until we reach it?"

[DeadPigeonGolem]

((Okay, I'm going to admit, I have no ideas.

Django, requesting plot occurrence, or permission to initiate a Random Encounter consisting of overconfident goblins.))

[django]

(I'll set something new up for this. A time and a bit of a fesh start.)


If any one still here interested in this, join me here. viewtopic.php?f=52&t=16651