Ulthuan

The southern part of the Empire showed itself from its most beautiful and presenting side. It was late autumn and the sun warmed the lands with its last strength. The trees were laddened with reddish leaves and the bustling birds could be heard singing. Even the air was hot and quiet.

Jonas and Otto rode in a slow pace on the road. Their goal was to reach Strudelheim and make some investigations for the merchant Matthias Bruchstein about a raided tradestation there.
Otto was deep in thoughts. He remembered how he had won in the pits and had freed himself. It was certainly a sign of Sigmars confidence in him that had given him his freedom. The local clergy had offered him this job to show himself in the eyes of Sigmar. He took a look at the mercenary riding beside him. An experienced soldier with a hint of sorrow. So far Jonas hadn't want to discuss his clouded past.

*****
The two elves enjoyed the day and the warm pleasing sunrays. They went merrily along inside the forest. None bar the most experienced eyes would have detected the two as they moved gracefully beneath the beautiful canopy.
Suddenly the silence was broken as sounds of battle penetrated the otherwise peaceful day. Kelian and Daerendil could easily hear the guttural orders from greenskins.

Both humans were taken by surprised. Jonas was quick to dodge the incoming arrow and cover behind his horse. He quickly estimated there were maximum three archers out there.
Otto heard the whooshing sound and held his shield high. The arrow penetrated the shield and hit his lower arm. He looked at the arrow. "Greenskins" he yelled to Jonas.

*****
Inside the forest Baffin collected his herbs, both for healing and for cooking. Ahh these will do nicely in a stew he thought. His thoughts of wonderful recipes were abruptly cut off as he heard battle to the north of here.

What do you do?

OOC, Otto has taken 1 wound from the arrow.

_________________
High Priest of ASS

Jonas cursed under his breath and quickly looked over to Otto, who he'd met in a tavern yesterday. He quickly readies his sword & shield and hits a bolt home in his crossbow, and tells Otto to find cover.


"We can't see them, so we cant shoot them. And it would be folly to charge blindly in. Most orcs aren't patient so they will probably charge us any time soon. Just be ready. I'll try to put a bolt between one's ribs."

OOC: Took the liberty to "flesh out" how Otto & Jonas met. Hope Glaciander wont mind, and since Jonas has been a mercenary for 3 years, I would assume he's faced, or at least heard stories about greenskins.

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"I am going to call my kids Ctrl, Alt and Delete. Then if they muck up i will just hit them all at once.

"Cover me!" Otto yelled as wrenched the arrow out of both his shield and lower arm while taking off at a run towards the forest straight towards the source of the arrows, his hammer-headed flail swinging viciously over his head. There were only two things on his mind: the fact that goblins killed his father then enslaved him for over a year and the prayers to Sigmar on his lips. With Sigmar to guide his hand and be his shield he was unstoppable, just as he had been when he fought in the pits not so long ago.

OOC:
Hiding behind the horses seems logical (until the horses die from arrows anyway) but this is just more in character. Otto doesn't like goblins. He assumes its not orcs with bows.
As you can see Otto tackles problems head on.

_________________
"Ĥ|Ψ> = E|Ψ>" - Paul Dirac

"Cursed shit!!"

Jonas might not exactly be one who charges everything, but his chances for survival would be greater if he joined Otto in the fray. Jonas gets up and quickly shoots the bolt towards the source of the arrows, and then picks up his shield & sword and charges in after him.

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"I am going to call my kids Ctrl, Alt and Delete. Then if they muck up i will just hit them all at once.

Kelian's grim visage further hardened. His voice but a hushed sound. "We should investigate." He quickly broke into a dash towards the focus of the greenskins sound.

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"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

Baffin loosed his sling from his belt and fitted a stone. Stealthily he crept towards the fighting. He wasn't much of a fighter and the big folk would probably take care of this incursion as usual, but greenskins this near the moot could be a threat and there were bound to be casualties.

_________________
Never moon a werewolf.

Daerendil ran after Kelian drawing his bow and unquivering an arrow as he sped through the bushes next to his kinsman. Kelian being much faster however soon gained ground, Daerendil still followed, safety in numbers he thought.

_________________
-Proud member of ASS and MOBI-

Jonas heard the satisfactory sound as his bolt hit its target in the bushes. The goblin shrieked out in pain, dropped its bow and started running.

As Jonas and Otto reached the high ground just outside the road, they are both greeted by an enormous orc charging out from undergrowth. It lashed out wildly at Jonas who easily ducked beneath the crude axe.

In the meantime Kelian stumbled upon two goblins on a hill taking aim at the unsuspecting halfling. They are just about to loose their arrows.

Baffin watched with amusement as one wounded gobbo ran away and the other next to it snapped its bowstring.

Daerendil tried to follow Kelians fast pace and suddenly found himself next to the halfling with a clear shot on a goblin

_________________
High Priest of ASS

Baffin uncoiled his sling and loosed a stone at the goblin who had snapped his string. As he did this he noticed a tall woodelf appear out of nowhere, nearly on top of him.

EDIT:

Surprised by this unexpected arrival Baffin failed to release the stone at the proper moment. Instead the stone fired out directly back into his chest. There was an audible crack and Baffin grunted as all the air expelled from his lungs. He collapsed in a heap, dazed.


OOC: hahahah! The dice fail me already.

_________________
Never moon a werewolf.

Kelian growled in anger at the abominable creatures before him.
"Die!"
He lept among them with sword and dagger.

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"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

Ignoring as best he could the fallen halfling, at least until battle had died down, Daerendil quickly knocked his arrow and fired upon the unengaged goblin with the snapped bowstring. The arrow flew true and struck the goblin in the left leg...

_________________
-Proud member of ASS and MOBI-

Kelian danced a deadly dance as his sword sythed through the air. With a roar he stabbed it down, penetrating the goblins right leg. Swiftly spinning, he rammed the dagger down it's gruesome head. Leaving it unconscious on the ground.
He turned, his grim face staring down at the second goblin.

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"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

As Jonas ducked under the orc's clumsy blow, Otto charged the orc muttering passages from Sigmarite teachings and swung his hammer-headed flail into its leg. While not doing the damage he was hoping for, Otto's the back end of the hammer-head caused severe enough damage to shatter the orc's concentration and take its mind off battle momentarily.

:EDIT:
I think it's fixed now.
Sorry to Shandiar for making him make me fix it...
...
...
twice.

_________________
"Ĥ|Ψ> = E|Ψ>" - Paul Dirac

The second goblin wasn't impressed by Kelians dazzling display. It moved quickly with a thrust upwards into the stomach of the surprised elf. He looked down as the rusty shortsword connected, and he could see blood pouring forth.
Across the road, Jonas feinted a backslash before he reversed his blade. Putting all his effort behind the slash, the orcs head flew a meter before landing three meters to the left of him.
The lifeless body of the greenskin hit the ground with a dumb thud.

Seeing their leader killed with such a powerful display, the gobbo confronting Kelian turned tail and started to run.
The goblin with the arrow in its leg surrendered and started to whine loudly with tears running down its cheeks.

Baffin started to mumble and woke up slowly, rather dazed and confused.

OOC; well done guys, Kelian you can get a free whack on the running gobbo

_________________
High Priest of ASS

OOC:!We won! YAY!

IC:
"It seems Sigmar still wishes to keep me," Otto mumbled and then added a silent prayer of thanks. Once he had glanced rather disinterestedly at the elf who shot one of the goblins, Otto cautiously took the goblins weapons and patted him down to search for hidden ones.
"So, do you have a name?" Otto broke the silence. "And more importantly, can you do something about this?" Otto pointed to the hole in his shield which was stained with blood.
Not waiting for an answer, Otto looked the goblin up and down, to give the impression of thinking where a blade would slip in most easily, and asked it wether it had more friends out in the woods.

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"Ĥ|Ψ> = E|Ψ>" - Paul Dirac

As Otto took a closer look at the cowering goblin, he could see a darkbrown mushroom painted on its otherwise dirty leathershirt. It's most certainly not the tribe that held Otto captured years back.

This is another tribe unknown to Otto.

_________________
High Priest of ASS

Jonas can't help but grin at seeing the decapitated orc. His best kill so far.

He goes over to check on Otto, but is surprised to see two elves...and a short stubby fellow, who based on tales must be a Halfling of the Moot.

However, Jonas can't help but look a bit suspiciously at the two Elves. He's only seen one Elf before, and that was a commoner in Marienburg.

Still he welcomes them with a "Hello"

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"I am going to call my kids Ctrl, Alt and Delete. Then if they muck up i will just hit them all at once.

Daerendil stood, bow in his left hand, fresh arrow still in his right hand. As if ready to knock the arrow to fire at the slightest sign of danger. He looked at the battle hardened creature infront of him.

"My name may not matter to you, dwarf..." At least it seemed like a dwarf, he had been taught not to trust such creatures for they consumed the forest to fuel their fires. Although it was strange to be riding with a human...

"Hello." He responded equally cautious to the human. "What do you here, in the woods?" He asked.

_________________
-Proud member of ASS and MOBI-

"Dwarf!?" Otto spluttered, clearly infuriated that he could be considered a dwarf, "I'm a bit short but I'm no dwarf! Next you'll be calling Jonas here a river troll!"
Still muttering angrily under his breath, Otto went to try and wake the unconcious halfling whom he had just spotted and nodded warily at the other elf, hoping that this one at least would realise the difference between a dwarf and a human.

_________________
"Ĥ|Ψ> = E|Ψ>" - Paul Dirac

Baffin groaned and opened his eyes. Vaguely he could see a human looming over him. At least it wasn't a goblin.

"Ooooh my ribs," he groaned. He made no attempt to move quickly and waited for the cobwebs to clear.

After a few minutes he sat up and reached into his jacket for one of his vials. Opening his shirt he rubbed a small pinch of the powder over the rapidly forming bruise on his chest, feeling the pain subside a little.

Feeling slightly better he looked up at the elf who had jumped out beside him. With a tone of chagrin and accusation he said, "What did you think you were doing startling me like that? I nearly killed myself."

_________________
Never moon a werewolf.

OOC: I would have chased after it but I wasn't sure whether I could only do that by shooting it, or if I could run after it.

IC: Kelian held his stomach tight where the upstart of a goblin had stabbed him. Even now he could still feel the blood oozing out of the wound.
He eyed the others with curiosity and suspicion while standing beside Daerendil. "I need to see a healer Daerendil," he said in Eltharin.
Then in his thickly accented Old Worlder, "no Dwarf," he said as he sniffed the air. "He doesn't smell right for a Dwarf."

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"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

Daerendil took a step back from the fuming Halfling. "Um... I'm sorry." He stuttered, before seeing Kelian injured. He walked quickly toward his kinsman. "Can you help him?" He asked after seeing Baffin take a vial to heal himself.

He looked at the dwa... human. "My apologies, human. Please forgive my ignorance but I have not seen your kind for some time. My name is Daerendil and this is Kelian." He offered, motioning to the other elf.

_________________
-Proud member of ASS and MOBI-

"Seeing as we have moved on from insulting each other to greetings: I am Otto of Meissen and this here is Jonas. We are on our way to Strudelheim [OOC: I like strudle;)] on behalf of the merchant Bruchstein to investigate a raided tradestation," Otto replied, having decided that it just wasn't right to get into fights with those who saved you from greenskins.

_________________
"Ĥ|Ψ> = E|Ψ>" - Paul Dirac

Baffin relaxed with a rueful smile. "Nay don't mind me master elf," he said. "With my prowess I likely would have done that if you hadn't been around. I suppose I should thank you for saving me. My name is Baffin Brindlewine. I was out looking for herbs when this ruckus started."

He strode over to Kelian. "I will do what I can, with your permission." He opened another vial and rub a smooth salve over the wound in the elf's stomach. "That will stop the bleeding at any rate, and with rest you ought to recover fine. It's not too serious I don't think."


OOC: passed the heal roll but you only recover 1 wound.

_________________
Never moon a werewolf.

"Thank you little one." Kelian dips his finger into the salve upon his stomach and then smells it. "Mmm," he then tasted the salve. "Quite nice, does everything you halflings do taste good?"

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"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

The scavengers are gathering above you to feast on the corpse of the dead orc and near Kelian lie the unconscious goblin.

At the same time, the goblin continued to cry and babble in some strange language, probably goblin.

In the quiet hazy autumn afternoon the beggings of the goblin can be heard from afar.

Daerendil, you can't shrug off the feeling that you are being watched.

_________________
High Priest of ASS

Daerendil quickly moved to cover the still wounded elf and halfling while he cocked the still held arrow into his bow. "Cover the wounded." He commanded with urgency to Otto and Jonas. "Something watches us..."

_________________
-Proud member of ASS and MOBI-

Jonas quickly takes Baffin into cover, and turns to Daerendil: "Someone's watching? Where?"
Jonas turns to the wailing Goblin and curses audibly, and then quickly kills it.
He then speaks to the others: "That wailing would even have been heard by the hawkers in Marienburg. No need to announce to everyone in a day's vicinity further about our location"

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"I am going to call my kids Ctrl, Alt and Delete. Then if they muck up i will just hit them all at once.

You all cover in the bushes, while the quietness was overwhelming. Not even the birds could be heard.
Soon you can all feel it. It came from all directions like a heavy burden was placed upon you. A few minutes passed and the feeling disappeared. The birds started to sing again and you can feel the warmth of the sun upon your skin.
The unconscious goblin began to moan.

_________________
High Priest of ASS

Baffin looked nervous. "What was that, do you think?" he asked. He stepped up between the two humans for safety. It wasn't so much that he was a coward, he wasn't. But he understood very well that the other 4 with him were better protection than he could offer himself.

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Never moon a werewolf.