Tarithnesti Goblin-nappers
01 Deepkolt 349 AC
Shadow and Ra'ziir fly low, skimming the treetops while searching for the goblin encampment. After traveling about nine miles, they drop into the forest and begin stalking their way along the snow-covered ground.
There is a brief argument and the sounds of a scuffle before one voice snarls, "Fine. You so smart. You do it." In less than a minute, the smell of cooking meat reaches Spewer, the scent picked out of the air by his forked tongue. "Tastes like...squirrel..." a few more flicks of his tongue and he adds, "Could be rabbit," the spitting crawler announces.
Shadow floats a few inches above the snow and makes his way closer to confirm how many goblins are around the fire.
He picks up the shapes of three of the green-skinned figures. The drow's cloak of displacement helps to blur his outline as he moves from cover to cover. He has to be close or wait for one to leave the proximity of the others.
Neither elf notices any sign of worgs in the immediate area. The goblins eat whatever it was they had impaled on their sticks. One of them gets up, scratching himself, "Like not sharing food with stuck-up riders or wolfses. When elf city falls, we feastses on elf meats!"
The speaker shuffles around to the far side of a tree.
Ra’ziir takes out arrows of charming, acquired after some long-forgotten adventure on some distant world and grips them in one hand, keeping the other free for spellcasting.
Shadow looks at him, confused, until Raz tells him, "I don't have a bow."
"Ahhh..." Shadow chuckles a little bit and says, “OK, I’ll take this bet.” He pulls out four arrows of charming as well, holding two in each hand. “Let’s go stab some goblins.”
Ra’ziir responds, “Challenge accepted.. if that doesn’t work, we can just knock them out the old fashioned way.”
Shadow wills himself forward, floating silently over the snow and drives the arrow into the goblin's back. The goblin's eyes glaze over and his jaw goes slack. Drool dribbles from his lower lip.
Ra’ziir floats down behind the other two goblins and skewers both. “Hey there guys, I know you really weren’t expecting company, but I’d love it if you’d join my friend and I in the newly formed elite infiltration unit. Hail the Dragon Queen!”
The drow smiles, “There you are. I have been looking for you. You have all been reassign to my unit. Hail the Dragon Queen.”
The goblins nod eagerly. One of them stands and says, "Whatever you tells us, boss. We's good at followin' orders. Boys, be grabbin' yer things. We goes to war."
“We are going to need you to come with us. This elf," he says, gesturing to Ra’z, "is a spy and we are on secret mission for the Queen. We will need you to give us a full account of this section of the front.”
We will get a get run down from them on what they are doing, mission wise. Where they come from? What forces are available for us to take over and use against the Elves. What was the plan? And they will be heroes for opening the gates and letting our forces in the elven city. Oh the carnage... we will feast from their tables and gut their children as the mothers wail as our dark kin have under their heels. Come let's fly to glory for the Dragon Queen!"
What passes for the "leader" of these three goblins scratches his his neck with one grimy finger. "We's be with the Second Green Dragonarmy, Second Brigade. Boss goblin be Grak Muckfinger. We be almost 400 and elfses be only forty. Worgs and riders goes in first, infantry follows. Archers pick off elfses when they tries to run."
Shadow laughs, “We will be taking command now and making Grak our ^$%sniffer! You will be his boss after tonight. What was his plan? When was he going to attack? Because you will be a legend after this mission!” Then In goblin “Kill the dwarves! Kill the ELVES! Take their gold for OURSELVES!”
"Hmmm... Joglu not know when attack. Just to kill elfses when Grak say," the goblin replies.
Shadow and Ra’ziir gather all three of the goblins and have them join hands. The elves move to the far ends of the goblin chain and take the charmed humanoids by their free hands and fly back toward Tarithnesti with them.
As the five fly south, Ra’ziir tells the goblins, “All the pale knife ears you see, like me, really look like him.” Ra’ziir gestures to Shadow, “We’re just all in disguise. Remember! We are SPIES! That means we HAVE to be SNEAKY! You have to help us plan our big assault!"
Joglu growls, "Kill elfses for the Dark Queen!"
BACK IN TARITHNESTI
Cedron digs through a fold in his cloak mumbling. “I know I kept something in here just for this very occasion.” He pulls out a wand. “There you are! My wand of charm monster. It doesn’t get much use, but today is your day.”
While he awaits the return of Raz and Shadow; Kysek tends to Dusk. He feeds her what is currently available, mucks her makeshift stall, brushes her, and talks to her. “I get it girl; you’re a vision reliant predator. Once I made you invisible; you lost your ability to adjust. What if you could see ALL that is invisible? Even if it was your own form? Would that be helpful? Just a thought? Trying to figure out our best chances for winning this war; without losing YOU; or me for that matter. What do you think?”
Dusk raises her head, not understanding all of the words but picking up on his tone. She spreads her wings and lets out a soft shriek, rearing up on her hind legs.
Kysek smiles at Dusks posturing. He reaches out and scratches her on the chest. “We’ve got this," he says to her.
Once his duties to his griffon are complete; Kysek moves out to allow her to rest. He then awaits the return of his companions. He prepares to silence anything that could draw attention to our location.
Grotto happily brews away. Gagging and wincing through the stench. Luckily his hands know the craft as he can barely see through tears from the eye watering putrid odors. He sings a happy song...
🎵🎵🎶 "Gonna kill some goblins soon, oh yeah!!" 🎵🎶🎶
He looks to Cedron, "Come now my bard friend, help me make a song about goblin murder!"" Grotto laughs through the thick fumes of his brewing bait.
He mixes sulfur with ammonia collected from the stables, fish guts and bones, and other even less pleasant sources. He brings the concoction to a boil lets the fire die down so the stick soup can shimmer and reduce down to a paste that reeks of rotting meat.
Cedron keeps far away from Grotto’s fumes.
Grotto looks proudly at his masterpiece, "A meal fit for a king!" Grotto laughs. "I will need a bath after this. I smell like a bog monster! I'll blend in perfectly where ever we place the bait. Their wargs will never smell me!"
Grotto notices Cedron with the medals on his chest. He admires the look of authority they present in this realm. He takes his awards and slathers one side with the strongest adhesive he has in his alchemy kit. He affixes the medals to his plate. "Nothing will be able to remove these, well, maybe a hard blow from a dragon claw but I'll have more things to worry about than a lost medal then!" Grotto says to who ever cares to be within earshot of the stinky dwarf. Grotto likes the way the medals give him an air of recognition in this land that hates dwarfs. "Maybe they will hate me slightly less?" Grotto thinks doubtfully to himself.
After Grotto cleans and stashes his alchemy kit, he sits down and reads his cookbook, waiting for the others to be ready. "Our wee friend Cassidy may appreciate some of these dishes. After all this war is sorted out, I'll have to make one for him," thinks Grotto.
EN ROUTE TO TARITHNESTI
Several scouts grumble as the squads form into ranks. Ornforithalas gives the order to move out. Romulus once again rides at the center of the column and conjures another disk for Cassidy.
Raven heads to the front of the column. As Ornforithalas circles the gathered scouts, Raven addresses them. He points to the broad, smooth path leading north. "That is the road we are going to follow to Tarithnesti. You have spent centuries shaping this forest to suit your aesthetic desires - manicured, beautiful, with byways that allow you to travel in ease. And you have succeeded. In all of my travels, I have never seen a nicer park."
He waits a few seconds before continuing.
"And neither have these dragons, these goblins and minotaurs, these Draconians. And you have made marching between your cities so easy, so pleasant, and so hard to defend. If Tarithnesti falls, the Dragonarmies will have an open path to the front door of your capital, to your businesses, to your homes, and to your families. I want you to think about that. I want you to put one foot in front of the other as if the lives of your loved ones are at stake. Because they are. The Dragonarmies will not be merciful and the fates that await all of Silvanesti if we do not stop these invaders are dark indeed."
Ornforithalas completes his circuit around the company and nods to Raven. "Company, Right ... Face ... Forward ... March." The scouts begin moving - still tired from the previous day but some faces show lines of grim determination as they pass the swordsman.
As Eilra reaches him, Raven steps into line behind the column and begins marching with with the rest. She gives him a tired smile, "Nice speech. Think it will help?"
Raven shrugs, "Won't know until we know. For now, let's just to where we are going. If we push hard, we can make it to Tarithnesti by nightfall and hopefully, the men will have time to recover before the fighting begins."
Comments
Post a Comment