"Oh Venom, don't apologize," Rue said with a hint of laughter. "I probably would have been mauled by the bear if not for you. Healing your back was just a small repayment."
At the sound of the birds, Rue looked into the sky to try and find the source of the noise. When several other animals ran by, she turned to face the direction they had come from, trying to see what had caused them to scare.
Venom had looked up at the sky when the birds flew by making a lot of noise, but when the little creatures ran passed them, he stood up wondering what could have spooked the animals. Must be something big. He began to walk towards the direction the animals ran from and placed his hand on the butt of his sword. It was not natural for animals to flee that way.
Post by John Harding on Sept 29, 2011 14:27:39 GMT -5
At the sudden eruption of birds taking flight in unison, and the rush of many small woodland critters fleeing, Jonah froze on the spot; eyes searched the trees for the cause of the commotion, ears listened intently for any indication of who or what the culprit could be. His arms remained at his side - ready to draw his darkwood sword if the need arose, but waiting on more evidence to warrant a defensive stance.
It was then that the party heard the hunting horns. The sound was harsh and deep--not like the horns a courtly hunting party might use. They could hear some distant shouting and whooping back the way they had come.
Venom quickly signals the others to hide. He gets behind a tree and unsheathes his blade. His head peeked to the side of the tree, trying to get a better look as to what they were about to confront. The horns were not anything similar to the one's he's heard before. If he could at least see who they were, and how many, he could then think of how to proceed forward with the situation at hand. Too bad the other two weren't guards. They'd really come in handy, he thought.
Post by John Harding on Sept 30, 2011 14:00:28 GMT -5
The blast of horns now put Jonah on full alert; the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and a chill ran down his spine. The last time the tribesman had encountered a hunting party it had turned out to be a ruthless group of orcs who weren't afraid to include humans in their game of Predator and Prey.
At the sight of Venom running for cover and arming himself, Jonah did the same - pushing his back up against the nearest tree and drawing his wooden sword, not wanting a repeat of his orc encounter where he had held off a hostile defense until it was almost too late.
The sounds they heard off in the distance didn't seem to be coming any closer. They were also beginning to quiet down from their original excitement. It was difficult to gauge exactly how far away they were but all three of them figured the other group had to be at least a hundred meters away.
Venom decided to get a closer look. He moved from tree to tree slowly, hoping he would not be spotted. Watching where he stepped, he was catious as to try and be as stealthly as possible. From time to time he would turn and see if Jonah and Rue were near and where exactly they were positioned.
At the sound of the horns, Rue froze. It can't be... it couldn't be him she thought, her heart pounding. Following Venom's lead, she notched an arrow and began to walk towards the sound of the voices. She desperately hoped it was just forest bandits and not her father's army that was out searching for her, but she was prepared to fight either way.
As they slowly drew closer and closer, each of them learned new information about the source of the noises. It almost sounded like a war party, but the speakers were not human. They did seem excited and, perhaps, even had a bloodlust. Venom was the first to learn how true this really was. As he peered around the corner of a large tree with low hanging branches, Venom saw the gruesome sight of a small goblin war party feasting on a bear--well... That is one way of describing it. They brutally slaughtered the creature and had ripped through most of its flesh. Oen goblin was dressed in what could be described as shaman garb. This goblin stood up on a large rock and shook his staff above his head. "Today we will take dominion over this forest! We will prove that our tribe fears nothing and can take whatever we desire!" Down beside that goblin, stood a large goblin with an eye patch over his left eye, a short sword at his hip, a dagger strapped to his leg, a belt with several pouches around his waist and a short spear strapped behind his back. He stood with his arms crossed on his chest and looked rather intimidating--for a goblin.
As soon as he heard Rue speak, he turned to her and Jonah, signaling them to stay where they were and stay low. As he turned his head back to take another look at the war party he whispered back to her.
It's a group of goblins and it sounds like they plan on making this forest their own. I hope you brought plenty of arrows with you.
Venom tried to get a count of how many goblins there were and if they were all bunched up around the bear or spread out in different areas other than the shaman and the big one.