Although they were facing what seemed to be a large group of goblins, relief spread through Rue upon discovering they were not a human army. She nodded at Venom, signaling that yes, her quiver was full, and that she would remain hidden until they decided on a course of action.
From what Venom could see, there were about fifteen goblins in the area six around the remains of the bear, three attempting to start a small fire, two were sitting and sharpening the tips of their spears, two stood guard behind the shaman and the goblin with the eyepatch.
However, Venom knew that this wouldn't be all of them... He could not even guess what their total numbers were. It could be anywhere from twenty to fifty goblins in the forest!
((Shaman, Eyepatch, and one of the fire-starters each have a horn--that Venom can see. The fire-starters are in between the leaders and the eaters, but much closer to the bear-eaters. The fire they are making does not look very safe... mostly leaves and branches in a scattered pile.
The leaders are a good stone throw's distance away. The guards behind them are equidistant. The others are within bow reach but a good bit farther than a stone's throw away. However, the eaters and fire-starters are only a short stone's throw away from the leaders.))
Venom turned back to the other but stayed slow and quiet to not give their position away. He shook his head at Rue and Jonah.
This isn't good. I count around fifteen goblins. The shaman seems to be their leader and the big one next to him with the eye patch his muscle. About three of them have horns, like that of what we heard earlier and can probably alert any other nearby armies if they were to need reinforcements. We have two options. One, we retreat and get help before we confront them or two, we take them now. We still have the advantage of a suprise attack, since we have yet to be spotted and most of them are busy feeding. Rue can probably take out the weakest one with the horn by the goblins with the fire, but the other two will be a problem, being that it's the shaman and the big guy, and they're a bit further away. Any suggestions?
Post by John Harding on Oct 5, 2011 5:32:32 GMT -5
But they're only goblins. Jonah whispered.
Venom's plan seemed to be very brutal and his options were rather short sighted. Goblins were rather stupid, right? Then inspiration struck! The tribesman searched the forest floor for something he could use as camouflage - of course, being a forest, there were plenty of fallen branches and twigs and dirt.
I have an idea, he said, whilst crouching down to scoop up a handful of mud. But there's every chance of it going wrong so I think it'll be best if at least one of you stays hidden. Jonah began rubbing the mud over his exposed skin; up his arms, down his legs, on his face and in his hair. He may have looked rather comical but this was clearly not the first time the Akaiyan had done this.
Jonah continued his (self-believed) brilliant plan by picking up several large leaf-covered branches, filling both his hands so the vast majority of the green-going-on-brown foliage concealed a great deal of his upper body.
How do I look? He grinned, widely, revealing his pearly white teeth through the mask of forest dirt. I'm going to try and scare the goblins out of the forest. I don't think we should resort to a scene of carnage unless it's completely necessary.
Jonah made to move out of hiding, then stopped.
But if something does go wrong...don't hesitate.
Hoping that they understood, the foliage-covered tribesman continued forward until he was in plain sight of the goblins then, in a booming voice, said:
HOW DARE YOU DESECRATE MY KINGDOM WITH YOUR PRESENCE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY FOREST?
Venom had shook his head even more with Jonah's plan. This tribesman was sclearly out of his mind. Knowing that the worst was about to happen, Venom decided on another plan and looked at Rue.
Okay Rue, either Jonah's really stupid and will get killed or he's really brilliant and scare them off. In either case, we best be ready if this plan goes wrong. I need you to make sure those horns are not blown. Can you do that for me? Whatever you do, make sure each arrow counts. One hit, one kill. Aim for their chests. Every shot you make, you move to another location. That way they won't know your location and bring the fight to you. Whenever possible cover our backs. We will be right in the middle of all this. We will be counting on you dear. I will try and come from their rear, being that Jonah's got their attention, and try and kill the shaman.... Be careful Rue.
With that Venom charged off, staying behind the trees and as silent as possible to come around their rear towards the shaman and the patched goblin. Once he found a big tree to hide behind, he waited to see what their reaction would be. In the case that they fleed towards him, he was ready to hide in the bushes.
"I've got a better idea than running around," Rue said with a grin.
As Venom dashed off, she swung her bow around her back and scaled a nearby tree. Perching on a low-hanging brach, she positioned herself so she was hopefully concealed from the goblins below. Taking her bow off her back, she loaded it with an arrow, aiming at the chest of the fire-starting goblin with the horn.
The goblins stood open-jawed and simply stared at Jonah--saying nothing. Then the shaman pointed his staff at Jonah and shouted, "We killed the beast queen and now we must slay the king of the trees!!! Attaaaaack!!!
Most of the goblins drew their weapons and charged. Both, the eyepatch goblin and the fire-starter with a horn, lifted their horns to their mouths to blow. If Rue fires her arrow she will kill the fire-starter before he can sound his horn. However, the other will sound his before she can attempt to hit him. The shaman does not charge toward Jonah either. Venom had no trouble staying out of sight. However, the goblins were now running away from him and toward Jonah. Soon, the two leader-like goblins will be the closest one to him. Of course, there will be a good fifty yard opening between them and there could still be other goblins unaccounted for.
Venom had no choice. His priority was that the horns not be blown and they'd be unable to call for more help. He unsheathed his blade and ran full speed to reach the patched eyed goblin. Hoping that he would not be detected, his intentions were to cut his target's throat with a single swipe while holding his head back, standing from behind his victim. Hopefully the only other goblin that would see him then would be the shaman.
((Oh. Wow! I didn't realize how fast you were! 5 Acro.
The patch-eye'd goblin was about to blow his horn, but his battle hardened experience warned him of the attacker charging behind him. He immediately dropped his horn and reached for his blade with one hand. The other hand came up near his face in a desperate attempt to throw of the oncoming edge. Losing an arm is preferable to losing a life... The shaman had not realized that Venom was attacking until his chief warrior turned to defend himself. When he saw the oncoming attack he immediately stumbled back and reached for his own horn to blow.
Jonah now had ten goblins charging toward him--unaware of what is happening behind them. One goblin with a spear and one with a short sword reached Jonah first. The spear-wielder thrust at his chest while the short sword wielding goblin slashed downward at Jonah's head. Another goblin stopped and readied himself to throw a thin javelin.
From her branch, Rue shot the loaded arrow at the fire-starting goblin before he could raise the horn to his lips. Hoping her arrow hit its target, she shifted her position slightly so she could see what Venom and Jonah were doing. She hoped Jonah would be able to take on the horde of goblins rushing towards him because the Shaman had reached for his horn. Knowing she couldn't allow him to blow it, she shot another arrow, this time at the Shaman's neck.