[Last Time, on El WHAT?!: Our heroes continued further up the river, and just as their aching feet forced them to stop, they discovered a beautiful (if slightly eerie) clearing around a massive tree. Opting NOT to camp in the clearing, but rather to take their scratchy blankets into the underbrush and sleep there.] [This proved to be an extraordinarly good idea, as the clearing was invaded in the middle of the night by a group of goblins. Our heroes, budding adventurers that they are, and showing much promise, slaughtered them mercilessly, and proceeded to lose their lunch and dinner all over the floor of the clearing.] [Session... START] * Emmet breathes deeply as he stands next to the river with his back to the clearing. He does not turn around again until the clean river air has removed all remnants of the smell of death from his sinuses. So... * Fadi takes his greatsword out of the stream and flicks it to get rid of the excess water. He keeps his back turned from the clearing. * Tiffany holds the hand containing her darts underwater, her breath ragged, watching in horror as the blood gently curls off of her equipment and downriver. * Fadi sheathes his sword, breathing heavily as he makes his way back to where he was camped earlier. * Sophie stands away from the clearing, not really looking at it, but she doesn't look any worse for wear, either. Not that I wasn't looking at them, but... what do these goblins look like? Trust me, you don't want to know... Got a good look at one before I, um... *gulp* beheaded it. * Nick attempts to clean off his mace further without actually looking at it, eventually re-attaching it back onto his belt. With a barely-restrained *urp*, he walks back to where his bedroll is still set up. * Emmet holds his axe in front of him with both hands as if it were some sort of shield as he approaches one of the deceased humanoids. He chooses one that Sophie killed, because it seems slightly more intact than the others. * Tiffany removes her hand from the river, but continues to stare until the last billows of red flow beautifully (if not morbidly) down the river. * A dead goblin stares up at Emmet in all its twisted little not-quite-human glory. This definitely isn't a muppet. * Emmet peers at the dead goblin, studying its features with as much dispassion as he can muster. He holds his arm across his face so that the inside of his elbow lightly covers his nostrils. Judging by the way his dark skin turns a faint shade green, he would have preferred a muppet. They're not very pretty. It might be better not to look at them. * Fadi has since begun to ignore the group. He's sitting on his blanket, contemplating something. I don't know. From the sound of what you guys told me, these things are causing a lot of trouble for the people in that town we left this morning, or yesterday morning. If they're smart, then they must be pretty mean to make such a nuisance of themselves. * Tiffany stands and walks to the edge of the group. "If they were smart, we should have talked to them first... or something... other than this slaughter." * Emmet kneels beside the dead goblin, though he turns to look over his shoulder at Tiffany. "Maybe it's a race thing. Maybe they hate humans. Maybe they're just sadistic or lawless or... I don't know. But it couldn't hurt to figure them out. It would help us fight them." Who knows? We can ask when we get back. * Tiffany appears to be fighting back tears. "You all seem pretty undisturbed by the way we just... By what we just... They're dead. I don't know about you, but I've never killed another sentient being before... human or otherwise." * Fadi gets up and starts to glance over the goblinoids. "I fucking know we just killed something!" I.. I don't think they would've been much for talking. * Tiffany turns and stares at Fadi, her eyes wide and sheathed in tears. * Emmet tries to study the dead thing without touching it, except for a few curious prods with his axe. After studying it as much as he can stand, he actually uses the flat of his axe blade to roll the goblin over onto its stomach. "I've been hunting before. Turkeys. These are definitely *not* turkeys." * Sophie rubs her forehead, keeping her gaze away from either the corpses or the others. * Fadi smiles, then starts laughing a little crazily. "Man *chuckle* you'd think I'd *chuckle again* be used to this, right? Right?" He's sounding just a _little_ hysterical. They've probably sent people to talk with these guys before.. * Tiffany moves slowly over to where she left her pack in the underbrush. Rummaging through for a while, she emerges with a small lamp and the means to light it, and sets to the task. I don't know. I didn't see any guards when we were in town, but I wasn't there as long as you were. This goblin doesn't seem to be fighting with garbage, though. I mean *laugh* I just ran up and *laugh* hacked his head off. Just like that. *laugh* Chop-chop. * The lamp is lit! It takes a while, and Tiffany scrapes herself a couple times, but eventually the lap does get lit. I mean... a few of my ROTC classes this semester were about the differences between regular and irregular troops and how prepared they were. How much care they took of their equipment. If these goblins take pretty good care of their stuff, maybe they're really warlike. * Tiffany carries the lamp over to Emmet and taps his shoulder, offering him the lamp, but not approaching the corpse more than necessary. In the dim light, her eyes appear red and her cheeks are wet, but she makes not a whimper. Oh. Thanks, Tiffany. * Sophie doesn't look over as she speaks. "I highly doubt that they would have tried to talk to us had our positions been reversed, if that makes a difference." * Tiffany nods in response to Emmet and Sophie, her mouth clamped shut and quivering. * Emmet takes the lamp from Tiffany, and lowers it as he shifts his axe to just one hand. "Are you okay, Tiffany? Just think of them as muppets," he says, despite the obvious differences. "Like in Star Wars or something. Not even alive." * Emmet kneels again and studies the goblin a bit more, using the lamp to study differences he missed in the dark. * Tiffany blurts out, nearly screaming into the quiet night "BUT THEY WERE...." She clamps her mouth back shut, holding her posture for a moment, "alive." * Emmet cringes when Tiffany screams, but since he cannot think of anything comforting to say to her, or to Fadi for that matter, he simply continues studying the dead goblin. * Fadi just looks at the goblins now. Maybe out of morbid curiousity, maybe out of sheer denial that they were living... They also would've tried to kill us, too, if we gave them the chance. At least, that's what Alfred implied. * Emmet reaches down gingerly and tries to remove something from the dead goblin's belt. I don't *know* Alfred. I don't really *trust* him. I do know that I should have tried to negotiate first with them. I should have tried anything to avoid springing this trap. I had options. They didn't. * Fadi shakes his head, trying to come to his senses. "Right. It was us or them... Just like home..." * Nick watches Emmet with curiosity. * Sophie doesn't say anything to that. * Emmet sets his axe down beside him and yanks the pouch free of the goblin's belt. He then upends the thing, trying to spill the contents of the little bag on the ground in front of him. * A skinned, half-eaten animal tumbles out onto the ground. It's hard to tell what it was by the lamplight, it could have been pretty much any small rodent. * Emmet tries to back away from the thing when it rolls onto the grass, and ends up falling hard on his rump. * Emmet gags a little and sets the lamp down very quickly. ... That's sick. * Emmet drops the pouch and rubs his hands off on his jeans. * Fadi glances in Emmet's direction and... looks away from the, um, half-eaten thing. * Tiffany quivers, her entire body beginning to shake. She then moves at a brisk pace back to her pack and sits, looking away from the group and into the forest. The Auryn on her back glints slightly in the low light. * Sophie looks over. "What's that?" She takes a few steps towards the group. ..Looks like dinner. * Emmet slowly gets to his feet again, grabbing the lantern and the axe from the ground. He shines the light on the empty pouch and the... meat. I think they eat rats. Or something like rats. * Sophie stops when she gets close enough to see. "... Disgusting." Yeah. But weird. * Fadi looks away from the goblins. "Do any of the other goblins have anythin' on'em?" This is all they're carrying. They've got weapons and armor and a little bit of food and nothing else. Maybe they're soldiers, and their camp isn't fa--huh?" * Fadi looks at Emmet. "Huh what?" * Emmet shines the light on Fadi briefly. "Oh, I guess we can check." He carries the lantern to another body and gives it a careful scan with axe and lantern. * Aside from slight stylistic differences, this body is the same as the last. Food, weapon, armor, and not much else. * Sophie stays well away from the scene. "Do that." * Tiffany 's Auryn begins to shimmer, hinting at how violently she is shaking. The silence from her direction is marred only by the gentle 'pat' noise of her tears hitting fallen leaves. * Emmet finishes checking some time later He's left the empty pouches and their former contents scattered wherever they fell. By now he seems almost completely desensitized to the dead goblins. "Yeah, nothing. No backpacks, no money, no jewelry. I bet these things are soldiers of some kind, and probably not from far away. Maybe an hour or two? I have no idea how much a goblin eats in a day..." Probably not much.. * Sophie goes over to Tiffany. "Hey." *** Segev is now known as Awaymancer * Nick looks around. "..." * Tiffany 's face is more visible from closer up. Tears are streaming down her face, but her breathing is being forced to an even pace. Her lips are mouthing *my fault* but no words come. * Fadi looks down at the goblin. He doesn't seem as disturbed about it as he used to, or if he is he's hiding it pretty well. "So, think we could sell the weaponry for money? And where the hell did Harold go anyways?" Harold? * Emmet walks around the edge of the clearing with Tiffany's lantern, scanning the underbrush for the mild-mannered Harold. * Sophie puts a hand on Tiffany's shoulder. "Look, it's..." she hesitates. * Tiffany shudders violently at the touch of another person, but continues to breath in even strokes. Her eyes are pouring, but unblinking, looking out into the forrest. * Sophie blinks, and removes her hand pretty quickly. Instead she takes a seat near Tiffany. "Talk to me." * Emmet finishes his search of the "perimeter" by coming to a stop near Fadi. "Harold's not here, unless he ran off." * Harold's crossbow is right where he left it. * Fadi holds his head. "Great, we got another vanishing person. Or someone who likes to play hide and seek." ... In which case, I guess he's still not here. * Tiffany doesn't tear her eyes from the darkness around the clearing, but her voice begins to work. "My fault. I triggered the ambush. I tried to suggest we talk it out, but I didn't... I didn't." Yeah. Fadi, what were you saying about selling stuff? * Fadi picks up the weapon that one of the goblinoids was using. "Think we could sell this, or use it at least? These guys don't need it where they're goin'." * Emmet shines his light on Harold's crossbow, which is near where he and Fadi are standing. * Nick sits on the ground, looking up at the sky. I guess they won't. Maybe we should gather their things, and Harold's crossbow, and head back to town? I know it might not have helped, but that's no excuse not to try. Not to try. Never hard enough. It's not your fault. And besides, what if they didn't want to talk? What if they attacked us instead, and hurt, maybe even killed one of us? Isn't it better that we came out of that uninjured? Either that or rest, then head back to town. * Emmet shrugs, casting light around the clearing. It's obvious from the expression on his face that he'd rather somebody else make the actual decision. I.. *sob* I.. *sob* It was *sob* no excuse for not trying. * Fadi tries to keep his attention from going to Tiffany. Well, uh, I think the only reason we're still alive is that you didn't try to have us talk. It might have been. They were obviously prepared for a fight, and they've probably done it before. This way, we at least caught them unprepared. * Emmet falls silent for a moment as he tries to figure out where this other conversation is headed. He was so absorbed in examining the goblins that he kind of ignored everything else. * Tiffany slows her sobbing. "It *might* have been. From now on are we to kill anyone who *might* fight us?" Her eyes are red from tearing, but she keeps them open purposefully. Uh... I guess not. We could talk to them next time and see how they react? * Tiffany nods. "I should probably just get used to *sob* this sort of thing. We're bound to have to fight more... I just hope we can be more sure next time that they're bad." She finally stands, and turns to Sophie. As if noticing her there for the first time, she extends an arm to help her stand. * Sophie takes Tiffany's arm and stands up, wordlessly. Okay, I think we can do that. But what do we do right now? Head back, I guess. * Tiffany strides back to the group. "Yes, let's take as much of their equipment as we can carry. Proof of victory, if not useful for the cash." Her eyes are red from crying, her nostrils flared, and her cheeks still damp, but her voice is steady. * Fadi nods in agreement. Okay. * Emmet walks over to Tiffany and hands her lantern back to her. I'll help carry some of the stuff, so I need a free hand. * Tiffany accepts the lantern, slowly. "We should also dispose of the bodies, somewhere where we can hope the local wildlife will do most of the work. Finally, do you think this was all of them? Or should we be on the lookout for more?" We should probably keep watch, just in case. * Fadi looks over the goblin, taking the weapon it was holding. "Should we worry about the, um... armor?" I doubt we'll be able to carry it all. Looks decently heavy. Perhaps we could carry one or two...? Maybe. I can probably grab some.. * Nick stands up, shaking out his arms. Should we really take their things, though? I'd think so. Why not? * Tiffany uses sarcasm to cover up her feelings, "We could return it to their famalies." Because... Eh, they'd probably eat our brains or somethin'. * Sophie shakes her head. "No, nevermind." * Emmet misses the sarcasm. "I don't think they'd appreciate that, Tiffany." * Fadi looks farily angry. "Look, last thing you'd want to do is deal with their families, okay?" * Tiffany mutters something to the effect of "we'd deserve it" under her breath and puts her hands on her waist. Well, I can carry one or two of those weapons, whatever they're called, in my free hand. I don't know about that armor, though. Hmmm... Does anyone know how to take it *off* them? * Sophie casts her eyes to Tiffany. "That isn't true." * Tiffany appears to ignore the conflicting opinion of her friend and joins the conversation, "I'm not sure... I don't think I could carry any of the armor, but I should be able to fit a mace in my backpack." * Nick raises his hand slightly. * Emmet peers at the armor on a nearby corpse. "It's soft and has little metal buttons all over it, but I think I saw some straps or something on one side." I can take it off, but, uh.. shit. * Emmet wrinkles his nose. "Most of these have holes or slashes or blood all over them." * Fadi shrugs. "Then take the ones that don't have holes and slashes all over them? You can wash blood off, you know..." Okay. Who's going to carry them? * Fadi shoulders his backpack. "I think I can carry one." * Tiffany nodds in agreement. "Yeah, I'd figure you boys'd want armor for yourselves." Alright. Shouldn't let the ladies do too much work.. * Emmet sets his axe down and rolls one of the bodies over with his foot. "Hey, Nick. Help me get this thing off." * Nick isn't being sarcastic, no sir. * Tiffany agrees with Nick, "Nope. But I don't think I could carry one anyway." * Sophie nods. * Nick grunts in amusement and kneels down next to the indicated goblin. * Fadi watches as Nick and Emmet take the armor off the goblin. * Emmet works with Nick in peeling the armor off, and then tosses it partway across the clearing at Fadi's feet. There you go. One down. How many of these are we going to get? I can get two, easy. This is midget-sized stuff. * Fadi shrugs. He picks up the armor and tries to fold it or whatnot so it's easier to carry. * Emmet wipes his hands off on his jeans again. "We're going to need soap." * Emmet retrieves his axe, and the weapon that once belonged to the now armorless goblin. * The armor doesn't fold very well at all. * Fadi raises an eyebrow. "How much?" * Nick doesn't bother, leaving his hand bloody and walking over to the next goblin. * On the other hand, the armor IS about the right size to fit fairly well inside a backpack. Thank $deity for small favors. * Fadi fits the armor in his backpack, in that case! * Emmet helps Nick with the next goblin. Would be nice if they had a shower. Or any plumbing. Eh, well. I don't think these things will fit in my backpack. It's smaller than the ones you guys have, and it's got my cross country shoes in there already. Think you could shoulder it then? * Emmet shrugs, to indicate that he's carrying his axe in one hand, and two goblin weapons in the other. Here, let me take one of the maces. I'm sure there's room in my bag. Okay. Here you go. * Fadi has stuffed one of the maces in his bag already. ^_^ * Tiffany takes one of the maces and moves over to her bag, placing it snugly inside. * Emmet hands one of the weapons to Tiffany, making a point not to mention that holding to in one hand was *killing* his knuckles. * Sophie watches the others go about their work. * Emmet helps Nick and Fadi strip all remaining armor and weapons from the corpses and distribute the load among the three of them. Urf. >_< Yeah, really. * Fadi takes it and grunts. "Okay. I think I got it. Be sure someone get's Harold's stuff to." * Emmet has his axe in one arm, Harold's crossbow in another, and a goblin weapon sticking out of his backpack. We're resting here for the rest of the night? We are? I don't think that's a good idea. * Emmet looks down at his full hands. Well, it's either that or go to town in the dark. Lets move away a bit, at least. Okay. Yeah, okay. Someone got that lantern? * Emmet looks up, trying to spot some indication of the time. * Tiffany picks up her pack and prepares to move camp in whatever direction the party wants her to move the lamp. Hmm... we've got a few hours 'til the sun comes up. Wherever we rest we probably shouldn't stay long. Fine by me. I just want to get back to the town. Sounds good. * Emmet waits for somebody to start back down the trail, so he can follow. * Sophie makes things easy for Nick by starting down the trail first. * Tiffany follows, returning to silent contemplation of the night's sins. * Nick grunts and starts walking down the trail. * Fadi walks along with the rest of the group in silence. * Emmet follows the group down the trail. * Sadly for our heroes, they know that there's no good "camping" spot on the trail they followed along the river's side. They'll have to snooze in someplace less well suited. * Emmet continues to follow the group until whoever's in charge decides it's time to stop. * Fadi does so as well. Nice decisive people, eh? * Sophie walks along and watches for a suitable spot anyhow. * Tiffany eventually decides that it's her right as lampbearer to stop, and does so in a slightly nicer looking camping spot than most along the riverside. "This looks as good as any spot." * Sophie shrugs, and stops. "It'll have to do. * Fadi smirks. "Not like we have a choice." * Emmet stops gratefully. "Okay." He shuffles off the trail a few feet in search of a decent place to drop his stuff--and himself. * Nick follows Emmet's lead. * Tiffany quickly finds a mildly uncomfortable-looking plot of land and lays down, her head on her pack and her arms over her face. * Fadi goes a few feet off the trail and sets up 'camp'. * Emmet leaves the arms and armor in a pile and--after removing the morning star from his pack, makes a lumpy pillow out of his school backpack and the running shoes (and coins) inside. * Emmet looks down at his pillow dubiously and calls out to the others, wherever they are. "Should somebody try to stay awake? In case goblins come down the trail?" Didn't we do that last time? * Tiffany ignores the plea for a watchman, and blows out the lamp. * Emmet opens his mouth to argue, and then looks down at his makeshift pillow. "Yeah, nevermind. Goodnight." * Nick removes his armor, pulls out his bedroll, and falls asleep. * Sophie pulls out her blanket and curls up. "'Night." * Fadi lies down, stairing at the (probably) foliage above him and (maybe) the stars past that. He goes to sleep whenever he's, well... tired. * Emmet lies down and proceeds to sleep, but not very deeply. A school backpack stuffed with cross country shoes and loose change makes an awful pillow. [Session... END]