Players: Bartaz and Arianwen

Run by: Gauvain

Synopsis: The two Rangers go scouting!

What with the Prince in the camp, the officers running the main camp of Soldiers want to be kept well aware of anything strange going on along the front. As such, a Lieutenant Darkhammer, A dwarf of stout nature and bad attitude has assembled the two of you, paying you the pair of you to go out and locate two groups of Goblinoids who are believed to be in the area and responsible for a recent ambush on a supply line.

 Locations and headed direction are asked for. Elimination prefered. He offers the pair of you a bonus if one or both are eliminated. Arianwen having been apart of the recent raid on a Goblin camp has him suitibly convinced the pair of you can accomplish this.

Bartaz has accepted the contract, signed it, and is now heading out to the indicated area. He's keeping a low profile, the tindertwig on his rifle not yet lit, though it is loaded, and held low. He's creeping along keeping to the bottom of hills, and in the longer areas of grass- moving through shrubbery or shadows whenever he can.

Arianwen flits from tree to tree, gray cloak swirling around her in the light morning mist. She too is ready for action, bow in one hand, arrow in the other, eyes on the tracks on the ground, ears open for trouble.

The pair of rangers sent from the Myrish camp move with alacrity through the light forest. Moving from shadow to shadow and tree to shrubbery etc. Eventually, Arianwen finds clear signs of the Goblin's passing. What starts off as a large group breaks off into two half a mile down, both in seperate directions.

you'll be able to locate them easily and then back track to get the other group. Once you have it chosen, make me a spot check. We'll fast forward to you guys catching up to them since Bart is low on time."

Arianwen's hands make swift signals to Bartaz as she interprets the tracks, without ceasing her attempts to blend in with the undergrowth. 'Ten goblins, split into two groups of five.' 'Left-hand track may come upon allies, shall we intercept them first?'

Bartaz responds, his own hands moving to indicate he believes they should indeed intercept the left path first. He moves into step behind the one who can actually see these tracks- he's oblivious, himself.

It isn't long before the scouts come accross the first group. It's a little before noon when they find them. Bart manages to spie them. Two of the Goblins are stealthily up in trees, or trying to be, the pair see them easily enough, and two others wait in ambush behind cover from the road. The Fifth Goblin is nowhere to be seen.

Bartaz pauses, holding up a hand to Arianwen. He points out the two goblins in the trees, and then he points out to the goblins hinding behind shrubs in the road. He indicates that the fifth is no-where to be seen. He moves to take cover in some bushes, and then very carefully moves down to lay on his bellt, resting his elbor on the ground, and his rifle in his palm.

Bartaz takes aim at one of the goblins, carefully reaching up to light the tindertwig. And then... BOOM. The gun fires, sending a bullet hurtling through the brush and striking a goblin in the shoulder. He quickly begins filling the gun with black powder again, preparing to fire a second time.

Arianwen brings up bow and arrow and shoots in the direction Bartaz pointed into the brush, but she's a little too hasty, and winds up shooting nothing in particular instead. She then narrowly dodges a bullet, and quickly takes cover behind a tree.

An Answering Ring of BOOM is meant and there is the Fifth Goblin. Hiding in a bush. He moves once he fires and rolls behind a rock to give himself cover from the attackers.

Bartaz finishes reloading his rifle just in time to release a second shot at the goblin he was aiming at, but the bullet lodges itself in a tree trunk. Once more, Bartaz is furiously packing black powder into his gun.

Shots ring out. Once, Twice, Three times. Ripping through foilage and ending in dirt, tree and chipping a

rock. But no shots hit the pair of rangers. The Goblins all scramble for cover, trying to keep the ranged fire from hitting them.

Arianwen's second arrow does not go astray, and a goblin goes down with a grey-fletched shaft in his left eye. She signals the kill to Bartaz, and then begins a tactical retreat, hoping to force the meleeists to waste enough time moving in... that they'll never make it at all.

The Goblin that was well hiden moves from his cover at a trot and then dives behind a tree to try and keep the shooting things from impacting his precious flesh.

Bartaz lines up anothe rshot, and send s abullet right through the skull of the goblin, splattering his head messily all over the foliage. He then gets to his feet, since there's a goblin coming his way.

Arianwen's very hit and miss, though; right on the edge of her range, her carefully lined up shot winds up whizzing right over Bartaz's ear, burying itself ominously in a tree nowhere near her target.

The Two Goblins still up, leap from the trees they're in and move to cover behind the nice thick and bullet/arrow stopping trunks. They Chatter at each other quickly in loud tones, like soldiers yelling on battlefield.

The Rather Sneaky Goblin drops his rifle and sprints forward drawing a vicious looking longsword midstride. The Blade lashes as he closes but misses Bartaz witha wiff.

Bartaz drops his own rifle when he spots that there's a goblin coming his way, and he ducks under the longsrowd attack, drawing his rapier, and attempting a slice across the goblin's middle. The goblin paries his attack, though.

Arianwen provides 'cover fire' for Bart, rather less dangerous than before but still going wide, now that she has to be extra careful to not shoot her ally. "Do you want melee support?" she calls forward, in low, urgent Common.

The Two goblins that were chattering seam to have come to angreement. They run forward at a slight angle. Each dives behind cover about mid way. It looks liek they're going to try and hit Bart from two differnt sides if they continue their movements.

The Goblin before Bartaz grins a cracked tooth grin as he parries the Ranger's previous attack then says in a raspy voice, "Gothca!" And then he stabs Bartaz. Right in the Gut. Pulling the blade out and spining it, spraying the man's blood on the forest floor.

Bartaz clutches at his stomach, and then rolls away from his oponent, before standing upright again, still holding his wound, as he makes his way to some shrubbery to catch his breath.

"Bartaz!" calls Arianwen, swifting moving forward and planting an arrow right in his assailant's chest, hoping that will get his attention. From his white, gasping drop to his knees, she supposes that it has.

One Goblin screams something in Goblin that is pretty universal for "Fuck this I'm outa here!" And he turns tail and runs crashing through the forest. The other one runs toward Arianwen scremaing like a lunatic with his shortsword. He lashes at the lithe elf but hits nothing but tree bark.

Arianwen politely waits for her opponent to pull his sword from the tree before she moves under his guard and eviscerates him, guts spewing everywhere. She winds up doing a second cut beneath his chin as a mercy stroke, lest the filth from a stomach wound lead to a slower, crueler death. Then her vibrant green eyes flicker up to consider the screaming, fleeing goblin, the last one standing.

Bartaz makes his way back to his rifle. Reloads it. He's in no rush, it seems, as the goblin is running further and further away. One one knee, he hefts the rifle up to a firing position, closes one eye, and looks down the barrel with the other. He pulls the trigger, and then the pellet hurtles out of the gun, flying through brush and foliage alike, and strikes the running goblin in the back, sending him sprawling to the ground with a breif shriek.

Arianwen bends over and closes the eyes of those goblin corpses between her and Bartaz. Wordlessly, she hands him another potion and chins in the direction of the other group, thus expressing her opinion of what they should do.

The Goblin that wounded Bartaz is very quietly trying to crawl with one hand covering the arrow wound by Arianwen. Reach. Pull. Reach. Pull. If I don't look at them, then maybe they can't see me!

Bartaz wanders over to the goblin that wounded him, and puts a foot on his back, holding him in place. He takes out from his belt... a length of spidersilk rope, which he uses to tie up the goblin. Once that is done, he drags the goblin by the rope to the road side, and ties what remains of the spidersilk rope to a tree near the road, so the goblin is stuck within view. He nods his head at Arianwen, then, indicaitng he's ready to continue. He doesn't take the potion- he or his companion may need it more soon.

You paged Maelstrom with 'Heya. I'm running a PrP. Is it okay if it's part of a small plot arc? Nothing world shaking. Just a Dungeon Crawl to Capture/destroy a Bludgun Airship and remove a forward Repair/supply station for Bludgun Airships. It's a small one. So cna only assist one ship at a time.'

As she passes their prisoner, Arianwen leaves him a small skin of water, right within his hands, which she makes sure are tied sufficiently close to his mouth to make drinking not completely impossible. Then she returns the nod and fades back into the undergrowth, leading the way towards the second set of tracks she found.

There is a BOOM, followed by a Bang and another Bang. One round hit's Bartaz and two tohers zip right past Arianwen. One impacting in a tree beside her face, the other dissap[earing in the foilage behind the elf. There is a cry from the Goblins and they a call, "Surrend'r Pinkies and we'll be noice ta ya's!" A pause. Some Goblin Chittering. Then. "'Onest!"

Arianwen's eyes go wide, and a faint blush tinges her ordinarily pale features -- blessedly hidden beneath her shadowy cowl. She's a mite embarassed to have had the drop gotten upon her by a goblin group she was tracking. Ouch. She opts to vent this frustration by putting an arrow through a goblin's throat, ending his dubious claims of honesty.

One Goblin looks to the Goblin next to hi,. About to make a Crude joke. But he see's the man is thrashing on the ground with an arrow through his throat. He stnads up and screams: "FRIIIIIIIITZZZZZZZZ! You Killed Fritz you Fairy Eared Bitch! YOU KILLED FRITZ!!!" And fires at Bartaz. Missing terribly. All of that In Goblinoid.

Bartaz takes a bullet right to the chest, which sends him reeling. He snatches the earlier offered potion from Arianwen's belt, and downs it, gasping as the round rapidly seals up, the bullet pushed back out of him by the regenerating tissue.

ANOTHER Pistol and Fires at Bartaz. Gob 4 Leaps form his cover and Runs toward Arianwen, a Bayonet on his rifle."

THe Goblin that spoke pulls out another Pistol and screams in Goblin "FOR FRITZ!!" and fires again. This one also striking Bartaz. In Common he calls out "Kill da Pinkies!"

 One Goblin leaps form behind his cover, a rather long bayonet 9A short sword strapped to the barrel) runs forward and puts his back to a tree to take cover from incoming shots.

The goblin raising a stink by shouting and shooting attracts Arianwen's attention, and she sends an arrow ineffectually his way, knocking a pine cone off a tree, but that's it.

After the Elf fires a shot, A goblin leans out and fires at Arianwen. The Round slamming into the tree trunk she's hiding behind. He laughs maniacly. "Gonna Shootcha Pinkie!"

Arianwen's eyes widen at the goblin trying to poke out her guts with a bayonet, and, frowning, she moves back to get him right in the head from five feet away. And misses. Truly a dark day for the reputation of elvenkind. Thank heavens there are trees preventing prying eyes from witnessing the epic failure occurring today.

The Bigger goblin laughs maniacly as he pulls out another pistol and fires at Bartaz. "You's gonna die Humie!" He calls out. The Goblin wiht the bayonet runs up and thrusts it at Arianwen but misses. He titters as he does so.

And then another Goblin runs upto the Elf and tries to impale her. He, like his compatriot misses.

Bartaz moves to behind a tree, and then reaches out to fire at the big boss. He's panting from the pain now.

One Goblin charges screaming "FRITZ!" And runs his Bayonet into the Elf's shoulder. He is supported by another Goblin, already in combat who stabs at the Elf's Leg. It comes back bloody. He grins. "We's gonna cook ya Pointy Ears!"

Blood pours down the wounds in Arianwen as she continues her careful retreat, changing her target from the one who missed her to the one who overreached with his hasty charge. She blinks the tears of pain from her eyes to clear her vision, then causes him to go down. She breaks her silence: "Brave words, but I'm still alive and now Bob is dead. Who's next?"

Emboldened by the success of his compatiriots and the Cry for Critz, the third of the Goblins engaged in Melee with Arianwen tries to add his bayonet to Arianwen's tender, pale elf flesh. He misses and blinks. "'Who da 'ell is Bob?!"

The big boss killed, Bartaz spins around and levels a rifle aimed at the goblin doing his best to impale Arianwen. He fires, and the bulle tpunches in one sid eof the goblin's head, and out the other. The goblin falls over, like a felled tree.

Zzzt! goes a final gray-fletched arrow into Arianwen's last stabber, gracefully penetrating his nostril. She steps out from behind her tree to be in line of sight of Bartaz. 'Well shot! Are you alright?' Though her eyes remain on his hands for a response, hers go to the goblins, again gently closing their eyes and performing silent rituals of blessing over the dead.

Bartaz offers a thumbs up, and he heads over towards the woman, cluthcing that wound on his stomach that didn't heal up as well as the bullet wound to his chest did, "Are you?" he asks her, and then glances around. "I think that's the last of them. I count ten dead goblins. We should get back to camp." He suggests.

Arianwen's eyes flicker over Bartaz's wound. "May I?" she murmurs, moving towards him and pulling a bandage and some herbs out of her pack. "Lest we get ambushed again on the way home. And it's nine, we left that one on the road."

The Forest is silent. Not even a bird chirps, liekly frightened off form all the shooting. Fetid, sulfer smeling smoke hangs in the air, clinging to the nostrils. Searching the area reveals that they appearantly knew you were coming this time. Logs moved to provide some decnet cover from your appraoch, and on the bigger fo teh Goblins, besides his Myriad of Pistol (He had ten of them) there is a note Written in Merctalk.

 It Reads

 Galbax,

 I want you and your Squad to secure the area and keep those Myrish out of it. The Firen needs to be Repaired and resupplied. With that Damn Prince in the area firing up the troops, those idiots might stumble on it before it's even used. Come back in a few days for more supplies, you'll find us at the cave located just three miles form your Base Camp due south.

 Also.

 Burn this letter after you read it you Idiot! If the enemy finds it they might find the repair and Resupply station!

 Commander Winstrom.

Bartaz nods his head then, as she goes to heal him. He looses the buckles on his leather vest, and lifts it off, then lifts his shirt to let her tend to his wound.

When they find the letter, Bartaz reads it alout. He can't help but smirk as he reads the last line. "Well, sounds like our commanding officer will be pleased to hear about this." he says to Arianwen.

Arianwen nods at Bartaz, and tends to her own wounds while he reads the letter. "We should make haste back to camp," she agrees grimly, "It sounds like there's more trouble brewing."