During this exchange, the goblins' attention seemed to be on each other and Rook took a step backwards and toward Kaiden. She was still unwilling to abandon her friend, but perhaps she could find a way to discretely cut the leather cord binding her wrists if she could only reach the knife on Kaiden's belt.

The goblins shifted uneasily and even laughed slightly nervously at the 'joke'. While not wholly convinced that the tall and odd goblin before them was really the Liberator, Stybs Orcgutter's monologue had raised enough of a question that it might just be better not to risk it. No harm in just letting these two go and undertaking the day's hike to Ashdown and gaining their sacrifices there. Right?

But sharp-eared and hard-headed Garuk alone was not swayed. "Pha!" he spat. He looked to the goblin next to him. "You hear this one, Nok? Liberator!" Garuk rolled his eyes, then sneered. "Didn't know they could stack shit that high."

They didn't bite... the daft bastards just didn't take the hint, they didn't read through the lines. Stybs sighed quite dramatically and hunched a bit forwards, like he was tired or some such while taking a better hold of the broken pickaxe. That was the sign! Both the bandaged elf and the now hunched over goblin mumbled few words in the elven language - or at least something that sounded vaguely elven.

Suddenly the already tall goblin was even taller and wider, he straightened up and opened his eyes which were now blazing red. "I really didn't want to prove anything to you gits, but then you go insultin' me." The now 12 feet tall goblin squinted his eyes and shot out a blazing ray at a nearby tree while hoping that a simple scorching ray would scare the stupider of his kin to just leg it since only one of them was actually taking a stand. "Those of you who wish not to have their head liberated from their shoulders should leave now - while leaving the prisoners here. I'm gettin' awfully hungry..." Stybs had to admit that his eyes hurt from the scorching ray, but he could worry about that later. He changed back to common for a moment "Ya gits be'er leg it cuz Stybs no likes gits whoz goes takin' peoples for 'em temple stabby thin's."

Marius remained hidden and hoped his concentration would last long enough to keep the enlargement spell going. Though his goblin companion could probably take on even a larger group of his green-ish kin killing them really wasn't necessary for the moment... Assuming they wouldn't actually get hostile...

The horse clip-clopped down the dirt road. On his back was a rider, clad in ridiculously well polished armor, slightly on the garish side. Suddenly, the both of them heard a sort of commotion going on further down the path.

"Hold, Arrow. Let's go see what that means. Maybe they have information we need." Then he realized he was talking to his horse. Embarrassed, he kicked the horse into a trot and rode into the clearing. Surprisingly, there was a mass of goblins, one rather large for a goblin, along with a smattering of other races. "Halt, in the name of The Holy Order of Paladins! We mean you no harm!"

Garuk's ears drooped a bit in dismay as Stybs grew to more than twice his original size. He looked back at his fellow goblins, hoping for back-up, but they were already fleeing into the woods. Luckily, two of them had enough sense to bring Rook along with them, one grabbing the length of rope left as a leash from her bound wrists to haul her forward, the other stepping behind her so that he could "encourage" her along as she tried to look back at the rider.

The unconscious form of Kaiden remained under the brush, feet half-way bound.

Not about to face the Liberator alone, Garuk plunged after his companions. He needed to get back and warn the whole village to take up arms. Then they'd put an end to this Liberator nonsense once and for all. He lunged free of the clearing, unaware that he was headed straight for the invisible elf.

They are getting away, maybe you should do something about it? Stybs winced a bit as the God of Freedom, orc slaying and minor dislike of fools politely chimed in - yes, orc slaying and minor dislike of fools, that really was part of his pantheon. "On it, boss..." The still 12 foot tall goblin glanced at the paladin and managed to - thanks to his god giving him the right words - make a fully coherent and very un-goblin like sentence. "Brother paladin, would you be as kind and help us save that girl and her companion?" Then he tried to cast a spell, the spell was supposed to numb the muscles on the legs of the goblin that was pulling Rook along, but the spell botched. You didn't concentrate. Styb's left hand just hung on the side and he mumbled a surprisingly well constructed series of expletives while going for plan B. Plan B in this situation consisted of first taking a running start and flinging the pickaxe at the goblins - hopefully not hitting the prisoner while doing so. The throw hit home, the remaining blade of the pickaxe embedded itself to the back of the head of the goblin running behind Rook with such force that the small creature propelled forwards with a rather comical flip. Splendid throw. "Thanks, boss."

Marius left his cover and examined the situation for just a while longer, then he extended his bandaged hands towards the fleeing goblins and mumbled a spell. He could feel this sickeningly sweet taste in his mouth for a moment as one of the trees the goblins were running past suddenly grew much larger roots, thorny roots. Adding to that the roots tried to entangle the goblins. That went better than last time, servant. "Thank you, m'lord." He then turned his attention to the paladin atop the warhorse and gestured towards the fleeing goblins "I'm with the big one. We are trying to save the girl from ending up as what I can only imagine as either food or becoming a sacrifice."

Without the goblin behind her to prod her along, Rook managed to resist enough to at least slow the pace of the goblin trying to drag her off to who knew where. But they had not gotten far when the tree roots reached up around them, entangling the legs of two goblins and herself in the thorny bars. All three of them struggled to free themselves, accomplishing little more than driving the thorns deeper into clothing and skin. Rook chanced a look back and saw the 12 foot goblin in pursuit.

Fear and a feeling of helplessness overtook her as she struggled against the thorns, fighting both the roots and a growing sense of certainty that this is where she would die...

The paladin watched in mild horror as the situation suddenly got out of hand. Suddenly there was fighting, and chaos, and all those horrible things the Grandmaster had told them to watch out for. Desperately, he tried to recall the instructions on necessary force.

"Alright that's it!" he shouted, pulling out a scroll. He opened it up and began reading off of the page. "You are now under arrest under the authority of His Excellency the King Talt of Eward! You have the right to shelter, and advocate of your race, and a trial upon the date of your choosing! Trials are between magical scrying, combat, or by the holy book! You have the right to remain silent, but a lie in court is highly illegal, as stated in section 92 of part 5 of the Code of Law!" Nobody, however, seemed to notice.

Marius just stared at the paladin in a manner of 'is this fellow serious? He is serious, isn't he?' With a sigh and some trouble at keeping a straight face he shook his head before gathering his composure enough to form a proper sentence. "Sir paladin, with all due respect I'd like to point out that there is a rescue mission going on. Now, I'm not quite sure if the miss wishes to be saved by a cleric of Antharg and a cleric of Ska'nik the Stabby..." Ska'nik the Unchained, servant... Though your jest is amusing enough to not warrant being smitten, even He is laughing at it. The bandaged elf shook is head slightly, gods could be so strange sometimes. "Now, before you arrest all of us, sir paladin, the least you could do is aid us in making sure the lady is more or less unharmed."

Stybs casually picked up his weapon - and the goblin attached to it - with a few shakes he managed to dislodge the poor bugger and made his way closer to the remaining goblins. "Now, li'll miss, ya don'ts needs to be 'fraid." He brought down his weapon on the head of the closest goblin and mumbled a quick prayer to the poor fellow's soul. "Me an' tha elf-y are just tryin' to helps yes, helps is what we does." Very articulate of you, now how about you help the poor thing down? Those thorns might cause some serious damage. The massive goblin glanced a bit to the side "Oh, thanks, boss. Gettin' right on it." Stybs took a deep breath and mumbled the word of dispelling. This time he did not botch the wording and the large, spiky roots began shrinking back to their original size. The goblin also found himself back in his original size - though he was still a good head taller than the remaining goblins. "Aight ya gits! List'n oop! Ya are gonna leave the gal here and ya are gonna go back to ya fam'lies! Ya are gonna be good gobs from this day forth and ya are gonna tell everyone of the good an' mercif'l treatin' ya have got." And if they do not? Stybs smiled his toothy smile and cleared his throat. "Cuz if I hear ya gits ain't been good I'm comin' after ya again and ya ain't gonna be as lucky." The cloak the tall goblin wore didn't do much to hide the fact that he was quite exhausted from the showings of divine magic - still he was fully armed and had moved to a spot where he could easily just thwack the goblins over the head with his pickaxe. "Now I haz asked ya gits nicely. I ain't askin' again. Gots it?" He glanced at Rook and continued his toothy smile. "Ya ok there li'll miss? Dih'un't mean to scare ya." Oh yes, you didn't mean to, but I'm sure you did... Unintentionally. Again Stybs glanced a bit to the side. "Please shush, boss."

The invisible elf watched with rapt attention, completely engrossed in the proceedings. She had to stifle a gasp that almost gave her away when the strange, taller goblin suddenly grew to the size of an ogre but thankfully all their attention was on the goblin. Then a mounted knight appeared, followed by everything going all to bowels of the abyss.

Two of the goblins raced away, trying to drag the girl with them while the third took off at a wild tangent, fleeing in terror. She was about to withdraw when one of the goblins barreled straight towards her in a blind panic. Wide eyed and in complete shock the invisible elf didn't react fast enough. All she had to do was sidestep but she was frozen in place. Even as the vines came up about the others the lone goblin slammed bodily into her. She went down beneath him, her buttocks slapping the bare earth as the wind was knocked out of her. Her fragile spell crashed asunder, small wisps of shadow fleeing from her form and revealing her to the world. The naked elf girl gaped up at the goblin atop her. She was a beautiful thing, all pale willowy limbs the colour of rose blushed alabaster with hair like that of spun gold spinning out across the forest floor. Nails painted ebony black and eyes shadowed in kohl made her fair countenance look that much paler. Her heart shaped face gazed up, kohl lined azure eyes wide with shock and fright as she shoved and pushed, kicking legs that were no thicker than the goblin's arms, trying to get out from underneath the green skinned beast. He was heavier, despite her being a head taller.

While the remaining goblins took off back toward their village, Rook swallowed hard and nodded at Stybs, still leery of the goblin, but willing enough to believe that he really did intend to help and not eat her for dinner. "I'm okay," she managed to get the words out clearly even though her heart was still beating fast. She looked about to say something more, but her attention was drawn to a sudden scuffle going on not far away.

---

Garuk recovered quickly from the shock of slamming into the willowy elf, instinct taking over as he pushed himself up, then swung his clawed hands wildly at the figure that had obviously just 'attacked' him. A minion of the Liberator, no doubt. Not even waiting to see the result of his attacks, he scrambled back to his feet and hurried after the others.

In the midst of the weeds and plants struggling up towards the sunlight another wild struggle occurred as the the naked elf girl barely saw the blow coming towards her. One moment it was all a blur, she was a mass of wildly flinging limbs and then there was a heavy, painful expression on the side of her head. Her teeth rattled together and the world swam, moving up as if throwing her down into the very bowels of the earth. Long lashes fluttering she struggled to hold on but the darkness came on regardless and she passed out.

The paladin had already pulled out three scrolls and was hastily reading through them looking for the proper statements when someone decided to speak to him. He stopped what he was doing and turned. The source of the speaking was a man, or was he an elf? He couldn't really tell under all those grey layers that made things blend confusingly together.

"My greetings to you, sir . . . umm . . . traveler," he said. "The threat is subdued for now, my thanks to your companion. However, I have a few questions to ask of you. I am not sure if you have heard, but Lord Rainford's daughter went missing six months past. She's about this tall, dark of hair, blue of eye. Have you seen her? I believe she goes by River."

HANDLE IT! Marius hastily spun on his heels and extended his hand towards the still fleeing goblin while very clearly saying a single word. "Wither." Something did wither alright, mainly the trees the damn goblin just managed to duck past. You didn't handle it... "Sorry, m'lord." The hand the bandaged elf had used to cast the spell seemed for the moment much more frail and nearly skeletal in comparison to the rest of his body. The red eyes of the elf turned back to the paladin. "I'll provide you with introductions once we have made sure the..." Marius glanced over his shoulder to make sure that the naked elf wasn't just a figment of his imagination. "...Other lady in a definitive state of undress is alright as well." Without another word the elven cleric made her way to the naked, seemingly unconscious woman and dropped on one knee. He paused for a moment to steady his thoughts and to remove the bandages from his left hand. Heal? "Yes, m'lord." Marius kept his eyes fixed forwards, very much away from the naked form and gently placed his left hand on the woman's shoulder. You know her hair might lose it's color if you use that kind of healing... Mine is much better. "Oh yes, m'lord, healing with painful growths and pores is much better than using one's life energy." Some clerics use divine energies for healing, some their own life force and then there are those who know that all clerics can use both. Marius took a deep breath and sent out what he could only describe as a wave of life - it would heal wounds, but there might be some side-effects, mostly due to his albinism.

Stybs continued smiling his toothy smile and offered a gloved hand to Rook. "Tha name is Orcgutter, Stybs Orcgutter, sum people call me tha Lib'rator, cuz that's what I do. Liberate people. Mostly from dem slavers an' such, but as ya see sometimes dem gits don' listen an' then I gots ta liberate them heads from them shoulders - yes I does." There seems to be a paladin not too far from you, perhaps you should go greet the fellow now that this whole debacle is done with? "Uh, ya is not hurtsies, yes? Cuz the boss wants me to have a word with that pall-y-din git over thar." He motioned towards the paladin and the toothy smile became a bit confused one.

The sprawled elven maid wasn't truly injured beyond a nasty bruise. It was nothing a good shake couldn't accomplish. As a result, when the elf in his wrappings laid his hand upon her the result wasn't pestilent boils or cracked oozing flesh. It wasn't much more than a minor rash.

Eyes fluttering slowly open, the girl peered up through the forest canopy, at the dim light filtering down through the outspread leaves. Then she recoiled, one knee rising as she braced and she lifted one shoulder as she almost rose. Kneeling above her was a man in rags. She couldn't discern his lineage, or even gender to be certain. From her perspective, he could be anything from an orc slaver to a vile lich. Her blue eyes opened wide and she shuffled back but a single hand's span before freezing like a rabbit before a stooping hawk.

"What?" she questioned, "Who are you?"

"And I'm Rook," she said, a bit uncertainly. Even though he had just proven his words by running off the other goblins, she was having trouble getting over the fact that he was a goblin himself. Did she really owe her life to a goblin!? You do, stupid girl! Pushing the doubt aside, she gave him a small smile. "I'm in your debt, Stybs," she acknowledged.

When Stybs offered a hand toward her, she held up her wrists which were still bound with the leather cord. "Happen to have anything more delicate than that axe to cut these?" she asked. "If not, there's a hunting knife on Kaiden's... my friend back there... the goblins hurt him... there's a knife on his belt," she said, worried again for her companion.

"Nothing to worry about little miss, I'm just a wandering cleric." Marius stated in his best kind cleric voice while keeping his eyes fixed at the girl's face. "I certainly did not mean to scare you, nor are my actions in any way dishonest or unkind." The bandaged elf removed the bandages that covered the lower half of his face and smiled politely. "See, no monster hiding under the bandages." Apart from the small scar running from the left side of his mouth down to his chin there wasn't anything strange about the elf's face, all in all he seemed like your average elf - though deathly pale, but still your average elf. "My skin burns very easily, so that's why I wear the bandages." He added as a polite explanation."

"Oh, yeah, well..." Stybs tilted his head slightly and again smiled the toothy smile. "Thar's no need for knifey!" The tall goblin paused for a moment to remove his gloves before getting to work on untying Rook's hands. It did not take long for the goblin to exclaim "Aha! Gots it!" he tossed the leather cord aside and pointed himself in the chest with the thumb of his left hand. "Stybs is smart an' good wit' knots too."

This was the part the elf girl despised, trying to determine the best identity to assume. How much had this bandaged man or the knight, or the goblin over the rise see? Why would a naked elven woman be running about in the woods, especially this deep into the wilderness? These questions quickly whittled away at the sheer variety of possible explanations and very quickly she realized that she may have to divulge the fact that there was unimaginable riches just beyond.

"Thank you," she stated simply, buying herself more time to manage the thoughts flying through her head, "the goblin came out of nowhere."

Obviously she was going to have to go for her possessions and there was a good chance they would find her pouches and see her notebook. No, there simply wasn't any real opportunity to tell much in the way of falsehoods. With luck they wouldn't torture her for what she knew and kill her outright.

The only thing that she could be certain of was maintaining a submissive, fearful attitude could well put them off their guard when she needed it so she adopted it. Today she was a scared little apprentice wizard, far from home, searching for a magician's trove of hidden knowledge. That was close enough to the truth that it almost wasn't a lie.

"I'm sorry," she added, "My clothes are just on the other side of the path... May I please get them?"

While Stybs worked on the knot, Rook studied her rescuer, wondering how such a creature had been the rather terrifying 'Liberator' just a minute before. Now, as he triumphed in loosening the tight knot, he seemed almost comical. Although she didn't dare laugh or even crack an amused smile.

Once the bonds were gone, she rubbed her wrists. "Thank you. I'm fine now," she said, remembering that he had wanted to go talk to the paladin a moment before he untied her hands. "I want to check on Kaiden anyway..." the bowless archer started back toward the clearing.

"Right," the paladin started, trying to put on his best official sounding voice. "You are all still under arrest under the charges of disturbing the king's peace. I will have to take you all to Moonton, the nearest castle. There, you will all be tried by the sork-lord Billis. Come along now, or you will be subdued by force, as stated in paragraph three of section one of the Code of Law." He hoped that no one looked too closely at the sword strapped to his saddle, which was dull and rusty from disuse.

"Uh... Definitely yes. Clothes. Yes." Marius nodded his head, got back on his feet and spun around to face the paladin again. The pale elf took few steps closer and adjusted the heavy coat of his while going over the Code of Law in his head, there was something he had read about it that could hopefully get himself and Stybs out of the situation. "Now, sir paladin!" He managed to pull off the kindly cleric voice again. "In accordance of the section fourteen of the code of law, paragraphs three through eight - which clearly states that lay brothers, clerics, members of the Paladin orders or knights flying the banner of a lord, or holding a noble rank above baron are not to be detained from their duty if they can by themselves, or by the word of their God, liege lord, acquaintances or next of kin..." The pale elf paused to take a deep breath while glancing at what Stybs was doing. "Prove they are indeed doing the work of their God, order, a duty given to them by said God, order, liege lord, or other some such authority - even a captain of a city watch counts in some circumstances. If they lack proper authorization from any of the aforementioned sources they are to be detained in a manner described of in paragraph three of section one of the Code of Law." Quite dramatically, but still in a relatively tastefully subdued manner Marius spread his arms slightly. "Now, I am Marius Corbanet, the Duke of Blackwood and the second in line of succession for the Dukedom of Vo Kadrak by the clause of legitimized bastardry - in addition to holding two noble titles I am also a cleric of Antharg, the Lord of Plagues, disease, healing et al. Thus I am well within the aforementioned terms and conditions of of the non-detainment clause of the law."

Stybs nodded his head a few times while still smiling the toothy smile. "Ya checks on the friend-y, I'm gonna talky with dem pall-y-din git." The tall goblin reached the paladin and his pale elven companion just as Marius was finishing his little explanation about the law. For a moment the cloaked goblin just stood there, staring at the paladin's horse. Talk to the man, not the horse. Though the horse might be the smarter of the two. "Uh, right, thanks boss." You could nearly hear the gears turning inside the goblin's head as he tried to form a proper introductory sentence. "I iz gunna be pleadin' on tha law as well, cuz I'm a cleric too." There was a sudden gust of wind that made the goblin's cloak flutter in an appropriately dramatic manner. "I's Stybs Orcgutter. The Lib'rator, a cleric of Sa'nik tha Unchain'd. Prot'ctor of all kinds of gits in need of lib'ratin. Yes I is." He glanced at the pale elf and fixed a bit less toothy smile to his lips. "Uh, why was we doin' all this again?"

Marius had to admit that if Antharg was a cruel master at times Ska'nik tended not to be much better a boss if you weren't that smart to begin with. Not to mention he still wasn't sure to this day if Stybs's intelligence really fluctuated like that or if it was just an act - if it was an act the goblin should have became a bard instead of a cleric, he'd be the best damn actor in this side of... well... he'd be the best damn actor in the whole world. Silently thanking the Gods of the little chance to collect his thoughts the Cleric of Antharg managed to even remember the reason they had set up on their journey. "Now, me and my companion here are looking for a certain man. I do not know exactly what name the fellow goes under at the moment, but when I last met him he went under the name of Laethros. He has worked under many names and has tricked many a traveler and adventurer in to quite trouble. You see, just selling people in to slavery isn't quite enough, no, the bastard sells people to the Ilythiiri, or Drow as they are called in the common tongue. I fell for his fancy ruse some years ago and after a quite daring escape I have spent years hunting him down. Sadly he has a nasty habit of slipping away just at the most inopportune moments." The pale elf spat on the ground and fixed his red eyes towards the paladin. "Now, under the Code of Law my duty should be honourable enough as to either not be detained at all, or at least to have my detainment postponed until I have completed my duty. Also the fine print on the same paragraph states that and I quote: 'A member of nobility above or equal to a Duke may extend the protection of this aforementioned law to their traveling companions and provide a temporary pardon from any crime short of high treason if they so choose'. So... yeah. Besides, I am sure that you as a paladin would gladly aid us in our noble endeavor. Such villainy cannot after all be allowed to continue any further!"