Marcus XVI

Fortune or Fate?

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."

Fortune or Fate?

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."

Fortune or Fate?

A-a paladin? A... paladin? Paladin? In the middle of the forest? Out of nowhere? Suddenly a paladin? How did a paladin? How do you paladin? Why paladin? What's a paladin? HNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!???

Also yay! Paladin ^w^

Fortune or Fate?

Sure ^^

Fortune or Fate?

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...

Slave ship wrecked

Well, the natives were not stupid it seems, sending lookouts proved that much. "Alright, men, keep your hands away from your weapons for now. We don't need bloodshed right now." The Duke glanced at Ulric and nodded his head slightly, like the other man had suggested what he had just said. Then he began following the tracks "Still, I suggest we keep our eyes open for any trouble."

Fortune or Fate?

Stybs sighed, it just seemed to dawn to him that the stories of his exploits may have been a tad bit... exaggerated, still there was power in the stories, in belief. "Now you are thinking that I'm just some tall git who thinks he's being smart or funny, yeah?" He smiled his toothy smile that would have been a tad bit unnerving to a member of the other cares, but to a goblin it was nearly charming. "That git looks a bit like the Liberator fellow from the stories, but that can't be it, right?" The tall goblin rolled his eyes and changed his stance in to a more calm one. "Maybe I'm just some old git who's gone mad in his old age, right?"

Marius remained hidden and waited patiently. He had seen this kind of a conversation many times and the strange pair had made convincing goblins a magnificent little performance. For now he'd just have to wait for the sign and keep a simple spell of enlargement ready.

"Then again, if I am the Liberator what are you gonna do?" Stybs tilted his head a bit to the left and shrugged his shoulders. "Stybs Orcgutter is the greatest there is! Able to kill a dragon with a gaze and shatter the chains of tyranny with a wave of his mighty green hand." To an outside listener the goblin language sounded strange, like someone was speaking orcish and choking on cockroaches or the like, but the goblins could be quite eloquent - now unfortunately it did not translate well to the common language.

The stories told of the Liberator also mentioned that he was not just a hero for goblins, no, he was a hero of all the downtrodden, a hero of freedom itself. Your race did not matter to him, if you were a prisoner or a slave the Liberator just might show up and save you. No matter what he'd have to fight! Be it the mightiest of dragons, the strongest orcs, stubbornest of dwarfs or the sneakiest of goblins. Now this tall git didn't seem like he was planning on fighting, but there was something about him, something quirky.

"Maybe I'm just one of them cooky old storytellin' gits? A bit too deep in a story, right? Carrying one of these for flair, right?" Stybs lifted the broken pickaxe while smiling the toothy smile and let out a cackle, which some goblins would call a hearty laugh. "Now just think about it, what if this old git actually is the Liberator, right? You gits would be in biiiig trouble." Goblin humor was strange, it emphasized on the suffering of other goblins and in those standards the tall goblin had actually told quite a funny joke.

Marius gripped his holy symbol and waited for the other goblins to react. What little he understood of their language - what little Stybs had bothered/been able to teach and explain - a joke of some kind had just been told, not that the pale elf really understood goblin humor. Still he hoped the old goblin would manage to handle the situation with words instead of violence.

Slave ship wrecked

Alexander closed his eyes for a brief moment as he straightened back to his feet. "That is a good idea. With our luck we'll be outnumbered and I'd rather avoid a fight if I can..." He wouldn't send his men in to possible danger without a good enough reason - after all at this point the members of his personal guard were his friends, they had fought many battles together. "...Still I suggest we stay together for now. Maybe a larger group will give the natives enough of a reason to stay away from us." The duke barked a few orders and two of the musketmen moved roughly 50 feet away from the rest of the group. Far enough to work as eyes and ears, but not quite far enough that retreating back would become a dangerous task - ofcourse if they would get ambushed, now that would be a completely different situation. The tall man glanced at Ulric and smiled faintly. "Perhaps we should continue following the trail?"

Fortune or Fate?

Mumble, stupid gobbos... We's gonna show 'em... We's gonna shw 'em real good-y like.

Slave ship wrecked

"Sir, movement ahead." One of the musketmen politely informed the duke, who nodded and moved to walk a few steps in fronr of the line of men. He soon recognized Ulric and the rest of the group. It had to be said that the group led by Alexander moved surprisingly fast - maybe the marching drills had really taught them a thing or two.

"I do hope you have some good news, Ulric." The tall nobleman's tone was slightly strained, but still polite. "I am assuming the property isn't trying to hide it's tracks too well, is it?" Alexander dropped on one knee next to Ultic and examined the tracks. "...You wouldn't reckon there are natives here?" He paused to think for a moment how to take this new possibility in to account. "I suggest we do not act with hostility towards the natives, at least for now the property is more important."