Chapter 16: Planning the Assault on Ku!
The Second of Solentide, D.Y. 500
-----It was close to daybreak when everyone rose among the tall brush. The light of the full moon had seemed to long pass, but as everyone looked skyward, they could see the sky overcast with heavy gray clouds. The temperature was warm in the predawn air and a gentle breeze blew across the plains. However, the breeze was subdued somewhat by the brush the party was surrounded with.
-----The noise from the hobgoblin occupied village had died down as the nightly ramble had worn itself out. However, many guards were still seen patrolling between the buildings and watching from the gate. Other than that, no other people were seen about and the buildings looked dark and foreboding.
-----Yards away in the center of the field, Strolum, Pil and Jyan stood in a small clearing while they watched Raven and Rinda join them. Out into the clearing from the other side came Whisper!
-----“By Joren!” Strolum exclaims upon seeing the Elf, “Ye been gone haf th’night! Are ye farin’ well?”
-----Whisper shrugged as he moved forward to join his companions. He lowered his scarf, and pushed back the hood, during the final few steps, and then hunkered down into his haunches, elbows resting on his thighs.
-----"They believe... that you... were... bandits." Whisper sighed. "Black Riders... Hobgoblins... increased... number of guards... north." He paused, pulled on a strap on his chest to ease where the leather had started to pinch through the shirt. "Nightmare... from the netherhells... at the River."
-----He rasped once or twice, fumbled for his herbal drink, took a draught. He rolled it around his mouth, and let it trickle slowly down his throat. It would probably be easier if he continued in Elven, but then Rinda would have to translate, slowly.
-----"Parchment?" He would start by drawing a map.
-----Everyone looked at Whisper with astonished stares.
-----“Parchment?” Rinda repeated thinking. The Huntress then grabbed one of the maps that were taken from an orcish stronghold days ago and turned it over for the elf. A small charred piece of wood was also handed over.
-----“My family!” Jyan hissed in excitement at Whisper. “What about the people who are imprisoned there?”
-----“D’ye mean th’ hobgobs are movin’ north t’th battleline?” an excited Strolum asked.
-----Rinda quickly hushed them all saying, “Let’s give him a chance to tell us what he can.”
-----Whisper inclined his head towards Rinda, and then started making a rough sketch of the village, its surroundings and the river line. Once done, he sat back, grimaced, and placed the parchment on the ground. He motioned for everyone to gather around closer.
-----Using the charred piece of wood as a pointer, he first indicated the barn on the outskirts. "The children." He spoke more quietly this time. "Well guarded. Rigged to burn." He held up a hand to forestall questions, and moved the pointer to where he had sketched in the inn. "Older folk. Guarded. Moderately hard to access." Leather creaked as he shrugged.
-----Again, the pointer moved, this time to the smaller barn. "Stables." He mimed a circle around the town. "Hobgoblins, and goblins." His pointer drifted to the river. "Mining operation. Younger folk working. A few dozen. Some Dwarves. Maybe grain silo." Whisper grimaced. "Many Orcs." The pointer moved back to the Village, circled the eastern section. "Black Riders. Possibly command."
-----He resumed his easy squat, elbows resting on thighs. "Told to guard the northern borders. Watch for you... 'Bandits.' Chief would be told... if they failed."
-----Strolum looked around warily, although the party felt they were at a safe distance from the village. “So, they be a’watchin’ fer us,” the red-haired warrior started. “Yet, me wonders if’n they be inclined t’send some o’ them hobgobs in here after us.”
-----Placing his hand on his sword hilt, he continues thinking out loud, “They be a’thinkin’ we’re bandits?” He then looks over at the larger bronze-skinned fighter. Chuckling, he says, “Must be that bald head’a yours.”
-----Pil lets a large grin fill his face before he playfully shoves Strolum.
-----Jyan’s excitement is evident on his face. With a pained tone, he asks quickly, “All right, so how do we free my family?”
-----Rinda silently frowns at the map Whisper had drawn.
-----Whisper seriously thought about slapping some reality into the young man. Instead, he settled for giving Raven a sidelong look out of the corner of his eye, before briefly returning his gaze to the map.
-----He reached into his satchel, and drew out some jerked venison. Then he shook his head, and began chewing the sinewy meat.
-----“The children in the barn,” Rinda says slowly, “will die if there is an attack to try to save those people.”
-----“Minin’ operation?” Strolum suddenly asks, “What in th’hell would they be a’minin’?”
-----Jyan keeps his eyes on Whisper’s map, but slowly sits on the ground, quiet for the moment.
-----Whisper dug into a pouch at this side, still chewing the tough meat, and produced a single gold Crown. With a low whistle, he flipped the coin to the red haired warrior.
-----Strolum catches the coin and stares at it frowning. At first, he frowns in confusion, but then recognition registers on his face. “Gold!” he gasped. “They be usin’ those poor people t’mine their gold from th’river!”
-----A calmer expression takes hold of Jyan as he says, “They use the humanoids to enslave and bully the common people to get their resources for them, while the main army fights to take over the kingdom.”
-----“It’s a trap,” Rinda simply says with a hopeless tone. “Those poor people in the village don’t dare to rise up against their captors. They would lose part of their families if they did.” The Huntress looks quietly at Raven.
-----Whisper mulled over the tone in Rinda's voice. What was happening in that village was atrocious, and for the children, quite likely as bad as what had happened to... his kin. Or it soon would be.
-----He imagined that he could hear the rustling of the leaves more distinctly, even though there were few true trees here.
-----"There... are things that can be done." He whispered. "We have an advantage." He pointed at the map. "We must make our own luck."
-----He leant forward intently. "There is... hope."
-----During the day, the party stays close to the center of the field; some resting and some awaiting the next night. They set a loose watch on the edge of the field where they can keep an eye on the village without being detected.
-----For the most part, the hobgoblin soldiers stick to their posts during the day. A dozen of the humanoids man the gate at the eastern edge of the village looking very alert. Part of their time is also used keeping an eye to the field to their north, seemingly looking for any sign of ‘bandits’.
-----In the village itself, a small troop maintains a secure guard over the three largest buildings and the soldiers are rotated at various times. Human slaves are occasionally seen helping to move supplies to some of the smaller buildings where it is guessed that some of the leaders in this army are holding their headquarters.
-----At various times the horned riders were seen, humans wearing horned armor and tabards of black and red. The hunters quickly identified these as followers of Helator, the god of fire and hate.
-----At nightfall, Whisper led Raven and Rinda to the southwest where the slaves worked the river.
-----There the hunters were shocked to see the army of over a hundred and fifty orcs overseeing the slaves panning the river and hauling the sludge up to the flat constructs that sifted the river material. Raven snarled and glared intently at the brutality of the humanoids in their treatment of the unfortunate slaves. It truly looked like a hopeless situation.
-----They silently returned to their camp and found sleep difficult that night. The sounds of the rowdy hobgoblins in the village did little to chase the images of evil from their minds.