-----Raven waves quickly before dashing off into the dark after the escaping orcs. Lovan mounts his horse and starts off after Sol.
-----Together they ride past the tents and see a few humanoids ducking in and out of the tents like rats as they seek to run toward the river. Sol quickly pulls Thunder to the side and dismounts, drawing his sword. The Gorian runs toward the tents to try to head off as many as he can. With lightning reflexes, his sword slays three hobgoblin soldiers before they know what they face.
-----Sol then hears the clank of hobgoblin swords, but then realizes that the soldiers have drawn them for defense as they continue to seek to flee. Slashing through downed orc tents like jungle vegetation, Sol hurries after them intent on bringing them down. With his torch held high, the young warrior runs inside a still erect tent; his sword swinging wildly. On the opposite wall of the tent, shadows of humanoids dance across projected from burning fires outside. Sol never slows as he runs toward the far wall and rips through the tent canvas. There, he faces three hobgoblins who turn toward him.
-----He downs one with a fierce slash and it falls to the ground critically wounded. The other two strike at him but he effectively parries their weapons. Sol’s arms now seem a flurry between the flashing metal of his sword and the flickering torch held in his off hand.
-----He kills a second soldier, but the last one leaps back from him. It snarls and runs in at him. In his haste, Sol draws his sword back, but it suddenly slips from his hand! Awkwardly, it lands just over his left shoulder just a few feet away. Leaning the other way, Sol just barely misses being struck by the soldier.
-----Sol brandishes his torch and swings it in front of the hobgoblin’s face. The soldier presses the young warrior as Sol fights to retrieve his sword. Suddenly seeing a pause in the foe, Sol dives for his sword. As he goes to the ground he slightly flings his torch and draws the hobgoblin into missing him.
-----In the next instant, Sol stands up with his sword in hand. With two stabs, he finally slays the humanoid.
-----With no other foes facing him, Sol retrieves his torch and runs back toward where he left Thunder. Lovan meets him on the way and the Storm Priest grunts as he realizes that he missed out on the battle here.
-----In a few moments they are off once again passing the last of orcish tents and then moving on toward where the prisoners were imprisoned. They now ride along a flat ridge that skirts the long bank that runs down to the river. Now everything appears deserted as revealed by the low fires of the bonfires that once flamed and cast their evil orange light along the river bank.
-----Across a short field they ride before they reach a series of roughly constructed cubic metal cages. The cages stand about eight feet tall with each side measuring about ten feet long. In the lightning flashes, about a dozen of these cages are revealed. They appear ghostly in the overhead flickering with their open doors hanging open. No living thing is seen here in the area.
-----Scanning the area carefully, Sol nods in satisfaction. Quickly he swings Thunder around and moves to head back the same way he took the prisoners towards Ku, just in case of stragglers. From there, assuming no more are found, he intends to ride back in to the town square.
-----Sol and Lovan ride back along the south side of the destroyed orc camp. As they go, noise and activity alerts Sol to something down below by the riverbank. There a fight ensues and the Gorian can make out four figures involved.
-----Quickly two of the figures, which look like orcish soldiers drop, and in the next moment, a third one also falls. The one that is left strides back along the river, searching the ground. Sol recognizes that it is Raven.
-----The hunter stops at one point and looks out across the dark river to the south. After a few more moments, Raven then starts to move back toward the direction of the village.
-----Unconsciously mimicking Raven, Sol looks south and strains his senses. Shaking his head, knowing that he'd little chance to detect something if the hunter could not, the Gorian would follow Raven back into Kulendra.
-----Raven turns as he hears Sol and Lovan approaching on horseback. He grins slightly in the dark and raises one hand in greeting.
-----“How did your own hunt turn out?” the hunter asks Sol, “Were there any other prisoners to be found?”
-----After listening to Sol’s explanation, Raven looks warily toward the dark span of the river. “I took down a few more orcs,” he says and adds, “It looks like a few escaped across the river on rafts. Once daylight comes, I can get an idea of where most of them went to, whether it was north toward Hearthorn, west toward the hills, east toward Silvergard, or farther south into Ravenhold.”
-----Sol nods at Raven's report, before nodding his head towards Kulendra, indicating that they should continue on back into the town. Grimly he muses aloud, "Fer now it doesn't matter where they run. We've got t'sort out what we can do t'make sure our freeing these people wasn't an idle act. They're on their own out here..."