-----"If one has something that can be used to signal... that one must die first."
-----With that, Whisper began checking his own gear, starting by stringing his bow, and then testing the straps of his leathers. That done, he waited for the other three to be ready to move off.
-----"Oh my," Jeilin stands up at the news, dusts off her black cloak and gathers her small pack. She listens to the warriors and hunters quietly as she picks out a quarrel and loads it into her crossbow, her bony fingers working the mechanical contraption with rote, meticulous precision rather than practiced ease.
-----Raven responses with a simple smile as he motions to Garrison and Whisper to take to the bushes on the west side of the clearing. The Hunter then coaxes Rinda to those on the east side of the clearing.
-----“Aye,” Dilton says in an almost growling voice as he speaks low. He then ushers Jeilin and Jyan into the brush north of the clearing behind where the three warriors and the Storm Priest will wait in the open.
-----As the last pieces of Sol’s armor are strapped into place, Pil faces the southern end of the clearing holding his sword in his weapon hand. The big man glares at the southern approach with intensity on his face and a low growl rumbles in his throat. He clenches his other hand and suddenly he looks as if he doesn’t need his sword. The bronze-skinned warrior looks like he could rip apart his opponents with his bare hands.
-----“When we be a’spottin’ th’ first movement o’ ‘em comin’ thisaway, do we let ‘em come t’us o’ do we be a’chargin’?” Strolum asks as he focuses on the southern brush.
-----In the next few moments, sounds of movement can be heard in the brush a few yards away. Lovan, standing on the other side of Sol, raises his arms, flexes his muscles, and takes a deep breath. The three warriors and the Storm Priest now stand in a line facing toward the south.
-----"Soon as we see 'em, rush 'em. Less chance o' a hue an' cry then, an' they may have standing orders t'find us, not engage. Just keep yer oaths under yer breaths." Sol's grip on the Lathanian blade tightens as soon as the incoming creatures can be heard, and like the others, his full attention is on the rustle of bushes.
-----Suddenly, an inhuman voice growls out in the common tongue, “Humans! Kill them!”
-----With that, a line of hobgoblins come running into the clearing! With low growls of anger, some of them draw swords while some of them heft spears. They seem to be armored in black leather covered with a blood red tabard while their heads are adorned with helms of leather.
-----They run straight toward the line of Sol, Lovan, Strolum and Pil and their number does appear to be a dozen.
-----Immediately, Sol is the first to charge them!
-----The Gorian's assault is directed towards the centre of the hobgoblins’ wave, in an attempt to attract as much attention as possible. Sol swings his blows in wide arcs, teeth gritted as he concentrates on the task of battle.
-----As Sol and the other three with him begin their charge, arrows fly from the bushes to either side. Three on the west side of the clearing are hit, slowing their movement. Those humanoids quickly look at the vegetation searching for their attackers.
-----On the east side of the clearing, one growls as it takes an arrow to the arm while a second hobgoblin soldier falls dead with a well placed arrow to the chest.
-----Two meet Sol and jab in with spears. The Lathanian sword quickly rejects both humanoid attacks and just as suddenly the two soldiers fall dead; one without his head. The Gorian turns his weapon and, with a backslash, destroys another hobgoblin.
-----Lovan, Strolum and Pil all throw off their attackers. As they bring their own weapons to bear, it is Pil, however, that injures his foe.
-----From the east side, Raven practically comes flying from the bushes, his swords flashing. One hobgoblin that had been struck moments ago by an arrow, falls dead while the second falls gasping on his dying breath.
-----From the west side, Garrison tries to emerge from the concealing brush, but the injured humanoids spot him! They jab at him both failing to hit him. Breaking free, the woodsman swings wildly, missing his first enemy. On his second swing, his battleaxe handle shatters, causing the blade to fall to the ground.
-----Just then, Whisper appears in the field behind another humanoid with an arrow protruding from its leg. The wood elf quickly draws a blade across its neck and it falls dead.
-----Pil quickly drops his opponent while Strolum and Lovan continue to battle back and forth with theirs. Sol suddenly pushes through the red-haired warrior and the Storm Priest and finishes the two hobgoblins.
-----Meanwhile the two facing the now weaponless Garrison fall to Whisper and Raven.
-----As everyone looks around at the fallen humanoid bodies, Raven turns and points at one he had previously dropped. “That one’s not dead,” he says, indicating that information could be for the ‘asking.’