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-----With the flashes of lightning, Raven sees shapes that slightly move within the darkened interior of the barn. He flinches, hands gripping the twin short swords, but then he pauses. These forms that he detects are small and much weaker than the brutal hobgoblins that occupy the village. He sees their eyes glaring back at him in fear and apprehension. There have to be dozens of children here packing this structure only leaving a small area in front of the open door for him and Rinda to walk on.
-----On the outside, the rain continues to pour down and another violent blast of lightning booms from the village square. Many of the children start from the devastating noise.
-----Raven and Rinda stare at the children for a few moments with the young ones staring back silently at them. Thunder booming overhead breaks the silence and the reverie.
-----Rinda’s eyes dart back and forth as if thinking and then says quickly, “We can’t take the little ones out in the storm, but this rain may stop any of the hobgoblins from setting the barn on fire. I can stay here and calm them and look for a way across the fields if the storm stops. Raven, my love, you may want to check to see if any of the hobgoblins are drawn here!”
-----Looking across at the large tent, Sol can see that a few of Morosh’s guards are fighting a trio of orcs outside the entrance. Morosh is nowhere to be seen, but with the angry sounds that emerge from it, the Gorian reasons that Morosh must be inside the tent; perhaps engaging the orcish leader in combat.
-----Commander Ulthang rushes forward, shoving a stumbling orc out of his path. Just as he throws back the tent flaps, he hears the loud clang of a huge weapon falling and the pain-filled roar of a dying humanoid. As he steps in, he sees Morosh standing over the body of a large grotesque looking orc with an ever widening pool of dark blood on the ground around it. With a victorious cry of fury, the hobgoblin chieftain raises his own sword and cleaves the head from the body.
-----Sol can hear a large rumble of thunder above and beyond the sounds of fighting in the camp . . .
-----Sol knew that this could be the only good chance he had of catching the hobgoblin's chieftain alone. The maddened Morosh was drunk with the victory of battle and may not react quickly enough. Sol's own fury at the hated foe in front of him, as well as the building sounds of a storm above, drives the Gorian to drop his persona of Commander Ulthang. At least for what happens next.
-----Without any warning Sol leaps forward, letting the flap of the tent close behind him once more. Reaching Morosh, the enraged warrior unleashes a relentless torrent of blows at the distracted chief, reveling in the loud, distinct clamour of battle both inside and outside the tent.
-----Strator be praised.
-----Sol feels a growing warmth at his chest and the dull pain which radiated from wounds that Sol tried to forget seem to diminish.
-----The great Lathanian sword stabs into Morosh’s side cleaving through the humanoid chieftain’s armor with ease. As Sol pulls his sword from the hobgoblin, Morosh turns to face him and Sol, once again, thrusts forward with all his weight behind his weapon. The sword plunges into Morosh’s chest and the chieftain falls to his knees.
-----Morosh looks up into Sol’s face with a mixture of awe and shock. He growls lowly but now his words are mere sounds of weakening pain.
-----A loud clap of thunder overhead echoes in Sol’s ears and the Gorian releases his sword and plunges it into Morosh’s neck. The chieftain immediately collapses across the orc chieftain’s body.
-----Flashes of lightning begin casting quick shadowed shapes of humanoids fighting outside the tent.
-----Unceremoniously, Sol places his foot against the hobgoblin’s midsection and shoves the corpse off Cruesh, hiding which humanoid fell first in battle. Once done, Ulthang rushes back outside the tent shouting, "Look to your captains, Morosh is slain by Cruesh!"
-----Alarmingly, Sol’s announcement suddenly seems to have a strange effect on the fighting around him. In three separate battles near him, the Gorian sees the hobgoblin guards back from their foes long enough to glance in his direction or toward the tent. A look of uncertainty is in many of their eyes.
-----Now the orcish guards redouble their efforts, rushing their foes with a renewed vigor.
-----Sol catches one orc before it slashes out at one of the hobgoblins; the Lathanian sword dropping the humanoid before it realizes its fate. In a quick flurry of motion, Sol then drops two more orcs, freeing four of Morosh’s bodyguards from momentary fighting.
-----With that, two of the guards rush into the tent to survey what has occurred. The other two stand before Sol looking somewhat disoriented, although they look around at other orcs and hobgoblins fighting a few yards away.
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