-----One was a human wearing a leather vest and breeches. His long blond hair and tanned skin looked familiar to Sol and Raven. The other rider wore studded leather. His ears slightly extended through his light brown hair.
-----They slowed their progress as they entered the village square and the blond man already had a smile on his face. They stopped a few yards away from where Sol and Thunder stood and dismounted. Casting a salute toward all the warriors in the square, they hailed the Gorian as he stood out somewhat from the assembled guard, being mounted.
-----Raven and Sol recognized the blond man as Roderon, a ranger in the service of Lord Barreon Howrun of Silvergard.
-----“Hail, my friends!” Roderon called, “I am Roderon of Silvergard. We are pleased and astonished to see that Kulendra has been freed from the influence of the evil humanoids. We have already visited another village a day’s ride from here that speaks of gaining its freedom with the aid of heroes moving toward the west. May I tell all of you that the main force of Lord Howrun is on the move and will be here in three days!”
-----Even though the news is good, it is greeted by most of the freed people with stunned silence.
-----Then a great informal gathering as of a council occurs there in the village square. Beside the two scouts, Sol is there still mounted on Thunder, while Raven stands with the gathered fighters. Whisper, his elven features concealed behind his thistledown scarf, stands not far from Sol and Jeilin approaches serenely looking at everyone.
-----Jyan is the first to step forward still wearing the dark mage robes he was wearing in Ravenhold’s army.
-----“My friends,” he says addressing the heroes, “I have been fortunate that I have found my entire family here! They are all safe and sound. My family came from a village called Ragsmore where my father ran an inn. He has offered to try to maintain the inn here as a safe house if the former innkeeper is not found. In that way, he can try to feed this current populace and take in those who are too ill or desperately need sheltering. My mother and my sisters are here to help him.”
-----“Aye! ‘Tis good there are those here to care for the needy,” Lovan says with a concerned look on his face. “Many are those foes who fled in the night. Can not those of us give chase to them now to finish what the Rage can do?” Lovan speaks in a different tone, causing many to wonder if he is truly rested or needing sleep.
-----“These people need rest and care,” Rinda interrupts, giving the storm priest an angry glare, “Even those who would wish to join the battle now! Many among them have been abused in their imprisonment. They have not had freedom even a day yet. There is more than healing the body.”
-----“I need to find my family!” a woman with dirty matted blond hair says gruffly. She hefts an orcish blade and her bare arms look firm with supple muscles. She wears a shirt of chain mail over a dark tabard giving her a very savage appearance. She glances about with an angry expression.
-----Raven speaks up quickly, saying, “We really don’t know where our enemy is right now. They could be just across the river watching us, hoping to attack when our guard is down.”
-----“All the more reason to gather supplies and send more of us to the river,” a long haired man with a wild look yells. “If we see as much as one of their ugly asses, we attack!”
-----Most of the makeshift warriors shout approval of this.
-----“My friends,” Jyan says, with his hands raised up, “let us talk more of this! It sounds as if we have a large army of allies moving toward us! This calls for careful planning!”
-----Sol dismounts from Thunder, his smile of relief fading as he begins to consider the next few days. To Roderun, Howrun's ranger, the Gorian asks, "Are ye part o' a lead element that is close by, or is th' main force the only one an' yer scouting fer them?"
-----“We are scouting ahead of the main force,” Roderun replies. He glances at his fellow scout as he continues, “We thought we were on your trail as we first came across an assaulted keep. Traveling to the southwest, we found the remains of a troop mostly made up of hobgoblins. From there we came across villages and small thorps emptied of its people. We then rode back to Lord Howrun who was just emerging from the forest of Silvergard to report what we had found.”
-----“As we set out again, we were amazed to find a village located atop a hill whose people were securely hidden within. The elder of the village, a blacksmith by trade I believe, held you and your companions in high regard. As we journeyed on, we came across a village by the river that was manned by troops and served as a crossroads to the battle line to the north. When we reported this to Lord Howrun, he bade us to ride on to the village farther west named Kulendra to see if your company had made it that far.”
-----Sol nods at the report and raises his voice a little, so that it will carry to at least those fairly near, "Then until Lord Howrun's forces can secure this town, we'll need to stay on an' make sure th' people here stay free o' threat. However, we're not going t'be launching any attacks on forces if we don't need to. Fer now, we'll keep up a rotating watch... Though we should put together a contingent, t'see if we can secure anything supplies o' use from th' orcs camp. They may not have had time t'take much wi' them."
-----At this point Whisper stepped forward, snapping his fingers sharply to garner attention from this immediate group.
-----He crouched down, gathered up a handful of dirt, stood back up and let it trickle from his hand before describing an encompassing circle. He then pointed to his eyes and hammered his right fist into the flat of his left hand and flashed open the fingers before pointing South, and alternately at the various pieces of Hobgoblin equipment being hefted by the rescued folk.
-----Whisper stopped, and briefly considered how best to relate the worse news. He grimaced slightly. He raised his hand again, two fingers up. "Black Riders." He said softly. "Male. Female."