Storm pulls the chuldren to safety and drags the father's corpse if he can
The well is far enough from the flames.
Feanor helps Storm with the children and points eastward. "To the house! Quickly!" he cries out, half-carrying and half-dragging one of the children to the safety of the building.
"Take the living, leave the dead," Jan says, his northern accent thick as he chooses to leave the body of the father in order to more effectively save the children.
He wasn't sure the house was any safer now the barn was a raging fire, but at least it protected them from arrows of the goblins were still nearby. He readied an arrow and covered the other two as they moved, Jan walking carefully backwards towards the house, watching for signs of goblin movement.
You get to the house and the door is hanging on one hinge only.
Storm enters the house carefully.
Feanor follows Storm inside.
The house has been plundered and devastated. Nothing valuable was left behind and nobody is around. Only the kids' mother can be found on the floor, where she fell. Once again, the two kids, seeing this, start sobbing uncontrollably.
Storm comforts the two children and promises to avenge them/
Feanor looks around for a blanket or the like to cover their children's mother, then goes to a window to see if he can see any sign of the goblins leaving the burning barn.
From this position, Feanor can't see where the Goblin left from. However, Storm early on found out that they left from behind the barn. If you want to look for tracks you'll have to go there.
Feanor looks to Storm and Jan. "We can leave the children here and follow after them, I am up to the chase, but if either of you need to rest up we can do so here," he says, leaving the decision up to his friends.
"Goblins on wolves move much faster than us on foot." Jan says. "We can track them easy enough, though. I say we help the children Bury their parents, and take them somewhere they can be safe. We can't leave them here."
" agree. Where shall we bring them to?"
Storm helps to bury the children's parents and consoles them.
You find a suitable place within the farm to bury the two parents and it is a grim duty that you complete with heavy hearts, as the kids are in desperation, but you also realise they are hungry... and you are hungry too!
"The goblins raided the farm and took most things of worth, but I doubt that they stole all the food. I'll see if there's anything left and make us all a meal."" Jan says. He'd seen his fair share of funerals, but in the north they spent more time celebrating the lives of those they'd lost than grieving over actually losing them. Even though he had lived in Blackmoor for most of his adult life there were some traditions that didn't leave you. He wanted to find something alcoholic to drink, and offer a toast to the fallen farmers. He wasn't sure that the children, nor his two comrades, would appreciate the deviation from the usual funeral process.
Instead he entered the house and began a search for sufficient food for a meal.
While Jan searches for food, Feanor walks over to the children and crouches down to their height. "Is there another farmhouse nearby that your parents ever took you to? Maybe an aunt, or friends that live around here?" he asks.
Jan explores the house and the hut nearby... the Goblins left absolutely nothing edible. No farm animals (like chicken or similar) either.
The children do remember some neighbours visiting, but they are not close relatives and they don't know where they live. Maybe they will pass by later on... when the tall column of smoke over the burning barn will cease.
A thought occurs to Jan and he goes to check the ground around the farm, trying to determine the number of goblins that had been there. During the attack he couldn't recall the goblins being encumbered with large bags or loot, suggesting that they had been a rearguard of a larger force. He wanted evidence to support this theory.
He also wanted to gather any of his arrows that he'd shot and weren't damaged or broken.
You can't approach it yet, as the barn is still in raging fire, but behind the barn there is a gap in the corral and you can see a trail starting there. Chances are that the Goblins came and went through there. It is not easy to guess exactly how many they were, as some of them were walking, some others were riding wolves.
You estimate 6 to 8 Goblins and 4 or 5 wolves.
"Couldn't have had much to take if a half dozen goblins and four or five wolves stole everything," Jan muttered quietly to himself, turning back to the others. He quietly explained his findings to Feanor and Storm, so as not to upset the children further.
In the rush to help the kids he'd lost track of Roger Lillard, the priest they were accompanying. "Where's the priest, Roger??" he asked if his comrades.
The priest is not in the farm, right now.
"We do need to find Roger. He must have gone into hiding when the fighting started. Hopefully he can look after the children," Feanor says.
"Let us find him. I hope he is fine. I forgot about him," Storm replies.
"The goblins won't be back for a while, but I'm not sure we should leave our charge here with the children unless he is happy to do it, and postpone his own arrival." Jan says.
"I've a feeling we'll be caring for these children until we find a nearby farmstead where they will be safe.
Still, I'll remain here if you two wish to search for Roger."
"I don't think the goblins are likely to return any time soon. Let's take a walk about to see if we can find him, or perhaps pick up his tracks," Feanor suggests.
It doesn't take long to find Roger Lillard again: while you were preparing the attack on the farm, he tripped, fell in a hole, hit his head and lost his senses. It takes a little bit to wake him up again: "Thank you! I feel very dizzy, but I will be fine." He proposes to sleep at the farm and get ready to chase the goblins tomorrow morning, when you will be all healed and hopefully some neighbour will show up in the meanwhile.
"Good idea," Feanor says to Roger before heading back to the house to try and shore up some of its defences.
Storm follows along and helps with the defenders of the farm.
After talking to the kids, you learn that the farm had a cart with a horse, 16 sheep, a dozen chickens, and a milk cow. Chances are that they loaded the cart after plundering. This will make it easier for you to follow the trail.
You have lunch together and in the afternoon you try and fix the house as well as you can. Later on, when the fire in the barn is almost over, a neighbour comes to visit and takes the kids with him. He will take care until they are old enough to go back and take care of their family farm, but he tells you that they have an uncle in the Army, Enoreth Beckon. The neighbours invite you to have dinner with them and then you stay with them during the night. Their hospitality is great, although you know for sure that their life is hard.
In the morning, restored and refreshed, you go back to the Beckon farm and you can easily pick up the trail of the Goblins and of the farm animals that they took from the Bucktons. Roger Lillard is with you, but the kids stayed with the neighbours.
Feeling much better and refreshed, Jan will also have spent time to find his unbroken arrows and replenish his supplies. As the hunter of the group he knows he can find them food on the trail, so is happy to donate one of his own spare provisions to the children leaving him with only one for emergencies.
He'll return to the start of the trail and begin to track the goblins.
Did you undertake the two fallen Goblins as well? They had two decent swords and you can pick them up as well, if you want.
Happy to collect a sword - fed up of trying to fight using a bow in close combat. Personally, Jan would be happy to have thrown the goblin bodies into the barn to be burned rather than bury them. Saves time, and he doesn't view them as deserving of a proper burial.
Feanor graciously accepts the hospitality of the neighbours, and when they get back to the burned farm isn't particularly interested in burying the goblins. "I'm happy enough to start following the wagon trail," he says.
You can easily find the path leading towards the Redwood. There are clear signs of traffic on the muddy path: a very visible mix of Goblin feet, wolf paws, the tracks of a heavy cart, a cow, a horse and many sheep. Roger seems particularly eager to follow the trail, as he wants to dispatch this evil and remove it from this land: there are already enough orphans and he won't tolerate any more.
After one or two hours following the trail, the air has the thick reek of rotting meat. You can hear the buzz of flies from ahead of you on the trail. Whatever is up ahead will most likely not be pleasant.
Feanor looks about to see if he can spy goblins lying in wait, then (if he sees nothing) proceeds forward cautiously to find out what is attracting the flies.
Feanor can't spy Goblins and moves forward. The way before you open into a small clearing. The situation that now presents ito you is unpleasant, to say the least: A stench comes from several dead bodies, and the air whirs from the sound of carrion flies. The area around the clearing is quiet, and the cold mark of death can be felt everywhere. In total, there are fourteen bodies lying around: two goblins and twelve elves, plus one horse. All elves and goblins are wearing leather armor or no armor at all and have bows or short swords with them. One of the fallen elves lies away from the others, under the dead horse.
The track of the bandits crosses the clearing and continues southwards into the forest
Feanor gets a hold of his emotions and moves forward carefully towards the elf whose horse had fallen on him. "This looks as though he may have been a leader of some sort," he says shakily as he inspects the horse and its dead rider.
"Wonder if there are others who escaped,"'Storm says as he inspects the body and horse for any loot and identification
In the saddlebag, under the horse, you find two bottles. They are labelled as "Healing Salve". Around the neck of the fallen Elf you find a holy symbol of Ordana.
You can loot 6 longbows with 60 arrows, 8 shortswords, 20 provisions, 40 gold coins, 10 silver coins and two saddlebags. They stink a lot.
Storm shares the loot with his friend and thinks of bringing the provisions to the children
Feanor takes six of the provisions and tucks them into his backpack. "I am of no use to anyone if I run through my food," the elf says. He grabs the two bottles of healing and hands one each to Jan and Storm. "You will make better use of these than me," he says.
"We can pool the coin and divide it later. Or, we can give it to the community before we leave if you wish. I feel compelled to help them, beyond slaying all of the goblins," Feanor says.
_________________ He's a real Nowhere man, sitting in his Nowhere land, making all his Nowhere plans for Nobody.
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