[center][h2][color=F0E68C]Asteria[/color][/h2][/center][hr][hr]
Asteria stayed crouched down next to Ed, watching Mother rat and the goblin attentively. She didn’t know if the sticks she’d gathered and dropped were a curse or a blessing in disguise – with them, the goblin was now alerted to the commotion, but without them, she might have discovered them entirely on accident. The problem now was, that Mother rat was still up on the tree and practically ready to pounce. [color=F0E68C][i]If she attacks, we have to kill the thing. Bet she’s part of that group we passed.[/i][/color] While she was considering how to best dispose of the goblin without potentially alerting the rest of the goblin group that still wasn’t as far as she wished it to be, Ed offered his suggestion of [i]not[/i] killing the goblin. Asteria exhaled a long, but very quiet sigh. [color=F0E68C][i]Note. Teach Mother basic verbal and nonverbal commands at the earliest possible opportunity.[/i][/color] With one more intent glance to Mother rat and a firm shake of her head in a “no” gesture, Asteria replied 

[color=F0E68C]“Fine, no killing. Watch out for any other danger,”[/color] in just as low of a mutter as Ed had done, before creeping up behind the preoccupied goblin. Less than a meter away, she crouched, bunched up her muscles as tight as a spring, and jumped! She aimed to land on the goblin’s upper back, clinging to her shoulders with her front paws in a tackle, hooking one of her hind legs around the goblin’s knee to unbalance it further, sending them both into a fall. She’d aimed to have them fall as far away from the sticks as she could, so hopefully, the landing would not produce an obnoxiously loud crash. As they were falling, Asteria also attempted to wrap her tail around the goblin’s mouth, both so the creature couldn’t get much of a chance to scream for help as much as it was for an additional assurance that she could use her whip-like appendage to break the girl’s neck if it was necessary.

((Assuming the attack is successful to the point that, at the very least, Asteria lands on top of the still living goblin.))

Sitting on top of the felled goblin girl, Asteria put a claw at her neck artery, and whispered in her ear: [color=F0E68C]“Stay still and silent, and you live. Try anything, you die. Understand?”[/color] Regardless of the reply, Asteria would use the advantage of her position over the goblin to dig her weight into the green-skinned being’s back some more, as an encouragement. She then looked to Mother rat for but a moment, and chattered quietly to her to get her down and helping. [color=F0E68C]“Ed? We’re kidnapping her temporarily.”[/color] Once her ally made it closer to her, she offered an additional explanation. [color=F0E68C]“This was the first thing that came to my mind for doing what you wanted. As long as she’s with us, we can still change our mind…She could be used as part of supplies for our journey,”[/color] she grumbled quietly, thinking of the bone knife she’d long since longed to make, but still hadn’t quite succeeded at actually doing, though the bone needles had been a progress. [color=F0E68C]“Goblin? I don’t know what your name is, but you’re coming with us for a bit. We’ll let you go once we get far enough that your group won’t catch us even [i]if[/i] you tell them all about us. So, just cooperate, would you? Refuse, get dead. Simple, right?”[/color] she didn’t have the first idea of how intelligent goblins were or what kind of approach might work best for them, but she wasn’t in a mood for patience or kindness. 

If the goblin put up too much of a struggle or began causing a ruckus, Asteria would simply clobber it over the head to knock it unconscious and for the goblin girl’s sake, such a method would not get it some kind of brain injury. She’d then turn the goblin over on her back, look it over, hopefully inspiring further co-operation with the established eye contact. One of the items the goblin had been carrying was rather fortuitously some sort of…a rope? [color=F0E68C][i]Is that a grass rope?[/i][/color] Asteria couldn’t help but wonder what material it was made from, exactly, and how, thinking of replicating it later. For now, she crushed one of the sticks she’d gathered, shoved the bits into the girl’s mouth, then tied the cordage around her mouth tightly. With some effortful re-positioning, dragging, pushing, and pulling, she managed to get the goblin over her back, the goblin’s head lolling down across of her shoulders, each of its legs dragging on the ground at the sides of her tail. Before it could try and flail herself off her back, Asteria wrapped her tail around her load, and fastened the goblin securely. 

This…this was ridiculous. It would have to do, though. [color=F0E68C]“Ed, get Mother to carry the sticks, if she can. I’ll lead, she follows, you go last and cover our tracks. We better get away, fast. Let’s save the discussion for later,”[/color] she added, fairly certain Ed might otherwise have argued against kidnapping the goblin as well. Feeling rather worn out, and aching all over already, though she hadn’t even started to carry the goblin properly, she let out a long-suffering sigh. Asteria closed her eyes, and sniffed. She wanted to find a water source, and it wouldn’t surprise her much if there was one in the forest. She nosed at the ground, focusing on any hint of wetness or dampness. Were there signs of rain? Of water? Was it there any morning dew? Would the scents lead her back into the forest proper, to moss, mold, and rotting leaves? Or would there be a stream, pond, or even a river anywhere close-by? She hadn’t seen any such thing, but the view from up there hadn’t been perfect, to say the least. 

Asteria opened her eyes every once in a while, making sure that if they did have to head back into the forest, they wouldn’t do it anywhere near the goblin group. The goblins were sure to notice one of them missing soon, wouldn’t they? The question was whether they’d search for her or not. [color=F0E68C]“You…know,”[/color] she panted out, winded from the goblin’s weight but not letting that slow her down.[color=F0E68C]“I can’t decide…whether to…admire your…decency, or be…baffled by it,”[/color] she stopped for just a moment, getting her breath back. [color=F0E68C]“I’ve recently come to accept the fact that even if [i]we[/i] show some mercy, common sense, or whatever else you have, [i]others[/i] might [i]not[/i],”[/color] yeah, so she was still a bit sour from that whole cave ordeal. [color=F0E68C]“This…this is just a precaution. If it backfires, we’re screwed, no need to mention that, of course,”[/color] she pondered, then promptly shut up again, continuing in her attempts to either find a water source nearby, or whatever relatively safe spot that [i]wasn’t the scene of the crime[/i], really. She even glanced back every once in a while, ensuring Mother rat and Ed were following.

Minutes and minutes of walking later, possibly half-an-hour or more, when Asteria felt her muscles burning, trembling, and thought they might soon give up on her, she stopped, dropped the goblin, and promptly sat on her chest. [color=F0E68C]“So,”[/color] she stated after some moments of recovering her breath. [color=F0E68C]“How badly hurt are you?”[/color] she addressed the goblin. [color=F0E68C]“Because with as much trouble you’re causing us, you might as well eat one of our healing herbs, and walk with us for a while instead of literally getting dragged or carried around,”[/color] she shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly, but kept a close eye on the goblin. 

Regardless of her response, she explained the options she thought they had to Ed. [color=F0E68C]“When I was up on that tree, I saw a bit of the surroundings. The forest stretches far into the north-east. Straight to the east is a human house, maybe a forester’s hut. There was just one smoke trail I saw, but who knows if there are more or not? South, there are plains, weirdly empty. May be some swamp, lake, or something a shade darker than grass way southwards. Westwards are mountains. Wherever we go, we need to secure a water and food source. Warmth too, depending on where we head to. I’d suggest staying away from the cave, the humans, and the mountains. So, either the forest, or better yet in my opinion, the plains. But if you’d rather elsewhere, just say. The goblin girl stays with us until her group won’t be able to chase us down even after we release her. It’s inconvenient, I know, but if she reports back to the whole goblin group about us, we’re dead meat in any case. I should have just tried to get Mother Rat to stop somehow,”[/color] she trailed off on a sigh, considering the goblin currently lying more-or-less prone. [color=F0E68C][i]Fucking, great, what was I thinking, adopting a kid? And one with every reason to hate me, to boot.[/i][/color]

[hider=Action summary]
A.k.a The kidnapping heist.
Ambushes the goblin.
Jumps her, tackles her to the ground away from the pile of sticks.
Sits on goblin’s back, keeping her down. Shuts off any screams or protest by wrapping her tail around the goblin girl’s mouth.
Threatens the goblin.
Gets Ed to help MR to carry the stick.
Encourages MR to follow.
Asks Ed to follow at their back to clear their trail.
Gets the goblin over her back, carries her away to…elsewhere.
Searches for any nearby water source using Beast Senses II – Scent.
Eventually settles at whatever appropriate safe-ish spot to discuss things with Ed and the goblin girl.
[/hider]