Maria started violently when Brandt shouted her name, nearly shooting herself in the foot as she slotted another bolt into the crossbow. The shrieks of dying goblins, coupled with Priskas' screams as she flailed at the face of a dead greenskin, served only to make the scene more chaotic. She could feel her head spinning. It actually seemed more intense than the siege of Lurch, at least then she knew what she was fighting. She had never fought a goblin in her life. 

She darted her glance in the direction of Brandts' gesture and saw the fat bulbous body of a spider scrabbling up a lower branches of the tree to vanish among the higher foliage. She cocked the crossbow and aimed it at the tree, searching for some sign of the creature. Next to her, his eyes wide with fear, lips peeled back over his teeth, Roderick was turning another goblin into mush with a mighty blow. The silver was flaking badly now and she could easily see where his weapon had struck his opponent as small pieces glittered in the light, turning end over end like a hundred small stars in an empty space of mist. 

She was suddenly aware of a pair of red eyes watching her from the tree, a sharp nose and huge ears making the creature look ludicrous. Feathers appeared to be sprouting from a band around the creatures head and she assumed that this was the creature Brandt had indicated. It was snarling at her, making a strange high pitched yelping sound she did not understand. A small spear was clutched in one fist and it appeared to be deciding who to throw the weapon at. She quickly raised the crossbow and centred the end of the bolt on the face. Brown eyes met red ones and she saw fear cross the sharp green face. She shifted her aim slightly below the face and pulled the trigger.

The crossbow gave a flat "thawck" sound as the bolt hurtled through the air, the vicious metal edge hammering into the goblin chieftain just below the chest. Several leaves were torn loose from the tree and they floated slowly after the goblin as it gave a pitiful shriek and tumbled from the branches to land with a thump near Priska. The terrified girl, already hysterical, redoubled her screams and began to punch the dying creature in the head. 

In an instant the goblins turned and fled howling into the forest. They left behind small mounds of tangled green ears and black spiders legs that marked where more than a dozen had met their end at the hands of the small party. Even Priskas' screams died away as Jurgen hurried to her and wrapped his huge arms around her. She sank into muted sobs against his chest as he stroked her hair and made soothing sounds. The sound of their breathing was loud in the near silence, their breath coming as white jets of steam in the cold air. None of them had realized how chill the night had become. The mist itself had moved on, gliding away among the trees like some ethereal creature. 

Roderick was staring at his hammer in amazement. The silver that had once made it appear as a cheap relic had almost completely vanished from one side and he found himself staring at the Mark of Sigmar, cunningly crafted into the iron head by an unknown smith. The weapon showed no wear on it from the short fight and the serrated teeth on the hammer head were almost sharp to the touch. This thing was no relic, it was a weapon worthy of Sigmar. He could feel his heart pounding loud in his chest, from the fight or the discovery of such a weapon, he did not know. 

"I hate goblins..." Maria muttered as she moved closer to him. He reached out reflexively and pulled her into a one armed hug. She did not resist and came willingly enough into the embrace, though she did not lower her crossbow. Her small quiver was almost empty now, only four feathered shafts stuck out by her waist. 

"No one likes goblins." Muttered Brandt who was staring at his broken hammer nearby. It had split in the last short moments of the fight and without a forge it would be impossible to repair. Roderick had not even seen it break and he quickly offered his own weapon to the blacksmith, the man was a much better soldier than he was. The smith shook his head.

"No, thank you. I think that weapon suits you just fine." He touched the head and the rune that suddenly seemed stark in the moonlight. "Besides, I imagine there is at least one decent weapon among this lot."

He had begun to rummage through the dead goblins and Roderick took the hint. He freed himself of Maria and began to search the small corpses as well. Maria set about retrieving what quarrels she could from the goblins she had shot. Lord Waldo had slumped down on a small log and was resting his head in his hands. No one bothered him.

They found some cash, not shortage of useless weapons, and one solid weapon that Brandt declared was goblin trash, but it would suit him anyway. It was better than nothing. Maria actually found an armoured tunic that would fit her well enough, though she brushed it throughly with handfuls of grass to remove as much of the goblin stench as possible. 

It took some time but at length Priska was able to speak normally again. She avoided their gaze but the arrogance seemed to have gone out of her at last. She stayed close to Jurgen as he spoke with Lord Waldo before turning back to the other three.

"We will go on." He stated in a flat voice. "We will look for shelter and try to get some rest." He turned and began walking north with Lord Waldo and Priska in tow. 

After a moments hesitation the others followed but Brandt and Roderick could not miss Marias' muttered words. "Why are we still following them around? We don't owe them anything."