Boy, oh boy. Smart goblins. Wait, no. That was maybe asking too much. Mildly intelligent goblins. Enough to anticipate an attack. Reeva resisted the urge to sigh. It would have made noise. Instead, she set up a quick and dirty tripwire trap: nothing fancy or especially lethal, but the impact of a goblin falling would make noise. Enough to let her know if any of the little green bastards decided to try and man the wall while she left it unattended.

That done, she went back down the way she came, regrouping with the rest of the party. At least going down was quicker than climbing up. She jogged back over to the group, getting straight to business. Time was of the essence.

"Right, so. Goblins were tipped off even before we got here. They know something's coming. Doubt they know what it is, or they'd be on full alert. But they're ready for a fight. I'll get back up top, flank them when it comes to a fight. Look out for some kind of ambush, maybe a runner that's trying to see what's going on. Either way, expect them to be dug in. We should be clear to get past the gate, either way. Sound good? Great, break!"

Report complete, Reeva made to scale the wall again, repeating the same vigilance she kept before as she clambered back up top, checking on her tripwire and disarming it before creeping further ahead along the wall, trying to see where the goblins were holed up.

"Break?" Corinne asked, tilting her head and blinking a few times. "Break what?"

"She means we should get started," Liliane said, shaking her head at the other girl's odd conclusion, "If they're dug in, you might be the best option to let us get in close. Start casting, Cori."

"Oh, right! Umm…" the mage frowned in concentration, then started chanting something under her breath, the antiquated Talderian flowing smoothly, a chant calling on the sky, and the wind, and the tempest. Light swirled and gathered around the head of the staff, flashing and pulsing erratically. When she was nearly done, the other Hundi nodded and rushed for the gates, daggers in hand.

"Right, fire when I say. Everyone else, cover your ears and don't look," There was no point firing if one goblin just came rushing through on its own, but if there were multiple…

Practically dragging the mage through the opening in the walls, Liliane waited until she could clearly hear the chattering, then ­"Now!"

"Thunderclap!"

Whatever the goblins were expecting, she really doubted the little greenskins would be prepared for what appeared to just be a bright light shooting ahead into the fort. Nor for it to explode with a deafening crack and a blinding light. Much easier pickings for everyone else to fall in on.

Abigail Blackthorn

---

Abigail tapped her foot, not quite impatient but approaching it, waiting for the thief to return. It was the smart move, sending her out to figure out what they were dealing with, but it meant waiting. While waiting the dwarf had chimed in, mentioning the first sight of goblins meant swinging, getting a nod from Abigail in agreement.

"Agreed, only good response to a goblin."

Fortunately they were not waiting long for Reeva to make her way back, moving faster on the return than the trip out. Running away was always the easier route, Abigail thought, though she said nothing out loud to interrupt the hurried explanation from the thief. Goblins were tipped off? That was a new one. Either they had all missed the sentry goblin that had warned the rest of their approach, or someone had told the nasty creatures of their approach and they listened. Ready for a fight just meant earning her coin through honest slaughter instead of completely carrying an ambush forward. Clear to the gate, after that, was steel and blood time. Then the thief was off, and Abigail rocked her head back and forth, loosening up just a bit more.

"Wonder if any evidence of the tip off will survive our little trip..."

Corinne was questioning the use of break which, well, who was a village bumpkin turned axe slinging adventurer to judge how someone spoke? Dug in meant digging them out, though Liliane had a plan for that. Corinne started chanting, magic slinging impending, and Abigail got moving alongside the others, staying close to the front to intercept any sudden danger. Light swirled around that staff head, and by the time she looked nearly ready the otehr Hundi drew steel and rushed for the gate. Abigail followed close behind, two handed axe at a low ready and she nodded along with the plan.

"Got it, I'll head in first before they recover from....whatever spell that is. Everyone else keep my flanks clear, yeah?"

Abigail dutifully covered her ears, turning her head away to put some of her hood between her and the flash, eyes screwed shut. Even then, the impending crack and light would at least bleed through a little. When the spell went off? Abigail would be on her feet and already charging, half watching for traps, half watching for the nearest cluster of goblins she could start hacking into pieces. Time to earn her coin through honest killing.

The Farm
@Rune_Alchemist@HereComesTheSnow@Octo@ERode@VitaVitaAR

---

A competition, really. The tiny paladin and Hrefna were getting into an amusing bit of competition during this whole thing. No doubt the paladins pride was going to be hurt after this, especially after Hrefna's revelation about the source of the curse. The sheep themselves weren't cursed, but rather, something elsewhere had its claws in them. Not much for her to do if everyone else was doing the other work proper, so she contented herself with simply curling up and watching. Fine with her. The less she had to do the better.

"Suppose I'll take the third shift in six hours, then if need be." Hyseliea offered after Pete, coiling up near the pens. It was warm enough in here, and being closer to the sheep would be better in case one started to wander off or something came in and snatched it anyways.

"Yes, tiny one will take first watch," Hrefna agreed, nodding to Pete, "less bad things likely to happen early on. Is easy enough even for Ingvarr calf-child, so little paladin can do."

Hrefna had already taken note of how Rylia reacted to being called 'tiny', and thus had incorporated it more into her speech. She grinned as she enjoyed the girl's seething.

"If Pyotr takes next, and pretty snake whose name I have difficulty pronouncing go last, then Hrefna will see you all in morning. I will prefer to sleep outside, just in case danger appears. Merely call upon my strength and I will crush our enemies," Hrefna said, capping it all off with a yawn. She slept terribly anyways, so to be awoken for combat was a boon. With Csenge doing analysis, there wasn't much for Hrefna to do except get to know the sheep.

If everything else failed, she would be able to track any of the sheep that go missing as long as she was reasonably acquainted with whichever sheep it was. To this end, she would spend her night greeting the creatures just in case. She would probably look like a lazy fool, but being underestimated led to better stories in the end. The Wyrmbender family needed good stories.

She turned to Rylia.

"You hear Hrefna, small one? If things too difficult, come to get Hrefna and she will end your troubles," she reiterated, pulling a flask from a small pouch and taking a swig. It would be without class to not drink at night when you had already drunk during the day, after all.

The green, wiry figures that emerged into the yard were unmistakable, with their beady red eyes, batlike ears, and long, hooked noses. One did not need to be an expert to identify them.

The goblins' formation was disorganized and scattered. The had armed themselves, of course, at least a dozen of the green-skinned creatures having filtered into the open yard wielding spears, daggers, and swords. A trio of goblins with crude shortbows stood in the back, closer to the entrance to the deeper fort, but aside from that it seemed they were more intent on investigating for potential intrusion than aware it had already begun. Most were clad in pilfered armor, likely from the remains of deceased warriors found in low places judging by is rather rough condition. Some weapons were wood and carved bone, while others were crudely worked metal, and a handful of daggers and spears were clearly taken in a similar manner to the armor.

And certainly, none of the fort's current occupants were ready for what came next.

A chorus of surprised, cacophonous shrieks arose from the fort as the blinding light filled the air above them, and an earsplitting crack assaulted the goblins' ears. Unprepared for the spell, many of the creatures covered their eyes and staggered back, unable to swiftly recover.

@Raineh Daze@Animal@Psyker Landshark@Eisenhorn@The Otter

---

"Queer. That's a bear skull, goblins usually won't go that large of game...scavenged, probably?" As Reeva went ahead to scout, and the rest milled about considering their plan of attack, Calaphindë was seemingly transfixed by the skulls. Multiple birds, as expected; a couple deer, one goat, even a jackal—and also, occupying a spot of clear visibility, a bear skull. A bear skull that was, even more curiously:

"Where are its teeth...oh, what?" Luckily, he hadn't been looking towards the goblins as Corinne's thunder was loosed, though he did look up immediately after. "They're out this early? Hmm...Can't have that." His eyes locked onto the disoriented archers to the back of the goblin 'formation,' dropping his spear in favor of his bow and drawing an arrow back as easily as he breathed.

One of the shrieks was silenced as one of the archers dropped to the ground, the shaft of an arrow sticking out of its neck. He nocked another, turning towards the next goblin—"Oh, hey, that one has a necklace with a bear tooth on it. Wonder what that's all about?" He drew and shot once again, chatting away as he thinned the goblins' numbers.

Abigail Blackthorn

---

Even braced for it, the noise and flash was intensive enough to make Abigail aware that, without the given warning, she would have been sitting out the best part of the fight, the opening of it. She gave the goblins a quick once over as the spell faded, spotting the usual mix of ramshackle equipment and stolen weapons in the usual amounts. Stolen armor, or looted, small difference but it did not look to be in particular good shape either. They had not been ready for the magic unleashed on them, the way they were organized did not strictly strike Abigail as being meant to walk into a fight, more looking to see if one was about to start. Still, no time to think, time to do what she did best and earn her gold.

Abigail grinned as she launched forward from the crouching position, red hood and cloak billowing in her wake as she made a lunging rush for the closest cluster of the goblins to line up as many of them as she could to convert the momentum of her lunge into a sweeping cleave with her two handed axe, aiming to split as many goblins in half as she could with the swing. She let out a sharp laugh as she swung, already sizing up how to make a beeline for the next goblin that was alive and not going to put her in the way of the rest of the party to work, already working up to her usual approach to fighting to slam into the front ranks and just keep going until she ran out of targets or had to disengage for some reason.

Fortunately, her back had been to the flash spell to begin with. The loud bang was still irritating, and it'd thrown her focus off for a moment. But without the flash to accompany it, Reeva could deal with her ears ringing.

The assassin drew her shortbow and nocked an arrow, taking a second to make a quick survey in the field. Frontline fighters being dealt with, while the ones not directly in the blending zone jostling for their turn instead of trying to flank. Three archers in the back, still trying to shake off the flashbang.

Well, she could't have that, now. Reeva sighted one of the archers, loosing her arrow at its head. A second followed to its companion. The third was left to scramble to recover as Reeva repositioned, moving further up the rampart to get a better angle. Two kill shots from the same sniping position had been pushing it as it was. She was getting greedy, just because it was goblins they were dealing with. Bad form.

As Reeva grew closer, she lowered her bow, creeping along the ramparts behind cover. With the last archer on full alert, she picked up a loose stone, hurling it at the goblin's feet. With any luck, that split second of distraction was all she needed. Nock. Aim. Loose.

---

Freya tilted her helmet downward and used part of her fake beard as improvised earmuffs. This at least provided some layer of protection from her comrade's spell, though the sound still rocked her tiny ears. After the initial flash, now it's time to get to work and not let opportunity go to waste!

“So these trash gnomes knew we were coming? So what? It's not gonna make a difference!”

The dwarf woman focused her gaze upon for what appeared to be the most ironclad goblin among the group, ignoring the rest. Though in reality none of them actually fit the description, they were all poorly geared and mismatched. The sight honestly disgusted her. One unlucky goblin was chosen out of the bunch, for simply wielding a sword and wearing metal protection on their chest. They stood out the most to Freya, poor bastard.

Clenching her war hammer, the air shifted around her as the engraved runes responded to her guided motions. Freya used the wind to push herself forward, with a hard gust following behind. While she tried to keep it concentrated in a small area so as to not put arrows off course for the sake of the archers, the dwarf was rather overzealous in reaching her intended target. The strong winds easily snapped the strings that held the bone and pottery ornaments they saw earlier. Along with displacing lightweight debris like bits of gravel, timber, and other trash lying about.

In a moment's notice, Freya came face to face with the staggered goblin before they could even recover from that blinding light. There was a wide grin across the dwarf's face, with her hammer swinging at full force across that green bastard's plated chest. As one would expect, the armor didn't save this goblin from having their chest caved in and violently sent flying to the other side of the fort. With her prime target gone, she turned her attention to the other goblins. Bodies were already dropping one by one, both from afar and in close combat. So Freya added to those numbers by covering Abigail's blind spots, and utilizing the powerful knock back from her swings to assist the archers with their marks.

"Right," Fletcher shook his head, "Just… don't start a fight over my sheep. Please."

With that, the man was happy to leave them 'til the morning – and through the long, boring hours of watching sheep doing nothing except, eventually, sleeping. Whatever the curse was didn't seem to be doing anything through the overnight watch… save for the slowly-worsening condition of the already-sickened sheep.

Fortunately, the study of the curse wasn't entirely fruitless: although the curse being on the livestock directly had already been ruled out, it did serve to confirm that the curse was anchored to the land somewhere.

On the other hand, it was a farm. There was quite a lot of that.

"Well, do you want to see the pastures?"

This wasn't yet enough for Csenge to debase herself with a yawn, but the light of morning did sting somewhat when she walked out of the farm in the morning. It had been a late night, exhausting all possibilities until all that remained was that the sheep were ailed only by symptoms without source. Somewhat tedious, certainly, and mayhaps a conclusion that they could have hastily arrived at if within the first ten minutes of their arrival at the farm, but it was important to be certain.

That, and it gave her some time to cast some spells in the wee hours of morning.

"I've encircled the perimeter of your field with a simple Alarm spell, Fletcher, which will inform me next if your sheep were to cross over your fences by any means." She turned towards the others. "It should remove the need for a night watch too, but you may feel free to continue to stand vigil, if you wish."

As for the matter of seeing those pastures...

"Now, a tour of your lands will be splendid. I could do with a morning walk."

From her coat, Csenge pulled out a small vial with a droplet of that black substance at the bottom. It hung from a length of cord, which she looped around her left wrist a few times, leaving it just enough slack to sway slightly. Another trinket that she had burned the midnight oil for, just to be drawn to any like substances if they came across other creatures in the field that were affected in the same way that the farmer's sheep were.

By all accounts, an uneventful night. My watch same as the rest, though I can't help but feel I may have looked towards the moon for some kind of guidance a little too often— whatever I was expecting to get, I can't even begin to name. At some point, I think it was just resting my eyes from trying to search through the mire of ink between those trees, long and tall and dark in the dead of night. That's thing about a late watch, I now realize— you spend long enough looking through the shadows for something, your eyes start trying to guess what your brain might want them to see.

Everyone gets fed up with work at some point, I suppose.

But mainly, I can't report anything of note back, beyond one or two times I heard something and reached for the club. Like I said, though, nothing came of the noise in either instance. Probably just some small creature running through the brush, about as concerned about the farm as me— new noises, new smells, and a very obviously new Big Animal there, staring out with raised hackles any time you move. I'd also stay clear, if we look at it that way.

I hadn't slept beforehand either, opting to just kind of shadow the others as I was able until my turn on the post was set to begin. Primarily, I was bound for the shed, to try and lend Csenge a hand with whatever physical work her rituals might have entailed, but it ended up coming fairly short of the mark as "need for Pete" came. With that determined, the most I had left to do was to politely keep undisruptive, which at least isn't a tall order for a guy like me— I can handle staying out of the way well enough. Hrefna was already lights out when I swung around, and Hyselia had coiled herself near the pastures anyway— something about a bunch of warm-blooded wool in one place being nice and cozy, if memory serves.

So, by the crack of dawn, it's the sense of unfulfillment that wakes me as much as anything else— I hear the tail end of some of Csenge's wards, and she's wearing the long evening on her face, so it isn't as if everyone's been up to nothing much.

As long as we're moving forward, I can suck it up.

"How far's your property go? Any of the woodland back there your purveyance as well?"

Hmph. At least standing watch let me have some time away from that idiot. And that other idiot!

Why did so many idiots have to come on this job? Surely there's plenty of non-idiot adventurers, aren't there?

That stupid curse-user ingvarr, the snake with no sense personal space, isn't there other jobs they couldn't have gone with? There certainly should have been!

... In any case, nothing particularly happened over night, either. Not during my shift, and not during anyone else's. At least it wasn't too uncomfortable to sleep here, and I didn't have to deal with any stupidity either.

---Still, it's frustrating. I was hoping we'd have a quick handle on where to go to find the source of the curse and what to do, but so far that hasn't materialized. Aside from the curse being directly on the land, we still don't really have any solid information. Who, exactly, would plant this curse in the first place, anyway?

Did someone have a grudge against this farmer and his cute sheep?

---Not that them being cute is important, but it's true. Watching them sleep and gently walk around the field, it's pretty hard not to notice. The look like fluffy clouds wandering around, what's even the purpose of making them sick and disappear to begin with?

Well, it's not as if I can't think of a reason. There's plenty of dark rituals someone could perform with the blood of animals, as unpleasant as a thought that may be. As a paladin, I've been instructed on how to recognize and destroy such wickedness. Of course, animal blood is used in some regular magic as well, but surely they would just go to a butcher or something in those cases, wouldn't they?

If I didn't know already, this place certainly wouldn't look cursed during the day. Right now, none of the sheep are frightened, and the fields around Fletcher's farm look entirely peaceful. The only disturbance is the light breeze, making the grass move like a wave.

"I agree, it's for the best if we get to see as much of your land as possible," I say in response, "Especially if there's anywhere that you don't take care of all the time."

If there was anywhere a curse might be planted, it would be somewhere that was often left out of sight. It stood to reason.

@Raineh Daze@ERode@Octo@Rune_Alchemist

---

With the opening assault commenced, many of the goblins were simply unable to fight back. It was no surprise, for creatures for eyes suited to darkness and such large ears, light and sound was an excellent weapon for their disruption. The archers, who had been further from the initial blast, were the first to recover, but Reeva's swift archery proved to be more than enough to dispatch them before they were capable of locating any targets.

With so many goblins dead so swiftly, and many still disoriented, the goblins who had their senses overwhelmed the least were beginning to retreat make into the fort, making rough, scratchy calls in their tongue for some response to the invasion of the structure they had claimed.

There were other sounds from within the fort. The shuffling feet of further goblins, likely attempting to take up positions within to try and put together a defense, but another noise as well.

As strangle rattling, almost hollow sound. It grew louder, and more cacophonous, as if multiple sticks were being brought together and struck against one another.

What next loomed out of the dark of the fort's interior swiftly made the source clear.

A fixed grin. Empty sockets. Worn, white, and thin.

The first animated skeleton raised a rusty sword, clad in rusted and weak plate and gripping a half-distintegrated wooden shield. It was followed by another, this one raising a spear, a pitted helmet sitting upon its fleshless head. And still more animated dead were emerging from the depths, their number difficult to gauge.

The goblins, it seemed, and a mage among their ranks, and the unscrupulous creatures were hardly hesitant to employ necromancy.

@Raineh Daze@Animal@Psyker Landshark@Eisenhorn@The Otter

Fletcher's guide around the farm was terse and not altogether replete with information – some information on when this field or that field had been used, or what it was being used for (when it wasn't altogether obvious from the animals or crops present), but Pete's question about the woodland made the man pause and let out a thoughtful hum.

"Aye, my land goes around the woods – wouldn't say it's mine, you know what old woods are like," he answered, looking at the nearer copse. Small, yes, but old and heavily overgrown, nestled between the fields and left untended as a small stream dove through and out. Something that could have easily been removed for more space if needed, but as the farmer said – "Don't want to make the People angry."

---

The first skeleton came out, drawing the eye of the two hundi least involved in the ongoing goblin slaying, and—

Liliane winced as her wife let out a piercing shriek. She'd been so glad that they had run into goblins, but now she was regretting it. Random bandits were much less likely to have a necromancer on retainer, and the moral difficulties were much less of a problem than a squishy mage freezing up and just staring at the oncoming skeletons.

"N-Ne t'approche pas de moi…"

Definitely not going to calm down and help out.

Which meant Liliane had to do her best to make it easier for everyone else. The simple way would be to trust in the others, rush through the skeletons, and find the mage. They couldn't be that far unless the goblins had some necromancer savant on hand, not with this many.

But that would mean leaving Corinne completely with comparative strangers. Surrounded by undead.

The complicated and inefficient solution it was; Liliane fell amongst the oncoming skeletons in a dizzying blur of daggers. That it was skeletons made it much more of a problem for her; these weren't weapons made for cleaving or breaking; even the comparatively fragile structure of these undead was something that she didn't want to test her blades on for too long. It just wasn't how they were meant to be used and forcing it was a bad habit.

Instead, Liliane found the joints. As easily – no, more easily – than on a living opponent, weaving through where ligaments and tendons should once have been and disrupting the magic currently binding the front wave together. Arms, legs, spines – it didn't matter, so long as they were unarmed or fell. For the moment.

After all, the pile was still shifting, each body trying to pull itself back together – it would certainly make for easier cleanup if anyone wasn't confident in smashing into the horde, but it wasn't finishing them.

@VitaVitaAR@ERode@Octo@Rune_Alchemist@Animal@Psyker Landshark@Eisenhorn@The Otter

Abigail Blackthorn

---

Abigail was grinning ear to ear as she cleaved through the goblins in front of her, bringing the large, two handed axe about in large sweeps that crashed through crude armor, flesh, and then bone with apparent ease. Each swing was turned into the next, joining in the frontal assault that kept the goblins from ever reorganizing to begin with. The sneak thief had the goblin archers taken care of, given the lack of arrows sticking out of her right now, meaning she had free reign to continue carrying on through each goblin she could bring her axe to bear on. Unfortunately, the ones that regained their senses were fleeing, and Abigail readied her axe again, already preparing to launch after them.

"Get back here you craven little shits!"

Then, of course, things got complicated. Not just more goblins trying to form a defense, no, it was....rattling? Not just one set of it either, an entire bunch of things rattling together at the same time. Then came the undead, skeletons this time, with fixed grins, hollow eye sockets, and somehow even more crudely armed than the goblins had been. Worse still, the copper rank basically froze up, shrieked, and was rambling in a language she didn't speak. Right, they were down their mage then, meant doing this the hard way. Abigail kept that grin on her face as she launched herself after the hundi who kept her senses about her, following in her wake as she was putting those daggers to work.

Where Liliane was precision and elegance, Abigail elected to bring her two handed axe into a vertical hacking motion, enough to not threaten the whirlwind of dagger work she was fighting alongside with strictly horizontal swings. It also let her convert the downward momentum of the swing into an overhead with the capped opposite end, aiming to smash as much of the bones of the skeletons as possible with each swing. She would take the fore when able, let the hundi with daggers work the flanks instead as Abigail committed herself to the slightly less pleasant job of smashing apart the undead. Less blood and viscera involved, but they did break nicely so it worked well enough in her favor.

Hrefna had enjoyed her night, getting very drunk and sleeping very poorly despite not taking even a minute of the vigil. In her inebriated euphoria, she ended up locking horns with a few of the farm animals and proving herself to be the strongest by far. She hoped that some of the rams would channel that frustration into strength, and fight for their place in the hierarchy.

She met the pounding headache with which she awoke with yet more drink, and by the time they had all gathered to continue the investigation, she was already buzzed. Smelling of grass and booze, she hung an arm around Rylia.

"Yes, Fletcher, Pyotr make good idea," she said, steadying herself on the tiny paladin, "land blight has visual component. If it were in the fields, it would be noticed quickly. More likely, it is hidden behind tree and foliage. Not too far afield, probably, if sheep go to there."

Pressing up against Rylia, she shoved a flask into the girl's face.

"Are you sure you don't want? You are still inexperienced. It will calm your nerves."