Who needs numbers?!?

[Jereth Ingsbe]

With a loud metallic rattle and flecks of still warm blood flying, Jereth throws a stack of armor, hastily bound and readied for transport. He doesn't appear to give the new burden much attention, instead focused on the current action, something that seems to be becoming disconcertingly common. Charging along with the rest that follow the halfing refugees, he grabs any stragglers and propells them in the appropriate direction, the multitude of injuries apparently having little effect on the young savage.

Only once the crowd of fleeing warriors and halflings had faded somewhat into the valley of trees does the bloody warrior slow his pace. Finally he rests against a tree, fresh blood eeking out from several different wounds. Its a short rest as the giant continues to hear movement in the brush, knowing that the true escape path would come to a bottleneck, so he lurches thru the trees to watch the procecssion towards freedom, the glittering hammer held readily in one massive fist....

[Zee]

Myrina:

*Watches as jereth heaves the man who was once the lieutenant (i assume) onto his shoulder. Eyeing her sword with a curious look as if it was strange to her.* "I've grown rusty since i left the academy." *She says slowly, shaking the thought from her head she tears a remnant of her sleeve off and wipes the blade clean before putting it back in its proper resting place. Looking down at her torn and bloodied clothing she sighs.* "Utterly ruined..." *She pauses as she looks up trying to spot the possible parents of the two children they've been taking care of. The scanning passes quickly though as she sees jereth trailing off with the man, yelling to the behemoth to not run too far away. Moving to catch up, she passes by paks in the process. Looking concernedly at the ranger.* "You look a little worse for the wear, nothing to permanent i hope?" *Oddly enough though, the elf likely looks as bad as, if not worse than the woman she is talking to.

[Paks]

The ranger glances at her own wounds for a second before sighing at Myrina, "It's times like this that I wonder if I took the right path in life, I have no healing skills what so ever. You look like you may have earned an extra scar or two yourself, nothing too serious I hope" she says as she runs her eyes over the elfs battle wounds.

"So, is Jereth always like that during battle? All I can say is, I don't want to cross him anytime soon" she says, spotting the giant man over the crowd of fleeing halflings.

Turning back to Myrina, "Have you seen Katherina or Alun? Do you know how they faired?"

[Zee]

Myrina:

*Shrugs at the ranger.* "Most of mine were mainly superficial and swords tend to cut clean enough so as to not leave anything too nasty looking. Only the second time i've been in combat with the man, seems he causes mayhem like that every time though. Good for us, extremely bad for anyone not us. I saw katherina at the very end, some very fancy foot work." *The last she says with a bit of a wild grin.* "Alun, i think i saw him floating around somewhere after the battle as well." *Eyeballing jereth from a distance she calls over to him.* "You took quite a few blows, nothing going to hinder a monster like you i hope?" *She turns back to the ranger quickly with a wink.* "Well i suppose we should try and find the boys parents."

"If this doesn't work i think it's your turn, after all i coaxed the boys out." *Looking over the halflings running around she tries to eyeball anyone having a family resmebelance, but the little ankle-biters seem to be running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Giving up trying to spot them she simply calls out.* "Mr. or Mrs. Rory and Coran, we would like to speak to you."

[Jereth Ingsbe]

Hearing the pain-stricken Lt. groan for Jereth to put him down, the giant simply bumps the man's head off of a tree trunk quieting him. The huge man turns towards those calling over to him, he grunts at Myrina's concerns nodding confidently. Though apparently not diminished by the multitude of wounds covering him, he knows the truth as another wave of lightheadedness washes over him, he'd lost an incredible amount of blood. Exhaustion too was starting to take its toll, he hadn't felt this weary since he'd been ambushed, unarmed, by a large bear, that fight too had left him near death, but this time he was certain the fighting wasn't soon over as the raiders would certainly come again seeking blood and what they had already claimed for their own.

Thinking of this, Jereth again knocks the unconscious Lt.'s head against a tree, his sheer natural aggression revitalizing him. Stepping through a thick area of brush he finds a large group of the halflings gathered and milling around, obviously agitated. "No stop, keep on," but then he considers them, "Why stop?" his growling baritone voice encompassing the group of refugees.

[Paks]

Paks nods and looks around as Myrina tells her how her companions faired in the battle. As the elf calls out for the childrens parents, the ranger wonders how in the world they will ever find them. However, one fleeing Halfling does catch the elf's words and makes her way over.

"Did you say Rory and Coran by any chance?" a young woman asks. The ranger nods, "Are you their mother?"

"No, a neighbour. Are they safe? Rory and Coran?" the Halflings asks, looking between Paks and Myrina, and now Jereth.

"Aye, they are safe" the ranger replies, secretly hoping that Xxian had been behaving himself and looking after the twins properly. "Are their parents here?"

The neighbour shakes her head, "No, they were taken somewhere else, I don't know where. Some of us were brought here, the rest, well, I just don't know"

Paks thanks the halfling and turns back to Myrina and Jereth, "So what now? Do we keep Rory and Coran with us until we find them?"

[Zee]

Myrina:

*Looks over at the woman claiming to be a neighbor to the chldren. A smile of pure glee crosses her lips as she turns to address the rangers question.* "No, I say we let this young miss right here take care of the children until we can find their parents. After they are a bit of a liability for us, we could have really used xxian today, but we couldn't because some one had to watch them. Suppose some one gets the jump on us as well, it is far too dangerous for us to bring them along with us when we have some one here is familiar with them and capable of taking the children with her." *She pauses and turns back to the halfling woman not really asking whether or not she wants them or not, nor caring if she wants to or not.*

[Paks]

The ranger nods in agreement, "Aye, I guess you are right, they tend to be a liability for us" she says before turning to the Halfling.

"If you'll just follow us, we'll take you to Rory and Coran and you can take care of them until their parents are found" she says, taking Myrina's lead and not asking the woman but telling her.

[Jereth Ingsbe]

Not really following along with the conversation, the warrior wades through the sea of tiny people, dropping the subdued Lt. amongst the milling halflings. Creeping forward into the brush, weapon and wits at the ready, the giant seeks out not only the path to safety, but any sign of the certainly stung kidnappers. He was more than aware of the ultimate consequenses of a violent power struggle.

Thinking of this he scans the shadowed undergrowth before breaking through into a darkened clearing and freezing suddenly. Across the clearing stands a hulking figure in spiked jet-black plate armor and grotesque horned helm, regarding him intensely with smoldering hateful eyes. With a fanged almost familar sneer, the figure disappears, not turning or moving, but simply ceasing to be.

After moments that seem like eternity, the weary brave slumps bodily against a tree, leaving a great smear of fresh blood as he slides into a crouch. Frozen in terror and confusion for the others to find, Jereth can only mumble a denial of what he'd seen, "Nightmare man...."

[Zee]

Myrina:

*Sighs a sigh of relief when they get the halfling woman back to the children and their gnomish captor, err, babysitter.* "Hello children, well we haven't found your mom and pop yet, but she should be pretty close right?" *She says motioning to the childrens neighbor.* "She said your parents are somewhere else, but dont worry we're going to find them before this is through." *Turning her head to the side for a moment she spots jereth leaning against a tree, making her way over to him she sees him unlike he's ever been.* "All well jereth? You seem like the battle took more of a toll on you than you even realized."

[Jereth Ingsbe]

Looking up at the elf maiden with a blank look save for the fear evident there, an expression almost alien on his wretched features. After a moment he turns back to the spot Myrina had found him staring at, "Nightmare man...," he mutters breathlessly. With a shuddering effort he staggers to his feet, "Keep go, shortlings danger." White as a sheet and not only from the blood loss, Jereth presses forward into the undergrowth, silently wondering how a dream can be real...

[Zee]

Myrina:

*Watches the man as he takes off into the forest. Saying nothing, figuring its something he will take of himself. Turning back to the ranger.* "I guess its time we round up the halflings and get that man concious so we can start questioning them and find out what our next step should be."

[Paks]

The children happily attach themselves to their familiar neighbour, though they seem sad that they won't be with Myrina or Paks anymore. Both children give the women a hug and kiss before leaving with the Halfling woman.

Watching the children united with Halfling Captive, Paks waves them a last farewell before turning her attention to Myrina and nods, "Indeed. Should we go after Jereth or just leave him be? He looked pretty spooked, he's not likely to get himself lost is he?"

[Zee]

Myrina:

*Smiles at the boys as she bids them a fond farewell.* "No i believe he should be fine. He doesn't really seem the type to get lost to me. If he doesn't come back after a while though i imagine we can find him. Heavy as he is i would suspect he would leave ample tracks for some one like you to follow."

[Mudguard]

Alun follows his companions in a kind of daze. His small frame seems to be vibrating as adrenalin continues to pumps through it after his first real combat. Feelings of relief and joy for the freed captives conflict with anxiety lest something should hinder their full escape.
He halts near where his companions are standing and whistles a single low note softly to himself before saying ,
"Are we just going to let the halflings make their own way home then?".