Episode 1: Arrival at Greenest

Theo cursed as he spotted the children come into view, a pack of bloodthirsty kobolds in pursuit. His feet were moving before his brain had any time to formulate something approaching a plan, taking him straight past Halfdan even as Reaver was breaking into a charge himself. Crossbow in hand, he skidded to a halt just short of the fleeing family, calling out to them.

"This way, get behind us!"

In the same moment, he loosed a bolt, but his focus was more on the fleeing kids than on his aim, and the bolt went wide, skimming past one of the kobolds on the edge of the pack without finding its mark.

"Shit," Theo swore, quickly going to reload while calling out to the family again. "C'mon, we've got you covered, the big guy'll take em, you guys just get clear!"
 
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The kobolds flooded out from between the building much like rats, but as two leading the charge were torn down by Reaver's rending attack that came out of seemingly nowhere they quickly shied back with a series of rapid yipping exchanges between one another. The second bellowing roar further had them exchanging nervous glances.

The clamor of words spilling out of the kobolds' mouths would be beyond the understanding of Halfdan and Reaver, but Theo would pick up on a bit of what was being exchanged. The dialect of draconian that they spoke was a bit informal and they spoke at a yattering pace as they talked and shouted over one another. The gist of it was fairly apparent to him though.

"You get it!"

"No, you!"

"I'm not going near it!"

"Coward!"

"Piss face!"

"Dung licker!"

Their hesitation and bickering was short-lived though and much like frightened rats any sense of cohesion quickly fell apart as several of them took the path of least resistance. One hapless kobold was abruptly shoved forward towards Reaver by another and the group parted with several of the kobolds skirting Reaver as they opted to pursue a smaller target - the woman. A few of the kobolds cautiously approached Reaver though and stood with their shoved companion - either braver than their comrades, or perhaps they where simply too wary of trying to skirt past him and chose to cluster together for safety in numbers.

Their movements were anxious and nervous though, and they took a few experimental stabs with their daggers before attacking. He had clearly shaken the lot of them, and none of their hits landed anywhere close to target. The two that closed in on the woman moved with more confidence than those that faced Reaver, but one missed its mark entirely as it lunged forward in a wild stab, and the second kobold's blade was neatly parried by the woman's shield so that it struck wide.
 
The abruptness of crying children and desperate shouting was momentarily startling after the eeriness of their untroubled passage thus far. Halfdan made a placating motion towards the fearful man accompanying the children and tried to call out as the terrified man turned tail with his charges towards danger, but it was lost in the din of Reaver's explosive charge. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw as Theo dashed past him. He kept his glance towards the running man however. "Old war wound perhaps...he'll never make it," he thought as he noticed the odd gait.

Going on pure instinct, he followed his companions a few heartbeats behind. Already the chaos of motion from the kobolds and the reverberating scream told him Reaver was in position. A barely audible whistling in the air told him that Theo must have found his favored position and let loose as well, but Halfdan didn't have time to see if he found his target. "There," he thought. That was just the place where he needed to make his stand. He couldn't match the speed with which the other's sprung into action, but there was a benefit to having a few beats to see the battlefield develop. It let him identify exactly the best place to be in order to be ready to plug the flow.

Amidst a cacophony of chattering squeaks, Halfdan positioned himself at Reaver's back. Already one of the creatures laid dead, and he didn't make it in time to interrupt their spastic attempts to attack the woman. Though thankfully, it was clear she wasn't a maiden in distress and was able to handily weather the assault. Halfdan quickly launched his own attack, aiming to decapitate the kobold before him where it stood...

Unfortunately, his years of training with hafted weapons were all against opponents as tall or taller than himself, and the narrow misjudment coupled with the jerky way the creatures moved led him to narrowly missing the thing's head by a few tufts of fur. Frustrated with himself, he reversed his swing and struck to bludgeon the damn thing without flair using the butt of his halberd. He'd face his foolishness in the mirror later; at least he was in the perfect position to unleash hell now.
 
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The butt of Halfdan's halberd hit the kobold squarely between the eyes and set it staggering back and left it open to the woman at his side. Unfortunately she seemed to be equally suffering from adjusting to the size of their opponent with her broken spear, and even dazed the kobold managed to scramble and duck out of the way of her spear thrust. For the moment though the arrival of Halfdan and Reaver, coupled with the woman standing her ground had given the kobolds a moment of hesitation as their opponents seemed to be rapidly growing in number.

The arrival of allies had emboldened the women's grim resolve into fiery determination as she chose continue the fight rather than fall back. She didn't know what to make of Reaver, but he fought against the kobolds and that made him an ally for the moment.

"I can fight," she informed them breathlessly.

Despite still catching her breath from the earlier run, she maintained a readied combat stance.

Meanwhile the man with the children responded quickly to the shifting of the situation and Theo's words. Instead of running deeper into the night and away from aid, he pulled the children past Theo and away from the combat. There was no time for thanks, but the look of gratitude in the man's eyes was palpable as they moved past Theo.

Meanwhile the commotion and sounds of the battle had drawn other villagers out of hiding, and a door cracked open across the street to the south. An elderly woman was waving frantically to the man with the children to get inside as an older man appeared at her side. He wielded a fire-poker in one hand. The man limping past Theo was moving slow though, and Theo would see what the others hadn't in the dark. The man's pant-leg was soaked with blood, and it was running heavy enough to leave bloody boot prints in the dirt road as he moved.
 
Hazily through Reaver's rage, it saw the woman (friend?) with one of the monsters bearing down on her (KILL!). It roared with bloodlust as it stepped over the kobold it'd just chopped in half, pulling its Warhammer as it moved. With its right hand, Reaver brought the battleaxe down hard toward the monster's back, the cold steel edge driving into its shoulder and into its chest cavity.

With ease, the metal monstrosity loosed the axe and turned fully around. As it turned, Reaver brought its left hand, along with the blunt business end of its hammer, down on the kobold that now stood before him.
 
Theo breathed a slight sigh of relief as the kids moved past him, shifting a few steps to place himself squarely in between them and the attacking kobolds as he cranked another bolt into place on his crossbow. The man's injury looked unpleasant, but not life-threatening: he was quickly coming to suspect he'd need to save what magic he had for the latter, rather than being able to patch up every cut anyone ended up with along the way.

Taking a steadying breath, he lifted his crossbow once more and took careful aim. Finding a gap in the melee to shoot was difficult, but after a moment his eyes locked onto the still-living creature that was threatening the children's mother.

With a moment of inspired precision, he loosed his bolt, sending it hissing through the air between her and Halfdan to lodge squarely in the skull of the kobold. The creature didn't even screech, its head snapping back and its weapons tumbling from its claws as it fell slack to the ground.

Damn, that was a good shot, Theo mused, giving himself a mental pat on the back. Still more of the creature remained, though - there wasn't time to feel too smug. Shifting his focus to the next creature, he started to slot another bolt into place.
 
Initially re-emboldened by their numbers and the frenzy of battle, the nimble kobolds darted to and fro, looking for openings as they slashed wildly with their tiny daggers. They lacked military discipline or any semblance of proper cohesion though, and it was by pure chance rather than skill that a single kobold landed a glancing scratch upon Reaver. It was in that moment that the elated kobold - looking to his allies in a puff of pride - realized that their numbers had greatly diminished in the skirmish.

Any semblance of elation evaporated in a moment and with only four still remaining standing, their frenzied attacks turned to panic. The ones nearest Reaver were scrambling backwards to put some distance between themselves and the behemoth's warhammer, but the one nearest the human woman had far less room to maneuver.
 
Still faced with the unfamiliar problem of having to look down at his opponents, Halfdan watched for an opening. The pint-sized pests writhed without discipline as they were cut down. He watched as Reaver nearly hacked one in half with his battle axe, and quickly surmised that the one he struck next with his war hammer could be safely disregarded for now. He turned his attention next to the one closest to the woman, and prepared to strike it down to give her some room—just as a bolt flew in from Theo's direction and ended the thing. "Nice shot," he shouted as he switched the angle of his upper body. The next closest one then.

It wasn't as good an opening, not with Reaver's bulk so close by and the unpredictable way the Kobold's moved. Still, it would have to do. He picked his moment carefully, and loosened a diagonal swipe with his halberd meant to cleave the thing in half. However, he had to stop the momentum of his swing just as the butt of his halberd met his own midsection. To follow through with the full motion would have meant getting too close to Reaver's space and risk opening them both off to injury. Still, Halfdan saw that his attack grievously wounded the creature. He didn't have much room to maneuver any further, so he made the snap decision in the heat of his swing to unleash another attack with the haft of the weapon on the other side of the creature's space. Halfdan knew there was no way it would connect, but with luck it would scare the near dead creature into giving the woman a clean opening to finish it off.
 
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Halfdan's intentions proved effective as the woman moved in and thrust her broken spear into the kobolds chest, swiftly finishing it off. She offered an appreciate nod to Halfdan as she adjusted her grip on the spear. Three kobolds remained yet, but Reaver seemed to have it well under control and she kept back at ready in case any made a run past him.

Meanwhile the wounded man and the children had nearly made the doorway of the nearby building where they where being ushered to hurry and get inside.
 
Theo locked his next bolt into place quickly, sweeping the crossbow around to find his next target. Picking an easier shot at the kobold on the fringes of the fray this time, he trained the bolt on the creature and loosed. The bolt found its mark, lodging in the kobold's shoulder and knocking it off balance, but though the injury was solid, the creature didn't drop.

"Shit," Theo swore. A not-dead kobold was a kobold that might still stab one of them, injured or not.

Plus, after that last shot... he'd hoped he was on a roll.
 
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As one of the remaining kobolds was struck by an arrow, the other two determined they had enough. These combatants where far from easy pickings and leaving their stunned and wounded comrade in their wake, the two made a few haphazard attacks as they turned and bolted. Neither of them managed to strike Reaver in their panicked withdrawal.

In that same moment the street was momentarily plunged into shadow as the moonlight was blocked out by the the dragon that passed overhead. The distraction lasted only a moment, but the two kobolds had sprung clear of Reaver and Halfdan's blows and where fleeing into the night.
 
The shadow passing over head made the hairs on Halfdan's arm stand up on end. It suddenly felt like knife was held at his throat. They were too exposed, and the chattering Kobolds didn't exactly make for a quiet encounter. This needed to end quick and they had to regroup and make sure these people were out of sight. Halfdan did not relish the thought of something more challenging than kobolds catching them expose with children to protect. Having missed his attack at one of the retreating kobolds after having his awareness suddenly wrenched to the skies, he instead turned smoothly to the stunned kobold. Without hesitation, he struck the thing's head off. There was neither room nor time for quarter now. He shook the blood off his halberd and turned to look towards the retreating kobolds. He was conflicted; on one hand they needed to get out of sigh and regroup but on the other was the risk the things could bring reinforcements.
 
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As another kobold fell, Cuth and the children made it inside the nearby building and the door was closed behind them. The children at least for the time being where safe from the immediate dangers of the skirmish.

Outside Linan brought an arm up across her brow to wipe the sweat away. Two of the kobolds had bolted, but she was too winded to give chase. She would never out-pace them.

"We can't stay out here," she gasped out breathlessly to Halfdan as she stepped closer. "We need to get to the keep."
 
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Theo aimed his crossbow at the retreating kobold for a beat, but after a moment shrugged and lowered it. It might tell its comrades they were here, but given that there already seemed to be resistance going on, he doubted its report would be taken as much worth talking about.

After a moment, he noticed the raging warforged that had just struck down the other fleeing creature had stopped stock still. Quirking an eyebrow, he took a few steps forwards. "Tin man? Er, Reaver? You in there?"

No response.

Tentatively, Theo jogged forwards over to where he was stood, ducking to peer up at the lowered head of the iron man. The light that had shone in his eyes had gone out, leaving him looking like so much empty armor.

"Well, shit. I think he's run out of magic juice, or whatever makes him go."
 
Halfdan's gaze was locked past the approaching woman as his neck smoothly turned to track the kobolds flight. "We do but," he agreed partially. On the same spoken breath, he found his hands and feet moving automatically. "Can't have them give us away". Halfdan quickly surmised that there was simply no way to catch up to the kobold, so instead he quickly stopped in place and grounded his halberd before drawing a javelin. He saw from the corner of his eyes as Theo surrendered on his opening. While Halfdan knew the odds were long against him it simply ran counter to his nature to not try to take out a target he had singled out. He planned his shots trajectory as quickly as he could and let loose.

"Fuck," he cursed in frustration as he saw his shot land wide. The kobold disappeared in an instant as he crossed the threshold into the tall grass. Taller than it was. It only took a second for the wake of the thing's passing through grass to become indistinguishable from the motion of the grass with the wind. He picked up his halberd with some more muttering and turned to face Theo. He had intended to lay it on him for not helping when he noticed Theo's observation of their ferrous friend and caught his words. "What do you mean?" he asked with obvious confusion. "Like he fainted?"

He moved to stand next to Theo and joined in on the peering. He suppressed the strong urge to knock upon the Warforged's exterior. "We do not have time for this. We can't leave him out like this if this is what passes for...sleeping with his kind. Help me drag him under cover," Halfdan said as he gestured towards the house where the wounded man and the children had run into. He intended to see to the old man's wounds and speak to the woman on what exactly happened here and awaited them at the keep.
 
"Yeah, I'll, uh... definitely be helpful," Theo murmured, glancing between his unimpressive arms and the bulky warforged before them. "Have I mentioned yet that upper body strength isn't one of my many gifts? Because this seems like a good time..."

It was at that point that, behind them, the front door of the house the children had retreated into burst open once more, and another figure spilled out into the street. He was a young man - no older than Theo, albeit possessing the broad shoulders of a laborer to offset his boyish looks. One of his arms - clad in an elaborate looking gauntlet that ran up to his shoulder - was jerking back and forth at the elbow, much to his apparent frustration.

"Dang it, just- stop freakin' out, already!" he cursed, bringing a smith's hammer that he held in his other hand up and slamming it into the joint a few times with a series of resounding clangs. On the third whack, his arm stopped flailing, and he was able to turn his attention onto the street and those assembled on it. "Is it- is it over? I- I'm here to help!" he blurted as he scurried off the front porch and halfway over to where Linan was stood.

"Nah we've pretty much got things here," Theo replied, slinging his crossbow over his shoulder with a grin at the newcomer's amusingly clumsy arrival. "Little late to the party, I'm afraid."

"Ah, dang it..." The boy sighed. "Uh, not that it's a bad thing that y'all are safe! I just wish I coulda helped. Dang thing," he frowned down at his arm, flexing it a few times experimentally. For now, it still seemed to be behaving itself. "Of all the times to act up..."
 
"I can help move it," Linan interjected. "But we need to be quick. We don't want to be here if that kobold brings trouble back."

Though not particularly large in stature, the woman had the build of a warrior with lean muscle making up much of her body tone. And though still a bit breathless from her earlier ordeal, the woman seemed to have plenty of strength left in her.

"We're right on the northern edge of town," she added. "It's probably safer out here than in town with all the looting," she explained.

There were ample trees, bushes, and shrubbery in their vicinity.

She looked up sharply as a form stumbled out of the house across the street, but she quickly recognized the individual.

"Cole! Over here," she called out to him.

Surely the three of them could move the thing.

"What is this thing anyways?" she asked Halfdan. "A golem of some sort?"
 
Halfdan nodded in response to the woman's sense of urgency. He agreed fully. As she called out to someone named Cole, Halfdan moved behind Reaver and began trying to mimic lifting him from various angles. He was trying to guess the most comfortable way he could bear most of It's weight. "Of a sort but unlike any I've heard of before," Halfdan replied ambivalently. "Not like an enchanted Wizard's servant. It either could—or pretended very well to—think like you or me. Quite an interesting fella." He settled on gripping the Warforged under the thing's arms, and moved into position.

"But we have no idea if the thing fainted, fell asleep, or befell some other magical sort. It was nice enough when awake, wouldn't want to leave It to become part of a dragon's hoard," he said as he did a few experimental lifts and pointed towards Reaver's legs with his chin. "I reckon I can hold most of It's weight, thing's top heavy. You grab the legs and help stabilize" he said to Linan.
 
"I can get it!" Jogging over in response to Linan's call, Cole stowed his hammer and moved to grab hold of the legs as the stranger had indicated. He lingered for a moment, gawping at the metal man with fascination. "I ain't never seen a golem built like this before. He looks all sorts of fancy. Maybe me an' my ma can take a look at him later, see if we can figure out what stopped him tickin'?"

"I like your optimism," Theo remarked with a grin. "Later. You know, once we deal with the dragon and the cultists and other inconveniences like that."

Cole laughed nervously in response. "Ah, I guess later ain't a given, you're right- but there's no good in thinkin' that way. Besides, I've heard stories of what a dragon can do, an' this one ain't done near half of it. Could've destroyed the whole village by now if that was what it was anglin' for, but it's mostly just been flyin' circuits up there. I reckon it don't really care about us one way or another. An' the kobolds and raiders? They're all over the place, started scatterin' and lootin' the moment they got into town, they've got no real plan or trainin', it seems like."

He flashed a confident smile. "All o' that combined, I reckon we've got a damn good shot at sending 'em packin' if we're smart about it, an' we can regroup with the rest o' the guard at the keep."

Theo quirked an eyebrow, honestly a little surprised that the newcomer had put that much thought into things. It seemed like a fairly good assessment of the situation, and even if it was a somewhat hollow reassurance that if the dragon wanted them to be dead, they would be, it was something. "I'm gonna go ahead and repeat that I like your optimism," he answered, shrugging. "But hey, I guess I've signed up to try whether it's likely or not."
 
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