Diaries of a Dwarven Rifleman

By mid-day they found the first dead dwarven slave by the trail. He was an older fellow and at a guess had trouble keeping up. They'd simply slit his throat and pushed him off of the path. As skinny and wasted as his corpse was Engvyr didn't wonder that they had not bothered to butcher him for meat.

The goblins were pressing on hard. They pursued them throughout the long afternoon and well into the night before stopping themselves. They made a cold camp and were on their way again before first light. At dawn they found where the goblins had stopped for several hours. The Baasgarta had apparently been in a celebratory mood and the rangers were sickened by the evidence of the feast that they had left behind.

“I guess they took more slaves than they needed to carry the artifact,” Taarven observed. Engvyr nodded, feeling heartsick and enraged for their distant kin. There will be a reckoning, he promised the pitiful remains silently. They pressed on, now only scant hours behind their quarry. The trail narrowed, passing into a gully, and they paused.

“Looks like a great place for an ambush,” Engvyr commented.

“Or to wait for your friends to catch up,” Taarven said, “Either way I don't think that we want to ride up and just see what happens.”

Signaling the others to wait, they cut off the trail and worked their way along below the crest of the ridge line until they could see down into the gully. Sure enough, the Baasgarta were there in company strength, positioned to ambush anyone that came along.

“I'll keep watch here,” Taarven said quietly in Engvyr's ear, “You let the skirmishers know about these boys.”

Engvyr nodded and backed carefully away from their viewpoint. Making his way to the ponies he mounted and began to ride back down the trail left by the Baasgarta. The simplest way to find the skirmisher's…

“Halt!” came the command from the undergrowth alongside the trail.

…was to let them find him. One of the soldiers came out to speak with him and he quickly described what they had found. Others came out of hiding as well to listen. In the end a full company followed him north to ambush the ambushers.

They quietly rejoined Taarven, then the rangers and half of the skirmishers slowly worked their way past the Baasgarta. When they were certain they were clear of the goblin's sentry-line they moved back to the trail and set an ambush of their own. Soon they heard the troops on the hillside open up, firing down on the Baasgarta from above. The quieter slams of the goblin's crossbows answered and before long they could see the enemy retreating towards them, their full attention focused on the force above. The skirmishers that were lying in ambush on the trail took them from behind in a deadly crossfire. The goblins were unable to shelter from the fire of both forces at once and it was over in minutes.

“Neatly done,” Engvyr complimented the company commander afterwards while they waited for one of the soldiers to bring their ponies up from where they had hidden them.

“Worked a treat,” the commander agreed, “Except for the part where we lost two hours taking care of this bunch. We're that much further behind the Baasgarta and only an hour or so ahead of the regiments.”

“One more delay like this and our chances of catching up with the Baasgarta go from 'slim' to 'none,'” Taarven observed, “Not to mention that as soon as this bunch realizes we're coming up behind 'em we're likely to bite into something a lot tougher to chew up than these boys were.”

“And we're coming on to sunset,” said Engvyr. After thinking about things for a moment he continued, “So we're about to go charging into the night into unknown territory, not knowing our enemy's numbers, disposition or even if they know we're pursuing them. I'm as game as the next dwarf, boys, but does this actually sound like a good idea to anyone?”

The Commander frowned and said, “Not to me it doesn't. It was all well and good to chase after them on the off chance we could catch up and do them a mischief. But I do not believe that we can, and it is no longer prudent to try. We're going to go defensive and wait for the regiments.”

“Makes sense,” Engvyr agreed, then looked at Taarven, “Suppose that you and I just take us a bit of a look around in the meantime?”

Taarven grunted and said, “Might be best. Lord and Lady know what might be lurking hereabouts. We could be a half-mile from an army and not know it in these mountains.”

“Best you be about it then,” the commander told them, “and the Lord and Lady watch over you.”

The rangers traveled cautiously through the darkness. Around midnight they found another company-sized ambush. They left markings along the trail to tip off the regiments and skirted the goblin force and continued, deeper into the unknown.