Name: Todd Longfellow, Race: Human

Height: 5’6”, Weight: 130, Sex: Male

Archetype: Fighter

HP: 18 / 18, Mana: 0 / 0

Stats:

Physical: 4, Moxie: 2, Spiritual: 2, Luck: 2

Agility: 2, Magic: 2, Mental: 2, Energy: 3.

Relevant Skills: Balance, Melee - Shrubbery, Melee - Sword, Physical - Armored Defense, Physical - Awareness, Physical - Intimidate, Physical - Jump, Physical - Lift, Physical - Run

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"Stay together," Todd whispered to the eight villagers around him, some of them still children; twelve or thirteen, but standing with clenched jaws and white-knuckled fingers holding onto their swords. A few of them shook as they inched forward. "Remember, these creatures stole your homes." A few hands shook less, and jaws tightened.

Todd advanced ten feet, turned toward his group, and beckoned them forward. Jax did the same fifty feet to the left, and Reggie fifty feet to the right. Each had a group of villagers with them as well. Todd looked deep into the woods, trying to guess how much farther to the village.

Advance, wait, verify everyone else was close, then repeating the process like a slug or worm inching its way along. Every foot further and some villager looked a little more relaxed, and some looked tenser.

Snap! The sound of branches breaking echoed among the trees. Todd glanced toward Jax and Reggie. They were looking around too. Todd took a few steps ahead of his trainee's and stood, sword out as he scanned the foliage ahead.

Like a blind bull charging through a China shop, two forms burst through brush and branches in the direction of Todd and his trainees. An arrow shot out from behind Todd toward the rampaging forms, hitting a branch, miles from the shapes.

"Hold," Todd said as he steadied his sword in front. The forms continued toward the group, oblivious to the danger present. As branches and leaves moved out of the way, they were more recognizable. Sirah and the other lady in Charisse's team, Todd, couldn't remember the second villager's name. "It's the scouts!" Todd stepped to the side and waved a hand to his people to lower weapons.

Sirah and Xantha looked at Todd and threw a quick wave at him as they continued to run. As soon as they were a few feet from Todd, they slowed and stopped, bent over, gulping in air.

"We… were… see…" Sirah said between gulps of air. "Frederick… hit… Charisse… carrying him."

"How far?" Todd said.

"Five minutes…" Xantha said, pointing behind them.

"You injured?" Todd said, giving both a glance, neither seemed injured beyond scrapes and cuts from trees.

"We're fine…" Sirah said.

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"We got some running to do." Todd nodded and beckoned his villagers, "try to keep up." He called out, looking in Jax's and Reggie's direction, then he started running.

Todd forced himself to jog instead of flat outrun. Knowing his skill and attribute was higher than everyone else meant he could quickly leave everyone behind. Showing up to a battle without any help, he imagined would be a quick way back to the glade. Jogging through the trail made by the two scouts, he also tapped his sword against the occasional tree. He was letting the blade slice the bark and branches, leaving a trail that should be easy for anyone to follow.

A minute into jogging, Todd glanced behind him; a couple of his people were fifty feet behind him, the rest he couldn't see. Finding a small clearing, he slowed and stopped near a tree. He was waving at the first pair of villagers to get near.

"Resting a moment, let people catch up," Todd said. The younger two villagers of his group hacked and coughed while leaning against a tree. One of them emptied his stomach. "Use some water to rinse out your mouth, don't drink a lot, it'll make you sick."

Todd struggled to remember the youth's names, Tobias, Tobian, Tobe, something that started with a T. Glancing around them; he looked down the trail as he mulled over the names.

Another fifty feet or so some more villagers, Sirah was among them. Smiling to himself, Todd turned around to look toward the village. A trail of broken tree branches and leaves cut through the foliage ahead. Thick trees and shrubbery prevented anything further than forty or fifty feet out to be seen. Stepping toward Sirah, Todd held out a canteen toward the lady.

"Water?" Todd offered when the scout was close.

Sirah shook her head and stepped next to Todd. "Why we stopped?"

"Not everyone can run for more than a minute or two. Didn't want to get too spread out." Todd motioned in the direction they were heading with the canteen. "How much further?"

"Probably another ten minutes at the pace we are going," Sirah said.

"Damn," Todd took a drink of water and looked around. Jax was a dozen feet away. "Jax, get two of your fastest people." Todd looked at Sirah, "you able to keep up for a few more minutes?"

"Yes,"

"Jax, Sirah, and I are going to run ahead. The rest of you keep running and stay together. An army is only as fast as the slowest member." Todd looked around and saw a few people nodding at him. "Be ready; if we come running back, we'll be bringing some dinner guests."

Todd threw what he hoped was a wicked smile, then patted Jax on the shoulder. Tossing his canteen to one of the kids, Todd turned and started running.

Taking the lead quickly, Todd glanced back to verify Jax and Sirah were behind him. Jax lagged in the rear, his two trainees were immediately behind Todd, and Sirah was in the middle. Pouring on the speed, Todd ran, reminding him of trying out for football; while he hadn't been the fastest on the team, his height and talent placed him on the team.

Breathing in a steady rhythm, Todd ducked branches and wove around trees. Something short moved out from behind a tree; Todd tried to avoid it, hitting his right knee against it.

His leg knocked out from under him, Todd tumbled onto the ground, shoulder slamming into a tree. The short ball wobbled, and it stood up, pulling a large knife from a sheath. The green skin and jagged teeth turned into a smile as the goblin screeched.

Todd reached for his sword; the scabbard was empty. Reaching out toward a nearby bush, he grabbed it around the trunk and pulled.

The soft ripping sound filled the air as Todd pulled a bush from the ground. Roots with clumps of dirt dangled underneath. Todd held the plant one-handed in front of him. A smile from the goblin was the only warning before it attacked.

Todd deflected the knife with the bush; as he swung the plant around, he managed to slash across the goblins face with it. Some of the branches broke, leaving pointed stems that left cuts in the creature's skin.

Pulling back with the plant, Todd took a step forward and punched with the bush.

"I'm the Knight who goes Ni!" Todd yelled as he swung his plant at the creature. The many branches of the plant made it impossible for the beast to parry.

Before Todd could launch another foliage flurry, the eyes of the goblin widened, and it coughed up some blood. One of the trainee's Jax brought along stood up, barely a few inches taller than the goblin, and holding a bloody sword.

"Normally, I wouldn't interfere, but it seemed like you already had a brush with death." The young man said with a wiggle of his eyebrows. He pointed in the ground off to Todd's left. "Swords there, unless you prefer…" the man shrugged and ran off to the side.

Todd chuckled, looked around to make sure no goblins were nearby as he reached down and grabbed his sword from the ground. Wiping the blade off, he tossed the bush and made a mental note to consider such a weapon in the future. Pulling his mind back to reality, Todd saw several goblins engaged with Jax, the two trainees, and Sirah, each outnumbered.

Running, then leaping over some brush, Todd attacked one of the goblins on Sirah. The creature barely looked up in time to see Todd's sword-swinging downward.

Hands gripped on the sword, swinging with the momentum of his jump behind him, Todd was surprised when the weapon sliced through the goblin. Two halves of the creature fell in opposite directions, a look of shock on both. Todd roared at the other goblin in front of Sirah and flicked his weapon, so the blood-splattered the creature.

Briefly, the goblin stood staring at Todd; its arm shaking, a dagger from Sirah stopped the creature shaking and all other movements.

"Go help Jax, and I'll help the other two," Todd said before turning and running toward the quick-witted trainee. Todd easily located the trainee and ran.