Mason had yet to find any goblins, but he did find a giant, green...

"What in the name of Christ is that?" Seamus whispered, much too loudly, apparently having crept out from where he'd been told to wait back in the denser trees. Mason sighed.

"I think it's a different kind of troll.”

"Sorry, Patron," Phuong said as he crept up next to them. "I figured stunning him was more disruptive than just letting him go."

"I thought we were waitin', what are ya'll doing up here?" Becky completed the trio of loud crawling humans next to Mason's position, but it seemed the troll hadn't noticed them.

In fact it didn't seem very interested in anything except the rocks it was smashing together, shaking with what might have been a giggle.

"Like a huge, terrifying baby," Seamus whispered, and Mason snorted.

He was beginning to suspect these Greenblood goblins used the creatures like stupid guard dogs. Really stupid guard dogs.

On the other hand, the thing was maybe twelve feet tall and covered in regenerating tissue, sporting long claws and jagged teeth. Leaving something like that to just wander around while he kept scouting didn't seem wise. But he didn't much want to fight it and attract attention, either. He sighed.

"Time to move on, I think." He glanced back at the others, then felt the wind slightly change. He froze as the troll stopped bashing its rocks and sniffed the air.

"Shit. Get back to the trees. I think it..."

The troll let out a high pitched, mewling sound as it stood. Then it charged headlong in the players' direction.

"Kill it." Mason lifted his now strung goblin bow, chose Fire Arrows, and prepared to cycle shots. "Everything you've got, Seamus. Hit it now."

Crippling Shot worked just fine—spraying fire as the arrow shattered and stuck to the troll's legs like burning splinters. Seamus' fiery missiles slammed into the beast's chest and face, causing it to raise its hands to cover itself.

Between the pain and lack of attention, it soon tripped and crashed down the hill in the least graceful roll imaginable.

Mason and Seamus hit it with arrows and flaming balls the whole way down. By the time it stopped it was dripping blood and burning flesh. But it still got up.

Phuong raced forward and stunned it. Or at least tried. The sizzling magic struck and knocked the troll back a step. But it just shook its head and came on. Mason dropped his bow and summoned his Claws.

"Keep shooting it, Seamus. Becky - don't worry about me or Streak, just protect Phuong."

Mason charged with Streak on one side, Rebecca on the other. This troll was much faster (and smaller) than the one in the tree.

Not at all 'small', of course, just smaller. He roared and slashed at Phuong, barely missing as the efficient Vietnamese swordsman just pulled away from the edge of the claws.

Then the others struck. Mason slashed two bloody lines in the troll's right leg, Becky blasting the troll back a step with some kind of projected shield. Then the ever growing Streak smashed into the troll's other leg, sweeping it out and barreling the creature over.

With a deep, vicious snarl, Streak leapt, clawed, and chomped down on the side of the troll's neck before it could recover. The new power ‘Fang Brother’ proved its worth.

Blood and flesh stripped off the creature like the wolf was using steel. The troll gasped and tried to push the animal away, but Streak just kept chewing and raking as it swung its head back and forth and sprayed troll blood everywhere.

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Mason and Phuong didn't waste the opportunity.

They hacked at the troll's arm when it tried to lift itself, then stepped around it cutting flesh and bone away from the thing's head and chest until it sagged back down.

Still it ignored them, managing to swipe a claw across Streak's back. But the huge wolf just shrugged it off and held on. The troll's eyes were closing, red pupils rolling as it lost either too much blood or air.

When it finally collapsed entirely and stilled, Mason took its head in a few grisly cuts.

[Mountain Troll killed. Group experience awarded.]

"Streak's hurt, Mason. I could have shielded him." Becky looked a little pissed. "I don't have a damn clue why you'd tell me to..."

Mason grinned when he saw the wolf was already healing a little on his own, but it was clearly much slower. He activated Shared Pain and absorbed much of the wolf's wound. It stung, of course, but what the hell was new. Streak just licked his bloody lips and chewed some troll fat, seemingly oblivious either way.

"Wait...what..." Rebecca watched Streak's bloody gashes close before looking back at Mason. "My God, your shoulder! How did you...I mean why..."

"It's fine. I heal. And so does he, actually. Now quiet." Mason listened for any sign of movement or voices on the wind.

He heard nothing, but that didn't mean much. And the forest was too damn quiet.

"Time to move," he said, giving the troll a quick check for something other than a loincloth. It didn't carry anything, though he could see it was branded several times with various marks. Definitely not just a wild animal.

It was a bad sign of the power of the creatures living inside that such a thing was just a guard. Mason was beginning to suspect the teleporting 'duelists' he'd dealt with in the tree were a more average representation of the 'Greenblood Order' than he'd hoped. But that was a problem for another day. Hopefully.

"Lead them on," Mason said to Phuong and Streak, showing the man on the map where he meant, and more or less 'willing' the thought into Streak. He was beginning to wonder how much the animal could sort of 'feel' what he wanted, but ever since the bond it had begun to do things without any command.

"Take these," he said, stripping off his shirt and pants and tossing them to Becky. Then he took his bow and sprinted into the trees without another word.

If the goblins tried to follow them, they were going to learn to fear the forest.

* * *

The goblins tried to follow them.

Mason found his first scout waving several others on, telling them he'd spotted the human's trail heading southwest.

"Wait." The goblin quirked its head as another scout approached. "I think it..fake trail. Same foot. Just pressed lightly."

"Good eye," Mason whispered, then stepped out from his camouflage and sunk his Claw straight into the goblin's face. It spasmed and fought before he tossed it aside, grabbing the other beside it with his increasingly ridiculous strength and simply crushing its throat with one hand.

Darts or arrows zipped from the others, and Mason just vanished back into the woods. He dropped traps and circled away from his hastily made trail, then found a tree to climb and listened.

He blasted the next scout off its feet with a Power Shot, loosing a dozen arrows at the others before dropping down and giving chase with Aspect of the Cheetah. One fled into a trap and got skewered by a swinging spike. Another he caught and slashed down with a Claw without slowing. Then he guessed correctly and turned towards the mountain: the rest ran.

He caught them all. One by one Mason shot or slashed his enemy down, only once having to swat away a blade with his Sleeve

[Experience awarded: Greenblood Scout group]

He gathered up the corpses and found nothing of value, then piled them next to the troll and wrote a message in the dirt with their blood:

Stay in your caves.

After that he ran full speed to catch the other players, finding them waiting at the river fork he'd picked out. They were all staring across the fifty feet or so of fast moving water, as if enthralled by something they'd seen on other side.

"What is it?" Mason stepped out beside them and grinned when they all jumped. Becky's eyes moved up and down his body and she sort of sighed as she waved a hand.

"Whadda ya mean what is it? Look!"

Mason looked again and blinked as he realized. The trees beyond the river were slightly covered in snow. In fact, it was snowing slightly now, the phenomenon stopped completely as soon as it reached the water. The trees where they stood didn't have a single flake.

"Explain that, Mr. Druid." His cowgirl raised a brow and stepped towards him with a frown, rubbing a hand over his arm. "Ain't you cold? It's bloody freezing already."

Mason couldn't help but notice her concern was mostly with the muscle in his bicep, but he didn't mind. And it was a good point. He wasn't cold at all.

In fact as he took a breath and felt the cold, crisp difference in the air, he felt downright comfortable. He glanced at Streak, and saw the wolf's tail was wagging as it looked between him and the other side.

"Yes, yes," Mason said and shook his head. "We're going across. But we should probably find a better spot, I doubt everyone will..."

Streak splashed as he hit the water, paddling and vanishing beneath as if just as happy to be there as the land.

"Or dive right in." Mason muttered, looking at the others. "If you don't want me to try and carry you, we'd best start looking for a better way across."

Becky shrugged and kept groping him. But Phuong and Seamus started walking down the bank.