With that, it was settled. Truce didn't want to argue against that point, at least not for now.

Staring ahead, he sighed. "We'd better make sure none of them get away then."

Jasper was in a hurry to reach Destin, pushing his horse for more speed until he noticed that Truce kept falling behind. Truce seemed to be sitting on his mount a bit awkwardly, and was having trouble getting the horse to respond to his increasingly wild rein flailings.

"You don't have much experience with horses, do you? Listen, just give me the reins and I'll lead your horse. All you have to do is hang on."

[OOC: I figure this would be faster than just letting Truce catch up on foot, I'll just either go slower than normal or make my Ride checks at a penalty]

(Guru--I'm going to say that dragging that other horse added three necessary successes. You required 6 to get there before the hobs in the first place (as that they have quite the lead on you, and it's not really that far... just none of you guys are very good trackers. You managed to get 8 [lucky roll] with a str + ride [could have done CHA + Ride too, but you didn't seem to worried about the condition of the horse so I figured you'd be riding it with kicks and strength rather than a more gentle touch, and str + ride was a better die pool.

The hobs have been there for about a half-hour to an hour.)

As Truce and Jasper neared Destin they could see smoke from the general vicinity of the city.

Soon the town itself came into view, the outskirts already burning with many small humanoids running about with axes, chasing or engaging the remaining towsfolk.
---
The entrance to the cave was dark and various rudely crafted tools and bits of clothing were scattered about the entrance way, on top of various dusty tracks that lead both deeper into the cave and out again.

Grunting voices could be heard from deeper within the cave.

"I certainly am." Leon said nodding to Rebecca. He noted the immensity of her axe but then ignored it for how light and quick his sword was. Leon heard the grunting of the hobs deep in the cave. If they were lucky enough, they could either catch the hobs unarmed and unaware or they could just charge in and hope for the best. "Lets try to be as silent as we can. If we're lucky we can kill them without resistance. What do you think?" Leon said looking over to Rebecca. He was eager to go in and exterminate.

Rebecca nodded. "Right. We shouldn't waste the element of surprise while we have it." Peering into the cave, she lowered her axe to avoid bumping anything with it and motioned for Leon to follow.

The cave was not a very pleasant place to be; it was very poorly lit and didn't exactly smell like a bed of roses. Nevertheless, Rebecca continued on with Leon in tow, making sure to be as silent as possible.

Truce merely bowed his head as the town came into view, knowing that there wasn't much he could do. Jasper was the one in control of his reins right now and he had to wait until the hobs were finally in his range of his crossbow before acting.

Jasper saw the town under attack. Knowing time was of the essence, he looked back at Truce and said, "I'm gonna ride on ahead and try to get the hobs' attention away from the townspeople and on me. You can jump in and help me as soon as you catch up." With that, Jasper removed Truce's reins from his saddle and chivvied his horse to a gallop towards town. He hoped that Truce would be able to catch up quickly.

Nodding, Truce jumped from his horse, knowing it would much more trouble than it was worth to keep riding. Dashing as fast as he could, he followed Jasper and would keep doing so until he could take a shot at one of the hobs.

(OOC: I declare the hobs for Ecurt/Guru to be mooks, and not require rolls. Also, there are 20 of them, but they're pretty dispersed amongst the town. Groups of two or three at the most.)

Rebecca and Leon made their way into the cave with relative silence, the slight scraping of their footsteps being easily overpowered by the sounds their prey was making.

As they moved through the cave they came upon a small side cave which lead to a store room full of various boxes and crates, most likely filled with the items the hobs had stolen. Further on the cave split into two paths. The bright light of a fire and the loud sound of many hobs came from one side, while considerably dimmer lights came from the other, with very little sound of any kind.

Rebecca leaned close to Leon and whispered. "I'd bet my axe that the captives are down that quiet tunnel. We need to get them evacuated before we start fighting in here or they might get hurt." She thought a little longer. "That is, if they're even still alive... but we have to know for sure."

"Fine, I'll go down the other tunnel and check on the hobs while you go down and check if the captives are still alive. If they start to suspect something I'll come let you know." Leon started to make his way down the other tunnel, but before he got out of sight he looked back at Rebecca. "Unless you have any objections I'll meet up with you later."

Jasper rode into town at a gallop, trampling any hobs that weren't quick enough to get out of his way. Once he had reached what looked to be the center of the hob-created chaos, he jumped off his tired horse and slapped it on the rump, sending it running out of harm's way. He then drew his knives and shouted, "HEY! Listen up, all you dirty, stinking hobs! How many of you gutless, spineless turds is it gonna take to bring me down?!"

I was running.

I didn't know why.

Sure, I could hear the screams all around me, see and smell the smoke of our burning homes, but I knew that even if I escaped I would only find myself in the wastelands. Alone without any food or water or any method to defend myself, I would die days before I reached the next town.

And yet I still ran. Maybe I was just that big of a coward; afraid to die but even more afraid to fight.

It didn't matter though. The hobs would catch me before I even made it out of town.

And then they came.

The first man, riding on a horse, trampled over a pair of hobs chasing me as he rode into town before letting loose a challenge to the hobs, gathering the attention of all those around him. Two hobs, at the sight of seeing a couple of their own felled, charged at him with their hand axes raised and battle cries slurred out unintelligibly. Neither of them would make it more than a couple steps.

One of them fell forward, a crossbow bolt suddenly embedded in the back of its head, and when the other turned to see what had happened a human shaped blur appeared right in front of it, moving so fast that it appeared to come out of nowhere. I heard a snapping sound and before I knew it the hob was sent crashing through the wall of the blazing barn.

Unsure what to think or what to feel, I did the only thing I could do at that moment-faint.

---

Truce ignored the man who had suddenly collapsed on the ground, instead turning his attention to Jasper. "You know," he said, taking a quick look around, "We should probably split up. We can cover more distance that way. There seems to be a lot of the hobs here, and we can't stop the fires until we take care of them all."