Continued Adventure

Borgo looked about, studying his options.

Berith rushes forward into the fray, watching as the foul creature is felled. Hearing her companions trying to reason with the villagers, she heads for the man.

Very well!

Borgo plunges into the undergrowth trying to approach the enemy in silence, undetected. He circles back to the position the strange trio were in, as the fight began. He wants to have look at the first body to fall, make sure it is not moving, and then try to identify it. Borgo had patched Thak up before he disappeared. If this was him, the goblin chirurgeon should be able to tell.

Elspaeth reloads her crossbow and takes another shot at the hunchbacked crone.

Saying a prayer for Thak and hoping he is at peace, Berith looks down at the 2 bodies that have been knocked out.

Avoiding any ichor that may have gotten on either of them when their ex-traveling companion Thak was killed, Berith starts searching the man and woman's bodies to see if they have anything that can shed light on what is going on. She doesn't rush too quickly though as who knows if they have some poison or other substance she might accidentally touch that causes people to turn into those hideous monsters.

Vennok watches as the fight unfolds in front of him. Marev's arrow misses, but Berith comes charging in with her bastard sword, cracking the man across the face with the flat of her blade. Nord's mace connects with the woman's skull, and she drops like a stone.
Both villagers are down.

Vennok lowers his bow slowly, his golden eyes wide, his scales still bristling with adrenaline. He's breathing hard, small chirping sounds escaping his throat as he processes what just happened.

"They're... they're down. They're DOWN." His voice wavers between relief and horror.

He nocks his arrow—his third one—but keeps it at half-draw, watching the unconscious forms carefully for any sign of movement. His claws click nervously against the wooden bow as he waits, not yet ready to lower his guard completely.

"Is... is anyone hurt? Did anyone—" He stops, realizing Borgo has disappeared into the undergrowth toward the fallen creature. His tail twitches anxiously as he watches the spot where the goblin vanished.

He stays in position, bow ready, eyes flicking between the knocked-out villagers and the dark forest around them. Whatever that thing was, it had worn a person like a suit. These two might not be safe to approach.

"Oh buddy…" Borgo muttered, approaching his fallen companion. Borgo knew he wouldn’t have been alive without the warrior’s help in carrying him after that trap had taken him unawares. Albrecht and Thak had both been taken by this oozing head sucking abomination. It was horrifying.

He stepped out of hiding and waved at the others, as they examined the fallen commoners. "Poor Ol’Thak did an Albrecht and got eaten by this slimy thing… takes over their bodies, it does. Consumes their minds, maybe even their souls…" he added with a shudder. "The peasants looking like they can recover?" he asked straightening up and moving to the unconscious commoners. He meant to use his skills as a chirurgeon to examine the bodies, to determine if there was a physical contamination, or if these had only been befuddled and driven mad by the voices of these slimy abominations.

Borgo dropped his bow, and rushed forward while drawing his short blade. This was work for a scalpel, not a dart.

Having dodged the creature, as if in one motion, Nord quickly transitions into an attack. Swinging his mace down with an overhead attack, like a hammer on an anvil.

Marev’s paralysis breaks, replaced by the twitchy, high-alert focus of a hunted animal. He doesn't scream or command; his voice is a strained, urgent rasp that barely carries over the wet sounds of the struggle.

His eyes stay locked on the spot in the brush where the second black shape vanished. He ignores the bile rising in his throat at the sight of the thing on Berith's neck, knowing that if he loses track of the one in the rot, none of them are safe. He steps toward the undergrowth, bow gripped tight, his movements jagged and defensive.

"Another one... in the brush near Nord. Watch the ground. It’s moving in the rot."

Marev keeps his arrow nocked, tracking the slight ripple in the ferns. He isn't looking for a clean kill anymore; he’s just trying to stop the corruption from spreading to anyone else.

Breathing heavily, the goblin looks at Berith, "You okay Berith? These things are nasty!"

He looked around, and then to the unconscious humans. He approaches them with some reluctance. Determiend to come to some improved understanding of what these slimy aberrations were, he examined the man and woman while they were unconscious. He looked for marks, beyond the obvious bite marks, that might suggest a deeper contamination, or a risk that more of these putrid things might be hosted in the currently senseless bodies.

Vennok watches in horror as the black things erupt from the unconscious villagers. One launches at Berith, attaching itself to her neck with those horrible little mouths. The other goes for Nord but he dodges it.

His bow snaps up immediately, but before he can loose an arrow, Borgo is already rushing in with his dagger. Nord's mace comes down like a hammer. The creatures pop and dissolve into foul, putrid sludge.

Vennok lowers his bow slowly, his whole body trembling. He's breathing hard, his small chest heaving. His golden eyes are wide and glassy with shock.

"No... no no no... they were INSIDE them the whole time..." His voice comes out as barely more than a whisper, his usual theatrical cadence completely gone, replaced by something raw and horrified.

He stays at double-near distance, bow still in hand but lowered, watching the villagers' chests rise and fall with their unconscious breathing. The putrefying remains of the creatures dissolve into foam on the forest floor.

"Are they... are they sssafe now? Or will more of thossse things..." He can't finish the sentence. His scales have gone pale, almost gray. He looks at Berith's neck, marked with bite wounds, then at Nord covered in the creature's filth, then back at the two unconscious humans.

"We can't just leave them here. And we can't... we can't take them with us either, can we?" His voice cracks with uncertainty.