Thursday 5 July 1280, Nightfall (Council of War)

Varros turns to Karnak strokes his feathers and rewards him with a bit of meat, "Well done Karnak, your speed and cunning may have saved many this day." With that, he turns and goes to meet Belloc with the others. "Captain Belloc, greetings, you made good time. Truth be told, between your speed and that of our new friend Karnak, this task has proven less challenging than I originally thought, in fact, I don't feel we have fairly earned our coin yet." Varros looks the Captain in the eye and says solemnly, "I for one will see this through to the end."

"Let our Free Company join with Belloc to wipe out the goblin host," Gaven agrees with Varros

The captain bows at Varros and Gaven's words, and compliments you all for having found the goblins, and made the inn secure.

Duran comes down from the roof with the arrival of Captain Belloc. "Captain it looks like the goblin host have moved NW of Timm's farm and are now burning another farm. It appears they are now due north of this inn. I am not familiar with the road ahead but if it curves back north you might be able to intercept the Goblins if they continue on their current course."

The Captain replies "It is good that we know which direction they're heading. The road bends northwest after a few miles. But this may be to our advantage. They appear to be headed west, so taking the road would allow us to plant ourselves in front of them, blocking their path."

Duran continues: "I would suggest sending out some scouts to keep contact with the Goblin party using Karnak to help guide you and the main body of soldiers to them."

"A sensible idea," says Belloc. Then turning to Varros he adds: "Masters Varros and Gaven, if the rest of your company feel as you do, perhaps you would be willing to take on that task."

Oloc, too, nods at Duran's suggestion. Turning to Belloc, he speaks. "I think it wise to press on before there is further loss of property and, gods forbid, life. But I am no military man so I may be too rash in this assessment. Maybe it is better to wait until dawn."

"Yes," says the Captain. "I would prefer to wait until dawn myself. However, as you say, property and, more importantly, lives are at stake. I agree that our best option is to press on now.

Gaven says: "Belloc, there are many able-bodied men here. They wish to protect their lands, let them join with us."

The Captain thinks for a moment, considering the farmers' lack of armor and training. "I think we could use them for a very important task," he says.

OOC: Belloc's proposal. Red = Belloc's march, Black = Goblins' anticipated line of advance, Green = Farmer's march, Blue = Scouting party.

He looks down at the map Harlon drew for you. Here is the apparent path of the goblins' advance. Based on your information, my best line of march should be straight up the road taking up a blocking position just east of it. A group of scouts – you, if you're willing –  march due north keeping an eye the goblins from their rear, as Duran suggested. The farmers march half the distance northward with the scouts, stopping in the middle to set up a blocking position there."

"This march, by the farmers, will, I think, serve several purposes – first it protects my flank along the first portion of my approach march, in case the goblins change their path; second, a blocking position there will serve to delay the goblins in any move south, should they drastically change their path of march toward the Northstar; third, it gives the scouting party a good fallback position should they (you) run into any goblin rearguard detachments that's too big to handle."

"You, of course," he concludes, "know the ground and the movements of the goblins better than I. What are your thoughts? Does this plan seem sound? I should very much like you to remain as my scouting party until this affair is finished, though if some of you would prefer to join in the main body of my troops until this is over, that would be equally acceptable. I've no doubt you can hold your own in a fight. Either way, I would be willing to add a small bonus to our agreed upon fee. What say you?

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OOC:

Actions?

Just for the moment, I've not added the statements regarding the halflings and the bandits:

Varros: When the opportunity presents itself Varros will discuss the matter of the halflings, the bandits and the keep with Belloc.

Gaven: To Filbert, "Rest well and heal up and once this is done, we can hunt some bandits."

But I will include them in the next post. It's just that since I stopped here in mid-conversation, I couldn't find a logical way to work them in right now.

Also, you are welcome to split up in this case if you wish (for example, if some prefer to act as scouts while others prefer to march with Belloc). Narratively/mechanically, this would not be too hard to handle, since it would all part of a single overall "scheme." Not that you have to do so, just wanted you to know that in this instance it's an option easily handled from my perspective as GM.  Also bear in mind that technically Belloc considers your initial scouting deal complete, and that the party (as a whole) is free to go it's own way and do something else if you all choose.