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The trail they were following seems to have joined the road to Newhome and the sounds of battle would indicate that that's also where the fighting is. There is currently a bend in the trail separating Belle from the battle. To her left is a steep hillside that would be difficult to climb if she goes any further down the road; however, if she were to leave the road now she could easily walk up it and get on top of the outcropping overlooking the road. To her right is a forest of pillars with some of the largest and tallest pillars in the region. Belle must now decide how to approach. A scuff of sound behind her reveals that Jonesy is trailing behind.

ooc: Choices are
1. Take the trail. . . . .Move quickly but be totally visible
2. Go up in the hills / cliff area. . . . . .Good visibility but might not be able to engage due to being unable to climb down
3. Go through the pillars. . . .Move slowly but have some cover
Does that sum it up?

OOC: That's it in a nutshell; unless you wish to take another option such as tucking your tail between your legs running screaming like a ten year old girl. You would have good cover going up the hill as well. I failed to mention that in the previous post.

ooc: How about hugging the pillar side and staying partially in the piller so that she can move faster but have them as partial cover.
If she can do that, this is going to be her choice.

OOC: The following roll playing was handled offline and is being posted here for historical archiving.

IC:
Belle, with Jonesy ten yards or so behind, begins moving quickly from pillar to pillar until she has a better view of the scene ahead. In the middle of the road, farthest from her, she sees another Apok, likely a man, engaged with three goblins. As she watches, he manages to breach the guard of one and stab it soundly in the stomach with a long two handed sword, doubling it over.

Between the Apok and Belle is a flying creature unfamiliar to Belle, he is half bat and half man. His skin appears deathly shade of grey. In his hand is a large whip made from links of chain. While Belle looks on, she sees him dodge an arrow fired from the hillside overlooking the road and it explodes in the pillars on the other side of the road. Holding up its hand, a ball of black flame flies up into the hillside, streaking towards an unseen target up on the hill.

Kind of strange seeing another Apok. There are only a few thousand of them in the whole work after all. Belle continues to try to keep approaching, trying to see who is on the hillside. She has to get within a few hundred yards for her crossbow to be effective. The female Apok will continue to use the pillars as partial cover as she approaches.

Belle is definitely within range of her crossbow...less than 200 yards to the creature flying above the middle of the road. She'll have to get a better angle to see who/what is firing from on the hillside and that means getting closer to the action.

Biggest thing that Belle does not know is who are the bad guys here. . . .Does not know if the winged creature is a bad guy or not. Does not want to indiscriminately start shooting at people and attack the wrong people. As such, Belle will keep approaching the battlefield, continuing to try to use cover.

As you approach closer, Belle sees two humans and a horse taking shelter in the pillars across the road from the hillside. One the humans is a young girl with glowing, ectoplasmic tendrils flowing around her. They give her an ethereal, almost otherworldly appearance in the shadowy light within the pillars. She looks frightened. Up on the hillside, Belle catches a glimpse of a goblin as it steps out from behind a pillar and launches an arrow at the flying creature in the road who deftly dodges it. The arrow flies into the pillars near the two humans and explodes.

Belle will begin to approach the figures of the humans, watching for any attackers. If there is a target of opportunity among the Goblins, she will see if she can get into melee range so that she does not end up using up all of her bolts.

Belle will nod to Jonesy. She has taken as much time as she thinks she needs to so as to decide who is friend or foe. She will look around to see if there are any of the three missing goblins around. Otherwise, if there are any non-engaged Goblins, Belle will fire a bolt at the creature and charge.

Belle could attempt to climb the hill to get within melee range of the apparent attackers up there, but she would be exposed to fire from above with little ability to dodge for the better part of a round. The only other noticeable foes are the three engaged with the other Apok. At a full run she could be there in about a half round. At her current pace it would be more than a round to get to them. Jonesy whispers behind her, “I think these are the same goblins that attacked us. Besides the ones in the road there should be three more somewhere.”

Belle watches the human man and woman lead the horse at a brisk pace from pillar to pillar away from Belle and towards the other Apok. The man takes a quick, wild shot up at the hillside as they run. Black energy flies from the hand of the flying bat creature and strikes on unlucky goblin up on the hillside full in the face. It reels back and hides behind the pillar once again. Two others take advantage of the distraction to take aim with a bow and a laser pistol at the flying creature. It appears that Belle has managed to remain unseen to either side so far and could easily launch an attack at one of the goblins on the hill if she so chooses. She's still a little too far away from the other Apok to do a charge attack. Belle has now accounted for all six goblins that Jonesy said attacked his group.

Belle carefully aims her crossbow at one of the Goblins and fire. Belle pulls the trigger and the crossbow bucks ever so slightly in her strong grip. The quarrel seems to be flying true when a sudden gust of wind carries the quarrel far to the left of its intended target. The God's hands may not be favoring Belle this day.

Before Belle has a chance to take aim at the goblin, another black blast of energy flies from the flying creature’s hands. This one misses as well as the goblin it was aimed at nimbly evades it and crouches back behind a pillar. A pillar behind the goblin takes the brunt of the blast, the middle exploding in a shower of shards as the upper portion topples noisily to the ground. It appears that the flying creature intends to attack that same goblin, the one in the middle, head on rather than continue the futile attempt with his magic. Not letting the other parts of the battle distract her, Belle takes aim at the same goblin she missed before...and with better results. This time the bolt embeds itself in the goblin's side as it tries to dodge back behind the pillar. A laser shot flies out from the pillars near Belle as Jonesy takes aim and lets loose with a shot of his own. His aim is a little off and the blast sizzle into the ground at the goblin's feet.

Belle is going to move from the area of cover she was firing from before and move to another area of cover, firing another bolt while she does so

The man and the woman with the horse have stopped and look to be setting up to start firing at the goblins on the hillside.

Belle lets fly with another bolt and once again is rewarded with the site of her bolt embedding itself in the hapless goblin on the hill. This time, the goblin falls and does not rise.

There are five goblins remaining. The flying creature is attacking the one on the hillside closest to Belle which puts him in danger of a wild shot if Belle chooses to fire on the other goblin on the hillside from her current position. Using an action to move further along the road likely alleviate that danger...depending on where the battle between the flying creature and the goblin takes them. The man and lady with the horse have taken up a position down towards the Apok, but are firing up at the hillside at the goblin furthest from Belle. The other Apok is still dancing with three goblins, but seems to be doing well. His movements are graceful and well honed; moving from form to form. Obviously someone well trained and very dexterous. Shooting in that direction would be very dangerous. Any miss could potentially hit the Apok.

If there are no good ranged targets, Belle will quickly sling her crossbow. From her back comes out the bastard sword and she draws a dagger with her off hand The female Apok will then abandon cover and head towards where the other Apok is engaging the three Goblins in close combat.