Marching

Father pella looked at the couple and ordered the priests to get out.

"Come on boys lets give them some space"

Alone in the room now ,well besides Teclos . Talmir was the first to speak.

"No, don't look at me with those eyes, i won't stop hunting. It gets us meat on our plate and fairly good coin, plus its fairly safe and i rarely get injured like this."

Sad Saldia nodded.

"I understand ,i really do but i also can't help but be worried about you"

"I know next time i'll try to make it in one piece"

While they hugged it out and were all lovey dovey, Teclos almost puked.

'God dammit! I hate being the third wheel! Altho i got used to them, it still feels like shit that i never had a girlfriend but have to see this every day. Curse you cruel world!'

Looking very angry with a streched out fist in the air, he cursed this world for the very first time.

Regretably for Teclos they all exited the sick room about an hour later, first before going home, they thanked Pella and the priests.

In the meantime all the hunters of Kolma returned to the village and waited for the arrival of the hunters from the neighboring villages.

These villages were situated in the north-western part of kingdom and were fairly close to eachother ,all three chiefs were on friendly terms and helped one another.

"Kolma" where Teclos was, had the biggest hunting groups with 27 hunters at their disposal. "Ragla" and "Poa" had 21 and 17 respectevely. Usually those numbers were enough to repel most threats but not this time, atleast not head on.

Altho all the villages had guards aswell ,there were only 5 guards in each, which the kingdom provided. They would stay and protect the village .

Late at night Talmir arrived at the strategy meeting in the chiefs barn. There were now 65 hunters, 5 Kolma guards and all 3 chiefs gathered there and also figures like Father Pella and 3 adventurers were present. It was quite a spacious barn, the meeting had already started when he arrived, so he walked to a wooden wall where Kosak was standing and listened in.

Currently Brahm was giving a speach, the usual of thanking every one for comming and how they could help eachother better and the dangers that are upon them at the moment.

"So that concludes everything we know so far, while Talmir was successful in scouting the danger and returning alive, but they also managed to find and wound him. Now given that the leader is a shaman, there might be more of them than just a 100, so we need a strategy.

With every one in thought the first one to give an opinion was "Stolc" chief of Raglas ,

"We can't underestimate these pests, they have the numbers advantage and a suprise attack is out of the question as their senses are too good,Talmir was lucky to kill one with a suprise attack."

"We should march on them all together! They are weak and it's just the shaman that's the problem!"

Elias the best hunter of Ragla gave his opinion while shouting ,atho that just earned hime some head shaking.

Poas chief had another idea,

"We could form hunting parties and do a hit and run tactic ,just fire some spells and run away afterwards.

Upon hearing that Talmir spoke up,

"The idea of going together isn't actually a bad one, if we put a few scouts that are hard to catch ahead of the main group, they also won't be able to suprise us. We also have 6 earth mages at hand, they could make a fort around us while the rest of us fire spells at the first kobolds to arrive. If we go with a hit and run strategy they could catch us and even if we are 10 in the hunting party chipping away at them, once caught there are going to be casualties for sure when going in to melee and i'd rather avoid that"

Another hunter Ulmak also gave his opinion,

"How about an aerial attack with those that are able to fly?"

Tho that was instantly rejected by Stolc,

"Out of the question, the mountains here are home to some wyverns, which would notice anything flashy happening in the sky and i would rather just deal with the kobolds. Plus you would be singled out by them and skewered with bone spears and fire spells of the shaman."

Then Brahm tried to confirm the plan,

"Flying isn't bad for scouting tho, just don't go beyond the tree line and fly low. Anyways the plan is set then."

With no further objections the basic plan was set.

They first made the scouting teams,each team had 3 peopple in it ,consisting of peopple able to fly or have extraordinary senses, stealth in this case wasn't of much use.

Then they divided the main group for offense and defense purposes, all mages with earth and magma or nature were on defense, while the lightning,fire,water,wind,metal and ice were on offense

Father Pella would be staying near the rear, to quickly heal anyone injured ,and the adventurer with void magic will transport the injured from the main force to Father Pella. And lastly the chiefs would also command the hunters from the rear.

With that all concluded they would march at dawn in the earliest possible hour. Right now tho most of the hunters made camp just outside the village ,with a few exceptions that were sleeping in the inn. The adventurers, a party made out of two guys and a girl also chose the hunter camp outside. Offcourse all of the local hunters, Pella and the chief went back home.

Now back at home Talmir still lethargic from the healing, made him self a herbal tea and walked in to the bed room where his wife waited concerned.

"You aren't thinking of going are you?"

"No, i'll rest for atleast 3 days now so don't worry. Maybe i'll spend some time with Teclos and you, mosty tho i'm just going to rest."

Instanly her mood lifted and cuddled up to him, with just a smile and an "Ok" they went to sleep.

Come morning, all of the raiding party woke up and came to the front of the village. The hunters and adventurers tidied up the camp,the chiefs gathered and Pella slowly joined them yawning.

Brahm then lined every one up about 100 metres away from the village and went over the plan again briefly.

"Like we disscused yesterday ,we will march at a steady pace. And from this point onward be on guard as they can't really be far away anymore, but above all for your kids,wife and parents RETURN ALIVE!

With the last shout, like an army every one raised their swords and released a war cry. They weren't planning on going in stealthily and it also raised their morale. The kobolds were also a very aggresive race, so they wouldn't run away especially with the numbers advantage.

Once they started marching ,the scouts immediately rushed out and the earth mages started erecting walls along the marching troops focusing only on defense.