I was the last one down to breakfast. My companions were eating and engaging in light chat. Kyren, despite her enormous consumption the previous night, seemed completely fine. Hrig on the other hand was squinting and clearly forcing herself to eat any breakfast at all.

“Good morning,” I said as I approached the table. They responded warmly, though Hrig could only really manage an affectionate grunt in my direction. I sat and began the careful dance of pretending to eat breakfast. As we finished Stone removed a letter from his coat.

“Ye can read, right?” I nodded, “Then ‘ave a look at this.”

I took it and made a show of holding it in front of my faceplate, though I could’ve read it even before he handed it to me.

To all Enterprising Adventurers

A Goblin encampment has been discovered halfway between Entden and Cirros

A reward is being offered of 20 gold to assess the threat or 80 gold to end it

Goblin left ears will be accepted as proof of success

“A new quest?” I asked, excited.

“Aye lad, and we’re planning on leaving today.” he took the message and rolled it up before placing it in his pack. “We figure we’ll head straight for the encampment and then swing up to Cirros to meet our fixer and collect our reward.”

“Fixer?”

“The person who sends quests our way. Ours is a woman named Clara. She collects quests and sends them to the adventuring parties that employ her for a small cut of the profits. She sent this letter by raven this morning.”

“I’ve never heard of a fixer before.”

“Well don’t worry too much about it, now that yer with us, Clara is your fixer too.”

“You are still with us right?” Kyren asked.

“Of course he is. What kind of a man helps to slay a troll and a wizard, then chickens out when it comes to a few goblins,” responded Hrig.

“She’s right, of course I am.” The table grinned.

After a little more breakfast and a divvying up of profits that left a suspicious look on Hrig’s face and one of mock innocence on Stone's we collected our things and headed for the town gates. Entden was just starting to come to life. Stores were opening, men were making their way to their jobs in the logging camp, and the previous night's drunks were being roused by the town guard and told to go home.

I felt a peculiar kind of melancholy as we made our way out of the town and took a moment to place my hand on the outer gate. For a moment I felt as if I was Entden. I felt people walk across my paths, I knew the names of everyone who lived there and I could feel the rooftops starting to warm from the morning sun.

I removed my hand from the gate and rejoined my group on the path to Cirros.

...

After travelling for a few hours we stopped to rest at the edge of a river. The sun was still high overhead and we sat in the shade taking a short rest while eating a lunch of travel rations. Kyren went over to the edge of the water for a moment letting it flow over her hands.

“I think I’ll wash in the river.”

“What’s the point of all that?” Hrig scoffed. “We’ll be covered in goblin blood soon anyway.”

“I think you probably should too, and I imagine Sevald is feeling pretty ripe from being in his armor all the time.”

“I’m fine actu-”

“A bit of dirt is good for you, right, Sevald?” said Stone.

“Well I don’-”

“It’s more sweat that he should be concerned about, you can go ahead Sevald. We’ll stay upstream so you don’t have to worry about your oath,” said Kyren.

“I just don’t thin-”

“Unless you need some help washing your back, I’d certainly help with that if you’d like,” said Hrig, and suddenly bathing at a distance downstream became a good idea.

“No… I’ll do that. Thank you Kyren.” She gave him one of her small smiles.

“And next time maybe we’ll let you finish a sentence or two,” she said. I let out a small chuckle. There was a unique satisfaction to a chuckle, it was different from a laugh, but it had a similar flavor to it.

“Shouldn’t Stone give you some privacy?”

“Oh, they’ve got nothing to worry about from me lad. They’re much too young. Besides, only dwarven women are worth looking at.”

“He means it too, and it’s nice to have someone nearby with a hammer in case anyone unwelcome comes around,” said Kyren.

I nodded at that and made my way downriver.

After I felt I was far enough away, I decided that instead of just standing around for a while and leaving, I should actually give this bathing thing a try. I began walking into the river, letting the water flow over my greaves, then my chestplate and finally over my helmet. I made my way towards the center and stood there feeling the flow of the water around my steel frame. I stood there and watched as curious fish approached before leaving, attracted to the reflection of the sun off my plate.

Remembering the leather bracelet I produced the previous night, I decided on a small test. I opened my faceplate and started letting water into myself. At first I just let it flow naturally, but after a moment I started actively sucking it in faster and faster. Eventually I was creating a small whirlpool at the surface of the water with the force of my inhalation. After a few moments I felt myself begin to reach my capacity. I took an inventory. About a small lake's worth of water, 20 fish, a frog and a particularly unlucky duck. I opened my faceplate again and this time I pushed the water back out. It was harder to push out than to suck in, but after a few minutes I’d managed to put everything back where I'd found it, mostly. I watched the duck kick furiously back to the surface of the water with a frog clinging to its back for dear life and decided I should get out of the river as well.

As my head surfaced I noticed my sword and shield weren’t where I’d left them. I moved further out of the water until it was only waist high. Suddenly there was a roar in the distance coming from upriver. I started to run that way when three arrows shattered against my helmet. As I turned to look for their origin I found myself surrounded on three sides by goblins. They were armed with crude weapons and armored in worn leather that I could tell, from Byn’s memories, was terrible quality. They clicked and growled at one another in undercommon displaying rows of sharp teeth, their red eyes emanating hunger and hatred. One of them was wielding my longsword like a claymore and another had my shield strapped to its back. One of them spoke again in undercommon to the others and they all chuckled and started to close in. They must’ve thought I wasn’t as much of a threat without my weapon. How unfortunate for them.

I felt a new sensation bubbling up in me. I was tense and my senses all felt red. It was anger, I realized. Anger at having my weapons stolen, and being delayed in returning to my party. I let that new emotion guide me and struck the goblin nearest to me with a kick that had all the force I could muster behind it. His face caved in with a crunch and he spun backward into a nearby tree that shuddered, splintering at the impact.

The other goblins hesitated then, looking at the shattered form of their companion. I took advantage of their surprise, grabbing two of them and smashing their bodies into the ground where they crumpled like wet rags. Another of them jumped onto my back, attempting to bite at where my neck would be, but I simply fell backward, crushing him under my weight. Two more jumped at me swinging crude pickaxes. I rolled under one, grabbed him by his weapon and threw him into the other one. His pickaxe pierced his fellow ambusher through the skull with his hands still around the handle. I walked to his prone form and crushed him beneath my boot. The one with my sword attacked next. I simply caught it in my hand and casually shook him off of it. Once he was off I struck him with the sword's hilt and he collapsed dead.

The last goblin made a run for it, likely assuming that I wouldn’t be able to catch up running in fullplate through woods. I followed him through the brush for a few seconds then leapt, landing on top of my shield and crushing him beneath it. I dragged my shield off his back and sunk my sword into his skull for good measure. I took stock. Blood coated my armor, along with thick chunks of viscera and there were several teeth embedded in my neck plate. I needed another bath.

I started running upriver. When I reached the spot I’d left my companions I was greeted by a pile of goblin corpses, their blood running into the river. A quick scan showed that Hrig, Stone and Kyren weren’t among the dead. I walked over to a severed head and lifted it by one of its long green ears. Time for another test. I removed my head and placed it over his, absorbing its essence. What came to me wasn’t the usual crystal clear absorption of memories, skills and thoughts. It was more like flickers, little impressions of who the goblin was and what he knew.

…

I sensed brutality and a low cunning. An ambition for more without the capacity to obtain it without violence. I saw a camp, crude to more developed races, but much advanced from what I knew goblins were capable of. There were fences, domesticated dogs for riding, attempts at agriculture and smithing rather than looting. There was resentment tied to these memories, this wasn’t the old way. Things were meant to be taken, looted and despoiled. I saw a high tent in the center of the camp. With the tent came a flash of fear and golden eyes.

More recent memories were clearer. I saw a raiding party, my raiding party, and a lucky find. A napping dwarf and two women bathing. My first instinct was to kill, to bathe in blood and revel in violence, but I knew I’d be rewarded for capturing them. We charged, focusing on the dwarf first. He was not a very heavy sleeper it turned out. His hammer felled one of my group before I knew what was happening. The larger of the two women let out a roar I didn’t think a human should be capable of, much less a woman. She charged my men and started striking them with her bare hands and feet, the cracking of bones accompanying each blow. The smallest of them raised her hands and started muttering something. Suddenly an axe of pure light was in the larger woman’s hands. I directed my party to focus on the smallest one. As I did so I realized the large woman was standing in front me. Then a moment of being blinded by light and the sight of my own back as my head landed behind me.

...

I placed my head back onto my shoulders. They’d been captured. The goblin was smart. Disabling Kyren would mean the axe she’d summoned would fade and it would distress Stone and Hrig. It was exactly the strategy I myself would’ve chosen when I was thinking with my more monstrous instincts. I could remember the way back to the goblin’s camp, but even if I went, rescuing them would be difficult. It was possible that I could simply charge the camp from the front, slaughter the goblins and free everyone, but that may lead to uncomfortable questions about how strong I am and why even the weapons that slide between my armor plates never seemed to hurt me. No, I’d need to approach this quietly, I needed a plan.