The sun had begun to peek over the horizon when the foot soldiers came into view.

They noticed the smoke and lost their patience, the light skirmishers overtaking the heavily packed front liners, leaving the baggage train by itself.

The human and hobgoblin horseback riders followed the mass to the camp to meet the advance party.

The wolves had already gone to sleep, Scratch and the others waited for them at the edge of the cleared space.

"Hello again." Harkness said. "Any room for weary travelers?"

"Our doors are open for strangers." Scratch gestured towards the fire as if he was leading her into a tavern.

"Why are you talking like that?" Ada complained, "it's peculiar."

"My butt hurts," Jasper whined, "horseback riding is awful."

Scratch smiled, "wolves aren't much- hey!" He waved his arms about at the mass of goblins approaching. "Didn't we tell you to march in pairs? Go find your war buddy!"

Luckily nobody had gotten lost and everybody was able to find their partner. Two by two they dripped into the camp and sat down to relax.

Jasper came to tug on Scratch's long sleeve. "Is there any food?"

"The food is with your uncles, wiseguy. You lot come storming up here for the party but the party is hanging back. So you gotta wait for the supplies to arrive."

-

The distance was only a few hundred meters so the baggage train arrived shortly.

"Did they leave you behind?" Scratch laughed.

"It hurt my feelings." Sota admitted when he put the heavy armor down.

"Quiet and me are gonna start cooking." The patriarch said as he took a gulp from the water supply. "Go set up your tents, do you know how?"

"Yes... No."

"Ask a human to help you, I saw Gildo explaining it to the kids before."

"Gildo? Uhm..."

"You don't like Gildo?"

"It's fine, I'll figure it out."

-

Before long an impromptu village had cropped up.

Concentric half-circles of sleeping tents surrounded a plaza of multiple fire pits and workstations. A space had been cleared out there for the members of the main goblin family to sit together.

On the other side of the plaza the horses and wolves resided. They had their own, more open, protection against possible rain, in which also the heavy equipment was bunched up.

It looked almost like an autonomous village, more developed than most goblin settlements. It was the largest collective of goblins an participant had ever seen together. Hundreds of childlike voices babbled and screamed over each other at all times, creating a constant background noise.

Somewhere in the back of his mind Scratch decided that nothing like this could exist long-term. Currently the children were charmed by the novelty of the experience, but they were childish and chaotic. They would turn against each other after a while, he figured.

-

Food was prepared in batches. The pans and kettles they had brought weren't enough to cook for every soldier to eat simultaneously.

Large iron bowls were put on top of the disparate fires, on top of it a gruel of crushed oats and water was heated up.

That gruel would then be scooped up in the drinking mugs of the marching goblins slurp it from. Special treats, such as crusts of bread and fruit, were handed out to the most prominent tribe members to keep them content.

Roughly two tribes were fed at a time, once they were catered to the process could begin anew for the next batch.

The main family and their humans ate last. These were all the people normally residing in the Promise.

-

The sun already stood high when it was finally their chance to eat, the goblins and hobgoblins squinted their eyes and held up their hands to protect themselves from the sun.

"We gotta eat slop too?" Ada complained.

"It's just to fill your stomach." Her mother said. "We have to endure some discomfort for our survival."

"I'm not eating this," she complained while eating it, "I want rabbit meat."

"Hmpf, or some fish." Aimone, who was sitting across from her, grumped.

"Yes! Minnow stew from the river." She mused. "With breadcrumbs."

"Minnow... You've never tasted calamari from the southern sea." He said while stirring his gruel. "Or serrated bladefish, fresh from the boat."

"Yeah? Is that good?" She asked.

"Girl, you have no idea. Nothing beats the smell of a Grienician fish market. Sitting in the sun with a platter at the end of a workday..." He sighed nostalgically.

"I'd love to try it one day." She said between slurps.

"Well you can't." Mid-conversation he remembered that he didn't like her.

"You three must be hungry." Harkness filled in for him by addressing the three hobgoblins. "I saw you practicing with swords ever since you got here."

Felix nodded enthusiastically. "I saw the disarm maneuver by circling the blade and I really really wanted to learn it."

"You should be practicing more mounted combat." She said, "that's what you'll be doing during the battle."

"Yeah. But I didn't want to..." He trailed off, remembering the one-on-one fight between Angus and the goblin slayer.

"My magic is not coming back. "Jasper suddenly stated to his mother.

"Your magic is gone?"

"My... my mana."

"Mana come back slower outside of the promise." She said on a calming tone. "It's for emergencies only, okay?"

-

Meanwhile, Scratch was listening to Huckabee crudely recollect what information he had absorbed from the others.

"So... these won't be veteran knights. That's the important bit." Huckabee stated. "The army sends beginners to low level areas to gain experience. I mean... they've trained, but they haven't trained to their full potential, you know? Each one would be about as strong as a... as a hobgoblin. But with armor."

Scratch ate his gruel by dipping in two fingers and licking it off. "That's still stronger than a goblin."

You There had draped himself on his shoulder and whispered into his ear. "I assure you master, strength is not what wins a battle, morale is. And goblins are unbreakable." The bounds and gag hadn't been reapplied for now. He enjoyed the conditional freedom to hang around his master.

"We're catching them by surprise, aren't we?" Scratch asked Huckabee. "Can't we overpower the guards while they're sleeping?"

Huckabee nodded. "No." He quickly swallowed his own mouthful of gruel. "The boss explained this to me, you can't sneak up on a fort, any group big enough to break through the night defense is big enough to get noticed from afar, so they got time to send out their troops to face us. They will be less prepared than if we wait for them to launch their own attack though."

"So the plan is to drive back the forces they send out and then lay siege to the fort?" Scratch asked.

"Yes exactly. We don't gotta defeat every single one in combat, but we block contact with the outside and starve them."

"Block off contact, huh?" Scratch scratched his chin, accidentally smearing it with gruel. "That would be blocking off supplies deliveries from Eston."

"From Eston, or from anywhere else."

Scratch continued talking while You There cleaned his face. "Right... And then?"

"Hhm?" Huckabee had his mouth full again.

"Once we've starved them and take the fort, what then?"

The bandit hesitated. "I don't know... Suppose we go back, don't suppose we can keep it. The king would send aux- auxiliary troops."

"Unfortunately, we do not have a long-term strategy." Stanford said as he sat down next to them. He had overheard their conversation and moved closer to join in. "we're attacking the fort just to postpone a large-scale suppression."

You There leered at him, he leered back.

"How long does this buy us? If we succeed." Scratch asked.

"A few months, it is difficult to say.... Scratch, Huckabee, I'm leaving."

"The shitting corner is over there."

The healer shook his head. "No. I mean the group. This dungeon business... I simply cannot reconcile it with my faith."

"Where will you go?" Huckabee gaped with his mouth open.

"Truly, I do not know. Wander around like a regular bandit I suppose. I have come along with this march due to my debts to Lydia Harkness, but after this... it's over."

Scratch deepened his voice and spoke with more breath. "It is fine to part ways, but do it as a citizen, not as an outlaw."

"What is your meaning?"

"We've just rebalanced our power with the thieves' guild, it'd be a shame not to make use of it. I've spoken to Barbara, and we're re-instituting the false identities."

Huckabee loudly gulped. "That's... that's a big dream. Everybody's given up hope, that why... you know... why they agreed to..."

"We'll set a precedent." Scratch explained. "Those who've distinguished themselves, like you, maybe the Italians..."

"Huh?"

"...Grienicians."

Stanford raised an eyebrow. "Does the boss know about this?"

"I do." She said, suddenly standing behind him. "We do have a long term strategy Stanford. It involves citizenship, new trade routes, and a stronger military."

Scratch looked up at her, squinting at the sunlight. "You done eating?"

"Yes." She picked him up from the ground. "I already send the kids to bed. It's time for everybody to get some rest, we set out at sunset. Scratch, you're sleeping with me."

Lydia Harkness had personal business with Scratch, which she discussed with him in the privacy of her tent.

"Our troops would be stronger if we had more hobgoblins with us." She mentioned while circling her finger on his chest.

"Let's not deal and ifs." He said. "We have what we have."

But the discussion did not evolve into anything substantive as she initiated lovemaking as she had done only a few times before.

The following sunset Scratch didn't seem like he'd gotten much rest. He had bags under his eyes and heavily leaned on Wendy's back.

"Well well well master. It would seem to me that you've enjoyed the privileges of the most intimate, the-"

"Shut up. I don't want to hear it. Can someone gag him again?"

-

The wolf riders were ready to set out while the infantry was still organizing itself and packing up.

Harkness, appearing fresh tough having slept just as little as Scratch, spoke to the riders before they set out.

"Once you see the fortress, turn back. We want to gather the troops in one place from which to launch our attack. Scratch? Are you listening?"

"Have no fear, madam." The demon spoke for him. "I shall guide my master to the best of my ability and proof my worth to you both."

"Right. Second? Can you keep an eye on both of them?" She asked.

Second didn't respond altogether very enthusiastically.

"Well... fine. We'll see you later." She sighed.

A bunch of disconnected "bye"s and "later"s sounded over each other and the group headed off.

"You smell like swear and like her." Wendy said to Scratch in her own language.

"Thanks for noticing." He remarked dryly in his own.

As predicted, the fortification did appear on the horizon before the night was through.

Though made of stone it was as far removed from a proper castle as possible. Man-high walls from chunky boulders circled the top of a sloped hill, broken a bit by wooden watchtowers. Human knights, the size of ants from this distance, marched in square formations on the green grass below, waving colored cloth around and riding the occasional horse.

Their last expedition having been foiled by an attack on the advance party, they were preparing for another go at it.

"What d'you say?" Scratch asked the others. Take the gulley at the back of the hillock? We'd be shielded from sight."

But one of the wolves growled deeply and peered at the horizon.

"Dungeon master," Wendy spoke for the benefit of the goblins, who did not have the wolves' senses, "there are more packs of man-things, east and further-east travels a large group."

Without the barking horn Scratch was unable to reply to her in her own language. He tried crudely with some grunty noises from the back of his throat. "They're... leaving this place?"

"Nay, arriving. By the smell they are returning to their own kind, after traveling to the stony sprawl by the sea. The sun will not have risen before they arrive."

"I see. So it's a big procession marching to the city, Eston, and now back." Scratch said aloud.

"Are they at war with Eston?" Second asked, rather ignorantly.

"No. They rely on Eston, everything they need-" Scratch snapped his fingers. "Of course, they're resupplying. The thing we're laying siege to avoid."

"It doesn't make a difference," Fyro claimed, "even if they're weaker without them, our army isn't here yet, so..."

"No. It's not a large part of the army they're sending, just a couple of bodyguards. Smaller than a scouting party..." Scratch hummed.

"Oh master, what a delightful idea!" You There exclaimed joyfully.

"What? What's going on?" Second asked suspiciously.

"We're raiding the supply caravan," Scratch explained, "that should cripple them and shorten all of this up by a lot."

"Oh no," Second protested, "we were told just to start up camp, not to-"

"Who is the goblin boss?" Scratch asked aggressively. "Me or her. Huh?"

Second bit his lip and looked away.

"We're getting those supplies." The goblin boss declared in a final manner.

They didn't move.

He lean in towards Wendy's ear and tried as best as he could to explain the new plan.

Before too long they were speeding off, taking a rounded path to circumvent sight of the fort and flank the arriving party.

The wind wolf's authority was a lot more natural and unstated. She simply started to move and the others followed.

-

It wasn't long before they had to stop again, they'd gotten as close as they could.

It was difficult sneaking up on anything in a flat, featureless plain. But the wolves with their sense of smell were able to paint a picture to the goblins without coming close enough to be seen.

There were two knights on horseback and close to twenty on foot marching on the grassy plains.

They were situated on all sides on a train of three large wagons, packed with freshly killed poultry, great bags of wheat and potatoes, and smaller cases with various products.

"That's a lot of muscle to protect against horned rabbits and stray wolves." Scratch remarked.

"What an opportune moment!" The demon exclaimed. "Master. We should defeat an overwhelming force using superior tactics."

"Great plan Napoleon. Got anything specific in mind?" Scratch leered at him.

You There grinned. "This is why I desired so strongly to ride with the champion of trickery. You see, the art of war is the art of misdirection. The enemy should believe you are strong where you are weak and weak where you are strong."

"That's not a plan." Second snipped at him.

"I get the second part." Scratch responded. "If we were with more we could pretend to be vulnerable and lure them into an ambush. But how do you leverage being weak?"

"The principle is the same," the demon answered, "the enemy must be misinformed so that it moves to places it should not. The ultimate purpose is to have the enemy make mistakes."

"The ultimate goal," Scratch corrected him, "is to kill those knights."

"Hhm?" Benjamin opened his eyes just long enough to add to the conversation. "I thought the goal was to stop the supply train?"

"It's the same thing." Fyro explained to him.

"No... Benjamin is right..." Scratch put his hand on his chin. "I think I have a plan."

"Everybody keep up the pace!" James Rochast commanded from the back of his horse.

There was some slight grumbling among the pedestrians. The young knight barely outranked them, yet he was taking his position of mission leader very seriously.

Everybody there grew up together and had attended the same academy. Currently they were tired and sleepy, their mission had kept them awake late into the night and the leader still insisted on proper form and formation.

"Aren't you being a little overzealous?" Fiona Rochast finally said. She shared his position and also had a horse.

"Why? Are you saying what we're doing isn't important?"

She rolled her eyes. "Why are you like this Jamie?"

He reached out and punched her shoulder. "Don't call me that."

She swatted at his arm.

The two continued to slap at each other in the air between them.

Suddenly James pulled back and straightened himself. "Stop that. We're leaders, we must make an example."

"Lad. We're on grocery duty. This is not the chance to prove yourself you think it is."

He kept his head straight but glanced at her from the side. "This food is vital for the conquest mission. That means our duty of protecting it is vital as well."

She laughed. "Protect it from what? There's nothing-"

"Oy!" Casey Twicaster, who hadn't been given a horse, called out. He had seen what was up ahead before them.

In the distance the orange glow of several campfires lit up a hillside.

"What is that?" James asked.

"They're between us and the fort. It can't be knights, must be adventurers or bandits." Fiona analyzed.

"We should be prepared for a clash." James immediately reached for his weapon, even though the camp was still relatively far off.

"Perhaps we can go ahead of the group and meet them." She suggested. "I don't know about you, but I know I need some new conversation. No offense."

"Our mission is to stay with the caravan." He responded.

"Oh. I see. You're scared."

"You think that'll work on me? I'm not fourteen anymore."

"You totally are scared though."

His eye twitched. "Fine. I'll go. But you stay here and command the troops."

"Tch. Aww." She wasn't under his command but stayed behind anyway as he rode ahead.

"Is that what he calls us? 'The troops'?" Casey complained when James when he was out of earshot. "Who does he think he is?"

"Oh, let him." His neighbour said. "Heaven knows he needs the ego boost."

"It's been ten years. When are we going to stop feeling sorry for him?" He grunted.

-

Not too long after going ahead James came back.

"Not adventurers!?" Fiona called out to him when she saw his horse galloping towards them.

He didn't speak until he was in range for normal spoken conversation. "It's goblins. And a whole lot of them too."

"That's not possible." Fiona answered. "The goblin forces are in the forest. Remember captain Harkness' report?"

"Don't tell me what I did or didn't see." He snipped at her.

"Well, what did you see?"

Warg riders, at least five of them. They're guarding a camp of sorts, they've got dirt heap fortifications, a few tents and a few big fires. The ones I saw were just the dedicated guards, there's a village worth of them inside.

"What a nuisance." Fiona complained.

"Finally some excitement." James disagreed. "See now how necessary we are? Stop the wagons, we'll march ahead and wipe them out."

She sighed. "Yeah... fine."

"Right flank! Left Flank!" He commanded. "Step forward, shield men in front, we're assuming the line formation!"

The two horse riders circled around the men as they lined themselves up.

"Listen here. In my reconnaissance I have been spotted by the guards, the goblins are therefore likely aware of our presence. They will be expecting us with a fielded throng, stay in formation and save your magic for the wolves! Now, onwards!"

They had only set a few steps before he changed his mind. "Wait. Somebody should stay behind, to protect the cargo against wild monsters. Fiona-"

"What? Me?" Fiona pouted. "You know we're supposed to be equals on this mission."

"Take Casey and Harriet and stay with the wagons, okay?"

She looked defiant for a moment.

"...please?" He added.

"Fine. It's my fault for calling you a coward anyway." She gestured at him to leave.

He nodded and sped off.

-

The three remaining knights watched the group head off and planted themselves in the grass beside the wagons.

It wasn't long before Casey fell asleep completely.

Harriet was practicing embroidery on her own cape and Fiona stared into the starry sky.

"Did something happen to James?" Harriet asked without looking up. "Casey said something about everybody feeling sorry for him."

"He would be mad if you brought it up." Fiona answered. "But when we were kids, Jamie- What was that?"

"Huh?"

"I heard something."

The Rochast stood up and tread around the wagons. There she saw a goblin with a chicken in his mouth rummage through the food wagon.

He looked up and noticed her.

In a split second she had brandished her bow and fired and arrow, but the creature let itself fall straight down and onto the back of a speeding wolf, who carried it underneath the wagon to the other side. The arrow missed them by a hair.

All around the caravan flitted the silhouettes of moving thieves and scavengers.

"Damn!" She yelled out. "Comrades! Raiding pests."

The other knights did not move with much urgency. Harriet simply looked up questioningly and Casey sat up groggily.

"A warg rider." She told them.

"Alright, alright, we'll protect the wagons." Casey sighed.

A high-pitched voice permeated from the dark knight. "The jig is up boys. Best skedaddle now while they're busy with the fire."

The wolves and their riders hurried away into the darkness, Fiona launched a fire arrow at one and singed its tail. She quickly knocked another arrow for a more accurate shot, when a voice rang out behind her.

"Seems like somebody's been reckless with fire magic." On top of the wagon stood a wolf rider, a one-eyed goblin wearing a small tunic and one long sleeve on top of not a warg wolf, but a wind wolf, a rare and powerful monster. The goblin raised his sleeved arm and the tip of a spellrod peeked out. "Oops, I guess it was me."

All the three wagons were burning.

Fiona shot at the goblin leader but the wind wolf was too fast for her. It dodged the arrow easily and was then gone.

It was too late to shoot at the other riders now, but the knights had a more pressing issue to deal with. Once they'd used their magic to put out the fire most of the wares had already been destroyed.

"This sucks." She said to the others. They very much agreed.

"You did what?" Lydia Harkness grabbed her forehead listening to the report of the goblin patriarch.

"Squeezed in a preliminary victory during our scouting mission." Scratch summarized smugly, he leaned back with a blue grass cigarette while the war camp went up all around them.

"Left your post, making us think you were dead. You lost your tents to a diversion tactic. You announced our presence to the enemy. And you did it all just before sunrise, when the sunlight is too hot for the goblins to fight in." She assessed.

"W-well. When you put it like that..."

She leaned in to hug him. "Don't scare us like that."

"Alright. Alright." He patted her back. "They won't find and march to this place before evening, I'm sure of that. We goblins do just fine in the twilight."

She didn't let go. "Follow my orders next time."

"...Right."

Knights

Knighthood is the lowest rung of nobility and generally does not come with land. The troops fielded by counts and dukes are made up out of knights.

When a member of a knight family becomes and adventurer, and they've completed their formal training, they can ascend to rank D automatically. As that rank is created to match the knight title. And any adventurer that achieves D rank can by law marry into a knight family.

As with all nobility, the skillset of a knight depends on the martial traditions of their family. There are knights with rogue skillsets, that of a mage, a vanguard, or any other.

Due to the manifold bloodlines among the knighthood there is no shortage of marriage candidates among the population. Therefore, special requests to the adventurer's guild are rare to non-existent. However, marrying into knighthood as a rank D adventurer is not made difficult either, it simply requires personal connections.