The bulwark was a miserable spot.

It had been created as a first defense against fairy creatures. But currently it was little more than a camp to send orphaned goblins in order to forget about them.

When the original steward, Second, had turned against Papa Scratch and had gotten most of the residents killed in a failed coup, the project had lost much of the Promise's favor.

So the current band of brothers, those that had been adopted by the tiny fortress after that, were punished for the sins of their predecessors, in a way.

Every day they'd eat scraps and gruel delivered by the capitol, and every day they fought strange beasts creeping out of the opposing forest.

There was no mother to give them warmth, or replenish their numbers, and certainly no trade for the products of the colonies and outside.

The brothers knew enough about the world to know that they had the least of it. Basically, they were not too far off from being feral goblins.

So they were seduced into impossible ambitions when they were the first to face a new, mostly female invading force.

A noble lady, dressed for an excursion but dressed fashionably, rode into the forest with a retinue of warriors.

"Lady Corintha, we art being watched." The elven archer said, her eyes directly meeting those of Brat, who had thought himself properly camouflaged in his clay and leaves.

The goblin quickly withdrew, making a rustling sound.

"Splendid!" The lordling beamed. "Didn't I tell you we would find real quarry here? Not in some wheat field."

She spurred on her purebred white horse and rushed after the goblin.

"My lady!" One of the knights cried out as she sank straight into a pit trap.

-

The whole bulwark was surrounded by traps and tricks. The orphans had been used to fighting this way already, but had developed it into a fine art having to deal with incoming fey beasts.

"Are you unhurt?"

"My horse!" Lady Corintha exclaimed, she was indeed unhurt, but the steed had been punctured by pungent sticks. It whinnied in panic, but didn't move, as any twitch would send shocks of pain through its body. "Tell me you can save Pepper."

The knight sighed. "We cannot lift him out of there. I'm afraid... we'll have to put him down."

The woman hesitated, but then nodded.

A single arrow hit the animal in the back of the head, killing it instantly.

The noble shed a single tear. "So this is what it means... the horrible tithes of war."

There was an uncomfortable shifting between her retinue. Nobody wanted to pipe up and state that warriors tended to lose more precious things than their animals. The lady was considerably older them then, but clearly inexperienced when it came to real combat.

"Let's eradicate these subhumans!" She jumped to her feet and drew her sword. "We'll avenge Pepper twice over!"

"Please, get thee behind me." The Elf said soberly, "I will detect future traps."

-

But the goblins had some tricks up their sleeves that even the elf hadn't accounted for.

She inspected the ground and treetops, but wasn't prepared for the trees themselves to burst open.

Dead bark exploded around the invaders as goblins wielding nets and cockatrices burst out.

The trees had been hollowed out to accommodate an ambush.

Most fighters could not avoid meeting the gaze of the captive cockatrices, which the goblins had strapped on their heads, and those that could were much obstructed in cutting loose by their petrified brethren tenting the nets.

It took a goblin half a day to break petrification, it would take the knights at least a few minutes.

But one woman broke through it instantaneously, it was the aspiring baroness, Rubelina Corintha, that tore apart the leather rope and burst out of the hurly burly with a mad scream.

The goblins that had rushed in on warg back to skewer the prone warriors immediately fell back as she jumped forward, shattering the spears with her fists.

Leaving her retinue behind, Rubelina dashed forwards, after them.

Even on foot she easily caught up to the wolf riders and slashed at them with her sharpened nails, splintering whole trees and dropping one of the subhumans to the ground.

"Where's the mini boss?" She panted eagerly, but then she noticed the ropes underneath the leafy dirt.

Even without the elf's help, she recognized a trap.

Already celebrating their victory, the goblins cheered as they dropped a tree on her, whose falling weight simultaneously tightened the wires in front of her, throwing her off her feet.

Thrown off balance she wasn't able to dodge the falling weight and was pinned.

It had always been the plan to separate her from her comrades and capture her.

No longer able to contain themselves, the goblins piled on top of her. Their plan was to restrain, but most of their energy went into feeling her up and tearing at her fancy clothes.

"Gross! Gross! GROSS!!" She yelled out and grabbed on of them by the head, instantly crushing his skulls against the tree.

The others froze up. They had challenged an enemy far greater than they could ever have expected, the wise thing to do now would be to retreat.

They looked at their dead friend, and then continued attacking the woman with renewed vigor, somehow believing in their hearts of hearts that the rage felt for their dead brother would grant them invincible strength.

But the strength was hers, and a righteous fury of sorts as well, as she swore and began to chant a magic.

She arched her back and dug her nails into the ground. "Summon weapon!"

The sound of a blade being drawn rang through a muffled mass of podzol and less than a second later she was pulling something out of the earth.

The weapon came out slowly, as she was pulling a massive clump of dirt alongside, but with her superhuman strength the man-sized monstrosity was lifted over her head and she smashed it down onto the tree.

The impact was like a clap of thunder. Dirt and splintered wood flew everywhere as she completely obliterated the tree that had held her down in one swing.

The goblins went flying as well, significantly hurt just from the collateral damage.

-

There stood Rubelina Corintha, aspirant to the title of baroness, in tattered clothes and holding a shiny longsword as heavy as she was. "I'll show you the power of the Corinthas!" As she pointed the weapon towards the sky the earth groaned and cracked. Goblin traps all around her were sprung and fell apart when the dirt itself bulged and rose up.

A large stretch of land behind her curled up and erected itself into a wall of vertical forest taller than any tower.

Some trees slid out of the sideways forest and fell down, bombarding ground around the goblins with heavy wood. So that the earth they were sitting on was nearly as disturbed and upside-down as the earth she had raised, and they could no longer orient themselves between the flying dirt and noise.

She then pointed the weapon at them, and they finally knew fear.

The entire landmass descended upon the handful of goblins, crushing them into an early grave.

The last object barreling down and piercing the loosened dirt was the metal plated Bulwark itself. The home they had been fighting to defend, tossed around like a projectile.

-

After slaying the goblins, the dame returned to save her retinue, but they had already shaken the petrification and freed themselves.

"Did you see that!?" She boasted, "I got the goblins. How many was that?"

"Twelve." The elf said, with much confidence in her sharp vision.

This took the wind out of her sails. "...really? Only twelve? But I used my strongest spell on them."

"There were only twelve to begin with, your ladyship. You killed all of them."

"One horse for twelve goblins, not hardly a fair trade." One of the knights said.

"Hhmpf," Corintha pouted, "and now I'm out of mana."

"Your ladyship, were not instructed to venture into the warrens at all. Look at your mother's vest, it's all torn."

"Yeah... you switch clothes with me."

The female knight flushed bright red. "B-but... there's goblins in these woods!"

"Are you a knight or what? You can fend off some fodder, and you can keep the breast plate."

Unable to disobey a higher born noble, the girl was forced to strip naked in front of her comrades and hand over her simple duds to the older woman, who changed into them.

"I guess we'll go back then," Corintha sighed, "I don't want to find out what all this kudzu leads to without mana."

"Kudzu your ladyship?"

"Uh-huh, look at these ivy stems stretching all over the ground. They're brimming with magic you know, a Corintha can feel these things."

The elf brushed away the leaves, inspecting the expansive carpet of plant matter that reached towards the Promise. "Another trick by the goblin father?"

"Who knows?" The lady was already walking off. "We'll find out soon enough when we attack for real. I hope before that beast does at least."

"Did you hear about the bulwark?" Huckabee asked Scratch.

They were in a low ceiling'd back office in the basement layer. The goblin was adjusting his balance sheet for the various crime rings they were financiering. Imported paper was becoming too expensive so now the numbers were scratched into animal hide, and he was getting quite adept at it.

"You're quite slow, the bulwark's rebellion was weeks ago."

"No, how it was destroyed."

Scratch put his ink knife away. "You're saying the goblins were killed."

Huckabee shook his head. "Not just that. Some of the wolves came by and your friends... uh... spoke with them. The whole base was ripped out of the ground and thrown fifty paces eastward.

"The base was... we're talking about the metal plated half-buried bunker. The bulwark."

"You remember how much trouble the guildmaster was? Among the adventurers he was given a 'C-rank'. That's the power of a baron. All fighters in this proving are heirs of baron houses, they are all either on that level or have the potential to."

"But that doesn't mean tha- Wait hold up, barons are more powerful than knights?"

"Of course."

"Does it go all the way up through counts, dukes, and kings?"

Huckabee seemed confused at his surprise. "Of course, I mean it's the same with subhumans, isn't it? From goblins to hobgoblins, ogres... what was it? Erklin, darklings."

"And they become like this due to...?"

"Noble families are very particular about who they marry."

Scratch pinched the bridge of his nose. "I see, so your fucked up eugenics program has the power to rip buildings out of the earth, and there's half a dozen of them."

"Yeah... well half a dozen 'Rank C'. There's also still the army."

"Excuse me?"

"There are two elven archers that still have their enchanted bows. And every aspirant will have a retinue of knights. We might even see some exotic mounts, such as pegasi."

"So you're here to tell me we don't stand a chance."

"Actually..." Huckabee paused to conjure a mote of light between them. He had been nearly blind in the goblins' dark basement the whole time, "I wanted to talk about getting a place in Eston. Since we control it now..."

"Getting too hot under your feet, huh?"

"No this isn't because of-"

"Well your timing isn't very diplomatic. 'You're fucked, I'm outta here.' Is that your thinking?"

Huckabee mulled a bit. "Getting out of the forest... getting a second chance... That's all the four of us ever wanted. But now the others are dead and... I sort of owe it to them."

Scratch nodded. "You know I'd move everybody there if I could. But some of us don't have the option."

Huckabee just stared at the floor.

"You can go. I already have a place for you." Scratch said.

"Really? Thank you-" Huckabee suddenly became extremely self aware about his deferential attitude towards a forest monster. "I mean, it's been a pleasure."

"Now to look for some replacements..." Scratch sighed.

"Isn't security mostly taken care of? With the troll and everything?"

The goblin shook his head. "Not just for you. We need more women to fill up the outer colonies, and tradesmen to be more self sufficient. It's horrible, like I've become a professional paper pusher."

"Probably best to deal with the existential threats first." Huckabee opined.

"That's been my attitude for a while, but now things are piling up. And the witch wants me to start using her 'superweapon' today."

"Use it? The werewolf? How?"

"Oh... you know."

"I don't want you back there." Scratch was admonished one of the Promise's goblins that had come along to Eston.

"But I-"

"No buts, last time you tried to actually wager your mother. You're not going to win at roulette's, Haruto. I don't believe any of you have the mental capacity to understand the odds of a casino. No sense of the risks, any of you."

"Scratch. What are you doing?" Lydia asked him.

"I'm just chewing out this dunderhead for- Oh you mean the wolf."

"I do mean the wolf."

The two goblins were standing on a direwolf. The beast had been forced on its back and bound to the four pillars surrounding a stone platform. Its raging maw was only just prevented from chomping and thrashing Haruto by a few taut metal wires.

The whole affair took place right next to Lacrima's port side cabin, under the gaze of one of Guth's statues.

"It's a werewolf thing," he told her, "ask Lacrima."

The witch and her apprentice were standing by the side. "Your Scratch will now proceed to harvest the first raging beast spirit for my moonlight curse," Lacrima was rubbing her hands in anticipation, "and so decades of planning will come to fruition. This will demonstrate my power, you can be sure of that."

"Just... let me do it." Lydia sighed, "it could be dangerous."

"Sure, no problem." He tossed her the sacrificial dagger. A nasty yellow thing with a blade that twisted like a snake.

Lydia took their place as she jumped up on the chest of the giant beast, staring intently in its maddened eyes.

Scratch turned to Lacrima. "I've been thinking about what to use it for."

"Yes?"

When Lydia brought down the blade onto the wolves throat, it spasmed in hate and terror and partly broke free.

A duel of sorts ensued, with the wolf trying to kill his attacker while still restrained to two pillars, and Lydia jumping around acrobatically in order to dodge its attacks and maneuvering to strike at just the right place.

"If we infect goblins with it, we can use it as a power-up instead of a curse. We could turn into wolves when facing powerful enemies." Scratch proposed, entirely unconcerned about the fight that had broken out.

Lacrima shook her head. "The direwolf spirit won't allow its host to tame it so easily. And besides, the curse can not transform an entity into anything with more power than its own potential, no magic can. Perhaps if you used regular wolves..."

"Hold up," he touched her arm just as the direwolf was finally put to rest.

Elpheba's eyes rolled back into their sockets and she spasmed wildly, breathing in the freed up spirit of the direwolf with a ghostly gasp.

"You're telling me we can use any type of wolf?" Scratch asked.

"Any type of beast. Why?"

"Because importing mega-fauna is expensive. We've got wolves."

-

"This werewolf business better be powerful." Lydia sighed, next to the dead wolf. She hadn't even broken a sweat. "Because the Bulwark was just annihilated by an aspirant."

"I heard. I also heard they're the result of a freaky eugenics program."

"That is not a word. We're in the endgame now. Threats to our existence can't possibly become any more absolute than this."

"I see, I figured they'd wait a few more days for the weather to clear. Seems like they called my bluff...." Scratch tapped his foot.

"I will send out armored infantry to the outer colonies. If they clear the stone quarry. That's a straight line's march to the first gate. And there are some other key corridors as well."

He gave her the glad eye. "You're quite knowledgeable."

"Well... I mean..." she blushed, "I've been defending these lands. For a bit of time now."

Lacrima smiled into the far off distance. "This will be the perfect opportunity to use the curse."

Alpheba cast her eyes down.

"Really?" Scratched asked, "you don't want to save them up and go all at once?"

"A proving is a way for the aspirants to prove to the peasantry they are able to protect them," the witch continued, "if they become a threat to those very subjects, it becomes impossible to ever rule over them. Take away their prize... and the attack should cease."

I should have known you'd pick the difficult option. Scratch thought to himself. We could have just turned some farmers and catch them unawares but you want me to bite a grand poobah to discredit them. The sooner we get rid of you the better.

"Well it's good that we're both contributing. But I do need to remind you that there's a larger plan for getting rid of dad's army."

"You have a strategy? What is it?"

He tapped the side of his head. "The one thing that will destroy a military, no matter the size, experience, or technology. The single surefire blow that will completely cripple any army."

"...what is that?"

"Sir, the we're running out of food."

"What."

Captain Harkness couldn't even conjure up the inflection for a question mark. He was just tired.

"Again? How?"

"The thing is..." the young knight swallowed, "after last week's fiasco... we haven't been able to find an alternative supplier."

"Last week's rat infested shipment had destroyed their entire supply, and now Eston was dragging its feet on the replacement. The supply line to the city was supposed to be the lifeblood of a strong fortress, but Eston almost seemed almost to be on the side of their enemies.

"Well. Be more assertive. Remind them that they have a duty to king and country." He told the young knight. "Relay that to Beauregarde."

"Yes sir... and for the next week?"

"I'll worry about that. Now go."

-

It was a sensitive subject to bring up to the lordlings.

They had come there to slay monsters, but were now caught up in a logistics quagmire.

"Nyaaah! Who needs their crackers and dried meat anyway? Mweh. I can hunt my own food." The beast girl said while stretching.

"Not everyone here was raised like a beast in the wild, Dieless." One of the others said, half under his breath.

"Oi!?"

"Hunting. Magic. These can only just provide for yourself." Captain Harkness explained. "You now have a squad to lead. And a fortress to maintain.

The incursion is stalled. You must go to the farmsteads and buy their produce."

"But the harvest is not until fall, what reserve's they have would be for their own..." One of the boys said.

"Nyah, do we keep that much gold inside the fortress?"

"It is less than ideal. You will be paying on the king's credit. Do not force them to give up more than they can spare. Naturally. But the fortress musn't starve either."

When the knight captain had left, the aspirants bickered about it amongst themselves.

"Another week?"

"What's wrong Rubelina? Does that set your kill count back by another eight goblins?"

"I'd love to see your hundred slashes go up against my landslide, Derrek."

"At least we're all held back at the same time."

"Nyah! When they set me loose I'm going straight to the Promise, haha!"

"Still..." one said, "it doesn't seem right...."

Beast Race

Family: Abhuman

Strength Level: D to A

Members of the beast race are abhumans, recognizable by their animal features.

Due to their unusual features, they were long classified as belonging to the beastman family of monsters.

The beast race possess human features, except for their tail and ears. Their animal features can be of a cat, dog, or rabbit. Humanoids with other animal features are not members of this race but dangerous beastmen.

The adventurers' guild allows members of the beast race to join. However, it must abide by local law, and abhumans in Blurich must be accompanied by a human master if they are to carry weapons.