Chapter 47: Goblins!

It isn’t actually difficult for us to find our way to the village, despite the vague directions. There’s a fairly clear path of dirt trodden down through the grass leading there that we follow.

As we approach the outskirts of the village, we spot an elderly orc working in a field, his bare back rippling with muscle as he hacks at the ground with a hoe. He turns and squints at us suspiciously when we near the fence bordering his field.

“Hello there.” I greet. “We’ve come from the hall of warriors in Ra’tlub about the goblin problem. We heard that someone came a while before us, but nothing’s been heard of him. Any idea what happened?”

“Aye.” The old orc dusts the dirt off his hands. “He’s dead. Went into the forest days ago, full of bluster. Never came back.”

I nod, having mostly expected that. “I see. What can you tell us about what’s been happening with the goblins?”

“Buggers getting cocky lately. Used to see ‘em every now and again, annoying but no real trouble. One good sock to the face and that’s that.” He clenches a thick fist for emphasis. “Now they’re everywhere. Can’t go much into the forest before you bump into a batch of them. Steal crops, tools, anything small enough for their scrawny thieving arms.”

“You think they’re somewhere in the forest, then?” I ask.

“Gotta be.” He shrugs. “Ain’t nowhere else for them to be ‘round here. Prolly found a cave near the hills. Hell, prolly found a few from how many we been seeing.”

“Right.” I nod. “Thanks for the help.”

He grunts, raising his hoe again.

We inquire with a few of the other villagers, have a brief altercation with a guard who we thankfully manage to convince that we have come from the hall of warriors and don’t need to be taken to Ra’tlub again. Everyone says much the same things – lots more goblins than usual, stealing things, although there hasn’t been actual harm done to anyone as far as we can tell.

With nothing to gain from questioning the locals more, we head into the forest.

“This forest isn’t small, and we don’t have any real clues as to which direction they might be in, so keep your eyes open.” I note.

We start our search on a forest trail, probably something used infrequently by the orcs to get to good hunting spots or gather herbs. The underbrush on either side of the path is thick enough that we can’t see more than a few meters away, and even on the path we have to push aside branches and leaves more often than not.

The sunlight filters down through the treetops in a dappled blanket, making it even harder to pick things out, and the constant sounds of brushing leaves, birdcalls and insects create a soft backdrop that, while relaxing, does make it difficult to pinpoint any particular sound.

As we walk, we see the occasional flash of animals’ hides, and the sounds of scattering leaves as they skitter away from our approach. Before long, we begin to notice the sounds of flowing water, and we shortly find ourselves at a babbling brook. Across the water, a large black bear stops lapping and raises its head, roaring at us.

Rolling my eyes at the beast’s attempt to appear intimidating, I issue a large but thin sheet of fire from my left hand, creating something that looks dangerous, but is actually only capable of singeing the bear’s fur. I push it forwards and the beast panics, turning its large body around and quickly lumbering away through the foliage.

The fire fades and we cross the brook, continuing deeper into the forest.

Xiltroth begins to speak, “I think I-”

I hear a rustle above me, too loud and close to be a bird, and whip my head in its direction to see a green body falling towards me. “Ambush!” I warn loudly as I shift my feet to give me a more stable stance and smack the goblin away from me with my left arm.

A series of thuds and cracks ring out as more goblins hit the ground, either repelled or dodged by their targets.

“Ah!” Heather gasps as a goblin manages to latch onto her shoulders. It starts trying to choke her, but before anyone can react to help her, she easily pries the goblin’s hands off of her neck and throws it to the ground, looking almost surprised herself.

I look back towards the goblin I knocked away, but it had taken advantage of my distraction and is already gone. Looking around, I see the other goblins either scrambling away or vanished. In fact, the only one still around is the one that had attacked Heather, which is lying stunned on the ground.

Shaking my head, I step over to the fallen goblin and pick it up with a single hand. I’m surprised by how light it is as I take a small knife from the sheathe hanging from its flimsy clothing. It’s flint, roughly done but still sharp. Chances are it would break easily, but it’s enough for a single lethal stab or cut.

I toss the knife to the side and the tip chips off when it hits a rock. The goblin is scratching and pulling at my fingers, trying to escape however it can, but it can’t do any damage to my gauntlet. Honestly, it’s even weaker than I had expected. “Where’s your home?” I attempt to interrogate the thing.

“Gah! Keh…” The goblin spouts incomprehensible sounds and finishes by blowing a raspberry at me.

“Worth a try.” I twist the thing’s neck with a sigh and drop it to the floor, lifeless.

“These goblins are smarter than the orcs give ‘em credit for.” Jakin muses. “Tactics-wise, at least. Recognised that they couldn’t beat us head on, so they staged an ambush. When that didn’t work out, they fled immediately.”

I nod in agreement. “They’re not just dumb beasts, that’s for sure. Rudimentary weapons, too. It’s possible that simple traps might not be beyond them - pitfalls, snares, nets… We better watch where we step from here on. Still, their attack might mean we’re getting closer.”

“I hope not. It would be much too easy to hide something among all these plants and leaves.” Xiltroth notes. “Anyway, Heather, you alright? Did that goblin manage to cut you?”

“No, I managed to throw it off before it could do anything.” Heather shakes her head slightly.

Xiltroth nods. “It might be good for you to get a knife or sword you can use in case something like this happens again, or if you run out of arrows.”

“I’ll look into it when we get back.” Heather agrees, but continues quieter, “I don’t have much to trade with, though…”

“We’ll figure something out. Can’t leave you vulnerable if a surprise attack happens again.” I reassure.

Heather lowers her head in thanks, and we continue deeper into the forest.

At this point there isn’t much of a path left to follow, so we just head in the same direction, marking trees occasionally as we go to prevent us from losing our way on the way back.

My prediction turns out to be accurate, as we end up having to go around several traps, some intended to catch and kill small wildlife and others clearly intended to be lethal to people or larger creatures.

“Looks like the forest clears up ahead.” Xiltroth notes.

We can see more and more light pouring towards us from ahead. I grimace to myself; I hadn’t realised that this part of the forest was so narrow, and had hoped that we were lucky enough to be heading towards the goblin camp. Chances are we’ll have to sweep through the forest for days on end to find what we’re looking for.

Then we reach the edge of the trees.

“Shit. Cave of goblins my ass.” Jakin swears quietly.

This isn’t the other side of the forest. To either side and in front of us are hundreds of stumps, all cut down in the goblins’ expansion. Further ahead, we see what they needed it for: a huge city-fortress, by no means smaller than Ra’tlub itself, surrounded by tall walls and towers, patrolled by over a dozen just on the side visible to us.

“Reckon you could set it ablaze?” Boaz asks me.

“Not sure. I don’t know if I could sustain enough fire over this sort of distance, I’ve never tried it before. And if I were to get closer, chances are at least some of those sentries have some manner of ranged weapon. Maybe if I even could…” I shake my head, crouching down and picking through some of the sticks and leaves littering the ground. “I don’t think I could prevent the whole forest from getting lit up along with it.”

“Aight, well that’s enough for me. Who’s ready to head back?” Jakin motions with his thumb.

“Mm.” Xiltroth hums in agreement. “Don’t know that there’s much we can do here. Too many to fight, even if we ignore the defences. Best we just get back-”

The sound of an axe from our left chops the rest of Xiltroth’s sentence off. We look over to see half a dozen goblins maybe ten, fifteen metres away starting to whack at a tree. One without an axe is looking around idly, perhaps some kind of overseer, but begins turning his head with more purpose shortly after we notice them, and within seconds sees us and screeches out a warning.

After a moment of hesitation, I say, “That’s our cue to get out of here, I think.”

And so, we turn around and step back into the forest before they can call for reinforcements.

We make our way back through the forest, but they don’t heed our warnings. Their trust in us is tenuous at best, so I don’t blame them. Still, as we walk along the road to Ra’tlub I wish they had, for their own sakes. It occurs to me that the goblins, made aware of our presence by the woodcutters, may assume that the orcs are now aware of their presence and take military action to ensure their survival.

My hope in having left them alive is that they think that we are unrelated to the orcs, thus lowering the chance of them doing so. But it’s impossible for me to know what will happen until it does.

As we make our way, we hunt some monsters, both for food and to trade for another night at the inn. With the sun setting as it is, we won’t be able to make it to camp before nightfall.

The guards at the gate keep an eye on us as we pass through. With a bit of discussion and co-ordination between us, we manage to find our way back to the hall of warriors. We make our way through the room, though not without a bit of jostling from the orcs, and stop in front of the bar.

“So?” Greyguts asks.

“Well, the last guy that went is probably dead, first of all. Villagers hadn’t seen him since he went into the forest days ago.” I start, Greyguts nodding at the news without much surprise. “And we found the goblins. Wasn’t a cave of them, or even a tribe. More like a city.”

“When you say city, how big d’you mean?” Greygut’s eyes narrow.

“We only saw one side, so it’s hard to be sure exactly,” I preface, “But if all the walls are the same length, about as big as this one.”

“Huh. From the sounds of it, you didn’t take them out, am I right?” Greyguts grunts, to which I nod in reply. “You know I can’t pay you for the information, right?”

Our discussion is interrupted by an orc shouting with raucous glee, “Couldn’t even kill puny goblins? They are no warriors!”

Shrugging, I turn and reply, “Even rats can eat a man alive if there are enough of them, let alone goblins. I don’t take my team into fights we have no chance of winning, so yes, I decided not to attack the fortified enemy position likely defended by overwhelming numbers. If you think we are no warriors for that, then you can go there yourself and die a fool’s death, having accomplished nothing in your life.”

“Maybe I will! Show you how a real man fights.” He retorts, but while the younger orcs are cheering behind him, a few of the more grizzled orcs present have turned away, ignoring him.

I shake my head and turn back to Greyguts. “Anyway. Yeah, we know. Still, we only just got here yesterday. Would be a bit depressing if the next time we visit a village was gone, or something. Doesn’t cost us anything to let you know, apart from the goodwill of idiots, it would seem.”

“Well, if what you say is true, things might get hairy indeed.” Greyguts sighs. “For what it’s worth, I believe you. You don’t strike me as the type of person to lie. But the chief – he didn’t get to his position by acting on every rumour or tale the warriors spout a couple drinks away from blacking out. For better or worse, he’ll want to confirm what you say before he takes action. Probably want to talk to you again, too. Where you staying tonight?”

“Greta’s inn, so long as she accepts our goods.” I reply.

“I know the place.” Greyguts nods.

“Tell me we don’t have werewolves to worry about as well.” Jakin pleads to Greg.

“No, it turned out that it was just a small pack of dark wolves. They’d gorged themselves fat, and it was simple to wipe them out. Why, what happened on your end?” Greg asks curiously.

“Well, the village up north had spotted some goblins around the place, and wanted them dealt with.” I explain. “Turns out it wasn’t just a small cave or tribe of the buggers, it’s an entire city. Big as Ra’tlub big. Village ignored our warnings, so chances are they’re done for if the goblins start taking action.”

“Damn, seriously?” Greg sighs. “Never a dull day. Any chance they’re friendly?”

“Hard to say. We got ambushed by a group on our way there, and they didn’t seem open to talking. Place that big must have some sort of intelligent leadership, though, and it could be that the average goblins are attacking without their approval, but somehow I doubt it.” I shrug.

Greg shakes his head in dismay. “Wasn’t there basically peace just a while ago? Wish I was around maybe just fifty years ago, and I didn’t have to worry about a war here, a monster invasion there… What’s next, disease and natural disasters?”

“Careful what you wish for.” I chuckle uneasily.

“True, true.” Greg concedes. “There’s enough on our plate as it is.”

Taking a draught of his drink, Greg grimaces. “They make this stuff stronger than I’m used to. Must be that orcish constitution.”

“Mm.” I agree. “Not much of a drinker myself.”

“How did we get here, Phil?” Greg asks offhandedly, and I have to struggle to hide my shock. “Feels like only yesterday I was pushing papers, and now… This madness.” He gestures, seemingly to the world as a whole.

“Uh, my name’s Aaron.” I try to sound nonchalant as I correct him.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, sorry.” He smiles wryly in apology. “Phil was a good friend of mine. Odd man, but a good guy. He… Well, I guess you must remind me of him or something.”

“No worries.” I take a gulp of beer to hide my face. “And who can say why any of us are here? Fate, an act of God, or just the consequence of our own actions… In the end we just have to play with the hand we’re given.”

“To think that I am seeing you again so soon.” The big chief sighs. “Although whether it is because you people are trouble or if it is just a sign of the times I could not say. Regardless, it occurs to me that while you introduced some of your companions, you never mentioned your own name.”

“Sorry about that. I was a bit distracted and didn’t think of it at the time. My name’s Aaron.” I introduce myself.

“I see. Well, Aaron, Greyguts tells me that you brought him news of a goblin city nearby the northern village. I would like you to elaborate on that.” The big chief says seriously.

“Of course. Yesterday morning we went to the hall of warriors, and Greyguts told us of goblin sightings near the village. We decided to investigate, and headed that way shortly after.” I explain, starting at the beginning for clarity. “After we arrived we asked around, trying to find out if anyone had any clues where they were coming from. Other than somewhere in the forest, nobody had any idea, so we headed into the forest.”

He nods along and I continue. “We were initially following a trail, probably used by hunters or similar folk. Didn’t see much. Then we crossed a stream, and a bit after that we were ambushed by some goblins and started finding traps around the place. A bit further and we came out into a massive clearing.”

“And the city was in this clearing?” The big chief questions.

“Yes, but it wasn’t a natural clearing. There were tree stumps everywhere. We only saw one side of the city, but that side was about as long as Ra’tlub’s.” I clarify. “Unfortunately we didn’t get very long to look around, as we were soon discovered by a group of goblin woodcutters.”

“Surely there weren’t enough of them to endanger your group?” He raises a bushy eyebrow.

I shake my head. “Not at all. My concern was more that they would call for reinforcements. Ten, twenty goblins we might be able to handle, but a hundred could overwhelm us. That, and I worried that if we killed them whatever leadership they have would assume it was your people who did it and start more direct hostilities.”

“I thank you for your consideration.” The big chief closes his eyes, and when he opens again, they burn with purpose. “However, you may have only bought some time. If they are as close as you say, it is inevitable that it will come to conflict. I will send a scouting group immediately to confirm what you say and learn more about this goblin city.”

“There’ll be at least one guy in the hall of warriors eager to join, I’m sure.” I say wryly.

“There usually is.” The big chief raises an eyebrow. “Regardless. If what you say is true, then I may be in your debt. However, understand that if it is not, you will no longer be welcome here at Ra’tlub.”

“I know.” I reply with a steady gaze. “I may jest sometimes, but not with lives on the line.”

“We will see. You may go – even without this, I would have much to do.” The big chief rests his eyes as we nod respectfully and leave, collecting our weapons on the way out.

“So, what now?” Jakin asks.

I know what he means – do we stay, or go?

“We’ve been away from camp for a while.” I decide. “We should get back, maybe head over to the halfling town and let them know how things went. Things shouldn’t kick off here for a few days at least, if they do at all.”

“If it does come to war, will we help them?” Heather looks at me.

I sigh. “I don’t know. Ideally they don’t need our help – I don’t see how our small group could sway the course of a battle that large a scale. Though when it comes down to it, we’re only a bit further from the goblins than Ra’tlub is. One way or another we might end up having to fight or move, again.”

“If it comes teh a fight, I’d rather have an army at my back.” Jakin notes.

Boaz shakes his head. “It took us long enough teh build our camp in the first place. I ain’t keen on doing it all again.”

“Ditto to that.” I groan. “Digging that moat was not an enjoyable process.”

“I like where we are now.” Xiltroth shrugs. “Then again, I am particularly adverse to being dead.”

“I guess we’ll discuss it when we get back. And hey, worst comes to worst we can at least outrun them, right?” I chuckle.