The next day I received a notice that there was a contract available at the Guild. It was an open Contract for all Stealth and Scout type Mercenaries to assist the Jern Guard to scout the caves where Wiremu encountered the Goblins. Darksight was a requirement. They were notifying all people on their hidden lists as well as a general notice. We could register our interest and report to the Guard headquarters. Working with the Guards is going to put off a lot of people from the lists. I was interested and so was Wiremu. We decided to report as a team.

When we arrived there were about fifteen Mercenaries there. We were taken in and they verified that we had the minimum skills they wanted. Ten were chosen and Wiremu and I were part of that. They wanted five teams and we paired off and would be with three Guardsmen.

The Guardsmen didn’t really want the mercenaries and there wasn’t a lot of trust there. They had found five entrances they wanted to explore, four of them had definite signs of Goblins and there just weren’t enough Guardsmen with the skills. We were paired with a grizzly dwarven Scout Sergeant and two junior guards, one Dwarf and one human. The Sergeant had a mapping skill. The two juniors were basically there for experience and to pack in the supplies. We were expecting at least a ten day trip.

I expected ten days away from my job would be a problem, but when I asked the Security Head he was pleased. They really wanted to increase good will with the Guard and he contacted the Guard and generously offered one to allow one of their stealth specialists at no cost to the guard. I would be paid by the Sølv Emporium and not the Guard. It is probably why I was chosen rather than one of the others as the Guard didn’t know about my shadow affinity. Cost saving measures.

We would set out in two days and the guard would supply everything except personal equipment. Wiremu was bringing Tāoke and a couple of shortened spears. He also had a small wooden shield especially made up. He could strengthen it with Granite and It would not be noticeable to the guards. Then he had his knives and throwing darts. He was also packing some traps.

I put a rush on my order with Ulfhildr and was told my dagger would be ready. I had asked her to make my Darksteel into a dagger combined with some Deep Iron. I sold Sølv some of my Darksteel to pay for it. It would be a large heavy war knife. It was not my usual knife at all, but with the strong heavy alloy it would be better for upfront fighting. I was also wanting to experiment with my affinity on it. It would be a very desirable item for people to steal. I was not going to flaunt it.

I also had a heavier set of Leathers to wear. They were nothing special as I had not yet found what I was looking for. I wasn’t really sure what it was I was looking for, but I would know it when I found it.

The Guard delivered us to the entrance to the cave they had found. It was a different entrance than where he had fought the Goblins. Wiremu showed me the Goblin footprints, but they could have been anything to me. Wiremu and I were obviously the Goblin fodder and were to be first in. The Sergeant would be next, he told us to call him Sergeant, charming fellow. Then the Privates were to follow. Gunner was the Dwarf and Harold the human.

I took the lead first and we headed in. We would take a break every three hours and then a longer break after four of those to sleep. The first three hours were uneventful. Some of the passage was very narrow and a squeeze for the dwarves. Goblins are small. We didn’t want to announce our presence by banging on rocks. Wiremu took the lead next and we came to our first split. There were three passages to choose from, two of them had the scent of goblins. The sergeant chose the one with the most recent scent.

We swapped the lead again and halfway through the next session I heard Wiremu’s rock click warning of danger. I figured it was that bloody Hearing Aid of his, but it may have been his Granite Sense. I went into stealth and scouted forward to see while he warned the others. About ten minutes later the passage opened into a cavern with a stream. There were about 20 Goblins trying to catch fish from the stream. Some were eating mushroom type growths. I guess they needed to scavenge far and wide for food. I couldn’t see any other passages, but when Wiremu and the Sergeant came they could, as they both had Farsight as well as Darksight.

We skirted the edge of the cavern to check out the passages. The second one we encountered had the smell of goblins so we took that. We swapped again for the fourth shift of the day. We would need somewhere to hide for a few hours of sleep. We didn’t find any and ended up making a short camp in the passage. Two on watch for three hours then swap. Then we move off again.

Day 2. We will call it day 2 even though the routine only takes about 18 hours. This was similar. We had three passage splits and two caverns. No goblins. We filled out water bottles in a stream and Wiremu tried eating some of the Mushroom stuff the goblins were eating. He declared it goblin only food. I engaged the Privates in some basic conversation to get to know them a bit better. The Sergeant frowned but didn’t interfere. They were both Jern natives, Harold the son of a Baker and Gunner following the example of his Mother in joining the Guard. They seemed nice enough kids, not that I was physically older than they were. I think my perspective is changing. Harold also wasn’t very good at hiding his growing admiration, or should I say infatuation, with me. Like I said, kids.

Day 3. We found two groups of goblins. One we could bypass in a cavern but the other we met in a narrow passage. We convinced the Sergeant that Wiremu and I could hide while the goblins passed and then we could make sure none escaped to give warning while they attacked from the front. I don’t think he really believed us, but he let us try. With Wiremu’s camouflage and my Shadows Embrace it was easy for us to cling to the ceiling and watch them go past and not be noticed. There were about fifteen of them. We dropped down and started silently killing from the back. We were about half way through them when the sounds of fighting started. Gunner took a claw to the face, but he was patched up with a bandage and some herbal paste the Sergeant had, not wasting a potion, and we carried on. My new knife was fantastic. I hope the Sergeant counted the dead because Wiremu and I took out way more than those three did. That rest break I had the watch with Harold and learned all about growing up in a bakery. I was starting to think he should have followed in his fathers footsteps and become a Baker. It did seem to be where his passion was.

Day 4. We found our first Goblin Shaman. He was in a huge cavern that was dominated by a waterfall. It looked like this was their main camp for now, probably because of the water and food, mushroom, fish and some moss and small rodent and insect type creatures. There was a guesstimate of a hundred goblins there. Some young ones so there were breeders in this group. We again skirted the edge to go around them. We had to take out a couple who came too close. Sound wasn’t our problem as the waterfall dominated the cavern. We went out in a well used passage, which was a risk. The object of the task was to find out the size of the goblin problem and to do that we needed to find how many Shamans there were and if there was a chief.

We started encountering goblins every couple of hours. Some singular, but most in small groups. Wiremu, Tāoke and I were essentially clearing the way now. We were obviously getting closer to a large group. This time when passages split there were goblin traces in all of them. We certainly couldn’t stop for a rest in these passages. Eventually we came to a smallish cavern and the goblin trail passed right through. We moved off to the side and rested in our three hour shifts. Several groups of goblins moved past while I was on watch. I was on watch with Gunner this time and he was more interested in picking my brains on how to improve his Stealth and getting any tips on fighting that I could give him. I gave him a few things to practise the next day. He was pretty dedicated to moving up in the Guard, like his mother. That was also why he had volunteered for this mission. He knew it was a high risk mission, but the potential for Class and Skill growth balanced the risk for him, and his reputation, and probable promotion, from a successful mission was the bonus reward.

Day 5. Pretty much the same as Day 4. The Privates were attacked from behind once and the Sergeant had to rescue them. No serious injuries, but a lesson on staying alert. Again there was nowhere to stop for the night so we pushed on. Wiremu suggested to the Sergeant that I scout ahead, but that was met with a resounding no. I don't think he believed us about my abilities and he had been firmly taught never to split the party in hostile territory. So we battled on, and on, and on. It was well into Day 6 when we came out to an absolutely huge cavern. It was hundreds of metres across and almost a kilometre long according to the Sergeant Scout. There was a river down the centre and a lot of goblins. The Sergeant and Wiremu went to try to count, while the Privates and I found a place to rest and wait. The Sergeant returned first and Wiremu was an hour or so later. The Sergeant thought he saw about 6-8 Shamans. Wiremu counted at least 10 and he thought he saw a chief.

We rested, although I'm sure nobody actually rested. The sergeant was drawing maps of our passage and the way to this place. He drew four of them and gave us all one. At least one of us needed to make it out alive.

Just as we were going to head back out the way we came in a Shaman and several hundred goblins headed down that passage. We would have to find another way out.