Before the end of the day, I came to realize that the paladins had gone around wreaking a bit of havoc. Nothing too destructive, but they’d literally cracked open a barrel with fish being brined within. A bit upset that at getting fishy liquid on his hands, the paladin oh-so-wisely used his sword to slice the barrel in half. He was probably demoted for anger management issues.

Hanging around, it seemed like there was only some minor harassment going on, and everyone escaped unscathed. For a group that arrived looking pretty pissed, maybe the official tax collectors would be less unruly. At least everything turned out okay.

By nightfall, I’d prepared plenty more fragile stones to use. Waiting next to the tall grass(it experienced some personal growth and we made up), Tagalong Girl was taking longer to meet up. It was possible her parents were just restless and were unable to sleep, so I didn’t mind being patient. In the meantime, grey flames danced about, winking in and out of existence like a depressed strobe light.

Of course, in time she arrived. Slowly approaching, her eyes looked a pensive pensieve grey. A bit of a peculiar colour, but it went so perfectly with her somber face. Perfection aside, though Tagalong Girl was quite the serious fellow, this was certainly outside the standard deviation of her personality. This worried me, not just because training might have to be cancelled.

“Hmm? You’re a bit late there *Tagalong Girl*, is something on your mind?” I kept sitting as she walked over. “What’s up?”

She didn’t say anything in response. I can’t say I really expected her to, she did try to be rather self contained. Internally shrugging, things didn’t work out spontaneously.

“Alright then, light jog tonight.”

Listlessness isn’t the best word for it, as the rocks were tossed towards her, there was no decrease in her performance compared to yesterday. She also managed to improve, even considering I wasn’t throwing as many difficult shots at first. Seeing Tagalong Girl wasn’t beside herself with worry, the pace picked up and the spear continued to smash the stones to pieces. The projectiles stopped coming when she broke into a coughing fit on some of the dust.

“Alric.”

“Mmn?”

“Why are you taking me along?”

“What’s with people and all these whys? Don't you sometimes just get the feeling you need to do something? You want out of the village and don't have a reason for that. Just follow what you want to do in life.”

“But the unknown is uncertain…”

“That’s what’s great about living life yourself! There are uncertainties, and you can figure out what’s behind the curtain. There’s no need to stick to a known path, go off the rails if you want. Or stick to them if you don’t. Everything’s up to you.”

Tagalong Girl turned unresponsive after my monologue, perhaps I had laid it down a little thick. Staring emptily into the distance, she zoned out in thought. I let her stew for a little while before getting behind her and pushing her back towards the village. Too much thinking is bad.

“So I need to be ready to explore my own path.”

“Wherever you walk is your path, whether it's explored already or not. The important thing is it's where you walk.” Patting her out of a daze, Tagalong Girl pulled away and started back on her on feet. I didn't mind carrying her, but that was good too. Her stage of melancholy subsided and we headed back home.

Four more days passed in an instant. The tension in the village didn't rise, and the temperature continued to lower. It seemed only myself, Rion, Pan, Tagalong Girl, Ross and Troy, and Ralph were aware of Ria needing to be spirited away. Compared to the tiny size of the village, that wasn't exactly a small number, but everyone kept quiet, and the matter didn't affect the village.

Fewer people say on the banks fishing, as they had to thresh and winnow what grains they had. My patch of long grass vanished as thatch needed replacing. Cold rains blew in twice during that period, very brief, but it was unusual. Winter was still a small ways away, but I helped set up the drying racks for the fish that would be needed.

Castor also stopped by for a short while, surprising me with how much time had passed. Four weeks, or 32 days, but only under 700 hours. I couldn’t tell if that was long or short. He had a schedule to keep, so we kept our chat short, but I told him to give my apologies to Theodore. I gave him one of Vamp’s teeth to give to my mentor, and him my tiny vat of livewood oil.

I didn’t forget Ruffles, and flavored a radish like refined sugar to feed to him. He looked quite pleased as they resumed their journey.

On my own, I worked to summon legions of the dead. Though it slowed my production some, I still ordered them to collect the few bodies that remained to continue enhancing my control. Another 90 goblin zombies rose up in that time. Putting the numbers at 200, no matter how impressive I felt I was, that was a few too many to individually control. So other than creating them, I spent hours practicing to move them all independently as well. Every other day, my trip back through would start with a splitting headache, and I’d pet Hans while enhancing him on my way back. I think he felt lonely, compared to the armies of undead I was producing, there wasn't much time to spent with him. Clavi at least for to work side by side with me. But other than my time running through the forest, there weren't many opportunities. I needed to prepare.

Tuesday morning rolled around. Like before, I’d given notice I may be gone for several days again. Ross and Troy who were aware I was planning to leave because of Ria realized something was up. Luckily I could just tell them it was *mana*; though it wasn't a very satisfying answer they accepted it.

Hmm, was I really heading out too often? No, there were too many things to be done. I was already practically packing last minute. Besides, depending on the benefits I reaped, I could possibly find some treasure of use to the village before I left as a parting gift.

So after feeding Ria, I departed for my mission.

The sun had not yet risen, and even once reaching Oirk, the shadows from the trees remained plentiful; darkening the already shady surroundings. Yet unlike before when many of the goblins had been lazing about, or generally moving about in a manner that seemed unproductive, they suddenly became unified.

Still stupid, they hadn’t suddenly organized themselves into phalanxes or cohorts, but a general ‘purpose’ spread through the population. Conglomerated into groups, they wielded the weapons of the battle from two weeks ago, meaning a vast number of them were armed. The raal seemed more common than before; at least one was with every pack, not quite intelligent enough to be a leader, but the others would crowd and follow them.

The amoeba-like groups shifted their way around as I made my way to the warg ‘pen’. They lived on the outskirts of the goblin nest, and had a symbiotic relationship, but not all wargs had riders. In fact, the grand majority of them were wild—at least, as wild as an intelligent creature could be. Comparing how the black canines had ordered themselves, they likely possessed more intelligence than the common goblin.

Putting themselves in packs of seven, each one was led by a slightly abnormal warg, five feet tall at the least, and possessing strange traits. Streaks of ominously coloured fur, extra pairs of ears, eyes of strange colors and designs...genetically diverse was one thing, but this was another. Despite these mix-and-match modifications, none of them happened to give off an otherworldly appearance, just that of a larger dog.

In much less chaotic rendezvous of the wargs, I was able to catch a glimpse of the alpha. If we stood next to each other, we would be eye to eyes, for the black furred beast was almost seven feet tall and had four eyes. Stalking about on six legs, a contingent of six followed behind it and to its sides, each could have their own pack if not for serving under the leader. The strangest of its features were the spurs jutting from its back. As though its ribs had inverted, they curved out and upwards, wiggling in waves like the legs of a centipede.

Striking a dominating figure, unrest did not appear in the ranks of the wargs, obediently lowering their heads as it passed. As I watched from the sidelines, the beast and I caught each others’ gazes from afar, but other than a quick sneer from him, nothing came of it. Well we were going to be companions on the battlefield, no need to escalate.

The wargs with riders were isolated from the rest, but looked no less self-assured. Each formed a pack with only itself and its rider, not interested in the rest of their kin. There were almost four dozen Khtraal riders, seven Iyrkraal riders, and eight dozen tKlor’t’t riders. Whatever tKlor’t’t did, his nest seemed to be thriving; his spawn looking like either a part of the warg, or some nature spirit ready to ride. Not all of them used spears or lance type weapons, but whatever they had fit them well.

Perhaps the only reason tKlor’t’t had not become a goblin king already was due to his cautiousness. Well, he made it this far in his life, apparently the chubby chief was doing something right. Depending on how everything turned out over the next day or two, maybe he would actually lead a coup against Khtraal. Not that I had anything against Longhand, but tKolr’t’t was more my style.

Not much time passed and I spotted Vamp. We exchanged our toothy greeting, as he headed to my side in a semi-upright manner.

“So where have you been?”

“Need to khill wargs frhom Kugu. Make things easzier todhay.”

“Sounds like a lot of fun, get any good eats?”

“Many many good eats.” Opening his mouth, he tapped his gums which oozed a slight amount of black blood, where only a few small teeth protruded. “Killed rrorhuk. Tough bonez, very tasty.”

Harassing any lone wargs that passed by, the two of us idled for only a minute or two before our next companion approached.

“Khthju, it’s good to see you’ve arrived. Is it time to head out yet?” tKlor’t’t not only had a superior percentage of warg riders, but also shamans. To my dismay, I’d not gotten to see any of them, but it appeared they were how goblins communicated long distances. tKlor’t’t’s nest was about two thirds of Khtraal’s in terms of numbers, but had thrice the number of shamen. Information rested almost solely on his efforts.

Well, it wasn’t like I was going in alone when I arrived. At least, depending on what you meant by alone. There was also Vamp too.

“We leave any time. Now good enough.” Looking irritated by my mere presence, that likely had something to do with dislocating his arm the other day. Hey, it looks fixed, it’ll be fine, I’m sure. Khthju saddled up, though goblins didn’t use saddles, and I stretched to get ready to run. Ah, yes, the incredibly fun task of running with the wargs.

The goblins squalled in a rallying cry, raising their weapons to the canopy. Vamp called out, and I joined in with two words of their language I knew, zhar and uhk, blood and guts. Several rounds of hoarse cawing later, we set off into the forest.

Only the tKlor’t’t riders set out, and only six dozen of them as well. Still those numbers would suffice. Khthju, aware we would have to slow down soon, pressed hard for the first few miles. Despite the increase in speed, the two levels I had gained in the meanwhile let me keep pace. After all, it was only a sprint.

Going at such speeds, the pack soon slowed. Not only by Khthju’s command, the wargs also seemed to sense something odd. Slowing to a trot, some sniffed the air, seeming to realize that something was wrong with the bodies littering the battlefield. No need to keep them in suspense.

“Khthju, be a doll and make sure the beasties don’t eat our reinforcements.” Though he didn't understand the phrasing, Red Leader relayed it to the troops, taking some time to put emphasis on a few phrases.

“If you’re all ready, then let’s invite the main event.” Clapping my hands, many of the bodies shivered and stood to their feet. Piles of corpses hopped up, revealing piles of skeletons that his underneath. With a wave of my hands, Clavi and the Freshmen stepped out of Inventory, and I began distributing weapons to my minions. I only bothered giving them to the skeletons, the zombies likely wouldn't have the speed to use them well. Instead they would be a meatshield for their armed compatriots.

As the army of the dead appeared, the wargs nervously pawed about, and their riders were similarly unsettled, but kept themselves under control. Khthju then ordered us all to move out.

Since the zombies wouldn't move quickly, we had to make up for it by not delaying. As much fun as a shambling army of the dead looked, it wasn't very efficient. For those with gimp legs, skeletons doubled up to help carry them along. It looked unconventional, and frankly far less ominous than I desired. Well, not much to do about it. I suppose I rushed it a bit too much.

Goblins, wargs, and the undead marched through the faint morning light that managed to break through the trees. We were ready for a war.