Just a gentle stroll through the woods, tKlor’t’t and I walked with our subordinates trailing behind us, sadly leaving Vamp to meet with Ychk. If Khthju had been a little less enthused with his work it would have been a relaxing journey. Chatting with the chief about various things helped elevate my mood greatly, so I could overlook his subordinate’s explosive nature. Learning new things put my previously restless mind at ease.

“Nests never have formed outside of the forest. Although few Chiefs ever learned the process of their creation, all understand that the land outside the boundary of the trees are wastelands to us. We are able to traverse the land, but require more sustenance; I have also never heard of a time when goblins set out to attack human settlements en masse.”

“That does explain the separation between the races in part. What truly piques my interest is how your kind has dealt with deforestation. There is not much in the way of new growth, around the outskirts in particular.”

I delved into the nature of the woods, the lack of new growth made me curious. Surely over Derriad’s long history the trees would slowly be beaten back. Since the territories of Glaucen were turned to plains, the only source large enough would be the forest. I doubted that the lumberjacks worked with conservation in mind.

“Such is one of the reasons why we have never brought our full force down on the other races of the woods. They hold many more similarities to the human species and are more successful when pushing back human encroachments.” tKlor’t’t paused to crush a few more goblins that tried attacking us, remaining silent for a while longer. Deliberating his next words, he took a bite out of an enemy combatant, eating the head and both arms while looking ponderous before resuming his speech. “With the exception of the last goblin prince.”

“Oh? Care to elaborate on that point? Not to digress, but I am unaware about how a goblin prince comes to be.”

“The goblin prince is a figure that arises every few generations among goblins, perhaps every hundred years or so. They quickly achieve status as a chief, but their prowess leads others to swear fealty to them. If I didn't suspect it to be the work of Iyrkraal in the background, I would say that Khtraal was well on his way to becoming the next prince. Should Ghojtroik and Zhargorb be defeated and their nests assimilated, he will certainly qualify.”

“So the prince is not a division of personal strength, but of total power wielded.”

“There are few who set arms aside when faced with a prince weaker than they, but that is the case. The best way to define a prince is that they can unify goblins of different nests.”

Nests, nests, and nests again. Something integral about goblin culture and hierarchy always seemed to come through the nest. Acting with such dedication to the nest at all times, the nest represented an additional parent; an unbreakable affiliation around the same as the one who spawned them. Yet when one became strong enough, they could take over the nest as though it were a country.

“The previous prince, Iyrkrzhar, united many tribes with the desire to exterminate the non-goblin races. His ruthless assaults on the west provided him and his allies to spawn in numbers great enough to suppress most of his opposition. In doing so, he sacrificed future security for short term gains.

“The other races began to flee, outside the safety of the trees. Most integral of them being the elves. Preserving the borders of the forests, elves frequently clashed with humans. They remained small skirmishes for the most part, however tension could not be avoided. As they fled, the humans gave them harsh terms for aid.

“As all my knowledge comes from scouts and hearsay, I do not know the exact proposition. After a human army marched into the forest to annihilate Iyrkrzhar, I do know that ever since there have been elvish outposts near the edge of the forest. Forced to use their magic to grow trees meant to be cut down, and when misfortune besets an outpost, several residents will be taken to the slave markets before the problem is resolved.”

That sounded like a most troubling history. Point-ears could rot, but it sounded as if the animal races might be caught up in things as well. If I were to come across any cute beast-girls who happened to be enslaved, I would definitely need to free them.

No no no, if I came across any enslaved beast-person I needed to free them. Whether they were cute or not is irrelevant. It might affect if they should accompany me on my journey, but all beastfolk deserved freedom!

And probably humans too, I guess; some more research on the topic was required.

However tKlor’t’t’s point digressed from the original line of questioning.

“How does that tie back into the matter of the forests shrinking? If the elves are growing more lumber for human cities, that should alleviate the majority of the damage directed at the woods.”

“Indeed. Your magic is like my spawn; belonging totally to you. Similarly endowed goblins appear from time to time, but most shamen communicate with ancestral spirits to summon phenomena. The spirits which have granted the elves find the enslavement repulsive, and the growth of trees for them to be cut down abhorrent. While they will not leave the druids completely, the elves and other races that work for the humans have lost a great deal of their potency. With each year that passes, more and more of the forest becomes whittled down.”

“Iyrkrzhar upset the equilibrium, and so the woods are in danger.” Clinking a nail against my cheek, I wondered what the goblins planned to do about it. Eliminating humans along the outskirts of the cities would only serve to provoke the nation without much benefit, yet they couldn't stay put. “So what is your endgame here? Gather enough power to free the elves? Find a new homeland? Or are you planning to live your days out as a prince in the twilight years of goblinkind?”

“Before this matter with Khtraal fully came to fruition, I planned to slowly build up spawn in tune with the nature spirits. We goblins are not so in tune, but my efforts were not in vain and I have a number of those capable of contacting primal spirits to aid the regrown of the forest. When Iyrkraal raised Khtraal up, I realized that there may not be time to do so. His nest sits close to the border of the forest, and as of late his moves have looked more and more hostile.

“No matter how strong his children are, if we truly wake the human cities we will all suffer. There is no way he does not know this, so I can only disrupt his plan. Until he dies, he will not stop, but I hope to buy myself enough time to survive the oncoming storm.”

“Then this battle is to make sure that you have a foothold Iyrkraal cannot remove.”

“So it is. Ghojtroik and Zhargorb would oppose him, but they are too conservative and hidebound. Transferring their power to myself will be more reliable.”

So if I were to take tKlor’t’t’s word for it, the origins of this mess lay with Iyrkrzhar. The disturbance resulted in the enslavement of the tree-fondlers and others, meaning the forest’s boundaries were shrinking. And in response to that, we had Iyrkraal instigating chaos for some reason or another.

The last step leapt a bit further than the rest, but it didn't seem like mere conjecture. Carving yourself a position of power was much easier during troubled times, and among the goblins who saw physical prowess as the right to rule meant this was even moreso the case. Whatever his final goal happened to be, Iyrkraal would be able to benefit.

“Well it looks like that dream is about to come true.”

Continuing to stride forth through the onslaught of Ghojtroik and Zhargorb, the number of variant goblins steadily increased to the northwest. Colored green and olive browns, possessing broader bodies, they didn’t run a range of types as tKlor’t’t’s tribe did. Other than the standard goblin irregularities they were all of a muscular build.

As such, my minnies sadly began to take even more damage as they trailed behind; same happening to tKlor’t’t’s soldiers. Clavi and Khthju had no trouble as they followed, showing their superiority even if they weren't able to be as domineering as before.

Flames flickered around Red Leader, showing that he did have some mastery over fire. It wasn't as though he had Burning Hands as a spell-like ability, but when he struck at an opponent with his hands, blisters and charred flesh would arise. From the back of his three-eyed warg Khthju didn't have many opportunities to do so, but his spear work looked passable and was able to watch his steed’s back.

Clavi on the other hand, took it upon himself to switch to dual wielding daggers at some point. I started him off with a sword, but it must have broken somewhere along the way. His ability to make dynamic judgements constantly surprised me. Especially since he seemed to be fighting much more effectively.

Going for a roguish style of combat based on superior agility, Clavi darted about, stabbing vitals left and right. Thrusts passed through his gracefully turning ribcage, before the attacker found a blade stabbed into the artery that ran along their arm. A chipper chatter of bones could be heard whenever he passed by.

Chtcht-cht!

“*Oi, you!*” The chatter grew louder, and I felt a light pressure on the top of my head. Using me as a stepping stone to propel himself to his next target, Clavi sent a mischievous smile back towards me, chattering his jawbone.

Chtcht!

Haaa~, you're so cute, I can’t be mad at you.

“*Be safe, Clavi. Leave the boss to us.*” Waving him off, going by the increasing strength of the fodder, the chieftains were close. “Buy me a second or two, I'm going to search for them.”

“Yet another ability. Very well.” tKlor’t’t was unnecessarily impressed with my tiny repertoire of spells. It wasn't like he knew my kind of magic, perhaps shamen didn't know many spells.

For a few moments, my eyes shut. The excessive overlay between sight, death, and magic, as well as rudimentary sensory input from my minions could be handled together at a short range. A larger area necessitated shutting down at least some of the feedback, and I still wanted to keep my minions running at full capacity to avoid taking too much more damage.

I was too much of a novice at integrating my new senses at that time; I couldn't even defend myself while scanning the area.

“*60*—that way, 70 meters. It looks like they’re coming to greet us.” Reflexively calling out the direction in degrees, I caught myself and pointed.

“Let’s not make them wait then.” A deep wind sounded and I covered my ears as tKlor’t’t inhaled. ”▶▶▶ ▶▶ ▶▶▶ ▶ ▶ ▶!”

Emitting a thundering and ghastly call, tKlor’t’t bellowed loudly enough to rattle his armor and stun the goblins around him. I think I spotted Clavi resetting a few of his joints—real bone dry wit there, Clavi.

To the challenge, the field of goblins began to slightly part as two Chiefs made their way to us.

They were as tall as tKlor’t’t, but only because they stood upright and he was perpetually hunched over onto his knuckles. As all goblin chieftains did, they resembled their spawn—or rather, it was the other way around. Abnormally large muscles bulged and rippled, the deformities in their body structure making it far from attractive. Thankfully, for multiple reasons, despite revealing a great deal of scarred tissue, the two of them wore clothing more concealing than rags; though they chose to forgo armor.

Zhargorb, or Bloodbirther, had deep scars in crosshatch patterns along his torso and arms. Though improperly healed, they didn't seem to be in any position that would limit his range of motion. One arm looked larger and more deformed than the other, as though he high-fived the Guren MK II; not that its strength appeared any lesser for it. In the slightly more shapely arm he held a warhammer that tapered into a simple cone on one end.

Ghojtroik, Shechief, showed that while there were few distinctions between the rare female goblin and a male, they were present. She appeared much like Zhargorb, with many scars, but lacking the lopsided arms. A spectator would instead be drawn to her two key features: rather large breasts, and a mouth full of fangs.

How did goblin babies work? The smallest ones in Oirk and Yhrack all still had teeth! What’s the point of mammaries on a creature who’s infants are not only capable of eating almost immediately after birth, but also have a mouth that make a field of broken glass look like a sensual environment?

“There’s no need to chat with them is there? We can just get to it?” Shaking away questions I probably didn't want answers to, I cricked my neck and knuckles.

“No. My spies have infiltrated their tribe for long enough that they have no secrets from me.”

“Well good luck on your end!” Overjoyed things were coming to an end, my Stamina dropped rapidly as I zipped towards Zhargorb.

“I don't think either of us need any luck.” Smashing his baton on the ground to let out a loud ring, tKlor’t’t rushed like a charging bull at Ghojtroik.

Man and Goblin, charging forth at their opponents in tandem; for the fate of all life in the forest—was Clavi leading a cheerleading routine over there? Where did you get pom-poms?

I didn't know how, but I was totally grounding him when the battle finished.