Red flexed her claws open and conjured a pair of fireballs into her palms. The flames sizzled and popped as she hurled them towards a goblin that was breaking for a treeline near the group's first stop. With a squeaky shout of pain, the green creature tumbled, its leather armor catching fire as it rolled. That gave Quickclaw more than enough time to draw her bow back, the steel arrowhead just a flicker as it shot towards the goblin, catching it in its underarm for a fatal strike. She smirked, pleased with such a shot, and looked over to Merdon's own battle. He was doing well, the magic of his shield confusing the goblins. Their clubs were drawn to it every time they swung, the banging reactivating the effect per blow. While they tried to swing at the knight, he was busy running the end of his blade through their armor. His sword was sharper than ever and these ones weren't nearly as prepared as the ones from the cave.

The battle ended rather quickly considering the number of opponents for the trio of fighters. Skyeyes came over after and started taking care of any bruises or cuts, which was all that had been sustained. Most of the slaughter had taken place around Merdon. Small green bodies littered the ground, blood oozing out of a few well-aimed wounds on their chests or sides. Easily a dozen just there at his feet, and another half dozen littered about the field that were felled either by dagger, bow, or fire. Their healer looked a little ill surrounded by all the carnage, but then again he wasn't a fighter as much as the rest of them. He focused on making sure the rest were healed and then excused himself back to the other side of a hill away from the bodies.

Sarel, bow swung over her shoulder, started taking ears off of the goblins. Merdon glanced at their contract, and then to what the blue kobold was doing. Proof of kill was a right ear, but she was taking both. It didn't take a genius to figure out what she was planning. Sighing, the human walked over and tapped her shoulder.

“Right ears only, Quickclaw,” he told her firmly.

“But there may be others that will take the left ears,” she said, feigning ignorance. There was, in fact, an office that took goblin ears for coin. Any monster ear really. They wanted to keep the populations low around settlements. They did, however, frown on doing so if you were getting paid for the other ears.

Merdon shook his head. “It's not right, and you know it.”

Sarel grumbled but dropped the left ears and started focusing on just the right ones. There was no point in arguing with the human's moral compass. The contract paid enough anyway, Sarel just liked to get a leg up on humans. She went back to taking ears while the rest of the group handled their own post battle stresses.

Her verakt, Quickclaw had noted, liked to check his equipment, even though he knew his sword would need sharpening every time, and that the new shield was seemingly immune to damage. Skyeyes would fuss over them when they eventually came back to him at the roadside. He was too scared to come near a battle like that unless he had to. Red would survey the field and look pensive for a time before heading over to Skyeyes by the road. She wasn't used to fights like this, nor to being as effective as she had been against the goblins. The way they burned and screamed, it gave Sarel chills as well. There was no telling how it made the red-scaled mage feel.

With the goblins dealt with, and ears collected, they started towards a nearby town. Theris, as a community, had been the town to request their aid. The guild didn't usually handle exterminations, but it was a unique series of circumstances. Merdon needed traveling money and the town didn't have enough coin to hire the usual slaying guilds. It worked out perfectly as the town was only a few days from Bereth traveling along the national border. They could stop in and get their pay, enjoy a bed for the night, and then start on into the nation proper.

The witch's tower stood on the far side of the nation of Avant, bordering two others; almost the exact opposite end from Bereth. Taking the shortest route to the tower would have involved cutting straight through the nation, but Merdon had requested a more convoluted path. They would stop at over a dozen locations, including the capital itself, and zigzag through to make tracking them harder. Such a trek meant an increased need for funds, and Cath had supplied them with contracts in spades.

Having the contract ready to be cashed out, all their preparations handled, Merdon cleaned his blade and waved for Sarel to follow him. They rejoined Red and Skyeyes at the roadside, both of them a little zoned out. The knight had expected as much. Neither of them was as combat hardened as he and Quickclaw were. Unfortunately, the best he could do for them was to keep them moving. If they didn't linger on the battle it would get easier in time. He sighed and ushered them along, putting his pack on and starting off towards town. They had another day's worth of travel and it was past noon already.

Red noticed, on the far horizon, to the East, was the outline of the capital. The castle town sat on a massive rise in the middle of the nation. Its position made it hard to assault, standing on a plateau as it was. Some claimed the land mass had been summoned from the ground by the goddess herself. Whatever the case, it made the Avant capital easy to see from anywhere in the nation. Spires from the castle rose up with banners flapping in the wind that was common at such heights. A constant reminder of who was in control of the lands they walked. For Quickclaw, a reminder of their oppression that she tried to ignore at every opportunity.

Something she ignored hard enough to indulge in Merdon's questions about kobolds. The human had noticed there was a difference in the three that he traveled with, beyond their genders and colors; their horns. He wondered if there was any cultural significance to Skyeyes having no horns, Red having two rather large ones that pointed backward, and Sarel herself having two rows of three lined up on top of her head. She assured him it was nothing more than genetics. Some kobolds had no horns while others, some believing them to be closer to their dragon cousins, had only a pair of large ones. In either event, all kobolds were equally mistreated by the world at large, and so the kobolds had no need to fight among themselves over it.

Merdon pondered that as they set up camp that night. In spite of the difficulties the kobolds faced they were more unified than any other race he knew of. Or, rather, because of the difficulties they faced. Slavery should have been a shattering blow, an ever-present thing to be fearful of, and yet the kobolds found unity in it. They had no national borders, no wars among themselves because they couldn't afford such things. The more he thought about it, the more impressed he was with them. Someone had to stand up and make a change for the oppressed kobolds, and maybe he was the one to do it. He didn't know how or where to begin, but someone had to start. Taking out the witch that saw kobolds as prizes may have actually been a good place to begin. His goal reaffirmed, Merdon got cozy on his bedroll. Skyeyes had volunteered for the first watch of the night, being he hadn't participated in the fight he had plenty of energy.

The sky was dark, their fire was dim, and Skyeyes was alert. Merdon had dropped to sleep the fastest, judging by his easy breathing. Beside him laid Quickclaw, the blue kobold almost as quick to doze off as her verakt. Red, however, he noticed was not doing nearly as well. Her legs were moving sporadically, kicking her bedding as minor whimpers creaked from her throat. A nightmare, perhaps even a night terror, he wasn't experienced enough to know the difference. Panicked, Skyeyes scooted closer to Red and looked her over. She wasn't in physical pain at least. Still unsure of what he could do to help, but desperately wanting to do something, the white kobold reached out and held his claw on the lady kobold's shoulder.

Red jolted at the touch but remained asleep. Her noises trailed off and eventually her body relaxed. Skyeyes sighed and sat back, but didn't move his hand. He was afraid she might start up again if he did. Glancing around, the cleric blushed as he realized the mildly compromising position he was sitting in. He wanted very much for his turn on watch to be over at that point. It was still several hours before Quickclaw's turn came up though, and he would still have to come up with an excuse as to why he was touching Red's shoulder when the blue kobold woke up.

Sarel didn't say a word about what she saw the night before, to anyone. Not even to Skyeyes when she awoke. She could tell from the red blush on his face, even in the dim firelight, that he hadn't done anything. The cleric was too much of a choirboy, literally, to do anything untoward like that, and Red didn't need to know two out of the three she was traveling with had heard her whimpering in her sleep. That was also none of Sarel's business. Quickclaw was not good with a traumatized anyone, so she was leaving it to Skyeyes, who hadn't moved from the red kobold's side since breakfast. Those two walking beside each other meant she was free to keep up with Merdon who was leading the group by a few feet.

The knight had taken the last watch, essentially waking up early, and had been the one to put together a breakfast. His cooking skills left much to be desired, in Sarel's opinion, which explained his penchant for bread and cheese rather than something he had to put to a skillet. Still, the town of Theris was close by so cooking wouldn't matter much after lunch.

Their arrival in the light of the late afternoon was almost celebrated. Several members of the town came out to greet Merdon with a deal of exuberance. One such person was the mayor of the township, who happily traded the ring of goblin ears for a small pouch of coins. Clearly, the townspeople had been waiting for the group for some time. Sarel felt a touch of jubilation, right up until one of the farmers gave Merdon a particular honorific.

“Thank you, your lordship, for helpin' our little town,” the farmer said, shaking the knight's metal-clad hand with vigor.

Merdon chuckled and corrected the man, “I'm no lord, sir. Just a warrior.”

The mayor laughed a little and replied, “Nonsense. Those servants of yours must be quite pricey.”

Understanding dawned on Merdon's face. “They are not my servants,” he told the pair firmly, letting his hand drop from the shake. “They're companions traveling with me, and members of my guild.”

The two villagers looked at each other with confusion and concern. They apologized halfheartedly and suddenly had things to do elsewhere; like telling the village a creep with kobolds for friends was going to be staying in the village for the night. Their reaction made Merdon pause and look at the group.

“Should we stay?” he asked them, quite serious. “If we push on we can move past this village by at least a mile before nightfall.” It would move them along their journey at least.

Red, clacking her claws, said, “They did make me uneasy.”

Sarel scoffed at her concern. “That is how humes are, Red. Present company excluded,” she added, glancing at Merdon.

“We should stay,” Skyeyes said with determination. “Humans fear us because they don't understand us. If we keep avoiding them they'll never learn.”

“I'm leaving this up to you,” Merdon said to the three kobolds. “You're the ones they're going to act weird about.” Unless someone happened to mention him being a “kobold whisperer,” then they might start in on him too.

“We should stay,” Sarel said, adding her lot in with Skyeyes. “Beds are few and far between, and it's best Red gets used to humans like this now when she can be watched.”

Red looked nervous, still. “Are you sure it will be fine?”

Skyeyes put his claw on her shoulder again and smiled. “You were fine in Bereth, were you not? It will be the same here.”

Merdon nodded and assured her, “I'll make sure everyone acts right.”

“Then what are you worried about?” Sarel asked him, slapping his armored thigh with her tail.

“I just don't want to make things awkward if we can avoid it.”

“Things will always be awkward,” Skyeyes told him, “Until we come to an understanding.”

Red took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes, we should stay.” She still didn't seem completely sure, but Skyeyes made a good point. They had to start changing minds somewhere.