Baraknirs Basic Bestiary – Goblins.

Goblins are the staple monster that can be found in nearly any environment. Easy opponents if handled correctly, yet the sheer variety of the creatures that you can find out there in the wild is what makes it dangerous. They can use weapons and the higher tier monsters can handle them better than even some countries soldiers can. They are as capable as most human communities so fight them at your own risk. Gathering information on them before hand is highly advisable. May you be lucky on your hunt. --- Baraknir

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The walk back to the goblin village was done in silence. Z was frustrated by his lack of preparation, he had severely underestimated his enemy and had paid the price for his mistake. Z glanced at Yara, noticing his tightly clenched fists. The way his back was no longer as straight or as proud as it had been before. Although Z had technically lost the most in the previous fight the losses cut much deeper for the Goblin Chieftain. He did not lose mere puppets, he lost people. Individuals, each with their own names, dreams... soul. Something that Z himself didn't know if he possessed. Z walked over to Yara and placed a cold hand on the tall hob-goblin. Yara froze for a brief moment before accepting the pat of consolation.

Z squeezed gently with his hand. “I am sorry for your losses.”

Yara shook his head, “This was not on you, you had your units prepared. Their senses are severely lacking. It is on me and mine that we did not see this ambush. I... Thank you for the sacrifice.” The chief's shoulders slumped slightly before they straightened.

“Their forces suffered heavy casualties aswell. Our guards performed splendidly, but I fear we will not have the resources for another assault for a while. Your zombies can be created and are instantly battle ready. Mine need to be trained, although that makes them superior in most battles it also means that recovering from a loss similar to this one is hard on us. I will need to prepare for a counter-assault from them, I would advise you to do the same.” The determined glint in the chieftains eyes had returned.

Z nodded, “Let me know if you need aid, these first two days have been extremely eventfull. I could use a rest myself, even though my kind no longer needs the sleep.” He glanced ahead as the goblin village came into sight. “Then we shall head to our home, do not hesitate to call should you need us. Or should you simply want to talk.” Z opened his mouth then closed it, he hesitated a short while before finishing his sentence. “We are friends after all.”

He quickly turned away from the chieftain, heading towards his own base of operations. He rolled his shoulder as he stared at the ground, refusing to acknowledge the slight feeling of warmth he felt in his cheeks. An undead that could blush... This was preposterous and beyond embarrassing.

It took him a few seconds to calm down, he didn't even know why he had felt so embarrassed. Maybe previous me was extremely shy and terrible at making friends, and that somehow leaked into current me? Z thought about it for a bit before sighing, he had no way to know who he was before he became Z. Nor was he particularly interested in it, he did not want his past to change the present. He shrugged, better to leave such thoughts were they lie. He marched home with Clog, Brainz, his guard and the remaining 3 large zombies. He really needed a better name for his personal guard than simply the guard. They deserved at least that, he motioned one of them to come over. He was kind of sure it was the same one he had talked to before but it was near impossible to tell them apart.

“I was thinking that you guys deserve a name or a title. Something at the least, referring to you as the 'guard' simply won't do. Do you have any opinions on this matter?”

The guard stood still for a few seconds before replying in his odd gravely voice. “ Z's Guards... Sir?”

Z sighed, note to self, do not ask the guard for creative ideas. “That is not what i am looking for but thank you for the effort. You may return to the rest of the group.”

He had the odd notion in his head that whenever he asked something personal of the guard that they felt distinctly uncomfortable. As if they preferred not to think like sentient beings and instead just wanted to focus on the task they had been given, namely protect him. He wondered if they were not fully sentient like Brainz and Clog. Perhaps they did have some sense of self but it was all controlled by the greater directive, their mission. Even more food for thought. He still had to think of a name aswell. The Everliving? The BlackGuard? Still Hearts or BlackWatch? Perhaps simply the Protectors? So many ideas's yet he did not know which one would fit them best.

He sighed in private relief when he saw the familiar cemetery that was now his home, strange to feel that such a place was home but here he was. At least it would give him something to do besides lose himself in thought. The general approached him with his guard... “Owh great another guard that I have to think of a name for. “ Z muttered softly.

“Commander, welcome back. I see the mission did not go as well as we had hoped.” The General stated, letting his eyes roam over the tattered forces. “It must have been a fierce battle, some of my garrisons have been able to move on to the second tier because of it. May I inquire as to what has happened?”

General stood at attention as he waited for his superior to report. Z hesitated as he went over the battle in his head. “The arachnids were more intelligent then I gave them credit for, they made an alliance themselves with other insectoids that relied more on defense then poison. They set up an ambush and their combined efforts caught us by surprise. Our losses are many but not as heavy resource wise. The Red Grass Tribe will need time to get their forces back to strength.”

“So our opponents are not mindless critters but perhaps even sentient beings themselves.” The General mused, stroking his somehow neatly combed grey beard. Z frowned as he stared at the beard, he wanted to grow a proper beard himself but his flesh refused to co-operate. The general coughed and Z shook away the idle thoughts.

“My apologies General, you were saying?”

The General straightened and like a true professional pretended nothing had happened. “I reported on the relative calm we have had sir. A few nosy neighbors came over to have a look but they have not attacked, as such I have refrained from attacking them myself. It might have been presumptuous of me but I assumed there was no need for us to make enemies were there are none?” He raised an eyebrow as he stated this, his hands still folded neatly behind his back.

Z nodded, “You assumed correctly.”

The General nodded, “I am glad my assumption was correct sir. If you wou-----.” The general frowned as he glanced away from the village. “We seem to have... Visitors sir.”

“Explain.”

“I can feel a presence encroaching on our domain, their intentions are... not friendly sir. I can feel their bloodlust and their presence. It is like an itch.” The General frowned, glaring at something in the distance that Z himself couldn't see.

“Lead the way General, let's have a look at these intruders.” Z motioned the General onward with his hand, following behind his black billowing cape as the military man marched towards whoever was intruding upon his domain. Both his Guard and the General's guard followed behind them, Brainz and Clog followed suit. The puppets all stayed back. Z didn't want to leave the base completely empty so leaving the puppets behind worked out for him.

It did not take long for them to come close to the border where General had felt the intrusion. They waited at the edge of the forest, hidden behind the trees as they saw a group approach from the distance. Z could see a road a distance from here, a group of... people? Was heading their direction with a cart in tow. The man on the cart was hooded and clad in leather, there were four armed guards, thugs really, walking on either side of the cart. They weren't very good at their job because it seemed they hadn't even noticed Z and his undead standing just inside the forest. Even though Clog and he himself were more than tall enough to be easily noticeable.

The cart headed towards the forest yet stopped about a hundred meters from the edge. Two guards walked towards the cart and picked up a sack and dumped it on the ground, they did the same with two other sacks before packing up their business and leaving. Z watched them go for a while before they were far enough away that his curiosity could be sated. The cart had just passed behind a hill and disappeared from vision. He stepped towards the sacks, he froze when one of the sacks showed movement. He stared at the sac for a few seconds before motioning with his head for his guard to open them. “Carefully.” He instructed.

His face darkened once the sack was cut open. “Clog, take my guard. Kill those men.”

“Yes, Boss.” The huge undead walked away, his heavy footsteps flattening the grass, the guard jogging to keep up with the giant.

Z looked back at the sack's contents. Two women and a man, all of them injured. Injured was not the right word to use here he mused, tortured was more accurate. All of them were unconscious, some of their limbs were at odd angles. Broken, there was blood covering their bodies and it matted their hair. Z gently picked up the one closest to him, she groaned despite the gentle treatment. The only reason he could tell she was a female was because of her torn ragged clothes, that hid nothing. Her long hair was dirt covered and her face so swollen that it was impossible to tell what she looked like. Cuts littered her body, blood was leaking from her lower body. Which at a glance had been ravaged. It was clear the treatment she had been given.

“General, take those other two with you, be gentle with them.” Z glanced towards Brainz. “I hope you have enough ep...”

He rushed back towards his base as fast as he could without jolting the injured, two of the general's guard doing the same with the other injured. Z headed straight for the Tombstone and tapped it for upgrades, scanning quickly before he found the option he was hoping for.

He tapped the option and relinquished 30 KP for it. From the ground across from the mass grave, a dark building rose from the ground. It's dark stone walls and ancient-seeming architecture looming over the smaller surrounding buildings. A hospital, not something the undead should have but here it was. The building was easily the largest of anything he had purchased and he quickly made his way inside. Inside the two-story building were various clean yet somehow still ancient-seeming rooms. All of them had beds, he looked around for a few seconds before finding a somewhat larger room with three beds and put the injured woman he was carrying at the far end. The General's guard did the same with their injured without needing to be asked.

He then turned to Brainz who ,praise whatever undead god he was supposed to worship, had enough points for new abilities. He quickly tapped the box and selected a new element for magic, Life. Brainz had accumulated enough points for another upgrade so after another tap, he learned the spell minor healing. “Brainz! Heal them!”

The undead did not answer, but moved towards the nearest injured and got to work, his hands glowing a soft green. A strange sight, seeing a walking corpse falling apart at the seams using healing magic on an injured person that looked like she was in a better shape than the one doing the treatment. Z sat down on the window ledge as he watched Brainz using his magic to slowly heal the injured woman, her wounds were closing ever so slowly. Brainz's magic was not yet at the strength needed to heal such injuries in mere moments. The undead sometimes had to wait for his mana to recharge before continuing with the treatment.

After a few such sessions of healing the woman's face started regaining her shape. She was not yet healed completely but Z waved Brainz towards the next injured. He did not want any of the three to die under his watch. The colour slowly started coming back to the woman's face but she was still a mess. Not one for shame in such circumstances he carried the woman back towards a nearby stream and gently washed her wounds and body. Flinching whenever the woman groaned, he felt a simmering anger build within as he looked at her various wounds. He was certain this woman had been raped, more than a few times. He looked at the golden circlet around her neck and thought about removing it but refrained from doing so. All three of the injured had the same circlet, Brainz had found the things interesting so Z assumed they were magical.

Once he cleaned the woman, he carried her back towards the hospital. They lacked clothes however, he frowned. Not much he could do about that, he tossed away the rags she had been wearing and put her in a new room with a bed that had clean sheets. He could hear the heavy footsteps of Clog, signaling the giant's return. He walked outside and went to meet him, the giant was unharmed yet had some off-color spots that Z assumed was blood. “Thanks for that Clog, Well done. Same to you Guard.” He nodded in appreciation to both.

Clog shrugged with his oversized shoulders. “It was nothing boss, they weren't particularly strong.”

“Sorry to do this but I need to send you out again. Can you head towards Yara and tell him what happened here. We also need some clothing if he has any to spare, two female sets and one male set also..”

“If I may sir.” General interrupted.

Z turned towards him, “You may.”

The General folded his hands behind his back. “I can create another set of clothing similar to mine for the male, unfortunately, our clothing is not exactly fitting for females. So you will only need clothing for the females.”

Z smiled, shoulders losing a bit of their tension.“I see, that is fortuitous. Thank you General.”

“Not at all sir.” The General responded with a slight bow.

“Two sets of clothing for female humans if he has anything that we might use. Of course only if it does not trouble him. Two Guards go with him, Speed would be appreciated.” He pointed towards two of the guards and they bowed, Clog lead the way out of the village, running at a pace that the Guard could barely match when at full sprint.

Z watched him go before he went back inside the hospital. He walked towards the room where the injured woman had been placed and grabbed a chair, tried to sit on it but the chair broke. Z flailed as he smacked into the floor, he had forgotten about his increased size and weight. He looked around the hospital for a sturdier chair, finding one he carried it into the room and sat down. He stared at the woman's still slightly swollen face with narrowed eyes. Why had they done this to her and to the other two?

He sat there staring at her, he combed the hair out of her face with gentle fingers. He grabbed a lock of hair and let her now clean dark hair run through his fingers. It was surprisingly soft, he glanced back at the woman only to see wide open green eyes staring back it him. Her face had gotten a few shades whiter and she stared at him in silent horror. Z quickly let go of the hair before fake coughing as he sat there awkwardly.

“Uuuhhh, I'm sorry about touching your hair without p-permission.” Z raised his hands towards her palms forward, “I kinda you know, got carried away? Uh yes, I will, uuuh. Get you something to eat!” Z stood up and rushed outside of the room. After giving it some thought he noticed a problem, there was nothing a human could eat in his domain. He cursed and quickly set out.

----- Injured Woman POV -----

It's soft... So I am dead. This is way to comfortable to be life, barely any pain. I smile, I haven't felt this relaxed in a long time. I feel the soft gentle tug as someone gently touches my hair. I open my eyes and freeze. I feel all my muscles clenching together, my heart drops to my stomach and I forcibly stop the scream rising up in my throat. Next to me, a bare few inches away is a monster. It's skin is grey, it's messy hair... The exact same colour of grey. The torn rags it is wearing, still the exact same grey. It's eyes are focused on my hair. I pray with all my might that the monster does not look at me, I pray to Syf the last god to care about the broken and the damned.

It turns it's face to look at me, I desperately try to shut my eyes. I can't, my desperate plea to my body goes ignored as I stare in wide-eyed horror as the creature notices I'm awake. The creature freezes, I recognize the freeze. A bunny suddenly leaps in front of an unexpected wolf, both of them freeze the barest of seconds before they explode into action. My heart sinks into my stomach, after all I've been through. Now I end up in a monsters hands, I feel the tears that i thought had dried up ages ago prickling behind my eyes.

The monster lets go of my hair and panics, I try to move but my body refuses to respond. I must have been bound by magic, I try to scream but no sound escapes my panicked throat. The monster raises his hands towards me, I flinch away. Trying to press myself as far back into the matress as I can. Then a deep voice hits me, sending a shiver through my body.

“Uuuhhh, I'm sorry about touching your hair without p-permission.”

I stare at the monster. Did the gigantic monster just stutter in embarrassment? The thought tickles my mind as I try to comprehend it.

“I kinda you know, got carried away? Uh yes, I will, uuuh. Get you something to eat!”

The monster apologized... It was getting her food? What in all the hells?