The soldier cast a spell, bathing the cave in blinding light. “They can see as well in the dark as the light, so may as well let us see.” The spell seemed to be known to all the common soldiery, useful I guess, considering how little effort he seemed to have put into it.

We stepped into the cave, the light casting harsh shadows against the wall. I raised my sword, keeping it tucked close and in a halfsword grip, my gloves preventing me from being cut. The tight confines early in the caves meant I’d have better luck doing so and stabbing at any enemies coming at us. A bow would have been severely unwieldy as well, and the sling far more useful.

Before we’d entered the soldier, Geir, had told us to watch for traps and ambush points. The light would make it easier, but we needed to stay alert. I closed my eyes, and the layout edged into my spatial sense. I was getting better, though smaller objects were still occasionally blurred into the background. Geir stopped me, kneeling to examine a length of string stretched across the ground.

It linked further inwards, towards some crude crossbows that pointed outwards, at stomach height. Geir stared at it, before gesturing us behind the crossbows, with his sword he cut the bowstrings, causing them to snap audibly. “I didn’t take the further training in disarming traps.” He revealed sheepishly, kicking over the remainder.

As we ventured deeper, the corridors grew wider, allowing me to more comfortably use my sword. I noted though, that a full swing would likely have my blade catch against the walls. Small, quick cuts then, as Alida had once explained. It occurred to me that her family had a wealth of knowledge on combat, even obscure situations that they wouldn’t have commonly found themselves within. If we were still there I might have asked about it. I thought to myself.

The ambush came up a little further, I and Lapi noticed it first, the outline of small humanoids entering my bubble. I tightened my grip, performing a small flourish with my sword while Lapi growled softly. That caught the attention of the others, who grew antsy. Geir noticed their positions next, but by then the goblins had caught on, springing towards us.

Forced to start before we’d walked past the first of their group, we weren’t surrounded, they swarmed us from the front instead. Geir struck, careful to keep them at distance, I backed up, allowing Lanth to support with his spear. Yinea made the most of any other openings left. Lapi and I hung back, our range too short to be of any aid, Lapi was particularly put off by this.

We continued mostly in this way, swapping myself for Geir with each iteration. We reached a larger open cavern, having killed perhaps a total of twenty goblins. A group of goblins faced us, along with a single large hairy creature. “Haunter.” Geir breathed, “How long has this nest grown?”

I scanned it, fantasy equivalent was likely a troll, but what characteristics it held were still unknown. “Anything in particular I ought to know about it?” I asked, my sword raised to the ready, the open surroundings perfect for me to fully utilize the blade’s length.

“It’s hard to kill by bleeding and goes into berserker furies if caught in combat.” He replied as I intercepted the creature, shoving my shoulder into its chest as it tried to claw at me. “It will fight until its last breath.” He tried to swap places with me, but I refused to move, landing another few slashes onto the creature. “I’m trained! I’ll take it.”

“Armour, better.” I grunted, deflecting the creatures blows with the arm guards while my blade simultaneously sought its chest. The other wounds I’d made had stopped bleeding, seeming to swell at the edges, the exposed flesh whitened. I pressed my cuts deeper, ignoring Geir’s continued attempts to communicate. I had no idea how they managed to talk during a fight, I could barely think.

The armour was definitely a factor, but another was the way he held himself. He was stiff, holding his ground through willpower. It had cost him a few wounds he wouldn’t notice until we left the cavern, but enough that he was unconsciously favouring his left side. He gave up quickly, the swarm of goblins too persistent to be ignored.

The troll screamed, a sudden reckless swing nearly taking my head off. It charged at me, and I dodged sideways, sliding myself diagonally to stop from slamming into Lanth. It swung its arms as it passed, and I held my sword up, supporting it with my left arm, blocking the blow with the flat of it.

To his credit, he never looked back, closing ranks with Geir and continuing combat with the goblins. Lapi flanked the goblins, snarling and tearing into their throats. I rolled aside, cutting the troll to fully engage its hostility. It didn’t charge again, preferring to swing at me instead, occasionally attempting to grab me, its jaws opened wide in anticipation.

I backed away, chipping away at it, but it wasn’t enough, it stopped its bleeding too fast, I’d need more than a thousand cuts just to weaken it, unless I managed to cut at its tendons or vital points. I snarled, stepping in for a strong cut against its chest before stepping back, once again reining in my frustration. Logically, I’d only need to hold until Geir, Lanth or Lapi are done. I thought. Judging by the number of goblins though, I figured they had a few more minutes to complete it.

My foot slipped then, a simple pebble trodden underfoot. I’d forgotten to use Sense, fighting it instead by sight alone. It lunged, grabbing me by the shoulders, its jaws closing on my neck. The armour stiffened, my thoughts hurriedly conjuring the atomic simulations I needed, though not nearly fast enough. The armour compressed slightly, stopping before it crushed my neck, a force remained, and I found myself unable to breathe. I struggled, twisting my body right to give myself an opening and pierced it with the sword, running it through, it was too late to be conservative. It bit down harder, shaking me about, oblivious to the mortal wound I’d inflicted, as I struggled to stay conscious.

A crack sounded, snapping me half awake as I fell to the ground. Rolling aside, I coughed and tried to stand, before collapsing in a bout of dizziness. My arms tiredly raised themselves, hiding my face and throat. A thud sounded beside me, and I opened my eyes to see a tangled mess of fur and flesh, finally beginning to bleed.

The group approached me, Geir a look of wonder, while Yinea and Lanth bore worried fear. I hauled myself upright, massaging my throat. Lapi trotted up beside me, leaning against me. Any later and I would’ve lost consciousness, the armour reverting to its malleable state. Sparing a glance for the troll, the back of its head had been caved in, the culprit gleaming up at me slick with blood a small distance away.

Blunt force trauma, not something Geir had mentioned, but he’d been using a sword as well, so perhaps he’d been thinking of the odds against him. I suppose it wouldn’t have mattered either way, what would I have done? Perhaps use a part of the armour as a bludgeon? I sighed, coughing again. “What was the plan for the Haunter Geir?”

“Run, or if that isn’t an option distract it until someone can help hack it apart.” He said, staring at the corpse of the troll. It twitched as I pulled my sword from it. He looked around, cursing as he saw another set of passages. “There were escape routes, the leader is probably gone.”

We explored the rest of the passages one by one, plumbing the depths to find humanoid corpses, stripped of armour and being prepared on a table, slices of meat laid out on a thin slab of rock. “They eat it, and anything else they find.” Geir said, voice hiding a hint of nausea. “It’s probably also for the wolves.” Lapi snorted, walking back down the passage.

Only one passage led out, the others were storage, or armouries, containing a hodgepodge of weapons from various sources. All these areas contained goblins, some were surprised to see us, cut down quickly. A nursery was also present, and Geir, his face stony, executed them.

We stood at the secondary exit, viewing the stampede of footsteps out of the cave. “Can we follow them?” I asked, concerned. If the goblins came back, we’d have quite the problem on our hands. They seemed sapient enough to consider revenge at least.

“Only if you’re willing to chase continuously, never really stopping to rest.” Geir said, voice somewhat thoughtful. Lapi sniffed at the trail, looking to me, clearly longing to begin a chase. “I’m also pretty sure none of you brought supplies for that kind of chase.” I agreed, signalling for Lapi to follow as we turned back to the farm. She turned without any fuss, settling beside me.

When we arrived at the edge of the farm, Geir asked to speak to me in private. Yinea and Lanth agreed after a short pause, going off to treat their wounds in case the weapons had been poisoned. Lapi stayed by me, and I let her be.

He handed me a booklet, parchment based and entitled ‘Bestiary, Common Threats of Ankthame’. I opened it, revealing illustrations of goblins, trolls, elementals, and even ogres.

[It’s handwritten.] Page remarked, surprised. [This would be worth a small fortune.]

A set of armour maybe? I thought, digging into my admittedly shallow knowledge on medieval prices. Though magic might have gotten to making it cheaper.

“I was instructed to give this to you.” He said, hesitating for a moment. “Well, I was told to evaluate and give it to you if you matched up to their expectations.” I arched an eyebrow. “We’re stretched too thin. Even I’ll be sent to the front soon, we’ll have no one left for the threats here.”

“I’d expected forced conscription or even the surrendering of my armour.” I said, cocking my head quizzically. His mouth hung open for a moment.

“No, the army would never do that.” He said, his voice slightly raised and absolutely scandalised. “They’re good people.” I gave a wry smile. “Besides, we’d have to put you through months of training before you could serve on the front. Giving the armour to others would likely mean they’d have to get used to completely different gear. Well, so I was told…”

“So the war is going poorly I take it?” I asked, Lapi lay down, curling up and closing her eyes.

He paused, breathing out a deep sigh. “Yes, the front has mostly gotten a handle on the situation, but that mostly means I’ll arrive to a war rather than a charnel house.” He fidgeted. “As to why I decided to entrust you with this… Thank you for the assistance.” He said, raising his arm across his chest in a simple salute.

He wobbled a bit, and I supported him to the mess, where he dealt with his injuries and took a sip of a healing potion. His wounds closed, and he turned to Teb. “The threat is dealt with, thank you for your assistance.” He shook hands with both Teb and I, moving back to Hrothan while escorted by a few of the farm hands.

Teb motioned to me afterwards, guiding me to the small house he lived in. I’d been here before, when I first arrived, Teb had been fascinated, and a little disappointed when he learned I truly wasn’t a golem or part of some magical special force. He smiled at me, as Elli passed out some cups of beer and sat at the table. "I always knew one day you would be called away." He remarked.