Tobias, the newly professed Battle Mage, moved between tall trees as quietly as possible, stepping over the twigs and dried leaves that covered the forest floor to the best of his ability. The musky smell of the forest filled his nostrils.

He wore dark leather armor that provided a small amount of protection without hindering his ability to move quickly and quietly.

Movement on the path ahead caught his eye, and Tobias altered his course to intercept.

A holographic blue dragon appeared at his side, standing as tall as a large dog. “There are a dozen Goblin Warmongers in front, followed by several dozen low-level goblins,” Fafnir reported.

“What about the captives?”

“Shackled and chained together at the back. They are guarded by another dozen Warmongers.”

Tobias nodded. There were way too many monsters to handle at once, especially if they didn’t want to injure the captive slaves during an all-out assault. That was why he was attacking the slave caravan alone.

As he approached the trail that snaked through the forest, Tobias could hear the guttural voices of the goblins and an occasional scream from a tormented captive. He stopped next to a tall pine tree and hid behind a patch of shorter evergreens that resembled tall bushes more than trees.

Tobias took a deep breath and removed two wands from his Bag of Holding. The first was a specialized wand that would do extra damage to goblins.

Name: Goblin Slayer Wand

Effect:

Attack any class of goblin causing 20 Health points of damage. Has no effect on nongoblin species.

Charges: 10 / 10

Recharge Time: 1 hour per charge

The second wand was the first magical item he’d purchased and was one of his favorite weapons, even though it would do less damage in this case. He couldn’t keep a smile from his face as he remembered the first time he’d used the wand and nearly burned down the forest behind the Crow’s Nest.

Name: Basic Lightning Wand

Effect:

Unleash lightning attack on one target. Does 10 Health points of lightning damage.

Charges: 5 / 5

Recharge Time: 1 hour per charge

His Advanced Skill in Magical Instruments would increase the damage of both by fifty percent.

Tobias looked at the dragon and asked, “Are the others ready?”

“Everyone is in place,” Fafnir assured him.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

He strode out of the forest, holding both wands up as he stepped into the road. The Battle Mage pointed the wands at the approaching slave caravan, targeting the closest Warmonger with his Goblin Slayer Wand.

Name: Goblin Warmonger

Level: 3

Size: Medium

Health: 60 / 60

Vitality: 42 / 42

Strength: 15

Stamina: 14

Agility: 12

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 9

Charisma: 10

The goblins were surprised by the sudden appearance of the human, especially when a bolt of magic slammed into the closest, sending it flying backward before any of the monsters could react.

Tobias attacks Goblin Warmonger with Goblin Slayer Wand for 20 Health points damage. Advanced Magical Instruments skill increases damage by 50%. Total damage: 30 Health points.

A bolt of lightning crashed into another Warmonger in a spectacular explosion, stunning it momentarily.

Tobias attacks Goblin Warmonger with Basic Lightning Wand for 10 Health points damage. Advanced Magical Instruments skill increases damage by 50%. Total damage: 15 Health points.

Neither magical attack was fatal, but they were very effective at creating chaos. Especially when Tobias unleashed more magical attacks from each wand. By the time he’d used all the charges in both wands, ten of the Warmongers had taken damage, some of them from multiple attacks. None were slain, but all were now enraged.

Tobias bolted into the forest. “Fafnir, lead the way!”

The dragon took off at a jog, and the Battle Mage ran behind, keeping up as well as he could while dodging the trees that the holographic dragon just ran through. Fafnir changed directions several times, but Tobias followed unwaveringly, trusting that the dragon was leading him in the right direction.

The Battle Mage resisted the urge to look over his shoulder, but the incoherent screams of rage told him the goblins were hot on his trail. Tobias called upon the years of experience running cross-country and forced himself to run with long, easy strides, conserving energy without sacrificing speed. He told himself this was just another race through a tree-filled park. The sounds behind him were nothing other than barking dogs, secure on their owners’ leashes.

Then he was struck in the back by a club thrown by a pursuing goblin. The impact almost knocked him over, but he kept striding forward, pushing himself off a tree to keep himself upright and propel him in the right direction.

Goblin Warmonger attacks Tobias with Club for 5 Health points damage. Armor decreases damage by 20%. Total damage: 4 Health points.

“The clearing is just up ahead,” Fafnir shouted encouragingly and bolted headlong toward the opening in the trees.

With the finish line in sight, Tobias sprinted ahead, putting every ounce of energy he had into staying in front of the horde of monsters chasing him. He burst into the clearing and dove forward, rolling in a somersault, then popped to his feet behind Doulgorlig, the huge half-dwarf Monk.

A blue shield of magical energy formed in front of the Monk the moment Tobias was past. Doulgorlig stepped forward, thrusting the shield in front of himself, and braced for impact.

The first three Goblin Warmongers emerged from the trees at a full run and slammed into the shield. They crumpled to the ground.

“Come and get some!” the half-dwarf yelled as he let the magical shield dissipate. He stepped backward into the center of the clearing to stand with Tobias and his half-brother, Christoph. The Knight handed him a round shield.

The next goblins to emerge from the trees—more Warmongers—came to a screeching halt seeing the huge Monk and armored Knight, in addition to the lone Battle Mage they had been chasing. The mass of low-level goblins behind them didn’t stop, though, and swarmed into the clearing.

Christoph stepped forward to meet the charge. His greatsword swung in deadly arcs, cleaving goblins, lopping off limbs and heads.

To the Knight’s left, Doulgorlig swung his enchanted mace with ease. Each blow exploded with lightning and sent a goblin flying to land in a charred lump.

Tobias didn’t have time to watch the half-brothers slay goblins. He had his own monsters to worry about.

The Battle Mage drew his sword as a screaming goblin raced toward him with a club held high overhead.

Name: Goblin

Level: 1

Size: Small

Health: 10 / 20

Vitality: 10 / 12

Strength: 10

Stamina: 12

Agility: 11

Intelligence: 11

Wisdom: 9

Charisma: 11

He sidestepped the goblin and swung his sword around, slicing into the monster’s back.

Tobias attacks Goblin with Shortsword for 7 Health points damage. Strength 12 increases damage by 10%. Total damage: 8 Health points.

Tobias didn’t possess an enchanted weapon like his friends, and the damage done was not enough to take down a goblin in a single blow, even one that wasn’t at full strength.

He didn’t get a chance to finish the creature off because a second goblin was racing toward him carrying a shortsword and screaming unintelligible threats.

Tobias deflected the goblin’s first attack to the side then struck forward with his own sword, slicing its stomach open. He quickly reversed directions and swung the sword with both hands at the monster’s head.

Goblin attacks Tobias with Shortsword. Attack blocked. No damage done. Tobias attacks Goblin with Shortsword for 8 Health points damage. Strength 12 increases damage by 10%. Total damage: 9 Health points. Tobias attacks Goblin with Shortsword for 8 Health points damage. Strength 12 increases damage by 10%. Shortsword delivers critical hit on head increasing damage by 200%. Total damage: 27 Health points.

The goblin’s head flew from its body.

Goblin has been killed.

Tobias suddenly lurched forward as a goblin club crashed into his back.

Goblin attacks Tobias with Club for 5 Health points damage. Armor decreases damage by 20%. Total damage: 4 Health points.

“Ahhh!” Tobias roared and swung around, lunging forward with his sword. The blade slid into the goblin’s belly.

Tobias attacks Goblin with Shortsword for 6 Health points damage. Strength 12 increases damage by 10%. Total damage: 7 Health points. Goblin has been killed.

He planted his foot on the goblin and kicked the creature backward, pulling his sword free from its body.

The Battle Mage turned to face the next monster, a large Goblin Warmonger. He checked the monster’s stats and saw that its Health was down to thirty. That would make the fight a little easier, but he would still need to land several sword blows.

The Warmonger was more cautious than the low-level goblins Tobias had just slain. It stalked toward him, snarling and swinging a spiked club from side to side menacingly.

Tobias lunged forward, swinging his sword with two hands in an overhead arc. The large goblin raised its club and easily blocked the attack. The Battle Mage quickly pulled his sword back and struck out again. This time, his sword bit into goblin flesh.

Tobias attacks Goblin Warmonger with Shortsword. Attack blocked. No damage done. Tobias attacks Goblin Warmonger with Shortsword for 7 Health points damage. Strength 12 increases damage by 10%. Total damage: 8 Health points.

The Warmonger roared and attacked, swinging its club wildly.

Tobias threw himself backward, and the club sailed right in front of his chest. The goblin continued swinging the club, stomping toward Tobias. The Battle Mage swung his sword around and blocked one strike, then ducked under a second. He jumped back, avoiding another strike, but this time gripped his sword tightly as he jumped then lunged forward, swinging the sword around in one hand.

Goblin Warmonger attacks Tobias with Shortsword. Attack dodged. No damage done. Goblin Warmonger attacks Tobias with Shortsword. Attack blocked. No damage done. Goblin Warmonger attacks Tobias with Shortsword. Attack dodged. No damage done. Goblin Warmonger attacks Tobias with Shortsword. Attack dodged. No damage done. Tobias attacks Goblin Warmonger with Shortsword for 8 Health points damage. Strength 12 increases damage by 10%. Shortsword delivers critical hit on neck increasing damage by 200%. Total damage: 27 Health points.

The large goblin dropped its club and reached up, grabbing at its throat with both hands. Green blood poured through the gaps in its fingers. The creature looked up at Tobias in disbelief then tumbled forward, flopping to the ground with a thump.

Goblin Warmonger has been killed.

Tobias gripped his sword with both hands and prepared for the next attack. No more came. He looked around the clearing and saw dozens of dead goblins. Christoph and Doulgorlig were walking among them, making sure none rose again.

Your party has been awarded 2,200 experience points for slaying 22 Goblins.

Your party has been awarded 10,800 experience points for slaying 12 Goblin Warmongers.

Experience points will be divided amongst all participants in the battle.

They took a few minutes to loot the monsters but didn’t find anything other than some gold and silver coins. Tobias collected six gold and twelve silver coins as his share.

“Fafnir, lead the way back to the slave caravan,” Tobias called out.

“As you wish,” the dragon replied then bolted out of the clearing.

They jogged through the forest, following the blue dragon, and quickly found their way back to the spot where Tobias had attacked the caravan with his wands.

The road the goblins had been traveling on was littered with corpses, none of which appeared to be human.

Tobias immediately spotted Faylienne’s purple hair. She was sitting on a fallen tree by the side of the road, cleaning her sword with a rag. The Thief looked up and waved then returned to her work.

The sight of the diminutive halfling casually cleaning her sword in the midst of a dozen monster corpses made him laugh.

“What?” Doulgorlig asked.

Tobias shook his head. “Just thinking about Faylienne slaying goblins.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty amazing, isn’t she?” the Monk said then walked toward the halfling.

Christoph stepped up next to Tobias. “Let’s go see if Elithia learned anything.”

The half-elf Ranger was standing in the midst of a small group of men and boys that had been prisoners. Their shackles had been removed, but they still looked around anxiously, not convinced they were truly safe.

Elithia was talking with one of the men as they approached.

“Thanks for the information,” Elithia said to the man, placing a hand on his shoulder.

The man smiled at her. “No, thank you,” he said. “I had given up on ever seeing my family again.”

“I’m glad we could help,” she assured him.

The man nodded at Christoph and Tobias then turned to the other captives that had been freed. He draped his arm around a boy that looked to be about twelve and pulled him close.

Tobias smiled at the sight then turned his attention to the half-elf. “Did you learn anything?”

“Not much,” Elithia said. “No sign of Black Robes, but at this point, we know they are involved.”

This was the third slave caravan they had found and liberated. They hadn’t learned anything new, other than the fact that there was a significant need for slaves somewhere to the east.

“There was one thing of interest,” the Ranger said. “Two trolls traveled with the caravan for a day.”

“Does that tell us anything useful?” Tobias asked.

“It tells us the Black Robes are recruiting more powerful allies,” Christoph said. “Trolls are formidable creatures.”

“So, what do we do now?” Tobias asked. “We aren’t making any real progress raiding slave caravans.”

“We are freeing captured slaves,” the Knight pointed out. “That’s a noble cause.”

“Yeah, but we can’t possibly liberate every slave caravan,” Tobias said. “There are probably dozens of other caravans bringing slaves to who knows where right now.”

“He’s right,” Elithia said. “We’re fighting a losing battle. We need to figure out how to cut off the head of the snake.”

“So, how do we do that?” Tobias asked.

The Ranger shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “Let’s return to Silverdale and see if Stanwick has learned anything new from his inside contact.”

“I can talk with Grendall too,” Tobias offered. “I still have a stash of loot for the Wizard to analyze, including all the items we looted from the goblin camp.”