Something had caught wind of the foraging party. Now everyone was gathered up. Janso handed off his bag of beetles to Leo and raised his spear, while Lydia was already scanning the distance.

Leo tied off the bag and stuffed it into his pack without looking, trying to see what was coming. Whatever was out there in the trees, there were many of them, calling back in forth in high-pitched cries.

Over a hundred feet away, something large trotted around the bole of a tree. It was a -- pig? But it had more fur than any pig Leo had ever seen. And once he'd managed to pry his eyes away from its enormous bulk and the tusks that curled wickedly around its flat snout, he noticed that there was something riding it.

The rider had grey skin with mottled greenish tinges, and in stark contrast to the boar, it was stick thin. It was nearly nude, aside from a loincloth and a tall hat that appeared to be made of bark and leaves. It had its own tiny set of tusks. And it was using a crooked branch to urge the boar ahead, along with yipping ullulations. Around it, Leo began to catch glimpses of a ragtag group of similar creatures, skulking closer with sharpened sticks and slings.

"Wood goblins," Harald said, a grim note to his voice. Leo noticed that Janso had backed up a bit, leaving Harald and Lydia as the front line. Lydia, meanwhile, had her spear in position to hurl.

"Hold," said Harald. "That warthog is vicious if it's provoked."

"They'll provoke it," said Lydia, her eyes locked on her target. "We should attack first."

"We'll all attack at once. Janso, hit the rider. Lydia, the hog. I'll back you up. Leo, stay back and use your knife if you have to."

In the time it took to exchange those terse comments, the hog advanced to within twenty feet, picking up speed as its rider lashed it on with its branch. The goblins carrying spears scrambled to keep up, while the three with slings stopped and began to hurl stones.

Leo was unlucky enough to be the first hit. He was digging through his pack for a rock when a rock smacked painfully into his bicep. He yelped, giving up on the knife and looking for cover.

Time seemed to accelerate. Another stone whizzed by his head, and then one thudded against Janso's shoulder, drawing a cry of pain. Harald was barked a command, crouched in readiness for the hog's rush. Lydia stepped forward--

And suddenly there was heat, as fire arced back from the tip of Lydia's javelin. She cried out and hurled it, leaving a blazing afterimage. The dart caught the hog at an angle, eliciting a squeal of anguish as it stumbled. A wave of diffuse flame followed from Harald, sending the goblins behind the hog scattering.

For a moment, Leo thought they were running. Then he realized that they were just spreading out to flank the less numerous humans. The rider jerked the javelin free with a gout of blood and yelled something, sending the warthog charging forward again.

Just as Leo was readying himself to cast Phantasm, another stone hit him in the leg, nearly making him fall. As he grabbed his leg, he saw that three of the goblins had rounded Lydia's side and were approaching him. Their own small, crooked spears were leveled, the tips pointing at him. Their faces looked crumpled, collapsed, like a century-old human's, but the deadly intent was still clear.

Instinct warred in him. He wanted to run away, but that would leave the goblins behind Lydia. He could try Dread Aspect, but if the goblins weren't fooled, they'd probably kill both him and Lydia. He didn't have time to grab his knife, even if he had any idea how to use it properly, which he didn't.

He hit on a third idea. A very poor idea, some corner of his mind screamed, but it seemed the only one that made sense. He began yelling incoherently and ran off at an angle, hobbling because of the spasming muscle in his leg and trying to keep an eye on both the ground in front of him and the goblins.

As he'd hoped, the goblins pursued him, but their short stature meant that he could keep just ahead of them. But they seemed to realize the same and began to turn back.

"Hey! Assholes!" Leo stopped, grabbing a rotten branch off the ground to hurl at the goblins.

That did the trick. Snarling, they leaped toward him. And Leo -- ran.

Normally, he was indifferent to exercise. Now, as adrenaline overpowered the ache in his leg, he found himself leaping and jumping like he was on an obstacle course, dodging around roots, over falling branches and around forest giants. He'd had no idea he could be run so fast.

For about a full minute, before he began to get winded. Then he realized the problem. Being indifferent to hard exercise meant he couldn't take much of it. And the goblins seemed set for a long chase, gabbling to each other as they spread out and herded him forward.

Worse, the sound of the battle had faded. Leo suddenly realized that he wouldn't be able to get around the goblins to reach the others, even if he was totally sure of where they were. His landmark was the school, but now he couldn't spot it.

A few minutes into the chase, Leo's chest was heaving with exertion and sweat was beginning to soak his clothes. The ache in his leg had come back with a vengeance, and his knees were beginning to tremble with effort when he had to clamber over obstacles. The goblins were about the same distance away, but they didn't seem tired at all. In fact, they seemed to be having a conversation, yipping and snarling back and forth at each other as they trotted along after Leo.

Off to his right, he spotted something grey. A stone structure, rising up in the trees. Out of desperation, he came up with a new plan.

As he came to the next large trunk, he ducked around it and stopped. Panting and trying to still the shaking in his hands, he closed his eyes and concentrated.

For a long, panic-inducing moment, nothing happened. Then Leo felt the power course through him. He opened his eyes as an illusory spikejaw shimmered into existence in front of him, its spined raised threateningly and mouth slavering.

"Go," he whispered, giving voice to his mental commands. The spikejaw darted off to his right, around the huge bole of the tree. He turned and peeked around the side, tracking its progress.

The spikejaw course-corrected toward the goblin that had been trying to flank around Leo's right. Suddenly terrified, the small humanoid wailed and ran toward its compatriots, giving Leo the opening he needed. He took off at a stumbling run, heading for the structure he'd spotted.

He heard more high-pitched behind him, at first frightened. Then, as he reached the halfway point toward the structure, the noises took on an enraged tone. They'd found out it was a fake.

Eyes narrowed, Leo pumped his legs, focusing on that structure and hoping against hope that there was some succor to be found there. A doorway he could duck through and hold against the goblins, maybe. A place to hide. Anything.

The wall he reached was two or three stories high and crumbling, with pieces of stone layering the forest floor. There were gaping, empty windows, but too high for him to reach. No door. After a moment of indecision, he stumbled around to the right of the building.

That turned out to be the correct decision. There was a door. And, amazingly, it was intact -- and despite long years exposed to the weather, its engravings appeared similar to the door that Nemtal had brought him to earlier in the day. A warded door, for students of the school.

Whispering a prayer to whatever cruel gods this world held, Leo staggered up to the door and grasped the handle. It went cold against his palm, then he heard a loud click. He swung it open, slipped into the darkness behind it, and without thinking any further, slammed it closed behind him.

Then he immediately thought of the monsters laying in wait for him. Which he'd locked himself in with.

He couldn't restrain his panting, wheezing breath, though, so he just leaned against the door and accepted whatever fate had in store for him. Which was -- nothing.

As his breathing slowed, Leo's eyes adapted to the dimmer lighting. But there was light, streaming in through the empty windows of the building. He was in a small vestibule of some sort, which had several steps leading up to the main floor. Several bulky shapes resolved into heaps of wreckage, perhaps furniture that had long since given way to nature. The entire floor was matted with old leaves and moss, but nothing living that he could see. Through the windows, he could hear his pursuers closing in on the building, but he felt fairly certain that they wouldn't be able to open the door.

Trying to be as quiet as he could, he forced his legs to carry him up the steps and limped across the floor to his left, headed for one of the windows. Hiding behind the wall, he peeked through it.

Sure enough, the goblins had figured out that he'd gone into the school. Moving as if they knew where the door was, two went around the right of the building, while one circled the left. A few seconds later, he heard one of them rattle at the handle of the door. It didn't budge.

Leo let out a sigh of relief, sagging against the window.

Then he heard it. A high-pitched yipping, carrying out into the forest. Then repeating. All three of the goblins seemed to be shouting together. And he realized what they were doing.

They were calling for reinforcements.