The Dark Lord’s forces spread throughout the kingly province of Eberln like an unstoppable torrent, they found their way into every nook and cranny that the land had to offer. Pillars of smoke filled the Arberonian countryside and spread towards its inner territories like the banners of a great army. Of course, the great army consisted of small goblin groups pillaging villages beyond the borders of their territory. They had been told to keep the raiding to a minimum in their own territory so as to be able to use it as soon as possible. The goblins did not really get the point in not burning down and stealing everything they saw but then again they didn’t quite comprehend the concept of helmets in a siege which caused significantly more casualties than was entirely necessary. The goblins claimed wearing helmets made their ears itch but to give the green creatures some credit they started requesting some headgear after seeing dozens of cracked open skulls during the attack on Caredon. Brains turning into the equivalent of egg yolk did seem to have an effect on… well, everyone.

Zalrodal split the lands across the Eberon between his followers, the frontier was given to the goblins, they were the best at defending their territory especially when it came to guerrilla warfare. It was unfortunate that the Arberonian heartland had a distinct lack of forests but that was made up of farmland and tall grass which would serve its purpose just as well. The territory behind the goblins was given to some of the troll warriors as a second line of defence and reinforcements in case it was necessary. They would take most of the villages and built them up to be small fortress and supply hubs for the front line. Finally, the humans and Stenjin would remain closest to Lord’s Rest, they would continue improving the infrastructure of the region, building houses, roads, smithies, farms, everything a thriving empire needs. The added benefit of course is that humans far from the border were less likely to make a run for it, which was always positive.

The goblin leaders positioned across the river soon styled themselves the river lords and mocked the Arberonian’s ceaselessly with that name. It seemed that the Arberonian nobility in the area had styled themselves in the same manner, only that they were now no longer at the river nor did they own anything to lord over which made an apt target for goblin mockery. The newly appointed river lords spread across the new border taking over various forts and smaller castles, the greatest among them being Caredon which was taking over by Rigrig himself, considering he stabbed anyone that disagreed with him and that he did so with great success lent him the upper hand in most territorial negotiations.

With everything in order, Zalrodal and a small retinue made their way back to Lord’s Rest. Migaal was very clear in that a ruler should not abandon his seat of power for too long, it provided a bad image and always going to his subjects instead of letting them come to him was seen as a sign of weakness by the demonic ferret. The journey back home took longer than the march to Caredon, the dark lord had a small retinue with him in case of an attack which allowed them to travel quickly but he now had the time to inspect his new lands, especially the villages, dirt roads and anything that might be of value later. He was pleased to see that most of the fields were more or less intact and were already being worked by the humans from Lord’s Rest travelling to the outer regions and the ones that had surrendered peacefully in their invasion. Fields of wheat spread far into the distance from village to village the only thing that could have hinted at the area not being a perfectly normal human place where the goblins running around the streets and roofs drunkenly prancing about. With the express order not to loot the villagers for all their valuables, the goblins had found the next best thing they could acquire. Ale.

As Zalrodal’s entourage crossed the Eberon they were greeted by a goblin patrol guarding the crossing, the horses were fed and given time to drink before they continued their journey. The stenjin and humans had started to make a cobble rode in collaboration, creating a rode like this was significantly easier with the tireless stenjin workers, they could work through the day and the night and only required some help for the finer aspects of construction and design which is where some of the human masons came in. The castle of Lord’s Rest itself had been repaired fully, no more cracks were to be found in its walls, and its interior was as spotless as an enormous castle cleaned by goblins could be.