Zrimm picked at the cylinder of the door lock with his lockpicking tools before he heard a click. He put his tools back into his knapsack before he swung the door open to his former master’s quarters. The first thing he noticed when he entered the room was a rotten stench. While Zrimm, like most goblins, did not mind putrid stenches, he thought it strange that the OverLord would have such a foul-smelling room despite having a dozen servants to look after him. He sniffed the air and wondered what could be causing the smell. He looked over the room, seeing only bookshelves, weapons, and statues that decorated the room.

After a few moments of searching, he had finally found the source of the stench. An undead human, locked in a cage that was situated at the corner of the room. He looked like a man, only his skin was deathly pale, and with glowing green orbs in place of his eyes. But what was most striking was his jaw or lack thereof.

The sight of undead might have startled or even scared some folks, however, it was not the first time Zrimm had seen an undead. In fact, he had seen them many times, as they made a good chunk of the dark army. OverLord Lazis had made it a point to resurrect his fallen foes, beings that had once fought against the dark army would now serve in it in their undead life. They performed as warriors, mages, and smiths, an undead’s role in their past life heavily determined their role in the dark army.

“Look here, I bet you Lazis has a secret passageway hidden somewhere around here. And I bet you know where it is. I don’t care why Lazis had you imprisoned since as far as I am concerned I no longer have any allegiance to him on account of him being dead and all. So what do you say I let you loose in exchange for showing me his secret passageway?” The undead blankly stared at Zrimm, ”I will take that as a yes.” Zrimm said before he took out his tools once again and lock picked the door open.

The undead emerged from his cell and headed straight to one of the room’s bookcases. He removed a group of books from their place, revealing a lever hidden inside the bookcase. He then pulled the lever, after which the bookcase made a rumbling sound and then slid to the right. It revealed a tunnel that appeared to lead downwards. The undead descended into the tunnel without waiting for Zrimm. “After you,” Zrimm said in a dry tone before he followed right after the undead.

Zrimm thought the tunnel felt narrow and tight, even for his small stature. As Zrimm moved forward through the dark tunnel. he derived some amusement from the thought of the undead having to duck to avoid hitting his head on the low ceiling. Zrimm’s eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness as goblins were accustomed to living in low-light places like caves and tunnels. He thought he heard something similar for the undead, that the same power that brought them back to life gave them strange abilities such as night vision or immortality. The tunnel had gone on for a while before the undead stopped in his tracks. “What’s the holdup!” Shouted Zrimm. He looked over in front of the undead to see that the way was blocked by a stone wall, he also saw a lever on the wall.

“Pull that lever!” Commanded Zrimm. The undead then pulled the lever, making the stone wall shift to the right, revealing a large lit room. I guess they don’t have night vision, or maybe they need some motivation to get them working? Zrimm thought as he and the undead entered the room.

Zrimm examined his surrounding, he saw prison cells and torture instruments, that could only mean one thing. “You led us into the fort dungeon!” Zrimm shouted to the undead. The undead ignored him and kept on walking, Zrimm ran after him. “I knew I shouldn't have trusted an undead,” Zrimm then heard a large growl from the darkness, he must have alerted something with his shouting.

A large, lumbering figure emerged from the darkness which Zrimm recognized as a hobgoblin. Most goblins had at least a hint of cleverness in them, achieving success through schemes and deviousness. That was not the case with a hobgoblin. As big as a boulder and just as stupid, their preferred way of dealing with a problem was by smashing it. Zrimm could almost not believe that the hulking monster was technically related to his species.

“Luks like a escaped prisnahrs,” The hobgoblin said with a smug smile plastered across his face.

“We’re not prisoners! We are loyal servants of OverLord Lazis! In fact, we both are on an important mission for his grand majesty darkness to uncover any escape routes that can be exploited by prisoners. Can you report any escape routes?”

The hobgoblin stared dumbly at Zrimm, “Eshape rutes?”

“Yes, escape routes!” Zrimm said.

“Yous no trick me. Escapeez back to cells!” The hobgoblin yelled before he charged at them. Zrimm jumped out of the way but the undead grabbed gravel from the floor and threw it at the eyes of the charging hobgoblin, blinding him and making him roar in pain. The hobgoblin punched and swung his arms wildly, hoping to hit one of them by luck. Zrimm waited for an opening and then jumped onto the hobgoblin's back and scratched fiercely at his head and shoulders, making the hobgoblin roar in pain once again. The hobgoblin quickly pulled Zrimm from his back and threw him across the room and into a wall. While the hobgoblin kept swinging wildly with the undead doing his best to dodge his wild blows, another figure emerged from the darkness, an orc. He was tall and well-muscled, with his long black hair tied back into a ponytail. The orc roared as he charged at the hobgoblin with an ax in each hand. He hacked at the hobgoblin’s body ferociously. The hobgoblin punched towards the orc but he ducked under the attack and then sliced him in his right knee, forcing him to drop onto his left knee and leaving him vulnerable. The orc then swung down the blade of one of his axes onto the hobgoblin’s neck. And in one quick, precise motion he had decapitated the hobgoblin, its large, ugly head rolling onto the stone floor. Zrimm had recovered from being thrown across the room just as the fight had finished, he stared at the orc stranger that had saved him and the undead. Who was he? An ally or an enemy?