The unnamed goblin watched the drunk guard walk between the stacked cages filled with goblins while leading the pair of men. They dragged the enraged male goblin who had been interrupted mid-coitus. The guard stumbled drunkenly to lean against an empty cage as he searched for the right key. Inserting it into the lock as he mumbled incoherently.

The guard pulled the iron cage gate open, allowing the pair of men to toss the disgruntled goblin inside. The guard slammed it closed behind him and locked it before whistling a merry tune.

He started to walk toward the goblin. His expression became more sombre as he approached. His whistling grew more forced and his steps grew more measured. The pair of men had gone into the guardroom next door and retrieved a crossbow each before returning.

The pair of men watched the goblin warily as they prepared their crossbows. Standing each side of the drunk guard, whose expression had become sober. They raised their crossbows with trembling hands to point at the goblin. The drunk guard began to sort through his keys, cursing as he fumbled and dropped them. The goblin sat up as the guard leaned down to pick them up, causing the guard to immediately leap away from the cage. The goblin watched quietly as the pair of men aimed their crossbows with unsteady hands as the bolt tip shook.

The now-sober guard gulped as he slowly crouched down to edge close to the reach for the keys beside the cage. His eyes never moved away from the goblin as he extended his hand to retrieve the fallen keys. The guard was missing two fingers at the end of the trembling hand. One of the men had a bandaged hand holding their crossbow. The goblin smirked as he casually reached out of the cage, grabbing the keyring as the guard touched them.

The guard snapped his hand away like it had been bitten, falling onto his ass as he scrambled backward. The pair of men looked uncertain as they stepped away from the cage, fingers hovering over the trigger. The goblin sorted through the keys with practised ease to find the key to his cage. Reaching through the cage, he inserted the key inside the lock. The men watched anxiously as he turned the key, with a click, the gate swung open.

The goblin stepped out of his cage with an exaggerated stretch. He grinned at the terrified man before walking toward the second cage containing the reddish-brown goblin mage. He unlocked the cage and tossed the brass keys into the arms of the uncertain guard. The goblin opened the cage gate and reached inside to grip the goblin mage by the ear, dragging him out of the cage.

“Don’t just stand there gawking. You said it yourself, we have a mage to kill. Lead the way,” the goblin instructed the guards.

He placed a foot against the back of the goblin mage, shoving it toward the pair of men. The men hurriedly lowered their crossbows, catching the goblin stumbling between them. The now-sober guard was the first to recover. Standing upright, he marched to the first pair of stacked cages. Unlocking both cages stacked atop each other, he reached inside and dragged out the disgruntled goblins from inside. They made a fuss, but they didn’t dare resist as the guard cuffed them around the side of the head with a curse.

The men led the goblins out of the stabling area toward an open set of reinforced double doors as a second pair of men wheeled out the cart containing the phantom cat. The cart was loaded onto a wooden elevator powered by a pair of winches wrapped in thick iron chains. The men moved to follow the group entering the double doors.

Inside the doors, the goblin saw rows of crude melee weapons hanging on wooden racks. The goblins were halted outside as the men pushing the cart entered and returned carrying two swords and a magic focus. In this case, the focus was a wooden staff covered in pyrography etched arcane runes. The swords were handed to each of the disgruntled goblins, while the staff was given to the goblin mage. Nothing was given to the goblin.

‘Ahem, s-stay back,” one of the men with the crossbows said to the goblin.

The newly-arrived men went back inside before emerging a moment later, holding a crossbow each. All four men nervously aimed their crossbows at the goblins, the unnamed goblin in particular. The goblin sneered after observing their actions.

That must be the master’s doing. That miserable old bastard knows that I could handle the journeyman mage alone, even without attunement. They must have paid him a small fortune. They must be someone important if he’s this cautious in preventing any ‘accidents’. Too bad that they had to insist on fighting me. I’ll play along.

The goblin walked onto the elevator, standing next to the cart with the phantom cat. Its hackles were raised as it growled and pressed against the iron bars on the opposite side of the cage. The two goblins holding swords huddled as far away from the cart as they could. The goblin mage stood at the front of the elevator between the winches while holding its staff and facing the wall. Two of the men stood at the back with their crossbows aimed at the goblin while the other two went to operate the winches. The now-sober guard returned to supervise his charges inside the stabling pen.

The platform rose steadily to reveal sunlight streaming from above. The goblin shielded his eyes against the glare. He could see the latticed grill of the iron portcullis blocking the sands of the arena. Standing opposite the portcullis on the other side of the arena was a pair of enormous wooden doors, currently closed. The stone walls were eroded with age. The goblin smirked as he stepped off the elevator. The men hesitated as he walked to the damaged walls, bending down to sift through the sand.