“The Goblins had taken all the grain and livestock from our village, even taking our dead so we couldn’t bury them properly. When the legion arrived, the Goblins had already fled back to their holes, sealing the entrance behind them. They stayed down there, in the dark, for months, breeding and multiplying.”

“Eyewitness account” Investigation into the Goblin raids of Norbury, 598 IC

Chapter 12

The party gathered around the entrance to the Goblin Warrens, waiting for the signal from the other groups to begin.

They had left Whitewater at dawn, traveling with the other Auxiliaries to the forest’s edge, before retracing their path from yesterday to the tunnel entrance. Erinn had scouted ahead but reported back that there were no traces of additional goblin lookouts. Hale advised that the Goblins were probably still unaware that many of their scouts were missing.

While they waited, the group began to prepare for the upcoming undertaking. Hale was laying out torches for the group, Victor was kneeling and quietly praying, and Gunther was sharpening his sword. Anise began pacing back and forth, lightly tossing one of her daggers in the air before catching it as it spun back towards the earth.

Wil took the time to revise from his spell book. He prepared the 1st tier spell matrices in his head for a fire spell that would fan outwards from his hands, useful against a group of unarmored and tightly packed goblins and a magical barrier, which would briefly protect him from any attacks, if his mana held.

He also reviewed a useful sleep spell that could put a group of opponents into a deep sleep and an Illusionary image spell that could create an image of a creature or object, even allowing him to control its movement.

Unfortunately, as he was only rank 1, he only had the available mana to cast two 1st tier spells before he would be completely drained.

For his rank-less magic spells, he only knew a few. One was the cleaning spell, completely useless in combat. It was one of the first spells Wil had ever learned, and his most frequently used.

He also learned to create a small hand of Mana, that Wil could use to manipulate objects. Finally, he had an offensive spell to create flames, allowing him to hurl fire at an enemy. He had practiced these minor spells so often, they barely affected his mana.

While the party was preparing, they heard a faint whistle, followed by another one, much closer than before. Hale, hearing the signal that the groups had agreed on, took out her signal whistle and blew it sharply as well. After doing so, she packed up her gear and began lighting torches, handing them out to the group.

Seeing that everyone was ready, Hale moved towards the entrance.

“Remember, we need to be quick, don’t worry about the noise, we need to draw the Goblin’s attention away from the prisoners.” Hale reminded them, before entering the tunnel. One after another, the group hunched over and, with Wil behind Anise and in front of Victor.

The tunnel was roughly hewn, clearly dug by goblin hands and crude tools. It sloped sharply downwards, Wil had to watch his step on the loose dirt and debris. After a dozen feet or so down, Wil could no longer see the yellow sunlight, he held his torch in front of him, careful to keep an adequate distance from the others.

Hunched over painfully, Wil found that he felt suffocated by the depth. He was increasingly aware of the sheer volume and weight of the earth above him. He had to take deep, calming breaths, the smell of musty earth entering his nostrils.

After walking for another ten minutes or so, the cave suddenly became smooth, and the ceiling was high enough for Wil to stand straight. They had entered a natural cavern, smooth from running water. The cavern had a small stream running down the ground, coming from a crack in the wall.

The cavern, only about 10 feet long and 4 feet wide, had a small pool in the center, around which there were discarded buckets, crates, scraps of cloth and other debris. The cavern was currently empty, but Wil observed from the debris, that the Goblins were probably using the pool as a water source.

Hale pointed to Erinn and Anise to lead the way, while she unsheathed her sword and lifted her shield.

Anise went first, quietly walking past the pool of water, briefly eying the debris to see if there were any valuables. Not seeing anything, the group moved past the water and towards the distant cave wall, where an exit could be seen in the torchlight.

The party left the room, and traveled down a sharp slope, carved by the running water. The ceiling here required them to duck slightly, but it was much higher than the Goblin made tunnels.

Traveling a short distance, the party briefly spotted a light coming from the cavern ahead. Hale motioned for Anise and Erinn to leave their torches and scout ahead. As the pair walked into the darkness ahead, Wil watched the light from the distant cavern. It appeared to be coming from torches.

Waiting for several minutes, Anise finally returned and reported what they had found. A large group of Goblins were ahead, using the cavern as a resting area. The group had at least six of the creatures, with possibly more that were hidden behind a large stalagmite. Hale told them to douse the torches and they followed Anise to the cavern.

It was large, at least 30 feet to the far wall, but narrow, only wide enough for a pair to walk side by side. The cavern curved to the right, with a large stalagmite blocking the view around the distant corner. Crouching down, the party hid near a mound of rock and debris near the cavern entrance and observed the Goblins.

They were gathered in small group around the cave, with a pair sleeping closest to them and another 3 gathered around something in the middle of the room. The last standing near the stalagmite, speaking and gesturing to someone the party couldn’t see.

Hale gestured to Anise, who started to creep quietly to the sleeping pair, while Erinn took aim with her bow to the back of one of the distracted Goblins.

Victor chanted softly, providing a blessing from Primaris to the group. The blessing would help guide their attacks to land on their target.

As Hale and Gunther readied their weapons, Wil prepared a spell in his mind. The simple geometric shape took form above his hand, and he began to feed mana into it. With a soft ‘pop’, the matrix collapsed and a small ball of fire appeared above his hand. He gripped the fire in a mana clad hand, as if it were solid.

Taking aim at one of the goblins, he hurled the mote of flame at his target. At the same time, he heard Erinn fire her arrow and a sharp cry from the sleeping Goblin as Anise stabbed downwards into the sleeping creature.

The ball of flame blazed across the dark cavern, startling the goblins. They turned towards the fire, before leaping out of the way.

The flame only grazed Wil’s target, the distance and the darkness had allowed the Goblins time to dodge. Erinn’s arrow struck one of the Goblins in the shoulder, spinning it around and throwing off its balance from the force of the arrow.

With a charge, the three Goblins rushed towards the group, while the one remaining sleeping figure had woken up at his companion’s cry, grabbing its knife by its side and leaping at Anise, who was pulling her daggers out of the Goblin she had killed.

The Goblin by the Stalagmite turned towards its companions, rushing to help, while two more came from around the corner, the party now facing seven of the small monsters.

Hale rushed forward, shield raised and stabbed forward with her sword, piecing the arrow wounded Goblin through the chest. It collapsed, and Hale kicked its corpse, freeing her sword and pushing the body toward its companion.

Gunther, both hands raising his sword above his head as he charged, swung against the uninjured Goblin, which ducked and rolled under the blow.

It swung its club at Gunther, hitting him in the shoulder with a clang. His armor absorbed some of the blow, but the small Goblins were surprisingly strong, and Gunther was thrown to the side by the force of the attack.

The Goblin by the bedroll, enraged by its companion’s death, stabbed wildly at Anise, who ducked to the side but was still slashed in the thigh by the Goblins attack.

Wil, seeing that Anise was in trouble, formed another mote of flames, before hurling it at the goblin and striking it directly in the chest. The Goblin, shocked by suddenly being hit by the magical fire, dropped its knife and attempted to put out the flames that were clinging to its body.

Anise took the opportunity to stab the burning Goblin, putting it out of its misery.

Hale, blocking the attack of the charging goblin, swung her sword at the Goblin, as another arrow flashed in torchlight. The goblin managed to block Hale’s attack with its cudgel, but it stopped after the second arrow buried itself in its neck, killing it.

Gunther, regaining his balance from the Goblins attack, swung his sword at the creature again, clipping it in the arm. It cried in pain and dropped its club, turning to run away.

A flash of light streaked through the darkness from behind, striking the Goblin in the chest, forming a burning hole in its chest. It collapsed onto the ground, no longer moving. Turning in shock, Gunter saw Victor still pointing his Sun symbol at the goblin’s remains.

Lifting his sword again, Gunther turned towards the three approaching Goblins. He stood next to Hale and they readied themselves to fight the creatures.