《Briox the Magus》9. Goblin Boss
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In the sanctuary of Vandolheim the ringing of hammers and calls of goblins range forth. Smoke billowed from the top of a castle turret as it floated on a island of earth. The magus made sun that circled it for night and day floated high above the castle as if it was high noon. It had taken a day for Briox to bring news of the Inqusitor to the sanctuary, three days to prepare the breeding pits and it had been two more since then. Already the first red goblins of Briox had been born.
Blue Bignose pushed open the solid wooden door that led to the breeding lab. The stink of hot mud and vile herbs assaulted his nose and he smiled as he stepped inside. To his left the breeding pits bubbled, blue goblins stood at the ready six or seven to a pit just in case a new birth took place. They weren't sure how many lives this batch would produce but they knew there would be more. The turning and bubbling of the mud showed that there was life within. Even as Bignose turned to the pits to inspect them one of the pits exploded in slime and mud, a screaming howling figure threw itself forward scrabbling its way onto land, grabbing the club bearing pit attendant by the ankle and dragging them towards it. The other blue goblins threw themselves at the mud covered being, blunted sticks were thrust spearlike at it trying to force it to let go. A noose attached to a pole was expertly thrown over its head and pulled tight, choking it as they tried to control the newest red goblin. Bignose watched wide eyed as the three goblins all holding onto the noose were being dragged off their feet and despite the thrusts from the pole bearers the attendant who had been grabbed was being dragged towards the newborns lengthened canines. Bignose moved, three bounding steps and he snagged the club that the attendant had dropped. A single strike struck the red goblin expertly on the back of the head and it slumped down dazed as the attendants used the noose to drag it from the pit. Bignose shook his head and tossed the club aside. It was the club attendants job to whack any rowdy newborns over the head to make sure they didn't do this. He turned and glared at the attendant who'd been grabbed "go home, your not needed here" with a snort Bignose turned and went down the line inspecting the other pits. A replacement would be picked from the other goblins in his team soon enough, and they're role would be filled from someone in the warrens the next day.
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Bignose glanced at the new goblin being dragged from the room as he inspected the work. Most goblins were tougher and stronger than their size would suggest, all Creatures were with the mana of their creation flowing in their veins. The red goblins that Creator Briox had made however were vicious and strong on a whole other level compared to the blue goblins that served Vandolheim. Bignose smiled, of course they had been made for different purposes, his kin were made to be assisstants and the red were warriors. But that didn't detract from the sheer awe that seeing a red goblin lift and toss around three other goblins his size. It was the first time Bignose has seen a goblin that strong. They'd existed he knew but Creator Vandolheim prefered Greycats and Orckin warriors as his battle forces. This meant that Bignose had never seen other varieties of goblin. Bignose began to hum, he wondered what the ratio of births would be if a blue crossbred with a red? If any of this batch were female maybe they could request breeding rites from the master. He finished his inspection of the breeding pits and besides the one club attendants dissmissal it was running smoothly.
Next on the list was the Smithies, four doors down and then take a left to the courtyard. Creator Vandolheim had liked to use the suns light to inspect his smithed works and so had built the smithies into an outer courtyard, just one of several that dotted the castle. Bignose stepped from a brightly lit hallway into an even brighter courtyard. Bignose grimaced at the light, goblin eyes were sensitive to light able to see clearly in starlight and by dim torch light. However that did them no favors on a bright day, squinting the goblin boss walked across the green courtyard following the ringing sound of hammers and entered the base of the smithy tower. It stood three stories tall, a squat fat tower with each level dedicated to a different type of smithing. The bottom level was the one currently in use, dozens of small blue figures rushing back and forth. They fed coal to the furnace, pumped bellows, took turns at the hammer as the more experienced directed them and controlled the red hot lengths of iron that would soon become short swords for their masters newest creations.
Bignose smiled, loud as it was the light was dim and heat flooded the room. He stretched as the heat flooded his body and loosened him up, it was one of the specifics Creator Vandolheim had designed into his chosen assisstants. They grew more active and tired slower in heat, feeding off of it. It was a useful trait in an assisstant in many situations, combined with the goblins already powerful endurance and dedication to work it meant there was no where a blue goblin loved more than a burning hot workroom, just like the smithies provided. Bignose strode over to one of the workers, an old goblin, his wrinkled face a stark contrast to most of their kind working the forges. "How goes the forging?" Bignose asked as the old one used some iron tongs to pull a bar from the furnace, inspecting its color and shoving it back in when he decided it was not quite ready. The old goblin turned his his head just enough to see Bignose, leaving plenty of his attention on the furnace as he replied "We need more silverroot extract, the spell iron recipe uses a lot of it and whatever shortnose calculated the amounts left us about five bottles short". Bignose touched his nose reflexively before quickly putting his hand down and defending himself "The recipe only needed one bottle per four swords, you should have had enough". The old one snorted "It would be enough if i wasn't looking after a bunch of young no good fresh diddy daddies who managed to ruin half the work they do". Bignose nodded and edged back, the old one was from a few generations before him and should be respected for his knowledge. That however did not make him easier to work with, the old goblin probably wouldn't have even been here if Crossax hadn't talked to him.
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Bignose backed away as the old one checked another bar and this one was drawn from the fire and slammed into the anvil. Sparks flew and the old mans arm bulged with muscle as he brought the hammer down upon the magically reinforced iron. He struck it in a solid tempo, each blow seemed to resound throught the smithy and echo out to the dimension beyond. Bignose held his breath as the old goblin worked, before the iron began to cool the bar was already begining to take the shape of a sword. With a movement as fluid as any rune knight he slid the forming sword back into the heat and drew another. Three more swords were quickly worked and once more returned to the heat before Bignose exhaled his eyes seemed to be on fire with admiration and desire as he watched the work of a true magi's assisstant. This was what he hoped one day he would be able to do for the new master, to perform his job with as much skill as this old goblin, to grow old in the service of a magus and then pass on his knowledge to the newer generations. Bignose nodded once the final sword was again sheathed in the coals "I'll have them deliver more silverroot extract is there anything else you need?". The old goblin nodded "Of course, liqour, i'm blood thristy standing here all day making sure those fools don't ruin more work HUMPH". "Of cour-" Bignose coughed a bit as the words stuck in his mouth, and he stood there for a moment mouth open tryinging to figure out what to say. Was it really okay for the old one to be drinking as he forged? "is there a problem?" the old one asked Bignose glancing at him once more from the corner of his eye. "No, no of course i'll have someone send some" Bignose quickly assured him and quickly left as the old goblin grumbled at his forge, of course he was old enough to know if he should drink while he worked.
Bignose closed the door of the smithy and again checked his nose. It was big, definetly not short, he was obviously kind of handsome so it was just the old man grumbling. He nodded to assure himself and adjusted his hat. He was the boss goblin appointed to assisst Creator Briox and lead the blue goblins in his service, he was definetly handsome. He checked his nose again, assured that everything was alright he stepped away from the smithy and then smacked himself in the face. He had forgotten to inspect the work and get an accurate count of swords produced for the newborns. Bignose turned back around and once more went into the smithy, this time he just had to avoid the old one, get his work done, and then go inspect the leather workers and armor. A goblin boss's work was never done.
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