Hetta’s wooden weapon sent a tremor down Edwin’s arm as he just barely got his shield in position to block it. He retreated backwards to escape the furious hail of blows she was unleashing on him, but the female fighter kept up with him, attacking from every direction to find an opening in his defense. Finally, she stopped and stepped back, droplets of sweat running down her face.

It was two days after their debriefing, and Edwin and his party were in the eastern part of the Guild’s practice yard. It was narrower than the western area where the regular entrance and equipment storage were located and being hemmed in by the tall walls of the guild house on three sides made it rare for the sun to reach the ground. Now, it had been set aside as a small oasis of relative peace that the full adventurers could use. The rest of the yard was packed with dozens of running, fighting, cursing and sweating trainees. The Guild wasn’t really equipped to deal with this many hopefuls, which meant that the archery range had been repurposed, turning the long stretch of grass into a number of fighting rings. Mennick and Karel were stalking up and down the yard, shouting sweet words of encouragement at their charges.

Edwin looked around. The other party’s leader, Doren, had proposed the joint practice session during their evening in the pig and scroll, and now both party’s members were sparring around him. Doren was friendly, outspoken and seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. He wasn’t the oldest of the five, but it made sense to Edwin why he was in charge. Him and Borm were currently teaming up against Bordan, who had agreed to show them some of the tricks he’d learnt in the army. Impressively, the older man was holding his own.

Deld and Moss were long-time friends and had joined the Guild together some ten or fifteen years ago. The former was patiently teaching Salissa how to defend herself with a shortsword, while the latter was sparring with Leodin. Both were pleasant but reserved, and Edwin could’ve mistaken them for brothers if not for the fact that they looked nothing alike. Deld looked almost too proper to be an adventurer while Edwin could only assume that Moss was a nickname, derived from the man’s long, disheveled dark hair. Hetta, the youngest member of the party in her mid-twenties, was short and stocky, and as she’d already proven to Edwin, a proficient and aggressive fighter. She barely came up to Edwin’s chest, but she used her small frame to good effect, forcing him to constantly bend down to cover his legs.

“Come on, Edwin. You’re either all defense or all offense, you need to do both at the same time. Whenever I press a little harder you just hide behind your shield and wait for me to get tired. When you do attack, you just go for it without covering yourself properly against counterattacks.”

Edwin sighed. He knew that she was right, but during the long weeks of fighting mindless beasts he’d forgotten how badly he matched up against a trained combatant. He’d won most of those fights through brute force, overwhelming numbers or straight up accepting injuries, not through superior skill. He still had a long way to go.

“Alright, let’s go again.” Edwin said. “I’ll try and mix it up this time.”

Hetta nodded, raised her own weapon and shield, and the two approached each other again. At least Edwin didn’t try to circle his opponent anymore, as that was one of the first things Mennick had trained out of him. A fighter was the frontline and stepping aside meant endangering the marksmen. Wood clanged against wood, and Edwin made an effort to keep up the attacks even while he was defending himself. A few exchanges in, Hetta suddenly looked to the side and stepped back, lowering her weapon. Edwin turned around and spotted Fiona approaching from the direction of the archery range. The young receptionist was usually cheerful, so her frown was a sure sign that something was off.

“Fiona.” Hetta called. “What’s going on?”

Both parties stopped their sparring and approached, crowding around her.

“Bad news.” Fiona said quietly. “The Chaptermaster wants to see you.”

“Who?” Doren asked.

“All of you.”

--- ----- ---

The meeting room that had been plenty spacious for just Edwin’s party and the deputy suddenly seemed small and cramped with the addition of five more adventurers, the Chaptermaster and Fiona. The table only seated eight, so some of them, including Edwin, had to stand.

“Let me get straight to it.” Master Hector began when all who could were seated. “We just received a bird with an urgent report from Gerrit, whose party is currently completing requests in the villages south-west of here. One of the requests was for a small band of goblins. They found the band’s hideout, then engaged and killed fourteen of the creatures. Upon closer inspection of the hideout and the corpses, Gerrit reports a high likelihood that this band was part of a goblin nest.”

Several members of the other party inhaled sharply.

“I assume that our newer comrades might not have heard of this particular problem before.” Hector continued. “Usually, goblins appear in groups of one to twenty monsters. They behave almost like wild animals, barely capable of using weapons and tools. Not a real threat to a well-prepared party. Very rarely, a large number of them bands together in what we call a goblin nest. This could be anywhere from fifty to several hundred of the creatures. That is what we are most likely looking at now.”

“How?” Bordan asked. “We fought goblins before, they didn’t seem smart enough for this level of cooperation.”

“We don’t know a lot about their society, if you want to call it that, but it seems that goblins only rule by strength and fear. They have no honor or loyalty, so if they get dissatisfied with their leader, they have no qualms about ambushing him with several of them. For such a large group to work together means only one thing: That there is a leader who is strong enough to keep his underlings in check.”

Hector looked around the table, meeting the eyes of the newer party that was listening with rapt attention. Edwin had heard the term goblin nest before, but he hadn’t known what it meant.

“This leader is often a hobgoblin, an older, bigger and meaner one of their species, but it could also be a troll or a goblin shaman. Whatever the case, a nest always poses a considerable threat for the surrounding area and needs to be exterminated as quickly as possible. The usual approach is to send all available parties to the area, search for the location of the nest while eliminating its hunting parties, then banding together and overwhelming the nest once it has been found. That is also what we are doing now, except this time, you are all we have on hand.”

Interrupting the adventurers during their sparring session and cramming them into a small room hadn’t done much for the air quality, and Edwin wasn’t sure if the sweat he saw on his companions’ faces was from the heat or the news. Bordan looked at the others with worry.

“Just us nine against a hundred or more goblins sounds…problematic.” He said slowly.

“I don’t expect you to fight them all, of course.” Master Hector reassured them. “The leader always sends out groups to hunt and forage in the surrounding area and bring anything edible back to the nest. You should start by looking for those. Killing them is a good way to whittle down the total number as well as a chance to find the location of the nest itself. If a party finds it, they retreat and report it to the others. Then, you just need to keep an eye on them, get a headcount if you can, and make sure they don’t march on any of the villages. We will dispatch more groups to back you up as they come in. I expect the first to arrive within a week or two after you arrive in the area.”

“Reconnaissance.” Bordan nodded. “We can do that.”

“Time is of the essence, otherwise I would not ask you to do this.” Master Hector said grimly. “Sooner or later, the leader will start attacking settlements. A handful of guards and a palisade have no hope of stopping that many goblins, which means that by that point they will start wiping out entire villages. Several times since our founding have nests gone unspotted for too long, only revealing themselves through the burnt ruins they left behind. We must do everything in our power to prevent that.”

The Chaptermaster paused, meeting each adventurer’s eyes before continuing.

“This is the plan: Tomorrow, you will travel to the area where we expect the nest. The hunting party Gerrit found might have gone quite a distance from the nest, so the search area is large. We will plan a route through the villages nearby, which will give you the opportunity to not just search efficiently, but also warn the villagers of the potential threat, so they do not get caught unawares. Your reinforcements will know the route you are taking, so they will have no trouble finding you. Just inform the headmen of your movements whenever you leave or if you find something. If you find the nest, retreat, inform the village you started from, then keep an eye on them if you can. If that is not possible, you can inform any nearby villages to evacuate temporarily. Then you just wait for your reinforcements. Unless you stumble into the nest itself or they become active during your search, the danger should be manageable. Questions?”

“So, we will be traveling together?” Bordan asked, indicating the other party.

“Yes. Of course, the search would be quicker if you split up, but at the distances we are talking about, we are unable to maintain communication. We would have to split our already meager forces and employ a small army of messengers, and even then, it would be problematic. If you find the nest and a settlement nearby has a messaging station you can send us a bird with detailed numbers, but the reinforcements are coming either way, so that is not necessary.”

Master Hector looked around, but no one else spoke up.

“Alright. We will prepare the maps with the search area and your route; you can pick them up first thing tomorrow when you leave. Take the rest of the day to get ready, I know that some of you didn’t expect to have to leave so soon again after your last trip.”

He stood up and placed his hands on the table, giving them a serious look.

“Hundreds of lives depend on your success. You need to be both quick and thorough, which is one of the most challenging combinations there are. If you do not find the nest in time, we fail, but if you search an area and miss it, it is even worse. This is the exact reason why the Adventurer’s Guild exists. The people rely on us for protection, and we will not let them down! Meeting adjourned.”