“Greetings Alhric.” Vamp stalked over, curiously watching the hand spiders and Zog. “Your Alhric, dead warlk. No good near ohtherz.”

Looking at him again, Vamp’s claws and teeth were strangely sharp for a goblin, and his skin was a murky porcelain. Thinking on it, I felt Vamp might be part undead, like a dhampyr or wendigo. Goblins already ate each other, so I don't really know what being a wendigo goblin entailed. Whatever it was, it seemed even goblins had some sort of reverence for their dead. Or at least uncomfortable with their meals getting up and walking away.

“I understand. What happened to the Uhkhjk?” Minnies bringing back one last load, they hopped back into my Inventory again.

“We vreast.” Opening his jaw, he clacked his teeth twice. This guy really enjoyed eating, and he still stayed so thin. People would probably die to get this sort of metabolism. “Mrany Iyrkraal, mrany Khtraal.”

“Will you take me to Khtraal?”

“Ychk tells me.”

“That’s good. Let me finish here. Have a snack while you wait.” I tossed out one of the fresher, but lower quality corpses for Vamp to greedily munch on. He took his time and observed me work while chewing with his hands.

I dissected quickly, cleaning up the bones that had been collected. Even though there was still plenty left behind, I couldn't stay to get it all. It couldn't be used without {Skeleton} so there was no rush. The marks of larger scavengers were scarce, the bones would be fine for quite a while longer. Vamp lead the way through the forest.

Untiringly, Vamp prowled through the trees. Mostly bipedal, but sometimes dropping into a four-legged dash, it would be difficult not to superimpose the image of a ghôl over him. Assuming you knew about ghôls. Other than me, there were probably only four other people who even heard of the game.

Like a ghôl, he moved swiftly, but I did not lag behind. With longer and more powerful strides, the Stamina consumption of the run was negligible for me. Running longer than anticipated, we were on the move for at least half an hour before entering goblin patrolled territory. Few in number, Vamp and I didn't encounter many, but when we did, they gave us a wide berth. After running for around an hour total, the density of goblins suddenly shot up, and I began to see the odd shelter.

Perhaps I should have saved more adjectives relating to poor construction work. Given the fact most goblins lacked proper hands, they could be cut a bit of slack, but that didn't change how roughshod many of their shacks looked. It may be better to just call the housing nests, since they were made of natural branches and logs intertwined like a weaver bird’s.

Moving into the village, I spotted some children goblins, but none overtly female. Welp, let's just hope for either asexual reproduction or a gender segregated society shall we. Or maybe they laid huge clutches of eggs, because the farther among the settlement Vamp took me, the more goblins swarmed around.

They existed in surprisingly abundant numbers, they slept and scrabbled feet away from each other. I reckoned that there was one goblin per 5 square meters minimum. That didn't include the raal which took to the trees of course, though they weren't a huge demographic anyhow. Vamp and I had to slow our pace somewhat to make way through the increasingly dense population, but since they parted before us, it didn't delay us much.

One might think wandering into a den of goblins is not the wisest of ideas, and perhaps it wasn't. However even in the depths of enemy territory escape wasn't impossible. They were too weak individually and too uncoordinated in groups. The numbers were to be conscious of though, not for myself but the village, and perhaps all the places not behind town walls. Each one may be pitifully weak, but I'd get to see any sort of crowd control combat. This one goblin settlement looked to be in the hundreds of thousands at least, and every one seemed capable of fighting. Descending like a swarm of locusts, if directed they could erase anything in their path.

Vamp stopped after entering an area forbidden to many goblins. An attempt to make a clearing had happened, but it seemed the growth of plants in the forest was too strong. One tree had been partially felled, but while the original trunk remained hinged upon the stump, a second began to grow. Using this partially fallen tree as the backbone, a large hut was formed under it, a dome made of mud. It sounds primitive, yet was much more advanced than the rest of the buildings. Stones, sticks, and bones all protruded from the mud, reinforcing it. Several goblins were clambering over it, smearing a tarry dark material over the structure.

“Ychk whait irnside. With Iyrkrall and Khtraal. Me whait here.”

“Thank you.” We smiled with teeth and I headed towards the dome. Considering the lack of any real architectural design, it impressed me. Using only the trees around it for support, it reached up around 15 meters. As I passed towards the hole into the interior, I knocked on the walls, it certainly felt sturdy.

Enough getting sidetracked by goblin architecture, it was time for me to pass the threshold.

It might as well have been outside, although the floor lacked leaves. Inside the large dome, there were smaller domes made out of the same mud and timber detritus. All of it was illuminated by a bonfire in the center that used bones as fuel. Curious, it didn't seem like it should be possible, yet it was happening. Tending the fire was a goblin about Vamp’s height, but lacking his gaunt appearance. Ychk stood next to him.

“Greetings Alric. This is Oirk. You must greet Khtraal.” Ychk made introductions. His more human features were rather contrasting with Khtraal. While the goblin chief also resembled a human more than his common kin, there was no doubt that he was far more vicious, possessing a high level of cunning. So I decided to greet him properly.

“Greetings Chieftan Khtraal, I am Alric.”

“Greetings Alric. Ychk said muchs about you.” Khtraal’s voice wasn't the horrible grating noise of the others, instead it sounded like a medium pitch engine vibrating. Not a normal sound, but much closer to human speech than his underlings. However I noticed something a little odd as he talked. “Ychk thinks you are strong, help fight the Uhkhjk. But you ask for reward.”

“There is that matter, yes. I came to see if his end of the bargain would be—could be upheld.”

“You don't trust and yet walk into our territory?”

“Yes.” My blunt response made Khtraal pause for a bit. Raal weren't accepted among the goblins unless they made their strength known; it could be inferred that power held a great deal of sway in social standing. At Level 4, even this goblin chief...1v1 me bro, ill reck u. Not that I had so little tact as to say such a thing aloud, but it was a tacit implication.

“Khhrk,” Khtraal let out a harsh snort, something involving condescension and disdain. “You ask me to spare human village? For just a few Uhkhjk? Muchs more services are needed. Fight with us, then your village is safe.”

“You ask for too much. You already have to deal with inner turmoil and other Chiefs. There hasn't been an attack on humans in living memory, and now that you're pressed you think you can spare troops?”

“Khtraal kill all in their way! None able to stop us when we start! Join Khtraal or village suffer.” The great fire pit two meters in radius separated us, until at that moment, Khtraal leaped through the flames and landed before me. This sort of cheesy intimidation tactic was just too adorable. Well, I did want to get on and make sure the business deal closed in a satisfactory manner, so I pushed to conclude the play.

“Oh, stop it. Fighting me will only bring great damage to you, stop trying to get yourself a discount. The Khtraal and Iyrkraal won't attack my village; any further negotiations will require further rewards.”

“You speak nonsense, listen to the chief of Oirk!” Khtraal let out a feral snarl, but I caught that glint in his eye as well. It just took a knowing smile to stare him down, and eventually his shoulders relaxed. “Hkejk, how could you tell?”

“Verb structure for the most part, as well as some awkward pluralization. Why would you add a suffix if you knew it was an irregular verb? Besides, you didn't have the look of someone who got by with brute strength, you'd be a lot more mangled if you were.” Looking down at the goblin chief we stepped apart to a respectful distance. “What did you really hope to gain from that? If I felt a bit more vindictive, there wouldn't even be blood left here.” It wasn't that I was incomparably vicious, just that I hated to make waste. Khtraal didn't need to know that part though.

“Khhrk, if you're that strong you would demand a large price. Even if you could beat me the clan might fall into chaos; I thought the numbers would be too overwhelming for you to disagree. And you can't change a fool’s mind.”

“Rather sensible line of reasoning. Just recall from now on that while I don't mind this sort of farce, if anything were to actually happen, I would take action.”

“Noted. Now sit with me and discuss business; you say you will act as a mercenary?” Khtraal sat down cross legged, facing the fire. Following suit, I looked into the flames with the chief.

“I won't depart from the village for long, but I've yet to find a goblin that can blockade my path. I would gladly partake in any critical strike; or you could just tell me where to find them. Fighting makes one stronger, and if you keep your promise, then to become stronger I'll just have to find and fight the Uhkjhk.”

“What can a human gain fighting opponents so far beneath them? No, I've accepted the Iyrkraal, it does not matter to me. So long as you aid me, you will be rewarded.”

“The Iyrkraal...they are much more removed than just the raal. Despite being strong, they still attract animosity.”

“They are unnatural, birthed of outsiders. Iyrkraal is a chief in exile for his taboos, but due to the strength of himself and his clansmen, none dare fight him.” Khtraal looked over to Ychk. “Despite the nature of his clan, I have accepted his aid.”

“Hmmm…” I reflected on matters a bit. At first getting the goblin chief to concede to my request seemed like something difficult. Then, as a raal his influence on the tribe wasn’t as encompassing, but he took a risky action in recruiting the help of the already disliked Iyrkraal. If he was a gambler, then he might just bet on me; and there was a way to make this low risk, high reward for him. “I’ve thought on what I desire. You hunt chikans correct? In the future I will be going on a journey and require food for several people. Ychk shared that you already are trying to capture them, so this is quite the opportunity for you. Two days and one night every week is likely the limit of my service, but depending on how far the battlefield is, I can try to make an exception.”

“Fight for chikan? Hkejk!” Khtraal laughed, similar to how I reacted the other day. I was actually serious though; I felt a bit amused by the irony of it. “Uhkhjk rules Yhrack, half a day to the northwest. Though I suppose if you could keep up with him, you move faster than most humans. I’d like to make use of you, but it seems as though you’ll act on your own terms regardless, so I will accept this offer. ▶▶ riders and Iyrkraal will accompany you in a strike force.”

“▶▶ …*Wargs*...Similar to large wolves?” No one said anything about there being wargs in the forest. That might have put me in a tiny bit of danger, if they weren’t expected. But of course goblins would have wargs, it’s not really a surprise. “I doubt many goblins can handle that.”

“Yes, that describes them well. Don’t think all my underlings are at the level you saw in the battle the other day. Those were merely the lower class warriors scouring the forest for chikans. The true power of the Khtraal comes from our elites. Primarily raal like myself, naturally.”

“I’m doing this for chikan, not the politics.” I waved away his air of superiority. The raal may be better, but they aren’t that much better. He’d end up killed during the working class revolution if that attitude kept up. Well, I really was only in it for protecting the village and the chikan. “So I take it these elites of yours will be able to follow an actual plan then?”

“Yes, but now that we have your power, the plan will need to be modified some. Ychk! ▶▶▶▶ ▶ ▶ ▶▶▶ !”

I have a feeling he said something inspiring, but alas, I could not understand it. Language barriers are a real bummer when giving speeches.

A/N:AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

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