It could be risky to go back to the scene of the crime, but the plan will only work if he could scout properly. After some time Locke made it back to the cliff edge without encountering any enemies. He took a quick look around and noticed there wasn't any goblin or worg tracks up here at all. Breathing out a sigh of relief It was finally time to see if stage one of his plan went off without a hitch.

Several hours had passed since he infiltrated the fort and the fire was long since put out. It was no longer dark out as the sun was creeping up on the horizon. It was high enough to where the surroundings were lit up enough for him to see. Looking over the place he found the building that was set aflame was basically a pile of charcoal. He wasn't sure if plan one was completely successful, but so far it looked promising.

Locke had a several step plan in motion and the first stage was to burn down that building and hopefully remove their entire stock of food in the process. It was hard to tell if that was the only source of food, but based on what he saw the past few days there was a high chance for it to be true.

Now onto the second stage of the plan which was to prevent any additional food from entering the fort successfully. Burning down the entire fort was pointless for many reasons. The optional objective stated that he needed to eliminate the goblin foothold in this area as well as the boss monster. It's possible the first part of the quest would be completed, but he would have no way of doing the second.

Reason two if the fort is gone all the monsters might just hop up and relocate together, if they are together he cannot kill them. The third point would be the possible loot he might miss, it would be a pain in the ass to ruffle through everything. Lastly there would be absolutely zero experience gain if the flame somehow killed every monster inside that fort.

To clarify the last point a normalized system was put in place to stop people from using these kind of tactics to mass level their characters. There was a previous game where someone started a giant forest fire and got credit for killing every creature in said forest. Of course the amount of experience that person gained was astronomical causing tons of other players to perform similar acts. It was utter chaos forcing the developers to implement many systems and restrictions to prevent that abuse. Future games would include similar systems to prevent this as well. Locke wasn't quite sure what this game had in place to prevent wildfires from being a problem but he did know that experience gain from such an action would be zero. That is not to say you cannot use creative methods to complete your objectives, but the obvious exploitable ones don't generally reward you.

Going back to the reason for the food shortage plan was simple. The Depths of Magic's main selling point was realism and if Locke was required to eat so should monsters. If the monsters don't eat properly than hopefully they receive a debuff to their stats putting them in a weakened state. There was another reason why he decided on this plan. Prior to removing their food storage if Locke focused on killing scouting parties to reduce their numbers it could possibly result in another problem. They could potentially just stop sending out scouting parties and rely on their stockpile of food against him in a weird siege scenario. It was unlikely but he didn't want to risk it. This would result in a longer time frame to complete the quest and he didn't want to be in here too long.

For the situation the goblins found themselves in now they will be forced to send out parties focused on gathering food. Initially these parties will most likely be small which Locke can kill to reduce their numbers. This is also why scouting was going to be extremely important here. He needed to kill any food gathering parties that left the fort before they return.

Looking at the worg cage two of the creatures were missing leaving just four inside of it. This meant they were most likely still looking for him instead of focusing on restocking their food supply.

Stamina is at 35% / 68%. To pull this off I should sleep for a few hours while I still can because there won't be a chance later.

With this thought in mind Locke scaled the tree to sleep in his usual spot. He set an alarm in game to make sure his rest was only three hours long. Any longer could bring about the issue of him missing a food gathering party. It wouldn't be the end of the world if he missed one as there were many mouths to feed down there. However, he wanted to be able to engage this fort sooner rather than later.

Several hours later the alarm sounded right on schedule waking him up. He quickly looked around to make sure there were no wildlife or monsters below and then jumped down. Checking that his stamina was capped at 100% it was time to being the stake out. This didn't necessarily mean he was fully rested though as it normally took quite some time before it started dropping below 100%.

Multiple hours past as Locke continued to watch the fort while prone on the cliff edge. Several things happened during that time. The scouting parties that were looking for him returned and the worgs were back in their cage. He noticed something key with the worgs, they had muzzles when outside of their cage which meant they were not exactly tame. Also a bit later what looked to be a meeting happened between the leader and his underlings resulting in punishments being dished out. He could only assume it was due to their failure in finding him. One of the scouting parties that returned brought back a dead wolf which was annoying but there was nothing he could do about it now. It didn't look like they were going to ration it though as it was almost already consumed by the tribe.

Roughly a couple hours later he saw a party consisting of one hobgoblin and four goblins leaving the fort. The fact that they were not bringing a worg and based on the equipment they were bringing it should be a food run. Locke made his way down towards the single gate. He made sure to always keep the gate in sight as much as possible as he used the forest to travel. The reason for this was to make sure a second party wasn't sent. There wasn't a second party gearing up from what he could tell but one couldn't be too careful. It only took a few minutes to make his way down but he was finally faced with the fresh tracks that proceeded from the gate into the forest. It was time to start the hunt.

The party was small like he had hoped. Maybe they thought he left? Or maybe they wanted to to keep security high right now. It was good news though and Locke wasn't going to question it any further. Not too long afterwards shouts of battle could be heard up ahead. When he finally had them in sight they were fighting two cougars, One was extremely injured and the other was protecting it. There were no injuries on the goblin side of things as it looked like they were taking it slow.

Locke remained hidden while he charged up his largest mana ice spear and launched it towards the head of the nearest goblin. With a crunch the spear pierced it's head as it fell to the ground with a thud. Only the hobgoblin noticed the attack and was scanning the area wildly for the source while shouting. Another spear was sent out ending the life of another goblin. This time the leader noticed where the projectile came from, barked a few orders and then charged towards the source. Too bad for it Locke had already relocated and killed another goblin from a new position by the time it got there. The final Goblin panicked and started to flee but was pounced upon by the cougar once it's back was turned.

He left his hiding place and slowly walked towards the hobgoblin while drawing his short sword from it's sheath. The hobgoblin took a quick look at the cougar to make sure it wasn't going to intervene before fighting this human. Once it had confirmation the creature prepared for battle by taking up a defensive stance with its long sword and shield. It's eyes were still darting around towards the forest.

“let's see how easily I can kill one of you this time.” Locke taunted but stopped walking towards it when he saw its eye's.

This won't be an enjoyable fight at this rate.

Stabbing his sword into the ground he raised his hand and sent a cheap ice spear into the sky. “Don't worry it's just you and me.” Locke taunted again while retrieving his sword.

The hobgoblin rushed forward in a rage attacking with very telegraphed swings. Locke casually dodged the attacks or knocking it's sword to the side with his own. The biggest change compared to before was that he currently had 30 strength due to the boost instead of 5. Even though his agility was only 20 instead of 30 it didn't matter. The hobgoblins were slow and Locke was much more skilled with the sword.

Deciding that the fight had gone on long enough Locke decided to stop messing around. The hobgoblin no longer had any chance to attack as it was being barraged by a flurry of attacks. In no time at all a clear opening to attack was presented when it staggered backwards. Locke delivered a powerful kick against the shield pushing it towards the creatures face blocking its vision. He then dashed in low to the ground and cut off it's left leg with a clean swipe of his sword. The hobgoblin was too surprised at the sudden change as it fell because it never even tried to defend against the sword that was now piercing into its neck.

Locke stood up and shifted his gaze towards the two cougars. The wounded one was not in a position to move currently and the other didn't seem to want to leave it behind.

I should really finish off those two, they would potentially just be free food for the goblins at this point.

He stepped forward to do just that but stopped himself.

No on second thought. I would rather not kill something that has not provoked me first, especially when there is no experience to be earned. Besides it would be due to my own incompetence if the hobgoblins get their free meal. All I have to do is not fail and there won't be a problem.

Locke was still getting used to the realism in this game, almost all wildlife he encountered so far attempted to take his life and were generally aggressive. However that wasn't the case here, there was no real reason for him to kill these two creatures. There was a nagging feeling that a game like this could change people and sometimes not for the better.

There was a brief thought about healing the creature but he dismissed it almost immediately. The non wounded cougar would most likely not allow him to get close without a fight. Also he had done enough for them already.

Just like every other creatures he killed in this forest there were no random loot drops that appear out of nowhere. It seemed like that was the same for humanoid monsters like this one, whatever they had on them is what you get. After rummaging around the only thing worthwhile to take was the long sword. The shield was just made of wood and not in good condition. While the longsword was still made out of bronze it had longer reach and appeared to be better crafted so he decided to use it. Of course he checked for gold but found nothing, which meant he was still stuck at 15.

Goblin Longsword

Craftsmanship - E

Material Grade - E

Material Tier - 1

Type – Longsword

Durability 36/45

Bronze Shortsword

Craftsmanship - F

Material Grade - F

Material Tier - 1

Type – Shortsword

Durability 27/35

The craftsmanship and material grade for the longsword was better than the shortsword he was using. Essentially this boiled down to the weapon causing more damage and being more durable. He decided not take anything else with him for one main reason. His inventory carry weight was almost capped out if he didn't have his strength boost running. If the started loading items into his inventory at this point he would lose the flexibility of being able to switch his enhancement.

Locke was finished looting and started to leave but turned back to look at the cougars once more who were just staring at him. They didn't appear hostile, they must have recognized that he saved their lives.

This seems like the classic scenario where if I play my cards right these animals could be tamed.

And with this thought in mind he continued on his way back to the fort.

Dealing with pets is a pain in the ass. No thanks.