Zalrodal gave a sign to the goblins by raising his hand ever so slightly, the goblins drew their weapons in silence. Arrows were readied, old swords and daggers no polished by the blacksmith were revealed and pointed at the knights in the clearing. At the next sign, the goblins would attack in full force. The three war-forms remained unmoving, blending into the environment as three large boulders. Without prior knowledge of the stenjin being alive, nobody could have guessed the rocks could raise themselves into massive creatures of war. An additional surprise to the knights for when the attack started. The knights in the meantime we're preparing to move out, one of the knights, the one presumed to be their leader pulled on a rope that was attached to the stag-headed creature as he went towards his horse. The creature fell to the ground and was dragged behind the heavy iron boots with minimal effort, protesting all the way. The knight seemed sure that whatever the creature was it knew where Zalrodal was, and where Lord’s Rest was located. The creature continued denying any knowledge in between its violent falls to the ground.

The leader of the knights placed one foot in the stirrup when Zalrodal gave the signal to attack, his right hand raised towards the sky as Migaal scurried up turning into a black dagger in his fist. Immediately arrows both sharp and dull rained upon the knights. The rest of the goblins scurried out of their various hiding places surrounding the knights, four goblins to each fighter. They attacked quickly, jumping in and out of the range of their enemies blades. Most attacks on the armoured opponents simply glanced off leaving the goblins in a precarious situation if their attack hadn’t been followed immediately by another from the knights back. Zalrodal engaged the leader of the knights. The tall warrior had fallen off his horse after being struck by countless arrows and was now bracing himself against the ambush. Zalrodal lashed out with a stab with the black dagger, it punctured the knight’s plate slightly before the warrior retaliated with his own blade. The Dark Lord dodged under the swinging blade and jumped backwards forcing some distance between himself and the knight.

It is possible that the goblins would have lost the battle eventually, their weapons were not made to penetrate the plate or break the person inside. However, there was one thing Arberonian knights did not count on in a goblin ambush, that being stenjin. Just as the crooked goblin blades could not penetrate their steel neither could their swords do anything against solid rock. The stenjin war-forms awoke soon after the initial engage, each step they took shook the ground beneath their boulder-like feet as they charged against the knights. Blackrock was the first to arrive into combat and immediately struck out with his stone arm against the first knight in his vision, a thunderous crunch could be heard as the knight flew across the clearing and crashed into a nearby tree his body slumping lifelessly to the ground. The battle was soon over the moment the stenjin arrived. Some of the knights managed to flee on their horses as the onslaught came although most were not so fortunate. The goblins stepped back from their opponents as the stone behemoths approached lest they be caught amidst one of its swings.

The battle subsided and only the groaning of defeated knights and the cheers of the goblins could be heard in the clearing. The looting soon began with every goblin scrambling to find anything of value. The stenjin positioned themselves at the edges of the clearing and continued their silent lookout. While the goblins all proceeded to loot Zalrodal approached the stag-headed creature. The being in question was currently hiding behind a tree, near-invisible if not for the two antlers protruding from its hiding spot. Zalrodal towered over the small creature, his black suit spotted red and the black blade still held in hand. The creature looked at him through its stag-head, its brown eyes filled with fear.

“Hello, who might you be?” Zalrodal asked, “you must have a reason to lead enemy knights into my lands.”

The Stag-headed creature trembled for a moment then shook its head violently from side to side and stood upon its little feet. “Greetings oh darkest of lords, I am Brerokz, they call me the stag-lord, you know them because of the head and all, I have travelled far to join your darkiness.”

“I suppose you did lead the knights to me then,” Zalrodal said the leaves under his boots getting pushed aside as he moved back and forth.

“Oh no, I didn’t tell them anything, I was just trying to get through but they must have found me even with my masterful hiding techniques.”

“Yes, I did not notice you didn’t say anything, isn’t that right Migaal?” the ferret left its blade form and scampered to Zalrodal’s shoulder.

“Very admirable, he doesn’t even know you and yet has such loyalty. Truly a result of all the advice I have given you.”

“I have heard all about his darkiness! I have come to offer my services,” the creature took of the stag-head as if it were a hat. Underneath was the face of goblin, handsome considering it was a goblin, black hair grew nicely around its ears and for a goblin he was rather tall. “I am a goblan, or high-goblin, I have travelled across the Arberonian lands upon hearing of a new master of goblins in these lands.

Brerokz joined Zalrodal and his goblin horde on the way back and spoke of his life, he was a goblin shaman capable of small natural magic given the proper rituals were observed. One of which was the wearing of a stag-head. The goblin also seemed to partake in a much higher level of conversation and seemed by far the smartest goblin that Zalrodal had ever met. Migaal of course had met some higher goblins before trying to summon demons or whatnot but he had never been close to the more developed type of goblin before and was rather fascinated by its knowledge. The stag-head certainly added some flare to the creature.