“We came upon a massive cavern under the mountain, with the cave’s ceiling a hundred feet or more above our heads. After being in the narrow corridors for days, it was a welcome relief to walk upright without fear of hitting our heads. The cavern appeared to have been carved over time from running water, the walls were smooth and shafts of light from holes above provided some dim lighting, allowing us to see a large structure in the center of the cavern. We entered the structure without fear, the Goblins having left long ago. It was here that we made a dark discovery.”

“Expedition to the Northern Shield Mountains, Irridurn Peak” Sir Edmund Perk, 465 IC.

Chapter 10

Wil smelled the scouts before he heard them, which was quite a feat considering the noise the Goblins had been making. They found the scouts in a small clearing, sheltering under a rock overhang. Protected from the light by a rock and a large cliff, the trees were set back from the scouts, allowing Wil’s group to remain undetected while observing the Goblins.

The Goblins had built a large fire, over which they were roasting a skinned deer. The odor that Wil had smelled wasn’t from the cooking, but from the filthy creatures. There were five of them, short ugly things, with hides, scraps of leather and random articles of clothing they had stolen from the nearby farms.

Wil observed one Goblin wearing a woman’s dress, while another had on a man’s shirt, tied at the waist like a tunic. With lank, greasy hair and bodies stained with filth, the Goblins were shouting and shoving each other over the food. It was because of the noise they were making that Wil and his group were able to get so close unnoticed.

With a twang, Erinn shot her arrow into one of the Goblins to Wil’s left, while Gunther and Hale charged at the scouts with shouts to draw their attention. Gunther had drawn his two-handed sword and had the the visor of his helm covering his face.

With a loud cry, the Goblin Erinn hit screamed loudly, clutching the arrow that had embedded in its chest. The other Goblins, startled by the cry of their companion, looked at the charging humans and grabbed their weapons.

Wil spotted his targets, two goblins that had clubs and knives drawn, and were running to the left in order to flank Gunther and Hale, who were engaging the Goblins from the front.

In his mind’s eye, Wil formed the offensive spell matrix, the complex geometric shape forming in front of him as he poured his mana into it. With a quick, shouted incantation, Wil thrust his hand through the construct and towards the Goblins. Wil felt his mana drain by almost half, as the spell matrix glowed brightly.

Three glowing darts of pure magical force erupted from his hand, two striking one goblin in the chest with enough force to lift it off its feet, knocking it to the ground, while the other was struck in the arm, spinning it to the side. Wil saw Anise rush towards the off-balance Goblin with her knives drawn, quickly stabbing it before it could recover. Wil ran towards her, drawing his sword as he did, he looked at the other Goblin he had hit with two bolts. It was smoking on the ground, twitching occasionally but clearly dead.

Wil’s first battle was over as quickly as it had begun, with all the Goblins lying dead on the forest floor. Hale had dispatched hers easily, while Gunther had split another almost in half with a swing of his large sword. Wil spotted the goblin with an arrow in its chest, Victor had finished it off with his mace, but it hadn’t gone down easily.

Panting heavily from the effort of casting the 1st tier spell, Wil moved towards his companions. Hale appeared to be unharmed, but Gunther was sporting a new dent in his armor, one of the Goblins had hit him from the side while he was focused on the enemy in front.

Victor, who was still only wearing his yellow priest robes, had a nasty cut on his left arm, which he was in the process of cleaning before channeling his mana into a healing spell on himself. Anise was searching the bodies for valuables, but by her expression, she was not finding anything useful.

“Well, that went alright.” Hale said cheerily. “These were only runts though, I’d be shocked if you had trouble with this lot.”

“Nasty enough.” Victor said, as he finished healing his wound and making his way to Gunther to assess if he had any injuries.

“You’ll find worse in there.” Hale said, pointing towards the mound. “Like I said, they send the weakest as scouts. The deeper in, the stronger they get.” Moving closer to the mound, Hale kept her sword and shield ready in case there were any surprises hiding in the nearby tunnel.

Wil made his way behind Hale as they investigated the tunnel. It was dug into the nearby cliff, with a mound of dirt piled next to it. Only wide enough for one person to enter at a time, the tunnel led sharply downwards, quickly becoming pitch black after only a dozen feet.

After briefly studying the tunnel, Hale put away her sword and shield, it was obvious that if reinforcements were going to come investigate, they would have arrived already.

“We’ll drag the bodies behind the ridge over there.” Hale pointed in the direction they had come from. “If other scouts find them next to the entrance, they may try to seal it.”

Agreeing with Hale, the group each grabbed one of the goblins by a leg or arm, dragging them back through the forest and down the nearby ridge. It wouldn’t fool an experienced hunter, they could easily follow the tracks, but Goblin scouts weren’t known for their forest craft.

The group gathered back at the tunnel, after clearing the camp of most of the signs of the battle.

“We need to head down.” Hale ordered. “Not all the way, but deep enough to confirm that the tunnel isn’t blocked.

Wil eyed the entrance warily, it was only around 4 feet high, and they would need to hunch over uncomfortably to enter.

“Anise and I will go down. You lead.” Hale said, looking towards Anise. Hesitating for a moment, Anise finally nodded.

Passing their packs to Gunther, Hale and Anise lit two torches before hunching over and entering the entrance. Wil and the others took the opportunity to rest, while Erinn patrolled the nearby forest. After a quarter of an hour, they could hear them returning from the tunnel.

Covered in dust and dirt, Anise and Hale stretched their backs and shoulders after leaving the tunnel. Dousing their torches in the dirt, the walked over to the others and took their gear back.

“It’s clear, opens up a bit once you get deeper. Looks like there were some underground caverns they connected to their tunnels.” Hale explained.

“And it stinks.” Anise added. Hale nodded at that.

“Any idea how many are down there?” Victor asked.

“No, but we could hear them, shouting and screaming. It’s hard to judge when you’re down there, the sounds carry differently.” Anise said. It was probably the most words Wil had ever heard the woman speak.

“What now, do we go down there?” Gunther inquired.

“No, we mark it for the legion. They’ll set up an ambush for when the goblins come up during the Night. Hopefully, we’ll have most of the tunnels marked and we can clear the bulk of their numbers. Once they’re dead, the legion will send groups down to clear the survivors and collapse the tunnels.” Hale clarified.

The group gathered their belongings and returned to the forest, Erinn scouting ahead of them. They spent the remainder of the day searching for Goblin scouts and more Warren entrances.

They didn’t find any more goblins, but they did find two more entrances. Unfortunately, both were sealed and covered in forest growth. Hale marked them on her map anyway, in case the Goblins decided to reopen them during the Night.

After a long day of trudging through the forest, Wil and the others made the return trip to town. Exhausted from the struggle of slogging through the forest growth, Wil was thankful when they returned to the main road.

As they walked, Wil saw other groups leaving the forest as well, their scouting done for the day.

Passing through the city gates, Wil separated from the others at the main square, he would be heading to the Inn while the others returned to the legion provided group lodgings. Wishing his companions a good evening, he walked through the Inn’s door, requesting a bath and a meal from the innkeeper.

Bathed and fed, Wil returned to his room to rest, when he heard a knock on his door. Opening it, he saw Erinn in the doorway, she was dressed casually, in a loose grey shirt and baggy dark breeches, without her armor or weapon.

“Come on, we’re all meeting downstairs.” She said, turning away from the door and making her way to the stairs nearby.