Dawn came bright and early. Sunlight shone through the pub’s windows, warming the room. Paddles reached down to shake Dizzy awake and were startled when he grabbed her by the throat before his eyes had opened.

“Oh, oops,” said Dizzy as he released Paddles. “Thought you were something else.”

“I guess life in the swamp is a bit more dangerous than the city,” said Paddles as she rubbed her neck.

“Wild boars don’t mess around. Snakes either,” said Kitty as she rose, discreetly resheathing the knife she had tucked under her pillow.

YDB yawned as he sat up. Gwen had slept next to him throughout the night. The goblin scratched the cat behind the ears before rising. “Morning,” he said.

“Good morning YDB,” replied Screecher. He moved to the bar and brought out some stale bread he had tucked in a box under the counter. “Breakfast?” YDB grinned and gave a thumbs up to the tavernkeeper. Dizzy and Kitty scurried to the table and looked expectantly at Screecher and Paddles.

The five goblins dug into the bread, filling their bellies. Kitty had a small bit of fish left over from the night before and fed it to Gwen. The cat purred as it snapped down the morsel.

As breakfast ended, Paddles looked over his guests. “OK, I messed up by touching Dizzy in his sleep. But we’re not in the swamps or wilds here, so I need you three to listen closely.”

The trio turned to face Paddles.

“Right. These people here, they know me and Screecher. We’re what you would call locals. The people here know we won’t steal from them, at least not without reason. But you three are from the swamps, and you need to know that this ain’t a raid. Don’t touch nothin!” warned the goblin woman. She stared meaningfully at each of them. “If you want something, ask me first. I’ll haggle with them, and get it for you if I can.”

Continuing, she said, “Now, this ain’t no shopping trip. We’re going to see the mountain goblins I told you about yesterday. I don’t know what they can do to help you get your friends back, but it’s a start.”

“We’ll keep our hands to ourselves,” assured Dizzy. “Anything else?”

“That’s the big one. Just stick with us, and we’ll make sure nothing too bad happens.”

The five goblins stepped out of the bar. Screecher paused to lock the door, using a wooden key. YDB gestured to the key and asked, “How?”

Screecher showed YDB how the two pegs of the key fit into two holes inside the door, and that twisting the key in just the right way would lock and unlock the latch. YDB nodded in understanding.

“Smart,” said YDB. He looked inside the lock mechanism opening, poked around with his smallest finger, then nodded to himself. Satisfied, he stood and joined the rest heading to the market. Screecher locked the door and tucked the key into his shirt.

Moving through the city with Paddles and Screecher was much easier than trying to sneak down back alleys and run over rooftops. The crowds glanced in their direction, and a few men reached for their swords until they spotted their escorts, then smiles and friendly waves were seen.

“Guests of yours, Paddles?” asked one merchant. “Make sure they keep their hands off of my goods!” he threatened good-naturedly.

“Screecher!” called out another. “The rats are getting out of control in my basement! Are these new exterminators? Or is it just that cat?”

“They’re just visitors, but I’ll stop by after a bit and work out the details, Jorah!” called out Screecher. Turning to Dizzy he continued, “Me and Paddles, we’re rat exterminators. That’s part of why the tall folks let us stay with no troubles. We’re smaller, and we bring the rat corpses out of the buildings. No stink coming up from below if they use poison. The fat ones are pretty tasty too.”

Dizzy grinned at that. Rat was tasty, most of the time, but you had to watch out for what they were feeding on.

The market square opened up in front of the five goblins, paths forming between the drop cloths the merchants and farmers had set down to display their wares.

“Apples! Sweet as a virgin’s kiss!” shouted one man. “Corn, sweet as, uh, his apples over there,” called a second farmer. Dizzy sniffed the air and smelt freshly slaughtered beef and pork, heard the clucking and quacking of fowl, and could hear humans, elves, gnomes, and halflings selling their wares. In the distance, a smith was pounding something on an anvil.

Kitty jumped aside as a large dog bounded past her. Gwen raised his hackles, making himself appear larger. A moment later, a girl of about eight ran past, calling for the dog to stop. Kitty shook her head, glad that for once a dog wasn’t trying to kill her or one of her friends. Gwen calmed himself down, licking his fur back into place.

After a short walk, the five goblins reached a small drop cloth where two goblins sat beside several buckets of mushrooms. Dizzy could smell the odor rising from the fungi, and his mouth watered.

“Ah, Screecher! Paddles! So good to see you!” said the older goblin.

“Good to see you too, Morell. What kinds do you have today?” asked Paddles.

“I was about to ask you the same. Who are these goblins?” asked Morell.

Paddles introduced Dizzy and his friends to Morell the mushroom hunter. The goblin looked the three over, then asked, “What are swamp goblins doing this far north?”

Morell was a brownish green-skinned goblin, rather than the gray-green of the swamp goblins, and had dark green hair. The other goblin was a tan, mottled gray, and bald. He looked a bit like Morell, and Dizzy wasn’t surprised when Morell introduced him as his son, Picker. After Paddles had introduced the three, she and Screecher left them with Morell to take care of Jorah's rat problem.

Morell turned to Dizzy with a quizzical expression.

“We’re hunting for someone. A minotaur goes by the name of Stormhoof. He captured our tribe, and he might be going up into the mountains somewhere north of here,” explained Dizzy.

“Never heard of him,” said Morell. “But there are many places he could hide up in the mountains. There are caves and box canyons throughout those hills. Is he by himself?”

“No, he is building himself an army. He has a pirate's crew of orcs so far, and our tribe of goblins. We think he is looking for mercenaries and others to join him,” said Dizzy.

“Hmm... Well, that helps. To find him at least,” said Morell. The mushroom seller paused to haggle over the price with a customer, then turned back to Dizzy.

“Now, where was I? Oh, right. That minotaur of yours, he's going to need a place for his troops. He'll need food, water, and space to drill his men. That narrows it down quite a bit. And if he's taking goblins as troops, well, that might be a problem for my tribe as well.”

“Oh?” asked Kitty. “How so?”

“If this minotaur is going where I think he might be going, it is near our caves up in the mountains. There is a wizard's fortress on top of a cliff. Very hard to get to, almost impossible to lay siege to. At least with regular troops. The wizard was killed ages ago, and the towns nearby were sacked and burned during the Five Kingdoms War.”

“If the fortress was so hard to get to, how was the wizard killed?” asked Kitty.

“Lover's betrayal. Old Argyle, liked his girls, and they liked him. Well, they at least acted as if they liked him. Hard to say, none are left to ask,” said Morell. Dizzy gave him a “hurry up” gesture.

“Right, right. Anyways, the story goes that one night, Argyle was with two girls when another mistress of his became jealous. She was one of his apprentices, trying to learn more magic than she was able to handle. She transformed herself into a snake and bit him. Right on his ass while he was trysting with the two other wenches. He jumped up, stepped on something round, and fell over backward. Hit his head on the fireplace hearth and split his skull right open!”

“Wow!” gasped Dizzy. Kitty's mouth was agape, and YDB laughed.

“After the wizard died, one of the Kingdoms sent their wizards to capture the fortress and all of Argyle's magic books, scrolls, and whatnot. The apprentices were taken prisoner and ended up serving a new master.”

“Why didn't they hold onto the fortress?” asked Dizzy.

“Too far away. None of the kingdoms could garrison the place, and Argyle had magic to keep the building from being destroyed. So, King Stephan, or was it Duke Leto? Well anyways, one of them had the building stripped and took everything of value back to their lands.”

Dizzy sat and thought for a while as Morell sold mushrooms.

“Well, it's as good a place as any to start looking,” said Dizzy. Kitty and YDB nodded in agreement. Dizzy turned again to Morell.

“When will you be heading back? We'd like to go with you, to see if Stormhoof shows up.”

Morell's son finally spoke. “We're almost out of mushrooms, and I don't this last pelt is going to sell.” He displayed a ragged skunk pelt, and Dizzy could smell the musk. The skunk must have been defending itself when it was killed.

“Tomorrow morning,” said Morell. “We will show you the way, but I have no intention of locking horns with any minotaur.”

“We're not asking you to,” assured Kitty. “Just show us how to get there, and we'll figure something out ourselves.”

“Maybe some of the young bucks of our tribe will help you. We'll ask around once we get there.” Morell shrugged.

“Alright, it's settled then,” said Dizzy. “Where should we meet you?”

“We'll be staying with Paddles and Screecher tonight. Paddles is a fantastic cook, and I'm keeping some of our biggest mushrooms back for her to cook up tonight.”

Kitty grinned, thinking of grilled mushrooms and pork, one of her favorite meals. She would have to get with Paddles to see what sort of spices the other goblin preferred.

“I guess we’ll see you at the bar, and take off with you in the morning,” said Dizzy. He looked around to see if Paddles and Screecher had returned, but there was no sign of the city goblins. They would have to risk returning to the bar on their own and hope not to be confronted.

While deciding if it was safe to go back to the bar, YDB pointed and said, “Basket.”

“What about my basket?” asked Morell.

“Basket,” repeated YDB. Dizzy and Kitty both looked at the mushroom baskets sitting on Morell's cloth and tried to figure out what YDB meant. Without waiting, YDB picked up one of the empty baskets, put the woven lid on it, and slung it over his back. He looked like any of the other merchants bringing their goods into the market.

“Oh, I get it!” said Kitty. “We each get a basket, and we’re just trader goblins. The townies won’t see us as a threat if they think we’re just here to sell stuff.”

YDB grinned as Kitty finished speaking, then pointed across the market to where the Happy Dragon was located. He paused, and asked, “Shopping?”

Dizzy was startled that YDB wanted to explore more of the market. He turned to Morell.

“Can we shop? Or will they run us off?” Dizzy had noticed a few things around the market that looked interesting.

“You got coin?” asked Morell. Dizzy pulled out a pouch and dumped five copper and two silver coins into his hand.

“Hmmph. Not much, but you might be able to pick up a souvenir or two. Just don’t take nothing. We have to come back and sell to these folks. I don’t want to have to pay for your sticky fingers.” Although the goblin grumbled, he also fished out two more silvers and gave them to Kitty.

The three swamp goblins took off to explore the rest of the market, with Gwen alongside Kitty. While none of the humans called out to the goblins, they didn’t reach for their weapons either. Most of the market sold food, items, and tools. Dizzy had no intentions of sticking around and becoming a craftsman. He spent two of the coppers buying a roasted chicken on a spit, and the three plucked bits of meat from the carcass as they wandered about. Eventually, they came upon a man sitting on a tarp with no products for sale. He was reading from a thick book filled with diagrams. Kitty paused when she recognized one of the images.

“Are you a wizard?” she asked. The man ignored her. “Hey! Are you a wizard?” The man answered without looking up.

“Indeed I am, and I am far too busy studying to waste time chatting with goblins.”

“I can pay you.” Now the man looked up.

“And what does a goblin need a wizard for? Usually, it’s the other way around. But I’m not powerful enough to need minions.” The wizard marked his place with his finger and closed his book. “Not yet, at least.”

“I was an apprentice to a goblin witch, but I wasn’t able to learn very much. I have her spell book, and was hoping to buy lessons?” Kitty looked hopefully at the wizard.

“I am but an apprentice myself. But for fifty gold, I would be willing to teach you something. My name is Robbin, by the way.” As Robbin held his hand out for payment, his stomach growled loudly.

“Ah, we don’t have fifty gold. We only have a few silver and copper. Oh, and a half-eaten chicken,” said Kitty. The man rolled his eyes and looked disappointed.

“Let me have the rest of your chicken, and we can talk about it. Have a seat.” Kitty sat down in front of the man and fished her spellbook from her pouch. Gwen settled down beside her. She opened it up to the first spell. Robbin took a bite of the chicken, wiped his hands on his robe, and bent over the book. He looked up and said, “OK, what don’t you understand?”

Dizzy nudged YDB, and whispered down to Kitty, “We’ll be back in an hour or so. Enjoy your lessons.”

Dizzy and YDB wandered through the stalls, not looking for anything in particular. Just the chance to wander amongst the humans without being chased, stabbed at, yelled at, or kicked was novelty enough. As the two explored, they looked over weapons, armor, shields, and bows. The merchants selling the weapons kept their hands near their weapons and scowled when the two goblins approached. Dizzy couldn’t read, but he knew the weapons would cost more than the few coins they still held. He kept his hands to himself, his thumbs hooked under the rope he used as a belt.

A moment later, YDB tugged at his arm. “Bugbear,” he said.

“Bugbear? What? Where?” asked Dizzy, trying to spot the creature. How it could get that far into town without the humans sounding the alarm? YDB tugged his arm again.

“Skull.” YDB pointed, and Dizzy saw a bugbear’s skull sitting on a table. There were dozens of skulls displayed, each cleaned of skin and polished. Most were animal skulls; bear, wolf, and mountain lion. The bugbear’s skull was the only humanoid skull, its massive canine teeth protruding from the top of the mouth. The lower jaw was missing.

“What do you want that for?” asked Dizzy.

“Helmet,” answered YDB. He rapped his head with his knuckles. Dizzy nodded in understanding. YDB had left the human skull under the temple after the fight with the scarecrow. It had been too fragile to offer much protection, while the bugbear's skull appeared to be much thicker. He approached the table and rapped on the surface to get the owner’s attention.

“How much for the skull?” asked Dizzy, pointing at the one YDB wanted.

“What?” asked the merchant.

“That skull. How much is it?” repeated Dizzy.

“Two silver. You got coins? Gobbos never have coins,” said the man with a sneer. Dizzy held up two silver pieces. “Well, I’ll be damned. A goblin buying instead of stealing. Maybe there is hope for you lot.”

Dizzy tossed the two coins onto the table and took the skull. It was bigger than his head and bigger than YDB’s. With a bit of cutting and padding, it would make a good helmet for the other goblin. Better than the human skull had been, without upsetting the tame folk.

“Thanks,” growled Dizzy, then he turned to YDB as the merchant put the coins into his purse. “Let’s get back to Kitty, and then to the Happy Dragon. Looks like market day is wrapping up.”

As the two headed back to look for their friend, they watched the buyers and sellers rolling up their shops and making their final purchases. Kitty was standing and shaking hands with Robbin as Dizzy and YDB arrived. Gwen stood and stretched. She waved as Dizzy approached. The wizard’s apprentice rolled up his cloth and tucked it into his pack. He turned to Dizzy.

“Your friend told me all about Stormhoof. I know you told some adventurers to warn the King's Guard. I’ll let my Master know tonight as well.”

“Thanks,” said Dizzy. He wasn't sure what the wizards could do against the minotaur and his orcs. Muscle would be needed, and if this skinny human was any representative of the wizards, Stormhoof would roll right over them.

Robbin knelt on one knee to speak with Kitty. “You did well today. If you get more gold, please come see me for more lessons. I was hungry today, so I let you learn for a meal. But I won't always be hungry, you know.” Robbin winked, then stood up. Flipping his pack into position, the apprentice wizard nodded once, then turned on his heel and walked into the thinning crowd. He was gone from sight a few moments later.

“I think we need to get to the Happy Dragon,” said Dizzy. “I'm pretty hungry.

“Hungry,” agreed YDB. He rubbed his belly. Nothing remained on the chicken bones piled nearby.

Morell and Picker met them along the way to the Happy Dragon. Soon all five were beside the Happy Dragon, listening to the people inside eating, drinking, and chatting. Paddles pulled the door open to the small bar below and ushered them inside. Dizzy could smell rats broiling in the back of the bar. He realized that he was famished, and saw that everyone else was watering at the mouth.

“Sit, sit,” said Paddles, directing them to where she and Screecher had pushed the bar’s four small tables together into one big table. The goblins found a place to sit while Paddles and Screecher brought out four big rats. They sat the rats on the table, then brought out chipped plates and mugs of beer and passed them around. Soon everyone was tucking into a hot rat and chilled beer. Gwen nibbled bits from each goblin’s plate.

Paddles waited until everyone had eaten their fill, then asked how the magic lessons had gone.

“Well, he was only able to teach me one, but I think it will be pretty useful,” explained Kitty. “I can now create a blob of acid, which I can drip onto metal or wood to burn through it, or throw it at someone.”

Dizzy nodded at that.

“What spells can you cast?” asked Morell.

“Well, besides the acid blob Robbin just taught me, I can do several tricks with light. I can make a bright flash, or several lights at once,” answered Kitty. “Granny taught me how to mix up a bunch of different potions, and how to make a rock or feather glow bright enough to see by. Well, I can make anything small glow.”

“Not sure how those will help against this minotaur, but I’m sure he won’t be expecting something like that from a goblin.” Paddles looked pleased. Goblins were looked down upon almost everywhere. That several of her kind were willing to stand up to something as dangerous as a minotaur gave her hope.

“Well, tomorrow will be a long day for you five. The trek to the mountains will be a little easier with five instead of two or three,” said Screecher.

Dizzy yawned, not realizing how tired he was until just that moment. Kitty had her spellbook out, making notes in the margins. Where she found the energy to study was a mystery to Dizzy. YDB had the bugbear skull out and was working the bone to form his planned helmet. Screecher led the little goblin away to the kitchen area, where there were work tables and more importantly, a door that could be closed so the rest could sleep.

It didn’t take long to set out bedrolls again, and Dizzy wandered over to his pallet. YDB’s was laid out as well for when he finished working for the night, and Gwen padded a pit on YDB’s pillow. Dizzy flopped down to sleep, his eyes drooping as Morell and Picker set up their mats. Screecher and Paddles crawled into their bed and soon the bar was silent except for soft snores and the tap-tap of YDB working.