Goblins are particularly vicious monsters, but it is not this that is their defining feature it is instead their virility. Allowing them to overcome their relative weakness through sheer numbers. A minor infestation can turn into a threat great enough to wipe out a village in a matter of months. Left for longer they can even build up large enough hordes to threaten small towns.
Thankfully despite their rudimentary intelligence they struggle to organise their society into any productive form, limiting their societies to only the most basic forms of civilisation; acting in a manner little removed from that of 5 year old children under no supervision.
Despite a lack of fully-fledged intelligence their formation and use of basic tools has led to much controversy over the morality of exterminating them whenever found. The most commonly accepted arguement, wherever humans bother to debate this question is neatly summarised by his Valor Enzyme in 'Volume one of a History of Pangea':
"Humans should attempt peaceful interaction with sapient species. Those species with which communication is possible and peaceful interaction is succesful in at least one known case should therefore be given the benefit of the doubt. Where communication is possible but peaceful resolutions have been lacking, there must be a realistic threat to human life to warrant extermination".
The latter is a case which holds with goblins that is they represent enough of a threat to our own lives to make this more an issue of practicality than morality. While all attempts at negotiating with goblins have so far failed, they seem to only respect the rule of the strong.
Compendium of Monsters, Jonathan the Scholar
Garrick set off early the next day heading up the river Rhine quickly losing site of Haven. He remained a few 100 metres away from the river, out of eyesight expertly using the tall grass to hide his movements. His experience and skills ensuring he was heading in the right direction.
He continued in this way for a couple of days before spotting signs of goblin activity, the first hint of a goblin village being built was the goblin scouts he encountered. Deftly avoiding them, to avoid detection, he headed away from the river into the plain following them to what appeared to be their base.
Arriving at the edge of a clearing a primitive village came into view, mud huts with grass thatched roofs filled the majority of the clearing, with more under construction. Garrick could see a couple of hundreds of goblins running around, but more worrying was the five hobgoblins he spotted over the day he spent watching the village.
Hobgoblins as evolved forms of goblins were both more vicious and cunning than their unevolved counterparts. This combined with a strength a several magnitudes than the average goblin meant they were worth many times their number.
The village constituting a much larger threat than initially expected Garrick made the decision to use up the one-time communication trinket and inform the Elder about this goblin tribe, as he knew that their numbers could double in a couple of weeks. At which point they would potentially be able to wipe out Haven if left unchecked.
Taking out the communication trinket Garrick crushed it and sent off his message to the Elder, that the village should prepare for a siege and that he planned to stay and watch the village for a little longer to get a better estimate of their strength before returning to Haven to help preparations. Garrick's final suggestion was the preparation of a hunting group which should head out and wait for by the river which he would then lead to raid the goblin tribe and hopefully not only weaken them but also incite them into action before their numbers grew to large.
Garrick spent the next few hours scouting the village out, making note of which huts the hobgoblins had claimed for their own as well as the goblin breeding pits where. Goblins as very fertile creatures tended to give birth to litters of eight to ten babies, these would then be placed in a breeding pit where they would be left to themselves for a day, the survivors would then be removed and grow to maturity in as little as a week. This was the true danger of goblins combined with the ability of goblin mothers to go through all the stages of pregnancy in as little as half a week if provided with sufficient food.
As Garrick was about to leave he noticed a flurry of activity in the village, a particularly tall hobgoblin came out and seemed to be concerned over something. Unable to understand the goblins communication, Garrick decided to remain and watched as this hobgoblin organised a group of goblins under a smaller hobgoblin and sent them out to search for something.
Intrigued and knowing this presented an oppurtunity to kill one of the hobgoblins while it was separated from the majority of the horde Garrick decided to follow along behind them. He also hoped for the opportunity to see what had got their leader so worked up. Maintaining a consistent position behind them until they reached the river he was still able to notice a goblin corpse before them thanks to his enhanced perception.
Quickly moving ahead of them while remaining under cover, he noticed a further two goblin bodies alongside an unconscious human. Cursing to himself he was unable to leave this man to his fate, and without time to move him and hide the trail he quickly decided he would have to fight these goblins. His Tier 3 Ranger class alongside his experience gave him confidence in his ability to come out of this confrontation alive.
As he came to this decision the goblins had noticed the first corpse, at which they lost all semblance of order and rushed over to investigate leaving the hobgoblin behind. This gave Garrick an unexpected opportunity to ambush the goblins while they were separated form their more powerful counterpart.
Without hesitating he grabbed several arrows in his left-hand, the hand holding his bow, and drew his bow sighting on the lead goblin. His arrow, which he released in the moment of stillness between two breaths, flew true piercing through his targets eye killing it instantly.
Continuing this motion he fluidly transformed into drawing another arrow and sighting at a second goblin, this time taking it through the throat. By this point the goblins had noticed Garrick and recovered form their shock and charged towards him, leaving him time to release only one more arrow. Garrick shot at the goblin furthest away from him to maximise his time fighting the other two without the hobgoblin, again his archery skills enabled him to hit and kill the goblin in one.
Dropping his bow and arrows he unsheathed his sword as he moved towards the goblins, sidestepping the firsts strike and cleanly beheading it in one movement while closing in one the final goblin. He rolled under the thrust of this second goblin, getting within the reach of its spear and burying a dagger into its armpit piercing its heart.
Feeling the thrill of the battle, Garrick stood up and stared at the hobgoblin which was approaching him with much more caution than the goblins. It was armed with a single large club that it wielded in one hand, waving it around like it weighed nothing a testament to its strength.
With care the two opponents circled each other, each respecting the others strength, time seemed to stand still as the relative peace between the two was shattered as the Hobgoblin growled and swung at Garrick. He swiftly backed up as blocking a strike like that head on would have been folly before attempting to get inside the hobgoblins reach. Unfortunately the hobgoblin was able to react quickly enough to ward Garrick off, stopping him from retaliating.
This game of cat and mouse continued in stalemate for a few minutes as neither foe held an advantage. With time ticking Garrick knew he could outlast this hobgoblin having got a measure of its strength however time was not on his side as the longer this fight went on the less time Garrick would have to take the unconscious male elsewhere and hide their tracks.
Deciding to take a risk Garrick slowly started to move less smoothly, imitating a fighter running out of stamina. This emboldened the hobgoblin who renewed its efforts to attack him as Garrick attempted to lead it unto the more uneven ground nearer the river. At which point his plan paid off as the Hobgoblin stumbled providing the opportunity he needed, giving it no time to recover he body checked it, sending it tumbling backwards.
With his opponent on the floor Garrick slashed its thighs disabling it for good, before finishing it off with a quick cut across the throat. Taking a moment to recover his breath Garrick proceeded to loot the bodies, gaining a few coppers and a silver coin for his troubles as nothing else was worth taking before preceding over to the unconscious man.
The first thing Garrick noted was the youth of the individual seeming to not be older than 18 alongside his smooth skin evidence of a pampered life. Swearing to himself Garrick, who had been hoping for at least a somewhat combat seasoned individual, realised that he had likely saved a runaway noble who would be unwilling to help Haven in its defence from the goblins.
Despite his annoyance Garrick got on with collecting the nobles belongings, the quality of his weapons only giving further credence to Garrick's thoughts. Once he had collected the majority of the nobles belongings he hefted him over his shoulder and proceeded to move off downstream taking care with his steps to leave no trace of his passage.