Three goblins moved slowly through the underground chamber, the area was strangely lit up with small amounts of ore that gave off a soft glow. Their eyes were focused as they scanned the grassland in front of them, watching the soft wave of the wind across it. Both of them had chained sickles that hadn't metal ball on the end and currently in hand as they were looking for someone at the moment.
The grass parted to their left as something speed away from them in a breakneck pace. The two chained metal balls were sent out quickly but missed their target when it jumped into the air. It looked back at them with hate in its reptilian eyes as the shadow of the figure flapped small wings at its back to glide away swiftly.
"Gah, greasy Kobolds. Sneaky things, sneak out our food." The goblins slammed the ground with their iron balls, and started stomping back to camp. With a loud chomp they ripped apart a large snail that was there, slurping out the insides snail.
The juices dripped down their mouths as they joked with each other, their laughs echoing around the area a little bit as they talked about the various conquests of some of the goblin women. As they walked their talks became more focused on serious things, they were both twelve this year they would be elders soon and they both felt the weight of the position.
There was even rumors of an orc coming up from one of the lower floors to this one to gather those that were close to evolution. Both of them envied the luck that some people had, evolving during peaceful times was hard.
"More fights, more evolutions. Peace between the towns is bad." One of the two grumbled. Goblins were naturally warlike and being at peace with the other races on this floor had really bothered them but this was an order from an orc. He was actually planning on building up a force to leave the caves in a few years.
Goblins only lived for 15 years though, these past four years have been almost a third of their lives and the orc wanted them to grow for ten before they attacked. Those that had seen the elder orc give this command were few in numbers now and a few questioned if it even happened.
There was much social unrest within the towns now as they were all glaring at each other's resources with envy. The goblins were especially war hungry as their population exploded to hundreds of goblins instead of the usual tens of goblins that they usually had in their towns. There were constant fights among their own kind for resources and their leadership had gone from one elder to a group of six.
The two in the fields were also disgruntled about the lesser amounts of food on their plates every day. Complaining that even if an orc had ordered this he didn't understand how fast goblins procreate.
Now there was even rumors of a boogieman out in the dark, goblins disappearing in the middle of the night no matter how many other goblins are near them. A large portion of the community were thinking that the kobolds were the ones to blame but they both knew that it was probably fellow goblins that needed more food. They had been thinking about dragging some newbies into some tall grass and eating them.
One of them paused a moment and looked behind them his eyes darting from left to right, his hand grabbing his weapon.
"What's wrong?"
"Shhh.. Your footsteps were off." Sliding his feet to spread out in case of a sudden attack he scanned the tall grass around them. Nothing looked out of the ordinary so he relaxed and turned around to head towards the village again but he was now alone in the tall grass.
Scared out of his mind he screamed and started to run as fast as he could towards the village, throwing everything he had off of himself that would slow him down. He wasn't a soldier, or some sort of brave warrior he was just a scavenger!
As he ran tears weld up in his eyes, "The Boogieman is real!!" As he reached the small gates of the town he was out of breath and half delirious but could still tell that there was a problem.
His saliva started pouring out of his mouth as he could smell burning meat all around him, it made his stomach growl as he looked up to see that the whole village was on fire. A group of five small rat-tailed humanoids were cheering with bottles of black fluid in their hands.
Ratfolk has attacked with their strange alchemical concoctions, from the looks of it they were more than likely allied with the Kobolds as well. Ratfolk were sneaky and treacherous in ways that the other two races in this floor weren't they were good with words. You knew you could never trust one, but somehow they'd always seem to cheat you out of something.
Each race had their specialties too, goblins reproduced quickly and grew up just as fast. At one year you could hold a sword and learn to fight, at 3 you were a man and could marry. Kobolds were masters of traps, and could glide, they made their homes in the walls of caves. Ratfolk were the most dangerous, they were born with curiosity and a a connection to herbs.
These two lead them to creating alchemical products like fire jars, and lightning in a bottle. The only downside about their race was the fact that they had heat cycles meaning they didn't reproduce all year round and instead all their children were born in clumps. They also took the longest to become adults, six years in total which was a shock to goblins.
The goblin lost all strength within his body as he kneeled to the ground staring at the destruction. His tears falling like a stream down his face as he had lost everything now, he would have to rebuild a life and at his age that was impossible.
"Hey goblin," A hand snaked it's way around the goblin's shoulder, "How would you like to make a deal with the devil himself?"
When the goblin looked over he saw my face, and it looked terrifying under the flickering lights of the fire. The worst part was the slimy tentacles that were sliding around his arms ready to bind him up should the goblin attack.
William sat uninterested to the side with a cup of herbal tea, slowly drinking it. His weapons still had not been pulled out, but one could tell he was completely relaxed in this environment which made the goblin shiver at how strong he must be.