The first bunker-like outpost stands but I really don't want to make another one right now. While the goblins are once again admiring my creation trying to squeeze in and out of the structure I hear a few howls in the distance.
The goblins don't react at all and I remember that monsters generally won't attack one another. If they were humans they would immediately become unnerved by the howls of those wolves.
Come to think of it, while the goblins and wolves coexist in the dungeon right now but that's all they do. Shouldn't they try to cooperate to increase their strength?
Thinking of this only one thing comes to mind. Goblin riders!
A symbiotic relationship between mount and goblin. Fast as the wind and dangerous like a... dangerous like a goblin rider.
I sprint back to camp and recruit a new group of goblins to try my ideas. A dozen or so immediately volunteer when I ask for experimental subjects. The power I seem to have over them scares even me sometimes.
I lead my new guide goblins into the forest to track down some wolves. We find a small pack of them sprawled under the state of a large tree. Navi spoke of only one big pack being spawned in but I suppose they have split up since.
The wolves immediately notice our approach but choose to ignore us. The truce between dungeon monsters seems to hold and we aren't met with claws and fangs. Yet.
I approach the biggest wolf, perhaps the alpha, and sit down next to him. No reaction so far.
Ah, got it.
I cautiously reach out my hand towards the wolf ready to pull back at any time should she decide to bite me. Her eyes shoot towards my hand and look onto it but she makes no attempt to halt my approach.
I touch the fur on her back and begin to comb through it under her unblinking surveillance. As I continue to carefully run my hand through the fur on the wolf's back her stare grows more mellow. I can only assume she likes what I am doing.
Spurred on by my initial success I redouble my effort to pet the wolf hoping to earn her approval. Now that I am more relaxed I notice that the goblins I brought have been imitating me. They have each chosen a wolf to sit down next and pet.
Some of them have some minor bite marks on their hands which I assume come from a series of too aggressive petting as goblins are prone to do things. By now however, they have all learned to be gentle and make sure the wolf is enjoying it.
After a few more minutes of running my hand through fur, I decide that it is time to risk going a step further. I stand up and break physical contact causing the wolf before me to stand up as well. Once we are both standing I quickly swing one leg over the wolf's back and sit down wrapping my legs and arms around her.
Unsurprisingly, she doesn't like what I did and tries to shake me off. Her efforts are in vain since I had been prepared for such things to happen the moment I hopped on. My new mount does not struggle for long and soon decides that shaking me off is more work than it's worth.
I wait for a few more seconds and sit upright. No further steps to shake me off are undertaken so I begin to run my hands through her fur once again. My offense from before is quickly forgiven under my efforts to earn her forgiveness.
Once I think I'm in the clear I bend down and whisper into her ear using the universal monster language.
"How about we go for a stroll through your territory?"
I get a look that carries both annoyance as well as pride. It's like she's saying that her territory is far too big to take a stroll in and she also doesn't feel like it.
"Then how about a smaller stroll?"
Again I get a look of annoyance but the wolf below me begins to stride into the deeper parts of the forest. The other wolves follow suit and join us but only two other goblins have managed to remain seated on a wolf of their own. The others are left to walk after us with longing looks as they wish they to had managed to earn themselves a seat upon a wolf.
My strategy seems to have worked out marvelously as I ride through the forest in style. Or at least that's what I'd like to say.
There is no saddle or harness to help me stay atop the wolf so I have to constantly manage my balance and use my hands to stabilize myself. The beauty of the experience is kind of ruined by the effort I need to constantly exert to keep the status quo.
The stroll lasts ten minutes and stops once we arrive back at the place we started. I dismount and say my thanks before walking away. Being too much of a bother wouldn't serve to improve the relations between goblins and wolves.
I am planning to return to the same place another day in the hopes that this pack of wolves would still be there. If not I will just have to go and look for them at that time.
For the moment I return to the camp with my group of future goblin riders. In camp, I tell the goblin leader of my plans for this group of goblins and he immediately agrees to make sure those goblins will go spend some time with the wolves every day.
Now that the path to the birth of the goblin riders is paved I reluctantly decide to return to building bunkers. The goblin leader joins me as he is interested in how these bunkers can be used as outposts to defend the camp.