Shota is a younger goblin, years of causing trouble for the slavers have made his reaction speed super human, and his speed is hard to match. Thanks to the this when Tect swatted at him he easily hopped out of his reach, "Gotta be quicker than that boss." "Shota stop screwing around, go get the others and bring them here. Have the other scout's gut the deer and haul them over as well." "Yes, Boss." Shota turns and in the blink of an eye has disappeared into the brush. Tect turns to the young girl bound and lying in the snow. He grabs his broken finger and jerks it roughly to straighten it. The pain draws a grunt from Tect but it is soon enough gone. The girl shakes noticeably, the images playing in her mind of what Tect plans to do to her are hell, her bladder lets loose. Tect acts like he doesn't notice, the only time he has seen a scene like this is when the slavers beat a goblin to death for stealing food and made his wife watch while bound to a post. He had stolen food to feed her because she was pregnant, they both kept quiet hoping that the slavers wouldn't find out. Luckily they hadn't or Shota wouldn't have been alive to help Tect today.
Tect was better than the humans who enslaved him, he would never hurt someone who was defenceless… but this girl didn't need to know that. "I have a few questions. If you lie I'll know, and you'll be punished. Do you understand?" The girl couldn't talk through all the fear, she simply nodded her head yes. "Good. First, Where did your party come from?" The girl barely manages to swallow her fear long enough to answer, "East and South from here in Tagan." "Why are you so far from home?" "Tagan was beset by a wave of vermin, our people are running low on food, we have been tracking that herd of deer for three days on a mission from the Adventurer's Guild." "Why track them for three days, you could have easily killed one by now?" "We have killed three already, our mission was to kill five and bring them all back." "How in the hell are three people supposed to transport five deer, and where the hell are the other three?" "Stewart's father is a high ranking adventurer, he gave us a bag of holding to use for our quest." Tect scowls at the girl, clearly she is being truthful and if she's lying it'll be easy to tell. Tect steps over towards the archer, "This one is Stewart correct?" The girl nods quickly, Tect begins to search his body. Apart from his bow and quiver, Stewart is carrying a steel dagger, a water skin, and a brown bag made of animal hide. The dagger is very clearly expensive, the blue shine it reflects indicates a high concentration of manatite in the steel, unfortunately it is a little small for Tect to use, but he has the perfect goblin in mind. The water skin is pretty heavy for it's size, it may be enchanted in some way, cleary this kids folks had some money. The last thing to check should be the bag. Tect opens the bag but it's empty, "Funny, I don't see three deer. Do you think this is funny or something?" Tect glares at the girl, "Nnnnn no I swear it's there, you just have to reach in your hand then try to imagine the space inside the bag." Tect decides to try. He reaches in his hand, then tries to imagine the space. Immediately in his mind a large white box flashes into being, taking up nearly half of the space inside the box are the bodies of three deer, on the other side of the box are a few rolled up scrolls, and a small red crystal. "I guess you were telling me the truth. Now that I know you can be honest tell me how many goblin's have you killed?" Tect glares are the girl, his eyes start to shift slightly from brown to red. "I HAVEN'T KILLED ANY I SWEAR!!!!! There are almost none left in the Darh mountains, not for a long time, you're the first goblin we have seen that wasn't a slave." Tect scowls, "If you have never met a goblin before then why do you think we are monsters who deserve to be wiped out?" The girl looks to the ground, she's afraid to answer Tect's question. Suddenly more goblins begin to arrive and it looks like she won't have to answer his questions now. Moidra approaches, she looks at the dead bodies and at the young girl, "I'm not gonna ask, but do you want her wound treated or what?" Tect looks over at the girl's leg, the bleeding seems to have stopped for now, "Not yet, she's not going to die from it so lets wait till everyone gets here first." As the final few goblins arrive, Shota and the other two scouts drag the two deer into the clearing, the other goblins are overjoyed by the amount of food they are going to have. "Everyone calm down, we need to discuss a few things really quickly. As you can all see we have 2 deer which is much better than we could have hoped, but I have even more news to share than that. First, we were attacked by a human adventurer's guild party. Shota and I killed two of the humans and captured the third. So the first priority is to dispose of the two bodies. I need four of you to take all the gear they have and drag the bodies into the bushes so that they will be harder to find. The rest of you will go with Shota and the scouts, we need to get as far from here as possible and make camp before sunset. While you all do that I'll take care of the human prisoner, and grab the two deer. The humans had a magical bag that will keep the deer fresh and allow me to carry them weightlessly so it'll be no trouble, plus the bag has 3 more deer in it so tonight we are going to eat very well." The goblins can barely contain their excitement. Tect motions for Moidra and Shota to join him at the edge of the clearing. "Moidra, I need you to take the others and walk west for 30 min then head directly north, I'm not going to kill a defenceless human, even if she did try to kill me, so I want her to think we are headed West. Shota, you take three goblins and hide the bodies, but leave the other two scouts with Moidra. When I have finished with the girl I will meet you here in the clearing and we will cover the tracks of the others. Moidra march them single file so we have less to cover." Moidra and Shota nod to show they understand and immediately get moving, it takes only a few moments for the other goblins to start leaving.
Tect walks over to the girl as the last goblin leaves the clearing. She begins to shiver and she refuses to look at Tect. She knows this is the end, her only hope is that it is quick. Tect begins checking her pockets, he doesn't find much. She is only carrying her wand, a book about various entry level spells, and a few scrolls. He takes it all, "Sorry, I don't normally take other people's things but I can't have you coming back for revenge." The girl's eyes brighten a bit. " Does this mean you don't plan on killing me? Tect scowls at her for what feels like the millionth time. "No, contrary to what you may believe, goblins are not murderous beasts. I don't kill people if I don't need to. In fact, counting your friends I have only killed 3 people, and they all tried to kill me first, which by most accounts would be self defence." The girl looked confused, her whole life she had heard stories of great adventurer's storming dungeons and slaying hordes of goblins. The courses at the Adventurer's Guild had also made it quite clear what happened to women captured by the goblins, and being set free was not it. Tect grabbed the young lady under her arms and tried to lift her when she shouted in pain, Tect set her back down and noticed her wound starting to bleed again. I took out the rest of the poultice Moidra had left him and coated the wound before rewrapping it. "That should help with the pain, I was shot with six arrows last night and thanks to this I can't even feel the injuries." The girl's eyes went wide. "Did he seriously say six arrows, what kind of monster is this?" she thought. Once again Tect lifted her up and threw her over his shoulder, then he began walking south. He walked probably 20 minutes, occasionally changing direction. "Well human, this is the end of the road, I'm going to cut you loose. If you try anything dumb I will definitely kill you." Tect lowered the girl from his shoulder and set her gently on the ground. He then placed the remaining poultice in her pocket and cut her bindings. She stood there for a moment stunned, "You are seriously letting me go?" Tect smiled, "Would you prefer I enslaved and tortured you for years? Sorry but that's what humans do and I'm not a human." Tect turns and begins to leave, but the girl stands there stunned. None of this makes sense to her. Goblins were vicious beasts. If she was captured she was told they would torture her, rape her, and use her for food. Why was he letting her go? Even human's wouldn't just let her go after she attacked them. "Holy shit… Am I the bad guy?!" she sat for a while contemplating what had happened today, but found no real answer. Tect was long gone by the time she finally got up and started walking, and it was nearly sunset by the time she stopped. Her wound began to hurt from walking, she was going to apply more poultice, but when she reached into her pocket she found her wand and the book on introductory spells. She started to cry, her whole world was turned upside down. She used magic to heal her wounded leg, start a fire, then cried until sleep overtook her.