We quickly closed in on the Capital and drove through the west gate quickly arriving at the Guildhall.
"Rob, once we're out drive back outside the Capital and stay with the MRAP," I ordered, "We will contact you after we have our reward."
I hopped out of the MRAP gathering looks from passers-by and opened the door for Fabian, Mark and James to carry out our target. Fabian pulled the hood off the target and threw it back into the MRAP.
"Let's get our reward," I said as Rob drove off. Stepping inside the Guildhall with Mark and James dragging our target along, I blocked yet another chair being thrown across the room.
"Sorry!" Someone yelled and the brawl in the bar continued. Moving forward we approached the front desk.
"Hello sir," The clerk said, "What can I do for you?"
"We're here to complete our quest," I replied handing him the quest paper.
"Ok, I see you managed to capture the target," she said, looking behind me at Mark and James holding the unconscious man.
"If you could follow me, please," she said, walking towards some stairs went down. Descending the stairs, we found ourselves in a fairly large basement that had about 6 cells.
"These are our holding cells for captured targets," She explained while opening one of the cells, "City guards will come by later to pick up the prisoners and take them to the city's prison. Please leave him in here."
I looked at Mark and James and gestured for them to dump our target in the cell.
"Do you want the zip ties off?" I asked looking at the clerk.
"If you could, that would be helpful." She replied.
I nodded towards Mark who pulled out his combat knife and cut the thick plastic.
The clerk started back up the stairs after locking the cell after Mark and James left.
"There is an urgent quest that requires completion, I believe your group has the skills to tackle it," she said reaching the top of the stairs.
"What is it?" I inquired curiously.
"It is a goblin village subjugation, the creatures have made a camp near essential trade routes to the north," she explained flatly, "Our scouts said there were roughly seventy-five to a hundred of them."
"Ok, have they killed anyone yet?" I questioned further.
"Yes, several adventurers have attempted to destroy the camp but none have returned, and just yesterday we received word that they have begun targeting the trade routes now," She replied solemnly.
"I understand. We will take the job," I said smiling at her while she handed me a bag of gold coins.
"That is your reward for the completion of the previous quest," she said cheerfully.
We walked outside of the guild with the quest sheet in my hand and the gold in my pack.
"*Stchk* Rob, we will meet you outside the west gate," I informed him.
"*Stchk* Copy that, moving now," Rob's distorted voice replied.
We quickly approached the west gate and saw the MRAP parked on the side of the road.
"Hey Rob, we have got another quest, the subjugation of a goblin cave," I informed him while climbing inside the MRAP.
"We need to head north for about 120 Klicks till we reach the cave, we will have to camp overnight," I explained.
"Why can't we stay in an inn and leave in the morning?" Rob inquired.
"The quest is urgent, several adventurers have gone missing and the village is next to a critical trade route, if it is targeted the kingdom will suffer and lots of people will die," I replied as the rear door closed.
"Got it. Priority mission then," Rob said and stepped on the accelerator.
Holding the map, I guessed we were about 3 quarters the way there before I said, "We will have to stop here, it's sundown in about 40 mikes."
"Copy that," Rob replied as he slowed down the MRAP and pulled into a clearing, stopping the MRAP.
I stepped out of the MRAP onto the forest floor and looked around the small clearing.
"Looks like there is plenty of firewood," I said.
"Good, at least we can have a fire then," Mark replied grinning.
"Mark gather firewood, Rob, and James, you can help me set up our cots, Fabian you're on the fifty pulling security," I ordered.
"Summon 5 Mil-spec cots," I said.
[Affirmative, summoning 5 Mil-spec cots]
Five red magic circles appeared and the disassembled cots started to rise out of them. Moving forward I grabbed the first cot and started to assemble it while James and Rob grabbed two more and did the same.
Not long after the cots were assembled and Mark had lit a fire.
"Ok, Mark you're the first on sentry duty, two hours each," I ordered.
"Summon 5 MREs," I said.
[Affirmative, summoning 5 American MREs.]
"Fuck yes! Finally, some food," Mark shouted grabbing one as soon as it had finished materialising.
"Slow down, first watch begins in 20 minutes," I said picking up one of the MREs.
"Copy that," Mark said sitting down and heating his MRE.
"You know, maybe we should kill a boar and have that. Sure would be a change to the MREs," James muttered.
"That's an idea, though I haven't seen any around, are they even in this world?" Fabian remarked, smiling.
"Shit! Didn't think about that," James laughed.
"So, what are we doing after this job?" Rob asked, opening his now-ready MRE.
"As of now, that is undecided," I sighed opening my MRE and grabbing a spoonful.
"I think we should take more quests from the Guild and rank up," Fabian said while sitting on top of the MRAP.
"Hmm, maybe we should, at least be doing something," I replied.
"Maybe we create a priorities list," James said, "Have anything that we deem more important than a current quest come first."
"I believe that would be better," I agreed while nodding, "That way we can keep our skills sharp and be ready for anything more demanding. Does anyone disagree?"
"Nah all good" Mark said.
"Nope," Rob affirmed.
"Fine by me," Fabian replied.
"Perfect," James said before finishing the rest of his MRE.
"Great, Mark once you have finished, go on the fifty and start your first shift," I said before unsummoning the used MREs and walking over to my cot.
"Time to get some shut-eye," I murmured while lying down and promptly falling asleep.
I was shaken awake by James for my shift of the watch. I checked the time two hours till sunrise 'I have the last shift'. Quickly gearing up, I was briefed by James of any major changes and points of interest.
The two hours of watch were uneventful and it was soon daybreak. 'Time to wake everyone up.' I got off the MRAP and kicked everyone's cots waking them quickly.
"Pack up quickly, let's get moving in 30!" I shouted, as everyone quickly clambered out of their beds.
We packed our kit away and put it in the MRAP in case we needed it later.
"All right, mount up, we should make it to the area in an hour," I said climbing into the passenger seat. Mark racked the fifty before the MRAP lurched forward and continued the path toward the target location.
"Rob, stop here, we're in the AO now. The map gives us a general location but we're going to have to go on foot and find the actual cave," I explained as the MRAP slowed to a stop and I hopped out and unsummoned the MRAP.
"Spread out, 20-foot spacings. Look for goblin tracks, we've seen the fuckers before," I ordered, my team, fanning out to my sides as we stepped into the forest toward the presumed location.
"*Stchk* Visual, Left 30-feet!" Rob whispered.
"*Stchk* Hold for now, consolidate on 1-5s position," I ordered moving quickly toward his position.
I was the second to reach Rob's position, he was crouched behind a tree with his rifle raised toward a small green figure ahead.
"*Stchk* Sit-rep?" I whispered, crouching down behind another tree as Fabian and Mark moved to other trees.
"*Stchk* Two confirmed contacts," Rob replied.
"*Stchk* Copy, fire on my mark," I ordered raising my rifle, "Fire!"
Suppressed gunshots moved the air and the two goblins dropped to the ground with a quiet thud.
"Contacts down," I said standing up and approaching the corpses.
"Never really got a good look at them before," James remarked, " Truly are ugly aren't they."
"I got tracks here," Fabian reported.
"This was likely a small scouting party, a larger group may be nearby," I said, " Let's set up an ambush here, it won't be long before the larger group comes through."
"Copy that," Mark said, as we spread out in the trees and made a crossfire.
The goblin's chatter could be heard before we even saw them, but it wasn't long before we had eyes on.
"Execute, execute, execute," I ordered and the forest around the goblins became a death trap as dozens of bullets hit their group.
"*Stchk* Ceasefire," I shouted not even 5 seconds after our attack had begun. I stood up and walked over to the massacre, my team also appearing from the trees around me.
"Judging from their gear, I'd say they're a hunting party," Mark deduced while inspecting a corpse.
"Since they haven't got any food with them, it's likely they just left," Fabian added, looking in the direction the group had originated.
"Let's move," I said as I started following the tracks the hunting party had left.
Trekking for about half a klick we found our target.
"*Stchk* Contact front," I said, getting behind a tree and looking into a clearing with an entrance to a cave.
"*Stchk* Two guards, maybe more inside," James said trying to look further inside the cave.
"*Stchk* Copy that, time to get the NVGs out," I replied, grabbing my pack off of my back and attaching my NODs to the mounting plate of my helmet, the others following my lead.
"*Stchk* On my command, Fabian and Mark take out the two guards," I ordered while looking at the entrance, "Fire!"
A dull thud could be heard as the rounds passed through the goblins and hit the solid rock behind them.
"*Stchk* Move up," I said, pushing out from the treeline with my rifle raised towards the cave.