Inside the Goblin Cave, the temperature rose precipitously. "Do they have a furnace here or something?" Pete complained, sweating through his chain mail. He wondered why Perfect Attire chose the protective clothes for him. He had been fine all along without armor. Archers needed flexibility for drawing arrows fast.
"Goblins are nasty, despicable creatures… they like it warm," Marian replied. "It makes them fertile and helps them breed faster."
"Yuck. It's the first time I just laid eyes on one of them, and I already hate the species. I can't imagine why the town let them multiply so close to the villages."
They were walking through a narrow passage within the cave. Every few yards, there was a brazier that illuminated the surroundings.
Marian stopped all of a sudden and asked Pete to be silent. "Look below that brazier," she said, pointing ahead. "A guard is sleeping under it. I reckon the inner guards do not have alarm horns. I'll take care of him."
Marian tiptoed quietly and stood before the goblin, who snored noisily, unaware of the intruders. She slowly retrieved her sword and drove the tip through his heart in one swift thrust.
Guck! The guard woke up for a second but died almost instantaneously, vomiting blood.
Pete threw a thumbs up at the female warrior. She was pretty good at killing.
Around the next turn, they found another goblin. He was not asleep and patrolled his small area diligently.
"Allow me," Pete said, walking forward and crouching in the darkness.
[ Stealth +1 ]
He retrieved one arrow from his quiver and nocked it lightly on his bow. Zap! As the goblin turned around, the arrow's head found his throat.
Pete rushed forward nimbly, caught the guard's body before it touched the ground, and let him down with minimum noise.
[ New Skill Unlocked ]
[ Assassin Level 1 ]
[ Total Kills: 4 ]
Pete smiled to himself. 'I guess I have been categorically avoiding dangerous quests. This is actually fun.'
"Nicely done," Marian said and walked further down the passage.
Finally, they reached a sanctum that had two diverging paths. One seemed to spiral downwards while the other climbed upwards. Marian approached the second path and put her ear to the wall.
"I have a feeling that this leads to a large underground hall because I can hear a lot of them chattering."
"Would it be wise to walk into a crowd of goblins?"
"Of course not. Let's take the ascending path. I think it could lead to an upper level from where we can get a bird's-eye view of the underground chamber."
The duo climbed the path for five minutes and found themselves on a wide ledge. Marian tiptoed and peered over the edge. She stepped back, gesturing for Pete to be silent.
"Let's get down on the ground and crawl to the edge," she whispered into his ear.
They did so and peeked. Pete saw a large, well-lit hall below. Over several hundred goblins had gathered in the area. There was plenty of meat and ale, and the monsters were grunting noisily. Among the goblins were adults, children, and elders as well. They had a wholesome community down there. It was eerie to see a monster species behave like humans. Everyone wore hoods as if it were a cult meeting.
A robust goblin with graying hair and in a feather hat stepped onto a pedestal and asked everyone to be quiet. He identified himself as Gork. The hall quieted down.
"I think he's the Chief of their tribe," Marian whispered.
"My dearest goblin brothers and sisters," the Chief Gork began. "Tonight is the night. As we have been planning for months, we will attack the village under the moonlight with our entire army! We will loot all their gold, ravish their women, and bring back slaves!"
The follower goblins raised a hurrah in unison.
"Gork! Gork! Gork!" they chanted.
"And what do we do with the children?" the Chief asked joyfully.
"We eat them!!" the goblins replied in a chorus.
"Yes! Children have succulent meat and brains rich in nourishment. Human children roasted over a pit are the most delicious! We will have a feast tonight!"
The followers let out another hurrah in unison.
"Once tonight is a success, we will march to other villages around the town!" Gork added enthusiastically. "Ultimately, we will launch an attack on Nottingham!"
This time the cheer was less spirited. There were a few voices of dissent.
"Chief, isn't that too ambitious? Do you really mean to raid Nottingham?"
"Have you forgotten what happened last time, Chief? Most of our army was hunted down and murdered."
"Yeah. They have powerful mages and templar knights on their side."
Gork placed his hands on his waist and cackled. "That is a good question! I wouldn't be making such tall plans if I did not have a way to tackle their damned mages. The slaves we gathered over the past few months have dug deep into the mines and found us a magical treasure..." He paused for the crowd to speculate.
"Magical?"
"Treasure?"
"What is it, Chief?"
Gork retrieved an object from his pocket. The hall became resplendent in a bluish-black light.
The goblins wowed in surprise. Some of them flinched and stepped back.
Marian and Pete felt sudden nausea coming on.
"This is the Werecat's Eye, my friends! Under the moonlight, it negates all magic within a square mile area. This will be our weapon against humans! This is how we win the war against them!"
Marian and Pete exchanged anxious glances.
"That does not bode well for us," Pete whispered.
The female warrior looked at him quizzically. "Do you understand Goblik?"
The boy shrugged. "Yes, I do."
"Hmm. But you could not recognize it earlier when we hid behind the boulder."
"Err… I was testing you. I am actually well-versed in the language."
"You are full of surprises, Rob Huntington. It took me years to learn Goblik. Who taught you the language, by the way?"
"My… er.. father."
Marian nodded and peered down the ledge again. "Where is the squirt? We need to rescue her and return to Nottingham. The Sheriff and the knights must be informed of these insidious events immediately."
"I don't see her anywhere in the hall…"
Marian put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Rob, I must ask you to expect the worst. If they did not imprison or enslave Bree, they might have killed her."
Pete's face was unmoving. "If they have harmed her, I will burn this place down."
Marian eyed him curiously. "You may never say it aloud, but you are really fond of her, aren't you?"
The boy shook his head. "What? No. She's my servant. If someone hurts my servant, it is an insult to me and the Huntington family name."
"Sure," Marian replied with sarcasm.
Chief Gork ended his speech and sent the gem to be placed under tight security. The boy immediately received a system notification.
[ Loading Quest… ]
[ Quest Title: Worthy of Werecat ]
[ Gain Chief Gork's gem ]
[ Quest Reward: 200 💰 ]
Pete sighed. The reward was decent, but the quest's timing could not have been worse. How the hell was he supposed to take the gem without alerting every goblin in the cave?
Gork took on a severe mood and glared at the crowd before him.
"There is another matter to be taken care of," he said with temerity. "Our goblin seer has had an interesting dream. She saw tonight we have an infiltrator among us tonight. One who does not belong. A human…"
There was murmuring among the goblins. They looked at each other with suspicion.
"How do we know who it is, Chief?" a commoner asked.
Gork scratched his beard and sniffed the air. "I can smell the traitor. Everyone, take off your hoods."
The followers did as they were asked. Pete and Marian scanned the entire horde from above. There were plenty of braziers in the hall to light up their ugly faces. There was no sign of another species, and certainly not of a human.
The Chief walked into the gathering. He sniffed every goblin that he passed. In the middle of the crowd, he stopped and turned to his left, following his nose.
"You!" he hollered at a short female goblin. "I have never seen you here before! What is your name?"
"I am Bulma, sir," she muttered. "I am new to the horde."
"Oh, I see. I understand," Gork replied. He turned to leave and then suddenly punched the female goblin hard. The latter was thrown into a cave wall, the wind knocked out of her.
"Ack!" A wisp of magic dissipated from her body, transforming her looks from goblin to human.
Pete and Marian gasped. It was Bree!