The day had hardly started, yet Mark was already massaging his temples as he dealt with the newest of problems. Of course it had to do with the goblins although they were not the only headache. For only 10 gnomes, Mark was anticipating losing about 600 MP a day, so much for the increased production from the new manna bellows. Then he had to add another 170 MP for the goblins, his, and Amelia’s average daily needs. The problem was that it was about to go up.
The Goblin morale had dropped in the night, quite a few of them into the unhappy range from 20-39. Sure he had been riding the bottom line of the content range, but they had been fine with a little careful maneuvering of a little bit extra food split between them all. The only difference was of course the gnomes, or more correctly the goblins being able to see the gnomes drinking all of the ale they could want. Then like children seeing another kid getting candy when they weren’t, the bellyaching and tantrums had started.
Mark had awoken to see the morale drop, and through utilization of what he called the spy feature, a feature that allowed him to zoom in spy on any location in their territory, he figured out the problem. Then just like an adult dealing with a child throwing a tantrum, Mark acquiesced in order to shut them up. He was not giving them what the gnome’s got, but the lowest quality stuff the store would sell at 18 MP compared to the 75 MP that he was buying for the gnomes. Description went something along the lines of ‘tastes like piss, but it's still alcohol.’
Mark of course had sold it saying, ‘That they had been working hard, so he had decided to reward them with 2 kegs a day.’ He left it up to them to ration it amongst themselves. It was enough for each of them to get 3 or 4 drinks, but he doubted they would share it that fairly. As long as they were grumbling against and bonking each other, it was business as normal. Their morale had already gone back to being content, so it would do for now.
Mark switched his mind to something that was actually important and checked his MP. It was just after 10 and they were currently sitting at 4,208. Theoretically, he could still buy and man the final manna bellows today, but he was questioning whether he should. The day before had been another gut check on how ill prepared their dungeon was. Problem was, if he really wanted to feel secure then he would have to increase their unit count several fold, something he was hoping to only do once crafting was researched. Not only would the units start with stone tipped weapons they would also be able to fashion their own. Whereas units built before crafting was researched would be as useless as ever.
Mark could have reinforced earlier, but he guessed he had subconsciously downplayed the risk in order to advance them faster. It was a risk he had been willing to take, thinking he had a little more time before dungeon destroying forces, but yesterday he had encountered a barbarian force that could wipe them out and saw a notice of another player that likely could have done so had they been the unlucky target. It frustrated Mark, but the third bellows could wait till tomorrow.
He currently only had 2 classes that he could afford, archer and scout, but Mark dismissed that direction. Without crafted weapons tech completed, any goblins summoned would get their bonus to slings, which would not do much good in his opinion. Scout would be nice, perhaps his units would stop bumbling into threats, but Mark guessed that was expecting a little too much. Warrior lvl 2 cost 5,000 MP, same as mage and healer lvl 1, so they were all out for the foreseeable future.
There were 3 more goblin options that he could unlock, but the 2 that he was interested in cost 5,000 and 7,000 MP so they would have to wait. The horned goblin option only cost 1,000 but their power level was less than the yellow hobgoblin, so it was not worth it for now. They did have a power level of 0.5. They would make better troops than the green goblin but they also cost 65 MP, so he would not be able to buy as many especially after unlocking them.
Mark was still contemplating, when he saw 10 bobbing figures exit the woods from the far side of the clearing. There was a brief moment of panic, but it quickly went away after checking the Tactical screen. However 2 of the green goblins were dead. “What is it now?” Mark said, moving to intercept them. It was the nasally sounding hobgoblin squad. Nasal himself skidded to a stop in front of Mark.
“Thir, we faught sum nolls. I loss sum lil bits, butt we gave em a beatin an, so de run oft,” The hobgolin said, flashing the familiar toothy grin.
“So did you kill any?” Mark asked.
“Uh… wel no… de scurred. Run oft, fore we get dere.” Mark sighed. They had probably fled since they were outnumbered, but not before killing two of the goblins. Unless the goblins had fallen in a ravine or something. Who could tell
“How many of them were there?” Mark asked. The hobgoblin started looking at his fingers to try and determine. “Nevermind.” If they ran away from the goblins it was likely a small party. They had likely dropped two goblins from range. “How far were you from here when you ran into them?”
“Happ’n juss on dat hill o’er dere,” the hobgoblin pointed to a hill to the Northeast. It was the same quadrant the scouting party had disappeared on day 2.
The hill was higher in elevation than the clearing, and there were several bare patches that would allow them to have an unobstructed view of the clearing from there. Regardless, whether they had seen their camp, fighting with goblins might be enough to make them scout more. It would only be a matter of time before a force could come to attack.
Amelia had already noticed and joined Mark as he made his way over to the gnomes. The gnome village was east of their camp, so was south of the gnolls. They might not help, but they would know something. “What are we going to do?” she asked, falling into step beside him.
“I don’t think we have much of an option. Assuming, I did not mishear we are dealing with gnolls.”
Amelia nodded. The gnoll branch had been an option for them to unlock since day 1. They were hyena human hybrids with stats likely equal to or greater than an average human. Their character description went along the lines of highly volatile and highly aggressive to those they deemed weaker than them. Which in this case, their dungeon was. Regardless, the highly volatile part did not lead Mark to think that they could ever be good neighbors like the gnomes.
First Mark needed as much information as they could get. “I’rick! What can you tell me about the gnolls to the north of you guys.”
The gnome had been bent over the trunk of a tree removing branches with a saw. He stood up and rubbed his chin for a good moment before talking. “A down right nasty bunch. Luckily, it's been a good while since, we last scuttle with em.”
“Can you tell me anything else? How many of them are there? Or where their campsite is?” Mark interrupted.
“Well,” the gnome scratched the top of his head. Which was bald like most of the other gnomes. “I’d reckon there would be about 70 or 80 in the camp to the north of us.” he indicated a general direction.
“I don’t suppose there's a chance I would be able to get your guy’s chief to agree to help us with them?” Mark posed.
“Less than likely,” I’Rick stated soundly. “We’ve got to the point where those bugger’s mostly leave us alone. Doesn’t matter if we wiped them out. There are always more of em. We help you and all of a sudden they are back to raiding us. Trick is you got to make them respect you,” I’Rick said going back to his work.
Mark nodded before ambling off with his thoughts. It sounded like the gnomes would be less than willing to help, and he was slightly hesitant to approach the gnome leader anyways since he no longer had the ability to give them bath scrub. It was better to not open another can of worms.
“So are we going to attack them?” Amelia queried.
“We will have to do the math to see if we could even stand a chance. We would need at least double their number, but I would like triple if we could manage it. I think regardless we will have to bottom out our MP soon to even contend. It's just a shame, because we don’t have crafting yet.”
The hobgoblins don’t have the standing or clout to appoint higher than sergeant, so right Mark was limiting them to squads. Mark did the math, to form up 12 more squads. He would just need 131 green goblins considering the 3 spares, and he figured out he could build 7 yellow hobgoblins. He could take 5 from the core guard and replenish their number by this evening. That would give them a force of 168 goblins to send against the gnolls. It might not do the trick, but it would at the very least weaken them enough to prevent them from performing a counter attack.
By this time tomorrow they could send another force of 10 or 11 squads, and do the same the day after. As many as it would take. He could build as many goblins as they wanted provided enough time had passed. It was better to attack away from their base because in a defeat at home the gnolls would take their time to mend their wounds and reinforce their camp. If Mark built the troops and played defensive, if victorious, the gnolls would wipe them out. No, Mark’s idea was to wipe them out with the goblin wave technique. Although watching their bobbing and disorderly march into the woods, Mark was wondering just how many waves it would take.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Fourteen squads departed the village before 1100. According to the estimated location, it would take 4 or 5 hours for them to reach it. Mark had instructed them to rest prior to the attack and and then to attack from 2 sides. He figured 2 commands should be simple enough. Mainly he wanted them to at least rest for a bit prior to combat to ensure they were not exhausted during the attack, but he would see what they would do. Amelia and Mark were sitting in chairs well away from the dungeon core. A large viewing screen hung over the orb.
It was well into the afternoon, when the goblins reached the gnoll encampment. It was not much, just a bunch of tents made of hide. There was an earthen bulwark encircling a camp. It was not high, just 3 feet, but it would still be effective since the green goblins were only a half foot taller. The hobgoblins are only a foot taller than that.
Unsurprisingly, the goblins had ignored Mark’s order to rest. In their excitement upon seeing the encampment they immediately started their approach. It was not like the gnolls would be surprised. Even from a distance, Mark could see them preparing as best they could. Fifteen minutes later a green tide surged across the 500 foot open field surrounding the encampment. In true goblin fashion the hobgoblins led from the back, hollering for the ‘lil bits’ to ‘go fasser.’
Now that they were close enough Amelia found that she could move and adjust the point of view all the way up to the boundary of the encampment.. It was not like it would provide any advantage since they could not inform their troops. It did allow Mark to make out the gnolls' weaponry. Stone tipped arrows and spears lined the wall. Amelia scrolled back up to a top view after one of the gnolls gave a preparatory command. The goblins had crossed half of the distance and into firing range.
They watched the first volley fly in a high arc, little black shafts slowly reached their peak and then started back down. The goblins shrieked in dismay when the arrows fell. However it was not like they were packed in next to each other. There was a lot of empty space for arrows. It looked like only two unlucky goblins were left behind as the mass surged forward.
The next volley was straight at the goblins who had closed the distance. Still only a half dozen more goblins went down. Then the goblins smashed into the embankment. Now the battle truly began, but Mark could immediately see the battle was not going anywhere. The goblins had a hard time getting over the embankment. Any who did were immediately killed, which actually caused the goblins to stop trying. They did still try to attack with their clubs, but reaching over the embankment they had no power and the gnolls were able to avoid.
Still Mark could not say that the goblins were not easily dissuaded. A good handful retreated from the wall and started using their slings. There was some effect. There were several hits, but without a critical blow the slings were really more of an annoyance. Eventually some of the gnolls took back to shooting arrows and the slingers instantly shrank forward back toward the wall. The goblins more than outnumbered the gnolls 2 to 1, but they were bunched up so the gnolls were able to keep them from crossing.
The gnolls however were not just holding the wall, they were carefully skewering any goblin unable to get out of the way intime. Ten minutes of this had passed, and surprisingly there were still plenty of goblins. Mark at least could commend their self preservation skills. Their small wiry bodies were already hard to hit from behind the wall for the gnolls, but the goblins were also dancing away from thrusts. Still Mark could make out a good 30 bodies. It would only be a matter of time.
That was when Amelia noted something and zoomed the screen out further. The figures became indiscernible, but that was when Mark noticed what looked like 2 squads worth of goblins slamming into the encampment from behind. “When did those squads break off,” Amelia queried.
Mark shrugged he had no clue. Their link was attached to one of the goblin squads on the frontal assault and there were so many goblins anyways he hadn’t noticed. It looked like there were only 3 gnolls defending the opposite side. All the rest had been drawn to the frontal assault. If they had attacked from another side or earlier the gnolls would have probably still had presence of mind to notice and would have reinforced in time, but now they were so absorbed in what was basically shooting fish in a barrel. They were making high pitch yelps as they enjoyed thrusting their weapons at the diminutive figures. They failed to notice, despite the noise from the short battle that occurred on the other side of the camp.
For once the goblins had done something right, not that Mark believed it was entirely intentional. It had taken them this long to go around the encampment. Still they had somehow gone unnoticed during the encirclement so he would give them the win.
The 3 gnolls fell quickly. They had killed an equal amount of green goblins but fell to the swarm. Now if the goblins would attack from behind the battle would surely get interesting, but of course that was a bit too much to expect from them.
“Oh on!” Amelia exclaimed. “They’re attacking the non-combatants.” Amelia looked to Mark horrified. Instead of attacking the enemy force from behind the 2 goblin squads were ‘whooping’ in and out of tents. Screams were cut silent from within.
Mark gave her an apologetic shrug. There was nothing they could do. Internally, Mark was stewing about the goblins. The gnolls were going to be really pissed off now, and would likely perform a counterattack immediately after winning, so much for the goblin wave theory. Mark would have to steal from their DP reserves in order to stop them, hopefully that would be enough.
The gnolls at the front of the encampment noticed the onslaught happening from within and over half the force surged backwards barking ferociously. Those 2 goblin squads were done. However, their absence left just about 25 gnolls to contend with the goblin horde at their doorstep, and just on cue the green shapes swapped from darting away to angrily scrambling over the side of the embankment.
A dozen were killed within seconds but several dozen more had made it within. Mark noticed 12 yellow larger shapes approaching the embankment. The hobgoblins were making their move. By the time the hobgoblins were over the embankment the 25 gnolls were fighting at least 2 goblins a piece quite ferociously. The goblins were more of nuisances dancing in and out of range. If Mark did not know better he would have thought it was all some clever tactic. The hobgoblins were slipping in and attacking the gnolls who were holding their own 2 to 1.
It started slowly. Gnolls started falling. The hobgoblins dealing the finishing blows. When the gnoll focused on the hobgoblins forcing them back, the green goblins moved in, punishing their legs and back with their clubs. “They’re all such opportunists!” Mark exclaimed incredulously.
The 25 gnolls were decimated with only a scant 1 or 2 able to last long enough for the gnolls who had returned to their camp to realize the danger. They had been in a frenzy while finishing off the 2 squads that had killed the women and children. Not only were there now 75 goblins standing uncontested at the front of their encampment. Well over half now were brandishing better weapons and more were finding some every minute. Not only had they picked them up from the fallen, but the gnolls had also stashed a good deal of spear weapons behind their battle line to use if their weapons broke or were lost.
There was a brief pause as the gnolls awoke from their stupor. They then glared for several seconds before throwing themselves headlong at the goblins, their frenzied state returning. There was no retreat or willingness to give quarter. Soon either only the goblins or the gnolls would remain. The odds were better than they were before. There were about 75 goblins left compared to 30 gnolls.
The first thing Mark noticed was that the hobgoblins dispersed themselves back into the green goblin ranks. Most of the gnolls had zeroed in on them since they were the biggest target to take out their fury on. This resulted in the gnoll force slamming hard into the goblin center. Well slamming was not quite right, since the goblins fled under certain death. The gnolls were quickly dispersed again chasing after their own marks.
It quickly became clear that If the gnolls had stayed together they would have certainly won. However it quickly turned into 3 or 4 goblins attacking 1 gnoll. While the other gnolls were chasing down solitary goblins. The gnolls started to drop. The solitary goblins were soon caught and were hacked to bits. The gnolls dealt 5 or 6 times as many blows to the goblins then required to kill them.
There was a clear point where Mark realized they would win. There were nearly 50 goblins left and the gnolls had maybe 15 and they were all scattered and tired. They had expended extra energy throughout the battle hacking at dead bodies or chasing after lone goblins. The lone goblins were eventually caught and killed, but they had made the gnolls work for it by sprinting around the camp. However, the 15 did not retreat. They fought till the end, killing half the goblins with their savagery.
The battle was won, but neither Mark or Amelia cheered despite the cheering core guard. It was a bit sickening for them both. Although the only part that really affected Mark was that he had known some of the participants in the battle despite not really liking them. If he had not it would have just been like watching the movie.
Mark steadied Amelia as he watched the goblins on screen cheer. Luckily, there were even a couple of hobgoblins among them. Most of them had been singled out by the gnolls, so 2 surviving was a welcome surprise. Then Mark noticed a green shape come from off screen, so he took charge of the video and zoomed out. Sure enough just behind that lone green goblin, 4… no 5 others stood back up and then rushed into the camp.
Mark laughed and rolled his eyes. Apparently, 6 of the green goblins had resorted to playing possum when things were getting rough. They really had no shame. They were joining in the cheering with those that had actually fought. The cheering only lasted so long before the goblins started scouring the camp for goods. Mark had not given them any direction about loot, but it looked like he would not need to. They would take everything they could carry. The gnoll bodies were no exception. There were about 35 goblins left and they would all have armor after today.
After 5 minutes they had apparently all amassed their personal take and started working together. Soon tents were coming down and used as containers for more goods to be shoveled in. They were not going to leave a single thing that was useful. Mark would not have to send another force to scavenge, provided they were able to carry it all.
“Come on, let's look at the notifications,” Mark said finally, pulling Amelia away. They did not need to watch the goblins strip the camp bare. They retreated to the hut. It was dark inside with the sun already hanging low on the horizon, so Mark turned on the electric lamp. They sat on Amelia’s cot and Mark pulled up the notices for both of them to see
[Congratulations your forces have successfully won their first battle. Through their experience and use of crafted weapons your dungeon has learned the crafting tech.]
Great, Mark thought. He had wasted all the RP to learn crafting, and all he had to do was secure a good amount of them for his troops. Although Mark was certain it would not have worked if he had tried that. Still he would not be angry about not having to spend another 4 days or MP to finish out the skill.
[Notice: You will receive a portion in MP of all enemies defeated outside your territory provided you win the battle. You have received 858 MP.]
It was not much. It would not even come close to replacing the MP he had expended to perform the battle, but it was nice to get some of it back. All in all it was a successful day.