Adil was impatiently tapping his fingers as yet more people piled into the war-room. A connection appeared to be established with the drone that hung in front of him.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"Everything is ready," he heard. A goblin on the other side was waiting in what seemed like a dark cave, only vaguely illuminated by the silver reflection of drones and the odd ambient glow of magical symbols. He turned to see an unconscious enemy scout being dragged off by one of the remaining, larger silvery drones.

"Are you sure?" Adil pressed.

"Yes," the goblin insisted. He looked towards a makeshift cage, out of the darkness a beast slammed against its side.

"And we all really hope this guerilla warfare you were talking about is as good as you said. They proved... Difficult to capture."

Adil facepalmed, he had not the time to explain. He closed the call over the silvery drone.

"Time to go," Adil announced, motioning to everyone else in the room as they got their things and moved out. Only Urakle staying behind.

Before he left he motioned back to Urakle.

"Get Steve out of there. He has done enough."

Urakle looked towards the guild leader and nodded affirmatively. Each guild member present silently followed and walked with him out of the room.

Down in the jungle, Steve had been brought to the healers. An amateur mage in gold-trimmed monk robes was standing by. The high elf woman was watching silently over them.

As the mage healed a bit of the wound, it began to turn slightly red. The dark-robed mage could clearly see the mage has enhanced the infection as well as Steve's healing, it was amateur work, but she did not expect much better from the humans.

"I'm sorry, I dont have much experience."

"Enough of this." the dark-robed mage said, bringing out a small crystal and channelling a portion of her power through it. She healed Steve's wound in a fraction of a second before the tiny gem crumbled into glistening light. Able to move his hand, he winds his arm around. 

"You really didn't have to," Steve said, looking down at the dark-robed mage's feet.

She blushed slightly. "You risked more for me than that small gem was worth."

As they turned to leave they saw how the eyepatched major was standing behind them, ready to give what seemed like bad news.

"The scouts have not been reporting back, cardinal Jacobs wishes for some advice on how to proceed."

"with caution, clearly." She replied.

The major looked as though he wanted more, but was unsure what to say.

"If the scouts cant watch out for each other, then what good are they. Have them stay closer to the army so at least then we will know how they died."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

For Adil, the plan was now ready. He stood next to sixty-four battle-ready units. Anyone that could hold a sword whilst the others, mostly almost newborn goblin children hung back in the cave. 

The crusaders drew deeper into the forest, scouts close by, and the army separated into small battalions of men. Within one of these battalions, a soldier reached down to the ground. The soldier stopped next to a bush to inspect a faint glow he saw through the foliage. 

Moving some of the leaves, vines, and mossy twigs to see what is below, he caught his eye on a runic symbol etched into a stone plate. The others took notice and began peering over, removing the occasional tuft of dirt only to find another runic symbol. Quickly they began to notice how their battalion was in a small field of these strange symbols.

The robed woman had burst forward and shouted at the soldiers “Get away from there!”

The crusaders had little time to do anything before the sound of a short creeping fizz broke the silence. In just a small moment a concussive force erupted from the ground the army stood, and the bodies of the crusading soldiers launched towards the sky. 

There is a silent pause as the bodies and corpses rained down from the sky, many of them not surviving the fall whilst others cried out in pain. A bloody and smokey mist slowly revealed what appeared to be a mishmash group of goblins and human soldiers standing where the concussive blast came from. A small army wearing makeshift armour and weapons that somehow glowed as if given magical properties.

Swift shouted from within the crowd "Hold!" Leading each unit to take a defensive posture, ready and silent.

The high elf grabbed the itherax and started channelling some sort of spell, she focused it until it was glowing and then suddenly shot a cone of light in the direction of the enemy combatants.

The attack appeared to cover the area she aimed but bounced off an ethereal barrier as though the soldiers each held their own mana shield. Instead, the diffused magic hit the surrounding area, infecting the trees with self-combustion. The smouldering forest surrounded the hoard of goblins as they stared forward waiting.

Swift appeared again, in the midst of the small army, suddenly his cape sparked into life as if made of fire as he let out the call:

“CHAAAAARGE!” He shouted, and the cheering of soldiers erupted into the night sky.

Every goblin and man was charging with the ferocity of a warrior without fear of death. Protected from magic and wielding weapons made though a makeshift arcana forge. Frightening the approaching hoard with their new magical abilities.

Some of the crusaders had already panicked, but all stood their ground, they were a well-trained army used to expeditions into the dark lands. The first line held out for a while, their shields against the onslaught of the attack but the goblins soon broke through. 

The cave's army was still outmatched, but for every goblin that was taken down, they would disable another, focusing on wounding rather than a kill to take them out of commission along with those that took care of them.

The fight was fast-paced and aggressive, each goblin taken down by an arrow was remorselessly tossed to the side by his allies before another dove in. What was the knowledge they would resurrect came across as fearlessness without empathy. 

Adil drifted over the battlefield, raised above the ground as if carried by the wind. He passed a man entering into the fight wearing robes similar tot he cardinal of frost and a streak of fear ran down his spine.

Sand started cascading across the field as the heat of the jungle started to bear down as the man approached. 

"Start phase two," he quickly said into a drone that soon disappeared.

The unit's now teleported in haphazardly from different locations. Urakle would be coordinating launch points for goblins to press it not the teleporters, surprising an enemy with a concussive force and a stab through the chest. In the distance, a large concussive force seemed to happen before unit visibly flew to the sky. A chilling roar soon followed and the sound of beating as if from a giant gorilla.

Adil stood to face the priest. He subtly created a sword of the purest glass in the form of a jagged shard stretched out from his hand. A goblin opportunistically tried to strike from above. Without any visible exertion of the monk's will, the goblin was pierced through the neck with a long shard of glass and went limp. Then the goblin and his weapon seemed to evaporate into tendrils of golden light.

*At least Morganna's soul-bound research worked.* Adil sighed.