The goblin’s eyes opened in surprised recognition. The goblins legs gave out from under him, causing the soldier behind him to walk straight into him before falling over. When one fell, the others followed like dominos. They were definitely not an elite goblin attack force. The tall goblin she recognised scrambled to his feet, looked at the lead goblin and started the march again. The other fallen goblins had far more trouble standing up.

The lead goblin held in hand up with a fist, Jennifer guessed this was a signal to stop the goblins.

Jennifer put one hand on her face, while using the other to point behind the lead goblin, at the pile of green skinned warriors who were on the ground. While her palm was still covering her eyes. She noticed the spider was twitching a lot. She guessed he was nervous about meeting the goblins. Rover was using one of his natural legs to rub his new metal one. Taking her hand down, she looked at the goblins.

A cloud of dust surrounded the tangled goblins as they fought amongst themselves with fists flying at one another. The lead goblin yelled at the others only to have another goblin throw a punch at him. The goblin she recognised smartly moved away from the brawl. He was sidestepping his way towards her party.

Kevin edged forward to meet the goblin, but Jennifer decided to greet the goblin first. There was no sense in risking a misunderstanding. Woozle was right beside Jennifer the whole time, staying silent while the known goblin approached the group.

She did not know what to do next

The hesitation was all the goblin, she wanted to act first. The smaller one reached out a hand in front of him and made a petting motion. “Soary,” he said with a toothy grin.

After blinking a few times, Woozle was unable to keep in his giggles. Her smile had gone from a smile of greeting to one that was barely holding in a laughter.

Towering over the goblin, she knelt down and hoped that by going to one knee she looked less threatening. She pointed at herself and spoke her name then introduced Woozle and Kevin. She picked up the spider from her shoulder. Rover was excitedly moving around, but she frowned slightly. Rover was vibrating like a car’s engine before a race. “Don’t worry Rover. They will not hurt you. Even if this does go wrong I will protect you.” Looking at the goblin, hoping he would understand, she said, “This is Rover. Do you remember Rover?”

The goblin pointed at himself and said, “Goblin.” He petted the spider. “Soary.”

Jennifer tilted her head and looked at Woozle. “Goblins have names, right?”

Woozle looked back up to reply. “I’ve only been assigned to human players. I knew a familiar who was assigned to a train once. Turns out trains have names. But goblins . . .” he trailed off for a moment. “I think the only named goblins I’ve ever met were big bosses, like dungeon or raid bosses.”

Kevin had circled the goblin and was sniffing him intensely.

There was an itch in her mind that kept repeating itself. Do goblins have names?

The question was persistent in her mind. It was important, but she could not remember why.

The goblin did the same to the wolf, sniffing him all over.

Thinking fast for other ways to communicate, she pointed at herself and said, “Human,” and pointed at the goblin and said, “Goblin.”

Pausing in his sniffing of Kevin, the goblin nodded vigorously at Jennifer.

Speaking to herself, Jennifer mumbled aloud, “Ideas can either be good or bad. Sometimes you will not know which is which until you act upon them.” A Cheshire smile made its way onto Jennifer's face as an idea grew in her mind.

She needed to show the goblins what she wanted. Rather than wondering if this was a bad idea or not, she picked up the goblin, turned to Kevin, and said, “Up.” Kevin was on all fours with his head leaning to one side looking at Jennifer. Before either the goblin or Kevin could protest, she put the goblin on Kevin’s back. “Ride.”

To the goblin’s credit, he reached right for the welded ring on Kevin’s armor, which was in the same place a riding horn would be and did not pull on Kevin's fur. She pointed at the goblin, “Rider.” She made sure to say the word loudly, clearly, and with a firmness in her voice.

The goblin looked down at the wolf’s head, which was almost as large as the goblin, then back at Jennifer. Kevin’s eyes were wide staring at the goblin on his back. The goblin hopped off the wolf's back, shook his head, and waved at Jennifer to follow.

She had been worried that the wolf or goblin would freak out, but them rejecting the idea so plainly had not occurred to her. She wished the wolf and the goblin would have been an instant pair, but her leaf-coloured friend led her around the still fighting goblins and the pile of dust they kicked up.

Kevin and Woozle followed the goblin, leaving Jennifer in the back of the line with Rover on her shoulder. The spider was no longer moving or vibrating. Jennifer assumed Rover was just as shocked as she was at the turn to follow the goblin. She hurried to keep up, not wanting to get separated.

The group followed the goblin who led them through the camp. Jennifer could see As they walked by, goblin heads poked around corners and through tent flaps. She could not tell if the goblins had recovered from their initial panic or not. She was not attacking them and was even being escorted through the encampment by one of their own. She hoped it was a good sign.

The goblin led the group up to a tent. While not the tallest or biggest, it was on the larger side. It had more of a round, barn-shaped top. Three exposed rings of black poles were used to form the shape of the tent. The rings were held in place by a series of connection points. The tent had an arch way with an extended opening, where a goblin sat in a rocking chair beside an open case holding a violin.

The goblin had a striking appearance. His gray mohawk and well-groomed, thick, gray beard would have been enough to stand out since most goblins in the camp had black hair, if any at all. He also wore a black leather jacket that sported metal spikes. The elderly goblin did not stop rocking in his chair, the goblin’s eyes narrowed as the group approached.

Her goblin friend stopped a few paces before the gray-haired goblin and spoke loudly. She assumed the younger goblin spoke clearly and loudly due to the older goblin’s age.

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She looked around as more and more goblins came out from their hiding places to see what was happening. Jennifer made a waving gesture, her palm out adding more wiggling fingers than moving her full hand. A few of the goblins even waved back. Wanting to make sure her friend was not aggravated, she Looked at Kevin. She could tell he was interested in the goings on. He was sitting on his haunches, ears and face focused on the gray-haired goblin.

Jennifer had no idea what the goblins were saying. She would not be able to make many of the sounds they made. They had mouths, but Their language was so different and seemed to involve a lot of spit as they spoke.

The gray goblin did not raise his voice and spoke to the goblin that led them here. The aged goblin looked down and shook his head often.

It occurred to Jennifer that her goblin friend may have been speaking loudly to draw the attention of the other goblins because more were showing up with each passing exchange of words.

The older goblin looked around the group then inspected Kevin. He shook his head once more.

As a crowd formed around Jennifer's party, a goblin pulling a street food wagon also showed up. Jennifer waved beckoning at the food merchant who smiled and threw food her way. Paper wrapped bread smelled delicious, biting into it she found sautéed meat inside the crispy bread.

Either the fact she was still recovering from mending the spider, that she was starving, or the bun was just just that tasty. She decided to get more later.

Without warning, another small goblin with short, chopped black hair ran past Kevin yelling, with anger in her eyes aimed at the gray hair goblin. As more goblins shouted at him, the gray-haired goblin glared at the crowd. The goblin spoke a word in the guttural tongue of his people, and the crowd instantly went quiet. The goblin stood up and reached for the violin. As the old goblin did this, Jennifer looked around at the crowd searching for the possible meaning of this. Gasps and quiet muttering came from the crowd of goblins.

The goblin touched the violin case then looked at Kevin. The goblin said another word Jennifer could not understand but understood the meaning as Kevin stood and walked up to him. Not knowing what to do Jennifer watched as the goblin had said come, or a similar command, and Kevin understood it.

Taking a musician’s grip on the violin, the gray-haired goblin’s skin faded, revealing his skull but leaving the beard and mohawk. No skin, no muscles, just bone and hair. Grains of sand swirled around the bone goblin and began to flow across him, covering his skin. Where his eyes should have been sat two purple-blue cut gems. As the goblin began to play his beard went from well-groomed to moving wildly under its own power.

Jennifer looked down at her hand being reminded of the wires inside. Those too could move under their own power.

The goblin that led the group here moments ago went from standing proud between Kevin and the sand goblin to cowering behind the wolf. The Great Green Forest Wolf stepped towards the sand-covered goblin, head held high, ears facing forward. He let out a short loud bark. Then took another step forward.

As Kevin moved closer to the sandstorm, that was once just an old goblin, his fur transformed from greenish gray to snow white, the color of snow that forms on a cloudless day in the coldest of winter.

A shiver at the memory of the cold went through Jennifer as she looked at Kevin. His paws and muzzle turned black, as if they had been in the cold for far too long. Where the goblin was heat and sand, Kevin was cold and snowy.

The goblin stopped playing and used his bow to point towards a thick old tree. Kevin turned to face the tree and made it as if to bark. But no bark came out. Instead, the howl of a blizzard wind and the snow and ice of a winter storm burst forth. A short blast of the frigid north hit the tree and cut it cleaner than any axe could.

The sandstorm goblin held the violin in his left hand, as the right hand moved slowly with the bow. The mellow tune coming from the violin became a single note, as both transformed beings returned to normal. Jennifer could see that Kevin was tired and painting from the short transformation. According to the team’s menu, Kevin was out of stamina and mana.

The gray-haired goblin looked at Kevin and nodded. He shouted something at the crowd. Half the village seemed to form a line, most came running from behind the tent.

Jennifer moved up to check on her wolf party member. Although his stamina, and mana were both recovering, he looked a bit wobbly on his feet. Jennifer checked his paws first, as the gray-haired goblin walked up and down the line of goblins. She found no damage on her friend and then scratched him behind the ears before he lay down.

Jennifer thought briefly about crafting potions for Kevin, but her stamina was low, and her mana was only slowly recovering. She was in no shape to be crafting.

She had not realized it, but the goblin leader had walked up and was now standing beside her. Kevin stood up and eyes narrowed at the gray-haired goblin. He took a step between Jennifer and the encroaching green one. He put a hand in front of him with the palm out. Kevin did not move anymore but remained on guard.

Jennifer had no idea why the goblin was looking at her with such intense eyes, the gaze caused her to wrap their arms around themselves and sway slightly where they were standing. He pointed at Jennifer’s hand which she very reluctantly moved towards him. The goblin took Jennifer’s hand in his and traced the lines of her palm.

Kevin let out a warning growl.

She was unsure why the older goblin was fixated on her hand or why Kevin was so nervous about it. Both behaviors added to her apprehension. She did not want to be transformed if that was why he was interacting with her.

The goblin paid Kevin no mind, but the line of green people behind him began to thin. When the goblin let go of Jennifer’s hand, she sighed with relief and Kevin stopped growling. The gray-haired one put his index finger up to the point of his thumb and made a motion towards his face.

She assumed the goblin was asking if she was hungry, so she smiled and nodded, rubbing her stomach in a circular motion. Jennifer had either answered that she was hungry or pregnant. Either way, the goblin turned and yelled something. The line quickly scattered only to be replaced moments later with goblins bringing her food. One way or another, Jennifer was not going to be hungry.

The first goblins to return brought simple things like fruits and vegetables. She ate the food as it came in. The next wave brought sandwiches, followed by cooked meals. Most brought Jennifer food, then got back into line. She was only able to finish the food from the first five goblins, Jennifer’s stamina was as full as it could get. Her health and mana were also full. She decided to store the food that would not go bad in her inventory and just nibble the rest. Sitting cross-legged, she watched the scene before her.

The gray-haired goblin brought other goblins up to Kevin. Kevin would smell the goblin, circle the goblin, and either shake his head or nod.

Jennifer had no idea what factors played into Kevin’s decisions. Those who received a nod, moved into another queue. While those who got the shake either left or sat near Jennifer and waited.

As the second line continued to fill, the elder goblin had a quiver filled with arrows delivered to him.

Jennifer imagined they were for some kind of archery contest. She pictured a goblin riding on the back of a wolf shooting arrows.

The gray-haired goblin led the second line of goblins to a tree near the one that had fallen to the blizzard breath. He took an arrow out of the quiver, put the arrowhead against his throat, and leaned toward the tree, resting the butt of the arrow against the bark. Dropping his hand, the only thing holding the arrow in place was the weight of his neck.

Time slowed. Jennifer’s voice caught in her throat as she instinctively crafted a potion and started to rush to his aid of a goblin who just stepped into an arrow. She was trying to make sense of why a goblin would do this to himself when his neck would be cut.