Facedown in soil, Rowan woke up. He scrambled to stand up, spitting dirt out of his mouth and dusting himself off. He blinked, trying to adjust to the bright light of the sun. He found himself in the middle of a square lot of tan soil. Looking around he caught the eye of the goblin who knocked him out.

“Better get to farming. Seeds are over here,” Zilla set a cloth bag on a little wooden bench and headed out.

Rowan called out to stop her, “That’s it?” He was surprised to be left to his own devices. He wasn’t sure how to start.

“Don’t worry. This isn’t the last you’ve seen of me. Unless the kobolds get you first,” and with that, she got on her horse and rode off.

So Rowan had a plot of land assigned to him by the baron. The man was ready to prove himself. If he could show results with this land, maybe the goblin would let him expand the farm.

Unfortunately, all of Rowan's supplies had been lost in the attack. Now all he had was whatever the goblins provided him. He walked over to the wooden bench, upon which was placed a wooden hoe and a single bag of seeds. He checked the bag. "Guess I'm planting corn." He set to work.

Exactly how the goblins could expect him to grow crops in the time frame given was beyond Rowan. He picked up his wooden hoe and began plowing the land, but his imminent demise loomed at the back of his mind. Farming could be a repetitive, tedious activity, but it was supposed to be relaxing. You do the same actions over and over with diligence, and slowly you yield results. It’s a much harder process if the punishment for failing is death. But he had no choice but to continue preparing the land.

Rowan started with one small square of land, because he wanted to get planting as soon as possible. He shaped the soil right and set the hoe down. He planted some corn seeds in the square of land. He was going to test if the rumors were true. Normally this corn plant would take months to grow. But in goblin soil, who knew.

"Now I just have to wait," he said to himself. But he wanted to make the best use of his time while he waited. He looked over the tan earth before him, just waiting to be plowed. The sun was already too high in the sky for his taste. Better get to it.

He plowed another row of soil for the corn, and planted some seeds. He was about to plow another row when his hoe broke.

Rowan gasped as the tool snapped under his weight. He hadn't even pushed it too hard. It was just a shoddy tool. What was he going to do? He took the time to plant as much as he could while trying to think of a solution.

Once he planted as many corn seeds as he could fit in the tilled land, he stepped outside the plot of farmland and looked around for a better view of the environment he had been thrust into. There were lush green and yellow trees. The land surrounding the farm was patched with grass and moss. He was in the middle of a temperate forest with just a small space carved out for planting.

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There were no goblins in sight. Besides plant life, he saw no living thing, even though you’d expect to see the occasional animal or bird. It was too quiet.

He walked around the border of his plot, which was just out in the open without a fence. From one corner, he could see a wooden structure that was hidden behind a couple trees. He walked over to find a small wooden shed. Inside the shed he found a small wooden sword and a wooden ax.

Rowan heard rustling in the nearby wilderness and clutched his newfound sword close. The weapon was shoddy, but it was better than nothing. Rowan wasn’t a fighter. If those monsters came after him again, he’d have to run. But he was prepared to defend himself against the occasional wild animal. He had no desire to fight, but just holding the sword made him feel a little safer.

As for the ax, well he could collect some wood with the tool. And then he’d be able to use that wood to make more tools, like a better wooden hoe. He gazed out at the forest before him. It would take a long time to knock over one of these trees with a wooden ax. But it wasn't going to happen if he didn't get started.

After picking a tree arbitrarily and striking the trunk a few times, Rowan discovered an unusual phenomenon. This goblin tree didn’t behave the way he expected. Instead of the ax forming a gash in the tree that he could continually widen until the tree was ready to fall, a single strike with the ax shook the tree terribly.

Rowan was surprised at how violently the tree shook. He stepped back for a moment. The tree was still again. He cautiously stepped forward to strike the tree again. When he examined the trunk to find the place he had struck before, he saw that he seemed to make no impact. The trunk was in perfect condition, without scar.

Rowan was confused but struck the tree again. The tree shook again. The limbs waved and the leaves rustled, but no indentation was made on the trunk. Rowan was frustrated. Clearly there was something different about the trees that grow in goblin land. How was he going to knock this tree down?

Madly he swung again and again shaking the tree as much as he could. After a few more hits he heard some thuds of heavy objects hitting the ground. Looking down Rowan found small logs sitting at the foot of the tree. He watched carefully as he swung at the tree again and saw full, medium sized logs fall from the treetop to the ground.

Rowan picked up the wood in confusion. It would take some time to get used to the way things worked here. But he wasn’t going to question it. If he could collect wooden logs by just hitting a tree over and over, that would work.

While he was collecting wood, he heard some shouts in the distance. Did he dare go deeper into the woods? This goblin land was unfamiliar to him. There could be dangerous creatures here. There could be goblins fighting amongst themselves, or any number of monsters. He definitely didn’t want to run into Santorious again.

Listening to the shouting continue, he could identify it as a goblin in some kind of distress. Rowan didn't feel prepared, but someone needed help. He wasn't going to just sit there. He charged deeper into the woods.

He came upon a clearing where he saw a goblin tied up, and two kobold scouts with weapons drawn. One had a small sword, and one had an ax, and quite a bit of armor. When the kobolds saw him, the armored one shouted, "Human scum! Get out of here!"