Reis woke up groggy, his hazy recollection slowly solidifying into proper memory within his mind. He’d been exploring the wildlands near his farm, looking for plants worth cultivating when he was attacked by a predator. The beast had a wild look in its eyes, and looked much like a common wolf, but this creature was much larger, and had the bearing of a magic beast. He’d tried to run, but stood no chance of escaping from such an incredibly fast animal.
He realized quickly that to flee was death, but he was no great warrior, and the creature felled him quickly, with one scratch from its powerful paws. He had fallen unconscious shortly after from the blood loss.
He noticed quickly that he wasn’t lying on the floor of the forest any longer, but instead on a bed made of some sort of thatching, and in a building of some type, one that didn’t seem all that sturdy.
Enough to keep the rain off, I suppose. He thought.
He heard a voice in an unfamiliar language from his other side, and turned to look at who must be the one who rescued him..
He flinched at the sight of a massive Hobgoblin, who chuckled at his reaction, smiling to reveal its sharp, jagged teeth, red eyes crinkling as he did. The hob reached out with a wooden cup, making to hand it to Reis.
“Water,” the Hob had a strange accent, and it didn’t sound like they had a strong command of the common tongue, but the words were still intelligible.
After a second Reis slowly took the cup, and then a drink. A sip at first, before his thirst won over his wariness, and he quickly downed the rest.
“Thank you,” Reis paused a moment before he continued. “You saved me?” The Hobgoblin just shrugged,
“Not from animal. hunters saw you hunted, decided to save. I’m healer, stopped you from dying,”
“Must be some hunters, to down such a large beast in time to stop it from being my end,” Reis laughed. The Hobgoblin shrugged as reply once more, then turned and spoke in his native tongue to a few Goblin children who were loitering in the shack with them. They immediately began scampering around, one straight out the door, as the others began collecting, cutting, and grinding things. He turned back to Reis and spoke again in the common tongue.
“They know the forest and its creatures well. We have had tribe here very long. I think that is why they decided to save,” Reis’ brow furrowed, confused.
“I’m sorry, I don’t believe I follow your meaning,” The Hob nodded before speaking.
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“They know the animals and their habits well. Those in this forest, and those beyond. Before, humans were not one of them,” The realization struck Reis at once, and he began to grow nervous. “Calm, human. If they meant to kill they would not have brought you here to heal, but to the shaman to wake up long enough to question,” Reis relaxed a little, but was still on edge. He made to speak again, but before he got a word out the door opened loudly. Two Hobgoblins and a Goblin walked in. Of the Hobs, one seemed self important, nose to the sky and wearing polished metal armor that shone as the light hit it, the other donned much more rugged armor, pieces of metal that looked to be little better than pig iron, strung together with strips of leather.
They stopped a few feet away from him, and the rougher looking of the two Hobs started speaking in his native tongue, looking directly at Reis. When he stopped talking he stood expectant for a couple of seconds, and then sighed. He smacked the Hob in shining armor that stood next to him on the back of his head, and he immediately snapped to focus and started speaking fluently in the common tongue, grimace as he spoke.
“Greetings human. We are not here to harm you. We need to discuss a few pressing matters with you, and would greatly appreciate your cooperation,” Reis was surprised at the Goblin’s command of the language, but nodded his head in agreement regardless. The Goblin who spoke to begin with let out an amused huff and continued to speak, and once again the other Goblin translated his words.
“We need to know if humans have begun to settle in the area.” Reis hesitated a moment before he replied.
“There is a town a dozen or so miles from the treeline. It’s small, but they’re getting a lot of immigrants. From what I hear they’ve found some sort of dungeon or something over there. A lot of adventurer types. A group of martials is moving in to delve it from what I hear”
When the translator finished speaking the other two Goblins groaned, and the one Reis had decided was the leader spoke again, this time without the translator,”
“Are you adventurer?” The other Goblins tensed at the question, and the small one’s hand moved to the handle of his knife.
“No, no! I’m just a farmer,” Reis raised his hand in supplication, but it only seemed to make the others tense more. The leader nodded, and the others relaxed immediately. The little Goblin said something, and the armored Hob unhappily translated his words.
“How established are the martials?”
“I’m not sure, but not very I would guess. Nobody with enough influence to refuse would be likely to accept a posting so far out from civilization, and I haven’t heard any of the craftsmen talking about using magical beasts in their works, and killing the monsters and getting proper equipment would be the first thing anybody who wanted to go down would do,” The leader and small Goblin both nodded at the words. They spoke between themselves in their own language for a moment, before turning to leave. The leader stopped halfway to the door and turned back to Reis.
“Outside, they eat much. You can stay or go. If you remain until daybreak, warriors will take you to edge of forest,” And just as quickly as they came the group had gone, the healer and children following behind them.
Reis took two shaky steps before he finally found his footing, and walked more steadily to the door, opening it to take his first look at what lays beyond.