Bad Intel

Tom helped outside for a while longer before returning to the guild building feeling satisfied that Bobby had everything under control. He learned a lot during his time with the former combat engineer about setting traps and what to look for. Many of the ideas he wanted to implement would be too dangerous to have so close to the walls, but setting up trip wire explosives near some of the other buildings to try to account for the movements of the goblins toward their compound should yield some extra kills.

He also watched as Bobby helped remove a piece of the pavement and dug a hole where sharpened spikes were placed at the bottom. The team drilled a hole through the pavement and placed a pipe inside so that when the piece was put back, it would spin if someone stepped on one side or the other opening up a death hole. Tom was worried about leaving that for when their people left the area, but Bobby showed how a simple latch on each end could be put in place to prevent the pavement from moving when not in use.

So many people had so many unique skills to offer when brought together like this. Tom was sure that if he had been left in charge of traps there would have been simple snares and tiny nets left to trap people.

"Hehe...A tiny net is a death sentence...because they are nets, and they are tiny," Tom said to himself in the voice of the infamous Betty as he remembered the old Steve Oedekerk movie, Kung Pow. "Weoh, weoh, weoh, weoh..."

Tom paused as people began staring at him oddly and he realized he was saying these things too loudly. Continuing on in embarrassment, he walked toward the elevators and was about to press the button to go up when he was stopped by Jay.

"Tom! We got some info. Come to the basement and we can discuss it further." Jay said to him as he looked around to make sure no one was listening in. "It's not much, but we should figure out what to do."

"Show me," Tom said as he immediately turned and started walking to the basement.

Descending the stairs quickly, Tom slowed at the bottom slightly to let Jay take the lead. He moved quickly to a back corner of the large space, where some wooden pallets with sheets thrown over them had been hastily set up to block the area from view. Inside, the goblin that Tom had apprehended was tied to a chair, its head sagging and it was covered in blackish blood and bruises.

"What the hell did you do?" Tom asked.

"What we had to," Sean replied, staring at Tom as though he dared him to question his motives or methods.

Tom stared for a long moment, looking from the goblin to Sean and Jay. Putting his hands on his hips he breathed in and out a few times to regain his mental state.

"Fine, what did you get?" Tom said finally.

"We think they can use the vending machines," Sean said simply.

"He said that?" Tom motioned to the goblin with his hand, still feeling upset with the situation.

"Sort of. They don't know a lot of our words for things, but it described the machines pretty well." Sean said.

"We also found this," Jay said producing a dagger from his inventory.

"A dagger?" Tom asked, not seeing the significance.

"It's made of metal, most of theirs are stone. The ones that are metal are rusted pieces of shit that no one would want. This seems to be nice and new." Jay replied.

Tom took the dagger and looked it over. It didn't even appear to have been used yet. The goblins that they had run into so far would have seen this as a treasure when compared to their typical weapons.

"That doesn't bode well," Tom said handing the dagger back to Jay.

"It could if they figured guns out. But we can hope they stuck with what they know and bought physical weapons instead of projectiles." Jay replied.

"Anything else?" Tom asked.

"We confirmed where they're hiding out and that they are following one goblin in particular. Someone named Krakkarith, but they call him Krak." Jay said.

"And that's our chief?"

"We have to assume so. It's all we could get. Nothing else made any sense or was in goblin speak." Jay replied.

"I don't think any of this changes our current plans, from what I've been told. We just need to make sure when we hit them, we do it hard." Sean added.

"I'll let the others know. What are you going to do with it now?" Tom asked looking at the pitiful sight of the goblin.

"We'll handle that. No need to worry about it." Jay replied giving Tom a firm look.

"I don't want this getting out anywhere. We don't need to spread panic and we don't need people thinking it's okay to just go around doing...this. Hell, I'm not even comfortable with this." Tom added as he turned and left the makeshift interrogation room.

Walking back up to the lobby, Tom paused and ran a hand through his hair. Jerky found him as he was standing there.

"Is everything okay?" Jerky asked.

"Yeah, it'll be fine. Where have you been?" Tom asked.

"I stayed to help Bobby some more. He's nice." Jerky replied.

"Yeah, he's a good friend. Now, I think it’s time for a little training with Bron. I need to get some stress out." Tom said.

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Jerky blanched at the mention of the Mastadonian and training with him.

"Do we have to?" Jerky asked.

"We can't slack off. We need to be ready for the next fight. you never know when it will happen, though I think we know when one is going to happen." Tom replied as he walked outside to the courtyard.

Hours later, Tom was bent over with his hands on his knees panting heavily. Jerky was lying on the ground with his eyes closed as he tried to recover.

"Not bad, but you both need more practice. But we should stop for today. Go clean up so you don't stink and take some time to recover." Bron said to both of them, not seeming winded at all even though he had done the exercises with them.

"You're evil, aren't you?" Jerky asked, still lying on the ground.

"HA! This was nothing, little one. you'll soon see what a true training session looks like though." Bron replied.

"We are going to have to do that in a few days. We have something coming up that we will need you for." Tom said as he stood up and put his hands on top of his head.

"What are we looking at?" Bron asked, suddenly all business.

"Goblins," Tom replied.

"That doesn't sound too bad," Bron said.

"With a war chief," Tom added.

Bron did not reply.

"You okay?" Tom asked.

"Are you sure?" Bron asked.

"About as sure as we can be,"

"Then you do need me. You need to be very careful. War chiefs can greatly increase the abilities of the goblins under their control. How many are there?"

"Maybe a little over five hundred the last time someone counted,"

"When are you planning to do something?"

"Tomorrow, or the day after I believe. We're going to bomb them first then lead them here to have familiar ground to fight on."

"A good strategy to start. Do you have any cavalry?" Bron asked.

"Like, horses? No, but we have the vehicles. Why?" Tom replied.

"Something to counter the Wargs. You'll need every edge you have." Bron replied.

"You sound like we are worse off than the battles we had with other guilds?"

"You are, these are creatures who know how to use the System, not some humans who were given access a few months ago," Bron said firmly. "Never underestimate your opponent, no matter how weak they seem."

"Got it. I'll talk to the others to see if we can make use of them." Tom said as he began to feel better now that his stamina was recovering. "Anything else we should know?"

"Goblin chiefs are far more intelligent than any other goblin you've fought so far. They will have strategy, cunning, and ruthlessness on your side. If you see a chance to end them, do not hesitate." Bron replied.

Tom nodded his head in understanding. He remembered the tactics games he had played before and thought about some of the strategies that had been implemented in fighting the other players. He had never excelled at the games, but he had managed enough victories to be invited back to play with groups online.

"I'll try to use every tactic I can to be ready for them. We did good with the other guilds; we should be able to fend these goblins off." Tom replied.

"I am glad to see you are confident, just don't let it make you reckless," Bron replied.

Tom turned to help Jerky up and the two of them went back inside after Tom dismissed Bron for now. They needed to rest. The battle would be here soon enough, and he wanted to meet with Derek to talk about what he knew.

The next morning, Tom awoke early and got ready. Jerky had to be coaxed into getting up, but after a little breakfast, he seemed to be ready to go. Tom went to the security office and asked TJ to call Brian and Derek. Both arrived a short time later and Tom began to explain what he had learned from the interrogation and Bron.

"And you okayed this little talk they had with a goblin?" Derek asked.

"They would have done the same or worse to us. You feel sorry for those little bastards? Creatures that have been nothing but a thorn in our side since the day this System was implemented?" Tom asked. "And before you ask, no I'm not really okay with it, but what choice did we have? We had an opportunity, and we took it."

"I don't like that either. We're supposed to be the good guys." Brian added.

"There aren't good guys and bad guys, Brian. We are surviving. We don't have the same luxuries we used to have. Let it go and focus on what's next. This war chief is bad news. We need to get the vehicles ready too. Bron was right, they will be a good counter to the Wargs." Tom said leaving no room for questions.

"We have the missiles ready for the jets. They are going to do some serious damage. Herbert wants to try out some of the new ones as well to see how they work. The good news is that even if the enchantments don't work, the explosions will do massive amounts of damage. The bad news is if they don't work, we have to rework them for the invasion." Derek sat down in a chair as he spoke.

"When are we planning on striking?" Tom asked.

"Tonight, so long as everything is ready," Derek said looking at Brian.

"Everyone here will be ready. We have the strike teams on standby and not going out today along with everyone else preparing for back up as well as some new weapons that were brought back from the military base." Brian replied.

"Good. I want to see if we can get the vehicles outside the walls and away from the base so they can be a surprise we can deploy from a flank. Get as many SUVs as you can ready. Bobby should have the traps done as well for their arrival. Then we give them hell from the walls to start." Tom added.

"We won't have the pilots because I don't want bombs going off so close to base, but they can try to harry the enemy where they can. And landing them is going to be a no-go nearby during the battle. We don't need them damaged." Derek said, remembering he had told them to stay back unless called for.

"Sounds like we are just about ready to ruin their night. Let's go check on the last-minute preparations." Tom offered as he moved to leave the room.