Slamming on the brakes, Jay brought the GS2 to a stop as fast as he could. A structure at least four stories tall on wheels was being pushed into the road in their path. It looked to be made of an amalgamation of wood and steel held together with rope, nails, and tree sap. Looming over them, the structure was shaped like a siege tower used to attack the walls of castles but had an array of wooden and metal spikes sticking out of the front of it to stop things from just running them down.

"You just had to talk about how stupid they were, didn't you?" James scolded Jay from the back seat.

Goblins standing on the structure leaned out and jeered at the vehicles below. Some began to throw rocks which bounced harmlessly off of them. A few of the creatures were dancing around on the top as if in celebration of their victory over their enemies simply because the vehicles had stopped moving. Tom leaned out the window and gestured for everyone to get out and join him.

Rocks then began to pelt the team as well as a few spears that were thrown. Raising shields to stop the projectiles, Tom motioned for everyone to get back in the vehicles and they pulled further away to be just out of range of the tower. When they were a safe distance away they noticed the tower began to slowly inch forward.

"Holy shit, it moves," Jay gasped at the large structure moving at a snail's pace.

Tom leaned out the window and made a wide circling hand gesture that showed he wanted everyone to meet up and they all exited the vehicles and met in front of the GS2. Once all of the team were gathered, Tom addressed them.

"Look, these are just Goblins. It won't likely be much of a challenge, but we can't let this many of them go on their merry way. So let's make this quick, but let's fuck up their day. Everyone get weapons ready and I'll give the signal for when we start."

"What's the signal going to be?" Zach asked.

"An Eldritch Blast to the structure. I figured it would be obvious, but whatever..." Tom snapped slightly annoyed.

"Sorry, mate. You doing okay?" Zach asked, concern evident on his face.

"Yeah, I'll be alright. Sorry I snapped. Been having a rough time recently." Tom apologized and hung his head slightly.

"No worries. It's been a rough couple of...well weeks I suppose. If you need anything we're here for you." Zach offered, putting a hand on Tom's shoulder.

"Thanks. I will probably need to take some of you up on that offer soon. For now, though, let's handle these goblins." Tom refocused the group and hardened his resolve.

"So, just a smash-and-grab?" Bobby asked.

"Smash-and-grab?" Isaac asked, staring confusedly at Bobby.

"Yup, a standard beat the shit out of anyone inside and take all their stuff," Bobby replied.

"What kind of friends do you have, Tom?" Isaac said looking over at him with concern.

"The best ever," Tom said smiling evilly.

"What did I get myself into?" Isaac said putting his face into his hands. "I chose Paladin because I wanted to be a good guy and help people."

"I'm a Paladin too," Kedron said raising a hand. "Being a paladin doesn't mean not killing goblins. In fact, if anything you should want to kill goblins more. They are murderous little shit stains."

"I'm more concerned about the fact that someone on your team may have previously committed smash-and-grabs," Isaac said making air quotes with his hands around the last words.

"Dude, I was in Iraq. Every day was a smash-and-grab. Smash into a terrorist hideout and grab all their weapons so they stop killing civilians." Bobby said as if he wasn't getting mad that someone was questioning his motives. "Seems like basically the same thing here with smaller, greener terrorists."

"Well, crap. I'm sorry man. I misjudged you." Isaac said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it. It's kinda fun watching people squirm when I tell them that." Bobby smiled broadly at him.

"So, you do this for kicks?" Isaac asked.

"You are going to be so much fun to have in the guild," Bobby said now rubbing his hands together.

"Focus! We need to take down these goblins." Derek ordered them after letting the banter go on longer than he felt he should. "Time to kick some ass and not worry about taking names."

"We probably couldn't pronounce them anyway. Or they'd just be like crackle and goat." James added.

"Anyway...we can attack it and take this thing down with little trouble. Just don't let the goblins do anything drastic. Kill them quickly and completely." Derek said turning to face the contraption.

As he looked back at the structure, the center of it began to fall forward opening in a giant trap door on the front of the creation. Five goblin archers and three goblin mages stepped forward, firing arrows and charging magic to attack them.

"SCATTER! DON'T GROUP UP AND LET THEM HIT YOU TOGETHER!!! BRING THEM DOWN NOW!!!!" Derek yelled at the top of his lungs as his eyes went wide at what he was seeing.

The teams split in every direction to try to give the goblins a harder set of targets to hit. Tom ran to the side as he started his own Eldritch Blast, which he shot at the structure. It hit the side and fizzled out leaving only a small scorch mark.

"What the fuck?!" Tom cried in surprise.

He had expected the primarily wooden and rope structure to catch fire and burn.

"That won't work. You can't use a little blast like that to catch it on fire. Here, watch this!" Called a man from his right who Tom couldn't recall the name of.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Raising first one hand where it glowed green and a spout of grease flew from his hand onto the goblin structure, then the other hand where crackling orange fire erupted from his fingertips and shot to the now grease-coated contraption, the object immediately burst into flames this time. Goblins shrieked in panic as they began to try to put out the fire with blankets before deciding to abandon ship and started leaping from the side of the raging inferno.

"Now that's how you start a campfire," Clay said in awe of the flames. "We used to keep a burn pile out in the fields for burning brush and at night we'd have a bonfire party. Makes me want a jar of moonshine right about now."

"Don't just stand there with your thumb up your ass pining for the days of old," Kedron yelled at Clay in a strong Southern accent. "Get your ass in gear or you're not gonna get any goblin XP."

"Oh, shit! Save some for me!" Clay called out to the others, raising his weapon and charging into the fray.

Rushing into the now scattered goblins, the teams began a complete slaughter of the small monsters. The archers and mages put up a bit of a fight, but Derek, Isaac, and several other shield-bearing fighters surrounded them with their shields while Briana cast a barrier behind them to ensure no one got hit with stray projectiles. As arrows bounced off of the shields, the magic wielders threw spells at the fighters.

One man was hit with a small firebolt, but he shrugged off the damage and bashed the mage goblin in the face with his shield. The goblin exploded in a rain of gore and ash after the blast.

“What the hell?! I didn’t know I had that kind of power with a shield?” The man, Emmery, exclaimed at the sudden blast and he took a step back as he tried to process what was happening.

“You don’t,” Derek explained through a grunt as he bashed a goblin over the head with his mace. “It was a magical backlash. Apparently, he was getting a spell ready to cast when you hit him. By the looks of it, it was a big one. So good job stopping that”

Emmery swung his sword in a horizontal slash through the bow, string, then body of an archer goblin as he grunted back, “Sweeeet! It was fun to watch the thing blow up like a firecracker.”

Graham stepped up next to him and brought his axe down in an overhand swing that passed right by Emmery’s head. His eyes went wide and he dove to the side trying to avoid the attack.

“DUDE!!!???” Emmery cried in disbelief, anger starting to bubble up at nearly being hit.

He looked in the direction the axe had fallen and noticed a goblin wearing all black with two daggers split completely in half lying on the ground just behind where he had been standing.

“Oooohhhhh…” Emmery gasped, realization dawning on him.

Graham just smiled down at him, winked, and offered his hand to pull him back up before jogging off to the next fight.

Tom used cleave with his greatsword and cut three goblins in half with one horizontal swing as they charged him with rusted short swords. They had tried to block the blow, but their weapons were so brittle from all of the neglect that they shattered when they were struck. Following the strike around, he raised his hand and shot an Eldritch Blast at another goblin trying to sneak up behind Kiera.

Letting out a screech of pain, the goblin completely forgot his prey and ran off waving his hands in the air. Kiera, who suddenly noticed the goblin at its yelp of pain, gave Tom a thumbs up before looking back down the scope of the rifle and firing a shot at a goblin near the base of the tower.

Jay was using his daggers to stab and slice at vulnerable parts of goblins that were fighting with other members of the team, gaining critical strikes with each motion. With one stroke, he sliced open a goblin's neck, and with the backswing of another, he stabbed into the kidney of a second, all without stopping to fight any one particular opponent. His efforts gave others an opening to finish off their fights quickly.

Kevin and Kirsten had become a whirling force of destruction with their nearly dance-like attacks. Each carried a greataxe and twirled them around each other leaving no room for a counterattack from the enemy. Goblins died with every swing of their blades as they carved a path of destruction deep into the enemy ranks, each letting out bellowing war cries as they fought.

As the goblins continued to panic at losing their defensive structure, and the members of the Vanguard guild continued to attack them ruthlessly, the battle quickly turned into a route that had goblins trying to flee as fast as they could. No one let them get far.

Spells, arrows, bolts, and bullets all found their marks as every last one of the goblins died. It wasn't until after the last goblin died that the party discovered another of the larger goblinoid creatures burnt to a crisp in the remains of the siege tower.

"That's the second time we've seen one of these large goblins leading a force. I think this constitutes a pattern." Derek said, crunching on the ground and using his mace to inspect the charred corpse.

"You've seen this before?" Zach asked, looking down at Derek.

"On the way to the Grand Canyon. We encountered a group similar to this, though without the construction. They had formed a party and had apparently learned to use the vending machines. They had actual gear on them as well." Derek continued while surveying the battlefield.

"That's a little unnerving," Isaac said as he walked over to where Derek, Tom, Zach, and a few others were standing. "Goblins that are learning?"

"I mean, they are humanoid creatures with at least a semblance of intellect. They can build structures, why not study and figure out how to use the machines?" Tom added, picking up a sword that seemed shiner than the others. "This looks like something they bought from a machine. I would guess they had figured it out as well."

"This doesn't bode well for the future," Chris interjected.

"We can only take it one day at a time. But yes, it means that there is likely someplace where there will be a goblin society. Hell, this guy might not even be the leader. He could just be the one in charge of a raiding party." Tom said, thinking deeply about the implications.

"So, you're saying there is a goblin society out there?" Kiera asked walking over to the group as she stored her rifle in her inventory.

"We're saying it's a possibility. We can't know without scouring every inch of land to find out, and that just isn't happening. So all we can do is build up our defenses and keep a goblin raid in the back of our mind." Derek replied, standing up and dusting off his pants. "We should be doing that anyway. Building walls and defensive structures and other methods of dealing with enemies that might attack us directly."

"For now, everyone gather any equipment you can find. Weapons, items, even armor." Tom called out to everyone in the area.

"But their armor won't fit us," Someone called back.

"You mean you guys didn't figure out that armor magically resizes for the wearer?" James asked back loudly, unsure who had spoken.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" A man dressed in black leather cried. "I left stuff behind because I didn't think it would fit anyone but a child and there is no point in selling it, and I could have just tried it on?!"

"Yup," Was all James replied with, in a cheery voice.

"Son of a bitch!" The man screamed as he put his hands over his head in pure frustration.

A chuckle ran through the group of people.

"Don't worry. Anyone who needs equipment in Vanguard will get it. As long as you continue to do your part in the guild, the guild will take care of you." Tom announced loudly so everyone could hear.

This put a lot of people at ease and even further solidified they had made the right decision in joining Tom and his team. Several people came up and shook Tom's hand and thanked him for letting them be a part of Vanguard as they continued to loot the goblins.

"Hey, Tom. You're gonna wanna come see this!" Chris called out from the goblin siege construction after about a half hour of looting and searching the area.

Moving over to the structure, Tom along with Derek, Jay, Zach, and Isaac all moved over to see what Chris had found. They walked up to the base of the structure, which was almost the only piece that had not been burnt down in the fire, and looked over his shoulder as he inspected a goblin lying on the base.

"Is that what I think it is?" Derek asked first looking at the floor beneath the charred corpse and then over at Tom.

"Well, that can't be good," Tom replied.