As the crash of thunder hit me several seconds later, I realized that my water problems were soon to be solved. Feeling the cooler breeze hit my skin, I smiled as I looked up and saw the impending storm clouds that were starting to block out the stars. Dumping all of the cores into one of my cargo pockets. I quickly began readying my camp for both the impending harvest and to secure the things I needed to keep dry. Taking care of my food first I began moving the baskets as quickly as I could into the tent while still taking care not to let them break or spill the dried fish out. Once that was taken care of I picked up my pack, taking a couple of D-ring clips out of the side pocket, I also unclipped the kayak off the back and grabbed a few more essentials from the side pockets, before moving it inside the tent as well.
Quickly unfolding the kayak, I left it on the ridge side of my tent, as that was the side that the wind was blowing from, making it more likely that rainwater would be hitting that side of the tent. Taking three of the D-rings, I quickly snapped them through the grommets on the top of the plastic sheet and clipped them to the top of my tent before taking the final two and clipping them to the bottom of the seat in the middle of the kayak. Grabbing my previous wash bucket, I moved it to sit next to the watercraft. While I highly doubted that I would get enough water to fill up the kayak, I didn't want to take a chance at missing out on any water supply. Better to have too much and dump it, then run out and have to waste time gathering it later.
With the water and food storage taken care of, the next thing that was on the checklist that I had quickly formulated. I had to decide between protecting the camp or planning how I was going to get clean while not getting hypothermia. As the first of the drops started hitting my face. I decided on protection first. Getting my shovel, I started digging a shallow trench on the ridge side of my tent, just on the other side of the kayak. While it may have been more useful, right up against the tent. I was going to have to go with the second best option rather than taking the tarp down so I could get closer. Once I had dug out a line the length of the tent, I started digging a second line down through the slope on the other side.
Hearing more thunder crashing in the distance, while I worked with the small glow of the coals I had moved topside while trying not to be blinded by the brief flashes of lightning. Cursing softly, I thought about the coals, I didn't want to completely start again once the storm had passed. It looked like I was going to be in for a wet night as I needed to prioritize my supplies and whatever dry firewood I had before me. Stopping my work on the trench slit, I reached into my tent and opened my pack to quickly pull out my cookware. Taking the smallest pan and its matching lid, I moved a small shovelful of coals into the pan before shoveling some dirt on top of it to bury it and remove it from oxygen. Placing the lid back on top I snapped the clips around it to keep it tightly sealed. I then moved it into the higher back corner of my tent, before carefully wrapping my sleeping bag around it to keep as much of the heat in, so it would hopefully reignite after being introduced back to oxygen after the storm.
Pulling my fleece back on as I left the tent, I started gathering up all of the dry wood I had left including a bunch of the tipless spears that had been so generously donated by our goblin attackers. I left the club out of my future kindling as it was more useful as a backup weapon than in the fire, at least in my not so expert opinion.
Stepping back out of the tent I looked over at the bear lying on his side still as lightning lit up the surrounding area once again. He didn't seem to be moving around much, whether that was because he didn't care about the soaking he was about to get or that he still wasn't feeling up to the movement, it didn't much matter. As I was finding out what most zookeepers already know when asked the important question of how do you get five hundred pound animals to do something… You wait for them to want to do it. I chuckled humorlessly, at least they have power equipment to move animals around when they need help. I was down to feeding him the troll core and hoping it didn't turn him into a monster or walking off and leaving him behind.
As more rain hit my face and another stream of lightning lit up the sky I found myself looking over Gaian out into the long grass between the camp and the copse of trees I had visited earlier. Most of the grass was bending at a diagonal away from either of the two, but there were several lines that seemed to be running towards us. “Blank me,” I said softly as the years of self-censoring still weren't yet broken despite the situation. Abandoning all of my efforts to get my camp storm ready, I instead dashed over to the weapon pile in an effort to go through my options before I tried to disappear into the grass and set up a counter ambush.
As bad off as he was, the bear was just going to have to take care of himself for this attack. Because while I had taken three on earlier and two in our initial introduction to life on this Moon, all of those were by surprise, and if I was left to a standup fight I was much more likely to become goblin chow. Leaving honor for those who liked to pretend we were still Brits, I had no problem stabbing them in the back if it kept my supple skin off of the spit.
Shaking my head at the terrifying thought, part of my mind couldn't help but wonder if I would receive any culinary treatment. Like being basted in herbs or force fed a concoction to fatten me up before getting tied to the spit. Shaking my head to clear the disturbing image I pulled the shaman's sacrificial dagger and the club I had kept from the kindling supply while leaving the rest of the knives and spears. I thought about bringing some of the spears along with me, but at seven feet long I worried the metal on the tips would be caught reflecting in a flash of lightning and give me away. Tucking the shaman's piece into the back of my belt, my hands moved to brush against my own longer knife and ax making sure they were still secured to me.
My mind wasted a couple of seconds regretting that the other blade that I had the ability to strap to myself, was really more of a tool than a weapon. With its snub nose and only a short cutting edge, it really wasn't worth trying to attach to my leg, as it had a tendency to slide down with too much movement. While fine for the long slow kicks of diving, I was always having to pull it back up over my calf when I was walking back to my stuff on the beach. Shaking my head at my mind's attempts to distract me from the possibility of being eaten, I quickly backed up into the darkness as I disappeared from the soft glow that infused the small area surrounding the coals in the center of my camp.
Moving the club to my left hand gave me the option to quickly draw my ax or cross-draw my longer blade depending on what the situation called for. Circling around away from my tent in the dark, I paused to dig down into the soil and grab a couple of handfuls to rub onto my hands and face. While it would undoubtedly be washed off soon in the upcoming deluge, anything I could do to keep the lightning from reflecting off me and giving away where I was seemed worth it to me in the moment. While I did feel a little bad at Gaian having to play bait again, he had three hundred pounds on me and a much thicker hide, so practicality won out as I left him to gather the focus of the invading pests while I prepared to counter ambush.
With the next flash of lightning, I tried to count how many trails were coming towards us but only got to eight before the darkness stopped me from counting higher. Seeing as how they were still several football fields away, I decided to quickly move to a point in between our camp and the copse of trees that they were coming from. While still trying to stay off of their line so they could stay focused on the camp giving me a path to come in from behind them unseen. Not sure if they had tracked me, seen the glow in the distance, or were following my scent. I tried keeping track of the wind so it wouldn't give away where I planned on stopping. But with as bad as it was gusting around me, I quickly gave up as I didn't think they would be able to tell I wasn't still in the camp. I just had to hope for the best as that variable didn't seem to be something I could control.
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Circling around and finally reaching a point some thirty yards on the other side of the camp, I stopped and started working on slowing my breathing and controlling my pounding heart. Listening to the wind sweeping around me I didn't have much fear that they would hear the heart that seemed to be doing its best to beat out of my chest.
Keeping my head down, I focused on just trying to listen for the approaching group, so that if the lightning came again the shine of my eyes wouldn't give me away. I had no doubt that the bigger eyes they had confirmed everything the lore said about them having the better night sight than humans. But if I stayed crouched under the grassline, with nothing to reflect the light that was flashing across the sky, I hoped I had a good chance of being ignored as the single mindedness they had shown in both encounters should keep them focused on the camp. While they probably wouldn't just charge in like the three I had met, unfortunately, I hadn't seen the first group initial meeting with my furry friend, but they had to have been quick to attack, so all I could do was hope the heavy monstrosity would hold their attention despite his injured status.
Hearing their chittering voices and the rustling of the grass as the attackers finally started closing in on the camp, I kept my head down, even though it seemed like I had picked a good enough spot and had indeed stayed off of their line. It seemed like the group wasn't too concerned with being unheard as it seemed like a couple of them seemed to be arguing amongst themselves and I heard several thunks that seemed to be like blows coming from the group. With the amount of noise that seemed to be coming from them just guessing from that lack of discipline that they weren't paying attention to their surroundings, I lifted my face sooner than I had planned. Initially, I had wanted to wait until the sound had faded, but with the noise I was hearing, I was surprised Gaian hadn't gotten to his feet already and charged out.
Either he was playing along and trying to lull them in or he was bad into a fever dream. Standing up I drew my ax before I started following in behind them. I initially had wanted to start with my short blade and club, but was worried about having to try and draw the ax in the middle of the fight with its flap possibly making me fumble and drop the snatch. Deciding that going for the cross draw or pulling from my back would have me less likely to drop a weapon I made sure of my grip and then started after them. I'm not going to pretend like I am some master of stealth whose only reason for not being in special forces was that I had never bothered applying myself. But I am an accomplished hunter who's gone after Elk, Caribou, and Moose in Alaska, not to mention a multitude of deer and pig hunts back in the lower forty-eight, so I know how to walk quietly.
As I followed along behind them I started to wonder how these Goblins normally managed to hunt for food. The amount of noise they were making had made it impossible for them to catch prey normally unless they just managed to stumble across small animals shivering in fear, the only option that made sense with their approach was that their main method of hunting was going up against larger creatures that had no fear of them and burying them in numbers while racking up massive casualties. While that did seem to fit with lore, that didn't make much sense from an evolutionary standpoint, but before I could let the hamster in my head spin out any more questions, I quickly shut him up. Now was not the time for distraction, even if I was able to kill several before I was noticed and Gaian managed to take care of a few despite his injured state. There was still more than enough to if not overwhelm me, I was almost certain to end up crippled unless I stayed as close to perfect as possible.
As I got to within twenty yards of the tramped down grass surrounding the camp, Gaian rose to his feet as the first goblin stepped out from the long grass. Tiny when compared to the smallest of North American bears, the little monster seemed to show no fear as several of his compatriots stepped out to join him. Looking at their markings and weaponry, I still couldn't determine if these goblins belonged to the same tribe that had been sacrificed to the portal or the three I had run into earlier, if they were even part of a separate tribe, or had merely been of a different social status and were then left with inferior weaponry. These small goblins seemed to be akin to the first group in that they were holding sharpened sticks rather than being blessed with metal weapons, as more goblins began stepping out of the grass and shoving the smaller ones forward I still had yet to see metal as my count increased to ten.
As the smallest five started charging forth and hurling their pointy sticks in a wave at Gaian. The bear merely ducked his head and weathered the wooded storm, before roaring in a volume to match the thunder that still was ringing over our heads from the impending natural storm that still had yet to break open. As the first five saw that their thrown weapons were ineffective, they held onto their remaining sticks and began to spread to the sides while it seemed like they were waiting for their larger fellows to take their turn at it.
I closed to within fifteen yards and wished I had brought a couple of spears of my own to throw, the rest of the pack came walking out of the long grass. While much larger than the little ones that had shot their wad, these new ones still only probably came up to the height of my belly button for the tallest. Still lacking any bulk, I doubted the heaviest one would even manage to hit fifty pounds if I still had my electronic scale to tie him to. Fortunately, it seemed like this group was lacking either a magic user or a sacrificial volunteer. Unless the first volunteer I had seen before, had merely been the first of the smaller goblins to lose their weapons and was shoved into the spot of soul kindling as punishment. Whether it was because they lacked a magic user or the first group had been understaffed, this party had a group of five that had both size and weapons to indicate they were a step above the normal rabble that were stuck wielding pointy sticks.
Two of the upper class goblins had clubs nearly identical to the one I held in my left hand, but unlike the ones I had ambushed earlier, these also had the first armor that I had seen. I took this to indicate these creatures might value their own skin somewhat. Nothing like the plate or scale that I had previously only seen in Hollywood productions or in a museum. The barely tanned leather which still looked to be rotting in patches was barely covering their torsos. But despite the holes in it, the defensive nature of it made it obvious that the chest pieces weren't just poorly made cloaks. Also holding crudely hewn shields that lacked any kind of banding, they would be easily splintered apart with the swing of a greatsword.
Unfortunately for me, I had left all of my own swords, which would no doubt be incredibly useful right now, unpurchased on another world. Looking at the two bruiser's three remaining friends, I counted two archers and a spearman that looked to provide the remaining offense for the group. Neither of those three had any kind of armor other than the ubiquitous loincloth and ratty tunic that seemed to be the required raiment of their smaller brethren. But the archers had several metal tipped arrows that they carried in their hands alongside the bows, seeming to lack either the intelligence or funds to have a quiver to go along with them. While the spearman carried the twin to the spear whose blade I ruined when I used it to cauterize my friend's belly.
Banging their clubs on their shields the two tanks shouted at the smaller goblins and another wave of five ran to toss their spears for the bear to once more shrug off. As the remaining five small goblins charged forth to throw their extra sticks uselessly at the bear, he shouted forth his challenge and anger that these shrimps were having the audacity to annoy him. As his roar rang out and seemed to shake the small ones the slightest bit, the skies seemed to answer the Ursoid with a deluge that drowned the fire and killed what remaining light there was.