As the grass disappeared into the tree line, I was able to see the goblin more clearly with us having managed to close the distance to less than a quarter of a mile. Watching some of the fodder poke the prisoners with their makeshift spears, I could only once again tamp down on the anger that had me wanting to burst forth and take the fight to them now. Closing the distance let me see that if they were indeed allowed to keep their clothes instead of being forced to change they were unlikely to be merchants. Clothed in sturdy cloth or leather it looked to be colored simply, most likely undyed and dirty as I was only seeing browns and greys, nothing with any frills that a merchant might wear to seem more prosperous.
Seeing everyone be forced to turn, rather than continue north, I concluded that they must be following the patrol path I had run across once or twice. Deciding if they were going to be adding this number to the rest of the goblins that had stayed behind a distraction was going to have to be in order, I decided to go with the most likely option that I had come up with.
Not being a master tactician, I could only go with the simplest of Sun Tzu’s teachings, If your enemy is strong, retreat. If he is weak, attack, and in all times be the one who chooses the ground you fight on. The main camp was where they were most likely to be strong leaving the pig grounds where they would be weak. If we attack there and cause a big enough ruckus, hopefully only the weakest ones will be sent from the upcoming feast. This would give us a chance to defeat some of them in detail before hiding so we could either attack the follow up forces or bypass them and strike for the main camp.
Knowing that any competent general would be screaming at me that it had too many moving parts and didn’t follow the KISS principle. I could only shut the professional up, when two are attacking hundreds, only the luckiest of attackers would win. Deciding to use the open ground to bypass the wooded patrols cutting to the east. I decided to avoid the river and instead go closer to the herb glade before heading back to the west to try and find the main camp once we were in the woods.
Picking up the pace, we jogged for close to a mile, before finally turning back to the north and entering the woods. Continuing to move at a decent pace while remaining quiet enough so that we could hear the undisciplined patrols, we slowly worked our way north passed the patrol path that was helpfully marked by pig scat. Crossing over and avoiding the mess, we continued working our way north until we hit a stream.
At first, I was confused as I thought we were closer to where we raided the herbs, but upon looking at the water, it was muddy and obviously fouled by the hogs. Deciding not to cross it for the moment, we followed the stream north hoping to eventually run into the pig farm and reorient from there. We almost got bogged down when we ran into some lowlands, but Gaian seemed to recognize the problem and stopped me with a gentle grab of his teeth. Circling around the muddy area we picked up again when we found the stream.
Hearing the grunting and slamming of bodies in the distance, we approached the field with caution, knowing the path between here and the main camp had to be somewhere close by. I guess even goblins have a line at how disgusting their camp is allowed to get, and don’t allow the pigs in. Following the line of trees that bordered the pig meadow, we left ourselves a couple hundred yards of space, to keep from being spotted. Looking up to the sky I saw that we were down to maybe two hours of daylight left. Hearing my inner rodent start spinning up his wheel, I shut him down knowing this wasn’t the time for distractions. I was hoping the goblins were waiting for nightfall to celebrate their latest victory.
Turning south when we ran into the stream, it looked like it split into two at the hog field. I wondered if the stream we had run across earlier was being sent to the herb garden and if it was a deliberate done by the goblins as a primitive attempt at farming. Again I kicked the hamster off his wheel before he could distract me and get me killed. Hearing horns start sounding off from the south at first I thought we might have been caught, but they were too far away and we hadn’t killed anything on this trip that would give us away. Realizing with a start that this was probably the hunting party getting back to the camp. We started jogging in the direction of the horns. It might be taking a bit of a chance, but I figured the announcement of captives would probably have the attention of all of the goblins, and they had never struck me as the most disciplined of creatures so hopefully, this would give us a better chance to spy on the camp unobserved.
Seeing the trees break and start to thin out, we slowed our approach, and I again found another pine to climb so that I could get the lay of the land. When about halfway up I felt the branches start to bend dangerously, so I decided that was high enough, and looked out over the clearing to come up with a plan. With maybe a mile between here and the hog camp, it might be too much of a challenge making a large enough ruckus to draw out a contingent of the goblins, but looking at the sprawling camp it was clear that we were going to need to figure something out.
The first thing I noticed was a series of cages sitting in the middle of the camp near the largest log building, which I could only take to be the leader’s lodge. There looked to be several humans already inside of them. Covered in mud and filth, with matted hair, it looked like they had been there for weeks. Or maybe the time there was just that awful. As the monsters started adding their new captives to the cages, I was happy to see that they didn’t immediately pull the children away from their parents. Unfortunately neither did they remove the ropes tying everyone together, no doubt as an extra security measure as the cages had a half-hazard construction to them. Wondering if they had had any escapes before, I realized by the crowd of fodder goblins staring anxiously at the cage that may be just what the weakest goblins were waiting for… no doubt that was their only hope of getting a bite of sentient flesh, with how many of the rest of the goblins were down there.
There had to be at least a thousand of the monsters wandering around the camp, yeah most of them looked to be of the smallest variety, but there still had to be a couple hundred of the different evolved monsters as well. There was no way we were going to be able to make a frontal assault to free the captives. Instead, the plan was going to have to involve multiple lines of distractions. Hoping that they wouldn’t begin their feast until after nightfall, I hurried back to the bear after taking note of several possible things we could attempt to cause said distraction.
Finding him, I motioned and led him over to a set of trees nearest to the point of camp that was closest to the middle of the forest. As that seemed both the lightest on goblins and had the worst of the huts, I assumed this was where the archers or fodder goblins bedded down. Leaving our packs under a tree for later, I also left my spear behind. For now, I was taking the four clubs I had made with me, as well as the two weapons in my belt, there would be time to come back for our stuff later. While I had practiced throwing them back during our stay with the rabbits, I wouldn’t swear by their killing ability. Which was just fine for right now. I didn’t want to accidentally send up a stream of kill exp that might find its way to any random goblin who might sound the alarm preemptively.
Working our way around the edges of the camp slowly, I was looking for any of the goblins that looked to be carrying any of the alarm horns. After making a quarter of a circute we finally found one, the problem being he was in the midst of four other elites. There were two spear wielders, two shield bruisers, and the magic user who actually held the horn. Wondering if this was a standard group, part of me wanted to keep looking but with our only having a little more than an hour left until the darkness overtook the light, I decided this was going to have to be the one.
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Talking it over with the bear, I decided I would be going in after the spear users while he would charge through the bruisers to get to the magic user and take him out before he could raise the alarm. The camp was noisy and there were constant sounds of arguments and fights going on. The goblins not being the most peaceful creatures, I didn’t doubt we would make some noise accomplishing the task. But I was pretty sure if we were quick and didn’t allow him to sound the horn, it would be lost in the rest of the normal camp bustle. Making sure that Gaian understood not to kill him, I held the four clubs I had made, ready to grab my better weapons after I had thrown them. I hoped to put the odds even more in our favor before I was in range of any of the sharp pointy bits.
Separating a bit to the side of the spear users as I wanted them to focus on me, giving the bear a straight charge at the shield bearers and magic user. Even if all I did was distract them until the bear managed to take the other three, I would count that as a win, as two on two seemed much more manageable for us when I had the bear on my side. For once our timing went swimmingly, as they recognized the two threats at the same time, and each of our targets focused on the charging hero that we had hoped for. When the magic user didn’t even attempt to pull his horn and instead laid his hand on the back of one of the shield goblins I couldn’t believe our luck. Stopping a few feet back from the leveled spears, I waved my clubs threateningly, while waiting for the bear to finish his charge, and send the whole group rolling.
When the bear hit the shield and was stopped in his tracks, I don’t know who was more shocked, me or him. I can tell you the goblins weren’t surprised when as one, in what had to have been a practiced maneuver, my speciesist mind just could not credit them with coming up with it in the spur of the moment. The spear wielders both wheeled around and started charging at the bear, with their sharp tips lowered.
Giving up on being the distractions, I started pumping my longer legs to catch them. All the while throwing the clubs as quickly as I could, to stop them before they perforated the stunned bear. The first thrown club uselessly clattered off the back of the one closest to me, while the second club managed to connect to his partner’s head sending him stumbling forward. As I saw the magic user start to grab for his horn, I abandoned my target and sent the last two flying toward him. Hoping for the best I continued after the spear carriers while drawing my larger goblin made club, and the one of the two bolo’s I had made myself. Winding the bolo around my head I sent it flying at the lead goblin’s legs.
Striking the stumbling goblin in the back of his head as I passed him with my club. I saw the two thrown clubs hit somewhat ineffectually against the shaman. They didn’t do any damage but did manage to send the horn flying. I ignored the two shield goblins that were banging on the body of the bear, trying to get to the remaining spear user before he reached his target. Cursing silently as the bolo missed one of his legs while managing to wrap around his other one. Apparently, I hadn’t managed to make the ropes long enough to make up for my poor accuracy. Only to let out a silent cheer in my head as the weight of the rocks was enough to cause him to stumble and the swinging ropes entangled his second leg.
My happiness was short lived as he either in a feat of tremendous athleticism or he had the luck of all his ancestors bestowed upon him. Tumbling over in a fall he sent his spear flying through the air to drive into the bear’s rear leg. Cursing I turned to continue my charge towards the magic user. The spear seemed to wake the bear from whatever stupor had been knocked into him and he managed to rear up despite the large blade sticking in his back leg. Thankful that the pain hadn’t managed to make him forget the need for silence, as he held back his roar of pain while his paws came slamming down onto the shield of the annoying gnats that were battering him with clubs. Slamming his paws into the shields, they were shattered into pieces, as he drove through them and smashed their carriers into the ground.
I held my breath for a second, but when no exp exploded out of them, I focused on making it to the shaman, who had fallen to the ground scrambling to bring the mud covered horn to his lips. A step too late, I was just starting my swing as he raised it to the sky, and blew for all he was worth. Swinging down my club I hit him in the back of his head and stared with amazement at the lack of sound that had come from the horn. Walking back over to the goblin who had managed to get a spear into my friend, I knocked him unconscious while he was still trying to work at the ropes that had tied his legs together.
Heading over to my friend, I pulled the blade from his leg and watched on as he applied his healing powers to himself. It was obvious from the way the skin pulled itself together, that what he was able to do for himself was much more potent than he could bestow on others. Dragging all of the goblins farther into the woods, the bear relished stomping on their limbs to leave everything broken. Breaking their jaws so they couldn’t scream for help even if they managed to awaken. We took the risk of not taking the time to tie them up as I hadn’t noticed any healing powers and we were getting shorter on time.
It might have been smarter to kill them, but I didn’t want to risk that any exp wouldn’t go straight to us and might alert the goblin camp to intruders before I was ready. I hadn’t seen any exp go up when I was spying on them, so while there was casual violence throughout the camp, it was obvious that they stopped before killing each other. So while I really wanted to use one of them to get a better look at my core, time and circumstances just made it a poor choice for now.
Heading back to our packs with all of the gathered weapons, we stopped to disable any goblins we saw on their own. Our favorite tactic was to leave the purple flower I had held back from the rabbits on the ground near the trees. They couldn’t help but be drawn to it, not believing their luck at the find. Not giving them a chance to realize their mistakes we were quick to disable them and leave the monsters broken in the boughs of the pine trees. We had managed to acquire another ten clubs, six new spears, and several daggers from the goblins we disabled. Knowing that none of the shields would fit in the pack we had left them with the broken bodies that we had hidden.
Again we left our packs behind, stuffed with the captured weapons. I hoped that if we could make it to the captives later they would be able to put them to good use. But for now, it was time to return to the pigs after gathering up the supplies I hoped would be useful for the first set of distractions. With the light getting dimmer with every passing minute, we didn’t have a lot of time until the woods got too dark to pass through quickly. While that would help us with avoiding the goblins I hoped to summon. It was also putting the prisoners on a clock as we had heard the sounds from the center of the camp slowly getting louder. I don’t know if the monsters had managed to make any sort of alcohol, or if they had other greenskins they traded with for it, but there was definitely a celebration on the calendar tonight.
Making our way to the edge of the forest that marked where the pigs were left to their own devices, we almost stumbled onto them before we realized how far we had gotten. Without the noise of the practice combat, the goblin trainers seemed to have gone back to the camp for the night leaving the pigs to their own devices.
Quickly setting up my trap, I stood next to my companion asking him one last time if he wanted to go his own way instead of gambling on my ability to get us through this. I was honest with him and told him that despite everything I was seeing with the sloppiness of the goblins, even if we could arm the prisoners there wasn’t a good chance of our making it out of this. When he licked my cheek encouragingly I couldn’t help but feel my heart get a little lighter. Maybe we would be charging into hell in a few minutes but with a companion like this beside me, I could still see the slightest way through to the other side. It might be driving a camel through the eye of a needle but it still gave us a chance.
Raising the horn I had captured to my lips, I blew through it as hard as I could. Only to feel the pressure on my lungs as no sound came out of it. Holding it up to the dying light I saw that when it had been knocked from the goblin’s hands I had liberated it from, it seemed to have had mud driven into the blow hole. This no doubt being what had kept him from sounding the alarm earlier. Finding a twig to clear it out. I held it back up to my lips for take two and let out a ringing noise that alerted everything in the forest to where we were.
Seeing how quickly several of the boars started to charge at us. It seemed they were indeed willing allies of the goblins. Despite the eight large beasts bearing down on us I continued to blow for all I was worth as I tried to alert the camp to our attack.