"What do you think these thirteen little goblins are doing in Grom'garyl's territory?" Messi asked, stowing the report in a yellow folder on his desk.

Opposite him was a colleague, Barnbi, another seemingly young male with long white hair and tiny glasses. "If I may," Barnbi started while using a regional map. "I'd assume they are undergoing some form of a tactical plan."

"Tactics?" Messi said, grabbing two crystal clear glasses. "That would imply that they still had leaders and thinkers."

Barnbi pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "Your reporters say they didn't devolve into tribalism like they were predicting, so I'm not going to leave that out of the question."

Servants filled the two cups with water and ice shavings. Messi handed one off to Barnbi while retaining the other In his hand. Messi stared at the map silently until a light bulb appeared in his head.

"Barnbi, did you see it?" He asked.

Barnbi stared at the map for a remarkably long time before admitting defeat.

Messi took out a marker. "So, we've been asking why they are going to Grom'garyl's territory, but not what happens when they invade Grom'garyl's territory."

He circled the encampment with black ink, drawing a box with a path and an arrow indicating the advancement of the goblins—Messi, circling another encampment of another orc warboss. And then lastly, Khargol, the original goblin fortress.

"It's a siege," he finally said out loud.

Barnbi seemed somewhat unnerved about the complexity of the process they were going at. "By going to Grom'garyl's camp, and assumingly another camp, two groups are heading in similar pincer movements." Barnbi motioned for the marker and then drew the same thing nearly symmetrical. "Small groups would imply the existence of something bigger right here!"

In the middle, he drew a larger rectangle. Again, the black ink looked like a black creature made of ink moving in to take a chunk out of the fortress.

Messi nodded while drinking from his glass.

"Damn, I think they still have a leader," said Barnbi.

"Agreed," Messi said out loud. "Now the question is, what do we do about this."

The two remained silent for a brief time until Barnbi said, "Why don't we play both sides?"

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Two goblins laid out several tools they had been rucking: several saws, multiple hammers, a ton of nails, and bundles of rope. One by one, each goblin picked a role; this was a fighting position they would occupy for a while.

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Gez shivered slightly as the ground around them began to blanket with snow. With Gez's added numbers, he began taking on a more supervisor role. But, again, he is doing less than his weakest scout.

Krez and the other goblins began taking on junior leadership roles. Both have an element of six and seven. At the top, Gez would tell them the plan, and they would find a way to execute it.

Bang.

The first moments of combat broke out with no one ready. Panicked gunshots flew aimlessly through the air, missing advancing orcs. Goblins scrambled to their fighting positions.

The scouts threw the explosives, but the advantage, the element of surprise, was lost.

Gez jumped into the half-formed trench and shot his rifle. Sixteen goblins were no match for the onslaught of orcs. Although statistically, one orc would go down for every two goblins, these were not favorable odds.

And then there was a whistle blown. It echoed across the battleground, and everyone paused for a moment. But, of course, the goblins didn't use whistles, nor did the orcs.

The confusion ended as torrents of bullets cracked through the eastern edges of the forest. Singular and precise. One orc's eye exploded, and then the next. The shots were devastating and accurate to the orcs, dwindling their numbers.

Gez looked around frantically before telling everyone to go back into their trenches and hide holes. The casualties from this battle were unknown; with basic arithmetic, all he knew was anything less than thirteen wasn't sufficient.

In just ten minutes, the screaming and gunfire ceased. Each goblin raised its head from its fighting position. The number of bodies was staggering. If Gez counted, they were quickly in the hundreds.

The new enemy was unseen and knew exactly where they were. The scouts were exposed, but maybe if they formed some kind of shield wall, they'd be able to create an exit strategy.

"Hello? Little green friends?" Said a voice from the surface. "You can come out. We aren't going to hurt any of you!

Gez recognized the language. It was a crude attempt at Goblin-speak, an entirely wrong dialect, but at least understandable by most. He poked his head from the trench to see a dark-skinned male with a long rifle, different from what they had been using.

Gez shouted as loud as he could. "Gez will check! No one move!" He raised his head just enough for his yellow, predatory eyes to peep above the dirt and snow. "Gez asks who are you and what do you want!?"

The elf smirked and coyly said, "To earn an audience with your leadership if we could!"

Gez was forcibly pulled back down into the trench, landing directly in front of Krez. Seemingly, he had found his way through the tunnel to find where Gez was. "Gez, we can't let them interfere with the bigger army... this is a scout's problem!"

"Gez agrees!" Gez agreed, nodding. "Gez wonders why elveses would suddenly care about a skirmish between Orcs and goblins." Gez looked over the trench to ensure the dark elf didn't make any sudden movements. "Gez thinks that they think that we are stupid."

"It's suspicious," Krez whispered angrily.

"Gez knows we can't compete against them right now," admitted Gez. "Gez thinks the only winning move is to play into them."

Krez grinned devilishly. "For Khargol!"

Gez repeated the chant, "For Khargol!" He went back up the edge of the trench. "Gez is the leadership around here! Speak!"

"Ah! Very good! I've been instructed to invite you to speak with my employer about these formally…." The elf paused, "Intrusive skirmishes in our forest."

The two goblins ducked back down. A minute later, the surviving goblins came from their holes. Gez and Krez instructed the other Goblins to complete defenses and hold. Gez also decided that after a near defeat, rest was necessary.

Gez and Krez approached the dark elf with high suspicion and caution.