Chapter 45 - Ignis

<2 hobgoblin scrappers have been added to your tribe.>

<3 hobgoblin wranglers have been added to your tribe.>

I sat up on the top of the sleeping pile. Noblins. I’d never heard of that before. System, do fire-based applications include things like internal combustion engines?

Does said information pertain to internal combustion?

There was a pause.

C’mon, System. Give me something, here.

Ah-ha! That was almost as good as an admission—not specifically about the variants, but that internal combustion was possible on Rava, despite the differences in the makeup of the world and its elements. If it was an unresearched technology, it was still present in the tree.

Show me the tree.

A wide window expanded in front of me, showing a vast amount of interconnected nodes—a visual representation of the entire goblin tech tree. Most of it, at least 95%, was still dark, and would likely remain so. I had very little desire to explore, for example, the flatula-horn rhythms technology path our basic jam sessions had suggested as a follow-up research option. Other illuminated systems were their own little islands, like the glider technology and ceramics where I’d skipped a number of interim steps by applying modern knowledge to take advantage of primitive resources.

The fire-making tree had quite a few branches coming off of it, very few of which had been discovered. I assumed that section contained a large amount of power-creation technology like steam, internal combustion, possibly even nuclear fusion or fission (which was a terrifying thought, goblins with the power of the atom).

The igni were quite possibly some type of engineer-specialized goblin—what I’d originally thought the scrappers would be before they turned out to be commando goblins. If so, then they’d be important to breaking into the industrial age.

But hawkeyes… goblins specialized in ranged combat. Iron and steel would mean firearms. Even if I didn’t do it for them, the ingredients would be there and the goblins would eventually figure out how to make this world’s version of a matchlock, then a musket, and so on. Making sure those weapons were in the hands of goblins who actually knew how to use them might help secure the tribe when someone more powerful than a handful of javeline came knocking at the gates.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

But, who was I kidding? We were goblins. Accuracy was a metric of overwhelming volume, as far as I was concerned. The slingers already functioned in volleys, and how precise did explosives really need to be?

Give me the ignis, please.

<5 noblin igni have been added to your tribe.>

<1 noblin ignis has been promoted to taskmaster.>

I crawled out out of the sleeping pile and looked around, excited. But my excitement waned when I realized none of the new noblins were with us. They must have been split between Apollo and Canaveral.

Just as well. I didn’t need a pyromaniac setting fire to the wooden lattice that kept us off the ground while the tower was being finished.

Give me the deets, System.

Noblin - this advanced goblin variant is capable of speech and reaching level 6.

Flame retardant - Igni are resistant to heat damage.

Armor pro - noblins are not encumbered by heavy armor.

Porcine - noblins consume an extra choom of food per day.

Hot Hands - Igni gain a bonus to crafting speed and quality when using heat elements. The hotter the element, the higher the bonus.

Pyro - Igni gain a bonus to heat element weapons and technology.>

I considered. System. Does heat-based weaponry include rocketry and firearms?

Fantastic. Heat-based crafting. That was as close as the System could get to screaming that these guys were natural blacksmiths and steel-smelters. And they could aim a rocket. And might not burst into flame the moment a spark looked at them.

I tapped Hadfield awake. He moaned, rolled over, and yawned. Then he sat up, clacking his teeth.

“Let’s get a move on, comrade.”

Hadfield kicked one of the goblins over the edge of the lattice, and we waited to see if she would be eaten. After a few minutes—well, moments, really. Goblins aren’t the most patient. After a few moments, the rest of the goblins bailed out of the lattice.

The first thing I noticed was one of the wagons had been tampered with. Not by a wild animal or the shade wolf. Something had jimmied open a latch and rifled through the contents. Several clay jars were gone that had held fish oil for greasing. A bundle of rope was missing as well, along with a basket of spare ceramic spear tips, bearings, and other ceramic parts.

The hominids had paid us a visit during the night, clearly. I could see their webbed footprints, but they must have been pretty quiet to get in under the hobgoblin noses. Great. We were already at war with night haunts, javeline, and eclipse lizards. I didn’t need to battle swamp people, too. Especially ones that had just armed themselves with ceramic spearpoints. Well, at least we had ceramic plate vests. But there’d be no more thieving. I had the goblins unload the wagons and pack everything into the tower while the builders kept stacking bricks higher and higher.

Well, we did have something that might show them that we weren’t a tribe to be trifled with. I had the head of the large stone-sloth brought out. The goblins had already processed the skin, brain, and tongue, but it left a rather impressive skull that the builders hoisted up onto the side of the tower, along with feathers and other assorted bones.

Most of the goblins stopped and took a few minutes to perform their version of ooh-ing and aah-ing. In this case it was holding up three fingers in the shape of the long sloth claws and making a reasonable attempt at its roar, when multiplied by thirty goblins. Excellent. By the end of the day, the top of the tower base would be as tall as the lattice platform, and my tribe could finally feel secure in their home away from home. Mid-morning brought a rainstorm, so the oil-cloaks went on and work continued. No slacking today.

But we weren’t in this bog just to build towers. We were here to harvest iron. I took twenty standard goblins, plus all the hobbies, and headed for the peat bog.