The moon hung low in the sky, casting silver streaks through the thick canopy as John, Thorin, and Kaia crouched behind a cluster of dense foliage. The goblin watchtower loomed ahead, a crude wooden structure reinforced with sharpened stakes and lined with tattered banners. At the base of the tower, three goblins loitered near a small fire, their guttural voices carrying on the night air. Above, two more goblins stood watch, armed with crossbows and scanning the perimeter with their beady eyes.

John turned to his companions, voice hushed. "Alright, here's the plan. I’ll climb up and take out the two in the tower. Once I give the signal, Thorin, you engage the three on the ground. Kaia, you’ll need to create a distraction to get those crossbow goblins to look away."

Kaia nodded, gripping her staff. "A noise in the woods should do the trick. Something loud enough to draw their attention but not too suspicious."

Thorin cracked his knuckles. "And once you take care of the ones up top, I'll draw the others in and keep them occupied. Kaia, be ready to back me up."

John gave a final nod before slipping into the shadows. He moved with calculated steps, his body low to the ground, each movement controlled. As he reached the base of the tower, he felt for handholds, testing the wooden planks before pulling himself up. His palms pressed against rough bark and splintered wood as he climbed, careful to keep his weight evenly distributed. One slip could spell disaster.

Below Kaia moved into the thicker parts of the woods away from the tower. She began to pour mana into her staff causing it to glow and emit a low humming. The goblins in the crow’s nest tensed, turning in unison toward the disturbance, peering into the darkness. John seized the moment, slipping over the edge of the crow’s nest like a shadow. He moved behind the nearest goblin, gripping his dagger tight. With a swift motion, he slashed its throat, feeling the creature stiffen before it crumpled in silence.

But before John could react, the second goblin spun, its beady eyes widening in alarm. With a snarl, it lunged, driving a crude dagger into John’s side. Pain flared, white-hot and searing. John gritted his teeth, barely suppressing a groan. The goblin pressed forward, trying to drive the blade deeper, but John twisted, forcing the creature off balance. With his free hand, he threw a punch, catching the goblin in the jaw. The creature snarled and countered with a wild slash, barely missing John's throat.

Memories of his Muay Thai training kicked in. With a swift knee to the goblin’s face, John felt cartilage crunch beneath his strike. The goblin howled, staggering back with blood pouring from its ruined nose. John pressed the advantage, lashing out with his dagger, cutting across the goblin’s chest. The creature shrieked, but John silenced it with a final thrust to the heart.

Below, the goblins at the base of the tower tensed at the sound of the scuffle above.

"What was that?" one hissed.

"Something’s wrong up there!"

Thorin knew they couldn’t afford to let them investigate. With a roar, he burst from the shadows, swinging his axe. "Oi, ugly! Over here!"

The goblins turned, startled, but quickly recovered. One lunged at Thorin while another reached for its weapon. Kaia sprang into action, raising her staff and murmuring an incantation. One of the goblins stiffened mid-motion, eyes wide in paralyzed shock.

Thorin grinned, blocking a strike from another goblin. "Nice one, Kaia!" he called before engaging the remaining two. He activated his new skill, feeling a surge of resilience wash over him as his defense temporarily spiked. The goblins hacked at him with jagged blades, but their attacks barely left scratches. Still, the onslaught was relentless, and Thorin found himself slowly losing ground.

"John!" Kaia called. "We could use some help here!"

But there was no response.

John lay on the wooden floor of the tower, gasping, blood seeping through his Hawaiian shirt. He fumbled for the healing potion Kaia had given him earlier, his fingers slick with his own blood. The moment the liquid touched his lips, warmth flooded his body. His wounds knitted together, the pain ebbing away, replaced by an almost euphoric rush.

John's vision sharpened. His pulse steadied. Looking down from the crow’s nest, he saw Thorin taking hit after hit, unable to break through the goblin defenses. No hesitation. No thinking. Just action.

With a primal yell, John leapt from the tower, knife clutched in both hands. The wind howled past his ears before he landed hard atop one of the goblins, driving his blade deep into its back. The goblin shrieked, thrashing for a moment before going still.

Thorin seized the moment, swinging his axe in a wide arc. The remaining goblin barely had time to react before the blade cleaved into its chest. With a gurgled cry, it collapsed, lifeless.

John, panting, pushed himself up from the corpse beneath him. His body ached, but the fight wasn't over. He rushed over to the still-frozen goblin and dispatched it. He turned to Thorin and Kaia, who both wore expressions of relief and exhaustion.

Kaia rushed over, placing a hand on John’s shoulder. "That was reckless! But... effective."

Thorin chuckled, rubbing a bruised shoulder. "You’ve got a flair for the dramatic, I'll give you that."

John grinned, despite the soreness settling in. "If this ever becomes a movie, that's definitely the scene to Play the song "I need a Hero"

Kaia rolled her eyes but smiled, casting a quick healing spell over both of them. "Let’s loot what we can and get ready for the village. We’ve still got a long night ahead."

The group quickly scavenged the fallen goblins, finding a handful of gold coins, some crude weapons, and a few small vials of poison that piqued John's interest. He tucked them away for later.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

With the watchtower secured, they turned their attention to the distant glow of the goblin village. This was only the beginning.

John wiped his dagger clean on the goblin’s tattered tunic before rolling off the lifeless body. He groaned as he sat up, still feeling the lingering ache from the fight. Kaia knelt beside him, hands glowing as she channeled her healing magic. A soothing warmth spread through his body, numbing the pain.

“That was reckless,” she muttered, though her tone carried more relief than scolding.

John grinned through the pain. “Yeah, but it looked cool, right?”

Thorin let out a hearty laugh and reached down to pull John to his feet. “Aye, it was a sight, but next time try not to get stabbed before the fight’s over.”

With the immediate danger gone, they turned their attention to the bodies. John crouched over the goblin he had finished off and started rifling through its belongings. A crude belt pouch held a few copper coins and a jagged, rusted knife. He made a face and tossed the blade aside.

“Not exactly treasure troves,” he muttered.

Thorin pulled a small pouch off one of the ground-level goblins and jingled it. “At least they’ve got some coin. Not much, but it adds up.”

Kaia, ever the practical one, searched the goblins with an eye for useful items. She pulled free a small vial with a dark liquid inside. “Poison,” she guessed, holding it up to the dim moonlight. “Could be useful.”

John pocketed what little he found of value: a few more coins, a slightly better-conditioned dagger than the one he discarded, and a tattered scrap of parchment with indecipherable scribbles. Probably nothing important, but he stuffed it into his bag anyway.

“Alright, let’s clean this up before someone stumbles on our handiwork,” John said.

They dragged the bodies into the underbrush, covering them with leaves and loose branches. It wasn’t perfect, but in the dark, it would at least buy them some time before another patrol came across them.

With that done, they ascended the tower to get a better look at the village.

The night was still, the flickering glow of small fires casting eerie shadows across the cluster of crude huts. Most were small and hastily built, little more than wood and thatch. In the center, however, stood a larger, more elaborate structure. It had wooden reinforcements and even a small banner hanging near the entrance. Two goblins stood guard outside, weapons at the ready.

“That’s gotta be the chief’s hut,” John whispered.

Thorin nodded. “Aye, looks more important than the rest.”

Kaia studied the layout. “There’s not much movement. Most of them must be asleep.”

John rubbed his chin, formulating a plan. “If we go in now, we’ll be overwhelmed. But if we cause some chaos first…”

Thorin caught on immediately. “Fire.”

John grinned. “Exactly. We set fire to a few huts, get them scrambling. In the chaos, the chief will come out, and that’s when we strike.”

Kaia looked uncertain. “Burning their homes?”

“They’re goblins,” Thorin said with a shrug. “They literally eat children.”

John placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s about distraction, not destruction. We don’t need to burn the whole place down—just enough to throw them into disarray.”

She sighed but nodded. “Fine. But let’s be smart about it.”

John smirked. “Smart is my middle name.”

Kaia rolled her eyes. “That’s the biggest lie I’ve heard all day.”

"You're right it's Radburn," John said laughing

With their plan in place, they descended from the tower, moving like shadows toward the village, ready to strike.

***

John crouched low in the underbrush, Kaia and Thorin flanking him. The goblin village lay ahead, dark and quiet, save for the occasional crackle of a dying campfire.

"You remember the plan," John whispered. "Three huts, three fires, then we meet back here."

Kaia nodded, gripping her staff. Thorin grunted his agreement.

They moved like shadows, each slipping toward their target. John crept to the nearest hut, pressing against the rough wooden wall. He pulled a small flask of oil from his pack, drizzling it along the base before striking flint to steel. A tiny flame sparked, then caught. He backed away as the fire licked hungrily up the dried wood.

Across the village, another hut flared to life—Kaia’s work. A moment later, Thorin’s hut was ablaze as well.

The flames spread quickly. Soon, shouts and panicked cries filled the night as goblins stumbled from their homes, eyes wide with terror.

John slipped back to the treeline, where Kaia and Thorin waited. The three of them watched in silence as chaos took hold.

"That should get their attention," John murmured, a wicked grin playing on his lips.

"Now we wait for the chief," Thorin said.

The village lay in chaos as flames licked at the wooden huts, sending plumes of black smoke into the night sky. Goblins ran in every direction, shrieking in panic, while others desperately tried to smother the spreading fire with dirt or crude buckets of water. Hidden in the shadows, John, Thorin, and Kaia watched the madness unfold.

"This is our chance," John whispered. "We go for the chief while the others are distracted."

They had scouted the village from the watchtower, noting that the only real defense left was the chief's hut—a larger, more elaborate dwelling at the village center, flanked by two goblin guards. As expected, one of the panicked goblins ran straight toward the hut to alert its leader.

The flap of the hut flew open, and out stepped the goblin chief. He was enormous compared to the others, standing nearly as tall as Thorin, with thick corded muscles, a jagged scar across his green-skinned chest, and a heavy iron axe resting on his shoulder. His yellow eyes swept across the burning village with a furious glare before he bellowed in the goblin tongue, barking orders at the scrambling warriors.

John slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out his enchanted earbuds, slipping them in just as the chief turned his gaze toward them. The moment they activated, the goblin’s guttural words transformed into something he could understand.

"You!" the chief roared, pointing at John. "Are you the ones who caused this terrible fire? You will pay for this!"

Thorin cracked his knuckles. "Guess that’s our cue."

The goblin guards flanking the chief readied their weapons—one wielding a rusted spear, the other a curved sword. Without hesitation, John sprinted forward, dagger in hand, while Thorin charged beside him. Kaia hung back, staff at the ready.

The battle erupted in a flurry of motion. John sidestepped a spear thrust and slashed at the goblin’s thigh, forcing it to stumble. Thorin took a heavy swing at the swordsman, their weapons clashing with a loud clang. Meanwhile, Kaia muttered an incantation, sending a burst of holy light toward the goblin John had wounded, paralyzing it mid-motion.

The chief growled and swung his axe at Thorin, who barely managed to block with his shield. The impact sent him skidding back a step, but he grinned. "That all you got?"

John rolled beneath another spear thrust and drove his dagger into the goblin's ribs. With a gurgled cry, the creature collapsed. He turned just in time to see Thorin bash the swordsman with his shield before bringing his axe down, finishing the fight.

That left only the chief.

With a furious roar, the goblin leader lunged at John, swinging his axe in a wide arc. John barely dodged in time, feeling the wind of the strike brush past his face. He countered with a quick slash to the chief’s arm, but it was like trying to cut leather—too thick to do real damage.

"Gonna take more than that!" John muttered.

Kaia cast another spell, golden energy enveloping John and Thorin, dulling their pain and sealing minor wounds. The chief took a swing at Thorin again, but this time the fighter stood his ground, taking the blow with his shield and using the opening to land a deep gash on the goblin’s side.

Snarling, the chief staggered, dropping to one knee. Blood dripped from his wounds, yet his eyes still burned with defiance.

"You fight well," the chief growled. "But if you kill me, my people will have no leader."

John hesitated, glancing at the huddled goblins at the village’s edge. Women and children—some crying, others clinging to one another in terror. The men still capable of fighting were too busy with the fires to pose a threat.

"You can’t stay here," John said. "Find another place."

The chief's expression darkened. "We cannot. We are all that remains of our old village. A necromancer came, raising the dead from our own graves. Our lands died. The sun no longer shines there. Beasts of darkness roam. We fled with what few survivors we could. Here, we hoped to build anew."

John exchanged glances with Kaia and Thorin. Kaia looked visibly shaken, gripping her staff tightly. "A necromancer... That’s a perversion of life itself. My goddess will not allow this to continue."

Thorin nodded. "This is bigger than just some goblins setting up camp. If there's a necromancer out there, we need to end them before their power spreads."

John let out a slow breath, weighing the options. "Fine. We’ll deal with this necromancer. But no eating kids."

The chief let out a rough chuckle. "That is a lie humans tell about us."

John smirked. "Figures."

Thorin looked sheepishly at hearing the news he had believed since he was a child and his parents told him that if he didn't eat his kålrabi goblins would eat him.

With that, the fight was over. The trio helped the goblins extinguish the last of the fires. By the time dawn broke over the horizon, the village was exhausted but still standing. The chief approached them once more.

"Come," he said. "I will tell you everything I know of the necromancer."

John stretched his sore muscles. "Guess we're not sleeping anytime soon."

Kaia looked determined. "We have work to do."

Thorin rolled his shoulders. "Let’s hear what he has to say. Then, we kill ourselves a necromancer."

As the sun rose higher, the trio followed the Goblin chief toward his hut, ready to plan their next move.