Chez was the first to react. He picked up a spear that had belonged to a nearby corpse and hurled it at the goblin spawn. The throw was far off course and impaled a wall a few feet to the side. The terrified goblin screamed louder as it bolted back to the bedroom, and groggy, angry grumbling echoed from the bedroom in response.

Chez and I rushed after it and made it to the edge of the doorway in just a few short seconds and heard angry goblin voices trying to talk over the wordless screams of the young goblin. I handed Chez his stone-tipped spear, readied one of my wooden spears, and stepped into the doorway. Five naked goblins were lying on top of a sty that had once been a bed. There was a particularly large male goblin in the center, four female goblins sprawled around him, and half a dozen goblin spawn lurking in the corners of the room. All of them seemed to be berating the screaming child with annoyed glares, which turned to shock as they caught sight of me.

I tried to hurl my spear at the large male, but the bulky shoulder pads prevented me from raising my arm high enough. I awkwardly tossed it by swinging my arm out to the side and completely missed my target, though it caught one of the nearby females in the chest. Chez had no such difficulties and charged the unarmed goblins with his spear, impaling another one of the females while the remaining goblins scrambled away from us, toward the other side of the bed. I readied another spear and advanced with Chez. The male shoved the last two females toward us, and they died, impaled on our spears. The male finally arrived at what he had been scrambling to reach. He brandished an ornately carved ivory club and roared in defiance as he charged.

The naked goblin never got close. The club was large, but its reach was too lacking when compared to our spears. Chez and I both stabbed at the charging goblin’s chest, and my wooden spear tore through his heart. The beast’s sacrifice of his mates to buy time to reach his weapon was utterly fruitless.

~Ding!

Skill Unlocked: Spears Spears: (Endurance Skill) Keep your enemies at a distance and run them through. Increases damage dealt with spears by %1 per level. Current level: (1)

I had finally unlocked the spears skill. I was surprised it had taken so long, but all I could think of was that thrown spears might not count towards the skill, and I hadn’t killed many goblins in melee combat with spears.

The six goblin spawn cowered in a corner of the room while Chez picked up the white ivory club and admired it longingly. I was debating what to do with the damn goblin brats when I heard grunting and growling coming from the apartment’s main room. I waved to get Chez’s attention and then pointed at the young goblins, “Stay,” I ordered quietly. Chez stuck out his chin and then lowered a menacing glare on the little beasts.

I cautiously entered the main room and was relieved to find that the voices were coming from the hallway. The rest of the apartment seemed to be clear of living goblins, and I peeked around the corner towards the apartment entrance. The door was still open, and there was a small crowd of goblins standing next to the slain guards and staring at the carnage we had left in the main room. I heard a thud, then screaming coming from the bedroom, and then more thuds and screams. I rushed back, terrified that something had happened to Chez as I remembered that we hadn’t checked the closet. I found Chez standing over six little corpses with a bloody ivory club.

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“Chez!” I roared and then winced as the grumbling and chittering from the hallway ceased for a moment before being replaced by shouts and howls. I panicked. There was a horde of goblins in the hallway between us and the stairwell, and Chez had just murdered a bunch of children. I struggled to develop a plan that would get us out of here, but for now, all I could do was try and keep the horde out. “Chez, come!” I ordered as I ran back into the main room.

Chez raced to follow me, and we arrived just in time to see a few goblins cautiously stepping through the threshold. I roared my most fearsome battle cry, “Fuck off!” and hurled my spear. I hit one of the goblins, and it went down screaming. I drew another spear and charged, making as much noise as possible. The goblins backed up just a few short steps toward the crowd waiting behind them, but it was enough. Just as the goblins found confidence from standing amongst more than a dozen of their kin and readied their weapons, I grabbed the edge of the door and slammed it shut with all my strength.

It didn’t quite close all the way, as it slammed into their bodies, caught on their toes, and pinned one’s arm between the door and doorframe with a sickening snap. Those that were hit stumbled back, and the goblin with the broken arm pulled his limb free when I eased off the pressure for a moment. Before any of them could get the idea to jam the door open with a weapon, I slammed it shut and backed off away from the hole, spear at the ready. While the beasts on the other side howled and screeched, Chez finished off the wounded goblin, and I was reminded of the dead goblin children.

Yelling at him now would accomplish nothing. He wouldn’t know why I was angry, and I couldn’t explain it, but I was disturbed. He had never done anything to harm me since I took him in and had proven his loyalty multiple times in combat, but I had started to see him as different from the other goblins. I thought he was better, more human. I didn’t mind his ruthlessness in battle because it helped us win, and he had protected me by killing his own kin.

While I had much bigger problems to worry about, such as being trapped by an angry horde in a ransacked apartment that likely had no edible food left in it, I couldn’t help fixating on those dead children. Sure, they almost certainly would have grown up to be monsters I would have had to kill later, but maybe they wouldn’t. I wasn’t in a place to take care of children of any species, but maybe if I raised and taught them, they could be like Chez. Then again, Chez wasn’t exactly a good role model at the moment.

A green head interrupted my distracted panic as it peeked through the hole, and I stabbed its throat, causing it to collapse, gurgling halfway through the breach. The corpse was soon dragged back through to the hallway, and then the screeching grew louder. I could hear the sounds of tearing flesh and gnashing teeth over the clamor of the horde. Seconds ago, that goblin was alive, and now it was food.

This situation was extremely dangerous. I could stab every goblin that came through as long as I could remain awake, but eventually, I would have to sleep. I glanced at Chez and despaired. I had seen just how ineffective goblin sentries were, and while I was reasonably certain Chez wasn’t going to kill me in my sleep, it was a lot harder to feel safe around him after what he had just done. I wouldn’t be getting any sleep with him on guard duty.

I could try and make a barricade. There was a decently thick wooden table I could use and plenty of furniture I could pile on to press it against the wall, but that would only buy me time. I didn’t know how fast a horde of determined goblins could break through a table, and it wouldn’t solve the issue of food either.

Even if I broke through the walls and exited out of another apartment, the group of goblins outside was standing right next to the stairwell door. I would have to either break through every apartment all the way to the other side of the building or run through the hallway and hope there were no goblins in the way to slow me down. Breaking through them all was risky because I could find another den, but running was also dangerous because if anything slowed me down the horde might have a chance to catch up to me from behind.

Another goblin stuck its head through, and Chez gleefully stabbed it until its comrades dragged the corpse away. We were trapped, but at least Chez was having a good time.