True to his word Pops was managing quite well at keeping the twins away from the house and distracted. Granted he hadn't planned much, not that Momma had given him much time to plan anything, he just decided to wake them both up earlier than usual so they could help him out on his trip up the river Jalf. The town often shared responsibilities and today happened to be the day Pops was selected to sail his boat upstream to deliver supplies to the northern guardpost.

Sailing out on the river and breathing in all the unique smells it had to offer was more than enough to keep Pops alert and bright-eyed this early in the day.

"What a fresh morning we have ahead of us, huh gobs?" he turned away from Ramonas' steering wheel to face the twins, see how they were getting on.

Creedence was sat staring into space looking more zombified than usual, his head slightly bobbing forward every now and then as he fought to stay awake. Mudhoney on the other hand was resting her head against her right fist as she sat with an elbow on the side of the boat looking at Pops like she was wondering which part of him she should cut off first.

"Here, drink this" he tossed them both a warm flask of tea each, "Made enough for ya both 'fore we left."

Mudhoney caught both and handed one to her brother, he nodded his thanks then went back to staring out into the world and wishing he was still wrapped up in bed. They all drank their tea in silence for a few minutes whilst they carried on sailing towards their destination.

Mudhoney had a feeling she knew why Creedence and her were ushered out of the house so early this morning. It was a few days before their birth celebrations and Momma was usually the one who made the gifts and liked to make them in secret away from nosey souls. Last year she'd made Creedence a duster with plenty of pockets to contain all his little pencils and notebooks. For Mudhoney she'd made her the finest shortbow her little goblin brain could come up with.

Both were happily accepted by the two and carried just about everywhere.

Mudhoney loved hunting out in the forests that surrounded town, her favourite game was Possum or Weasels and she was very adept at hunting them. After a long day out she usually brought back enough to feed the neighbours, then in the dead of night, after supper, she was usually in her room making bone jewellery or hangings to leave on the branches of the trees around their home. Some of the younger goblins use to tease her and call her a witch for all the things she liked to make and drap all over nature. The reponse they got was always one that ended with them running away, terrified and her giggling.

"I'm just offerin' the tree gods somethin' so they'll come get ya!"

Creedence was currently looking out at the lands that was passing them by as they sailed on. Wondering to himself if it was at all possible humans were sighted in the area, or if Mudhoney was truly teasing him the pervious night. He'd never personally laid eyes on one before but he'd heard many a tale of strange pale creatures stealing goblin children in the dead of night from their beds, enslaving them and putting them to use in their buildings or fields. He shuddered briefly then took out one of his notebooks and decided to draw what he imagined one to look like.

"Say Pops, you ain't seen any 'oomans in the forests, have ya?"

Giving his son a quick glance, Pops then arched one of his eyebrows up and gave Mudhoney a quick look. She glanced back before pulling an apologetic grin and deciding to stare directly at the floor.

"Now you know your sister just likes to wind ya up son, ignore her tall tales"

"I knew she was kiddin', I just wondered is all" he uttered it all whilst putting the finishing touches to his design.

"No I ain't. But if they look like that?" He pointed out at Creedences' drawing of a tall being with a small head, big black eyes and large outstretched hands reaching out towards a scared looking goblin.

He chuckled slightly and gave his son a look of pride.

Creative lil' scamp, he thought to himself, just like Nicks.

He then looked back at his daughter, who was now admiring her brothers drawing. She then noticed her father was looking her way before signalling to her and come join him.

"Come up 'ere Mud, wanna see how you handle ol' Ramona today."

Mudhoney walked up and placed her hand on the wheel, she'd helped him steer the boat a few times before, down some of the smaller streams that surrounded town, so sailing up this river wasn't much of a challenge for her. She had a knack for sailing, just like her Pops and his before.

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After a brief moment of silence Mudhoney finally perked up and asked him what had been on her mind since he'd shook her out of bed, "What's Momma making this year?"

Nothing got past her, no matter how hard Nicks and him tried.

"I honestly have no idea, all she said was she wanted you two outta the way whilst she works"

"'sides you can't keep a secret to save your life" she gave him a sly smile as they carried on sailing towards their destination. She thought she could spot the flicker of light up ahead in the distance from the Northern guardtower.

"Yeah, don't I bloody know it" he chuckled to himself, knowing he could never really hide anything. His face seemed to spill out all he was thinking. No matter how hard he tried.

The light ahead was now getting bigger and brighter until eventually a tall metal structure appeared nestled against the rivers' shoreline, containing a high tower of which the light was shining from, and a small building extended out to the side. Situated next to the guardhouse was a small woodern pier.

"Now Mud, you wanna pull on the right handle now to slow her down. Don't want ya crashing against the docks."

Following his orders, Mudhoney now felt Ramonas' start to slow down, it almost sounded like purring. Pops quickly pulled out a shiny blue mushroom and popped it into the ships engine that was situated just behind him. A slight cool breeze rised up and back towards where Creedence was sitting, who was now writing away, totally oblivious they had reached their desination.

The engines flames the eventually died down as Mudhoney successfully docked the boat.

"Not bad Mud', you gettin' better than me at this" Pops nodded his approval then began tying Ramona to the port, making sure she didn't float away.

"Creedence, bud, you wanna go down below and start bringing them supplies up?"

"Sure Pops, just a sec" Creedence was much happier drawing or writing, his idea of fun was definitely not carrying four heavy boxes out of a boat then walking them all the way to the Guardhouses' storeroom. Granted it was only about a five minute walk away, but for him, it may as well have been fifty.

After a few attempts to give up, he finally managed to help carry all four boxes towards the guardhouses' storeroom around the back. Huffing and puffing Creedence decided to sit down on one of the boxes whilst his Pops knocked and waited for one of the guards to let him in.

After a breif moment he knocked again.

Then another time.

In that moment all three goblins came to the realisation that it was awfully quiet, even for this early in the morning. There was usually at least a couple of guards out on patrol.

"Odd" Pops' ears twitched about, scanning the area for any sounds.

"Gobs keep both ears up whilst I look round front" He pulled out a small blade then disappeared round the left side of the building, searching for any signs of life.

"Maybe everyones' sleepin" Creedence muttered, twiddling his thumbs as he did so.

Mudhoney was keeping a hold of her shortbow, readying herself to draw, just in case.

"Na, doubt it. Somethin' don't feel right" she now began walking alongside the buildings perimeter, scanning for clues as to what kind of situation they'd stumbled on.

" 'sides even the birds are quiet, explain that numbnuts"

He looked around at the trees, not so much as a single tweet erupted from the surrounding crows that sat perched and were surveying the area. He was sure some were looking directly at him.

He looked back at them and was overcome with a nevous feeling in his stomach. He was in need of a snack to settle his stomach.

After rummaging around in his pockets in search of food and finding none he shouted out to his sister, "Ya got any snacks on ya Mud?" he just caught sight of Mudhoney disappearing around the right side of the building.

He then remembered the last time he helped out on this delivery he'd met a friendly older gob called Cecil who happily let Creedence take a handful of ginger-root from the storeroom supplies.

"I wonder..." he thought aloud to himself as he hopped on off the box and walked towards the storeroom doors.

After a brief tap on the door he tried the handle.

Thanking whoever had forgotten to lock up, Creedence opened the door and walked inside.

It was roughly two seconds later that he wished he'd just stayed outside rather than letting his stomach overrule his thinking.