After many days of travel and search, I finally discovered what seemed to be the perfect location for the beginnings of a new goblin kingdom. It fit all the checklist criteria. It possessed ample forest areas, it was surrounded by steep mountains on two sides, and the mountainous regions could potentially be a treasure trove of mineable minerals. It was adjacent to a vast body of water that appeared to have great potential and was teeming with aquatic life, in the future it could prove quite profitable for starting a massive shipping business. The mountains would provide some defense and for the ocean and forest sides, a mighty walled fortress could be made once the city was up and running.

This area has great potential for all of our present and future needs. This will do nicely. Now I just have to bust my ass and educate my people. Luckily for me, I have a library full of forgotten knowledge! Well, I suppose we should start sooner rather than later. After getting the goblins settled in we rested briefly and had lunch. While they were eating I beckoned my Golem over and started rifling through the many bags he wore. I pulled out all the recognizable lumber work tools I found and set them aside. After that, I opened my spatial storage and had the rest of the items besides the spoiled centipede meat moved inside by my handy dandy skeleton crew.

Taking the centipede shell to go plates out, I untied them and buried the rotten food. I then rinsed the centipede shell plates off in the water and stored them away for later use. I’m sure they’ll be useful for something at some point. Before we start building I should introduce the Brothers to Chooftoof, and consult Chooftoof about this evolution stuff! Well, I suppose I should go drag the Brothers away from whatever task they’ve given themselves in this break period.

Walking through the woods I followed the presence of the Brothers I felt through the mental link. Quickly and quietly as I could manage I made my way through the woods. Through the link that we shared, I knew I was drawing quite close to the Brother's location. As I was closing in on them a familiar feeling gently flowed through my mind. It was a message from the Brothers simultaneously urging me to halt my progress and cease any noise I was making. Immediately I stopped moving and remaining as silent as possible sent a questioning thought through the link. Without a pause, an image of a large boar appeared in my head followed shortly by meat roasting over a fire.

Ok, they are hunting. Seems like they weren’t just warriors in their past lives. Interesting, and a lot of potential for teaching the goblins how to hunt for themselves. The Brothers slowly stalked the boar as if they were herding it toward a certain route, a route they had specifically chosen. Illeorv tossed stones at the beast's hindquarters with just enough power to drive it forward. Burwil ran ahead just out of the boar's reach drawing its ire, stirred up by Illeorv. The boar charged forward driven by fear and blinded by rage. Burwil increased his pace putting some extra distance between him and the boar. He then leaped into the air, grabbed a vine, and swung out of the boar's path.

The boar's tusks barely missed skewering Burwil before he escaped to safety in the trees. The boar's rage swelled by the disappearance of its target, and it continued its forward charge barreling through the shrubs. Illeorv fired off a few more stones to encourage the direction, while Burwil watched from on high.

Loud squealing filled the air as the boar's charge was interrupted as the ground beneath its feet broke. The raging beast was impaled on the spikes that filled the pit trap that Burwil had cleverly installed. The trap and the beast being harried into it was a great plan, and my opinion of the Brother's capabilities soared.

I was deeply impressed by my new allies and eagerly awaited how they were going to finish the tasks of the hunt. I will have to learn this too, it seems like it could come in handy if I ever find myself in a desperate situation. I’ll have to make sure I add it to the list of things to teach and learn for our new community. Burwil scurried down the tree after the squeals started. He hastily made his way to the edge of the pit trap and stood next to Illeorv. The Brothers looked down at the boar and smiled in satisfaction, that even though they haven’t used these skills in a long time, they still had them.

Burwil then waited for the last flicker of the boar's life to fade before skillfully climbing down on top of the boar's corpse. Burwil then wrapped a rope around the beast and secured them with several tight knots. After making sure it was secure he exited the pit by jumping off the boar and then jumping from the wall to the edge of the pit. He pulled himself out and then dusted the dirt off. Illeorv and Burwil grabbed the ropes and started pulling the boar off the spikes and out of the pit. Once the beast was freed from the pit, Illeorv quickly rinsed the dirt off the wounds with a jug of water. They went to lift the boar up to carry it back to camp when I stopped them.

“Wait a moment. There is no reason to expend all that effort to carry it back to camp. Please let me demonstrate what I mean.” I said.

“Spatial Storage!” I chanted.

A bright light burst into existence that made the Brothers shield their eyes. They stepped back in shock at the portal that tore open the space in front of them. The Brothers looked at the portal and then stared at me in wonder.

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“Unexpected and Impressive,” Burwil uttered.

“Amazing! Even in our day, Spatial Magic was rare. Practically nonexistent. Truly remarkable. You just seem to be full of surprises. Necromancy and Spatial Magic. Both extremely rare forms of magic that are rarely seen.” Illeorv explained.

“That is an interesting tidbit, my friends. I suppose Necromancy and Spatial Magic would turn out to be quite rare. Simply based on how useful they are. I will use whatever tool I can acquire to change the date of Goblinkind!” I replied.

“Spatial Magic is rare because it happens to be a magic element that the majority of those born into all races have no aptitude for,” Illeorv said.

“On the other hand, Necromancy is rare because its study and use were outlawed. Practitioners and any who harbored them or their knowledge were hunted down and executed. Any works on Necromancy, no matter how minuscule the reference, were burned.” Burwil stated.

“Well, I’d better make sure we leave none alive after our battles to reveal my use of Necromancy to our enemies,” I responded.

“That would be ideal!” Illeorv and Burwil replied simultaneously.

After this conversation, Illeorv and Burwil lifted the boar and gently dumped it inside the spatial storage. I stopped channeling my mana into the spell and the portal to my spatial storage disappeared immediately. Burwil and Illeorv then broke the spikes and buried them while filling the pit back in. After the pit was filled back in the Brothers knelt and uttered a quick prayer to Chooftoof.

“Oh Heavenly Goblinfather, we thank you for this generous bounty. We dedicate our lives to you anew. We will topple the Goblin traitor and bring you back into the light. This we vow! In life and death, we serve only your will.” Illeorv and Burwil both prayed.

They still pray to Chooftoof. Even after dying, after all this time has passed. Even in undeath, they pray to Chooftoof. Now that’s some serious dedication. Impressive. After they finished their prayer they stood up and walked to my side. They stopped in front of me and spoke.

“Thank you for waiting while we conversed with our Lord,” Burwil said solemnly.

“Yes. We are grateful and appreciative.” Illeorv said.

“It isn’t any trouble. I’m quite impressed with your dedication to Chooftoof. Now let’s get back and feed our people. Then we start creating our new home.” I responded.

We then made the uneventful trek back to our camp. We arrived back at camp to discover all the goblins fast asleep. The skeletons were just milling about oblivious to the events taking place around them. After unsuccessfully trying to wake a few of them up, a feeling of dread crept up my spine. I looked around, eyes darting back and forth, trying to locate the source of this terror gripping me. It wasn’t long after that that I found what I was looking for.

A large pair of eyes, glowing eerily yellow, had their gaze locked onto me. Suddenly an intense drowsiness came over me. Fighting against this beast's power my willpower was put to the test. I. Will. Not. Succumb. You’ve. Fucked. Up. Now! Roaring with an unending rage at this creature's gall, I fueled my struggle with everything I had. Magical energy surged through my entire being reinforcing my will with the power bestowed upon me by Chooftoof. My entire body clenched as I pushed back with every bit of this reinvigorated willpower. The drowsiness slowly lifted as I clawed my way back from the brink of disaster.

The sheer force of my retaliation brought a whimper from the mysterious beast afflicting the goblins. The ghostly yellow eyes, leering at me from the shadows, narrowed sharply before a low growl erupted from the depths of the darkness. The eyes grew larger as the beast made its way toward me. The beast's violent intentions were palpable. The glare these eyes delivered upon me promised death. Unafraid, I walked closer, forcing the paralyzing force of this creature's otherworldly stare further away from me with each step.

The beast lumbered closer and closer until the moonlight revealed its horrid visage. The creature of nightmares was cat-like but unlike any cat, I’d ever seen. For starters, it was at least twice the size of a lion. Long thin tentacles protruded out of the sides of its neck. They whipped back and forth through the air as if in anticipation of tasting my flesh. Droplets of a mysterious substance leaked out of the tentacle edges.

The beast lunged at me tentacles lashing toward my body. I dodged as quickly as I could manage, but it wasn’t quite fast enough. One of the tentacles managed to score a hit on my arm. A roar of pain broke through my clenched teeth as the hidden barbs of the tentacle ripped into my flesh. The substance secreted by the beast's appendages seeped into my open wound.

My arm started to tingle as the creature's venom slowly courses through my veins. The tingle heightened as I could feel my arm going numb. This is bad. This devilish beast has more than one way to inflict paralysis. Is this the end? In a panic, I ripped my arm away from the thorny appendage and fled to a safer distance. Instantly I started casting spells.

“Bone Armor!” I shouted.

The familiar bone plates manifested, encasing my entire body in thick armor. I raised my right arm to cast an offensive spell, but to my dismay, my wounded arm lost all strength and fell to my side limply. This isn’t good! I better hurry up and kill this bastard beast before the venom disables me entirely! Noticing the beast readying itself for another lunge I hastily threw my good arm up in its direction and let loose.

“Decay!” I yelled angrily.

Green energy coalesced in my hand and a cloud of black mist engulfed the monster lunging toward me. The creature let out a whimper of pain as the decaying mist damaged it and inflicted its debuffs. The creature seemed more aggravated than hurt as its eyes narrowed while its gaze bore through me.