The Goblin’s home wasn’t anything like James expected, tight built houses were suspended off the ground attached to trees using crude methods to hammer boards into the very wood themselves. Ropes went from treehouse to treehouse, very few of them were tied up into bridges many of them hung like a vine in any of the jungle based stories from disney. Green moss covered everything, layered over the mud that kept most of it together, this reminded him oddly of the Lost Boys, their playground in the trees. Walls surrounded the area, not only closing the place off from the rest of the world but pointing spikes out at intruders.
If you knew about the walls, or any of the defensive structures then it wouldn’t be that deadly, they are far too low to the ground to cause much of a threat but James was informed that they were just to slow down the enemy’s charge. With their stones, and sharpened sticks they rained down death on the unsuspecting enemy from up high once their enemy was staggered. It was a lot more sophisticated than James gave them credit for. Climbing the structures up to the Elder’s house, one could appreciate the sheer size of the trees surrounding them, after the leaves and low hanging branches which made a labyrinth above their heads the trees stretched further still. There was a wonder of how long it would take to reach the top of these monstrosities.
Goblins climbed, jumped and flew in every direction above and below him, as he walked with the elder, the old gob’s beard swaying to and fro as he spoke of the culture of the goblins. They weren’t as barbaric as James thought, their society was built very crudely because they didn’t have time to advance. Every day was precious to a goblin as they only lived for forty seasons, or ten years fighting to evolve when only one out of every hundred ever get a chance to evolve into a hobgoblin. Those that evolve into a hobgoblin are taken to another village run by the more advanced race, whose lifespans were much longer reaching thirty to forty years of age before dying.
With the longer lifespans they were much further in technology actually having metal weapons and hunting the kobolds, or Dog-Heads according to goblins, for sport and food. Even with their reduced numbers they were like James where not even twenty goblins coming at a hobgoblin could strike him down.
The reason the Elder had come to him was because he suspected the pink goblin might give their little camp more of a fighting chance against the forces that surrounded the camp. Their small walls, the camps above the ground, and their weak fighting power were only enough so that their deaths would only number a few hundred during a year. Most goblin life seemed to be insignificant, for the greater of the whole, so long as the group could gain benefits they would gladly sacrifice several of their own, or maybe even themselves.
What they lacked in lifestyle they made up in the speed in which they learned skills and how fast they grew up. Like stories from video games in James’s past, these goblins could go from their baby larval form into a full warrior in only a handful of days. They would be like an infection, if three or four of them survived then there could be hundreds in a year, so full extermination was the only possible method to get rid of goblins out of an area.
This small tribe of goblins had been lucky, from their very primitive records they had survived for over two hundred years in this spot. Their ingenuity to stay off the ground to keep beasts from pinpointing them as easily, and the dirt covered houses that kept them smelling of nature all day and night. James had been warned that he was more than likely caught due to the stench that his human body gave off, that for some odd reason reminded the Elder of peaches.
James cursed his use of girly bodywash not thinking that it would put him in danger so quickly, but he doubted using something like Old Spice would help him either. Plus he hadn’t used the small bottles in his bag recently, only choosing to brush his teeth this morning which made the Elder sniff him with a pleasant smile on his face, commenting how the man smelled refreshing and gave him a really good feeling… He wouldn’t be using the toothpaste for a while.
Many goblins looked at him suspiciously, their weapons always drawn around him waiting for him to attack them, or harm the leader. Their small monkey like bodies swung around with grace, always keeping him in sight, but he wasn’t sure if they were the same goblins as the ones before to him they almost all looked the same other than the Elder.
“Green on green…” James muttered to himself, they were really suited to be part of the trees, though he really wished to see these hobgoblins that the Elder spoke of.
“Today we have something special to welcome you to our small village.” James smiled wearily at the thought of these being a small village, there was probably a few thousand goblins in this village. “There will be a feast in your honor!”
He’d definitely have to keep his boots on during his stay even if he got the skill recently for himself it was still only at level one until he took off the boots and tried training it. With just glances in the huts he only saw rotting meat, with mushrooms along it, he wasn’t sure which one they liked more of the two as some harvested the mold and mushrooms from the meat itself. Their habits were disgusting to him, but with their natural talents it made sense that they didn’t need to worry about cleanliness of their food.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Two small flashes of a forest yellow like leaves in autumn landed beside the Elder once he finished speaking, they looked to be a head taller than the normal goblins and about twice as fat. James frowned as their faces squished up a bit like that of a pig with an overgrown mouth which made them look rather creepy.
“Look at this squishy goblin, he thinks he’s something because he’s pink.” One of the yellow goblins laughed a bit and poked its pudgy finger at James which he simply stepped back so he wouldn’t get touched by the slimy thing.
“I’m not.. a goblin.” He looked over the two goblins in front of him, he could tell they weren’t much stronger than the usual goblins around him maybe enough to take on two of them due to their bigger size. They couldn’t be Hobgoblins, he wondered why they were yellow instead of the usual green of the other goblins.
“Eh, what do you think you’re a hobgoblin already or some variant?” The first one looked annoyed as his finger touched nothing, so he grabbed at the dagger to his side. It was larger than the dagger the usual goblins had, and a shiny black like the kobold weapons but was sturdier.
Once the dagger was grabbed James reached forward, a light flashing along his eyes as the arm of the yellow goblin exploded in a pop of bones, blood, and flesh. With a quick grab, the dagger was now his. He held the dagger up to look at it, it was indeed something different, this had the cool touch of metal rather than the feel of glass that obsidian had.
Skill gained Persuasion!
He looked confused for a second, then ignored it tucking the dagger into his belt, the new feat that he had gotten was more powerful than he thought. It made him a bit worried about the creatures of this world, if they could handle something like this then he needed to get stronger much faster than he was currently.
As the yellow goblin clutched at its arm screaming in pain, James walked slowly past him, the other looking at him horrified as he tried to move his body to cover up his own dagger. He wasn’t quite sure if that was the reason his friend got his hand blown off in that moment. The ones watching James all this time seemed to back off leaving a wide circle where no goblins dared cross.
The Elder also seemed to lose his stride in the conversation, a few strands of hair left on the bridge behind them fearing this would anger the pink goblin. Seeing that his face remained expressionless the goblin sighed in relief.
To be honest, James was wondering why he was so apathetic towards the goblins, like their lives didn’t mean much to him. Strangely enough the system answered him for the first time.
Wisdom: Keeps your emotions steady, and helps in times of crisis letting you choose the right path ahead of you based on past experience.
Would that mean the more wisdom the less he’d feel, the less he’d care about the world around him? He shook his head. This didn’t seem right, he felt like this lessened the impact on him so he could control his emotions better, not lack them like a sociopath.
Nodding he looked back to the Elder who was now staying a step behind his own, “So a feast.. I would gladly love to join you. Can I get fresh meat though?”
The Elder looked disgusted for a moment, “Fresh meat doesn’t have any flavor, you have to let it rot for at least a week or two!” This elder was a bit of a glutton so he knew you had to let the meat rot in some high quality mold before the meat would truly bring out its flavor.
“Trust me, I’ll show you how we prepare our food where I’m from, it might even make you as strong as me.” James smiled a bit as the Elder grinned, showing his teeth in a friendly but at the same time predatory way. The Elder probably had a few things up his sleeves, but he didn’t bother with them, he didn’t want to make this old goblin his enemy anyway.
“Do you have spell casters, or shamans within your goblins.”
The Elder visibly paled, this was a well kept secret from most other species, their shamans kept their people from getting sick or injured. Without them many more goblins would die and it would be harder to expand their numbers. As an Elder, even if he didn’t admit it to his less intelligent subjects, he knew that James was not a goblin even though he kept insisting that he was.
“Don’t worry, I wish to learn from them not harm them.” Smiling as the green came back to the Elder’s cheeks.
“Not many people can learn from shamans, they deal with unknown magics that most races can’t touch on. The very souls within our bodies, calling upon the spirits to heal us.”
James’s smile became a grin as he nodded, hoping that he’d learn a bit more about his own class and skills from these shamans. Though the rest of the trip was heavy, and awkward as they walked one worried that some of the other goblins would attack and ruin their visitor’s mood, and the other trying to think over his plans now that he was here.
The last of the climb only took them another thirty minutes navigating the vines, the goblin pointed at branches that were marked in red cloth and told James that that was the quickest way down if he had balance of at least level 5, then suggested that he visit the goblin’s training area if he didn’t.
“Thank you for your hospitality,” James laid down his bags in one of the Elder’s rooms, to lay down for the rest of the night. Wondering how the sun got down from the far off canopy of the trees, and with that final thought the first day in this world came to an end.
A blue box appeared after James fell asleep.
7.5 billion people before expansion
5.25 billion after expansion
4.2 billion after day 1
Calculating prize for first day of survival…