Leandra examined Modok's heart in her hands. It no longer dripped blood, and it looked a little battered, but there was no mistaking it, it was a Greater Fiend's heart. She placed it into a sack and turned to her companions.

"We got everything, let's go," she said.

Graul nodded in agreement. He had his shield strapped to his back and his curved sword hung by his hip. In addition, the Goblin warrior managed to scrounge up some armor from the Howlers. Graul wore a mail shirt under a bronze breastplate and greaves strapped to his shins. Ziplocke snickered. He thought Graul would have looked formidable if he was not under four feet in height.

"What's so funny?" Graul asked. His voice rumbled like thunder in the distance.

Ziplocke shrugged and replied, "What? Nothing."

"What are we waiting for? Make the portal," Leandra ordered.

The Goblin Lord narrowed his eyes at her and said, "I am thinking. Is it wise for all three of us to go? I also have a lot of other concerns."

Graul and Leandra threw their hands up in the air and muttered to themselves. Leandra placed her fists at her hips, and Graul crossed his arms and scowled at Ziplocke.

Leandra spoke, "Well, I sure as hell will not stay here. So, I'm coming."

Graul snickered, "Same for me. I would not want to miss seeing her explode as she tried to consume the Magnificence Gem."

Ziplocke blinked, and he said, "Well, I'm the one with the Lord powers and can create the Rift, so I can't stay either."

"Why do we even need one of us to stay?" Graul asked.

Ziplocke motioned to the chaos that surrounded them in the throne room. Hundreds of smaller Goblins ran rampant. Many were even armed with weapons from the Howlers, and they attacked each other. A few Goblins lay on the floor, and Ziplocke was not sure if they were dead or sleeping. The two Greater Goblins did not appear concerned.

"You've been away too long. This is normal Goblin behavior," Leandra pointed out.

Graul nodded and added, "Besides, I put Lummox in charge."

The aforementioned Goblin was standing on the throne and striking the Lesser Goblins as they danced around him with the blunt end of a Howler spear. Lummox giggled when he managed to knock the smaller Demons unconscious.

"I'm not very confident with his ability to lead. What if the Greater Fiends mount an attack?" Ziplocke asked.

"They flee through the portal and close it. We went over this already!" Graul snapped.

Leandra snickered and said, "Yeah, are you losing it?"

Ziplocke slapped his forehead and rubbed his face. There were a lot of details that were missing. He missed Dunar! The Proven Leader would know what to do.

Graul scowled and stated, "Look, we have a good plan. We barter Modok's Heart with the Winter Sprite for the location of the humans who stole the gem. We get the gem and evolve one of us into a Goblin Lord. With two Lords, we can definitely reclaim the Spire."

Ziplocke cried, "There are so many holes in that plan!"

"It was your plan!" Leandra shot back.

"So I should know!" Ziplocke shouted.

Graul hissed, "So tell us what the holes are."

Ziplocke became flustered and stuttered his words. Finally, he managed to say, "How do we know the Winter Sprite won't lie to us? Huh? Do we seriously want to trust him?"

Leandra held up the Pact she stole from the other Fey merchant. The reason they were chased by the Iron Trolls. "We use this. It sets a curse to ensure that both business parties are honest for the transaction."

"See? Everything will work out," Graul added.

Ziplocke nodded. This was good. Talking the plan out was helpful for him. He had more questions. "How do we get the Gem from the Humans?"

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"We steal it. How tough can a bunch of Humans be in the Abyssal plane?" Leandra replied.

This time, Graul appeared to be less confident. The stocky Goblin pointed out, "Well, they did defeat a Greater Fiend."

Leandra was still determined, so she pointed at Ziplocke. "We have a Goblin Lord! We are more formidable."

"Hey! We all know I'm not good in a fight," Ziplocke replied.

Leandra placed her fists on her hips and stomped her foot. "Fine! We don't have to fight the Humans. Why does everything involve fighting with you two? We can sneak in and steal the gem. That is what us Goblins are good at!"

A light bulb went off in Ziplocke's head. Or, the magical equivalent did, at least. So many ideas came to the forefront that it was hard for Ziplocke to keep them together. He became excited and held his hands to his temples in order to keep the thoughts inside.

"Is he okay?" Graul asked.

Leandra shook her head. "No, I think he lost it."

"I am fine! You gave me a brilliant idea!" Ziplocke cried.

Graul sighed and shook his head. "Great! That is all we need, another plan."

Ziplocke continued, "Leandra is a genius!"

The blue-eyed Goblin grinned and held a hand to her chest. "I know!"

Ziplocke shook his head and said, "I have been thinking of this Goblin Uprising all wrong. I was thinking in terms of war and how the Greater Fiends took control. We are not warriors!"

Graul scowled and said, "Speak for yourself."

Leandra blinked and asked, "I don't understand. How can we achieve a Goblin Uprising without warriors?"

Graul laughed. "I thought you were the genius!"

Leandra stuck her tongue out at him. Ziplocke clapped his hands to get their attention.

"Us Goblins are good from the shadows. We are tricksters! We can sow chaos! We don't need to fight the Fiends. We can cause them to fight each other!" He cried.

Graul and Leandra grinned and nodded excitedly. Their eyes went wide, and then their jaws opened, but no words came out. They both blinked rapidly.

"I'm not sure I get this plan," Graul finally said.

Leandra sulked with her ears pulled back, and she admitted, "Me too." She was supposed to be a genius.

Ziplocke motioned to the horde of screaming Goblins. "Instead of fighting the Fiends head-on, we unleash these little guys into their territories with the goal of causing chaos. Turning the Fiends against each other."

Leandra's blue eyes lit up. "Through trickery and deceit!"

"Exactly!" Ziplocke exclaimed.

Graul nodded eagerly, "That could work!"

"Lummox!" Ziplocke screamed into the chamber.

In moments, the sleepy-eyed Regular Goblin loped over.

"Yes, sir!" Lummox saluted so hard that he nearly knocked himself out.

"We have a job for you. Are you up for it?" Ziplocke asked.

"Yes!" Lummox cried and then blinked. "Wait. What type of job?"

Grual snickered. "Too late, you already agreed to it."

Lummox sulked with his pointed ears pulled back. Ziplocke placed a hand on the smaller Goblin's shoulder and leaned close.

"How much do you enjoy pranks?" He asked.

Lummox nodded his head vigorously.

Leandra leaned in next and asked, "How do you like stealing?"

Lummox's eyes went wide, and he nodded even more vigorously.

Graul was next and he asked, "How about tricking others, lets say Fiends, into fighting each other?"

Lummox nearly fainted from the amount of nodding he was doing.

Ziplocke slapped the Goblin on the back and announced, "Good! Lummox. You are in charge of gathering the most devious, the most vile, the most cunning Goblins. Bring them to us. We will give you a mission of most importance!"

"Yes, sir!" Lummox cried and ran off.

Ziplocke nodded confidently. "This is going to be good."

His colleagues agreed. But something nagged at the back of Graul's mind.

"Weren't we supposed to do something else?" The Greater Goblin wondered.

Leandra held up the sack that contained Modok's heart. "We were going back to the market."

"Yes!" Ziplocke cried. "Once we send Lummox and the others off on the missions, we will head out to get the Gem of Magnificence."

The three waited. And waited. They played cards. They sang songs together. Finally, the three lounged around the throne, each in their own thoughts.

Ziplocke wondered, "Did Lummox forget his orders?"

Graul glanced up from the book he was reading. "I think so."

Leandra had knitted a full sweater. "I think we are better off gathering over a hundred Goblins and sending them off each into the territories and just hope for the best."

"Many will lose their lives," Ziplocke observed.

The three snickered as they imagined the horrible fates.

"But that is war," Graul stated.

Ziplocke slapped the throne and stood up. "It's settled! Let's gather a hundred Goblins and tell them their mission, and then we will send them off!"

"Agreed!" Leandra rose.

The three marched off into the castle filled with Goblins to gather one hundred for the important mission of sewing chaos among the Fiends. While they were away, a tiny Lesser Goblin stumbled upon Leandra's sack. Curious, the small Goblin tilted its head and opened the sack. The small Goblin's eyes went wide as they retrieved the battered form of Modok's heart. Another Goblin snatched the heart and ran away, giggling. Another Goblin tripped the other Goblin, and Modok's heart fell from its grasp to tumble along the floor, where another Goblin picked it up. In moments, dozens of Goblins were scrambling, clawing, and scheming to get the heart as it got lost within the castle.