We finally arrived at the goblin village after three days worth of walking. With the deceased goblins hyenas bound to our will through domination, carrying our ill gotten gains, the goblin chieftain had not reneged on his promise. We camped over a grassy outcrop, overlooking the village. It was a large goblin village, numbering around 200 or so men, women and children. Many guards overlooked the area, with bounteous loot.
They were a wealthy village, many of them were using metal tools. Steel, bronze and iron could all be seen among the mix of the group. The people were rich, many of them had precious stones and jewelry that could be seen amongst them. They were by far the wealthiest tribe this side of the Afwan river.
It was nearing evening, the sun had begun to set, casting the world in a soft red glow. I exhaled loudly, looking over at our captive slave who was set behind a large rock and gagged to ensure he could not warn his compatriots that we were arriving.
I walked over, sitting down in front of him as I looked the goblin in the eye before speaking, “How did your tribe amass this much wealth? No tribe on these plains have ever had wealth such as yours. Explain yourself.”
The goblin was a coward, a craven fool who would sell his child to save himself. Apparently his name was P’avev and he was the chieftain of this village. Not a well liked one it seems, despite the fact it was 3 days since he left. No one had sent for him. I gestured for As’Kal to undo his gag, allowing the disgusting creature to speak.
The moment the gag fell, the creature spoke in his disgusting high pitched voice. “My lord. My tribe has raided many villages beyond the Afwan river, to the west. There we have found groups of people known as Hoo-mans. Who have different skin tones and hair color. They are well clad in steel and iron. Their high caste members are clad with fine furs and precious ston-”
I raise a hand, cutting him off. He had been obedient thus far, so I decided to let him live for now. I had a use for him, his knowledge was important to me. I pondered this information for a second, the revelation now developing more and more. It appears there are humans in this world, not just orcs, goblins and ogres. This means there must be more continents out there, instead of the one I currently reside on.
I gestured for As’Kal to gag him once more, which he did so. P’avev did not struggle and acted defiantly like an orc would. Simply content to being a coward, a former chieftan turned to a slave. With a large exhale, I stood up, walking down the outcrop to a more shaded area. Boulders and trees dotted the area, sparse cover, but cover nonetheless. The boulders were warm too, having soaked up the heat of the sun. It would provide good bedding for the night.
I sit down next to the boulder, gesturing for the rest to come. I point towards one of the trees and gesture to P’avev. “As’Kal, tie the goblin by the throat to the tree. If he resists, kill him. We’ll be launching a night raid.I’ll keep the first watch and wake you up later. Simply follow my instructions when the time comes and you shall have fame, glory and wealth.”
The orcs knew not to disobey me, even though I had broken the honor code. I was the Chosen of Pandar, which meant that despite me breaking the rules of combat, I had divine right on my side. Of course, my loyal servant Chagganath also served as a deterrent for the others who may attempt to kill me or disobey.
Good, all leaders need a useful dog at their side to threaten others. A tool to use to bind others into submission, to intimidate them into obeying, that was the nature of things. The rest of them laid down to go to sleep, as As’Kal did what he was told wordlessly. They had learnt to fear and respect me. I exhaled loudly as I prepared for the night ahead, keeping watch for the time being. It would soon be time for my first proper raid.
_____
It was now night, stars covered the heavens as darkness covered the land. I quickly roused everybody, dragging them to their feet. Our slave was fast asleep, with the hyenas laying to rest beside him. They were not properly broken yet and we would need them for carrying our wealth back to our home village. I quickly held a brief meeting to discuss our game plan before we marched upon the goblin village.
The brasieres surrounding the village and torches were still alight. There were around 20 or so guards still awake, watching over the village. It would be a pain to kill them all, but that was the hard part. The first part is the hardest, as long as we overcame that hurdle, the rest will be easy to deal with.
I cleared my thoughts, beginning to give my instruction, “The task is simple. There are 5 of us here, each of us must kill 4 guards each. Kill them as you would by ambushing antelope on the plains. It is that simple. If you fail, I shall kill you. If you succeed, you shall be rewarded with riches to the envy of even the high caste elites themselves. After you kill the 4 guards, use the briasieres and torches to begin burning the camp. Set everything alight. Kill anyone you see. Leave no one alive. Destroy their food stores and water stores, ensure the fire continues to spread. Cause as much chaos as possible. No man, woman or child will be left standing. Is that understood?”
All of them nodded, most of them apprehensively. Only one of them seemed enthusiastic about the prospect of the slaughter that was about to befall us, Chaganath. It appeared, he would have some use after all.“The rest of you, go do your task. I shall be with you shortly, Chaganath, stay. I have an important message for you.”
The rest of them cleared off to go do their dirty deeds. Chaganath remained of course, an inquisitive look in his eyes that could just be barely made out in these dark conditions. I look towards him and speak at him in what I hoped what's a paternal or brotherly tone. I wanted to convey friendship and trust.
“My loyal servant Chaganath, over the past few days you have served me well. Your ability in battle knows no bounds and I am certain you are eager to avenge the death of his father.” He nodded quickly, a look of malice appeared on his face. I pause, letting the emotions of hatred, malice and rage stew around before continuing to speak. “I am asking you for a boon, I wish for you to be my second in command. My right hand, my eyes and ears. Is that acceptable?”
The look of malice on his face faded instantly as a toothy grin erupted across his face. It was evident that he wanted to. He immediately, in traditional orc fashion, got into a subservient position of kneeling before his superiors when being addressed in a formal manner.
“I, Chaganath, son of Chaganath accept this boon from the Chosen of Pandar!”
I grin slightly, the plan having worked exactly as I anticipated. Perfect. Now, all that remained was for him to enact my will and serve by my side. I cleared my throat, beginning to speak, “Good, now slaughter the goblins. I will be with you shortly.”
As Chaganath got up and immediately cleared off. In the distance I could already see my orcs in action, having killed a few of the guards and dumping their bodies into the tall grass to where they couldn’t be seen. The battle was beginning. I exhale loudly, adjusting the helmet upon my head and pulling my hooded lion cloak over my head.
The first raid of my career begins now.
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Chaganath’s perspective
As I made my way through the tall thicket of grass, my heart pounded in my chest. My first ever raid, conducted under the command of someone chosen directly by Pandar. My first proper battles on the open plains were glorious ones, with the new abundance of steel being ripe for the taking. My first raid will be the one remembered most through the tales of the Asatru tribe.
The first ever steel weapons brought back from raids, metal tools in abundance. We would be the richest orc tribe east of the Afwan river. These thoughts filled my mind as I snuck closer and closer to my targets, two goblin guards who were obviously half asleep. They were most likely the most powerful goblin tribe in these regions for a couple hundred kilometres. The largest that I’ve heard of at the very least.
Stolen story; please report.
The goblins were not used to being attacked in the night, too large and too powerful. But their lack of struggle and strife will bite them in the ass now. I darted forward from cover, drawing my bronze sword at my side. It was a goblin style blade, with crude design and make. But it would serve me for now, roughly the size of a short sword, its waving edges gave it a somewhat unique if not ragged look to it.
A deft swing of my blade in a wide arc slashed open both of their throats before they had a chance to scream. Any sign of voice died in their throats as blood gurgled and poured from their wounds. I didn’t bother to kill them off, letting them bleed to death at the edge of the village. I would go collect their gear later, it was much more important now to take care of the other 4.
I quickly darted through the tall grass, maintaining the utmost stealth possible. As I neared the remaining two guards, still dulled and unalert. A quick throw of the bronze sword nailed one of them through the eye. A quick draw of a proper bronze orcish blade quickly slashed off the head of the goblin. Its head rolled on the floor, blood spraying into the air like a fountain
The guards wore boiled leather armour and had stone weaponry. They were most likely low caste cannon fodder, with the middle caste and high caste being given access to bronze and steel respectively. Their stone spears, blades and clubs were of little value. I had no desire to loot their corpses as I ran amok in the camp, beginning to knock over brasieres and set the tents alight with torches.
Any goblin I saw out in the open would be ready to kill. But the fire began to spread, the sickening smell of smoke and burnt flesh began to fill the air. More and more erupted until roughly 5 separate fires set the camp ablaze. The pet hyenas broke free and many goblins ran around screaming, some of them covered in flames. Others were buried and burnt to death inside their houses.
We didn’t have to do much, most of the warriors not being equipped to deal with mass fires. The amount of water needed to quell the large fires could not be found. Serves them right for not setting up next to a river and being too far from the nearest well to get water to save the village. The ample water stores they had had been sabotaged by my other compatriots.
Troughs of water overturned and large containers of water spilled onto the earth, churning it into wet mud. I quickly made sure to kick and overturn any large containers of water I could see. Of course, many others would try to stop me but their skill was lacking. In the chaos, very few warriors were looking for enemy assailants and were too busy dealing with the fighters.
I quickly cut my way towards the hyena pens, slashing with my bronze blade and cutting apart, man, woman and child. I went out of my way to target those carrying buckets of water, slashing through the buckets and slicing them apart. Many a person fell to my cruel blade that bit through their flesh like winter itself.
Of course, some of the warriors tried to stop me. The mid caste warriors led the way. They were armed with bronze weaponry and gambesons. Of course, as a member of the high caste, they were nothing to me. I ducked under a deft spear thrust and slashed upwards, cleaving through the throat of one of the warriors who attempted to stop me.
Said warrior slumped to the ground, blood pouring into the earth as I ran towards the remainder of those who attempted to stop me. Just three more of those mid caste warriors, a deft maneuver of the blade using my wrist quickly caused the blade to arc around in an unexpected angle. The blade slashed through the wooden shaft of the bronze spear. A flick of the wrist back and a quick step in caused the blade to be lodged in the neck of the warrior.
Amidst the screams, the smell of burning flesh and wood, the pillars of smoke, another warrior fell onto the muddy slush of blood and dirt, blood pouring out of his neck, as he lay gurgling to death. The other two were obviously afraid that I had killed two of their men in a matter of 10 seconds. But their hesitance would be their downfall.
In an instant, I withdrew a goblin dagger and threw it at one of the goblins in a flash. The blade lodged right into his eye as he collapsed backward. The other goblin turned to flee, but it was too late, another dagger soon found itself lodged in the back of his skull, severing the spinal cord from the skull.
Still, I could not rest. I still had to find more people to kill after all.
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Takeshi/Simba’s perspective
The battle raged on, countless foes were burning and charred corpses littered the ground. I walked over to the hyena pen, slashing down anyone who came my way. Deliberately targeting those with water buckets to let the fire spread. It was going to be hard work, having to kill around 200 or so people. But we could do it, it was not impossible. My steel blade bit through and slaughtered many a foe.
Blood drenched my armour and blade, I was covered in the gore and filth of the deceased goblins. Man, woman and child fell by my blade. But I felt nothing, all I felt was invigoration in battle. The glory of the slaughter, the joy of battle, the feeling of my breath running ragged and the sweat on my brow. The purity of violence, I have experienced by myself.
Another thrust of the gladius through a running child's skull silenced his wailing and crying, sending the corpse tumbling to the earth. I felt no remorse, no pity. He was a goblin after all, not of the same race as I. Still, even if this was on Earth and I was told to kill a kid, so long it was justified, I’d do it. Here, it was justified.
To prevent blood feuds from happening and prevent the goblin village from expanding or taking revenge, I had to do what the ancient rulers of old did. What Chingghis Khaan, Oda Nobunaga and Shaka Zulu did. These great warrior kings renowned for their cruelty slaughtered those who opposed them, put them all to the sword and wiped them off the map. They can’t rebel against you if they’re all dead.
I finally made my way to the hyena pens, of course, it had only been roughly 5 to 10 minutes into the slaughter. Most of the goblins had been taken by the flames or were trapped in their home. My estimate is that at least half of the goblins lay dead or trapped in their homes, their charred flesh causing a sickening smell to fill the air. Thankfully, I had gotten used to the smell of carrion and burning meat. Life on the open plains is unlike life back on Earth after all.
As I approached the hyena pens, I saw the two brothers, Ok’Rik and Mal’Sh fighting together. They were headed in the same direction I was. Good, I would have use of them. I barked an order, “TO ME!”
Of course, their fear and respect of me drove them to comply, as they rushed towards me and stood on my flanks. I gestured for us to move forward as a trio, slashing and cutting our way through. I had a bad feeling in my gut that something was about to go wrong. Perhaps it was the guidance of Pandar.
And of course, Pandar proved to be correct. Whistling could be heard as I looked up to the sky, arrows rained from above, illuminated by the fires burning across the village. In an instant, I shoved both brothers forward and ducked under them, using them as cover. They were low caste weak members anyway, who were most likely to rebel and snitch on me back to the orcs about my “dishonor”
As the arrows pierced their body, gurgling cries could be heard as they collapsed on top of me, providing me with additional shielding. I glanced through a gap, which was under the armpit at the goblins approaching. Of course, it was the elites. But that didn’t surprise me, what surprised me was the weapons most of them held in their hands.
They were bows. I was not aware that the tribes of the plains had developed bows already, but it seemed to be why they were so cocky as well. They had a significant range advantage and using bows is useful in terms of guerilla warfare. Their smaller stature compared to orcs meant fighting in melee was a disadvantage, and the use of bows helped keep distance.
I cursed, ducking under as another volley of arrows rained down in my direction, digging into the bodies of my dead squad mates, making them heavier and heavier. I quickly glanced forward as I saw 5 of them discard their bows and advance forward. Their bronze armour glistened in the fire light, their steel blades shone with a cruel glow. Swords, axes, spears and shields.
I gulped loudly, as my heart began to race harder and harder, to the point where I felt likt it would explode out my chest. This was going to be a tough one. I waited for them to get closer and closer, until they were practically on top of me.
In an instant, I burst out of the flesh covering of my comrades, ramming the steel gladius upward. To their credit, they expected this, ducking away from the strike as the rest thrusted their weapons in my direction. I quickly swung my body aside, using my spare arm as a lever to push me off the ground. I huffed loudly, feeling a cool breeze sweep across the land as a rumble of thunder erupted through the sky.
Unusual, no rain or lightning, but only thunder. A manic grin came across my face as the goblins advanced on me. The gods were with me, can you say the same? I clenched my left fist as I felt an energy welling up inside me, the crackling of lightning begun to fill the air as thunder crashed into the air once more, louder now.
The goblins closed ranks, forming a semicircle around me, pushing forward in an organized fashion. A third crash of thunder erupted as a burst of lightning erupted from my hands, the red lightning arced and cracked through the air, executing all 5 of the goblins who attempted to stop me.
Their bodies fell to the floor like charged smoke, as the lightning crackled around my hand. I heaved loudly, having just barely enough “life force” or mana for a single lightning bolt spell. But the goblins didn’t know that. A manic grin grew on my face as a look of fear spread across the remaining elites.
I charged forward in a blur, needing to outpace their arrows and taking advantage of their confusion. The battle had already been won.
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