POV Rick
On the day Teral sent the message…
[It is now 1700.]
‘Thank you Velora, and oh look, that Loruk guy is finally back.”
“Oh, I see you caught a boar. Good Job Loruk let’s eat guys.”
The small gathering of Goblins didn’t waste any time butchering the boar and getting a small fire going.
They ate and chatted amongst each other as the day turned into the evening and the evening turned to night. Hours passed as they were waiting for the return of the three that were sent to scout.
Eventually it was far into the night that someone finally returned.
[It is now 2300.]
‘That late already huh. I’m surprised no one has gone to sleep yet. Though I’m sure everyone is tired.’
[Food and conversation seem to be keeping everyone going. Though I do recommend some rest at some point.]
‘Your probably right.’
“My Lord, someone is approaching.”
“Hm?”
‘What the hell, I don’t see anyone.’
[Spread your mana out like we’ve been practicing.]
‘Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Alright let’s see…hm…I can’t really spread it that far yet…ah! Yeah, there we go, someone really is approaching from the plains. Damn Rogu’s range must be really far, which makes sense, I guess. Now who is this.’
[I believe his name was Ra.]
‘Now that I think about it, what a cool name. Anyway, he was the one sent to go investigate the other tribes, right?’
[Yes, he was.]
Eventually Ra made his way back to the group. He looked a little exhausted, but fine for the most part.
Rogu was the first one to approach him.
“Good job on returning Ra, what did you find?”
“Captain, I ran all over the outer periphery of this side of a massive river. If we keep heading to the right of this tribe, you will find 3 more tribes exactly like this one, but after some point, the plains end, and lands meet water. I quickly circled all the way back and headed to the left where 2 more tribes could be found before the plains ended at the mountain range in the distance.
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“At that point, I decided to venture a bit more inwards, where I began to run into these groups of feathered beings. I am not sure what they are called, but at that point I thought it best to come back and here I am.”
“I see…good job Ra, get some rest. My Lord, what would you like to do?”
“For now, nothing, everyone should get some rest, we will talk in the morning. That means you too Geedi.”
“…Understood Chief.”
Rick stayed seated where he was, watches were set up and others drifted away into sleep. Rogu was up as well, but he simply leaned up against a tree with his eyes closed, as he paid attention to the surroundings. As a Tier 5 Goblin, his stamina levels were simply off the charts, and it would be no issue for him to stay up for a few days.
‘So, there are 6 total tribes in the plains huh…that number doesn’t add up. Did we get a letter from Jala last time telling us there was more than that?’
[Yes, the letter mentioned 8 total tribes. Though he wasn’t sure, that was just a somewhat educated guess from him.]
‘I’m sure there was a reason that he thought there were 8…so the fact that we have 6 now means something happened…’
[Don’t think about it too much Rick, focus on what’s in front of you.]
‘…Your right. So, 7 tribes. Probably around 20-30 each, which means we could be working with around 200 Goblins here. That’s a lot of Goblins to safely move from here all the way back to the village. Though while I think that’s accomplishable, the problem would be after that.
‘After that we would have little to no presence in the plains. And fighting a war while having to wait two months for support is no bueno, but at the same time…even if we could have troops close by, I don’t think the Goblins would be strong enough to fight head-to-head to head with the Orcs. Without taking Rogu’s team into account we only have one Tier 4, two Tier 3s, and a few tens of Tier 2s. That’s probably nowhere near enough to contend in an actual war with Orcs, and whoever else would help them.
‘So…what then? If we can’t go head-to-head with a stronger force, but I need them gone nonetheless, what are out options?’
[You can attempt to sneak into Orc camp and remove the leader. Or perhaps try to lure them into the forest and employ various guerrilla tactics. Though I recommend waiting on the Goblins sent to scout the Orcs return. Once we have information on them, we can come with a plan accordingly.]
‘Sigh…your probably right. And there’s that sleeping monster in the lake as well…the Goblins back home know not to deal go near, if possible, but who knows when it will wake up? And let’s not forget the fox…I still don’t know how strong it is, but I refuse to go and check…oh wait a second…I wonder if Rogu and the others met the fox? I’ll ask in the morning…’
[Is everything alright Rick?]
‘Hm...? Ah yeah everything’s fine. I’m just feeling a little stressed. Maybe more stressed than I expected to feel, I guess. This scope of this whole thing is starting to grow wider and wider, and while I definitely still want this, the reality of the situation is sometimes different from what you expected, and that’s how I feel right now.
‘I’m currently planning to uproot over 200 Goblins and ask them to move away from what they’ve known this whole time, and potentially expose my entire tribe and all of these Goblins to war and bloodshed. That’s a big decision Velora…It wasn’t that long ago that I was just a regular person on earth, now I’m here liberating Goblins and pledging to kill Orcs.’
[I don’t think it’s a problem to have these thoughts, I believe the key is to not ignore them, and make sure you try to deal with them. Talking about them like this is probably a good idea going forward.]
‘….There you go again being smart…but your right. Thank you, Velora.’
[Of course.]