The Rabbit Warren was surrounded by a wooden fence, about the height of a goblin’s chest. At the center of the enclosure, the workers had built a dozen rabbit hutches, with feeding troughs against one side. A small kiosk took up one corner, it was a platform and roof with wooden posts to hold it up. Inside was a tabletop butchering station, and shelves for the equipment.
The rabbits were unfazed by the walls that suddenly appeared around them and continued hopping around, oblivious to their imprisonment.
Zuban and his two workers stood nearby, admiring their creation.
“Nice job” I complimented them.
Zuban grinned proudly. “Now it just requires a dedicated worker, and soon it will provide lots and lots of rabbit meat.”
“That’s what the new gal is here for,” I replied, motioning to the new Breeder worker as she arrived.
“Get to work” I told her, pointing at the new building.
“Yes ‘Steamed Totem.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Bring the daily meat to Guba at the campsite.”
She nodded curtly, entered the enclosure and started adjusting her work station.
I turned back to Zuban.
“So, do you need a break, or are you ready for your next project?” I smirked. He did look a little weary.
He pushed his chest out. “I’m ready esteemed Totem. What should we build next?”
“I think you’ll like your next project. It's time for us to have a proper Chief’s House. It's one of the buildings that will help you reach the next rank, right?”
His face lit up. “Yes, it is.”
His face fell as something else occurred to him, “I guess this means we should all go chop some more trees.”
“No need” I held up my hand. “I already took care of it. Vic, please report our available construction resources”
My cloak sighed in long purple suffering, and replied in a disgruntled voice, “25 logs and 14 timber.”
“Thanks. You see?” I turned back to Zuban “you can start work on it immediately, Woody will be able to supply you with the rest of the timber as you go. We also have the required pelts and metal for the building.”
“We’ll begin at once. Where do you want us to build it?” he asked.
The new Chief’s House, would be one of the most important buildings. If we came under serious attack that resulted in damage to our buildings, accessing the Interface would be crucial in any restoration efforts. So the building should be well protected. That meant placing it away from harm’s way, in a defendable position.
“Over there,” I pointed at a spot on the far end of the valley, at the direction of the cave’s mouth. It was the farthest spot from the entry point to the valley.
“Keep it away, at least 30 meters from the cave.” It should be a safe enough distance. Over time, we could add defenses between it and the cave.
“I’ll get right on it. Come along you two.” he said to his workers and they hustled off.
I decided to take a tour around and see how everyone was doing.
I found Vrick sitting on the ground not far from the campsite, pieces of broken chitin scattered around him. It looked as if he’d destroyed most of our supply, and was now fumbling with the last two unbroken pieces.
“Vrick!” I said indigently “couldn’t you have been more careful with those,” I pointed at the broken pieces. “We have a limited supply, you know.”
He stared back at me with surprise.
“I was only doing as you instructed, Esteemed Totem” he replied with a furrowed brow. “But those things break if you try to force them into shape. But I think I finally got the hang of it.”
It was a simple arrangement, two shaped chitin plates connected with leather straps.
“It goes like this,” he stood up.
He put his head through the connecting thongs, laying the plates against his front and back. I almost told him he looked like he’d been sandwiched between two turtles. But decided as a leader I needed to support his efforts. I’d save that little gem for after he moved onto more advanced armors and wasn’t so sensitive about his creations.
“I still need to finish the bindings” he motioned at the gaps along his sides not covered by the plates. “I think it will be good protection for the front and back when I am finished.”
“Looks promising, good job” I complimented him. It felt like I was saying that a lot lately. Nothing wrong in a little positive encouragement. “Let me know when you finish.”
He nodded.
I continued my lazy stroll, walking among my clan-mates, making sure everyone was doing well, listening to complaints and issues. I...it was probably something I should have done more of in the guild as Arladen. I can’t really explain it, I just seemed to care more about my goblins than I did for my guild. Maybe it was partly because I was dependent on them for my eventual escape.
When evening came and everyone assumed their customary places around the fire, I reviewed the day’s progress.
The Breeder worker only worked a couple of hours, but had produced four units of raw meat, and her skill was already at level 2.
Cobie, the fisherman caught a measly three fish. But, as I kept reminding myself, he had a -50% penalty, his catch would go up once he had better equipment.
Tika covered the clans’ daily upkeep as usual, which brought our total spare food to 7 units.
A bit disappointing, but I expected a much better yield tomorrow.
Vrick and the female Builder joined the rest of us for dinner an hour after we started, which was suspicious by itself, their rumpled appearances left little question about what the reason was.
After dinner, we went to sleep, the two warriors keeping their nightly watch routine.
***
I dreamt again.
As before, I floated high above the valley, as the clouds, the stars and the sun sped across the horizon, in the cycle of night and day.
This time, I had the good sense to count the days as they flew by. Seven. It was seven days until the darkness erupted from the cave. But I was surprised, this time the vision was different from the first.
As the darkness reached the newly constructed Chief’s Hut, it halted. Like waves splashing against the breakwaters, it tried to overcome the obstacle, but the building resisted.
I woke up feeling hopeful, we might survive. We had seven days until trouble came for us, and for some unknown reason, the Chief’s House would give us a chance to survive. At the current rate, it should be finished in just under five days.
Meanwhile, I would make preparation and do my best to become as powerful and combat ready as I could during that time. Then, me and my warriors will venture into the cave and find whatever lurked within.
***
The next morning Vrick was busy working on his armor, so I took Bek and the two warriors with me and formed the four of us into a War Party.
“Today we are going to scout the forest outside the valley,” I informed them. “There are some roaming hobgoblins and I want to find out why they’re here.” And hopefully, gain some XP.
The two warriors, both level 4, looked vacantly at me while Bek wrung his hands together.
“Es-esteemed Totem,” he stuttered, “you think is dangerous?”
“Don’t worry Bek” I gave him a confident grin “I’ll protect you, we won’t take unnecessary risks.”
He swallowed hard, but nodded.
We walked into the valley forest, and took the path leading through it to the valley’s entrance. As we crossed the forest clearing, I saw the old Chief’s Hut was looking worn and in need of maintenance.
Good.
Any sane adventurer that laid eyes on the structure would turn on his heel and look for more lucrative targets.
We marched on until we reached the entrance. The last time I had left the valley, I returned by respawning. This time, I had new abilities, stronger companions, and some idea of what to expect out there. I no longer fe
ared a chance encounter with a few hobgoblins, they were a cut below the Dire apes, after all.
We scouted for hours, looking for tracks or any sign of hobgoblins. I spotted plenty of game, and noticed quite a few low-level monster tracks, but nothing of hobgoblins. That was weird. According to Grilda, the forest was swarming with them.
Could she have been wrong? I wondered.
I dismissed that notion. For an ape, the dense forest looked like an open highway, so it was understandable why they encountered the roaming bands more commonly.
Other than my Tracking Skill reaching level 5, nothing exciting happened. Evening fell while we continued to search, keeping a cautious eye for hobgoblin tracks. . I made a judgment call to spend the night in the forest instead of returning empty handed. We had covered a lot of ground today and we’d have to cover too much of the same ground if we turned back for the valley.
“I see good bush to sleep” Bek suggested after I informed the party of my decision. “That way” he pointed in the direction we’d came from.
“Alright Bek” I agreed “lead on.”
We followed Bek for a few minutes under the dense trees, eventually reaching a large leafy thicket. I stood on my toes and peered into the bushes, there was a hollow area in the center. It would make for a good concealed place to sleep in for the night. The warriors led the way inward, pushing branches aside and making a path for the rest of us to follow. On an impulse, I wiped our tracks and other marks of our passage, before following them inside.
We made our camp there hidden by the growths, but we didn’t light a fire, eating only the light travel snacks we’d brought with us.
I wasn’t overly concerned about the safety of the rest of the clan, the valley was extremely well hidden, they would be fine for one night.
Just as we were settling in for the night, we got a big surprise.
Our quarry had found us.
We were alerted to their approach by the sound of stomping feet and breaking branches.
“Stay absolutely still, and do not make any noise” I hissed to the goblins.
Slowly, quietly, I inched my way through the concealing growth, crawling to the edge of the patch, careful to stay completely concealed.
I pressed myself lower into the ground, and peeked through the leaves. Two sets of big, dirty, booted feet clomped into view. I knew what the wearers were. Hobgoblins.
Four other hobs followed the first two, and then, stomping heavily, came feet nearly as big as a goblin. An Ogre! The hobgoblins had support from Ogres!?
It was a good thing Analyze didn’t require a full view of the target, I analyzed all the feet.
Hobgoblin warrior, level 5, 63hp
Hobgoblin warrior, level 5, 65hp
Hobgoblin warrior, level 5, 62hp
Hobgoblin warrior, level 5, 64hp
Glibworm, Hobgoblin adept, level 7, 48hp
Deerbaiter, Hobgoblin lieutenant, level 6, 68hp
Forest Ogre. Level 13. 210Hp
Analyze skill level increased to 5
Analyze now shows highest defense value
Excellent. An upgrade, and right on time, too.
I re-analyzed the last three again:
Glibworm, Hobgoblin adept, level 7, 48hp. Mental resistance: 30%
Deerbaiter, Hobgoblin lieutenant, level 6, 68hp. Physical resistance: 20%
Forest Ogre. Level 13. 210Hp. Physical resistance: 50%
Damn they were tough. These hobgoblins were higher by a level or two levels than the ones we encountered, back at the cliffside.
That Ogre was not a laughing matter either. The last one we fought was a level 10 monster, and we barely managed to take it down. Granted, I had become much stronger since then, but I still didn’t like the odds.
Even using the element of surprise, we would almost certainly lose a head-on confrontation. This time, there was no convenient cliff-edge to throw them over. The adept could be magically advanced enough to counter my abilities, and the Ogre’s level surpassed my Mana Manipulation skill. I couldn’t Dominate or Freeze him.
Even if we somehow won the skirmish, we would almost certainly suffer casualties.
My goblins were my most important resource, I would not just throw them against overwhelming odds.
So without a battle plan that was likely to succeed, I settled in for an evening of eavesdropping.
Deerbaiter, looked around distastefully.
“I’m sure I spotted some goblin tracks earlier. They must be around here somewhere. Spread out, search the area.” Obviously, he was the group’s leader.
It was a good thing I had the foresight to cover our tracks before we went into the thicket.
The hobgoblins spread out, looking for us. The adept and the lieutenant remained just a few meters away from my hiding spot.
The lieutenant, Glibworm yawned.
“So, did Barska explain why we’re wasting our time looking for a single goblin in this forest?”
Dammit Vic, stop doing that!
“That’s Dread Chief Barska for you,” Deerbaiter said with a sneer. “Don’t ever show such disrespect to his face, or he will take yours off”.
“Yes, yes, I’m not stupid.” Glibworm replied, annoyed. “Well, did you ask him?”
Deerbaiter shrugged. “Nothing changed, he’s determined to claim this area as his own and those goblins are using up precious resources. You know, if you leave two goblins alone, you’ll soon have a mob of the pesky gits crowding the neighborhood, so he wants them all dead.”
“Still, there must be some other reason.” Glibworm insisted “Why send us to search the forest for days, they’re barely worth turning into slaves. Although I admit that killing all those animals was fun, and good training for me and the soldiers.”
Deerbaiter looked around furtively, then spoke in a low voice “There is more to it than that. Dread Chief Barska had a vision of goblins swarming out of the forest in hundreds and wiping us out. That’s really why we’re out here, to prevent it from happening. And that’s why we formed the alliance with the Ogre clan.”
Quest update: Hobgoblins in the Forest II
You discovered the hobgoblins are scouting the forest to find and destroy your clan, to stop you from becoming more powerful.
It’s a fight for survival: rout out the invaders before they do it to you. You will have to defeat their leader, Barska, and destroy his cemetery.
Quest Type: unique, chain.
Reward: unknown
“I don’t know…” Glibworm scratched his armpit. “Still sounds off to me. Goblins are easy to kill, I don’t see how even a host of them can pose a real threat. I guess I’m just tired from these constant scouting expeditions. I’d much rather be back at the Raiders Camp, eyeing some females. Wouldn’t you? That Elenda is a tasty looking dish.”
Deerbaiter snorted. “I’m not interested in half-breeds. Even if they are the chief’s second in command. And don’t let her hear you call her that. You know what she does to hobs that annoy her.” His hands reflexively covered his crotch. “Besides, as Dread Barska’s second, she’s out of our league.”
What?
Great, I replied dryly. Now what?
I guess that’s my best option.
I grimaced, I really don’t need this compli
cation, I have enough on my plate as it is.
I guess you’re right, Vic.
Damn, now I had this persistent mob boss to deal with. Though at least it was a new experience, for once, a boss was looking to raid me, instead of the other way around.
I wasn’t too worried about the hobgoblins finding us. The valley was a day’s travel away from where we were, and in the forest, that was a lot of tough ground to cover.
We had time, provided whatever’s in that cave wouldn’t annihilate us first.
I waited patiently until the hobgoblins finished their search and rejoined into a group. Deerbaiter ordered them to line up and they marched on, leaving us behind.
I waited a little longer, making sure they were well out of earshot, then crawled backwards to the hollow and my party.
I informed the group that we’d accomplished our task, and tomorrow we would return to the valley.
Bek looked especially happy at the news. The poor guy didn’t enjoy roughing it.
***
We started out early the next morning, packing our things and following a forest trail that led back in the direction of the valley.
A few hours later, we came around a bend in the path, and nearly walked into four hobgoblins coming toward us from the other direction. We stared at each other for in shock, both groups momentarily stunned.
I recovered first.
With a mental flex I Froze the leading hobgoblin. The paralyzed hob blocked the narrow path, buying us a few extra seconds to regroup.
This was a golden opportunity to train my warriors. These hobgoblins were simple mobs, far less dangerous than the group I had spied on last night. I issued orders rapidly.
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