In the western parts of Greenwood Forest, a dozen goblins have created an outpost hidden in the trees.
It is located next to a small hill covered in trees and dense vegetation, making it difficult for large creatures to stumble through unnoticed.
The outpost is a small camp, a campfire with food in the centre and a few simple huts built around it.
The huts are small, but so are goblins, and several of them can live in just a few of these huts. The huts are made mostly of long wooden sticks and branches, covered in leafy twigs and mud.
Around the camp are a few traps hidden in the dense bushes and vegetation, venomous spikes hidden under piles of leaves and holes dug out.
The place is well hidden, and no animals are in sight except those getting roasted over the fire.
In the camp, a few goblins are roaming around, eating and arguing.
These creatures stand roughly a meter tall, weighing somewhere between 20-30 kg, and have a body shape similar to a human, but with considerably greener skin and more pointy ears.
They have gnarly teeth and somewhat sharp nails, but what makes them dangerous are their weapons.
They have simple makeshift weapons like spears, knives, hammers and bows, all made out of shitty material, and some of it is coated in rust or venom, making it incredibly dangerous for those hit by it.
The weapons themselves aren't particularly sharp, but the dullness and rust, in combination with venom, breed the perfect conditions for a nasty infection. Even a single spear wound from one of these weapons can make a person severely sick, and in most cases, result in death unless they have access to a good antidote or healer.
The goblins aren't strong, but they make up for it most of the time with sheer numbers and the nimbleness of a small creature. Cornering a goblin is also deemed incredibly stupid because they fight like rabid beasts rather than running when met with a dangerous foe.
Outside the camp are the other half of the goblins, checking the traps and roaming around, guarding it.
The group approaches slowly from the east, hiding in the vegetation and trying to get as close as possible.
Garrick knocks an arrow and prepares to shoot, while Felix draws his knives and moves forward to a bush.
Jack, Dianne and Baldric stay a bit behind, hiding and trying not to make any noise.
When Felix reaches his position, he takes cover in the bush, hiding himself pretty well. He also grabs a small rock and throws it relatively close to him.
There are two goblins ahead, checking on one of the traps they have set. They seem pretty preoccupied with trying to get a bird loose from the trap without it fleeing.
When the rock hits the ground, it makes a noise, loud enough to be heard by the goblins but not loud enough to indicate something big.
The two goblins do a pretty bad job with the bird. When they grab it from the trap, it screeches loudly and masks the noise from the rock. The bird then flaps its wings hard and manages to escape.
The goblins screech, and one of them tries to throw his weapon after the bird, totally missing it. But then Felix throws yet another rock, this time a bit closer, which they react to.
The goblins hear the noise this time, and the one who threw his weapon quickly picks it up again while the other one draws his bow.
They slowly approach the bush Felix is hiding behind, moving surprisingly stealthily.
Just when they reach the bush, Felix jumps out and stabs the closest goblin with his daggers, plunging both of them deep into the goblin's throat, and it dies before it can even make a noise. Blood gurgling from its mouth.
The other goblin is ready with his bow, but the surprise attack makes him hesitate for just a split second, which is all Garrick needs to fire his own bow. The arrow flies straight and hits the goblin in the chest, piercing its lung and most likely heart.
While it dies, the knocked arrow gets let loose and flies towards Felix, but it is extremely inaccurate, and Felix uses the first goblin as a shield to block the arrow.
With both goblins dead, the rest of the party emerges forward to move the bodies back before any other goblins reach this area.
Jack contemplates what just happened. He clearly saw the fight happen and how the goblins were quickly slain before they could even fight back.
He grabs the body of the first goblin. Its throat is completely cut, and blood gushes out of the wound for a while before eventually stopping.
'I don't really feel anything, or at least nothing negative about this. I thought I would, but these goblins don't even feel real to me.' Jack makes a mental note about his lack of empathy for Goblins and hopes it doesn't extend too far.
"Good job, guys, excellent coordination. Keep following the plan like we discussed, and this will be easy." Baldric says encouragingly.
Garrick gives a thumbs-up and a nod to Felix.
Felix doesn't respond, only watching Garrick.
The group slowly moves forward, while Garrick and Felix take the lead, hoping to once again get the drop on a few more goblins.
They find yet another two goblins out patrolling. These goblins seem to be a bit more alert and carrying bows, both of them.
Garrick and Felix try to take position once again, but this time Felix can't really move any closer without risking being revealed. So he hides a couple of meters from the goblins.
Garrick tries to gesture to Felix, meaning to have him move closer, but Felix does not.
The situation becomes tense, and the goblins patrolling slowly move on, but they must have heard the bird before because they are moving in that direction.
Garrick seems extremely nervous, as they left pools of blood on the ground, which the patrolling goblins will find very soon unless they move.
Quietly, he whispers to Dianne.
"Can you do some magic, shoot something sharp at one of their heads or something?" He asks quietly.
"S-sure, I can do that. I can summon an icicle and aim for one of them." She responds rather nervously.
"Do it." Garrick quickly responds.
He gestures for Felix to move, and he starts slowly moving closer towards the patrolling goblins.
Just as the goblins are about to move out of firing range, Garrick and Dianne fire their attacks.
Garrick's arrow hits the leftmost goblin in the chest. The goblin doesn't die instantly, but becomes severely wounded and drops its bow while screaming.
Dianne summons a sharp icicle, roughly the same size as an arrow and commands it to move with great speed.
As she does it, Jack watches intently, trying to figure out how the magic is made. Dianne seems to both verbally say things and make some strange gestures, before aiming her staff and the icicle sort of just appears, before being shot off with a strong force.
However, she misses the target, the goblin swings around and manages to dodge the icicle, aiming its own bow back against the group.
Felix tries to move in for the finish, intending to stab the goblin, but it manages to fire its arrow first, hitting Felix in the shoulder.
'Shit, maybe I need to make a move or a horde of goblins might be upon us before we can even finish these off.' Jack thinks while looking over at Baldric.
Baldric seems to be a bit anxious. The situation is definitely going in the wrong direction.
Felix retreats instead of pushing forward, hiding behind a tree.
The first goblin tries to run back towards the camp, but Garrick fires another arrow and manages to kill the goblin before it escapes. But the second one starts fighting back a lot more.
Jack decides to make his move.
He runs forward, quickly covering the distance and lifts his shield. The goblin fires once, but it hits the shield and doesn't do any harm. It tries to retreat, but Jack is simply too fast.
He notices his own speed, not really caring about hiding his strength as much, but still not wanting to appear too strong.
As he reaches the goblin, he instantly rams it with his shield, breaking the arrow and knocking the goblin to the ground. He then performs his overhead swing, smashing down against the goblin's head like he did with the wolves.
*SMACK* *SPLAT*
The goblin's head explodes from the impact, its skull cracks, and it instantly dies in a pool of blood, while the warhammer hits the ground beneath it and makes a small crack.
'Oops, I did not mean to use that much force.' Jack thinks while maintaining his battle stance.
Garrick and Baldric both quickly move forward, trying to grasp the damage the arrow did to Felix.
His shoulder is damaged, the arrow is uneven, and it did a lot of internal damage. But it looks quite promising. A tight bandage and some ointment should be enough, in combination with some rest.
But no time for that now, as the party quickly realises that while the encounter is over, the scream from the first goblin alerted the rest of them.
Now the last patrol quickly moves toward them, and the party can hear how the goblins from the camp start making noises.
"We must retreat, guys, quickly! We will be overwhelmed soon!" Jack says to the rest of the party.
Felix doesn't say anything, only holding one hand over his shoulder, trying to maintain pressure on the wound.
Garrick helps him with a bandage and responds quickly.
"As soon as this bandage can stop the bleeding, just a few seconds more, and we move."
Baldric moves forward to Jack, and they nod to one another, preparing for the fight ahead, knowing they might very well get into one.
Dianne seems very anxious, not knowing what to do and instead focusing on her staff, trying to calm herself.
Quickly, the other goblin patrol of two goblins arrives. One has a spear and the other a bow.
Baldric and Jack both raise their shields, preparing to block whatever they attack with.
The shields are effective, as the archer hits Baldric's shield and the other goblin's spear almost breaks when trying to push against Jack, who is pushing back with his shield.
'I don't know how seriously I should fight.' Jack thinks to himself.
'I guess I could just run up and kill them both quickly, but how much power can I really show off before Baldric starts questioning me thoroughly?'
They block the attacks and begin counterattacking.
'Do I even really care about trying to hide my power? Maybe it is just better to show off and prove my strength instead?' Jack thinks while charging the spear goblin.
While Baldric and Jack make a team effort in distracting and attacking the two patrolling goblins, the rest of the goblins from the camp arrive.
Two of them arrive from the side, instantly attacking Dianne with arrows and small, sharp javelins.
One of the javelins flies in an arc and hits Dianne right in the leg, creating a serious wound.
"DIANNE, USE DEFENSIVE MAGIC!!" Baldric roars while chasing the goblin in front of him.
Dianne looks around in a daze, but after hearing Baldric's voice, she seems to clear her mind and starts chanting. Quickly, a defensive barrier appears around her, and the arrows and the small javelins get deflected.
Garrick stops trying to heal Felix, instead dropping low to take cover while aiming his bow at the goblins that arrive.
Everyone is serious and fighting, but there are more goblins than expected. The two patrolling goblins, three goblins shooting at Dianne, and suddenly, five more jump out from behind the trees with various melee weapons, charging against Baldric and Jack.
Garrick looks back at Felix, but quickly notices how he has disappeared. Slipping away once the fighting turned chaotic.
"Damn you, you sneaky fucker!!" Garrick curses before shooting more arrows.