"Ahhh… this never gets old…" I groan out, letting my stream put the ashes of our campfire out.

We were making for the goblin camp today, now that the weather had let up. It was still cloudy, but that worked in our favor to camouflage as well as to push the equipment to the test. With a zip, I was set to roll, everyone else already preparing for their parts in the plan.

"How many do you think we'll manage to kill?" One of my Party Crashers asked.

"However many it takes, and no more," I respond, adjusting my armor for the trek. "If we're quick, maybe we'll only have to pluck off two or three each. Depending on just how fanatically they'll defend their women and children? Probably more so. Will-O'-Wisps will handle most of the stragglers that try to run instead, either capture or kill on case by case. We're here to conquer, not to kill. Can't really have much of a labor force to call ours if they're all dead after all"

At the very least, they'll be treated better than what could be expected under trolls or humans as 'servants'. Will be less of a slavery deal and more of a caste system from what I've been able to narrow down. At least the lizardmen have had enough experience with slavers hunting them down to be at least somewhat sympathetic on the matter.

I double checked the sharpness of my blade, and internally checked my mana pool. Damn near full, which was good enough for me. I've been able to understand my magic with more time and experience casting it. At first, I let the 'System' do all the heavy lifting for me, but lately I've started to develop an actual feeling for it. At first I couldn't quite describe it, but as I grew more accustomed to it I've started to find rough approximations to the magic inside.

It's kind of like a big, fat bladder strapped to me and full of water, and the only way it can fill is from condensation forming at the lip, slowly trickling in from the air. Except it's constantly happening, and there are these… ebbs and flows in the air that seem to increase and decrease the amount of condensation being generated. I haven't had the chance to speak with other magic casters yet however, mostly because I don't want to look like a complete fool that bumbled his way into casting.

However, recently I've noticed something. Whenever I cast a spell, there's a sort of tugging motion. It's an entirely mental connection, but it's there. I've tried mimicking it, and I've had… partial success. And by partial success, I mean that I accidentally flashbanged myself while I was taking a shit in the woods last night.

Still, progress is progress. After a bit of experimentation, I came to the realization that I could subtly control the frequency behind the bursts in light level, as well as prolong them if I struggled my way into it. After a bit of testing, I can safely say that I've probably made my first spell. Well, kind of. I showed it off to one of the casters of the group, and as they say, 'There is nothing new under the sun'. Turns out I more or less recreated the spell known as {Torch Light}. Which is still pretty handy, don't get me wrong, but I feel like my efforts were diminished at having taken so long to figure out how to make a lightbulb with my middle finger.

The real kicker is that I got the spell free of charge, bringing me up to twenty-one spells. And depending on how this fight with the goblins goes, I might even unlock that {Vine Whip} spell that I've seen some of the other casters using. Rocking out at forty-six percent so far, so any bit would help.

Of course, as much as I'd like to keep experimenting with magic and figure out how it works, I need to save my mana for the fight ahead. Scientific progress later, Military progress now.

"Alright Party Crashers, remember your jobs?" I asked aloud, receiving a chorus of 'yes sirs'. "Alright! Let's march! The sooner we wrap this shit up the sooner we can be back for the festival!"

I get cheers for that, and we cautiously make our way through the forest.

Todone glided through the branches without so much as a creak as he did so, timing his movements with gusts of wind to keep from being heard by anything in the area. Several other lizardmen were joined with him in the tree tops, matching his movements in that wooden armor of theirs.

'Though by no natural means could they ever hope to match a toadman's leap in distance or speed, they most certainly make up for it by maintaining a sizeable preserve of stamina'

And it was a compliment in Todone's eyes. Of course, not all of the lizardmen were on the ground. There were a small handful of lizardmen on the ground somehow moving through the brush and forest detritus without rustling anything or leaving any prints somehow. These lizardmen came from the Small Fangs in particular, armed with crossbows and bark covered armor, moss and patches of grass adhered to them to help blend in to the forest floor as they crawled.

'This is probably the hardest part of the mission. Getting into position and making the calls to let the Party Crashers know that we're ready for them to make their move'

The waiting. Todone hated the waiting. But if there's one thing that Nolan taught him, it's that good things come to those with patience. Though they had yet to see the tribe in their vicinity, they did start to see small wisps of smoke from above the treetops. The fires they're using likely aren't large enough to give away their position any further than an hour away on foot at most with the smoke, and that would depend on how good one's eyesight was. Smart, keeping themselves small. Sadly, that wasn't enough to keep them from being spotted by lizardman scouts.

One of the Small Fangs on the forest floor made a quail call to grab everyone else's attention, and made one of the few hand motions that Nolan briefly taught.

'Stop'

Everyone made to be motionless, holding their positions very carefully in the shadows and the leaves. Todone was secretly grateful for the forest's various evergreens that took up residence through its confines, or else there would be no place to hide among the branches. The Will-O'-Wisps held quiet, not even a breath heard in the lull of the wind, and it felt as though maybe this was a false alarm. It wasn't the first time, but it still needed to be taken seriously. Eventually, Todone heard it. Goblin chatter. They slowly came into view, six of them total.

"Yuu no understand," One goblin could be heard saying. "What Wiki do wrong?"

"Yuu no get it!" Another barked. "Ma-Gobs say we no take from humies! And what Wiki do? He go and take from humies! What Ma-Gobs say, go! Wiki need be made lesson of! Now we need to move!"

"Pot seem like too much though…"

"Pot light for him! Beside, make for good eatin's!"

Todone fought back a wave of nausea at hearing that.

'I'm starting to think that Yulg might be an exception to the rule here. To think these goblins are his clansmen…''

The goblins continued chattering about the sickening topic of cannibalism when one of them tripped over a lizardman. He fought the urge to suck in air at that, opting to swallow his tongue.

"Ach! Stupid log!" The goblin cursed, unknowingly kicking the lizardman in the ribs. To his credit, the Small Fang didn't make so much as a peep, remaining completely silent at the assault. The goblin meanwhile cursed some more, hopping on one foot as he held the other in his hands. It would have been almost comical if they weren't doing their damndest to avoid being seen.

"Bugu, quit whining! Log no stupid, you stupid! Now get moving!" The leader of their group shouted. The goblin whimpered and hissing, rubbing his foot one last time before walking away, sending a glare hot enough to start a fire at the hidden lizardman. The leader squinted at the logs briefly, before shaking his head. "Pogo swear log no there before… miss old home, not confusing like these deepwoods"

The patrol eventually faded off, continuing their disorganized roam through the forest. When the coast was clear, another quail call was made, and the lizards rose from the leaves in a wave. Todone could see the one warrior rubbing his torso, clearly feeling that goblin's kick. Though he was sympathetic, they needed to keep moving. A simple kick shouldn't have been enough to keep him down though at least, Todone knew these lizards were made of tougher stuff.

I sighed quietly, clearing away the leaves to the punji pit we would've fallen in if we weren't paying attention. Honestly, for being in the area for only a little bit, I'm impressed with the speed they've worked at making this many traps. These guys might actually be better at putting in some work than I'd thought. I'd rolled my shoulder pauldrons, motioning my soldiers to avoid the pit.

We weren't exactly being quiet as we moved though, but that was the point. We were going to make ourselves a painted target, and try to get them to focus on us. One of two things would happen at that point. Either they would hunker down and try to fight us, or they would turn tail, only to run into Todone's crew. Of course, if we were finding punji pits and we hadn't heard the signal yet, then that means that we were ahead of schedule. Which isn't good, but it could be worked with. After all, our group was small enough that the goblins might think that they have a chance, while still being large enough that we could still hold our own for a prolonged period of time.

I perked my ear, and spotted a Small Fang practically running through the forest towards us, silent yet hasteful. With a glide, he slides through the leaves in a smooth fashion, before coming to a stop in front of me.

"What's the sitrep?" I questioned, giving a nod to the scout.

"They've been working on a palisade it seems, almost as if they expect company"

My brow raises at that. "They haven't spotted us yet, right?"

"Correct. The reasons for their sudden entrenchment are unknown, but that does make things difficult"

It does indeed. It also raises several questions. "Whaddya think spooked 'em?"

"Considering they were closer to the edge of the forest and now they're this deep? Could be a few things. Maybe some humans scared them, maybe a clan dispute forced them into the more dangerous parts of the forest. Hard to tell. Goblins are crafty, but they're easy to send running if they think something has an advantage over them. Only thing to keep them nailed down usually is if something even more dangerous keeps them from running, maybe some ogres or trolls. Or us, I suppose, if this all goes through"

"This is gonna be interesting," I muttered, before giving the Small Fang a nod. "Thank you. How close are the Will-O'-Wisps to their position?"

"They're almost settled now, just making the finishing touches. Expect the signal shortly"

With the last of my answerable questions met, the scout took his leave, heading back into position. I click the button keeping my brush-hook fastened in place and slide it out, thumbing the butt of the handle as I started concentrating on the blade. My reflection looked at me from the well oiled, shined, and sharpened metal. I saw the face of a man that's spent way too long in the forest stare back at me, with a full beard and tired eyes. Huh, never thought I could manage a full beard before, it's only ever come in patchy.

The gleam and glisten of the metal, the way I can feel the steady thrum of nature in the wood, almost as if it were alive. Alive. That's something I wish I could feel right now, but it seems my shakes were starting to give way to something I couldn't quite place before-

POP! POP!

My ears rung. I felt hot pieces of metal pushing through my skin and bone, one grazing past the arm I held up to protect my face. It wasn't effective. Vision suddenly went out in my left eye, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that I needed to stop it from-

I gasped at the sudden flash, knuckles whitening as my grip solidified around the handle. My mana was flowing wildly off my body in sine waves before I forced it back down, but not before at least a couple of lizardmen noticed. Whatever that was that just came off me, it seemed to catch their attention in a not so good way. I think I even saw a brief glance of fear come from one of our other spell casters.

Glancing back at my reflection for just a moment, I saw that my tired gaze was now something manic and wide, shocked awake. I fought the urge to breathe in and out rapidly, forcing myself to steady my breathing, concentrating long and hard on slow and methodical breaths. In through the nose, one, two, three, out through the mouth, one, two, three…

"Er, Nolan?" One of the heavy plate lizardmen asked.

"Give me… a moment…" I huffed carefully, steadily navigating my panic attack.

Thankfully, the lizard man was willing to give me that much. One, two… three. There it is.

"Thank you. I am… sorry about that. I haven't had one of those in a while," I replied with measured breath.

"What er… was that if you don't mind me asking?" The warrior asked.

I took a moment longer to consider my answer, and how best to explain… that. I'm not the brightest crayon in the box so self-diagnosing probably shouldn't be something I should let myself do, but fuck I think that was PTSD.

"That was… a memory. A very, very, very horrible memory. I uh… I don't want to talk about the memory itself, but um… I should be good now. Sorry about that. It'll give me an edge in the coming fight," I tried to half-assedly explain, only part of my energy even being put into my answer.

At the very least, he seemed to accept the answer, though the others were now a little cautious around me. Some of them seemed to be giving me… pity? No, fuck you, don't show me pity, I don't deserve that, I'm fine I-

I clenched my teeth, realizing my mind was about to race again. Focus, Nolan. We're about to go into battle, they depend on you for their success and return to the tribe. No weakness. No regret. No mercy. My breathing maintains steadiness. I flex my mana pool as a part of forcing myself to focus, gently squeezing it in and out, stretching the film of the bladder. Using it as a stress ball actually seems to work, as I feel a wave of calm slowly flush over myself as I do so. Huh, neat. Didn't know I could actually do that.

The signal calls out over the forest, a simple bird call that's a little odd for the day, but its particular pattern and repetition makes it stick out. It's go time. We make our move, now steadily marching towards the enemy encampment. Our hope is they'll hear us coming and expect us to make some noise. Of course, that's not to say we won't try diplomacy first, but from Yulg's explanations that's incredibly doubtful even with my 'silver tongue'.

As we march, I focus on my breathing in tandem with my inner ebb and flow, accomplishing all three in order to maximize the amount of concentration I need to give them. Even in an idle march and studying our surroundings, there's often enough room in my mind for thoughts to wander.

Crunch!

I reach out without reacting, pulling the lizardman from the gruesome fate of the punji trap he almost fell into. I grimaced at that, realizing I hadn't even noticed it myself until the last minute. And I know my dad showed me better.

"Looks like we missed one," I muttered, before raising my volume. "Keep moving people, we need to stick to the plan! Scouts, push ahead and double check our routes!"

They nodded, seemingly surprised they missed one. I was surprised myself, but not because they might have missed it. I seriously doubted they missed it, especially after all the mapping we did in advance. Either that pit appeared out of nowhere, or the goblins are better trappers than we thought.

It didn't matter though. After pulling the grateful lizardman back, we continued. Thankfully, we didn't have to deal with much else, as shortly the sight of smoke and sharpened logs reached my sight. I flinched as an arrow whipped past my head, completely caught unawares. I realized we were not going to get the chance to use our words.

"Chaaarge!" I bellowed over the field, our men rolling out from the treeline with their shields and spears raised, while the casters nestled themselves behind the walls of flesh and metal to cast spells on the wooden palisade.

Most of the goblins tried to attack from the wall, but once they realized that our shield wall was now deflecting most of their arrows they changed tactics. Horns blared from behind the pillars of wood, and goblins leapt from the palisade walls in an emerald tide. Fuck that's a lot more than I thought we'd deal with.

As I watch them charge us screaming various obscenities at us, I surprise myself with the fact that I've still managed to stay calm so far. Yeah. I'm definitely gonna need therapy when all of this is over.

Todone watched curiously as he saw one of the patrols that had passed them suddenly rushing back towards the base camp, yelling and clamoring as they sprinted towards the sounds of combat and horns. However, they wouldn't get the chance to help their comrades.

"Now!" Rekushio shouted from his tree, leaping down with everyone else as the Small Fangs themselves rose from the soil.

The goblins yelped and gurgled, depending on whether or not they found a spear in their throat. Those that didn't were the 'lucky' ones, instead pinned down and quickly roped up before a roughshod patch effort was made on the wounds of the ones that would probably live. There was little struggle, and they were quickly bundled up and knocked out, hidden away under the brush along the bodies of their brethren. The noses of the next patrol would likely catch a whiff, but they weren't exactly bright enough to react quickly in those situations.

A call came from the more northern part of the woods, signaling a warning. Everyone else resumed their positions, hiding back into position to avoid whatever was coming their way. Another group of goblins, more than likely. As they hid, there was a small wave of confusion among the warriors as they realized they weren't the sound of just goblins, but humans whooping and hollering.

The sight of goblins running entered his line of sight, but it was obvious they weren't running because of the horns. There was a third party chasing them.

"{Acid Arrow}!" One of them shouted with a proud yell, slinging a sickly green bolt out at a goblin attempting to run. The back of it's skull was pierced, a slosh of brain and caustic fluid pouring out from it's mouth and eyes before the rest of it's skull quickly dissolved under the assault.

Another goblin was attempting to zigzag, but unfortunately there seemed to be a maul hot on his trail.

"{Bull Rush!}" The man shouted, his shirtless form enveloped in energy as he picked up speed incredibly, charging in a straight line that completely flattened the surrounding brush before barreling the goblin under foot, crushing his skull in the process as he continued to charge towards the next victim with a sadistic laugh.

"O'er yonder be thy crib, a soft and shaded place… down by the river's edge, in the willow tree's cool grace~" Another human was singing and fingering a stringed instrument, and Todone along with the rest of his party seemed to feel themselves growing drowsy.

Some of them almost even fell asleep in place, but they quickly popped some of the experimental candies that were handed out in the event of a situation like this. As Todone tongued the strange candy in cheek and swallowed it down, he felt the worst of the singer's mystic edge wear off and his energy slowly return to him. Sadly, the lizardmen on the forest floor couldn't move without getting caught, likely succumbing to the sleep at this point. Hopefully their camouflage would protect them.

The goblins however, were not so lucky. Some of them fell right into their positions, falling asleep easy. All the lute player had to do at that point was stomp down on their windpipes as he danced through the forest in song. There was one thing to be said about these humans, and that was that they clearly didn't draw a line between the glory of combat and their own sadism. Nolan was a trickster in his own right that would fight dirty on his terms, but at least he respected life.

The only one that didn't seem too enthralled by the combat was one clad in solid steel armor, his shield faintly glistening with some kind of enchantment as well as runes imbedded into the shield's surface. That wasn't to say he was with mercy though, in fact his eyes looked… dead. It made Todone shudder. That, unfortunately, was his mistake. The knight stopped, and stared directly at him. The knight squinted. As they killed the last of that patrol, they came up to the group of goblins that they were attempting to round up beforehand.

"Huh, I wonder what this is about?" The bard questioned out loud, stepping up to one of the unconscious goblins that were shoddily patched. "Whaddya think, Gomer?"

"Hmph, you know I'm not paid to think," The maul wielder proudly said with a grin. "Just kill them. We're paid by the ear"

They seemed to ignore the knights gaze as they went to work slitting throats and crushing skulls, cutting ears. His eyes broke away, turning to instead assist in the 'cleaning' part of the job. They spoke idly, as if this were another day's work for them. Todone suddenly understood the cruelty of war, of fighting against those who thought themselves better. It sickened him to know he was in a similar position when it came to the lizardmen.

"You boneheads, don't any of you hear that?" The wizard yelled, gathering the attention of his comrades. "Those goblins can wait, we'll come back for them. Listen, in the distance!"

The knight actually seemed well aware of his surroundings, acutely aware of each detail around him. Todone doubted the battle noises didn't catch his attention. Though the other two needed more of a push. The barbarian grinned.

"More kills! Ahahahaha!" He yelled proudly, running off into the forest.

"Damn it Gomer, wait for us!" The wizard shouted as he and the bard made chase. The knight followed suit as well, though not before briefly turning to Todone. He nodded at him, and bolted after his comrades. Todone let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, and nodded towards Rekushio.

"Sound the warning call," The lizardman grimly demanded. "Our 'Party Crashers' are about to have their own party crashed"

Nolan Potts, Human (Karma: 70 [Neutral]) [20/24 Spell slots used]

Classes: Brawler (6), Ranger (3), Druid (5), Clothier (3), Translucer (1). Total Level (18).

Spells (Druid): Frostbite, Entangle, Create or Destroy Water, Guidance, Jump, Cure Wounds, Dust Devil, Protect from Poison, Hold Person, Spike Growth, Lesser Restoration, Water Breathing, Darkvision, Sleetstorm, Ice Knife, Lightning Arrow

Spells (Ranger): Animal Friendship, Speak to Animals, Ensnaring Strike, Conjure Animals

Items of Note: {Humble Beginnings}

Party Members are as follows…

Member One: Todone, Son of Kodrotti, Toadman (Karma: 0 [True Neutral])

Classes: Toadman Warrior (9), Brawler (9), Martial Artist (1), Total Level (19).

Member Two: Yulg (Karma: 50 [Neutral])

Classes: Goblin Marauder (1), Brawler (8), Warrior (4), Cleric (1), Total Level (13)

AN: Whelp, looks like these adventurers are a little on the darker side. Gotta do what ya gotta do for a payday though, yeah? And as they always say, if you love your job then you'll never work a day in your life.

Etsize: Considering how nasty these adventurers are just from this bit alone, more than likely. It's more a matter of whether or not he can afford to be the hero though.

Spatialyeti8: Man's gonna hafta pull a W out of his ass even with that though. Hardly an improvement jumping up to a simple Copper Age with the occasional iron/primitive steel tool

chongwillson: Very much OC. They are from Re-Estize though, you're right about that. Only kingdom up north close to the forest after all.

Aicka: Oh fs, Nolan's a little unhinged compared to the New Worlder's usual train of thought

hackslashbash: For me to know and you to wonder

Reaper200851: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)