I do not own Goblin Slayer or Middle-Earth franchise. One-shot.
Deep in a cave where sunlight is forbidden to venture, underneath the lush vegetation of the great outdoors, the echoes of wood and steel clashing reverberate throughout the entire ancient underground labyrinth turned goblin nest. Unwilling to ignore the commotion in their home, several packs of goblins rush to the epicenter, each of them carrying various, crude weapons like poison-tipped knifes/spears and bow and arrows. Eventually, the small packs merge into one larger pack, all itching to eviscerate, mutilate, or imprison the intruder as their bloodlust slowly ignites as they draw closer with the only obstacle standing in their way being a long hallway. As the goblins traverse the hallway, they notice the bodies of their fallen comrade on the floor: some having their entire skulls caved in, others having their chest bludgeoned in as their bones and ribs stick out crushed, and some are nothing but a pile of bloody pulp unrecognizable to the goblins. No matter, they still have the numbers, and no matter how many of them die, they can always replenish their numbers given a few weeks. However, the confidence of the group waivers as they continue to charge through the hallway, spotting the bodies of a few hobgoblins scattered throughout the floor with the same death wounds.
They enter the large sanctum after navigating the hallway of dead bodies, finding other goblins standing in front of them behind boulders, spectating the current battle. Looking around, there are more goblins spectating from various positions, yet none of them are daring to enter the fray. One of the spectator goblins turns around and stares at the newly arrived horde, only to shake its head, silently asking them to not interfere and to only watch. As if having an unspoken understanding, the horde acquiesces with their fellow goblins for a palpable fear can be felt around the atmosphere. Despite being weak monsters, goblins are not unintelligent and value their survival; their instincts are warning them to watch because joining in now is a death sentence for they can do nothing for the goblin champion who is struggling against the invader.
Gripping his great club as hard as the goblin champion could, he swiftly raises his weapon high into the open air and swings down with all his might. The wood collides with the concreate, cracking it and sending dust and pebbles into the air with a powerful shockwave. This is the worst possible outcome as the invader stands just outside the club's kill range, unimpressed by the wielder's handling as he looks at the club with great disappointment. Swinging with strength and no purpose is enough for the invader to conclude the champion before him nothing more than some mindless oaf, believing strength alone is enough to dominate your opponents. His azure eyes hold nothing but disgust and ire for this goblin champion as the other two have proven to be incompetent, and now their bodies lay on the ground, both their heads smashed in on the other side of the large room.
"Strength alone will achieve you nothing." He lectures, his words dripping with venom and enmity. "Even your followers have more intelligence than you, which is why they remain outside this fight for they know who the victor will be." His tirade continues, pacing around the champion, judging him from head to toe with ire. The champion, seething with rage, lunges at the invader, swinging his great club in a wide arc. The invader, predicting such an outcome, counters by swinging his mace at the champion. Metal and wood collide as the clash reverberates all throughout the nest, spectators in awe at the final result of the battle as wooden chips and splinters fall to the ground along with a large hunk of wood flying across the room, landing behind the spectator goblins. With fear stricken to their absolute core, the goblins look on to their champion kneeling on one knee, broken club in hand with a expression of surprise and trepidation with the black-armored invader looming over him, just noticing the skulls designed onto his chest plate staring him down.
"Disgusting filth." The black-armored invader spits as he swings his mighty mace at the champion's stomach. Screeching in pain, the champion is force onto his hands and knee before the invader, coughing out blood. Right aa the champion was about to lift his head, the invader's hand instantaneously grips the champions skull, securing his grip tightly, inflicting just enough pain to leave the champion at the invader's mercy.
"With a single reflex, I could crush your skull between my fingers, rip your head off its body, and show your followers the gruesome reality of battle." He informs the fear-stricken champion, each word stinging at the champion's pride as his followers look on, waiting for him to fall just like the others. "However, I have other plans for you and your followers." He enlightens, releasing the champion's head with a thrust down while directing his glare at the cowardly goblins. Some goblins hid behind the boulders as a direct response while others remained paralyzed. "Though cowardly in the face of a true opponent, there is no doubt that you and your followers know how to spread fear amongst men." He observes. Wandering around the nest has allowed for invader to discover the female prisoners; stripped of clothes, chained to the walls, bodies scarred, demoralized, and made nothing but slaves for breeding. But all of that is nothing compared the horrors one experiences on the battlefield, especially if he is the one inflicting such horrors. For the prisoners here, death would be but a kind mercy, and the invader is not known for his mercy, unlike his master.
Directing his glare back at the fallen champion, he completes his observations of the goblins. Thought weak and with crude weapons and with intelligence of a below-average Uruk, the goblins have numbers on their side. With careful command, they could prove to be a useful force… for now.
"Though you and your allies have lost, there is hope for redemption… if you serve me." He reveals. "Your efforts are misguided and primitive, but just like the Uruks, you can be trained in the art of the kill. Serve me and learn to spread your influence all over the land, and prove you are useful—not to me, but to the Dark Lord." With no other recourse but to forfeit his and every other goblins' life, the goblin champion lowers his head once more before his new master. With this sign of subservience, the goblins slowly leave their hideouts and approach the champion and the armored invader. Following the champion's lead, the goblin's lower their weapons and stand behind the champion, accepting the change of leadership.
"Consider yourselves lucky. You will prove useful to the Dark Lord and spreading his influence over these lands. As his Hammer, I will ensure the residents and denizen alike will come to learn who he Dark Lord Sauron is." The Hammer declares.
With many of his goblin followers lying down on the snow-filled floor of his mountain fortress butchered, cleaved, dismembered, decapitated, shot, burned, poisoned, or cursed, the goblin paladin's teeth gnash with fury and disbelief as his only recourse left is to kneel down before the invaders. The remaining goblins, stunned and bewildered by their leader's action, follow suit. They would have eventually done so without the Paladin's surrender for they knew it was a losing battle for them. The invaders, upon seeing the sight of surrender, howled into the air for all the northern mountain ranges to hear, celebrating and laughing in their victory against the goblins as they raise their metal weapons into the air.
"You put up quite the battle, but no creature can hold their own against Fraug the Butcher!" The twin-axe-wielding Uruk Captain taunts before the kneeling Paladin. "You have no idea how much I want to rip that head of your body, punt it off the mountain, and parade your entrails across this fortress for all to see. Nothing is sweeter than rubbing salt in the wounds of your enemy who cannot fight back." He bellows as his bloodlust becomes palpable as cold, steel blades gingerly scratch the skin hiding the paladin's jugulars. "But the Tower has something else in mind for you and your followers." Fraug enlightens, pulling his twin axes from the paladin's neck, visible disappointment overcoming the Uruk as he walks away.
The Uruks shuffle around, bumping into each other until a pathway between the large gate of the fortress leading straight to the paladin is created. One individual traverse through the opening. Just gazing at the approaching menace makes the whole area 10 degrees colder for his appearance is crafted to instill trepidation upon all those who gaze upon him. His sickly-gray skin is infused with pieces of armor that once fit him, but clearly that is no longer the case as his skin is stretched, probably once inflicting a great amount of pain onto him, but his fluid movement as he walks towards the paladin proves he no longer feels the pain or, most likely, learned to live with the pain. His rotting, flesh-red gums exposes his putrid-yellow teeth as a metal apparatus surrounding his mouth act as his lips. This apparatus looks to be the reason as to why he cannot fully close his mouth. Complimenting his metal lips, he also adorns a metal headdress that is infused into his head. Four swords are impaled into his back with the outermost swords waving pealed-off skin from faces masquerading as flags.
Despite his monstrous appearance, he is a man, but he is the most fiendish looking one out of all the Uruks. After what feels like an eternity from his approach, the paladin understand why the Uruks call him the Tower as their leader towers over the paladin, Uruks, and goblins, casting his long, treacherous shadow over the armored goblin.
"Yes. You look to be of use to me." The Tower shares in a low, calm tone, betraying his appearance. The paladin slowly raises his head, but the moment he does, the Tower's hand is immediately on half of his face, glowing an eerie black-red color.
"AAAAHHHHH!" Each passing second feels like an eternity as the Tower continues his draining of the paladin. Feeling that his execution would be complete, the Tower finally releases the paladin, who immediately falls onto his hand and knees, panting for air.
"You place your faith in this God of Wisdom." He begins. "But he will not help you, but the Dark Lord will. You want to advance from your stone weapons; my orcs can help with that. Refuse and face your death." Being at the mercy of the Tower and the Uruks, the paladin begrudgingly accepts as his being down on his hands and knees turns into his submission. Though the Goblin Paladin will not readily accept this Dark Lord the Tower speaks of, his faith in the God of Wisdom will remain in hopes he and his followers are delivered out of the Tower's grasp.
"GAAAHHHH" a trio of goblins lunge at their opponent simultaneously in hopes of getting the jump on the lone individual. Unfortunately, such a mistake cost them their lives at the individual's steel blade cleaves through all three of their bodies in one swift, horizontal swing. Blood splattering everywhere as legs and upper bodies flop to the ground, life slowly escaping as their bodies sheepishly twitch. Though gruesome and macabre, the goblins remain vigilant. They lack the skill this interloper possesses, but they have the numbers to accommodate their short comings, and previous experience of slaughtering parties of adventures has taught them numbers will prevail—they always do.
The goblins continue to surround the interloper as their archers take their position behind the trees. Loading their stone-tipped arrows, they fire as the other goblins with stone spears and axes charge at the interloper. As expected of their primitive weapons, the arrows either bounce off his armor, break upon impact, or missing altogether. No matter, the six rushing goblins should overcome the interloper, who is currently taking a stance with his sword prepared to strike. With nowhere to run, the six goblins jump, weapons ready to impale. The interloper's grip around his sword tightens as it glows bright blue, manifesting into a long glaive. In one fluid motion, the interloper maneuvers his glaive in such a way that it strikes all six goblins as the phantom blade slashes through flesh and bone. Upon his finished maneuver, three phantom knifes materialize between the crevices of this fingers. He swiftly swipes his arm across, and a second later, the same knifes pierce the skulls and connect with brain matter of three goblin archers.
"If nothing else, they at least have more intelligence than Ghuls." The interloper comments to himself as far as the goblins know. With his perceived guard down, one brave goblin takes the initiative as he leaps from a bush with a stone knife in hand. The goblin feels a sudden jab into his gut, sending him immediately into the ground as it coughs and cringes in pain, all while with the interloper having his back turned, not moving.
"You missed one, Talion." Another individual states as he identifies the interloper. Taking out his broken sword-turned-dagger, Talion approaches the downed goblin and plunges his dagger right into the goblin's head, instantly killing it. He pulls his dagger out and sheaths it as he once again focuses on the surrounding goblins.
"It seems they still believe they can defeat us, Celebrimbor." Talion comments to the Wraith of the elf lord.
"They believe their numbers will save them. A deadly mistake."
"If their numbers are their strength, then it would be in our interest to take out their leader. As you said, cut off the head of the snake, and the body will wither." The world around him suddenly goes black as the rustling sound of the wind passing by his ears is amplified. Around him, he pinpoints the locations of the remaining goblins around him as they hide in the trees and bushes. However, his real target is off in the distance on top of a hill, wielding a staff with two humanoid creatures about human size, watching. Light begins to accumulate in the palm of his hand as he raises his hand high into the air. The goblins slow leave their positions, slowly surrounding Talion and Celebrimbor. The moment they reveal themselves is the same moment the light reaches max capacity. Talion and Celebrimbor slam the earth with great force, exploding the light and engulfing the entire area in a bright-blue flash, blinding everything around it.
Watching from the safety of a hill overseeing the battle, a goblin shaman slams his staff into the ground multiple times, mouthing off incoherent noises as the two hobgoblins watch. They had the numbers, they had the advantage, they were supposed to come out victorious. But this one individual is cleaving through his followers one by one at inhuman speeds. The shaman knew he would lose some of his followers in these kinds of attacks, but they can be easily replaced given their accelerated growth. But this one individual in inflicting heavy casualties onto the nest's population to the point he will have to move and gather new followers and capture new women as the once in captivity were recently lost to death.
Accepting this fate, the shaman barks to the standing hobgoblins as he begins his retreat. However, his retreat and anger come to a grinding halt as the distinct sound of metal piercing through skin and bone become audible. Quickly turning around, his face drops as he bears witness to a long sword sticking out of a neck from one of his bodyguards. Gargling the blood in his lungs, the hobgoblins is just as surprised to see Talion before him, unable to move as life slowly bleeds away from him. Talion, however, will gift him a quick death as he pulls out his sword from its neck and spins around once, gaining enough momentum to behead the hobgoblin like a hot knife through butter.
The shaman instinctively jumps background, dropping his staff in the process while landing on his bottom. The other hobgoblin, while surprised and conflicted, uses this opportunity to his advantage as he charges and prepares to swing his club right into Talion's head for a quick kill. He is immediately stopped in his tracks as he felt a sudden jab into his gut, forcing the hobgoblin to recede and drop to his hand and knees. Fishing up the decapitation, Talion turns his attention on the downed hobgoblin. He switches out his sword for his dagger and kicks over the hobgoblin. Showing no restraint, Talion slashes and stabs the hobgoblin multiple times with each strike forcing out shrieks of pain. He starts out around the stomach region and slowly makes his way upward, each slash more gruesome than the last, all for the shaman to wordlessly witness. Eventually, cold steel slices through the jugulars of the hobgoblin, ensuring his death as massive amounts of blood spurts out like sprinklers, but lucky for him, he does not experience such a slow death as Talion finishes his brutalization with one final plunge through the side of its head, instantly killing the hobgoblin.
The shaman could not move whatsoever as the strength in his legs are long gone after witnessing such a horrid execution. All it can do is slowly inch way using its hand. Talion stands up from his recent kill and slowly makes his way towards the shaman. Its fear is clearly visible as it helplessly endeavors to escape.
"Go to him." Celebrimbor states. Following his command, Talion approaches the cowering goblin shaman, casting his shadow over it as his right hand starts to glow. Finally, standing not two feet away, Talion forcefully grabs the shaman by its face as the Ring glows searing bright.
"Suffer me now!" Celebrimbor commands. It is here the goblin shaman can see what exactly Talion is as Celebrimbor's features become visible. The wraith delves deep into its mind, forcefully ripping out its memories while under paralysis as Celebrimbor's imprint of his hand brands the shaman's face. With each passing second, Talion and Celebrimbor's disgust for the creature grows as memories of its atrocities against people become known. Talion shoves the shaman into the ground as it holds no information they seek. The shaman slowly arises from the ground, only for Talion's hand to wrap around its neck to lift him up from the ground. The shaman claws at Talion's hand and it gasp for air. However, the shaman begins to feel an unnatural sensation in his head. It's like a strange energy is flooding into his head as it starts to become unbearable.
"GAAAAHHHHHHH!"
Boom
The goblin shaman's body plops to the ground, blood leaking everywhere as expected of a headless corpse. Sheathing his weapons, Talion walks over towards the rounded edge of the hill. Celebrimbor materializes behind him.
"This savage has failed to provide us with any information about our surroundings."
"We do know we are not in Mordor." Talion states.
"That much is obvious, but the real question is how did we enter these lands, and more importantly, how do we return." Celebrimbor questions.
"Death should have revived us in your barrow." Talion expresses while looking at the New Ring.
Talion is no stranger to death. Whether he be stabbed, crushed, mauled, or impaled, he would always rise from the dead to further his and Celebrimbor's goals of conquering Mordor courtesy of the New Ring an Celebrimbor. However, it seems death has thrown a wrench into their plans as the two have awaken into an unknown land. They know it's an unknown land because there are two moons above them; one white and one green. They know an orc captain got lucky and killed them both—a revenge that will surely be dealt back a thousand-fold. They have only woken up an hour ago inside a cave. After reaching the outside world, they were immediately thrust into battle with goblins, bringing them to now.
"A great sorcery is at work here, and it would appear our death was the catalyst." Celebrimbor hypothesizes. "And given the twin moons above us, it would be safe to assume we are no longer in Middle-Earth."
"If what you say is true, then who could have cast such sorcery over us? Could Shelob be behind this?" Talion questions the elf-lord.
"I doubt the Spider possesses the ability to cast such a powerful spell." The elf lord replies.
"Then perhaps the Witch-King and the Nazgul." The Ranger offers.
"Even if they could, it would serve no purpose for them to send us here if their goal is to recruit us. No, a third party must be involved—one we have yet to encounter and have yet to understand their power."
"An unknown's party's doing…. If that is the case, then I am open to suggestions as to how we should proceed." Celebrimbor slowly turns his gaze downward. Talion follows his line of sight towards the dead goblin shaman.
"This wretched creature's thoughts have revealed the location of a nearby nest. If we are to ascertain answers about our predicament, perhaps it would be in our best interest to visit the nest and extract information from its inhabitants." Celebrimbor states.
"Going to a stronghold and killing off the goblins while also extracting information… doesn't sound any different than what we do in Mordor with orcs." And with that nonchalant statement, Talion makes his way towards the next goblin's nest in hopes of fining out more about this world.
"Everyone, please pay attention. New quests have just been posted." Guild Girl announces, motioning her hands towards the bulletin board filled with quest ranging from porcelain all the way up to silver-ranked quest. As soon as the announcement was made, groups of adventurers swarm the bulletin board, reaching and grabbing any quest that fancies them or pays well, a typical sight whenever quest are posted.
Thirty minutes pass and most of the adventurers have claimed their quest, leaving the undesirable ones plastered on the wall. Guild Girl sighs as she notices the undesirable quest are none other than the porcelain-ranked goblin-slaying quests, and there is a lot of them, more than usual. Lately, the number of goblin quests have increased at a worrying pace. Young, inexperienced, usually-first time adventurers would naively accept the quest, only for some of them to never return. The number of goblin quests vs the number of young adventurers accepting the quest is unbalanced as those who are willing to accept are decreasing. Guild Girl can only assume the worst. If only the higher-ranking adventurers could help them or accept the quests. But that is just wishful thinking.
The front doors of the guild swing open, and Guild Girl's somber expression vanishes as quickly as it appears as a bright smile overcomes her lips.
"Goblin Slayer-san." She coos, straightening her posture as Goblin Slayer finally returns from his quest. Following him is his party consisting of High-Elf Archer, Priestess, Dwarf Shaman, and Lizard Priest. "How was the quest?" she inquires. Before Goblin Slayer could answer, High-Elf Archer immediately interjects.
"Complete waste of time!" She explodes. "Are you sure these goblin quests are legitimate?"
"Excuse me?" Guild Girl questions, confuses about Elf Archer's statement.
"Elf Archer-san, you need to calm down." Priestess advices.
"We spent all that time, and you expect me not to complain about it?" she counters with steam coming out of her nose and ears.
"Come on, long ears. Why don't we go grab something to drink to vent off your frustration?" Dwarf Shaman offers, dragging her away from the front desk as Lizard Priest follows while carrying a slab of cheese.
"I am sorry about her attitude. It was a long journey there and back." Priestess apologies on the elf's behalf. Guild Girl doesn't take anything to heart and only smiles whole-heartily. While they continue to exchange pleasantries, Goblin Slayer's attention gravitates towards the bulletin board, taking count of the number of goblin-slaying quests.
"Has anybody accepted any goblin-slaying quest?" he questions
"Yes. Three groups of porcelain-ranked adventures consisting of about 3 party members. Each group at least have a swordsman and a spellcaster." Guild Girl informs.
"What about their gear? What kind of weapons are they taking? Are the nest in caves or above ground?" his interrogation continues.
"Two of the three groups did have short swords and a few bottles of anti-poison. All three quest are for underground nest, but beyond that, I am unsure."
"I see." Goblin Slayer utters.
"Even with those groups, there are still quest unaccepted. In all likelihood, some of them won't return, as is with the trend of adventurers that accept these quests." She shares, her sorrow returning.
"What about these quests, are you sure they have not been accepted." Goblin Slayer continues.
"I am sure. Nobody has come to claim them."
"Are you sure?" he presses
"I'm sure. Why do you ask?" Guild Girl inquires.
"It has to do with why Elf Archer-san is upset." Priestess interjects. "When we arrived at our destination, there were no goblins. When we searched the area, all we found were there dead bodies." She reveals.
"Already dead?" Guild Girl repeats.
"Yes, and we confirmed this nest did have a goblin shaman leading them with two hobgoblins. When we found their bodies, one of them had their head decapitated while the other was viciously stabbed. The shaman also had his head decapitated, though we were never able to find it." Goblin Slayer informs Guild Girl.
"So somebody else killed them, but nobody other than your group accepted the quest. I can assure you these quests are legitimate. However, there is not much I can do on my side since these unknown assailments never came to the guild to accept the request. The best I can do is remind people to first accept the quest and not to go on their own for their own safety." This is the first time Guild girl has heard of somebody going off on their own to complete a quest. There are cases but never at her location. "I'm sorry that I cannot do much for you, but since you are the group that officially accepted the request, you are still entitled to the reward." Guild Girl shares.
"Are you sure? We did not do anything. All we did is confirm the quest's completion." Priestess objects.
"While that is true, the other party did not go through the proper channels of the guild to officially accept the quest, so you are still entitled to the reward since the quest was still accomplished." She states, placing the reward bag in front of the two adventurers. Priestess sheepishly accepts. As she finishes the transaction, Priestess turns to Goblin Slayer, who is already looking at which goblin quest to accept. Before she could say one word….
"Goblin Slayer-san." Guild Girl calls. "There is a quest for you." Intrigued, Goblin Slayer approaches the desk as the quest is placed right in front of him. "I forgot to post this one up but seeing your group return remined me of it. As you can see, it is a goblin-slaying quest, but it is ranked for steel-ranked adventures." She explains.
"Why is that?" he questions.
"Unlike the lower-ranking quest, it seems the situation surrounding this quest is different. These goblins are more active, and there are claims that they are in possession of iron weapons, and there are descriptions of off-colored hobgoblins leading them."
"Multiple hobgoblins and iron weapons. Were there any reports of goblin shaman?"
"No." she answers.
"What are you thinking, Goblin-Slayer-san?" Priestess enters the conversation.
"This is not regular goblin behavior. Perhaps multiple nests have merged into one super-nest, explaining the multiple hobgoblins, but I don't know about how they came to ascertain iron weapons. In either case, they must be exterminated." The turns towards Priestess. "You should rest up for tomorrow we will travel."
"I understand, Goblin Slayer-san. I will go tell the others we accepted another quest." With that, Priestess runs off to join the other, leaving Goblin Slayer to his own thoughts as he prepares for the goblin extermination; however, none of them are prepared for what awaits them at the nest.