The Frontier's Most Honourable
…
Chapter 2: Roll for Initiative
It was sundown in the forest and two small goblins stood guard at the entrance to a cave. The couple of women they had taken captive from a nearby village were being made sport of inside the cavern. The two guards resented not being included on the fun, but there were more women in the village nearby and after tonight's raid? Drool fell from one goblin's mouth at the thought violating a woman against her will.
Then a sudden rustling of leaves alerted the two goblins. Holding up their crude spears, the two ogroids slowly approached to where the sound was coming from. Goblins were by nature a cowardly species, confident only when their numbers outweighed their opposition. Keeping up a brave front, the first guard spotted a rustling bush. Baring its dirty chipped teeth in a snarl, the goblin stalked towards the bush, intent on thrusting its pointy wooden stick and end whatever was making that noise.
Jabbing its weapon into the bushes, the goblin smirked in satisfaction as the rustling stopped and turned back around to resume its post. Then suddenly, it was yanked into the bushes by its scrawny neck. There was a sickening crunch of bones being broken. The other goblin guard panicked and fumbled to bring its horn to its lips, only for broadhead arrow to pierce its skull. Oily almost dirty black blood spurted out as the barbed iron tip punctured its temple and speared through its brain. The ogroid keeled over dead as a doornail.
Then stepping out from the cover of foliage was Goblin Slayer and Warden. "Seemed it work," the latter commented as he held in one gauntleted hand the dead goblin guard, its head twisted around to an unnatural degree. "What's next?" Warden then asked Goblin Slayer.
"Now we lure the rest out," the man in question replied as he took the goblin's horn from its hempen rope belt. "Only a few should come out, but we'd best prepare for a fight," he informed Warden.
"Agreed. How many do you think will come flying out?" Warden enquired.
"The nest is said to be sizable and if the Shaman is smart, he'll send a few out to investigate what's happening. No more than five or ten," Goblin Slayer said.
"Could we place the corpses at the edge? Lure them out further into the forest and use the cover of the trees to ambush them?" Warden suggested.
"Good idea," Goblin Slayer agreed and they then placed the bodies of the dead goblins at the edge of the clearing. Moving back into the cover of the forest and hiding behind some trees, Goblin Slayer put the curled ram horn to his lips and blew into it.
A deep sonorous sound rang out and it wasn't long before a small group of goblins came barrelling out, all armed and eager for bloodshed. It was as Goblin Slayer predicted; ten goblins in total, but among them was a larger specimen; a hobgoblin armed with a hatchet that looked like it had seen better days.
The goblins jabbered in confusion before one yowled in warning seeing the two corpses of its brethren at the edge of the clearing. The hobgoblin snarled out an order and the goblins then approached the two bodies, wondering who had killed them.
As the first of the group approached the corpses, an arrow flew out spearing it in the heart. The goblin uttered a deathcry as it fell to its knees coughing up gouts of oily black blood before succumbing to death. Confusion gripped the goblins as they looked around to where that arrow had come from. Then another shot out and killed another goblin by piercing its throat. The hobgoblin, being relatively smarter than its underlings, looked where the projectile came from and roared angrily as it saw the accursed Goblin Slayer standing behind a tree. With a bellow, the Hobgoblin charged forward, shoving its underling out of the way who then scrambled after it.
Then just as the hob was nearing the adventurer, something swung out and clobbered the beast right in the face. The resulting momentum sent the ogroid somersaulting in the air before it landed on its head and the result was its neck being broken by the impact. The lower grade goblins faltered but did not have time to contemplate what had just happened when a seemingly gargantuan knight appeared behind them and with his longsword, he hacked his way through them.
Goblin Slayer took a brief moment to observe his partner's swordsmanship; it was different. Warden seemed to alternate between holding his sword by the hilt and the blade. Gripping the hilt of his sword, Warden slashed apart the goblins, but the next moment he gripped his weapon by the blade and swung it, using the hilt and crossguard like a warhammer.
Goblin Slayer then drew his shortsword and joined the fray and within moments, the goblins were all dead. Wiping the blade of his sword clean of goblin blood and fat, Warden looked at the higher ranked adventurer and asked, "What now? Do we lure more of them out?"
"Not likely. The Shaman will be keeping the rest of the horde with him," Goblin Slayer replied. "This time we go in and exterminate in their holes," he informed Warden.
"Then I suppose this is where I switch weapons," Warden stated as he sheathed his longsword over his back and drew from his belt a simple iron banded club. The club was procured at the Blacksmith's in the Frontier Town before they had set out on the quest and it had come cheaply which was a good thing in Warden's book.
With a nod to Goblin Slayer, they then headed for the mouth of the cave entrance. Goblin Slayer lit a torch and held it in his left hand while holding his shortsword in his right. Warden too lit his own torch and kept his iron club read.
Treading carefully into the dank underground, the two warriors stalked their way inside, meeting no apparent resistance. Goblin Slayer then suddenly stopped, staying still for a moment before quickly hurling a throwing knife into the darkness. There was a gurgling cry of pain and lurching out, clutching the knife embedded in its stomach was a small goblin.
"You knew that was there?" Warden asked his partner quietly, curious to know.
"Not really. I heard it moving around and guessed," Goblin Slayer admitted bluntly.
"Hm. Good guess," Warden complimented him when he saw a shadow move out of the corner of his eye and lashed out with his club. A deeper cry of pain rang out and a hobgoblin stomped out, clutching a broken rib. Warden rushed it, pushing up against the rocky wall of the cave. Surprised by the sudden charge, the hob tried to grab Warden's neck and choke him only to be met with Goblin Slayer's blade slashing its throat open, Warden grunted in distaste as black blood splashed onto his helmet and chest. Moving back, the knight let the now dead hobgoblin slide down the wall and with one hand, he wiped his helmet visor clean of the oily substance.
"Sorry about that," Goblin Slayer said awkwardly to Warden who waved it off with and replied, "it's nothing. You killed it, that's what matters."
"This hob must've been a part of the group that came out earlier, but stayed behind in the cavern to wait for us," Goblin Slayer observed as he nudged the dead creature with one booted foot.
"Smarter than they look," Warden said in apparent agreement.
"Goblins aren't the brightest of creatures, but they learn from their mistakes and are quick to learn new things," Goblin Slayer iterated. "And they remember their grudges," he then said as an afterthought.
"Then we'd best not leave any alive to remember us," Warden stated calmly as they continued on down the tunnel.
As they neared a fork in the tunnel, the two warriors stopped. "Which way do we go? Do we split up and cover more ground?" Warden suggested.
Goblin Slayer knelt down on one knee and examined the dirt covered floor. "We go right," he stated looking at the right fork.
"The goblins are that way?" Warden asked.
"There are more goblin tracks this way, and there are fresh tracks," Goblin Slayer answered Warden's question.
"Good. But what about the other passage?" Warden enquired.
"We'll double back once the goblins are dead, otherwise we won't be able to carry them out," Goblin Slayer said in response.
"I see," Warden said grimly as if understanding what his partner meant by those words. The pair then headed down the right fork and soon spied the glow of a fire and the chattering and jabbering of creatures.
"Any ideas?" Warden whispered to his partner.
"I have an idea," Goblin Slayer replied as he dug out from his bag a beartrap. With a creaking clank, the adventurer set the trap in the middle of the passage. "We charge in, kill a few and draw the rest into chasing after us, I'll handle the rest," he told Warden who nodded and hefted his club in one hand.
The goblin shaman gnashed its chipped teeth in anger; tonight was going to be a good raid, but something had clearly gone wrong. The sound of the guards' alarm had interrupted their revelry; as a show of strength, the shaman had sent out half his horde to deal with the intruders and kept the rest with him. It could not afford to show weakness to its underling as any sign of weakness would mean its death.
As the shaman prepared to send out a scout to bring word of what had happened outside back to him, two large shapes burst into the cavern; terror gripped the shaman as it saw the thing that all goblins feared; the Goblin Slayer. The second shape looked a stereotypical adventuring knight and was seemingly nothing noteworthy, but if the man had been follish to join the accursed nightmare that was the Goblin Slayer then he would die screaming as well.
With a scream of anger, the Shaman ordered its remaining forces to kill the intruders, but not before the two warriors to kill five of the shaman's underlings before fleeing up the passage.
"Catch them, you fools!" the shaman shrieked in the goblin language and its last remaining hobgoblin roared in excitement as it led the charge, going up the passage with the remaining goblins following after him.
For a moment, the tunnel was filled with the shrieks, jabbers and yowls of goblins, but suddenly there was a loud sharp clanging sound followed by the bellowing scream of pain from the hob. Then the air was filled with a strong stench as the now dead hobgoblin rolled down the passage, bringing with it some still alive goblins, now smelling of the stench.
The shaman fought an urge to screamed in anger, but with a whooshing sound, flames lit up the goblins who now screamed in agony as they were suddenly alit in roaring fire, blistering, melting and blackening their green flesh and with that, all the goblin shaman's forces were gone in an inferno.
Incomprehension and terror gripped the shaman as the two terrors stepped out through the flames like a air of twin demons. Its staff falling from nerveless fingers, the shaman fell to its knees, clasping its hand in front of it, tears pouring from its eyes as it prepared to speak a Spoken language to beg for its life, though it knew it would be pointless with the Goblin Slayer.
And like that, Goblin Slayer's shortsword cleaved the shaman's skull, splitting it in twain. "Twenty-one," the silver ranked adventurer said monotonously.
"Good day's work," Warden congratulated him. "Clever idea with that gasoline. Have to remember that next time," he remarked.
"I can only afford a flask at a time, and its expensive," Goblin Slayer informed him.
"I can imagine," Warden said. "These goblins kidnapped some women, didn't they?" he then asked grimly.
"They did. They should be in the left fork. They'll be too weak to get out by themselves," Goblin Slayer told him. "I need to check in here if they've spawned," he added absently.
"Very well. I'll look in the left passage and see to the women," Warden nodded his head as he turned around and headed back up the passage. Goblin Slayer then searched the cavern and sure enough, found a small nook behind the throne were a trio goblin young cowered when they saw. The silver ranked adventurer did not even think twice as he put the goblin children.
Warden then found a grim sight as he looked in the left fork and found a wasteheap where a trio of young women, naked save for bare scraps of cloth and covered in bruises and gashes, all clear signs to the knight what the goblins had done to them.
"It's alright," Warden said to them kindly and softly. "We're getting you out of here," he promised as he lifted two of the barely alive women onto his shoulders and was soon met with Goblin Slayer entering the room. "They're alive. Barely," the knight informed the adventurer grimly. Goblin Slayer did not say anything, he merely lifted the last of the goblin victims into his arms and carried her out.
…
An hour later, Warden and Goblin Slayer were seated at a campfire after delivering the victims to the village. Warden was sharpening his sword with a whetstone, the gritty sound of porous stone grinding against metal mingling with the crackling sound of the campfire. Goblin Slayer was tending to his own equipment.
"Seemed like we did good work tonight," Warden remarked offhandedly. "Another village safe from those vermin," he said proudly.
"Villages will still be in danger of goblins. It won't stop until all goblins are dead," Goblin Slayer said to him.
"True enough. They're certainly vicious little bastards," Warden agreed as he ran his whetstone along the edge of his sword at an angle.
"You've faced goblins before?" Goblin Slayer then asked.
"I have, before I came to the Guild," Warden replied. "I found myself in a village and they were being threatened by a horde of goblins. Those villagers had no-one to help them, so I decided to help them by leading the defence of their village," he said.
"You have experience defending villages?"
Warden nodded in response and said, "The land I hail from has seen near constant warfare. Wardens like myself were often tasked with leading the defence of cities, villages and fortress. But there are times we're often the vanguard for attacking enemy fortifications."
"I see." Goblin Slayer then reloaded his backpack before asking Warden, "Would you still goblins?"
Warden looked up at the adventurer and replied, "What makes you ask that?"
"There's not a lot of money in goblin hunting quests," the silver ranked adventurer informed him. "Just curious if you'd still go goblin hunting."
"Of course," Warden said with a nod of his head. "If anything needs to be killed, it's those vermin," he stated matter-of-factly.
"Alright then," Goblin Slayer nodded his head.
Warden nodded his head as well before pulling out from his satchel a wineskin. "Seems like a good time for a drink as any," he said casually as he uncorked the skin and took a draft of the alcohol with a small sigh of contentment. "Hm. To our first goblin hunting quest together," he declared giving a toast in the air and taking another pull before offering to Goblin Slayer who took and took a drink himself.
Goblin Slayer then handed the wineskin back to Warden who nodded in approval. "Ever had a drink before?" the knight asked.
"Some, but I don't drink often," Goblin Slayer confessed.
"Hm. Wonder what kind of drunk you'd be?" Warden said in amusement. "Maybe next time, we take a drink for every goblin we've killed afterwards?" he suggested.
"We'd probably die," Goblin Slayer.
Warden's armour shook as he chortled. "That's probably true. Too many of the little bastards to make a drinking game of. Maybe we just a drink after we complete a job, yes?" he offered.
"To more dead goblins, then?" Goblin Slayer asked innocently.
"Aye. To watching the little cunts burn!" Warden declared resolutely as he took a pull of his wine before handing the wine to Goblin Slayer who took a longer pull of the booze this time.
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: There! Second chapter of this is done and dusted! I'm glad this has been well received thus far. I hope you all enjoyed this second chapter, short as it was, but I hope it had enough action to sate you all.
Admittedly, I haven't given too much of Warden's backstory, nor did I give any details as to how he found himself in the Goblin Slayer, or as it's called, the Four-Cornered World. I have some ideas as to how the Warden found himself in the Goblin Slayer, something to do with the Gods, one in particular, but I won't say much more than that.
Some of you have also given some helpful suggestions as what For Honor Heroes could also show up. One reviewer suggested the Pirate armed with a cutlass and Infinite Flintlock; tempting, but I might have to change the flintlock from being infinite if only for the sake of making it a little more realistic and according to the Goblin Slayer TRPG, Blackpoweder itself costs about two-hundred silver coins for ten pinches of it, so for low level adventurers, it'd be way too expensive to purchase in large quantities, so I would have to think about whether I should include the Pirate Hero in the story, but I won't say no to it.
And that's about all I have right now, so I'll leave this here and catch you all in the next one.
Be kind to one another,
Angry lil' elf.