Adventures of a Fantasy Fan: Part 2

The journey began painfully as the sun rose over the hills, stinging Grimm Salva's eyes. Yet, there was a sparkle there, one not seen since his days on the battlefields. Years had past since his last expedition and his desire to wield his sword waned daily. He had witnessed and perpetrated horrifying things in the name of profit, and had no desire to follow that path again.

East he jogged, setting a steady pace up and over the first hill over looking his up-until-recently private corner of the world. He looked back. Passed his small cottage, far in the distance, rose the smoke of campfires, hundreds of campfires. He knew the sights, sounds and smells of an army on the march well. This was not a battle Grimm could win alone, nor was it a battle he wished to fight at all. Judging from the recent goblin activity to the West, was was sure that the goblin horde was headed East, toward the Tower of Unusual Protuberances and the tower's surrounding town, Laybren. Grimm could have taken off South and avoided this entire situation, but the thrill of battle and the promise of treasure, no matter how repugnant Grimm believed this to be, guided him onward to find allies in the coming fight.

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By the early evening, a small scouting party had reached a lone cabin in the grassy fields, hidden below a ridge. A seemingly well-trained force of humanoids approached the structure cautiously from both sides. Wearing all black and dirt covered cloth and carrying weapons coated in mud and ash, the stealthy group reached the door, barely making a sound. The leader of the party was a short and well-built goblin whose face, if it could have been seen through the black cloth face mask, held a fierce snarl and an ancient scar from his left ear to his upper lip. He silently crept to the door and tested the lock. To his surprise the door creaked open. His partners stood guard in the shadows of the cabin waiting for the signal that everything was clear inside. Keto, the veteran scout, surveyed the cabin with his twisted dagger blacked with ash in his hand. There seemed to be nothing here except an unmade bed and some worthless trinkets.

Ever the anxious and blood thirsty race, one of the goblin scouting party crashed through the back wall of the cabin, screaming a goblin war cry, flailing a war hammer about his head. Keto, never surprised by the inability of his race to follow orders, stepped into the shadow of a door. As the crazed goblin charged in, he met with a twisted dagger to the lung. The sheer force of Keto's thrust nearly caused the expecting berserker's heart to burst. The crashes and the gurgling death throes of their comrade peaked the interest of the other three goblins who rushed in to investigate. They found Keto kneeling over their dead companion twisting and unscrewing the dagger from its place lodged in between the dead monster's vertebrae.

With a miserable snarl, the goblins charged unexpectedly. The closest beast, not even bothering drawing his short sword, leaped from the front door at Keto, who was still fumbling with his dagger. Teeth and claws bared open, the goblin landed on Keto who released his dagger and rolled back with the momentum of the toothy missile, kicking the goblin high into the roof of the building. As the thing fell with a groan, Keto was on him. Drawing the short sword from the stunned goblin's belt and driving it home, up into the stomach of the prone humanoid, tearing a hole in the thing's heart.

The second goblin was more cautious. His spear would have made for a formidable weapon had the two foes met outside, where range and distance were advantageous. But inside the small cabin the spear was a mere hindrance. Without thinking, Keto sprung back dodging the first thrust of the spear and then the second. The new foe took his eyes off of Keto for a split second to survey the room as he drove his spear at Keto, he saw his two downed comrades and hesitated to continue his push. But it was too long of a hesitation. Within that moment, Keto closed the gap between him and the spear wielding monster and passed the point of the spear. Grabbing the shaft with his left hand and rushing forward he drove the butt of the spear into the goblin's gut, knocking the wind from his lungs. At the same time, Keto brought the short sword up in his right hand over his left shoulder and swung, the already bloody tip sliced effortlessly though the neck the green monster's silk stealth suit and his neck. It fell to the ground clutching for his spraying red life force.

The last goblin saw what quick work Keto had made of his scouting party and took off running parallel to the small cliff. Keto heard him scurrying away and charged out the hole which his first victim made. Spear in hand, Keto launched the missile at his last fleeing enemy and watched as the metal spear head pierced the monsters back and exited his stomach. The goblin paused for a moment and laughed as the last of his "comrades" fumbled to the ground, skewered like a wild boar.

It seemed that Keto had chosen an unusual side in the coming war with the humans.