The villagers seemed to have adjusted rather swiftly to the kidnapped-to-new-citizen pipeline. In a matter of days, the villagers had constructed a couple of larger houses they shared while they constructed the smaller but more numerous family houses. The addition of Stenjin to the human workforce certainly did not harm their swift progress. In general, humans expended significantly more effort to do the simplest tasks, taking transporting a log as an example, humans require tools to cut down a tree, carriages to transport it, and multiple people to pull the log to the construction site, awfully inefficient all things considered. On the other hand, it was not an uncommon occurrence around the castle to see one or two logs strapped onto a single Stenjin’s shoulders which they carried without complaint to the sprawling village.
Zal’Rodal had ordered that the smithy be one of the first buildings constructed and with the additional manpower provided by the Stenjin and goblins, the project was well underway. He hoped that the village smith would soon be able to churn out new tools and weapons for his goblin horde. The Dark Lord’s domain was steadily expanding as was his notoriety. Goblins from all across the lands had started journeying to join Zal’Rodal at his castle in hopes of partaking in the loot. His forces were growing steadily day by day as more goblins made the surrounding forests and deep chambers of his dungeon their homes. Many of the goblins reported news of unusual monster movements they encountered on their way to the castle. Zal’Rodal supposed these news could be related to him, perhaps, the monsters were being roused by the knowledge that a new Dark Lord had awoken, or perhaps the surrounding kingdoms had grown tired of having monsters in their land. Zal’Rodal knew which option he preferred.
It is important to note that Zal’Rodal himself was nowhere to be seen at the castle. The Dark Lord had taken a band of goblins on another excursion across the Eberon River, reports had reached his ears that unknown figures had been inspecting the remains of the village they had raided. He wanted to ascertain whether the figures were simply scavenging the remains of the loot or were searching for him. He crossed the river in the afternoon following the by now familiar paths they had previously taken and reached Ebbing. The village looked emptier than he remembered, perhaps the missing corpses added to this feeling, somebody must have collected them while he was gone. Zal’Rodal also noticed that the houses had been marked with red crosses on the door. Upon further inspection, the red paint was still somewhat fresh on the wood. They must have missed whoever had come to the village.
“They must have searched the houses and marked the ones they were done with,” Zal’Rodal thought out loud.
“It’s good to know that your mental faculties are steadily improving,” Migaal said jumping of the Dark Lord’s shoulder, “although you must admit you had a fantastic teacher.”
Zal’Rodal raised an eyebrow at the ferret standing in front of him, “I don’t think they are returning here anytime soon,” he said while looking around the village and toward the horizon. Their conversation was interrupted by a shrill voice that appeared next to them.
“I havez idea,” the goblin voice next to them sputtered out, the goblin’s green face looked up at Zal’Rodal, its eyes nearly bulging out of its head, “I havez idea, your…” The goblin seemed to think for a moment, “Darknificence! We sneak attackz humanz!” the goblin exclaimed.
The Dark Lord looked at the goblin before turning his vision towards the village again, “I don’t see any humans to attack. Unless you’ve seen something I haven’t, in which case, out with it.”
“Now don’t try to be clever, the village is empty we made sure of that. However, it is important to listen to experts in their fields, and if these little green freaks know how to do one thing it is how to sneak attack,” the ferret retorted.
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“Yez, yez, goblinz good sneak,” the goblin jumped around in excitement, “humanz here not longz ago, yez yez? We lightz big fire! Humanz come back, then lead them to forest, yez, yez,” the goblin looked expectantly at Zal’Rodal waiting for a response when none came he continued, “then we sneak, sneak, and kill!”
“What is your name?”
“I’m Rigrig, your Darknificence,” the goblin said, “I comz from mountainz, Darknificence bring greet treasurez, yez yez?”
“Indeed, great treasure and loot loot,” Zal’Rodal replied. “You’ve done a good job, Rigrig. Your plan has some merit so we shall try it. Once we light the fire, how are we leading whoever is investigating into the forest?”
“Simple matter, yez yez. Take humanz bootz from house. Make printz towards forest. Stupid humanz followz, then stab stab.” The small goblin could barely contain his excitement regarding the stabbing. The goblin appeared to be one of the more dangerous members of its species, Rigrig appeared to possess an above-average intellect for a goblin.
Zal’Rodal ordered the goblins to follow Rigrig’s instructions and they got to work. Goblins ran around gathering flammable materials which they piled up in the middle of the village, while others placed boots on their hands and formed tracks leading across the river. The remaining goblins were searching for the best hiding spots for the eventual ambush. Once the false tracks were laid to Rigrig’s satisfaction the fire was started. The goblins carried leaves from the forest and threw them onto the flames causing great plumes of smoke to rise towards the sky. They then walked into the forest and waited to ambush whoever was foolish enough to walk into their forest. They didn’t have to wait long, some of the goblins had climbed trees and were reporting a group of riders approaching the village.
The riders arrived in the village shortly after and immediately turned towards the fire in the village square. Zal’Rodal could hear the faint sound of their voices yelling in the distance, they appeared to be calling out for any villagers to return, but of course, there was no response. One of the riders climbed down from his steed and started inspecting the ground. He went on one knee and passed his gloved hands over the footprints before following the tracks with his gaze. The rider said something to his companions before mounting again and riding towards the forest. Zal’Rodal could not help but smile at that. The goblins were equally as excited and started brandishing their weapons before returning to the professionalism they only displayed before an attack. The riders approached their location, the hoofs of their mounts kicking up dirt as they rode into the forest yelling for any villagers to come out. The goblins waited for the riders to come deeper into the forest, a panicked horse would not do well in the forest’s underbrush and once the riders fell off their steads the goblins could proceed with the stabbing.
The riders made their way into the thicket of the forest, they were none the wiser about their current predicament. The green horde had already surrounded their position and was readying itself to attack. While some of the patrol seemed to be on edge riding after the footprints the others laughed and told jokes to one another. One of the riders took off his helmet and complained about the heat, the next thing he would complain about was the arrow protruding from his face.
The goblins attacked in an instant, the forest which was calm and peaceful just moments before was filled with a cacophony of war cries. Arrows rained from the trees while other goblins ran at the horses, knives and spears at the ready. Zal’Rodal jumped out of his hiding spot turning Migaal into a wicked blade in his hand and charged along with his goblins. The patrol was quick to react and drew their swords slashing around themselves and covering one another's back forming a tight-knit circle. Perhaps if they had faced an unorganised group of goblins not led by a Dark Lord they might have been able to escape but that was not to be their fate. The horses started panicking, neighing and screaming upon seeing the approaching goblins. Rigrig jumped into the air and onto one of the soldiers, his legs wrapped around the soldier’s shoulders, he lifted up the helmet’s face plate and sunk his dagger into the rider’s exposed face.
The riders were defeated quickly, quicker than they would probably have liked to admit. Goblins were not the usual life-ending threat to a group of soldiers, but with some organisation and a man with a demon ferret, there was not much they could do. The goblins gathered the bodies of the soldiers and stripped them of their weapons and valuables. They returned home with new loot, weapons for the goblin horde, and the knowledge that they could take on trained soldiers well enough if sufficiently prepared.
