"The goblins definitely came this way." Vash said, studying the imprints in the soft earth of the forest floor. He used the See Tracks Talent that Morwen taught him, and the footprints of the goblins were clear as day. Other tracks were less obvious. Humanoid, but Vash couldn't tell what kind of humanoid, or how many there were. "This may be the main trail back to their camp. I think they had others, not goblins, with them."

Corwin frowned, scratching his head. "It's not uncommon for goblins to work with other humanoid monsters. It usually ends in disaster for the goblins, though. The bigger humanoids use them as expendable fighters and raiders."

"How terrible for them." Vash said, letting sarcasm creep into his voice.

"They're annoying, nasty, brutal little things." Corwin conceded. "But they're still living creatures that can think and feel."

That elicited a laugh from Vash. "You were so very caring when you were slicing them to pieces back there."

"Those were raiders." Corwin said, following Vash up the hill. "I've seen goblin harems and crèches. They don't start out as thieving, bloodthirsty bandits."

Vash straightened, having locked the goblin's escape path in his mind. "Well, these are the thieving, murderous kind. So, I don't think we'll have to go easy on them."

"Fine by me," Corwin shrugged. "Three weeks of just sparring with Charity was making me think my skills were getting rusty."

"No," Vash said, climbing the hill towards a gap in the trees at the top. "She's just a better fighter than you are."

Corwin grunted, but didn't reply. The nightly sparring matches between the big warrior and the tall, but lighter paladin garnered quite a bit of interest in the caravan. It had also sparked a lively betting pool. Charity put Corwin on his ass three bouts out of five. The other two usually ended in a draw. Corwin was a good sport about it, but Vash could tell that it bothered him.

He shouldn't get so worked up. Cass said, her words seeming to parallel Vash's thoughts. Charity has had years of training under skilled fighters. Corwin's barely been doing this for two years, and Jabez does not seem to be the most…dedicated…of teachers.

Corwin may seem like he's the salt of the earth and humble to a fault, but he's got his pride, just like everyone else. Vash said, moving carefully to the top of the hill.

In my experience, pride can be a dangerous thing when you let it rule you. Charity said.

Vash caught a bit of bitterness and melancholy in her voice. She rarely spoke of her time before her capture, speaking in vague terms and off-hand comments. Vash had figured out that she was very old, that she'd possibly spent hundreds of years in that soulstone. He had concluded that Cass would tell him about herself in her own time, that it did no good to push on these things. So he let the matter drop and crested the top of the hill.

They had been following the goblin's trail for the better part of an hour. It wove through the forest for a time before climbing this rise. Once at the top, Vash got a good look at why.

Nestled at the bottom of the slope, amid piles of boulders and scree, was a small campsite. A few goblins milled about, keeping guard, repairing weapons and gear, tending to the ropey, thin, dog-like creatures they used as mounts and guards. What was behind the camp caught Vash's attention. A wide cave mouth opened on the side of the hill. A shallow creek ran from the main entrance and probably dug out the cave in the first place. Other holes were dug into the hillside, and Vash could see small figures coming and going through them. In just those first few moments, Vash counted at least twenty goblins.

Corwin joined him on the rise and sucked in a breath. "That's more than just a raiding party."

"I thought the Rivermarch Road didn't have a goblin problem like this?"

"There's two or three tribes up in Blood Mountain. It's a good distance from here, but the Underlands has a different geography. This group could have traveled down there until they found this cave, and no one would have known." Corwin said.

"We're going to need reinforcements." Vash said, crouching and letting his eyes slide into a different configuration. The extra lenses of elvish eyes allowed him to magnify what he was looking at without the use of a spyglass.

Two goblins burst from the brush at the edge of the clearing around the cave. Their sudden appearance elicited a beehive of activity from the goblins. Shouts and cries went up, weapons readied, and the goblin dogs let out savage coughing barks that echoed off the surrounding hills.

"I think our friends finally made it home." Vash said, watching everything below intently.

As the escaped goblins loudly reported what had happened to them, complete with wild gesticulations and a few emphatic swings of their weapons, other goblins dashed for the tunnels, presumably to tell the goblin leaders what was going on.

A few moments later, a large goblin nearly twice the size of the raiders emerged from the cave. He wore a dirty wolf's pelt like a cloak. The wolf's head and upper jaw formed a hood over the big goblin's misshapen head.

"That might be the leader of the tribe." Vash said, nodding in the big goblin's direction.

"Can you figure out what they're saying?" Corwin asked, kneeling beside Vash.

"They just seem to panic and ask a lot of questions." Vash said, shaking his head.

A pair of larger goblins, elite guards of some sort, emerged from the cave dragging a figure between them. The person was small, a halfling unless Vash was mistaken, dirty and bruised with bloodstains on his torn clothes.

"Is that…?" Corwin asked, trailing off as he leaned forward to get a better look.

"It's a halfling." Vash said, realizing what the other tracks had been. "They took prisoners from those wagons, and probably from other attacks as well."

The leader gestured to the halfling, directing questions to the two raiders. They both shook their heads and made hand motions showing they were talking about bigger people. This sent the camp into a frenzy, goblins running about and shouting, clutching weapons. Several goblins snarled and shouted at the halfling, who hung limp between the two bigger goblins.

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Bellowing a command, the leader gestured for the goblins to follow him back into the cave. The goblins chittered and screeched at one another but followed their leaders into the dark cave. Vash blinked, letting his eyes slide back to normal.

"We can't go back yet," Corwin said. "We need to know how many prisoners there are and where they're being held."

"What? Why?" Vash asked, confused.

"Those goblins are on guard and itching for a fight." Corwin said grimly. "If we lead an attack on them without knowing what we're up against, then at the very least the goblins will kill the captives. More than that, they'll set ambushes and traps, and we'll be walking into a slaughter."

"We could just get the caravan loaded up and keep a sharper eye out for ambushes." Vash suggested. "Going up against that many goblins doesn't seem like a good idea."

Corwin shook his head. "Goblins don't work like that. They'll send everything they have against us. Hit us in the night when we camp. It's better if we confront this head-on, clear out the infestation."

Vash sighed and ran a hand through his sweat-damp hair. "All right, we need to scout out their lair then. Any ideas?"

"One of the smaller shafts is likely to have fewer guards," Corwin said, scanning the cave and the various other openings. "We sneak in, get a look at what we're really up against and the layout, then get out and go get the others."

"We really need to work on coming up with actual plans." Vash grumbled.

"Simplicity keeps us nimble." Corwin said with a grin.

They methodically worked their way around the hillside, careful not to attract notice from the goblin guards that jumped or called challenges at every snapping twig or rustling in the underbrush. On the opposite side of the hill, they found a small opening. Vash watched it for half an hour, and when no goblins exited or entered the hole, he pronounced it their best choice for getting into the lair unnoticed.

Corwin grimaced as they approached the opening. "It looks a little small."

"They're goblins," Vash said, crouching and peering into the darkness ahead. "They don't really design their camps for giants."

"Hilarious." Corwin muttered, squeezing himself into the tunnel behind Vash.

Vash's eyes adjusted, the extra muscles and lenses of his eyes enhancing the ambient light until he could see almost as well as if the tunnel were lit with torches. The tunnel was crude, dug out of the earth and stone of the hillside with haphazard supports here and there. Luckily, the tunnel didn't seem to narrow as far as he could see. Vash could walk through the tunnel with a slight crouch. It would get uncomfortable, but at least it wasn't as bad for him as it was for Corwin.

Bent almost double, Corwin shuffled along, letting one hand run along the dirt wall as the light from outside faded. He had to stop frequently and sink to one knee to take the pressure off his legs and back.

If anything comes up from below, he will not be much help. Vash thought. He drew his dagger and flipped it into the ton'suir position, a good grip for close-quarters fighting. Best to be prepared.

Around the first bend, a dim light grew in the tunnel ahead. Vash reached back and touched Corwin's shoulder, making him stop. He signaled for Corwin to wait, then crept forward, straining to keep his steps as silent as possible.

Just around the turn sat a goblin. He carried a small globe in one hand that had a handful of glowmoss stuffed inside. Vash looked him over. The goblin was thin and wiry, with the same wide head as the others of his kind, dominated by an elongated mouth full of sharp teeth. The green of his skin was more sallow, however, and hung loose or in heavy bags and wrinkles. White streaks ran through his coarse black hair, and his garments were dirty and patched. The goblin also seemed to be sleeping.

An older goblin? Vash thought. I didn't know there were old goblins.

As they got closer to the fabled Blood Mountain, Vash had read a bit in the Gideon's Guide about goblins. The guide had very little to say about goblin society and customs. It only said that goblins ruled through strength, that the biggest and strongest goblin in the group always led the tribe, band, or raiding party. That a goblin would survive to old age and still live with the tribe was surprising.

Vash hesitated, his resolve to dispatch the goblin guard and proceed into the lair slipping. He heard Corwin shift behind him, boots crunching against the loose gravel of the ground.

The goblin's eyes snapped open. He took one look at Vash, shrieked, then threw the globe of glowmoss at Vash's head.

Vash dodged the projectile easily. But in the moment his attention turned elsewhere, the goblin had already fled halfway out of sight down the tunnel.

"Gods, they never make this easy!" Vash growled, flipping the dagger back into a normal ready position, then throwing it at the retreating goblin's back.

The goblin's scream cut off when the dagger sank to the hilt between his shoulder blades. He fell forward and skidded a last few feet on his face.

Vash grimaced in distaste and waited, listening hard, straining to hear if anyone answered the goblin's cries. After a few minutes of silence, Vash let out a relieved breath. He summoned the dagger back into his hand and tapped Corwin to follow him.

They passed the body of the goblin guard, and Vash briefly considered looting the body, but then the smell of the creature hit him. Vash didn't know if that was what goblins normally smelled like or if it resulted from this one's sudden, violent death, but he knew he didn't want to get any closer.

Vash led them down the tunnel as it wound into the hill. The tunnel sloped steadily downwards; the air became thicker with moisture and the smell of rot and mildew. Sudden shouts and cries coming from down the tunnel made Vash freeze in place, but he quickly realized that it wasn't an alarm. The noise came from an excited crowd.

Curious, Vash moved closer to the noise, careful to hug one wall and keep his footsteps quiet. The soft red-gold glow of torchlight grew in the tunnel, as did the sounds of the crowd, along with the sour stench of many goblin bodies clustered together.

The tunnel soon opened out onto a ledge of rock that ringed a small cavern. Vash peered carefully out of the tunnel. The cavern was oval - shaped. Goblins covered the stone floor in a mass of mottled green bodies in scraps of leather and ratty cloth. The crowd shouted at the figure standing on a flat rock dais that stood several feet above the cavern floor. It was the large goblin Vash had seen earlier.

Up close, the goblin leader was more impressive. He stood about the height of a man with a thin, but muscular body. Bone and leather armor covered his chest and legs. A grisly necklace of ears hung around his neck. Vash recognized the small, rounded points of halflings, the plain curves of humans, and the chiseled points of elves. A two-handed weapon, like a single-edged sword, made from heavy iron with spikes and a tearing hook at one end, hung on his back. Bone piercings stood out on his flat nose and decorated his long, pointed ears.

The leader was shouting at the other goblins, apparently in some sort of argument. Behind him on the dais, huddled a frightened group of non-goblins. The halfling that Vash saw earlier cradled in the arms of a halfling woman, blood ran from his nose and fresh bruises appeared on his face. Behind them was the form of a dwarf male; bruises, cuts, and swelling entirely hid his face. To one side sat a middle-aged human, cradling an arm that was bent at a bad angle.

"Looks like four survivors." Vash whispered back to Corwin.

"That's good, but what are the goblins doing with them?" Corwin asked.

Vash shook his head and watched as the goblin boss broke away from the others and stomped back to the prisoners.

"Bolg talk to you now." The boss said in a high, scratchy voice.

A chorus of jeers and shouts came from the crowd of goblins.

Bolg, the goblin boss, whirled and screamed. "SHUT IT!"

The goblins fell silent except for some low muttering.

"You, tall-man." Bolg said, pointing at the lone human. "I talk with others and they no tell me what I want. So I talk at you. Tell Bolg what he want to know, then Bolg not hurt you."

The man stared at Bolg, but said nothing.

"Bolg know there many wagons coming up the road." Bolg said proudly. "Where they at? Where the magic men with swords and knives that kill my goblins?"

The man shook his head, confused. "I don't know—"

Bolg surged forward and hit the man across the side of the face. A fresh bloom of color rose on the man's cheekbone, and it swelled immediately. Blood ran in a steady flow from the man's nose, and he struggled to stay upright.

"NO LIE TO BOLG!"

Vash looked back at Corwin and saw the grim determination on the big man's face. Immediately he knew they weren't going back for reinforcements.

"Dammit, this time we need an actual plan."

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