.:: Welcome Back ::.

[Abeus]

Normally a guard on sentry duty would have a tedious job, set at one set position, watching a blank space for hours upon hours. Of course it was the same for the guards upon the towers marking the entrance to Jhade Village, except there never really was much point of them being there. It was well publicised that they were indeed alone on the planet. Except the odd Goblins that lived beyond the forest, but no one spoke about them. Neither party needed, or desired, to disturb the other. Occasionally the paths of the hunters would cross in the forests, but somehow they always managed to sort any disputes but playing Stone paper scissors. Mainly in the manner of the villagers wanting to sign a contract of peace, followed by the Goblins throwing some stones. Of course to follow it up the Men always planned to stab them in the eye with some scissors, but always forgot to pack some. Although when they say always, they mean always after the one time their wives caught them trying to steal the expensive scissors from the drawer. Never since that. But generally the two parties avoided contact, leaving a silent plane of grass, with a small amount of forest in the middle, separating them quite happily. Furthermore, even if one did decide to attack the other, you would never see them prior to the flames engulfing the rooftops, due to the fact that said forest was perfect cover for both sides to quietly creep around to the side of the opposing villages and fire some sort of flaming mass. Normally logs would fly into Jhade Village, but on the reverse somehow all the attackers could think of were wigs.

But the times of trying to irritate each other were long gone, and there really was no real reason for the regular 4 sentry guards to patrol the gate at one. 12 were normally put up for religious festivals. Well, 4 would be sent up, but the celebrations were so drab that the others would make excuses and join them. Taking with them a few kegs of bitter and the regular game of chess. Some time soon, they always told themselves, they would learn how to play. For now they made do with the makeshift rules, even if they did assume that the 8 small guys were experts in explosives, and the castles weren't really castles, but more so the archers atop them, that could shoot anyone dead when ever they wanted to.

The night in question was one of these nights. The 4th Chess championships had just got underway, although not all the guards decided to join in this time. Jadoor stood leant against the wall in boredom. Half hoping for an attack, he stared into the green forests. Suddenly he saw the fire, in the corner of his eye. It had been a while, and many had assumed that the old man had passed away, but upon the mountain top, the wise man once again had shown his own defiance to the celebrations. Claiming his need for some fresh air, and thanking his luck that he was the only guard with half a brain, Jadoor set off, down the ladder and off to the Jhade stairs. That was something about the village, they were stupid, they were few, but they were consistent. Either that or they just couldn’t think of anything else to name the different features of the Island.

The stairs, again, were not really stairs, well maybe they might have been for a giant, but for any human they were not. Each step was nearly the height of a 12-year old, and most would have to bring climbing gear to get to the top, and seeing as the village had no knowledge of such things, the hermit at the top had very few visitors. Thankfully Jadoor had noticed the footholds that had been carved into the rock by said hermit. He had once been a regular visitor, but times had been getting rarer, what with the outbreak of diseased sheep and the week that no one was allowed out because the Mayor had ‘a lady visitor‘. Everyone knew this was a lie, firstly there was no where to find a lady that could have been a visitor. And secondly, because although a law was passed to shoot anyone that left their house that week, there had to be someone to patrol to make sure they stayed in. Unfortunately for the Mayor, he let Klomt, one of the nosiest guards take the duty. He was soon forgetting his job and looking through the windows of the Mayors abode. Not for long however , as he had soon felt sick seeing that his visitor was none other than Mrs Hoggs, the town witch. Well, the towns witch look-a-like. The news had spread very fast the next day, but Jadoor thought he better not risk climbing to see his old friend in case he was seen. Klomt was nosy, and stupid, but was a very good aim and did his job perfectly. Which was coincidently the reason he failed to question the Mayors order to take a long walk from a short pier. It took him a while to find one, in fact he finally gave up looking and made himself one. It was a shame, he was a good aim.

Things were a lot calmer now, until the ritual killing for the festival, but Jadoor wasn’t longing to witness anything like that again. It wasn’t even as if there was anything to sacrifice to. Someone just read a book one day and thought it sounded like a laugh. Now it was regular, and no one had the guts to stand up and question why. The guts or the brains. Jadoor stood at the bottom of the stairs. He was always daunted by the climb, only remember when at the top that even if he fell there was a thick ledge so his fall would only be a few feet. He lifted his hand to the first groove. He put pressure on It but was shocked back to the floor when he heard a scream from behind him. It had begun, thankfully he had no young cousins, but it was still someone he knew - it was a very close community. Perhaps, he pondered, that’s why their all so slow. He went back to his climb, and made quick work of the first set of steps. Unfortunately, a landslide had crumbled a few steps half way up the trek, but he knew there would have been another way carved out. He just had to find it. There was a bush not far from where he stood, looking as guilty as is possible from a small shrub. He investigated, finding nothing but an old birds nest. He decided he had to give it a go. No one had ever thought that physical strength was of any importance in Jhade Village, yet Jadoor could still pack a punch in the right times. It wasn’t much of a leap, but it would need his full attention to pull it off.

He reached up placing his hands on the top of the ledge, about neck height. He jumped and locked his arms as straight as he could. Wincing and closing his eyes he swung a leg, missing the ledge by a foot or so, but tearing a hole through his trousers. He concentrated and prepared to try again.

“It’s been a while Jadoor”

A small thud was heard just before a long moan. Jadoor picked himself up from the deck and looked at the old man. He knew who is was, even if the present position of the sun silhouetted the man.

“Yeah, too long! How are you getting up here these days?”

“I tend to use the path, but good for you sticking with the old strong man method.”

“Path?” Jadoor looked around and saw no sign of a path.

“I thought you were the smart one? The bushes just in front of the gates, the ones that normally grow blue seeds? Just push them to one side and you’ll see it. But how about you use this since you’re here?”

The silhouette moved away and produced a ladder. He passed it down to Jadoor who smirked and quickly joined the man.

“Your fire hasn’t been about for a while, we thought you’d finally agreed to go to a better place.”

“Bah! I’m not done here yet! Close, but there’s still a few more jobs for me.”

“Glad to hear it . . . It’s good to know your still with us. But the fire was never alight, you were here weren’t you?”

“Just because I’m an old man doesn’t mean I have to be stuck in one place. I’ve been travelling. I got the Goblins to carve me the path, then I went to the North beach, then . . . Maybe now is not the time. Lets get a drink first.”


***

Jadoor sat on his normal chair. It was odd, he knew that it was only ever the two of them up there, but there were a number of different seats. 3 more than last time he counted as his drink was poured. He was always told that they were so both men could always choose where to sit, yet neither of them every moved from the two seats closest to the fire.

Mejan was an elderly man, that Jadoor knew, but not a more specific age. He had guessed at 70 when he first met him 7 years ago, but to look at him now, Jadoor would have guessed lower. He was a man who looked after himself, and any other visitor he got . . . even if they were only the mountain birds. He now stood beside Jadoor with a cup of tea, which begged another question, where did he get his luxuries? He sat down in his same brown chair and smiled at Jadoor.
“I’ve been on the sea mainly. Searching, exploring. Finding.”

“So you figured it out? After all these years you found the past secret of walking the waves?”

“Sort of friend, sort of. It’s hard to explain, and what I found is even harder to believe. But we are a small island, and we’re not alone. I’m too old to deal with such things. You aren’t old enough, yet we have little time to wait until you are.”

“What are you saying old man? I haven’t studied like you, I don’t know how to walk the waves, I can’t even believe you found anything out there. This is all there is, Jhade Village, Jhade Lake and Jhade Forest. The only other beings are the beasts in the forest and the Goblins on the other side.”

“I know, and I expected you to say such things. But the time is close and we have much to do. The darkness is coming and soon the blood of the sacrifice will flow into the river. The time is upon us when killing for fun is nothing to protect us. Go, get some rest, meet me by the bridge in the morning - and we will begin.

[Kannoch]

Karsh gave his low guttoral cry and pranced from the boulder, spear extended sinking into the kneck of a stray boar hog. The hog squeeled and ran a few feet before it callopsed under the weight of the mightly goblin and his spear.

He got to his feet, and used one brawny arm to fling the beast over his shoulder and stomp back to camp. It was no big deal for Karsh to bring meat home. He was the greatest hunter in his village, the strongest goblin, and also the wittiest and most intelligent. He was said to surpass the Great Chief in every field. But if word got to the Chief, there would definitely be a brawl. And everyone knew blood would be shed, of both warriors. At least that is what they thought.

Times were harsh for the goblins. Under the rule of the Chief there had been quite a growth in inbreeding with the result of much stupider goblins. There were goblins who were so afflicted they did nothing but roam around like common beast. Hunting had faltered greatly even though the forests were amassed with almost every creature one could hope to bring down. The village was going to shambles, but the Great Chief was living it high. Nearly fourty-five of the goblin hunters brought in meat. All of these hunters belonged to no family at the moment, young adults who were the last ones alive with intelligence enough to realize their great leader were sending them into uncivilization.

But these fourty-five warriors were bound together under a common goal. They were going to bring the goblins out of their state of uncivilization, explore their surroundings, and eventually rebel against the goblin chief. They were tired of his insolence, for he never heard any of their peititions. He still lived in his large hut eating the meat they brought for him to eat. But these past few weeks, there was an end to meat. Somehow every goblin family found a handsome sum of meat to eat from when they awoke in the morning. Everyone of them praised the goblin chief, but that was not the case. For the chief lay in his hut doubled over with hunger and angry. He never got reports of the meat, for it was an insult to bring other's kindness out in the open.

The Chief was in a fit of hysterical anger. He brought together the fourty-five hunters and screamed until his complection turned purple. But the hunters always told him the same thing, the meat was getting scarce. It was time to move out from their current surroundings. But, the Chief would not hear of it. He sent them hunting more than three times a day.

Karsh grew tired of these rantings. And now was the time to bring the Chief out into the open and defeat him in a duel landing him the new leader. It was something he knew he could do, he would defeat the feeble Chief in open combat with no problem at all. Even due to contrary beliefs.

"Tessle, give the call and make sure every warrior is outfitted in armor and weaponry. It is time to march on the Hut. Give some rumors to pass through the village, we march down every street until we have a crowd before stopping at the Hut." Karsh said, as he stalked about the common meeting ground for the group and began to clean his kill. It was a fine kill it was. The spear point took the creature right through the spinal cord.

"Yes, sir. Orders have already been embarked." Tessle responded.

"Thank you."

[Abeus]

Of course Jhade Island was the centre of the universe in the hearts of the locals, but that would never give much explanation to why it was always cold at mid-morning. The theories went that three suns circled the earth taking shifts to maintain it’s temperature and light. The mid-morning chill was nothing but the suns resting time, believed to be when the three got together for a round of cards. The truth, however, was much, much different. The one sun, called Stratin, Faldom or Pergaus depending on what time of day it was, Just enjoyed watching the village suffer for it’s ignorance. It may has well have been on record stating that if they did some research then it would keep them toasty, but it was a bitter sun. It had been for as long as memory serves, and it is so due to the lack of female suns in the area. And, without causing offence, this was mainly due to the suns pure ugliness which surpassed the Chief Goblin. Far surpassed the Chief Goblin. This, in general, was why Jadoor stood by the bridge with several layers and shivering in such a way that would have won him an Elodis Gold-ish Medal, had they known about the competition run every 6 years. As it was he was just shivering, and waiting. He had been waiting for some time, and he was expecting to wait a fair time more, the old man being a mystic and into all types of predictions, was by nature very vague. He had instructed morning, but by that he could have meant any time in the morning. So far Jadoor had been standing since the clock changed from one day to the next. (This being 18:42 changing to 0:00. Since the days had only 19 hours, each containing 43 minutes, there was no noon, only the hour of 9 until 10 which was generally ignored due the nature of the work shifts. Everyone would do a 6 hour shift, whatever they had chosen for a job. Meaning that if anyone would ever bother to do some homework that they could invade with ease in this hour and not be stopped. The general opinion that this hour was a dream also meant that at the stroke of 10 there would be mayhem as the village realised that they had lost everything while they were asleep.)

Currently, Jadoor was watching a small bug crawl across the bridge on his way to his side, only to find a gap far to large for such a small body to cross. Feeling sorry for the poor thing Jadoor skipped across the gap and picked it up. Now Jadoor was a good man, but he also enjoyed his entertainment. Which was either non-existent or just plain rubbish. Having the bug in the centre of his palm he raised his hand to his face and spoke to it gently.

“Hiya, aren’t you small and puny? Did you want to cross the bridge? OK, here you go!” Unknown to the bug Jadoor’s other hand now approached and before panic could be set in place the bug had been flicked through the air, spinning as it went. But that wasn’t all, the bug seemed to be growing, and changing form as it flew. It was only seconds before it hit the ground that Jadoor realised what exactly it was changing into. A small elderly man dusted himself off and looked sharply at Jadoor.

“Maybe your not the one for the job!” He grunted as Jadoor raced to his aid. “What happened to all I taught you? Treat every creature as they were your brother, because -”

“Yeah, yeah, because everything will one day turn into something else. You know, most of these things are only going to turn into dead versions of themselves?”

Mejan was an expert in many things, but his favourite was his talent for staring fear into anything. Right now he was using this to irritate his young apprentice, who had seen it all before and wasn’t too fussed by it. Instead he went back to shivering and looking at the bridge.

“Fine, I guess it’s about time you cleared off. You’re the only thing that doesn’t need new underwear after such a stare. Hmph. It’s far to cold down here for me so I’m leaving.” He waited for a reaction. It didn’t come. “You really know how to irritate an old man don’t you? Fine, here’s everything you need. I can’t help you anymore than that. Just go North, I’m sure you’ll find some help somewhere.”

With that Mejan started moaning, which finally got Jadoor’s attention. He turned round to see a small velvet package tied with a thin string, upon which sat a small bird. The bird flew off as Jadoor reached for the bag. Opening it, Jadoor felt as though he should have flicked the beetle further. He tied the bags pull string to his belt, and headed towards the gate.

[Kannoch]

Karsh raised his spear in the air and then lowered it. He meant for the platoon of the goblins to halt, and they heeded his command. Before the platoon of forty-five a band of loyalists to the Chief were straggled about. They numbered fifty, and were honor bound to protect the chief until his dieing moment, of which they too would kill themselves a day after he.

"You have marched through MY village. You have disrupted the daily lives of MY citizens. What do you want, O great hunter Karsh?" The Goblin chief said, standing in front of his troop with a smirk on his face. He knew what was going on, not a very stupid goblin, only lazy.

"I have come to challenge you in the open and rise to the position of Chief. You have failed us all and the failures must be avenged and you must be ousted." Karsh said, eyeing the Chief with as much of a smirk as he himself had.

"Well, first I will see if you are worthy of such a challenge. Loyalists, attack." The chief said, flicking his shoulders in a command to attack.

"I will not spill any more goblin blood today than I have to. Your loyalists are bound to protect you, but not to follow your orders if they deem them ridiculous. What say you, Loyalists? Do you follow this command and meet your fatal ends or stand by while this chief and I confer with our own blades." Karsh made the proposition; the chief was in a boiling rage as the loyalists refused to move.

"There you have it, Chief. Raise your weapon in acc-” Karsh began to recite the rules but was cut off at a vicious charge from the chief. He stepped back throwing his spear out onto the grass, and took up his sword standing into position as the Chief rebounded and faced him.

"Dare challenge me? Ha! I am the greatest swords-" The flash of Karsh's sword brought the Chief to attention. He parried the blow with a slow swing.

Karsh didn't expect to make contact with his first blow. His suspicions were confirmed with the Chief's sluggish action. He would be no fight at all.

The challenge raised his sword, and then plunged his dagger deep into the stomach of the Chief and finished the astonished goblin with his sword blade. The beheading was easily seen, and the loyalists poised their daggers to kill themselves.

"Halt, loyalists. As new Chief I deem that law barbaric and you can withstand from death at your own hands. Pledge your loyalty to me, which is under much more pleasing terms. You will protect me at all times." Karsh said, not even breathing hard from his bout with the chief.

Karsh was now chief of the goblins. And his plans must be underway as soon as possible. This he planned to do.

[Abeus]

The gates were high, wide and thick. It normally took an hour long ceremony to get someone to open them. But Jadoor didn’t have the time to wait for the next hunting party. Instead he looked about in a shifty fashion. As soon as he was sure that he could not be seen, he pushed. A small door popped open at the base of the door. It had always been there, but had somehow been forgotten with all the fanfares and cheers of the ceremonies. It was big enough to get through without crouching, and was easy to open from either side. It was never locked, although who lost the key is another mystery that will never be solved.

A cold wind blew through the opening and Jadoor shivered, although mainly with anticipation. His pack wasn’t greatly heavy, but he was sure that it was a bad idea to have the toe of a boot poking him in the back. He’d sort it out later when he managed to find room to make up his tent. He looked up at the mountain top. He couldn’t see Mejan, but the shape of a lone wolf told him that he was ok.

Taking a step outside of the gate he realised just what he was doing. No one but hunters had left this village, and no one had left without a large ceremony for several decades. He felt let down. Out of the blue he decided to give himself a send off.

“Yeah, Go Jaddy! Go Jaddy! Go Jaddy! DAMN!” Someone had heard him, and was heading towards the gate. He ducked behind a bush and hoped that they were someone from the bottom rung of the brain ladder.

[CountElmo]

"Now! Where did he go?", Gruff tought to himself, but actually he said it out loud, because our little friend here is a bit retarded, and he is it even more than the rest of the village.

Gruff was very small for his age, and the lump on his back didn't made him prettier.
What no-one knew was that Gruff was in fact a half-goblin, the offspring of a very drunk townsman and a lusty female goblin whom wandered the forest to stamp some flowers.
Albeit, Gruff was smarter than your average goblin, he was even smarter than most goblin shamans.
But what most townfolk didn't knew was that he even was smarter than most of them!

But despite all else, he was retarded.
What he lacked in smarts, he made up in strenght.
His disfigured body somehow conjoined together with a bizarre experiment gone awry, but he could easily carry the whole livestock of the village in his long arms.


"Jaddy, where are you? I'm scared!"
His strenght did fortified his fears of almost everything.

"Jaddy, please pick me up and safe me from harm!", Gruff yelled.

[Kannoch]

"Sir, the goblin raiding party in tact and ready to go. Their training has been underway for the past month as you have witnessed. They are ready and anticipating your leadership." Tessle said as Karsh sat at the desk. He had accomplished much in such short time. Already he had gone through every single goblin of his kingdom and separated the inbred fools from the average goblins. He formed committees to make sure the mentally insane goblins were well taken care of, and that there was no longer any inbreeding. He had marriages revoked if some sort of family relationship was in the mix. He didn't want the goblins stooping to the beast-like uncivilized barbarians the previous chief would have surely sent them.

"Very well. I am ready, it is dark, and our strike will be quick. It will be the first strike that will leave the humans baffled and stunned. They're not aware of anyone with intelligence enough to lift a finger to them." Karsh said with a chuckle.

He found himself creeping through the darkened wood just moments later. Spear in hand, his army of twenty five goblins blended in perfectly with the shrubs. They had an aim to scale the wall with some new invention of Karsh's named the ladder. They would stealthily climb the ladders, and then slide down the wall. Once they had accomplished this feat they would storm the stores of the humans killing four to five humans and then ransacking. All of this would be accomplished with in fifteen minutes; they had drilled time and time again.

"Go." Was the only word Karsh had to say, and his army flooded around him and up the ladders with him taking the rear. Once had had scaled the wall and slid down his spear point went into the throat of a human sending him gurgling in his own blood. He circled around and waited at the door as yells let out into the night sky. He was nervous; he knew the humans were fully capable of taking their small force down to size easily.

"The stores are done." An officer of Karsh's army said into his ear as the goblins began to crawl up their ladders.
"And there are six humans dead." He added, running up the ladder with the rest of the goblins.

[Abeus]

A rustling came from Jadoor’s bush. He stood up and looked at Gruff. He motioned for him to be quiet and close the door in the gate. Unfortunately Gruff found it hard to comprehend the two actions together. The door shut with a slam. At this point Jadoor breathed a sigh of relief. The guards on top of the gate could only assume it came from the inside, the hunting party weren’t due back for another day, and failed to look outside the village.

Jadoor couldn’t well send Gruff back now, but he could do with someone else carrying his pack. He ushered him over and removed the straps.

“Shhh! Take this and come with me, I’m off on an adventure.” Jadoor had always hated talking to people like this, but in some cases it was necessary. “Have you ever been to Jhade Lake? Come on, lets play a game! Go quietly so no-one sees us. 1 - 2 - GO!” Somehow whispering a shout suddenly came naturally. Jadoor gave a final look at the gate, and started to run away from it at a speed only a British rail company could be proud of. For the moment he forgot to check that he was being followed by his senseless buddy.

A short time later he reached the shore of the lake. He decided to rest and reached for his water bottle.

“Damn!”

He looked back to where he had come from. The gate now looked smaller than on his childhood’s favourite toy, but it still looked like a mighty gate. A small blur was coming slowly towards him. He realised he had a short time so he removed his shoes and rolled up his trousers. Remembering the day previous he looked back to the mountain as he stepped into the cool water. He wasn’t expecting to be able to, but he was still a little disappointed when from here he couldn’t see any signs of a fire. It was still light so there was no reason there would be a fire, but all of a sudden he could have done with the reassurance.

A wheezing came flowing across the plains.

The sun had spun to the opposite side of the world, an occurance that left the moon in the sky alone, the second sun. The village had never quite figured out why this sun refused to give as much light as the others. Jadoor stood and put his shoes back onto his feet, in anticipation of Gruffs arrival. The mutants came, half walking, have stumbling with no breath left in his body. Then it came.

The Forest was on the opposite side of the lake, and in this light Jadoor could barely see the start of it, but he could see something. A mass on shadows flowed from that area. The body didn't move, just shifted where it was. Jadoor lifted a hand to silence Gruff and stared across the water. Nothing happened, the shape had stopped moving. Jadoor put it down to a horrid imagination.

[Abeus]

26 Goblins had entered the village. 23 had left in triumph after watching the fires for a short time, 1 had got caught in said fires, another had actually been killed by a guard (mainly through luck) and that left one more.

***

Now Jadoor could see the fire, but it was too late for him. He couldn’t turn back now, but he couldn’t go on that night. He reached into the pack and found the tent. Building around Gruff, he was shortly ready to take some slumber into his life. He removed his outer clothing, and lay under his thin sheet. For some reason he dreamt of insects of all kinds.



Edit note: Please, if you do feel the need to edit my posts, at least do it with continuity.

This post has been edited by Abeus on Nov 19 2004, 01:10 PM

[Kannoch]

Karsh stood in front of every goblin of the village and basked in his victory. He had accomplished quite a lot, there was food enough to last through the winter. He had shed his tears for his fallen comrades, even tears for those guards who were killed. But now was the time to act quickly, his village was going to move.

"We have accomplished much today. Now it is time to move to a more militaristic safe area. We will be guarded from all sides, we will live in the caves of the mountain as our ancestors have. We will build through the mountain to the other side, perhaps there is a great land on the other side of the mountain. But this is in the future, to our new home land." Karsh said, pointing in the direction they were to go. He gave a guttural call sending his officers out to gather the afflicted goblins and herd them in the right direction.

He had thought long and hard. Their village was not well enough to receive an attack from the humans, if they could muster a force they would surely swarm the village and kill every goblin in it before the goblins had time to awaken. The goblins were almost stupider than the humans were on a large scale, in fact all of them were. Karsh felt himself a diamond amongst trash, he had to explain every countless times before things would happen. So he had given up, and told his countrymen they were to follow his orders without question. They'd never have individuality; he could only hope the next generations would establish some means of brilliance. Though, he doubted it.

The caves seemed a likely choice of home. There was only one entrance, and the buildings were already in tact. The goblins had lived in this area for quite some time, and once had been a spectacular civilization until certain things led to their fall. These things were not known, but the past civilization had set themselves in the mountains. He could guard the narrow cave entrance with just a few goblins. Four goblins could hold off an entire army of the humans, and he knew there were secret passages that could be taken to circle around the entrance and flank an enemy if it was brought to that. Karsh was quite a brilliant individual and under his leadership he knew the goblins would prosper.

[Abeus]

Jadoor woke softly, his head was pounding and something was clinging to him like moss on a stone. He knew Gruff for many years however, and knew exactly what would solve his problem. He leaned as far as he could and whispered into his companions ear. He was free, and alone. He attempted to get dressed, but shortly emerged with several limbs in the wrong holes.

Gruff, who was currently sitting alone outside in a small ball, decided he found this amusing and soon forgot the reason he had deserted the tent. Still giggling he went over to the lake and dived in. Jadoor had managed to return to the tent and correct himself by the time a wet and eager Gruff emerged from the water. Jadoor stood in wonder as Gruff opened his mouth to allow the fish he had caught to drop to the floor.

“Great!” Admitted Jadoor, “Now we just need something to cook It on!”

Before the words had finished coming from his mouth Gruff got the idea and started looking around. Jadoor got to work. Finding a knife in his pack he removed the bones from the fish guts and cut the fish into manageable chunks. He sat back and waited. Looking about him he saw the large flames protruding from the village. He knew how far away he was, and he knew how big the flames were. Even taking in the perspective stance, there was no way he could account for the flames being twice the size of the gate.

A tear rolled down his face, as he wondered if Gruff had noticed.

A large brown bird swooped down and started drinking from the lake.

Jadoor couldn’t decide what to do, should he go and pay homage, or should he go on and hope. He had already prepared himself to not see friends or family again, but this was different. He was able to think of them still being alive, just too lazy to notice that his food was never touched - now he could only think of them as dead. He decided to pray, something that he hadn’t even thought about for many years. He didn’t even really know if there was anything there, but just in case. A sacrifice, that’s what he needed. Just to hammer home his wishes. He couldn’t do it to Gruff, unless he played it out as if it was a game. No! He couldn’t do it to Gruff! He looked about.

Just as his eyes landed on the bird drinking nearby, it flew away with all haste, as if it was reading his mind.

Jadoor put his head in his hands and thought, although not for long as he soon remembered about the fish guts and blood covering his fingertips. OK, it was already dead, and from what he remembered he shouldn’t eat it afterwards, but there wasn’t anything there anyway so what the hey. He re arranged himself onto his knees and prayed like an atheist without guidance - not choosing a God in particular, just hoping that one would hear him.

He opened his eyes and looked about for Gruff. What he failed to notice was that the flames had been put out between a huge finger and thumb that had emerged through the clouds. Quite a good thing he didn’t notice really, as it wasn’t one of those Gods who did something out of love, more that he wanted something in return. And this particular God was sure that however long it took, he’d get his request.

[Kannoch]

The monotonous sound of the spear bottoms clicking the ground, shuffling goblin feet, and a low grunt of approval from some other green-skinned creature. The cave entrance was under heavy guard from the newly appointed guards. They were trained to walk in sync with each other and were some of the most skilled warriors within the goblin camp.

They were not only guarding the entrance to a cave, but they were guarding the construction of a wall. It was being built out of the side of the mountain in a mountainous look. The skeleton of the wall was complete, it extended out quite a ways from the cave entrance, then did a round shaped curve and circled in to the other side of the cave entrance. Clay was brought from the previous goblin encampment, heated until it was in its unhardened state and then filled in around the skeletal structure of the wall. Rocks were rolled down from the tops of the mountain and then eventually placed with great care into the clay. Half of the wall was finished, the other half would be done by the following day.

"No... stick to the plans I wrote up. I have had them looked over by every bright mind in the entire goblin nation and even have had them looked upon by idiot human engineers. I've had this planned out for years, I have everything planned out. Trust me on this." Karsh assured one of his workers that the structure would indeed hold out against a large scale attack. The worker had brought together all of his creative juices and constructed a theory that humans could simply kick the wall heavily and it would fall. He hadn't yet realized the clay would harden, and the rocks would mingle together and it would be impossible to break the wall. Only the gates had a weakness, they were prone to be destroyed by ballistics.

It had only been a while, but Karsh had led the goblins to the caves and had them scoured. Every inch of the caves were mapped and then looked over by Karsh, he spent hours and hours trying to explain the mistakes to his map makers. He sorted out most of the kinks, and established his court in the largest portion of the cave. He was feeling quite well about things, and already had ordered out the committees. He had a committee for every thing imaginable, he had the group of engineers, hunters, farmers, scouts, everything that he could think of. He chose his most trusted men to head up the committees and had already established his army. Most of his officers were also leaders of committees.

It was not in the mind of the Chief to launch any sort of attack on their human friends. He did not see them as a threat, but did decide upon their previous attack only on chance of survival. For during his rebellion he had ordered the hunters to only take food enough for them to eat and it had left them ill prepared for the winter. So of course they could forciably take charity from their human friends. He expected retaliation, but he knew it would be some time if they decided to track them. They had done little to cover up their tracks, but by the time the humans had made it to them with a sizable force to reckon with the wall would be constructed. They'd also be hiding behind the inner gate that lead into the caves themselves. If they even managed to penetrate the walls and then the inner gate (Which was highly reinforced with large beams with solidified bark supporting the rocky outcrops that were bound together by nature) they would have to face the goblins in the dark. The goblins knew their way around, and it would be a massacre spears would take the humans in the flank before they could pick up a sword in retaliation. Yes, Karsh was sure of his defensive standings. He was now to suffer the domestic issues and the rise of his nation, he was lacking in numbers.

[CountElmo]

After a scary night, Gruff was roaming the outskirts of the forest, looking for things that could be set aflame.

He was very pleased that Jadoor had taken him on this trip.
He felt safe with Jadoor.
And he would do anything in his might to make sure Jadoor was safe with him around.
Jadoor was his buddy.


After scaring the hell out of little forest critters, Gruff had become more silent.
He knew he made too much noise to catch them, and if he wanted good dinner, he must be silent.

Luckily he could be quiet, despite his rather bulky figure.
So the poor deer didn't notice Gruff creeping up on it, and merely noticed it's neck breaking under skillfull hands.
Blood poured out of the wound on Gruff, and suddenly he felt some strange warm tingling sense in him, a thing he always has gotten when he felt, saw or even smelled blood.

Gruff fell in some barbaric state of bloodlust, and ransacked trough the woody outskirts, killing many beasts and animals in his ravaging way, somehow bringing the carcasses to a gathering point.

After eating a whole rabbit family alive (and they were a plenty) he fell asleep on the huge pile of meat he had gathered in they two hour frenzy.

When he awoke, he felt guilt.
He had killed for no reason, and that wasn't good.
It wasn't mere hunting, he saw that with his feeble mind in an instant.
This was rage!
He quickly hid the steaming pile under some primitive tent like construction of branches and leaves, picked a deer carcas as hunting loot to bring back to his friend Jadoor.

He suddenly remembered he was to find some stuff to burn, so he rooted an old rotten tree, so he wouldn't harm an innocent being anymore.

He quickly cleaned all traces of his bloodlust on his body in the forest stream, lay the dead deer on his broad back and ran towards Jadoor, whilst dragging the dead tree in his free hand behind him.

"Jaddy, Jaddy, Gruff brought surprise!", he yelled with childish joy.

[Abeus]

It didn’t take Jadoor long to start the fire, now they just waited upon the meat that was slowly cooking. Jadoor had been thinking a lot, so much that the days had gone past without the pair moving away from the spot they chose the first night. Again the night had drawn in and the only light was the fire. Through it Jadoor could see some shimmering from the lake, a few trees the other side, and Gruff, who was currently inspecting the mammoth prize recently obtained from his nose. Jadoor couldn’t be sure but from the size of it he guessed that he had gone too far and had found a loose chunk of brain. It would explain a lot. No, it wouldn’t at all, there was nothing to explain.

“Gruff,” Responding quickly Gruff looked at him with a fiendish grin covering his face. “I’ve been thinking, and, well, I’m sorry.”

Gruff looked blank, maybe Jadoor hadn’t misjudged him.

“I just thought you were an irritation, but you’ve been a great help the past few days. Thanks.”

Gruff’s smile grew another inch and he went back to admiring his find. Jadoor went into the tent and found the purple pouch. He had been wondering what exactly was inside. Other thoughts had wondered why he hadn’t just looked, after all he hadn’t been told to wait until a certain time. He carefully prised the mouth open and emptied it on the floor. Inside were several things, bits of string, scissors everyday items. Jadoor had wondered what use he would have for a daisy chain, but soon forgot it and looked at the good stuff. He noted them very carefully. The first glint of worth he found was a ring with a nicely sized red stone, well it was red, but as Jadoor looked upon it he found that the colour kept merging into others. Most of the time, however, it was red. He quickly placed it on the middle finger of his right hand. Perfect fit. Next he found a thin chain, that led back into the back, he pulled it carefully and finally another stone like the ring emerged. A necklace, a very long necklace but nevertheless, a necklace. Gruff could have that one. A small black sphere was next, it hardly looked magical, but then Jadoor was finding it hard to think of why he would have expected it to. Finally, there was a framed picture, of Mejan, Jadoor stared in wonder before throwing everything back into the bag. Picking up the chain he went back outside.

Gruff had now stopped admiring his catch, but was now chewing on something. Jadoor checked the deer, it was still all there. He sat back where he had been and got Gruff’s attention.

“The mystic gave me this,” He pronounced as he held the necklace up so Gruff could see it. “Take care of it for me will you?” With this he threw the stone to Gruff passing just a little above the flames. As it did Jadoor noticed that the current red and purple hue glowed brighter. He concentrated on this so much, he nearly missed the stone hit Gruff right between the eyes.

Jadoor rose. “Time for some food!”

[Kannoch]

Karsh sat back with his favorite spear and clanked it against this ceremonial armor as he stood upon a cliff admiring the wall that had finally been constructed. Proud goblin workers stood below admiring the work appraisingly as well. It had been a tenious job, and it had taken much time and sweat to finish. But Karsh doubted even the humans could breech the force with their bastions, and he barely expected even an attempt. Most of them would run away before given the chance.

"Those instructors I have taught, are they going about with their curiculum to the children?" Karsh asked Tessle as she slipped in behind him wearing her white robes.

"Oh, Karsh, why must you think about such things now? You are always planning, look the wall is there we are safe." Tessle responded as she came dangerously close to Karsh.

Karsh felt his heart beat begin to beat faster and the dryness in his mouth as he spoke.

"Well, perhaps you are correct." Was all that he could say, but he wanted to say so much more. He was sure the instructors were going about their business as he had asked to Tessle to accomplish for him. He trusted her, and his feeling as of late for her begin to deepen into admiration that had claimed his heart. He hoped that the same feelings would be expressed by her, but in due time. He had the entire goblin nation to think of and the plans that must be set underway before they could reach the standard of living he expected. At least, half way there.

Karsh turned to walk within the cave and comb the tunnels with Tessle at his rear. The ancients had established quite a living grounds, and there were even glamorous furniture that Karsh took to be the Chief's quarters. He had established himself there and rationed out the rooms to the other goblins. He'd set up a standard of a family and manners that must be followed. He thought everything out, from the defenses of the city to how his people conducted themselves at the dinner table. He didn't let anything get out of touch.

"Sir! Sir! The humans are at the wall sir, they're preparing to attack it with their swords." A goblin general yelled out as he ran down the tunnels.

"Well, you know what to do. Give the word to wait for my command before opening the doors. Get the sling shots on the wall and tell them to fire at will." Karsh said, stroking his spear and preparing for battle.

"Tes, make sure everything is OK with the people." Were the last words he said rushing out of the tunnel and taking his place in front of the army within the walls by the gate.

He heard the screams of the human warriors as the rocks came down from the slings, and heard their attention being brought above. He gave the motion of his hand, and the doors came slinging open and the army charged. Spears upraised they plowed into the enemy with such surprise that some warriors simply stood in awe as spear heads took them in the throat.

Karsh's spear head sunk into the chest of a human warrior, he wrenched it loose and turned slapping another human accross the face with the wood portion of his spear. His feet trampeled the human mindlessly ending its petty life as his spear sunk into another chest, wrentched loose again, and sent hurling through the air into a human's back saving one of the goblin warriors. The Chief grabbed a human sword and began to wildly slash at the humans about him taking four down with him he went into a frenzy slashing, hacking, fall back get breath, hack , slash, heads toppling... he just could not stop.

"They're retreating!" A voice broke through as coming down a dark tunnel and Karsh turned to motion his men back into the walls. He stumbled as he came in through the walls himself, falling to the ground he was met by the scented embrace of Tessle.

"The chief is wounded, and fatigued. Bring him to my quarters to be attended to." Her crystal clear voice, so different from the goblin guttoral accent. He had never noticed it before, but now it intrigued him.