Raven Crowking
First Post
Krug said:
They could have waited for Baron Karl Archer to have taken some official action, through his Provost of the Forest, Lord Calder Brookman. Yet, often enough in the last few years, those official actions had been to post rewards for whomever could end what the problem was. The current Lord Archer was growing old, though. Though few would say it, there were many who secretly hoped that he would step aside and let his eldest, Meginhard, assume his place. Some problems needed a firm hand. By the time that adventurers arrived, there were more needless deaths than necessary. After the orc raids last fall, the town elders decided to take action themselves if another emergency arose.
There had never been any real doubt, with Weirwood the Great so close all about, that such an emergency would arise.
And now, here they were, near the outskirts of Long Archer's far-flung farms, speaking with a creature that most humans instinctively treated with fear and disgust. In the Lakelands, goblins were seldom seen above ground during daylight hours -- it was said that the sun hurt their eyes. They inhabited old raths and hill forts, caves and abandoned towns, but even then their dwellings were seldom found. Horsom racked his brains, trying to recall what he could about goblins.
While they bore no love for humans, neither did they bear especial animosity. Sometimes, it was said, they would capture those who slept too near their dwellings, and take them deep into the ground to dig in the dark forever. Their cattle were said to be small and shaggy, driven out to pasture on moonlit nights, and their sheep ate meat. Many were thought to worship the Infernal Powers, but some placed their faith in the Faerie Lords, as did the druids. Once, in Selby-by-the-Water, Horsom had heard a goblin nest had been located in a portion of the city that had collapsed. The goblins had been living stealthily among the sewers.
Still, it was common knowledge that goblins were bound to humans in some way, for they were often seen skulking about farms and mills, and sometimes they even did work during the wee hours in exchange for food and milk left by the doorstep. They were nearly as smart as humans -- some of them much smarter than some humans, Horsom thought, glancing at Rogger Spanwaithe. If they were willing, there were some goblins who could match the dwarves in stone and metalwork.
Horsom had travelled with goblins in the past. They were different with humans. That did not make all of them bad.
Rogger Spanwaithe spat unpleasantly toward the goblin, and muttered beneath his breath as the thick, wet missile fell short. He stared at Horsom, and his eyes were puffy with anger. "You'd go off with one o' the Dark Folk, Horsom?" he asked. His breath still smelt like sour ale, though they had been riding all day, and surely he could not have had been drinking then without the others knowing. "After those blue-gummed orcs raided our farms in the fall? I wouldn't a-thought even you would betray your people like that. Not even you." The other riders stirred. Some, Horsom thought, in embarassment. Others in nervous agreement.
Glom watched the humans carefully. He didn't want to provoke them, but he didn't want them to hurt him, either.
Rogger clearly thought the posse was of the same mind. He pressed his point. "That thing isn't even an orc, Horsom. It's less than an orc. It's a piece of filth that creeps around at night stealing children."
"Enough," Fellan said, but another member of the posse spoke up.
"Spanwaithe's a horse's arse, but he's right enough," the man said. "I lost family -- my sister, her husband, their two boys -- not far from here, either."
"You're a good woodsman, Fellan," said another -- Tancred Appley was his name -- "And I doubt that yonder...yonder...well, that goblin thing...is much to worry about by himself. But they are tricksy, and it's a long, long way to Selby-by-the-Water. I don't think you appreciate how long. Over a hundred miles, by any reckoning, and even with horses that means more than one night out-of-doors. Do you really want to be sleeping with that" -- here he indicated the goblin -- "close at hand? Maybe wake up to find your horse gone? Maybe not wake up at all?"
"The orcs were ever evil," said Fellan, "but it is said that they were once an honorable people, before the Fell Host was cast out of Heaven. Do not be so quick to judge."
"Besides, Horsom," Rogger said, ignoring Fellan and gleefully playing his trump card. "Do you know how long you'll be heading to Selby if you wait for that filth to play catch-me-up on its short little legs?"
