Chapter 3 backup

Eli would not share piece of pie with Isa. There was only enough left for a meager serving. Meager, that is, even for a nine year old boy. He would not share it's delicious goodness with that whiny brat of a sister. Isa, in turn, was on to him. He would try to sneak his way, but if she noticed, he'd dash for it. He was taller and stronger, he would prevail. It was just a matter of reducing risk, if she didn't notice the heist till it was too late he could plead ignorance or at least thoughtlessness. If they had to wrestle over the pie, however, things could get messy and he would surely be punished when mom got home. Mom left the pie out of the ice box to lose the chill before they ate. No matter how much Eli tried to convince her that his days of playing with fire were over, she didn't trust him to warm it up in the hearth. So no fires for Eli, utility or play, he wasn't allowed. He would if he could, but Isa would tattle on him for certain. He envied his friends, Jeff and Carl Pearson from across the street. The brothers were inseparable, partners in crime, would never rat on each-other. Sadly that wasn't the case with Isa. Perhaps it wasn't just his sister, but the very nature of all girls, he thought. What would she eat instead? He didn't know and didn't care. There wasn't much in the way of food, even for a single parent home, but there were still three eggs and an old piece of cheese that looked and smelled like it was scraped from under his toes. She could eat that with stale bread, for all he cared. Raw egg and toe cheese sandwich, yum yum!

Things weren't always that way. Mom used to stay home and cook for them back when Chet was around. Off course, Chet also used to give Isa the hibi jibies and beat mom up once in a while. Eli himself got a few harsh beatings, but at least there was food in the house. Since mom talked to sheriff Avery and he kicked Chet out of the house, she went out almost every night. She had an important talk with Eli saying he would now be “man of the house.” But how could he if she wouldn't let him light the hearth and cook when she was out? Mom didn't always make sense, but he loved her. He could deal with the hunger if it meant mom wasn't getting mistreated by Chet. The boy was beginning to understand that nothing in life was free, they could have food, but not peace, peace but not food. What if they had both? What would that cost? He didn't want to know. All he knew was the sound of his growling stomach and the meat pie's savory aroma beckoning him even at room temperature. Isa was playing with her headless dolls and didn't seem to notice him, that was his chance!

He put his miniatures aside and stalked his way to the kitchen. Three seconds into his move, he heard the doll fall to the ground and Isa was at his heels. He ran into the kitchen and in a single motion swooped the pie and held it high above his sister's reach.

“HA HA! I have the last piece of the pie and I'm not sharing!”
“Give it back, you meany, mom said to share!” She screeched tugging at her brother.

He reached inside the pan with grubby fingers puling a chunk of beef and crust.
“Hmm doesn't that look good?”
“Gimme gimme, I'm hungry too, Eli!” she begged in tears.

Once he started teasing her, it was like a point of no return, he would joke at her expense until he nearly pissed himself in laughter while she cried off to mom. So logically he ate the sample, smacking his lips and suckling his fingers like a glutinous caricature for added drama.

“Hmm that was so good, do you want another one?”

Isa knew he'd do this till there was nothing left. All the crying and begging in the world wouldn't spark a hint of compassion in her older brother when he was being mean. She wasn't going to let him get away with it this time. In her heart of hearts, beneath the innocence of child consciousness, she knew that a girl had to make a stand or else be weak and dependent on men like her mommy was. This subconscious knowledge bubbled up to the surface before she realized what she was doing. She took a step back and lunged forward with a rising kick, the upward arch connecting square on Eli's family jewels. He let out his own girlish screech and fell to his knees as the pie pan crashed to the ground. It landed on the gritty floor upside down (doesn't it always?) Their old dog Roach, casually wandered into the room, pushed the pan aside and had his feast. Isa, overwhelmed by raw emotion, ran outside to find her mommy and tell on Eli. She knew the Lionfang Inn, a place mommy wouldn't stop talking about. Mommy said something about a party there, it must be where she went, the girl thought. Eli had barely enough time catch his breath, limp outside after his sister and catch her shadow in the twilight, running around the corner towards town square.

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Capilla fell asleep after much tossing and turning. In her dream she is playing outside when her parents call her inside. She enters the hut, closes the door and turns to find not her home, but a cathedral with surreal light cascading from the tall stain-glass windows. She senses a cold coming from behind her and is driven forward to the altar by its warmth. The cathedral had fallen to ruins and the altar was open to lush greens reclaiming the stones, wild flowers grew upon the altar. Standing amidst them is a tall white lady beckoning Capilla, as she approaches the lady turns and runs calling the young girl to follow. They arrive in vast field of wild flowers, a symphony of reds, yellows and oranges against the blue sky. She kneels prone still beckoning the girl. Capilla kneels across the lady in white and the horizon is shadowed by rapidly approaching storm clouds. The lady hands her a book with a moon an arrow and a star sigil on the cover. The moment their hands touch over the exchange, Capilla feels herself standing in two places at once and identifies the lady as her older, wiser self. The lady tells her to study the book carefully for her friends will depend on her knowledge of it. The storm descends upon them and darkness takes over, the dream fades and she awakes to a new day.

...…........

The heroes quickly got the horses ready and set out after the kidnapping goblins. They came upon the crossroads where the path leads to the Holy Mountain on the right but the tracks ran straight to the western peaks of the mountain range. They followed the tracks and an hour later arrived at a chest propped in the middle of the road. Next to it there was a wooden street sign, ripped from its right place and posted next to the chest. “Hero” was crudely written in blood, along with an arrow pointing to the crate which reeked of death.

“We should just leave it alone” Dawna said, but the others were curious in spite of the obvious trap. Adrian threw a rock at it to see if it'd blow up. He missed and Felix, immune to Adrian's glare, told him to stick to arrows, not slings. Felix approached the chest and attempted to disarm the crude bomb, but while pulling it away he accidentally set off the long fuse. Felix froze for a moment.
“SHIT! EVERYBODY RUN!” He shouted.
Finan reached in as Felix held the bomb and put out the fire with his hands catching his long sleeve on fire. Adrian helped put him out. (He cut it harmlessly in game, but that was my mistake)
“I had it under control” Felix said as he glared at Finan.
“Sure you did” Finan replied shaking off the smoke on his scorched sleeve.
Felix carefully handed the unstable bomb to Dawna who threw it yards away. The explosion wasn't nearly as deafening as they thought it would be, but they were still happy to be away from the blast. Dawna took Capilla way into the field and distracted her with flowers. Capilla tried to tell her dream to Dawna, but didn't have enough mastery of the language. While the young girl was away the others opened the chest and gasped at the mutilated body stuffed inside. Dawna who had taken a few steps closer while the girl played recognized the severed head as one of the bar patrons, a local ranger. Adrian, who had been running low on arrows, noticed the 30 or so arrows in the chest and had to dig through rotting meat to collect them all. He threw up after a while but he would make the goblins pay. (He didn't throw up in game but this is more in character)

The path ascended high into the mountains, on one side there was a steep ledge, on the other was a solid mountain wall. They could look back on this clear day and see the forest, the fields and even the town and the sea on the far horizon. The path ahead curved outward and from behind the bend they could hear quick steps approaching. The three goblins noticed them and immediately sprinted their way, cackling in their murderous madness. Felix and Adrian noticed that as they came around the corner, they tugged on a cord and fuses were sparkling.
“They're gonna blow, Shoot them!” Felix said.
They had bombs strapped to them and were getting dangerously close when Adrian fired the first shot. It tore one of the straps as it hit the middle goblin's chest and his load set him off balance. He fell sideways skidding to the edge of the cliff where his momentum sent him over.
“NOOoooo..” Screams followed by a loud explosion.
Next Finan Shot an eldrich blast at the one on the right, setting off his explosion early which in turn sent the last goblin sprawling over the edge after the first. The explosions nearly sent the horses in a panick -they were not warhorses, so they decided to tie them to a rock in a plateau nearby and continue their journey on foot. A grinning goblin had watched all this from a small hideout up ahead and ran off giggling.

The heroes walked around the bend and saw in the distance another bend with goblin archers poised and ready, they were still outside their range, but up ahead of them were spear men taunting the heroes. They couldn't wait them out and lure them since time was on the goblins side, so they charged the spearmen first and the arrows flew. Goblins were never renowned for their marksmanship and for that they were grateful. Capilla opened the black whole portal teleporting the goblins behind the melee line into the thin air over the cliff. Felix punched a whole through their lines opening a way for Finan to attack their leader. Adrian was picking off the archers one by one while Dawna cleaved the goblins trying to converge on Capilla. One of the goblins, covered heat to toe in plate, carrying a shield too large for his size, ran around in panic, never laying a hand on the heroes. Finan made his way to the last few archers but just as they had him in their sights the platted goblin snapped out of his trauma and pushed one of the archers over the cliff.
“Krill take this no more, take that! Krill no hurt nobody but you're mean!”
The archer next to him turned to Krill in stunned amazement at the goblin's betrayal. Before he could fire, Finan ran his rapier through the goblin's neck and quickly dispatched the last archer. Krill, in fear of the heroes, cowered against the rocks and Finan stood over him trying to decide who's side he was on. The others had finished off the rest when Felix approached the halfling and goblin.
“I see you made a new friend”
Felix then hooked his blade on the goblin's helmet ornament and lifted revealing Krill's terrified sorrowful eyes, red with tears.
“Krill not like them, they make Krill fight but Krill no hurt nobody!”
“Really?” Felix asked “Then why are you here, and wearing battle armor, no less?” Now the others were watching the peculiar dark green face, large drooping ears and eyes that betrayed the usual goblin malice.
“Krill was taken from family when young, they kill our tribe and take over clan, then saw that Krill was growing big and put on armor on Krill. Tried to train Krill to fight, but Krill scared!” Now he seemed extremely intimated by the crowd of tall adventurers, safe for Finan and Capilla who were his height.
“I lost my family to goblins too, but you don't see me working for them” Finan bluffed to gain the little one's trust.
“Then you know what it's like!” Krill turned to Finan in desperate excitement “They torture you and make you depend on them, make it so you can't run away!”
Felix took the opportunity to slyly take the goblin's blade from his scabbard without notice - just in case.
Dawna, ever the militant femme, still didn't trust the creature “Hmm... I don't know... lets bind him up” She started towards him and the Krill shrank back in terror “Ohh please no hurt Krill... ohh please please” She took a step back.
“Relax, We're not gonna hurt you, right Dawna?” Adrian said glancing at the paladin.
“Off course not, but how do we...”
“We can trust him, right Krill?” Capilla interjected smiling with an innocence only a prepubescent child can pull off. Suddenly Krill felt at once relaxed then excited at the prospect of working with these adventurers. The cat-girl simple smile made every worry and fear vanish. Krill liked her for that. Krill can get payback for his family by helping his new friends. Friends? Krill asked himself.
“Yes, friends” Capilla replied reading his mind. “You have friends now”
How long has it been since anyone wanted to be Krill's friend? He supposed he had never had friends before, only mean goblins telling Krill what to do.
“Friends” Krill said as a smile finally blossomed like a sunrise after a long stormy night.
Felix and Finan exchanged the knowing glance of men who share the same trade - opportunism.
“Yes, off course we're friends” Felix said
“Krill never had friends before, Krill love friends, krill help friends”
“Yes then help us, tell us more about the other goblins, and why they're raiding our town taking townsfolk captives.”
“Ohh they're terrible!” Terror returned to his face. “They have deal with ogre who eats meat, they say he needs people meat so he can cook, so they bring him people. In return he helps bad goblins fight gainst them pesky kobolds.”
“Woah! Slow down a minute, people meat?” Adrian asked in disbelief “He eats people?”
“A healthy part of an ogre's diet!” said Finan dispassionately.
“He no like goblin meat, taste bitter he says.” Krill finished.
“So every moment we wait means somebody else is ogre food” Dawna burst wide-eyed “Let's go, we have to rescue them!” and led her forward stride ahead of them.
“Waaiit! There is a trap up ahead!”
They all turned to Krill. The dull witted goblin finally felt proud of himself for being useful, and his guileless smile showed.
“Krill good friend, not let friends get hurt by mean goblins. Follow Krill, you'll see” he lead the way when Felix called him
“Krill, aren't you forgetting something?” he held up the goblin's short blade.
“Ohh Thank you friend, Krill must've dropped it when running scared, silly Krill!” He sheathed the blade he'd likely never use and showed them the way.

They had entered a tunnel passage dug into the mountain wall, there were carved openings like windows overlooking the main path from which their archers to fire from safe cover. Krill had told them of their many hideouts in the mountain where archers could lay ambush of unsuspecting intruders. The tunnel was narrow, so they moved in single file tip-toeing their way to an opening overlooking two goblins underneath. Adrian took the lead to get a good look. Both of them were holding ropes stretching around a lever and around a gigantic round bolder. They were atop a steep descending path which ran into the main path at the cliff side. There were goblins down there assembling what looks like bear traps, Adrian supposed they were meant to spring during Dawna or Felix's charge and keep them immobile until the boulder crushed or pushed them down the cliff. He had barely met the half-orc, but he was helpful and that was good enough. Dawna, however, had been a trusted friend for months and the thought of her demise at the hands of these maniacal caricatures pissed him off. Both goblins were tugging hard, ready to let go at the signal when the heroes were supposed to charge down the path below. In spite of the physical strain, they were chatting and tittering with anticipation. Adrian had a furious grin.
“Ohh this will be fun, let me handle it.” The elf whispered to the others.
He readied his longbow aiming at one goblin, when some last intuition made the idiotic creature look in his direction. The goblin let out a weak croak and the arrow pierced him clean through gaping mouth to back of his throat coming out in a red explosion at the base of his skull. The other wasn't looking and hadn't realized his partner was dead. The boulder felt heavier and he started cursing for the first to pick up the slack. Adrian was readying another shot when the second goblin realized what was happening. He picked up his own crossbow, aimed it at Adrian before he realized he'd let go of the rope. There was a priceless moment, which Adrian would never forget, when the creature looked and ran from side to side like a squirrel, not knowing if he should shoot or reach for the rope. He dropped the crossbow but it was too late. The boulder rolled downhill picking up more speed as the goblin ran after it screaming. Adrian's next arrow put an end to that scream and the elf hopped down from the cave and watched his handiwork with childish glee. The goblins below had first heard it, but had just enough time to understand that they were fucked. The goblins had a good idea. The boulder came rolling faster than any of them could have predicted, no bear traps needed! It crushed the first one with enough speed and pressure that it became flattened flap of green skin stuck to the rock, leaving a streak of dark blood on it's path. The final impact smashed the remaining goblins and their traps sending them toppling over the cliff like bowling pins.
They had all descended from the ledge and watched one lucky lone goblin running away.
“That was clever” Dawna said
“Funny!” Capilla giggled.
“It was fucking hilarious...” Felix started “watching their traps backfire, well done Adrian. You make me proud to be a half-elf.”Adrian's amusement turned to puzzlement, he caught a glimpse of Dawna rolling her eyes.
“Umm... I thought you were a half-orc”
“I am”
“then how...”
“Nobody ever asks what the other half is”
“Oh...” Adrian scratched his head perplexed. Anything is possible, he supposed.
Felix turned to Krill who had the naïve smile of someone whose set of stairs didn't run all the way to the top.
“Krill you've been a good friend!”
“See? Krill good, Krill fight for friends!”
“Wait just a moment, Krill, you said you weren't a fighter”
“No but Krill fight for friends only! Krill go ahead and protect friends from mean goblins!”
Meanwhile Finan spoke in dwarven so Capilla could understand clearly. He asked her what she did with the goblin.
“Nothing, I just took his fears away and made him happy, excited to help us, that's all!”
“Well, I think now he wants to come a long with us” he said in dwarven.
“That's good, he needs friends” Capilla answered in her broken common.
“No no, out there is no place for him” Felix turned to Capilla.
“Ehh?” She looked like she couldn't (or wouldn't) understand.
“Krill help you guys!” the goblin urged.
Felix passively dismissed Krill and elaborated.
“Krill wants to find a home and make family of his own, make many baby goblins” he made an in and out gesture of his index finger through the O of his left thumb and forefinger.
“What?” Capilla looked at Finan who shrugged as if to say 'don't ask me.'
“Alright that's enough” Dawna stepped in. “Sorry sweet heart, Krill isn't going to be safe with us, we'll keep him tending to our horses where we left them, Right Krill?”
“Krill do anything to help.”
“Can you watch our horses while we go find the townsfolk and make the bad goblins pay?” Dawna asked.
“Krill can do that, not eat horse like other goblins, Krill take care of them.”
“Good Krill, that would really help us a lot!”
“We'll be back in a few hours.”
“And if we don't?” Felix asked grimly.
“Then you let the horses go and leave, never come back. This is your chance to run away.”
“Nooo Krill has no friends” Krill pleaded “Krill not want to lose friends! If friends die Krill die with friends.”
They all exchanged solemn glances, here they ran into this miserable creature, could've killed him by mistake, and now the poor sap pledged his life for theirs. They couldn't help but to wonder if any goblin can be benign or if Krill's goodness was just a by-product of dull wits.
“We'll be back, trust me” said the halfling with utter confidence as he clutched the cold handle of his fey rapier.
“Yes, don't you worry about us Krill.” Dawna said with a genuine smile. “Is there anything else we should know?”
“Yes, big goblin outpost up ahead and a cave where the ogre lives, you sure you not want Krill to show you?”
“No, but thank you for offering you've been very helpful”
“Yes, friends help each-other.” Capilla said as she hugged Krill “We'll see you later, okay?”
“Alright! Krill watch horseys for friends” He said with a wide smile and left looking back every few steps.



The path whirled into a ramp with walls on either side. There were rows of irregularly shaped holes, windows perhaps, high up on the walls. The whole place had been carved out of the mountainside, rough rocks giving way to chisel marks or even explosives if the goblins were ingenious enough. The little creeps loved explosives and would be even deadlier if they could fully harness that power. Lucky for other races, goblins were chaotic in nature. They were still a long way from orchestrating siege bombardments, but probably had enough cleverness to explode their way through unwanted chunks of rock.
The heroes couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. That premonition was confirmed when they heard muffled giggles followed by a shrill hush. Adrian propped himself on a rocky ledge on one of the walls to look over the small plateau ahead. Both walls were, in fact, more like watch towers. Beyond them was an open space, the cliff edge to the north, mountainous walls on the south side and a path going southwest, deeper into the rocky canyon. On the west wall ahead of them was the mouth of a cave, barely concealed by a large boulder. The air was thick with the feel of imminent ambush and his stomach made sure he was aware of it. Looking at his companions, he shrugged in resignation.
“We don't have many options here” whispered the ranger.
“Maybe if we use a rope and climb up one of these...” Felix started to speculate.
“And let them catch us defenseless as we climb?” Dawna cut him off.
Adrian had just started a military crawl up the incline along with Felix when Dawna sighed exasperated.
“Ohh for fuck's sake! We already know what we're heading into” she charged up the narrow path waving her battle-axe with an equally bold battle-cry. “By the Inner Light, show yourselves!”
“God damn it, Dawna!” Felix tried in vain to reach for her.
Capilla, frightened, drew closer to Finan, but he waved her away as he followed Dawna's lead to the front line. He was eager for a real test of the fey sword and his new powers.
They came out from around their hiding corners all at once, rocks still providing partial cover to archers, spearmen flanked them from the sides and Dawna was forced to halt her charge less her party be split in two. Emerging from the caves above more archers shoot a barrage of short-bow arrows upon them, grazing Adrian's left shoulder and Felix's thigh. Dawna saw a one of them riding a monstrous dire-wolf, coming out from around the boulder and bearing down on her. In typical goblin fashion, the rider trampled two spear-men and the wolf got a good bite at her. It would've torn her arm had she not blocked with the flat of her axe, but now there was the tug of war against the beast to contend with. Hot canine breath and spittle blew against her auburn hair as she tried to tug her weapon free from the clenching jaws. The smell of rotting meat in that breath was nauseating, had it been fed some of her neighbors? Her rage strengthened her muscles and she tore her axe free and took another swing. Adrian's arrow flew just passed her her head, striking the rider's leg.
“Adrian, shoot the archers” came a shout from Finan who was fighting next to her.

Finan in turn saw a goblin in robes - the same who led the raid the night before, intellect shone as a black light on the creature's malicious eyes. It grinned as it spoke its guttural language pointing its hexing rod at their direction. A dark green mist descended on them burning their sinuses and making their eyes water. Felix and Dawna took swings goblin warriors and missed, though their targets laughed and seemed unaffected by the mist. Finan watched the spell unfold but couldn't stop it, he had to get past these clowns and kill their leader. He pointed his own hexing wand at the wolf and his rider and focused his will, no magical words, just sheer unintelligible will tapping into his fey powers. Once inside the creature's mind it was as easy to unravel as toppling a house of cards. Both goblin and beast went on a confused frenzy and turned on the spearmen trying to flanking them. The wolf bit down on a goblin's skull and even through the shrieks of rage and agony they heard a pop, the small green limbs twitched and a spear fell to the bloody ground. As if sensing Finan's plans, all archers above converged their fire upon him. For a second his world was darkened by a black wave of missiles, until he opened his eyes and find that only his forearm bore any scratch at all. He felt a surge of protective aura all around him, unknowable magic from the cat-girl's strange abilities. He knew that taking the girl under his wing would prove useful, but he never imagined it could save his life. He favored the adoring child with a grin of thanks and punched through the opening he had made. The goblin hexer was calling another spell when Finan clutched his sword and disappeared into thin air from the middle of the battlefield.
Felix took the same opportunity to gracefully leap over the short warriors with a somersault, coming down with a dagger to the wolf-rider's back, sending the body toppling beneath it's own mount. They were showered by another barrage of arrows when Adrian downed two more archers, one of them falling next to Capilla.
Still living, the fallen archer tried to grab the girl's ankle and she freaked out in horror at the bloody little monster. She brought her axe down, as she always imagined in play-fighting. Unlike in play-fight, the weapon made a sick sounding thunk and was stuck to the goblin's skull like a machete in a coconut. Capilla screamed even as the thing laid limp before her, dark blood pooling all around. She looked over and saw the wolf, more dangerous without its rider, mauling Dawna and tossing her aside like a rag doll. She saw Finan coming out of the shadows trying to assassinate the spell caster, only to fall to a javelin. They tossed nets over the Dawna and Finan trying to capture them as more ogre food. She saw Felix fall to an arrow just above the clavicle, a waterfall of blood gushing out. Adrian was fumbling for more arrows, playing a ranger's equivalent to whack-a-mole as cave goblins popped their heads out of cover to shoot. Her raw emotions pulsed like a beacon in a stormy sea and her companions felt the unconscious battle-craze overcoming any rational thought even as they edged death. Capilla was the proverbial rabbit, or cat if you will, backed into a corner. Her survival instincts took over her nine-year-old body as she charged blindly into the fray. Every hack found a target and every goblin's dying essence coalesced into light which mended her friend's mortal wounds.

Surprised by the little one's fierce attack, the hexer pointed at her and screeched as the few surviving goblins tried to bring her down. Finan awoke from his brief blackout to find that the wound wasn't lethal after all, and if it was, it was healing fast. He crawled away for cover while they were distracted and gathered his will for another assault.

Felix snapped the arrow off and pulled it from his wound. The pain was numbed by the rushing adrenaline, but he knew better. Real pain would be paid in full, with high interest when the skirmish was over. For now, he had a shot at the dire-wolf next to him who thought him dead and was turning towards the girl. It would be it's last mistake. Just as it walked over him his eyes flew open and he rose with both daggers piercing the canine's soft underbelly, effectively disemboweling it in mere seconds. Felix happily bathed in the wolf's blood and entrails until the creature collapse on the half-orc, he had to struggle to shove it aside.
Dawna regained consciousness just as Capilla struck a goblin trying to close the net around her. Her armor had taken the brunt of the fangs clenched over her torso, but she felt as though she's fractured a rib or two, not to mention the lump on her skull from the fall. The standard issue helms from Lothaire were infamous for their shoddy leather straps, it laid on the floor in a small pool of blood. Was it her blood? She didn't know or cared at the moment. One of the last spearmen was closing in fast on the girl when Dawna tripped the running goblin who rolled forward falling face-first. She shook free from the netting and reached for her bloody axe. The goblin was scrambling to his feet when she arched the battleaxe upwards nearly cleaving it in half, spraying Capilla with the thing's blood.
Adrian who somehow managed to remain unscathed had just finished bringing down the last archer when he shot another creeping soldier trying to flank Dawna. Three surviving goblins had the instinct to run away up the narrow rocky path, but their leader evidently thinking they could still turn the tide, sent the them for a final charge. The heroes seemed wounded enough, but he was clueless to the extent in which Capilla had reinvigorated them. He started muttering another spell when a blast at his back sent him sprawling headfirst on the packed dirt. Finan emerged cackling, savoring the lingering scent of burned flesh from his eldrich blast. The goblin, scorched in black-violet flames, quickly got up and ran for cover behind one of the remaining soldiers. They closed on him and just as Finan went in for the kill and the fearless goblin leader propped one of his goon as a meat shield. Finan's rapier and Capilla's hand-axe met at the goon's small chest bursting it open. He tossed the body aside and ran for the others for protection, but Felix had struck them down.
“Ehh... Okay... you win.” He said in broken common with an uneasy smile. “We not hurt you really, just capture, okay?”
Capilla backed away, her nine-year-old self returning from the red haze of self-preservation.
Even Finan and Dawna hesitated at the unexpected plea for mercy. They were stunned not out of remorse, but that the creature mocked their wrath by expecting anything less than death after nearly killing them.
“Oaky you let me go now, I leave you be. Put me dow...” an arrow cut his last words short as it square on the crotch. He screamed a soundless cry of agony and another arrow shot through his eye socket. His dying body stood convulsing for another second and chunk eyeball hung out of it's socket like a half eaten grape. The next second he slumped down to an all too merciful death.
“He had to go” said Adrian. “he killed that ranger and made me dig through rotting flesh for more arrows.”
“I don't think they were meant as ammunition for you, but either way, you're right. He had to go.” replied Finan. No one protested.
Capilla openly wept over all the killing and the trauma of watching her new friends nearly die. Dawna took her away from the bloody remains while Adrian, Finan and Felix surveying the area for any more goblins. They heard distant war drums beating in the direction of the narrow path up the canyon, but it didn't sound like they were coming any closer. It might have been drill practice. Had one of the pesky creatures escaped they would be flooded with more goblins in no time. The hexer's last minute decision to stand and fight bought them enough time to catch their breath and stabilize some wounds. They took refuge in the north tower and set up a few hasty traps in case more of them came. They patched their wounds in the brief rest and planned where to go from there.
Twenty five minutes had gone by until they decided not to risk another minute's delay. After all, lives depended on them. They stepped out of their brief shelter when Adrian's superior hearing discerned echoes coming out of the cave ahead of them. They were faint at first, but gradually grew in volume, until Felix and Finan also heard them, Dawna focused and she could hear it too. A cry for help in such high pitched desperation, they couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, terror was it's only certainty. The cry's crescendo rose to a chilling expression of agony when it was cut short by a loud thump. They exchanged glaces of silent horror until Dawna strode forward with renewed urgency.
“Why the fuck are we standing here for? Lets GO!”

Shortly after entering the cave they find a crudely built wooden door with a sign in what looked like the goblin symbols.
“Goblins can read and write?” Dawna asked.
“I've seen this before, its a rudimentary form of writing, but close enough” Adrian replied, “I can't read it thought”
“I can” Felix came forward pulling an elegant pair of spectacles from his chest pocket. He put them on squinting at the words. “Storage.”
It took him only a second to pick the sorry excuse for a lock and open the door. Inside they found a chamber filled with junk, most of it looked like the personal belongings of their victims. On the center of the room there were carts overflowing with valuable possessions like jewelry, pocket watches, some paper cash from Lothaire, gold pieces and even a few golden teeth fillings. All the loot collected seemed to have been hastily dropped in the room for storage, the tracks still visible on the hard ground.
“Wow, this has to be at least... five thousand gold total?” Adrian speculated.
“Hmm... it's over nine thousand.” Finan guessed with an air of certainty.
“What? Nine thousand?” Adrian stared with incredulous wide eyes.
“Its not ours, we can't take any of it” Dawna said in her usual tone of 'nothing to see here folks, move along.'
“I'll take this as an early reward then” Felix said reaching for a new shining rapier. “You may call this borrowing a tool for the job. If we don't make it out of here they won't need any of this anyway.”
Dawna looked over and there was a gleaming battle-axe right next to where the rapier had been. She touched the handle and there were blue sparks running along the blades. She was instantly mesmerized. She picket it up and felt its perfectly balanced weight, as though it was made for her size.
“Hey I thought we weren't supposed to loot any of this.” Adrian protested.
“Felix has a point. Unless you find a some arrows, or a better bow, leave it alone.” She holstered the axe replacing the older one and turned to leave the room. Finan's sly hands took a few gold pieces without anyone's notice. Perhaps even he wasn't conscious of it.

They made their way out the door. Adrian and Felix were last but the elf tried to be slick and grab a few gold pieces when no one was looking, but Felix caught him.
“You're gonna give us elves a bad rep, buddy.” He said shaming the elf.
“Uhh what.. I'm”
“Just drop it and let's move on” Felix said as he slipped his hand into one of Adrian's pockets pulling out a few pieces of gold for himself. The ranger was so embarrassed at being caught, he hadn't noticed the sleight of hand at all.
“Alright” he sighed, still red faced.
Dawna glanced back to see what the commotion was about, then turned forward facing a goblin staring back at her, jaw dropped, eyes bugged out, completely stupefied. He had just come around the corner when he froze at the sight of them, standing no more than ten feet away.

Its amazing what goes through one's head in moments like this. A split second frozen as an icecap before breaking off and flowing down the endless stream of time. Civilians couldn't possibly know what its like to stare The Other in the eye. Dawna had seen Krill up close, but he might as well have been a of a different race all together. She saw the umber war paint on the creature's face, beads of sweat on the rough ashy green skin. Eyes of sadistic intelligence, vacant for a brief moment as it assessed the threat. Jagged pointy teeth in a comically large gaping jaw. Silver piercings of all shapes and sizes along its pointy nose, lips, eye-brow and large flappy ears. He was sporting a ratty black mohawk and dark leather armor with spikes and chains. Her darker side had to admit, the little creeps were kind of bad-ass looking. If only they would express themselves through a safer outlet, like music, instead of wanton destruction and cannibalism. Just as this absurd thought crossed her mind, the goblin darted back the way it came, half hoping this wasn't really happening.

Adrian had just enough time to get a shot off (an admirable feat considering the distraction) and hit the goblin's back just below the scapula, before he ran around the corner, arms flailing in panic, arrow wiggling in his back. Their surprised daze expired and all ran after him.

They ran deeper into the tunnel and into a large torch-lit chamber. Dawna was startled by what she saw. There were four makeshift metal cages built into the rocky interior along the walls, each of them packed with prisoners from last night's raid. The one closer to the exit seemed a bit more sparse - they were already too late for some of them. Along the other wall across from the cells were a few semi-conscious prisoners in torture racks. The stale air was pungent with the scent of rotting meat, urine and feces. For Felix, this gave the impression that the recent prisoners were not the first guests at the Ogre'n Goblins bed and breakfast inn. His eyes quickly scanned the prisoners and found Josh, his initial motive being there. Finan ran up next to Dawna who was getting winded from running in full plate. He pointed the hexing rod straight at the running goblin and shot him with a fiery black bolt. It's dying scream caught the attention of two others who were previously too busy torturing the prisoners to notice them. One of them lifted a crossbow and Finan teleported out of his sight, reappearing fifteen feet away behind the racks for cover. Dawna's axe swept the first with a wide arch, sending its crossbow and twitching body airborne. It landed just over one of the racks in a bloody heap.

Adrian let an arrow fly at the last goblin, but it turned suddenly towards one of the cells and he missed. The goblin carried a javelin on one hand and a set of keys on the other. The grunt quickly opened the cell and grabbed a boy no older than seven, holding him hostage. Capilla screamed in alarm, at the sight of a child younger than her, in imminent danger. Dawna closed in along with Felix, she grabbed the javelin before the creature could press it against the boy, and there she was in another tug of war. Only this time her opponent's entire mass felt lighter than her armor. Felix tried to sneak a blade down the goblin's neck, but he brought the boy closer against him while trying to tug his weapon free. The boy -one of the Pearson boys, Dawna reckoned- was in too much shock to either cry or scream. His body went slack for fear that sudden movement would hurt him. He desperately hoped the heroes would save him form the mean little green monsters. Capilla could feel his fears. She moved closer wielding her small hand-axe when Felix waved her to a stop.
“We got this Capilla.”
“Let go or I kill the boy” the goblin grunted.
“You'll kill the boy if I let go” Dawna grunted back.
“I kill you all! You be ogre food.”

The stand off was just what Neal Sanders needed to make his way to the open cell gate where the goblin stood clutching the boy. Neal had always wanted to be a Port Everlast guard. He applied many times for the job, took all the required courses, but when it came to the physical exam, they always let him go. They thought him stupid or emotionally unstable or both. Either way, they never gave him an official reason for the rejection. So he made his living as a blacksmith like his father instead, making weapons for guards, heroic knights and vigilantes such as these young folks. Still, living vicariously through the heroism of others was never enough for Neal. His true will was to stand strong and protect his community by force of his own arms. He tried to make such stand the night before, but there were too many of the little buggers. So here he was, a balding middle-aged man, resigned to a loathsome death marking the end of an unfulfilled life. That was, until the cavalry arrived and opportunity knocked on his very cell. The brawny man grabbed the goblin by the neck, lifting him as he squeezed the thing's windpipe shut with triumphant satisfaction, the payback was intoxicating. The goblin jerked and let the boy and the javelin go. Capilla took the boy away from the cell and Neal bashed the creature's head on the metal bars several times, until blood was coming out of its nose and ears. He pressed the thing's head against the bar until they heard a crunch. Its misshapen skull was finally resting between two bars, its body hung still, the blacksmith's meaty hands still grasping the thing's backbone.

“Thank you Neal, you saved that boy's life.” Dawna said as he stared at the bloody thing on his hands.
“Its dead you can let go now.” She reassured him.
“Its not enough for what they've been doing to us.” Neal replied turning to Dawna. “They've been treating us like animals, like cattle!”
The captives were all alert now, intent on their escape. Josh's eye widened when he saw Felix and shouted from another cell.
“FELIX MAN! I knew you'd come to save us! Get me the fuck outta here, you don't know what its like, what they're doing to us!”
“We're food for that monstrosity inside this cave. They serve us own own dead as stew” Neal told Dawna in a somber, yet slightly detached tone.
“Come on, Felix get me out of here.” Josh called from his cell.
Felix leisurely picket up the keys left in Neal's cell and walked up to Josh.
“So tell me Josh, how much do you still owe the captain?” a question he'd been meaning to ask just out of curiosity. After all the captain treated everyone with a strict need-to-know basis, and knowledge was ever a power.
“Wha- what?” He was genuinely puzzled by the question, gambling debt, much less precise amounts, were the last thing on his mind. “I don't know man! The captain keeps a running tab, ask him. Just get me the hell out!”

Felix looked to Dawna who gestured for him to wait. She stepped back in plain view of everyone. She could see them well, many familiar faces around town, men, women children. Millicent Temora the town gossip, Larry Scott that funny guy at the academy, Russ the paper boy who worked at the town press. They all looked to Dawna for their deliverance. Dire as the situation was, she knew she had to get them back home in one piece, but if they left now and escorted them back to town. How long until another goblin raid undoes all their effort this far? She had to end this cycle. She was about to say something when she heard small clanking foot-steps from the direction they came in. They all tensed, Adrian readied a shot and Krill waddled into the room with a beaming smile of strange idiotic glee.

“Hey guys, guys, hurry! We have to get out”
“We told you to stay away, its dangerous!” the paladin said.
“No no, you not understand, more friends come help, fight outside.”
Amidst the confusion Adrian heard the gradually increasing sound of clashing arms echoing outside.
“What'cho talkin' about Krill?” Felix asked.
“Friends like you wearing big plate” He said pointing at Dawna. “They found Krill, even shot Krill, but Krill raise shield and meant no harm.” He showed them a few dents on his oversized shield. “So Krill help them find cave. They send Krill in to find you guys while they hold he bad goblins up.”
They let out a collective sigh of relief, maybe the town guards are finally doing something to help them out. Here was the answer to Dawna's dilemma. The paladin rose and addressed the prisoners.
“We're going to let you guys out, cell by cell...” She nodded and Felix started opening the locks. “You're going to make your way outside the cave in an orderly fashion so no one gets hurt.”
She turned to Krill.
“Can you make sure they get out safe Krill?”
“Yes! Krill good, Krill help friends and friend's friends.”
“This is Krill, our new friend.” She addressed the townsfolk once again.
“We wouldn't be alive it if were for his help.” She had to make sure they didn't retaliate against the poor little guy. After all he'd done, she wouldn't forgive herself if he was harmed by the very people they came to save.
“Whoever lays a finger on him will answer to me.” The crowd murmured at this.
“On the way out you'll find an open room with your personal belongings, take the carts and sort it out later when we're all safe. Neal, I'll leave you in charge of that.”
“Sure thing, m'lady!” The blacksmith replied with civic pride.

Finan could have cared less about the prisoners. In fact, he didn't care for the idea of the town folk recovering their loot. That was a lot of money! Besides, he should get something for his troubles, maybe he'd be rewarded for playing “the hero.” Maybe... Either way, he had to settle for something else, maybe a good challenge that would push the limits of his powers as a hex blade. It had been a year since the pact with the Fey who had bestowed him these powers, but it still felt so new. So much capacity for raw devastation, like a force of nature, untapped, resting on his hilt. The goblin spell caster was a push-over after all. The runed rapier still had not collected a worthy soul and pulsed in hunger for a proper feast. Perhaps, if he had a more through understanding of magic, he might have been more prudent. But not knowing the charm for what it was, he could only let his instincts take over and heed the blade's call, imagining it was his own will.

The confident halfling snuck away from the group, following a distant glimmer of torchlight deeper into the cave. Capilla had spent weeks following Finan around. He promised to help her find her folks but insisted that searching the mountains would be an arduous adventure and she needed to master her telepathic powers, should they need it. These little goblin monsters proved his point, but she didn't understand how, if it was so dangerous, she made it to town in one piece. After all, he was the first and only person to feed and take care of her since she had been lost. If she couldn't trust this surrogate big brother, who could she trust? So when she looked around and saw that Finan was gone, she caught his scent and followed quietly into the darkness.

As the halfling approached the next chamber he heard muffled cries. Children, he discerned. Greasy torchlight barely lit the scene. A monstrous form in the center cast its enormous shadow obscuring three trembling figures. A baritone voice spoke in thick accent, trying to explain something to them. Finan inched his way forward, subtly peeking over a rock to get a better look. He saw a boy no older than Capilla, a younger girl and the sobbing woman whom the creature was addressing. Their mother, he surmised. The gigantic figure was crouched eye-level with his captives. The burning halo from a background torch made it difficult to make out the thing's features but the silhouette was unmistakable. This was the ogre they were after. This realization was accompanied by silent movement to his left. Capilla shuffled towards him absently, moving in silent feline grace. He was gesturing for her to remain quiet when her eyes widened and her ears perked up. She overheard some of what they were saying. She heard familiar speech patterns emerging through cracks in the broken Common that the ogre labored through. She gasped at the first word she heard in giant since leaving her home - “grumog.” A loaded term in her native tongue, with many meanings depending on context, here it meant something like “The way of things.”
“It be a wheel, a cycle, grumog.” she heard him tell the woman ignoring her pleas to let her children go. “Sorry you been caught, but it's grumog.” The ogre shrugged.

How long had it been since she last heard anyone speaking Giant? Weeks? Months? It felt like years since she left home to go play in the woods. Going from play-fighting to fighting for her life in the space of a few weeks had a way of warping the child's perception of time. Either way, she nearly got up and ran to greet the first giant she had seen in centuries, had it not been for Finan. He held her shoulder and yelled a whisper, not loud enough to be caught but enough to express the gravity of the situation, this was no game.

“What the hell do you think you're doing, kid?”
“Giant, he speak Giant, Maybe know mama and papa.” She replied in Common.
“And maybe I'm the king of Lothaire.”
“Silly Finan, you no king.” she whispered in Common “What does that have to do with finding mama and papa anyway?” she asked, falling back on the Dwarven language.
“Just look around, this is the guy we've...”

Just then, Dawna's clanking approach in dingy cave alarmed the halfling. He grimaced gesturing a hush in silent frenzy. Catching the not so subtle hint, Dawna slowed to her best impression of a stealthy paladin with Adrian and Felix in tow. To Finan they might as well have been announcing their presence in a festive parade, nevertheless, they got a good look at the room – a task which would soon haunt them. The ogre was almost as large as the boulder they sprung on the goblins earlier, equally round in height and length except for powerful hammy fists and forearms caked in rusty red splatters. From high above a small shaft of waning daylight gleamed a sweaty reflection on his enormous belly. Highlights from flickering flames shifted over his dirty oily hide, grimy apron completing the sinister look with a mixed swash of grease, fresh blood and flecks of soft tissue. Hairy arms reached under the loincloth to get a good satisfying scratch and pulled the biggest tick they ever saw. Instead of eating the swelled bug as less sophisticated ogres might, he flicked it into the fire for a sickening pop. He turned to them startled as they collectively held their breath and clouds of dandruff puffed from his filthy matted hair. The group managed to remain hidden behind pitch black shadows, knowing their lives depended on the element of surprise. The monster relaxed and went on babbling something about “being over soon” to his weeping victims.

Once their initial repulsion subsided they were able to better evaluate their soon-to-be combat zone. There were cabinets, a counter, a makeshift sink with the running water from an underground stream and more cabinets. The whole kitchen was proportional to the ogre's scale, so that even Adrian, the tallest of them, had a taste of what Finan must feel like in humans and elven homes. There was book shelf brimming with ancient leather-bound tomes which Dawna discerned as cook books. One of those books laid casually open on a large bedrock table next to a pool of blood, bone fragments and chunks of gray matter. A gigantic wooden hammer leaned on the table like an oversized meat tenderizer, the grain soaking all the moisture leaving a pattern of dark clots on the surface. They caught a glimpse of movement on the right corner and saw a short trembling figure bound in chains. The prisoner was obscured by a large ice box emanating an almost magical coolness in the otherwise stifling hot kitchen. Probably another child kept for less savory purposes, Dawna shuttered. The strangely alluring scent they smelled earlier was coming from a boiling cauldron in the kitchen's center. In contrast to all else, it was a pleasant sweet-spicy scent. Since setting out for this rescue mission food was the last thing on their minds. They were fasting since the night before so their physiological response to the aroma was primal and involuntary. Hunger is a powerful force, watering mouth and groaning stomach almost overwriting all rationality. Could this nasty monster actually be a good cook? Maybe he just killed for pleasure and ate wild game instead, that wouldn't be as bad, right? Felix fixed his eyes on the stew for a moment, picking up bits of potatoes, carrots, peas and ...was that a vertebrae? The ogre stirred the pot with a spoon as large as the mallet and a limp torso emerged boobing to the surface. The deceased seemed to be nodding it's head, approving the stirring motions while enjoying some catchy tune. The ogre left the stew to simmer some more while the bather leaned back, watching them with glazed eyes. The tender muscles lost their hold and the melting face pealed off the bones leaving a grinning skeleton. “I'm a happy guest at the Ogre'n Goblins bed and breakfast, make your reservation today!” Felix thought grimly. The revulsion was overwhelming and he decided, then and there, that the motherfucker was gonna pay!

The scene turned for the worse when the ogre scooped the frightened boy in one arm and walked to a crude oversized meat grinder dragging the hysterical mother and sister at his heels. Everyone gasped with terror as he tried to stuff the boy in the contraption. Even in desperation, Eli forgot his tears as adrenaline surged through his system and held on to the edge like a cat avoiding a water filled sink. The heroes ran into the room shouting, trying to stop him but the wailing was so loud and the ogre so intent on his task that he didn't notice them.
“Have it your way then, I'll just have to brain you first!” The booming voice shouted in an somewhat petulant tone.
He turned, pressed the boy on the table and reached for the hammer when he finally noticed the new guests.
“Ahh! Thog Seven Toes have visitors!”
“Let them go, monster!” The paladin maiden roared.
Capilla wanted to get closer and say something, but Finan held her back for her own good.
“Oh finally, Thog have guests of superior stock than the rest of the herd!” He let the boy go, who in turn, ran to his mother's arms in tears of horror.
“You're not like the rest of them, so you're guests of honor in the Seven Toes kitchen.” The ogre said with a hearty laugh. For a moment they were speechless at the strange dichotomy. They were trying to stop a monstrous ogre who was systematically devouring the people in their hometown, and now, even in thick accent, he is eloquent enough to extend his welcome to them. He invoked the ancient code of conduct between host and guests. So encompassing was this cultural response, that they hesitated and held back what would be otherwise a battle charge.

Dawna had to wonder if the ogre was intelligent enough to be so manipulative or if he really saw no wrong in his actions. Adrian had told her the little he knew about ogres. They were mostly carnivores who preferred tender flesh as opposed to meat from other mountain dwelling creatures. They often preyed on grazing animals and would eat humanoid flesh, if given a chance, but it was far from their sole means of sustenance. If this ogre was bright enough to cook and call them guests, he had to know that this was wrong, didn't he?

The terrified family scuttled away from the room, but Thog ignored them. He was solely focused on his new guests when he offered steaming meat-ball the size of their heads on the palm of his hands.
“Here have one on the house, tell me what you think.”
Their stomachs turned collectively, Capilla felt lightheaded and Adrian almost fainted. It was Felix who found it in himself to speak up.
“Uh no thanks.” he said in a stoic voice as he slowly approached the ogre.”
“You offend Thog, little friend. Thog Seven Toes have been working hard to perfect recipe, the least you can do is try it.” Thog said with a look of disappointment.
“I already had supper, I didn't think my friends and I would be so welcome in your kitchen.” Felix replied with what he hoped was a convincing smile as he moved closer. “Besides, we don't make a habit of eating our own kind.” Everyone but the ogre tensed when Felix finally addressed the elephant in the room.
“What? No give Thog that crap! Just 'cause somebody's smart don't mean they not part of the food chain. You must know better than that!” Thog snapped, his language lapsing into a more stereotypically ogre tone. Capilla finally slipped from Finan's protective hold and moved closer, pleading with the ogre from across the bedrock table.
“No this is wrong, please stop! You don't have to eat people, can't you find cattle in the grasslands or other animal to eat?” She asked him in Giant.
Surprised at his own dialect coming from the small cat-like girl, he turned to her and answered in Common so all could understand him.
“Thog not get cattle, farmers chase Thog away. Mountain goat is hard for Thog to catch, since Thog not walk very fast.” He pointed to his permanently bruised bare feet - three toes were missing, two on one and one on the other. To Dawna who had some experience healing the sick, it looked like the symptoms of someone with dysfunctional pancreatic glands who constantly indulged in rich foods.
“Besides...” The ogre continued. “What makes you any better than mountain goats? Mountain goats smart too, but its okay to eat them! You made of flesh, just like them, you think you not animal too? You make double standards, nature not care, Thog not care.”
“What about the goblins, why not eat them?” Dawna asked.
“Thog not like goblin meat, it bitter. Not have spice to make them taste good, but people meat are sweet. Goblins annoying but help get ingredients for ultimate meat-ball recipe.”
Felix, now in perfect range, glared at him with clenched teeth.
“We have a word for people who behave like you, Thog.”
“What's that?” he asked amused at his guest's close mindedness.
“We call it SICK FUCK!” The half-orc yelled.
“Well, meat is meat and an ogre's gotta eat!” He bellowed a self-amused laughter. Thog never saw what hit him next.
Felix's hands were a blur as he reached for two throwing knives and hurled them at the foul creature's head. One severed half the earlobe clean. The other struck the forehead in an angle, slicing a gash just above the eyes. A red waterfall cascaded into the ogre's eyes and he stumbled around the room in blind fury.
“Thog being attacked by own guests! Treachery!” He reached for the hammer and swung it wildly. Dawna and Felix converged on the ogre ignoring his indignant cries. With a silent prayer Dawna blessed her weapon as she brought it down upon the ogre. He turned and the gleaming axe glanced off his rugged forearm, still bruising, but missing the chest. Felix dashed around flanking the monster and tried to bury his new “borrowed” rapier into his back. The flexible steel broke the skin, but hit the ogre's dense backbone and bent it as though hitting a rock. He pulled and stabbed again and again until he had to dodge Thog's swooshing backhand. The ogre screamed with explosive pain and rage as he swatted at the insolent pests who came into his kitchen, tried to tell him what to do and assaulted him like savages.
“Thog show you pesky peoples, puny treacherous peoples who not like fine cooking.” He shook his head back and fourth and an unnatural cloud of dandruff covered the melee, making it harder to land a blow.
Meanwhile Adrian was preparing a shot when he noticed a quiver propped against the wall on his left. It was filled with arrows that looked charred and half aglow like fiery embers in a camp fire, only they never seemed to burn out. Could it be what I think it is? The elf thought to himself. Would fate be so kind as to just give me incendiary arrows just like that? Lost in amazement, he let the arrow fly wild nearly hitting Finan, who shot him a dirty look. He absently apologized for the blunder and ran to confirm if he had really hit the jackpot of ranger ammunition.

Thog recovered his sight just as he came face to face with his first attacker. He let out a deafening roar in the echoing chamber and whirled his oversized mallet in a wide arch. Dawna was lucky and barely ducked in time, but Felix couldn't see through the pestilent haze and it struck him. The impact on his left shoulder sent the half-orc airborne only to clang against the hot cauldron coming face to face with his grinning skeletal friend. With his leather armor burning, searing skin sent fresh hot agony meeting the pain of a dislocated arm. He ignored the pain, popped the his arm back into the shoulder socket like a seasoned veteran at such injury and jumped back into the fray. The pain would have to wait.

Finan saw an opening, shot one of his black magical bolts and missed, decorating the wall with a black crater behind a rain of clanging pots and pans. The half-orc had been in the way, he bore no love for this new circumstantial associate, but wasn't about to needlessly inflict friendly fire. He almost chuckled when the half orc, who thought himself a half-elf, gracelessly tumbled into the side of the cauldron. Watching Felix trying to harm the ogre with that toothpick was downright hilarious. The oversized buffoon may have a thick hide and resist ordinary weapons but he was no match for Finan's powers and fey rapier. Or so he thought. The halfling bolted into close battle, the perfect chance to test his powers. He raised his hexing rod in mid run and shot another eldrich bolt at the monster. The magic exploded in unnatural darkness eclipsing the apron as it engulfed his upper torso in black crackling flames. Continuing his momentum Finan lunged over the table and launched himself at the shaken beast, his runed rapier thirsty for a killing strike - the collection of another soul in fulfillment of the fey pact. Finan came to a rude awakening when a giant hand shot out of the dying flames to grasp his miniscule torso.
“Thog Seven Toes gotcha, little annoying bug!”
Felix was coming around to flank the ogre as he held Finan. Thog saw him and tossed the flailing halfling at Felix, sending both outlaws sprawling against the wall.

Dawna's fury drove her axe with all her might chopping into the undulating fat of the monster's belly. A little blood seeped out but Thog was more surprise than pained at the wound. The axe wouldn't come free, each tug only escalated her anger to new heights. She just had enough with tugs of war. There was fear of this monster, only rage. All she wanted was to decapitate it in one swoop. It's head on a pike would be a fine payment for such heinous crimes, but instead, here she was, fumbling to regain control of her axe. Thog cracked the maiden over the head with his handle, blood flowing over her round cheeks from a cut, but she did not budge. She pulled her weapon again, foot firmly planted on the monster's knee for leverage, no success. Thog was about to crush her with a downward pummel when he felt a sting on his left shoulder followed by a blast setting him ablaze. The shock-wave tore her axe free from the beast and she fell prone below the conflagration. The bookshelf nearby burst into flames as another arrow from Adrian's new quiver exploded upon the ogre.
“Don't set them on fire!” Capilla cried.
“Sorry” Adrian responded without any real thought.
Dawna got up and saw the opportunity she had been waiting for. The creature was off guard swatting at the hungry fire consuming his greasy hide. Charred flesh overpowered the disquieting sweet and savory aroma of man-stew. The paladin howled another battle cry and went in for the kill.

Capilla screamed protests for most of the fight, exasperated by conflicting emotions. Here was an ogre who spoke her native language and could maybe help find her folks. He had to be a good cook, or devoted enough at least. Why else would he go through all this trouble? He said something about a special recipe – meat-balls, was it? She hopped up on the flat rock serving as a table taking a closer look at the big cooking book. The other page was in common, but the one that caught her interest didn't really fit. It was glued to the book along with a few other out-of-place pages. She could barely read the sloppy scribbles in the Giant dialect - obviously written by a non-native. However, the burgundy ink (too close to blood in her opinion) stood out even in the poor shifting light and she read it as the following:

Take human or elf

grind into meat paste

Add salt and dragon egg (If not dragon eggs, lizard or bird eggs good too, but dragon best)

Mix and fry in baby fat

Epic meat-ball time!

YUM YUM!

You fight for us we get you dragon egg and people meat!


The page reeked of goblin mischief. Capilla kicked the book aside in flaring anger ignoring the pain on her big toe. This was a trick! The goblins were to blame for all this, the ogre was just a pawn and the people bargaining chips. She grew up with giants and they were gentle, not people-eating monsters, this had to be a mistake! Maybe it wasn't too late.

She took a wide girth around the cauldron and the melee, arriving at a corner behind Thog. Time had a way of slowing down in moments like this and she captured the injuries of everyone in the room. More than capture, she felt them, like cuts and bruises in her own heart. So much pain and misery, the loss of loved ones, people dead because of this foolish big ogre who didn't think he was hurting anyone. He was making a big mistake but she knew he would come to his senses, it's not too late. Tears flowed free from the girl's luminous feline eyes. Melancholic waves pulsed from her solar plexus and everyone's motion slowed into lethargic movements made with great effort. Still the fight raged around the girl like a forest fire defying the dowsing rain. The ogre was burned and bleeding profusely. Stab and slash wounds covered his upper body, each puncture opening a stream pouring into a river pouring into an ocean of blood upon the mucky ground. In her distress, Capilla searched within the recesses of her soul for a resolution and the will to make it happen. So much noise and pain! Mister Seven Toes was too angry to know it, but he would soon die if they didn't stop fighting. Her friends were hurting too, but they turned the tide. Still, they could all die anyway if this kept going. Then the mean goblins would just find some other foolish giant to work for them and that's not fair, NOT FAIR!
She closed her eyes and visualized two opposing orbs of light glowing the luminescence of their respective color and meaning. On the right a brilliant red shone in all consuming passion like a raging inferno, on the left blue radiated the glorious cold light of reason, calming and soothing like the cool caress of autumn wind. Both stars, equally awe inspiring, hurled tendrils of beaming light, clashing explosions canceling one another. Would both collide and collapse under their enormous weight? Would the brief flash herald the oblivion of all life in eternal darkness? It must not be so! Capilla struggled to maintain their independent orbit, but collision was inevitable. She was just a little girl, how could she make any difference? She tried to hold them apart but the oppressive cosmic burden was too much. Her arms buckled calling a fresh round of tears streaming down her wearied countenance. No, she was not just a little girl, whispered the lady of Light from last night's dream. Before her astral eyes she saw the flipping pages of a grand tome. Setting upon a blank page, the tome spoke in an ancient language through luminous letters coming together in a single word. Ararita. The tome closed displaying the ornate sigil of a moon an ascending arrow and a star on the thick leather cover.

That mysterious word began to fade like an elusive dream, but she etched it in her memory with single-minded tenacity, holding on to every letter through repetitious chanting. A-R-A-R-I-T-A.
She had no idea what this word meant, but ignorance did not lessen it's power. She spoke it loud and clear before the converging stars but as soon as the mysterious word left her lips, it also left her memory altogether. The power reverberated through space and the stars coalesced into a single violet light, transcending opposites. The brilliance was nearly unbearable when a gargantuan eye opened from the core of the new star peering into the girl's soul. She bore the overbearing gaze reaching out to the light, stretching her arms and back to their limit.

Suddenly she was inside Thog's heart. She spoke reaching not his mind -an ineffectual dwarf next to colossal fury - but his beating heart and all emotions, hopes, fears and motivations. He dreamed of opening a restaurant. He thrived in the joy of assembling ingredients out of natural chaos into an ordered array of flavors, aromas and textures. The joy of uniting people of different races over the common ritual of a shared meal. How could he go so wrong? The goblins really had him convinced that the eating humanoid meat was all the rage in fine dining. He tried it, acquired a taste for it and now craved it. She reached out to his cold heart and whispered a gentle ray of morning sunshine.
“Who will you feed when all your guests are dead and eaten?” spoke the voice in Thog's heart.
The ogre swung his hammer at a near miss of Dawna's head but recovered with slumbering motions.
“Will you be alone, feeding only these wretched goblins? They despise you. A mere tool is what you are to them.” Spoke the firm voice of a woman.
Dawna's axe sparked against the ogre's parry, pushing his enormous mass as an ant might push a pebble four times it's size.
“What you're doing is wrong, we're not your enemies. We are your chance to fulfill your true destiny.”
He stumbled back, falling prone and the earth quaked under his weight, motes of dust cascading over their heads.
“Stop fighting yourself” said the voice in his heart.

“STOP FIGHTING” screamed Capilla.

“THOG GIVE UP!” The ogre declared sitting up on his knees. Dawna was already on motion for a killing blow, her axe leveled with his head. If only she hadn't heard those words... If only she could give in to blind fury and deliver this beast from the burden of it's malicious loathsome head. Who gives a fuck if he is throwing the towel, is it not justice to slay him for what he'd done? Yet, it would be unlawful and dishonorable to strike him down once he uttered those words on his knees. She had an oath to justice. This was one of those instances she couldn't stand, the gray area where law was confounded by the chaos of it's own duality. The paladin maiden persisted in her lawful resolve but stood ready to strike in case of a bluff.

“Thog give up, please no kill Thog!” He begged as Felix and Finan joined Dawna and surrounded him, their weapons ready to finish what they started.
“You mean peoples come to Thog's kitchen as bad guests and try to kill Thog. Please leave Thog be, not kill please!” He implored in a rain of blood and tears.
“Did they beg for their lives even as you ground them into meat paste?” Felix inquired in his calm calculating wrath. “Did he beg for mercy” he pointed at Mr. Grin in his fatal hot tub. “How does it feel to be on the other end, you fat fuck?” He asked pressing his rapier dangerously deep into the ogre's neck without breaking skin. Adrian had an arrow ready while Finan stood silent, his own rapier crossing Felix' on the ogre's neck.
“He gives up, don't kill him.” Capilla said with an authority they had never heard from a child her age.
“Thog just want to cook, that all. Goblins give recipe book with gourmet meat-balls. Thog just want to be great chef.” The ogre wailed, his boisterous pathetic sobs irritating them all the more.
Felix noted Dawna's strained composure and commanded the ogre's attention and mercy pleas.
“If we let you go, how do we know you're not gonna meet back with the goblins and raid our town again? How do we know you won't find some other hole in mountain and prey on people again?”
“Thog not eat meat no more, Thog eat vegebles from now on.” He said with wide fearful eyes. “ Thog give you all, anything you want!” He unloaded the contents of his pockets on the bloddy table - a ring, a necklace and a money pouch spilling gold pieces where it laid. “You can have it all, Just leave Thog alone!”

“Hmm...” Felix stood there pondering in silence, calculating eyes reveling in the monster's despair and anticipation.
“Thog hate pesky goblins, Thog kill them dead on way outta hear!”
“No! There is too many of them and you're hurt!” Capilla interjected.
“Here's the deal, Seven Toes. We'll let you go, if you agree to a penance.” Felix continued, ignoring the girl's comment.
“Pendant?”
“I said PENANCE. Its something you do to show you're very, VERY sorry!” Felix flared at the idiotic ogre. “I see you have two very large canine fangs, even for an ogre.” Thog touched his lower jaw wide gaping lips, as though for the first time in his life and was aware of the prominent meat-rending teeth. Felix put away his sword and drew his sharp glinting dagger, allowing himself a bare hint of a grin.