Banditry as it turned out was something Raka took to rather
nicely. It turned out most of the time, merchants in fine silks didn’t
want any trouble. They wanted to just pay a toll and move on. They had
guards but there was always in the back of their mind a risk versus
reward. If they won, great, if they didn’t they’d probably be dead. Raka
could respect that kinda thinking, it was very goblin of them. Robbery
was just a business transaction really. Course you did have some that
fought and well, didn’t end well for them. Goblins didn’t fight fair
after all, Raka definitely didn’t.
The redhead
goblin had gone from rags to… well not quite riches but for a Goblin it
sure as hell was. She was seated upon the annoyingly large stone throne
her former boss had owned, lazing back and idly inspecting a coin
between her fingers. The gold gleamed in the torchlight. Never enough of
it really, greed was good. It finally felt like all the things she had
deserved all her life were being given to her. Hell she’d earned this by
heroically outsmarting a group of veteran adventurers!
“Uhhh… boss?”
She
was torn from her musing as her yellow eyes flicked over to a lesser
goblin cowering in front of her throne, flinching as her eyes fell upon
her Her lips curled in a sneer and the lesser goblin lowered her eyes
submissively, quivering and cowering. Raka flicked the coin into a
little bowl of coins near her throne and glared at her.
“What, whelp? Did you finish polishing my boots? You better have or I’ll use your hide for new ones.” She growled.
“Oh
yes, yes of course boss! All shiny and gleaming just like ya wanted!
But, ahhh… um. The raiders got back and they said there were a bunch of
humie soldiers guardin’ the last wagon train.” The lesser goblin said,
her voice as preening and simpering as possible. Imagine being *that*
pathetic. Couldn’t be Raka.
A few months after
Raka had heard the Voice of the World she had gathered a rather decent
sized goblin raiding group to her. Goblins gravitated to the strong
naturally and Raka was the strongest Goblin in the region evidently. The
Voice had called it a perk of her Goblin Lord trait. Raka called it
only natural. Still, she rolled her eyes and glared at the lesser goblin
before her. Her minions were useful for some things, but they were
pretty dim witted.
“Well duh, the caravans have guards. What else is new? Did you really just waste my time to tell me that?” She growled.
“N-no
boss! Not guards, l-like knights! The big shiny armor humies with the
fancy stuff on their armors! They have some fancy banners with them like
that one!”” The goblin girl said in a panic, pointing to a trophy
banner behind Raka on the cave wall.
Raka’s
annoyance abated as she considered that and looked over her shoulder. A
red and gold banner they’d taken from a patrol of humans in the forest
beyond the cave. Soldiers and knights huh? Some of the merchants must
have complained to someone. The local lord probably. Raka scratched her
chin, black claws glinting in the light. She remembered hearing her old
boss complain about his soldiers and knights after he raided a village.
Must be trying to keep them from doing business.
“Hmm…
well we don’t wanna have them swarm over us…” They didn’t know where
their lair was since those adventurers never made it back. Best to keep
it that way. Then again… That wouldn’t be an issue that would just work
itself out. And Raka wanted *more* gold.
“Have
one of the Scouts trail some of the knights and let me know where they
go. Once we find their nest… I might have some ideas.” Raka said with a
nod.
“Ohhhh what kinda ideas, boss?” The goblin girl asked.
Another glare made her flinch away. “Nothing you’d understand, dumb dumb! Get gone and tell the raiders!”
The
little dark haired goblin squeaked in fright and scampered away from
Raka, running to tell the raiders further in the cave. The Goblin
Trickster snorted as she watched her go and leaned back in her throne
again. She was a far cry from the goblin in rags she had been a few
months ago. She was dressed in fine clothes with gold and finery decking
her out, gold hoop earrings, and actual makeup on her face. Like a
proper Goblin Boss. She was *never* going back to being that goblin in
rags again.
Her thoughts turned to the problem
at hand. The local lord was probably the one that had hired those
adventurers. Might mean he might send others. Might mean he might send
*tougher* adventurers. Raka frowned at that. Not a problem for *her*
genius and power of course… but well she did have minions that wouldn’t
have a chance. And there was the *off* chance the humans might get the
better of her. So really the best way forward was to nip the problem in
the bud.
___________________________________
Lady
Meera idly sipped at her wine as she seated herself back in her throne,
listening to her captain of her knights. There had been some issue
lately with goblins robbing merchants on the roads. Enough of them
complaining about it had reached the point she had to do something about
it. She’d thus put her knights patrolling with the caravans. Enough to
scare the green roaches back under their rocks.
“I’d
say we scared them off, my lady as we haven’t seen hide nor hair of
them since we started having knights mixed in with the caravans.” The
man reported with a nod.
The dark haired
noblewoman let out a hum. “Or they might pick right back up as soon as
we drop the patrols. Perhaps we should reach out to the Adventurer’s
Guild again. The last group we sent to root out the Ogre and Goblin
problem vanished a few months back after all.”
“Hard
to believe as well, they were the best ones the guild had, I’d heard
tales of their successes from here to the capital.” The captain mused.
“I
guess not everyone lives up to their legends… or the threat is greater
than we anticipated.” A grim thought that was. Whatever the case it
would have to be dealt with. Having monsters roaming around wasn’t good
for the region.
Meera wasn’t exactly short on
money, much as she’d rather keep her purses tight. If she had to pay for
more adventurers to make this problem go away, she’d pay for more. They
didn’t do anything out of the goodness of their heart after all. There
was a moment of consideration before the doors to her audience chamber
were opened hurriedly by one of the knights on duty, looking pale in the
face.
“Sir! My lady! At the gates! It's… it's enormous!” The man said in a panic.
The captain frowned and gripped him by the shoulders. “Calm down, lad, what's wrong? What’s enormous?”
“A-A goblin! Its a giant goblin!”
“AHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
At
the loud noise everyone in the room covered their ears. Meera’s glass
was sent shattering to the floor into a thousand pieces. That… had
definitely been a laugh. A very very loud and booming laugh. One that
chilled the blood in the noblewoman’s veins. She swallowed thickly as
she stood up on shaky legs and pinned the guard with a stare. She
managed to bring a tone of authority to her lips.
“Take me to the walls. Now.” She ordered.
She
brushed past the protesting captain and bid the knight to lead the way
as the captain brought up the rear. They passed through the halls and
indeed there was panic among the servants as they had no idea what was
going on. Well, for once she was with them there. They passed out into
the courtyard under the light of the sun and as soon as she made it up
onto the walls of her castle she nearly fell over from shock.
Standing
there, looming so tall that the castle walls would have come up to her
knees, was absolutely a goblin woman. A redheaded goblin woman with
rather gaudy jewelry and makeup decking her out. Her clothes seemed to
be straining to hold in a rather generous form. Yellow eyes were alight
with glee as well. Enormous certainly fit the bill here, the goblin
woman was colossal.
Her eyes fixed on Meera as
she was brought up, as well as the captain. “Are you two the leaders of
this castle?” She boomed out.
Meera swallowed
thickly and schooled her nerves, trying to keep from screaming. It now
made a *lot* of sense why the adventurers had vanished. The Ogre had
been the least of their concerns if there was a damned Giant Goblin
running around out here. She took a deep breath and stared upward at the
sneering face of the goblin woman.
“I am Lady
Meera Tylsila, the Master of this castle and the region of Riverbrook. I
would ask you to name yourself, Miss…?” She wasn’t about to start
shouting insults at someone taller than her castle.
Another
laugh boomed through the air and drew a wince from Meera. “Who am I,
you ask? I am Raka, the Lord of Goblins! All Goblins in this region owe
loyalty to me. I heard tale that you were denying my warriors from
taking *my* rightful cut from caravans and travelers. I’ve come to see
how such a woman measures up. I have to say I’m… disappointed.” She
remarked.
Meera looked around upon the walls.
Her Knights were brave but… even she could see the fear in their eyes.
No human could fight that. Certainly not them. Even her captain looked
unsure and he was the bravest warrior under her command. The noblewoman
swallowed thickly and raised her voice once more as she looked out
across the field at the towering goblin.
“I
certainly meant no insult to you, Great Raka! Rest assured, I merely
sought to protect my people and my lawfully granted holdings by the
King! Perhaps we might work out some kind of… arrangement? I’ve no wish
to incur your wrath, no more than I would the wrath of a dragon!” Meera
called out.
The dragon comment seemed to make
the goblin woman look *very* pleased with herself as she drew herself up
a little more. Prideful as a dragon as well it seemed. “My arrangement
is this! Open your gates, allow my warriors in, drop your weapons and
allow them to subdue you and yours. None of you will be harmed. If not,
I'll take a walk over your castle and reduce it to rubble and memories!”
She declared
The noblewoman frowned at the order
and her captain walked up to her as she seemed to be thoughtful about
the declaration. “You can’t be serious, my lady. The moment we open
those gates they’ll spill in and slit all of our throats if we do that.”
He said seriously.
“Look at her, Galvan, if she
wanted to kill us. We would already be dead. She wouldn’t be talking.”
Meera said as she gestured toward the gigantic goblin. He… didn’t
exactly have a rebuttal for that. She was right after all, something
that big could just rampage over them and squash them all like bugs. It
would be effortless. No, surrender was the smart move. Even if it was to
goblins. She shuddered to think what that would mean… but there was a
chance at least with that.
“Open the gates.” She ordered.
There
was hesitation at the order and one of the knights looked at the
captain. The older man was in thought for a moment, almost looking
stricken before giving the knight a single nod of confirmation. Moments
later the chains of the gate were moving as the doors opened. She felt a
pit open in the bottom of her stomach as in the distance the gigantic
form of Raka shifted her lips into a grin and crossed her arms.
“Smart move, human, really your only move to be honest.” She said with a thundering chuckle.
They
swept in like a green horde from the nearby forest. It would have been
easy for archers to pick them off from a distance but no order was
given. The goblins were allowed to move into the castle and the knights
dropped their weapons. Meera half expected to have her throat cut like
the Captain had said but… curiously they were just tying wrists behind
backs and making sure they were bound. One goblin girl with a crude
spear poked at her and she winced as she held her wrists into position
for the little creature to tie her up. This was degrading. Goblins of
all things.
Once they were all tied up the
knights were sectioned off to one side of the courtyard and she was kept
with two guards near her. The servants were also rounded up in short
order. It was… efficient. Organized. Very bloodless so far as well. Not
words she’d have used to describe goblins. It was a curious thing. When
the last of the humans in the castle was bound one of the goblins walked
up onto the walls and called out to Raka.
“All wrapped up here, boss! Nice and easy just like ya said!” The goblin girl called out.
“Wew,
finally, that was getting hard to hold. About time! What took you slugs
so long? You better not have nicked anything yet! Everything in there
is mine!” She groused as she started walking forward.
As
the enormous woman started walking forward her form started to just…
fizzle out. Meera blinked as she watched as the vast enormous form of
the goblin woman flickered out like a mirage and her booming voice
vanished entirely from the air. Soon there was nothing left where she
had stood towering over the castle. Instead walking from the same forest
the rest of the goblins had come from was a… normal sized goblin that
looked exactly like her.
An illusion. It had all
been a trick. Meera’s eyes widened so much they almost popped from their
skull and she felt the fires of indignation rise in her veins. Her
knights seemed to think similarly… but the spears and other crude
objects pointed at their bound forms kept them in check. They had been
bamboozled. Outfoxed. Tricked.
Raka’s laugh
echoed through the castle as she stepped through the gates, less booming
but no less nasally and unpleasant. “Wow, I can’t believe you guys
bought that. Well, I mean it was *me* doing it so it was flawless but I
always thought you humans were smarter than that. Shows how much that’s
true if you couldn’t see through that.” She mocked and jeered at the
knights before her attention turned to Meera. She scratched her chin
thoughtfully.
“Right, get the knights to the
dungeons, we’ll hold em there for now. Any of em try anything stick em
with the pointy end. Same with the servants. The rest of you start
stripping the place and be sure to bring me *any* treasure you find. If I
find out you lined your pockets with *my* gold I’ll gut you myself!”
She ordered.
The goblins carried out her orders
like it was instinctual. Natural to them. She gestured for the guards
with Meera to bring her along as she headed inside the castle keep. The
noblewoman winced as a spear poked her back and she was forced along to
walk, glaring at the redheaded goblin that had tricked her.
“Do
you really think you’ll get away with this!? The king won’t stand for
it! Nor will any adventurers! Your days are numbered! Do you hear me,
goblin? These lands are mine! So is this castle!” She shouted in
indignation.
“Uh huh, sure. Pretty sure its
*mine* now actually. You’re just pissy because you got outplayed, talk
about a sore loser. Besides you're gonna tell me everything you know
about the King, the Adventurers, this whole region.” She said as they
walked.
“I’ll do no such thing!” Meera could
feel her blood boiling at the casual dismissal. They entered the throne
room after a few moments of walking and Raka snorted.
“Yeah,
okay, sure. You girls, strip her down and…” She flicked her fingers to
the stone floor and there was a strange blue symbol that etched itself
onto the floor before vanishing. “Push her onto that and bring her to me
after.” She said as she walked up to the same throne that Meera had
been sitting upon. She dragged a nearby chest over in front of it for
some reason.
Meera had other concerns,
struggling and trying to push away as her fine lovely clothes were being
torn away by a pair of goblin women. “Wait! Stop!” Oh gods she had
heard horror stories of the fates of prisoners at the hands of savage
goblins. Were they…?
They stripped her down and
completely with some cackling and sneers before tossing her onto the
spot where the symbol had been etched into the floor. The naked woman
blinked before a blue flash of light almost blinded her. She felt like
she was falling a great distance, disoriented and completely dazed for a
few moments as the light rendered her blind for a bit. Eventually she
managed to blink it away.
The noblewoman found
herself upon a vast plain of cold stone. She looked around and in the
distance there were towering shapes that looked familiar. She only had
moments to try and gather her wits before a massive boom sounded out
right next to her and she felt a shockwave knock her over onto her side.
Her scattered wits weren’t doing much better when she looked there and
saw a sandal clad green foot before her.
Towering
over her was one of the goblin thrall women that had brought her here,
her lips pulled back into a wicked grin as a vast hand reached for her.
Meera screamed and tried to scramble to her feet to get away, but thick
pudgy fingers pinched around her leg. Her fingers scratched at the floor
and she tried to grip onto some purchase, tried to keep herself from
being plucked up. All useless as the ground fell away from her and she
was lifted up into the air.
Her captor let out a
cackle and walked over to where Raka’s towering form was seated upon
Meera’s throne, dropping Meera upon the top of the chest before the
throne. “Anything else ya need boss?”
“No. Good
work you two, might not be *totally* useless after all. Pick one human
each, I’ll shrink em down for you later.” She said in a tone that was
probably meant to sound magnanimous, it just sounded smug.
The two goblin women let out whoops of delight and scampered out of the throne room at that. “Now then…”
THOOM
Meera
let out a scream and flinched away as a vast bare green heel slammed
down atop the chest like it was a makeshift foot stool. Her other foot
slammed down on the other side as the green skinned woman leaned upon
the armrest of the throne, jewelry glinting in the torchlight. The
noblewoman was so… insignificant. A bug compared to this towering woman.
This wasn’t an illusion this time, this was *real*.
Thick
green toes curled above idly, yellow eyes gazing down at Meera
expectantly. “I own everything in this castle now because I tricked you
out of it. That includes you, human. You’re already on your knees so go
ahead and shuffle forward and lick.” She boomed from on high.
Indignation filled Meera’s veins. “I-I will not!”
No
sooner had she said that than one of Raka’s feet lowered down and the
dark haired noblewoman found herself smothered under a bare doughy sole.
She let out a muffled scream as she tried to push it away but there was
no use there. She wasn’t gonna push a mountain off of her that easily.
The pressure mounted more and more. Meera felt the breath being pushed
from her lungs. Felt her lungs start to scream in protest.
Then
all at once, just as she felt something about to break the foot lifted
up. She adhered to the surface for a moment before falling and landing
hard upon the wooden ground of the chest, coughing and sputtering as
yellow eyes leered down on high. She had… never felt that before. It
would have been so easy. Effortless. Then she’d have been squashed like a
bug. Like nothing at all. Her eyes turned fearfully upon Raka as green
digits wriggled above her.
“Well? I didn’t quite
catch that. What did you say? Hard to hear you when you’re *that* small
gotta be honest.” She said with a smirk. Oh she had heard her alright.
Tears
sprang to Meera’s eyes, the noblewoman sniffling as she shuffled across
the top of the chest on her knees and approached one of the heels of
the goblin woman. She was watching her every move. Leering down at her.
She felt wretched. Like she was at the lowest point in her whole life.
She probably was at the lowest point in her life. There was nothing
lower than this surely.
She swallowed thickly
and leaned forward, forcing her lips to part and her tongue to loll out.
She just… she didn’t want to die. Was that so wrong? Though what was
this if not death of a different kind? She leaned forward more and then
her tongue connected with the skin of Raka’s heel, the ever so faint
taste of salty sweat upon her tongue now. She started crying as she
licked and lapped at Raka’s heel, absolutely defeated. Though it was the
booming words of the redheaded goblin that hurt most.
“Get used to the taste, human. All you are really good for now.”