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  [Marrok]

  Marrok was training hard with the goblins when he noticed them, another group of humans making their way to the dungeon. This time though they were obviously not adventurers, more like teens from the nearby village.

  Slipping away he told the goblins to turtle up and he would attack them again. Drilling this formation would save them but it also gave him an excuse to look at the humans closer.

  They were dressed in work clothes with a differing array of weapons. From sticks with sharp points, to spears, a rusty sword and shield, a club. Not a great option for the dungeon. The sword would be useful for the trees on the first floor and the spears for the wolves, but he didn’t think they would get farther than that, the swamp had been very tough and the rainforest worse, especially if you weren’t used to the forests.

  Although Marrok would have liked to take them out, earning more marks for himself and his tribe he knew it was a risky option.

  Judging by the time the other group had been in the dungeon now, over a day, he figured they must be approaching the end of their run. They would probably be on their way back about now and the chances that the goblins wiped out the new group but got caught doing so, or got caught cleaning up all traces of the killing was high enough that he didn’t fancy it.

  Not to mention that if the local teens went missing, the town would be up in arms, and they would investigate. He knew that it would then be possible, nay rather likely that they would discover the goblins in the mountains.

  With a surge of adventurers ready to delve the dungeon coming relatively soon, the town wouldn’t be short of people ready to take on the task of combating them, it could very well be the end of the tribe.

  Conversely, if they waited for that surge of adventurers to come, they could pick groups off at will, gain marks, kill filth, and chuck the bodies into the dungeon for easy clean-up.

  That was a plan fit for the best of the goblins. A Marrok plan.

  Knowing an argument would ensue from the others if they saw this new group, he made his way back and feigned an attack. He came from the opposite side to the dungeon, thereby distracting them and this time he climbed a tree and jumped out of it, aiming to land on the lead member with a heavy strike.

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  At the last second, he pulled out of the strike, only knocking Janus down and then blitzing into the centre of the group taking down another.

  To his pleasure, yet also dismay, he was soundly beaten back as the goblins composed themselves and the outer members circled to the sides to provide support and further damage. He lost, which was upsetting, but the group had performed well, which was pleasing.

  Swallowing the pain of defeat, he congratulated them and said they should take a rest for a bit.

  Walking over to camp, the goblins settled down for a meal. They had caught a couple of rabbits not long ago and as they shared it over a fire, they discussed the day’s training.

  “That went very well” he started, “but we can do better. Janus, I took you unaware, but that wasn’t your fault in itself, the group never expected an attack from above. The dungeon, you can be sure, will have some form of this, whether it be trap or monster, so stay sharp to this kind of thing.”

  “Ok” Janus replied.

  “Good, now I took another of you out?”

  “Me, Marrok” Lorg stated.

  “Why?” he questioned, interested to see the other goblin’s response.

  “I didn’t react in time, Marrok. Once you took down Janus, the others backed up and made room for their weapons, but I was a bit too slow and you got to me before I could do so.”

  “Yes, that’s partly it, partly also that I took you by surprise. But I think you do yourself wrong, it wasn’t that you were too slow, you reacted, but you chose to attack, which would be fine, if you had attacked in line with the others. But they retreated and you attacked, isolating yourself and at the moment I am far more skilled and so you lost.”

  He summarised where he thought the warrior had gone wrong. “Can you tell me one other thing that you did wrong though?” he asked.

  “I was too conservative, I probed like it was a spar rather than striking with conviction.”

  “Yes!” he said pleased that Lorg had spotted it. “Good.”

  Finishing their food, Marrok decided that it was time to head higher into the mountains, a scouting run he explained. Coincidentally, it took them further away from the dungeon and thereby avoided an argument about trying to kill the local boys.

  Walking up the slope above the dungeon they looked for prey, though as the trees faded into rocky slopes and the temperatures dropped a touch, the chances of finding anything dropped.

  Still, they reached an outcropping about 200 metres above the dungeon and looked out over the plains that extended along the rivers that the mountains sources.

  From their vantage point they could see the little village where the boys most likely came from, as well as a couple other villages on the horizon.

  Truly they were very isolated and that was perfect.

  “See that village over there,” he said pointing to the base of the mountain. “Yes Marrok” they replied. “That will become the staging point for the adventurers who will challenge this dungeon. We want to avoid, for now, any people of the town, so if we see anyone not dressed as an adventurer we should avoid them.”

  “Why, they would be easier to kill?”

  “Easier, yes. But killing them would trigger teams searching the mountains for the missing person.” He explained, “but adventurers die all the time, and picking off a weak returning group is well within our abilities, and they would not know we were up here. If we make ourselves known, they’ll hunt us like rats. But staying sneaky we’ll be able to kill off hundreds of people and keep growing our strength in the dungeon.” Marrok finished.

  They nodded, accepting his opinion, he thought there might be some that disagreed, but it was his say as chieftain, and he knew this was the right path.

  On the other side of the mountain was the weir woods that they had come from and a few outlying villages and settlements. Once they were stronger, they could investigate those and sack them, but for now they needed to train.

  Leading the goblins back down the mountain he was pleased to see the group of teens had entered the dungeon. Now they just had to wait until both groups had left, which he imagined would be fairly soon, if the second group came out again that was. If they didn’t, he wasn’t sure what he would have to do. It depended on the village’s response. But he imagined they might have to relocate further up the mountains briefly.