RP:Rise of a Goblin Warleader

This is part of the Capture of Kregus story arc.

Somewhere deep within Kregus

[The passageways twist ever, to and fro, full of the fetid perfume of half-rotted flesh and rank incense. From all around, voices rise and fall in malevolent cadences, seeming to drift from the walls and the very air itself. Surely, evil things happen within these catacombs, rites and ceremonies best not studied by an innocent heart. Occasionally, the monotonous muttering is shot through with a terrible gurgling scream, another victim to malice and death.]

Gorznahk sneers as word of the human propaganda is brought to the shamans' council where planning sessions continue. Where is the pride of the goblin people? There was irony there. The goblins of Kregus had always been proud of their sovereignty as a nation ruled by one of their own, as a nation with a strong navy. The goblins in the city may be toeing the human line for now - but those were the dregs of society whose pride -could- be turned for short-term self-interest by such paltry offerings from the human who had killed so many of them. No, the humans did not yet understand what drove the goblin people. Let him try to raise them as pets, and see how long it took for the goblins to bite the fingers off his hand. He starts scratching himself as the advisory session goes from one hour to many hours. He'd an itch, for sure, but it was for the more honest work of slaughtering humans. At this point the shamans are explaining what portion of the city goblins were actively working with the humans compared to the rest of the population. It was not a great number, maybe a few hundred, and they would be easily swayed back to true pride once the natural order of Goblin rule over Goblins was restored. In the meanwhile, true goblins were starting to stream in their hundreds through the myriad tunnels, swelling Gorznahk's forces. The humans' attempt to stir his people's pride was working - but their pride was that of goblins, not humans, and no goblin of Kregus would settle for rule under the inferior, pale and thin-skinned humans, with their ugly smooth features and fragile bones. Yes, he would let the human propaganda continue unthwarted, as the human was only proving how unfit they were to rule his people, how little they knew of Goblin-kind.

Gorznahk slams his fist on the stone next to his seat, a makeshift throne of rocks commissioned by the shamans. "A'right ya bastids, gimme progress on the tunnel-works." One by one, goblins walk in and advise Gorznahk of which tunnels of packed dirt were being completed more rapidly, and an approximation of their defences. He examines the resulting maps the shamans had drawn. So far, so good. With the goblin miners afraid to assist the humans, very few were assisting the humans, and those working against the humans had full bellies and new equipment from the old storehouses deep in the mines. The shamans had brought a lot to the table, and they had yet to exert their influence on goblin society. That would come later, when they were confident in Gorznahk's ability to to keep their wretched hides in one piece. Gorznahk picked out several tunnels deemed useless to his forces, but eminently useful to the humans. "Them. We bring 'em down. Get me da sappers, and summa me shieldboyz. Get me a coupla the marines too." The latter had been a not-unexpected gift from the dark ones. Many of the goblin navy's soldiers had fled the day of the massacre, and although a portion had been rounded up by the Red One's forces and killed, most had made it safely away through the warren of tunnels. As word of Gorznahk's resistance spread they made their way to him to assist in the efforts. Their presence alone helped to offset much of the humans' propaganda regarding kin-slaying as they told with relish how the humans had feared to face them head on, and resorted to greater force and sneaky tactics to overwhelm the king and navy. Each retelling became more absurd, but the goblin rebels lapped it up, and the soldiers' martial experience was enthusiastically passed on as Gorznahk's forces began training in earnest.

Gorznahk grins toothily as the marines arrive: Kuzgal and Nozgruhk, appointed as the current leaders of the naval faction. Nozgruhk shambles in with Kuzgal close behind, throwing a shabby naval salute and drawling "Whaddya want, Bossgob? Got sum killin' ta do?". Gorznahk liked Nozgruhk. Liked him so much that, after bashing the goblin into submission to establish hierarchy the traditional goblin way, he decided not to inflict any crippling wounds. "Soon, bastids, but da hyumins've blundered. Creeps reckon dat takin' supplies out into greater Kregus'll win 'em support. So we're gonna let 'em giv summa their stolen goods back ta da gobbos. I want yez to picka coupla hardboyz each, get 'em to gather teams of shieldboyz and dartboyz, and get a couple of dem supplies. Kill da hyumins, and spread supplies and human flesh ta da gobbos. More is better, eh? Get crackin'" Nozgruhk grins to match Gorznahk's and replies "Ayayaye, bossgob. Leavit ta Nozgruhk. Oi, Kuzgal, we gotsum killin' ta do!" The dark-featured Kuzgal says nothing - can't do, really, given his lack of tongue - but follows Nozgruhk out of the cavern like a shadow, in the same way he has since Nozgruhk saved his warty hide from losing the rest of his working bits back in the day.

Gorznahk turns to the shamans "Shaman Djargnaz, gather da prisoners and prep da expedition. We's goin' when I get dem tunnels done with." He gets to his feet, and leaves the cavern where the shamans start whispering in excited tones. Eight shieldboyz and four dartboyz are waiting for him. The shieldboyz are armed with crude timber tower shields and short stabbing spears. The shields are not pretty, but damn effective. Gorznahk had tested them himself with bow and arrows stolen from the corpses of human guards, and the marines had been drilling these gobbos in the naval art used when shielding the gunwales, locking shields to keep enemy arrows from touching the cannon crew - a tactic made more effective in the tunnels where arrows cannot be angled high to fall down, and must instead fly straight and ineffectually into the shields. The stabbing spears are for just that: Bring the shieldwall close to the enemy, press in, and jab the spears into whatever is on the other side. This is achieved through crescent-shaped cuts in the side of the shield, designed to let a spear-head past while providing leverage for a wide angle of attacks. The dartboyz are armed with knives, gloves, and blowpipes. The darts are sorted by poison - some for paralysing prisoners-to-be, others with a fast-acting toxin obtained from the fungi which can be easily found in the deeper caverns of Kregus. These darts are small, and can easily target slight gaps and chinks in armor in the hands of a skilled goblin. The best of them brag about from what distance they can hit an eye, and frequent contests of this nature occur during recreation times, where the dartboyz will place a skull on a table, and they take turns shooting darts at the empty sockets. Dartboy hierarchy is determined by accuracy displayed.

Gorznahk looks the goblins over with a sense of true goblin pride "Yer wiv me fer a bitta fun, boyz. We'z escorting sum sappas to take down summa dem hyumin tunnels." The boyz start cheering, the shieldboyz clattering their spears against their shields. Gorznahk does likewise with sword and shield before giving the order "Move out!". He strides past and his boyz soon flank him. He gathers a pair of goblin sappers, having been assured that he would only need two to take care of a dirt tunnel - just as dirt tunnels are easy to dig, so are they easy to bring down with judicious knowledge of terrain and use of picks and shovels. His sappers have compromised - when offered anything from a room of shovels, one of them took his pick.

Heading closer to human-occupied territory

[Straight and seemingly endless, this earthen tunnel stretches in both directions without a change in gradient or angle, unmarked either by branching passages or unnatural decoration.]

Gorznahk escorts his contingent along back tunnels and small caverns until it was time for the final approach. A goblin pops up out of a side tunnel and whispers to Gorznahk "Deyz ready for ya, dey iz. Deyz got two handsov archaz and a handannabit of swordboyz. No gobboz here, tho'. Deyz got da message, boss. Gobbo miners iz stayin' clear of da hyumin tunnels, findin' more 'onest work". Gorznahk nods, having expected security to be tighter after his initial 'message' for the goblin miners siding with the humans. He would find out first hand how shieldboyz and dartboyz would fare as a combined unit. The tunnel he has picked is crucial enough for the humans to warrant defending, and the news of fifteen to twenty soldiers defending a single tunnel-work has him convinced of the soundness of his strategy. This is a long tunnel, which widens at a couple of points into smallish caverns. The human tunnel-works were approaching the first of such caverns. He gives his orders: "Dartboyz, kill some of da hyumin diggaz, den get back behind da shieldboyz here in dis cave". He has the shieldboys form two straight shieldwalls at each side of the cave entrance leaving a gap for the dartboyz to come through. With four shieldboyz on each side of the entrance, Gorznahk would allow himself to be the bait, trusting to shield, armour, and skill to set the trap.

Gorznahk waits. He has no concern over the ability of his gobbos to follow orders, and soon he is rewarded with the sound of gasps, then a pitiful screaming as the toxin invades the human miners' veins, lining their body with fire as their nervous system goes haywire. Soon they will be flopping on the ground, bloody froth at their mouths. Still, even as the screams arise, they are punctuated with the cackle of Goblin dartboyz as one crows about the eye he punctured to the dismay of the others. As they speed back down the tunnel there are numerous cracking and thudding sounds as hastily fired arrows shatter on, or embed themselves into, the tunnel walls. There is soon a clattering of booted feet as human guards approach to kill the intruders. The soldier in charge, witnessing the use of darts, sends three of his infantry ahead, shields raised to catch any darts which may come their way, a pair of archers sent to follow behind them.

Gorznahk stands boldly, bastard sword resting on his shoulder, jagged-edged shield held at guard. The dartboys run in, then peel off to both sides to take up position behind the gauntlet of shieldboyz while the last one through continues to run past Gorznahk into the tunnel behind him. As the human infantry approach the entrance Gorznahk calls out mockingly "Oi, Hyumin scum! Gorznahk is 'ere ta cut ya! Come play wiv Gorznahk!". The soldiers, witnessing the fleeing dartboy and hearing Gorznahk's words, step out of the tunnel into the small cavern to better engage him. As the first two step out, their peripheral vision registers the gauntlet of shieldboyz, and one starts to call out a warning: "Ambuuu...". His cry is cut off though as the shieldboyz have already taken a couple of swift steps forward, shields interlocked, and stabbed their spears forward. While the shieldboyz on the shield-side of the humans deliver only minor injuries in the first exchange, the ones facing the swordarm are ideally placed to ram their spears up into the lightly-armoured armpits of the Larketians, and two of the soldiers scream as sharp yet rusty speartips push through flesh, ripping through major arteries and scraping against bone as they are withdrawn to stab again in swift, vicious movements. The third swordsman retreats past his crippled and soon-to-die comrades, taking up their cry. "Ambush! Ambuuush!!!" As he retreats, and the archers turn to follow suit, Gorznahk whistles, and the dartboyz pop out of concealment to send a flurry of darts in quick succession at the retreating archers and soldier. The archers, being more lightly armoured, feel several pinpricks as they run. By the time they reach the rest of the guards they are in agony, pain forcing moans through their lips as they try to report accurately. However, all they can get out as pain sends them to the dirt in agonizing tremors, is 'Ambush....poison!' before the screams and bloody froth comes. The other guard, who was retreating in a more orderly fashion with shield raised, only suffers a single dart to the leg - and so it is that, although he is in agony by the time he too reaches his sergeant, he reports the gauntlet of shield-bearing goblins, the use of poisonous darts, and the presence of Gorznahk, taunting the human occupiers once again. The sergeant calls for a healer and tallies up his losses. Two archers and two infantry, with one still in the question. Unfortunately, by the time the healer makes it, the third soldier has also passed unpleasantly away from the toxins in his blood. The sergeant decides to cautiously investigate further.

Gorznahk hasn't wasted any time. He reforms the shieldwall to have three of his boyz block off the entrance with their shields while the other five shieldboys create an impromptu platform for the sappers to stand on as they work away at this entrance. Gorznahk finds it difficult to understand the sappers' talk of different kinds of geology, but it seems like they are making decent progress. The goblins soon have company to contend with though, as the sergeant brings two more infantry and three archers with him. They are crouched behind their shields, presenting as little of their bodies to target with darts as possible. Then there begins a fruitless tit-for-tat as darts go pinging off shields and helms, while arrows shot with a quick but weak 'up-draw-shoot-and-duck' tactic thunk into the solid timber of the goblins' shields.

Gorznahk grins as he watches the exchange, admiring how many darts his boyz could send out in comparison to the archers. The boyz' darts may not have the stopping power of an arrow, but the death they delivered upon successful strike was certain. He occasionally flicks his shield out as an arrow passes just over the shieldwall, or through a slight gap. After a few minutes the cry 'Rocks away!' is shouted, and the sappers dive off the platform as part of the tunnel ceiling at the entrance starts to crumble. The shieldboyz guarding the entrance step back in what is almost unison, while the others grab their shields and get the hell out of the way of the rocks starting to fall. The dartboyz flee down the tunnel under the protection of the shieldwall. Then there is a slight rumble, and the sappers grin at each other. They'd known about this fault-line for a while, having shored it up several times in the past years. They take to their feet, speeding off to the other side of the cavern to escape down the tunnel, Gorznahk and his shieldboyz march backwards, shields still presented to protect from the continuing arrows. Then there is a grotesquely loud crashing sound as hard-packed dirt and boulders let gravity encourage them to re-assert nature's dominance over what was once a tunnel. The sergeant and his men dash forward in an attempt to escape the collapsing tunnel. The sergeant feels rocks impact his helmet and shoulder as he makes good his exit, but the men behind him do not fare so well as the boulder which just missed him renders them into something akin to broth. As the fallen get an honourable burial, something inside the sergeant snaps, and he charges Gorznahk, intending to take his grief and sense of failure out on the goblin warleader in the most brutal way he can manage, shield up and sword swinging to try and cut down the line between Gorznahk's sword and shield. He would love to see Gorznahk's face cut in two, for sure.

[You notice a few broken pillars of wood here, collapsed from, what you would presume to be, to much weight placed upon them. Splinters of wood are strewn about the area as piles of rock and boulders are scattered randomly about. Looking up, you notice part of the ceiling has large divots in it, possibly from the boulders now resting on the floor. As you look around, a small piece of stone falls off the wall to your west, then followed by another one in similar size.]

Gorznahk halts his retreat just before the entrance, motioning for his boyz to make good their escape as he lets the human approach. The Larketian knew his stuff, true, but Gorznahk was no fool in combat. He steps to his left, engaging the sword with his own as he spins out of the way, throwing out his shield in the manner of a reverse-elbow as he does before completing his movement. The Larketian sergeant ducks and backs away as his sword is parried and the shield flies in to his blind-side from the spinning goblin's attack. He coils his sword, and sweeps it up to cut towards the goblin's arm as he repositions himself to face his enemy.

Gorznahk grins his bloodthirsty grin as he simply angles his shield down and to the side, and collects the sword's hilt on the shield's forward-facing cluster of spikes. He drives in, using his bodyweight and momentum to bring himself body-to-body with the sergeant. The sergeant wrestles, jamming his own shield in the path of Gorznahk's sword, attempting to match strength with strength to give him leverage to push away from the goblin without opening himself to attack. Gorznahk grins, and uses his lower centre of gravity and the leverage provided by his shield's position over the sergeant's swordhilt to drag the sergeant slightly down and sideways. Although the sergeant is off-balance for but a moment, the goblin has already sprung up in a slight jump, his sharp teeth latching onto the section of neck not guarded by the sergeant's gorget. Designed by cruel mother nature to shear through meat like a shark's teeth, Gorznahk lets nature take course as he tears a chunk of flesh from the human's neck. The gorget protects the human's arteries, but the shock for the soldier to see his own flesh in Gorznahk's mouth is enough to give Gorznahk the final opportunity. As the human's shield arm weakens slightly, the warleader tilts his sword to free it's own hilt long enough to redirect the Larketian's shield towards his own shield and the human's sword. With a slight step he re-angles, and delivers a savage downwards strike into the crook of the human's shield-bearing arm. It is then but a moment's work to re-engage the human's sword with jagged shield, and deliver a spiked crossguard into the soldier's left eye before retracting and severing the head in a broad cleaving arc.

Aftermath and return to the depths

Gorznahk strips the body of all useful equipment, bundling the blood-soaked clothing as a makeshift sack. Every little bit helped. With a grin, he also picks up the head. A little souvenir as memento of another good fight, and the first destroyed tunnel. He would return now, pass on feedback to Nozgruhk regarding the success of the tactics, as well as some suggested improvements. He orders an increase in the number of dartboyz recruited and poison darts to be made. Luckily for the goblins, darts were easy to make from bone, and poison was easy to find. Goblin women would take care of those tasks, leaving the boyz to their training and fighting. Shieldboyz were also easy enough to equip, as timber planking was available in the old abandoned mines dotted throughout the vast expanses of Kregus' tunnels.

It was a good start. The goblins were numerous, a swarming presence throughout Kregus, and none of them could stomach humans in their homeland. As word got around that the new Warleader of the goblin resistance was generous to his own, and it was only traitors who died, more and more goblins made their way into the deeper caverns. A true army started to form, guided and trained by the military expertise of ex-naval marines and Gorznahk's own suggestions.

It was then that the shamans, safe from harm while deep in the caverns, proclaimed Gorznahk most-favoured son of Kregus and let it be known they supported his efforts to drive the humans out and defeat the human 'king'. The goblin lowlifes remaining in the main 'city' part of Kregus continued to pledge support for the humans, and publicly decried Gorznahk, but this support was frequently half-hearted, and the quality of recruits supplied to Roldan's goblin regiment likely supported the humans' preconception that goblins were largely ineffectual fighters.

The Goblins' racial pride would never let them remain contently under human rule, and they waited patiently, hoping that the now-famous Gorznahk was indeed strong enough to give Kregus its true pride back, expel the humans from their lands, and restore Kregus to goblin Sovereignty.