6 - Establish-3

With the lodge now claimed by the clan and one of the soldiers heavily wounded they decided to head back to the camp, John would send Fuzz and his gang up to claim the place properly in the morning. In the meantime, however, he wanted some food and to check how Vral was managing with the goblins. Fortunately, the trail back through the woods was easy to follow, they retraced their steps back to the river, followed it until it went back underground and then headed south to the edge of the basin. Through all of this, they took turns helping the wounded soldier walk, trying to keep a good pace to get him back while also not pushing him too hard. They periodically checked his bandages to make sure that he wasn't bleeding through them and then changed them altogether when they reached the edge of the basin. Taking off the bloodied bandages, Glorg and John exchanged a concerned look at the state of their comrade. His arm wounds were manageable, but a lot deeper than John would like to see. What was worrying them was the stomach wound. It looked like the ghoul's talons had penetrated quite a distance inside, he'd be incredibly lucky not to get an infection. Checking their dwindling supply of bandages, John decided to push on, resting here would only prolong the trip getting back and time was of the essence.

'If we can get him to the shaman he might be able to do something,' Glorg muttered as they started to cross over the lip of the basin and descend the slope towards the distant camp. Impressively they could see that a large building had been put together in the few hours they'd been away, and even from this distance there was a clear circle where the trees had been cut down to make ready for the settlement they had planned, Vral had been busy.

It took them almost an hour to get down the slope, each obstacle taking far longer than before to navigate as they helped the semi-conscious hobgoblin down over rocks and around dangerous areas. The unfortunate soldier seemed to be delirious from blood loss at this point, and his ordinarily red skin had taken on a yellow hue that seemed to worry the other two hobgoblins. Fortunately, a pair of goblins were ripping up grass and stamping down the earth to make a crude path towards the altar when they reached the bottom of the slope, and a look from Glorg sent them both scurrying back to the camp to spread the word that they had returned.

The camp itself was centered where he'd been standing that morning and now consisted of a rather large, and somewhat crude, building that reminded John of a more permanent pavilion than anything else. Eight tree trunks had been set into holes and earth packed in around them, with rope ties looping between them and the whole thing was draped in leather and pinned at the edges. It wasn't anything that was going to win a beauty contest, but it looked sturdy enough and would keep the weather off them, which would do for today. John wondered how they'd got it up so quickly until he saw the goblins were all working in teams under the watchful eyes of the shaman, there was no shirking of duty or lacklustre efforts to be found here. All around the central building, there were already small plots of land where goblins where digging holes and building teepees out of sticks they had gathered.

'What happened?' Vral called out as they approached the main building, the chief appearing from within after hearing the shouts from the goblins. A small horde descended upon them at the same time as all the nearby goblins raced over to see what was happening.

'Undead, a ghoul to be specific,' John said with a grimace as he remembered the horrific creature and it's dead eyes.

'Let me through,' Gitgak's tempered voice cut through the clamouring goblins like a knife through butter, the mass of gibbering goblins that had surrounded them melting away in a matter of moments. 'Lay him down so I can see the wounds.' There was no room for objection in Gitgak's voice, the much larger hobgoblins quickly moving to obey and lay the soldier down at his feet.

Gitgak stepped up to the sallow looking hobgoblin and gently prodded the wounds on his arms and his stomach before nodding sagely and pulling his hood down. Like all goblins, Gitgak was hairless and had a rough texture to his skin, but unlike the others, you could see the wrinkles of time in Gitgak's skin, something that was suspiciously absent from the others now John thought about it. To John's surprise, the shaman pulled out a pouch from within his cloak and withdrew a clay jar of a foul-smelling grey paste that he proceeded to smear over the hobgoblin's wounds while chanting under his breath. The paste swiftly soaked into the soldier's skin as Gitgak chanted and after just a few moments all that was left was a flushed blemish where there had once been gaping flesh. Keeping the chant going, Gitgak took a smaller amount of the paste and moved to each of the others who had wounds, smearing their cuts with it sparingly and moving on the next as it healed.

John held his arm out for the shaman to minister to and watched in fascination as he dabbed the paste along the edges of the open wound, immediately causing a tingling sensation to run up John's arm as it slowly sealed shut. All in all, it was an impressive display of magic from the shaman, especially considering that Gitgak had likely not had any formal education or training.

'Come with me, you will need to eat, and we have things to discuss,' Gitgak said as he put away the clay jar and turned back towards the pavilion-like building. John fell into step beside him, realising as he did that the shaman was right, he'd been hungry earlier, but his stomach was rumbling angrily now at the lack of food.

'Why am I hungry?' John asked as they went past the large structure and towards a fire pit that had been set up. A few goblins were managing a crude spit that stretched across the flames, a rock next to them piled high with fish. As soon as one of the stick turners spotted the shaman, he abandoned the spit and ran over with several cooked fish for them both. Without him at his station, the fish on the fire started to sizzle and crackle as they sat in place without turning, making his companion on the other end of the stick yell at him angrily. John considered saying something, but eventually just bit into his fish, thankful that he had one of the less burnt ones.

'You are hungry as I drew on your natural healing, accelerating the process to close your wounds. Nothing is free, and that energy must come from somewhere,' Gitgak explained with a nod to the fish in John's hands.

'I see, I think,' John said with a frown, that wasn't at all what he'd been expecting the shaman to say. 'What did you want to speak to me about?'

'I wished to speak on what your plans are and explain what a shaman does in a tribe like this,' Gitgak said before pausing to bite into his fish, his sharp teeth shredding it with ease.

'My plans? Well, I haven't thought that far ahead, I was following the quest from Morden as a guideline really,' John said with a frown, rubbing his jaw in thought as he considered the question.

'Exactly, this is the purpose of a shaman, to question you so that you question yourself and act from a position of enlightenment,' Gitgak said in a tone that clearly stated that he thought he was passing on valuable glimpses of universal truth.

'What about your magic, though?' John asked the obvious question, not wanting to get into a discussion on enlightenment right now, he wasn't even drunk for starters.

'We goblin shaman are more like your human alchemists than anything, for true magic you will need to find something with older or richer blood.'

'I see,' John said again, nodding as though he had a clue what Gitgak was talking about.

Fortunately for John, he was saved from further mysterious comments by a commotion to the north where a group of fur-clad goblins were returning from the woods, each holding a stick over their shoulder with at least a pair of rabbits on it. Excusing himself from Gitgak, John tossed the remnants of his fish to a goblin worker and ran over to meet Fuzz.

'Ready to report?' John called out as he jogged up to the group, unable to do anything but smile at the way that they proudly presented the spoils of their hunt.

'Yes, rabbits and deer everywhere, wolfies here but not here right now, likely outside,' Fuzz rattled off as he stood up straight and puffed out his chest. 'We hunted and found lots of rabbits. They are stupid and easy to catch with slings.'

All of the fur-clad goblins proudly showed him their hunting weapon, a sling made from the skin they wore and a collection of rocks that they carried around in their loincloth, a genuinely horrific weapon to use against any sentient creature.

*

Congratulations.

For clearing the Hunting Lodge, completing the Main Hall and identifying local food and water sources, you have completed the quest Establish.

Reward- 5SP, 1 God's Favour

New Dwelling options unlocked!

Visit your altar for further information.

Future quest completions will only be acknowledged when you visit your altar.

*

'That just never gets any nicer does it,' John muttered with a wince, rubbing his temples for a moment to collect his thoughts before addressing Fuzz. 'We cleared a Hunting Estate to the south of the altar, in a basin with a woodland, I've designated it yours, for the time being, use it to house your men and train wolves where you can. I want you to grow strong, patrol the area and hunt for the camp, understood?'

'Yes Lord, we be the best wolfie riders you've ever seen!' Fuzz was standing so straight now John could almost hear his back cracking to adjust to the new posture.

'Good, spend tonight here with the rest but claim the place in the morning,' John said as he walked away to leave them to their butchery. Two dozen rabbits wasn't the best haul, but with the fish the goblins had got from the river, it would do for now.

Gitgak's question about what he planned was rattling around his mind now, but before he decided on what he wanted to do tomorrow, John needed to know what options he had at the altar. Jogging back towards the slope they'd descended not so long ago, John ascended back up to the altar and walked up to the statue to take it's hand once more.

*

Altar of Morden.

Available Quests - 2

Quest - Unify - Accept?

Quest - Consolidate - Accept?

*

His building headache was going to make him pay for all of this later, but John's curiosity was burning at him now, and before he could talk himself out of it, he accepted both quests.

*

Quest Gained!

Unify

Morden wishes that you fulfil this quest by completing the following.

- Make contact with at least one neutral faction in the area

- Induct at least one new species into the clan (summoned creatures do not count)

Rewards - 1 God's Favour, 5SP

Quest Gained!

Consolidate

Morden wishes that you fulfil this quest by completing the following.

- Locate a local hostile faction

- Destroy, Disperse or otherwise remove the faction.

Rewards - 10SP

*

'Well, that's interesting, but nothing about the dwellings,' John said to himself, processing the information and planning accordingly as he took it into account. His biggest problem was that he didn't know the rules of this world, and even the fact that there were hostile and neutral factions was new to him. His eyes drifted down to the symbol at the base of the statue, and with a heavy sigh, he reached out to touch it.

*

Summoning Glyph

Available SP-6

Available Dwellings

Goblin Hut- 5SP

Hobgoblin Camp- 10SP

Ogre Cave- 15SP

Available Locations

Hunting Estate

*

John's eyes went wide as he reread the information, the only thing that had changed was the God's Favour he earned so he assumed that was what allowed the ogre option. Of course, with a cost of fifteen, he was a long way from getting the ogres, but the picture of having giantkin in his clan was most attractive indeed. Still, the first thing he needed was to build up their numbers and get some workers, which meant biting the bullet and taking the Goblin Hut.

*

Selection accepted.

Location Hunting Estate will now summon Goblins.

Attention- Due to synergy between the bonuses of the location and your chosen dwelling, Hunting Estate will have a higher chance for a trained goblin to be summoned. There is also a slight chance for a wolfrider goblin to be summoned as an additional creature.

*

John took a moment to sit against the cave wall and breathe, letting the sharp pain in his head slowly fade as he slowed his heart rate and considered all the information that had been dumped into his mind. He was glad he'd chosen the goblins, but the idea of a hostile force somewhere nearby worried him, the most effective goblin warriors he had were Fuzz and his group, but they would be ripped apart by any organised foe. That left him with finding a neutral faction and growing the clan that way; hopefully, they would bring enough strength to them that they could then take the fight to these hostiles, whoever they may be.

Satisfied that he had at least a short term plan, John levered himself to his feet and brushed off the dirt before heading back to the fledgeling settlement, he'd spend the rest of the day helping Vral organise the goblins and start searching the area for other factions in the morning.