Something In The Woods

"Chieftain?" a meek-sounding voice, polluted by the not-so-developed vocal cords of goblins spoke out as its owner stood right in front of a large and cosy tent, yet, it remained primitive in its construction.

A rough 'Mmph' was the only answer this goblin got, prompting him to carefully push the tent door and make his way inside whilst keeping his head low.

The goblin stayed in place, fidgeting in place as he didn't want to start speaking without authorisation.

"What's the matter? Say whatever is on your mind" the chieftain coughed a few times.

"Hum, boss… The old Gobert has gone missing and Stolgob thinks it's the thing he saw a few months ago that is responsible…" the goblin explained tentatively.

"Huh? That old guy?" the chieftain stood up from his seat as he waved his hand through the air.

The younger goblin finally looked up at him, seeing him pushing away the smoke accumulated around him from smoking random herbs from a worn-out wooden pipe.

Seeing smoke coming his way, the goblin reflexively held his breath as the chieftain stroked his long, grey beard thoughtfully.

"Gone, just like that? That's weird, he was our sharpest tool in the shed too, no one knows how to put up a tent and fires like him" the chieftain of this tribe rambled for a bit before taking a puff from his pipe.

He was known as Gobstroz, the fact that the 'Gob' in his name was at the start rather than the end indicated that he was from an older generation.

Much taller and generally larger than the rest by a wide margin, some clueless adventurers might think of him as a hobgoblin but the truth was that he was just built different.

Evacuating the smoke out from his nostrils, he dropped the pipe and crossed his arms.

"If Stolgob is so insistent about the thing he saw, it must be that Gobert went missing when going to the lake, right?" 

"Yes" after holding his breath for too long, the goblin took in a deep breath and began to choke on all of the smoke.

"Ahaha! Don't die on me and listen:" Gobstroz smacked the smaller goblin's back.

"We'll keep an eye open in case the old fart decided that playing jokes was his thing now, but more importantly, no one is allowed to go to the lake alone, groups of two minimum, understood?"

"Yes chieftain!" putting himself together again, the goblin stood at attention.

"Tell them that if they don't listen, I'll have Pokzgob give them an early taste of what being buried feels like" Gobstroz laughed at his own words, he wouldn't actually do that, though the younger goblin was convinced he was dead serious.

"I'll be on my way!" quickly escaping the scene, the goblin heaved a sigh of relief, cursing his bad luck for losing the game and forcing him to be the one to speak with the chieftain.

'You better be actually dead Gobert' he gritted his teeth and went on to announce the chieftain's words to the rest of the tribe.

He didn't delegate the duty, he took pride in being ordered by the grey-bearded goblin in person.

Contrary to what one might expect from an unadvanced bunch like them, the tribe was actually quite expansive, spanning over a large area, at least for goblins with their short legs.

As such, it took him a long while to get a hold of at least one member of each family or group.

He first went to the most important members, the designated hunters, the builders and such, as well as Stolgob, the best hunter and second strongest of the tribe, the goblin found it quite inspiring for another of his kind, which was the same age as him, to already be so strong and competent.

The goblin silently hoped for Stolgob to one day manage to get Irgob's affection.

'I believe in you, brother!' 

Then, there was the tribe's only mage Pokzgob, who was a slight bit older than him but still youthful, goblin's with talents in the arts of using the natural energies were rare, it was said in the tribe that before Pokzgob and his earth magic, there had only been three others capable of manipulating energy.

Though, after that they started speaking of how one of them had actually been a user of mind power and not mana, the goblin didn't understand anything from that point on.

Neither did the other, they were just that much better at pretending to know.

He ran around like this for the rest of the day, only allowing himself to take a break when night was falling.

The sun was slowly beginning to dim, allowing the dark to set in.

'Damn, this one's going to be pitch black' he remarked to himself as he headed for the tent he and his family lived in.

It was just within sight, some goblins were even sleeping outside, since the days and night had been growing warmer recently.

As it turns out, the underground also replicated the passing of the seasons, how accurate it was to the outside, nobody knew, the goblins didn't even know that there was an outside.

The tribe was surrounded by basic fences, built alongside trees, it was sturdy and no dangerous animal or monsters could somehow find their way inside, although the most dangerous thing around were big deer monsters with bone plates on their head.

They weren't that aggressive either way.

The absolute darkness was soon to settle in but its reign was yet to be established, allowing the goblin to look over to the side, into the distance, seeing as far as the fence on this side of the tribe.

He saw nothing of interest but his gaze still lingered in place as he reached for the tent door, grabbing it, the goblin froze.

He hadn't immediately realised it.

There was something right up to the fence.

No, it wasn't as close to the fence as he first thought, it was peeking from behind one of the trees, shrouded in shadows and leaves, something whitish seemed to be there.

It was hugging the tree trunk, only allowing what looked like an arm and its head to be seen.

He was utterly frozen in fear at the mere sight of this thing, his jaw hung low and his eyes quivered as his brain failed to decide between fight or flight.

As though it could feel his state, the creature moved from behind the tree and moved right up to the fence, sticking one of its thin arms through.

Slowly moving its hand, it showed the goblin its palm and then crooked its index finger.

Mechanically moving it back and forth, urging him to come closer.

It was enough for him to break out of his trance and scream.