Goblins' invasion (1)

It has been five days since we saw the discussion between the demons. Yes, I am well aware that it doesn't seem that long at all, but you only need to know that time flows differently here than in the outside world.

However, today began in a different way than usual. The priestess as a wake-up call did not, as usual, order the heroes to go to the central square but to head for the church. I guess she's finally going to give them another mission, I got tired of watching them just train.

And there she is, I didn't think I could miss that little girl but seeing her in front of the church with that huge tunic of hers is filling me with excitement, I want to find out what or who they will face. "O valiant heroes, the town nearby is being attacked by a horde of goblins. Please, in the name of the Goddess of Light, stop those monsters."

Goblins? Are we serious? As their first mission, you make them fight against my masterpiece and after more than two months you come up with miserable goblins?! And there goes my excitement. I mean, who has trouble facing goblins? A crippled person could do it... without using magic, that is. Anyway, now they have to leave for the town nearby and to do so they have to follow the designated path, the only one that starts from the church. Where have I seen this scene before?

It didn't take them long to arrive, in half a day they were already there. The town had the appearance of a typical medieval town but seemed to lack adequate defences to withstand an attack by goblins. I know I said that goblins are very easy to defeat but I think it was clear that I was partially exaggerating. Goblins can prove to be a difficult opponent to deal with since, although they are worthless as singles, they move in large numbers, in the hundreds or even thousands. A goblin horde can therefore be especially difficult when the city's only defences are cheap wooden walls.

As soon as they arrived in the city, the heroes headed for the first tavern they saw to have lunch and to gather some more information about the impending invasion. The innkeeper is an old gentleman who seems well-informed about the goblin invasion. The innkeeper has a familiar face, where have I seen him before? Well, it matters little. The fact is that he told the eight heroes that the invasion won't happen until tomorrow morning, so they can spend the rest of the day relaxing.

Following the old man's suggestion, our group is taking a tour of the town and as pretty as it is I also find it quite disturbing, let's just say I'd rather not live there. All the taverns apart from the one the heroes had entered seem deserted as if there weren't even innkeepers, and the streets are swarming with people, but no children are playing, no couples in love nor anyone simply chatting with friends, just men and women walking around looking straight ahead. Another thing that makes me uneasy about the people in this town is that no one seems to be worried about tomorrow's invasion. I mean, if the innkeeper of what seems to be the only tavern people frequent is so well informed I have to think that this information came from somewhere and that the old gentleman is not the only one who knows it. Yet on the street, there are no people in panic, fleeing towards the church or simply frightened, all more than normal reactions considering the town's poor defences.

Leaving aside my reflections, these fellows have been walking around the city for almost seven hours without doing anything, also looking straight ahead. Now they are heading for the tavern, surely they will want to put something under their teeth and stay overnight. Come to think of it, how are they going to pay for the rooms if they don't have any money? Actually, how did they pay for lunch today and also in the village last time? It doesn't matter, I guess they are on the house, after all, they save their lives.

Forget the eight heroes, nobody pays here! What, is the owner a rich nobleman with a hobby of innkeeping? Well, I'm no one to judge how a man goes about his business, so I'll shut up.

Now that they have eaten it's time for our heroes to go to sleep, after all, tomorrow will be a tiring morning and they must all be at full strength.

While we're at it, why don't we go and see this famous horde of goblins? Even if it's night, the light is there anyway, and then I'd like to see how many there are, just to get an idea. So, they should be in these areas. There they are! Well come on, it's not that many, 3-400 at most. I don't know how much fun it will be to see our heroes obliterate them, I guess that the battle will be over in less than an hour. But then again, experience on a real battlefield never hurt anyone, so those eight can only benefit from this battle. The only thing that worries me a little is the teamwork, which at this time (as I have already told you) is totally absent, not that it will greatly affect the outcome of the battle.

Anyway, I'd say it's time to turn back. I've seen what I wanted to see so now... why is there blood on the ground? It's not goblin blood, is it? No, impossible. In this forest, no animal can hurt goblins that badly, it must be from some prey they've hunted. Er, and it was indeed from goblins. I mean, if next to a pool of blood there's a mountain of corpses, the blood is probably the latter's, don't you think? But who was it that killed them? The bodies still look fresh so they shouldn't be far away but I don't see anyone. Patience, if it's someone relevant it will turn up sooner or later. For now, I'd say goodbye here, see you in the morning. Bye.