At the spoken names of his gods, Eggelbert placed his hand over his heart and then lips. “Heroes of my people those are. The ones who first learned to craft pots and tools. The ones who learned to cultivate the land and to husband the livestock. To them the greatest debt my people owe, and so immortalized they are.” He added, sort of as an afterthought, “Of course, who any of those people actually were we don’t know, but beside the point that is. Within is where all his business our chief does. Well, his official business. For the other kind, the latrine he uses.” This set him into another fit of the giggles.
Jimmy elbowed Stu and murmured, “Well, at least bathroom humor is universal.”
Allison rolled her eyes. “So are we headed in to meet the chief?”
“Yup! The plan that is! A good chief Finkelbert is. Eager to know the details he will be. And to meet you.”
The friends crossed a wide square surrounding a small bubbling fountain. There was a short line of goblins with buckets waiting their turn to collect water for their homes. As soon as each filled its bucket, the creature set off slowly trying to keep it from sloshing too much. The goblins in the line were chattering away, but a silence fell over them as the group passed by. Children openly gaped, and while the adults were too polite to stare, they watched out of the corner of their eyes with interest and excitement. Eggelbert smiled and waved and continued to lead the group toward the tunnel.
“The last time we went into a place like this, things didn’t really turn out so well.” Stu looked anxious, and he reached back to his quiver, stroking the feathers on one of his arrows.
Eggelbert stopped short and turned to look at the archer. “Kill you we could have, many times by now. Kill you I could have, many times by now.” His face softened. “Completely safe you will be. My promise is yours. Yes?”
“He’s right, Stu,” Jimmy added. “I’m feeling pretty good right now, about as good as I’ve felt since we got here. There’s no way I could fight off the whole pack of ’em. If they want us dead, we’re dead. May as well just go along and hope things turn out OK.”
Stu didn’t look placated, but he took his hand off the arrow and nodded. Their goblin guide nodded back and turned to continue walking as if nothing had happened. There were no guards posted at the entrance. Eggelbert explained that no guards were needed. It was impossible for anyone inside the compound to be a danger to their chief, and anyone outside the compound would have to get through the gate and fight through town. If they could do that, another one or two guards wouldn’t make a difference. They passed through the columns, upon which delicate carvings were etched.
The tunnel led to a small room with a desk and a goblin behind it. There were several piles of paper stacked on the desk, as well as a large inkwell. The goblin wrote with a large quill pen, occasionally dipping it into the well.
When the group had finished filing into the room, he looked up and said, “Ah. So you have returned, Eggelbert. And your mission? I hear it went well?” Out of politeness for his guests, the chief spoke in the human tongue rather than goblin. It appeared that he had a better grasp of the human language than most and didn’t speak with the same awkward grammar, though his voice carried the same lilt typical to his race.
“Yes, Chief, very well it went indeed.” He bobbed his head a couple times but then blushed. “Well, captured I was, though at first their warlord I did not see. But these humans, helped me they did. And dead Crackrock is, and in chaos his kingdom. Little we have to fear from them now.”
“Little to fear from the kobolds, perhaps, but the threat of war is out there still. This was only a minor battle in the fight for Livonia.”
“The fight for Livonia?” TJ asked in a surprised voice. “Why do you care about what happens to our kingdom?”
The chief gave him a severe look, but then his features softened. “Of course we care about you, my boy. Your human kingdom is what ensures peace in this area, though perhaps not the peace we would prefer.” He smiled and added, “Who are the devious ones, hmm? Not the Bonecrushers, that is for sure.”
“That was you?” TJ’s jaw dropped at the thought that the goblin they’d almost killed at the beginning of the adventure was actually the tribe’s chief.
At this, Eggelbert cried, “Their aid you enlisted?”
The chief put up his hands in a sign of supplication and said to TJ, “Yes, that was me. There are some jobs that need to be done and can’t be trusted to others. Nor would I have asked another to risk a meeting with a band of adventurers, since you are typically more interested in what sort of loot creatures drop than anything.” He looked directly at Chuck, who had the good graces to study his own shoes for a bit. Turning to the other goblin, he continued. “I could have sent you, Eggelbert, but you had your own mission. And yes, I enlisted their aid. These are extraordinary times, which call for extraordinary measures.” He suddenly looked tired. “I hoped that you would be successful, but I knew that even if you were, you would probably never return to us. If you failed, then perhaps they would succeed. And if you succeeded, then perhaps they would find us and bring us word of your success. That you were successful and able to return to us is well beyond anything I had begun to hope for.”
Eggelbert said coldly, “My wife, while gone I was, you married not?”
The two goblins looked at each other, and the humans shifted their weight from side to side during the awkward silence. The chief’s lips twitched and then finally broke into a full laugh, which was accompanied by Eggelbert’s high-pitched giggling. Allison exchanged glances with TJ, who shrugged back.
When the wizard had caught his breath, he explained, “The chief’s big sister my wife is.” He began to giggle again. The humans smiled at the joke.
“So what now, Chief Finkelbert?” TJ asked.
“Well, that is up to you. As I told you when we first met, you are welcome to any of our treasure. We may even have tucked away some items of power that could benefit you in the future. And you are welcome to stay here within our walls for as long as you would like. You are one of us now, in deed if not in blood. We will not turn you out. Beyond that . . .” He paused and shrugged. “Beyond that, you may do as you wish. Your king’s mission still awaits you. Defeating Crackrock was only the first step in the process, and it has done nothing but buy you time. The mage from the East will still come, and come with power. Even with our success today, he will be victorious unless you take an active hand. I believe in my heart that would be a disaster for your people, not only for mine.”
He paused a moment and looked at the other goblin. “Would you please excuse us for a moment, Egg? There’s something your companions and I should discuss alone. Besides,” he added with a smile, “there is someone eagerly waiting for you.”
The wizard bobbed his head and walked out, waving to his new friends and completely unperturbed by his sudden dismissal.
When they were alone, Finkelbert continued. “And then there’s your . . . predicament.” At the surprised looks on their faces, he waved his hand. “Yes, yes, I know that you’re not from around here. And before you ask, while I’m grateful that you are here to help, I had nothing to do with summoning you to our realm. But you’re here, and you’re not there. Assuming you want to go back—just sitting around isn’t going to get the job done. I don’t know how you got here, or why, or even how to send you back.” He paused a moment. “You are going to have to find your own way. We cannot help you, nor can the king of your people, nor any of his advisers or wizards. The power you need can only be found within the Arcanum. For that, you will have to travel east. Do you understand?”