Chapter 59: 56. The Woodsman

"Nor will I. Untie me or kill me. Let us be done with this foolishness," Says the goblin, her voice raising in volume. The fury in her eyes all but dies when she sees me raising my staff. I'm not trying to intimidate her. More so, I am preparing for a dark attack. I am still not confident she isn't going to smite me. Smote me? No, it's smiteth me. Regardless, I lower the staff to a less striking position.

This is going well. I give myself the encouragement to continue in this perilous battle of wits. "If you won't give me your name, I will give you one." I lash out with a smooth proposition.

"You can't give me a name. I already have one. I earned it when I clawed my way out on the runt litter and became a squire." The goblin is practically glowing with nobility and pride despite being tied to a tree.

"Fair enough." Had I known I faced such a skilled wordsmith, I would have adequately prepared. Maybe a speech scattered with jokes. "I will respect your name. So that is your clan back there? Are you the clan leader?" I  lace my retreat with a couple inquiry jabs of my own.

She responds with silence. I wish I had some crazy charisma ability that would allow me to have better conversations. So far, most of my socializing has been one-sided affairs. Talks with the lancer are looking no different. Nonsense! I tackle my doubts head-on. This is going swimmingly, and we are practically friends. 

"How about a nickname? That's a good loophole for the naming convention. Silent Night. Done, it is settled. I will now refer to you as Silent Night, again, not a name. Perhaps we can make a deal, Silent Night…you mind if I call you Sil for short?" A nickname within a nickname that is exclusive friendship status for sure. 

I have to control myself to not show excitement and keep a calm, cool composure. I press the advantage with more cutting remarks. "I can offer some equipment." I take the pair of daggers out and offer them to her like a gift while sweetening the deal further,"...information…power?" 

Though it is slight, the mention of power brings a pang of hunger to her demeanor even more than the daggers she is clearly attached to. It's more than nothing, so I run with it. 

"I can help you and your clan rise in rank. We can help each other out." I don't know what I'm talking about, but I don't let that stop me. Eyes closed, heads down—that's my motto. "As a dungeon, your ranking has benefits, right?"

Finally, my persistence wears her down. "You will not bring any harm to my Bone Claw Clan or me." As she says that, I realize for the first time the tattoo of a bone claw on her shoulder. 

"I will agree to that as long as your clan does not bring harm to my people and friends. Specifically, the giant spiders that seem to be hunted fiercely." If Sil has any objection, she doesn't voice it. So I move to close the deal.

"Now, the best way for you to gain rank is to not die while bringing down monsters and men. So I can help you hunt some high-level beasts, or I can bring your competitors down a notch or two." Her faint hunger for power grows into a noticeable deep need. In her silence, I can almost see her thoughts as she makes plans and calculates her moves. 

"Very well, islander, you help me rise in ranks, and I will talk with you."

"Deal! First things first, You are part of a dungeon?"

"Obviously."

I shake my head at her response. "I don't think you can say 'obviously' if it isn't actually obvious. Obviously." I pause for emphasis on the word. "I felt the need to question it, so that should have been your queue that it wasn't exactly obvious."  

"We are a dungeon." She says in frustration. Which is fair.

"Are all the invaders part of the dungeon?"

"Part of a dungeon, yes. There are three separate dungeons. The kobolds are part of the Dragon Roost. Bugbears are the Slumbering Caverns, and we are Eternal Darks." 

"Damn! Who was in charge of naming the dungeons, and how do I recruit said person?" 

"This I do not know. My rank is far too low to get answers to whimsical questions." 

"I think you meant rhetorical." That didn't need to be said. No one likes to be corrected, especially multiple times in the same conversation. Pull it together.

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"What?" She asks appropriately, confused.

"My question was rhetor—never mind. Forget I said anything. What are you doing on my island?"

"The Lost Coast just recently became accessible. We are here searching for a relic that belongs to us." 

"What about the kobolds and bugbears? Are they looking for the relic too?"

"That is correct. We have an alliance. We are searching for our lost relic."

"Dungeons teaming up seems a little unfair and strange for a treasure hunt if you ask me. Is every goblin a part of the dungeon?"

"Yes." 

"Why the alliance?"

"I've answered enough questions," Sil says with resurging aggression. I disagree and thought we were having a friendly chat, but I am not currently tied to a tree, so she might have a point. 

"Thanks for the enlightenment Sil. Your clan is safe from any of my attacks. Give me some targets, and I'll try to take care of them."

"All the bugbears, kobolds, the Sweeping Swords, Rising Suns, and Pit of Snakes goblin clans will do. You will find the clans among the kobolds. They have all the power, and still, they ally with our competitors to keep us at the bottom from rising. Knocking them down a few levels will be a just reward for them."

"... I'm not sure you answered enough questions." 

More silence as Sil's mana spikes and calms multiple times. I take a few more bites out of my bread while I wait for her to finish whatever she is doing. "To the northeast, a joint headquarter is being established. Once that is set up, portals will open directly to our capitols. When that happens, you will need much more than your finder's rights to claim this land."

"That's better. What else do you have?" I ask while covering my mouth. I'm trying to pull off the cool eating look and took too much of a bite. 

"You have fifteen days before the headquarters is properly set up. Between the three dungeons, there are two thousand soldiers here. The bugbears have the strongest army, with a boss overseeing the headquarters. That is all I will say."

"Fair enough. I'm going to leave now. Will you have problems getting out of these ropes?" She shakes her head no. I finish my last bite, place her daggers by her feet, and back away.

***

Gara Silent Night, Chieftess of Clan Bone Claws,  watches as the orc dismisses his chair, eats his bread, takes five steps back, turns, and walks away. The odd bulky islander calmly saunters into the forest using his dark staff as a walking stick. She watches as he begins whistling a strange tune, then he vanishes with his fist raised high. 

Now that was even odder. How did... Was it Liam? Use death mana to vanish? What creature would give him that ability? It could be that he killed a few light lancers. Maybe there are some monsters on this island that can cloak. She would consult with Granite later and warn her clan of possible hidden dangers. And why was his fist in the air? Was he celebrating?   

With nothing left opposing her, Gara summons the darkness within and pushes her will onto the fading night. The strong cords wrapped around her shred into thousands of pieces. Her head, still slightly spinning from the whacks she had taken, recovers as she embraces darkness. Cloaked with the strength of darkness, her enhanced body takes off in a hurry back to her clan.

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