Two of us tromped through the woods in the dark.

  Shadow, Nurse Melissa, and HechtYea practiced moving as silently as they could, which slowed us down. Dry twigs snapped now and then under our boots, and branches snagged at our clothes. The air smelled of damp earth and leaf mold, cool for late May, and every few steps I brushed past the slick touch of wet undergrowth. Owls hooted somewhere deeper in the trees, their calls echoing like reminders that we didn’t belong here.

  Just over 30 minutes after we entered the woods, I saw a faint glimmer of firelight flickering through the trees. We were coming in from the southeast corner of where we thought the camp was. We’d been a little off, but now we had a beacon to guide us.

  I renewed the PSYCHIC SHIELDs on all of us. I was using it as CHARM protection, though MINION status wasn’t technically a CHARM spell. It seemed more like a Boss Profession ability.

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [PARTY] [stop here.]

  We raggedly came to a halt.

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [PARTY] [going in for closer look around. HechtYea, watch west side. Melissa, go center of south side where you can see the whole camp. Mages, protect Melissa but not too close to her.]

  We all messaged back our acknowledgments and moved into position, slow and careful. Paul and I ended up on opposite sides of Melissa, about ten feet on each side of her.

  Now that I was closer, I could see the place wasn’t ringed by a wall so much as a fence. The huts reminded me of wattle-and-daub Saxon roundhouses without the daub. Interwoven branches made up their frames, and you could see through the gaps if you squinted. Same with the fence. We crouched behind trees and waited.

  Watching the PARTY MAP, I saw Shadow’s dot circling the camp. Only one Goblin sat outside, perched on a log on the east side of the fire with a clear view of the gate.

  Staring through the flames to watch the gate? He won’t have any night vision left. Good.

  Nobody ever said Goblins were the smartest monsters in any game.

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [PARTY] [ain’t much here. Nothin in the huts but Goblins cept for northeast hut. It got 2 and somethin on back wall I bet is what I’m after. Going in slow. Got to get it out without them catching me.]

  We waited. Shadow was used to darting in and out fast, but she couldn’t do that here. I tracked her dot slipping through the gate and around the northwest hut. The huts weren’t full Saxon size…maybe three meters across, compared to the eight to ten of real ones. More like stage props than homes.

  Her dot hugged the north edge, hiding behind their woodpile. Good thing too, because a Goblin came out of the northwest hut. REVEAL STATS marked him and the guard at the fire as Level 4 Warriors…a notch tougher than the Level 3s we’d been fighting.

  The new Goblin joined the one at the fire, who got up and walked to the southeast corner. He pissed into something there. A breeze shifted and carried the reek our way, sour and burning my nose. I bit back a curse and stayed still.

  Shadow slipped between the northeast hut and the fence. The spell showed a Level 5 Goblin and a Level 6 Goblin Chief inside…that was our target. I sent the party a quick update on their levels.

  Shadow froze. I didn’t know if her quest had a time limit, but knowing her, she wasn’t about to take chances until she had to. Finally, the fire guard wandered into the hut the other Goblin had left. So far, so good. We held our silence, tense as bowstrings.

  Shadow crept around the curve of the Chief’s hut. She had to be crawling or moving on fingertips and toes. I’d ask later. Inside, she’d have to deal with another problem. STEALTH or VANISH didn’t work on things she picked up…they’d still show. She’d need to recast, keeping it close so it didn’t stand out.

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [PARTY] [Found it. It ain’t light. be ready.]

  We couldn’t see through the wall from where we were. It was too dark, and we had to trust her. Five long seconds before she could Vanish again.

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [PARTY] [Shit. They movin]

  A muffled sound carried on the night air, too rough to be hers.

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  [Urako Sarutobi:] [PARTY] [put the totem back. they both woke up. shit]

  I glanced at Paul. He shot me a look and lifted his hands in a “now what” gesture. I flattened my palm and lowered it toward the ground, telling him to get down. We weren’t invisible like the thieves. I eased down onto the damp earth, the smell of wet ground and rotting vegetation close now. He did the same.

  Melissa’s STEALTH flickered out for a breath or two, her form becoming visible until she cast STEALTH again. Those five seconds dragged out like minutes.

  The Goblin Chief emerged from his hut, carrying something heavy. I had a bad feeling I knew what. He strolled to the southeast corner and relieved himself just like the other Goblin had. The stench rolled over us again, sharp enough to make my stomach clench.

  I won’t try to describe it. I don’t want to remember it.

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [PARTY] [Shaman went back to sleep. chief took the totem]

  [William of Brinsford:] [PARTY] [We saw. We’ll wait as long as you need.]

  We waited more than 20 minutes while the Chief loitered by the fire, talking with the guard. My legs cramped, my neck ached, and the bugs were merciless, but none of us moved. Finally, he went back inside.

  Almost ten more minutes passed before Shadow’s message came.

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [PARTY] [He sleeping again. Bout time. Get ready.

  We got up as slowly and quietly inched forward as best we could. I cast PSYCHIC SHIELDs again on everyone, just in case.

  Shadow’s dot moved again. She slipped through the Chief’s doorway, crossed to the north wall, and paused. The fire guard didn’t twitch.

  A couple of minutes later, her dot on the map moved out of the hut. A second red dot almost covered her dot. She moved to the northeast corner and stopped. Her dot started back towards the fire. The red dot didn't move. .

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [PARTY] [Quest says Infiltrate goblin camp and steal Chief’s totem without being spotted. I got it out. Didn’t see me. Now we kill them?]

  [William of Brinsford:] [PARTY] [Your call. You’re the Party Leader.]

  [AnthroPaul:] [PARTY] [It’s boring out here. Let’s do it.]

  [HechtYea:] [PARTY] [Do it. Just don’t Leroy Jenkins it.]

  [Nurse Melissa:] [PARTY] [Ready when you are. Do it right and I don’t have to heal anyone. Got dirt under my nails. Might have to clean them before I can heal. Didn’t bring the right gloves so don't get hurt.]

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [PARTY] [OK. HechtYea. Take northwest hut. Kill em before they wake up. I’ll take shaman and chief. Paul, kill the guard and wake them up when I say go. Will. don’t let them out of camp and take them out when they come out of the huts.]

  HechtYea’s dot on the PARTY MAP slipped in through the gate and into the hut.

  [HechtYea:] [PARTY] [Ready.]

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [PARTY] [go]

  Paul nailed the fire guard with an ICE BALL. It burst loud, shards of ice spraying everywhere. I dropped an blue MANA SHIELD over two hut doors, sealing them in. Goblin shouts erupted inside.

  Paul and I blasted the guard with ICE and MANA BOLTs until he fell. HechtYea dashed out of the northwest hut, a wounded Goblin hot on his heels before he disappeared. I heard screams from the Chief’s hut. The Chief himself appeared in the doorway, back turned to us, and I hit him with a MANA BOLT. Paul followed with an ICE BOLT. We did it again in tandem.

  HechtYea faded into sight as he BACKSTABbed the Goblin who'd been chasing him, then slashed its throat with both daggers.

  Paul froze the Chief one more time with another ICE Bolt, and the big Goblin dropped.

  [William of Brinsford:] [PARTY] [I’m dropping the door on the southwest hut. Be ready.]

  I released the spell. A Goblin stumbled forward, his club swinging at nothing, just in time to eat an ICE BALL and my MANA BALL. HechtYea’s dot was well clear, so no friendly fire. The one inside went down hard.

  Shadow and HechtYea finished off the last hut in the same way. The whole camp was dead in less than five minutes.

  The three of us outside slipped through the gate. Shadow was already moving.

  “Will, take care of looting. I’ll get the totem and bring it back.”

  She vaulted the north fence, vanishing into the dark.

  We spread out and searched. Six Goblins yielded 600 Moons. The Chief and Shaman each carried another 600 plus gear: a staff, two pouches, a leather poncho, and a +2 DEFENSE leather cap. Their weapons were inside the Chief’s hut.

  In exchange for their help, I told the two non-guild members that if there was something they needed and the guild had it, I’d get it for them because of their help. This counted as a guild run because the majority of us were Irregulars.

  We left the camp as it was. Paul was giddy, snapping pictures and bagging samples like a kid in a candy store, even from the midden pit that stank of trash and filth. I was glad he double-bagged them. He’d leveled too, hitting Level 3, and couldn’t stop talking about the report he’d give the Game Resource Agency. He'd managed to record the Chief talking to the Goblin at the fire pit. He said it proved they had a language.

  By the time we made it back, it was after midnight. I dropped Melissa at her apartment, then Paul and HechtYea at my place. Last, I took Shadow home.

  “Let me know what happens when you turn your quest in,” I told her. “I got mine done earlier. Didn’t take the next set when I saw what they were.”

  “I will. Thank you. And damn you for putting me on the spot like that. Again.”

  “You did fine. I was worried when they woke up, but you handled it. Good job leading the party. It was your quest, not mine.”

  “I know.”

  She stayed quiet until we pulled up at the usual intersection. We said our goodnights, and I headed home. Blaze was already in bed, so I stripped out of my gear, did a quick wash, and slid in beside her.

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