The Grand Catastrophe

…

The little hobgoblin Agu, fourth son of Ah, chieftain of the great Gigu tribe, was confused. In front of him was a group of goblins, with two humans in the back of their group. Now, other than the fact that goblins and humans just didn’t interact with each other mostly, there wasn’t anything too strange about this.

“Who are you all? What tribe do you all come from?” he asked, and the goblins answered.

“We hail from Carne Village. Are you alright kid?” the lead goblin asked, his tone serious and worried.

“I’m not a kid, I’m Agu of the Gigu tribe. I was running from a group of ogres sent by the Giant of the East. I kept running and I got here. But that Barghest chased after me!” he exclaimed.

It was then that one of the humans in the back came forward. This one had hair that covered his face, and he smelled of herbs. In his hand he held a bottle that shone of the color purple in the late day sun.

“Here, drink this,” he said, and held the thing out to him.

Now, as most people know, potions are blue. This is due to how they are made. Most goblins, let along hobgoblins, don’t know this. What they do know, is that an adventurer’s potions are blue. So, Agu flinched back.

“Ah! Don’t you poison me!” he cried out, and the other goblins scowled.

The human boy just frowned, sighed, and then splashed the potion on the lad anyway. What the hobgoblin didn’t know, was that this was a health potion. This potion was an experiment meant for Momonga to try and test out.

“There goes my sample to send back to Lady Momonga. Guess I know it works,” the young man mumbled.

The purple potion splashed onto the young lad, and soaked into his wounds. He was shocked then, by how fast his cuts mended themselves. That wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Let’s take you back to the village. There, we can talk about this Giant of The East later when we get there,” she said, and all the goblins and the other human boy nodded their assent.

…

As they walked down the road, all the way through the forest, they trudged along with one more in tow. The little goblin turned out to be a hobgoblin. The lad’s name was Agu. As he looked around the open area that the forest opened up into, he noticed several things that didn’t make much sense, at least to him.

When he and the people that had saved him came out of the woods, a strange sight greeted his eyes. It was a set of massive walls that seemed to surround this village that his saviors had come from. They were made of wood, with towers reaching the tops space in regular intervals.

There they themselves stood, at the entrance for such a strange place. The gates that led inside were large. It confused the poor hobgoblin, that this place was even here. After all, the leader of the goblins that had saved him was a human woman.

The gates soon opened after someone in the tower by the gate told those inside the town of them. There weren’t a lot of people on the other side, most people just going about their day in peace. Agu followed them in, people from all around the village that weren’t doing things looking at him with curiosity, before going back to work.

Agu followed them deep into the village. There, they stopped in front of a rather large, communal-looking building. The goblins opened the door, and the group entered the building to discuss matters.

…

Lupisregina Beta looked at the gathered toys sitting around the table. She watched as they sat down, and discussed something rather important. She was pretty sure that it was rather important, anyway. They all seemed rather tense. She hadn’t even been invisible when they first came in.

She was now, of course. It was simply funnier that way. First Enri spoke, her tone somber.

“Okay, Agu, tell us why you came to this location of the forest in the first place. We need to hear everything, so we can plan accordingly,” she instructed the little hobgoblin, and he spoke.

“Okay, so, it all started when the Beast of The South disappeared. In its place Monument of Ruin appeared,” he started, and Nfirea asked a question that she herself was curious about.

“What’s this, “Monument of Ruin?” the potion maker asked.

“It’s this big wooden building that’s surrounded by the undead. There’s this big statue of this pretty lady in the front,” he explained.

“Oh! That’s the “Temple and Catacombs of Death,” that Lady Momonga has built,” Enri chimed in, her tone now more cheerful.

The hobgoblin child now looked scared. He was slightly shaking in his seat. His face painted the perfect picture of someone about to faint. It was priceless for the smiling sadist.

“What are you talking about?” the young one asked.

“Oh,” Nfirea started, “The people of this village, including Enri and Me, worship a Goddess of death by the Name of Momonga. That’s the temple that she made for those that want to worship away from others. It’s also where we burry our dead,” he finished, and the poor hobgoblin looked like he was about to pass out.

“So,” the boy started in his explanation again, “The trouble started when the Giant of the east moved in on the old territory of the Beast of the south. Yet, when he got there, the Monument of Ruin was there,” he stopped to catch his breath.

“So, he and the Serpent of The West teamed up to try and fight them. They’ve started to try and bring in some of the ogre and goblin tribes like mine into their group. Some resisted, others bent the knee. When my father refused, they attacked. Most didn’t make it out,” the little guy stopped, his body shaking now with old fright.

Enri then scooped up the little guy in her arms, and cradled him like a little baby as he then started to pour his heart out with tears. His sadness was palpable. She would have feasted on it, but that would have ruined the mood.

She probably should tell her lady about this. This village was the first place that actually honored her goddess in the way they were supposed to. She wouldn’t let this mark of arrogance slip by.

…