Voro was confused at first.
When he opened his eyes he did see the familiar stone walls and murals.
But it was bright. Too bright.
Thankfully it didn`t take him long to realize why. The gothic ceiling was now completely gone, the walls with previously hard to read engravings were almost gone and doors didn`t exist anymore.
He walked through the rooms and hallways he once hid at, saw the doorways he used to surprise the enemies and of course, the end of the castle.
The giant doorway was gone , but its pillars stood strong. Broken but still towering over him. And right in front of him ,in the middle of rubble there was a empty wooden throne.
Majestic as always, even in it`s current condition.
It was clearly the same Sundered Hold that he spent last 4 floor at only....later.
'Much later' Voro deduced based on lack of any wood or fabric around. It either already decayed or was all stolen from here.
Of course, his old friends goblins were still around, only in greatly reduced number. One or two at once , and only once every 15 minutes. And even if he found one, they were a bit different.
They didn`t have metal garbage as weapons or bits of doors as shields, they used crude wooden spears and primitive metal knives.
Instead of flags as clothing, they had leaves, straw and ropes as full cover. Some wore very simple bags to collect trash, others had hats for sun cover. They were no longer 'soldiers' rummaging and protecting the castle, they were just....gatherers.
Voro roamed the place for an hour, two maybe even three. Clearing out anything and anything he found. A few enemies only, although some of them were not even a threat, but still, a goblin is a goblin.
Finally, he decided that after so long, he did everything worth doing in the ruins and it was time to see, what what outside.
Trees.
Basically only trees.
That was the outside of the Hold`s remains. A small path, mostly covered in moss and grass now was leading to the gate`s remains. Other than that, it was just a forest.
Voro was already relaxed by now. No goblins no animals no threats. The floor wasn`t shaking, there was no darkness, no blood around him. It felt nice.
He walked under the leaves, among the trees and over the crunchy leaves.
'This is....wrong' He breathed in the air, and immediately changed his expression. There was a tiny hint of smoke. A sign of civilization nearby. 'Goblins' A clear sign that their little brains are a different breed now.
Voro got back to his careful self and pulled out his knife. He started to place his feet carefully, avoiding branches and slowly putting the weight of his body on the ground.
Step. By. Step.
Until after a while of walking and enough time for the sun to go down, he saw a glimpse of fire in the woods. Behind a line of trees was a small plane with straw-covered huts. There it was, in the middle, a large campfire with goblins all around it.
'Pathetic' That was the first word that came to his mind. The previously threatening packs of wild goblins, swordsmen or actual monsters, were now dancing around a fire with leafy-skirts, scraps of meat on the ground and clay pots with dirty water.
Voro could easily slip in closer for a better view. The huts were sticks bonded together with crude rope, straw and leaves as the ceiling and mud all around them. But...they were their home nonetheless. Some of the goblins acted as guards, a few at the time, but they were watching, patrolling around the village. Of course, they missed Voro who was sitting on top of a tree, too high for them to notice when they came by his location.
And they were gone in a minute, over to the next house no longer interested in the bit of leaves with a potential death threat towards them.
Voro sat still. Slow breaths and eyes wide open. He watched them. Studied what they did.
He looked at their gear, tools, huts and their dancing. And the only thing that changed in time, was a small orange sheen that came off of his knife.
---------------- Middle of the night ------------------
Rakk was not a warrior. He was just a Stick-Watcher, which meant his job was to walk at the edge of the forest, look for any animals and make sure his skirt was not wet from piss.
He was lonely at this time, since Bradd and Dradd went to sleep before him and the dancing was still going on behind him. Rakk wished he was there, but it was his turn at the Stick-Watching. Here, at the dark damp tree line. Alone.
He still had another task, as the Big Shaman commanded him to get more wood for the big fire. Rakk was collecting any dry branches he could find, but the night was wet form the rain a few days ago.
Snap
Rakk turned his neck and peered into the darkness. Leaves and bushes. He raised his torch high above his head, but it only changed the color of what he saw from black, to very dark green.
Snap
A dry branch appeared at his feet. Rakk looked up at the canopy above him, but again, he saw only dark leaves.
"Who?" Rakk whispered in the village tongue "Big Shaman? You play tricks on Rakk again?"
No answer. Not even another branch or leaf fell down.
Rakk kept looking up, waving his torch to maybe scare a bird out of there.
Something finally moved and fell down at his feet again. Something green.
Rakk looked down and bent his knee to see better. It was like a leaf just....
He widened his eyes and turned back to get someone to help him. But instead of seeing the village, he saw dark leather and a white grinning smile above.
Rakk didn`t have time to scream out, as two hands went immediately to his face and stomach. One of them grabbed his mouth and didn`t allow any screams, while the other was holding something shiny that burrowed deep into Rakk.
Only a few moments later, Rakk was gone. Pulled into behind the tree line, never to be seen again. His torch was slowly dying out on the floor, laying next to a small goblin ear.
----------------
At the campfire Big shaman was showing his tricks, making the fire red or bright yellow, big or small. The children loved it and the older goblins admired it. But his tricks made the fire burn the wood faster and faster. He clicked his tongue.
"Where Rakk? Where wood?" And he looked at the crowd behind him. He shouted it out again much louder towards the outskirts of the village but no response.
No one else knew where he was, so the shaman pointed his staff at a group of armed goblins and told them to go grab Rakk.
They grabbed their spears, tucked in their knives and grabbed some fire from the middle as torches. They passed the houses and started looking.
Rustle sounds came from the right, and the guards followed. However they stopped before they came out of the village`s clear terrain. Along the tree line they found Rakk`s torch with the missing ear. Something got him good.
The three goblins looked at each other, nodded, and looked around heavily. All three spears were raised high just the torches and their flame.
"Rakk?" One of them said towards the trees and got instantly gut punched by the other two to shut him up.
"Yesss"
A whisper came from the trees. The guards pointed their spears towards the sounds source
"Rrrraaaaakkkk"
The voice changed place in a split second.
They were sure of only one thing - that was not Rakk.
But...they couldn`t tell if it wasn`t someone else, if it speaks goblin ,its probably a goblin. After a brief moment, another guard spoke to the trees.
"Hey....get here....go out the trees" With a slightly trembling voice, but grasping his spear and fire incredibly tight.
"Rraaakkk...yess....here..." The voice kept swapping places while creating noise and noise of branches, leaves, rustling and everything.
Until it stopped.
And one of the guards fell down on the ground with a metal spike in his head.
Gulp both of the guards swallowed their spit and ran with the fire and spears into the bushes.
A pair of glowing eyes looked at them from the side.
And then a slight white crescent shape of teeth appeared under them.