Chapter 147 - Descendants

In the Culdao Peaks the next day...

The pitter-patter of little goblin feet slapped against the sludge-like mud of the clearing at the edge of a forested hill, sticking out like a sore thumb to any aerial observer. Large swaths of the area had been contaminated, a greenish stench enveloping the land while small goblins tied thin pieces of cloth to their mouths. The meager protection barely helped them, but the goblins were far more focused on their work.

A goblin worker huffed and panted as he hauled a bucket of water with care, lugging it along while his muscles burned from overexertion. Every fiber in his body told him to rest, but the sight of the repeater barrels slung to the bare chests of hobgoblin guards convinced him otherwise. He put one foot in front of the other, focusing on each step to prevent himself from being mired in the soggy mud.

Without a single complaint, he finally reached his destination, joining a queue of other goblin workers waiting to dump the contents of their bucket into a large, wide metal tray. As he emptied his bucket, he watched as other goblins used their bare hands to pour in the very source of the green stench, the foul liquid spreading like dye through the clear water before forming tiny little nodules.

The water flowed down a system of trays and rickety pipes mounted on stilts, the process repeated three times on the same batch of water before the tiny nodules were all extracted. Crates of the amalgamated nodules were hauled to a furnace, emitting the same green stench that the workers have long been accustomed to. Many were now unbothered by it, and even if they knew about the health risks, none would dare to complain either, not to the hobgoblins.

The final product was a glittering powder that shined like a rainbow under the daylight. A timid goblin child hauled a sack of the glittering powder to the only tent in the clearing, a large circular tent adorned with a tribe emblem at the front with two hobgoblin guards flanking the entrance. As soon as the goblin child approached, the hobgoblin guards stopped him, snatching the sack away and inspecting it themselves. One of the guards prodded it with a crooked wooden branch, all the while the other checked the goblin child for any hidden weapons.

<Clear.> The hobgoblin guard announced, allowing the child to enter the tent. The child's timidity was only worsened when he faced the owner of the tent, a grim-looking hobgoblin who towered over him by more than twice his height. The numerous scars on the hobgoblin's body bore testament to the countless battles he had fought, while a prominent tattoo on his cheek spoke of his rank in the tribe. The hobgoblin hunched over a table filled with crude maps and other brutal weapons, each already stained with goblin blood.

"Yes, we will have the latest shipment ready by the time your men arrive. There will be no complications." The hobgoblin had his ear to a second-hand arctech radio's speaker, speaking in the human language with great care while glaring at the child, motioning for him to wait. "We only ask that you have the weapons ready... yes, of course. We have already intercepted it and are planning our next move, with your support, of course. Yes. We shall meet soon."

As soon as the call ended, the hobgoblin slammed the radio speaker down onto a makeshift wooden table with a loud bang, frightening the child. < Accursed humans! From one frying pan to another, we are being played like fools! If only we didn't need him... This is hardly fit for the role of a Seeker! You! What do you want? >

<Seeker, I have brought the latest harvest.> The child stammered, presenting the sack to the Seeker.

The Seeker reached forward to grab the sack by its mouth, hefting it up in a grip. < This... This is lighter than before. What is the meaning of this? >

< Seeker, the Toxic Nodia that we have been utilizing is not pure enough. There are many other materials inside and - >

< I DO NOT SEEK EXCUSES! I SEEK RESULTS! > The Seeker bellowed in fury, the sack dropping with a heavy thud on the ground while his grip found purchase on the child's neck, the child's legs dangling upwards. < There are quotas to be met, and meet them we shall! I will not return to our true king with our heads hung in shame! >

< Seek... seeker... we'll need more time...>

< NO! You need more work! Guards! > The Seeker threw the child down onto the ground and called out to the two hobgoblin guards outside, who immediately entered the tent. < Double the shifts. I want them working through day and moon. We must meet our quota before that fool Sahusa's forces discover us. And if anyone revolts, kill them. >

< Your will is mine, Seeker. > The guards bowed, their hands locking around the child and dragging him out. Left alone, the Seeker paced around the temporary tent in frustration, worries filling his head as he repeatedly checked a stolen arcia pocketwatch, keeping track of the time for each minute. A few pellet shots rang out through the clearing as an hour passed, but the Seeker hardly cared about the implications. Instead, he was far more frantic about the fact that none of the goblins he had dispatched to Raktor had returned. It wasn't their failure that he feared, but rather his punishment at the hand of the true king. He sat down cross-legged in the center of the tent, and closed his eyes, trying to rid himself of concern, but every tick of the pocket watch only made it worse for him.

Soon, as another hour passed, the Seeker couldn't sit still anymore. < Guards. Prepare to pack up the cam->

< Seeker! > A messenger called from outside the tent. < The shipment interception squad has returned! >

< Finally, good news! > The Seeker shot out of his tent like an excited kid, only for his face to pale in horror as he looked at the goblins returning. < WHAT?! Where is the wagon? Where are the shipment crates? Why are there only three of you? >

The three goblins immediately got on their needs, begging for forgiveness. < Seeker, we were ambushed by the Seven Snakes! They knew of our plan! >

< Impossible. Not even that blasted Merissa is aware that we exist! How could they have known?! > The Seeker tried to reason, but his mind latched onto an even far more important point. < Were you followed?! >

< No, of course not! > One of the three goblins shook his head vigorously. < We were careful to avoid detection, and - >

< You fool! This was the best time to strike with that cursed Kyle being away, but you have jeopardized us all by returning here! > The Seeker motioned frantically to the hobgoblin guards. < Arm yourself and pack up the camp! The Seven Snakes might be right on their tails- >

Before he could finish his words, a pellet sang out from the surrounding trees and bushes, narrowly missing the Seeker's head by an inch. Instead, the pellet whizzed past, killing an unaware goblin worker from behind, the contents of his small skull bursting out into the metal tray filled with water.

< Enemies! Move! > The Seeker roared as he instinctively ducked, scampering into his tent. He hurriedly grabbed the weapons in his tent, equipping himself with a repeater rifle and a bloody mace, along with bits and pieces of arctech armor. Shouts and screams of battle could already be heard from the outside, pellet fire impacting against the soft mud while stray ones tore through the thin tent fabric.

The Seeker rushed out as soon as he was ready, spotting a dozen Seven Snakes and goblin warriors besieging the camp. Some of the panicking goblin workers fled the clearing in all directions, some still rooted to the spot out of fear. The hobgoblin guards found cover in muddy ditches and behind metal trays, returning fire back and forth.

< We are not ready for a fight. Retreat! We must retreat! > The Seeker urged the guards.

< Seeker, the workers - >

< They are inconsequential to the cause. Our brothers still wait for us! Into the forest! > The Seeker knew the clearing was like shooting fish in a barrel, and he knew he was outgunned. The dozen hobgoblin guards under his command were reluctant, their goblin roots internally telling themselves to stay and fight to an honorable death, but the Seeker's orders were absolute. A few guards propped up the metal tray, emptying its contents and using it as a moving cover against the weaker pellets as they shifted towards the border of the forest.

Yet as soon as the Seeker reached the edge of the clearing, three more pellets shot out towards them, causing them to cower on instinct. The Seeker ducked and rolled out of the way, his keen eyes spotting three goblins perched on the top of the trees, aiming down at them. < Filthy traitors, you have lost your senses to be like elves! > The Seeker taunted behind the cover of a fallen log. In a split second, he dashed out of the cover, using his bloodied mace to slam the trunk of the tree and causing the goblin above to lose its footing.

The goblin fell a few branches, managing to break its fall and recover. However, it was far too late, his full body now exposed to the retreating hobgoblin guards. Five pellets found their mark on his chest, puncturing him like a pincushion as he collapsed onto the forest floor, the goblin blood now seeping into the soil. The remaining two tried to lock down the Seeker, but the Seeker dashed through the forest with the skill of an experienced forest fighter, their respective trees being shaken violently and affording them the same fate.

< To the cave! > The Seeker motioned, leading the retreat as the hobgoblin guards broke into a light sprint into the depths of the forest, carrying with them whatever they could hold from the camp. Yet even as the Seeker distanced himself from the clearing, he could feel that something was catching up to them rapidly, their outline flickering through the trees.

Some of the hobgoblin guards called out in fear, remembering the last goblin civil war. < Human monster! >

< It's not her! > The Seeker rallied his guards, pressing them forward. < The monster is away as well, we know that as fact! Even if it is, as long as we make it to the cav->

Alarm bells rang out in his head as he preemptively stepped to the side, changing course just as a hailstorm of pellets showered where he was supposed to be. The barrage forced the entire group to come to a halt, each of the guards splitting up to use the forest as cover. Before the Seeker could take stock of the situation, a lone male human leaped out from above, landing with a downward strike of a repeater onto one of the guards. The butt of the repeater slammed against the cranium of the hobgoblin guard, a sickening snap echoing through his flailing body as he fell unconscious, slumping against a tree upright.

The surrounding guards immediately turned to converge on the human attacker, but the human was far faster. Grabbing a machete strapped to the unconscious guard's chest, he brandished it out with a solid reverse swing, warping and snapping off the barrel of the nearest hobgoblin guard's repeater. Switching over to a reverse grip at the end of the swing, he flung the machete in a spin aimed at the same guard's neck, the cold blade lodging itself in the airways.

As the remaining hobgoblin guards rushed him, the human attacker used his free hand to grab the snapped barrel that was still in the air. Wielding it like a dagger, he stabbed toward the next closest hobgoblin guard's arm, the hot barrel melting through the tough hobgoblin's skin like butter and earning a scream. Still, it was far from enough for the human attacker to break out of the encirclement, more than five guards now threatening to block off all directions. Punches and kicks were thrown as the human attacker stuck close to the hobgoblin guards, preventing any one of them from firing out of fear of friendly fire.

"So they sent you, the youngest and weakest of them all." The Seeker chortled after recognizing the human attacker. "Did they really think a fledgling alone could stop us?!"

"Who said I was alone?"

The Seeker suddenly felt a fearsome presence approaching from behind him, raising his bloodied mace to block at the very last moment, only for a glowing fist to slam into its handle. The force sent the Seeker back a few inches, his heels digging lines in the soil and nearly tripping him over the myriad of roots snaking along the forest floor. The Seeker swapped the grip on his mace, preparing to land a blow on the new attacker with a head smash. However, a secondary impact suddenly blasted the mace's handle apart from within, causing the Seeker to lose his grip on the mace.

Another punch from the new attacker drove straight toward the Seeker's face, but the Seeker was no slouch in melee combat either, quickly grappling the attacker and flinging them over his shoulder with a body throw. The attacker twisted their body as they flew through the air, trying to recover only to find herself crashing into the other human attacker, the two of them tumbling.

Both of them hurriedly rolled out of the way behind bushes and trees as the hobgoblin guards began to fire at them. "Real smart, Monica. I think I was handling them just fine." The male human called out.

"Oh yea? I'm not the one being called weakest here. Looks like they did their research on you." Monica called back, peeking out from cover only to earn suppressing fire. "Niko, the leader is getting away!"

"Okay, I'm going, I'm going!" Niko took three deep breaths before breaking out into a sprint. He ducked and weaved through the narrow, tight corridors of trees while the guards tried to block his path, but his movements were fluid, the training in the Culdao Peaks paying off as he easily slipped past them, giving chase to the fleeing Seeker.

"You're not getting away, bitch!" Niko roared, pumping his thighs and legs as hard as he could, the Stamina Recovery engraving kicking in to boost his endurance. The Seeker wasn't giving up either, still literally running for the hills, something Niko couldn't allow. Niko pushed himself to the limit, the two of them racing through the forest as the mountains loomed closer.

Despite the Seeker's best effort, Niko was far lighter and nimble, allowing him to get within range easily. Niko pulled out a pistol, firing shots wildly past the Seeker. None of the pellets seemed to hit the Seeker, instead whizzing right past. The Seeker let out a grin on his face, until he heard a loud crack from a large branch right ahead. The Seeker ground his feet to a halt, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the falling large branch, its stem shot to pieces by Niko.

The Seeker tried to run off in another direction, but Niko was two steps ahead of him, already right in front of his face and firing an arctech pistol. Two pellets drove into the Seeker's unarmored chest, the Seeker roaring in pain and stumbling back, trying desperately to raise his own repeater to bear on Niko.

Niko aimed the pistol squarely at the repeater, planning to disarm him with a nifty shot. He squeezed the trigger hard, only for the barrel to charge up with nothing leaving its end. Shit! He leaped out of the way as the Seeker's repeater tore up the surrounding vegetation where he once stood, bushes, leaves and all. Tumbling on the ground in a fluid motion, Niko hastily grabbed a handful of soil and decaying leaves before flinging it at the Seeker's eyes, disorientating the Seeker.

< ARGH! > The Seeker grimaced from the sudden blindness, reaching up with his free hand to wipe off the soil. Niko pounced on the moment of weakness, lunging forward to grab the repeater by its body while elbowing with his full body weight toward the Seeker's face. The force of the impact slammed into the Seeker's free hand, fracturing the bones within as the Seeker tipped backward and collapsed onto the ground in a heap, releasing the repeater.

Niko flipped the repeater around in his hands, aiming it squarely at the fallen Seeker. "Game's over pal. Now you're going to come with me -"

< Weakest viper, you think you're a match for me? > The Seeker grinned, baring his yellow canine teeth at Niko.

"I don't speak goblin, so whatever appeal you have is going to have to wait till we get to Gulak and King Sahus-"

"DO NOT MENTION THOSE TRAITORS!" The Seeker roared, the force of the shout slightly stunning Niko while the Seeker took the chance to kick the repeater out of Niko's hands up into the air. Niko's eyes traced the repeater as it flew backward, reaching out to grab it in one smooth motion and turning to aim at the Seeker, firing three shots into the legs.

"So we speaking human now? Now stand down before I put more holes into you..." Niko's voice trailed off as he watched the Seeker surge in size, the body expanding in muscle mass while the pellets lodged in the body were slowly squeezed out, their crushed forms clattering on the damp forest soil.

"The power of our ancestors grants us dominion! Human filth cannot harm us!" The Seeker let out a thunderous bellow as his body continued to grow, his skin beginning to glow with a strange pattern made from thousands of glittering sand embedded below the skin.

"Uh... Monica? Monica! The hobgoblin is glowing like a lantern!" Niko frantically shouted over the arctech radio.

[Well you're on your own! I got more than enough to deal with here!]

Niko barely had time to curse as a small uprooted tree was flung in his direction, forcing him to leap to safety. He rolled and recovered into a shooting position, but already the supersized Seeker, who was three heads taller than him, was barreling down. Niko fired everything in the canister, the pellets finding their mark but barely stopping the momentum of the Seeker. He dodged again as the Seeker crashed into an ancient tree, leaving a crater in its trunk while nested insects scurried out along its bark in shock.

How the hell am I going to kill this guy? Niko's mind raced as he leaped over roots and ducked behind trees, his heart racing. Each glance behind only ascertained that there was a stampeding supersized hobgoblin chasing him, ignoring whatever obstacles Niko tried to put between him and it. He looked for any sign of a weapon he could use, the repeater now practically useless with no pellets left in it. In a desperate attempt, he snatched a fallen branch up and hurled it at the Seeker's face right in between eyes. To his surprise, the Seeker barely registered the branch being thrown at his face, merely shrugging it off.

Further ahead, a standalone sandstone pillar half the height of the trees jutted out from the forest floor, prompting Niko to redirect his route there. He clambered up the pillar quickly, his grip flinging himself up from ledge to ledge. The Seeker didn't stop charging, merely bashing right into the base with a resounding slam. The pillar fractured easily, threatening to throw Niko off as it tilted towards the staggered Seeker. But instead of jumping away to safety, Niko stuck to the tumbling pillar, following its fall downwards till it crashed onto the top of the seeker, eliciting a pained roar.

The Seeker shook his head vigorously to shake off the ensuing cloud of dust and sand that now coated him, though he felt something strange crawling on his back. < Puny human! > The Seeker shouted, trying to reach over to grab Niko. Unfortunately, due to the buildup of unnatural muscular mass, the Seeker couldn't reach far enough behind to grab Niko off.

Alright, time to make a name for myself. Niko brandished a knife hidden in his belt, before stabbing deep with his full might into the spine of the Seeker. The cold serrated blade dug past the glittering skin, splattering goblin blood everywhere as the Seeker reeled in jolting pain. Niko didn't relent, clinging onto the back with as tight as a grip as possible, while his other free hand used the knife to repeatedly stab past the layer of meat.

However, he suddenly felt a looming figure behind him, a rapidly approaching tree trunk threatening to flatten him into a pulp. Niko clambered out of the way at the last instant, the Seeker's attempt at crushing him against the tree backfiring as a small branch stabbed into the same wound, causing the Seeker to stumble forward again.

Niko continued to stab with the knife as the Seeker staggered about with arms flailing. Each stab got him closer, until he finally spotted the spinal cord. "You're gonna need Haui after this," Niko muttered as he slammed the knife right between the spinal discs, eviscerating the soft flesh and nerves accumulated there.

The sudden severance caused the Seeker to fall over, paralyzed now from the waist down. Niko leaped into a recovery roll before the Seeker's large body could pulverize him. Still, Niko wasn't out of danger yet, the Seeker's arms still trying to hit him, swinging like miniature tree logs that could easily take him out in one hit.

Yet the Seeker was now nothing more than a sitting duck, Niko easily avoiding the futile attempts to grab him and rushing towards the shoulder of the Seeker. He slashed the muscles along the arm in a flurry, preventing the Seeker from being able to lift it. With the Seeker now fully incapacitated, there was only one thing left to do.

Niko clambered up the enormous stomach that was now facing skywards, using his knife to gut again while the Seeker whimpered from the inability to move anything but his mouth. With a grim expression, the Seeker clenched his teeth with resolve, his eyes closed. < Glory to the true kin->

"Oh no you don't." Niko felt his knife hit a metallic surface, hurriedly reaching in with his hand to grab what was a metallic sphere and fishing it out from the blood and flesh. "We're not that stupid."

The Seeker gasped at the metallic sphere being retrieved out, before attempting to bash his head repeatedly against the ground. However, there was only damp mud to be found with barely any rocks or roots sharp enough to do serious damage, so Niko just watched as the Seeker slapped the back of his head with mud in vain. "If you're trying to get a mud bath, I can help."

The Seeker glowered at Niko as Niko scooped a handful of mud and walked over to the Seeker's face, slathering it on the cheek. "There you go. Feel better now?"

< ARGGGHHH! > The Seeker smashed his head into the mud again, the splashback landing a little on Niko's pants.

"Lots of energy. Good. You're going to need it for later."

"No matter how much you torture me, I will never reveal the truth!" The Seeker shouted back, his voice still as loud as a mountain's echo.

"Can't say the same about your followers." Niko shrugged, leaving the Seeker to seethe on his own. Niko pulled the arctech radio to his mouth. "Monica, you got to see this, I took down the boss! Big bad green boss!"

[Shut up, I'm almost done here. Just gotta stop them from killing themselves. Be there in five.]

Monica soon came over, Niko excitedly showing off his kill as if he was a kid on his first hunting trip. "Look! Big guy, right? Bet its the same as Kyle taking down Osir!" Niko motioned.

"What are you talking about? Looks like a regular hobgoblin to me, just a little bigger. You said he was glowing like some sort of lantern too. Are you sure your eyes are okay?"

"Wha-" Niko spun around to look at the Seeker, who had now shrunk to his previous size, a small grin shot at Niko from afar. "YOU LITTLE BITCH! TURN BACK TO YOUR REAL SIZE, NOW!"

< This is my real size, puny viper. You will not drag my name as your trophy! > The Seeker spat a glob of blood and saliva towards Niko's direction, infuriating Niko even more.

Niko was about to storm forward when Monica stopped him. "No time for games, we need to figure out what the hell they were doing out here."

With the Seeker and the hobgoblins now in chains, Niko and Monica scoured the camp, rounding up any of the goblin workers who didnt manage to flee. "Don't let the rest escape, we need to know what was happening!" Monica ordered the rest of their squad.

Niko tugged open a sack of glittering powder, immediately recognizing it to be the same as what he saw under the Seeker's skin. "Hey, isn't this the same as what Sasha has?"

"Dzi Flower Sand." Monica nodded, leaning over to take a look. "The purity isn't that high, and they probably extracted it using the Toxic Nodia there. The real question is how they got it, and what the hell are they doing with Versian weapons."

"Was Sebastian's letter implying that it was Versian cunts who are sabotaging us, trying to destabilize us?" Niko grunted. "Why can't that idiot just tell us straight?"

"No point figuring out what goes on in his smug ass. Check everything, keep a log. We need to know where they came from."

They took a closer look at the metallic sphere extracted from the Seeker's stomach, flipping it over from left to right. There wasn't a marker or engraving signifying its origins, but the design was nothing short of marvelous, reminding them of the same flesh carver that Gunther used against Kyle. "This settles it - It has to be Harrison. Or at least purchased from Harrison." Niko asserted.

"And Harrison wouldn't sell such weapons without a tall price, so this Dzi Flower Sand seems to be the trade." Monica cracked open a few more sacks, all of them filled to the brim with Dzi Flower Sand.

Soon, all of the goblin workers were rounded up, some unfortunately killed as they tried to resist or refuse orders to stop. There were more than three dozen assembled in rows now in front of Monica and Niko, their conditions terrible with arms and legs bearing signs of chemical scaring. The chemical burns caused bulbous tumors on their forearm and ankles, clearly a result of handling Toxic Nodia without proper protection. They eyed Monica and Niko with fear, knowing well that humans could be as monstrous as any other goblin, or perhaps even more from the stories of Kyle and Sasha.

Monica used one of the hobgoblin soldiers as her translator. "Tell them that we will return them to their homes, but only if they tell us how they got roped into this."

The moment the workers heard that they were returning, their voices broke into a flurry of cheers and shouting, each trying to be the first to explain what happened to them. It was a hassle to get them to calm down and speak slowly, while Niko directed for a few wagons from the goblin kingdom to pick up the workers.

However, there turned out to be a complication - most of the goblin workers didn't come from the kingdom, though they knew of it. "You're telling me that there are more goblins outside the kingdom?" Niko exclaimed.

"We have swept as far as we could after the civil war, but there must have been small pockets of civilians who fled in the hopes of not getting caught in the crossfire." A hobgoblin soldier explained.

"Didn't we end it in almost less than two days?"

"The tensions and famine had been going on for a few months, they must have been from then on." Monica mused. "Still, that means there are pockets of unknown goblins that could pose a problem. We need to go back and talk to the rest."

Niko and Monica returned to the goblin palace while the other squad members sorted out the captured goblin workers, as well as hauled the incapacitated Seeker to a holding cell. King Sahusa, Merissa and Gulak were already waiting for them in the king's office and aware of the situation.

"Those filthy descendants of Osir!" Gulak gritted his plague-ridden teeth, the only disturbing feature of his figure now. Niko slightly flinched at the lack of dental hygiene, more so than Gulak's weird fashion attempt to incorporate a human formal suit to the shape of his misshapen lumpy goblin body. "It must be his son stirring the dunghole, aiming for the crown!"

"Clearly our earlier sweeps have not been concise enough to root out everything. Just how did they get their hands on my stamp though..." Merissa was already redoubling her efforts to lock down access to her documents and office. She could already feel the suspicious stares from Niko and Monica burning into her skin as she pulled out a map of the goblin kingdom, one already marked with areas that they had cleared.

"I know Sasha swept everything above land. All the way from Kregol up to the caldera at the peak." Monica asserted. "If it's a hiding spot, it's either in a cave or somewhere deep underground."

"The fundraiser is going to happen in a few days. We won't have enough time to sweep every single cave." Niko shook his head, narrowing down the scope of their next steps. "We need to immediately work on isolating and capturing rebels, both former and potential ones. Is the prison still secure?"

"Yes, but they work the mines in shifts to extract the Toxic Nodia." King Sahusa pointed out. "Perhaps that is where they retrieved their resources from..."

"Then we need to secure the mine right now. Now that we have the Seeker captured, the rest of the rebels will be alerted." Monica completed. "We'll have to move fast!"

However, their attempts over the next three days bore no fruit. A few more crates of Versian weapons were found in a few goblin homes, but nothing pointed to where the son of Osir was. "He has to be here. He has to be. Must be hiding right under our noses." Niko mumbled as he scoured the mine for what he felt had been the umpteenth time. The mine workers were equally disgruntled at the halt of operations, forced to assemble in chambers for headcounts and interrogation repeatedly, increasing dissent.

"We can't keep treating them like that, we would be sending them right into the rebel's hands." Merissa pointed out.

"They are just goblins, who give a shit what they feel. If they try to go against us, we'll just wipe the floor with them." Niko grunted. "I've already called for additional manpower from Raktor to come and assist."

"Well if you would like to see our entire production lines grind to a halt, that mindset is pretty good. The goblins here are already experiencing a higher standard of living, and their demands are only going to grow over time. Suppressing them with violence isn't the play here."

"Who even are you? Are you trying to crush an insurgency with me, or are you working for the goblins now that you've stayed here for two years?" Niko snapped back. "There is a time for appeasment and a time for a heavy hand. You really think we are going to hold back after they tried to snatch wealth from us, wealth enough for a man to live five centuries without working?"

"If you distributed that wealth in the first place instead of hoarding it, none of this might happen."

"Or the greedy goblins will try anyway. And we're not hoarding it - we're going to use it for..."

Merissa furrowed her brows as Niko's voice trailed off, a wave of realization dawning on his face. Ignoring Merissa's confusion, he brushed her off, storming out of the mine's tunnels back to the surface to use an arctech radio, shouting at the top of his lungs. "Call back all the reinforcements! Send them back - the goblin rebels are aiming for the fundraiser! They are already in Raktor!"