Sleeping Goblins

One of the goblins forced into guard duty was watching another struggle to keep itself awake. As his fellow goblin finally collapsed from exhaustion, he snarled, a fiery rage permeating his body. He had been forced to stand guard all day, and had barely gotten any sleep since yesterday. He was hungry, tired, and wanted nothing more than to lay down and get some rest. And yet this bastard dared to slack off right in front of him?

The goblin made eye contact with the others, and a silent agreement was made amongst them. All of them converged on the sleeping goblin. Once they all arrived, they began to mercilessly beat their fellow goblin. The goblins laughed and hooted, taking out their anger on their unfortunate fellow.

The goblins nearby shuffled in their sleep, but the ruckus did not wake them.

From outside the goblin camp, Raven watched. A dark gleam in his eyes.

'The goblins fighting each other isn't waking the others! The goblins must be used to the sound of goblin squabbles. If I can get there, and kill them quickly enough, I might be able to fight them without waking the others!'

Raven got up, and ran towards the entrance closest to the brawling goblins.

'Even if they stop fighting before they get there, having them grouped up is an opportunity! I could kill them all while they are weakened and distracted, and even if they let out a warning cry, I might still have a chance to kill several goblins in their sleep.'

Arriving at the entrance, he listened, checking to see if the goblins were still fighting. 'Good, they are still going at it! 10 or so feet to my left, this is my chance!'

As quickly as he could move without being loud, he rushed towards the goblins.

The goblins, enthralled in their beating, didn't notice immediately.

One step in, Raven slid out three of his throwing knives.

Two goblins looked up, noticing the approaching intruder.

Three knives were thrown in quick succession, taking out the two who noticed and the largest one.

For a brief moment, the goblins froze in shock. And in that moment...

... Raven reached the goblins, knife in hand, and immediately began slashing wildly. The first moment killed three more goblins

'This one moment is all I have!'

The seven living goblins broke free from their shock, and launched themselves at Raven.

Raven grimaced as the goblins tore away at his flesh, but he kept on swinging.

'I don't have any skill, but I have an advantage in reach and raw power! If I can just hit hard and fast enough, I might keep them from calling for help!'

In a second, Raven's entire body was covered in cuts and scratches. However, three more goblins were dead.

The remaining goblins began to back away, fear in their eyes.

Raven rushed forward, relentlessly slashing away.

Three more goblins were killed.

The last goblin, however, scurried back, putting space between him and Raven. Then, he began to scre-

Raven through his knife, which entered through the mouth. As the knife penetrated the back of the goblin's throat, Raven rushed over and pushed it down. Then, he sliced its' throat with one of his throwing daggers.

After that, Raven took a deep breathe. As the adrenaline coursed through his body, his hands shook, his heart racing.

'I... I did it? Okay, then I just gotta sta-'

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed movement. His head snapped in that direction.

A goblin had woke up, and was staring at Raven.

Before he even knew what he was doing, Raven pulled the knife out of the dead goblin, and rushed forward.

The goblin tried to scream-

But Raven's blade severed his head before that could happen. However...

The nearby goblins were waking up from their slumber!

Raven began stabbing down into the throats of the nearby goblins, as fast as he could.

'Well, fuck. Probably not going to be able to kill them all in their sleep now. Still, if I can kill a dozen or so, that wi-"

Behind Raven, a bloodcurdling shriek was unleashed, echoeing throughout the camp.

Looking over his shoulder, Raven saw a singular goblin, and scowled.

'That goblin... it was the one they were beating! How did he avoid me? Did he play dead?'

Raven threw a dagger at the goblin.

The goblin dodged the dagger, cackling as it scurried away.

Raven cursed, turning back towards the nearby goblins, and began stabbing down into goblins with renewed vigor. He didn't have time to pursue the fleeing goblin, because right now...

... every goblin in the camp was waking up!

Raven didn't bother aiming for the throats, he just stabbed anywhere he could.

'Not good! Rainheart definitely heard that, so he will be approaching. Still, I have to kill as many as I can!'

Raven had a few seconds before the woken goblins reached him, and not every goblin was getting up at the same pace. In those few seconds, he was able to kill seven more goblins as they stirred awake.

As Raven was stabbing down towards another, a goblin leaped towards him, grabbing onto his back.

Cursing, Raven grabbed another dagger from his leg, stabbing at the goblin on his back while still pushing his blade into the goblin still on the ground.

The goblin on his back tore at his cloak with its' claws, but Raven's dagger stabbed into his heart before it could do any damage.

As the goblin fell off his back, Raven scanned his surroundings.

Currently, a dozen goblins had already woken up, and were rushing towards him.

Raven threw another dagger at the closest goblin, and then turned around to sprint away.

Behind him, Raven could hear the goblins give chase.

'Looks like there are between 20 and 30 goblins left. No matter how weak, short and stupid they are, if we let them surround us, we die.'

Even though Raven's legs were longer, the goblins were still able to keep pace.

One of the closer goblins leapt towards Raven.

Sidestepping out of the way, Raven continued to run towards the exit.

'can't slow down, just a bit more.'

Before the goblins could catch up, Raven made it out of the exit.

Waiting besides the exit was Rainheart.

As Raven passed through, Rainheart placed a makeshift barricade of thick sticks, wrapped together with vines cut from the mountain, in front of the entrance.

Then, both Raven and Rainheart turned towards the approaching goblins.