He ran as fast as his little legs could carry him; turning he could still see the armored demon with the red glowing eyes clutching the ax his brother had been using. He needed to tell the others, their ambush should have succeeded, but they underestimated the number of adversaries, but once the others were warned, they would make the intruders pay. Before he could make it any further, all thoughts ceased, the cause of which was the ax it had seen a moment ago was now imbedded in the back of its skull. The runner collapsed with a thud as the blood pooled around its small green body.

"That makes fifteen."

The voice was dispassionate, almost mechanical. It came from a human clad in a dirty helmet and leather armor. Attached to his hip was a sword of strange length, on his left arm was a small, round shield and in his left hand was a torch.

To a new adventurer, one would take one look at this odd fellow and come to the conclusion that their own gear was far better that what he was wearing, perhaps a rookie like themselves, but to those who actually knew him, could tell this was an experienced silver ranked adventurer, the Frontier's Kindest…the Goblin Slayer.

"You really need to stop throwing your weapons away Orcbolg."

The voice came from an elven archer with long ears who frowned at the bodies around her. The armored warrior didn't so much as turn as he drew out his sword and checked the bodies to ensure they were truly dead.

"It came from one of the goblins, I can always steal another one."

The Elven Archer puffed her cheeks in annoyance as her ears flapped ever so slightly.

"I've told you before Long-Ears, Beardcutter is a stubborn one, even more so than I am."

This voice came from the group's Dwarf Shaman who smiled as he stroked his beard.

"I'm just saying, leave the long range targets to the only one of us best suited for the task as hand"

The Elven Archer stuck out her chest with pride all the while the Dwarf Shaman stroked his beard while smiling.

"But of course…with an anvil for a chest, nothing would get in the way of your bow now would it?"

Immediately High Elf Archer covered her chest all the while glaring at the Dwarf Shaman.

"Why you…short excuse for a wine barrel!"

"Lady Ranger! Sir Mage! I think now is not the best time for you to be quarreling, lest you both alert the rest of the foul creatures to our presence."

They turned to see the imposing image of the Lizard Priest tower over them, instantly taking the fight out of both of them. The Lizard Priest sighed as he placed his hands together in front of him, his breath wheezing out from his jaws.

"If nothing else, it's nice to see they're such good friends that they can argue like that."

The final member was a beautiful young woman dressed in the vestments of the clergy over her chain mail. She gripped her sounding staff as she finished her prayers to the Earth Mother before continuing with her party.

"Given what we've seen so far, what are your thoughts Beardcutter?"

"There are more goblins than I originally thought, and they actually have armor, but still we will kill all the goblins."

The group smiled wearily as they followed the oddly dressed leader deeper into the cave.

"Do you think the captives are still alive Goblin Slayer?"

"I don't know, the quest is still fairly new, so it is possible." Goblin Slayer as he continued on then paused upon the fixture in front of him. "Look."

"What is it Goblin…oh, a totem."

Before the group was a mounted skull upon a stake with various feathers around it.

"Which would indicate the presence of a shaman does it not Milord Goblin Slayer?"

"The one leading this horde. They must be planning to raid the village and the women would be used to bolster their forces. The earlier assaults were just to scout the area before they launch their full scale attack."

"These filthy creatures…is there no end to how low they'll sink?"

"That's why we're here Long-Ears, so ensure these little devils pay for what they've done."

"Then it's time to move."

Ever forward they pressed on, dispatching a couple sentries along the way. They soon came upon a section of the cave which must have been the dumping grounds for the unwanted materials. Several bones, chunks of rotten meat, and broken weapons lay around the area. High Elf Archer examined the pile and to her chagrin found two Guild tags among the remains, one porcelain and one obsidian.

"Looks like we found the remains of the previous group." Dwarf Shaman commented as he examined the corpses closest to him.

"Didn't Guild Girl tell us that the party was comprised of three?" Priestess asked upon finishing her prayers.

"Indeed." Lizard Priest added as he too concluded his prayers "Yet we only find two tags, which may indicate one of the party may still be alive?"

"If there are only two tags here, then the final party member must be a woman."

Goblin Slayer examined the weapons but found nothing of use among the refuse, but further inspection turned up remains of the cave's previous owners. The body's skull, limbs and most of the intestines were missing, which would explain the totem they saw earlier. Near this body were smaller bones, very little meat stuck to the blackened bones, indicating they had been roasted, possibly while alive.

"Wolves. A mother and her pups…looks like there were three little ones."

"Truly dreadful. A mother and her offspring attacked in their home and turned into food for the vile creatures."

"They must have found this cave and dug further to build their encampment."

"What of the father? Can't imagine he'd abandon his mate and her litter, what do you think Scaly?"

"He too may have become food for the goblins, assuming he has not returned yet."

"Then he's likely to attack whoever is in front of him if he does find this. This adventure is getting worse as we go on."

"There's no time to waste, we must crush this nest before there are more fatalities."

As they moved further into the cave, the group kept wondering just how many more goblins there could be. They had killed seventeen thus far, but there was still no sign of the shaman. In Priestess' mind she found herself thinking back to nest they had to deal with while attending the wedding in the forest. The shaman had incapacitated her comrades and things could have gone much worse had she not done what she had.

"Wait." High Elf Archer whispered as her ears took in the nearby sounds. "I hear goblins from up ahead, and something else…something growling."

"Let's move."

They cautiously moved forward until they came to a section that descended, from a hidden vantage point they peered over to side to see what was below them.

"What do you see?"

"There are three goblins down there Orcbolg and…there's the animal making those sounds."

The goblins cackled with clubs in hand as the beast in front of them snarled. The wolf with black fur and red eyes was shackled to the ground with manacles around each limb to keep it from moving any closer. As Priestess looked at the animal, in the darkness these wolf's eyes seemed to glow, and in that instant was immediately reminded of Goblin Slayer.

"Those eyes…just like Goblin Slayer's. That poor animals, he's lost everything and yet is still willing to fight."

One of the goblins brought its club down upon the head of the wolf, a quick splash of blood hit the floor and dripped from the goblin's club, but the wolf did not fall. It snarled once again as it attempted to attack its captors, struggling to remove itself, all the while the goblins laughed.

"Poor beast." Lizard Priest tightened his grip around his tooth blade.

"Look at the size of it…much larger than a normal wolf." High Elf Archer followed as she drew an arrow from her quiver.

Goblin Slayer's eye began to glow within the dark as he readied to attack.

"Yes…a dire wolf."

Author's Note: After doing a little research on wolves, I know that a dire wolf isn't much larger than a regular wolf, about 25% bigger, but for the sake of this story I plan to make this wolf much larger and more muscular. Think of it like a full grown pony, even on all fours about five feet tall and around 600 pounds. I want this to be an imposing creature, even to a goblin champion. *Hint, Hint*