With their skilled tracker in the lead, the patrol headed out searching for the possible Goblin Lord. The guards were all understandably nervous to hear about the chance that the Goblin attacks on their town were more organized than they had suspected, mixed with a sense of eagerness to find the truth and hopefully eliminate the threat before things got even worse for the village.
The bonus pay for a confirmed Goblin Lord elimination would be enough to give them the easy life for a few months, and perhaps even buy a few things for the family that they had been waiting for the right time to fit into the budget.
Every guard set aside a lot of their pay, just in case they didn't come home one day, but now and then they had to splurge on their family to keep things happy at home.
For Wiz and Bella, it was somewhat the same. They didn't have a family of their own to take care of, but Wiz's family farm relied on the income that he brought in to keep them from struggling during the winter months. It was just part of living on a farm, only the best years were really comfortable, and you had to save some of that in case the next year wasn't a good one.
"There are footprints headed back toward the City. Goblins, with hobgoblins for sure. The prints are the same four-toed pattern, but too big for a regular Goblin." The scout reported.
"Perfect, we're on the right path. Can you tell how far ahead of us they are?" Wiz asked.
"Not far. It looks like they're setting up for an ambush. The footprints keep splitting off like they're looking for something." He reported.
"Or hiding their numbers." The Guard Captain added.
That put everyone on edge. Hiding their numbers was unusual for Goblins, but the Hobgoblins were a bit smarter, and if the report was right and there was a Lord, they might actually manage a proper ambush.
"Everyone form up in the hostile territory pattern. I've got a bad feeling about this." Wiz whispered a few seconds later.
Everything was quiet around them. Too quiet.
The guards fell into a circle around the ranged attackers and the cleric, the usual pattern for defence against Goblins. Defending the ranged attackers meant that even after the goblins had engaged, they wouldn't be forced to stop shooting. The guards just had to trust their ranged support not to shoot them in the back.
As long as that much trust existed, moving to this formation wouldn't reduce their damage output, even while it shrunk the size of their position.
They followed the trail a little further, until the scout reported that there were convergent footprints, more Goblins were joining the group and doing their best to step in the footprints of those who travelled before them.
They weren't actually skilled at it, and the tracker picked it up right away, but most groups would have never noticed that the number of Goblins was growing rapidly.
"I say there are nearly fifty of them, with five Hobgoblins. Are we ready for this?" The tracker asked.
Wiz nodded. "Let's get this done."
They moved past a group of trees, and the wind shifted, bringing the stench of Goblin to them a full second before the screams of the attackers shattered the silence. It was more than enough time to get their defences set, and the charging goblins were quickly mowed down by Bella's guns combined with Dominic firing off [Arcane Blast] as fast as he could.
The Goblins who were hanging back screamed in rage and joined the offensive as they realized their front ranks were dying. That brought out another dozen goblins, as well as eight Hobgoblins.
They had estimated five, but the guards could still deal with eight, as long as they didn't waste too much time fighting with the smaller ones.
"Do we shift positions?" One of the guards asked.
He was facing away from the Hobgoblins, where the heaviest fighting would be, and where his blade would be most desperately needed.
"Hold your formation. They will circle around us looking for a weak point." The Guard Commander ordered, keeping the soldiers in their circular grouping.
Dominic went straight to hurling [Arcane Blast] at the Hobgoblins, felling one with a lucky hit to the face, and severely injuring two more before the smaller goblins had even reached combat.
"You get the big ones, I will help clear the front ranks." Bella shouted as she fired her pistols dry into the green tide, then rapidly reloaded.
The hobgoblins were just as fast as Dominic remembered them, and it was a matter of seconds before they were crashing into the shields and blades of the guards, the perfect moment for Dominic to hit their exposed faces.
But then they did the strangest thing. A shrill voice yelled something in the Goblin language, and they all ducked their heads to tackle the guards instead of trying to fight them.
That took half the guards off their feet and ruined any semblance of formation that the group had.
Dominic managed to kill another, while Bella got two, one with each pistol, but the smaller goblins were swarming out from behind the rocks and trees, not giving any time for the guards to get back to their feet.
With a roar, Dominic unleashed his [Dragon Flame] into the densely packed group of goblins and across the backs of the surviving Hobgoblins, roasting flesh from bone and making them rear up off the guards, who jumped on the opportunity to stab into their exposed chests.
"That's the Lord. Drive them out of our formation and don't let him escape." The Guard Captain ordered.
That was easier said than done. The hobgoblins might have been defeated, but there were still dozens of others between them and the Goblin Lord's position on a log overlooking the battle.
The moment that he realized his side was losing, he would flee, and there would be nothing they could do to stop him. They didn't have the ranged firepower.
But there was a chance that they wouldn't need it. He had perched himself on top of a fallen tree, and if someone could blast it out from underneath him, he would tumble down into the fight where the guards could get at him.
The guards managed to get back to their feet, other than one with a broken leg that the Cleric's [Flash of Light] healing ability wasn't enough to totally repair, reforming the circle to push the Goblins back to a manageable distance with Dominic and Bella's firepower thinning their ranks.
That was the moment, Dominic was sure of it. The Lord was about to flee, so he threw an [Arcane Blast] at the rotted tree under his feet.
But his aim was off, and the spell severed the Goblin Lord's leg at the ankle, sending him tumbling forward down the hill and right into Wiz, who grinned with delight as he lifted his blade and drove it down through the Goblin Lord's head.
That was one loss too many for the rest of the Goblins, and they fled, dropping their weapons and anything else that was slowing them down.
"Who is too wounded to walk?" Wiz asked, starting the triage process for his limited number of healing spells.
"I think it's just me. But once they splint my leg, I can hobble back with the group." The downed guardsman replied.
Everyone else, except for Dominic, had various wounds all over their bodies, even Bella, who had only been up close to the fighting for a few seconds after the Hobgoblins pushed through the line.
But if anyone noticed that it was strange that the Dragonkin wasn't injured, nobody said anything. Instead, they focused on taking out bandages to treat their own wounds first, before helping their comrades with the wounds they couldn't reach.
"Get the ears and the Lord's whole head. Let's get out of here." The Guard Captain directed.
That was the greatest thing that Dominic had heard all day.