Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He's nocternal, but school hours don't take this into account

Chapter Text

Submitted by : Anonymous

Chapter Text

Original headcannon submitted by : pianofirepirate

Chapter Text

It was getting close to 1am before Jawbones car finally pulled back into the driveway of Mordred manor, Kristen and Fabian exiting into the cold night air and stretching before the half-elf turned and hefted Riz out of the back seat like he was a piece of luggage that had been left behind. The goblin looked, and felt, miserable. Sadly chewing on the massive chunk of jerky the doctors in the ER had forced on him after checking him over and giving him the all clear. The dose of epinephran Kristen had given him had not at all been calibrated for a creature his size, though it had done the trick of stopping the allergy reaction from getting out of hand long enough for them to administer the proper meds. The fact he'd been given it on a practically empty stomach had left him feeling horrible, and apparently the textbook-approved solution (and he was a little wary that they had to pull out said textbook to find the goblin-related treatment methods) before sending him home was a massive chunk of cured meat to gnaw on until he felt up to eating a proper meal. Honestly if he felt less like dying he would be impressed with how tough it was, given he'd been chewing on it for the entire ride home and barely made a dent... it was very satisfying to try and sink his teeth into and was an excellent distraction.

As it was, the meds they'd given him to bring his heart-rate down from 'I'm currently fighting a dragon' levels to something more normal had left him feeling like someone had filled his head full of cotton.. and then cursed him to feel like he'd been punched in the eyes every time they passed a street light on the way back. He'd spent the entire trip with his face pressed against Fabians side trying to block out the light and the other boy hadn't even complained, only shifting his arm to cover Riz's head more fully. Even dimmed all the way down to the lowest setting he hadnt been able to look at the screen of his crystal without pain, so he'd handed it off to Kristen to call his mum and let her know what was going on. She'd been worried, but given that she had zero healing abilities she had decided that it was probably best to have Riz continue with his plans to stay the night at Mordred just in case something else happened and she'd collect him later tomorrow to drive him home.

"Come on The Ball, surely it can't be that bad." Fabian joked, trying to keep the volume down as he adjusted his grip under Riz's arms and hauled him out of the car and onto his feet.

The goblin, to his credit, only making a low growling noise to voice his dissatisfaction to being picked up like that instead of his usual swiping at exposed flesh with claws. His party were the only ones who could get away with picking him up at ALL without warning, but even then he didnt like getting grabbed under the arms like a child.

"I will pay you to shoot me in the head with my own arcubus." Rizz muttered, sheilding his eyes a bit from the porch light as they headed back inside. Noteing that, if his relfection in the window was to be beleived, his current light sensitivity was probably because his iris were fully dialated and stuck that way because of the meds. He couldnt even see the whites of his eyes in his reflection. 

"Later, we're not supposed to use healing magic on you until we're sure you won't break out into hives again and I'm PRETTY sure revivify counts."

"It does. But he should be fine to be healed after a long rest.... not that he'll need it by that point." Kristen offered, the paper bag in her hands crinkling as she kicked off her shoes near the door. Fabian catching her eye and nodding towards the stairs as he went to go find the rest of their friends and fill them in on what happened.

The bag contained the medications the doctor had reccomended once they'd sorted Riz out including the replacement for the allergy pen Kristen had used to save his life. Jawbones pen had been damn expensive, given that they had to be specially made to even puncture werewolf skin, though they did get a discount for turning in the spent one at least. Fabian had then spent more than a month of Sklondas sallary buying a dozen goblin-dose sized pens to distribute among the party and various locations Riz tended to frequent (though he didn't tell Riz how much it cost, and Riz was currently in too much pain to even think about it).

Riz just made a disgruntled noise at the mention of a long rest, squinting to try and block out some light as he went about looking for where he'd left his breifcase. Noone had turned on any lights inside the house, thank Cass, but with how wide his pupils were blown he might as well have been walking around in daylight. He eventually found it under the kitchen table, which their game was still set up on but the mugs that had contained the offending tea had been conspicuiously cleared away. 

"Do you mind if i use the shower?" He crouched and popped the clasp on his breifcase to rummage for a spare set of clothes, claws digging in the extradimensional space until he found some pajamas he knew were in there somewhere. "I reek of hospital."

"Sure kiddo, you know where it is. Spare towels are in the usualy spot." Jawbone locked the door behind him as he entered, trying to keep quiet just in case the other teens or Sandra Lynn were already asleep.

Riz muttered a thanks and grabbed his breifcase to take it upstairs with him, taking note as he passed the kitchen that Kristen was replacing the used allergy pen with a new one plus a much smaller version in the med-kit under the sink. Good to know where they kept them for next time, though he sincerely hoped there wouldnt be a next time. This single time sucked enough as it was.

The shower did help somewhat, though not as much as he had hoped. At the very least he no longer smelled of hospital disinfectant which was a plus in his book. His sense of smell was strong but nowhere near as strong as Jawbones. He honestly had no idea how he was able to stand being in the emergency room the entire two hours they'd been there.

Riz had stood under the hot water in the dark long enough that the medication had started to wear off somewhat, his surroundings darkening as his pupils finally started to retract to a more sensible size and he could no longer read the writing on his arms with total clarity. He'd apparently also been in there long enough to make Fabian worry, because the half-elf had come knocking at the door before he'd even turned the water off.

"The Ball?" He asked tentitivly, Riz's hum of an answer apparently not quite loud enough to be heard over the shower. "Riz? If you don't answer I'm going to go get Gorgug to come save you. I'm NOT about to bust the door down to rescue you while you're naked."

The goblins laugh at the comment was apparently loud enough to be audible, because he heard Fabians sigh of releif as he turned off the water. He didn't beleive him for a second that he'd waste time going to fetch Gorgug if he was actually in danger especially with how he'd reacted earlier in the night. 

"Sorry, it was helping. I'll be out in a second." Riz finally answered, shaking himself partially dry before grabbing the towel and drying off properly. When he finally exited the bathroom he felt clean and a lot more comfortable, though his hair was still slightly damp. The smell of the guest soap and shampoo was miles better than the smell of a hospital waiting room that was still lingering on his suit, he was just glad he had a spare outfit in his breifcase that he could put on tomorrow. For now though, he was wearing his barely seen pajamas because despite his normal feelings on the matter he had to admit that sleep was looking pretty good right now.

Fabian was still waiting outside the door when he came out, a little bit surprised to see Riz out of his normal attire but he tried to hide it. Even if Riz was currently fighting the mother of all headaches, Fabian still utterly failed in his deception though. 

"So you're actually going to try and sleep." The fighter leaned down, picking up Riz's breifcase for him and using it to stear him towards Adaines room. Riz giving him a tired hum of affirmation and letting himself be partially pushed along. "If we look at it from this angle, the whole 'get Riz to sleep by giving him chamomile tea' plan worked..... in a very roundabout way."

"Mmmmm, but I would prefer if our plans involved slightly fewer near-death experiances." The goblin frowned, squinting up at Fabian who had the good sense to look guilty about the whole thing still. The fighter opening the door to Adaines room for him and waving him inside. "But that's not very on brand for us is it?"

"Oh absoloutly not." Fabian agreed quietly, his voice barely more than a whisper since the rest of their party had piled into one corner of the room already.

He dropped Riz's breifcase next to his own backpack in the corner of Adaines room, crouching to rifle through his things until he found his own sleep shirt and shucked his jacket and tank top. Riz left him there to get changed, wandering over to the pile of his sleeping friends and scrutinizing it for a spot to lie down himself. 

While trying to work out whether it was better to risk squeezing in next to Gorgug and Kristen (who had taken all of four seconds to pass out once they'd gotten home, though she was still clutching the paper bag of medications like it was a stuffed animal) or just stealing a stuffed animal to lie on and tucking himself into another corner outside the kick-zone Adaine came out of her trance. The elf sniffling a little and, Riz realised, looking like she'd been crying for hours.

"Hi... sorry I didn't mean to wake you." Riz gave her a bit of a sheepish look, trying to shuffle to another corner where it looked like he wouldnt be at risk of being crushed. He didnt get far though, because with surprising speed Adaine had shot out a hand to grab his wrist.


"Im so sorryyyyy." Adaine sniffed again, reeling Riz in closer and crushing him in an awkward hug as he stood there and pat her hair with his free hand. " I didn't.... usually I get a vision when something bad is going to happen and there was NOTHING."

Fabian offered exactly zero help as he used his foot to make Fig roll over so that she settled down closer to Gorgug, freeing up a section of the blanket and pillow pile next to Adaine for himself to lie down outside of the Fig-Kristen kick zone. Arm getting draped over his good eye as he released an exhausted sigh.

Riz rolled his eyes, regretting it immediatly when it made his head throb painfully again and just settled for patting Adaine awkwardly on the head until her sniffling petered off and she released her vice-grip on his wrist.

"It's fine, I mean. Better that it happened here where Kristen knew what was happening i guess?" he offered, using the hem of his shirt to try and dry her face when she sat back. "I mean, your visions usually warn us when we're in life-threatening situations right? Maybe this was better than the alternative."

Adaine made a small 'oh' noise, sniffling again and reaching into her jacket for a packet of tissues to blow her nose. "Maybe? I could try to do a reading to see what would have happened if I didn't accidentally poison you?"

"Well I mean, this is the first time something like this has happened. It would be good to know if thats the parameter for your vision not warning us about a near-death experiance. Y'know, this thing had to happen or something WORSE will happen later" Rizz rotated the puzzle that was Adaines visions in his mind a little as he shuffled around, depositing himself in the conveniantly him-sized nook Fabian had made between himself and Adaine's leg by shifting Fig out of the way. The fighers hand leaving its position draped over his face to drop onto Riz's head and ruffle his hair. Riz gave him a good-natured hiss and nipped his fingers, but didn't try to shake him off as he curled himself up to get comfortable. The hand resting heavy on the top of his head as he shut his eyes and he felt Adaine readjust her seated position to his other side. 

He had nearly dropped off to sleep when he heard her make another 'Oh' noise, Adaines hand moving to rest on his back and making him flick his ear in acknowledgement to her silent question. No, he wasn't asleep yet, yes he was listening.

"I think you were right." Adaine whispered, Riz flicking his ear again and rotating it slightly so he could hear her better. "Your mums coworker gets back from a holiday next week and gives her some tea as a souvinir. I saw..."

The elf paused, swallowing and trying to gather herself for a second. "She convinced you to try some when she got home and you.... there was.... you died. FULLY died. It was awful... i stopped watching at that point."

"Good to know." Riz yawned, shifting so he could squint up at Adaine around Fabians fingers that were partially covering his face. "I'm glad you only almost killed me."

That earned a quiet laugh from Adaine, the elf leaning back onto her mountain of stuffed animals and pulling Boggy into her lap where he croaked quietly. "Yeah, me too I guess."

The goblin just huffed in amusement at that, reaching up to grab one of Adaines hands from where she was squishing Boggy and pulled it down so he could hold it as he closed his eyes. Shuffling to get more comfortable as he gave her hand a comforting squeeze. He doubted she beleived him, but it would have to do for now. He was out like a light within five minutes, comfortable and warm despite the splitting headache and the days excitement.

Chapter Text

Submitted by : Myself, because i felt like it 

Chapter Text

As was what seemed to be almost a tradition now, the bad kids had been roped into more work during their break between junior and senior year. Their holiday had gone well so far, save for a couple minor bumps including an allergy scare on Riz’s part, but now they were tromping through the forest. This one was slightly less high-stakes possibly world-ending than their usual fair though, as Sandra Lynn had brought up the opportunity for them to add some ‘real’ adventuring to their resumes before the new school year started.

Fig had argued that all of their previous adventures were real, but had to admit her mother was right when she pointed out that everything they had done so far was technically school related since it added to their class credits. This would be an actual PAYING adventuring job, with a client and clear objectives and it would look excellent on any of their college applications should they choose to go.

That was how their adventuring party had ended up in the middle of the Mountains of Chaos, hired to help the rangers with a Wyvern culling since the overpopulation was liable to destroy the local eco system if left unchecked. Sandra Lynn had managed to snag them the job by pointing out that technically the kids were already proven and VERY experienced dragon killers, and Wyverns were a lot less tricky to kill than a full blooded, sentient dragon.

So off the bad kids had gone; kitted out with camping packs, a decent supply of potions and proper slash and fireproof fitted adventurers armour (an OHS requirement for all contractors working for the forestry department). As far as their adventures had gone so far, this one had definitely involved the most walking. Vehicles couldn’t traverse the forests surrounding the Mountains of Chaos and CERTAINLY couldn’t get to the areas where the Wyverns were nesting, so both the hangvan and the hangman were left at home.

It was also how the kids found themselves, four days in and seven of their twenty targeted wyverns dead, completely and utterly spent. A freshly killed wyvern in the clearing and almost every single spell-slot exhausted as they repaired their gear, healed their teammates, and started looking for a place to set up camp and get a good long rest in before heading towards the next nesting site.

It was already getting quite late, and nighttime fell in the Mountains of Chaos quickly once the sun disappeared behind the cliff faces. In order to increase their group walk speed (and as a bonus, stop Fig and Riz from nipping at eachother as they came down from their battle high), Gorgug had elected to simply carry their smallest party member so he wasn’t having to jog to keep up with everyone. Adaine also got to enjoy a piggyback ride for most of the trek, as she was the one team member who had the lowest level of physical fitness among the six.

Her occupying Gorgugs back meant that Riz was unable to perch in his favourite riding position though and, since he refused to be carried around like a toddler, was currently being hefted under the half-orcs arm like a sack of potatos. Ears pinned back and tail flicking irritably even though he had to admit that they were making much better time now as they searched for somewhere safe to set up for the night. Plus, it meant that he wasn’t having to exhaust himself further trying to keep pace with his teammates. It turns out that not being able to sleep when this far from civilisation can REALLY put you at a disadvantage after the exhaustion points start to stack. It had only been four days, he’d had at least ONE nap in that time and would argue he’d gone longer before needing it before but he was usually doing a lot more sitting around so he was feeling it faster than he usually would.

The goblin was almost dozing when he was suddenly dropped, jerking out of his half-asleep state and managing to land in a crouch by Gorgugs feet. Very quickly alert as he reached for his arcubus and sword when he noticed his entire party had gone very still and alarmingly quiet. Gorgugs ax making a loud thumping noise as it hit the ground on his other side.

It was at that point he noticed they were surrounded, Riz counting at least a dozen older goblins partially camouflaged in the foliage around them with spears and bows at the ready. A few of them had stepped into the open on the pathway in front of them, which is what had made Gorgug at the head of their march stop so suddenly, and one was chattering and gesturing towards Riz.

The rogue gave the gesturing goblin a confused look, standing up out of his crouch and lowering his hands to his sides. It took him a few seconds to realise that he was actually being spoken to, since he only ever spoke goblin with his mother, but the accent was a little different than he was used to.

//Kid quick, get over here before one of the tall-men think to grab you again. We’ll take care of them once you’re out of the firing line don’t worry.// The adults accent was very different to his parents, or even his parents horde who he’d met only a few times when he was very young, so it took him a couple seconds to process what exactly the older goblin had said.

The goblin gestured more enthusiastically when the rogue made no move to get away from the half-orc that had been carrying him, Riz just flicking his ears into a more inquisitive posture while he cleared his throat to speak.

//No I’m… good thanks. They’re not… they’re my party, um… horde. I’m not in any danger.// He sheathed his sword and holstered his arcubus slowly, backing up so he more towards the centre of the group and more likely to get hit if any of the adults attacked recklessly.

Riz had to shush Fabian when he also cleared his throat to talk, pulling lightly on his pant leg and shaking his head. Ears flattening back against his head as he tried to work through a solution in his mind that wouldn’t end with anyone getting turned into a porcupine. They had no heals left, and only four potions leftover after that last fight. Getting violent in this situation was only going to end badly.

“Crouch, I think they think I’m in danger. I’m not sure if they’ll attack with me in the line of fire but you should probably make yourself look less like a threat.” He whispered to him in common when the fighter flicked his good eye towards him at the tug to his pant leg.

He was glad his party tended to be quick on the uptake in situations like this, because they all carefully lowered themselves into a crouching position when Fabian did while keeping their hands in view. Adaine even clambering off Gorgugs back to crouch on her own feet beside him.

“Riz what are they saying, should I cast comprehend languages?” Adaine spoke quietly, trying to stay mostly hidden behind Gorgug as the half-orc shuffled to shield as much as the party as he could from direct line of fire.

“No, you’re almost out of spell slots. I think I’ve got this but we might need it if things go south.”

The goblins on the path in front of them lowered their weapons slightly to give Riz a confused look when he backed up into his party, the one that had been gesturing for him to run to them handing off his spear to the one beside him to step in closer.

//You’re sure you’re okay? We thought you were in danger and got snatched from down the range.// He stepped in close enough to get a good look at Riz, the teenager flicking his tail and giving him what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

//The horde my parents belonged to is down the range, but they moved to Elmville before I was born. We’re up this way helping with some adventuring work thinning the wyvern population and were looking for somewhere to sleep.// He gestured at the rest of his party, Fig piping up with a passable if not slightly mispronounced ‘nice to meet you’ in goblin when the adult glanced towards her. //I know its only starting to get dark just now, but they’re diurnal and need to sleep at night.//

Riz was trying his level best to project an air of not being stressed out at all, the only thing giving away how tense he was being the strained position of his ears as he tried not to flick them around to keep an accurate picture in his head of the relative position of the hunting group surrounding them. He didn’t even realise that his teammates were picking up on his unease until the hunting group leader in front of him made a motion to wave the others off and he relaxed slightly. Kristen behind him sighing audibly as she flopped down to sit on the ground rather than crouch when he did so.

Some of the other hunters had already started making their way out of the trees, weapons put away as they came to investigate the group. Riz getting peppered with questions and examined more closely as the adults shifted from concerned to genuinely curious, the other kids looking backwards and forwards between him and whoever else was speaking as the rapid-fire goblin changed tone to a less cautious to a more excited pace.

“Mind filling us in The Ball, or are we going to stay crouched in the mud for the rest of the night.” Fabian offered cautiously after a few minutes, reaching for his dropped sword and picking it up when none of the adult goblins made a move to stop him. Carefully standing back up to his full height when Riz gestured that it was okay and turning to help Adaine stand up as well. Fig had stayed crouched, and seemed to want to stay that way given she looked VERY amused by the goblins checking out her fangs and horns and was currently showing off her most recent bite marks that Riz had left on her forearms from their play-fighting.

“Yeah its fine, they were out hunting and spotted us a while ago. They were just worried I’d been kidnapped and were stepping in to help.” He leaned his head back to meet Fabians gaze, the adult in front of him checking him over with what looked like genuine concern. “Though we might have found a place to camp at least, Blik says there’s plenty of room in their caves for us to crash overnight. At the very least it will be warm and dry, though you might have to endure a lot of prodding. Tall-men species are a rare site out this way.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

The reception they received when they were finally led to the caves was a little overwhelming Riz would be the first to admit. He could count on one hand how many times in his life there had been more than two goblins in a room with him, and this horde easily reached a population of over one hundred. It certainly felt like every single one of them had come into the cave they’d been set up in within the first hour of them being there, feeling like an endless parade of curious children and adults alike.

Once the hunting party had realised that they were ALL still children not just Riz (they apparently had a hard time judging the ages of the others due to their height) more than few of the elders had come through to fuss over them and make sure they were comfortable in the large common area they’d laid out their sleeping mats in. The cavern was easily eighty feet across, with the ceiling being high enough that even Riz couldn’t see it with his dark vision. They’d been given a comfortable corner to camp in though, with a few fires lit when they realised half the party was practically blind inside the caves and even more lanterns dug out of storage to hang along the walls.

Gorgug had been accosted by one of the larger groups of elders that had come in to fuss over them, but Riz suspected it was mostly because every time one of them handed him some food he would inspect it with genuine interest. Fabian standing and chatting with him as he also inspected some of the food items with a sort of morbid curiosity, though Riz knew for a fact that he would never try to eat ANY of it.

Fig and Kristen, for their part, seemed to be having the time of their lives as living jungle gyms. The tiny goblin children clambering all over them to inspect their hair and ears and fangs and generally chatter excitedly at them even though they couldn’t understand. Riz had no idea how they were managing to look like they HADNT been in a down-to-the-wire fight less than four hours ago, but apparently nothing could dampen a bad kids house party… even when the house was a cave that was full to bursting with goblins.

Riz was dragged off almost immediately by a group of the older teenagers and had been gone for a good half hour before returning, apparently having been given a tour of the living areas of the cave that his taller friends couldn’t reach. By the time he’d gotten back the whole setup had the air of a small festival, especially with the number of small children who’d come out to play once it was determined that the visitors were safe to interact with. Adaine was certainly adding to the general party atmosphere by producing small candy bars and trinkets from her jacket and distributing them among the kids. Fabian, from his spot leaning against the wall next to Gorgug gave Riz a little wave of greeting when he reappeared from the tunnels, relaxing a bit now that their rogue was back since it meant he didn’t have to be so vigilant for any incoming attacks. Riz’s perception would beat his almost any day.

The rogue had to admit he was genuinely enjoying himself, even if his social battery was draining at an alarming rate. It didn’t help that he was constantly getting accosted by a new teen every few minutes, more than one offering to show him around the sleeping areas even though he had already been given the tour when he arrived. They were all being incredibly friendly and complimentary, which was a bit of a novel experience for Riz but not an unwelcome one.

Apparently, it was a massive blind spot in his perception because it didn’t click what exactly was going on until one of the taller boys had gotten up into his personal space and ran a hand down his back, repeating the offer to give him a personal tour of the sleeping areas as he ran a hand along the base of Riz’s tail suggestively. They’d even gone so far as to suggest that Riz could show him his tattoos in more detail given that they weren’t very common around these parts, and that was the point that Riz’s brain had finally clicked back on. The rogue had frozen at the sudden unwanted touching, but once he put the pieces together (not his finest moment of detective work) he made a very audible noise of warning and bared his teeth. A threat that the other teen thankfully took seriously since he released his grip on his tail, and Riz had taken the opportunity to flee to the safety of Fabians shoulders.

In hindsight, Riz thinks that he may have overreacted a bit to the sudden realisation that they had been flirting with him the entire time but in his defence it wasn’t something that he had ever really encountered before from a first-person perspective. He was still shaking slightly from the flood of panic adrenalin when he settled himself on the fighters shoulders, but Fabian was gracious enough not to say anything. He did, however, give the group of teens Riz had been speaking with a suspicious look before wandering away from Gorgug to where they’d dumped their camp supplies to plop down comfortably against the wall with his new passenger.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~

They’d had to leave their crystals turned off for most of this trip, conserving the battery life in case of an emergency, so Fabian had found himself bereft of something to do with his hands while he people-watched with Riz.

All of his friends will mess around with the tail tuft if they get the opportunity, which they do because he often wraps his tail around their wrists or arms to stabilize himself while perching. He doesn’t even think about it when Fabian starts fiddling with it, just readjusting his position slightly and dropping his head onto the other boys hair with a huff.

They weren’t exactly all hanging out in private, Gorgug could barely fit through the caverns that led to this more open space let alone the interior rooms or sleeping areas (goblins like their dwellings a lot more claustrophobic than gnomes so the half-orc has no chance), so the whole party had just been hanging out in a common-area plaza inside the cave where they'd set up their camping gear.

Riz only vaguely takes notice of the sideways glances and body language shift of a couple of the younger goblins when Fabian starts fiddling with his tail. Their ears flicking up into a curious and alert position before settling back to a more confused cant. Clearly they just comprehended SOMETHING, but he hadn't been listening all that closely to what they were talking about.

Riz wasn’t all that interested anyway, since it was probably more of what he was getting bothered by while not perched on Fabians shoulder (at least three of the female teens had asked if he wanted to go back to their living quarters which he had not realised at the time was an invitation to something else, and when he turned them down one of the males had fully groped him and made a lewd comment about joining him instead). He was starting to prefer the total LACK of flirting he got in Elmville at this point, but thankfully they were all wary enough of Fabian that they were now keeping their distance.

Weirdly enough out of all the teens it hadn’t been Gorgug that this group of goblins found the most intimidating. Riz was just purposely making it less likely that anyone would come bother them by settling his body language into a very obvious ‘I am cranky about something leave me alone’ pose. The effect somewhat ruined by the fact that even though his ears were pinned back flat he was draping himself over Fabians head and letting himself be preened by the half-elf without protest. He was even comfortable enough that if you got close enough you could hear a very quiet purring.

He was currently enjoying himself watching a group of elderly goblins rushing backwards and forwards with various food-stuffs to Gorgug, who was very happily sorting through what they were handing him and eating most of it. Apparently, they had made a bit of a game of working out what the huge, sweet, green lad (Riz was belatedly realizing that oh yeah, Gorgug WOULD be considered kind of hot by goblin standards) would and would not eat and the answer was 'almost everything as long as it’s not too old, but definitely not any mushrooms or berries'. Which was smart on Gorgugs part, because while he could digest the meats they were handing him with no issue Riz had clocked at least four things in the 'not eat' pile that were probably a little bit toxic to half-orcs.

At least one of the nonnas had broken off from the feeding group to come over and ask if Gorgug was single, because he was such a sweet and tall lad and her granddaughteer Skeklen was looking for a mate but didn’t want children so it would be a good match. Riz had thought for a moment, ears flicking as he did so, before shaking his head at her question.

//No, I think he's spoken for? And before you ask I’m not sure if he's open to polyamory either.//

Fabian had paused in his fiddling with Riz's tail when she came over, but since he couldn’t understand anything had gone back to working the tangles and bits of debris from their earlier fight out of the hair in the tuft quickly enough. Jumping a little when the elderly goblin gave him a fond pat on the knee before toddling off.

//Oh well, that's a shame. Make sure you tell your lovely elf lad here he's doing a good job of taking care of you, but if he wants the others to back off he's going to have to make a bigger show of it. I know they can be a sort of delicate folk but he needs to be more outwardly forward.// She laughed, wandering back to the group of other elders to amuse herself watching Gorgug taste another goblin dish.

Riz was just very confused by that little comment, plopping his head back down as he yanked his tail out of Fabians hand. The tail-thrashing recommencing as he rotated the mystery in his mind. What the hell could she mean by 'more forward'?

_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

Riz only realised that he should have stopped Fabian from being so unintentionally grabby well after the point where it would have saved him the embarrassment. He had a good excuse at least, basically no one in Elmville even knew about goblin social graces or how physical contact could be interpreted differently. It was easier to just view everything through the eyes of a Solesian and move on with your day. Getting into a fight because someone insulted you or groped you unintentionally wasn't worth it so Riz’s default reaction was to just let it go.

His problem this time though was that they were currently surrounded by people who DID know those social customs and were currently holding them to them. Fabian had no way of knowing that what he just did was the equivalent of shoving your hand up your partners shirt in public, the INTENT wasn't there and that was the important part.

His friends were used to treating him with some care but he still hadn't had a chance to teach them everything. These goblins were gracious enough to forgive the weird tall-men for any minor blunders they made anyway.

It was still early enough in the night that none of the rest of his party had really started to settle down to get some rest, though Riz could tell Fabian was trying very hard not to nod off while he was leaning against the wall of the cavern. He’d settled down with Riz almost an hour ago, legs stretched out in front of him as he sat on one of their unrolled sleeping mats to protect him from the cold floor, and hadn’t said more than two words the entire time. The fighting had taken a lot out of him so Riz couldn’t fault him for the need for silence.

Riz had mostly zoned out by this point, safe from any harassment on Fabians shoulder, and had settled into people watching mode. He was currently watching the girls on the other side of the cavern where some tiny goblin kids were trying to teach them how to play a traditional game. Adaine must have used one of her few remaining spell slots (Kristen and fig were completely out due to a fight earlier in the day) to cast comprehend languages at some point because she seemed to have caught on pretty well.

He was so focused on watching the game that he'd stopped paying attention to his own fidgeting. Tail flicking in such a way that he accidentally thwacked Fabian in the face with the tuft. The move earning him a flinch and a surprised sputtering from the fighter when it woke him from his doze.

Riz was about to apologise for the affront, but the words died in his throat with an embarrassing choking noise because in an effort to stop Rizs tail moving and hitting him again Fabian had reached behind him, grabbed the base of his tail and /squeezed/. From Fabians point of view the manoeuvre had the intended effect, because the goblins tail went completely limp as if his spine had been snapped.

"If you don't stop you're going to lose perching privileges. You can sit on Gorgug for the rest of the night." Fabian’s tone was playful but Riz absolutely did not absorb what he'd actually said. Brain having ground to a screeching halt as he tried to switch gears from 'those goblins were grabbing me like that to flirt' to 'Fabian is grabbing me like that because he doesn't /know/ any better'.

"Hrkkgh." Nope, try again Gukgak that's not a word. Riz swallowed, relaxing his hand on Fabians shoulder from where he'd clenched down to the point his claws had almost punctured his armor with a shuddering sigh. He was glad they were more geared up than usual for this mission or there would have been bleeding.

"Sorry. My bad. You can let go now." The rogue sounded a little more strained than he meant to, having completely whiffed his attempt at deception to make it seem like nothing was wrong.

Fabian gave him a sceptical look, releasing his tail even as he readjusted his seating position slightly so he was cross legged. Riz swearing when the fighter suddenly pitched forwards to dislodge him from his perch with practised ease so he landed with an 'oof' on the balled up battle sheet in his lap.

"You can't fool me that easily The Ball." Fabian said with some annoyance, grabbing the base of Rizs tail again (more gently this time) so he couldn't scamper away.

"I knew that little shit that upset you earlier did something. You should have told me you were injured when it happened, I would have gutted him like a fish."

"It wasn’t something worth fighting over I'm not even - ow what the fuck Fabian." Riz flinched and hissed the last few words, baring his teeth because Fabian had flicked him on the ear with the hand not holding him in place with a grip on his tail.

"You are going to shut up and let me check to make sure nothing is broken or dislocated. If it IS I will force feed you a potion, I know they're in limited supply but letting a spinal break set wrong will cause issues in the long run and Kristen and Fig are tapped for spells." Fabian said matter of factly, pinning Riz down as he started squeezing at his tail again. Starting at the base and carefully feeling to make sure nothing was out of place or broken as he worked towards the tip. The fighter clicking his tongue when Riz made a noise that he interpreted as pain from the man-handling.

Riz brain fully stopped producing coherent thoughts at that point and he tried very hard to focus on NOT biting the armor on Fabian’s thigh that was right in front of his face. He was suddenly very glad they'd been forced to wear more armor than usual or they WOULD have to use one of their few emergency potions, because he ended up digging his claws into the sturdy leather and burying his face against it to muffle himself. The rogue was also having to remind himself that there was no amorous intent involved right now; Fabian was just worried he was injured and was conducting a medicine check. A TOTALLY normal thing friends do when someone is hurt.

He huffed when Fabian finally stopped and released him from the pin.  Riz reached around and thumped him in the side with the side of his fist to voice his dissatisfaction at the whole ordeal.

"Nothing broken, but if hurts that much you should get one of the girls to heal you in the morning" Fabian shrugged, ruffling Riz’s hair playfully before leaning back against the wall and getting comfortable. He didn’t even bother shifting Riz from where he was sprawled across his lap.

Riz hit Fabian lightly again in protest, flinching and whipping around to face the rest of the cavern when the elderly goblin woman from earlier laughed from where she was still trying to feed Gorgug with the others.

//THATS how you do it elf-lad. You shouldn't have stopped it looks like he was enjoying himself.// She heckled, one of her friends rolling her eyes and handing something to her. Apparently someone had just won a bet of some kind. //Or do you two perhaps need somewhere a little more private now?//

Riz sputtered, belatedly remembering that they were in fact currently in a room full of other goblins. Face blushing all the way to the tips of his ears as he tried to duck down to hide more in Fabians lap.

//He's not... we're not... it's not LIKE that.// Riz protested, voice breaking as he tried to curl up smaller. Critically failing on an attempt to stealth as he tried to get under the battle sheet and disappear.

His prayers to Cassandra for the ground to open and swallow him whole went sadly unanswered, but he redoubled his efforts when one of the teens from earlier came over and crouched down to speak to him.

//You should have just said your boyfriend was the possessive type. Niktlek was worried he was going to attack him since he's been glaring at him all night.// She whispered, glancing up at Fabian who just looked incredibly confused by the sudden commotion. //I mean, he could always join us if he wanted to though you'll have to explain the logistics. How does it even work with you two... is it proportional?//

Riz made a choking noise, covering his face with his hands which muffled his voice substantially.

//We're not fucking, gods we're not even. NO. Thankyou. We're not interested. I'M not interested. At all. Ever. Can you please all just stop.//

The teen shrugged, eyeing off the rest of his party before trotting over towards the girls. Riz had so thoroughly curled in on himself to hide that he missed Fabian mouthing 'what the fuck was that' to a thoroughly confused Adaine. The elf shrugging and looking just as perplexed; even though she understood what the goblins were saying she had totally missed the events leading up to it.

Fig was grinning like a maniac though because she totally had caught everything. She had also been pretending not to understand what anyone was saying for the whole night because it would spoil the surprise she'd been working on for months. The bard may have also been doing a bit of extra study on goblin customs as an addition to secretly learning the language and 100% knew why Riz was suddenly so horribly flustered.

Riz, to his credit, hadn’t run away to hide somewhere he could die in peace. He simply stole the battle sheet, clambered out of Fabians lap, and tried to squish himself into the gap between the fighter and all of their camping packs. The fighter rolling his eye at what he recognised as Riz hitting his social limit, and just shifting some things to hide him better where he’d curled up to sulk against his side.

Chapter Text

Riz spent hours curled up and hidden in the hollow between Fabian and their camping supplies, eyes shut in an effort to at least try and get some rest while he was there. He didn’t mind that he was getting slightly squished, Fabian having finally dozed off and listed to the side to lean more on their bags even while still in a seated position, but he was getting quite warm since he’d tucked himself into the small space with the battle sheet.

Lying still for so long squished into one position was starting to make him feel jittery, which was only compounded upon by the fact that he’d been very thoroughly felt up against his will, so Riz decided to give up on the idea of sleep and carefully extricated himself from his hiding space. While he’d been sulking the rest of his party had apparently decided Fabian was the congregation point for the night, all of them piled against either the fighter or Gorgug as they either slept or tranced.

Riz noticed that there were quite a few blankets that they didn't have before thrown over his party members and given the weaving patterns guessed they were probably from the elders who had been fawning over Gorgug for most of the night. They were still in the cavern, though they had situated themselves far enough away that they wouldn’t disturb the sleeping party while they worked on repairing what looked like fishing nets and attempted to keep the younger kids at bay, so Riz gave them a little wave of thanks before stretching to work out the kinks in his joints.

Goblins were nocturnal, and according to his watch it was only about 4am, so there were still quite a lot of people milling around the common area. Without his watch he wouldn’t have been able to tell how late it was, though he was sure the caves residents were perfectly aware of the hour even without timepieces.

Riz really wanted to work on their report for the rangers detailing their mission so far but knew if he started working on it here out in the open he’d either wake one of his teammates or attract unwanted attention so he decided he might as well do a little exploring and find a quiet place to work. He had to be very careful not to wake his teammates by digging his briefcase out of their pile of belongings but he was nothing if not an excellent rogue. He even managed to shift Fabians sleeping position slightly to be more draped over their bags, sitting upright like that he’d end up with a cramp in his neck, and tucked his sheet under his head as a pillow.

The goblin living areas were a no-go (he was not going to risk being pulled into someones room) but he figured there was probably somewhere nearby he could settle down where he wouldn’t be bothered. Riz had noticed during his tour that the living situation was a lot less vertical than the horde his parents had belonged to, though they had come from an area that had a lot more sheer cliff faces and a lot fewer of these large and deep natural caves. This group probably didn’t need to climb as much to get to safety so didn’t risk injuring themselves by trying to, which left a possible unused ledge in the high walls of the cave as his best bet for being undisturbed.

He ended up pacing around the circumference of the large cavern, occasionally stopping to shine a light up into the higher corners when he still couldn’t pick out detail with his dark vision. He wasn’t being exactly subtle with his explorations, most of the hordes members who were hanging out in the cave nearby stopping what they were doing to watch him. He ended up striking gold after only a few minutes when he found a ledge forty feet up that looked fairly solid. It was in a good position too; from that point he would be able to see both his party and all of the entrances to the cavern while staying mostly concealed.

Decision made he readjusted his gear so it wouldn’t get in the way, briefcase getting clipped to a harness specifically made so he could carry it without using his hands as he surveyed the rock wall carefully. Riz even stretched a little bit, wincing as his joints creaked from hours of trying to sleep, and flexed his hands to extend his claws fully. The sheer rock face offering little by way of challenge as he scaled it in a few seconds and hauled himself onto his chosen surveying position. He knew he hadn’t managed to do it completely unnoticed though, as a group of teens who had been hanging out on the far side of the cavern whooped and cheered once he was finally situated on his perch. Even a couple of the elders who were ‘guarding’ his party from being disturbed by the curious children had chuckled and clapped quietly, making Riz flick his ears down in mild embarrassment as he settled back further onto the ledge where he couldn’t be seen.

The ledge was a little bigger than he expected once he was finally up there but had clearly never been used before. He took a moment to brush most of the dirt out of the way before putting down his briefcase; the rogue plopping down to dig out the paperwork and maps for this job so he could update their progress so far and plan their next route. It was going to take him a while, given that they’d not had a spare moment in the last few days to fill anything in, but he’d made quick notes and remembered every detail so it wouldn’t be a problem. It wasn’t quite as fun as working on one of his cases without a mystery to solve, but he still enjoyed the routine of going through notes he’d quickly jotted down after their fights and organising them into something more coherent.

His party hard started to wake up by the time he was finishing up filling in their paperwork. It had taken him longer than expected because from the data they’d collected the wyverns they’d culled so far were far bigger than what was typical for the area. His brain had latched onto the weirdness of it almost immediately in the absence of a mystery to solve and he’d stopped writing the report for a while to arrange the details in his notebook in a way that was easier for him to contemplate over later.  They were getting larger the further away from the ranger station they got, but the reasoning behind it was stumping him so far. It also meant that they could expect the fights to continue to get harder from this point forward which meant they would need to resupply soon. Hopefully the horde would be willing to help them, he doubted they wouldn’t given how kind they’d been so far.

Riz was so deep in thought that he jumped and hissed in alarm when there was a loud thumping noise slightly below and to the left of his perch. The rogue putting a hand on his sword as he peered over the side only to come face to face with one of the teenage goblins from earlier in the night. The girl huffing as she hauled herself up to sit on the edge of the ledge and catch her breath.

//If you do not wish for the others to continue trying to tempt you into their beds you should really tone down the displays of skill and dexterity when they are watching.// She teased, bearing her teeth in an amused grin and wiggling her ears at him. //You got up here impressively fast.//

Riz suppressed a groan when he realised it was the girl who had offered to include Fabian in a threesome with them both if he was interested and briefly contemplated just jumping off the ledge to get away. He still had all his notes and papers out though, so he instead settled for trying to organise them so he could shove them into his briefcase.

//I’m really not interested. Really I’m trying not to be rude but I think I’m at the point where I’m going to start biting… in a bad way not a fun way let me be very clear about that… if someone gropes me again.// Riz grimaced, pulling his bag into his lap as he started packing things away and partially using it as a buffer between him and the girl.

//Does that apply to just us or does it include your pretty elf boy as well, because from what I saw you rather enjoyed that attention.//

Right, they were a lot more aware of his body language ques than his party could ever be. Of course she’d clocked that he’d liked the attention; he really needed to make more of an attempt to school his body language here than he ever would have to in Elmville.

Riz’s ears flattened back against his head, he could feel the blush starting to form on his face again and he covered it with his hands in an attempt to hide it. Fingers pressing hard against his eyes as he took a calming breath, he needed to be polite. If he got into a fight with someone now they were less likely to give them the help they needed and if his hunch was correct they were REALLY going to need the help.

//Maybe but he’s not in-// Riz was cut off when she put her hand up to silence him, the teen laughing and shaking her head.

//I am just teasing you. You made your feelings clear earlier when I asked and I will respect your wishes. Your reactions are just too funny to leave you be about it though.// She held her hand out towards him, offering a handshake that Riz accepted with some suspicion. //I am Tiktik. I am not here to proposition you I promise but the hunters had a question and none of your horde seem to understand what they’re asking. I saw you climb up here earlier and no one else was able to reach you.//

Riz blinked at that, closing his briefcase and drumming his fingers lightly on the lid //No one else could get up here? We’re only what… forty feet up?//

//Ah of course, your accent, you’re from down the range in the cliffs. We do most of our hunting in the forest and not on the cliff ledges so there’s not much reason for us to be climbing. Forty feet is quite a bit too high for any of us to climb up safely.// Tiktik pointed down towards the rest of the bad kids, Riz following her gaze to where Gorgug was sorting through their gear and getting washed and changed for the day.

//I only climbed about ten feet myself, your large friend was nice enough to throw me when I asked. My request involved quite a lot of gesturing but he got the point in the end.//

That explained the thump, Riz thought to himself, making a small ‘ah’ noise of realisation. Putting a mental tick against his earlier thoughts that this group of goblins weren’t quite as partial to heights as his own. They could obviously climb, they were just a lot more cautious about attempting to.

//Anyway.// Tiktik flicked her ears, the gesture signifying an end to that portion of their conversation. //The hunters wanted me to ask. You mentioned earlier that your group was hunting a wyvern? Again, I will repeat that if you do not want the others trying to sleep with you you need to tone down your quite frankly insane acts of skill.//

//That was our seventh so far this week.// Riz added offhandedly, reaching out to grab the map with the wyvern lair locations off the floor and folding it to put it away.

//Seven this WEEK?! There have been other weeks? How many dragons have you killed?//

//We’re counting dragons too? Wyverns are technically a lesser-dragon but if we’re counting dragons.// He held out his fingers, holding them up as he counted to himself and ticked off the kills from his prior fights. He didn’t get all the way through before he was stopped though.

//Stop stop, keep that a secret. Niktlek is already talking about challenging your elf to a fight after watching you climb the wall, he might actually follow through once he finds out about that.//

Riz snorted a laugh at that, not sure whether to be worried for Fabian’s sake or the goblin teenager. The poor guy was liable to get punted across the cave like a football given the fighter already seemed to have a low opinion of them.

//Please try to convince him it’s a bad idea. Fabian is used to fighting goblins we spar all the time. The poor guy is going to get murdered and I STILL wouldn’t fuck him if he somehow won.//

Tiktik nodded, glad at least that Riz seemed to have relaxed a bit now that he knew she wasn’t trying to proposition him. //I will do my best… or maybe not, it would be funny to watch him learn from the consequences of his actions.//

She flapped her hand at him, tail flicking over the edge of the rock ledge. //As I was saying, you didn’t have any meat on you when you arrived, but you had clearly been fighting something. They followed your tracks back to your kill and found the carcass and are bringing it back here for you. Did you have any specific plans for the meat and hide?//

//Oh….. no. You guys can keep the whole thing. We wouldn’t be able to carry any of it with us anyway. We’ll gift it to the horde as thanks for letting us stay here.//

The goblin teen grinned, reaching across the ledge to try and ruffle Riz’s hair and getting her hand batted away with a small warning hiss. The move just making her snicker at Riz’s reaction again because it was incredibly funny winding him up.

//Ah good. Your mannerisms might be a little strange but at least your manners are on point.// she dusted off her hands, skooting around the side of the ledge until she was able to reach the wall and hoist herself back up. //I will let them know, oh, before I go. The pretty orange haired female, is she free to proposition? I was made aware the half-orc was off the table but am I liable to get into a fight if I ask her?//

Riz cocked his head to the side at the question, eyes darting between Tiktik and his party members down on the ground. //Actually she’d probably be into it if you asked.//

//Excellent. May I ask you to translate for me?//

//Oh ABSOLOUTLY not. Just uhh, do what you did with Gorgug. I’m sure she’ll get the hint and if she’s into it I’m sure you’ll work something out.//

Tiktik grinned, hoisting herself the rest of the way onto the wall and slowly sliding down it using her claws to the sound of scraping rock.

Riz let out a sigh of relief when she finally left, flopping back against the cold stone wall and scrubbing his hands over his face. That had been… a lot. Probably the longest conversation he’d had with a female goblin since he was four years old other than his mum and that was honestly a little sad. She was nice enough, but the teasing was going to put Riz in an early grave.

He stayed leaning against the wall with his hands on his face for a while, mostly just listening to the sounds of people moving around below him. His party were by FAR the loudest, and he didn’t move from that position even after he heard Kristen ‘sneak’ out of the main chamber.

A high piercing whistle finally shifted him from his slump, Riz knowing the sound as one Fabian could make by blowing through his fingers when he wanted to get someone’s attention across distances. He was probably looking for him and given that he wasn’t sure WHERE he was in the caverns had opted for the loudest and most distinctive sound he could make. The rogue peeked over the edge of his ledge, watching Fabian turn in circles as he scanned the shadows of the cavern looking for something. Riz waiting until he was looking in more or less his direction before flashing the light from his watch at him to catch his attention. An act which earned him a grin and a wave before Fabian started signing briefly at Riz sure he was being watched.

~~You ok? Time for sparring? Food?~~ Fabian had only learned the basic hand signs recently, when Riz had started teaching them after he’d had an allergic reaction and hadn’t been able to speak, but he was picking it up fast.

Other than the circle of watch-torch light he couldn’t see Riz in the gloom, but walked over closer when Riz bobbed the light up and down like he was nodding. Holding up his arm like a falconer in a clear indication of what he expected Riz to do.

The goblin just laughed, remembering what Tiktik had kept repeating to him about shows of skill, and set about clipping his briefcase to its harness on his belt. He’d have to remember that for next time, but right now he didn’t care. Stepping off the edge of the ledge towards his friend to plummet towards the ground, briefly illuminating the cavern with spectral angel wings as he came to land perched on Fabians outstretched arm like a bird of prey. The cheers from the watching goblins much louder this time in comparison to his scaling of the walls.

Chapter Text

The hunters needed to ask the group of tall-men a question. Hunting in the area had been hard lately due to the wyverns scaring away most of their prey. Apparently this strange little horde had been out killing them, which was appreciated, but had left the carcass behind while searching for somewhere to recover. The hunters wanted permission to recover it. It would be a waste of meat to just leave it to rot but they weren't about to /steal/ their guests kill. The only problem was the only goblin among this group of tall-men had hidden himself half-way up the cavern wall HOURS ago and hadn't come down yet.

Tiktik had been the one to volunteer to try and get to him, but the solution to getting up the wall would have to be a novel one. They didn’t climb all that much and the height Riz had scrambled to like it was nothing was ridiculous. Sure they could climb a bit, and slowing their decent down cliff faces was easy enough, but going UP forty feet would be exhausting and dangerous. This was how she found herself standing among the group of just-waking tall-men, trying to get the attention of their strongest looking male.

The half-orc had crouched down to her level when Tiktik touched his leg to get his attention. He still had a whole head on her but the gesture was at least appreciated, it was surprising how /nice/ these tall-men were but she supposed Riz had taught them manners by force. He was even tilting his head to the side in what she supposed was his estimation of a questioning pose, it was hard to tell without ears, but he certainly managed to elaborate with a surprisingly well pronounced if not heavily accented /What?/ in goblin. That was probably a word this group heard constantly from Riz, if the cliffside horde twang to the word was anything to go by.

//Greetings// Tiktik gave a small wave, having to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing when Gorgug tried to repeat the word back to her and butchered the pronunciation into a swear word. Okay, he definitely didn’t understand a WORD she was saying. How was this going to work. She thought for a moment, tail flicking from side to side behind her, before she settled on an idea.

//I need you.// She gestured slowly, pointing at herself then at the half orc, then at herself again before miming a throwing action towards the wall //To throw me. Up there. Please.//

The half-orc gave her a very confused look, eyes darting backwards and forwards as he looked like he was trying to process something before he stood back up to his full height. Taking a few steps away, he bent down and hefted a boulder that was nearly as large as she was while giving her a quizical look.

//Nono not the rock. ME. Throw ME.// She gestured again, looking over when one of the tallmen females laughed at the spectacle and said something to the half-orc in common. He at least put the rock down, saying something back to the female as he head over to their things and started lifting bags slowly.

"asterk tewala non *Riz* tel aplak" She heard him say to the female, the teifling laughing and biting her knuckle to stop herself from saying something.

Tiktik hadn’t understood most of what Gorgug said, but she'd caught the word Riz in there so he was probably looking for their translator. The only problem was their translator was who she was TRYING to get to and the little shit had fled to a ledge forty feet up the wall hours ago. She was honestly wondering if he was still up there or not.

Tiktik settled for pointing emphatically at the half-hidden ledge, tail flicking behind her in amusement. //Riz. Up there. You THROW me up there?//

The tall-man female said something again, the half-orc making a noise of understanding finally as he put down their bags. Heading back over to Tiktik as he crouched down and offered his hand to her.

Good, okay, he seemed to get it. Tiktik clambered onto his palm and crouched, holding his shoulder to keep her balance as he stood up again and wandered over closer to the wall. The half-orc pantomiming throwing her at the ledge in the wall with another quizzical look which she nodded at enthusiastically.

Gorgug just shrugged, rearing his arm back with its goblin passenger before suddenly LAUNCHING her at the wall. Tiktik cackling with glee as she thumped against the rock and dug her claws in to stay put. His aim had been good, this was close enough to climb the rest of the way and Riz was still up there. She could see his gold eyes, wide and confused, peeking at her over the edge.

Chapter Text

Submitted by : violetcookie2007

I feel like Fabian would buy the bad kids knives. It started with Kristen, she is their healer and only has her staff as a weapon. Then it was Adaine and Fig because they are also magic users and, even though they have better weapons than Kristen, it is always nice to have a secret knife. He made it very clear that he knows they can all hold themselves great in battle but it is good to have a weapon that none knows about. He got ones for Gorgug and Riz because he didn't want them to be left out and also just in case. He also got himself one. Riz is scary with knives. I have a few thoughts about what kind he would get them but I wanted to know what you think he would get them!

Chapter Text

“Your aim is getting better The Ball, you didn’t almost kick me in the face that time.” Fabian joked once Riz was perched on his arm like the worlds greenest falcon, the goblin snorting and wrapping his tail around the fighters wrist to help keep his balance as he started walking.

“That happened once, and only because you stepped forward to try and catch me. Your depth perception is shit sometimes.”

Riz was grinning and seemed to be using his tail just fine which made Fabian feel reassured. He’d been worried about the goblins sullen attitude the night before and he’d sounded pained while he checked the damage. He must have at least gotten a few hours sleep to heal, but Fabian wasn’t sure how long given that he hadn’t noticed Riz wandering away during the night.

“So, shall we spar first or perhaps breakfast?” Fabian adjusted his arm placement, Riz taking the cue to clamber across and sit Fabian’s shoulder instead. The fighter offering Riz the camp-cup he’d been holding in his other hand once he was settled with a flourish, which earned him a thwack in the face from the tuft of hair at the end of Riz’s tail when it was flicked in excitement. “Pbbt! Gods watch it with that thing or I really WILL revoke your shoulder privileges.”

“Mmmmm sorry.” The goblin accepted the offering of coffee happily, sipping on it with a satisfied sigh as he clutched the cup like someone might steal it from him. His party had been heavily rationing his coffee intake recently and he still hadn’t found out who was holding onto the coffee grounds so he could make more. He half suspected they never actually packed any and Adaine was simply pulling single servings out of her jacket every time they portioned out a cup to the rogue. What he was getting was only just managing to stop Riz from developing caffeine withdrawal headaches. “Coffee first, then sparing, then food…. After that I want to go over the logistics for the next set of targets, but I want Kristen here for that.”

“Fair enough. Did you see where Kristen went from your vantage point?” Fabian turned his head slightly to look at Riz, quirking a smile at the look of pure adoration he was giving the cup of coffee as he drank it.

“Yeah, she went off with one of the females. Tiktik was her name. They’re probably uh… busy… right now.” Riz pulled a face, which made Fabian laugh at the goblins obvious discomfort.

“I should have guessed. I thought YOU might have gone to get some kisses in yourself. None of the goblins here are to your liking, or were none of them interested?”

Riz choked on his coffee a bit, thumping on his chest as he forced himself to swallow it and not spit it out. He wasn’t going to waste his precious coffee just for this. “Gods no.”

Fabian hummed sympathetically, assuming that Riz’s answer meant that none of the goblins had been interested and leaving it at that.

Stopping by their camping packs he crouched carefully so he wouldn’t knock Riz off his perch. Sorting through their things so he could pull out both his sword and Riz’s from the pile of weapons so they could find somewhere for their morning warmups. Usually they’d be carrying them around at all times while away from home, but Riz had insisted that it would be considered hostile to keep them on hand while inside the caves.

Riz drummed his claws against the side of the metal cup, leaning his weight a little more heavily against Fabian’s head for a moment before swiftly draining the cup completely. Riz staring sadly at the bottom of the cup for a moment before sighing and climbing down off his friend’s shoulder. No use being sad about it, it didn’t matter how much he pouted they wouldn’t give him another cup until at LEAST the afternoon.

 “In here, or should we head outside?” Fabian stood back up, looping his battle sheet around his waist and tying it off to the side. Following after Riz as the goblin nodded towards the tunnel that led outside and started walking towards it, waving at Gorgug as they left who gave them a nod of acknowledgement. He was in charge of watching their things, since the girls had gone to find somewhere to wash up and get changed in relative privacy.

“Outside. Its still pretty early but…” Riz checked his watch, noting that it was about 6am “…sun should be up so at least we won’t be in the dark.”

The tunnel to the exit was a bit of a winding labyrinth, meant to make it harder for attackers to get to the main living areas where the elders and children were, but Riz was able to remember the way. Honestly it was mostly a case of following the smell of fresh air and it only took them a couple of minutes to step out into the dawn sunshine. Fabian taking a deep breath and stretching now that he was finally out of the caves and in the fresh air.

Riz took a couple of seconds to adjust to the bright light before leading Fabian down towards a clearing not far from the caves. Waving at the hunters who had found them the day before when they passed them butchering the wyvern they'd culled on their way down to a more open area for their sparing.

“I said they could have it, if you don’t mind. Hunting out this way is probably pretty awful at the moment given that we haven’t spotted any other large monsters the whole time we’ve been up here.” Riz explained, stopping in the clearing and doing a few warm-up stretches as Fabian started doing the same.

“Of course. They’re free to take it if they wish, it would just be left there otherwise.” The fighter rolled his shoulders, unsheathing his sword and taking up a battle stance as he waited for Riz to do the same. “Less talking now, more fighting. I’ll have you turned into a proper frontline fighter by the end of this if mission if it kills me.”

“I’m not changing my class and you can pry my arcubus out of my cold dead hands.” Riz laughed, letting Fabian lead them through their warmup forms before they started their sparing properly.

Fabian certainly had the advantage in close up fights like this but Riz was still very hard to hit. He was small, quick, and very adept at dodging out of the way at the last second. His stamina would never hold up against Fabians though and it ended the same way it always did. Fabian managing to get a good hit in and turning the tide until Riz was left pinned to the ground and panting with exertion.

“Fuck, damnit.” Riz panted, trying to catch his breath as Fabian released the wrist that had been holding his sword that was currently pinned in the dirt above the goblins head. Knee getting carefully removed from his chest as the fighter pulled his sword away from Riz’s neck and stood up.

Riz made attempting to get up just yet though, settling for simply staring at the sky and waiting for his heart rate to come down. “Thought I had you that time.”

“Not in this lifetime, but you’re getting better.” Fabian laughed, inspecting the few shallow cuts across his arms Riz had managed to land before sheathing his sword with a flourish.

Despite heading outside they’d somehow managed to draw a crowd, he counted at least a good dozen goblins trying to hide themselves among the foliage surrounding the clearing as they spectated. “I’d say we put on a good show, especially since you didn’t use any of your sneaky rogue tricks.”

Riz arched an eyebrow at the comment, tipping his head back where he was still sprawled on the dusty ground and squinting upside down at the edge of the clearing. Of course people were watching, their party was probably the best entertainment they’d had in years.

“I still maintain that I would destroy you in an real fight.” Riz took Fabians hand when he offered it and let himself be picked up off the ground, dangling in the air by his arm for a second as the fighter overshot before lowering him to his feet and dusting the goblin off with his free hand. Riz sputtering and flicking his tail in amusement when Fabian ruffled his hair to knock dust out; they’d both require a proper clean after this.

“I don’t doubt it, you are certainly the last person anyone would want to meet in a dark alley.”

“Mmm, or not meet if I’m doing it properly.” Riz picked up his sword from where he’d dropped it when Fabian pinned him, cleaning off the blade against his pants before re-sheathing it at his side. His chest fucking hurt from where Fabian had punched him with the guard of his sword, but other than that he was fine. The fighter had incredible control of his weapon and hadn’t actually cut him despite hitting him hard with the flat of the blade a few times.

The goblin stretched his arms over his head, giving a full body shake and thrashing his tail as he released it and nodded back towards the cavern. “I…. am starving. Time for food?”

“Excellent plan The Ball, hopefully Kristen is back so we can work out todays game plan.” Fabian offered Riz his arm, the goblin happily grabbing it and letting his friend hoist him up and deposit him on his shoulder.

“And hopefully toss us a heal. Gods you punch hard did you know that?” Riz laughed, rubbing at the bruised spot on his chest as he was carried back towards the cave entrance.

Chapter Text

Gorgug was still sitting where they’d left him when Riz and Fabian finally returned to the cavern, the half-orc fiddling with a heavily modified arcubus rifle they’d brought with them specifically for this mission. It hadn’t been quite as impressive looking when they’d first left Elmville but Gorgug was certainly becoming a skilled artificer. Riz’s own arcubus could do a lot of damage but it would still be considered a pea-shooter in comparison to this one, especially now that Gorgug was upgrading it to take down wyverns. It was large enough that Riz would have to carry it slung over his back, and even then it would probably be a little unwieldy for the goblin to carry while walking.

“Do you think it’ll do?” Gorgug snapped the sight he’d been modifying into place, using a cloth to clean some of the grease off his hands as Riz hefted the weapon up to test it.

Riz cocked his head to the side to look down the sight, reaching up to adjust it slightly few times until he was satisfied it was properly true. It was heavy and he just hoped the recoil wouldn’t be too bad but he guessed they’d find out soon enough. “I mean, it’s no ship cannon but I should at least be able to get some decent damage in since you’ve increased the power. I’m starting to get low on ammo for my arcubus anyway and we had what… twenty rounds for this?”

He adjusted his grip slightly, lowering the weapon before hefting it back up to his shoulder so he could get a better feel for it. He wouldn’t be as fast on the draw as with his personal sidearm but if he was stealthed while doing so he’d at least have a little time. “Re-aiming is going to be tough if I’m chasing a moving target, we might need to change strategies to immobilize them before I can get a shot off.”

Gorgug made a noise of understanding, taking the rifle when Riz handed it back to him and stowing it back with their things. Riz took advantage of Gorgugs seated position to lean over and give their barbarian a gentle bonk on the forehead with his own by way of a proper greeting since they’d started in on the shop talk before even saying good morning. Gorgug just grinned happily at the show of affection, bonking back once before turning to start packing up all his tools.

“Where’s mine?” Fig piped up from over near the camp stove they’d set up in the corner, the archdevil currently finishing off the remains of what smelled like a delicious breakfast. Riz rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner but the flick of his tail gave away that he was amused not annoyed. He had to clamber over Gorgugs legs to go headbutt her as well simply because the floor of their section of the cavern was currently littered with the barbarians artificer tools.

Riz had known his friends long enough to know what she was planning, but elected to let her grab him and bundle him into her lap without a fight when he got close enough. The archdevil leaning down and giving him a few repeated headbutts of her own which made him snort and push her face away. She was getting better at not whacking him in the face with her horns.

“Stop stop. Good morning to you too.” He snickered, trying to shuffle off her lap to crouch beside her when she relented and accepting the bowl of porridge she handed him. It was completely gone within a few seconds but he was quickly handed another, then one of the goblin dishes that had been forced on Gorgug the night before and deemed ‘not edible’ by the barbarian. It was a fairly sizeable piece of salted cured meat and Riz set about happily gnawing on it at a more sedate pace now that he wasn’t feeling like he was starving.

“Kristen back yet?” he bit into the chunk of meat so it dangled from his mouth while he dug in his vest pocket for their map, spreading it out on the floor in front of him. Using a few rocks from the floor to weigh down the corners so it would sit flat against the ground.

“Back, then gone again with Adaine to go wash up with actual water and soap. You missed her giving us a play-by-play of all the fun she had.” Fig laughed when Riz pulled a face, ruffling his hair and earning herself a cloud of dust for her trouble.

“You are filthy.” She pointed a finger at Fabian accusingly, using her other hand to cast prestidigitation on Riz and remove the dust and grime from his body. The feeling of the spell making Riz flick his ears and shiver, but he did feel much nicer afterwards. “Have you been bullying him again.”

“The Ball and I were sparing, the same as every day. If he doesn’t want to get covered in dirt he should stop losing.” Fabian retorted from his position over near their bags, Riz flicking his eyes up to look at him only to realise the fighter was shirtless and wiping himself down with a wet rag to get himself clean. Riz was the only one small enough to get fully cleaned with the cantrip so the rest of his team had to resort to that instead. The rogue was amazed how much more interesting the map he was studying suddenly was as he tried not to look again, tail flicking restlessly behind him as he focused on gnawing on his breakfast.

“So, The Ball, what’s the game plan for today?”

Riz only dared looking away from the map once Fabian picked his way through Gorgugs tools to sit down on the other side of it. Fig shaking a scolding finger at him as she handed him his own portion of their breakfast rations. Gorgug joined them after a few minutes, finally having stowed all his gear, but waved away the bowl when Fig offered it apparently still full from the night before.

“I wanted to wait for Adaine and Kristen, but I should probably talk to the hunters before we finalise anything anyway.” Riz tore a piece off his cured meat chunk, chewing on it carefully as he pointed to a position near the centre of the map before dragging his finger down to a cluster of circles drawn onto the map in pen. “We’re here which makes us pretty close to this nesting group down here. We could probably make it there in an hour or two, then head over to these two here.”

He pointed further to the right of the map to another two circles, shuffling his crouched position slightly and wrapping his tail around his ankles.

“That’s pretty far, do you think we could make it there with all our gear and still find somewhere to camp for the night?” Gorgug leaned over the map, he was by no means a ranger but he could at least estimate how long it would take them given their previous days progress.

“I want to leave most of our gear here if I can get permission, and I figured if we asked the hunters to guide us we could probably move twice as fast as normal since we won’t be having to forge our own paths. Both these spots should still be within the outer range of their hunting grounds.” Riz finished off his meat, brushing the remaining salt on his hands off onto his pants as he gathered up the map and stood. “I think we’ll have a good shot at convincing them if we offer to let them keep the carcases.”

He flicked his ears when he thought he heard the sound of Kristen talking coming closer to the main cavern, turning towards the source of the sound and watching the pair of girls walk closer. Kristen was gesturing rather enthusiastically, and lewdly, and seemed to be describing something in great detail whereas Adaine looked a little pained.

Riz tried very hard not to laugh audibly when the wizard pointed towards him and her voice echoed in his head ~Run. Save yourself. I’m too far gone for you to help me now.~

The rogue took his cue to leave in a hurry, having to vault over the still eating Fabian as he made a mad dash towards where he last saw the hunters outside. Only slowing down long enough to point back toward Adaine and give her a return message ~My condolences. Ask the others about the plan, I’ll be back later.~

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

The hunters had not been outside when Riz went looking for them but he figured that would probably be the case. Goblins tended to not venture too far out of the caves during the daylight hours since it would make them easy pickings for any flighted monsters in the area. Their colouration was more suited to hiding them among foliage during the twilight hours when the shadows were fuzzy and indistinct.

Riz instead circled back the way he came, following some of the side passages until he found someone who knew where they’d gone. It turned out that he hadn’t really needed to leave the cavern after all because he found a small group of them resting and preparing some of the raw wyvern meat for curing only twenty feet or so from his party.

The adult goblins welcomed him warmly, dragging him down into the circle with them and congratulating him on his party’s kill. Riz having to decline the offer of the wyverns raw liver as a meal and insisting that he’d just eaten as he settled down to pitch their plan.

It hadn’t taken much to convince the hunters, they were more than happy to host them for another night given the size of the wyvern carcass they’d gifted them. They were even happy to act as a guides given the difficulty of the terrain, even though it would be in the middle of the day. They were, however, a little sceptical about Riz’s insistence that there would be more wyvern meat if they wanted it given that they considered taking down one of the beasts to be a great accomplishment let alone five in a single afternoon.

//Thankyou. I’ll go let my horde know and start getting ready. We wont leave for a few hours yet since the wyverns will still be hunting but I’ll come get you when we’re ready to go.// Riz gathered up the map he’d been using to illustrate the plan, rolling to his feet and starting to head back to his party when he suddenly received a light slap on the tip of one of his ears from out of the shadows to his right. The assault making him yelp in surprised as he crouched ready to defend himself from the attacker. Apparently he had critically failed that perception check, because he hadn’t at all noticed Tiktik crouched on top of a boulder as he passed beside it.

//Greetings, I hear you utterly failed to heed my advice.// Tiktik grinned at him, sliding off the boulder to land beside him and crouch down as well. Riz staying in his defensive posture even as she leaned forwards to bonk their foreheads together in a friendly way. He relaxed a little when she did so, reaching up to rub his smarting ear and frowning.

He'd heard Fabian start heading towards them when he yelped but apparently the fighter had decided everything was okay, because he stopped when Riz relaxed and retreated back towards their designated spot.

//Pardon?// Riz stood back up to his full height, still pulling down his ear to rub at the sore tip for a moment before letting it go so it flicked back up into a confused cant.

//If you wish for the others to stop trying to court you you need to stop DISPLAYING at them constantly.// She reached out to hold either side of Riz’s face tightly in her hands, the rogue making a quiet warning noise at her and flicking his tail in irritation. //Gods both above and below, you may be handsome and skilled but you are so terribly stupid in this regard.//

That comment made Riz’s tail stop flicking, but one of his ears dipped significantly lower than the other as he made a questioning noise. Tiktik just rolled here eyes and released his face, leaving Riz standing there looking thoroughly perplexed.

//I did not witness it myself but I heard some of the others talking. You say you don’t wish to be pursued, then you leap off the wall with a display of magic and then what?// She waved her arm towards the rest of Riz’s party, the rogue glancing over and noticing that at least Fig and Fabian were watching the interaction closely. Fig drinking from her canteen and grinning in way that Riz found suspicious, but he didn’t have enough time to think about it before Tiktik snapped her fingers in front of his face to focus her attention back on her.

//Why would you then IMMEDIALY go participate in a display fight with the pretty tall-man where everyone could see you? You are practically SCREAMING that you’re an eligible mate… though I do hear you lost, so perhaps you may have redirected some of the heat away yourself at least…. Or not, they were gushing about how impressive the entire thing was on your part too. They may just try to take you both as a pair.// Tiktik chewed on the claw of her thumb for a moment, her own tail lashing behind her in irritation. Once she realised how socially inept Riz was she had decided to help him, she didn’t expect him to make things worse in the few hours while she was playing with the pretty human cleric.

Riz, to his credit, did manage to look properly scolded if not just as confused as he was before. Awkwardly fiddling with his claws as he hunched in on himself slightly.

//We were sparing, we didn’t intend-//

//Your intent doesn’t matter, the interpretation does.// The female goblin flapped her hand at him, glancing over at the pair of tall-men watching them carefully. //There may be some courting directed at your mate, so you’d best warn him to be on his guard. He seems to have been left alone so far because of his ah… intimidating aura… but after what he did with you last night and the posturing today those that were scared before might push past it.//

Riz cupped his hands in front of his face at that, looking to the ceiling of the cave as if asking for help from a higher power as he took a calming breath. //He’s not my mate. I’m not… Damnit what’s the word in goblin.//

The rogue swore, trying to find another way to word it that would make sense. //I’m not interested in mating with people. Does that make sense? In fact the whole thought of it makes me a bit queezy.//

//I gathered that from your reaction the propositioning yesterday.// Tiktik gave him an amused look, tail giving a little flick behind her as she leaned forwards. //But you let him touch you without complaint, so I assumed perhaps you had made an exception. That is a thing you know. I have met many people who were the same and had one person who they had decided was special. Or was I perhaps wrong?//

Riz covered his face completely at that, feeling something stir in the back of his mind as he opened his mouth to tell her she WAS wrong and snapping his mouth shut. This was not something he should lie about, there would be consequences if he did.

//He…. Is a half-elf.// Riz spoke slowly into his hands, pulling them away from his face after a moment so he could look Tiktik in they eye. //By the time he reaches the halfway point of his life I will be long dead and gone. I wouldn’t want to do something like that to him even IF he would be interested. Plus I’m pretty sure he exclusively likes girls.//

//But if he wanted to would you?// Tiktik arched an eyebrow at Riz, absorbing the information he’d just presented to her.

Riz ducked his head in a quick nod, turning back to look at his party when Fig started choking loudly on the water she had been drinking. He narrowed his eyes at his teammate, who had turned her back to him and was getting gentle pats between the shoulder blades from Gorgug to help her cough up the water.

//My condolences then. You should still probably warn him of the incoming consequences of your actions though.// Tiktik gave Riz a friendly pat on the shoulder, the rogue crossing his arms in front of his chest and curling his tail around his ankle in a self soothing gesture.

//Its fine. I’m perfectly happy just being friends. I mean, he’s my BEST friend so that has to count extra right?// He shrugged, dropping his hands back to his sides. //But um.. thankyou for the advice? I’m not sure if ill be able to follow it completely though. We’re about to go kill another five wyverns.//

Riz started walking back towards his party, Tiktik following in his wake and speeding up to walk beside him. He was mulling over what she had told him when he suddenly stopped walking, turning his head and cocking it to the side to give her a questioning look.

//Wait… I’m handsome?//

//Gods you’re stupid.//

Chapter Text

Fig was still sputtering when Riz made it back to his party but she waved him away when he got close so he wasn’t too worried. The goblin just shrugged and headed over to Fabian instead, the fighter hovering off to the side and trying not to fuss over their bard who looked like she was trying not to choke to death. Riz stop at his side and gauged his options, settling for headbutting the other boy lightly in the hip with an irritated huff.  

“Got shot down did we?” Fabian teased and reached down to pat the top of the goblins head, earning a slightly harder headbutt and an irritated growl in response which made him stop rather abruptly. Riz ended up just leaning against him at a slight angle with his forehead pressed against the fighters hip, tail held low enough that the flicking of the tail tuft was kicking up dust. “Ooooh, that bad hmm?”

“No. Shut up. I’m thinking.” The rogue said rather tersely, crossed his arms over his chest as he stayed leaning in the awkward position. Mulling over the problem presented to him and how exactly he was going to TELL Fabian without it being weird.

Tiktik was right, Fabian needed to know what was coming or things might get very awkward. It was just the logistics of it that were going to suck trying to explain. He doubted he could just tell him ‘Fun fact, I just found out I’m considered attractive here and that thing that you did to me the other day? Yeah you were actually just feeling me up in public and you may have caught the attention of more that a few of the horny gods-damned teenagers that were watching the whole thing… also we made it worse with our sparing oops. Also, I didn’t say anything because I actually kind of enjoyed it, my bad’.

His ear flicked even as he stayed staring at the ground near Fabians feet, swivelling slightly towards the noise of Kristen squealing happily as Tiktik trotted past the rest of the party to go flop in her lap.

“Fig! Look! This is her!” The cleric sounded absolutely gleeful, lifting Tiktik up under the arms to present her to Fig. The goblin dangling there happily and looking like the cat that ate the cream as she grinned at the bard. Tail swishing slowly behind her while she was showed off until she was plopped back down in Kristens lap. The goblin promptly shuffling around until her chin was resting on the clerics knee while she let herself get petted.

//And you were teasing me for that.// Riz stayed staring at the ground, head getting a little sore where he was pushing his weight against the fighters hip. He doubted Fabian even felt it given their differences in strength.

//Yes, but I am intentionally making a claim on this one. Your… situationship with the pretty half-elf is another thing entirely.// Tiktik arched her back into the petting, giving Fig a little wave of greeting before Kristen found a spot that made her purr and go floppy again.

Fig lifted her hand in a return wave, coughing having mostly subsided, and stood back up properly. “Oh she is cute.”

“I know, with the teeth and claws you wouldn’t really think so but she is very good at-“ Kristen cut herself off, Fig having made a ‘cut it out’ gesture at her and nodding to where Riz was brooding and leaning against Fabian. “Anyway, she goes crazy for the tail pets if you know what I mean. Especially right near the base right here its super hot.”

“You know that is the total opposite of cutting it out, right?” Fig rolled her eyes towards the ceiling before glancing at Riz, their goblin having set his face in a grimace and crossing his arms over his chest tight enough to make the armour he was wearing creak. His tail stopping its irritated flicking to loop back around his leg in subconscious effort to look smaller. Fig was sure he would have fully stealthed if the act itself wouldn’t have been very suspicious.

Fabian had also put on a bit of a strange expression, glancing down at Riz who hadn’t moved from his leaning position and was resolutely glaring at the ground. The fighter very clearly piecing something together if his face journey was anything to go by.

“Please don’t start giving a play-by-play again.” Adaine groaned, the wizard sorting through their things with Gorgugs help to make sure they were taking everything they needed while still reducing their carry weight. “If you start up again you’ll be going for hours and I’m pretty sure we need to get going soon.”

The wizard shot Riz a hopeful look, begging for a change of topic which the rogue obliged. He could warn Fabian about the incoming flirting later, not that he wanted to avoid the topic at all that would be silly. It was time to work and sex and flirting stuff could wait until later.

Tiktik at least had the grace to realise they were trying to work when Riz stopped leaning against Fabians leg. Wiggling out of the clerics lap and planting a kiss on her lips before turning to leave, tail tuft batting Kristen in the face intentionally. Riz choosing to ignore the smug look on her face as she trot away into the darkness of the cave.

“Yeah, sorry, all-“ Riz gestured at the slightly dopey looking Kristen, his party member looking like she was tempted to follow after the female goblin, “-that aside. We do need to get ready to go. Some of the hunters are going to forego sleeping today and help show us the way. If we get these five wyverns today we’ll be ahead of schedule and should be able to rest a couple days before we head to the next location.”

The news was met with a couple of subdued ‘yaaaay’s from his party, all of them shuffling around to help with the preparations now that they had a solid game-plan.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

Fabians position in their marching order placed him as far away from Riz as he could possibly be. The fighter protecting the rear while the girls were clustered in the middle with Gorgug at the head of the pack. Riz was even further away, the rogue playing scout as he and the hunters lead them through the twisting path towards their next group of targets.

Fig was the closest to Fabian, dropping back a bit as the troupe of goblins at the lead ducked ahead further to check the next portion of their route was clear. Bumping against the fighters shoulder playfully as she kept pace beside him.

“Soooo~ Kristens little friend is cute right?” Fig laced her fingers together behind her back, the fighters non-committal hum of response not deterring her from her current self-imposed quest.

“I mean, I have Ayda so I’m not about to try anything, but what do you think? About getting your kisses in with a goblin, I mean.” Nailed it.

“Pardon?” Fabian glanced towards her briefly, frowning before going back to surveying the forest to either side of them. He hadn’t even been really paying attention to what she was saying, but the question did give him pause. “I don’t think I’ve really thought about it? Maybe? Some of them are attractive enough I guess.”

“Riz would probably be considered pretty attractive if you think about it, to a goblin at least. I mean he’s handsome by our standards too now.” Fig plowed right on, annoyed that Fabian didn’t seem to have a response to that statement.

She looped her arm around his non-dominant arm, making sure he could still swing his sword if they got taken by surprise. “You’ve been quiet since we left the caves, you okay?”

“Yes I’m fine. Just… thinking.” Fabian answered, keeping his eye on their surroundings even as he let Fig cling to him. Even her weight wouldn’t slow him down very much if they had to move quickly.

“Oof, careful not to think too hard, you’ll pull something.” Fig snickered, clinging a little harder and grinning when Fabian made to shake her off at the insult. “No seriously, what’s up?”

The fighter glanced at Figs face, sighing when he saw her sincere expression and realised she was not going to drop it. If he didn’t say something she was liable to try using detect thoughts and they’d probably need that spell slot later.

“Has The Ball seemed… off… to you?” Fabian ventured, lowering his voice a bit to keep the others from listening in. They were far enough back from the rest of the team that he doubted Kristen or Adaine could hear him but he was still being cautious.

“Mmmm, a little. But he’s off at the best of times, especially when he’s having to deal with other people.” She wiggled her fingers in Riz’s general direction, the goblin not even visible from their vantage point but she knew the general direction of where he was. “And he’s having to deal with a lot of people at the moment.”

Fabian made a noise of agreement, nodding his head “Well yes, that’s to be expected. But other than that… I think I might have unintentionally done something that should have upset him but he hasn’t said anything. I’m wondering if I should be sleeping with one eye open… metaphorically.”

“Ah.” Fig had to try very hard to school her expression, giving Fabian what she hoped looked like a sympathetic pat on the arm. “I’m sure its fine. He’s not really one to let things simmer… well, with us anyway. If he’s pissed off he’ll at least tell us straight away. I’ve seen him put into effect some very insidious long-form revenge plots before.”

Fig dropped her head to the side to lean on Fabians arm, mindful not to poke his one good eye out with her horns accidentally. “I wouldn’t worry too much. Riz seems to give you a lot more leeway than anyone else anyway. You seem to be special for some reason, maybe he didn’t even mind… whatever you did.”

Fabian just made another non-committal noise at that, patting her leg as a signal to let go with his hand since it was the only part of her he could reach with her clinging to his arm. “You should get back in line. What’s the point of having a marching order if you’re going to ignore it.”

The bard just scoffed at him, giving his shoulder a gentle headbutt before she let him go and jogged back to her place in the line. She wasn’t quite sure if she’d succeeded in her mission but time would surely tell.

~_~_~_~_~_~_

Things had gone well so far. The party had made great time, torn through the first group of wyverns like it was nothing, and hiked the rest of the way to the second cluster further up the mountain. The hunters leaving half their group behind to gather the kills and prepare them to drag them back to the caves.

Gorgugs modifications to the arcubus rifle had been a great success in Riz’s opinion, tearing through wyvern hide with an efficiency that meant the girls hadn’t needed to use many of their spell slots yet. Riz hadn’t even needed to test it on anything other than quarter power yet though, as his sniping from his hidden vantage points at that level had been more than sufficient to help down the fearsome creatures. The kickback from quarter power was still pretty strong though, the butt of the rifle had left a nice oval shaped bruise on his shoulder where he braced it as he fired, so given that it was working fine he didn’t want to push it much higher than that.

Even after dispatching their final two wyverns for the day the party was still in pretty good shape, Gorgug and Fabian as their frontliners only needing minor healing while the goblin and Adaine measured and recorded the information they needed for their report.

It was only the point when the sky suddenly went dark did Riz realise that the fact that they were doing well so far should have tipped him off that things were about to go very very badly.

It was only Riz’s superior perception that had saved them both from getting crushed, the goblin grabbing Adaines hand and yanking them both out of the way as a wyvern easily triple the size of the ones they had fought so far almost landed on top of them. The wizard casting scatter on the both of them to teleport them to the edge of the clearing an instant later, an act which left its jaws snapping on the empty air where they had previously been.

Riz only had a moment to feel smug that his hunch about the wyverns being somehow far too large was correct before it had wheeled around to face them. Wings beating as started to charge towards them.

The goblin only took a second to reorient himself, clocking the rest of the party rushing into the fray from behind the wyvern as he tried to formulate an escape.

“Misty step, go.” He yelled to Adaine, pointing to a cluster of boulders she could hide behind to their right as he instead darted left. Not bothering to hide himself until he was sure the creatures attention had been taken off of Adaine and it was instead following him. It seemed to have worked, given that the wyvern didn’t turn to chase the elf as she teleported away, and Riz dropped to his knees without slowing down his run order to slide under the trunk of fallen tree. Tucking himself into the shadows as best he could as the wyvern swung its stinger with a thud into the sturdy wood.

Riz frantically started reloading the rifle from his hidden position as he heard Fabian and Gorgug finally catch up with the creature, loud clangs echoing across the battlefield as their weapons collided with armoured hide. Their usual strategy involved removing the stinger as quickly as possible, given it was the deadliest weapon the wyvern had, but the goblin doubted even Gorgug could get enough power behind a swing to cut completely through this things hide in one go.

Once his rifle was reloaded Riz took a quick breath, staying crouched to keep hidden as he followed the fallen trunk until he could peek around the side. Gorgug and Fabian were doing a good job of keeping it busy with Adaine and Fig acting as casting support. He couldn’t see Kristen from this vantage point but she was most likely keeping further back out of the danger zone in case anyone needed healing.

The goblin hefted the rifle, ready to do his part as he waited for a moment where no one was in the line of fire. The kickback jolting his shoulder again as he let loose a shot, which unfortunately did little more than scratch the wyverns hide in comparison to the massive wounds it had inflicted on its smaller brethren. It had landed true, he could see the mark on the creatures’ neck from here, but it hadn’t been deep enough to even make it bleed.

Riz just swore under his breath at that, ducking back into hiding before he could be clocked and racking another round. Quickly dialling up the power on the rifle to maximum which made it crackle with arcane energy, Riz able to feel the magic of Gorgug’s modifications humming under his hands.

In hindsight this had been the biggest mistake Riz had made so far on their campaign. Riz felt the consequences of this action only a moment later when he stepped back out of hiding to fire again, the sound loosed from the rifle on this shot booming like thunder only inches from the goblins head even as the bullet found its mark. Tearing scales and armour away from a sizeable section of the wyverns neck as Riz was pushed backwards and knocked prone from the recoil, unable to duck back into his hidden position. The sound that close to his head had ruptured his eardrums, and he didn’t hear his party’s shout of warning as the very pissed off wyvern turned and started towards him again.

It was only luck, and possibly a bardic inspiration, that allowed him to recover enough to flinch out of the way of the stinger as it swung at him sideways. The side of the wyverns tail instead catching him under the ribs and sending him flying across the battlefield, bouncing at least once before he skidded to a stop a good thirty feet away from the creature.

The hit hurt a lot, but he hadn’t felt the enchantment on the armour they’d been forced to wear on this trip break so he knew he at least hadn’t dropped to zero. The rangers had insisted that it was a health and safety requirement, armour that would keep you at one health if you were about to drop to zero. It only worked once before breaking though and Riz was very glad he hadn’t taken any bad hits previously in their mission so far.

The goblin winced as he pushed himself back to his feet, he couldn’t hear anything except a persistent ringing in his ears and from how much it hurt to breath he guessed he’d probably broken a rib or two. He was also well out of both Fig and Kristens range of healing, so there was nothing he could do about it right now. He didn’t want them to waste it on him at the moment anyway, the wyvern having apparently been satisfied with its assault on him and having turned back around to continue to attack Gorgug and Fabian. The two other boys were holding their own but Riz could tell from here that they were still taking bad hits every time the wyvern attacked.

Riz stepped forwards to join in the fray, a little wobbly since his balance was compromised when his eardrums ruptured. Stopping short and pulling his sword of shadows from its scabbard when he noticed the bleeding wound on the back of the wyverns neck. There was no armour left up there now, but neither Fabian or Gorgug would be able to reach it to attack from the ground. He was within thirty feet though, and he could definitely reach it himself.

The rogue readjusted his grip on the sword of shadows, darting forwards until he was almost within range of another tail swing before misty stepping into the air above the wyvern. One hand holding the handle of the blade while his other braced the pommel as he dropped down towards the ragged wound on its back. He consciously made sure not to let his wings activate as he fell, using the momentum to drive the sword as deeply as possible into the creatures neck as he landed. His knees buckled as he landed, the enchantment on his armour breaking with a burst of light as he held onto the sword to keep himself anchored to the thrashing creature.

The thrashing only stopping when he tightened his grip, wrenching the sword from side to the side until he felt something snap, and the wyvern collapsed to the ground underneath him. Riz staying in that position for a few moments, panting, before releasing his grip on the sword and flopping backwards to lie down as the world spun woozily around him.

“Honestly, FUCK dragons.” He said out loud, probably yelling it a little too loudly given that he couldn’t hear anything still. Riz staring at the clouds floating past in the sky until his vision was obscured by Fabians worried face.

He was saying something, but Riz couldn’t hear a word of it. The goblin reaching up to rub some of the blood he could feel trickling out of his ears onto his hand to show the fighter, who frowned and gathered him up into his arms. Riz noting that he stopped to wrench the sword of shadows from the wyverns neck, with some difficulty Riz was a little proud of, before sliding and jumping down to the ground.

Chapter Text

Submitted by : thepoweroffriendshipgivesumoney

Chapter Text

Riz had let Kristen try to heal his ears only because he was feeling a little jumpy not being able hear anything going on around him. It hadn’t completely fixed the problem, everything was still a little muffled, but he had batted her away when she wanted to burn another spell slot and try again. Even going so far as to refuse the potion pushed into his hands while he argued that they might need it more later.

They were still hours away from getting back to safety and they needed to spend their resources healing up their frontline fighters. If they were attacked again Riz would be useless in a fight anyway, even with a few extra points of health. Getting Gorgug and Fabian as close to full health as possible was their top priority right now.

His party had relented after a few tense moments of shouting, Fabian finally putting him down at the edge of the clearing to cool off after the argument. He felt safer there, obscured from view overhead, even as Fabian went to go help the others investigate the massive wyvern properly. Their fighter and barbarian still holding their weapons ready as they scanned the sky for any further incoming attacks.

Riz was second-guessing himself about turning away extra healing as soon as the adrenaline started wearing off. His entire right side felt hot so he started stripping his armour and clothing from his torso to inspect the damage. The goblin wincing and rubbing his hand over the darkening bruising around his side as he leaned against the tree, the pain he was feeling every time he breathed in made him suspect he had at least a couple broken ribs.

They hadn't retrieved the arcubus rifle from where it had been dropped in the fight yet but it was clear there had been some sort of magical backfire on the final shot. The lack of clothing revealing a quickly fading but still faintly glowing lightening patterned wound across his shoulder where the butt of the rifle had been braced. There was even a burn hole that went straight through his armor and shirt, which made him click his tongue in annoyance as he inspected the damage. Fixable with a use of mending, but annoying.

The goblin hunters had come out of hiding after the wyvern finally fell, the group having enough sense to realise they wouldn't be much help with just spears and arrows, they'd stayed hidden in the treeline where they could watch without becoming targets themselves. Most of them were clambering over the massive carcass, chattering amongst themselves at a volume Riz couldn't hear from this distance with the ringing in his ears.

He could still see though, and he noticed Fig crouched down to the level of the lead hunter. Nodding and speaking back to him while the rest of his party looked a little perplexed.

'That little shit' Riz thought to himself, narrowing his eyes in annoyance when it finally clicked. She could understand them.... which meant she'd left him to deal with translating BY HIMSELF this entire time without helping.

The head hunter broke away from Fig after a while, clambering up onto the back of the wyvern and cutting away at the spot where the wyverns scales had been torn free. He was only up there for a few moments though, eventually hopping back down and making his way over to Riz where the rogue was still leaning half-naked against the tree.

//I must admit, I did not believe you when you initially said your team had killed that wyvern yesterday. I find myself proven very wrong... several times over today. Your final blow was very impressive.// He offered Riz the chunk of flesh he'd cut away from the creature, Riz taking it and biting into it savagely to the older goblins approval. This was Riz's kill so he got to take the first bite, it was traditional. You try to kill me and I’ll eat you if I win, fair is fair.

//We'll cut free what we can use, but most of this large one is going to have to go to waste. It's just too big to carry back with us.//

Riz just nodded, swallowing his mouth full of wyvern flesh before trying to stand up straighter from his partial hunch against the tree. He gave up on that fairly quickly though, hissing and wrapping his arms around his torso in an effort to dull the pain slightly.

//That's fine... what did Fig say?//

//She said you got in a fight with them and wants me to convince you to stop being stubborn, for starters.// The elder laughed, Riz flicking his ears back and down in a show of contrition.

//I'll be honest with you, I'm probably not going to stop them if they try healing me again.// The rogue lifted his arm to show off the spreading bruise, visible even beneath his tattoos. //I'm not going to be able to walk very far like this.//

The Hunter sucked air through his teeth and winced //It looks bad kid but any of us would have died to a hit like that. You're quite tough... though you would need to be to fight dragons. Why would you even START doing something like this?//

//Fighting dragons? I think it's a bit of a personal vendetta at this point.// Riz leaned against the tree trunk more heavily, sliding down it to sit on the ground with a shaky exhale. //Dragon ate my dad so we killed it and ate it back.//

//Ah. Understandable. That is the proper way to do things.// the hunter nodded, giving Riz a pat on the head in sympathy as the rogue continued.

//Then a bunch tried to kill my horde a few months ago so we killed them too. I had a bigger weapon than this one that time.// Riz lifted his arms as if he was holding the arcubus rifle, making a pained noise when the action hurt before going back to cradling his side. //It was four times my size and mounted to a ship. That one didn't blow up in my face though.//

//So now you're hunting them down for fun?//

//Technically it's a job, we're getting paid to do this because these wyvern shouldn't be here. We're also trying to work out why there are so many... and given what just happened we should add why they're so BIG to that list.// Riz chewed on the claw of his thumb as he rolled the mystery around in his mind. They'd need to check if the big one was one of the ones marked for culling because the rangers hadn't mentioned any of them being so ridiculously oversized. He had a clue board in his briefcase, maybe he should dig it out and start plotting it out properly.

The hunter nodded in approval at that, glad to see that there was at least one responsible teenager around, even if it wasn’t from his horde. Hormones tended to make adolescent goblins go a little feral but this kid seemed to have a good head on his shoulders… or maybe not, given that he seemed to keep throwing himself headlong into fights against things that wouldn’t even notice it if they stepped on him. //Well your efforts are appreciated, we don't interact with the tall-men rangers much but we're aware they're trying to keep the balance up here. Now, are you going to let your tall-men fix you up or are you just going to sulk and suffer?//

He gave Riz another fond pat on the head when the he snorted and nodded. Standing and gesturing towards the rest of the rogues party to indicate they could come over now before heading back to his own troupe. The hunters apparently trying to yank teeth almost as long as they were tall out of the wyverns mouth.

Riz’s party had been hovering a decent distance away waiting for the go ahead. They knew better than to try and push Riz when he was being stubborn. It was better to wait for him to cool down or he'd just dig his heels in or disappear on them. He couldn’t exactly do much disappearing at the moment though, given that Fabian had confiscated his sword so he wouldn’t be at an advantage, and he was in too much pain to go anywhere far.

Once the hunter gave them the go ahead to approach they had all huddled up, Riz catching a quick game of scissors-paper-rock visible in the gap between them before Fabian was handed the potion the rogue had rejected earlier. There was apparently a consensus that only one of them would come check on him, because too much fussing might set the argument off again. Riz wasn’t sure if Fabian had won or lost the throw down because he didn’t look particularly happy as he came over.

“You look rough.” The fighter crouched in front of him, proffering the potion bottle in a way that Riz had to lift his arm away from his side to take it. Fabian quickly pulling the potion away when Riz reached for it and catching the goblins wrist. The fighter holding the arm so it wouldn’t obscure the goblins side so he could inspect the damage properly. “Fucking hell Riz. That’s worse than just a bruise, I don’t think one potion will be enough. Anything broken?”

The goblin winced, Fabian was worried if he was actually using his name. He settled for nodding in affirmation to the question as he tried to take a steady breath. Holding his arm up at that angle actually hurt a lot at the moment.

“One potion won’t be enough to fix it completely but it should at least make it easier to breath. If I’m lucky it’ll prioritise fixing the break and I’ll just be bruised for a while until I get healed up to full… whiiich I will let the girls do once we’re no longer in everything-wants-to-eat-us territory.”

“Good.” Fabian carefully lowered the arm back down, handing Riz the potion properly this time before shifting out of his crouch into a seated position. Apparently set on watching Riz drink the entire thing so he wouldn’t try to save part of it for later.

Riz felt a little bit like he was under the magnifying glass as he slowly sipped on the potion, Fabian not saying anything as he drained the flask and felt some of his pain easing. He was glad that his hearing had at least cleared up fully by the end of it, hating not being able to hear things with perfect clarity.

He had only just finished the last of the potion when Fabian finally spoke again, the fighter reaching up to fidget with his eyepatch when he cleared his throat to talk.

“So. Fig may have mentioned…. Well, Kristen gets partial credit from earlier but when Fig started chatting to the hunters I thought it would be prudent to ask her some questions of my own.”

Riz winced, ears dropping back to lay flat against his head as Fabian continued.  Feeling a bit of dread settle in his stomach that was not sitting well with the wyvern meat and potion when he realised something. Fig had been listening this morning while Riz spoke to Tiktik. Fig knew.

“I may owe you an apology.” Fabian continued, still fiddling with the eyepatch as he studiously looked anywhere but at the goblin in front of him. “I did not realise that what I did last night was inappropriate and I’m sorry. I should have stopped when you asked me to.”

“It’s okay…” Riz spoke slowly and scrutinized Fabians face, noting that the other boy was blushing at the tips of his ears. “What exactly did Fig say.”

“She told me about the tail… thing… and how it might have been interpreted. I’m honestly surprised you didn’t claw my OTHER eye out at the time given you would have had every right to.”

“Ah… Well.” Riz let his ears relax into a more neutral position, claws picking at the leather covering of the potion flask that protected the glass bottle underneath. “I don’t mind when you do things like that if we’re being completely honest. I was a little annoyed that you did it in public where there were people around but…. Anyone else I probably would have clawed.”

His claws clicked against the glass as he finally worried a hole in the leather covering, focusing on that rather than looking at the fighter. He honestly wanted to be anywhere else right now, but his party still had his weapons and disappearing into the forest right now would be a very dumb idea.

“Oh…. Well. Noted.” Fabian sounded a little confused but Riz saw him relax his posture out of the corner of his eye. Riz wasn’t entirely sure if he understood the significance of what the goblin had just said but he at least looked less worried. “We’re good then yes? Back to normal? I don’t need to worry about you stabbing me in my sleep?”

When Riz nodded Fabian shuffled forwards, gesturing for Riz to lift his arm so he could check if the potion had worked.

“May I?” Fabian arched an eyebrow at Riz, reaching towards him and hovering his hand over the partially healed injury as he waited for permission.

When Riz didn’t flinch away he took it as permission to run his hand along the sore looking spot to check the breakage had at least healed. The point where Riz had contacted the dragons tail was still hot to the touch and the bruising was still significant but at least the goblins breathing was deeper and less hitched. The wound across his shoulder had already faded to the point where Fabian wasn’t worried about it but bone injuries should always be taken more seriously.

“Why were you so mad after you spoke to uhh… Kristens friend then?”

“Oh fuck…. Right… that….” Riz dropped the empty bottle into his lap, looking away from Fabian as the fighter set about checking what remained of the injury across his side. He was decidedly not going to focus on the hand against his bare skin, but at least the fighter was being fairly clinical about the whole affair.

Apparently he had taken Riz’s confession to mean ‘I don’t mind when you do medical checks on me’ which was just… awesome. The goblin swallowing the disappointment that he felt rise in his throat as he tried to stick to his convictions. You can’t be anything more than a friend to Fabian, you will die before he’s middle aged and he’ll move on with his life without you. Just being his friend is enough. Now he just had to make sure Fig never fucking said anything about what she might have heard.

“She told me I should warn you that you may be the subject of quite a bit of unwanted flirting.” Riz flinched and hissed when Fabian pressed down slightly, batting at the fighters wrist to make him stop because the move had fucking hurt. Fabian relenting and sitting back with his hands draped across his knees instead, apparently satisfied that the rogues ribs were at least properly intact.

 “I didn’t want to make you feel awkward by explaining the whole… unintentional groping… thing… but we were definitely being watched at that time and basically every goblin around our age is thirsty.”

Riz huffed, tail slapping the dirt beside him with an irritated flick. “I have been dealing with so much of it and it had scaled back somewhat after you… checked to make sure I wasn’t hurt… because they thought you were flirting with me and you’re intimidating. They weren’t willing to get in a fight with you to try and tempt me away.“

“Oh.”

“Tiktik also told them off for me but we apparently went and made it SO much worse with our sparing because now they think YOU’RE super hot despite the whole scary tall-man thing.”

“So you were cranky because people were going to be flirting with me too? You’re making it sound like I’ve never been flirted with before.” Fabian looked entirely too amused by the whole situation, Riz hissing and smacking his knee with his hand in a way that made his claws prick at the fabric of his pants, though he was careful not to actually rip them.  

“Don’t laugh. This whole thing is fucking mortifying and there’s very little we can do to dissuade them. Kristen is also apparently very popular, but Tiktik has staked a solid claim on her so she’s unlikely to get harassed.” Riz pouted, reaching for his shirt now that he wasn’t feeling so battered and wincing as he put it back on. His party had been right, a potion DID help but he was still pretty sore.

“Yes well, nothing has happened yet so we’ll just cross that bridge when we get to it.” Fabian helped Riz stand once he was properly dressed, letting the goblin scale his back to settle on his spot on the fighters shoulder. Riz giving a tired hum of agreement as he rested his chin on Fabians hair.

Chapter Text

Riz should have expected his friends would be plotting something, but the thought didn't cross his mind until they set into motion a series of actions that were too quick for him to escape from.

Firstly Fabian had carried him back towards the group, but for some reason had a loose grip on one of the goblins ankles. Then Fig had pointed at the fighter, a motion that Fabian repeated back to her a moment later with a nod. Free hand then gesturing vaguely towards his own torso and shoulder.

Riz had assumed the grip on his leg was because he was worried he'd fall off since he was still injured, but the rogue had to very quickly reevaluate that notion when the grip was suddenly tightened. Fabian turning so that the broad side of Riz's back was presented to the bard was when it finally clicked and he tried to scramble away. The fighters grip on his leg was like iron though, so there was no escaping the sleep spell that hit a second later.

When Riz woke up later he was extremely groggy, brain feeling like he was working on half-power as he dragged himself out of sleep. The sleep spell didn’t actually last all that long but once he was out his own body tended to betray him, doing its best to keep him down until it was properly rested for once.

For about half a second after he came out of unconsciousness he thought he was at home, someone gently patting his back through a thick layer of fabric like his mom used to do when he was small. The noises going on around him clued him in that this wasn’t the case though, and he lifted his head to blink blearily around the room.

Apparently he’d been asleep long enough for them to get all the way back to the caves, and his party had apparently been there a while if the general party atmosphere was anything to go by. Goblins he hadn’t even seen the night before having come out into the main cavern and milling around chatting happily.

“I would like to mention before you get mad that I was outvoted by everyone else.” Adaines voice said from behind him, the patting stopping as she moved her hand away. “But they thought it was easier to use cure wounds if you weren’t conscious to fight about it.”

Riz just hummed in acknowledgement, curling up to tuck his legs under the jacket that had been thrown over him. It was Fabians old letterman jacket, and it was warm and smelled nice so he was almost a little loathe to get up despite his general feelings on the matter. The goblin flexing his hands to warm them up a bit as he tried to force  himself to wake the rest of the way up. Getting knocked out with a sleep spell always made him feel like he was coming out of hibernation, body temperature too low to be comfortable after his metabolism slowed down to a crawl to force him unconscious.

“I really hate when they do this.” He said after a while, sitting up and putting his arms through the sleeves of the too-big jacket since he was still chilly. Someone had to have gone through his briefcase while he was asleep, because he was currently not wearing his shirt or vest. The soft, slightly-too-big band shirt Fig had given him to use as pyjamas having been pulled out and put on the goblin so Adaine could mend his clothes.

“I know, but you must have needed it given you slept for that long.” The wizard reached to her right, picking up Riz’s mended clothing and handing it to her smaller party member. “Did you even sleep yesterday?”

“Does lying down with my eyes shut count?” Riz accepted the bundle of clothes, pulling his arms out of the sleeves of the jacket but keeping it draped over his shoulders so he could at least put the vest on. His normal shirt getting plopped on top of his briefcase which he’d apparently been using as a pillow. It was a bit of an odd outfit combination, but Riz was still too groggy to really care about how he looked. “If it doesn’t…. no.”

Adaine pursed her lips at his answer, leaning back on her hands as she gave him a stern look. “Maybe we should be switching you to decaf then.”

“I would seriously start considering homicide if that happened.” Riz replied, flicking his ears and turning to smile at her. He was mostly joking…. Mostly.

Adaine just laughed at that, reaching forwards to ruffle his hair which he allowed without complaint. Riz leaning his weight back against her palm as he waved his tail behind him.

“I’m not mad at you by the way. I’m assuming the main conspirators were Fig and Fabian… and probably Kristen. I’m just annoyed I didn’t get to ask before I was so rudely put to bed if the big wyvern was one of the ones tagged for culling.”

“Oh! Yes. That thing was weird. We’re not sure WHAT’S going on but we used detect magic on it and nothing came up so no one used an enlarge spell on it or anything. I thought you might ask so we took measurements and recorded the tag number. I figured you’d probably want to look at it once you weren’t so mad.” Adaine dug in her jacket, retrieving a little notebook and pen that she’d filled out with all the relevant details.

Riz took the notebook happily, crossing his legs and hunching over it as he went over the data they’d recorded earlier in the day. Tapping the pen against the paper for a moment before reaching for his briefcase and digging out his crystal. They would still have a signal up here with Gorgugs modifications and he needed to make a call. “I knew you’d be clever enough to get what I needed. I have a hunch but I think I still need more information to draw a proper conclusion. I’ll be back in a bit.”

He rolled to his feet, shoving his arms back through the sleeves of the jacket and rolling them up so they weren’t obscuring his hands. Adaine getting a gentle nuzzle on the forehead with his own before he headed for the main entrance of the cave.

He had to dodge at least two other goblins on the way out of the cavern, the crowd was thick and it looked like the horde had broken out their reserves of alcohol. More than a few of them had been drinking long enough that they were a little tipsy and handsy as they celebrated… something. He wasn’t sure what, given that it wasn’t a normal festival holiday as far as he could remember, but given the amount of roasted meat he could smell it was probably his party’s fault. A massive surplus of meat would usually result in a bonfire, and there would certainly be a surplus after today. At least Fabians jacket was long enough that it made grabbing at his tail harder, all they got were handfuls of fabric before he managed to pull away.

It was freezing outside when he finally exited the caves, cold air having settled down in the valley as the sky got dark. Judging by the height of the moon he’d been out for at least five hours, which was more than he normally got so he’d count it as a win. He had to do the jacket up all the way to his neck to keep some of the wind out as he found a spot to make the call, crouching down so the hem of it was only hovering slightly above the ground as he tucked his knees inside too.

Sandra Lynne had been his first point of call, explaining to her the current circumstances involving the ever-increasing size of the wyverns they were encountering. She was surprised, given that there had been nothing in their original survey that would have pointed to why, and agreed that she’d negotiate a higher pay for the job given that their investigation was outside the scope of their current contract.

After that the call was brief, Sandra Lynne messaging over photos of the original survey that had marked these wyverns for culling fairly quickly. Riz quickly noting down the information he needed on the pad Adaine had given him before thanking her and hanging up. He’d need to go back and compare it with his own notes but hopefully they had what they needed now. In his opinion this was more exciting than hunting the wyverns anyway, now they were getting paid as part of an investigation which was his specialty.

Riz tucked the crystal into the pocket of his pants, rubbing his hands together to get some feeling back in his fingers before re-entering the caves. The interior was quite a bit warmer, but cave systems like this tended to have the same temperature all year round thanks to all the rock insulating the spaces inside.

The rogue decided to do quick lap of the main cavern before heading back over to their designated corner, mostly looking for the rest of his friends among the throngs of goblins milling about enjoying themselves.

He found Fig and Fabian on the opposite side of the cavern to their things, an audience of over a dozen tiny goblin kits and even a few adults watching them with rapt attention as Fig narrated the story of the days adventure to them. She’d even gone so far as to conjure a tiny minor illusion of the fight on the floor, which Fabian was critiquing and making her fix the positions of their tiny stand-ins on the battlefield. He had a mind like a steel trap when it came to things like this and you could ask him where any of his teammates were in any fight they’d been in almost down to the second.

The horde had apparently been very generous with their alcohol, because the pair of them looked to be about two sheets to the wind but it didn’t make the story any less enjoyable. Bards were very good at putting on a show, and Fig was loving the attention given she’d spent the last two days pretending not to be able to talk to anyone.

Since they hadn’t noticed him arrive Riz got comfortable leaning against a stalactite as he watched them both perform. Smiling when the goblin kits squealed and hid their faces when the tiny illusion of a wyvern nearly landed on the tiny Riz and Adaine. The story was a little embellished, but it was clear she’d told it a few times tonight already. Some of the kits bouncing a little in place in excitement as the story wrapped up with the wyvern falling over dead. Fabian producing one of the creatures massive fangs as proof of their kill which just made the youngsters chitter with excitement.

//You know this is the exact opposite of not showing off, yes?// Riz had to stop himself from jumping when Tiktik crept up behind him, he half suspected she was a rogue herself given that she kept managing to do that without him noticing her. //What are you wearing?//

//A jacket, I was cold. It’s not mine.// Riz flicked his tail, giving her an amused look as he watched the kits swarm Fig and Fabian to pepper them with questions. Fabian clearly not understanding ANY of it but letting them climb all over him anyway. //I have no part in this, I was unconscious without my consent and only just woke up.//

//Yes but you are still making things harder for me in regards to keeping you unmolested. //

//Sorry, I’ve had to dodge a few attempts on my own when I tried to go outside.// He lifted his arms, showing off how large the jacket was on him. It reached his knees so only the lower half of his tail was poking out the bottom. //This is doing a decent job serving as armour though. //

Tiktik made a thoughtful noise, lifting his arms higher and inspecting the garment. //It is also doing a decent job of obscuring your figure. Perhaps you should keep this on for a while. If they are deterred by it I’ll be able to go play with your cleric for a bit.//

//Go do… whatever. I won’t be walking around out here too much anyway. I have work to do and none of the teens have bothered us in our sleeping area yet so I should be fine.// Riz pushed himself off the stalactite, glancing over at his party members and noting that they’d gained the attention of some of the teens that kept hovering around. One was cosying up very close to the half-elf and trying to talk to him, even though he spoke no goblin at all, and Riz resisted the urge to go smack them away. He hadn’t gotten into a fight with any of Fabians paramours before and he wasn’t about to start now, even if the urge was there.

//Plus, I tend to be a bit of a killjoy at parties if I’m focusing on something else. Better to just let everyone have their fun while I’m not around.//

Tiktik followed his gaze, rolling her eyes as she started walking towards the group of teens. If Riz wasn’t going to make his claim on Fabian known she had decided she’d at least keep the worst of her horde away from him. //This would be a lot easier if the pair of you sorted things out you know.//

Riz just snorted when she smacked the teen attempting to flirt with Fabian (though it wasn’t going well; he had no tail to grab and Fabian had stood up abruptly when they reached for his ears instead) on the back of the head. Hissing something at him and gesturing towards Riz which made the other teen flick his ears back and skuttle away. He’d have to get her a gift or something after this, she didn’t have to play defence for him but it was appreciated.

The rogue didn’t stay lingering for long, heading back to their designated sleeping area to try and sort through his little mystery. Adaine had disappeared somewhere while he was gone, probably to find somewhere more quiet, so he had the entire space to spread his things out and focus. A board hauled out of his briefcase ending up propped up against the wall so he could arrange his notes more easily.

Chapter Text

By the time he was done he had their entire map pinned and heavily annotated in the centre of the board, notes from their own survey and the one done by the rangers a few months ago placed where he felt they made sense. A lot of the wyverns had moved from their original tagging site, but it was notable that the ones that were significantly larger had all migrated from a specific corner of the map. It made some sort of sense, but he couldn’t for the life of him work out how it was happening. Especially since Adaine said there’d been no magic involved.  The goblin made an irritated noise, wishing he had a coffee to sip on as he started to pace. Trying to think of anything that would make a wyvern grow to such ridiculous sizes after only a couple months.

He’d only been pacing for a while when Fabian stumbled back over to their sleeping area, Riz pinning his ears back in a clear ‘I’m mad’ pose as he decidedly didn’t look in the fighters direction. He was playing it up a little bit, given that they had knocked him out for a fairly good reason this time beyond just ‘you’ve been awake too long and need a nap’, but he was still a little ticked off.

“It’s a party The Ball, you’re supposed to be having fun not… detective-ing.” Fabian plopped down on top of one of the rocks they’d dragged over to sit on, putting himself at Riz’s eye level as he squinted at the notes littering the board. He’d probably been expecting Riz to immediately start rambling about what he was working on, but when he didn’t Fabian just continued. “They have this amazing fruity mead stuff here. I should ask if we can take some home with us later.”

He was definitely a little drunk, Riz could tell, but it was nowhere near the level he tended to get at his own parties. More pleasantly tipsy than anything else, and probably a little wired from all the attention he’d been receiving from the kits and… other people.

Riz flicked his tail, still ignoring Fabian as he stopped to scribble some notes in the corner of the map. Noting the location he thought was best to check for the cause of their troubles once they’d rested up sufficiently. They’d need to sleep at least one night outside to get there but Riz was familiar with the area at least, his parents horde had migrated away from the area and further south years ago but he knew where the old cave system was. They’d have no trouble finding somewhere to crash that was protected from the weather.

“Ah, you are mad at me. I can tell.” Fabian put the cup he was drinking from down on the floor, holding his arms out in an invitation for a hug. Grinning when Riz glanced at him and his ears popped back up into a more neutral position before he forced them back into his ‘I’m mad’ pose.

“I apologise, and to make it up to you I swear that I, Fabian Aramais Seacaster, shall risk life limb and mild maiming to procure you an extra cup of coffee today.”

Riz’s tail flicked a bit, displaying his interest in the prospect even if he didn’t turn around.

“Two cups of coffee, but no more. The girls will murder me.” He waved his hands in a ‘come on’ gesture, keeping his arms spread and laughing when Riz finally relented. Rizz capping the pen he’d been using and shoving it into his pocket before wandering over and letting Fabian grab him in a hug.

With the fighter sitting down like this Riz was able to rest his chin on his shoulder, allowing the fighter to do the same to him. Fabian could be a cuddly drunk sometimes and Riz huffed when he got squished slightly.

“I’m not mad at you anymore, but you really didn’t need to knock me out this time. I was going to let Kristen heal me.” He tried to wiggle his arms free, Fabian having pinned them to his side with the hug, but got absolutely nowhere with the effort. The rogue deciding to just let Fabian hug himself out, he tended to let go eventually.

“We decided not to take that chance.” Fabian pat Riz’s back, loosening his grip on the rogue slightly so he could squirm and stand with his back to his chest instead. The fighter plopping his head back onto Riz’s shoulder since he was at the perfect height at the moment to use as a chin rest. “You scared the shit out of us when that arcubus exploded and you went down.”

“Mmmmm, it was close. I think the only thing that stopped me from getting poisoned by the wyverns stinger was that bardic someone tossed me. After listening to your story with the kits I at least know to thank you for that.” Riz leaned his head to nuzzle against Fabians, leaning his weight against him and getting comfortable so he could continue scrutinizing his board even from a distance. If he was doomed to be trapped in a hug until Fabian sobered up a bit, so be it, but he could still keep working.

“It was a very good performance by the way, but totally the opposite direction of what you want to do if you’re not trying to attract suitors.” Riz pat the arm hugging him against Fabians chest, tail flicking in amusement when his friend gave an annoyed groan.

“Gods I know what you mean about the flirting now, they are relentless and I can’t even understand them. Why do they keep trying to grab at my ears?”

 “No tail and they’re the next best thing. I think Tiktik has it handled though. She seems to be wrangling them pretty well but there’s not much we can really do to dissuade them… Unless you go the Kristen route and pick one to cosy up to.” The rogue gave a bit of a humourless laugh at his own suggestion, trying to push away from the hug and getting squished back into it again.

“Oh quite a few are intent on cosying up I can tell that much. They get very explicit with the gesturing, which I can understand even without speaking the language. Though I can’t tell whether it’s the males or females that are worse. They don’t make it as easy as you do to tell the difference… Fig seems to have no problem clocking it though.”

“Oh, you have to look at their stripes. On their back if you can see them, or their tail. Males ones are wigglier and the edges of the female ones are straight.” Riz flinched a bit when Fabian reached down to grab his tail, close to the tuft at least which Riz was glad for. He was starting to get a little jumpy about people swiping for it but he relaxed fairly quickly. Letting Fabian scrutinize it closer until he uttered a noise of comprehension.

“Well I’ll be damned, you do have stripes. I never even noticed given they’re so hard to see.”

“It’s easier to see them on these guys. I’m out in the sun a lot more and the tan has evened out my skintone.” Riz flicked his tail restlessly when Fabian didn’t let go and rubbed his thumb along one of the faint stripes near the tuft. The rogue flinching and hunching up his shoulders slightly when the fighter paired the action with a nuzzle against the shoulder Fabian had been resting his chin against previously.

“I know you’re drunk and clingy but you’re getting very close to doing another of those unintentional flirting things I told you about.” Riz pat the arm pinning him in place, the fighter loosening the hug slightly as he readjusted his grip on the goblins tail. The rogue jerking in surprise and going stock still when Fabian instead moved his hand further along his tail to the point where it wasn’t poking free from under the jacket.

“I’m not that drunk, I merely had a little bit of liquid courage. You know as well as I do that Fig is terrible at keeping secrets.” Riz’s ears pinned back against his head. Shit. Of course Fig would have said something. She couldn’t leave things well enough alone once she latched onto an idea and he'd completely forgotten to go tell her to keep her mouth shut.

“Sorry, Fabian, it’s not… I can explain.”

He tried for a moment to push Fabians arm away so he could walk forward out of the backwards hug and put a little distance between them. Stopping his efforts abruptly and yelping when the other boy suddenly bit him on the junction between his neck and shoulder.

Fabian pulling away slightly to inspect the mark he’d made before going back to nuzzling at the spot. Releasing his grip on the base of Riz's tail so he could go back to hugging him. “Let me be clear, this is not unintentional.”

Riz’s brain, which had previously been firing on all cylinders as he tried to puzzle out their little wyvern mystery, ground to a complete halt. Wildly oscillating between being ecstatic and very confused. His tail was giving him away a little bit though, swishing from side to side in wide happy strokes before he forced himself to stop. That was a very obvious declaration of intent and Fabian had just done that on purpose, and it certainly wasn't a medical check this time.

"Wh-? But...." Riz took a steadying breath, clapping his hand over the spot where he'd been bitten. The fighters teeth weren’t anywhere as sharp as Figs or his own so it didn’t really hurt but he’d still left a mark other people would be able to see for a few hours. "Fabian please, if Fig said something you have to know how I feel. You can't just.... we can't."

"I don't see why not." Fabian had the good sense to loosen his grip when Riz struggled again, making an amused noise when the rogue dropped into a crouch, pulled his arms through the sleeves and tried to disappear into the oversized jacket.

Riz even pulled his tail into the little fabric cave he'd made for himself, holding onto the tuft so he wouldn't move his tail around while talking. He just didn't want anyone to see him while he had this conversation, his emotions were too easy to read. The top of his head was still visible through the neck hole though so it wasn't like he had completely stealthed.

"We can’t. I LIKE being your friend and hanging out and stuff but..... I'm a goblin. We live like.... 60 years. MAX. And that's only if I don’t die before then and you and I both know I don't have the healthiest habits." He was rambling but he didn't really feel like he could stop, hands gripping his tail and squeezing near the tuft until it hurt just to ground himself. "I'd die and leave you alone so fast. I don't want to do that to you."

He couldn't do this sober. Tail flicking out from underneath the jacket to wrap around Fabians half-full cup of mead and drag it into his hidey hole. He couldn't hold much weight with his tail but the cup was light enough. He barely tasted it as he downed the entire thing in one go, coughing as it made his throat burn.

"Oh I'm well aware, but that's going to happen regardless of whether we’re just friends or something more. My Mama married my Papa even though it was the exact same situation." Fabian reached down to pat the bundle of fabric as Riz coughed.

"But you're acting like I don't have the means to simply break into hell and steal you back... or heaven I guess, though that might take a little more work."

Riz made an amused noise at that, tilting his head back to look at Fabian through the neck hole of the jacket. "That is true… but you better not. I'm trying to line up a career... and my point still stands. Plus, you have way better options."

"The last girl I dated dumped me because I kept bringing you up in every conversation." Fabian deadpanned, resting his wrists on his knees and leaning forwards to get more on Rizs level. "The only reason I didn't pursue you right away after Mazey pointed out that it was probably because I liked you is I thought you were uninterested in that sort of thing."

"I mean, I am..." Riz scratched his claws against the cup in his hands, really hoping a lie of omission didn't count and wouldn’t summon Baron. Though he would take getting dragged through a mirror by a nightmare creature right now if it meant he could get out of this conversation.

"Yes, but a little devil I know may have mentioned that you have made an exception. For me specifically. " Fabian grinned, knowing that he'd caught the rogue out when Riz groaned and thunked his forehead against his own knee.

"Nnnngh yes. It's stupid and complicated but it's a spectrum..." Riz thunked his forehead against his knee again, hard enough that the impact was audible, and sighed. “I’m still not sure if I’ll ever want to like… have sex or anything…. It still makes me feel weird to even think about... but I did kind of enjoy the whole tail thing even though it was really embarrassing, and cuddling, and the bite just now please stop laughing at me.”

“Sorry sorry, it’s just… very on brand for you. Not wanting to get your kisses in.” Fabian tried to stop laughing, reached down to open the neck of the jacket slightly so he could see the goblin which just made Riz hiss at him. There really wasn’t any venom behind the noise though so Fabian reached in to ruffle his hair. Riz pouting at him and leaning in to the action.

“I might… want to get some kisses in. Sometimes.” Riz muttered, making a defeated noise before awkwardly shoving his arms back through the sleeves of the jacket and standing up. Claws scratching at the earthenware cup he was still holding in a way that felt unpleasant but at least provided a bit of stimulation to distract him. "If you really want to do this... is everything going to change? Because if being in a relationship is going to completely fuck up our whole friendship I’m going to have to say no."

“I think we can handle keeping it mostly the same, just with a few tweaks here and there.” Fabian looked very amused by the entire situation, tugging on the hem of the jacket Riz was wearing (his jacket, which he thought looked very cute on him even though it didn’t match his normal style at all) and pulling him in closer. “We don’t have to work out the little details right now but it would be nice to know if I can do things like this if I want to.”

Riz made a surprised noise when the fighter held a hand to the back of his head, Fabian pressing a light kiss on his lips and lingering for a moment before pulling away. The rogue looking thoughtful for a moment afterwards before reaching up to press his hands against either side of Fabians face. Returning the kiss just as lightly before turning away, face blushing heavily even as his tail whipped from side to side like mad.

“Sometimes… You can get your kisses in sometimes.” He let go of Fabians face, the fighter grinning at him dopily and trying to pull him back in for another one. Riz clapping his hand over Fabians mouth and snorting when he was given the saddest look in response. “NOT right now though. I am working and I’m not going to spend all night making out with you because I KNOW that’s where you’ll go with this. I have seen what you get like when you date people….. you can have another kiss after you help me work on the route we’ll need to take to get to the cliffs.”

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Submitted by - diamond-the-hoard-keeper

As viewers we have been privy to a lot of Kristen’s journey and bits of Riz’s to discovering there sexuality but some of the other bad kids it left more to the imagination and of course without asking the players directly we won’t know for sure. But that’s what head cannons are for so I was wondering what is you view of the bad kids Journeys with sexuality?

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Something seemed… different… when Gorgug rejoined his party hours later. He wasn’t sure what it was but it was definitely something. He wasn’t surprised that Kristen wasn’t there, given that she had probably a more comfortable place to sleep, but almost everyone else was there. Fabian had settled down to sleep in the same spot he’d been the night before, sitting upright against the wall with his arms crossed and partially leaning on their bags so that wasn’t what was different. Adaine had also decided to trance it seemed, and was leaning partially on Fig who looked ready to fall asleep herself. She wasn’t quite there yet though, so Gorgug picked his way between his other party members to sit down in his own spot beside her.

“I’m surprised you’re in one piece, I was expecting to have to break out a first aid kit after Riz hunted you down for the sleep spell.” The barbarian whispered to Fig, reaching over Fabian to deposit his own bag which contained his artificer tools onto the pile of their belongings. Careful not to jostle the fighter awake or accidentally squish Riz if he was hidden in the same spot as the night before.

“He’s still cranky at me, but I think we managed to distract him away from thoughts of maiming me this time.” Fig grinned, nodding towards Fabian and the very noticeable bite mark on the fighters neck visible with the angle he was leaning.

“Oh that’s what was different!... shit. They’re not going to kick us out if Riz murders one of their horde members for that are they?”

Gorgugs question made Fig laugh, jostling Adaine out of her trance slightly which made the elf groan and smack her on the arm to make her stop.

“Sorry sorry.” Fig pulled on Adaines shoulder so she could use Figs lap as a pillow, the elf grumbling before falling back into her trance again. “No Riz did that. I had to wait for ages for them to stop making out before I could come back over here…. Well I say making out but Riz was doing that thing where he paces and infodumps but with the new addition of kisses spaced throughout. It was adorable.”

“Ah.” Gorgug made a noise of understanding, shuffling around so he could lie down on his bedroll and stare at the ceiling. “I thought it would take a couple more months until they sorted themselves out… good for them.”

“Wait, you’re not surprised? I only found out Riz liked him by eavesdropping on a conversation he had with Kristens friend before they knew I could understand them.”

“No? I thought it was super obvious.” The barbarian tilted his head to look at Fig, the archdevil pouting down at him before poking him in the middle of the forehead. “I mean, that binder my parents made has a whole section on goblins and he is not subtle with his body language.”

“And you didn’t TELL me? What kind of friend are you? You’re supposed to share the juicy gossip.” Fig slapped Gorgug on the arm, the half-orc just giving her an amused look. He barely even felt it.

“Fig I don’t even talk about my own love life, it would be rude to speculate on someone else’s. Especially when they’re uncomfortable bringing it up themselves.”

“Well said Gorgug, but it’s also rude to talk about people when they’re not present.” Fabian added, words slurred and sleepy as he cracked his eye open to look at them. The fighter uncrossing his arms and feeling in the space under the bags to his left before making an exasperated noise. Riz wasn’t there, so either he’d run off to sleep in the same spot as the night before or was still working out the logistics of the next part of their mission.

“Sorry. Um… congrats?” Gorgug reached over to give Fabian a pat on the knee, the fighter preening a bit with the attention even if he had just scolded his friends for gossiping about him. “Is Riz under there? I only just got back and I didn’t see him on the way in.”

“Thankyou, and no. Last I saw he was headed outside with his briefcase and a crystal. He was muttering something about supplies and said to stay put because I was distracting him so I did.” Fabain sounded quite proud about that, rubbing both hands over his face in an effort to wake up a little bit more. “He’s apparently renegotiated our contract with the rangers so he’s gone full work-mode while he sets everything up. You know how hard getting a word in edgewise is when he gets like that, better to just stay out of his way until everything is fixed.”

Gorgug made a noise of agreement at Fabians observation. Riz was definitely the expert in their party when it came to dealing with the minutia of actual paperwork, something that their junior year had demonstrated in spades. As long as you left him alone he could get things done in hours that would take most people days, but only if you didn’t break his train of thought too much.

“What about you? I know the goblins are still partying, but you’ve been gone for hours and I didn’t see you anywhere hanging around.” The fighter readjusted his position slightly, wrapping his sheet around his shoulders. Even with the fires that their hosts were keeping burning to keep the cave lit for them were struggling to stave off some of the chill. He wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up with snow overnight at this rate, which just made him more glad they’d been allowed to stay another night.

“Repairing the stupid arcubus, the barrel had cracked right the way along so I had to replace it. Some of the hunters were helping me hollow out one of the wyverns’ teeth to use as a replacement.” Gorgug frowned, crossing his arms over his chest as he squashed down his own anger at himself over the whole situation. Riz had nearly gotten killed because his modifications had been more than the weapon could handle, but he should have tested it properly before letting his friend wield it in a fight anyway. It was a stupid mistake that he wouldn’t let happen again.

“Will that work?” Fabian had no idea how any of this artificer stuff worked, but he generally had faith in Gorgug’s proficiency in the matter.

“Yeah, it’ll at least be stronger than it was before. I’ll make a couple tests shots in the morning just in case.” Their barbarian huffed, Fig reaching over to give him a consoling pat on the head which he allowed happily. He enjoyed acts of affection like this from his friends, it helped keep him calm when he started working himself up.

“Good, if we come across any of those big ones we’ll be in trouble without it.” Fabian gave Gorgug a pat on the arm as well. Tucking his sheet around his shoulders a little tighter, glad for the residual warmth of the fire elemental inside since Riz still had his jacket. The fighter closing his eye and settling himself back into his sleeping position leaning against their bags and the wall behind him.  

“I’m sure Riz will trap you all in a mission briefing in the morning but I’ve heard most of it already. He’s still sorting out the details but he’s sure something is causing the wyverns to be so large and we need to go find out what it is. He seems to be aware of the general conditions in the area we’re going so I half suspect he’s been there before, though he didn’t say as such.”

“Mmm, okay. Goodnight then.” Gorgug hummed in affirmation, getting the hint that Fabian wanted to go back to sleep and rolling onto his side facing Fig and Adaine. Fig readjusting Adaine against her side so she could skootch over and tuck up against Gorgug as well since it was quite chilly. The archdevils body temperature enough to keep both of her friends warm.

As far as Riz could tell all four of them were asleep by the time he finally reappeared in the cavern, the goblin having been outside making a call where he had a signal for his crystal. It had taken a while to organise the supplies drop they needed and a light dusting of snow was now covering the shoulders of the jacket he’d stolen from Fabian. It was quickly melting now that he was in the relative warmth of the cave but he still couldn’t feel the tips of his ears or his fingers because he was outside for so long.

The rogue carefully picked his way across the sleeping forms of his friends, stopping to readjust a blanket over Fig and resisting the urge to flick her ear in retaliation for all the shit she’d put him through today. Honestly, the better revenge would be keeping her in anticipation for payback that would never come so he just left it at that.

Kristen still wasn’t back yet, he noted, but the goblin sleeping caverns would be a lot warmer than out here anyway so he didn’t blame her for that. Especially since he knew Tiktik had left the celebration to go join her, the goblin female having literally grabbed Riz by the shoulders on his way outside and congratulated him on FINALLY getting it over with so she could go play with the cleric some more without having to guard his chastity constantly.

There had been a noticeable reduction in the amount of harassment he’d received, but he was too locked in on getting what he needed done done to really care all that much. Now that it was sorted though he found himself getting tired again, the cold doing absolutely nothing to help his rare urge to actually sleep despite the fact he’d had a magically induced nap once already today.

Riz carefully clambered over Gorgug, shoving his briefcase into their jumble of bags and weapons where it would still be within arms reach as he tried to find a place to settle down for the night. Hissing in surprise when Fabian grabbed him by the wrist and promptly bundled him into his lap so that the pair of them were both encased in the sheet draped over his shoulders.

"Hss! Fuck Fabian give me a heart attack, I thought you were asleep."

“No, just resting with my eyes shut.” Fabian whispered, readjusting the rogue so it was more comfortable for the both of them. Noting that Riz didn’t fight him and simply pulled his arms into the jacket to get more comfortable. “Gods, you’re freezing. Did you finish what you needed to do?”

“Oof, yeah. I was out there longer than I meant to be but I think we’re good to go.” Riz tucked down into the jacket, rubbing his hands together and trying to get some warmth back in his fingers. “One of the rangers will be dropping off some supplies for us not far from here about mid-morning. I figured we could probably use some more potions, and a replacement for whoever’s armour’s enchantment has broken given we’re headed to where we think the BIG wyverns are coming from.”

“Ah, good plan The Ball. Now you won’t be able to complain so much about drinking one when you inevitably break something again.” Fabian teased, reaching up to rub the tips of Riz’s ears to help warm them up faster. He hesitated a moment before touching them though, usually Riz had a blanket ban on the practice but the goblin leaned into the touch. Riz purring a little as he tucked himself up more comfortably.

“Mmmm, I’ll drink them just don’t knock me out again. Really messes with my internal clock.” Riz yawned, reaching up to grab the fighters hand when he’d had enough of the ear rubbing and holding it in his own. “I’m going to sleep, for a bit. Wake me up if you get up before me.”

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Submitted by - ladybugprinc3ss

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Submitted by - Anonymous

Hallo again!! I was the one who sent in a lot of those Riz in backpack headcanons! Here are some more.

Places Riz had woken up in because he fell asleep in someone’s backpack

• Zelda’s room, I’d like to imagine it’d just pan back and forth we between slowly getting closer to the back and Riz slowly unzipping, when he confusedly peeked his head out of the backpack, Zelda and him screamed out of utter surprise. Once the two of them calmed down, Zelda offered to call Gorgug to come pick up his backpack with Riz in it.

Riz woke up and he was... not where he was supposed to be, but he recognised the smell of Zeldas deodorant and soap so he figured he was probably in her house. This posed a bit of a problem because if he was in her house, Gorgug was probably there.... and they were dating..... and she was a satyr... who worshiped Faunus.... and her boyfriend was there.... and they probably thought they were alone.... The rogue covered his face, ears flicking as he tried to listen to what was going on outside the confines of the bag. Thanking all that was holy when he heard nothing gross and carefully unzipping the backpack to peak out. Quickly ducking back down when Zelda spotted him and screamed. Riz yelping when the bag was impacted by a textbook thrown at full force from the startled girl.

"Ow! Fuck, sorry!" he waited a moment before peeking back out again, Zelda still looking a little startled but calming down when she finally recognised him.

"Oh! Riz I'm sorry you frightened me." She put down the lamp she was about to throw next and crouched to inspect the goblin. Riz rubbing the side of his head from where the textbook had nailed him through the padding of the bag. "I didn't realise Gorgug forgot his bag. I'll get him to come get you."

• Sam Nightingale’s car, very similar to the last one, Gorgug left his backpack at Zelda, and Sam was already gonna take the maidens out tonight. So they were just gonna drop the backpack off on the way, Riz wakes up to blasting pop music, pokes his head out to look up at Zelda. All the seven maidens really like Riz (he was the one started looking for them in the first place) and they offered to drop off the backpack and take him with him as a thank you.

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Submitted by - Anonymous XX 

For the chaos horde au I was thinking that maybe some of the bad kids names could be harder to pronounce in goblin than others or really just don’t sound like real names to them.

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Riz was still floating in the hazy embrace of sleep, having absolutely no motivation to wake up just yet even as he felt himself get jostled into a more upright sitting position and someone said his name. Simply tucking up further and drifting deeper into unconsciousness when the movement didn’t register as hostile or panicked.

The voices around him were quiet and eventually he felt a hand rest on his forehead, moving to under his neck near his pulse for a moment before moving away and leaving him alone. He stayed in his edge-of-sleep state for a while longer, ignoring the movement and voices around him and only dragging himself awake when he felt something hot almost to the point of burning pressed into his hands. The smell of coffee finally registering in his brain being the thing that gave him the motivation to move. The goblin grasping the cup more firmly so he wouldn’t drop it and squinting his eyes open as he took a sip.

“Oh thank Cass we thought there was something wrong with you.” Kristen let go of the cup now that Riz had a firm grasp on it, sitting heavily on the ground across from where Riz was perched on one of their sleeping mats. “I can’t believe that worked.”

The goblin just mumbled in response, head leaning against the arm Fabian was using to keep him mostly upright since he was still only half awake. Riz letting the caffeine kick in a little bit longer before trying to greet anyone properly.

“Mmmm, morning. Sorry what?” Riz rubbed at his eye with the heel of one of his palms, yawning and showing off an impressive array of sharp teeth once he finally woke up enough to be coherent. “Wrong? How?.”

“You were asleep for-“ Fabian squinted at Riz’s watch, moving his arm away now that the rogue was sitting up under his own power. “-nine hours and you wouldn’t wake up when we shook you. I think that’s a new record.”

“You hit me with a sleep spell less than a day ago. There’s a reason I usually don’t talk to you for a while afterwards…. Other than being pissed about it.” Riz huffed, missing the weight of the arm and leaning heavily against Fabians side instead. The move making the fighter laugh as he settled his arm back over the rogue. Riz chewing on the rim of the metal camp cup for a bit before draining the contents entirely. “The damn spell doesn’t work the same way on me, well… monsters… as it does on you. I go home and end up having to fight to stay awake for a few hours and keep my metabolism up or I’m liable to drop into a state of torpor or worse. I’ll be fine now... Coffee helps.”

Riz almost missed the tutting noise Fabian made when the rogue called himself a monster, choosing to ignore it and simply focus on enjoying his coffee instead. Teeth still clicking against the side and making a noise he found oddly pleasant in his just-awake state. They’d gotten him a nice reinforced mug since he had a habit of cracking his porcelain ones, he wasn’t sure what the metal was but it did a decent job withstanding his bites. He hadn’t even managed to put a dent in it yet.

“Oh. Good. I thought you’d gotten sick or something but you didn’t have a temperature.” Kristen sighed in relief, not quite sure what Riz meant by torpor but if he said he was fine she believed him. The cleric taking the empty mug when Riz held it out towards her and jiggled it expectantly and turning to pass it back towards Fig who was manning their little magitech hotplate. The bard already boiling some more water and digging in her pockets for another serving of the instant coffee sachets Riz preferred, even though they were technically still rationing him.

So that’s who was holding them, Riz thought to himself. The smell of Figs clove cigarettes would do an excellent job of making sure he couldn’t smell the coffee. He doubted she had more than a few on her person though, they were one of the kinds that Adaine pulled out of her jacket for him when his own supplies were running low and he was short on cash. The sachets covered in unfamiliar writing from the pocket dimension inside her coat.

Riz took the refilled cup with a hum of thanks when it was passed back to him, sipping it more sedately as his friends ate their breakfast around him. Given the amount he’d eaten yesterday he wasn’t particularly hungry but he did eat a smoked sausage Gorgug passed him from the dwindling reserves of food the hordes elders had left for the half-orc to eat. They wouldn’t be able to take it all with them but his bigger friend could probably finish most of it before they left.

Adaine wandered back over to them while they were still eating, apparently having gone to use the bathing area since she was still drying her hair. Riz thought this was a good idea, since they wouldn’t have a chance to do so again for a while and prestidigitation didn’t feel as nice as a proper wash with soap and water. He knocked back the rest of his coffee, glad it had cooled slightly since it was almost hot enough to burn his tongue, and left the mug with the rest of their cutlery to be cleaned before they left. The rogue rolling to his feet and shucking Fabians jacket that he was still wearing before stepping over the fighters leg to grab his briefcase.

“I’m going to go wash up and thank the elders for letting us stay but you guys should probably start getting your gear together. We’ll be meeting a ranger a mile or so away from here for a resupply around mid-morning but it won’t take long to get there so you’ve got a bit of time.” Riz stretched his arms over his head, joints popping a bit from so long sleeping and stepped away from Fabian and the pile of bags. Stopping mid-stride with a look on his face like he’d forgotten something, only to turn around and go back so he could give the fighter a peck on the lips, blush furiously, and scamper away without another word.

The whole thing had happened so fast that Kristen had almost missed it, almost being the key word, and her spoon stopped mid-air halfway between her bowl and mouth. The cleric looking back and forwards between the smug looking fighter and where Riz had disappeared into the darkness of the cavern with a thoroughly confused look.

“Whaaat the fuck was that?” Kristen hissed at Fabian, putting the spoon she’d been eating with down into her bowl of porridge. “Since when?”

Fabian rubbed his hands over his face, propping himself up into a more comfortable cross-legged sitting position as he tried very hard not to grin like an idiot. The kiss had been the most chaste thing he could even imagine but hadn’t expected Riz to do even that in front of the rest of the party. “Mmmmm, last night. I’m surprised Fig didn’t say anything.”

“No!” Kristen glanced over at their bard, Fig grinning and shrugging her shoulders as she continued to shovel down her breakfast. “More to the point I thought he wasn’t into that sort of thing. So what, are you dating?”

“We’ve left that… undefined for the moment.” Fabian waved his hand, trying to think of a way to summarise his conversation with the rogue in a way that made sense to anyone else. “I think its more of a… ‘friendship plus’ situation for the moment, which I’m fine with. He wants to keep things normal-ish for now until he can sort it out in his own head. His brain is definitely in ‘solve this mystery’ mode and wasn’t entirely equipped to go that far in the discussion last night so I didn’t want to push it too far and have him freak out.”

“So it’s just… friendship plus kissing?” Kristen grinned, finally clocking the mostly healed bite mark on Fabians shoulder that was visible when he moved. “Or are we going to have to set the two of you up in your own tent? I could give you some tips.”

“Don’t be so gauche. He’s not you and neither am I.” The fighter laughed, rolling to his feet and setting about sorting their things. While the thought was appealing Riz had made his feelings pretty clear on the matter. “I’m not about to put the moves on as it were in the middle of the wilderness, and he’s not interested in that anyway so no we don’t need our own tent.”

Fabian dug his sword out from under their pile of bags, sitting on the same rock he’d used the night before while talking to Riz and setting about sharpening the blade.

“Go on then, your turn. Given everyone else has put their two silvers into this conversation about my love life I’m surprised you haven’t said anything yet.” Fabian pointed towards Adaine, the elf still drying her hair as she studied a notebook propped up in her lap. Adaine glancing towards their fighter for a second before shrugging and turning the page.

“I didn’t feel the need to? I knew it would happen eventually.” Their wizard paused in her hair drying to dig a pen out of her pocket, striking a line through something written on the page before putting it back. “Since at least halfway through our second year. I couldn’t say anything though because I might have influenced the future.”

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Submitted by - Anonymous

I think that while at first glance elvish and goblin have nothing in common at all, if you look very very closely they still have a few similarities (which they also share with sylvan). although it's definitely not enough to understand each other

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Submitted by - Anonymous

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It had taken Riz longer than he would have liked to wrap up his meeting with the elders. There had been some fairly spirited discussions but, once everything was sorted, Riz had graciously taken the handful of trinkets they’d presented to him before they allowed him to go on his way. He had to politely turn down the majority of the provisions they’d tried to send with him though, pointing out that they wouldn’t be able to carry that much in the first place.

His team were apparently waiting for him outside by the time he left the main living areas, their corner of the cavern already getting tidied up and lanterns taken down by some of the horde residents as he went past. He gave them a little wave of thanks, quickly scanning the area as he went by to make sure they hadn’t left anything behind, before heading outside himself.

It was much warmer than it had been the night before, which was normal given it was the very beginning of summer, and the sun was fairly bright in the sky. Riz had to dig in his breast pocket for his glasses to filter out some of the light as he stepped out of the much darker caverns into the near-blinding sunlight.

Fabian and Adaine were still waiting close by when he exited, the fighter handing him his sword and arcubus when he got close which Riz set about securing to his person. Ears flicking when he heard a distant boom from near the clearing where they’d been sparing the day before and turning his head in that direction.

“Gorgug is testing the rifle.” Fabian explained, offering a hand to Riz and allowing his smaller teammate to clamber up onto his shoulders. The fighter hefting one of their supply packs onto his back once Riz was settled and starting towards the clearing himself. “He didn’t want what happened yesterday to happen again.”

“Ah… yeah me neither.” Riz winced at the memory and finished clipping his gear into place, tugging on the straps of his holster so they were properly secure against his sides. “I thought you’d wait for me inside, we haven’t really gone over the plan yet.”

“You were taking a while and I was paying attention last night so I gave everyone the general gist of it, figured you could go into more detail after the supply drop anyway.”

“Sorry about that, there was a lot of uhhhhh…. logistics, and debating going on.” Riz dug in his pocket, withdrawing five of the six items the elders had pressed into his hands while saying their goodbyes and sorting them out. Finding Fabians and untangling it from the rest before looping the strip of leather and pendant over his head. The intricately carved tip of a wyverns tooth sitting bright and white against the fighters armour once Riz had tied the string off behind his neck properly.

“You don’t have to keep it but they insisted I give one to each of you.” Riz continued while sorting through the pendants to find Adaine’s as well, his own already tucked securely under his shirt.

“They’re pretty superstitious and it’s a good luck charm given to the hordes warriors before they go off to fight. You weren’t technically part of the horde but given we’ve gotten rid of their wyvern problem in this area you’ve all sort of earned a place here.” Riz explained, squinting at the tiny writing looping around the tooth and trying to find the one with Adaine’s name.

“I took so long because they were mostly… arguing over who was going to adopt each of you… symbolically, not literally. I have my own clan I belong to but they’ve decided I’m technically a cousin now so I couldn’t escape either, it’s like duel citizenship I guess.”

“Wait, they’ve adopted us?” Adaine piped up from behind them, the wizard following them a few paces back and now looking a little misty eyed. The elf nearly bursting into tears for real when Riz held out his hand towards her, her own carved tooth dangling for her to take which she did with trembling hands. “That’s so sweet.”

“Yeah, so um… congrats? You guys technically belong to this clan now if a goblin ever asks…. Plus it would make a pretty good place to lay low if you ever need a place to hide for a while.” Riz turned back towards the front when Adaine sniffled, dropping his chin onto Fabians hair as he walked because he figured she wouldn’t want him looking at her if she cried.

The fighter had gone fairly quiet and had lifted the tooth to inspect it more closely, spinning it between his thumb and forefinger to look at the details carved into the surface. There was a lot of tiny, closely packed writing at the point where the leather looped around a groove cut into the tooth, but underneath someone had drawn a stylised picture of a tiny wyvern posed to attack.

“It looks like a scrimshaw.” Fabian pointed out, tucking the tooth under his shirt where it wouldn’t be in the way while fighting once he was done inspecting it.

“Yeah. They don’t actually do anything as far as I’m aware but they’re supposed to be lucky. The writing around the top is a prayer that asks that we stay alive and safe. I had to wait for them to finish the carving because they weren’t sure who exactly we prayed to. They’re multi theistic so I’m pretty sure I just accidentally added Cassandra AND Ankarna to their pantheon.”

Fabian made an amused noise at that, pushing through some undergrowth that led into the clearing where the rest of their party was waiting. Before they got out of the tree line Riz pat the fighter on the head to make him stop walking, Fabian tipping his head back to look at him upside down and arching an eyebrow questioningly.

“Wait here a sec.” The rogue flicked his tail, waiting until Adaine had passed them and headed further into the clearing before squinting his eyes in a way that meant he was up to mischief.  His hands moving to settle either side of the fighters head before rubbing his fingers from temple to tip along Fabians pointed ears. The fighter flinching in surprise at the move and blushing red right to the ends as the goblin laughed, grabbed the overhanging branch that he made Fabian stop walking under, and clambered up into the tree.

“Oh come now that is ENTIRELY not fair.” Fabian swiped at the goblins tail but missed as he disappeared from view, settling for covering his ears to hide the blush as he stayed hidden from the rest of their party in the tree line.  Only the sound of the goblins amused snickering helping him pinpoint where he was before Riz dropped back down to the ground out of arms reach.

“It is so fair, you got to play with mine yesterday and it’s my turn now. At least I didn’t do it in front of everyone.” Riz dusted himself off once he dropped down out of the tree, readjusting his bracers on his wrists before heading into the clearing to meet up with the others. Fabian lingering in the shade of the trees to wait for the darker tint to fade from his face before he would follow.

“You can’t just do that and run off The Ball, there will be consequences later.” Fabian called after him, the goblin turning to walk backwards a few paces and grin at him before spinning back around and jogging up to the rest of his party. Tail flicking from side to side happily as he handed out each of their pendants in turn.

Gorgug’s was easy to throw over his head, the half-orc sitting cross-legged in the middle of the clearing as he made final adjustments to the rifle. The evidence of his tests visible as a line of trees on the other end of the clearing had a jagged circular hole pierced completely through several trunks from the shots. Riz giving him a light forehead bump of greeting as he took the rifle when it was proffered to him and slung it over his back.

Kristen already had one, though it was much smaller and less detailed since it was given to her by Tiktik, but she happily tucked both together under the neckline of her shirt once Riz explained the significance of the gesture. The female goblin had also left Kristen a letter when she said her goodbyes but Fig had been unable to read it since she only spoke the language so neither of them had any idea what it said. The pair of them pressing it into Riz’s hands with a hopeful look as they begged him to read it to them.

Riz was glad that Tiktik seemed to respect his discomfort with certain topics because she had included a warning to the rogue at the very top of the letter informing him that it would be best for him not to continue reading past a certain point. The female goblin making it clear that he would be better off teaching Kristen their language properly so that they could keep in touch once they returned home. The rogue really couldn’t help himself though, unfurling the rolled up letter further to discover the mystery of what Tiktik had written and instantly regretted it. Pupils contracting into narrow slits as he recoiled and looked away from the page as if that would help.

“Gah, fuck, okay. Apparently we need to teach you how to read goblin when we get home. I am NOT translating this for you it is… very explicit.” He rolled the letter back up and handed it back to the cleric, rubbing his eyes under his glasses as if that would somehow delete what he’d just read from his memories. He’d been warned though, so he couldn’t even be annoyed by it.

“Oh, okay. Neat. Though I could also get Adaine to cast comprehend languages for me.” Kristen tucked the letter into her bag, giving a hopeful look to their wizard who was still a little misty eyed over the whole ‘adoption’ thing.

“I think it’s more of an incentive so you’ll be her pen-pal, so that would defeat the point.” Riz pointed out, earning a noise of comprehension from Kristen. “My mom and I send letters to my grandparents all the time, I could probably get someone to run a letter over here if you write her one back.”

“We can learn together, I can do the speaking okay but none of the imps who taught me know how to write it.” Fig chimed in, crouching to take Riz’s hands and bounce them up and down excitedly. “You’ll help when we get home right? Or are you still pissed at me?”

Riz rolled his eyes, curling his fingers around Figs and leaning forward to bonk his forehead against hers. Tail flicking playfully as he grinned, sharp teeth on full display as he held her hands tighter and put on a silly accent just for the fun of it. “Three times you have deceived me yesterday Fig Faeth~ You have been a bad friend and I should punish you.”

He snickered, releasing her hands as he leaned back and away from the forehead touch when Fig gave him a worried look. “But no. It’s fine and you’re forgiven. I was annoyed about the sleep spell and you really need to stop doing it even though it’s an easy way to make me sleep because it messes me up. Leaving me to the sharks by pretending you couldn’t understand anyone and then eavesdropping on a private conversation though?... You’re lucky your plan didn’t blow up in my face.”

The rogue nodded his head towards Fabian, the half elf only just now jogging down to join them from the tree line. “Distracting me like this is only going to work once. Next time I’m going to cut every third stitch out of every item of clothing you own.”

“I’m sorryyyy, it was supposed to be a surprise for your birthday but things kind of spiralled out of control. Message received though but I feel like I’ve blown my best get-out-of-trouble-with-Riz card on something too small. Should have saved setting you up for kisses for something way worse.” Fig relaxed and laughed, standing back up and dusting off her knees as she reached for her own pack. Hefting it onto her shoulders and making sure it was secure while everyone else but the goblin did the same.

“Oh yeah. You really did. I would have forgiven you for burning down my house but too late now~” The rogue grinned, digging in his breast pocket for his notebook as he started walking away from the group. “ANYWAY, we’ve wasted enough time we need to go now. We’ll miss our supply drop if we don’t hurry and I’m sure your mom wants an update on how we’re going.”

~_~_~_~_~_~

The party arrived to the pre-planned drop-off point with time to spare, Gorgug helping Riz set the coloured smoke-flares around the clearing so they’d be easier to see from the air. They weren’t waiting long before the sound of feathered wings became audible, Baxter landing on the grass with a thump and dropping the bags he’d been carrying in his talons.

The Griffin only waiting a few seconds after Sandra Lynn slid off his back before bounding over to Gorgug and Fabian, who were all too happy to scratch under his beak and down his neck when he nuzzled against them.

“Hey kids~ You’re looking…well rested? I thought you’d be worse off without a ranger in your party… especially considering the weather last night.” The wood elf had to brace herself when Fig bound over, grabbing her mother in a hug and grinning from ear to ear. Riz just laughing and stepping around the pair to sort through the gear Sandra Lynn had brought with her and check everything was there.

“Yeah! We’ve been staying with some goblins the last couple nights.” Fig dug her carved wyvern tooth necklace out from under her shirt to show it off, Sandra Lynn just giving her a very confused look in response.

“Near here? I thought the nearest group was a couple days hike away. Wait, when you say ‘stayed with’ you were actually inside the village?” She put her hands on Figs shoulders, genuine curiosity shown on her face as Fig nodded and pointed in the general direction they’d come from.

“They set us up inside the caverns with blankets and lanterns and everything. Gorgug might have popped from all the food they were feeding him if we had stayed much longer.”

“How… WHY? They barely even talk to us and certainly don’t let us know where their hordes live. Oh right you had Riz with you… are they his family? That’s…. do you think they’d let me come ask some questions? Do they speak common? Where exactly were they?”

Riz butt in at this point, cutting Fig off before she could answer the torrent of questions herself as he started shucking his dis-enchanted armour and replacing it with the fresh set Sandra Lynn had brought. “We can’t tell you where they are… without permission. That is a serious breach of trust.”

He flicked his ears, handing off Gorgugs replacement armour to him as well when he finished petting Baxter and came over to help sort through the supplies. “Also no, they aren’t my family… well, weren’t… it’s complicated I’ll explain it when we get back. As for asking them questions, maybe? As far as my people go they were pretty chill about tall-men being around.”

The goblin tightened the straps on the armour a little more as he talked, like the previous set it had obviously been tailored for halflings so it was a little loose around the middle without a lot of fiddling but he got it to a comfortable point eventually. His holster for his arcubus getting slung over the top and readjusted to fit with his new loadout.

“You’d have to organise a proper meeting though if you actually want to get anywhere near the caves, so its going to have to wait a while.”

“Wow that’s… wow.” The ranger nodded, holding Fig at arms length with her hands on her shoulders. Giving her a proper once over before tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “You’ll have to tell me everything when you get home sweetie… everything you’re allowed to tell me anyway. Gods if I’d have known you’d be able to get into a goblin village I would have asked you to take notes.”

Riz just rolled his eyes a little at that, used to Solesians treating his species like they were a rare and interesting creature they rarely got to interact with… when they weren’t acting like they were some sort of half-rabid monster three seconds from biting their faces off. He’d seen enough shitty nature documentaries that were always way off the mark to know exactly how most people thought of them so he wasn’t surprised.

“Sure mom, thanks for dropping this gear off for us. We’ll be back home before you know it and we’ll do a photo viewing party or something.” Fig wrapped her mother back up in another firm hug before letting go and stepping away, trotting over to give Baxter some attention too even though he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying getting pets from Fabian.

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Submitted by - Anonymous

Riz glows under black lights.

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Submitted by - thepoweroffriendshipgivesumoney

I've been thinking of flavoured coffees because it's almost pumpkin spice season and I was thinking about how Riz would either really like them or hate them. No in between.

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Submitted by - diamond-the-hoard-keeper

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Submitted by - Anonymous

Freshman and sophomore year riz relies a little too heavily on alcohol during the school parties he gets dragged to so he can forget that he feels like he doesn't fit in. Also, riz can be a jealous person. sometimes, when the bad kids start making other friends outside of their party, he freaks out a bit (and maybe investigates them just a Tiny Bit) thinking that it means they'll leave/prefer the other person to him

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Submitted by - Anonymous - bit of a continuation from the last chapter

With that enlarge spell, what if he also got some sort of strength potion (maybe via gorgug) and now he's tall, and can put people in air jail too?

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Even though they had left fairly early in the morning it was nearing night time before the party paused in their hike. They’d left the horde’s territory hours ago, steadily following a river through the valley upstream to where it had cut jagged cliff-faces into the side of the mountain. Thousands of years of snow-melt from the ice capped peaks above having rendered this section of the range almost impossible to climb for most adventurers. There were still various ledges and outcroppings that would be wide enough to set up camp but getting to them was going to be difficult.

They had let their rogue take the lead on this part of their trek, Riz assuring them that he had some familiarity with the area as they got closer to the cliffs. He hadn’t really explained how to anyone else, but in one of his darts forward to scout their path ahead for threats Fabian had filled them in. Riz had gotten a little more chatty about his personal history than normal the night before, the glass of mead he’d downed to calm his nerves about the whole feelings thing having gone right to his head and loosened him up a bit (in more ways than one).

Goblins usually tightly guarded the whereabouts of their hordes, but he’d been almost giddy while pointing out to Fabian on their map that their planned route would take them right past where his family’s horde used to reside. They’d apparently migrated further along the range almost a year ago due to worsening hunting conditions but their old homes would still be accessible, even if the entrances were hidden. Fabian still wasn’t sure if the giddiness was due to the alcohol or the fact that Riz had keyed himself up by repeatedly interrupting his own pacing and theorising to get another kiss in, grin like he was having an exceptionally good time, and immediately jump right back into ranting to his captive audience.

Riz had eventually stopped the rest of his party at the edge of the forest near the base of the cliffs, most of them dropping their packs and flopping down to rest after the long days hike. Gorgug had also dropped his pack but had decided to stand sentinel at the edge of the group while the rest of them dug in their bags for much needed water and rations. They hadn’t encountered anything larger than a deer so far, which was both confusing and concerning considering the fauna that were supposed to inhabit the area. Usually a lack of larger monsters meant that there was something even bigger nearby either hunting them or scaring them away.

Their rogue left them there for a while to scout out a spot for them to spend the night that would be safe from predators. Only returning close to an hour later once his party started to worry, Fabians piercing whistle calling him back from where he’d been high up on a nearby cliff-face. Riz stepping off the edge of the ledge to descend faster than he could by climbing and gliding the last forty feet to the ground using the wings of his vest.

Riz jogged back over to his companions once he was on the ground, Kristen standing up to meet him when she noticed a multitude of new bleeding cuts running across his hands since he’d clearly been digging.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to take so long. I haven’t been out here since I was like… eleven… and they hid the entrances really well. Finding one big enough for you guys to squeeze through was hard.” Kristen crouched to hold his hands in hers, the cuts healing up fairly quickly as she got to work. Once she was done it looked like they hadn’t even been there, only the old scars from his time in the palimpsest remaining as slightly paler lines across his skin.

“Thanks. Anyway, I found a place we can camp for the night but you might need to use fly to get up there.” He massaged at his palms with his thumbs, trying to dispel some of the tingling aftereffects healing magic tended to leave behind.

“So, we are spending the night in your families old abode?” Fabian rolled to his feet, hoisting up their supply pack before turning to help Adaine and Fig to their feet as well. “They won’t be mad about us crashing in there overnight, will they?”

“No it should be fine.” Riz flicked his ears and looked away, he knew he didn’t sound entirely convincing. He still had a voice in the back of his head telling him it was a bad idea to lead outsiders back to their nest, even if it was his party and they had migrated away from the area. He hadn’t exactly been given permission by the elders of his horde so he felt quite guilty about it. “I’ll let them know we were there once we get home… just in case they come back to this area later and notice things have been tampered with.”

“You sure dude? We can always just find a clearing and keep watch.” Gorgug offered a hand to Riz, the goblin grabbing it and letting himself be deposited on his larger friends shoulder as he pointed out which way to go.

“No, that would be a bad idea. The horde we were just with is in a much safer area than this and they still don’t spend much time outside. There should be Roc nests in this area but I’m not sure if they’re still around. My grandparents did say that the hunting in the area had gotten worse so they might have been outcompeted by something else.”

“Your family was hunting Rocs?” Fig piped up, jogging to catch up with Gorgug and walk beside him to give Riz an incredulous look. The archdevil reaching out to grab at the tuft of his tail that was hanging down Gorgugs back and flicking side to side within arms reach.

“Gah! Sort of. Raiding the nests to steal eggs and chicks while the parents are out hunting is way easier. Involves a lot of climbing to get to them though.” He jumped when the tuft was grabbed and flicked his tail out of Figs hand, curling it around Gorgugs bicep instead so it wasn’t so easily accessible. The rogue having to smother a laugh behind his hand when Fabian grabbed Fig by the backpack to drag her back slightly so she wouldn’t try to swipe at it again.

“So what I’m hearing… is your entire family has a nasty habit of getting into fights with things that are far larger than them that they really shouldn’t be bothering.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He pat Gorgug on the head when they reached the bottom of the cliff, the massive rock wall looming above them over sixty feet before it cut back towards the mountain into a decently sized ledge.

“Good to know its not just you.” Fig laughed, watching their rogue jump from Gorgug to the wall and scale the cliff like it was nothing. The goblin disappearing for a second as he hauled himself up onto the ledge high above them.

“Well, I mean, his mom is from Bastion city and she also clawed the shit out of Kalvaxus so I think he’s fucked on both fronts genetics wise.” Gorgug whispered to Fig, Riz poking his head out over the ledge and waving at them to come join him.

Once he was sure his friends were following Riz went back to his previous task, claws digging into the hard stone around the half-concealed entrance to the cave as he attempted to widen it far enough that his friends could get inside. It hadn’t always been so narrow but, once his family had migrated away, they had sealed up as many entrances as they could with rock and wood in an effort to stop other creatures gaining access to the caverns.

Shifting locations wasn’t all that uncommon, since they would have to move if food became scarce in an area, but his hoard hadn’t needed to move in over fifty years before this. It used to be more run-of-the-mill with adventurers constantly raiding their homes but this area was far too inaccessible for them to worry too much about it. Sealing the entrances just meant that, in a worst-case scenario, they always had location to fall back to if their current home was discovered.

He wasn’t making very much headway in shifting the debris from the outside, his strength not quite enough to move some of the larger rocks on his own meaning that his claws were just leaving ruts in the rocky surface. Even though Kristen had just healed him he’d managed to cut up his hands again with his efforts, though he finally managed to break through to the other side of the wall so he could try pushing from the other side.

Riz had managed to wiggle himself into the narrow gap and into the cavern proper when he heard his friends start to land on the ledge outside, Adaine having cast fly to help them scale the cliff face without needing to climb or drop their gear. Fabian crouching down to squint into the darkness beyond the entrance hole Riz had made and watch the goblin continue to try and shift the barricade out of the way.

“How much of this needs to come down?” The fighter asked, dropping his pack off to the side as he started trying to dislodge some of the larger rocks himself, Gorgug joining in a second later and widening the gap significantly after only a few seconds.

“Just enough for you to get in, we’ll need to put it all back before we leave anyway.” Riz gave the barricade a shove from his side, the internal portion being built more like a door made of lashed together sticks making it swing open slightly now that Gorgug had removed one of the large boulders from the outside.

He made a satisfied noise now that the gap was large enough for his friends to enter, leaving them to their own devices as he head further down the narrow tunnel and into where it opened into a much smaller version of the cavern they’d been staying in the last few days. While their new friends cave had been easily over one hundred feet across this one only clocked in at a modest twenty, mostly because theirs was a natural formation and this one had been dug out by hand.

He was mostly trying to check it wasn’t occupied by anything nasty and, as far as he could see, it was completely empty. The tunnels that would lead off into sleeping areas still sealed but they wouldn’t be needed anyway, they’d only be bedding down in the main cavern for the night. Once satisfied they wouldn’t be ambushed by anything in the dark he head back outside, Fig tutting at the state of his hands and healing them again before bonking her forehead against his.

“We good? No nasties or traps we have to worry about?”

“I mean, the air might be a bit stale from being sealed up for so long but I think we’re good.” Riz flicked his tail from side to side, stepping out of the way of the entrance and waving his friends towards it. “No traps. Feel free to make yourselves at home. Watch the low ceiling on the way in.”

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