"Is that an artifact? We can't ignore this now, can we?" Temur whispered, looking from behind the short undergrowth with the others lying on the ground around him.
Jael also saw the glint of the silver dark metal that was atop some kind of stone altar. It would have been an easy pick if it wasn't so surrounded by monsters and the type that he hated most – goblins.
They had walked for the better part of the day, just moving as silently as they could in the forest. Most of the monsters avoided them, and there hadn't been anything major until a few minutes ago when Dile noticed some trails that led here.
'Here' was the tribe of goblins that had made camp in the clearing they were now looking at. "We have to kill them." Jael didn't like that goblins are one of the monsters of this zone, those annoying bastards!
"If we are to claim that artifact, then yes, but I don't see the reason why we should be bothered. This far from the center of the zone we can't get anything good anyway." Cele pointed out.
Litha grinned at her. "That's because we are also here to make money! And if it's not an artifact above Iron then it's even better because we own it then!"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Temur grunted. "We still have to take care of the monsters first."
"Goblins. These are green goblin tribes, but they seem to belong to a much larger tribe. A very large one." Litha said.
"How do you know that?" Jael asked.
"See those red goblins beside the tribe leader's side? They only serve the goblin war chief. They must be here to summon the smaller tribe."
Jael watched and he saw what she was saying. The tribe leader is taller and stronger looking physically than the average goblin, but he's even weaker than the red ones who stood beside him.
Jael frowned. "Wait...where are the female goblins and children?"
"Probably with the main tribe, under the war chief protection. This is a hunting tribe that goes around providing food, they move around the forest hunting."
"How do you know so much about them anyway," Jael demanded.
"I'm not thinking of taking it with us," Temur smiled and raised the artifact, a bracelet. "I'm thinking if a small tribe like this has this quality Iron rank artifact. What will the main tribe have? How many of this can we get?"
Jael paused, thinking fast. The reason they accepted this job was to make money anyway. He transformed his hand back to normal and faced Temur. "What are you planning big guy."
*****
"So let me get this straight," Litha pointed a bone at Temur and Jael. "You want us to raid the camp of a goblin war chief and steal all their treasures?"
It was night, and they occupied the camp of the goblins after they tied the leader to a tree when Jael finished beating him unconscious.
Jael shrugged and bit into his food– meat soup and thick butter bread. "You got it straight."
Litha's eyes glowed like a blue gem. "I've always known you are smart Jael."
Temur grunted. "We just have to convince that goblin to take us there. Dile said their trail was leading forward anyway, so it's not like we have to turn back."
Cele looked at Tim doubtfully. "Isn't it too dangerous? I mean, this will be a war band of strong warrior goblins right?"
"If this is the strong warriors then we have nothing to be worried about." Jael gestured to their surrounding that was littered with the bodies of dead goblins, with their chest split open after they collected the cores.
"I don't know, I don't think we should be intentionally going after monsters. Our aim is the center." Tim said.
Cele nodded along with him.
Jael looked at Dile with his brows raised the beastman closed his eyes and finished chewing before he spoke. "I want to see what this war chief looks like."
All the members of the Gold team grinned.