[Channel Teaser]
How Three Goblins Hope For A Better Life In
A Human Town
Hi everyone, All Things DnD is back with an
incredibly heartwarming story of three goblins
in search of a better life.
But what trials will they face as they try
to make their new home in a human village?
Do let us know what you thought of them along
the way as we uncover their struggles up next:
“It’s really easy.”
Malkot, a goblin with long ears, started explaining,
“I don’t like life in the village and
you don’t either.”
The goblin said and brushed the long robes
out from under his feet.
“You got that right,” Ctunk, another goblin,
agreed, nodding, and rubbed his long nose.
“I don’t see how us not being happy here
means we need to leave,” Zeng said and frowned.
This goblin had a number of little bumps on
his head as though he had been hit on the
head recently, and he rubbed them gently.
Malkot and Ctunk sighed.
“If we leave, then we won’t get hit or
yelled at,” Malkot said again.
“My mechanical suit needs three to work.
We can leave the goblin village and go to
the human village.
So, you and Ctunk won’t get hit all the
time.”
“Won’t humans just hit us too?”
Zeng asked and rubbed the swollen bumps on
his head, “I mean you’re smart, Malkot,
and I trust you and Ctunk, but I don’t understand.
Humans don’t like goblins.
Why wouldn’t they just hit us too?”
“That’s the beauty of the suit, Zeng,”
Malkot said.
“We’ll be hiding.
They won’t know we’re goblins.”
“But I don’t know how to speak human,”
Zeng said.
The other two sighed again.
“You and I will be in the suit hiding,”
Ctunk explained, “Malkot will be the one
speaking.”
Ctunk and Malkot wait.
Zeng seemed to be thinking a lot harder than
he had ever before.
It had only taken an hour of explaining to
get this far with Zeng and it looked like
he might finally get it.
“Oh, okay,” Zeng finally said.
“But won’t we need jobs?”
Malkot opened his mouth and then realized
that he hadn’t thought about that.
“Yeah, but you have a knack for finding
magical herbs, and I know how to make potions,
and Ctunk is good with tools,” Malkot said.
“I’m sure we can just set up a shop to
sell potions to make a living, and while we
do that I do have some human money we can
use.”
“You do?”
Ctunk asked.
“How much do you have?”
Malkot was a little embarrassed.
“I’m not actually sure, but I think it
should be enough for a little while,” Malkot
said, but he wasn’t sure.
He knew he had a total of 200 coins, but there
were three different types of coins and that
was a little confusing.
Zeng thought for a bit more and a few minutes
passed.
“Okay, let’s go,” Zeng consented.
The other two cheered [cheered in celebration],
more in celebration that Zeng finally understood
the situation than to Zeng agreeing to leave.
They left the village that night and started
their journey to a large human town.
They walked along the road in the suit Malkot
built, so they could practise using it.
It had three spots, one for the main driver
who operated both arms and was the head, and
one for one left leg and helping with the
left arm, and the other for the right leg
and right arm.
It took a lot of practice to use it right,
and Malkot was happy no one was around because
he definitely thought they looked like they
were about to fall out of a tree.
You see, when goblins drink, they like to
do it in a tree, and when they drink too much
they can often fall out.
When they finished for the day, every night
Malkot would make some adjustment to help
out with making the suit work better while
Zeng went out to collect herbs and Ctunk collected
food and water.
It was a good thing the village was a long
way away because it took nearly a week of
using it and practicing to get it working
just right.
In that week they had managed to gather enough
herbs and made enough potions to sell when
they finally got to town.
They felt they had a good chance, since they
did pass by a few humans, and even though
they got a few weird looks, none of the humans
attacked them.
“Good day, there uh,” Malkot was pretty
sure the human he was talking to was a man.
“Sir.
Is there a place to, uh,” Malkot’s vocabulary
was limited, “eat and sleep?”
“Yeah, there’s a tavern over there,”
The man said and gave the walking monstrosity
a strange look, but pointed to a sign that
read “The Sleepy Sow” that had a picture
of a pig with drooping eyes and its head lulled
to one side.
“Thank you,” Malkot said and then whispered
down to the others where to go.
They walked to the tavern and Malkot was,
after a few attempts, to get the door open
and they walked inside.
The tavern was not busy and there were quite
a few open tables.
“What do we do?”
Zeng whispered up, in goblin.
“Do we just sit down?”
Ctunk asked in a fevered whisper, also in
goblin.
Malkot thought hard about what to do but was
saved by a lady wiping down a table.
“Just sit anywhere you want,” she said
and stood up and turned around.
“I’ll be right with you?”
“Thank you,” Malkot said and then directed
the others to sit at a table in the corner
of the tavern.
It took a little while but the lady came up
to their table.
“How can I . . . help . . . you?”
The barmaid asked as she looked at the suit,
with Malkot’s head sticking out.
“We would,” Malkot caught himself, “I
would like three bowls of . . .” his arm
moved with a little wooden creak and pointed
to what someone else was eating, “That,”
he finished.
“Sure, that will be six copper,” the barmaid
said, and her voice was questioning, but Malkot
didn’t catch that since he was still new
to using the human language.
“Just a moment,” the arm was swinging
inside the suit, and Ctunk held up the money
pouch as the hand clutched the bag and then
slung it out.
The bag slipped out of the mechanical hand
and dropped to the table.
“Sorry, wormy fingers,” Malkot said.
The barmaid squinted at Malkot and smiled.
“I haven’t heard that before,” she said,
picked up the pouch, pulled out 6 copper coins
and put the pouch back on the table.
“Normally we say butter fingers.”
“Oh, right,” Malkot said, quickly realizing
that he made a big mistake, “Butter fingers.”
“I’ll be right back with your soup,”
she said and looked at the suit with an appraising
squint.
Unfortunately, Malkot was too busy trying
to pick up the pouch with the suit’s hand
to notice.
When she left, Ctunk just reached out and
pulled the pouch back inside the suit.
“We should have practiced using the hands,”
Ctunk whispered up.
“Yeah,” Zeng whispered up as well, “It’s
hard to use the arm if I can’t see.”
“I’ll have to do some adjusting later
so we can work that out,” Malkot said, trying
out the hand motion on the suit, and stopped
suddenly when the barmaid headed their way
with a tray with three bowls of soup on it.
She put the three bowls of soup down and stepped
back a little bit.
“So, where did you come from?”
She asked.
Malkot froze for a moment as he tried to think
up something to say.
“We, uh, I came from the forest.
. .” Malkot realized he didn’t know the
words for the different directions and then
swung one arm to point at the direction they
came from.
“I don’t know of any settlements in that
direction,” she said.
“Is it a big place?”
“No, I lived mostly alone,” Malkot said
and his nose was twitching at the smell of
the soup which smelled really good.
“Oh, what made you decide to come here?”
She asked.
“I wanted to make money and find a place
to live,” Malkot said.
His words were a little slow as he reached
the peak of his human speech.
“Oh, what can you do?”
She asked, and Malkot could feel Ctunk and
Zeng trying to peek through the robes to see
where the smell of the food was coming from.
Malkot kicked them to have them go back to
their stations.
“We - I… make,” And he had to think
hard about what were the right words in human
to explain what they were going to do, “Medicine
from plants.”
“We do need a good potion maker here,”
she said and looked down at the soup.
“What’s your name?”
“Malkot,” he answered before he thought
about it, and then growled at himself in anger
for not thinking up a human name in advance.
“I’ll leave you to your food then.”
She turned to leave.
.
“Wait,” Malkot said.
“I need a place to sleep.”
“We do have a few rooms, and they are three
silver a night,” she said.
“How many nights do you need?”
“Five,” Malkot said and he swung his arm
back in to try and get the pouch again.
This time he was able to put it on the table
without it falling out of the machine’s
fingers.
The barmaid picked up the pouch, and she picked
through the pouch and was able to find 15
silver.
“Just one room?”
She asked before putting the pouch back on
the table.
“I am one human,” Malkot said and tried
to smile.
“Right,” she said, looking at the middle
of the cloak covering the suit.
“I’ll lead you to your room when you’ve
finished with your soup.”
She left and the moment she turned her back,
Zeng and Ctunk grabbed a bowl of soup and
pulled it inside the suit.
“Hand me up mine,” Malkot said quietly
in goblin.
Zeng handed up the last bowl and they all
drank the soup down noisily.
It was so good that they didn’t even bother
to hide for a second or two, but once they
realized they were out of the suit they quickly
finished the soup and put the bowls back on
the table.
“I’d be willing to stay here just for
that,” Ctunk said quietly.
“That was delicious.”
“I know,” Zeng whispered.
“What do you think was in it?”
“I don’t know, but I know the meat wasn’t
squirrel or deer,” Malkot whispered down.
The barmaid walked towards the table from
across the tavern.
“Quick, get back to your places,” Malkot
whispered frantically down to the others.
“Did you like the soup?”
She asked, smiling.
“It was very good,” Malkot said, smiling
for real this time.
“Would you like some more?”
She asked.
Malkot thought about it but didn’t want
to pay for more since he wasn’t sure how
much money he really had left.
“It would be on the house,” she said,
and Malkot looked at her blankly, trying to
figure out what she said.
“It would be free, no charge.”
Malkot understood that and really wanted more,
but wasn’t sure if he could get a bowl more
for each of them.
He suddenly realized that humans must not
eat three bowls of soup and still want more.
He tried to whisper down to his friends in
goblin, as quietly as he could.
“She wants to know if we want more?”
Malkot whispered in goblin, trying not to
move his lips.
“Yes' was the quick whisper back from both
Zeng and Ctunk.
“Yes, w-I would,” Malkot said, nodding.
“Okay, three more bowls on the house,”
she picked up the bowls and left for the kitchen.
The moment she walked away, a man walked up.
He was large, covered in hair, scowling, and
had a large sword on his hip.
Malkot froze and didn’t know what to do.
They must have been found out.
Zeng and Ctunk also froze.
They didn’t bring any weapons and didn’t
plan on fighting this soon.
“Hi, I’m Bert.
I understand you make medicine,” Bert said.
This was the largest human they have seen
so far, and Malkot froze.
He heard the words but the words mulled in
his head for a few seconds before he realized
what was actually asked.
“Yes, we have medicine,” Malkot said,
forgetting to use the singular term this time.
“You see, I have a stomach ache, something
fierce, and was wondering if you had anything
on
you that would help,” Bert said and rubbed
his stomach.
“Your stomach?”
Malkot didn’t understand the word at first
but once he saw where the man was rubbing,
he caught on.
“Something for your stomach.
Just a moment.”
Malkot kicked Zeng and fervently whimpered
down, “Do we have a stomach ache cure?,”
as quietly as he could and swung a wooden
arm into his suit.
He looked up at the man and laughed nervously,
and Zeng and Ctunk searched through the potions
they made and put a stomach aid into the hand.
“It’s in the hand,” Zeng whispered up.
Malkot pulled the hand out of the suit and
reached the wooden arm out towards the man
with the bottle of what looked like a slightly
muddy brown mixture.
The man took the bottle and uncorked it and
inhaled deeply.
His eyes grew wide for a moment, then he drank
the bottle down.
After drinking the entire content, he sighed
in relief and set the bottle down on the table
and then pulled out a money pouch.
“I know those can’t be cheap.
And that worked great and actually didn’t
taste like garbage,” the man said as he
pulled out a gold coin, then placed it on
the table with the bottle.
When the barmaid returned with the soup, Bert
walked away and gave the barmaid a nod before
he left the tavern.
The barmaid put down the three bowls of soup
and left.
Malkot was still frozen with a dumb smile
on his face.
The three goblins took a while before they
were able to muster up the courage and eat
the soup.
They were starving before, but the thought
that they were caught really shook them and
it took them awhile to finish the soup.
When they finished these bowls the barmaid
led them to their room for the night, they
walked like they were about to fall out of
a tree, and once the door was closed, they
all popped out of the suit as fast as they
could and sank to the floor.
“I thought we were going to die,” Ctunk
said and sank to all fours.
Zeng crawled up on the bed and started taking
long deep breaths to soothe himself.
“You were in the suit,” Malkot said, “He
was massive!
I think he could have ripped the arms off
a troll, and then beat the troll to death
with them.”
“The disguise worked,” Ctunk said finally,
“If it didn’t, we would be dead.”
“Yes, yes,” Malkot said quietly, “I
think we just need to get used to all these
people and then it’ll be fine.”
“When are we going to collect herbs?”
Zeng asked.
“When we need them,” Malkot said, “It’s
lucky we had that potion.”
“We need to leave the suit to collect herbs,”
Zeng said.
Ctunk and Malkot’s eyes widened.
“I don’t want to meet that man outside
the suit,” Zeng said.
“We’ll have to do that at sunset,” Malkot
answered, “and pray we don’t see that
man while we’re getting herbs.”
They were greeted by the barmaid when they
came to the main room after their first night’s
rest.
They were told they got breakfast free, and
after eating were told they could try and
just set up a blanket outside.
After breakfast of something called ‘pancakes,’
the goblins head outside.
They set up a little blanket outside the tavern
and sat the suit down on it and put out a
lot of the potions and poultices, all of which
he pulled out of the suit when no one was
looking.
Malkot made a few small slits so Ctunk and
Zeng could see a little bit.
“So, these are coppers,” Malkot said,
looking at the copper coins, “and there
are ten copper coins to a silver coin, and
ten silver coins to a gold coin.”
He was a little wary since the man that was
buying a healing potion was also carrying
a large club and a shield.
“Hey, wait a second!”
Someone yelled out from behind the crowd,
pointing to Malkot and drawing a sword, “Isn’t
that a gob--”
The person was gagged and dragged off to one
side where Bert and a few other people whispered
quietly to the person before letting them
go.
The person then bought a potion before they
left.
Actually, everyone that bought from the goblins
today were armed, and Malkot was very alarmed
at first, but no one attacked them and by
the end of the day, they were up almost three
hundred gold coins.
Malkot congratulated himself on crafting the
perfect disguise.
The humans were none the wiser.
But how long can they keep the ruse up?
Now, the goblins were able to upgrade from
a blanket to a small cart the next day.
Malkot built the rough rustic looking cart
that night while Malkot and Zeng slipped out
of the room to get herbs from the forest.
They snuck out and found that the streets
were empty.
They were able to take care of everything
under the guise of darkness.
After a few nights of heading out to get herbs
they found that the streets were nearly always
empty.
“You put this,” Malkot tried to remember
what it was called.
“Poultice?” the Lady said.
“Yeah, poultice,” Malkot said, “put
a hand full in water first so it will not
be dry, and then squeeze it so it doesn't
have too much wet, then put it on the hurt
and wrap it.”
“So, you want me to soak some of the herbs
in water and then squeeze out the excess water
and then put in on the injury and wrap it?”
The Lady asked.
“Yes,” Malkot took mental notes about
what she said so he would be able to remember
it later.
It seemed like almost everyday, Malkot was
learning new words.
Their healing potions were their best-selling
items and the most expensive.
Adventurers were coming to town to buy them
up and some days, they even brought in over
a thousand gold.
“You know, Malkot,” the barmaid said after
a few months of them staying at the inn.
“We really appreciate you being here for
so long, but if you are going to stay in town
you might want to buy a house or a shop, and
there is an empty building on the edge of
town.
I think I could find out who owns it and you
could buy it from them.”
“We-I (sound as if Malkot mistakenly said
“We” and then corrected himself by saying
“I”) could buy a house in town?”
Malkot asked, surprised.
“Well, yes,” the Maid said.
“I believe you have enough to buy it.”
“Do we want to buy a house here?”
Malkot whispered down to the others in goblin.
“Yes,” they both whisper up.
“Yes, it would be nice to get a house,”
Malkot said .
It was a few hours and Malkot was at the cart
when he was approached by a lady holding some
paperwork.
“I understand you might want my old store,”
she said.
“It’s still in decent shape but might
need a little fixing up.”
“Yes, we would like a place,” Malkot said.
“It has three rooms above the shop and a
back room behind the main shop,” she said,
and put the papers on the cart, “I’m asking
for ten thousand gold for the building and
the land it’s on.
It does have about ten acres of land that
have been fenced off.”
Malkot knew that was a lot of money.
“Yes,” Malkot said.
“Let us check to see if I have enough.”
The three spent the next twenty minutes counting
out the gold from inside the suit and putting
it on the cart.
“That all seems to be in order,” she said,
and then pulled out a quill and ink and signed
the paper.
“Now just sign the paper on the other line,
and the shop will be yours.”
She put down the quill next to the page and
then turned around for no apparent reason.
Malkot quickly signed the paper with his regular
hands while her back was turned since he doesn’t
have that kind of control with the mechanical
arm, and then coughed.
The lady turned around, smiled and picked
up the sacks of gold coins.
“Well, it’s all in order,” she smiled.
“It’s all yours.”
“Thank you,” Malkot called out.
They were ecstatic; they now had a place of
their own.
The goblins relocated all the items to their
new shop.
It did need a few repairs and the land was
fenced off, but the fence was in poor shape,
and the roof was leaking and needed some new
shingles, and the latches on the doors needed
to be fixed, and the tables were a little
run down.
The goblins ended up buying wood, paint, and
paid the blacksmith for nails, new hinges,
and latches.
“You fixed this shop up really fast,”
their first customer said when they opened
up the shop for business.
“Could you possibly do some repairs on my
house?”
He chuckled.
Malkot thought about it and then whispered
down to Ctunk.
“He’s asking if we could fix his house?”
Malkot whispered.
“Ask what he wants fixed,” Ctunk whispered
up.
“What needs to be done?”
Malkot asked.
“My roof is leaking.
I think I need some shingles replaced,”
the man said, a little taken aback.
“He said his roof leaks,” Malkot whispered
down.
“It might take a little while, but It could
be done in a few days,” Ctunk said.
“Yes,” Malkot said.
“But it will take a few days.”
“Sounds good,” the man then bought a potion
for headaches and left.
“I’ll come back to pay for the roof.”
“Ctunk, Zeng,” Malkot said down in goblin.
“I think we should all learn human so we
can take turns on the shop.
I’ll fix the suit so two of you can run
it when it’s sitting down.”
“We’re really close to the forest,”
Zeng noted, “I think I could actually sneak
all the way to the forest if we need more
herbs.
I think I could even do that during the day.”
“Starting tomorrow,” Malkot said, “we
could all take turns doing different things,
and we would only need two people here at
any time.
That way you can get herbs, I can make potions,
and Ctunk can fix things when we need to.”
The next few days the goblins all started
taking turns running the suit.
They had a sudden surge of customers and Malkot
and Ctunk ran the suit while Zeng ran off
to the forest to get more herbs.
It took longer than expected for Zeng to get
back, but when he did return, he was smiling
and had a huge bunch of herbs.
“What took you so long?”
Ctunk asked.
“Oh, it was fun being out in the sun again,”
Zeng said.
“We found a lot of herbs in the forest.”
“We?”
Malkot asked.
“I,” Zeng said softly.
“I found a lot of herbs.”
He was still smiling.
The other two frowned but didn’t say anything.
They worked at the shop for a while and they
found that they started having slow days,
when almost no one needed anything, so they
decided to close the store for two days a
week.
That gave Ctunk a chance to fix items that
were brought in by the townspeople, Malkot
time to make potions, and Zeng time to collect
herbs, and then all time to practice speaking
human.
Malkot was better than the others, but Zeng
was picking up the language really quickly,
much faster than Ctunk.
Zeng also seemed to know words that neither
Malkot or Ctunk had heard before.
He was spending a lot of time collecting herbs,
but did sometimes come back, exhausted, without
herbs.
When asked, Zeng would just say he must have
been in the wrong part of the forest.
They really wanted to plant medicinal herbs
on the land they now owned, but it was one
thing to be in the forest getting herbs during
the day, but they would be seen in their own
backyard for sure.
“I always thought Zeng was slower than other
goblins,” Ctunk said one night while helping
Malkot make some more potions.
They were running low on healing salves.
The shop was closed.
“You know, I thought so too,” Malkot said
while melting down some bee’s wax in a pot.
“Maybe, since he’s not getting hit on
the head all the time, his brains are getting
better.”
“Maybe,” Ctunk said, and was measuring
out some oil in a cup, “But he always did
have a way of getting into trouble.”
“Yeah,” Malkot said, adding some of the
oil and stirring, “But we’ve got a good
life here, and I don’t think he would do
anything to change that.
I mean, he’s happier than I have ever seen
him before.”
“Well, save that one time he was with the
chief’s daughter,” Ctunk laughed.
“The chief’s daughter was a smashed finger,”
Malkot laughed too.
“All you had to do was wait and you would
wake up with her in your bed.”
“He woke up in her bed,” Ctunk laughs.
“That was how he got caught.
The only other time he smiled so much is when
he was playing with the little ones.
But he insisted on playing nice versions of,
rock dodge, stump, hide, and stick bash.
The children loved him, but everyone else
thought he was too soft.”
Something clicked in Malkot’s head and he
stopped stirring for a moment.
“Have you noticed that Zeng leaves to collect
herbs shortly after the same few kids come
in the shop?”
Malkot asked.
Ctunk thinks about it for a moment.
“No, that’s dumb,” Ctunk said finally.
“Human kids wouldn’t play with a goblin.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Malkot said, and
they continued making the potions.
Zeng comes back about an hour after dark.
“I got a lot today,” Zeng said happily.
“You didn’t find anything yesterday,”
Ctunk said.
Zeng frowns, “I had to go deeper in the
forest today.”
“We will need to help you for the next few
weeks,” Malkot said as he separated the
different herbs into piles.
“What?”
Zeng asked suddenly, “Why?”
“Winter’s coming, the trees have already
started changing colors,” Malkot answered.
“If we don’t get all the herbs we can,
we won’t have anything to sell until spring.”
“We’ve got herbs in pots,” Zeng says
softly.
“Those are for emergencies,” Malkot responded,
“and they won’t be enough to cover some
of the needs that the village has.
We’ll close the shop in a few days to help
out.”
Zeng dropped the herbs and looked around the
room, seemingly to find another excuse.
“Zeng,” Ctunk starts.
“Is something wrong?”
“No,” Zeng said quickly and sadly.
Ctunk and Malkot knew something was wrong.
They finished sorting the herbs and went to
bed, and Zeng seemed down the entire time.
The next day Zeng was the first one up in
the shop and he slammed the front door when
Ctunk came down.
“What were you doing?”
Ctunk asked.
“Nothing,” Zeng said quickly.
“Just making sure the door works.”
“Hmm,” Ctunk frowned and walked across
the room.
Ctunk raised an eyebrow and then tested the
door.
It stuck a little bit being opened and closed.
“Huh.
I’ll fix that,” Ctunk said and opened
and closed the door a few more times.
“I’ll just need to take a little wood
off the door.
Thanks for finding that.”
“Uh huh,” Zeng said, slinking away.
Malkot came downstairs.
“Good morning,” Malkot said in human.
“Let’s put the potions on the shelves.”
“I’ll help,” Zeng said, and hurried
to the back room to help bring out the potions.
It took a little while to fill the shelves,
and they noted the potions that they didn’t
have in stock and will need to make later.
The shop was open for a few hours in the morning,
and they got lunch at the Sleepy Sow before
finishing the day at the shop.
Malkot insisted that they find herbs, and
headed out into the woods for a few hours.
They walked outside in the suit to make sure
that they wouldn’t need to worry about being
found out as goblins.
Once they were well enough into the forest,
they sat the suit down and walked deeper into
the woods.
It was after about one hour and the three
had wandered quite a way away from the suit,
and the light was just about all gone as the
sun had finished setting.
Fortunately, goblins could see in the dark,
so they could still search for herbs.
They would have searched for a lot longer
but something happened.
“Hey!”
A voice called out in human.
“Malkot!”
They recognized the voice of Bert.
All three goblins looked up, and there the
large man was, standing next to the suit,
and looked at it.
The man held up a lantern and frowning.
“What do we do?”
Ctunk asked.
“Maybe he won’t notice,” Zeng said hopefully.
Both Ctunk and Maklot sighed.
“It doesn't have a head,” Malkot said
softly.
The man turned towards the woods and held
up the lantern.
“Goblins, are you there?”
Bert yelled.
“We’re found out!”
Zeng yelled and dropped his herbs and ran
off.
Malkot and Ctunk took a little longer but
yelled out as well.
The man ran out into the woods towards the
sound of the yelling, and the goblins scattered,
but Zeng ran toward their shop.
“No, don’t,” Ctunk yelled and ran after
Zeng, and Malkot followed after the two.
“Stop!”
Bert shouted from behind them, and they can
tell they are being pursued.
They three reached the shop and just closed
the door when Bert started pounding on the
door.
“He’s going to hit us,” Zeng said and
covered his head.
“Hit us?”
Malkot said, “I that was the big human we
ran into when we first came to this place!
He’s probably going to kill us!”
“Hurry, upstairs!”
Ctunk sai,d and ran upstairs followed by the
others.
The front door sounded like it got kicked
in and the three duck into the first room,
and since the beds were large they were able
to all squeeze underneath it.
It sounds like something was dropped on the
floor downstairs and then the man stomped
up the stairs and opened the door and held
out the lantern.
“My stomach is killing me,” Bert said,
“and chasing after you hasn’t helped.”
The man lifted the bed off the three goblins.
“Do you have any more of that medicine for
stomach aches?”
Bert said, holding his stomach.
“You’re not going to hit us?”
Zeng asked, holding his head.
“Why would I do that?”
Bert asked slowly, “You’re the best potion
makers for miles.”
“I thought humans killed goblins,” Malkot
said.
“Well,” Bert said and grimaced, “I have,
but normally only if they are attacking people.
Oh, I brought your silly suit back.”
“Suit?”
Ctunk asked.
“Yes, that silly thing you wear around town
when you’re trying to pretend you’re human,”
Bert said.
“Can we talk about this later?
I really need that medicine.”
The three goblins got up and walked down stairs
while the human shadowed them.
The human suit was on the floor in front of
the counter.
Malkot found the stomach medicine, and got
up on a stool behind the counter.
“That will be five silver?”
Malkot asked.
“Sure,” Bert said and paid for the medicine.
He quickly drank the medicine and sighed with
relief.
“I’m glad you’re not killing us, but
how did you know we were in a suit?”
Malkot asked.
“You never covered your face,” Bert said,
“it was a wooden man with a goblin head,
everyone in town knows you are goblins.”
“What?” the three asked at the same time.
Bert barked out a thunderous laugh.
“Zeng,” and Bert pointed at Zeng, “plays
with the kids and collects herbs from the
forest.
Ctunk,” and he pointed at Ctunk, “you
do the house repairs at night.
And Malkot,” and he pointed at Malkot, “You
make the potions and medicine and usually
be the head of the suit, but all three of
you have been the head of the suit at some
time, and you each use your own name when
we talk to you.”
The three goblins stared at Bert for a moment.
Then almost at the same time hit themselves
in the head.
“Look, if you want to wear the suit, that’s
fine,” Bert said, “but maybe tomorrow
you can try just being yourselves.
I’m sorry about the door and scaring you,
and thanks for the medicine.”
He tosses down a few more coins onto the counter.
“That’s for the door,” Bert said,and
then left the shop and closed the door.
“Zeng,” Ctunk yelled, “You were playing
with the kids!?”
“They’re nice and it’s fun to play with
them,” Zeng said back.
“Ctunk,” Malkot said loudly, “Please
fix the door, and we should all just go to
bed.”
Ctunk repaired the latch for the door and
they all went to bed.
The next day they talked about what happened,
and tried running the shop without the suit,
but kept it close by if they needed it.
They were surprised that all their normal
patrons didn’t even seem to care or even
notice that they weren’t in the suit.
Some of the people even noted they are glad
the goblins finally felt comfortable to be
themselves.
The goblins even, finally, turned their back
yard into an herb garden, but with winter
coming, they wouldn’t have herbs until spring.
They ran the shop for the next week as goblins,
and even went to eat at the tavern a few times
as themselves.
There were times that people from out of town
drew their weapons when they entered the shop,
but there was usually a townsperson in there
that would berate the person and tell them
to put their weapons away, and any fight was
averted.
“I wish I knew humans were this nice,”
Ctunk said as he worked on fixing a box someone
brought in.
“I thought my suit was a perfect disguise,”
Malkot said, and glared at the suit they now
kept on the corner of the shop.
“I’m glad I don’t have to pretend to
work when I’m playing with the kids,”
Zeng said.
“You should still be working on finding
herbs,” Ctunk said.
“Well,” Malkot started.
“It’s still better here than where we
came from.
Wait a second,” Malkot turned to Zeng.
“The kids!”
“What?”
Ctunk and Zeng asked at the same time.
“That’s why Zeng knows so many words we
don’t,” Malkot said.
“I guessed that right after Bert told us,”
Ctunk said and went back to work.
And soon this became the goblin’s new routine,
their new normal life.
Finally they could be themselves, their true
selves, in their new home.
My heart!
Such a wonderful happy ending for the goblins.
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