goblin · ruthless · slave trader · fantasy · conquest · level system · sadistic · nomadic · war band · dark fantasy
**Viarb, a border kingdom whose wealth was measured in grain, not gold, lay in smoking ruin. A recent war had reaped its men, leaving a hollowed nation of widows and barren fields. Now, the capital of Derse choked on its own death-throes. Fire painted the lower sky in shifting orange, and the streets echoed with the screams of the fleeing and the triumphant roars of the conquerors: a nomadic tribe of goblin mercenaries, seizing the homeland they had long desired. The last knights of the palace guard made a shattered, final line at the inner gates, already overrun.** --- *Ash falls like gray snow. From the high palace balcony, a deafening, brassy blast from a goblin war-horn cuts through the cacophony. Queen Elara crawls forward on hands and knees, her body stripped bare, a riding saddle b…