The Iron Teeth

Den of Beasts 1

The city smelled of humans. That was no surprise to Blacknail, it was a scent he knew well, but its intensity was still almost overwhelming. The dark alleys and city streets reeked not only of their sweat and urine but also of their blood and shit.

Blacknail grimaced in disgust as he slipped through the shadows along the edge of the street and past the other pedestrians. He stayed away from any light that shone out from nearby buildings. Even goblins knew better than to shit where they lived. Were the humans just lazy or were they too afraid to go outside?

The black gloom of night lay thick over the city as Blacknail searched for some sign or scent of his tribe amongst the torrent of other odors that filled the streets. Try as he might though he couldn't detect anything. Mingled among the foul and the vile there were however some other more pleasant aromas.

They were smells he couldn't quite place but were familiar none the less. Some of the scents were somewhat like stew but even more... varied. Other smells reminded him strongly of bread or some of the treats Varhs and Geralhd had occasionally brought him. These were so much more full and fresh in their aroma though. It brought back bittersweet memories of his life before he had been taken from the sewers.

The sound of nearby whispering tickled his ears and Blacknail looked over to see the shadows shift at the entrance to the alley he was about to walk by. He frowned at what he saw within.

Suddenly, figures dressed in rags burst from the alley and towards him. They ranged in size but some were far smaller than Blacknail. Before they could get too close though, he kicked one of them away, and growled at the rest.

The human children gasped and fled in every direction away from him. The larger female he had knocked over quickly got to her feet and scrambled away.

The hobgoblin moved on. His recent actions had caused some attention to be focused on him, but not too much. No one had died and he hadn't made too much noise. The humans of this city seemed to value their privacy, which suited Blacknail just fine. He was even far from the only person out and about in a hood and cloak.

Occasionally, a larger group of armed humans would pass by. Anyone who got too close to them was hassled and shoved around. Blacknail had examined a few of these human packs from a safe distance. They wore no uniforms or other marks of identification he could see.

He had even seen two of the groups meet and exchange insults and threats. They hadn't actually fought though, so while they weren't friendly they weren't enemies either. Blacknail suspected these were warriors from different tribes attempting to gain status through displays of might and bravery.

It was easy for him to avoid them. They were noisy and he could hear them coming from a block away. If he had wanted to Blacknail could easily have never even entered their sight. He was sneaky like that.

The hobgoblin wandered the sprawling streets of the city for awhile without finding anything of too much interest. He did however pick up two tails. Blacknail didn't look back but he had definitely been hearing the same steady sound of footsteps for the last few minutes. That was interesting; he wondered who they were.

Blacknail suddenly swerved and walked into a dark alley to his left. There were a lot of dark alleys to choose from in this place. He then crouched behind a pile of junk and waited. Just as he had planned two men soon stepped into the alley. They walked quickly towards his hiding spot as they scanned the shadows for signs of him.

Blacknail frowned in disappointment. He didn't know them and they didn't smell of anyone he knew. They were probably just a pair of random stupid humans. With a sigh, the hobgoblin rose from his hiding spot and confronted the men who had been following him.