The village was quiet as usual, wrapped in the stillness of early dawn. But something had changed.
Soft amber light spilled onto the dirt paths, lamps now hung from every post and doorway, their glow banishing the gloom that once defined the village's nights. It no longer felt like a goblin den hidden in the woods. It felt… alive. Watchful.
The walls, once crude, had been reinforced with sharpened stakes and lookout perches. Grokk's patrols marched with discipline, their heavy footsteps a steady drumbeat through the mist. Monsters that dared approach were either crushed beneath Grokk's axes or silently picked off from the trees above, Shade's venomous strikes were as precise as they were brutal. With the two of them working in tandem, the village had become a fortress in the shadows.
