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The swamp went silent as the crew tried to process the deal that had just been offered. The hobgoblin gave a half smirk from where he stood in front of the crew. Gideon met his eyes and immediately snapped his head down, chest heaving and hands shaking causing his chains to jingle from the vibrations.
Torbek watched in fear as Gideon barely held back a breakdown. Gideon was the strong one, the protector but now he looked weak, looked afraid. The hobgoblin switched his smug gaze to Kremy.
"Well, Mr. LeCroux?" The hobgoblin asked, his voice scratchy and rough from years of working around heavy smoke. "Your decision?"
Kremy bared his teeth. Torbek knew there was no way Kremy would hand over any of his party, at least not his friends. The hobgoblin certainly had the upper hand here however, there was no way they could escape this ambush unharmed.
"Hand over one of your little adventuring crew and we'll let the rest of you walk away." He said as he began to walk towards Kremy. The other hobgoblins surrounding the party seemed to get amped up, craving bloodshed.
Kremy held his ground. "Gid is mine now. I swore he'd never go back to you scum and I wasn't lying."
The hobgoblin titled his head and grinned with his sharp teeth. "It doesn't have to be him. We'd take one of the others, especially that little one back there." Torbek watched as Gideon's head snapped up, flame flaring bright as he immediately stepped between Twig and the hobgoblin.
The hobgoblin wasn't looking at Twig though but at Gricko with his greedy eyes. Gricko growled at him and stood up straight. Gideon seemed to deflate a little, knowing Gricko could hold his own, better than Twig at least. He still held himself tense and clenched his fists around his chains, prepared for a fight.
"You won't touch him." Kremy said, his voice quiet but firm. "He belongs to me." The shadows seemed to darken as Kremy finally stepped forward. All around the party the circle of attackers began to gear up for a fight as well.
Torbek looked around, it was an unwinnable battle. The hobgoblins outnumbered them, six to twenty at least. Kremy wouldn't give up his friends, wouldn't give up Twig. Torbek was just an employee. He knew that the others would realize soon, the obvious course of action here.
Torbek never meant anything to Mr. Kremy nor to the others. They were kind to him and treated him well but had proved time and time that Torbek was not as important as the others.
He had been condemned to torture by these people once, sacrificed to monsters and dangerous situations countless times. What did one more matter?
Torbek glanced at Twig and Gideon, both afraid, glanced to Gricko, angered and helpless. He glanced to Frost in the back and he looked confused and helpless. Then to Kremy and he saw the determination, the protectiveness.
The decision was easy, yet terrifying. Torbek stepped forward. Gideon, Gricko and Frost both snapped their gaze to him. Kremy didn't look but Torbek knew he was paying attention as Torbek approached.
"Torbek go protect Twig," Kremy ordered and Torbek wanted to obey. He couldn't obey this order though. He shook his head.
"Torbek will go." The bugbear said, voice careful not to show his fear. Twig gasped loudly and Gricko growled again. Kremy didn't react, neither did Frost or Gideon. "Torbek will go with the ugly hobgoblin to protect his friends."
"Torbek," Gricko demanded, "don't you dare." Torbek wanted to scream, he didn't want to go. He wanted to stay, stay with his friends, his safety but he couldn't. If the choice was between Torbek or anyone else to go away it would always be Torbek. Torbek knew that. He was expandable.
"Mr. Kremy, Torbek is volunteering." Kremy took a deep breath but he shocked Torbek by looking conflicted. Torbek didn't get his hopes up at the look. He knew that Kremy didn't care about Torbek, probably only upset to be losing the bugbear's skillet and strength. Kremy would see that it was the best option however.
Torbek walked forward and held out his wrists to the hobgoblin, surrendering. He resisted the urge to cry out as the hobgoblin harshly grabbed him and began to slide tight manacles on his wrist. It hurt and the hobgoblin was rough, it was very reminiscent of the last time Torbek was captured and taken away from this group.
Torbek's breath caught in fear at the blurry memories of his last confinement. He supposed this was different though since this was slavery. Slavery like Gideon went through his whole childhood, slavery that Torbek had to protect the others from.
Torbek probably deserved it somehow, he always did. If he hadn't volunteered they would have told him to anyway, because he deserved it more than any of the others. At least in their eyes and perhaps they were right, why would people treat Torbek the way they did if he didn't deserve it?
The hobgoblin yanked the chains forward and Torbek stumbled. He did let out a panicked grunt.
Suddenly Kremy was by Torbek's side. "I said you weren't getting any of my people, bastard." Torbek watched in confusion as Kremy griped Torbek's wrist and snatched him away from the hobgoblin.
Suddenly a very loud and oddly intimidating jazz music started to echo around the woods around them, behind them Gideon and Gricko began to hum along to the familiar battle music. Shadows swarmed into the circle and surrounding Kremy and the gator began to glow with neon magic and twirled his cane.
"Are you ready?" Frost asked seriously and Gideon groaned as the music cut off.
"C'mon Frosty, ya ruined it!" The fire genasi complained.
Torbek glanced back to observe the others bickering so he missed it when the hobgoblin took a swing at him with a sharp dagger he had in his hands. Kremy did not miss it, he shoved Torbek back and caught the dagger with his cane.
Gideon cursed loudly as several of the surrounding hobgoblins jumped towards him and Twig to attack. His chains began to spit fire violently as he lashed it out to strike several of them across their face.
Twig took a calming breath, calming herself down so she didn't transform into a brownie. She did raise her hand and shoot a blast out towards where a group of hobgoblins had just began to step forward.
Gricko and Hootsie aimed their focus on a different group as Gricko pulled don't his ocarina and Hootsie lunged forward to tackle a trio and rip into them with her teeth.
Frost had his eyes closed as he was being quickly surrounded by hobgoblins but before Torbek could shout in worry Frost's eyes flew open and immediately two of the nearby hobgoblins fell to their knees.
Torbek turned back to see Kremy and the hobgoblin locked together in a heated staring contest as they both pressed against their respective weapons to try and make the other yield.
Torbek was being basically ignored by the enemies, for some reason. The witchlight attached to his back began to pump viciously in the tubes. The bugbear felt another presence slowly filtering into his brain and he frowned, tempted to push back.
Then the hobgoblin leader let out a final shove and Kremy fell back. A flash of silver glinting in a stream of sunlight as a dagger was raised high above Kremy's head. The presence in Torbek's mind raged as it washed through him.
The chains and shackles around Torbek's wrist exploded as he used his strength to rip them apart. His arms shot out, claws aimed straight for the hobgoblin leader's heart.
The hobgoblin noticed just a second to late and tried to dodge, only positioning himself better for Torbek's nails to rip straight through his neck.
Blood rushed from his body in a wave, coating Kremy in the warm liquid. The warlock quickly scrambled up, gagging in disgust. "Oh my god," he said in between dry heaving.
Torbek ignored him and turned to where a dozen or so hobgoblins had been charging before stopping in fear at watching their leader drop to his knees, head only attached to his body by threads of shredded muscle and sinew.
Gideon whooped in joy as the others all made various noises of disgust. "Alright, Torbek!" Gideon cheered. "Get the rest of them!"
"I don't think that's Torbek," Gricko said loudly.
"Doesn't matter to me," Gideon said, still overjoyed to see the dead hobgoblin. "I don't care who you are, kill them all!"
Gideon rushed towards the remaining hobgoblins, which still outnumbered the party but now looked unsure of themselves without a leader. He charged in with fists lit aflame and began to punch wildly.
"Oh lord," Kremy mumbled as he begin to cast prestidigitation on himself to get rid of the blood that was soaking into his skin, hair and clothes. Twig rushed over to Frost as Gideon abandoned her to go murder his enemies.
Frost simply watched Gideon unimpressed but had a smirk on his face that spoke of fondness. Twig ran up to him, dodging the bodies of dead hobgoblins surrounding the sorcerer.
"Fucking, Torbek," Kremy said and Torbek snapped his attention to Kremy unnaturally fast. "Help Gideon."
The order stuck. Torbek rushed, arms shooting out in front of him, as he gripped a hobgoblin and tore it away from Gideon. He tossed it toward Gricko, who was prepared and quickly killed the hobgoblin.
The battle was quick and bloody and violent. Blood coated Gideon and Torbek, matting their hair and fur. Gricko was covering Hootsie's eyes and looking away. Twig was throwing up while Frost held her hair back. Kremy was watching the fight grimly, eyes on Gideon filled with relief even though he cringed at the gore.
At the end Gideon stood tall, chest heaving and a wild look in his eye as he swung his fist in the air, chains sailing around him. It was almost symbolic that he had used the chains the hobgoblins used to trap him to kill the bastards.
Torbek looked around, witchlight starting to slow as it entered his bloodstream. He looked around, shocked. He looked over to Kremy who had began to loot the mangled corpses.
"Is anybody hurt?" Frost called out. Everybody replied that they were unharmed, except for Torbek who was still shocked at why they had fought in the first place.
"Torbek, you good man?" Gideon asked. He reached out a hand, dripping with blood to put it on Torbek's shoulder. Torbek looked at it in astonishment.
"Why did Mr. Kremy not give up Torbek?" He wondered quietly. Gideon frowned at him like he was missing something obvious and Torbek didn't doubt he was.
"It's not just Kremy who got to decide, it was all of us. We weren't going to let them take any of us." Gideon said. Gricko had paused in cleaning up Hootsie to give Torbek a knowing look.
"Right, Torbek knew Mr. Kremy wouldn't let them take any of his friends, which is why Torbek volunteered."
Silence.
"Torbek, we aren't going to give you up. You're one of us now, right lads?" Gricko finally said. He looked around for confirmation.
"Yeah man," Gideon said.
"Of course," Frost agreed.
Kremy did not agree, just looked at Torbek with a considering gaze. Torbek shuffled under his gaze, almost ashamed as he ducked down. “You're one of mine, Torbek. Don't forget that again.” Kremy's words caused Torbek to look at him in shock.
“Torbek is one of you?” The bugbear asked, hopefully. Tears slowly building in his eyes. “Torbek has never been part of annnnyyyyythingggg.”
Kremy grimaced at the emotional display and shied away to continue looting a corpse nearby. “Yeah, one us so you better get started helping us loot these things and get out of here.”
Torbek looked around to see everyone else had moved on as if this moment meant nothing, as if it was simply expected. Twig and Hootise had left the bloody battlefield to go sit on a nearby tree root and play tug of war, Gricko was looting a corpse, and Frost was checking over Gideon to be sure he didn't have any wounds.
It was all so casual and so domestic in an odd way, it was so familiar. It felt like home and Torbek finally let out a sigh of relief as he realized that it was.
This was home.