The Beast-kin is eager for battle, it seems.

You don't have to wait long for the first move in your duel to be made as, with a roar, Balthor charges with his spear held before him and aimed at your chest. It seems the Beast-kin is seeking to skewer you in the first move, but if he thinks that reckless charge will be enough to do so, he is sorely underestimating you. That's fine though. Let him underestimate you for now. He will learn the error of his ways soon enough.

You wait for the Beast-kin's spear to be just an arm's length from your body before you move, ducking beneath the weapon and rolling between the taller Beast-kin's legs in a way that takes advantage of your smaller size. As you pass, you swipe at his shin with your hammer, landing a glancing blow as you move past the charging stag-man and twist around to face him while springing back to your feet. The blow wasn't solid enough to do real damage to the musclebound brute, but you knew that it would be enough to stagger him just a bit so you could face him once more.

It also served to further anger him as you see him limp ever so slightly before stomping his hoof down on the ground and grimacing at you in a mixture of pain and anger. He grips his spear with renewed determination as he moves towards you, this time a little more cautiously as your striking the first blow in the battle had given him reason to be wary now. It was probably shameful, in his eyes, to have been struck first by a goblin like you, but that was only because he didn't know that you were a goblin of only your sort. There was no other like you and there would never be again. This you knew and would etch into the Beast-kin's body with your weapon bit by bit.

Balthor inches towards you and then slowly begins to circle, sliding footsteps taking him sideways as he stares you down. You mirror his movements, circling in the same way he does with your hammer held tight and your eyes intent upon his. The shouts of the other Beast-kin and your own followers melt away as you and Balthor face each other until all that is left is the beating of your hearts and the soft sound of your breathing. The tension is heavy in the air and time seems to slow to a crawl between you two...until, all at once, you fly into movement in unison.

Balthor thrusts his spear towards you and you dodge, sidestepping to the left and knocking the spear off-target with the haft of your hammer before striking out with a swing towards the Beast-kin's hips. With preternatural speed, Balthor manages to pullback his spear and catch your blow with the shaft of his own weapon. The wood of his spear bends, but does not break, making it clear you underestimated the weapon as much as Balthor had underestimated you.

The flurry of blows continues, thrusts and swings of Balthor's spear flying towards you and being narrowly dodged while swings of your hammer are blocked and parried one after another as well. Neither of you manage to strike decisive blows during your violent exchange, though small nicks and gashes from glancing blows show on your cheeks and arms while bruising shows up on Balthor's midsection and hips from barely blocked blows of your hammer. Indeed, you and the Beast-kin seem evenly matched and that alone is an accomplishment that has the entire clearing stunned into silence as nobody would think a goblin could be a match for a Beast-kin, let alone the chief of the Beast-kin himself.

Finally, the two of you leap apart from one another after your weapons impact with one another brutally as though to signal a pause to your battle. The exchange of blows felt like it took hours, but, in truth, less than thirty seconds had passed. Even in that short time, you and Balthor both were shining with perspiration and a number of small wounds could be seen on both of your bodies. You and he both breathe heavily as you'd poured yourselves into that brief exchange, making it a hard physical effort even if it had only been for a brief time.

"You are better than I thought, goblin. In respect to that, I won't hold back any longer.", he said as he lifted his spear up over his head and began to spin it quickly, "I will end it in this next blow!"

You nod curtly to him at his words, grim determination set into your face. "We shall see.", you say shortly as you shift your grip on your hammer lower on the handle and rest it against your shoulder in preparation to put momentum behind it in the next swing.

Both of you, in unison, charge forward with the intent to finish things in this next exchange. Balthor's larger strides mean he gets to you quickly and you see him starting to swing his spear down at you as though it were a stave rather than a spear, the extra momentum from his spinning it adding to the speed of the swing. The spear comes arcing down at you and you have but an instant to react with your own attack.