You are enraged (attack!)

"Liar!" you cry, leaping to your feet. "You lied to me!"

With no thought of the other goblins, you leap atop the goblin leader and wrap your hands easily around his scrawny neck. He chokes out a cry and then is silenced by your strangling hands. His nails rake at your bare flesh and he kicks and squirms beneath you, but you are larger and just slightly stronger than him.

And you are so very angry.

"We made a deal!" you hiss, staring into his panicked eyes as you **** the life from him.

When he has stopped thrashing you pick up the crude club he set aside and stalk, naked and bloody, out from the barn. The smaller two goblins are surprised to see you wakling out alone. Before they can react you smash the head of one and send him sprawling on the dirt. The other stands and reaches for its own club, but you kick him aside and then finish the job with a smash to his temple.

Panting, bloody, and feeling disgutingly used, you settle onto the stump they were using as a chair and warm your body by their cookfire. You boil some water from one of their flasks and clean your scratches. There's nothing to do about the many bruises you'll have soon.

You hide the corpses in a burned hut and rob them of what little coin and edible food they have in their packs. You feel strange at having slain them. Most men would think nothing of slaughtering goblins, but no you feel you know just how disappointingly human the little fiends can be.

You bathe with a washcloth, scrubbing away the thoughts, and sleep soundly beneath their sheepskin covers. Their blankets are warm and protect you from the night chill.

Dawn brings with it a fog and the appearance of many bruises on your legs and stomach. At least the scratches have not become infected.

Gathering your travel pack and fully dressing you consult your worn map scroll. From the burned village you must travel upwards now, over the dangerous Dragon's Spine mountains. There are three paths marked on your map and each has its own perils.

The path that forks north-east takes you through the elven citadel of Elohin. The elves are disdainful of humans and are known to make slaves of them. While they might let you pass, they also might attempt to press you into slavery.

Due east the mountains are thought to be uninhabited, but you take that with the knowledge that few travelers make it through this route alive and tales have returned with those who did that tell of a number of strange and terrifying creatures.

South east is what is known as the Mire Flats. After a steep climb you will have to travel for several days across a wasteland of swampy and primordial ground. You are sure to encounter strange denizens of this environment on your journey.