An Innocent Child

Marduk Foundingstone swung his axe into the ogre's thigh, and watched with satisfaction as it crashed to the side and began to bleed out. To his left, his wife lifted her hand and called for a rain of fire; two hobgoblins and a half-dozen goblins fell to the flames. To his right, the Elvish wizard Hylos Windborne dropped a trio of fireballs in rapid succession, clearing out the goblin archers that had been trying to pin them down. The human Velithra had vanished the moment the fighting began, as usual; but now -- also as usual -- she reappeared behind the Bugbear who'd been calling out commands, and neatly sliced out one of his kidneys with her dagger. The bugbear chieftain hit the floor, a sudden silence spilled over the underground battlefield. 

And then a small, wailing cry filled the silence, coming from somewhere behind where the goblins and hobgoblins had made their stand. 

Marduk straightened and wrenched his axe loose. His armor was covered in blood, his axe likewise. He looked around at the others, nodded to his wife, and strode away from the battlefield, following the direction of the sound. They could collect whatever treasure the goblinkind carried without him.

He found the child in a crude stone crib lined with straw. It was a goblin, a baby, green-skinned and hairless, with the long-pointed ears that suggested some sort of kinship with elvenkind.

With a sigh, Marduk bent down and scooped a bloody, armored arm under the child, raising it to his chest. It settled slowly, happy to be held but uncomfortable with lying against his armor. If I'd brought a blanket... Well, too late for that. He turned and retraced his steps to find the others. 

"You can't be serious," said Allstone Graniteweaver, impersonal with his helmet in place and the spiked armor covering his entire body. Allstone was a Battlerager and a dwarven purist, holding firmly to the idea that the Gards and Delves should be held for dwarves and perhaps a few close allies who knew their places. 

Marduk looked to Tara instead. "Another orphan of war," he said quietly. 

She nodded. "Another life in our charge."

"You can't take that back," Allstone objected. "That's a goblin, that is."

"And why not?" asked Tara, turning to look at him. 

"They're evil. At best they're a nuisance, at worst they're a threat. We just killed two dozen of them, and now you want to save one?"

Marduk shrugged. "A dwarven upbringing will do him good. And we will see how much of him comes of being a goblin, and how much from his particular circumstances."

"Fine," said Allstone. "Do as you would. Bring that thing into your home and see what happens. I'll leave you to it." With that, Allstone Graniteweaver walked away, heading for the passages that led back to the Gard. Marduk looked at Tara, and knew from her expression that the berserker wouldn't be back. 

It's not as if he doesn't have a point, he thought. This would be the fourth such child they'd taken into their care. It seemed a better course than killing them, and... it also seemed as if, despite the difference in their children's ages, they'd all reach adulthood more or less together. Still, trying to raise a goblin...

"We can't keep doing this and adventuring at the same time," said Tara, moving to stand beside him. "We'll need somewhere to keep them, to raise them. Someplace to call home."

Marduk nodded. He hated the idea of giving up adventuring, but he hated the idea of giving up his adopted children more. "All right," he said at last. "We'll work something out."