Ademhill Fortress wasn't built in a single day. Nor was it built in a single year. It was built over six years.

  Zerel was miffed, but she couldn't deny it was rewarding work. She was almost worried about the potential of giving such an empcement to Chron, whose military ambitions seemed inscrutable, but he was at least nice enough to Zerel that she wouldn't regret it, even if she eventually needed to take it back from him. Maybe.

  Ogres can get big.

  Over the years she found that the major distinction between different “types” of goblin were rgely based on size and less influenced by form. A goblin is a baby to child sized creature, hobgoblins are around the size of a human adult, and ogres are bigger than that. Ramel said there was often conjecture about greater stages of goblin, and even variants, but nothing had proven conclusive.

  That was before Zerel got to watch Ramel, a te bloomer, grow into her hobgoblin stage. Starting just before the older witch turned sixteen, she went through a slow and steady growth spurt. The weird part was that Ramel's skin slowly shifted from a formerly vivid green to a deep turquoise. No one else in the cn had ever seen someone's color shift like that, and Ramel admitted that she had a better capacity for magic afterward. Presumably she had become some sort of magic hobgoblin variant.

  Then Zerel's own secondary adolescence came. She grew slower than her mentor but turned blue much quicker, eventually giving her steel blue skin that made her stand out distinctly from the rest of the cn. The body strengthening spells that had become a staple for Zerel were much easier for her to channel afterwards, and her capacity was indeed better. She found herself in several deep discussions with Ramel about the implications, and Zerel started to worry that some of her younger cnsfolk weren't getting the best opportunities to develop, like the witches were. Chron told her not to worry about it in the short term, as there was nothing wrong with being a regur goblin.

  It was a point the chief enforced by his very presence. Chron was certainly a bit gifted in some genetic way already, but he grew to be a rather imposing and occasionally frightening ogre with forest green skin. The chief towered over the witches at a beefy eight feet and change, dwarfing their own heights of five eight for Ramel and five four for Zerel. He started helping with the construction, and Chron could easily move carts with more than a ton of bricks on them. Zerel could move such loads with strength magic, but she was a little short for it.

  Instead, Zerel acted as foreman for the project, occasionally stepping in to help with more delicate parts of the fortress's masonry. She eventually appointed Isra and Sachi as assistants to oversee smaller issues while she got some rest. Delegation saved Zerel some of the exhaustion from building, even for just the fortifications of their fortress town. It wasn't a particurly big operation either, since they were trying to build things slowly and secretly. Thraes Hold was over a day and a half's travel away through the wilderness to the northeast of Ademhill. Mercenary explorers occasionally passed close enough that they might discover the Ademhill caves, let alone the fortress they were building.

  Their construction runs were basically stealth military operations, with scouts on watch to warn of any encroaching threats. They had a guard squad and a construction squad, the tter being a bit of a misnomer because most of them, including Zerel, were reliable in a skirmish as well. Whether it was luck or some other factor, they only actually got into a fight with mercenaries once.

  Every other time they managed to hide or otherwise divert approaching people, but this group was different. They caught sight of a scout and chased the poor goblin all the way to the mostly built palisade walls, where they killed him. In a rage, the two squads managed to subdue the team of ten mercenaries, keeping them alive only on Zerel's command. The cn gdly took some of their things, and Zerel assigned a squad of scouts to leave them tied up near the walls of Thraes Hold. Chron had often warned that unexpected contact is best left as bloodless as possible. Nobody would be trying to avenge people who weren't dead.

  Thraes Hold might have become aware of Ademhill then, but the cn continued construction as quickly as they could. Stone and cy had to be brought from a partially hidden quarry a few miles south of Ademhill to make the bricks for their walls. They had to ftten some of the nd for the town, and the motte atop the hill only had one story ready by the time the next group of combined imperial soldiers and mercenaries came. The men hadn't expected a gated and walled fort to have gone up in such a time and had no capability to break in, so they left. That was about four years into the project.

  In the two years since, military and mercenary scouts from Thraes Hold have kept an eye on the progress of Ademhill Fortress. Goblin scouts keep an eye right back on the imperials. A cold war of sorts was fought between the two communities while the goblins fortified their position.

  Then, te in Zerel's seventeenth year as a goblin, Ademhill Fortress was completed. Technically, there wasn't much of a town yet, but a couple of other buildings were up and all of the trees and foliage was cleared within the boundaries of the palisade. The fortress itself was a five story stone building with over a hundred thousand square feet inside for supplies, personnel, and cnsfolk taking refuge from potential invaders. It was connected to the cave network in the hill under it, with a few emergency escapes cleverly hidden and sealed from the inside. The whole complex was warded against siege, both mundane and magical.

  Zerel had to admit the project had suffered from a bloated scope, but damn if she wasn't proud of what they'd made. Ademhill had gone from being a haphazard little vilge to a full blown stronghold for their cn. The vilge construction was being managed by a few hobgoblins that Zerel trusted, and Chron took over management of the fortress and its garrison.

  Ramel was happy as well, since their coven had grown to six witches total, including Isra, who took to magic fairly well after her transition. Half a dozen more goblins transitioned, and Zerel had the most trouble helping an older hob named Tabree through the difficulties of transition ter in life. Tabree had high hopes for the growth spurt into her ogre stage, though, something Zerel couldn't really account for from experience. Even their hormone potions had improved; one mildly unpleasant gss a week either way - Isra notoriously cut hers with fruit juice.

  Things were looking good for Ademhill, but Zerel still had two problems. The first was her upcoming pns to negotiate with Thraes Hold, Ademhill and the empire thankfully spoke the same nguage. It hinged on a few factors that were out of her control, which was bad enough.

  The second problem was the impending power struggle. Her leadership and initiative in building the fort - to perfection, some had apparently said - made her a strong candidate to challenge Chron for chief. She might even be stronger than him, too, but they avoided finding out.

  Zerel didn't really want to be chief. Sure the authority and power were useful but she didn't really like telling others what to do, save for in her private life. They had a bit of a standing truce about it, but the negotiations with the imperials would make or break that truce. If Zerel got Thraes Hold to trade with them and at least be neutral that'd be a big enough accomplishment that some cnsfolk might push the issue. Zerel wasn't exactly sure what would happen then.

  Before any of that was resolved, though, there was The Incident. Zerel had been moderately dissatisfied with aspects of her hormone results, and was testing some alternative formutions. Her attempt to create a secondary supplement for feminine physical development was successful, but the first version was a little off. It left her in a libidinous daze for an afternoon, or at least what should have been an afternoon. Ramel had other pns.

  To say that the older witch took advantage of Zerel would be inaccurate, but Ramel did seduce her former apprentice. They had a fling, which eventually evolved into a “coven sisters with benefits” type retionship. Goblins hardly had the vocabury for it, but as far as Zerel could tell, Ramel was rgely aromantic. She was okay with the arrangement, but Zerel did yearn for something a little more involved. She felt strange trying to woo other cnsfolk though, as they were all technically younger than her if one included her past life. The only cn members she felt counted as peers were Chron and Ramel. She supposed she could find a nice human girl or someone else from the empire.

  Which brought her back to Thraes Hold. The Ademhill cn didn't have much stationery, so Zerel's pn was executed with engraved or inked wood blocks. Messages to be reyed to imperial leadership detailing terms for hopefully neutral negotiation. They left them in obvious pces for scouts out of Thraes Hold to find, and hoped for the best. A month ter, just when Zerel was about to go back to the drawing board, the first group came.

  The instructions they had put out were clear. No more than three unarmed people could come to the gates of Ademhill waving a white fg to signal parley. The scouts saw them, a group of three humans, waving a fg as directed. The leadership was informed, and the delegates were watched closely as they neared the fort.

  Zerel, Ramel, and Chron waited for them at the gates, also unarmed, though none of the three really needed a weapon in a fight. The ogre was leaning against the wall next to the gate, further back from the witches, as to not overly intimidate the imperials. Zerel had shaped a chair from earth to sit sideways in, with her legs and back over the arms. Ramel leaned against the chair, looking over a notebook she had stolen long ago. The three goblins tried to be nonchant as the humans came into view.

  Two of the three men were light skinned and wearing fine clothing. The first had a fine ochre coat with dark breeches and well kept, tied back brown hair. The second was in more military dress, with short trimmed bck hair and a shorter burgundy coat matching his scks. The st man had golden skin and a short blonde mop, a cuirass, padded clothing with greaves, and one gauntlet on his right hand. He held the white fg on a wooden pole in his left. Zerel noted that the military man kept his right hand near his waist, almost reflexively flexing his grip on nothing, whereas the man in armor seemed alert but unconcerned.

  They didn't seem wary until the three caught sight of the goblins at the gates. If Zerel had to guess, Chron was the most responsible for their sudden tension, though she and Ramel didn't exactly pass for regur goblins. The foppish one grew nervous as the two combatants readied themselves for a fight.

  Zerel took the initiative, yelling out her greeting, “Hello!”

  The two well dressed men exchanged a gnce before the one in military dress responded with his own shout, “Hello! We come from Thraes Hold in peace. Unarmed, as requested.”

  Zerel turned in her chair, sitting properly to face the approaching men. “Good!” She excimed, “our message was received. I'm Zerel, and this is Ramel. We're the senior witches of Ademhill.” She pointed back with her thumb, “That's Chron, our chief. We want to negotiate for peace and, ah. Exchange of goods, if possible.” She rambled a little, “We want to trade.”

  “Trade can certainly be arranged,” replied the man in the ochre coat with a glint in his eye and a greedy smile. The soldier sighed and gave him a gre which he sheepishly shrank from. “Oh, ah, my apologies,” he restarted, “I am James Renault, a merchant who trades in Thraes Hold, and this-”

  “Aramis,” interrupted the stern military fellow, hand clenched, “a retainer of Count Vasi, representing his interests.”

  The third man in the cuirass promptly introduced himself as well, “Pylos. Deputy in the mercenary guild.”

  Nodding, Zerel gestured for them to come closer, which they did but stayed out of a regur conversational distance. “It’s nice to meet you fels,” she started, “we can get straight to business. What do we need to do to end hostilities?”

  “We’re not negotiating with the chief?” Asked Aramis with a thoughtful expression.

  Chron snorted and Ramel rolled her eyes. Zerel smirked and used her customer service voice, “No, you’re not negotiating with the chief. This wasn’t his idea. I don’t see Count Vasi here, so we’ll both have to settle.”

  Aramis shrugged, “I suppose that makes sense. Count Vasi is not against negotiations, but he is hoping to see what trades can be done before any guarantees are made.”

  “The mercenary guild is willing to dispense with all standing bounties on members of your cn,” stated Pylos, “we are also ready to take requests from the cn should you have the coin or adequate goods to pay with.”

  James spoke next, “We were hoping to see what you have and negotiate a rger exchange for a ter date, as well as a meeting with Count Vasi in the near future.”

  “Alright,” Zerel affirmed, “not unexpected terms for me. BOYS! BRING OUT THE GOODS,” she yelled back at the gate.

  As the gates opened, Chron stepped back inside the fort while a couple of hobs wheeled out a cart with a sampling of the goods they had to trade. Aramis and James held guarded expressions as they looked over the minerals, monster parts, and rare herbs. Pylos's eyebrows shot up as his eyes went wide for a solid minute, giving the game away to Zerel when she noticed.

  By the end of their negotiations, Zerel had a trade deal as well as an upcoming appointment with both Count Vasi and the mercenary guildmaster.

  Then, Chron announced an election.