Urzaag the Torch Burner's page

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Urzaag casually swatted at a dragonfly as he skulked through the tall grasses of the marsh, stepping lightly in the mud, pushing the reeds apart. He knew how to go about unnoticed in the wet terrain, but his quarry was less learned in the matter, it seemed, as their bootprints made obvious. He could smell them, too, though it was know tracking scent, merely the one left cloying there in his nostrils from when he had last seen them, a constant offense to this particular goblin. He quickened his pace, slipping this way and that through the rushes, stopping every now and then to listen. The buzz of mosquitoes and dragonflies and bullfrogs and crickets added a soft ambiance, a focusing theme for hunting. He heard them over the insect serenade after a short while, talking in their pompous tongue that the goblin had pained himself to learn. They complained of the deep mud and the stagnant water and the biting bugs and the goblins. The goblins most of all.

Urzaag crept closer, staying low in the reeds until he could see them again. They were young things, would-be slayers playing at heroes. No doubt they were seeking to avenge some wrong, perhaps even some slight perpetrated by Urzaag himself. He looked down at the string of brunt ears looped about his belt and smiled wickedly. Perhaps they had come looking for one of them. Regardless, they did not seem like they would be trouble, armed with their simple spears and hatchets and wearing no armor to speak of. They thought goblins would be easy prey, no doubt, but even Urzaag could not deny that many were. Urzaag was different, though; he was always hunter, never prey.

Soundlessly he held onto a wonderful concoction he learned of and mastered without too much trouble waiting for the humans to stop again, wiping sweat from their brows and swatting at mosquitoes. A crane called out from somewhere as the explosion took one of the two in the back. He cried out and fell into the mud while his comrade wheeled about, suddenly afraid, gripping his spear so that his knuckles were white. Urzaag throw a bomb at him too but only the concussion hit him, and he staggered, dropping his spear in surprise.

The goblin leap from the rushes then, two burning torches in hand, and swept up to the downed human, a menacing purpose in his stride. The second cried out “goblin!” and made attempts to locate his spear. Urzaag stood over the first human but did not take his eyes off of the second as he savagely beat the human setting his head ablaze with each strike. The human screamed as each blow stuck igniting his hair, making the skin blister and pop. The second had stopped looking for his spear and was staring, wide-eyed and shaking. Urzaag let the human suffer as held the torch on the humans head until he stopped thrashing and the smell of cooked meat was in the air.

“My marsh,” he said to the remaining intruder in the common tongue. He stared at the human, allowing him to back away slowly. He goblin grinned wickedly as he did so, finding much joy in knowing that these humans had come expecting to find some easy killing among his kind. The human turned to run as best as his injury would allow, and Urzaag let him go, undercooked.

Someone had to tell his people of Urzaag Firestick the torch burner, after all.

Urzaag is a goblin weaned on the stories of the would-be destroyers of the Licktoad tribe (as well as other human-killing expeditions) to the point of idolization. His hatred of humans has been ingrained within, bred into him as easily and naturally as speech. He always had found what he believed to be flaws in these stories of human-hunting, though. His people rarely had tact or focus, and though it pained him to do so, Urzaag had to admit that the humans did. And so he practiced these arts, of watching and studying and hunting, that he might become a source of underestimation. Humans would always be expecting certain things from goblins, he thought, so what better way to kill them than to go against those notions? First he had to teach himself to be brave and courageous, to stand and fight while others ran. His determination would throw humans off their guard, he theorized. He must not fear them, but rather make them fear him. Then he taught himself how to find them, to pursue them, to watch them without ever being seen. He studied him that he might kill them better than other goblins.

When he learned to speak their language, he found that human have a natural fear of fire so he would use it when fighting. That's how he earned his name Urzaag Firestick The Torch Burner.

Since mastering himself, he has always tried to teach others of the tribe what he has learned, though many have been very dismissive of him. Goblins will be goblins, after all, and even Urzaag cannot deny that.

Urzaag is a very stone-faced and solemn goblin who lives for little else save for how to study and kill the enemies of his goblin kin. He often thinks himself quite above other goblins, being focused and determined and clear-headed in most things.