Goblin was one of the Black Company's three main wizards during the modern Annals. He was a small man, barely five feet tall, with high-pitched voice. He was skilled in creating illusions and sleeping spells, which made him useful in reconnaissance and infiltration missions. He had an ongoing feud with his fellow wizard One-Eye. They frequently harassed each other with insults, and sometimes would compete against one another with increasingly elaborate illusion spells. Despite the tension, this was how they expressed their friendship.
The Black Company
After the Black Company was recruited by Soulcatcher, their employer the Lady established a psychic link with Goblin, in order to relay very urgent messages. This caused the tiny wizard a great deal of pain and made him wary of the Taken's power. Later he created an amulet for Croaker, which Silent used to track the Annalist, in order to back him up in case of trouble. Goblin also used his illusions in the capture of the young Rebel leaders Feather and Journey.
Goblin by Kira Mayer
Shadows Linger
Goblin was chosen to be part of the advance team of Company men that were flown from the Barrowland, into the city of Juniper, by the new Taken via flying carpet. He accompanied Elmo, the physician Croaker, Pawnbroker, Kingpin, Sharkey, Tickle, and Stork. This elite group made the trip ahead of the rest of the Company, and were spared the march across the Northern Continent and through the Wolander Mountains.
After the Black Company opposed Lady, Goblin was part of the group that ambushed and nearly killed the Limper.
The White Rose
Goblin and the Company fled with Darling for 4 years across the continent, closely pursued by the New Taken. With the blessing of the menhirs, he then settled with the Company survivors in the Hole, a series of caverns near the center of the Plain of Fear.
The Company and the Lady created an alliance, and Goblin helped battle the Dominator, who was finally killed at the Battle of the Barrowland. Goblin and One-Eye pierced his skull with the silver spike, where the Dominator's soul became imprisoned. Goblin would be one of the only 10 Company survivors of that battle. He and One-Eye chose to remain with Croaker, the new captain, while Silent and the Torque brothers parted ways with Darling.
Shadow Games
On their way south after the Battle of the Barrowland, Goblin accompanied Croaker to the Lady's Tower at Charm, but insisted on leaving as soon as possible. When Croaker and the Lady finally had the promised dinner in Opal, Goblin and One-Eye cast an illusion spell on the Annalist in order to have some fun. Croaker appeared like a fire demon, which terrified everybody there, while he was unaware of the illusion.
Dreams of Steel and Bleak Seasons
After the Black Company reached Taglios, Goblin was promoted to a counterintelligence officer, responsible for hunting enemy spies and problematic cult leaders. During the Siege of Dejagore he remained trapped in the city. There the Black Company formed two factions and Goblin was among those who opposed Mogaba. Because of his actions in Dejagore, he (alongside many Company brothers) earned a Nyueng Bao bodyguard: his was named Thien Duc.
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Goblin and One-Eye by Mikey Patch (Irontree)
She Is The Darkness
Goblin and One-Eye survived the siege and participated in the next campaign against Longshadow. Croaker gave Goblin orders to lead a special commando mission called "Shaded Road", to bring fighters to the south of the Dandha Presh via the long route around the mountain range. Goblin recruited 100 young Taglians, all under the age 25, who were interested in joining the Black Company. He sold them the idea that the operation was an entrance exam. Their mission was to spread fear throughout Mogaba's ranks and to provide insurance for the Company if the Prahbrindrah Drah betrayed them. But the whole operation was shrouded in absolute secrecy: even One-Eye and Murgen were kept in the dark.
Goblin, his Nyueng Bao bodyguard Thien Due, at least one Company brother called Bubba-do, and their 100 young Taglians (including Mowfat) departed Taglios to conduct Shaded Road. They sailed downriver on the Main, cut their way through 200 miles of inhospitable Nyueng Bao swamp at the river's delta, and took to sea. After passing through a fog bank, they landed on the coast of the Shindai Kus desert where they overcame awful terrain and predatory monsters. They marched undetected into the cold, southern slopes of the Dandha Presh and were joined by Lisa Daele Bowalk in her fearful, beastly forvalaka form. Throughout the entire odyssey, Goblin complained ceaselessly.
Goblin's group cut their teeth picking off fugitive and deserter Shadowlanders from Mogaba's armies. Then, they began killing the officers of the larger accumulations that appeared, the most notable of which was the Nar Khucho. Whenever the Shadowlanders organized to counterattack, Goblin's glamours and illusions sent them in the wrong directions. They spread so much fear in Mogaba's ranks that the entire force of Shadowlanders cracked and scattered. Goblin faded his group into the wilds, headed south.
Next they participated in many night raids and pillaged villages which cooperated with Mogaba. All the while they were surrounded by crows, which turned out to be Soulcatcher's spies. Goblin deduced that Bowalk the forvalaka was a double agent for Mogaba, and would soon try to kill him, so he laid a trap for Bowalk. When she moved to attack him, she actually bit into a scarecrow that he had spelled so it would be impossible for her to release her jaw's grip. Mowfat then arrived and informed Goblin that Mogaba's large clean-up team was heading straight for them, less than a mile away. They ambushed the group of Shadowlanders, delivering heavy casualties.
Having proving immense success as a campaigner, Goblin eventually reunited with the Company near the shadowgate. Neither he nor One-Eye passed through the shadowgate, so they avoided Soulcatcher's trap which imprisoned the Captured.
Water Sleeps
Goblin, Sleepy, and the underground Black Company opposed Soulcatcher's new political order in Taglios (called the Protectorate) and worked continuously to free the Captured. Goblin even managed to create a trap, which permanently injured Soulcatcher's leg. It took them 15 years, but Sleepy's Company finally discovered a shadowgate key, and sent a rescue mission across the Plain of Glittering Stone. Unfortunately for them they also encountered the sleeping Kina. Goblin, wielding the Lance of Passion, attacked her by himself in order to buy time for Sleepy, Tobo, Suvrin, and Master Santaraksita to escape. He was thought killed in this incident and no effort was made to retrieve his body, as it was last seen melting like an overheated wax candle.
Soldiers Live
A few years later, Goblin was overheard by Blade weakly calling for help where he was last seen. He was retrieved and returned to the Company, but they all grew suspicious of his behavior. The true Goblin was effectively comatose, while his body was now in the service of Kina, possessed by an entity known as the Khadidas. In Goblin's body, the Khadidas strangled Narayan Singh with a rumel and replaced Narayan as the Daughter of Night's guardian.
After some time on the run, the Daughter of Night and the Khadidas were captured by Aridatha Singh during the Battle for the Grove of Doom and transported to the Palace of Taglios. Then, after the Battle of Taglios, they were cornered by Tobo within the crumbling Palace. The Khadidas launched one final magic attack, which bounced harmlessly off the master sorcerer Tobo, but a ricochet killed the Prahbrindrah Drah.
With Croaker's persistence, the consciousness of the true Goblin was finally retrieved using two powerful items left behind by the late One-Eye: the black spear and his old enchanted felt hat. Goblin would remain in control of his body only so long as the hat was glued to his head and the spear remained secured to his hands. After some time relearning speech and the use of his own body, Goblin went on a suicide mission underneath the Fortress With No Name. There, he pierced Kina's brain with One-Eye's spear; simultaneously, Croaker detonated the rheitgeistiden which Goblin was riding. Kina's death caused a massive explosion which utterly disintegrated the wizard, finally allowing him to rest in peace.