<div class="floatright">(http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/ag94/Autocad-E/a7d63ed2a1fcd7f1e69260b03565f817_zpsmqezbehx.jpg)</div>It was a cool and misty morning; fog hung low upon the outskirts of the town of Sandpoint, its buildings disappearing from sight up the slopes of silent hills, as if some higher entity had stretched an<em>obscuring mist</em>over the entirety of the land. A lone rooster crowed the unseen haze-hidden sunrise, rousing residents, and slowly, gradually, the bustle of yet another day began picking up. Droplets of dew dripped from every protruding object, including the lovely twin peaks, cold-hardened like snowcapped mountains, of resident ranger, goblin-huntress, and busty-bosomed big-breasted beauty Shalelu the elf, who stood arms akimbo with a severe expression on her face, tut-tutting as she waited for her two charges to show up at the meeting point.<br/><br/>It was an unfortunate consequence of the location of the coastal town of Sandpoint, famed for the fine glass blown from the sands gathered from its beaches, that it was founded too close to too many nearby goblin tribes for comfort. The infamous Swallowtail Festival of '07, just a few years ago, was still fresh on everyone's mind. Goblins had invaded the town during the sacred festivities, for no discernible reasons other than to raise havoc and make a mess of things; a few adventurers passing through had set them to rights before too many people got hurt. But the potential of a true invasion - goblins overrunning the town, killing the menfolk, having their way with the women, and eating the children and babies - had hung heavy on the townsfolk's minds ever since.<br/><br/>So a new tradition was born: the yearly cull, when the hardiest, bravest folks of Sandpoint would head out and kill as many goblins as they could, in order to keep their numbers down and preventing them from ever reaching critical mass where they could pose an existential threat to the town. A perpetual bounty was placed on goblin ears, the one returning with the most being the unofficial champion of the cull, a position held more often than not by Shalelu. This year, she had agreed to mentor a pair of would-be goblin huntresses, who were about to participate in their first cull...