The Journeymen

Troll or Ogre? Is There a Difference?

"I'm telling you, man. It's an ogre. It has to be an ogre. Look at the ears. Definite ogre ears," whispered Chuck.

Jack smirked, peering through the brush that he and the rest of his ten man squad currently hid within. The two men led the squad who were tracking the party of goblins and potential ogre.

The group of goblins numbered around twenty five along with the large mottled gray and brown creature. The creature stood at approximately twelve feet tall and was nearly as wide. Jack had only ever seen others of the creature's kind in the dense pine forests of the south east but here this one was, trudging along in its loin cloth carrying a club that looked more like a tree trunk over it's right shoulder. Even in the hazy twilight, Jack could make out its broad, flat faced features. Its open mouth revealed disgustingly unclean omnivorous teeth.

"I don't know, buddy. None of these things have official names of course, but I'd call that a troll," Jack whispered to his partner. "Those are definitely goblins and they have wandered out a lot further from the city than I've ever seen."

The goblins, which were intelligent enough to name themselves, were easily recognizable. Their thick, squatty bodies, greenish skin, and hideous faces had been widely seen, mostly in and around the formerly human-occupied cities since the magic came back.

The goblins were armed with crude weapons like roughly constructed axes, maces, and the occasional crooked sword, ancient in comparison to Jack and Chuck's squad which were armed with modern AR-15 style rifles. Jack and Chuck had their issued M4 carbines, with fully automatic capabilities, from their time as SWAT officers for what had been their local sheriff's department before the Separation. The M4s had been "acquired" by the pair when the sheriff's department dissolved. The rest of the squad had different configurations of semi automatic AR-15s with one requirement, they must all use the same magazines and ammunition.

Chuck rolled his eyes. "Ogre," he stated, still in a whisper, before continuing, "Whatever you call it, that thing should not be with those goblins. Goblins don't play nice and neither do ogre-trolls. But here they are. Together. In what looks to be a raiding party."

Chuck shifted uncomfortably in his low crouch position. His time as an Army Ranger had wrought havoc upon his joints. Jack occasionally regretted never spending time in the military prior to entering his career as a sheriff's deputy but Chuck's "service related injuries" helped ease Jack's regrets. Chuck never complained but Jack could always sense his partner's discomfort.

"We have to do something about them, they could attack the farms in the area or even go after our village," rasped Meyer, the leader of the village watch who made up the remainder of the squad.

The rest of the squad was made up of mostly hunters with one or two who had prior military experience in non-combat roles. Meyer had been made leader due to his time as an infantry private in the pre-Separation army. Meyer had never been on a combat deployment but had received more combat training than anyone else in his small village. He was fairly capable in his role as watch captain but was obviously far out of his league in any duty other than arranging and leading a watch for the town. This patrol was testing his and his team's skills. Their reaction to the raiding party and as an extension, their abilities to follow the advice of the two Journeymen, would prove their capabilities.

"Don't worry Meyer, we'll take care of them. But settle down, we're not doing anything yet," whispered Jack, fanning an open hand downward motioning for Meyer and his fighters to stay hidden.

The goblin raiding party and their ogre-troll companion were moving west along an old road. The road was one from before the Separation that happened five years prior and it had likely not seen much maintenance before that. It was pockmarked with potholes and cracks and would have been impassible in a car, not that there was any gasoline available to fuel any cars. The goblins moved in a mostly disorganized mass as goblins always did with the ogre-troll trudging along in the middle of the mass.