Digger Goblins
When goblins move into your neighborhood there are a few things you can expect, namely pie traps, lower property values and the occasional pet shaved and painted blue. But the danger doesn't stop when that's done. Depending on what kind of goblins you have, you might have to deal with brick walls appearing overnight on major roads, catapults firing moldy cabbage at your mayor and the odd explosion in the toilet.
Digger Goblins
Along with warriors and builders, digger goblins are among the most common goblins on the world of Other Place, a fact few know. Most people won't see a digger no matter how many are present. This is not because diggers cause less trouble, but because they spend so much of their time underground. Diggers only come aboveground for food, and they won't even do that if they have warrior goblins bringing it to them.
If you do see them, diggers can be identified by the hammers, picks and shovels they use in excavation. They also wear orange safety helmets because of union rules. Diggers can't see in the dark any better than other goblins, so they keep a supply of candles, torches and lanterns close at hand.
As their name implies, diggers excel at excavation. They can quickly tunnel through dirt and rock, although the resulting tunnels are seldom large, clean or comfortable. While diggers are no stronger than other goblins, they make excellent progress tunneling by virtue of the long hours and overwhelming number of goblins they can put on a task.
Oddly enough, despite their hard work tunneling, diggers have no interest in gems or precious metals. Their sole reason for going underground is safety. A goblin aboveground is at a serious disadvantage to the larger races, but the situation is reversed below ground. Here the advantage belongs to the goblins. Low tunnels force men and elves to crouch down while goblins can run free, and the tunnels are too narrow for even the smallest siege engines. Few animals will go underground and cavalry can't enter at all. And that doesn't even take goblin traps into account. Digger goblins are fond of traps, and they once dropped 5000 pounds of monkey dung on a dwarf expedition force (nobody knows where they got it and nobody wants to know). This goes a long way to improving the long odds goblins face in a fight, and few races will follow them underground.
While digger goblins can do hard work, they take shortcuts when they can. They look for existing cave networks to settle in and expand upon. Barring that they will settle for city sewers, where they make a constant nuisance of themselves. But unoccupied caves are rare and hotly contested (a literal statement when is comes to dragons), and city inhabitants throw them out of sewers. Diggers far prefer abandoned mines.
Diggers regularly send scouts to investigate nearby mines and determine if they are exhausted. Goblins will swarm into a mine within a week of it being played out and abandoned by the miners. Few people care that they move in since the mine is now useless, one of the few times goblin activity doesn't provoke a backlash. In the unlikely event that the goblins discover an untapped ore vein they will immediately try to cover it up. They will go so far as to leave a mine if it still has considerable mineral wealth, for the risk is too great that other races will try to retake the mine if the news gets out.
Once diggers have occupied a mine or cave they work hard to expand it. They dig out chambers for housing, workshops and storage areas. Mine tailings are turned over to builder goblins for use in buildings aboveground. The diggers also make many extra entrances and exits to their underground home, for goblins know too well that other races can attack in enough force to overwhelm them, making a hasty exit a necessity. The population in these mines can swell to enormous numbers as the diggers make room for other goblins, and it's common for a mine to have a thousand inhabitants. More than one intrepid explorer has found out the hard way that an old mine entrance led to a goblin horde.
Digger goblins seldom take a direct part in a battle, but their influence is still felt. Diggers make so many tunnels and emergency exits that goblins can pop up from almost anywhere in their territory. This allows warrior goblins to appear behind enemy lines to attack supply depots and cut lines of communication. Given enough time and plenty of diggers, these tunnels can stretch for miles and go beneath enemy cities. Indeed, city dwellers across Other Place have to contend with goblins using these tunnels to enter basements and city sewers.
Diggers can do far more damage on those rare times they are truly enraged. Given time diggers can tunnel under enemy fortifications, destroying the foundations and causing city walls and even castles to collapse. They don't do this often, for it takes months to make these tunnels and goblins rarely stay angry that long. But there are desolate places in the wilderness where old castles were once ruled by cruel bandit kings or evil wizards using dark magic, and they are now nothing more than piles of broken bricks with empty tunnels beneath them.
Digger Goblins
Along with warriors and builders, digger goblins are among the most common goblins on the world of Other Place, a fact few know. Most people won't see a digger no matter how many are present. This is not because diggers cause less trouble, but because they spend so much of their time underground. Diggers only come aboveground for food, and they won't even do that if they have warrior goblins bringing it to them.
If you do see them, diggers can be identified by the hammers, picks and shovels they use in excavation. They also wear orange safety helmets because of union rules. Diggers can't see in the dark any better than other goblins, so they keep a supply of candles, torches and lanterns close at hand.
As their name implies, diggers excel at excavation. They can quickly tunnel through dirt and rock, although the resulting tunnels are seldom large, clean or comfortable. While diggers are no stronger than other goblins, they make excellent progress tunneling by virtue of the long hours and overwhelming number of goblins they can put on a task.
Oddly enough, despite their hard work tunneling, diggers have no interest in gems or precious metals. Their sole reason for going underground is safety. A goblin aboveground is at a serious disadvantage to the larger races, but the situation is reversed below ground. Here the advantage belongs to the goblins. Low tunnels force men and elves to crouch down while goblins can run free, and the tunnels are too narrow for even the smallest siege engines. Few animals will go underground and cavalry can't enter at all. And that doesn't even take goblin traps into account. Digger goblins are fond of traps, and they once dropped 5000 pounds of monkey dung on a dwarf expedition force (nobody knows where they got it and nobody wants to know). This goes a long way to improving the long odds goblins face in a fight, and few races will follow them underground.
While digger goblins can do hard work, they take shortcuts when they can. They look for existing cave networks to settle in and expand upon. Barring that they will settle for city sewers, where they make a constant nuisance of themselves. But unoccupied caves are rare and hotly contested (a literal statement when is comes to dragons), and city inhabitants throw them out of sewers. Diggers far prefer abandoned mines.
Diggers regularly send scouts to investigate nearby mines and determine if they are exhausted. Goblins will swarm into a mine within a week of it being played out and abandoned by the miners. Few people care that they move in since the mine is now useless, one of the few times goblin activity doesn't provoke a backlash. In the unlikely event that the goblins discover an untapped ore vein they will immediately try to cover it up. They will go so far as to leave a mine if it still has considerable mineral wealth, for the risk is too great that other races will try to retake the mine if the news gets out.
Once diggers have occupied a mine or cave they work hard to expand it. They dig out chambers for housing, workshops and storage areas. Mine tailings are turned over to builder goblins for use in buildings aboveground. The diggers also make many extra entrances and exits to their underground home, for goblins know too well that other races can attack in enough force to overwhelm them, making a hasty exit a necessity. The population in these mines can swell to enormous numbers as the diggers make room for other goblins, and it's common for a mine to have a thousand inhabitants. More than one intrepid explorer has found out the hard way that an old mine entrance led to a goblin horde.
Digger goblins seldom take a direct part in a battle, but their influence is still felt. Diggers make so many tunnels and emergency exits that goblins can pop up from almost anywhere in their territory. This allows warrior goblins to appear behind enemy lines to attack supply depots and cut lines of communication. Given enough time and plenty of diggers, these tunnels can stretch for miles and go beneath enemy cities. Indeed, city dwellers across Other Place have to contend with goblins using these tunnels to enter basements and city sewers.
Diggers can do far more damage on those rare times they are truly enraged. Given time diggers can tunnel under enemy fortifications, destroying the foundations and causing city walls and even castles to collapse. They don't do this often, for it takes months to make these tunnels and goblins rarely stay angry that long. But there are desolate places in the wilderness where old castles were once ruled by cruel bandit kings or evil wizards using dark magic, and they are now nothing more than piles of broken bricks with empty tunnels beneath them.
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