Goblin Wings

The Scrap Tribes often have little gems of creation sprinkled down onto them from those that live above. Even the goblins are smart enough to not live directly below any disposal pipes. In the case of those that live below the bustling new city of Ang'Verd. The city is in a continual state of flux after its recent developments and scrap has been falling into goblin territories with astounding frequency.   The tribe here live in rings of small shacks scattered that spiral around a large central sinkhole. The majority of scrap is lost to the hole but some pieces are saved from the pitch black endlessness with the cunning use of salvage nets.    

The Problem

  Goblins are well aware that if they have access to more materials, they might just be able to tack together enough components to make some useful kit. The nets have been reinforced but heavy or sharp objects still just blast straight through. If a goblin presence was able to be maintained at the bottom of the pit, they could set up some form of pulley system and get to the good stuff.   Many climbing attempts have unfortunately ended in tragedy. The underside of the hole curves outward into an underhang that is almost impossible to traverse and has claimed far too many cocky goblins.    

The Proposed Solution

  In the dark corner of a ramshackle, undersupplied workshop, an older goblin by the name of Franzsh was furiously working on the solution to this particular issue. He had negotiated a good trade price for some of the scrap and had ‘found’ some cloth inside the bedroom of one of his neighbours' homes. With some crude forge welding techniques, he was able to attach enough pieces of metal together to resemble a pair of wings. A couple of leather straps made it possible for the wings to be wearable as a backpack and even to be flapped. It truly was a marvel of expert goblin engineering.   Franzsh was quick to brag about his creation. Touting it as being the catalyst to a new age of technological advancement that would greatly assist in the search for Grand Shiga.    

Testing Day

  A huge crowd gathered at the edge of the pit to see the new contraption that had been made that would solve all of their problems. Although heckling was still being thrown his way, Franzsh flexed the wings wide and quelled their scepticism with the clever use of profanity and offensive gesturing.   He looked downwards at the vast endless abyss below him before lifting his head and closing his eyes. A wide grin appeared on his face before he took a step forward. Unfortunately for Franzsh though, the ground slipped away beneath him and within the first split-second of his maiden flight, one of his wings clipped the edge and fractured one of the metal frames. The other intact wing caught the air well enough to cause him to spin into the darkness while loudly screaming profanities.   It is unclear whether Franzsh was successful or not as no landing sound good or bad was heard. However, this proved to be beneficial as the lack of a squishy thud noise made many goblins believe that the flight was a success and quickly ran off to emulate the technology.      

This is a submission for my second Summer Camp - I hope you enjoy the world I am building!