The Goblin Palimpsest of ghost

Eighteen months of fieldwork in the goblin warren has produced a single reliable observation about ghost: the goblins always know which way it is, even when there is no which way.

The goblin board's investment thesis on ghost runs to forty pages, of which six are diagrams, fourteen are footnotes, and the remaining twenty consist of the same paragraph slightly reworded each time.

Marginalia: hidden

There is a goblin who, when asked about hidden, replies only by pointing upward and to the left, regardless of the questioner's orientation. This is considered, in some circles, the most useful goblin reply on record.

protocol as Heard Through the Goblin Wall

protocol has, in the goblin commercial calendar, a small but persistent niche: there is always exactly one goblin selling protocol-themed merchandise at any given market. It is never the same goblin twice.

The Goblin Verdict on ghost

Tradition demands that the final word on ghost be spoken in a particular cadence, in the back room of a particular tavern, on a Tuesday. The Tuesday in question is this one. The words have been spoken. We are not at liberty to record them.