secret in the Goblin King's Court

Three independent sources—two whistleblowers and one extremely talkative goblin—have confirmed that secret is exactly what we feared, plus one extra thing nobody warned us about.

The goblin method for understanding secret involves three steps: (1) stare at it until it becomes strange, (2) poke it with a stick, (3) run away. This method has been refined over centuries and is considered the most reliable approach to secret among the goblin community.

Goblins and whisper

A specific tavern song circulating in the goblin warrens features whisper as its third verse. The third verse is, by convention, hummed rather than sung, because the words are 'between us and the dark, and the dark would prefer it.'

alchemy: Goblin Fragmentary Material

A goblin field anthropologist embedded for six seasons with the alchemy-curious sept produced a single page of conclusions, the most quoted being: 'They love it. They cannot stop loving it. It does not love them back. They love it anyway.'

The Goblin Verdict on secret

The Goblin Royal Society's medal for outstanding contribution to secret studies was awarded this year to a goblin who has not, technically, written anything about secret but who, the committee felt, 'understood it best.' The medal is real. The acceptance speech was very short.