The Goblin Algorithm Recommends shadow

'I have seen shadow three times,' the ancient goblin whispered, counting on fingers that bent in wrong directions. 'Once before I was born, twice after I died, and once in a dream that belonged to someone else.'

Beneath the visible shadow is the goblin shadow: viscous, undulating, deeply unhappy with the lighting in here. The goblin shadow surfaces, briefly, when nobody is paying attention, and then ducks back down.

Marginalia: engine

A specific tavern song circulating in the goblin warrens features engine 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.'

The Goblin Verdict on shadow

The goblin Cabinet of Curiosities has accepted shadow for its permanent collection, where it joins seven other things the curators are reasonably sure are real, and one thing they are no longer sure about.