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“Hey there sword fighter,” The familiar voice greeted me from behind.
I was surprised how fast I turned around to see her. “Syrielle!” It’d been nearly a week since we’d saved the children from the dark sorcerer and his servants. “How was your stay on the farm?” I asked as we ended our embrace to sit on the stools at the bar.
“Restful,” She nodded and waved to Trant who walked behind the door without asking her order. “I was able to teach Tessa some ‘fighting moves.’ Helped out around the barn. Continued to hone my own physical prowess. You know, normal shit. What have you been up to?”
“Well I met Vergusson…”
She could see it on the look on my face. “Oh I bet that was beautiful.”
“I loved it,” I looked over my shoulder to the half-orc who was chugging a whole mug of troll on the other side of the bar. He’d slowed his pace a bit over the past few days. Glish managed to talk him down, despite usually being his drinking buddy.
Syrielle asked, “So how’d you team up? I can’t imagine he asked you for help.”
“There was also somebody else with us.” Oddly enough, I only had to gesture to the corner to point out Nydorri. The wood elf arrived just a few minutes ago, from what I hear she doesn’t usually pop in that often. When I tried to talk to her the elf maiden politely explained she needed to talk to Trant about something without ever looking at me.
“She’s pretty,” Syrielle pointed out.
“And I do not love that,” I replied.
She giggled. Probably figuring out for herself that I was a thirsty boy feeling rejected.
“After that,” I continued to explain how my week had gone. “I went to a town nearby with this sailor, Roan… And his buddy,” I pointed out the crude bar brawler in the opposite corner gambling with a few locals. “I sang. I met a pretty woman who seemed very lovely. Then her husband punched me in the face. So I beat the shit out of him.”
“I’m mad about part of it but…” She stuck out her clenched hand for a fist bump. “Ya got the ‘W’ that’s all that matters.”
“Not where it matters, but you’re right,” I obliged her gesture.
We sat there for a little bit chatting. I explained to her that I was writing about my adventures. She just wanted to learn more about the Deep Dream. My memory isn’t always the best, but with a quick sip of Tea of the Mnemosyne Leaf, anyone who can harness the deeper flow states of their mind can live in their past quite easily. And when you do it enough, you may even learn to find the flow yourself. There might be a bit of magic to it, but many things do.
It appeared to be yet another relaxing and calm day in the town of Grumbsy. Not that the citizens themselves don’t often cause stressful situations, but I hadn’t dealt with anything in comparison to my first three days.
And of course, just as I was thinking this to myself, adventure came bursting through the door of the Titans’ Trap. A young girl, who I hadn’t seen around town yet barrelled her way into the tavern with the frantic look of someone who saw exactly what she was going to say. “The sky is falling, the sky is falling.”
There was one man who started to panic, only for his friend to yell, “Relax bud, it’s just a meteor shower. Kid’s just like to freak out.”
Roan loudly hopped to his feet. “That sounds neat.”
Vergusson followed him, “What’s the weather like outside?”
Glish jumped down to the floor next to him. “Meteors.”
The hafflin earned a hearty laugh from many.
We stepped outside. Sure enough there was a large rock flying across the sky. Though as an educated man, I noticed something very peculiar. “It’s green?”
“Were colors an elective at the academy?” Syrielle mocked.
“Meteors aren’t supposed to be green…”
Trant stepped next to me. The furthest I’ve ever seen him from the bar. “Green can only mean one thing…” We saw the flying rock glide through the sky and appear to crash into a mountain I could barely see on the horizon to the East and just a bit to the South. “That’s a magic rock.”
“Mighta just took out a few Goblins hitting that mountain there,” The owner of the Titan’s Trap turned around and walked back inside. “I’d love to examine that thing. I’ll pay a price to anyone who can grab some of it for me.”
Placing his hand on my shoulder, “Okay so that’s one.” It’s a well known fact around here that I don’t turn down for nothing. Mainly because I announce it with what has been described as an “Obnoxious frequency,” by some and “Really annoying” by the others.
Syrielle held her fingers up, “Two.”
Glish stood right next to her with his arms crossed, “Three.”
Vergusson stood right next to him holding up two fingers on each hand, “The next one.”
Our employer was hoping for a little more than the 4 of us on such an adventure. I watched him whisper in Nydorri’s ear, but I had no idea what he said at the time, she just took off into the woods.
We decided to wait until morning for him to assemble his team. Roan was confused why nobody asked him if he was going because he wanted to. He was of course invited.
At dawn we all assembled at the Titan’s Trap. Nydorri had returned, and strangely enough Zorthos was walking on the streets among the civilians. Many were frightened at the sight of him. As soon as I saw him I was sure to be as warm as I could, “Hey man. Thanks again for saving our asses the other day.”
“It’s my duty to save those in need,” Zorthos nodded just barely acknowledging my existence. “I see you do the same. That makes us allies. Please don’t make it weird.”
“What?”
“I don’t have friends…” He looked away, attempting to gaze at the sky, but there was a wall in his way so he just awkwardly stared at the wall.
After that fun moment, we joined the rest of the gang. Trant looked us up and down after speaking for a minute with the Seaman. “Okay, so, are we thinking 8 of you is enough?”
“There’s 7 of us,” I told him. He looked at me confused. I pointed to each adventurer he just recruited, “Syrielle, Vergusson, Glish, Zorthos, Nydorri, Roan and myself.”
Trant pointed to a short man in a black hood. “And Yarrick.”
“Who the fuck are you Yarrick?” My question was once again not answered.
“It’s more than enough,” Syrielle declared.
I nodded to Trant. “You have 8, mostly, elite warriors, here. I’d say you’re just fine.”
After a moment of consideration, and realizing he didn’t have anyone else on hand at the moment, he decided the 8 of us were enough. There weren’t many details Trant could have given us about our mission. We asked about the goblins and all he said was “They’re just Goblins I don’t know.” The whole area was infested with the bastards.
Nydorri summoned her Elk with more than enough to spare. After a day’s ride to the East we reached the edge of the forest. There was a small river, on the other side were mostly grassy hills. At which point our woodland steeds ended their journey, and headed back into the woods.
We took camp right there for the night. Setting up under a large tree just near a massive hill. It was wide open, but also hard for anyone to sneak up on us.
After a bit of discussion Vergusson and I were chosen to take the first watch. I’d never really had the chance to speak with him before. We chatted a bit at the Titan’s Trap but Glish would always enter the conversation and ruin it somehow. So I never really got to know him yet. I hadn’t any idea where he even came from? As far as I knew the Earth spat him out one day to drink beer and cause carnage.
Once our compatriots were asleep I decided to inquire about his life. “So when did you arrive in Grumbsy? Don’t see any other orcs around so I can’t imagine you were born there.”
“Nope,” He shook his head. “I was born that way,” He pointed in a direction then got confused and started pointing in lots of different directions.
“What was your home like?”
“Orcish.”
Normally I’d be irritated at pulling teeth, but I was entertained by his simplicity. “Why’d you leave? Do you prefer things a little less orcy?”
“Orcs were trying to kill me,” He explained. “I killed some of them back. Then they sent more and I couldn’t kill that many. So I walked until the ocean stopped me.”
My reaction of course was concern, but it faded as I noticed he himself wasn’t concerned with what he was telling me. “Who was trying to kill you?”
“My tribe,” He said it as if his feelings weren’t hurt by the betrayal. “They killed my dad. Pretty sure my Uncle did it. So he had my dad’s guy’s try to kill me. Also other people were pissed off because they think my mom’s a witch.”
Despite his ambivalence my heart was completely broken. “Oh Gods. I’m so sorry.” I didn’t know what to say, but I had to know more about his mother, “Your mother? Was she banished for being a witch?”
He shrugged. “Nope, got the usual treatment for a witch. Burned at the stake.”
I took a full moment to think about what to say, but then just said the first thought I had. “You don’t have any filter at all do you?”
“Nope,” He said as I pondered whether or not he even knew what a filter was.
“Just say whatever you want without care for the consequences?”
“Pretty much.”
I nodded to him. “Good to know.”
I think he knows what consequences are.
We didn’t talk much more after that. Though I did realize his mother was a human, making him actually a half-orc. I also asked him about the treaties Alyne told me about but all he said was, “Yeah there’s this treaty and orcs just kill goblins and monsters and stuff.” He thought harder, “Also we fight each other in circles sometimes which is fun.” Then he stopped talking about it because he just started mentioning orcs he beat up in the arena.
I told him some stories of old myths. He liked some of the fables. Thought others were dumb. Then he even told me a few of his own, but he kept forgetting all the details and accused me of being a bad listener. He wasn’t mad at me, he just didn’t want to take responsibility for the failure of his stories.
Nydorri woke up shortly after that, claiming to not need much sleep. She quickly woke up Zorthos, and the two of them took the next watch. I rested through the remaining night, and awoke early in the morning to continue on foot towards Mount LinGob, the name I choose to give to the massive chunk of earth that sprouted from the ground until instructed otherwise. It only took us a few hours until we were back. Our journey started out much the same, hardly anyone had said a word to each other.
It was an incredibly boring hike. Until Syrielle finally asked, “Don’t you know any songs?”
I am unwritten
Can’t read my mind
I’m undefined
I’m just beginning
The pen’s in my hand
Ending unplanned
Several of them didn’t want to like it at first. But both Syrielle and Nydorri showed enthusiasm. While the entirety of the chorus was long, it was also very simple and easy to remember. By the second time I got to it both of them were able to hop in the middle and sing along for a short bit. The boys were trying to hide their smiles but it was obvious at that point they were loving it too.
By the third chorus I had all of them dancing and singing.
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else
No one else
And then that’s when everybody started mumbling as I continued with the lyrics. Six of them danced with me, the only exception being Zorthos who later claimed he simply brooded the whole time. Some of us were pretty confident we heard him singing but we let him believe whatever he wanted.
Realizing dancing was a bad idea on such a long walk, I slowed it down and played some other tunes. The crowd didn’t appear to be too entertained after that but nobody complained. I think they just preferred the stimulation over the silence.
And I enjoyed the task, so truly it was no task.
It wasn’t even half a day’s walk until we were in yet another forest, growing ever closer to Mount LinGob. As night began to fall upon us, we noticed we were making incredible time. We took to camp once more with Yarrick and Syrielle taking the first watch. It felt like the moment my eyes closed, she was shaking me awake. “Get up,” her whisper was barely not a yell.
I noticed the rest of the squad was also awake and looking at her. Yarrick was nowhere to be found. “We hear voices,” She pulled her sword ever so slightly out of its hilt.
The whispers were faint but we could hear them. Glish walked away from the camp fire towards the tree, “That’s goblins.” He was very confident.
Roan put his hand on the little man’s head. “You speak goblin?”
Pointing to the half-orc, Glish replied, “He does.”
Vergusson moved closer to the shadows away from the camp.
“Yaktu Yaktu!” The words from the bushes were clear as day.
Then I saw the orc grab his ax and was pretty sure I knew what was said.
Syrielle shouted, “What’d they say?”
“Get them! Kill them!” Vergusson replied.
Which I found odd, “That doesn’t make sense. They said the same word twice.”
“It’s a complicated language.”
Too many goblins to count dashed through the bushes towards us. My compatriots stepped forward, delivering lethal blows with ease. I almost hopped into the fray, but saw a couple of arrows coming from the trees and decided they needed to be dealt with.
I quickly rolled away into the bushes. Using the shadows of night to cover my movements. As I advanced I stumbled several times, only to realize there were goblin corpses spread all over the ground. Fresh corpses that had literally just died, but they weren’t near where everyone was fighting.
Unsure what was happening, and noticing the arrows stopped coming, I re-evaluated my options. Utilizing my position to flank the enemy I headed back to the center as they were fighting my comrades. Problem was there was still a straggler out in the woods I didn’t notice right away.
My rapier was already in hand and I brought it up just in time to defend from the attack from his sword. He swung it again, and without difficulty I blocked again. Though I wasn’t able to attack myself. We exchanged back and forth for a moment before I took control and placed him on the back foot. The way it was going I was pretty sure I had him beat.
Then another goblin hopped in right behind me with a hand ax. This one caught me completely off guard digging a hand ax into my shoulder. I rolled away in time to avoid his next attack. Several tiny twigs and stones jammed into the fresh wound as I stumbled across the forest floor.
The goblin I dueled, stepped over me with his sword raised high. I didn’t have time to react. There was no reaction I could even think of. I once again knew in my heart that this moment would be the moment I end. Until an arrow pierced the goblin’s skull, and I had no idea where it even came from.
His friend with the hand ax screeched and searched around for the archer. Until his skull was also filled with an arrow. The sounds of battle had
dissipated.
I walked back to the center to find Zorthos circling the area with an ax in one hand and a sword in the other. He looked right at me and said, “Don’t talk to me I’m brooding.”
Glish was hopping up and down shadow boxing. I’m certain he did nothing productive at any point.
Syrielle and Vergusson were arguing over their accomplishments. The samurai pointed her bloody katana at the ground, “I got 9 of them.”
He held up four fingers in one hand and five fingers with the other. “I got this one.”
Glish shouted over, “That’s 9 Verg.”
“I got 9.”
Syrielle slammed her hand to her forehead, “How do you know if you can’t even count?”
The half-orc pointed at a body, “That One,” and then at another body, “That one,” and continued the pattern with for more bodies. Properly and confidently counting to 9 without ever saying a number besides “one.”
Inspecting the corpses that he pointed at the samurai finally agreed, “Yeah, you got 9.”
Roan, who was now holding a couple of hand axes instead of the sword he had a few minutes ago, stood proudly next to Nydorri. “I didn’t even count, I sliced so many of those roach cocks.”
“You got 5,” She recalled without looking at him.
“I see you were paying attention.”
She ignored the quip, but I thought I saw a flicker in her eye that showed me she didn’t like the comment, or maybe she did? For the most part though, her attention was on something else entirely. Glancing to her left she announced, “We are still not alone.”
The sailor started walking in the indicated direction. “Ready to keep watching.”
“I never said we were still in danger,” She walked past him putting her hand on his shoulder. He stopped walking and let her go. The elf stepped up to the edge of the clearing. “If I’m wrong and you’re naughty we’ll fuck you up.” She pointed at Verg and Syrielle behind her, “I’d suggest you show your face.”
Roan stood behind her left shoulder. “Unless it’s an ugly face.”
Nydorri elbowed him in the gut.
We waited patiently. The bushes rustled. And out walked an orc much shorter than Vergusson. But dressed much better. He had a couple of shortswords on his back. His hands were up in surrender.
Glish stepped to Nydorri’s right, parking his elbow on her knee, which didn’t bother her in the least. “Looks like a Goblin to me. Want me to smash him?”
“Those aren’t goblins sweetheart,” Roan told Glish while patting Vergusson on the shoulder.
Nydorri didn’t seem disturbed by anyone, “So… Is it just you lurking in the woods?”
Before he could respond, the bushes spoke. “No he’s not.”
Two more hands went up. Another grimy face of an orc stepped into full view. There was a dagger pointed at his throat. “Hey Yarrick. Let him go.” Glish exclaimed as if he had authority. “We decided not to fight these guys.”
Roan wagged his finger. “That’s not what I said.”
“What?” The hafflin scratched the top of his head.
Syrielle stepped next to our tiny friend. “He said they’re not goblins?”
Glish didn’t really understand but also didn’t really care. He just held his hammer proudly and said, “Alright then just tell me when to smash em.”
Vergusson shouted, “Get em Glish.” Which hyped the little one up but nothing happened.
Nydorri stepped away from the group and towards the pair of orcs. “Why were you watching us in the woods?”
“We killed a couple of them at first,” The first one spoke. “We were scavenging for resources when they attacked us. We slaughtered most of them, but then more came. So we ran. Until we found you. Usually it doesn’t go this bad.”
“Usually?” Roan asked.
“We’ve been raiding these lands for years,” He explained proudly.
Glish stupidly asked, “I thought Orcs don’t raid anymore?”
“The treaties were signed so orcs could focus their efforts on Goblins and other demons. Without us scavenging these forests, and killing anything coming for us as we do, these Goblins would be spilling out into the whole continent.”
Vergusson was scratching his chin. “I don’t trust him.”
I figured our half-orc would know the most. “Is anything he is saying untrue?”
“No it all adds up, he just talks funny,” The half-orc explained.
“He’s just articulate, buddy,” Glish told him and the barbarian accepted the answer.
Syrielle stepped next to Nydorri and met the orc face to face. “We’re on our way to the Mountain. Safe to assume the best route is straight ahead?”
The orc shrugged, “You and your friends have a death wish?”
“We’re not friends,” Zorthos declared.
Nydorri added, “This is a business relationship.”
“My apologies,” The orc in fact did seem sorry. “Anyways. If you head straight on you’ll run into some hills that are a bit of a hassle before you’ll happen upon a lake and take your chances there goblins with a boat on the shore. If you want to skip all that, I’d suggest picking a route, and circling around the hills altogether.”
“Boat?” Roan walked straight for the hills. “Let’s get gambling.”
Nydorri made clear eye contact with the orc who spoke with us. “Thank you very much. We’ll be on our way now. If you are lying or try to follow us, my short ally here will slice your throats”
Yarrick’s dagger was suddenly at the throat of the orc who did all the talking. Then the little man stepped backwards into the bushes and I had no idea where he went. I bid the orcs a polite goodbye. Vergusson grumbled a couple things in a language I couldn’t understand. They replied in kind. Glish seemed offended but I couldn’t tell if he was faking it because I don’t think he understood.
The pain in my shoulder grew much worse. As I approached Nydorri for some of her healing ointments, Roan stepped in, “Let me look at that.” He slipped his glove off his left hand, revealing a simple tattoo on his palm. The sign of the cross comes from far to the East; a symbol that some believe honors the one true God.
He placed his hand on my wound. A golden light shined as warmth spread through me. I could feel my wound getting drastically better. By the time it was over, he removed his hand. And I couldn’t feel any injury at all.
“Told ya I got some magic…” He sauntered off skipping and whistling as he went.
He also never said that to me before.
The hills the orc mentioned weren’t far away. Nor were they particularly large. It’s just that there were a lot of them in a row. It wasn’t really hills, just incredibly uneven ground. Though the rough walk didn’t last long, and then we were at the lake.
Lucky us, a boat was pulled up on land. A small group of goblins were scattered around. Three of them were spear fishing in the lake, while the rest cooked fish around a bonfire. We allowed the samurai and the barbarian to take care of it without assistance from anyone else.
It was only a small pack of 15. And much to Syrielle’s dismay Vergusson got 8.
We loaded up rather quickly on the largest rowboat we could find. Roan was quick to take charge and knew exactly what he was doing. Crossing the lake was a rather quick task for us as the wind was at our back. Our captain asked me to take over manning the boat so that he could teach the others how to row for the journey home. I took the request as a compliment until he took it back and said, “Thanks, we really need to make sure we’re moving quickly if we need to right away. And any tool can hold the thing straight. The rowing is for the men.”
Syrielle shook her head at me as if I was an idiot for not understanding that. There was a twinkle in her eye that let me know she was also offended by his sexism. I was about to complain about the strength differential between myself and Glish until I remembered he’s far too short to reach the steering handles.
Roan took back the hold immediately after over explaining the task to everyone. I saw the same attitude on the boat that took us to Kayos from Eurome. If there’s one thing in life this man took seriously it was sailing.
Our journey across the lake didn’t take us long. Though we did have to tell Vergusson several times to stop rowing, because he kept turning us. By the time we saw land, Roan asked, “What if we don’t see a clean beach?”
Nydorri stood up. “Want me to scout ahead?”
“Can you do something cool?” Syrielle asked.
And just like that Nydorri was gone. The boys were pointing in awe behind me, where I found a hawk soaring through the sky. Glish was the most impressed, “I didn’t know she could be a bird?”
It took her only a few moments to circle back and land right next to me. Instantly transforming back into an elf. “Coast is clear.”
There was no dock nearby, not even a little crummy one like where we found this boat. Roan parked our vessel a fair distance away from the shoreline. We hopped out into shallow water and trudged through.
The mountain was just ahead of us. Once all were on the beach, Nydorri scouted ahead as a hawk once more. This time when she returned she explained that there were hundreds of goblins gathered at a camp near the base of the mountain. They had centered themselves around a large chunk of the green rock. She didn’t believe it was big enough to be the full meteor but it was still a substantial portion that must have fallen off. The goblins appeared to be chipping away at it and dragging the pieces to a tunnel nearby leading into the mountain.
We moved as a group through the woods until Yarrick appeared in front of us, apparently having not been trekking through the trees alongside us. “I scouted ahead too. Follow me.” He nodded to Roan, then tilted his head to Vergusson.
“Hey idiot,” Roan patted the half-orc on the back. “You know how to be sneaky?”
“You should feel dumb for asking.”
Syrielle patted the large brute on the back with a smile, “I don’t like the sneaky stuff either. How about you and me hang back a big guy? When we hear a little carnage, we’ll bring a lot.”
Vergusson nodded with ambivalance.
I quickly followed the others. Our footsteps grew more quiet as voices through the woods grew ever louder. The strange thing though, was I began to notice they weren’t speaking in the goblinic tongue I’d heard before. And I wasn’t the only one to notice; Glish asked, “These Gobs know Standard?”
“All goblins speak standard,” Roan explained. “Their own language is only for war.”
The sailor and his hooded friend led us to some bushes that gave us a clear view of what we were about to encounter. As Nydorri had described, hundreds of goblins were gathered about. Torches were lit all around the camp giving a clear view of all types of the gremlins doing their thing.
Most were brown and gray skinned, though there were a few that were orange, dark purple, and tan. The three largest of them were furry unlike the rest. Bugbears as my friends called them. They clearly commanded some level of authority and respect the way they simply shoved the others around without resistance.
In the middle of the whole camp, lying on the ground next to a steep mountain wall, was a massive piece of the growing green rock. Nearly the size of a small house. About a dozen goblins were gathered around, digging their tools as deep into the rock as they could.
After some effort, they manage to pull a large chunk off. Cheers erupted, which soon took over the whole camp. One of the large bugbears walked over and hoisted the piece onto his shoulder. They all raised their arms in celebration as he walked past them towards the nearby tunnel leading into the mountain.
There were about a dozen four legged creatures, with scrunchy faces similar to that of a goblin, walking around like pets alongside them. Some had been pulling, wheeled crates of lumber into the same hole.
Roan, for the first time since I’ve known him, spoke quietly, “Even if we kill everything we see, 10 times as many of them will come pouring out of that hole within minutes.”
Nydorri appeared to already be thinking the same thing. “Give me some time. Zorthos and I can make that exit a lot more difficult to use.”
The sailor approved without asking for any details. “Wait for our move.”
Having missed her change several times, this time I watched as Nydorri’s body slowly shrank into the form of a small creature. Though she didn’t become a bird, instead it was a simple squirrel that scurried into the bushes.
We looked at Zorthos. “I’m just gonna stay here guys.”
Glish spoke at a slightly higher decibel than everybody else, “Alright so you want me to just start smashing now or should I wait a bit?”
“I still haven’t figured out your value yet,” Roan explained as if that wasn’t a rude thing to say to someone. “And we still have to do something about the numbers.”
My creativity ran wild, but I just couldn’t quite grasp anything useful. Still sometimes it’s better to speak an idea into life. “If we could dress me up as a goblin I’m sure I could walk in there and stir up some drama. Get them to fight each other and we’ll have an easier time.”
“I’ll handle that,” Yarrick said. Though I didn’t see where he was.
“Okay?” Roan looked around. “So, I’ve got a little havoc on my own. Wait for Yarrick to make his move, then I’ll make mine.” The seaman drifted into the shadows at least showing the decency to let us see him go.
I asked Glish, “Do you have anywhere to go?”
“Nah…” He licked his lips. “I’m just ready.”
Several minutes passed by without much of anything happening. The only one of my allies I saw besides the hellkin and the hafflin next to me was a squirrel running about near the hole of the tunnel.
I thought I might have to wait for hours, until I heard a goblin scream out of nowhere. “What the fuck was that?” Another of them screeched, pulling my attention to a gray standing over another gray who had an arrow sticking out of his skull. “Who shot that?”
“That’s a Gootlog arrow!” a different gray squealed.
Suddenly there was lots of shouting. Then there were several more arrows fired and I didn’t know where from. The next thing any of us knew, the whole camp had erupted into pandemonium.
Nydorri, was in her human form near the hole completely unbothered. Holding her hands in the air, I saw trees and bushes sprout out of the ground filling the hole. Zorthos summoned a flaming spear, then swiftly launched it at the plants the elf just raised.
The tree slowly lit into flames.
I saw Roan hop out of nowhere and kill an unsuspecting brown goblin. His attack alerted a large group that chased him into the woods.
One of the bugbears led a larger group towards me, Zorthos and Glish. We scattered in different directions. Dashing back into the forest I sprinted through the woods, without any idea what my next move was. I could hear a few of the goblins screaming in their own tongue through the branches and leaves. My pursuers were rather quick, one in particular was much faster than the others. “I’m gonna get ya. I’m gonna get ya.” His scraggly voice echoed off the bark and branches around me.
I tried to look forward, but I could hear him closing in fast. When I stopped to take a stand I realized he was much closer than I thought. My hand reached for my rapier as fast as I could, but I wasn’t sure if I was quick enough. Not that it mattered. His head was off before he could reach me and Syrielle was sliding along the dirt on the other side of him.
“Okay, the ninja stuff is growing on me,” She announced before dispatching the other two nearly as quickly as she did the one. “Come on, Verg didn’t waste time saving you, I can’t let him get ahead.”
We both sprinted back into the throng. Through the trees I could see flames burning one of the bugbears and several other goblins. Zorthos was unleashing hellfires from his mouth like a dragon.
As we got back to the clearing, the vast majority of the goblins were dead. Vergusson was tearing a group of them rather easily. Glish was there cheering him on. He was sort of hitting them in the knees with his hammer, but Verg would just kill his targets right after.
My samurai friend launched into a whirlwind of death slicing through pretty much any goblin that was still up. I ran back to where Zorthos was in case he needed any help. He was fine. The devilman walked away from his own battle without any notable injuries, telling me not to interrupt his brooding.
So I turned my attention to where I saw Roan run off to, only to find him walking towards a raging Vergusson. The axes he held before were gone, the spear from a large furry goblin I’m assuming he just killed was now in his hands.
“Alright I’m having as much fun as you but let’s not waste time,” Roan pointed at the tunnel hole that was completely engulfed in flames. “That’ll burn up soon. And I can already hear we got company from that direction,” He pointed North. “Vergusson grab the rock. I’ll meet you at the boat.”
Zorthos pointed south, “I hear them coming from there too.”
And then I also heard faint shouts in the shadows and the leaves.
“YAKTU! YAKTU!”
Vergusson sprinted past us holding the piece of green rock he was instructed to carry. We ran right after him. Glish shouted to his buddy, “Did they say get them to kill them?”
“Of course!” Vergusson shouted back, “Didn’t we go over that?”
In the tiny one’s defense, I yelled, “Tis a complicated language.”
Running alongside me Syrielle shouted, “Nydorri, what are you. doing?”
“I’ll buy you some time,” The elf replied. “Just get to the boat, I’ll meet you there.”
My legs ran as fast as they ever had before. Which was a terrible idea because it was a long run and I was winded pretty quickly. But, with death at my heels I was not going to slow, and neither were my allies. To my surprise, the hafflin wasn’t any slower than the rest of us when his quick feet were able to get moving.
The sounds of screaming goblins felt as if they were inching nearer and nearer. Though they could never get near enough. Vergusson leapt straight from the beach to about halfway to the boat. From there he just walked like the rest of us. Roan was preparing the vessel for launch before most of us even got on.
A hawk flew onto the deck and Nydorri stood up. Roan looked at her impressed, “Where’ve you been?”
“Buying us time,” She explained. “Where’s Yarrick?”
“He’s doing the same,” Roan pointed at the oars. “Everybody grab one, we gotta move.”
Syrielle was the most worried about our mysterious ally, “We can’t leave without him.”
Roan laughed, “He’s fine. We’ll see him back home now grab the fucking oar you twat.”
“I’m gonna kick you in the dick later.”
Everybody reached for an oar including myself, but the sailor shouted, “Elrin, take over.” Without hesitation I gripped the steer, as he pointlessly instructed, “Just hold it straight.”
I did as I was told and was still able to look back to see the army of maybe a thousand goblins that had finally reached the beach. Including several more Bugbears. Roan launched the spear he took earlier at the beach. Piercing straight through the chest of the nearest target.
“Gotcha bitch.”
Hundreds more came scattering out of the woods screaming and shouting. Many threw spears of their own but nothing reached us.
And just like that, we were free of the massive army. They’d have to march all the way around the lake to get to us, and we’d get there in half the time. As Roan took the mast again, I walked to the back of the boat and stared out at the magnificent horde we’d just outplayed.
There could have been a million of them, yet they never would have been the Grumbsy 8.