“Don’t worry, Romil and I will work it out, she’s quite intelligent, for a female goblin.”
“‘For a goblin female?” I raised an eyebrow.
He shrugged apologetically, “Nothing personal. I’d never heard of a goblin researcher before. Most races don’t think very highly of goblins in general and goblin females in particular. Your clan is an exceptional case. I for one, am glad for the opportunity to be a part of it.”
Gandork approached, cleaning his hands on a dirty yellow rag. “All done. The cauldron is still boiling but the fish soup is ready. Should I deliver it all to the Breeder’s Den?”
“Yes.”
Gandork nodded and proceeded to bully some of the workers into helping him. They formed up to deliver the food and were soon hauling trays through the dining hall and out the doorway.
I opened the Breeder’s Den interface and selected five warriors, the maximum I could get with our available food. Malkyr had forged two shields for Vrick, so with Bosper's four bows we could equip all of them. I designated four as archers and one as a Shieldbearer.
After thinking about it, I queued another Shieldbearer and four more archers. They would be summoned as soon as sufficient food became available in the next few days.
Guba approached me as I was leaving the Mess Hall. “Heard Tika-girl got herself into trouble,” she grunted, “you goin’ after her?”
“I am.”
“Hmph,” she grunted. “Take these then, should come in handy.”
She handed me five small spheres. They were dark-green, with rough texture and surprisingly heavy.
Goblin BoomBoom
Description: a small powerful explosive made by goblins. Detonates on impact after a pin is pulled.
Runecraft viability: can hold two runes.
Type: One-time use [Grenade]
Rank: basic
Durability: 2/2
Effect: causes 20-40 damage at a 6-meter radius. Damage increases closer to the center of the blast radius.
It appeared that when she claimed she couldn't produce anything without a proper lab, Guba was not being completely honest with me. But for the moment, I didn’t really care.
“Thank you,” I said simply.
“Just bring her back,” She said husky-voiced, concern in her voice. Then she got a grip on herself, reverting to her usual scowling, curmudgeonly personality, “I hate breaking in new hunters.”
According to the description, Goblin BoomBooms could be Runecrafted. I remembered Yeshlimashu using runes to make grenades more effective, I wondered if I could duplicate the process.
I stored away four of the little bombs, and carefully holding onto the one left, I opened the design mode. The grenade casing was a single dark green figure in the interface, no dots inside to connect this time. And it could bind a maximum of two runes. I added the new Esh rune of fire I learned from the gremlin, it clicked into place without a hitch, covering half of the grenade's surface. The listed effects now appeared, notifying me I’d changed the explosive damage to fire damage.
Grenades are all about damage output. And I wanted as much output as I could get in these little boom-beauties. I couldn't increase the chemical based damage of the BoomBoom. But what if I use Ko to modify Esh, enhancing the rune, and indirectly the grenade? It might increase the fire damage output. I reasoned. I held my breath as I moved Ko towards the grenade and placed it. It clicked in immediately. I read the panel with the new effect description. Success! Fire damage increased. I finished the process by imbuing the runes with 200 mana points.
Weapon schema discovered: EshKo [Enhanced Fire Damage]
Enchant Goblin BoomBoom [EshKo]? Yes/No
Pattern efficiency: 100%
Mana invested: 200/200.
Effect: +1.25% durability (+1 point)
Yes.
Runecraft skill level increased to 13
I looked at the runecrafted device I now held.
Runecrafted Goblin BoomBoom
Description: small powerful explosive made by goblins. Detonates on impact after a pin is pulled. This item has been Runecrafted.
Type: One-time use [Grenade]
Rank: advanced
Durability: 2/2
Effect: cause 23-46 fire damage at 6-meter radius. Damage increases closer to the center of the blast radius. Fire causes additional damage over time
The increase in damage and damage over time was impressive, even at my low skill level. It didn’t take me long to apply the same schema to the rest of the grenades. When I was done, I took a moment to appreciate the engraved explosives. The runes added an archaic-lore, steampunk look to the grenade. I grinned darkly. I can use these to throw a nice little hobgoblin barbecue.
Malkyr was waiting for me outside the Mess Hall. He looked to be in better shape after resting a little. I was tired myself, but my anger and adrenaline kept me going. There’s no way I could have slept anyway.
“Did you hear from your sister?”
“Yeah, she messaged me a moment ago. She’s still tracking them. We are in a party, so I can see her location on the world map. Here, I’ll invite you.”
A system message popped up.
Malkyr invite you to a party. Accept? Yes/No
I accepted. Two small icons with the twins’ names, health, and mana pool appeared to the side of my view I opened my game map, and spotted a small red dot, indicating Hoshisu’s location about 10 kilometers away.
Malkyr frowned. “That’s weird, I don’t see your name, just an icon with a goblin face on it.”
“It's one of my abilities,” I replied shortly. “Let’s go.”
We made our way toward the valley exit and started following the small red dot.
****
We ran to the spot where we parted from Hoshisu. From this point on, we had to veer off the trail and walk among the dense trees, considerably slowing our pace.
Since we were in a party together, our maps showed the areas that Hoshisu had traveled through, changing the terrain from “unknown” to “scouted”, probably due to a skill or trait of her character.
Hoshisu had turned toward to the west a while ago, and we could see she was not moving now, her red dot motionless at the edge of the forest.
“She just messaged me,” Malkyr noted, his eyes scanning left and right as he read the message.
“She says they moved out of the forest and into hilly territory. There’s a deep ravine about a kilometer from the forest’s edge. The hobgoblins have built a camp on the cliff’s edge. They have a wooden palisade around their camp, and the cliff serves as a natural barrier. There are watchtowers too. She’s staying in the forest to avoid detection. She’s waiting for us there. Let’s go.”
“Right.” I nodded in agreement.
We continued running at a steady pace. I could have gone faster, with Mana Infusion keeping me energized.
Malkyr wasn’t so fortunate. “Man, I have… twelve points in my… Powerful skill… and I can barely… keep this up. And you don’t look… tired at all.” He blurted out, gasping for breath every few words. “How do… you do it?”
“With magic, motherfucker.” I replied, quoting my favorite movie. I chuckled and flashed him a quick grin. Then the gravity of the situation hit me again and I sobered up. They might be torturing her as we speak.
One small boon from all this hectic running was a system message alerting me that my Mana Infusion skill had reached level 16.
Luck was on our side and we didn’t encounter any hobgoblins or roaming monsters along the way. Overall, it took us six hours to run from Goblin’s Gorge to Hoshisu’s location. We arrived at the location that marked her on the game’s map, but there was no Hoshisu in sight.
As we looked around puzzled, the tree in front of us moved!
We had found Hoshisu. She had hidden herself using a tree for camouflage. I could see her, now, standing against the tree trunk, high on the toes of one leg, the other leg and her arms and torso raised seeming to disap
pear into the rest of the tree. We stared, dumbfounded, as she extricated herself, untwisting her limbs from the tree in slow, snake-like movements. It was actually very creepy. And very cool.
We spotted her only because she moved.
As she shifted her position, wisps of long white hair fell from her shoulder and over her neckline. I stared at her admiringly, both for the amazing display of dexterity and for the generous amount of cleavage that was visible from this angle.
Hoshisu eyes caught me staring, and chuckled softly. “Sorry cutie, I’m not really into goblins.”
I felt my flirting instincts kicks in and responded without thinking, “You sure? You’ll never know unless you try it.” I winked at her. “You know what they say; once you go goblin you never stop.”
“Please,” she snorted, rolling her eyes, “you might be a black goblin, but I bet that’s where the similarities end. Besides, aren’t we here to save your girlfriend?”
She was right. For a moment it felt so good to be flirting normally with a human girl, without the need for restraint, that I had lost track of what we were here for. Visions of Tika being imprisoned and tortured flashed through my mind, wiping away any joy I had momentarily felt and filled my heart with worry.
Malkyr rolled his eyes at our exchange but didn’t interfere.
Despite her playful banter, Hoshisu looked exhausted. Unlike her brother and me, she hadn’t had any downtime and was still looking haggard from the long day and their earlier battle.
Noticing my somber expression, she pointed toward the hills beyond the forest edge. I followed her hand and saw the camp. “That is where they took her,” she said quietly.
I saw the cliff and the two-meter high wooden wall, just as Hoshisu had described in her message. Four wooden towers were visible behind the wall, with hobgoblin sentries stationed on them, no doubt.
The open space between the forest and the camp meant we’d be quickly spotted if we tried to approach in broad daylight. Luckily, the sun was already setting. It would be dark soon enough.
Hoshisu looked at me questioningly. “So what is the plan?”
“We wait for nightfall and then charge at the place. Malkyr can lift us both over that pitiful wall and jump after us. Then it’s open hobgoblin hunting season.” I said darkly.
Malkyr grinned boyishly, “I like this plan!”
Hoshisu shook her head. “And what do you plan to do about the Ogre pack that’s stationed outside the walls?”
“The what?!”
“Can’t you see them? They’re lying down, asleep, outside the walls. I think Ogres are nocturnal creatures in this game, there’s about a dozen of them placed all along the perimeter.”
I squinted my eyes, trying to see the Ogres. After a few moments, I spotted them. At this distance they looked like simple lumps of stone, blending in with the ground features. They were situated along the walls at even intervals, like guard dogs.
I scowled in annoyance. “I see them,”
“Damn sis! Good eyesight!” Malkyr patted her shoulder with his large hand.
She grimaced at the impact. “It took me a while to notice the Ogres myself.” She admitted.
“I’ve been staring at the camp for the last few hours, but it paid off because I got the skill, Improved Eyesight.”
I frowned. “That complicates things. We might be able to take down four or five of them, but not a dozen.”
She rubbed her chin. “The noise would definitely alert the hobgoblins’ sentries. Then they could just pepper us with arrows from the safety of their walls.”
"Here's the new plan. Help me get over the wall, then lure the Ogres away. Try to keep them occupied for as long as you can. Once I’m inside the compound I can handle the hobgoblins.” I returned their skeptical looks with a hard stare, daring them to refute my assertion. “Okay pal, it’s your skin. Heh, playing Ogre bait, you aren’t asking us for much are you?” Malkyr joked.
“We should still wait for dark,” Hoshisu interjected, “Otherwise they’ll spot us from afar. We won’t be able to get you close enough to scale the wall.”
I didn’t like having to wait longer, but she had a point. “Alright.”
“So just to sum it up,” Malkyr said grandiosely. “Wait for dark. Approach unseen. Breach through the Ogre line to get you to, and over, the wall. Then we run like hell hoping the Ogres follow, leaving you to deal with an unknown number of hobgoblin warriors.”
“That sounds about right.” I coolly retrieved some mana and health potions from my inventory and started placing them on my belt for easy access, trying to keep my hands from shaking as I mentally prepared myself for the coming fight.
Malkyr was staring at me dumbfounded. “Sounds about right? It sounds all wrong! You’re crazy man. Even if you are at level 50, there’s no way you’ll survive in there on you own.” Now that he had seen my health and mana pool, he was making an educated guess at my level.
“I have a few tricks up my sleeve,” I assured him vaguely.
Hoshisu gave me a searching look, “That sums you up pretty well. You sure are full of tricks.”
Ignoring her comment, I stared at the mountainous Ogres determinedly. They will not stop me! I glanced at the descending sun. Just a little longer, hold on Tika!
I trotted nervously, throwing glances toward the slowly descending sun every few minutes, willing it to go away. It was less than an hour later that the sun has finally disappeared, though it felt like much longer. I gave two of Guba’s enhanced goblin BoomBooms to the twins, keeping three for myself.
We left the forest’s cover, stealthily making our way across the open ground.
As we walked, I was carefully pulling the darkness in around us, increasing it gradually, so that the twins wouldn’t notice. The darkness slowly grew dense enough to hide our presence as we walked.
Hoshisu looked around, wrinkling her forehead, then looked at me suspiciously, but didn’t say anything.
Hidden by the magical darkness I wielded, we were now about a hundred meters from the line of Ogres, who had awakened with nightfall. I raised my hand, signaling my companions to stop. I estimated we had gotten as close as we could without being heard. Moving closer risked detection. A hundred meters does not seem like a long distance, but with enemies positioned between us and the end, it will feel like kilometers while we are trying to cross it.
“Ready?” I mouthed at the twins, putting a hand on each of their shoulders, as we lined up facing the palisade.
They both nodded gravely, readying their weapons.
“Go,” I said in a low voice, slapping their shoulders with my hands. And we were off!
We sprinted, arms pumping, straining legs and feet to reach for more distance, for more speed. We flashed across the distance and through the ranks of the surprised Ogres before they could react. I dodged through and around the column-like legs still at a sprint, Hoshisu even jumped over an Ogre that hadn’t gotten up yet.
I reached the wall first and prepared myself for Malkyr to arrive and toss me over and into the compound. The twins were almost clear of the Ogres when one of the brutes finally reacted, winding up for a strike with his club. I reached out with magic, feeling for the mana circulating through the Ogre’s limbs. Then I willed the flow to stop, freezing the Ogre’s movement just as the twins darted under his raised club. Ogres sucked. That one effort had drained nearly ten percent of my mana pool.
“Hurry,” I urged Malkyr as they rushed up to the wall, “the spell won’t hold for long.”
Meanwhile, the rest of the Ogres had gotten over their stupor and were converging on us in a hurry, their voices rising steadily into a deafening battle cry. The roaring was sure to alert the hobgoblins in the compound. Which was where Malkyr was about to throw me.
The hulking mana-frozen Ogre was already twitching. His enormous muscles straining against the magical hold as his natural resistance fought off the spell. And the other, slower reacting Ogres were almost to us, readying to cha
rge on our position.
“You asked for it,” Malkyr half grunted as he unceremoniously took hold of me at the waist, and effortlessly hefted my weight.
As he lifted me from the ground and set himself to throw me, I got a brief glimpse over the wall at the structures and grounds inside the compound.
“Try to aim for one of the guard towers,” I interjected quickly.
Then I became a goblin projectile as Malkyr spun completely around and launched me like an Olympic hammer throw.
I soared through the air, the ground racing beneath me. I could see sentries running around the camp below, raising the alarm and waking the sleeping warriors. The tower I was flying toward was a simple wooden platform supported by long stilts, with a guardrail and wooden siding around the platform. It suddenly occurred to me I had no means to soften the landing. An instant later, my head and shoulders crashed through the siding of the guard tower. My torso made it through the siding, but my lower half remained hanging in the air.
You sustained fall damage. -14 HP
Quest updated: Hobgoblins in the Forest
You have located and infiltrated the hobgoblin’s stronghold. Proceed by eliminating the enemy’s leaders.
Reward: varied, XP: 500
Luckily, the tower was empty. The sentry who manned it was probably one of the warriors running around shouting at the camp below.
Keep watch around me, let me know if anyone sees me or tries to flank me or something. I ordered him,
The damage I sustained was negligible, and my mana had completely regenerated from stopping the Ogre bash earlier.
I pushed against the splintered wooden siding and scrabbled for leverage to pull my body all the way into the tower. Especially my backside, which was vulnerably hanging out in the open air for any hobgoblin to add extra, unwanted, ventilation holes to it. I had to HURRY! Kicking my legs madly, I pulled at the floor and pushed at the siding, finally rolling onto the tower platform. Relief washed through me, both for my backside being still intact and for not having anyone witness my very undignified little episode. Hopefully the Ogres were keeping the twins too busy to notice. They could respawn instantly, my dignity could not.
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