by Aleron Kong
Richter hadn’t been sure if his spell would hold once the goblin regained consciousness, but he was delighted to see that it had. Pild-nac’s low Wisdom meant he had a low magical defense, especially compared to the 50% boost in power Richter’s Life spells received, and the chaos seed had made sure to dual cast the spell to give it a little extra umpf. On the other hand, goblin grinders were smarter than their counterparts in weaker stations, like fighters or scouts. It had been entirely possible that Pild-nac could have broken the enchantment upon waking, but the “Charmed (Hatred)” disposition put Richter’s mind at ease. The first word proved that the enchantment was in place, while the second showed the goblin’s true feelings were attempting to reassert control.
“Do you know me?” the chaos seed asked in goblin-speak.
The green skinned fighter blinked a few more time, but then replied in goblin-speak as well, “Of course I do, my friend. I cannot remember your name, though.”
Richter put a friendly smile on his face that did not match the evil in his eyes. He helped the goblin to his feet, and said, “My name is McClane. I’m so happy that you’re feeling better, my friend. You saved us from the sprites! Now, I need you to answer a quick question for me, and then I need just a very small favor.”
CHAPTER 35 – Day 141 – Kuborn 31, 15,386 EBG
Pild-nac ran through the goblin encampment screaming at the top of his lungs, “The commander. I must speak with the commander!”
He ran past a small goblin contingent of thirty grinders and fighters that had been sent to investigate the attack near the slave pens. The leader considered stopping him, but Pild-nac ran by too quickly shouting, “We have to protect the item! Run! The sprites are coming this way!
The contingent leader eyes widened. He knew that a goblin force twice the size of his had been near the prisoners for the nightly recreation. He also knew Pild-nac. The grinder was a liar, an asshole, and a thief, but he wasn’t a coward. Also, Pild-nac was basically drenched in black goblin blood, a detail that was due to Richter gutting a dead goblin and shaking the corpse over the charmed grinder like a salt shaker over fries. When the goblin leader factored in that all the goblins in the encampment had heard the distinctive boom of sprite imbued arrows, he ordered a retreat. Soon, the entire scout force was running behind Pild-nac. Each of the goblins shouted “Attack! Sprites! Attack!” at the top of their lungs, wonderfully adding to the pandemonium.
A few minutes later, Pild-nac was admitted through the inner barbican. This was achieved much more easily than it otherwise would have thanks to the contingent leader swearing that a horde of bloodthirsty sprites was directly on their heels. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t seen anything personally. He was not going to let an asshole like Pild-nac outshine him.
Soon enough, the charmed goblin was approaching the encampment commander himself, the massive Heqht-jo. The grinder tried to continue forward, but the commander’s personal guard were much more diligent about protecting their leader than the gate guards had been about letting him into the inner barbican. Pild-nac was stopped more than a dozen yards from the commander, who looked at him in anger and suspicion. The commander stood next to the Bloodstone, and beside him was hit pet caster, Radg-or. The rikker station goblin stood with his hand on the red jewel, and his eyes glowed scarlet from accessing the power within.
“What happened?” Heqht-jo bellowed. “Speak, fool! How are you the only one alive and why are you smeared with the blood of goblins?”
Pild-nac mumbled a response.
“Louder! I swear that I will skin you alive if you do not tell me what I want to know!”
Pild-nac started stammering. He spoke quickly, but it was absolute nonsense, interjecting the words “sprite” and “prisoners escaped” periodically, exactly as Richter had bid him to do.
The commander lost his temper and stomped closer to the grinder, intent on throttling the information from the blood-drenched coward. The mage behind him cast a spell, though. His eyes widened, and he hissed, “He is enchanted. Go no closer!”
Heqht-jo’s head whipped back to look at the mage, before looking at Pild-nac again, an even hotter fury burning in his chest. The commander felt himself slipping into a rage.
The grinder smiled, relieved that the farce was done. He knew that McClane was his very best friend in the world, as unlikely as that seemed, but it had made him uncomfortable lying to his fellow goblins. A small voice inside of him had also been screaming something about how Richter was a hated enemy. That had made no sense to Pild-nac though, so he had just ignored the voice. As time had passed, the irritating voice had been getting harder to ignore. That was why the grinder was pleased that he could carry out McClane’s final request.
Pild-nac smiled at the commander and shouted the expression his human friend had taught him. The goblin didn’t understand any of the words, but McClane had promised that the phrase was an expression of friendship. The grinder shouted, “Yippe ki yay, motherfucker!” at the top of his lungs; then he slammed the four “peace” crystals together. McClane had also promised that when the red granulated spheres were smashed, Pild-nac would get a wonderful “reward.”
Radg-or had started casting right after warning Heqht-jo. It still bothered him somewhat that the Bloodstone could speak into his mind, but this time, the powerful item had saved him. Not wasting any time, the caster had finished his incantation, the red light in his eyes glowing brighter as he drew on the power of the Bloodstone. He was not a moment too soon. The grinder’s body exploded with fire that quickly washed outward. Even twenty yards away, the caster felt the heat. Radg-or finished the spell Krin-lac’s Circle of Containment and drew heavily upon the powers of the Bloodstone.
A magical sphere appeared around Pild-nac and the five goblins closest to him. A small of amount of fire had already escaped beyond the AoE of Radg-or’s spell, but it quickly died out, barely singeing any of the goblins. Inside the sphere, however, was an inferno. Through the green energy field of the caster’s spell, every goblin present could see a spinning maelstrom of flame. It pushed against the boundaries of the Earth magic spell, and Radg-or bared his teeth in strain. The Bloodstone user kept one hand on the object of Power and extended his other hand towards the sphere.
The spell was active, allowing him to continually feed energy into it. For a moment, the walls of magic rippled and vibrated as the simultaneous release of four Red Foxfire crystals threatened to overwhelm it. The alchemy could not overcome the power of the Bloodstone, however, despite that fact that the wielder was not a Blood mage. Goblin fists could be seen beating against the inside of the containment sphere. This only lasted for a few moments, however, then all that could be seen was fire. The conflagration continued to rage.
The fires finally died, and only churning black smoke remained. The caster kept the sphere in place for another full minute, just to be safe. It was silent as the grave as all of the goblins looked at the contained explosion and realized many of them had narrowly missed death. When the spell was finally dropped, the smoke diffused out into the air quickly. A choking stink of charred corpses and cooked flesh spread to every goblin inside the barbican. Even the goblins were slightly sickened.
All that was left of Pild-nac and the five other goblins that had been trapped within the sphere were blackened bodies. All of them were stuck in a rictus of death and pain. Even their gear had been destroyed, reduced to a durability of zero. Precious few of the goblins lamented the deaths of their fellows, but many were disappointed that the time-honored tradition of stealing from the dead could not be observed.
Alma saw all of this from high above. The sky was beginning to lighten as dawn approached. Her small black body was still unseen against the barely brightened sky, though. Richter gritted his teeth as he watched through her eyes. The chaos seed had truly been hoping to cut the head off the snake by killing the enemy commander. The goblin mage’s quick thinking had ruined that. The wounded sprites were already in the riverbed. The chaos
seed, Sion, and Damien were on a rise just outside of the goblin encampment, awaiting the pursuit Richter had promised. A pursuit that now might never come. To make everything worse, there were far more goblins in the camp than they had thought.
Sion saw the distress on his face, “What is it? Didn’t it work?”
Richter waved a hand quickly back and forth, silently telling his friend to be quiet. Sion fumed slightly, but silently. The chaos seed continued watching through the eyes of his familiar.
The goblin caster slumped, the red glow in his eyes finally subsiding. The rikker pulled his hand free of the Bloodstone. He couldn’t seem to let go at first, but he was eventually able to release it. A bloody, black handprint was left behind on the red jewel. It was quickly consumed, leaving the surface unblemished.
Heqht-jo did not thank the caster that had saved his life. That was the purpose of his lessers, after all, to serve and protect him. Instead, he walked forward. The powerful goblin pushed his guards roughly to the side and continued until he stood over the blackened remains of Pild-nac. The commander didn’t spare a glance for the other dead goblins. Their usefulness had come to an end.
The large goblin looked down at the traitor’s remains, and his breathing started speeding up. Each exhale came out louder and more forcefully as fury filled his black heart. They tried to kill me, he thought. They tried to kill ME! The accursed forest rats would pay for this! He would drink the blood of their children and cut the manhood from each male and the tits from each female! They would pay!
“Kill them,” Heqht-jo shouted at the top of this lungs. “Kill them all! Send for the others!”
Heqht-jo formed a war party under him, including the nine hundred goblins present as well as their mercenary allies. The commander couldn’t wait the hours it would take for reinforcements to come. Rage had taken hold of him. The commander decided to crush whoever had dared to attack him! His mouth already watered as he thought about tasting the bloody flesh of his enemies. He repeated his order, screaming his rage.
The horns of the goblin warband echoed out and the encampment boiled with activity. The commander ordered his forces to start moving west, the only way attackers could have entered the valley. The goblins started screaming with battle lust.
Richter looked at Sion and Damien with a sick grin on his face. It wasn’t precisely the carnage-filled result that he had wanted, but his gambit had still gotten the job done. “I have good news and bad news. I’ll tell you both, but we need to start running. Now!”
The sprites had heard the horns just as the chaos seed had, and they offered no argument. Sion cast Weak Haste on himself, and Richter cast the same spell on Damien. They all started sprinting, praying to make it back to the safety of their people. Alma caught up soon and cast Weak Haste on her master, increasing his movement and attack speed by 10%.
“What is the bad news?” Sion yelled as he ran.
“What is the good news?” Damien shouted at the same time.
Richter kept facing forward as he ran, but shouted his answer back, deciding to answer Damien first, “The good news,” he shouted back, “is that my plan succeeded, and they’re coming this way.”
“And the bad news?” Sion repeated.
“The bad news is that no matter what the fuck your perspective is, that was the easy part!”
The three kept running, pursued by the goblins’ horns, a bloodthirsty horde, and a commander howling for their blood.
CHAPTER 36 – Day 141 – Kuborn 31, 15,386 EBG
The three of them ran until they crested a hill a half-mile from the encampment. At that point, they turned and armed their bows. They couldn’t risk the goblins paying too close attention to the river bed. All three of them started to imbue their arrows, slowing the flow of mana as much as possible. The goal was not to kill so much as gain attention. Richter was pretty sure this would piss the goblin horde off and keep them from thinking. He was right.
The goblins at the front of the enemy warband squealed when they saw the trio of lights. Renewed horn blasts echoed through the valley. The three of them released, striking different targets. It seemed like all of them shared the same sense of humor because each arrow exploded against a horn blower. None of the goblins died, but it was still amusing hearing the horn calls cut off abruptly. Richter and the sprites shouldered their bows and started running again.
The chaos seed checked his map as he ran. Alma flew high enough to provide a clear view of the valley. Dawn had broken, putting the sun at their backs. It meant the sprites would be fighting with the light in their eyes, but it also meant that the western edge of the valley would remain in shadow. With any luck, the goblins would not detect the sprites hidden in the trees until the ambush was sprung. Richter dismissed Night Vision on all of them, and they kept running.
Alma was also able to see the escaped prisoners. They were strung in a line between the riverbed and the shelter of the trees. The most hale were close to reaching the relative safety of the trees. The sicker and weaker prisoners were moving much slower, though. Richter didn’t know if they would all make it before the battle started, but he couldn’t worry about it at the moment. Honestly, most of this attention was on what was going on behind him.
Richter was not a coward. Since coming to The Land he had fought demons, undead, a dark aberration and a twenty-foot tall rock monster with a serious grudge. He had felt fear but had still always done what was needed. What he saw through Alma’s eyes, though, made his blood run cold. A literal wave of enemies flowed across the ground behind him. For the first time, he knew, not suspected but knew, that he was facing something that he absolutely couldn’t resist by himself.
Close to a thousand bloodthirsty goblins were howling for his blood. Richter found untapped reservoirs of speed. He had never been so thankful for the conditioning he had received over the past months. His stamina bar had a max of three hundred and fifty points, and it was steadily falling as he ran. If he wasn’t already used to moving over uneven terrain for days at a time, though, it would probably have already bottomed out. Another horn blast echoed from behind. The three comrades kept running.
“They seem pretty mad,” Sion panted.
“It is almost as if… they objected… to us burning their house down,” Damien agreed with a grin.
“You guys… are so… insensitive,” Richter gasped. He had a serious stitch in his side. “Now pay attention… and make sure… you don’t set off… the boobytraps.”
“Boobytraps?” Sion asked in a strained voice. “What… fucking boobytraps?”
“The ones… I put… in the valley,” Richter said. “Didn’t… Yoshi tell you?”
“I have… been with you! Why didn’t… you tell me?” Sion gasped in recrimination.
“I knew,” Damien chimed in, smiling past the pain in his legs.
“Shut up!” the meidon sprite snapped in irritation.
Another horn sounded. The three of them pushed even harder.
While Richter ran, he kept his mind off of the certain death that was right behind him by dealing with his prompts. The latest notifications dealt with the experience he had gained from Alma’s psychic feast.
You have been awarded 1,432 experience (base 32,741 x 0.07 x 1.25 x 0.5) from Brain Drain against Level 8 the Goblin Scout.
You have been awarded 4,739 experience (base 108,329 x 0.07 x 1.25 x 0.5) from Brain Drain against Level 14 the Goblin Fighter.
…
The prompts continued to cascade. The first goblin scout Alma had drained was the least experienced of her prey. Each gave Richter several thousand experience points even with the 50% penalty. He read through them until the last prompt brought a wonderful surprise with it.
You have been awarded 8,906 experience (base 203,556 x 0.07 x 1.25 x 0.5) from Brain Drain against Level 18 the Goblin Scout.
Congratulations! You have repaid the debt owed to your Specialty: Essence Enchanting. Long and bloody was the road you have walked for what you purchased
. Honor your Specialty and Profession to advance. Because of your diligence and devotion, you will be rewarded!
You have unlocked a Secret Quest of the Essence Enchanter: Debts Must Be Paid I! Expend and earn back 10,000 experience points by using Talent Point Conversion. Reward: 10 Talent Points.
Congratulations! You have finished a Secret Quest of the Essence Enchanter: Debts Must be Paid I! Reward: 10 Talent Points. Reward: 1,250 (base 1,000) Experience Points.
You have unlocked a Secret Quest of the Essence Specialty: Debts Must be Paid II! Expend and earn back 100,000 experience points by using Talent Point Conversion. Reward: 20 Talent Points.
Congratulations! You have finished a Secret Quest of the Essence Enchanter: Debts Must be Paid I! Reward: 20 Talent Points. Reward: 6,250 (base 5,000) Experience Points.
You have unlocked a Secret Quest of the Essence Specialty: Debts Must be Paid II! Expend and earn back 1,000,000 experience points by using Talent Point Conversion. Reward: 30 Talent Points.
Talent Points Remaining: 31 Talent Points.
He was out of the fucking hole. It almost balanced out the fact that his veins were currently filled with nothing but gasoline. In fact, it did! Richter started grinning so broadly that when Sion saw his friend enjoying himself while they ran for their lives, the sprite muttered “asshole” under his breath. Richter didn’t hear him, but it wouldn’t have ruined his excitement if he had. The fact that it had taken the lives of over twenty sentient creatures to get him the final bit of needed experience didn’t faze him at all. There was no reason that all that XP should have gone to waste after all.