The Goblin's Shadow (A LitRPG Series)

by Kyle Vauss

  “There’s a shortcut,” said Gabber, looking at his own map.

  I nodded. “Just seen it. Through the door.”

  The locked wooden door was on the wall to my right. According to the map, beyond this door was another way out of the caverns. It was still a long way, but it cut the journey down. It also complicated things for Crawford, in that he wouldn’t know which way we’d gone.

  “Seems like a better option,” said Gabber, folding away his map.

  I walked over to the door and gripped the handle. It wouldn’t move.

  “Things are usually locked for a reason,” I said.

  “Yeah. To stop us schmucks taking the easy way out. I bet there’s a puzzle or something around here that gets you the key.”

  “No idea. But we don’t have much of a choice. Give me a sec. I’ll go through first and make sure the coast is clear.”

  “How are you going to get in, numbnuts?” said Gabber.

  I smiled at him. “Just watch,” I said.

  And with that, I walked toward the door. I wondered how much my Phasing skill would impress him. He’d probably think I was a god. I looked at the door, stepped toward it and prepared to vanish through to the other side.

  Then I smacked my head on the wood. I took and moved back, dazed.

  “Have you lost your mind?” said Gabber.

  From beyond the room and deep into the cavern, the marching tune drifted back to us again. I rubbed my head, then accessed my skill list, wondering what had gone wrong.

  Mana. I seemed that I needed a full mana bar to use my Phasing skill, and I’d cast Glowing Lights earlier in the tunnels. My mana bar had refilled a little, but the rate was painfully slow. Although a shadow walker used cantrips, it was primarily a stealth class. Infarna Omega was filled with checks and balances to stop players becoming gods. That meant that although I had limited access to magic, I had to be smart in how I used it. The game devs giveth, and the devs taketh away.

  I dug into my inventory, pulled out a blue mana potion and tipped it into my mouth. It seemed like a waste using a potion to fill a fifth of my bar, but I didn’t have a choice right then.

  With my bar full, it was time to try again. “Okay,” I said. “Watch this.”

  “You’re mad,” said Gabber.

  With my Phasing skill activated, I put my faith in the devs of Infarna and I rushed at the wooden door. Just as I reached it, I winced and waited for the pain. Instead, my body felt light and my hands disappeared. I felt myself float forward. There was a dim sensation of the door rushing through me, but it was as though I was numb.

  I found myself on the other side of the door. My Phasing ability went into cooldown mode. With my mana bar now empty, I took out my last potion and restored it.

  “Anything?” said Gabber, from the other side of the door.

  This room was darker than the last. The shape of the room made it seem man-made or carved by a sentient creature, at least. There was no telling what kind of race had tried, and failed, to make a home down here. There was a pungent smell in the room. It was the smell of sweat, as if a sour dew ran down the cavern walls and collected on the floor.

  “Gonna let me in?” said Gabber. “This is like the time they shut me out of the goblin Spring Dance.”

  I turned to the door. The handle on this side of the door wouldn’t budge. I felt along the wall next to the door, until I closed my hands around a switch. Pulling it, I heard a click.

  “Give it a try,” I said.

  I heard the handle rattle, and then I saw it turn. I grabbed it from this side and pulled, and the wooden door opened with a squeal. Gabber walked into the room.

  He’d picked up a torch from where we’d left them, and he held it high above him, illuminating the room. I looked at the door which he’d walked through, and I saw that the wood was covered in scratches, with most concentrated near the handle.

  This made me feel cold. It looked as though someone had been trapped in here, and were so desperate to get out that they’d scratched the wood with their fingernails. I drew my sword.

  As he looked around him, I couldn’t help thinking that he had a strange look on his face.

  “Err, Tamos …”

  “Come on,” I said. “Let’s go.”

  “Did you happen to look behind you?” said Gabber.

  “It was too dark,” I said.

  “Have a peek, then.”

  I turned around. When I saw what was in the room behind me, I gasped. I stepped back, careful not to disturb what was sharing the room with us.

  Maybe doors were locked for a reason, after all.

  Chapter Nineteen

  My first thought was to back away. Then, getting a hold of myself, I looked at the creature across the room. At the minute, it appeared to be sleeping, though I didn’t know how long that would be the case. Behind me, Gabber was frozen to the spot.

  The creature was so pale that it looked like it was dripping with milk. It had a bulbous head that was covered in goo-filled sacs. Its throat bulged out so much that it didn’t appear to have a jawline. When it opened its mouth to breathe, I saw four blunt teeth, each one the size of my hand. More sacs lined its throat but rather than filled with goo, these seemed to contain eggs. Wisps of grey hair covered its mouth, almost like a moustache except that they were sparse and long. They blew in different directions when it breathed.

  The way out of the room and to the shortcut was right next to the creature. I didn’t know how sensitive its smell or hearing were, and it would be lunacy to risk waking it up.

  I slowly turned around to face Gabber. He went to speak, but I held a finger up in the air. I was about to leave the room when I heard something shift behind me.

  The creature’s ears shot open. They were blood red inside, and they pulsed as it tried to fix on our position. It slowly turned its head, wheezing. When it saw us, it straightened up with a speed I hadn’t thought it capable of.

  “Sneaking’s out of the question,” I said. “We need to decide. Quickly. Run by it, or go back and take the long route?”

  “Decisions, decisions,” said Gabber.

  It was bad either way. Crawford was following our trail, and if we took the longer route through the caverns, he’d catch us. If we were quick, we might be able to get by the creature and take the shorter route. There’s was nothing for it; we’d have to take a chance.

  Gabber walked into the room, went by me and stood in the center. The creature had gotten up now, and I saw that it’s hulking weight was supported by ten legs. They looked too weak to carry it, but the creature didn’t seem to be troubled. As Gabber’s torch lit it, I saw a tag above its head.

  [Forgotten One Sac Mother]

  It was now or never. I sprinted into the middle of the room and grabbed Gabber’s arm. He shook me off, instead focusing on the creature. As I watched in amazement, he began to talk to it.

  I decided to give him a second. His animal tamer skill had come in useful before, and if he could stop the Sac Mother attacking us, we’d have no problem.

  As Gabber spoke to it, the Sac Mother tilted its head, as if it was taking in his words. Gabber finished, and the creature stared in silence. Then its eyelids lifted and its eyes narrowed. It opened its mouth and roared. A waft of pungent air hit me, and I coughed.

  The Sac Mother opened its mouth and bared its blunt teeth. Instead of being suited for tearing, it seemed its teeth were more made for smashing. If it got hold of either of us, it would make short work of grinding our bones.

  I grabbed Gabber, this time holding tight so that he couldn’t shake me off. I started to drag him toward the tunnel entrance in front of us.

  “Just one more minute,” he said, squirming. “I’ve almost got it.”

  The Sac Mother bellowed again. Goo dripped from its face. When it hit the ground, it smoldered, and smoke rose.

  “You’re not taming this one,” I said. “Start running and don’t look back.”

  “This is like the time
when-”

  “Enough of the stories,” I said, and yanked him away.

  As the Sac Mother moved toward us, we sidestepped and ran through the entrance. We found ourselves back in the tunnels, though this time we’d taken a different path. I wanted to check my map to get our bearings, but there was no time.

  We sprinted through the cramped passages. My footsteps echoed off the cavern roof, too loud for my liking, while Gabber’s were softer. I listened out for the sound of the Sac Mother following us. I didn’t know what sound she would make, but I imagined I’d be able to hear her feet scuttling along the stony ground.

  After ten minutes at full speed, the passage opened. We stood in front of a series of tunnels, where the cavern forked off into three paths. All of them were in front of us, though there was no indication which one to take.

  Somewhere behind us, I heard the humming of a marching song.

  “Crawford,” I said.

  “How did he get by the slug-thing?” asked Gabber.

  “He’ll have his ways. We need to pick a path.”

  “Which way? Which one is the lucky door? Do our plucky adventurers pick door 1,” said Gabber, “Where forgotten ones might be waiting? Or do they pick door 2, where-”

  “Knock it off,” I said.

  At first glance, the pathways looked the same. The darkness ahead meant I couldn’t see much beyond the first few feet. I pulled out my internal map and checked.

  “Paths 1 and 3 lead to dead ends. Whoever lived here probably dug them for future use. Or maybe they’re storage areas or something like that.”

  “So, there could be loot?” asked Gabber.

  “Maybe,” I said. “If this were any other time, I’d say we take a chance and look. Who knows what could be down here? Loot’s usually dropped randomly, and every so often you can find something rare.”

  “The clan treasury is full of stuff like that,” said Gabber.

  “Well when you take it back, you can give me some. For now, we need to pick path 2.”

  With Crawford on our trail and the Sac Mother lurking in the cavern, we didn’t have much time. I needed a way to buy us some, but there was little I could do. I looked at paths 1 and 3.

  “If Crawford hasn’t found the internal map,” I said. “His own map will fill in as he walks. That means he doesn’t have a clue where he’s going.”

  I walked over to path 1. Stood close to it, I could feel a breeze on my face. I took my sword out and held the blade against my hand. Grimacing, I sliced along my palm. Blood seeped from the cut. Breathing through the sting, I smeared my blood on the wall.

  “That should throw him off track. He’ll see the blood, think I got hurt, then follow path 1. Or his neeves will pick up the scent and think we’ve gone this way.”

  “And we’ll have taken path 3,” said Gabber, grinning.

  I shook my head. “No, Gabs. That’s a dead end.”

  “Gabs?”

  I shrugged. “It’s a nickname. It just came to me.”

  “If we’re doing nicknames, I’ll have to think of one for you.”

  Something roared behind us. It sounded like the Sac Mother, but the noise was worryingly close. I darted away from path 1, took a torch from Gabber, then set off down path 2.

  “It’s getting cramped,” said Gabber, as we walked.

  “Just suck in your gut.”

  “You hear that?” he said. “Sounds like something crawling outside the path.”

  I listened. I heard something scraping on stone, but it seemed like it came from outside the tunnel. That was the problem with the cavern. Everything echoed so much, you had no idea which direction sound was coming from.

  As we reached the end of the tunnel, the cavern opened. I held my torch up high, but the glow struggled against the darkness.

  “That was a good idea,” said Gabber. “The blood, I mean.”

  “Crawford isn’t stupid, he’ll figure it out. We just need it to hold him off for a while.”

  “What about the Sac Mother?”

  “If she stays away, I don’t care.”

  Gabber held up his torch. The flames flickered, which was a sign they were running out. As the yellow glow hit the sides of the cavern, Gabber drew his axe.

  As I looked around, a message appeared.

  [Successful warning check: forgotten ones]

  It was the boost I’d gotten from levelling up earlier. This meant that some of the forgotten creatures were nearby, and we needed to be prepared.

  “Looks like we have visitors,” I said. “Get ready.”

  The few seconds of warning gave me time to draw my sword and adopt a defensive stance, which would let me take less damage. The warning had also stopped them getting a sneak attack bonus. That could well have proved life-saving.

  Two forgotten ones scuttled out of the shadows from the left, followed by four from the right.

  “Back to back,” I said. “Keep it tight. Keep your defence up, and look for holes.”

  “We need to find ourselves a barbarian,” said Gabber.

  “This was supposed to be the sneaky route.”

  The forgotten ones closed in on us. I couldn’t tell if it was their natural tactic or if they somehow knew we’d killed some of their friends. They seemed to be more cautious than the last few we’d encountered.

  From behind us, in pathway 2, I heard something heavy scraping on stone. It was too loud to be Crawford or one of his neeves, which meant one thing.

  “The Sac Mother’s heading our way,” I said. “Let’s make this quick.”

  As the forgotten ones drew closer, we kept our defence up. I blocked the pounce of one of them, and I heard its claws scratch down my blade. Seeing an opening, I thrust forward, and the tip of my sword punctured its belly.

  Gabber hacked at the one on his right. His hand axe didn’t deal a lot of damage, but it was enough to stun the creature for a second. I moved to the right and struck it with Firetooth. As well as slashing the creature across the chest, a spark of fire hit it, dealing it fire damage.

  The remaining four closed in on us. Staying together, we slashed and sliced until all of them were dead. I took two bites in the process, draining a quarter from my HP.

  [Level up to level 6]

  - HP increased

  - Stamina increased

  - Mana increased

  - 1.2 x stamina bonus when fighting forgotten ones

  “I’m not doing so good,” said Gabber.

  He held his arm out to me, and I saw bite marks just above his wrist. Green blood pooled down onto his hand.

  “As soon as we’re out of here, we’re getting you some potions. What gives, Gabber? Why didn’t you bring any?”

  “I didn’t exactly have time to pack when they ousted me from the clan. I only got 30 minutes warning. I swiped some stuff from the treasury. Most of it is gone now, and I pawned a few items for potions. But the world isn’t kind to goblins, ya know. I used them all within a few days.”

  “We need to push on,” I said.

  The fight had disorientated me, and I didn’t know which direction I was facing. I put my sword away and equipped my torch. Gabber lit it for me. I held it up and spread glowing light in the cavern, then turned toward the north path.

  “Let’s get a move on before Sac Mother finds us.”

  Then I heard something above me. The sound of a body sliding across stone. Dust crumbled down and landed on my head. I held my torch high, looked up, and then I lost my breath.

  The Sac Mother was above us, stuck to the ceiling like a slug. She moved across the roof of the cavern, leaving a trail of slime behind her. It looked like she was trying to slide right above us, where she’d then drop down onto us.

  I pushed Gabber out of the way.

  “Hey, what gives?” he said.

  As I sidestepped, Sac Mother dropped from the ceiling and landed on the ground with a thud. Globs of slime flew everywhere. I felt some splat on my forehead. I wiped my skin and then backed away. We
needed to move.

  We took only a few steps toward the path, when more forgotten ones lurched out from the shadows. This left us surrounded. We had Sac Mother on one side, and her minions on the other.

  As if it couldn’t get any worse, I heard a sound from the paths behind us. It was a tune.