Attack of the Goblin Army

by Winter Morgan

  Miles interrupted her, “You want me to build you a house?”

  “How did you know?” she smiled.

  “You’re not the first person to ask,” Miles laughed. “If you help me find my way out of this labyrinth, I will build you a house. You can meet my other friends who live near me.”

  “Great.” Shelly was excited. “I think we should walk this way.” She led Miles down a path.

  As they walked, Miles told Shelly about Matthew and John. He stopped talking as he marveled at a large chest. Miles rushed over to the ground and opened it. “There’s only a key in here.” He was disappointed, but then remembered what Matthew said about the key to the Floating Island. “Wait, will this take me to the Floating Island?”

  Shelly looked inside. “That’s a golden key. I’m sorry, it won’t get you to the Floating Island; I hear that’s a really fantastic place. But it will help us open a golden chest. And those usually contain valuable treasures.”

  Miles placed the key in his inventory and walked down the path, and looked for a golden chest.

  “I think I see something,” Shelly called out, and Miles raced over to a large shiny golden chest. “Open it,” she instructed Miles.

  Miles opened the chest. “Wow! A potion of swiftness! This will come in handy. I don’t have too many potions.”

  “Watch out!” Shelly cried.

  An indigo slime hopped toward them. Miles grabbed his gold sword, swung, but missed the slime.

  Shelly threw a wrench at the slime, and also missed. Miles struck at the slimy pest again, destroying it. The slime dropped a golden key. “Wow, I have another key!”

  “We need to find more chests,” Shelly remarked.

  Miles was excited when they turned and were finally out of the confining brick walls of the labyrinth. They found another golden chest, as well as an exit. Miles unlocked the chest. “These are shoe spikes,”

  Miles put them on his feet and sprinted back to the labyrinth wall and jumped up on it. He was amazed when his feet stuck to the wall, and he was pinned there.

  “Awesome!” Miles exclaimed. “I have to show these to Matthew, he’s going to think they’re really cool. And I bet he’ll tell me all sorts of amazing things I can do with them.”

  “I think I see something even cooler.”

  A key sparkled on the ground. “Is that—?” Miles couldn’t believe it.

  “Yes,” Shelly smiled. “That is a key to the Floating Island.”

  Miles picked it up and placed it safely in his inventory. “I have to show this to Matthew. He will be so excited to see I found the key to the Floating Island. I want to go there today.”

  “Don’t forget, I want you to build me a house,” Shelly reminded Miles.

  “Of course,” Miles said. He couldn’t contain his excitement, and he wanted to sprint back to his house.

  Light filtered in through a hole. “It looks like sun came up,” Shelly remarked.

  “Great!” Miles exclaimed. “Let’s get out of here. I want to go to the Floating Island today.”

  Miles and Shelly made their way to the door. Miles couldn’t get out of the dungeon fast enough. He raced back to the houses, calling out, “Matthew, I found the key!”

  Chapter 7:

  THE GOBLIN INVASION

  Miles panted, trying to catch his breath as he approached the homes. John emerged from his house. He had heard Miles screaming. John looked at Shelly.

  “Who are you?” asked John.

  “This is Shelly. She’s a mechanic. I have to build her a house, but I have really big news.”

  Matthew walked out of the house. “Miles, what’s all the excitement?”

  Miles quickly introduced Shelly and then spit out the news, “I found the key to the Floating Island.”

  “That’s fantastic!”

  “I want to go today,” Miles said.

  “I do want you to go to the Floating Island, but I had another plan for today. I think you should go to the Corruption. You’ll find valuable resources there that will help you on your trip to the Floating Island.”

  “The Corruption?” Miles asked.

  “You don’t know about the Corruption?” John was shocked.

  Matthew walked over. “I thought I’ve told you about the Corruption. We should travel there soon. It’s dark and dangerous, but it’s a valuable place to find resources. You’ve defeated Skeletron and now I think we can go there.”

  “I want to go now,” Miles announced.

  Shelly walked over. “I thought you were going to build me a house.”

  Matthew looked at Shelly. “Miles, I see you’ve met the mechanic. You’re definitely advancing in the game. If you build her a house, I promise to take you to the Corruption.”

  Miles and Matthew set off to the woods to gather wood. Miles was standing next to a tree when he almost dropped his axe because he heard another woman’s voice.

  “Your house is empty,” she remarked.

  “For now,” Miles replied. “We will return there soon.”

  “Can you build me a house?” the woman asked.

  Miles stared at the woman. Her appearance was unusual. She had green hair, which she wore in a ponytail. He didn’t respond and walked over to Matthew and whispered, “Do I really have to build a house for this woman? Who is she? What is she?”

  “That’s a dryad. You’ll want to build her a house. She’ll be very useful to you in this world,” Matthew replied.

  “Why? This woman with green hair is useful?” Miles was annoyed.

  “Don’t ever judge anyone by appearance,” Matthew snapped. “Yes, she has many resources she can sell you.”

  “Like what?”

  “Purification powder, a dirt rod, and many other items. And she’s quite helpful when battling mobs.” Matthew rattled off a long list of other resources the dryad provided.

  Miles shrugged. “Okay. I guess I’ll build her a house. I have to build one for Shelly, too.”

  He walked back to the tree. The dryad leaned against the bark. Miles smiled, “I’ll build you a house. What can you sell me?”

  “Manners!” the dryad called out. “Don’t you want to ask me my name first?”

  “Yes, I’m sorry. I’m just distracted. I’m supposed to go to the Corruption and I want to get there before dusk. And I also want to go to the Floating Island.”

  “You certainly have a lot of plans,” the dryad said.

  “I guess I do. I’m Miles and what’s your name?”

  “I’m Lila. And I have a lot of resources I can sell you—I hope you have enough coins in your inventory,” Lila remarked as she watched Miles chop wood for her new home.

  The trio walked back to the houses, and Miles constructed two small homes next to them.

  Miles felt like a construction expert. He had built so many homes, he felt as if he was designing a small city. Each house mirrored the next and was on an adjacent plot of land. Miles entered this world alone, but now he had so many neighbors. After he placed the wooden door on Shelly’s house, he walked inside and crafted a table, a chair, and a light source. “I’m done,” he announced, and Shelly and Lila thanked him and inspected their new homes.

  “Good job,” Matthew remarked. “Let’s go to the Corruption.”

  Matthew led Miles toward the meteorite crash site. Miles was shocked at the size of the dent.”

  “The force of landing creates a large impact,” Matthew said.

  Miles spotted a purple biome. “Is that the Corruption?”

  “Yes,” Matthew spoke slowly so Miles didn’t miss anything, “you must be very careful there. There are many enemies. You can be destroyed by the Eater of Souls, Thorny bushes, and other seriously vile creatures.”

  The warning didn’t scare Miles. He sprinted toward The Corruption and as he entered the biome, he noticed Matthew wasn’t joining him. “Can you come with me?”

  “I have one vital weakness,” he explained. “If I get—” He paused. “Um, it’s best if I
don’t go. I’ll wait for you.”

  Miles sprinted into the creepy purple biome, keeping a close eye for any of the vile mobs that Matthew warned him about. Miles gawked at a purple sphere that floated toward him. Miles wasn’t sure if it was getting ready to attack him. He grabbed his hammer and slammed it into the floating being. A musket dropped to the ground, and Miles placed it in his inventory. Another sphere floated toward him. Miles was about to hit it with his hammer, when he heard cries outside in the distance. Miles sprinted out of the Corruption.

  Matthew wasn’t waiting for him like he had promised, and Miles was worried the cries were coming from his friends. He raced as fast as he could toward the homes. The cries grew louder and Miles knew his friends were in trouble. As he approached the homes, he saw his friends battling goblins.

  Hordes of little green goblins in various shades struck his friends. Miles noticed Matthew off to the side, shooting wooden arrows from a distance. He remembered what Matthew said about being weak, and he shielded Matthew from the goblin attack.

  Miles rushed into the center of the attack. The goblins were vicious, and Miles slammed his sword into the numerous goblins that crowded the space between their homes.

  “Help!” Lila cried as six goblins surrounded her. “I’m too weak to fight them.”

  Miles was able to defeat the goblins that attacked him and rush to Lila’s aid. Matthew shot arrows at the goblins that were destroying Lila. Miles pounded goblin after goblin. But it wasn’t easy. Although no new goblins were spawning, there were almost a hundred of them, but they were no match for Miles and his four friends.

  Matthew’s wooden arrows shot through the air, Miles used his sword, John threw knives, Shelly threw wrenches, and Lila drained the life from the goblins with her leaf barrier. Together, they used all of their skills to conquer the invasion of the destructive goblin army.

  There were a dozen goblins left and Miles was losing energy. He needed water or food to replenish his strength, but he didn’t have time to eat. Instead he grasped the sword and hit two more goblins. The goblins rushed toward Miles; Shelly flung her wrench at the goblins, and Miles had to duck to avoid getting hit by the wrench.

  “All of the goblins are advancing toward me,” Miles cried. He wondered if this was their battle strategy. Maybe they would crowd around him, so Shelly, John, and Matthew couldn’t attack them without hurting Miles. He wasn’t sure. His only chance for survival was running away from the goblins and hiding behind the house.

  As Miles raced from the goblins, Shelly threw wrenches at the goblin beasts. She destroyed two. John’s knives hit three goblins. When Miles saw there were only a handful of goblins left, he sprinted out and used his last bit of strength to destroy them with his sword.

  The final goblin was destroyed and the goblin army defeated. Miles was rewarded with a goblin punter. “Wow! An achievement.”

  Miles wasn’t one to make speeches, but he thanked the group for his help.

  “We should celebrate,” suggested Matthew. “You’ve done so well in this new world.”

  “And you provided us with shelter,” added John.

  Miles looked at Matthew. “You never told me about the goblins. How come they just attacked us now?”

  “I didn’t think we would be attacked. Someone has to break the Shadow Orb for them to spawn,” Matthew explained.

  “The Shadow Orb? What does it look like?” Miles wondered if the purple sphere that he broke with the hammer might have unleashed this goblin siege.

  “I assume when you were in the Corruption you broke the sphere and that’s why these creatures spawned.” Matthew didn’t sound upset when he spoke, which confused Miles.

  “You guys must be so mad at me.” Miles felt awful for causing the invasion.

  Lila smiled, “Now we know we’re strong enough to battle an army of goblins and defeat them.”

  “That does call for a celebration,” said John. “Let’s have a feast.

  The group prepared for a feast, but when Shelly pointed to a strange man bound to a tree, they stopped the celebration and sprinted toward the man.

  He cried out weakly, “Free me.”

  Chapter 8:

  A VISIT FROM THE TINKERER

  Miles looked at the teal-colored man. “Are you okay? Who did this to you?”

  As Miles spoke, the man broke free.

  “Thank you,” he exclaimed as he walked toward them. The first person he approached was Shelly. “Hi, I’m Isaac. You must be the mechanic.”

  “You’re the Goblin Tinkerer, aren’t you?” Shelly asked.

  “That’s me,” he smiled.

  “What’s a Goblin Tinkerer? The goblins were vicious and they tried to destroy us. We had to battle them.”

  “Goblins. How many were there?” he asked.

  “Almost a hundred,” Miles recalled.

  “And there are only five of you. I’m not saying you guys aren’t the best fighters in Terraria,” the tinkerer pointed out, “but I have to tell you, goblins aren’t that hard to battle. I mean they aren’t rocket scientists. Well, actually some of them are.”

  Miles said, “It wasn’t an easy battle. They outnumbered us. I thought we were going to lose.”

  “I appreciate your honesty. But you know what I’d really appreciate?” He walked over to Miles.

  “Let me guess. You want me to build you a house?” Miles asked.

  “Yes,” Isaac smiled, “that would be lovely.”

  “Fortunately, I have the supplies,” Miles said, reviewing his inventory, “so I can build it right now.”

  Isaac stood by Shelly. “Where’s your house? I want to be neighbors.”

  Shelly blushed and led Isaac to her house. “Miles, you can build Isaac’s house right here.” She pointed to a plot of land next to her home. “I think he’ll be a great neighbor.”

  As Miles crafted the house, he spoke to Isaac, “I think it’s rude that you asked me to make you a house and the only person you introduced yourself to was Shelly. It was like John, Lila, Matthew, and I don’t even exist.”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way,” Isaac said and asked, “How can I make it up to you?”

  “You know, I am wasting my day making this house when I wanted to go the Floating Island. I have the key in my inventory.” Miles installed the window as he spoke.

  “You’re doing a fine job with the house, isn’t he, Shelly?”

  Shelly nodded, “Great job, Miles.”

  “And I will repay you.” Isaac asked, “Do you have any coins?”

  “How are you going to repay me? By taking my money?” Miles was agitated. He gathered the last bit of wood from his inventory and started crafting a table and a chair for the house.

  “How do you plan on getting to the Floating Island?” asked Isaac.

  Miles paused and looked at Matthew. “I’m not sure. I have to ask Matthew. He’s my guide and helps with everything.”

  “Matthew,” Isaac said, “isn’t it true that a pair of rocket boots would be very helpful? You can use them to get to the Island.”

  “I already have a pair of special shoes. Shelly can tell you all about it. I found them when we were in the dungeon.”

  Shelly added, “They are really cool. Miles can stick to the walls with the shoes.”

  “Yes, those sound great, but they won’t get you to the Floating Island. My rocket boots can get you there.” He insisted these boots would change Miles’s life and that they were the only way he could make his way to the island.

  “Okay,” Miles said, “I’ll take them.” Miles looked through his inventory. “One problem. I don’t have enough coins.”

  Lila looked at Miles. “I can go mining with you. We’ll search for coins.”

  Miles asked Matthew if this was a good idea, and Matthew replied, “Yes, and I will go too. The more coins and resources you have the better off you’ll be.”

  John said, “When you come back, I have a bunch of other items I could sell you, too.”r />
  “Great,” Miles declared, “you will accompany me on my mining trip.”

  Matthew, Miles, and Lila set out on a mining expedition, leaving John, Shelly, and Isaac at home.

  Matthew led them to a cave in the forest. “This looks like a good cave to find gold.”

  Lila was the first one to enter the cave and shrieked, “Help!”

  Three cave bats flew toward her. Miles lunged at the bats with his gold sword. Matthew shot arrows.

  “Use an arrow!” Matthew called out to Miles.

  Miles fumbled with his bow, as Matthew destroyed the cave bats with his wooden arrows.

  “Thank you,” Lila exclaimed.

  “Seeing cave bats when you enter a cavern isn’t a very good sign,” Matthew warned them. “We have to get out of here quickly. Start mining now.”

  Miles banged his ax against the ground and was relieved when he spotted a chest.

  “Open it,” Lila instructed.

  “Coins,” Miles called out, “I found coins!”

  “Gather them quickly!” Matthew screamed, “And look out!”

  A cluster of bats flew through the musty cavern; the winged beasts flew rapidly at the group. Matthew barely had enough time to shoot his wooden arrows. Lila created a leaf barrier around her, attempting to weaken the bats, but it wasn’t working. Miles filled up his inventory as fast as he could and his heart began to race.

  “Miles!” Matthew demanded, “Forget about the coins. We’re going to be destroyed.”

  “Okay,” Miles said. “One second. I’ll help.”

  “No!” Matthew screamed. “Now!”

  Miles didn’t understand why Matthew was so upset. If he was destroyed he’d just respawn, and he didn’t get the big deal. However, he didn’t want to disappoint his friends. He quickly placed the last coin in his inventory and battled the remaining bats.

  Instead of commending Miles on defeating the bats, Matthew said, “Next time I ask you to do something, you have to listen.”

  As the exited the cavern, Miles said, “What’s the worst that can happen? If you get destroyed, you’ll just respawn.”

  Lila was perplexed and asked Matthew with a loud whisper, “He doesn’t know?”