Ascend Online
Page 50
“Shit, really?” I felt a brief wave of claustrophobia wash over me before I managed to shrug it off. If everything went to hell and we were forced to run, it’d be easier to use the terrain to our advantage in the forest, than if we were out and exposed in the plains. “I’d feel better if we knew how big this forest was.”
“Guess you could climb a tree and take a look around,” Sierra suggested half-jokingly. “They look sturdy enough.”
“You know what,” I trailed off, looking at the nearby trees. “That might not be a bad idea.”
“Eh?” Sierra frowned at me as she held up her hands to slow me down. “I was just kidding, Lyr! We don’t need you killing yourself by taking a dive off a tree!”
“Maybe you were, but it’s still a good idea.” I pointed to a tree that appeared to be taller than the others nearby and started moving towards it. “That one over there looks like a good one.”
“Lyr, the lowest branch that could hold you on that tree is twenty-five feet up!” Sierra called after me, catching the attention of the rest of our group. “How the hell are you going to even climb it?”
“I don’t have to climb it.” I shook my head while smiling.
“Then what are you even-” I heard Sierra start to say, right before I triggered Blink Step.
The world blurred as I teleported myself a short distance into the air, just below the branch. Feeling myself beginning to fall, I quickly threw my hands up to catch myself on the thick branch, hanging nearly thirty feet above everyone.
“-going to, hey!” Sierra shouted below me. “That’s not fair!”
“Ugh,” I grunted as I quickly heaved myself up onto the branch, grabbing hold of the trunk to steady myself. Chancing a look down, I put on a brave smile and waved to the party while silently fighting a wave of vertigo. “Why bother climbing, when you can just use magic?”
“Sure, sure! Rub it in!” Sierra called from below. “Now how are you going to get down, smarty-pants?”
Shit. I felt my balance sway for a moment as considered that. For some reason, this doesn’t feel quite the same as when I leaped off that cliff, probably because the ground looks a hell of a lot harder than water.
“That’s a problem for future Lyrian!” I replied, trying to project a sense of confidence in my voice as I tore my gaze upwards and focused on a higher branch. “First I still need to go a little bit higher and hopefully get above the tree line.”
Repeating my Blink Step trick a second time, I managed to bypass another seven feet of sparse footholds and weak looking branches, teleporting into the highest reaches of the tree, this time wrapping my arm around the trunk.
Fuck, it’s been close to fifteen years since I last climbed a tree. My foot scraped along the tree’s bark as I pushed myself higher, using my free hand to guide my way upwards. As I climbed towards the top, I started to feel the tree beginning to sway under my weight, instinct warning me to stop climbing. Holding onto the tree tightly, quickly glanced around, seeing that I had climbed past the other neighboring trees. Okay, I guess this is as high as I’m going to get.
Wrapping one arm tightly around the trunk of the tree and bracing one foot on a branch, I carefully leaned away from the tree, using my free hand to push away the smaller branches around me.
Looking to the northwest first, I saw what Sierra had mentioned earlier, barely making out the distant edges of the plains before the forest began. Green trees filled my vision as I slowly turned my gaze to the north, the forest continuing as far as I could see, gently rippling into small hills and valleys in the distance. We must have traveled along a ‘finger’ of the forest as it stretches out to the east.
Shifting around the tree I looked towards the south, seeing the forest continue further towards the south, gently sloping downwards into a large valley. This forest is huge! Easily ten times the size of Crater Lake and the Webwood. It looks like it’s much older growth too.
Completing my awkward shimmy around the tree, I carefully gazed out to the east, catching the distant sparkle of a lake towards the southeast that was part of the valley I had just seen to the south. Just more trees out that way, except for over there.
Looking straight east from my position I noted that the ground sloped downwards ever so slightly before rising again in the distance. A small patch of the distant forest seemed to be a noticeably different shade of green than the surrounding trees. Watching it intently for a moment, I noticed that whatever was there, didn’t sway in the wind like the other trees did.
A grass or moss covered hill? I thought to myself as I tried to make out details, noting bits of brown stone as my eyes focused. Can’t tell from here, though aside from the distant lake, it’s the only other notable feature from this vantage point. Guess we’ll find out as we head there.
“You see anything, Lyr?” I heard Drace’s voice shout up from far below.
“Eh,” I called back down as I readied myself to begin my descent. “Nothing overly exciting. An overgrown rock cropping or landside out east and a rather pretty looking lake in a valley towards the southeast.”
Tuning out any follow-up questions I carefully climbed my way down the tree, taking care that I didn’t slip and fall headfirst into the ground. After a few minutes of gradual descent, I found myself once again on the branch I had first grabbed onto.
“Alright, future Lyrian. How are you getting yourself back onto the ground now?” I heard Sierra call up to me, a devilish grin on her face.
“Well…” I replied hesitantly as I mentally worked out a plan of action, hoping that it wouldn’t end up with me splattering all over the ground. “First I’m going to do this!”
I gently stepped off the branch.
“Oh shit!” Drace shouted as he saw me begin to fall, moving forward to catch me.
Before I could build up any sort of momentum, I triggered Blink Step and found myself effortlessly landing on the ground as if I had just stepped off a street curb, leaving everyone staring at me dumbfounded.
“Ta-da!” I made a mock flourish, flashing a grin at Sierra. “Safe and sound!”
“Fucking Spellsword and your magic,” Sierra muttered as she shook her head, then looked around at everyone gathered nearby. “I hereby vote that in light of Lyrian’s superior climbing ability, that he be the designated group climber.”
“Seconded.” Drace deadpanned as he cocked his head at me.
“Hang on a second guys.” I waved my hands into the air, sensing the popular opinion going against me.
“All in favor?” Sierra raised her hand, quickly followed by the rest of the group, including Freya and the rest of the Thunder Lizards currently present. “All opposed?”
“Uh, definitely opposed!” My hand shot up into the air as I looked around for my familiar. Where the hell did Amaranth go?! I could use some help here!
“The vote is twelve to one.” Sierra looked at me with a blank expression. “Congratulations, Lyrian! You are now the designated group climber. We all stand humbled by your climbing prowess!”
“Fuck,” I cursed softly, trying not to reveal just how uncomfortable I was with heights as I tried to save face. “Well, whatever is best for the party, I guess.”
“Whatever is best for the party, indeed.” Sierra wiggled her eyebrows at me as she motioned for everyone to get moving again. “Let’s-”
“Seriously! What the fuck are you all thinking?!” Constantine’s venomous tone stopped all of us in our tracks as he stalked out of the nearby woods. “What the fuck happened that has you shouting so fucking loud?!”
Looking at Constantine, I noticed a line of blood dripping down from his hand. “Shit, Constantine! Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” the rogue replied flatly as he shook the blood free of his hand. “I was six feet away from sneaking up on a Goblin Stalker when you fuckers started shouting and sent him into a panic. He got a lucky stab in on me.”
“Fuck! I didn’t even think of that.” Drace winced while waving his han
ds apologetically. “Sorry man, did you manage to get him?”
“Of course I did,” Constantine replied testily. “But where there’s one…”
“There maybe more.” Sierra sighed as she rubbed her eyes. “Ugh! Damn it!”
“Uh, sorry to interrupt,” Huxley interjected hesitantly. “But where is Amaranth?”
“Good question.” I trailed off as I tried to pinpoint Amaranth through our link, while everyone else glanced around the clearing.
Amaranth’s mental voice came back sounding annoyed.
“Shit, Amaranth is chasing down another Goblin that heard us too!” I hissed pointing east and started to move. “He’s heading east!”
“Let’s move!” Sierra motioning us to follow her. “Quickly, but quietly!”
Amaranth didn’t reply right away to my question, forcing me to stew as we followed in his wake. Such a stupid thing to get tripped up over! All because of a lack of mental discipline!
Constantine and Sierra led the way, the threat of discovery adding a spring in our step as we sped through the woods. My eyes flitted from tree to tree as we moved, hoping that my somewhat neglected perception skill would be able to spot any other hiding goblins. With every step I took, I felt my internal panic rising, fearing that something had happened to my familiar.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Amaranth’s voice echoed through my head.
I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief, as I gave everyone the thumbs up sign. “We’re okay. He caught it.”
Chapter 42
“What the hell is that?” Freya’s voice whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear, even while crouching beside her. “It looks like a toppled watchtower, maybe?”
“Eh.” I barely breathed while looking between the foliage, worried my breath would catch the attention of the distant goblins. “I think you’re right.”
Following Amaranth’s report that he may have found the goblin base, we immediately slowed our pace to a near crawl while we approached his position. Taking a moment to collect our other scouts, we carefully made our way eastwards, watching the surrounding forest nervously.
After a slow and patient advance, the azure furred puma finally came into view, firmly nestled against a shallow ridge of eroding dirt that allowed him to peer overtop through a nest of leaves while concealing his rather distinctive coloring from afar.
Arrayed in a line, half of us pressed ourselves against the ridge as we took in the bewildering sight ahead, while the larger members of our group were hidden a short distance away, waiting in suspense as we didn’t want to risk the goblins spotting their larger forms from behind our cover.
Barely two hundred meters in front of us lay the decaying ruins of what must have once been a truly tall watchtower set further on top of the hill ahead of us. Tragically, however, it had long since fallen over, breaking itself into three separate pieces as it fell westward down the hill.
Now the pieces of the tower were slowly being reclaimed by nature, having sunk deep into the soft ground. Thick green moss and various plants now grew on top what once used to be the side of the once great tower. Gaps of weather-beaten brown colored stone could be seen along the sides of the fallen tower where the overgrowth was thin or couldn’t find purchase. Tall trees dotted the approach to the tower, albeit at a thinner density than the surrounding forest.
Finding such a well-preserved structure in the middle of a verdant forest would have been enough to take our breath away, yet our wonder of the tower was overshadowed by the discovery of the Goblin village built in front of it.
And into it.
Under the shadow of what once used to be the peak of the tower, was the beginnings of a settlement complete with the tips of half a dozen red-roofed hovels poking over the top of a crude, crescent-shaped palisade that blocked entry and sight into the goblin village. Bits of red tiles and discolored lengths of wood gave the goblin palisade a ramshackle appearance, almost as if it was constructed in haste with whatever materials were easily available.
A handful of distant figures could be seen walking around on ramparts behind the improvised fortification, occasionally looking out at the only approach towards the settlement.
Barely containing our excitement, we looked past the patchwork fortifications, towards the broken tower that hung over the village. Noticing that the goblins had found a way inside the structure, carving a massive hole through the red tiled roof of the tower as they scavenged pieces from it to use as building materials. From this distance, we could make out a crudely built stairway leading deeper into the gap and inside the broken tower.
Watching the sentries on the ramparts for any sign of threat or alarm, I quietly signaled everyone close to me to retreat backwards a short distance so we could fill the rest of the party in on what we saw, leaving both Amaranth and Sierra to keep an eye on the Goblins in our absence.
“What’d we find, Lyr?” Drace was the first to ask, speaking barely above a whisper as we all huddled close together to prevent our voices from carrying.
“A goblin village from the looks of it, built under and into a decaying watchtower of some sort.” I didn’t waste any time, going on to describe what I had seen, intent on quickly bringing the rest of the group up to speed. “I’m pretty sure this is what I saw earlier from a distance when I climbed the tree, I thought it was a hill from far away.”
“A watchtower?” Abaddon echoed with confusion. “Here? What would it even sssee? You could lose an army in the cover of this forest.”
“I think it was here before the forest was and it would have been in a great spot, overlooking the area,” I suggested softly, glancing at everyone as I explained. “We’ve found two different ruins closer to Aldford on our own already, we’re definitely not the first people to settle this region.”
“Thisss is true.” Abaddon bobbed his head. “Though I am ssurprised that it has lasted that long.”
“It does look rather well preserved,” Constantine said thoughtfully. “Even with nature taking its toll.”
“What about the Goblin Village?” Drace asked, moving the conversation back on track. “Does it look like they’ve been there a while?”
“Not really,” Freya replied shaking her head at Drace’s question. “There are a few buildings built in the shadow of the tower, and they have a very basic looking palisade directly in front of the village but the surrounding area looks rather wild and untouched.”
“I think you’re right, Frey. Looks like they took a lot of material sstraight from the tower when they built the palisade, especially the red tiles.” Myr nodded at Freya while motioning back toward the Goblins. “Did you notice the treess in front of the village?”
“Yeah, it wasn’t as dense as the rest of the forest,” Constantine replied thoughtfully. “But there were quite a few of them, though.”
“But there weren’t any stumps or signss that they had cut any trees down.” Myr quickly stated
. “With all the trees around, it’d have been easy to get better building materialss than pieces of a moldy old tower.”
“These trees are pretty big, and goblins aren’t that strong.” I reasoned, looking up at the nearly forty foot trees surrounding us. “Maybe they didn’t have enough manpower, uh, goblinpower to cut them down?”
“I don’t know.” Freya replied, glancing over at Myr who shrugged. “Looking at the palisade, I got the feeling that they were in a bit of hurry to build it.”
“Why build anything at all?” Helix asked. “They could just live in the tower.”
“Maybe they are,” Drace said with a distasteful expression on his face. “And they ran out of space.”
Now that’s a terrifying thought. I looked over at Drace, then to the rest of the party who all gaped at the half-giant, each of us imagining a horde of goblins nesting within the watchtower.