The Hobgoblin Riot: Dominion of Blades Book 2: A LitRPG Adventure

by Matt Dinniman

  The couch was made of stretched skin. Bits of hair here and there still clung to it. I did not know what manner of creature donated the skin.

  A hookah-like device as tall as a man sat on a small table. It bubbled happily, puffs of round smoke rising into the air. The oracle clutched onto a small hose with a well-worn mouthlip.

  Leaning up against the table was a gleaming, curved blade.

  It was the oracle’s eyes that gave me pause. Red, piercing, mocking. But intelligent, too. Popper had said she would tell visitors the story of the hobgoblins. She would only fight if attacked.

  Behind her was a single doorway. Behind that door, I knew, was the only way up the tower. The door was magically locked, and she held the key.

  On the minimap, her dot was white. I noticed, then, several other white dots in the room. I looked around, seeing the goblins for the first time. They cowered behind the chairs and wide curtains that surrounded the room, watching me with their reflective eyes. These were actual goblins, not elderly hobgoblins like the shaman had been.

  Goblins weren’t the best fighters, but they were all around me. I rested my hand on the hilt of Triple Fang.

  “Do you know how long I have been here, on this couch?” the oracle asked. When she spoke, the illusion that she was my mother shattered. She didn’t sound as she appeared. This woman spoke with a quiet, determined dignity.

  “I do not know,” I said. “But I imagine it’s been a long time.”

  She nodded. “I take it you killed my great nephew, Prince Kankan?”

  I didn’t hesitate. “I did, but not before I spoke with him. I promised to feed your remaining people and to restore them to the Kampong.”

  She took a long drag from her pipe. “How can we trust someone who kills our kind?”

  “You’ve been killing your own kind for a very long time. Your war chief and his son have been stealing food from the weak.” I reached into my bag and pulled out the second half of the clay pot Prince Kankan had made. I’d wiped the blood off it. I hesitantly stepped forward and placed it on the small table next to her giant hookah.

  She picked it up, looking at it sadly.

  “He showed this to me when he passed through, just a few days ago. It had been in one piece then. He’d been in such a hurry, as you are now. I told him that he was a fool.”

  “Kankan believed that a different path was required for your people to survive. He was right, but he was also too late.”

  She sighed. “We are hobgoblin. We are not simpering auric, or quibbling humans, or fragile wark-ee. We fight or we die. You’ll have to kill him. It’s the only way. If you truly wish for the hobgoblins to survive, and you wish for us to return to our homeland, you must kill him.”

  “Tell me where Chief Musa is, and I will.”

  She shook her head. “You’ll have to kill him, too, if he isn’t already dead. But that’s not of whom I speak. Prince Maghan. Kill him, and you will control the hobgoblins. I have heard of your efforts to feed my people. They will take your food, but they will never follow you. Not unless you kill the Prince. They respect power, and they only respect those who seize it.”

  I heard the sound of the others coming up behind me.

  “You have a key,” I said. “I need it. I need it now. Please give it to me.”

  The woman pulled herself to a sitting position, groaning with the effort. With a grunt, she stood. Her knees creaked and crackled as she pulled herself to her full height, almost eight feet tall.

  “Are you truly that daft? Did you not hear what I just told you? You are hoping to win the trust of my people by providing gifts. We are not human, or of the light. We are of the deceived. If you are to rule my people, here’s a lesson for you, human. We do not, ever, say please.” She picked up her blade.

  The moment she touched her sword, two arrows pierced her in each of her eyes. A moment later, a third exploded through her mouth as she bellowed in pain. Miraculously, she still wasn’t dead, and she blindly swung, staggering forward.

  I pulled Triple Fang free, whipping it across her, cutting her legs out from underneath her. She crashed heavily to the ground, falling like a great tree, shaking the room and upending her glass pipe. All around, goblins squealed in terror.

  You have gained a level!

  You have received a training token.

  You are now level 36.

  Bingo roared, smashing his way through the room, cutting down the goblins before they could decide whether to fight or surrender. It was over in seconds.

  War Party: Castle 1 has been liberated.

  I stepped forward and grabbed the small pouch attached to the side of her flowing dress. I selected and grabbed the key, then tossed it to the three archers. Kitty Chapman snatched it deftly out of the air.

  “Go,” I said.

  Popper Note 18

  Jonah came rushing into the castle with only a few minutes to spare before his curse cycled. I breathed a sigh of relief. That would’ve been the goddamned icing on the shit cake tonight was turning out to be.

  “I’m going to wait for the curse to trigger, and then I’m going back out there,” he said, breathless as he entered the room.

  “Oy, mate. I thought you’d never show up,” Archie the sapper said to Jonah. The texugo and Spritz had spent the last half hour studying the map and discussing different plans of attack. Archie was quizzing the rock singer, asking her if she could build this or that. The sapper had some awesome ideas for traps, unlike Spritz who barely talked at all. The texugo was asking about our access to giant sawblades and boulders and acid. I took that as a good sign.

  Spritz had been watching the map with horror, crying out as if she’d been physically hurt every time one of the towers was destroyed. We’d been lucky so far and had only lost a few soldiers who hadn’t gotten out fast enough. If we survived this night, Spritz would have a lot of work to do in the morning.

  The host of emo-tong were currently on the far north side of the map, near Castle Three and Castle Four, but they were looping around. Soon, they would finally be in range of the Sentinel Tower. The triplets had made a few practice shots already, complaining loudly over the chat that only one of them could actually fire the thing at a time, and that the ponderous weapon was too slow, a good 15 seconds between shots.

  Back in the old days, it had taken a full minute for the tower to reload. The javelin-like arrows were deadly—I’d seen four half-ogres turned to pulp with a single shot before—but they weren’t always accurate, especially further away. From what it sounded like, the triplets were able to bullseye anything within range.

  Gretchen had finished installing the troops in almost all the towers in the second half of the spiral. Already, the rock chuckers were raining artillery down on the creeps.

  Even the last two barracks were now occupied, including the Butcher’s Delight. We still weren’t sure what sort of tower it was. Neither Gretchen nor I remembered it from our day. We only knew that it had some sort of transmutation effect, which wouldn’t work on emo-tong. The map didn’t give any additional clues.

  “I need you here,” I said to Jonah. “You’re better at this shit than I am, and someone has to remain in the cockpit. Gretchen and I are going out there with the white jackets, and we’re hitting them as they leave the Catacombs. It’ll be our best chance to get the flying bastards. They’ll have to land to get through there.”

  Jonah hesitated, then nodded. “Be careful. Some of them have guns.”

  “I know,” I said grimly. “Don’t remind me. We’re going to try to take as many as the fuckers out as we can. It might come down to a fight on the last bridge. We won’t win no matter what if we can’t take out the skeleton. You three,” I said, pointing to Jonah, Spritz, and Archie, “Need to figure out how to kill something that’s indestructible. We got maybe three hours to whip up something.”

  The gashadokuro walked much slower than the rest of the emo-tong army, and it had fallen far behind. No matter what we threw at it,
it wasn’t fazed. Rocks crashed against the ribcage like nothing. It ignored fire and arrows. Freeze blast did nothing. The thing was like Jason from the Friday the 13th movies. It just kept coming. I hoped those three would come up with something.

  I still hadn’t been able to find suitable armor that fit, so I was stuck with just my helmet and Kneecapper. I met Gretchen at the stables, and we both mounted up. Alice hopped up and down with excitement at the prospect of going into battle. Bruce Bruce, who’d already seen action tonight, was much more subdued.

  His Royal Majesty Jonah: Starr, Crystal, whoever, fire when ready. Like we discussed.

  Kitty Chapman: I am on the trigger. Starr is the spotter. Crystal is loading.

  Crystal: This sucks donkey balls. Ace doesn’t even fit up here, and I can’t see shit.

  Starr: Target is getting ready to blow up another tower.

  His Royal Majesty Jonah: Let him. Wait until he’s down to reload.

  War Party> Level 1 Fire Tower in E3 destroyed.

  A new fire joined the others lighting up the night sky. By my count that was 17 towers down. The stench of acrid smoke filled the air. Bruce Bruce coughed.

  Starr: He’s circling down. Adjusting the tracking for distance.

  Kitty Chapman: Firing now.

  Gretchen and I watched the fiery javelin lance through the night sky, trailing sparks like a comet.

  “It’s so pretty,” Alice said.

  Whoosh! An explosion rocked the night, and a mushroom cloud rose high into the air, much bigger than any of the previous explosions. Silhouettes rocketed up in the darkness, dozens of emo-tong blasting away, their bodies sparking like moths hitting the bug zapper when they hit the wall of the spiral. The javelin had impacted with the supply cart for the explosives.

  “Does it usually sparkle like that?” I asked. I had thought it was always just a straight projectile.

  “No,” Gretchen said, her voice in awe. “Those three have a combined longbow skill of 90. That’s gotta be what it is.”

  War Party> Leader Jinzhou Un of the 101st Hive Bombardiers has fallen. Creeps now inflict 10% less damage. 8,543 invaders remain.

  “That’s it?” I said, frustrated. “That big-ass explosion, and there are still 8,500 of the fuckers?”

  Poppy: Everyone back in the arrow towers. Focus on the flying assholes first.

  Jonah ordered the triplets to also focus on taking out the flyers, and they went to work, a lance flying through the sky every 15 seconds, one after another with deadly precision. Alice oohed and aahed at the display.

  If only we’d better prepared for flying monsters. It wasn’t looking good. We were killing them, but it was like trying to empty a bucket with nothing but a teaspoon. We needed something like what Jonah had pulled with the last wave. Something that gets them all at once.

  Another wave of guilt washed over me for calling the wave early. Both Gretchen and Jonah were mad at me, but what else could I have done? Let Jonah die?

  What’s done is done. I always heard that phrase in Juliette’s voice.

  “Here’s the plan,” I said as the four of us rode out. “Ever hear about the Battle of Thermopylae?”

  Gretchen looked at me as if I had just asked her if I could stick a buttered turnip up her ass.

  “Uh, that’s the battle with the Greeks versus the Persians. They held the entire army of the Persians for three days. I know about it because I studied it in college. I think they made a movie about it. How… That doesn’t seem like something you’d know about.”

  “I’m a man of mystery,” I said. The truth was I’d been obsessed with the story because of an awesome VR game I’d played as a kid called The Hot Gates, but I wasn’t going to shatter Gretchen’s illusion.

  “Anyway, that’s the plan here.”

  We’d meet Bingo and his gorcupine crew along with Commander Holder and all the white jackets along with many of the mercenaries near the exit to the Catacombs. Two towers stood there, a Muzzle tower and a level three plasma tower. That area was also in range of the Sentinel Tower and two rock chuckers, though I’d ordered the chuckers to hold back while we were there. I didn’t trust those assholes just yet.

  The exit to the Catacombs was a perfect choke point, a cavern wide enough only for about six or seven across to get out at a time, and they had to go uphill. I’d ordered Nale and a couple other mages into the Muzzle tower, making it super powerful. With about 75 of us holding the line, hopefully we could do some serious damage. There was no way we’d be able to hold them all back, but we’d do our damn best.

  Jonah was asking something about the trap he’d made earlier for wave two, wondering if it had been cleaned up yet, but I wasn’t paying attention. Gretchen had told him whatever he was planning wouldn’t work with emo-tong, but to save the idea for the next wave.

  There’s not going to be a next wave, I thought. A slow, creeping panic was starting to build. We’d been lucky so far. That luck was about to run out.

  I had the ability to un-arrow Jonah and Gretchen, and I’d been practicing pulling up the screen as quickly as possible. If the emo-tong made it to the castle, we’d “lose” the wave, but they wouldn’t go away. We’d still have to fight them off. We could close the castle gates and pick them off one by one until they were all dead. But if that skeleton—the level boss—made it to the castle, we’d automatically die according to the quest. I couldn’t let that happen.

  I had no way of un-arrowing myself. Dying wouldn’t be so bad. I’d come back quickly. It’s what might happen after I regenerated that worried me. We’d discussed resetting our regen outside the city gates, but we hadn’t thought it was necessary for the second wave. It was too late now.

  “We’re finally going into battle together,” Alice said to Bruce Bruce.

  “Yes, uh, I will be brave,” Bruce Bruce said, rather unenthusiastically.

  “I’m going to poke so many holes in those bugs, they’re going to turn their corpses into a mini golf park!”

  Gretchen looked at me. “You taught her that one didn’t you?”

  “We’ve been working on fighting together,” I said. “The first thing you gotta know is proper trash talk.”

  “Do you think we’ll be able to do one of our special moves?” Alice asked.

  We’d been practicing “tricks” as Gretchen called them. Different techniques for fighting while mounted. My Mounted Warfare skill had already grown to seven and my Tumbling skill was now a six. My helmet had a Feather Fall enchantment, which was extra useful because I fell. I fell a lot.

  The emo-tong army was just north of the Cassagnac, taking heavy damage. A long line of towers stood there, one each of the most common kinds. Jonah gave a running commentary over the chat. The towers at this spot were all manned by soldiers Jonah had hand-picked and trained. There was a barracks nearby, but we’d decided to bring them here. The Butcher’s Delight barracks was still fully-manned, but that one was behind us on the path.

  The Freeze spells bunched them up while the chuckers shot longwise down the straight street, wreaking havoc on their formations. Emo-tong mages were becoming effective at shooting the rocks out of the sky, but a well-placed Muzzle blast robbed them of that defense.

  Emo-tong died by the hundreds under the fuselage.

  I recognized this exact spot in the spiral. When I’d been there last, there were no towers for this long stretch. That happened a lot with the spiral. Things moved around. That dwarf had stepped on an exploding cage trap, and I’d thought I was going sinkhole. But I wasn’t. The cops had peeled the neural cradle off, and they’d ripped the apartment to shreds, looking for the chips and the ledger. They’d found them where I had hidden them, in the chest underneath my toolbox.

  Ricky had told them I had the stash. Fucking Ricky. Everything had been his idea, and he’d rolled on me. He never even got charged.

  I could still hear Molly screaming, Juliette sobbing. The cops wouldn’t let Juliette get Molly’s medicine, and the noise of the polic
e had driven my little girl into a seizure. They’d called an ambulance. I’d been in handcuffs by then, and I couldn’t go with her to the hospital.

  I’d screamed and I’d screamed. I shook my head at the unexpected memory.

  The katydid riders went to work, ripping defenders out of the battlements, and in some cases, wrecking the mechanisms for the towers. Most of the riders were killed in the process, and Jonah had smartly ordered at least one archer in each tower. But trading one for one was not a battle we were going to win.

  I know Jonah wanted desperately to move several of these tower placements.

  As the main body reached the bridge, I checked the numbers. 7,288 remained. Most of the fliers were down, thankfully. But the numbers just weren’t there.

  I felt myself growling with frustration as they reached a new line of towers, mostly arrows and fire. The arrow towers weren’t nearly as effective as the fire, and to make matters worse, the fire, it turned out, did not harm the oni at all. Forty of the giant, red ogres remained, but with the depletion of the fliers, the triplets in the Sentinel Tower moved their deadly gaze onto them. They were making a sport of killing two with a single shot, no easy task. By the time they reached the edge of the Catacombs, only ten of the oni remained. All the fliers were down.

  The gashadokuro had fallen far behind. He was still on the other side of the Cassagnac.

  War Party> Invaders are entering the Catacombs. Stats will be offline until the creeps reappear or are all killed.

  “Do you remember the Catacombs?” I asked Gretchen as we nervously waited. It could take anywhere from 10 minutes to a couple hours for them to get through. The hobgoblins from the first wave had done it in about an hour. “I never made it that far.”

  She nodded. “After the entrance with the safe area, it’s mostly just a maze filled with skellies. The walls move around, and it’s easy to get separated. But when you go in with a really big group, it’s not hard to power your way through. The walls are made out of bones, and they grab you. It’s pitch black in there. There are these flying skull things, too, that shoot fireballs, like from that Doom maze they have in Sin.”