Beastborne- Mark of the Founder

by James T Callum

There was something strangely symbolic about his chains. Like they were part of his identity.

  A high-pitch yipping sound echoed around them. Yesel’s bow twanged in the dark and one of the sounds became strangled, then ceased altogether. But it was only one among dozens of them.

  “What is that?” Hal asked, tightening his grip on the chains.

  “Gnolls,” Yesel hissed. An arrow streaked through the dark and Yesel swatted it out of the air with her bow. “Something is not right. Gnolls are weak, frightful creatures. They would not brazenly attack us ordinarily.”

  The sound of fighting echoed around them in the forest and Hal heard the strange whistling sound of arrows diving through the air. For the first time, Hal was glad they were plunged into complete darkness. A campfire would have been a beacon for these creatures.

  But it would have been nice to see more than dark shifting shapes all around.

  “Behind us!” Yesel shouted. Hal moved with Yesel, keeping to her back as she pivoted around and drew back her bow again. There was a constant thrum in the air around her, she sent arrow after arrow into the dark to hit targets Hal could not hope to see.

  A snarl caught Hal off-guard and he turned just as a shadow resolved itself from the darkness and lunged at him. It was the largest wolf he had ever seen.

  They collided together and tumbled through the dark away from Yesel. She sent a few arrows into the thing’s back before she was overrun herself and Hal was dragged away. She was swallowed by the dark veil that drifted at the edge of his darkvision’s range.

  Hal sliced up with his falchion, meeting greasy hide that was oddly resistant to the blade’s edge.

  The gnoll tossed him like a doll and Hal tumbled until he fetched up against the trunk of a large tree, blasting the breath from his lungs. After his training with Angram, he found it didn’t hurt quite as much compared to the Ranger’s painful lessons.

  But then he realized it wasn’t supposed to.

  The [Gnoll] uses Vicious Hurl.

  You take 5 points of damage.

  You are Stunned!

  Hal’s head swam and his muscles felt locked up. The gnoll loped toward him with disturbing grace. It raised up on its hind legs, standing seven feet tall and slashed down with its dagger-like claws. Blood sprayed as they ripped past Hal’s meager defenses. A full quarter of his HP was ripped off with that last strike, bringing him down to 40.

  You are no longer Stunned.

  Hot lines of pain branded themselves into his chest and Hal screamed out. Suddenly able to control his own body again, he brought up the wide blade of the falchion for the next attack. Bright sparks flashed in the night, as Hal parried the next slash, illuminating the slavering muzzle of the gnoll.

  Rolling to the side, Hal grabbed at an exposed root for leverage and leaped to his feet. He swung over to the other side of the tree, using the trunk as a shield from the gnoll’s ridiculous reach.

  The pain across his chest was intense but it was surprisingly easy to bear. This was the type of wound that would have sent any normal person into shock but aside from the pain, Hal felt fine.

  The gnoll leaped around the tree, its long rending claws swiping through the air where Hal was just a heartbeat ago.

  Instead, Hal was crouched low to the ground. He never did get a chance to use enchainment and he meant to remedy that. He may not be able to beat the creature in a straight fight, but he didn’t have to.

  As soon as he concentrated on the spell, his hand moved of its own accord and he could feel the wellspring of mana within him come alive.

  The ground burst forth with spectral chains that crisscrossed the air in front of Hal, lashing against the Gnoll and pulling it down to the ground.

  Try as the creature might, it couldn’t break free. All it could do was snarl and bark.

  You cast Enchainment.

  The [Gnoll] suffers the effect of Bind.

  He circled behind another tree, then another after that in an attempt to swing around and get back to Yesel and the camp.

  The gnoll never appeared again but Hal kept glancing back over his shoulder to make sure nothing else was coming after him. And so he didn’t see the tiny creature standing waist-high with a large club that knocked him down with one swipe.

  Hal went down, hard. The goblin wasted no time taking full advantage of Hal’s prone body. All Hal saw was a masked face and a thick knotted log falling towards his head before everything went black a moment after a new prompt appeared.

  The [Goblin Skirmisher] defeats you.

  13

  You are revived.

  You suffer the effect of Weakness.

  Having been revived after being knocked unconscious, your body is still reeling from the effects. All stats are reduced by 50%. Being knocked out and revived again while already weakened will incur a harsher penalty.

  Your Enfeebling Magic has risen to Level 1.

  +1% Enfeebling success (+1%).

  +2% Enfeebling duration (+2%).

  You suffer the effect of Exhaustion (Lv.1).

  HP, MP, and SP regeneration halted.

  Exhaustion

  Exhaustion can be incurred from cold or hot temperatures without proper insulation, starvation, dehydration, extreme sleep deprivation, and certain poisons, spells, or abilities. Exhaustion comes in 5 progressively worsening levels. All higher levels include the effects of those preceding it.

  Lv.1: HP, MP, and SP regeneration halted.

  Lv.2: -50% Chance to resist status effects.

  Lv.3: HP, MP, and SP halved.

  Lv.4: Speed is halved.

  Lv.5: Unconsciousness.

  “Wakey, wakey, man-thing! Many tongue-flaps we must trade.”

  Something rough slapped across Hal’s face and he slowly came back to his senses. When he saw where he was, he instinctively reached for his falchion but found nothing there.

  Instead, he discovered that his hands were once more bound. Ironically, with the same [Iron Manacles] he was bound with back in Fallwreath’s dungeon. A recurring theme he was getting more than a little sick of.

  At least I can get out of these at a moment’s notice. Hal nearly did just that, but his head swam and a wave of nausea assaulted him so severely that he struggled to keep from retching.

  Maybe in a little bit.

  Worse yet, his clothes had been stripped from him. All he had on between himself and the wild world around him was a pair of embarrassing Cat in the Hat boxers.

  Wherever he was, it was cold. He shivered fitfully and tried to take in his surroundings when a masked goblin reached one stubby hand forward and pulled Hal upright. He held a small crudely carved item in his free hand.

  Everything felt sluggish. His mind dripped disconnected thoughts that he couldn’t keep straight for longer than a few seconds. Even the appearance of his rather diminutive cellmate didn’t seem to register directly.

  Hal took a moment to take in his surroundings. He was in a large rough-hewn cavern, with torches set haphazardly along various ramshackle levels built with little more than rope and sticks.

  The cave was tall, he couldn’t see the roof through the gloom even with several torches spaced out among the ramshackle prison cells. Everything had a very kludged feel to it.

  Functional but only just.

  The only thing that seemed decently constructed were the rows of cages that held countless shadowy forms. More prisoners. So, I’m not the only one.

  Another slap brought his attention back to his cellmate.

  A little goblin with a crudely carved mask fit over his face, not too unlike the shape of a bowling ball with large spaced apart holes. He had a single long pointed green ear that was practically drooping out of the left side of his mask.

  Now that Hal was focusing a little, he noticed that the goblin’s ear wasn’t green skin. It was short, velvety green fur. That’s weird.

  “You listen to Buffrix!” His tiny hands were encased in what looked like leather mittens. “I saving your living-for
ce, so you owe me many-debts uplander!”

  Hal put his hands to his temples and rubbed slow, soothing circles. The goblin hopped back and took an aggressive stance. “I don’t know what you mean, living-force? Do you mean you saved my life?”

  “Is what I said, why you tongue-flap useless words at Buffrix?” The goblin hopped about, and if possible, seemed even more agitated.

  “Why would a goblin save my life?” Hal asked, lowering his shackled hands and trying to piece together a plan on how he was going to get out.

  “Goblin!? Uplander must be air-sick! Tongue-flap crazy things. Am koblin, not goblin. Different! Buffrix will mercy-give such cruelness this once. But only this once!” He hopped around, there was plenty of room for the much smaller koblin to do so, though the cage was barely tall enough to hold Hal standing up.

  “Sorry, I’m new here.” On a hunch he added, “Are goblins the ones with green leathery skin?”

  “Man-thing see-true!” Buffrix clapped his mittened hands. “Yes! Koblins furry.” He reached up and showed the green fur on his ear. “Goblins gross no-fur.”

  Hal looked down at his chest, his skin was stained dark brown with old blood and the wounds that should have taken months to heal were instead angry pink flesh, already on the mend.

  Hal pointed to his chest. “You did this, Buffrix?”

  The koblin nodded. “Man-thing owes many-debts with Buffrix now!”

  “All right,” Hal hedged, assuming the koblin was telling the truth. “And how do you want to be repaid?”

  “Man-thing will help Buffrix and his clan escape. We kaboom goblin stink-home. Then man-thing’s many-debts be gone.”

  Hearing him talk was giving Hal a bigger headache than the one he woke up with. Then again, if this koblin did save his life he did owe him.

  New Quest: Repay Buffrix!

  Having saved your life, Buffrix has requested that you repay him by breaking him and his clan out of confinement and destroying the goblin prison.

  Objectives

  Break Buffrix’s clan out of the goblin prison.

  Destroy the goblin cave.

  Additional objectives available.

  Rewards

  2,000 Experience Points.

  Koblin Reputation (Variable).

  Item: [Goblinbane].

  Additional rewards available.

  “Got any bright ideas on how we might accomplish those lofty goals?” Hal walked the five steps to the bamboo bars. He curled his hands around them trying to shake the cage loose. It was surprisingly sturdy. “I don’t precisely have a weapon to defend myself.” He looked down at his Cat in the Hat boxers. “Or clothes.”

  The rattle of Hal’s chains reminded him that perhaps he wasn’t defenseless.

  “We need be finding Sparkspox and Jabkix,” Buffrix said. “Koblin-clan help us get out. Then we make great kaboom.”

  Quest Updated: Repay Buffrix!

  Through speaking with Buffrix, you have learned that he needs the help of two of his clanmates to escape: Sparkspox and Jabkix.

  Objectives

  Break Buffrix’s clan out of the goblin prison.

  Destroy the goblin cave.

  Additional objectives available.

  Rescue Sparkspox.

  Rescue Jabkix.

  Kaboom?

  Rewards

  2,000 Experience Points.

  Koblin Reputation (Variable).

  Item: [Goblinbane].

  Additional rewards available.

  It was hard to focus. The cave was damp and chill, he had to grit his teeth to stop them from chattering.

  Hal looked at all the other cages to take his mind off the cold. They were stacked atop each other like Jenga towers ready to fall at the slightest breeze. The few faces he could see looked like people. A few cages held what he assumed were koblins with their crudely carved masks turned his way.

  The one thing he didn’t see was any kind of guard presence. Hal’s cage was about three stories up and set on a rocky shelf all on its own. But that also meant he and Buffrix were alone.

  There would be no allies within easy reach.

  “What’re they going to do with us?” he asked.

  Buffrix plopped down onto cold stone floor. “Force-do many-things. Maybe sell for jingle-shine to humans. Many jingle-shines for certain humans. Maybe sell you. Better fate than koblin.”

  The morose tone pulled Hal away from the bars. He sat down on the hard stone floor and looked at his companion. “Why?”

  “Goblin hate koblin. If no kill, they force-do until dead.” He waved a stubby, mittened hand in the general vicinity of the other cages. “Cages built by koblin to house more koblin. Humans have saying, is vicious whirlygig, yes?”

  I think I understood that, somehow.

  “That sounds horrible.”

  Buffrix shrugged. “Is truth.”

  The koblin was quiet over the next few hours as Hal paced the confines of his cage. He knew he could use Mana Investiture to break through the bars and unshackle himself. The magic was at his fingertips but he still felt woozy and groggy. The combination of exhaustion and weakness was severe.

  And the cold was getting to him. Without any reprieve, Hal’s hands and feet were beginning to numb. It was all he could do to pace and try to keep warm but each step on the cold stone floor sapped more of his precious heat.

  He would need to be a hundred percent if he was going to break out. Something he was beginning to suspect wasn’t going to happen.

  Without a way to get rid of his exhaustion, he was sitting at a pitiful 31 HP and still had that weakened status effect, the cause for his sluggishness.

  It was beyond frustrating that he could break out any time he wanted but with his current state, he would easily be taken out by any wandering goblin.

  “Kobbie-friend bring tasty-nums!” called out a voice, jarring Hal back to the present issue at hand. A small koblin hurried up the sloping ramp on stubby legs and oversized furry green feet. It sported a similar, if somehow much cruder wooden mask over its features.

  The koblin was shadowed by what Hal assumed was a goblin. They were identical in size and general shape but the goblin had on a suit of metal armor that covered it from head to toe, leaving only its long floppy green ears exposed. It held Hal’s falchion in both hands like a greatsword.

  Every so often the goblin kicked at the koblin ahead of it. Hal felt a spike of anger at such casual cruelty. “Hurry empty-head! Gobbies have busy-deals to make! Man-things bring jingle-shines muchly for this one!” The goblin pointed Hal’s [Deserter’s Falchion] at him and let out a low cackle.

  It was only then that Hal realized the golden mark on his forearm was fully visible to anybody who looked.

  I guess I’ve gotten so used to it, surrounded by people who didn’t gawk and remind me of it every second.

  The koblin hurried as fast as its floppy feet would allow, carrying a wide wooden tray with two bowls. Every time the goblin pushed him, the contents of the bowls slopped out a little.

  Hal grimaced. He didn’t want to know what was in them.

  “Here go, tasty-nums for Buffrix and…” The koblin looked up at Hal. “Oh, man-thing is awake! Happy days!” The koblin let out a little joyous whoop, which the goblin immediately punished by shoving the koblin roughly to the ground.

  That spike of anger in his chest turned into a full-fledged surge of white-hot rage. The koblins seemed so sweet, weird yes, but cute. And to see them bullied like that was too much for him.

  The goblin kicked the helpless little koblin again, eliciting a whimper of pain from the downed creature. Hal crossed his hands over the iron shackles on each of his wrists and triggered Mana Investiture.

  He had to push hard through the exhaustion and weakness that sapped his strength. Hal grabbed hold of his anger over the abuse of the sad little koblin and used it like a battering ram to force the magic through his hands.

  Mana flowed through his hands and he could feel the simple materi
al of the metal as if it were an extension of himself. Each use brought a greater understanding and a higher degree of control.

  Instead of damaging the locking mechanism, he simply unlocked it.

  Hal turned his attention back to the goblin. As the Goblin raised the [Deserter’s Falchion] to strike at the downed koblin, Hal reached through the bars and slipped the chain out. Caught in both hands, Hal looped the chain in front of the goblin from behind.

  Before it could realize what happened, Hal pulled hard on the chain. The goblin crashed into the sturdy bars of the cage, its sword arm pinned up high. The heavy links of the chain crushing into its windpipe.

  Gritting his teeth, Hal continued to pull with all his might. Choking his guard had worked before. It was even the same weapon.

  I’d really prefer not to make a habit of this. At least I’m not going, “shhh, shhh.” Like some kind of creep.

  “Get the sword, koblin!” Hal hissed. His arms were shaking and he didn’t know if he could hold the goblin there long enough to knock it out. Let alone kill it.

  The small, whimpering thing scrambled to its feet and snatched the weapon from the goblin’s fingers. Without any further instruction, the koblin turned the unwieldy blade on its captor and squealed, “Now you fall into my sneak-harm!”

  Hal barely managed to throw his hips back far enough to avoid the tip of the blade that burst from the goblin’s back.

  You defeat the [Goblin Mercenary].

  You gain 100 Experience Points.

  Koblin Reputation: +2,000 (Friendly).

  For stepping in at great personal risk to stop koblin injustice from continuing, the koblins now view you as a friend. They will do their best to help you when it aligns with their general course and sensibilities.

  Novice reaches Level 5.

  You have 5 unspent Attribute Points awaiting distribution.