by Sean Oswald
Krinnk’s mind raced. Sara was getting faster and better at hiding but she wasn’t as good as Krinnk. Thus logically, if they made a run for it, the ettin would catch Sara first. That would buy Krinnk the time to escape, but that was old goblin thinking. A momentary twinge of shame threatened to overwhelm him, but Krinnk was able to push through and focus. No, if Sara could be a distraction which would allow Krinnk to get away, then it stood to reason that Krinnk could be a distraction to allow his little Sara to get away.
“Krinnk keep monster busy. Sara run up trail and find Balayria. Run fast, don’t look back.” The most selfless words ever spoken by a goblin came forth from his lips.
“Will it hurt you? I don’t want to leave you,” Sara said, her fear of losing another being she cared about outweighing even her terror at the sounds the beast was making.
Goblins lied. It was ingrained into them. They lied for more choice food, for better sleeping spots, to avoid punishment or just as a way of getting at a rival. So it wasn’t hard for Krinnk to lie now, even though his motivations were far more pure than ever before. “Sara not worry about Krinnk. Krinnk do many times. Beast is slow and stupid. Krinnk know how to fight it. Sara just be in the way though so Sara need go and find Balayria.” He hated the way her face dropped when he said she would be in the way, but still it was for her own good, so he maintained that story.
“Ready now, Krinnk jump out, Sara count to three and then run.”
Dave was startled as he saw the goblin spring out of the small wooden building. The goblin was rather large for its kind from the limited sampling he had seen, more like the size of the goblin shaman, but it still stood no chance against the walking mountain of muscle which was the ettin. He was even more shocked when he heard the battle cry the goblin let loose.
“You won’t touch my Sara!” The goblin shrieked as it lashed out ineffectually against the two headed giant’s leg. Dave could see that it wasn’t a matter of missing. The six-inch blade struck it’s target but just glanced off as if the skin was armor. A moment after the goblin attacked, Dave saw the sight he had been hoping for but afraid he would never see again. Sara, ran out of the same small wooden building and past the goblin as he furiously attacked again and again.
“Why is little goblin attacking Gorgor?” The left head asked even as the right head said, “Gorgor no like being stuck with little knife.”
As much as Dave wanted to run to Sara, he also knew that of the three of them, he was the best equipped to tank the monster. He had no idea how strong it would be but was afraid it would be more than all of them could handle. For the same reason, he didn’t even call out to Sara, not wanting to distract her from running to safety. Instead he whispered orders, “Leyna, go after Sara. Don’t worry about us. Just get her to safety.”
Dave pulled out two potions, one mana, and one health regeneration and downed them while Leyna stealthed after Sara. Then he pulled his new long sword out and ignited its flame effect. Since he and Karl were still hidden, Dave suggested a sneak attack. It was obvious that the goblin wouldn’t be able to occupy the ettin for long. The goblins attack appeared to have degenerated into the little guy hanging on for dear life as the monster tried to shake him off. It was a little bit comical actually.
“While he is facing away, can you attack and then kite him along a bit with your bow so that I can get in some flanking attacks. Dave could see that Karl was a bit hesitant about having the ettin focused on him so he added, “If he gets too close to you I will use my Taunt skill to draw his aggro.
Karl then asked, “I don’t know how tough this guy is gonna be. Not sure if we can even take him.”
“If it comes down to it then I will try to bind his feet and hope we can get enough head start to catch up with Sara and Leyna.”
Signaling the end of their discussion time, Korgor managed to knock Krinnk loose and then punted him through the remains of the hut. Karl took off running in the opposite direction from where Leyna had headed and weaved his way between the smashed fences and wood fragments. Fortunately, the ettin seemed not to hear or see him as it was focused on peering into the outhouse where Krinnk and Sara had been hiding. With its hands upon the door frame it stuck both its heads in and then tried to stand upright while yelling, “Yoo hoo is witch in here too?”
Being as the ettin was taller than the outhouse as he twisted and tried to stand up, he got stuck. Then the beast didn’t seem to be smart enough to know how to twist back and pull out. What he was though, was strong enough to rip the outhouse to kindling with a single surge of his muscles. That ripping though had the unintended consequence of causing a stream of the outhouse’s contents to splash up into his twin faces, covering him from shaggy eyebrows to the frayed edge of its loincloth.
Sputtering upon the waste product which he was not only smelling but also tasting, both heads roared in outrage. Their roars only increased as a pair of arrows slammed into its feet. The arrows were more potent than the goblin’s dagger and had the effect of at least breaking the skin and causing a couple points of damage (2) each. As soon as they struck though, the arrows did more. Vines erupted up out of the stoney ground and wrapped first around the beast’s injured feet and then began climbing up the tree trunk legs.
Dave paused in his own preparations just long enough to admire the Ranger’s Twin Entangling Arrows. From what Karl had explained about his skills after the fight with the felstier, the arrows wouldn’t be as strong in this type of terrain as in more fertile soil, but the vines would hopefully still slow the beast a bit. Then Karl was busy launching arrows into the beast’s torso, each shaft striking but not doing much damage, at least until he activated a Penetrating Arrow which did enough damage (18) to cause the ettin to rip up the vines entangling its feet and start running after the ranger with the intensity of a freight train.
For his part, Dave wasn’t lax in his preparations. He had downed the two potions then cast Sure Strike which would cause his next attack to be radically more accurate and to have a 55% increased chance of landing for a critical along with doing 110% extra critical damage. A quickly cast Assess Enemy followed that which showed the creature to be a bright yellow con in terms of threat level, meaning that for his party it would be a deadly but not impossible fight. It also told him that the beast was a Level 24 Ettin named Gorgor with 1212 out of 1240 health remaining. Other than the health level, it didn’t give him much information that he didn’t already have. After all, the creature had been shouting its name for the last five minutes.
Next, Dave cast Minor Enlarge which essentially made him the same height as the ettin but not the same width. Mindful of the countdown on his enlarge Dave activated Offensive Stance. His Stamina would only allow him to keep the skill active for a total of thirty-six seconds, but the skill would increase his damage by 200% while also lowering his defense by 50%. Hopefully Karl had its attention completely, and he would be able to land an attack or two before it turned its attention to him. He then declared his Flanking attack spending the point of Teamwork and hoped that it would stack with his sneak attack and everything else.
Not wanting his foe to get too far away from him, Dave sprang forward to attack just as the ettin was breaking the vines. He had weighed out the best way to attack, and given the creature’s obviously thick skin, he thought the best way was to find a soft spot. The hanging flaps of the loin cloth told him what the most vulnerable spot likely was, and while it made him cringe a bit inside, Dave still swung his flaming sword in an uppercut like attack just as he closed with the monster. The blade guided by the magic of his Sure Strike slid up and sheared the backside of the dirt crusted loin cloth.
Congratulations! You have scored a critical hit against Gorgor the Ettin. Who needs honor, when such low hanging fruit exists. Damage: 15 * 3.45 (Strength) * 4.5 (Offensive Stance + Sneak Attack) * 3.1 (critical strike + Flanking + Sure Strike) + 10 fire damage * 4.5 * 3.1 = 861 damage.
Your attack caused catastrophic damage greater or equal to ha
lf the target’s health in a single blow. Normally this would cause a bleeding debuff, but the magical flame effect has a cauterizing effect. (Not to mention what it did to the ettin family jewels)
The sword blow had its desired effect. In that instant, Gorgor couldn’t care less about Karl. He turned in rage activating his beserker skill instinctively. Dave saw it as a red hazy aura began to pulse around the giant. “Big huuu mann hurts Gorgor. Gorgor kill!”
Even while screaming, the beast reflexively swung a back fist at Dave. Due to his increased size, the blow struck him in his chest where he had better armor than in his head as it would have otherwise. It still felt like a sledge hammer had struck him and defense of the armor was not enough to protect him. Dave was sent stumbling backwards till he fell over his enlarged feet while trying to catch his footing. The blow itself was glancing and still caused (47) damage and left Dave gasping for air.
As the ettin turned on Dave, it picked up a long beam from the smashed hut and started to swing it in an overhand stroke at the prone man. Dave wasn’t sure that he could survive a direct blow from this monster. He knew for a fact that the blow he had landed on it would have killed him, more than twice over. Assuming that the red aura was some kind of beserker rage, Dave was scrambling even as the blow was coming down for a way to save himself. His sword had been knocked loose when he was knocked backwards. All he had was his leather covered arm and magic, but none of his magic was intended to shield himself. Divination spells certainly weren’t going to do him any good. Enlarging or mending weren’t going to help, and his binding spell would only serve to pull the club down faster on him.
Then he was struck by an epiphany. He remembered how Mira had altered her fire spell into an ice spell. There was but a fraction of a second left before the club crushed his skull like a grape but he had to try. He cast Minor Binding but intentionally reversed its polarity. It was a bit hard to describe, more something he did by instinct. He felt as the mana came out of him and filled the spell form. He knew what it was supposed to do. Between practice and combat, he had cast his Minor Binding spell hundreds of times. There was a way that the mana flowed in the pattern. Sort of how the water flows from a filter in a fish tank. It doesn’t move all the water around it, only creates a current within that water, just enough to do what is intended. Minimalistic, if you will.
This time he seized hold of the mana as it was going into the spell form and forced it to flow the opposite direction. It clearly didn’t want to. There was resistance, but the spell form was only for a minor spell and so he prevailed.
You have passed a Concentration Check.
As the mana reversed course, so too did the intended pull of the spell reverse polarity and become a push. A shimmering distortion appeared between his outstretched hand and the club, just like a heat distortion over the road in the summer. The club slowed. It was six inches from his hand, then five, then four. It was slowed but still coming. One second passed, followed by two then three and four. His binding spell only lasted for twelve seconds so he had to assume the same here.
Clearly the magic was not strong enough to stop the combined momentum and muscle of Gorgor’s swing only enough to resist it slightly. The ettin had a confused look on both his faces, before the left head which controlled the arm not swinging the club got a look of determination. Then the left arm was added, and the club started to speed up again. Just as it was about impact and shatter his extended palm, Dave remembered a key lesson of many of the martial arts he had studied. Never block when you can redirect. Never match strength against strength when you can use theirs against them. So a quick flick of his wrist turned Dave’s palm to face out forty-five degrees, and the club slid off the redirecting force to smash full on against the ground shattering the rock next to Dave’s head.
Dave may have only been involved in life and death battles for the past three weeks but he still knew for a fact that staying there for an instant longer than necessary was suicide. So he rolled to his left, away from the club. Gorgor drew the club back even while he ignored the arrows that pinged against his back. Another blow was about to follow when a flurry of a white haired half orc in what could only be described as a pastel blue halter top leapt between him and the giant.
“Tell that fool, Thelan, that when a woman says no, she means no!” As she spoke, she threw a hand full of glittering dust into all four of the ettin’s eyes. More of it got into the right side which dropped its hand hold on the club to rub at its eyes, while less got in the left side, and that head only shook back and forth, blinking rapidly to try to see.
“Run fool human, that glitterdust powder isn’t going to stall it for long.” She spoke as a calloused hand was extended to help Dave up.
“Thank you, but we should finish him now while we can. He is already gravely wounded.”
“I haven’t lived over sixty years by seeking fights out. You sound more like my orc kin than any human I’ve seen.”
Dave didn’t waste any more time responding to her but cast a pair of quickened bindings upon the ettin’s left foot and the end of the club.
Balayria whistled and said to herself, “It's not every day an old woman sees a giant human who casts spells. And a cute one at that.”
Dave’s skills and spells were still all operational but only for a few more seconds. He leapt and grabbed his sword off the ground. Its flames had gone out when it left his hand, and he didn’t think to reignite them. Instead, he swung it with all his might at the right hand up by the creatures head even as it was still trying to remove the dust from its eyes. Glitterdust or whatever it was that the old woman had thrown into the monster’s eyes made its head and face glow. He felt the pull of his aim towards it almost like he had cast Sure Strike. His blade severed the beast’s right hand and took off the nose of the right face in one critical strike. This time without the flames to cauterize the wound, blood gushed forth from the handless wrist.
You have hit for (136) damage and caused a bleeding effect. Continual damage 2/tick.
Dave stepped around the monster quickly while it seemed confused and unable to respond. Slashing blows cut open cuts in its skin and then his final strike was a thrust under its left arm and into the heart. As those inches of steel ended Gorgor, Dave’s enlarge also ended, his Stamina and Teamwork having already been used up by his skills.
The best he could manage now was to stand there panting as the old woman kicked the ettin’s corpse to make sure it was truly dead. Seconds later Karl came running up. “That groin shot was amazing. I was sure he was gonna topple from that.”
Dave chuckled at the mention of his low blow, “I only wish.”
“Yeah then he turned on you and no matter how many arrows I shot at him, he didn’t want to do anything but smash you. I guess that’s what you get for making a eunuch out of him.” This was almost the most that Karl had spoken at one time since Dave had known him. Who would have guessed the man had a soft spot for groin jokes.
All exhaustion and humor fled from Dave though as the terror of imminent death passed him, and he realized that he didn’t know where Sara was. He looked at the old woman and took in her appearance more fully. She was clearly an older woman but still had muscles in her arms that would have made a pre-Eloria Dave jealous. Her attire was a hip clinging skirt of sorts which was a mouse colored gray and extended to a couple inches above her knees while being covered in intricate little drawings. Her top was the light blue halter top showing off a toned stomach that would make Instagram models drool with envy. None of her unusual attire was what caught Dave’s attention, nor the wrinkles on her face from an obviously hard life, or the pony tail of long white hair. What caught his attention was the pair of stubby tusks peaking just past her lower lip.
“Are you an orc?”
“Half-orc, actually,” Karl corrected him.
“What's the matter with you sonny? Did Gorgor hit you upside that pretty little head of yours? Well it’s little now at least. That was a nifty spell. Ne
ver seen a man as big as a giant.” Balayria spoke the first to him and then in the way of people who have lived a long time on their own, she trailed off as if speaking to herself.
“What? Oh none of that matters. Do you know where Sara is? Is this your hut? Were you holding her prisoner?” Dave’s questions came out rapid fire, and as he considered the possibilities, his hand tightened on his sword grip.
“Whoa. Just like a human, so quick to jump to conclusions. Always violence first and questions later. Not sure which of my kin is worse.”
“Answer me, do you know where Sara is?”
“What’s it to you, sonny?”
“She is my daughter.”
“Well now, I know you are a liar. Sara’s entire family was killed by some sort of undead from what I have been told. All except for her goblin friend, Krinnk.”
“Goblin friend? Killed? What are you talking about? Just tell me what you have done with Sara, and Leyna for that matter.”
Just as things were getting so tense that more bloodshed was the only likely outcome, Dave heard his favorite sound. The one which had greeted him most everyday he came home from the past half-dozen years. “Daddy...”
Turning he saw Sara pull away from Leyna and come running to him from a hundred feet up the path. His hand left its grip on his sword, and he ran towards her arms extended, tears already forming in his eyes. Till they reached one another and he swept his little girl up off the ground, squeezing her close to his chest. “Oh Sara, I’ve been so scared.”
After a tearful reunion by father and daughter which lasted several minutes, a longer conversation ensued between all present. Introductions were made all around. Sara had already met Leyna, but it was good to be formally introduced, and she took an immediate liking to the witty, outgoing young woman. Dave thought it was strange to see almost a maternal aspect to Leyna after all the sarcastic flirting and teasing that she normally put off.
