The Phoenix of Altria

by David M Zahn

  "There were a couple girls his mother and I thought he was sweet on. One of them was Maggie Smith and the other was Lilith Franklin, who of course, has also disappeared since," Samuel said.

  "Do you think it's possible he ran away and then Lilith joined him later?" I asked.

  "Possible, yes, but I think it's unlikely," Samuel replied. "Lilith has never mentioned wanting to leave town as far as I know, and I don't see both of them ignoring messages from family for this long."

  "I see. Well that's it from me unless anyone else has any more questions," I said looking at the rest of our group.

  Nobody had any more questions, so we bid the miller goodbye and decided to head back to the inn for the rest of the day. None of us wanted to head out to look for the goblin encampment this far into the day. We figured spending some time in the common room getting to know some of the other locals might not be a bad idea.

  Chapter Seven: The Goblin Camp

  Most of the people of Roselake were more than happy to speak to us once they found out we were investigating the disappearances. There were a few, however, that were turned off, shunning us once they found out who we were and what we were doing in town. I made a note of them for further investigation later.

  Talked out and full of food, the four of us headed up the second floor for bed. Elaria flat out refused to share a room with Eldertits, so I ended up bunking with Eldertits again while Rondo ended up with Elaria.

  The rooms were simple but comfortable with only a single full-sized bed in each one. We could have probably rented four rooms, but I thought each room would have two beds like the Oakspring. Apparently, this was not the case in the Rose and Thorn.

  Regardless of this and what Elaria thought, Eldertits was actually a pretty good bed mate. She didn't make much noise, didn't move a whole lot, and didn't seem to mind when I moved in my sleep. Unlike the previous time we slept together, she didn't latch on to my back and instead went straight to sleep.

  The next morning, the four of us and Minty met downstairs in the common room to go over our plans for tracking down this goblin encampment. Since we thought it was unlikely we would be eating much more than rations for the duration of this journey, we all ordered breakfast from the bar.

  "It will probably take us the better part of the day to reach this goblin encampment," Elaria said. "How fast we're able to move will depend on the terrain between it and Roselake."

  Our ranger was always most comfortable when discussing some sort of scouting or actually performing the task. The rest of us were more than happy to let her take the lead on this task even though I wasn't convinced it had anything to do with our main quest.

  "Let's finish eating and get moving," Eldertits said with her mouth full of food. "I can't wait to fight some goblins. This town is boring as fuck."

  "Don't go charging in without thinking first," Elaria lectured the other elf. "We need to scout out the encampment, figure out the how many of the enemy there is, and then quietly remove as many as we can. Remember, there are only four of us, and they could easily overwhelm us."

  "Oh, come on, this will be way more fun if we just march in and start swinging," Eldertits said mischievously.

  "No, it won't," Elaria said firmly.

  "I'm inclined to agree with Elaria here, Tits," I said. "We should try to avoid all hell breaking loose unless we can't avoid it."

  Tits looked at me, gave an exaggerated sigh, and said, "You might be the most boring human alive Ryland, but fine, we'll do it Elaria's way just because you were so good in bed last night."

  Rondo and Elaria both raised their eyebrows at me, and I quickly said, "Nothing happened last night, you know how she likes to stir the pot."

  "You can deny it all you want, but you were all about this sweet, tender elven body last night," Eldertits said smiling. "Kept shooting fireballs right up my -"

  I sighed loudly, cutting off the rest of her sentence. I thought about denying it more, but that would only end up egging on the troll, so I kept my mouth shut and hurriedly finished my breakfast.

  Once all of us, including Minty, finished eating, we left the inn and began walking toward the lake. The town of Roselake sat along the shore of the far end of the lake of the same name. Several docks were built where the town met the lake and housed a small fleet of fishing boats.

  Looking out into the lake itself, I could see that more boats were out in the water, and fishermen were busy working nets and poles in an attempt to gather their daily haul. Though long and somewhat narrow, from my position near the docks, I couldn't see where the lake ended.

  Minty got extremely excited when we reached the lake and happily jumped into the water and began swimming playfully while Elaria debated on taking us along the left or right side of the lake. Ultimately, she decided that going around to the left was the better route, though she didn't explain her reasoning to me.

  The walk along the shore was actually pretty pleasant and almost felt more like a group of friends going out for a stroll than the beginning of a mission to clear out an encampment of armed goblins. A cool breeze blew off the lake, and Minty splashed lazily alongside us. I think I finally found the relaxing part of Alderoth. It's a pity this isn't going to last very long.

  "This is what I've been waiting for since I got to this world," Rondo said. "A kind, relaxing walk."

  "Stay alert," Elaria snapped at him. "Goblins or other threats could be anywhere, and as soon as you let your guard down, that's when they'll get you."

  As soon as Elaria turned back to focus on the path ahead, Rondo rolled his eyes at the woman and stretched his arms. Regardless of what she said, this was exactly what some of us needed for our mental sanity. Most of our time here in Alderoth was stressful and life-threatening, so these little moments made all the difference in the world.

  We continued down the lake shore for the next couple of hours at a faster pace than I would have chosen. Unlike the rest of us, Elaria was in no mood for a relaxing walk down the shoreline, and she led us purposefully. We didn't run into any danger during this period of time, but thanks to Elaria, we would have been completely ready for it if we had.

  Instead, we found the end of the lake. Other than the river that flowed into it, this side was much the same as the other end where Roselake was situated. Most of the land surrounding the lake was dominated by fields of wheat, though occasionally another crop had been planted. A couple hills blocked our view forward but otherwise posed little threat.

  "I'm heading to the top of that hill to get a better view of what we are dealing with moving forward," Elaria said, not waiting for a reply and taking off towards the hill.

  The rest of our party moved over to the base of the hill and waited for our ranger to return.

  A couple minutes later, she came back down the hill and said, "The land up ahead is sparsely populated with trees and a few farms but nothing that will provide a whole lot of cover. There's still no sign of the goblin camp, but it can't be too far away now, so stay alert."

  As she said this last part, she gave significant looks to all of us, paying particular attention to Eldertits. Silently, we continued along the river between the hills until I saw the farmland and trees she was talking about. The only sign of people out here were a couple farmhouses, but other than that, this area was extremely isolated. If goblins came down this way, the people living on these farms would have no one to help them.

  "Maybe these goblins have moved out of the area," Eldertits suggested. "I mean, there's nothing worth raiding around here, and the town of Roselake is practically worthless, too."

  "Yeah, maybe," I replied, "but the mayor seemed pretty certain they were in the area, so we probably just haven't gone far enough yet."

  "Quiet you two," Elaria hissed back at us. "Do you want to announce our presence to any scouts in the area?"

  We continued along the river for another couple of hours moving slowly until we came to another hill slightly to the right of the river. Elaria leapt across th
e river and ran up the hill without saying a word to any of us. The rest of us waited on the left side of the river, not wanting to jump or climb at the moment.

  This time, Elaria took a long time on the hill, and the rest of us, Minty included, had to wait a good ten minutes for her to return. When she did, she left no doubts that she discovered the goblin encampment.

  "They are just over the ridge," Elaria said, speaking to us softly. "There's a lot of them, probably too many for a group of four, but we might be able to take them out if we go in quiet and slowly."

  "What kind of defensive set up do they have?" Eldertits asked. "Do they have any sentries or watch towers?"

  "They have just a basic ditch dug around their camp. It's not well fortified," Elaria responded. "But they do have a couple groups circling outside of the camp as well as two watchtowers. One on the northeast side of the camp and the other on the southwest side."

  "That's not too bad. If we can just take out the scouts patrolling without the watchtowers noticing, we should be able to sneak into the camp relatively easily," Rondo said.

  "Maybe, but even if we do take out the scouts, the watchtowers have a lot of visibility," Elaria replied. "Plus, once we take out the scouts, we'll only have about twenty minutes until the alarm is raised from respawn."

  "True, so this will have to be quick and quiet," Rondo said. "How well are the goblins equipped?"

  "Poorly," Elaria responded with a wicked grin. "On that count, we will have the advantage, because our gear is definitely superior."

  "Well, let's get this over with," I suggested. "What course do you suggest we take?"

  Elaria suggested we take the long way around the hill to the right instead of following the stream in between hills. This would give us a wider berth around the camp and make us less likely to be spotted by a patrol. Once we cleared the hill, we were to sneak in closer and lay in wait until one of the scouting parties got close enough for us to attack. We were to quickly take them out while causing as little commotion as possible.

  Once that was done, we would sneak into the camp through a blind spot in the line of vision between the two watchtowers. Elaria explained that on the inside of the camp tents circled around the outside near where the ditch had been dug, and the interior was set up with campfires and a larger tent. Presumably, this structure belonged to the leader, and this is where we would need to head.

  Capturing the leader was the priority, because once we did that, we would be able to persuade him that it was in his best interest to take his goblins and march them away from the area. We'd kill as many of them as we had to, but our aim wasn't to kill them all. They'd just respawn after all.

  Slowly, we crept around the hill to the right following our ranger as she diligently directed the group. Elaria already had her bow drawn and an arrow nocked as she moved, just in case we were noticed. I thought about summoning a fireball but felt like it would more likely get us noticed rather than help.

  Rondo, moving just ahead of me, seemed to slither like a snake, and I could definitely tell that the rogue had a considerable boost to stealth. Earlier in the week, he explained to me that rogues gained considerable points towards skills and that it was one of the biggest advantages of his class.

  I actually felt pretty good about my own stealthing. The points I added to the skill were definitely paying off. I didn't feel like the biggest liability in the group anymore, at least not on this point.

  That title went to Eldertits who must not have allocated any points into stealth, because I could hear every loud step she took. It was truly cringe-worthy, but there was nothing to be done about it. We needed her with us in case everything went to shit. There was no better fighter in our group.

  Clearing the hill gave us our first view of the goblin encampment and the smoke billowing up from the fires in the center of it. The watchtowers were of a crude design made out of trees that had recently been felled. There wasn't much of a platform at the top, more of a cross-section of logs, but a goblin stood at the top of each one looking bored and moving its head slowly back and forth.

  "Only move when I give the signal," Elaria hissed at the rest of us. "We will need to do this precisely."

  Watching both watchtowers as well as the scouts who had recently passed, she waved her arm forward and began moving. We followed her until she reached a small cluster of trees and motioned for us to get down.

  I dropped to the ground followed by Rondo and Eldertits. The trees gave us a little cover, but someone looking hard would be able to spot us without a problem. Ultimately, we just had to hope that didn't happen.

  "Alright, I'm going to ask Minty to draw over the next group of scouts that reaches us," Elaria whispered. "We need to do this quickly, and Ryland, no fireballs. You'll have to use your daggers. We need to kill this group unnoticed by the others, because if we blow our cover, we're screwed. Tits, make that axe hum silently."

  This wasn't a surprise to me as I had already decided on my own that my fireballs would be too risky to use in an operation like this. The adrenaline I always felt before a battle began surging through my body, focusing me.

  As Elaria spoke softly to Minty, I quickly summoned my twin daggers into my hands. Rondo did the same while Eldertits pulled out her axe. The little otter scampered forward, disappearing in the tall grass.

  Forcing myself to breathe slowly, I waited in silence for the otter to return with the guests we were expecting. It took a good three minutes before he charged back into our group with the sound of thumping boots not far behind him.

  Five goblins charged into a mist and were wholly surprised to find four humanoids instead of the little otter they were looking for. Elaria unleashed her arrow at the first one and smoked him clear in the head, while Rondo got behind another one and slit its throat before it even knew what happened.

  The third began to exclaim but was silenced as Eldertits removed its head from its body with one swing of her axe. I stabbed the fourth in the head with both daggers, and its eyes opened wide before it vanished, dropping a single coin.

  The last goblin began to mutter in a language I couldn't understand, but Tits grabbed it by the back of its head with one hand and shoved its face straight into her breasts. It jerked wildly, but she didn't let go. With her outrageous strength it was unlikely to escape. Vanishing her axe, she used her other hand to push her boobs around the sides of the thrashing creature's head. After two minutes of this, it finally stopped moving and vanished.

  "Fastest titties in the west," Eldertits whispered, pulling up her breasts one at a time and blowing on them.

  It was, perhaps, the most ridiculous way to kill someone I'd ever seen.

  Congratulations Elaria has defeated level 7 goblin scout! As a party member, you have earned 72 XP.

  Congratulations Rondo has defeated level 6 goblin scout! As a party member, you have earned 63 XP.

  Congratulations Eldertits has defeated level 8 goblin scout! As a party member, you have earned 95 XP.

  Congratulations you have defeated level 6 goblin scout! You have earned 63 XP.

  Congratulations Eldertits has defeated level 7 goblin scout! As a party member, you have earned 72 XP.

  Elaria shook her head and whispered, "Well, unconventional as it was, I can't argue with results. Now when I tell you all to run, run and dive over the ditch. You want to land near the ground behind one of the tents, so the goblins are unlikely to notice you."

  The rest of us nodded in acknowledgment, and Elaria turned back to watch the towers and camp. I kept my eyes on her and waited. The scouts felt like a pre-game warm-up, and the real match was about to start any second now.

  "Now," Elaria hissed at us, taking off through the tall grass toward the camp.

  The rest of us bolted after her, though I quickly fell behind the other four with even Minty easily outpacing me. Elaria was the first to jump the gap, sliding effortlessly to the ground on the other side, stopping right before the tents. Eldertits was the next to go, and
while she wasn't as graceful, she had no problems. Nor did Minty or Rondo after her.

  I was about to jump when I felt the front of my boot catch on a small rock on the ground, and I lost my balance. I fell forward and went face first into the ditch. My head smashed into the opposite dirt wall a moment later, and I slid the rest of the way down the wall into the trench below. Screaming pain built up from my forehead and spread out through the rest of my head.

  Fuck, that hurt. Looking at my surroundings, I inwardly groaned. What Elaria had described as a ditch was, in fact, a good six feet deep, and I was in no mood to climb out of here. Why the hell didn't ibuprofen exist in this world, I thought as I cast cure on myself to recover the small about of HP I lost. The spell restored my hit points but didn't do much of anything about the searing pain in my head.

  "Ryland," Eldertits whispered down to me. "Are you okay?"

  "Yeah, my head hurts like hell, but otherwise I'm fine," I whispered back.

  "Hold on, I'm going to pull you up," she said, and then added excitedly, "Oh shit someone is coming, we've got to move."

  I heard a scrambling up above, and Eldertits' head disappeared. I hugged the wall in front of me and got as low as I could, so I would be as hard to spot as possible. Seconds later, I heard the sound of goblin gibberish above as two goblins spoke to each other calmly.

  The voices came closer and closer, and I slowly began sliding to my right in an attempt to get as far away from them as I could without getting spotted. The dirt rubbed on my face, but I ignored it and focused on the task.

  After an eternity, the voices slowly drifted away, and I scampered quickly further down the ditch. I kept moving until I found a set of footholds and handholds dug into the wall. I'm guessing the goblins used these to climb in and out of the ditch when they were digging it.

  Looking up, I saw no one. Listening for anyone who might be approaching, no one sounded close. I grabbed ahold of some of the handholds and began to pull myself up. I only went far enough to peak over the side of the ledge into the interior of the camp.