Greenways Goblins (Resurrection Quest Book 1)

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “No, we could split them,” Tom said, his eyes still on the cave. “Let some out, slip back to the entrance to buy time, and kill the ones who made it out. Rinse and repeat until we have them dead or they stop trying to get us.”

  “They might have retreated and are waiting for us to come to them,” Michael said. “Hoblins are more aggressive than goblins, but we’ve severely depleted their numbers.”

  “That’s a good point,” Dick nodded. “If they are waiting for us, they’ll be prepared to hit us as we go down that long tunnel toward the main room.”

  “We could take that crude table in the first room and use it as a tower shield,” Tom suggested. “That would stop the arrows, but the leader is a shaman, meaning we’ll have spells to deal with, too.”

  “Like that web spell,” Harry said, recalling the goblin shaman, Gruk.

  “If it webs the table, I’ll let it go and fall back in case they try to light it,” Tom shrugged. “I might take a hit or two getting it back into position once the web burns off.”

  “That might still be the best idea,” Dick said. “Go after them and prepare for the ambush. If we can stop the ambush, it might demoralize them more.”

  “If we had some C4, we could just collapse the damned cave on them,” John sighed. Michael looked momentarily confused at John’s choice of words, but did not ask any questions.

  “If wishes were horses,” Marie said.

  “Who wants to wait to ambush them and who wants to go after them?’ Dick asked.

  “In,” Tom said.

  “In,” Harry nodded.

  “Wait,” Michael said.

  “Wait,” Marie said slowly. “If they don’t come out, we might be able to sleep and be in top condition.”

  “They’ll be in top condition, too,” Tom added.

  John looked at Dick, “What do you say?”

  “In,” Dick said. “If nothing else, we can test them and fall back.”

  “In,” John nodded, “on that condition. If it looks bad, we fall back.”

  “Agreed,” Harry said.

  “Okay,” Marie nodded.

  “Fuck,” Michael said, his hands starting to shake again. “I think the spell wore off.”

  “It did,” Dick said. “Being shot in the ass made me lose concentration. It also likely saved your life. I need to cast it on Tom this time if he’s going to be the one in front.”

  “You can stay out here and keep an eye out for us, if you want,” Marie said kindly.

  Michael shook his head, “No. No, I’ll see this through.”

  “Good man,” Dick said, slapping him on the back. “Make sure your stuff is in order, everyone. We’ll head in as soon as everyone is ready.”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  With everything ready to go, Harry snuck toward the entrance. Once he had eyes on the tunnel, he waved the others over. When they reached him, Tom took the lead, keeping his shield ahead of him as they went. When they reached the first split, Tom looked both ways, then led them left toward the first room.

  Harry glanced to the right when he reached the split. He could just catch sight of the trash room, and thought he saw some large animals eating the corpses they had thrown in earlier.

  Michael was last in line, and he slowed further as he pointed the lantern to the right. “Those are some large opossums,” he said. The two animals suddenly collapsed, both looking like they were dead.

  “What happened to them?” Marie asked, glancing back in time to see the creatures fall over.

  “They faint and excrete a nasty musk,” Michael said. “We call it the musk of fear; it’s used to help repel some animals from farms. If we had the time, I’d ask to capture them so we can get the glands, but we’re busy right now.”

  “They aren’t dangerous?” Dick asked.

  “Less than many cornered beasts. As you saw, they have an involuntary reaction that causes them to faint. That can be trained out of them if you start young. There are a few communities that raise breeding colonies just to sell the musk.”

  “Different, but if it works...” John shook his head.

  Tom went over to the table and turned it on edge, examining it. “I think I can use this, but I’ll need the rope to rig up a harness for it.”

  “Here,” John said, handing over the rope he had tied to his bag.

  “This will take me a couple of minutes,” Tom said as he took the rope and began to tie it around the table.

  “I’m going to sneak down and check the hall,” Harry said, heading back out.

  “Don’t take any risks,” Dick said.

  “I won’t,” Harry replied.

  Tom got the table rigged up to carry in front of him. “I’m ready.”

  “There’s no one in the hall that I can see,” Harry said, returning just then.

  “Okay everyone, make sure to have weapons ready just in case,” Dick said. “Tom is lead and will take us left. Be ready for them to attack him.”

  Tom lifted the table and walked down the tunnel. It was a little awkward, but his rig made it easy enough to carry. It left a few inches of gap all around, but not enough to worry about any arrows hurting those behind him.

  When he reached the bottom of the tunnel, Tom stopped. “I have a problem... there is a room that is going to be behind us. If they were going to set an ambush, it might be here when we get caught between them.”

  “Harry, are you willing to go scout?” Dick asked.

  “Yeah,” Harry coughed. “Tom, edge out to the right, but don’t go more than a foot or two. Once I scout the room, I’ll come back. We’ll need to stop at the second room, as well.”

  “Got it,” Tom said. He took two steps, giving Harry just enough room to slip around the side. His nose wrinkled at the lingering stench of burnt hoblin.

  Dick whispered, “I don’t hear any voices yet.”

  After a handful of minutes, Harry returned. “Nothing but the dead, and I double checked in case they were faking.”

  “Okay, follow me,” Tom said.

  They trailed after him, with Harry right behind him, ready to slip into the next room. There were a number of badly burned bodies in the hall that they wanted to check for loot before advancing farther. Marie shuddered and swallowed hard as she fought not to vomit at the grisly task. No one commented about her inability to help them loot the corpses.

  Once they reached the next room, Tom went just past it, taking up station in the hall as he waited. Marie stayed with Tom while the others went inside to check the dead. A couple of minutes later, they were back.

  “Nothing alive,” Harry whispered.

  “Which means they’re all ahead of us,” Tom nodded. “Okay, this is going to suck. Everyone ready?”

  When everyone gave their agreement, Tom started forward at a slow and steady pace. Reaching the next pile of bodies, Tom got the shield over them with less than an inch to spare. Just past them, the thunk of something slamming into the table got everyone’s attention.

  “Stab them and keep moving,” Tom said as he pushed forward.

  An arrow slammed into the table, but it wasn’t enough to stop Tom from moving. Panicked hoblin voices sounded ahead of them, and Tom grinned when he heard them.

  “Darkness, they coming for us.”

  “Kek, what we do? We can’t hit them! They blocking the tunnel.”

  Tom’s foot came down in a puddle of something and he glanced down at it, puzzled. “What?”

  “Fire,” a strong hoblin voice called out.

  “Back,” Tom shouted as he tried to retreat, understanding what he had found a moment before the hallway became illuminated in front of him.

  He stumbled backward, scraping the oil off as best he could. Flames sprang up on the other side of the table, and more arrows slammed into it. Tom stomped his foot a few times to put out the little bits of flame that had stuck to it.

  “Into the last room,” Dick said.

  “Why does it feel like they’re trying to buy time?�
�� Marie asked.

  “Maybe they’re trying to dig out?” Michael suggested.

  “Maybe,” John mumbled. “Or they want us to view them as a threat… maybe they’ll try to bargain their way out?”

  “Maybe,” Dick nodded. “We’ll have to wait for the fire to go out before we can find out.”

  “I’ll hold up by the archway and keep an eye on the fire,” Tom said. “That’s easier than unharnessing more than once.”

  “Fair,” Dick said. “Okay everyone, wait for Tom’s call to move out.”

  ~*~*~

  Tom’s brow furrowed when he realized there wasn’t much new smoke in the tunnel, since there were no new corpses to burn. “How did they survive the smoke?”

  “Maybe the shaman cleared it for them?” Dick offered slowly. “Which means Kek might not be at full energy… and that’s why they’re delaying us.”

  “Fuck,” Harry cussed. “That explains it.”

  “This is going to be bloody, then,” John whispered.

  “Yeah,” Dick nodded. “I think the spell Kek used is a tier higher than what we’re currently using. Means it’s third level, at least.”

  “Remind me to kick the GM in the nuts if we ever meet him,” Tom grumbled. “Luckily, Kek is a caster, which means low health.”

  “The rogues were probably Kek’s best henchmen,” Harry suggested. “They would probably get the most experience, since they were doing the information collection and assassinations for the group.”

  “Or there could be a couple of tougher personal guards,” Marie suggested.

  “Well, we can’t do anything until the fire goes out,” Dick sighed. “Be ready for a tough fight. John, Marie, don’t hold back… this is going to be brutal. If you get three or more gathered in one spot, use your area spells.”

  “Got it,” John said. “I almost wish I’d taken the ability to give you guys a pep talk. I thought about it, but decided against it since Carl almost never gave us time to use something like that.”

  “You talking about the bonus health one?” Dick asked.

  “Yeah,” John nodded. “It took ten minutes and lasted for an hour.”

  “As useful as it would be now, we had no way to know. Besides, you’re the one that got us enough money to outfit ourselves and we used the acid and fire to good effect, so don’t let it bother you.”

  “He’s right,” Marie said. “Play a song for us while we wait.”

  John pulled a wooden flute from his bag, “Aqualung?”

  The others chuckled as John began to play. Tom tapped his shield in time, approximating the drum line, and Marie sang the lyrics to the well-known song. When John finished, he shifted right into another song from the same band. This time, everyone except Michael joined in singing, letting their voices echo down the tunnel.

  Tom peeked around the table as John brought the last song to an end. “Oil is fading,” he said.

  John put the flute away, smiling, “A concert during an attack? Different, indeed.”

  “Good playing,” Marie said, kissing his cheek. “Get your sword out, and do your best to stay safe.”

  “We’ll help keep him that way,” Dick said.

  “Maybe two more minutes before we can start forward again,” Tom said. “The floor is going to be uncomfortably warm.”

  “Do you think they’ll let us get to the room?” Marie asked as everyone gathered by the archway.

  “We’ll find out shortly,” Dick said.

  Following Tom when the oil went out, the hall held a pall of smoke along the ceiling, making the taller members hunch to stay out of it. Approaching the previous spot, Tom felt the first two arrows hit the shield.

  “Halt,” the strong hoblin voice called out in common. “We have what you are undoubtedly here for. We are willing to discuss terms.”

  Tom stopped and looked back at Dick with a raised eyebrow.

  “Kek, what do you think we are here for?”

  There was a long pause before Kek spoke again, sounding surprised, “You know of me. We have the farmer that the goblins gave to us as tribute. They still live, and we are willing to discuss returning them.”

  “David!? You alive?” Michael shouted.

  “Barely. It’s been days since I ate,” someone replied weakly. “I’m being held by the biggest hoblins here.”

  “Now that you know that I speak truth, shall we discuss terms?”

  “If we rush, they’ll kill him before we can get to him,” Michael whispered.

  Tom rolled his eyes. They hadn’t come to save the farmer, but if he voiced that now, the group’s reputation would take a hit if Michael survived. “Dick?”

  “We should see what they want,” Marie suggested.

  “You survived the smoke, Kek,” Dick called out. “Which means you have a strong connection to power. The delay was to replenish that power, if I’m not mistaken.”

  “You are correct,” Kek laughed. “If you don’t wish to talk, we will kill this one and make you pay in blood for invading our home.”

  “What are your terms?” Dick asked.

  “You will leave,” Kek snarled. “One of my followers will follow, to make sure. Once you are away from our cave, they will return to me. Then, they will take this one and bring them to you.”

  “That doesn’t sound promising to us,” Dick said. “You might just flee and kill him.”

  “True, that is a risk,” Kek said. “I could just kill you where you stand right now, though.”

  “No. You aren’t that powerful or you would have done it already,” Tom shouted.

  “If you wish to leave one of your number behind as a hostage, I would accept that,” Kek said, not replying to Tom’s yell. “You can take this one and go. My hoblin will go with you, and once you are far enough away, they will come back, and we will let your other friend go.”

  “Isn’t that the same thing, but with one of our friends instead of the farmer?” Dick countered.

  “Yes, but you will have your prize in hand,” Kek said.

  “Are we going to kill them all?” Harry whispered.

  “We need to get David out,” Michael said.

  “We do,” Marie agreed. At her words, the three friends felt an obligation to do what she said.

  “I can stay,” Harry said. “I still have my vanish. I can ditch them and run. You just need to kill the one going with you. Once you’re out of sight, I’ll vanish and then run for you. If I stay low, they might not hit me as I run for the table.”

  Dick scratched his nose as he considered what Harry was willing to do. “We send David and Michael out, then we go in after them once David is behind the table?”

  “I just need to make sure they don’t grab hold of me,” Harry nodded. “They might expect that, though. I can fake running to you guys, vanish, and then run for the back of the room.”

  “Do we have an agreement, or do I kill this one here and now?” Kek asked.

  “We’re discussing who will stay with you,” Dick called back. “If you hurt them, we’ll kill all of you.”

  “You can try,” Kek laughed. “Once we see your hostage coming our way, we’ll send the farmer and my follower.”

  “Harry, are you sure?” Dick asked.

  “I can do it. When I’m vanished, I can stealth and find a place to hide until you guys get to the room. Once you’re there, I’ll kill Kek.”

  “Harry,” Marie said softly, “thank you. We’ll get you out of there.”

  “We’re only doing this because you believe in us,” Harry replied.

  “Dude,” Tom said, “I’ll be rushing that room. I expect to be delayed a bit, but I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “I know,” Harry said, holding out a fist.

  “See you on the flip,” Dick said, tapping his fist to Harry’s.

  “Flip,” Harry said.

  “Make sure you kill that fucker,” Tom said, tapping his free fist to Harry’s.

  “I’ll kill him good,” Harry replied.
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  “Be safe,” Marie said, hugging him.

  “You ruined the man-moment, dear,” John sighed.

  “Choose!” Kek yelled.

  “That’s just the way she is,” Harry chuckled as he stepped around Tom, who angled the table to let him pass.