by Rick Scott
Gilly gains a level!
The rest of the commanders unfreeze and I draw their attention with a War Cry. I go purely defense, dancing on the balls of my feet as I evade their attacks. They swing at me with rusted curved swords and poke with spears. One at a time they wouldn’t be much of a challenge, but taking all four at once in the semi-darkness has my heart pounding.
I lose my shadow to another arrow from the Queen.
Damn! We’ve got to get to her.
Rembrandt works down another Goblin Commander while I engage all of them with katana strikes as best I can, keeping them on me. Rembrandt kills one more.
You defeated the Goblin Commander!
You gain 10000 experience points.
Quest Objective Updated!
Defeat Goblin Commanders 2/5
Gilly gains a level!
I take a stab in the gut from a spear and cry out as the pain lances through me.
The Goblin Commander hit you for -102 damage.
Ugh! It’s like nothing I’ve experienced before and the shock of it sends my mind reeling with fear and panic. This isn’t the game anymore. This is real!!
The pain vanishes as a bright white light washes over me.
Gilly casts Heal
You recover 102 HP.
The Goblin Commanders all glance her way, but I force their attention with another War Cry.
“On me!” I shout.
The thought of keeping Gilly safe spurs me on and I lash out at them with my weapons with a newfound fury. I get one of them down to 20% as I dodge a couple more attacks. Rembrandt finishes off the same one I’m fighting with a couple of shots and then we each take on one of the remaining two and kill them just as quickly.
You defeated the Goblin Commander!
You gain 10000 experience points.
Quest Objective updated!
Defeat Goblin Commanders 3/5
You defeated the Goblin Commander!
You gain 10000 experience points.
Quest Objective updated!
Defeat Goblin Commanders 4/5
Gilly gains a level!
You defeated the Goblin Commander!
You gain 10000 experience points.
Quest Objective updated!
Defeat Goblin Commanders 5/5
Quest Objective completed!
Defeat Goblin Commanders
My heart is still pumping, but I got no time to rest. “To the Queen!”
I charge forward down the mining tunnel toward the final goblin. Gilly and Rembrandt sprint to catch up with me. The queen sees me coming and leaps with surprising grace onto the high back of her throne of bones. She’s a good fifteen feet above us now, the perfect vantage to pick us off with her bow. I expect her to take a shot at me, but instead she lifts her bow into the air and begins chanting.
As we enter the throne room I see it’s a roughly hewn cave about thirty feet wide. I then notice that the Queen’s bow is now glowing in her hand. Uh oh…this can’t be good.
“Rethezhar!” she shouts in her guttural tongue.
I have no idea what she said, but the effect becomes obvious when all five fallen commanders behind us, begin to raise up from the ground in a cascade of bright light.
The Goblin Queen casts Great Miracle.
A Goblin Commander is raised!
A Goblin commander is fully restored!
A Goblin Commander is raised!
A Goblin commander is fully restored!
A Goblin Commander is raised!
A Goblin commander is fully restored!
A Goblin Commander is raised!
A Goblin commander is fully restored!
A Goblin Commander is raised!
A Goblin commander is fully restored!
Holy crap!
“This just got real, mate!” Rembrandt cries. “It was a bloody trap!”
“Gilly stay close to me!” I shout as the five Goblin Commanders, given new life by their queen, begin to head down the tunnel towards us. This isn’t good. Sandwiched by the commanders, with the Queen ready to pick us off; my mind races for the best means of survival, especially for Gilly.
“Rem, focus on the Queen!” I shout as I head toward the five goblins. “I’ll kite and tank the commanders. Gilly, keep Rem healed.”
“What about you?” Gilly cries.
“Don’t worry about me!” I cast Shadow Copy. “I don’t plan on getting hit!”
I can’t now.
I’ve got to dodge tank this properly!
The Goblin Queen is about to send another arrow my way when she’s peppered by Rembrandt’s pistols. She loses 5% of her health from the volley, screaming violently, but she looses her arrow at Rembrandt, which forces the cyberpunker to take evasive maneuvers, flipping backwards to avoid the hit.
I open up on the Goblin Commanders with another Shadow Mist while they’re confined in the mouth of the tunnel. The spell lands and they freeze to a halt. I use their paralysis to shout at them with War Cry and then disappear with Shadow Cloak.
I backstab the closest goblin and take him down 40% health, before laying into him with a series of blazing attacks that drop him to zero.
You defeated the Goblin Commander!
You gain 10000 experience points.
Gilly gains a level!
Wow! At least we get XP for them again too.
I get a stab into each one of the remaining Goblin Commanders before they unfreeze and then Retreat to cast Decoy Shadow. As they clamber toward me I catch of glimpse of Gilly healing up Rembrandt after he takes an arrow from the Goblin Queen. With his low hitpoint pool, his health bar was down by a third. And his is bigger than mine! He has the queen down to 80% though and more importantly, he also has her full attention.
Good.
“Hang in there, Rem,” I shout. “I’ll be done with these commanders in a second.”
I focus on the Goblin Commanders’ combined attacks as they swarm me, dodging and spinning to avoid their weapons. At least they’re slowed as well. I don’t think I could pull this off if they weren’t. I get a few stabs in on one of them and take him to 60%. But when I focus on another, I see his HP bar jump to full again.
I look up to see the queen casting on him with her glowing white bow.
The Goblin Queen casts Heal III!
The Goblin Commander recovers 432 HP!
Dang it! This could go on forever!
But thankfully Rembrandt continues his assault on her, preventing her from casting on any more of her commanders. I take a hit in the fray and lose my Shadow Copy, but use the opportunity to do more damage. I get one of the commanders down to 30% and stop dodging into order to finish him off.
You defeated the Goblin Commander!
You gain 10000 experience points.
Three left.
I get hit again, taking a sword chop to the shoulder. I wince, but it’s a glancing blow as Decoy Shadow kicks in and I become invisible as the hollow copy of myself crumbles into nanodust. I circle behind the one that hit me and drop him to a third health with a backstab and then finish him off with a round of triple attacks.
You defeated the Goblin Commander!
You gain 10000 experience points.
Gilly gains a level!
Two left.
“Reece, I’m going to help you,” Gilly says in party chat and I look over to see her reading one of the scrolls. When it disappears from her hands, she raises her wand to cast something.
The spell goes off and massive bright white flames explode on top of the Goblin Commanders.
Gilly casts Holy Fire!
Goblin Commander takes 750(500) damage.
Goblin Commander takes 750(500) damage.
Their HP drops by a third each! Holy crap!
I’m not the only one surprised by the damage, the light-based spell augmented by their affinity to dark. The Goblin Queen immediately turns her bow to Gilly.
Oh no!
Rembrandt pegs the queen with a headshot that
stuns her, but not before her arrow flies.
I watch in horror as it sails and strikes Gilly right in the chest.
“GILLY!!”
Her HP drops to a sliver and she falls to the ground, blood pouring from her wound.
“No!!!!!”
Blind rage consumes me as I scream and charge right for the queen. I jump into the air and pop Charge Strike, flying the rest of the way to stun her with my katana. I cry out as I kick her savagely off the throne. Before she even hits the ground I’m jumping right after her and drive her through with my blades for a good chunk of damage when I land.
“Die!” I shout with hate and anguish in my heart.
I stab her a few more times, but the queen recovers with a snarl, rolling away from me and springing to her feet. I rush at her, screaming savagely, “Die you witch!”
The Goblin Queen uses some move that fires fives arrows at me rapidly. I dodge all but one, taking the arrow to my thigh and lose a third of my health. But I don’t feel it. Or care. My anger is too strong. I carve into her with my blades, landing each and every hit, taking off 3% of her life at a time.
The queen is down to 10% and I’m focused on bringing that number to zero. So much so, that I forget about the two Goblin Commanders behind me. One of them pushes a spear into my back, taking off another 20% of my life. The pain shocks me into reality.
What the heck am I doing?
Rembrandt thankfully keeps his cool and switches from the queen to the commanders and takes out the one that just stabbed me.
You defeated the Goblin Commander!
You gain 10000 experience points.
You have gained a level!
You are now level 77!
“I’m out of stamina!” Rembrandt cries.
My stats bounce to full as I’m revitalized from my new level. I look to Gilly still on the ground, unmoving, her HP is at 11 and is slowly dropping two at a time toward zero! Oh my God! She’s going to die! I’ve got to heal her somehow. Fast! I break off from the queen and turn behind me to tackle the last commander. Rembrandt had thankfully already gotten him to half. I cry out as I absorb a sword strike to the leg and side, sacrificing myself to kill him as fast as I can.
You defeated the Goblin Commander!
You gain 10000 experience points.
Gilly has gained a level!
I’ve never been so elated to hear the chime of leveling as I see Gilly spring back to full health. She sits upright with a gasp and looks about bewildered. “What just happened?”
“Had a close call,” Rembrandt says. “Don’t worry. You’re okay now.”
Relief washes over me and my knees go weak. I can’t believe it. Crap, that was close!
I look for the Goblin Queen to exact the rest of my revenge. I see her back on top of the throne again. She must have climbed it while we were focused on the commanders.
“Gilly, I need a top up!” Rembrandt says and his yell must attract the queen’s attention, because she shoots an arrow at him. It misses and thunks into the ground at his feet.
Gilly casts Second Wind and right when Rembrandt is about to resume his assault, the arrow explodes.
My heart jumps again as both he and Gilly are consumed in a black cloud.
Gilly is blinded!
Rembrandt is blinded!
“Ah bollocks!” Rembrandt curses. “Gilly, get this off me, quick!”
I expect the queen to shoot at either me or Gilly next, but instead she lifts her bow into the air and it begins to glow. “Rethezhar!”
The commanders begin to raise off the ground.
No!
I can’t let that spell complete!
I try to Charge Strike the queen but it’s still on cool-down. I throw my kunai at her instead. The ninja weapon sails through the air and strikes the Goblin Queen right in the head, taking off 5% of her health. But more importantly, her bow stops glowing and the Goblin Commanders all fall back to the ground, still dead.
Yes!
Gilly casts Cure Ailment.
Rembrandt is no longer blinded.
“Good work, Gilly!” Rembrandt shouts and he performs some kind of buff move that makes him glow with an eerier blue light.
Rembrandt readies Killshot.
The Goblin Queen looks at me and glowers with contempt. “Tze guluth mah gugha…”
She shoots an arrow at me just as Rembrandt fires his pistol in a single shot.
I pop Active Dodge and the arrow lands in the ground where I stood a moment ago. A split second later, the queen’s head jerks backwards with the force of Rembrandt’s shot and she’s killed instantly.
You defeated the Goblin Queen!
You gain 15000 experience points.
Quest Objective updated!
Defeat Goblin Queen 1/1
Congratulations! You have completed the quest: Remove the Goblin Horde
+200 Favor Brookrun Village
Level up! You favor level in Brookrun Village is now 3.
You gain 100,000 experience points.
You have gained a level!
You are now level 78!
Gilly has gained a level!
Gilly has gained a level!
Gilly has gained a level!
Gilly has gained a level!
Gilly has gained a level!
[You may now claim Brookrun Mines]
[Do you wish to claim (Y/N)]
Holy crap!
“We did it!” Gilly shouts, jumping into the air.
A smile of elation breaks across my face as I focus on yes.
[You have claimed Brookrun Mines]
And then the arrow explodes at my feet.
I lose a third of my hitpoints as a wave of heat engulfs me in a fireball and the ground collapses beneath me. I tumble downward into pure darkness, flipping and falling as I cry out in shock. I continue to fall and the only thing I can hear as I plunge downwards is the fading of Gilly’s panicked screams as she vainly calls my name.
Chapter 10: Falling
I fall endlessly, my heart racing as I scramble to grab at walls I can’t see. I use Sprint and Wall Run to try and break my fall as my feet briefly touch the mineshaft. I crash into something hard and lose another third of my hit points again, pain exploding throughout my body.
Arrgh!
Light engulfs me, accompanied by the sound of breaking rock as I burst through what I think is the floor. And then I’m falling again, but I can see this time and I’m a hundred feet in the air!
The world is full of iridescent light.
I can’t make sense of anything.
My heart stops as I flip and scream, plummeting for a second time toward a new floor below. Instinct takes over as I struggle to find some way to survive. I catch sight of a large crystalline pillar close to me and I target it using Charge Strike.
My body zooms toward it and my sole kunai slams into the pillar and slides through the crystalline surface as it breaks my fall. A second later I stop, hanging off the pillar and held in place by my weapon. Thank goodness that worked!
I’m still in a daze, my heart racing, body aching, disorientated.
I need to focus.
What the heck just happened?
I get my bearings and start to take in my surroundings. I’m in an enormous underground cavern. I think. The ceiling above me, as well as the floor below, is covered in a crystalline substance that sparkles and glows. In between the ceiling and floor are thick pillars of the same crystal substance and each one looks a good thirty feet wide and a hundred feet tall. I can’t count how many of them there are. It’s like a forest of trees, but all made of crystal columns instead. Soft light emerges from them and illuminates everything without shadow.
What is this place?
My bones ache as my HP slowly recovers from my fall. But then my hitpoint bar flashes again and I take a point of damage. What the heck? Am I bleeding or something? Internally perhaps? I check my damage log next.
You take 354 Fire damage.
> You take 312 Fall damage.
You take 1
Type unknown?
I look up and see the hole in the ceiling I just made; a patch of darkness next to the top of the column I’m hanging on to. I study the column itself next. I brace against it with my feet, making good use of my ninja boots to take the strain off my arm. I touch the hard surface of the pillar and a strange message pops up onto my HUD.
[Node Terminal 32AF: NULL_ERROR_541]
What the heck? Okay this is really getting weird now.
I scan my surroundings again and in the far distance, I see lumbering shadows maybe a half mile away. I can’t see what they are exactly, but they must be huge, because they are close to half the height of a column.
And then beyond them I see the outline of something even bigger: as wide as five columns spaced apart and almost touching the ceiling. I can’t make out a shape, but it’s moving. The thought of something that large being alive drains the blood from my veins.
Closer, I see that the other huge figures, moving about, are roughly humanoid in shape. Their arms swing in a slow gait as they stroll through the crystal forest. I count about a half dozen of them. And then my heart stops when I notice one of them that’s standing still, about a hundred yards away.
And it’s staring right at me.
My blood turns to ice as the massive being studies me with its lifeless black eyes. Its face is a bone white skull and its body a mass of living shadow. Its jaws come apart, revealing a gaping maw filled with multiple rows of needle like teeth. Its throat is like a furnace, red and broiling with heat. A shriek emanates from it, the furnace reverberating with a high-pitched wail that makes me want to cover my ears.
It grows louder to the point of scrambling my brains and then stops.
