by Aleron Kong
There was a final goblin fighter positioned directly at the mouth of the pass. His role was obvious. If he heard anything, he was to run down the ravine, raising holy hell, and let the guard post know there was an attack. Yoshi asked if Richter’s pet snake could handle that. The adder lay in the grass not five feet away, but nearly invisible thanks to its camouflage ability. Richter nodded in assent but said it would take time for the snake to get there. The adept told him to get to it.
The chaos seed gave his pet a command and activated Stealth. He was a bit concerned the snake might not be able to follow his instructions, seeing as how the target was out of visual range. Their improved mental connection seemed to be working, though, because it just started sliding forward. The sprites activated their Forest Concealment ability, and they all moved off. Only Richter didn’t have his bow out and nocked. While his abilities as an archer had improved dramatically since coming to The Land, he was still no match for the sprites’ pinpoint accuracy. Anything less than a kill shot, or a silencing shot to the throat, was unacceptable.
Instead, Richter had his knife in hand, and the blade had been coated with leech poison. The white of the moonstone metal did not make it any easier for him to blend with the shadows, so he kept it hidden in the folds of his cloak. The strike team moved forward en masse towards the first knot of enemies. Three goblin scouts stood huddled in the lee of a large tree, doing their best to stay out of the cold night wind. The scouts were complaining softly in goblin-speak. If they had been paying more attention to their surroundings, they might have been able to do something about what was coming.
Three arrows sprouted from their faces. Two arrows found the eyes of two different scouts, and the third entered the mouth of the remaining goblin. That arrow punctured the soft tissue of his throat, traveling at hundreds of feet per second, and exited the back of his neck, having severed the brainstem. As the bodies started to fall, three other sprites rushed forward and caught them. There was no clatter of dropped weapons or final death rattle. There was only the sound of snapped strings and the ending of three lives. The bodies were left in darkness, and the strike force moved on.
The sprites split into groups of four and made for their designated targets. Sion went with Yoshi, leaving Richter to move forward alone. The shale adder had slithered ahead, having to cross a good distance to make its target. Richter reached the edge of the trees and crossed into the open.
He had never relied on Stealth for his very life like this before. When he had been running from the kobolds, he had hidden from time to time, but it had mostly been an exhausting flight through the wilderness. This was different. Richter moved slowly through the clearing, knowing that enemies were all around him. It kept going through his mind that one break in his concealment could cause his death, the deaths of his warband and would most certainly spell death for the captives they were trying to save.
Richter’s heart beat heavy in his chest, THUD-THUD, THUD-THUD. He tried to remain calm, mentally understanding that panic was not helping him, but his emotions did not listen, and soon his palms were drenched with sweat. As much as he wanted to cover the hundred yards to the bush quickly, he forced himself to move slowly and maintain his Stealth. All the while, he prayed that the clouds would continue to protect him from the moonlight.
Alma continued to fly above, sending him images. On his left, he saw four more goblins die, one of them a fighter. On his left, a strike squad planted two arrows in the face of a scout, and another into the throat of a fighter standing nearby. The fighter had time to reach out, but then the poison took effect, robbing him of his final health, and he dropped to the ground. The sprites positioned the bodies so they wouldn’t be conspicuous and moved on to their next targets. Richter kept edging forward.
The chaos seed’s heart started beating faster when the clouds shifted, and a shaft of moonlight illuminated the ground not ten feet from his position. It wasn’t too bright, but to him, it may as well have been a spotlight. The reddish-white light started moving towards him. For once, his luck was working against him.
A voice screamed in his mind to run, but the rational side of him said there was no time. He was in no man’s land, a hundred yards from the safety of the tree line and a still a hundred yards from the brambles the goblins were hiding in. The moonlight continued to move towards him, sneaking through the shifting clouds above. Richter slowly lowered himself to the ground, deciding to trust in the powers of his Cloak of Concealment. The rare item increased his concealment in any and all terrains. It was its universal application that made it so valuable.
Richter lowered himself into pushup position and then eased himself further down. A scant inch of space hung between the edge of his cowl and the ground. Richter saw the red light reach him and held his breath. His heartbeat sounded so loud in his ears, it didn’t seem possible that others did not hear it, but again, the rational part of him knew that was impossible. He kept his attention glued to his eye gauge.
Entering Stealth had made a closed eye appear on his internal interface. As long as the eye stayed closed, his concealment was preserved. If it opened… well, basically, he was fucked. Since reaching initiate rank in the skill, the eye had gained another feature. The black color had been replaced with a spectrum moving from green to yellow to red. Predictably, if the eye was green, there was little danger of being detected, yellow showed increased risk and red… well, basically, he was about to be fucked.
Since shrouding his figure, the eye had been closed and green. One time that he had stepped on a dry twig, the deep emerald green had lightened a bit, but after a few moments, it had returned to a dark green again. Now, however, in the light of Ignam, the Fire moon, the eye turned a sickly shade of yellow. Richter didn’t move a muscle. The yellow brightened to that of a ripe lemon as the moonlight covered his whole body.
It occurred to Richter that a moon thought to embody the Basic Element, Fire, most likely was not the best light to stay hidden in. Moments passed that felt like weeks. He closed his eyes, never taking his attention from the eye gauge. He just kept repeating a silent mantra, “Please god let it stay closed.” The light finally passed, and the eye gauge turned green again. Richter breathed a quiet sigh of relief and got back to his feet.
Now that he was safely ensconced in darkness, Richter moved towards his quarry again. In the minute that had passed while he lay exposed in moonlight, more red triangles had disappeared from his map, the knowledge of their deaths communicated through the magic of Yoshi’s War Leader skill. Only five remained. The two in front of him, the one his snake was moving towards, and a last pair that six of Yoshi’s men were stalking. Richter knew those goblins would not be long for the world. He focused on his task.
Alma obeyed his mental command and flew in low, and unseen, behind the goblins in the thicket. She landed softly, her dark scales blending nearly perfect with the ground. If his spell failed, her Psi Blast would be his back up. It was not an ideal choice, as her mental attack affected people differently. Some might be completely incapacitated, while others might scream their heads off. Still, better to roll the dice, than know for certain that his prey would raise the alarm.
Richter crept closer in a hunched position, circling a bit to the left of the bush. Once he crossed the final nut clenching fifteen feet, he softly breathed a word of Power and cast Troubled Sleep. A black glow surrounding his hands, but it was invisible in the night. As soon as the one second cast time elapsed, he moved forward quickly in case the goblins resisted his spell. He had nothing to worry about, his high Intelligence proved sufficient for the task. Both goblins were sound asleep. One kicked, as if pushing away a phantom attacker, and the other moaned softly. That was the one Richter killed first.
Not seeing any reason to waste the experience, he had Alma latch onto the goblin’s head. Immediately after, Richter plunged his dagger through the goblin’s eye and into the scout’s brain. Death was instantaneous. Alma growled softly as she fed on the bolus of menta
l energy. She quickly latched onto the other goblin, and her master ended his life as quickly as he had the first one. She purred in savage pleasure as she digested the two scouts’ memories, thought patterns and personas.
*Still hungry, love?* Richter thought to her.
*Always, master,* was the bloodthirsty reply.
*Good. Go fly above the final goblin. When the adder attacks-* Richter’s communication was interrupted by something unexpected.
An image came to his mind of a nighttime scene. He could see a goblin looking about with unease on his face. Behind him was the pass leading to the guard post. Along with the image came a question. There were no distinct words, but Richter still understood the message, “Now?”
With a smile, he realized that his tamed shale adder had sent him an image of what it was seeing, just like Alma. The Psi Bond prompt had described a boost to his pet’s intelligence and their mental connection. If this was how it manifested, Richter wasn’t disappointed. He was surprised, though. The snake was smart enough ask for permission now. That had to be at least a couple of evolutionary steps forward by Richter’s estimation. Then he realized, maybe not. The chaos seed had assumed that because the snake was a beast, it must be dumb, but it had always been smart enough to follow his commands even before the increase in Psi Bond.
All of his musings were academic, though. Right now, he had to deal with the final enemy. The goblin was of the fighter station, and from the expression on his face, had picked up on the fact that something was wrong. The fighter hadn’t raised an alarm yet, so he wasn’t sure, but Richter knew it was only a matter of time. The goblin was only seconds from raising the alarm. It was really too bad for him that the adder was only five feet away.
*Kill him,* Richter thought to his pet with sadistic satisfaction.
The image zoomed in so quickly that it startled Richter, and then it started tilting crazily. He realized the adder had struck and was now rolling to entomb the goblin in its coils. The fighter’s life was over; he just didn’t know it yet.
Richter smiled at Alma, *If you’re still hungry you better hurry. I don’t think my pet snake is going to wait much longer.*
The dragonling shot into the air, winging towards the adder. She took full advantage of her new speed in the hope that she would be able to capture the goblin’s psychic energy before it died. Richter sent a group thought to both of them, telling them to play nice, and then started walking towards the icon on his map that showed Yoshi’s position.
CHAPTER 28 – Day 141 – Kuborn 31, 15,386 EBG
You have been awarded 771 experience (base 17,624 x 0.07 x 1.25 x 0.5) from Brain Drain against Level 6 Goblin, Station: Scout.
You have been awarded 982 experience (base 22,437 x 0.07 x 1.25 x 0.5) from Brain Drain against Level 7 Goblin, Station: Scout.
You have been awarded 3,067 experience (base 70,113 x 0.07 x 1.25 x 0.5) from Brain Drain against Level 12 Goblin, Station: Fighter.
Know This! As a Battle Sergeant serving beneath a Battle Leader, you are entitled to keep 50% of the total War Points earned.
For slaying twelve Goblin Scouts, you have been awarded 12 (24 x 0.5) War Points!
For slaying three Goblin Fighters, you have been awarded 5 (9 x 0.5) War Points!
Total War Points: 40.
The strike force was once again huddled around Richter’s map. One of the sprites had been sent to communicate with the main army. They were waiting for Hisako, and the rest of their forces, to come and take up positions around the entrance to the ravine. They had also collected the goblin bodies. Only a few paltry coins were found, along with some low-quality weapons. They also found several horns, one for each grouping of goblins, presumably used to signal if there was any danger.
Richter had sent Alma to fly ahead, and the dragonling was doing some necessary reconnaissance. The ravine was only about a mile long, but it zigzagged for most of its length. The longest straight stretch was only about two hundred yards long. Unfortunately, that was the area directly in front of the guard station situated at the end of the ravine.
Only a few seconds after Alma had left, four red triangles had appeared on the map, and all of their breath caught in their collective throats. The dots were only half the distance up the ravine. They all shared the same thought. That they had been detected by unseen goblins, who were even now hurrying to warn the rest.
Thankfully, they were worrying for nothing. Alma showed them that they were still maintaining zero presence. The patrol was comprised of four fighters and two scouts who were casually strolling down the ravine while they conversed in goblin-speak. Richter relayed what he had seen to the other sprites, and they realized how lucky they had all been. The goblins apparently had a patrol traveling up and down the ravine. If their timing had been wrong, the patrol might have arrived to see the final goblin being killed. They could all see signal horns on the goblins’ belts.
The point was, their luck had held. Barely. Without a word, Richter drank a Potion of Selak’s Luck. For the next three hours and forty-nine minutes, his Luck stat would be increased from twenty-one to fifty-three. After almost getting exposed by the Fire moon and now only having avoided being detected because the goblin patrol was lazy and lackadaisical, he really felt like he’d used up whatever luck he’d started the night with. Besides, like his granddaddy used to say, “Better lucky than ugly, but better lucky with ugly than alone.”
Alma continued to relay information to Richter, who in turn updated his map for all to see. She clung to the shadowy sides of the ravine, staying concealed and protected. Richter zoomed the map in so they could see what they were up against.
The goblin encampment may have only been half-completed, but they had taken the time to fortify the end of the pass. A ten-foot high wall of logs had been buried in the ground. It covered the entire twenty-yard width of the ravine exit. The top of the wall was irregular, according to the original height of each tree. The logs had been fit together closely enough that no one could pass between them, but there were still gaps large enough to see through. A crosswalk had been erected behind the top of the wall, and three goblin fighters stood atop it holding bows.
The bottom of the wall didn’t have a proper gate, just a five by five square hole cut out of the center. The goblins had also driven logs into the ground at a forty-five-degree angle facing away from the opening to the gate. The purpose was clear. The logs wouldn’t be a danger to anyone walking towards the gate, but it prevented a large force from simply barreling ahead. The defenses the goblins had erected were crude but effective. Two goblin scouts waited just inside the gate, armed with iron spears.
Alma flew over the wall, staying to the shadows and saw that the forest on the other side of the wall had been partially denuded. The goblins hadn’t needed to go far to get the wood for their defenses. Immediately behind the wall were five campfires with a total of thirty-nine scouts and goblins. Many of them were asleep and snoring, but more than a few were awake. Most of those still conscious seemed to be either half-drunk or fully slammed, but still, the group greatly outnumbered the strike force. The only saving grace, was that the goblin campfires were fairly spread out and trees and rocks blocked line of sight between the fires. Alma flew through the trees and into the grassland beyond, but could not detect any more enemies. That was a small amount of good news, but as far as Richter was concerned, she had already sent along enough bad news to ruin his whole day.
Yoshi had him zoom in on certain areas, and double check with Alma to ensure no patrols were on the way to augment the guard post. As far as Richter could see, there was no way to get close enough to take the goblins out silently. They might be able to get close enough to get kill shots on the three goblins atop the wall, but the shots would have to occur almost simultaneously. He also knew from experience that firing up at a target was definitively harder than getting a kill shot when you had the high ground.
Even if they could bag those three goblins with silent kills, and even if
the fighters didn’t fall off of the narrow walkway, that still left the two scouts that were taking cover behind the gateway. There were no clear shots without getting close enough to be spotted. He was about to bring these concerns up when Yoshi took a step back and addressed his men. His message was simple and monosyllabic, “Claws.”
Yoshi’s men had apparently undergone varied and extensive training. Richter was initially confused by the sword adept’s statement, but his meaning became clear soon enough. Every member of the strike force reached inside their cloaks and pulled out a pouch. The chaos seed watched as Yoshi’s second in command, Damien, pulled out a band of metal that was the same green hue as their sprite armor. Damien slid four fingers through the band until it wedged into place over his gauntlet. A second band went over his other hand.
Two straps hung to either side, and the fighter quickly used them to tie the bands securely into place. On the inside of each ring of metal, were the “claws.” Four “L” shaped spikes were situated on the bands, pointing towards the sprite’s wrists. Richter could see how a strong tug could dig the spikes into a surface and keep the sprite secured. Still…
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to scale the ravine wall,” he said. “Those ‘claws’ of yours have to be great for climbing trees, but how do you expect to use them to climb stone?”
Yoshi motioned to Damien with a headshake, “Show him.”
Damien smiled and walked over to a nearby rock, “Never underestimate a sprite.” He dragged his claws across the stone. There was a strange and faint hissing sound, not at all like the screech Richter expected to hear from dragging sharp metal across rock. Damien moved his hand out of the way, and Richter saw four distinct grooves in the rock. Shocked, Richter ran his finger over the furrows and found them to be smooth. There wasn’t even any dust. The chaos seed turned back to the grinning sprite and activated his Talent, Identify Enchantments II.
