The Trials of a Modern Paladin 2

by Kevin Culp

  Chapter 13

  The following day, the temperature plummeted. I really hadn’t expected this given that the cold wasn’t bothering me, but luckily, Christina and Phillip seemed prepared and were bundled up in layers of clothes. It still didn’t bother Korana, which still made me wonder about the exact logistics of a half-dragon in this world.

  I guess one advantage to the cold was that Christina asked if she could share a bedroll with me that night. I didn’t get to sleep in my armor as a result, but it was a small price to pay for getting to be bundled up with her through the night. Either way, it passed uneventfully, so the armor wasn’t needed.

  We had put up the tent as well for a combination of potential incoming rain and to keep the cold winds at bay. When I opened the flap in the morning, the ground was frozen over. Phillip kept watch as I prepared my spells, but the other two stayed in the tent and covered up until it was time to leave.

  As the day went by, it somehow just kept getting colder. Part of me wished that I had a thermometer just to know how cold it was, but if I had to guess, it was in the mid-twenties. By the time we stopped for lunch, it started to snow lightly.

  Christina looked up. “It’s so pretty. I love the snow. I just wish it didn’t have to be so cold to get to experience it.”

  She rubbed her hands together and breathed warmth into them.

  Korana pulled off her gloves and handed them to Christina. “Take these. I guess I don’t really need them anymore at this point.”

  Christina pulled on the gloves. Her fingers clearly couldn’t fill the ends of them. It looked on the outside that the fingers of the gloves were normal length, but I guess they were designed that way since they were supposed to hide the fact that Korana’s fingers were long and clawed.

  “Thank you. These are very warm. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can fight with them on.”

  Phillip had on some thick gloves of his own, but they looked to be work gloves, and he seemed to only have one pair. Until the previous day, it had been chilly but not too bad, so I was surprised when the snow started to stick to the ground.

  About an hour after lunch, a small lone mountain started coming into view. As planned, we backtracked for about thirty minutes once we saw it. There had been no farmhouses this far out as I had hoped. The horses weren’t combat trained, and there was no telling what we would face inside, so we needed a place to leave them. During the trip, we had mostly let the horses graze, but we had a few sacks of grain for them to feed on.

  We posted them in a small clutch of trees and poured out some grain. My biggest hope was that the goblins didn’t patrol this far out, so they could be safely left here. We would approach the mountain on foot, try to find as many packs of scouts as we could, and pick them off before attempting to enter the cave.

  I felt I needed to say something before we set off on the final stretch of our journey, but I wasn’t really sure what to say. What did you say to a group of people that were simple commoners until a few weeks ago that were now manning a four-man rescue mission against an army of goblins? There was no chance of this mission being performed in stealth, so it really would be better off letting an army handle it yet here we were.

  I tried my best to let Archaeus speak, but truthfully, I had made him more a man of action, so while he was diplomatic, I wasn’t sure that inspiring speeches were his forte. “I want to thank each of you for coming this far with me on this journey. You are each doing this because you believe that it is what’s right and aspire for a strength that will allow you to protect others. You all know the risk that you are taking, so I will not dwell on that. Whatever happens, know that we will see this mission completed, and many people will be safely returned to their loved ones.”

  Christina put her hand on my arm. “We’re ready for this, Archaeus.”

  “This is what we are here for. Let’s see it through,” said Phillip.

  Korana nodded along with them.

  Zeus took the lead. For the first time, I realized that the snow might be a blessing. It had slowed up and there were only two or three inches on the ground, but everything was covered enough that it might help the giant white wolf blend in. He was an excellent tracker. He was a wolf, so he could smell a threat from a mile away. It was hard to focus on him though, with everything I could see being covered in white.

  Most of the area was plains with the occasional clutch of trees. That held true as we got closer to the mountain. Given the timing we had made, I had questioned whether it would be a good idea to take a day or two to scout around the area before launching an attack, but I still wasn’t certain that I could trust the goblin we had captured, and I didn’t want to waste valuable time and then get pinched in the mountain's entrance with an army both inside and out.

  I wasn’t certain how long we had been walking. The mountain was in sight, though probably at least another thirty minutes away when Zeus stopped. He got low to the ground and started sniffing. I had questioned if the snow would mask the scent of the goblins, but he knew what we were looking for and definitely was on to something. He turned to the left and started walking slowly stalking his prey.

  I looked back at Phillip. “I expect scouts will have some kind of ranged weapons. Stay in the back, and if we run into any, try to cover us as we close in.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Korana, do you have any spells that have a long-range?”

  “Sorry, Archaeus. The furthest is probably only thirty feet. My breath will reach about sixty, but I can’t use it often.”

  “That’s fine. You may need to prepare to use that during our approach. I will lead any charge and just march in line behind me.”

  To be honest, I was kicking myself at the oversight of not discussing what spells she could cast before now. Against the swamp drakes, she had cast what I recognized as a Ray of Debilitation, which I think I only recognized because Archaeus has seen Lyra use it. I didn’t know what the other spells she had cast were, but one of them may have been her breath weapon. I guess now wasn’t the time to sit here and discuss it.

  I noticed that Zeus was walking toward a small group of about three tall pine trees. I guess I recognized them without any skills the same way I could recognize basic races. I mean who didn’t know what a pine tree was. It wasn’t much, but they were pretty condensed, and it definitely looked like a good spot for some goblin scouts to hide with several low-hanging branches. I slowly drew my weapon, and the others seemed to understand as they drew theirs and filed in behind me.

  Zeus was about twenty feet ahead of me and he was probably forty feet from the closest tree when a small object flew towards him. It bounced harmlessly off his head, but he growled and pounced toward the tree line.

  Now that the shot was fired, I looked up and saw that about halfway up the trees there was a small platform. They had ropes on each side to pull branches in front of the stand and keep it hidden but released them to begin shooting at their target. The little green creature standing in the structure was armed with only a sling which just made me think this really was a level 1 encounter.

  As soon as Zeus got to the trees about four goblins with what I wanted to call short spears jumped out and tried to stab him. I mean, they were technically spears, but even from this distance, I could tell they were just crudely sharpened sticks, which really just took away any thought I had that this was a real threat.

  Zeus ignored the creatures and jumped into the trees. Immediately, I heard shrill screaming and about twelve goblins darted from the safety within. Phillip had stopped moving around the time the rock had hit Zeus and now lined up a shot. An arrow whizzed past us and struck the closest goblin in the chest. He fell onto his back grasping at the object sticking out of him.

  Zeus was already on the other side of the trees, and I could see that a goblin was flailing with the entire top half of his body in Zeus’ mouth. I kept my sword in one hand as I reached the goblins and easily decapitated the first I encountered. After the movement, I cou
ldn’t follow through with a second attack, but Christina moved past me and drove a flaming sword into the next one’s neck.

  I hadn’t ever seen Korana take flight but heard a gust of wind and saw her land on the platform with the other goblin. The force of her landing made the platform creek, and the goblin dropped his sling and threw up his arms to guard his face. She ended up creating a nasty gash across the creature’s arm and then buried her other hand into its stomach. This was the first time I’d ever seen her use her wings. I had questioned if she could actually fly with them, though I guess it was still possible that this was more a wing supported jump than flying.

  Another arrow struck a goblin on our left. I couldn’t see Zeus anymore on the other side of the trees, but the screams of the goblins let me know they weren’t faring well. Three goblins came from around the left side and immediately moved to surround Christina, but they couldn’t touch her as she stepped back and got beside me. I grabbed a spear with my left hand, and the goblin at the other end didn’t let go as I pulled. I thrust my sword forward, hit him on the shoulder, and continued through until I had sheared off his entire arm. He fell to the ground and almost immediately went limp.

  Christina dashed between the spears of the other two and once she was inside their reach swung her swords outward slashing and burning each of them across the chest. I heard Korana’s wings again, and she lifted off from the platform to the other side of the trees. It didn’t appear as though she had used her legs at all in the process, so I was now pretty certain she could fly. More goblin screams came from the other side.

  A horn sounded somewhere off in the distance. Obviously, we weren’t exactly fighting under concealment, so it was no mystery that someone had spotted us. I assumed this wasn’t the only group of scouts and had hoped to take out a few more before they found us out. I made my way around the tree as Christina finished the two she had knocked to the ground.

  I could see dozens of goblins running through the snow, but they weren’t coming towards us. They were running into the mountain. I wasn’t certain that I minded this. If they all ran into the mountain, it would get rid of the risk of us being trapped, but I couldn’t help but wonder why they would throw away that potential advantage just to hole up in their base.

  Korana was holding one by the neck and threw it as she turned to face me. I wasn’t sure I approved this treatment of the bodies, but I guess they were our enemies. These goblins may be responsible for some terrible things, but I didn’t feel that was necessarily something they needed to be judged by on an individual level. We still needed to show them some form of respect. It didn’t feel like the right time, however, to bring up this subject.

  “Let’s wait here for a few minutes. I’m not sure what kind of barricades they will have to keep us out, but if they are all being recalled back to base that will keep us from fighting a war on two fronts.”

  Phillip walked up. “I will stand back while you guys go in. I’ll try to fire in arrows as you make your way in and scout to make sure there aren’t any more that try to come in after you. Just wave me forward if you need help.”

  “That’s a good idea. Zeus, keep Phillip safe and give him a ride if he needs it. If the tunnels are big enough, you can come in with us, but I imagine that you fighting in too much of a confined space could be more of a hindrance to us than a benefit.”

  Zeus nodded.

  “Christina, watch my right side, and Korana, watch my left, but both of you need to stay behind me during our approach.”

  They nodded.

  We stepped inside the cover of the trees just to be safe. They may already know where we are, but it couldn’t hurt while we were waiting to stay in cover. I spared a moment to glance at Christina’s character sheet. Her experience was now 181/200. That seemed accurate. I wasn’t sure if it had given her 2 experience for each goblin she had killed there or about half an experience for each of them we had killed as a group, but either way, those goblins were pretty weak even for goblins, so I was just happy to see she had gained experience. It really showed the effects of actual fighting though because her sparing was certainly much more difficult and didn’t give any experience.

  Seeing where all the goblins were heading gave away the location of the entrance, so that did make the next part easier. I could see a few goblins still running around from the backside of the mountain, but most of them were already inside. I was a little surprised by how many still seemed to be here given the hundreds that must have been a part of those attacks. Between the thirteen we just killed and the forty or fifty we saw running not to mention those we couldn’t see because they were on the other side of the mountain, there must have been at least 100 scouts alone. This would definitely be a long day if there were even half that many inside prepared to fight.

  We walked straight to the base of the mountain and began skirting it looking for the entrance. It only took about five minutes after reaching the base of the mountain before we saw a cave going in. It was a very dark, probably about seven feet tall at its peak, and the same across. Zeus definitely wouldn’t fit in here very well.

  “Okay, stay behind me.”

  I walked in and the girls quickly got behind me, while Phillip stood in the entrance. Christina lifted her burning sword and was able to trigger it lighting on fire. It gave off about the same light as a torch. The way I had pictured this, I thought there was a room just inside that the army waited in, but I didn’t see the end of the tunnel. I thought I heard something, and I held out my hand for the others to stop.

  Click… Creak… Click… Click… Creak…

  It was like the clicking of giant gears and wood and rope stretching to be pulled taut. I turned my head sideways.

  Bwwooonnngggg.

  “GET OUT OF THE WAY!” I yelled as I realized what it was.

  For a moment I thought about diving to the side, and then I thought about what would happen if I did and one of the girls or Phillip couldn’t get out of the way. I planted my feet, though it didn’t do much good even with my strength. Something enormous struck my breastplate with a force that made the troll's club feel like a slap on the wrist. I was knocked off my feet and backwards. I saw Christina off to the side as she sidestepped and avoided me crashing into her. Korana wasn’t as lucky.

  I hit her and we tumbled backwards over the hard cavern floor all tangled up. The bolt hadn’t pierced all the way through my armor but actually did put a hole in it. I could feel the tip digging into my flesh. I pulled the enormous ballista bolt out of my chest and threw it as I disengaged myself from Korana. About that time I heard another click followed by a whistling sound, but this time it was flying past me from outside the cave. A glowing streak flew towards the end of the tunnel and exploded when it struck something about eighty feet into the cave.

  There was a whoosh and an explosion. I heard screams of goblins and saw wood splintering. I definitely owed Gregory for that quiver, though it was slightly unfortunate that Phillip had used the exploding arrow so early, but I don’t think he had poor judgment in it. A weapon that could hurt me like it had certainly would have killed any of the others.

  I looked at my notepad and saw that the bolt had done 63 points of damage even after my Damage Resistance. It also noted that my armor took 23 points of damage. I guess a ballista could directly damage armor. I hadn’t really looked at my log in the fight with the lion where that armor was damaged, but I now wondered if it had shown the same thing.

  I hated to use my healing so early, but I expended a use of Healing Hands on myself and a Cure I spell Korana. I heard screaming and the sound of tons of feet hitting stone. I could tell that the goblins were beginning their charge into the tunnel. I moved back in front of Christina.

  Korana stepped up, and I barely heard her behind me. “Step to the side.”

  I stepped to the left and Christina to the right. When the goblins reached the light, I could see that they were charging three-wide with the same crude spears as the ones outside had
used. I was preparing to attack, but just before the first one got to me, an enormous streak of lightning crackled and flew past me. It jumped from goblin to goblin and they all began to convulse. It illuminated the tunnel momentarily and I could see an enormous sea of goblins wading towards the tunnel from a giant room ahead. The two that were closest to us on the left and right seemed to not be caught up in the cone of electricity, but every other goblin within sixty feet collapsed.

  Christina and I stepped forward in unison and quickly dispatched the pair of goblins that were momentarily stunned by what had just happened. We charged forward. I just had an internal complaint about mistreating the bodies of our enemies and yet here we were charging over them, though we didn’t have many options with how they had crowded the tunnel. Korana had probably killed seventy or eighty of them with her one attack, though between her breath weapon now being used up and with the explosive arrow gone for the day, I knew we wouldn’t have any more AOE attacks for a while.

  I could see that further into the cave there were torches lighting the path. Goblins could see in the dark to an extent, but it was limited. They must keep this area dark on purpose due to the fact that it is an advantage against humans, which are probably the most likely to attack them.

  I stepped back into the middle of the hall. Korana got on my left and Christina on my right. We charged forward, and I could hear the occasional arrow fly over our heads and a goblin scream ahead of us.

  They met our charge head-on. I was probably pretty reckless during the charge, but I forced my way in because their weapons couldn’t hurt me, and I was using my full attacks and cleave ability to kill multiple goblins every few seconds. Christina’s innate reflexes mixed with the bangles, my ring, and necklace kept her safe from their attacks. Korana was also exceptionally agile and had tough skin of her own.