by Dakota Krout
“I’ve got one.” Hans chuckled, “Oh look! It is snowing!” The others looked around, it was indeed snowing, a light dusting that Dale knew was deceiving. They would soon be digging tunnels through the snow if they wanted to enter the dungeon.
“Back to the request, it seems that the new residents are having trouble adjusting to the climate here.” Hans chuckled again. He meant that the Nobles from warmer areas were nearly freezing to death. “There is a request for fur, specifically warm rabbit fur. Lots of it. Apparently, they want to not only clothe themselves, they want to carpet the floors, walls, and ceiling. And they are going to pay pretty well for it.”
“I have not heard of this request.” Tom interjected indignantly, “I have been following the job boards carefully, and have seen nothing of the sort. Where didst thou come by this information?”
“I hear things.” Hans replied nonchalantly. “Also, there is a big demand for cloaks made from a single pelt, so if we can kill Raile without damaging his fur, we can start making some serious money.”
“So, we know what our goal is today?” Dale looked around at the cheerful faces, and felt his own spirit become a bit lighter.
“Money!” Came the response.
“Then let’s go!”
~Eighteen~
“Cal, they are Goblins. It doesn’t matter what they want, we can’t trust them.” Dani snarled at me mentally.
I ordered sternly. I almost never used a tone like that toward her, so the shock of it made her listen. She stepped away and sat down, still growling softly.
The Goblin standing nearest the entrance stepped cautiously into the room. His eyes kept flicking between the sitting Cat and the river next to him. Oh, right. Yeah, this was obviously a “him”. His clothing consisted of a few rags wrapped over his shoulders, a belt, and a wrap on his feet. It seemed his thirst overcame him because he squatted next to the river and took a deep drink. He shuddered in pleasure, then stood up with shining eyes and said something into the hole. More Goblins started filtering in, and all of them drank as soon as they could get close to the water without angering the massive Cat hovering nearby.
“Why are they acting like this?” Dani was no longer angry, just very puzzled. “They should be terrified of me, or trying to fight me.”
“These are Goblins, Cal!” She informed me as if I hadn't heard her the first time. “I think them being a bit thirsty is the least of our worries. Wait! They’re addicted! Cal, they are addicted to the Essence-infused water! We did it!”
Just then a wizened old Goblin wearing furs of a higher quality waddled to the water. After drinking a hefty amount, he turned and looked at the Cat, grunting as his hands began to move. Soon he was dancing in place lightly, and I felt a buildup of Essence.
I was about to ask Dani what had happened, when the Goblin started speaking again. This time something was different; I could clearly understand what he was trying to say.
“Great spirit of the Dungeon, hear me!” The dancing Goblin sang/chanted. “We have felt your call, and have tasted the power you have given freely to those who wish it. The water of strength has made us powerful enough to revolt against our former masters. They who had become reliant on our compliance. We offer ourselves and our children to you, all we ask in return is enough power to defend ourselves from those who would again attempt to destroy us, or force us into servitude again! If this is acceptable, we offer our oaths to you freely!” The Goblin sang in a guttural voice.
Now, this is not what he said, but what he meant. He was simply not able to shape his mouth enough to say the words, making me wonder if other races saw them as unintelligent simply because they were hard to understand.
The words that actually left his mouth were closer to this: “Big angry Spirit! You water make us strong! We kill lazy humans, let guard down! You let us live here, make us strong, all our clan kill only for you! You no let people hurt us! Deals?”
Dani couldn’t hear the meaning — only the words — so she had no idea why I responded as I did.
He seemed surprised to get a response, and a grin only a mother could love appeared on his face. “Abyss yes!”
“Did he just say ‘hell yeah’? What is going on? What does that even mean?” Dani growled.
Bob nodded, and motioned the others forward. Apparently only a dozen or so Goblins had survived the journey to get here — let alone the uprising — and they were quite ragged. One by one, they sank to a knee and gave the same oath, and I responded in kind. Every one of them seemed surprised to get a response, but after their oath was given, a line of their aura mingled with mine, giving me direct access to their minds.
“Cal… They stink, they are messy, and… don’t you think they are a little too intelligent to be something you will willingly sacrifice?” Dani had flown back to me, and the Goblins were now setting up a small camp on the fourth floor while they waited for instructions.
“…I never thought I would feel bad for Goblins.” Dani muttered quietly. I almost didn’t hear her, but I still chose to ignore her barbed comment. I began working on the third floor. Now that I had an idea of what would be living there, I could add features and details instead of leaving the area as an empty room.
To begin, I grew a series of columns in the area, not all the way to the ceiling, but about eight feet tall. I widened these until they were about four feet around, and made what looked like worked stone grow between them. This gave an interior area of roughly four thousand square feet, which should be plenty of space for a dozen Goblins. The worked walls extended out from the dungeon wall, forming half of a hexagon. The walls of the dungeon behind the fortifications would have a higher quality of minerals in them waiting for miners.
I repeated this pattern several times, creating walled areas along this dungeon floor. There was roughly a minutes’ walk between each of them, allowing plenty of space for people to walk past and ignore the Mobs of this level. If they’d rather go straight for the Boss and ignore the mining operations, fine by me. I made a similar wall around the exit from this floor, but far more elaborate and grand. This would be where the floor Boss lived, protecting the entrance to the next level.
It took several days to complete the basic layout, and I heard Dale try to question me a few times as well. I ignored him and only responded to Dani in grunts or short one to two word comments. I maintained the current stair system, bypassing this floor until I could make it a viable level. The final result looked like a spacious beehive from above, accord
ing to Dani. I turned my attention to where the Goblins were resting fitfully and studied what they were using for a sleeping system.
They were cluttered together, several to a… let’s graciously call it a tent. That wouldn’t do at all for my dungeon, it did nothing to help them or intimidate adventurers. While I was studying them, I noticed what Dani had been talking about — they stunk. I was unsure if it was due to them not having access to bathing supplies or if it was personal preference, but that would not do. I resolved to wait until the shaman awoke to discuss how they wanted their homes to look. I needed to solve the stink.
Looking at one of the honeycomb fortifications above the river, I modified the layout a bit. I shrunk the walls and made stairs up them, and created terraces about two feet deep. These empty spaces I staggered, placing them a few feet lower than the one before it. I then worked to create a few Runes on the floor that would collect ambient heat and pour it into whatever medium I wished. Some warrior with more money than brains had fallen and dropped a flaming sword. A flaming sword. It was ridiculous! Holding a shining sword in front of his eyes — while in a dark dungeon — had destroyed his night vision. From there he was easy pickings for my Bashers. I did appreciate the new Runes though.
To my point, I placed these Runes along the floor of the top level, activating them with just a touch of Essence. Then I diverted a bit of the river from its flow, allowing it to gently flow into the room. It hit the floor and turned to steam with a hiss. Alrighty then, a bit less Essence in the fire Rune… I adjusted the heat, and soon had a massive, multi-tiered bath.
The water that entered at the top was the hottest, and flowed down into the next level. There it cooled a bit and eventually overflowed to the next level, and so on. At the very bottom it drained, returning to the river. I planted soapleaf bushes on the dividers. I was glad I finally had a use for these; even the greediest adventurers usually left them alone in the garden room.
What else, what else… food? Most likely, but what do goblins eat? I looked back at their supplies and tried to find food, but I couldn’t find anything that resembled edibles… Uh-oh.
Dani scoffed at me, “Oh, now you are paying attention to me? I don’t know, I’ve just been making sure they don’t sneak in here and kill us.”
“No, I haven’t seen them eat… anything. Oh.” Dani made the same realization that I had.
I woke up the shaman with a nudge to his mind.
I didn’t bother to let him talk, he simply connected with me through our bond and thought his answer at me. “Great Spirit, we have continued our multi-week fast. We attempted to gather food, but your guardian made it clear that we were being tested on our resolve. We have eaten nothing since entering your depths, and only what we could scrounge in the weeks prior.” He seemed proud of this, instead of horrified as I was.
“Anything we are allowed to.” Shaman Bob informed me seriously, reminding me that their entire race was enslaved.
“We prefer meat when we can get it, cooked, unlike what others think of us. We eat vegetables, though not many if we can avoid it. The Orc blood in us does not do well with green foods. While they reduce our hunger, our body does not process it, and there is no gain on our part unless we are in dire need of pooping.”
<…Very informative, thanks. Listen, wake up your people and leave everything behind. I will direct you to your new home.> A look equal parts glee and worry crossed his features as he moved to do my bidding. In a short time, the others were gathered and began walking, following a line of glow potion. They walked until they found the entrance I had made just for them, and ascended into their new lair.
They looked around the dim room, which to their large eyes was as bright as daylight to humans. I had temporarily raised a small dais — a table — and covered it in steaming meats. Since I could make whole rabbits, I could make just portions of them as well. There was far more meat on the table than they could eat, though they certainly tried. Their mouths had mostly sharp teeth, and no molars. The shape of them was wrong, a bit too wide for their heads, so they regularly spilled and dropped food while chewing.
This is a race hated and enslaved by almost all the others in the world, mainly because they are considered unintelligent and ill-mannered. I saw a race that tried to survive, even against all the odds stacked against them. When they had finished eating, most of them began to doze off, bellies full for the first time in — apparently — weeks. While I wanted them to sleep, I had something else to do first. Bob began prodding them, getting them moving to the area I had designated as the bath.
They grumpily climbed the stairs, but upon seeing the gargantuan area designed as a bath house, they all had the same reaction. They would pause, stare, look around for someone planning to beat them for disturbing the beautiful scene, then finally strip and charge into the water with a ‘whoop’. I guess everyone likes hot baths. The soapleaf bushes were soon tested, as the Goblins scrubbed themselves thoroughly. I absorbed all of the ragged furs and makeshift weapons. It was even more low-quality than I had first assumed!
When they all eventually left the bath — the last one an hour after entering — I had placed robes in piles just outside. They dressed, feeling very comfortable for what may have been the first time in their lives. I wanted to make armor and weapons for them, but they needed to recover and become strong first. Anything I gave them now would be useless in a week, since they were currently skeletally thin.
He shook himself and sat in a meditative pose. “Yes, Great Spirit, what are your wishes?”
“Yes… Cal.” He murmured reverently.
The Goblin in question was napping, and had to be kicked several times by Bob before he was awake enough to consent to the idea. I think that Bob was… less than truthful about some aspects of the upcoming process, but oh well. I had formed a memory stone that was roughly the same size as the one that had once contained the cultivation technique I stole from Dale. That one had stored roughly ten years’ worth of deep thoughts and concepts, so I figured that it would be ideal for the less complex ideas and tedium that made up this Goblin’s life.
I was a bit nervous, this was the first potentially working artifact that I had made which was originally made with Mana. If it worked as I hoped it would, it would be the proof of concept that I needed for other — stronger — workings. The lazy Goblin picked it up and made as to eat it, luckily Bob slapped it out of his hand and yelled at him. Really, this stone was as big as his fist, I have no idea how he thought he could swallow it. He raised it to his head and held it there, face screwed up in concentration.
He didn’t need to concentrate on anything in particular, but I think it made him feel better. The stone was designed to draw in memories, and this one was only set to stop drawing after it had everything that was coherent. No baby memories, but plenty of them from child, to adult, to now. I really expected the stone to leave him as a brain-dead lump of flesh, b
ut the Goblin was only a bit dazed when it was finished. He handed the stone to Bob and wandered away to resume his nap.
“Gross.” Dani looked at the half-formed mass of tissue. “I am happy for you.”
I was examining the pattern, and making small noises of disgust as I did so. Dani grunted and told me, “Oh just tell me what the problem is already!”
I ‘waved’ her down,
I continued further, decreasing thickness and length of the tongue a bit, increasing or decreasing bone density, and making the nerves and blood vessels intertwine and flow in a more natural fashion. I have no idea how these creatures managed to survive at all, let alone become a large race. Their entire lifecycle seemed designed around breeding and fighting, both of which they did inefficiently. Sure, they may have had lots of children, but from the looks of it they only did the deed as a biological impetus. It was something that had to be done. They didn’t even particularly enjoy it!
