by R. A. Mejia
There’d been no flying monstrosities like this on the other levels, and there was a moment when the goblin fighters froze against such a foe. I’d been the only one to see the flying creature before, and while I was awed by the creature’s sheer size and power, I knew what to do. I raised my rifle to my shoulder and aimed for the center of the Lightning Condor’s flapping body. I was ready to fire but saw a red glow appear around Manny as he shouted and activated his taunt ability. The flying monster’s head glowed a matching red, and it dropped Moe and turned toward the goblin defender. A spark of electrical energy formed between its talons, and it shot an arc of energy at Manny. The magical attack conducted perfectly through the goblin’s metal splint mail, and his eyes widened as he lost 25% of his health to the effective attack.
Another charge of the electrical energy formed between the talons of the monster, but before it could be discharged, four blades cut through the Condor's wings. I just made out the forms of Frik and Frak tumbling back down toward the ground, their twin short swords in their hands, as they fell away from the creature. The bird dropped to the ground with a thud. It was injured, but wasn’t dead and only down half its life. I shifted my aim and pulled the trigger. The loud explosion filled my ears, and smoke obscured my view, but the red damage marker that floated away from the monster told me my shot hit. I stepped forward through the cloud and sent my spent rifle back into my internal inventory while calling up my second. But it wasn’t needed. Between Greebo and the twins, the monster was already being chopped up.
You’ve killed a level 7 Mutated Lightning Condor.
You receive 17 XP.
With the death notification came a cheer from all the goblins. The fight should have been challenging for the under-leveled fighters, but their teamwork made it look easy. Although I wouldn't want to send them against a herd of Quartz Wapiti, I was sure they could handle themselves against the single targets on the level.
I sent my spent rifle to my internal inventory and used an infusion of Minor Regeneration on Manny to help heal the wounds he’d suffered in the initial strike from the monster. As his wounds healed, he walked over to the Mutated Lighting Condor and joined the other goblins who were already looting the body. Aside from the sparking purple feather, talons, and other body parts, there was also a small nugget of silver and a shiny black stone which I recognized as an Infernal Crystal. It was the third and largest that I’d found as loot from mutated monsters, and I had been told by the Witch Evanora Everwoods that they were rare and only seen in the lower levels of the dungeon. Yet, I’d found three now. I couldn’t help but wonder how that was the case. I couldn’t be that lucky.
Regardless of how I found it, I knew that I’d take the crystal to the witch. The other goblins all finished getting their loot, and Minnie finished harvesting the sparkling purple feathers.
Enemy Detected
The notification interrupted my thoughts about loot and a moment later I called my Flintlock Rifle from my internal inventory. A fleeting thought about why the notification had appeared for the second time was answered by a cry of pain that grabbed all of our attention. I turned toward the source of the sound and saw Innie being held up, one-handed, by a seven-foot-tall troll in chainmail wielding a claymore in his other hand. While most of us were stunned by the sight, Manny, Greebo, and I had our weapons in our hands and were already advancing on the troll when a voice called out, “Hold, goblins!” The tone was so commanding that both Manny and Greebo halted as the voice continued, “Unless you want your comrade here to die.”
A human-sized man in purple robes stepped out from behind a tree, but the cowl of his robe draped low enough that it was hard to make out his face. The man continued, “Good. This is a simple robbery. It does not have to end in the death of any of your group. Just turn over any of the loot from the fight with that creature, and we will be on our way.”
I recognized the troll and human from when I’d killed a group of Shadow Wolves and Quartz Wapiti. Along with a goblin, they’d been picking leftover treasures from among the monster corpses I’d left behind. I’d thought them merely scavengers but now connected them to a story of thieves on the level I’d heard from a pair of dwarven miners. A quick use of Inspect showed me that the troll was level 10 and that the robed figure was level 8. It didn’t show me their names, but the robed figure’s eyes locked on me, and he shook his head. “Oh, no, golem. My magic obscures anything except our levels. I only left that information so that you’d know that your group would have no chance to fight us.” He turned his attention back to Greebo and Manny, the two closest goblins, and a small black tornado started to form in his hands. “Now, will you cooperate, or do we start killing?”
The goblins tightened their grips on their weapons, but I called out, “No! The troll is level 10, and the mage is level 8. We couldn’t hope to kill them without taking at least a few deaths too. It's not worth a single drop of blood to save the monster parts. We can kill more monsters, but we cannot bring back our dead.”
The goblin fighters nodded, and everyone started to drop the loot they’d just taken on the ground. I hadn’t taken much but dropped the Infernal Crystal. The mage immediately walked up to me and picked up the black crystal, and I could just make out a smile on his face as he pocketed it and returned to the side of the troll. He then turned to the forest and called out, “Come on out and collect the rest of the loot.” The short goblin I’d seen with the duo before came out from the forest. He was still wearing the same leather armor and large backpack that I had seen before, but now he also had a white cloth mask covering the lower part of his face. He cautiously approached our group, and his eyes darted between the goblin warriors and miners as he picked up all the loot they’d dropped and placed it in his backpack, which grew taller and wider as it was filled.
“Traitor,” Greebo muttered.
The masked goblin heard, and his shoulders slumped slightly, but he continued collecting everything. When he was finished, he returned to the mage’s side.
The monster parts taken, the mage said, “Thank you for your cooperation. We’ll take the little goblin with us for a few minutes as we leave, just to make sure you don’t try to follow us. We will release him when we’re far enough away.” The troll smiled and squeezed Innie’s head, which made the goblin whimper just to show us that he could kill the miner with ease.
“We won’t follow you,” I said, and the mage eyed me with a tilted head for a moment before he turned and fled into the forest with the goblin and troll following closely behind. The three disappeared into the woods with Innie still in their grasp, and I heard curses muttered and growls of anger and frustration from the other goblins. We waited where we were, and ten minutes later, Innie came stumbling from the forest a small line of blood running down the side of his head.
The other miners ran up to Innie and they all hugged, relieved that he was safe and sound. Greebo, Manny, and the twins took up their weapons and started to head into the forest, anger evident in their eyes. I called out, “Stop! Those guys are twice our level. We’d just be heading into trouble trying to follow them. We didn’t lose anything that can’t be replaced, and I don’t have a spell to bring any of you back from the dead.”
There was more cursing, but no one argued with the decision, and the miners were only too happy to run away from the area toward the resource node.
We continued north for another half hour and then east for an hour through the forest until we reached a clearing where we could see the hill where Innie sensed the resource node. However, we weren’t the first to reach there. Two other groups of miners were already hard at work, striking away with their picks at the large grey rocks that protruded from the hill in clumps. The closer of the two groups was made of five women of varying races including dwarves, gnomes, and humans. The other group was composed entirely of humans and was too far away to tell much else about them. Part of each group broke down the rocks with pick and hammer while others sifted through the rubble,
picking out chunks of rock and putting selected pieces in large backpacks and wheelbarrows. The rest of the rock was thrown away and gathered in tall piles of rubble.
“Stay where you are. This site has already been claimed by Diva’s Delvers,” a feminine voice said. I turned towards the sound and saw a female dwarf with fair skin and braided blonde hair step out from behind a pile of rubble. She was pretty, but she had a scowl on her face. Additionally, she was wearing well-worn chainmail and held up a broad-bladed double-headed axe in her hands.
The four miners stayed in the shade of the forest, but Manny stepped out from the tree line, his shield and mace held at the ready. The twins followed closely behind, clearly ready to fight. I didn’t spy Greebo and knew he’d stealthed and that he would strike out from concealment if a fight started. I didn’t want a fight, and I rested the butt of my Flintlock Rifle on the ground and held out my left hand, open-palmed, toward her.
“I don’t want any trouble, miss,” I said.
The blonde dwarf warrior eyed the goblins in front of me and tightened the grip on her weapon. She said, “You think you’ll intimidate me with some goblins? Ha! My family has been spilling their kind’s blood for generations.”
The goblins growled, still frustrated from our earlier trouble and none too pleased by the dwarf’s comment. Manny stepped forward, shield and weapon raised, ready to fight. I saw the other goblin’s follow his lead and knew I needed to stop the escalating tensions.
I stepped in front of the armored goblin, put a hand out and said, “No, Manny.” He looked up at me, frustration and annoyance clear on his face. But he took a breath and lowered his weapon. I turned to the dwarf and said, “We understand the fear of being robbed. We were just robbed by three higher-leveled creeps. But we were just looking for a resource node to mine. Are all these miners’ part of your Diva’s Delvers?” I asked.
Manny and the other goblins reluctantly stopped their advance but still held their weapons at the ready and stared daggers at her. The dwarf looked from the goblins to me before she answered, “I am Devena Diva, and I lead the four ladies over there mining. The others are all with another group.”
“So, they are allowed to mine here, but not us? Is that what you’re telling me?” I asked, my grip tightening around the barrel of the Flintlock Rifle.
The dwarf sighed and considered her words. “Well, if you’re miners, then I technically can’t stop you from using the resource node according to the Adventurer’s Guild rules. But the mining companies have an unwritten agreement not to have more than two teams at any node. Otherwise, the ore payouts are too little for the work, and the chances of the dungeon sending stronger monsters after you increases.”
“The dungeon sends monsters after you?” I ask, confused.
“Sure, don’t you know? When you start to mine or gather materials at a resource node, the dungeon considers it an attack and defends itself by sending monsters. The more miners gathered at the node, the stronger the response is from the dungeon. It’s why mining companies send fighters with their teams--or why the miners are also fighters.”
The response shed a new light on some of the groups I’d seen enter the dungeon. I’d been worried that gathering resources would cut into my ability to gain XP in the dungeon. I’d been willing to make the trade-off temporarily because I needed materials to craft and money to buy the parts for my mechanical companion, but knowing that the dungeon would send us monsters gave me a new way to gain XP.
A rustling sound and a cry behind me shifted my thoughts back to the moment, and I spun to see the four goblin miners running from the cover of the forest toward me with three Shadow Wolves hot on their heels. The goblins had thrown their picks at the monsters, gaining them the space to make a run for it, but the wolves were faster and higher leveled, and they would soon catch up. I had the Flintlock Rifle against my shoulder in one smooth motion, and I aimed at the lead wolf and pulled the trigger without even thinking. The ground in front of the lead wolf exploded in a rain of dirt, grass, and rock as my attack missed, but the cacophony from the rifle shot was loud enough to startle the group of canines, causing them to skid to a stop.
“Dammit. I told you that the dungeon would send monsters if there were too many people at the node,” Devena Diva shouted at my back.
I paid her no attention as I sent my expended rifle to my inventory for a fresh one. The loaded rifle appeared in my hands, and I had to take a step to the left out of the smoke before I could aim and fire again. The monsters had gotten close enough for it to be hard to miss, and my next shot blew a fist-sized hold in the side of the lead wolf and knocked it back onto its side. The spray of blood from their downed pack mate only seemed to enrage the other wolves, though, and they turned toward me almost as one. The rifle in my hand disappeared as I sent it to my internal inventory and replaced it with my long-handled Blacksmith Hammer.
The three Shadow Wolves attacked as a pack as I set my feet, gripped the hammer with both hands, and swung. I knew I could only hit one, so I targeted the closest. I heard a yelp and crunch of bone as the flat side of the hammer slammed into its left shoulder, sending it sprawling back. The two other wolves took advantage of my focus on their packmate, and each bit one of my iron-plated calves and pulled. I felt my legs shift forward as I was thrown off balance by the double pull, and I landed on my backside with a clatter, losing the hammer in my hands as I fell.
I thought for sure that I’d have to fight the two wolves while prone, but their follow-up attacks never came. When I rolled back to my feet, I saw that each wolf had engaged with the other members of our team and that Devena was killing the two disabled wolves. Manny and Frik squared off against one wolf, with Manny drawing the monster’s attention with his taunt ability and Frik carving up its flank with his twin short swords and dancing away before the monster could retaliate. Greebo and Frak sliced the other with their blades, taking turns stabbing and slicing and then jumping back when the wolf turned to face them so that the other could take a turn and do the same. In essence, they were forcing the creature to choose whom to turn its back to. They took damage without a tank to distract the monster, but they made short work of the beast with their fully offensive tactics. When they finished off their opponent, they shifted their attention to helping Manny and Frik. Together, they quickly ended the life of the last Shadow Wolf.
I ignored the XP notifications as they were split between multiple people, grabbed my hammer from where it had fallen, and put it into my internal inventory before I checked with each member of my team to see if anyone was injured badly. No one was seriously hurt, but the miners were shaken up.
“This is why I told you the resource node was claimed!” Devena Diva shouted. I didn’t know what to say, but shouting from the hill drew all of our attention. I turned and saw that more Shadow Wolves had come out of the forest and were attacking the other miners. She yelled, “Help us! This is all your fault!” as she sprinted past us to help her group, which was fending off a group of wolves with picks and shovels. The other group seemed to have their own defenders, but they also had a larger group of wolves to fight.
Defend the Divas
Devena Diva has issued a quest for aid against the Shadow Wolves.
Reward: ???
“We should leave and find another place to mine,” Moe, one of the goblin miners, said. The other miners nodded in agreement, but Greebo and Manny looked out at the attacking wolves with concerned expressions.
Greebo turned and looked at me with a questioning expression. I knew he was looking to me for direction. We could leave these adventurers on their own. After all, one had made it very clear that they didn’t want to share the resource node. But that idea didn’t sit well with me. Even if it had been inadvertent, our presence had caused the dungeon to respond with the larger wolf pack. I shrugged my shoulders and twiddled my thumbs, my version of a sigh, and nodded at Greebo while reequipping my Flintlock Rifle and started to reload it.
Greebo smiled
and called out to the rest of the goblins, “Gather up, boys!” The miners and fighters obeyed and Greebo continued, “Ok, we’re helping out these pathetic miners, even if we don’t have to.” The goblins nodded without voicing any objections they may have had. “Manny will stay back and guard the miners. Everyone else, move forward to help the Divas.”
By the time Greebo had finished talking, I’d finished reloading my rifle, and he and the twins ran forward into the fray. The benefit of having such a powerful ranged weapon was that I could stay back near Manny and the miners while still damaging the enemy. I took careful aim, fired, and reloaded, again and again. It was difficult to hit my targets in the middle of such a frantic battle with allies and enemies constantly moving. I almost hit Greebo once when he suddenly dodged an attack directly into the line of my shot. I’d already pulled the trigger and thought I’d wounded my friend, but when the smoke cleared, he was staring down at the ground where a fist-sized chunk of the earth had been blown away by the errant minié ball. He turned to me with a scowl and made what I could only assume was a rude goblin gesture with his hand before throwing himself back into the fight. Yet, even with the risk of accidentally hitting an ally, the fight shifted every time I struck a wolf, throwing it off balance or seriously injuring it.
