The Greystone Chronicles: Book One: Io Online

by Dave Willmarth

  Lainey and Max each hit an imp in the head with an arrow as Brick stomped into the room and slammed down his shield. He began cursing and shouting at the imps, motioning at the nearest with his hammer and blasting it with holy smite. The imp dropped dead instantly, while the others attacked Brick. Nothing like a little light magic to piss off demons.

  The larger imp with the hat charged at Brick, slamming one cleaver after the other into his shield. The other imps, including the two with arrows in their skulls, moved to one side of the room and tried to shoot fireballs past Brick’s shield. As soon as they were stopped, Sasha cast thorn trap on them, and Alexander hit each of the four with wizard’s fire. As usual, the vines caught fire, and the imps began to fry. Lainey and Max put another arrow into each of them, killing the two who’d already been hit once. Leaving the others to burn, the group focused on the chef imp. It was still pounding away at Brick’s shield and the dwarf spouted his love poetry and occasionally reached out to strike it with his hammer. Being infused with light magic, the hammer blows were doing respectable damage to the demon.

  Chef Beebog

  Greater Imp

  Level 30

  Health 1200/1900

  So a named mob. Not exactly a mini boss, but higher level and tougher than the others so far.

  Max and Lainey shot arrows at it while Alexander hit it with magic bolts. Sasha focused on healing Brick. No need to trap the imp, it wasn’t going anywhere. It was so enraged by the light damage from Brick’s hammer that it didn’t even notice the hits it was taking. As soon as his cooldown expired, Brick hit the imp with holy smite. It screamed as its health dropped to zero.

  The group moved into the room and Max looted the corpses. Beebog dropped both his cleavers, which were a unique set with pretty good stats. They’d likely fetch several thousand at auction.

  The goblin in the cage made a pathetic mewling sound, curling up in the corner and trying to be as small as it could. It began to mumble to itself and rock back and forth.

  Lainey raised her bow and was about to put an arrow into it when Fitz said, “Wait!” He walked to the cage, and said something to the goblin in its own language. The goblin’s eyes grew wide and leapt up, grabbing the bars of the cage and babbling frantically.

  “What’s it saying?” Lainey asked.

  “One moment.” Fitz cast a spell on the goblin, and it was suddenly speaking common.

  “-chased our people up and out of our homes!”

  “Stop!” Fitz yelled at the goblin, which froze with its mouth open. “Start from the beginning. Speak slowly. What is your name?”

  “Me Fibble,” said the goblin. “Fibble good goblin! No kill Fibble! Fibble not food! Taste bad!”

  Goblin’s aren’t the most intelligent of creatures.

  “No, we no eat Fibble,” Fitz chuckled. “Fibble, tell us what happened.”

  “Fibble was in bottom room. Servant to Overlord. Bring food, clean room, work hard. Fibble good servant! Overlord only beat Fibble one or three times day. Boss send Fibble to kitchen for food. Fibble go upstairs from bottom room, see flash of light! Big circle! Demons run out of circle. Fibble run back down to bottom room, scream for Overlord. Demons! Demons! Overlord grab sword and run upstairs. Yell very loud. Much fighting. Fibble not fighter, so Fibble hide under bed. Fighting sounds go away. Fibble fall asleep under bed. Wake up, no sound. Still, Fibble wait, scared. Sleep again. Then Fibble get thirsty. Sneak out to get bottle of wine on table. Scary demon shoot Fibble with fire! Demons catch Fibble, lock him in cage. Many Fibble’s friends in cages, too. Then demons start to grab friends, cook them. Eat them.” The goblin sat down in the cage and began to cry.

  “Poor little thing,” Sasha said. “It must have been terrified, watching its friends being eaten one by one.”

  The goblin sniffed, wiping a runny nose on its sleeve. “Yes. Fibble scared all time. Fibble die, it okay. Goblins die. But Fibble not want to be food. You kill Fibble now. Promise no eat?” the little thing looked hopefully at Sasha.

  “Nobody is going to eat you, or kill you, Fibble,” Sasha said emphatically. Earning her looks from the other members of the group.

  “Sasha, we have the information we need. If you don’t want to kill it, we can just leave it here,” the captain said.

  “And let him starve? The poor thing hasn’t eaten in at least a week. We’re not leaving him.” She looked determined.

  Fitz spoke up. “Fibble, you know these tunnels? You know a fast way to bottom room?”

  Fibble’s eyes got wide. “No go bottom room! Big demon! Many demons in tunnels! All humans and elves and dwarfy get caught! Be food for demons!”

  Sasha tried to reassure the goblin, seeing a reason to keep him alive. “Fibble, its ok. We kill demons. You saw us kill them. Even the big one with the hat.”

  At this, Fibble snorted, “Stupid hat.”

  Sasha smiled at the goblin. “Yes, stupid hat. If you show us the way to the bottom room, we will kill the demons who ate your friends. We’ll keep you safe.”

  The little goblin trembled at the thought of facing the demons again. But he looked at the dead imps on the floor, then at Sasha and the adventurers. Taking a deep breath and puffing out his chest, he said, “Fibble brave! Fibble help you kill demons. Show you fast way to bottom. Then you not kill Fibble?”

  “Deal!” Sasha said. “Now stand back”.

  At a look from Sasha, Brick sighed, and smashed the cage’s lock with his hammer. The lock and a good portion of the door shattered.

  The goblin stepped out gingerly, clearly still expecting to die. After a moment of nobody attacking him, he looked to Sasha. “Please, Fibble thirsty. Water?”

  “Oh! Of course!” Sasha pulled a flask of water from her bag, along with some travel rations. She handed it all to the goblin. He immediately swallowed an entire biscuit, and washed it down with big gulps of water. Munching on a piece of jerky, he went to hand the flask back to Sasha, who made a face that clearly said “Fibble cooties” and told him to keep it.

  “Thank you, Sasha?”

  So the little runt is smart enough to have caught Sasha’s name when the captain used it.

  “You are welcome, Fibble. Now. You stay close to me. When we stop, you point the fast way to the bottom room, okay?” The goblin nodded rapidly, causing his large ears to flap.

  Brick led the way back out into the corridor. Again the captain insisted they check the other door, so as not to leave a roomful of enemies at their back. Brick opened the door to a nearly empty room. It was a small room, maybe 12 x 12. The only thing in it was a large chest sitting on the floor.

  “Loot!” Brick smiled and pumped a fist in the air.

  Max moved forward to check for traps on the chest. As soon as he stepped into the room, there was a faint screeching sound behind them. The captain moved back down the corridor to check their rear. Seeing nothing, they followed the corridor back the way they came. After a few moments, he returned.

  “Clever trap. Step in this room, and an alarm goes off in the room with all the imps. If the door hadn’t been open, we’d have never heard it. So someone stepping into this room would be distracted by the chest while a herd of imps closed on them from behind, trapping them here.”

  Alexander smiled “Always go to the left first!”

  Laughing, Max proceeded forward and checked the chest. Finding no traps, he opened it. Inside he found 1,000 gold, some small gems, one large ruby, an invisibility potion, and a rare quality one-handed sword. Lydia asked to see the potion, saying she wanted to analyze it when she got back to her shop. She hoped to learn how to duplicate it.

  Fitz quickly checked the room for hidden treasures or doors, and again found none, so the group moved back out to the corridor, and into the hub room. They turned down the long corridor that lead to the spike trap, as that was the only direction left to go.

  As they got about halfway down, Fibble cried, “Wait!”

  The group stopped, looking around. Fibble shyl
y stepped past Brick and moved ahead a short way down the corridor. He looked at the left hand wall for a moment, then pushed in on a block. There was a grinding noise, then nothing.

  “Fibble fix! Bad trap with sharp floor. Safe now.” The goblin promptly demonstrated by walking forward over the trap door, which didn’t give way. Alexander used his earth magic to confirm that the trap had been disarmed.

  “Good job, Fibble!” Lainey said, and handed the goblin another piece of jerky. Fitz rolled his eyes. Brick snorted.

  I’m noticing a trend here.

  They continued on to the end of the corridor. Fibble pointed them to the most direct route down. Along the way they fought several patrols of imps. Fibble disabled a few traps. He even ran from his usual hiding spot behind Sasha and stomped on the head of a nearly dead imp during one of the battles, at which point he stuck out his chest again and said, “Fibble warrior!”

  “BWAHAHA!” Brick laughed. Reaching in his bag, he pulled out a low level mace that he’d taken from one of the PWP they killed. He handed it to Fibble. “If any imps get past me, you protect Sasha, yes?”

  The goblin’s eyes got bigger, and he hesitated a moment. Then he reached out to take the weapon. He needed both hands to lift it from Brick’s grasp with a grunt of effort. “Heavy stick! Good to smash demon heads! Fibble make sure no demon eats Sasha!” Throwing the mace over one shoulder, he stepped into position in front of Sasha and looked as fierce as he could.

  They proceeded down the corridor. During the next fight, which was a patrol of four imps, Brick said in raid chat, “Take one down to red, then stop hitting it. I’m going to let it through.”

  So Lainey stunned one of the imps with an arrow, then Max shot it in the shoulder, taking it down to just a sliver of health. The injured imp went straight for Max. Brick ‘accidentally’ let it get past him before shield bashing the others and knocking them down.

  Seeing the imp rushing past the tank, and heading in the general direction of his new pet human, Fibble screamed and charged at the imp. He lifted the heavy mace from his shoulder and swung it at the demon. The nimble imp dodged to the side, taking a swipe at the goblin, tearing a wide gash in his back. Fibble screamed again, then wildly swung his weapon back around. He made enough contact with the imp to take it down before losing his balance and falling.

  Bleeding profusely, the goblin sat against the wall, breathing hard and crying. Sasha knelt in front of him. “Fibble die now. Saved Sasha. You keep promise? No eat Fibble?”

  “Silly goblin. You will not die. You are my hero! You protected me from the nasty demon!” She cast a heal on the little goblin, who jumped up in surprise and spun around a few times, trying to look at his miraculously healed back. He looked like a dog chasing its tail. He quickly got dizzy and stopped.

  “You fix Fibble! Sasha magic!” Goblins had shamans who could do magic, but they were rare. Their magic was dark magic, and wasn’t much good for healing. What healing magic they did have would not be wasted on a common goblin. Goblin lives were cheap, and a serious injury usually meant a slow death, so it was likely Fibble had never been healed in his life.

  “Yes, I am magic,” Sasha giggled. “All of us are magic.” She indicated the rest of the group. “Big magic. We’ll use our magic to kill ALL the demons! And fix Fibble if he gets hurt,” she assured the brave little goblin.

  Fibble grinned and nodded his head. He went to lift the heavy mace again, but Fitz took pity on him. “Fibble, give me that stick. I have something better for you.” Fibble looked unsure about giving up his weapon until Sasha nodded at him. He allowed Fitz to take the mace, and was handed a wand to replace it.

  The little goblin looked at the wand dubiously. Then he looked up at the wizard. “Small stick? No good to smash demon heads! Give big stick back?” he asked hopefully.

  “That stick is not for smashing, Fibble. That stick is for shooting. Magic stick!” Fibble quickly dropped the wand and stepped back from it, eliciting a chuckle from everyone.

  Fitz picked up the wand and told Max to go pull the next patrol.

  “Fibble, this magic stick is good magic. Light magic. Very bad for demons. I’ll show you.” Fitz waited for Max to come back with three angry imps. Once Brick had picked them up, Fitz said “Watch carefully.” He pointed the wand at an imp, mumbled something under his breath, and a bolt of light magic struck the imp in the face, killing it instantly. The group quickly disposed of the other two imps, then all eyes went to Fibble.

  The wizard handed the wand back to the little goblin, who held it gently in both hands as if it were a holy relic. Then he took it one hand, copied the way the wizard had held it, and waved it around a bit.

  Alexander asked, “Is there an activation word?”

  Fitz shook his head. “It’s a healing wand. Works from intent. But it might be easier to give Fibble a focus word.” It was a smart choice. Any stray bolt of light magic the goblin might hit one of them with would simply heal them, but it would have the opposite effect on demons.

  As if on cue, Fibble asked, “How magic stick shoot?”

  Smiling, Alexander took a knee next to the little guy. “You point the magic stick at the demons, and you say ‘Pew!’.”

  Brick snort-laughed somewhere behind him, and Sasha giggled.

  Fibble took the wand in his right hand, pointed it down the hallway, and said, “Pew!”. Unfortunately, he was holding the wrong end, and the wand was pointed at him. A bolt of healing light shot him in the chest. He dropped the wand again and grabbed his chest with both hands, looking for a wound.

  “It’s ok Fibble. Magic stick only hurts demons,” Sasha reassured him.

  Alexander couldn’t speak as he was rolling on the ground laughing. The very confused Fibble decided to take the laughter as a good sign, and picked the wand back up. “We go now, kill demons!”

  The greatly amused adventurers got themselves back into formation. They continued through the halls of the first floor, killing demons as they went, following Fibble’s directions. Eventually they reached the first floor mini-boss, a large red imp with fiery eyes and wings. Not understanding anything of strategy, Fibble jumped into the room and screamed, “PEW!” as he pointed the wand at the demon. The bolt of light magic took about 5% of the boss’s health, and it immediately took off after Fibble. The goblin panicked, and ran. Every few steps he would shout, “Pew! Pew!” and shoot bolts at the demon. The winged imp was fast, but few things are faster than a terrified goblin. It stopped to throw a fireball at Fibble, but the goblin was long gone before it hit. “Pew! Pew!”

  “BWAHAHAHA!!” Brick fell over, helpless with laughter. Seeing that the tank wouldn’t be taking aggro, and panicking for her new protector, Sasha cast thorn trap on the imp. Lainey and Max shot arrows at it. Lainey hit it, but Max was laughing too hard and his arrow went wide. Alexander managed to cast wizard fire and a couple of magic bolts at it. Fitz, Lydia, and the captain all just watched with amusement. They had agreed before entering the dungeon not to get into the fights unless absolutely necessary. The adventurers wanted to develop their skills.

  Fibble scooted back toward the group, still shooting the demon, and actually doing more damage than anyone else. “Pew!” he shouted again as he moved to his place in front of Sasha. His last bolt finished the demon, and a flash of green light enveloped Fibble. He looked amazed, then looked questioningly at Sasha.

  “Did he… just level up?” Lainey asked.

  “Yeah, I think he did,” Alexander confirmed. “Makes sense. He’s not in our group, and he did more DPS than we did. Plus he got the kill shot.”

  The others just shook their heads. As an experiment, Alexander tried something. “Fibble, would you like to be part of our raid party?” he asked.

  Fibble looked confused. “Party? Not kill demons?”

  Sasha stepped in to help. “It’s a demon killing party, Fibble. You say ‘yes’ and help us kill demons, and you get bigger and stronger and smarter!” She smiled at him.

&
nbsp; “Yes!” Fibble shouted.

  Just like that, our raid party includes a goblin.

  Achievement Earned: Light from the Dark

  Through patience and kindness, you have turned a monster class character to a friendly citizen.

  They looted the boss, searched the room, and found a hidden panel with a chest in it. The chest contained 2,000 gold, a half dozen health potions, and an epic obsidian spear.

  Fibble led them down a stairway at the back of the room, and they proceeded to clear the level. Fibble pointed the way, and disabled traps. The group killed patrols and groups of mobs in room after room. The enthusiastic goblin cried, “Pew! Pew!” through each fight, to the ongoing amusement of the adventurers. After a while, the wand ran out of juice, which confused the poor goblin to no end. He kept pointing it and saying, “Pew?”. Fitz recharged it for him, and handed it back. At which point he promptly shot himself in the face with it and causing Brick to nearly pee himself. And they moved on.