Eloria's Beginning: A LitRPG/GameLit Epic (Enter The louVRe Book 1)

by Tom Hansen

  “Hey, settle down!” One of the Nagos yelled.

  “Not on your life! He’s a traitor! I think he wanted to get caught!” The Tau’raj screamed, his eyes wild with rage.

  The Goblin’s face matched that of his companion, twisted, purple and flushed. “Oh yeah, well if you’re so ungrateful, then maybe I’ll just leave you!”

  The Goblin kicked again, leaves filling the void between him and his argumentative partner.

  When the leaves settled, the Goblin was gone, and the five Nagos looked around in bewilderment.

  Chapter 27

  Scarhoof felt something cold and sharp dig into the soft part of his neck.

  “You move or yell, and I’ll slit your throat.” The voice was definitely not Tau’raj. It carried a sinister edge but was higher and smaller. He glanced down without moving his head, noticing the green hand and arm around his throat. It had to be the Goblin.

  “I’m not a friend of the Nagos,” Scarhoof hissed as quietly as he could.

  “I guessed that, but what are you doing here?”

  “I just came from my Shaman trainer, he sent me up here to gather intel to take back to Chieftain Bloodhorn.” He pointed, careful not to move his neck. “I followed those two Nagos and they led me here.”

  The blade to his throat pulled away slowly. “Alright, well it’s a good thing you’re here. We kinda need some help.”

  “What’s the plan?”

  Scarhoof turned to take in his new friend. The Goblin was about a meter and a half tall, with taught dark green skin over his gaunt frame. Goblins had always been a boney race but this one was exceptionally emaciated. His elongated nose protruded over his sunken mouth, accentuating his flat and squarish head.

  This particular one had darker striations in his skin and a furrow to his brow that showed him deep in thought.

  The Goblin was silent for a bit, Scarhoof watched the guards frantically searching the immediate area for their lost prisoner. While he was still far enough up a slope from them hidden in the forest, it wouldn’t take long before they started up their direction. One of the guards ran up the road to the rise and whatever lay beyond, while a couple others began to fan out looking to the sides of the road. Two remained with the Tau’raj.

  Finally, the Goblin extended his hand in greeting.

  “Jaxyl Okturl. Nice to meet you.”

  “Matuk Scarhoof. I go by the latter.”

  The Goblin nodded. “Like most Tau’raj. I understand your customs. Now, if you’re here from Bloodhorn I need you to take a missive back to him.”

  “But what about my brother?”

  “Let him go, I’ll stay here and take care of those pissy Nagos. You don’t need to worry about them.”

  Scarhoof wavered. Two against five was a lot harder than three against five, and even then, it was only two of them until they freed the injured Tau’raj.

  “Where are you, Rogue!” The Nagos nearest to the injured soldier brandished a knife. “You better show yourself if you don’t want your partner to get his throat slit!”

  The Goblin cupped his hands to his mouth like he was going to yell.

  Scarhoof’s body went frigid with fright. What was he doing? He would give away their position and thereby the element of surprise.

  The Goblin yelled, only the sound didn’t come from his cupped hands, instead his scratchy high-pitched voice came from somewhere off the road in a different part of the forest, near a large boulder poking out of the exposed soil.

  “Then come find me you slimy snakes!”

  “How did you do that?” Scarhoof whispered.

  The Goblin ignored him, instead digging around inside his pack and pulling out a rolled-up scroll. “Take this back to Bloodhorn. He needs to know what is up this road.”

  Scarhoof reached out his hand and took the missive, then turned back to his comrade with a blade to his throat. “I’m not going to leave him. If you want my help, then we need to free him.”

  “He’s injured and won’t be able to move very far. We haven’t eaten for days and the Nagos have been torturing us all the way back to their camp up there across the Plains for the last three days. He’s sustained the bulk of the damage.”

  Scarhoof gave him a wry smile. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m a healer then.”

  Scarhoof inspected his new friend. It turned out that Jaxyl was a level 11 Rogue, which was handy. They would need to take out all five guards using the element of surprise as much as possible.

  “You just take out the one holding him hostage then go after the two investigating your rock yelling there, I’ll root the other one then go in to heal.”

  Jaxyl nodded, then raised his hands and disappeared in front of Scarhoof’s eyes. Rogues. Always showing off. He’d never spent much time with them, as a Tau’raj’s size made them ill-equipped to being Rogues. It’s just too hard to sneak around when you tower over everyone.

  Suddenly, a party invite startled him.

  “Sorry, I forgot to party us up. This will help us coordinate.” The voice came from his left, two meters away.

  Scarhoof nodded and accepted the invite.

  The other member of the team showed up in the party invite. The Tau’raj’s name was Knoton Firemane, and it seemed he was a Battlemaster. He was badly hurt, down to 15% health. The damage made Scarhoof wince, like he was somehow responsible, but he knew this wasn’t his fault, and he needed to turn whatever despair or guilt he felt into action to fix the problem. He gripped his staff tightly to his body, waiting for his new party member to get into place.

  Now that they were partied, he was able to see a ghostly outline of the Goblin Jaxyl, who was creeping closer to the Nagos in the middle. He stopped briefly to shout some racial slurs at the Nagos from higher up the slope where they searched, causing all the Nagos to stop and look.

  That’s when he made his move.

  The Rogue was so fast Scarhoof had trouble taking it all in. The Nagos holding Firemane was down in a matter of two seconds. Scarhoof popped out of the bushes and immediately cast tendrils on the second Nagos.

  Jaxyl disappeared in a puff of smoke just as Scarhoof landed a Mending Force on Firemane.

  Scarhoof leapt over the bush, coming down hard on his lame leg. He stumbled, but managed to keep upright, and limped down the slope, wincing through the pain. He paused at the bottom of the slope to heal the bull again.

  “Yanasi, brother. I’m Matuk Scarhoof.”

  He stood over his injured brother and hit him with two back-to-back Mending Forces.

  “Yanasi.” The injured Tau’raj replied. His voice was weak, weaker than it should have been after getting healed twice.

  Scarhoof inspected him, and realized the Tau’raj had Medium injuries, worse than the ones he wasn’t able to heal Kardkaw back in Sunset Cove. A wave of anger swept over him, what good was being a healer if he couldn’t cure all ailments?

  “We’re going to get you out of here. Can you walk?” He turned to the Nagos to his side, about ten meters away and re-cast Tendrils. The Nagos glared back, holding onto his short sword with a white knuckled grip.

  Firemane moaned. “I think so, but they’ve been torturing me for days now. Jaxyl has largely been bearing me across the plains.”

  Rage built in waves as Scarhoof watched his brother struggle to stand. He needed to get Firemane to a better healer. He wasn’t fit to help out at all. He stood, whirling towards the still rooted Nagos. He needed to take out his seething anger.

  They finished off the rest of the Nagos with ease, as it was two to three, and Scarhoof only needed to hit Jaxyl with a single heal after he came back, nodding to the others that the two Nagos were dead.

  “They had a runner though, and the quarry isn’t too far up that road. We need to get out of here sooner rather than later.”

  Scarhoof hit all of them repeatedly with Mending Forces, topping off his health completely, while getting Jaxyl to 80%. He could only get Firemane up to 60%, because of the internal bleedin
g; he just couldn’t stop it. At least they were all able to move at a normal speed.

  Quest Update! The Missing Scouts:

  You helped rescue Knoton Firemane and Jaxyl Okturl, but now you need to get to safety before you are overtaken by the Nagos. (Gained 50 XP!)

  Helping Firemane up, Scarhoof frowned at the injuries. “I’m sorry, brother. I did what I could.”

  Firemane nodded, his face stalwart but still riddled with concern. “I wish you two would just go on without me.”

  “Never!” Scarhoof and Jaxyl said it in unison, then gave each other a knowing grin.

  He was beginning to like this Goblin.

  Scarhoof activated Pace Yantra, and Firemane had a protective spell that was similar to his Mitigation Yantra, but it slowed bleeds and other damaging status effects; it helped.

  Scarhoof dug some food out of his pack and distributed it to his party. “Best eat now, before we leave, to gain some strength back.”

  They took off down the road, as the carved path was easier to traverse than going through the forest.

  Jaxyl and Scarhoof took turns supporting their party member, Jaxyl insisting on taking his full share of time with the massive Tau’raj despite his small stature.

  As much as he wanted to intervene, Jaxyl wanted to help his partner, and Scarhoof wasn’t going to take that away from him. He routinely healed Jaxyl to help restore his Stamina, however.

  Before exiting the forest, they happened upon two more guard patrols. Jaxyl had noticed well in advance, allowing them to lay in ambush. They took them out easily.

  The second one had an archer that kept taking shots at them from a tree. Scarhoof ended up taking the him down to 50% health via Spirit Shock before the Nagos disappeared in a puff of smoke.

  They then learned that taking the time to stop and fight each of these patrols might have been a bad move, as behind them was a number of Nagos crashing through the forest, heading towards them.

  Quest Update! The Missing Scouts:

  The escaped Nagos ran to get reinforcements, and from the sound of the tumult in the forest behind you, an entire army is coming to capture you. You better run! (Gained 50 XP!)

  Jaxyl had a hand to his ear, listening carefully. “Staying on the path is suicide. I can already hear another army coming up the road from the coast below. The army from the quarry above us will be here soon. We cannot hold two armies.”

  Firemane eyed Scarhoof. “Do we risk Fourhoof and a broken leg now?” Fourhoof was best used on flat, hard ground, as they would lose significant agility in the forest.

  “I don’t think we have a choice. We aren’t going to be fast enough without it, and we can’t stay on the path lest we be sandwiched between two armies.”

  Firemane’s face matched his mood. They needed to just move. Talking was wasting valuable time.

  Scarhoof started his conversion. “Get on my back, Jaxyl, we’ll get you out of here.”

  The Goblin hesitated.

  “Jaxyl! There is no time for formalities,” Firemane snapped as his arms converted into legs for running.

  The Goblin swore, then climbed on Scarhoof’s back.

  No Tau’raj would be caught alive getting a ride from another. It simply wasn’t done, even for Tau’ri. Scarhoof didn’t understand Goblin culture enough to know if this was a major faux pas, but pragmatism trumped valor sometimes, and this was one of those times.

  They sprinted down the slope, crashing through brambles, dodging trees, and slipping on the steep terrain. Scarhoof didn’t fully go into Fourhoof, instead keeping his hands out to grab onto branches and cast the occasional heal.

  His lame leg burned with agony, all the pain that had vanished with Hillbender’s robust healing spell was back with a vengeance.

  Eventually, they were back on flat ground, and both Scarhoof and Firemane were able to convert fully to utilize their Fourhoof benefits to speed up their retreat. This increased their speed and with the help of Scarhoof’s Yantra, they now had a 50% speed increase.

  The Nagos coming from the quarry were not far behind, crashing through the forest and onto the Plains a few minutes behind them.

  Ten minutes later Jaxyl coughed. “There is the second one I heard coming up from the beach. They have Shellwalkers.” He pointed behind them and Scarhoof chanced a glance to the east. Another contingent of Nagos coming from the shore was just visible in the distance, and they looked to be riding mounts, which would allow them to catch up faster.

  Quest Update! The Missing Scouts:

  A second contingent of Nagos from the beach has been alerted to your presence. These ones are on mounts for faster land travel. Find safety before they catch up! (Gained 25 XP!)

  It was not lost on Scarhoof that he’d spent most of the last two days running for his life in dead-out sprints.

  Even with their Fourhoof and the speed boost from Scarhoof’s Yantra, the mounted Nagos behind them steadily gained on them.

  Scarhoof chanced a glance back to study the massive crustaceans that the Nagos rode. Far larger than most Nagos, each Shellwalker held four to five Nagos, loping sideways. Long stalks of eyeball clusters darted their gaze around as the crustaceans snapped their slimy maws at the air.

  Shellwalkers didn’t have massive claws, as they were bred from birth to be mounts. The lack of strong pincers meant the body poured more energy into increasing stamina, land speed, and leg strength.

  Scarhoof shuddered. As fast as the mounts were on land, they were supposed to be double that underwater. Same with the Nagos.

  He never wanted to be in that situation. Tau’raj generally avoided the water and it was rare enough for one of them to even set a hoof on a ship. Tau’raj were creatures of the earth and that is where they belonged.

  Once the Nagos mounts grew close enough, Jaxyl disappeared off Scarhoof’s back in a puff of smoke. Behind them, they heard a gurgling spurt of blood and a cut off scream, then the grinning Goblin covered in blue Nagos blood reappeared to their side, sprinting faster than either of their travel forms would go.

  He jumped on to Scarhoof’s back this time, a toothy grin showing his sharp teeth.

  He repeated this two minutes later.

  Still, even after taking out a dozen Nagos and two of the massive Shellwalkers, the fray continued to gain on them. Fifty meters separated the two groups and the Nagos were already beginning to lob the occasional arrow. With all the jostling and sprinting each one went wide, but it was still disconcerting hearing the thunk of an arrow a meter and a half away.

  Firemane motioned for Jaxyl to lean in and whispered something, a questioning look on his face.

  Scarhoof wondered what it could be that couldn’t be said out loud.

  “We can’t afford the detour, it will also give away one of our forward positions.” Jaxyl was uncannily upset at whatever Firemane had suggested.

  “I don’t care. If we don’t live to get this missive back, it will be too late to be of any use. Besides, how long can we last running all-out like this?”

  Scarhoof didn’t know what they were talking about. “Please fill me in,” he stammered as they continued to thunder across the desert.

  Firemane glanced at his companion, who turned away in a huff before disappearing to assault the Nagos again.

  “We have a secret forward base not far from here where our army has been slowly accumulating troops for a potential surprise attack. It’s a small crag that we’ve widened and covered over with material to make it look like regular soil. It’s about a mile to the south there, far closer to the shoreline than they realize.”

  “And we have troops there?”

  “Yes. The army has been slowly moving things to that forward location for a couple years now, unbeknownst to the Nagos. It will be a vital forward supply base for flanking. If we give up its location now, we won’t have it available to us when we eventually go for the assault on the shore.” Firemane panted, his heath still slowly dropping. Scarhoof needed to heal him as the bleed was was stil
l in effect. He would soon cross 50% health threshold, slowing him down.

  Scarhoof thought about Grath’gar the Impetuous infiltrating Sunset Cove. Why would the Nagos only send three infiltrators instead of their entire army? Flanking from the west wasn’t a smart tactical decision for the Nagos, so that meant the Cove was being used as a distraction.

  That meant they were planning something else, and that meant war was coming sooner rather than later. He feared the Nagos wanted them to divert troops to the Cove as a ploy to attack the Pass. Maybe it wouldn’t matter if the forward base was revealed if war was already upon them.

  Scarhoof frowned. “We’re too far away from Whistling Pass, and none of us are going to make it that far. If the intelligence you have is that vital to the safety of the entire Eternal Plains, then we need to do whatever it takes to get that missive back to Bloodhorn.”

  Jaxyl returned, hopping on top of Firemane’s back once again.

  The two scouts gave each other a concerned look.

  Jaxyl looked casually at his weapons, seemingly in a better mood. “You’re right. They need to know about the shard quarry.”

  The mention of shard instantly hooked Scarhoof. “What do you mean shard quarry? I’ve been working with Haliin Earthwhisper to investigate the shards that have been popping up all over the land.”

  The other two glanced at each other, their faces stricken with fear. Finally Jaxyl spoke up. “Then you really need to be part of this. Let’s go.”

  They veered to the south, the pack of enemies hot on their heels. Jaxyl disappeared again to hobble the lead crab’s legs.

  “Why does he keep waiting to do that?” Scarhoof asked, risking a glance back at Jaxyl repeatedly puncturing the crab’s underbelly while he hung onto the harness that kept the Nagos aloft.

  “He has cooldowns on his abilities. He cannot use the same ability until some time has passed. Once every two minutes he’s a killing machine, but then he can’t do much after that. He usually spreads out his strikes to keep various buffs and abilities going, but sometimes a well-planned burst of damage from stealth is the best strategy.”