“Hopefully that’s not the case,” Constantine said fervently, before looking over to Huxley and Cerril. “To be sure though, are we in the right place?”
“Yeah,” Huxley replied with a nod, pointing towards the goblin settlement. “Graves is straight that way and reasonably close.”
“Same for me,” Cerril agreed, pointing slightly higher than the elf scout, but also in the same direction.
“If we’re going to do something, we should do it quickly,” Huxley suggested. “The Party Sense works both ways. Graves may notice that I’ve suddenly gotten closer over the course of a day.”
“That’s a good point.” I nodded at the elf. “We haven’t seen any sign of Graves’s Adventurers, though.”
“You wouldn’t happen to have any of the other Adventurers in your party?” Freya asked Huxley, suspicion coloring her tone.
“No, just Graves and the other scouts,” he replied quickly, while pointing to the south towards Eberia, then back to the Aldford in the west. “The rest of them are way off that way, likely in Eberia, with the other scout being back in Aldford.”
“Hrm,” Thorne grunted. “Makes me a bit worried that there aren’t any signs of the other Adventurers.”
“We can’t let that hold us back,” Drace said heavily. “The goblins have already attacked Aldford, not to mention the Mage’s Guild Expedition, if we have the opportunity to take them out, we should.”
“I agree.” I looked out at the group surrounding me. “Even if we don’t know where Graves’s Adventurers are, I think it’s safe enough to assume that they have someone in there with him.”
“Hang on, if we think they’re all in there, is it even a good idea to attack?” Freya asked with concern. “We’re outnumbered by Graves’s forces alone and could easily find ourselves swarmed and killed if the goblins come to help.”
“I know what you mean Freya and I’m thinking the same thing,” I replied, making eye contact with her. “But I really don’t think we can pass up this chance to take a chunk out of both the goblins and the Outlaw Adventurers, even if it makes this a suicide mission.”
“All of us are bound half a day away at Aldford and can get back here easily enough, whereas Graves and his group are bound back in Eberia or Coldscar,” I continued. “Every single one of his followers we kill, will put them out of the picture for days, if not longer, now that they’re marked as Outlaws and will likely end up being arrested as soon as they respawn.”
“Plus any goblins we kill won’t be coming back at all,” Drace added. “Really, the only person who isn’t expendable here is Natasha.”
“Thanks for that!” Natasha whispered dryly, though she couldn’t conceal a slight smile. “I rather enjoy being alive and I’d really like to keep it that way!”
“They’re right, Freya,” Thorne stated after a moment of silence. “Right now we have the respawn advantage and the risk for failing is minimal, we’d be stupid not to use it.”
“I know, I’m just not used to thinking that way,” Freya said with a sigh. “I’ll do whatever needs to be done, but if there’s a way we could all live through this, that’d be great.”
“That’s the goal,” I promised.
“Speaking of goalssss,” Helix spoke while indicating Natasha with a clawed hand. “What about her expedition and the other missing adventurers?”
“We could probably use a complete rundown on our objectives, Lyr,” Constantine told me before I could reply to Helix. “We have quite a few irons in the fire here, and once the shit starts flying, we aren’t going to have time to stop and figure things out.”
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” I agreed before taking a moment to think everything over. “Okay. The way I see it, is that we have two primary goals. One being to rescue the missing adventurers and anyone from the Mages Guild Expedition that we can find. The second being to kill Graves or somehow disable his quest.”
“Depending on how things work out, I want Freya, Thorne, Natasha and the Thunder Lizards to take the lead on rescuing the prisoners if we have to split up, which means you’ll also have Cerril to lead the way.” I quickly scanned their faces, looking for any signs of concern or doubt. “Any prisoners we find will hopefully recognize you all quickly, which will hopefully translate into them moving quickly.”
“With more of us in the group, we can also cover more ground sssearching once we’re inside that tower too,” Cadmus reasoned with a bob of his raptor head.
“Right.” I nodded at the black scaled lizardman in agreement. “The other group is going to go straight for Graves. Focusing more on speed and chaos than anything else. Once we kick this show-off, it won’t take long before everyone knows that they’re under attack, I’m hoping if we move fast enough we’ll be able to take them by surprise.”
“That leads to our secondary goal.” My voice hardened as I spoke. “We need to kill as many of Graves’s Adventurers and Goblins as possible. We’re not here to take prisoners or make friends. We’re here for vengeance, to return the favor for both of the attacks on Aldford and to remind them of the only rule this world has.”
“And what’s that?” Thorne asked curiously.
“Only the strong survive.”
***
The sun was hot on my back as I launched myself from behind the tree and into the light. I inhaled a quick breath as my foot bore down into the soft ground, quickly kicking up a spray of dirt as I quickly pushed off and gained speed.
Eyes fixed forward, the ramshackle palisade quickly grew with every powerful stride I took, the patrolling sentries oblivious to my approach. Thundering towards the barrier, I had almost made it halfway there before I saw one of the goblin sentries halt and gaze in my direction, its eyes unable to completely focus through the glare of the afternoon sun directly overhead of my approach.
It took precious seconds for the goblin to squint past the bright sunlight and precious more before it realized what was happening.
By then it was too late.
I appeared at the top of the goblin palisade in a burst of magic, Razor slicing through the surprised [Goblin Sentry]’s chest as my momentum sent me sailing over the edge of the ramparts and into the goblin village. After a short fall, I slammed into the ground with a bone-jarring crunch, instinctively rolling forward to reduce the impact. Coming to a stop, I spotted half a dozen goblins across the village staring at me incredulously as they tried to understand what had just happened.
Shit! I can’t believe that worked! Forcing myself to stand up, I had a wild grin on my face as I dug my feet back into the ground, turning to run back towards the goblin palisade and away from the goblin shrieks that began to echo through the air. Come on, come on, where is that gate?
I looked around at the crude goblin architecture that was the palisade, finding it to be a near incomprehensible network of improvised material, ranging from scavenged timbers and red roof tiles taken directly from the fallen tower, intermixed with lengths of deadwood, lashed together with animal sinews and bone.
How the fuck did they even put this together?! I raged, a momentary flash of panic shooting through my heart as I searched for an entrance into and out of the goblin settlement, the goblin shouts getting louder as the alarm was raised. If I couldn’t find a way to open a gap in the palisade, things were going to get very messy.
My search became frantic as I looked over the improvised design, cursing at every single wasted second. A heartbeat before I was about to start tearing pieces from the palisade, my gaze fell upon a massive white bone that appeared to be fixed in place. Hold on, is that… a giant femur?! Wait, behind it! That’s a gate!
Grabbing the rough bone with both hands, I practically tore it from the wall causing a small part of the palisade to swing inwards.
“Yes!” I exclaimed, throwing the bone down onto the ground and tugging the cunningly concealed gate open. I shoved my head out into the bright glare of the sun ready to signal the rest of the group. “Hey! Over he-”
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“Move, Lyr!” Drace’s sudden bellow barely gave me a second’s warning to get myself out of the way as his massive body crashed into the still opening gate. Despite tucking his head and shoulders in close as he ran, the half-giant was far too tall and wide to simply pass through the portal, his arrival shattering the surrounding frame as he bulled his way inside.
Flinching from the spray of splinters, I quickly moved away from the gate as Abaddon followed closely on Drace’s heels and the rest of the group mere steps behind his. Both groups split into their respective parties as they advanced deeper into the village, overrunning the handful of goblins I had seen earlier with barely a thought.
It had only taken us half a minute to overcome the goblin’s fixed defenses, counting from the moment that I had begun my sprint until the last party member stormed through the shattered gate. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed at how easy it had been to bypass the palisade using Blink Step, making a mental note to explore ways to prevent the same being done in Aldford.
The river, plus a ditch full of Tribuli wouldn’t have stopped me from doing this exact same thing to Aldford. The thought suddenly floated into my head, while I moved forward to catch up to Drace, Amaranth quickly falling in beside me. Though, anyone looking to do the same to Aldford would quickly find a few dozen people ready to fight back.
“Heads up!” Drace shouted as he bodily crashed into a horde of disoriented looking goblins that suddenly poured from a nearby hut, giving Halcyon and Caius enough time to send a wild spray of magic at the goblins. “We have incoming!”
Shit! I forgot that Goblins are nocturnal! I watched as Halcyon’s and Caius’s magic quickly set a nearby hut on fire. We caught them while they were napping!
“Burn the huts!” I ordered, motioning towards the flimsy looking structures within the village that began to stream panicked looking goblins as sounds of our assault reached their ears. “Half of them are still asleep!”
Sprinting deeper into the goblin village as Freya and her party turned to clear the ramparts, I quickly tossed a handful of Flares at a nearby hut, causing the deadwood to smolder. A flash of light caught my eye as a pair of large magic bolts belonging to Theia and Zethus flew overhead from their new perch on the ramparts, causing the crude hovel I had targeted to burst aflame, the acrid smell of burning leather and refuse instantly filling my nose.
Half a dozen goblins spilled forward from the slowly burning hut in a panic, all coughing furiously as the smoke filled the tiny enclosure. Not wasting a second, Amaranth and I quickly charged into melee range, intent on putting the goblins out of their misery.
Razor shot out like a bolt of lightning, carving through a pair of goblins before they could even acknowledge my presence. A third quickly joining the other two on the ground as I landed a vicious punch, charged with a Shocking Touch to the side of its head. Circling around me, Amaranth pounced upon a fourth goblin, his wicked teeth quickly ending its struggles.
Something feels wrong here, these goblins can barely even take a punch! I frowned at our easy dispatch of the goblins, quickly focusing on the two remaining terror filled goblins that cowered in front of me.
[Young Goblin Raider – Level 1]
“Level one?!” I exclaimed in surprise, despite mercilessly swiping my blade through another goblin just as a swipe of Amaranth’s paw ended the last goblin before it could flee deeper into the village. Looking over the fallen goblins closely, I remembered seeing these exact type of goblins when they first raided Aldford. “What the hell?!”
“Nothing but scrub level ones here, Lyr!” Halcyon shouted to me as he and Caius caught up to me. “We’ve must have burned through at least two dozen of them!”
Quickly turning my head, I saw Drace nearby, looking oddly confused at the relative lack of resistance from the goblins he had just dispatched. So far the highest level goblins we had encountered today had been the few scouts in the forest and the handful on the ramparts.
“This can’t be right!” Caius quickly followed behind Halcyon, a hand holding a glowing bolt of magic. “Why are they all so low leveled?!”
Before I could reply, a booming clap of thunder echoed through the air, causing all of us to flinch and hide behind a nearby burning hut opposite to the noise. Halcyon quickly turned to look at me, his face pale. “That was a Pyroclap and it wasn’t mine!”
“Oh fuck.” Caius winced momentarily before pointing with his staff. “I hear a ton of heartbeats just over that way, coming from the tower. No idea how many!”
“We need to move and regroup with everyone else!” I quickly replied, before sounds of shouting broke out a short distance away from us, followed by another thunderous bang. “Shit! What’s goi-”
“Lyr!” Drace hissed my name as he ran towards us, using the now blazing huts as cover. “A dozen of Graves’s Adventurers just charged from the tower! They have half of Freya’s group pinned on the stairs to the ramparts, with the rest on top!”
“Was this all a trap?!” Caius exclaimed as he tried to peer around our cover. “Fuck! Sierra and Constantine got caught too! They’re all stuck with no cover!”
“If it was, they shot their wad early!” Drace replied as he motioned for us to move around the hut. “We need to hit them from the flank and give the others some breathing room!”
“Okay!” I slapped Drace on the back as he moved ahead of us. “Take the lead! I’m one step behind you!”
Quickly circling the burning hut in front of us, we found ourselves just south of the Tower’s gaping entrance, almost perfectly behind the attacking Adventurers. The Adventurers’ sudden attack had caught Freya’s group in the middle of the stairs leading up to the ramshackle ramparts the goblin sentries had just been perched on. The four of us began to rush forward, struggling to close the distance before the party was overrun.
I saw Abaddon work furiously to hold back the assault, his bulk filling the entirely of the stairs, forced to contend with not only a pair of attackers in front of him but two others that threatened his lower half from the side of the exposed stairway. Slick blood coating the lizardman’s feet and legs spoke to the success of the Adventurers strategy, a panicked looking Theia barely able to keep up with the wounds accumulating on her defender’s flesh.
An azure spray of magic illuminated a faint distortion over the heads of attacking Adventurers, bespeaking to the presence of a Mage channeling a Force Shield within the mass of attacking Adventurers. Seeing the futility of attacking the shield, Sierra, Zethus and Natasha ran along the ramparts attempting to find a better angle of attack and hopefully find a gap under the near horizontal shield for their ranged attacks.
While the two scouts and mage moved to flank the Adventurers at range, a trio of Adventurers armed with bows took advantage of their absence, darting forward as a group out from under their magical cover, firing a barrage of arrows at Theia.
With a desperate shout as the group’s only healer was targeted, a brown scaled blur leaped into the path of the arrows, each thudding sickeningly as they pierced deep into already burnt flesh.
A momentary gasp of shock fell upon the battle as Myr fell lifelessly off the ramparts, Theia instinctively rushing to catch her falling companion but failing. Sensing Theia’s exposure, Abaddon desperately gave up ground, bodily shoving the stunned lizardwoman to safety before a second flight of arrows rendered Myr’s sacrifice moot. Seeing Abaddon’s urgent retreat, half of the Adventures pressed forward up the rampart stairs, intent on bowling the lizardman straight off the palisade.
“Damn it!” Caius’s curse crystallized the realization that our party had just shrunk by one member, Myr’s Party Sense presence now reappearing far to the west, towards Aldford.
“Faster!” Drace’s voice roared with anger, finding an extra burst of speed as he continued to sprint forward, pulling ahead of me, his massive strides quickly eating the distance between us and the Adventurers.
Having lost nearly all of their situational awareness, Drace, A
maranth, and I were barely ten feet away before a pair of the Adventurers saw our charge. The gleeful expressions on their face, quickly turned to terror as Drace slammed into their ranks, bowling them completely over as he plowed through the tight cluster of Adventurers hiding under their Mage’s Force Shield.
I had enough time to see Drace’s momentum carry him up the rampart stairs, his Bladefang chopping deep into the shoulder of an Adventurer in his way, before a vicious jerk of the blade sent the unfortunate soul tumbling down the stairs behind him.
Then it was my turn.
My feet carried me through the hole that Drace had left when he smashed through the crowd of Adventurers, my arm swinging Razor wildly as I tried to find the enemy Mage. I felt Razor take a shallow slice out of an Adventurer’s arm, discharging a Shocking Touch into their body in the process before glancing off a piece of armor, uselessly slapping a second Adventurer’s back with the flat of the blade. There was a brief yell and a glimpse of azure fur as I pushed past the Adventurer, trying to follow Drace’s path of destruction.
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