I frowned. “Sorry? About what?”
The little goblin continued avoiding my gaze. “Bek not heal enough good. Big fighters die. Bek die. Dread Totem fight alone. All Bek fault.”
I chuckled, finally drawing his gaze. “Bek, we were facing incredibly strong enemies. We wouldn’t have made it as far as we did without your help. You kept us alive through it. And that opal you pulled out when we were about to get swarmed saved the day. I couldn’t have asked more of you. You deserve a reward, not a punishment. In fact …” I reached slowly up to my head and removed the feathered headdress, handing it to him. “This is yours now.”
It might have been more optimal to give it to our new dark priest, but I had made up my mind. Sorry Kuzai, Bek deserves this more than you do.
The goblin stared, stupefied, at the headdress in his hands.
Without losing a beat, I removed my matching kilt and retrieved my old totem’s staff from my inventory. I handed them to him as well. I’d long outgrown that set anyway. “Here you go, Bek, now you have the full set. This should increase your magic powers significantly.”
Bek just gaped at me, his large eyes filled with wonder and incomprehension.
“Put it on,” I urged.
He obeyed, donning the feathered headdress and kilt and held the staff in one hand. With those items, he looked just like the iconic shamanistic goblin Totem. The items’ enchantment and set bonus significantly increased his mana and health pool as well as his mana regeneration rate.
“B-but Totem,” Bek protested. “You now got no staff.”
“Don’t worry about me, Bek. I’m covered.” I winked at him and retrieved my new Demon Horn Staff. “Now go play with your new toys.”
I left the flabbergasted goblin to admire his new equipment and went into the kitchen.
The head cook greeted me. “Ah, Dread Totem, you’re back at last.”
“Hey, Gandork.”
“Please sit, I have something special for you.”
I sat and Kaedric moved to stand beside me. I watched, bemused, at the now plump goblin making a racket in his kitchen before bringing me a steaming plate full of wriggling worms. There were sprinkles of orange and purple mixed in. I could feel the heat radiating from the dish.
“How are the worms still alive?” I asked, feeling both revulsion and fascination at the exotic dish.
“It is the work of the fire resistance potion, Dread Totem.” Gandork beamed at me. “It took me a few tries, but I finally mastered the new recipe. The purple salt balances the magmashroom magnificently. It is the most exquisite dish I have ever made. You are the first to try it.”
“Besides you,” I said with a smirk.
“I only tasted it to find the right balance, Dread Totem. The honor of first right is yours.”
“Thanks.” I grabbed a fistful of wriggling worms. They were pleasantly warm to the touch. Something deep inside me revolted against the notion of eating such a dish, but I shrugged it off. I had already accepted the truth of my reality and who I was.
I stuck the worms in my mouth. The wriggling sensation was quite pleasant and the worms burst in my mouth, releasing their savory juices. I chewed slowly, enjoying the spicy tinge and the way it was magically extinguished before becoming too intense.
I swallowed and a pleasant coldness ran down my throat, which was instantly replaced with a feeling of warmth, radiating from my stomach to the rest of my body.
Buff Gained: Crisp Hot Worms
Effect: 20% cold and fire resistance.
“Wonderful, Gandork, you’ve outdone yourself!” I complimented the beaming goblin. “How many more of these can you make with our current supply?”
“I’m afraid we have run out of Fire Resist potions, Dread Totem. Getting worms is not a problem; my gofers can take care of that. We have 42 magmashrooms and 49 units of purple salt left. With enough potions, the other ingredients will suffice for 126 such dishes.”
That was plenty. I needed a total of six adepts to maintain the scattered places of worship and the soon-to-be-built Dark Temple. With Bek and Kuzai, I only needed four more. An adept goblin cost 30 advanced and 20 exquisite food, nearly half of a hobgoblin adept.
“Kaedric, we need to supply Gandork with Fire Resist potions. Get some gold from my house and buy them from the gremlins.”
For a long moment, my seneschal did not reply while his mandibles twitched mutely.
“Kaedric?”
“Forgive me my lord, I was looking into the matter. Buying the potions from the gremlins will not be necessary. Using her new chemistry set, Guba can brew such potions on her own now. Though it will require some of the clan’s resources, it would be substantially more economical.”
“Good thinking.” I nodded approvingly.
“Gandork, once you have the potions, please cook 60 units of this dish.”
“Of course, Dread Totem.”
“Good. By the way, did Malkyr bring in the oxsaurian meat?”
“He did indeed, Dread Totem. Fine meat, very gamey.”
“Excellent. Keep up the good work, Gandork.” I got up and left the mess hall.
As soon as I exited the building, a foblin ran straight into me, then fell back from the impact. “Watch out,” I said gruffly.
The foblin gave me a fearful look. An instant later that look became horrified as Kaedric came out of the Mess Hall behind me. “Stupid, no good pest,” he spat out. His four mandibles extended, opening wide, making his face a terrifying visage.
The poor critter lurched on the ground, rolling and grabbing his head in pain.
“That’s enough, Kaedric,” I said reproachfully. I didn’t mind using the foblins as cannon fodder, but I had a strong aversion to outright torture. We all have our own boundaries and our own demons.
I had almost forgotten about Tempest.
What now? I thought, looking at the foblin as it scrambled to run away. I still had items to hand out and I wanted to check up on my new exporter.
But all that could wait.
Our new friends were heading my way.
20 – Throw Down
Raystia felt a weird mix of accomplishment and revulsion.
The Mob Squad had had a successful hunt, sort of. They’d found a lair of small humanoid creatures called vegepygmy, and it wasn’t because they were vegan, oh no. Raystia’s brow furrowed as she remembered the battle.
The small green creatures came at them from the swamp. They threw muck at the party, trying to blind them and used their sharp talons to attack from close range. It was tough at first, but after defeating a few of the creatures, the party learned how to fight as a whole. Fox would lead the charge, getting their attention. Then Misa and Riley would engage from the sides while Raystia peppered them with arrows.
The day had been fruitful. Each member of The Mob Squad had gained five levels. And that was not all.
Raystia examined the cargo Riley and Fox were carrying. Slung across each of their shoulders was a live, shackled vegepygmy. This was the source of her conflicted emotions.
They had accomplished their task and captured two live specimens, yes. But the thought of what was to be their fate made her feel uneasy. One was going to be sacrificed, the other, eaten.
In real life, she would never ever do anything even remotely this cruel. Or would she? Everyone had to eat. Even monsters. Kaedric’s simple remark of not being able to eat, due to being different from everyone else, touched her in a deep way.
Besides, she thought, steeling her resolve, I’m playing NEO to become someone else. She smiled briefly. This semi-psychotic cat persona she assumed was as far from her real-life persona as possible.
Her companions’ expressions were also grave. They all knew what came next, but none of them tried to shirk from their quest. The bugbear, in particular, didn’t seem to care for any of this. He carried the vegepygmy ambivalently. Riley looked like he t
oo had his inner turmoil, but his lips were pressed tightly together, showing his resolve in becoming Nihilator’s priest.
Misa mystified her the most. The elven-goblin woman was walking with an easy step, seemingly without a care in the world. Despite her carefree appearance, it was she who had captured their two victims. During the last fight, she caught their wrists and bound them with her new shackles. The last fight turned out to be the easiest of the day, all thanks to her. The woman was full of surprises.
But now they were back. They would soon finish with these quests, and the expected rewards would provide her and her party with the edge they needed to face more serious challenges. Raystia brightened at the thought.
“So we’re going to visit the church first, or volunteer to feed the hungry?” Fox grunted.
The other three stopped walking and looked at him.
“What?” He placed his free hand on his hip. “When you stop and think about it, that’s basically what we’re doing. Freaking game will probably send us to do some Jehovah’s Witness crap next.”
“Ahem, let’s go find Kaedric first,” Raystia said. One of the female goblins she’d met before gave her a friendly smile, and she returned it with a wave. She was really growing to like it here.
They kept walking through the valley, circling the row of cabins. Once they neared the pond, they spotted the seneschal. He was staring intently at a goblin who was busy making leather armor. The hob’s mandibles twitched and a speck of spit dripped from one of them.
The goblin, which Raystia was pretty sure was named Vrick, shifted uncomfortably. “Stop staring at me like that you oversized ant,” he said. “I’m working on the armor for you darned hobs, just like you wanted.”
“Um, hello, Kaedric,” Raystia said hesitantly, approaching the seneschal. “We brought you the … er … item … you wanted.” She gestured at their prisoners.
Kaedric shifted his gaze from the goblin and focused on the woman. “I see. Let us move to a more secluded area. I shall meet you by the shrine momentarily.”
“Alright, let’s go,” Fox said.
They kept walking through the valley, passing the pond and arriving in full view of the cave. With a little joint effort, they hauled their victims up the ladder to the stone ledge above.
Somehow, Kaedric had beaten them there and was already waiting, standing between the shrine and the cemetery tombstone.
“Greetings, newcomers,” the monstrous hobgoblin greeted them cordially. “I trust you have all been well?”
“I … ahem … yes. As I said earlier, we brought what you asked for.”
With a grunt and a flick of his wrist, Fox heaved the bound creature off his shoulder.
The seneschal’s eyes followed the rolling creature that came to a stop at his feet. His mandibles extended, and a thin, snake-like tongue protruded, licking them. As if suddenly realizing he was not alone, the hobgoblin snapped his tongue back in and met the adventurers’ eyes. “I’m afraid the feeding process is a bit … graphic. You might want to retreat for a few minutes while I … partake in your offering.”
“Oh, no – I want to see this.” Misa crossed her arms in defiance.
Raystia was already moving toward the ladder when she noticed none of the others were following. “Oh, ahem,” she coughed nervously. “No, I’ll stay too.”
Shrugging, Kaedric stared directly at the green creature who was still struggling against his bonds. The creature stopped thrashing at once and remained perfectly still. Then, like a mummy rising from a sarcophagus, it lifted itself into a sitting position.
Kaedric hunched over, a predatory glint in his eyes, mandibles extending far to the sides. He reached the small creature and lowered his head. His mandibles shut with a snap, biting deep into the poor creature’s skull, fixing it in place. The vegepygmy remained motionless. Then, another thing came out from the seneschal’s mouth. It shot straight down, puncturing the vegepygmy’s head and digging deep into the brain.
Then the slurping noises began.
The others watching looked slightly green in the face. Greener than their goblin heritage would account for. Even the gruff Fox looked a bit ill. For some reason, the sight only hardened Raystia’s resolve. Everyone had to eat somehow; this was just Kaedric’s way. It was not his fault he was built this way. Seeing him slurping her offering made her feel … strong, somehow. In control. She was the provider and he was the one in need.
It took Kaedric nearly a minute to finish his gruesome feast. When he was done, he extracted his mandibles from the now-hollowed skull. The body tumbled to the ground.
“An excellent meal. I thank you all.”
Quest Completed: Braaaaains!
Kaedric, the administrator of Goblin’s Gorge, has asked you to bring him a living, intelligent humanoid creature to eat. Though it barely met those requirements, you have successfully provided a vegepygmy for the hungry seneschal.
Reward: +50 reputation with the GreenPiece Clan, +200 reputation with Kaedric, 400XP, 20 gold
“Sweet!” Misa exclaimed. “I leveled.”
“Me too,” Riley and Fox said.
Kaedric wiped his face clean with a cloth. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I shall take my leave.” He walked to the edge of the shelf and went down the ladder.
“Guess it’s my turn,” the goblin dwarf said and went to the shrine. He dumped the body he was carrying onto the small construction of white bones and black stones, then stopped, staring at something in the darkness beyond.
“What are you doing?” the bugbear demanded.
Riley shook his head “I thought I saw something for a moment in the darkness, but there’s nothing there.” He sighed and took out the crude starter dagger from his belt, holding it over the vegepygmy’s chest. “Come on, I ain’t got all day.”
“Yes.” Misa nodded, though she sounded more sympathetic than the barbaric bugbear. “Just get it over with. It can’t be worse than what happened to the other one.”
Raystia looked sharply at Misa. The first vegepygmy’s fate was her own doing, but the other woman’s face was not accusatory.
“Ah, what the hell,” the dwarf said. “It’s just a game.”
He struck down hard at the helpless creature’s chest, killing it instantly. Blood poured freely, painting the shrine red.
“That’s it?” the dwarf demanded. “I didn’t get any –”
He stopped talking, and his eyes opened comically wide as he stared at the body on the shrine. Instead of red, the victim’s corpse was oozing black liquid. The body shriveled as the flow increased until all that remained on the shrine was black goo.
Riley dropped to his knees and grabbed his head, his mouth open in a mute cry. Raystia made to reach for him but found she could not move. A message flickered at the edge of her vision, but her eyes were glued to the sight before her.
The blackness oozed from the shrine toward the dwarf like it was a living thing. It clung to his feet and climbed up his legs, covering his torso, reaching all the way to his head.
Riley just stood there, motionless, covered in darkness.
After several long moments, something changed. The black liquid solidified, losing some of its sheen. With a jerk, the dwarf broke through, like larvae emerging from its chrysalis. He shed the black stuff, which drained into the ground. But some remnants remained. The dwarf’s skin was a few shades darker, and he had asymmetrical black patches all over his body. He also looked slightly taller and more fit.
Just like those makeover shows, Raystia reflected.
“God, that was intense.” The dwarf looked at the dagger in his hand. The weapon had turned black. He looked at the rest of the party and Raystia noticed his irises had become completely black.
“What the hell happened?” Misa asked.
Riley shrugged. “I got a ton of messages. Apparently, I’m now a priest of Nihilator. I received two new spells, one for healing and an area debuff. Oh, I also transformed; I’m now a Shadow-Touched creature, what
ever the hell that means.”
“So we got our healer. Now can we finally go look for more stuff to kill?” huffed the bugbear.
He seemed a single-minded kind of guy to Raystia, though Zuban appeared impressed with his knowledge. This contradiction didn’t sit well with Raystia. She hated not knowing.
“Sure,” Misa said. “What do you have in mind?”
***
I watched the four players descend the ladder into the valley and stepped out of my hiding spot.
I’d used the shadows as a shroud to conceal my presence. The weird-looking dwarf nearly spotted me when he first approached the shrine. I figured that as a dwarf who was also part goblin, he had enhanced night vision.
Knowing he would soon be anointed by darkness, I hid behind the tombstone. My ability to manipulate the shadows would not hide me from another Shadow-Touched creature.
So my master now has another follower … I mused. If the uncompromising, scornful Nihilator was willing to accept this Riley as his minion, he must be someone of worth.
Vic snorted.
Pfh, you wouldn’t have even made it through the preliminary trials, I retorted without thinking.
A long pause followed.
Vic finally said.
“Whatever,” I mumbled.
I walked over to the stone ledge and looked down at the four players walking across the building-strewn valley. So far, they hadn’t caused any significant trouble. In fact, according to Kaedric, they’d completed a few quests and helped wall up the valley’s entrance. They could become powerful allies that would help increase my clan’s strength and development. Riley’s consecration by Nihilator was another good indication of their dedication and reduced my worries of betrayal.
This presented an interesting opportunity. Introductions were in order.
I waited until they were several meters away, then I used Shadow Teleport, instantly appearing in their path.
Life Reset- EvP Page 32
