The lead scout had dropped the sack unceremoniously onto the ground, where it wriggled. SJ reached full size as the Scout screamed at his comrades below.
Knowing this would not be an easy kill and having to ensure most from the surprise attack, SJ steadied herself, glancing over its armour-clad body to see where the gaps were. It was a split-second decision, but along with its open neck and head, its shoulders and arms were unprotected. It was waving and pointing down the slopes where the other Hobs were.
At that moment, she struck her single-day training from Jurgen, which was fresh in her mind, only finishing it a couple of hours earlier. She tensed her fists and, with two fast, clean punches, struck it in its neck and then upwards into its armpit. It shrieked in pain as its neck was pierced, but with the continuing chaos below and the rocks still rolling by in a lesser number, she didn't care. Her upward strike under its armpit also struck true, and she saw the tips of her blade pierce through its shoulder.
Surprise Attack – your surprise attack has triggered a critical strike.
Watching in amazement, SJ saw the Hobs health plummet; it had 60 hit points to start with and, after both hits, now sat on 18. The damage increases due to the criticality and surprise being significant boosts over her basic damage capability. The Hob began to spin towards her, its left arm not functioning properly as it hung limply at its side, the claws having severed something critical, preventing its use. She was no doctor, so she couldn't name what it may have been.
It saw her with shock registering on its face.
"You," it hissed as a short sword appeared in its right hand, swinging towards her in a slashing motion. The slope was uneven, and she stepped back as the sword swung at her, the Scout's incapacitated arm flopping about. The speed with which the Scout had reacted had taken her by surprise; she had not expected it to move so quickly, and its blade cut into her abdomen as she stepped backwards, trying to maintain her balance.
Grimacing from the cut she felt across her stomach, she immediately stepped in as its arm continued its unbalanced slash at her. Stabbing out with her left, she jabbed into its right arm. The Hob, without the use of its left arm, was very unsure on the scree, and it staggered slightly and, in doing so, ended up moving out of the way of her punch. She followed with a front kick to the Hob, bringing its sword arm back across as she did. The abdominal hit had removed 12 hit points, and her foot connected with the Hob's stomach as the blade of its short sword connected with her outstretched leg. The Hob staggered backwards further, beginning to fall onto the scree, losing its sword as she also lost her balance, fell sideways, and began sliding.
The Hob's eyes went wide as it flailed its good arm, trying to stay upright as SJ fell sideways, crashing hard onto the stones. She received another 11 damage, meaning the Hob had almost reduced her to half-hit points in two hits. Neither of which had been clean strikes. She slid towards the Hob, and as she did, she pivoted and brought her claws around to face it. The Hob had begun to slide backwards, now trying to right itself, scrambling at the rocks to gain purchase. She wasn't bothering, allowing the momentum of the slide to bring her in range again.
She couldn't strike at it properly, but she could hit its arm, leaning into the slope, trying to right itself, and swinging her claws around in a vicious stroke. She did so. The Hob had no control of its left arm flopping uselessly at its side, and it couldn't defend itself, having dropped its sword as it had fallen, and she raked her claws across its right arm. It screamed in pain again, and this time, it didn't stay crouched, falling forward onto her.
As it came crashing down onto her upper body, she just managed to turn one of her claw sets upwards. Her claws penetrated its good arm. It was now half-covering her. Screaming in anger and pain, both its arms were virtually disabled as they both began to pick up speed over the rocky terrain. SJ's health was taken down by the abrasion damage and the weight of the Hob on top of her, pushing her to the surface.
SJ could only think of one thing, and rather than try and fight, she began to shrink.
"What are you doing?" Dave screamed.
She had noticed where her feet were compared to the Hob, and as she shrunk, she pried her blades free and was drawn away from under it. The Hob was only on the top half of her body, and not being able to grab her, she broke free from its weight. It stank awful, and its odour permeated her nostrils. SJ was now in her miniature form, no longer under the pressure of the Hob's weight. The sliding scree looked huge in comparison, and the small pebbles were more like catapult ammunition. As soon as her body was free, she pushed herself up and jumped, beating her wings as fast as possible.
She lifted from the rock surface in her miniature form, flying up and away from the continuing bombardment of stone and dust. The Hob stared at her with pure anger as she rose, continuing to slide. In an instant, she had managed to take off and escape danger. Watching the Hob as it collided with a lone tree that clung onto the valley wall. The Scout let out a wail as it bounced off the trunk. SJ watched its health slowly being reduced as it disappeared to the other side of the tree and went out of sight.
Following its path, SJ realised that the valley side became sheer, and as she gained sight, the Hob fell over the cliff edge screaming before landing on its back on a rock ledge thirty feet below. It only had five hit points left now, and SJ would not let it survive. She flew straight down towards it, where it lay with its broken body struggling to move, and as she neared landing, she grew again. Reaching full size as her knee crashed into its stomach, and her claws penetrated its chest. Its eyes opened in shock, agony, and disbelief as it lost its life.
SJ immediately stood panting; she was injured, covered in grime and bleeding. The remaining Hobs were still a fair distance away, and with the injuries several had sustained, they could not get near to where she now was quickly or easily. One of them shouted curses at her as her display triggered.
Hobgoblin Scout Level 12 killed 120xp gained.
She looted the corpse, shrunk, and took off.
3 x dry rations, 1 x waterskin small, 78 x copper
Heading straight back up to where their initial brawl had started. She found the sack still lying where it had been covered in a layer of dust from the rocks and landed quickly growing again. Bending down, she grabbed the top of the bag and, using her claws, cut the top from it. The relief she felt on seeing the wide, terrified eyes of Cristy was immeasurable.
"Are you ok to move? We need to get out of here," she said, looking at the round, startled eyes.
"SJ?" the little Gnoll replied in shock.
"Yes. Can you move?"
"Yes," Cristy replied as she wiggled out of the remainder of the sack, trying to look around and get her bearings.
Two of the Hobs were trying to edge their way back across the slope towards them, struggling on the loose surface.
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"I will find us a route. We need to reach safer ground," SJ said, shrinking again. Switching between forms at will was unbelievably advantageous, so she quickly took off and looked back up the slope from where they had come. The route looked terrible, but the ground looked sturdier and less loose. Also, with Cristy's much lither and nimble form, she would hopefully not struggle on the loose rocks to the same degree.
"Follow my instructions," SJ called, from where she flew a few feet above the slope.
Cristy looked at her with wide-eyed terror, turning and glancing back at the Hobgoblins, who were still trying to fight their way up the slope to where she stood.
"Now, Cristy. Move."
Turning and looking at SJ, Cristy began to move. Following SJ's instructions, she began to pick her way up the rocky slope. A treeline began approximately fifty feet above where they were, and the ground levelled slightly, and the rocks gave way. SJ flew towards it, looking back. Even though Cristy was small, she still threw up the odd stone that toppled towards the Hobgoblins, who were slowly gaining ground on her position.
"Quicker," SJ called.
"I am trying," Cristy cried, her small face fear-stricken. It was obvious that she had never expected what had happened to her, and she was terrified by the fact that she had been captured. The Hobgoblins eventually returned to where the lead scout dropped Cristy. They were still a hundred feet behind her now.
"Twenty feet," SJ called.
Cristy continued to scramble until she eventually made the trees. The ground became firmer, allowing her to grip and proceed much faster. The tree coverage was still sparse compared to the forests at the top of the ridge and didn't offer many areas to find cover or hide from the Hobs that were angrily calling after them.
SJ looked up ahead from her height, and in the moonlight that now filled the sky, and with her night vision, she saw what appeared to be a cave entrance. Calling down to Cristy, she directed her towards it. SJ flew ahead, and as she neared it, it only looked large enough to fit a small child into the entrance or, in her case, a miniature fae. Cristy was approaching behind her as she landed by the small cave mouth.
"In here," SJ called to Cristy as she moved inside.
When she moved out of the reach of the natural light, her vision went, and she was soon surrounded by total darkness. Cursing, she stopped and called a torch from her inventory and her flint and steel before fumbling in the dark to try and light it. She heard Cristy panting behind her.
"SJ," Cristy called.
"I'm in here; come in. The Hobs can't fit," she replied.
"It's dark," Cristy called back nervously.
SJ continued to strike the flint, creating sparks and lighting the tunnel for the briefest of moments.
"What scares you more, the Hobs or the dark?" SJ shouted back from where she struggled to light the torch.
"Hobs," Cristy replied, SJ hearing the nervous tension in her breathless voice as she heard her begin to move into the tunnel.
The torch eventually lit, but its match-sized glow did little to improve her vision in the tunnel. "I don't know how long this tunnel is, but we need to keep going," SJ said.
Turning SJ, she could see Cristy just a few feet behind her, and she began to walk forward again. The tunnel shrank slightly, and SJ worried it might even start getting too small for Cristy. She pushed on, though, and after a further ten feet, it began to widen again, and height increased to the point that SJ could no longer make out the tunnel ceiling in the light cast by the torch.
"Can you reach the tunnel ceiling?" SJ asked.
"No," Cristy replied, who was now standing up in the tunnel. She was only about two feet tall, and SJ was unsure how high the ceiling was. Taking a chance, she crouched down and began to grow. As her size increased, so did the torch's brightness, and her eyes were met with the wonders inside the cavern they had entered. It wasn't huge, but SJ could see bright silvery-blue veins running through the rock's surface. The veins drew a cobweb of patterns, and SJ gawped in amazement at their beauty being reflected.
"I wonder what this is?" SJ asked, more to herself. Little Cristy now stood by her side.
"It's a Mithril vein, and I have no idea what it is doing here. Mithril is a high-level material and should be nowhere near this area. I doubt there are even any miners who would have the skills to mine it. Dwarven miners would go crazy if they knew this was here," Dave replied with amazement in his voice.
"I don't know," Cristy replied, standing open-mouthed and admiring the ore's beautiful reflections.
"Sorry, Cristy. I didn't expect you to. I was talking aloud to myself. It's mesmerising."
"It is very pretty," Cristy replied.
Standing in the chamber, SJ could hear the voices of two of the Hobs. They must have made it to the cave and seen them enter.
"I can't fit in there," she heard one of them say angrily.
"Try. You're smaller than me."
"You must be joking."
"You think the Ogre will joke if we go back empty-handed."
"What do you mean empty-handed? We weren't even meant to bring anything back. It was pure luck that the Gnoll walked into us, and the rockslide wasn't our fault."
"Did you see her, though? It was the one who attacked the Mage and has now killed Svert. The boss is going to be fuming."
"Still not our fault."
"His temper won't see it that way."
"We need to go and get Creti and Kouli from the rocks. They are still trapped."
"I suppose."
SJ listened as their voices trailed off as they moved further from the mouth of the cave.
"I think we should stay here for the night and head back in the morning," SJ said. She had brought a blanket, grabbed it from her inventory, and handed it to Cristy. "Here, take this."
"Thank you," Cristy said. "I am sorry for getting you into trouble."
SJ didn't have the heart to be angry at Cristy for running off; she would speak to her about how stupid she had been at some point, but not now. They still weren't safe yet. SJ took another torch from her inventory and lit it, placing it into the ground of the cavern so it bathed the area in light. "Wait, here, I will see how far this cavern goes back. SJ slowly walked through the cavern, remembering the Crepar from the last cave she visited. She equipped her claws. After checking the whole area for entrances, she discovered none, meaning the only way in or out was the way they had come.
"There is no other way out. In the morning, we will head back out and back up onto the ridge back to town," SJ said, returning to Cristy, sitting on the cavern floor with her legs hunched up and the blanket over her. Taking her waterskin from her inventory, she handed it to Cristy, who took it eagerly, taking a long pull before handing it back. SJ did the same and then put it away again. The cavern floor was quite smooth and had more of a sandy texture than rock, and she settled herself down, lying on her back with her hands behind her head.
"Try and get some sleep," SJ said.
Cristy didn't respond but began to settle down. SJ was just starting to drift off when she felt the small form move next to her. She instinctively put her arm out, and Cristy rested her head on her shoulder and cuddled into her side. SJ pulled the blanket, which covered them both. SJ lay there as still as she could. She listened to Cristy's breathing, and it began to slow. Eventually, Cristy began to snore gently. Smiling, SJ stroked the small Gnoll on her head and closed her eyes again. It wasn't long before sleep took her.