"Well fuck..." Will exclaimed with a start while hopping away from the now impaled goblin, "sneaky little bastards when they want to be aren't they, and whats up with all these blue screens?"
"Notifications." Jason grunted as he cleaned off the machete and moved further up the hill to sit down and attempt to digest what just happened.
"Huh?" asked Will walking over to inspect the goblins that Jason had killed.
"They are called notifications, and they are why we are out here in the first place on our way to Mountain City." Jason said. He went on to explain what he was able to find out on his walk back to Rutherford. "So when we get to the city we are going to have to find out what it means by 'register'. Whether or not we end up registering it will be good to at least see whether the city has more information than we do."
Jason had some thinking to do. They were over half way to their destination with only seven miles to reach the city. At best estimations with seven miles left they still had three and a half more hours of hiking without rest. The brothers had planned on pushing hard till dark then setting up a camp and arriving at the city early the next morning. Even at their previous pace it would be dark by the time they got half way to the city from their current location. With the addition of these new monsters Jason had to contemplate changes to their current plan. Pulling out a granola bar to munch on while he thought, Jason watched Will inspecting the goblins and was curious himself where these things came from.
Once Will was done with his inspection of the bodies he made his way up to Jason's position. By the time Will sat down and started munching on his own granola bar, Jason had come up with several options to take from here. "We have some choices to make Will, you ready?"
"Hit me, by the way I saw that sprawl you used on that lead goblin. Like riding a bike right?" Will said with a smirk.
Chuckling Jason responded with "Yeah, yeah it was a bit of a knee jerk reaction but its nice to know I still got it. But back to business, the way I see it we have two options: back or forward. There is no way I want us camping out here for the night with goblins and who knows what else roaming around." If Jason was being honest with himself he would not have come out here in the first place if he thought something like this would happen.
"Well we are already closer to Mountain City than Rutherford, so my vote is forward." Will stated matter of factually.
"Agreed, we will leave behind the camping supplies. Snacks and packs only. No more stomping around either, we only have around two more hours of light left with seven miles to go. We are going to keep a steady pace and keep our eyes peeled for anything strange." Jason said while moving to relieve his pack of most of its bulk. He figured they could swing back by this location on the way back to Rutherford to pick up there stuff when they had plenty of daylight to work with.
Without the camping supplies they were able to start making some steady progress even while keeping an eye out for more monsters. While Jason was hoping they would be able to get the rest of the way to the city with no more incidents he was not going to be taken surprise like they were last time. He spent their time moving coming up with a strategy if they were to run into another group of goblins. The best he could come up with that would keep them moving at a steady pace would be to blitz the goblins before they noticed the brothers.
It was moments like these that Jason appreciated his personality. Will and Jason were currently crouched behind a couple of trees watching another group of two goblins, each with a level of one, approach their location. Sticking with Jason's plan, Will took the goblin on the left by surprise while Jason was able to eliminate the one on the right. In short order the goblins were eliminated and the brothers were moving on towards the city. This process repeated a two more times in the following two hours since the initial run in with the goblins before the sun went down. The last group having got the jump on the brothers before they were noticed them, leaving Jason with a pretty nasty bite to his calf.
Once night fell the brothers were able to make solid progress towards the city. Jason estimated that they were just over an hour out based on some of the landmarks he could see through the moonlight. Suddenly Jason was on guard, his nose had alerted him to a change in his surroundings. It only took him a few moments of careful attention to spot a part of the forest ahead that was lighter than the rest. The closer they got the more light they could see between the trees and it soon became obvious that someone had set up a campfire ahead of them. Motioning for Will to stay low and follow Jason in, they made their way as quietly as possible to the campsite. Finally able to peek through the trees and see who was around the fire, Jason felt his heart leap up into his lungs. Sitting around the fire was the largest group of goblins they had seen all day. 'There has to be at least fifteen goblins there...' Jason thought to himself. Immediately, Jason through out the idea of confronting these things and was planning on just circumventing them entirely to continue on to Mountain City.
Just as Jason was turning to leave, Will put his hand on his shoulder. Looking over to Will, Jason was surprised to see him staring at the camp with anger. Surely he wasn't mad enough about the few bumps and scrapes he got earlier in the day to want to run into this group despite their obvious numerical disadvantage. Will just motioned for Jason to look past the fire to the far side of the goblins camp near the trees. After adjusting his eyes to the brightness of staring at the fire Jason was able to make out some shadows under one of the trees. The longer Jason stared the more his eyes adjusted and he was able to make out the shapes of several human bodies huddled together at the tree's base. Feeling a heat start to build in his chest Jason started checking out the camp again with this new information. What he saw left him boiling, the goblins had apparently taken captives during the day and what they had done with them was making him sick. Jason could see several body parts surrounding the fire, and several of the goblins were chewing on something but Jason did his best not to look to closely at that. Before Jason lost his cool he grabbed Will by the shoulder and led him back further into the woods.
Once they were far enough away from the camp Jason signaled for Will to come closer. Will held a finger up and with a hand over his mouth shuffled quickly past Jason to the nearest tree. Leaning on the tree Will emptied his stomach and continued to heave for almost a minute. Jason let Will get control of himself before he motioned for him again to come back over. Before Jason could open his mouth, Will asked "We aren't just going to leave those people are we Jase?"
Normally Jason would be proud to hear about his brother looking out for others. However, Jason had to really do some thinking about the situation. 'Of course he did not want to leave the people behind. But could he and his brother seriously handle that many of those little gremlins on their own.' Jason took a few minutes of trying to come up with some way of helping those people while making sure that he and his brother would be able to get out of there in one piece. Will knowing Jason's tendencies to tune out the world when he was trying to solve a problem sat there and kept a look out.
"Here is what we are going to do..." Jason said breaking the silence.
It took the brothers a good thirty minutes to make preparations for what Jason had planned. Jason was now back at the campsite where he had originally observed the goblins. With a few minutes to spare Jason got a hard count of how many goblins he was dealing with, there were twelve total goblins in the camp. Only four of the goblins were level two the remaining being level one. Will had left Jason a few minutes previously to get in position for his role in the plan. Adrenaline was pumping through Jason's body as he mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do. Having reached the time count Jason had agreed to give Will to get into position, he did a last minute check on his equipment. Jason stood up and started to move, it was time to teach these goblins to fear humans.
Due to the lack of equipment Jason had been forced to keep the plan simple. He was going to act as a decoy to lead the goblins away from the camp while Will slipped in and led the captives towards the city. With such a simple plan there was always a chance for something to go wrong but it still left room for improvisation. Jason was lugging one such improvisation with him at the moment. Jason had found the largest rock that he could carry while still maintaining his ability to move. Sneaking into the goblins camp proved easier than Jason expected. They were not the most attentive bunch and were currently distracted by their meal or each other. Using the shadows at the edge of the camp to slowly move forward Jason was able to get within a couple of yards of his first target, one of the level two goblins. The goblin was currently lounging on its side with no clue of its current peril. Lifting the rock above his head, Jason felt the heat returning to his body from earlier. Letting the momentum of the rock build as it fell, Jason's hands were there to just guide it to its intended destination. *poof* The goblin barely managed to get out half a grunt before its spine was caved in through its chest.
*Critical Damage* -69 HP
*Bing*
Before the rock hit Jason was already moving to his next target. The goblin was to the left of his original victim was sitting up Indian style and as he turned his head to the sound of the dying goblin, Jason met the goblin's neck with his machete. The goblin was left with only about three inches of his neck still connected to the rest of his body.
*Critical Damage* -84 HP
*Bing*
The goblin's of the camp were now very much aware that something was wrong. Jason was confident he would be able to get one more strike in before the goblins were able to react to his presence. Seeing another goblin get up on the other side of the one he crushed with the rock, Jason took two steps and leapt over the goblin's corpse. It wasn't anything spectacular just with enough height to clear the corpse and give Jason the momentum he needed. With the machete raised above his head Jason brought it down intending to cleave down through where his neck met his shoulders. The goblin had several more seconds to react to the noises on its left however and turned to meet Jason's charge. It just managed to raise its arm up to deflect the incoming strike before Jason arrived.
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-18 HP
*Amputation Bleed* -15 HP/5 sec
The strike did not immediately incapacitate the goblin as Jason had intended, but what it did accomplish was even better. The goblin in front of Jason immediately fell to his knees and began making this screechy barking sound that Jason assumed was it's version of a scream. Jason now had the attention of every goblin in the clearing, and as if in slow motion Jason could see realization then rage color the faces of the remaining nine goblins in the clearing. This is exactly what Jason was hoping to achieve, he wanted every goblin in the camp to mindlessly chase him into the trees allowing the captives to be left alone for Will to retrieve. Turning on his heel, Jason took off into the forest. He could hear the Goblins giving chase behind him. He could only hope that he had enough behind him to give Will the chance to free the captives.
Watching from the shadows, Will had the perfect vantage point to see the carnage brought about by his brother's actions. He was also able to see his brother's escape and with smile noticed that all nine remaining goblins had hopped off in pursuit. Quickly moving forward through the trees Will came upon the spot that he had noticed the captives huddled against the tree. As he approached them he noticed that they all seemed to be awake and eyeing his approach warily. Will was now close enough to make out their current predicament and at that moment he wished at least one goblin had stayed behind for Will to deal with. The captives were a mix of the young and elderly, they had their hands and feet bound with strips of rope. Upon Jason's approach he could see one particular elderly gentleman shuffle his way between Will and the rest of the group.
For Stan Holloway, today had been one of the worst days of his long life. At sixty-four years old, he was getting to old for this shit. With blue screens popping up and little shit colored hairless monkeys, Stan would have thought he was suffering some delayed onset PTSD from Vietnam if other people weren't seeing it as well. Not only seeing it but while Stan was moving towards the big blue dome that had encompassed Mountain City with a group of other people from his subdivision, his wife included, he had been set upon by the a fore mentioned monkeys. While attempting to stop them from running off with some of the younger kids, Stan had been attacked from behind and before he knew it he was tied up and being dragged through the woods with seven others. Stan had only been able to watch as that group was reduced to five. Another elderly couple that he recognized from his group but did not know to well had been dragged away earlier, Stan could still hear their screams. The whole situation was bringing back memories for Stan that he had not thought about in a very long time. So when Stan saw a shadow moving to the middle of the camp and start slaughtering the weird monkeys with ease, he was filled with hope but also fear of the unknown. Thus when another shadow started to approach their group after the other had fled into the woods being pursued by the whole camp, Stan readied himself to do what he could for the remaining captives. When a boy no older than eighteen walked out of the woods, Stan was honestly surprised.
Noticing that the hostages were bound but not gagged Will spoke before they could "Hey everyone, we don't have long so when I cut you loose stay together and we will start to move once I am done with everyone."
Looking over his shoulder Stan noticed that the rest of his group was to stunned by the appearance of the mysterious youth to respond so he decided to do it for them. "Get the youngest first," He managed to get out through his hoarse, water deprived throat. "They took two of us over to the fire, any chance you could get to them?"
With a look and a slight shake of his head, Will communicated the fate of the two captives that were taken to the fire silently with this elderly gentleman. "You all are the only ones left, the plan is to move in the direction of the city as fast as possible. My brother will not be able to lead them away for much longer."
"Thank you for the help son, the names Stan, Stan Holloway." Stan got out while the youth was busy cutting his bindings. Stan was the last one of the group to be set free and the rest were waiting several feet into the treeline huddle together. Now that Stan could get a proper look at his group he noticed that they were all no older than twelve to thirteen. With a sigh Stan realized that his attempt to protect the younger members of his traveling group had been unsuccessful.
"Names Will Vince," Will said shaking Stan's extended hand. Motioning for the group to fall in behind Will, he moved them deeper into the trees before he stopped to inspect them. None of the captives had any debilitating injuries so Will was confident that they would be able to travel the remaining distance between the city and their location in decent time. "Alright, plan is to move through the woods to the city, I know the general direction so we will not be stopping until we get there. Should only be an hour or so of moving till we get there. Any objections or anything I should know before we get moving?" Will asked.
Not seeing any of the children speaking up Stan decided to expedite the process. "Lead the way Will, but I would like to have a talk after we get to the city if you don't mind." Stan stated deciding to put his questions off till they were safe.
With a nod Will started their trek through the night, hoping to not run into anything till the reached the city. 'You better not be far behind me Jase.' Will thought before he focused entirely on navigating the captives to their destination.
Jason's calf was on fire. He had only been running for a little over a minute at this point but the bite he received earlier was definitely hindering his movement. It wasn't anything dire at this point but it was only going to get worse. Jason figured that by now Will had probably been able to move in and get the captives moving in the right direction. At least he hoped he had because the goblins were gaining on him. Deciding that it was time to hit his pursuers with his second improvisation. Reaching into his pocket with his right hand Jason pulled out a fistful of rocks, each the size of a large marble. Waiting until the goblins were almost within striking distance, Jason stretched his right leg to its limit in a pivot step. Swinging his body around to the left allowed Jason to add the momentum of his pivot to his throw. Jason was only able to get a brief glimpse of his pursuers while he slung his arm around and released his fistful of rocks point blank into the lead runners.
-3 HP
-5 HP
-2 HP
Using the momentum of the throw to continue his turn, Jason was able to completely turn back around to continue running. He lost a lot of his speed but he was hoping the rocks would be enough of a surprise to slow down the goblins. To his credit he was partially right, the front goblins that were hit by the volley of rocks ended up stumbling after getting caught off guard causing a pile up of those behind them. However, one of the goblins right behind the first row was able to jump over those that fell allowing it to keep its speed. All of a sudden Jason felt a weight fall on his back and then a burning sensation just below his right shoulder. Using the momentum of the goblin landing on his back, Jason fell into a roll hoping to peel the goblin off using the ground. What actually happened is that he flopped onto his back knocking the air out of his lungs with how fast he was going. Still it had the desired effect of dislodging his unwanted passenger and Jason rolled over to face him while still trying to get his lungs to work properly. The goblin thinking he had Jason at a disadvantage charged, having lost the machete in his tumble Jason let instincts he hadn't used in years take over. These goblins were worrying in groups when they had superior numbers, but one on one it was like fighting a fifteen year old. Not a particularly smart one at that, Jason retrieved the biggest rock he could get from his pocket. Jason bunched his legs under him and speared the goblin in the stomach with his shoulder. Raising his right hand, Jason brought it down over and over again.
-9 HP
-12 HP
-8 HP
*Bing*
*thump*...*thump*...*thump*...
Jason kept hitting the goblin even after receiving the notification from the System. The whole process of Jason rolling to remove the goblin from his back and the ensuing brawl lasted all of thirty seconds. Feeling eyes on him Jason remembered his current situation and looked up to see the group of goblins staring at him with... fear?
The goblins had been riding a high all day long. For the most part their encounters with the local human population left the humans running away in fear. So when a single human had dared attack them at their campsite they were infuriated. When that same human had started to flee from the remainder of the camp it had given the goblins a sense of superiority, and they had leapt up to pursue him. Out in the shadows of the forest the goblins had lost some of their confidence, this human had been able to outrun them for longer than any others that they had run into. Then it had somehow been able to strike multiple of them at the front of the pack causing them to tumble over each other. Now looking at what they had assumed was a human shrouded in shadow while he beat one of their own using only a rock so brutally had left them with chills. They began to see things in the night that was making them regret pursuing this person so recklessly.
*Bing*
Jason could not believe what he was seeing, besides the notification that he had received outside of combat that was in itself strange. These barbarians had him outnumbered eight to one and they were the ones hesitating. Again Jason felt heat rising in his chest, he was happy to keep this stalemate for the moment if only to give him a chance to catch his breath. As Jason continued to stare at these creatures the heat continued to build. It reached its peak when Jason noticed one of the goblins in the front take a step back, 'After all this, the planning, running, fighting... after everything they have done, THEY are afraid to fight ME?' Jason thought rising to his feet. Jason began slowly scan his surroundings with his eyes looking for his machete, locating it a few feet in the direction of the group of goblins Jason grimaced. Taking a step in the direction of his machete, and subsequently the goblins Jason began to wonder if he should just leave the weapon behind and try to ditch the group of goblins. That one step however changed Jason's perspective on the entire situations.
The goblins in the front began jostling the ones behind them to take a step back. See thing Jason couldn't help but laugh, taking another step forward the goblins began backing up in earnest. Reaching down and grabbing his machete, Jason decided it was time for a change in pace. He was done running from these cowards. Mentally preparing himself for what was about to come Jason began walking forward in earnest. The reactions the goblins showed only proved to fuel Jason's inner rage. Jason was about five yards out when he made his move. As soon as he lunged the goblins lost all sense of cohesion and began to flee. Noticing that there were a few goblins visibly slower than the rest of the group, Jason moved to cull their numbers as they fled. It was scarily simple to cut down these goblins from behind. It was like they had lost all desire to fight. In a matter of minutes Jason was back at the campsite facing down what remained of the eight goblins that fled through woods from him. A mere two goblins stood cowering in the firelight that had diminished considerably with no one to tend it. Take his time moving towards these two sorry excuses for life, Jason had no doubt in his mind what their fate would be. He was able to dispatch the goblins with minimal effort...
*Bing*
*Bing*
*Bing*
*Bing*
About twenty minutes was what it took for Jason to engage the goblins, lead them away, and ultimately pursue them back to their original camp. Jason was happy to see that the captives were no where in sight when he made it back to the camp initially. After a cursory check of the campsite, Jason headed off in search of his brother hoping that he would have an uneventful hike the rest of the way to the city.