I crept through the underbrush through the grove of crooked trees. Sharp rocks struck at my ankle and foot as I approached the ruined wall at the edge of the woods where a hilly valley opened up just beyond. Amber grass waved to the passing breeze that rustled through the green leaves above me and sent miserable chills dancing down my spine. Just beyond the ruined wall was a small wood and stone cottage, with yellow thatch. A wooden fence was erected around it in what could have been an attempt at keeping out small animals from trampling a garden.
Half the roof was caved in. Still, though, black smoke curled out of the chimney that jutted out from the center of the roof. Wandering the permitted, I caught sight of a strange figure dressed in hide and leather scraps. Bones of various animals hung around its neck and wrists. It walked with a hunched back and had a mane of brown hair that ran down its sloped head kind of like a mohawk that ended at the very beginning of the hunch.
“Is that a goblin?” I thought.
It is.
I pulled the rifle off my back took careful aim down the iron sights, and racked a bullet with the bolt. About 20ish yards out? I’ll hit it. No problem. Just got to take my time.
The figure bent down and reached into a small hole in the side of the wall, and pulled out a rat by its tail while I worked to make sure the iron sights were lined up on him.
The rat squealed and squirmed and swung in its clawed fingers. With a snarl, the goblin swung the rat into the stone wall. Blood stained the wall, and the rat stopped thrashing. The goblin opened its maw and slid the rat down its throat, vomit swirled in my stomach and I finally took my shot.
The old gun roared to life and kicked at my shoulder as the bullet tore through the Goblin’s throat, and the goblin collapsed into a puddle of its own blood before it even knew it was dead. A goblin with a reddish mane rushed out of the building. It carried a long spear with it. About as long as its body. I tried to turn the rifle toward it and fired, but I missed by a mile: the bullet, instead, collided against the stone cottage. I stood up and pulled out my pistol and fired three shots. The first two missed, but the third hit. The 9mm punched through its shoulder and jolted its chest back. The fourth hit dead center and the bullet tore through the hide armor it wore, and it collapsed.
I pushed myself up from the kneeling position and let out a long stream of air from my mouth as I slung the rifle over my shoulder pulled myself up over the wall and walked over to the dying goblin. With a hard shove, I rolled it over on its back and examined it. Its eyes were bulbous and black, and its hair was coarse; almost like horse hair. It had a pair of pointed ears hidden beneath this mane.
Its body was covered in thin green scales that were damp to the touch; though I couldn’t tell just from this if it was just from the dew built up on the grass; its oily blood, or if it was something that secreted from its body naturally.
While I examined this, something rushed out to me from the direction of the farmhouse: carrying what looked to be the broken leg of a chair or something similar. Another goblin, with a blond mane, rushed toward me. I fumbled as I reached for my pistol, and accidentally dropped it, and I raised my arm to intercept the downward blow of the goblin’s club.
The club slammed against my arm, and I drew my sword. It raised its club again to kill me, and I stabbed forward; mostly in desperation. The blade met the downward-coming club, and both fell from our grasp. It bent down to reach for my blade, and I sprang forward into a forward tackle. We rolled around on the ground, struggling with one another. Its sharp claws dug thick red channels through my flesh, and my punches broke apart the fragile scales.
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It was strong. Really strong. Perhaps as strong as two or three men. It bit and thrashed and scratched and punched and fought like hell to get away from me, as I fought equally as hard to keep it on the ground so it didn’t grab any other weapons. It groped around on the ground, until its clawed hand dung into the ground and slammed a stone buried underneath into my head. My vision blurs and flutters and another blow shoves me off of it. The goblin mounted me while I scrambled on the ground to push myself away from it. It rained blow after blow after blow with its stone. I shoved it and blocked my head, so it hit my arms and sides. I picked up a handful of the sandy soil and tossed it in the goblin’s ugly, bulbous eyes. It screeched and wrenched its head away, and I had enough leeway to reach for my knife, and slam it into the goblin’s throat.
A sharp hiss of air escaped its slit nostrils. I pulled the serrated blade from its flesh and drove it in again, and again until its cold blood pooled over me, and the goblin was finally dead.
I shoved the small creature off my body and huffed. My body hurt and ached. I walked over to where I had set my bag down, underneath a misplaced poplar tree, and drew a bottle of healing potion out of the netting. I took a quick swig let the strange liquid take effect, and sat down next to it to catch my breath. While catching my breath, I pulled out my PID.
[GOBLIN – LESSER ADDED TO BESTIARY]
GOBLINS KILLED 3/10
[BRAWLING 3% MASTERY, ENDURANCE 2% MASTERY, RIFLES 1.5% MASTERY, PISTOL 1.5% MASTERY.]
[FARMHOUSE CLEARED - +$600, +1% EVERY STAT]
[LOCATION FOUND: OLD FARMHOUSE]
[LOCATION FOUND: EVER-AFTER VALLEY]
I opened up the bestiary option for Goblin’s. They must be one of the stronger creatures around, right? I mean, they conquered White Company land.
[GOBLIN – LESSER]
Half reptile, half mammal, these creatures are considered a nuisance more than a threat. Normal Goblins have the strength of an average man, while Lesser Goblins; the juveniles of this cursed race, have the average strength of a prepubescent human.
Their real strength lies in the time it takes to replenish lost numbers, and how populous their land is. They are omnivorous and show cannibalistic tendencies when in periods of famine, and have enough intelligence to forge weapons and armor.
Without a King, Goblins revert to tribal Chiefdom.
Special Evolutions of Goblins include King, Royal Guard, Shaman, and Chief. These are much more powerful than a normal goblin.
(Common, monster)
Oh, isn’t that embarrassing?
Shut up.
You almost lost to a creature that has the strength of a prepubescent boy. How pathetic.
Shut up.
I picked up my bag as I cursed out my Ego.
You will get stronger, however.
“Yeah, yeah. I know.”
I picked up my pistol and sword and put both of them back in their place after a quick wipe down on my pants leg, and shoved the goblin I stabbed over onto its back. I drove my knife into its chest, peeled back the layers of scales to reveal the pink/red flesh underneath, and cut into that as well.
I had taken the day off yesterday to take inventory, and one of the things that I had found hidden among the things was a kind of cooler with a note from Aurora:
I’m disappointed about what happened, but not surprised. Addiction is a nefarious thing. Take this time to reflect and kick that habit. You’ll be happier for it.
I’ll leave you a couple of words of advice: the meat of most anything in the Lands Beyond is edible. If you run low on food, remember that. - A
I set my bag back down next to the goblin, used the knife to cut a slice of its meat away, and set it in into the round container. MREs were all well and good, but I was beginning to miss the taste of meat. I continued the skinning process. It was a little better than the Moon Deer, but it gave me experience. I filled up the cooler with goblin meat and tore open its chest.
Its heart sat behind thick ribs. I used my hacksaw to cut through and cut it out. The heart looked much like a human’s heart: but instead of it being red and pink, like its flesh, it was gray, bordering on green. I punctured the muscle, and put the organ to my lips.
Foul, oily liquid poured down, and I nearly vomited. Was it worth it?
I picked up my PID once more:
[BUTCHERING +2% MASTERY, AGILITY +1.5% MASTERY, KNIFE UNLOCKED, KNIFE MASTERY +1.5% MASTERY]
[HEART BLOOD CONSUMED, ANIMA MANIPULATION 4%, AGILITY 3%, STRENGTH 3%, ENDURANCE 3%]
It was worth it.
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[EVER-AFTER VALLEY]
At one point, one of the most populated parts of White Company land; the people who lived here numbered in the tens of thousands, and had been here for far longer than the White Company. This valley was the breadbasket for the humans living in the first realm of the Land Beyond. Due to the joint efforts of the Mad Cardinal and the Goblin King, however, they valley was sacked and has yet to be reclaimed by humanity.