Corvayne looked over to the iron knife laying at the base of the tree, then back at the Goblin soldier who was frowning at it. Corvayne shrugged and resumed showing Pouncer the footwork and motion of his hands, step by step, as well as stopping to show the goblin his grip one more time before he used [Phantom Knife] to throw his fire-breathing dagger, sending it spinning to the same tree, cutting a notch with it, then popping back to the hand that threw it with a small twist and pull of the wrist. He was surprised how well he could aim given he was still down a working eye.
The shorter goblin had a shield and spear and was nominally a soldier, but she was also a sort of hunter and scout. The scout had picked up [Backstab] along with everyone else, and Corvayne supposed that being able to boomerang a knife was the next step in mastery. It wasn't as hard to do as [Bleeder] which he had thought was much simpler to do but actually took some mastery of knives he had gained that the goblin had not. Maybe that was the whole point of having him learn from all those 'Masters' back at the village. Or maybe they just didn't want to deal with him for the full course of having a pupil.
Anyway, he had been using the march and any breaks in their hike through the woods to train them on sword, spear, and a other weapons. The five hours had turned to seven plus as rain had flooded a river, forcing both groups to trek an hour out of the way to find an old but sturdy stone bridge over the rushing cloudy blue water. With the colors were all different it was still weird to see an opaque blue body of water. Seru had commented it looked like when someone was painting and dumped the water for cleaning the brush out. With the extra walking he had plenty of time to walk and talk. Some of the soldiers would walk out of formation, try a few stabs, then slide back into steady marching. All of them used spears frequently and could perform [Thrust]. Constantius was further along and could use [Juxtapose] as well. The older and more experienced leader also was nimble enough to draw a knife and follow up with [Backstab] if something he didn't fumble it. Corvayne gained some appreciation for his ability to just use the same weapon to do both.
Pouncer, compared to some of the other goblin soldiers, was a little smaller and softer spoken and not as buff as her peers. What was important was that she was intent on learning [Phantom Knife] even though Corvayne hated using the move because if you messed up your weapon was out of your hand. [Whirling Axe]'s fail case was you looked silly swinging your weapon at nothing. Still, the goblin nearly cried when after twenty tries they nailed the hand motion and activated the skill, their curved knife flying through the air to thwack a tree, then fly back to place the hilt in their hand.
“Thank you Captain Corvayne! I'll practice it a hundred times!” she said in a high pitched voice.
He didn't know where the Captain business came from, but it beat master by a mile. A goblin calling you master something means you're probably a necromancer. Maybe he should just tell them to call him boss? Now he was missing Mosh AND Hari. He hoped he'd be there to greet them if they both landed on the first floor again. Focus. Pouncer was looking at him with awe. “You will tire yourself out if you don't take breaks. These abilities sap your stamina. Jog a lot, that helps. Maybe eat monster meat, if you can get it.”
“Well, first we'd have to not get eaten, but I'll try.” Pouncer was acting odd and kept looking back at Corvayne as she walked away. Wick had been following Corvayne around as he did training and gave him an odd look when he looked to her.
“What?”
“You know what. I guess I can't blame you for wondering about it.” She nodded at Pouncer who was showing off his new move.
"Training a goblin army?” Corvayne looked over the other troops taking a breather. "Seeing if they have a spear prodigy?"
Wick rubbed her forehead. “You idiot! Pouncer's been checking you out.”
“Huh?”
Wick gestured. “Her, and Cat, and Weed. All of them want you to go green.”
“Ok. So what should I do about it?” Corvayne had started walking across the clearing they had taken a break in. It looked like a crossroads that once had a town: he could see a mound that suggested a wall or earth works, and places beside the road where a few stones rested in teal weeds.
“Them, and Gold Gap too in case you do start swinging both ways, are probably all hoping we take another full day to get back.” Wick looked torn, probably between egging him on to try it and not liking when he got waylaid by other women. Pun intended.
“I don't think they are staring at me with sex on their minds.” He thought about sci-fi books with aliens. “I bet to them I look like a giant with a stub nose, weird small ears, and a tiny head and the skin of a dead creature.”
“No, you're like a giant elf, this weirdly graceful creature of incredible power and a lithe, deadly body who is also teaching them magic. I'd honestly be more okay with you taking a short stack goblin to bed then Seru. What WERE you thinking?”
He bit his lip and tried a joke. “Figured she'd get shot first by the drones if she was on top of me?” He waited for a respose from Wick. “Too soon?”
She smirked. “Heh. Barely. It's going to be really funny if you save it a week and tell it to me next time I ask that. Also try to sound flippant instead of stating it like a fact.” Wick looked across the clearing to where Seru was talking with Mister I, showing him a small book. That was a weird pairing. Maybe not. Mister I was a monk in name and Seru was as well in class, even if he couldn't think of two people that fit the ideals of an aesthetics’s lifestyle.
“Good. But no, I'm not going to try goblin sex. I talked with Constantius, and what I'm teaching them is getting me serious good-will with the squad, and will ferry over to command since I'm trading a possibly permanent benefit for passage and nothing more. I don't want to jinx it by leaving a crying goblin girl behind.”
Wick growled. “If you were SMART you'd wait until we had a deal in writing before showing them how to do psycho crusher or bowling bash or whatever all your moves are called. You are smart. I meant you'd be MORE smart if you were less NAIVE. What if this is the one NICE group of goblins and they were sent to the ruins to die because everyone else is a jerk?”
Corvayne was starting to get better at spotting when her paranoia was kicking in. “I think a smaller race, like goblins, would be more then happy to let a big dangerous unknown simply walk away, rather then attack them. I've shown them our abilities are linked to skill, not to our gear. Though of course, push comes to shove we have the tools to back the skills up.”
Wick nodded. “Good cop, bad cop. Anyway, if you do decide to sleep with one of our soldiers here, you got one more break before we march into town. Ideally we are there 15 minutes then walk into a portal. I know better, but that's the hope.”
Corvayne shrugged. “I think good will counts for something. I mean, I guess I'm more mellow because everyone who was supposed to be my allies growing up basically made my life miserable, so I have a very low bar for strangers who won't do half as good a job stabbing me in the back as Untouched-By-Arrows. Don't get upset, it was a wood knife and it usually didn't draw blood and he only left it stuck in me once.”
Wick nodded. “Fine. I'll be mad if you don't give me a front row seat to you beating the shit out of them in order whenever you get around to returning to your village after becoming the latent god-king of weapons.”
He shrugged, stepping to the side to walk out of the mound circle and keep the goblins who had started marching ahead of them in view. He could walk at a relaxed pace and keep up with them. “That's a big if. I don't feel like I'm getting much better. I only have one person to do weapon sparring with. And if Nyxion leaves, so does Lady Blood Claw.”
“Well, I think she'd visit. I honestly think you're her best friend. Nyxion is sort of... blasé about his alien heavy.”
“Lady Blood Claw is pretty light, she's pinned me on a mat before and I got her off easily.” Note for his internal Color chart: The color she has when pinning him was pink going on to glowing pink, then deep purple. So that's probably something like, exertion or excitement, concentration, then satisfaction? But she was also pink sometimes when she was just walking next to him. Is it possibly a physical state having just jogged a little to catch up?
“I knew you'd stick it to the alien lady too... hey does everything change color?” Wick was watching him for a reaction and started cackling as he felt his cheeks burn.
“What did I say that made you think that I slept with her? Oh. Get your mind out of the gutter Wick.”
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“You are what, three for four of getting on female party members? If one of the three goblin girls tags along, she'd probably trick you into it within a week.”
“Oh. Then I'd have a short girl with green skin and a short girl green with envy.” Corvayne acted like he was thinking about it. Wick walked a little closer and elbowed him. He gave her shoulder a squeeze but kept walking. Putting his arm around her when walking made her nervous.
He saw they would be back in the woods soon. This floor's orange-red bark stained with dark blue colors reminded him of the Cascadian Jasper. The darker trees with brighter leaves reminded him of pictures he had seen of forests in fall. “You called her a... heavy? Like, heavy infantry?”
“No, like a bad guy has... Grunt made sure to show you a Brass Gold film right?”
“Yeah. He's kind of a bad spy, he said his name all the time.” Corvayne shook his head. “I did love the tools the spy had.”
“It's because he's a rip-off of an older series of spy movies. Nobody appreciates Bond any more. But yeah, the bad guy probably had a scary looking henchman that did most of the fighting before the end? That's LBC.”
“Ohhh yeah. I Nyxion aware of this?”
Wick sighed “I'm pretty certain. Anything you think a noble does unconsciously is either baked into their DNA or a very exactly executed gesture with inspiration from very smart or very stupid sources.”
“Nyx is smart, I take it? Or you wouldn't have him along.” Corvayne didn't think she needed money.
“I might have him as a handsome idiot to act as our front. Or see if we can mend his arrogance out of him."
“If mend worked that well we could go get ice cream and hold hands.” He chose to say instead.
“Nope. I'd still shank you if you tried to take me on a date like that.” Wick pulled her open robe aside and patted a spot on her jacket.
“I could teach you some tricks to shank me better. It would involve me demonstrating how to use my short sword with you. It would be rigorous and require perhaps an entire evening.” Corvayne folded his arms. “Maybe longer if I think you are not properly spent.”
Wick cackled. “You are such a weirdo.”
“I picked a weird girl. Thus it's fitting.”
“I'm glad you're getting better Corvayne. Or I should say, I think I'm getting better at reading the invincible poker face too.” Wick was walking and staring at him, and nearly tripped on a branch. He steadied her. Looking ahead, the path was flanked on both sides by forest that was starting to tower over them. With less light coming in, the colors around them were becoming dark red and blue lines with teal foliage glowing far above them. He moved to catch up with his friends who were walking behind the goblin group.
Corvayne flipped his cloak over his pack and twisted the collar while pulling it a little, extending it to cover more of his back. Wick fell in with Nyxion, who had been walking behind Seru and Mister I. Lady Blood Claw nodded at Corvayne as he strode past, and Grunt was keeping an eye on the woods as well. He could see from the Goblin's shifting formation that Pouncer and Cat were giving their shields and spears to bulkier goblins to double up and were heading off into the woods. The goblins had slowed to a walk, and Constantius nodded at Corvayne as he made it up to where the soldier was leading the march.
“Trouble?” Corvayne asked.
“This portion of the wood has flickers.” The goblin held a finger out from the hand holding his spear, and put his other finger about ten inches from it. “Monsters with long spikes all over who can throw out a dozen at a time like arrows.”
“Oh, the porcupines that shoot spines?” He felt his eye itch thinking about them.
“Yeah. Need to have a shield up or they pin you and you die. Also, never try to cook one that you haven't butchered, especially with the spines still on it. The damn things explode. There was a patrol that lost six goblins to them cooking a monster wrong.”
Corvayne gestured at his face with his free hand not on a spear. “I got a spine in the eye from burning a bunch to death and also had a full barrage hit me in the side. They suck.”
The goblin was scanning the woods as he said softly “I'm surprised you're alive then.”
Corvayne shrugged. “I'm not easy to kill, even with bad luck like that. My eye is growing back faster then I expected. I might be able to take the bandage off in another day or two.”
“Well, if we run into flickers unaware, it's unlikely we can take more then a few quills before we bleed out. So slow and steady, and if we see them we fight with shields out.” Constantius stopped and unslung his own shield, calling out. “block out, resume march half pace.”
Corvayne heard some groans as it was easier to walk with a big shield on your back compared to holding a hunk of reinforced wood ahead of you. His own group had Grunt and Nyxion as a human shield and the holder of a shield belt respectively.
“I'll roam ahead with your scouts and keep an eye out for packs.” He twisted his cloak once more and it faded into the dark colors of the woods with the shoulders and hood taking on the teal color of the trees. It wasn't perfect but it helped break up his outline.
There was a shrill bird whistle from the left then two crow noises from the right, and the goblins were split between looking at Constantius and twisting to have their shields facing the woods on the left.
“Left face wall.” The goblin pulled the visor down on his helmet as the group started slowly moving sideways.
“Can I just go kill the porcupines?” Corvayne asked. Watching them slowly crawl along...
“It costs nothing but time to be careful. But if you can get them all, sure.” Constantius said with a little grunt as he crab walked with his squad, looking out from the side of his shield to try to spot whatever his scouts had seen.
Corvayne put himself low and crept into the teal underbrush. The porcupines seemingly wild colors would be hard to spot in the brush. So instead of relying on his eyes, he shut the only open one and listened. He could hear them make little rodent grunts, and he guessed there were six.
He didn't have to dash into the middle of the formation so he crept out of the way as he heard them squeak once then start shuffling in the direction of the road. He heard a bird call from behind where he was crouched, six times. He guessed it meant something obvious like six monsters. When the monsters were between him and the shield wall he crept out, shadowy hands gently coaxing plants out of the way. He saw the quills of one monster shuffling in front of him, and he paced himself to catch up, waiting for it to turn or lift it's hind legs to fire forward. The memory of the night attack made him hesitate for just a moment when he saw the spines, but he pushed on and got within arm's length. [Cross-Skill: Backstab] blasted his spear through the creatures spines and then it's body. There was both the standard [Backstab] satisfying crunch as well as a horrible clattering noise as the spearhead shattered the monsters quills then dug into it's back and killed the monster almost instantly. He didn't wait for a reaction and moved to cover, but heard the monsters continue on towards the road, oblivious.
He had to consider it was a weapon attack designed for knife work... Maybe the sound effect and even the creature's death noises were dampened on enemies? Another thing to experiment with.
He wheeled around the tree and moved to flank another monster. This time the creature was pushing it's back up and creeping forward, setting up to start spraying the goblins not far ahead on the road. Which meant he could jab the monster behind it's hind legs and hit it's tender looking belly. He used [Cross-Skill: Backstab] once more, this time causing the monster to pop as it perhaps it had primed whatever it was that shot the spikes.
Of course, when one monster went off, all of them were hit. There was squealing so Corvayne once more dove for a tree and heard the noise of quills hitting trees, a screech as one monster got hit by a misfire, and one set of loud clacks as a goblin holding a shield blocked a line of spikes.
He moved back at the pack through the brush, saw an exposed porcupine, then used [Cross-Skill: Whirling Axe] to blast the monster with a wind spear that left it alive but bleeding. He heard the twang of a bow and a squeak then rasping hiss as another of the monsters died.
There were not too many left crawling in the brush. Corvayne carefully took the last two out, making sure to not accidentally skewer whichever scout was on this side. He dragged a few Porcupine bodies back with him as he reached the shield line. One goblin had a shield full of spines and looked fine, but another's shield had failed or he had maybe let his guard drop to try to watch. He had a trio of spines in his side and was bleeding badly.
Oddly enough, Seru was holding the goblin's hand. Maybe because she had been in the exact same spot two nights ago. “Mister Icarriii please!”
Constantius ran up to Corvayne. “I hate to ask you a favor, but the only way that Cat's going to live is if we can run her to headquarters and get her a healing potion. One of the spines hit a lung. With your big legs we-”
Mister I crouched by the little goblin as Constantius was speaking. Corvayne had to interrupt the little goblin with an upraised hand. “If our friend can't fix it, I have a healing potion on me I'll be happy to spare for you.”
Mister I went through the prayer of mending then on the last few words yanked the spines out. Cat started screaming for a moment then sat up. The other goblins were in awe as well as they could see the monk wipe away blood to reveal smooth new green skin.
The goblin captain crouched by Cat who was laughing in joy now. “I'll eat my damn shield. How in the five hells did you do that?”
Mister I just laughed. “Actually, would you believe I learned it from a goblin?”
Standing on a hill, Corvayne could see the settlement of Last Bastion ahead. Given the name he expected a ramshackle wood encampment, but the goblins had clearly been there a long time. It was a proper walled fortress, built out of steep walls of stones in a variety of blue hues. The walls had points where the goblins had obviously expanded, and behind the stone barrier he could see an orderly street pattern with well made brick and clay buildings. Dominating the center of the town was a blue stone sky-scraper like the ones in the city, but with windows carved into the stone, and supports of wood where he could see tiny figures working.
They ran into the first group of goblins heading the other way down the road not long after cresting the hill. Corvayne had let the soldiers go ahead, given that it was preferable that the captain warn any other goblin travelers or other soldiers about them and that, no, they were not monsters. Oddly enough, two goblins had fallen behind the group. He saw Cat was walking besides Seru, asking about the world outside the tower. Seru was only too happy to brag about Cascadia.
Groveller, the goblin who Nyxion had saved during their first encounter, had asked Mister I how he had done what he did, and was now doing his best to absorb a long discussion of Lythandies's philosophy which, Corvayne imagined, was a huge disappointment for someone who maybe was hoping to just learn how to heal other people. He appreciated both Mister I and Mosh but the two together talking about religion was too much for him.
He focused ahead. Constantius was telling a group with a wagon, axes, and a few soldiers something, and pointing back at Corvayne, who did his part by waving at the goblins. Their already surprised looks at him were shocked further at the friendly gesture. Of course, he could tell the moment they spotted Grunt, who startled humans let alone looked like a titan to a goblin.
One of the encounters with either travelers or soldiers had trickled word back to the gate or they had been properly spotted by the wall, because two thirty goblin formation of spearmen with shields marched out of the gate and stood in front of it. They had their spears up at the moment, but Corvayne guessed they were not blocking the road for anyone else. He was impressed by seeing a formation of warriors in person, as the majority of Watcher fighting was done against monsters and thus they tended to encircle a beast or scatter rather then brace as a group for a potential attack. You also had the problem of trying to accept a charge from a big monster on anything other then packed stone...
He snapped his attention back to the present. Constantius had gone forward to speak to another goblin, this one riding a muzzled goat. The one on the goat was following Constantius's arm to look at him, so he started to walk forward. If there was going to be a discussion, he might as well hear it.
Stopping a few paces away he tried what he thought a hero would do in this situation. He lifted his hand in a wave. “Well met! I'm Corvayne, and we are looking for passage up the stairs to the next floor.”
The goblin on the goat had a good thousand yard stare, and looked pretty regal on his goat with the cape and helmet and everything. When he spoke he had a stern voice. “Maxius. Commander of the defense. You are monster adventurers?”
Corvayne nodded. “We call ourselves human. Well, five humans and a.... human with changing skin.”
“My good captain here is telling me you have magic you can teach anyone. And you know ways to heal without red life potions.” He sounded skeptical.
“I've given the soldiers basic instructions on how to use some of the attacks I have. The other aspect, the healing, is trickier.”
The mounted goblin considered Corvayne. “I'm taking the captain to report the council. We might be a while.” With no other words he turned and started trotting back to the small army of goblins waiting at the gates. Constantius nodded and a gave Corvayne a smile.
Wick looked at him. “Great, so they stuck us outside?”
He looked back and saw Mister I setting up the Grill while he continued to speak with Groveller about Lythandies, with Grunt pulling spines out of a porcupine.
“Well, while we wait, why not have a little barbeque with the goblins?”