Chapter 14: Goblin Extermination. Part Two
As Muddy gave a less high pitched squeak, Coal felt some of his spiritual energy flow into the earth spirit.
He focused on his affinity for earth and felt the ground shake ever so slightly beneath his feet.
Suddenly, random dirt barrier walls appeared around some of the goblins, each two meters in height and two inches thick.
The goblins were caught off guard as the barriers rose up around them, and found themselves completely stuck in these dirt cages.
Less than half of the goblins managed to not get caught in the barriers, but they were now splintered and split up. The sparsely located goblins charged at the party, but found themselves unable to beat the humans.
The goblins were no match for the well-trained party, and they swiftly dispatched them with ease.
Coal grinned as he watched the last of the goblins fall to the ground. He then climbed on top of the dirt barriers he and
Muddy had created and focused his energy on incinerating everything within.
The goblins' weapons and bodies were reduced to ashes, leaving no trace of their presence in the forest.
"Well, that wasn't too bad, was it?" Korr said with a grin as he sheathed his sword. "Now come on, let's keep moving. These goblins don't really have anything of worth."
A few more hours of travel and one of the villages from their quest appeared on the horizon.
The village was small, with a few dozen houses constructed from wood and stone. Smoke rose lazily from chimneys in the early morning light.
As they approached, they could see that the village was in bad shape.
Many of the buildings looked damaged and the roads were cracked and overgrown with weeds. The villagers themselves looked weary and scared, as if they had been through a long fight or siege.
As the group entered the village, the villagers stopped their work and glanced at the newcomers with a mix of wariness and curiosity.
They looked hopeful, but the weariness in their eyes was unmistakable.
Korr approached an old man who seemed to be the village elder and asked him what had happened.
The old man hesitated for a moment before finally telling them about the recent attack by a group of goblins and a few orcs that had left their village in ruins.
Upon hearing the news, the party became more alert. Muddy and Porro were summoned to patrol the village, checking around it as they went.
It was a grisly sight a few hundred meters out, freshly dug graves and a good amount of green bodies strewn about the field.
The team made notes of what they found, mentally taking in the severity of the situation.
The party huddled together for a moment, discussing their options.
On one hand, they needed to complete the quest they were on, and hunting down the goblin's base of operations would likely yield useful information.
On the other hand, the village they had stumbled upon was defenseless, and leaving them to fend for themselves in the face of another attack was not an option.
After much deliberation, the group decided that they could not leave the village in such a vulnerable state.
They set to work quickly, helping the villagers reinforce their buildings and set up a perimeter around the village.
It was clear that the village had been attacked before and would likely be attacked again, but they were determined to do what they could to help.
With the fortifications in place, the group set out to track down the goblin and orc raiding party, knowing that they needed to put an end to the threat before more innocent lives were lost.
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They headed once more into the woods in the direction some of the villagers say that the goblins and orcs had come from and retreated to.
The sun was setting and the forest was eerily quiet, with only the occasional rustling of leaves disturbing the silence.
They navigated through the underbrush with skill, following the clues left by the goblin and orc raiding party. It was clear by the discarded weapons and scraps of cloth that the party was getting close.
After a few more minutes of searching, the party stumbled upon a cave hidden deep within the woods.
It seemed to be the perfect hideout for the goblins and orcs. They could hear the faint sound of chattering and laughter coming from within.
As they approached the cave, the party could see movement outside.
A few goblins were accompanied by wolves they had apparently tamed.
The group paused, unsure of what to do.
With at least half a dozen goblins guarding the entrance, it was impossible to tell how many more might be inside.
As they stood at the entrance of the cave, the party realized that this was not going to be an easy fight.
They could hear the goblins inside, raucously celebrating their recent raid.
But the villagers they had just left behind were counting on them to end the threat once and for all.
As the group assessed the situation outside the cave, Muddy squeaked that he and Porro could take on and distract guard wolves while the party could focus on the goblins.
It was discussed and the two animals were sent to work.
The goblins were momentarily distracted by the sight of a giant rocky bear and dirt turtle and the sudden but distant sound of barking, and the team took the opportunity to charge the entrance.
They were able to catch the goblins off guard and quickly gain the upper hand.
The team made quick work of the goblins at the cave entrance, taking advantage of Muddy and Porro's distraction.
Two goblins were swiftly downed by arrows while the remaining goblins were dispatched with sword blades.
As the party caught their breath outside the now-quiet cave, they knew their work was not yet done.
They had to determine if this was truly the base of the goblin operations in the region, or if there were more hideouts scattered throughout the forest.
They also needed to search the cave for any clues that could lead them to the goblin leaders, so they could put an end to the threat once and for all.
Thinking about how to best get rid of all their enemies in the cave, Coal asked if they could smoke them out.
Korr said it would be possible, but if the cave had other entrances they likely wouldn't be able to get rid of them all.
Gary and Gwen argued that thinning them out and taking the chance was better than nothing.
Examining the cave walls, the group realized there was a smaller opening toward the back of the cave which could be used for ventilation, and they set to work building a fire to smoke out the remaining goblins and orcs.
The group quickly set to work, gathering branches, leaves, and other flammable materials from the nearby forest.
They piled everything up inside the cave entrance ready to be set alight.
Everyone in the party then tapped into their spiritual energy, touching the ground and then a dirt wall rose that sealed most of the cave entrance except for a small square hole for coal to constantly feed the fire.
With the fire roaring and the smoke starting to fill the cave, shrieks and howls could be heard deep within.
Coal continued spurting flames into the square hole in the cave wall and the shrieks and howls got closer and closer.
As the team watched the smoke from the cave entrance, they suddenly heard loud thuds coming from the walls.
A quick look at each other gave everyone the same idea, the goblins and orcs had pushed into the fire and were throwing themselves against the dirt wall in attempts to break through.
The walls shook with the force of the creatures' attacks, but the dirt wall held up. The team held their ground, ready for the worst.
Gary walked up to the dirt wall and put his hand to it. He called upon his metal affinity and earth affinity to reinforce and strengthen it.
Fragments of metal ore within the ground ascended and melded with the dirt wall, and the combined strength of the materials made the wall impenetrable.
The goblins and orcs continued to throw themselves against the wall in vain as the party waited patiently for the smoke to wipe them all out.
As the fire continued to rage, and the goblins and orcs continued their efforts to break through the dirt wall, the team watched in anticipation.
Suddenly, a charred arm reached out of the square hole where Coal was sending fire through, grasping around trying to grab something.
The team held their ground, ready to defend themselves against any attacks that may come their way.
However, the arm suddenly stopped all movement seemingly dead as it remained limp.
Even as the shrieks, roars, and thudding stopped, the group decided to wait another ten minutes before deconstructing the wall.
They wanted to be certain the goblins and orcs had all succumbed to the smoke and that there were no survivors lurking behind the dirt wall.
After what felt like hours, but was only a few moments, the team slowly began to dig through the dirt wall until they had made enough space to see through to the other side.
Billowing smoke escaped quickly and ascended into the sky, covering the area in a thick haze.
The party took a step back as they watched the smoke cloud unfurl and rise higher into the atmosphere.
As they waited for the smoke to clear, the team mentally prepared themselves for what they may find inside the cave.
They knew that they needed to be thorough, to ensure that there were no survivors before they declared the mission a success.
As the smoke slowly dissipated, the group cautiously made their way towards the opening in the wall.
Immediately, they noticed over a hundred charred goblins lying on the ground, many of them burned beyond recognition.
The larger bodies, likely belonging to the orcs, were barely recognizable amidst the carnage.
It was a gruesome sight, but the team knew that everything wasn't done yet.
Walking around they had to stab into some of the bodies truly making sure that some weren't just unconscious.
Then they would have to journey deeper into the cave to check on the whole situation.