"There, mistress. We near that hill."
Ashley let the Goblin take the lead, following along after him carefully. She still didn't trust the creature, but Rebus seemed to be unconcerned and trotted along between the two of them looking surprisingly at ease. But then again they were probably still in his home territory so he likely knew where every spot to hide was.
She'd appraised Garmak and he was a safe enough level 3 with no outstanding attributes that made him a threat, so really it was just a matter of making sure she didn't walk into a trap. He wore a leather belt and a loincloth, and one dinged-up looking knife dangled from the belt. She wasn't worried about him, but who knew what his friends would be like?
"We need to find something to eat," she said to Rebus. "I don't know about you but I'm hungry."
"Plenty of food, mistress!" Garmak chirped. "Grabmog have supplies, we give you anything you want!"
He was pathetically eager to please her, but she had serious doubts about finding anything appetizing in the possession of a gaggle of Goblins.
Rebus seemed to be having similar thoughts.
"We can always tell them to kill a rabbit or something," he said to her. "I could do with a juicy rabbit haunch."
"We're going to look like the bad guys, walking around with a bunch of Goblins," she muttered quietly.
"Are you forgetting the villagers? As far as they're concerned you are the bad guy, and as long as you're wearing that thing you're not going to be making friends with any locals."
It was a fair point. So far she had found no way to take the tiara off. It seemed to have been welded to her head. It was no real problem for the time being since it gave her some useful abilities, but it was (a) a little alarming, and (b) inconvenient since as far as she could see there was no way to drop her Aura of Doom and make nice with any normal people.
But it was definitely a thing that needed to be dealt with. Sooner rather than later in fact, which meant she needed to find someone with enough experience to give her some useful advice. Whoever that might be.
But there was no way around it for the time being. For now, her side was the Goblins and any other creatures that would follow the Night Queen.
Not the job I would have chosen, but it's better than scumming around at level one worrying about wolves and bandits.
At least she'd have bodyguards soon enough.
Garmak stopped and held up one hand, then made a loud birdlike hooting sound.
Nothing happened.
Then from far away came a reply; a deep barking noise.
"That them!" Garmak said and did a little happy jump.
He took them into a dry creek bed where they had to creep along under hanging bushes and vines. They were at the bottom of a ravine, with dark trees climbing up both sides. It was totally quiet apart from the clattering of their feet through the gravel.
After a while they emerged into a small clearing where the former creek had broadened out into a pond. Now it was a circle of stones and boulders. In the middle stood four more Goblins. They were much better armed than Garmak. Each of the four had battered leather armor on, and dull metal swords hung at their sides. One of them - bigger than the rest and almost as tall as Ashley - wore a huge bow across his shoulders, and had a quiver of arrows tipped with dark black feathers on his back.
They looked far more threatening than their guide, who suddenly seemed scrawny and weak in comparison.
But all of the Goblins were staring at Ashley with open mouthed-wonder.
Garmak did a strange little double bow, and then started talking rapidly.
"Azgh remak zho Night Queen! Gru amigash shro stories were true, azgha! Magh so beautiful and will take us home zho agamantragh!"
Some part of it sounded like perfectly normal speech, which was presumably her "Dark Tongue" skill.
The biggest of them dropped to his knees instantly, and the other four followed him. He bowed his head down until it touched the gravel. Garmak dropped to the ground as well.
"Mistress," the big Goblin said in Common Tongue. His voice was deeper than Garmak's but still harsh and grating. "We are miserable worms and pledge our lives to you. We are yours to kill on a whim. We will live and die for you."
"Mistress," said all three other the other ones at once. In as far as a Goblin voice could sound reverent, they were clearly trying.
I guess I have no choice here. They're expecting a queen.
"Rise, all of you," she said.
She was pretty sure she heard a sound like a snicker from Rebus.
"Mistress," said the big one as he stood up.
"What is your name? You must be their leader."
He was only a head shorter than her, and had a golden ring hanging from one of his big green fleshy ears. His armor was also the most impressive of all three. Not that that was saying much. His eyes were bright and fierce, but they seemed reluctant to meet hers. All them them were obviously on the edge of cowering in front of her.
"I am Gravmok, Mistress," he said. "The others are inferior to me, yes."
"All the same I need names to work with. Tell me yours."
She was working through what she said very carefully. Part of her wanted to say please, but that didn't seem to be the dynamic they were expecting.
"Grabmog, mistress," said the next. He was the bulkiest, and had a large pack on his back.
"Garbar, mistress," said the next. He was nearly as short as Garmak, but a lot more muscular.
"Gamgrak, mistress," said the last one. He was a little taller, and seemed more confident. His eyes were wide and fearful, but they met hers, and he seemed to be searching her face for something.
"Very well, I greet you all and look forward to your service. Now stand still for a moment please."
It only made sense to establish her authority right away. They were clearly expecting it. Plus she was more than a little afraid of all of them and she felt like showing weakness would be a really bad idea.
She pointed at them one at a time and did a full appraise.
Gravmok the leader was level 6. Same as her. He was skilled in swordsmanship and archery, and had a solid 150 HP.
Definitely a threat. Keep him on side.
Grabmog was level 5, and a swordsman. To her surprise he also had a respectable 80MP and decent intelligence and wisdom.
He's the one with the supplies. Maybe a healer too?
Garbar and Gamgrak were both level 4 swordsmen with an emphasis on strength and agility.
Your basic troopers.
Gamgrak had a shocking 11 in wisdom though. That was a surprise.
He's a smarty. Watch out for him.
She would need to be careful that she didn't say anything blatantly stupid in front of him,
"Fine," she said. "I will do my best to watch over you. Your job is to protect me."
Once again they all dropped to the ground.
"Mistress!" Gravmok said and his voice was emotional. "We are your servants forever."
Grabmog made a gesture of some kind with his hands, and muttered some words she couldn't hear. When he looked up at her there were tears running down his ugly green face.
"Enough emotions," she said sharply. "Stand up and let's get to work."
Gravmok leapt to his feet and barked an order of some kind. The other four, Garmak included, stood up straight and watched her eagerly.
"First things first. This is Rebus, my servant as well. You will treat him with respect."
"Nice," said the cat. "Appreciate the thought."
"Also," she said. "We are both hungry. Catch something and cook it for us."
Grabmog - the one with the pack - made an excited noise.
"Mistress, we cook for you now! We have food! I cook!"
Ugh. What do they eat anyway? Frogs and slugs?
She was afraid to ask.
But Grabmog had already shuffled his pack off and unlaced the top. He pulled out some rough pots and tools, and then proudly produced something wrapped in some kind of tarp.
"We cook this for you! Grabmog is a good cook!" he said.
When he unrolled the leather from the worrying bundle, Ashely was surprised to see what looked like a perfectly nice haunch of some kind of beast.
"Deer!" the Goblin said. "I cook for you!"
I guess we have to take a chance. I can always order him to change his menu if it's inedible.
She was actually really hungry now.
In the end all her worrying had been for nothing. The Goblins built a little fire in no time at all, and the haunch was soon sizzling temptingly.
She let Gravmok the leader fill her in on their plight while she waited with one eye on the food.
They had been wandering for months now, hiding from bands of human soldiers who would kill them all on sight. Apparently there were many groups of Goblins and other forces of the Demon King scattered all over the land. Staying separated was the best way to remain hidden and safe, but they had signals arranged as well that would call for the roving groups to join up.
By the sound of things, the Goblin's expectations of her were that the Night Queen would lead their army home, and build a safe place for them all where the human hunters would never bother them again. The Arbrachit - which seemed like some kind of high priest Goblin, or even a prophet - had made a big deal about it after the Demon King was killed. From what she understood the remains of an entire army was expecting her appearance to lead them.
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She gathered that the Night Queen- the original one - had been a powerful witch who lived in the Dark Lands and had tended to them like her children. The Demon King had killed her and taken her lands for his own thousands of years ago. But her children always whispered of the day when the Demon King would be defeated, and she would return to be their protector again.
That's a tall order. Plus I have no idea where their home is to begin with.
But in any case accumulating her own band of bodyguards would keep her safe. Her own little private army. She liked that idea. She could always just order them to jump off a cliff if they started getting awkward about the whole "take us home" notion. They seemed prepared to do it.
"Let's make one thing clear," she said. "I have to grow my own power to help you. I'm still regaining my all my abilities. My people will allow me to grow in greatness until together we are unstoppable. But for now, we must gain strength and power."
The tall wily one - Gamgrak - gave her a penetrating look when she said this. But the others all nodded eagerly.
"We do what you tell us," Gravmok said. "Find treasure. Kill enemies. Take their power."
"And then we go home?" said Garmak. The others all gave him dark looks. He obviously wasn't encouraged to speak out of turn.
But she was a generous leader, and nodded at him.
"Then we go home," she said. "All of us."
Garmak smiled broadly.
When Grabmog finally brought her a dented metal plate filled high with steaming slices of venison, it was all she could do to eat with dignity. She was starving.
Rebus didn't have any such inhibition. They could hear him chewing and swallowing loudly on the other side of the campfire, and making happy noises in between.
When she was done the Goblins all ate their fill as well.
Without warning new text scrolled up in her field of view.
Achievement Earned: Leader, Small Warband
Allegiance: The Damned
Band Size: 5
HP Increase +10x5; Now 150
XP+500; Now 2550
Level 7 Upgrade
Well look at that. I guess I get ten extra HP for everyone in my band. I need more peeps.
They set out heading towards the destroyed lands where the battle with the Demon King had taken place six months ago. Gravmok thought it would be their best bet for accumulating more followers.
"Plus some guys, they don't like all this trees and flowers stuff. They more comfortable in torn up and burned places."
Just great, can't wait to meet them.
But she followed his advice, since what else was she going to do? It wasn't like she had a clear plan yet, and the human world seemed determined to be her enemy.
She had to give them credit though. They followed a winding path that kept them pretty solidly camouflaged from view most of the time. Once in a while one of them would climb a tree to scan the route ahead. They had been doing this for six months without getting ganked by random human bands after all. She felt like she could trust their judgment.
They weren't big talkers either. Mostly they plodded along quietly. Garmak seemed to be inhibited by all the senior Goblins as well, and wasn't his usually excitable self.
"Let's fall back and plan a bit," Rebus said to her, so she slowed down until they were out of earshot. She saw them glancing back, but she guessed they were afraid of questioning her actions. Which suited her just fine.
"We're leaving my territory," he said. "Past here I only have a vague idea of what to expect."
"The Goblins seem to know their way."
"Yeah but my point is we should have plan. Just wandering along with them doesn't accomplish much."
"We're accumulating followers. If we can get a bunch of them we'll be well protected."
"And if we gather an army and get seen, word will get around. Even with the civil war there's no way they'll ignore that."
She frowned.
"So we need a safe place, too."
"That's my point. The Demon King's army swept down from the north. Destroyed a bunch of towns along the way apparently. And a few keeps."
"You know where those are?"
The cat gave her a sideways glance.
"Are you serious? We're with the guys who did the pillaging. If anyone knows our best bets, it's this bunch."
She nodded.
"Let's see if we can get more followers first. Maybe someone more senior. This doesn't seem like the army's brain trust right here."
Plus she didn't want to give them the idea right away that she wasn't planning to just lead them all straight home. That was going to be a delicate issue. For the time being finding a few more lost bands of Goblins was the goal. Not to mention jumping any NPCs along the way for all that yummy XP. Ideally a low-level magic user as well so she could grab some decent gear. She was still wearing torn, bloody jeans and a shirt that was actively filthy now.
She got her first chance that afternoon, as the sun was heading for the horizon and the goblins were looking for a safe camping spot.
“Good spot there maybe,” Gravmok said, pointing at a thick copse of trees next to a tall cliff.
They moved into the dark space under the trees, cautiously as always. Gamgrak held up one hand, and the party stopped moving, crouching down.
“I smell...,” he said.
He was interrupted by a woman’s voice calling out, “Holy Smite!”
A brilliant bolt of searing light arced between the trunks, sending crazy shadows in all directions. Before Ashley could even process what was happening it smashed straight into her chest with a ferocious burst of heat.
- 60
Health 90
Rebus hissed and leapt away behind a tree. Ashley dropped down to the ground, only partly from a desire for cover – the bolt had sucked the strength from her limbs and she fell as much as dove to the forest floor. She felt rough hands grab her feet and pull her away.
“Sorry mistress,” said a goblin voice.
“S’okay,” she muttered and shook her head, trying to get her senses straight again.
There was yelling, and the sound of metal clashing on metal.
That was bad. I can’t take many more of those.
She had a magic shield. For a terrible moment she couldn’t remember the name at all.
She held up both hands, hoping it would come to her. Another shout pierced the dark and another brilliant blue-white light just barely missed her hands.
“Reflect!” she bellowed, and felt a shimmer of magic across her body.
MP 230
“Gravmok!” she yelled. “How many?”
There was heavy breathing, and grunts, and the ringing of steel coming from her left. The caster seemed to be straight ahead of her still.
But probably moving.
Finally Gravmok’s voice roared back.
“Four here! We take them. Watch out for rechmalach! Caster!”
Yeah no shit.
There was a flash of bright material between the trees, only a dozen paces or so in front of Ashley.
Got you.
“Rot!” she yelled the second she caught another glimpse of the woman.
The fuming ball arced away from her hands, and she lost sight of it in the gloom. Not even a second later though she heard a satisfying slap, and a shriek from the darkness
85
Health 170
Oh I’m so fucked.
There was one minor blessing though – the red Damage Over Time numbers started flowing up into the night. Suddenly she knew exactly where the caster was.
I need to get in there.
She had a knife at her belt now, courtesy of Grabmog's backpack. Worst case scenario she could just try to stab her to death. Reflect was only, what, sixty seconds? She needed to be ready to recast the moment it died.
She started crawling forward, doing her best to keep her ass low in the foliage. But the woman spotted her immediately.
“Holy Smite!” echoed out again and the ball of white flame smashed straight into Ashley. Her ears were ringing but she kept crawling forward. She was prepared for the sensation this time and grimly ignored the pain.
-30
Health 60
She saw a pale face staring out of the trees at her. Blonde hair. She looked quite young.
“Rot!” she screamed, but the woman simultaneously yelled “Aranti!” and something sparkly and red whooshed through the night and collided with the ball of filth. It dropped to the forest floor with a screech.
Whatever that was, she hadn’t hit the caster. Ashley’s MP had to be 180 now, which left 130 if she needed another Reflect. There was a scream from off to her left
HP -1x10
Health 50
Down one goblin too, just great.
A quick glance to one side revealed Gravmok swinging his sword at a tall figure. There was no time to worry about it. She was only paces away from the woman now, so she pulled out her knife and charged forward. The woman held up her arms defensively, obviously preparing a cast.
I’m going to make it.
“Solar Burst!” the caster yelled. Instantly the biggest flash in the world erupted in front of Ashley. She fell to one side, blinded. Her vision was reduced to a wobbly blue blob, with only the edges of her sight still working. She knew the woman would be getting ready to cast again.
“Rebus!” she yelled, “Roar! Now!”
For a brief moment she thought the cat had run off, but then from the other side of the woman came his Cry of the Hunter roar. It was still terrifying, and she heard the caster gasp and a noise that could only be her shifting around. She caught sight of the woman’s robe in the corner of her vision, and aimed sideways at it.
“Rot!” she yelled. It was a point-blank shot.
CRIT 85
Health 78
The woman cried out, and the sparkly red thing suddenly zoomed out of the darkness at Ashley, and something clawed viciously at her face.
-15
Health 35
It was small and ferocious, and swooped around towards her again. But something bulleted out of the forest at it, and they disappeared together in a ball of screeching and claws.
Thank you Rebus.
She didn’t have even a fraction of a second to waste. She couldn’t see the caster at all, but she knew where she was. She doubtless already had her spell ready to fly. Ashley dove forward with her knife out in one hand. She smashed into a form and drove her blade deep. It was a sickening sensation.
“Wait,” the woman yelped.
Fuck you.
“Rot!” she screamed, ignoring the damage she’d already done.
The caster’s form went limp. She collapsed on top of it.
It wasn’t too long before a gaggle of wounded goblins found her and pulled her away. They all sat together without saying a word for a while. Soon she felt Rebus join them. She reached out to pet him and realized he had several deep gashed on his side. She hadn’t even noticed him getting hurt. Eventually she realized that she was the one in charge, and tried to put her thoughts in order.
"Who died?" she said. "I still can't see right."
"Grabgar, Mistress," Garmak said. "He died good."
She nodded.
"See if there's anything worth taking from them."
They got up and started in on stripping down the bodies.
She sat for a bit longer, trying to start breathing normally again. The flash spell was wearing off rapidly now.
A few minutes later Rebus limped over and sat down beside her where she had moved to examine the caster’s body. She was definitely younger than Ashley. A silver loop around her neck had a strange golden circle at the end. When Ashley touched it there was a spark and a sharp pain.
-5
Health: 30
Ironic if she managed to kill me after she was dead.
She swigged the last of Mistress Hegel's healing potions to be on the safe side.
The pendant she took and put it aside for later. There was also a bag tied to the caster's belt which produced four small bright green bottles, and a bigger blue one. But that was all.
Which left the one thing Ashley was really interested in, even if was bloodstained now. She appraised it.
Cleric's Robe of Light; Level 5
A stream of other stats followed.
"You can't possibly wear that," Rebus said. "It's light aligned. It would actually make you weaker."
"Shit," she said. "So I'm still stuck with what I'm wearing?"
"I don't think the armour on those men is going to fit the Goblins, and it probably doesn't have an alignment.
Without warning, bright text flowed up in front of Ashley.
First Player Kill
Title Earned! "Slayer of Innocents"
Status Effect: Cursed Level 2 (Light Magic does 10% more damage)
"Oh no," she said. "No no no..."
There was no way. She finally appraised the woman herself.
Avalon of Theopolis; Cleric [Seeker]; Level 5
Loremaster [Acolyte]; Company of Heroes
Why didn't she say something? Slayer of Innocents. Great.
This had been her chance to get answers from another real player. And she'd killed her instead. Had she missed some kind of warning? But the woman had attacked her without hesitation too.
"Rebus! Can I revive her?"
The cat looked up from where it was licking its wounds.
"What, really? In theory yes, but you're nowhere near strong enough. Unless you have a Resurrection charm handy that I don't know about?"
"Great, just great."
"Too late now anyway," the cat said.
The Cleric's body began to emit little sparks of light. At the same time a silvery cloud wafted up from it, and surrounded Ashley.
But she didn't even notice when the body disappeared. The flowing, silvery light covered her from head to toe.
It felt amazing.
She shuddered at the sensation. Ten thousand volts of power filled her soul. She wanted to shout with joy at the pleasure of it. It was one hundred times more intense than the surge she'd felt when she killed the raiders.
More text appeared.
XP+2500 now: 5050
Level 8 Upgrade
Level 9 Upgrade
Level 10 Upgrade
Dark Arts +2 now: 5
MP increased now: 350
HP increased now: 250
Then the rush of it faded away just as suddenly as it had come.
"What was that?" she stammered.
Rebus didn't say anything. When Ashley looked at him, he was staring straight ahead, eyes wide open in what looked like surprise. Text flowed past him as well.
Familiar: Rebus
Class Upgrade: Fey Cat, Level 2
Status Effect Added: Source of Evil (MP Regeneration 10% Faster)
He shook his little head and looked up at Ashley.
"That was the most incredible thing I've ever felt," he said. "We need to do that again."
Ashley looked at the space where the Cleric's body had been.
"She was another one,” she whispered. “Like me."
"From your world? Interesting. Let's find another one and kill it, okay?"