Garblac, the goblin warchief, sat upon the crystal chair. Seven of his most skilled and most dedicated bodyguards were arranged around the chamber, each armoured in a suit of golden goblin plates. Garblac narrowed his eyes through the slits of his red-plumed helmets as two more goblins in golden plates entered the chamber. “The runner had returned, Chief." The goblin to the front of the pair yelled up to him as the pair approached the platform below where he sat. "Obviously,” Garblac growled, turning to the second of the goblins. “Well?” he asked. "What's going on down there?”
The second goblin It took awhile to get cleared and puffed out from running the length of the gigantic staircase that led up to where the golden armoured goblins of Garblac lay in wait. “Gruts dead,” Weezed the second goblin of the pair, finally having regained his breath. “Tried to fight the snorri one on one.” The goblin looked up at the warchief, looking for praise. None came; instead, the warchef looked at him blankly for a few seconds before asking slowly. “And his horde? What of his horde?” the war chief asked. The goblin shook his head.
“Dead too… They tried to flee, and the thing cut them up as they ran. It was scary, boss.” The goblin stammered, trailing off into a shiver as he finished his report. Snarblack flexed his muscles on the shaft of his long, spiked flail that lay across his lap. “Send down the waves," the warchief said darkly to the room. “You sure, boss? Maybe we should run?” asked one of his honour guards. Garblac shot the complainant a deadly look. “Just making sure,” the goblin said quickly, raising his hand in a placid gesture before shuffling from the chamber. Garblac reclined in the crystal chair. The rest of his army was gone. But at least he still had his most loyal warriors with him. He looked down at his bodyguards. It wouldn't come to it, but if the thing did make it to the chamber, He would make sure to learn from Grut’s mistake. He and his guard would make sure to stick the thing together.
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Snorri flew up the stairs of the gigantic spiral staircase. He had never been invited to the high council’s chamber, so it was the first time he had ever been this high within the mountain structure. According to the map, there are no kilometers beneath him hidden in his office. The stairway would open out into the council chamber's main entrance. As he reassessed the stone staircase, Snorri froze. The sound of yelping goblish and heavy footsteps were echoing down the staircase towards him. He began to spin Arcop’s sword on the magical chain as he came to a stop and waited.
He didn't have to wait long as a dozen golden-armoured goblins charged around the bend of the spiral staircase towards him. With a snarl, Snorri swung the blade’s chain forward, cuasing the sword to whip horizontally at the legs of the goblins as they came into veiw. Four or so of them tumbled the remaining distance between themselves and the gnome. Screaming as either one or both of their adored feet have been cut free. Snorri lept among the remaining goblins, taking the stairs three at a time. The golden-armoured goblin recovered from their confusion remarkably quickly and came at him with blows from sharp, curved swords of an evil goblin design. Snorri parried the first three strikes, catching a fourth goblin with a stab to the upper chest, slipping above the scale male of the goblin's armour and sinking deep into its green flesh.
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The goblin gurgled as Snorri tore his blade free and kicked its corpse. The goblin behind it caused the beast to tumble down the staircase and away from him. He didn't have time to see where it landed. He was forced to spin his sword wild to parry the blows of the no-recovery trio. only just managed to slip away from the last of the wild stabs. Snorri swore loudly as he threw his own sword wildly at the trio. The blade sank clean through the closest goblin's chest, sending him into the remaining pair with a thud. Snorri leapt upon them as he pulled his weapon back to his hand, and with one deadly strike, he set their heads spiraling into the air. as the pair of corpses crumpled to their knees, Snorri spun. The final goblin of the group had recovered from where he had fallen down the stairs and was now charging towards him, letting out a warcry as it came. Snorri dove at the creature. Planted both feet in a drop kick as he drove down the stairs, and he caught the goblin off guard. The goblin flew into the air and landed head first, maybe twelve stairs away from Snorri, with a sickening crack. Snorri pushed himself back to his feet. The goblin didn't twitch.
It was another forty seconds of climbing the massive staircase before Snorri encountered the next group of goblins. This time he was the party chosen by the surprise. As another of the spiral staircases bent, he was forced to throw himself backwards as several Goblin's crossbow sent crude metal bolts whizzing down the staircase towards him. Snorri didn't give them time to reload. He let out his own warcry as he pummeling his way through the crossbowmen. Slicing through their weapon’s as the golden-armoured goblins raised them, they attempted to use the complicated ranged weapons as shields. Snorri let out a manic laugh as he ran down the last of the crossbowmen. The fools would have been far more effective had they brought sheaths. There must not be many goblins left.
Snorri kept running up the stairs. It was as the archway that led to the highest level of the colony came into view that he encountered the last of the golden-armoured goblins. As he came into view, a great horde peered towards him, pushing at each other to get into the archways bottleneck and raising their curved sword, letting out yapping and yowling warcries. Snorri let out his own roar as he charged into the golden horde. Swinging his sword in broad, powerful strokes and cleaving it, the goblins After allowing the first wave of corpses to fall away, he jumped into the air, smashing into a goblin's golden helmet as he landed and spinning to parry a trip of well-aimed stabs.
He slashed at his attackers, only to be forced to jump in the air once again as more crossbows whizzed towards him. He heard squeals of pain as the bolts sank into the gold armour of the goblin warriors. Snorri threw his sword at the crossbowmen to the rear of the horde. Before the charging warriors could realign themselves to come at him, he had made short work of removing the crossbowmen’s heads from their well-armoured corpses. Roaring, he charged at the goblin warriors, many of whom were not turning to try and flee away from him, back into the temporary safety beyond the archway.
Snorri ran them down, weaving and cutting until a small river of neon green flowed down the staircase. As he finally crossed the boundary of the archway and exited the staircase, his eyed artfully wildly around the smooth stone corridor. Nothing moved. For now, it seems that at least the fighting is over. “So close…” Came Arracops voice. “Only a dozen, Snorri. You have done so well." Snorri gritted his teeth as he slicked the goblin blood from his sword. He vaguely grunted in response, and slowly he marched down the corridor towards the ornately carved doorway that led to the high council’s chamber. He was close.