Chapter 70: Goblins
Saturday, April 15th, 8:20 PM
Dungeon Ciara
While all 120 of my goblins hunted and gathered to equip themselves on their respective floors, I removed half of the rimestones hidden in the ceilings over the open areas of my fourth floor. Despite their resilience, the evergreen trees needed a more hospitable environment. After infusing them all with mana and leaving the temperature hovering just below freezing, I hoped that they would be okay. Time would tell.
The numerous twisting passages and smaller caves would serve just fine as a cold barrier to anyone seeking to delve the floor. My intent was that the goblin tribes would help with that as well.
With that done, I infused half the deciduous trees I’d added on the third floor, and a few dozen redwoods along with some of the bamboo near the lake at the bottom of the second.
They were much tougher than normal trees, and I had to infuse the tools I’d given to each tribe so they could work the wood properly.
One major problem I faced was a lack of suitable prey for my Rock Goblins on the third floor. While they could catch and eat some of the fish and tide pool creatures that had taken hold in their area’s twisting sea, that didn’t provide them with hides. They assured me that trade with other goblins would fix that issue, so I left it alone.
But my third floor had no fresh water.
My solution was to add a half dozen small streams that ran in from the sides. The volume of water they added to the subterranean sea was minuscule by comparison with what washed through my tidal drain system, so I hoped it wouldn’t disrupt the growing saltwater ecosystem.
For housing, I asked each tribe what they desired.
Bigs said, “Ice caves are perfect. Creator has plenty. Girl goblins make homes with strong magic. Wait and see!”
It didn’t take long, once they located a suitable location near the center of the floor. Their homes were set down into the ice to either side of a sizable, central cave, via slick tubes that the Snow Goblins had no trouble traversing.
Furt responded for the Rock Goblins, “We searching for warm-cave to make home. Is there volcano near?” He cocked his head and raised a hairless, slate-gray eyebrow while his blood-red eyes gleamed with hope.
[There’s no volcano nearby, but I can make warm caves for you.]
Over the course of a few minutes, he helped me to determine the number of hearthstones necessary to heat their caves. It turned out to be a lot more than I’d anticipated, as water bubbled slightly when I pooled a bit on the floor.
The Rock Goblin females used impressive stone magic and set about shaping some of the caves I’d made into a village with alcove homes set high into its walls, accessible by rock climbing—something at which all goblins seemed to excel.
Forest Goblins preferred homes high in the trees, and the redwoods were perfect for that. Their women were masterful as they grew platforms that appeared as thick, natural branches from below.
Once they discovered bamboo fibers, the goblin men excitedly wove hammocks that their women attached to the trees to serve as beds. I watched in wonder as they also created trampoline-like structures with bamboo, along with narrow bridges that connected adjacent trees. They appeared daunting and precarious to me, but the goblins had no such compunctions, and scampered along as if walking on the forest floor.
I understood why after one of the male goblins leaped from a tree and glided down with some sort of magic that allowed him to glide as if wearing a wing-suit. The females did that as well, though with much more finesse and control.
My instinct loved their ability to drop in on enemies from above.
Once they were satisfied with their treetop village, I made certain to imbue every tree they’d claimed in the hope that it would make their home more resilient.
Leeft, who had been chosen to lead their women, showed a wicked grin as her gaze followed each tree that I imbued for them. “Many thanks, Creator! Village becomes strong!” She raised her skinny arms and shrieked a piercing cry, and the other four goblins near her howled along with her. The rest of the Forest Goblins added to the cacophony as they continued to explore their new home.
When the sound reached the marines guarding everyone who was asleep near the second-floor entrance, there were quite a few concerned eyebrows and haunted frowns.
None of my residents were awake by then, so I resolved to explain things in the morning.
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When Joe and Siobhán had finished their nap, Siobhán sent Kiwi off to enjoy himself in the forest, with orders to leave humans alone. Hand in hand, they headed toward the entrance in silence.
Joe was ready to return to their room in the castle after Ciara had told them the castle was strong enough to withstand the waves, but Siobhán wanted the added protection of the trap-door that sealed the basement off from the castle.
Since it didn’t matter to Joe where they slept as long as they could rest properly, he hadn’t made a fuss. The castle’s bed was superior in every way, but he’d slept on the ground so many times that either place felt like a palace.
The depth of Siobhán’s terror over the tsunami had surprised Joe, since she seemed fearless about most everything else.
Probably because she was killed. Joe fretted.
“I’ll be okay,” Siobhán’s small hand squeezed his.
He glanced sidelong at her, and her frown smoothed over as he did. Siobhán’s anxiety churned behind that mask, so Joe said, “It’s okay to be afraid, you know. Even marines have their moments.”
Siobhán embraced Joe tight around his waist, then tilted her head up to meet his gaze. “That’s not easy to believe, even if it makes sense because you’re still human.”
He scooped her up into a hug and held her gently. “What matters is how you react to that feeling. Fight or flight are our options. Marines are trained to fight.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” she sighed.
“I’m glad you aren’t holding a grudge against them. They still have feelings underneath it all, and Mike said he could tell they felt guilty about it. Most who serve their country feel terrible if they kill the wrong people, even if they were just following orders.”
“Yeah, I got that sense, too. I guess it doesn’t matter as much as it felt like in the moment, since we can’t die. I think the worst part was the fear that we’d be ripped away from ProfCon like Rihelah and Michael were. Since that was Lord Auronox, I feel safer.”
“But you’re still afraid.”
“Yeah. I’m scared of hurting like that again, Joe.”
“You wanna know a secret?” He sat down on one of several hundred redwood stumps Ciara had left across the floor to serve as chairs, and Siobhán straddled him.
“I think I know what it is,” Siobhán said. She pressed her lips as she locked eyes with Joe and rested her hand against his cheek.
“I don’t like pain, either.”
Siobhán smacked his shoulder.
“What?” he asked.
“I know you get scared too, dummy. It’s not much, but I can tell.” She pouted.
Joe chuckled. “Like I mentioned, marines learn how to channel that and use it to our advantage. I never claimed I was fearless.”
That seemed to mollify her.
“But I’m used to pain. Now that I can heal people and I can remove injuries in just a few seconds, it’s not much of a deterrent,” said Joe.
“Yeah… I can’t see it that way.” She shuddered.
Joe rested a hand against Siobhán’s cheek and she smiled, bringing her hand up to clutch at his as she smiled for the first time since the tsunami had come.
After admiring her for a moment, Joe kissed Siobhán, then pulled back so he could meet her eyes and said, “I know I can’t protect you all the time, because there are moments when we aren’t close enough for me to do that. But your smile is beautiful to me, Siobhán. I want to protect that if I can.”
She lunged forward and hugged him tight. He felt her trembling as she whispered, “You already have.”
When she pulled back, they gazed into each other’s eyes for a minute without speaking. The warmth of her adoration flowed to him through their connection, mirroring what he felt for Siobhán.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Joe’s thoughts turned to how he could protect her and all the others.
Siobhán noticed the change in his mood and cocked her head as she tried to guess what he was thinking based on what he felt.
“I have to find and kill those other Dungeons,” he whispered.
“No,” she said flatly. “We have to find and kill the other Dungeons.” Siobhán’s breathing quickened and Joe felt a pang of fear in her heart.
“But you’re—”
“Afraid? Yeah. I won’t lie. I’m terrified. But you know what scares me more?”
“What?” Joe asked.
“Failing to protect our world,” said Siobhán.
He rubbed his chin. “Yeah. We’ll figure that out as we go. But you’re gonna need more training than I’ve provided so far. You’ll need sort of proper boot camp. Everyone does, since we’re all going to have to fight.”
Siobhán’s hands found Joe’s and squeezed. “If that’s what it takes.”
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My Dungeon instinct encouraged me to alter the plan I made with my beans, and I listened to it while hollowing out my fifth floor. The addition of sapient minions had changed everything, and I wanted to take full advantage of that.
The goblins demonstrated impressive ingenuity. They were already using local resources to fashion rough protective gear.
Snow Goblins were busy skinning deer and rabbits. They didn’t seem interested in cooking the meat, and tore into it raw with their sharp teeth. They collected larger bones and antlers while crunching down the rest. To my surprise, my Dungeon did not automatically absorb the body parts of other minions they killed.
I figured there must be some special exception at work, since these minions were different from the others.
Forest Goblins used bamboo fibers to fashion clothing with magic, and hunted Forest coyotes and Soybean skunks with long spears. After the first of their kind was sprayed by a skunk, the females attacked from a distance with nature magic that made plants become grasping vines that restrained the skunks at a safe distance. Then the males slew the prey with throwing spears.
Once they secured hides and bones, they did as the Snow Goblins, preparing everything in some way. I looked forward to seeing what they’d come up with.
The female Forest Goblins also moved beyond their village, creating extra rope bridges between the trees and setting up additional places where they could hide and rest. As each tree was claimed and modified by them, I imbued them with mana.
Despite the non-sapient minions dying at the hands of my sapients at times, they only ever showed aggression when attacked. The goblins were able to approach and befriend my Palomar tigers, the three bulls, and Shwarz bears. They even rode them as mounts, but seemed to treat the much larger and stronger minions as equals rather than servants.
For that matter, I was surprised when they also managed to exert some control over smaller minions that they sometimes hunted for materials.
Once they gathered metals, the goblins started creating more sophisticated weapons, though they only used blunt force to pound malleable metals out into blades, arrowheads, and other tools. Tungsten and other hard, brittle metals were scoffed at except when they managed to chip off pieces that could be tied onto poles to form spears.
Maybe Mike can teach them some of his tricks.
I resolved to ask him later.
Rock Goblins made contact with my krakens, somehow recognizing that the cephalopods were intelligent. Although the krakens had no ears to speak of, the female goblins surprised me by using a form of telepathy similar to what the krakens had. An alliance was secured—the krakens provided fish to the goblins while receiving a promise of metal-tipped spears in return.
I’ll definitely have to ask Mike to teach them how to forge different alloys. Stainless steel would be excellent for that.
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After the humans had breakfast, I said, [So, I did a thing.]
“You mean about goblins? We heard you speaking with them last night,” said Joe.
[Yes, exactly. The goblins. I want to have them—]
“Did you say goblins, Ciara?” asked President Thomas.
[I did. We’re looking at things changing quite a bit. Especially if the other Dungeons start summoning goblins and other sapient creatures from Gaia. There are three species; Snow Goblins, Rock Goblins, and Forest Goblins. The last type are on the second floor with you, living high in the trees near the lake.]
“I see. You mentioned they’re sapient? Can they talk?” the President asked.
[They can. Leeft is nearby and ready to meet with you. She’s the leader of the Forest Goblins. Let me know when you’re ready to receive her. Also, make sure your troops don’t harm her. They can use magic, and unlike normal minions, these will remember anything that happens when they revive.]
“Well, as long as they’re our allies, I see no problem with it,” said Thomas.
James Koel of the FBI stopped smiling as soon as the word goblins was uttered, and as the President explained to his advisers, many of them became stony-faced.
Leeft arrived near the humans, riding one of my Palomar tigers.
Her eyes were wider than those of the human population, and not only because her eyes were larger to begin with.
“Strange clothing, have these humans,” Leeft remarked, the grating of her voice reaching the human crowd with marines at its front.
At her words, most of the humans took a step back. I noticed some marines tightening their grip on weapons held in a tactical carry, but they maintained discipline and refrained from aiming at her.
There were mutterings of, “monster,” and other related words that I felt were uncalled for. Most of the leadership murmured to one another as eyes began to glare at her.
[Hey, what’s going on? All she did was say your clothing was strange.]
“Ah, so that’s what it was? I was too far away to hear,” said Thomas. He said something to his security detail and they spread the word.
“Greetings, humans. Leeft lays the gift of food at your feet.” Leeft leaped off the Palomar tiger, which laid on its side to lick one of its front paws.
She brought a coyote haunch out from thin air, and I recognized what she’d done as similar to my inventory.
Now, that’s curious! I wonder if the humans can learn that as well?
The reaction was tense until people saw what she was holding as she set the haunch down on a basket woven from bamboo, then grinned.
Tensions ratcheted up again at the sight of her sharp teeth, and as Leeft seemed to notice, her smile faded.
Leeft raised her voice. “This one is called Leeft, first among the Creator’s Forest Goblins. I come for peace-making, humans. The Creator commands that we work together.” She smiled again, but nobody smiled back.
At her words, several marines appeared tense. But they maintained discipline, for which I was grateful.
What is going on?
After a moment, President Thomas cleared his throat and said, “Welcome, Leeft. I greet you on behalf of the United States of America.”
Most of the people raised their eyebrows and looked sidelong at Thomas. But my residents were all comparatively relaxed.
James Koel whispered something to President Thomas, who furrowed his brow for a second.
The President raised his voice, “It appears only those who are awakened can understand you, Leeft.”
“Not all is awakened?” She looked around and met various eyes.
Leeft shook her head vigorously. “Ah, Leeft understands. Awakening allows magic from Goblish to human speech. Fear not. Forest Goblins follow the Creator’s will.” She bowed her head, keeping her eyes on the President as she spread her thin arms wide, displaying her claws.
“Maintain discipline,” Mike yelled when one of the marines leveled his rifle at Leeft. He snapped back to a tactical carry, though his eyes were wide and his stony expression was fierce.
“Leeft comes in peace, on behalf of the Dungeon. Many of you can’t understand her because you haven’t awakened, yet. There is some type of automatic translation going on, which tracks with what we’ve seen when people speak Spanish or other languages in front of awakened who shouldn’t be able to understand them.”
“How is it humans do not know of this?” asked Leeft.
President Thomas stepped forward, flanked by two awakened Secret Service agents. He offered his hand to Leeft, and she stared for a moment, then cocked her head.
“Leeft does not understand.”
“Ah, it’s a greeting,” said Thomas. “Fred, if you would?” He turned to his right and offered a hand to the agent, who shook the President’s hand stiffly while keeping his eyes on the goblin.
“This one understands.” Leeft nodded and stuck her skinny arm out with her clawed, three-fingered hand open.
President Thomas took it and Leeft smiled as they shook hands, though Thomas grunted.
When the handshake finished, his hand was bleeding where her claws had scratched him.
“Sir?” Fred glared at Leeft with his hand on his sidearm.
Marines shot numerous sidelong glances at Colonel Hart and Mike as hands tightened on rifles.
“Stand down, everyone.” Thomas shouted. “She has sharp claws, but Leeft didn’t mean to harm me. This is first contact between species, and we’ll figure things out as we go. Gunnery Sergeant Schimpf, if you would?”
“Ah, this one is ashamed.” Leeft prostrated herself while Joe hustled forward and laid a hand on the President.
Thomas glowed with golden light and the wounds disappeared.
“Strong human! Strong healings!” Leeft looked up at Joe like a lost puppy.
Leeft looked down again. “This one would learn to greet in the human way.”
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Floors: 5
Minions: 551/600
Residents: 12/20
Denizens: 1.82M
Traps: 10/25