14 Broka 10,391
There was nothing that wanted to fight on the route to his cave but when Six drew close to his home he heard shouts and squeals. He slowed and began to move quietly, pushing Nibbler back with a foot he got her to wait. He snuck forward and came upon three small grubby humanoid creatures, about three feet tall. Six spied sharp claw tipped digits and wide mouths that were lined with needle teeth. They wore simple clothing and very little of it. He analyzed them all but only one stood out.
Ukeef
Goblin
Level 1
Yup. Goblins. They were examining his garden beds speaking some clipped language that Six could barely hear. Still he heard enough and the words soon morphed into something he understood.
Knowledge Gained: Knowledge: Zarmul Goblin (Mortal)
“Smells like human camp,” the one who was on watch said. It was clear they weren’t very good at watching for anything, it's not like Six was particularly amazing at stealth.
“We wait?” one of the others asked.
“No, idiot. We go when we done take.”
“Why no wait? Why no kill human? Stupid.”
“Strong with more. We come back strong. But first, we take.” The watch goblin stood tall upon one of his garden beds, he looked about and every shuffle of his feet broke more of Six’s budding shoots.
Two more goblins came out from his cave. One carried Six’s lamp and blanket, the other carried Six’s terrarium. They were stealing his stuff? They were stealing his woodbugs! Six had grown up in a rougher part of town and had learned to hate most thieves, there were exceptions but now he had to do something. He slowly moved closer and closer to the bickering goblins who were fighting over who got to eat his woodbugs.
Skill Increase: Stealth - Initiate - 7
Six was but a mere ten meters away before he was forced to act, one of the goblins had stopped arguing for the woodbugs and had decided to just open the terrarium and eat them. Six created the gestures and muttered the incantations before unleashing a, “Stone Spear.”
The watching one noticed him but not before an eruption of stone blasted forward and evaporated the inciting goblin's head. The goblin’s body went limp and the terrarium it held fell to the ground, making a tinkling sound but not shattering. Everything went still for but a moment as the chime echoed through the area.
The three remaining goblins looked towards the watch leader with panicked faces.
The watch leader smiled at their apparent need for leadership before pointing at Six and hissing his command. “Kill him!”
The goblins rushed forward, claws extended, one even had a knife. Six danced back and withdrew a weapon, his earth glaive. He analyzed them all and found none of them above level 1. He swung wide with his glaive in a whistling horizontal slash, the blade cutting through all three and an earth aura activation rippled in, leaving a rich green light trail following his swing. Six obliterated all three entirely. Blood and bisected bodies fell to the ground.
The watch leader squeaked and went to run, its tiny legs pumping as fast as it could. Six took off after and pushed as hard as he could, his armor jangling in a steady rhythm. He was closing the distance with his longer legs and by burning stamina. His regen kept him moving between bursts and soon the goblin was flagging, slowing and wheezing and the wheezing turned to crying. It collapsed and rolled onto its back.
“Please, no! Spare me! Spare poor Ukeef!” it screamed.
Six slapped it with the butt of his glaive and forced himself to speak the goblin tongue, his anger demanded this creature know his fury. “Shut up you little thief, fuck around and find out. Shouldn’t have touched my shit.”
“Ukeef is sorry! Ukeef will serve for life!”
Six hesitated and head cocked, nodded. “I will spare you if you serve me, yes.”
Ukeef dropped to the ground and bowed to Six. “I do anything.”
“Show me where you live,” Six commanded. This was the tip of something larger and investigation was key.
Ukeef looked confused for a second before a sinister look passed over his face, that look was replaced with a happy grin. “Yes I show.”
Six indicated Ukeef lead and they set off north alongside the mountain together.
Fuck waiting for this to be a problem, Six needed to fix this shit right now.
Six followed Ukeef for a while and observed the creature. It cowered and looked back at Six every few minutes with glances of trepidatious fear. Over the course of the walk those glances slowly morphed into looks of confident derision. The two of them must be getting close for the goblin to change his act. Six was decent at reading people and the goblin was not subtle at all, they were clearly thinking about fucking Six up.
Six waited until Ukeef looked ahead and instantly lunged forward, grabbing the little creature around its small neck and squeezing short any potential shout. Pushing down he brought the goblin to the ground and sat on the thing as it struggled against his bulk. It tried to roll over but it was exceedingly easy to control it. Six could see it, Ukeef, claw the forest floor in panic. He just held him facedown until it stopped moving.
You have killed level 1 Ukeef. Experience gained 21.
Six sighed and looked down at the tiny thing, even more pitiful in death. Ukeef had offered very little experience but with five goblins dead it was something
He growled and pulled his knife. He butchered the goblin but found no mana stone within.
Yup. They were people.
Tiny little fucked up fuckers. But still, people.
The necessity for violence made him sad but he shrugged. It is what it is. New world, new rules. There was no time for ethical moralizing. He had picked something, he had claimed something and he would fight to protect it.
Six had killed all the goblins that knew of his home, he could leave, go back to his cave and enchant some shit. But he knew that the goblins represented a threat in some capacity and it would be foolish and willfully ignorant to not seek more information on the true magnitude of the threat. He was here after all.
Six moved forward with stealth, his pace slowed but he didn’t want to run into anything he was unprepared for. It was somewhat mentally taxing to be so focused on careful movement but Six could not afford to relax right now. His mind wandered to the relaxing sensation of weed, now was not the appropriate time to indulge but when he got home, oh man would he get blitzed.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
It didn’t take long before Six found the goblin village. They lived amongst the trees in tiny little shacks made of sticks and branches. Fighting and violence was everywhere, size was authority amongst themselves as Six could see that four bigger goblins ruled with an iron fist.
The biggest was an impressive five feet tall, towering over the other goblins and easily pushing them around with oversized weapons and armor that were clearly looted from much larger folk. Numbering in the eighties it was a significant village, there were many young goblins, children Six supposed, but they seemed self sufficient and precocious, they may even try to attack Six with their parents.
Six was sure at least twenty goblins could fight him, perhaps as many as sixty.
He should reconsider this. But he could see them and hear them. There was no love in these creatures and they were too close to him and his home. He chuckled under his breath, now he sounded like Irduth. Who was he to pass judgement? But how would he thrive and protect himself by being so committed to compromise and non-aggression?
It was not the time for such entitled thoughts. It did not matter, what mattered was his survival. What mattered would be his offer to the creatures.The goblins could decide what would happen, if they could co-exist, or if Six would remove them. He continued to sneak about and began to prepare the battlefield quietly.
***
The sun was rising, Six was tired from working all night, but he wasn’t suffering any debuffs and his health, stamina and mana pools were all full. He couldn’t leave his preparations to be discovered while he rested, he needed to do this now.
The goblins seemed to rotate a perpetual wakefulness. They were active during the night but more so during the day. Eating and fighting.
Six approached the village and made himself known. He spoke in the goblin tongue, “hello.” He stood as the goblins came to a surprised quiet, then chittered with each other. The biggest goblin stepped forward, covered in armor and lazily holding a longsword. Six analyzed him.
Chakret
Goblin
Level 11
Strong goblin. More goblins stepped forward and began to close the distance with Six
Six spoke in goblin with as much confidence as he could. “I am Six, no fight, you want trade?” as much as Six tried to convince himself to be completely ruthless, he had to make sure.
Chakret smiled and bared its needle filled grin. A vile expression took the creature and it laughed from the deepest parts of its soul. “You are weak. Chakret is strong and we are many. Six is small number. You give Chakret armor and I let you live.”
Six sighed. He knew then that peace was not an option.
From his spatial ring he drew his glaive in a slashing arc and began the fight by slicing through the faces of the three goblins who got too close. They all screamed gurgling cries of pain. Six leapt backward and drew a Stone Spear impaling another of the horrid creatures, like a worm on a hook.
He turned and ran away to the whoops and hollers of goblins who began chasing him. They threw rocks while they chased, most missed and those that did hit were ineffectual. As he ran he called out to the goblins in their tongue, “weak and slow! Slow and stinky!” His stamina built steadily as he maintained distance and it fell as made his way farther ahead of them. His athletics skill provided a small 5.5% reduction to his consumption, and it made the slog that much more possible.
Then he heard it, the yelping screeches as goblins hit his trip wires and were trampled by those behind them. The screams of terror and frustration as some were caught in his snares. He looked behind and saw at least thirty still chasing him. He sent out analyzes when he could, picking up minor information here and there.
A cycle of life and death exists in forests and Six had found the dead trees. Snags, they were called in the industry. They could become extremely brittle, sometimes just leaning on a snag was enough to send it crumbling down on oneself, you had to be careful walking in a forest. The goblins knew this but still did not expect what came next. Six had rigged the snags to fall with a falling cut and used a small sapling to act as a wedge. With a small amount of Plant Growth channeling Six could push the snag over with the sapling’s growth.
He did so and the wet sounds of flesh and vegetation snapping chilled him. The injured moaned and cried for their ruined and crushed bodies. The falling wood had been effective.
After the first impact crushed eight goblins the pursuing party hesitated a bit, they were breathing heavily and Six could see fear in their eyes. He taunted them again, “Come on cowards. Come take my shit if you fucking can you. I curse you fucks.”
Chakret pushed one of the little ones and barked at it. “Go!”
It looked back at Chakret and received a punch to the face for it.
Chakret bellowed at all the little ones. “GO!”
The goblins rushed forward again, spurned by the fear of their leader they united and tried to catch Six but to no avail. Six powered forward and pumped his legs endlessly. They chased him for a long time. Some fell for lack of endurance, some were delayed by snares. Two more deadfall snag traps cleared a significant portion and finally it was just Chakret and his larger than average back up. Six stopped as if he wanted to make a stand here.
He analyzed the other three goblins who managed to keep up. All four were breathing deep, Chakret was trying to hide it but Six could see his chest beat up and down.
Recnar
Goblin
Level 6
Aitbo
Goblin
Level 4
Shugud
Goblin
Level 4
He needed to reduce their numbers advantage as fast as he could, so he wove a Stone Spear and locked his eyes on Chakret. Six completed the casting and Chakret loaded up to dodge but it never came for him; instead it lanced out and took Recnar in the neck. The goblin was lifted off their feet and struggled for an instant before his strength failed him, going limp on the shard.
Chakret roared in frustration and brandished his longsword at Six, taking a step forward and grimacing. Six horked a fat loogie at the goblin and turned, running into the forest. They chased him with fury and abandon. He let fly another Stone Spear and wounded one of the weaker goblins. Six picked his long stride carefully, stepping with intention and specificity, running where he wanted them to run. He stopped when he heard two yelps behind him. Six turned to see a large hole in the ground about a dozen feet deep. It had been concealed by a lattice of ivy that had been weaved by Plant Growth. Indiscernible from the forest floor, Six had created one pillar of stone and made the ivy bloom a flower right above the stone pillar so he could aim his step and leap atop the pillar and past the pitfall. The two minions of Chakret sat at the bottom of the pit, nursing their sprained limbs. Six smiled and looked at the lone Chakret.
“You are alone,” Six murmured.
The goblin hissed in fury and scratched at his face in irritation.
Six had been lucky this trap had not been disturbed by a wild animal or monster.
Chakret looked at Six before slowly walking around the hole, breathing deeply. The big goblin drew a dagger in his offhand to accompany the longsword in his dominant.
“Fuck around and find out,” Six whispered, he wasn’t sure if it was to himself or Chakret.
Chakret moved forward with extreme speed, Six could barely react as the longsword was deflected off the haft of his glaive but he took a gash from the dagger to his exposed upper arm. He could barely feel the pain, just a vague wetness reached his mind.
Six tried to retaliate but Chakret danced away with crude goblin acrobatics, moving with precision and speed but not elegance or grace. Six attempted to strike whenever he managed to gain a moment to but Chakret made Six’s strikes seem slow and ponderous. The only thing keeping Six calm was the glisten of sweat and heavy breathing that Chakret had. Six just had to wear the little shit down.
Chakret must have thought the same thing and rushed in towards Six, delivering a violent exchange of blows that Six barely blocked. He dodged around the thrusting glaive and came within Six’s guard. Chakret limboed under a fending cross-check and came up growling in goblin, “Double Strike.” The goblin hammered his dagger home twice, perforating Six’s gut, and moved back before Six could do anything, a satisfied look and the thing’s face. “You die now weakling.”
You have been afflicted with the condition bleeding2.
You are bleeding, you lose 34 health.
“Fuck bleeding!” Six griped. He had just lost a quarter of his health from the two strikes and was bleeding more away. His ring was a one time use and he shouldn’t use it until Chakret was dead, lest he apply the damage over time effect again. He knew he didn’t have any time to play this safe so Six spun away, crouching over, holding the wound and moaning in terrible pain, acting.
Six was terrible at lying, in general, it was a guilt thing, deceiving people, which made it hard to act. But Six had been a pretty decent theatre kid and he knew social dynamics. When he had no guilt, he could lie with the best of them. Fuck this goblin.
Six wove the gestures with his hand hidden, he spoke the words of power under his breath.
“Plant Growth.”
Six completed the spin to the sight of Chakret closing the distance, weapons aimed at Six’s disabled form. The goblin was not prepared for the ferns and grasses that lunged at his feet, his momentum and movement was just slightly tilted. An imbalance was introduced, something that needed correction, and as Chakret compensated, Six capitalized.
He focused and aimed his glaive’s tip to the center mass of Chakret and lanced it forward with all his might, just as Narhurin had taught him. The goblin tried to dodge but with the tempo disturbed all Chakret could do was minimize the damage. The goblin tried to leap away but had its side pierced by Six’s thrust.
“Gotcha.” Six pushed forward and Chakret hopped backwards trying to compensate for Six’s building momentum. The goblin dropped the dagger and instead held the blade of the glaive, trying to stop the additional damage that was occurring with Six’s violent chugging movements.
Six dropped the glaive and leapt forward, tackling the goblin to the ground and the glaive ripped itself from Chakret’s side. There was no scream as Chakret had lost all his air as Six brought them down, Chakret’s sword clattering away. Six mounted the little goblin as its little arms reached to gouge his eyes so he attempted to restrain the clawing hands and found it incredibly easy except for small bursts of power from the gasping goblin. Chakret was burning through his small amounts of stamina regen, there was nothing left.
Six smiled down at the struggling creature then brought his head down as hard as he could in a violent headbutt. The enchantment activated and deep green energies emanated as the kinetic force of his headbutt was wreathed in an earthen aura.
Chakret shook with the slam and then went limp. Six saw a visible indentation in the goblin’s cracked head but there was no death prompt just a,
You have afflicted Chakret with the condition Stun2.
They have been stunned for 3 seconds.
That was pretty self explanatory, so he released the hands of Chakret and instead grabbed the goblin’s head. Six wasn’t sure on how to properly snap a neck but kinda just forcefully rotated Chakret’s head until he heard a deep crack.
You have killed level 11 Chakret. Experience gained 2531.
Skill Increase:
Stealth - Initiate - 9
Analyze - Initiate - 9
Unarmed - Initiate - 7
Athletics - Initiate - 12
Traps - Initiate - 9
Maneuver learned:
Maneuver: Precise Strike
Rank: Minor
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Range: Melee
Performance Time: 1.5 seconds
Duration: Instant
Stamina Cost: 20
Effect: Increases speed and precision of strike by 50%. Increased chance of hitting vital targets.
Maneuver: Double Strike
Rank: Minor
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Range: Melee
Performance Time: Near Instant
Duration: Instant
Stamina Cost: 35
Effect: Immediately strike again within a greatly reduced frame of performance