Book 2 Ch. 25

“I’m tellin’ ya Bub, this here is the life.” Raz’zat Shinkick, delegate of the Redtoof Tribe said. His arms were behind his head, and his body was floating. Across from him sat Mark, the former representative for the citizens of Sanctuary.

“It is, I’ve missed this.” Mark sighed, joining the Goblin in contentment.

“Earth had hot tubs?” Raz’zat asked, lifting his head slightly.

“Oh yeah. There were retail stores that specialized in pools and hot tubs. Some of the eastern cultures even took it a step further.” Mark replied, his feet kicking at the bubbles massaging his feet.

“A step further? Bub, this is about as luxurious as things get.” The Goblin replied, almost casually insulted.

“Yeah, so get this right. Some eastern cultures, even in modern times, had these giant bath houses. They were public, so customers would go in, pay a fee, and use the baths. But the crazy part of it was the variety they had. Some baths were hot, others were cool, and they’d mix natural aromas in with the steam that promoted relaxation or general health. Some baths contained salt in the water and the air as well. I’m not doing a good job explaining it, but it was a massive part of several cultures.” Mark said casually.

“Salts and aromas huh? If Sanctuary makes one, let me know. My tribe would love to try something new.” Raz’zat replied.

“That’s not a bad idea. Drew is over in Wichita Falls right now, maybe he’ll find some survivors with knowledge about this stuff. A spa owner would be great.” Mark said, staring at the night sky.

Mark was officially released from his duties now, Robert having taken over all of his previous responsibilities. No more bullshit for me! Mark thought to himself. He was happy to hand over the reins, now he was just another member of Sanctuary, and he didn’t have to worry about making decisions that impacted so many people’s lives. Instead, he was relaxing, having been invited to the Redtoof Tribe’s settlement.

Mark had formed a friendship with both Raz’zat and his counterpart Helimar from the Dark Elves. He wouldn’t say they were best friends or anything, but he did enjoy their company. His wife had suggested he spent more time socializing and making friends, she said it was good for him to relax, and he wasn’t going to disagree. Especially when it involved hot tubs.

“Spa?” Raz’zat asked. Many aspects of Earth still eluded Mark’s new friends, not that he could blame them as they hadn’t grown up here.

“Yeah, you pay people to take care of you basically. They cut and trim your finger and toenails, even adding color or polish to them. You can get eyebrow waxing and other waxing done, and massages of course. Ashley loved going to them before The System came crashing down.” Mark explained, reaching over and grabbing his tankard of ale near the edge of the hot tub.

“Oh ho! Now that sounds nice, what a novel idea! It’s such a hassle to keep my nails sharpened the way I like them. ” The Goblin said excitedly, holding a hand above his head and observing his nails. Mark chuckled.

Interrupting the night of relaxation, loud noises sounded in the background, and an explosion could be seen off in the distance as Mark turned his head and saw a large fireball lighting up the night’s sky. He was about to jump out of the tub and investigate when the Goblin spoke.

“It’s probably our engineers or alchemists, nothing to worry about.” Raz’zat explained off-handedly.

“Are you sure? That explosion looks huge.” Mark said, watching the fireball turn into a miniature mushroom shape.

“Oh sure, happens all the time.” The Goblin waved him off.

“Righttt…” Mark replied, uncertain as the night darkened again.

“We’re Goblins, our people are curious, and we’re always tinkering with things. Sometimes that means explosions or fire raining down on our heads, other times it means hot tubs.” Raz’zat explained.

“What do explosions and hot tubs have in common?” Mark asked, curious as to the relationship between the two.

“The bombs of course!” Raz’zat answered as if it was common sense.

“Bombs, what bombs?” Mark asked, a sinking feeling in his chest.

“How do ya think the water is hot, and the bubbles and pressure happen? Small, controlled explosions of course!” Raz’zat chuckled, explaining it like a father would explain something commonplace to his child.

“There are… bombs attached… why not electricity… or mana?!” Mark almost screamed the last part, standing up from the tub and quickly finding his towel to dry off.

“Pshh, where’s the fun in that? What do we look like, Elves?” Raz’zat laughed, seeing Mark’s expression and his leaving of the hot tub.

Bombs… actual bombs in the fucking hot tub!? Mark thought to himself while drying off extremely quickly and getting the hell away from the hot tub. Looking at it more closely, he noticed what looked like two tailpipes, exhaust of some kind spewing black smoke away from the tub at irregular intervals. Fucking Goblins…

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Amber leapt from the tree branch, landing on another twenty feet away, releasing the held charge. The fire arrow created a red line as it flew through the trees before sinking deep into the skull of a Slenderman. The unnatural monster shrieked as the inferno raced from the arrow and spread throughout its body before it burst open, a torrent of flame spiraling upwards like a small tornado.

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“Sad. Nothing left to eat now.” Amber felt the thought as she jumped back down to the forest’s floor, her companion already sitting where she landed. Freya sat, looking up at Amber with her big sad brown eyes, her ears held back. Amber looked at her companion as she sat pouting.

“I just fed you, you don’t need anymore food.” Amber sent back.

“But I’m hungry.”

“No you’re not. You’ve never been hungry, not even once. You get two large meals a day, it’s not even physically possible for you to be hungry right now, as I just fed you twenty minutes ago.”

“Not enough food.” The German Shepherd whimpered slightly.

“You can’t eat all the time, otherwise you’ll get fat.”

“What’s fat?”

“That’s what happens when you eat too much. You get big and round, clothes stop fitting, and you lose energy. Remember how Drew was before The System?”

“Fat sounds great, let’s get fat!” The dog’s tail whipped back and forth at high speed, as she danced around in circles.

“No, we’re not getting fat. If you’re good you might get a treat later. Maybe. Now come on, we need to continue.”

Amber launched herself into the air, landing on another branch before speeding forward. Freya ran behind her on the ground below. They were hunting, clearing out the monsters near the forested areas of Wichita Falls. It was a large job, but they would get it done. Others looked for survivors, or raised defenses for the rescued people, but Amber and Freya’s job was to clear out the bad shit before it had a chance to get to them in the first place.

“Bird!” Freya called out. Jumping and catching a five-foot long owl mid-flight. Her jaws tearing it apart before she even hit the ground.

“Good job.” Amber sent back.

“Phew, gross.” The dog spit out a chunk of the oversized beast and dropped it on the ground before bolting forward to catch up to Amber.

“Were you trying to sneak food?” Amber asked.

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Maybe.”

“I’ve told you before that owls don’t taste like chicken. Come on, we have a job to do.” Amber scolded Freya as they continued on.

“Dad would have given me more food…” The dog pouted as she ran through the heavy brush.

“That’s because your dad is a sucker and spoils you. I know how to say no. Now, focus.” Amber said, looking back towards the Shepherd.

She really is just like a child, even after all this time. Amber thought to herself as she chuckled lightly.

The duo continued on for several hours, killing monsters and beasts that stalked the nearby wilds. There was a good chance Drew and the allies wouldn’t find everyone still alive, so they were clearing out the area. Part of it was to help the people defending the refugees, the other part was making the area somewhat safer for the people that they couldn’t find, or chose to remain.

Why anyone would choose to remain was beyond her. Sanctuary was safe, much safer than anywhere else she knew of. Drew wouldn’t force people though, he was adamant about that, even if it would be for their own good. Her husband believed in allowing other people to make their own choices, even if those choices were idiotic and held dire consequences. Amber shook her head, brushing away such thoughts.

“Thing!” Freya called, alerting Amber.

“Thing? What thing?” Amber asked as she stopped jumping between trees. Amber looked around, trying to sense any movement within the dark.

“There! Smells weird. It moves.” Freya said, using her body to point towards a small grouping of trees. Amber looked from the dog to where Freya was pointing but couldn’t see anything out of place. Her [Darkvision] gave her extremely high visibility, even in the pitch black of a moonless night. She had a ton of points into perception as well, but still didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

The three trees were small, barely fourteen feet high, and thin. Nothing moved within the branches, and nothing was near the ground. The bark looked normal as well. Amber closed her eyes, focusing on her other senses. She couldn’t hear anything coming from the grouping of trees, not even insects. Wait… why are there no insects by those trees? Grasshoppers or junebugs should be out at least. She focused on her hearing further but still couldn’t pick anything up, but she trusted Freya’s senses, especially her smell. The dog had saved her from injuries and ambushes many times.

“I’m not seeing or hearing anything. You said it smells?” Amber asked, trying to listen in closer.

“Yes. Smells weird. Sour, gross. No sound either. No crunchies nearby.” Freya replied. Crunchies being the bugs and the distinct sound they made as the dog ate them.

There! Amber noticed a very, very light smell as a small breeze blew past her. If she hadn’t been focusing so hard on her senses, she’d never have picked up on it. What is that? It’s almost like smelling an open sewer… As quickly as the scent came, it was gone as the breeze stopped.

“You smell too?” Freya asked.

“Yeah. Don’t move, let me try something.” Amber sent back, before pulling out a small piece of raw meat from her inventory.

“Treat!” Freya said excitedly.

“No. Not a treat. Just stay put and watch for anything weird.” Amber sent back to Freya before throwing the tiny chunk of meat towards the trees. The morsel of meat bounced off the tree and before it hit the ground it was just… gone. Nothing had moved, no sound other than the meat rebounding off the tree… Where did it go?

“Treat gone?”

“It wasn’t a treat, and yes it’s gone. Something weird is going on. I’m going to send out a flare.”

“...waste of a treat…” The Shepherd grumbled mentally.

Amber sent out her [Flare], it was an ability that lit up a fifteen foot area and revealed any hidden, or stealthed enemies. Normally an unnecessary ability given her high perception and Freya’s even greater senses, and it wasn’t a skill that had seen a lot of recent use. Still, it had been a fantastic spell early on in the training dungeon, even if she didn’t get much use from it now.

The magical light launched from Amber’s bow, the flare arcing slowly in the air before tumbling to the ground near the trees. Bingo! What the hell …are you? Amber thought as she inspected it.

[Young Slosth - lvl 76]

The shadow of the trees went wild as the flare lit up the area, there was no hidden creature, otherwise the skill would have illuminated it. The shadow formed points or spikes, but it remained two-dimensional, stuck to the ground as the spiky protrusions rotated slightly. Amber pulled back on her drawstring, a fire arrow sparking into existence, just as she launched it towards the shadow.

She shot above the movement, thinking there was an invisible creature despite her skill, and as the arrow pierced the tree, flames burst through the bark, the shadow went crazy. Whatever it is, it doesn’t like bright lights. Amber thought before shooting another projectile, this time directly at the shadow. An audible Thump sounded as the arrow sank into the shadow, and a black mass erupted from two dimensions and came into three. A dark blob that looked a bit like a sea urchin popped out, the spikes rotating wildly as its shape reformed. A strange set of jaws formed, like the claw of a crab or lobster, and long thin limbs came soon after, each ending with four sharp digits.

The fire arrow burned the creature’s insides, cracks of light pushing against its skin. Amber released another arrow now that she had a clear target, and it sank into the shadow’s head. The clawed hands spasmed and the jaw opened wide in a soundless cry. The pressure of the flames were too much, and like a balloon, the creature popped, flames escaping outwards as the monster was vanquished. The fuck was that?

“Gone now.” Freya said, sniffing the air around her.

“Good. We need to meet up and tell Robert. I don’t remember seeing or hearing of anything like that before.”

“Yes. Tell friends.”

“That thing was way too stealthy and strange.” Amber added, almost as a second thought.

“Felt wrong.” The Shepherd said.

“Wrong?” Amber asked, wondering why it felt like that to Freya.

“Yes. Wrong.” The dog said, looking towards Amber as if her words explained everything.