They decided to head to the suspected location of the goblin village first, the search area being a mile wide of uninhabited forest. This is where Roge excelled, being able to search through the bushes and trees up to ten yards away from the party, finding that his natural Magic regeneration outpaced the cost of the Skill. Looking back at his other Skills, he also found out that his Nature Walk Skill showed the same cost, so he tried using both to cover a wider area. It used a little more than he could gain back, but he didn’t mind the cost as after an hour of searching one tiny part, he could now search almost the entire area in that same time.
He’d been given a paired compass to travel around with, the party members having the other compass which both pointed at the other. That way he could head out as far as he wanted and still find his way back to his team. He soon found the goblin village, having been alerted to it before he could run right in. It felt like a giant hole in his senses, and he soon fund out why when he’d put his eyes on it. No plant survived being around the small creatures, Roge even seeing one giggling as it lit one on fire.
The village itself had only a few dozen goblins by his count and was mostly sparse. The only things of note were the fire pit, a large pile of manure (Ew…), and a spot where they’d tied up what looked like wolf mounts. The rest of the space was just dirt and ash, the goblins frolicking through all of it as they giggled to each other. He even saw one making an ash angel.
Having seen enough after one goblin threw part of the manure pile at another, he dug a small hole next to the tree he was hiding behind, stowing the paired compass in it before Walking back where it pointed. It took him a little while to find his team, but he’d eventually shouted to get their attention before appearing before their makeshift campsite.
“Paired compass is buried at the village,” he grunted, accepting a bowl of stew that Hops had made while Roge was out.
“Good. Means we don’t have to find them all over again,” Sean replied, obviously falling into the leader role right before Marge started snorting at Roge’s expression.
“Saw how disgusting those things are I see?” she giggled, Sean giving her a sour expression. Roge responded by giving a middle finger, the deerkin rolling over laughing.
“If I can finish our planning of attack…”
“Don’t bother,” Hops interjected, Sean turning his glare to the other teammate. “Finding them was always the hard part. I’ll Ice Rain the entire village and you’ll only need to pick up the stragglers.” Roge nodded at that, liking that every disgusting detail would be frozen so he didn’t have to smell it.
“Fine fine,” the party leader grumbled, sending Marge into another laughing fit at his pouting face. “Not going to be very good experience for Roge, but I guess he can join me on finishing off whatever is left.”
“There were also some wolf mounts,” Roge muttered, taking another big spoonful of the stew into his maw. “Tied up though so shouldn’t be too hard.” The other three froze at that, giving concerned looks that instantly put Roge on edge. “What’s wrong?”
“Might be a bit tougher then. Wolf mounts means elite goblins, which are a bit harder and only recommended for Silver teams to hunt down.” Hops tapped his wooden bowl thoughtfully after dropping that fact, looking off into the distance. “May need to use Blizzard, which would leave me low on Magic for the rest of our run.”
“We’ll have to play that part by ear, but that means you’ll have to stay back Roge,” Sean ordered, getting up off the log and stretching. “No reason for you to get seriously hurt by those things.”
“I can also get some of the weaker guys that survive at least,” he counterpointed, getting the tigerkin’s grudging nod of approval. After finishing off the rest of the food, they all headed out to where the paired compass pointed, mostly keeping quiet as to not alert the goblins of their whereabouts. It let Roge get used to his new senses some more, even leading to a notification popping up halfway there.
Nature Senses Skill increased in Rank! → Rank 2
He could actually feel the Skill level up since he was using it, it reaching out another yard and more efficiently using his Magic. It also meant that his Leaf Armor no longer dipped away at his pool, both Skills roughly equaling his regeneration.
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Once they got near the village they could hear the sounds of the goblins, Roge shivering at some of the more squelchy sounds. Beside Roge, the others stood out a little more, so Hops put a neutral green cloak on to hide himself and followed the dragonkin to the location of the compass. After counting them all out while he unburied it, Hops nodded and they soon regrouped with the other.
“Thirty goblins at my count. Two showed up as elite, so it’s not going to be as hard as I thought. Should be okay with Ice Rain to conserve my Magic and Sean going in to finish the elites off.” The others nodded at his statement, Sean still frowning at Roge as they all crept up on the village.
Roge and Hops appeared first, the elf having asked to be Walked to a different spot after casting so as to not become a target. The dragonkin then got his first very up close look at Spellwork, the elf pulling up the book from his waist and flipping to a bookmarked page. Even with a near whisper, some of the goblins looked in their direction as Hops started his incantation, Roge holding in his laughter as he noticed some familiar Latin words. Because of course it’s Latin, he thought, Hops finishing his words as a shout rose up from the goblins who’d noticed them.
The whole village then was obscured by a downpour of water, Roge shocked into momentary stillness at the amount and the cold air gust coming from the area. Snapped out of it by Hops grabbing his shoulder, the dragonkin Walked them along the edge a few steps, feeling his Skill getting a boost as he did so.
Nature Walk Skill increased in Rank! → Rank 2
He’d expected that one to be next, having used that particular Skill a lot over the past few hours. The Rain soon stopped, revealing any frozen goblins as well as a group near the wolves who looked frostbitten, but alive. Apparently they had dove towards the canines during the initial downpour, leading the larger bodies with fur to protect them from the Ice and Rain. The wolves did not look as lucky however, their bodies frozen solid like the other goblins. Inspecting the ones who were left gave Roge only the names, the two elites having survived as well as four of the regular goblins.
While the goblins were looking around at the carnage, Sean used one of his Skills to blur into one of the elites, nearly cleaving it in half as the other goblins shouted in alarm. Looks like it’s my turn, Roge thought, Walking a bit away from Hops and lashing out with his vines at two of the regular creatures.
What he did not expect was for his sneak attack to cleave both of them in half, both of the elites snarling even as they were pummeled by the tigerkin. One of the two remaining regular goblins even got a throwing knife off while Roge was stunned at the damage, his reflexes and Dodge helping him to Walk away to avoid it. Another surprise as his Familiar blasted out some of it’s Magic, hitting both of them square in the chest and wrapping them in constricting plant life. Roge’s eyes flashed at that as he tried to Walk to the Magically created plants, finding himself right next to the two goblins before knocking them both out with one punch each.
The plants very quickly shriveled and died as the Magic vented out of them, Roge looking over to see the last elite fall to Sean’s sword.
Unarmed Blow Skill increased in Rank! → Rank 2
Dodge Skill increased in Rank! → Rank 2
“That was… whoa,” Roge muttered, looking around at the carnage with his eyes soon landing on the two goblins who’d been bisected by his vines. “Guess Unarmed Blow applies to the vines… that’s good to know.”
“Good job,” Sean huffed out, cleaning his sword and sheathing it with a conflicted expression.
“He did a great job!” Hops called out, him and Marge walking towards the other two. “I don’t think I’d have the reflexes to capitalize on Walking to plants Courage made.”
The little dragon chirped and preened at the attention, Marge coming in with a chuckle. “Plus it’s awesome that those vines have a combat use other than moving around. Only need to heal minor injuries out of that whole fight. Very well done.” Roge felt himself blush as she patted Sean on the shoulder, the tigerkin perking up as a golden, healing glow surrounded his body.
“Fine fine. He did really well for his first combat encounter,” Sean grumbled, everyone else chuckling at his expression. “We’ll take a rest away from here and continue on then to find the herbs.” He then stalked off, Roge’s chuckling dying as he pondered on Sean’s attitude.