Looking at the new goblins it was clear they were not warriors. Or I guess that’s not true, they might be off duty and trying to enjoy their free time by gathering up a snack. I don’t really know I’m not an expert on goblin tribal dynamics. However, if I want to survive this world, I have no doubt I am going to have to try and study them later. While it might be true that the only good goblin is a dead one, I can’t go around making those kinds of assumptions until I know more. Also if that is a true statement then it will be best if I study up on them so that when I face them and continue to survive.
Looking at them, they were all armed, but they were the shoddy wooden spears that most of the fodder goblins carried in the previous attacks. None of the three approaching me carried the backups that the previous attackers had brought to use after they launched the first round. As they wandered from tree to tree, picking at the ground, the front two finally moved away enough for me to finally see that the rear one was carrying a bag. No doubt this was to facilitate this to make collecting easier, but this was the first time that I got any indication that they used other than small pouches that held cores.
Speaking of the bag, judging by the way they ran to a group of flowers and started gibbering they evidently had found something useful. Watching them hop around like excited little green gorillas, was so very like a game I had spent way too much time on before children had made my priorities change. My mind had to wonder if there was some kind of connection. Seeing them picking only half of the flowers for the bag and leaving the rest caused more confusion to start forming in my brain. Those weren’t the actions of a ravenous horde that most literature agreed goblins were a part of, and while the bite marks on my arm and leg would have had me agreeing with the books, this behavior had me questioning it a little.
As they continued to move towards me, I thought about letting them go, but the bear back at camp had definitely taken a turn for the worse last night. His having to get up to save me from the transformed goblin couldn’t have made things better. So like any good panderer, I made a choice. It was us or them and I was choosing us. For all I knew, after I dragged them back to camp when I waved the troll core in front of their eyes, they might actually try to thank me for my generosity.
I mean, right up until I drove the spear into their throats, but the point is they would no doubt thank me for my offering. Also as they no doubt would try and kill me in turn, so my conscious would be clear. Or, at the very least my sleep would be so troubled by my missing children that I doubt I would have any additional trouble from what I was about to do.
As they wandered by my tree, I let them pass untroubled as the angel on my right chose that moment to voice his indignant righteousness that attacking them was wrong.
Letting them get an additional five feet away from my hiding spot, I slowly stood up so as not to make any noise that might startle them. Resisting the urge to stretch my back, as this would no doubt crack horribly and waste the opportunity I had let happen. Charging out of the branches I shut the yammering bird on my shoulder up, as I got down to business.
Leaving the goblin carrying the sack alone for the moment, I charged at the right one first, my spear pointed straight at his center of mass. Before he could even fully register my presence, I drove it fully into its back. As he went sprawling, I used the moment of the butt of the spear knocking him over, to rebound and spin around. Sweeping the polearm around to swipe the other two off their feet.
With the first one out of the fight with the wind knocked out of him, the other two were slow to get up as well. Not wanting to give them any kind of sporting chance, I walked over to the one without the bag and struck him in the back of the head with the rim of my shield.
As the goblin that had been carrying the sack, whose contents were now sprawled onto the ground, tried to scramble to his feet, I charged at him. Taking the last step of my charge at a low scoot, I shouldered my shield into his head, sending him sprawling unconscious.
Taking a second to catch my breath from the sudden exertion, I did my best to listen for any sign that my actions had been noticed by anything else that might be out of sight in the woods. Not hearing a hue and cry raised in the distance, I set my spear and shield down, and quickly got to work securing the green buggers. Pulling out lengths of scrap rope, I quickly bound all of their hands behind their backs. Being careful to make sure their claws wouldn’t be able to reach the rope.
Looking at the sack the second goblin had dropped, I saw that in falling on it it had completely torn out the bottom. Poking it with my spear and lifting it closer to me, I started to smell the horrid odor of the goblins that seemed to infuse everything they touched I dropped it to the ground, unwilling to claim it as a prize. Looking at the flowers scattered, there seemed to be several varieties that they had gathered. Picking up two or three of each one, I cursed again at my lack of ability to carry things. I thought again if I wanted to try and salvage the goblin scrap, but in the end just settled for putting the nine flowers into one of my cargo pockets. One flower looked to be solo, so with the assumed rarity to it, I could only hope it had some kind of value and hadn’t just been picked for its vibrant colors.
I thought about how I was going to get them back to my camp. With these being the smaller variety, I figured I would probably be okay to carry them, but the problem would be if they woke up while I had them slung on my shoulders. I would just be delivering them a mouthful. Sure it would be easy to kill them afterwards, but if I wanted to kill them I could just do it now… Dead I couldn’t drain that vicious yellow Qi into their own cores to hopefully make the trolls safer to use.
Dropping the shield, I was prepared to abandon it when a sudden thought hit me, not sure if it was brilliant or stupid, I wouldn’t be able to be sure until I made it back to camp. Stringing the three goblins’ arms through the spear handle, I let them slide down until they hit the boar brace. Pushing my shield’s handle through after them, I then tried to pick the whole contraption up. Heavy and awkward, the solidness of the construction of this fine weapon, meant the pole managed to hold up to the weight of the three monsters.
Slinging the whole thing onto my shoulder, I shuddered as I felt the three come sliding down into me. Fortunately, the shield stopped them before they got into teeth or toe claw range. But as the wooden rim slammed into my neck, I realized I probably could have done that better. Oh well, I would still score it a win in the books.
Turning around I started marching to camp, one slow step at a time, praying all the while that nothing would see me. Not because I looked ridiculous, but because with my main weapon and defense taken up like this, I would likely soon find my position reversed with these unfortunate fellows.
Exiting the woods with no incidents I started making my way across the grasslands in the direction of my camp. Looking at the hill in front of me, I realized that trying to climb it with these monsters on my back was going to be a pain in the A. After reaching the hill and beginning the climb it was of course at that moment that one of the buggers woke up and started kicking and screaming which soon woke up his friends and started a chain reaction.
Scooting out from under the pole I let it drop to the ground and watched all three of them suddenly collapse as they were caught unaware. Picking the spear back up, I braced the end under my left arm as they scrambled to their feet to try and get loose. I Gave it a quick shake and held my end high enough that their only hope was jumping up to get over the crosspiece of the spear.
With the shield still lengthwise along the back end of the spear I wasn’t worried about them charging to get me. Drawing my Bowie blade in a cross draw I started waving at them doing my best to get the point across that they had best be following orders. Looking at the blade as long as their arms, they quieted down. Swinging the spear gently I indicated they should start leading the way.
Carrying their end of the spear above their heads they started marching in front of me, heading in whatever direction I pointed my spear. Now that they were awake and helping I decided that it might not be the best idea to leave a scent trail heading straight back to my camp. So changing directions slightly I headed back to see the rabbits again.
Walking slowly, while trying to corral the difficult creatures that seemed to want to constantly be heading in different directions like they were part of a comedy sketch, was just as hard as it sounds. But it required very little in the way of brain power, so as we continued our way over there, I thought about it for a second, did I really want to do this?
On the one hand, if the goblin horde did pick up my trail, hopefully, they would either think that these three got hungry for a snack and went to find some rabbits and just weren’t good enough. Maybe even abandoning the three forever. Or they might pick up might scent too and think I was working with the rabbits or sheltering there instead.
Conversely, they could just be familiar enough with the shrieking horrors that they know these three noobs wouldn’t try for it. I could very well just be wasting the time that I might need in the future to get the bear healed, pack up camp, and make our escape. I often wonder what it must be like for people to just make a decision and be okay with it, never second guessing themselves. It had to be the most boringly wonderful existence. Just make a decision and go with it, no second thoughts or time spent coming up with equally plausible scenarios. How much extra bandwidth do they have to have free to just look and wonder at the world?
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Giving the spear a hard shake to prevent an attempt to either take it over or just the three idiots doing their own thing unable to coordinate to literally save their own lives, I would probably never know. As we started approaching the hardwoods in the distance, I tried examining my captives for any indication that they might give off that they had any clue what was up ahead.
With my basically following the same path that I had come from this morning, I knew that the brambles with the brilliantly named purpleberries that were at some stage of their existence. Frowning in my mind I wished for a wiki or a farmer’s almanac, resisting the urge to kick the supposedly illiterate savages that hadn’t had any books in their possession that I could use to understand this world better. As much as I love a good puzzle, when starvation is on the line not to mention my lovely skin. I am perfectly okay with flipping to the back for the answers.
As we approached close enough to see the glow of the berries that were shining brightly enough to illuminate the shadows of the briar patch despite it being in the early afternoon. I looked to the three captives for any indication that this had any value.
Not seeing any rabbits in the brambles, I doubted that they had been scared off by our approach. With their willingness to assemble hundreds to drive me off earlier, I doubted they would be afraid now that I had brought along my three little captives. So I assumed they were sleeping or there had been a call to action at another part of their woods. Approaching the brambles, the three little buggers started going ballistic. Driving forward on the spear, trying to reach the purple glowing fruits.
Glad that I had an answer to one of my questions, I just now had to figure out if what was good for the goblin was good for the human. Repeating my mantra in my mind that there was no such thing as useless information, only information one doesn’t have a use for yet. I sighed and gripped the spear even tighter, as yet another tug almost got it free from my hands. Swinging it to the side violently enough that I almost took them off their feet, I left off gathering a sample as I still didn’t know if the berry would splatter its juices when picked. I wasn’t willing to resist a reaction at the moment when I had more important tests to run.
Resolving to never forget my neoprene diving gloves in the future, even if they were too hot to wear every second of the day. They would certainly be useful in situations like this where I wanted to protect my pours until I could be sure that I was only getting what I wanted on my skin in a safer setting.
Swinging the spear again, I shook the goblins to get them in line and started marching them back to my camp, hoping that I wouldn’t find a horde of goblins waiting for me there.
Walking up to the camp, I saw Gaian still lying on his side panting. With the coolness of the mountain air, I didn’t think it was because the rug was overheating. Flipping the spear up and driving the blade into the softer ground as deep as I could, my movement knocked all three of the goblins off their feet, and with the height of the pole, they had no easy way to free themselves. Dropping the shield to the ground now that I didn’t need it any longer. I drew my ax.
While the little rats were scratching at the dirt with their bound hands, trying to dig up the blade to free themselves, took three swift swings and watched them collapse. Looking at their chests continue to move up and down I was happy that I hadn’t managed to break their skulls and kill them as I had a feeling that if they were dead I wouldn’t be able to drain the troll Qi into them.
Heading over my bag, anxious to get this over with both before the bear got any worse or before the captives woke up again and I had to test their skulls’ hardness with the dull end of my ax a second time. Grabbing my tongs as I got to my tent I went to the open pocket and pulled out the glowing rock. Picking up one of the clubs I had plundered earlier headed over to the three unconscious prisoners. Touching the core to the head of the first one I saw that once again the glowing piece of excrement didn’t react. I had hoped that with the captive being asleep at the moment, whatever internal barriers might be keeping out the cores Qi might be relaxed and I wouldn’t have to get near the mouths of the filthy things.
Pondering if I wanted to restrain the little bugger better, but in the end, I just didn’t want to waste the time. Also, it hadn’t done much good the last time. So for now, I just figure as soon as a third of the remaining light in the contaminated core was gone, I would just strike and end the little bugger before it could get me first.
I took a second, to again consider if I wanted to do this. Was this the first step on the path of turning into a being that would horrify my children if I ever met them again? Killing a sentient captive is a pretty big no-no no matter where you were back in the old world and I had no doubt if there were races of light on this world, this step next step of mine would be something at the very least, they would profess to be horrified over.
As I was waffling again in my mind one of the buggers helpfully woke up and lunged for my foot, only to be brought up short by his hands still being bound to the spear. I took the action as a cue that he wanted to volunteer first. I held the rock out to the lunging beast, leaving it just out of its reach. In its frenzy to get the object of its newest obsession, it started running its feet through the dirt doing anything it could to get loose. Moving it to within inches of the farthest extreme it had reached its head too, the goblin helpfully extended its long purple tongue to get the slightest taste of the little rock.
Touching it to the tip of the forked tongue, I watched as the slimy thing stuck to the rock like a magnet, and finally started draining off some of the energy. Again I was amazed to see that only the yellow Qi was drawn off and the vibrancy of the green never faded in the slightest.
Watching both the glowing rock and my captive at the same time. I saw the yellow continue to dim, but didn’t see any corresponding increase in attribute display for my captive. Confused as my last one had attacked me instantly, this one continued to just try and scamper with his legs seeming to blur as he tried to pull his hands free of the spear.
Not taking a chance that he was breaking free I swung the club at full power, and with his tongue glued to the core. He didn’t react at all as the stone that was fused to the clubhead shattered his temple.
When the monster collapsed to the ground a tiny bit of kill energy streamed up off of the tiny creature and split into four streams, while the slightly larger stream headed to me, and the other three split up for the other living beings. With such a tiny amount heading for my core, part of me disdained dropping into a breathing pattern, but I quickly kicked that idiot in the head and brought up the defenses I had learned to stop myself from being infected by the anger.
While I continued my breathing soft breathing pattern, I quickly got onto infecting the next goblin. With as little energy that had come off of the first one, I didn’t want to try and steal anything from the funnel that I knew would soon be incoming. I didn’t want to find out what would happen if it formed only to bring back nothing. That kind of error might be something that got kicked up to a higher power that wasn’t automated, and until I knew more about what that might be, I was fine staying off its radar.
As the yellow Qi drained into the second one, it too started lunging for the outheld core. Pulling it back quickly, I broke the connection. Waiting until the goblin was fully extended, I repeated the process of the first one. Touching it to its tongue, anxious to get this process over, before the final one woke up and started trying for his share. Keeping one eye on the goblin’s hands, I also tried watching the rest of the body, with no clue what power might be enhanced with this guy. So far it seemed that the first goblin had grown claws it could shoot out while the second one had gained the beginnings of super speed.
I was so busy watching the body, I almost missed it as the little bugger’s tongue extended to wrap around the troll core and start to snatch it into its mouth. Quickly swinging my club I again shattered this one’s head. Again a tiny amount of the kill energy pooled up, and once again I didn’t wait for it to get to me, I just maintained my breathing and started in on the third goblin.
When this one woke up and started lunging for me, I was quick to pull back the core after the embarrassment of almost losing it last time to the strange ability to increase tongue size. Part of my mind wondered if that was why it got the easier duty of flower picking.
Ready for anything after the surprise of the last one, I watched as all of the yellow Qi drained into the last monster. When it stopped without any visual indication of a change in my captive I was confused. The goblin was still scrambling for the outheld core. But no more energy seemed to be pouring into my prisoner. Apparently, the goblins wanted the troll core for a different purpose than the yellow energy. Part of me wondered if they had even wanted the evil Qi, or if they just accepted it as the price to pay to gain the troll’s power. Wishing for the first time ever in my life that I spoke goblin so that I could vigorously question the little monster and get some actual answers to the countless questions that I had generated in the short time I was here.
Not wanting to be surprised by what power this last one might have increased, and refusing to let him go so that he could bring a party of his friends back to visit. I swung the club for a third time to put the final goblin out of its misery. Watching it collapse to the ground, I went over to the spear, all the while wondering what power it might have had and if there had just been too little of the yellow Qi to enhance it. Pulling the spear from the ground, I held the troll core up to the light of the planet above. Looking into its center to see that it was finally free of the yellow influence that had infected it.
While I was examining the whirls of greens growing out of the center before contracting, I couldn’t help but think about the other green cores I had examined so far, it had a similar look to the other one, but even going by memory I could tell the growing lines of this was some much more complicated and intricate.
Nearly dropping the core in surprise, I heard the goblin whose skull I had crushed roll over and try to get up. With a start, I realized in my anxiousness to examine the now clean core that I had never felt the kill energy come up off the little bastard. Cursing under my breath I looked down to see its skull slowly reforming before my eyes. Unwilling to look at the silver lining right now, I dropped the core into my pocket, while I let the tweezers fall to the ground. Swinging the club again into its head I again watched it fall. When no kill energy again appeared, I snatched up the spear, cursing at my luck.
At least time the bad came with a possible solution to my dilemma. I’m always happy to look for the silver lining… after I stomped this cockroach out.