The shrieking grew louder. Max peered into the darkness, into nothing but shadows, yet all around came the noise. And then, all of a sudden, the shadows of the forest came alive with movement. Small figures rushing out of the dark. Max caught a glint of campfire light on a dark blade, and then he saw up close the face of a dark goblin.
Dark-green skin with huge dark eyes. Long black pupils like dark slits across the eye. Thin lips curled back over jagged teeth like a row of pins. A small flat nose that was little more than nostril slits. The ears were long and pointed upwards. The goblins were bald. They all wore sleeveless tunics, tight pants to their knees and soft boots. Max saw the blade in its hand. No longer than a dagger, but the goblin was so short, it was the length of its arm. The weapon was black with a sharp point and a jagged blade.
>
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> Name: Dark Goblin
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> Status: Attacking
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> Attack: Rough Dagger
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> Threat level: Cruel
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>
A goblin snarled and hissed, spitting out globs of thick green mucus from nostrils and mouth as it rushed at Max.
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> Dark Goblin attacks Max.
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Max held up his sword and stood his ground. He made ready to receive the attacker. He stood balanced lightly on his feet, sword held ready. The dark goblin slashed with its nasty little blade, aiming for Max’s gut.
>
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> Max takes minor damage.
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>
The blade found its target on Max’s waistband just below the padded leather tunic. His Pendent of Defense absorbed half the damage. The dark goblin rushed past and was out of range before Max could turn and make an attack of his own. A moment later, a second dark goblin came rushing at him from the side.
>
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> Dark Goblin attacks Max.
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> Max takes minor damage.
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The beast slashed at Max as it rushed past, cutting the flesh on his sword arm. The blade was blunt but rough and jagged enough to tear his skin. Max lashed out at the goblin’s back as it rushed past.
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> Max attacks Dark Goblin.
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>
But the goblin was out of range, and Max’s sword slashed only clean air.
Jahrod was swinging his axe wildly as goblins rushed in through the camp on all sides, all of them slashing with their jagged blades as they came. Jahrod scored a lucky hit and sent two of the goblins flying, defeating both attackers in a single stroke.
Anita and Elderon were standing back to back, staff and spear defending against the rush of the small beasts.
Captain Fineblade was calling out battle orders to his company. They formed a circular defensive formation to repel the sudden rushing onslaught of the dark goblin horde. Max stood with his party in the center as the elves formed a circle around them.
“I don’t want to stand behind a wall of elves,” Jahrod said tersely. “Let me at them.” He started towards the elven line.
“Wait, Jahrod,” Max said. Jahrod stopped in his tracks and turned a dark gaze onto Max. “We need a plan. The elves are in formation. We don’t want to disrupt their lines. Let them do their job, and we will do ours.”
“And what do you propose?” Jahrod said, eager to get into the fray.
The sounds of elven longswords and goblin daggers rang out. The elves were superior in all ways except for numbers. Max could not be sure, but there were easily close to a hundred goblins out there.
Max walked to Captain Fineblade, who was marching behind his elves, urging them to confidence and bravery. It seemed to Max that the elves needed no encouragement. Their swords twirling and flashing in the dark, beating back the dark goblins that came rushing at the lines undeterred.
“How bad is it, Darius?” Max said.
Fineblade paused, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “We can hold them off for as long as we must. But our defensive formation will make it difficult to move with speed.”
Max saw the leaping goblin at the same time as Fineblade. The goblin was leaping high, attempting to jump clear over the line of elves and break into their defensive formation. Max drew back his sword, ready to strike, but an elf in the line beat the leaping goblin back with a swift stroke of his longsword.
“I have never seen so many goblins in Awen. Their numbers have encouraged them to become bold. They are usually such skulking creatures. I have never seen them attack in this manner. They more typically sneak and stab, then steal what they can before fleeing. This behavior is unusual. ”
“There must be a leader,” Max said. “No doubt a leader with the power of a dark shard. If we can find the leader, we can defeat this goblin horde.”
“Where is the leader?” Fineblade said. “Do you think he can be nearby?”
Max closed his eyes and relaxed. If there was a leader nearby, one with the power of a dark shard, then Max would feel the shard tugging at his chest. He felt with his heart for the power of the shard.
Nothing. No dark power nearby. He opened his eyes. Fineblade was looking at him expectantly. Max disappointed him with a brief shake of the head.
“He is not close, but I have seen him, and he has seen me. I felt him in my dream. The dark army will be camped in the harbor town of Eastcrossing.”
Jahrod pointed with his axe. “Eastcrossing is not far, about a two-hour run. If we can make it through these goblins, we can get there swiftly.”
“We must get there,” Max said. “More ships are coming with more dark goblins, more dark creatures. I suspect this horde is just an advanced party, shock troops to clear the lands around their place of disembarkation. Their beachhead. If we delay, we will lose the moment.”
“We can fight our way there,” Fineblade said, “but we will not get there in two hours. Perhaps by morning . . .”
“Can you hold them, Captain?” Max said.
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“I can,” Fineblade said with a confident nod.
“Then let us go alone,” Max said. He looked to his party to gauge their support. It was clear from the determination etched on their faces that they were fully behind Max. “We can move fast and silent as a smaller party,” Max said, firstly to his party and then turning his attention back to Fineblade. “If and when you defeat this pack of goblins, you can come and lend us support at Eastcrossing Harbor.”
“It is a bold plan,” Fineblade said, “and I will support it, but how will you get away?”
“Just make ready to open your lines when I give the signal,” Max said. He turned to his party. “We need a passageway heading directly to Eastcrossing. Lay down your spells on either side of our path and stay close to me.”
Elderon and Anita nodded. Jahrod folded his arms and waited.
>
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> Max casts Web.
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>
The Web spell erupted away to Max’s left. At the same time, Anita cast Root Tangle on their right. The spells trapped the goblins on either side. Elderon called out in a voice, not loud but commanding.
“Open the circle.”
Fineblade sang an order, and the elves parted, showing the path between the Web and Root Tangle spells. Goblins rushed forward to the gap in the elven lines. Elderon began casting, and he shot a long lance of flame along the path between Web and Root Tangle. The flames scorched the ground and singed many goblins, defeating others.
“Go, now!” Elderon said.
Max ran forward, Jahrod at his side, Anita and Elderon close behind. The elves closed their lines behind them.
A goblin appeared in front of Max, but before Max could react to the threat, an elven arrow sailed close past his ear and thudded into the dark goblin, defeating it with a single blow.
The Web-and-Root Tangle on either side of the path held dozens of goblins. Those in the web were utterly immobile, but those in the Root Tangle were still active, although rooted to the spot. Many drew shortbows and took aim at Max and the party.
Max saw the danger. He grabbed hold of Jahrod and Anita. “Hold on,” he said. Elderon gripped Max’s shoulder.
>
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> Max activates Dark Movement.
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>
The darkness flooded in on all sides at terrifying speed, Max saw his destination, a point two hundred yards ahead. It rushed towards him and fell away at the same time, creating a dizzying effect. He strained with the effort of pulling his friends with him. Max concentrated on dragging his friends to the exit point, but a nagging doubt at the back of his mind was that it had been a bad idea to bring his party into the Dark Movement with him. The extra weight, or mass, or something, was destabilizing the temporary portal he’d created.
The darkness pressed in and left Max in total silence. His friends’s faces frozen in time as he pulled them with him. At last and with a huge final effort, Max came to the end of the Dark Movement. He stepped out of the end point. The darkness fell away, giving a sensation of falling, but his feet were firmly on the forest road. And then he heard the cries of his companions, Anita shrieking, Jahrod wailing, Elderon shouting in torment.
“What was that?” Anita said, her voice quivering. “A nightmare. What happened?”
Jahrod vomited.
Elderon laid a hand on Max’s shoulder. “Don’t ever do that again,” he said, his voice quivering as much as his hand.
Max felt guilty for inflicting such a shock on his friends, but they were clear of the goblin horde that was still attacking the defensive circle of elves. He was exhausted after having moved his friends through the Dark Movement, even though it was only for a short distance. It was a terrible strain. His legs quivered as if he had physically carried them, which in a sense, he had.
“We must move,” Max said. “We are clear. Let’s go.”
The party started running along the forest road. Jahrod continued to vomit for another few hundred yards. Anita was red around her beautiful big eyes, and her skin had turned pale. Elderon appeared to recover the fastest, but he gave Max a cold stare when their eyes met.
They ran for almost an hour, the goblin horde left far behind. No sooner had Elderon told Max that they had crossed the border into the Kingdom of Eastwind than Max saw a group of four goblins on the road ahead.
These goblins shared many features of the smaller goblins of the horde, but they were bigger than any they had yet encountered. The same dark eyes, the same slit nostrils, the same sleeveless tunics. They wore some studded-leather armor on their shoulders and forearms. Their clubs were made of a dark wood, some with iron spikes on the end.
>
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> Name: Goblin Barbarian
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> Status: Guarding
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> Attack: Club
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> Threat level: Dangerous
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>
Jahrod walked ahead of the party, axe ready.
“Wait, Jahrod,” Max said as he drew his catapult. “Ranged weapons. Shoot.”
>
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> Max attacks Goblin Barbarian.
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> Goblin Barbarian takes minor damage.
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> Random effect: Fairy Lights
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>
The Barbarians started gazing at the lights that appeared around them, the flashing bright colors hypnotizing them. They were in a state somewhere between wonder and annoyance. They swatted away at the lights sparkling around them. They soon snapped out of their daze as they were struck for damage.
Anita’s magic bullet struck one Barbarian and dealt moderate damage. Jahrod’s crossbow dealt heavy damage to one, and a powerful magic missile from Elderon defeated another.
The Barbarian looked to their attackers and then ran to battle.
Max let fly another Bullet of Random Effect.
>
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> Max attacks Goblin Barbarian.
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> Goblin Barbarian takes minor damage.
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> Random effect: Flame
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The flame spread over the goblin as it ran forward, singeing the hair growing out of its big ears. Max put away his catapult and targeted the same Barbarian again, this time with magic.
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> Max casts Magic Missile.
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> Goblin Barbarian takes moderate damage.
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> Goblin Barbarian has been defeated.
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>
The goblin dropped and skidded over the dirt road. Another fell to Elderon’s magic until the remaining two came within clubbing range. Although short and heavily built, almost the proportions of Jahrod, they were fast.
>
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> Goblin Barbarian attacks Max.
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> Max takes moderate damage.
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>
The club hit Max hard in the gut and sent him staggering backwards. He gasped for breath. With the wind knocked out of him, he could not cast. He drew his sword to defend himself.
>
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> Max attacks Goblin Barbarian.
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> Goblin Barbarian takes moderate damage.
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> Bonus Lightning damage.
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> Goblin Barbarian has been defeated.
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>
The remaining Barbarian backed off and then turned to run.
“If he gets away . . .” Max said.
>
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> Max casts Magic Missile.
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> Goblin Barbarian takes moderate damage.
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> Goblin Barbarian has been defeated.
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> Max gains experience points.
>
>
Max caught his breath and looked out for more attackers. The party fell silent. The sounds of waves on a shoreline in the distance.
“That is the sound of the Kraken Sea breaking on the headland south of Eastcrossing Harbor,” Elderon said.
“It will give us a view over the town,” Jahrod said and led the way.
Max looked down at the defeated Barbarians. Rough clubs and studded-leather armor were the only loot remaining. No gold, no items of any use. Maybe the clubs would sell for a gold piece at a store, but Max had no time to lose.
At the headland, Max crawled forwards and looked down at the harbor town. Long timber jetties reached out into a wide bay with ships tied up. More ships were at anchor in the bay. The bay was a forest of ships masts, black sails gathered up in bundles on the crossbeams.
Timber buildings on the shoreline were bustling with activity. Elderon cast his Far Sight spell and showed the party a closer view of the town. The town was in disarray. The buildings were wrecked and doors hung on broken hinges. Windows had been smashed, leaving broken glass scattered across the narrow streets. Some buildings were aflame, others already burned out. A dark goblin army had cleared out the population and was setting up camp. Yet more ships were sailing into the bay, their decks bustling with hordes of dark goblins.
On the biggest jetty, Max saw the largest of the goblins, a huge beast with twin swords. Overdeveloped muscles rippled under his dark-green skin. He had a pendant around his neck that called to Max.
“There it is,” Max said. “The pendant on that goblin. That’s the power that controls all of the dark army on this side of the Kraken Sea. If I can get close enough to that dark shard, we can end this.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Anita said, her hand on Max’s arm.
“It’s too dangerous not to try.” He smiled at her. “And I know you will be watching out for me.”
Anita’s eyes widened in shock. “You want to go alone? I won’t let you.”
“You must,” Elderon said with a sigh. “Max is right. This is the way.”
Max slid back from the edge of the headland before standing up. His party joined him in the cover of the trees.
“We will create a diversion for you from up here,” Elderon said.
Max nodded. “Getting in will be the easy part, and if I don’t succeed, getting out will be impossible.”
“How are you going to get in?” Anita said. “Using that Dark Movement ability? Just the memory of it terrifies me.”
Max shook his head. He didn’t think Dark Movement was the right approach this time; even so, he was exhausted from its latest use. He might have overdone it and was worried if he used it any more, it could overwhelm him. He could control it to an extent, but if he wasn’t careful . . . He banished such negative thoughts. He knew that the consequences were too terrible to consider. “I will need to move slowly and carefully. Trust me. This will all be over soon.”
Max left with a smile, hoping he was projecting a confidence he could just about feel deep inside. Confidence grew and shrank moment to moment as he headed down to the town.