Now, it's rare to find any mage with much power in sorcery. The art of arcane pathfinding from a natural bridge has been nearly forgotten, and all magical research has gone into the optimization of spell constructs. There's nothing wrong with this new art, but it is completely incompatible with the old method of casting through an unaltered bridge. The new spells are so intertwined with their paths and gates, that they would not even function if a Primal of their Font cast them.

-Tallen Elmheart, On Mages

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“Goblins?” Rakin asked a smile on the dwarf’s usually surely face.

“Yeah. Two on guard atop some rocks,” Kole said, describing the scene to his party members.

“Can you shoot them with how they’re positioned?” Zale asked.

“Probably not. Certainly not both.”

They discussed it further and eventually settled on a plan.

Zale and Rakin left the path, traveling deeper into the forest, looking to get closer to the goblins while remaining hidden. Still invisible, Kole returned to where he’d been hiding and waited.

The goblins chatted as they stood watch, but Kole didn’t know the language spoken by the diminutive creatures once counted among the feralkin. Kole stopped ten paces from the boulders with a clear line of sight down the cave and waited. It didn’t take long before the poorly hidden stomping of Rakin and Zale caught his attention, and the goblins’ along with it.

They hadn’t wanted to get their attention, but they’d known their odds of getting close undetected were low and planned for the occasion. The goblins stood in unison, nocking arrows to strings and scanning the forest. They quickly spotted the pair and sent a volley of arrows into the forest.

As soon as they’d been spotted, Zale and Rakin broke from cover, charging at the goblins. Rakin’s height belied surprising speed, and his short legs quickly outpaced his “cousin.” In his wake, Kole spotted raised pillars of earth wherever he’d stepped, and looking close saw that the ground rose up with each of his steps, propelling him forward.

When they saw the pace Rakin covered the ground, one of the goblins broke off and began to scramble down the boulder to alert their kin within. Just before the creature touched the ground, Kole pointed his blasting rod at it, sending his Will into the device and a purple bolt of energy at the goblin.

Kole felt and saw his invisibility vanish the moment he created the bolt, the magic of his invisibility breaking at the surge of Will he’d expelled. The bolt struck true, hitting the goblin in the back, and eliciting a scream reminiscent of an animal’s yelp.

The second, seeing his companion’s fall, moved to run as well, but Rakin reached the boulder, scaling up the sheer stone surface as if he were a spider. Not expecting the dwarf to climb so high so quickly, the goblin was not prepared for the fist that struck him in the back of the head.

The goblin collapsed, the force of the punch sending him flying off the boulder to the ground next to his companion. The first downed goblin tried to rise, but Kole sent another bolt into it, and this time it lay still on the ground. Zale arrived after the battle had ended, not even winded from the brief sprint.

Kole on the other hand was already panting, his heart pounding in his chest and ears from the combination of exertion and adrenaline.

Maybe I need to take physical conditioning more seriously.

He looked at the dead goblins, reflecting on what he’d just done. It looked like he’d just slain a goblin, but was any of this even real? The goblin-rat creatures the day before had been real—he thought—but they’d almost seemed like animals. Examining his emotions, he found that he didn’t much care. The goblins may have gained some higher degree of sapience once Faust’s influence on the world was reduced at the end of the Last Dragon War, but they were still vile creatures. Having been set on the path of an adventurer from childhood, he’d always known he’d have to kill, this was just the first among many—probably. This could all be some sort of mental illusion, though being a primal of the Font of Illusions, he’d likely be able to see some flaws if it were.

While Kole reflected, Rakin dropped to the ground, placing his ear on the stone of the cavern floor. After a moment he stood.

“We’re alright, I don’t think anything heard us within.”

“Should I scout ahead invisible?” Kole offered.

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Rakin and Zale both shook their heads and Zale spoke, “You can’t see in the dark. We’ll move forward as a group. If you stay behind Rakin, he can clear the ground of anything you might trip on. Have your light at the ready.”

They fell in line, and Zale went first trying her best to stop her armor from clanging, but each step elicited a small sound. Luckily, once within, they heard the rush of a stream somewhere beyond.

The cave was spacious for a goblin, comfortable for a dwarf, but tight for a human—or human-sized void person. Rakin let out a sigh of relief once they went further in. The tunnel forked after forty feet, one path leading up, the other down, though Kole saw none of it.

Rakin sniffed the air experimentally.

“Something smells foul down that way,” he said, pointing to the right.

“Agreed. Let's go up,” Zale decided, moving in that direction.

The path narrowed as they went up, and after a few ten steps, the gentle incline ended, replaced with a near vertical stone wall, covered in hand holds and loose stones.

“I got this,” Rakin whispered, taking the lead.

He placed his hands gently on the stone, closed his eyes, and listened. Eyes still shut, his hands roved all over the surface, leaving behind a smooth face with firmly secured protrusions of stone to serve as steps. He climbed as he went, and Kole heard his voice from above.

“Come on! The water's louder up here so you should be okay.”

Zale went next, the rattle of her armor deafening to Kole. Once she grew silent, signifying she’d reached the top, Kole fumbled towards the wall and climbed it blindly.

The climb in the dark was surprisingly easy with the stoneweaver crafted holds.

“That woulda collapsed under our weight if I’d not secured it. I doubt many other groups will have made it this far without alerting the goblins.” Rakin said as they began to continue on.

The roar of a river was much louder up here. The cave continued in a semi-circle, but a cliff lined the right side, and water could be heard down below.

Zale took charge once more, and Kole followed, hand on the left wall to ensure he didn’t wander into a tunnel.

“There’s an opening ahead,” Rakin whispered to Kole. “Ready your light.”

Kole heard Zale’s armor quiet as she slowed further.

“Stop!” Rakin shouted aloud, but it was too late.

Kole activated his light device in time to see stones fall onto Zale as she stepped into the branching tunnel. Just as the stone struck her head, she vanished, taken from the dungeon by its magic.

“Krool!” Rakin shouted another curse Kole didn’t know.

The shrill voices of goblins screamed in reply and Kole retreated back to the entrance, blasting rod ready.

“There’s two in there and more coming from further down,” Rakin said, planting himself between Kole and the oncoming goblins.

The first goblin climbed over the rubble of the first chamber, and Kole shot a bolt at it which flew wide striking the wall. Kole’s Will was low, and a headache was starting to build to distracting levels. While Kole had attacked, Rakin had pulled a rock out from the wall, the stone rippling into an orb in his hand. He threw it at the goblin Kole had missed, and it flew with far more speed than the throw itself could account for, hitting the target in the chest with a sickening crack. The second goblin climbed over its fallen ally, and more goblins ran into Kole’s orb of light.

Kole judged he had three more bolts left in him and it was then he saw the true value of his training with the quarterstaff—which he hadn’t brought. He sent another bolt into the mass of oncoming goblins, hoping that even a miss would hit another target. His purple bolt flew true, and struck the lead enemy, destroying its diminutive leg. Five goblins climbed over the crippled one—one of which was very clearly not wearing any pants.

At the same time, the first goblin had reached Rakin with a pitted sword drawn. The dwarf batted the first wild jab aside with his bare palm, and stepped in past the goblin's guard, sending his knee into the shorter creature’s face and then pushing it over the ledge with his free hand.

“Archers!” Kole yelled to Rakin, as he saw two goblins stay back, bows in hand.

Kole spent half his remaining Will and struck one of the archers before he could loose. The other got his shot off, and Rakin let out another unknown curse as the arrows struck his thigh.

Three goblins with crude swords reached Rakin together, and the dwarf fell back, focusing all his attention on dodging and deflecting their attacks with his bare hands. Another arrow flew past, narrowly missing Kole, and when he looked up he saw the remaining archer had ducked back into an alcove.

“Flood!” Kole cursed.

He couldn’t hit a target that small and scanned the ground for options. The sword of the first to fall lay near his feet, and he dropped his light and used the last of his Will to vanish. A wave of vertigo went through him as he suffered the full effects of Will drain.

“Let me through!” Kole yelled.

Rakin complied, stepping back to dodge an attack, the goblin stumbling forward, opening a small gap. Kole ran through the gap and heard Rakin hiss in pain as another blow landed. The archer now stood out in the open, seeing Kole was gone but not realizing where he’d gone. The goblin strained to hold the bow drawn, looking for a gap in its allies to strike Rakin and not finding one as the dwarf focused solely on keeping his enemies between them.

Kole ran right up to the goblin and swung his sword at its neck. His invisibility faded as soon as his sword made contact with the goblin, the Will of his target disrupting the delicate balance of the spell, but by then it was too late, the creature not even having time to register the sudden appearance of the human before him as its head fell off.

Well, partially off. Goblins may be able to wield swords, but they are not skilled at maintaining an edge, and the blade got stuck halfway through when it struck the spine.

There was a lot of general knowledge in Kole’s mind about adventuring, but he’d realized then he’d forgotten a very important one. Goblin blood smelled terrible. Blood geysered from the goblin's neck, covering Kole’s face and causing him to fall to his knees retching.

Distantly behind him, he heard Rakin’s curse cut short as the dungeon whisked him off to safety. The goblins turned to Kole, not seeming to see anything strange about their foe disappearing.

“I give up?” Kole said hopefully, holding his hands above his head and then he too vanished.