Chapter 1
The goblin ran shrieking up the back of the goblin in front of him like his buddy was a ramp and, putting a foot on the rim of that shield, leaped over Tobit. The enthusiastic little bastard had a spear as long as Ned’s arm. He was about to shove it through Tobit’s neck.
Grapple, Catch Leg check…
10 0
Success!
And Ned had the goblin’s leg in his gauntlet. He slung the tiny monster away from Tobit, spun hard, and flung him headfirst into a tree. There was a sickening sound and the goblin fell lifeless to the forest floor.
“Watch out for flying goblins,” said Ned.
There was a small chorus of distracted "Yes, sirs," and Ned nodded, moving a bit farther to the left of his students’ formation to draw more fire.
He had seven kids with him. Four carried Roman-style rectangular shields, that protected from eyes to ankles. They were designed to overlap one another, forming a kind of mobile wall or phalanx. The idea, generally, was to give the enemy a bump, make a gap while your opponent was off-balance, then stab him with your sword. Right now, since goblins were no more than four feet high, the shields rested nearly on the ground, the youngsters behind relatively safe. Well, except for the occasional goblin acrobat.
Behind the four were three more kids with pollaxes. The weapons were thick-hafted, about six feet in length, that had a hammer opposite the axe blade on one end, and a bluntish spike at the other. Oh, and there was a wicked, long spike jutting straight up from the axe and hammer head. In short, it was a spear, a hammer, and an axe. Ned knew that medieval knights loved the things because Ned read way too many books.
The kids with the pollaxes stood behind the kids with the shields, stabbing or slashing down as the opportunities presented.
Five goblins lay dead at Ned’s party’s feet, not counting the one that Ned had just dispatched.
Ned had been warned about the approaching goblins by the squirrels and had chosen his ground carefully, with a gargantuan tree and thick brush to the left and a boulder the size of a Volkswagen to the right.
Ned stood by the trees and took fire.
The goblins had snipers in the trees and Ned, off by himself in his robes, seemed an easier target than the shield wall. So far, they hadn’t noticed that all their shots disappeared, sucked into one of Ned’s extra-dimensional bags of holding as a result of a bug he’d discovered in the autoloot functions in the game world nearly a year ago now.
The fire was lessening as Ned’s friends, Schoteka and Hattan found and killed the enemy archers.
A goblin charged Ned, snarling and drooling and waving around a rusty hatchet.
Ned brought up his hand and called an arrow which took the goblin in the chest and it fell.
“Advance!” Ned called out.
His students lifted their shields, bumped the goblins back, swords stabbed and pollaxes fell.
Six more goblins dead. Four left that Ned could see.
“Advance!” said Ned.
The process repeated itself and now there were no goblins Ned could see.
“Well done,” said Ned. “Stay in formation until we have confirmation.”
There was a chittering in the trees.
The squirrels were in a panic.
“Eyes front! Back to the rock!” Ned called. “Towards the sound of my voice,” said Ned. “Step.” And his students took a step backwards toward Ned who now had his back to the boulder.
And all the goblins in the world swarmed out of the trees toward them.
“Step.”
Cadmin Frank threw down his pollaxe and ran.
“Step!”
His students did so, but Ned was no longer behind them. He was moving.
Pulling back to the boulder caused a gap between the shield wall and the grandfather tree through which a bunch of goblins now peeled off from the group to chase Cadmin.
Ned spun into them.
Kick, Reposition…
30 8
Success!
Goblin takes 2 points of damage and is Repositioned…
Ned kicked the one closest to him, knocking the goblin into the path of the one beside him. They both went down. The three behind those two dug their heels into the forest floor, skidding on the leaves trying to stop.
Punch, Called Shot check…
60 9
Success!
Called Shot additional damage check…
50 7
Success!
Ned’s blacksmith was a talented lady. She’d made him some fancy, heavy gauntlets for times like these. They hit like a truck. He hit the goblin nearest him right on the point of his nose.
Goblin takes 7 points of damage.
The goblin fell and did not move again.
Ned took a step back.
The two goblins he’d knocked down were punching and kicking and biting at each other. The other eight ignored them. They bared their teeth and charged, spears and knives and hatchets flashing.
Ned pulled one of his warhammers from his bag into his left hand.
You have chosen to perform multiple actions! All actions’ percentages are at half your score plus its main attribute score!
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Dodge, Multiple Enemies check (38+16 = 54%)…
50 3
Success!
Warhammer, Hook and Grapple (36+16 = 52%)…
30 0
Success!
Evocation: Fire Dart check (18+20 = 38%)…
70 3
Failure!
Ned leaped and spun away, hooking the rightmost goblin around the neck with his hammer.
He wasn’t surprised the fire dart missed. It was the sudden fire he wanted.
When his scouts first told him goblins were in the area, Ned had some questions. He was assured that despite appearances and a rudimentary language and culture, goblins were absolutely, without a doubt, full-blown evil monsters. There was no reasoning with them. No negotiations were possible. They stole and killed and ate things. Anythings. All the things.
Hughie, Ned’s UI, confirmed this was the case. Goblins were monsters. Little better than animals.
Animals don’t like fire.
Ned’s fire dart caused the goblins to hesitate. Their eyes wide.
He pulled the goblin he hooked in front of the others, and then attacked their right flank.
Hammers now in both hands, he kept moving, never allowing more than one or two to get at him at a time. He blocked, parried, hooked, and pulled. He made his way back towards his students.
“Step!” He heard Hattan’s voice call and heard the shields slam into enemies.
“Back!” Good. He was keeping them with their backs against the boulder so they couldn’t be surrounded.
“Hattan!” Ned shouted.
“Ned! Three paces back and to your left and you’ll be in line! That’s it.”
And Ned was back with his students, taking position at the far left of their line beside Lettie Filstrick. She gave him a look.
Ned winked at her.
She rolled her eyes.
“Hattan!” Ned shouted.
“What?”
“What the fuck?” Ned gestured at all the goblins.
“Yeah,” the big white squirrel sounded embarrassed. “The first bunch was a scouting party for this larger bunch. We don’t usually see this many on this side of the Thornwall.”
“Ya think?”
“They’ll break soon,” said Hattan. “Scho went for reinforcements, just in case. I’m sure the other scouts are looking after young Cadmin. Hey!”
“What?”
“You’ve been hurt!”
Ned looked at his hit points. He was down to five out of his twelve. He hadn’t even noticed. “Oh man, I don’t want to look.”
“I’ve got it.” Hattan was a cleric of Leaf. Ned felt him clamber onto his shoulder, saw him cut down a goblin with his swordspear, and a tickle of warmth spread over his lower back. “Almost got you in the kidney, Ned.”
“Thanks, Hats.”
“Don’t call me that.” He speared another goblin through the eye then scampered away.
By the end of it, over twenty goblins lay dead, with Schoteka’s reinforcements chasing fifteen to twenty more away. Every student had taken a wound. Every wound had been healed almost as soon as it was made.
They rested atop the boulder, breathing, looking at the sky, at the trees. Everywhere but the bloody ground below them.
“Quite the learning experience,” said Hattan.
Ned giggled.
“That was insane,” said Lettie. “You’re insane. This is insane.”
“This is adventuring,” said Ned.
“A student patrol!” said Lettie. “We almost died!”
“Oh? Which one of us almost died?”
She looked around. “Okay, but what if Hattan hadn’t been here? What if-?”
“Yes, but Hattan was here. And two more clerics of Leaf are up there in the trees. We were never far from help and you guys kept your formation, kept your cool, and won.”
“You almost died when Cadmin ran,” said Tobit. He was the youngest of the group at nineteen. He was rubbing dried blood away from a spot above his right eye where he’d taken a scrape from a spear.
“Yes, let’s talk about that,” said Ned. He waited until all his students were looking at him. He, in turn, looked at them, holding their eyes for a minute.
Lettie Filstrick was twenty-two, blonde, big, curvy, and kind. Half the kids at school had a crush on her. She had no idea, considering herself quite plain. She was the daughter of farmers from Fort Smith.
Tobit’s hair was black and unruly. He was stocky and broad. He’d grown up an orphan on the streets of the capitol after his parents died when he was ten. His uncle was a merchant that traveled a circuit from the capitol, Wyere City, to Laggisport to Fort Smith and then back to Wyere City. Eventually, he’d become a guard, and then, when he became bored with that, he became a student of Ned’s.
Forlan Cowslip weighed nearly three hundred pounds. He formed the center of the shield wall. He was quiet, sandy-haired, and still pudgy despite all the exercise. He was quick with his hands and slow with his feet. There were more dead goblins in front of his position than anybody else’s. He was twenty-one.
Grig Stone was a dwarf right out of Tolkien. Redheaded, red-bearded, rosy-cheeked, and gregarious, he’d spent most of his twenty-three years in the Border Mountains above Thornwall. He was tall for a dwarf, five foot six inches, and just tall enough for the shield wall.
In the rear ranks were the poleaxes, Kattick Fash, Nermin Furtooly, and Cadmin Frank.
Fash was tall and willowy. She was built like a runner or a basketball player. She wore her honey-brown hair in a long braid down her back that she tucked down the back of her breastplate on patrol. She was the best in the camp with her weapon. She swung it around like a majorette does a baton. She was twenty years old.
Nermin was an elf from Laggisport. The Furtoolys were tailors to the Duke and had been for time out of mind. Nermin couldn’t stand the business. He hated the obsequiousness of waiting on customers. He hated needles that always seemed too delicate for his clumsy fingers. He hated the city and he hated the duke. When he heard about Ned’s school, he ran off and joined up. Nermin was tall, blond, and fine-featured. He was also grumpy and defensive. Ned wasn’t sure he liked Nermin, but the boy was almost as good with a pollaxe as Kattick, and Nermin seemed to come alive in the woods. He moved through it like a ghost, floating thither and yon with such grace everybody was disgusted. The elf was the oldest student Ned had at twenty-four.
And then there was Cadmin Frank. The boy who ran.
Cadmin was nineteen, just a month older than Tobit. He was new. Tall at six feet two inches, he was ideal for the pollaxe, and had recently shown enough ability with it that Ned had decided to start taking him on patrol. The first patrol had seen no action. The second had run into a small herd of wild boars. Today’s had been his third.
Cadmin was as reserved as Forlan, dark of complexion, brooding of temperament. His eyes were a shocking bright blue. His hair was light brown and curled at the fringes. He was handsome. He was strong. He had run.
Ned took them all in. Remembered how young they all were. “Look, Cadmin ran. It’s his third patrol. Let’s not pretend that, when we saw all those goblins running at us that we all weren’t tempted to do the same.” He looked at each. Some of them were nodding. “I mean, why do you think I wear robes? Hides the state of my trousers.”
The kids laughed.
“I mean, we all know why Nermin wears brown pants,” said Ned.
Most of the kids laughed.
Nermin sighed and said, “Mr. Cartwright.…”
“I’m just kidding, Nermin. No one believes you messed yourself. You did well. All of you did well. The history of my world demonstrates again and again that it’s training and discipline that win battles. You guys did extremely well. Including Cadmin, until he didn’t, but we aren’t going to hold that against him, are we?”
“No, sir.”
“I mean it, now. Maybe this isn’t for him. That’ll be for him to decide. Not you. Not me. If he wants to keep at this adventuring business, we’ll all let him. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
It didn’t feel right yet. There was more to say. “We were never in any danger, right? He didn’t betray us. He betrayed himself. We don’t know what he’s been through, what private battles he’s fighting. Maybe goblins killed his whole family. Maybe one dated his sister. Maybe he just lost it. He’s brand new at this and needs a chance. Like you all did when you got here.”
The kids were quiet and it felt like the right type of quiet. Ned wasn't naive enough to believe that all was forgiven or forgotten, but he'd made himself clear and his students at least looked thoughtful. Well, maybe not Nermin. He'd have to watch that elf.
They got down off the rock and headed for home.
Ned let them get a bit farther ahead of him.
Schoteka plopped down upon his shoulder. In a low voice, she said, “You guys were very nearly fucked.”
“I know.”
“You’ve been practicing.”
“Religiously.”
“They did well.”
“Thank you,” said Ned. He sighed. “Is Cadmin okay?”
“He’s fine. He’s being led home maybe an hour ahead of us by now? Chittaguk has him.”
He looked over at her. “How sure are you that Cadmin is a spy?”
“Oh, he works for the count, alright. I don’t think he was trying to sabotage you today or get you killed, though we shouldn't discount either possibility out of hand. Too likely he’d be run down and killed. He very nearly was. If you hadn’t stepped into the breach.…”
“Yeah,” said Ned. “Goddammit.”