The siege has been ongoing for two more days now. Myself, along with many of the goblins that participated in the fight with the lizards where Kaga made the ultimate sacrifice, have prestiged. I haven't asked any of the others about their stats, quite frankly, I feel to ashamed to talk to others right now. What I can say is all of us picked up combat related bonuses, and I got offered Improved Earth Spike.
My stats when I first prestiged were:
Level: 0
HP: 1049/1049
MP: 572/572
Traits: Mana Affinity, Earth Manipulation, Improved Dexterity
Magic: Improved Stone Shaping, Tectonic Sense, Improved Earth Spike
Improved Earth Spike: Spell. Forcibly erupt up to three, three foot long spikes of earth or stone from the ground at up to three points within 10 feet of you. Costs 400 mana.
I've been using Improved Earth Spike take out multiple lizards in a single blow from the other side of the wall, and then go to recharge. A few of the goblins that prestiged while fighting with us have also been killing lizards from atop the walls. I can't say for certain what their magic is, since I haven't asked, but they're throwing spears that are being given to them with incredible force. They also need to recharge after a single spear is thrown though, so they also are constantly going back to the crystal baths to recharge.
After only a day, I'm already up a significant amount of levels considering that I'm an Epic tier creature now. It takes about eight lizard kills for me to gain a level.
Level: 14
HP: 1301/1301
MP: 680/680
Traits: Mana Affinity, Earth Manipulation, Improved Dexterity
Magic: Improved Stone Shaping, Tectonic Sense, Improved Earth Spike
Although I can't say for certain, surely there are a finite number of these lizards in the area. If that is the case, we'll eventually get through all of them.
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Five more days, and although we're clearly close to getting rid of most of the lizards, the smell has started to become unbearable. Initially, the lizards that died were devoured by their living comrades. Now, they're left to rot, and there are so many corpses piled up, that I can only imagine we'll have to use a significant amount of the stockpiled wood to burn all these rotting corpses.
The pace that we're killing the lizards has also slowed down due to the piles of lizard corpses about. Often times, the live lizards are on top of dead lizards, and I can't impale them. We ended up having to fight a sudden burst of lizards trying to scale the walls using the corpses earlier today, during the eclipse. I can only assume that due to the lack of natural mana in the air thanks to the eclipse, that however the crystal is drawing the lizards in, it was more pronounced, and they became even more agitated at the lack of ability to get to the source of the mana.
Soon, the number of lizards will probably deplete enough that we'll actually be able to exit the village and begin culling the remnants that are further out.
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After four days, we've finally made our first excursion out of the village since all this began. While it is still too dangerous for the average goblin to make it out, our group, consisting of those of us who survived the failed initial culling trap, were able to handle ourselves as we ran into groups of lizards beyond the tree line.
With that proven, our plan moving forward is to start burning all the rotting bodies near the village, and while the bonfires burn, go hunt down additional lizards. We also need to haul in additional wood into the village from the outside stockpile to replenish supplies. It'll probably be a few weeks until we feel comfortable letting the goblins return to normal activities, but we're finally on the tail end of the siege.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
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While we've been going on the excursions for the past week, I've started to hear murmurings from goblins that quiet whenever I get close. I obviously don't speak their language, but it's bothering me that they go quiet when they see me. I'll have to ask Zeb if he's heard anything the next time I'm working with him. Since he's not combat oriented, he's been taking care of tasks in the village during the whole siege. He's continued my project to expand the floors under the pavilion, including a second screw pump to remove water from that floor. The siege has shown that having increased storage inside the town should be considered in case a future event like this were to unfold.
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I got around to asking Zeb yesterday why the goblins have been whispering when they see me, and it worries me slightly. A handful of the goblins are apparently fed up with my presence in town. Initially, they were quite pleased with the increased safety and quality of life that I brought to them. As time has gone on though, a few of them have considered my projects to be disruptive at the least, and detrimental at the worst.
This group kept this opinion to themselves while most of the other goblins seemed to be appreciative of the new workshops and buildings that I brought to the village. Now however, two things have apparently tipped the balance into this disgruntled group's favor. The first thing being the siege. I'm not the only one who thinks I'm at fault for the lizards all swarming the area apparently. The reasons I'm at fault vary from goblin to goblin, most revolve around a curse that I brought on the village in some way or another, and few seem to have any basis in the likely actual cause, the artificial crystal. The second reason is the death of Kaga.
For the longest time, I've considered not speaking the goblin language to just be a bit of a nuisance, but I've likely missed quite a few intricacies of the goblin village as a consequence of working through Zeb rather than speaking to the goblins myself. Despite his demeanor, Kaga was apparently quite the positive force in support of me. A lot of the other craftsgoblins looked up to him, and he apparently took some degree of inspiration from how I was always coming up with new projects to make the goblin's lives better.
Hearing about all this, and the details about Kaga, has put me back into quite the depressed mood. I myself have been thinking that I made quite the blunder. After hearing that there is an increasing sentiment among the goblins that they'd be better off without my tinkering in their lives, I think that that they might be right. At the very least, I need to be much, much, much more careful in the future when I'm tinkering with things that I'm not certain of.
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After another week of clearing out any remnants of the lizards in the nearby forest, Zaka has deemed that the goblins can leave the village again, as long as they travel in groups. The outside of the village is charred with burned remains from the massive bonfires that we set to burn all the corpses that had piled up from the siege. Unsurprisingly, Zaka isn't the only Hobgoblin in the village anymore. Two of the goblins that were in the group of us that dealt with all the lizards have evolved. Before this, they were hunters, and were some of the older goblins in the village, so them finally reaching this point isn't that much of a surprise. Among the other goblins that fought during the siege, it probably won't be long before three more evolve.
After the announcement, Zaka approached me. Long story short, he's also aware of the anti-me faction that has been gaining power in the village. He insisted that he's never doubted that I've had good intentions, and that he still believes that I do, but the other faction has started to consolidate it's power around one of the new hobgoblins. They seem to advocate for returning to a simpler time, free of all the complexities of trade and hard tasks. The majority of the goblins disagree with that sentiment, but many agree that if Zaka is going to continue to support me, that new leadership should be chosen. Despite this, Zaka would support me, which was touching.
However, I feel like this would be a bad direction for the goblins. Rather than cause the political death of someone who has supported me for so long, I've offered up an alternative. One that I hope will placate the opposition enough that they don't decide to overthrow Zaka. I'll leave the village after winter, and I won't return. I'll still have my residence in the cave, and do work up there, but I won't come down to the village any longer. During this winter, I won't work on any projects that goblins in the village as a group don't approve of. As for my own safety, I'm less concerned. I doubt a new hobgoblin is strong enough to fight me in my current state after killing all those lizards.
Level: 72
HP: 2345/2345
MP: 1126/1126
Traits: Mana Affinity, Earth Manipulation, Improved Dexterity
Magic: Improved Stone Shaping, Tectonic Sense, Improved Earth Spike