The battlefield was scattered across a broken stretch of minecart track cutting through the rocky underground with a small little station, just like the one in Wyrmbreath. It was full of the remains of what had once been goblin minecarts. Blue and purple coloured stalks of mushrooms, and cave moss coated the walls, glowing like they were blacklights. Large clumps of them grew out of overturned barrels by a rusted tool shack near the minecarts. The bodies were stretched across the tracks, in the ruins of the station and hidden in the mushrooms. The lights and industrial setting gave the cavern a blue and purple hue like it was some rave club party gone wrong.
The nearby mummified bodies of the goblins were mixed with mechanical robot dogs that had crossbows bolted to their backs, and huge slug-like creatures that had sheets of corroded copper stretched across their fat bodies. Standing in the middle of them was a stone statue of a goblin wearing a pointed cap, a cloak and what looked to be a fine vest.
Across from him was a small group of stone statues that were my height, or a little taller. They resembled armoured warriors with swords and bows, charging the goblin mage. Around them were cracked statues and mummified melted corpses. A sharp acrid stench came off the melted corpses and stagnant pools of liquid surrounded them.
“Careful,” Burn said, pointing at the pools and the copper slugs. “Those are acid slugs, don't touch their bodies or the pools. They might look inert but the acid can remain potent for years.”
Sten and I shuffled back from an acid pool between us and surveyed the rest of the cave for more dangers. Besides the acid pools and foul air there wasn’t a terrible amount of active danger. The air was heavy and made my head hurt, and I wondered if we were in danger of suffocating.
Constitution saving throw : Success!
+1 XP gained.
I checked the notification and saw it was for standing in a low air environment. We backed up and felt a rush of air enter the corridor Mike had cut out. Deciding it was best for our continued survival we dipped back into the mine where we could breathe. While Burn dug around his bag I ended up grabbing a few dungeon lights from the mine so everyone had one to see with. I toyed with the idea of running back to grab my gear, but I didn’t see the need if we were just going to poke around for a moment. After all, everything was dead already.
“Drink these,” Burn said, handing out small vials of milky blue liquid. “It gives you air and you won’t need to breathe for about ten minutes. I rather look at the bodies while they're preserved.”
“Oi! Is this where my aqua tonics went?” Sten demanded, vigorously shaking the vial.
“It’s a good potion base!” Burn protested, ducking under a grab. “Sten, please!”
Sten grumbled and drove his pickaxe into the wall. “Was going to make mixed drinks for everyone with that. Now what are we going to be left with for the party?”
Bent Plate held the tiny vial between two digits, holding it up to his light to inspect. “What about the five barrels of booze you have behind the farm?”
Sten gasped. “That’s our emergency reserve!”
I uncorked the potion and sniffed it, smelling rubbing alcohol and blueberries. I shrugged and downed the strangely sweet tasting, smooth liquid. It tasted far better than it smelled. I took a deep breath and tasted mint in the back of my throat. I held my breath and my body's usual need to exhale was simply gone. It was a strange feeling, and one I didn’t care for, but I could see where it was helpful.
“Neat,” I said in a bubbly tone. “Why does my voice sound like it’s fizzy?”
Burn downed his potion and spoke in the same bubbly voice. “It makes air inside your body so you don’t need to breath, but you will need to exhale or-”
Sten and Bent both let out a belch that shook the mine’s walls, and Mike looked at them in shock. The two of them laughed and high fived, much to the annoyance of our resident alchemist goblin.
“-or that,” Burn sighed. “Some of my best work so far and it’s been reduced to such low brow humour.”
“Didn’t you make soap that would stain all of Lin’s clothes pink to get at her?” Sten asked as his beard made a hand to wag a finger at him. “Just because she took a bundle of scented candles from you?”
“That’s revenge! That’s a noble pursuit, and one I believe Josh’s minions would agree with,” Burn said. He hefted his globe of light and marched back towards the old battle site. “Now, before the corpses are ruined…”
We headed back in and found a much different cavern. The glowing moss and mushrooms responded to the breathable air by giving off orange light and heat, like an incandescent bulb. The brighter lights made it easier to see, and now we could make out a gatehouse near the far side of the train station and a cave in at the end of the tracks. There were also outlines against the walls the moss had somewhat covered up, and they vaguely resembled minions, but with extra bird wings.
“Woah, what are hobgoblins doing here?” Sten asked, inspecting the taller stone statues. He lightly tapped his pickaxe on one, and a crystal clear bell sound rang out in the cavern. “Good thing they are petrified, we would not want to fight them.”
Knowledge World : Partial Success!
Hobgoblins are a family of beings that hail from an ancient ancestor that came from the same realm as plains elves and forest goblins. They combine the adaptability of humans, the cunning of goblins along with the odd quirks and traditional values of elves, all while remaining a militant force in the world.
They are often hired as mercenaries for their blend of skills as their extended lifespan along with their human-like desires to explore gives their family clans a strong blend of warriors with unique talents.
Scholar Issah
Be careful keeper, the courts of hobgoblins can be a nightmare to navigate without ‘insulting their ancestors’. Imagine you're dealing with a grumpy noble dwarf, but ones who will in fact go to war with you just for stealing the last loaf of bread off the table.
Then again, if you can befriend one they typically will teach you a talent in exchange for one of yours. Their oral traditions are incredible for it.
Bent Plate crossed his arms and chuckled as he towered over them. “I don’t get why people are so scared of them, they are small, just like anyone else.” The ogre bodybuilder flexed his massive trunk of an arm and measured up to the beefiest hobgoblin there. “See? Not even close.”
I held up my light to inspect the one at the front of the group. From the chiselled jaw, the strong cheekbones, and slightly tapered ears I could see the resemblance to the elves. Yet there was more here, he had a good amount of heft on his face, and he had a wider flat nose that looked like it had been broken several times. His stone eyes also had a glare to them still, a defiant look that told the tale of a warrior. The rest of his body showed a great amount of detail, from the armour to the curved scimitar held in his hand, pointing ahead as if to command his troops to charge.
“You know, this reminds me of the terracotta soldiers they found in China,” I said. “Great detail, made of-”
“Oh Dirt this, Dirt that,” Sten mocked, waving his gauntlets. “We put people on the moon with giant fireworks and watches. You know what Josh, we have temples on the moons you can visit. Your weird little world without magic isn’t as impressive as you think.” Sten then blurted out a wheezing laugh, augmented by the fizzing of the potion. “Naw, your funny little world sounds fun, I’d like to visit.”
“You guys went to the moon too?” I asked in shock. I glanced over at the rubble at the station, and looked at the magical engines the goblins use to power their minecarts. “How?”
“Moons Josh, moons,” Burn corrected. “Look at this guy, bet he doesn’t even know Ishaka owns half of one of the moons.”
“Hey! Do you think Sliva can get us tickets to go there sometime? I heard the great poets and artists from all different regions and gods meet up in the Pleasure Gardens for competitions,” Sten asked Burn.
“Gardens…on the moon?” I asked.
“Well duh, do you think they're just floating rocks or something?” Burn asked. He walked over to the goblin mage and inspected the badge. “Huh, earth mage I think. He has scroll scraps in his hand too. I think he must have used a petrification spell and it backfired.”
Knowledge Arcane : Failure!
Scholar Terrive
Sorry earth and metal magics are out of our area. Versona might know a thing or two, but they're in…time out so to speak.
“The door lever is stuck too! The mechanism has been turned to rock!” Bent shouted from the gatehouse.
Mike ran over and looked at the gate. Half of the front of it had been turned to grey stone, while the rest was made of brick or corroded copper. Mike sank his claws in with ease and tore out a hole for us to get in.
“Must be expensive to build with all this copper,” I said.
Burn tugged on my sleeve and pointed at the slugs. “Those slugs can be fed copper ore and they refine it in their bodies, and use it to make a hardened shell. They also shed like a snake giving off these copper plates to work with. In ancient times goblin armies were one of the first people who were able to outfit their armies with metal weapons giving us an edge.”
“Till dwarves rediscovered iron with their human allies and broke the goblin alliance,” Sten interjected. “A lot of heroic tales from both sides. Not to mention dwarves were the first to crack the code on how to temper weapons to finally be able to pierce dragon scales.”
“Using goblin ballista!” Burn shouted.
The cavern rumbled, and pieces of stone fell from the ceiling, including the mangled goblin corpse that was stuck up there. The glowing moss had rapidly grown and was taking over the rock up there, pushing the rock out and weakening the walls.
“Run!” Sten shouted, barrelling for the dungeon.
A truck sized block of rock slammed down, cutting off our access, and more fell between Bent, Mike and us. The floor shook violently, and pieces fell away, showing a pond of murky liquid that had pooled beneath the battlefield. I scrambled and tried to cast Gust to move myself, and cursed as I remembered I wasn’t wearing my equipment. Burn hurtled towards the pool and held up a leather pouch.
“Cover your face, this is gonna hurt!” Burn shouted.
A sudden wave of foam rolled over us, and I was launched into a solid wall. Something gave and I was thrown through the air. I covered my face with my arms and braced for impact, feeling myself ram through a table. The jolt hurt like hell and I spun out of control, eventually slamming into another solid wall. Once everything calmed down I cracked open an eye to survey the damage. Lucky for me, I managed to escape breaking anything.
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Toughness has reduced a harming blow! No bones have been broken as a result!
I waved off the notification and dug a fork out of my arm. I cursed and heard my voice sound flat as an oppressive feeling pressed down on me. I looked at my arm to see it had pierced the top layer of skin, but no more than that. I was also sitting on top of a pile of broken glassware, and I tried to find a safer place to sit. I couldn’t see much, and I made out the dungeon light a stone’s throw away. I carefully crept towards it, avoiding as much glass as I could see and picked the light back up.
I had managed to cut up my gym shirt to all hell, and my pants were torn up, again. My skin however was a network of white lines, with nothing of critical note. The rest of the room, or what was left of it, was a dining room akin to my own, with the exception of the lumpy mass behind me.
It was a solid wall of greenish white foam. It looked just like the spray foam I had to pick up from the store to repair a leak once. I pushed on it, and I felt the familiar resistance, it was definitely like the foam. It did give under some force, but as soon as I backed up it reformed. There was a slight hiss from it, and clean refreshing air blew on my face.
“Weird stuff,” I said.
Knowledge Arcane : Failure!
Scholar Terrive
Your goblin ally is quick thinking. That foam expands as it neutralizes most low tier magical acids. If you fell in that pond you would be dead without question. Sadly it won’t break down for several weeks, so you're going to need to find another way out.
“Oh, my head,” groaned a man somewhere on my left.
Scholar Terrive
Oh right, the fall might have also broken the spell on the pertification as you're now out of the original casting area. I hope you know your manners.
Between the obliterated tables was a struggling figure. I ran over and helped them to their feet, struggling with their heft. A bleary eyed man with light maroon skin squinted at me, swaying and causing his armour’s plates to rattle. He had his scimitar in hand, and the glinting steel blade tipped me off to the fact it was enchanted. His blue overcoat covered his forest green brigandine armour and I gulped, if I had to fight this guy I was screwed. He glanced at me and slurred his words, causing a pop up to appear to swap character info. By sheer force of habit I ended up accepting.
Aidan, Hobgoblin, Level 7 Battlemaster
“Quickly, find us cover. The goblins betrayed us…and…you're not with the keeper are you?” the man asked, gripping my shoulder with a strong gasp. “You need to run…your lordship, they will take you for-”
The hobgoblin passed out, and I caught him before he hit the ground. My new found strength helped me move the much bigger and well built armoured man. Before I would have struggled, but now I was able to drag with him some effort. I searched for a place to let him rest and I saw the black and gold box urgently flashing in my vision.
Scholar Terrive
Bring him towards the foam. It’s converting the acids to breathable air, quickly before he suffocates. That is if you want to save him. Otherwise those expensive items can be yours. The armour and weapon is worth as much as a farm.
The hobgoblin had been trying to help me, not harm me. I wasn’t about to let a man die needlessly. I struggled and dragged him back across the dimly lit stone floor, propping him up against the foam. As he pushed against it a stream of air rushed into the room and the stuffy feeling evaporated.
Scholar Livy
Playing the hero I see. Should you survive, this will make a good entry to our records.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I mumbled.
A heavy wood door behind me shook violently, and from the other side came a robotic voice. “Intruder alert! Intruder alert!”
The door shattered, sending a wave of splinters across the room. My hand shot forward and I grabbed onto a broken table, pulling it up in time to shield us from the worst of it. I swore as I shook out my arm, sending a wave of wooden spikes onto the floor. Rushing at us were three lumpy goblins creatures, made of corroding copper and wood pieces covered in paint.
Knowledge Arcane : Partial Success!
Mechanical defenders are robots-
“Not right now!” I hissed, waving it away. I grabbed the nearest plank of wood and swung wide, clipping the lead attacker, knocking it away.
The attacker’s arm shattered, coating my forearm in an oily sludge as it was sent sprawling onto the ground. The next one grabbed the plank out of my hand as the other one jumped and slugged me in the jaw. I stumbled into the foam and grit my teeth. I swung back with a wild haymaker and dented the head of the goblin robot in. I shook my hand out as I teared up from the pain.
The robot armed with the plank swung it like it was going for a homerun, and I ducked. As it tried to knock me on the head again I lashed out with my foot, kicking it right in the middle of the face, and sent it flying away. The one with the dented head swayed back and forth, jabbing at the air, coming up short.
The robot on the ground in a pool of its own oil grabbed its fallen arm and crimped the end into a jagged point. It ran low to the ground and trusted upwards to deliver a deadly piercing strike to my thigh. A blade flashed through the air, cleaving the makeshift spear in two, and now standing at my side was the hobgoblin.
“You fight well,” he said sternly.
“Thanks for the hand,” I said. “Glad to see you're not dead.”
Four more robots ran in from the door each one hollering the same phrase. “Intruder alert!”
Aidan and I lashed out, dispatching the damaged foe in front of us to make room. We spread out and took a fighting stance, it was going to be a tough fight, but I was hopeful. I flexed my hand and prepared to cast my fire spell while searching out for targets. All I needed to do was hit the right one to stir up some chaos.
Intelligence Check : Critical Success!
I was standing in front of a foam wall that was actively producing oxygen. There were wood tables and scraps ahead of us and very few ways we could go without getting hit. A spark like this could send the whole place up into a blaze and I would be cooked in moments. I cursed myself for not focusing on other spells, the lightning spell the gnomes had used or the ice spear spell the wight had would be much better than fire right now. Looks like I was down to fists and tearing up my shirt for threads.
“No weapons or armour to buff either,” I grumbled.
The air above the robot goblins shimmered gold, and we were blinded with radiance. “Divine smite!”
Yara appeared mid air, swinging her halberd and cleaving the robots with a single hit. The blade of her halberd glowed gold as it sheared through the robots like they were made of paper, and they flew off into the darkness with a spray of oil. Yara’s slippers struck the stone floor, followed by a loud thump as my armour, my bag and my sword were dropped at my feet.
“Hi Yara,” I smiled, whipping the oil and blood off my face. “Glad to see you-”
Slap!
I blinked in stunned silence as I was several feet deep in the foam wall. Aiden ended up having to pull me out and I was met with a very furious looking demoness in her pink and white pyjamas. Yara leaned heavily on her halberd and I could feel the exhaustion coming off her. I squeezed my fist and the smokey ring appeared, and at once I gave her some of my stamina with a mental push.
“Happy to see you too,” I said. I spat off to the side of me and sighed. “Next time let's start with a hug instead.”
“Armour on, grab your weapon, and let's get back to base,” Yara hissed through her teeth while holding her stomach. “Oh gods damn it all, I ate too much fudge.”
Aiden stood in shock with his mouth wide open, showing a set of perfect teeth with sharp fangs. “You have a demoness as your wife?” He looked between Yara and I. “A judicator no less?”
“I’ll have you know this gig started as a vacation,” Yara said, holding up a finger. “Then this bastard!” Yara jutted her hand towards me with the authority of a judge about to condemn a man to death. “Used my greatest weakness against me!”
Aiden and I both asked the same thing. “What?”
Yara threw out her arms, slamming the head of her halberd into a crawling robot that was trying to grab her leg. “Chocolate fudge is the great weakness of every demon priestess! Everyone knows that you idiot, I thought you were a bookworm like Rolada.”
“In my defense, that was going to be a gift for everyone later,” I said.
Yara put her hand on her hip and loomed over me to scowl. “So I could make a fool of myself in front of everyone by getting a stomach ache then? You're just lucky that fudge was top shelf stuff mister.”
Aiden shook his head and leaned against the foam wall. “The air is thin here, can you teleport us back out great warrior priestess?”
Yara bit her lip, and her magenta eyes lost all of its fire. “I can only do that once a week and it’s range is quite limited. Sorry, it’s not a spell I use, just my divine gift from ol’ great mommy dearest.”
Aiden brushed off caked on dust from his armour and nodded sternly. “Then we fight our way out and attempt to see if my brothers and sister remain in this den of treachery.”
As I clipped on my dragon scale armour and cloak I listened out to Yara and Aiden quickly discussing their battle plan. With Aiden being the most armoured he would take the lead, and play defensive while Yara would step in to cleave apart any foes that tried to flank him. I would back up Aiden with my Rope of Binding on any targets that had ranged attacks.
“Weird, usually he tries to set things on fire,” Yara said as she glanced around the room. “Did you actually show restraint for once? I’m impressed Josh, we can make a battle tactician out of you yet.”
I tapped on the foam wall and then gestured to the oil and wood. “I don’t feel like cremating myself today, thank you very much.”
Aiden chuckled and stretched, cracking his back. “Could use mindful spellcasters like you when I was fighting along the coast of Cidar’s Keep. Would still have my eyebrow.”
As if to prove his point he pulled back his mane of black messy hair that went past his shoulders to show off his missing right eyebrow. A thick gnarled scar went from the ridge of his brow towards his temple.
“Trust me, this is a new leaf for him,” Yara said, she lightly elbowed me in the side and winked. She dug a cloth out of her magic bag and began rubbed my cheek with it. “This oil is going to take a miracle to get out. We are going to have to find Burn.”
“Burn!” I leapt to attention and craned my neck around the room. “He was falling with us and used a bag to make this foam. Where the hell is he?”
Yara grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “What is happening?”
I filled Yara in, mindful of our hobgoblin guest to not mention anything pertaining to minions or the fact I had a dungeon. She was pleased to see I had increased my strength, but not the fact I was reckless and decided to poke around without my gear or her.
For her part she had been trying to help the others recover with Sliva being the only one that hadn’t gone overboard on the rich chocolate. Sadly Sliva didn’t have any hangover or stomach cures for spells at the moment, something she needed to meditate on to gain with her divine casting powers. Yara had felt I was in danger and ran to her room, grabbing her bag, weapon and my things before running towards the mine and using her teleport ability along with the ring to arrive at my side as I found myself in trouble again.
“What about your armour?” I asked. I reached for the buckles on my dragonscale armour. “Here, since you will be in melee more than me you should take my armour for now. I rather you not get hurt because of me-”
Yara grabbed my hand and gently slapped me on the wrist. “No, no I will not. You wear your armour. I have a few talents and tricks, not to mention…” She kicked a nearby pile of scarp. “I’ll be fine, what’s the worst that these goblin’s could have made down here? My horns nearly touch the ceiling, so it can’t be big. I want to see you make it home in one piece so I don’t have to use any healing magic if I can.”
Once I was geared up I was saddened to see my air potion had run out. We crept towards the door, mindful of the glass and debris, all while checking the air to make sure it was safe. It was a great relief to see the air was now breathable and had a fresh quality to it. With that taken care of we felt confident enough to push ahead. Aiden was at the lead, and despite him having a set of armour made of plates of metal along with his bracers and metal reinforced combat boots the hobgoblin barely made a sound.
Stealth check : Success!
+3 XP gained.
I saw a flashing indicator beside Aiden’s side, and the magnifying glass appeared. I mentally tapped it, wondering what I could learn this time.
Strength 15 (+?)
…
Dexterity 12 (+?)
Intelligence 9
…
So, he had some physical buffs on him, but with my new strength of thirteen and my mark of power I could be close to him. On the other hand if we came to blows the better bet might be to match him with dexterity and evade him as Yara hit him from the other side. At the very least I doubted he was a spellcaster. I couldn’t really get a read on the hobgoblin yet, but for now, we were allies.
We entered a short hall that split off towards a caved in door and an open door leading to a lit room. We carefully made our way to the light to peer past the door frame. Across from us a fair distance away was an identical door where I could make out Burn, Sten, Bent and Mike. Behind them were two hobgoblins, both in lighter gear with bows in hand. They waved us back and held their fingers up to their lips.
The room inside was a massive warehouse with a glowing sphere that contained a thunderstorm on the ceiling. Huge copper pipes whistled and hissed, with them coursing down the walls to eventually reach the far wall, feeding a giant block of cogs and wheels. Standing out from the block of metal was a massive humanoid shape, and one that gave me pause.
“Holy shit, is that a mech?” I gasped.