In the orb we could see arrows, streaks of magic and boxes getting thrown over a loose barricade Sten, Burn and Bent had made out of crates and industrial junk. Mike was busy grabbing whatever he could, shovelling it into his mouth and blasting any hobgoblins that got too close. Something was off about the hobgoblins, their faces looked waxy, and stretched out, but it could have simply been the orb distorting them.
“Shit, there’s way too many of them,” Yara hissed. She grabbed the map from Aiden and looked straight at the wall. “There’s no easy way to get to them, I’m hacking down the wall.”
“What are those bolts of energy?” Aiden asked, peering into the orb. “Why are my clansmen attacking your friends?”
Yara struck the wall with her halberd and a clear ringing shook her arms. She grit her teeth and scoured the room for something more suitable to the task. I tried my best to follow the action in the orb. I saw a look-a-like of Aiden holding a brass wand, and crawling over the towers of crates around a camp were metal contraptions with spindly legs and glass tied to them. Magical bolts came from them, blasting small holes in my friend's barricade.
Knowledge Arcane : Failure!
“That’s it, I’ve had enough of this,” I growled.
I slammed my fist onto the table in front of me, disrupting the little rune stones, and caused a large box with sprawling text to appear. I skipped past it all, and an alert from the scholars to find what I was looking for.
Knowledge of the Keepers
Requires 2 skill points
Improve your knowledge skill bonus from your keeper crystal by increasing the bonus to +2. Additional crafting recipes will be added to you and your minions. New minion recipes will be unlocked and the cost of drones and scouts will become halved.
I hit accept and my hands gripped the table as my head felt like it was going to burst into flames. Words in new languages appeared, burying themselves into my mind, the whispering of long dead souls pouring the knowledge straight into my ears. Recipes shot past my vision, new things for the minions to build and most of all, a series of new knowledge checks.
These ones were different, and small smoky boxes appeared over each rune stone in front of the orb, and told me what they did and said. I didn’t get any experience for it, but I didn’t care, my friends needed help, now.
“Move,” I said, gently pushing Aiden out of the way. I tapped the runes in a flurry of motion, letting my subconscious mind guide me, as if I was typing on a keyboard, pausing only to check on the orb. There was a set of wide open loading doors, and a lift was coming up bringing hobgoblins, and tall, lanky, waxy faced creatures. I slid a rune stone across the front of the orb, and the doors slammed shut, blocking them off. “Aiden, can you help Yara please?”
Yara hefted a heavy desk into the wall, cracking the bricks and spilling mortar onto the floor. Aiden hopped over the debris and grabbed the other side, together they started bashing the wall like it was a battering ram.
I felt sweat trickle down my brow as my mind was still getting force fed information. One rune glimmered, and the scholars seemed to have something to say.
Scholar Livy
Use this one, it will open the drains under the tower, letting the acid flow away and for your crystal to be able to link up to the tower. It’s close enough I believe it should turn this area into your lair.
A series of commands appeared in a small pop up window from the scholars. I carefully followed the sequence, moving several fragile runestones on the table down towards the edge while I swept one runestone carved from bone towards my left. The ground shook, and I could hear over the pounding blood in my ears the rushing of water. My vision flared up, and I could see the lines of my crystal's tendrils reach the tower’s base.
Goblin Engineering Tower has been claimed and has gained lair actions.
The tendrils were slow moving, it would take minutes before it reached up to our level. I panned the orb, turning it to see where Yara and Aiden were breaking down the wall. We would have to cross open ground, directly in the line of fire from the goblin machines shooting magic bolts.
Stone-Lens Crawlers
A goblin contraption…
Much to my dismay it seemed my earlier days of free experience from looking at things might be at an end. I glanced at the listing and after reading it I looked down at my sword. I needed a way to block or parry those magic attacks.
“Come on Aiden, I thought you were a warrior!” Yara shouted, heaving the table back. “Come on, two more.”
Aiden’s forehead was sweating as much as my own. The hobgoblin dug deep and together they rammed the wall with their improvised battering ram. Splinters flew into the air, and a tiny section of wall fell into the large warehouse styled loading area, spilling bright light into the control room. I stuck my flashlight into my bag, and my fingers touched something cool at the bottom. I pulled out the battered scroll from the four keeper dungeon. It was time to take a risk.
“You two might want to step back,” I said. I unrolled the scroll and the knowledge of how to activate it came to the forefront of my mind. “Like really far back.”
Current Casting level is too low, spell knowledge is obscured.
Yara and Aiden fled back towards the hall and I focused on the hole they had made. One of the goblin contraptions was looking inside, and it focused on me. It seemed to be charging up an attack.
I flexed my arms, mentally pushed on the scroll and as I read out the name I felt my magic connect with it to give the scroll a gentle push to activate the spell on it. “Fireball.”
The scroll disintegrated, a dense ball of blazing fire formed in my hand and I threw it towards the hole while a tail of fire followed it, streaking across the office like a falling star. The ball went right where I wanted, and as the goblin contraption shot a magic bolt at me it caught the fireball in its body.
The wall exploded.
Heat and energy flooded part of the room, burning desks, throwing chairs against the wall and blasting the hole open, making a man sized entrance. The goblin contraption was slag on the floor, the ground was covered in soot and I felt alive.
Scroll use was a partial success. Fireball was cast at 50% effect.
That was half the usual effect? I blinked as the smoke touched my eyes, and I wiped them clear, doing a double take at seeing the damage. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on that spell again.
Yara and Aiden opened the door and looked shocked. We could now see through the hole, and between a series of shelving units I could make out Burn. He was holding some weird looking reloading crossbow, and beside him was Mike who held out a pack of darts to the goblin. Burn was firing dart after dart at the goblin crawlers, while Sten battled a hobgoblin armed only with a broom.
The tendrils were coming, but they wouldn’t be here fast enough. “Yara, I want to try something.”
“That…doesn’t fill me with confidence,” Yara said. She grabbed her weapon, and her tail swished behind her. She looked ready to fight, and wasn’t even winded from our earlier encounters. “Show me what you got and let me have at them.”
I flicked my wrist and mentally recalled the spell. I traced around Yara’s back, summoning the power in me. A golden figure of a woman with flowing sashes appeared on her. “Mark of the dancer!”
Yara’s voice thundered beside me. “Goddess give me the gift of alacrity!”
Yara surged past me, gently pushing me back into the room from the explosive force of her taking off. She leapt over the crates, and landed on top of a shelving unit. She sprinted along the warehouse shelving covering a vast distance in the blink of an eye, and jumped down to knee the hobgoblin attacking Sten in the side of the head. The hobgoblin went limp, and changed into the waxy creature. It was sent flying away, crashing into the barricade wall. It was dazed and tried to stand back up, dragging its long claws on the floor. Mike ran up and swung his small pickaxe once, slamming it into the thing’s temple, caving in its skull.
I readied to cast the same spell on myself, but a mental thought stopped me. It was a big mana sink, and I felt bile in the back of my throat. I was getting close to mana blight, I was getting a good feel for the symptoms now. Dropping another three mana right now would leave me critically low or sprawled out on the floor.
“Best to get some more sword practice in,” I said, bringing my blade up. “Let’s go, Aiden!”
I turned to see Aiden with his hands on his knees. He took a deep breath, and his stamina seemed to return to him. A notification appeared beside him, with a smoky frame.
Second Wind of Recovery - Rare Fighter Talent
Recover a massive amount of stamina, gain passive stamina recovery and gain minor health regeneration. This ability will heal superficial cuts and fight back infections. One wound on the user's body will drop a tier in severity.
It was a prompt from my new found knowledge. Aiden looked up at me, gave me a swift nod and together we ran into the room. Aiden placed himself towards the opponent’s camp, scimitar held up, ready to deflect attacks. A streak of power went past me freezing a crate. The second bolt of magic was deflected by Aiden, and when a third came we threw ourselves towards the ground, sliding behind a shelf in time to dodge the next few magic bolts that struck where we just were.
“I’ll get those crawlers,” Aiden said, getting up and placing a hand on the shelf as he glanced around it. “You help your friends.”
I patted Aiden on the shoulder. “Thanks, good luck.”
He grunted and took off, weaving between cover where he could find it. I glanced between rubble as I saw several crawlers run past the other side of the shelf I was behind, trying to chase Aiden. The hobgoblin spun on the spot before I could even warn him and he cut them to pieces before continuing his charge. I crept back and hit a chest that seemed out of place in the middle of the aisle, it rattled, probably full of silverware, or coins.
My curiosity got the better of me as I saw a paper stuck to the front of it with the words ‘potions’ written in poor handwriting and I cracked it open. Inside was a fortune of coins, hundreds upon hundreds of coins, both silver and gold. I was shocked, then I saw tiny eyes open on the coins.
Knowledge Arcane
Mimics are-
I slammed the chest shut, and grabbed a nearby wood scrap to shove in the hasp forcing it to stay closed. The chest rumbled several times before going still. I breathed a sigh of relief. “Nope, not dealing with that right now.”
I took off again, and glanced between the shelving units trying to follow the action. At the makeshift camp in the middle of this huge room I could make out Bent. He had half of a hobgoblin robot in his hand, using it as a bludgeon. He slammed it into a crowd of the other alive and fighting hobgoblin robots, knocking bolts, scraps and arms into the air. At the back of the camp was another Aiden, who shouted orders and held the earth mage goblin hostage with a wand held tightly in his hand.
Sten managed to see me, and separating us were a few tightly packed shelves full of heavy crates and chests. He put his hands up to his mouth to shout at me over the sounds of battle. “Doppelgängers!”
“Don’t open the crates!” I shouted back. “I found tiny mimics!”
“Gods be kind!” Sten swore. He turned and charged off. “Burn! Don’t open that potion crate!”
I looked down the long aisle of shelves, and went my own way. I needed to find a way to my friends. The only thing I really had here was cover. Two crawlers stepped around a crate, and they turned to face me. I twisted, and slammed into a metal brace on one of the shelves, then threw myself behind it as they shot bolts of energy at me. Flames and sparks hit where I had just stood, and a nearby crate burst into flames. Tin cans rolled out of it, and on the surface I could make out goblin text, which had a translation that appear over it.
“Baked beans?” I mumbled.
The heated, pressurized cans burst open, and burning beans with tomato paste pelted me. I threw up my hands and cloak, blocking the worst of it. I wiped out the juices from my eyes and saw the shadows of the crawlers round the corner. I pushed out from my hiding spot, sliding on the beans, and swung my sword. In one smooth motion I cut them both in half before they could react. They had been charging up another blast, and the magical energies surged up my sword as I destroyed them.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
The runes glowed down the length of my blade and the hilt chilled in my hands. I heard a scuffle behind me and I turned to see a wounded Sten. I gasped and ran over as I fished around the bandolier, when I reached him I handed him a small healing potion. “Are you alright?”
Sten shook his head back, spitting out a dark curse and reached to uncork the potion. His chainmail was marred with grease and oil, his beard was a crow’s nest and he was covered in a layer of soot.
Wait, his beard was a crow’s nest.
I lashed out with my foot and kicked him square in the chest. Sten was thrown back as if he was made of paper, and his face twisted into a snarling set of teeth with a hood covering his eyes. The potion went into the air and I reached up for it. A clawed hand grabbed it, mere inches out of my reach. White hot pain came from my side, and I was thrown back, hitting the bean puddle. I slid down the aisle until I crashed into a pile of solid barrels.
The doppelgänger held a viscous short mace crackling with lightning and thunder in its hand and it looked surprised I was still conscious. It pocketed the potion as I tried to rise. I glanced down to see my white dragon scale armour was spotted with massive red marks that looked akin to blood.
“You're a tough one kid,” the doppelgänger wheezed. It stepped towards me, its large, boney, webbed foot wading into the aisle that desperately needed the aid of a mop. It tapped the pocket that held my potion. “That’s a lot of blood. How about this, I give you this potion, and you leave-”
Before I could reply it’s hand flickered with light, and it held a dagger. It noticed my change and picked up on its failed ploy. It threw the dagger and I twisted out of the way, bringing up my sword arm. I didn’t deflect the blow, but it struck my arm where my armour was and harmlessly flew away leaving me with a superficial bruise.
“Produce fire!” I readied to throw the less impressive orb of flame at it, and when the creature backed up I mentally commanded it to hover over my shoulder for when I needed it. “Why don’t you leave?”
I backed up, mindful of my footing as the creature hissed at me. From behind him I could see the fake Sten was rubbing along his waxy chin, reforming the beard. It glanced between the shelves and tried again, copying Sten’s beard to a greater degree.
The black ring appeared on my fingers and I looked over the doppelgänger’s shoulder. Yara appeared behind him, dropping down from up high, then grabbed his neck and his leg. She lifted him into the sky like he was a doll and brought his back down onto her knee. A horrendously loud crack shook the aisle as she folded him in half, killing the monstrous creature instantly.
The snarling creature copying Sten ran up behind Yara with a viscous dagger at the ready. I picked up a nearby can and threw it with all my mind, striking it in the forehead. It stumbled back and screeched as the can’s contents coated its face. It spat and roared in my direction, earning itself a strike from Yara, who now held the enchanted mace. The thing’s head snapped back suddenly, and it flopped to the ground dead. Black ichor spilled out the side of it, mixing with the tomato paste, like motor oil covering a blood stain.
Yara slid up to me and held my cheeks in her hands. “Josh, can you hear me? How hurt are you?”
My pursed lips wobbled and I gave her a thumbs up. “I’m good, it’s just lunch.”
Yara was visibly relieved and looked down at her stained pjyamas, then me. “This is going to take forever to get out.”
I helped her back towards our friends as my choice of footwear had a much easier job keeping me upright. I took the risk and used Arcane Trick to clean off our legs at the very least to remove the chance of slipping. Using the low tier spell didn’t use mana any more, but I could feel my stamina get drained with each use. I still had plenty of energy left in me, but I was starting to get taxed. Finally I made it out of the maze, where I found Sten and Burn surrounded by a dozen corpses covered in cuts and darts.
Sten tossed Yara her halberd, and he hefted a wide sword that had a prompt telling me it was a ‘Treve Falchion’. The dwarf looked to be in perfect health. “Thanks lass, it felt good to have a real weapon back in my hands. Glad to see you found our wizard helping himself to lunch.”
“Whoa, messy eater alert,” Burn snickered as he tied a bandage onto a bleeding cut on his arm. He turned and jumped onto a stacked pile of clothes to fire off a few darts. “Don’t worry one bit, I got a few soaps that will get that out for you guys.”
I ran over and poked my head over the barricade to watch Aiden and Bent fight side by side. They cleaved a path through the machines, and the fake Aiden had reached the closed loading doors. He still had his prisoner, and he pointed the wand towards Bent.
“Think you can gift wrap him up for us boss?” Burn asked, elbowing me. “It’s all I want for the winter festival!”
“Gladly,” I said. I reached my sauce coated fingers into my bandolier and pulled out a string. We moved together towards him, getting out of the barricade to a more open area with only a handful of stacked crates and rubble for cover. “Try to keep the mage alive, I want to know what happened..”
The sound of combat drowned out the jingle of Sten’s armour and the wet sounds from each step Yara and I took. There were wispy voices from the loading gate and the fake Aiden roared at them. “Cowards! Get back here, we were this close!”
Stealth : Success!
+5 XP gained.
I jumped up, now in range, and threw my hand out. “Rope of Binding!”
The fake Aiden transformed, becoming another doppelgänger with jewels on its fingers and in its fangs. It threw the goblin mage at us, and the magic rope snaked past the flying figure, grappling the monster to the ground. The wand fell to the ground, and the crawlers all went still.
Lair Action : Return machines to the charging stations.
My crystal was now in the floors and walls. A few new lair actions appeared. I could start the machines, command the various robots and control the loading crane. I tapped on the crane to stop it, and I heard cries of alarm outside the doors, followed by the sound of splashing water. They had dove into the river. There was a sharp crack that came from the downed doppelgänger.
Burn checked on the stunned goblin mage, and I rounded to the corner to find my quarry foaming at the mouth. A sharp stench came from his mouth and a small capsule rolled out of the foam. It had poisoned itself. The body dissolved away soon after, turning into a puddle of oily goo that soon evaporated. I looked back at the site of my battle to see the bodies were gone.
The party has won an encounter!
+375 XP to Burn
+350 XP to Sten
+350 XP to Bent
+250 XP to Josh
…
I used my lair action to detect if any were hiding around us still, and the line about doppelgängers rapidly decreased to nothing. However, what was worrying was a line about mimics with several question marks. I brought it up to double check it.
Mimics ???
-Medium 7???
-Small 15???
-Tiny 1000???
“Damn it, how are we going to find all those,” I said, rubbing the back of my head. I glanced over to find Aiden, Bent and Mike standing in the midst of a few obliterated machines and fallen doppelgängers, some of which were in the middle of evaporating. Bent held his makeshift club high, ready to smash a crawler that was going away. I picked up the fallen wand and waved to them. “I got control of the machines guys!”
We regrouped, and pulled up a few barrels and crates to sit on, after making sure they were free of mimics. Burn wrapped a clean, damp cloth around the mage’s head, and gave him instructions to keep it cool so his bruises wouldn’t swell. Aiden and the mage looked at each other fiercely, then their expression softened.
“You were right, the keeper duped us,” Aiden sighed, putting his head in hands. “Do you know where my crew went?”
“Not Wyrmbreath. It was the same with my guys, they started acting strange, and we had to get them away from the machines. They tried to sabotage the war machine so our contract with the keeper would be void. Then he would claim our tower and find Rodney to ask for his money back, a real piece of work that keeper was.” The goblin mage shook his head. “Our guys probably got a big offer to walk away and go home. Or magically tricked, who knows.”
Aiden frowned and tilted his head towards the loading gate. “Can you open up the doors Josh?”
I waved a hand and got the lair action to appear. It made a pop up that looked like a scroll with several controls, and I tapped on the one to open them up. The loading doors rumbled open and I got the crane to bring the platform back up. The goblin mage gave me a confused look, and followed Aiden who was walking over to the edge. We followed and saw a series of motorized boats vanishing in the distance, away from Wyrmbreath. The wide cavern outside the tower had the underground river, a few mushroom farms and a boat left behind at a sizable dock.
“Name’s Terrance, what about you kid?” the goblin mage asked me. He looked down at my hand and tilted his head. “Lordship ring?”
“I’m Josh. Yeah, I fought a skeleton knight and got this,” I said. I glanced around the cavern and wondered what to say. “I…kind of own the area now that the keeper is gone.”
“Good riddance,” Terrance said. He spat on the ground and pointed out the boat. “The Volatile’s engine is always acting up, not surprising they left it behind. I could get it running in a moment though.”
Mike stood beside the goblin mage and peered out into the cavern. He let out a whistle and the two of them turned to look at each other. Mike adjusted his fake beard and let out a low grumble before waltzing away, whistling a tune.
“That has to be the shortest, hairiest dwarf I’ve ever seen,” Terrance said, holding a hand to his head. “I think I need to see a head doctor.”
Aiden held out a hand towards Terrance with his dagger at the ready, and I jumped back. Did he intend to fight him? The two of them shook hands and took turns tapping the dagger on the tip of their fingers. The sharp blade caused their blood to bead up, and they both had red blood. Satisfied Aiden turned to face me. “I’m calling a truce until we learn the whereabouts of our allies. If you don’t mind, I'd like to divide those treasures and get going, as long as you're willing to let us take the boat.”
Burn whistled and followed Mike, stuffing the new crossbow into a burlap sack to hide it from view. Sten and Bent also made themselves scarce, leaving Yara and I. I got a notification in the corner of my vision telling me the upper levels had opened, the main gates had visitors, and the rest of my minion management screen appeared. I quickly sent off a few requests for food like Yara and he had agreed too.
Terrance rolled his shoulders and it sounded like a cement mixer. “I think I really need a shower. There’s rock dust where I would rather not mention.”
Aiden shook his leg and pebbles fell out of his pant legs. “Glad to see I wasn’t the only one.”
We put down the valuables we had picked up, as well as the treasures we looted off the nearby doppelgängers. While Terrance led them around the warehouse to grab a few things I jogged over to a doorway that led upstairs. Dan and a few minions with Rolada, Lin and Sliva in tow, were running down the flight of stairs. I held up a finger and hushed them. After assuring them we were fine I grabbed the sacks from Dan and ran back down to find a sizable pile of valuables between Yara and the others.
Terrance placed the wand down by Yara and held up his hands. “Officially I say the tower had fallen, and I’m no longer legally obligated to its management. It’s all yours lady, I just want my severance package and the boat to get going.”
Terrance scooped up a fist load of coins, rings and gear from the doppelgängers along with a shiny brass key. I sat down and Yara held up a coin. “They won the coin flip.”
“I assume you're claiming that crossbow?” Aiden asked with a grin. “It should count-”
“Yes,” Burn spat, cutting him off. “You can pry it out of my cold dead hands, you elf blooded hoblin.”
Aiden raised a brow. “I would spit something back, but I saw your aim with that weapon. So instead I’ll rescind any comment and ask to keep this civil, please.”
We went back and forth for a time. It turned out the doppelgängers had ransacked the upstairs area they had been able to get past the security. They just wanted to get the designs of the war machine the goblin’s had been building, but hadn’t been able to crack the safe they dragged downstairs. Terrance had bought time when he fell and was captured by them. He opened every other management safe in the tower, using the doppelgängers greed in fighting over treasures to get them off his case. I gave them the sacks of rations and the two of them eased up with the loot division, letting us take the lion’s share. I had no idea how much gold it was exactly, but it was more money than I ever had before, and this place was full of manufactured goods.
The only worrying part was Terrance mentioned that wherever doppelgängers showed up mimics were sure to follow. Most of them were harmless to people, instead copying random trinkets or pieces of furniture if they were big enough, and most of them ate pests like bugs or rodents.
“Until they get big enough, then they start eating adventurers,” Yara whispered.
Going back to the looting we managed to get bows, swords, spears, and all kinds of armour pieces into our haul. Various ones had low level enchantments that Terrance had worked on, and he held out a slim journal. “This is my backup copy, consider it a thanks for saving me.”
I looked down at my filthy hands and Mike took the journal for me. He flipped through the pages and I saw formulas, minor spell lines to power enchantments and other ways to work magic into metal to make it stronger and more pliable to shape. The new recipes wove their way into my new lists and I felt my smile blossom.
“I hate to be a bother but this place…gives me bad feelings. My ancestors frown at what has transpired and I would like to go to Wyrmbreath to find a temple to pray at,” Aiden said. He raised a fist towards me, and gave me a curt nod. “Lord Josh Hale, be well. One day I’ll be back, and I would like to duel you to settle the score.”
I held up a fist in kind and gave him a fist bump. “Only if it’s a friendly duel. That way we can have lunch after while we look fondly back on the old times. Like where you got trapped in a jar and I managed to flip that powered pallet jack.”
Persuasion : Critical Success!
+5 XP gained.
Aiden chuckled and he grabbed his haul. “A friendly duel it is then.”
I was glad to see Aiden in high spirits. The two of them went to the platform and I pulled the lever beside the doors. The crane spooled up and let them down towards the cave floor, where I saw them get in the boat, and take off. There was a prompt that appeared on each side of the river that I could see. It was another lair action, one to close the river gates. I tapped on it and focused on the walls, seeing the rock fade away, and a fair distance away I the tendrils moving grates in stone arches to cut off access to the tower while letting water through. One tendril was moving fast towards us, and it looked to be holding something. The floor beside Sten rumbled, and the tendril burst out of the floor holding onto his pickaxe.
“Heavens above, Para I thought I lost you!” Sten hugged his pickaxe to his chest. He saw us look at him and he scoffed. “It’s short for paratotlite, a rare mineral I wrote a thesis on in school.”
Bent held up sacks full of loot he managed to hide and the rest of the team came out of the doorway upstairs. Lin and Rolada jumped for joy as they ran around the warehouse, looking into the crates as they tried to sate their curiosity. Despite my multiple warnings about mimics they ignored me, until Rolada threw open an out of place chest and it screamed at her in fear. She screamed back and jumped into Lin’s arms as the chest sprouted out roots like a tree and it sprinted off to find somewhere to hide.
Sliva approached us, wearing her usual comfortable attire. There was a keen edge to her steps however, and I saw her hand twist into a shape to cast a spell, with two fingers stretched out and her thumb tucked between them. She sniffed the air and her expression soured. “Doppelgängers?”
I nodded. “We got them.” I watched the minions excitedly inspect each crate, and an entry appeared in our list of storage. I couldn’t help but laugh. “This turned out better than I imagined. I was worried I wouldn’t have something for everyone for the festival, but I think I’ll be able to find a few fun gifts around here.”
“I think those two had a good idea when it came to showers,” Yara said, wiping sauce off her arm. “Can we go back to home base?”