B2 with Blake and Vasha
"Hey, how'd we survive that blast earlier?" Vasha asked Blake as they were going down B2 in complete darkness, sure she was happy as can be about being alive, but that didn't mean she wasn't freaked out by this black horned...human(?) taking a blast like that.
"I have Dragon scales everywhere except for my face thanks to this armor, and it's why I can use fire too..." Blake answered, keeping a tight hold on Vasha's rope with his free hand, but stopped him from making a fireball to see. "...my turn, how can you tell where we're going?" Even if the path was a straight line, Blake was expecting them to hit the side of a wall by now.
"My kind can see in the dark thanks to these big old eyes." Vasha turned around with her eyes somewhat glowing in the dark. "Does that armor give you the horns too?"
"Nope, that's the sword, and she gives me some cool powers too." Blake corrected her while keeping the rest of Risabeel's powers to himself, but the small talk was welcome if not he'd be racking his head on how Nathan and Lu were doing. "They should be fine, right?"
"Her?" Again a glowing pair of eyes were sent Blake's way quickly finding their way to Rsiabeel then to the blue gem on Saffire. "Okay, I need to know how can they talk?"
"What's it to you, Potato?" Saffire growled at Goblin letting a bit of light off her gem earning her a short laugh from Blake. "What's so funny!"
"Sir Blake, Saffire, that is no way to act to one who is curious." Risabeel tried to stop them to the best of her efforts but with no luck.
"Haha, that's all because of me!" Blake casually blurted out, earning him raised a brow from Vasha, or at least he thought it was by the way her eyes moved in the dark. "Right, that doesn't make sense? Look, the important thing is I'm a blacksmith, a pretty damn good."
"A blacksmith? Shouldn't you be banging on a piece of steel and not cutting down Goblins?" Vasha pointed out, now she was starting to pick out all the things that were weird about Blake. "Hmm?" And none of it was making sense.
"I'm the leader of a guild on the side and on my off days; I do a few quests here and there," Blake explained, tugging on the rope to making sure Vasha hadn't gotten free under the cover of darkness which was starting to get lighter as they were coming to the entrance of a bunker. "Good." He nodded once he felt some resistance on the rope from Vasha. "What about you, Potato? What's a Goblin got to do?"
"Looting, killing, smoking and tricking big dumb blacksmiths to their deaths!" Vasha answered as she stepped into the light.
"Fuck!" The moment Blake looked down at her, he found playfully holding on to the now cut rope while that silver dagger him got off that Goblin and her pipe, black lips grinning from ear to ear. "When did yo-GUHAH!"
A thunderous blow came to the side of the smith's head as a warhammer was smashed into him, knocked him away from Vasha, through a stack of barrels and creates and finally slammed against a wall on the far side of the bunker.
"By the hammer of her chieftain!" Smirked a 7-foot tall bright green-skinned male Hobgoblin decked out in the Ram Force armor only missing one of their horned helmets and let a mane of raven black hair roll down his back and wielded a silver war hammer partly dyed red in Blake's blood. "AHAHA! Gets 'em every time! Vasha!"
"Careful, Urka, that guy walked away from an explosion," Vasha warned, moving over to Urka's side to lean on his log of a leg.
"What!? He got caught in that trap and walked away looking like that?" Urka looked over at Blake with his upper half covered by broken bits of wood. "But that wouldn't have happened if 'someone' did their fucking job! Now would it!?" He roughly pulled Vasha off his leg and into the air bearing his fangs at her.
"NGH! They would ha-ugh! Killed me otherwise!" Vasha's voice barely escaped her lips as Urka wrung her neck like a wet rag while she was scratching at the Hobgoblin's arm. "I am sorry! I am sorry! Shaka! Shaka!"
"Shaka?" Urka stared at Vasha wide-eyed for a moment then put on a small smirk and lightened his hold on her. "RAH!" Then threw her without any warning into a wall with the Goblin bouncing against it like a ball. "Shaka..." He spat at the floor next to her then turned to finish off Blake. "!" But what he saw wasn't a seemingly unconscious man but red-hot fireball. "GRRH!" That slammed into his face and made him stagger back while patting himself down.
"Sorry for butting in on your lovers' quarrel but..." Blake stood tall, Risabeel over his shoulder, a fireball at the ready and a trail of blood running down the side of his head thanks to the Hobgoblin chief. "...I am on a quest, and it looks like I got the boss, I hope they pay by the pound for you!"
"GRRRR! HASKAR!" Urka roared with the right side of his face burnt to a charred smoking green and charged at Blake with his warhammer pulled back.
"Dragon fireball!" Blake fast balled the fireball at Urka.
"RAH!" But the Hobgoblin brushed it off with his thick shoulder guards then swung his hammer at his target.
"HAH!" With Blake meeting it with Risabeel stopping the attack with one hand. "That all you got!?"
"WHAT!?" Urka snarled, facing down someone who was still standing after taking a swing of his hammer and stopped another swing with a sword and one hand. "JABBA!" He yelled at the ceiling.
"Wha?" Blake took a glance upward and saw four 3-foot tall Goblins clinging to the ceiling by daggers stabbed into the stone.
"Hihihi!" They sneakered before pulling out their daggers and fell right on top of Blake.
"Not again!" Blake jumped back breaking his test of strength with Urka and dodging 3 of them.
"HAHAHA!" The fourth and lucky one maniacally laughed landing on Blake's shoulder. "KAH!" And started pulling at the smith's hair as it brought up their dagger to stink into his neck. "ERRRK!" But it was met with a hand of fire seizing it by the head.
"I said! NOT AGAIN!" Blake ripped the Goblin off himself while setting it ablaze with the little bastard kicking and swinging its dagger wildly as its body got burnt to a crisp. "NE-WHA!?" He was planning on showing off his kill to their allies, but 2 of the Goblins jumped at him.
"EK-!" The one going for Blake's head got hit with a headbutt that sent it flying off to meet Urka's open palm, but the other one was able to tackle him in the gut.
"URKA!" It screamed, landing on the floor after it knocked some of the air out of Blake.
"!" Blake's eyes went from the screaming Goblin to find Urka winding up for a swing. "Shit!" He took the hit to his chest with dragging his feet against the floor until he hit the wall behind him.
"HAH! You might be stronger, but numbers always win!" Urka smirked as his three Goblins giggled at his side as they jumped from side to side, trying to get Blake's eyes on of them and away from their leader.
"Now I know how Saffire felt..." Blake muttered under his breath, holding Risabeel forward with one hand while the other was making a fireball on the side. "Take out the legs then go for the head." He eyed the annoying Goblins. "..." While doing that he found Vasha slowly picking herself off the floor.
"Watch out! Idiot!" Saffire yelled once Urka made a move on them with his Goblins climbing up on the walls.
"Thanks!" Blake blocked another huge swing from Urka then jumped back as a Goblin came leaping at him from a wall. "I hope the others are having as much fun as me!" He smirked, rolling away as the other two Goblins tried taking a ride on his back.
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Lu & Rena VS Hobgoblin Rogue
"If all you do is jump around then you'll get tired real quick!" The Hobgoblin rogue snarled, switching between trying to catch or slash at Lu with his chained weapon. "Tch!" But never got close due to the Elf's masterfull acrobatic skills.
"You first!" Rena yelled from Lu's quiver as the Elf fired at the Hobgoblin, forcing him to display his skills as well, leaping out of the way as Seed Bomb and Snarl Vine Shots were sent his way.
"URK!" With one of the vines catching him by the leg. "Hah!" But he quickly flicked his chain, and the dagger flew around to cut him free then both it and his claw returned to his hands. "*pant* You're really making me work for it aren't you? I'm starting to think that it'd be best to kill you off."
"I was starting to think the same..." Lu agreed with the Hobgoblin. "...then again Blake might say we'd get more out of bringing you in alive for questioning." He added, pulling back an arrow with a large bud on it.
"Bring me in alive? Hahaha! Alright, then I'll make sure to take that tongue with me once I'm done with you!" The Hobgoblin tossed his dagger and claw at Lu in a flurry of rattling chain sweeps.
"More of the same." Lu backflipped on to a wall then launched off it to let loose his arrow being dodged by the rogue leaping to a side. "Poll-!" He was about to pull on his bowstring when the dagger he avoided a moment ago was coming at him from behind. "Urp!" He spun around it. "Argh!" But once he thought he was in the clear, he felt a stinging pain on his left leg where the rogue's claw was holding on tight.
"Down you go!" The Hobgoblin threw the arm controlling his claw down, taking Lu with it and smacked the Elf down to the stone floor with a bone shattering crunch. "Suprise!? Just look up, and you'll see it!" He smirked, whipping his chain around.
"Ugh?" Lu looked up and saw the dagger fly over him, then its chain did perfect 90-degree turn right down at him. "!" Rolling to his side and up on his feet, Lu went to pull at his bowstring again. "Tch!" But a flick of his ear warned him of something rattling behind him making him duck down as the dagger's chain did another 90-degree turn his way.
"Ah, those lovely ears again! But how do you like my chain work?" The Hobgoblin asked, making his chain twist and bend in impossible ways, each time trying to strike down Lu getting small cuts and nicks in on him as the Elf barely dodged the attacks. "Still not giving in, huh? Then I'll just get better!"
"That side!" Lu turned, hearing the chain with the dagger rattle and waited for it to make another outrageous turn. "Huh? But instead of getting hit by the dagger or even the claw he was stroke by the chain itself catching him by his arm and tossed him aside.
"Hahah! The claw and dagger aren't all you should be worried about, friend!" The Hobgoblin sneaked, making his claw rush towards to Lu doing two turns when the Elf tried to dodge both it and the chain now catching him by his shoulder. "Now come here!" He pulled on the chain to throw Lu off his feet and towards him.
"Rena!" Lu yelled, being dragged across the floor as he tried to get his footing back and out of his quiver shot a ball of green light.
"What's th-ARGH!?" Hobgoblin tried to guess what was coming his way but found or felt out what it was as a small foot was rammed into his warty nose and tossed his head back, almost throwing him over.
"Rena Kick!" Rena striking an epic pose yelled, taking the Hobgoblin by surprise and gave Lu enough time to free himself. "Na! Na! Na! I got you!" She stuck her tongue out and pulled at her eyes, taunting the staggering Hobgoblin.
"Why you little fly!" The Hobgoblin with a now bent nose tried swatting Rena out of the air, but she quickly flew back to Lu. "Get back here!" He trained his claw and dagger at her in a blind rage, but both were parried by Lu striking at them with his bow. "GRRRR!"
"Luuuu! It's ready! Have Fun!" Rena cheered, pecking Lu on the cheek before jumping back into his quiver in a puff of green dust.
"Good." Lu nodded and finally pulled on his bowstring, letting his Pollen Shot go off and covered the bunker in a thick haze of green pollen, blocking the sight of anyone caught in it.
"Think this is going to help you!" The screaming mad Hobgoblin roared into the green smokescreen having a good pair of ears on himself and heard Lu's bow being pulled from his right. "Got you!" He threw out his claw in that direction. "HAH!" Then his dagger went behind him, earning him a grunt of pain from Lu. "Tch! HASKAR!" But he was met with a dagger slicing passed his cheek.
As the pollen cleared, the dagger was stabbed through Lu's shoulder with one hand holding on to it while the other was held out after he failed to hit the Hobgoblin with his own. As for the Elf's bow its empty string was being pulled on by one of Lu's vines while the bow its was held by the Hobgoblin's claw.
"Hah! You thought you could get me with a sneak attack!? Well, guess what? I'm better!" The Hobgoblin laughed with his mouth set in a toothy grin and pulled his claw back to his hand, dropping Lu's bow on the way. "Now time to finish this!" He spun the claw around then flicked it forward. "What?!" But it only got halfway to the Elf before dropping to the floor. "That was just a miss fire, you hear!" He reached down to his chain. "Ugh!?!" But his arm went stiff and numb as if there was a weight pressing down on it.
"Well, that worked faster than I thought...Ugh!" Lu pulled the dagger out off his shoulder and rolled it around a few times while walking up to Hobgoblin without care.
"Hehe, of course, it worked! I made it after all!" Rena boasted, coming out of Lu's quiver to press a glowing leaf to his wounded shoulder. "We should use these more often!" A vine of blue eyelike berries came out of Lu's quiver with a wave of her hand.
"Hey! I a-m n-ot d-d-do-!" The Hobgoblin's mouth started to feel numb and was getting harder and harder to move until it came to a halt along with the rest of his body as if he had been turned into a statue.
"!" Even his eyes were locked in place watching Lu come up to him.
"Moon Gorgon..." Lu muttered, standing in front of the unmoving Hobgoblin who was grunting and trying his hardest to move his body. "...it's a poisonous plant that causes the eater to suddenly become paralyzed all as if caught in the gaze of a Gorgon and usually leads to death if not treated in a few hours..." Lu went over to pick up his dagger covered in some blue Moon Gorgon juice then pulled out a small vial in front of the Hobgoblin shocked frozen eyes. "...I'll wait until we get out of here, okay?"
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Nathan vs. Hobgoblin Witch
"Doma, Fuma, Nooma, Layla!" The Hobgoblin witch chanted, keeping a constant stream of green gas on Nathan and his mana shield. "Come, come, into my cloud and rot away! Ohoho!"
"Were you not stating that you would use me as a breeding pet? I believe your gas might have some adverse effects on me," Nathan asked the witch taunting her to come at him. "Hmm? If I try to strike at her, then I would need to put down my barrier, which leaves me at the mercy of her gas...I need to think of a way around this troublesome magic."
"That only matters for your lower half; everything else is just extra!" The Hobgoblin waved her staff around before sending a bolt of green mana at Nathan hitting his barrier with a loud ping.
"Would you not do that I am trying to think here..." Nathan looked up at the witch partly annoyed by her then went back to scanning the bunker for anything of use. "Hmm?" And spotted what appeared to be a series of holes running along the ceiling. "Are those air ducts?"
"WHAT!? Do not ignore your future lover!" The witch snapped, throwing her staff over her head to unleash a stream of vile poison at Nathan smashing into his barrier with enough force to knock him off his feet and into the back end of his own shield. "Ohoho! Got you that time!"
"This person is a fool but slightly more powerful than I thought." Nathan groaned, picking himself up and noted that his barrier had gotten cracked by her last outburst. "Hmph?" With a quick wave of his hand, it was put back in order, and the small amount of gas was pushed out. "If she goes on a rampage then I am done for but why aren't those air ducts cycling the air?" From his guess, the ducts should be pumping clean air into the bunker while flushing out impurities. "I need to test something?" Nathan raised a hand, and his barrier began expanding around him.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Hmm? What are you doing love? Pushing me away wouldn't do you any good." The Hobgoblin mused, backing up as Nathan's barrier reached her not wanting to get caught in whatever he was planning.
"Good, she backed away..." Nathan smirked, holding a ball of mana in his free hand. "Now let's see what you have done to this fine room!" He dropped his barrier then fired his mana ball at one of the air ducts then quickly put up his barrier as the cloud of poison closed in on him.
"Huh, he didn't shot at me...? What!?" The Hobgoblin watched the mana ball fly until she found out what it was aimed at. "Oh no, you don't!" She pointed her staff at it, and her poison cloud shot after the ball of mana, wrapping around the ball and crushed it. "Hah! Trying to open the air ducts, are you? Well, I wouldn't let you!"
"Good, I was planning on that!" Nathan surged with electricity while his Sparkling Stikes of Boa spellbook floated next to him and dropped his barrier not surrounded by toxic gas. "Thunder Javelin!" He threw the spell at his opponent with bolts of lightning leaping off it as it screamed towards its mark.
"EEEP! Gas Self!" The Hobgoblin in shock wrapped her arms around herself and turned into a green cloud, letting Nathan's Thunder Javelin fly through her. "Ohoho! That still strung a bit! You're really getting on my hate list now, lover mine!" After that, she rushed up to Nathan, striking at him with the butt of her staff.
"Ugh!" Nathan was thrown back against a wall, leaving his Sparkling Stikes of Boa and Advanced Mana Control spellbooks to fall to the floor. "Well, that was unexpe-AHH!" As he was about to get back to his feet, the Hobgoblin's staff came slamming down between his legs. "..." Looking up, he saw the witch turning back to herself.
"Ohohoh! Now, what are you going to do little mage? I can tell that you're powerful, but without your books you're nothing! You should have taken your time to master your skills like meeeee!" The Hobgoblin pressed a hand to her chest which was then used to pull at robes revealing some scaly green cleavage. "But don't worry, I'll be sure to teach you all kinds of things! Ohoh-GRGGGGH!" While laughing an iron chain suddenly wrapped itself around her neck along with her arms and legs. "Wh-wh-what!"
"As lovely as that would be, I have too many masters to count as is, adding another would simply be madness!" Nathan smirked, reaching around his back to his Iron's Call spellbook. "Tell me? Are you interested in more adventurous methods of love?" He asked as his chain tighten its hold on the Hobgoblin like a snake coiling around its prey.
"HAH! GUH! Think this will hold me!?" The Hobgoblin spat out casting Gas Self to free herself. "WHAT!?" But even with her entire body turned into gas the chain still held her in place, giving off a magical glow all the while. "Explain yourself!?"
"Why should I?" Nathan crossed his arms at the Hobgoblin while his other spellbooks came floating back to him.
"Tw-tw-two types magic!? HOW!?" The Hobgoblin's eyes went to Nathan's Sparkling Stikes of Boa and Iron's Call. "Where are you!?" Then looked around for someone else that was in the bunker helping him but it was just the two of them.
"I am sure you'd like to know how I am doing this, but as much as I like flaunting my knowledge to others it would be wasted on you..." Nathan trailed off as he reached out a hand to the chain, sparking with lightning. "...and I have other things to attend to." With a grasp of his hand, a current of electricity was sent up the chain's length and right into caught the Hobgoblin.
"GUGHAGUHCHA!" Her entire body shook violently, shifting between gas and solid until she came to a stop with her head hanging aloof to one side, foaming drool seeping out of her mouth, and jolts of lightning jumped off her.
"Hmm? Was that overboard?" Nathan asked himself, bringing the Hobgoblin a bit closer to hear soft wheezes escaping her lips. "Tenacious aren't you? But I suppose that's fine? The City Watch would likely enjoy a chat with you and your group...hmm?" He noticed her staff on the ground and raised it with some mana. "Crude, heavy, and far too macabre for my tastes, maybe one of Master Valdre's students need one?" He muttered, turning around to head out of the bunker. "Time to see if those two need some assistance, hmm, hmm, hmm!"
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Blake vs. Urka plus Goblins
"Scaleless! On your right!" Saffire warned with a Goblin leaping off a wall after Blake stopped a hammer strike from Urka.
"Thanks!" Blake held out a hand to shot it down with a fireball leaving it to roll and flail on the floor. "And you stop biting me!" He glared down at the one chewing on his right leg greave chipping its teeth on the red steel. "Get off!" He kicked it off and right at Urka.
"Useless!" Urka bashed the Goblin aside splattering it across a wall and kept coming at Blake with an overhead swing. "GRRRR!" But was parried by Blake with a one-handed swing of Rsiabeel knocking him off balance. "Get him!" He ordered to the last of his lackeys climbing up on his back and jumped off to slash at Blake with twin daggers.
"HAH!" Blake swung back around with Risabeel slashing the Goblin in half with it letting out an awestruck 'Ooooh?' before dropping to the floor in a splash of blood and gore. "ARGGHH!" But coming down on his head was a hammer strike putting him to the floor.
"I am not done with you yet!" Urka pulled back from another swing. "GRHA!" With Blake quickly rolled to the side, letting Urka's hammer crack the floor under its might. "Stay still!"
"Demon Slash!" After coming to his feet, Blake slashed at the air sending a wave of dark purple at Urka.
"RAM'S RAM!" Urka's hammer let off a glow and grew a pair of translucent horns as he met Blake's attack with a powerful shockwave that stopped it flat. "What are you!?" He snapped his fangs at Blake taken for a loop by Blake's last attack.
"Just you're every day blacksmith who found some good Ore!" Blake joked at Urka's question swinging Risabeel around while charging her up with mana for another go at Urka. "But I didn't think you'd be smart enough to use a high-end item like that one." He pointed at Urka's hammer. "It's about as strong as Gram's dashes so I should be able to overpower him on another go."
"GRRR!" The Hobgoblin tightened his hold on his hammer with cuts and burns on his armor from fighting Blake while the smith was left with dried blood on the right side of his face and scales taken off his defense after a few swings of Urka's hammer. "Vasha! Why haven't you done a thing yet!" His furious eyes set themselves on Vasha standing behind the two fighters since she got up from the floor.
"What can I do!?" She yelled back at Urka, holding the dagger picked off Blake as her only weapon, what was she supposed to do against this guy who took an explosion, throws fireballs, and might have some Demon powers. "If Wiker and Focs were here maybe..." She thought of the two other Hobgoblins of her group, but they were handling Nathan and Lu as far as she knew.
"TIKO!" Urka roared after jumping back to Vasha to grab her by the head and tossed her at Blake. "RAM'S...!" Right after that, he rushed forward pulling back his hammer, gearing up for another attack.
"If I cut through her then I can end this..." Blake charged forward as well but instead going for the plan he came up with he spun to the side to catching Vasha in his free hand while putting his back to Urka. "...Here it comes!" He braced himself as best he to take on.
"RAM!" Urka brought it to him, squarely hitting Blake's with a shockwave that tore Vasha out his hands and sent the smith cannonballing into a wall and created a large crater with Blake dug face first into it. "HAHAHA!" The Hobgoblin shook his hammer in the air victoriously.
"Ugh!" But his celebration was cut short by a groan from Blake as he was pulling himself out of his self-made crater and fell on his back to look at the ceiling. "That fucking hurt..."
"Speak for yourself! I have a headache now because of you!" Saffire growled, being the one to take the full force of the attack to what felt like the back of her head.
"Ah, I was worried for the both of you," Risabeel breathed a sigh of relief at hearing Blake's and Saffire's voices the only one out of the three that didn't feel much from Urka's attack.
"Good, to know you're fine, Risbeel," Blake held her up, but shadow coming over him made him look up. "Shit."
"GRRR!" Finding Urka enraged and holding his hammer up for one last hit before Blake got back up. "RAM'S RA-RAAGGGH!" But as soon as he was about to let loose a stringing pain came from the back his neck, and he slapped a hand to it as he staggered backward. "VASHA!" He screamed after pulling a needle out from his neck.
"*Pant, pant*" Vasha was holding her pipe to her black lips with the blowgun hole twisted open. "Ah, ah, ah!" Then she held up her dagger at Urka with shaking hands.
"CHAKA!?!" Urka was at lost for words slowly walking up to Vasha, snapping his fangs at her while dragging his warhammer across the floor with his eyes glossed over in a red taint. "VASHA!" He literally saw nothing but red at this point. "GUAH!" He growled when something hit his legs, and he fell to the floor. "GRR-UGHH!" Then came a boot to his back and found Blake standing on top of him. "YOU!"
"Oh no, don't get up! I think you've done enough!" Blake forced Urka back down then swung Risabeel up high. "HAH!" In one clean motion, Urka's head was slashed off his body and sent rolling on the floor.
"AH!" Until it came to rest at Vasha's feet still with an enraged glare once pinned on Blake now looking at her making her drop the dagger to the floor. "..." She tried her best to look away and found her eyes on Blake currently rubbing his back.
"Ugh! That's better!" Blake bent back a bit then looked at Vasha's shock and horrified face. "So, you had another of one those needle things somewhere, huh? Pretty nasty stuff you dipped it in, that chief of yours looked more pissed than ever, rage powder or something weird like that?" He muttered, reaching down to a pool of Urka's blood that was slipping out of his neck where a greenish brown Ore was forming. "Nice..."
"..." Vasha didn't bother to answer him only carefully watching as he went around picking up the rest of the Goblin Ore.
"By the way, why did you...?" Blake was about to ask Vasha something when he noticed that she hadn't so as much breathed. "Hey, Potato, you in there?" He took a step towards, but she took one back the moment he moved. "Hmm? Why did you let me go back then?" Blake chose to keep talking. Hopefully, that would get something out of her.
"What are you on about?" Vasha finally spoke up after blinking a few times as if waking up from a dream or nightmare in this case. "I led you into a trap! Twice!" She threw up two fingers to emphasize that she tried to kill him.
"Yeah, you did; still a bit annoyed by that," Blake admitted, tapping on the side of his head that Urka got a free hit on making Vasha back up further. "But when you got that dagger and pipe off me you could have just stabbed me and not go through any of this." He pointed out doing a stabbing motion with Risabeel.
"I-I-I was shocked! When you jumped to...to...to save me that's it! Why did you even do that!? You could have just left me!" Vasha was starting to get her voice back, yelling at Blake now.
"I told you before that was because you're about the same size as my little sister...reflex...and you didn't seem so shocked while we were talking in the tunnel, in fact, you could have done it then, right?" Blake came up with another chance for Vasha to take care of him without many risks. "Wait? Where did you even hide them the first time?"
"Like I'd tell you my secret." Vasha refused to tell Blake anything crossing her arm under her chest...*clink, clink*...but in doing so a bunch of silver and copper coins fell out of her cleavage. "..." Leaving the Goblin with a slight bit of red to her cheeks as she sucked on the inside of them and acted as if she was taking a draw from her unlit pipe.
"Pfft!" While Blake, on the other hand, was left to bring a fist to his mouth. "...ah, are those? Mine?" He asked, looking more closely at his belt and found his coin pouch missing, but thankfully his hammer was still there. "At least you didn't take something important; if you did, I would have to rethink about taking you with me."
"Wha?" Vasha looked up at Blake now coming over to her. "What do you mean by that!?" She tried, backing again but was met with a wall. "Ugh."
"Hmm? All your friends are dead as long as mine got rid of them. You don't have a home, no money, or weapons..." Blake kicked aside the dagger she dropped before she tried something stupid. "...not that a sneaky little thing like you would fight that way..." He leaned down to met her hight then snapped his fingers to light his thumb on fire. "...is this right?" He held it to her pipe not to sure hold to light it.
"It's...fine..." Vasha took a few puffs after getting her pipe going to calm her nerves. "...but why?"
"GRRRR!" Saffire suddenly transformed into her human form with a foot pushing Blake's face to the floor. "Look! You little green walking talking booger! He's an idiot! That does whatever he feels like for the dumbest reasons like right now! Which might be because he feels sorry for you or he just like looking at you cause he's a perv!" The Dragon barked into Vasha's face who was staring wide-eyed at her in return. "WAHOOO!" Then Saffire got knocked off her feet by Blake standing up from under her.
"HEY! I agree with all of that except for the idiot part! I have a smart reason for taking her in! And mind giving a guy some warning!? I almost broke a tooth when your fat fo-!" Blake yelled back at Saffire only to get lifted off his feet by her with her hands, starting to heat up. "Wait!? Saffire hold on! I was just mad!"
Which was que for Risabeel to change as well, "Ah! Saffire, please stop. I am sure Sir Blake did not mean to insult you." She tried, getting things under control but Saffire dragged Blake off to some part of the bunker to teach him how to keep his mouth shut. "..." Leaving her with Vasha still wide-eyed since Risabeel had a pair of black horns sticking out of her head. "Oh? Uh...I am Risabeel a Demon and companion of Sir Blake, I and Saffire, the Dragon were the sword and armor he wore a moment ago...uhm...it is a pleasure to meet you face to face, I hope you take Sir Blake's offer he is a very...unique...man if you give him the chance..." She ended it with an awkward bow.
"..." The Goblin rolled her pipe to one side then pulled it out to look at it, starting to think that maybe she took one too many drags of this stuff then blew out a long stream of smoke. "I'll come along as long as you keep me safe." She took the offer after going to Blake and Saffire.
"Huh?' Saffire looked up from trying to force feed Blake a fireball. "Whatever." She shrugged before letting Blake go.
"That is good news, yes, Sir Blake!" Risabeel lightly cheered, coming over to help Blake back to his feet.
"Great, let's get out of here then!" Blake declared about to set off with the others. "..." But stopped to look around the bunker. "Wait? That path got sealed off when we got in, is there something to open it?" He looked at Vasha, expecting her to know something.
"Over there." She pointed over at a set of levers and gears, one of which was marked 'door.'
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Main room
"Hey, good to see that you guys don't need me around to handle things." Blake came out of B2 with Saffire lighting the way for them.
"Hmph, I was more worried about you than anything else, smith," Nathan scoffed at Blake's words, standing with his defeated foe still knocked out and held partly off the ground by his chain.
"Good to see you, guys." Lu greeted them with a wave while Rena was sitting like a warlord on the head of their paralyzed Hobgoblin.
"AHAHA! Yeah! If anything happened to you, then I'd make a run for leader!" Rena bashfully declared and stomped on the head of her throne getting some pained grunts out of him. "Shut up! Or I'll put a walnut up your nose!"
"I would refrain from doing that Fairy best to leave them be until the City Watch takes these pests off our hands," Nathan said, waving a hand at her to stop but got a tongue stuck out at him. "But on that matter, I would like to know if you found their leader and if so, where are they?" He asked, turning to Blake, Risabeel, Saffire, and that pest who tricked them earlier. "Blake? Why is she still alive?"
"Well, I killed their boss, and she's on our side now," Blake causally answered, walking right passed Nathan while holding up Urka's Ore and up to the Hobgoblin Rena was standing on. "What did you two do to this guy? He's like a statue or something?" He poked at the poor guy trying to get a reaction out of him.
"You killed them!? Did it not cross your mind that maybe it would be beneficially to bring the leader of a threat to our city in alive for questioning!? And now you say you want to keep around someone that tried to kill you only a few moments ago!?" Nathan was having a hard time dealing with Blake's poor decision-making skills.
"Well, first off, I don't really have anything in the way of holding someone down like you guys with these two..." Blake held a hand to Risabeel and Saffire then pointed at Vasha, staring at her ex-allies. "...not to mention thanks to Vasha hitting 'em with a rage needle, keeping enraging Hobogoblin calm might have been a bit hard...as for her, she helped me kill him and didn't take the perfect chance to kill me. If you have a problem with my actions, we can always take it up with our dear guild leader...oh wait? That's me."
"I should have already resigned myself to your way of thinking by now." Nathan sighed, knowing the madding things this man goes through on a daily basis. "However, I highly doubt the authorities will allow that one to walk away free." He warned, turning to Vasha having a chat with Risabeel.
"Come on! Risabeel gets to walk around fine, and she's a Demon! I'm sure she'll go through some paperwork and be all set!" Blake assured, jabbing Nathan in the sides a few times.
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Hours later Guild Union Hall
"Yeah, no, that's impossible for her." Tobi coldly told to the faces of Blake, Risabeel, and Vasha the rest of the group went back to the Guild House after getting and splitting up their reward which was upped to 210 gold. Due to the appearance of Hobgoblins and the amount of damage they might have caused if not dealt with along with a bit from House Ovis for finding one of their lost wagons. (Rates as followed 5 gold per goblin, 20 per Hob and 50 from good old Ovis)
"Tobi! She helped me take out the leader of her own group! That has to count for something, right!?" Blake tried to get Tobi on their side, and for once, he wished Mordecai was around to run his mouth off. "When you need him he's gone, dammit!"
"That's all well and good, but she was still a part of said group while they were active and played a part in their crimes, unwillingly? That's for the jailers to decide after they hear what those Hobgoblins have to say if they say anything," Tobi explained, writing up something that was handed off to one of his co-workers. "Best case is she gets cleared of everything from helping you and gets tossed out of the city hopefully for good..."
"And what's the worst part?" Blake asked as good as that outcome was it was best to know what could go wrong as well.
"Based on her crimes, she would get a set amount of dungeon time chained to some wall until her times done and then gets put on the..." Tobi paused, taking a glance at Vasha. "...slave trade like most criminals or you know...?" He slowly dragged a finger across his neck.
"Excuse me, Sir Tobi? But is slavery not looked down upon in Gorz?" Risabeel asked, taking hold of Vasha as Tobi spoke as if acting like a mother protecting her child.
"Yes and no, it's not like everyone here has some poor sab doing all of their housework for them, but that doesn't mean there aren't a few being waiting on them hand and foot. Not to mention that one of the 3 most powerful forces in the kingdom happens to be in charge of the whole thing. That being the House Ovis, criminals, the poor, orphaned, sickly, if you don't have your feet on the ground and aren't careful those Ovis goats are going to pick you up and add you to the collection..." Tobi answered, leaning into his chair once done, sighing up at the ceiling. "...and they don't take no for an answer, hell even King Loth's been trying to get them to get rid of that law, but that's being going on for years."
"So, they do have slaves?" Blake muttered, thinking back to when Stefon twitched after he joked about it. "Can she skip the dungeon time if someone buys her now?"
"Sir Blake, what are you planning?" Risabeel gasped at Blake's question, looking at him confused and somewhat betrayed. "I know that the worst outcome Tobi told us is one quite dire, but that does not mean we should go along with it! That would make you no better!"
"Look, Risabeel, I don't want to do it either, but it's better than taking a chance that she might get cleared." Blake tried to convince the Demon currently backing away from Blake, taking Vasha with her. "And besides what are the odds of that happening?"
"They robbed from the Ovis, and some of them are still alive?" Tobi sat up straight looking Blake in the eye. "They're not getting out of this city unless it's by order of their new masters and in chains."
"See..." Blake turned back Risabeel biting her lip at the current situation. "Hey, the best thing about it is that you're there to make sure I don't make her do anything weird."
"That is right?" Risabeel thought it over a bit.
"Hey, while all this talk has been about me I haven't gotten to say a word yet," Vasha spoke up, holding her pipe in her hand with a slightly annoyed look on her face.
"Well? What do you say, want to take orders from me until the day you die, runoff or I set you free?" Blake walked over to lean down to Vasha's height.
"Like I told you before, keep me safe. I'm yours, Chief!" Vasha answered with a cheeky smile coming to her face as she blew some smoke in Blake's face.
"Then mine you are!" Blake waved off the smoke then put a hand to Vasha's shoulder and waited...then waited some more...a bit more...until it got awkward for the both them. "Wha?"
"Uh, I know I said I'm yours and everything but mind holding off on this kind of stuff for behind closed doors." Vasha offered, feeling as if Blake was trying to get something out of touching her.
"It's not working...?" Blake pulled away from Vasha and stared at his hand.
Chapter end