Fritz’s grip on his dagger shook but he was still ready to spring forward and stab anything that came near the shadowy entrance where he skulked.
The goblin Chief took a ring-encrusted hand off the hilt of its jagged, brightly-glowing crystal sword that hung at its side and its flaming eyes darted past Fritz’s hiding place. It pointed a pale, bony finger at a boulder to his left and growled out an order. An armoured goblin leapt to obey, sprinting to the boulder, checking behind the stone and pulling a trembling, emaciated goblin out from a dark hole where it had cowered and hid.
Much like Fritz the skinny creature couldn’t seem to move its body, the power of the chief’s empowered word was binding it like rope. Unlike himself though the creature couldn’t resist at all as it was dragged before the crystal-clad goblin, shaking the whole while. The Chief looked down on its piteous kin and with a lazy, shrug-like movement swung its radiant crystal blade. It hissed through the air and severed the ragged goblin's neck easily, its flesh and bone offering no resistance to its gleaming edge. The head rolled away and the body went limp, green blood spurted forth and pooled around its no longer struggling, stick-thin corpse.
The warriors and captain goblins giggled and hooted and the slave goblins looked on quaking.
Fear receded from Fritz as he realised he hadn’t been spotted at all, just a lucky coincidence it seemed, but he’d have to be wary of the Chief. It seemed to have much sharper senses than its kin and powerful Treasures to boot. How did that command effect me? It must have been something with mind or sound aligned magic, Fritz theorised. Rare and incredibly useful. It’s probably that ring that shimmered. I have to have it. The crystal sword wouldn’t be too bad either. Not that I’d abandon my fish blade, he amended.
As Fritz was mulling over his suspicions the goblins had gathered and were ready to move out. With a bark from the Chief, they started marching through an exit to his right. They filed out with their crystal bounty, leaving the headless goblin behind without a second glance. This left Fritz with a choice, follow or flee.
His sensible side whispered to him that he should go back and get his crew but his curious, impatient side proclaimed he should pursue. He decided on a compromise, he would follow them to see if the goblin troop left any tracks then re-assess. Fritz scanned the room, making sure there were no stragglers or other hiding slaves. Nothing moved nor made a sound. So quickly he skulked into the cavern and to the hole the goblins left through.
He decided to pursue without holding his glowstone before him, relying on Trap Sense and Awareness to sneak over the uneven stone without noise. He reached and snuck through the exit, following the glow of the mined crystals as it retreated down the tunnel.
While leaning on his Awareness to keep his feet steady and quiet on the stone he nearly bumped into three goblins that were acting as something of a rear guard. There was a scuffling sound and Fritz bit down his tongue to stop himself from cursing and giving himself away.
One of the hide-armoured goblins had nudged the one next to it hard, causing it to stagger into the last of their half-squad. Or maybe there were more he couldn’t see in hiding. He had only detected them because their discipline was sloppy and they were completely sure of their superiority and safety in their own territory. They were right to be as it seemed they could see in the dark and he couldn’t.
But maybe the others of their squad were up ahead? Or maybe they were better soldiers and stood waiting in silence? The instigating goblin giggled at its mischief while the others hissed in displeasure. Fritz deduced that it was probably only these three left behind. If there was a captain with them he had the feeling it would use any excuse to use its bright baton on its lessers and cruelly at that.
Damn, these things are far more organised that the second floor. It’ll be harder to pick them off group by group like we did on the second floor, he reflected. Harder but not impossible.
He gripped the smooth hilt of his bone dagger drawing it out and stretching his senses to the limit, trying to pinpoint the positions of the rear guard. They lurked there in the dark, only occasionally ‘talking’ or scraping their hide armour and ‘wooden’ shields against the stone of the walls, boulders and covered alcoves in which they were hidden.
Time was slipping away as was the soft light of the wooden wheelbarrows full of crystals. So when Fritz thought he had their general locations known well enough; he acted. Pulling out his glowstone, he threw it over and past the goblin's heads. It landed with a clack and skittered to a stop in a small depression in the terracotta stone, casting its swirling yellow glow across the startled goblins.
They stared at the stone for a moment, entirely too distracted to hear Fritz sneak up on the closest one. It stood there in an alcove, startled but alert as it pulled its shield up to guard its side and took out its clear crystal short sword from its loop, struggling with it for only a moment.
A moment was all Fritz needed, his dagger was already wrapped in the roiling shadows of Gloom Strike and thrusting into the goblin's unprotected neck. The blade plunged in easily, and Fritz yanked it free cutting outward through the monster’s grey throat. I didn't have time to gurgle out a warming before Fritz was sprinting at the next goblin.
Embracing a reckless abandon and an urge from the Arte Pugilist Technique; Fritz leapt into a flying knee, catching the now spinning creature on its shield and bearing it to the ground, arms splayed. This goblin didn’t fare much better than the last one, it tried to get its shield up to cover its body but darkness engulfed Fritz’s bone blade as it drove into its chest, puncturing the hide and the soft flesh beneath easily. The monster twitched, struggled and died as he stabbed it over and over.
The last goblin giggled and three more, well-hidden grey-skinned warriors, skulked out from the dark. They joined the giggling and made to surround their prey.
“Spire’s spite,” Fritz cursed.
Four goblins left, all warriors, I’ve used two Gloom Strikes so that leaves me with two more spells before I’m spent, better make them count, he strategised. They weren’t unbeatable but it definitely wasn’t ideal to be outnumbered. Let’s hope Illusory Shadow works through their dark sight, it’s not real shadow after all.
Fritz shaped the darkness as it slinked from his centre, stretching it into a thin curtain of black of around his height and three times his shoulders breadth just behind his back. The goblins growled in what he hoped was alarm and he stepped backward through the illusion. The spark-like eyes of the monster opposite of him swung here and there, searching for him through the haze that Fritz could only just see through like a grimy window.
They can't see through it! He thought giddily. Fritz smiled a terrible smile and got to work dispatching the foul goblins.
Though he was tired from his previous casts he was used to the feeling of being drained of stamina and moved without missing a beat. He stepped to the right to meet one of the flankers, feinting with his dagger and making the goblin pull its shield up to guard its neck he kicked the goblin’s knobbly knee. With a snap and a pop, the flanker fell to the stone and Fritz heard footsteps slapping from behind. He spun to face a goblin charging him and stabbing forward with its primitive crystal sword, he angled himself so the creature's blade slipped past his cheek and over his shoulder. Using its outstretched arm as leverage he then heaved the goblin off its feet with a throw he had learnt from the Arte Pugilist, flipping it over him bodily and slamming it to the ground with a hard thump.
While it lay reeling Fritz plunged his dagger down into its neck, spilling its dark blood onto the stone. Again there were footsteps from behind but he was too slow to move and was hit on the shoulder by something that tore at his scale shirt and the skin below. He moved with the blow as well as he could and rolled through his curtain of shadow to escape a follow-up strike from a goblin that had just rushed in front of him and was swinging at his head with abandon.
Getting to his feet, he saw the two last goblins hesitate to go through the illusion so he took a moment to breathe. The two decided to go around the sheet of darkness, again on opposite sides to flank him. Fritz wrapped his bone blade in Gloom Strike’s numbing black and waited for the goblin coming from the right. The hide-clad warrior was cautious, but it wasn’t quick or perceptive enough to block the hard-to-track attack as it slashed over its raised shield and into the side of its throat, severing its now rhythmically spurting veins.
Fritz stepped, almost staggering from the Stamina drain, through the illusion again, causing the other goblin to squeal in anger, then fear as it saw that it was the last of its fellows face down on the stone leaking out its life. It turned to run, crystal clattered as its sword was thrown to the ground along with the thunk of its abandoned shield. The monster sped away and Fritz had no hope to catch it in its mad dash. However, Fritz had his last trick up his sleeve.
Aiming precisely as he could in the darkness of the tunnel Fritz threw his bone dagger at its back, it tumbled end over end through the air with an odd wailing note. It stuck in the back of the creature’s thigh just above the knee and it fell forward, slamming its face hard into the cave floor. It lay the groaning for a moment, then made to stand its long hands scrabbling at the stone. Unfortunately for the goblin, Fritz was there before it could fully get to its feet and he yanked his blade from its flesh then slit its throat from behind. He let the creature fall gurgling as its reeking blood flowed out.
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Fritz turned tiredly, knowing he had one last crippled goblin to deal with. He scanned the area but saw nothing; he listened, hoping to hear the hobbled creature. Fritz’s legs wobbled from exertion and fatigue from using four Abilities, but with some effort he stayed standing. He heard a muffled panting that was not his own much heavier breath, over in a dark alcove. He sighed, he knew what had to be done, that he had to end the goblin’s life, but it still felt a little bit like bullying to him.
He staggered towards the alcove and the goblin's panting redoubled, probably in terror as Fritz stalked closer. He loomed over the grey-skinned warrior as it cradled its broken knee, it attempted to fend him off with its sword but Fritz merely let it fall on his scale shirt harmlessly and drove his long bone dagger through its hide armour and into its heart. It stopped struggling in moments and Fritz let out a weary exhalation and stepped away.
He desperately wanted to find his own alcove to rest in for a while but couldn’t risk losing the crystal mining convoy. So he turned around, staggering slightly, and followed the dwindling light, leaving the goblin corpses behind for whatever else lurked in the dark of the cave.
It was difficult going in the dark and over uneven stone but Fritz managed it all the same as his fatigue receded slowly. There were likely no more rear guards but Fritz was still cautious, never actually setting sight on his prey, and instead just letting himself be guided by the glow of crystal, the slapping of feet, grinding of wheels and the giggling, always the grating giggling.
It went on like this for almost an hour of traversing the caves, thankfully there weren’t many forks or crossroads in the tunnels so Fritz wasn’t much worried about getting lost. His stalking stopped when he noticed the light remained luminous for some time, he risked a peek from the corner of the cave where he was hiding. Down the tunnel and to the left was a vast entrance to an even vaster cavern from which blinding blue-white light spilled out. It was too bright for his eyes for a moment but they soon adjusted to the new intensity and he found the light as clear as any cloudy day.
His Door Sense’s tingle had been intensifying these past couple of minutes and was definitely pointing him to this entrance, he knew he was near the Stairway. He debated whether to get closer and wondered what else could be within the cavern. He wanted to sate his curiosity but felt he had already pushed so far ahead of what he’d expected to find; plus it had been quite a lot of time in the dark and his crew were probably worried about him. Well, Bert would be at least and he hoped Sid would be. She would be, he reassured himself.
Hesitantly but resolutely he squashed his adventurous streak and turned to reunite with his crew, leaving behind the intriguing light and the possibly glorious cavern beyond. Pulling free his glowstone he traced his previous path back through the dark tunnels.
His Memory served him well and he was back before the untouched and stinking goblin corpses of his previous fight. Now that he was a little recovered he marvelled at the sight. Six goblins, all warriors, all armed and now all dead. By his hand alone. Or was it by his alone hand? He chuckled to himself and felt proud of his new fighting prowess and burgeoning Power. Just a few days ago one of these warriors almost killed me, I had to beat it through trickery. Now, I just fought and slew six of them. Sure, I still used some trickery but as the words go ‘all’s fair.’ What a difference a Path and a couple of Abilities can make. A great one to be sure.
Fritz wondered at his new strength but still hungered for more. I will also get a new Ability once this floor is done, I can’t wait. Then one last floor and I’ll be out and free. A smug smile stretched over his face and he had to stop himself from whistling a jaunty tune as he mused on all the small revenges and petty payback he could enact once he was out of the Spire and gallantly roaming the wet streets of the Sunken Ring.
Making his way back to his crew wasn’t particularly difficult, he only made a wrong turn and met a dead end once and he met no further dangers. When Sid spotted his glowstone she waved him forward emphatically as the light danced hypnotically on her breastplate.
“What took you so long?” She hissed as he got within earshot.
“Trouble?” Bert asked as his eyes glanced over the tears in his scale shirt.
“Just a little group of goblins,” Fritz explained humbly, trying to hide the smugness in his tone and failing. “Well, actually it was a large group and they were mining the crystals. There was what you might describe as a chieftain in crystal armour who possessed some sort of Treasure with an entourage of captains with a retinue of warriors and at least a hundred slave goblins.” Fritz summarised.
“Captains?” Sid said inquisitively.
“A Chief?” Bert asked eagerly.
Fritz relayed all he could about the goblin’s varying equipment and probable roles, and when his crew’s questions were answered he proposed they go find out what the goblin encampment looked like.
“Are you sure the Stairway is there?” Sid asked.
“As sure as the rain,” Fritz replied.
“Let’s get going, we’ve got some goblins to punch,” Bert said excitedly, swinging his arm in a circle as if warming it up.
Without another word Fritz nodded and led back the way he came, navigating the cave and the dark easily with sure steps.
Again they came across the dead goblin rear guard, and upon seeing their reeking remains Sid asked, “Did you see what killed these guys?”
Fritz tried to keep the smirk off his face but an arrogant self-satisfaction coated his voice as he responded, “Yes, I did see what killed these warrior goblins. It was a terrible creature, it was like a shadow darting out from the dark and piercing its prey with utmost prowess. An entity so cunning, so handsome-”
“It was you, Fritz? I bet you just stabbed them when they weren’t looking,” Bert interrupted, ruining Fritz’s reveal and wiping away the look of interest that had been painted on Sid’s face.
Sid looked at Bert seriously, “I count six, that’s still quite the feat.”
Bert shrugged. “I guess we were right about Gloom Strike. Is that so, Fritz?” He said turning his infuriating grin on his annoyed friend.
“Maybe,” Fritz hedged.
“Still think the curse would’ve been better?” Bert asked condescendingly.
Fritz swallowed his pride and did what he hated to do most; admit he was wrong. “Yes. Yes, you two were right, Gloom Strike has been far more useful than the curse would’ve been. Happy now?”
“I am content,” Bert said magnanimously.
“Glad you’ve seen sense, Fritz,” Sid stated.
“I’ve actually seen two Senses, and I chose them both, thank you very much,” Fritz replied haughtily.
Sid smiled at the bad joke and Bert clapped him on the back.
“Six goblins is a pretty good count for a Fritz, but I bet I could kill...sixty, no six hundred goblins, all by myself,” Bert boasted.
“With your breath alone; I don’t doubt it,” Fritz retorted easily.
Sid laughed at their banter and Fritz looked at the corpses now realising that in his rush he hadn’t bothered to check the goblins for anything of use. He veered over to kneel by one of the bodies and looked it over, and patted it down, searching for pouches or pockets that may have had some valuables, or whatever goblins considered valuable. Unfortunately, they seemed to have nothing but their hide armour, shields and crystal swords. He compared the goblin sword’s jagged edge to his fish blade’s and found it wanting. He moved to the next corpse, just in case.
“Find anything good Fritz?” Sid asked as he finished up with the third such body search.
“Groped ‘em enough Fritz?” Bert added, grinning.
Fritz sighed. “No, nothing of value,” he said, not even deigning to acknowledge Bert’s mockery.
Sid grunted.
Fritz stood quickly and got back to leading the way through the tunnels.
Minutes later Fritz heard a crack and a fist-sized stone plummeted down from the cave roof, he stepped out of the way and let it shatter on the floor. A faint light glowed from where the rock had fallen from, then slowly a spike of glowing crystal shuddered out of the stone ceiling. Smaller crystals speared out around its base and the centre spike stopped expanding at about the length of his forearm.
“Huh, growing crystals,” Fritz commented. “Pretty.”
Sid and Bert didn’t seem all that impressed by the sight and shrugged.
Fritz shook his head, sighing out his annoyance at their complete lack of wonder. “Peasants, uncultured skulg-suckers,” he mumbled as he kept leading the way forward.
After another half an hour of slinking through the dark, they came across another squad of six goblins and dispatched them without trouble.
“Too easy, should’ve let me handle them on my own,” Bert commented.
“Maybe,” Sid agreed while slinging her bow over her shoulder.
“No, we’ll need you as fresh as possible, Bert. There are still hundreds of goblins to slay,” Fritz said.
Bert grinned at the reminder, and said “What are we waiting for, stop groping and let’s get going.”
“I wasn’t even- no never mind, let’s go,” Fritz said, letting his annoyance go and striding away.
They eventually reached the large, bright entrance, and approached cautiously keeping an eye out for more goblin scout parties.
Standing against the stone wall, they crept to the side of the stone arch then peered through.
“Whoa,” Bert intoned.
“Whoa, indeed.”