Somewhere, West Virginia, USA.
Morty felt like he had a pit in his stomach as he watched Urga care for her sister. There was little he could do, they didn't have much for when she had her burns and they sure as shit didn't have the equipment for treating fucking CHEMICAL BURNS!!!
He recalled kobolds being clever little shits in their game campaigns, but he didn't think they could be smart enough to figure out Mustard Gas! The best they could do was poor water on her eyes to clear the chemicals out and hope for the best. Morty just hoped her being an ogre somehow made her more durable against the stuff but that wasn't much to hope for.
It reminded him of his mother and grandfather. Sitting by and watching as they withered and died. It made him sick with rage! He clenched his fist and with a huff turned away and towards the elevator to go topside.
When he got to the top he opened the storage shed that held what he needed. It was a fact that when mining you would encounter pockets of gas. So he pulled out some gas masks and miner coveralls. He hauled them towards and onto the elevator and descended. When he reached Goblintown again he was already dressed in the coveralls.
He threw the rest towards the Headman and a dozen others. Then he fastened a gas mask to himself as he strapped the ends of his coveralls to protect his skin. With a knife he cut a face into a cloth bag and padded and sealed it around his head. The goblins following along as they watched him. Though they had to make some adjustments to the masks to fit their large schnozes and cinch the overalls to accommodate their short hunched stature.
While he didn't look too bad, the goblins looked like walking bundles of laundry. He sighed, it would have to do.
"Wha now boss?" The Headman said in a muffled voice.
"Well, if you want something done right. You gotta do it yourself." Morty said as he made his way towards the tunnel. But was stopped when the Headman pulled on his sleeve.
"Boss goin' to bat'le?! Boss need moighty weapon again!"
With a snap of his fingers another goblin ran over and presented it to the Headman who, in turn, presented it to Morty. As Morty picked it up he examined it. It was simple and crude. What looked like a rusted shovel head was simply fasted to a thick wooden club. The shovel head was tied so that it would bludgeon rather than slice. He wasn't sure if it was intentional or not.
"Boss wold'nt go into bat'le wifout his moighty weapon!"
The way he said HIS weapon made Morty look at the club again. It was just a simple rus-. He paused as he realized it wasn't rust on the shovel head. It was blood.
This was the same shovel head that he used to turn that orc's brains into paste!
Morty almost dropped it as the memory came back like a bad night of drinking. He began to hyperventilate. The "fight" was a quick brutal thing, but it lingered in the shadows of his mind. He started to panic as it felt like he was back there again. He swung the club around in fear, though the goblins cheered as to them it just looked like their Boss was testing his great weapon. The gas mask hiding the fear and terror on his face.
His chest began to constrict as the memory of the orc squeezing the life from him returned. The cheers around him started to sound like they were underwater and things began to blur like water paint. Then it felt like he was falling.
He was shocked out of his waking nightmare as Urga held and patted his head. Heart going like a racehorse and breathing like it was his last. He just looked up at the ogress through the thick lenses of the mask.
"Be careful Master." Was all she said as she hugged him. The look in her eyes said she knew the truth of what he was going through. He calmed down enough to give her enough of an answer for her to let him go. As his wider hearing returned he could hear the goblins chanting.
"BOSS!!! BOSS!!! BOSS!!!"
He gave one last look at the ogress as him and his "honor guard" made their way down the tunnel. He gave a dark muffled chuckle as he realized that he was once again going down a tunnel to bash in someone else's brains with a shovel!
As they reached the gassed part of the tunnel they stopped. Circulation wasn't that good and the cloud lingered like a fog of death. The goblins, despite their earlier excitement, stood rooted as Morty stood at the edge.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Rolling his eyes as he grabbed one of them and, with muffled screaming, dragged him into the gas. His screaming stopped once he realized that he wasn't melting. The others realizing this carefully followed along, slow at first but then with an almost frenzied abandon as they followed Morty threw the gas.
Morty led them through the cloud and onto the other side. He marched along, and almost got skewered! He fell over the thick rope tripwire, which saved his life as a spring trap swung where his body was a second ago! Thick spikes of wood embedding themselves into the stone wall.
Catching his breath he got back up, patted himself off, and continued his, now slower, march down the tunnel.
-----
Jeb was watching over the Chief as he slept on his couch. He had pulled out the first aid kit and had wrapped some disinfected wraps around the bare spots on his body. He wasn't the only one in his living room/sick bay though. Some had been wounded when the goblins charged when the Chief dropped his shield.
Which was something Jeb was curious about. If the Chief could do magic, then could Jeb? He had tried a few times while he watched over them. But all the classic words did was make him look stupid. He stopped as a couple kobolds were brought in, and Jeb winced.
The thing about gas attacks, they don't discriminate. The two that were brought in had the tell tale signs of chemical burns on their scales. They weren't too bad. He wasn't sure if it was their scales or because they were far from his little war crime. But it still stung as he saw friendly fire with his own eyes.
Ruby's Egg-maids took positions as his nurses while he watched over them. Ruby warned him about their, "mischievous" behavior. But they've been nothing but professional with him so far.
Speaking of Ruby, she had taken guard in the burrows. The less combat able kobolds that had moved into them had been quickly evacuated as the fighting started. So her and the Trap Master were overseeing that while also guarding against any counter-attack. Though Jeb was doubtful one would come. It was Mustard Gas. They couldn't get through that.
-----
After tip-toeing past FAR too many traps and disarming many more. Morty and his honor guard finally reached where the kobolds were hiding. He saw two of them ahead. They weren't paying attention. Probably thought no one could get through the gas.
He snuck up on one as a goblin did the same. Then with a silent countdown, they both swung. Morty's kobold giving out a sickening crunch as his shovel-mace connected with its horned head. The other kobold let out a guttering cry as a crude dagger was jammed into it's neck.
Unfortunately it was still too much noise as he could hear movement coming around a bend in the tunnel. They formed up ready to do combat. About a dozen came around the bend, some salamanders rushed them, hissing as they spit acidic venom. Morty realized it was acidic because it hit a goblin near him and he could hear it sizzle as it ate threw his coveralls and into his greenflesh.
Morty was re-thinking his plan now. His suit needed to stay intact or getting back through the gas was going to be hell. If he got through it at all.
He leaned back as a gout of hair-flame was sprayed at him. He swung his shovel-mace, knocking the can from it's grasp before following with a backhanded swing. Cracking the thing's skull into an odd angle. He went to advance when a kobold riding a salamander rushed him with a yell. It wielded a spear, and with the salamander spitting acidic venom at him, left him at odds reach and range wise.
He looked around as more kobolds started to swarm them. His little raid was over. He gave the sound of retreat as him and the goblins ran. He didn't care for most of the traps, most they bypassed was for foes coming instead of going. He just kept running, even as a few unfortunate goblins got caught in traps or skewered from flung spears or javelins.
He didn't breath easy until he finally reached the gas cloud. His honor guard followed, a unlucky goblin screamed as a rip in his uniform allowed the gas to liquify him. As he got to the other side of the gas he turned towards the goblins with him and found that MOST had actually survived!
All in all, it wasn't a bad trade off! Besides, with how goblins spawn every one he lost during his raid would be replaced in minutes!
-----
Jeb just sighed as him and the Egg-maids watched over the wounded. He kinda wished something would happen, he got all excited when this first started and now he was just waiting. The Egg-maids, perhaps seeing his boredom, smirked as they slunk towards Jeb.
"What's wrong handsome?"
Jeb looked at the smirking lizards with a raised eyebrow.
"Nothin'. Just waitin'."
They both began to rub Jeb's arms as they spoke.
"You know~. We were the ones that got the Den Mother to confess to you."
"We helped you. It'd only be fair if you return the favor."
"We might have a few ideas how you could do that!"
They giggled. Jeb was starting to realize what Ruby was warning about now. They were interrupted however when Ruby and some others rushed into the room.
"We weren't doin' nothin'!"
Jeb's hasty explanation went unanswered as he watched as several kobolds were brought in. They were more gravely wounded than the others. Some weren't moving at all.
"What happened?!"
Ruby came in with a sad look on her face.
"They came in through the gas, they were wearing some kind of cloths that made it so they could pass through!"
Jeb rushed towards her.
"Are you alright?!"
She smiled as he checked her.
"I'm fine. We drove them off but..."
She stopped as she gesture towards the kobolds who weren't moving.
Jeb wasn't having fun anymore. His mood darkened as the thought that those little bastards did this much damage already and the thought that Ruby could've been one of these dead kobolds! That tunnel needed to go!
He marched upstairs leaving a bewildered Ruby. He went past his room to a door at the end of the hall on the 2nd floor. A windowless room with a single light. He flicked it on as the room was bathed in pale fluorescent light. It illuminated a room with walls of firearms! Some legal, most weren't. But they weren't his priority right now. What was his priority was a ham radio that sat on a desk towards the back of the room.
He flipped it on and called his kin that were on the other line.
"Yeah its me. I'm gonna need some guys down here. I've got a problem that needs fixin'."
-----
Morty meanwhile was met with cheers as him and the goblins that went with him returned. He was actually feeling pretty good. His honor guard, which the Headman was apart of, and survived, were eating up the praise and glory. To the rest of the goblins they may as well have been the heavyweight champs! The goblins celebrated by flashing their looted spoils they were able to collect, and by drinking some kind of foul smelling off-color beer. He overheard some of the goblins mention something about fungus.
He made his way from the celebration and towards the ogre sisters. As he stepped into his office he noticed that Ogra was awake. Though still wheezing and coughing, it wasn't that bad as before! Urga was there as well, they both smiled as they saw him return. No words were said as he just stripped out of his raid gear and sat with the sisters. For the first time in a while, he was actually happy.