They could now hear the tearing of flesh as it was ripped off the bone by teeth. Sloppy smacking and grunting audibly perforated the otherwise quiet space as the thing chewed in satisfaction. There wasn’t much left of the corpse at this point. The only thing giving away that it was the corpse of the cat was a large paw that somehow came out almost untouched.
The hunched creature didn’t look like it was very tall, maybe 1.2 meters (4 ft) once standing up. It had rough and patchy green skin, so tightly stretched across its body they could see every taut muscle covering its crooked spine. Random patches of coarse hair stuck out without any rhyme or reason all over its body. It wore a small loincloth around its waist, but unfortunately this didn’t help much for modesty as hanging out from underneath the loincloth was a large pair of furry, green, wrinkly balls. It made quite a horrendous picture.
Mare had an idea what this creature could be, even though she couldn’t see the head or arms of it: a goblin, a staple of games and fantasy stories. Mare took a tentative look around. There was no way that a mere goblin would have been able to fight that cat, much less win. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like whatever had killed it was around anymore.
Mare looked over at Mary and could see that despite the slight shake in Mary’s hands, she had a look of conviction on her face. Mary then nodded slightly at her to signal that she was ready. Slowly, the two crept up on the goblin, their steps were light, though shaky, and still crunched on torn up grass. The goblin had been so engrossed in its meal, that luckily it hadn’t noticed their approach.
Once they were close enough both women had to fight the urge to gag. The squelching noise of it eating had gotten louder and even worse was the smell of the goblin. It’s body odor was so bad that it made Jake’s sweaty work socks smell like roses. With the branch held in her hand Mare wound up ready to smack this thing in the back of the head. Mary also readied herself to swing as well. Nodding their head in unison as a sort of count down they both struck at the same time. At least that was the intent.
Mary had been just a hair faster. Though this might not have been a problem, the hatchet was shorter than she had thought which caused her to only scratch the back of the goblin. This had warned it of their presence, causing it to dodge to the side. Luckily the branch was plenty long and still clipped it in the back of the head, causing it to stumble in a daze. Mare didn’t let the chance escape her. She swung down again into the back of it’s head again causing it to sprawl forward onto the ground. It was still alive so she smashed down again and again. Unnoticed to her the sound of a small bell went off in her mind. Mare was panting hard by the time she stopped. Her face splattered with black blood.
The goblin’s head was just a puddle on the ground now. Mare stared at it for a few seconds as the adrenaline rush subsided. She then bent over and puked where she stood, just barely missing the goblin corpse in front of her. Mary had come up behind her and rubbed her back in worry while holding her hair up trying to sooth her. After about a minute of dry heaving, she was finally able to pull herself back together.
“I’m okay now,” Mare rasped out.
Mary nodded her head and looked around warily. Mare stood up and wiped her face in an attempt to clean off some of the blood but only smeared it. She let her hands drop in frustration. She bent down and picked up her branch after having dropped it at some point. After inspecting it, she was happy to find that it wasn’t any worse for wear other than being bloody now.
Mare took a better look at what was left of the goblin. It wasn’t much different than what they had seen prior because it had fallen on its stomach and the head was really not much to look at now. She could now see its spindly arms and sharp fingernails, but that was all. Mare was about to step away when she noticed something shiny in its brain matter. She bent down and got closer only to see inside the goop was a small gem like crystal that gave off a very faint glow.
Holding back a gag, she stuck her fingers into the mush and grabbed the gem. During this process Mary had a look of disgust and confusion on her face, though she didn’t say anything. Mare took a look at the small gem in her hand. It looked as if it had been carved by a machine and wasn’t naturally formed. It was about the size of a pinky nail and had a faint white glow coming from its foggy interior. She didn’t really know what it was but she had a feeling that it would be important so she put it into her pocket.
At this point she noticed that she had two more icons blinking at the bottom right hand of her UI. One was the quest icon and the other was a new one. It looked like a small bell. As it wasn’t the time to look at those, she put it to the side for now. Looking around the yard, it wasn’t much better than the house. The flower beds had been stomped on and ripped up and there was a large section of the wood fence that had been smashed to pieces.
Next to where the goblin had been feasting was a small rusty dagger. Mare bent over and picked it up, it wasn’t much to look at, a simple leather wrapped hilt and a dull blade covered in spots of rust. Mare tried to pass it to Mary but Mary insisted on Mare taking it since she didn’t have a bladed weapon so she held onto it in her other hand. There didn’t seem to be anything else of use around. There was mostly just a bloody stain where the cat’s corpse had been.
“Let’s go inside and clear the house. I don’t want any surprises as we pack to leave.” Mare’s voice startled Mary slightly.
“Okay,” Mary’s shaky voice replied.
They stayed together and slowly made their way through the house. There hadn’t been any more surprises, the house was destroyed but there had been nothing alive. After they had looked around and felt that they were relatively safe they decided it was time to get what they could and leave. First was to grab what food they could from the kitchen. Unfortunately that didn’t turn out as they had wished, nothing had survived. There was no longer anything edible in the kitchen anymore. Mare suddenly remembered that she had brought that duffle of food up into the attic with them, so she grabbed it and set it into the back seat of the car.
“Shit…” Mary cursed under breath.
“What’s wrong?” Mare looked around in worry expecting something to jump out. Even though Mary had spoken very quietly it was still easy to pick up what she said as she was standing next to her.
“I really hope I’m wrong… Give me a second…” Mary whispered before disappearing into the house before coming back with the car keys. She then sat in the car and turned the key in the ignition: nothing, not even a click from the car trying to turn over.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Shit… How did you know?” Mare spoke with dejection clear in her voice.
“The door light didn’t turn on. I would have thought maybe the light had burned out but combined with the house power and even the flashlights not working last night, it seemed too much of a coincidence.” Mary kicked the tire in frustration.
“Okay… Okay… Okay… So it seems like we are walking. Maybe we’ll be able to find a working car later. Do you have any large backpacks?”
“I doubt we’ll find a working vehicle but yes I have a pair of hiking packs that me and George used.”
Mare was able to pick up the sadness in Mary’s voice at the mention of George. This caused her heart to twinge in pain as well. Not wanting to think about it, she continued on.
“That’s perfect. Okay, lets get what we need and load up the packs.”
They grabbed some of the basics to fill their packs: sleeping bags, a tent, simple camping ware, some clothes and toiletries, and, most importantly, the food. They didn’t place all the food in one pack, but split it evenly between them. They didn’t want to gamble on them not losing or destroying one of the bags. If it happened to the one that held all their food, that would’ve been a disaster.
At some point Mare walked into the bathroom to grab some basic toiletries. She had to stop as she caught a look at herself. A pair of deep amber eyes stared back at her. She had a slightly round face with high cheekbones and a dainty nose. Her heart shaped lips formed a worried pout at the moment and her light brown and wavy hair stuck messily to her face. Even the blood smeared on her face couldn’t hide how attractive she was. She had problems seeing it, but it didn’t change that fact.
Mare took a look down at her body. She was average height for a woman, being 1.6 meters(5’ 6”) tall. She had a pear shaped body with long shapely legs and didn’t have small nor large breasts, only about a C-cup. She was relatively fit with only a slight bit of chub from not working out for a while. She still carried a nice tan from always being outdoors with Jake. But now, her basic appearance was a mess. Her clothes were splattered with black blood and wrinkled as well as in disarray like she had just come back from partying all night. If only that was actually the case.
Bending over the sink, she took a handful of water and washed away the blood from her face and hair. She would have liked to wipe her arms as well but it wasn’t long before the water stopped. She assumed that what she got was probably just what was left in the pipes. Either way, she felt slightly more refreshed.
Mare walked out and helped Mary finish packing the essentials into their packs. Then they grabbed some non-essentials that they didn’t want to leave behind. These included some photos or light sentimentals that wouldn’t affect their carrying capacity by much. The only exception to this was for Mare. She grabbed the leather roll of wood carving tools that George had left her. There wouldn’t be any loss as the tools would be something that could help them survive. The other thing was the statue that he had carved for her.
She hadn’t planned on taking it because of its bulkiness, but she had picked it up to give it one last look before leaving it behind and something weird happened. She felt a connection with it and a sense that it was important for her to bring with. She had always had a strong instinct ever since she was a child, and though it wasn’t always right, she just couldn’t put aside this feeling so she strapped it in along with the rest of her gear. It wouldn’t be that much more of a hindrance.
They sat down in the garage for a small break and some food before they headed out. It was late morning by this time but they had gotten everything together that they felt was important and that they could bring with them. Mary started to ask some questions she had about the system, while Mare answered what she had figured out. The questions reminded her of the new icons on her UI so after the small talk, she looked to see what she had. She started with the new quest first.
Congratulations, you have found your first Mana Gem. Keep collecting!
Difficulty - Easy
Success conditions - Collect 15 Mana Gem’s of any quality (1/15)
Rewards - 300 XP, Knowledge
Accept quest? Y/N
Mare was confused for a few seconds. Mana Gems? When had she found one of those? Then she remembered the gem she found from the skull puddle of the goblin earlier that morning. After accepting the quest, she took out the small gem and looked at it. It hadn’t changed and she couldn’t piece together anything new about it so she grabbed a small felt bag she had found and placed it in there before dropping it into her pocket. She felt it was safer to do this as they seemed important. After clearing the quests she went to the other icon. This seemed to lead to a logs like function. There were only two new entries.
You have received 225 XP (150 + 75) for slaying a level one Goblin.
Goblin pudding anyone?
Congratulations you have learned the common skill Quarterstaffs!
Mare jumped up and fist pumped which in turn knocked over a shovel causing a loud crash as it fell into the large metal garage door. Mary and Mare both froze and listened for several minutes. Luckily, nothing seemed to have noticed the noise. Mare then sat down chagrined and sheepishly looked at Mary who was glaring at her.
“Sorry… I got XP and also my first skill so I got a little excited.” Mare spoke with her head down and her face flushed.
“It’s fine but be in more control next time. That could have been disastrous if something had heard that. I also got some XP but no skill.” Mary patted Mare’s shoulder with a small smirk as she spoke.
After speaking with Mary, Mare found out that she had only gotten 75 XP for assisting in the kill. This had given her an idea which she wanted to attempt. With a thought she tried to invite Mary to a party. Mary’s eyes had gotten larger for a second before a party was formed. Mare could now see basic information about Mary now; her name, level, mana, and health. After some practice they found that they could share more or less information with each other. They left it as it was set for now. They also decided to share XP at a 50/50 ratio between themselves. Mare had also figured out that the XP breakdown in parentheses was probably the extra XP from the buff.
Once they finished messing with that Mare finally took a look at her new skill.
You have learned that sometimes just beating something with a stick really is the best answer!
Current Level: Initiate 1
Effects:
* Able to utilize a quarterstaff slightly easier.
* Less likely to lower the durability of your staff.
Not much of a description but when she had thought about it, after she had killed that goblin the branch had seemed slightly more comfortable in her hands. This was good news. Also the fact that her weapon would hold out longer was always welcome. Mare decided to stick with this weapon for now since she was able to get a skill for it.
“Okay I think it's time to go.” Mare spoke calmly as she stood up.
With that, they both did one last look over their bags to make sure everything was secure and packed. Opening the garage door to the driveway, they stared off towards the city. Unfortunately they had to go through it to get to where Jake was. Mare had her pack on, a rusty dagger somehow strapped to her hip and her weapon of choice in her right hand. Mary followed suit next to her with her pack on her back and hatchet in her hand. They then set off towards the smoking city ruins with their guards up.