Un-Bep’ee – Alpha Zone #193 Level 1 – 20
Un-Bep’ee was relieved that the feeling of growing foreboding he had silently harbored turned out, at least initially, to be unfounded. Because luck it seemed was on their side. While although there was still a solitary large goblin atop the watchtower closest to their approach, it was fortunately facing the direction of the human and goblin brawl still in full swing.
Doing his best to ignore the cries of goblin and man alike, he followed his groups lead as they hugged the walls surface as best as it’s uneven surface would allow. Then one by one they took turns at either lifting or hoisting each other even sometimes passing their weapons over first to remain quiet whilst getting over the 2 meter high rudimentary fort wall.
When they were inside and all accounted for, they stayed low and made a hurried b-line for the large log hall in the center of the fort. However their luck it appeared, had run out.
When they were almost around one of the smaller wooden huts closest to the hall they encountered their first resistance in the form of a larger goblin variant brandishing a spear and screaming in alarmed anger.
Quicker than he could follow Judy had appeared behind their enemy and had lodged both her daggers either side of its unprotected neck. Yanking them out and causing blood to spray out, before dancing away on nimble feet as it flailed wildly with its spear to no avail, shortly after, collapsing to the ground in a gurgling heap:
Your party has slain a Goblin Spearman level 3, all experience awarded equally.
Panting whilst she crouched near a house for cover, Judy wheezed out with a grin.
“Next…. Ones…. Yours…. Svet-”
Stopping the chance for further conversation and putting the red haired Australian’s curtailed declaration to the test, two more goblin spearman rounded the corner near where the large halls entrance was situated. It didn’t take long for their screams of indignant rage for their fallen kin to bounce around the interior of the wooden fort, before they charged forward to meet the invading foes.
Stepping forth, both Calvin and Terrance took up defensive positions in front of himself and the girls to wait in white knuckled anticipation. Michelle however was unwilling to wait for Svetlana to take the next kill or for both the monsters to reach her comrades, instead silently casting [Magic Missile] at the left incoming goblin whilst angling her staff up slightly to cause the purple energy bolt to shoot over Calvin’s head.
Her action lead to the Australian man ducking slightly in shock as the projectile whizzed past and slammed into its targets chest, causing it to stagger in its frenzied approach. Yet the right goblin had no such problems as it lunged at Terrance with its crude yet vicious looking spear extended.
Waiting till the last instant Terrance ducked under the lunge and charged forth with his shield slamming into the attacking goblins chest and pushing it backwards.
Svetlana not one to let the target of opportunity got to waste, capitalized on the opponent’s lapse in vigor, thrusting forth in quick succession with her own spear to deftly skewer its temple, right eye-socket and ear respectively, producing squelching *pop*’s.
Terrance followed up with a rudimentary jab with his short sword to its exposed ribs which was super effective.
Unable to withstand their combined onslaught it collapsed as Svetlana was about to once more skewer its unprotected head.
At the same time, their other assailant having recovered from the [Magic Missile] began to charge just as Terrance and Svetlana were about to complete their bloody task. This in turn, led to Calvin charging it in a similar fashion to Terrance. Feeling completely useless and intent on doing something about, Un-Bep’ee followed closely behind his charging ally and as the goblin was stunned with Calvin’s [Shield Bash], he pivoted around him and swung his mace as hard as he could toward the waylaid goblin’s skull.
Rewarded for their efforts their foe staggered back in a daze, drunkenly swinging it spear back and forth with eyes out of focus. Yelling from behind Michelle warned the two.
“DUCK!”
To which her two obstructing companion’s responses were starkly divergent. On the the one hand Calvin asked querulously.
“Where?!”
On the other, Un-Bep’ee did his best not to laugh as he grabbed his confused ally’s shoulder and yanked him down just in time for Michelle’s next [Magic Missile] to whizz through where the confused Calvin’s head had just been. The purple projectile struck the still dazed goblin square in its face, causing it to collapse with smoke trailing in the air, leaving the unctuously persistent smell of burnt flesh to offend all those present:
Your party has slain a Goblin Spearman level 4, all experience awarded equally.
Your party has slain a Goblin Spearman level 3, all experience awarded equally.
You have leveled up!
Grinning at their victory he looked to his teammates who were also breathing sighs of relief at their recent success. Svetlana was all business however, as she quickly went to the corpses, checking them for potential Manamotes.
Thus, Terrance was the first to speak whilst panting slightly, as he lent against the wooden hall with his sword arm.
“I don’t know about you lot, but that went a damn sight better than I thought it wou-“
The sound of splintering timber followed by Terrance being flung away minus one of his legs, from the halls wall with great force ended his carefree jubilation.
Un-Bep’ee’s mind struggled to make sense of what had just taken place as his eyes frantically scanned where the once upright and whole Terrance had been.
Jutting out from the halls bisected wall near where one of the bottom of Terrance’s legs rested, was what looked like the business end of an oversize iron machete, coincidently coated in the red of his blood.
“AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhh!”
Terrance’s cry of pain cut through the Un-Bep’ee’s shock as the welshman began to clutch his bloody gushing stump in anguish. Seemingly been the only one who retained their wits, he rushed to his ally’s downed form on the dirt. Barely pausing before casting [Cure Light Wounds] in a desperate attempt to stem the blood that still pumped into rapidly growing pool below the stump of the severed limb.
The spell only seemed to have a minor effect on reducing the blood flow so he quickly took off Terrance’s belt and made a tourniquet, cinching it tightly around the upper thigh.
Thankfully it bought him enough time to cast [Cure Light Wounds] again, as its cooldown had finished, on the stump having a slow but visible effect on the exposed flesh as it changed pigment slightly:
The skill Cure Light Wounds has reached Level 2.
Willing the irritating box away, he focused on the pale face of Terrance once more whilst the man begged.
“Don’t leave my body to the monsters mate, please…please…don’t let them eat me…”
For better or worse, Un-Bep’ee had already experienced something similar to this very situation back home. While obviously the situation then had been devoid of monsters he still felt that on the whole, having already witnessed a local man lost his arm in a truck accident, he was somewhat desensitized to the sight of viscera and shocked ramblings of a patient.
So doing his utmost to remain effective in the moment and keep his patient calm he ignored the connotations of his statement he comforted him as best he was able.
“Everything is going to be ok my friend, I will not lea-”
A sound from behind him led him to stop mid-sentence as he heard the cracking of timber and rasp of the machete being rescinded into the log hall. He looked to his team mates in fear and trepidation for direction of what to do. Springing into action, Svetlana darted to Terrance and Un-Bep’ee position and called out to the poorly situated others.
“Sooka sin!...Do not loose yourselves to the fear. Come close and stay sharp. We will prevail in this together!”
The rest, steadied by their leader’s words, overcame their inaction and rallied to the downed Terrance’s side.
The heavy thudding of footsteps could be heard from within the hall as whatever retrieved the machete made it’s way to the halls exit to their left.
To their right Un-Bep’ee could hear the semi-distant sound of battle but the sound that truly caught his attention was the emergence of another goblin wielding a red rock tipped staff rounding the corner of one of the crude huts.
Issuing its cry of alarm and anger just like its counterparts before it, it began to chant something as the tip of its staff glowed in a menacing fashion.
“I’ve got this guy, you guys handle whatever the fuck is coming out of that hall!”
Judy announced before [Shadow Step]ing behind their menacingly chanting foe to promptly sheath her daggers either side of the neck of the unprepared goblin staff wielder:
Your party has slain a Goblin Shaman level 4, all experience awarded equally.
Immediate threat nullified, Un-Bep’ee cast [Cure Light Wounds] on Terrance’s stump once more and was rewarded with further improvement to the wounds condition. Trying to ignore his dwindling blue bar in the corner of his vision, he turned his head to the direction of the yet unidentified machete wielding enemy.
At first he thought he must be seeing things due to the obvious stress of the situation, but after furtively rubbing his eyes with his bloodied hands he could no longer deny what was approaching them. Impossibly, the owner of the giant machete was none other than a blue three meter tall giant of a monster.
Snapping him from his renewed shock, Svetlana barked.
“Calvin you shall be taking point whilst me and Michelle will be the damage, Un-Bep’ee you are the last resort OK!?
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To which the other two in question, joined him in a chorus of frantic ascent, following which Calvin ran forward with his shield brandished and his short sword held back in preparation.
The hulking blue goblin-esque thing trudged forward as it glowered in menace with its almost ponderous stride unchanged by its prey’s latest actions. Leading with his [Shield Bash] Calvin charge sped him through the last few feet toward the monstrosity only to be met with the blade of the near man-sized machete and swatted with along with the splintered shield fragments into the side of the hall.
“CALVIN!”
Judy screamed, shakily rising from her resting slump near her previous adversary. Murderous intent on her face, she made to unleash her wrath on the culprit but faltered after only a few steps, collapsing on the dirt still meters form her foe.
Svetlana who’s stamina seemed to still be in supply, charged forth in her place, with a equally murderous look to her visage.
Again the beast swung its machete with the same quick nonchalance, however this time it was denied the same result as before.
Deftly stepping back and changing her initial trajectory Svetlana managed to situate herself to the side of its hulking form and with its minor overextension used the opening to strike at its right Achilles heel.
She was rewarded with an angry cry from the beast as blood spurted forth onto the dirt, its brow creasing whilst bearing razor sharp teeth in a rictus of pain as it faltered to one knee.
Capitalizing on its momentary distress she dove in once more to deliver a flurry of spear strikes to its head. Unfortunately now the focus of the goblins ire, it raised the large machete and easily chopped her spear in half with a snapping sound as its tip was inches away from its face.
Following its near effortless disarmament of her, it swung out with its free hand to swat her torso, causing her as a whole to go cartwheeling past it and smashing into another wooden hut some 20 meters behind its kneeling form.
“SVETLANA!”
Michelle screamed in anguish, before launching a [Magic Missile] at the monsters evilly grinning visage. The goblin to all those still conscious’ surprise, thrust up the flat of its machete up to block the glowing projectile at the last instant. However it did not go exactly as the monster planned, as although it did effectively block the bolt of energy, the force released from its impact caused the blades other side to impact the giant square in the face, rocking its head back from the sheer force of the transferred kinetic energy.
Simultaneously, having recovered himself from his brief but rude encounter with the halls wall, Calvin got to his feet unsteadily whilst clutching his left shoulder in obvious pain. And with his barely focusing eyes managed to locate his dropped short sword on the ground nearby.
Determinedly, the young Australian grabbed it as his face scrunched up in pain at the quick motion, before blinking his eyes a few times to better refocus on the architect of his suffering. To Un-Bep’ee’s further surprise Calvin then charged the stunned monster whilst clutching his short blade in a white knuckled rictus grip of his good hand.
Seeing the monster regaining its senses and fearing for Calvin’s kamikaze approach turmoil riled within the Apprentice Cleric. Though like any consummate man of medicine, his thoughts were not of him self but rather , for the safety of his as yet, unrecovered patient, Terrance.
So he took the only cause of action he thought available to him.
Standing, he quickly judged the distance to the goblin then, expelling a brief grunt of effort, launched his mace, causing it to turn end over end toward the green skinned monstrosity and its recovering from.
Remarkably to all those present and conscious, Un-Bep’ee’s mace’s noduled head made contact with its intended target just as the beast began to shake off its recent stunning. Slack jawed he took in his efforts result as his weapon managed to miraculously connect with the side of the beast’s head and squarely on its pointed left ear, concussing it once more.
Calvin still in mid vainglorious dash, let out a guttural yell of triumphant rage as he stabbed for the groggy mutant goblin’s eyes.
“AHHHHHHHHHHH”
The gut curdling sound of a squelching rasp was heard as his sword disappeared through its left eye socket before coming to a dead stop, halfway into the giant blue specimen’s skull.
His adrenaline fueled strength spent Calvin rocked back on unsteady feet and fell to the dirt like a puppet with its strings cut.
Facing the prone form of its assailant, the goblin wheezed out a final breath like a large balloon deflating and keeled over backwards, hitting the ground and causing a not so slight tremor to be felt by those close by:
Your party has slain a Goblin Chieftain level 6, all experience awarded equally.
You have leveled up!
You have completed the Quest – Goblin Culling (T1) – 10 Manamotes awarded!
You have completed the Quest – Chief No More (T2) – 50 Manamotes awarded!
Still in a state of shock from his fluke of a mace throw, Un-Bep’ee’s mind took a moment to register what had just happened. Coming to himself once more he noticed Michelle rushing to the un-moving form a Svetlana, this reminded him of his own responsibility to Terrance.
Springing back into action he cast [Cure Light Wounds] yet again, before noting that he was almost out of mana in his blue bar and it was now blinking un-repentantly. Yet thankfully it seemed that his magical efforts had not been for naught, as the once visceral stump was now miraculously closed completely with only pink and tender skin visible.
When he looked up once more he saw Judy stumbling toward Calvin and with his triage of Terrance complete, he went to help her towards Calvin’s collapsed body. As he and Judy arrived at his prone form he could see he was still breathing, however much unconsciousness still seemed to have possession of the Australain’s mind.
Noticing that his blue bar was now no longer blinking he tried mentally intoning the [Cure Light Wounds] on the man’s un-moving outline, however there was no resultant glow from the skills activation.
“I am sorry Judy I do not have enough mana to heal him yet, I used it all to save Terrance.
He said in an apologetic tone to the silent but clearly distraught Judy. Receiving no response from the crouched and concerned woman he continued.
“I will be right back, I am just going to check on Svetlana.”
Still receiving no reaction he reluctantly rose and made his way to Michelle and Svetlana, only pausing to retrieve his tossed mace from its resting place in the dirt.
Reaching the pair he noticed that although slightly unfocused, Svetlana’s eyes were open as she groggily looked at Michelle in a mildly confused fashion. Crouching down he asked.
“Are you ok my friend? You gave us quite the scare there…”
Seeming to come to herself, the Russian woman rejoined.
“Huh? Oh yes I just need minute to get bearings. I also will not be able to go anywhere fast as my leg, it is broken. In mean time maybe check chieftains body for Manamotes, also do not forget to check the green ones weapons.”
Taking in her right leg bent at an awkward angle mid shin, Un-Bep’ee could not help but marvel at their leader who although clearly suffering great pain and fatigue, still had the presence of mind to think constructively.
“Oh Cojeme…when I saw the Chieftain hit you…I thought…nevermind..I’m just glad you’re alive..”
She said with a tear streaked look of weary concern on her face.
“When my mana recovers I shall do my best to heal you, of this I swear!”
Un-Bep’ee offered with as much conviction as his fatigue would allow, for which he received a placating touch to his arm and a warm smile from the injured woman who then nodded once and shooed him to inspect corpses and collect weapons.
For his fossicking efforts, he earned a haul a total of 10 Manamotes from the corpses and several magic items of note:
Bone-Tipped Crude Hardwood Spear (2 handed)
Level Requirement: 1
Attributes: Melee Damage + 8 – 32, +10% Damage to all physical skills.
Durability: 27/35
Description: A crude bone-tipped 2 handed hardwood spear imbued with basic offensive runes. A common magical item created by the hands of a goblin crafter.
Bone-Tipped Crude Hardwood Spear (2 handed)
Level Requirement: 1
Attributes: Melee Damage + 9 – 31, +10% Damage to all physical skills.
Durability: 30/35
Description: A crude bone-tipped 2 handed hardwood spear imbued with basic offensive runes. A common magical item created by the hands of a goblin crafter.
Crude Wrought Iron Machete (2 handed)
Level Requirement: 5
Attributes: Melee Damage + 17 – 31, +12% Damage to all physical skills.
Durability: 37/40
Description: A crude 2 handed wrought iron machete imbued with basic offensive runes. A common magical item created by the hands of a goblin smith.
Crude Shaman’s Hardwood Staff
Level Requirement: 1
Attributes: Melee Damage + 4 – 11, Magic Power + 16 -19, +10% Damage to all magical skills.
Durability: 26/30
Description: A crude shaman’s hardwood staff inscribed with basic offensive runes. A common magical item created by the hands of a goblin crafter.
Carrying the items back to the now gathered party he handed one spear to Svetlana and one to Terrance to act as impromptu crutches for the two should the need arise. By this time Calvin had come to and spoke up whilst clutching his shoulder.
“Glad to see you made it Un-Bep’ee. The guys said you’re out of mana, but I’m also guessing you leveled up right?”
Nodding he replied
“Oh yes I did sir, but why do you ask?”
The Asian featured man laugh was quickly supplanted by a grimace, following which he queried in a pained tone.
“Well you should have some stat points to increase your maximum mana and regeneration right?”
Smacking his forehead at the aided realization he quickly added 5 points to intelligence and 5 points to wisdom and all but ignored the warm sensation that filled him as he watched his blue bar increase in volume ever so slightly. Grinning he asked.
“Ok I should have enough to heal one person once for the moment, who should it be?”
He was surprised when he saw Svetlana about to speak and Calvin cut her off.
“I think it should definitely be Svetlana, she will need her leg more than I will need my collarbone.”
Leading the blonde haired woman to shrug and reply.
“If this is truly what you think little man, than I shall not argue this.”
Following her statement, an idea occurred to Un-Bep’ee and he informed her in earnest.
“I will be right back, do not go anywhere!”
Promptly setting off to the side of the log hall.
Before he cast his spell he decided that although healing magic was…well…magic, setting a bone in the right position was a prudent precaution before potentially causing it to heal at the wrong angle.
Thus, retrieving the remnants of Calvin’s shattered shield and some thick twine from a nearby hut, he asked someone to hold her leg steady before he went to setting it in approximately the right position whilst forming an impromptu brace around it.
Having straightened the legs awkward angle and causing a stifled hiss of pain and grimace from the stoic Russian, he tightened the thick twine around her calf and the two bits of splintered shield. That done he cast [Cure Light Wounds] directly at the leg in question.
He felt a flood of relief as he watched the redness in Svetlana’s pained visage visibly lessen before she let out the breath she had been holding. Not completely trusting his unprecedented new skill he cautioned.
“I still would recommend the use of the spear as a balance aide.”
Nodding at his suggestion she got to her feet with the help of him and Michelle and she gingerly put weight on the leg only to renege on the action a second latter with a wince and a hiss.
“Hooy morzhovy!…Not completely healed… yet much better than it was… My thanks, chucker of maces.”
She said, nodding her head once more.
“Well I think we are as mobile as we are going to be and from the sound of it the fight is dying down outside. So unless you want to meet the victors, I suggest we make while the going is good.”
Terrance said in a matter of fact tone while his face betrayed his obvious discomfort.
Getting a round of affirmation from the group eager to depart the scene of their hard fought battle. Un-Bep’ee set about hastily retrieving the two front liners weapons and singular remaining shield and handed them off to their owners before he tied the large machete in an impromptu sling on his back with left over goblin twine.
‘Oh thank you ancestors for helping me survive this day and help those in need.” He silently prayed as he took a moment’s pause to take in the forts interior and blood soaked dirt one last time.
And so, trailing the battered Party’s cautious gait, he eyed his surroundings with constant vigilance as they exited the camp fortuitously unnoticed. Their collectively, wary and beleaguered steps leading them back toward their outpost and much needed sanctuary, from this new and terrible world.