As she walked the halls Rose repeated her tried and true methods. Listen for screaming. Barge in frying pan and wok blazing. Defeat enemy with one or two wacks, depending on how tough they are. Tie them up with whatever was available. Assist resident. That was the plan, but it didn’t always work out. She had found two dead bodies so far, both assumed monsters culpable missing. One had been old lady Dorith, a bitter old woman that let everybody know it. The other some young man that she didn’t know all that well. In most cases though, she found people either wandering the halls like her, hoping to help, or just staying in their apartments, victorious with their kill. Mostly mothers who were worriedly watching over their kids or the elderly who had put all their effort into winning their own fight. Almost everyone went straight for the kitchen knives once they saw the warning notification. As more people began to roam the halls, they began to form groups to take down the invaders that had been transported to each of their homes. Many had already figured out and shared the identifying skill and as most had already made their first kill most tags read Humanoid – [HUMAN] – [LEVEL 1]. Rose hadn’t killed anything yet, so she hadn’t earned any levels. She wasn’t really looking forward to it either.
Along with Zen, her group consisted of Margaret, the fifty plus year old chain smoker who lived a floor below, Margaret’s neighbours, brother and sister Jason and Jasmine who had both just started university and lastly Fred. Rose didn’t know all that much about Fred apart from the fact the he was a middle-aged man from the bottom floor of their five story building. Together with their wine bottles, pans, wok, knives, iron poker and umbrella they were quite the team. Patrolling along eventually they came across a scene of five men brandishing their bat and knives at a lone creature. Slowing, Rose looked past them to inspect it. Greenskin – [GOBLIN] – [LEVEL 0]. “Urgle sorry. No hurt Urgle! Please. Urgle no mean harm.”
The creature was hunched up in a ball shivering in fright. “Stop!” Rose yelled storming to stand in front of the pitiful goblin and holding out her kitchenware threateningly at the men “He’s level 0, he hasn’t hurt anyone, let him go.”
Her demand was firm, she wouldn’t budge on this. There was no need to harm innocence and they had clearly been toying with the greenskin. “You can’t just let it wander around, it could kill someone” one of the men said.
The others quickly nodded in agreement. Her group just looked on, unsure who’s side to take. She couldn’t blame them. The building was quickly being cleared out and there had been a total of five bodies, six if the murdered dog was included. “I will take care of it” Rose said “go to the maintenance room and talk to Larry about where your patrol route goes, somehow I don’t think your keeping to it if you’re running into ours.”
The men just looked at her sheepishly before moving in the direction of the main meetup point that had been agreed upon by everyone so far. Rose had been the one to suggest it and had been key in organising everyone’s groups. Larry was an old stationmaster and had been organising the routes that everyone would take to clear out their building. Turning back to her group she told them to go on ahead without her. She and Zen could take care of themselves. “Urgle thanks hero lady. Urgle will help hero lady for helping Urgle” said the goblin as it grasped at her feet in apparent thankfulness.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Ahh, sure” she said while grabbing his wrists to yank him back up to his feet “for now Urgle can help by staying out of the way. You can stay in my room until we’ve created a safe zone.”
Urgle nodded enthusiastically. He was keen to please. On making their way back there were several stops where she had to explain while Urgle hid behind her. Along their trek Zen took a liking to the greenskin and after rubbing against his legs for a while he promptly leapt on top of Urgle’s head and proceeded to knead the bald cranium. Rose was worried at first but it appeared that Urgle was just happy to be of use. Reaching her room she opened the door to the forgotten imp goblin who was now awake. “Oras concedes defeat. Release Oras to do new master’s bidding” the red skinned goblin spoke.
Rose blinked, and then decided to just roll with it. She would deal with all the weirdness later. Today had been a strange day indeed. “Okay, your first job is to have a shower and then vacuum the rug you got dirty. You will clean this rug spotless.”
Oras nodded. “Will do as Mistress says.”
“Good” she responded while untying the twine.
“Urgle help?” the timid goblin inquired.
“No Urgle, Oras needs to clean up his own mess. You just sit on the couch for now”.
Urgle obeyed and sat, Zen curling up next to him on the blankets and purring.
Oras rubbed his wrists and asked “where does Mistress wish me to shower.”
It only now occurred to her that goblins might not know what showers were, or vacuums, or any type of appliance. She would have to teach them. Sighing she walked Oras to the bathroom and then made his face go slack jawed in amazement. Apparently running water was awesome, and warm water was even more so. Leaving him a fresh soap and towel to clean up she decided to just teach Urgle how to vacuum so that he could show Oras. Urgle was just as slack jawed and began to beg to be the one to clean while jumping up and down like a child. Muffling her laughter at their joy she compromised. Urgle was allowed to vacuum everywhere around the mess. With that settled Rose decided to check on her canine foe. Entering Brandson’s home, she found it empty. Of course, she already knew this as he had woken up an hour ago and had been present for the initial division of groups. He had thanked her several times for her assistance though he didn’t seem to realise the wolfhound was still in his apartment. She was now here to deal with that. Grabbing two serving bowls from her own cupboards she filled one with water and placed leftover chicken in the other.
Making her way across the room she noted that Zen was still seated on the couch. Probably for the best. Reaching the guest door, she didn’t hear any growls and so assumed the animal was still passed out. Entering, she placed the bowls inside and as she turned around, she found the canine sitting and staring at her. Slowly she reached for the wok under her arm. Rose wasn’t stupid. This was no time to leave herself defenceless. Slowly the wolfhound laid down and then rolled over showing his belly. She couldn’t help herself. “Awww, who’s a good boy.”
The canine wagged its bushy tail frantically. He was a very happy boy. “Come here” Rose called while motioning for the wolfhound to come over.
He did, head lowered, but his whole body was shaking side to side by this point. She pat him and he responded with joyful licks. “Alright, looks like your coming home with me” she said.
Picking up the bowls she led her new friend back to her kitchen and then set down the bowls to let him eat and drink to his hearts content. Looking at his bushy grey fur and white underbelly the young lady decided she should name her new companion. “Hmmm, you look like a Toby. What do you think Toby?”
Looking up the nearly five foot wolfhound gave a happy yip before eating once more. “Toby it is.”