CHAPTER 15

My elation was quickly dampened when I exited the cave. My party had their backs to me and the body of Esh was all that separated them from the horde of goblins that must have just returned. Melk sat cross-legged on Esh’s belly shouting over the other goblins who shouted back just as loudly. Unable to understand a word they said I stood arms crossed next to Iva and watched the show in nervous anticipation. If Melk lost the argument it could be very bad for our side. Goblins aren't generally that strong individually but there’s enough of them to make it a very tough battle if it came to that.

With a loud shout from Melk, the group silenced and he turned to look at me. “Horde understand Melk not be leader that Llond Melk leader now. They want Melk knife, knife for chief, says Melk no take.”

I let slip a sigh of relief, finally understanding the argument I scratched my head thinking for a moment. “Melk, tell them to bring me their best weapon, besides your knife and I will make a new chief weapon, tell them I will add magic to it for new chief.”

My headache was nearly complete by the time they finished the next round of arguing in their grating language.

Turning to me Melk asked, “They want know why you help Melk and horde?”

Rubbing my temples in a vain attempt to relieve my headache I replied “As a member of my party you need a weapon, also we need to find the key and I need someone to clear that ettin shit from the gate so we can leave. We're also hungry and tired, I would like to stay the night here, without having to worry about them killing and eating us while we sleep. Tell them if they let us stay tonight, help find the key and clear out the cave so we can leave in the morning, I will make them a magic weapon for the new chief.”

With one last round of shouting the goblins scattered in all directions. Melk after clambering down announces with a large toothy grin “they deal, finding new chief symbol and clearings poo tunnel, have big big feast with slug meat and party for dead Esh. Sleep, safe safe then leave when wakings.”

Patting the goblin on the shoulder I asked him to help Iva get our things from the cave and found a comfortable spot to study. I knew there was a rune that would light up and display how much energy the item had left and figured it would be a good thing to put on a weapon I was trading to goblins. Don't need them breaking it and taking it out on future humans who happen to make it this far.

I nearly laughed aloud when I was presented with the best three weapons in the tribe, the first was a spear, which comprised of the rusty tip of a broken sword that had been tied to a shaft much like my own early weapon had been. The second was a bone-handled stone dagger similar to the one I had taken but in far worse condition. The final piece was an enormous butcher's cleaver that must have been built for an orc and not a goblin, Its handle had been extended so that the little goblin who held it could wield it two-handed.

I checked each one to ensure I got the best as far as how much energy it held, and in the end, the cleaver won out by a good margin. Though it was large and unwieldy for the little creatures it was made from solid iron and would hold its charge far longer than the other two weapons would. Once I made my choice I waived them all off and began to study the weapon, it needed some upkeep before I could begin work. Calling Gwyn over I asked her if her magic could be used to improve the blades properties and maybe remove some of the blemishes. That might make it a little more potent if it was entirely made of quality material.

“I'll need a hot fire,” Gwyn said in reply. “I can improve it and even reshape it to something more useful. Honestly, I’d suggest some sort of pick axe maybe with a hammer on one end, if you scribe it to be resistant to damage it would probably last them generations.”

“Why a pick axe?” I asked, confused as to why goblins would need something so mundane.

“There’s a large vein of iron ore below their love shack” Gwyn answered. “It could easily be mined for iron ore. If we had been able to take this place over completely I would have suggested we stay here and mine it for a bit. With my magic, I could easily get some quality material after a few weeks of hard work.”

“Ok go get Melk and have him explain your suggestion and if they agree we will make it into a pick axe otherwise we’ll stick to some sort of weapon, possibly a short sword or gladius they could wield two-handed”

A short time later Gwyn returned in a huff, grumbling something about the stupidity of the lesser races, “The little idiots want a sword!” she exclaimed. “Damned fools, wouldn't know a good thing if it fell out of the stone and landed on their heads.”

Laughing I made my suggestion, we would fashion a leaf-shaped gladius on a slightly longer, hand-and-a-half handle. That way if a human happened to wipe out the village it would be a decent short sword while still being a quality weapon for the goblins. After my instructions, Gwyn hefted the large cleaver and marched off to the bonfire where the goblins were cooking our cave slug feast. Melk and another group of goblins were busy carving up the ettin’s corpse, I guess they intended to cook him as well. After a moment of thought, I called Melk over again.

Melk was covered nearly head to foot in ettin blood and smelled quite bad, it took me a moment to calm my stomach enough to ask “Who made that bone-handled stone knife I was shown? If he is still around, bring him to me.”

Nodding Melk wandered off talking to the goblins, I'm glad that he spoke our language even if poorly, it would have been far worse had we been stuck with no one that could communicate. A short time later Melk returned with the oldest wrinkled goblin I had ever seen in tow, apparently, this was the hordes crafter and the knife I had seen was made by his apprentice.

“Crur builder, he make everythings,” Melk said pointing to the elderly goblin.

“Does he speak common?” I asked thinking it would be easier than having Melk translate everything.

Unfortunately, Melk shook his head and I went about explaining what I wanted. The goblin crafter used bone in most of his creations so after showing him the sketch of the blade I had Gwyn working on it didn't take long for him to get my idea. After nodding he hobbled off and started shouting at the goblins who were butchering the ettin and before long he had them piling cleaned-off bones in a heap next to one of the smaller caves. My hope was that a good quality bone handle could improve the overall energy that the new blade would hold making it last a little longer.

It took Gwyn less than an hour to heat the metal enough that she could magically shape it the way I had asked. She explained what she had done and gave me a chunk of very brittle metal castoffs suggesting it may come in handy in the future. I agreed thinking the clump of miss-shaped metal should be far better than simple rocks and thought about having her wrap my stone bullets in metal for a bit of extra magical oomph, something like that would have been nice in our battle with Esh.

Crur came and sat next to me after Gwyn dropped off the blade, I had borrowed Melk’s whetstone and was in the process of honing its edge. Gesturing at the blade I stopped my work and offered it to him. He deftly took it and after holding up numerous bone pieces up to it nodded and handed it back. Curious I watched as he sat beside me and began whittling away at the bone with a small steel knife just large enough for his hands. Crur asked for the blade two more times before getting up with a grunt and heading off into his tunnel. Guessing he was taking measurements I went on with my work, the blade now sharpened to the best of my ability was ready for runes.

I began scribing the sharpness rune as well as the durability and capacity runes. Once the weapon was complete I would finish the activation sequence and the blade would never come apart or need upkeep ever again. As long as they watched the designated lines in the glowing capacity rune that denoted the item's energy level they would never have to worry about it failing. Shortly after I finished the base runes in the blade the elderly Crur and his apprentice approached me. Holding out the finished handle I was shocked at its beauty, for being an all-bone handle it was exquisitely carved and would look very good once attached. We finished the handle only needing to shim up one tiny part to ensure it wouldn't wobble and all was tight.

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The pommel of the blade was the only issue, we had no easy way to attach it securely since the goblins didn't have the tools most craftsmen did outside the dungeon. While thinking about how to proceed I called Melk over and requested his blade. It only took a moment to scribe the energy rune and divide the energy reserve into fourths. Once done with Melk’s knife upgrade I began using it to carve out a hammer head from some of the Ettin bone scraps. Once happy with them I checked the knife's energy it had hardly moved past the full mark. Handing the blade back I explained to Melk the new rune and to be careful not to go below the mark closest to the handle.

Asking him to explain to Crur his new rune I began the final fittings of the handle. I had Gwyn soften the stone in front of me and slid the blade down to the hilt into it. Using my new bone hammer scribed with the protection rune I began hammering the end of the tang until it began to mushroom out over the end of the pommel. Gwyn softened the stone again allowing me to free the blade, I took a few experimental swings to make sure everything felt tight before I set to work finalizing the runes.

The runes flared to life after the activation rune was completed and the whole blade hummed for a moment as the runes took effect. I had never created something like this so was surprised at first but remembered one of Master Bertol's lectures about how potent enchantments sometimes had odd effects. Once done I handed the blade to Crur and once again asked Melk to warn about not going below the line or the sword would turn to ash. Crur nodded and turning to the goblin horde he strode up to the ettin corpse. Before him sat the two skulls that had been removed and cleaned. Gesturing to his apprentice the young goblin stepped forward his stone knife held high above him.

Driving down with all his might the goblin stabbed his blade into the skull only to fall back as his stone knife exploded, raining broken bits down on the watching crowd. With a chuckle, Crur stepped forward and raised the new blade I had fashioned for them. With a deft swing he brought the blade down and the entire crowd cringed as the blade struck, expecting the new sword to explode in a brilliant shower of shrapnel as well.

I have to admit I cringed as well hoping that my work held up to the powerful creature's skull. The entire crowd, my party included held our breaths in silent expectation as the old goblin swung downward. The blade made a soft shht sound, much like a sharp knife through cloth as it sliced down through the skull splitting it neatly in two and embedding the point several inches into the stone below. The roar of applause that followed kicked off the celebrations as the blade was offered to one of the larger goblins who bowed to the elder Crur and held it aloft which sounded off another round of cheers. Goblins broke once again in every direction as they finished preparations for the feast. My party was seated at the small fire in the center of the cavern where the new chief and the old craftsman sat. We were handed cups with a dark sweet smelling liquid and plates mounded with meat. Leaning over to Melk I asked him what the drink was and he answered between mouthfuls of meat.

“Is cave slug milk, happy drink” Melk said chunks of meat falling from his mouth into his lap as he spoke. “Special cave slug, eats only special cave moss, add water, happy drink!” he pronounced sloshing his cup as he held it aloft.

After finally swallowing he leaned over and whispered conspiratorially “alone cave full when happy drinks” waggling his eyebrows at me while also elbowing me in the ribs and gesturing his cup at Iva before taking another huge bite of his food.

All the goblins at our fire burst out laughing, Melk’s “whisper” being loud enough that half the cavern could hear. Though they couldn't speak common they could apparently understand it well enough, with an embarrassed chuckle, I glanced at Iva who was happily tearing into a large piece of meat and was already waving her cup for a refill. Several of the youngest goblins ran around from fire to fire serving their elders, our group had 3 such youngsters ensuring we never ran out of anything.

Touching Iva’s knee I warned her that she was drinking alcohol and she may want to slow down. She only laughed and whispered in my ear, “I'm going to get good and drunk just in case my master decides to take advantage of me after the party.” I didn't think our relationship had progressed far enough to even call it that but if she was planning on jumping me again tonight I suppose I shouldn’t let her down and began to truly join in on the merriment.

A pounding headache greeted me as I came too, which if I hadn't woke spooning with Iva would have made me wish I was dead. The entire evening was fuzzy and my last memory was Iva telling me that I was going to take advantage of her. I wasn't sure if it had been a request or an order but I guess either way it must have happened since we were lying naked in a heap of animal pelts. I froze as I looked down finding that both Iva AND Gwyn were naked, still fast asleep on either side of me. Gwyn’s back was to me and I couldn’t resist admiring the curve of her ass as I carefully extracted myself from between the girls and collected my loincloth and new vest that had been discarded several feet away.

Getting my clothes back on I left in search of my pack and a place to relieve myself, that slug milk was far stronger than anything I'd ever drank before and I was already dreading when Iva and Gwyn woke. I was very happy to have woken up next to them, I'm not sure how I’d have felt if I’d rolled over and had a naked goblin in bed with me. The thought gave me a chill as I made my way through the mounds of sleeping goblins and I nearly tripped over one at that thought before finally making my way out of camp, and relieved myself on the cavern wall with a sigh.

Stumbling back to the cave I had slept in I passed Gwyn at the entrance.

“Uh, did we? um…” was all I got out.

“Gods no!” Gwyn replied a bit too loudly, leaning on the wall I caressed my temples. Seeing my pain she continued a bit quieter. “You were given all of the blankets in the cave and Iva wouldn't let me into the pile unless I stripped. I didn't want to join you but I didn't want to freeze either soo...“

Sighing in relief I walked back into the cave and snuggled up to Iva covering myself from the chill. I was glad I hadn't crossed that line that would make me no better than people like Shitter, Iva’s former master. I had just gotten comfortable when Iva awoke to answer the call, leaving me alone in the mound of furs. My headache coupled with Iva not returning to the furs was enough to finally make me get out of bed. Walking back out into the main cavern I could see the goblins getting up and starting the cookfires back up. I found Melk back at the chief’s fire rocking side to side holding his head in his hands. He must have drank far more than I had. Teasing him about it he only moaned, mumbling something I couldn't understand.

A moment later he spoke, “Melk make big big mistake, must leave before horde wakes up.” reaching over he looked at me pleadingly while tugging on my vest. “Took gobliness to fun cave.”

“Gobliness?” I asked a bit confused.

“Yesss” He moaned, “many, many goblinesses,” he said cupping his head in his hands once again.

“Ah so you want to get out before the ladies wake,” I said guessing maybe he didn't want his conquests to begin talking amongst themselves. “Ok, go tell the new chief we're leaving and we can be on our way.” I did remember vaguely at some point in the festivities that the chief had gifted me with the key through the gate.

“Nooo!” Melk hissed tugging at my arm and after a moment he continued. “Gobliness’s I had last night... chief’s daughter.” he said with downcast eyes apparently he was afraid of angering the new chief. “And … Him’s mate!”

“Oh!” was all I could think to say. “Uh, I suppose we should leave right away then. Before everyone wakes and begins to gossip about who slept with whom.”

Gathering up Iva and Gwyn we collected our things and headed towards the large cave with the gate. I hoped that the goblins had done as I asked and cleared the gate so we could use the key to get through. We were stopped by Crur as we entered the tunnel. Afraid that we had been found out and he would demand Melk stay here I stepped forward to push past him. Before I could take more than one step he bowed deep and began talking.

“Mighty maker of things, accept a gift from Crur.” Melk translated as Crur’s apprentice stepped forward proffering the gifts Crur had made. “In exchange for the ever-flowing water bag, take this bone flask full of slug milk, it was the last and most potent of the barrel. For the making of new chief blade, take bone axe” he said and the apprentice then held out a wicked looking double-bladed axe all made of bone.

Taking the two items I bowed in return to the old craftsman, both items he had made were exquisite examples of craftsmanship far beyond what I could ever hope to achieve. Both items had been made from the ettin’s bones and I was shocked when I looked into them to feel their potential. Ettins must be magical creatures because the potential both objects had were beyond anything I had ever worked with.

To Iva, his apprentice held out a long slender slightly curved single bladed sword. It looked to have been made from one of the ettins rib bones, it came with a sheath which was another larger hollowed-out rib bone. Next Crur’s apprentice stepped up to Gwyn and handed her an intricately carved bone in the shape of a wand. Melk frowned when Crur spoke and didn't reply until after we had been ushered through the gate and heard the clink of the lock behind us.

“Crur say gift to Melk is time” Melk grumbled. “Crur try delay new chief, so we escape!”