The two goblins watched the dwarven actors take a bow, then disperse with the crowd. The duo then hopped out of the hole, and looked up at the sun. Seeing they had a little time left, they snuck over to the dwarven bathhouse and cleaned themselves off in a secluded corner.
“AaAaaaaahhhh,” 27 proclaimed when the crew reunited at sunset. “We’ve found a most spectacular place for the Yiklar Folding Cabin, yes we have!”
“Hmmm, where might that be?” Colb replied.
“Hurmph – we just put it, like, behind a hill,” Stibs clarified.
“AaAaaaaahhhh, and we purchased some food for the night!” 27 cheered, presenting a medium-sized burlap sack full of food. “I think Leader Glazeanvil has been keeping quiet, yes he has been, because the dwarves of Bellra seem to love us! We got fantastic deal on this food, yes we did – which is good, because my pockets are bleeding after giving away all those weapons, yes they are. I’m… actually running little bit low. We should be careful about any more big spending, yes we should be.”
With that, the goblin crew head over to their campsite and activated the Yiklar Folding Cabin. They then piled into the dining area, where they enjoyed a meal of fresh mangonuts, chewy rosemushrooms, fried iguanafrogs (a dwarven delicacy, which intrigued Colb quite a bit), and some classic daisywheat bread buns. During the feast, Drek discussed the play he’d witnessed to 27 and Stibs. Colb smiled, pleased that dinner wasn’t just the four goblins silently chewing today.
After the meal, the goblins rested, eager to seek out the Yiklar Spear of Irreversible Death next morning – and thus complete a major milestone in their quest.
An hour before sunrise the next day, the magical lights within the cabin suddenly flashed on. “Rrghegh…” Drek groaned, sounding unhappy to be awake.
“Aaauh, wha-?” 27 mumbled from his Yiklar Floating Bed.
“Aah, good morning you four!” spouted a cheerful goblin voice from the cabin’s entrance.
“Aaah, good morning indeed!” agreed a similarly joyful, deeper goblin voice from the same place.
The goblin crew rolled from their sleeping positions to face the front door, which had been opened. Two young goblins with pink-colored eyes were poking their heads through it.
“I’m 83!” shouted the first goblin, smiling through a pair of thin-framed glasses.
“And I’m 84!” the second goblin continued, scratching his electronze nose ring as he spoke.
“We’re sister and brother by blood,” 83 announced, “and of course, are goblins of the Yiklar tribe as well, yes we are. I don’t believe we’ve met,” she continued, looking at 27.
“I’m the primary Yiklar merchant for the Dwarven Republic.”
“...and I’m a blacksmith from the Yiklar Factories, but 1 sent me out to work on special, extra-rare item here in Bellra,” 84 added.
“Hur… Hurmph? Who are these?” Stibs blurted, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
“AaAaaaaahhhh, 83 and 84!” 27 exclaimed, jumping out of his bed. He began to dance in a smooth jig the second his feet hit the floor, to which 83 and 84 started bobbing their heads in synchrony.
“Hmmm,” Colb mumbled, picking up his shield and wand from a bedside table. “84, you are maker of the Yiklar Spear of Irreversible Death we need, yes?”
“Aaah, sort of, yes!” the goblin agreed, still just poking his head in through the cabin door under his sister’s. “So far, I have crafted the most classic, high-quality Yiklar Spear of Armor Piercing, yes I have,” he clarified.
“Which is worth 52,086 goldatinum pieces, 3 electronze pieces, and 1 silvopper piece,” 27 and 83 recited in unison.
“Aaah, yes! However, the Yiklar Spear of Irreversible Death,” 84 continued, “is not normal Yiklar-made item, no it is not.” 27 nodded in agreement, unable to recall a pre-set price or any special offers for such an item.
“This is because,” 84 explained, “our leader 1 has arranged for the dwarves of Bellra to give my Yiklar Spear of Armor Piercing a little bit of a boost using rare magic.”
“AaAaaaaahhhh,” 27 said, rubbing his chin. “So you’re taking a most exquisitely high-quality Yiklar-made weapon, and enhancing it further with the most rarest of magic? To create an item not usually available within the Yiklar inventory?”
“Yes, most precisely,” the siblings agreed in unison.
“It’s an experiment,” 83 continued, “…but in theory, the enchantment will create a powerful weapon that can overcome any foe – although it will work only once, yes it will!”
“Aaah, this is most true,” 84 agreed. “If you use the spear to strike any creature that could’ve been defeated another way, then that most rarest of magic will have been wasted,” the siblings warned in unison.
“Rrghegh… you guys are creepy,” Drek muttered. The Ratter goblin then shoved his face back into the bean bag chair, as a demonstration that he wasn’t ready to wake up.
“Aah, but we must get moving now,” 83 responded, wagging her finger. The siblings continued to bob their heads in alignment with 27’s dance as they spoke.
“Mmmm, yes, the leaders of Bellra will be enchanting the spear very soon, and we think you should be there for it,” 84 agreed. “It will give you a better understanding of the power contained within this most flawless-of-quality item.”
“Rrghegh, is it Maxten’s miracle?” Drek mumbled into the beanbag chair.
83 and 84 both did a double-take with surprise. “That’s some impressive historical knowledge you’ve got there!” they cheered in unison.
“Rrghegh, I’ll get up if you stop talking at the same time like that. It’s unnatural,” Drek complained. The siblings silently nodded in synchrony, then pulled their heads out of the cabin, shutting the door behind them.
Once the goblin crew had gotten ready for the day, 83 and 84 met them outside. The synchronized duo led the goblin crew to a building of metal and stone, built into a deep dwarven-dug hole. The six goblins climbed down, entering the building from a hatch within the roof. They were greeted by a dozen hairy dwarves in shiny goldatinum-colored metal armor. The goblins instantly recognized them as Dalrek and Bellra’s leaders.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
27 and Colb glanced at Leader Glazeanvil cautiously. His hair-covered head twitched a little bit as he faced them. The Yiklar Bowstaff of Earthquakes was still attached to a strap in his armor.
“WELCOME, good goblins,” Leader Boldpass cheered. His extreme emphasis on the word “welcome” came off as a bit jarring to Colb.
“I see six goblins, not two,” one of Dalrek’s leaders muttered. “Leader Glazeanvil, those are the four goblins that assisted your army, correct?”
“Hrm…” Leader Glazeanvil mumbled.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” the Dalrek leader replied.
“Yes…” Leader Glazeanvil confirmed. “Those are the goblins that sold me this bowstaff, which I used to vanquish our foe.”
“That’s great,” the Dalrek leader cheered. “And now that we’re visiting Bellra – and it’s been too long, by the way,” he continued, shaking hands with Leader Boldpass. “We see that the relationship between our people and those of the Yiklar tribe goes much deeper than we knew.”
“HOH, indeed!” Leader Boldpass agreed. “OUR town has seen great advancements thanks to investments from the leader of Yiklar.” 27’s ears perked up at the mention of investment. “THAT goblin, the one named… well, 1 was his name, I suppose. HE was the first one to believe in good Madrock, who quickly became the best blacksmith in town after 1 helped him open his store.”
“AH, and don’t forget Thorthurin,” another Bellra leader agreed – his emphasis-ridden dialect similar to that of Leader Boldpass. “WITHout 1’s help, Thorthurin would have never been able to open the good Drunkblade Tavern, WHICH is where we hold all of our town meetings now.” The other leaders of Bellra all nodded in agreement.
Colb looked at 27. He could tell that gears were turning in the noble goblin’s mind, intrigued by this opportunity to understand how 1 used investing – a foreign concept, for certain – to convince Bellra’s leaders to share such powerful, once-per-century magic with the Yiklar tribe.
“WE could go on and on about how 1 has transformed this good village with his wealth,” Leader Boldpass interjected, “BUT, better yet, we have come today to repay that debt in the best way we know how.”
“And WE, have come to WATCH!” a leader from Dalrek threw in. A couple other Dalrek leaders chuckled, perhaps amused by their companion’s imitation of Bellra’s odd dialect.
Without further ado, Leader Boldpass pulled out a glass orb, which was just a little bit shy of the size of Colb’s head. A glittery blue dust fluttered around inside the glass, twisting and turning within the spherical prison. Listening a little closer, Colb could make out a dwarven chant “Maxten, Maxten, Maxten…” very faintly emanating from the orb.
“THIS, is the miracle orb of Maxten, god of war,” Leader Boldpass announced to the group. The eleven other leaders, along with 83 and 84, dropped to a knee to show their respect. “MAXTEN was the greatest dwarf in our culture. HE led a revolution which changed our society for the better.”
Seeing the others, Colb, 27, and Stibs kneeled. Drek continued to stand, looking mesmerized by the floating blue particles within the glass sphere. “ONCE per a thousand years, this orb glows again, such that we may ask a favor – a miracle – from the spirit of the long-deceased Maxten. HE was a selfless dwarf, throwing himself into his cause for the benefit of those he cared about.”
Colb thought back to the play he’d seen with Drek. In his mind, he could only picture Maxten as a young dwarven actor beating another actor senseless with a foam sword.
“THEREFORE, we the dwarves of Bellra, holders of Maxten’s Miracle Orb, have chosen to give this millennium’s miracle as a GIFT, to the good goblin 1, who alone brought great prosperity to the dwarves of Bellra.”
With this, 84 stepped out of the room for a second, then returned carrying a black spear painted with a swirling white pattern. He kneeled, holding what could only be a Yiklar Spear of Armor Piercing up to the red-haired dwarf.
“MAXTEN,” Leader Boldpass announced, holding the orb close to the spear. “WE wish to imbue this weapon with your miracle. PLEASE, make it such that this weapon will irreversibly kill the next creature it is stabbed into. PLEASE, make it such that the creature slain by this weapon, can never come back! NOT by soul magic! NOT by any magic! MAKE it such that not even another miracle could undo a death caused by this spear! NEXT time these goblins face an insurmountable enemy, LET your infinite power shine through this weapon! …and as you enchant this spear, PLEASE show us some of that famous showmanship of yours, for your followers to enjoy?”
As Leader Boldpass finished the last sentence, the blue glitter drained out of the orb, leaving it as an empty glass sphere. Explosive sounds started erupting from outside, high in the air.
Colb looked up, towards the sound. A sunroof window revealed the sky had shifted into a mirage of thousands of different shades of blue, all swirling and exploding together. The firework-like display shifted and glowed, swirling into a violent vortex.
Like a tornado, the swirl of blue color touched down to the very sunroof window Colb was looking through, shattered it, and absorbed the glass fragments. “MAXTEN, MAXTEN, MAXTEN” hordes of dwarves chanted from above-ground, becoming audible after the window had been broken.
The rippling blue vortex flowed into the room, then rabbitbee-lined into the Yiklar Spear of Armor Piercing.
After a few over-stimulating minutes of color and light, the vortex finished fully flowing into the spear, and the dwarves above-ground quieted their chant. “Now THAT was a show!” Leader Boldpass cheered. The eleven other leaders began singing a religious song, rejoicing in what they’d just observed.
Colb looked at the now Yiklar Spear of Irreversible Death, which had turned dark blue in color. Once the ceremony was over, 84 sheathed it, and handed the weapon to 27. The six goblins then climbed back up and out of the building to debrief together above-ground.
“Hurmph, why didn’t we use the miracle to directly summon a bunch of goldatinum for our tribes?” Stibs questioned. “Or at least, use it to directly irradicate whatever monster 1 was worried about being near Wealth Mountain?”
“Aaah, those are not the types of miracles Maxten likes to grant, no they are not,” 84 replied.
“Mmm, Maxten has made it clear that his miracles exist to empower lesser creatures to fight against insurmountable odds,” 83 continued. “Lesser creatures referring to non-dwarf societies, in his opinion.”
“Mmmm, of course, that’s not very logical,” 84 whispered. “Goblins are just as good as dwarves. The idea that only dwarves can defeat insurmountable odds is archaic.”
“However, it’s not like we were going to let them give this miracle away to the humans, no we were not,” 83 added.
“Not to mention, from a manufacturing perspective, this experiment was very cool, yes it was!” 84 cheered.
“By treating Bellra, home of Maxten’s Miracle Orb, especially well ever since he became leader, 1 was able to…” 83 and 84 said in unison, trailing off as they realized Drek was glaring at them.
“You can finish the sentence, sister,” 84 said.
“No, you may – I insist,” 83 replied.
“…1 was able to ensure they would choose us for the miracle gift this century,” 27 finished, scratching his chin. “I don’t know how he comes up with these plans, no I do not.”
“That’s why he’s the best,” 83 cheered.
“And a fantastic goblin to work with for engineering research,” 84 added. “This experiment was most interesting! If you guys end up using it against a monster, be sure to tell me how it turned out! Miracles are such a fascinating research topic, yes they are! Such rare magic!”
27 nodded, patting the sheathed spear endearingly. “I’ll be sure to inform you personally!” he cheered.
With the Yiklar Spear of Irreversible Death secured, the goblin crew made their way to the port north of town, which was built into a cut out between two mountains surrounding Bellra.
When they arrived, the goblins looked out at the peaceful peppersalt tides, which beckoned them onwards to the next leg of their adventure.
“Rrghegh… we forgot to ask for boat,” Drek noted.
“Hmmm, I remembered, but I didn’t say anything,” Colb replied. “I think that would’ve been pushing our luck with Leader Glazeanvil, yes?”
“Hurmph! It’s no problem. I can get us over this ocean,” Stibs cheered. “I just need to find some wood.”
“MMmMmmmm,” 27 groaned.