Unknown POV

The ruins of the village stood silently in a glade with the mighty and ancient forest surrounding it. An eerie wind blows through its ramshackle streets where corpses of dissected goblins lay. The sound of footsteps can be heard as a young man walks through its streets, his boots covered with blood and gore. He swings his small hand axe caked with the blood of the dead. He looks over the partly burnt ruins and turns his head to the smashed gate as the voices in a weird and barbaric language hear him. He heads towards the noise slowly and carefully readying his weapon with a single thought in his head, maybe I can reach Lv 50 today.

Hiddey’s POV

The group reaches the edge of the glade they lay in the tall grass watching the remains of the smashed village. The western part of the village is burnt down with the pit broken and filled with dirt and mud. I look back at his small group of three, he looks back at what happened yesterday when they lost two of their number. It was a sad moment for the others but in truth I barely remember their names after all they were young and about three goblins die for every one  that reaches adulthood. He thanked the Mother that the Squiddies didn’t choke him to death.

I am surprised that we didn’t meet any Muggag hunters or scouts. I wonder what happened to the village maybe an attack by the Tall things or maybe the Squiddies got here, no they would have dried up. Hiddey turns to his group of three remaining goblins. “Which one of you is Gedd?”

A small goblin holding a stone spear with small beady brown eyes stands up and says, “It’s me. What is it boss?” I point to the left of the village where a stack of corpses lay. Nodding, he heads forward to check out the pile of dead. He will not be forgotten when the beast devours him, well at least the otheir two will remmber him..

I turn to look at Mallilk and Pickir “Well Gedd is probably going to die.” They look at me confused and a little worried, probably because they were almost sent out to die. “Don’t be surprised he knew what he was doing. Anyway, follow after me we will head into the village when he is being devoured to steal anything that is valuable and burn down what’s left of the village.” They tried to talk, and I shushed them as I turned back to see Gedd returning alive and well. “Huh I guess there isn’t any beasts here. Most likely a group of raiders came here. Damn the tribe might actually be in trouble if they were willing to kill so many and not loot the place.” This was a partial lie as Hiddey thought back to the day when he saw the Tall bastard, most likely he was a scout or something sent out to look for us, but it left an unpleasant question in his mind. What could those Tall things even gain from destroying the tribe if they could sail the seas around the island then there would be nothing of use here. 

After Gedd returned we headed to the village stealthily to see if there are any clues or treasure to steal. The gates were wide opened, and the retched smell hit us as we saw severed legs and arms. An absolute massacre at the gates. Most of the homes were burnt down and weapons lying on the floor. I head to the centre avoiding the bodies and discarded equipment.

We reach the broken gates in a few minutes of careful and painfully slow movement. The others are clearly worried and definitely have much lower agility stat then me. If the way they walk and how loud they are is anything to go by, it’s almost like they have never went hunting. With a quick motion I point at the nearest home and start slinking towards the building.

I can hear them arguing behind Mallilk “Follow him idiot.”

Pickir shouted back “Shut it Mallilk why don’t you follow him you seedater.” Gedd stayed quiet and followed me quietly heading past me further into the village. Smart of him to get away from the noise but stupid to head straight into the middle instead of exploring near the wall. I head further into the village along the wall checking the homes of the former residents. Sadly, there wasn’t any proper loot only some weapons and fur. Not going to be able to carry much of this back to the village I step into a small home where the table is turned over and the fur bed on the floor. A smell of slightly rotten venison hit me as I start salivating at the prospect of meat. I grab the piece of meat lying on the floor next to the table ready to bite into it when my trait activates.

It’s A Tactical Retreat- When facing a much larger, scarier or simply stronger being gain a 20% to Agility, Dexterity and Stamina. Only activates when you are in danger and "retreat" is the best strategy.

I throw the meat behind me at whatever is trying to kill me and whip out my stone knife as I turn to the enemy. A surprised yelp escapes from my mouth as I see a fucking Tall thing standing in the doorway with a piece of venison on its shoulder. The Tall thing was different from the one he met in the forest he was shorter than the hay haired creature. This creature has very dark hair that looks unkempt but clean. Wearing grey t-shirt and cargo pants which are covered with blood and gore, probably goblin blood. His brown eyes glint with cold calculation. He readies his small axe and swings.

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I jump back dodging the strike and jumping backwards readying my dagger as he steps forward for another attack. Activating Stride.

Stride- Increases movement speed by 50% for 1 second at cost of 3 energy.

I charge him managing to Stri….

My blow is countered and suddenly he kicks me nocking me back into the table. The table breaks, how the hell does he have such a high strength stat! I quickly get up and see him ready to slash, I quickly roll out of the way as his axe hits the floor a second after I got out of the way.

Hiddey: Tallthing has dealt you 15 bludegoning damage.

Fuck! There is no way I can hurt him he fucking took me down to half health with a kick a fucking kick. Thank the fucking Mother he is slower than me. Reactivating Stride I sacrifice 18 energy to sprint past him for the exit. He wasn’t done as he threw his axe at me, thank Mother he didn’t expect my sudden speed increase. The axe plunged into the wall and I made it outside tumbling and unable to slow down I hit the wall. Pushing myself of the wall I run as he rips out his axe and steps out of the hovel. Irritation can be easily seen on his face as I sprint for my life, he quickly follows behind me.

Sprinting as fast as I can I duck and weave between the shacks and rubble. My speed lasts about six seconds I must find the others, I quickly turn back to look at the thing. The tall thing is quite far behind me thanks to the speed boost, but he is slowly catching up. I head back to the gate where I hear the idiots still arguing, good. Running to them I shout, “Get your weapons out we have an enemy.” The two idiots Mallilk and Pickir quiet down and stare at the Tall thing behind me.

Mallilk takes out a small short bow and prepares for his shot his arms shaking it is a useless endeavour he will most likely miss. Pickir takes out a small stone axe and rushes forward, great the idiot is going to die. I sidestep Pickir and push Mallilk onto the floor and keep on running. A few seconds later I hear a scream and then a squelch too bad for you Pickir I didn’t like you. I turn to look back and see that Pickir had lost his hand and the axe was imbedded in his chest with a last gargle of blood he was dead. A small arrow was shot at the tall thing and by some miracle it struck the things shoulder. The Tall thing grabbed its axe and wrenched it out with a displeased look, blood spurrting out all over the floor.

Just like I though it is strong but nowhere near strong enough to kill a whole tribe. Well Mallilk managed to shoot it which means either low agility or he got lucky, impressive either way to bad I am going to have to leave him behind he would make a good archer class. As I reach Mallilk he is already reloading his bow, I lift my dagger and hit him behind his knee that should give him some debuffs. He screams in agony as he falls releasing his bow and breaking the arrow he was holding in two. My ears twitch as I hear a war cry which gives me an unfortunate debuff.

Gedd you bastard I knew letting you go alone was a stupid idea, he had to have seen me knock down Pickir and stab Mallilk therefor he no longer sees me as an ally. I should have been more careful, this is bad. I can’t move a muscle fuck the debuff must stop me from moving away from him. I can’t even attack Mallilk the shout is preventing me from lifting even a finger at him. I fucking hate Bodyguards why do they have so many stupid buffing abilities.

Gedd: Used Taunt, partially resisted due to higher charisma and failed due to low willpower.

Mallilk grabbed part of the broken arrow and holding it looks to me. He swiftly jabs it at me, with a desperate attempt I try and dodge, but he manages to strike me in between the ribs. I take 2 piercing damage, you little shit. Grabbing the arrow shaft, I try and pull it out, but the thing is stuck, fuck if I don’t get it out soon, I will be screwed with all those debuffs. I have no choice but to take down Gedd too bad I liked him he didn’t talk. I turn around and see that I don’t actually have to do anything. Seeing the Tall thing rushing to attack him and slaughter him like a pig. I look back to Mallilk who is grabbing his knife and clumsily taking it out. Fuck I have no chance I have to try and break through the debuff. If I run to Gedd the Tall thing will kill me and if I can’t move away Mallilk will kill me.

I try and take another step and move away but the same Blue keeps on appearing in front of me. Mallilk tackles me to the ground stabbing me in the shoulder I feel it piercing and striking my bone. Fucking idiot, he should be running for his life. Fuu… Nevermind. Thank you for the help.

Hiddey: Taunt has been broken due to damage overpowering the effect.

I lift my head and smash his nose with my forehead, with his slightly greenish blood spurting on me. Kicking him of I get up quickly and look to Gedd. Gedd is putting up a good fight using his Fortify and Knock Out ability to deal a few good blows and it seems the Tall thing is having a challenge. Must have a powerful damage dealer class but low health if it has trouble against a defensive class. Shaking my head I turn back and with sadistic glee I finish Mallilk.

Delivering a finishing blow to Mallilk he desperately tries to plead but I don’t let him finish the sentence. Grab his arrows for my own bow I start running for the forest. It is always better to have more ammunition. Sorry Mallilk and Gedd, but I didn’t like any of you enough to risk my life for. It’s A Tactical Retreat activates again, yeah right this is not a retreat. I am not going to fight I am going to survive this like always.