The arguing goblins kept at it for another few minutes before deciding that they would try to rush us. They had no idea that I could hear everything they were saying while they came up with their plan. Some wanted to wait longer, but the leader, who I think was the goblin shaman, reminded the others that something was chasing them, something they feared even more than a ghoul.

To get things ready for their pending attack, I had the ghoul step back from the door and into the passageway. The rest of us retreated into the gloom on the other side of the passage where we would be out of sight when the attack commenced. The goblin arguments had at least bought me enough time to cast Empower Minion on everyone, and for my mana to recharge a bit.

With shrill goblin war cries, the horde of enemies burst forth from the room. The ghoul moved in and attacked, forced to fight two against one in the wide passageway. Goblins seemed perfectly suited for this kind of fight, swarming a more powerful opponent with superior numbers. Despite being outnumbered, the ghoul kept up a ferocious attack, eventually getting in a few slashes in and paralyzing one of the goblins.

To support the ghoul, I cast Duplicate on him, and the goblins chittered among themselves as the number of ghouls doubled. The duplicate ghoul took extra damage from every attack that landed on it, but the goblins in the front rank weren’t interested in attacking and were too busy trying to back away. While the lead goblins tried to retreat, those in the back were busy pushing those ahead of them, creating quite the roadblock.

“Get in there and deal with those goblins,” I ordered, leading the rest of the team to flank our foes. Goblins shrieked in surprise as a human, an elf, a dwarf, and a dog emerged from the dark and attacked them from the other side. The goblins were hemmed in by ghouls on one side, and the rest of my odd team on the other.

I kept back, lurking behind the line of battle as I waited to see if any of the goblins needed special attention. At least eight goblins were jammed into the passageway, and several others were crowded in the doorway. I had no idea how many goblins there were in total, but from the commotion they were creating, I’d estimate that we were facing off against at least a score of these creatures between those in the passage and those still in the room.

Rupert got a good hit in with his mace, dropping a goblin, but once the goblins got over their shock, they began to fight back against the second front. Even though he was armed, Rupert was still just a dwarf commoner and was outclassed by the better armed and armored goblins. Lillia Farwind did much better, her militia training coming in handy as she worked to block attacks with her shield, then counterattack with her spear.

Having greater reach meant that a goblin had to expose themselves if they wanted to hit her. Rupert was fading fast though, and the dog stood ready to fill the gap once he fell. I moved up, ready to replace whoever went down after Rupert. On the other side of the passageway, the ghouls were giving a good account of themselves, and I could see several bodies at their feet.

A stream of fire suddenly shot from the doorway and lanced into the chest of the duplicate ghoul. My minion staggered back, but remained in the fight, taking a final swipe at a goblin before a second blast of flame did the ghoul in. The goblin shaman was lurking back in the room, popping into the doorway to cast spells before retreating back.

I waited for him to appear again, noticing Rupert fall out of the corner of my eye, and the hound moving to take his place. An arm peeked out from the doorway, mana already collecting into another dangerous spell. I tried to cast Psionic Jolt using just the hand as my target. It turned out that targeting the hand was as good as targeting the person and the shaman stumbled from the doorway holding his head and crying out in pain.

With the largest threat exposed, I fired off a magic missile at the shaman. My bolt flew true and slammed into the side of my target causing him to drop to the floor. I didn’t think the shaman was dead, but he’d be out of the picture for at least a short time. With their shaman out of the fight, the other goblins lost some of their aggression and began to retreat toward the doorway.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Goblin cowardice allowed Lillia and the ghoul to get more hits on the retreating horde. Before the last pair could make it through the doorway, the other goblins slammed it shut, leaving their allies to their doom. The team made quick work of the surviving goblins, and the ghoul dug the still living shaman out of the pile of bodies in front of the door.

A bite or two from the ghoul took care of the shaman and I counted a total of nine corpses. The fight had cut the goblin numbers down by about half. Sadly, the hound didn’t make it, leaving just me, the ghoul, and Lillia ready to fight. There was silence for a few minutes before the goblins began to bicker among themselves once again, trying to screw up their courage enough to make another assault.

Time was ticking away, and I had the feeling that the summoning was almost over. It was too bad I didn’t have a timer to show how long remained. Maybe there was something like that in Somhagen. I’d have to check the database back at Refuge when I got the chance, but I figured I’d be heading to the city before I returned home again.

The goblins shushed each other and demanded they all listen. Demanding that goblins be quiet and listen had the expected results, and the arguments flared up even hotter for a few moments. It was only when I could feel the thump of heavy footsteps through the floor that the goblins went silent. Something big was approaching from the other side of the room where the goblins were hiding.

Outright panic broke out as something began to attack the surviving goblins. I sort of figured whatever had gone into the room with them was on the same side that I was. Since we were summoned by a trap, maybe that other creature probably had been as well. It’s slow pace had taken it this long to catch up to the goblin intruders.

Whatever it was that was in there, it sounded like it was doing a number on the goblins. Heavy, meaty sounding blows cut off the shrieking goblins one by one. My summoning compulsion kept me from opening the door to peek, so I instead gathered my troops beside me near the doorway, ready for whatever was coming our way.

As I suspected, one of the goblins finally opened the door and tried to make a break for it. My hammer, the ghoul’s claw, and Lillia’s spear hit it at the same time, obliterating the foe. It left the door swinging open and I could see inside the room for the first time. It was a large storage area of some sort. Rotting and corroded crates littered the floor, as did more than a few goblin bodies.

In the corner of the room, someone inside a massive suit of plate armor held the final goblin aloft by its throat. Choaking, the goblin tried to drive his dagger into the armored hand that held him, but the cheap blade had no chance against the thick, steel armor. A sickening crunch sounded out as the armored figure squeezed and cracked the goblin’s neck, tossing the corpse to the floor.

The armored figure looked in our direction after checking for any goblin survivors. An open helm revealed that no living creature was inside the armor. Instead, a swirling mass of darkness piloted the armor, and a pair of glowing red eyes appraised my group. I readied our team for a tough fight, but the armor merely turned and stomped its way back out the second doorway on the far side of the room.

I let out a breath I didn’t realize that I’d been holding. The armored creature was another defender of this place. With the defenders friendly, I would have loved to explore the place a bit more. Was this just a well-protected area with magical traps, or was it a true dungeon?

“If you are a dungeon, I hope we accomplished what you wanted from us,” I said into the darkness. There was no reply, making me think this wasn’t an actual dungeon. My experience with the previous dungeon I’d contracted with was a good one, and I kind of looked forward to working with one again. Maybe that Pakrinas guy from Contracted Summonings could set something like that up again.

It was only a few minutes after the animated armor had walked away when the summoning was completed. I’d had one of the rare summonings where I’d survived to outlast the timer before being killed in some gruesome way. A system prompt gave my final rating results.

Your summoning session has been completed.

Your performance rating is calculated as Very Good.

Your rewards will reflect you being summoned at Tier 1, Rank 4, and your performance rating of Very Good.

You have earned 11 experience points.

You have earned 10 summoning points.

You will now be returned to your personal space.

Congratulations, you have reached Tier 1, Rank 5.

You have gained a point in Presence.

You have gained a point in Constitution.

A visit to Somhagen has been unlocked. The connection between Somhagen and your personal space has been established.