A bubbling sensation was felt within Logan's stomach, something he hadn't felt so strongly since his first entrance into the world of Avanar. A genuine fear, something out of his control, he was about to face off against a small troop of goblins, some possibly above his level. He knew he needed to do this, this world wasn't entirely kind, and with monsters prowling the fields he didn't want to be unprepared. The first quest was just to survive, but inference led his thoughts to the dangers that would follow afterwards.

“Logan, snap out of it, Marsh and Vaela are almost there!” said Pon To, the archer staring daggers at his ranged partner. Brought out of his cage of fear, Logan collected himself.

“I have to focus, take down what I can and leave the rest to the party”, he reconciled. Turning his head back to the cave entrance, he could see his allies at the base of the hill.

Charging with his shield, Marsh slammed into the first muscle, picking him up with his diamond-shaped protector and crushing the goblin against the wall of the hill. Bringing up his longsword, he stabbed at the goblin as if shanking a cell inmate.

Vaela started with a leap into the air, landing with a locked-leg grip on the torso and arms of the other muscle. Landing with a thud against the hill, she stabbed down and down onto the enemy, spraying blood across her body.

Both muscles were stopped from any sort of retaliation, either from having their limbs locked or their bodies held under a metallic shield. Vaela kicked her now dead quarry to the side of the hill, stabbing one sword into the dirt, she threw the three balls of cloth into the mouth of the cave.

Seeing the targets, Pon lit his arrow, the flaming projectile nocked into his bow and aimed high. Letting loose into the air, the arrow soared high and arced down into the mouth of the cave, a perfect shot, the flame caused the rags to inflame. A brighter light shone, Marsh grabbing a hold of the lit spike next to him, preparing it as if it was a spear, Vaela seeing this did the same.

Several yells, yelps, and roars could be heard from the cave, as countless footsteps echoed from its belly. Pon began to fire his arrows blindly into the darkness, Logan unable to see if they were making purchase in the hide of his foes. Eventually, the light of the flames shone over several greasy goblins who were first to reach the exit.

An arrow hit a left goblin, right through the knee, causing it to fall over and break the shaft of the projectile. Another goblin jumped over the flames, a cry of pain as it burnt his feet. Breaching the exit, he was treated to a flaming spear through the head, Marsh using his strength to fling the body over his back. Following his friends, another scout jumped around the flames to have his side impaled by Vaela's spear, pulling into her she took another swing with her sword to finish it off.

Tumbling could be heard and seen in the cave entrance, some scouts barely making it to the light as they were filled with arrows from Pon. Logan could make out three more kills, Pon letting arrows loose at breakneck speed. More foes were making their way through the cave, five breaching all at once.

Marsh charged his spear into the first scout, letting the spear fall with the corpse as he drew his sword from the hill. Shield raised, he blocked a club swing of another scout, though a third goblin hit his leg. Retaliating, he pushed his shield to have the one who hit it fall to the floor, bringing his sword on the one who hit his leg. Two arrows landed solidly in the body of the floor goblin from Pon.

The other two goblins leapt at Vaela, as she missed with her spear. Heavy club swings hit her in the face and shoulder, in anger she slashed out at one goblin, hitting him twice. With a swift kick, she knocked the other goblin off-guard, a slash and arrow causing one more monster to fall.

Not able to see much room to help, as he was forced into roleplaying the chanting of spells, Logan began to repeatedly chant his line of script and shot into the darkness. He was unsure if he was hitting anything, or if the spells lost their velocity and merely hit the floor instead, but he felt too much like “warming the bench”. “Forces of arcane, build up and crush. Force”, he would recite, over and over.

Instead of more goblinoids, the next thing to emerge was a large barrel, hurled from the entrance of the cave, the rags being picked up and torn apart as the barrel exploded into splinters and black dust. Glittering in the light, the dust quickly ignited and exploded, causing the two front liners to get hit with burning shards of wood as well as a shockwave from the blast. “Gunpowder barrel!?” a shocked Logan guessed.

Checking his allies' statuses, Marsh was at 51/66 HP, Vaela standing at 28/42. “They should be fine for now, but I'm worried about the-”, Logan began to think, but then was cut off. A larger presence barreled through the cave entrance, swinging fist and large mace on either side, missing Vaela but hitting the shield of Marsh, a tingling sensation going up his arm.

“Hob-Hobgoblin! Fire! Fuck!” Marsh shouted out in a decree. Logan began his incantation, eyeing up this new foe. The hobgoblin stood at a massive 7', its muscles were large and pulsating. Guarding its hide was pieces of metallic plating, hard leather, and the skulls of his foes. What skin he could see, the hobgoblin was of a dark-green with brown patches, its eyes an evil red with scarring all across his face.

“From the fires within, burst forward and burn it down! Flame Shot!” Logan chanted, worried if he should even bother keeping up his roleplay at this point. Fire ignited Logan's hand, dancing across his palm and fingers. Thrusting forward at the hobgoblin, the fire surged across the plains, dipping slightly, it landed in an explosion of cinders, marking the leader in hot flames. As the spell began to fade away, the hobgoblin had obviously failed its save, ignited by the flames. Though this only made it look even more fierce.

“C'mon, take him down guys”, Logan worried. “Identify”, he thought, hoping to gauge the power of this foe. Instead of gaining detailed information about his foe, all Logan got was its name as “Hobgoblin Leader” and a picture of red skulls and crossbones topped with a golden crown. “It's over level 4, does that crown denote it as a boss?” he panicked.

Getting a taste of Logan's magic, the leader turned its head to the forest, letting out a roar and words in goblin tongue “Mono mose! Hyse, takka is head” it commanded. Several more goblins came pouring out of the entrance, scouts and muscles alike, who tried to charge into the forest. Vaela started to cut away at the minions, slicing a scout twice and kicking a muscle to the floor. Marsh supplanted the face of a muscle with his shield, stabbing at it against the hill.

The hobgoblin, followed by four scouts and two muscles, went after the caster and his archer ally. Saliva heated on the face of the hobgoblin, his mace dragging a dirt path behind him. “It's coming for me! Why did I have to attack first”, Logan cursed.

“Crap, crap, crap! Logan, keep firing, get that bastard down!” Pon ordered, letting loose arrows at the leader, though its armour proved thick against the small projectiles. One landed into its shoulder, where the armour wasn't as thick but did little to slow the leader.

“Fr-From the fires within, bu-burst forward and burn it down! Flame Shot!” Logan wavered in his confidence, a flaming menace mere moments away. Sparks of fire came alive in his hand, thrust forward they danced across the air towards the leader, exploding into a fiery star on his chest. The leader roared out in pain, slowing his pursuit for a few seconds, the smaller goblins running past him to the ranged party members.

“I got the small fry, keep hitting the big guy!” commanded Pon. Seeing his arrows have little effect on the leader, he shot at the fast-approaching goblins who were a mere 100 feet away. Hitting a muscle in both legs, it tumbled to the floor, having a scout behind fall over his friend.

In the distance, Vaela had just finished off her two goblins, jumping on the back of another to help out Marsh who had been bludgeoned several times. Amongst them, they only had one more muscle to deal with. Checking their status quickly, Marsh had 38/66 HP, Vaela 19/42.

“Crackle and spark, from above be smited! Lightning Shot!” Logan continued in his casting of spells, the whites in the eyes of the hobgoblin visible at this point. A spark of life came to being in Logan's hand, electricity coursing through him. Throwing his hand out, the lightning acred towards the leader, shocking him completely. Logan's eyes widened, as the leader was only halted for another second or two.

Running into the tree in front of him, Logan double-kicked off its trunk to the side as the hobgoblin swung its great mace through the trunk. The tree cracked and fell with the attack, branches splintering off and flying across the battlefield. One goblin jumped onto Pon, another clubbing at the young man's leg. A sharp snap was heard, Logan hearing his ally's bones being shattered.

As he was about to quick-cast to save his ally, Logan was halted by a longsword hurtled in his direction. Planting solidly in the head of a scout, the longsword pulled the goblin to the floor. Looking over the battlefield, Logan could see Vaela charging down with her swords in hand and hugging a shield, Marsh recovering from a two-handed toss of his sword.

“Logan! Grab Pon and move!” Marsh shouted over, grabbing a flung shield from Vaela. “General's Charge!” he yelled, a yellow lion's-head mirage appearing over him. Hurtling into the hobgoblin, he knocked the tyrant to the floor. Vaela sprinted to the minions, cutting as fast as she could.

Logan hearing the command dashed to Pon, whose leg was caved in at the knee. Grabbing a hold of his cloak, Logan dragged his ally from another club swing of a scout. With a solid kick to the face, Logan disorientated the scout, before kneeling to pick up his archer member. Princess carrying Pon off, Logan sprinted back into the open plains, away from the mass of goblins. Checking his status, Pon was sitting at 6/30 HP.

The hunk of meat that was the hobgoblin stood once more, great mace in hand it swung wildly, hitting Vaela solidly in her head, causing her to fly across the grass plains. Brought down to 9/42 HP, Vaela shakily stood up from the blow, defending against another muscle's mace hit.

There were only 3 minions left, with the hobgoblin now focused on a defending Marsh. One swing hit against the large shield, letting out a loud gong noise, the shield glowing blue once more. Logan could see that Marsh was under the effects of Wall of Iron again. Protecting Pon, Logan began to throw out his Force mick, aiding Vaela in her 3-on-1 encounter.

Vaela took a club to the hip, using the momentum she slashed at a muscle to her left, nearly decapitating the foe. Spinning around, she gave a roundhouse kick to another scout, digging its face into the floor. A crash of Force into the remaining muscle pushed him to the floor, failing his Strength save, which allowed Vaela to pierce deep into its back.

Another loud bang hit against Marsh, whose skill shattered like blue glass all over. Hit to the floor from the force, Marsh was assaulted again with the great mace, his body sinking into the dirt. Shooting for the leader, Logan let out long-roleplay Force micks, though it didn't seem to do much, inflicting weapon damage instead of elemental. Checking his allies, he could see them fading fast. Pon at 6/30 HP, Vaela 2/42, Marsh 22/66.

The hobgoblin still raged in flames, taking 1 fire damage every 6 seconds, the combat hadn't lasted overly long but the small attrition added up. Panting heavily, the leader was close to death, slamming down into Marsh, dealing him a reduced 4 damage. Vaela tried to charge into aid, but her wounds caught up to her, with a dizzying vision she fell to one knee.

“Logan… take… take my cloak off”, a beaten Pon requested.

“What? Ok”, Logan accepted, tearing the knot in front of Pon's chest and pulling his cloak off. Revealing underneath his clothes soaked in blood, Logan could see that attached to Pon's now revealed arm was a wrist-crossbow. Moving to unlatch it, the crossbow jumped open.

“Bolt... in cloak”, a deathly Pon continued. Logan quickly moved into the cloak and found several bolts attached on its underside. He took one and helped Pon load his wrist-crossbow. A weak arm aimed at the hobgoblin, Logan quickly helped to aid in the aim.

Yet another slam hit into Marsh's shield, an alert played over his body “Critical!” as he went down to 4/66 HP. A coughing Marsh showed signs of pain and anguish, his body becoming flattened by a monstrous foe.

Together, Pon and Logan fired the crossbow at the hobgoblin. Darting across the field, cutting the air, the bolt soared towards its target. With a raised club, the hobgoblin prepared for a deathblow but was halted by a sharp sensation. The bolt pierced right into its eye, pushing its sight into its brain. The great mace fell to the floor behind the hobgoblin, the body stumbling back, then slowly, it fell back to the floor, atop its mace.

A loud and off-putting jitter of its flaming legs was seen, the body seizing up and then going limp, the battle was won. Countless messages appeared over the bodies, rewarding the party for a job well done, though the NPCs would find little cheer in their injuries as they were unable to see their XP rewards. In total, they had fought 16 goblin scouts, 6 goblin muscles, and the hobgoblin leader.

Putting Logan on 4,891 XP, he levelled up without any doubt, only requiring 3,000 for level 3. The window to inform him of such appearing as the battlefield was still, the wounded party picking themselves up.

“Level up! Gain: 8 HP, +1 Str, +2 Agi, +1 Con, +2 Int, +1 Wis, +1 Cha. You have 1 attribute point to spend”, a great level to be sure, Logan incredibly pleased with the growth awarded him for such a close battle. “Every attribute got an increase, my main two getting +2 each, it either works on fractions or specific levels grant more”, he thought, helping Pon into a more comfortable position.

With Pon laid on the grassy floor, Logan moved over to help dig Marsh out of his crater, a familiar sight to Logan that reminded him of his own entry into this world. Dirt broke off as Marsh arose from the earth.

“That went awry quick, I didn't count 30 though, so keep an eye out. The quest was just for the hob, so we'll head out when able”, Marsh instructed, locking his shield onto his back and moving to his thrown longsword.

Vaela had helped herself up, bruises and enlarged parts of her skin showing a deadly battle had occurred. She moved over to the fallen Pon to inspect his leg.

“Marsh, we need to set this and head on, we can't take on much more today”, she called out. Marsh quickly moved over, followed by Logan. Pulling out a thick stick from his pack, he placed it in the clenched teeth of Pon.

“Bite hard, this won't be pleasant”, Marsh instructed Pon. With Vaela holding him still, Marsh took a hold of the backwards leg, one arm on the lower portion and another at the caved-in knee. Two quick motions and he “popped” it back into place, though this sort of field medicine would never fly in Logan's world. A scream of agony erupted through the stick that Pon bit on.

“That looks terrible, all quests better not be this hazardous”, Logan wished. Tending to his allies, Marsh asked an untouched Logan to loot the bodies once again, though this time he had little resentment for it, the 3 members of his team nearing death.

With the party patching up what they could, long flat pieces of wood and cloth being applied to the broken leg of Pon, Logan moved between the corpses. He was able to obtain 22 more goblin ears, the hobgoblin ear, as well as all of their coin pouches and clubs. The great mace was a bit tricky, due to its weight, but another trip to Marsh was all that was needed to collect it.

“Shame we can't loot their cave, but there could be more inside, and with no spells and one member down I don't want to risk it”, Marsh explained, his body not looking any better than the others. More red than white, the party was a mess of bruising and blood.

“I'll have to come back here on my own at some point, their base is bound to have loot inside it if they've been killing humans and possibly other adventurers. If there are no more hobgoblins, I could stealth kill any I come across if I pick up Multi-Backstab. The muscles may give me issues though”, Logan planned.

With what healing could be done finished up, the party gathered up their gear though most of it was badly damaged. Pon was princess carried by Logan again, the party agreeing that Vaela and Marsh could do more with hands free. Double-checking their status, Marsh was at 6/66 HP, Vaela 4/42, and Pon at 8/30. Logan was sitting pretty at 32/32, having not been touched during any encounter. They had all received a total of 160 XP from the scouts, 120 XP from the muscles, and a final 100 XP from the hobgoblin leader.

The badly damaged party made their way back through the forest, taking the same path they used to get to the cave entrance. During the trip, Logan thought over his new attribute point to spend. “Seeing how parties are going to be relying on my spells, Intelligence may be better than Agility at this point. Though yet again I gained no slots at my level up, so I am still restricted to 3 a day. Putting a point into Int would make it 16, meaning I might deal 4 or more damage with Force, which isn't too bad considering before this level I was doing only 2. I could level Agility and Intelligence side-by-side, having a split focus between my main ways of attack”, he deliberated for a while.

Asking his System, it had no valuable response to what sort of Intelligence would be required to unlock its features. “If I could get this thing to work with me, I would have a much simpler time. Fine, let's do it. System, place attribute point into Intelligence”, with a final thought, Logan decided his course of action, confirming his choice with a “yes”. There was no immediate change, so Logan assumed no further mechanics had unlocked.

Luckily, the path back out of the forest was safer than it was heading in, the corpses of the previous goblin encounters still laying slumped at tree trunks. The body of Pon became a heavy weight on Logan's arms but with a 12 in Strength, he was able to persevere and bear the pressure.

Leaving the forest behind, Pon was passed around the three party members as their 30-minute return began, though due to the slowed movement of carrying loot and an archer it instead became a 40-minute journey. A few compliments circled the group, keeping the atmosphere cheery against the throbbing sensations they had all across their bodies. Sensing he would be getting a new skill point sooner rather than later, Logan began investigating his skill windows once more.

The walk was long and arduous, but with no sight of enemies on the plains, it was a welcome time of recovering from wounds. Tinte appeared on the horizon as the party of Marsh, Vaela, Pon, and Logan had reached a bastion of security. With thoughts on healers and warm beds, the adventurers had made it back.

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