Chapter 17

"Me kill you for Shiny God!" shouted Dak as he charged towards one of the massive weasels. The giant creature hissed as it moved its nine-hundred pound body towards him while its partners moved towards the rest of the Shiny God’s forces. Sluggo and Clara watched as a group of goblin cultists approached one of the weasels at full speed.

"For the Shiny God!" shouted the group of goblins as they tried to stab the giant beast with their knives. The giant weasel quickly dodged out of the way and swiped at them with its massive paw. The group of goblins were flung across the battlefield and crashed into some of their allies, breaking some bones in the process.

"You fools! Surround the beast!" yelled Sluggo upon witnessing his follower’s incompetence. The hellclaw soldiers immediately responded to the orders and encircled the large beast. On the other side of the battlefield Dak was occupied, fighting with what one would presume to be the leader of the weasel pack.

"No interrupt Dak's battle. Dak will get glory for da Shiny God!" his commanding voice stilled the soldiers. The weasel swiped its claws at Dak but failed to pierce his copper skin.

"You too weak to hurt Dak." said Dak while he laughed at the giant weasel.

He charged forward in an attempt to impale the monster's leg with his sword horn. Unfortunately, the creature had nimbly jumped back avoiding the blow.

"Stop runnin away. You scared of Dak?" shouted the copper goblin with a grin stretched across his metallic face.

"Dak! Stop fooling around!" yelled Sluggo, both Dak and the giant beast looked towards him as he shouted his orders. "During your gloating, the zealots have nearly defeated a beast of their own! Hurry up!" Dak looked over to the direction in which Sluggo was pointing. He saw the pair of black armored goblin zealots standing on either side of one of the giant weasels. The creature’s face had gone pale and its legs wobbled beneath it as its strength was sapped away, its weight becoming arduous to endure. The nearby goblin cultists simply stared at the pair of zealots in awe.

"It seems their curse aura is easily draining the creatures life away from it. I doubt it can fight for much longer." said Sluggo.

"Curse magic is outlawed." mumbed Clara from behind him.

The dire weasel finally fell to the ground, finally giving out under the weight of its own body. One of the zealots slowly approached the beast and effortlessly slid his giant sword into its neck. The creature quickly succumbed to its wounds. Strangely the monster seemed to have shown a sense of relief as it died. A strange black glow started to emanate from the corpse, unnoticed by all aside from Sluggo, and moved into the body of the zealot who had slain the creature.

"That's one down. Although it seemed like a cheap win to me. Do you not plan on joining the battle?" asked Clara.

"Unfortunately this body is that of a relatively normal goblin. I could hardly contribute much." said Sluggo.

Sluggo looked back at the hellclaws and goblins that were fighting the other dire weasel. About a third of the goblins were now dead, their corpses scattered around the weasel. This was not achieved without cost however, for every goblin struck down, a hellclaw would manage to strike the beast and wound it further. The beast was covered in various wounds, blood dripped from it by the bucket, whether it was from the beast or the goblins was unknown. Whenever the beast tried to back away, the hellclaws would move in and wound it further with their massive crab claws.

"Keep up that pace. The beast will fall soon." ordered Sluggo. Nearby, the weasel leader was looking at Sluggo once again instead of focusing on it's own battle.

"Stop runnin’ and fight Dak for real." ordered Dak as he slammed his fist on his chest creating a loud clang in an attempt to gain the monsters attention.

The beast looked back at Dak and hissed angrily. It moved forward to swipe its claws at Dak but once more seemed incapable of piercing his copper body. Everytime Dak moved forward to impale the monster with his sword horn it would simply jump away. Dak began to laugh.

“Fine, boyz let's show dis beast why we da best. Charge now!“ shouted Dak as molf cavalry emerged from the nearby forest, charging at the weasel leader. In an attempt to avoid the spears of the charging riders the beast leaped back towards Dak, making itself vulnerable for a moment.

“Got you now!” shouted Dak as he pierced his sword horn into the side of the creature. The monster screeched in pain and quickly ran towards the tree line.

“Too shallow,” whined Dak as he tried to chase the weasel leader. However he was too slow to keep pace with the beast but the cavalry followed in pursuit. The weasel leader turned suddenly and swiped its massive claws at the riders. Three of them managed to move out of the way, but two were killed instantly. One of the molfs survived and retreated back towards the camp. Nearby, the other dire weasel finally succumbed to its wounds as the hellclaws and the remaining goblin cultists raised their hands in triumph.

The weasel leader roared in anger at the sight of its allies death and charged past Dak while it ignored the calvary, who managed to wound the beast with their spears, towards Sluggo.

"Where you runnin’? Come back!" Shouted Dak as he chased the massive creature. Some of the goblin cultists moved towards the weasel to stop it but were then easily trampled by its giant paws.

Clara drew her sword to ready herself for the giant beast.

"Stand down, I have a plan." Said Sluggo as his grin peeked out from beneath his tentacles.

"I thought you said you were useless in battle?" said Clara.

The dire weasel approached Sluggo and looked at him with what seemed to be a smile. The creature leaned down and slammed its paw against Sluggo crushing his goblin body instantly. The weasel lifted its giant paw and the goblin body, now squished, spasmed briefly before going limp. The dire weasel looked down at its defeated enemy with a rather smug grin.

"Well that was anticlimactic." said Clara

Suddenly the dire weasel began screaming and clawing at its head. A large mass of black flesh and tentacles began to quickly grow across the monster’s skull, forcing the weasel to roll around on the ground, writhing in pain. The tentacles lashed out as the creature struggled, they tore at its flesh and dug into its eye sockets and burrowed into its muscles and bone. Once the tentacles were settled, the beast stopped struggling and sat up from the ground.

"Well that was an interesting experience." said a familiar voice from underneath the net of tentacles.

"Boss is that you?" said an approaching Dak, who currently had a defeated look on his face.

"Yes Dak. Just a quick body change. Nothing to worry about." said Sluggo while he extended his new limbs and stretched his back. He then laid his new body down and began to, quite literally, lick his wounds.

“Dak sorry. Dak failed to kill da enemy.” said Dak with his head sunken low.

Sluggo licked his massive paw while speaking. “There wasn't much else you could do Dak. We lacked any ranged weapons. The hellclaws and the zealots did well but the goblin cultists were… not very useful.” Nearby the goblins were currently looting the corpses of their fallen allies.

“We need to train da boyz better. Get better equipment too. Dak realizes Dak can't win alone now.” said Dak.

“It's nice that you're all soft and fuzzy now Sluggo but what the hell is going on. Why can a goblin possess a dire weasel?” asked Clara while she began patting Sluggos fur.

“We will talk when we get back to town Clara. It seems we have won the kobold’s war.” Said Sluggo as he looked around the area. “Where have the little kobolds gone?”

“They disappeared as soon as the fighting started,” said Clara.

“Do they not plan on honoring the agreement? They would betray the Shiny God?!” shouted Sluggo, anger evident in his voice.

“Knew da kobolds were no good. Why no fight for glory?” asked Dak.

“We will find them and deal with them later. Let's clean up and head back home.” said Sluggo.

The hellclaws began patrolling the battlefield while the goblins looted and dealt with the dead. The two zealots vanished from the battlefield while the others were busy. The corpse of the dire weasel they had slain now appeared to be missing.

“What is going on here?” asked a voice that seemed to surround everyone, causing the various goblins and hellclaws to take up defensive positions around the camp in response.

“Who is there?” asked Sluggo.

“No be coward, come out and fight Dak!” shouted Dak as he made a heroic pose.

An old man slowly appeared from the forest's edge. His large white beard reached the ground and dragged along as he walked. His pale face appeared impossibly ancient. He wore robes that seemed to be woven from a mish mash of animal furs, indicating no real purpose in their choosing. Grasped within his frail looking hand was a wooden staff, which appeared to have been formed by three branches, woven tightly together. The old man looked towards Sluggo and stroked his beard as he spoke.

“Why have you stopped attacking, you have your orders? I want these pests out of my forest.” said the ancient man whose voice seemed to still surround the group. Sluggo hissed and arched his back in anger before he suddenly calmed himself and spoke.

“What is this influence? Mind control?” asked Sluggo.

“What wrong boss?” asked Dak.

“My head went fuzzy for a moment, I suddenly felt an intense need to kill all of you. Not that I would unless you threatened the master.” Sluggo did not appear entirely impartial to the thought.

“Oh thanks so much for not killing us all” said Clara sarcastically.

Sluggo paused for a few moments, thinking before he spoke. “This weasel body seems to have some memories of this old man. He has the ability to control plants and animals.” said Sluggo.

“A druid?” asked Clara in surprise.

“Why are you not attacking? Fine, I'll just treat you as a pest as well!” shouted the voice from around them. The ancient man raised his staff towards the sky and its tip glowed with a green light. The entirety of the forest grew silent. The trees around the battlefield began trembling as their branches and roots began to grow towards the camp. Birds rose up from the forest and formed giant clouds that blocked out the sky as they flew around above them. Various boars, bears, and wolves appeared from the forest's edge as they readied themselves to attack.

“Kill these pests. Cleanse my forest.” boomed the voice.

“Take up defensive positions!” commanded Sluggo.

“That's way too much to deal with we need to retreat.” said Clara in defiance.

“No retreat, only glory in battle for Dak!” Once again, Dak began to charge in alone.

“Dak get back here, we need to maintain a defensive line.” shouted Sluggo once again.

“You will all die here. The very forest is at my command!” screamed the Druid. Suddenly, a bright flash of light appeared from the forest's edge, following the light was the droning sound of a constant scream. From the tree line emerged a familiar roach cart, traveling at a speed much faster than any beast. A lone goblin was dangling off the back of the cart, holding on for fear of losing his life if he let go from the speeding chariot. The roach hissed as lightning sparked, causing its wheels to move even faster. It was almost as if it was trying to remove the goblin from its back. The goblin simply continued to scream as he dangled in the air.

“What is this beast? Fascinating. I'll need to examine it.” said the distracted druid. “Wait how is it so fast?!” screamed the druid. The roach cart had made its way to the ancient man in a matter of seconds, the druid attempted to have some beasts rush to him to act as shields, but they were not fast enough. He found himself knocked unconscious as the roach cart crashed into his frail body knocking him across the battlefield. The cart continued on its journey, its mind focused on nothing in particular, before eventually disappearing into the opposite edge of the forest.

Everyone simply watched on in silence. The nearby beasts that were summoned regained their senses and retreated back into the forest. The birds left the sky and the trees and plants stopped growing.

What felt like an eternity passed before Clara broke the silence with laughter.

Sluggo sighed, glared at Clara before giving orders once more.

“Gather his body, we will bring him to the master.”