Day Four. Early Afternoon.

I made it out of the Red Rat camp without incident. I did not retreat far, though. Finding a likely tree, I scaled its heights to observe the goblins. While I waited to see if the apprentice would do as I instructed, I reflected on the outcome of the encounter.

In the end, things had gone better than I’d had any right to expect. I’d barely time to assess Klaxis, but he had seemed too wily for my taste. Having his apprentice in charge instead was a far more preferable outcome.

Nyzack will do as I want, I thought.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, the camp began to stir to life. Orders were shouted, warriors hurried back and forth, and troops began to form. I smiled. The new Red Rat leader was faithfully following my commands.

I kept watching as the motley collection of goblins was transformed into something akin to a military force. In what was surprisingly short order, nearly all two thousand Red Rat warriors were assembled and set to march southeast through the forest.

I watched them go with a grin plastered on my face. If everything went as expected, then by this time tomorrow, the dire wolves’ goblin troubles would be over.

That’s one problem taken care of.

My gaze returned to the crater. It was empty—or nearly so. The captives in their trapped cages remained. So, too, did the two squads of goblin warriors Nyzack had set to guard them.

I pursed my lips as I considered the imprisoned players and what else I needed to do in the valley. Did I have enough time remaining to free them?

I do, I decided.

But they would have to wait a few hours yet. I had another sleepless night ahead of me, and I needed to get some rest while I still could.

Before that, though, I had to see to my player progression. I’d earned two attribute points from killing Klaxis, and given what I’d learned about advanced abilities, I didn’t ponder too long before investing in Perception.

Your Perception has increased to rank 12.

Then I closed my eyes and fell fast asleep.

~~~

I awoke in darkness, alert and rested. Glancing upwards through the rustling oak leaves, I judged it to be less than an hour after nightfall.

Perfect, I thought. My gaze slid to the crater again. The darkness lay thicker in its hollowed depths, and the goblins guarding the prisoners had lit campfires by which to see.

I smiled. It was time to hunt.

Pulling the shadows around me, I slipped into the welcoming night and crept down the boulder-strewn slope to my targets. Despite the lack of concealment in the crater, I reached the edge of the circle of light cast by the campfires without being spotted.

The goblins sat huddled around the two fires. Their backs were turned to the darkness, either overconfident in their own strength or ignorant of the forest’s dangers.

Twenty hostile entities have failed to detect you!

Casting reaction buff, I took a moment to consider how to handle the guards. Nyzack had not skimmed on the prisoners’ protection detail. Analyze confirmed that all twenty goblins were rank six elite warriors and equipped in chainmail armor.

I would not prevail in a direct confrontation, which left only more underhanded means of triumphing. After a further minute of silent contemplation, I formulated a plan.

Fixing my gaze on one of the goblins I suspected of being their leader, I cast simple charm. Slipping threads of psi into my target’s mind, I overlaid my will upon his.

An elite goblin warrior has passed a mental resistance check! You have failed to charm your target. Your mental intrusion has gone undetected!

My lips turned down at the failure. It was not unexpected. The goblin was a rank six foe, and my telepathy was still at rank two. But my intrusion had not been detected, so I tried again.

It took three more attempts—all of which went unnoticed—before I succeeded.

You have charmed your target for 10 seconds.

My psi swamped the warrior’s mind, and he finally fell under my thrall. I ordered the charmed goblin to his feet, and he rose smoothly in obedience to my will.

I didn’t force him to attack his companions, though.

I had something altogether different in mind.

Relaying my command through the mental link joining us together, I gave my minion his orders and watched as he pivoted around, striding determinedly away from the campfire.

“Hey, Risch,” another goblin called out. “Where are you going? Get back here!”

Risch was not a squad leader, I realized. But the other goblin was. My minion, meanwhile, had kept walking, not answering.

“Risch, answer me!” the squad leader snapped.

A second goblin frowned. “What’s he want with the prisoners?”

The squad leader rose to his feet, finally recognizing where my minion was going. “Stop!” he barked.

But it was too late to stop the charmed goblin.

Risch had reached his destination—the peg anchoring the chain keeping one of the prisoners’ cages aloft. Bending down, he yanked it out.

Bedlam ensued.

The tension in the steel chain relaxed, and the cage crashed downwards.

“No!” the squad leader shrieked, racing towards Risch. Before he could reach him, spikes extruded from the peg in my thrall’s hand, piercing his chainmail glove and the skin beneath.

Your minion has triggered a trap. Your minion has been poisoned.

The squad leader skidded to a stop, then backed away fearfully.

An elite goblin warrior has been killed.

I winced as Risch fell lifelessly to the ground. The trap had been powerful, and the hapless goblin had barely survived a handful of seconds after triggering it.

I turned my attention to the captives. The prisoner in the dropped cage—Sturm—had risen to his feet. He looked a little shaken but none the worse for his fall. He was still imprisoned but much closer to being freed.

The other prisoners, sensing something amiss, were muttering amongst themselves. The goblin warriors were on their feet, too, looking around in confusion.

“Why’d he do that?”

“Damn. Risch go crazy.”

“The fool!”

I smiled to myself. The Red Rats hadn’t caught on to my presence yet. Seeing that they were distracted, I cast ventro while they debated their companion’s fate.

“Sturm, it’s me,” I whispered a moment later, projecting my voice close to the Tartan’s ear.

“You… again! Is.. out… how… die. What… you want?” Sturm replied, but I had trouble hearing him over the ruckus the others were making.

“No questions, I can’t talk,” I replied brusquely. “I am here to free you. While I am about it, I need you and the others to keep the goblins distracted.”

Not waiting for his response—either he did as I asked or he didn’t—I refocused my gaze on the warriors who had resumed their seats to huddle about the fire again. None of them had even bothered to check on their dead companion.

Shaking my head at the goblins’ callousness, I recast charm. This time it took two attempts to subdue my target—the squad leader who had spoken up earlier.

An elite goblin warrior has failed a mental resistance check! You have charmed your target for 10 seconds.

Like I had with my first thrall, I ordered my second minion to pull out another peg. The charmed goblin slipped away unnoticed by his fellows and made his way obediently to the trapped area.

Your minion has triggered a trap. Your minion has been poisoned.

An elite goblin warrior has been killed.

The squad leader didn’t last any longer than Risch. At the death of the second of their companions, the guards’ confusion transformed into fear.

“What going on?”

“This place cursed! Hok, we must go!”

“Let’s get out of here!”

“It be evil forest spirits, I tell you!”

Another goblin, smaller and unassuming, rose to his feet. Unlike the other warriors, he retained his composure. With eyes narrowed in suspicion, he strode closer to the fallen soldiers to inspect them. Realizing this goblin had to be the second squad leader, I cast charm upon him.

I failed. Urgh.

An elite goblin warrior has passed a mental resistance check! You have failed to charm your target. Your mental intrusion has been detected!

“Quiet!” the squad leader roared. “Unsheathe your weapons. We’re under attack! Search the area!”

The warriors responded to the whip of command in their leader’s voice. Drawing their weapons, they formed into the semblance of a formation and stared outwards into the darkness.

Eighteen hostile entities have failed to detect you!

I sighed in disappointment, ignoring the warriors searching gazes. It was a pity I hadn’t managed to charm the second squad leader.

It didn’t matter, though.

Despite the guards’ apparent alertness, they were not equipped to deal with my mental assaults.

My gaze slid to the prisoners. They’d begun shouting, hurling insults at their guards. Good, I thought. Sturm had done as I’d asked.

Under cover of the racket the prisoners were making, I shifted position and chose my next target. From the safety of the shadows, I would pick the guards off one by one, and there was little they could do to stop me.

~~~

Ten minutes later, another eight guards were dead. I’d use them to release the remaining chains, and now all ten cages were grounded.

I had tried but failed repeatedly to charm the remaining squad leader, and after a while, I gave up. The other goblins were easy enough prey.

In response to my efforts, the squad leader had attempted everything he could think of to stop me. His guards, though, lacked the skills necessary to deal with a menace that lurked unseen in the dark.

Charging in random directions through the crater, the warriors had tried finding me, but I had melted away into the darkness each time.

Then they had attempted lighting the surroundings with torches, but the area in question was too large, and I’d slipped easily between the pools of light.

The goblins had even gone so far as tying themselves together with rope, only for my minions to cut them.

Even when I failed at charming my targets, it mattered little. The goblins were unable to pinpoint me in the darkness, and after my failures, I simply repositioned and tried again until I succeeded.

The only thing left for the goblins to do was to disarm themselves completely or flee, and both those things the Red Rat soldiers seemed unwilling to do.

I kept at my task, picking off the enemy one by one, but I didn’t attempt to get any of the guards to open the grounded cages. I wasn’t sure what traps had been placed on their doors, and I was afraid the prisoners might be killed if the traps were triggered.

It was safer to send my minions to attack their fellows. Killing the goblins this way was slow going, but more importantly, it did not endanger either myself or the prisoners.

Nearly thirty minutes later, I had whittled down the guards to just the squad leader, all without lifting either of my blades even once.

It took me ten attempts to charm the squad leader, but once I did, I approached him openly, ignoring the onlooking prisoners. Stepping up behind the warrior, I yanked back his head and ripped open his throat with spider’s bite.

You have killed an elite goblin warrior with a fatal blow.

Letting the corpse fall, I looked up, my face devoid of expression, at the now silent prisoners. My bloody work for the night was done.

The prisoners were free. Or nearly so.