Panic ensued as the cave room filled with white smoke. Vyth and Thet stormed in and began taking down the Goblin’s who’s position they had remembered. I whispered a quick chant and fired off an icy beam in the direction of their leader. The light sound of some rocks falling off the wall signified I missed. He must’ve moved, so I did the same to avoid him landing a hit of his own.

All around me was nothing but white smoke slowly drifting out, so I focused on what I could hear. The sound of a couple of Goblins being slain by Thet and Vyth, as well as more of them sitting somewhere further back in the cave, panicking. It was at that moment I fucked up. This wasn’t just a group of the small green skins. This was a small army of them. There were many more of them that were hidden from our view when we entered. The smoke would only last another minute or so, we had to run while we could.

Still, I couldn’t bring myself to run. “Wouldn’t running bring the same fate to the village as it did to the nest?”, I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t I be repeating the same mistake again?!”. I had to at least do something to slow them down or scare them off. I looked around as the smoke slowly dissipated and revealed more and more of the cave. My eyes darted quickly from one place to another, trying to find something to help or inspire me. There were no stalagmites to save the day. No weapons laying on the floor that I could see. Nothing.

The smoke was disappearing faster and faster, until I could see their leader.

“There yer are, yer slimy ballsack!”, he yelled.

Spear in hand, he rushed me. I quickly stepped out of the way. He passed me and quickly turned around for a second attack. Luckly, Vyth stepped in and blocked it.

“No need ter get impatient, now. Yor next! I promise”.

The smoke was almost fully gone now and I could see the many green faces staring at me from the very edge of it. I looked up at the ceiling just in front of them and started throwing acid splash after acid splash. It melted the rock and dripped down. The first few Goblins to start coming towards me were hit by it and instinctively backed off.

“Pass that line and there won’t be anything left to distinguish you from acid itself!”, I yelled out to them in the bravest voice I could put on.

A klang sounded right behind me as Vyth blocked another spear thrust meant for me.

“Don’t listen to him, you mushroom munchers! Get them!”, their leader yelled out from the back.

Some of them got more daring from that. Probably fearing their leader more than me. As soon as they got close to the line of dripping acid, I let out another splash.

“I won’t repeat myself”, I said in a low voice.

Another klang as a dagger found its way into a stone wall. He had dogged Thet’s blade and went for another strike on me, but couldn’t get past Vyth. While keeping my eyes on the crowd, I began another incantation. I formed the three bubbles around me and set them ablaze.

“Let him at it, Vyth!”, I said.

“Yor shish kebab, nerd!”, the Goblin leader yelled, as he rushed me again.

But before he could take a stab at me, he was met with a face full of fire. He cried out in pain. Still too stubborn to give up, he lunged again. I sidestepped his spear and another bubble of fire went flying to his stomach.

I turned to the other Goblins and yelled out: “Is this who you follow?! Is this who you’re scared of?!”.

“Shut yer trap, asshole! Wen I'm done wiv yer, the crows will 'ave a feast!”, he yelled back.

“Try me, then”.

He stepped in, stabbing towards me with his spear. The last bubble went flying towards him, but he ducked out of its way and lunged properly towards me. His spear penetrated deep into my right chest. Blood spewed out like a volcano and I fell to my knees. It was agony.

“Not so tough now, are yer?”, he snickered.

The goblins behind me all snickered with him. It turned into a cursed cacophony of mad men. Thet quickly threw out another smoke bomb to keep them from joining the fight. Vyth jumped in front of me and continued his fight with the leader. The two of them traded blow after blow, none of them cutting into the other. I waited until I saw an opening. I lifted my arm and shot an icy ray. This time hitting my target. It hurt, but more importantly, slowed him down enough for Vyth to get the upper hand. Vyth made use of the advantage by dashing past his spear and cutting through his calves. He too fell to his knees and screamed out in agony. Thet came up from behind him and knocked him unconscious with the butt of her dagger.

She threw him over her shoulder and ran towards the exit. Vyth took my arm, put it around him and did the same. The Goblins were still none the wiser as we left for the safety of the village.

Eidechse was waiting for us at the edge. Several of the other villagers could be seen patrolling around the village. Looking for any of the green menaces. One of them pointed us out and a bunch of them ran towards us. Helping us inside. The prisoner was thrown in the closet, tied to a chair and locked in. Eidechse immediately got busy healing my wounds. The warm glow enveloped my deep wound and began quickly closing it.

Thet explained what had happened. The villagers sitting around with us all looked shocked. Eidechse and Turasijr kept a straight face and listened carefully.

“You say Othokentir scared them off with just some acid? Proves they’re still just as cowardly as they’ve always been. The only thing that gave them some balls, was that one in there”, Turasijr said while nodding to the closet.

“Still, though. Why would they attack in such great numbers? And what were they after in here? This can’t just be a random attack. They’d have better targets not too far from here”, Eidechse said.

“They ignored everything down here”, Thet began, “They went straight up and planned to enter Turriganar’s room. My guess is that they planned to go through each bedroom one by one”.

“Maybe they were trying to steal jewelry? Or any other valuables you typically keep in your bedroom”, I proposed.

“Or maybe they were after a specific jewel”, Thet said, “I could always make him talk and get the answer out of him”.

“Let’s leave that for tomorrow. It’s late and you all need some rest”, Eidechse said, “The rest and I will keep watch in shifts to make sure they don’t return for round 2”.