We stalked forward. I took the lead with one Ranger a half dozen paces or so to each side of me, and Saelyn bringing up the rear watching all of our backs. The tracks left by the goblins showed they had slowed their headlong dash, and were all trudging in the same direction. Initially we had assumed they were heading for the apprentice dungeon, but now their trail veered. Unless they changed direction again soon they would end up somewhere south of the dungeon.

Several miles later, Tehlmar, the ranger on my left, froze and dropped to one knee. He waved the sign for enemies. Multiple enemies in the trees on the left.

Suddenly a dozen goblins burst from the trees, hastily flinging their small javelins at us. We easily sidestepped the ones that reached us, bringing our bows up to the ready position, arrows nocked. The three of us let fly with our arrows. Mine crackled and sparked as it flew, Tehlmar’s trailed smoke, and and Eldrin's leapt ahead almost before ours left our bows.

Eldrin’s arrow punched through the skull of one of the leading goblins, nearly lifting it off its feet. I made a mental note to ask how he did that. But later, after we survived this. Mine and Tehlmar’s struck a heartbeat later. His bursting into flames, and mine rooting the goblin to the ground with a lightning bolt, black numbers flickering above its head. Black?

In the corner of my eye I could see notifications scrolling past.

[Skill: Lv 2 - Dodge]

[Skill: Lv 2 - Rapid Fire]

[Skill: Lv 2 - Multi-shot]

[Skill: Lv 1 - Running shot]

Thankfully I had lost some sleep last night in order to read ahead, so I knew that as soon as I leveled up those skills, I could fire multiple arrows at once and more quickly. I switched to mundane arrows from one of my hip quivers and started firing two at a time into each goblin. They fell none too soon, red numbers flickering over their heads, as Saelyn shouted, “On the right!” and gestured behind us.

We turned to see over two dozen goblins streaming out of the trees waving their weapons and shouting, now that Saelyn had spoiled their surprise. If it hadn’t been for Tehlmar’s detection skills and Saelyn watching our back, the goblin’s ambush could’ve turned out very differently. If the missile troops had pinned us down, or even kept us distracted long enough, the goblins attacking from behind could have overpowered us.

More red and black flickers marked the effectiveness of our fire as they sprinted across the grass toward us. As it was I barely had time to reload and fire enough times before the goblins made it to the edge of the road...

“Parvus Cataracta!” Saelyn shouted, gesturing at the ground in front of the running Goblins.

… and were bogged down in the mud Saelyn had conjured in the ditch at the roadside. Suddenly their attack wave slowed to a crawl as the leading goblins were overrun by the ones behind them. Instead of fighting two dozen goblins, we were standing over half that many struggling in the mud.

It reminded me of my first day on the side of the road. I certainly wasn’t going to turn down the Universe’s sense of symmetry.

Stunned by the sudden reversal of being up to their knees in thick mud and facing down three Ranger bows and a Druid, the goblins quickly gave up. Seeing the other half of their ambush taken out in spectacular style likely influenced their enthusiasm.

Another notification appeared, plus an unexpected one.

[Class: [Ranger] - 2/[Sorcerer] - 1/[Druid] - 1] (1) (+2)

A new level and with it the ability to upgrade my Characteristics was always welcome.

[Goblin Slayer]

[Hidden Quest - kill 100 Goblins]

[Reward - +10 Intimidation/Diplomacy towards Goblins]

[Reward - +1 against Goblins with ‘Focus’ weapons]

“Guide, what are ‘Hidden Quests’ and ‘Focus’ weapons?” I had taken to launching into conversations with my Guide as if it was always listening, because it was.

“Hidden Quests are Quests the System monitors and displays upon completion.” it answered. “There is no way to know if one is active until it is complete. They typically offer rewards in line with the Quest itself. In this case, you have become more proficient at attacking Goblins, and in the event you attempt a discourse with them they will be more inclined to be persuaded by your arguments, either out of fear or respect.

Focus weapons are weapons you have achieved a certain level of proficiency with. They have ‘Focus’ noted in their Skill designation. When fighting Goblins with any Focus weapon you now have an additional bonus.”

I had wondered about that ‘Focus’ tag I had seen, but kept forgetting to ask about it. So many things to remember.

“So I’ve killed enough Goblins that I’m better at killing Goblins and they’re more scared of me to boot?” I half smirked, "That sounds like a fair thing. How do I get more of that? ...and, wait a minute, why are some of the numbers in black now?”

“Might I suggest killing more Goblins?” It commented dryly. “The black numbers are attacks that kill an opponent outright. It seems you are doing enough damage to eliminate these Goblins with one shot.”

“Smart ass.” I shot back. But it was good to know I was improving.

The level notification was a welcome sight. I still hadn’t figured out the levelling process yet, but it seemed I was advancing regardless. It was like playing a campaign where the GM tracked your advancement and told you when you leveled, but not how far you were from levelling. The +2 for Characteristics was new, but I had been waiting for it. If I was going to keep adding to Sorcerer, I’d need more INT, and more CON was going to help if we were campaigning for any length of time and unable to get ready access to higher level healing.

Since Saelyn was already ahead of me in Druid levels, and the other Rangers were ahead of me, albeit single classed, I decided to take a chance and dropped the new level onto Sorcerer.

[Class: [Ranger] - 2/[Sorcerer] - 2/[Druid] - 1]

[STR = 15]

[INT = 14]

[DEX = 15]

[WIS = 14]

[CON = 14]

[CHA = 13]

[Health = 42/55]

[Chi = 20/40]

[Mana = 20/20]

[Craft: Lv 5 - Bowyer]

[Craft: Lv 5 - Fletcher]

[Craft: Lv 5 - Sylvan Weapons]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Quarterstaff - focus]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Longbow - focus]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Shortbow - focus]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Appraisal]

[Skill: Lv 5 - Woodworking]

[Skill: Lv 5 - Tracking]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Hunting]

[Skill: Lv 3 - Dressing game]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Cooking]

[Skill: Lv 6 - Intimidate]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Spellcraft]

[Skill: Lv 3 - Arcana]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Concentration]

[Skill: Lv 3 - Nature]

[Skill: Lv 3 - Geography - Sylvan]

[Spellskill: Lv 4 - Elven Sight]

[Spellskill: Lv 4 - Arcane Armour]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Hush]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Stillness]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Empty Hands]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Detect Arcana]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Read Arcana]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Use Arcana]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Read Languages]

[Spellskill: Lv 2 - Summon Companion/Familiar]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Phantom Strike ]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Craft - Arcana]

[Skill: Lv 1 - Rapid Fire]

[Skill: Lv 1 - Multi-shot]

[Skill: Lv 1 - Quickdraw]

[Skill: Lv 1 - Dodge]

[Skill: Lv 1 - Melee Fire]

[Skill: Lv 1 - Ranged Fire]

[Skill: Lv 1 - Running shot]

[Skill: Lv 1 - Reflex attacks]

While Saelyn and I stood watch, Eldrin and Tehlmar quickly disarmed the remaining goblins and appropriated everything of value from the dead across the road. We also recovered most of our mundane arrows. Unfortunately the Arcane powers rendered any arrows they imbued useless afterwards, so the versatility and power came at a cost on longer campaigns. At some point I was going to have to sort out resupply or set aside some time to Craft more arrows.

However my first new Spellskill would help with that. Phantom Strike was an Arcane force that followed any missile weapon I fired and if I hit something, it did extra damage. It didn’t make me more accurate, or give me more shots. When I did hit I would do more damage, and because it was Arcane damage it would effect opponents my regular arrows might not. The downside was that it seemed to be limited to mundane arrows, so it didn’t sound like it would work with an arrow imbued by the Quiver of the Elements. Even so, I was already able to fire two arrows at once, so this gave me a potential of four hits. Not too bad for cutting down hordes of goblins.

My other new Spellskill would take some more investigating, but it looked like I would soon be able to add some Arcane abilities to my Crafting.

Not wanting to leave armed goblins behind us, we stashed everything that wasn’t useful to the mission in Tehlmar’s Bottomless Bag and Saelyn cast Fiasos Vitis, which ensnared the surviving goblins with roots and vines that sprouted out of the ground. They would eventually break free, but we weren’t going to kill them in cold blood and didn’t want them behind us. At least this way they would be out of the fight for some time. If they chose to pick up arms against us in the future, that was their lookout.

Until we had a better handle on what was going on, we needed to proceed cautiously.

***

Continuing south, we found several more Goblin ambushes, and dealt with each of them in turn. Presumably Goblins didn’t have much imagination, because the ambushes were always variations on the same theme. Distract us from one side with javelins or arrows and a rush to keep our focus, then attempt to attack from our unguarded rear and finish us off.

Knowing that, we were able to pre-empt some of the ambushes. We even started ambushing the ambushers. Sneaking up behind their missile troops, taking them out, and returning to the road out of sight of the larger party. We would then walk down the road, the missile troops wouldn’t spring their side of the ambush, and much confusion was to be had.

Little did I know our banter was going to turn serious when the Goblins turned it up a notch or three.

***

I guess after killing so many goblins, we got complacent. Another goblin ambush had sprung, thinking they had surprised us. Eldrin and Tehlmar were taking care of the missile troops, while Saelyn and I waited for the melee troops to come out of the tree line. With my new abilities we were usually able to split our fire and take out both groups at the same time.

Sure enough, several goblins emerged from the tree line…only these ones were followed by half a dozen monstrous dark green creatures. Over twice the height of a goblin, taller than your average human, and many times heavier, with huge clubs in their hands these nightmares strode toward us.

The Orcs had arrived.