“We searched the area for weeks, looking for any trace of them, a mound of dirt, a cave, anything, but we found nothing. The month ended and we stayed in Norbury, fortifying the town. We would repel the Goblin raiders, follow them back to their holes, and put an end to them for good. When night came, we were expected a handful, maybe a dozen at the most. What came from under the ground was a tidal wave of Goblins, and we drowned.”

“Surviving Legionnaire’s account” Investigation into the Goblin raids of Norbury, 598 IC

Chapter 13

Rushing forward, Wil stopped in front of Gunther, raising both of his hands as he did. He formed the spell matrix in front of him, drawing the hundreds of lines required with his mana. The matrix took the form of a raging fire, the lines and swirls looking like the flame it would soon create.

The matrix solidified, and Wil thrust his hands through it, his fingers spread wide with thumbs touching.

Wil shouted the incantation, as a wide cone of fire erupted in front of him. The fire spread wide and far, in the direction his spread hands took. The closest Goblin took the flames front on, burning through flesh. Almost instantly Wil could see the Goblin turn to bone and ash.

The Goblin’s comrades, trailing behind, dove out of the way in opposite directions when they saw their comrade burn. The left goblin was slightly slower, and when he landed on the ground, the fire had already engulfed his lower body, leaving him badly burned and screaming in agony.

The Goblin on the right recovered, barely singed by the flames as he took in the destruction Wil had caused. With a frightened cry, this Goblin tried to flee as well, but was brought down by an arrow to his back.

Wil felt drained, the 1st tier spell having taken a toll on his mana reserves. He knelt on the ground once he saw it was safe to do so, Hale having walked over and finished the remaining Goblin that was writhing on the cavern floor.

Looking behind him, he saw an exhausted Victor bandaging Anise’s leg, having used his remaining Mana on healing her. Erinn walked over to Gunther, who had added another dent to his armor’s collection.

Assessing his injury, Erinn called out to Victor. “Gunther will need to be patched up as well, Vic.”

“I’m fine.” Gunther said, rolling his injured shoulder slightly to inspect the injury.

“Healing takes a toll on me, I can only perform it once more without collapsing.” Victor said, scrutinizing Anise’s leg and the bandage he had applied.

“Then we save it until it counts.” Gunther said, walking towards Wil, assisting the other to his feet.

“Thanks for the help back there.”

“You’re welcome, couldn’t let you get all the glory.” Wil said, as both of the young men grinned at each other.

“Let’s search quickly, we might have company soon.” Hale said, heading over to where the Goblins were gathering earlier. Anise, healed and walking with only a slight limp, started searching the bodies. Erinn went and looked at the end of the room, protected from view by the stalagmite. Wil and Gunther went over to assist her.

They found that the cavern curved, and at the end the water had cut through the rock, creating a small opening about three feet high. A Goblin could walk almost upright, but they would have to crawl to get through.

Next to the opening were crates and boxes, mostly smashed and destroyed, with debris strung about. Cloth, filthy from the ground, half rotten foodstuffs and household items made up the bulk of it. The trio dug into the items, tossing aside the worthless things.

Erinn soon found a small, locked box, but they couldn’t find the key to open it. Carrying the box back to the group, Gunther and Wil followed closely behind, not finding anything else of value.

“Here, found this. Gobs probably couldn’t get it open, so they tossed it.” Erinn said, handing the box to Anise.

Placing it on the ground, Anise had Hale hold her light over the box as she removed a small lockpick, inserting it in the box and twisting it back and forth. The group heard a small click, and Anise opened the lid.

Inside were a collection of coins and a small bag, which Anise upended into her hand. Revealed was a small pile of colorful gemstones. Rolling the gems around in her hand, she showed them to the group before putting them back in the bag and relocking the chest.

Anise placed the chest in one of their travel bags, which Gunther slung over his shoulder. The party went towards the exit, with Hale kneeling down next to it with her torch, trying to see how far it went.

“It’s not too far, I think I can see it opening a little ahead. I’ll go first, if I’m wrong and I get stuck, drag me back by my feet.” Hale said, grinning at the group, before she dropped onto her belly and began to crawl through the opening, her armor and helmet made loud screeching noises as she did so.

“I’m surprised they haven’t come and investigated the noise yet.” Erinn said to the others.

“They must have other things to worry about. Some of the groups may be closer to the center of their nest than we are.” Victor reasoned.

“I’m clear!” they heard Hale through the opening. They began to crawl through the opening one by one.

When Wil cleared the small passage, he saw that they were on a narrow ledge, with streams of water falling into the darkness below. The torchlight could not illuminate the bottom, and the gorge stretched into the distance ahead of them. The ledge continued to their left, around a curved wall. The Goblins had hammered rings into the side, with a length of rope tied between for a handhold. The ledge only wide enough for a single person to walk.

“Now we know why they left the crates behind.” Wil whispered to the group.

“And why they didn’t hear the noise. We must be on the edge of their Warrens.” Erinn said.

“I’ll go first.” Hale said, reaching for the rope hung above the ledge.

“Wait!” Wil sharply whispered. “I’ll test it first.”

Focusing for a moment, he channeled a thin stream of his Mana. The matrix formed in the air briefly, before coalescing into a spectral hand, identical to Wil’s own.

He guided the hand to the rope with his Mana, making a grasping motion with his real hand, which the spectral copy mimicked. He pulled his arm back and the Spectral hand gave the rope a sharp tug.

Wil repeated this action at every few feet, until one of the hooks came away from the wall, causing a section of the rope and the ledge beneath it, to fall into the gorge beneath them.

Hale and Wil exchanged a look, and she nodded her thanks. Had she been on the ledge, then the Goblin’s trap would have dropped her into the darkness below before the others could rescue her.

The group began to inch their way around the ledge, gripping the rope tightly. Wil repeated using the spectral hand to test the rope, and Hale would lead the way. They were forced to leap the broken section, a terrifying action that had Wil shaking afterwards.

Finally reaching a larger section of ground, the group found themselves facing a ruined and broken building, two stories high and leaning dangerously to one side, with a portion of it hanging over the gorge. The ruins were made of stone and brick, with layers of dust and debris covering the ground around it. A large portion of the building was collapsed.

Erinn pointed out a series of tracks through the dirt that led through the ruins into a larger cavern behind it.

“Did you know these were here?” Gunther whispered to Hale, pointing at the destroyed building. She shook her head no, the presence of ruins was a complete surprise to her.

Wil walked closer to the building, examining the stonework and architecture. He had studied history at the Academy and had seen paintings of various styles buildings: human, elven and dwarven, but he couldn’t identify the ruin’s origins. Shaking his head, Wil turned back to the group.

“I don’t recognize the style, but it must be pre-Illyrian, the empire has never built this far out east before Whitewater and East Haven. The Academy will need to send an expedition to document this.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Anise said simply, dismissing the historical find with a shrug. Wil widened his eyes at the response, shocked at how easily she brushed off such an important discovery.

“She’s right, we’ll report it to the Commander when we get back, but we’re running out of time. The other groups will have made it deep by now, crossing that ledge has cost us time.” Hale said, following the tracks through the ruin.

The others followed behind her, with Wil taking a last look at the ruined building as he walked pass it.

Beyond the ruined building, the group found themselves in a long passageway, high but narrow. They were forced to turn sideways and shuffle their way through. Coming out of the narrow passage, they were stunned by what they saw.

In the massive cavern in front of them was an underground city, with hundreds of crumbling, half demolished buildings. The party could see the ruins clearly from the light of hundreds of torches.

They had found the Goblin’s Lair, but what left them speechless and terrified were the large figures, heavily armored, wielding large, jagged swords and spiked hammers leading the Goblin Horde. Orcs.