(Joat’s POV)

“Well hello ulrulp to you too” I give a light chuckle

“Do you want me to help you or not?” The Jackal beastman looks up at me, wiping off puke from the corners of his mouth.

“Right, sorry, just making jokes to ignore the PAIN OF NOT HAVING A HAND!” Jussst mildly painful, kind of hard to keep my voice in check.

Jackal doesn’t retort with anything; just comes over looking rather full of himself must I say, and looks at me up close…hanging one on hand from chains while bleeding out the other and guts drooping to the freezing cold floor…there’s literally nothing else to see man, just cut me down please.

“Seriously though, would help if you cut me loose” I give him my best pleading eyes.

“Twill be my pleasure” he gives cheeky grin.

They’re super effective (apparently)…or maybe he was planning to help anyways.

He produces a knife and stabs MY WRIST, CUTTING MY HAND OFF!

OwwwwwwwwwwwwwwWWW!

At least I landed on my guts…yeah that’s not any better.

“Thank you” I guess, though didn’t mean for you to cut me loose, literally, owww.

“Need a hand?”

Oh, I will get revenge for that you smarmy little…

With his help, I stand up and place my guts back inside me.

Eugh, having his hand rifling in my stomach is quite the exquisite feeling, which neither of us seem to enjoy all that much.

“Could you speed up on placing them in there? It’s not like I enjoy another man’s hand inside me”

“Oh well I certainly do enjoy it, much more fun than playing with cadavers” He offhandly comments.

I am going to assume he missed the innuendo there and am going to ignore whatever horrible thoughts are creeping into my mind about him…I’m sure he’s just a med student…or something of the like…hopefully.

After a minute or two finally all my intestines are sort of where they belong (inside at least).

Holding them in with what remains of my arms (not ungrateful just slightly unhappy about the escape method), we head to the door, only almost slipping on the blood slick stone floor a few times.

Whoo, back on my own feet is a real good feeling. Hanging for a long time is not fun, no siree.

Slowly trudging down the stairs now.

“So…what are you doing here?”

“I’m asking myself the same question” He looks rather annoyed at something. Hmm, doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who just pops up randomly, he’s got to have planned coming here at least right? Or maybe someone else had him come here?

“What were you doing hanging up there?” He asks, breaking my train of thought.

Don’t know why he asks, I have a feeling he suspects the answer at least.

“Well let’s just say I had a bit of a slip up” Literally mind you.

“A bit? You have no hands and a hole in your stomach” oh that smarmy little grin!

“I had one hand before you came”

“And you were chained to the ceiling” One day, revenge will be fine and I WILL remove that smarmy grin from your face, though not today.

“Fair enough, my hand for freedom, not a bad trade all in all”

“People have given more and less” Jackal shrugs his shoulders.

“So how do we get out of here?”

“Not going to fight the Boss?”

I raise my arms, to which he gives the ‘ok fair enough’ face.

“Well no idea if it will work but there may be a way out” Jackal muses.

“Better than running through the entire cave?”

“Well…” He shudders “I guess?”

That sounds extremely worrying…but then again I don’t have much to lose do I?

“Great, whatever it is might as well try. But first we’ve got to stop somewhere”

“Throne room?” he raises an eyebrow knowingly.

“How did you know?”

Wait, stupid question. Anyone who’s seen it obviously would know the throne is some cool ore of some kind.

“The throne duh” Hey, don’t act like I don’t know that.

This Jackal seems like quite the smarmy blighter…but he’s helped me so he does have that running for him.

“Also, if…” He peeks at my arms “when I’m mining it, we split it?”

“50 50?”

“Sure”

Nice an easy, not even a single complaint!

Would’ve thought he’d try getting a better deal since he is doing all the work.

Pacing through the corridors now, my mind fills with wonderings as to why he took the deal without a problem.

“Anoobis” He suddenly says, holding out a hand. Oh right! Totally forgot to introduce ourselves…though kind of not the priority.

“Joat” I look at his hand…yeah, that isn’t going to happen.

“So, now that we’re acquainted if you can add on to our little deal as a little extra” Aha! This is what he truly wants but why would being acquaintances make a difference?!? “Could you give me protection?”

…

..

.

Er what?

Not sure if he’s noticed but I’m not exactly the protecting type…I’m usually the more being protected because I’m good bait kind of type.

“What do you need protection from?” Who knows maybe he needs protection from rabbits which he’s terrified of (optimistic to the end).

“The redhead rabbit-beastlady” He shudders involuntarily

…

..

.

I…was actually right? Though in a much worse way than I thought…

“Yeah…that isn’t going to happen, not with that one” Most likely she’d go through me and still get to him without a problem…she’s scary.

He stops suddenly, looking at me intensely, silently pleading but not voicing the words.

…”Fine, I’ll talk to her and get her off your back…just don’t annoy her again?” I can try can’t I..though I’m not exactly in her good books either right now…

“That…will do just fine” He continues walking.

“So just what did you do to annoy her to the point where you need protection from her?” I am actually curious…Baila can be quite violent at times but not super vengeful like someone I may know (which may or may not be me…).

“I laughed at you sacrificing yourself”

…

..

.

WHY did you tell me this? WHY would you ever tell someone that you laughed at them for sacrificing themselves? THAT’S just plain idiotic (and here I was thinking he was actually quite smart).

I look at him in just as much shock as he’s looking at me with. What you’re the one who said it!

Though seeing as though Baila got her revenge already…guess I can cut him some slack.

“Wow…really didn’t have to tell me that”

“I…” He just shakes his head, about to tell me something but apparently thinking twice about it. So now he thinks before he speaks…what’s up with him?

“Seriously, have you heard of a thing called tact?”

“I have…just sort of couldn’t help myself there?” He sounds as unconvinced as I am…

Well…hard thing for you to ‘not help yourself’ about if it’s gotten you killed…and by Baila too!

Anyways, shaking that most odd revelation(?) from my head…because I think I’ve got enough on my hands (yes I don’t miss the irony) right now.

Reaching the northern throne room doors, Anoobis pushes one open with a small laugh.

“TIME TO MINEeeeeeeeeeeee…” I saunter inside happy and excited

A pair of well and truly pissed off eyes turn this way

Well…

…

…

(DillyDally’s POV)

Damn sleeping gas, would’ve killed us if not for that useful little blighter Rakshak.

Who knew that he somehow survived and had snuck his way down here? Resourceful little bugger and thanks to that he saved our lives.

He even took us quite a distance away…or maybe it was that ‘Grimmath’ fellow.

Standing up, still groggy from the forced sleep, I watch everyone else get up thankfully unharmed.

According to Rakshak, we were out cold for only a few minutes.

DillyDally!

Someone sent me a message? Anoobis? Who the hell is that?

Who are you?

I’m Anoobis, and I just go into the Noble’s Cave

What? How?

Really? What the hell are you doing here?

Long story, where are you all now?

Hmm, well he dropped in on the wrong time. Might as well take him with us.

Making our way to the courtyard of the castle, you?

Close to there, I have some zombie girl with me too

Zombie…Oh the odd cowgirl, another of Joat’s groupies…seriously, they’re like flies. But then again the more the easier it’ll be for us.

The more muscle the better. We’re breaking out of this place.

Why we doing that?

Joat’s been killed and the boss is too strong for us apparently

I check the raid instance tab, and sure enough…Joat is alive…for now. He’ll probably die soon, whatever’s going on, so got to get out of here.

I’m going to explore somewhat, I’ll leave zombie girl in your hands

Huh? What’s he doing that for?

Wait a second, why are you doing that?

Pain…well he’s not part of the squad so can’t waste time on him.

Scouting for when we come back of course

…Do what you want, just try not to die easily.

You got it

Right, so one more to keep alive now.

“Alright squad, Rakshak’s checking on the Boss and we are making our way the hell out of here, right now”

“But Dilly aren’t we going to kill the boss?” Stripy raises a bushy eyebrow.

“No, because it’s the boss from a level ten, forty party members at least raid…we will all die if we fight it”

Everyone nods at that, even the Squirrel-beastlady…Tikari I believe.

“But what about Joat?” Tikari looks up at me with eyes full of worry.

Forcing my eyes not to roll

“What about him? He’s dead and that’s the end of that” Don’t want to waste time and lives finding the guy who strung us along for the past few hours at his leisure. Won’t do it for him and won’t do it for anyone else here, because one man ain’t worth the lives of others.

Tikari looks up at me, trying to reason with me with her eyes…but I’m not going to care, because Joat is off getting tortured or something and that’s keeping the Boss distracted for now, so now is the time to go.

She lets up after seeing I’m not going to change my mind.

“Ok, so we’re going to have to fight our way out but in all honesty, if we waltz out these gates the goblins are going to think we’ve killed their leader and that’ll give us some time to bolt from here”

“So we’re just going to run?” Gristle sounds dejected.

“We’re going to live”

“But what about JOAT” Tikari once again looks fiercely at me, her voice reaching the shrill tone that really hurts ear drums.

“HE’S GONE”

“HE’S ALIVE”

“AND WHAT? HE’S OFF WITH THE BOSS AND AS LONG AS HE’S ALIVE THE BOSS IS BUSY”

“BUT WHAT IF HE’S BEING TORTURED OR SOMETHING?” She shouts worriedly. She may be right, but still, not worth it.

“AND IF HE IS THEN THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO FOR HIM.”

“I CAN TRY”

“DON’T THROW YOUR LIFE AWAY FOR A LOST CAUSE”

…..

....

...

..

.

“…I’m…just trying to keep us alive” I let go of her shoulders, letting the wave of anger and fear loosen its grip from me ever so slightly and noticing the marks I’ve left.

…

..

.

Fuck…forgot that it’s just a game.

Looking at Tikari, I see tears swimming down her whiskered cheeks, eyes stilled with fear as she takes a few steps away and turns, running and wailing her eyes out.

Shit, I just screamed down a young girl who’s worried for her friend…what kind of asshole does that…

*gulp*

“Stripy”

“On it” He neighs and makes his way after her. Someone’s got to keep an eye out on her and he seems like the best choice.

I take a deep breath to calm myself even further, allowing whatever remaining darkness to seep away as I stare at a small yellow puddle on the floor, disgust broiling inside me.

“Guys…what do you think?” I finally look up to see they’ve all backed away a few steps, maybe more than a few.

Really let it out didn’t I?

“I say we go get Joat, or at least try” Kookle, the rooster-beastman squawks unsure as to whether I’d attack him with the look he’s giving me.

“Yeah, we should try” Gristle snorts, probably looking for a fight as always. At least he doesn’t look too fazed by me, probably seen something like it before…or felt it more likely.

The rest, nod their heads at that, still seeming quite unconfident of their thoughts around me and keeping a more than respectful distance.

“Alright, then all of us together, let’s go find him”

I do order Jerriah to head towards the zombie girl to pick her up. Don’t want another casualty on my hands.

Also a quick message is sent to SirStripy telling him to meet up at the throne room too.

Heading towards the throne room it takes a lot longer than I’d thought; because didn’t have a clue where we started. It took almost half an hour…Jeesh.

I stop everyone once we reach there because I swear I heard a loud shattering of something inside.

Sneaking to the door, the sound of snapping bones and whimpering reaches my ears instead…odd.

Motioning for everyone to come closer, I have them all wait by the door on my command.

I should go in there, see whatever’s going on and probably help whoever’s getting hurt…But I don’t want to watch my guys die, none of them.

The bone snapping is almost rhythmic, holding a macabre tune, but still I don’t do anything and I’m starting to get strange looks from my squad.

I’m scared…I’m actually scared to go inside, to fight. DAMMIT, why am I getting cold feet?

“TIME TO MINEeeeeeeeeeeee…” That sounds oddly like Joat inside the throne room…getting in trouble at that.

DAMMIT MOVE!

*BASH*

…

..

.

Much better

“FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY YAAAAAH” We all push on the doors, burst through into the throne room, arms raised and running into battle

…

…

(Miss Nameless’ POV)

Jackal left me alone…nuuuu…

It’s so boring, waiting here for someone.

He left a few minutes ago after telling me someone would come pick me up outside

…

..

.

I’m bored, I can’t just sit here and do nothing! I’ve been sitting outside for almost half an hour.

But it might be dangerous…

But it might be an adventure?

What would Joat do?

What would Krudel do?

Aaah!

Standing up I decide to go on an adventure…because sitting down and waiting is doing nothing and I really want to find Noir even though for some reason I said I ate it and Jackal said that we wouldn’t be able to find it anymore.

Moving back inside and down the corridors, it’s really lonely.

Really really lonely.

I haven’t been alone in…forever. I can’t remember the last time I even slept alone…

Loneliness is kind of cold.

Sprinting through the corridor to try outrun the feeling, I almost slam into a thick set of double doors.

“Uuuungh” it’s really heavy.

“UUUUUUUUNGH” *Creak*

*Huff huff*

Ok, it’s moved just slightly, enough for me to squeeze through.

Squeezing through, I’m greeted by more horrible loneliness.

The room itself is bare except for a black chair shining a lustrous purple.

It’s like Noir!

Rushing over to it, I hug it and almost feel warmth coming from it, ahhh it’s so nice.

I hug it for a little bit, thinking of Noir and his hopefully really soft fur. I really want to pet him, because Daddy doesn’t let me have pets anymore.

After Master Bitey I didn’t have pets anymore…

But I do have Krudel now WHO isn’t a pet!

Wow just sounded like I was thinking of Krudel as a pet; that’s really mean of me!

Berating myself, I stop hugging the chair as punishment, reciting that Krudel is a good friend and butler.

Suddenly an idea to mine the strange seat pops into my mind…why did that just suddenly pop in?

It’s something that’s been happening a little bit since I entered the castle…it’s really odd.

I’ve been thinking some really random and horrible things, it’s not nice at all. I want it to stop…

But I listen to the idea and take out the pick that Thrash sneakily gave to me.

He’s actually really nice, even if he seemed scary at first.

He let me mine which was a lot more fun than I thought it’d be for hitting rock.

Positioning myself squarely like he taught me, I raise the pick over my head and smack down on the throne, which now that I properly look at it looks like ore of some kind…though the purple seems a lot less lustrous.

My pick breaks upon contact, oh no! That was Thrash’s.

That isn’t good; he was lending it to me!

I’ll have to ask someone where to get another one and soon.

*CREAK*

Someone’s coming?!

I quickly hide behind the ore seat because I have a feeling whoever’s coming isn’t friendly.

“So Mistress, we need to go downstairs so that you may take stock on our po-Gah”

The voice stops abruptly, replaced by another more angry one.

“You thought that I actually believed for a second you were Gimmath? I only left the room because I didn’t want your dirty blood soaking the floor of my chambers. This room will do fine”

Peeking out from the side of the seat, I see a wrinkled goblin and a hobgoblin, which I almost thought was Joat for a second!

*Snap*

*GASP*

Oh no!

The hobgoblin looks my way, dropping the goblin as if it were dropping trash and starts my way.

“TIME TO MINEeeeeeeeeeeee…” An oddly familiar and relaxed voice comes bursting from the doors to my left and out appear a startled Joat and Jackal!

…

..

.

WHERE’S HIS HANDS?!?

“FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY YAAAAAH”

Bursting out the doors to the right are a group of beastmen, DillyDally I remember, leading them while screaming loudly and blood running freely down his forehead?!

What’s going on!?

…

…

(RakShak’s POV)

Kill Gimmath, check.

Convince others to leave, check.

Disguise as Gimmath, check

Convince Boss to follow me, check.

Now all I need to do is take her down to the potions rooms and smash everything that’s in there…that should be enough to deal with a raid boss.

“So Mistress, we need to go downstairs so that you may take stock on our po-Gah”

“You thought that I actually believed for a second you were Gimmath?”

Dammit this isn’t going to plan!

*Choke*

“I only left the room because I didn’t want your dirty blood soaking the floor of my chambers. This room will do fine”

*Snap* OWW!

*GASP*

I feel stone smack against my skull, making my dizzy but I do swear I see a zombie hiding behind the throne, holding a broken pick.

“TIME TO MINEeeeeeeeeeeee…” …I swear he should be chained to the ceiling.

Nope, he’s right there, along with a Jackal beastman? Oh that Anoobis guy, who gave us all the useless spears.

“FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY YAAAAAH”

DillyDally?

Painfully turning my head around I spot them and the rest of the survivors charging towards me blurrily.

Oh c’mon, don’t ruin all my plans like this!

Though the biggest ruiner of my plans is Tarakiel; who angrily stomps on me, crushing my head and killing me…well dammit

…

…

(SirStripy’s POV)

“Tikari” I grab her from behind, hugging her with due force and not letting her move away.

Golly gosh my arm is soaking with a woman’s soul already.

Right now is not the best time for me to speak, so I just let her do what she must.

Dally shouldn’t have shouted at her like that, no one should be shouted at like that for wanting to help their friends.

But after seeing the terrified look in his eyes, I can’t rouse myself to blame him.

Poor man must have suffered through quite a dreadful experience and I can have more than a few educated guesses as to what they were.

Though none of this would help calm her down…she needs a bit of time and warm comfort.

And those marks on her shoulder, those will stay for a short while. But I know it’s not what’s causing her to cry.

I allow her to pour her emotions out for a while longer but do not let her dwell on it too long, for it consumes…

“Tikari” It has gone on long enough and the wails have turned into small sobs, dry I do note. “Let us go find Joat” I will not allow her to wallow in fear.

“B-b-but DillyDally said not to” her body quivers into mine.

“Well DillyDally isn’t always right. What is always right is here” I squeeze her slightly with my arms “Your heart”

*sob*

“So let the two of us go find Joat”

“O-ok…” Trembling like the small frail being she is, I help her along slowly, step by step.

We will make it to the throne room in due time.

She will have time to recover and hopefully be able to face both DillyDally and his change of mind. Poor Tikari’s been strong enough to last this far, I believe she can make it to the end.

At first, I thought I should take her away from here, but she went through a lot with Joat it seems, so by his side she’d recover best I believe.

Taking her to the throne room, I hear loud sounds, from DillyDally and the others.

Probably those two troublemakers mining that throne or something as equally moronic…Really less than an hour away and they’re bringing the house down.

Leaving Tikari for a mere yet dangerously lonely few seconds I open the doors…with a lot of silent grunting, to see quite the spectacle…oh my.

“STRIPY!!!” The wails of both relief and need assail me.

…

…

(Jerriah’s POV)

Aaand no one’s here.

Seriously, took me FOREVER to find the outside…

Really need to find a way to get better maps because the ones for this game SUCK.

Plus all these low ceilings are not fun, especially for a long necked man like me.

But I’m outside now so I can stretch my neck and try FIND this zombie girl!

Zombie girl…not to the left.

Zombie girl…not to the right either…

Is she behind me? No

Is she infront of me? No.

Is she outside? Not going to check because there are tonnes of goblins outside…

Just where did she go?

Aaah going to have to tell DillyDally about this

…

..

.

“Zombie girl where are you!!” Last thing I want is to tell him that I can’t find the zombie girl.

He’s usually pretty gruff but chilled, however that was something else.

Man he’s scary…never would’ve thought that’d come out of him anytime soon.

Don’t want him shouting the hell out of me, especially since he’ll probably feel responsible for this zombie girl too now.

Aaaah where is she?!?

I’ve got to find her, now!

…

..

.

I swear I just heard a scream…Nah just my imagination. Still a bit freaked out from that 180 attitude from DillyDally. He’s got hell of a temper.

…

..

.

There it is again.

Jerriah!

Ok, forget the imagined screaming from a distance, focus on the much real zombie girl that will stop DillyDally tearing me apart with his voice.

…

..

.

OK I’M NOT IMAGINING IT. I GET IT EARS, IT’S A SCREAM THAT ECHOING TOWARDS ME!

…Oh god it’s not her is it!?

Sprinting towards the screams, sure as hell there’s more than just one voice.

Oh no its battle sounds!

Just as I realize that, I burst through already slightly opened doors into well chaos.

“JERRIAH WATCH OUT!”

*THUNK*

…

…

(Joat’s POV)

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Tarakiel looks at me furiously.

“JOAT” Miss NAMELESS?? Shouts from behind the chair.

“WHY ARE YOU EYES PURPLE?"

“MY EYES ARE PURPLE?”

“WHY HAVE YOU GOT NO HANDS?” DillyDally shouts out, stopping short of Tarakiel taken in by the bizarre situation.

“WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?”

“WHY DID YOU NOT WAIT OUTSIDE?” Anoobis shouts at Miss Nameless

“WHY DOES JOAT HAVE NO HANDS!?” Miss Nameless retorts.

“WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING HERE?” Gristle shouts out.

"WHY ARE YOU BLEEDING DILLYDALLY"

"NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT"

"OMG DILLY YOU'RE BLEEDING"

"I THINK JOAT'S IN WORSE CONDITION"

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU” Tarakiel shouts at me.

“BUSY HAVING REVELATIONS!” I shout back at her.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING?” The rooster-beastman cluck-shouts

“YOU CAN’T UNDERSTAND?”

“WAIT YOU CAN UNDERSTAND?”

Miss Nameless and Anoobis just shrug since they apparently can understand what I’m saying…OH IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!

“I’VE BEEN SPEAKING ANOTHER LANGUAGE THE WHOLE TIME?!”

“YOU DIDN’T NOTICE?”

“EH IT’S ANOTHER LANGUAGE?”

“HOW CAN YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND IT, JOAT I UNDERSTAND AT LEAST”

“OMG JOAT WHY CAN I SEE YOUR GUTS?”

“JOAT YOUR GUTS”

“YES I NOTICED”

“BUT YOUR HANDS!”

“WE’VE BEEN THROUGH THAT ALREADY GRISTLE”

“WAIT SO YOU DIDN’T HEAR THE SONG ABOUT DWARVEN DINGERS?”

“WHAAAAT?”

“WHATS A DINGER”

“DON’T ANY OF YOU DARE TELL HER” Anoobis screams out

“ALL OF YOU SHUT UP”

“WE CAN UNDERSTAND IT NOW!?!”

“YES YOU CAN UNDERSTAND ME, AND IF YOU’RE DONE SHOUTING RANDOM CRAP AT EACHOTHER, I’M GOING TO KILL YOU ALL”

“WE’RE SHOUTING RANDOM THINGS?” Yinroh blurts out

“THOUGHT WE WERE POINTOUT OUT THE OBVIOUS, LIKE THE FACT THAT YOU’RE A GUY” Snorh adds in

“SHE IS A GIRL”

“WHAAAAT?”

“THAT’S NOT A WOMAN”

“IT’S A TRAP!!”

“SHUT UP! THE NEXT ONE THAT SPEAKS I WILL RIP YOU TO SHREDS”

*creak*

“STRIPY” Both Yinroh and Snorh point towards SirStripy who looks rather perplexed.

“WHAT’S GOING ON, AND WHERE’S YOUR HANDS JOAT”

“RAAAAAAAARGH” Tarakiel had enough of us completely ignoring her and sort of debating about her gender…oops.

She charges Stripy, frothing madly at the mouth and slashing at him furiously but only garnering a graze.

“EVERYBODY CHAAAAAAAARRGE” DillyDally screams and we all wail as we head to the boss, for a battle!

She ignores us going continually for Stripy, out pacing him and before we reach there his head goes flying.

“STRIPYY” The antlered twins cry.

“I’LL KILL YOU ALLL FOR PLAYING AROUND WITH ME LIKE SO” She rushes towards Yinroh

“ANOOBIS, PRINCESS, GET THE THRONE AND GET OUT OF HERE NOW!” I shout at them and Anoobis, without any problems turns around and heads towards the throne.

I do hope he’s doing so because I asked not because he doesn’t want to go towards the whirlwind of death that just sliced both antlered beings to pieces…ok nevermind that’s probably the reason.

“JOAT GO HELP THEM” DillyDally screams at me as he punches Tarakiel in the face, getting well and truly pissed off red eyes to stare at him.

“I HAVEN’T GOT ANY HANDS, I WON’T BE ANY USE” I spit towards Tarakiel.

+1% agro

Due to recognition and pure volatile hate, agro is now locked onto you

…

..

.

Oh…nice to know?!?

Before I can dismiss the window, Tarakiel bursts through it claws directed towards my face.

Ahh!

Throwing my arms into the air defensively, my guts fly out covering her and causing her to trip.

Immediately everyone gathers round and jumps onto her, stopping her from moving.

“YOU TWO STOP FIDDLING WITH THE GOD DAMN THRONE AND GET OUT OF HERE” DillyDally screams at the two fools trying to move the throne and all that glorious ore.

“I CAN HELP” Tikari rushes in from nowhere, bounding past us and towards the throne, her efforts adding in to unhinge the thing from the floor.

Muffled sounds come from below.

“TARAKIEL DEAR, YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO SPEAK LOUDER IF YOU WANT US TO HEAR”

…

..

.

I’m in the air!?

“JERRIAH WATCH OUT!”

*THUNK*'

Off to my right is Gristle inside the wall, embedding the top half of Jerriah with him…oh god.

“I’M GOING TO RIP YOU ALL TO SHREDS, STARTING WITH YOUR SMARMY ASS” She points at me, one hand holding my guts.

Pulling them roughly, I’m dragged easily a few metres towards her. Jesus that’s a lot of strength!

*CREAKThunkThunkThunk*

Everyone stops for a second, looking at the trio at the throne, somehow finally unhinged and being dragged down the stairs.

Anoobis stops dragging the throne and looks over towards Tarakiel with a guilty look

…

..

.

“DON’T YOU DARE STEAL MY THRONE” She flies towards him, receiving one petite squirrel in the way.

“GO” she screams as claws pierce her.

“TIKARI”

“BOSS I’M HAPPY that you’re fineee...” She loses strength and goes limp.

“YAAAAH” DillyDally rushes past me, barreling into Tarakiel and bringing her to the floor.

*punchpunchpunch*

“EVERYONE PILE ON AGAIN”

Slicing off one of his arms, DillyDally doesn’t seem to even care as he hugs her, letting the others pile on.

I too pile on, whatever use that may be, especially as I’m bleeding out and my guts are half-way across the room...thank aiag the human (well hobgoblin) body has more than a kilometer of the thing...

*Scree*

“LIVE YOU TWO, GET OUT OF HERE” I scream towards them as they squeeze the throne through the door, Anoobis huffing heavily from dragging the thing.

He gives me a curt nod before disappearing.

…

…

(Anoobis’ POV)

Let’s get the hell out of here!

“C’mon you push!” I bark at her, pulling the throne as best as I can.

Really should leave it and go, but then there’d be no point to all the deaths…plus the Boss seemed like this was important to him, or her…still can’t decide.

Getting to the courtyard, the screams of battle still remain, but are lessening quickly.

Oh no, she’ll be after us soon.

Bursting through the courtyard gates, it’s like we’ve arrived in Hell 2.0: Goblins everywhere are fighting and killing eachother in a frenzied battle.

Blood is being shed everywhere and thankfully none of them seem to care that we’re here, with the throne.

Nevermind there’s a whole horde of them coming this way, oh god!

Thankfully the horde is intercepted by another horde of rabid goblins, biting, gnawing and slashing with sharp claws towards the others.

*huff huff huff*

Ok, at the Hellevator.

“CLIMB IN”

She meekly jumps in and I strain to lift the throne.

Suddenly it gets easier and I not a few goblins pushing with me.

OH MY IT’S A COUP D’ETAT!

The goblins, women I presume by the dirty strip of cloth around their chest, help push the throne onto the Hellevator and I climb up to it too.

“GET THOSE TWO” A frenzied shout covers the din of battle, and immediately a large portion of the goblins stop fighting randomly and madly charge towards us.

*GULP*

Closing and locking the door, I stand as centre as possible by the lever and look at the horde and the Boss that are all coming towards us.

I quickly turn the throne so it faces inwards and towards the Boss and sit on it, facing the maddened Boss as it rips through friend and foe to get to me.

...

..

.

“WAHAHAHAH YOU FOOLS. YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN STOP ME? ANOOBIS? YOU ARE BUT WORTHLESS INSECTS IN MINE EYES AND SO YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO TOUCH EVEN A SINGLE HAIR UPON MY HEAD. ADIEU YOU WORTHLESS SCUM WAHAHAHAH”

Wahaha, I love watching such puny things trying to get to my level!

Apparently my little speech got them even more riled up as they stopped fighting the others and simply ran through, dying by the hundreds and trying to reach me. Even the boss ripped away his own followers to get to me.

Grabbing the zombie girl and seating her upon my lap…because the goblins are getting close and their claws are reaching through the rusting yet still gold-coloured bars and that’s way too close for my own good, but I’m still going to wait.

Soon they begin climbing, till I can barely see anything but gnarling, thrashing goblins that try to squeeze through the tightly packed bars of the Hellevator.

Ok, time to go!

Pulling the lever towards me…nothing happens.

…

..

.

“Anoobis, what’s going on?” She doesn’t quite understand. So I point towards the Cave Bear’s claw in the corner.

“We’re going to take a few goblins on the trip back with us”

“But it’s not going”

…She’s got a point.

One of the bars creaks dangerously.

“IT’S NOT GOING”

“I’M NOTICING THAT!”

“WE’RE GOING TO DIE!”

No, it’ll work in the end...please do!

A group of goblins in front of us are tossed away and replacing them is a most pissed off Hobgoblin, who takes hold of the bars.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU HIHIHI"

“WE’RE GOING TO DIEEEEEE” I scream along as the Boss bends the bars, opening a huge hole.

He takes one step in and then the Hellevator blasts upwards, dropping the Boss out of sight and within a second drenching us in red, freshly squeezed.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH” It’s almost as terrifying going up, almost.

Though having a zombie girl who’s dressed as cowgirl on your lap while being showered in goblin blood while she screams at the top of her lungs in both fear and excitement before chundering all over me at the sight of so much blood and gore…It’s like going through a horror ride, yet worse.

Also the fact that squished goblins make it through the bars and drop onto us doesn’t help lessen that fact. And the fact that I was maniacally laughing the whole way up...because victory is glorious.

We reach the top in record time, almost calmly stopping too.

“BLAAAAARGH” Retching my own insides at the side of the throne, I help the zombie off shakily, before crawling off the Hellevator myself, my own blood seeping from my buttocks.

Sitting on an ore throne when going up fast not a good idea.

“Come on…let’s get to town” I give her a pat on the head once I’ve stood up, trying to forget what we literally went through.

With effort, I drag the throne from the pile of squished green, wiping a decent amount off of the throne’s arms, noticing that its usual purple luster is almost gone?

Dragging it slowly through the cave, I stop to see the zombie girl cowering in a corner

…

..

.

Ah I forget that not everyone’s used to seeing stuff similar to that.

Right…what do I do? what did my professor used to do after our organ recitals...?

Chocolate...don't have any of that...so I'm back to square one.

“Zombie, get onto the throne”

“B-b-b” She blubbers in the corner.

Don’t roll your eyes, she’s going through a traumatic experience.

Sighing, I pick her up and place her on the throne.

“Did you ever squash ants when you were a kid?”

“…” Mute…guessing that's a no?

“Have you ever eaten tomatoes before?”

She slowly nods, still mute though.

“Ok, so just imagine that all that happened was a lot of tomatoes going through a blender”

She throws up

…

..

.

Whoops…guess that’s not the right thing to say.

“F-Forget that, just imagine this is a dream. And when you wake up it’ll just be that, a dream, ok”

She just trembles uncontrollably on the throne.

Dammit, what do I do?

…

..

.

Fine, fine…

I pick her up once more, to which she doesn’t really respond much; only curling into a tighter ball, wetting my already soaked chest.

Leaving the throne behind, now fully black and crumbling to pieces, oh lord that isn’t good.

Walking towards the entrance of the cave, I spot the Cave Bear, one paw less and it roars towards me before seeing that I don’t have time for it so it better shut the hell up.

It does and I continue walking into the forest.

Soul binding progress 100%

SHIIIIIIIII…

…

…

(Joat’s POV)

“JOAT”

“OMG GUYS its JOAT”

“JOAAAAAT” A wild flurry of red smacks into me almost killing me.

Similar screams of joy upon hearing me echo through the village square, though a perceptive as usual Zzoid stops them all piling on to me…because that might kill me since I don’t have VIT yet.

“Bail-”

“Shush. Let me enjoy this moment before you say something and ruin it idiot” She continues to hug me, ok then guess I’ll just let you slowly crush my bones…owww.

Finally letting me go, I stand up to see pretty much the entire village is here, DillyDally and co included, already made their characters again it seemed.

And quite a few of the village are looking at me, a few quite wolf whistles, but a heated look from me stops those. Damn kids stop misunderstanding!

“DillyDally” I call over to him, since he’s busy talking with Braxel, probably filling him in about the raid.

He turns towards me and offers an arm.

Taking his lower forearm we shake, the camaraderie grown between us, I guess...

“That was some good Camaraderie back there” He says in his usual gruff voice.

“We died in ten seconds flat in a whirlwind of claws…”

“I think it was a good moment of friendship” Tikari comes from out of the crowd giving both of us a hug.

“Am I the only one who feels like we just died horribly and nothing else?”

“Yeah, pretty much” The rooster-beastman clucks.

“No, I think it was just pretty horrible” Jerriah speaks up, oh yeah he died without even participating really.

“Now Jerriah it’s your fault for being clumsy” Gristle guffaws at him

“Excuse me Mr Wall rhino” The two of them begin some friendly bickering in the distance.

“Well I admit it was nice that you came back for me”

“Group decision” He states back calmly, though I notice his eyes peek towards Tikari, ah.

Before I get to do anything else, I feel myself hit the ground, and something bony on top of me.

“Where is she”

Oh god Sharpy.

“She’s safe”

“Where. Is. She His claws dig into my throat and I can see fire in his eye sockets, burning into my very soul, each word digging deep.

“SHE’S HERE” Someone calls out from the gates

Oh thank god…Sharpy is terrifying, almost wet myself there, wait, a little came out actually, eugh.

Standing back up, I spot Anoobis walking into town carrying Miss Nameless…who looks completely and utterly traumatized…Oh no…what happened.

I also spot both of their eyes are shining purple…more oh noes…what does that mean?

Sharpy pounces towards them and ever so gently takes Miss Nameless from his hands.

Without a word, they both disappear in a pillar of light…logging off I assume.

Oh, I can breathe again. He is one stressful guy.

Rubbing my neck, still feeling those seriously sharp bones lingering at the tip of my throat, I stand up.

“Zzoid, has DillyDally told everyone about the raid?”

“Yep, everyone’s gotten a good idea of everything. Though he didn’t tell us why they all suicide for the boss in the end”

“Oh well that was an accident, kind of walked in on him killing a goblin”

“That goblin was me” An old wrinkly goblin walks up to me. Oh I’ve seen him before, like way way ago in the entrance of the grand cave.

He snuck through the entire thing with us? Smart bugger.

“I was planning to kill the Boss but she found out, killing me” Ok maybe not as smart as I think...or maybe he had a plan?

“Well I guess we can all go back there and kill the Boss this time round eh?” Zzoid gives me a nudge, probably already heard about the massacre that was our Boss battle.

“I have a feeling we won’t need to”

“Yeah you are right about that” Anoobis butts in, nodding his head. Yeah he understands too.

“JOAT WHAT DID YOU DO” Zzoid unnecessarily shouts, drawing attention from everyone in the village square, which is pretty literally everyone.

Dammit Zzoid! Well guess it’s easier to tell them all now like this, smart man but really I don’t like being put on the spotlight.

“We…kind of stole the Boss’ throne…”

…

..

.

WARNING! The Village has become a Raid InstanceRAID INSTANCE:The VillageTarakiel is coming for her throne and the culprits who both instigated and stole it, especially the ones called Anoobis and Joat. She will not stop till the throne is taken back and all in The Village are dead, especially those two or she and her goblin horde are dead.

No revival as long as this instance is in place.[/td2]Recommended level: 15+, Recommended party size: 50+Remaining Villagers: 14

Remaining Orphans: 100

Joat: Alive

Anoobis: Alive

Boss Tarakiel: AliveTime remaining till Tarakiel attacks The Village: 3 hours 20 minutesRewards based on survivor numbers as well as the survival of Anoobis and Joat along with the death of Tarakiel

…

..

.

“JOAAAAAANOOBIS!!”

“Oops our bad” We both shrug our shoulders.

Well I did say 50 50

…

…

(Tarakiel’s POV)

DAMN THOSE TWO!

I crush the throat of another damned traitor. So many of them swarming out my houses and killing my worthless minions.

All my years of work, stolen by a bunch of fools who knew nothing of it but its shininess.

I’m going to find them and I’m going to kill them. Ever so slowly.

But first, I have to clean the caves from these disgusting traitors.

“Joat…Anoobis…I will find you and I swear I will rip you to shreds so small not even the gods could recover you”

…

…

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OMG GUYS I'M BAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Well for anyone who was reading my other ficiton/s then transfer here! because I will be solely focusing on this one for the rest of my summer (so till september!!!)

So happy to restart on this (ALMOST LITERALLY A YEAR LATER MY GOD) but haven't been able to access my Joat spot till today and thus it has begun!!!!!!

Right so for all of you to know: I will be updating once a day, possibly every other day depending on whether writer's block is going to creep up on me.

AT LEAST i have two maybe three chapters in my mind and looooots of mini side arcs that I've got to do (So much to do!!!).

SO HOPE YOU LOVED THIS CHAPTER AND HOPE YOU'RE LOOKING FOR MORE, MANY MANY KISSES TO EVERYONE WHO STILL READS THIS IN HOPES OF BEING RESTARTED! MERRY EARLY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

GOD I LOVE WRITING THIS.

ANYWAYS, HOPE THAT JOAT AND CO ARE STILL JOAT AND CO AND IF THEY'RE NOT THEN PLEAASE TELL ME (SO I CAN DO SOME CHARACTER SEARCHING AND BRING THEM BACK FROM THE DEPTHS OF MY SOUL).

ANYWAYS ANYWAYS, HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR THE ARC FINALE (FINALLLLLLY!!!!)

ALSO SORRY ABOUT THE KIND OF DARK CHAPTER AT THE BEGINNING (MY LORD IT WAS KIND OF DARK...BUT THAT'S OUT OF THE WAY SO WOO!)

-TRUE NORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD