After eating the rabbit, the group followed the goblin tracks to what appeared to be some sort of outpost. Debris, dead plant life and jagged outcrops of rock adorned what would otherwise be an open plain. They snuck close enough to inspect the area and with that, they saw how the outpost was only a gathering of low-tier goblins, even weaker than those which had attacked Thomas and Robert. Hiding out of view, Seras motioned to Thomas.

“We’re taking over this camp and you, Thomas, get first kill.”

“What? Are we just going to charge straight in?”

“No, we will draw out any we can, reduce their numbers, and get some reconnaissance. Then we charge straight in..”

Robert patted Thomas on the back. “it’s cool man, you got this.” A slight grin on his face, Robert then moved in, sneaking and jumping from cover to cover. He was more than happy to flex his newly acquired stealth skills.

“Robert will set up a shot for the old-lady window peaker over-there,” Seras said. With a few hand signals from her, Robert moved in. He dipped low and then quickly hid behind a large rocky protrusion.

Robert was now close enough to hear loud clashes of metal, and the goblin’s awkward shouts. He could see a goblin working on a makeshift furnace whilst another was dropping off sacks of coal. The delivery goblin began shouting at the smith, who shouted back. It was hard to tell if they were working together or about to start a fight. It was then that Robert noticed the barrels placed around the camp, which were mostly holding what appeared to be a black ooze similar to what they found in the cave.

Robert noticed an approaching goblin, and responded by hurling a rock, which landed near the goblin’s feet. The goblin’s eyes widened in surprise. By then, Robert was already at the next point of cover, throwing another stone to lure the unsuspecting goblin even further out. Bit by bit, Robert lured the goblin closer. One more rock brought it close enough to give Thomas a clean shot. He could see the goblin move up as he crouched in cover.

‘Silly mobs,’ Robert thought.

The goblin carelessly moved around, checking for the source of the noise, peering into a bush and out of view from the others in the camp.

Thomas held up his bow, ‘and took aim at the goblin. It was clear none of the others would see if it died.

“Shoot,” Seras commanded.

Thomas held his bow up and… didn’t fire. The goblin started to get back on track, finding nothing that could have caused the noise, and started walking towards the outpost.

“Fire” Seras insisted. “These are goblins, kill them,” She commanded through gritted teeth.

Thomas still held his bow aiming the arrow at the goblins face. Seras drew a throwing axe from her side. The goblin, now walking back, was spooked by a sound. He looked and saw Robert, not fully hidden in cover. The creature nearly let out a shriek, only to be cut off by an arrow lodging itself firmly in the side of its head. It fell limply to the ground, twitching as blood pooled around it.

Notification

Slain creature experience gained

Goblin: 40xp

Skill Level up!

Archery, novice II, core motor reflexes increased.

10% Increased stability and control with bows.

Note

Using skills in new and highly focused situations will increase the systems simulated skill refinement.

Thomas felt a slight change as he reached for the bow. It was as though it were easier to carry out certain actions without much effort. The strange mechanism of this new world seemed to have built and reinforced the muscle memory within him.

Robert dragged the goblin back into cover, making sure it was out of view of the outpost. None of the other goblins seemed to have noticed its absence. He gave a quick thumbs up to Thomas who gave a grim nod in reply.

Robert came back dashing from rocky protrusions to the place the others were hidden.

“The goblins have the black slime,” He said. Seras thought for a moment and managed to formulate a battle plan.

“Do you think you can set the barrels on fire?” She asked Robert. Robert nodded in reply.

“Good.” She smiled. “Goblins hate fire.”

“Thomas, get set up in a bush and shoot the barrels open. Robert, you can start a fire, then move in and remember to leave some for interrogation, or we won’t find your killers.” The others nodded and then moved like soldiers into the battle. Still, though, the goblins seemed too human and Thomas couldn’t quite shake what he had done from his mind.

He moved in, biting his tongue. Was he selfishly killing another living being? The goblin seemed like a person and could have even had a family, but Thomas felt in this world it was kill or be killed, and some things weren’t meant to be. When he thought about it like that, it would have just caused more problems if he had let the creature live. But Derek could have been a good goblin. ‘No, don't give them names!’ he thought to himself.

Robert infiltrated the camp again, rushing from rock to rock and quickly hiding behind a tent. The nearest goblin, the blacksmith, hadn’t noticed him. Instead, the it was still battering away at what Robert assumed was a makeshift anvil. Robert waited until the blacksmith went back into the tent and then motioned it was clear. Thomas moved in whilst Seras still stayed behind. There was no way she could move silently in that heavy armour.

Thomas held his bow up as Robert went further in. He spotted three barrels, and figured he could open them before the goblins had time to react. Then Robert would be able to ignite the tar.

Thomas fired at the barrels, breaking the first two open with ease. But the third arrow became lodged in the barrel, releasing only a thin stream of black goo. All around the camp, they could hear goblins moving towards them. Some of them charged into view as Thomas fired again, shattering the third barrel.

Then Robert charged past and used firebolt to set the tar alight, flame erupting from the barrels between Robert and the creatures. The goblins were confused, and instead of attacking, started to run chaotically around the flames. ‘Aren't they meant to be scared of fire?’ Robert wondered as they closed in on him. Then Seras stepped in front of him, both battle-axes waving in the air, and the goblins immediately fled in fear. “The demon is here!” one of them exclaimed, though only Thomas understood.

“See what I told you? Fire makes them scared!” Seras chimed. It seemed to Thomas that she may have developed a taste for fire about the time she was known by the goblin as 'the demon' and maybe it wasn’t the fire the goblins feared.

The goblins were scuttling around, none of them brave enough to fight. Then one with an almost high-pitched screech braced his fear and charged in. Seras dropped her axe and grabbed the creature by the throat, held it in the air and in the midst of all of them broke its neck with a quick squeeze. A cough of blood spurting from the goblin's mouth sprayed onto the side of her face. None of the others tried to resist. They bound five remaining goblins and put them forward in a line to be interrogated.

“You’re up” Seras called out to Thomas.

Thomas came forward. He was to question the remaining goblins about the location of their bone-armoured leader, the one that had slit his throat.

“Seen…Goblin…. Leader…Armour… Bone.” He said in goblin, pointing to areas of his armour the bone would have been.

The first goblin spat in his face, and a second laughed. “Man talks like baby,” he said in the goblin tongue. Seras immediately slammed her axe into the first one’s head crushing it, then drew the blade out letting the goblin fall to the ground.

She then motioned for Robert to step forward. “Your turn,” she said. Robert looked at her puzzlingly and then let out a burst of fire in front of the goblins, singing their eyebrows, which had barely been present to begin with.

They only looked confused. Seras came over “See fire. Scary, we will burn you.”

The goblins seemed to whimper and shiver away on her approach. A third one looked to Thomas for help and Thomas was taken back. He moved forward and knelt down before the goblin. He asked again. “Goblin. With bone armour.”

This time the goblin spluttered “He chief, big camp north, keep demon away. I’ll tell anything!”

The group pushed and gathered more information. Thomas relayed it and they began to formulate a plan. Seras placed her axe to the ground and put one foot on the top of the blade “Can we trust what the goblins say?” She asked Thomas. “If we don’t, we take one as a guide and kill the others,” she added.

“That's so brutal, we can’t kill them... They surrendered?” Thomas protested.

“They’re goblins!” Seras replied sternly.

“You're starting to sound like a mass murderer” Thomas retorted. “Like someone who wants to commit genocide!” Thomas added.

“Genocide of what, goblins? You can’t compare goblins to a human race.”

“What? because some of them are bad, you paint them all as evil with no exception?”

“Do you even hear the things coming out from your mouth? These ones even had the black shit. You think we should just let them go till they come back and kill us all?... It’s like your comparing a human race to... Goblins,” she almost spat.

“Guys!” Robert exclaimed. “Stop that. I have a plan,” He explained what he had in mind, and after a brief discussion, Thomas approached the goblins and said, “You're free to go.”

After that the three of them went around the tents trying to collect anything useful exerting their will over the goblin corpses for loot. After transforming the bodies into tendrils of energy they found 12 'mana forged' arrows, and a decently weighted throwing dagger. Then they waited outside the camp, just far enough away to follow the goblin tracks without being seen.

When it grew dark, the goblins left camp heading north. Thomas and Robert decided it would be better if Seras waited back, her shiny armour and its metallic sounds still making it difficult to sneak.

The goblins were moving fast, in an almost frantic pace, likely spurred on by memories of the demon they spoke of. Still, Thomas and Robert managed to follow them easily enough, their stealthiness made them feel like they were one with the darkness.

They travelled far. Thomas and Robert kept close to their mark and no other humanoid shapes arose across the distance. The journey appeared to be reaching its conclusion as the paths drew narrow and winding. When they finally started seeing the distant lights of a settlement, Thomas and Robert stopped, and hid out in part of the path that was now wedged between two cliffs.

There, they saw the goblins walk towards an enclave where a large camp lay. The walk was longer than they had expected, but then they had been unconscious last time, dragged the entire distance. Robert even decided to lay on his back with his head in the direction of the camp just to check. "Yep, seems familiar,” he said.

They started waiting for Seras to catch up. As they waited they saw some torches appear, waving around in the distance. Thomas and Robert backed up further into the darkness. Upon closer inspection, they noticed three goblins en route to their location coming from where Seras should have been. They waited in silence to avoid the troupe, but as the goblins approached Thomas and Robert started to hear the echoes of their cries. The goblins were frantically running.

They suddenly realized the goblins were running to alert the camp, and probably because of Seras. Thomas and Robert hunched down, pushing further behind the rocky formation.

They waited in ambush and once the goblins finally drew close enough, Thomas shot an arrow, lodging it into one of their legs whilst Robert fire bolted the other in the face. Both goblins stumbled and fell. The scorched one had cracked its neck as he tripped over, head first and on the floor, twitched his last death roll.

The other, having been shot in the leg, tripped to the side and landed on his arm. He was quickly silenced by Thomas’s second shot hitting into the face.

The final goblin carrying the torch was spooked by the others and narrowly avoided Robert's fire, bracing his face with an arm. But soon he was taken by Thomas’s blade plunged through his chest. New notifications appeared for both Thomas and Robert.

Notifications

Note

Using skills in new and highly focused situations will increase the systems simulated skill refinement.

Slain creature experience gained

Goblin 40xp

Skill increase

Medium blades II

10% increased reaction time and motion fluidity.

Robert could control his mana more easily now. It was as though an internal reservoir of mana was being pushed through his being and shaped into the fire he controlled. Now able to shape the fire instead of just shoot it out. The roaring fire he could manifest now frightened him. He felt his limits as much as his potential.

Seras took her time coming along as Thomas and Robert waited. It was long enough that Thomas started to think something might have happened. He focused on his internal map, the area they had travelled appeared vast but along the route they had taken was a detailed path highlighting the winding trail they had taken through the rocky maze.

Then Thomas noticed Seras had an icon showing where she was. She was moving quickly through a dark spot, away from the path they had travelled.

“Seras has gone a different way,” Thomas said.

“She can track us and knows where we went. Should we wait or go help?”

“This is Seras we’re talking about. I’ll just scout out the area before she arrives.”

“Sure,” Robert replied. He created a controlled burst of fire, holding a small flame in the air, and using that light, began to finish the book he was on.

Instead of waiting, Thomas moved in closer to the goblin camp. The camp didn’t have many rocky outcrops like the other one, and instead, he could only crawl through dead bushes and long yellow grass. They weren’t under any false impressions that they could take the camp on their own, but Thomas was only just realising how difficult it would be. Unlike the last camp, these goblins were organised. It was like comparing the stone age to medieval.

The camp consisted of two watchtowers, three small tents, and one larger main tent. He guessed the watchtowers were about twenty feet high. The goblins would easily have the advantage in terms of range. A group of them were roaming around, drinking and moving torches clashing against the darkness. Thomas thought they were too drunk to pay attention, and so in the patch of tall grass, he thought he could shuffle closer, trying to get a better view. He noticed how his tracking skill came in useful, seeing the paths goblins took in rough detail.

He grew a slight grin as a new notification popped up.

Notifications (1)

Level up!

Stealth II

+10% harder to see, +10% harder to hear. Your essence becomes more adaptive with the environments, your farts even start to smell like the bush you’re hiding in.

Thomas saw a scuffling in the torchlight, a couple of goblins had launched at each other. Approaching even closer Thomas shuffled through some tall grass and managed to make out enough of the goblin’s features to tell them apart. It was then he saw him, sitting on a log in front of the fire, the glow of the fire glinting off cleaner bits of the dark armour adorned with bone. It was the goblin that murdered him. Thomas backed off. He tried to signal at Robert to say he was coming back but before he did he noticed that one of the goblins was walking up to the fire. It was a goblin they had been following.

The goblin scuffling nervously as he walked up to their leader. Thomas couldn’t make out the conversation but saw that the goblin was almost immediately slapped down with the backhand of a gauntlet. The leader pointed in multiple directions across the camp and non-armoured goblins started sprinting around the perimeter. The armoured goblins had barely moved, instead just staring into the fire.

Suddenly the leader pointed at Thomas and let out shouts “There!!” he shouted. Thomas immediately got up and ran, but a goblin with a crossbow jumped out from one of the tents, looked at Thomas and fired, hitting him in the leg. Robert came out into the open, but in response, Thomas shouted: “RUN!”.

Robert started running back. He got around to the crevice that lead to the camp but suddenly Robert was grabbed by the scruff of his collar. “Where are you going?” Seras asked.

“Thomas, he’s in there!” Robert replied, hastily pointing towards the glowing camp.

“What the fuck did you guys do?”

A moment passed whilst Seras tried to suppress her annoyance in an effort to comfort Robert.

She put her hand on his shoulder. “It’ll be ok, I have a plan,” she said. Then Robert noticed, she was standing next to a barrel of the black oozing slime.