Druidification

     The group moved back up the west side of the valley, following the path they had come down. Now that goblins were for sure wandering about, Nat wanted to cross over the bridge instead of going up the valley. She did not want them to have the high ground against her. Then it was quite likely that it would be over for her and the canines that traveled with her. Coming up to the bridge, they decided it was too far across to do what they did at the campground, so Natalie and the two wolves just crossed slowly in formation. Shadow lead while watching in front, Nat was in the middle, but kept her head on a swivel looking to see if there were any monsters that could spot them crossing.

     After the successful crossing of the valley bridge, the group continued along the ditch eastwards. Nothing much was left between here and Mountain View. Just a couple of private houses and small farm lands. The houses were checked, but seemed to have been stripped bare of any food or valuables. Well, they were stripped bare of what humans considered valuable. The veritable troves of pillows and blankets had left the wolves excited. After going through these houses, The inside of the Soulscape had a new land mark. It wasn't quite a mountain, but Kali's hill of comfort was slowly working its way there. The wolf pups attempted to play tag through the blankets and pillows, but more often than not they had to crawl along so they did not fall in between two of the pillows. Those that did had to get rescued out by Maia or Kali. Then that became a whole other game in and of itself.

     As they came to the crest of the first hill since the bridge, they saw a farm to the right. Knowing that a farm would generally have bigger tools and supplies, Nat lead the wolves and veered off southwards towards the farmhouse. As they came up to the door, Shadow froze, his hackles raising. Unlike the houses they passed earlier, the front door of the house was broken and open. 'Goblins.' Was all that came from shadow, and that was all they needed. Slowly, they backed up away from the building. However, while they were backing up on the way out, Ash forgot to take notice of the cattle gate they had passed over. Her paw slipped in between the rungs, causing her to yip out in surprise as her balance shifted wildly.

     As the yip rang out, the three of them froze in place and looked towards the house. At first, it was quiet, nothing was happening. Then from inside the house came a rising crescendo of shrieks and screams, followed by goblins flowing out of the house. Dozens of goblins poured out of the door, their beady eyes locking onto Nat and the two wolves as they ran forwards. "Run!" Natalie yelled out, prompting the two wolves to turn and run. Shadow jumped clear over the cattle gate as Ash deftly worked herself out. They headed back out to the road, wondering where to go until Natalie caught up with them and guided them east up the next hill.

     Thankfully, as none of them were injured before, they managed to make good time up the hill ahead of the goblins. As they got to the top, Nat suddenly called out, "Wait! I have a plan!" Stopping, Ash and Shadow bolted over to her to find out what the plan was. Once they heard it, both wolves had a menacing smile grow over their faces to match the one that Natalie had covering hers. They Jumped into the Soulscape and began to get ready to give the hurt to the goblins.

     As the first goblin approached the top of the hill, it was surprised to find the female standing there, all alone. Smiling at it good fortune, it bolted forward with fresh energy, slobbering in anticipation as it ran. As it came close to her, its view was suddenly obstructed, it wondered what had blocked its view, just before a Giant dead tree log slammed into and rolled down the hill. Natalie had decided that the hill allowed her to make use of those logs that they picked up back on the mountain side. She got Shadow and Ash to spawn and throw them down the road and into the following goblins. The ones in the lead were struck dumb or tried to turn around in fear, but they could not get out of the way of the weighty hunks of wood due to their comrades pushing them forward from behind.

     After a dozen logs were sent down, Natalie got the two wolves to hold on for a second before bringing out anymore. As she looked down the hill, she could see the black mist flowing upwards in a great amount, and no signs of movements from the horde of monsters that was once chasing her. Satisfied at the elimination of that many goblins, Nat smiled smugly to herself, and congratulated the two wolves on a job well done. They quickly cuddled and nuzzled up against Nat and each other before Shadow broke off and took point. While they had just taken out a crap ton of monsters, they did not know if there were more following them.

     Exhausted, they continued down the road until they came up to the next farm. When they saw that the door on this one seemed firmly closed, they got Maia and Emily to help them walk around the area to make sure it was clear. The run from the goblin horde had exhausted the three travelers immensely, and while they could have traveled the rest of the way to Mountain View, there was nothing they wanted more than to rest. As they realized it was safe, Nat made use of their outdoor fire pit they had sitting in the back and started to prepare for making some food. There was some steaks that she had grabbed from home that she was feeling like cooking up!

Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Jake, Viktor, Nikolas, Saganatsu, Coen, Adam, John, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times.