Playing God

Four dead gobbos on the path outside. Well, one had still been alive, but he wasn’t anymore. Three were dead at the top of the path. The first hundred yards of the passage were littered with goblins, dead and dying. Seven more lay on the ground, all victims of my arrows. I had no qualms about putting injured goblins out of their misery with my blade.

I retrieved my dagger and what arrows I could, though two had broken off when the bodies fell, and one I just couldn’t find. Then I went through the distasteful process of searching the bodies for anything valuable.

Ten minutes later, I’d gather what I could. My torch was half-burned through, and I put it out to save the rest of it by scraping it through a patch of earth, retreating to the entrance to examine my loot.

A half-dozen gold coins, some old enough to be well worn and rubbed almost smooth, while others seemed to be imprinted with a royal mark of some design. I’d need to ask Lira about that. A bracelet, originally ‘Property of a Lady’ if I was any judge, featured what looked like a ruby set within a delicate silver design. A shiny thing that had caught the eye of the goblin that had been wearing it. I hoped Lira didn’t take a fancy to it; I didn’t want her to have it. I’d get her all the jewels and jewelry she wanted when I had the money, but I wasn’t about to adorn her from the trash of dead goblins. She deserved better.

There was a set of vambraces in better condition than the arm guards I’d had before. A pauldron made of articulated steel plates was a real find, giving me plus-two to my armor class. A few of the goblins had thigh guards – something my status messages called ‘tassets’ – but try as I might, I couldn’t get them to fit. They were just too damn small. I collected the armor that was in the best condition, making a pile by the entrance. I’d pick it up on my way out, because I wasn’t done for today.

I’d killed fourteen goblins, and Tark wasn’t amongst them. The cowardly bastard was still back in the mine somewhere, more likely than not playing bodyguard to Manchee, the shaman. I wanted both their heads, and I wanted this quest complete. There was a house with my name on it waiting back in Fernwick, and Lira deserved more than just a ramshackle hut.

Tightening the straps on my pack, and checking my dagger and rapier were loose in their scabbards, I picked up my bow and once more headed down into the darkness.

I knew the goblins had run up the passage at speed, but once I reached the point I’d stopped at the first time, I began to move with more caution. They’d used traps once, and I didn’t put it past them to have laced the whole damn mine with their nets. Or worse.

Sure enough, my eye was drawn to a thin string directly below the first torch, a net tied to the ceiling above. Would I have spotted it without the Keen Observer perk? I suppose that was a second-guessing question I could second-guess for the rest of my stay on Corthos, but I shrugged and cut the string with my dagger. It parted with a twang, the net falling harmlessly to the ground. As traps went, it seemed a bit obvious, really, like finding it was designed to make me feel safe. Were the goblins that cunning, or was ‘a bit obvious’ more their style?

Remembering how dark it got between light sources, I picked up the first torch, carrying it with me. I quickly reached the first gobbo nest, but couldn’t bring myself to search it. There was a broken spear nearby that I used to poke half-heartedly at a couple of crates, but the stench was just too bad. I didn’t want to discover the hard way that diseases remained with me after I respawned.

There were no signs of life as I continued on down, ignoring the side passages that the gobbos had passed when they’d carried me through here trussed up like a turkey. Maybe I was passing up gems and gold in abundance, but if so, the men of Fernwick could have it as compensation. I figured Manchee wasn’t the kind of gobbo to let anything shiny out of his reach for long, and if there was treasure to be had, it would be wherever he laid his bald, wrinkled head.

I took the wrong turning at one of the forks, having to backtrack when I realized there were no further torches, but otherwise my path was direct, and it didn’t take long before I caught a glimpse of the bioluminescence of the main chamber reflecting a pale green off the walls ahead.

And there’d been no more traps. There we have it: gobbos were obvious, not cunning.

I set my torch into an empty sconce, freeing my hands to use my bow. It was tempting to charge in with a shoot-first-ask-questions-later attitude, yet I was wary of Manchee’s magic. Maybe all he could do was light a crystal on the top of his staff, and I was worrying about nothing. But that didn’t seem likely when all the goblins practically worshipped the wizened old bastard.

It was quiet as I crept around the curve of the passage and into the cavern, one carefully placed step at a time. How many goblins were left? I’d already killed more than the twenty Rolf and John had suggested. They could come and count them all when I was done.

Some sixth sense warned me, and I pulled my head back just as a spear flew through where it had been, shattering into a rock beside me. Keen Observer? If so, that perk was worth its weight. I swung to my right, raising my bow, to see a goblin larger than the others jump off the stalagmite he’d been standing on. I held my shot; there was nothing to shoot at.

An instant later Tark jumped out from behind a boulder, his sword already coming down. I dodged back, his blade almost catching my bow. It would’ve cut straight through it. “Hey! I haven’t paid for that!”

Tark looked taken aback as I yelled at him, and I used his distraction to snap-shot the arrow his way. He dived to the side – I hadn’t really expected it to be that easy – but what I wanted was time to draw my own blades. The bow looped safely over my shoulders, I drew my rapier in one hand, my dagger in the other.

Tark rolled to his feet with an impressive agility, then turned to snarl. “How you get in here, Hu-man? We kill you.”

“Enjoy the feast, did you?” Of course, my body had disappeared the moment I’d respawned.

He curled his lip back, spreading his arms wide and screaming at me. He held his sword ready, but the gobbos were still being obvious. I hadn’t forgotten there was at least one other, and Tark wasn’t making any move to draw closer. That meant only one thing.

I spun as soon as I heard a noise, my rapier already coming up to parry the blow. The goblin was another big one, but I didn’t think it had been the spear-thrower. He’d been on the other side of the cave. My wrist rolled, and I went with the move, flicking my rapier under his blade in a riposte the cut across his chest. Skill points in action, right there. He yelped as a bloody green line appeared, but it wasn’t deep enough to stop him.

Tark was waiting for me to show him my back, and only his claws scraping on the stone warned me. I ducked, spinning to parry again, but now I was surrounded by two of the biggest goblins I’d met.

Make that three as the spear-thrower arrived, now armed with sword and shield. I was being pushed back, the gobbos forming a wide arc around me. This would’ve been a great time to have a shield, but all I had in my off-hand was a dagger I’d hardly used.

Tark leaped forward, leading with the point of his blade. I spun away, putting a stalagmite between the two of us. It brought me time to engage the shield-wielding spear-thrower, but I needed to take him down fast. I threw my useless dagger at him, his shield coming up to block, then I crouched low, slashing my rapier across his unguarded legs. He screamed, dropping to his knees, and my backhand opened his face from ear to ear. He dropped his weapons, clutching at his ruined visage as green blood flooded through his clenched fingers. It was probably a mercy when my sword point found his heart.

A stuttering of stones striking stones in rapid succession was my only warning, and I dived to my right, away from the sound, rolling to my feet behind a large rock. Yet I hadn’t been fast enough –  a shard still caught my trailing leg, a piercing pain in my calf. I ignored the status message that told me it would hurt to put weight on it, and put weight on it anyway. It wasn’t like I had a choice. Yes, it fucking hurt, but my leg held. Barely.

What had that been? A trap? If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was some kind of machine gun, firing out shards of stone. Tark, his chest-slashed buddy and Manchee were all around here somewhere, and it bothered me I’d lost track of all of them.

I peeked out from behind my rock, my sword held ready. Shards of stone flew toward me, bursting over my rock and the one behind me as I pulled my head back. But at least I now knew where Manchee was, and I’d been right: the glowing crystal wasn’t his only trick.

The goblin I’d just killed was lying only a few feet away, his shield on his arm. It was tempting, but if Manchee could cast that spell whenever he wanted, I’d be pincushioned before I could pull it off him. Instead, I slunk away, keeping rocks between me and where Manchee was. Maybe I could also play hide-and-seek with these bastards. I had a Stealth score of seven; that had to be worth something.

It was time to finish this.