The Anti-Goblin Crusade

[The Big Pointy One]

The year was 582, of the Fifth Age. Dierden Samshae had just turned 24, and felt it was time to venture forth from the forests where had gone in hopes of learning Nature's Way. He had attempted that about a year before. Feeling that he wasn't learning a whole lot except for different types of plant life and what-have-you, he went off where his instinct took him. This brought him to a medium-sized town by the name of Merak. Merak was mostly inhabited by humans, but one could spot a stray elf, or even a small cluster of Dwarves. (Dwarves were a portly race of humanoids that had suddenly sprouted out of non-existence at the beginning of the Fifth Age. No one really knows how exactly they came to be. However, people do know that they are among the fiercest warriors on Gaia, they can drink an Ogre under the table, and make quite possibly the finest and sturdiest armour ever recorded in history.)

 

By coincidence or fate, a small army, apparently representing Tor'alas, the nation that housed Merak, also happenned to be in the market city. While mingling in the common room of a tavern, Dierden learned that this army was recruiting. Apparently, a force comprised mostly of Goblins was growing in number within the mountains. Who was organizing them, no one knew, as well as why. Regardless, they posed a threat to the local area, and had to be dealt with. Dierden figured since Rocoss Greenoak had trained him, he'd be of at least minor assistance to the army. After a brief meal, he made his way to the recruiter's tent, and signed up. He was told to find a room at a local inn, if he hadn't already done so. They would summon him when it was time for briefing.

 

 

 

OOC: So again, if anyone wants to join in now, feel free- I'll wait a few days or so, perhaps even a week... or until I feel enough people of joined, whichever comes first. If no one joins in at the time, I'll just start off on my own anyways, and leave it open, just in case

[Canid]

There were legends that his mother was one of those little-known new races of human that popped up every now and then somewhere before dissapearing entirely.

There was one captain who insisted that there was a small dragon that leant him his power in return for protection from a mysterious enemy; though that fellow did not have a reputation for reliability.

Many tales were offered to Dierden as he made his way through the building currently housing the leader of the opperation and thus what he least expected was what he saw when he entered the room.

Legman looked basically human. He did have remarkably piercing features, but Dierden was too shocked by his age to notice.

The boy sitting at the desk could be no older than 14.

He did not bother with any sort of greetings or even a suggestion to be seated but having taken a summarizing look at the man in front of him, immediately began to question him.

Legman quickly learned of Dierden's wits, past, skills, reaction time, training and all manner of things, half through observation and half his questions.

His manner was mainly cold, with some hint of warmth breaking through in barely perceptible quantities every now and then.

Legman cut Dierden off midway through his reasons for joining.

"Welcome to our numbers. Go make yourself known to the others unless you have any questions foir me."

The boy stood up. He didn't look much like a fighter.

[The Big Pointy One]

Dierden blinked, then shook his head. He supposed he could worry about the youth's talents when it actually matterred. He simply nodded silently and left the recruiting tent. After a couple minutes of asking around, he made his way over to the encampment the still-growing army had made. At the time most of the soldiers where walking around freely, talking and joking around with each other. Dierden re-adjusted his light pack and made his way to where one soldier was sitting alone, sharpening a hand-ax.

 

"Afternoon, my name's Dierden Samshae. May a sit here with you?"

 

The soldier who looked up was tall, if not taller than Dierden. Instead of a lean form though, he was more filled out, and quite a bit muscular. He had long, fiery orange hair as well as a short beard. He ran his sharpening stone against the blade of his well-crafted hand-ax a final time then nodded.

 

"Be my guest, Dierden. My name is Tayne Demeron."

 

"Ah, thank you Tayne." Dierden took a seat on the flattened grass. "So, what brings you here?"

 

"Tradition. It's in my bloodline to hunt goblins. My father before me did it, as his father before him, all the way back to the beginning of this Age. It's a mantle I'll gladly take up." Tayne gestured around the camp, "This, this is just a convenient coincidence. And what about you, Dierden? What brings YOU here?"

 

Dierden shrugged, "I'm not completely sure. Nothing better to do, I suppose." he poked the ground with a twig, "I guess maybe it'll help me to get where I'm going."

 

Tayne looked slightly confused, "Nothing better to do? Heh, suppose it works... where ARE you going?"

 

Shrugging for a second time, Dierden replies, "That's the part I don't know. We'll just have to-"

 

Their conversation was cut short as a dwarf, apparently in uniform, marched into the middle of the camp. "Alright boyos, we've been giving the order to march. There's no more recruitin' to be had here, and we're going to one last town before we start movin' into the mountains. Get packin' - we leave in fifteen minutes!"

[Canid]

The stop at the next town was short. The majority of the time was occupied with pollishing skills for most of the soldiers.

Dierden spoke to several of the newcomers, none of which had seen anything special about Legman.

Those who had been around for longer maintained a respectfull attitude toward their young leader though and were happy to share more stories about where he was from and what he'd done.

The boy himself wasn't visible at all. When they were at the town, he spent the whole time interviewing the new recruits. Dierden was surprised at the number he tossed out. When they were marching, the boy would ride ahead with the scouts on horseback.

"What do you think of him?" said a voice suddenly from behind Dierden. He turned to see a woman in thick leather with a few thin swords secured around her.

"Who?" Asked Dierden, somewhat surprised.

"Legman."

"I suppose..." he said carefully, "that I'll need to see what he can do before I settle on something."

The woman nodded. "It might be a while before you get a chance. I've been in this group over a year and only seen his work twice. Once is all you need though."

She nodded to him and ran up ahead to one of the men leading the pack-animals. He handed her a horse and swiftly mounting, she rode off.

[Guest Tamaranis]

"Stand still and burn you little bastards!" Shouted a voice from up ahead. More cursing, shouting in both goblin and human voices, and a small explosion followed. A group of soldiers near the front rushed onward, up the mountain trail. It was fairly obvious there were goblins up ahead, and they were fighting with some one.

 

Six goblins lie dead, four of them quite badly burned. The ground was scorched in several places by magic. Another six goblins remained standing, fighting with a human mage who seemed rather hard pressed at the moment.

 

The mage made it clear that he was indeed a mage by the electricity arcing about his hands. The goblins attacked from all around as he swung out and tried to touch them. Their crude wooden weapons were actually an advantage in this situation. Had the mage tried to slap away a sword or dagger his hand would have been badly injured, but the electricity would have traveled into the goblin's body. Instead he was madly dodging and swinging his arms in an effort to avoid being bludgeoned to death by the goblins with their simple clubs.

 

Goblins were the kind to rely on their numbers. As such, when they saw twice their number in competent soldiers running towards them they knew to flee. The mage formed a ball of flame in his hand and threw it like overhand, like he was pitching a stone, at the retreating goblins. "Don't run, you'll only die tired!" he called as he let the fireball fly.

 

It missed and continued on through the air for some distance before flickering out. Nursing his a broken arm, luckily not his fireball pitching arm, the mage turned around to notice for the first time the human soldiers coming towards him.

 

"Hello there," He greeted them, "You guys out here to do some goblin hunting to?"

 

OOC: He's not incompetent, he's just not nearly as competent as he thinks he is.

[Vlad]

After the charge and fireball, a small boy ran out from somewhere. He was not more than one and a half feet tall, and quite skinny. Any thoughts of Legman being young, quickly vanished from Dierden's mind.

 

This boy had a dagger, which on him looked like a short sword, and a helm, quite obviously too big. One could speculate, that the metal weighed more than the boy.

 

"Lemme at them! Where are those suck'as?" the boy exclaimed. Not only was he small, but he also had a high-pitched voice. Some of the soldiers had to snicker.

 

OOC:This will definetly be interesting, and I don't mind if he dies at some point. Just please not at the very end.

 

Also, warn me if he is going to die, so I can go out with a bang...!

sadman87@mchsi.com

[The Big Pointy One]

OOC: Well, we'll see what happens with your character as the story develops... heh. Anyways, if you haven't already done so, I recommend checking out the Green Room for the ooc/planning thread for this story, just in case anything hasn't been covered yet. Welcome aboard ^.^

 

 

Curious about the ruckus Legman had quickly made his way to the front lines to see what was going on. Apparently there was a mage and a weapon-bearing child who wanted to take part in the crusade. A dark smile slid across Legman's face as he thought of the possibilites of a magic-wielding ally, regardless of his competence. He whispered a few words into a captain's ear then made his way back to his place within the ranks. The captain made his way up to where the mage and boy were standing with slightly curious looks on their faces. Pointing at the child, he commanded "Make your way to the packhorses, and ask them what you can do to lend a hand. We are resuming our march in five minutes, so try to keep pace." he turned to the mage, "You, come with me. We'll get you a uniform, and perhaps anything you may need."

 

The mage swallowed once, "Uh, don't I get a say in this... what if I don't want to join?"

 

The captain scratched a stubbly beard, "Well, General Legman would appreciate it if you'd lend your assistance. We believe you'd be an asset to our force. And since it seems you don't have any objections to killing goblins as it is... did I mention we'll pay you?"

 

Thinking for a moment the mage shrugged, "Heh, why not. You COULD use my help. Lead the way."

 

The mage and the captain made their way to another set of packhorses where the spare uniforms were kept. Meanwhile, Dierden examined the area of confrontation, a slightly befuddled look on his face. He adjusted the spear he had taken to carrying on his back, as well as six throwing knives hanging from his belt. Dierden had never seen magic before, and was rather intrigued. He had heard of it, and it was interesting to him to finally see it first-hand, more or less. Snapping back to reality he looked around. Tayne had disappeared as soon as the marching stopped, and the mage appeared. One thing Dierden noticed before Tayne wandered off was that as soon as that ball of fire took flight, Tayne turned pale, fast. He'd have to ask his new friend about that, later.

 

In less than five minutes the army was up and marching again. Everyone was more wary now, if it was possible; they didn't want to be surprised by an advancing raiding party. Granted, goblins weren't oft organized enough to form a raiding possible, but with chaotic minions like goblins, anything is possible. Dierden eased his spear from his back, and gripped it nervously. He hoped he would fair well when the time came to spill blood. Dierden didn't give any spare thoughts as far as morals were concerned. He knew goblins were an evil race, and would do much harm to the surrounding area and peoples if given the chance. This HAD to be done.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, in the plains north of the mountains the sounds of thousands of hoofbeats could be heard echoing across the vast flatlands. The ground was quickly trampled as half a legion of heavily armed minotaurs set a fast pace south. Someone else had interest in the goblins residing with the mountains as well, it seemed. Whose side they'd take though, was yet unknown.

[Canid]

Soon after they resumed marching, Legman charged right through the midst of the soldiers, jumping his horse over Dierden's head. He was flanked by the woman in leather and a thin, wiley looking man, both on horse-back.

It was two days before the troops saw any of them again.

[Vlad]

The boy did as he was told, and went back to the pack-animals. When arriving and asking what he could do to help, all he got were laughs.

 

"I don't think that you can carry anything else, besides these animals are hardy beasts."

"You don't think... yes, that does seem to be a problem."

[The Big Pointy One]

It had been a day since after Legman and his associates disappeared and re-appeared. The army had made its way to the highest point of the foothills. They could not procede further higher into the mountains as this would certainly disperse their numbers too much. So instead, they split up. Scouts revealed some caves not far to the northeast, and a fairly wide upward path to the north. Legman had taken a force compromised of about three-quarters of the main army with him on to the path while he sent one of his Lieutenant Generals and the rest of the troops into the caves. Before splitting up, he made a short speech.

 

"Alright everyone, listen up. If my information is correct, there should be a large valley about a day's travel from here. The path I'm taking should take us right to it's main entrance. The caves on the other hand, should open up again in a secluded corner of the valley. I believe the goblin's main encampment is in this area. That being said I ask you all to be cautious as possible; I do not doubt the goblins know this area well. Be prepared for traps and other nasty surprises. Good luck, and may we all meet on the field of battle, alive and victorious."

 

So it was at that time that the army split up. Dierden and Tayne went into the caves with the small force while Legman had the still mysterious mage accompany him, as well as the equally mysterious boy.

 

While whithin the caves, Dierden felt... odd. Not necessarily in a bad way, but odd nonetheless. It was almost as he could feel the life of Gaia all around him. He shrugged it off mentally, assuming it had something to do with being underground for the first time. Tayne seemed fine; whatever it was that had put him on edge earlier had dissipated. Regardless, both were ready to act within a flash of a second. They were alert and prepared for anything, or at least that's what they thought.

[Canid]

Silence fell as the small group proceeded through the caves. Dierden watched as various members of the party displayed their expertise in finding the right paths through and looking for signs of a goblin's passage.

Dierden found himself fascinated with the fungi growing on the walls in glowing clusters of eerie colour.

Shouting from up ahead brought Dierden's attention away from the cave-life instantly.

"Away! Back! Do me no harm!" a high-pitched voice echoed through the tunnel as Dierden looked for a way past his companions in the tight tunnel.

"Grab him!" came another voice.

A moment later something barrelled into Dierden.

From somewhere ahead, an inhuman clicking sound turned into a roar.

"Run you fools!" shouted the high-pitched voice right beside Dierden.

The person who had barrelled into him was now standing over his head. At first glance, Dierden took him for a goblin, but...

The inhuman something screamed in pain not far ahead. The woman in leather appeared suddenly in front of Dierden, she had a large rip in the leather and dark blood on a dagger.

"What was that, goblin?!" she said furiously, advancing on the little man is shocked rage.

"There are larger things in the dark..." he said in his high voice, then dashed back down the tunnel.

Two more of the clicking, roaring sounds came from ahead of them and Dierden stood up and watched as the woman in leather turned in fear back toward the rest of the party and whatever cave-beasts that waited.

Dierden would have followed her if a wall hadn't suddenly appeared in front of him.

[Vlad]

OOC: Forgive any typos ahead of time. Kind of in a rush.

Edit it later...

 

(Proofread)

 

IC: After they confrontation with the supply cheif and various other soldiers, the boy was beginning to make a nuicance of himself. This is probabaly why the boy was chosen by Legman to accompany him. This was not your ordinary boy, but Legman was not your ordinary general. Legman was a talented man, and the boy was a diamond (I use that term loosely) in the rough. Definetly had potential, but was quite a loose cannon.

 

The boy would hold on to the smallest details and use them against you ten years down the line, but often missed the big picture. He would have a serene look in his eyes one moment, and be blazing on fire the next. Guilty until proven innocent, or maybe innocent until proven guilty. Or both. No one was ever quite sure.

 

When asked about himself the boy would not give a name, age, or residence. He kept to himself mostly, not talking about his past, or plans for the future. Some who got close to him, or as close as he would allow, call him aloof from everything. Like one who is at peace with himself, but doesn't know it yet. A constant bewilderment.

 

As the company approached with caution, the boy charged forward madly, yelling and waving his weapon around, as if something in his mind snapped. He would have probably gotten away from the enterage, had he not been stopped by the mage. Being restrained didn't help the situation at all. It only caused more yells and frantic jerks.

 

At this point some of the soldiers were becoming alarmed. Mutiny, some thought, while other expected to see goblins. When discovering it was only a boy, one of the soldiers hit him on the head with an axe-handle. This blow was sufficient to knock a full-grown man unconsious, but the boy refused to go down.

 

"Let's just let him go. If he dies it's his fault. No sense letting the goblins know we are here as well." A voice suggested.

 

OOC:I'm letting someone else decide if he leaves the group at this point.

 

More OOC: Not my best piece. Also going to be gone for four days, so no posts.

[Guest Tamaranis]

OOC: I'm a little confused as to what's going on right now, but I'm sure if I make a mistake Stick and Wolf will yell at me.

 

IC: "Hey kid get back here!" Mesl shouted as the small boy tore off deeper into the cave.

 

Another set of strange clicking roars sounded, some of the most veteran members of Legman's force began to show signs of fear, and it spread into the less experienced troops. The animals were certainly terrified and even Mesl had to admit the roars were a little unnerving.

 

Still, he was a mage, and he wasn't afraid of some bear or something in a cave, no matter how strange its roar was. "I said get back here, there's bears or something in this cave!" Mesl shouted, taking off after the small boy and not looking back to see if he was being followed by the rest of the army or not.

 

Despite his lesser height, and therefore shorter legs, the small boy managed to stay ahead of Mesl. It didn't occur to Mesl that running at top speed as he was, for an extended period of time could put him rather deep into the cave and possibly in a dangerous situation. The light died and he cast a simple simple spell summoning a bright ball of cold flame to hover in the cave just ahead of him.

 

Finally the boy stopped, and glanced around, as if he were searching for something in the dark. Even with his ball of fire, Mesl couldn't see the crazed look in the boy's eyes. "What are you doing kid, there's goblins and worse skulking around these places, you shouldn't seperate from the group like that."

 

Another strange clicking roar sounded, this one very close. It definately was not a bear.

[The Big Pointy One]

OOC: Well, actually, right now, Legman and his 'associates' (i.e. the characters introduced with Legman in previous posts) were supposed to be on the main path that more or less goes *over* the mountains, not through them... with him is supposed to be the mage and the boy as well... I hate to sound like a control freak or anything like that... Anyways, if you don't feel like changing your posts (everyone) that's perfectly fine... but I'd suggest reading previous posts a little bit more, please! ^.^ (I hope I'm not coming off as rude here...) On a side note, I just want to not posting as of late, I'm kinda trying to set my self into the whole 'real job' thing, so I've been just a little bit fried this past little bit. Fear not, I shall soon recover, and be posting like there's no tomorrow. Or ink shortage... or something like that. Yeah.

[Guest Tamaranis]

I've got to do something about this tendancy of mine to post BEFORE I figure out what's going on.

 

But I sort of got from Vlad's post that we were both underground. So how about we assume that Legman brought the boy along for reasons known only to himself, and brought Mesl along because he thought even an eccentric mage might be useful?

[Guest Katzaniel]

Meanwhile, a lone goblin silently tracks the group. He observes for a moment, then withdraws and changes position, apparently searching for the best perch from which to watch the action. Gnash, which is indeed the creature's name, has been following the group for a few days without either being noticed or interfering in any way. Finally he settles himself into a tree and his ears prick up with apparent interest.

 

OOC: I don't care if this goblin dies, just give me at least another post before anyone notices him. Thx.

[Vlad]

The Big Pointy One posted,

 

OOC: Well, I feel bad about this, but I believe all this confusion can be solved with a cheap, over-used plot device. Sigh. Here we go...

 

BIC:

 

Mesl snapped back to reality. He looked around himself. It was night, the moon a low-hanging lamp guiding the army's path over the mountain. The mage was confused for a moment; he was sure the cave was real. It was almost as if he was there. Something wasn't right, he could feel it. Legman looked over at his newfound riding companion.

 

"So, you're finally awake, eh?"

 

Mesl tugged at his collar. For being up so high in the mountains, things were awfully hot. "I was sleeping? That's odd... I don't remember falling asleep."

 

Legman frowned, "What is wrong? You seem as if something is bothering you."

 

"I just had a disturbing dream. I was down in the caves with the rest of the army. That boy was there too... I'm not sure what that means, but there was a general feeling of impending danger. In fact, that was accompanied by some sort of weird sounds that I couldn't possibly reproduce here. I'm not sure, but I think your troops are in danger. I'd be wary of that child," Mesl looked to were a few soldiers had surrounded the currently sleeping boy, "He seems to bring danger with him, or, at least seek it out."

 

Legman stared blankly for a moment. He nodded in thought, then addressed Mesl, "Yes, they are most certainly in danger, but I am certain they will make it through. Besides, everyone was aware of the risks they'd be taking when they signed up. Do not worry, they are under the charge of some of my best men."

 

Mesl looked on in silence. He wasn't sure why he was so worried, especially considering it wasn't exactly a common trait of his. He did his best to shrug it off as the rest of the troop slowly made its way to the valley. At that time Mesl noticed that it was hot. Suddenly, a dim glowing from up ahead caught his eye, just as a scout rushed into the formation. The small rider made his way directly to Legman, saluted, and gave his report.

 

"Sir, I've spotted the valley. I'm sure you can see it now. The goblins seem... distracted by something. I suggest we move now!"

 

Legman nodded. There was a ripple of cool air from around the seemingly young general, then his voice echoed across the sky. "Attention! Those who oppose The Way! Quiver in fear now, for your doom is at hand. The Fist of Creation marches your way to purge you from this land!" By now, everyone knew this was the signal to attack and the entire force surrounding Legman rushed towards the valley shouting and singing warsongs to intimidate the goblins. Battle would be fought and won before the morning dawn.

 

~~~

 

(Earlier that day)

 

Dierden didn't have much a clue what was going on currently. All he knew was that one of Legman's subordinates had suddenly rushed ahead and prevented the rest of the army from proceding. The Lieutenants in charge of this group examined the wall, both frowning.

 

"Well, that was ingenious of her, leaving us trapped in here like this. Bah."

 

Dierden suddenly felt himself pulled toward the new stone wall. Despite protests from his superiors he made his way to said wall, and began examining it with his hands. That strange sense of energy became stronger, and stronger, until the next thing he knew everything in his sight was glowing white. The next thing he knew, everything went completely burning white and he was on the floor. He stood up, dusted himself off, and noticed that the path was once again open. The lieutenants looked at him in awe, then shrugged.

 

"I don't know how you did that kid, but I'm genna keep my eye on you."

 

Dierden scratched behind his head. He wasn't sure what happenned, so he went back to his spot in formation. Tayne had a disgusted look on his face. It seemed whatever was irritating him was back.

 

"Did...di..." Tayne coughed a few times, a meek attempt to clear his throat. "Did you do that? What happenned?"

 

"I don't know Tayne, honestly, I don't know. I thi-"

 

Dierden was interrupted by that horrible clicking sound again. It echoed throughout the caves and was followed by a wave of murmuring soldiers. Then it appeared. It was a two-headed beast. One head was that of some sort of vicious beast, with teeth that looked like they'd tear apart a fully armored knight in seconds, the other insectile, dripping venom that singed the cave floor. The heads were attached to serpentine necks which were part of a large muscular body the size of two large work horses, side by side. It almost resembled that of a giant lion. It had six large, skitterring insect-like legs and a scorpion's tail. What this was, no one knew. What everyone did know though, was that it was in their way, in it had better get out soon.

 

One of the lieutenants recovered from shock, and quickly made his way to the rest of the troops. The other, however, wasn't so lucky. He was pierced in the chest by a foreleg, picked up into the air, then ripped in half by the two heads.

 

"Everyone, take aim!" the lieutenant shouted, taking a rather large crossbow from his back at the same time, "Fire!!"

 

A stream of arrows and crossbow bolts flew at the beast. Some bounced off, some sunk into flesh. The rest flew by harmlessly, bouncing off cave walls and dropping to the ground. The beast however, seemed unharmed and advanced on the army. Dierden felt a slap on his back, then his concentration fell back to the current situation. Apparently, he too was still shocked by the creature. Tayne had a white knuckle grip on those hand axes he favoured, which were currently glowing red. Dierden had no idea they were enchanted. He'd have to ask Tayne about that later.

 

Dierden quickly drew a bead on each of the heads of the rapidly approaching monster, and after a second stream of projectiles flew at the thing, he expertly launched a pair of throwing knives. One sunk into the skull of the beast-like head, which growled and wailed loudly, temporarily pausing the large creature. The other knife sailed straight between the bulbous eyes of the insectoid head, but slid off. This did, however open a wound that dripped a disgusting mucous-like substance.

 

"Switch to polearms front ranks! Back ranks, ready your standard weapons! Ready... charge!"

 

The army moved forward to meet the monster, like some sort of blade-wall. That horrible scorpion's tail shot forward, stabbing many soldiers, and leaving bloated corpses behind. Second row troops caught the tail with armcatchers, eventually, and a poleaxe removed the deadly weapon. Tayne made his way around to the side of the thing, made a few slashes in its side, then was kicked to the wall. His handaxes stopped glowing, and the tall warrior seemed as if he were unconscious. Dierden hoped that was it. Gritting his teeth he made furious jab's at where he thought the creature's heart was. After what seemed like an eternity of pushing, the hardy soldiers managed to pierce the thing enough times to destroy it. However, as it made it's deathcry, they found themselves face to face with an almost exact duplicate to the first beast.

They shouted a vicious warcry and repeated their pushing tactic. Before they knew what happenned, they suddenly found themselves in a wooded valley filled with straw huts. The air hung heavy with smoke, and thousands of goblins were caught by surprise as the army and the beast broke through the cave entrance.

Vlad the Imploder posted,

 

OOC: We were in a cave?!? *goes on a 3 minute swearing frenzy* I thought only Legman went into the cave.

Oh well.

 

The following post is rated PG-13 for blood & gore.

 

IC: The boy was trying to reach the front lines against the double-headed creature when it happened. The black mist. He had seen it once before...

 

~ Cue flashback music ~

 

Boy - Father, no! Don't go! I'll miss you...

Father - I must, it is in our blood.

Boy - Noooooooooooooo!

Father - Veesho, you must remember the...

 

As Veesho's father was imparting his last words on the boy, he was enveloped in a smooth black mist, and his voice trailed off.

 

Boy - Remember what? You can't leave me here...

 

~ Back in real time ~

 

As Veesho was reminiscing of the past, the goblins began to get organized. One of them charged at him, and bashed his non-weapon weilding arm. It may have been broken.

 

Snapping back into reality, Veesho slashed at the nearest goblin, creating a red river. The goblin fell to his knees, the blade had a strange enchantment on it.

Seeing one of their comrades fall, made the other goblins even more enraged. As half a dozen charged and surrounded him, Veesho tried helplessly to fend them off, but couldn't.

 

All bruised and battered, he should be down for the count, but refused to die. He crawled over to the nearest body, and started eating the internal organs. He gorged on them as if there was no tommorow, or as if they could save his life. As he did so, his wounds began to heal. Slowly at first, but then faster.

Unfortunatly, before he could regain his health completely, a blade pierced the back of his neck, and Veesho laid still.

Lifeless, and vulnerable, with not a care in the world.

 

If one was to look at his face, you could see a faint hint of a smile.

 

OOC: If someone has a way to save him and stay within the plot, go ahead (looks at stick). If not, me dead.

[The Big Pointy One]

OOC: I'm sorry, I must be speaking gibberish.

 

THIS IS THE CURRENT SITUATION

 

~ahem~

 

Right now, Legman, Mesl and the boy are descending upon the valley, along with the majority of Legman's army. They, as noted in the previous posts, have taken the path *over* the mountain, not through it. Dierden and Tayne, as well as the rest of the army went through the caves. They have now just made it through. Alright? Make sense? Good.

 

 

*Stick bows humbly and backs out, hoping the confusion is now over*

 

(Seriously, I hope I'm not sounding rude or anything here... but this all seemed rather simple to me... I suppose that's the whole 'author advantage thing' ~sigh~)

[Guest Katzaniel]

The little goblin watched for a moment as the fight started. As soon as the first casualty appeared, however, he ran off again. The bushes where he had been were for a few minutes an oasis of inaction amidst the gore of the fighting just a few metres away. Then a small rustling could be heard, decibels below the general din.

 

Gnash's face once more peeked through the leaves, watching the mini war progress. When the fighting moved further away and he thought everyone was occupied, the green-skinned figure dashed out with a rickety wagon on a string in close pursuit. He began to pile bodies on it, and in his rush to get out of sight, and due to personal experiences in the past, he didn't pay much attention to whose bodies he took.

 

Four goblins and one human were on the cart when it made its anticlimactic escape, with the little goblin straining all his weight to get it out of there as quickly as possible.

 

********************************************************************

 

An hour later, Gnash had just finished putting all the ointments he could on the bodies, and he was hugely disappointed. He had spent dozens of hours preparing the gelatinous mixtures and now nothing visible was happening because of them. He didn't know very much about the biological structure of the human, but he could see plainly that his chemicals were doing nothing to aid the healing of the other goblins.

 

This was his only way to gain some prestige within any group, he knew. Almost from birth he had been shunned by the other goblins. By some freak of nature, he had been born smart, and as such he could not ever be accepted by, nor really accept, goblin culture. Neither could he gain favour among humans, or any other race. So he had become a bit of a hermit, living on his own and brewing strange conconctions. But now, he had thought he really had something that might work - and if he could save lives, he might have been put up with for his other flaws. But now this wasn't working either, and he was beginning to get depressed. He began to move around to each of his patients, administering tests. Each of the first four were decidedly dead. He looked dejectedly at the human for a few minutes, trying to decide how to determine whether his potions were having any effect at all on his last subject.

[Canid]

Dierden stared in shock at the stone wall and tested it with his fist.

After several minutes of unsuccessful searching for another way around and having heard the muffled screams ahead die away to nothing, Dierden turned reluctantly around and began carefully retracing their path back out of the caves.

"You!" said the high-pitched voice from earlier.

Dierden turned, quickly drawing his dagger to see the little goblin standing in a side-tunnel with a look of shock on its face that quickly faded to a defensive grimace.

"Sheathe your weapon, I still mean you no harm."

Dierden didn't move. There was something not quite right about the goblin's features. It looked less brutal.

It was also eyeing his medicine pouch.

"I have no reason to trust you." said Dierden slowly.

"Can I make a, will you make a deal?" it said suddenly.

"Bargain with a goblin?"

It shuddered.

"I am not them." said the little man sharply, then turned back to the tunnel, taking a step away from Dierden, "Not entirely."

Dierden assumed a less threatening pose, but kept his dagger out and ready.

"What deal do you want to make?"

The goblin turned again, sorrowful but joyful at the same time.

"I took some of the bodies - not dead. They might live if they have care soon enough. I don't have the means, I was going to leave them at the exit for their friends to find. I take you to them and lead you out when you've healed them, I get what is left of your.... your...." the little man paused in frustration, "ointments."

[Vlad]

Veesho was slowly awakening from what seemed to be a horrible nightmare. Goblins, fighting, swords, and a wagon. A very crudely built little wagon. Veesho smelled a foul odor, and recognized it as goblin. He decided he hadn't been dreaming. He thought he really was dead now, and he had gone to hell. When Vessho first opened his eyes in this new place, all he saw was black. Darkness enveloping him like a desease. As he lay there he felt very sore. Could barely move an inch, let alone suffer through eternal torment.

 

Then he saw a goblin face, staring at him intently. Veesho heard the creature mumbling something about humans and how complicated their life signs were. The goblin obviously thought his specimen was dead.

 

As soon as Veesho thought the goblin had left the room, he forced himself to get up, and look around. If he's going to live here forever, he might as well get to know the place. Getting up proved more difficult than it seemed at first, and during the process, Veesho stifled at least a half-dozen urges to yell out in pain. He wasn't able to stand, but managed to sit leaning against a wall of the cave. Hopefully the goblin won't come back anytime soon. was the last thing he thought before falling into a deep sleep, and falling over onto the floor.

[Guest Tamaranis]

OOC: I write way too much violence, I'm going to try and make this short.

 

IC: A ball off magefire accompanied the volley of arrows that drew the first goblin blood. Changing its trajectory slightly in response to its caster's will the ball of flame planted itself squarely in a goblins chest. It burned its way inwards some distance and as it lost cohesion the flames lept upward removing much of the green skin from the goblin's face as well. After shrieking in agony for several seconds the goblin collapsed, maybe not dead, but definately terminal. Elsewhere arrows struck goblins accomplishing much the same thing, but less dramatically.

 

There was only time for a single volley, after that point there would have been too great a risk to fire a second one. They had come upon the goblins rather suddenly and at close range and the majority of Legman's forces had already closed to a one-sided melee with the goblins. Not wanting to only contribute a single dead goblin to the cause, Mesl rushed to engage the enemy close up.

 

The goblins, of course, were both outnumbered and outclassed. It took Mesl less than a minute to get near enough the battle to be considered a part of it, but Legman's forces had already begun the process of winning. They were doing so well in fact that he was lacking for an opponent.

 

Being a mage, however, Mesl had a few more options for how to participate in the battle than just killing goblins. They were in full retreat, and any who escape would likely join up with their main forces. That would be undesirable to say the least.

 

For a simple thing, such as the fireball he'd just cast, Mesl could perform the magic intuitively, almost unaware of what he was doing. What he was about to attempt was another matter entirely, especially considering it wasn't a practiced spell but rather an extrapolation of something he'd thought would never be anything more than a "neat trick". The instructions he relayed to fire, the most appropriate element for this type of situation really, were immensely complex, letting no part of the magic go to waste, or so he hoped.

 

Mesl didn't normally channel this much energy, and it hit him with more suddeness than he'd expected, causing him to stagger. Determination won out over the shock of the magic however, and he lifted his arms, releasing a stream of light from each hand.

 

The streams of light travelled over the heads of the two armies, and came back down to earth directly in the path of the retreating goblins. Where they struck wicked flames lept into the air. The two streams began to move appart, creating a wall of fire across the only escape route and drawing a curtain of smoke across the sky. When he was satisfied that the wall was wide enough to doom any chance of escape, Mesl dropped his arms, releasing the beams, and focussed on the struggle that was keeping the flames burning.

 

The goblin reaction was mixed, some turned and tried to face Legman's forces, who collided with them bloodily, goblin bloodily. Others tried to find some way around the flames, and seeing none did as the other goblins had. Still others blindly lept into the flames...

 

It took some time for them to realize it, but eventually they did. The goblins that had lept into the flames had emerged on the other side. Mesl couldn't keep the entire fire hot enough to burn flesh, in fact he could only keep a small area hot enough, burning one or two goblin at a time, and not badly enough to prevent them from making it to the other side. En Masse the goblins charged into the now useless flames, their numbers much reduced.

 

Seeing that his magic had outlived its usefullness, Mesl allowed the entire "inferno" to die entirely lest it hinder any of Legman's troops in their pursuit of the little that remained of the goblins.

[Canid]

Legman's signal quickly haulted any attempt to pursue the goblins beyon where the flame had been. He took them at a quick march up a slope angling toward the caves where he had sent the smaller portion of his army. Within 6 minutes, a full report of survivors and losses had been presented for Legman's scrutiny.

"Mesl." Legman called suddenly, eyes at the earth below him.

Mesl made his way curiously toward the young leader, watching as numerous soldiers mounted on horses descended from their small hill to patrol the surrounding area.

Legman looked up when Mesl stood at his shoulder, fixing a cold stare on him.

"The group I sent into the caves was meant to flush out a number of goblin tribes to the battle that has just occured, Unfortunately something else entered the area they were to traverse. The survivors are in a tent over there." Legman pointed out a small hut.

"Many others are still in there and still alive. If you wish to build your skills, I suggest this is your chance. Search with your magic and you'll find it massive and strong but easily burnt.... which I believe is your specialty."

[The Big Pointy One]

As the main army was regrouping, one by one they began to notice something that sounded like thunder. But aside from the smoke and dustclouds from the battle, there wasn't an obscursion in the sky. But the sound was getting louder. Soon, many soldiers realised this was the sound of hoofbeats. Thousands of them. There was more sounds now, too. The bellowing of horns. The beating of drums and cries of warchants. An army was approaching, and a large one at that. Instinctively, everyone raised weapons and quickly moved into defensive formations. Arrows were nocked and bolts were loaded. If the goblins had reinforcements, at least, now, they were ready for them.

 

However, it was not goblin reinforcements that rained over the otherside of the mountain. It was minotaurs. Hundreds upon thousands of them. They had weapons flailing in the air, and a look of bloodlust in their eyes. However, they slowed and eventually stopped at the sign of an organized human army. That was a surprise to them; a human army was quite out of place in the mountains, especially were goblins were known to dwell. Within moments, a rather decorated minotaur stepped ahead of his ranks, and issued a call from one hundred paces.

 

"Who are you that invades this land, furless ones?" he cried.

 

Legman stepped forward, completely unconcerned about the obviously more powerful force in front of him. "I am Legman, General in command of the Fist of Creation! I seek to purge the land of this wasteful breed of evil. Stand clear, or fall beneath the fist!" At this many of the human soldiers became nervous, while many of the minotaurs looked ready to pounce. Some roared, as if it were a challenge.

 

The decorated minotaur harrumphed. It seemed as if he had been expecting battle here. After a moment of silence and pawing at the ground idly, he spoke again. "I see. Well, our goals are the same. We also seek to eradicate the goblinoids, although our purpose may be different from yours." Minotaurs, although often unintelligent, were still an honourable race. And as much as they loved battle, they didn't just go fighting the first group of people waving swords around. "I see no reason why we shouldn't form an alliance. Although your forces are useless to me, we could use a human shield to protect our rear."

 

Legman stared at the minotaur in front of him. With barely a moment's contemplation, he replied. "Indeed. We will join you, but the glory of removing this plague from Gaia shall not belong solely to your forces... but we can discuss that privately, one general to another. Come, we will make camp for the night, and move at sunup tomorrow. Let us enjoy a momentary break in the rigorous journey ahead of us."

 

 

OOC: Sorry to cut it short, but my brain suddenly feels really dead. Gah.

[The Big Pointy One]

So the human-minotaur alliance was formed. As the days went by, Dierden gained less and less interest in the fights. He found himself getting disgusted by the slaughter. Sure, the goblins were evil, but it was a slaughter. Especially with the help of the merciless minotaurs, it was just... vicious. There were times that Dierden recoiled in horror as they slayed families of non-violent goblins. They hadn't come upon any more encampments, at least none so large as the original one. Now it was simply villages within the mountains. He didn't even take part in the fighting any more. He didn't want anything to do with it any more. Although this may have been the way of good, it was certainly not Nature's way. These goblins weren't harming the land. In fact, they seemed to live as close to living in harmony with Nature as goblins could. Depressingly, Tayne had fought with zeal among the front lines of the minotaurs. He quickly distanced himself from Dierden, effectively depriving him of his only friend. Once again Dierden was alone at heart.

 

It was after about 2 and a half months of rigid travel and senseless violence, Dierden decided to do something. One cloudy afternoon, he approached Legman's tent, his disgust with the recent days' victories quite apparent. He didn't even bother to get clearance, he simply walked in. Legman was seated in the same desk he had done the recruiting from all those months before. It was as if he had expected. Dierden was about to go into a speech when Legman spoke.

 

"You have had enough of the fighting." Dierden blinked, then stood in a more relaxed position. "Furthermore, you don't want there to be any more raids on the goblins, yes?" he nodded. "No. We can not stop. You though, you can go. I don't want anyone here who themselves do not want to be here. Just be careful. I don't think the minotaurs well take too kindly to what they consider a traitor. It is a shame we can not finish walking this path together, Dierden. Oh well, perhaps we will meet again one day."

 

Dierden raised his finger as if to make a point then waved his hand in dismissal. He left the tent as quickly as he entered and heaved a sigh of relief. He was free to do what he wanted. It wasn't as if he was being held in the army against his will or anything. He just wanted to be sure of everything. He picked up his pack from where he had left it on the ground, and started to head south, away from the encampment. Tayne was no where to do be seen, which was moderately dissappointing. Dierden was hoping to get one last word in with his former friend, but he supposed it wouldn't happen. He shrugged it off, and went on his way.

 

It started to rain but Dierden simply looked up to the sky, laughed and danced along as he continued on in whatever direction his instinct took him.

 

 

 

OOC/Edit: Alright, sorry to everyone involved; I kinda cut things off in that original post, mostly because I forgot where I was going with this, but now I have my next few posts planned out (mentally) and I'm good to go. If anyone has questions for me, you all know how to get ahold of me (with the exception of maybe Katz, but I don't think that should pose much of a problem...), or you can ask me here or in the OOC thread. ^.^

Edited March 12, 2003 by The Big Pointy One