6 – Goblin Camp
As they continued up the gulley, moving ever higher into the foothills, Andy occasionally caught glimpses of Cheechee as he circled overhead. “Does he resent being made to fly around in the daylight?”
Bree looked at him, then squinted up at the sky. “Maybe. He doesn’t act like it, but he sure settles down to sleep in the shade whenever he can.”
Madi hurried her steps so that she caught up with Andy and Omar. “Omar, did you get a level?”
“Yes. Twenty-two now.”
Andy looked over his shoulder. “And you, Madi?”
“Two levels, thank you!”
“ too!” Bree announced. “Anyone get any cool abilities?”
Andy nodded, angling his steps so he could see everyone more easily. “Yeah, that’s probably why I didn’t ask you all about your System ssages: I was distracted by my class morph. It pushed my spear skill past the ceiling.”
Omar grunted in surprise. “A class can do that?”
“I guess so. It said it gave an, uh, innate bonus with polearms.”
“Polearms?” Madi asked.
Andy hefted his spear. “Like this, I guess.”
She frowned, but didn’t respond.
Bree shrugged, changing the subject. “Well, the System told my bond to Cheechee was growing and that I might get a morph soon.”
Madi whirled on her. “Seriously?” When Bree nodded, smiling, Madi shoved her shoulder. “That’s aweso!”
They continued chatting quietly as they hiked, feeling comfortable in their safety thanks to Cheechee’s aerial view of the surroundings. As the sun dipped toward the western horizon, though, Bree pointed at the much-closer smoke trails drifting into the sky and said, “Cheechee’s giving the feeling we’re getting close to many dangerous things.”
Andy nodded, stopping to wipe so of the sweat from his brow. His legs were tired, and he could see Madi had just about had it. “It looks like we’re getting close to the highway.” He pointed to the south, where they could see the blacktop of the road as it wound its way up into the mountains. He followed it with his finger until the shoulder of the next hill blocked their view. “I think that’s the last hill between us and where the goblins are camping.”
“We should find a spot to camp up here, then,” Omar said, turning to point in the opposite direction where a narrow depression in the hillside ford a small basin. “That would do; it’ll block any light if we make a fire.”
“But the sll?” Madi wrinkled her nose.
Andy shrugged. “I can already sll the goblins’ fires.” He trudged across the rough, dry grass toward the basin. “I’m with Omar. Let’s set up here, and then I’ll change my class so I can do so scouting tonight.”
“I’m going to let Cheechee settle on that tree up on the slope.” Bree pointed toward a gnarled old squite with just a few living branches.
Andy nodded absently as he pulled their packs and camping supplies from his storage ring. He and Omar laid out a wide canvas tarp, then set up a pair of small, low-profile tents. anwhile, Bree and Madi gathered wood and built a little ring of stones for a firepit. When that was done, Andy sat down and cleared his head.
He was about to select his Brimstone Stalker class, but Madi interrupted him. “Wait, Andy! Before you knock yourself out or sothing, will you give so of the stuff we gathered? I an from the giant lizard and maybe that pouch of powder from the, um, shaman?”
Andy nodded, bringing the requested ingredients out of his ring and stacking them on a plate; he had an entire set of camping dishes in the ring. “I’ll give you the venom bulb from the cactus, too, but just be careful with all of this stuff. I don’t have a clue what this powder from the shaman does.”
“That’s kind of the point…” Madi saw his serious expression and smiled. “I’ll be careful.” She picked up the plate, grinning at the grisly prizes. “Promise.”
“Okay, switching classes. Try to ti , Omar.”
“Will do.” The stocky man stood with a grunt. “But I’m going to get into a guard position…in case.”
Andy took a few deep, calming breaths, then opened his status sheet and stared at his Brimstone Stalker class until the System prompted him, asking if he wanted to change. When he softly said, “Yes,” the darkening sky seed to turn black and rush toward him, and the next thing he knew, he was lying on his back, his skull buzzing faintly, blinking up at the erging stars.
“I think he’s waking up,” Bree said.
Andy slled wood-smoke, and when he pushed himself into a seated position, he saw Bree and Madi crouched near a rrily crackling little fire. “Was I out long?”
“No,” Omar said, his voice coming to Andy from the hillside on his left. He peered into the shadows to see Omar’s lupine eyes glimring back at him, reflecting the firelight. “Only ten or fifteen minutes.”
“Good.” Andy stretched, then stood, looking past the fire to the shadowy hills and mountains around them. Focusing on the distant dark shadow of the Catalina Highway, he cast Fla Sight and smiled as the world lit up in amber tones. Even at a great distance, he could see the faintly luminous figures of the wildlife moving between cacti, trees, and shrubs. He saw javelinas, coyotes, and down on the winding road, the smallish humanoid figures of goblins.
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Andy turned back to the fire, ensuring it was well below the ridgeline he stood upon. “The goblins can see up here, but not into the hollow, so just be careful.”
“I saw them,” Omar said.
Andy looked up at him and nodded. “Good.” He summoned his spear from his ring. “I’m heading out. I won’t start any big fights without warning you all.”
“Just be careful,” Bree replied, stirring sothing in a little cast-iron pot. She saw him looking and said, “Just water. I’m going to cook so noodles—no spices. We’ll add a little seasoning when they’re done.”
“We didn’t want the food to sll,” Madi added.
“Smart.” Andy waved, then hefted his spear and started along the ridgeline, heading for the last shoulder of the hillside between them and what he hoped was the goblin camp. A few steps away from the others, he cast Deepsmoke Shroud, and it was only then, when he was thinking about how much mana he was consuming per minute, that it finally sank in that he hadn’t been earning any mana for his Fighter levels.
He couldn’t recall ever talking to Jace about mana, but he thought the man had to have so. Was Fighter a late bloor when it ca to mana and magic? He hadn’t earned any spells yet, after all. Perhaps when he gained a magical ability for his Lancer class—he had to hope he would—he’d get a boost to his mana. Those were questions for another ti, though; Andy saw the flickering lights of campfires down below.
He stalked down the hillside, taking note of the faintly shimring forms of goblins on patrol—sloppy as their movents might be. There were clusters of them, packs of three to five, and they wandered the desert along the highway, though their efforts seed half-hearted. They paused frequently, and Andy could make out drinking movents, stumbling and laughing; the goblins had gotten ahold of so booze.
As for the camp itself, it seed to stretch for nearly half a mile along the winding mountain highway. Andy spied crude tents, piles of scavenged gear and equipnt, and more than a dozen cook-fires. The goblins had stripped the nearby countryside of grass, shrubs, branches, and even cacti, piling them high to fuel their fires. They didn’t seem to care if the fuel was still partially green—prickly pear and cholla pads hissed and popped in the fires, and the smoke drifting up from them was thick and white.
Andy paused when he was about a quarter-mile from the road, watching and trying to make sense of the goblin society. He didn’t last long in his puzzling; it was just chaos to him. One thing he did note, however, was that the largest fire was outside a big canvas tarp, and Andy could see that goblin drumrs and hobgoblins were encamped near there, lying about near their big hide drums, drinking, laughing, and…mating with female goblins who ca and went.
He was glad for the distance between them when he realized that was what they were doing, but despite the revulsion he felt, he was also fascinated; he didn’t see those females mating with any of the other goblins around the camp. It was like the drumrs, hobgoblins, and whoever was in that tent had a certain status that allowed them the privilege. “So the leader’s probably in there,” he whispered, staring at the tarp.
The goblins had crudely sewn other tarps to the main one, creating sides, so even with his magical vision, Andy couldn’t see within. Clicking his tongue in faint disgust, he started down the hillside again. He wanted a look inside that jury-rigged pavilion.
He paused to let a patrol pass; they never looked his way as he crouched, shrouded in dark, shifting smoke, lurking among the long, spiny stalks of an ocotillo. He knew he could kill the five little monsters, but he also knew it would make noise and ruin his mission. As they moved past, giggling and chattering in their strange goblin language, he hurried on, drifting through the shadows along the elevated roadway until he was near the big tent.
The sounds of goblin copulation—grunts and squeals and slaps—were almost as funny as they were disgusting, but Andy tried to ignore them. He tried to tune them out completely as he crept up the berm, onto the shoulder of the highway and then over to a back corner of the pieceal canvas-tarp pavilion.
No goblins stood guard there, or anywhere other than the front area where the fire was, so he took his ti slicing through the strings that bound the tarps together at the corner, and then, with a slow, delicate touch, he pulled them apart and peered inside. He couldn’t see anything because a pile of boxes blocked his view. They were labeled with major cereal brand nas, and Andy realized the goblins must have been scavenging down in the city. He wondered why that surprised him—it only made sense.
Slowly and carefully, he pulled the corner further open and slipped inside. That was when he heard the garbled conversation taking place, and he wished, with every fiber of his being, that he’d kept the translation necklace. As he skulked there, trying to inch around the boxes for a better view, he heard the conversation replay in his head:
Bella stepped close, pointing to the silvery chain around Andy’s neck. “Do you think I could take that necklace back? I an, just since we’re going into the dungeon?”
Andy felt a twinge of guilt; Jilly had given it to Bella after all. “Um, yeah, probably a good idea. What if that other dungeon opens into a scenario like where we t the Laukin?”
Jace agreed, thumping a fist into his palm. “You won’t need that to run off so goblins, anyway.”
The voices of the past faded as his smoke-shrouded eyes rose above a box of corn chips, and he peered onto a very strange scene. Several huge goblins—hobgoblins, no doubt—sat around on lawn chairs, drinking and munching on snacks as they watched an even bigger goblin talking to an altogether unfamiliar creature. The massive goblin had to be the king; he was as tall as the hob, but he was also enormously fat. He sat upon a pile of poorly tanned hides, drinking foamy liquid from a large plastic bowl, as the creature before him spoke in their unpleasant, guttural language.
“Gro drizk fra klankis kui dragakin…” The creature went on, but Andy tuned the nonsensical phrases out as he took in the sight of him.
He was a tall, thin humanoid, perhaps as much as seven feet tall if he weren’t standing so stooped over. His skin was green, but not like that of the goblins; it was mottled and warty, like tree bark made flesh. The creature had a thick shock of black hair growing from the top of his head, but other than that, he was hairless. Long, pointed ears sprouted from his skull, and he had a similarly long nose. When he spoke, he had to form words around fangs that protruded from his lips.
As Andy took it in, the creature held up a finger and stopped speaking. Andy felt a rush of mana, and when he saw the strange monster start to turn, he ducked down. He held his breath, silent as he waited for so sign that he hadn’t been seen. After a few seconds, the grumbling, guttural conversation began again, and Andy slowly crept to the left, peering around the side of the boxes.
The hobs were drinking and munching, and the tall, thin monster was pointing to a paper with a pointy black claw. Andy squinted and thought he knew what it was—a map. The goblin king was watching the finger move around on the paper, and after a mont, he grumbled sothing, nodding.
The strange monster pushed the map at the goblin king, nodding as he brushed his clawed hands together. Then he turned and, with ground-devouring steps, walked to the front opening of the tent and slipped out into the night.
***Congratulations, Andy! You’ve made progress on your quest: The Mind Behind the Horde! You’ve seen the emissary of an unknown faction. Find out what he gave to the Goblin Boss, and track the emissary to his lair. Reward update: Random RARE System-generated treasure.***
Andy stared at the ssage, frowning deeply. How was he supposed to get the map and track the emissary down? Suddenly, with a lurch of his stomach and an ache deep in his gut, he wished Lucy were there.
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