We finally lost the main body of chasers. It was Wiremu’s idea. Now that my Shadow's Embrace is in the Journeyman level it can cover a small area and is much better at reducing scent and sound. It is even better with Nyx’s help. He grabbed strongly smelling clothing from all of us, which was basically anything, and when we found an appropriate fork, myself and the guards went one way and I engaged Shadow’s Embrace and we stayed hidden near the entrance and Wiremu took the other fork dragging the clothes on the ground to lay a scent while making a lot of noise. I think his Deceive Skill also came into play. The Sergeant was sceptical but we couldn’t keep the running fight up. We were all starting to make mistakes. We all got some rest, even Wiremu when he rejoined us. The Sergeant is still giving me suspicious looks, but I think he is starting to have a bit more faith in Wiremu and at least trusts me to hold up my end, even though he is unsure about what happened. I am not planning to enlighten him, or anyone except Wiremu.

Now we are back to Stealth. We are out of food. Those Mushroom things are starting to look good. Wiremu says they won’t kill us. I think his poison resistance is quite high so I am not sure. Nyx is helpful when we do encounter goblins as she can bind them in her shadows and stop any escaping. I think she likes being in the knife. It is going to be awkward to carry the knife around in my day jobs and in my night jobs. It is the right knife for this though.

This is the second day after we stopped being chased. Six days into the horde, three days being chased and now another two and the end is in sight. I mean the outside is in sight. We don’t know how far from Jern we will be when we emerge, well the Sergeant might. The problem is actually getting out. There are several hundred goblins at this exit and two Shamans. Wiremu and I could probably Stealth it. The Sergeant may have a 50/50 chance. Gunner would have no way to do so.

“We could try to assassinate the Shamans,” was the latest idea from Wiremu. The problem is they may still swarm us. Getting out of the tunnels and into the open and being seen is to get swarmed. Wiremu is probably thinking that if he had his bow then he could in fact assassinate the Shamans successfully and I could then scatter them. The Sergeant has an idea of where we are from his mapping ability and it is a long way from Jern. He says there is a village not far away to the east. The Sergeant has thawed some. I now know he is Sergeant Royd. Gunner is downright friendly. The fact we are close to getting out has lifted everybody's spirits. What we have to be careful of now is not making a rash mistake with the end so close.

Wiremu has that look as if he is going over his Skill and Class gains and seeing if he can get anything that might help. We have all been doing the same. I have been thinking of Nyx’s Skill Mimicry, which essentially allows her to imitate something. She uses it primarily to lure prey close enough for her Binding Shadows to grab hold. It allows her to manifest without being recognised as an Elemental. I have taken her out of sight and she has demonstrated. She could look like me, just made of shadows, which essentially means there is no colour except shades of grey. She could Mimicry something and lead the horde away, the trouble is, she might get trapped like she was when we found her. The goblins in large groups are a potential threat to her. She is also weak in sunlight and against light based attacks.

Wiremu and I have talked on the quiet and he has levelled his Hunter Class to 10 and met all the requirements for the Monster Hunter Specialisation. He has a special Skill but it is not going to help us. It is called Regeneration and helps him recover from wounds faster. At apprentice level it will help with Bones as well. At Journeyman it will allow him to prioritise parts of his body, like head, heart etc. to keep him alive and at Master it will regenerate limbs or any missing part that he can survive. The downside is that to level it you have to get injured. I am sort of envious and sort of not.

He has a lot of spare attribute points as his Spy Class also levelled, but he is getting no indication of Skills that might help us. I think he is going to experiment and place attributes where he knows it will help him but might trigger something. That is a risky way to allocate points.

My own strengths are in Shadow and misdirection. With Nyx’s help I could possibly blanket 80% of the Horde in Shadow and help us get past, but then what? We are stuck in the open with a horde of goblins. Intimidating Aura will be a lot less effective in the presence of the Shamans.

One of us could go to the village for help, but the Sergeant doesn’t think the village will be able to help. They will only have one squad of Guards and the Villagers are hunters and farmers. The village Hunters have probably encountered the goblins and got word back to Jern, but there is no guarantee of help in the short term.

We were about 10 minutes back from the exit where there was a branch. I explored the branching tunnel and it dead ends after about 150m. That was when Nyx and I were experimenting. My Spatial Awareness is very close to Journeyman level and pushes out to almost 15m. I know there is nothing beyond the wall up to that distance.

Suddenly, Wiremu lifted his head as if he heard something. “Something is happening,” he said. “Come on, let's see if this is our chance.”

We moved into the main passage killing any goblins we met. When we got to the cave entrance it was mostly deserted and there were the sounds of fighting not far away.

“Let’s go,” the Sergeant commanded.

We moved cautiously into the open, Wiremu and the Sergeant led and Gunner and I followed. When we got to where we could see there were two distinct groups fighting side by side. The first group had six dwarven sword and shield warriors furiously keeping the goblins back. Next to them were four larger armoured fighters. Two had sword and shields and they were on the sides of their formation, almost funnelling the goblins into the two centre people. One was a large human male with a two handed, double bladed axe that he swung efficiently. Darting around him and timing between his strokes was a large mountain dog. Next to them was a furiously working spear and shield person.

They were doing well, but they were about to be surrounded and then overrun. The spearman saw this and gave a signal and the two teams adjusted into a circle formation. What they didn’t know was that there were two Shamans about to arrive and ruin their day.

“Right,” said the Sergeant. “While they are occupied we will make a run for the village, come on.”

“You are just going to leave these people to be overrun?” Wiremu asked.

“The information is more important.” he replied.

Wiremu and I shared a look. “Indeed it is,” he replied. “You and Gunner make a run for it and get the word back. Tabitha and I will take the rear guard and help these people.”

“Are you sure?” he queried.

“Absolutely,” I said. “You just make sure those maps get back, and send some help if you can.”

He gave me a nod as he and Gunner took off east away from the fight. Gunner looked very torn about leaving.

“I wish I had my bow,'' Wiremu complained.

“Quit your whining,” I said, “do you want the one on the left or the one on the right?”

“Actually, I think we should work together. There are a lot, and we are tired and hungry.” Wiremu seemed to have a thing for downplaying our actual condition. Exhausted and starving better described it.

I nodded, “Let's go left.”

I equipped my war knife and Wiremu had a serrated stone knife in one hand and a dart in the other. One last fight and we could rest, I hope.

I spun a very light cover of shadows and Nyx started to draw in energy. I kept my shadow away from the Shamans for now as they may be able to sense it and the longer it took for them to notice us the better.

We started cutting our way into the back of the goblins heading toward the Shaman on the left.

The right hand Shaman was heading toward the dwarven side of their circle. Suddenly he started manifesting spears two at a time and would powerfully throw them at the Dwarves. This took them by surprise and broke their rhythm. The spears hit their shield and battered and dented them making them step back letting some goblins into the circle to do damage. At least one Dwarf went down.

That is all the attention I could spare as we were now noticed and our forward progress was slowing. Wiremu had traded his dart for a shield with wicked looking spikes on the front, which were already dripping with blood. I saw Tāoke launch himself from Wiremu’s shoulder, biting a goblin face and then launching himself on. That was new. Then he was twice the size and wrapped around a neck. I am pretty sure that the neck then broke. I guess it was quicker than suffocation. His Venom Spit was also pretty accurate, not often missing the eyes of his target.

Nyx’s Energy Syphon seemed slow and invisible in comparison. Every now and then her Binding Shadows would stop a goblin in place for me and every now and then a goblin would just collapse. I also caught a glimpse of her shadow manipulation. She can certainly teach me some stuff. I was following her through the Elemental Bond and we could only do small shadows with not a lot of power, but that didn’t stop her. One goblin was charging toward me and he ran into two shadow spikes in his eyes and was blinded. Another suddenly stopped with blood running out of his mouth and ears. Small sharp shadow spikes can be crippling and I look forward to learning from her. My work with the knife and her syphon was keeping her well supplied in energy. She could keep going forever. I wish I could, and I wish I could transfer some of this energy to Wiremu.

The Shaman we were heading for got in range of the non-Dwarf group. I suspected they were mainly Orcs from the deep communication grunts. My Spatial Awareness would be in range soon. The Shaman wasn’t waiting though and launched a blast of water that washed over the whole side of the circle. Wiremu had seen it and threw his stone knife which struck the back of the shoulder of the Shaman, but then it seemed to wash out and fell to the ground. The Shaman was just in my Spatial Awareness range and I sensed the skin basically tuning into water. What I also sensed was the Venom that was on the knife stayed in the water.

“It has a water skin type skill, but the venom stayed in the water,” I said loudly to Wiremu.

He nodded and I saw Tāoke suddenly change direction toward the Shaman and Wiremu equipped more darts. I basically tried to keep the goblins off Wiremu so he could create and throw venom darts. We also kept moving forward. I sensed Tāoke spitting venom at the Shaman.

The Shaman must have realised we were the greater threat and focused its attention on us. All of a sudden it was like we were wading through a swamp. This actually helped Tāoke move faster and unseen, but he was the only one. Wiremu had good footing as he was standing on Granite, but it must be costing him in energy. At least the goblins were bogged down too. I used Intimidating Aura in a small area around us that also stopped the goblins for the moment.

All of a sudden the Shaman had a large injection of Venom courtesy of Tāoke and was literally turning a sickly green. Not a healthy green like Orcs. The sickly green of being poisoned. The skin was turning back solid and then he sprouted a stone knife in his skull from Wiremu and he was dead. The ground was firming up again in a hurry and my Aura was causing Goblins to run now that their Shaman was dead.

I looked for the other Shaman. He had made it to the Dwarf formation and it was a mess. His Skin was hard like bark. However, the large human was laying into him with his axe just like felling a tree. The head came off and the tree fell.

Wiremu and I were wiped. Wiremu more than me as I had a Spiritual Energy source. I blasted Intimidating Aura as wide as I coud, sheltering the mercenaries, and all the remaining goblins started running as well.

Wiremu and I collapsed where we were. Tāoke was making his way back to us. He was still large. I don’t think he had the energy to change back yet. Two of the Orcs made their way to us. The other went to the Axeman who was trying to stop dwarves from dying. I saw a backpack with bandages and ointments and potions.

Wiremu greeted them in Orcish. I don’t know how he knew, but for all I know he heard the difference in their heart beats. Apparently, Orc’s heartbeats are slower and stronger, I found out later. Thanks Wiremu.

They had a short conversation in Orcish which I didn’t understand and was too tired to care. Suddenly, I was handed some jerky, trail rations and a bottle of water. That was bliss. Long may the Orcs reign, or whatever. I think I was becoming delirious and I wanted to curl up and sleep for a week.

I was helped to my feet and taken away from the bodies and given a bedroll to lie on. I crashed.