Tarn’tera 5

I expect the goblins will be riled up after yesterday’s breach. Our only advantage lies in the fact that no goblin escaped us, as far as we know. So, they may blame it on some other group of inhabitants.

----

Duromar had to work hard to keep a deadpan expression on his face when dropping off the ears.

Frowler looked a bit pale. “You found this many goblins, all yesterday? All near the keep?”

“Oh, that wasn’t all of them. I’m heading back to get the rest today. Shouldn’t take too long.”

The paymaster looked unsettled. “I’ll have to sort through and verify all the ears.”

Duromar shrugged. “Can I come back later to pick up the bounty?”

“Ah… yes, that’s fine.” His attention was already on the ears.

----

Duromar let himself out and met Birgitte at the main gate. Silently, the pair walked out of the keep behind the morning patrol and down the short bit of the road before the turnoff to the mines.

From the outside, the mines were quiet. The tracks told a different story. There were so many, overlaid on top of one another, that exact details would have been difficult to figure out, but it was clear that numerous goblin groups had been in and out recently.

Down the entranceway, they didn’t immediately find any roving bands. There was still the blue tarp hanging in front of the forward path, though. Taking a peek behind it this time, he could see a portcullis blocking the passage and several pairs of red eyes close to the ground. He let the tarp fall closed again.

At Birgitte's curious look, he shrugged and whispered, “Worgs, I think. Caged up.” They took the left hallway this time. At the end of the hallway, just before it branched off, Birgitte stopped him.

“Pit trap.” She bent down to start to work on it when a rustling from the large hallway alerted them both to the squad of goblins.

Duromar grumbled as despite hitting goblins easily, his attacks against the small creatures were no better than the day before. [-10], [-7], [-7], [-7], [-9], [-10], and two of the four were down. Rather than turning tail and running like others, the remaining two showed uncommon bravery for goblins and withdrew cautiously. Once clear of his swords, one darted across the room while the other held position. Duromar swore and tried to cut the guarding goblin down quickly, hitting him a bit harder than before [-13], but even two blows proved insufficient to the task [-8] this time. The second goblin, meanwhile, reached behind a barrel and pulled out a heavy sack of some sort with one hand and with the other yanked open a hidden door, throwing the sack in. This completed, he turned to back up his partner.

Whatever the sack was meant to do, would have to wait until these two were finished. The first went down with the next blow [-11], and the final goblin took [-13] two [-16] more to finish. Unfortunately, he didn’t even have time to enjoy the victory before something very large came through the opened doorway.

Duromar imagined slamming the door shut and mumbled to himself, “They have a cave-troll!” as he moved to engage the creature, which was actually an ogre.

This was the kind of creature he was made to fight. It swung a giant club at him, glancing off his armor, and he swung back, hitting [-28] it hard once and again [-23] and it dropped dead at his feet. [+348 E.P., +2 honor]

MInes of Chaos: 1 of 11 regions cleared

Ogre (1/1)

[+5 honor]

“Uh… that’s not a troll,” Birgitte said cautiously.

“Oh, I know. That’s just a meme.”

She hesitated even longer. “No, it’s an ogre.”

Duromar shook his head, “No I meant… ah, nevermind. You’re right, it’s an ogre.”

Tucked in a pouch on the ogre was a large heavy bag, almost certainly the same one thrown through the door. In it were a few hundred gold pieces. Other than that, there was nothing valuable to be found. Going through the doorway he found it led to the ogre’s room, which was not much more than a cave. There was a large leather bag. Investigating, the bag held a number of smaller sacks, most of which had coins. Duromar simply grabbed all the sacks, deciding to investigate more closely later.

At the next intersection, a right turn found them coming up on the same guard station they had found the previous day. So that whole section was a large loop, and they’d checked all of it at least once. The left passage led to an eating area, currently unoccupied. It was crowded with tables and benches, with utensils and bowls on the table. It had two more tunnels leading away in opposite directions.

The passage eventually led to a storeroom of some sort, with a very strange addition. On a small table to the side was a decorated cake. It even had some writing on the top. The store was filled with barrels, boxes, jumbled tools of which a large number were damaged, and other junk.

Behind a closed door was the kitchen. The two goblins cooks were hard at work making small pastries. Armed with nothing but knives, it was a quick battle. Curiously, the cooks were still wearing leather armor, which was surprisingly good preparedness. [+32 E.P.]

Next to the kitchen was a well, with unpleasant smelling water. Goblin standards of cleanliness were not all that impressive.

Having exhausted the rooms on that side of the cafeteria area, they headed down the other passage. Down a side passage was a room with three guards in it, who appeared more alert than most guards. Duromar judged this based on the fact that they actually leapt up and ran down the hallway to meet him halfway with weapons ready.

While he would have been happy to credit them as being a slightly high grade of guard, they were still goblins, and six blows later left two on the ground and the last one reeling back as he fumbled his weapon, flinging it halfway across the hall. His nerve broke at that and turning to flee cost him his life as he was easily cut down. [+48 E.P.]

Speaking softly, Duromar said, “Internal guards. That’s probably the door to the important folk. Hit them first, or clear out everything before them?”

“Hit them first. If they find missing guards, an alarm goes up and everything goes to hades.”

Duromar burst through the door they had been guarding and leveled his swords at the occupants, ready to start swinging…

He came to a stuttering halt as the room was empty of goblins. It was a planning room of some sort, maybe even what he might call a war room, with maps of unknown areas on the large table. But not one occupant.

There was a door out of the room as well. Past that was an odd alcove that caught Birgitte’s eye. With a moment's searching, she had found a secret door. No traps, and beyond the door was a pleasant surprise. It was a storeroom, but it didn’t take much effort to realize this was where the good stuff was stored. They didn’t take much, but the crate of greek fire was too tempting to leave behind. The next side passage led to a hallway with four doors. More importantly, though, there were six goblins having some kind of argument right in the hallway.

Duromar charged at the surprised goblins, hitting one of them [-9] three [-7] times [-10] without it going down, but on the fourth blow [Fumble!] his hand slipped, and his weapon dropped to the ground. They rallied, and it was only then that he noticed two of them were wearing chain mail and wielding battle axes.

Duromar snuck in one more hit [-8] before they could attack, taking down his first foe. His armor then turned the blows he couldn’t dodge as he ducked down to grab his sword again. Finding his rhythm again, a second goblin went down with [-15] his next round [-10] of attacks. The javelins got easier to dodge when the third goblin went down to [-16] some stronger [-8] hits. The two in chainmail started chanting something and all three came on stronger. He hit one [-7] twice [-9] with glancing blows that didn’t put any down. Duromar roared and struck again, this time [-16] finishing one more and nearly [-11] a second. That proved to be enough to break their morale, and both tried to run. He cut one down neatly, but the other staggered again, running into one of the rooms. Duromar followed, ducking down as a crossbow bolt shot over his shoulder from the desperate goblin, and plunged his sword in, finishing it. [+138 E.P.]

Tossing the room yielded little more than a few coins. While these goblins may have rated individual rooms, they didn’t have much to put in them.

They searched every room, though, and in what they thought was the next personal room they were startled to discover three guards instead.

These were clearly the elite guards, as even though he hit on twice [-8] for what looked like good [-16] numbers, not only did the goblin not go down but actually punched through his armor to strike back [-3 dam], a little. Payback was swift, as his first blow [-9] finished that one off and his second [-7] hit another. Even though elite guards, they were still just goblins, and one more [-13] took down the second guard, letting him land a blow [-7] on the last. It was over moments later [-16] as despite bravery, he went down [-11] hard. [+48 E.P.]

The side door suddenly opened then, a small body diving aside as arrows came flying through the now open doorway. Duromar advanced into the withering fire, reaching the shooter as he dropped the bow and readied his sword.

This had to be the chief, dressed in plate mail. Duromar grunted as his blows were blunted by the tough armor [-11], hitting somewhat [-5] poorly. Even so, it was a short fight as the next two [-10] blows [-9] were enough. Three unarmored goblins struck at his legs as the chief went down, biting and scratching. Not that he could tell, but his best guess was these were female. Aggressive, but it wasn’t a real fight. [+70 E.P.]

Finding an ornate silver cup, Duromar laughed. “Finally a bit of real treasure!”

Birgitte held up an ivory goblet from the side table. “Yeah, a bit. Enough to make the day worth it, but we’re not rich yet.”

“The real money is in the bounty. One gold piece per pair of ears is far more than they carry.”

“Wait, what?!”

Duromar glanced at her in surprise. “Yeah.” He chuckled. “What did you think I was collecting ears for?”

“I didn’t... No, hold on. Who the hell is paying that?”

“The keep. Specifically, the paymaster, but it’s put up by the keep.”

Birgitte looked stunned. “Uh…”

Duromar grinned. “Yeah, half is yours.”

Her enthusiasm to loot the room quickly redoubled. “Let’s go finish this place, there’s still gobs of gobs to take out!”

Outside of officer territory, they headed down the last corridor they knew about to explore. The first room held four people, but they weren’t goblins. Chained to the walls were two humans, one half-elf and a pixie fairy.

“Hey. Hey! You gotta-”

Duromar cut him off. “Yeah yeah, don’t get too noisy. There could still be some goblins left. Hang tight. Birgitte, you get them loose and I’ll finish checking rooms.” So saying, they split the party.

Just down the hall was an elaborate double door. Pushing it open revealed a room with carved images on the walls, but no occupants. Maybe a chapel of some sort. He went through the room and found a back hallway with three cells in it. The first two were empty but the third held some kind of creature that was just babbling to itself. Duromar found himself listening to it, bemused. He tried to shake it off and was able to make his way through the next door. Unfortunately, that left him in a room with another similarly afflicted creature.

The babbling rose in volume as it leapt at him, drooling and snapping its jaws. It swung a weapon and tried to bite him, luckily missing with both. Duromar hit it [-10] twice [-9], but it didn’t react at all, not seeming to notice the pain. He tried to swing faster, but while he hit [-8] both times [-8], the blows were weaker. The babbling rose to a fever pitch, leaving Duromar standing befuddled. This time, both the weapon [-5 dam] and the bite [-1 dam] sank home. Despite the pain, he couldn’t seem to even defend himself, and another bite hit him [-1 dam], but the armor held off the weapon. On some level, as he stood there, he knew something was wrong, but he couldn’t think his way through the problem to figure out what. Habit paid off, though, as the next time it tried to bite him his arms moved reflexively, hitting it [-7] just enough to cause it to drop dead. [+441 E.P., +3 honor]

Not long after, Duromar came to his senses enough to process. He looted the body distractedly, still trying to clear the cobwebs of what must have been a confusion spell. He pulled a ring off one finger and held it up, whispering, “My precious,” and giggling to himself. Heading back, he moved through the prison cell room quickly, to keep his head clear from the babbling confusion effect. Birgitte and the others were in the hall, waiting for him.

“Done?”

“Just whatever’s at the end of this hallway.”

One of the humans spoke up. “Barracks. They make us clean them.”

“Huh. I didn’t know goblins understood the concept of cleaning.”

Duromar strode down the corridor and casually flung the left door open, walking right into the room. It didn’t go as well as he’d expected, though. The room was a little more full than most, with a full dozen of them. And while it was daytime, something had warned them, so all twelve were armed and somewhat ready. He didn’t pause though, striding right into the middle and swinging away [-12] without hesitation. The mob surrounded him, and with so many javelins attacking, it was inevitable that he was struck [-4 dam] not just once but [-1 dam] twice. He swung again [-9] and [-7] again [-8], taking down his first. But outnumbered as he was, he couldn’t watch every angle and took [-3 dam] two more [-3 dam] from the back. Something felt loose in the armor now, like some kind of serious damage had occurred. He maneuvered a step to the side, working his way to put his back closer to a wall, swinging at the goblin in his way [-7] who didn’t go down. One slipped in again [-3 dam] before his next blow [-12] took another down. He kept trying to move, but even with every swing hitting [-11], the room was too crowded. He spun in place, keeping them off his back long enough to down a third [-9] but not [-10] quite [-8] a fourth. It cost him, though. He was hit again [-4 dam] and wincing, was skewered [-10 dam] quite well. Wincing, he took down the fourth [-9] and swung again, [-9] in pain but still eager to continue. Comically, two goblins decided to step into each other at that moment, fouling weapons together and giving him the space he needed to back off.

The goblins looked weary. Most fights didn’t last very long, and this one was dragging on. Goblins, a fearful race, would often break and run when half their group was down. Duromar struck again [-12], taking down the fifth of twelve, then had a mighty blow [-18] against the probable leader. The stabbing all around him was lackluster, and none hit this time. He hit the leader again [-8] without dropping him, but that was enough to cause half of them to run for the door. He swung [-7] wildly [-11] as [Crit! Severity 14, Armpit -28, +1 honor] they [-11] ran [-12] past and not one of the fleeing foursome made it. The final three spread out, trying to get behind him again as he swung [-8] defensively. One more swing [-11] and there were just two, then [Crit! Severity 18, Wrist -17, +1 honor] there was one. Duromar almost felt [-7] respect as the last fought on [-10], but the end was [-14] inevitable. [+192 E.P., +2 honor]

He sighed. “Not doing that again, that was stupid. And painful.”

The entire fight had taken no more than a minute, but it felt much longer. He walked much more humbly up to the small group waiting for him. “All done.”

There was a polite cough. “There’s a second barracks.”

“Of course there is.” He swung his pack around, and pulled out two longbows, offering them to the party. “Can anyone use these?”

----

It was a simple plan, as the best ones are. The second barracks was the door directly at the end of the hallway. Duromar crept down to it, threw it open, then ran back behind the group. The goblins, when they came out, walked into a trio of archers firing down sixty feet of hallway. Sometimes, you just have to know when to let others do the work. [+34 E.P.]

----

The final, truly final, room was the repair shop. Only three goblins worked in it, so Duromar decided to take that one himself. He opened the door more carefully but all three looked up when he did. Alarmingly, one was drooling and ran at him with mouth open to bite. His first sword hit [-9] but [Fumble!] the second slipped from his hand-an event that was very timesome now-and fell a few feet away. The teeth snapped shut without him in them, which was a relief since the condition was beginning to remind him of rabies. He shifted, picking up the dropped weapon, but [Fumble!] slipped as he did so on a greasy patch on the floor. A sharp knife [-12 dam] slipped into his side as he struggled to regain his balance. The rabid goblin took two [-9] good [-11] blows without flinching, then slipped on the same patch and took a hard bite of his own knife, falling down dead. There wasn’t time to puzzle that one out, as he swung hard, hitting again [-10] and then [Fumble!] hitting [-11 dam] himself. [Hackfrenzy! You must inflict 11 damage to others to end it.]

A blinding rage came over him, as hitting himself was absolutely the final straw. He swung insanely at one goblin, hitting [-7] him [-9] twice, dropping him to the ground. His head cleared a bit and the last cowardly goblin turned to run, giving him [-9] two [-13] shots at his back. That wasn’t enough and the goblin ran out the door where Duromar heard an arrow thunk home. [+253 E.P.]

MInes of Chaos: 2 of 11 regions cleared

Ogre (1/1) Goblins (196/200)

[+5 honor]

Duromar did something then that he rarely did, and pulled up his character sheet to see the damage. He found the right spot and blew out a soft breath. [HP: 38/99]

Good thing the goblins were finished. That was starting to get a bit lower than he was comfortable with.

The adventuring party they had found was a fairly new one. A half-elf ranger, a human paladin, a human cleric, and a pixie fairy. They were in good health, but whatever gear they had was long gone. Scrounging up some weapons on the way out took no time, and it was a peaceful trip back to the Keep.

----

I think I need to work on my arrogance. This was the first time I’ve really taken any injuries more than scratches, and I could have been in some serious trouble. Also, that’s the first time I ever fell into a frenzy. Still, not a bad day in the end. But I’ll be taking the next few days off to heal.

My armor is really trashed, too. Far beyond anything I could patch up. I’ll leave it with the armorer and see what he can do.

P.S. [Damage: +294 E.P.], [MVP: +1575 E.P.] and [Converting 20 honor to 5 Honor]

P.P.S. Holy crap! That’s enough to level!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Name: Duromar

E.P.(+5%): 24030

Next Level: 24001