Clean-up was easy; the boars had all been hurt when they fell into the traps, and as I had planned, they were too small to get out of but deep enough that the dumb goblins would run over their allies. Goblins were their own worst enemy, from what I could tell. They didn’t care for each other in any way, and so they were content to just hurt each other to get their own goal. I guess people were the same but not to this extreme.

The first boar was still alive when I got to it, but the rider was missing. Killing the trapped boar was quick. I would loot it on the way back so that I didn’t have to deal with the hole myself. The second boar was dead, but the rider was still alive. Both his legs were at odd angles, and he was screaming and yelling in a high-pitched voice. A quick use of my sword and he was put out of my misery.

The third and fourth were both a little more challenging. The riders, while still alive, were suffering from burns from the explosion. They didn’t put up much of a fight without their spears and mounts. However, since they were still moving, I chased the fourth one down the ramp until it saw the big hole. It was a quick kick from there, and he went down in.

That hole was a gory mess. I wasn’t ready for what I saw; when the hog hit Splodey, there was more oomph than I had counted on. The pit smelled like burned bacon and throw-up. But, of course, the throw-up might have been because that was what I did. There was blood and guts everywhere, even dripping off the tunnel's ceiling above the hole.

I had wanted to climb down there only to see if any of that armor was still around. Yet, with the mess, I was hesitating. It could be helpful even if only a little was left. I could see myself attaching it to the end of something, but it would be a one-time use. Then, right as I had talked myself into going down, I heard a clicking. It sounded like Splodey was still alive. Which meant there was no way I was going down there.

I looted my way back up. The best loot I got was a set of light bronze pauldrons. They covered my shoulders and went down about four inches down my arms. Like the other dungeon armor, these changed size and shape just a little to fit my shoulders correctly. The only other cool thing I got was when I looted one of the boars; I gained five pounds of thick-cut, dry-cured bacon wrapped in cloth.

When I returned to Blink, she was still playing with the goblin. He would be hard to fight if we had let him mount up, which we didn’t. I was sure that his spear was something special and would be terrible if it hit Blink. Yet, his reaction time was bad, no, worse than bad. The armor he wore was for riding the boar and not for fighting from the ground. He was like all the stories about knights being unable to fight when knocked off their mounts.

Those stories were, for the most false, knights could and did fight from foot. This guy, however, was a mess. He had a shield and a spear; well, for him, it was a lance but no other weapon. So he kept trying to charge toward where Blink had been while holding his lance out. He had an active skill much like the spear goblins I had fought earlier, but it seemed like he had to be moving fast enough before it activated, and then it would go for about 10 seconds, then he would stop for about two, not moving at all.

Blink, however, was just going in and out of stealth and would hit him and move. She couldn’t cause much damage even with the fire strike, which she was using every now and then. She would just leave some soot on the armor. It was rather funny but wasn’t getting us to where we needed to be.

I advanced toward the goblin knight and drew my sword and dagger. As I approached, I willed myself into the Goblin Death Dance skill. I knew that I wouldn’t level it as fast if I gave over to the skill, but I needed to keep moving. This floor had already taken a long time, and I wanted to get out of this place.

Blink drew him over towards my side of the room, and I moved in right as his charge time ended. I ran forward and got to him just after he started to move. My sword snaked forward, but he was able to turn his shield toward me. My strike bounced harmlessly away. I felt myself have to jump back as his lace came swinging by. His strike missed, but the mist landed on me, and I saw a poison debuff show up.

I stumbled back from the poison as my eyes crossed for just a moment. Then, I was back in the dance and striking at his spear hand. I needed to drop that weapon from him before he got a chance to cause more poison damage. I didn’t know if the damage stacked, but I thought it would. My sword nicked his hand, and he lost a finger, but more than that, rot was added.

Blink hit him from the side, and he went down. As he fell, he balled up a little and brought his shield in front of him. This made it so I couldn’t quickly get in. However, he wasn’t nearly as armored as Splodey and could move much faster. So I kicked out at him, and he brought his shield down, hitting the instep of my foot. It wasn’t much, but it was painful as my shoes weren’t armor. However, him moving his shield was just what I needed, and I reached up with my hatchet and hooked the top of it, and pulled it down.

The goblin knight was stuck on his back with me pinning his shield now. I started to reach over when the nasty thing brought the lance back around toward me while he rolled. It was less of a normal spear attack and more like he was clubbing me. As the spear hit me, I saw the poison debuff flash and double. Then he hit me again, it was just a tap, but now I had three debuffs stacking. I started to fall forward as the debuff caused me to be dizzy, and as I did, I felt the dance fall away. I powered my sword and slammed it with all my failing strength right into his chest.

The goblin quivered for a moment and stopped moving. His grip had loosened from the spear, and it clattered to the ground. I rolled off his dead body looking at my debuffs. The poison would finish me off in about another 3 minutes if I didn’t heal. So I cast my healing spell, hoping it would take the debuff away, but it didn’t.

I was trying to do the math, but I couldn’t figure out if my mana would outlast the debuff or if I would run dry before the poison ran its course. My head was dizzy, which was part of what the poison did. I stood up and started to stagger toward the tunnel opening. My pack was back where I left it, and my last poison resistance potion was there. I idly thought that I needed a better place for those potions.

I healed myself twice more on the way to my bag but was all out of mana and couldn’t keep it going. I would have drunk my mana potion, but my potion was in my bag as well. So I went as fast as I could. I wasn’t going to make it as I could hardly walk in a straight line. I tripped and fell, then the world closed in around me.

I don’t know how long it was that I laid there, but when I woke up, there was a little hand pouring a potion down my throat. The debuff flashed and then vanished. My health was down to just a sliver, my eyes were heavy, and I felt another potion being forced into my mouth. Then the sweetness of oblivion took me as I passed out.

How long I slept in the dungeon on the floor when I passed out was anyone’s guess. However, when I came to, I had a pop-up with my skill gains in front of me.

By your actions

You have increased your level in

Goblin Death Dance! (level 8)

Gremlin Death Dance (level 16)

Skeleton Death Dance (level 4)

Short sword (Level 17)

Spear throwing (Level 2)

Combat acrobatics (Level 5)

Archery (level 7)

New knowledge has been granted to you!

Dungeon Lore (level 0)

A new ability has awakened in you

Poison resistant ability unlocked (level 0)