《Excursion Book 1, The Goblin Curse. First arc.》Chapter 1 Shadows of the past
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The Winds are howling from the east, bringing in the chill air and fresh water scent from the river known as Allan Fold. From the west, lies the northern edge of the woods known as Leaf Ocean. From the south, following a silhouette of a hunched, hooded man, dragging behind him 2 full-grown dead men almost twice the size of the hooded figure himself. The bodies have cuts and bruises, long dried out hence the bodies have long entered the rigor mortis stage. One would think the bodies would be heavy for a short man to drag, especially since his arms are slender, and yet he carries on with ease.
He has been traveling for a few hours, showing no signs of weariness and fatigue, looking ahead of him, the vast plains of Unum. Before he is able to see the southern reaches of Boarmane Mountains, he halts as he views his surroundings, only to find traces of a campfire long put out due to having enough illumination of a full moon. He scans around, and notices nearby an oak tree, stands a seven foot tall man staring off to the northern plains. He is wearing a suit of full plated armor, showing little covering of dark purple long sleeved clothing. His hair, black and gray, sways alongside with the wind and his brown cloak.
“It’s been forever ago since I’ve been to this side of the country”, said the 7 foot tall man, as he turns his head to the west staring off into the distance, revealing his lightly tan face full of scars, and a fully grown black and gray beard. "I wonder what lies beyond this frontier….” he ponders.
“More plains, woods and many streams, if one is lucky to travel enough, one would find ruins from an ancient civilization that fell from a time of the gods.” Said the hooded figure with a grunt shortly afterwards. He drags the bodies near the campfire and releases his grip.
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He straightens his back, standing about four and a half feet tall looking up to the tall man, “The goblins are ready for the assault, and these decoys….” He peers to the bodies, “Should be enough of a distraction, plus the ones I left behind” He chuckles.
“Were you seen?” The tall man asked as he turns around, facing the hooded figure and the corpses of the soldiers lying on the ground.
“Only by this one… ” He grins as he kicks the body left of him, followed up with a spat.
“Good, how many goblins have you gathered up?” The tall man asked while keeping his fixed gaze upon the hooded one.
“….A little over fifty” The short hooded one answered after pondering.
“Only fifty? Will that be enough?” The Tall man asked with slight disdain.
The hooded figure chuckles again and lowers his hood, revealing himself to be a bald headed goblin, with very pale skin, he cocks his head to the side and grins with his arms up and palms flattened, “Do not underestimate the rage of the goblins.” He points up to the sky with one finger of his right hand.
“With my magic, I can bring out the hidden strength of these goblins…. With this, they will buy you enough time for you to find the seal for our mission.” With the same hand, he cups his chin and looks to the left, with his right eye fixated on the tall man. “Of course there is a catch to this… Curse…”
“Curse? Sounds more like a blessing to me.” The tall man said, crossing his arms, raising his head to confirm the pale goblin to continue his monologue.
“Far from it, unless one presses on with a strong will such as me…” The goblin scoffed as he closes his eyes and lifts his head up, to face the moon. “A curse, bestowed upon the goblins by an ancient goblin god, days of old and long gone too, his curse… his power still holds strong to the goblins to this very day… even if they’re not blood related to him…” He opens his eyes as he takes in a deep breathe.
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“You speak as if you’re not a goblin yourself?” The tall man cocks a curious eye to the smirking pale goblin.
“The catch is, after the goblin that unleashed the curse’ power upon itself and fulfills that of which triggered the curse, they will wither away into dust…. Most have died out that way, I however have not!” The pale goblin trails off to the south, holding his hood in his hands and peers towards the tall man. “All that’s left to do, is to march them off from the southern wood to swarm the south of the town. Of course not all of them will attack in one spot, there will be a group or 2 looming from the sides.”
“Good, we will attack right at noon; do you remember where in town our rendezvous spot is at Glenn?” The tall man calmly asked.
“Yes, Lord Karr… it will be tedious for me to be there without being seen, especially since there’s mages out and about, but I will be there… after all you’ll need me to break that seal.” Glenn covers his head with his grey hood and trails off to the south. “And for that, I am off. Until we meet again, lord Karr.” Glenn, then runs off to the southwest.
“We’ll definitely have to keep an eye on that one, we will….. Of my many years in the military of this country, I have never seen a strange goblin such as him…” Karr shakes his head and looks at the two dead bodies of the patrolmen bearing the sigil of two roses attached to the same oval thorn on their upper right side of the chainmail armor, reminiscing the time when he, too was a soldier proud fully bearing the same crest.
“Do not take it personally young ones… Your sacrifices will not be in vain, soon there will be no more meaningless wars with the new world, to come…” He then Trails off to the southeast, against the wind, cloak fluttering to reveal his Kite Shield bearing a symbol of a black serpent dragon.
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ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴀꜱᴛ ᴛɪᴍᴇ » ʜꜱ (ꜱᴇQᴜᴇʟ ᴛᴏ 24 ʜᴏᴜʀꜱ)
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