There were torches every 30 feet, though they weren’t lit with fire. They each held a globe of soft white light that lit the stairway. Very soon they left the heat of the day behind. As they made their way lower, though, there was the hint of something that smelled rotten and rank making its way up the stairs.
When they made it to the bottom of the stairway they found that it opened into a wide corridor that was twenty feet wide that led off into the darkness. The last light torch was at the bottom of the stairs.
Cedrik whispered, “The corridor goes about 60 feet forward then ends in a “T”. I guess now is as good a time as any, can everyone see in the dark?”
“No need to worry about the darkness, Pythias said as he started to glow softly.”
“That’s fine and good if you want to be the first target,” Callum said
“I can see in the dark fine,” Pandora said to hopefully cut off any responses.
“As can I,” Asling agreed
“Me too,” Robert said
“Not I,” Callum said.
“Nor I,” said Pythias.
“Okay, new plan,” Callum said, “Cedrik you’re in front, just outside of our light. Pythias and I will be together with Robert, Pandora, and Asling bringing up the rear, also outside the radius of the light. Cedrik will stick to the shadows and attempt to flank or backstab anything that attacks the two obvious targets.”
“Wait a second, I don’t backstab anyone,” Cedrik said indignantly
“And what would you call attacking people that aren’t looking at you from behind?” Callum asked.
“I would call that taking advantage of the lack of foresight in my enemy to protect their back,” Cedrik said straight-faced which held for exactly three seconds before everyone burst out laughing.
Once everyone calmed down Pythias whispered, “Just remember you said that if you get attacked from behind.”
“Oh I’ll remember, that’s why I have eyes in the back of my head,” Cedrik said straight-faced.
“Okay everyone let’s get serious. Cedrik if you’d lead the way please,” Callum said.
As Cedrik moved off in front of the light and disappeared into shadows, Pandora lost track of him and strained to keep him in my sight. Immediately her vision shifted to oranges reds and blues, “Hold,” she whispered quickly as she tried to figure out what was going on. Everyone stopped where they were and took up defensive postures looking for attacks.
“What is it?” Robert asked.
“My vision, it just did something weird. I can’t see normally right now. Everything is in blobs of color,” I said.
“Are those blobs of color bright near heat sources?” Asling asked.
“I don’t know, I guess so. Your hands and face appear brighter than the rest of your body, so yeah, I guess so,” I said.
“That’s heat vision, it’s very good at detecting creatures that are warmer than the surroundings or finding vent holes. What kind of range do you have?” Robert asked.
“I can still see Cedrik and…” she said as she paused as she noticed movement and heat coming from alcoves along the wall. It looked like some panels had silently slid up and 10 creatures were moving to attack them from surprise. Her vision immediately switched back to normal as she only had time to yell “Ambush!” and set five of her mage orbs to defend her while she sent three mage orbs to defend each of the other party members.
Asling, Robert, and Pandora were completely protected as two spears tried to skewer Asling. Two more spears were deflected as they tried to hit Robert and the last Goblin of the five attacking them had his spear thrust defected by the mage orb protecting her. The mage orbs protected them easily. Unfortunately, her mage orbs weren’t able to get to Cedrik before a spear was rushing toward him but it didn’t matter. Before he was struck Cedrik shadow-stepped behind the goblin and made a precise attack severing his spinal cord which caused the goblin to crumple like he’d been a puppet with his strings cut as he died.
Callum and Pythias, however, weren’t so lucky. They’d been perfectly positioned for four goblins to attack them. Two of the goblins attacked from the front and two from the back. Callum used a sword and shield and Pythias used a hammer and shield which allowed them to deflect one attack each but left them wide open for back attacks which the goblins took advantage of mercilessly. Luckily both wore chainmail. Unfortunately, it seemed that the goblins weren’t without skill. The goblin attacking Callum aimed a spear toward one of his feet and succeeded in pinning him to the spot causing Callum to grunt in pain. Gritting his teeth he stayed in the fight and keep blocking and trying to help Pythias.
Unfortunately, Pythias didn’t have a helmet on and the second goblin attacking him tried to shove his spear through Pythias’s head. Pandora watched in horror as the battle seemed to slow down and the spear rushed forward, only to be blocked by a feathered wing that had come up from Pythias’s back and taken the hit causing him to grit his teeth and take a deep breath.
Now that the Goblin’s surprise attacks had been expended, her mage orbs were in position orbiting all six of them and began deflecting all incoming attacks. A goblin would try to stab only to watch as the spear was deflected. The one that had pinned Callum to the floor had let go of his spear and tried to attack with a dagger only to meet the full force of Pythias’s hammer as it smashed his skull in, killing him in one blow.
Cedrik rushed back and downed another one of the four goblins that were trying to attack Pythias and Callum. Pandora focused on the one in front of her that was trying to stab her. She quickly sidestepped the thrust, twirled along the spear until she reached out with my left hand, grabbed the goblin by the neck, and flicked her thumb, causing a loud crack as his neck broke. With an effective strength of 503, it wasn’t hard.
Robert used his wand of Magic Missiles to cast a spell that caused two energy darts to enter the goblin that had attacked him. The goblin let go of the spear and staggered back. Asling realized immediately that the mage orbs were protecting her and instead of worrying about defending herself focused on her attack and did something Pandora had never seen before. She drew two arrows at the same time and released striking both the goblins that had been trying to attack her. The shots hit center mass causing both goblins to stagger backward.
The final round of combat found Callum, Pythias, and Cedrik killing the last two goblins while Callum remained pinned to the floor. Asling used her bow to kill the two goblins she’d already shot while Robert used his wand to finish off one of the goblins that had struck him while Pandora moved in and killed the second goblin that had tried to attack Robert.
Everyone looked around to make sure the attack was over as we all moved to protect Pythias and Callum. Pythias looked at Callum and gripped the spear as he said, “I’m going to pull the spear out of your foot on the count of three, Ready?” Pythias asked.
“Ready,” Callum said.
“One, Two,” Callum said as he yanked the spear out and Callum grunted in pain.
“You said on three,” Callum wheezed through gritted teeth.
Pythias ignored him as he cast a spell and touched Callum’s foot which mended immediately. Once he was sure the foot was healed he looked up and said, “I did didn’t I?”
While Pythias was healing Callum, Cedrik had gone around and looted the ten goblin corpses. Pandora noticed that she had messages waiting and opened her prompts.
Cedrik has shared loot from 10 Level 3 Goblins with you.
Your Share of the Loot is as follows 6 copper pieces
You have received 500 XP from assisting your party in the killing of 10 level 3 goblins. XP gained 500 = ((600x10)/6/2))
Congratulations you have learned the skill “Hand to Hand Combat.” Skill Level 1. Hand to Hand strikes are 1% per skill level more likely to succeed per skill level.
Congratulations you have learned the skill “Investigation.” Skill level 1. You are 1% per skill level more likely to notice hidden items and secret doors or compartments.
Congratulations you have learned the skill “Athletics.” Skill Level 1. You are 1% per skill level more likely to succeed in physical movements during combat
Congratulations you have learned the skill “Dodge.” Skill Level 1. You are 1% per skill level more likely to dodge attacks made against yourself in combat. Dodge is added to Athletics when determining success or failure.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Congratulations you have learned the skill “Mage Orb.” Skill level 1. You are 1% per skill level better at attacking and defending with Mage Orbs. The maximum number of Mage Orbs which can be controlled at once is Intelligence divided by 10
Pandora read over the prompts and realized that with her base intelligence of 6, it was a very good thing that Caspa was her Symbiote, or else she wouldn’t be able to control even one of the Mage Orbs which also meant that Caspa was doing a lot of the heavy lifting with them right now.
As she closed her prompts Cedrik came back over to the group and whispered, “There’s a secret passage behind each set of alcoves that leads further into the underground. Do we want to stick to the tunnels or see if we can use the passages to sneak up on our enemies?” Cedrik asked.
“Let’s take the passages. This time Pythias and I will come along last,” Callum said.
They picked up the goblins and threw them into one of the passages behind an alcove on the left side then made their way into the alcove on the right side of the passage and the secret tunnel behind it. Cedrik led the way with Asling, Robert and her following close behind. Pythias and Callum stayed back a little farther so their light didn’t leak ahead of us. Every once in a while they’d pass a slit in the wall which would allow them to look out into the passage but they saw nothing.
Eventually, they came to a stop and Cedrik looked at a giant stone wall sitting before them. Off to the right was a lever. They prepared themselves as best they could. Pythias turned off his light so they were all in darkness as Cedrik pulled the lever and the rock wall started to slide up.
As the rock slab slid up they found themselves in a passage that went off to the left and right. To the left went back to the main tunnel. On each side of the tunnel, Pandora saw a goblin. Cedrik flashed his fingers at Asling using some sort of sign language. Asling nodded, drew her bow, notched an arrow, and waited. Cedrik moved down the hall a little bit then drew a dagger with his right hand as his left hand was held behind him and he held out three fingers, then two, then one, and disappeared as Asling let an arrow fly. Asling shot the goblin closest to the party through the throat, Cedrick appeared behind the second goblin, reached around, and slit his throat.
Cedrik touched each goblin briefly to loot them once they were dead and then made his way back to the group. Everyone fell into formation again as Pythias and Callum pulled up the rear, Pythias had reduced his light to the lowest that he could put out. It didn’t matter though. As they went down the tunnel sounds and smells started assailing their senses and light started shining down the tunnel. Cedrik stopped at a rock outcropping and motioned for everyone to come to him.
Once everyone was behind the rock outcropping they looked out into a cave that was mindboggling. A diffuse light filled the cavern from above as a waterfall could be seen on the opposite of the cave falling from a hole near the ceiling. The water had carved out a river that wound its way around the cave and exited off to their left somewhere. Along the river was a settlement of goblins. Adults and children could be seen playing off in the distance, though the game they were playing….They were kicking something around which seemed to have a rope flopping around it. Horror filled Pandora’s mind as she realized that the ball they were kicking was the head of a female elf and the rope was her ponytail. As Pandora looked around the cavern searching for prisoners her eyes were drawn to the roasting fire which had the rest of the female elf, spitted and turning over the fire, along with at least five other bodies.
Pandora looked around at her five companions and saw the rage filling her eyes mirrored in theirs as well. Callum spoke first, “We can’t take on that many goblins, there has to be something like a thousand or more in that cave.”
Pandora felt a whisper in her mind, we can do this. A moment later she was looking at Callum thoughtfully as an idea formed, “Really quick question. I’m not the leader of this party so I don’t know. Is there a way to set all experience gains to be shared equally no matter who gets the kills?” Pandora asked as she thought that she remembered Master Soleran saying something to that effect and that most people didn’t do that because it was unfair that people not doing any work received experience for nothing.
“There is, but most people don’t use it,” Robert said.
“I thought I remembered that from class. Callum, set the party to equally distributed experience and treasure please.”
“Why?” Callum asked.
“Because we are going to kill them all, every last goblin,” Pandora said.
“We won’t survive,” Callum started to say as the rage she’d been holding inside finally broke through and her whole body rippled.
“Do it!” Pandora said in a barely restrained scream as her 21 mage orbs screamed away from her in a line that started passing through the goblins on the right of the tunnel exit as she veered to the left and started moving like the wind. The orbs created a line of death as they singled out goblin after goblin creating a line of death that could put holes completely through up to four goblins at a time.
“Support her!” she heard Callum call from behind as she waded into a group of three goblin warriors that were too stunned to even react as she moved among them going for efficient kills instead of a fair fight. She grabbed the first goblin and threw him full strength into the second. As the two goblins collided and a loud crunch was heard as they fell to the ground motionless she stepped behind the third and twisted his head, snapping his neck. Pandora followed up by moving to the two she’d knocked prone and stomped their heads underfoot killing them instantly.
After that display, Pandora lost herself to combat. Sometime during the blur of combat her mage orbs returned to her and started swirling around her at dizzying speeds destroying any that dared come close.
The rest of the party stayed back at the cave mouth, which turned out to be a good thing when a Goblin Mage, floating through the air descended from the waterfall and cast a fireball at Pandora. The sight of the mage shocked Pandora out of her rampage enough to know she was in trouble until Caspa sent don’t worry about that mage I’ll handle him with the orbs.
Pandora continued attacking those goblins near her as she also watched with trepidation as the fireball flew toward her until one of her mage orbs flashed between them and absorb it. Everyone stopped moving as the Goblin Mage looked on with surprise and then cast another spell. Five magic missiles streaked toward Pandora, only to be absorbed by another mage orb. The mage cast three more spells before he stopped and pulled out a staff and pointed it toward her.
Pandora would later admit, that as angry as she was, she may have had second thoughts at that moment. Suddenly the five orbs that had absorbed the spells the mage had cast streaked toward the goblin mage. The mage turned his staff horizontally and a shell of energy surrounded him at which point a sixth mage orb streaked away from Pandora toward the mage. That sixth orb was the anti-orb and took the lead, easily punching through the shield and shattering it. At which point the other five orbs released the spells they’d absorbed as pure energy which tried to rip the Goblin Mage apart and damage his staff. Realizing he was in trouble the Goblin mage tried to throw his staff away from himself to no avail.
There was a loud crack when the staff was only fifteen feet away from the Goblin Mage and then an explosion blasted the goblin mage across the cavern turning him into a shooting star that slammed into the cavern wall with a very loud “Thud” near the ceiling. From there, what was left of the Goblin mage fell to the ground below, dead.
The explosion blasted Pandora back fifty feet but did very little damage to her. She flipped while flying through the air and landed lightly. Then she rushed forward to continue her grizzly task. After the Goblin mage died it was just a matter of time before the entire cavern was cleared of the goblin infestation.
“Pandora, Pandora!” Callum called.
Finally, her senses came back and she was able to take control of the blood lust that had controlled her. She looked around at the carnage she’d wrought and felt good because these goblins would never be able to cook or eat anyone ever again.
Pandora looked down at herself and noted that she was covered in Goblin blood and viscera. She set her mage orbs to invisible and defensive then walked over to the stream where there was a shallow area and stepped in. She began washing the blood off of herself as the rest of the party made their way over to her.
“What was that?” Callum asked angrily.
“What do you mean?” Pandora asked.
“What were you thinking running off like that?” Callum asked
“Did you set the experience to evenly share among the party?” Pandora countered.
“Well yes but that doesn’t mean…”
Pandora held up her hand which caused Callum to pause before she said, “Callum, I am a half dragon and half something else. I’m about a year old. I am learning to control my instincts but I’m not there yet. The sight of the elves being cooked made me very angry. I feel better now, can we leave it at that?
“But you could have gotten yourself and us killed?” Callum said.
“I have a feeling that the more we go out together the more one of us is going to accidentally try to get the rest of us killed. Today was my turn. Now, I believe we all have prompts to review and treasure to collect. By the way, my money is on Cedrik being the next one to try to get us all killed,” she said with a smile.
“I’ll take that action,” Asling said.
“You two can go to hell,” Cedrik responded, “You know it’s going to be our pillar of light.”
Callum, realizing there was no point continuing with this line of discussion shrugged and said, “Fine, but please be careful,”
Pandora realized that his comments were coming from a good place and smiled at him, “I will, and thanks for caring,” she said.
Asling and Cedrick snickered, then stopped when Pandora glared at them and they realized she wasn’t trying to make fun of Callum.
Callum and Pythias looked around the encampment. Pythias shook his head sadly as he said, “This is not a dig at you Pandora, I would have done exactly the same if you hadn’t beaten me to it, I just wish there was a way to punish evil without killing women and children.”
“I understand Pythias, Don’t think this doesn’t weigh on me a bit. Honestly, I’m glad I was so angry that I lost myself there for a bit, or I wouldn’t have been able to do what needed to be done.
“How many did you kill?” Pythias asked.
No sooner had he asked than every party member was sufficed with light as each of them leveled. Pandora was the first to recover as she only received half of the experience they did. She quickly opened her Personal Interface and checked her prompts.
Your portion of the XP gained for killing 224 Goblins is 67,575 XP. Reduced by half, you gain 33,788 XP.
Congratulations! You have reached level 8. You have 48 attributes to spend. If you do not do so within seven days attributes will be allocated randomly.
Congratulations you have learned the skill “Hand to Hand Combat.” Skill Level has reached level 11. Hand to Hand strikes are 1% per skill level more likely to succeed per skill level.
Congratulations you have learned the skill “Mage Orb.” Skill level 11. You are 1% per skill level better at attacking and defending with Mage Orbs. New mage orb-related abilities have been unlocked. The maximum number of Mage Orbs which can be controlled at once is Intelligence divided by 10
She’d gained 6 levels. That meant that the rest of her party should be level 12. Wow, that was awesome!
She pulled up her combat log and listed her recent kills. She’d killed 25 goblin children and the rest had all been adults levels 2 through 10 for a total of 224 total. Not 1,000 or more then. Of course, that could mean that some had been able to get away while she was lost to her rage.
Pandora quickly allocated my 48 attributes while she waited for the others to finish leveling and looked around the cavern. She brought her Agility and Dexterity up to 14, Endurance to 16, Constitution to 19, and intelligence all the way up to 20. She wanted to be able to control two of the mage orbs by herself if Caspa was ever incapacitated. Wisdom, Willpower, Perception Charisma, and Luck were all raised to 10.
She looked at her combined attributes. With Caspa, my attributes were almost all over 500 now. She just needed to even out her attributes in case she ever needed to just rely on herself. When she was done, she closed my Personal information screen and looked around. As she suspected there were multiple exits from multiple directions. She set Mage Orbs to their defensive setting while she waited for everyone else to finish their leveling process.