[Quest Complete: Goblin Caves]
[Experience gained]
[50 Gold]
[Weapon Enhancement Kit]
[Armour Enhancement Kit]
[Daily Reward Received]
[Medium Medical Kit (3)]
[Stat Booster (1 Day) (1)]
Sally pursed her lips and checked out the information on two of the items.
[Weapon Enhancement Kit]
[Improves a Weapon by +1] [Max level +7] [One Use]
[Stat Booster (1 Day)]
[Increases all Stats by 10% for 24 Hours]
As much as it tempted her to use them, she instead stowed them away in her Inventory. You never knew when you might need them for later - a better weapon might be around the corner. Perhaps not at this hilltop summit where there was nothing but a failing Fountain and a handful of error goblins worriedly listening to Bella explain how all these corpses came to be.
“You killed these adventurers?” The pale-white goblin had returned to them as her Party sat against the marbled circle of the supposed Rejuvenation Fountain. His brow was furrowed over his black-orb eyes, but he no longer looked nervous.
“Yeah, we’ve killed what… at least ten Players by now?” She raised her eyebrow at the Death Knight beside her.
“Fourteen, I believe.”
The pale goblin whistled. “My name is Henkk, by the way. Two k’s.”
“Sally, Humphrey, and Chuck.” She pointed between each of them. “One k.”
As Henkk went to speak they all paused and turned, as a figure emerged from the pathway onto the summit. A man with messy brown hair and basic armour who looked rather taken aback by the congregation currently before him.
“Ah, if it isn’t Mr Fifteen,” Sally beamed and stood to her feet. “Don’t worry; he is with us… for now.”
“Um, hi,” the Novice waved awkwardly, “I’m Theo.”
“Theo is just as intent on breaking the System. This is Henkk; he has started gathering Monsters who have been afflicted by similar errors as we have.”
Bella strode over with dagger in hand. “Is this not an adventurer?” She scowled at the man and weaselled over to hide behind Sally’s legs.
“Technically, yes.” Theo rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t really like it much here, and have no interest in the arbitrary System this so-called God has laboured us with - expecting us to dance to his tune and join Parties in the-“
“So cute when he wants to destroy reality,” Sally interrupted, trying not to drool. “Henkk and these… five other goblins have become Unique through their glitched existence, and so if they die…”
“They die for good, like Players.” The Novice nodded. He turned towards the white goblin and knelt, head bowed low. “It would be an honour to fight alongside you for the cause and put my life on the line fighting for a better future for us all.”
Sally short-circuited for a brief moment.
“Aren’t you really weak, though?” Henkk frowned as the prostrating man. “I mean, us goblins aren’t much for fighting, but you don’t look like much either.”
Theo maintained his bowed position, perhaps to hide his embarrassment. “What I lack in skill… I make up for in dedication and… perseverance?”
“I’ve heard worse, ha-ha,” Humphrey walked up beside them. “You have the full Blue Slime Card Set now then, yes? Then you are slightly more than useless.”
“I’ve done better than that,” Theo smiled, raising his head as a glimmer of light spun from his eyes.
“Oh?” The Death Knight tilted his head, interest filling his empty eye sockets.
Theo held out his hand; two rings adorned his fingers. The first was a ruby red gem with a hatching of silver carved into it that sat on a silver band. The second was a purple stone that seemed to absorb the light instead of reflecting it, and its band was dark black.
“Surely it doesn’t work like that - oh, but the Card bonus too.” Red flame danced from the back of his helmet as he shrugged and shook his head with a smile.
“What does what now?” Sally wanted in on the details.
“Blue Slime Card reduces the cost of using Novice Strike. The Ring of Expert Hit causes all melee hits to land but do severely reduced damage. The Youngling band allows you a follow-up strike if your melee strike does below a certain threshold in base damage.” Humphrey beamed devilishly.
“So it’s a death of a thousand cuts type thing?” She sucked in air at the incredulity of it. Here she was struggling against assassins and giants, and the forever-noob had devised an even more meme way to ruin his build.
“It’s base weapon damage too, so using a [Wooden Shortsword] I only do one point of damage, but it’s then boosted by my Strength and Novice bonuses when it actually hurts them.” Theo stood back up and brushed the dust from his knee. “It’s just a shame I don’t have any points for other useful Stats.”
“Oh here,” Sally fiddled with her ears, “take these earrings - they’ll increase your Speed.”
“That’s great! Thank you so much, Sally.” He took them and pinned them to his ears, the pretty jewellery vanishing once they were properly equipped.
“No problem, I am sure I will get them back eventually,” she winked and tried not to stare at his chewable ears.
“So,” Henkk cleared his throat, “about this village?”
Sally nodded, and as a group, they sat down in one of the least corpse-y areas of the summit. Other than Henkk and Bella, they were introduced to the other three goblins.
First was Oleb, an oddly portly goblin who could consume rock and wood with no effort and no ill side effects.
Second was Frena, Bella’s mother. She could see long distances like a hawk.
Then last was Jaxk, a thin, twitchy fellow who was apparently immune to fire.
It wasn’t exactly a ragtag group of elite mercenaries - but everyone had a place, no matter if their part was big or small.
[Party: Theo has joined]
[Party: Henkk has joined]
Sally beamed across at the Novice as he accepted the invite. Theo managed to keep his cool despite how creepy she often was around him. Either he had accepted that she was a threat - or no threat - or he really needed to put more points into Intelligence. It wasn’t even an attraction thing, just a mix of familiarity mixed with forbidden fruit. She was hard-coded to want to eat fresh humans. She blinked as she realised she had been staring.
“What plan do you currently have,” the honey voice of the pale goblin seemed authoritative despite his diminutive figure. His apparent glitch was being able to scurry a portal to some kind of nether - a ‘hidden’ place within the System.
“Well,” Sally wiped her mouth and looked over at the Death Knight, “I was thinking go in at night, kill everyone. Uh. Then the village is ours?”
Humphrey groaned and rolled his lack of eyes. “It is good fortune that you have me on our side. May I explain how the Village structure works?”
The zombie nodded, “Assuming it is different than the Guild towns, yes.”
“It is similar. There are a group of System-created village leaders-“
“I bet there’s five,” Sally murmured out the side of her mouth.
“-one of them being a Village Champion who is the final defender. Once all five are dead, the Village will stop being populated.”
“That seems like a strange way to design the System,” Theo frowned and leaned back on his palms.
“Yes, ha-ha. I believe there was part of the System that was trialled but not fully implemented yet. Some offshoot of the Grand Tournament where Guilds could have control over-“
“There’s a Tournament?” Sally’s eyes lit up, and she didn’t fail to notice that Theo had a similar reaction.
Humphrey sighed and rubbed the temples of his helmet. “Let’s try not to die amongst the weeds before you go plotting future arcs, please.”
Sally pouted but gave a raised eyebrow knowing gaze at Theo, who returned it in kind.
“So,” the Death Knight continued, “your original plan of entering the town at night and murdering everything is what we are going to do. But, we need a focused approach.”
“Hit the location of one or two of the known Leaders before they can gather or call reinforcements,” Theo stroked his chin.
The goblins remained quiet for the most part, seemingly feeling outclassed or simply content enough to follow along with whatever plan was concocted. Henkk seemed to be absorbing the most information, perhaps because he felt responsible for those of his clan that had become Unique.
The white goblin spoke up, “And what of any adventurers?”
“We’ll need to kill them too. Probably as a matter of urgency.” Theo shrugged.
Sally felt her face flush - or was that just the anticipation? Maybe worry? Hopefully, not just excitement that Theo wanted to murder Players. What was it about killing Players that felt so good? She squirmed in her villain era.
“Agreed,” Humphrey nodded, “although it is most likely to be Novices and lower Level Classes if any, we must keep our wits about us and deal with the greatest threat.”
“Hopefully that Cleric is there so I can pop his head off,” Sally said a little louder than intended. Seeing the confused or concerned looks from some of the group, she clarified. “He attacked me before but ran off, and he also sent this all-Rogue group to assassinate me.”
“How’d that work out for them?” Jaxk peeped up from the back.
“…Not great?” She frowned.
“We’ve got maps now,” Humphrey interjected, “let’s go through a proper plan - it is near midday - that gives us time to decide on a strategy and get there by nightfall.”
“Sure, sure,” Sally waved her hand, “but now let me name the Party.”
They sat in silence and watched her spin the STAR menus around, selecting the wrong options a couple of times as her brow furrowed further.
Eventually, her face lit up as the deed was done.
[Party Renamed: The Outsiders]
[Quest Complete: Goblin Caves]
[Experience gained]
[50 Gold]
[Weapon Enhancement Kit]
[Armour Enhancement Kit]
[Daily Reward Received]
[Medium Medical Kit (3)]
[Stat Booster (1 Day) (1)]
Sally pursed her lips and checked out the information on two of the items.
[Weapon Enhancement Kit]
[Improves a Weapon by +1] [Max level +7] [One Use]
[Stat Booster (1 Day)]
[Increases all Stats by 10% for 24 Hours]
As much as it tempted her to use them, she instead stowed them away in her Inventory. You never knew when you might need them for later - a better weapon might be around the corner. Perhaps not at this hilltop summit where there was nothing but a failing Fountain and a handful of error goblins worriedly listening to Bella explain how all these corpses came to be.
“You killed these adventurers?” The pale-white goblin had returned to them as her Party sat against the marbled circle of the supposed Rejuvenation Fountain. His brow was furrowed over his black-orb eyes, but he no longer looked nervous.
“Yeah, we’ve killed what… at least ten Players by now?” She raised her eyebrow at the Death Knight beside her.
“Fourteen, I believe.”
The pale goblin whistled. “My name is Henkk, by the way. Two k’s.”
“Sally, Humphrey, and Chuck.” She pointed between each of them. “One k.”
As Henkk went to speak they all paused and turned, as a figure emerged from the pathway onto the summit. A man with messy brown hair and basic armour who looked rather taken aback by the congregation currently before him.
“Ah, if it isn’t Mr Fifteen,” Sally beamed and stood to her feet. “Don’t worry; he is with us… for now.”
“Um, hi,” the Novice waved awkwardly, “I’m Theo.”
“Theo is just as intent on breaking the System. This is Henkk; he has started gathering Monsters who have been afflicted by similar errors as we have.”
Bella strode over with dagger in hand. “Is this not an adventurer?” She scowled at the man and weaselled over to hide behind Sally’s legs.
“Technically, yes.” Theo rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t really like it much here, and have no interest in the arbitrary System this so-called God has laboured us with - expecting us to dance to his tune and join Parties in the-“
“So cute when he wants to destroy reality,” Sally interrupted, trying not to drool. “Henkk and these… five other goblins have become Unique through their glitched existence, and so if they die…”
“They die for good, like Players.” The Novice nodded. He turned towards the white goblin and knelt, head bowed low. “It would be an honour to fight alongside you for the cause and put my life on the line fighting for a better future for us all.”
Sally short-circuited for a brief moment.
“Aren’t you really weak, though?” Henkk frowned as the prostrating man. “I mean, us goblins aren’t much for fighting, but you don’t look like much either.”
Theo maintained his bowed position, perhaps to hide his embarrassment. “What I lack in skill… I make up for in dedication and… perseverance?”
“I’ve heard worse, ha-ha,” Humphrey walked up beside them. “You have the full Blue Slime Card Set now then, yes? Then you are slightly more than useless.”
“I’ve done better than that,” Theo smiled, raising his head as a glimmer of light spun from his eyes.
“Oh?” The Death Knight tilted his head, interest filling his empty eye sockets.
Theo held out his hand; two rings adorned his fingers. The first was a ruby red gem with a hatching of silver carved into it that sat on a silver band. The second was a purple stone that seemed to absorb the light instead of reflecting it, and its band was dark black.
“Surely it doesn’t work like that - oh, but the Card bonus too.” Red flame danced from the back of his helmet as he shrugged and shook his head with a smile.
“What does what now?” Sally wanted in on the details.
“Blue Slime Card reduces the cost of using Novice Strike. The Ring of Expert Hit causes all melee hits to land but do severely reduced damage. The Youngling band allows you a follow-up strike if your melee strike does below a certain threshold in base damage.” Humphrey beamed devilishly.
“So it’s a death of a thousand cuts type thing?” She sucked in air at the incredulity of it. Here she was struggling against assassins and giants, and the forever-noob had devised an even more meme way to ruin his build.
“It’s base weapon damage too, so using a [Wooden Shortsword] I only do one point of damage, but it’s then boosted by my Strength and Novice bonuses when it actually hurts them.” Theo stood back up and brushed the dust from his knee. “It’s just a shame I don’t have any points for other useful Stats.”
“Oh here,” Sally fiddled with her ears, “take these earrings - they’ll increase your Speed.”
“That’s great! Thank you so much, Sally.” He took them and pinned them to his ears, the pretty jewellery vanishing once they were properly equipped.
“No problem, I am sure I will get them back eventually,” she winked and tried not to stare at his chewable ears.
“So,” Henkk cleared his throat, “about this village?”
Sally nodded, and as a group, they sat down in one of the least corpse-y areas of the summit. Other than Henkk and Bella, they were introduced to the other three goblins.
First was Oleb, an oddly portly goblin who could consume rock and wood with no effort and no ill side effects.
Second was Frena, Bella’s mother. She could see long distances like a hawk.
Then last was Jaxk, a thin, twitchy fellow who was apparently immune to fire.
It wasn’t exactly a ragtag group of elite mercenaries - but everyone had a place, no matter if their part was big or small.
[Party: Theo has joined]
[Party: Henkk has joined]
Sally beamed across at the Novice as he accepted the invite. Theo managed to keep his cool despite how creepy she often was around him. Either he had accepted that she was a threat - or no threat - or he really needed to put more points into Intelligence. It wasn’t even an attraction thing, just a mix of familiarity mixed with forbidden fruit. She was hard-coded to want to eat fresh humans. She blinked as she realised she had been staring.
“What plan do you currently have,” the honey voice of the pale goblin seemed authoritative despite his diminutive figure. His apparent glitch was being able to scurry a portal to some kind of nether - a ‘hidden’ place within the System.
“Well,” Sally wiped her mouth and looked over at the Death Knight, “I was thinking go in at night, kill everyone. Uh. Then the village is ours?”
Humphrey groaned and rolled his lack of eyes. “It is good fortune that you have me on our side. May I explain how the Village structure works?”
The zombie nodded, “Assuming it is different than the Guild towns, yes.”
“It is similar. There are a group of System-created village leaders-“
“I bet there’s five,” Sally murmured out the side of her mouth.
“-one of them being a Village Champion who is the final defender. Once all five are dead, the Village will stop being populated.”
“That seems like a strange way to design the System,” Theo frowned and leaned back on his palms.
“Yes, ha-ha. I believe there was part of the System that was trialled but not fully implemented yet. Some offshoot of the Grand Tournament where Guilds could have control over-“
“There’s a Tournament?” Sally’s eyes lit up, and she didn’t fail to notice that Theo had a similar reaction.
Humphrey sighed and rubbed the temples of his helmet. “Let’s try not to die amongst the weeds before you go plotting future arcs, please.”
Sally pouted but gave a raised eyebrow knowing gaze at Theo, who returned it in kind.
“So,” the Death Knight continued, “your original plan of entering the town at night and murdering everything is what we are going to do. But, we need a focused approach.”
“Hit the location of one or two of the known Leaders before they can gather or call reinforcements,” Theo stroked his chin.
The goblins remained quiet for the most part, seemingly feeling outclassed or simply content enough to follow along with whatever plan was concocted. Henkk seemed to be absorbing the most information, perhaps because he felt responsible for those of his clan that had become Unique.
The white goblin spoke up, “And what of any adventurers?”
“We’ll need to kill them too. Probably as a matter of urgency.” Theo shrugged.
Sally felt her face flush - or was that just the anticipation? Maybe worry? Hopefully, not just excitement that Theo wanted to murder Players. What was it about killing Players that felt so good? She squirmed in her villain era.
“Agreed,” Humphrey nodded, “although it is most likely to be Novices and lower Level Classes if any, we must keep our wits about us and deal with the greatest threat.”
“Hopefully that Cleric is there so I can pop his head off,” Sally said a little louder than intended. Seeing the confused or concerned looks from some of the group, she clarified. “He attacked me before but ran off, and he also sent this all-Rogue group to assassinate me.”
“How’d that work out for them?” Jaxk peeped up from the back.
“…Not great?” She frowned.
“We’ve got maps now,” Humphrey interjected, “let’s go through a proper plan - it is near midday - that gives us time to decide on a strategy and get there by nightfall.”
“Sure, sure,” Sally waved her hand, “but now let me name the Party.”
They sat in silence and watched her spin the STAR menus around, selecting the wrong options a couple of times as her brow furrowed further.
Eventually, her face lit up as the deed was done.
[Party Renamed: The Outsiders]
