Gumphrey nervously rubbed his thumb against the underside of his bronze ring. The un-faceted gem atop had been rubbed for countless hours on the flush stone floors of the inner cave. It faintly shone through some magic unknown to the erudite goblin. Though it was meant to be a gift, a symbol of his authority within the tribe; it was a constant reminder of the gap between him and the man he’s forced to call master.
Small beams of light occasionally hit Gumphrey in the eyes making him squint. Hidden within a side tunnel sharing the wall with Harkell’s ostentatious layer. This deep in the tunnel it’s dark enough Gumphrey can barely see his fingers, even with the torch flickering away at the entrance.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
He sits hunched over in a small goblin sized nook that’s been carved out of the stone. If he were at E-rank eavesdrop this location would be the perfect distance to hear nearly everything said within Harkell Hall.
Exhaling deep, he closes his eyes trying to maintain his focus. *Why isn’t my Eavesdropping going up? I’ve been capped at F for almost a month.* His stomach starts to turn *That fucking asshole called me a sheep to his FACE! What the fuck is he going to do to if I fail! I can’t go back to being another grunt on a hunting team.*
His clouded mind prevents him from truly sinking into his spell and after 30 minutes of failed meditation he tries to stand up. The ceiling of his little cubby being too low he smacks his head.
“Ah fuck”
Gumphrey takes his time getting back up. He spends the time reminiscing not so fondly about his youth.
He grabs the dimming torch from the dilapidated sconce. The side tunnel might be within the inner cavern, but this late at night he still has to be weary. He dampens the torch relying on his meager darkvision to keep him safe.
It doesn’t take him long to run into trouble. He can hear the sounds of two troglodytes fighting for territory.
*Hmm one of them sounds much bigger. I bet that one is evolved, likely to be a hulking troglodyte. I could wait for the dispute to settle. After all, regardless of their disagreement the moment they spot a tasty little goblin snack they’ll team up. That being said I think I have a better idea*
Gumphrey smirks sadistically. He raises his left arm and begins to channel mana through it. After a moment, he steps forward charging at the two beasts.
They turn to look at the rushing meal, still interlocked in battle. Before the two of them have a chance to turn the rest of their bodies to attack. Gumphrey shouts “Fire bolt”
A small arrow shaped semi solid blob of fire shoots from his hand and screams forward. It lands on the larger one's elbow. Rather than piercing, it ignites.
The brute screams, the fire spreading both up towards its shoulder and down to its hand. It pivots so quickly when it’s massive arm accidentally hits it’s new ally the smaller troglodyte next to it falls to the ground.
Gumphrey’s eyes meet with the troglodyte as it reaches him. He doesn’t break away his gaze. The smirking still prominently displayed on his face. The monster twice the size of the little goblin rears back it’s hand, but before it strikes, Gumphrey shouts “FEAR”
The fallen, smaller, troglodyte immediately falls victim to the spell. Reacting too quickly to think, it doesn’t get up. Instead it pathetically crawls away as fast as it can, struggling to get to all fours with each frantic step.
The larger one freezes for a moment, Gumphrey leaps back quickly casting a firebolt on the fallen beast. It screeches.
Seeing the bolt of fire fly past its face the larger one loses its nerve and turns to retreat. Like a rhino it takes off charging right past its burning cohort.
Gumphrey slowly steps forward casting a firebolt at the fleeing creature. He doesn’t stop walking, but looks down to look at the agonized monster. Without looking he casts 2 more fire bolts at the larger monsters. One misses and the other hits.
The one beneath him reaches out a burning hand to grab on to his ankle. The screams of its death throes are ear piercing. Gumphrey kicks it aside forward to stalk his prey.
*You have defeated a level 2 Troglodyte Wild Brute. You have gained XP*
He doesn’t stop to check the loot, he pursues his target like a villain in a horror film. Coldly waiting for the fire to burn out before casting another, slowly letting the beast tire itself out
*You have defeated a level 5 Hulking Troglodyte Wild Brute. You have gained XP*
Gumphrey’s grin widens into a toothy smile. Magic missile uses less mana and tends to have better instantaneous damage. Gumphrey however, loves to hear the screams.
“Thank Barbarook for fire bolt”
Thinking back only two years ago he was a beggar. His body was so frail, his organs were forced to eat the muscle off his bone. Every day he begged for escape and clawed his way through life.
Any fight he was in was a matter of survival. A true struggle with death. Something like this would have been impossible. A pipe dream.
*I will never live in fear again*
******
The cave has been getting slightly dimmer ever so gradually that Kyle hasn’t even noticed. Kyle sees a strange looking rock. It’s a long rod like smooth carved stone, free of the spherical indents the rest of the: rocks, walls, floor, and ceiling have. “WELP FUCK!” Kyle instantly knew he went the wrong direction. “I must have gotten slipped up when I slipped down” He laughs manically at his pun. “I genuinely don’t know how long I’ve been walking. I should turn back”
Kyle doesn’t panic and without further fuss he spins 180 degrees and starts walking in the other direction. After a few minutes of boredom he screams to himself “AHHHH this shit sucks, why did I have to get lost like a fucking idiot. I’m wasting all my fucking time. I hate this.”
500 feet away a monster lurks in the shadows. 7 feet long it stays low to the ground. Its tail slowly swayed on the ground, patting up dust. Stirred by the sounds of Kyle's pitiful whining, it sets out.
A predator on the prowl, the beast takes advantage of the growing darkness. Waiting several minutes for it to reach the perfect level of light.
Suddenly it appears before Kyle only 30 feet away.
Kyle draws his gun as quickly as he can, when he does the ammo gauge expands filling more of his vision. 4/30 “Well fuck I should have loaded my gun”
He tries to aim the gun at the albino crocodile, but its hunched charging form is too slippery.
The troglodyte puts both of its hands together with a violently clapping sound. Combining its claws together to make dreadful lances. It chargers like a jouster.
Kyle can’t keep up, instinctively he reels back tripping to ground. The troglodytes claws barely miss scratching the top of his head. The monster breaks its hands apart and drops lower to pin Kyle down with its body.
Its hands spread wide ready to slam together to kill Kyle. Kyle hysterical, holds the gun directly in front of his chest and empties the remaining 4 bullets.
*You have defeated a level 6 Skulking Troglodyte Slasher. You have gained XP*
Kyles eyes dart around as he wildly tries to find his hp bar. It doesn’t take him long to realize no matter where he looks it will always be on the bottom left.
It only dropped a single point.”Phew” Kyle drops to his ass hissing as his knee lights up in pain.
“Aaaa damn that was a close one. No more fucking around with yelling I guess. I need to keep this thing loaded too.” Kyle unzips his bag and starts grabbing bullets from his box. His fat fingers struggled to slow each bullet it, but after a minute he finishes
“Alright time to get going” He notices the pouch “Well I should grab this first”
“Ah damn. Same shit again this sucks. Well maybe I’m close to leveling up that would be cool” He takes the coin from the pouch letting it click together with the other in his pocket.
“God dammit that fucking sucks. Why am I getting so little XP? Is it like this for everything in the dungeon? Am I just leveling slow cause I’m human, maybe since I don’t have a class? Maybe ‘cause this gun does all the work for me.” Kyle he checks the menu “Hey! At least I got some kind of skill. I wonder what firearms is gonna do? Make my shots stronger? How the fuck would it do that? It’ll probably just make aiming easy right?”
*Those fights were both super easy, but I imagine a group would give me real trouble. Better accuracy and quicker aiming would definitely help me not die.*
Kyle struggles back to his feet. “Okay for real now I want to rest.” He sets off slowly trudgy along the path back to the rift. He takes a hit from his pen, but it blinks almost immediately. “Damn I just charged this thing before I left.” He starts walking faster.
******
Gisele straps the newly fashioned peg to leg with a strap of leather that has a hole at the end to hook on to bolt. The wound has begun to fester. Through pain she forces herself up.
She grabs the coin pouch from next to her bed. Without even checking she can tell the pouch is near empty, maybe enough in their for the next few days.
Her trip to the market is arduous, but she never lets the pain reach her face. While it is constantly gnawing at her she’s been through worse, but more importantly she must stay strong.
