16th Felsite
Sasquatc----.....
Later
So, five sasquatches jumped me. Turns out my shield isn't that good when I'm surrounded. It's pretty ngosu hard to back away from a crowd when you can't use your legs. Getting pretty used to it, though - I have a nice new set of sasquatch bone rings to add to my collection. The irony of all this is that I'm probably stronger and faster than nearly any other goblin, but I just can't walk. Gods above, this is frustrating.
21st Felsite
After a bloody journey, I've reached the elven retreat of Mothnuts, in the hope of resting and gathering information before I head on. Not a lot of help, which doesn't surprise me, but the dragon definitely lives in that cave. Guess I'd better head on.
22nd Felsite
I'm at Strapnight, and it is, fittingly enough, night. I seem to have all my really big battles at night for some reason. Now that I'm here, I'm beginning to wonder if this was such a brilliant idea. For one thing, there is something in the cave that's glowing, and I doubt it's friendly. Oh well. Here goes nothing....
OHSHITFAIRIES---
-----
Rakust ducked out of the way of the annoying buzzing creature and into the winding tunnels. He had just managed to swat the creature when he heard a distinctive scrabbing from behind. He turned to find a tiny black gnome scrabbling down the path he had descended. Rakust readied his spear, but the gnome simply scurried straight past him and further down the rabbit hole. Realising the issue of light in the cave, even with his excellent eyesight, Rakust jammed the fairy's still-glowing corpse onto one of his rings and used it to light his way.
"Odd creature," the goblin muttered. He followed the gnome further and further down until he reached a dead end, whereupon the stumpy creature let out an unintelligible scream and launched itself onto him.
"Gagh!" Rakust yelled, thrusting with his spear. The spearhead caught the gnome on her wrist, severing the little girl's hand. Subsumed by bloodlust, the gnome kept trying to bite and punch Rakust, even as blood sprayed freely from her stump. Another couple of stabs and the gnome collapsed to the ground and stopped moving. After a moment, even the blood stopped flowing as well. Grimacing, Rakust tried to wipe off his face where the blood had sprayed.
Rakust descended further into the catacombs, dragging his useless legs through brilliant olivine chambers sparkling with veins of jasper opals. For several levels of his descent, green seemed to be the theme; serpentine, olivine, garnierite clusters. Then quite suddenly he ended up in a bright yellow tunnel of orthoclase, giving way to plain old diorite walls. Realising it had been a while since the lizard he had caught and eaten earlier in the day, Rakust drank from his waterskin and ate a bit of wolf flesh before continuing.
One further level descended, and Rakust came face to face with Ertal Heatedgem, the Treasures of Flame. The great winged reptile turned her black eyes on the goblin. Her iron-hard green scales shone almost as bright at the solid gold walls of the chamber itself.
Rakust was the first to recover from the surprise, throwing himself with his good leg toward the dragon and thrusting his spear into her belly. The spear glanced off the scales, but Ertal let out a cry of pain from the impact to her gut. She began to shudder, her body quivering in strange motion. Suddenly, she vomited half a gremlin carcass over Rakust's shield.
"Oh gods, dragon puke," Rakust wailed, stabbing upward with his spear. Ertal drew in a breath and Rakust pulled his useless legs in behind the broad cover of his shield as flames cascaded over it. Peering out from behind the flaming barrier (upon which the gremlin remains had been char-broiled) he struck again. Rakust's luck persisted, as the spearhead went through a chink in the dragon's armour and nicked her lung.
Ertal, used to a steady diet of slow cavern creatures and passing livestock and adventurers, found herself woefully unprepared for the exertion required to defend herself. She batted at the goblin with her wings but soon became so tired that she simply passed out.
Seeing the great beast collapse, Rakust saddled himself on her neck and let go of his spear. He began tearing out her teeth one by one, then turned to rest on her tail and began the bloody work of ripping off her toes. He managed to tear away five of them before Ertal awoke and threw him off her tail. Seizing his spear once again, Rakust drove it into the chest until it almost reached the heart. Almost, but not quite. Ertal roared and blasted the cavern with dragonfire once again until the front of Rakust's shield was blackened with char and the gold on the walls had begun to seep. The pair traded blows once again until the exertion became too much for the dragon, who slumped to the ground once again.
Rakust continued pulling off toes for a while out of sheer sadism, laughing in maniacal glee. It soon became apparent the dragon was starting to run out of blood, so he twisted its nose off and readied his spear for one last stroke. In the end, he settled for a femoral artery, cutting it free so that the last of the dragon's blood spilled out onto the chamber floor.
-------
It's done. Nobody can say this one wasn't me. I've taken some of her teeth as proof, but I'm too tired to cut up the body and it's too gods-damned far to drag it. I travelled a bit further down into the catacombs - they extend a lot further than the dragon's golden chamber. I don't know how far down it really goes. At one point I reached this long, descending tunnel that just went straight down in a sort of winding fashion. There's a maze of natural caverns at the base - I got jumped by a troll when I started exploring. There's too much down there for me to see this time around and by the time I got back to the surface it was already early afternoon, but I think I'll need to go back here someday. Now, though, I have my payment to collect.
1st Felsite, 367
Just realised I'd been writing the wrong month in my journal for the last month; one of the dwarves here at Prairiemerchant just informed me of the correct date. The population here's been rather heavily reduced, it turns out - apparently some sort of deadly mountain goat attack. Dwarves, it seems, are much less hardy than I was led to believe. Even their general's dead. The liason isn't, to my deep regret.
----
"She's dead," said Rakust, throwing the fangs onto the table in front of Savir. "Pay me." The liason had no trace of the smug grin from before - if anything, he looked worn and ragged. He picked up the teeth and inspected them.
"Looks like alligator teeth to me," said Savir.
"No, trust me, they're dragon's teeth. Now pay me."
"Why didn't you bring back the head?" Savir asked.
"Do you have any idea how big a dragon's head is? It's massive, there's no way I could have dragged that all the way here." At that moment, a young dwarf burst into the room.
"Savir, Savir!" he cried. "We have news from the elves!"
"What kind of news?" Savir asked.
"The dragon of Strapnight is dead!" the messenger explained. "Ertal Heatedgem, the Treasures of Flame, is no more!"
"Really?" Savir asked, raising an eyebrow. Rakust allowed himself a smug grin of his own.
"Indeed!" said the rather excitable young dwarf. "The elves have slain it!"
"What?!" Rakust yelled. The messenger let out a tiny yelp, but Savir urged him to continue.
"One of the elves there brought back the creature's head - it took two of them to carry. He's been telling everyone how he slew it with his bow."
"He didn't slay it with a bow!" Rakust roared. "I slew it with a spear! With this spear right here!" Rakust unslung Wolfbane from its sheath on his back and brandished it in the direction of the young dwarf. Savir stood up and clapped his hands together sharply. In moments, three rifledwarves had appeared at the door, weapons levelled on the goblin.
Rakust, seething with rage, lowered Wolfbane carefully to the table. Savir reached for the spear, but Rakust clamped his hand down over the shaft.
"You so much as touch her, I'll tear off your fingers one by one while you watch," he growled. Savir withdrew his hand.
"It seems that once again you jealousy has gotten the better of you, goblin," said Savir. "Elves have slain the dragon and you arrived too late. Or perhaps you were too craven, like the rest of your kind, and simply hid until you heard of the deed yourself, then plucked the teeth from an old, dead alligator you found, and sought to deceive us?"
Rakust raised his left fist, so that the rings he wore, made from the bones of those he had defeated, were clear.
"Mark my words," he promised. "One day I will wear you as I do Ertal and Narena, and the wolf whose bones made my spear. But right now, I just want my money."
"There is no money." Rakust's eye twitched.
"What do you mean, there is no money?" he demanded.
"It was spent," said Savir. "Have you seen the state of our home? The goat horde attack ruined it, slew dozens of our people. We suspect Elven influence, but that is besides the point. All the reward gathered for the slaying of Narena has already been spent on repairs. Fortunate, then, that the real slayer of the hydra never came to collect."
Rakust's grip tightened on Wolfbane until his knuckles turned a light green. Just before his will broke and he started tearing into the liason, Savir raised a hand.
"But, her Majesty is a generous soul and in celebration of the dragon's death, is inclined to grant you a plot of land. Not, of course, as any sort of reward, but out of mercy for your wretched goblin life."
"That's more like it," said Rakust, trying to ignore the slur. "Whereabouts? Somewhere with good fields? Good hunting grounds? Mineral veins, perhaps?"
"Even better," said Savir, his grin growing malicious. "You can have the very plot of land upon which Ertal Heatedgem was slain." Rakust's face fell.
"That's on Elven land," he said. "You can't give me land that belongs to the Elves."
"And yet, we have. Who knows, perhaps the Elves might even honour our arrangement? I'm sure you'll be very happy with your plot."
Rakust hefted Wofbane once again and the three marksdwarves cocked their rifles. With exaggerated care he replaced her in her sheath and turned to leave.
"But it doesn't seem fitting for a goblin to live in a shack who, against all proof, considers himself such a champion," said Savir. "When our repairs are completed here, we will no doubt have a surplus of builders and materials. Would you perhaps be interested in having some hired help to complete your home?"
Rakust stopped at the door and looked back.
"What's your price?"
"Let me tell you about Smospe Warbronze, the Ignited Warrior..."
Poll
16 (22.5%)
Author
Topic: Goblin Manor (Fortress) - Wardedhawks, The Home of Heroes (Read 17892 times)