Goldenhold
Chapter 45: Greater Versus Lesser
“WHY CAN’T THEY BE ELEPHANTS!” The goblins were fleeing in terror, from the raw essence of evil. While some would argue that their patron god was, the goblins had an argument against that for centuries. The argument was that Armok was greedy for blood, and did not care about he source. Also, Armok rewarded the faithful to a certain degree, like Amud with his powers and his sword. These demons did not seem inclined to help those who joined them, like some of the weaker willed goblins were doing.
They ran into many barricades of corpses, but Valican was always at the lead. The will to survive was a big one, and not only was he part of the goblin elite but also he was the HEAD of the goblin elite, meaning he was the best. Either way, the slower goblins acted as excellent bait.
With jewels strapped around his neck from the raid (After all, even goblins are greedy, even though they are religious, which Valican was not) he continued running. However, he slowed down once the point got across that there were enough goblins behind him that he could jog a little slower. Soon he noticed that only his soldiers, despite their armor, were the ones in the lead. He had trained them well, and answered the call of Amud VERY well.
He wished that he had skipped out on the opportunity though- most of his people were dead. It wasn’t a good thing to gain wealth for only a few lives, and it wasn’t like there was any bloodshed going on anymore besides that of the demons.
After almost an hour of this, he finally reached the shore, with much less of a buffer behind him. However, all the ships besides the Scourge were wrecked for some reason, imploded on themselves. He didn’t think Amud’s ghost would mind him stealing it, and he wouldn’t have issues with it being overcrowded- all the trolls were dead. After only a few more ran on, he ordered them to begin to back off.
The oars began to move, heaving the ship away from the shore. As goblins stormed out of the place, the tunnel collapsed suddenly, crushing many inside and closing off the seaside entrance. Not a single demon escaped, and maybe only a hundred goblins. Several began to swim in the surf after the ship, and many drowned from trying to reach it, heavy armor pulling them down into the grips of the ocean. However, several made it, maybe a total of fifty.
They sailed away the Scourge heading into the sunrise of a new day. He disliked it. He disliked it a lot. He wished it was night so at least he could hide his shame from his troops, hide the damage to his pride. They looked at him, knowing that this was his shame and defeat.
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“OH MY ARMOK!” A dwarf was suddenly struck down by the pincer of a crab demon, torn into pieces by the force of the body against the silver floor.
Things were not going well for Goldenhold. Even though the demons had to squeeze through the hole, more kept on coming.
Goldenhold was doomed, greed driving it to the end. Only a few had managed to flee to one of the upper levels, otherwise, they were heading off. Stonehand took one swing at the crab demon, sending it colliding into another demon as they exploded together, killing a family of civilians.
He saw an agent of the Zykor run by, holding a nice looking crossbow. He had a few guards with him, but they seemed to be fleeing.
He didn’t blame them. With silver melting, gold vaporizing, and skin being melted of bones, he began to slowly back up to the staircase, swinging one last demon into the ground before heading up.
There, he made his final few kills. A cow demon, along with a peacock demon were slain. Several took their place though, forcing him each time to back up a few steps, and lose ground. More entered than he could slay.
Three jumped on him, entering into a wrestling match with him. He snapped one of them in half, and hit another with a hammer. The last one he ran from. He had a scratch on his arm, and it was slowly bleeding onto the ground, golden ambrosia falling.
He sprinted away, running faster than most dwarves could in five times as long.