— Sire Quinn Taelman III
MADI
I fought to contain my frustration over being put in the rear of our party—again. Tejón panted behind me happily, and I scratched his head. It seemed no matter what was going on, the bear was determined to be happy.
Hana looked at me, her bright eyes seeming to hold some unasked question, before she turned again and headed into the dark of the tunnel, the gunsinger on her heels. It was strange seeing the genial man holding two bloody blades. He looked equally prepared to open a throat or spread caviar on a cracker. The addition to our party wasn’t one I had originally wanted. Being alone with Hana was exciting. As much as she sometimes pissed me off with her recklessness, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking of her.
Though the tunnel was dark, a lantern hung from the ceiling, lighting our way intermittently. It was nice to know that Alysand had more flares, though. The idea of being stuck in the belly of a mountain made me want to puke. No thank you. I’d rather screw a porcupine than go that way.
Soon, we came to another fork. Hana whispered to Alysand, and they took the right passage. Again, I bit back my annoyance. It just didn’t seem like I was very vital at the moment. When the real fight started, though, I’d be front and center again.
A cold wind gusted up from the new passage, and I smelled sulfur and something like kerosene. No doubt from all the lanterns that were burning away. Who in the hell refilled these things anyhow?
Suddenly, the passage opened up into a wide cavern. And though there were no sounds of actual mining, a few dozen faces of grubby trow goblins looked up at us, pausing their eating. Everyone froze for a second, and I took the moment to scan them. All of them had the same creature marker.
Trow Goblin Miner: Ambivalent
Level 17
HP: 1530/1530
Abilities: Burrow, Smelt, Tackle
Alysand seemed to note them as well and stepped forward, speaking in a voice that I had to admit was straight from some legend. “Listen. We are not here to take your lives, but those of your masters. We will not leave here until they are all dead. If you would like to escape, now is your best chance.”
The group of miners stood and scurried past us in a single mass, fearful glances scanning us for deception. I thought we were in the clear until one scrawny worker screamed out in a shrill voice, “No! Masters good and powerful. You die!” It charged at our party, but Pachi flashed forward and pulled it to the ground, ending its miserable life.
I scanned the beast as it died to see what might have possessed it to act so differently from its friends.
Trow Goblin Miner: Zealous
Level 17
HP: 1530/1530
Abilities: Burrow, Smelt, Tackle, Call Alarm
Zealous, huh? That explained it.
Alerted by the creature’s Call Alarm, four burly ratkin ran into the cavern from a side passage. They wore leather armor augmented with iron plates. And though the metal was pocked with rust, it looked strong. Their descriptions made sense and promised more resistance than overworked miners.
Ratkin Lord Guard
Level 22
HP: 6250/6250
Abilities: ?
Finally, a fight I could join.
I used my Taunt ability and the beasts focused on me. Hana swept her katana out at one on the left, and Alysand ran to the tunnel the guards had come from.
The first of the guards slashed at me with a crude sword that must have weighed nearly as much as my axe. It was a miracle it could wield the thing at all, but as I sidestepped the blow, I saw it look me dead in the eyes. No matter. I activated Sunder—an upgraded version of the Cleave ability that I’d chosen after gaining level 20—and enjoyed the feel of my gorgeous new axe as it split the center of the ratkin’s breastplate. It fell in a heap at my feet.
Hana had dropped her first enemy already and was now turning on another. Pachi darted ahead of her and used her paws to pounce her target dead center, sending it slamming into the stone wall. A second later, his cries were drowned in a gurgle of blood.
One left, one for me. I spun my axe and ran at the beast who was raising his sword to slash out at me. His strike would be too slow, and even if I took a hit, I could regenerate quickly enough. But before I had the chance to land my attack, a figure bowled past me. Tejón charged the ratkin and tackled it to the ground. He climbed up on the guard’s chest and swept his claws across its neck and chest. Blood poured from the wound. The beast died almost instantly.
I laughed as Tejón looked back at me, his intelligent eyes seeming to ask one question. How’d I do?
Alysand returned, and said in a low voice, “I don’t think anyone else heard us. These four came from a small room at the end of this tunnel. It doesn’t go beyond that. We won’t have much more of this, though. Our element of surprise is about to run out. Let’s take a quick break here, then keep going.”
Hana and I checked the guards for loot, but only found a few silver coins and moldy food. Their gear was strong, but so crude it wasn’t worth the weight of hauling it.
Our party was still buffed from the Smokey the Bear Meat, and I was excited to see how much the XP gain might enhance my gains during the raid. We drank some water, cleaned our weapons, and continued down the passage.
The air around us got colder the deeper we went, and I had to ignore the thought of thousands of tons of stone above my head. Still, the air was fresh, with some ventilation apparently
