Unexpected Enemy
In preparation for camping out I first had to find the safest place to sleep. I could climb up a tree and spend the night up there but what if I fell down in my sleep. Maybe I could find a cave and seek shelter there, however I doubt I’ll be able to find a place like that so far from the mountains. It was pointless. Wether I liked it or not I’d have to make do with sleeping on the ground.
“You wouldn’t happen to know where we could spend the night would you Pebble?” (Arin)
Pebble with a short pause shook his head and walked out to flattened out spot among the trees. He then raised his hands and created many magic circle and in mere seconds the ground began to rise and form a small hut. It was round in appearance with a small intense to it at the bottom. It looked oddly similar to an igloo completely made up of dirt. My jaw had dropped from the sight and a slight tear could be seen sliding down my cheek. I was so happy that I wouldn’t have to sleep out in the open.
“Pebble I don’t know what I would do without you!” (Arin)
He acted a bit happy from my words but Pebble was slightly embarrassed by the praise and was hiding his blushing face. I still don’t understand how a golem can blush, but that can wait for now.
With our home base secured it was time to grab some firewood. Pebble and I went around gathering as many sticks and twigs as we could find. We played them out into a large pile.
“Not a bad haul if I say so myself.” (Arin)
Now was the time to start our fire.
“Wait a minute…” (Arin)
I just realized, I didn’t bring anything with me to start a fire. All that hard work for nothing. I fell down to my knees agonizing over my my complete obliviousness.
“I can’t believe I messed up again!!!” (Arin)
Well nothing I can do about that now. Guess I’ll just tough it out for the night. With that I went into the hut and tried to get some rest. For something made of nothing but dirt the hut was strongly comforting which made falling to sleep much easier.
Eventually the night had come with only the sound of the wind rustling the trees. Although I was comfortable a strange feeling had me feeling on edge and made me get up quickly. Pebble had returned to its card form so I had my hand ready to summon him for what was about to take place. Then, out of the darkness came four humanoid silhouettes. With my right hand reaching for Pebble’s card and my left holding my dagger I was ready for battle. And just like that the silhouettes became more clear and I could see for myself that they were a group of goblins.
Of the four two were normal size for a goblin, roughly 3 ft tall, both armed with crude mallets. One behind them was much bigger being 5ft tall and appeared to not have any weapons. Lastly, the fourth one was dress almost like that of a mage or shaman. It was equipped with a tethered robe and welded a large staff with a skull and feathers on it. It must specialize as the magic caster of the group. This would be a tough battle. Goblins are much more intelligent then the other monsters I’ve come across so far. It was going to take every trick I had to get out of this in one piece.
I held my dagger close and charged at the four with all the speed I could muster. The biggest goblin roared and with that signal the other smaller goblins began their attack.
Using my cloak I threw it at the face of one of the goblins, blinding it enough to get in its blind spot. Once in position I swiftly plunged my dagger into the back of his throat, filling his lungs with his own blood. The other goblin swung his mallet from behind but in that moment I had already called forth Pebble and had him use his earth magic to fire multiple stones at high speed at him. The second goblin was taken care of without much fuss.
Before I could compose myself from that a fire ball nearly hit my head, singeing the tips of my hair. That shaman wasn’t going to fall for the same tricks. It continued the volley of fire balls at a consistent pace. I had Pebble build us a barrier of stone to defend against the attack. It was sturdy enough but it wouldn’t last forever. Then without realizing it the biggest goblin approach our shield and destroyed it with a single punch. I covered my face from the debris and made distance between and the dangerous brute.
I decided to focus more on the goblin shaman and then take down the bigger goblin later with one of pebbles magic attacks. It was unfortunate that the only way to the shaman was through the bigger goblin, so I decided to take a bit of a gamble. I charged straight ahead towards the big goblin with Pebble holding onto my shoulder tightly, trying not to fall off. The big goblin was strong but with him in the way there the shaman couldn’t hit me with its attacks. The big goblin swung both his arms with all of his strength, but before he realized it I had slid between his legs and began sprinting at full speed towards the shaman. The goblin shaman had no time to react. Just as he was preparing another fire ball attack I had Pebble use earth magic to shoot the shaman’s staff from out of his hand. With it defenseless now I took my dagger and sliced through its neck, decapitating it.
All that was left was the big goblin now. Enraged from seeing its comrades slain the big goblin charged at us in a wild frenzy. Out of all four of the goblins he was the one I was worried about fighting the most. The big goblin readies his fist to strike. From seeing how easily he destroyed Pebble’s earth wall I knew just one hit would mean instant death.
“Bring it on big guy.” (Arin)
Just as the big goblin came in striking distance the sound of thunder suddenly rang through the air. In the same instant the big goblins upper torso was completely torn to shreds. Its body hitting the ground as a motionless corpse. I was stunned to say the least. The attack that killed the goblin didn’t come from me or Pebble. Every one of my senses was screaming for me to run but my legs weren’t listening to my head. The monster that was before me was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
It was a giant feline like monster with yellow fur and sapphire blue stripes adorning its body. Two large and intimidating fangs hung from each side of its mouth, and with every move of its body small bolts of lightning were flying off its fur. It was a monster that only high class adventurers could handle, A lighting fang tiger.
The four goblins from before didn’t even compare to this disaster of a being. Me and Pebble would be lucky to get out of this mess with all our limbs in tack.
“Looks like my luck is just getting worse.” (Arin)
