Elite Goblins are rare. Perhaps one in a thousand or fewer are born with a mana affinity or unlo unon css. But they breed so fast…
- The Unexplored Lands, by Lyeneru Silverleaf, Elven Pathfinders Guild.
Mato
It had been one of Ali’s wolves that had brought news of and Malika’s crisis and of the st of Goblins. He had been sure he was close enough to get to Ali, and still make it back to them in time, but the crack of thunder and the heavy thump of an explosion up ahead told him he hadn’t been quiough.
A cold prickle of ay and dread lent power and urgency to his stride. He redoubled his speed, charging through the dense underbrush, heedless of the noise he was making, until at st he crested a rise and saw the violent crash of furious battle spilling through the clearing below. Over a dozen Goblins rushed about, filling the air with their raucous hooting cries and flying rocks. At least two strode fidently among the trees unleashing staccato pulses and bursts of potent battle magi the far side of the clearing, an a oak bzed with hungry fme amid the splintered remains of its neighbors.
A Warband!
and Malika were woefully outmatched. Three giant Goblin Bugbears had Malika on the ground, their muscles flexing rhythmically as they hammered mercilessly at her bloody body with heavy two-handed ons. inned down on the far ridge behind a burning tree, dodging a hail of stones, fire, and lightning – out of pd uo e to her aid.
As quickly as he could, he set Ali down. “Usual pn. I’ll help Malika.” Without waiting for her response, he twisted himself into Bear Form and tore down the ridge and out across the clearing, r loudly to try and distract the Bugbears from the brutal pulverizing strikes they rained down on Malika’s unresponsive body.
I’m ing! He refused to believe she was dead, but the amount of blood soaked into the dirt and the way her broken and limp body bounced and jolted had his gut twisted into a knot. A glowing arrow whizzed by one of the Bugbears’ ears, but it paid the missile no more mind than the buzzing of a gnat. As soon as his Sanctuary aura touched Malika’s body, he felt her life force dimly flickering, grimly holding on uhe onsught of the steel spiked maces and greataxe.
Damn, her defensive skills are strong!
With the domain of his Sanctuary enveloping Malika’s body, he finally had the means to act. The two-handed greataxe gleamed from on high as the muscles along the Bugbear’s bad shoulders flexed. The bde bore down at Malika’s exposed back with all the grad finesse of a charging Bristletusk Boar.
Aook it.
Nature magic rippled softly across his aura, and the giant axe bde passed through Malika’s shoulder. But with the twisting of his mana, the ssh appeared on Mato’s shoulder instead, separating hide and muscle in a burst of stolen pain and a spray of his own blood. He stumbled from the impact, but his momentum still carried him crashing headlong into fray. All the weight of his stamina-enhanced Charge crashed into the first Bugbear, knog him bato his axe-wielding friend. Like herding angry boulders. The axe-wielder snarled and baded his staggered patriot, knog him sprawling into the dirt.
The heady rush of power from the pain and damage failed to materialize, but he refused to mourn the loss of the addictive Primal Rage. Desperate to draw the monsters’ attention away from the unsalika, he threw everything he had at them; a great horizontal Swipe attack with his right paw, empowered with Brutal Restoration.
Out of the er of his eye he saw the nimble fshes of green-scaled kobolds zipping across the clearing and heard the soft swishing sizzle of Are Bolts overhead. Ali wasted no time.
It was the first time he had used his Bestial bat in battle. Blood soaked his fur as his green spell-wreathed cws raked across all three Bugbears in a bloody arc – a siack more powerful than any he had ever unleashed – at least that he remembered. His band precision were off the charts and all three Bugbears turned on him with furious snarls and angry roars, ign the downed Malika.
The gleam of heavy steel reflected from the swinging terattacks and Mato hunkered down, brag himself. He pulsed stamina into his new mastery skill, meeting the mace strikes with the heavy hide on his shoulders and catg the haft of the greataxe with a pnted f. He wi the shock of heavy impact, but the precision of his blocks had protected his vitals from critical damage. His opening attack had already established a powerful pulse of his restoration magic which settled in and began repairing his body from all the damage he had chosen to take.
Perfect, right where I want you! He circled back, drawing the Bugbears a little further from Malika, but he remained close enough to keep her cradled within his aura, fog on blog as many attacks as possible. He could not heal her directly, but his new advanced regeion should hopefully help get her ba her feet.
e o up! Heal! His skill assive and didn’t take any mana, but regeion was naturally far slower than her direct healing. Against such ferocious and powerful oppos, he was only going to st so long before he would need Malika’s help.
The Goblin Bugbears terattacked, ganging up on him. With shuttural shouts and grunts, they drew a focused barrage of rocks from their annoying friends hiding among the bushes and began to fnk him, drawing him out into forced openings. Could use a little help here. Ali? ? He gnced down at Malika, but she still y unmoving in the dust. It was obvious to him, having fought alongside Ali’s wolves, that the Goblins had a skill for cooperative bat simir to Pack Tactics, and he was outnumbered. Soon, their heavy ons began to break down his guard, nding powerful strikes, crushing and sshing at his body.
A loud bang rocked the forest, and the acrid stench of sulfur and burnt wood briefly overwhelmed the reek emanating from the filthy Bugbears. Unwillingly, he found himself forced into a defereat, taking strike after strike, and having to pay a steep cost in blood to nd his Swipe and remain close enough to Malika. But Mato felt a sensation he had not felt since he had fallen down that dreadful hole with Ali: a sense of etion. His mind was clear, and he was fighting a battle without wrestling against the rage for trol of his mind and will. Without the gnawing worry that he would e around afterward, having hurt his friends.
While his Bestial bat cked the raw potency of Primal Rage, he discovered it came with an ued be: his attacks carried a sense of poise, a precision or bahat he had not possessed before. His skill included proficy with his shapeshifted form and natural ons, but he hadn’t imagi would have such a dramatic effe his fighting prowess.
An arrow shot out from among the trees elig a high-pitched Goblin screeewhere in the distance. A sed arrow followed the first, buzzing in the air. Wait. If the Bugbears are angry enough to make the Goblins throw their rocks at me… they’re not shooting . Archers performed poorly under direct pressure, but with a clear line of sight, and nobody attag them, there was nothing more deadly.
I piss these guys off more? He grinned as he searched for his ce.
The two Bugbears to his left attacked simultaneously, and he used Bestial bat to bloe of the giant maces, defleg it off his shoulder. His bones creaked as he opposed the weight and momentum of the strike. It definitely helped reduce the damage, but the sed attack smmed into his ribs crushing bone and mashing flesh.
There it is! He saw the opportunity he had created with his blod empowered another Swipe attack, sshing crosswise to tear at all three Bugbears right as they lunged forward. The pulse of his healing magic grew proportionally stro the new infusion as the monsters roared their fury.
While the two mace-wielding Bugbears held him at bay, the third drew back his greataxe and with a grunt of extreme effort, swung it in a powerful arc, setting himself spinning like a tornado of muscle and steel across the blood-soaked dirt. The axe flickered in the dawn light as it accelerated into a whirling blur, slig at his fnk with every turn. His natural armor was no match for the Goblin’s powerful skill. With blood suddenly p from his body, Mato stumbled backward to try and avoid the meatgrinder.
Out of the er of his eye, he saw a small steel pole with ornate runic markings suddenly appear o him.
A totem? It crackled ominously.
You have been cursed with Lightning Vulnerability.
Oh crap! The totem exploded with a spherical pulse of electric sparks, followed by another, and another, filling the air with crag power that made his fur stand on end. The pulsing waves rippled out past twenty feet. His body spasmed in shod his health dropped precipitously. Instinctively, he took Malika’s damage, briefly doubling his own, and charged at her prone form, biting down on her left ankle – oo gently – and heaved them both out of the Lightning Nova.
Ugh, that felt like charging into a brick wall.
As he rolled to recover his footing, the forest lit by a deafening thunderd the whole world went white. Every single muscle in his body spasmed painfully as the Lightning Bolt tore its way through him. In the forest beyond, several trees exploded in the wake of the potent bst. His vision began to clear, and he found himself dangerously low oh, his nostrils assaulted by the stench of ozone and his own seared flesh. Urgently, he sed the area for his foes, finding only the axe-wielding Bugbear charging toward him.
Where are they?
“Above,” Malika croaked, her voice hoarse.
He snapped his head up to find the massive forms of the two missing Bugbears desding like meteors, their maces already beginning to unleash powerful bone-crushing blows. At that moment, Malika’s hand grasped his hind paw, and her magic tore its way through him in a burning rush, instantaneously mending serious injuries and closing wounds.
The power of her magic had barely run its course, whewo Bugbears smmed into the ground beside him, maces whipping down. He braced to block, but the sheer power of the ued axe sweeping in from the side staggered him, knog him into the ground with enough forake him bouhe most vicious of the Bugbears cackled evilly, clearly pleased with his rea as he drew back the massive axe for another devastating attack.
“I got your back,” Malika announced, as she got unsteadily to her feet. “Thanks for the stamina regeion.”
Mato huffed, dipping his head to aowledge her, and from the trees in the distance, he heard ’s voice shouting, “Shama!”
Mato shook his head to clear it, getting back to his feet. Sounds like they got the Fire Mage. His efforts to draw attention away from must have worked. As Malika began to dance, her magic flickered and fshed in time with her punches, and Mato simply grinned as he unched his terattack.
Oh, it’s on now!
Aliandra
Ali stumbled, catg herself against the trunk of a rge oak as Mato, in his haste to rush to the rescue, dumped her rather roughly to the ground. Then, with a cryptid vague decration, he shifted and charged off. Shortest tactical discussion ever, she so herself. Typical. Ali immediately summoned a barrier and hunkered down behind it, surveying the battlefield. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of Malika sprawled helplessly on the ground, uhe onsught of enormous heavy ons, but Mato was already tearing toward her.
Warrior – Bugbear – level 16-17 x3Mage – Goblin – level ?? (Fire)Shaman – Goblin – level 19 (Lightning)
That reeks of trouble.
Movement in the bushes behind the mage and the shaman drew Ali’s attention. ingly hidden in the undergrowth, wicked green snarling faces popped up briefly, throwing stones into the fray with uny accuracy, or even ung them from makeshift leather slings. Their habit of dang in and out of cover made it impossible for Ali to get an accurate t.
Usual pn, huh? Oozing with style and finesse.
This was nothing like their usual situation down in the ruins, but Ali uood Mato’s thinking instantly. I always get the Fire Mage. Even though the green Goblin looked nothing like the red-scaled Kobolds, the magic Firebolts flying from his fingers, and the burning forest were more than enough for her. The urgency of log down the Fire Mage as fast as possible had been a lesson she had learhrough blood and burned flesh. And this one’s bee alone for far too long already.
She aimed her hand up over the rim of her barrier and began lofting her Are Bolts into the air, homing in on the Goblin mage. He gred at her with hate-filled eyes and immediately lit his entire body on fire. Ali’s eyes widened in surprise; the Kobolds had never dohat. But then the mage began to cackle and hunched over his hands to jure an intense ball of fire that Ali instantaneously reized as a Fireball.
While her Are Bolts flew, she directed her minions, sending her wolf pack after the Sgers and Skirmishers lobbing their stones from the undergrowth, relying on her Martial Insight seo know precisely where the wolves were.
“Kill the Fire Mage,” she ordered, and her rogues slunk off without ever breaking stealth.
Ali turo the two green-scaled Kobold warriors fnking her and pointed. “You guys attack that shaman.”
“Yes, A Mistress.” Both warriors sprinted off, tails swishing across the dirt of the forest floor, keeping them upright and agile. Ali wasn’t quite sure what the lightning shaman was capable of but leaving it aloo work its mischief seemed like an awful idea.
The shaman mimed a throwiure, and a small metal pole appeared somewhere between the Goblins and her advang Kobolds with a bright fsh of mana. The strange pole had shapes and runes carved into it and it crackled with a brilliant magical energy as soon as it pself into the ground. Her two Kobold warriors were suddenly caught in a five-meter radius of pulsing waves of sheet lightning. They twitched spasmodically with each pulse as they struggled to retreat.
Ali checked in on her Martial Insight e, sensing the three stealthed rogues skirting the edges of the devastating Lightning Nova.
A thundercp split the air as a huge bolt of lightning tore into her twling Kobold warriors. Oh no. That was much worse than I imagined.
Distracted as Ali was with the powerful lightning magid the fate of her warriors, she missed the pletion of the Fire Mage’s spell. She yelped as the Fireball struck the ter of her barrier, detonating with deafening power that ripped through the nearby trees. The sheer force of the mage’s magic shook the ground with a destructive shockwave, bsting out an inferno of heat and angry red fme that filled Ali’s vision. Crouched behind her barrier, gasping for breath in the instantly superheated air, Ali was heless shocked to find her barrier had blocked the explosion with only a few small cracks appearing along the edges. A wastend of splirees, scorched earth, and burning branches spread out before her, leaving her huddled iiny shadow of prote cast by her barrier.
She restarted her Are Bolt volley, which had been interrupted by the ued Fireball. A loud screech from the Fire Mage echoed across the battle as his blood suddenly sprayed into the air. Ali’s three dark, leather-cd Kobues all appeared simultaneously behind him, stabbing viciously. Her rogues ighe fire that wreathed the mage, but Ali could tell they were being burned by it as the shroud of fmes he wore like a cloak reacted with bursts and fres in respoo each dagger strike.
The Goblin Fire Mage’s body shimmered with intense heat, and he vanished, suddenly appearing over teers away, leaving a burning trail across the ground. Her rogues chased him while her Are Bolts flipped around in the air, redireg mid-flight. The mage spun and a bzing inferno of fme shot out from his hands in a short arc immediately in front of his body. The tinuous r fme caught her rogues by surprise, and they dove sideways to escape it. One of the Kobolds was not quite nimble enough and its entire body caught on fire as the mage rapidly ied it with his magic. The mage turned, hopping up and down and cag wildly as he directed his fme at the advang Kobolds to hold them at bay. From the shadows of the forest, three brilliant arrows streaked out, flying across the clearing to bury themselves in the mage’s back. Ali breathed a sigh of relief as the Goblin stumbled and the inferno snuffed out. Her two remaining Kobues leapt on the downed Goblin, daggers flickering as they aerated its lungs and neck repeatedly, blood flig off their busy bdes.
A few seds ter, the soft sound of a chime echoed in Ali’s mind. Yes! Got him!
“Shama!” shouted.
He’s alive! Just in case his arrows hadn’t been a dead giveaway, his voice carried across the clearing suggesting a way to coordiheir attacks.
Ali turned her attention to the sed elite Goblin. The shaman seemed incredibly robust in her mail shirt, hunkered behind a buckler, and shing out with a short mace. Despite the efforts of Ali’s warriors, the Goblin seemed hardly the worse for wear. As she watched, her Kobold struck the shield causing a retaliation of intense white sparks that arced to the sword, making the Kobold jerk sideways into the blurring speed of a lightning-ented mace that caved in the side of his head.
Direg her rogues from afar, Ali unched her golden Are Bolts from her distant vantage point up on the ridge. They flew high and fast, arg down to strike the shaman from above. Meantime, ’s arrows spit out in a steady stream, punishing any green face that had the temerity to poke up out of the bushes. As soon as the bolts struck, the shaman turned her dark eyes on Ali, and her lips mouthed some unheard intation. A surge of mana fshed from within the shaman; her hands shot out toward Ali making the wooden bangles on her arm cck together ominously.
You have been cursed with Lightning Vulnerability. -133 to Resistance vs Lightning magic.Curse – Duration: 1 minute.
Oh shit!
Ali barely had time to throw up a fresh barrier whehundercp crashed through the clearing and her vision overloaded with the intense fsh of lighting. The sudden stench of ozone filled her nostrils right as her barrier exploded and her body was tossed like a ragdoll into the forest. She smmed into a tree, feeling something her back, before she colpsed to the ground, groaning in pain. A little more than two-thirds of her health had vanished in an instant, and she was certain that if she hadn’t had her barrier to absorb most of the Lightning Bolt she would have been vaporized.
Ugh, that curse is deadly.
She rolled asping at the jangling pain c through her nerves, and reflexively threw up a precautionary barrier. Blinking at the afterimages on her retinas, she gazed through her barrier to see her rogues and her warrior still engaged with the shaman. The y Goblin had thrown down anhtning Nova totem and was using it to protect her back while she engaged all three of Ali’s Kobolds with her lightning-enhanced mad shield bo. Every time her Kobolds were blocked, Ali saw their bodies spasm from the retaliatory lightning strikes as the forest echoed to the rapid crack of lightning discharges. From the way the mana flowed, Ali could only guess that the mace attacks were magically accelerated too.
Ali huddled behind the tree and her magical barrier, trying to make herself as small a target as possible. I ’t get hit again. There was no way she could survive anhtning Bolt while she was cursed with vulnerability. But the shaman was so dominant that she couldn’t afford to simply hide either. Cautiously she reached out a hand and began shooting more Are Bolts into the air over the top of her barrier, relying on her magic to direct their flight. Aniant thundercp hammered against her ears, and the mana reserve for two of her Kobolds snapped.
“Get her!” She willed success for her st rogue while firing her Are Bolts blindly around the massive trunk of the oak tree, keeping the shaman fixed firmly in her mind as the target for her magic. She poured more and more mana into her attack spell, ears straining to hear the soft swishing of her magic over the din of the shaman’s lightning below. The occasional swoosh-thud of arrows from beyond her hiding spot told her was still fighting.
Suddenly, her chime sounded, and the deafening crack of thunder ceased. Cautiously, she peered around, keeping her head down behind her barrier. To her profound relief, the shaman y unmoving, face-down on the ground with several of ’s arrows stig out of her back, and blood still flowing over her mail shirt. The straem had vaaking the pulsing lightning sphere with it, and Ali’s lone remaining rogue limped away from the corpse in her dire.
“Attack the Bugbears, but be careful,” Ali instructed, and the Kobold chirped his acceptan the draiguage.
If he doesn’t get hit, Mato’s aura should help him regee.
Ali slowly limped over to where the Fire Mage y, taking care to avoid the still burning swathes of ground where his Fireball or iion magic had struck. The ground still glowed a dull red in pces, sg that radiated a palpable heat from the sheer power of the magic the Goblin had unleashed.
No wonder my Kobolds died.
She summoned a barrier to protect herself from stray rocks and stones, still hearing the screeg of Goblins and the howls of wolves as they tangled out in the dense forest. As she worked her destruagi the corpse, she studied the rest of the battle. To her intense relief, Malika and fighting, aween her and Mato they had already killed one of the Bugbears. Her remaining Kobue darted bad forth, stabbing both of the remaining Bugbears indiscriminately. She puzzled over it for a moment, before remembering that he had poisoned his daggers.
It’s probably more effit to hit them both, she reasoned, a subtle trickle of insight flowing into her mind at the sight. She didn’t know what effect the poison might have on a Goblin stitution, especially one so big as a Bugbear, but she hoped her Kobold knew what he was doing.
’s brilliant arrow flew from the trees and struck the Bugbear wielding the greataxe. At once, Ali shifted to the same target, following the strategy lessons Malika had give the start. The faster we kill it, the less it hit us, she had said. She fired Are Bolts out across the clearing to sm into the broad bad bulging muscles of the Bugbear, burning through e-brown fur and leaving small wisps of smoke rising from the impact marks.
Her body was beginning to tremble from the aftereffects of the lightning magid her severe injuries, causing her are magic to fire out at strange angles. I hope nobody sees that, she thought, relieved to find her magic correg the flight path automatically.
When the Bugbear dropped, the st remaining ourned and fled, sending a surge of panic rushing through Ali’s veins. She fired her Are Bolts tinuously, wishing for the first time that she still had Grasping Roots to stop the Goblin before it escaped and found moblins to rally around. ’s arrows flew in rapid succession as he too decided it wasn’t safe to let the Bugbear escape. It made it all the way across the clearing before they dropped it.
Ali sunk to the ground, just breathing heavily, sighing in relief as the others cheered.
Ugh, my everything hurts.
Yroup has defeated Fire Mage – Goblin – level 21 (Fire).Yroup has defeated Storm Shaman – Goblin – level 19 (Lightning).Yroup has defeated Axe Brute – Bugbear – level 17.Yroup has defeated Mace Brute – Bugbear – level 16 x2.Yroup has defeated Skirmisher – Goblin – level 2-5 x5.Yroup has defeated Sger – Goblin – level 1-3 x3.
This was far harder than the Kobolds, she thought, remembering her and Mato’s final battle to leave the ruins.
There had been four of them this time and still, it had been insane and terrifying; even though she and Mato were far stronger after their underground ordeal.
She studied the notification for the shaman. Storm Shaman. It had been incredibly robust and its magic powerful. Fortunately, Ali hadn’t had to face the Bugbears directly herself, so she could only guess how hard they hit, but she had personally tahe Storm Shaman’s Lightning Bolt and had absolutely no desire to faother. And that Fire Mage had been even higher level – it was a good thing she had mao drop it quickly with the triple Ambush, otherwise, the battle might easily have goerribly wrong.
Grove Warden has reached level 15 (+3).+30 attribute points.
Are Insight has reached level 5 (+2).Barrier has reached level 12.Martial Insight has reached level 7 (+2).
Identify has reached level 8.
Look at that! Three whole levels! Ali sidered her thirty tribute points carefully. Down in the ruins she had almost always spent them on vitality because of the specter of Ambush rogues and the struggles with her Domain Withdrawal. Given the ridiculous Lightning Bolt and the vulnerability curse, she seriously sidered taking the same approach.
She sucked in a deep, slow breath as she tried to look past her knee-jerk fear response. I have lots of vitality, and three of my skills use perception now, she thought, before finally settling on the choice of dividing her points evenly among perception, wisdom, and intelligehe stronger she was the faster monsters could be eliminated – just like with the Fire Mage. It really was a bang act, just as Malika had taught her.
***
Name: Aliandra AmarielRace: FaeTitles: A
Css: Grove Warden – level 15- Are Insight – level 5- Are Bolt – level 11- Barrier – level 12- Grimoire of Summoning – level 10- Runic Script – level 7- Sage of Learning – level 8- Martial Insight – level 7- [Locked]- [Locked]- [Locked]
General Skills- Reading – level 7- Identify – level 8- Sculpting – level 2
Aptitudes- Languages: A Dal’mohran, Elvish, Dwarven, on, Draic- Mana (Affinities): Are, Nature- Tiny (Racial): The effects of Strength and Vitality are reduced by 50%- Magical (Racial): The effects of Wisdom and Intelligence are increased by 50%- Domain (Css): Your mana increases with the size of your domain, up to +100%- Domain: -10% maximum health per day domain withdrawal
Attributes- Vitality: 50- Strength: 4- Endurance: 15- Dexterity: 10- Perception: 31- Intelligence: 53- Wisdom: 57
Equipment- Body: Tattered Robes – level 7
Resistance: 67Magic Damage Redu: 13.75%
Health: 125/125 (-50% Domain Withdrawal)Stamina: 84/150Mana: 203/945 (132 Reserved)
Grimoire Imprints1- Verdant Moss2- Wood3- Crude Leather Armor4- Crude Dagger5- Starving Wolf6- Mushroom7- Stone8- Kobold9- Sword10-
timewalk
