The Land: Founding (Chaos Seeds Book 1) (6 page)

Congratulations! You have advanced to
level 2 in Herb Lore. Herbs are 3% more effective. Increased chance of finding
higher level herbs.

Congratulations! You have found Tiger
Lily. The colors of the flowers make you think of the pleasant heat of the sun.

 Pleased with himself, he laid
the Tiger Lilly to the side. Dismissing the screens from his vision, he once
again decided to wait patiently. After about an hour, he heard a rustling above
him and Sion dropped to the ground. He pulled a rusty knife from his belt, and
showed it to Richter.

 “I found a goblin scout. I was
able to kill him quietly, but if there are scouts then there are others.
Hopefully, it was just part of a hunting party from the
Azergoth
Swamp, but I do not like the timing of finding that foul creature while we are
hunting these sick animals. We need to hunt and destroy them, before they setup
an encampment. Will you fight with me?”

You have been offered a Quest:
Cleanse the Forest III. Sion suspects a connection between the sickness
infecting the animals and the goblins.  He feels that’s the two of you
must kill the goblins that have invaded the Forest of Nadria. Reward: Increased
relationship with Sion. A new Skill. Yes or No?

So the third link in the quest chain,
huh?  Richter had been expecting that the rabid animals were coming from a
poisoned bog, or a type of insect that spread sickness.  He didn’t really
see how the goblins could be connected, but the fact that he had gotten another
quest showed there must be some relationship.  It also would be great to
get a new skill, whatever that would be.  Maybe he could even ask for a
specific skill…

 “I said I would help cleanse
the forest and I will,” Richter replied.

 “You must be stronger than you
are then. The damage you can cause is not enough to overcome these enemies. We
must come up with something else.”

 “Can you teach me how you make
your arrows explode when they hit?”

 Sion shook his head. “That is a
race specific skill that only the Sprites have. It was a blessing of the
Forest, and the will of Nature. Humans cannot learn it.”

 “That might not be a problem. I
am not like every other human you have met. Just try.” Seeing Sion’s stubborn
reluctance, Richter added, “Please.”

 Sion took a deep breath and said,
“I will attempt to teach the skill if you will swear never to use them against
the Wood Sprites.”

 “I promise you that as long as
you and your people do not break faith with me, then I will be your ally.”

 “I can accept that, now listen.
You must imagine your mana flowing into the arrow. As in Herb lore, this is a
partnership. Accept the arrow as part of you and let your mana flow into it.
Use caution though! This skill can damage you as well. Once you have
Imbued
the arrow, the energy cannot be taken back, it must
be released. The mana makes the structure of the arrow unstable. The more mana
the greater the instability, the more powerful the strike, and the less time
you have to fire. Waiting too long will make the arrow explode on the string.
Do not wait too long to fire or YOU will suffer the effects of the explosion.
Are you ready to try?”

 Richter was suddenly a bit less
eager to do this. It sounds like Sion was saying the arrow turned into a stick
of dynamite, and he had to light the fuse and hope it didn’t go off too soon.
There was no denying the power of the Imbued attack, however. Stealing himself,
Richter knocked his bow and tried to imagine his mana extending from himself
and into the arrow. After long minutes nothing happened, however.

 Seeing the difficulty, Sion
said, “Imagine the mana as a field around your body, both imperceptibly thin
and massively powerful. Feel that field surround the arrow, and once it does
simply channel more power into the part of your aura that encompasses the arrow.”

 Trying again, he did as Sion
asked. Closing his eyes, Richter let his other senses expand. He relaxed his
mind as he did when using Herb Lore to connect with the life force of plants.
Rather than trying to connect outward though, he allowed himself to gaze
inward. After a time he felt he could see his aura as a deep gold with steaks
of a rich black, like old gold streaked with ebony. Once the visualization
would stay in his mind for more than a few moments, he tried extending this
field to encompass the arrow. He held the image in his head until he felt a
peculiar sensation of stretching, of suddenly being a bit “more.” Opening his
eyes he could swear he saw a gold tinge around the arrow for the briefest
second.

You have learned the skill: Imbue
Arrow. You can now imbue arrows with part of your mana to increase the damage
of that shot. This is a subskill of archery.

 Not wanting to blow up he
quickly shot the arrow at a nearby tree, and ducked and covered his face. He
didn’t hear an explosion, but did hear Sion laughing at him. “You didn’t
actually put any mana into that arrow, Richter! You did manage to extend your
aura, but next time let the mana actually flow as well. If it’s any
consolation, I’m sure that tree over there is thankful! Hahaha!”

 Richter looked at Sion
expecting to see a disdainful gaze to go along with his teasing. For the first
time though, he saw an expression other than contempt. It was there and gone
too fast to recognize, but he would have sworn it was respect if he didn’t know
that was impossible from the angry sprite.

 “Imbue Arrow is a blessed skill
of the Forest. The fact that you have been blessed to earn it may mean that you
are not all bad. Either way, this was a good start,” Sion said. “We will rest
here for the rest of the day. Practice your new skill, while I prepare some
poison for our arrowheads using the Dark Moss.” Sitting on the ground he pulled
a small mortar and pestle from the pack he carried. Adding a small amount of
water to the bottom of the bowl, he began to grind the moss. Looking up at
Richter, the sprite wolfishly bared his teeth, “Tomorrow, we hunt goblins!”

They left just before dawn, stalking
silently through the forest. Richter found far fewer animals startled due to
his presence since donning the Wood Sprite armor. Though he still made far more
noise than Sion, he felt that he moved like a ghost through the trees. They had
decided to follow the path he had taken to find the goblin scout, reasoning
that this was probably the best place to start for finding the rest of the
green skinned creatures. Looking around, Sion found the trail again. Motioning
for Richter to proceed slowly, Sion climbed into the trees, and moved along in
the same direction.

 The air smelled clean with the
scent of pine needles and the brief rain that had fallen the night before. As
Richter moved forward his nose was filled with the comforting smells of nature.
The sounds of the forest waking helped to calm his nerves, which had been on
edge as they stalked a potentially deadly opponent. He made his way through the
forest, trusting his small companion to stop him before running into anything
dangerous. As he did, he noticed several plants catching his eyes. By this
point he knew it meant they would be useful in some way. He had to pass them by
regrettably, the need for speed was all important at the current moment. His
appreciation for his new Herb Lore skill increased, however.

 Slowly stalking through the
forest for thirty to forty minutes, he came to a halt when Sion slowly dropped
down beside him. “There are four of them up ahead, all scouts,” the sprite said
softly.

 Moving to the left, they circled
around the area Sion had indicated. When they crossed a rocky outcropping, Sion
indicated the goblins were on the other side. Looking around the corner of a
small boulder, Richter got his first sight of goblins. Three and a half to four
feet tall, each was clad in rags and ratty furs. They were green with greasy
black or grey hair that sprouted in wisps plastered to their heads. Fangs
protruded in either an overbite or
underbite
. They
each had a rusty dagger or small club. They were sitting around a fire roasting
what appeared to be a large rat, bickering with each other.

 Sion looked at Richter, “Give
me a count to fifty while I move to the other side of them. Then power your
arrow and hit the ugly one with the club.”

 “I haven’t Imbued successfully
yet,” Richter replied in a soft hiss.

 “It’s time to man up then,”
Sion said. “One day you might be good enough to sprite up,” he added with a
smirk.

 “Fine, let’s do this! But which
one is the ugly one?”

 “Exactly,” the Sprite said
maintaining his expression, and then blended into the woods.

 Clearing his mind, he waited
patiently. After the required time had elapsed, Richter knocked an arrow, and
extended his aura. Counting his heart beats, he tried to let his mana flow into
the arrow and a golden hue began to surround his arrow flickering in and out of
intensity. Taking aim on the goblin whose back was to him he let his air fly.
His mana had not successfully filled the arrow! The gold glow went as soon as
the arrow left the string, but luckily it struck the goblin in the back, the
surprise nature of the attack magnifying the damage. The goblin fell to the
ground shrieking. The other goblins jumped to their feet, and began to move
toward him.

 A split second later, a blue
streak struck the middle goblin in its now turned back with explosive force.
Its chest exploded outward, and blood spattered on the ground in front of
Richter. The blast momentarily disoriented the remaining two. A second arrow
from Richter struck a goblin in the leg, while another blue streak ended the
life of the last standing goblin. Sion rushed toward the remaining goblin with
his sword drawn prepared to end its life.

 “Wait!” Richter shouted.

 With a sneer on his face, Sion
asked “Why?”

 “We need to know why they are here
and how many there are. I can understand what
it’s
saying. We just need to get it to talk.”

 “That won’t be a problem,” Sion
said with a grim voice.

 After they finally silenced the
goblin, they looked at each other, daunted by the task in front of them. These
four they had killed were simply the tip of the spear. A large company of
goblins had made their way into the Forest of Nadria led by a goblin chieftain
that the scout had only called “Big Red.” Richter’s comment that cinnamon was
always troublesome was met by only a confused glance from Sion. He shook his
head. The ignorance of the sprite was causing him to miss out on comedic
genius!

 Sion had been surprised that
the goblins had banded together. Apparently, the green skinned humanoids were
naturally combative. Usually could not be held together in groups larger than
eight or twelve before they fell to infighting. Occasionally however, a leader
strong enough or
viscious
enough, rose to power and
forced the minor tribes to band together. Apparently this Big Red had forced
several smaller bands to serve him. The exact number they didn’t know. Not for
lack of trying or unwillingness of the scout to “cooperate.” Large numbers were
simply beyond the intellect of the goblin. His counting system was limited to
one, two, lots and then “lots and lots.” Apparently the goblin chief had
gathered “lots,” and was in the Forest searching a dungeon for an item of power
so that he could then be strong enough to garner even more support.

 The mystery of the rabid wolves
was still that, but the goblin did reveal that there was a goblin magic user
that worked closely with the chief. The scout hadn’t been able to describe what
type of magic he could employ, but Sion told Richter that goblin mages were
often involved with death or dark magic.

 Richter looked at Sion, “Do you
have any idea where this dungeon would be?” The goblin scout has just indicated
it was somewhere north of their location.

 Shaking his head the sprite
replied, “We are getting closer to the boundaries of the forest. The human
Kingdom Yves lies to the several weeks journey to the west, the Serrated
Mountains are a week’s journey north, the
Azergoth
Swamp is a slightly farther journey to the northeast, and the Fire Tip
Mountains are to the southeast. My people do not come this far north normally.
We prefer the deep forest. The goblin indicated it came from somewhere to the
North and East, however. Let’s just start moving in that direction. If the band
is as big as it says, I will find traces of them.”

 Searching the bodies, they left
the knives and clubs as useless. They did find 3 silver and 7 copper coins in
various pouches however. Sion had no interest in coinage, and motioned for
Richter to keep them. Tying one of the pouches to his waste, it somehow felt
good to have money in his proverbial “pocket” again. Even if he did have to
shake bits of goblin off of the pouch. This Georgia boy just might turn into a
cut throat capitalist, literally.

 When The Land had just been a
game, one copper had been the equivalent of one US dollar. A silver was worth
ten dollars and a gold coin was a cool C-note. It meant he had just killed four
people for thirty seven dollars. Richter wasn’t sure that his mom would be
proud!

 Sion took the lead again, and
they walked back into the forest. They kept the river in sight, but stayed to
the deeper woods, reasoning that they could be running into more bands of
goblins if they were moving in the right direction. While they had dealt with
that band of scouts with little difficulty, Sion assured him that those would
be the weakest of the opponents they would face.

 As they walked, Richter
continued focusing his aura around the arrow, but not trying to actually invest
mana. He was extremely wary of Sion’s warning of exploding his own arrows. The
act of extending his aura was easier than the day before, but it still remained
to be seen if he could perform under pressure. He wished for a moment, that he
had more of the blue forest berries to help his concentration. After a moment
of introspection and pride however, he decided he did not want to rely on
anything small and blue to help his performance, at least not yet.

 Throughout the day, they
encountered a few more wolves which they quickly dispatched. Sion also detected
a band of six goblins, thankfully before the creatures saw them. They decided
to bypass this group, and stayed concealed in the underbrush while they walked
by. Four of the goblins looked like the typical scouts, but there were two
slightly larger goblins in the group with rusty cutlasses and leather breast
plates. Sion identified these as goblin warriors. Apparently they were
stronger, meaner and slightly smarter. The two companions waited about ten
minutes after the patrol passed before continuing on. Even though it was a
small delay, they were both heartened by the proof that they were moving in the
right direction. They made camp for the night at the base of a large tree,
deciding to forgo a fire. The low lying shrubs combined with the natural
concealment of their armor made detection extremely unlikely, and the night
passed without incident.

 Sion continued to lead the way
for the next three days. Over that time, they noticed goblin patrols with
increased regularity, always between four and seven strong. They stayed hidden
in the trees each time until the goblins passed.  It was slow work, but it
did let him increase his stealth skill to level 3.  It seemed strange to
him that Sion did not have a stealth skill, but he assumed it must be because
the sprite had a concealment Ability. 

 Early in the third day, Sion
came back from ranging ahead and told Richter that he had found the main
encampment. It was in a ruin about fifteen minutes ahead. Moving slowly now
that they were so close, they creeped closer until activity could be clearly
heard. Climbing into a tall tree to the south of the ruin, they were rewarded
with a clear view. The remains of white stone walls could be seen ringing a
compound the size of a large town. Dilapidated dwellings made of the same stone
could be seen scattered about with grass growing up unchecked. It was clear
that whomever had lived here had been gone for decades if not centuries.

 The village sat on a small
plateau halfway up a large hill. Mountains rose high above the village to the
north. Before the mountains, a waterfall fell down a cliff face creating a lake
in the hills beyond the village. That lake in turn spilled down along its
southern edge, creating a second waterfall that formed a small river. A second
tributary came from the base of the hill.  This small waterway extended
back into the cliff face through a large crack in the stone. The two ribbons of
water joined, and then traced their way back into the forest.  Presumably
the small river rejoined the larger one they had been following for the past
several days.

 Near the back of the compound
rose an isolated and large shelf of stone. A rise in the land created an easy
slope up to the stone ending in large cave face. Arrayed at the bottom of this
slope was where they found the goblin camp. Dozens of goblins huddled around
campfires arguing, fighting, defecating and fornicating wherever they wish.
Richter was no cryptozoologist, but it didn’t
seem
like there were any
girl goblins down there. Well, he thought, as long as they were making love on
each other, they weren’t making war on him so… play on playa! What was truly
offensive was the smell. Even at a distance, the odor was staggering. It was
like a pig farm and a frat bathroom had a baby, and then that baby ate expired
Velveeta. Choking back nausea, he and Sion backed away into the forest again.
They walked for several minutes, until finding a stand of close growing trees
that easily hid them from view.

 “How do we do this,” Richter
asked once they were safely away.

 “There is no way we can fight
that many at once. We must slowly whittle them down.”

 “How? Their patrols are already
too strong. With the element of surprise, we can maybe destroy one or two
patrols before they become wary, but that would still leave dozens of goblins.”

 “Do you want to quit,” Sion
asked.

 “No! I have already told you I
am committed to finishing this, but we need a good plan.”

 Sion looked frustrated, but did
not offer an argument. They sat there thinking as the sun passed over head. No
solution presented itself for long hours. Evening was approaching and Richter
was getting up to relieve himself when, looking around the trees which hid
them, several plants caught his attention. It reminded him of the Dark Moss.