Kick the Goblin
Fwip by holyflpncows
We move camp away from the giant’s corpse.
Feng Da isn’t in traveling condition, plus everyone is exhausted after the encounter. I pull out my lyre and begin to strum. I let my fingers run over the strings, letting them do the work of playing a simple tune that I don't need to concentrate on. I should be practicing my magic or swordsmanship. If we run into more problems, those skills will do me more good than background tunes and tales. It’s been a long time since I needed to rely on my combat so heavily. My mind wanders back to when I fought more frequently, back on the ships, back before I gave it all up for… I take a deep breath and stop that train of thought. I focus my thoughts on a song I haven’t played as often and welcome the distraction. It takes until noon the next day before we come across a building with smoke coming from less of a chimney and more of just a hole in the roof; the entire building looks pretty slummy. It’s constructed of the same crumbling stone of the surrounding ruins. I try to peek through one of the shabby windows, but can’t see anything save the thick, discolored glass. Feng Da approaches what appears to be an entrance and removes the rusty spear barring the door. He leads the way in. To my left there is what appears to be a bar, to my right is a female goblin playing the flute on a small stage, and all around me on every available space of the walls are rusty, run-down weapons of every variety. The goblin stops her music and turns her one eye and overly large eye patch towards us. She immediately walks to the “bar” and for a second all I can see is her black mohawk hair above the bar until she stands on something. Zyon, Feng Da, and I all approach the bar. Arslan and the others wander and examine the place. Feng Da introduces himself and tries to sell one of his paintings he recently completed. I raise my eyebrow and glance at the walls. There’s nowhere she could put it if she did buy it. Qiq—as she introduces herself—does indeed turn down the offer. The refusal doesn’t even phase Feng Da. He tucks it away and orders a round of drinks. I take my shot and down it. It's nothing fantastic, but it takes the edge off. Shen Po inquires about the City of East and Qiq doesn’t know anything, but she does inform us that she has some patrons who might know more. Shen Po’s expression sags as Qiq explains the nature of her clientele, and he gives a heavy sigh. “They’re dangerous. Sounds like they could be lycanthropes.” Shen Po reports. “They’ll eat you,” Qiq confirms. I walk away from the bar while Feng Da and Shen Po try to devise a way to meet with these possible lycanthropes to get information while Qiq continues to assure them that we’ll get eaten if we try. As I approach the stage—a generous word for it—Arslan begins to get on it. “Arsl-” I try to cry out, but it's already too late. The goliath’s weight is way too much for the rickety construction, and his foot immediately punches a hole in it. The conversation stops and everyone turns and stares. I look back over at Feng Da and he slips some extra silver toward a pile already on the bar counter. “Arslan, get off of there,” I snap. His face is full of guilt and he apologizes to Qiq. Qiq doesn’t seem to care too much about it. Zyon comes over from the bar to inform us that we’ve rented the cellar as a room for the night. “Don’t sit there. You’ll break it as well,” I stop Arslan before he can sit in one of the fragile-looking chairs. We spend the rest of the afternoon planning how to handle approaching the dangerous patrons, if at all.As dusk begins to settle, Qiq informs us that now would be the time to head to our "room". She leads us down into the larder. I shiver as I step into the dry and chilly room. After we all make it into the room, Qiq closes the door. There is an audible click, and we all exchange alarmed stares. “Uh,” I begin, but before I can finish the rest of my thought, the door unlocks, opens, and Qiq sticks her head in the doorway. “Sorry. Habit,” she says and closes the door, this time not locking it. Shen Po begins poking around and finds a hidden hallway. Arslan and Feng Da check it out while the rest of us set up bedrolls. Not too long after we settle into the larder for the night, Fwip and Spark hushes our quiet talking. “Qiq is telling someone they can’t eat us,” Spark relays to the rest of us from halfway up the stairs. Her feline face blanches just a little and she says, “Well, they can eat us if they end up seeing us.” That pretty much solidifies my opinion of not approaching them at all. It doesn’t seem to sway everyone else, though.
Morning arrives and I wake to the sound of the patrons leaving. We pack up quickly and take our chance to catch the strange patrons who may hold answers for us. We dash up the stairs and out the door, ready for a fight if need be. We see nothing. No one. Not a single thing for as far as we can see on the flat, rocky land. How could they have disappeared so quickly? Fwip is able to hear hoofbeats coming from a southerly direction. We turn back inside and Qiq waves a sleepy hand as she retires to another room in the back of the establishment. After some quick debate, we decide to take the tunnel Shen Po discovered. Arslan and Feng Da reported that it went south, so it could be a safe, covered way to travel the same direction of the riders. I shrug. I don’t have any better ideas at the moment. So, we begin a quiet walk down a dark tunnel.
We emerge near dusk and make camp not far from the exit of the tunnel. I struggle to make conversation with Fwip during our watch. I’m pretty sure I can correctly interpret about half of the noises she makes, which is probably more frustrating for her than me. The sun begins creeping up and I notice something off. There are clouds rolling in fast. Really, really fast. I stand up and begin waking everyone, instructing Fwip to do the same. Just as Feng Da groggily gets up, there’s a flash of lightning. In that quick instant, the searing image of stubby creatures with rows of teeth that split them in half flashes in my vision. And then rain pours from the sky and the demons vanish. “Damnare!” I say, surprised and irritated. Shen Po runs up close to where they vanished and throws silvery magic in the area. Nothing seems to happen. “Damnare!” I repeat. Not good. My older spells would be effective to throw in areas and catch these invisible foes, but with everyone spread out around so sporadically, I have no guarantee they won’t also be harmed. That and I also haven't used that magic for more than ten years. I'm not even sure if I can pull it off anymore. The battle is messy. The creatures are hard to track. Blood mixes with the torrent of rain, adding to the muddy earth. I slash at where I think the demons are, but nothing connects. Then, pain roars through me as teeth clamp onto my sides. I gasp, and thankfully the creature's maw releases me as it falls dead. I don’t see who fells the beast, but I swallow the pain and leap at another that is revealed for an instant. My sword catches flesh and cuts it, and I stagger with it as it falls to the ground, vanquished. A moment later, their corpses lay on the ground. The rain beings to peter out. Panting, I slowly make my way back to my bag. I begin to clean myself up and rest. Arslan makes his way back to his supplies as well, near mine. I eye his sword and can’t hold back my curiosity and concern.
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