OL - 04: The Goblin Chieftain

In a forest north of Tintagel, a comical sight could be seen. A wolf chases a frightened player in circles around a tree. One snarls and one screams, “Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God!” A burly player the size of a small mountain rushes in to intercept the wolf. He plants his feet in front of the snarling beast and bashes its skull in with his sturdy wooden shield. Leaves rustle and branches creak as a hooded figure descends from the tree above, plunging two daggers straight into the wolf’s neck. The wolf staggers a few meters and falls to the ground, letting out one last gurgled growl before disappearing in a flash of white light, leaving behind a neat pile fur and meat. A series of messages flash before the players’ eyes.

[Your party has slain a mad wolf!]

[Quest Progress: 25/25 mad wolves slain.]

[Report back to the hunter to receive your reward.]

“Was that the last one?” asked Merlin.

“Yes! Let’s report back.” FieryPebble replied.

In a cozy little cabin, hidden deep in the forest, a confident party stands before an eccentric hunter draped in a bear hide. The party presents him with a stack of wolf pelts as proof of their deeds. The hunter examines them closely and looks up in satisfaction.

“Well done. This should keep the wolves at bay for some time. As promised, here is your reward.”

[Quest Complete! You receive 5000 EXP!]

Ding! [You have leveled up!]

Name: Merlin

Class: Jester

Level: 8

Available Stat Points: 7

Stats:

Health: 340/340          Mana: 170/170

STR: 2                         AGI: 4

DEX: 1                        VIT: 2

INT: 1                         WIS: 1

CHA: 1                        LUK: 21

DMG: 5           DEF: 5

Skills:

Joke - Lvl.1: 10% (+21%) chance to make target laugh uncontrollably. Effect is cancelled is target is attacked. Can raise intimacy between friends. Mana cost: 50

Equipment:

Boar Tusk Dagger: +3 DMG, + 1 AGI

Wolf Fur Tunic: +2 DEF, +1 AGI

Bear Claw Amulet: + 1 STR, + 1 VIT

Wolf Fur Boots: +1 DEF, +1 AGI

Pixie Bracelet: +100HP, +100MP

Merlin was surprised at his own rate of growth. ‘Really lucky. Perhaps my luck is finally turning around.’ He thought. ‘How should I distribute my stat points; I wonder? Concerning my equipment, I should be alright for now. The god of loot has been generous today.’

The party graciously received their reward. They did not complain of a lack of a material reward such as gold or items because their bags were full of loot from hunting monsters. Not only this, but their levels had increased significantly in a short period of time. They accomplished in one day what would normally take a week of nonstop grinding to do. Several factors came into play for this to happen. For one, a normal F rank quest only gave 1000 EXP and would take a couple of hours to do if one was fast, or half a day to do if one was slow. However, each of Hunter’s tasks gave 5000 EXP and the party had done four of them so far, making it a total of 20,000XP. That’s 20 F-rank quests worth of EXP. This is not including the EXP acquired from slaying monsters. It was truly generous.

Another factor was the level of teamwork displayed by Merlin’s team. In the span of a single day, their monster hunting capability became comparable to a well-oiled machine of slaughter. Everyone had their own role and they excelled at it. Bors blocked the monster from reaching the members of his party. Robin dealt damage from behind. FieryPebble healed the party when their health became low. Merlin was the bait. The final factor in the party’s growth was luck. Neither Merlin nor the rest of the party realized this, but normally at least 10 wolves would have to be slain in order to receive a single piece of equipment. However, due to Merlin’s abnormally high LUK stat, almost every wolf dropped some type of equipment. Because of this, Merlin’s party was better equipped than a player with ten times their play time.

As Merlin and his party rejoiced in the growth of their characters, Hunter made an announcement. “You all must be tired from your last excursion. Why don’t you all sit down beside the fireplace and make yourselves comfortable. I’ll go fetch you some refreshments for you.”

The party sat down beside the fireplace and took a much-needed rest. Although their physical bodies were safe outside in the real world, the game was able to simulate the feeling of physical fatigue which was indistinguishable from the real thing. Not only this, the stress from life and death battles placed a great demand on their minds and the mental fatigue this caused was all too real.

A few moments later, the hunter returned with some tea and a tray of biscuits and set them before the party. The hunter sat down and puffed his pipe while he waited for the party to finish their refreshments. When he saw that they were finished, he spoke.  “You’ve all done an excellent job so far. You’ve brought me those delicious mushrooms from those pesky pixies which I have been loath to do myself. You’ve also managed to subdue quite a few of those wild boars and delivered their tusks to me—quite a burdensome task. I was particularly impressed with the way you managed to clear that den of savage bears. This was no easy feat. And your latest excursion into the woods in which you culled the mad wolf population is sure to make an impact on the frequency of animal attacks as well. Well done.”

“Unfortunately, I have not been able to fulfill my end of the bargain. Although I can confirm that the woodsman did enter the forest, I have not been able to discover his whereabouts. I picked up his trail not far from the hidden path where I found you lot. I followed it to a deserted camp, however his trail ends there. The camp is located close to a village the goblins have established for themselves after fleeing from their caverns. It is possible that the goblins took him, but this is unlikely because there is no sign of a struggle whatsoever. It is as if he just vanished into thin air. If you are hoping to find the woodsman, I suggest you prepare for the possibility that he is lost for good.”

The party became disheartened. While performing the tasks requested of them by Hunter, they’ve always maintained a hope that they would run across some clue as to the woodsman’s whereabouts, if not the woodsman himself. However, the danger they faced on these tasks made this more and more unlikely.

“Hunter, how do you know for sure that it wasn’t the goblins that took him?” asked FieryPebble.

“It is not likely. Goblins are clumsy creatures and would have surely left some sign of their presence. However, if you lot are unsatisfied, I have a task for you that involves the goblins. Although, it is quite dangerous. I understand if you think this next task is excessive.” He replied.

The party looked at each other and nodded in agreement. FieryPebble responded, “If there’s even the slightest chance of us finding the missing woodsman then of course we’ll accept!”

“Excellent, excellent. I knew you would.”

“What exactly do you need us to do?” Asked Merlin.

“I need you to infiltrate this goblin village.”

“What? But why? That is more than excessive. That’s suicidal!” Merlin cried. The party was hesitant to take on the task. They had always avoided the goblins who wandered the forest because Hunter had warned them that a single goblin was stronger than a bear and could tear the arms off a man as if it were the leg of a freshly roasted chicken. Now, not only did they have to confront the goblins, but a whole village of them too.

“Now, now, let me explain. I believe the forest creatures are agitated due to the wolves encroaching on their territory. And the wolves are agitated due to the goblins chasing them out of theirs. Now, perhaps the the goblins left their underground caves for the same reason. Something in those caverns has caused them to flee. Otherwise, there’s no way that the goblins, who hate the sun more than anything, would choose to come out.”

“So why not just go into the caverns and find out what’s threatening the goblins?” asked FieryPebble.

“Don’t give him any ideas FieryPebble!” cried Merlin. “If this thing, whatever it is, can make even Goblins run away, then I don’t want to be anywhere near it!”

“Shush you.” FieryPebble said.

Hunter laughed. “While you lot have been out; I’ve been searching for the entrance to the goblin caverns, but I’ve been unable to find it.  So, I need you to go to the goblin village and procure some clue as to where they’ve hidden the entrance.” He said.

“Still… I don’t think we’re ready to face such a challenge alone.” Said Merlin.

“That’s why I’m going with you.” Said the hunter.

Hunter suggested they take a break before continuing with the quest. Although the group was eager to continue their adventure, they could not deny that they needed rest. The group agreed to meet up at the same time the next day and logged off where they stood. Their in-game bodies flashed a white light and disappeared before the Hunter’s eyes, leaving him astonished. To an NPC, the virtual world was the real world. This is because NPCs have memories of their whole life programmed into them. Although the game has only been out a few months, to the NPCs, this world has always existed. To NPCs, players are a recent addition to their world and seeing them disappear into thin air was not an easy thing to become accustomed to. 

At first the NPCs thought players were divine beings sent from the heavens because they would appear out of thin air when logging in and disappear in a flash of light when logging out. However, the NPCs who represented the major religions in the game claimed that the Gods spoke to them and revealed that the players were not divine beings. Then the NPCs speculated that perhaps the players were simply using a teleportation spell. However, the NPCs who presided over the Magic academy, declared that the players’ strange ability was not based on any magic known to exist in this world. In the end, it was accepted by the NPC population that players were simply visitors from another world. They weren’t wrong.

Merlin took off his helmet and stretched his body. Although half a day had passed inside the game, it had only been three hours in real life. This was because time was accelerated inside of the game. Four hours in the game was equal to one hour in real life.

“Ow…I’m so sore. Let’s see, its 8pm. I should- RRRRRGGGGHHH!” Merlin’s stomach growled. “I should get something to eat.” Merlin left his room and walked into his kitchen and opened the cabinet. Empty. He looked in the fridge, only to find a single egg and some leftover rice from last night. “I was so excited to start the game I forgot to buy the necessities. Egg fried rice it is.” Merlin said to himself.

After eating his meal and washing the dishes, Merlin cleaned up around his apartment. He wasn’t a dirty person and his apartment was the small one-bedroom model that didn’t even have a patio area, so it only took him 15 minutes of cleaning until he was satisfied. After that he went to the restroom to wash up and get ready for his night job at the airport where he did entry level data entry for a meager wage.

He liked the night shift because it was slow and fairly peaceful with plenty of time to catch up on his favorite web novels and movies. Although the job itself was convenient, he paid for that convenience in the form of dark circles under his eyes. However, none of this bothered Merlin. He was a night owl by nature. Even in college, he was the type to write a 20-page research paper the night before it was due.

Merlin arrived at work and set up his workstation. Once he was settled in he opened up his web browser and checked his email. There at the top was an email from a company he had applied for:

To: Merlin

From: HR@UCS

Subject: Job Application

Dear Merlin,

After carefully reviewing your impressive resume, we have decided to move forward with a stronger candidate. Thank you for your interest in Universal Computer Systems.

Sincerely,

Human Resources

After work, Merlin went to the grocery store to buy what he referred to as “the necessities.” This was bread, garlic, onions, tomatoes, lemons, avocados, cabbage, apples, oranges, rice, lentils, eggs, cheese, milk, and a value pack of chicken thighs.  Merlin stopped in front of the beef section and reminisced about the taste. “I haven’t had beef in so long… but pound for pound, its 4 times more expensive than chicken. What a rip off!” He thought. As he stood there he saw a plump little boy grab a pack of ribs and casually throw it into his mother’s shopping basket.

“Mom, I want barbeque ribs for dinner!”

“A-again?

“Yes!”

“Anything for my baby boy.”

“Yum! Ribs!”

Back at the chicken isle, a frail looking boy looks to his mother with hopeful eyes. “Mother, shall it be chicken livers again or can we afford the legs?”

The mother checking her purse sighs with relief.  “My son, I had a good week at work. Let’s take home a value pack of chicken thighs.”

“Mother, is that alright? Can we afford it?”

“Yes son, I love you.”

“I love you too, mother.”

The mother and son embraced lovingly. Watching these two scenes Merlin could only sigh.

Merlin logged in to find his party in the middle of a conversation with Hunter. When they saw him, they huddled closer to each other and started whispering. Then, having come to an agreement, they all turned and stared at Merlin with a mischievous look in their eyes. “Uh guys, why are you looking at me like that?”

Outside of a crudely fortified village, a prisoner tied to a pole is carried across the shoulders of four odd-looking goblins. “Open up! We brought human!” Yells one of the goblins. The goblins inside the village peek from the gaps of the spiked wooden walls. Seeing the delicious human, the goblins inside the village quickly swing the gates wide open. The four goblins march through the entrance.

“Welcome brothers! Great work!”

“Out of our way!”

“Sorry!”

As the goblins march through the village, little goblin children run around them and squeal in excitement. “Human ribs! Yum!”

As the goblins approach the center of the village, more and more goblins start to gather around. “I’ll start the fire!” one says.

“I have some spices we can use!” cries another.

The goblins become busy and soon, the prisoner is covered in spices and a huge bonfire is lit. “Ok we ready to cook!” the goblins declare.

The four goblins shake their heads. “Not yet, wait for chief.”

“We hungry now!”

The crowd becomes restless. They gather closer and closer to the four goblins and demand that the prisoner be set over the fire to roast already. The four goblins try to back up but they feel the intense heat of the bonfire behind them. The prisoner squirms with great ferocity, but cannot not escape. His eyes are wide open and the unmistakable look of fear can be seen even through the tears that fall to the earth beneath him.

Suddenly an ear piercing squeal resounds through the air, causing the crowd to become silent. A path is made through the crowd and a goblin twice the size of a bear comes lumbering forward. He wears a feathered headdress, crude leather armor, and carries a massive club studded with iron spikes over his shoulder.

“Greetings chief! We bring human to eat!” The four goblins declare.

The chief towers over the four goblins, nodding slightly in approval. The chief turns around and raises his club. “Let’s eat!” he cries. The crowd cheers and jumps around in celebration. Goblins toss their children up in joy and the little goblin children laugh as they fly through the air.

Suddenly, the four goblins drop the prisoner behind them and brandish their weapons. The Goblin chief quickly notices this and swings his club, hitting one of the goblins in the body. Holding his side, the goblin yells, “Robin, now!” The smallest of the four goblins leaps into the air and lands on the goblin chief’s shoulders, holding a dagger to his throat. The crowd of goblins goes silent and the chief is frozen in fear.

“W-why you do this brothers?” The chief says.

“We want go home!”

“Then go! You know way!”

“We forget way.”

“…”

“…”

After having the location of the cavern entrance marked on their map, FieryPebble untied Merlin who played the part of the prisoner and Bors carried Hunter who had been the one to receive a heavy blow from the goblin chief’s spiked club. After seeing the party had safely exited the village, Robin jumped off the chief’s shoulders and disappeared into the shadows. The goblins just stood there unable to understand what had happened.

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