He found himself in the middle of a burnt barroom, littered with broken furniture. “Charming place this,” he said as he looked for Karen.
“Everything okay? It took you a bit longer to show up.” Karen’s voice came from beside him where he could make out a faint shimmer.
“Stealth,” Alburet said, eyeing the shimmer. “I hadn’t seen how it worked until now. I was tipping the mage and saying goodbye, is all.” He noticed a blinking icon and opened it up.
You are now Liked by the Portal Guild
“Being nice to the NPC’s eh? Hmm, well I guess they are somewhat more lifelike here than in other games. Not sure just throwing money at them is the way to go, though. Anyway, summon the demons and let’s see what kind of trouble we can get into.” Karen said as she glided to the doorway still in stealth.
Alburet quickly summoned the two demons, “Morning you two. We’re going to kill some more goblins today. These should be stronger and tougher for us, but we have help. If you see a short, talky female don’t hurt her.”
“As if they could even hit me,” Karen’s voice said from over by the door.
Bob chuckled, “Another female, master? You surely do like the fairer sex. Does this one purr if you rub her ears?”
Rolling his eyes, Alburet didn’t reply, he just walked over to the doorway which was missing its door. He glanced out into a dirt street empty of everything but piles of burnt rubbish. All the buildings he could see were broken shells of homes or shops. Most either had no roof at all or only the barest fragments of one left. “Charming place. Bob, I found you a summer home.”
Tiny loomed behind Alburet, “Not enough fire. I don’t see anything to kill, either.”
Alburet shrugged his shoulders, “Fair enough.” He walked into the middle of the street to get a good look both ways. “I only see the ruins of a village and that’s it. You sure goblins are near here Karen?”
An arrow slammed into his right side, taking thirty health away. Stumbling back, Alburet looked the way the arrow had come from to see a goblin drawing back his bow for another attack as three other goblins came pouring out of the ruined house.
“Yup,” Karen said softly as she took off towards the house. “I’ll deal with the archer. Try to stay alive until I’m done.”
Tiny roared as he came out of the ruined inn, imposing himself between the goblins and Alburet and taking the next arrow to his chest. “I will protect the master,” Tiny growled, slashing his axe at the three goblins as they closed the distance.
Alburet tore the arrow from his side with a grunt before he cast Demon Skin on himself. He silently cursed himself for not having done it before he left the inn. Stepping up behind Tiny, who had the attention of the three goblins, he cast Retribution and Vitality onto Tiny. Bob started casting Fire Blast at the first target as a second arrow hit Tiny.
Tearing the maul from his back, Alburet invoked Flame Weapon with a thought and the head of the maul burst into flames. “Alright, let’s see how this does,” Alburet said, stepping around the goblins to hit the one that Tiny had aggro on. Noting the goblins all wore leather armor with chain shirts and steel caps while wielding swords, Alburet decided to go for a head shot anyway hoping the base damage was high enough to still get a critical from the blow. As the maul connected with the goblin’s skull Alburet chuckled to see the goblin wobble. Glancing at the combat text he noted the 460 damage caused by the critical. Checking the goblin’s health he found the level fourteen Goblin Searcher had 634/1200 health.
The goblin spun on Alburet, as he had easily outstripped Tiny’s aggro with the critical. The maul was awkward for Alburet though, so he wasn’t able to deflect the incoming slash from the goblin and took another 22 damage. “Sorry Tiny, didn’t mean to grab him,” Alburet hissed through the pain.
Tiny roared again, using his taunt to make the goblin turn to face him. “Be careful master,” Tiny said, trading blows with the three attacking goblins.
A scream and thud made Alburet glance behind him to see the goblin who had been shooting at them lying in the street with Karen on its back, her daggers buried between its shoulder blades. He glanced at Karen’s life, showing she was only slightly injured then at the Goblin Searcher she was fighting which had 698/1200 health left. “Bob, help Karen with her goblin then help us out,” Alburet called out before swinging again on the goblin before him.
The next Fire Blast went sailing down the street out of Alburet’s view as Bob complied. “Oh, she might be small but she is fierce. I like her,” Bob said.
Tiny roared again, his health dropping to half as the first goblin fell. He spun to the next goblin, able now to use his shield a bit more to help mitigate the damage from the goblins. Alburet reached out, reapplying Vitality on Tiny before following it up with Haze for the constitution bonus to give Tiny a bit more health. Alburet brought his maul up and around, going for another skull shot but the goblin shifted to the side, causing the strike to hit on the shoulder. It still stripped more than 200 health away from the goblin, which was a hell of a lot more than anyone else his level should be doing he was sure.
The second one dropped a few seconds later and as he turned his attention to the last one Bob started casting Fire Blast at it. Karen appeared next to him and dug in with her daggers. The last goblin didn’t last long under the concentrated onslaught. Tiny survived thanks to the two rounds of Demonic Vitality Alburet had put on him.
“As I was going to say before you traipsed off into the street, the goblins here normally run in packs.” Karen said as her health regenerated now that combat was over. “We really should have died there, but Tiny did an admirable job of holding them at bay. Thanks for sending Bob to help me kill the one I Ambushed, too.”
“Well, it worked out. I’ll be a bit more cautious from here on. I have to ask, was diving out the window with the goblin planned?” Alburet asked as they looted the corpses.
“No, one of my daggers got snagged as he fell out the window. At that point it was let go of my dagger or ride him down. I didn’t want to lose one of my weapons so I did what I had to do.”
Bob snickered, “So you like to ride, but not goblins out of windows?”
Karen’s lips twisted, “Ick, goblin riding is vile. Take it from me, I just experienced it. Now if Alburet here wants a ride, I might be able to spare some time.” As she said it she twirled her daggers around her fingers before sheathing them.
Shaking his head, Alburet replied with a smirk of his own, “I've seen what happens to those you ride. With that in mind, I’m going to have to pass.”
“Aww, is the poor demon lover afraid of little me?”
Bob cackled, “Oh yes, I like this one much more than the last one.”
Sighing Alburet turned to Tiny who was at full health, “You did well, Tiny. What do you think, should we just walk down the street?”
“I will follow where you lead master,” was Tiny’s reply but his eyes seemed to blaze with eagerness.
“I could scout the village real fast and see what we have nearby,” Karen said as she activated her stealth and shimmered away. “Or you can be the bait again. I don’t mind and I might even nibble you myself eventually.”
“You are feisty as hell, you know that.” Alburet said as he motioned her on, “Go find the prey. We’ll wait here for you.”
Bob snickered, “I think she’s winning.”
A soft chuckle came to Alburet’s ears as Karen moved off, “Be right back. Don’t go running off on me.”
A few seconds later Alburet let out a sigh, “She can’t be real. I mean, what kind of woman is that bold and aggressive?”
“The best kind?” Bob replied.
Alburet’s mouth opened and a finger came up but he paused, considered, then dropped the hand and closed his mouth for a moment. “Okay, point. If things were different I would totally see how much of that is an act.”