Appearing in the ruined inn, Fluff was waiting for him so he buffed up then summoned Bob and Tiny. “Okay guys, we’re killing goblins again today with Fluff,” he told them as he went to the door.
“No Karen today?” Bob asked, disappointment clear in his voice.
“Hello Fluffball,” Tiny rumbled, “I will keep you safe.”
“No Karen today, Bob, which means we’ll have to figure out another way to deal with the archers. I’m thinking I’ll go solo them while you all take out the melee.”
“I don’t like that plan, but I will follow it if you think it is the best plan,” Tiny opined.
“If we try anything else Bob or Fluff might take the damage instead of me,” Alburet pointed out. “Anyway we’ll check the houses we found goblins in before. The first house is three spots down, but first the buffs.” He quickly cast Demonic Haze and Demonic Retribution onto Tiny before they set out at a jog towards the targeted house.
As they reached the house a goblin leaned out the window on the second floor to shoot at Tiny. The arrow missed by an inch as Tiny reached the doorway, pushing the two goblins inside back to give the others room to follow him in. Two small sparks ignited on each goblin’s chest as Retribution did 10 damage to each in return for the attacks they’d landed on Tiny. Alburet slapped Tiny with Demonic Vitality as he ran for the stairs. He pulled his maul out, flames licking along it just as the Goblin Archer reached the bottom of the stairs. In a panic, the archer fire point blank into Alburet’s chest pulling an expletive from him and taking just short of 20 health from him. In return the maul smashed into the goblin taking away a little over 200 health.
The goblin screeched as it dropped the bow and pulled a dagger. That gave Alburet enough time to rip the arrow from his chest with another curse. The two clashed again with Alburet taking a gash to his side, in return slamming the maul into the goblin’s head as it had over extended the attack. Two more attacks were exchanged before the goblin fell over dead, just as the others dispatched the two goblin sword wielders.
Grimacing Alburet knelt down and looted the goblin by his feet as his wounds began to heal now that combat was over. “I really hate taking damage,” he groused as he tossed the loot into his bag. “Full pain immersion sucks, no one wants that. If they ever split the sensors between pleasure and pain, no one will ever turn pain up past maybe 25% for those who really want to feel like the game is real.”
Fluff finished looting the other two goblins, “I’ll take your word for it. The minimum setting is 10%. That feels like nerf bats, which is funny more than anything. I turned it up to 30% briefly. After one fight I knocked it back down to 20%. At 20% pain at least vaguely feels like it should. A stab is like a small needle poking you, a cut is a quick burning sensation and blunt damage feels like a wiffle bat. It’s just enough sensory info to make you react to it accordingly.”
“Yeah, now if anyone could convince the devs of that,” Alburet said as he joined the others at the door. “Oh, well. I shall suffer, not so silently, for my friends. The next house should be four down from here.” He buffed Tiny before they piled out the door and down the street.
The next six hours passed with them doing the same thing over and over. Fluff leveled and they cleared the village thoroughly twice, checking each house just to be sure. In between fights they chatted about little things with Bob occasionally tossing in a snarky comment. When they got back to the ruined inn the third time, Alburet called a break.
“Okay, let’s pause for a few,” Alburet said, leading them into the inn. “I have some food in my bag so a break sounds good to me.”
Fluffball chewed her lip, “Do you mind if I duck off for half an hour instead?”
“That’s fine, feel free,” he replied as he pulled out some jerky and a canteen of tea, “see you in half.” Fluffball vanished, leaving Alburet and his demons alone in the inn.
As Alburet ate his jerky Bob piped up, “I have been wondering master, why are you so different from the other two-souled?”
Tiny perked up, apparently interested in the answer as well so Alburet paused eating to answer. “Because I’m a special case at the moment. I will have your word that this information will not be repeated to anyone in this world or the demon realm in any way.” Bob and Tiny exchanged a glance before they agreed. Once they did he continued. “The two-souled are here for less than a day at a time currently, but soon there will be others like me who will be here for a month or two at a time before we have to travel back to the other world. Eventually we might find a way to stay in Alpha World for even longer stretches, but currently that is our limit. That’s why Karen and Fluff leave for hours or days at a time.”
“Ah, so the magic of your other world is limited currently,” Bob nodded sagely, as if understanding.
Lips quirked into a smile, Alburet agreed, “Yes, basically. However, the research behind improving the spell as it were is all done except for the final approval by the overlords of that world. I’m a simple test case.”
“Will you be leaving us then?” Tiny asked in puzzlement.
“I will be here for about another three weeks before I am tasked to return and report.”
“Will you be gone long?” Tiny asked, a worried note in his voice which made Bob chuckle.
“A day, two at the most barring setbacks,” Alburet reassured the large demon as he finished off his snack and tea.
“So where is Karen?” Bob asked with a smirk.
“Taking a few days away to deal with business she has in the other world. She said she would be back in two or three days. Until then we’ll hunt with Fluff or even, dare I say it, alone.”
“So did she let you ‘spar’ with her?” Bob asked, his eyes gleaming.
Shaking his head Alburet sighed, “Bob, Bob, Bob. A gentleman never tells.”
“Which is why I was asking you,” Bob cackled.
“Touché. However, still not telling you and that is final. Feel free to ask her though, when she gets back.”
“So Karen will be back to fight with us in a few days?” Tiny cut in, a few seconds behind in the conversation which made Bob laugh at him again.
“Should be, yes.” Alburet replied, then got up and started poking around the inn to see if anything was just lying about to be found while he waited for Fluff to return.
“Sorry I’m late,” Fluff said as she appeared, a little later than she had intended.
“It’s fine,” Alburet reassured her, getting to his feet. “You good for some more goblin slaying?”
Fluff bounced on her feet a little like an eager school girl, “Yes, sir.”
Chuckling at the image of Fluff in plaid skirt and white blouse, he shook his head, “Okay then, let’s do this. Tiny, come on over so we can buff you up, then we’re going to do another round of the village.”
They started around of the village again using the same tactics they had for the first six hours. On the second house there was a brief hiccup in the attack. They had gotten inside the house with Tiny holding the melee goblins while Alburet went to grab the archer, who came down from the second floor. As Alburet hit the goblin for the second time, the maul shattered into blue motes of light leaving him weaponless.
“Tiny! Help!” Alburet called as he rolled away from the gleeful goblin, who chased him wielding a dagger.
Tiny turned and roared with rage, charging across the room to slam his shield into the dagger wielding goblin’s face. Doing so left him open to attacks from the two goblins he had been facing. Alburet came running over applying Demonic Vitality to Tiny as Fluff and Bob killed one of the two sword wielding goblins that had been attacking Tiny. Alburet decided to start casting Fire Blast instead of digging the axe out of his bag at the moment. A minute later the goblins were dead, allowing the group to pause.