- 109 -

  New Item: Waterproof Ring: Poor Quality. 854 exp.

  New Item: StoutOak Bucket: Good Quality. 197 exp.

  New Item: Iron Skillet: Fine Quality. 367 exp.

  New Item: Iron Skillet: Fine Quality. 363 exp.

  …

  New Item: Iron Skillet: Good Quality. 254 exp.

  “Tenk-a yoo fur da fixy-mendy. my poons und geery-veer!” Sw?dgar said thankfully.

  “No problem. I think.” Pegg said, and he looked at Drew.

  “Happy to help.” Drew squawked.

  Sw?dgar clapped his hands and laughed at the talking bird. The rotund dwarf gathered up his pans and knives and everything that had been mended and trundled back to his kitchen.

  “That was more trouble than it was worth,” Pegg grumbled once they were back inside their bunk house.

  Drew selected his next two level upgrades, he spent his star points on his agility raising it two points.

  Of course they get increasingly more expensive. And it doesn’t show me how many more levels until my next rank up either.

  Skurr level 11? (16,481/18,000) Yes / No?

  “The crafting exp is great.” Drew said.

  “That must be a drop in the bucket compared to your combat exp. Right?”

  “I don’t want to use that exp for leveling. It feels wrong.”

  “You are a strange bird. I can’t complain about surviving and leveling.” Pegg said leaning back in bed. “And the beds and food.”

  “Must be nice.” Drew said.

  “I don’t see why they can’t know about your Mend skill.”

  “It leads to too many questions.” Drew said with a shrug. “Most folks assume I am a Demon.”

  “Ha! That’s funny. They must not have met you.” Pegg chuckled.

  “Have you ever seen a demon? I am beginning to think they don’t exist.”

  “Sure, you hear about them. They wipe out frontier towns, or high level adventure parties in the deep forests.” Pegg said as he dropped down onto one of the beds. “The royal army is called in, or the Holy Army sometimes, and then it’s taken care of.”

  “But are those really demons? Or just high level monsters?” Drew said. “See we fought this giant spidermelon near Aldermere and it wiped out a whole goblin camp. Was that a demon?”

  “Nope, wasn’t a demon,” Pegg said.

  “How are you so sure?”

  “You would be dead if it was a demon.”

  Vaylari returned then, she had a sour look on her face.

  “Bad news.” She said and dropped down onto the bed with William’s armor laid out on it.

  “I sorta promised Khermet we would wipe out the goblins.” She said.

  “That’s perfect, it’s what we need to do for the quest anyways.” Pegg said. “Let’s charge in there and get rid of them once and for all.”

  “The quest only says remove them.” Drew said. “We should scout them out and check their numbers. Odds are we can scatter them and run them out of the dungeon.”

  “You think that sounds easy but it’s not.” Vaylari said. “Say you surround their camp on three sides with your magic walls. Then the goblins will charge us and overrun us with their numbers.”

  “Those walls would work great.” Pegg said. “Surround their whole camp completely and we can burn them all to ash inside.”

  “That’s just shooting fish in a barrel” Drew cried.

  “How does a barrel shoot fish?” Pegg asked.

  “No he said it’s a barrel full of fish.” Vaylari said.

  “So you’ve already caught them and then shoot them out of the barrel? Is it water magic?” Pegg asked.

  “What’s this about barrels?” William asked ducking into the bunk house after another shift at the wall. He was wearing his gauntlets, helmet and breast plate, and carrying his sword and shield.

  He tossed them onto a bed and deftly unbuckled the straps and unequipped the armor too.

  “Drew wants to shoot fish out of a barrel to scare the goblins away.” Pegg said sarcastically. “It’s got the makings of a great plan.”

  “This makes no sense.” William said.

  “No it’s just a- my point is it would be unnecessarily violent to surround the goblin camp with walls and burn them all to kingdom come!” Drew exclaimed. “Couldn’t we just chase them out of the cave up the dwarfs mineshaft?”

  “Goblins can barely get a scout patrol together, there is absolutely no way we could get them all out in an organized way.” Pegg said.

  “And when they do get a mob together they will swarm over us with their higher numbers.” William said.

  “Our only option is to wipe them out.” Pegg said.

  We killed so many of them already, maybe I can capture the ones that are left before they multiply.

  “What if we capture them?” Drew asked. “William and I bartered some scrap metal from those two brothers, we made a few test cages but without locks we aren’t getting the notification showing them as complete.”

  “How will you convince them to get in the cages?” Pegg asked. “Some of them will fight back.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Then those ones will die.” William said simply. “The rest will comply.”

  “You could skip the cages, and make slave collars.” Vaylari said. “And, then the goblins could walk out of the mines instead of us transporting cages.”

  “A silver coin says you guys have to go to the dwarfs to buy a schematic from them. And one for the locks.” Pegg said.

  ”No deal.” William said.

  “That’s not what I was suggesting-“ Drew said but Vaylari jumped in again.

  “Alright. First things first, we need to scout out their camp. And plan our attack.” Vaylari said. “William see if you can come up with a quick slave collar. You and Drew might be able to create a schematic.”

  -

  Drew swooped down closer to the ranchers. They were crouched down behind an outcropping of stone.

  He had flown ahead to check for any goblin scouting parties.

  Vaylari held her small crossbow bolter loaded and ready in case any of the giant bats showed up.

  “Coast is clear,” Drew said.

  “Good. Pigra said that their camp is just off this way,” She said.

  “Let’s get a move on then,” Pegg said.

  William stood up from where he had been sitting. He was putting the finishing touches on a metal collar with one hinge and a loop to fasten the whole thing with a lock. But it would not give him the new item notification.

  ”No luck Drew. I don’t think we will figure this out without a schematic.” He said.

  ”You owe me a silver then.” Pegg laughed.

  “Not happening.” William said.

  The group had been waiting anxiously the entire time Drew was scouting ahead.

  “You know, I was wrong about you William. You too Drew. You both are turning out to be solid adventurers.” Pegg said.

  “Thank you Pegg.” William replied.

  “Sure. Thank you.” Drew squawked.

  “A little more practice, a sword skill, and shield skill and William would have the makings of a Tank.” He said. “You should consider joining the guild.”

  “I might just do that. It would be the quickest way to get my hands on materials for my next armor.” William said. “And the adventurers guild always needs blacksmiths to craft their high rank gear.“

  The group came around an outcropping and found an open area.

  What a junkyard.

  Trash, bones and refuse littered the ground in front of a series mineshafts. The group was wary of an ambush. But the area was truly empty of goblin activity. Thin paths wove their way through the junk to four mineshafts set deep into the wall.

  There’s four of these shafts that they are living in. Who knows which ones they connect to deeper inside.

  “Are goblins good diggers?” Drew asked.

  “No better than Ressians. Their size means they cannot swing a pickaxe as long.” Vaylari said.

  “They dig their tunnels smaller, so they are just as fast.” Pegg said. “Plus they make up for their size in other ways.”

  “Do we go inside?” William asked.

  “We are just looking.” Vaylari said.

  “We should block off the tunnels except for one. And see who comes out.” Drew said.

  “Agreed.” Vaylari said. “William’s sword and shield will be nearly useless inside there.”

  “Then the three of us go in, farm some exp and the stragglers run out to meet William.” Pegg said.

  They could become people again. Not just meat and bones and exp.

  “So is that our plan then? You and Vaylari and I go in there and flush them all out.” Drew said.

  “Then I subdue them and collar them out here.” William said, concern on his face. “I could use Hemut’s help too.”

  “Good plan, except you will be killed immediately.” Yandas said, startling the group.

  “Babe!” Pegg said when he saw the cute goblin.

  “You are going to need my help. Or you are all gonna die.” She said.

  How long was she watching us? I didn’t see her sneak up.

  “What do you suggest?” Vaylari said.

  “Me and the bird go in, one shaft at a time, bleed some of them a little, and get them to chase us out.” She said.

  Vaylari nodded.

  “If too many come out at once you all will have to cut some down.” The goblin said. “If they all come out then you are dinner.”

  “Could we get more help from the others?” William asked.

  “Not if you still want to capture any of them. You’d have dwarves tossing explosives down the shafts in a heartbeat. Those dwarves hate these bastards more than anything.” Yandas said with a laugh. “Except maybe a snobby elf if you found one.”

  “How about Gizmo and Bikrin?” Drew asked.

  “You are better off without those meat popsicles. They couldn’t fight their way out of a tent if it was made of wet paper.” Yandas said, earning herself a laugh from the two ranchers.

  “Alright then.” Vaylari said. “William, Drew? Go and get us a schematic. How many collars can you make by dinner?”

  -

  New Item: Slave Collar: rough quality. 324 exp.

  …

  New Item: Slave Collar: poor quality. 198 exp.

  New Item: Artisan Saw: fine quality. 887 exp.

  New Item: Artisan Knife: fine quality. 676 exp.

  New Item: Artisan Shears: fine quality. 756 exp.

  Drew bartered some mending and enchanting for the slave collar schematic from the two Dwarvish brothers. Yandas listened for a moment to the negotiations before she grew bored and slipped away to talk to Khermet and Pigra.

  In the end, Drew repaired and enchanted everything in their engineering kits. William volunteered to break down old mine carts, crates, gears and other metal scrap as payment for the metal strapping they needed for a hundred collars.

  The dwarf brothers considered this schematic the simplest version of the slave collar enchantments. It was generally used when transporting slaves.

  When I was captured, that cage had the same effects. I was stuck and unable to even open my storage ring. I was unable to do anything. I was sold. That shouldn’t happen to anyone. We will capture them and release them somewhere far away from these mines.

  They worked until dinner, completing close to 60 collars. Drew and William had worked furiously, seemingly racing against each other in an unspoken competition while Vaylari and Pegg spoke with Hemut about the plan.

  By dinner time, word had gotten around to all the dwarves that the Skurr was more than he seemed. Contrary to what Drew expected, the Dwarves were still happy to have him.

  Huh, nobody is accusing me of being a Demon… that’s actually refreshing.

  Pigra gave Drew a wink as he flew through the kitchen area to grab a plate. Yocca the comedian even waved to him.

  The chef happily served Drew a full plate of some kind of mushroom soup and dense bread filled with fruit and spices.

  Before William could step forward to help Drew with the plate, he used Mage Hand to scoop it up.

  “Thank you for the meal!” He said as he flew to an open table.

  Not bad, I guess Dwarves are more accepting of intelligent beasts.

  “If it was supposed to be a secret you did a poor job of hiding your abilities.” Yandas said. “I guess you and I aren’t that different.”

  Yandas said as she hopped up next to him. She sat on the table with her legs dangling off the edge.

  “Well you do have actual hands. I’m just a bird.” Drew said and waggled the fingers on his mage hand for emphasis.

  “Heh! True! Although I know some people that are more deft with their spectral hands than their grown ones.” She said with a wink.

  How…whoa. Not something I will be practicing. Well not any time soon.

  “Actually, there is something I’ve been meaning to ask you.” Drew said.

  “Shoot.” She said and leaned in closer.

  “If it’s too personal then you don’t have to answer.” He said, stalling. “How long did it take your tribe to remove the ‘feral’ debuff?”

  The goblin woman dropped her smile, she wasn’t angry, her eyes were sad.

  “You don’t have to answer.” Drew said.

  “Six generations of slavery, and a hundred years of raiding farms before that I suppose. But there is no written record before the last two generations.” She said.

  “What about your tribe, or is it a flock?” She asked him. “How long have you been this intelligent?”

  “I’m not sure. I think I was the first to break through.” Drew said. “Then a couple of the elders caught on and I taught them Common Ressian.”

  She nodded along, amazed.

  “You are a champion then.”

  “No, they kicked me out for being too human.” Drew said. “I wasn’t birdy enough, lots of crafting and fraternizing with adventurers. So they kicked me out.”

  “And now you are exploring mines?”

  ”Something like that.” Drew said and focused on his plate of food. Yandas watched him use a spoon to deftly scoop up soup.

  “So you met their leader.” Drew said. “The goblins here, do they seem close to breaking through?”

  “No, they aren’t even close. Their chief was still feral himself, otherwise I would be a queen right now.” She said and swiped his bread off his plate. “They are very far from their goal and I doubt that chief would have led them there.”

  Pegg spoke through a mouthful of soup from the next table over. “So there you go. If you don’t want to kill them then we capture them. Free slaves. Problem solved.”

  “I won’t consign them to slavery. Not even to save their lives.” Drew said, he turned to look at the goblin woman with one eye. “Couldn’t you take over as their leader?”

  “I can fight sure, as well as any other person can.” She grinned. “But they would never follow me, I’m not a warrior.”

  William stepped in. “We can only make the best decision that is within our power.”

  “We cannot stop them without killing them or capturing them.” William said. “So therefore the hard choice is capture them. Simple as that.”

  It doesn’t feel that simple.