Whether it was a matter of sheer luck, my many years of running away from the many horrors in the galaxy that have wanted to eat and/or kill me, or the juvies not giving a frak about when they arrived at the destination of their 'urgent' quest, I easily managed to catch up with them before they left Frontier Town. The original trio that I spoke to in the Guild Hall were less than amused by my sudden appearance, mirroring my own disappointment moving forwards. Thankfully Priestess had enough sense to realize that, despite my initial misgivings and absolute lack of confidence in them I had previously displayed, I was still willing to offer the rookies my assistance and was grateful for my presence. The timid girl's sudden inspiration upon seeing me was all the convincing Warrior and Fighter required to let me join them. 'Accidentally' revealing my chainsword to Wizard while staring her straight in the eyes managed to secure the last bit of consent I needed to officially become a part of their quest.
As much as I wanted to be the one to lead juvies to victory as opposed to watching the fools lead themselves to certain death from a reasonably safe distance, the three rookies I originally spoke with were insistent on making Warrior their leader despite his obvious inexperience. Only Priestess saw the wisdom of letting a soldier with years of experience fighting on the front lines, as reluctant and perilous as those years were, and coordinating the efforts of an entire regiment of men and women that served alongside me. It was thanks to her showing this shred of common sense and some fear of facing the unknown that endeared her to me in the few hours it took for us to reach our destination. If allowing Warrior to lead this adventure turned out to be as much of a disaster as I believed it to be, then I would at least make a token effort to save Priestess from certain death, after ensuring my own survival of course, should the opportunity arise. It was the least I could do for a girl that seemed to be one of the few people on this planet with the potential to think rationally.
Neither Jurgen nor Goblin Slayer managed to meet up with us before we reached our destination, leaving me as the only experienced combatant in our squad. Warrior wasted no time in taking pride in leading us to our destination, completely disregarding how I was the only person that brought a compass and managed to find the cave our quarry was supposedly hiding in. The cave appeared to be nothing more than a cramped tunnel that time had etched into a cliff face within the forest we currently found ourselves in. As for the forest itself, it was only a few kilometers south of Frontier Town, quite close to the ruined village that would need to be cleared in order for the training facility I finished planning for to be constructed and a few minutes away from the village that posted our 'urgent' quest. It soon dawned on me that I would likely be returning to this area often once the training facility was nearing its completion to ensure there were no goblins or any other hostile xenos detailed in the monster manual Guild Girl showed me. As reluctant as I was to enter a goblin cave that day, taking care of a problem before it could fester in the future and become more of a pain to deal with later made the prospect of dealing with the goblins myself now instead of assigning it to someone else in the future somewhat more bearable.
If my squad was half as competent and twice as aromatic as Jurgen, then I might have been able to look forward to the immediate dangers I would be facing me. Unfortunately for me, they were anything but. "Alright, this is it. Let's go in and save those girls!" Warrior shouted as we lurked around the entrance of the cave. Whatever element of surprise we had was instantly ruined by his sudden outburst, and I swear if I believed I could have gotten away with it, I would have put a lasbolt through the back of his head at that very moment before he could sabotage us any further.
"Aren't we being a little hasty? We should wait for those other adventurers Commissar was telling us about earlier..." Priestess said, surprising me at how she seemed even more intelligent than I thought. The other three rookies looked at her like she was a tech priest attempting to consecrate a loaded lasgun without turning the safety off first, and they were just as willing to tell her off as the most unfortunate yet humorous casualty I had ever seen.
"It's just goblins, Priestess. You're not afraid are you?" Witch teased, making me dislike her just a little more for underestimating the enemy and insulting the only other person in our group showing any degree of competence.
Priestess almost looked ready to cry, and since I was not willing to let the girl be trampled over by a pompous psyker with an snooty attitude or willing to endanger myself by following the idiots if they chose to rush to their deaths, I decided to voice my own opinions on the matter. "I agree with Priestess. Not only will it be better if we wait for reinforcements, but unless any of you are capable of scouting the insides of a cavern without being noticed, we will be walking into enemy territory blind." I said in an attempt to be the voice of reason in the group.
As the only one of us with any real experience in combat, I shouldn't have been surprised when they discarded my concerns. "We'll be fine. I used to go hunting with my dad all the time back home, so I know a thing or two about hunting stupid animals. Besides, I've got a torch and you guys backing me up! Those goblins won't know what hit them." Warrior preached as the two girls nodded their heads in agreement.
"Right, of course we'll be fine! It's not like those greenskins can see in the dark, apparently have enough troops to consider raiding a village in the first place, and more than likely have traps set up for anyone stupid enough to invade their cave unprepared!" I exclaimed in exasperation.
The only reason I knew any of that was because Goblin Slayer was a man who knew his enemy inside and out. While he might have been a complete idiot when it came to most things, he was more than likely the closest thing the people of this planet had to a Magos Biologis when it came to goblins. How a man like him ever managed to learn so much about the greenskins, from their habits to where their vitals organs were located, was anyone's guess and I didn't dare to imagine how he came to acquire that knowledge. It was truly amazing how much that man could talk about goblins. I would have thanked him for telling me almost everything he knew about these mutant orks if he could have talked about anything else in the two days I was travelling with him.
Putting my meagre goblin knowledge aside, Priestess now seemed even more intent on waiting for my aide and any other potential help to arrive after informing Warrior of all the ways his plan of charging into a goblin nest could go horribly wrong. The others seemed to have not heard or cared about anything I said, making me regret accompanying them even more.
"Wow, I never would have guessed the Hero of the Imperium was such a coward." Witch said, dismissing my perfectly valid concerns with a smug smile that made me feel almost as pathetic as Spearman looked.
I wanted to retort to her insult with something impressive, awe inspiring, and more than capable of shutting down any further arguments with her. Instead, I simply told her, "Frak off. Let's just get this over with already," because I couldn't be bothered to put any effort into dealing with her any longer.
"I don't know. We didn't even bring any potions or antidotes with us... " Priestess said, still acting as hesitant as I felt and bringing up some information the rookies had neglected to share with me.
"You WHAT?!" I shouted. This was the first time I had heard that these juvies were this unprepared for their adventure, and if I had known they were lacking both a torch and basic medical equipment at the time, I would have never agreed to rush to their aid. Thankfully I had a couple of potions and an antidote tucked inside my greatcoat in the unlikely event I found myself in dire need of them. It's needless to say, but three of those four rookies had no chance of getting saved by my hand if anything happened to them.
"Relax, Hero of the Imperium. We have two awesome sword fighters, a martial arts master, a wizard with powerful spells, and a cleric that can heal us if anyone gets hurt. There's nothing to be afraid of." Warrior said, striking an embarrassing pose that I was more than likely captured in on one of the many propaganda posters I adorned. Seeing this outrageous display of bravado from the outside suddenly made me realize why only a few commissars and other intelligent Imperial citizens believed the scarce few accomplishments I could truly take credit for were legitimate.
"I'm not afraid, and I don't know about you, but I do not see these competent adventurers you are describing." I said, the insufferable rookie trio taking immediate offense to my jab while Priestess shrunk a little bit at my accurate assessment.
"Hah hah, very funny." Warrior said before Wizard could once again lash out in anger. "Don't let Commissar get you worked up, everyone. Just follow my lead and we will be Obsidian adventurers before we know it."
That seemed to be an inspiring enough speech for Wizard and Fighter to drop whatever hostilities had been growing between us and follow their Grot-brained leader to their inevitable doom. Warrior led from the front after Wizard used one of her spells to light a torch for him, wasting a valuable chance to turn the tide of battle if what she was saying about her daily limit of spells was true, and soon followed behind Fighter who decided it would be best to keep our entire vanguard up front instead of spreading us out evenly should the greenskins ambush us from behind. Priestess almost followed them without a second thought, and I myself believed she would once again find herself swept up in their momentum and helpless to fight back against the suicidally brash rookies, but instead she looked to me for guidance. The timid little girl was truly proving that whatever combat experience she lacked, her abundance of common sense (for the denizens of this planet) was more than adequate to compensate for it.
"What do you think we should do, Commissar?" The blonde juvie asked me, looking at me as if I was The Emperor himself in her moment of need.
"I say we just let the goblins take care of those idiots and we clean up what's left once my aide arrives." I muttered underneath my breath, but the horrified look on Priestess' face told me I voiced my true feelings a bit louder than I should have.
"Sorry, I'm far too used to having Jurgen with me instead of someone else who isn't used to my gallows humor." I quickly said to clear the air between us. Priestess relaxed a little, but I could tell from the way her staff was rattling in her slender arms that she did not find my comment funny in any way. "Anyways, we should probably maintain the formation that Warrior is planning to use. I'll take the rear, you should stay between me and Wizard so the both of us can protect you." I told her.
That, of course, was complete grox-shite. I was generally never one to readily volunteer myself for a dangerous mission without having a few warm bodies between me and whatever enemies I was facing if I could help it, but I felt that putting myself in a position where I could readily abandon the three idiots in the lead and possibly take Priestess with me if everything went to the Warp would be far outweighed the risk of getting ambushed from behind. I had no confidence in these rookies' abilities whatsoever, so keeping a line of retreat open seemed far more useful than shielding myself with a couple of children who couldn't even reach my shoulders.
It was as I placed a firm hand on Priestess' shoulder to reassure her that everything would be fine that Warrior finally noticed that neither of us were following him. He was quick to let us know that he had only just noticed he was leaving without us after running into a dead end, or so I would soon learn afterwards. "Hey, don't just wait there you two! Get over here so we can slay some goblins already." He shouted.
Priestess still looked uneasy about entering a cave filled with greenskins, just like how I myself felt hesitant to do so without my trusty aide backing me up. Still, despite my itching palms and every ounce of common sense I possessed screaming at me to run away as fast as I could, I strode into the cave as boldly as I dared so that Warrior wouldn't continue calling me a coward for taking the time to study it further. While it was unlikely anyone would take that brat seriously, on the off chance he did survive this adventure and someone did believe I was afraid to join him on a goblin hunt, the damage to the reputation my duel had given me would be irreparable. As much as I hated my current predicament, I had no choice but to follow Warrior on his mission to get himself killed by Slaanesh worshiping orks in the hopes my aide and any other adventurers Guild Girl could send our way would arrive before I shared the rookie's fate.
Priestess was quick to join me, no doubt finding the prospect of standing outside a goblin den alone far more frightening than exploring it with at least one capable combatant at her side. All five of us travelled in a straight line, the small width of the cave not allowing us to spread out and making any attempts to make use of Wizard's spells to use without one of us being burnt alive along with the greenskin she was aiming for impossible. The rookies didn't seem to mind or notice this fault in our formation, but I was ready to drop to the floor should the hot blooded redhead lose her confidence and start firing off her spells at the first sign of trouble. I had seen plenty of FNGs in the Valhallan 597th cause a few friendly fire incidents the same way, and I had no intentions of letting my career come to an end because the psyker I was travelling with was a little too jumpy.
Our progress was slow under the blind eye of Warrior's leadership, the boy far too enthralled with the novelty of going on his first adventure to seriously consider the risk his mindless stupidity was putting us in and his abysmal sense of direction leading us into a dead end every couple of minutes. Growing up in an underhive in my years before attending the Schola Progenium had instilled a natural familiarity with all underground environments, from the most tangled web of buried streets that a hive was built on top of to something as mundane as a naturally formed cave. I tried to offer Warrior directions at various points as my frustration with his ineptitude at leading us grew with each of his failures, but the boy was insistent on leading our doomed party regardless of how unprepared he was for the task. His commitment was somewhat admirable, but considering how any mistake of his would put my life at undue risk, I was less inclined to appreciate his stubborn tenacity in trudging through his many failures than the two girls who were starting to doubt his leadership. The two girls he had originally joined forces with were in favor of his decision to take the lead at first, but their support soon wavered as it became painfully obvious that we would be better off asking the first goblin we saw for directions rather than following Warrior for another second.
We must have covered less than a klom's worth of ground over the course of an hour and we had not seen a single goblin or any traces of the girls the juvies were attempting to rescue. Warrior was still confident in his ability to navigate an underground network of tunnels despite the overwhelming evidence that continued to pile against him. Following what felt like our hundredth time turning back after reaching yet another dead end, even Fighter and Wizard were starting to suggest that I take the lead, if only to start blaming me for the group's failures instead of Warrior. The boy was either too absorbed in his own ego to notice their pleas or simply didn't care, and I was about to tell him what most commissars did when faced with a commander that has proven themselves to be unfit for duty before I noticed something that waited for us in the darkness of the caverns.
None of the rookies were as accustomed to the dark as I was, and even with the torch Warrior was carrying and his close proximity to the object I had only just noticed, I still could clearly make it out before anyone else had. Since no one else seemed to be taking the initiative to look for any intelligence we could use against our enemies, I decided to point out the strange totem that lurked just beyond the light of Warrior's torch.
"Be careful everyone, I can see something up ahead." I told them. Warrior drew his sword without a second thought at my warning, nearly dropping his torch and bathing us in the all consuming darkness that surrounded us as he did so. Fighter took a stance that looked vaguely professional, but after witnessing several sparring matches amongst the Valhallan 597th, I could easily notice that she was still just a novice that lacked any real experience in a fight. Wizard readied her wooden staff with little regard to what could possibly happen to the two squad members in front of her if she hit them instead of the target I pointed out, and Priestess once again proved herself to be the only sensible one by clutching her staff so it would remain silent as we moved forward.
The children were clearly expecting a battle, and when they finally saw the totem I alerted them to, they looked absolutely furious with me. Apparently they didn't find any deeper meaning behind the small fixture our enemies left behind. Witch was the first one to voice her displeasure after she had failed to realize the danger we were all in right now.
"What do you think you are doing, Commissar? I thought you saw a goblin, not a bunch of garbage they are decorating their cave with." She screamed at me, seemingly unaware that we were still in enemy territory and how precious the element of surprise would have been.
"I think I just discovered the first sign of the greenskins that have made this cave their home, Wizard." I said as innocently as I could, further enraging the hot-headed psyker. "You do know what this 'bunch of garbage' is, don't you?"
"Is it some sort of goblin sex toy?" Warrior said, once again exceeding my expectation for how stupid one hapless idiot could possibly be. The others fell absolutely silent at his answer, all of us staring at him and desperately hoping he wasn't serious. Priestess at least had the modesty to blush at this ridiculous answer, as befitting her image as an innocent vessel of The Emperor or whichever of his aspects was worshiped on the planet. I simply took his obliviousness to our surprise in stride like I did with all the other idiotic things he and his squad had done so far.
"No, I'm afraid that totem would have to be at least half that size for a goblin to fit in its mouth, let alone any other orifice." I said, before remembering that these greenskins were Slaanesh worshiping abominations and that they would still try to pleasure themselves with it anyway if they felt like it. I quickly purged that horrible image from my head before continuing to tell the rookies what they were looking at. "That totem is something only a shaman would bother creating. Not only does that mean that the goblin that is leading this horde is a psyker like Wizard, but his headquarters are probably close."
"How do you know that?" Fighter asked me.
"Years of experience fighting greenskins and a willingness to listen to whatever advice the veteran soldiers I served with were willing to tell me." I explained to her. The rookie trio tried their best to hide their embarrassment, but I could still easily see them trying their best not to look me in the eye after pointing out how foolish they were not to listen to me. "Thankfully I was here to notice this, otherwise you all might have been ambushed by a spellcasting goblin without any way to defend yourselves. I would hate to imagine what would have happened to you if I wasn't here." I told my squad with a certain hint of smugness.
The rookies, Priestess included, suddenly looked pale now that the thought of their own demise was running through their heads. Priestess was the first to recover from her moment of terror, and looked to me for leadership, clearly seeing that she would do better following me than Warrior. "What do you think we should do, Commissar? Do you think we can still take on the goblins?" She asked me.
"Yes, I do. After all, they are just goblins, aren't they? Most of us said they were prepared for such a battle if I recall correctly." I said, hiding my glee as best as I could while throwing Warrior and Wizard's suicidal overconfidence back at them.
"T-that's right! They're all just a bunch of stupid goblins. All we have to do is just charge in and kill them all! We'll be done before we know it!" Warrior said with far too much zeal for someone who genuinely believed what he was saying was possible.
"That might work." I agreed, Warrior recovering a fraction of his shattered pride before I continued tramping over it once more. "But first, we will need to send someone down this side passage in case the shaman has prepared an ambush for us. The last thing any of us want right now is to be surrounded by goblins with no way to retreat should anything go wrong." I said, pointing out a passage that was little more than a small hole in the wall I could barely squeeze through in the wall beside the totem. Calling it a hole in the wall was incredibly generous, it was more of a crevice that showed traces of tools having been used to expand it, clear evidence of the greenskins widening it so they could easily travel through it with their diminutive frames while keeping it somewhat hidden from intruders.
Warrior seemed to be taking me more seriously now as a credible addition to his squad instead of a minor nuisance that was rightly pointing the flaws in his ill-thought out plans. I for one couldn't care less about what he was planning to do as I had no intentions of joining him in his desire to die horribly at the hands of the greenskins that must have known we were coming for them after all of our shouting, if they hadn't noticed us earlier.
"I suggest we send someone to investigate the side passage on their own. The rest of the group will travel ahead to scout out the goblins in the main passage while our lucky scout will investigate the side passage and clear out any greenskins they come across before everyone regroups back here and we all face the goblin shaman together." I proposed.
This was only an excuse so I could 'accidentally' be separated from the rookies long enough for Jurgen or another experienced adventurer find me and we could find what was left of the idiotic juvies after the goblins were finished with them if they disregarded my plans as I believed they would. It came to me quite naturally, as I had used this same excuse several times before to avoid incredibly dangerous sweeps of 'nid and Ork infested ruins before. While it was true that I had always come across threats far more dangerous than what I had originally been trying to avoid and ended up either exposing them to the Imperial Guard or inadvertently destroying them in the process of trying to escape it, I was feeling quite optimistic about my odds of success this time. There were no untainted Orks, daemons, Tyranids, Tau, heretics other than the Slaanesh worshiping goblins, or any other hostile xenos that outclassed me and Jurgen in every way imaginable to my knowledge at this point, so of course I assumed that nothing could possibly go wrong.
"That sounds like a great idea. I'm so glad I thought of it!" Warrior exclaimed, and in my determination to be the one tasked with the duty of separating from the group. "And I know just who should look for an ambush on their own…"
I had no doubt that he had the perfect candidate in mind, given his track record of horrible decisions made without any thought. I should have expected him to volunteer the least capable amongst us for the job, but even I doubted his lack of intelligence until he opened his mouth again.
"Priestess!" He shouted, leaving me and the frail girl in shock.
"What?!" I exclaimed.
"Wa-wa-wa-what?!" The blonde girl shouted, just as surprised as me no doubt.
"What in Horus' name would possess you to send our frakking medicae on an incredibly dangerous mission alone when she doesn't even have a weapon to defend herself with?!" I shouted at the brown haired twerp, completely forgetting that the weak little girl in question was standing right in front of me at the time.
"Uhm… not I'm saying you can't, Priestess, but you just look so… frail." I said in a feeble attempt to save face.
She shook off my apology as soon as I mentioned it, and before I could tear into Warrior for being the stupidest person I had ever had the displeasure of dealing with, right next to Beije and every other Emperor-botherer I knew, he surprised me once again by suggesting something somewhat sensible. "If you're so worried about her, then why don't you just join her while we go slay that shaman on our own?" Warrior said, completely oblivious to sheer terror dawning over the two girls beside him.
"That sounds like a great idea." I quickly told him, hoping I could finally take an easy out from Warrior's hopeless quest. "Working alone is far too dangerous, so of course we should have someone accompany Priestess on her scouting mission. I will gladly volunteer to accompany her. It's not like you need my help to take down a few measly goblins, but no matter how prepared you think you are, do not engage them on your own until we regroup."
"Don't worry about us! We'll take on the shaman and any other goblins we find while you make sure nothing sneaks up on us from behind. Let's do this everybody!" Warrior shouted before he raised his sword and recklessly charged into the cave in anticipation of what would more than likely be the first and final battle as an adventurer. As much as I wanted to whack him with the flat of my chainsword, I found the idea of getting rid of that idiot for a few minutes to be far too appealing to curb his suicidal enthusiasm.
"Uhm, this doesn't seem like a good idea…" Priestess started to say, but I quickly grabbed her hand and dragged her to the crevice before she could frak up my escape so easily.
"There's no time to waste, Priestess! We can't let Warrior down, now can we girls?" I said as I shoved the small little blonde in the crevice as gently yet quickly as I could.
Wizard and Fighter broke out of the stupor they had fallen into now that I finally started acting like a commissar, and after realizing what their leader had just done, they chased after him spitting out all manner of curses and other obscenities for his brash actions. As much as I wanted to laugh at them, I had another rookie still with me, one I was unwilling to abandon to their own fate as the others, and I hardly wanted her to think any worse of me than she already would once the other rookies surely perished.
"Commissar! We need to help them! If they get hurt then there won't be anyone who can help them!" Priestess pleaded with me as I entered the crevice behind her, forcing her forward ever so slowly.
"Yes, that is unfortunate, but Warrior is relying on us to ensure nothing can harm them from behind." I said, before dropping one piece of advice that I found useful time and time again on my misadventures through the years. "They made their choice, Priestess. They trust us to do our part in this quest, so now we must trust in them to do their part as well. Warrior, Fighter, and Wizard are depending on us and we must not put them at risk by abandoning the task they assigned to us."
I of course left out the part of them being completely untrustworthy, how they were more than likely going to get themselves and anyone stupid enough to be near them killed, and how anyone with common sense would have abandoned them long before now. Mentioning any of that would have ruined the point I was trying to get across to her, which was to trust in her allies as much as they trusted her. Of course, I only wanted that trust to be directed towards me since the only thing I trusted her to do was try her best to keep me alive which was the most both of us could expect from each other.
Priestess took my speech at face value thankfully, and with an adorable little pump of her fist, started marching through the crevice as I squeezed my way behind her. It didn't take long for the crevice to open up to a side tunnel far larger than the one we had been travelling in earlier. The darkness that had come to replace the torchlight Warrior carried with him when he abandoned us to our fates made it almost impossible to see, yet the rattling of Priestess' staff made it all but impossible for me to tell where she was. Thankfully, after having taken a cue from Jurgen after finding myself in one too many unlit undercity passageways in the past, I got in the habit of always carried a luminator, one which I swiftly affixed to my laspistol in order to light a path through the darkness far better than Warrior's torch ever could. Priestess looked absolutely amazed at the device I had attached to my weapon and she did not hesitate to inquire about it.
"Wow, what is that?" She asked, once again looking like a small child in desperate need of guidance rather than a recently registered adventurer. Then again, according to the Adventurers Guild, they were more or less the same thing.
"It's a device that lights up the immediate area in front of me that I can attach to my weapon." I told her, deciding that trying to explain what a luminator was to an inhabitant of this backwater agri-world was would be far more trouble than it was worth.
"Wow." She said, looking quite impressed which left me feeling somewhat proud at having amazed her with a simple tool before she brought my mood tumbling down with a single question. "Commissar, why didn't you use it earlier? We could have really used the extra light."
"I wanted to ask Warrior if I should, but he never gave me the chance to ask him." I said, pretending that one of my many failed attempts to make him see reason was to lend him my luminator instead of running for the exit as quickly as we could.
"Oh. No wonder you were getting angry with him." She mumbled, allowing me to truly appreciate just how naive she was. Priestess was pitifully easy to deceive, making it almost too simple to make her think I cared more for her safety than I did my own survival.
"Yes, I'm sorry for the shameful display I put on earlier. I have little patience for fools who care little for the safety of their allies." I told her.
I would have said more, but my palms flared up as my old hiver's instincts alerted me to something coming at us from around a bend in the tunnel. I couldn't quite make out who or what was approaching towards us, but since Priestess and I had been travelling through the side path for a few minutes now, I felt there was no chance they were friendly. Lacking any cover to take advantage of aside from the corner, I pressed myself against a nearby wall and turned off my luminator as I waited for the unknown presence in the tunnels with me drew closer. Priestess was smart enough to cower beside me without any encouragement from me, either following her intuition after noticing the change in my previously jovial attitude or simply clung to me out of fear now that we no longer had any light to guide our way.
The meek girl tried to ask me something, but I quickly silenced her before she could speak and accidentally expose us to our potential enemies as the light of their torch started to relight the area around us. By this point, I could make out two sets of footsteps that sounded far too heavy for a gretchin yet far too orderly to come from an ork. I was sure that we were about to be faced with a pair of goblin shamans and all the Warp trickery they had at their disposal. Despite the medical treatment Jurgen offered me after I was electrocuted in my previous battle with Chaos worshipping greenskins, my chest was still tender and served as a bitter reminder of how close I had come to death a week ago. I readied my laspistol and hovered my hand over the hilt of my chainsword, ready to pull it out of its scabbard and cleave through my enemies at the slightest provocation and waited to ambush my mysterious adversaries.
I was quite surprised and grateful I decided to wait for them to draw closer before engaging, as the familiar odor of rancid socks assaulted me before long. Not only that, but the light I believed to have been coming from a torch soon took on a lighter hue that was not unlike that of the luminator I had just doused earlier. There was only person I knew who it was easier to identify by smell rather than sight, and I of course lowered my weapons and reactivated my luminator as I stepped around the corner to announce Priestess' and my presence to one of the duo that were approaching us.
"Jurgen, how nice of you to join us." I said, glancing at him and the man in grungy metal armor that seemed completely oblivious of the aroma surrounding him, unlike Priestess who was doing her best not to visibly gag as their combined odor assaulted us. "And I see you've brought the reinforcements I asked for. Well done, Jurgen. Well done."
Author's Corner:
Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, has finally reunited with his trusty aide and the adventurer that had previously escorted him to the Frontier Town. Only time will tell if their combined strength will be enough to save the other three rookies exploring the goblin den before their recklessness catches up with them.
davidomega59: Puedes porfavor hacer que Cain grite: "¡Mata al mutante. Quema al hereje. Purga al alienígena!." Que sería épico mientras que mata a los goblins. (Can you please make Cain yell, "Kill the mutant. Burn the heretic. Purge the alien!" That would be epic while killing goblins.)
Mindless zealotry isn't Cain's style of bravado, he has voiced his disdain of such 'Emperor-botherers' many times so I doubt he would ever want to act like one. That isn't to say that there will never be any character making such a declaration in the future though. There's a time and place for EVERYTHING, and whenever Cain is involved, anything is possible...
Yet another anonymous "Guest": I wonder how Cain would compare an average Ogryn with the Ogres of Goblin Slayer's world?
I am not an expert on Ogryns, but to my knowledge they are between 2.5 and 3 meters tall. Ogres in the GS universe are bigger. MUCH BIGGER. While there is no official size given, the first Ogre Goblin Slayer's team encounters is at least three times larger than Goblin Slayer. On a completely unrelated note, a Tyranid Hive Tyrant is roughly 6 meters tall and the average human male is 1.7 meters tall. Cain is 2 meters tall.
Yeah… Ogres are frakking huge.
Doc43Souls: I couldn't help but notice that you write "Adeptus Munitorum" instead of "Departmento Munitorum" (since the Munitorum is the part of Adeptus Administratum and hence can't be called Adeptus)
According to the Fandom Wiki that I reference A LOT, the very first sentence referring to the Munitorum says that both names are technically correct. To me, the Departmento/Adeptus thing looks a bit of a tomato/'toe-mah-toe' sort of deal. Unless the terminology regarding the Munitorum is as inconsistent and full of retcons as the lore, I do believe that the Munitorum can be called the Adeptus Munitorum (especially by a soldier who never cared to learn/use the 'proper' name), which I will continue to do.
Brutalcrab: Hasn't Ciaphas Cain already gotten his cyber digits long ago… people here seemed to take IOM's technology at face value.
Yes, Cain does have a few cybernetic fingers, but they are usually obscured by his gloves when in public. As for his and Jurgen's weaponry, well, I'd say it is nothing too special. When you live in a world with magic portals, dragons, and swords that can shoot beams of energy that can kill dozens, a couple of non-magical Sci-Fi guns seems fairly mundane in comparison.
Alright, that's it for me. As always, thanks for continuing to read the story!
Oh, and from here on out, updates will be slightly less frequent than they have been. The schedule has been properly amended on my profile for those of you that want to see it.