The First Quest
For this goblin, everything was just the worst, the worst, the worst.
They were deep in a claustrophobic little hole that could not be called comfortable by any stretch of the imagination. And he had been posted as a guard today. he scrutinized the spear he was holding. It had a metal tip and an oak wood shaft, but the shaft had been viciously snapped halfway down.
He yamned as he walked at tunnels thinking, 'this is boring, how much longer do we have to wait?'
It's been hours since they saw their master, his last order was to keep on guard and that soon they were going to attack a new village for their work... If he didn't appear soon, they would attack the nearst village soon.
Then he heard a sound, he looked around trying to find the source. It couldn't be an adventurer. Those stupid adventures couldn't see in the dark and always walked carrying a torch. But before he could discover what it was, he felt a sharp pain in his head before falling in his knees already dead.
"That's three…" A man calmly said to himself as he calmly, walked to that dead goblin.
He retrieved his sword and inspected it. It was starting to lose its edge, since it kill other goblins.
'Should have known… this kind of sword gets dull quickly after killing three to four beasts… Need to be creative for this…'
He followed the path where it didn't have goblins, taking care in not making any noises. He knew that goblins have better hearing than normal humans, so being extra quiet was a necessity. He arrived what looked like a small study room, with a table, books on the floor but what really stood out was symbols marked in blood, ancient writings that he couldn't understand and the creepiest of all: a woman with her guts opened, was tied up, spread-eagled as if to deliberately expose her, with black metal chains.
'So I take that he tried some kind of ritual before the rob...'
Not paying much attention to his surroundings, he decided to invastigate what was glowing gold on that room. Under the table, there was a small chest made of blackwood. He picked two instruments from one of his pouches and started lockpicking the chest and after a few seconds he managed to open. What he founded was something he never see before, it was some kind of a disc with 21 centimeters of diameters with a hole in the middle.
'I don't know what this is… I should probably take to my master. He will know what to do,' He thought as put the disc in his biggest pouch.
With that done, he needed to solve another problem. Goblins. He used his eagle vision once again and counted how many goblins. There were 20 goblins. That was problematic. Fighting in an open space against this many goblins would be bad. If only he was skilled as his master that in one swipe could kill 5 heads that wouldn't be a problem. But he wasn't that skilled to do that… He looked at books and at chains…
'Hm… better than anything…'
The goblins were at their limit. That cave pleasantly dank, but this wait was growing unbearable. Since their master was taking so long to appear, they thought he was already dead, but that was fine. What mattered were their own kind. If that master wasn't going to bring food and women, they were going to find theirselves. Attack a near village, rape the women and eat their fleshes. They sang an awful goblin song as they rowed along, completely out of sync with one another.
They started to twitch their ears, they heard noises and then they smelled… something burning. It could only mean one thing. Adventurers. Probably an adventurer's lantern. Most unfortunately, humans needed light, for the dark made them blind. In the depths of these lightless holes, the goblins were at their strongest. Their faces twisted with desire, spittle dribbling from their mouths. 5 goblins decided to investigate, thinking that they were being the ones to enjoy first. They hoped it was woman or a female elf.
They run the tunnel and saw a large curtain of smoke, but that didn't stopped. If they attacked together they could win anything, or so the goblins believed, whatever the reality might have been. And that made them dangerous. The thought that they might still be weak even in a group never once crossed their minds. Flush with the assurance of victory, they went toward the smoke, all unassuming.
It didn't take long to one of the goblins to run pass the smoke, but he didn't see any adventurers. In fact, he only saw a bonfire made of burning books. He turn around expecting to see his companions but instead he saw a man - a human warrior in a dirty helmet and leather armor. At his hip was a sword, on his arm was a small, round shield- walking holding a steel chain with a dagger tied at the end.
"That's make 7…" The assassin said spinning the chain.
The goblin concluded that his fellow goblins were killed by this man, not wanting to take his chance against a man who killed 4 other goblins he decided to flee. It only took time for him, to turn and take a few steeps to feel something in his throat. He put his left hand where his throat was and discovered that his throat was pierced what looked like a dagger.
"GET OVER HERE!" The assassin said pulling the goblin to him.
The goblin was pulled by the assassin and when he was close, the assassin smashed his head with his shield killing it. He pulled the dagger from the goblins corpse and looked to smoke.
'That scream should alert the other goblins,' he thought as picked knives from his belt, 'Still it's a shame that I have to use their weapons since one of my swords got dulled after killing just 7 goblins.'
As he predicted all the goblins were running in his direction, in an open field he could be in trouble dealing with 15 goblins but in a narrow tunnel numbers wouldn't make a difference and more importantly they couldn't see in the smoke… he could.
As the goblins started running in his direction, He threw the knives aiming at their throats. They didn't even have a chance to react since they couldn't see coming. 1… 2… 3… one by one the goblins started to fall until he was out of knives.
"Time to finish this," He said as he drew his sword.
In the next instant, he snatched a lance from the floor and Assassin run to the curtain of smoke —and then through—to his enemies.
Three goblins run to his direction, weapons in hand. But what of them?
"sixteen, seventeen… eighteen!"
"GROOB?!"
With the sword in his right hand, he delivered a critical hit, rending the throat of the goblin that stood just in front of him.
The creature frothed blood; Assassin kicked him away, freeing his sword, which he then used his small shield to crack the skull of the creature coming in from his right. The goblin stumbled and Assassin stabbed him dead without a second thought. He let go of his sword and allowed it to fall with the body.
"Nineteen..."
Just one more left. He turned his head to the last goblin. This last goblin was still trying to figure out where were his companions. The assassin leaped forward and drove his sword through the creature's heart.
"… And that makes twenty…"
He walked out of the cave and looked at sky. There was still light outside but the color of the sun was orange already. As he walked back to the city… he couldn't shake this strange feeling.
'… I was able to kill the goblins, didn't took any major damage… but why do I feel… empty?'
'I thought killing the goblins, would give me comfort, my revenge against the ones that killed my sister… or would make feel strong now that kill them by my own… But nothing changed…'
Early in the evening, Assassin returned to the Capital city. He took a few steps inside the city when he heard footsteps coming from behind him.
"Master," He said turning to his master and bowing to him.
"Good work with the goblins," Master said with a small smile in his face.
"Were you… observing as I killed the goblins?"
"No… But if you are here then it means the goblins are dead, am I right?"
The assassin nodded.
"Now come! With have much to discuss…"
Master led the way out, cautiously, making sure the coast was clear before they set off by a labyrinthine route through back alleys and seedy lanes and skirting the edges of markets. As they walked, the younger of the duo told what transpired in the cave, how he killed and what he found.
"There was an object that I never seen before. It wasn't a weapon, I think it's an artifact but like I said it doesn't resemble with anything that I saw before."
"Did you brought it with you?" Master said looking at him.
"Yes is with me."
"Good… We can investigate when we arrive."
"There is also something that is bothering me… In the cave there were only normal goblins. No hob, no shaman, no champion and they weren't that well prepared… Why in such important quest, why that imp didn't have an army more prepared if he planned to resurrect the demon lord?"
"… If my suspects are correct, then maybe is related with the artifact that you found…" Master replied putting his index finger and the thumb in the chin.
"Still I am surprise with what you chose to wear," he said taking a look in his armor. "You look menacing."
"Needed something to protect my head… But I didn't know that common swords can get dull so easy."
"Not always we have a magical sword or a sword with a better quality. Welcome to the real world."
They arrived at their destination and found men and women gathered in their hideout. A fire blazed on a hearth in the middle of the floor.
"What is this?" The youngling asked confused.
"This, my pupil, is the ceremony. Your ceremony," his master replied with a big smile plastered in his face., "after this ceremony you will truly become an assassin."
"Yes indeed, child." An old man with a long white beard and white short hair said taking a step forward in their direction. "I am Grand Master of the Assassins. I was once master of your Master, now I lead the assassins to preserve the future of mankind and freedom. Like you, and every men and women here."
The Grand Master looked like he was in his Seventies, wearing a black robe over a white tunic and an assassin belt.
Assassin, amazed, looked at faces of every man and woman there.
"Is that so?" He said in the end.
"Yes… Now it's time!"
After they had greeted each other and taken their places, the Grand Master stood in the middle of the room and intoned:
"Laa shay'a waqi'un moutlaq bale kouloun moumkine: The Wisdom of our Creed is revealed through these words. We work in the Dark, to serve the Light. We are Assassins."
Master stood in turn and addressed his pupil.
"We dedicate our lives to protecting the freedom of humanity. We all once stood at a fire similar to this one, engaged in the same task. Now, I offer the choice to you: of joining us."
Master extended his hand and Assassin placed his in his. Grand Master withdrew from the fire the familiar branding iron ending in two small semicircles like the letter C, which could be brought together by means of a lever in the handle.
"There are those who blindly follow the true, but remember. Nothing is true, Everything is permitted." Grand Master said gravely. And the others repeated the words after him.
Grand Master now solemnly applied the branding iron to Assassin's ring finger and closed the clamp, so that the mark of a ring was burned there forever.
It seared the flesh and there was a burning smell but Assassin did not flinch. Grand Master removed the iron and put it safely to one side.
"And now it is time," said Grand Master, "for our newest member to take his Leap of Faith."
They made their way to the Church of the Supreme God in Capital City and climbed its bell tower. Carefully guided by Master and Grand Master.
Assassin glanced over the edge of the bell-tower. Far below, a number of bales of hay had been stacked a short distance away in various locations around the campanile. It seemed impossible that from this height anyone could direct their fall accurately enough to land on one of those tiny targets, but that is what Grand Master now did, his cloak flying in the wind as he leapt. His companions followed suit, and Assassin watched with a admiration as each made perfect landings and then gathered, looking up at him with what he hoped were encouraging expressions on their faces.
Used as he was to bounding over rooftops, he had never faced a leap of faith from such a height as this. The hay-bales seemed the size of slices of polenta, but he knew that there was no other way for him to reach the ground again but this; He took two or three deep breaths and then cast himself outwards and downwards into the night, arms aloft in a perfect swallow dive.
The fall seemed to take hours and the wind whistled past his ears, ruffling and shaking his clothing and his hair. Then the hay-bales rushed up to meet him. At the last moment, he shut his eyes...
... And crashed down into the hay! All the breath was knocked from his body, but as he got shakily to his feet he found that nothing was broken, and that he was, in fact, elated.
"Welcome to our Order—our Brotherhood," Grand Master told formally.