The ressurection of the Goblin Empire
CIL: After thinking on the plot a little and a small change in the direction of my main novel. I am remaking my little story i tried a few months back. Hope everyone enjoys.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The Water City, A beautiful town located on a river that connects to the ocean. It's citizens are of the most humble and pure souls one could ever find on this earth. One would never imagine that such a shining city could have ever had a minor goblin infestation, nor that it's shining beacon of hope, The Sword Maiden, had suffered from their ilk.
But Kindness is often the easiest crack in the armor of civility for evil to squeeze through. And the water logged body of a young woman floating into the harbor could never have been seen as a threat...
The Harbor was abuzz with activity once her body was spotted. Mages casts spells to guide the currents toward the docks where sailors quickly pulled her up from the cold waters. Their was no signs of life at first, her breathing was still, her skin was blue and baked from the sun. And the scars lining her body told grim tales. They quickly brought her to the monastery to be looked over by the Sword Maiden.
The Sword Maiden saw the young womans scars and memories of her own capture filled her mind. She immediately knew what caused these scars, and rushed to help the poor soul.
Healing would not work on the damage caused by the drowning, but her sun baked skin could be healed. For the waterlogged lungs she used a more tactile method, which shocked many onlookers at first, But after pumping the young womans chest and watching the water spurt from the womans mouth they became hopeful that a life was saved.
When water ceased to come out after repeated ministrations, they expected the woman to have shot to life. But when she only moaned the word "Goblins..." there was mixed feelings.
The Sword Maiden called for her attendants to prepare a room for the poor soul, and for the Goblin Slayer to be summoned to the city at once. The implications that goblins were at sea spelled trouble.
/\/\/\
A small town, somewhere in the farm lands...
Adventurer's and those like them all bustled about the small town. It was the slow season for many of them, with larger threats having been heavily dealt with in the months before and the more numerous smaller ones preparing to habernate, or having been slaughtered in their attempts. The more rambunctious of these sorts went about spending their spare change on booze. But the more vigilant were out shopping for new gear or purchasing gifts for family they plan to visit on the solstice.
One such band of misfits was busy enjoying a laugh over their lizardman's antics over a new type of spiced cheese.
"Who would think that the smallest slivers of a pepper would add so much joy to what was already argueably the nectar of gods!" His bellowing laughter could be felt in the seats beneath his compatriots as he melted another chunk over a flame and lets the morsel drip into his open maw.
"They way he marvels over simple foods like this makes me question just what lizardmen eat on a regular basis." The elf girl present said with a grimmace.
The dwarf with them gaffawed as he hinted at the diet being probably mostly meat, earning a disgusted "bleck." from the elf girl.
The priestess present amoung them giggled quietly to herself as the stoid set of armor to her side sat unmoving, as if there wasn't even a man inside of it. Her mind was busy trying to find a way to get said pile of armor to accompany her on an errend, not a mission.
The entire place was alive with similar joviality from other adventurers as well. but it was these 5 who would be spending their coming winter months dealing with goblins, almost undoubtedly...
When night came, and the population of the bar had dwindled to just the guild receptionist and the stoic set of armor, a tense moment of silence filled the air before the man sighed, almost as if he had just woken from a slumber.
"Oh! Mister Goblin Slayer! Were you awake?" The woman said mildly frightened.
"I was." Came his curt responce, before raising his head as if some social lesson was just recalled. "I was just listening..." The man was ever vigilant, to the point anyone who didnt know him well would call him paranoid.
"Surely goblins wouldn't attack a city this populated even in desperate times." The receptionist said with a small crack in her voice.
"If you were going to die of starvation, would you just let it happen?" Goblin Slayer asked her seriously, knowing the answer the goblins would have to such a question.
"I guess you have a point." She said with the best smile she could muster. She returned to sorting the incoming letters when she noticed the seal of the Water City on one such note. Upon closer inspection she saw it was addressed specifically to Goblin Slayer. "Oh. It seems you have a letter Goblin Slayer, from Water City no less."
The Goblin Slayer grunted as he saw up and made his way towards the desk to recieve his letter. He opened it with little in the lines of grace or tact, something no normal person would do to something that was undoubtly a summons from the Sword Maiden herself.
After a moments silence, Goblin Slayer pocketed the letter and turned to leave. He paused in the door way before looking back over his shoulder and thanking the receptionist and wishing her a good night.
The late night air was already staring to get cold, enough to see one's Goblin Slayer made his way towards the monastery, whereupon he talked with one of the priestess' and asked them to hand the letter to a specific priestess with instructions to be ready to leave at daybreak.
/\/\/\
A few days later, back at the Monastery of the Water City...
The Sword Maiden watched over the drowned young lady in her room. Still yet to raise, and barely a word from her since the day of her rescue. She feared some curse had taken hold of the poor soul. The dress the woman wore was clearly of Noble origins, and yet, the exposed torso and the absence of the dresses front seemed deliberate. Her exposed torso had been covered with bandages for now, but the dressers couldn't help but notice the tone of the young ladies muscles. This Noblewoman clearly wasn't of the pampered sort.
It was late morning by the time an attendant informed The Sword Maiden of her visitors. Containing her excitement The Sword Maiden made her way towards the main hall to greet her guests.
The Goblin Slayer, The Elven Ranger, The Lizardman Shaman, The Dwarven Spellweaver, and the Young Priestess, all welcome guests to her sanctuary, whom once before solved a very dire goblin problem. The Sword Maiden thought there was none more suited for the task of finding out if Goblins were indeed capable of seafaring.
"Welcome, Heroic Goblin Slayer, and his equally heroic friends." The Sword Maiden greeted them formally.
All but the Goblin slayer showed some decorum by bowing and greeting the Maiden in return, But in his defence he was at least patient enough to wait before speaking up.
"You spoke of a woman attacked by goblins floating in from the sea in the letter." He paused to consider his words at first but, "Can I see the body?" he said without tact.
"Goblin Slayer!" The priestess admonished his choice of words. "She's still alive!"
"Indeed she is young priestess." The Sword Maiden said while trying to hide a small giggle at the Goblin Slayers Tactlessness, "But I fear she hasn't woke in the days since her rescue. She could be cursed, so we placed her in a sacred room in hopes to contain and deminish the effects."
"So Is it safe to examine her?" The Goblin slayer asked, with slightly more tact.
"Please follow me." The Sword Maiden gestured with a wave, guiding them deep into the monastery and into the room that contained the poor woman.
The moment Goblin Slayer entered the room the woman seemed to liven up, becoming verbally irritable.
"No! My husbands! My Sons! You can't!" She groaned in pain.
The dwarven shaman was the first to notice her clothes and their Noble origins. But beyond the material he was at a loss as to which noble house she could be from.
"There isn't an emblem on what remains of her dress, and the style isn't from any human house I am familiar with."
"She came from the sea." The Lizardman spoke with intent. "Perhaps she isn't from our continent. She could be a survivor from an exploration vessel from another continent."
"Impossible, no ship that's sailed straight out to the ocean has ever returned, vessel, cargo, or crew. She could be from beyond the mountain borders." The elven woman protested, believing something coming from beyond the explored regions of the continent was more likely than someone from the other side of the open sea.
"Beyond those moutains is nothing but hissing miasma. Outside of demons and the undead I doubt anything this human lives out there." The Dwarven Shaman argued back.
The priestess noticed the wounds and quietly raised the question about thier origins. Both Goblin Slayer and the Sword Maiden answer in unison.
"Goblins."
But the goblin slayer continued afterwards. "They are mating scars." He pointed out the placement of the scratches on her hips. "She wasn't struggling when these were made, they are too clean..." He noted the smooth line of the scratches. "None of these were...it's almost as if...she wanted it..." The Goblin Slayer moved to disrobe the woman, which the rest of his group moved to stop him from doing.
"Goblin Slayer this is a church! You can't undress a woman here!" The Priestess protested.
"I need to see her back." Was all he said. Continuing to struggle against their restraining him.
"Than say so!" The elf woman admonished him.
The woman all examined the woman's dress and found the the zipper that encloses the back of the dress. Rolling the woman gently on her side, they exposed her back, showing many more scars like the one's on her hips.
"There's a mixture...some of these were made in a struggle." The Goblin slayer said as he approached to point out which ones.
But as he touched once such scar the woman suddenly came to life. With unmatched strength she threw the priestess across the room as she turned toward the Goblin Slayer with Bloodshot eyes and an inhuman growl escaping her lips.
"I smell their blood on you! You murdered my babies!" She growled before making one of her arms suddenly erupt with muscles. She raised the arm to try and crush the goblin Slayer under the mass of flesh that was now bigger than his whole body. But before she could slam it down on him the meaty mass of muscle burst like a pimple, sending blood all over the room and leaving the woman amputated.
The woman let out a scream rivaling a wounded banshee's.
"My powers! Why! Why can't I use my powers!" The woman psychotically moaned as she tried to regenerate her arm. "No! No! They can't be sealed!" She spoke with sheer panic. Her eyes darting to the 6 people present clearly ready to do battle with her. She was clearly at a disadvantage, and the smell of goblin's blood eminating from the armored man was making her beligerant. The intelligent part of her mind told her she needed diplomacy in this moment, but something more feral inside her told her that armored man needed to die.
Attempting to regain control of her sanity the woman pointed at the Goblin Slayer menacingly and growled.
"Get him away from me! I'll talk, Just get his smell away from me!"
"She can't be trusted!" The Elven ranger said readying an arrow. The others all drew their weapons and nodded, all but the priestess whom jumped between the woman and her friends with arms extended.
"This is sacred ground! Put your weapons away! We do not shed blood inside the church!" The priestess protested.
The others looked at her with questionable expressions, before lowering their weapons.
The Goblin Slayer was silent for a moment before leaving the room without a word.
Immediately the woman began to calm down, as much as she could with the blood pouring from her missing arm.
The priestess immediately began praying for a healing miracle, but was not ready for the effect it would have on the young noble woman.
When the healing light enveloped to woman at first she sounded like she was being burned alive, but after a moment the wound began to bubble and move, before her entire arm erupted out from it like new.
"That was..." The elf quietly said under breath.
"Troll's blood..." The lizardman finished for her.
The priestess stood horrified at what she just witnessed. Nothing she saw made sense, and no part of her wanted to learn just what horrors took place to make it happen.
After a few moments of calming breaths, the noblewoman rested her back against the alter she was rested upon earlier, sitting on the floor with complete lack of regal form.
"Please, forgive my earlier violence." She said, her accent was thick, and very foreign. "The last thing I knew I was watching my most beloved husbands and sons being slaughtered."
The dwarf didn't like what she said one bit combined with what Goblin Slayer said about her scars being "consentual".
"Husbands?" The Sword Maiden asked curiously, confused about the use of the plural.
"Ah, forgive me again, I imagine there are few religions that do not shun polygamy, But I assure you My love for each and all of them is true and equal, as anyone of you could love another." She spoke with a mature calmness, almost regal.
"Where do you hail from That allows such...romantic freedom?" The Lizardman asked, hoping her origins could shed some light on things.
The noblewoman finally caught her breath, and stood up, greeting the group with a polite bow.
"I am Madiline D'alor, formally of the Noble house of the same name."
None knew that noble linage, and exchanged a series of glance to one another before asking Madeline to further elaborate.
"You do not know the D'alor family name? Impossible, My father is responcible to all of the trade across the continent. Any city with a Market place is under his thumb." Madeline was confused by the level of ignorance before her.
"You were found drowning at sea." The Sword Maiden spoke up. "Is there a chance you aren't from our continent? That somehow you drifted to us from the ocean?"
Madeline's last memory was being in front of the castle city, laying seige to it with the Demon Lord and his forces. Though the only port city on the continent was half a day away from the castle, there wasn't any feasable reason she could of found herself cast into the ocean, let alone far enough to be drifted to another continent entirely.
"That Is highly unfeasable..." She said. "Just where am I?" Madeline asked.
"The Water City Grand Monastery." The Sword Maiden answered.
"Water City?" Madeline said aloud as she thought. None of the geographical lessons she was taught ever mentioned such a place. Could she of perhaps entered a new world entirely? That could explain why her Divine Gifts weren't working right. Exhaustion was settling in and Madeline was struggling to keep her eyes open and her mind focused enough to stay awake.
"I think we need to give the poor girl a moments respite." The Sword Maiden said softly. "Please, rest well inside this room, I'll have someone come by with a change of clothes and some food."
The Sword Maiden gently ushered the others out of the room as she left the recovering noble to rest upon the floor.
Ouside the room, The Goblin Slayer was standing stoicly as ever, having been ready to reenter the room had the sounds of fighting returned.
"So?" Was all he said as they returned.
"She isn't from around here I can say that." The dwarf said stroking his beard. "The arm trick she didn't wasn't magic by any means, but thankfully backfired." He said recalling Goblin Slayers near demise by it.
"And she appears to possess a troll's regeneration." The Lizardman added. "The priestess' simple healing miracle had managed to recover her whole arm in an instant, in much the same fashion as a troll. Such a simple spell shouldn't have returned a lost limb."
"Then there is the issue of her polygamy, and if what you say about her being a willing recipiant of goblins..." The Sword Maiden tried to continue but her own mental scars couldn't let her believe a woman would want such a thing.
"But she isn't bloodthirsty!" The priestess tried to protest all the negativity. "Whatever it was that set her off had to do with your smell Goblin Slayer!"
"Probably the goblin blood." He said without hesitation. "I had a small hunt a few days ago, and haven't had the chance to wash my armor. If she gets violent because of that then we have all the pieces we need. That woman is a goblin sympathizer."
/\/\/\