Otto’s Goblin Adventure Pt. 4

I'd been asleep for a few hours when I heard a particular grumbling that startled me from my slumber. I couldn't at first tell, but it was an argument. The specifics I was too disoriented to tell about. I heard Ena's voice and Korus as well, I sat up and noticed the cart wasn't moving. Even with his massive suit of armor, I could tell that Ena had done something to disturb him, or rather upset him.

"What's all this?" I asked, slurring my words slightly. The mead from earlier hadn't yet worked its way out of my system. The pair ignored me as they continued arguing. That's when I saw Ena make her first, and last, mistake. She put her hand on the massive horse's haunch as if she meant to climb upon the beast.

"No! Don't touch it!" I yelled, but it was too late. Almost as quick as a flash the horse's left rear hoof whipped out, hitting her across the face. The shock was audible as well as the sound of sudden bone crunching as I saw her head roll on the ground. I caught a flash of something I'd not seen before. A pair of foxes ears were firmly attached to her head. Almost as quick, the giant horse that Korus had named Bondrewd, stood over her. I couldn't read its thoughts but I know the sight of malice in something's eyes as it looked down at her corpse. The beast's jaw widened to widths I'd never previously seen before as it scooped up her body. Korus extended his arms to avoid further casualties but Bondrewd maintained eye contact with all of us. It was as much a display of power as it was a warning. It chewed slowly and I heard the crunch of bone and the squelching of flesh as it continued. Then it swallowed. I held my mouth agape as I watched it approach the head next, cart dutifully following the massive beast as it hefted one giant foot up and kicked the head. I'd watched for a good minute as it disappeared from my sight.

"I told the stupid girl to leave the damned horse alone." I said as much to myself as anyone listening. Korus put his arms down and returned to Bondrewd. Without any further word, we all settled back into the cart and went back to sleep.

Less than 4 hours later, I was awoken by rays of sunlight stabbing my eyes through my blanket. I took the blanket off my head to see a rather curious sight. It was as if time itself was stopped. Bird and other forest animals were stopped in their tracks. I saw at first a portal of bright green, the color of young leaves in the spring. It grew from the size of a pinprick to one the size of a door. Then I heard something a voice, or rather many speaking at once.

"So, this is where I must leave you Zane. If you would kindly follow me." Then I saw a man a few inches taller than I step through the portal. He wore the most basic of robes and long flowing hair of a reddish hue. He was followed by a smaller man with eyes of gold.

"Hello there," The gold eyed man said to us as he saw us. The smaller man motioned for the bigger one to join us.

"This is where I must leave you, Zane. After all, I can't do everything myself." The gold eyed man approached Bondrewd and stuck his hand into the horse. It writhed beneath him, attempting to escape as he fished in its belly searching for something. He pulled his hand out with the remnants of Ena's wand. It was shattered into many pieces.

"Shame," He said as he pocketed the remnants. There was a quick flash of green light and for an instant I felt a fog of my mind. Then he retrieved a bronze colored disk from his robes and handed it to the red haired man. I stared at the man and felt as if I was staring at something that should not exist. I'm a fool by trade, but a foolish man I'm not entirely. I chose to use humanity's best weapon in such cases and ignored him. He jumped through the portal and time returned to its natural state. We all climbed back into the carriage, but Bondrewd wouldn't move. I hopped off the cart and approached the horse. I casted Tongues on the horse to convince him to help us get to the capital.

"I realize that what just happened wasn't anything that you're used to, but we need to get to the capital. It's important, and when we get to the capital, we can kill more people and feed them to you. If we don't find anyone to feed you with, I'll buy you a steak." The horse shook its head and beckoned me to get back in the cart.

The ride to the capital was much longer than I anticipated. A week later, we'd left the gently rolling hills of the meadows and valley. We'd entered a more mountainous terrain with sparse grasses and treacherous drops.

The wagon slowed to a crawl as we passed by a canyon more massive than anything I'd ever seen before. The horse bellowed something that I couldn't understand and Korus turned around.

"Bondrewd asked if anyone wanted to get off and take a look at the canyon." He said. I looked at the canyon and opted not to leave the cart. The others however did leave the cart to look at a single monument next to it. The plaque that they'd read had detailed the creation of the World Scar, the canyon. It was created when a champion of Bahamut had fought against two adult red dragons. We'd spent the next hour regailing each other of various tales of dragons that we'd heard from others. The going was slow along the narrow paths along the World Scar, Bondrewd was very careful to prevent a misstep. We continued onwards and the wagon was able to approach the the bottom of the World Scar. I saw multiple white crystals embedded into the canyon. The smallest ones looked to fit into the palm of my hand and the largest seems to be larger than a man. I halted the cart and jumped out to grab one. Syafitri jumped out to join me, and collected a few of them for his own. I felt the electric tingling shooting through my hand causing my fingers to twitch.

"Can you grab me a few crystals, Otto?" Huasir asked, his scaly fingers clutching his cloak closely.

"Sure, they're a bit tingly but I'm fine. I'll grab you a few." I said with a smile. I filled Huasir's bag with the crystals and carefully gave them back to avoid breaking them, mindful of my own. Corvo also jumped out to grab crystals and I opted to help. As we gathered the crystals there was a terrible quaking of the ground. The earth split beneath Bondrewd and the horse made a terrible scream as it and the cart was wrenched apart, the horse ran away as the cart was launched into the earth. It flew about 20 feet into the air as a horrible abomination burst from the earth. The wurm had multiple appendages with claw like ends. Its flesh quivered in the open air as we were now faced with its presence. Zane waved his hands and then a large fireball burst out from his motions at the abomination. It hit well, but the beast shrugged it off. Huasir ran toward the beast and swung his sword. He swung mightily, but the creature didn't hesitate to reach out to Korus and bathed him with a splash of acid. Corvo ran towards the creature and attacked. His drake added lightning to the attack and he swung mightily. The hit resounded throughout the canyon. I ran close to wurm, flanking it on the right side and cast Thunder Wave. The wurm shuddered as the thunder rocked it. Syafitri ran toward the creature and slashed into the wurm with his bone scythe. It roared wildly as he cut through it. As he slashed, I saw cuts forming in his own skin as his clothes and armor were now covered in the creature's blood. The wurm's wounds started to weep a mix of acid and bile as it spat up the contents of its stomach. Korus released Bondrewd's reigns as he started to walk to the creature. He grabbed his large club and wound up to attack. He swung it upwards at the wurm's head and with a thunderous blow, the wurm was pushed out of the ground from its tunnel. It flew upwards about 40 feet through the air and crashed into the wall. It landed with a sickening thud as its tail coiled around it like a dying snake. As a coup de grace, at least five massive boulders fell upon the wurm crushing it beneath their weight. Corvo stared at the wurm and got an idea. He cleaned off a small boulder with some of the water from his water skin and crushed a small crystal into a powder. Then he proceeded to snort the line of powdered crystal. His nose was bleeding profusely as he leaned on the boulder. Blood dripped like a thick waterfall and he wiped it away.

"I'm going to get lightning resistance someday, I just need to keep trying." Corvo proclaimed.

"Has he always been this suicidal or is that a new one?" Zane, the newcomer asked.

"I'm not sure, I tend to ignore about half of what he normally says." I added. Syafitri approached the cart and rolled it over. He started to fix the cart's broken boards. I could hear the sounds of yelping and yipping of dogs get closer to us. The first mutant crawled over the rocks, its lithe body was lean with gnarled muscles. It ran at us as Huasir pulled his pistol and shot it. It dropped like a sack of weights as more ran to us. Corvo's drake attacked the next one and ripped its throat out. It bled out in front of us, back legs twitching as it died. Zane stepped up, waving his hands once again and a fireball shot out into the pack. 7 of them burned to a crisp, with one dodging his blast. The last dog ran towards Huasir, as it did so Syafitri slashed it with his scythe. He cut it straight down the center, leaving it a flinching mess.