Aerwyn returned back to Ardin around midday and sent Rorik alone to go and scout the goblin settlements to the south. He planned on attacking one tomorrow and wanted to only attack the smallest settlement. The two weeks worth of souls Rorik and his hunting group gathered seemed like a lot but he was still unsure at whether or not it would be enough to turn a hundred goblins.After sending Rorik out he checked on the progress of the southwestern wall and found Kabba. The giddy hobgoblin ran over quickly before thanking him endlessly for his new short sword. Aerwyn gave the spears and Kabba"s old dagger to Teek so that she could a.s.sign weapons to the goblins that she found the most promising.
Bon found him once he entered the city and Aerwyn informed him about his plan for tomorrow before heading to his broken spire. There was still some time before sundown so Aerwyn practiced his spearmans.h.i.+p and flame control before heading to bed. His head was pounding from whatever Tylin had made him drink so sleep came quickly.
Rorik was already waiting for him outside the broken spire the next morning.
"What"s the situation?" Aerwyn yawned whilst rubbing his eyes.
"..The eastern most settlement has seventy goblins... The other two have over two hundred each and the settlement closest to the river has at least one hobgoblin that i could see....master."
Aerwyn couldn"t stifle his laughter at Rorik"s attempts to hold on to his pride.
"Pfft... Ok go and round up the hunting group. Oh, get Velk too. He"s not doing anything anyway, might as well have him tag along."
Aerwyn ate some leftover stale bread from Tylin"s house for breakfast while he waited for his troops to form up. Once they were ready they began their trek southeast towards the smallest goblin village.
"Did you run into any other creatures while you were scouting?" Aerwyn asked Rorik as they walked.
"...The smallest village is at the edge of brexil cat territory-"
"KWEE!" Rin added excitedly.
"...To the north of the largest goblin village there is a tenri nest....master." Rorik continued.
"Does my little Rin want some brexil cat friends to play with?" Aerwyn picked up Rin like a baby and began to pamper her as they walked.
"KWEE! KWEE!" Rin exclaimed.
"What about you Ren?"
"Kwee..." Ren murmured enthusiastically. She had been sad ever since they left Tylin"s and Aerwyn wasn"t sure how to perk her back up. He though about checking her gender again as that got a rise out of her last time but he quickly shut this idea down. It would undoubtedly only add anger to her current array of emotions.
"...Maybe if the raid on the village goes well we can get some. I really don"t want to have to get scratched by brexil cats again, that was not a fun experience."
They walked for a few hours before coming upon what could be called an enormous hill or a small mountain. As they walked past it Aerwyn could see a few cave entrances dotting the base and made a mental note to check them out in the future. Once around the small mountain they could see the wooden settlement a few hundred meters in the distance.
The vast valley surrounding the small mountain made any plans of sneaking up on the settlement seem like folly. They would be forced to attack head on which was a problem as Aerwyn wasn"t here to simply exterminate the goblins, he was there to turn them all if possible.
"..Shoot..." Velk seemed to sense his masters feeling of consternation and grunted out an answer.
"...What?" Aerwyn responded with a look of confusion.
"...Shoot... Goblins come..after... Then..shoot more..." Velk took aim at the settlement pretending his battle axe was Aerwyn"s staff and grunted out deep "pew pew" noises. Aerwyn gazed over to the settlement, his flame lances should be able to reach. Now that he was thinking about it, when he fired the flame lance into the sky after killing Bon it went almost a kilometer in the air before exploding.
"Good job Velk. Way to earn that s.h.i.+ny new battle axe. The rest of you don"t attack unless they get within ten meters and if you"re forced to attack aim to cripple not kill. I want to bring back as many as i can."
Aerwyn took aim at the shabby wooden walls and fired a flame lance out. His practice was paying off, he could now even wear a s.h.i.+rt and shoot at the same time thanks to being able to create the flames on his right hand alone. The flame lance pierced the wall, knocking over the section it hit before exploding out and bringing down an even larger portion.
Some purple fires broke out around the settlement as the goblins scrambled to put them out and find the attacker responsible. Aerwyn fired once more, which appeared to get their attention as they began to trickle across the valley towards him. Hitting the little green dots was much harder than hitting the walls but Aerwyn"s aim was decent enough, hitting it"s target more often than not.
Purple souls began to exit his chest and the pain was more akin to a p.r.i.c.k than the full body crippling agony he was used to. By the time the remaining eight goblins reached the ten meter mark Aerwyn had fired dozens upon dozens of times and the pain of resurrection was closer to a punch in his chest now.
The undead quickly encircled them, holding them down and allowing Aerwyn to save some energy by stabbing them. The whole battle only took fifteen minutes from start to finish leaving Aerwyn wanting more. It was a strange feeling, he wasn"t particularly what you would call a battle junkie. At least the Aerwyn without his memories wasn"t but he couldn"t shake off the feeling that he was hungry for more.
Aerwyn took a tally as they walked towards the ever burning settlement. He had gained sixty four new undead goblins, doubling the amount now under his control. The flames were ignored by Aerwyn and his undead as they entered.
"You, is there any treasure here? Raise both your hands for yes and only one for no." Aerwyn pointed at one of the freshly turned goblins. It raised both his hands bringing a smile to Aerwyn"s face.
"Good, lead me to it."
Aerwyn followed the goblin to one of the few mud huts that was lucky enough to have avoided his flames so far. Aerwyn squatted over to fit through the short doorway and pushed the hanging furs apart. His eyes weren"t adjusted to the dim light inside and he didn"t see the goblin jumping at him with a bone knife until the last moment.
He attempted to raise his staff in a defensive posture to block the sudden attack but being caught off guard in the small hut left him with few choices to make that would allow him to protect himself. When the goblin made contact the knife dug into his chest and the pair tumbled outside. The pain of bone being cut radiated throughout his entire body.
Rin and Ren got to him first this time, with both of them jumping onto the goblins back. It had it"s knife raised up for another blow as the brexil cats attempted to drag the goblin off him. A glint of light rapidly descended on the goblins head causing Rin and Ren to jump off. It happened so fast Aerwyn barely had time to register it. Velk"s axe now sat vertically in the goblins stomach and Aerwyn froze, panicking at what would happen next.
"WAIT!" Aerwyn called out but it was too late. Velk was already lifting his axe which caused the previously intact goblin to split in two, releasing its innards all over Aerwyn. Now covered in putrid blood, bile, and guts Aerwyn closed his eyes and sighed. He grasped the location where the goblin had stabbed him before looking down to see that the goblins blow was blocked by his ribs, chipping two of them in the process.
Velk looked at him with a concerned expression but Aerwyn was in no mood to deal with him now. He called over the tenri he was using to carry his pack and grabbed one of the potions Tylin gave him. Pouring the liquid over the wound he swore that he wouldn"t enter rooms first anymore.
"Velk, go and make sure there are no more surprises inside the hut... Also!... Nevermind..." Aerwyn began to raise his voice to reprimand the hobgoblin but decided against it. Smelling like goblin feces was a small price to pay for keeping his life. Once Velk gave the okay he headed back inside and in the corner of the room was a few uncut gemstones along with a small piece of silvery ore.
"It would be nice if i had an undead who was a miner in his past life. Then let"s see that scoundrel Marik try and get one over on me..." Aerwyn mumbled under his breath as he packed up the tiny amount of goblin treasure. Stepping outside he looked at his new goblin undead, he still wanted more despite the sneak attack so he changed his gaze to Rin and Ren.
"Two "kwee" means yes, one "kwee" means no. I a.s.sume brexil cats wont come out to fight us if we just wander around their territory right?"
"KWEE!" Rin answered before the grouchy Ren could respond.
"No? They"re that territorial?"
"KWEE! KWEE!" Rin confirmed and Ren just gave up trying to respond, finding a comfortable position to lie down near the hut.
"Ok, that makes things easier then. Rorik i"m riding you for this so i don"t get scratched. Let"s go!"
"AWOOOOOO!" Rorik cries fell on deaf ears as he was mounted by a smiling Aerwyn.
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