Richter rushed around the cage and grabbed the man by the arm. The pressure he applied must have been more than he intended because the man sank down on one knee and had to bite his lip to stop from crying out. The chaos seed immediately let go and used Analyze.
Sinking to one knee as well, Richter leaned in and put his face right in front of the man’s. “Oreet. Your name is Oreet, right?” After the man nodded, he said, “Well, Oreet. I know that you are concerned about your family, but you have to trust me. We are here to save all of you. As soon as you and the other prisoners are over the cliff, and moving towards safety, we are going to get the others.”
Oreet looked at him, and tears streaked down his face. He pleaded with Richter, “But they are hurting them. Can you not hear it?” As if to mock his pain, a low moan of anguish came from the north, followed by the inevitable hoots of goblin delight.
“I hear them. I hear them,” Richter said, his own heart sickened by what was happening. “I promise, we will make them pay.”
“Will you save them?” Oreet asked. He sounded like a man falling to his death asking god for a parachute. They both knew that his family was never coming back, but he couldn’t face the truth.
Richter’s face froze for a moment, but then he said, “Of course. I’m here to save you all.” He had never actually hated himself before that moment.
Oreet looked at him with an inscrutable gaze, before nodding and saying, “Thank you.”
Richter gave him a nod and stood helping the man to his feet. He motioned Oreet towards the cliff face. Some of the sprites were tying those too weak to climb to the ropes and then lowering them over the side. He turned back to ask Oreet to help and saw that the human was gone. Whipping his head back and forth, he couldn’t see him. Richter checked his map, and cursed silently when he saw a yellow square moving north at a run. The square was moving directly towards the goblins that were raping his wife and son.
The chaos seed made a split-second decision. He might be able to reach Oreet before the goblins noticed him, but he’d have to kill the man to stop him quietly. Whatever stains his soul would have by the end of the night, that wasn’t something he was prepared to do. Instead, Richter ran to Yoshi.
The sprite was conversing in hand speak with Damien. Richter took out his Traveler’s Map and pointed. Yoshi took in the situation in a glance. The adept could guess who was running towards the goblins and why. His eyes hardened, and he looked back up. He spoke aloud, knowing there were only seconds left.
“We need more time to get the captives free. Someone will need to draw them away from the river bed.”
“I’ll do it,” Richter said immediately.
“You won’t do it alone,” Yoshi responded. He called out to Damien and five other members of the strike them. Their orders were simple: delay the goblins that were just north of them and then lead the entire enemy army through the valley. “You must keep their attention away from the riverbed,” the adept repeated to Richter.
“I’ll do it,” the chaos seed repeated grimly. He started casting buffs as quickly as he could. Weak Haste, Weak Barkskin and Weak Life Armor. It wasn’t much. His armor only increased by +3 and his speed by 10%, but he would take it.
“Yes, we will,” Sion said, loosening his bow.
The screams north of them grew louder and over fifty goblins’ voices rose in anger. A single human voice yelled back.
Richter looked at his friend with steel in his gaze, “Ready to kill some more bad guys?”
Sion looked back wild-eyed, with a savage grin on his face, “Oh yes, brother! That’s what we do!”
CHAPTER 32 – Day 141 – Kuborn 31, 15,386 EBG
The yelling crescendoed. All of the women began to scream as well, and Richter thought he even heard a child’s voice join in. The screams cut off abruptly, one after another. It was quiet for a moment, then the sound of fell horns filled the air. The squealing calls rang out from the goblins just north of the cages. Soon there were answering calls from all across the goblin encampment. Through Alma’s eyes, Richter could see the camp roil like a kicked anthill and Richter’s stomach dropped as the number of red triangles exploded on his map. More enemies were coming out from cover. A lot more.
The chaos seed pushed his fear aside. There was a more immediate concern. The goblins had finished slaughtering Oreet and their rape victims. Now they were coming fast towards Richter and the other sprites. They left bodies of their victims behind and flowed between the buildings to reach the cage area.
Richter quickly reached into his bag and pulled out something he had been hoping to save until later in the battle. He handed them out to each of the sprites. Sion asked, “What is it?”
“It goes boom! Throw it at the goblins when you see them and don’t look directly at it when it happens! Fuck! There they are! Throw it! Throw it now!”
Richter and the six sprites each threw the Crystallized Red Foxfire as the first of the goblins boiled out of the gaps between the buildings. The goblins were approaching in three distinct lines, funneled by the wooden buildings. Two crystals flew to each gap, and Richter arched his throw a bit higher to fall farther back in the middle line. The red gems flew forward and cracked on impact. The unstable alchemy released, and the goblins burned. They BURNED.
When the first crystalline red sphere shattered, it released an explosive field of pure force. The skin on the closest goblin’s face rippled as if pushed back by a strong wind. A split second later, the fire came. It was the birth of a tiny sun, and flame washed out in all directions. As the explosion expanded outward, the blaze flowed like water. Throats were seared as the goblins’ yells turned to screams. Those closest to the explosion just saw a bright flash. Then the fluid in their eyes superheated, causing the soft globes to burst. White, ocular fluid started to flow down their face, but the heat continued to cook the liquefied remains and charred it on their cheeks.
Then the second sphere shattered, and it all started again. The buildings burned, but they also funneled some of the flames. Even past the ten foot AoE of the foxfire, some of the flames still reached further back into a column of goblins. Those who did not die outright from the release of the alchemy caught fire. Their bodies went up like living torches and their screeches added to the chaos and confusion. What had been a force of nearly seventy bloodthirsty goblins, turned into barely over fifty green skinned cowards in mere moments. Almost all of the survivors were partially blinded by the explosion of light and red fire.