Goblin summoner a deckbu.., p.11
Goblin Summoner: A Deckbuilding LitRPG, page 11
“Huh. Well, you’re welcome goblins, uh, our pleasure,” Gareth said.
“Man-thing has magics, yes? Makes more goblins, magic-thing puppets, yes?” The goblin was hopping from one foot to the other in excitement, an impressive feat for something that looked like it was too old to stand.
“Yeah, that’s me alright. Goblin affinity,” Gareth said, tapping the top of his deck box.
“Goblins good. Goblins strong.” The goblin tapped its staff on the ground proudly. “Many goblins, much strength.” It looked around at its dwindled tribe. “Not good time right now.”
“Yeah, I can see that. What happened here?”
“Wet-things come, attack tribe. We fight back but try to move into tunnels, yes? Staying near water not thinky smart with swimmers. Tunnels full of blob-things, we not expect. Lose many warriors. When wet-things come again, we lose fight. Then you come, man-thing save goblin, very grateful, yes. You from up ways?”
The goblin pointed to the roof of the cavern and Gareth looked upwards. There was a small circle of daylight coming in from above and glinting off the river. It was the well from the village, a hanging bucket barely visible. It was a long way down, but the river water would be fresh and clean. Noticeably, around the edge of the river and beneath the well, there was a ring that lacked the otherwise omnipresent mushrooms.
“Yes, from up there. We’re looking for something, can you help us?”
“Of course, man-thing. Goblins owe you lives. We join your tribe, yes?”
“I don’t see why not,” Magda said. “We could use the help. Maybe you can put them in your deck, or something.”
“I don’t think it works like that,” Gareth said.
“Sorry, I’m not following,” Imelda said. “I don’t speak goblin.”
“They want to help us. They’re grateful for us saving them.” Gareth crouched to get closer to the goblin. “That circle on the ground, where the mushrooms don’t grow. Why is that? It’s the same in the village above, nothing grows around the well.”
“Oh, dark-thing beneath cave. Much magics. We can show you, yes?”
“Please do.”
“Ok. Goblins in your tribe now. Man-thing can summon goblin, makes man-thing like goblin, yes? Take this! Was Skrunk’s, now yours.” The goblin offered Gareth his staff.
Gareth took the tall staff, his hand wrapping tightly around the shaft. “Uh, thanks, I guess.”
Runic item obtained. Staff of Goblinkind. Upon summoning a monster with the goblin type, the staff will generate one magical charge. Upon collecting its third charge the magic will automatically be expended to draw an extra card.
It was a welcome surprise. Gareth had expected a useless bit of wood. What he had gotten was an item that had nothing but upside. He wanted to be summoning goblins and drawing extra cards for doing so was a fantastic boon. He had mentioned it once to Imelda, but the staff’s effect reminded him that he would need to explain card advantage to his companions more thoroughly. In every card game he had played in his past life it had been key to victory. In general, whoever used the most cards won, so anything that exchanged one card for multiples, either by drawing them or by destroying multiple opposing cards, was exceptionally powerful.
“I think this means you’re their king now,” Magda said. “Rule wisely.”
“I’ll try. Skrunk, is this…dark-thing close?”
“Yes, yes. Not far. Tunnels close, twists down to below place.”
Gareth turned towards Imelda, aware that the wyrmkin couldn’t understand what was being said. “We’re right below the village. If you look at the mushrooms, there’s a gap directly beneath the well. It’s the same in the village, all the grass stops in a perfect circle around the stones. The goblins say there is something under there, and they’re willing to show us.”
“Sounds like what we’re looking for.”
“It does, yeah.”
“Can we trust them? They are goblins. Normally they’re little warmongers.”
“I think so,” Gareth said. “They’re not exactly in a fit state to fight us, and they seem sincere. Without us they would have been lobster food eventually, so, we’re pretty popular right now.”
“For now, at least. Goblins are monsters, you can’t trust them.”
“I mean, what’s the difference between a monster and a person? I’m honestly asking, I don’t know. Your summons seem to be just regular human bandits, but those still count as monsters, right? Seems like a matter of perspective, honestly.”
“Well, I’m just warning you,” Imelda said, her eyes dancing nervously to the battered goblins.
“Lead the way, Skrunk,” Gareth said, ignoring Imelda’s worry. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”
***
The pathway beneath the cavern was hidden at the far end of the chamber, near where the river vanished into the rock. A large boulder had been rolled across the entrance, the goblins straining as they pushed it slowly away. Gareth tried to order his summoned monsters to help but they had simply stood there bemused at the request. The magical constructs were limited in their application it seemed, good for fighting but little else.
Once the stone was safely out of the way, Imelda peered into the tunnel with her sunstone in hand, the light filling the narrow passage. She didn’t trust the goblins not to be leading them into a trap and insisted on going first. Neither Gareth nor Magda argued against it, despite both of them secretly thinking that going first was a bad idea if you suspected foul play.
The tunnel itself was little more than a crack in the rock, one that wound its way around under the earth. It wasn’t the safest feeling placed Gareth had been in, and Magda’s stories of cave-ins came flooding to his mind. He could understand her trepidation better squeezing through the tight space. The goblins didn’t mind, though their small stature made the tunnel much less claustrophobic.
The trip took some time, the tunnel going a significant distance under the cavern. Gareth marvelled at how big the entire network of old tunnels, caves and ancient waterways had to be. The wyrmkin kingdom had to have been extremely impressive during its heyday. He wondered what Wildermount was like. Gareth had picked up that it was both a city and capital of a kingdom of the same name. If it was as old as the tunnels, then it had to be something incredibly impressive to look at. He would find out soon enough, it was the logical place to head once his quest was complete. He and Magda would need more work if they were going to survive. Especially paying work, neither the village nor Imelda had offered any coin in way of payment.
As they descended further, Gareth took the opportunity to spend his skill points. He put one into mana reserve, the third mana point had made a huge difference in the battle with the nephrop, the banner powering up his Puny Goblins far past their previous strength. His mana limit was preventing him from putting the war banner he had removed back into the deck, but Gareth knew he could increase that on his next level up.
The temptation had been there to just jump to having another point of mana, but Gareth understood that balancing his skills would be better in the long run. He still knew so little about how his deck worked, how easy it was to obtain more cards, or how a particular strategy might perform. Playing it safe and increasing everything as close to even as he could get it would be the smart thing to do.
From the dead stare on Magda’s face, Gareth could tell she was doing the same. It was no wonder that the people of Acamida considered it rude to access your menu when others were present. It made you look like you had fallen into a walking coma, not a pleasant thing to look at. Gareth wondered if the goblins had the same access to levels as everyone else did. It didn’t seem likely, Skrunk had handed over a powerful artefact without realising it.
Eventually, the tunnel came to a stop, a thin gap the only exit. It was going to be a tight squeeze, the party could fit through, but barely. The goblins didn’t seem to pay it any heed, stepping through easily.
“After you,” Magda said, poking Gareth in the back. “You’re the biggest, so if you get stuck, we can give you a push.” She dismissed her cards with a gesture, her angels turning back into pure magic and flying inside the deck box. It sealed with a loud snap.
“She does have a point,” Imelda said. She did the same, her bandits vanishing. They weren’t going to fit through the gap, even if the simple magical constructs could understand the concept. “I’ll go second, then Magda can be last. She is the smallest out of us after all.”
“I prefer compact. Perfectly formed.”
“Goblinesque more like,” Gareth said. “Give you a pair of pointy ears and some green face paint and you’ll fit right in.”
“If you think I’m helping you if you get stuck now, you’re mad.”
Gareth just laughed. He took a sick glee in winding up the former goddess. Dismissing his cards, Gareth held out his sunstone and began to push through the crack. It was an incredibly tight squeeze, so he stepped back into the tunnel and handed his backpack to Imelda. The second attempt went better than the first, though the cold harsh stone still rubbed against Gareth uncomfortably. He emerged on the other side with a pop, stepping out onto an intricate mosaic of black and white tiles.
Dominating the centre of the massive chamber was a crystal, a dark purple shard that towered over Gareth. It caught the glow of his sunstone, its smooth sides glistening from the light. The crystal was floating slightly above the ground, no visible apparatus keeping it aloft. The tiles below it were arranged in a particular pattern, the white squares forming an elaborate rune amongst their more numerous black kin.
The crystal itself was strange enough, but it was what Gareth could make out within that disturbed him. There was a figure trapped inside, an ominous shadow that loomed over him. It was a massive thing, a pair of wings attached to a muscular body, long horns stretching from its head. It seemed to lack all colour, a thing of perfect shadow aside from two baleful red eyes that stared directly forward. Whatever was within the crystal either wasn’t aware of Gareth or simply didn’t care.
“Anything in here?” Imelda said as she squeezed through the gap. “I hope this wasn’t a…missed...opportunity.” The wyrmkin had trailed off as she had seen the giant trapped within the crystal. “Ah.”
“Ah is right. Now, I’m no expert on wyrmkin history, but if you were going to say, discover the mythical destroyer in its prison, what would it look like? Because I’m pretty sure we’re looking at it.” Gareth couldn’t help but layer on the sarcasm. It was a defence mechanism from his old life that had carried across to his new one.
“I can’t believe my mother was right. All her talk about this thing and here it is. You know this means it’s what’s keeping the elementals away from the village. Even the goblins don’t like it, you can see it on their faces.”
Imelda was right. The goblins were keeping their distance from the crystal, backing up as far against the wall as they could. The boulder blocking the route down had to have been placed there by them.
“So, this entire trip was a bit of a bust then? Amazing.”
“Not exactly, I mean maybe we can convince the villagers this is down here and get them to leave?”
Magda stepped through the gap, though with considerably less effort than the others. She looked up at the crystal in the centre of the room. It thrummed with power, the energy flowing from it coming off in waves. It felt familiar, yet different at the same time. She began to walk forward, the crystal calling out to her.
“And how do we do that? It’s not exactly safe to go traipsing around in a dungeon. None of those people have decks, and it’s not a short journey,” Gareth said.
“We could maybe lower someone down the well? It does go directly to the goblin village. Hah, imagine if those humans knew what was beneath their feet. Goblins, slimes, nephrop and now this thing.” Despite learning that her mother’s tales of a destructive monster hidden beneath their feet proving true, a smile had crept across Imelda’s lips. At some point, one of the various threats beneath the village was bound to bubble up and catch the unexpectant humans unawares.
Magda stepped forwards towards the crystal, moving past her comrades with her hand outstretched. She was entranced, finally recognising the energy flowing from the crystal. It was divinity. Twisted and distorted, but divinity none the less. Magda had only been without it for nearly two days and she hadn’t realised how much she was missing it until she had felt its tender caress again.
“Magda, I wouldn’t go touching-” Imelda began.
Magda’s hand touched the edge of the crystal and a faint golden glow began to form around her fingers. Fear filled her eyes and she tried to prise her hand off. It didn’t budge, stuck to the side of the crystal like it had been glued in place.
“I can’t get it off! It’s stealing my divinity. I didn’t even realise I had any left!”
“What’s she talking about?” Imelda said.
“Long story, help me prise her off!” Gareth grabbed Magda by the shoulder and began to pull. She didn’t budge, the force holding her to the crystal gripping tightly. “Grab her legs.”
“Got it.” Imelda did as she was asked, grabbing Magda’s legs, and lifting them off the ground.
“Ok, this might hurt,” Gareth said. Between Imelda and himself they were holding Magda horizontally. They pulled, the goddesses face grimacing as her limbs began to lose the battle against the crystal’s grasp.
“It’s not working!” Magda was panicking. The glow was growing stronger by the moment, the last dribbles of her divinity being sucked out of her. The looming gem was devouring it, motes of light floating through the crystal’s interior.
Cracks in the crystal began to form, beams of golden and purple light pouring from them like a two-tone rainbow. They spread through the crystal with increasing rapidity, until the shard was barely holding itself together.
It shattered, lightning filling the room. As it did it released its grip on Magda, sending the party flying backwards into the wall.
A laugh filled the room as the light faded, a cackle that filled the air and echoed around the chamber. It lacked the kind of gravitas that Gareth would have expected from something called the destroyer.
“Ah yes! I’m free. Free after-” The voice stopped to cough, spluttering for a moment. The shattering of the crystal had launched a cloud of thick dust into the air. “Out of the way, blasted dust.”
The smoke and light cleared. The figure standing in the centre of the room wasn’t what anyone expected.
A young man stood there, barely into his early twenties. He had sweeping long blonde hair that was draped wildly onto his shoulders, a single pitch-black horn poking through the side. He was totally naked, aside from a leather belt upon which a deck box was attached. The box was black, arcane runes set into it in silver. They were difficult to look at, the shapes jagged and harsh. The man had a handsome face, sharp cheekbones and pale blue eyes catching the eye. He ran a hand through his hair and tossed it back.
“So silent? I expected much adulation to the coming of your lord! Where…where am I, actually? This isn’t my palace. You, wyrmkin, where is this?”
“Uh, in the catacombs, beneath the forest. Where the city used to be.” Imelda took an experimental step closer. “Are you…are you the destroyer?”
“Among other names. The destroyer, the dark lord, the end of all things. Just titles really, I prefer Lord Sarkuran. Do you not recognise your lord? My divine appearance.” The destroyer lifted his hand to examine himself, and his face changed in a moment. It wasn’t what he was expecting.
“Problem?” Gareth said. The creature within the crystal was a massive hulking demon. What was stood before him now was an appearance that was all too familiar.
“This…isn’t right. No, no, no, no.” The dark lord ran his hands over his body. His face twisted and contorted as he found only human flesh. His eyes glazed over for a moment, a tell-tale sign he was checking a menu. “What have you done to me! All those years of conquest wasted. I don’t know how you’ve done it, but you’ve cast me back to level one!”
Chapter Nine
There was a fury in the young man’s eyes, a desperate rage that betrayed the truthfulness of his cry. His chest heaved as he took ragged breaths, his anger causing his heart to race. He put a hand to his deck box instinctively, the reaction of someone used to having to fight.
“Woah, there’s no need for anyone to get hurt here,” Gareth said, waving his hand towards the pitch-black box. “Besides if you’re level one you’re no match for the three of us.”
“I was a match for armies! Entire kingdoms fell before my hordes!”
“Yeah, well they’re not here now, are they?”
“I’m still confused,” Imelda said. “The destroyer is some random level one guy?”
“I had a level beyond counting! Power you could hardly fathom. Until the wyrmkin betrayed me. The latest members of my empire and they plotted to trap me in crystal. Grand ball indeed! I should have known better.”
“Wait? You mean the wyrmkin didn’t summon you?” Imelda was confused, the events that Sarkuran was describing didn’t track with what her mother had told her.
“Of course not. I’m not some monster you can spit out of a card. They saw that joining my growing, and impressive, empire was the wise choice. Or at least, that’s what they proclaimed. I know now that was an elaborate ruse. One that I won’t fall for a second time. They will feel my wrath!”
“Not like that they’re not,” Gareth said. “You’re a little…underdressed. And underpowered. Besides, that kingdom is long gone. Couple hundred years at least.”
“At least my empire still stands!” Sarkuran thumped his chest proudly with a closed fist. “I built something designed to last a thousand years.”
“I don’t think so. I’ve never heard of any empires,” Imelda said. “The Kingdom of Wildermount controls most of the nearby lands, including the forest. To the north and east is the wastelands, wild lands where the volume of monsters makes living there impossible. To the south is the ocean, whilst to the west is the Vanmeer Republic. Definitely no empire.”
