Hollow Henry

Their walk through the forest was mostly uneventful. Henry peppered his new friends with questions about the world, and they readily answered anything they could. He would stop from time to time when he came across a particularly bright glowing plant, or the occasional stray stone on the ground with a vein of something precious tracing through. He figured the items might carry some extra essence, and they could help him level up faster.

He'd done the math already. If he was to spend all of his essence now, he'd probably be able to get to level 3. According to the Scotsmen, he'd receive a new skill at level 3 that was related to his core power. He liked the idea of gaining a new skill right away, but his new friends warned him against being too quick to level. The skill he gained would depend on context, and without any real world experience, there was no telling if he would get a useful skill. It would be entirely random if he just levelled up right away, he wanted to see how he held up in combat first. Maybe that way he could give the skill the context he wanted it to have.

Occasionally, Andy would check what he was casually calling the map. It was a deep blue marble that he held in his hand. It projected a bunch of tiny pinpoint lights that made up a rough picture of the forest and mountains. They were shown on the map by a glowing blue light, and their destination was shown by a glowing red light. Henry wanted to have a play with the marble, but Andy wouldn't let him handle the delicate device.

Soon enough, they were upon their target. Henry noticed the smell before anything else. There was a fowl and rotting sweetness to the air. It took all he had not to gag out loud and give away their position. Hamish had them crouch down low and move towards the noise. The Goblin camp was tucked away beneath a horseshoe cliff. The ferns above made for a dense cover, shrouding their camp in a deeper darkness than the forest already offered. All of the life below the cliff was rotted or torn away. None of the vegetation seemed to be quite dead, just perpetually degrading in filth. The Goblins themselves were uncomfortable looking creatures. They were a mix of green and grey, and stood about 5 feet tall. They looked a lot like the Goblins of myth and legend with their pointed ears and jagged teeth, the main difference was the 4 arms.

Most of them wandered around the camp, doing much of the same things you'd imagine primitive humans might. It was somehow different though. No task seemed to have an actual purpose. It was more like watching a bunch of monkeys mimicking people doing chores. It was surreal, the Goblins that weren't fighting or fucking, just seemed like drones.

Henry's stomach sunk when he saw the cage tucked away at the back of their camp. There were two men in guard uniforms trying to press themselves into the far wall of the cage as hard as they could. There had been a third guard, but it seemed the Goblins had been pulling off pieces of the poor soul through the bars sometime recently. Most of the man's right side had been ripped apart and torn free, including a good portion of his face. There was no cooking fire anywhere in sight, it was obvious they were just eating everything raw.

“That's heavy,” Henry whispered, looking away to try and keep the beer he had earlier from coming back into the world.

“I told you they were bastards,” Hamish sympathised. “I don't see a Hob in their camp though, so it should be an easy one.”

Henry looked at him curiously, trying to ask his next question without making sound.

“Goblin that can do magic,” Andy added, saving Henry from his curiosity. “You don't want to meet a Hob at level 1, trust that,” he chuckled.

“Are you guys ready?” Hamish asked through a big smile. He quietly pulled something wrapped in cloth from his bag. Quickly and in absolute silence, he switched the head of his axe out for what was apparently a crystalline pickaxe head.

“I'll see you when it gets quiet again,” Andy said with a smirk, right before vanishing from sight entirely.

Henry tried not to jump at seeing the man disappear, then gulped. He shakily pulled the knife from his cutlery out of his bag, and looked the big man in the eyes.

“Ready as ever, I suppose.”

Hamish nodded at him.

“Stay close, and you should be fine. As long as you're in the fight, you'll get some good essence. You don't have to actually fight.”

“Good to know,” Henry managed to say through his nerves.

Before he had a chance to back out of it, he heard a bone chilling scream sound from the Goblin camp. A quick peek through the bushes showed that it was lunchtime for some of them, and apparently they were in the mood for some fresh guard. He felt an anger flare inside him. He didn't know who that guard was, he just knew how unjust the whole thing felt. The guard must have been terrified. It turned his stomach to think of such helplessness.

Without even thinking about it, he found himself charging from the foliage. He could only hear his breath, and the thumping of his boots on the hard ground. The closest Goblin turned at the sound of his heavy footfalls, but was too late to raise its club. Henry collided with the little beast before he even knew what was happening. He thrust his knife forward with all of his strength, aiming at nothing in particular. The beast was completely naked, having only dirt to cover its shame, so the blade found a new home in its ribs easily. When Henry scrambled to his feet, the Goblin didn't follow, and neither did his knife.

Before he had a chance to retrieve it, another of the creatures was already charging him. 2 more trailed behind it, but Hamish ploughed through at that moment, leaving only 1 attacker. Henry wasted no time in lifting his leg, and dropping his boot into its head. It's face crashed into the moist dirt, driven by his heavy kick. There was a soft crunch, so he knew he could move onto the next.

His heart pounded with adrenalin. He had never won a fight before. He had as many scraps as the next guy in his less than classy public high school, but that was about it. Still, he'd lost every one of those. He was never quite coordinated or level headed enough to know what to do. This time was different.

He could feel the difference in his body and his mind. He knew he was stronger than before, he knew his thoughts were clear and fast, and he wasn't too overwhelmed by his own fear to focus. He felt confident in his movements, even if he wasn't sure what movements to make.

He lunged towards another Goblin, stepping aside as it swung its club in an obvious ark. It left itself wide open for him to grab it by the shoulder and toss it backwards into a tree. The monster coughed with the impact, and slumped when it hit the ground. He felt powerful as he spun around and imploded another Goblin's ribs with a kick.

A glance at Hamish showed that the big man was having just as much fun. The little beasts were swarming him, there had to be at least 10 of them trying to crawl over one another to gouge at his skin. Hamish just gleefully swept them away with his pickaxe, holding one up to receive a crossbow bolt to the heart, courtesy of Andy. Henry could see why the big man was so excited for the raid then. It was like watching a giant bearded child play with his toys.

The assault on the caged guards was still underway, and it looked as though the Goblins were winning. Henry broke free from the slaughter and sprinted for the back of the camp. He managed 1 more Goblin kill in transit when a beast lunged at his throat from behind a ragged tent. He made short work of it by grabbing it and kicking it away like a football.

The cage had 3 attackers left, since most of them had left to help take down the 8 foot giant singing bar songs while he destroys their home. All 3 of the Goblins turned their attention to him. Rather than clubs, they all held something sharp and rusty. He had felt himself getting notifications the entire time, but was choosing to wait until later to check his HUD. The weapons in their hands seemed to offer some information. With a quick check, he surmised that the weapons might be crude and weak, but they were undeniably dangerous. Each of them only had a damage of 5, whatever that meant. It was the ‘Goblin Sick’ debuff that had him worried. He didn't have time to read what it did before the first Goblin started swinging.

He stepped back to get out of the way of its sharpened spatula as it whistled sharply through the air. Seeing an opening, he tried to kick at the thing. His foot collided with its shoulder, letting out a satisfying cracking sound as the beast went down. He wasn't fast enough though. He felt the sting of where the spatula had bitten into his forearm. The little monster had found a place without the leather guard, and apparently the spatula was hard enough to split the chain rings. He grabbed the spatula and finished the Goblin off with a slash across the throat. That was the first kill that made him feel a pang of guilt, but he didn’t have time to get stuck on that yet.

The remaining 2 Goblins charged him at the same time. One of them held what looked like a piece of broken glass with cloth wrapped around for a handle, and the other had an old rusty dagger. Henry assessed them quickly, and decided that he wanted that dagger.

He scooped up the fallen Goblin and tossed it as hard as he could at the dagger Goblin. The limp body collided with the confused creature with a wet thud, taking it down for the moment. He tried to throw his spatula at the glass Goblin, but missed by a spectacular amount. The spatula sailed past the Goblin, several feet from its head, and bounced off of the cage bars. He caught a glimpse of the conscious guard shaking their head, right before the Goblin pounced on him.

It held onto his armour with 2 of its hands, and viciously slashed at his chest with the other 2. He saw the leather of his armour chipping away and began to panic. The creature held on with an iron grip, and he couldn't pry it free. A root to a nearby tree caught his foot, and he tripped backwards. As soon as he was on his back, the Goblin tried to slash at his face. It took all of his strength to hold the monster back. The glass zipped back and forth with the speed of a propeller, and it was inching closer and closer by the moment.

In a spark of inspiration, he lifted the creature up instead of pushing it back, and he rolled backwards, slamming its head into the ground on the way. He stumbled to his feet, feeling significantly drained of energy after his struggle. His opponent was on its feet quickly too, and he prepared as it started to charge again. He winced before it even reached him, and looked down to see a rusted dagger sticking into his ribs. Before he had a chance to react, the second Goblin thrust its dagger into his side 3 more times. He spun to swipe at it, but it jumped back cackling. It reached out for it, the pain just now starting to make itself known, but the little shit danced away again. A sting in his other side reminded him of his first foe, and he spun to swipe at it too. The glass couldn't get through the metal on his armour, but that didn't stop it from hurting when you're stabbed with it.

He was starting to worry. These two Goblins were a little more capable than the others. Cursing at his new friends for not warning him, he lunged for the glass Goblin first. The thing was quick, but he managed to grab its wrist when it swiped at him. He pulled it in close, and spun around just in time to put the Glass wielding Goblin between him and the rusty dagger. The dagger wielding Goblin looked surprised to have just accidentally murdered his buddy, but not nearly as surprised as Henry looked to see the guard standing behind it with the spatula above their head.

In the next second, the knife wielding Goblin's head was cleaved in two. And the guard slumped with satisfaction.

Henry was about to give himself a little battlefield introduction, but had his attention immediately drawn to the sound of an explosion.

There was a cloud of purple smoke spewing out of a tent, along with falling debris from whatever had just blown up.

“Hob! It's a fuckin’ T4 Hob!” Andy's voice called through the trees.

The guard looked at Henry, he couldn't see their face through the helmet, but he could hear her voice as clear as day.

“You didn't kill the fucking Hob?” She asked, more than a hint of anger coating her words.

Before Henry had a chance to defend himself, a second explosion sounded, and the ground began to rumble. Orange lightning struck the Hob Goblin's tent, causing a shock wave to pulse through everything. The cliff above them rumbled, and they both watched as a deep crack raced from its base to its top. Another explosion sounded, having the bone splintering sound of stone cracking under pressure. The top of the cliff blasted outward, sending car sized boulders falling towards the camp. They had no time to run, so they just looked at each other.

“You’re a bunch of idiots,” she laughed. “You've fucking killed me.”

Henry didn't like the sound of that.

He had no idea who this woman was. He definitely didn't appreciate being accused of something he didn't do, especially if he didn't know who the person was. He also really didn't like the idea of dying again, so he could kind of see where she was coming from. Twice in one day is too many times, he'd already decided that. He wasn't going to die, he just had to make the decision of whether or not to save this random person too.

He sighed. Goblins were one thing, but he wasn’t sure he could have this person's life on his conscience as well. Moments before the falling stones crushed them, he placed his hand on her shoulder.

“This is gunna be weird,” he said, right before activating his skill, pulling them both into his Temple.