The Caverns of Kildun Aalda--Chapter Thirteen--Teleporting Rooms and Goblins

The Caverns of Kildun Aalda--Chapter Thirteen--Teleporting Rooms and Goblins

“Ooh,” said George. “That is very pretty.” Once they had left the library the walked down the corridor to the west. There was a door at the end of the hall. After checking for traps they opened another door and found themselves in a shorter hallway.

“There is a room to the right,” Johanna had said. The corridor branched to the left.

When they opened the door, it was dark at first. Then a light coming from the furthest corner of the room caught their eye. After making sure there were no monsters, the room was bare of any furniture or other things they could lurk behind, they entered the room to investigate further.

“Did you feel something?” Bard asked Johanna.

“Like what?” she asked.

“It was a weird feeling,” he answered. “It felt like I had blacked out.”

The source of the light was a set of crystals embedded in the wall. There was no distinct pattern to it, just a display of a variety of reflecting colors.

“Though it is pretty,” Balon said, “there is nothing magical to it.”

“There is no value, either,” said Britt. “This is common ordinary crystal, something I can mine in any cave. Come on, George. You have the map, lead the way.”....

They left the room and followed the hallway that led away from it.

After they had travel a hundred yards, George stopped and looked at his map. Something did not look right. Maybe Joban and Stephan’s map of the stronghold was not accurate. He checked his compass.

“Sorry guys, I must have gone the wrong way.”

“What do you mean?” Britt asked.

“We should be going south and we are going north.”

“Do not play games with us!” Britt thundered. “You know that the only direction the hallway went after we left that room was south. We started walking down the hallway as soon as we got out of the room!”

“Come see the compass for yourself,” said George, miffed. It was one thing to get yelled at when he joked around. It was another when he was totally serious.

Britt brushed passed the others and grabbed the compass out of George’s hand. “We are going north. Maybe we just turned a corner and did not notice.” He put his hand on George’s shoulder. “I am sorry, George. Let’s head back the way we came.” They turned around and headed back down the hallway.

“There is a room to the right,” Bard said.

“That is funny that we did not see this before.”

“I believe we have been here before,” George said, looking at the crystal decoration on the wall.

Once again Bard felt that strange sensation again. This time he did not say anything.

“Maybe we needed to go north in the first place,” Britt said. “George, turn left when we leave the room.”

“There is a room to the left” Eileena said.

“I cannot believe it,” Britt said hitting his head with the hand. They were once again standing in the room with the crystal decoration on the wall. “It is not funny!” he said as Balon started laughing.

“I think I know what is going on. Come on everybody. Step outside of the room.”

Once they were outside, he said, “Britt go back in the room, wait a minute and come back out.

The group waited and in a minute they heard Britt yell in the northern part of the corridor. “What is this some type of joke? Where are you guys hiding?”

“Follow me,” said Balon. “They walked north up the corridor and soon saw Britt standing outside a room looking miffed.

“Sorry if you thought we were pulling a joke,” the magic user said. “There are two rooms that are identical. I thought it was me, but I felt something as we teleported from one room to the other.”

“I had felt something too,” said Bard. “What is the purpose of these rooms?”

“They most likely were used to confuse the unwanted intruders. They would get confused by entering one room and teleporting to the other and get lost. George see that the door of the northern room has a B on it. This is the room on the map.”

“I think that I saw an A on the other door.”

“At least we know where we are now.”

They went back to the first teleporting room. George scratched his head. “Now which way are we heading, north or south?”

Britt playfully threw a punch at the thief.

....

“We better be careful,” Britt said, looking around the large room and sniffing the air. “I think there was some type of creature in here recently.”

“What was this room used for?” asked George. “There is nothing but black soot.” He looked at his hands, which were already blackened. “I am so in need of a bath right now.”

“I think we all will be,” said Bard. “I bet my face is as black as your hands.”

George walked up to Bard and ran his finger along his face. Holding it up, he said, “This is definite proof that you are not clean anymore. Wait, this is my dirt.”

Johanna walked up to a hole that was drilled into the wall. She looked through it and was able to see into the corridor. It was angled so that a person could either see twenty feet up or twenty feet down the corridor. “I think this is a spy-hole,” she said.

Britt said, “If something did spy us, it probably ran to hide or get reinforcements. Let’s play it safe and be prepared for battle.”

“There is a room across the hall,” Balon said.

While this room was empty of any creatures, Britt still was able to smell something in the air. “The scent is familiar, but I cannot place what it is,” he said.

“I think this was used as a blacksmith shop,” Bard said. It reminded him of Joe Smith’s shop in Antares. It contained an anvil, bellows, black smith tools and irons. “The only thing, there are no chimneys. How were the fumes vented from this room?”

Johanna pointed to the ceiling. There were holes in the walls and a wind whistled through them. “That is how the fumes were vented,” she said.

“Quiet,” Britt said, holding up his hand. “I hear voices.”

A second room was in the corner of the blacksmith. Shadows were seen through the light from their lanterns.

“Shutter the lanterns,” Britt said. He peered through the darkness and was able to see the creatures. He recognized the four disfigured humanoid goblins with gray skin.

“Attack!” a voice commanded the goblins.

The four creatures rushed out. When Bard saw the evil, drooling creatures, he remembered the goblins he fought in the catacombs. They would not be a problem, especially when he killed three by himself. Then he saw a fifth creature walking out of the room. It was not human-like and taller than the goblins.

While the goblins wore tattered clothing, this one wore midnight blue pants and shirt. A male creature, it wore a red cloak and hood. The boots were also red.

“You have your orders!” he yelled. “Attack and kill them!”

Eileena recognized the military skill of the creature. The goblins looked upon it as a leader. “That is a hobgoblin!” she yelled.

The hobgoblin turned to face the elf, pulling his battleaxe. “Attack the others! The elf is mine!”

The elf faced the hobgoblin and pulled her sword.

The four goblins, obeying their leader, advanced on the others. “Joban, help Britt out!” Bard yelled. Johanna stay with me! George, protect Eileena!”

“Shield!” Balon yelled. Suddenly a transparent barrier formed around his entire body. He moved to Britt and faced two of the goblins.

Johanna joined Bard, grasping her mace tightly in both hands,

George stood five feet away from the hobgoblin and Eileena. The monster, concentrating on the elf, ignored the thief.

Balon held up his wand and yelled, “Light!” A ball of light formed on the end of the wand. Flicking the tip of the wand, the ball of light flew into the face of one of the goblins.

“I cannot see!” yelled the creature.

Balon threw a second ball of light at the second goblin. However, it deflected the light with its shield.

“I have this one!” Britt yelled, indicating the one who avoided the light. “Take care of the other one!” He rushed in to strike the goblin. Even though it was not unaffected by the light spell, the goblin was concentrating on the magic user. He did not notice the dwarf rushing towards him with the swinging sword. Screaming in pain, it fell to the ground with his decapitated arm from the shoulder. It feebly tried to rise. However, Britt stabbed down into its black heart.

Meanwhile, Balon held out his hands and light came from them. Two balls of light appeared and they formed into golden arrows. He threw his hands towards the blinded goblin. Finding their mark, the goblin fell dead to the ground with two arrows protruding from its neck.

“Take the one of the left!” Bard yelled. “I will get the other one!” They approached slowly towards their goblins.

The creatures laughed. “This will be easy prey! They are too slow!”

“Now!” Bard yelled. Both he and Johanna suddenly rushed the creatures. The one Johanna attacked had a look of surprise on its face before its skull was crushed from her mace. Bard just as quickly decapitated the head of his goblin.

The battle between Eileena and the hobgoblin was not as easy. This creature was bigger and stronger. Skillfully he swung his battleaxe. Just as skillfully, she swung her sword. Blocking each others blows, neither was gaining the advantage.

George stood back and watched. He ached to help; however, he could not find an opening. With the swinging weapons, he would only get hit by one of them.

“Look out!” yelled Eileena, as the battleaxe came flying towards him. He quickly leaped out of the way. The elf had hit the axe with such a force that the hobgoblin lost his grip on the weapon. However, her weapon also went flying harmlessly away. There was nothing to do except either to fight with her hands or use a spell.

The hobgoblin saw his chance. If he got to her before she could conjure up a spell, he would over power and kill her. He quickly leapt towards her and started punching her in the face, his hands reaching for her throat.

Even though she tried to fight him off, he was too strong.

“George!” she yelled. George, seeing Eileena's plight, was already on the move. The hobgoblin had totally ignored him. Running from behind, with his knife in his hand, he jumped on the creature’s back and stabbed him.

Screaming in pain, the hobgoblin loosed its hold on Eileena and turned to face George. Eileena ran and retrieved her sword.

“It is not he you want!” the elf yelled. “It is me!”

The hobgoblin turned and faced the elf once again. Snarling, he rushed at her once again. She swung and the sword sunk into his chest. He fell screaming to the ground. Eileena stood over him, ready to finish the creature off.

The hobgoblin looked up as Eileena was ready to deliver the fatal blow. “Please, do not kill me,” he pleaded. “I would rather do it myself.”

The elf stood back, understanding what the hobgoblin was intending to do. While some individuals thought it was a sign of glory and honor to die during a battle, hobgoblins saw it as a sign of weakness. He pulled George’s knife from his shoulder. Holding it in both hands, he yelled, “I sacrifice myself to Glumbor, God of Hobgoblins!” He pitched forward onto the knife, the blade going directly through his heart.

“Now that is what I call teamwork!” Britt yelled, patting George on his back.

“I will say it was,” Eileena said, cleaning off the hobgoblin blood from her sword and George’s knife. “If it wasn’t for George, I am sure I would have defeated him.”

“I did not know you could protect yourself with a shield,” Bard said to Balon.

“That is one of the first spells I perfected,” the magic-user said.

“That is something I have not been able to do yet,” said Johanna.

The group, after making sure that there were no more goblins, searched the dead creatures and found several silver pieces.

“A little something for our efforts,” Britt said. “Still this attack went well. I do not think we made any mistakes.”

“True,” said Bard. “We were not taken by surprise. We were prepared when they went to attack us.”

“You showed excellent leadership,” Balon told Bard. “That is a sign that you will make an excellent warrior.”

.. ..

“This seems to be the last room in this end of the fortress,” Britt said.

“What type of room is this?” asked Johanna. When they entered the room that was south of the blacksmith, the door opened up into a corridor.

“Maybe it is a maze,” George said as they followed its winding path, “or maybe a dead end,” when they got to the center of the room.

“Or maybe it is a trap!” Britt exclaimed.

The walls of the center of the room were covered in spider webs. The skeletal remains still hung there. “I guess these are not your ordinary daddy long legs spiders,” Bard said, as he looked at the remains of a deer.

“It is best to get out of here,” Britt said. “Giant spiders usually hunt in packs.”

“Before we go,” said George, “you might want this.” He handed Britt a bag containing some silver pieces.

“I guess this is the reason why we have not run into many goblins yet, and no orcs,” Bard said, picking up a goblin ax and an orc knife.

Eileena picked up a long sword and looked at it. “This looks like it is elven made,” she said quietly. She could not help but wonder if an elf had fallen victim to a spider attack.