Silence.
"WHO IS THERE?"
The orc shouts in our direction again but this time starts to move towards us. He grasps the club tightly and slowly moves close to the bush. Edging closer and closer, the goblin behind the orc nonchalantly held its knife with a cheeky expression. Stupid me forgot to take any weapons with us and now we are faced with a dangerous situation. How do we get out? Simply hit the orc first figure it out later.
The round pig head emerges around the corner slowly but luckily for us, we could see its stout-like nose first before the eyes. I pick up a nearby rock smash it into the orc's nose. David follows up quickly by jumping around the side and pulling the club out of its unsuspecting hands. The goblin blinks a few times registering the turn of events before slicing forward with its knife. I pull David back allowing him to dodge the knife but by that time the orc had recovered and looks angrily at us.
"Stupid humans, give me back my club and I'll let you leave."
I look at the orc dumbfounded. Does he think we are stupid? But I guess I had too much expectation in David.
"Will you really let us go?"
"David? Are you really believe that orc?"
"Umm, no…?"
I felt like facepalming myself. I guess David isn't the sharpest tool in the shed but all well.
"Hrmp, then die."
The orc grunts loudly before charging at David. His fat jiggles with each step but at the same time, each step creates a deeper impression on the ground the closer it gets to David. David hesitantly steps back bracing for impact and as I was about to tell him to dodge the attack the goblin leaps at me slashing at my face. Without much time to react, I awkwardly dodge to the side, resulting in me falling to the ground. I grab a hand full of dirt and toss it at the goblin's face blinding it temporarily before grabbing another rock and getting back onto my feet.
Off to my side, I see the orc slamming his fat body into David pushing David into the river. Unfortunately for David, there was something protruding out of the ground causing him to fall backward and since the orc was mindlessly pushing forward without David resisting its push it also falls into the river. It was like watching two children wrestling in the water. David desperately swinging the club in front of him after getting up and the orc swinging its arms around splashing water everywhere.
But there was not enough time to watch them flail about, the goblin had recovered from my dirt attack and it was poised to strike. It runs towards me slashing the knife near my leg which I easily dodge by walking back. I toss the rock I was holding in my hand at the goblin hitting it in the eye and quickly leaped forward wrestling the knife out of its hand. Before stabbing the goblin multiple times in its chest. Lots of green blood splash onto me and I could hear the goblin's screaming each time I stab into it, its long green fingers desperately scratch at my legs trying to push me off but to little effect. I get off the bloody corpse and look towards David who had just swung the club hitting the orc on the side of its head. Concussing the orc and giving time to David to smash the club into the top of its head. Collapsing from the hit the orc falls into the water.
A very surprised David remains standing with the club in his hands staring at the floating orc. I wade into the river and stab the knife into the orc's head making sure to finish the job but asking David if he was ok.
"I'm fine. This is just a bit much. I always thought orcs were stronger. They beat down so many of us back in the encampment before and they always seemed to get their way. It's...It's just unthinkable that he just died."
"David, before you were scared. Scared to do anything but look at you now. You took away its weapon and used it against it. Be proud, plus you were fighting goblins before during their attack. Anyways, what do we do now? "
As I was talking the two monsters we had just killed burst into purple smoke revealing the loot.
[ Goblin Knife
Attack: 1
A short stick tied to a sharp stone]
Disappointingly, it was just another goblin knife but I guess that in itself is still lucky as we had no weapons.
"Ian, do we go back to HavenFall, or do we keep going?"
"We should move on right? It seems like the three monsters were at a far lookout. There was so much noise from the goblin and when you two were splashing about in the river but even then there has been no response. No other monster had been attracted which means that their encampment is still quite far from here. "
"Okay, whatever you say."
I hold onto both knives while David held onto the orc's club. I was able to inspect it after the battle and I was surprised that it was even better than the average weapon. I was regretting not bringing the Hobgoblin's Club of Rage since it would have helped with any fighting but I had left it in the house next to old man Hus forgetting about it since there was no need to fight anything for a while.
[ Orc Club
Attack: 3
A thick stick with animal skin wrapped at the bottom to make it easier to hold ]
We carefully moved onwards, sticking close to the walls and moving as silently as possible. It was mainly a straight line before another bend where the river curves to the right. I signal David to cross the river with me so we were both in a position to fight if needed. As we get closer to the bend I start to hear some sounds.
Shuffling of feet, clanks of stones and the occasional cry. Curiosity got the better of me and I look around the corner with David close to me.
There were 10 humans, both male and female, children and adults, half were on the ground with their back facing the sky and their hands on top of their heads. Dirt covered their body and I can see the tears rolling down their faces. The other half had a small stone pickaxe and they were mining into the wall. It was too far away for me to see what they were digging. They were each accompanied by either an orc holding onto a club or two scarf goblins.
Suddenly, one of the orcs slammed his club into one of the male adults on the ground. Splattering his brains and blood all over the ground and onto the female adult next to him. Unable to bear the horror she lets out a high-pitched scream and gets up to run away from the orc. She could not even take two steps before getting hit by another orc on her waist. Sending her flying into the wall and breathing her last breath. Now enters a new orc, clad in some sort of leather chest piece and pants and holding onto a large stone ax.
"You maggots, don't deserve to live. You tried to run. Escape. But you got caught. HAHAHA! IDIOTS! DO YOU THINK YOU COULD RUN?"
The ax-wielding orc walks around the adult stomping on the adults on the ground and kicking the children. It was painful watching. Tears stream down their faces and I could see the children holding onto their screams and biting down on their lips. The adult closes their eyes to the violence and look away.
"So Ian...Retreat? Or-"
"We stay and we find a way to help them."
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