Owen, covered in green blood, popped his head out of the crowd and looked at me.
"We killed him? Wasn't he meant to be an orc general? How? How did we kill him already?"
I shrug my shoulder and smile at him. The rest stopped their assault and the once-proud orc general was reduced to a pile of meat and bones.
"I guess even a general can be beaten down with numbers…"
I quietly mumbled my thoughts while Balta's body disperses. Everyone rested against the canyon wall exhausted from the fighting inside and outside the cave. Owen closed his eyes while leaning on Robin's shoulder and in a minute he was already asleep garnering laughs from the rest.
Eventually, the body disappears into purple smoke drifting away with the wind, replacing it is the same double-headed ax.
[ Stone Headed Ax
Attack: 15
Agility: - 5
Sharp-bladed double-sided ax with a copper handle, its heavyweight makes it less than ideal in a battle.]
I bent down to pick it up only to only be able to lift the handle. The head of the ax barely lifted off the ground and after trying I gave up and let it drop. A small cloud of dust and dirt spread from underneath the ax once I let it fall to the ground.
While we had defeated Balta unexpectedly there is still a chance of more enemies deeper in the cave. I went with Gobi and the goblins alongside the wolves, Frank and Melody to search the rest of the cave. Leaving Robin, Owen, Howard and David at the cave entrance to rest.
Having Gobi and the goblins in the front made traversing the cave a lot easier. Their natural night vision made looking in the cave as bright as day.
Gobi stopped us at the second torch and spoke in a sad tone.
"Ian, in front of us is a pile of dead bodies. They seem to be chopped up with their guts spread across the ground. Most likely the orc with the ax did this to them."
"Were there any survivors, Gobi?"
Gobi hangs his head low and shakes it. He sighs a little before getting the goblins to move the bodies to the side of the cave to make space for us to keep moving. As we move forward through the thick pool of blood our footsteps create disturbing squelching sounds. I could feel something soft and solid below my feet but due to the darkness, I could not make out what it was. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise because do I really want to know what I was stepping on?
The cave goes further down reaching the third bend and then a fourth being the last corner. There was more light coming from the fourth bend and curious as I was I quicken my steps overtaking Gobi in the lead.
"Ian, be careful!"
Melody calls out to me but I choose to ignore it as I turn the corner.
Glittering reddish-brown minerals snake along the walls, reflecting the light from multiple standing torches planted across the wide cavern floor. My jaw nearly hit the floor, the amount of harvestable copper was out of this world and next to the entrance was a pile of already mined copper ore as well as a group of goblins huddled in a corner with their hands over their heads.
"Gobi go over there and talk to the goblins and try to make them feel safe. I won't hurt them and I would prefer to take them in as part of HavenFall."
After instructing Gobi I told the wolves to search the other side of the cavern while I lead Frank and Melody to inspect the walls.
I pull out a standing torch and bring it closer to the walls of the cavern. I inhale sharply as I gaze at the walls slowly moving from the entrance to the left, completely entranced by the sight.
I look and I see, sandwiched in between grey stones is an aquamarine river with reddish-brown banks. The river snakes from throughout the wall diverging and converging at different points creating a web spanning the whole wall.
"It's beautiful...I-I don't even know what it is but it's beautiful."
Melody's said what was on Frank and my mind.
"It's a mineral called copper. It was used in weaponry, jewelry and many more things."
Frank points towards the wall with an interested expression.
"How do we get it out of the rock?"
"Just like how Balta was doing it before, mine it slowly and eventually we would be able to mine all the copper that is in this cavern. Balta had already started the job but unfortunately for him, he was never able to finish it."
"Mining it and then transporting it back towards HavenFall will take a lot of time though?"
"Yea, it would Frank, but you are forgetting something. With more goblins coming everyday and with new inventions like the wheelbarrow we have in HavenFall, transporting the copper will be easier than you think. Plus it will help you gain some muscle right?"
"I think you need the muscle more than me Ian."
After some light banter, we continue looking at the copper vein as it runs along the wall.
Eventually, it ends near the other side of the cavern where the wolves were lazily lying on the ground near a small golden box. Another ancient ruin, buried in the depths of a cave. Nearby in the back corner were small makeshift shelters made out of wood and stones, presumably where the residents of this encampment lived before being executed by Balta.
I pick up the ancient ruin and motioned everyone to come back up to the surface.
Gobi was able to convince the group of 10 goblins to follow us back to the surface. These goblins were used by Balta to mine the copper and since they were busy with their task they did not even notice that Balta had stormed off to kill the invaders. Only after one of the goblins noticed it was very quiet did they see the pile of dead bodies further up the cave. Frightened and scared for their lives they huddled together hoping everything would pass by and they would be safe.
Once we reached the surface again, I told Howard, David and Robin about our findings as well as introduced our new goblin friends. Finally, it was time to head home. Back to HavenFall.
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