Peter found the goblin encampment easily enough: a clearing before a cave. Milling about that clearing were eight creatures of varying sizes.As Peter stood, his body still arcing small bolts of thunder, he noted the creatures and how they seemed to build crude-looking walls around the clearing out of fallen trees and stone. The creatures in question, these goblins, looked to have leathery skin of gray-green sparse, coarse hair that covered their heads and trailed down their spinal ridge and along their short, thick tails. Their faces had short muzzles with overly rge canines that stuck out from the sides of their top jaw in a way that reminded him of crocs, or those ancient creatures called gorgonopsids.Disturbingly they had four small eyes and, as a couple opened their mouths in yawn, thick, wide tongues.

  If they had heard the crack of thunder Peter couldn’t tell, but at the moment they didn’t seem to be on the look out, or had heard him approach. So, he was able to stand there and watch.He watched as one of the rger ones screamed angrily and beat on a smaller one, snatching the bit of food that the smaller one had stuffing it in its mouth, the bits of food falling from the jaws of its short muzzle as even after it swallowed the food it went back to beating on the smaller goblin. A second goblin screeched and began beating on the rger one as the one it was beating on tried to push it off.This caused a third goblin to howl and join in the fracas.

  He heard rustling behind him and he turned, startling Broseff who put up his hands. “I’m gonna ask you a favor.” Peter said, genially and as calmly and not-embarrassed-at-all as he could. “Yeah?” He asked as Peter removed his sunshades and, without a doubt, those purple eyes with the gold rings in them were glowing with ahtyrik power. “Please don’t make fun of me for what I am gonna say in the next... five seconds..." Peter turned back to the clearing and, before Broseff could stop him stepped forward with a measured stride.

  Peter walked into the clearing, the screaming and hollering of the goblins made him go unnoticed… until the loud crack of thunder as the sky began to darken above them got their attention. "Lord of Storm, I beseech thee!” Peter’s voice rolled like deep, distant thunder — it got everyone’s attention within the clearing: Broseff, the bouva, and the goblins.Howling in shock and surprise the leathery-skinned creatures looked around and finally spied Peter… then began to charge at them. The otherworlder was staring at them, arcs of lightning sparking from the corners of his eyes. A sudden and very strong breeze picked up around them, buffeting the coat he wore as well as blowing dust and debris into the eyes of the goblins, stopping their charge.He thrust his hand over his head, and there was another crack of thunder, startling the goblins, and making them scream at him.

  “Let the roiling anger that dwells in my heart become manifest.”Peter drew his kanabō and held it aloft over his head, “Let your power flow through my veins that I might smite the beasts before me to protect those of innocent heart."The otherworlder began to float, lifted quickly into the air a good twelve feet, coat whipping and snapping about him wildly as his voice was still clearly heard over the noise. Thunder cracked, rolling into the distance. Broseff coughed as his body was rattled by the sheer force of the storm being called upon, looking up to see Peter’s weapon be struck by bright purple lightning with a radiant, sun-like golden core, turning the dark almost-night sky to almost-white, washing things out. “By Yral’ere’nos! I HAVE THE POWER!!” He leveled his kanabō at the goblins, “LIGHTNING STRIKE!!!”

  Broseff had to cover his ears as the thunder nearly deafened them as no more than two dozen thunderbolts nced down from the sky into the clearing — his senses were soon assaulted with the sound and smell of sizzling flesh as the three goblins were, mercifully, fried in that instant; the ground beneath them a small crater and their bodies atomized into greasy gore as the moisture in their bodies fsh boiled. The other five were blown back with horrendous burns, their hair gone, eyes melted from the ionized atmosphere, and their bodies shaken by the thunder crack. Limbs and bodies broken from smming into the cave walls and trees.He looked up, squinting eyes shut as Peter nded with the dying wind which disappeared fully as his boots touched the grassy soil. Leaning against the kanabō after he wobbled, now that he had to support himself again, he coughed and grinned, “I think I might still be a little weak from the ‘trial’…” {Ah, right. I should have thought of that.} No no. I chose to go all out like that. This is on me. Thank you, however, for allowing this. {Not at all. I stand by what I said. You’re quite the actor from those games… you could have a future on the stage.}Broseff went to Peter’s side to help support him, “Should we…” “No, I will be fine.” Peter assured, smiling, coughing, “Gods that smells…” “Yeah, cooked Goblin is not a good stink.” “No kidding.” Peter gagged a little.Broseff pulled out a dagger, “Now we have to collect proof of elimination.” “Ick. No.” Peter shook his head, “There has to be a better way than, what… cutting off an ear? Or hand?” He shook his head, “Ears can cheat… since there’s two of them.” He paused, “Wait, no, you could tell right from left… unless they just said ear and didn’t specify a side…” “I was going to cut the tail.” He said, trying to cut off his friend’s rant, “We can’t exactly… carry all the bodies back.”Peter paused, “Why not?” He asked, “While I don’t know all the ins and outs… couldn’t we use our pixies? I mean… if they don’t mind, that is…” “Can… they do that?” Broseff asked.Peter shrugged, “Like I said, I dunno.” He said, “But they aren’t alive … anymore…” He blushed, clearing his throat, “So… whatever the pixies store stuff in shouldn’t be affected?” “The ones you blew apart will be sort of… tough to manage.” Peter’s pixie became visible to speak to the two of them, “Since you killed them, I say that I’ll take them. And his can take any that he kills.” She nodded.

  “I didn’t agree to this, you know!” Another pixie appeared, sitting on Broseff’s head. This one had cat paws for feet, but snake-like skin, including a tail. Like Peter’s pixie, she had cat eyes and retractable cws on her fingers as well. “Of course not. I was just suggesting the idea, and my little friend said they would for the ones I kill.” Peter nodded.Broseff’s pixie blinked in surprise, “Well. Yeah…” She finished mely. “My friend Peter is not a human who would treat you like a … well… a PICsie…” Broseff screwed up his face as he said the word.Peter’s pixie nodded in agreement, speaking up with a giggle, “He’s shared his creme-filled fry-cakes with me, and hasn’t gotten mad when I’ve sneaked a couple bites…” She pat Peter’s head affectionately. “So, if you don’t like the idea… would it be okay with you—” He looked up at his pixie, “To take in both our goblin kills?” “… So you were actually asking?” Broseff’s pixie asked. “I was suggesting the idea, firstly, then was going to ask. But yes.” Peter nodded, “Besides, you aren’t my contractee… contractor… we don’t have a contract. So all I can do is suggest. And really that’s all I’d want to do.”

  “… Huh.” Broseff’s pixie seemed a bit stunned at that revetion.Peter pulled a face, “Wow. That bad, huh?” “No!” the pixie said, “Well. Not Broseff, but… other humans…”He nodded, “Well, either way. We should hurry and make a decision, in case there’s more goblins.” “And there’s likely to be.” Broseff nodded in agreement, “At least a few more than these eight.” He motioned to the battered goblins that had been tossed back from the sheer force of the thunder crack, as well as the three unfortunate goblins that were at the dead center of the lightning bolts. “Well. I—…” The snake-like pixie stammered, her beetle-shelled wings flitting as she looked between the three others, and the goblins, “… fine…” She pouted.Broseff smiled, “I appreciate it.” He reached up and stroked a finger against her short, appropriately, pixie-style hair, “After this I’ll get you your favorite treat.” “You better. Goblins stink.” She pouted, “Well, since none of these are yours…” “Wait.” Peter said, approaching and pulling something from a pouch he had hanging from his belt, “Here. As thanks from me, for dealing with this.” He offered the pixie a small chunk of sweet honey-bread. “Oh…” she took the morsel in surprise and nibbled on it, “Thank you.” She whispered before disappearing — as she said since none of these goblins were Broseff’s doing, she saw no reason to remain visible or ‘there’.

  Peter nodded, “Fair enough.” He looked around, “Now. How do we manage…” He muttered to himself. “Don’t worry.” His pixie companion tinkled a gentle ugh, “I just need to make a space for this.” She wrinkled her nose, “Goblins do stink and I don’t want the rest of the storage area to smell.” “Fair enough.” The otherworlder nodded.

  It, blessedly, didn’t take long to handle the goblin’s remains (about two, mayhap three, Aetyrosan minutes) — this included Peter asking ‘Aunt Di’si’thy’ for a little help and learning a ‘ghost hand’ spell that was, functionally, telekinesis (or, rather, a rather utilitarian and constantly ‘cheated with’ spell from a famous tabletop rpg from his other-self’s world) so they could scoop up the leftovers into leak-proof bags that Broseff had packed onto their bouva, just in case.

  “You know,” Broseff groaned as he settled the st of the three bags of goblin, keeping them separate for counting purposes… well, as best they could as being point-bnk for two dozen lightning bolts did not leave much behind, “You asked me not to make fun of you for what you did back there?” “Yeah…?” Peter blinked, moving one of the more intact goblins. “Honestly? Anyone who’d make fun of a person who could do this—” He motioned around the two, “— just because they said some lengthy incantation is, in fact, an entire dumbass.” Peter snorted a short ugh, “Fair enough, I guess.” “Not to mention a jerk.” “Got me there.” Peter sighed, “I think we’re done?”Broseff nodded, “Yeah, we got what’s left of those three? I think it was three? That you… um… bsted.” He motioned to the bags.

  Both shuddered at the idea of the bagged remains, even though Broseff was more accustomed to such things.They silently agreed no more ‘elimination’ Tasks from the Guild; it just wasn’t something Peter was suited for it seemed.

  “So…” Peter asked as his pixie companion spirited away the st of their proof for the Task and the two moved onward and inward into the cave to finish up, “A butcher you said?”Broseff nodded, “Ye.” The midman Adventurer nodded as he pulled out his sword, “That was the pn, anyway.” He rubbed his fingers over the colr he wore, “At least until the Church started seeking members for the Guard.” “Because of the coming… issue?” Peter asked delicately.Broseff nodded, “In case the Divinely Chosen Hero, or Heroine, fell in their attempt to reseal it — the world would need defenders.” “I see.”

  A growl interrupted them, low and threatening. Not a territorial warning either, but a hungry sort of growl filled with intent — an eager intent to feed. “… oh.” Peter hissed as he turned towards the source of the hackle-raising noise, seeing creatures slink out of the dark of the cave, “What the hell…”The creatures could best be described as ‘long’ and ‘thin’ as their bodies were leanly muscled, covered with a coat of short, coarse fur. Their sinewy legs had wide paws with thin toes and sharp, untrimmed cws. Cruel-looking pointed teeth were bared as lips parted back on their wide-nosed, short muzzles and their rge ears pointed forward, tracking their movements. These things were hunters, Peter was absolutely certain of that but he could not help himself and equate them to looking like overly-rge bats without wings — or whatever might have become the Aetyrosan version of a bat instead took a different road and ended up more like a wolf, or fox. “Vorgyrn.” Broseff spat the word — Peter was uncertain if it was a curse or the creature’s name, keeping an eye on the approaching things, “Goblins use them as guard beasts, among other things.” “Grand.” Peter hissed — so, likely the creature’s name then, “Dungeon monster?” “No.” Broseff sounded almost apologetic when he answered.Peter shuddered and hefted his kanabō.

  In the split-second that he moved to ready himself for a fight Peter realized it was a mistake as the vorgyrn took that movement as their trigger to attack; pushing themselves into a leap with their powerful hind legs, springing at the two Adventurers.It was not just a singur beast either; drawn by the thunderous cacophony there was a total of five of the creatures for the two to deal with.

  Two went for Peter, as he was the rger prey, and one went for Broseff.Peter swung his kanabō and, with a solid, wet, crunch connected — following through with his swing like any good batter would, Peter unched the one beast into the two remaining creatures… though that was just a lucky happenstance, that was not his aim. Pun Intended.

  The creature did not get up from that, though the two vorgyrn its now-limp carcass bodied scrambled out from beneath it and loped at Peter for revenge as he dealt with the second creature who had chosen to attack him.Tackling Peter as he was off-bance from his swing the beast made him stumble and drop his kanabō to ward off the needle-like teeth set in the vorgyrn’s jaw. The sinewy muscle beneath the lean body told Peter of a strong beast and, had he not his enhanced strength, he might have been more worried than he was.Still, it was a near-wild beast intent on chewing his face off and he had no sort of battle training. He was plenty worried as things stood.Pushing the beast off and away he had little time to get into a solid footing so improvised and, from his kneeling position, half-lunged forward and brought his leg around in a side-kick. The armored boot he wore struck home, not that Peter was aiming for anything in specific, just wanting to hit the beast, and there was a hard-sounding crack of bone snapping.It was not any bones in Peter’s foot, to be sure.

  Broseff, meanwhile, dodged the one attack him; side-stepping as the creature leapt at him, stabbing the beast in the side and eliciting a yelping howl of pain as his bde bit deep into the tough flesh of the vorgyrn.It nded badly, legs skittering against the dirt and sand of the cave, and tried to right itself as the burning, stinging pain ached through its body. However the pain, blessedly, did not st long as Broseff set upon it as quickly as the beasts had set upon the Adventurers themselves with the st thing it saw was the fshing iron of the former butcher’s apprentice before darkness took it.

  Ignoring the wet squelch as he pulled his bde free, Broseff flicked his wrist, shaking off the blood and ichor from the beast as he raised his and, with a flickering amber-orange fsh, fired several fléchette at one of the fallen’s pack-mates as it tried to gang up on Peter. The Godchild held his arms up, the leather gloves with their metal backing doing their job protecting his hands as he used them to keep the jaws away from less protected parts. Granted, he was doing this by basically shoving his fists into their mouths to give them something to chew on but he was short on ideas and didn’t feel like test-driving his new body’s poison resistance or healing speed (accessing a healing spell or not).A yelp filled the cave entrance as the athyrik darts hit true, dotting the side of the beast. Peter wasted no time, pushing back on the injured beast to give himself some room and calling on his energy-bde spell — using that to end the one Broseff injured with a quick slice to its neck, thankful the athyrik bde sealed the wound while making it.Then, twisting, he jabbed the energy bde into the beast still trying to snack on his hand, severing its spine near its shoulder.

  As the noise of struggle died down there was left only the one beast — Peter’s aimless kick had dislocated at least two vertebrae and, angered growling aside, the beast’s head hung limply to one side even as it tried to stand on its paws. “Sorry.” Peter whispered to the creature as he neared it and thrust with his bde.Silence filled the cave as Peter dismissed the spell and stumbled to the entrance, leaning against the rock wall and heaving deep breaths. “Peter?” Broseff started to go to his friend’s side but the otherworlder raised a hand to stop him, coughing and making a rather distressed noise in the back of his throat.

  The more experienced Adventurer winced as Peter dealt with the unmistakable outcome of being so close to so much blood and offal for the first time, giving a sympathetic wince.

  Broseff decided that he would clean up the vorgyrn while Peter dealt with his issues and set about doing so quietly, giving Peter privacy.A quiet series of groans and coughs came from the cave entrance a minute or so ter as Peter rejoined Broseff, taking a long swig from his travel bottle, swishing it around his mouth, and spitting it out — twice — before actually drinking some. “Sorry.” Peter rasped, looking wholly embarrassed about it all.Shaking his head Broseff only asked, “You alright?” “Should be.” Peter coughed again, keeping his voice low, rubbing his hand over his face and sipping water, slowly, to not… aggravate things further. “If it helps… the vorgyrn count for Tasks like this since where there’s goblins, there’s vorgyrn.” “Outstanding~.” Peter snarked with ‘enthusiasm’, sighing, “So. We’re up to … eight goblins… five of those things.” “Vorgyrn.” Broseff offered helpfully.Peter nodded, “Right. That.” He twitched his fingers, counting, “Eight… nine, te—” He sighed again, “Eight, nine, dek, ell, ten… eleven?” “Ye?” Broseff asked questionably.Pinching his nose bridge he held up both hands, fingers spread, “To me, each finger is a ‘unit’. So this—”, He wiggled his digits, “— thumbs included, is ten.” “Ohh.” Broseff nodded. “Every so often I forget Aetyros is dozenal.” Peter muttered, “Still. The Task said how many?” “I remember saying a ‘small troop’, so I was thinking maybe ten tops.” He paused, “My ten. Not yours.” “Right, right.” Peter nodded, “So, maybe I’m being nit-picky… but we’ve already gone over that. By one, sure… but technically…”Broseff snorted, “Fair enough, I guess. I swear I said ‘maybe’ or ‘about’, though. So that implies some wiggle room on solid numbers.” “Mrhghrn-pft.” Peter grumbled.Rummaging around in his pack Broseff pulled out a semi-ornately carved stick that had a gem fastened to one end while the other looked like it was capped like a fancy torch. The ornate carvings showed themselves to be something that Peter felt could be called ‘mana circuitry’ as lines lit up before the gem glowed — and not without a small bit of light. “An EterniTorch, no Adventurer should be without one.” Broseff smiled, “Besides. I wasn’t worried.” “Oh?” Peter asked. “Well, I figured you being a Champion would make a four-man job a little easier… and then you go and tell me you’re a Godchild.” “I’d feel more comfortable with some proper combat training though.” “Which you’re getting.” Broseff reminded, nodding towards the darkness of the cave before them, “Come on. This shouldn’t take much longer, and if we’re lucky we’ll find some slimes, too.”

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