Traveling deeper into the cave Peter had to marvel at the magical tool that Broseff held aloft. “An EterniTorch, huh?” Peter asked, looking around at the surprisingly smooth wall of the cave.Something expected from an underground cave, hewn away by time and water flowing, but nothing on the surface. Though he had to admit that he was no expert in the matter and had only visiting Carlsbad Caverns once, far back in his youth — far enough he didn’t remember anything outside of ‘yeah, I went there when I was a kid’. “Yup.” Broseff said, “Nothing major but the five-tee rating is super useful for cave exploration.” “I’m sorry — five-tee?” Peter blinked, shifting his kanabō on his shoulder as they walked as softly as they could.Granted if they were trying to be quiet they should have, perhaps, been keeping their voices down a bit. “Yeah, five-tee. It just means that it’s five times brighter than a normal torch’s fme.” He expined.Peter nodded, “Funnily enough we have a simir measure — the cande. Though that’s based on a candle’s fme, not a torch.” “Really? A candle, hm?” Broseff asked.Peter nodded again, “If I remember right. A single candle fme is, as you can guess, a single cande. So a regur fme torch would be so-many cande itself.” “So a candle would be, like, a fraction of a torch.” Broseff mused. “Yup.” Peter tried to peer down into the dark, beyond the EterniTorch’s light into the dimness, “What I wouldn’t give for dark vision, though.” He chuckled, “Wonder if there’s some magic, or rather, athyrik manipution for that.” “Actually yeah.” Broseff nodded, “I’ve also heard of a couple of people getting it through a boon.” “Huh, neat.” Peter mused — figuring either the Goddess of Magic, or Darkness would be the ones to talk to; not that he would, in truth, not wanting to be greedy or rude. Maybe I can ask Mae when I get back to the city… Peter thought of the avian beastkin that was his and Ennalyssa’s magic tutor.Musing that he could possibly use his energy-bde spell, or just summoning a ball of magic, as a light source himself he frowned as he wasn’t sure if his pool of athyr was back to whatever normal for him was.Another thing he pnned to check on when they got back was a way to see that, perhaps another mana tablet? Maybe not blowing this one up if I do…It’s not like he could open up a status window and check his stats — he wasn’t stuck in some computer game, after all, this was real.

  “Hey, Peter.” Broseff hissed, pulling the otherworlder against the wall of the cave. Now his voice was low and it caught Peter’s attention — he nodded, wanting the Guard to continue.Broseff pointed to an alcove, or perhaps ‘offshoot’ was the more appropriate term in this case, and Peter turned to look. Inside the smaller cave/room were a trio of goblins currently hissing and growling over something that looked like a leg of meat.Peter felt his empty stomach roll as he recognized it as a leg, having seen a foot and not a hoof or paw. “Mrhgk…” Peter put a hand to his mouth.

  Broseff availed himself of hand-signals, communicating to Peter his pn to attack the trio of creatures before them.First pointing at the otherworlder, then into the room, then holding up a curled fist. The Guard then pointed to himself, again at the goblins, then used a knife-hand with a thrust. Peter assumed that Broseff wanted him to attack, but looking at the room, the Godchild realized that his kanabō would not be the best choice and using X’tha’s bde seemed overkill for goblins (to say nothing of the fact he did not feel any sort of need to draw the weapon, though that was an assumption on his part that such a thing would happen).So to answer, Peter brought up his fist and punched it into his other hand, nodding in agreement — Broseff blinked at this, seeming confused for a moment before looking into the room and realizing what Peter had a moment ago, then nodded as well. Fists.And considering the power Peter could bring to bear, the kanabō (had he the room to swing it) might be overkill.

  Their ‘conversation’ was interrupted most rudely by a resounding, high pitched skreee as one of the goblins saw the duo and alerted its companions who noisily joined in once they sighted the Adventurers.Peter, startled, moved — Broseff saw the Godchild twitch in surprise and rush forward, almost losing sight of his friend. He was suddenly a dozen feet forward, in the room with the three goblins, and pnting his foot between the crouching goblin’s spread legs (though that was not actually his intention) and kicking upwards as if he was trying to make the winning goal of the World Cup. The goblin, as one can imagine, went flying with a shrill whistling noise that Broseff realized was a yowl of pain in reaction to where it had gotten punted.The grating noise was blessedly short-lived as the goblin’s head found purchase in the cave’s ceiling, leaving its body dangling like a very odd Halloween decoration.

  It would be fair, and accurate, to say that the other two goblins were surprised by Peter’s nearly sudden appearance in their midst as well as the rapid egress of their tribe-mate — they actually paused a moment in their shock to stare up at the body embedded in the ceiling of the cave.Thankfully this gave Broseff a chance to act, rushing in and taking his arming sword and slipping the bde into one of the two remaining goblins twice as quickly as he could. His honed bde sunk into what Peter could assume was the core of the creature, remembering Broseff telling him that goblins were not normal creatures nor dungeon monsters either, as it went limp after that second stab.

  This left one and it did not like its chances.Looking down at the leg in its hand and giving a whimper of resignation it heaved the limb at the two in hopes to cause a distraction and escape. It would not be that lucky.

  Broseff quickly kicked out, catching its ankle with his own and tripping it as Peter moved on it.There was a brief fsh of light as Peter decided to risk summoning his energy-bde spell again and gave this goblin a quick end, leaving a searing hole in its skull.Admittedly he looked a little pale as he dismissed his spell, making a groaning hiccup in the back of his throat. “Yeah.” He whispered, “No.” Peter shook his head, “Not doing this again.” Walking back over to the first goblin, looking up at it, he sighed and went about getting it out of the ceiling. Unfortunately, tugging on its legs to pull it from the hole only served to make Peter’s day worse as the head was fairly firmly lodged into the stone and with a grating, moist noise separated from the body when the Godchild yanked a little too hard one time. “Oh… gods…” Peter hopped back from the body, expecting to be sick again but found it odd that there wasn’t as much viscera.There was some certainly, but not as much as he had expected. “I told you.” Broseff nodded, motioning to the headless corpse, “They’re not normal creatures… their bodies are like that shrum I showed you.” “I’ll take your word for it.” Peter, hand on his stomach, declined looking at the stump of neck for proof of Broseff’s veracity.

  They quickly stored the three goblins with the pixies and left the room, and, wanting something else to think about Peter started talking. “I wonder if we’ll find slimes here in the cave.” “Mh?” Broseff asked, having been only half-listening as he was paying more attention to their surroundings, “Oh, sure.” He said, “It’s entirely possible. Slimes are kinda everywhere, even caves.”Holding the EterniTorch in one hand and his sword in the other he continued, “Funnily enough, they aren’t dungeon monsters but can be found in Dungeons.” “Yeah… I am pretty sure I am not ready for a Dungeon.” Peter muttered to himself. “Says the man who took out eight goblins with, what?” Broseff asked, grinning, “Two-dozen lightning bolts?” “… Hush.” Peter rolled his eyes, pouting just a little.Broseff just grinned.

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  As the two continued down the tunnel of the cave they came across another off-shoot that lead to another room/alcove.Peter had spotted this one, becoming slightly paranoid about being jumped in the dark and doubling down on his wish for dark vision. The pair lucked out — this room was a nest of sorts and, blessedly, empty.Leaving the room and moving onward — making sure to leave a mark so they knew they had been this way before — the next room they came across was a ‘treasure’ room, of a sort.

  The naturally hewn room gave an eerie vibe to the two as they stepped in, quietly as they could, almost as if they were stepping onto hallowed, or perhaps harrowed, ground.In piles all around were items of all sorts: some shiny trinkets, some dust-covered, other items were broken, bent or chipped. Looking at each other they came to the same, silent, conclusion — trophies.Though only trophies ‘of a sort’ since the bits and baubles were not on dispy, no ‘pces of honor’, nothing to denote value.Poking at one or two items with the tip of his sword Broseff frowned, “These were taken from victims.” “Victims.” Peter hissed the word, thinking back to the ‘food store’ with the trio of goblins, and realizing these were things, possessions, striped of people the goblins had attacked and killed. Why keep these things around? He asked himself, Why does a crow or raven? He answered with a question, which might be considered rude otherwise, but appropriate here, For the ‘shiny’ was the conclusive answer.

  Silently the otherworlder started to look through the things. “Peter?” Broseff asked, looking over to his friend and about to say they should leave before he saw what was being done, “What… what are you doing?” “In the other room there was that one goblin… eating.” Peter whispered, trying not to remember or picture the leg or the other limbs that had been strewn about, “It was fresh.” “I… guess so.” Broseff nodded.He shrugged, picking something up in a gloved hand, “I’m looking for the … ‘freshest’ items in these piles… I doubt there’s anything we can do for their owners but… their families…”Broseff nodded, “Right.” He started to look through the items, “We can leave these at the Adventurer’s Guild, between them and the town guard there might be some missing persons… well. Like you said, their families.”Peter exhaled through his nose, nodding, “Little friend?” he whispered. “Right.” Came his pixie’s response, just as quiet, and though she remained invisible items began to disappear in silent pops of light. “You’re a good man.” Broseff whispered, putting a hand to Peter’s shoulder, “Hells, even I admit I was just going to leave the items.” “That doesn’t make you a bad person, Broseff. What I’m hoping for is a fairly long shot, after all.” He shrugged.

  Their silence persisted as they cleaned up the ‘treasure’ room and left it, continuing down the way they were originally headed after marking the way they had come once again.

  Deeper into the cave, and Peter had the odd sensation they were moving down as well — it was gradual, a minuscule incline… or rather decline… and Peter wholly admitted to himself that he could just be ‘feeling’ things from his nerves.It had, so far, been a hell of a day.

  “Hey.” Broseff spoke up, breaking the almost heavy silence, motioning to the edge of the EterniTorch’s visible edge, “Look there.”Peter did so, squinting a little, before feeling his head crane back unconsciously, eyes widening in uncertainty, “Are… are those slimes?” He questioned exactly what the basketball-sized quivering blobs he had spotted. “Ye.” Broseff said, passing him the EterniTorch, “Hold this, I’ll show you how I handle slimes.” “Kay~” Peter took the magical item and held it still so Broseff could see.Raising his now-free hand, there was a fsh of sharp, pale white-blue before a shard of ice the size of a steak knife one finds at a country-themed restaurant shot forward at one of the jellied things followed quickly by a second one at the second slime. With a surprisingly quiet, thick-sounding ‘splort’ the creatures shivered, quivers and ‘melted’ into a viscous puddle that reminded Peter of semi-melted chewy jelly candies. “Well, that’s impressive.” Peter gave a soft but genuine chuckle as he followed Broseff forward, “So, what exactly are slimes used for?” “Oh, lots actually.” Broseff nodded, the slimes poofing into sparkles of light as silently as the ‘treasures’ had, disappearing into pixiespace, “The membrane, or ‘umbrel’, keeping it together is useful for casing — like for sausages — but it also has medical applications for wrapping over wounds and burns; the inner ‘jelly’ itself is used in food prep as a thickener/setter and to soothe burns — see, its soaked with the stinger ‘toxin’ so to a very mild degree it becomes a very mild pain reliever. Though, as you can imagine, the stuff is usually ‘milked’ before being used in food prep; speaking of — the stingers and the toxin is used medically.” He pointed with his sword tip to a darker, though still translucent nebulous orb as well as smaller, darker, spheres around it’s diameter, “The core and ‘eyes’ can be used culinarily as well.”

  Peter blinked, “Oh…”There was a wet plop a few feet in front of them and, turning, they saw a third slime shiver and push itself forward in a little hop, plopping wetly again.Broseff let fly another ice-steak knife and with another splort they had their third mark for that Task. “Okay.” The midman Adventurer smiled, “Seven more of those and we have two of our Tasks taken care of.” “I wonder how we’ll know we’re done with the goblins.” Peter mused. “We… don’t find any more of them in the cave?” Broseff offered.Peter blinked, shrugging and sighing, “Fair enough. Lead on, Oh Brave Adventurer.” He announced dramatically, though quietly, with a wave of the EterniTorch. “…Hush…” Broseff countered.Peter gave a short, amused, snort as he followed.

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