BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Role Playing Games RPG: The Goblin King (Scene 3)

"Yeah, I don't think it is a good idea to leave without Derissa. I think we should wait for a few minutes and see what she has to say. If worse comes to worse I can cloak everybody so we will not be seen. If we leave for the coast and something happens to Derissa, I will never be able to forgive myself. If she doesn't get killed and we leave? Well, she will never forgive me."

Borst was frustrated. "Look we got to get out of here. Do you think this Derissa chick would wait for you?"

A couple of days ago I would have said no btu I don't think she would and if she did it wouldn't matter because I don't have a problem with getting out of here on my own. We wait and see what she has to say."

"I say we go. What do the rest of you say?" Borst asked anxiously.

Randol angrily grabbed Borst and put him up against a tree. Randol's eyes glowed red and he snarled, "Derissa risked her life to rescue you and these others. We already lost one of our party for rescuing you and I'll be damned if we lose another. Now, if you try to leave or try to get anyone else to leave, I guarantee you won't make it out alive. Got me?"

Borst was shaking. He was scared of Randol now.

Randol hissed and said, "Do we understand each other?"

"Y-Yes. We understand e-each other."

Randol's eyes stopped glowing and his voice returned to normal and he said, with a smile, "Fine, now please go and sit down and don't do anything until you are told to."

He then turned and talked to everyone else. "We wait for Derissa. I will protect you if we get into trouble."

Randol sat down next to Kam and she whispered, "I'm proud of you. That is the most marbles you've shown since we came on this trip. Hey, if you want me to go over and kick his [censored], I will."

Randol laughed and said, "No, you better save your strength. We may need it before this trip is done."

[Edited previous two posts to change Caleb's name to Borst's...as the scene unfolded, it diverged from Caleb's personality (which may become important later), but I liked Randol's confrontation, so decided it was Borst who'd asked about leaving. Borst *is* that kind of person.

As people write about Caleb, he's an idealistic young man who would never leave a companion or shirk his duties. It's amazing he's lived this long!]

I need a program. Its hard to keep the players straight without a program. lol.

[Since we're close to the end of this chapter, and I think Kryssie is pretty busy these days, I'll post Derissa's findings]

Randol jumped a bit as Derissa appeared out of the dark beside him. "It's gotta be magic," he thought.

"There are a bunch of goblins headed this way." She glanced at Kam and the others. "Normally we could probably handle them, but the way we are now? Their grandmas could whip us."

She glanced at the sky, which was clear.

"I think I can get us back to the right spot on the coast, and hopefully the goblins will leave us alone long enough for the boat to get here."

She suddenly looked at Randol. "Please tell me that Benedict wasn't the one carrying the red powder we were supposed to burn to call the boat."

"Okay, I won't tell you that." Randol replied. "However, I don't have the powder, you don't have the powder and Kam doesn't have the powder then the powder is not here and neither is Benedict, so you do the math."

So what were they going to do now?

Then Randol thought about the blood diamond he had taken from the goblin king. He could use that with a special spell he had to make the red smoke but then the blood diamond would be gone and he would not be able to slay the dragon in his own land.

He didn't know what to do. Then suddenly he did.

He pulled the diamond from his pouch, showed it to everyone and said, "I can get us out of here with this. I can use this diamond to make the smoke and we will all be rescued."

Derissa said, "Randol, you can't. How will you slay the dragon without it?"

"I don't know but right now I am only concerned with getting you and the rest of these people to safety. You are what is important to me right now. This is the only way I know how. I can go back to my land and replenish my powers from the crystals there, get to the next stage of sorcery and then come back here myself one day to get another blood diamond because this place is supposed to be rich with the blood diamonds. That is what I can do unless someone else has another suggestion. If not, then I suggest Derissa get us to the coast and I will summon the boat."

(( I'm so sorry... Thank you, Jay & Vance for understanding. ))

If only I had some magic tape... Derissa thought. Maybe if they could find some crustations, they'd have dinner and some shells they could crush to make a red powder...Nah, it would never work. Randol was right, this was the only way. She frowned.

As they neared the coast, she stopped and turned. "You all go on ahead. I'll stay and watch for goblins." Randol opened his mouth to protest. She just smiled to him and gently took his hand, giving it a squeeze. "Trust me."

She winked then took up her watch as the others moved forward. "Randol?" she called. He stopped and turned back. "...I'm sorry..."

He waved and said that she had nothing to be sorry for. He then walked down to the banks of the river, placed the gem on a large rock, said something and waved his hands over the gem. Then red smoke began to billow upward into the sky. He backed away and the smoke got thicker and brighter. It was actually a beautiful sight to behold.

Everyone gathered around and waited for the boat to appear. Randol looked up at Derissa and she could see tears welling up in his eyes. He turned his head because he didn't want her to see him at a weak moment. He just felt like he let his family down and the people counting on him to destroy the dragon.

He knew he had to do this though. He had to get everyone to safety and then worry about the dragon later. He knew it would work out eventually. He believed in Karma and believed that this turn will bring him another good turn eventually. He prayed to Loki that it would anyway.

After an hour's wait, the group could see the boat appear outside Artesia's walls, and start to pick its way, ever so slowly, through the rocks and shoals that made the channel such a torturous passage.

At that moment, Derissa spotted the goblin tribe that had been unknowingly following them the entire way. The hope that the goblins would stop short of the coast died, as she saw their outlying scouts point at the dissipating cloud of red smoke. The scouts ran back toward the main group, where what passed for goblin cogitation would shortly start.

[Based on the passage out, the group knows that it has about an hour to wait for the boat to make its way to the shore...the chances are good that it won't get close enough for a pick up if the shore is filled with goblins.]

[Just a nudge, to keep this moving]

Derissa moved back to the group on the coast, not bothering at stealth, with the red smoke marking their location clearly.

"We've got a whole bunch of goblins moving toward our signal," she said, not bothering with opening pleasantries.

Kam struggled to her feet, swaying slightly. "I'm ready," she said, not very convincingly.

Caleb stood as well. "I can wield a sword," he said. Borst stood as well, after a moment's hesitation. Kalira looked frustrated.

"I'm an archer...give me a bow, and I could do you some good."

The boat continued to make its way through the channel.

Derisssa approached Randol and asked, "So what do you think we should do?"

"Well, if the goblins arrive before the boat does, we may have to fight...again. I can create an illusion of a fire wall to block their path but once the goblins find out that it is only an illusion, they will be on us again. If I cloak everybody, the boat will not see us and only see the goblins so they will keep on going or turn around. If that happens, they will not return if they see more red smoke. I can create weapons for everyone but other than that, I have used too much magic this trip and my book needs to be replenished."

Randol then created a huge fire wall that for a few moments the goblins thought was real and he then conjured up a couple of swords and a couple of bows with a couple of quivers full of arrows.

"Kalira, you use a bow and arrows to start picking off goblins as they make their way down the narrow path. Derissa you use the other bow to start doing the same. Caleb here is a sword and here is a sword for you, Borst. Hopefully the numbers will have dwindled by the time they get down here or they may turn tail and run if you and Kalira can pick enough of them off before they get down here. We need about fifteen minutes or so for the boat to get close enough for us to swim to if we have to."

They all took cover and soon the goblins started to make their way through the fire illusion and began to descend down the narrow and rocky path.