Chapter 91 - 89: Goblin Houseguests???
Houseguests?
Goblin houseguests?
System, this has to be a joke!
[I wish it were. But this is the story path you have unlocked thanks to your choices. Have you not learned that all of our choices lead to different paths?]
Choices? Like what?
[I don’t have time to get meta with the game. Later. For now, understand that your decision to be civil to the goblins unlocked this path.]
Great, so no good deed goes unpunished?
[Think of it as unexpected rewards. We don’t always see how the dots connect.]
Great. So, this new challenge brings new headaches.
[Naturally. After all, you’d get bored if all you had to do was lie around in this tiger den and cater to your mate. And SHE would send you to live with the goblins if you helicoptered her.]
Right now, Lightning does loo ready to eject someone from our den. [BLAZE. These are stinky goblins. Did you see their caves? They steal everything they can get their hands on.]
She’s right. This is meant to be her sanctuary as she grows our cubs in her belly. No, the goblins are not staying here.
Lobo howls, and our beast friends suddenly all react. Demos roars. [NOOO! Why do we have to do this?]
Aha. They all got the same quest.
Lightning hisses, extending her claws like a flower of death. [NO. NO. This cannot be.]
I grumble. [It’s true. It’s our next task as tamed beasts, and this one is unique to us.]
Lightning yowls, scratching the rock. That has to hurt, but she doesn’t seem to notice. [Blaze, you take charge. These are YOUR friends.]
[Thanks for nothing! I never asked them to be my friends. But I can’t abandon them.]
Gussie is bombastic, obnoxious, and full of moxie with Dag. [You! What are you doing with goblins, anyway?]
I have never seen Gussie like this. Normally, she will behave with elan and a sunny disposition until someone proves they can’t be trusted.
Meanwhile, Kaline addresses Dex. "The goblins? Are you sure?"
Skinny arm flailing, Dex indicates Dag. "The bird told me."
Kaline squints. "Is this a trick?"
"Ask Blaze," he says, pointing to me.
[It’s true, Young Miss. You see how bedraggled Dag is. Why, he looks like someone just glued feathers to a stick. The goblins were overrun by trolls.]
Kaline pauses. She can read the truth in the brief sketch I’m giving and doesn’t need an entire encyclopedia. [Then where are they?]
I ask Dag. [Where are the goblins? Where is Chief Kasz?}
Dag dodges Gussie in a madcap bid to escape. [Stop. Away. Her away. Now.]
[Gussie.] My voice is sharp. [You can see that he hasn’t got the brains that the Primal Beast gave an ant. Let him alone.]
Bedrudgingly, Gussie retreats. [Sorry.]
Dag shakes out his wings. [Chief Kasz hide.]
I summon up my patience and a crunchy exotic fruit that’s vaporized by Dag’s beak in two seconds. [Yes, but where? Where are he and the goblins?]
[They hide. Barrel.]
Barrel? I am trying to picture all the goblins crammed in a barrel like herring or pickles.
After several rounds of questioning, we beasts manage to piece together what we think Dag means. Namely, that the goblins are in some kind of a round structure like a silo or a small tower or something of that nature. But it’s hardly ideal. Goblins, like anyone else, don’t much care for being squished together in a claustrophobic space. Even in a cave, the goblins can spread out.
Dag begs us to come with him to see for ourselves, but we balk. After all, the could be a trap. Dag has more loyalty than brains. Sorry, but we can’t take the risk of being captured, or even luring our humans into a fight. We’d win, of course, but Lamant and Minette like to avoid unnecessary conflict.
Dag perforates the air with his beak. [Raar. I ask. Need help.]
Can tigers get migraines? He does not understand.
[DAG. They are worried that this is a trap.]
His feathers go haywire. Scratching the ground, huffing and puffing, he castigates me. [I trust you! You Raar. Why not trusted me?]
Oh boy. How do I explain this to him?
[Dag. Goblins took me. From home. Goblins stole me. Goblins steal from elves. This could be a trick. They could trick you.]
Incongruously, Dag just accepts my explanation. [Not trick you. You give fruit.]
[Yes. But you understand why we don’t want to go find the goblins.]
Dag eyeballs Gussie. [She fly? Get goblins?]
That is not a bad idea. Except that depending on where it is, it could be a long way away. A long journey for Gussie.
I communicate to Kaline what Dag asked for, and the heated debate breaks out once she shares his request.
Lamant and Minette resist the idea. Having Gussie fly all that way and risk getting poached or worse? Not high on their list. Kaline suggests sending the family’s guards. Dag rejects that idea when I relay it to him. Apparently, goblins see guards and get hyperaggressive.
Round and round we go until we exhaust every possible idea. In the end, the only one that remains is the riskiest one. Namely, blithely strolling into a potential trap ourselves.
I communicate to Kaline. [No one asked me, but this makes the most sense. And I can go into the barrel or whatever it is. Chief Kasz likes me. I’m offering help. He did not get to rule the goblins by being stupid. Let’s go find him. If we save the goblins, they will never bother us again.]
When Kaline explains to everyone else, her small hands gesticulating animatedly, there is a long silence punctuated by the splashing of the water.
Minette heaves a sigh. "Blaze is right. The goblins may very well owe us. But that is not why we’re doing this. We are doing this because they asked for our help, and sometimes the most pitiful creatures can stir great sympathy and spur people to action they wouldn’t otherwise take." She gives Dag a sympathetic look.
Frowning, Lamant accepts his wife’s reasoning. "Then let’s set out quickly. We can find temporary shelter for the goblins. There’s an old vault in the east wing that still holds treasure. Not the REAL family treasure, of course, but enough to pacify gold-obsessed goblins."
Well, color me surprised. I did not expect that stratagem. House the goblins inside an unused vault AND give up some of the family treasure to boot? Are there XP for compassion in the game? There should be.
System just has to provide cutting commentary. [Compassion is its own reward.]
I scoff. If that’s true, then why am I getting XP for helping the goblins?
[Because you are a tamed beast, that’s why. It’s more difficult for you.]
I think I’ve just been insulted.
[Not at all. Humans and elves can indulge themselves with compassion all they like. They have the freedom. But tamed beasts are different. Tamed beasts take many risks by doing valiant deeds for compassion’s sake.]
Oh. Makes sense. We are the stars of the Tanglewood game. And, for all our power, we don’t have the abilities that humans do. Communication, for one.
Vedette shivers. "Ugh, goblins. Must we?"
Making a sour face, Kaline agrees. "This just proves that our beasts are the best."
Hans is reflective. "If we help the goblins, and make allies, even my father wouldn’t be able to question it. Besides, he’d prefer to avoid more goblin battles."
Gussie squawks, "Help the goblins. And then teach this bird." She glowers at Dag, who glares right back.
Peridot doesn’t care one way or the other, and apparently neither does Niall, although I glimpse pride in his eyes as he loiters nearby observing the scene.
Demos makes an "ufff." [Well, it was hardly our idea. Jut because Blaze is the goblins’ toy--]
Eager to rile me, Lobo wags his tail. [Yes, you can be Kasz’s throne ornament for a while.]
[Well, I look better than you would.]
Lightning rubs her nose against mine. She has been uncharacteristically solemn during this whole debate. With a twinge of guilt, I nuzzle her. [I’m sorry about all this.]
[You always say that.] Her spirited answer makes me smile. [But this is my quest, too. Besides, you said you liked Kasz.]
[I did.]
Purring and licking me, she gets me while my defenses are down. [Cubs or no cubs, I am coming with you. I will stay clear of danger but be ready to fight for my mate and friends if needed.]
What a magnificent mate!
So, it’s agreed.
Within an hour, we get organized and set out to find the goblins, with Dag leading us through the countryside. Oh, and I discover that the Riddlehoevens have more than one carriage. We caravan down the country road, following Dag, who banks for a narrow right-hand turn and flies off into the hills, toward the world’s biggest hollow tree stump, an old weathered mossy tube sticking out of the green grass beside a raging river.
Disembarking from the carriages, we approach the hollow tree, and as we draw close, a lone figure emerges. A squat goblin.
I call out, "RAAR!"
The goblin opens his mouth to speak...