The Good Goblin

That big blue light must have been an explosion of some kind. There were chunks of acid worm scattered all over the place… and acid puddles everywhere. I dread to think what the other side of the wall is like. We had to be very careful where we stepped. Fortunately, the acid puddles did not extend too far into the vox estate and after we had travelled a few hundred metres they disappeared entirely.

There are two entrances to the vox estate other than the watchtower that we just passed through. They are to the south-east and north-east. They are linked by a road that travels past the mansion entrance in a kind of semi-circle. It is supposed to be for busy periods like parties and galas and stuff. That way all the carriages can enter from the south, drop off their guests, and then exit through the north without the faff of turning around. Which is a nice and practical design.

I’m getting side tracked. Basically, we want to get to the north-east entrance. That will put us a stone’s throw from Kataravonia’s northern gate. Then we can finally get this over with. Naturally, due to the need for expediency, we did not follow the path round and simply cut across the grass towards our desired exit. We were careful not to step on the flower beds though. We may be in a hurry, but we are still civilised.

We were almost halfway across the estate when we noticed the hole in the ground ahead of us. We did not see it initially due to a series of decorative bushes that were unhelpfully in front of it. There was this creepy group of monsters climbing out of it. I had never seen them in person before, but I had read about them in my almanac. They were nuckelavees. And the book did not do them justice. They are a thousand times more disgusting in real life.

They have the frame of a small horse with the top half of a human growing out of its spine. Their arms are disturbingly long and reach all the way down to the ground. And both the human and the horse heads have the horns of a goat. Oh… and did I mention that the entire thing has no skin? Like, no skin at all. They are dripping with blood… all the time. They are just muscles and organs clinging to bones. They look like they are in constant pain. Just… by the gods… how the fuck are these things even alive?

One of them noticed us just as we noticed them. It opened its disgusting human jaws and made this horrible groan sound. The others turned and suddenly they were all facing us, pointing at us, and making that creepy fucking noise.

Dwynfel: “I suggest running.”

Knight 3: “Why? We can take them.”

Dwynfel: “That’s how they summon reinforcements.”

We started to hear the sound of hooves beating off the ground… it was coming from inside the tunnel. And it didn’t just sound like a few either… it was way more than we could handle.

Kiyui: “But we need to get past them!”

Knight 3: “We haven’t got a hope in hell against that many in such an open area.”

Kiyui: “Then what do we do?”

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The thundering hoofbeats grew louder.

Dwynfel: “Run for the mansion!”

We turned and rushed towards the main entrance as a load of nuckelavees burst forth from the hole. There looked to be about twenty of the things. They didn’t stop to think, they just charged straight for us. Now… we had a reasonable head start. But have you ever tried to outrun a horse. We had no chance of making it unless we slowed them down in some way.

I notched an arrow on my bow and swiftly turned round. I managed to hit the one at the forefront of the charge in its front leg. It fell to the ground, tripping three others. I managed that stunt a further two times but the remaining ones were too spread out for that to work.

Kiyui reached the mansion door first and pushed it open. He and Feiffer ran inside as a couple of the nuckelavees came in from the flanks and charged at us. The hammer guy smashed his hammer into the first one’s chest… the horse chest… not the human chest. I drew one of my daggers and dived to the side, cutting the front right leg of the second as I went.

As I stood back up, I saw something horrifying. nuckelavees were not the only creatures emerging from that hole. A group of yetis had also emerged and were charging towards us as well. They are basically massive apes that have an affinity for the cold. Definitely not ideal.

Worse yet… there seemed to be four kiwakwas. Now… apart from their size, these things don’t really look imposing. They basically look like decrepit hairy old men with chunks of flesh missing. Their eyes are creepily beast like however. Worryingly though, they are bigger than most houses and very difficult to kill. The only known way to kill them is to set their hearts on fire. Not even removing the heart from the body works… if you don’t set it on fire then that thing is gonna keep coming at you.

Dwynfel: “This is bad!”

Kiyui: “Just hurry up and get inside!”

We made it inside and managed to close the door just before another two nuckelavees smashed into it. The force knocked Kiyui over. Due to the criminal activities of Conrad Vox, there were a large number of bolts on the inside of the door which we swiftly bolted. Kiyui went to move a dresser in front of the door. But I heard glass smash in the adjacent room, so I stopped him and we went to run up the stairs towards the northern wing.

As we did, a nuckelavee jumped at us from a side room, knocking Kiyui to the ground, and pushing me into the banister. It was flailing its claws at me and put a big gash down my cheek. Feiffer was biting at its leg, but the creature didn’t seem fazed at all. The hammer guy smashed the horse in its face. Its skull collapsed, brain matter went everywhere, and it fell to the ground. He helped Kiyui up off the floor and we went to run up the stairs. The nuckelavee also stood up and charged up the stairs towards us.

Knight 3: “What the fuck?”

Dwynfel: “The second head! You need to destroy both!”

He was swinging his hammer at the nuckelavee, but he couldn’t get close to the human head, the horse body was too much of an obstruction, and the vicious claws weren’t exactly helping either.

Shit… out of options. I notched my last arrow and loosed it directly into the nuckelavee’s human eye socket. The horse part reared up in response. The hammer guy kicked it and the entire thing fell backwards down the stairs. And now I am entirely out of arrows. Bollocks.

The sound of glass shattering could be heard all over the bottom floor. We rushed along the northern wing and took shelter in the northernmost guest room. We closed the doors and piled furniture in front of it.

Knight 3: “Well? The fuck do we do now?”