Beers and Beards: A Cozy Dwarf Tale

Book 4, Chapter 55: Balin – It Takes Goooose to Tango

“We’ve been training for this for weeks if not months.” Starshine explained as they finished kitting up. She adjusted her mithril vambraces and chuckled. “Seems all we needed was a Pete shaped kick in the arse to actually go and do it.”

“Are we sure you don’t want the rest of us?” Raptor’s Respite’s archer, a beastess by the name Amelia asked. She was waxing her bowstring and doing some final checks on her fletching.

Balin looked over the temporary addition to their team. She wore simple and loose leather armor, though a faint gleam from the seams told of some basic Enchantments. She had a rather unique spotted pattern on her fur, and small horns atop her head that she’d ground down to help keep her agile.

“Aye,” Balin finally answered. “We’ve got a mage and more than enough frontline. A good ranged fighter is all we’re really missing. Yer other companions would just complicate things.”

“*Ahem*” Flowerpott said, raising his crossbow.

“A good ranged fighter,” Balin repeated.

“All the thanks I get,” Flowerpott muttered.

Raysdotter slapped him on the back. “Aww, you bring our expendable cannon fodder, and that’s more than enough, Flowy!”

Flowerpott glowered at her, and reached up to buff a spot on his newly re-made and greatly enhanced Manny the Mantis Golem. “Shh, shh, don’t listen to her. She’s just a rock-headed dwarf. You’re not expendable at all, my darling.”

Balin shivered as the glass golem twitched, its mandibles opening and closing as though in answer. This new Manny was at least twice as tall as the old one, standing well over three meters tall. Flowerpott’s new Specialization Ability, [Living Crystal Crafter], made his creations more agile and durable, allowing him to build larger creations than ever.

“So, do we trust this Val character?” Raysdotter asked. “I know he answered a bunch of questions under [Truespeech], but that doesn’t really mean anything.”

“Considering what’s at stake, I’d rather know what he’s doing than shut him out. If he’s the reason the kobolds haven’t hurt anyone, that’s pretty good.” Starshine said. “But I agree that I don’t fully trust him.”

Balin sighed. “I know Pete doesn’t either, though I think he’s a bit starstruck by the beaven. They really seemed to affect him.”

“Well, this dungeon is based on his subconscious. Maybe it’s something from his childhood?” Aishablue said.

Starshine thumped her breastplate. “Well, it’s our job ta protect Pete from danger, and Val definitely counts. So make sure ta keep on eye on ‘im. Now, Formation Six. Let’s go hunt a boss.”

—

Somehow the forest felt more foreboding than it had yesterday.

Perhaps it was the adrenaline, or maybe the dungeon itself knew what they were about, and sought to make their path more difficult.

Whatever the reason, they found their way blocked by far more monsters, and every step through the dense underbrush felt like a slog.

Thankfully, the beer herds and the punkey troops that they had to fight through honed their instincts to a razor’s edge, and Balin was almost thankful for it – but for the insults from the Punkeys.

He did not have a bald spot!!!

The Goooose was big, and left a fairly obvious trail through the forest, and they soon found their prey.

“I found it!” Flowerpott hissed, his eyes glassy. “It’s just upstream, munching on a bunch of those red fish whatevers.”

“Salmon,” Aishablue said, jumping to her feet. “If it’s hunting –”

“Then that’s the best time to hit it – a hunter is always off guard when they strike. Let’s move! Formation Five! Balin with me to the front, Manny and Ray circle around behind it. Amelia, you stick behind Aishablue and distract the Goooose if it tries to focus on her.” This text is hosted at novel•fire.net

“Got it!” The beastess declared, stepping up beside the gnomess.

“[Intermediate Stealth], [Minor Blessing: Nothingness], [Shadowcloak], [Encourage: Agility]!.” Raysdotter declared, and vanished into the forest ahead of them. Flowerpott motioned at Manny and muttered “[Imbue Spirit]”, and the giant glass mantis spun into smooth motion, following after the black-leather-clad cleric.

Balin felt his reaction time increase, and each step felt slightly lighter as he and Starshine got into formation at the head of their column.

They picked up speed as they jogged through the forest, doing their best to keep their volume down. Not that the mithril encased Starshine was exactly capable of subtle. They just had to hope that the roar of the river would keep the Goooose from picking up on their approach.

When they broke through the treeline, they were at a full sprint. They all activated their buffs at the same time, not bothering with announcing them. Their weapons all glowed golden, and Balin felt his body swell as he activated [Heroic Moment]. It only lasted a short while, but he had two uses saved up, and he would probably need both of them for this fight.

This was the first time they’d gotten a good look at the Goooose and Balin had to tamp down a sudden surge of fear. It raised its head out of the river, a struggling fish in its mouth. It regarded them with the nonchalance of an apex predator before biting down with rows of jagged teeth and tearing the unfortunate salmon to pieces.

It was built quite similarly to a duck, with a long prehensile neck and razor sharp spurs set on black webbed feet. It flapped its brown and black wings, revealing sharp talons at the ends, and let out a warbling bellow.

Unlike a duck, it had a head more akin to some artist’s nightmare rendition of a deer. A long muzzle that ended in fat flapping frothing lips, and two whirling red eyes beneath a too-thick brow ridge made the creature look positively mad. It lifted its neck to full extension, towering even further above them, and shook its massive antlers, each easily thrice the size of a dwarf. A moose, Pete had called it.

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It let out a keeing cry between a moo and an oink, which rose in pitch and volume until the very rocks and water began to tremble around them. The water the Goooose stood in boiled as fish began to surface belly-up.

Balin felt a ringing in his head, followed by a pressure in between his ears, and blood dripped down his nose. His vision narrowed into a tunnel, and his knees began to buckle. Starshine actually fell to her knees, and Flowerpott collapsed, blood pouring out of his eyes and ears.

*Bing!*