“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it. The ice elf can dance on snow,” Malcolm grumbled good-naturedly. “Good thing we left Skwilly behind; he’d never have gotten through this.”
“Didn’t know I could do this. Character sheet didn’t mention anything about it. Agree on the Skwilly front, he wasn’t happy, but this snow would have been a huge issue for him.” Valgrin smiled. “Think I’ll scout ahead, and yes, I will be careful.”
The rest of the group nodded as they slogged through the snow.
He navigated through the underbrush, noticing once more how the thickening vegetation hinted at another clearing ahead. Valgrin had asked Gabbe why the forest had such a peculiar growth pattern. The answers varied wildly—from tales of an ancient dragon’s blood poisoning the ground to explanations about plants that extend their roots periodically to form clearings. It was clear that the truth was unknown.
He stopped to examine the orange-tinted bark of the dominant tree, observing how the broadleaf vines seemed to weave their filaments through its rough surface. The purple vines sprouted from the green and purple shrubs at the tree bases, making it seem as if the trees still had leaves. Scattered among the bushes was a pine-like scrub brush. It was short, no more than four feet tall, and had needles six inches long and very thick. These bushes, along with clusters of beige grass-like plants, offered Valgrin enough concealment to stealthily approach the clearing’s edge before needing to adjust his route to stay hidden.
He was closing in on the edge of the second clearing when a whistling noise caused him to freeze and find a spot he could remain hidden but see through the brush.
Gabbe wasn’t far off. Undersold the head, it’s more green beach ball on a small body.
Valgrin slowly followed the green monsters. His ability to move across the snow’s surface kept his movements quiet. Not that the Gobblerins were being quiet or attentive, which made his task simpler. They made their way to the edge of the third clearing, closing in on the path Gabbe was taking the others. A muffled sound from Valgrin’s group caused him to stop moving and watch for any reaction from the creatures. After several seconds, Valgrin scurried towards the group intent on warning them.
Fortunately, a finger to the lips got the message across to the group, and they greeted Valgrin with nods instead of shouts. He quickly explained what he’d seen, and that they were on an intersecting path, probably a few clearings ahead.
“Seems to be a confirming to what I be saying. The clearing I traced them to is about three further ahead.” Gabbe ran fingers through his hair.
“As long as the snow stays this shallow or better, we should be good.” Malcolm pointed to the now ankle-deep snow.
“I can still go ahead and spy for us, coming back if something major changes.” Valgrin pointed in the direction they were heading.
“Sounds good to me,” Steeyann said as the others nodded agreement.
With a plan hammered out, Valgrin went back to scouting ahead. The vines were thicker at this point in the forest, providing him with ample cover. He made his way to the target clearing and dug in a little behind one of the pine-like shrubs.
Didn’t know I could train to gain skills like that.
Good to know; I’ll revisit this once we have more time. Need to keep an eye on the clearing, the Gobblerins should be coming into view soon. Valgrin wondered if the hole in the clearing’s ground led to the creatures’ lair. The paths marked in the snow pointed to several creatures going to or from the gaping hole.
Several minutes passed by in quiet, Gabbe and the group made their way to Valgrin. As promised, they gave Gabbe a spot he could see but was behind everyone. They had just spread out, awaiting the Gobblerins, when noises made their way from the other side of the clearing.
They changed course a little, shouldn’t be coming from the direct opposite side, maybe met up with another group—sounds larger. Valgrin spotted them breaking through the tree line on the other side.
A bright flash of light caused Valgrin to look away briefly. Looking back, the number of monsters had grown. A second flash, which wasn’t as bright, hit—causing the target Gobblerin to spawn six other Gobblerins. “No more lightning! Causes them to multiply.” Valgrin called out to Tahlur.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Two of the new Gobblerins grew to eight feet tall within a matter of seconds. Claws became scythes as the monsters made their way across the clearing. “Don’t use fire either, causes them to grow to that.” Steeyann called from the shrubs.
Valgrin’s eyes blazed with intensity as he watched Malcolm sprint across the clearing to confront one of the massive creatures head-on. Malcolm’s sai struck with lightning speed, leaving the beast momentarily dazed. Valgrin swung his katar toward the other oversized creature. With a powerful swing of his katar, two deadly ice shards shot forth, striking their mark with unerring accuracy. The first shard exploded on impact, sending shockwaves through the clearing, freezing time itself for a heartbeat before chaos resumed. Adrenaline surged through Valgrin as he summoned an ice spear, feeling its cold, lethal power in his grasp. With a primal roar, he hurled it at the green beast Malcolm had wounded. The spear detonated with a thunderous blast, causing several Gobblerins to stumble and fall. Yet, the resilient creatures rose once more, some advancing menacingly toward the group, while others scurried toward the gaping hole in the earth.
Valgrin unleashed a flurry of ice shards. He felt the ice spear magic begin to flow to the katar. Charging the ice shards? He unleashed the eleventh shard, obliterating another Gobblerin in an explosion of icy fury. It had to be recharging—I’ve fired off more than ten. “Anyone know what they’re chanting?” Malcolm asked.
“Old tongue for ‘White Death’ is what I make out,” Gabbe shouted out. “Seem to be aiming that title at Valgrin.”
“We can figure that out later. Anyone have water they can pour down the hole? I have an idea.” Valgrin raised his voice.
“I have an unending flask, isn’t going to be large volumes at once but will keep pouring out.” Tahlur called out.
“I’ll cover you. You start pouring water down the hole. Watch out, I may not get everyone of these things headed your way, so you may have to play dodge the monster,” Valgrin answered.
“Can do that.” Tahlur made his way to the hole as Valgrin sent off a new volley of ice shards.
He noticed a Gobblerin gliding silently across the snow, poised to ambush Steeyann from behind. In a flash, an ice shard exploded through the beast, scattering its remains across the snow in a violent spray. One of the ones engaged with Steeyann unhinged its grotesque jaw. Grebbe wasn’t exaggerating, if anything, he understated. That mouth is taking up a huge part of the face now. The rows of teeth aren’t helping. It lunged, but Steeyann moved like liquid, gracefully sidestepping and slicing down with one of his long daggers—decapitating the creature. Its head, as large as a beach ball, tumbled down the slope, leaving a trail of dark blood in its wake.
Valgrin’s eyes darted to Malcolm, who was locked in a ferocious battle against three of the beasts at once, wielding the spike ends of his sai with ruthless efficiency. His relentless assault had spilled gallons of blood, staining the snow at his feet a deep crimson.
Valgrin ran across the clearing toward the hole in the ground. “I’m letting one through, douse it with water and let it get down the hole.” He fired two more ice shards behind the one closest to the hole, obliterating two Gobblerins. That last one took a bit more than usual. I wonder if I’m running out of charge. Still not bad lost count around twenty. He jumped toward the hole. “Back off!” he roared as he cast an ice wall and light frost into the depths below. Within moments, the ground erupted in a cataclysmic explosion, launching Valgrin through the air until he smashed into a tree with bone-jarring force.
Gritting his teeth against the searing pain in his shoulder, he forced himself to his knees. His vision blurred, he shook his head to clear it and fired an ice shard at a Gobblerin charging toward Malcolm. But the drain on his magic was overwhelming; he attempted a second shot, but nothing came. His strength spent, he collapsed face-first into the snow, twisting his head to breathe.
He felt hands pulling him up. A quick glance confirmed it was Tahlur. With a bit of a struggle, Valgrin found himself reclining against a tree trunk.
“Thanks,” Valgrin said. “Not sure what happened. Maybe hit the tree too hard when thrown?”
“It looked like you were trying to cast, and if you ran out of MP that could have caused the collapse.” Tahlur explained.
“I’ll check,” Valgrin answered. Status check.
HP 37/45
MP 00/75
>
“Looks like that is the issue. I have zero magic points.”
“Which means you rest, I’ll watch out. Steeyann and Malcolm chased the last of the Gobblerins into the woods on the other side, so we won’t see much. Gabbe is walking this way, should join us in a few minutes.” Tahlur turned to watch the other side of the clearing.
Valgrin sat rethinking the fight. He looked down to make sure his katar was in place. A new, lightly engraved pattern on the pommel drew his attention. Stylized wolf? Not sure of the animal. When did it show up? During the fight? When I fell? Is this related to the White Death?
Gabbe made his way to the tree. “Yous okay?”
Valgrin looked up. “Yeah, been better but doing okay. Got a question for you. What can you tell me about this White Death stuff?”
“Not much that be a solid,” Gabbe responded. “Lotsa myth and legend wrapped up around a little truth, so I ‘spect. What is most likely to be true is one or the other of this. Some type of being that attacks with snow and ice, kinda like yous did. The other is a some type of large snow fox with magical powers. There be more stories, but they get fantastical—even for meself.”
Fox, that’s a better match to what showed up on my pommel.
“And it attacked them?” Valgrin asked.
“It be said that it roamed this here part of the world, long time ago. Nobody around can give a good guess to how long ago and if it t’was a real thing. From what I heard, seems to be real and at least ninety or more years ago being it last t’were seen. Ain’t nobody here that has lived that long; me being almost seventy makes me the oldest in this part of the world. Some of the old-timers, when I t’were a child, claimed to have seen tracks or hints of the White Death. Some of them stories may have had a bit of truth.”
“Hmm, gives me something to go off of, guessing it’s probably related to my using ice-based attacks.”
“T’would be most likely.” Gabbe agreed.
Wonder if it has anything to do with my new ability to join the katar and my ice elf abilities together. Need to look into that to make sure I understand.
“Malcolm and Steeyann are at the far edge of the clearing, heading this way,” Tahlur announced. “Soon as they join, as long as they don’t have a reason to stay, I think we should head back so it doesn’t get dark on us before we get back to Plarest.”
“I be in agreement. We leave soon, we should have enough light to get back to a nice drink at the bar,” Gabbe added.