We spend the better part of the day today hunting goblins on the outskirts of the forest. We run into four more three-man groups of the goblins, but we find them a little easier than before to deal with due to both experience and our increase in level yesterday. We don't gain a level sadly, likely as a consequence of it being easier.
We call it quits a little earlier in the day today than yesterday, since we want to get our camp a little better set up today, so we gather extra firewood and more wild vegetables to take back.
Tonight we're a little less lucky than yesterday, and we don't get any fish, but with a more proper campfire, and after clearing our campsite a little better, hopefully we can at least sleep well tonight. Varris and I supplement our dinner with a small amount of rations to keep our stomachs from waking us early.
The night passes uneventfully, without any goblins, or for that matter animals either.
We repeat the same plan for two more days, when we finally level up after having killed 18 more goblins. So now we each get our pick of a passive perk, my choices are:
Resist Mental Effects - Artificial effects that would modify your mental state are reduced in effect.
Mind Tether - When using a spell on a target, you can choose to make it a mind tether, letting you recast it on that target at any distance. Limited to one target at a time.
As useful as Mind Tether would be, I'm having a hard time coming up with a way to play it off. Maybe later I could pass it off, if I get it in the future as an option, but for now, I think I'll have to take Resist Mental Effects.
With this, my stats have now doubled from when I first came here, although I don't feel different right now. They've been incrementally increasing each level, which probably plays a role in not being able to tell.
I start gathering some nearby twigs to work as firewood tonight as the others seem to be making their own decisions.
Varris is the first to decide, followed shortly by the other two, and he speaks up first, "So, what did everyone choose? I took minor cut resistance, which basically does what it says. Things that would cut the surface of my skin are resisted."
"I took quiet step." Calliope says, "It helps deaden the sound of my footsteps if I want to."
"I think I got pretty lucky." Elys says, "I got overcharge. Which I've heard about before. It lets me cast a spell with more power than I should be able to, but afterwards, I can't cast any magic for a few minutes."
"Nice! I've heard some higher level adventurers have had that, and it's gotten them out of pinches before." Varris says.
Everyone looks at me expectantly, so I don't let them down, "I took one called Resist Mental Effects, which is sort of self explanatory, I think. It only applies to artificial effects though."
Satisfied with our day, we go back to camp. That night, Elys brings something up, "I haven't noticed any drop in the numbers of goblins. Either there are even more than I thought, or something else is happening."
"I was starting to wonder about that as well." Varris agrees, "Any idea as to why?"
"I've heard of a variant goblin shaman that can summon other goblins from another location. That might be what's here. It might be bringing in lots of goblins from the demon lands all the way here. How it got here though, that would be harder to explain."
"Is it more dangerous?" I ask.
"Individually, no, its actually less dangerous than a normal goblin shaman. However, it means we can't just wear their numbers down, we basically have to go in and kill the goblin shaman itself, or we'll just be killing goblins forever." Elys says.
"Is it really that bad?" I ask.
"Goblins are like an infestation of bugs." Calliope explains, "A small group of 10 goblins will reproduce to be a hundred goblins in a few months. If they're actually coming from the demon lands, we can't kill them faster than they're being replaced."
"I think I understand now." I reply, "So what do we do about it then?"
"Well, with our new passives, I think that we should scout deeper in the forest, and see if we can find out where their nest is. If we find that, we can plan how to deal with it, or if we need help. I'm confident we can escape if we need to." Elys says, and Varris nods in agreement as she describes her plan.
"Alright, so tomorrow we head deeper in then." I say. With that, we split up to take care of the nightly chores. Thankfully, Calliope catches another fish. Fresh meat really can't be beat.