Callum lost track of how many goblins he had killed since he had exited the dungeon, but his bag was almost bursting at the seam and it was time to return home. He started to make his way towards where he thought his cave was.
Ever since his arrival, he had explored enough of his surroundings that he was pretty sure he was moving in the right direction. However, the snow and early twilight introduced a little uncertainty in his mind.
He had learned a lot about survival in the cold environment over the past week or so; he was confident he could survive even if he didn't find his cave. Building fires and warm shelters had become fairly commonplace for him now.
So distracted by his thoughts, Callum didn't realize he had company until he practically stumbled over another goblin party. Fortunately, the goblins appeared to be just as surprised about the encounter.
Callum had a brief pause in his thought processes as he took in the goblins in front of him. Three Goblin Warriors, a Goblin Skirmisher, a Goblin Witch Doctor, and finally a Goblin Brute stood still for just a moment as they took in Callum.
Goblin Warrior (M) (Lvl 20)
HP:(200/200)
Goblin Skirmisher (M) (Lvl 18)
HP:(120/120)
Goblin Witch Doctor (M) (Lvl 22)
HP:(180/180)
Goblin Brute (M) (Lvl 22)
HP:(250/250)
The Warriors in front of Callum were a slightly higher level than the ones he usually faced, and he had never faced a Brute before. The Goblin Brute was the first goblin that Callum saw who wore some kind of armor.
Callum was sure the Goblin Brute, wearing a basic chest plate and helmet, was not the large goblin he had previously failed to identify. The Witch Doctor acted like he was the one in charge as it gestured at Callum.
Both sides seemed to overcome their shock at roughly the same time. Callum darted to the left, towards the Skirmisher; he needed to improve the odds fast, and the Skirmisher had the lowest health pool.
Unfortunately, the Skirmisher seemed to realize its vulnerability and quickly retreated as Callum advanced. He was faster than the Skirmisher, but his retreating foe bought enough time for several Warriors to step into Callum's path.
Giving up on chasing the Skirmisher for now, Callum distracted one Warrior with
An arrow zipped by Callum's head as he lunged once more to attack the goblin he had just wounded. The two remaining goblins quickly moved towards Callum's side. They were attempting to swarm Callum.
Callum quickly turned his lunge into a side sweep against the goblins that were approaching him. He wasn't able to put his whole might into the last minute spear sweep, but Callum was surprised when the two goblins acted in concert to absorb his attack.
The Goblin Brute was armed with a two handed club, and it swung it down hard towards Callum's head. Callum dodged back to avoid the blow, only to be struck twice by the two goblins on his other side.
The first stack of poison in the battle was applied, Callum wished he had found the time to reapply the poison to his own weapons.
Callum had two melee attackers on each side, one pair was strong enough to block at least a halfhearted attack. And two ranged damage dealers were keeping themselves at distance as they moved to support the melee goblins.
He quickly darted back into the trees, he needed some sort of cover if he wanted to avoid the Witch Doctor's various bolts. He could have tried running, but Callum wanted revenge on the Goblin Witch Doctors.
Using the short time his quick disengagement bought him, Callum dropped his ungainly bag before he met the four melee goblins in battle once more. Fortunately, darting into the trees caused the Witch Doctor to cancel its chanting and reposition itself.
The four melee fighters were unusually coordinated with each other; Callum wasn't sure if the Witch Doctor's proximity played a part, if it was a function of their higher levels, or if the Goblin Brute impacted the lesser goblins' skill levels.
Callum swept his spear into two of the lesser goblins. This time he committed his entire Strength into the attack and the two goblins were sent flying when his spear made contact with them.
He quickly sent a
The Goblin Witch Doctor finished its chanting and sent four bolts flying at Callum. He spun around behind a tree in order to avoid the bolts, though he took several hits from the other goblins in doing so.
Callum did not want to deal with any more nasty debuffs from any Witch Doctor.
The Brute became more aggressive and started to pressure Callum heavily. With one ally dead and another heavily wounded, the Brute seemed to realize Callum would slowly whittle down its allies if it remained passive.
Callum struggled to defend himself against the three melee fighters, while keeping an eye out on the Witch Doctor. He grimaced as another poison stacked onto the ones already coursing through him.
Despite the onslaught, Callum was able to finish off the first goblin it had struck. It did not get a second reprieve. Callum realized that his health was dropping fast and the poison stacks were starting to build up.
Killing two goblins was definitely a start, but the Witch Doctor would tear him apart if this stretched out for too much longer. Callum tried striking at the Brute only to see the spear point scrape along the armor.
He recognized the rising pitch of the Witch Doctor and tried to find cover. Unfortunately, he hadn't been paying attention and the Witch Doctor had moved to the side again, this time it had a clear line of sight on Callum.
Callum did the only thing he could think of. He dropped his spear, grabbed the last Warrior, and put it between himself and the Witch Doctor.
Four bolts struck out at Callum, but three of them impacted the helpless goblin, and only one hit Callum. He quickly pulled up his notifications just to see what type of bolt it was.
- 20 HP lost to
'Note, you have been Drained. -5% stamina regeneration for the next :05:29.'
"Thank the gods that it wasn't another one of those stupid slow spells!" Callum said as he threw the goblin he held into the Brute. Both of those goblins tumbled into the snow, and Callum charged at them with his hatchet and knife in hand.
He piled on top of them in order to use his weight to keep them down. Both goblins wielded two handed weapons, and so they were at a huge disadvantage at such close range. Then their problems worsened dramatically.
"<
Callum had carefully considered the situation before deciding to use his trump card. With only a handful of opponents, he would be in little danger of getting himself killed because he couldn't retreat. And it would help negate some of the Witch Doctor's control spells.
He decided to tackle the two melee attackers first, and <
Callum unleashed a violent flurry of blows on his prone opponents; elbow strikes, bites, chopping attacks, and stabs were all part of Callum's repertoire of death. The Warrior, weak from the friendly fire, soon succumbed; the Brute did not last much longer.
The rage fueled killing machine soon leapt to his feet and charged at his nearest target, the Witch Doctor. He didn't react when a single large bolt of magic came streaking towards him.
The
He crashed into the goblin, or at least he tried to. Instead, a flare of blue light appeared before Callum and stopped him cold. A thoughtful Callum might have suspected it was a magical shield the Witch Doctor used to protect itself.
The rage fueled maniac he was now, simply reached another level of rage at being denied an outlet for his rage.
The tackle wasn't completely ineffectual though, it stopped Callum cold, but it sent the pint sized being flying through the air as physics once more reared its head. The goblin collapsed into a senseless heap after striking a nearby tree head first.
Callum quickly gave chase and started a beautiful ballet of death onto one of the creatures that had plagued him for so long.
The Skirmisher was so frightened by the display of hate and power, that it fled the scene as fast as its goblin legs could carry it. Outside of its dungeon, a tiny slice of self-preservation reared its head.