Chapter 32 Short King
Pebble waited and listened to the group of perpetrators. His disguise had worked almost too well. He was surprised when one of the bandits sat on him, but he managed to stay still enough that it was not a problem.
The conversation gave him a good load of information. Pebble was almost happy that he ran into the spike trap now. It turns out that he and Fred were being followed this whole time and they had no idea. The bandits had some sort of pact with the goblins and the goblin cave was within 15 minutes from his current location.
Pebble overheard the disgruntled mutterings of the bandit that seemed to get the short of the stick, "F*cking pricks. Why don't I just run away and start a new life? I hate this sh*t."
'Oh my gods, that's the man with the map!' Pebble realized.
"Do it, bro!" Pebble said cheerfully, but maintained his boulder facade.
"Ah! Who goes there? I know Knife-kwondo and I'm gonna mess you up!" The bandit grabbed his knife and took a defensive posture.
'Is Knife-kwondo a real thing?' Pebble inwardly questioned the validity of the man's threats. He currently couldn't see the guy because he was looking down to hide his gladiator looking stone helmet. He's received many muted notifications since he began hiding next to the ditch and he wondered why he only started receiving these notifications now. Given how many muted notifications he's received, he felt like he definitely should have leveled up some secondary stats before now, but he never did.
"Hello?" The man said after this display was met with silence.
Pebble whistled, "Don't freak out and attack me. I really believe you and I can come to an agreement!" He slowly began to stand up and got a good look at the bandit in front of him, "Oh wow! You sure are short!"
"Shut up!" The bandit yelled and brandished his knife.
"Just stop, bro. I heard how they treated you. What are you doing?" Pebble put his hands on his hips and looked down at the man, "You should make some better choices, my friend. You know there's a whole new life out there waiting…" Pebble paused for effect, "... for you."
"Yeah, what do you know? You're a freaking rock! What do you know about complex human relationships?" The bandit yelled.
'So much for standby, huh?' Pebble rolled his eyes.
'What? We'll discuss this later,' Pebble refocused on the bandit.
"Well, what's your name, Mr. Bandit?" Pebble stood his ground and continued to stare at the man.
"My name's Larry, what's yours?" The man replied wearily while continuing to point the knife at Pebble.
"My name is Pebble, and…" Pebble was trying to calm the man down, but when he said his name the man dropped the knife.
"Pebble?! You mean the guy that the Great Mountain God Reeki announced?! Holy f*ck, are you a Hero?" Larry's mind was running wild.
"Oh, you know my boy Reeki?" Pebble replied with relief.
"Know him? Are you kidding me? I grew up watching bootlegged AetherTube! Reeki's Keg Bash is my favorite series all time!" Larry looked elated.
"What? Okay, I guess that works out for me. So, running away, starting a new life…" Pebble shrugged, "... sounds like a plan?"
"Abso-f*cking-lutely!" Larry walked towards the rock man while extending his arm for a handshake.
"When I heard your name being spoken by the god I chose to worship, I knew you'd be something special! I can't fathom that our reunion is anything less than fate." Larry's hand waited for Pebble's.
"You worship Reeki? Huh, I guess he is a god, after all, it makes sense that he has worshippers." Pebble unsummoned his stone armor and reached for Larry's hand.
"Ahh!" Larry jumped after seeing the rock armor fade to sand and meeting Pebble face to face, "You're a human?"
"Did I scare you? Of course I'm a human, did you think I was a rock?" Pebble kept his hand held out and tilted his head as he questioned Larry.
"Duh, I thought you were a rock! You were announced by Reeki and he's a walking Mountain!." Larry exclaimed and looked at Pebble with caution.
"That's actually kind of fair." Pebble conceded but continued to hold his hand out.
"Okay, I can work with this. Sorry I'm kind of jumpy nowadays." Larry said as he reached out and finally accepted Pebble's handshake, "Geez, you're strong! That's quite the grip you've got there!"
Pebble rubbed the back of his head, "What can I say? It was kind of god given," he gave a nervous chuckle.
"You don't say!" Larry started laughing.
"Thanks for not trying to kill me. Is it cool with you if I were to update my friends?" Pebble summoned his Coin of Communication and held it up to show Larry.
"Yeah, uh, sure thing. What do you need me to do? I mean, what's the terms of our partnership here?" Larry scratched his scruffy beard.
"Well, you're not a hostage or anything. You don't need to assist me if you don't want to. You're free to start your new life, like you said." Pebble shrugged.
"Well, are you going to go after Rori and Lue?" Larry questioned.
"So those are their names? I kind of have to. I think the goblin cave they are going to is the same one my team and I need to clear for a quest." Pebble thumbed the coin in his hand, "Is that a problem?"
"No. I actually have to tell you, I want in." Larry said with determination. "Look, I don't know if you've noticed my stature."
"I have indeed noted your puniness." Pebble nodded.
"Gee, thanks. At least you haven't taken action on that, that's the difference between you and them." Larry looked down, "You're lucky. I bet no one ever tells you what to do."
Pebble gave a hearty laugh, "You'd be surprised. I see what you're saying though, buddy. Where I come from, we had a name for men like you." Pebble looked at Larry with smile.
"Oh yeah, what's that?" Larry was intrigued.
"You're a short king, my friend." Pebble said seriously.
"Pfft," Larry scoffed. "What does that even mean? I'm no king."
"I'm not too sure, but I think it's about self image." Pebble's words contained no confidence, but he continued. "I mean, you don't become a king by saying, 'I'm not a king.'"
"Well, when you put it that way, I guess that makes some sense. So, I'm a short king?" Larry said with a little optimism in his tone.
"That's right! Next time someone picks on you for your size, look them dead in the eyes and say." Pebble projected his voice, "Hey! Stop that, for I am a short king!"
"You're a good man, Pebble." Larry smiled, "I think your advice is downright stupid, but I can appreciate where it's coming from."
"I think I used to be a bit better at the pep talks, but you got the gist of it! I'm glad you're on board, I'll let my friends know that I'm okay and that we have a map!" Pebble flicked the coin while thinking of Puffy.
"Oh, sure! I've got the map in here." Larry shrugged the backpack off of his shoulders and began searching through it. "Rori never puts sh*t back where he finds it. It's one of the many reasons why I can't wait to watch you beat his ass!"
Pebble laughed at Larry's comment and Puffy answered the coin call, "Yo! What's going on? Bard freaked out because our Life Rocks went dim and stopped working. Phil and Fred came running and said the same thing happened to them."
"Uh yeah, I triggered a trap and got gored by a sharp log." Pebble informed his gnome friend.
"What the hell! Are you okay? Who the hell put traps in the woods? Was it the goblins?"
Puffy shot questions out in rapid fire.
"I know right? I am okay, the traps were put there by some bandits. I've befriended one. And people seem to really want to blame the goblins today!" Pebble replied.
"You befriended one!? Don't you have 5 charisma? How the hell did you pull that off? Oh my god, he's tricking you isn't he. Jesus, Pebble you can't keep making decisions on your own!" Puffy was freaking out.
"No no, he's pretty cool! Here I'll put him on. Yo, Larry, it's for you!" Pebble flicked to coin to Larry and he just barely managed to catch it.
"Uh, hello?" Larry said to the coin in confusion.
"What the f*ck is going on?" Puffy replied.
"I don't know, you wanted to talk to me?" Larry said defensively.
"NO, I did not! Pebble is just a moron!" Puffy yelled.
"Don't insult Pebble like that! He's the chosen one!" Larry roared.
"F*ck me, Pebble. You really know how to pick 'em. Look, the boys and I are ready to head out, just put any rods you have left down where you are. After they're placed, just flick them a couple times and I'll be able to pinpoint you. We're heading your way now." Puffy said before hanging up the coin call.
"Sounds easy enough," Pebble did as Puffy instructed.
"Found it!" Larry pulled the map out and set it on top of his backpack.
—
"Ay, Rori. I see the cave up ahead and, well it looks like some hobgoblins have arrived." Lue said with fear as he peered through his binoculars. He and Rori were hiding in a bush a good distance away from the cave.
"That don't make no sense! The agreement was for them to maintain an outpost of normal goblins." Rori started pacing, "This ain't good. We might need to apologize to them for the trap." Rori started making a worried hum noise as he played out potential scenarios in his head.
"Yeah, I don't know about this one Rori. If he killed a hobgoblin, we're dead. No if, ands or buts about it." Lue said firmly.
"Well sh*t, we already told the goblins it was our trap Lue. If we go and act like we came to make sure they were okay, maybe we can salvage this!" Rori nodded at his own plan.
"We left our medical supplies with Larry though!" Lue pointed out.
"Damn, you're right. That's no problem, just gonna have to run back and fetch it right quick." Rori said and began to turn around, but his body was blocked by a massive tan humanoid.
"'Ello!" The beast said through sharp, drooly teeth. "Welcome to the cave, gentlemen. We'll have you come this way now."
Rori and Lue took a good look at each other. Both were moments away from panic.
Rori took a deep breath, "Lead the way, friend." He smiled.