“Mother of a retarded goat!” Hadiin spat in anger. “Ow!” Pain might be lessened in the game, but an arrow in the leg still hurt. 

“Hide!” Marian shouted, diving into the cover of a nearby bush. 

Hadiin yanked the arrow out and hobbled after her.

You are bleeding…

Great. He sourly watched his HP tick down even further then flattened himself behind a fallen log. “Once again,” he muttered to himself, “putting everything into Charisma at the very start of the game might not have been the most practical choice.” 

Two more arrows thudded into the wood over his head. 

“Can you reach them?” he shouted to Marian.

“I can’t see them!”

“Either we get to them or they bring down the whole tribe on us.”

“I know!” she scowled back. “Why not throw yourself out in the open and draw them from hiding for me?”

“I would, darling, really. But I’d lose half my gold.”

She grumbled something too quietly to hear, but he could guess the nature of it.

“I have every faith in you and your brilliant magical arts, Marian!” he called.

The sound of her flames lighting up the forest carried through the air. Goblin screams followed. 

Then came the sound of attackers quickly crashing through the underbrush, followed by the unmistakable sounds of blades hitting flesh. 

Had they attacked Marian? Hadiin jumped up without thinking and was halfway over the tree trunk in her direction before he realized what was going on. 

Three other players had joined the action: all male, wielding sword, axe and bow. In moments, the four goblin archers that had been attacking soon lay in pieces.

Marian stood next to them. “Thanks, guys.”

The sword turned to her and nodded. “No prob. You guys doing the goblin quest?”

Marian nodded. “We are. You too?”

Axe grinned. “Yeah. Wanna team up?”

All three males were no doubt positively thrilled to have rescued the well-figured damsel in distress and were already dreaming of rewards. 

Hadiin spoiled this to a degree by approaching. His leg hurt but the bleeding had stopped. His HP was below half though. That was dangerous, as they hadn’t even gotten to the goblin nest yet. “Actually, you should join us,” he informed the trio.

They looked up at him in surprise.

“Why’s that?” sword asked, covering his disappointment. 

“Merchant class,” Hadiin said with a bow. “I get much higher rewards for finishing quests.”

The eyes of the young men all widened. 

“Really?”

“How much?”

“Lucky!”

Marian answered. “I was supposed to get 20 sp for the quest. He gets 45 sp.”

“Whoa, seriously?” Archer gasped. 

Hadiin smiled. “Shall I invite you to join our party and share the quest with you? Six dead goblins already. Should be easy enough for the four of you to finish the task.”

“Four?” Axe frowned. “What about you?”

“Merchant class. Very high charisma, hence the higher rewards. No combat abilities, however, not at this point.”

Axe gave a slow nod. 

Sword shrugged. “Whatever. Four is more than enough for this quest.”

Hadiin invited the trio and shared the quest. 

Archer’s brows rose. “Damn! 38 sp. Way higher than before.”

Axe pointed at the corpses. “Quest said sixteen heads, right? We have to cut them off?”

Sword nodded and they went to work. Luckily, it wasn’t so gruesome. When the blade hit the neck of the corpse, the body vanished, leaving the head. 

Acquired: 

Goblin Head (6)

Hadiin chuckled. “This is why it’s a party quest. No one person alone could carry 16 heads.”

Sword waved them forward. “Let’s go. I’ve done this before. They’re in a cave over here.” 

As they slid through the trees, goblin heads grotesquely in hand, Hadiin questioned the sword user. “The farmer’s wife was taken. Do we rescue her in the quest?”

Sword nodded and shrugged. “Kind of. Depends. If you screw up in the cave at all, they kill her. Sometimes, she’s already been abused and kills herself, even if you rescue her. There’s a very slim chance that you can get her out alive. I don’t know what the condition is though. Seems random. I’ve heard you get a bonus reward if you do successfully rescue her though.”

“What about when she gets back home?” Marian asked. “Does anything happen to her?”

Sword laughed. “Oh yeah. Husband goes on a sick and twisted jealous rampage a few days later. You get another quest to investigate her second disappearance and end up finding her stuffed into a bloody hole under the floorboards, the husband now mad as a hatter. So you end up killing him too.”

Marian looked grim. “Motherfucker.”

Sword agreed. “Yeah, dark storyline. Especially for a green hills area. But I like that they have some of these. I mean, you can only do so many fetch and delivery quests before your brain turns numb, right? It’s good storytelling.”

Marian seemed to get down over the news.

Hadiin wondered if the story was set in stone, or if it was possible to tinker with it. 

They came across two guards outside the cave. The archer shot one and drew the pair closer, where Marian flamed them both before the other two chopped them down, finishing the ugly creatures off. 

Marian began to walk towards the cave when Sword held her back. 

“Wait,” he told her.

Sure enough, four more goblins came pouring out to meet them. They, too, died in short order. 

Acquired: 

Goblin Head (6)

Piling the twelve heads they’d taken so far just inside the cave entrance, they delved into the dark. 

Archer pulled a torch out and lit it. 

“Ooh,” Marian cooed. “Smart.”

“Thanks!” he replied. “Helps that we have someone who’s done this quest before.”

The cave was narrow and dank and the ceiling low enough that they all had to bend over; it would make fighting difficult. It started out with somewhat smooth sides and remains in a corner indicated that it had once been home to a bear. But the goblins had obviously excavated deeper into the hill they were now under and the walls around them were rough and the dirt and clay damp. 

“This is not terribly safe,” Hadiin observed, watching a clump of soil drop from the ceiling. Hopefully, cave ins were not part of the storyline. 

The light of the torch fire, guided them to a rough door made from torn planks, probably scavanged from some farmer’s fence or barn. 

Sword patted them into a crouch and spoke in a whisper. “They’re just beyond here. Another six. Two are with the wife, so we have to go straight for those first while trying not to get overwhelmed.” He pointed to himself and Marian and Archer. “I’ll tank the initial rush of four while you two attack from behind me. Do it fast because I don’t have much HP. I’m going for a DPS build.” He pointed to Axe and Hadiin. “You two go for the wife. You’ve got to save her before they cut her throat.”

Marian laid a hand on Hadiin. “And don’t forget: she tries to kill herself. You have to stop her.”

Hadiin nodded. “Of course.” 

Marian nodded, serious. It seemed that the quest was personal for her. 

They set up in front of the door. When all were ready, Sword flung the portal open and everyone charged inside. 

The nest was a cramped space, the ceiling still no more than a meter and a half high. A firepit burned brightly in the center, a small hole in the ceiling allowing smoke to escape. The place stunk of feces and sweat and rotten food. All kinds of disgusting detritus lay on the ground, from moldy intestines to brown apple cores to a human head. A hole in the ground circled by flies was best not explored or even approached. 

The farmer’s wife, her pale blue dress torn and muddy, was pinned to the floor of a cage made of branches. One goblin held her wrists and grinned, while another was positioning himself between her legs and cackling. 

Four goblins sitting around the fire immediately jumped up in surprise at the intrusion. Knives and swords were within reach and they instantly armed themselves. 

Sword wasted no time, barreling into the four and swinging hard, knocking the first two aside. An arrow appeared in the chest of one. Flames made the cave as bright as day. 

Axe burst towards the cage.

Hadiin dashed forward, hot on Axe’s heals.