Heroes Without A Plan

As the heroes stared up at the mountains, a shiver ran down their spines. They were inches from the mountains, and the goblins’ base was in view, but it was unsettling.

“How do we do this? What’s the plan?” Eliot asked. His limbs felt as useless as concrete as he stood glued to his spot. Alyssa’s answer didn’t help, as she put it bluntly: just go in.

“Oh God, we’re going to die!” Eliot was on the verge of tears.

With each step they took, they became more and more anxious. The base was immense, and the heroes felt a tingling of discouragement.

“Are you sure we’re ready? We’ve only had a few battles!” Eliot’s voice echoed throughout their walk.

“Lots of people are endangered, unable to defend themselves. So if we can’t go, we might as well help them,” Mike replied to Eliot’s frail demeanor as they approached the gate. “Don’t worry, this is what we trained for...remember?”

A mighty barrier of silver steel surrounded the entire settlement. Agatha wasn’t kidding when she said the goblins were advanced, and the group was amazed, but paralyzed.

Mike took a deep breath before he spoke, “Ready?”

“Yes,” Alyssa replied, her hand clenched tightly to her bow.

“I think so.”

Eliot began to lift the gate with his scepter. It made a loud, shrill noise that was sure to attract the attention of any goblins in the vicinity. The wizard struggled for a moment under the weight of the metal opening but finally succeeded.

Just as they had suspected, two goblins quickly snapped their heads around at the heroes as they entered.

“EHHH!! HYOOMAN!!” screamed the one on the right. It quickly drew its knife as the other left, evidently sounding an alarm.

Mike signaled to the one running and Alyssa quickly obliged, shooting it down with a single arrow.

“GRRR! STUPIAD HUMEEN!” The other yelled, lunging at Mike with its knife. He sidestepped the attack and swung his sword, missing slightly but sending the knife flying.

Alyssa finished off the first with another arrow while Mike sliced through the stomach of the second. Strangely, no other imps had noticed them.

Not knowing what theyshouldbe doing, they continued their massacre. The base was surprisingly empty. The monsters seemed to be gone or busy elsewhere in the base. On their way through the area, they came across three more goblins. They were eating an indescribable ooze from bowls while their clumpy bodies perched on tacky seats.

Alyssa started the fight with an arrow that went straight through a goblin’s head, causing it to fall lifelessly to the ground. One fired a bazooka at Mike, only to be caught in mid-air by Eliot. The goblins shrieked at the mage and came at him with their weapons. Mike leapt forward to block the blade.

Everything flashed in front of the little dragon at once, metal clanging, people screaming, and he winced as a few drops of blood hit his snout, sending Pire recoiling as he tried to get rid of the fluid. It was then that Pire spotted a rat fleeing from the commotion. The dragon, who was only a tot, took off after the curious creature, leaving his heroes in the dust.

As all three beasts drew their last breath, the heroes gave a celebratory cheer, happy to have won another match. Eliot looked back the way they had come, but the way was now deserted.

“Mike...where’s Pire?” All three had their eyes on the path when yet another scare struck. With no idea where the dragon had gone, the heroes had to do some searching.