Amongst All Other Worlds, Why Did It Choose Such A Clichéd Setting?

Kael diligently led the way deeper into the forest, carefully keeping an eye out for signs of a goblin scouting party. Inari was close beside him, also keeping watch while crosschecking her notes from earlier. The rest of us followed in a line, with Drogan in front, then Lyra and myself near the back. Further behind us was Bandit’s group, keeping a steady distance so as not to intervene unless absolutely necessary.

Eventually, Kael and Inari came to a stop behind some bushes, and motioned for us to do the same. Slowly, the rest of us crept up to join them at their vantage position.

We had arrived. The goblin encampment!

Carefully looking out into the clearing, I could see a group of goblins gathered around various primitive structures. Standing approximately three and a half feet tall, there were around fourteen in total, with most of them lightly spread-out between two campfire-like bases. Their greenish, greyish skin was sickening to look at. They wore tattered loin cloths that have clearly seen better days, and that was the modest ones! Several of the goblins wore nothing at all, leaving all of their… Gah, what the hell Jake!

In their arms, most were holding crude, poorly put together, stone axes, maces, and wooden clubs. A few of the goblins even had metal daggers and short-swords. Those, I imagined, were from unfortunate adventurers or merchants who had lost their belongings to their evil antics and brutality.

Looking further into their appearance, some of the goblins even dawned robes, almost if they were a spell caster! A matching “stick” serving as the staff completed their set. However, I doubted the authenticity of a goblin sorcerer and ignored them.

“Everyone, here’s the plan. First, Drogan and I are going to charge in and hit the ones at the first camp. Kael and Lyra, I would like both of you to shoot arrows and “Fire Bolts!” towards the second camp. Inari, cast “Heal!” on us, if we take any damage. Then, we clean up any of the stragglers. Alrighty then, on the count of one… two…”

“Jake, wait!”

Inari desperately whispered to the group. Seriously? We were just about to start killing goblins and you stopped me during the count? What the heck!

“What is it Inari, we were just about to attack them!”

“That’s exactly the point Jake, look! Over by the cliff face.”

Inari pointed her finger towards the cliff face and I followed its direction. Lying down on the dirt, was a Hobgoblin! You could just make out it’s figure from this distance. I missed it during my earlier examination because four goblins had been dancing in front of it from my angle.

I had a blind spot.

“Oh, good eyes Inari, thank you for pointing out that Hobgoblin, I wasn’t expecting there to be one because the quest didn’t mention them. But don’t worry, I woulda been able to take care of it no problem when it joined the fight!”

“Jake, we should fully scout the area first before charging in! I don’t think we have enough information yet. A frontal assault could lead to danger if we aren’t careful and miss an enemy when we attack!”

“That’s what the healers for Inari, your job is to heal us when that happens!”

Seriously, what did she think she was telling me? I’ve gone through extensive adventurer training, have amazing stats, AND have killed plenty of goblins before without issue! Yet here she was, talking to me like I was an idiot.

“Stop and think first Jake, I know you’re excited, but rushing can lead to mistakes, and sometimes, those mistakes are fatal. I think we should gather more information first, like having Kael scout using the Ranger spell “Bird’s Eye” so we can get an accurate assessment from goblins we might not be able to see. Also, before we attack, I should cast “Bolster Strength” so that we have an advantage. Kael and Lyra should additionally pre-cast their magics and arrows on designated targets to eliminate the difficult ones first an—”

“That’s too detailed Inari! We just have to go in there and kill them. It’s, that, simple!”

Almost as if he knew it was the right time to intervene, Bandit approached us from behind and put his hand on my shoulder. I was startled by the sudden, unexpected contact, but even more startled by what he said.

“Jakey boy, you should listen to the girl ya? Everything Inari said is good advice. I’ve lost many a comrade from actin rash and charging in before knowing everything about their target. Give her advice a chance, will ya? If you had charged in like ya was first mentionin, I woulda stopped you before as well, ya hear?”

Hearing Bandit’s words hurt me a little. I thought I was an amazing adventurer and leader. These were ONLY goblins, and he was even taking the side of my temporary party member. He wouldn’t have needed to even intervene because my group would have been fine, despite a few extra “unaccounted-for” goblins joining the fray!

But as I stayed there, silent, thinking over everything again, I had to admit to myself.

I was wrong.

Inari was right, I should have examined the situation more carefully and utilized my party better. Kael is a ranger, experts in tracking and spotting enemies, yet I tried to do that role myself. Drogan is a frontliner, and I assigned him to the same camp I was at, leaving a whole group of goblins with mobility freedom to potentially flank us in a counter attack.

If Bandit hadn’t stopped me, my friends might have been injured, or heaven forbid, killed. As the leader, I had to be more responsible, and couldn’t let my emotions get in the way!

“Alright then.” I said with a confident, new resolution.

“Kael, could you please cast your “Bird’s Eye” spell and scout the surrounding area? If we missed a hobgoblin lying down, there might also be others in bushes nearby or hiding behind the encampment.”

“Well of course Jake, I guess there are somethings even you require my assistance with? I’ll make sure to show you how an expert scouts the enemy!”

“World, connect my eyes to the skies above, grant them the sight of birds up high, Bird’s Eye!”

As soon as Kael finished his casting, his eyes began glowing in a green light. All emotion had left his face as his vision was granted the ability to look at everything from the sky! While I’ve never been able to cast this spell, I could only imagine how disorienting it would be. As I was watching Kael, Inari had pulled out her journal and opened it.

Looking at the page in detail, it was a rough map of the goblin encampment! But what was the purpose of this? As I was wondering about the map, Kael canceled his spell and was ready to report. However, before he could say anything, Inari spoke first.

“Great job Kael! Did you see any extra goblins? How many did you count? Also, take a look at this map, could you mark the positions of where you saw any extras?”

So that’s why she had the map drawn. Now that she mentioned it, looking closer, I could see little “x” marks that roughly matched the current positions of the goblins in front of us! With this, we had a much better general idea of their placement, and could add in even more markings if needed.

Begrudgingly, Kael filled in four more “x” marks on the map. He was probably acting this way because Inari was a beastkin, but we at least had some more information. The extra goblins were around the cliff face, out of our line of sight. But that wasn’t the only interesting piece of information!

During Kael’s report, he had mentioned that there was only the one hobgoblin. However, hidden amongst the tree canopy, was a goblin lookout platform! From Kael’s description, there were three goblins up top, armed with short-bows, and one goblin below, but this one had a mage’s staff. If we had charged in with the previous plan, our entire left-hand side would have been exposed to arrows and potential sorcerer magic! Further compounding on this problem, was the fact all the individuals exposed were our weak caster types! Lyra had very low defence and health, Kael wasn’t any better, and I could only imagine Inari’s stats were low as well.

Things could have gone horrible at the beginning of the encounter, and I wouldn’t have realized until it was too late. So, finally admitting to myself my errors, I decided to let Inari explain how she would tackle this situation.

“I’m sorry Inari, but you were right. I apologise for not listening to you earlier. I was too eager to fight the goblins that I almost put my friends in danger. Could you please offer me your advice on how you would attack the goblin encampment?”

Inari’s ears perked up and he tail began wagging excitedly back and forth, she was clearly happy at my apology and request for advice.

“Why of course Jake! Oh, and I’ll keep the explanations short as well. I think we finally have all the information we need. So, here’s what I would do, I woul---”

Essentially, Inari’s plan was one of an ambush. Before starting the encounter, Inari would buff Kael, Drogan, and myself with “Bolster Strength”, then we would wait for Kael and Lyra to ready their attacks. Their aim, would be focused on that goblin scouting platform. Lyra was to shoot a fireball, not at the goblins, but the platform itself. The theory was the impact from the blast would crumble their foothold and send them plummeting to their death. While a human could probably survive a fall from over 20ft with injuries, that distance was much more fatal for a small creature such as a goblin. If they happened to survive, the residual flames and burning wood would finish them off.

Kael’s target during all of this, was to take out the goblin caster with one clean shot. However, Inari specifically mentioned to target a rather different area than I was expecting. While I would have expected Kael to shoot the goblin in the head, Inari suggested firing the arrow at the throat of the goblin. She predicted that since Kael was a skilled ranger, he would be able to skillfully hit his mark. As for the throat? If the goblin was a spell caster, it would be rendered unable to cast any defensive spells or heal spells since it could no longer articulate words to complete a casting. While a headshot seemed correct, if it failed to kill the goblin in one hit, then it could potentially recover using it’s magic, wasting the attack opportunity from us.

Finally, Inari’s last suggestion, was for her to cast an earth magic spell called “Unstable Ground” around the hobgoblin’s area. This spell would make it difficult for them to reach us so Drogan and I could get into position quickly and finish off the first camp before the second one could even join.

“Aright everyone, are you ready?”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Perfect, Kael, Lyra, get into positions, Inari, start buffing us now please!”

“Of course Jake!”

“World, gather round my call and tip the scales to my favour, give me power to strike my foes, Bolster Strength!"

I felt an incredible surge of energy! While I had already drawn my sword in anticipation of the attack signal, it now felt considerably lighter. I also noticed my muscles were bulging, larger than usual. This sensation made me feel confident I could cleave a solid tree in half! What an amazing spell!

I looked over, Kael and Lyra were now in position. My excitement rose and my blood started to boil. We were finally about to attack the goblins!

“World, bring forth fire to my palms, form it's shape and send it far, Fire Bolt!"

In an instant, a sphere of fire roughly the size of a goblin itself, flashed, and launched itself towards their unsuspecting wooden lookout. At the same moment, Kael’s arrow expertly left his bow and firmly planted itself in it’s new home, directly embedded into the goblins neck!

The goblins on the lookout platform reacted to the arrow, but then turned around to see a massive ball of fire heading straight towards them! Some attempted to jump off the platform, but it was too late.

*Snap**Crash**Boom*

The fire bolt’s collision was so fierce, it sent flaming wooden splinters in every possible direction. For a moment, I had thought the trees had caught fire as well, but the flames in the canopy seemingly vanished without a trace. Goblin arms and legs gleefully took flight at their new found independence, having been freed from the confines of their owner’s torso. Flesh burned, and the goblin rangers still living, could be heard screaming in pure agony as their skin boiled and contorted under the flames destructive power. Then, without missing her opportunity, Inari cast her spell.

"Terra, heed my words and change thy form, turn earth below to tricky terrain, Unstable Ground!"

The goblins who had once been peacefully dancing and enjoying their mini party, were caught completely off guard at their comrade’s screams. They desperately scrambled to grab their weapons, but were unable to make progress. Many of them fell flat on the ground and flailed around trying to find any stable footing. The hobgoblin was also noticeably struggling and began roaring in anger at the inconvenience. Now was mine, and Drogan’s chance!

Quickly, we leapt into the fray. I was waiting the whole day for this moment and happily began my assault. I locked eyes with my first target, a bewildered goblin holding a wooden club. With a jump and a twirl, I efficiently spun around using my bodies momentum and rotational torsion, to land a clean hit to it’s neckline.

*Shreen!*

My steel short-blade effortlessly sliced through the goblins flesh and bone to cleanly decapitate the being. The head flew off the body wearing a face of confusion and anguish, then landed with a satisfying *splat* noise. Next, I prepared my signature move, a rushing “Fire Bolt!” for the goblins near the headless body. There were four goblins roughly sixteen feet away, and ready to smash my face in with their crude axes and maces.

Behind me, Drogan was keeping pace, but still several steps away. After all, he was wearing heavy plate armor which severely limited his mobility. With my next move, I would create an opening for his entrance!

Lunging forward I started saying the incantation for the “Fire Bolt!” spell, my next target was now only six feet away, the perfect distance for my combo move.

"World, bring forth fire to my palms, form it's shape and send it far, Fire Bolt!"

I had skilfully timed the completion of the chant so my left hand was directly in front of the goblin’s face! Flames fiercely erupted from the palm and incinerated it’s ugly mug, restyling it into a more appropriate design of blackened, charred bones. While clearly dead, the force of impact sent it’s lifeless body hurling backwards into two of it’s comrades, knocking them prone onto the hard ground.

Finally, I twisted my blade, and stabbed the last standing goblin through the left side of it’s muddy, green chest. My blade easily pierced the flesh and tore the goblins heart to shreds. To free the blade from the goblin’s body, I yanked it roughly towards it’s left-arm socket, where the steel blade effortlessly separated arm from body. It collapsed to the ground, with blood and lungs happily oozing out to stain the soil a new dingy reddish colour.

Taking advantage of my opening, Drogan readied his twin shields and smashed each of them into the two prone goblin’s faces.

“RAWAAAA” He yelled.

*Crunch**Gussshh!*

The goblin faces were no more. Crushed and flattened beyond all recognition. Bits of their skulls and brain matter combined to form a sharp, gooey syrup following the satisfying sound of their heads collapsing into nothing.

“GAH!”

I heard a goblin scream uncomfortably close to my face.

Fuck, I got distracted, a goblin had quickly managed to close it’s distance to me and leapt high into the air. It’s massive mace aiming for my undefended head. Shit! I wouldn’t be able to react in time, I couldn’t dodge the incoming strike in anyway no matter how hard I thought.

As I braced for the inevitable impact, a soft, blue and translucent bubble materialized in the space between the goblin’s mace and my head. Taking the full brunt of the blow, the magical barrier seemed unfazed by the brief encounter, then disappeared moments later. The goblin, now confused and vulnerable in the air, panicked as it’s surprise attack had failed.

*Shreen*

I quickly slashed my sword upwards. And, to my surprise, cleaved the being into two, separate pieces.

Flesh, blood, and intestines assaulted my face with an unpleasant warm feeling as they collided and slide down onto my leather armor. I gaged slightly at the sensation, but quickly resolved myself for more combat.

Roughly 30 seconds had passed since our encounter began. I glanced around the battlefield to assess the situation. Kael and Lyra had already begun preparing their next attacks, Drogan had regained his footing, and Inari was just… Standing there? Seriously, at least make it look like you’re helping or something!

Well, I guess none of us had taken any damage, so she technically had nothing to do. Healers really did have it easy during these sorts of things, ya know?

Anyways, all that remained to be eliminated, was the roughly seven goblins and single hobgoblin near the cliff’s wall.

The goblins at the second campsite, having finally found their footing from Inari’s spell, quickly gathered their weapons, and began menacingly charging towards Drogan and I. The hobgoblin was still flailing around, yelling furiously. It was angerly clawing at it’s eyes. Probably some sort of coping behaviour for it’s failure in joining the fray I thought.

Intercepting their rush, Drogan expertly maneuvered his short body to take the blow from four of the goblins at once!

“Iron, Wall!” He shouted with all his might!

*Clang**Kerdunk*

“Raaaa! GAH!”

The goblins wailed as their attacks were completely absorbed by Drogan’s twin shield defensive technique! Next, with all his might, he launched all four of them backwards with an impressive shove of his shields. While some of them were still in the air, I saw two arrows find their marks, straight inside the eye sockets of the unsuspecting goblins. I had to admit, Kael did have some skill with that bow of his!

Seizing the opportunity, I quickly casted a “Fire Bolt!” at the goblins. I finished my chanting just as they landed on the ground.

*Whashnnt**Boom!*

Fire exploded and incinerated their bodies, reducing them to nothing more than a pile of smoldering ash. Mentally, I made note that this was my 2nd spell cast, so I would potentially feel exhausted if I cast another “Fire Bolt!”.

Next, I saw what appeared to be more fire bolts heading towards the remaining goblins, but there was something unquestionable different about these ones. Whereas I expected them to quickly accelerate and explode on impact, these fire bolts, appeared to be homing in on their respective targets, floating at what I could only describe as a “ghostly” pace. When these mysterious flames reached their target, they entered the equally surprised goblin’s chest cavity and disappeared.

But then,

*Frooth*

Intense heat and flames erupted from inside the goblins, immolating their bodies, completely covering them in a purply, red and orange like fire. They screamed for but a brief moment in agony, clutching their hands to their faces, before crumpling over onto themselves, dead.

I looked behind me to try and find the cause of these abnormal fire bolts, and saw Inari, pointing her wooden staff towards our direction. Perhaps she was the caster of this interesting spell? Regardless, I had to admit, I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of an attack like that! Perhaps she was useful after all…

Finally, all that remained was the still struggling hobgoblin. As if motivated by the dying cries of it’s burnt comrades, it sprang to it’s feet, grabbing a nearby, massive, wooden club.

“RAGH!!!!!!!!!”

It let out an earth-shattering roar! My head hurt and reeled from the disorienting verbal assault. While my eardrums didn’t burst, they certainly felt like they did under the intense pressure wave they received!

Inari’s “Unstable Earth” spell appeared to have run its course, and with incredible swiftness, the hobgoblin quickly closed the 30ft gap between Drogan and myself. Then, with incredible force, it swung the wooded club downwards towards us.

“Jake, watch out!”

Drogan intercepted the attack with both his shields. He grunted, but managed to hold his ground as the shockwaves from the attack echoed throughout his body. If that attack had connected with me, I would surely be reduced to a spattering pulp of gore and bones! Boy was I sure glad to have my “Impenetrable Fortress” of a friend helping me out!

The hobgloblin was clearly pissed it’s attack had been so efficiently defeated. Being this close to it, I saw it’s eyes were bloodshot red, irritated, with a slight black, foggy haze. It’s breath stunk of rotting food as it exhaled in frustration at Drogan.

As I was trying to get over the horrible smell, an arrow lodged itself into the right shoulder blade of the hobgoblin. Moments later, it exploded in a fury of ice and crystal fragments! This must have been a combination attack from Lyra and Kael. Surrounding the imbedded arrow, was now a tight, clump of ice. The hobgoblin screamed in pain, dropping the wooden club to the ground. The ice was in such a place, that it disabled the mobility of the arm all together! What a smart use of arrows and magic I thought.

Making the most of this opportunity, I rushed in for the kill, short-sword at the ready. The dazed creature swung it’s left arm at me. Using my reflexes, I twisted my torse to slide right under the bulky arm. Utilizing my momentum, I repositioned myself with a cool looking slide to appear right behind the hobgoblin.

Then, with all my might, I leapt high into the air and gripped my sword tightly with both-hands, angling the blade’s point downwards for a stab. My target? The exposed, hobgoblins neck!

Using gravity and my bodies weight to amplify the force, I tensed my muscles and thrust the sword as hard as I could, straight into the fleshy neckline.

My blade struggled slightly as it nicked and got caught on some of the creature’s spine during my thrust. The bones of hobgoblins were rather thick for a monster, and finding the gap between vertebra was tricky for even experienced swordsmen for a maneuver like this. Compensating for my error, I added more strength and pushed the blade clean through!

Emerging from the other end of the hobgoblin’s throat, was an explosion of blood and steel. My blade had successfully pieced the creatures throat from behind. The monster gargled and gurgled as it tried to form words but couldn’t.

Blood continued gushing out in pressurized streams as my body landed onto the back of the hobgoblin, slamming it down onto the dirty, blood-soaked soil. With the last bits of it strength, it tried to raise it’s left arm forward in a crawling motion. Blood, bubbly and frothy, poured out of it’s mouth as it desperately tried to reach for anything to help it from this situation. Then finally, the creature came to a stop. It’s body ley limp as blood happily began pooling around its chest and facial areas.

Leaving my sword still lodged in the hobgoblin’s neck, I raised my right hand to my face, wiping some of the blood, sweat, and dirty from my forehead. Then I triumphantly raised my arms into the air and shouted at the top of my lungs.

“RAAAAAA! WE DID IT!!!!”

The goblins were dead. The whole encounter lasted several minutes at most, but felt like an eternity as we bravely fought them with all our strength.

In the distance, Kael, Lyra, and Inari starting heading over to where Drogan and I were standing. Before us, lay a menagerie of blood, gore, and burning flesh, with goblin limbs scattered every conceivable direction. Once we were all here, we celebrated our first success in battle as a party!

Kael smugly readjusted his glasses, Lyra huffed while twirling her hair, while Drogan was trying to calm his nerves and avoid puking at the scene. Now that I thought about it, this was technically his first battle against goblins. For his first time, he acted phenomenally in his role as a frontline defender! Bandit and crew began approaching us as well. Well, Bandit and Garrick at least. I couldn’t quite find Slick, but could only assume he was checking the surrounds to make sure we hadn’t missed any goblin stragglers! I was super excited and already began wondering about the praise they were going to shower me in for being such an amazing leader!

Looking towards Inari, I could see she had a happy expression across her face, she was smiling and congratulating all of us on a job well done! Her emerald eyes glistened in the sunlight while her whiskers twitched with laughter.

Amazing, I thought to myself. Crimson Steel Lux had just successfully completed their first ever request! I felt unstoppable, as I’m sure all my friends did as well. We all sighed and chuckled, relieved at the new found, relaxing atmosphere. Now, came the best part after any successful battle.

Looting!

Wearing a grin way too large for my face, I gleefully turned towards the goblin corpses at my feet. Finally, I would be able to take the spoils of war and have some extra pocket change! My mind was already thinking about the food I would buy back at the Solara’s Adventurer’s Branch. I also thought a new pair of gloves would do me rather nicely as well! And so, I walked over to the hobgoblins corpse and bent overtop of it to inspect its belongings. Then, as I began reaching towards the body---

Everything went black.