An Angry Boss

"You bastards! You'll pay for this!" Terry? roared with fury, sprinting across the courtyard at you, the soft ding of another level up lost beneath his declaration.

"I'm three times stronger after killing all those shitty goblins, and now you're 100% more dead!" He challenged as he swung one of his two swords, the edge catching your cheek as you dove to the side.

Deciding that discretion was the better form of valor, you stumbled across the ground, trying to get away from the raging warrior.

You felt his sword slice open your back, but that only spurned you on harder as you made a beeline for the crossbow wielding goblin, grabbing him as you ran by. Already you could feel him wriggling to get free.

You started for the alley to leave, but the rapid footsteps coming up on you dispelled that notion.

"I need to be able to dodge, that alley is way too tight, and if he's faster than me, then he'll just run me down!" You panicked, looking around for the answer.

Not having a good one, you decided to improvise. "Sorry about this." You apologized in advance as you used what meager strength you had to hurl the tiny goblin towards the rooftops, hoping that at least having someone peppering the warrior at range would distract him.

The goblin flipped in the air once before grabbing onto the gutter with one clawed hand, a glare visible in his eyes as he hoisted himself up, already cocking his cross bow as the warrior charged again.

As if by some sense, you twisted to the side, Terry's blade narrowly catching a few hairs as you ran away agin, the warrior in hot pursuit. A second attack came as you held up your short sword, hoping to defend but even one of his blades knocked your guard aside, and sent you stumbling as he started to bring the other one down.

Salvation came in the form of a makeshift bolt, which he parried away, but the momentary distraction allowed you to escape again, your breaths coming in quick pants.

"There's no way, I barely managed to kill 2 of those adventurers, and that was with all the luck in the world, if they can just get strong as quick as me, then how could I ever survive in this world? IT's just not fair!" You cried out as Terry paused, a glare and clenched teeth revealing his fury.

"Not fair? It's just not fair?! Tony and Myra are dead because you, and you're saying that's not fair! We're only playing this stupid game for fun, but who'd have fun getting killed during the fucking tutorial mission!?" Terry roared, his sword coming down like the hammer of justice.

You didn't even try to dodge, so paralyzed by fear, but once more, hope came in form of a tiny goblin as as bolt sunk into Terry's back, but t looked different, less put together, and more uniform.

"Game? This a game? We real! You kill us like game? You... you... YOU DIE!" The furious leader goblin screeched, not bothering to hide as he nocked a second bolt, firing it directly at Terry's head.

He moved to dodge, but it still left a cut down his cheek, blood slowly oozing from the wound.

The soft clatter of the ammunition striking the ground captured your attention as you looked at the bolt. This one looked different too, less like twigs and feathers stuck together and more like a real crossbow bolt. You wondered if he stole them.

You watched as the warrior took a running jump, barely catching the gutter of the roof as he tried to haul himself up, most likely intending to finish off the goblin who'd done more damage to him than you even dreamed of, or maybe he just had a hateboner for goblins after the swarm had attacked him, who knows, either way it left you alone.

You just sat there, watching him climb onto the rooftops. You knew you should help the goblin, if for no better reason than two fighting this guy was better than one, or you could run away and use the distraction to escape.

But... but.. why did you want to kill this guy, why even as fear clouded your mind, did you focus on the speck of indignation at being compared to a game by him? Maybe you were still remembering the high of kill the other two adventurers, or of finally having some semblance of power, but... you were a thief, and you loved to steal.

"I'm not gonna be satisfied with gold and jewels when I can steal something even better, like power!" You declared, and knew it too be true.

You formed a plan in moments, your focused mind not failing you now as you pushed off the ground, sprinting towards a second-story window with all the speed you had. You jumped, your hands instinctively finding the grooves in the wall, and grabbing the window as you pushed off, grabbing ahold of the gutter as you swung upwards, landing atop the roofs just in time to watch the warrior make the same transition.

You charged ahead, determined not to fail now that you'd had a moment of clarity.

Once more you scooped up the goblin, hefting him up like a sack of flour as you ran.

The goblin tried to get free, but you held tightly as you ran away to the other side of the courtyard roofs before dropping him.

The warrior yelled in anger, charging across the roof tops after you, all the while being targeted by the goblin's crossbow. He was parrying most of the bolts, but you knew what was coming, the instinctive mindset that descended after the first level up, a rush of warmth of power like nothing else, as if you could take on the world.

It was taking a lot longer than you expected, but it was coming nonetheless, the realization that you were still incapable of defeating some opponents.

Not to mention the sheer number of bolts the goblins was sending his way, some were bound to slip through, small scratches and cuts adding up as you waited for him to near before grabbing the goblin, hefting him up once more and sprinting away.

Before the warrior had been able to keep up with you, but you were fighting smart now.

1. The rooftops surrounding the yard were a circle, with no middle, so he had to follow you, rather than cutting you off.
2. You were making good use of your forgotten Feat Flee which let you double your speed.
3. Once the goblin figured out your plan, he started running ahead, allowing him to snipe the warrior from a different angle as he gave chase.

It took an untold amount of time, that felt like hours but was probably no more than ten minutes until the warrior fell to one knee, his body littered with cuts and blood, and more than a few bolts sticking out.

You felt confident enough to approach him, reaching for your sword only to realize you'd forgotten it on the ground,, but no matter, you had a perfectly functional dagger.

You started to stab him, to finish him off but paused...

Sighing, you said, "The first rule of being a thief is knowing when to distribute the loot. Angry goblin, he's yours." You said, shoving the warrior away as the goblin grinned for the first time, a terrifying look with the gnarled teeth as he leapt on to Terry, the warrior quickly vanishing in a soft golden light, leaving behind a glowing crystal in the shape of a sword.