Oh Yeah, It's All Coming Together

The two stalked their way through the upper floors of the castle, working from the top downwards. They had agreed that sharing points equally would be against their best interests so each goblinoid was first come first serve, with the caveat that they wouldn’t steal each other’s catches.

Violet’s speed allowed her to tag the goblinoids much quicker than John could, though it didn’t go unnoticed that she would avoid the higher-value targets until he had managed to get a good amount of points. He was still ahead of her on the leaderboard but she was catching up.

Their time was mostly silent, with sparse communication. He wanted to press for answers but two things prevented him from doing so. The first was that he felt guilty from his outburst, not only that but he’d tried to Observe her without asking permission. The second reason was that he recognised the signs of social fatigue. ’This sucks, not having answers, but at least I know I can trust her, for now, thanks to Gaia,’ he thought.

You are most welcome. It’s a nice change to have you singing my praises, rather than complaining at me. Keep it up and you might be deserving of a reward.

The upper floors were cleared, and they finally reached the first floor. He let out a sigh and cleared his throat as he turned to his companion. “Hey, so, Violet…” he awkwardly started, trying to ease into a conversation.

Unfortunately, it seemed to have the opposite effect; Violet flinched, stopped in her tracks, and stiffened. It took a moment or two until she began to loosen up again, and just as she opened her mouth and started to speak, she was interrupted by a rhythmic chant and the sound of drums, seemingly coming from all directions, then it all abruptly stopped.

Warchief Kor’thak has entered the palace!

Kor’thak has a 50-point bounty. Capturing the Warchief will conclude the game. All participants have been notified of his arrival. Good luck.

The two looked at each other. “Guess we should skip this floor and head straight downstairs then,” John suggested, earning a nod from Violet.

The ground floor was oddly quiet. The two stalked their way through the palace towards the entrance before noticing the throne room. The two dashed over to a wooden pillar to obfuscate themselves from anyone inside.

Looking into the throne room, goblinoids lined the walls, all kneeling down before a large figure. It had many characteristics that you’d expect when you think of an orc: maybe two and a half metres when standing, muscled, large square jaw with tusk-like teeth, and hair covering the arms, chest, and stomach.

There were several things that stood out as being more unique than the typical orc John saw in video games, however: light brown skin, though muscled he was less bodybuilder and more all-round muscular, making the figure less hulking and more athletic in build, and finally similarly to the other goblinoids he’d seen in the barrier, this orc had a bat-like nose.

John looked at Violet, before using Observe on the orc.

Observe Information Shared with the Party.

John felt a twinge of annoyance as the notification indicated that Ellie and Robin would be aware he’d found the boss already. Shaking his head he read through the information.

Name: Warchief Kor’Thak

Family: Goblinoid | Branch: Ahged Orc
Size: 247 cm | Weight: 135kg | Sex: M
Level: 25 | Points: 50

Creature Description:

In Ahged Orc society, females are bigger and stronger than males and thus are the dominant gender. This has had a domino effect on how the species operates.

At the top is the Shaman Queen, and under her is a council of advisers, mostly comprised of females who have been given leadership positions, though it is not uncommon for males who have proven themselves to be welcomed to the table.

Ahged Orcs are deeply religious and worship the goddess Mol-uk. The teachings of this goddess has had an effect that gives outsiders a favourable opinion of the Ahged Orcs. Honour is a cornerstone of the belief, which means not only are the Ahged Orcs able to be reasoned with during their raids, but unlike other orc invasions, it means those unable to fight are not fearful of being killed or ****.

Females within the clan or tribe will often gift others with something sexual in nature, be that being whispered sweet nothings, flashing or even a sexual act. Being offered a gift from one of the female advisers is seen as a great honour and being gifted by the Shaman Queen herself is the greatest gift you could be bestowed.

Despite their strict honourable code, a fight with an Ahged Orc is typically a brutal one, more so if you show signs of unhonourable fighting methods.

’This might not be as bad as it seems? On one hand, it says they’re willing to talk so that means we can negotiate; on the other hand, it does essentially have a warning about fighting them and it’s a really high level… Maybe it would be best to work together? Especially since it has a small army backing it up…’ John thought.

“Damn, you were a big boy,” Robin muttered after tagging the ear of a bugbear, “I hope the others didn’t find any of you, and if they did, I hope they either ran or found some way to take care of you quickly, cos man that was a struggle, especially being unable to fight back.”

He collapsed onto his ass and ripped the bottom half of his hoodie sleeve off, not wanting it to become a hindrance after being almost completely cut off in the first place.

His watch opened up and out poured a few supplies: wound spray, magical stitches and three large self-adhesive wound dressings. He started with the worst of his wounds. The bugbear’s blade had cut quite deeply into his arm; he’d stopped the bleeding during the fight earlier on but the wound itself was still open.

He winced as he sprayed the inside of the cut, cleaning it of blood and any contaminants. Luckily it didn’t seem deep enough to cut through ligaments or tendons. He placed the stitch patch on his arm and could feel the skin being pulled tight. Once it had finished he placed a dressing patch over it to protect against any more dirt or bacteria.

His other wounds weren’t nearly as bad. The gash on his arm was due to being caught unaware and the others were only glancing cuts. Again for the others, he couldn’t help taking a sharp breath after spraying them and once cleaned he patched them up nicely.

“Better keep an eye out from now on, though, don’t wanna get jumped from behind again,” Robin huffed before a notification entered his field of view.

Warchief Kor’thak has entered the palace!

Kor’thak has a 50-point bounty. Capturing the Warchief will conclude the game. All participants have been notified of his arrival. Good luck.

He stood and stretched. “Guess it’s time to go looking for secret passages to get into the palace; I think the hatch in the dungeon guard room might be a good place to start,” Robin said walking back in the direction he’d come from.

Ellie finally reached the palace once again. The large greenhouse attached to the back of the building reminded her of an indoor garden nursery. It was warm and humid and contained an earthy smell that was almost strong enough that she could taste it.

Looking up at the roof, it was the first time she’d seen anything resembling glass in the barrier.

The greenhouse was the size of a small warehouse with rows and tables holding raised beds. There were lots of different plants, some of which Ellie knew, others she didn’t, but as she used [Observe] on the plants, she learned they were all vegetables, fruits, spices, or herbs meant for cooking.

She had picked one or two fresh fruits and vegetables as she passed to taste but didn’t see the point of harvesting a large quantity to take with her. However, she had found several seed packs under the planting benches and put them away.

While searching around, she noticed that none of the goblinoids had found their way into the greenhouse, which she felt a little relieved about; it would have been a shame for them to ruin such a nice place.

As she walked to the other side of the greenhouse, she noticed something. It seemed like a beehive, but as she looked at it, there were no bees coming from or going into it. In fact, the whole greenhouse seemed to be devoid of any kind of insects.

She moved over and furrowed her brow as she stared. “So there are two possibilities, the bees are all asleep and that’s why they’re not coming out, or it’s meant to just look like a beehive. There’s no beekeeping equipment near it; I’d have assumed that a bee suit and smoker would be close by if it really was a beehive. And even if someone could use their magic to do the same thing, it just seems irresponsible to not have those things around just in case…” Ellie pondered.

She walked up to the box and slowly got closer trying to listen, on the off chance her hunch was wrong. Not hearing anything, she slowly and carefully lifted the lid. She raised an eyebrow. Inside was a door handle attached to the bottom of the box, and a glowing shimmering book. She picked up the book and thumbed through it, finding that it was just a logbook of the harvest for the greenhouse.

Secret Discovered: Pantry tunnel latch
Reward: Greenhouse key upgrade, +10 Points

She smiled seeing the extra points, though wasn’t sure what upgrade could have been made to her greenhouse. She waved the window away and reached into the box, gripping the handle and turning it. Nothing in the box moved but she heard a mechanical click from behind her.

Turning around a seamless hidden door had opened up against the palace wall. She walked over and opened it to find a dark tunnel. “Guess this heads into the palace?” she thought out loud.

Warchief Kor’thak has entered the palace!

Kor’thak has a 50-point bounty. Capturing the Warchief will conclude the game. All participants have been notified of his arrival. Good luck.

“And I just happened to find a convenient entrance into the palace, coincidence? Or did I reach a checkpoint or something?” Ellie asked herself, walking through the doorway and heading in quickly.

“Aw man, you beat me here,” Robin grumbled from behind John, causing him to jump.

“Don’t either of you two even think about it, I’m taking that orc myself,” Ellie stated quietly, as she appeared from the other side of the hallway.

“I don’t think so,” John said in a hushed tone. “We’re gonna have to work together on this one. There are too many goblinoids and that orc is really strong, how do you even think you’d be able to tag it alone? Anyway, the four of us will have to take out as many goblinoids as possible, then we can figure out how to take the orc and who’d get the points.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about the fourth player. It’s Cynthia, right? Where is she?” Ellie asked.

“What? No, it’s not Cyn. It’s a long story, so I’ll catch you up later but she’s right he-” John cut himself off as he turned to motion in her direction only to find the spot she had previously occupied empty.

Just then the throne room erupted in sound. The three looked inside to see Violet casually walking into the room, stopping shy of the throne.

“Hello there, I hope I’m not interrupting anything. I have a proposition for you,” she proclaimed loud and confidently.

The orc sat up straight and looked down at the armoured woman, flexing slightly to seem more imposing. “Yeah? And what would that be?” His voice was gravelly though it lacked the confidence Violet had.

John was unable to see, but he could just feel the predatory grin she donned after the orc had spoken; it was like he’d stepped right into her trap and she had him right where she wanted him.

Without asking, she walked up the steps leading to the throne, and leaned into the orc, his face clear over Violet's shoulder. First, he seemed confused, then intrigued, then his face turned beet red and a goofy smile appeared. She moved back and the orc nodded.

Violet produced the tagger and clipped the orc's ear with no problem at all and then he vanished. The room erupted once again in panic and confusion before the rest of the goblinoids joined the orc and vanished leaving only Violet, who turned to face the others and sat on the throne, crossing her legs.

Barrier Objective Complete!

“Who’s that?” Robin and Ellie echoed.

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