Goblin Relocation

Things were busy in the goblin’s soon to be former abode. A frenetic energy filled the air of their temporary home as they gathered up their meager possessions and waited near the barrier’s entrance.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Verida asked Teri as she rubbed her forehead for the fourth time since they had arrived.

“Emotions are high,” the empath answered. “It’s a better mix than the worst I’ve experienced but a classical symphony played for hours at full blast is still as grating as fireworks. Even drawing in on myself doesn’t completely tune it out.”

“I can imagine that would be draining,” the goddess said, moving a hand to her chin. Through the din of anxiousness and elation around her, Teri could feel two distinct emotional sources ring out from the goddess. One a sharp and clear mixture of curiosity and concern and the other a muted timid thing tinged with nervousness.

‘I didn’t pay attention to how Verida and Kiera’s emotions interacted before,’ Teri thought as she tried to guess their conversation from how their emotions shifted. It wasn’t an easy task. People’s thoughts and words didn’t always betray what was being felt. Kiera always felt nervous at some level, a trait that left her feeling pity towards the bluenette. That constant signal made picking up less prominent emotions harder, and that was before factoring in that Verida’s emotions overshadowed hers when Kiera’s transformed into her and surrendered control.

‘It’s different than sensing Senka’s emotions when she’s unmanifested,’ Teri concluded. ‘She feels more like she is just slightly further away than John is. This is more like if Kiera was trying to talk through a pillow or something.’

Verida’s emotions shifted, happiness becoming the dominant sensation, and she turned her head to look at Teri.

“Apologies, I was talking with Kiera,” the goddess said. “Your issue with overwhelming emotions sounded like something akin to what Kiera has to deal with at times. I was asking her about it and if she had any tips that could help you.”

Teri thought about it for a moment and did have to concede that the shapeshifter’s ability, from what she understood about it, was in some way similar to her own powers. At least in the way it allowed them to perceive more than the average Abyssal could.

“What did she have to say?” Teri asked, tilting her head to one side.

“Kiera’s been dealing with some changes to her powers,” Verida replied. “There’s been an increase in sensitivity and she’s able to pick things up from people she’s become familiar with. Which, since she’s staying with the only people she knows, means she’s been dealing with random bursts of feeling everyone’s auras.”

“And she’s found some way to deal with that?” Teri pressed.

“Somewhat,” Verida admitted. “She’s not sure if her method of focusing inwards on herself to block out unwanted stimuli will work for you. But she’s willing to walk you through her method.”

“I think I’d like to try,” Teri said, picking up a nervous tinged ripple of excitement from Kiera. “Not exactly sure when we’ll get the time for it, but…”

She wasn’t able to continue as Gryit’s voice reached her ears, “Oi, Tsxhel! How long until my hunk…”

The brash female warrior rounded the corner and her voice died when she saw the pair of them. Before she could drop down in reverence, Verida said, “None of that, please. Bowing and scraping is not something I’m comfortable with. I don’t want supplicating worshipers.”

“Well, that’s great, cus I’m not sure if I could keep up that whole pius thing,” Gryit remarked, her posture relaxing, the sudden spike of anxiousness flowing from her bleeding away, revealing excitement and impatience. “So, like I was saying, how long until the hunk shows up?”

“Mason and Cammie,” Teri stressed, her ears twitching in irritation, “will be here in about ten minutes. And please don’t try anything. We want to get to Pruzonia and get the initial settlement down as quickly as possible.”

“Relax, girl, I’ll keep it in my pants,” Gryit said in a tone that did not inspire confidence in Teri. “Come on. Do you really think I’d try anything with Vrexty overseeing everything?”

That was a point Teri had to concede to her brash friend. Elder Vrexty hadn’t been as excited as his two contemporaries over what was very likely their new home and his emotions were more colored by concern and fear. Outwardly, he was being very critical of everyone’s preparations for the move, looming over everybody like some miser and calling out any imperfection or perceived deviation from their assigned task.

“Has he always been like that?” Verida asked.

“Not before we were attacked,” Teri answered. “He was somewhat aloof, but did seem to have the best for the clan in mind whenever he made his opinion known.”

“Then we got attacked and he started getting all paranoid,” Gryit added. “Kept thinking that we were going to get jumped again and had us running every few days. Anytime we’d see something even remotely suspicious, he’d make us bolt. Lost more than a few people that way.”

Sadness, regret and anger boiled out from Gryit and Teri had a hard time not letting those emotions get the better of her. It didn’t do them any good to dwell on those old hurts.

“Well, I can guarantee you won’t have to worry about any attacks,” Verida said. “Or at least, I, and the others, will fight tooth and claw against any that would try to do you harm.”

“Don’t think we warriors will let you lot do all the work,” Gryit declared. “We’ll be right there next to ya. Got to give a good showing that we’re still ready to tussle.”

“While I hope that day won’t come, if it does, we’ll be honored to stand side by side,” Verida remarked.

“That’ll be something to tell the grandkids,” Gryit chuckled.

Teri’s phone then chirped and she looked at the screen. “Mason’s here. Time to get moving.”

“You know, it doesn’t feels like it’s only been a week,” Gryit said. Teri was slightly surprised she didn’t make any suggestive remark about their large human friend. Not that she was going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“It has been an eventful one,” Teri admitted as they began to move towards the entrance. Before they could address the waiting throng of excited goblins, the elders stepped up to them. Bryjt and Tjkon bowed as deeply as they could while Vrexty matched them, something Teri believed was him putting in as little effort as he could without coming off as insulting their patron.

She also noticed that Verida didn’t tell them to not perform such acts of reverence and she wasn’t sure if she should feel as happy as she did that they were being **** to submit to a higher power.

“Honored goddess, Shaman Jhrojlke, I take it the time has arrived?” Bryit spoke for the elders, another sign that Vrexty had lost his sway over the other two.

“Indeed it has, honored elders,” Teri answered. “Our tested allies have arrived with transport.”

“Then we shouldn’t tarry,” Vrexty cut in, his tone terse and emotions far from pleasant.

“Indeed,” Verida spoke. “It would not do to have you establish your first settlement, temporary as it may be, while the sun sets.”

“Then let’s get a move on,” Tjkon said, sounding the most eager of the three, his emotions matching his tone. Teri couldn’t keep from smiling. It was good to see at least one of the elders looking forward to properly settling down.

A moment later, Mason’s large form appeared in the building’s entryway, and a wave of excitement washed over Teri. Deciding to give Kiera’s advice a quick test, she tried to focus inwards, but the continuing surge of emotions were too hard to block.

‘I can work on that later,’ the shaman thought as she abandoned the attempt. ‘And if it’s good emotions, I think I can handle the loudness for a while longer.’

Teri had informed them that it would be for the best if her people handled the bulk of the work setting up their base camp but that didn’t mean John and the girls couldn’t help. Vivian elected to man a food table, putting together meals from food Mason and Cammie provided, while Beth and Aeolia were ready to help with any physical task that needed help with.

He and Senka stood off to the side of the main area as per Teri’s instructions. Apparently, it was a bit taboo for him, as the effective leader of their group, to be directly involved in setting anything up. It was somewhat okay that his money had gone into things like the tents the goblins were now working to build or reimbursement for the food, but no more.

It left him feeling a bit awkward, if he was being honest with himself. And it made Senka’s vigilant position next to him make things even worse.

“I think you need to relax a bit,” Senka advised. “I’m not sure we want them to take inspiration and start carving a statue of you.”

John gave a half-hearted chuckle. “I don’t think they see me or any of us like that. Maybe Verida, but that’s a stretch.”

“Who knows?” Senka hummed. “I imagine now that they’ll have a safe place to call home, they might pick back up things they had to leave behind as they ran.”

“Still doesn’t mean they’ll be making art of us,” John refuted in a low voice.

“Are you out of sorts with the idea of them seeing us as heroes?” Senka asked.

“I guess it’s just a bit weird,” John admitted. “When most of the attention you get is negative, you don’t go looking for it. Now I’ve got magic power, had more sex in a week than I thought I’d have in ten years and ended up saving a population of goblins.”

“To say nothing else on the blood stealing zealots likely trying to gain access to some dark locked away power or witnessing the birth of a Kingdom,” Senka added. “I wonder if anyone else has had as eventful a time as we’ve had?”

“I’m sure someone out there has,” John said.

The sound of childish yelling sounded over the lighthearted din of the goblins talking as they worked and John’s head snapped towards the sound. A group of young ones had been running about and were now chasing…

“Are those mushrooms with legs?” John incredulously asked once they were close enough for him to clearly see. Somehow keeping ahead of the kids were three brown mushrooms, their stems morphed into little legs. A number of spongy tendrils ran down from the undersides of their caps and trailed behind them almost like hair.

“I do believe they are,” Senka answered in an equally stunned tone.

Gnoshroom
A type of minor dryad found in forests. Much like mundane mushrooms, they act as a means to distribute nutrients and mana around the forest, moving when needed to promote growth. Large numbers of them indicate a healthy environment.

“Good to know the forest is in good condition,” Senka laughed as one of the kids took a tumble, rolled a bit then bounced right back up and continued the chase. “And it looks like the kids are going to enjoy having them around.”

John couldn’t help but smile at the display of childhood whimsy. It brought him back to before things in his life turned sour. Before bullies and gossip drove him to retreat to video games for solace. Before he lost his father to tragedy. Seeing those kids who experienced things far worse than anything he had at their age running freely made him determined to make sure they didn’t have to suffer anything like it again.

Senka turned her head to look at him. “That’s some fierce look you’ve got going on. Looks like you’re ready to jump into a battle.”

“I think I am,” John resolutely said as he stared out over the plain. “Things have become a lot bigger and I don’t want to let Teri’s people down if things take a bad turn. I think we need to start doing some real grinding. I want to be able to protect them, protect all of you.”

“Looks like we know what we’re going to do tomorrow.” Senka grinned.

“Yeah,” John affirmed, a fire in his eyes. “Time to take things up a notch.”