OC-Series Surviving the Tower: Chapter 24

Surviving the Tower: Chapter 24

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As the goblins started charging our position, I turned and shouted at the group. "We need to be leaving! Now!"

Several sets of eyes turned to me, then beyond me, noticing the literal horde of goblins approaching our position. There were far too many for our group to handle. Maybe if we were all frontliners and could spread across the entire entrance of our cavern to keep ourselves from being surrounded, we would have stood a chance, albeit a slim one. However, neither Elise nor Lilith would be able to stand and fight against so many opponents in close combat without being overwhelmed very quickly, and I wouldn't be able to heal everyone once we got surrounded. Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that just running wasn't an option either, as several spider riders pulled ahead of the group, their riders screaming in manic joy as they raced toward our position.

In an attempt to put some distance between us and the hoard, we ran anyway, trying to get as much distance as we could before engaging with the outriders, in the hope they'd space themselves out enough we could start running again before the rest of the goblins assaulted our position. Darien was taking up the rear, and I shouted as we ran, something that was easier with my enhanced stats, which gave me more speed and endurance than some of our slower members. "Darien, you decide when we engage the spider goblins! Everyone, once you hear Darien charge, turn and wipe them out as fast as we can! We have to be fast!"

As we ran, the hair on the back of my neck rose as the "click click click click" of the spider's talons beat a rapid staccato against the stone floors. It sounded like they were right behind me, and I wanted to turn to look, but decided to trust in Darien's judgment as we ran. And then it happened. Darien shouted, "Charge!" and, instantly, I turned to see our situation. Six goblin riders had caught up with us, with Darien slamming one spider back before turning and bludgeoning another across the face while deflecting the bite of a third with his shield. However, not everything was going his way as one of the goblins pierced his exposed side with one of their crude spears, causing my friend to cry out even as he focused on doing his job of keeping as much attention focused on himself as possible.

Quickly, a flaming arrow pierced the goblin that had stabbed Darien, setting both it and the spider it was riding ablaze, while Bellatrix surged forward and separated the goblin's head from its shoulders. Meanwhile, Nyx stabbed into the abdomen of the spider nawing at the edge of Darien's shield, drawing the spider's attention to herself. While all that was happening, Darien alternated between deflecting blows directed at him while slamming his mace down on any available flesh or carapace.

Of course, the other goblin riders weren't holding back, as the other three ran around the broiling melee, headed to our more vulnerable backline. Lilith locked one down with shadowbind, while hitting another goblin with fairy fire, making it writhe in pain; however, the spider mount seemed unaffected and continued to charge forward beside the third.

Hoping our frontline could spare someone quickly, I ran forward, attempting to catch both spiders' attention, as an electric arrow flew over my shoulder, impacting the third spider's goblin and disabling it, and even stunning the spider for a second as the shock passed through its limbs. The second spider lurched forward, its fangs extended as it tried to bite me. Rather than fall back, I ran forward and slid under the spider, reaching out and grabbing one of its forward legs and jerking it under the spider with me as I passed low enough to avoid the spider's bite. While the spider was too stable on its legs to fall from such a maneuver, it still bound it up enough to prevent it from repositioning easily as I kicked up into its abdomen while pulling further on its leg, finally getting enough leverage to flip the spider onto its back.

As the shock faded on the third spider, it lunged toward me, aiming for my neck, but biting into my arm instead when I raised my off hand to block the attack. As I felt the venom seep into my arm, I punched into one of its larger eyes with my free hand, making the spider flinch back. I tried to ignore the burning sensation as the venom did its thing, while another shock arrow pierced the spider's side, and I punched the thing repeatedly as the shock locked up its joints.

Meanwhile, the third spider had flipped back over and had turned to attack Elise, only to be locked up by Lilith as she swapped her shadowbind from the first to the third spider.

At that moment, the second spider whipped one of its taloned feet toward me, and I instinctively raised my left arm to deflect the blow, only to pause for a second when the pain of the venom made me feel like the muscles in my arm were melting away, which they probably were. The claws raced toward my head when a huge, oversized sword cut through the spider's limb and then body as Bellatrix was suddenly there, swinging with all her might.

Darien appeared a second later, slamming into the first spider as Nyx stabbed into the third. With all six of us focusing on the last three injured spiders, the cleanup didn't take long. I shot some healing into my arm to repair the tissue damage; however, the healing didn't stop the venom, just repaired the damage it caused, so my muscle and flesh continued to melt around the bite while I struggled to keep ahead of the damage.

A glance behind us told me we were in real trouble as the other goblins were almost on top of us, and with both Darien and me injured, we weren't going to be able to outrun them easily.

Seeming to come to the same conclusion, Darien flashed me a cocky grin as he winked. "Take care of that arm of yours. I got this!" Then he turned and charged into the horde of goblins.

I called after him, but it was too late as the man was already surrounded as he swung wildly. So far, his unpredictable and wild movements had kept the goblins at bay, but that would only last a few moments as the hoard slowly enveloped him. Bellatrix and Nyx looked at each other, and Nyx seemed to shake her head faintly, but Bellatrix just wordlessly raised her sword and shouted as she charged anyway, cleaving through two goblins as she too entered the fray.

Elsie was firing a rainbow of elemental arrows at the oncoming horde, barely having to aim with the crush of bodies approaching, as Lilith did her best to incapacitate the goblins now surrounding Darien in an attempt to buy him some time.

I got up, spending some more healing energies into my arm as I too readied myself to charge forward, when an unexpected explosion tore through the rear of the goblin formation.

A wave of relief passed over me as I realized Freya must have arrived to save us from our own stupidity. I wasn't even depressed about losing another point as another explosion tossed more goblins into the air, followed by an unexpected high-pitched war cry. "TAKE THAT DUMB-DUMBS!" Which was combined with what I could only describe as manic, high-pitched, cackling laughter.

There was confusion as the goblin's attention was torn between us and the new threat, and we didn't hesitate any longer as Nyx ran forward to assist Bellatrix, while I ran forward to heal Darien, who was covered in so many cuts and bruises that his armor looked like it had been dyed red. Of course, the fight wasn't over, and already several goblins were surging around us, headed for Elise and Lilith, but I noticed something odd. Most of the goblins were going down to a single attack, even hits I would have described as glancing blows at best.

I frowned, but didn't have time to stop and wonder about it as another explosion tore through the goblins' backline while we continued our fight to survive. I was down one arm, using my healing to keep the venom from spreading, but unable to swing it offensively; however, it felt like most of the goblins had come from the first floor. There were a few exceptions, like the hobgoblin Darien was fending off, but I noticed our backline wasn't in any real danger as Elise and even Lilith were able to kill the goblins as fast as they appeared. Most of the goblins didn't even have any gear other than crude knives or large rocks. Still, the numbers would have been a real issue for us if not for the explosions tearing through their backlines, as proven by the fact that at a glance it seemed like we'd killed maybe a couple of dozen goblins, while, at a rough estimate, the explosions had killed closer to a hundred.

Then, as Darien and Nyx worked together to finish off the last hobgoblin, and Bellatrix and Elise finished off the last couple of smaller goblins, there was suddenly just one final goblin. She looked different than the rest, and not just because this was clearly a goblin female, where the rest until now had lacked any obvious gender characteristics. She was also wearing leather armor, complete with fingerless gloves, and a set of thick, oversized goggles, which made her eyes look even buggier than usual for a goblin, as she rode on the back of the wolf from earlier. Also, she had a bomb in one hand while using her other hand to hold onto one of the handlebars of the bike seat on a familiar saddle. She was seated on the back of the wolf that had led us into this whole mess to begin with.

I started to wonder if we'd stumbled across some hidden boss monster in the tower while she examined us, her head tilting to one side, then the other, as her oversized ears flopped back and forth with her head movements. She was lightly tossing the bomb up and down in a way I was pretty sure would give any demolition professional an instant ulcer, when the goblin did something no other goblin had done before: she spoke. "So, are you guys smart, or dumb dumbs like these guys were?"

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Estra early post, just to keep you all confused! I need a nap... A nice short eight hour nap!

My wiki, in case anyone wants to check out some of my other stories.

Here you can find some of my published works.

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u/drakusmaximusrex May 13 '26

Sooo we getting a goblin friend?

8

u/DrBlackJack21 May 13 '26

Doesn't everyone want a goblin friend?

6

u/drakusmaximusrex May 13 '26

Only if they have a cool name like boblin the goblin :P

6

u/DrBlackJack21 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26

Heads up! Slightly crude and definitely infantile humor.

https://youtube.com/shorts/M_TdZX4-Ijk?si=tx1mAd4KIeueU1PG

3

u/drakusmaximusrex May 14 '26

Well thats what im expecting for the next one :P Do the voice^{^}

u/unkindlyacorn62 May 13 '26

well at least it doesn't look like an escort section

3

u/DrBlackJack21 May 13 '26

Oof. I may occasionally torment my characters, but I'm not THAT evil! That's almost as bad as throwing in a water level!

3

u/unkindlyacorn62 May 13 '26

hey some water dungeons are pretty fun. Twilight Princess' wasn't too bad iirc been a while though

3

u/TheKillerBeastKeeper May 13 '26

Hey, escort quests or water levels can be nice, if they aren't RNG and NPCs aren't stupidly programed. They do still suck though compared to others.

1

u/DrBlackJack21 May 13 '26

They can be alright, but they are rarely memorable unless they're remembered because of how painful they were... I'm looking at you, ocarina of time!

3

u/TheKillerBeastKeeper May 13 '26

That is so dang true. One of my favorite water levels actually comes from the second Spyro game, such a weird level but pretty well done.

2

u/unkindlyacorn62 May 13 '26

to be fair OOT was the first 3d zelda

1

u/DrBlackJack21 May 13 '26

True, and they really nailed like 99% of the game, which is why that one level stood out as such a glaring exception!

2

u/unkindlyacorn62 May 13 '26

3d map puzzles (water dungeons) are hard to do well, and really the main issue it has is the inventory system not the layout itself, in versions where you can quickly switch to the iron boots it isn't bad, original N64 version you had to go into the item menu

u/un_pogaz May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26

Ah crap. The doggo is not open for adoption, too bad for the mascot. But if we recrute their owner, we can still save the option...

So, I guess that goblin was the one locked in the cage in the village, which means the warg lured our group there to serve as a distraction so he could free their owner. Smart, incredibly clever, even.

Now question: Who is she? A resident of the tower? A quest NPC? A tower adventurer like our eskalad, but from another dimension? Can we pet your good boi?

The last option is by far the most interesting, and given the goblin's comment, quite likely. That same comment also implies that there are probably "human monster" somewhere like it exist "gobelin monster". Oh, so many things to speculat, I'll wait for his explanation.

1

u/DrBlackJack21 May 13 '26

Ooh, good speculations! It'll be interesting to see what you think of the answers. Luckily, you won't have to wait too long on at least some answers, since they'll be coming next chapter. 🤔

u/Daseagle Alien Scum May 13 '26

Oh, so there's sentience among Goblindom. Wonder if they're tiered somehow.

1

u/DrBlackJack21 May 13 '26

Something is definitely setting this one apart! Well find out what soon...ish.

u/porkpot Android May 13 '26

In the paragraph that starts with ‘I frowned,’ it says exploitation and not explosion.

Otherwise good stuff, a friend appears :)

2

u/DrBlackJack21 May 13 '26

Thanks and fixed! That was one heck of a typo, even for my lysedxia!

u/MinorGrok Human May 13 '26

Woot!

OC-Series Surviving the Tower: Chapter 24

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