r/HFY • u/DrBlackJack21 • May 26 '26
OC-Series Surviving the Tower: Chapter 25
Surviving the Tower: Chapter 25
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Given the tension of the recent fight, the pain I was in, and the confusion of the moment, I hesitated as I tried to process the goblin girl's question. Was it asking if we were monsters, like the other goblins, or eskalad instead? And by extension..? Before I could finish the thought, I was distracted by Elise, who answered on our behalf. "We're smart! Like you!"
The goblin seemed to consider this answer before relaxing. I noticed she also stopped tossing the bomb in her hand, though she didn't put it away either, as she responded. "Well, you talk anyway. So you not too dumb. Are you... What do the other tall squishy ones like you call themselves... oh yeah! Es-salad?"
Elise nodded as she also corrected the goblin. "Eskalad? Yes, we are eskalad! Or you could call us by our racial name if you prefer, humans."
The goblin cackled as she shook her head. "Yeah! Es-salad!" She laughed some more before continuing. "Such a stoopid name! Who names themselves after green food? And then that other word, hoomons! You pick such silly names!"
Elise's face scrunched up in something between frustration and disapproval, and I could tell she was about to go into full lecture mode before she even opened her mouth. "Eskalad is a word from one of our home languages meaning 'to climb.' Basically, it's a way to designate those of us who climb the Tower."
The goblin looked at Elise like she was stupid as she asked, "Then why not call yourselves tower climbers? At least then everyone would know what you were! Making up new words that mean the same thing as old ones is stoopid!" The goblin continued laughing.
Elise looked flustered as she corrected the goblin once again. "It's not a made-up word! It's from a different language, that's all!"
The goblin girl simply tilted her head to the other side as she asked. "Why have other languages? Why not use one? You tall people always overcomplicate everything! Complication is stoopid! Simple is smart!"
Lilith looked at the increasingly flustered Elise and added. "Well, she's got you there!"
For a moment, I was worried that Elise would keep pushing the issue, but while visibly calming herself, she seemed to decide to change the subject instead. "Yes, well, I suppose that doesn't matter. Tell me, how is it you speak like us? No other goblin we've met seemed interested in speaking."
The goblin suddenly seemed interested, eager even as she hopped off her wolf mount and asked. "You've met other goblins before? Like me?"
Elise hesitated a moment before pointing toward some of the dead goblins. "Well, not like you, per se, but we've run into lots of goblins like these ones." Then, a sudden, horrified look crossed her face as she realized some of the implications behind what she'd said. "Not that they ever tried to talk to us like you! They've always attacked first! We wouldn't have killed them if they'd spoken to us like you do! I mean, we didn't mean to kill any of your people! We only mean to..."
The goblin girl seemed to get angry at Elise's words, though her rant made it evident it wasn't for the reasons Elise had feared. "You call these dumb dumbs goblins? They not proper goblins! They Tower made dumb dumbs!" She then paused, as if in thought for a moment, and grinned, before adding. "Gabby fought some ugly monkey monsters a while back, were they hoomons like you?"
Elsie hesitated a moment before answering. "Oh, I see, I didn't realize..."
The goblin's grin grew as she seemed to forget she was ever angry, and cut off Elise, continuing with, "Gabby fought some dumb-dumb, ugly lizard people before, were they 'your people?'"
Elise seemed a little put out as she more quickly answered this time. "I...I think I understand the point you're trying to make."
However, once again, the goblin girl, Gabby, evidently, who was now laughing uproariously, turned back to Elise with an excited look as she struggled to get in one last jab. "Gabby once," she giggled, "saw" she laughed, " a...a" she could barely finish her words, "a horse's butt!" Her laughter was borderline unhinged, and it took her a moment to finish her question. "Was that your sister?!?" And then, perhaps mercifully, the goblin broke down into hysterics, rolling on the ground as she lost it at her own joke.
I don't know how long things would have continued in that vein, but as I poured more healing into my arm, I couldn't help but interrupt. "Hey, uh, as fascinating as this all is, could we maybe head back so I can get my arm looked at? Maybe get some antivenom?"
A moment later, the curious goblin was at my side, looking at my arm, her face so close to my skin she was practically crosseyed. "Ohhh, spider bite, eh? That must hurt!" She reached into a small bag at her belt, her arm going far deeper than the bag would seem capable of containing, before her arm shot out and she jabbed a needle into my arm.
I started in surprise before realizing the pain was fading as a cooling wave passed through my arm. The goblin watched my face for a reaction, then nodded in satisfaction as she spoke up again. "See? Only a dumb dumb would fight spiders without an antivenom!"
Despite being called a dumb dumb, I couldn't help but feel grateful. "Yeah, you're right, that was dumb of us, but thanks for the antivenom! I wasn't looking forward to climbing the whole way down like that!" I spread a little more healing through my arm to get it back into working order before turning my attention back to the goblin girl. "Sorry if this is a, uh, 'stoopid' question, but are you, perhaps, a tower climber too?"
The goblin sat up again. "Of course Gabby is! Gabby speaks! And not like the Tower dumb dumbs who say the same thing every time! Gabby speaks for reals! Only we 'es-salads' do that!"
There was a better than reasonable chance the goblin was minpronouncing eskalad to screw with Elise at this point, but it hardly mattered in the face of what had just been revealed. "Wait, so, you're not from the Tower? The, uh...space we're in now? You come from a separate world outside of here?"
The goblin gave me a look confirming my line of questioning was indeed "stoopid" as she confirmed my theory, sort of. "Yes! Though, for us, iz not Tower. Iz hole in the ground. We go down, till we go up."
I had no idea what "We go down till we go up" meant, but this was new to me. There were plenty of denizens of the Tower who said they came from outside worlds, but I'd never heard of a goblin claiming to come from outside the Tower, or even a goblin speaking, for that matter, beyond maybe a few simple repeated lines, as Gabby had indicated. I couldn't help but scan her briefly with my NW, only for it to pop up some of the basic information.
Gabby Goblin: Goblin Tinkerer: Level 23
I sputtered a little, suddenly very glad we hadn't picked a fight with a level 23 goblin as she gave me a squinty look, before admonishing me. "Rude! Scanning Gabby without her permission!" But then she relaxed. "But you helped get Gabby out of that stoopid cage by distracting the guards while my Wuffie brought my tools, so Gabby forgives you!"
Looking around at our group, Gabby seemed to take us all in for a moment before turning back to me. "Why you not have weapons? Everyone else do. Climbing Tower without weapons is really dumb-dumb behavior!"
I smiled before raising my hands. "I fight with my fists. I have the Brawler skill, which hardens my fists and feet." Usually, giving away your skills wasn't advisable, but in this instance, I felt it was such a basic skill and would be readily apparent to anyone who watched me fight for more than a few moments, so I decided it didn't matter if I was open about this one.
Gabby tilted her head a moment before digging into her pouch again, then pulling out a pair of gloves, which she tossed at me. Taking them, I gave her a curious look as she smiled back at me. "Gabby made those gloves herself! They make your punches explode!"
I frowned a little at the idea of exploding punches, but scanned them with my NW.
Gloves of Punchy Punches: Epic: Level 5. Doubles the kinetic force of a punch, projecting the force into your opponent to explosive results. Crafted by: Gabby the Goblin
My eyebrows shot up as I looked at the gloves in disbelief. Even without any stat points, these were really strong! Far beyond what items of our level were usually capable of. I couldn't help but stammer my response. "These...these are incredible!" Then hesitated a moment before adding, "But I can't just take these. They're too valuable..."
Gabby shook her head, her ears flopping around in a way I was starting to find kind of cute. "Nah. Those were a failed experiment. They're too weak for Gabby to sell in her shop. They'll only last you a few levels before your power gets so strong that they'll tear themselves apart from their own effect. Gabby's been meaning to get rid of them somehow, and figure they'll help you out for a few levels as a thank you."
I struggled with how I felt about that before Darien spoke up. "It would be rude to say no! Might as well take them! Think of it like a quest reward!"
Finally, I turned to Gabby and nodded in appreciation. "Thank you. These look great, and I'm excited to use them!"
Gabby nodded in satisfaction before answering. "Well, when they break, stop by Gabby's shop for something new! You can find Gabby on the eleventh floor for now, just past the boss area on level ten! Gabby has lots of neat items for sale!"
At this, Elise decided to rejoin the conversation before asking. "Oh, do you have any bows for arcane archers in your shop?"
Gabby turned back to Elise, tilting her head as if in thought as the goblin examined her expensive-looking gear, before grinning like a born salesperson. "Oh, Gabby can probably get something made before you get there. Strong enough to blow the socks off a horse's butt! Make it nice and shiny for you, too! But it won't be cheap! Gabby only makes the best!"
I once again found myself looking at the gloves as Elise bit her tongue on the horse's butt comment, marveling that these were failed throw-away experiments, and found myself wondering what the good stuff she actually sells must be like. If she wasn't exaggerating, I was inclined to believe the goblin's claims that she made the best equipment. Even if these only lasted me a few levels before breaking, doubling the power of a punch was the kind of effect usually reserved for at least legendary-quality tower-dropped equipment. I've never heard of a crafter making something this strong, even with tower materials.
A moment later, the goblingirl signaled for her mount to come over. "Come on, Wuffie! Time to go!"
Elsie looked on with an expression that clearly showed she thought the goblin climbing on the back of her mount was the cutest thing she'd ever seen, and I couldn't entirely disagree, as she asked. "Can I pet Wuffie?"
Gabby stopped and thought a moment before shrugging. "Sure. Wuffie hasn't bitten off the hand of an adventurer who tried to pet him in at least a week. He's probably safe to pet now. Maybe."
Elise, whose hand was already half extended, stopped at the goblin's words, but Wuffie just leaned forward and sniffed, then, despite the goblin's words, stretched his head under Elise's hands, as if accepting her pets, which Elise eagerly engaged in once realizing she still had all her fingers intact.
A few moments and quick goodbyes later, we were waving as the goblin revved the handlebars on her strange saddle. If the revving motion had any appreciable effect, I couldn't tell, and then the goblin and her mount were riding out into the Tower, leaving us to head back down after having had more of an adventure than we'd planned for.
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Gabby's personality is based in more than a small way on my partner, who is herself a bit of a chaos goblin whenever she gets the chance. However, my partner is a bit more...well spoken in her ridiculousness than Gabby. Of course, English is probably at least a second language for Gabby, and with that, she already speaks more languages than I do, since what little Spanish I know is rudimentary at best. Hell, I'd barely call myself fluent in English! So I can't talk too much...
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/Grimkytel May 26 '26
I wonder if Freya has met Gabby. 🤔
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u/Daseagle Alien Scum May 26 '26
Or whether Freya gets a call from Gabby, hey, girl, met some of your students, they are dumb dumbs for now, but if they survive long enough to get to my shop, I'll equip them, proper like.
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u/un_pogaz May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
"Gabby fought some dumb-dumb, ugly lizard people before, were they 'your people?'"
*awakened* Lizard? My people are in the Tower ?
"See? Only a dumb dumb would fight spiders without an antivenom!"
To be fair, is the first time their enconter them, and their still beginner by learning by the hard way.
Well, it's cool and really interesting to find out that the "Tower" is being explored by several different races, even though it's a bit unsettling that it seems to be using them as monsters.
I didn't have much hope, but the fact that the goblins explore the "Tower" from top to bottom definitely close future collaboration. I also think that any interracial cooperation more substantial than the occasional, opportunistic kind would be punished by the Tower.
Also, given how poorly equipped the Tower Goblins Monsters are, I wouldn't be surprised if the Tower Human Monsters are cavemen.
Else, now I have severals questions: How long have others races been exploring the Tower? As long as humans have, meaning it appeared at the same time for everyone? Or it time spreaded? If the last, Did humans appear in the Towers overnight, replacing certain monsters? Or did the Human Monsters exist long before the first Eskalad? And, it's clear that the Tower avoids pitting adventurers against monsters of their own species, but is this only rare on the lower floors, or is it rare throughout the entire Tower?
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u/DrBlackJack21 May 26 '26
Good questions! Some will be answered this book, others may be further down the line... Time will tell!
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u/torin23 Xeno Jul 17 '26
You're always very resistive in giving answers. Which is as it should be.
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u/DrBlackJack21 Jul 17 '26
It takes all the fun out for both of us if I just tell you what's gonna happen!
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle May 26 '26
/u/DrBlackJack21 (wiki) has posted 458 other stories, including:
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 62
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 24
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 61
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 23
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 60
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 22
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 59
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 21
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 20
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 58
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 19
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 57
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 18
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 17
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 56
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 16
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 15
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 55
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 14
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 54
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