Chapter 31: Isekai Life & Harsh Advice

After dispatching the goblin shaman, I returned to the darkened stairwell.

“Alright, the shaman’s taken care of,” I yelled into the inky blackness, “Do you need help getting out of there?”

“We’re managing,” Voss replied in a pained voice. Eventually, with a clatter of plate, he, Raszil, and the bushy-haired teenage girl rose up out of the dark, Voss flanked by his two smaller companions supporting him.

Voss collapsed on the floor immediately as soon as he was in a lit area. He pointed at me. “Never again am I fighting five goblins in the pitch dark for you.”

I nodded. “Fair, I’ll do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen. What’s the girl doing here?”

She put her hands on her hips, still carrying that cast iron pan. “The girl has a name, you know.”

Voss shrugged. “Said she wasn’t running away, like those other lads. Raszil and I figured that with us beaten within an inch of our lives, we could use the assistance.”

I looked her over, and sighed. “Alright, what’s your name?”

“Sorrel,” she replied sourly.

“Well, Sorrel, you’re an idiot,” I said, matter of factly, “But if you’re too dumb to run we may as well make some other use out of you. Do you know how to use a spear?”

“You stick the green bastards with the pointy bit, don’t you?”

I shook my head, while Raszil and Voss shared a bit of a laugh. “Good enough, then, let’s go finish this off. I think this was the goblins’ last stand, but you never know what might be skulking around. Do you guy think you can hold together long enough for us to get back?”

“Yeah,” Voss said, taking off his helmet, “Going to probably need a little patching up later, though.”

“At least until I can pray for assistance,” Raszil added.

“Right, well,” I replied, “I think that’s all the goblins, but I’m going to take this annoying girl who won’t do what’s best and just go away, just in case I need someone to push in front of the goblins.”

I could feel the intensity of Sorrel’s glare, but Voss just laughed.

“Alright, then,” he said, “We’ll be here when you get back.”

So we left Raszil and Voss to rest.

The first thing we found hunting around was a stack of four spellbooks kept in a sack behind the goblins’ crude altar. Worth going over later, for sure, but given that they had uniform black leather covers, they were probably the spellbooks belonging to the Ravenwatch members and thus, not suitable for looting.

The remaining six floors of the tower were deserted, and it was easy to see why. The effect of the wind pushing the tower and, judging by the scorch marks on the very highest level, repeated lightning strikes had reduced most of the very top levels of the tower to a ruin which provided little shelter from the elements. It was still possible to ascend, because the stairs were built next to the supports, but the very top levels of the tower has collapsed in the centre and were mostly a large pile of rubble encircled by a wall.

It was hard to imagine a flock of griffons landing here to drop off the Ravenwatch for an attack, but it must have been more stable than it appeared. A testament to dwarven construction, I suppose.

Satisfied with my ascent, it was time to head back down, and see how the other half of the battle was doing.

Raszil and Voss were, thankfully, unmolested for the thirty minutes or so I was wandering around with the girl, and we came to the conclusion that our mission was successful- the upper levels of the tower were now goblin-free. Making Sorrel carry the sack of spellbooks and Voss’ shield, we began to descend, eager for news on how Haseth and Yua’s battle went taking back the floor below us.

We could tell immediately that it hadn’t gone well- three of the Ravenwatch members were sitting on the landing outside the slave pens, being bandaged up by the human farmers, and they looked in a sorry state.

“Where’s Haseth?” I asked the closest member of the Ravenwatch.

“Sir Haseth is coordinating the defence from downstairs,” he replied, shaking his head, “We fought hard enough for it, so he’s trying to make sure we keep it.”

That made me frown. Before I could reply, Voss interjected, asking “Did we lose anyone?”

“No, but just barely,” the Ravenwatch knight complained bitterly, “The goblins that ended up cut off on the floor once we took the landing fought like trapped rats. It was brutal. That girl with the greatsword refused to budge from the front lines, and damn near died for it.”

“But she didn’t die, right?” I asked, a sour feeling growing in the pit of my stomach.

“Yeah, but it was close.”

I barely registered what he had said as I hurried by. I knew that if something terrible had happened to Yua, I’d never forgive myself. If what he said was true, Yua was on her last hit point or two, but it was hard to narrow down how much missing HP translated into wounds.

On the floor below, heavy cast iron pots had been moved onto the landing in front of the stairs downward, and some of the former slaves busied themselves with hauling limp green corpses out onto the battlement and casting them into the sea. Yua and a couple more wounded members of the Ravenwatch sat with their backs against the wall, being tended to by people wrapping up their various wounds and injuries.

I knelt next to Yua. “Are you alright?” I asked, in her own language, “I heard you were badly hurt, and came as soon as I could.”

She was hurt, badly. Her mismatched armour was rent in various places, and you could see where blood had been dripping from the joins in her armour. But, she was alive, not even unconscious.

Hit points are weird that way.

At first it seemed that Yua was happy to see me, her face brightened despite the pain, and her face began to growi a smile. Then, as if remembering she was mad at me, her expression hardened and she looked away. “I’ve done as you asked, my lord,” she said, “I await your next instruction.”

I realized I had subconsciously reached for Yua, and let my arm drop. “It looks like you’re being taken care of,” I replied flatly, “So rest up, for now, we’ll need you again soon.”

She didn’t reply, instead choosing to stare off into the corner of the room, eyes fixed.

From there I wasn’t sure what to do, so I went to join Haseth outside on the battlements. Fifty feet below, on the ground, a handful of armed farmers kept watch while a pair of other former slaves hauled up a pair of packs tied to a rope. Our packs- as in, the stuff that my adventuring party brought with us to the tower.

“Where’s Moruca?” I asked, curious as to where the old woman had gotten to.

“Resting,” Haseth replied, “She is not young for a human, and did not enjoy being hauled up like a sack of potatoes when she couldn’t ascend on her own. I take it your mission clearing out the rest of the tower went well?”