Chapter Two: The Goblin Horde, Part Two

The party and the remaining mercenaries followed the river downstream. They reached the end at the waterfall and received a beautiful scenery of a "forest" of gems. Stalagmite gems stood as tall as trees and populated the cave in the thousands. Sorvex drooled.

"We could make money off of these crystals," Phil said, saying what Sorvex was about to say, the greed in Phil's voice apparent. "Let's go," he ordered and started to climb down the mountain towards the crystal forest. The rest of them started to climb down too.

As they reached the bottom, their breaths were stripped away as they gazed upon the many of if not the most beautiful crystals, shining as bright as the stars in the dark sky. At the roof of the cave was a humongous crystal. It acted as the sun of the cave as it shined the brightest. The place felt cold, but no wind came in the caves.

Sorvex started to pick up the crystals from the ground, but the moment it came into contact with the adventurer, the crystal quickly turned to glass. "What the hell?" Sorvex asked, extremely confused.

"Cursed I'd imagine," Phil said. He scratched his lightly bearded chin. "Ledias," He called her over, "pick up that crystal on the floor." He pointed at the small stalagmite crystal. She picked it up, but it didn't turn into glass. "Knew it." Phil muttered, his theory proved correct. "Seems like the crystal itself can detect the sin in a person's heart or mind, be it caused by the crystal itself or the natural sin of a person, only allowing those without that impurity to grasp upon it without transforming," he looked at Ledias, "and since you're a Paladin, you're allowed to touch it due to your 'purity.'"

She blushed when she heard that she could be pure of heart. The crystal turned into glass as lusty thoughts entered her mind. "Never mind," Phil said. She became slightly disappointed. They continued their journey through the stalagmite forest, still in awe at the scenery.

There was a faint orange glow in the distance. A fire was lit by the stalagmite crystals and a huge ogre sat by it. It was different than the others, so different they weren't sure whether they should classify it as an ogre or not. It was easily twenty feet tall and could possibly be recognized incorrectly as a hill giant if it didn't have its green skin and tusk. It sheathed a gigantic sword, as long as its legs, and a large javelin to its side. The javelin's blade was easily as tall as them, but very slim.

"No point in trying to fight him if we can get away with it," Phil whispered. They all agreed without hesitation. They started to crawl away silently, but out of the corner of Ledias's eye, she saw the mercenaries approach the ogre. For some reason, Lily was there with the mercenaries, carrying a short sword too heavy for her to wield. The baby was gone, probably at the house already.

Commander Timber was there with his rapier drawn. He signaled someone to attack the sleeping ogre. Lily shook her head and said something, but he struck her with the back of his hand after only a moment of her explaining herself. Tears streamed down her face as she was pushed forward to face the ogre. The mercenaries stifled their laughter as she approached the ogre and wet herself. She was wailing in fear as the ogre turned around and noticed her. It stood up and looked down at her in confusion. Lily stood there, quivering in fear. Her legs shook so badly, Ledias thought that they would break.

Ledias's eyes were filled with hot red anger. She gritted her teeth and her gauntlet glowed. "Wait, don't do it! It's too risky," Phil tried to reason with her, but she ignored him. She charged at the ogre.

The ogre, awakened from his slumber, found himself thankful for the meal right in front of him as he quickly attempted to snatch her before she could run. Lily screamed and closed her eyes, preparing for death.

"Divine Smith!" a familiar voice yelled. A huge explosion rang through the cavern. Lily opened her eyes and found Ledias stopping the Ogre's grasp. Her beautiful black hair waved through the explosion, her white clothes and armor making her look like an angel.

Ledias was pushed back slightly by the force. Her arm was going to break if she didn't move. Phil ran towards Lily and pulled her out of the way. Ledias moved too once Lily was safe. As the hand thrusted forward with its momentum, Ledias dug her sword in the arm and moved forward as the hand moved back, making a huge gash in his skin. The ogre had no other choice but to push her away and recover from the devastating wound she inflicted upon him. With a yell of confusion the ogre struck Ledias off his hand with all his might, sending Ledias sailing towards a crystal tree. Half a second passes before she finally lands with an audible CRACK with her back pressed upon the tree.

"Gah!" she yelled in pain and fell to the ground. She was nearly paralyzed from the impact. Her spine was fractured, but her spirit was more intense then the pain. She got up with the support of her sword and called upon the divine word of Aid, mending her spine just enough to walk without too much concern.

Commander Timber snarled and spat on the ground. "Men, this is their fight. Had she just let the ogre be... we would have been able to sneak past. The expedition is doomed, we leave with our lives so that we may fight again another day," he spoke to his lackies with a different accent and different walking pattern for some strange reason as he marched away with his group of mercenaries, making it all the way to the waterfall before his men began to disappear one by one, dragged into the icy waters by the now free black slime. Before all the men have been dragged down, Timber only had time to shout "n-NO!" as he was dragged down into the black slime's embrace, melting the commander's skin and bone

The rest of the party had no time to mock his death as they all unsheathed their weapons and charged into battle. The lumbering ogre turned his good arm towards the charging party and swung its ungodly sword in their direction. The swing was slow meaning all dodged except for Slayer whom was bound to be chopped by the sword… had it not been for his incompancy. For as the sword was swung he found himself face first in the dirt due to a rouge crystal he did not see, knocking him down. "You're already on my black list ground, don't make me put you on the kill list as well," he mumbled at the dirt, unaware of the blade soaring past him.

Phil held the tiny girl in his arms with her short sword on the floor. "Are you okay?" he asked Lily with her tears still streamed down her face. She was still crying from what happened. He placed her down and hugged her. "It's okay, we're here now," he said, trying to comfort her. He silently cursed under his breath. He should've never trusted the mercenaries. Then a horrible thought crossed his mind: what happened to the baby?

Midnight stood a couple of yards away from the ogre and cast Levitation, but the ogre was too fat to even feel the spell. The ogre picked up some crystals and chucked it at him. He attempted to dodge it, but one of the crystals smacked his left shoulder, sending it two inches farther than any normal bone should go. He howled in pain.

Sorvex ran at the ogre at top speed. The ogre saw the oncoming attacker and shambled up to a stand. He lifted his foot and slammed it on the ground. The explosion of debris and dust knocked Sorvex back around 5 feet from where he started. As he slid upon the ground, his head made contact with a stalagmite crystal, knocking him out instantly.

Ace flew in and stabbed the ogre in the eye with his beak. He dug in deep and shoved his beak all the way to the back of its right eye. The ogre screamed in pain as he clawed at its face to get rid of the bird. He successfully threw Ace off of himself, but killing the bird was not part of his plan, only sending the bird man to the ground without too much damage. The ogre clutched his eyes and swung around violently.

Cyprus made her way to the ogre and ran… the opposite direction of the monster and soon began to turn the crystals into glass whilst giggling to herself. She was drunk once more.

Ledias ran around two crystals with rope as the ogre was distracted. She placed a large sharp glass crystal on the ground in front of the rope. Her plan was to have the ogre trip and fall into the crystal and the crystal enter through his cranium and pierce his brain.

That plan went to the dogs when Slayer stood amongst the crystal forest once more. He finally got his face off the ground and looked up at the ogre. "Yo dirtbag! You wanna try swinging your crap tier weapon at me again huh! I will burn you to a crisp like a thanksgiving turkey!" Slayer shouted before sealing his lips shut and inhaling sharply. The inhale began to obtain a sulfur like smell as his throat began to heat up, two moments more passed before he finally exhaled.

As Slayer prepared to spew out his flames, Sorvex became conscious and got up to his feet. He picked up his daggers and charged at the ogre. He launched at the ogre's legs and sliced at them. The ogre only just now registering the pain yelled and quickly swiped his left hand downwards at Sorvex, grabbing him before he raised his right hand and began to press both of his hands upon Sorvex's chest and back, forcing his body to exhale without hope of inhaling.

Phil held Lily's hand. "Stay here, I'll be back," he said. She nodded and hid behind a crystal. Phil got up and drew his daggers. He launched himself at the ogre and climbed on his back with his daggers. The ogre was quick to release Sorvex from his grasp as the pain of having two daggers in your back typically would.

He was almost at the rope, but Slayer's fire was far too wide to avoid as Phil and Sorvex felt the flames wrap around them. "Sorry, I guess..." spoke Slayer in a half arsed apologetic voice. Truth be told however, he didn't mind having Phil feel the fires of his breath.

The flames were rather effective however as the ogre began to quite visibly panic. He had fire burning his face, the huge gash in his arm, and had some puny humans climbing his back. The ogre cried and span around in a circle, flinging his sword. He span around in circles over and over and over. The momentum flung Phil towards the crystal, nearly impaling him through the stomach. He was quick to react however and turned, allowing his vital organs to remain untouched. Had he turned his head another degree, however, he would've lost something a little more important than blood.

Sorvex scrambles from the ground and ran away while screaming, "You imbecile of a dragon!" while trying to put out the fires licking his clothing. The orge stumbled away from the rope, ruining Ledias's plan, but the burden of the situation lessened as more mercenaries entered the scene.

Five of the men and women were clad in iron with their long swords and crossbows hooked to their backs, but one of them in particular caught the eyes of the party. They were plated in gold, katana hung by their side, a rectangular shield rested upon their left arm, and a steel short sword sheathed to the back. The mercenaries cheered for this unknown hero. From the look of the golden mercenary, it could be assumed that this was one of the elites. They took up a steady pace as they began to walk up to the weakened ogre, sending a feeling to the ogre as if frozen iron was lying inside the brute's chest.