81 Not What It Seems

"Oh god!" shrieked the green goblin, quickly aiming to cover itself with anything nearby. Falling over himself the thing started shrieking even louder, thinking he was being attacked.

"Don't kill me! Please, I'll tell you everything!"

"Wow that was too easy," said Jimmy wearing a bewildered look.

"And a lot less funny," laughed Donis.

"Tsk," pouted Jimmy.

The group walked to the top of the room to where the green goblin was cowering in, covering himself with a tablecloth. The thing was whimpering and already tearing up, it was almost sad.

[Name: Gark]

[Age: 19]

[Level 3][12% EXP]

[Mana State: Wisp]

[Health: 44]

[Mana: 12]

[Occupation: /]

[Strength: 6]

[Perception: 7]

[Agility: 9]

[Intelligence: 10]

[Title:]

Taking a closer look at Gark, Donis realised the thing had lots of bruises. It was a short, deep green goblin, with pointed ears, small arms, stout legs and a hunched back. Its face resembled that of a puffy rat rather than a human, which didn't help his looks department since he was bawling crying right now.

"Alright alright, stop, why are you crying little creepy one?" said Striga in an almost caring tone.

"Master says if strangers come in here without him, I will die! And.. And you are strangers! I-I don't see the master!" cried Gark, trying to stifle the sniffing.

"Okay buddy listen, we're not going to kill you, we're trying to figure out what's going on right now, do you think you could help us?" asked John in a very soft and gentle tone, surprising the rest of the group a little since he's been relatively quiet the whole time.

"Y- ya not gonna kill me?" stammered Gark.

"No no, of course not. First, what's your name and why are you here?" chimed in Donis this time, he knew how scary death could be, so he used his softest tone too.

"Gark. My master cal-calls me Gark," he sniffed.

"Gark, tells us why you're here buddy!" smiled Donis.

At the sight of Donis's smile, the goblin relaxed a little. The group didn't know why Donis was intervening, but they weren't going to let a chance slip by when someone was going to offer some free information on such a weird occurrence.

"Well, my master brings people here all the time... he.. I think he sells women of all races.. Sometimes men.. They're normally of all ages, and no one leaves here unsold. I help master by feeding them, and keeping them company. Normally the slaves they are frustrated, so they usually beat me up.. Master finds this funny so he lets them do so.. He says the slaves are happier when they get to beat something up.. I.. I can show you where all of these rooms are! Master has yet to come back, and there are some slaves still here," said Gark, grabbing the hand of Donis to try and pull him in a direction.

Though his arm was being pulled, Donis's mind was reeling. This whole place was a lot darker than he initially thought of. They weren't just slaves if the decor had anything to say about the place. They were being marketed as sex slaves, definitely. Overwhelmed with anger, Donis went entirely blank.

The group all listened in silence. Some swallowed hard when Gark mentioned selling humans, others just got a dark look in their eyes. They all wanted to hear the end of the story, and better yet, help the poor goblin.

As Gark pulled Donis through the winding corridors, he continued his story.

"Master found me when I was young! He says because I'm an inferior race, I was required by the law of the kingdom to do what I'm told, and took me from my family. My family tried to fight master, but master is a powerful man and killed them all. He killed the entire village..." said Gark in a toneless voice, as he continued walking with an unstoppable pace.

The corridors were littered with cages, both magical and ordinary. Some had locks, others were suspended in the air using magic. There were collars on tables, and closets half opened showing bloodied rags. The group all felt their hearts sink as they walked along the two upfront.

"Master tried to train me at the beginning, but I could barely do anything, I was only 3 years old. So he beat me up, and he found that when he beat me, I was able to learn better. I guess I became a punching bag for him, because he uses me more often these days. All I'm useful for now is keeping the slaves alive, and being their frustration toy," sighed Gark.

A closed door came into view at the end of a hallway with a distinctly different colour scheme. The door itself looked like it was made from a light wood, and the handles were nice and shiny, indicating that they were still being used.

Upon opening the door, the group saw dozens of caged women in bloodied and tattered clothing. As soon as the door opened, everyone in that room flinched, but not seeing the master, but some other people, they started crying, almost in unison.

The groups hearts sank to the bottom, and Donis's rage grew and grew the more he heard about this Gark and his supposed master. Whatever it took, that man needed to die.

Every single caged person there was a woman, some children, some middle aged, but all severely beaten. The group didn't even have to say anything, everyone went in and tried to unlock the cages. The prisoners started screaming, thinking they were there for more severe beatings.

Though when they saw the sad expressions on Strigas, or Jimmies, or even Ronas faces, they knew that these people weren't those that came previously. They quickly wiped their tears, and hope began to return to their eyes.

Donis turned Gark around, and spoke to him a hushed tone.

"Gark, tell me, does your master have a study, or a book that he writes stuff into?"

"Uh yes! He has a room where he takes the prettiest women, and where he spends the most time!" answered Gark after a brief moment of thinking.

"Show me the way," answered Donis with disgust in his voice.

Gark led him away from the cages, and into a secluded corner with a single door. Gark pushed open the door and what lay before Donis was a sex dungeon that put all sex dungeons to shame. There were ropes, chains, paddles, and then the more extreme devices which were definitely used for torture.

He saw torture devices that he'd only seen in history books. It sent a disgusting shiver down his spine and an unbridled rage into his heart.

The room itself was spacious, with a one double bed at the back, cuffs and chains on walls that were either dyed red, or bloodied, Donis wasn't sure. There were both sex toys, and torture "toys" all over the place, with a neat set of tools for things Donis wasn't certain of.

At the right side of the room there was a table with a lined bookshelf, a chair and a candle. There were some odd trinkets here and there that were used to record his voice, and to record what was going on.

Fingering through the journals Donis saw that there were titles such as "Mora", "Eli", "Nona", and many other names. After flipping one open, he saw detailed descriptions of what the master had done to these women, and how he had tortured the for his own sexual gratification.

It went into far too much detail of his own pleasures with the women and Donis had to close it, for he didn't want to vomit. The man was sick in his head, there was far too much wrong with the things written. He needed to continue onwards to find anything that would link these monstrosities to him.

Perusing through the books, he saw that one was titled "Logs", and upon opening it, he saw that it was a detailed list of where the people in the cages were "found", how old they were, their weight, how much they sold for, and to whom. It was the perfect tool to put all of the blame on him, if he could be found.

Not only did none of the books have any trace of his name, but not even of his own existence. They had no one to pin this to, no one to blame. At least not yet. Donis didn't want to give up just yet, he had just barely gotten started.