First hunt
Oliver found himself sitting on a hill under a tree surrounded by rolling fields of grass. A smile worked it's way across his face as he looked down at his bare feet and wiggled his toes. Thunder rolled somewhere in the distance causing birds that had been sleeping in the tree to stir and start chirping. He slowly stood up and stretched his limbs, it felt as if he hadn't done that in quite some time. He took a deep breath, the air smelled sweet. Then he noticed a woman standing at the bottom of the hill in a simple yet elegant white dress. She was staring off into the distance. Oliver allowed his eyes to drift in the direction she was focused on and found massive, dark, menacing storm clouds. The sight of them filled him with dread, these clearly weren't normal storm clouds. His eyes returned to the woman who was now looking in his direction. She smiled at him as a gentle wind blew causing her dark hair and dress to flutter. She was radiant. She opened her lips as if to speak, but Oliver couldn't hear her from where he was on the hill. He started to walk towards her, the grass tickling his feet. She spoke again.
"Oliver? Did you hear me?" It was Nicholai's voice. Oliver blinked and everything faded away. He had no arms or legs, no lungs to breathe, no sight to see that woman's beautiful smile.
'Sorry.' Oliver replied. 'I was...dreaming? I guess. What did you say?'
"I asked if you had any thoughts on the party we're putting together to cleanse Prescott's Forest of goblins." Nicholai repeated.
'Not really. I don't know enough about this world to be of much use in planning.' Oliver answered then thought for a moment, recalling goblins in the video games he had played before he died. 'Although, I suppose if goblins here are small greenish things that generally lack intelligence you'll want someone comfortable in heavy armor and someone that can cast a variety of spells.'
"Yes, they are small, greenish, and only a few goblin leaders show much intelligence. I'll take your suggestion under advisement when I have Frederick bring in the recruits." Nicholai said. "And sorry for waking you from your dream, hopefully it was a nice one."
Oliver appreciated his concern. 'It was peaceful'
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Nicholai and Frederick spent the next few days preparing for the journey. According to Nicholai mages like Frederick were very expensive and it would take too much time to post a formal request to the wizards guild, so Frederick would be accompanying them on this excursion. Nicholai had also selected one of his father's guardsmen to do the heavy lifting. Oliver assumed that meant he would be the one in heavy armor. The only other Nicholai had selected was a local elf woman who was "Quite astonishing with a bow". Oliver believed Nicholai had a crush on this woman, he could feel Nicholai's palms begin to sweat and his grip tighten when Nicholai described her. When he wasn't securing resources for the journy ahead Nicholai spent his spare time working with Oliver, explaining the various creatures that inhabited the land. To his surprise many of them Oliver was familiar with. Oliver briefly wondered if there was someone who reincarnation into his world that originally brought the ideas of these monsters with their stories. Nicholai also attempted to describe the layout of Sebas and Einfor, but gave up rather quickly after finding the difficulty in explaining a map to one without sight.
Now it was finally the time to embark. Oliver felt Nicholai's grip tighten around him again. He wasn't sure if it was fear or anticipation. Through him he also felt the vibrations of approaching footsteps.
"Looks like everyone has arrived, hope you don't mind horses. Taking the carriage would take too long." Nicholai said.
'It doesn't bother me, you're the one that has to ride them.' Oliver replied. He felt Nicholai chuckle.
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Their journey to the forest was rather uneventful. Nicholai mostly spoke to his companions, leaving Oliver to focus on the vibrations caused by the horses trotting along. After some time he started to be able to predict when he would feel the next vibration. He could feel when they turned one way or another along the road. Eventually they came to a stop and Oliver felt Nicholai dismount. pst pst pst. He still couldn't understand what everyone was saying, but assumed they must be close to their destination.
"Something isn't right...there are flames ahead." Nicholai told him. "Hope you're ready for a fight, don't go breaking on me." He continued nervously. Oliver could feel himself being drawn out of his sheath.
'Don't worry about me, just focus on what's around you.' Oliver retorted. While he meant well if Nicholai worried about him, he could end up getting himself hurt. 'I am a sword after all." He added.
"Right, let's go..." Nicholai said as the group took their positions and started to slowly make their way forward. Oliver focused on the vibrations of their footsteps and kept aleart for any new vibrations that threw off their rhythm. They travelled this way for a while stopping once or twice when they thought they heard something or when Oliver notified Nicholai of something approaching, that turned out to be a horse fleeing the flames.
'Do goblins typically set fires like this?' Oliver asked.
"No, for the most part they're afraid of fire. They don't need it to see and don't cook their meat." Nicholai replied. "We're almost to the town now...it doesn't look good. I don't think anyone made it out."
As soon as Nicholai said that Oliver felt something. It wasn't a vibration, something more like an aura. 'Do you feel that?' He asked.
"No, feel what?" Nicholai asked, prompting the party to stop.
'There's something up ahead. It feels...' Oliver couldn't find the words to describe it, he had never felt anything like this. 'Strange.'
"I guess we'd better check it out then." Nicholai said. pst pst pst. The group started to briskly move towards the aura.
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'Finally you've arrived. I was growing bored slaughtering these pests' Something said into Oliver's mind causing an image to form in his mind. It's goat like legs were covered in dark fur that gave way to a humanoid torso with entirely too many muscles. Atop this was a lizardlike head boasting glowing red eyes and three bone white horns. The creature began to speak, showing it's razor sharp fangs as it did. 'I've been looking forward to devouring you and sending your soul into the abyss.' It began to laugh.
'Nicholai?? What is this?' Oliver called out. He then noticed that he couldn't feel the vibrations he had become accustomed to.
'Little Nicholai can't hear you.' The beast chuckled. 'It's just you and me here. Your friend is too busy being torn apart to answer you anyway.'
'What are you? What have you done??' Oliver screamed at the thing.
'I suppose your kind would call me a monster or demon.' The thing replied with a grin. 'Though I'm actually chimera in the service of...well no need for you to know that since you and your friends are all about to die anyway. As for what I've done, I've simply given you some privacy so you don't have to listen to your friend whimpering as he's torn limb from limb. I'm generous like that.' His wicked grin grew wider.