Allies Three

To call the gobling encampment a tribe didn't do it justice. It was a bustling city full of trade, guarded by a fortified wall, and was dug out from the hill. Each hill within the junkyard was massive. Some peaks nearly leaned into each other while others could be kilometers apart. Even after traveling here and hiding under a rotting desk, I hadn't crossed the circumference of his hill. What else was hidden in the hills?

Ping!

Quest completed: Locate Gobling Tribe

Rewarded: +1 PER +1 AGL

Perception 14

Agility 9

The gobling camp was sprawled out with dozens of pens filled with rats. Humping, shitting, and biting rats all grey and longer than my arms filled the cages or roasted over cook fires. Towers made of old rusty steel held up goblings guarding the town. They had blowguns instead of bows or slings. Unlike himself, they'd chosen to wear armor. Behind the gobling guard tower was a wall protecting the tribe. They had been here all along just waiting for him to run into one of their hunting parties.

I didn't know them, and I didn't know if they could be trusted with trade of any kind. Outright attacking because they were there, might not be the way to go. I had a hungry Illithid on my hands and she made it known I wasn't off the menu if she was hungry enough. Either I was on the plate or one of them.

They had plenty of rats and lots of bodies. If I attacked, they'd unleash hell upon me. I didn't know how many there were behind the walls but there must have been a lot of them. Trade was looking better all the time.

She might complain but rats might suffice for now. That is, if I could get ahold of one. It wasn't likely. That led me back to my original problem.

Bartering without equal footing was how a few of my hosts died. Legitimate business might be unattainable without a group of my own.

All my options lead me back to killing or capturing them. That's when I found a wanted poster. It was a glimmer of hope beyond my wildest dreams.

I left my stoop and approached the gate. I didn't run for it, my bow was slung over my back, and my hands were at my sides. A horn blew, and my heart began to hammer against my chest. This could end badly. What I needed was a quest and I hoped that my world bending system functions would carry me through the day.

Ping!

Quest: Complete Bounties For Gobling Tribe

Reward: Friendly Relations With Gobling Tribe.

It was quick dirty, and I accepted the mission immediately. The goblings charged out of the gate on the backs of wolves.

Gobling Riderslvl13

Stage: Youngling

Next Stage: Plebe

Wolfen Mounts lvl10

Stage: Youngling

Next Stage Plebe

They circled me once then charged to my flanks. A powerful figure marched towards me dressed in heavy armor crafted from steel. In the giant's hand was a flail. To the right of the large green figure was a wizened gobbling dressed in robes. Left of the large gobbling leader was a feminine pointed eared gobbling with large breasts wearing coverings that only revealed her eyes. Even so, I could see her shapely form.

Troll Chieftain lvl40

Stage: Plebe

Next Stage: Knight

Gobling Wiseman lvl27

Stage Plebe

Next Stage: Knight

Gobling Seductress lvl35

Stage Plebe

Next Stage: Knight

They out leveled and outclassed me. Any one of them could kill me with a single blow. I'm not here to fight them, kidnap them, or deceive them. No, I'm here to help them.

The troll chieftain slammed his club on the ground and leaned against it. He reached a clawed digit into his mouth and picked a hunk of meat from his teeth. Maggots fell off the hunk of green putrid meat. My nose wrinkled in disgust.

The chieftain tossed it in his mouth and chewed. "Darkling," the leadersaid, and spat on the ground. "We don't trade with your kind."

I took a step back and reaffirmed this was a bad idea. "I have no one. You have bounties on your wall. I can help you."

The gobling wiseman pulled a copy of the bounties from his robe. "Darklings aren't known for helping others. If you're sincere then we can give you some hospitality. There were once four of us Plebe stage goblings. This is a drawing of our colleague. Dol, is a sorcerer, a walker of the dark path. When he left, he took the worst of us." The wiseman said.

The Seductress turned to the east. "Near the spiderling territory you'll find his tower of misery. They took a few of our girls with them. If we do anything, they'll kill the hostages."

A heavy green hand landed gently on my shoulder. "A darkling wouldn't care about hostages. He might even invite you into his tower."

The troll chieftain smiled showing off his teeth. They were teeth that belonged to a great white shark. "If you join up with them. I'll crush you with my club."

I met the cheiftain's eyes. "I'm doing this to feed my friend. I'll get those girls back here if I can. The rest are mine."

"Good, I couldn't think of a better fate for those traitors." The chieftain's eyes shifted. If you get captured, we didn't send you. If you say we did, we'll deny it." The Seductress said.

…

A small hunting party of goblings were gathered around a fire. Two lookouts were doing their job and had already swapped twice. An iron brand was in their campfire and a spider was strung up. She was tied with her legs bound over her abdomen. One of the goblings put on a leather glove and pulled a hot iron from the fire. It glowed with red fresh from the fire.

Her tear streaked faced looked so human in the firelight. She seemed fragile. Seeing her bound and helpless with my own eyes was different.

My body moved on its own. An arrow was knocked in my bow. I used system resources to calculate my chances of success. Instead of targeting those farthest away, I chose those closest to the captive.

Ping!

Quest: Save the Spiderling

Reward: Possible Ally, Increased Relationship With Spiderling Faction

This might end any chance I had to kill the sorcerer Dol. Spiderlings are my enemies what did I care if one gets branded. It was so different on this side. I made quests to increase my fortune, but I was in charge. It wasn't some system leading me. When I made a quest, I calculated thousands of variables, measured the risk and the reward, and then I implemented them.

I issued the quest because, I knew I'd try. That's why I'd already knocked the arrow. I made the decision well before any calculations were made. It was an easy decision with hard consequences. I released the arrow and knocked the next one and chose my target. Twice more I fired, ducked behind a metal bench, and moved.

There were cans, beakers, and any number of noisy objects on the ground. I chose a heavy can and chunked it behind me as I moved. Needles impacted the area where the can landed while I leapt from cover, pulled back an arrow, and fired.

In the brief flash of sight out of cover ready to fire. I saw everything.

The gobling with the iron brand had collapsed after my arrow tore into its knee, the one closest to the spiderling was on the ground. My arrow struck a chord in the unfortunate gobling's spine. Two more arrows fired from my bow. Before I dove into cover, I saw the back of the gobling on his way to warn the tower.

Ping!

Level Up

Level Up

Jacob lvl10 Darkling

Slowly, I stood from cover. The few remaining goblings were incapacitated on the ground. The others left them to their fates. One of their knives shined on the ground in the firelight. It was black, unpolished reforged steel, its handle was bone, and wrapped with leather cord. I took the knife and approached the spiderling. She glared at me while I approached.

Slowly, I raised the knife and cut her bindings and leapt back. The spiderling stared at me for a moment. She turned to groaning gobling still clutching the iron brand and approached him. Every step of her many legs was followed by a watchful gaze directed my way.

She took the brand from him and clutched it with both hands. "No don't do it." The gobling screamed before she plunged it against his face. Flesh burned away along with the gobling's eye.

I walked up to the nearest breathing gobling and began binding theme. After stripping them of weapons, I found some spider silk rope. With a broken plastic table, I was able to make a skid for transport.

She pulled a spear from one of the corpses. "Thank you for saving me. Not many out here would save one of my kind. If your looking for a reward. I'm afraid I have nothing to give you." She said.

I tied another knot and double checked to make sure they'd survive the transport. "Will you be able to make it back across?" I asked.

She kicked a can towards the fire. "My tribe sold me to the Dol for rats. Accepting me back would go against their deal. I'm alone."

After the rope was tied, I gave the skid a tug. "My shelter isn't huge but its open to you. There is plenty of food for now." I said.

She crept closer to the skid and licked her lips at the sight of the bound goblings. "They do look delicious. Are you sure I won't be a burden?" She asked.

I checked the bindings a final time and checked for weapons. "My name is Jacob, what's yours?" Jacob asked.

She directed her spinneret at the skid and attached a line. "Call me Star. I was named after the myth that above the heavens there are little dots in the sky called stars. My mother was sentimental." Star said and flicked a strand of blond hair from her eyes.

They moved quickly with the skid. With Star's help they were able to cross back through the Troll Chieftain's territory. After a while, they made it back to his shelter. I took hold of one of the bound goblings and opened the door with him in front. The second the door opened a face of tentacles took the gobling.

I heard the skull cracking and the most disturbing slurping. Too soon the body was tossed aside. The gobling's corpse was still twitching. Through the dark, I could see inside its skull was now an empty cavity. Gwen belched before slumping against a wall.

I shrugged and walked up to the still twitching body. Taking the goblin's knife from my new pants, I slit his throat and held the body to my mouth. When the blood touched my lips, I felt a feeling of euphoria course through my veins.

Ping!

Quest: Bring Someone Back Alive

Reward: +2DEX +3LUK

Dexterity 14

Luck 25

Too soon the corpse was drained. Star stepped up behind me. "Well, I guess I'll take the rest. Still more left than what I usually get." Star sprayed the corpse with silk and cocooned it quickly. Long powerful fangs erupted from her midsection where her human half met her spider body. They stuck the corpse and loaded the body full of venom. After a few minutes of waiting she began to drink the corpse through her tongue.

She turned back to me and smiled. "Would you like a sip? There's a lot more than I thought." I froze for a second before I regained myself.

"No thank you. We're going to have to take turns resting and watching them." I said.

"I'll store them for later." Star muttered. "This one needs some time to ripen anyway."

She tied the body to the ceiling before cocooning the others. I was glad she left their heads exposed.

Level ten had been easy to reach. I was so weak that the xp poured in. Unfortunately, I reached the level cap. Unlike Gwen, I had to jump to the next stage, or my evolution would halt here. While other AI had skill levels, I could only increase levels and spawn random encounters. To purchase another function as an AI, I needed 41 more levels. Unless I wanted to purchase one of the cheaper applications.

Trusting Star while Gwen was knocked out was foolish. Nothing was on our trail, so we had time to wait. Once Gwen woke up, I'd reach for the plebe stage. The only problem was blood. I needed more of it and flesh too. These Goblings wouldn't keep us fed long.

Ping!

Quest: Farm a species

Reward: + 5 INT