The Rescue part 1

Jonas looked around the corner to look at the goblins. He could only see one of the larger goblins with maybe five of the other regular ones. He waited a minute, but there wasn't any sign of the gray skinned one. Which wasn't surprising, since he only saw it that one time right before he returned to the rest of his team. Although, he did notice that they had torches that it looked like they planned on lighting when it got darker.

Jonas turned back to the rest of the group. "Okay, it looks like there's one of the larger goblins in sight and when it gets darker, they have torches I think they'll light up," Jonas informed them.

Elmo the squeezed next to Jonas to look around the corner. "Let's see," Elmo muttered. "Ah! There it is! View Stats!"

Elmo then was silent a few minutes and the rest of the team waited patiently. Jonas didn't see the need to rush things, although he did feel the press of time in regards to what he could only imagine was happening to the girls.

"I see," Elmo finally said, moving back away from the corner. "The larger goblins are called 'bugbears' and are massively strong and dumber than the regular goblins, but it seems they have the temperament of a toddler when they don't get what they want."

Kim chuckled, "Sounds like a man," she remarked quietly.

Jonas shook his head at that, pretty sure he wasn't going to ever change Kim's mind about men in general.

"So, how do you want to handle this?" Jonas asked. "Should I scout out ahead in the shadows and return after a bit and drink a mana potion? Or should we start the operation now?"

Kim thought for a minute, both Elmo and Elin waiting patiently for Kim to decide. "Let's wait for it to get dark enough for them to light the torches," Kim said finally. "That way there'll be more shadows for you to work with rather than what little we have right now." Kim then tosses Jonas a mana potion. "However, take that with you. We can't say how long a scouting trip will take and it might be the only opportunity we'll actually have. So, you should go with the intention of getting them out of there right away and only fall back if it looks like it's not going to work so well."

Jonas nodded as he put the potion in a small pouch that had come attached to his clothing. "Got it. I'll drink it once I feel I need to," Jonas replied.

That said, he settled in to wait for it to get darker. The wait giving him time to think. Time which he used to go over what he'd already determined to do, although now all the doubts that he'd managed to push away up until now began to eat away at his confidence.

Such as what if he needed to drink the mana potion while he was in the center of the room, where every goblin could see. What if Kim and Elmo attacking only brought half or so of the goblins in the room. What if the girls resisted being saved or even were determined to stay with the goblins?

While some of those possibilities were so unlikely to be almost impossible, he couldn't deny that it was possible that they would occur. For one thing, he didn't know the power structure or the political makeup of the goblins, so if there was an attack, not all of the goblins might feel the need to join in the effort to stop it. In regards to the girls, he didn't know them at all, so as far as he knew, they might prefer being with the goblins, doing whatever it was that the goblins had in mind for them.

He couldn't imagine why they would want to stay, but at the same time, he couldn't argue that some people did some strange things at times that he could never understand. Like how a few people he'd known that hadn't been suicidal before, committed suicide by cop seemingly at the first opportunity they had.

Then there was the fact that if things didn't go well for them, he couldn't guarantee that the girls wouldn't be recaptured almost right away. In addition, they'd probably take Elin as well, although they might try for Kim, but Jonas could imagine them killing Kim because she wouldn't stop fighting. Jonas and Elmo, however, would likely be killed out of hand if things didn't go so well.

Yet, he knew that they needed to at least try. If nothing else, he knew that he'd never be able to let it go if he didn't so much as try. Especially since he'd tried his entire life to live by a code he'd constructed for himself. Similar to the character on NCIS that he'd seen, Gibbs, who'd made rules for himself to live by, Jonas had established a code of conduct for himself that helped him govern choices he made.

One of the most important for himself had been to help those who couldn't help themselves when he had a chance. Only then would he know truly that he was who he wanted to be. Or at least in line with that. Another part of his code that also applied here was the fact that he didn't like bullies and these goblins seemed like a bully group. Taking these bullies down a few pegs was almost a necessary step in this process.

Then the last part of his code that applied to this was to always live in a way that reflected well on his parents. While some might not see the connection, he always felt that no matter what he did, it would reflect on how his parents raised him. They were always there for him when he was growing up, or at least to the best of their ability. He never blamed them for when they weren't able to, because he understood more than they probably gave him credit for then.

Although, part of that was to do what he knew was right, even if his parents had instructed him differently. Because he acknowledged that his paretns had their own flaws, but that didn't mean he had to share in at least some of those flaws. Instead, he knew that he had to work with what he knew was right, regardless of what the world around him said was right.

In his opinion, yes, millions of people can be wrong. More often than most people care to admit. Especially with how often history had recorded many such instances. One prime example being various superstitions.

Jonas jumped when he felt Elin tap him on the shoulder.

"Sorry," Elin squeaked. "Kim said the goblins are lighting the torches."

Jonas nodded. "Thanks. I'll check my MP then start the operation.

Hp 56/56

Mp 15/19

Stamina 12

Level 2

EXP

Str 15

Dex 20

Con 15

Int 14

Wis 11

Cha 12

Agi 16

Vit 11

Endurance 11

Physical Resistance 10%

Magical Resistance 10%

Skills:

Appraisal 90/100

Disabling/Enabling devices 0/100

Keen Eyes II 75/250

Keen Ears II 14/250

Unnatural Reflexes 25/100

Stealth II 50/300

Abilities:

Shadow Merge – 4mp initial, 1mp each minute 95/100

Crippling Strike – 6 stamina 0/100

Jonas couldn't help but be a little annoyed that he hadn't recovered all of his MP, but that just meant it would be four minutes earlier than he'd hoped before he would absolutely need to drink at least part of the mana potion.

Sighing, he looked towards Kim. "I'll go now. Give me a few minutes to get in place before you start your distraction. If I don't see an opening to save the girls, then I'll think of something else to do to help eliminate all the goblins," he said.

"No problem," Kim remarked. "We'll see if there's any goblins left over for you to get a strike in when you're done."

Jonas chuckled. "Well, I'll be off," he said as he melted into the shadows.

Even though he'd done this the night before, it felt weird to see everything suddenly get much brighter. Not the kind of bright where you needed to shield your eyes, but rather brighter where everything was easier to see.

It was an odd experience, although, as he willed himself to move through the hall, it felt like he was floating through the air. Kind of what he'd imagined being a ghost would feel like when he was a kid. It felt exhilarating and creepy at the same time.

Then there were the sounds. Everything sounded like it was muffled and voices sounded a lot different. Jonas couldn't make a sound if he wanted to, as he had learned the previous time he'd done this.

One thing he hadn't expected when he started out this time was that the torches cast areas of blackness in front of him. He couldn't see what was in that blackness, and as he passed it by, his left hand brushed against it and almost caused him to be forced out of the shadows from the pain.

He assumed the blackness was the light cast by the torches, and if that's what it felt like to just brush against the torchlight, he couldn't imagine what it would feel like if he was in the shadows when daytime came around.

Shaking his head to clear it, he looked around the room and saw where the girls had been put. Each had a goblin forcing themselves on them while both merely stared blankly towards the ceiling.

Jonas hoped that the girls were in shock at the moment, that they would have a chance at recovering from this, but he couldn't say for sure. The only thing he could be absolutely certain of was that they probably wouldn't put up any resistance of him pulling them into the shadows.

He wasn't sure really how long he spent seeing if there was anything he could do to get the goblins to leave the girls alone while he pulled them into the shadows, but nothing came to mind. Then suddenly while he couldn't say what sounds were what, he could see that all goblins were startled by something, then a moment after that, they all began to move towards where he knew Kim was. Which meant that her distraction was now under way.

However, despite what he knew he really should do, he first moved towards the goblins that had been on top of the girls a moment before. They clearly hadn't finished what they had wanted to do, their members wagging between their legs as they drew their weapons and moved towards whatever distraction Kim had come up with.

Jonas drew his daggers in the shadows, then letting just his arms come out of the shadows and with one slash with each of his daggers, the manhood of both goblins fell to the floor.

Jonas had expected an immediate reaction, but it seems like while the organ was sensitive, getting castrated didn't register in their minds immediately. However, before long, the goblins were doubled over in pain, not comprehending what just happened, let alone how.

Satisfied with his hand in the karmic retribution, Jonas quickly moved over to the girls. Then as Jonas got to where the girls lay, still breathing but otherwise unresponsive, he reached out to pull them in, only to find that he was pulling himself out of the shadows the more he tried pulling them in.

Eventually, he decided that he needed to bring himself out of the shadows and try to just melt back into the shadows with the girls. However, that meant he would need to drink the potion then, since he knew the activation cost of the skill would probably drain him too much to otherwise even get them anywhere.

Yet, when he got the potion out, that's when he realized the gray skinned goblin was watching him from where it had been sitting in a corner maybe fifteen feet away, eating what looked like a turkey leg. It's eyes narrowed at Jonas menacingly.

While he wasn't really a betting man, he wouldn't put much money on his being able to get the girls out that quickly with the goblin that close to him. He expected that he was going to have to fight this goblin, which was probably going to be harder than the other goblins, and maybe even the bugbears. Yet, if he didn't, he doubted that he'd be able to do what he'd been determined to do.

So, as soon as he drank about half the potion, he quickly drew his daggers. If he had waited a moment longer, the turkey leg that the goblin threw at him probably would have distracted him more. Instead, he was able to deflect it and not be caught off guard as the goblin charged at him, with its bare hands like claws.