Sheathing his sickle, he then wipes his brow and asks, "How are you feeling, Lil?"
She gives Locke a blank glance and an exasperated sigh, "Tired."
"Maybe we should take some rest," Locke suggests. "But we'd better do it in concealment – after all, those Orcs are still out there. How about you put those candles out for a while?"
Lil nods and waves her hands once more at the chandelier on the floor with the candles, snuffing them out instantly.
Locke moves beside her and sits down next to her before suggesting, "Let's sit back to back, and watch our for each other. I dunno about you, but I'm hungry. Wanna eat?"
"Yeah, definitely," Lil replies, as our Heroes sit, back to back, withdrawing a day's worth of their rations and enjoying some rest to recover – the stench of charred bones hanging in the air as the Ogre's remains smolder. After a half hour's rest in the darkness of the Ogre's cell, our Heroes finally find the strength within themselves to press on, both thankful that no guards or the Orcs from earlier had found or possibly even looked for them.
Locke looks to Lil and says, "So, let's carry on. You wanna lead the way?"
Lilanei grins, "Sure, if you're scared. . ."
"I'm not scared!" Locke announces defensively before he realizes that Lil has already walked out of the door. She calls to him, telling him to hurry up, and he soon follows. Lil walks across the hall and looks to the door; pressing her left ear against the wood of the door and concentrating, she tries to hear if anything lurks behind the door, but she hears nothing.
She grimaces and begins to reach for the door handle, "Well, I don't hear anything. . ."
"Hold on," Locke says, putting his hand over hers to stop her from opening the door. "Let me listen."
Locke presses his ear to the door and closes his eyes, concentrating deeply. After a few moments, he hears a sound akin to some boulders falling over as well as some movement. He looks to Lil, opening his eyes and announcing, "I don't know how confident you feel, but there's something in there, and after meeting our rather large friend back there, I dunno if I wanna open this door."
Lil frowns and looks to her right, down the corridor and says, "Shall we carry on then?"
"Can do," Locke replies as he watches Lil walk down the hallway, himself following close behind. Lil stops after about another twenty feet and once again notices two doors either side of her. Locke stops by bumping into her as his vision is nowhere as perceptive as her own.
"Why did we stop?" Locke asks.
"Why do you think?" Lil responds coolly.
"I dunno; you tell me." Locke answers, still oblivious.
"Doors, you buffoon!" Lil cries in frustration. "Now, which one do you want to take?"
"The one on the right,” he replies.
Before she opens the door, Lil once again presses her ear against the door, trying to listen in and see if anything is behind it. Lil listens intently through the door but hears nothing. She concentrates, and after a few minutes, she deduces there is nothing, at least harmful, in the room.
Lilanei turns to Locke and announces, "I'm sure this time – there's nothing in there."
With that, she reaches for the door handle and opens the door. Lil steps through the door with Locke behind her and the pair scan the room, only to find it is indeed an empty room.
"Argh," Lil grunts.
"Nothing here," Locke replies, stating the obvious.
The two stand in the room for a moment when they suddenly hear some footsteps. The footsteps get louder with each moment, signifying that something is approaching their position. Lil hides by pressing her back against the wall so that she is out of sight from outside the room. Locke follows suit by doing the same on the opposite side of the door. They stand perfectly still and stay silent as shadows form from the light that creeps in through the door. The footsteps resume as two small creatures, both brandishing weapons enter the room – a pair of Goblin slaves. The two Goblins look around and cackle evilly, hoping that they have found the two intruders that the band of Orcs reported to their leader about just moments earlier. Lil gives Locke a sideways glance from her side of the door, gesturing towards her dagger with a questionable look. Locke looks back to Lil and points to the Goblin closest to her. He motions with his hand towards the Goblin and then slices his finger across his own throat. He then points to the Goblin by him and waves while shaking his head.
With a cry, Lil attacks the Goblin in front of her. She unsheathes her dagger, diving towards the Goblin's neck. The cry causes the Goblin to turn around, only to see Lil's dagger plunge deep into its throat. The Goblin's eyes roll into the back of its head and it falls backwards as her bloody dagger slides out of its throat. Locke sidesteps, blocking the doorway and the second Goblin's only chance of escape.
"Now, unless you want to end up like your friend there, you'll answer a few questions I have," Locke orders, glaring at the Goblin. The Goblin snorts in fear and cowers slightly, becoming smaller to our Heroes than it was before.
"I said talk!" Locke shouts, causing the Goblin to jump. "And don't try to take us by surprise. I've got a crossbow, she's got. . . magic! And we've both already laid waste to your big Ogre friend back there, so I suggest you tell us a few things."
"Wha-what do you want to know?" The Goblin stutters shrilly. "I am merely a little Goblin slave to these disgusting Orcs."
"We want to know who exactly leads this ugly little band, and where we can find him or her," Locke says.
"Why should I tell you?" The Goblin snaps. "If I tell you, my master will kill me!"
Lil holds up her dagger, already dripping with Goblin's blood and points it menacingly at his long, pointy nose, "Because if you don't, we'll kill you!"
The Goblin looks at the dagger and looks up to Lil; he sighs and drops his head, "Alright, I'll talk. In answer to your question about who leads us, his name is Glorak. He's an Orc from Wormsmoor and he basically picked up a loose straggle of Orc warriors whose leader had died a few days beforehand. He's nobody special in the Orc hierarchy, but he thinks more of himself than what he actually is. He and his Orc band have come here to prey upon the human mine workers who travel to the mine near what I assume is your town. We've been pillaging the miners on their way home after dark. I dunno how you knew of us, or how you found us, but now you're here, perhaps I could offer you a little deal."
Lil interjects, "Don't trust him, Locke."
Locke looks back at Lil, "Why not? What have we got to lose?"
"Our heads?" Lil snaps.
"But he's one little Goblin, who looks like he might do exactly as we say."
She lowers her head and sighs, "Well, don't blame me if I have drag your corpse back to the master."
Locke turns back to the Goblin and announces, "Tell us your deal."
"Well, Glorak and his thugs stumbled upon myself, my brother, who you just killed," he begins, glaring slightly at Lil, "and a few more Goblins. They're held up in a cell not too far from here and we're only let out to do their dirty work in exchange for a bit of food, and that they won't kill us – yet. Please, I beg you, if I take you to Glorak, spare me!"
Locke turns to Lil and asks, "So, what do you think?"
Lil glares at the Goblin, looking right into his eyes. The Goblin catches her glance and twitches slightly under the pressure of her glare.
"I still don't trust him," Lil announces, angrily.
"Please, trust me!" The Goblin exclaims. "I don't want this life, living under Glorak. We're doomed to stay here, hiding in the shadows and coming out just to mug a few helpless humans. He doesn't stand a chance of infiltrating Illias and killing all the inhabitants like he plans. All he'll ever does is sit on his fat backside and count the gold coins he takes from his victims."
"So if I do free you," Locke begins, "what exactly are you going to do?"
"Me?" The Goblin asks, his eyes mischievously glinting. "If I ran things, we'd do more than just waste our time here. I'd take Illias and I'd make it a breeding ground for all Goblin-kind! All the Goblins of the land would respect me, and humans would fear me!"
Lil glances at Locke blankly, arms crossed across her chest as she taps her foot. Locke looks to Lil and shrugs his shoulders.
He then grins as he looks to the Goblin, "I wasn't the best person to say that to. You want to turn our home in a Goblin hovel, huh? I'm done with you. Lil, why don't you experiment on him? Try a spell you've never used or something."
As our two heroes debate on the Goblin's fate, the Goblin decides to try and fight for its life. The Goblin quickly unsheathes its short sword and takes swipe at Locke's hand, slicing his palm. As Locke cries in surprise, the Goblin turns to Lil and prepares to strike, but as he tries to lunge forward, he trips over the body of his fallen brother. Angry, Locke withdraws his sickle and dives at the Goblin, plunging the sickle deep within his back. The Goblin emits a gurgle and lies motionless, dropping its sword in front of Lil's feet. Locke sheathes his sickle and stands up, kicking the corpse of the Goblin he just killed.
"Damned Goblin," He mutters. "That smart!"
"I told you I didn't trust him,” Lil spits in annoyance.
"Sorry," Locke replies. "I was just playing with him. I guess I underestimated him since he was so small."
"But you have so much in common," Lil says slowly with a grin.
Locke says nothing; instead he simply spits on the back of the Goblin's green head. Lilanei glances through the doorway to the door across the hall.
"Well, we might as well try that door next," She says as she walks into the hallway and reaches for the handle. The door easily swings open as Locke stands by her side.
"I can't see much," Locke comments.
"No problem," Lil cheerfully announces as she takes her orb out of her pouch and waves her hand over it. A light flickers in the centre of the orb before a bright light illuminates the room. The two look in front of them and see a table with three different coloured bottles on it as well as a closed door behind the table. Locke steps forward towards the table and looks at the three dusty bottles. One bottle is red, the bottle next to that is green, and the bottle on the right is red as well.
"Hm, I don't recognize any of these," Locke announces. "Akorinn never taught me about funny coloured drinks. Did he ever teach you?"
"Oh," Lilanei groans. "Let me look!"
She peers at the bottles before blowing quickly on the table to blow the dust off them. She immediately recognizes that the center bottle is a bottle containing Snake Venom. The two bottles either side of it contain Potion of Healing. Lil picks up both, turns to Locke, and hands him one of the bottles.
"Here," She says. "You're always diving into trouble, so you'll need one of these."
"What it is?" Locke asks. "Berry juice?"
"It's a potion, you moron!" Lil cries.
"So what was the other bottle?"
She grins very deviously and sarcastically states. "Why, it's apple juice.”
Locke narrows his eyes at her before announcing, "If I drank that, what would you honestly do?"
She smiles, "Tell Akorinn you fell in a pit?"
"Okay, so it's bad," Locke replies.
"Maybe," She says in a sing-song voice before waltzing from the table while Locke stuffs the bottle of potion away, shortly joining Lil in front of the door.
"Well, should we listen?" Lil asks, looking to Locke.
"Yeah, I think it'd be best," Locke replies.
Locke presses his ear to the door and immediately hears a snort from the other side. His eyes widen and he presses his ear further against the door before he and Lil hear a voice.
"I don't care!" It roars. "Find those two humans and bring them here, so that I may kill them and eat their bones!"
Locke looks up to Lil and whispers, "I think our VIP is in there."
"Well then, there's only one thing we can do," Lil states plainly.
"Okay," he answers. "Are you ready?"
To which she sighs, "Ready as I'll ever be."
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