Izzy, Chapter 9: A Lone Goblin is a Dead Goblin (Patreon)

The third day, and the third attempt, saw Izzy and the fairies gathered around Mother Oak. The failed attempts — sabotaged, really — had at least given the fairies time to determine exactly which directions the spider might come from. It didn’t come often, probably because it didn’t have anything alive hanging from the tree, but it still checked in a few times every day, supposably in case something had gotten stuck in its webs.

One of the braver fairies had also followed the spider to find two more web-covered trees. These were also large oaks, though not comparable to Mother Oak. They were both farther from Izzy’s “camp,” though. The fight would have to be here, because no way was Izzy walking any farther than she had to for these unreliable little bastards.

In several trees, groups of fairies working together had prepared a number of decently heavy rocks. Izzy was very careful never to step under these trees, because of the Incident. Caj had proven surprisingly useful here. In comparison to the other fairies, he turned out to be a strapping young man, being the tallest of the bunch by at least half of Izzy’s thumb and actually having some visible muscle on him.

So, they were ready. Again. For the third time. Izzy had a new Viny, which was kind of just the first Viny again since she’d used the same brownie bones, but better since she now knew it wasn’t a squirrel, and it didn’t try to behave like one.  She had plenty of mana. She had lots of small, unreliable allies, which felt somehow very familiar. Her own weight in rocks were waiting in a tall tree. The trap was set.

From a bush on the other side of the oak, the spider approached. Its legs carefully felt the ground.

“On the spider!” Izzy hissed at the fairies in the tree, and then she set her plan in motion. Again.

With a long, sacrificial stick, Izzy slapped the leafy web that covered the ground under the oak. Just like the first time, the stick stuck, and Izzy shook it as though she was trying to get it free.

The spider froze. Then it burst into motion, scuttling beneath the magnificent oak towards Izzy with a terrible speed. Izzy dropped her stick and backed up, but not so much that the spider couldn't see her, and it subtly changed direction.

“Dance, minion! Dance and defend yourself!” Izzy screamed and leapt into the bushes behind her vineling. Viny shuffled awkwardly in place, holding the broken arrow like a spear. The spider zeroed in, and pounced.

Viny made a sad little attempt at a stab and went down with a clatter, the “Brownie Vineling” squiggles disappearing as the magic broke. The spider immediately began spinning a cocoon around the vines and dry bones. Right beneath the tree.

“Brambly Whatever!” Izzy shouted pointlessly, pointing her staff directly at the spider and casting Bramble Growth, pumping a considerable amount of mana into it. This had to work! Green tendrils shot out of the ground, finding the spider’s legs and wrapping tightly around them as they grew thick and woody, sprouting thorns the size of Izzy's thumb. The spider made a horrible, chittering screech and tried to leap away, but each of its legs was stuck, thorns poking into the softer spaces between their segments. It got nowhere. It was trapped.

Then it wasn’t. One leg came free. Another pulled the brambles holding out by the roots. The spider started moving, its eyes now fixed balefully on Izzy. Two fangs as long as Izzy’s foot came out, waving in her direction.

“Aah, aah! Rocks!” Izzy commanded. “Drop the rocks!”

First one, then three, then dozens of rocks ranging in size from her fist to her head fell in a torrent on the struggling arachnid. The smaller ones simply bounced, until one found a large, black eye, which popped with a splat. The bigger ones cracked green and brown mottled chitin. Faintly glowing white ichor oozed. Izzy cackled with glee as her plan finally came together, and the fairies all fell into a chorus of cheers and laughter and general verbal abuse.

Rocks fell, but the spider didn't die. The last rock disappeared inside it, and still the spider struggled. It was dazed and weakened, but still alive.

It was kind of awful, really. Izzy felt equal parts anger and pity for the wretched thing. And what if it somehow survived and got loose? No. She had to finish this herself.

She gripped her staff tightly in both hands, and with a wordless scream she bashed the spider on the head. One of its remaining eyes broke, and ichor spattered outwards as the spider thrashed weakly. Then she did it again. And again. And again, and again, and…

[Feat accomplished. Cleared a local threat: Giant Manavore Arachnid. Experience awarded.]

[New Class available: Hunter.]

[Task in Quest ‘Reclaiming Mother Oak’ complete: Defeat the Spider!]

[Quest ‘Reclaiming Mother Oak’ complete! Rewards pending.]

[Quest ‘Reclaiming Mother Oak’ status: Complete. Reward: Experience and variable. Reward pending. Claim reward now?]

Izzy only stopped bashing and screaming when there was no more head to bash. The whole top half of her staff glowed faintly, and everything within quite a distance was speckled with shiny ichor. The fairies, for once, were silent.

Caj slowly descended to eye-level as Izzy panted, still clutching her staff. “Ah, gobbo? Izzy? You okay there, then?”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah?” Izzy felt wrung out. A little dazed, almost, like when she got that rock dropped on her head.

“You didn’t tell me you’re a fecking Berzerker, did you?”

“I’m not.”

“What was that, then?”

“I don’t think I’m used to bashing heads in. Or that I like it.”

“Oh.” Caj flew around the broken spider. “Did a good job of it, though.”

“I guess?” She looked at the pile of rocks, brambles, and dead spider, then scowled. “My arrow’s in there!”

“You’ll get it back once we move the thing, won’t you?”

“How’re you going to do that?”

“In bits! And then we grill ‘em! Good eating if you can get them, spiders!”

  *

Later that afternoon, as she sat on a log by a fire while she and the fairies feasted on grilled spider, Izzy agreed that it was, indeed, good eating.

“So, goblin who ain’t a goblin,” Gram said, hovering in front of Izzy with a big chunk of spider meat on a stick in her hands. “Are you still satisfied with just our help finding your goblins that are goblins for payment?”

“Yeah. I don’t think you have anything I want, anyway. Isn’t all your stuff tiny?”

“All our stuff is perfectly sized for anyone who ain’t a bigjob.”

“Right. So, no, thank you. Besides, I’ll probably get something for finishing the Quest. Look!”

The squiggles telling Izzy that the Quest was complete were still hovering in the corner of her eye, helpfully making sure that she didn’t forget. Not entirely sure how it worked, Izzy focused on the squiggles, then repeated the last words. “Claim reward now!”

Three lines of new squiggles appeared.

[Congratulations! You have reached level 6! Visit your Summary to allocate your level.]

[Congratulations! You have reached level 7! Visit your Summary to allocate your level.]

[New Direction available: Slayer!]

Besides the squiggles, and just as Izzy had hoped, a crackling cloud of light appeared. The fairies all fluttered away with a cacophony of shouting, but Izzy was ready. As soon as she saw a bit that looked safe to hold, she grabbed it. It sat perfectly in her hand, and when the light faded she held a knife, with a sheath and everything. The fearful noise of the fairies was quickly replaced by Oos and Aas and demands to see or hold it.

Even without drawing it, Izzy could tell that this knife was much nicer than any she could remember any goblin in her tribe owning. The handle was the same mottled green and brown as the spider, and when she drew the knife it was made of a dark gray metal, slightly curved with a single edge on the inside. Squiggles appeared along the blade as she drew it, as though they’d been hidden inside the sheat the whole time.

[Spiderfang Knife: Made of lightly enchanted deep iron and spider chitin, the Spiderfang Dagger doesn’t hold the sharpest edge, but that edge will never dull. Any living thing it cuts will be mildly poisoned, so be careful!]

Izzy raised her new knife triumphantly. She didn't care that it looked more like a claw than a fang. “See?” she said. “Just what I needed! The world wants me to have nice things!”

“So it does!” Gram said with wonder. “You weren’t lolling around when you talked about having Quests and getting levels, were you?”

“Of course not! Why would I?” Izzy said importantly. “Anyway, I’m going to al-lo-cate my levels now.”

She brought up her Summary.

[Summary for Mistral, Unbound Aura (Goblin vessel)

Classes:

Goblin Shaman (5)

Total Class levels: 5

Mana: 150/150 (+6)

Skills from Goblin Shaman:

Plant Magic

Ritual Magic

Contingency Casting

Wind Magic

Non-Class Skills:

Survival

Scrapping

Leadership

Dancing

Spells Known:

From Plant Magic:

Healing Roots

Create Vineling

Bramble Growth

Directions:

Not Chosen

Unassigned Class levels: 2. Note: Class levels gained before unlocking additional Classes can only be assigned to your first Class.

You must choose a Direction before allocating any further Class levels.]

Izzy fiddled with her necklace, making the bones and teeth click and clack. She really had to choose a Direction, huh? But why not? She might as well. She’d mostly been waiting to see what the Quest gave her, anyway.

“Show me the new Direction,” she commanded. The fairies looked at her funny, but the squiggles obeyed.

[Unlocked Directions:

Goblin

Priest

Mage

Survivalist

Slayer

Slayer: Slayers are no mere hunters. Where others flee the monsters that roam the wilds, preying on the weak, Slayers seek them out, whether for glory or to ensure the safety of their communities. This Direction provides direct bonuses to strength, precision, and resilience against damage, and also unlocks Skills and Classes related to hunting and killing powerful beasts and other monsters.]

That was slightly disappointing, though with that name, Izzy wasn’t sure what she’d expected. It wasn’t that it was bad. At least she didn’t think so. Killing the spider had given her experience, beyond what the Quest had given her, and helping the fairies get their home back had felt kind of good. Maybe the Slayer Direction would help her get more quests to kill more nasty beasties like the spider? The problem was that it seemed to be all about killing, and she wasn’t sure that was something she wanted. Bashing the spider’s head in had felt kind of good, but also kind of bad? It was confusing.

No, she’d pretty much narrowed her choice of Direction down to Goblin or Mage. Priest confused her, and she was doing fine surviving as it was, so Survivalist seemed pointless. And while the lure of more mana and better magic Skills and Classes was strong, Izzy was leaning towards Goblin. It just felt right. There wasn’t any one thing she could point at that made her feel that way; It was more a sense that she was a goblin now, kind of, and she wanted to get the most out of her goblin experience.

Her mind was made up. She’d get to choose another Direction at some vague point in the future. For now, she just wanted to be more goblin.

“Goblin Direction,” she muttered, drawing more confused looks, but again the squiggles responded. “I pick that.”

[Direction chosen: Goblin. Go forth, and do goblin things.]

That’s it? Shouldn’t there be more— just more? But, no. One short line of squiggles was all she got. And she had this strange tension inside her now, like she desperately wanted something to happen. She just didn’t know what.

As though it were responding to her complaints, another line showed

[New Quest: A Lone Goblin is a Dead Goblin. Reward: Experience and variable.]

[New Ongoing Task in Quest ‘A Lone Goblin is a Dead Goblin’: Find more goblins!]

A new Quest was nice, sure. And it was what she’d meant to do next, anyway. But it didn’t release the tension. Maybe she needed to assign her Classes? That was what she’d been about to do, anyway. She was just about to do that, when—

Hey! Hey, thief! Can you hear me? You can hear me, can’t you! You can! Finally! Give it back! Give me my body back!

A furious voice, like her own but different, rang inside her head, and Izzy yelped and fell backward off her log.