Kid Quest

Unfamiliar Reunion

Trixie awoke to the feeling of a cool summer breeze as it blew through the dew covered grass that surrounded her. The birds chirped their early morning songs as she sat up, her back damp from the wet grass. As she stood and looked around, Trixie couldn't help but notice her belongings were missing. Her mind slowly became more clear as she oriented herself, and soon she saw the culprit. Trixie rubbed her eyes in disbelief and looked again. It was true, a hideous goblin-like gnome was running away with her backpack!

Without thinking, she gave chase. Past small bodies of water, flowing rivers, bushes, trees, and deep into a thick forest, before the creature was able to outrun her. She looked around at her new surroundings. It was dark. Trixie didn't know how long she'd been running, but it felt as though night was upon her. Each step she took only brought her deeper into the woods, the leaves and twigs echoing as her boots crunched through them. She was lost, but she followed the chitters of the gnome as it scuttled in the distance. Soon her vision was completely blackened, the thick canopy of leaves obstructing even light of what she assumed was the moon. Suddenly, her foot caught a root. She fell. Trixie's back struck the ground and her chest locked. She'd been winded, and panic soon set in.

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A small knight, adorned in goblin armor, traveling along a winding path, stopped at a tree not far from a nest entrance. Sep Talie Myrkul, as the cave dwelling monsters have dubbed him, wore a mismatch of several different armors, each taken from a goblin knight of varying rank. His sword, a broad-edged short-sword, clanged against his shield, both of which resided on his back, as he drew ever closer to the gnomes' main nest. As always, the only thing blocking the entrance was a single piece of stone, a slab the gnomes believed would conceal their hideout, only for it to be the most obvious part of the nest. He drew his sword, its edges stained with the blood of goblins, gnomes and trolls, and his shield, readying himself as he always did. He placed his foot against the slab and shoved as hard as he could, letting out a loud gutteral roar as he charged through the entrance.

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Trixie stumbled franticly through the dark, through this tiny maze in which she found herself trapped. Panicked and disoriented, she was struck by roots, stones, cobwebs, and a multitude of other things the gnomes seemed to have scattered throughout their hideout, each suddenly and violently causing a new jolt of fear to emerge, as fresh as when she'd first fallen into this sightless nightmare. Noises from behind drove her ever deeper, in both darkness and fear. Then, suddenly, she tripped, tumbling down a long slope, hitting the walls, the stones that littered the ground, the roots from above, until finally coming to a stop.

Silence, a peaceful sound even to Trixie. She let out her tears and wailings, screaming for her mother to wake her from the nightmare. But no one came. When her eyes ran dry and her voice died out, Trixie heard the scuttling of the gnomes that had been following her and sat up. Unlike before, this part of the cave was lit, and Trixie was able to see everything around her. They came from all directions, teeth sharpened. Knife wielding, flesh eating gnomes charged for Trixie. Then, all at once, they stopped, as a bellowing roar echoed through the cave, followed by a giant stone slab flying into the gnomes. It flew past Trixie with such speed that she didn't have time to see the creatures flatten.

Sep Talie Myrkul stepped through the entrance, his silhouette surrounded by sunlight that poured in from the entrance. Seething rage and hot steam fumed from his helmet as he looked around.

He noticed Trixie and stopped, raising his sword to point at her, "Human," he questioned, "or shifter?"

"Human." She replied on impulse, fear still driving her actions.

He sheathed his sword and shield, as if able to sense the truth in her desperation, and stepped closer. She saw his armor, black as night, mismatched, 'He must be some kind of rogue goblin,' she thought to herself, 'like those board games Mommy and Daddy play'. And he looked the part, a goblin of unknown origin, adorned in the armor of the creatures he'd slain. A reasonable deduction for someone so fearful, especially one as imaginative as Trixie.

He reached out his hand and she took it, hesitantly, as her fear slowly subsided. She wondered who he was, where he'd come from, and why he was helping her, but couldn't think of anything that made sense, and couldn't bring herself to ask. He looked around, taking note of the amount of gnome corpses crushed beneath the stone slab that once acted as this nest's door.

"I lost my gear." Trixie said, "One of those gnomes grabbed my pack."

"Best leave it be," he replied in a cold tone, "Corpse Eaters will come. We'll head to the nearest town."

There was a pause, a notable reluctance to agree, but that soon subsided as Trixie's stomach gave a low growl. She groaned and nodded her head, and with the knight at the front, leading the way, they began their walk to the nearest town, Mistveil.