No Storm Lasts Forever, a DND inspired story, by Allan Concillado

Chapter One: Nightstone, Part Two

     Sorvex opened the door to the cottage. There may be some good loot in here, he thought. He was welcomed with the smell of expired food, for the kitchen was on the first floor. In the middle of the room was the kitchen counter. Utensils were neatly hung from the ceiling by boxes and ropes. The counter, how ever, was messy and mixed up with utensils, rotting food, and just everyday items. There was a chest in the left corner and a brick oven to the right. Facing the front of the house where the windows were, the sink was overflowing with dishes with mold growing on them.

     He went towards the chest, pinching his nose, and opened it. It was empty. "How disappointing," Sorvex muttered.

     "It's the goblins mom! They're in our house!" a voice called from above

     "Sush, my child, or else they'll hear us," another voice replied.

      Sorvex heard two muffled voices up on the second floor. Civilians? How and why are they still here? He thought. He started towards the stairs with his hands up. There was a small crack in the door on the top of the stairs. He saw a pair of eyes there. "I mean no harm. I'm one of the adventurers here." He felt the tension in the air lessen as he told them who he was. They'll pay me if I save them, he thought to himself, slightly smirking at the corner of his mouth.

     Tiny voices spoke in front of the house in an unknown language. Sorvex knew they were goblins the moment he heard their little baby voices. Three goblins were approaching the house with one large wolf. The wolf was almost as tall as him. He faced the villagers in the second floor through the door and whispered, "Sush, there's goblins outside, stay here." He got a slight glimpse of a little girl nodding. He quickly went into the kitchen and wondered what to do. Should he fight? Or should he hide? He went to the back door, but it wouldn't budge; boulders have blocked the outside and destroyed what was the restroom. He turned towards the chest. "It's a bad idea, but it's the only one I have," he mumbled to himself.

     He opened the empty container and filled it with his body and closed the lid, leaving a big enough hole to peek through. His plan was to wait for the goblins to come close and then to slit their throats, but he then had a question in mind. Why were the goblins here? Where did they come from? I should probably tell the rest of the party. The goblins entered the room without the wolf; the wolf stayed outside to guard the place.

     They did almost exactly what he was doing earlier. Then the goblins approached the chest. He prepared to jump the goblin.

     The sneeze of a child shook the roof lightly. The goblins looked up and cackled. They started to speak in their language, something Sorvex couldn't understand, and ran to the stairs. Even though he was a good-for-nothing Rogue, he still wanted to be a "hero". He jumped out of the chest and yelled, "Over here!", hoping it would get the goblins attention. It worked too well, for the wolf crashed through the windows and started to dig into his armor. The goblins seeing the downed Rogue, kept going up the stairs. They tried to open the door, giggling like crazy, but it was locked.

     They then got out their daggers and started to break down the doors. The little girl screamed as the Rogue was powerless to help. He felt defeated, he could already hear the bells of heaven ring... actually, he heard the crash of a huge bell in the distance. The wolf jumped from the sound and shockwave. With this open opportunity, he unsheathed his dagger and shoved it into the wolf's chest. It cried and whimpered in pain before falling limp on the floor.

     "Bad dog. Sit." He told the corpse of the wolf. He felt victorious, but then he remembered the civilians in the second floor. He ran up the stairs and found the broken door. "No. No, no, no, no!" He yelled as he walked up the stairs. He entered the room... and found it empty?