Crater Creator

5. Dark Rumors

I follow the dark path to a ledge, overlooking a whole army of Goblins with a big hairy beast standing in front of the entire hoard. I take a closer look with my binoculars. Oh no, I think that is the Troll. This thing has full Dwarvish armor, but it is all dirty and covered in blood. With a helmet that does not look like it goes with the armor. I think I see two Goblins' carrying a sack. Something seems to be moving in the sack. It is a light brown, and it appears to be soaked in something liquid. The Troll is raising its arms as if it is about to give a speech.

"My dear, fellow Goblin's, as I stand here before you, I give to you a gift, for your victorious fight against the Dwarf miners. In this drenched sack, I present to you," the Troll dumps out the sack, "Nalak, warden of the one true king, Gimrak. This 'royal guard' is supposed to be to watch Gimrak make sure he doesn't 'act badly'." His fork tongue hisses like a snake, his mouth forms an evil smile, he begins drooling from his lips. Nalak lays bound with rope and is naked of his weapons, "How do you know this, beast," Nalak grunted back. "So glad to see you haven't been dead this whole time. I was starting to worry. Also very good word choice, beast. Such an emotional adjective, what would ever make you think that I was a beast? Is it that I choose to not live in the city or I live in caves, maybe it's because I am not intelligent?" The Troll gasps, "Well what you think, which one is it? I believe it is zilch, not one of those is correct. I am the smartest of all my kind thanks to your prince.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that Gimrak came to me. That, uh what is it called? Oh, it was the Blood-Jumper, the illegal teleporting portable machine." He swept his brown arm over the huge horde of Goblins, "To my entire fellow nasty's the Blood-Jumper is called such a name because it requires blood to work. When the Blood-Jumper gets a higher amount of blood, it will travel farther. To travel this far from Vontüll it would have to take all the blood in a Dwarf's body. Am I to think that Gimrak is behind a murder? Why do believe I am. Anyways Gimrak killed some random Dwarf is not very important, and Gimrak used the machine to teleport to me. He said the reason why was because he did research on the Crater Creator and mapped the path to its location. The path led through the very mountain where the mining camp used to be. He had taken the life of a fellow Dwarf so he would not have to walk the whole way. Gimrak appeared at the mouth of the Mountain. He followed the trail toward the entrance of the Mountain, where he found the nastiest, horrific, and gruesome Goblin's." The Goblins let out a guttural cheer. "He wandered into a cave to find that I was picking my teeth with bone. I was still but a simpleton, scratching my head as I saw Gimrak appear before me. I, of course, lunged for my wooden club, but Gimrak caught my attention with something shiny. As you know, Oh mighty Nalak, Trolls are neutral and calm if they see a shiny object.

Gimrak sat down in front of me holding the shiny object. He said with a gentle voice," 'Troll, tell me your name!" I froze before I spat out, "Gon, name Gon." "Gimrak continued with," "Gon I want you to lead and control the smarms of Goblin's that pillage these Mountains. In return, I will give you this shiny thing. It will grant you knowledge and intelligence." " I accepted it." Gon acknowledged as he pointed his dry and sausage finger at the old, dirty, and perfectly fitted gold helmet. "I took up the helm, placed it upon my head, and I become unconscious. When I awoke, I could see farther and clearer. My head became full of questions. I found myself lying on my rock bed, with Gimrak sitting a crossed from me. He was resting on a root of an old Birch tree, with his head sleeping on his hand.

I stood up and yelled out, wake up, Dwarf! This scared the Gimrak awake, causing him to fall off the overgrown root and onto his face. I then asked, what happened to me! Why was I unconscious? Gimrak tried to explain that I had fallen into a coma, because the knowledge rushed too quickly into my brain, and I could not handle it. Gimrak said I was out for two days. I will not bore you with the rest of the minor details, the big question I asked was, 'Why do you want me to unite the Goblin's, and make them my army? What do you get for that?' Gimrak told me of his quest and said he wanted the Goblin's contained and to not attack him and his ally. I nodded my head and agreed to aid him.

You know I am growing tired of talking about such petty nonsense; dinner is getting close! I just told everything because I want you to be informed about why you are about to die. Wouldn't want to be crude, now would I?"

I see that Gon disappeared into the darkness and came back with a monstrous sword. I have to stop this or else Nalak will become a buffet.

I take a step back and reach for my bow. Come to find out I have but one arrow. "I've got one shot at this. I must aim for somewhere that will either draw the most attention or aim for a spot that will injure Gon." I scanned the Troll for any exposed spots; I saw nothing. I then looked up to find big boulders. The only thing that prevented it from falling was a log, attached to the walls by a durable string of rope. I thought shooting the rope was my only option. The boulders were stuck in a cave wall, directly over Gon. I nocked my arrow, prayed to Aizel, let out a deep breath, then shot the arrow.

I heard the rope snap and watched as the boulders rolled out of the cave, and plummeted onto Gon's head. The helm of knowledge was knocked off his head and the Goblins swarmed around it. One picked it up and equipped the helm, soon after a Goblin lunged for the helmet. There quickly became a fight for the helm. They unsheathed their weapons and began hacking and slashing amongst themselves. Gon became frightened and cowered away from a large amount of Goblins. He ran into a cave wall and dissolved into the background.

Nalak wiggled free from the ropes and I called from the ledge. He surprisingly glanced up to find me lowering a rope for him to climb. At first, he ran into the shadows and returned with his iron mighty hammer and armor. Nalak then reached for the helm of knowledge and threw far away from the rope. The Goblins scattered and cowered away from Nalak, and ran towards the crown.

I tied the rope to the cave wall, then pulled Nalak up as he ascended the rope. We were lucky to find the Goblins had no interest in us anymore. After a few more yanks at the rope, Nalak had reached the ledge. He grabbed and shouted, "We have to get out of here now!" Without hesitation, I snatched up the rope and scurried through the cave hole.

We found no Goblins on the other side of the cave wall. Nalak grabbed me and ran down a long rocky corridor. The hall ended with an opening with light spewing. When we walked through the hole, we were finally outside the Dwarven Mountain.

There was a stream flowing out of the Dwarven Mountain, containing freshwater. Nalak throws his items beside the Fig Tree, cups his hands, and splashes water onto his face. He cleaned his stab wounds, and all the blood off him. After his "bath," he slept under the Fig Tree. I figured that it would be best if I sleep too, I am exhausted from all that rescuing. I lay my head atop winter coat from my bag, just so I do not sleep on a rock.

I dream of home, my nice warm bed. The blanket is covered with the pelt of a white sheep. My pillow is stuffed with feathers, and I am at peace. A young Gnome woman walks through my bedroom door with a plate of food; the food smells enchanting, a multitude of flowers highlight the margins. I look up to find that the woman is dressed in silk clothing with a golden tiara resting on her apple-colored hair. Two Gnomelings try to sneak into the room, wearing cotton shirts and trousers. The two pop up on opposite sides of the beds. Both are little girls, they both have big grins lying on their delicate faces. The Gnome woman whispers into my ear and says, "Don't leave us; we love you for who you are, Christopher." Her breath at first smelled like mint and then changed into the smell of death. The children transformed into two nasty Goblins. The woman ripped off the Gnome disguise and took the form of a dark and Reptile like creature. The room filled with decay, my bed covers looked like Dwarves corpses. I tried to move, but my legs remained frozen. The creature yelled, "You haven't seen the truth!"