Chapter 15 – Quest Complete

Henderson and his group immediately backed away from the clearing where the onrushing herd of beetles was loudly approaching from, and the wolves quickly darted back towards the castle. The hobs and goblins picked up what they could of their beetles — thankfully, they’d pre-stacked the carcasses they wanted on top of the cleanly-eaten insect, and as much as they wanted it, they all knew that the body of the bull beetle wouldn’t be coming with them this time no matter how much meat it would’ve provided.

Everyone ran as fast as they could away from the impending danger and eventually Henderson realised that the herd must’ve stopped at the edge of the clearing, or at least at the body of the bull beetle, because the rumbling had stopped, and he was sure they weren’t being followed.

And then a piercing sound reached Henderson’s ears, sending a chill down his wolf-spine.

“EEEaaaaaAAArGGGHHHHH!” Came the screech. “My herd! MY HERD!”

Henderson didn’t stop and just kept running, but his ears were well-tuned to the sound. They needed to get back to the castle, not only to ensure they’d keep the food they’d collected that day, but also because if this shaman caught up with them all would be lost.

“I find you, I FIND YOU!” the goblin screamed, apparently not fazed that nobody was choosing to respond to him.

“You WAIT! THIEF! THIS WAR! WAR! I COME! DURGASH FIND YOU!”

Henderson then cursed his improved hearing and shut the sound out as best he could as he ran alongside the other dire wolves. He knew that he and the other wolves could provide transport to his army to get away quicker, but there weren’t enough wolves to go around, so it was only fair that nobody had a ride. Besides, nobody was going to ride him, wolf body or not.

A few minutes passed and the sound of the shaman’s cries died down, and Henderson managed to finally think straight again, the immediate flight response that had consumed him replaced with impending rationale.

Durgash was what the goblin had called itself, and although Henderson knew that the name could’ve been someone else’s and not actually belonging to the shaman, perhaps someone from the castle or clan the shaman was a part of, deep down he knew this was the name of a creature who was about to give him a whole lot of trouble.

Henderson and his group moved as quickly as they could through the forest until he began to recognise some of the vegetation, knowing that all it would take to be free from anyone following and home safe, would be to cross the dry wastelands up to Castle Valeri, which they did in just a few minutes.

“Welcome back, my Lord,” Grim said as soon as Henderson crossed the bridge that his three gatekeeper ogres had lowered for him and his party. “It looks like you had a very successful hunt, judging by the haul you have returned with.”

It was surprising to Henderson that Grim had addressed the dire wolf, and he wondered if the annoying hob had been expecting any kind of response from the creature. Instead, though, Henderson left his wolf to go about its own business and a few moments later walked to the entranceway in his regular, two-legged form from within the castle.

“Successful?” Henderson retorted to the hob. “You call this successful? Have you counted how many goblins have returned with us, Grim, or do you not care about the lives of your little cousins?”

“To make an omelette, my Lord, you do need to break some eggs,” Grim replied almost sarcastically. “Though, what I mean to say is that you went out in search of sustenance for you and your minions, and it seems that you have returned with more than enough. Certainly more than I had expected you would return with on your very first hunt outside these castle walls.”

Henderson looked at the small army behind him and the little stack of beetles they carried, along with the goblins who did their best not to drop any of the fruits or vegetation - though somewhat unsuccessfully, if he might say so himself.

“So, this food is okay, then?” Henderson asked, his tone shifting. He’d been worried on the journey back to Castle Valeri that all the food they had managed to gather and bring back would amount to no more than one good feast. Especially seeing how quickly his creatures had managed to devour the first beetle he had killed all by himself.

“It is indeed, my Lord. If we place this meat and other… uh… things into the storerooms within the castle, then it will provide adequate sustenance for our citizens for, oh, I would say a week. Combined with the water from the well, my Lord, I believe that we have everything covered for our immediate needs. And if you wish, you may send the goblins back out onto their cleaning duties.”

“Good,” Henderson said. “Send the food to where it needs to be and get the goblins back to their work. I want this place clean enough to… well, eat from.”

“At once, my Lord. And is there anything else I can do for you this fine day?”

Henderson squinted at the hob, wondering how satisfying it would be to punch the thing square in the nose. But he held his anger.

“Have you ever heard of something called a ‘Durgash’?”

Grim brought a long finger up to his chin and scratched the small tuft of hair that sat there. He gave a long, faraway stare over Henderson’s shoulder before he opened his eyes as though in some kind of recognition, and spoke again.

“No, my Lord, I don’t believe so.”

“You don’t believe…”

“Not to my knowledge, my Lord.”

“Right,” Henderson said, placing a hand on his forehead, doing everything he could to tamp down his anger. Then he explained to Grim what had happened out there and the proclamation of war from this ‘Durgash’.

“Ah, I do understand now, my Lord. And Durgash is almost definitely the name of this creature - many of those out there like to refer to themselves in the third person. It is exactly how I have already told you: when creatures of Chaos sense weakness or see an opportunity to gain power for themselves, they will take it. That is why it is important for you to grow and expand this castle and its defences.”

“How long will it take to find out who and where we are?” Henderson asked, his hand still attached to his forehead.

“Oh, it will not be long, my Lord. A week or two at the most, I am quite sure. A few castles have been left empty after the war with the City, but this one is in working order, perhaps more so than the others, so it will become apparent where we are located sooner rather than later.”

Henderson shut his eyes. This was all he needed on top of everything else he had to do to baby this place back into functionality. But then with his eyes closed, he saw a deep red notification flashing in his vision.

Hidden quest complete

Collect food for your castle to keep your subjects satiated.

Reward: 10 CP

Henderson’s eyes flashed open at the sight of the notification. He’d known about the quest to tidy up the place after it’d been announced, but this one seemed to come from out of the blue. What was more, was that with this additional boost to his CP, he had a grand total of eighteen points to spend. And that meant he could replace the lost goblin right away if he so chose to.

But then he had a decision to make. Was one new goblin just as good as levelling up his other creatures? He had no idea how much CP he was going to get as time went on, and making a simple mistake like this early on could mean the difference between life and death, especially if this Durgash monster was going to catch up with him.

“Grim?” Henderson asked slowly, swallowing as much of his pride as he could manage.

“You are about to ask what you should spend your new Chaos Points on, I presume, my Lord?”

“How did…”

“I saw them appear in the castle’s available stockpile and simply deduced, my Lord.”

“Then what…”

“I believe, my Lord, it would be prudent to replenish our numbers before any levelling up is to take place.”

Henderson’s mind struggled with the concept of being continuously interrupted, but he knew he needed this advice. Plus it was unsettling how the job had managed to anticipate his line of questioning before he’d even begun to speak.

“Why?” He growled.

“Well, my Lord,” Grim replied, looking away off into the distance as if trying to figure out how to explain complex mathematics to a five-year-old. “If a force appears to attempt to overthrow this castle, and it is of a low level, your army can split into groups to repel the attackers, providing we have the numbers.”

“And if it’s high level, and just a few invaders?” Henderson groaned.

“Then we shall fall either way. Therefore it is prudent to try to place as many of the odds on our side, is it not?”

Henderson wished he hadn’t spoken, mainly because what Grim had said was true and probably something he should’ve thought about himself. This was exactly the kind of thing his brothers and father would mock him for. But that wouldn’t be happening here, oh no.

“Then let’s get a replacement goblin, and level up four of the others,” Henderson announced without pausing.

“The goblins, my Lord?” Grim replied, and Henderson had kind of been expecting this response. “Would it not be more prudent to increase the levels of the races who are more useful as warriors…”

“And that’s exactly what any invaders would think, Grim,” Henderson smiled. “Besides, the goblins are pulling their weight around here quite nicely, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Uh… quite, my Lord.”

“Great! Then you have my order, see it done. So that’ll leave us with one level one goblin, four level two and one level three, correct?”

“Your situational awareness is second to none, my Lord,” Grim replied flatly.

“What was that?”

“We also now have six level one hobgoblins, two at level two, four level one dire wolves, one at level two, and three gatekeeper ogres, my Lord. Though now that you have spent all your available Chaos Points, my suggestion is to wait until we have some more.”

Grim had seemed to go into sarcasm overdrive, and Henderson could see exactly why; Grim was a hob, and not only was his sense of looking down on the goblins as a whole embedded into his very race, but neither did he like seeing his kin looked over in the grand scheme of things.

“Don’t worry, Grim,” Henderson said. “We’ll have some more points to spend once this place has been tidied up.”

Grim seemed to relax a little at that statement, and Henderson realised he’d just found a good way to manipulate the annoying hob. He filed the information away forager and smiled.

The next few hours were spent with Henderson walking about his castle and trying to remember exactly where everything was. The rooms of note were, of course, the throne room, the storehouse, and the kitchen, but he also found that on top of these were a dining hall, armoury, and a bedroom, among other things – though most of the rooms were simply empty.

It was surprising to Henderson too that the place wasn’t cold and draughty and he wondered if that was because of the peculiar construction of the place, or if it was something more divine.

What really brought a smile to Henderson’s face though, was the fact that when he found the ‘main’ bedroom in the castle, he also discovered a huge, four-poster bed complete with soft bedding and feather-filled pillows. It seemed that either the previous Lord of the castle had a taste for the finer things in life, or when the castle was reset, this was just how the room was supposed to be.

And then Henderson realised he was tired. Much more tired than he’d taken the time to realise, and the last thing he did, while everyone else was busy with their unending tasks, was climb into the bed and close his eyes, ready for slumber to take him.

And then he smiled.

Quest Complete

A castle fit for a king. Make your castle clean and keep it that way.

Reward: 10 CP