Luna had pretty much been letting George do his thing, as he had gotten good with rationing his mana while spear fishing. This let her explore a bit as well as watch out for any threats in or out of the water. With her telepathy, she had warned George more than once of a fish too strong for him to handle about to come out of the depths.
(It was a real big pond)
The last few days she had been creeping on a small group of goblins from George’s tribe that would watch George fish for hours. Luna had noted that they hadn’t been bringing anything for big food, not that it mattered, as George was doing the fishing of ten goblins, but still, it was… fishy.
Luna had decided to question George about the likelihood that they would attack, and he seemed pretty confident that violence wouldn’t occur within the tribe due to the social consequences.
George had been lulled by the safety of tribe life, by shared meals and the chief’s watchful eye. Luna hadn’t. So when the group finally decided to act, she wasn’t surprised.
“You such a good fisher,” the well muscled woman goblin sang to George as she strolled up to his side.
“Yeah, good fishing today,” George agreed, gesturing to his knee high pile of fish.
“You such good fisher every day too,” she continued.
“Good spear!” George said proudly, holding Luna’s latest Level 4 iteration.
“Oh, he’s too innocent,” Luna thought, internally cringing.
“Oooh,” the woman cooed, admiring Luna’s tricked out creation. Maybe she went a little hard with the multi colored waves and fish pictures on this one. It did look sick, though.
“I try?” the woman asked sweetly.
George hesitated for a moment but decided to hand the spear to her.
“Yes, to borrow,” George seemed to make sure to state that it wasn’t a gift. The goblins seemed to be meaningfully explicit in all of their interactions and exchanges. Luna had even witnessed such interactions in mating propositions. A yes was a yes and a no was a no. Even when face deep in big food, if this tribe was anything, it was classy.
“Whoa!! So many fish!” the woman exclaimed as she seemed to have emptied her entire mana pool into the Bait magic of the spear, leading to an insane turnout in the pond.
“She must be some kind of mage class,” Luna thought.
“Yeah, so many fish,” George agreed, standing on the edge of the pond next to the woman. He knew better than to be standing in the water after many close calls.
“George, got three goblins approaching,” Luna relayed.
George spun around to face the three male goblins, all carrying weapons… which would have been more surprising if they didn’t have them, as everyone was armed pretty much all the time.
“Want see fish?” George asked the approaching group.
“You such a good fisher,” the lead goblin growled out through bared teeth.
“So good!” the other two agreed.
“Maybe you bring that one to big food!” the lead guy continued pointing out a particularly large fish that had to be at least level 6.
“That one too big,” George said decisively, looking back at the giant fish. “It probably eat me.”
“Yes, probably will,” the lead goblin agreed as all three charged and shoved George far into the water. They must have some wild strength between them.
George flailed through the air before splashing down in the middle of the fish feeding frenzy.
“There were always assholes to ruin it all,” Luna concluded.
For the past few days, Luna had been expecting something, she didn’t know what, but certainly something.
The way the group of four goblins had been tailing George while jealously admiring his spear had lead her to do some preparations, just in case they acted on their dumb decision to attack her party mate.
While the goblins planned their attack, and George was living out his best spear fisher life, she had been cooking up a few spears she was now happy to unveil.
Spear 1:
Goblin Fang Spear Lv. 4
Damage: 4d4 Piercing + 4d4 Poison
Effect: On any 4/4 poison roll, the poison damage repeats the following round.
She had just put all the summon points into damage and hoped it was good.
(It was.)
Spear 2:
Spear of Immolation Lv. 4
Damage: 4d4 Piercing
Magics:
Flame Sp(h)ear Tier 3 — create a 10 ft radius sphere of fire around the spear, dealing 3d10 damage per second. Cost: 20 mana per second.
She had maybe taken the fire magic to its logical conclusion on this one. She was trying to make a spear like a flaming arrow, you know, do fire damage once it hit a target… but the user had to infuse mana into the sphere to activate the magic which would lead to a crispy user and untouched target. This one she wouldn’t let George use.
And finally, spear 3:
Spear of Deus Ex Machina Lv. 4
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
(It was actually called a Fish Repelling Spear, but same thing.)
Magics:
Fish Repellant Tier 3 — release the smell of a predator up to 5 levels higher than the spear into the environment to repel animals/monsters. Activation cost: 1–5 mana based on predator smell level.
Luna figured this spear would be used when George would inevitably find himself pulled into the water by a fish too big for his strength. Until recently she just figured it would be from him getting too cocky, not because his tribespeople tried to assassinate him.
That brings us back to George sinking into the water with hundreds of fish around him, many looking like they could be Level 3 or 4. George wouldn’t be able to fight his way out of this predicament, especially without his spear.
To fix the situation, Luna dropped the summon of the fishing spear that was being held triumphantly in the woman’s hands and quickly summoned the Fish Repelling Spear into the flailing hands of George.
“This is a new spear,” Luna explained quickly. “Use the magic.”
“Okay,” George replied, doggie paddling and gasping for air. Thank goodness for telepathy.
The repellant went off like a scary, stinky wave in the water. George seemed to have panicked and double-selected the repellant at 5-mana cost.
Goblin Warrior Lv. 5 — “George”
Health: 23/50
Mana: 15/25
It seemed justified, though. Just a few seconds in the water and he had taken quite a bit of damage from the swarm of fish.
Every fish booked it away from the smell of two Level 9 predators, leaving George to slowly calm down enough to get his head above water.
“You try to kill me?!” George yelled out at the confused group of four. “I tell chief!”
Dammit, George, Luna thought. Now they are really going to kill you.
George slowly made his way to shore as the group was ready with weapons drawn one with a bow, one a club, one a well used short sword that the goblin made look like a long sword, and finally, the woman brandishing a crude staff.
“You sure you gunna tell chief?” the woman questioned. “You give us spear to keep and we not kill you.”
Luna could tell that George didn’t want to fight his tribe mates. She could also tell that they were prepared to kill him over the spear.
“Hey George,” Luna whispered soothingly to the bleeding goblin.
“Hey Luna,” George breathed out, frustrated by the situation.
“Put the spear down at your feet and run,” Luna said. “Don’t look back, and I will find you after they leave.”
“Then we tell chief,” George agreed telepathically.
“Yeahhhh…” Luna didn’t want to spend time talking through the problem they were about to have.
“I give you spear. I leave,” George finally spoke to the tense group. “Violence in tribe not okay.”
George placed what used to be the Fish Repellent Spear on the ground, then turned to run from the group.
The group scrambled to retrieve the coveted spear from the ground, with the woman goblin coming up with the spear in the end.
The four watched as George ran to the tree line while struggling to go full speed due to his injuries.
“He will tell chief,” the woman goblin stated, addressing the goblin holding the bow.
“Yeah,” he replied.
“So shoot him,” the woman goblin clarified.
Luna had hoped they would just let George go. They already had their pointy prize. She was sickened by their willingness to turn on George out of jealousy. Jealousy of how well he fed his family, themselves even included in his idea of family.
“Oh.” The bowman realized the plan, then drew the bow back to dispatch the fleeing goblin. He reached the apex of his draw just as the spear in the woman’s hand erupted in flames.
Spear of Immolation Lv. 4
Magics:
Flame Sp(h)ear Tier 3 — create a 10 ft radius sphere of fire around the spear, dealing 3d10 damage per second. Cost: 20 mana per second.
The four goblins were quickly engulfed in a fireball as Luna poured 20 mana into the spear. The drawback of the spear was that the user had to be touching the spear to activate it. Luna, being the incorporeal Summoner that she was, had no problem “touching” the spear through her own connection however.
Luna Caine
Mana: 10/40
Summon Points: 0/3
She had just spent ten mana to summon the spear and twenty mana to activate the Tier 3 Flame Sp(h)ear leaving her pretty low.
1d10 Rolls: 2, 7, 1 = 10 fire damage.
Shit rolls for 3d10, but 10 damage on each of the four goblins, 40 damage in a single second, was significant enough. AOE spells were like that. Not only was the group thoroughly surprised by the sudden fire, they were also now very much on fire.
“Hoooottttttt!” the bowman yelled as he jumped into the water to quench the flames.
The other three followed quickly, putting out their enflamed garments and hair.
The woman goblin had it the worst, having been holding the spear along with having the longest hair, she had to dive completely under the water to wash out the embers climbing to her scalp. Focused on putting out the fire, she never saw the giant shadow that approached her.
Most of the fish in the large pond had been scared away by the stink of Level 9 predators. That stink that scared so many away smelled oh so good for the Level 10 fish that gobbled up the woman goblin in a single bite. Not satisfied by such a small meal, the giant fish turned on the other three creatures splashing about in its pond.
You have slain — Goblin Shaman Lv. 3.
You have slain — Goblin Archer Lv. 4.
You have slain — Goblin Warrior Lv. 3.
You have slain — Goblin Swordsman Lv. 4.
Level Up. Summoner Lv. 5.
Luna got the five notifications in quick succession. The XP from the crazy amount of fishing that she and George did must have gotten her close to the current level up, the goblin xp pushing her over the edge.
George would’ve been screwed if he had chosen to fight the group. Even at lower levels than himself, they would’ve easily been able to take him at his current half health state. Luna’s help or not. She had played dirty during that fight, but she didn’t feel bad about it. Giving George a chance to escape had pretty much been the extent of her plan.The giant fish coming in to sweep up after her initial attack was just a bonus.
As sloppy as that went, she had regained her previous leveling record along with some shiny new summons…
Luna dropped her Spear of Immolation and hurried after the fleeing George. As soon as she caught up to him, Luna summoned a more user friendly spear into his hands while she recovered mana. At this point, the spear was mostly for comfort as he ventured into the oft dangerous forest. As he slowed to a walk, the goblins' injuries slowly recovered. The crestfallen warrior meandered, not seeming to have a plan for where he wanted to direct his body. He seemed lost, even in the familiar woods not yet a mile away from where he had laid his head the night before.
George eventually stopped to sit and lean against a tree, finally letting his damaged body rest. George didn’t react as Luna recounted the series of events that took place behind his fleeing back. The goblins face seemed stuck in a hurt and confused look as he sat in silence for long minutes.
“Hey Luna?” George finally addressed the spear in his hands.
“Hey George?” she questioned, glad the warrior was finally talking again.
“We can be a tribe?” George asked as he pushed leaf litter around absentmindedly with his clawed feet.
“Yeah, we can be a tribe,” Luna agreed. George’s defined body visibly untensed, finally being able to relax for the first time since the encounter.
“We grow together,” George concluded.
“For the tribe,” Luna finished, having heard George’s former chief’s speech over a dozen times by now.
That evening George missed big food for the first time in his life.
