Chương 185: Chapter 184 [Wild Shape]

The laughter had barely settled when a low, rattling snore rose up from somewhere under the table. Everyone went quiet, listening.

"Is that—" Sam started. Luka leaned down to check.

"Yeah. Apollo's out cold." Sure enough, curled up in his little bed tucked between two chair legs, the small gold shape was fast asleep, chest rising and falling in time with a snore far too loud for something his size.

"He sounds like a broken kettle," Phil said.

"Yeah. Cute though. I wonder how long we have til he gets way bigger and that changes," said Parmo.

"Anyway," Lauren said, tapping her screen before anyone could properly commit to the argument.

"Where were we."

"Bookcase room," Sam said.

"About to head back to the main tunnel."

"Right." Lauren reached for the map.

"You backtrack out, rejoin the main passage, and follow it round the bend Torren already spotted earlier. Tunnel opens up ahead into a set of heavy, iron-banded double doors." She peeled away the next square of paper. Standing in front of the doors was a single goblin, spear in hand, doing its level best to look intimidating.

"It doesn't sound an alarm," Lauren said.

"Just stares at the eight of you. Confused, more than anything." Luka sat up properly, already grinning.

"Barry steps forward. Hands raised, like he's totally meant to be there." He cleared his throat, dropping into his booming theatre voice.

"'Evening, friend! Fine night for door duty, isn't it?'""The goblin blinks at you.""'We're just passing through, actually. Fellow goblins, you see. Just — tall ones. Very tall goblins. Whole different tribe, from further up north. Massive fans of what you've got going on here, honestly.'" Phil put his head down on the table, shoulders already shaking.

"Roll persuasion," Lauren said, barely holding it together herself. Luka rolled. Stared at it. Grinned wider than he had all evening.

"Natural Twenty."

"No fucking way," Sam said, a huge grin on his face.

"The goblin," Lauren said, once she'd recovered enough to speak properly, "looks at the party of elves, half-orcs, humans, half-elves, and a halfling loudly insisting he's a very tall goblin — and something in its tiny goblin brain just... gives up. Nods. Steps aside. Pulls the door lever."

"Go on then," she added, back in the goblin's voice, doing it with real commitment now.

"'Big fella's inside. Don't rile him up.'""Big fella," Phil repeated, sitting back up.

"That's not ominous at all." Lauren reached for the last remaining square of paper, hand hovering over it, milking every second she could get out of the silence.

"The doors creak open," she said.

"Inside is a much larger cavern. Ramshackle wooden platforms, crude barricades, stolen timber cobbled together into something like housing. Goblins everywhere — a dozen, maybe more. And in the middle of them, something considerably bigger. Feathered. Furred. The unmistakable, horrifying combination of a bear's body and an owl's head, and it is very much awake, and very much looking directly at you." She peeled the last piece of paper away and set the final miniature down in the centre of the cleared table.

"What do you do?" Luka, still on the high from the nat 20, decided to push his luck.

"I continue walking, like I'm supposed to be here, I was invited in by the guard after all. Barry holds up an arm and shouts, 'Hey there fellow goblins, how's it going?'""The goblins all look at you like you're either an idiot or very drunk. Roll persuasion." Luka rolled and watched his die fall. His grin turned to a grimace as the number 4 stared back at him.

"Four..."

"You shouldn't be here!" The goblin looked at its compatriots spread around the wide cavern.

"KILL THEM!"

"Roll initiative." Numbers went round the table fast, Lauren jotting the order down behind her screen.

"Right. Goblins act first — a few of them charge, most hang back near the platforms." She moved the figures into position on the map, circling the group.

"Sam, you're up."

"Tywin steps into the mess and swings his mace at the nearest one," Sam said, rolling.

"Sixteen to hit." He rolled again.

"Nine damage."

"The first goblin drops, his head caved in," Lauren said.

"Clean kill. Rika?"

"Aura's turn," Rika said, already reaching for her dice.

"I want to hit the group of them clustered to the left there." She pointed to three figures grouped closely together on the map.

"Sam said Shatter was the best one for taking out a crowd."

"Good pick," Lauren said.

"Point of origin?" A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Right in the middle of them," Rika said, leaning forward.

"DC 14 Constitution save for all three." Lauren rolled three dice behind her screen, wincing as the numbers came up.

"Two fails, one absolute garbage roll. None of them pass. Roll damage." Rika scooped up three d8s, shook them in her hands, and let them fly. She leaned over the table, staring down at the unfamiliar numbers on the faces. She nudged Sam's arm, pointing at the dice so he could read them out for her, practically vibrating with excitement. Sam leaned over, tallied the figures quickly, and whispered the total to her. Rika grinned and beamed at the table.

"Sixteen thunder damage!"

"A ringing, deafening boom echoes through the cavern," Lauren described, wincing for effect.

"The air actually shudders, and all three goblins collapse on the spot, blood running from their ears. Down and dead before they even hit the ground." Rika laughed and held up a hand for a high five. Sam returned it with a grin.

"Bjorn's turn," Lauren said. Torren picked up his dice and rolled. He paused, squinting at the number on the d20, then nudged Luka beside him. Luka glanced down, tapped the die, and whispered the number.

"Seventeen to hit," Torren said. He rolled his damage die next. Luka was already leaning in, watching the die settle before whispering the result straight into his ear. Torren nodded, adding his modifiers in his head.

"Twelve damage."

"Bjorn brings that double-headed axe down in a single swing," Lauren said, grinning behind her screen.

"Cleaves the goblin straight down the middle, shoulder to hip. Both halves flop onto the stone."

"Titus goes for the next one, just behind that one," Leo said, rolling his d20 and d10.

"Fifteen to hit, eight damage."

"Titus steps up and drives the hook of his glaive straight through its throat," Lauren said, making a wet squelching sound with her mouth.

"Pulls it back out, blood sprays everywhere, and the goblin flops onto its face, twitching."

"Sylas gets the drop on the one still distracted by the fight," Phil said, pointing to a goblin off to the right, grinning as he shook his dice.

"Sneak attack, right?" He let the d20 fly, stared at it, and let out a whistle.

"Natural twenty! That's a crit!" He rolled his double damage dice, stacking them up, and did the math with obvious satisfaction.

"Twenty-two total!"

"Sylas comes up behind it, grabs its head, and rams a dagger straight in through the eye socket," Lauren said without missing a beat.

"You twist it, pull it out, and brain matter leaks down its face as it crumples." Phil sat back, looking a mix of delighted and mildly disturbed, but pleased with himself all the same.

"Lydia picks out the goblin on the roof of the wooden buildings," Shai said.

"Aims for the head." She rolled her d20, then leaned across to Leo. He glanced at it and told her the amount.

"Sixteen to hit," she announced to the table. She rolled her damage die, held the die up so Leo could see the number, and waited until he held up nine fingers.

"Nine damage," Shai said.

"Arrow takes it right between the eyes," Lauren said.

"Impact punches it backward off the edge, and it hits the floor ten feet below with a loud, wet crack. Neck snapped."

"Barry's turn," Luka said, grinning already.

"I want to cast Vicious Mockery on the biggest one left."

"Go on then," Lauren said, watching him with interest. Luka cleared his throat, leaning forward across the table. In an instant, his usual calm posture vanished, replaced by a booming, arrogantly theatrical voice that cut right through the room.

"Oi! I've seen bigger threats floating in the pub's outhouse after midnight! What are you going to do with that spear? Stab me? Please! I'd run away if I were you — don't you see all your friends being butchered around you?" Silence held for a split second before Sam let out an appreciative whistle.

"Jesus, Luka," Phil said, staring across the table with a slow grin.

"Where the hell did that come from?"

"Yeah, holy shit, nicely done man," Sam agreed, nodding with a smirk. Lauren was grinning broadly behind her screen, clearly delighted by how deeply they were all sinking into character. Beside Luka, Torren, Rika, and Shai were staring at him as if he'd just sprouted a second head. For the usually quiet, level-headed Luka to suddenly bellow insults across a table with that level of theatrics was entirely unexpected, but the wide grin on Rika's face showed she was thoroughly entertained by it.

"DC 13 Wisdom save," Luka said, dropping back into his normal voice like nothing had happened, though his cheeks were a little pink. Lauren rolled behind her screen.

"Four. It fails." Luka rolled a d4.

"Three psychic damage."

"The goblin flinches," Lauren described, "clutching its head like it's got a sudden migraine, visibly rattled by the sudden barrage. Disadvantage on its next attack."

"Steve's turn," Parmo said, and sat up properly for the first time all fight, a slow grin spreading across his face.

"Go on." Parmo got up from the table and leaned in to whisper in Lauren's ear before sitting back down. Lauren shook her head a little but smirked.

"Stand back, bros," Parmo announced, entirely too solemn about it.

"I'm going to shift into something big and nasty." He closed his eyes for effect, opened them again, and looked expectantly at Lauren.

"Steve Wild Shapes," Lauren said, checking his sheet, and then paused.

"Into... a rabbit." Dead silence for a second, then the table exploded.

"Big and nasty? You think you've turned into the one from Monty Python or something?" Leo managed, through tears."'That's no ordinary rabbit,'" Sam said, doing his best impression.

"'That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!'""'Look, that rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide,'" Phil added, barely getting the words out.

"'It's a killer!'" Parmo, entirely deadpan, sat back and folded his arms.

"I warned you. But did you listen to me? Oh, no. You knew, didn't you. Oh, it's just a harmless little bunny..." Lauren snorted, before dragging herself back into character.

"Steve, in his current state, has accidentally shifted into a rabbit. Let's hope the owlbear doesn't eat him." For a moment, it seemed like that was all of them. The group looked at the map expecting something to happen now that all the goblins were dead.

"Wait, is that all of them?" Phil asked, leaning over the battle map to count the downed miniatures.

"That felt like all of them."

"Give me Perception checks from everyone," Lauren said, leaning back in her chair with a secret smile. Dice clattered across the felt. Sam groaned at a low roll, Phil shrugged, and Leo shook his head. Across the table, Shai rolled her d20, leaned over to show Leo, and waited for him to read the face.

"Nineteen," Leo called out for her.

"Shai, while everyone else is scanning the floor for survivors, Lydia's eyes track back to the dark corner of the cavern," Lauren said, her voice dropping into a low, deliberate tone.

"You realize you all missed one. The big goblin — the one who shouted the order to attack at the start — never actually joined the melee." The table went quiet.

"He's been standing right beside the Owlbear the whole time," Lauren continued, pointing down at the map.

"While you guys were busy butchering his crew, he's been frantically picking away at the heavy iron latches securing its chains."

"Can I shoot him?" Shai asked, reaching for her d20.

"Too late," Lauren said, holding up a hand.

"Just as you spot him, the final heavy latch gives way with a loud, metallic clack. The chain drops." Lauren slammed her hands onto the table, making everyone jump.

"The massive beast shakes itself free with a deafening roar. Before the goblin can even turn around, a huge, feathered paw comes down like a sledgehammer. The goblin is crushed flat into the stone floor — instant smear." Lauren leaned over her screen, grinning broadly as she gestured to the beast's mini on the board.

"The heavy chain rattles as it drags across the dirt," Lauren said.

"And the enraged Owlbear shakes blood from its talons, locking eyes with the party."