LW – Chapter 15

Thank you for your support. And to those that left me encouraging comments that is the sugar for my energy level to continue to give you more!

 

 

Chapter 15

 

 

 

 

My dungeon system is continuing on schedule.

Its now morning again.

6 AM

I took a quick clean up wash up in the brook. Feels nippy but the water is clean and cool.

6:10 AM

Dried up in front of a pre-lit fire that was burning in a pit outside the pithouse. Combed hair and brushed teeth. Feels good after warming up. Then washed my dishes in the brook.

But I’m exhausted from the constant raids from last night. My legs and arms just feel sooo tired, and like its even hard to get up I’m so drained.

I didn’t get much sleep, maybe 3 or 4 hours? Its hard to sleep when I know goblin stealthers are all over the place.

I can’t let this happen every day.

I’m already close to half of the next level, just from the unending goblin waves of attackers.

In the night, I’d also managed to get 10 more improved trap hedges set up and 2 concealed trap hedges. (Almost a street by itself if you compare it to towns, although it wasn’t straight.) I would wake up every 2 hours to set these up. And as usual I’m building them into green hedge walls that make up the maze, as well as traps.

“Let’s see, what should I add today…” I thought aloud.

I grabbed my shovel and went to work.

First, I used item create to create 4 motion sensor camera kits, that would normally come from a big box sto-…ah shit, I feel a headache coming on.

I almost puked, as that was a strong headache.

But the system hadn’t banned electronics, as long as it wasn’t like a nuclear rocket or clear foul play. Electric equipment powered by rechargeable batteries, as well as a solar battery recharge equipment kit was perfectly legal. This would help immensely.

It costed me approximately 50 mana each for these (50 x 4, + 50 for the battery recharger). They came in sets of 2 cameras per box also, with the connecting wires, as well as being wrapped in the plastic casting of the package that they were sold in.

(Huh? I know what plastic is?)

Oh right… where should I set them up. And I have to hide them in one of the permanent traps also.

I began to work it out. It was actually kind of labor intensive to set these up because I had to do it in a way that would hide them well, and not show them. As long as nobody saw them, they’d never even guess what they were! And best of all spy and threat detection skills would likely not detect the motion sensor cameras. Goblins wouldn’t understand what they were. And this was the point. They would help me try to catch their stealthers, when they thought they didn’t need to be stealthed.

Part of me was curious also if the electronic cameras could see through the goblin stealth magic?

We’ll see…

Although…technically right now they’d need a big long set of cables and other stuff to plug into a viewing device of some kind. (My memory is fuzzy about the name of this device but for some reason I’m picturing a plastic box with a screen that doesn’t hang in the air, some kind of electric machine with a keyboard…)

Batteries are pretty complex. I did manage to summon 1 set of a battery with its store conversion kit, the rechargeable quality type. But this can only have 2 sets of lights plugged in it. It cost me 120 mana for something complex, (and a renewable energy source) like a battery.

Unfortunately this won’t let me benefit much today, until night time. But now is the best time to set it up because the goblin waves of spies and attackers seem to come to a lull in the early hours of the morning around dawn.

And…wow already its 8 AM, after I’d done working on that install and hiding the equipment in vegetation and bushes.

I went back to check for more goblins with the binoculars over the cliff overlook. (But only after making sure no goblin stealthers were in the grass around me. I swung the shovel a few times in surprise shots but nothing. Guess they gave up. Their stealth hide skill is pretty good, so that worries me.)

Hm…goblin camp is …wow.

There’s now at least two hundred goblin warriors there. Looks like they are going to rush me soon. They really are trying to push forward. They had improved and built up their military camp. Its almost twice as big as before.

Shit…I’m going to have to hide some of this out probably.

I need more maze work to be finished. I don’t have enough hallways, dead ends, and alleys in the maze! I’d need more rooms also. And probably more hidey holes.

I hurried over to my spot and set up 6 improved camouflage traps in various places. I also put up a bunch of non-camouflaged same trap hedges; 4 this time for now.

But that dropped my mana down to only bout 300 left. Its a sizeable investment.

300 mana…is that enough if they come now?

By now it looks like I’ve got an actual small maze. It isn’t big, but its at least big enough to work. And eventually I’ll start planting hedges way down going towards the narrow steep mountain side trail that comes up to this plateau, since its such a defensible position. (I’d have done this long before if it weren’t for the giant hornets sizeable nest.)

Any minute now the goblins are coming up this way with a sizeable force however.

Do I have enough traps for 100 to 200 goblins?

I might…but the question is, if there’s that many they may just start ripping out the hedge traps through organization or cutting out their allies.

But they do have a predatory system that could prey on weak goblins also, which works in my favor.

Ah, yep sure enough, there’s a scouting squad that’s coming this way. They activated their stealth to avoid the giant hornets. (Dang it.)

I’ll have to wait it out.

 

…

 

“Up, here they come!” I watched as a big line of goblin invaders starts marching up the steep narrow mountain trail. Its a hard to navigate trail due to how step it is, until it levels off up here.

I hurried to get as close to the giant hornet nest as I could…which is about a hundred feet away. Any closer and I believe they’ll attack.

The goblin lines started coming towards the nest which is right over the trail, dead center.

As the line approached, I waited until the right moment.

YES!

I activated 2 traps in a row right in the middle of the trail! (-20 mana)(-20 mana). (I can choose when to activate them…)

The giant hornets then mobilized, with droves of them pouring out of their nests to fight the goblins! This happened by accident but is helpful. But most of it is just that they believe the goblins to be free meat.

Yes! Free troops!

I then put down 2 more traps…

!

Huh? What’s that?

Shit, that almost got me! I jumped back just as a blade slashed by my face.

I then heard the goblin stealther cursing, who is now revealed!

Shit…of course they would send in another group of the stealthers to protect their advancements! These had gone in ahead of time to try to get me from within and behind.

I tried to pull back, but at the same time I’m being attacked from the opposite side also! There’s now 3 stealthers immediately trying to attack me. I ducked and rolled while slamming out an improved trap!

(I took -17 damage, -12 damage.)

(I took -21 damage, -14 damage.)

(I dodged the third stealth goblins strikes, barely.)

My health bar dropped fast before I could get my kevlar shield up!

The vines sprung up instantly with the trap set. But then the tentacles went out grabbing 4 stealthers around me! The fourth had been coming in behind me for a kill shot!

Wow, that was close.

I still had to roll out of the way again to the right near one of the others!

I retreated fast, unable to check how many goblins the giant hornet group is fighting and taking out. All I know is there’s a huge mess of giant hornets and goblins fighting now, with the goblins unable to get past my traps. The hornets have sent out several charges. And some of the really big hornets,…wow, as I run away I saw glimpses of a new type of enlarged super size hornet soldier that’s big enough to pick up goblins and drop them!

I end up huffing from the strain of the forced run, as I stopped in the middle of the front gate of my maze.

From here the stealthers won’t dare to adv…

Whoosh!

Vines snapped out and ripped 2 goblin stealthers into the air, preventing them from attacking me!

I took a few steps back and got my shield up. Who would have thought they’d be soo angry as to keep attacking, even risking their necks!

The shield pings several times, then a few more as I blocked several stealther thrown knives at myself. I ended up hunkering behind it for a full minute, while slowly moving backwards. I can feel as I’m slowly moving back that the stealthers were opening up to move to my sides to try to get past the shield, which is why I moved backwards.

The shield is good enough to stop them.

Whew…

The goblin wave momentarily withdrew …for now. But they’ll be back. For them to withdraw that fast, means that the main attack was the stealthers, and that the frontal force was just a distraction. Now that its been foiled they’ll look for an new opening.

1 of the stealthers got out of the improved trap and escapped, but it looks like he had a hard time getting lose with a lot of goblin blood there.

I finished off the other goblins already in traps.

Whew…

Tired…

By now its already 9 AM.

I’m expecting another wave soon. I’ll have to get ready.

Huh? What’s that?

I saw a flicker of movement near one of the stealthers’s dissolving bodies, wrapped up in its coat.

‘?’

What is that, I thought.

At first, I thought one of the other stealthers was trying to loot one of the other goblin bodies with its stealth skill active.

I charged forward and swung out with my blade, but it went through nothing.

“Huh? What’s going on?” I breathed out.

It seems like no stealthers are here.

I gingerly reached out to feel the dead goblin stealther’s dark cloak…this is the thing that’s moving!

It feels warm? What the heck…?

I felt around it…

Something really small tried to squirm away from me. So I uncovered the cloak, opening it. And I’m shocked at what I find!

There in a hidden pocket of the stealther’s jacket is a bound captured naked fairy, straining at ropes constricting it! Bound in pain to the stealther!

Its horrifying!

I find that the the stealther’s jacket has this hidden inside pocket where this fairy creature has been tortured, gagged, and bound in pain with her wings torn off to a narrow stick with her hands tied above her head. She has been a prisoner from some time and isn’t even conscious.

My gosh…who would do such a thing.

The health bar of the fairy, is picked up by my system, and at 1/3 health.

My gosh…

I picked up the bound fairy carefully and put her inside my coat.

But now I have a new question…how many of the stealthers and shamans also had captured fairies?! Is this the source of their stealth magic?

And this must have been the telepathic cry for help that I’d heard several times over the last few days!

I roamed quickly moving around to check all the messed up gear from slain goblins. And I also had to check the stuff that I thought was trash yesterday to see if I missed anything.

In my shock, I’ve discovered two fairies!

Both are in tortured pain, bound up with torture devices, and unable to move or get away.