I’ve fully searched the boss room area at this point and I can see that the ambient lighting in the area is getting brighter by the minute. I’d call it early morning if I were outside at home. I’m not sure how many Goblins are on this floor or if they’ll start heading towards the boss room but if that’s where the rations are delivered then it’s a pretty good bet that I’ll have company very soon.

I’m not quite sure of my best plan of attack at the moment. If there are only like ten more goblins left on the floor then maybe I can barricade the door and just wait them out for a bit. When they’re hungry or tired then I can strike tonight. If there are fifty or one hundred left then they’ll break down the door and overwhelm me once that happens.

Scarlett said that goblins are lazy so hopefully that means that at least some of them will still be asleep when I go out to whatever I’ll be going into.

My mini map shows the rooms I’ve been in fully but doesn’t show anything outside of the door. I guess it won’t populate until I’ve been somewhere already.

I decide that my best plan of action is going to be to drag all the bodies into the boss’ bedroom and then lock his room. There are large wooden rafters that go across the roof and even as things are getting lighter, they’re still largely in the shadows. If I activate Unnoticed, then I’m hopeful that I can stay hidden and figure out numbers.

There is a fair amount of gore but each of the rooms is also pretty filthy already so I do what I can to clean up the messes I’ve caused while not making it look too clean.

With my Dexterity and Strength, it’s pretty easy to get onto the rafter beams after I climb up onto the back of the throne. I scurry to a beam in the corner and lay down to wait.

Aaaand wait, then wait some more. I’ve definitely been waiting at least two hours when I first hear knocking. It starts off as just a light knock and then slowly gets more forceful. The knocking continues for about five minutes, and then I hear some incomprehensible shouts. This goes on for maybe five minutes more when the door opens up just a crack.

A head peeks in and looks around. When they don’t see anyone, they open the door fully. In walks a crowd of around forty goblins and I am hit with a wave of the scent of unwashed bodies. Not a single one of them appears to be armed or armored. There are probably twenty-five adult females and fifteen adult males. They all look fairly healthy and around the same size as the goblins I’ve already encountered. The men and women are both only wearing loincloths, no other clothing. There are only three smaller goblins that I assume are children. They are being held by three of the females who have noticeably larger breasts than most of the other female goblins. It’s not a stretch to assume they’re the mothers.

Well fuck. It seems like a really lucky thing that none have any weapons or armor, but I’m not looking forward to killing women and children.

I don’t dare identify any of them since I assume they’ll be able to tell that I cast identify on them based on the info Scarlett gave me.

They mill about for a while and finally enter the storage room. When they don’t see anyone in the room, they argue for a little while about what they should do and after another ten minutes, they just decide to take enough bars and water for the day and then they quickly leave the room. I wait for about twenty minutes and once I’m sure that no one is too close, I decide I’ll see if Scarlett will answer some questions for me.

“Scarlett, is that all of the goblins on this floor? Why are none of them armed or armored?

Brandon, I cannot tell you if this is all the goblins on the floor but as I’ve told you they are not prepared for you to be here since you entered the final boss room first and the dungeon was not alerted to your presence. Once you enter the level 9 floor boss room, the dungeon will be put on alert and everyone will be expecting intruders.

Judas, I would have been fucked if me landing on the final boss had triggered this supposed dungeon start sequence. I already know that my plan will be to take out the rest of the goblins on this floor, assuming that this is all of them, but I’m not happy about it. I’m also a little confused about how easy the two actual fights I’ve had have felt. Even if I’ve had skills and an element of surprise, they’ve both felt really easy.

“Scarlett, why have I killed all of the goblins I’ve killed so far so easily? Shouldn’t their skin be tougher or make them be much faster or more skilled than me?”

Yes, it should be tougher. I believe that the way you entered the dungeon has broken something on this floor. Normal goblins are not a difficult mob to kill in an equal fight, even if they are several levels above you. Normal goblins become dangerous because of their numbers. I am unable to speak more about the surface but here they are supposed to be buffed and have skills commensurate with what a Sentient adventurer would have and they are designed to make a team work together to survive the dungeon.

I believe you entering solo and not officially starting the Intro Dungeon process has caused glitches in the system. It is also possible that me being unable to connect to the System is causing issues for the goblins as well. Because you are leveling up, that means you are connected to the System so I am certain that once you move to the level 9 floor boss this issue will be rectified.

“All I have to do is kill a bunch of unprepared goblins huh. Judas. That’s fucked up Scarlett. Also why did you say “normal” goblins twice there?”

Brandon, who or what is Judas? You have mentioned it repeatedly.

“Sorry Scarlett, Judas was a person who betrayed an important religious figure from my world. My dad always said Judas Priest whenever he was responding to something bad. Judas Priest was also a rock band, a type of musical band, and my dad was a pretty big fan of those old rock bands. Knowing him it was probably a bit of a joke of that and the band, but I never actually asked him, he just always said it. I guess I took after him so I say it too.”

I see. Most people on Talan would not find it an emotionally difficult task to kill goblins, even women and children. They are a scourge in sufficient numbers. You must find a way to kill them in order to complete the dungeon and eventually leave.

I said “normal” goblins and by that I mean your average sized goblins with no magical powers. There are Shaman as well as hobgoblins who are much larger and more difficult to fight. A hobgoblin is a normal goblin who had accelerated growth for a variety of reasons. In this Intro Dungeon it is a role that the System has created.

“Well, I’m going to lay up here and see if anything else comes while I wait for it to get dark again.”

A huge yawn overtakes me and I realize I only had a few hours of sleep last night and I’ve had several adrenaline packed moments since I arrived. I barely even feel it as I drift off to sleep.

I open my eyes as I feel myself falling off of the beam. Suddenly I am wide awake as I plummet towards the floor. I don’t quite hit the ground though as I land on top of yet another goblin. He had been sitting in the corner eating a ration bar along with four more goblins when I came crashing down on his head, killing him instantly. I see another Achievement notification flash on my screen.

My boots hit another goblin in the head, and it falls back, groaning in pain. The other three goblins in the room are all female and they react exactly like the Goblin Consort did by jumping on me and trying to bite and scratch me. Luckily, they only weigh about fifty pounds and I would have been able to pick up all three of them even before I entered the dungeon.

As I stand up, I have one goblin on each arm and another who is attempting to climb me. I manage to swing each of the goblins on my arms into the wall, knocking them free. I decide that the best way to deal with the one who is now almost face to face with me scratching the fuck out of my cheeks is to head but her.

The headbutt breaks her nose and blood spurts into my face. I sputter and gag as she screams and holds her nose. I summon my falcata in my left hand and stab up under her rib cage. She gasps and throws up blood all over my front. As she falls back, it rips the sword out of my hand.

I summon my mace and the shield and I hit the male goblin, who is on the ground next to me on top of his head. I see a notification flash at the top of my screen twice, so I assume that means the female I stabbed and the male I just hit on the head have both died.

That leaves two goblins still alive. One of them leaps at me again and the other one tries to run for the door. I decide I’m fucked if she gets out of the room so as the first goblin hits me I grab her with both arms and use her momentum to spin us around and I toss her at the fleeing goblin like I was doing the shot put.

She lands on top of her companion and they both tumble to the ground. They land in a heap five feet short of the halfway open door, and I quickly run up and kick it shut. With that done I turn around and the two female goblins laying on the floor stare up at me with fear and hatred in their eyes.