Chapter 259: Astounding arrogance


    [You have defeated Chief Engineer Toofik,pleting the mortal challenge and the dungeon Engineering Guild . You have earned enough experience for level 11. Please select a power to upgrade.]


    ke watched the goblin leader fall with a True Making spear lodged through his skull. The level was a pleasant added bonus, but he’d already ear-marked his next power for enhancement, and selected the probably underused and often underestimated Telekinesis without hesitation.


    After the destruction of the massive construct, the goblin leader had managed to eject and escape, running through a hidden passage to some kind of inner sanctum.


    Unfortunately for him, Pliny knew where it was, and how to get in, and had re-joined the fight as soon as the construct fell. So ke used telekinesis and put a spear through the little bastard’s brain.


    "Yes! Yes!" Pliny fell to his knees and shrieked in delight. He got up and hopped around, then ran to the corpse and stomped on it, yelling variously crazy things about ''telling him so'' and ''who is the smartest now?''


    ke let him have his moment.


    He sent Navi to go check with Mason and exin where he was. Reba had looked badly hurt, but there wasn''t much ke could do about that. He hoped between Calypsa and Mason they could figure out how to help her.


    Meanwhile, he had a goblin chief engineer''s private collection to explore...


    The room was filled with devices. ke saw runes, constructs, enchantments, and who knew what else. When Navi returned he had her start identifying everything. Pliny eventually finished bragging to his dead rival and turned to ke with his awful smile.


    "You see? Good partners. Trusty Pliny helped humans, didn''t he?"


    "He surely did," ke agreed, ready at any moment to kill the creature with his remaining construct. He didn’t really me the creature for the explosion, though he understood now it had anticipated it without telling them. In its madness it either didn’t care, forgot, or cunningly thought to wipe out everyone all at once and reap the rewards.


    But that was just the kind of behavior ke expected in people. If anything, he was impressed.


    He didn''t <em>expect</em> additional betrayal, but then he was no expert on half-dead goblin engineers. Navi was silently feeding ke information about the impressive devices, so perhaps a small test was in order.


    "What is all this stuff?" ke said, gesturing at the various gadgets. "Is any of it useful?"


    "Oh yes, human," said Pliny instantly. "Many inventions. Most by...fools, and stupid minds. But...some still...much potential. If refined by genius. Like me."


    ke smiled, liking the creature. "Well your rival is dead, Pliny, and you remain… unkilled. What are your ns? What should I do about all those engineers up top who were watching?"


    The goblin shrugged and tapped his chin. "No ns. Only revenge, and revenge is done. Fools up top will scurry to bigger bosses. Greenblood wizards and killers. No trouble. At least not now."


    "Well," ke shrugged, his own ns forming faster and faster, his greedy eyes moving over the goblin technology as he opened True Making and started building a transport construct. "Since you''re not dead, I was thinking—I could use a genius engineer whose work has gone unappreciated. Who''s loyalty I can expect, and whose creative brilliance will never be wasted ever again. Perhaps you''d like a job?"


    He turned and met Pliny''s eyes, which seemed even redder than usual with something like emotion.


    "Human...understands. What would Pliny do?"


    ke smiled and started channeling, his Psionic Shield ready with Partitioned Mind, his construct beside him and ready to strike.


    "First, he will help me load all this equipment. Then he will follow where I go, and do as I say. And for that, he will have his own workshop, and build anything and everything he can imagine."


    The creature stared and stared, maybe at ke’s channeling vulnerability, maybe at its new hero. Either way, it stood perfectly still, wiping at its nose as it nodded.


    * * *


    ke left the Engineer guild with three constructs, and his transport filled with goodies. The thing was more or less a walking cargo container with six legs, and wasn''t exactly speedy. But it would do just fine.


    Calypsa and Annie were waiting outside the dungeon. The nymph ignored ke with her usual contempt, saying she was only resting a little while and would soon return to her tree. Annie just looked at him with her new thousand yard stare.


    He wasn’t entirely sure what to do about her. He was <em>reasonably</em> confident he could trust her with his ns, and that she was ultimately loyal to him. But he wasn’t <em>sure</em>.


    He also felt a little bad bringing her with him, because that meant risking her life along with his. And while ke had a way of escaping terrible things, the people around him…did not.


    "Come along," he said finally to Pliny, Annie, and his constructs. "We''re going to go for a little walk."


    "Exit is this way, human," said the goblin. "Sneaky way. Avoid Greenblood."


    "Oh we''re not exiting," ke said. "Quite the opposite. Take me straight to your wizard lords and killers, please."


    Pliny blinked, but didn''t ask any questions. Neither did Annie. The goblin just turned and led them on through the tunnels, taking turn after turn with no markings or logic until ke was thoroughly lost.


    When he finally stopped at an entrance blocked with a in, wooden door, he cringed slightly and gestured.


    "Outer gate. Secret path for Greenblood killers. Some will be inside. They will kill humans, and maybe Pliny too."


    "You let me worry about that," ke said with as much confidence as he could muster. But sweat trickled down his armpits, and he knew he was taking a tremendous risk. <em>No risk, no reward</em>, he told himself, smiling a little at the stone faced Annie.


    And despite a few reality checks and setbacks, ke had full confidence in his own insight and ability to adapt. He saw an opportunity, and he fully intended to seize it.


    “Annie,” he finally said, licking his lips. “What I’m going to do next isn’t strictly…”


    “Sane?” she said, her voice so coldly matter of fact.


    “I was going to say <em>agreed upon,</em> by the settlement. But I have a n to benefit everyone with a little patience. Do you trust me?”


    She met his eyes and nodded, and ke took a deep breath as he smiled.


    “Then wait for me here. I’ll be back soon. But if I’m not…head to the settlement. Or go wait for Phuong and the others. Alright?”


    “I cane with you,” she said, showing maybe the first sign of her old self at the idea of being abandoned.


    “I can’t do that, my dear.” ke took her thin arms in his hands, amazed as ever how small she was yet how frightening inbat. “You can’t protect me if things go wrong. And I won’t be able to protect you. You said you trusted me, now prove it. I’ll be back.”


    She finally nodded, and ke readied himself for a dramatic exit as he reached for the door.


    And nothing happened. He''d kind of expected a dungeon prompt. After a good minute of standing there he had a construct push open the door, which turned into <em>breaking</em> the door. He frowned, but walked inside.


    "Ie in peace!" He held up his hands, Psionic Shield very ready to stop the predicted darts or arrows. But none came. ke shrugged and walked on, moving past clearly inhabited rooms and tunnels until he arrived at a much more official looking door. The little journey hadn''t been good for his nerves, but nheless he reached for the entrance.


    Pliny warned him onest time, but he ignored him.


    [You have discovered a dungeon: The Greenblood Guild. Would you like to proceed?]


    He would indeed. And as he epted the prompt, his vision darkened, then reappeared until he stood in a small...armory.


    Blowdarts, knives, spears, and bows lined the walls, with little buckets filled with round pellets and maybe some kind of caltrops.


    "You enter here. Alone?" whispered a voice from somewhere in the dark. "Do you want to die?"


    "Not really. Now take me to your masters. They''re going to want to hear what I have to say. Or I can kill you and try the next goblin."


    For a few moments nothing happened. Then a dart zipped through the air, and ke caught it with Telekinesis. The enhancement had improved it in every conceivable way, from speed to total weight and control. His constructs lurched forward to defend him, but he stopped them and held up a hand for show.


    "Try again, if you like. Though I might not call back my pets."


    Tiny, red eyes emerged from the gloom as a cloaked figure revealed himself.


    "If you mean to kill the Masters alone, you will fail."


    "I do not. But since my friends and I just destroyed all your engineers. And our allies will send your ‘Prospectors'' to join them shortly, I thought to myself, ''self, maybe these wizards and I can make a deal''. What do you think?"


    "I think you''re going to die screaming."


    ke smiled. "I''ll take that bet." He held up a gem taken from the engineering guild. "You hold this." He tossed it, and the goblin snatched it from the air. "If I live, you give it back, and owe me...oh, how about one of those fancy knives."


    The dark-d figure stared and stared.


    "You will leave the constructs."


    ke frowned, but he knew if this went wrong his constructs weren''t going to save him anyway. He nodded, and the goblin hissed and gestured him onward. ke wiped a bit of sweat off his forehead, and ordered his constructs to stay.


    * * *


    ke was soon escorted by more shadowy figures than he could count. He made a joke that if the real assault wasing then he''d certainly distracted them enough. He had to withhold theugh when almost half their number slipped away.


    Once or twice he felt hands try and search him without his notice, but he just clutched his mana gem and didn''t let on that he did. They took him through a series of tunnels often filled with miserable goblins or stuffed with supplies, and it seemed most of the mountain n was hiding here in the main ''dungeon''.


    The creatures stared at ke with wide or malevolent eyes, but he just smiled back in return. His only ''escape'' n, such as it was, involved relying on confusion and Adaptive Veil, and he figured all these goblins running around would hide him if needed.


    Eventually he was stopped by an even scarier looking cloaked figure who spoke to the other goblins using some kind of hand signals. Then he came forward with a strip of ck cloth, and ke allowed himself to be blindfolded. They led him on and on, and ke was nearly ready to tell them he was lost <em>before</em> the blindfold when rough hands pulled off the cloth.


    Five goblins in robes sat on ridiculously sized thrones in a line on the far wall.


    More goblins armed with spears, knives, and wearing iron armor seemed ready for violence all around the room. ke nced behind to see the cloaked goblins were practically plugging the tunnel, and any hope of escaping with mind control and his Veil flew right out the window.


    "Hello," he said, still smiling. "My name is ke."


    The robed goblins stared. They exchanged a few nces before it seemed they''d agreed on who should speak—a particrly fat creature sitting in their middle.


    "We are the High Mages of the Greenblood Order. And you..." here the creature squirmed in its seat with ill-concealed rage. "You have earned <em>death</em> with your intrusion a thousand times!"


    "I''m sure I have," ke said, pursing his lips. "But I’ve been ying around in a few goblin minds, and I think you''re practical creatures. You can kill me now, but I think you know that won''t stop my people from destroying you. In fact, it would guarantee it. So I''m here to make a deal."


    "Your…<em>arrogance</em> is astounding." The creature’s fat jowels quivered as it spoke, and it clutched a staff in its meaty hand.


    "Guilty." ke shrugged. "But it''s <em>your</em> arrogance that led to the destruction of your raiding party. And your engineers. And shortly your prospectors. Your time in this mountain is over, I’m afraid. But we can help each other."


    "End this farce!" hissed a goblin on the far end. "Kill him, cousin. Then we''ll deal with the others. Just because those other ipetent fools failed doesn''t mean..."


    "<em>Silence</em>." The first speaker roared, turning to his colleague with narrowed eyes. "You watched the battle in the far-ss. You saw what they did to us in a<em> single afternoon</em>!"


    The air seemed to suck from the room at the first goblin''s words, and the other wizard sunk back into his seat.


    "I am Chillik," said the goblin ''leader'', waving a hand as if it wasn''t important. "What deal do you propose, human? And make it quick. I am considering fighting to the death out of spite. At least then I would be finished with my idiot cousins. And my gout."


    ke smiled, feeling a little like he was back in the old world in a setting he understood. He knew these creatures worked with the orcs and they at least understood one another.


    "The other humans hate you," he said. "But I know who the true enemy are. Demonic aberrations. Undead hordes. And no doubt other lifeless, nasty things. I don''t care which living thing rules which bit of rock, Chillik. All I want...is a bit of unity. There''s enough space in this world for all of us."


    "Speak in," Chillik grumbled. "Our gods reward us for destroying you, and I assume yours for killing us. And yet you say we''re not enemies?"


    "Sometimes survival is its own reward." ke grinned. "But if in the future you think it better to betray me than be my ally, I''ll understand. I''m not a fool. But you’ll need to survive to find out."


    "And you''re some great friend to us?" spoke another wizard. "Why save us? Why should you care?"


    "I''m like you," ke said. "An opportunist. And I''ve already allied myself with the tower orcs. I am a High Wizard there, serving the newest tower lord. Or rather, <emdy</em>. On her behalf, I invite you to join us. You and all your things and people."


    He bowed slightly, trying not to be too pleased at the absolute stunned expression of the goblins.


    "We need time...to discuss," said Chillik, as most of the others practically spit with disbelief.


    "As you like." ke looked back at the gaggle of assassins behind him and tried not to worry. "But I wouldn''t take too long. The other humans will take time to convince. And they might very well being to kill you. Their patron isn''t your biggest fan."


    "Mason Nimitz," said one of the goblins, and ke raised a brow. "Our gods warned us about him," he finished, not looking particrly pleased about the fact.


    "A ranger, and druid!" hissed another. "Allied with the tree witches. He would never work with us."


    "Just as a human wizard would never live with orcs. Or ally with goblins," ke said. "Yet here we are. Expand your horizons, my friends, and who knows where we might go together." He bowed again, then waited with as much humility as he could muster.


    The goblins leaned towards each other and hissed and argued, but it was soon obvious ''Chillik'' was more or less in charge, and looked about as defeated as the orc council.


    "It will be difficult," Chillik said. "We would need...more time."


    ke nodded. Whether they were just lying and trying to gain time to fortify or retaliate he couldn’t be sure. But it was worth the risk.


    "Consider it a first gesture of trust,” he said. “I''ll dy the others, and buy you a few days to prepare. Then I’ll return, and we''ll go to the towers together."


    Chillix nodded, and ke bowed again. "Now, if you don''t mind, as a first gesture of <em>your</em> trust—I have absolutely no idea how to get out of here."


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