The Story Continues
Malvus
had difficulty containing his frustration as they approached the cave.
He felt that his skills and training were inadequate to the recent
events. Jeshela dying needlessly in the kobold tunnels, and himself
being surprised and paralyzed by a monstrous spider, helpless to do
anything but watched as his companions fought to save him. Nothing he
had learned in the monastery had prepared him for this.
He managed to control himself enough to sneak up to the cave entrance with the rest of the group, their approach covered by Frug's magical fog. The startled goblin sentries were dispatched easily enough, though Malvus lost his spear in the fracas and had to fight unarmed. Then the Urze, the hulking bugbear leader of the goblins, lurched into the torchlight, along with his grizzled wolf companion and more goblins. "Who dare to invade cave of the Urze?!" he bellowed.
Suddenly everything snapped into focus for Malvus. He felt the energy flowing up through his body, from it's source in the earth below out to the ends of his limbs and beyond, as his masters had told him he would. He felt Ngithol standing at his side, stable and dependable. He saw from the Urze's stance as he approached that he had an old wound in his side that had never fully healed, which caused him to list slightly to one side and left a flaw in his defence.
"This cave is not yours. Leave now, and we will let you go in peace," Malvus replied calmly. Feeling at one with the earth and his companions and even his enemies, he saw no need for violence.
The bugbear laughed derisively. "Soft, puny-hand man going to get squished. I going to eat your bones!"
"Come then, and see how 'soft' my hands are." The bugbear's first swing was telegraphed, and Malvus dodged it easily. He never got a second. Malvus first strike went to the Urze's solar plexus, left unguarded by his reckless swing. As the air rushed from his body and he stooped over in shock, Malvus crushed his throat with a second strike. The bugbear crumpled to the ground, and the other goblins fled.
Ngithol also fled the cave; Malvus sensed that she wanted no company and didn't go after her. He allowed himself to celebrate the victory with his other companions, but a part of him was somberly reflecting on what had happened. He had mastered the basic forms of his fighting style years ago, but this had been the first time that he had truly felt the meaning behind them. He knew he would be much more formidable now, but that was no reason to rest easy. His next opponent might not be so careless and easily felled.
He managed to control himself enough to sneak up to the cave entrance with the rest of the group, their approach covered by Frug's magical fog. The startled goblin sentries were dispatched easily enough, though Malvus lost his spear in the fracas and had to fight unarmed. Then the Urze, the hulking bugbear leader of the goblins, lurched into the torchlight, along with his grizzled wolf companion and more goblins. "Who dare to invade cave of the Urze?!" he bellowed.
Suddenly everything snapped into focus for Malvus. He felt the energy flowing up through his body, from it's source in the earth below out to the ends of his limbs and beyond, as his masters had told him he would. He felt Ngithol standing at his side, stable and dependable. He saw from the Urze's stance as he approached that he had an old wound in his side that had never fully healed, which caused him to list slightly to one side and left a flaw in his defence.
"This cave is not yours. Leave now, and we will let you go in peace," Malvus replied calmly. Feeling at one with the earth and his companions and even his enemies, he saw no need for violence.
The bugbear laughed derisively. "Soft, puny-hand man going to get squished. I going to eat your bones!"
"Come then, and see how 'soft' my hands are." The bugbear's first swing was telegraphed, and Malvus dodged it easily. He never got a second. Malvus first strike went to the Urze's solar plexus, left unguarded by his reckless swing. As the air rushed from his body and he stooped over in shock, Malvus crushed his throat with a second strike. The bugbear crumpled to the ground, and the other goblins fled.
Ngithol also fled the cave; Malvus sensed that she wanted no company and didn't go after her. He allowed himself to celebrate the victory with his other companions, but a part of him was somberly reflecting on what had happened. He had mastered the basic forms of his fighting style years ago, but this had been the first time that he had truly felt the meaning behind them. He knew he would be much more formidable now, but that was no reason to rest easy. His next opponent might not be so careless and easily felled.
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