I know that when talking loyalty, goblins are usually not the ones to judge, but let me tell you something; we are resourceful and we like to live, we are no less loyal than any of you lot. One cannot really be loyal anymore if he is dead, and if our lives are put in severe danger because of our loyalty, then disloyalty is the only option to secure potential future loyalty. Demons on the other hand…well they have it the other way round. Which is why it was such a treat to see them turn upon their masters in battle.
As we were cutting down one Zhaarhasian after another, the binds that held their demon slaves obedient began to break, and oh…break they did. They didn’t become any less dangerous to us mind you, but there was something deeply satisfying in seeing our enemies burn from the same fires that plagued us just moments ago. The fight was going in our favour now, but was still far from being won.
We few who were protecting the Stormcaller continued to do so, as he started to summon a mighty storm to aid us in our battle and to quench the fires that would harm our ship. It took all his effort to maintain it however and that’s why we wouldn’t allow any foe to get near him.
We took care of the few dark skinned humies that dared to try to get to our shaman, but our job whilst very important, wasn’t that difficult. The slave-masters usually kept their pets by their side to defend them, and once those masters died, those…pets didn’t really care for strategy, this was not a battle for them to win…but to enjoy.
There was however one slight problem in our safe strategy; the storm that our shaman created caused quite a dribble to appear, and it would seem that demons are what you would call water creatures. One such demon in particular decided that getting rid of the annoying rain would be preferable to dismembering nearby mortals. And he was unfortunately intelligent enough to understand what Stormcaller was doing.
How do demons even look you might ask. Well I don’t know. Those I have seen differed vastly, and while there surely is something that makes a demon a demon, I don’t know them. What I know is what this one looked.
I’m not good at describing otherworldly stuff with these big words like eldritch and primordial and elemental, so I’ll put it how I saw it: Imagine a ghost, then put it on fire, then cover that ghost in charcoal armour, the fire from the ghost is mostly inside that armour, but it still manages to find its way through any imperfections, but mostly from the eye slit. The eye slit from which you only see intense burning rage and two red eyes of fire. That’s about how I would describe the thing that was cleaving its way through our comrades with a giant two-headed battleaxe, did I mention that it was about seven feet tall and had a giant massive black battleaxe.
Even though this thing was making its way towards me, I remained unwavering in my loyalty and without wavering I cleared off from its way, taking the shaman’s hat with me, for safekeeping reasons . My other companions had the similar idea and soon the immobile Stormcaller was facing the demon alone, without having to worry about us. Even though we had faith in his ability to defeat the foe, we realized that something had to be done.
One of my mates tried to circle him and stab him in the back. A valid and intelligent strategy in most cases, not in this one however. But it did give us some more time to think about a plan as goblin throats are famously strong and crushing one takes a second.
I and the boys were frantically trying to find something when my eyes stumbled upon a dead demon body, a body covered in strong magical chains, my second glance then went to the raised anchor dangling from the bow, next to the Stormcaller and in front of the demon. My mates quickly grasped what was going on and we nodded in understanding. There was however a slight problem, we needed someone to grab the demon’s attention, and no one wanted to volunteer.
Loyalty is a funny thing isn’t it, a goblin loyalty is at least pragmatic. But sometimes, even we get some urges some might call…heroic.
So I was standing there, few feet behind the demon, I donned the Stormcaller’s hat and as the events began unfolding I shouted something like:
“What ya thinking ya big pansy, you daft scallywag won’t even recognize the true Stormcaller on this ship.” This demon fella looked straight at me and so I continued “Ya getting a little wet from my rain aren’t ya, come and get me if you have the guts.” My plan was effective, too effective perhaps, I never thought that I could muster such charisma to outwit an otherworldly fiend (now that I thing about it, twas probably the hat). The demon started charging almost before my boys were done tying the chains to his legs, spikes and whatnot, and I began dodging and running for my sorry life. As the fiend kept pursuing me I shouted at my boys,” Drop the bloody anchor already!” and at that moment the demon noticed the chains tied to him. I jest you not, it was fear I saw in the monster’s eyes when I heard the loud splash of the anchor hitting water. “You fell to a classic blunder mate.” I say to the fiend second before he is dragged to the depths.
The fight was nearly over after this, but I decided that my loyalty was spent for the day and dropped to the ground, playing dead. We won in the end and we finally gained some proper riches; gold, jewels, and other valuable things. I got my share of plunder and I was satisfied with the loot, but that wasn’t the end to it all. You see, I don’t want to brag, but after the battle I was approached by Stormcaller and The Captain himself. I was commended for my brilliance and combat prowess, and I was made officer. Said they needed someone with quick feet and quicker mind and I seemed like the right decision after almost single-handedly saving one of the most valuable officers. And as you all can see, being an officer has one very important advantage, I got to keep the Stormcaller’s hat.
Now bring me another round! My throat is sore and I need something before I tell about the time we’ve found an old and forgotten dragon temple.