It was around noon when the camp was cleared out, the twins joined Jenny in the back of their fur and wine stuffed cart.
Kadrin was happy, he managed to loot a well forged one handed axe that the goblins must have looted off some Dwarf warrior.
Not only that, after all the fighting and looting they did, Kadrin and Gnarlo managed to unlock a class. Kadrin got warrior and Gnarlo got Rogue. Kadrin was noticeably beefier but not as drastic of a change as Maro went through and Gnarlo was very hard to notice even when in the same room. Maro found that if he wasn't actively paying attention to Gnarlo he would slip from his mind and just merge into the background despite using no skills at all.
Despite all that, Gnarlo was still salty, he had to sit on the opposite end of Maro with Kadrin in between them. He kept playing with his knife, pretending what it would feel like to cut off a human's private parts.
As Kadrin held the reigns, Gnarlo muttered "I was his fucking boss…he was my work bitch"
Both Kadrin and Maro forgot Gnarlo was right there for a second, what a troublesome class he unlocked.
"What did you say" they both replied
"Nothing" he waved them off
"How much longer Kadrin? Till we reach the fortress" Maro asked
"Less than a week, faster if we don't have any delays huh" he elbowed Maro and winked
Maro had a big smile on his face, he couldn't stop day dreaming. He wished he could tell his old friends from his past life about what he just did, those degenerates would appreciate it.
As the days passed, every night Maro would rush to make his tent and invite the Elves over. Maro couldn't be happier, but he was also drained… the elves had to resort to taking shifts with him so they could sleep but Maro couldn't bring himself to sleep. He had to make the most of it while it lasted.
Every night he used blood rush, multiple times. If not for their healing ability he would be physically torn apart. After 3 days, Maro fell into a 24 hour coma, he could have died happy there. Much better death than his last one… Damn Migrants… or maybe Thank you Migrants for this opportunity.
After he woke up in the back of the wagon, looking up he saw the two elven angels and smiled. Life is absolutely perfect.
"Is he awake finally" Kadrin yelled over his shoulder
Alleria or Valleria responded "he just woke up" as the other put a wine skin to his mouth. Maro's pants were uncomfortable again, but at least he had the mental fortitude to wait until tonight.
"Get over here" the dwarf said
Maro never usually did this the day after, but being so happy he kissed both the elves and started climbing over the mountain of stuff they looted to jump up front.
Just before he sat down, Gnarlo threw a full force right hook to Maro's nuts.
Maro sat down groaning, holding himself. That fucking invisible little shit.
"You're worse than any goblin I have met" Maro Groaned.
Gnarlo laughed " you slept long enough idiot, we've been waiting for you"
"Whats up"
"The gnomes spotted something last night, it seems to be a new town that wasn't here prior to Kadrin travelling through here years ago… it looks mixed, looks like how the logging town was set up but it looks like they are doing some mining here instead"
Kadrin kissed his teeth "If the town is not run by one of us, I feel a lot of dwarves are being held and abused in the mines, no other race can keep up with the efficiency of Dwarves in a mine"
"Ok easy game plan, us three, the most famous Trio of Heroes in all the land, we deserve some ale at the inn and lets stock up on supplies… We'll get everyone to camp in the forest for now and post a guard schedule"
Maro continued "We'll get info and take it slow, unleash Gnarlo to do whatever he wants cause no one notices him anymore"
Gnarlo was worried as per usual "you think we are going in a little bit light?"
"Are you joking, we all have classes now… worst case scenario they have one class holder this far out in the periphery of the kingdom, most likely none. We can kill everyone there just us, if we want to"
Gnarlo had only gotten one skill with his class and that was [Shadow Slip] which allowed him to move unseen and unheard in dark areas. Hell even his baseline class passive just made it super hard to notice him.
Whereas Kadrin got two other warrior abilities that Maro did not have. He got the straightforward [Shield Bash] and his other one was [Dwarven Edge] , which increased the sharpness of any weapon he held.
Maro had also gotten a couple of levels but no new abilities.
Ok lets stop the wagons and get everyone to post camp, lets walk on over.
Maro was a schoolboy with a crush, he kissed both Alleria and Valleria goodbye. The kissing almost got him to call it a day and pitch his own tent but he stood firm.
Gnarlo kissed Jenny but with disdain almost.
The Trio informed the camp of their plan and set off.
The camp was walled off a lot better than the logging camp ever was, so much so there was only one entrance as the other side of the camp bordered the gorge that led to the mine.
They approached the guards and waved to them.
"Good sirs" Maro called out
"Halt" The guards replied. One was a human and the other was a giant 4 meter tall troll.
"With pleasure," Kadrin replied.
Gnarlo had already slipped past the two and headed towards the inn, completely unnoticed.
The human guard asked "purpose of visit and who are you?"
"Rest, restocking supplies and to drink a shit ton of ale, also if you have a brothel I would be inclined to go but I doubt you have one"
Kadrin did the most unnatural and stiff wink, but everyone thought he was just weird and didn't bring it up.
This time the troll spoke up with his deep and guttural voice "4 coins"
They paid up eagerly enough and headed straight for the inn.
Again Maro had scoped out as much as he could with one quick walk from the gates to the inn.
As they busted through the doors, Gnarlo was sitting down at a table with 3 beers. The inn staff were all goblins… bad news.
Maro chugged his beer and ordered another round for the table, no one suspects people who drink to get drunk, even goblins.
Kadrin was seething… all he could see were a couple of Beastmen patrons, a handful of Humans and a bunch of Orcs.
"This is a mine and there are no dwarfs drinking beer… they are definitely kept against their will in the mines".
"Hmmm alright Gnarlo, do your thing when it gets a bit darker outside, for now we drink and gather info"
The three were expert drinkers and after a couple of rounds, the humans at the bar had joined them in between jokes and stories. They picked up that this was an Iron mine and that the humans were just mercenaries who guarded the wall, it was the Goatmen and the Orcs who guarded the actual mine.
The goblin overseer of the mine paid up on time and none of the mercenaries had any complaints about the work.
They ended up admitting that they see food and water go in but no one ever came out of the time. Kadrin was angry, gave a look like he wanted to burn this entire place to the ground.
Meanwhile Maro was just thinking how fast he could wrap up this adventure and go back to the elves asap.
Maro dropped a racist joke about Goblins to gauge their reactions…He knew the joke was funny cause Kadrin had a laughing fit.
"What animal is red, green and brown?... A goblin that's been stabbed after eating poo all day because they were told it was chocolate and they believed it cause goblins are fucking dumb"
They had weak laughs and one guy scowled for a second… Fucking race traitors.
Without anyone noticing, Gnarlo had slipped out half way through the drinking and had just come back
Having enough of each other's company, the mercenary guards went back to their own table. Sensitive, Maro thought.
Gnarlo took a huge gulp of ale… "It's bad, Kadrin"
"Spit it out" Kadrin spat on the floor in anger.
"They have hostages, they took a bunch of women and children and are keeping them secluded in the upper layers of the mine."
"I couldn't find the bulk of the miners as I couldn't navigate the lower levels of the mine, but I did find one and told him that to expect help soon and the spread the message"
Kadrin was clenching his jaw so tight, no wonder people say dwarves eat stone. Maro thought his teeth would explode into shrapnel at any moment.
"How many guards?"
"Not many, less than half of the prison… maybe 40 in total… but its all narrow, rocky and uneven terrain… I see why they have Goatmen guarding here. But the biggest problem is the Troll, all the spear stabbing and bolt piercing won't kill it due to their natural regeneration." Gnarlo frowned
"You think you can kill it Maro, one big sword swing, chop its head off."
"Probably not… given its height and girth… I won't be able to reach its neck for a clean cut… I have an idea though… Gnarlo you handle the Troll!" Maro said smiling like a demon