Yeah. Goblins have vast, vast numbers, but no brains, etc. . . So use them like you would use ammo. There is no need to carefully preserve them like with your human followers. Don't just waste them, but acceptable losses for them are far higher than for any thinking being. Just don't try to use them for anything that needs a mind.

>>453543
Goblins are now lowest tier minions. If you ever feel angry and need to kill something to calm down, use a goblin.

please dont abandon this quest, this was my favorite quest here.
perhaps we can ask Gilrenthal what she thinks about the situation.

the author is busy with classes right now. But they aren't gonna abandon their quests.

Tell the truth, I thought this one had died out. I'll see about getting something posted tomorrow or the day after or something...

*grumbleclassesgrumble*

I'd like to see the continuation of this too.

I thought OP started another quest? don't know what's it called but I think it's this one http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/res/459093.html , right?

this is true. the OP shifted focus to the new thread.

So we have the mindfuck idea, the killthemall idea, and the actual take over the old fashioned way idea. Eh. Whatever works. I think I'll go with the mindfuck plan first. Goblins may breed the fastest out of any critter I've ever seen, but it never hurts to have more of them. I let Gilrenthal know that I'll be heading out the next day with a few goblins and Isrenow to investigate the next tribe in our path, while she, Nina and the cult idiot stay behind. Maybe they can get some more useful information out of the little buggers while I'm gone. The angel sends back her understanding, then it's time to turn in for the night.

========

The next day I wake early, waking Isrenow as well, then head off, taking a few goblins with me to show me the way. After hours of trekking through pitch black tunnels and lightless caverns, we eventually find it. The home of the Grubsuckers. The goblins with me are practically giddy with excitement, while Isrenow is only grinning. I raise my eyebrow in question, and Isrenow responds through the link, happy herself over how easy it is to convince the goblins to do things. She can practically knock out every single goblin in the entire tribe with a thought, if she wanted to. Still, I frown in thought as I suddenly notice something. I can smell sparks. Not our sparks either. Sparks from something else.... and there, and there, and there. Delicious sparks. They taste... wrong somehow though. Like something had tainted them with something. Either way, they're in that tribe's encampment somewhere. If Isrenow can't feel them, that means they don't have minds. Golems or artifacts then. Either one is just something for me to eat.

Final chance WTJ. We gonna walk in there, or we gonna kill our way in?

Let's walk in first because we can always just skip to plan kill our way in at anytime.

take it slow first. walk right in, you can rip them apart easy if you need to.

>>472164
>>472262

this

>>472151
Don't eat the Sparks if they taste wrong, by the way. There are tons of Sparks that don't taste wrong, and last thing you want is to get supernatural food poisoning, especially since we have little to no idea how we would fix such a thing.

>>472829
Agreed

Walking in it is then. Hopefully they'll put up some resistance so I can kill them. Or at least kill some of them. I enter the cavern home of the Grubsuckers, eyes scanning the area with disinterest. The place is unremarkable, fairly similar to the last tribe's cavern. Nothing at all of interest in the entire place. Goblins scatter upon spotting me, seeming to want to get out of the way. I frown in confusion, then one of the spark masses suddenly moves, and I step, making sure to grab Isrenow and bring her with me, the spark mass slamming into the rock I'd been standing on mere moments before.

It stands, creaking metal marking its moves, and it starts making clicking noises as it "eyes" focus on me. One of my goblins decides charging it is obviously the right course of action, and it runs up to the thing, swinging away with a crude spear. The weapon does absolutely nothing, and the metal thing merely backhands the critter, sending the creature flying. Isrenow seems completely confused, but that's somewhat expected. She can't feel the thing with her magic like I can. I tell her to take care of the goblins, so they can't interfere, while I deal with the new threat. Whatever the thing is, I'm gonna have some fun.

Isrenow detaches from me and gets out of the way, while I test the thing using a straight punch to the face. Instead of crumbling, as I expected, the thing reels back slightly, then returns the punch, sending me skidding across the grounds as bones snap and flesh gives. I heal myself, but I frown in annoyance. Damn thing did-

I'm interrupted in my contemplation by another one trying to kill me, then another and another. and soon, there's five of the damn thing, all grouped together making their little creaking sounds, while I wait a few feet away, eying them with distaste. Punching them isn't seeming to do anything, and I still don't like the smell of those sparks... something seems off. Like they aren't even caring about anyone else. They seem completely intent on me. Little fuckers.

What should I try, WTJ?

Well we have no idea how durable they are or if they have range attacks so test the waters by blasting them. We might not have to beat them so we could try to bury them in rubble. Let's lead them into buildings before collapsing it atop of them. It probably won't do anything but we might as well try.

yes lets try some kind of ranged attack. they might only be able to smash things and wont be able to put up much of a fight at a distance.
use a concentrated fireball on one of the golem's knees. if they cant move quickly, they should also be easier to deal with. if they are indeed metal the fireball attack should heat the knee joint and break it.

>>473449
They also apear to have a slowish reaction time, use thing to your advantage and keep moving, abuse the fuck out of shadow step.

You know, these may be inventions from that bastard goblin hero. Maybe that's why they feel wrong, because they're intended to go against you.

Anyway, as for what to do, a couple of ideas. Going after their joints with rust or something else to muck up the works should make them less of a threat, if not completely immobile, and if there's a specific place where those sparks are in their bodies, you should try to go after that spot. Maybe teleport it out from them or something.

Making large, clumsy, near-indestructible things kill each other is always fun.

I drop a little farther back, then try reaching out, hoping to turn the things on each other. That works just about as much as trying to hurl a glass bowl and expecting it to break through a stone wall. Whatever the sparks in there are, they don't like being messed with. If anything, it feels almost... familiar... to my own sparks. Similar, yet... I don't know... different...

Then they all charge me again, clambering over each other to try to get to me, but I just step again, muttering curses as I rip a chuck of the ground out and hurl it over my shoulder, the rock sparking from the bit of magic I'd used to help me rip it from the ground. The boulder slams into the pack of them just as they're turning around to hunt for me again, and dirt and rocks fly everywhere with the force of the impact. I stare at the cloud of dust for a moment, then step again as one of the things comes rocketing out of the cloud, slamming into the ground I'd been standing on, another comes at me from above, and I frown as the thing start seemingly getting faster and faster, using the walls to come after me. Soon, I'm using my strength to simply deflect blows, looking for opportunities to get at them, but getting left with little time to concentrate before I have to step again. Still, after stepping around awhile, I manage to get far enough away to call up some rust and drop it on one of them just as I step, lashing out with my hand and literally eating through the metal with a touch as I disappear. I hear a creak, then the crash as it fall over, one of the things suddenly missing a leg as it falls off. Fuck you, weird metal things.

The others continue their assault, but with one less to worry about, I begin taking them apart piece by piece. and soon leave myself with only one alive, the other sparks having fled. The local goblins have all been dealt with, according to Isrenow, who's having fun making them do random shit, so that leave me all the time I want to contemplate the thing in front of me. The thing is little more than a torso now, and looks completely unremarkable, but I can smell the sparks inside of it.

They smell... off. Different. So very different. No less delicious, but... different. Like the difference between a turkey and a chicken. Or something like that...

Anyway, what should I be doing with this hunk of junk?

>>476006
try eating the sparks perhaps?

>>476015
I advise against it. We don't know how they will react with the sparks already inside you, and there are not that many of them that are worth the risk of getting sick and losing some sparks.

If you can, just try tasting one of its sparks. Dont take them all at once. If its allright after the first go ahead and take the rest

I think you guys are totally missing it. This is a working golem with a relatively small number of sparks that feel wrong.

If we tried to eat them would it bite us on the ass? Perhaps not directly but then this working golem wouldn't be. I say we wrap it up, bring it home and get someone else to study it.

>>476238
This sounds like that smart plan.

>>476238
Or we could transfer a few of the golem's sparks into a goblin and see if it explodes...ok, that probably could wait 'til we get back to base.

Also, if the are any sparkless and still intact(ish) golems left you might want to see if these things cam run on normal sparks. (Unlikely? Yes. But still worth checking.)

Study it? We know how to make a golem, you shove sparks into a shape made of armor. Our last golem had issues because it was fighting Isa (whom vincent had throuble with) and vincent isn't an armor crafter, if he got dwarves to make the shell he empowered it would have been better.

This is not something you just cart away to study while it is active and hostile, nor is golemcraft something for vincent to pursue. But restraining it might be useful to keep the unusual sparks for study without eating them yet. Shape stone to trap all by its head in a solid block.

It attacked you exclusively which means someone ordered them to. Perhaps they know of your abilities and those sparks are a trap? Alternatively there is something special about their creator and the sparks aren't a trap but still could have significant and unexpected positive OR negative effects. Either way, cannot be risked until you know more.

1. Question local goblins about the golems, where they came from (not goblin made, goblins have no sparks).
2. Ask your angel to take a look at golem's sparks and see if she can tell why they are different.
3. Give nina max armor enhancement on her body like yours (she currently has mental speed and physical speed). She is way too fragile at the moment.

remember the last time he consumed an odd source of power? after eating that horse spirit he got a new ability, perhaps we should try those sparks. we might get lucky and get something cool.

>>477360
1. Could be good, could also be bad/a trap.
2. We are not saying don't eat it ever, we are saying don't eat it yet. Need further research (like examination by our angel).

>>477360
New power? I like the sound of that. Sure it might hurt me, but... eh, I'll be fine. Time to eat!

I crouch down next to the thing and start feeding, the odd sparks sliding into my soul. Moments later, a bolt of pain scorches its way through my body, leaving me doubled over in pain on the ground. The pain slowly starts to get larger and larger, and my head feels like it's going to explode, but and in a somewhat instinctive reaction, I use the sparks I'd absorbed to send a fireball down a tunnel, the shrieks of a few goblins letting me know I'd hit someone. the pain disappears as soon as the sparks leave my body, and I soon find myself breathing heavily as a lay in the dirt.

"Damn... that hurt..."

"My love? Are you alright?"

"Hm? Oh, Isrenow... yeah, I'm fine... just a little tired. Tried something I probably shouldn't have. You find out anything from the goblins?"

"Not really. They don't know much about the golems, although they keep referring to some winged-person. I think they mean an angel, but their heads are so chaotic I can't really make much sense of it. They can help us reach the next tribe, and I made them loyal to you... are you sure you're alright?"

"Just fine. Now then, I think it's time we headed back and collected our companions from that other tribe. Want to keep them with us and all that. Besides, I have a few things I need to talk to Gilrenthal about."

We head back that way we came, which goes faster now that I know the route, and arrive to find the goblin tribe geared up for war, looking incredibly ready to get murdered in the name of the master. I let the goblin cheiftin know what's going on, and that I've added another tribe to my dominion, then call for Gilrenthal. The angel appears within minutes, dropping from somewhere in the air and touching down next to me.

"You called, my lord?"

"I ran into some golem things. Fast little fuckers. Annoying to. They had some weird sparks in them. I tried eating and they hurt. A lot. Got any ideas?"

"Odd sparks? No, my lord, nothing comes to mind. I suppose sparks could be altered to cause harm when consumed, but such things are beyond my understanding. I can mention, though, my lord, that your own sparks are somewhat disimilar to normal sparks."

"What do you mean?"

"Your sparks felt different when they passed into me during the oath. Not like Tirfuldin's sparks. Much more... free and wild. Uninhibited might be the best word to describe them. I'm afraid I can help you no more with that."

So then... whatever made them was similar to me, perhaps? That doesn't make much sense. No sense at all. Still, we'll have to see for ourselves once we find the fucker. After consulting with my followers, and enchanting Nina with some protection, I'm left to make a decision.

The next tribe is at least two days away if I travel on my own. If I want to bring a goblin army, it'll be three days. The newest goblins also mentioned there being some kinds of crypt or tomb a days travel from their place, but they don't go near their. Say something about bad gobbies, or whatever. Still, they think they're might be some treasure inside, maybe even an artifact or two, if I want to check it out.

So then, what's the plan? We've got ten days till I've got to get back to my normal day job.

Plan: Send the goblins toward the other tribe, with most of your people with them to shepard them. The goal here is to get them there and KEEP them there while you're checking out that tomb for magical artifacts, then going to be a distraction for the battle.

The Grubsuckers seemed to have been enchanted by an angel to be completely focused on attacking you, so their *attack multiple people in combat* thing might be reduced. Particularly since these are the DUNGFLINGER clan, which implies that they stay away from their target and throw things at them. If your goblins go in and slaughter while they're focused on you (and hopefully you have a shield of some kind) you can probably keep them distracted enough for Isrenow to enslave them for you.

>>479405
Ok I think what happened was that you absorbed order aligned sparks and that did not mess with your chaotic soul. This underscores the importance of going neutral in the whole order/chaos fight.

Send your gobbos to the other tribe then nip off for the tomb so whats on the up.

Ya send your goblins to the next tribe, then head off to the tomb

>>479523
Reasonable explanation, odd that they were not overwhelmed though considered how few of them there were.
Also that would mean trouble if vincent ever consumed sparks from an unaligned angel. Have you ever actually consumed an angel before?

Vincent, before we do anything more time consuming... what do you know of BSD?

BSD? Home, I guess. Don't know where it is in relation to anywhere else. Mother dearest never really talked about it, she left before I turned 3. I remember bits and pieces sometimes, rolling hills, beautiful lakes, grand city... no people. Never any people. Just me and TB. Can't give you anything more specific than that. I remember some of the history mother tried to teach me, like every single person born in the nation being an arch-mage class magic user. Most of the rest of it is just cloudy bullshit. I've lived a long time after that obviously.

As for consuming an angel, yes, but they were aligned with a God.

So, to stick to the plan. Time to head for the tombs, yeah? Send off a little army of death in the form of goblins ahead of me first, let the rest of my team go with them... yeah, sounds about right. Alright then, I find Isrenow and tell her what needs doing, as well as giving her instructions on what to do with Everyone else. Gilrenthal is to act as my "voice" in my absence, since she seems to instinctively know what it is I want in life, while I instruct her to act as the commander of the goblins. Nina is to be kept safe and away from the fighting at large. In the meantime, I'll investigate the tombs. Gods know how long that'll take. Soon enough, I'm on my way, a single goblin sent off to lead me to my destination. Hours of dull, meaningless travel later, and we come across a massive archway, twin stone guardian statues watching over the entryway. The goblin stares at it dumbly then lets out a little shriek of fear as some rocks tumble nearby and takes off back the way it came. I snicker in amusement, then turn my attention to the tombs. Time then, to have some fun.

I stride through the gateway into the place, eyes scanning the area and find myself in an entryway, a sort of chamber where they must have prepped the bodies for burial. I sniff at the air, searching for sparks of some type, and oddly enough, I can taste them. Something strong, down below. Something very tasty. Normal sparks, on top of all that, not that weird bullshit from earlier. Other things to, things that move, fairly strong, and something else, something... weak. Something trying to avoid detection, by the way it avoids contact with the larger things. Still, the strongest source is the stationary one, suggesting an artifact of some kind. Still, there's multiple way I could go about this. I could, if I so chose, hunt down the other spark sources for the power, or I could ignore them and go directly for my target. Of course, there's also the possibility of other artifacts that don't have sparks in them at the moment either.

There's also... something else. Something... uncomfortable... about this place. Something that doesn't feel right at all. Almost like that... what did she call herself... that undead chick I got back home.

... Eh. Regardless, I'm not leaving till I've got whatever is down here. What advice you got for me, voices?

It seems we might have to deal with some kind of undead in the near future. We should probably root out those smaller spark sources first, while we're looking we might find something that will help us later on. Then move on to the big source.

Inch your way through in a spiral, try to avoid any paths and doorways laid out in the place as much as possible. As a rule traps and ambushes will be set primarily where folks are expecting folks to come from, so try to draw anyone and anything in there out of their positions instead of charging in. Try not to destroy everything but do make use of ceilings and walls as your doors and roads.

>>481026
The hiding sparks sound interesting we should check them out. But be careful because they are hiding you could have underestimated the true number of sparks.

The sorta strong moving sparks are probably defenses of some kind (golems, skeletons, ghosts, ghouls, ext...) you might want to try ambushing one of them to see how easy it would be to harvest their sparks.

That big strong thing could be an artifact yes, but it also could be a very strong "person" who does not feel the need to move a lot (Lich). Either way we should be really careful when approaching it.

Is there any reason you couldn't go after all of them?

The question should really be in which order.

I say go for the weakest first, see if it's something that could tell you more about this place, then go for the intermediate before moving on to the main prize.

And if this place reminds you of that undead girl, does that mean it reminds you of her specifically or of invoker magic, maybe Death in particular?

The place feels like the girl. I haven't really tasted of Death itself yet. Nor, thinking about it, do I really want to. That would suck.

Hunting the weakest then. The things will feed me just like everything else in the god forsaken hole in the ground. Still, I begin my descent, ignoring my normal tactic of kill everything to see about sneaking. A small spark payment and I slip into invisibility, making my way silently down the maze-like corridors and eventually stumbling upon one of the smaller spark sources. The clack sound of bones striking stone can be heard, and the picture of a walking skeleton clatters into view, empty eye sockets peering at nothing in particular. I regard the thing with some interest, but ultimately this thing is just another-

The sudden moan of something can be heard, and then the bone thing is fell upon by what looks like animated corpses. The bone golem starts hurling them off of itself, even as the things seem to be trying to eat it, but ultimately, the bone golem wins out, smashing the walking dead to the ground and pulverizing their heads. For a moment, there's silence, then the sound of boots on stone is heard, and I see a older man waltz into view, eyes scanning around the room. He glances at the bone golem, then strides over to a corpse and starts muttering to himself.

"Hm... more corpses. No magical residue, no sign of sigils or markings... what is making these things? Alchemy? Unlikely, there's no herbs I've ever heard of causing this kind of reaction, and they are clearly dead to begin with. A contract summoner? Again, unlikely. Magic would still be involved to some degree..."

The man's voice drops low, the mutterings continuing like that. I, on the other hand, continuing eyeing the skeleton, wanting to know if I could get my hands on it and eat it's sparks. There aren't much there, but it would be nice to have. Besides, more sparks never hurt anyone. Another golem wanders into the room, dragging a corpse along with it, and I watch silently as the man examines this one as well, apparently coming to a conclusion he doesn't like.

We might as well try eavesdropping and hope he says something worthwhile that might shed some light on what's really going on over here.

This might be the time for diplomacy.
After all, you can destroy them all and take what sparks they have either way, but fighting the golems isn't worth it.
He seems like the knowledge seeking type, so perhaps you can 'sell' him the knowledge he'd gain by watching you remove the sparks on these things?
That way, you could have him hunt down the undead for you.

The golem is too weak to be anything but a minor snack and you can eat it later when the crypt is explored.
For now I say talk to the old man, see what he knows about this place and what goes on here.

Dont react with violence. Listen for a bit first, then interact with them

I hiss in annoyance, more talking, but I stand and drop the invisibility. The golems move to defend the man, who glances up in surprise before calling them off.

"Well. I didn't think I'd find another down here. Are you a mage? Stupid question, of course you are. May I ask what you are doing down here?"

"Here in particular? I heard there might be something worth having in this place. Down below the desert is my business though. You?"

"Knowledge, at first, and then to find out what these things are. They keep coming out of the ground and trying to eat me. It looks like it was a good decision to buy some golems for the journey... regardless, I don't suppose you have any idea what they are?"

"No. Not anything I've ever seen. Corpses don't move without magic normally."

"Yes... most troubling. I suppose there could be a source somewhere... Ah another golem."

Another one of the bone things wanders in, dragging behind it another corpse. Another examination and the same conclusion. Nothing unusual about the corpse itself. I quickly come to the conclusion all of the smaller spark sources are golems, which would make about 7 golems wandering this place. There's that really weak ass one still as well, moving somewhere below me, and the stationary strong source as well. The feeling of... death... still hangs in the air as well, gotten stronger since I came further in. I don't think this bastard has even noticed.

Whatever it is, I get the feeling it knows I'm here. Or at least, knows something is here.

"Excuse me?"

"Hm?"

"Would you mind accompanying me? If your a mage, your skills would be invaluable. There's a place with a large concentration of these walking corpses, they seem to be guarding something, and I'd like to know what."

I pause to consider this. Something else is down here, that's for sure. But the issue is whether or not I want to get involved...

Your thoughts, voices?

Well sure, we came here to find and loot ancient secrets/items and found something that should be impossible.
If he shows you where the things coming from its ideal, you get to destroy a bunch of enemies and then hopefully loot something useful

>>493539
Why not both of you are trying to figure out this place, and working together now might open him up to longer term minonship.

On that note suggest that you and him should compare notes (but don't say how dangerous you really are, a few secrets are good.)on what we have learned so far.

go with him, at best you get some help while you're looking. at worst you can watch zombies eat him, which is still entertaining.
besides even if he tries something you can just bat him aside.

The weak source should be the next thing you check out then, since the large one doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

As for this guy, he claims the dead have been attacking him. That means he actually lives in this desert shithole and I'm curious as to why he'd want to.

Also, how fresh are the corpses? Just a though but if there's no direct magic involved maybe they are being puppeted by something alive. A parasite of some kind maybe. The plausibility of this idea does hinge on how fresh and intact the bodies are though.