Spirit Taming

"I don’t need the earth prince to help me climb. I should use my own strength." Brad turned away the help from Ella. she was not going to bring out her partner anyways. There were potential predators that would sense the stronger earth energy anyways.

But where things were too good, were the clearly used hand holds that the rock goblins had made. Brad had wanted to test himself, but found that he was just managing to follow the same pathways used every single day.

This dungeon could have a lot of these beasts in it. The better we are at fighting them, the safer. But don’t split up under any circumstances." Clark reminded everyone of the dangers. This dungeon could overwhelm them if there were many beasts in there. Especially goblins.

Everyone agreed. They knew that they could each handle the rock goblins alone. They would not struggle with a few of them either. But say they were ambushed by twenty or thirty? Then yeah, they would struggle. Especially if they were ambushed.

"I doubt that they set any traps. The cliff face is too well traveled. They are smart enough to split up to hunt for food, but not to set traps." Maira found this somewhat amazing. How could a beast be intelligent enough to cooperate and hunt, but not to use proper strategy like setting traps. The rock goblins could even sharpen stones to use as weapons!

"It’s just how goblins are. Any species of goblin has been territorial and violent. They have instincts like less intelligent beasts but some intelligence enough to work together. But if you confuse them or scare them, they act like less intelligent beasts. It is a study that a few researchers have performed."

Ella shared what she knew while they climbed. It was only natural that she recalled something she had read like this. "The forest goblins were in competition with a gnoll dungeon. The gnolls are cowardly beasts known to set traps and let people come toward them. The goblins charged at them, and fell for their traps. Yet, no surviving forest goblin ever learned to create, disarm, or set traps."

"Instead, the forest goblins learned to grow moss on their bodies to better camouflage and ambush the gnolls while they set traps. An odd way of intelligence, but it shows how the two beasts differed yet still remained as beasts and not a race in any known world."

"So, basically, they are smart depending on the situation, but they are kind of stuck because of what they are and how they have lacked development?" To Jerold, this sounded like the goblin species of beasts were all stuck. They lacked leadership from themselves and were too often sued by other slightly more intelligent or powerful beasts. A rough life indeed.

"I would agree with that. They lack some awareness of themselves. Therefore, they end up in lower positions when it comes to the food chain and to the world as a whole." Ella summed it up and reached the dungeon right behind Clark.

The dungeon was not right out and open. Instead, it was a cave in the cliffside. This cave was roomy enough for everyone to stand with a little room. But at the end of the cave, a familiar entrance to a dungeon existed. However, the opening was covered and forcefully propped open with multitype, stones that had clearly been broken off of the small caves’ walls and ceiling.

"They made sure that they would not lose their home. They can hunt here, hide here, and are able to move about. It’s a smart thing they have done. But was it the rock goblins, or whatever stronger beast managed to get within the dungeon and control them?" Clark posed this question before walking inside the dungeon with his spear prepared to fight.

The rest of the group followed and were immediately hit with the horrendous smell that they all wished they had never smelled. This was the result of eating, then tossing bones and half eaten bodies in to the same corner. The same corner where the rock goblins left their own waste.

"This is why they are not intelligent. They Can’t live hygienically." Isa’s face was showing every bit of disgust that she felt. "It’s right next to the entrance to the dungeon. They could have gone outside. They bring all their food through this. They walk through this!" she had never seen something so disgusting before. It was shaking her world. Common sense had never lived here at all!

"Cover your mouths with cloth. We need to make sure we don’t bring anything bad in." Maria started to pass out cloth scraps. She used purifying potions on them to ensure that they helped filter out whatever could be in the air.

This wasn’t the only step, the group had a few useful things for picking dangerous herbs. Gloves that could resist some of the oils and saps that came from an herb were basics when Isa had been buying equipment for them. Beyond that, they just needed to ensure that they had longer clothing or tough boots on. All which they had since they ended to be battle ready.

The area right by the entrance of the rock goblin dungeon was empty. No signs of any rock goblins here at the moment. The group knew that they couldn’t be here at a time when the goblins were all away. Therefore, they pushed in to the rocky cave looking for the main home of the goblins.

Because this was a one floor dungeon, they knew that they would not be dealing with any floors or moving up and down. But they did find that the cave split up heading different ways. It was not some small one floor dungeon, it was medium. Therefore this would be a more dangerous place with more maze like designs.

"There are a lot of footprints and scratches from the goblins on the left. If we follow it we will most likely make our way towards where goblins leave and enter. The other two passageways might not lead anywhere." Jerold had his head close to the ground. They were not moving with any torch, but they could all see fairly well.

Isa had merged with the blaze elemental so that she could make a small flame. Just enough so that they could see better but not enough that it would alert the rock goblins that they were there. This allowed Jerold to see the small marks that were on the walls. Like something had scratched the rocky walls to mark territory.

"Something else has come here and made marks on the wall. It’s like a warning that the rock goblins aren’t allowed there. Many beasts in forests do this sort of thing." This was something that Jerold had learned while training a little with other scouts. How beasts would make territory so that other beasts would not bother them.

"That could mean we are on the trail of the beast that you said might be organizing these goblins. It could be resting in here while the rock goblins are out hunting. That would end the rock goblins keeping their dungeon open." with the potential for them to end this exploration sooner, Grace was ready to push forward.

"We should take it slowly. Follow how Jerold moves to not make a sound. He is more adept in stealth than everyone else." Clark felt that he could probably also move without being noticed, but he did not train that as often as Jerold. Plus, he didn’t want to take any risk right this second.

Making their way through the passageways, they saw more and more larger cuts on the walls. From what they could see, there were also small bits of gray and brown fur within the cuts. Like the wall had been used as a scratching post. But for Clark, it was a reason that he could exploit. He could use the analysis on this fur.

’Rock troll fur- rare

The rock troll fur is used for making coarse brushes and also for large coats due to the thickness of the fur. It is very resistant to earth type energy due to the innate earth type energy that the rock troll holds. It is not as useful for quick movements and thick armor though, this is due to the weight of the fur overall...’

"The fur is from a rock troll. We need to figure out how to handle it. I have never fought one." Clark updated the group and saw that Ella and Brad both looked more worried. Both of them knew the rock trill and they knew it was a harder beast to handle.

"Trolls have very strong regenerative skills. They can even heal their limbs if you cut them off. Especially when it comes to a rock troll that will use its earth affinity to just make a new arm. They also like to abuse their prey. Toying with them before killing them." Ella shared this with everyone and Brad also nodded along. They both knew the dangers here.