<strong style="color: rgba(14, 16, 26, 1); background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">*Quest received!


    <strong style="color: rgba(14, 16, 26, 1); background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">- Escape the goblin-infested mines before the time runs out.


    <strong style="color: rgba(14, 16, 26, 1); background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">Time remaining 7:59:49 … 48 … 47 … 46.


    <strong style="color: rgba(14, 16, 26, 1); background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">Optional sidequest:


    -        <strong style="color: rgba(14, 16, 26, 1); background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">Rescue the mage overseer and the rest of the captive miners.


    Another pesky window encouraging me to do something idiotic.


    Why would I try to go outside? Into the sun. It is cozy in here, dark and cool. What is that about a mage? Where is the mage? With the miners. What miners?  I breathe in, letting the humid air caress my nostrils. It smells of wet earth and chalk, of metal and bones. There are too many of those little green people traipsing around everywhere.


    I wander around, hiding in the shadows or clinging to the ceiling whenever I cross a patrol. There are no lonely goblins anywhere. They hunt in groups now, at least four men strong. I snort. Creatures of the dark, fearing the dark. Ridiculous. Are you warriors, or are you children? Maybe they are not creatures of the dark. I may have to wait until they relax again. They may be cowards but are still stronger and faster than I am. But I am still hungry!


    No! Don′t reveal yourself yet. Whittle them down, one by one. Ambush the stragglers. Find their village. Kill them in their sleep. The tactics of the underdog. How far I have fallen.


    Where are those four going? I follow a group of goblins down a dark corridor. The clings of their rusty chainmail echo through the caves. Like church bells in the fog. Do they think they can hunt me while announcing their presence with that much noise? Amateurs. One of them picks the snot out of his nose and eats it. Not the most educated fellows. I sneak closer, waiting for an opportunity. Their veins pulse, their hearts beat, so fragile. It would just take a small tear, to liberate their load. My fingers twitch. I file my clawlike nails against the stonewalls. One of those bumbling idiots cuts himself after stumbling into another. Blood! My mouth waters. I see red and slide closer without thinking.


    No! No! Get a hold of yourself! You are better than this. I exercised my patience as a hunter for centuries.


    But it is so hard to stay in control after starving for so long. The beast inside me is craving to be let loose.


    <strong style="color: rgba(14, 16, 26, 1); background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">Time remaining 5:59:49 … 48 … 47 … 46.


    Go away!


    Finally, one of them falls behind, looks around, then goes up to the wall to pee. His companions disappear behind a bend.


    I rush towards him. A shadow that slithers through the darkness. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    I embrace him from behind. He tenses. My new blade enters cleanly under his chin and punches up into his brain. A spasm, then his muscles relax in the calm of death. I throw him over my shoulder like a grain sack and disappear into the shadows. I wade into a pond behind a bunch of artfully grown columns. And then drink, drink while he is still warm. Cold blood is tasteless. Blood clots are annoying. Suck him dry before the rest of his group realizes that they lost one man.


    They do now, they are poking around the dark corners with their spears, but I am not there anymore. They soon tire themselves. They look at each other. One pointing forward, another flailing wildly with his arms. One runs back the way they came from, probably to alarm the other patrols and call for reinforcements. Not if I can intercept him. I jump from column to column, over stalagmites, between ponds of water, carefully not to step inside. Ripples in the water may well reveal me. I barely keep pace with him until he slows down to a jog. I overtake him without using their trodden path. Circling a gigantic glowing mushroom. I crouch down. His steps grow louder. Then my blade darts out, and a green head goes flying. It bounces between columns and rolls on the dirt until it falls into the water. A ripple flickers over the surface. I see the head disappear inside a giant, tooth-filled mouth. A sharklike creature looks at me with beady eyes. Then it disappears again, faster than my eyes can follow.


    I slurp on the fountain of sweet blood, bursting out of the headless neck until it dries out. I could throw the rest of the body into the water. Those fish might make it disappear.


    Now, let us take on the two that are left.


    They aren′t where I left them anymore. I follow their trail until the tunnel opens up into an immense cave. The stale air is laden with the stench of sweat and urine, of unwashed bodies. There are normal humans here. Pent up in cages like cattle. One of those goblins is poking at a girl with his spear. He seems to enjoy himself because he is grinning from ear to ear. The girl glares at him. Then she points a finger in his direction and a lightning bolt tears through the darkness and impacts the chainmail on the goblin′s chest. I rub my eyes to remove the aftermath of the stinging light. I growl. Is she a sorcerer? Those I knew couldn′t do that?


    The goblin still lies crumpled in a heap of limps. He twitches a few times, then goes still. His companion steps back, weary. But falls right into my waiting arms. His throat leaves my blade wet and red. But I resist to lick it dry for now. We shouldn′t scare those people now, should we? His blood spills into the dirt, wasted. I tear my eyes away from it and go closer to the caves.


    “Welcome, adventurer!” says the girl, looking at me. Unfazed by the dead green men. “Hurry! Take the keys from that goblin on the ground and let me out. My family will reward you.”


    “Are you a mage?”


    “Hurry! Take the keys from that goblin on the ground and let me out. My family will reward you.”


    Did that girl smash her head one too many times as a child or something? Is she deaf? I pick up the keys she is talking about and open her cage.


    “May the gods bless you, adventurer. Hurry! Let us liberate the rest of the miners and get out. The guild needs to know what happened here.”


    I wait for her to come close until she is right by my side. Then I slit her throat.


    She gurgles and looks at me in confusion. I smile and bite down.


    <strong style="color: rgba(14, 16, 26, 1); background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">*Sidequest failed*


    The cries of the miners are a sweet symphony that lulls my senses. I bathe in the despair, the realization that I am not here to help them. They are nicely aligned for the slaughter. I smile, letting the thick blood of the limp body trickle down my chin before licking it up. I have food for a while. Let us finish it up before some of those goblins come looking.