The adventures of Mochaki the goblin – Chapter 1V

Read chapter III at: https://dumdumdie.co.za/2023/02/25/the-adventures-of-mochaki-2/ 

Rummaging around the big bag, Mochaki eventually managed to locate the special of the day. A chalky black and green cookie that was shaped almost like a ball. Venka had refused to give up her recipe for the cookie, but from the taste and bits of wilted leaf, Mochaki was pretty sure this had been made from charcoal and cabbage leaves. How Venka had managed to hide cabbage from the tribe long enough to make it into a cookie would remain a mystery, but then Venka had always been a secretive sort of goblin. She kept to herself and liked to hang around the shadows where no one could see her. It helped that her skin was usually stained dark with charcoal as well.

Withdrawing a couple of samples, Mochaki once again peered around the meeting place. He was hidden behind a big potted plant of sorts. The big building behind him was marked in big letters that he managed to read by sounding the word out slowly.

ADVENTURERS GUILD

This was the place the mead lady – Reika – had told him to wait for her. Despite having been given permission, Mochaki felt uneasy hanging around an adventuring guild. The other goblins had always told him that adventurers liked to do all kinds of horrible things to goblins.

Reika hadn’t done anything horrible to him, but Mochaki also couldn’t tell if she was really being friendly. Human expressions were difficult to read and Reika didn’t seem to follow the normal pattern. Despite this, Mochaki hoped that her offer had been genuine. He would be much safer travelling with a group, especially one that knew where they were going.

Mochaki nibbled on a cookie as he sat waiting for his new teammate to appear. He was so consumed in his doubts that he only recognized Reika’s voice moments after he heard her speak.

“I have saved your ungrateful butts, you are welcome.”

Mochaki peered around the pot to find her speaking to three others who had assembled in front of the door. One was another human, this one looked like a male based on the amount of hair on his face, who had his arms folded and was giving Reika a withering glare. Where she was slim and light on her feet, he was heavily muscled and looked like he could wrestle a mountain lion to the ground.

“Be smug when your mystery contribution actually shows up, Reika. I don’t exactly see him hanging around waving at us,” the man waved his big arms around in a sarcastic display.

Turning his attention from the two shouting humans, Mochaki studied the other members. One was an elven person who seemed strangely young. Mochaki knew that elves could lead very long lives, but this elf looked childlike somehow, as if it had not yet grown into that regal bearing most elves had. It was playing some sort of a game that involved moving sticks from a pile. Even more strangely, the elven child’s opponent seemed to be a big furry spider. The creature was about as large as Mochaki’s hand, but it was gently moving stick after stick, quickly accumulating a large pile next to it.

Finally, Mochaki turned his head to the final person. He looked humanoid as well, but his skin resembled cracked rocks. Whenever he moved it looked like new cracks opened up from nowhere as others closed. Mochaki couldn’t help but stare until the brilliant red eyes that had begun searching zoomed in on his hiding spot behind the pot.

“He’s definitely going to be here!” Reika yelled at the same time her bearded companion said; “Just admit you couldn’t find anyone!”

“He’s right there,” The rock person interjected in a rather husky voice and pointed at Mochaki. As several pairs of eyes turned in his direction, Mochaki took a timid step into the light.

“H-hi.”

There was silence for a moment as the members studied Mochaki, then the loud human huffed and turned to Reika.

“A goblin? You seriously expect us to-“

“All we need is a body, and the guild accepts goblins, I checked,” Reika cut him off immediately.

“Yes, but we don’t need someone who is going to hold us back,” he hissed at her. “It’s about more than just someone to fill the register.”

“You brought Cat and Lord Fairleigh in, how is the goblin any different?”

“Because we already have that deadweight, we don’t need another!” he yelled loudly. At that, the elf jumped up and stomped their foot on the ground. Mochaki watched as the humans’ shoulders hunched and they both looked guiltily at the elven child.

“We are not dead weight,” the child snapped in a high pitched voice.

“Of course not, Cat. I’m sorry that I said that. I just meant that Lord Farleigh can’t exactly help us fight and you… we don’t want to put you in danger.”

The elf glared at him with enough venom that Mochaki retreated to his hiding spot, “No one else is lining up to join us. We just need to reach Abaros, surely the goblin will suffice until then.”

“We are running out of time,” the rock person whispered. He seemed completely unconcerned with the big spider that had scrambled up his body and positioned itself against his neck. His words seemed to end the argument, as the bearded man let out a heavy sigh, rubbed the bridge of his nose and finally flung his arms in the air.

“Fine. Fine, just add the goblin to the register.”

Reika smirked when her companion stomped into the building, but the expression vanished the moment the elf turned to her.

“Do you also think that we are dead weight?” The elven child demanded.

“Are you kidding? I’ve seen what you can do. Barret’s just being overprotective. Now come meet our new teammate.”

The young elf turned to Mochaki, who took another step back. The elf’s intense frown immediately smoothed out, which made them look very open and friendly.

“There is no need to be afraid of us. You may call me Cat, and that’s Lord Farleigh and Izenal.”

Cat pointed at the rock person.

“N-n-nice to meet you. I am Mochaki,” Mochaki said, once again stepping away from the safety of the pot. Cat had a nice smile.

“Good to see you showed up,” Reika winked at him. Unsure of how to respond, Mochaki simply nodded.

“We should head inside so Barret can add you to our register,” Reika said and led the way into the big building. After a moment’s hesitation, Mochaki followed her inside.

The guild was big and busy. Mochaki gaped at all the people coming and going. There were people behind desks issuing orders. Other people formed neat lines to speak to them. The place was clean and brightly lit and made Mochaki feel incredibly tiny. After a few moments, Reika made an irritated noise and gave him a push from behind.

“We’re in a hurry, kid. Just go to Barret and have your name added.”

Approaching the bulky man, Mochaki halted a few feet away and peered up at the woman behind the desk. The desk was just low enough that his eyes managed to clear the surface. Once the woman noticed him her eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh, you were serious? Yes, guild policy does allow goblin adventurers… We don’t see too many, mind you. Hello, what is your name?” The woman was smiling politely at Mochaki. He supplied his name and then spelled it out carefully when asked. Finally, the woman asked him to write down his own name on several different forms.

“This is all very standard adventuring protocol. This is for the guild fees, this one is the risk indemnity, a waiver of liability for the guild in case of dismemberment or death, this is for our funeral package, oh and this one for your guild library card…”

By the time the last form was signed, Mochaki’s hand had started to cramp up. The woman launched into a new topic but was abruptly cut off by Barret.

“I believe that’s all we need. We are in a hurry, could you have the supplies sent to our camp just outside of town?”

“Yes, of course,” she looked a little put out, but did not try to keep them. Barret turned to Mochaki and uttered another long-suffering sigh.

“Welcome aboard, I guess. As long as you can carry your own weight and keep up, you’ll be fine. Name’s Barret, by the way.”

“Nice to m-m-meet you, Mr. Barret,” Mochaki stumbled over the words as he was ushered outside faster than he could walk. Once outside, Barret looked around until he spotted the rest of the party and made a low whistling noise which drew their attention. He nodded to the left, waited for a nod from Reika and then started walking again.

Mochaki ran to keep up with the much bigger man, but was quickly overtaken by Reika who fell into step beside Barret. Mochaki jumped when a slender hand curled around his shoulder.

“It is official then? A goblin has joined the ranks of the Strange Bastards?”

“The… what?” Mochaki stared at her, but it was the rock man who responded to his right.

“The Strange Bastards. It is our party name.”

The word ”bastard” was one Mochaki had only encountered a couple of times in his life. Searching through the fuzzy memories, he remembered what the word meant to humans.

“Why would you choose that for your name?” He asked his new companions. As they passed the entrance of the town and took their first steps onto the road outside, Cat leaned in to whisper into his ear.

“That’s easy. It’s because that perfectly describes what we are.”

“I-I-I don’t understand,” Mochaki whispered back but made sure to put some distance between himself and Cat. He was not comfortable with people so close to his neck.

Cat gave a small giggle and rolled their eyes at him.

“I am half-elf,” Cat said slowly. “I am the daughter of an elven noble who took pleasure in spending his free time with humans. Izenal is a half elemental of sorts.”

Mochaki followed her pointed finger to the rock man and carefully filed the name in his mind.

“Wait, I th-thought that he was called Lord Farleigh?”

“No, this is Lord Farleigh,” Cat said, holding out the big spider in her hand. Mochaki could almost swear that spider got bigger each time he saw it.

“Why is he calle-,” the words ended in a soft squeak as the spider started growing bigger and bigger. Cat quickly put it down and took a few steps back. Mochaki was not normally afraid of spiders, but this one was gigantic. Mochaki retreated several paces, and then several more as the limbs lengthened and the hair grew and suddenly the spider was double Mochaki’s size.

“Made it back just in time,” Reika smirked from behind Mochaki. He didn’t know what she was talking about, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the massive fangs and several beady eyes that were staring down at him. Mochaki’s heart pounded so fast he thought it would run away without him. There was a noise behind him and then the bulky frame of Barret blocked his view from the massive creature.

“At least warn the poor thing,” Barret growled at no one in particular, before gently patting Mochaki on the head. “You don’t need to be scared of Lord Farleigh. He’s mostly harmless, and useless,” the last bit was said so quietly only Mochaki could hear it. “He belongs to Cat and has never hurt any of our party members.”

“S-s-s-so big,” Mochaki managed to squeeze the words out. Barret gave a quick chuckle and nodded his understanding.

“He’s normally that big, but he scares people so we make him smaller when we have to go into town. If we’d stayed any longer things might have been… bad.”

Mochaki swallowed several times to get rid of the dry patch in his mouth before he took a peek past Barret’s legs at the huge monstrosity. Cat had climbed on top of it and was straddling it like a horse. When the spider did not immediately eat her or charge at Mochaki, he tried to relax and gave Barret a quick nod. The human chuckled again.

“You’re a brave goblin,” he remarked. “Let’s move before anyone sees Lord Farleigh and makes a scene.”

With that the party was on the move. Mochaki positioned himself close to Barret but made sure to keep the spider in his periphery. Friendly or not, if the spider came any closer to him, Mochaki would make a run for it.

Read the next chapter at: https://dumdumdie.co.za/2023/10/23/the-adventures-of-mochaki-5/

To be continued – Teddy