Legend of the Awakened Goblin [Tower Climbing LitRPG]

Desert Dungeon

Fifth Floor

Two Shards Active

Owin squinted against the sunlight. It shone directly into the stairwell as he emerged from the void nexus of the fourth floor. There was so much noise above that for a brief second, he wondered if he was no longer in a dungeon. It sounded like walking outside of the Nimble Hogs' building into Atrevaar in the morning.

He climbed the stairs, shielded his eyes, and looked onto a vast, bustling city. A grand stone cathedral, even bigger than Nosolus's back in the Great Forest, stretched as high as the sun, nearly blocking the bright light shining into Owin's eyes.

On the opposite side, just behind the stairs, was a wide stone wall with a connected guardhouse. Lehboa milled about on top, watching the barren lands beyond the parapets. The boundary wall shimmered directly on the other side of the wall, meaning the guards were really watching for nothing.

Owin stepped onto a small plaza in front of the main gate, which was also guarded by armored lehboa with halberds and grim looks upon their mouse-like faces. The gate was wide open, allowing him to see the city beyond and the numerous lehboa throughout. There was a market not far away, and . . .

Owin's eyes widened as a lehboa riding a cart with some type of pack animal pulling the whole thing walked through the boundary wall, passing right in front of him. The lehboa waved to the guards, who waved back.

"You saw that, right?" Owin asked.

"The mouse riding a cart pulled by another animal that may or may not be sentient? Yeah." Shade squinted his eyes sockets and shielded his face like he had eyes that could be blinded by sunlight.

"The boundary wall."

"Yes, yes. I know." Shade walked over and leaned on the shimmering yellow wall. "It seems sturdy to me. You're a mob. Why don't you try?"

Owin walked over and pressed his hand against it. He absolutely could not pass through. Even if he could, he wasn't sure why he would want to. There was nothing visible in the distance but sand.

The cart rolled on and joined a market that was spread throughout the street just inside the gate. Even from their distance, Owin caught whiffs of spices, cooking meats, and something potent and floral.

"Can you imagine walking onto this floor and feeling ready to just kill all these creatures?" Shade walked closer to the gate, waving excitedly. "Greetings!"

Halberds lowered until the pointed tips aimed at Shade's torso. He didn't have anything specific to stab, but he still raised his hands into the air.

"I surrender!"

"An undead? Here?" a guard asked.

The other lehboa picked up his halberd and stepped back. "I'll go get the captain."

Owin sighed and walked over as the solo guard shook with fear. Shade hadn't moved and kept his hands raised.

Beyond the wall, Owin heard some shouting and within moments, lehboa guards from the top of the wall aimed crossbows in their direction.

"He's not an undead," Owin said.

"That's a skeleton." The lehboa turned his head just enough to put an eye on Owin. "What are you?"

"I don't know." Owin had his hands empty and kept them within view. "A goblin or something."

"You don't know?"

Owin gestured with his metal hand toward his face. "This all just happened."

"A witch turned you into a goblin?"

Owin shared a quick look with Shade. "Yes."

The lehboa guard cast a careless look over his shoulder. If Owin or Shade were actually planning to hurt the guard, such an action would be the perfect opening. But without needing to communicate, Owin and Shade stayed perfectly still.

Before long, footsteps pattered along the street and a whole squad of armed lehboa appeared. The captain stood a little straighter than the others, making him look tall in comparison. In reality, he was maybe an inch taller than Owin and Shade towered over them all.

"Why is its hands up?" the captain asked while looking at Shade.

"I was surrendering," Shade said. He slowly lowered his hands. "Do you not like that? Do you prefer a firm confrontation?" The skeleton formed a fist and shook it toward the lehboa. "Let me in!"

All of the creatures watching looked beyond confused, and Owin couldn't blame them. He had known Shade for long enough to know the skeleton confused just about every single person he met.

Shade's small outburst didn't cause the lehboa to do anything but watch. The new arrivals had crossbows on their backs and shortswords in hand. The captain kept his sword sheathed and his hands on his hips.

"I'm not letting a skeleton into my city. Even if you talk." The captain took a step past the guards and gestured to the one with the halberd.

The gate guard lifted the polearm, but didn't take his eyes off Shade.

"I can do a lot more than talk." Shade stuck one arm straight out, put his other on his hip, moved his feet apart, and swayed his hips back and forth. "Like this little move?"

The captain opened his mouth, furrowed his brow, and closed his mouth again.

"Speechless, huh?" Shade's hip movements became more exaggerated. "Too sexy for you?"

"Shade," Owin said.

The skeleton went completely still. "I get it. I'll stop."

Heavy footsteps pounded on the ground behind them. Owin turned to find Chorsay climbing the stairs. He had some scratches on his face, and his expression was that of annoyance. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, he spotted Owin, smiled, then noticed the guards and Shade's pose and immediately frowned.

The lehboa turned as one to watch the giant man reach the top of the stairs. "Who—"

"That's Chorsay," Owin said.

Chorsay took a moment at the top to stretch out his arms. Bags of bricks swayed with each movement and clinked when they hit his torso. When he was done, he walked over and stood directly behind Owin with his arms crossed. "What's the hold up?"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"I—" The captain looked up at Chorsay's face. "I was told there was an undead trying to get into the city, but he keeps dancing."

Everyone looked at Shade as he started to shake his hips again.

"Shade is not an undead. He is Owin's familiar."

"Familiar?" the captain repeated. "I've never seen a skeleton familiar." He turned to a guard behind him. "Go fetch the witch. We can ask about this goblin curse and the familiar."

"Yes, sir." The lehboa sheathed their shortsword and hurried away.

Chorsay stepped to the side and crouched as low as he could manage. "Goblin curse?"

"I don't want to explain," Owin said.

Chorsay grunted and stood back up. It took only a couple of minutes for the guard to return with an old, even more hunched lehboa with a wide-brimmed, pointed hat. The hair growing around her face and on the tips of her ears was gray and wiry.

"This is Witch Zuxa," the captain said. He gestured to Owin, Shade, and Chorsay. "These are our guests."

"Guests?" Shade said. "I thought I was just a sexy skeleton."

Even the witch frowned.

"We're just visiting," Chorsay said. "We don't need any witch's assistance." He smiled warmly. "Thank you for coming out here."

Zuxa pushed through the guards, head cocked as she looked over Shade, then her eyes turned directly to Owin as she stood at the head of the lehboa crowd. "You're the cursed one?"

"Well," Shade said.

Owin glared at the skeleton.

"Point taken." Shade put both of his hands on his skull and started to pace in a small circle. "Let me know when it's my turn to be judged by an old crone."

Desert Mob

Witch Zuxa

Lehboa Wizard

Level 30

Zuxa walked close, eyes narrow, and grabbed Owin's right hand. She turned it over, running a finger along the metal palm. Her eyes followed her finger for a moment, then snapped to his ears. She reached up and touched the end of his ear that had been cut off. Owin did his best not to scowl. He didn't enjoy being looked at like he was some mistake, but in this case, it was his own fault. If he hadn't lied, it wouldn't be an issue.

"What were you before the curse?" she asked, voice hoarse and quiet.

"Human," he said quickly.

Zuxa nodded and walked back to the captain. "I need to confer with my colleagues." She pushed through and was gone before the captain could even think of anything to say.

"Why did you say you were cursed?" Chorsay asked.

"I didn't want to explain myself again." Owin gestured in the direction Zuxa had gone. "I think I made it worse. At least it'll fix itself after a half hour."

"No." Chorsay's voice was gentle. "Cities in the dungeons are more persistent than other common floors. Killed mobs will respawn, but most of the floor will continue to exist and react until there are no heroes present."

"Oh." Owin looked up at him. "Can you help?"

Chorsay simply nodded and walked right up to the captain. The lehboa shrunk back a bit, but calmed when Chorsay crouched and started talking.

"Funny, isn't it?" Shade asked.

"Me being an idiot?"

Shade's eyes widened. "Whoa. No. The fact that they called the old woman a witch when she's a wizard. Witch is an old word. Very old. It was old when I was alive. It's not a nice thing to call someone. It makes me wonder who her colleagues are. Warlocks?"

"What's that?"

"Another insult for a magic user. That's what they've called necromancers." Shade placed a hand flat on Owin's helmet and leaned with all his weight.

With his current strength attribute, the skeleton's weight was no more noticeable than a slight breeze. It made Owin wonder what had changed with Shade because he was as weak as other skeletons in the past, but now he was sturdier and could take a few hits before falling to dust.

Owin turned his head enough to see Shade, who was busy watching Chorsay interact with the lehboa. The skeleton's bones had lost their dusty appearance and instead looked smooth and almost metallic. They were still the color of dark ash, which was a sharp contrast to the bright purple of his scarf and the forest green of his vest.

"I believe I understand," the lehboa captain said. He ordered his guards to return to their posts and waved Chorsay through.

The massive man stood, stretched a little, then looked at Owin and Shade and waited patiently. It took Owin far longer than it should have for him to realize he should join Chorsay. Shade followed along, quietly observing.

The guards dispersed, except the captain who followed after Zuxa, who Owin could still see waddling toward one of the taller towers of the city.

"What did you say?" Owin asked.

"I told them you are a goblin, and embarrassed about it."

"And that worked?"

Chorsay smiled. "They're lehboa, Owin. Being a goblin isn't odd to them." He guided them into the market and took a long, dramatic breath in. "Smell that?"

Being in the actual market made it impossible to avoid the fragrant foods and spices. Without even waiting for an answer, Chorsay broke away and approached a stand. He had to duck to avoid the awning, and he still almost knocked it over with his head. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a few coins.

"Good morning. How are you?"

The lehboa inside the market stall had wide eyes as he looked at the giant before him. His eyes darted past Chorsay as Owin and Shade approached. "I am well," he said in a quiet, squeaky voice.

"I'm glad. Your food smells delicious. What do you recommend?"

The lehboa calmed as he turned to show off his food. He plucked a sausage from a string and tossed it on an already hot grill. It sizzled loudly, drowning out whatever the lehboa was saying as he prepared the meal.

"A sausage and what else?" Chorsay asked. He leaned closer as the lehboa talked and grabbed a jar. "Oats? I would love to try it. Thank you."

The small creature scurried around his stall, flipped the sausage, poured oats into an already boiling pot, stirred, put on a lid, stored some things away, then opened the pot and tossed in a handful of spices.

Owin had seen plenty of cooking before. Without needing to eat, he had spent most days outside the dungeons just sitting and watching people cook and eat. They really did it a lot, so it wasn't like it was something he could avoid seeing. Everyone just always needed food.

After a few minutes, Chorsay lowered himself all the way to his knees, letting his armor scrape on the cobblestone of the plaza. He continued asking the lehboa personal questions, even knowing it was a mob. Any family, any history was all just created by the gods.

But Owin didn't comment. He just stood beside Chorsay and listened to the lehboa talk about his daughter and his experience cooking with his mother when he was young. Chorsay was quiet, listening more than talking, and smiled along as the lehboa happily shared story after story.

The lehboa poured the cooked, spiced oats into a wooden bowl, cut up the sausage into little sections, and passed the bowl through the opening to Chorsay, who happily took it, sniffed it, and dug in with the wooden spoon provided.

"Do you need anything?" the lehboa asked Owin. He looked somewhere inside his stall. "I might have some goblin food."

"What's goblin food?" Owin whispered.

"Probably raw meat," Chorsay said.

Owin chuckled. "I was going to say that's gross, but then I remembered all of the mobs I've eaten."

The lehboa leaned back on the little counter inside the stall. "What'll it be?"

"I'll be fine. Thanks."

The mob nodded, then glanced at Shade. "The skeleton doesn't need food, right?"

"Right," Chorsay said. He finished his bowl and handed it back. "Thank you."

"That was fast," the lehboa said.

Chorsay grunted as he stood, careful not to disturb the awning, then stepped out. "Take care," he said, waving to the lehboa.

"Now what?" Owin asked.

Chorsay took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped it across his mouth. "I'm not quite done eating. If you prefer—"

"We can take as much time as you want," Owin said.

Shade nodded. "I want to hear more lehboa stories."

"Yeah," Owin said. He didn't particularly find himself caring about the lehboa stories, but Chorsay was interested, and if Shade was too, Owin had no interest in stopping their fun.

Chorsay looked around the market. "Does anything smell good to you?"

"I can't really tell. All the smells kind of mix together." Owin couldn't recognize most of the scents floating about. There were bits of baked foods and meats, but nothing he could identify.

"We can take a lap. I'll find some more to eat, then we can visit the witch and see what she says about your curse." Chorsay smiled at the last bit. "Curiosity has gotten the better of me."

"I'm curious too," Owin said. "I just don't want her to touch my ears again."

"At least you have ears," Shade said. He lifted his hands to both sides of his skull. "Hello? Can you hear me with those massive ears?"