Cat Core 2, Chapter 20.

I also attached the completed cover art. 

Chapter 20.

“You know that rapscallion?” Doug said incredulously.

“It’s that little green turd that carried me here,” Florence said.

“They appear to be a batch of assassin’s and they must have followed this party in, waiting for your defenses to be depleted, and the adventurers weakened before striking,” Doug said. Florence could see it now, that Blivix guy had snuck through the whole delve, waiting for his chance. With the adventurers heading back, the goblin couldn’t let them leave and give Florence the chance to reset the defenders, so they had chosen the most opportune time to attack.

Things weren’t going well for the dwarves. The one Blivix had stabbed was dead and the others were fighting a losing battle against a swarm of the creeps. At least the other goblins didn’t seem anywhere near as skilled as Blivix, but they had all launched their first attacks successfully from stealth. They must have had some gunk on their blades as well, since the paladins weren’t moving and fighting as well as they had against her babies. As she watched, one paladin glowed bright as he cast a spell on himself. The magic must have cleansed whatever was running through his system, the lethargy was gone, and the dwarf was chopping down one goblin while fending off another with his shield.

“Consarnit, where did that Blivix goober go?” Florence asked, losing sight of the assassin. The goblin reappeared behind a paladin, his twin daggers taking down the target as the surviving pair of adventurers fought their way back to the corner of the room.

“He is likely high enough level to possess abilities that allow him to disappear while in plain sight, it’s common for assassins to do such things. The dwarves are being smart, though, protecting their backs with the wall,” Doug replied.

“Should I pop my summons and add kitties to help the dwarves?” Florence asked.

“No, I think it would be better to reserve your ability for a more opportune time, like when this crew is engaged with a champion,” Doug replied.

It galled her to do nothing to help the dwarves but adding a few cats in the mix wouldn’t really help much, the pair were slowing down, and the goblins were landing more and more hits, despite losing two more of their number. When the two-handed axe of a dwarf got caught in a goblin’s ribcage, he took too long to dislodge the weapon, allowing a pair of daggers in to slash his throat. On his own, the last dwarf took another goblin with him, screaming curses and war cries as he succumbed to the poisoned blades.

“How many of the little green creeps are there? I can’t get a good count?” Florence asked. The other goblins couldn’t disappear in plain sight like Blivix, but as soon as her attention was drawn elsewhere, the jerks were able to turn invisible.

“It’s hard to tell, they are a slippery lot. There could have been anywhere from fifteen to two score of them, but that’s just a guess,” Doug answered.

“Well, at least them poor dwarves thinned the herd for us,” Florence said, counting a total of seven fallen goblins. These ones had dark leather armor and long daggers, just like Blivix did, but their gear didn’t look anywhere close to being as well made or enchanted as the gear of the leader of this band of cutthroats. A goblin would pop into view every few seconds, looting something from the corpse of friend and foe alike.

By the time they were done pillaging the fallen, Florence was able to lock her view onto one of the critters, refusing to be distracted so the goblin couldn’t elude her. Figuring that they were all going the same way, she could track their progress by watching where the one goblin went. It looked like they were heading deeper into her home as the goblin walked past the bathroom and opened the door to the bedroom. Sadly, since the home hadn’t reset since the paladin’s had gone through, the other bedroom couldn’t be accessed. Florence would have loved to let her other kitties take a crack at these guys.

“They’re going into the master bedroom,” Doug said, his comment distracting her and making her lose her lock on the one goblin.

“Dang it, Doug, I lost my focus on that guy. Oh no, it looks like my babies don’t know what’s heading their way,” Florence lamented. The door to the master creaked open, she’d have to fix that, it wouldn’t do to have a creaky door in her home. There was that one bedroom door in her house that always creaked when the humidity got too high. She had been meaning to have Tabitha’s grandson come in and fix it, but the whole dying thing had happened first. Florence wondered who would buy her house now that she was gone, and if they would fix the creaky door.

“Florence, pay attention,” Doug chided, bringing her focus back onto what was about to go down. The kitties knew something was up, the doors in her home didn’t open on their own, but they weren’t quite sure what to do. Marshmallow, Brownie, and KitKat must have figured it was an attack of some kind, all three disappeared into the tunnels underneath the master bedroom. Cheddar stood at the foot of the bed, trying to protect licorice who had been napping on the pillows but was now casting some spell.

“At least Licorice has illusion magic, it should work nicely in this situation,” Doug predicted. Florence didn’t care about the type of magic, all that mattered was that her kitties were ready to fight. Licorice finished her spell just before Blivix appeared behind her, knives stabbing out to eliminate the magic support before the fight really got started.

Another pair of Cheddar’s appeared, illusory copies of her kitty snapping into place as the spell completed. The real Cheddar, which Florence had no trouble telling apart from the illusions, charged Blivix. One of the illusion kitties popped out of existence as several of the other goblins appeared around it, stabbing what they thought was the proper target. The second illusion popped as others attacked it, and poor Cheddar gave a squeal of pain as a single goblin launched a surprise attack on the real brawler kitty.

Cheddar turned away from Blivix to rake his claws across the goblin that had hurt him, his enhanced natural weapons easily shredding the diminutive green killer. Blivix wasn’t able to make his escape just yet, Marshmallow already had him in her sights as she launched from under one of the rugs at the side of the bed and initiated her own sneak attack on the lead invader. Blivix reacted quicker than Florence thought was possible, twisting away from the slashing claws of her commando kitty even as he brought up his blades to counterattack.

Marshmallow was able to adjust her attack slightly, causing the right paw to rip into Blivixs’ shoulder. Green blood flowed from the wound, but it wasn’t a crippling injury. The goblin’s counterattack was, his blades pierced deep into Marshmallow as she flew past, ripping her up from front to back. When she landed on the floor, Florence’s poor kitty gave a little meow before collapsing.

The other commandos launched their attacks at the goblins that had suddenly become visible in their midst. If they hadn’t been inside the tunnels, they too would have fallen in the initial attack, but instead, they were tearing into the visible goblins. Their fight was a desperate one, and more and more goblins dropped stealth as they joined the attack. With kitty commandos and goblin assassins everywhere, the fight sure didn’t last long. Florence’s babies had lost the battle, but eight more goblin corpses decorated the room, her babies exacting a huge toll on the invaders. unfortunately, Blivix’s corpse wasn’t among the fallen, the little creep had disappeared again soon after finishing off Marshmallow.

“Fourteen, I believe,” Doug said.

“Fourteen what? Fourteen minutes until you drive me batty?” Florence asked. She hated when Doug tried to be all cryptic and stuff.

“No, fourteen goblins are still alive. That doesn’t count this Blivix individual, though,” Doug replied.

“You got some counting skills I don’t know about?’ Florence asked, irritated at Doug’s confidence that he could count the invisible invaders.

“No, I could be off by one or two, but I was able to discern some distinguishing characteristics about the little hooligans and had some success in keeping them sorted during the last kerfuffle.

“Good job, I suppose, at least we know what we’re dealing with. We only got Spud and Mortimer left between them and us,” Florence said, starting to get a bit concerned.

“While I have no confidence at all in our floor champion given his lack of discipline and overall slovenly behavior, I am certain that Mortimer will give a good account of himself,” Doug assured her.

“Don’t discount old Spud just because he bullies you. The big stinker will do a good job, he’s a champion now,” Florence said, starting to get a little concerned.

“He’s about to get his chance,” Doug said as the hatchway to the attic opened.

“Look, Spud’s an old alley cat scrapper, he knows something’s up, but them goblins is all stealthed and whatnot,” Florence said. She was concerned that Spud would just get stabbed down with poisoned daggers and sneak attacks before he could really get going. The champion kitty sniffed and gave that low growl that kitties give when they’re really irritated, but not quite irritated enough to go into full hissing mode.

“Gads, was that what I think it was?” Doug asked as burbling noises were heard near the kitty’s rear end. A green cloud started to spread from her big plague charger.

“Ha, way to find them goblins, Spud, stink ‘em out of hiding,” Florence laughed. While she didn’t approve of public flatulence, she couldn’t argue with Spud’s effectiveness. As the cloud spread out, several goblins appeared, gagging from the stench. They had been approaching the kitty in a mob, but Blivix wasn’t there, the leader either able to keep from gagging or was hiding somewhere the stink couldn’t reach.

“Can you imagine the stench in there? How bad must it be to make goblin’s gag, they’re some of the most vile and odiferous creatures on the planet,” Doug said. Florence took his statement as a compliment on Spud’s abilities as a champion.

Hissing and spitting, Spud began to run toward the mob of goblin rogues, a glow settling over his back as Florence’s champion activated one of his new abilities. A saddle appeared and seated in the saddle was none other than Gabsug, the diminutive goblin that Spud had befriended all those years ago. This version of Gabsug wasn’t the real one, and instead of the filthy rags the goblin had worn, this one had filthy armor instead. A long lance was couched and ready to strike, shield held in the goblins off-hand to protect both mount and rider.

With a crash, Spud hurled through the goblins, claws lashing out to take down a pair of invaders as a third was skewered on the end of Gabsug’s lance. As he passed, the stink cloud around her baby made several of the other goblins fall to the ground retching and barfing all over the attic floor. At least the attic floor was simple plywood and not her lovely shag carpeting.

Spud had one flaw in his new charge attack, it took him time to slow down and get turned back in the right direction. It was then that Blivix decided to make his appearance, twin daggers glowing with poison and some ability he had activated. When the daggers hit Spud’s flank, they released the stored energy, exploding against her baby’s hide. Spud hissed and lashed out, the agile gnome assassin dodging his paw. Blivix might have dodged Spud, but the summoned Gabsug was also attacking, the lance stabbing into Blivix’s belly.

Blivix backpedaled, the lance pulling from his belly but not before taking a chunk of goblin with it. The assassin threw a small marble sized object down that exploded in a cloud of smoke, enabling him to disappear from sight once more. Spud must have been out of gas, because he didn’t toot again to try and flush out Blivix. Instead of trying to track down the wounded assassin, Spud turned his attention back to the other goblins, who were starting to recover from the stench around them.

A second charge left three more goblin’s down, and then the summoned Gabsug lookalike disappeared as two goblins appeared behind him and attacked. Spud slashed down the two attackers, only to have more appear. Shrugging off the blows, Spud fought through the wounds he was accumulating. A champion was much tougher than a normal defender, but Spud was taking an awful beating. Each time he turned to defend himself, another attacker would appear, and each of the attacks that were landing on him were not only enhanced by rogue abilities, but many were also adding various poisons into his system.

Damage over time was bleeding off Spud’s health, and his counterattacks came slower and slower and even her big champion kitty succumbed to the relentless attacks of the invaders. Blivix reappeared, landing the final blows on Spud as he shredded apart a goblin that had been too slow to avoid his paw. The champion slumped to the ground and Blivix shuffled over to loot the corpse. Florence didn’t see and didn’t care what loot had been found, but she was glad to see the assassin forced to down a health potion to heal the damage that summoned Gabsug had done to him.

“Not bad, Blivix has already used a potion and he’s down to four minions,” Doug said.

“Yeah, I hope that Mortimer is up to the task. I mean, he’s never even tried out his new class and he was just a regular old commando kitty before,” Florence said. Was her little necrocatster going to be able to hold his own against an assassin? Florence sure hoped so.