438 Two Face (1/2)
North of the Borders of Falledge, Somewhere in the Hills, Cave
An illegible squeak of pain came from an old and wilted looking goblin as a pair of steel boots slammed into its side, sending it sprawling across the stone floor of the cave lit by torches fuel by animal fat. The orange glow of the torches made the shadows of the naturally formed cavern look alive as they flickered from the light.
”Hurry up scum!” The owner of the steel boots yelled and gave another kick at the fallen goblin which curled up to protect itself from the kick before scrambling away to do the tall meat bag's bidding before it got more pain for any delays.
The elder goblin hobbled into another opening and the cave had a natural hole in the ceiling which a ray of light shone down, illuminating the dozens of alchemical pots under a fire being silently stirred by several scrawny goblins. A table covered with strange looking herbs and pouches of unknown items stood next to the pots. At the side of the cave wall, two towering meat bag clad in that hard metal clothes watched over the goblins in the cook cave and they both eyed the elder goblin with distaste as it entered.
”Hurry up and do your thing!” The metal clad meat bag next to the elder goblin yelled out and kicked the goblin forward again. The rest of the goblins stirring the pots hissed with displeasure and the two guards flicked their whips in response, the wick barbs drawing greenish blood from the goblins who yelped in pain and fright. ”Back to work! Scum!”
The elder goblin struggled to his feet and dusted itself solemnly as it cast a baleful glare at its captors. It hobbled over to the nearest pot and gave it a good sniff and imagined the bodies of these metal clad meat bags were floating inside the boiling pot.
After a while, the elder goblin gave a nod and it took a pinch of arcane dust from a small satchel and sprinkled over the pot while chanting in goblin gibberish. The guard standing over him growled and warned, ”Remember, scum! Any tricks... And I will enjoy chopping your limbs off one by one and beating you to death with them!”
The rest of the goblins paused at their work and stared wide eyed at the elder goblin as it continued to chant, constantly sprinkling and dropping one or two different components taken from the table next to the pots.
Slowly the boiling mixture in the pot started give off a sick eerie green yellow glow and the liquid turned into a thick syrupy mixture. The elderly goblin stopped its chants and took another sniff of the mixture and jabbered in some goblin gibberish to the rest before he moved over to the next pot and repeated its actions.
The goblins received its instructions, carefully poured out the thick mixture out onto a bed of leaves piled over a simple frame made out of twigs. Once the mixture was spread evenly over the leaves, two goblins carried the makeshift frame out and carried it outside of the cave and the mixture joined the dozens of others drying in the open air under the sun.
Once, properly dried, the mixture will harden into a block and the goblins with tied cloth masks over their faces will pound and ground the blocks into a fine dust. And all these was overseed by a group of armoured elves who did not hesitate to kill any goblins that did not follow their orders.
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”My Lord!” An steel clad soldier saluted as he pushed aside the cloth covering the entrance to the cave. ”The goblins have finished the next batch of the powder...”
”Bring... st in...” A whizzing voice came from the depths of the cave. The soldier gestured to two nervous slaves who each held a bowl filled with a white powder that had a greenish glitter. The two frightened elves, once refugees seeking shelter, now turned slaves by these soldiers, nervously entered the cave with their heads bowed down lowly.
They did not dare to raise their heads up and kept their eyes firmly to the stone floor. They quickly placed the bowls of powder on the table and quickly backed away.
A smooth hand reached out and dipped a finger into one of the bowls, snagging some of the powdery substance on to its fingertips before the hand retracted back into the shadows. A female moan came from the shadows as the figure fondled the female in his arms.
”Aishhh... yess...” A hiss came from the Lord who sniffled the powder. ”Tiss... pain... iss gone...”
”My Lord!” Another soldier suddenly appeared at the cave door. ”Urgent news!”
”Whatss... iss... st?” The voice spoke with a lisp, air could be heard hissing out from his mouth.
”We have lost contact with the people we recruited in the city...” The newcomer replied nervously. ”The refugees that we recruited and sent into the city... has not signalled us for days! I... I am afraid... They might have run away...”
”Imposssible!” The angered Lord shoved the female slave away from his arms and stormed out into the light of the glow lamp hanging next to the entrance. ”Did they forgetss the livess of their familiess iss in ourss handss?”
The soldier shrunk back from the fury of his Lord and kept his eyes averted away from his Lord's face. ”I- I have... no idea... what happened... to them...”
”LOOKSS ATS MEE!” The Lord hissed as he stood before the frightened soldier. ”ISS MINES FACE SSO HORRIBLESS?”
The soldier trembled and forced himself to face his Lord. He swallowed back the averison and schooled his face to be as neutral as possible and fiercely denied his Lord's words with shaking his head rapidly. ”N- No. my Lord! Your face is not horrible at all!”
Inwardly, the soldier felt his Lord's face was worse than a demon, a horror that only appears in nightmares. One half of his Lord was normal, even retaining the youthful and handsome looks, but on the other half, it was stuff from nightmares.
Skin that was once smooth, was instead charred, covered in boils and weeping pus. Half of his face was so badly damaged that the meat of his cheeks had either burnt or melted away, revealing a hole. Half of his face literally was gone, only bits of charred skin and boils sticking to his exposed skull.