Struggle in the Steam Age

In this world full of magic and other supernatural powers, the living space of intelligent creatures is not limited to the ground like the earth. No matter in the water, underground, in the sky or even on other planes, there are traces of the life of intelligent creatures.

The underground space known as the Underdark is an important place where intelligent creatures live. The history here is even longer than that of the surface world, and there are many creatures like illithids that are almost completely extinct on the surface.

The Underdark is a barren world, far less fertile than the surface world. Because water is so rare in the area, lakes are often considered the greatest feature. Here, the tunnels stretched for thousands of meters, sometimes expanding into caverns hundreds of meters wide, and sometimes contracting so narrow that halflings could hardly squeeze through. The largest cave halls are microcosms of the surface, with hills, valleys, underground rivers and lakes. In short, this is a three-dimensional space that is difficult to see in other places.

Because the darkest area is only a few hundred meters away from the surface, occasionally there will be some tunnels leading to the surface due to terrain changes. Presumably the goblins came here through such a tunnel.

"Water, give me some water." Just as everyone was discussing the next move, the wounded on the stretcher groaned. Lawrence immediately took out the mixture of salt and sugar, mixed it in the bowl of water he just took out, and handed it over.

After drinking half a bowl of water, the wounded finally recovered. Everyone also immediately focused their attention on him, and through simple inquiries, they finally knew what happened just now.

The wounded man was a farm worker in a farm. Because he was on vacation today, he took advantage of the rain just after the rain to collect some mushrooms in a nearby forest for stewing soup at noon.

Unfortunately, he fell into a trap about 100 meters into the forest and was stabbed in the leg by a stake under the trap. Even though he promptly used the small shovel he carried with him to dig a small hole on the cave wall and crawled out, he still ran into goblins who were alarmed and came out to check. As a result, he was used by several goblins during his escape. The wooden spear and the bow and arrow hit him several times, and he ran out of the forest in one breath.

But when he ran to the avenue, the group of goblins stopped chasing him, which is why he was able to escape with his life while being injured.

"No wonder I said why I lost a lot of vegetables in my vegetable field these two days." The young man in a plaid shirt and jeans who picked up the wounded on the avenue just now said, "I thought it was someone Mice or rabbits have visited my vegetable garden, and now it seems that it should be the group of capable people."

"You're really lucky." Lawrence said to the wounded man after hearing what the people around him were talking about. "The group of goblins seemed to have just arrived here and didn't know the surrounding situation, so they didn't dare to expose themselves. That's why they retreated after seeing the avenue and finding traces of other people."

"And according to this gentleman, the goblins chasing him had green skin, and they were covered with leather clothes made of rough animal fur. This means that those goblins are goblins living on the surface, probably because of some reasons Entered the Underdark and then ran out."

"Then what should we do now?" Because of the wounded here, more and more people gathered. asked one of the farmers? "Are you going to notify the nearby garrison?"

There are often many troops stationed around big cities. For example, there are 16 key fortresses around Eagle Fort, and a circular railway connects these fortresses together. No matter at any time, there will be two armored trains on this railway patrolling the railway, ready to support the location under attack at any time.

The agricultural area where Lawrence and the others are now is inside the defensive front, and there is such a fortress two kilometers away from the manor, so someone proposed to seek help from the garrison there.

"That's a good idea, but we'd better go investigate and see the specific situation first." Just as the farmer's voice fell, a slightly old voice came from the periphery. "If these goblins are just the remnants of a large tribe that was scattered, wouldn't it be a joke for us to mobilize so many people?"

Turning around, Lawrence found that the person who came was wearing a yellow and green robe and a holy emblem embossed with ears of wheat, a hoe and a sickle on his chest.

"Hello, Mr. Priest." Lawrence greeted the priest of the Agricultural Church in front of him. "What you said is very reasonable. We should indeed organize some people to investigate."

The priest's words reminded Lawrence that his own judgment just now could not be guaranteed to be 100% accurate. On the one hand, the probability of the goblin tribes on the surface passing from a place like the Underdark with all their tails and tails is not high.

On the other hand, it is absolutely impossible for a large goblin horde to pass through the blockade outside the city without alarming anyone, but some scattered guys may be slipped through by then. If that person met a tribe with thousands of people just now, it is absolutely impossible for the goblins to retreat into the woods when they saw traces of humans.

"We need some volunteers now. It would be better if the supernatural beings come." The white-bearded priest of the Agricultural Church began to organize a reconnaissance team after convincing others.

Because the purpose of this investigation is to defend the homeland, everyone's enthusiasm for signing up is very high. So much so that the priest had to politely reject most ordinary people. After all, although the firearms gave these farm workers and farmers the power to beat ordinary goblins one by one, it is safer to leave it to the extraordinary to investigate such things in the woods.

Soon a team of five people was organized, and the priest of the Agricultural Church volunteered to be the leader of the team.

Naturally, Lawrence also joined the team. In addition to him and the priest, there was also a retired soldier who was a farmer here, a magic gunner who was a sheriff in the small town in front of him, and a patrolman of the church itself. Lincoln.

"Let's go now." After the team was organized, the priest of the Agricultural Church glanced across the faces of each member of the team and waved his hand to signal everyone to start. Then he turned his head and said to the onlookers and farm workers: "Although in order to prevent the goblins from finding out, we can't send too many people to investigate in the woods, but you can take up weapons and prepare for defense."

Just when everyone was getting ready, Lawrence and his group of five left the vineyard of the Church of Knowledge and rushed over to the place pointed out by the wounded just now.

Just over half an hour later, the small team arrived at the place where the wounded was found, and in front of them was the small hill with woods.

"Okay, everyone, stop for a moment. Although the person just walked into the forest more than 100 meters before he was attacked, but the situation is unknown now and we can't go in rashly." When they walked to the edge of the forest, the leader The priest held up his palms to make everyone stop together.

"Christine, go in and investigate to see what happened." After arranging other people to guard, the priest said to the ranger, and in an instant a green shadow rushed into the woods and disappeared.

"We will act after Christine comes back." The priest looked at the remaining three people and said, "Everyone rest for a while now, there is no need to be so nervous."