Archive for May, 2009

Clutching the bamboo tube as best he could, the goblin ran as fast as his little feet could carry him. Huffing and puffing, he tried his best to get ahead of his pursuer, which was crashing and smashing through the jungle behind him. Scared, the goblin zigged and zagged, running up and down a fallen tree, jumping over a small creek, and bolting forward into the wild foliage. He soon arrived at a large tree, and quickly hid behind it. As he listened, he no longer heard the crashing of the trees, and breathed a sigh of relief while assuming that what hunted him down had given up. The little goblin sat down and took a breather. He closed his eyes and thought back to what had transpired a few hours ago.

He remembered how, in the blink of an eye, he had assassinated a tall human hidden in robes. At the time he was most certain it was a spell caster, though it didn’t really matter anymore. The human had been guarding the precious package he was sent to retrieve – the bamboo tube the goblin’s chieftain had been so adamant about – so he had removed the obstacle by leaving his blade its face. He now felt some regret, realizing that the blade would most definitely have been useful in his current situation, though he seriously doubted his small dagger would do more than just lightly scratch his stalker’s skin.

The goblin suddenly opened his eyes as a loud roar shook the ground around him. He whimpered, quickly jumped to his feet and ran, disappointed that he hadn’t lost his stalker. His feet slapped on the humid jungle ground as he passed wild brambles and other foliage, a thunderous thumping sound following him close behind. He could feel the ground increasingly shake with each step as the large creature gained on him. He felt its breath on the back of his neck, and heard it grunt as large trees in its path snapped like mere twigs. Though he was determined to deliver the tube intact, the goblin was now panicking now. Yes he feared the rampaging jungle beast behind him, but he feared his tribe’s punishment even more if he failed in his task.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, the goblin’s toes smacked into a fallen log. Taken by surprise, he lost his balance, tumbling to the ground and dropping the tube. Quickly getting back on all fours, the goblin scuttled against the ground, going after the precious bamboo stick as it quickly rolled away from him. He plunged forward and stretched his arm as much as he could, clasping the tube in his hand.

The goblin rolled a few times as his body hit the ground. He finally came to a stop and sat upright, kissing the tube and thanking his tribe’s god, all the while completely ignoring the quietly approaching predator. By the time he heard a loud snorting sound behind him, it was too late. Shaking, the goblin turned to see two large eyes staring him straight in the eye. The tyrannosaurus rex stood very tall, stomping around his helpless prey like a cat playing with a mouse. The goblin shrieked, turned and ran again as the T-Rex defiantly roared and ferociously snapped at him, missing him by less than a hair.

The goblin was getting tired, though he somehow always remained one step ahead of the T-Rex. Panting heavily, he looked for a place to hide, and quickly spotted a large tree stump with a hole big enough for him to squeeze through. Without thinking twice, the goblin rushed towards the opening as the T-Rex snapped at his back end once more. Flying through the air, the goblin’s feet pushed against the large dinosaur’s closed jaw, throwing him straight into the tree stump with a thud.

Disoriented, the goblin scratched at the inside of the tree, pulling himself as far back as possible. The tyrannosaurus rex impatiently paced about, snorting at the ground, tying to find where his prey had gone to. The beast roared once, and a second time, and finally let out a disappointing growl as it turned to head back the way it came. As its footsteps became fainter and fainter, the goblin quietly remained motionless, holding his breath and cradling the tube near his chest.

After several minutes, the goblin poked his head out of the tree and looked about, not seeing any sign of the large two legged creature. Dropping his guard, he sighed in relief. At last, he could deliver the package without being bothered by a large hungry beast interested in making him it’s dinner.

The goblin jumped as he felt a painful sting on his arm, causing him to drop the bamboo tube. He looked down to find a large flesh eating insect burrowing its head into his flesh. He growled and pulled the bug out, his blood splattering around the inside of the tree. He threw the insect to the ground and quickly stomped on it with his fists.

Now he was the predator!

The goblin hooted in victory, unaware of the large swarm that had been attracted by the scent of his fresh blood. As he turned to pick up the tube, terror filled his face as thousands of large, beetle-like insects came crawling out of the stump’s crevices and onto his body. He had heard tales in his tribe of such insects, who hungered for flesh of anything that was living or dead.

The goblin rubbed his arms and legs trying to fight the swarm off, but there was too many of them. As he panicked, one of the insects crawled from behind his head and skittered towards it’s face, heading for one of the goblin’s wide open yellow eyes. The chittering predator quickly burrowed its sharp claws straight into the goblin’s eye like a piercing dagger.

Screaming in pain and terror, the goblin’s body shuttered as the beetle chewed on the soft innards of his eyeball with it’s sharp mandibles, blood slowly making its way down the goblin’s cheek. Quickly, he tried to get his bearings, looking for the hole in the stump through which he’d made it in, but his good eye could only see one foot in front of him, and all he saw, wherever he stepped to, were more of the flesh eating insects.

They eventually overwhelmed the goblin, the entire swarm of flesh eating beetles covering his entire body like a body bag. Not even his death throes and screams could be heard simply for the fact that many of the beetles entered his mouth as soon as it was open. As they chewed on his fleshy body, they ignored the bamboo tube that lay at the bottom of the stump.

It was a harsh lesson to learn, that even though he had escaped a predator, he mereley ended up in the path of another…

Such is life in the jungles of Chult…