Much earlier in the prison cells of Sanctuary. The goblins were all idling away, all but one.
This was because Prild was not a goblin bound by common sense, he was especially not the type to be bound by a dingy orc prison cell. To him getting out was not a matter of when, it was a matter of how
With his great wisdom and shamanistic powers, breaking a lock was as easy as breaking a lock with a large stone and smacking it repeatedly. He presumed such an action was easy enough.
...Though he had personally failed and fallen backwards multiple times while attempting to smash the lock previously. This time things were different however.
The bone staff was confiscated from him but what they had not expected was that a magician never performed unprepared! An- and a Shaman never performed without a corpse?
Prild was iffy on sayings. But he had replaced his teeth with those of dead animals he collected from the ages of yore. Some were commonly orc teeth though as Guts and the other goblins had often hunted them for food. Well, at least the single ones. They would usually just starve.
"A huul dhuur daan teger duun an akhuuc or khralkaan" The elder Prild having grabbed one of his teeth, well, some dead individual's tooth, started his shamanistic prayer.
He held the tooth openly in one palm and closed his eyes solemnly as he aimed his other palm at the door. The tooth started to vibrate slightly before the door was suddenly blasted apart by an invisible force.
"Kekekeke" Prild laughed goblinly 1seeing the door being blasted open and crashing loudly against an opposite cell. All the goblins who had sat depressed in their cells now turned lively as they pressed their faces against their cell bars.
Under the excited gaze of his goblin subordinates Prild walked out casually and elegantly, such great poise came naturally to him. Only a powerful figure like himself could harness such power after all.
Prild was not entirely wrong to say he was the only one capable of harnessing this. Shamanism outside of dungeons was a rare nearly extinct practice. That was because they needed a target of prayer capable of passing down power.
In the case of Prild, the dungeon held the consciousnesses of all things that lived in the dungeon. The remnant of the dead which held with them traces of spirituality could connect with these consciousnesses the dungeon held alerting it that someone was trying to communicate or harness the power of the dead individual.
The dungeon then had to simply decide whether it would listen to this prayer for power which it often did. It taught these skills in the first place so it was inclined to answer the prayers.
Outside the dungeon however the goblins would have to pray to gods or powerful monsters. If gods did exist they seldom answer and for the powerful monsters they not always took kindly to the obsessive prayers or simply did not have the ability to pass down power directly or indirectly.
Therefore, only a goblin such as Prild, who lived in a dungeon, could harness such power. While the use of the word powerful was dubious, as Prild had clearly demonstrated it wasn't completely unfounded either. To see the attacks coming one would have to have a sort of… sixth sense for the paranormal.
Prild then proceed to continue smashing apart cells one after the other using different teeth after one ran out. Since he was using the remnant spirituality in these objects it was naturally easy for it to wear out.
Remnant spirituality would usually dissipate with time too. There were exceptions particularly in places with abundant mana but overall, all the teeth Prild collected were not in tip-top shape.
Finally, Prild managed to rescue all of its fellow goblins. But Prild was not happy. After it bust the final door it received a notice of danger from the great god. Oh, how great and magnanimous the god was! To warn them even in such circumstances!
The humans which would have killed them were it not for the emissary of god were now attacking the emissary's home. It was a pity, but Prild only knew that they had to find a way to hide. It just so happened this was their specialty.
Using the remnant power of a boar, a wall inside the deepest cell back was broken revealing soft dirt.
"""Hehehe""" The goblins giggled disturbingly as they approached the wall and started clawing at it. They were making a new cave for them to hide in!
The process was not lengthy thanks to their numbers and soon they were all ready to hide. Except…
"Hor! Shuuraan daan dokaach!" The goblin elder Prild squealed orders to Guts the relatively dumb goblin to close the cave hole. But how could it know to?
After a while, the goblins used the doors they broke as cover and prayed to the dungeon for safety as they heard voices traversing down the hall. They spoke in an unknown tongue and seemed to be inspecting the area based on the sound of their footsteps.
"Hey, this last cells looks super suspicious. Like, the most sketchy thing I've seen. I don't think it can be beat quite honestly" Said the scout as he looked at the poorly covered up hole. The cell doors were not solid and if it were not for the dark state of the prison, and the small size of the cave hole, the goblins would have been plain to see.
Suddenly, the earth trembled and a commotion formed. It just so happened that Ray also came into the prison as this commotion began to take place.
"Balin wants us all back. We found the most shady entrance ever imaginable" Ray's words cast doubt on one of the scouts inspecting the cell as he was sure HE found the most shady and poorly hidden entrance, but orders were orders… They all headed out and rushed back to where Balin was.
Things continued to happen, but the goblins were unrelated to those incidents. They were busy following the trail left by God's emissary. They did this through the newer addition to Prild's denture. The teeth of the bizarrely holy skeleton they found was what they were following.
Usually the remnant consciousness would commune with God but for these teeth things were different. Prild found out when trying to commune with god through them and receiving no reply. Instead, they seemed to be connected to something else.
So Prild decided to try and find what they were connecting to and this chase made them come across the large settlement wall in its ever so high stature. But Prild was confused, he was close to the source.
That was also when the ground next to them abruptly rose. Prild and the others instinctively looked up. They caught glimpse a monstrous green figure, it was an orc.
They started squeaking and squealing understanding that this was the way! This was what god intended to happen to them all along!
Ed who had used the ground as stepping stones down the tall settlement wall turned around hearing the annoying recognizable sound of goblin noises.
'How did these guys find me?" Ed wondered while inspecting the Goblins and their radiant eyes.
'Oh, that reminds me' Previously he as W didn't get the chance to assess the goblin elder. But things were different now, the system was definitely online. More so now than ever in fact.
[Prild (Goblin Shaman)]
{ The wisest goblin in the orc plains, not a good prospect. Prild is also the only Shaman left in the orc plains capable of communing with the dungeon. }
Ed scanned and assessed every single goblin but only Prild was worth mentioning. His status as the only Shaman in the orc plains made him a valuable asset.
'But in the orc plains… Could the next floor have more shamans?' Who knew, maybe there was even an entire floor of shamans! The dungeon would probably certainly like that.
The goblin elder then started to scribble and squeak and squeal seemingly telling a story. Ed could hardly recognize the drawings but what he understood from it was that the goblins were treating him as some sort of holy orc.
Why? He didn't know but the ugly portrait of himself being surrounded by happy goblins suggested this.
'I need to fight the humans, please wait around' Ed transmitted to the goblins whose eyes sparkled before throwing themselves on their knees. Oh, how great! The god had gifted them a great warrior!
But as Ed started to make his way towards the settlement center he found that the goblins were still following him.
Their expressions seemed to scream out we will die with you! Ed's eye twitched slightly before he coughed lightly and prepared to dissuade these goblins.
'God has given me this mission to me alone, please stay behind, god has surely acknowledged your drive' Ed transmitted piously with good intentions. Of course, the good intentions were transmitted mainly because of his real thoughts. Please hide and stay safe so I can experiment with you later!
For obvious reasons, some of that intent was also lost in transmission…
The goblins took this news in stride. Unaware of the danger that would befall them by staying, they found a decrepit house to hide in under the gaze of the holy warrior Ed.
Ed gave them a thumbs up before sprinting off for some reason feeling exhausted.