Ziplocke sat on Modok’s throne with his legs propped up on one armrest. Graul and Leandria lounged below him on the wide stone steps while dozens of Lesser Goblins ran rampant around the circular chamber. The smaller Demons played some sort of game where the rules shifted like wildfire. Daverius entered through the double doors. His long hair fell to the sides of his face, and his shirt was soaked with sweat. He had to dodge and weave to avoid colliding with a wild Goblin. Leandria and Graul looked up at him as he approached the steps.

  “What do you want?” Graul asked.

  Leandria snickered as she flung a tiny ball of flame that caused one of the Goblins to yelp in pain.

  “When are we heading into the Spire?” The Human asked.

  “Huh?” Ziplocke asked.

  Daverius took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. It has been weeks, and he still struggled with his dealings with the Goblins. They were so disorganized! He thought to himself as he steadied his breath. Graul snickered at him. The bald Greater Goblin was sharpening his curved sword.

  “The Stronghold,” Daverius corrected his terminology and asked again, “When are we heading in?”

  “Oh, that,” Ziplocke said as he swung his legs to sit up straight on the throne. The Goblin Lord tapped his chin and added, “When our spies return with more information.”

  Daverius took another deep breath. This was the same answer he got yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. “It’s been over a week.”

  Graul and Leandria laughed and pointed at him. They enjoyed seeing his misery and frustration. Daverius scowled at them before turning to look at Ziplocke.

  “Has it? They have to travel far,” Ziplocke answered.

  Daverius narrowed his eyes and wondered, “Why? You can create Rifts.”

  “He is cheap,” Graul stated.

  “And a failure,” Leandria said and looked at Daverius. “Get used to getting nothing done, Human.”

  “Hey! We have a good strategy. The Portals the Fiends use to send monsters into the Stronghold are highly guarded, and our Goblin minions are sowing chaos as we speak. Soon, they will provide us with key information, and then we can advance our plan!” Ziplocke cried.

  “But we don’t have time!” Daverius cried and added, “Every minute we waste the two Fiendish Lords are getting closer to freeing the third Lord trapped at the top of the Stronghold!”

  Graul arched an eyebrow and asked, “Is he talking about Ash and Char?”

  “I think so,” Leandria said.

  Ziplocke explained, “The Human thinks they are working to free Misery.”

  Graul and Leandria looked at one another before they fell onto their backs with laughter. Daverius scowled at the three.

  “What’s so funny? Who is Misery?” He asked.

  Ziplocke was laughing with his hand on his chest and with his other hand he held up a finger. “Just give me a moment.”

  Daverius crossed his arms and glared at the Goblin Lord. Ziplocke’s laughter subsided and the Goblin dusted off his pants.

  “Misery is the third and strongest Fiendish Lord. It is true that when the Fiendish Lords form a Triumvirate, their power will be nearly absolute,” the Goblin Lord started to explain.

  The Human uncrossed his arms and took a step closer. “Exactly! That is why we should be acting and not sitting around here!”

  Graul’s laughter faded down to a snicker. The bald Greater Goblin wiped a tear from his eye and explained, “Misery, the Fiendish Lord that is trapped in the Stronghold was the strongest of the three. Ash, and Char would not be eager to free him.”

  Leandria snickered. “Those two greedy bastards believe they each have a chance of defeating the other and being the top boss of the Abyssal Plane.”

  Ziplocke nodded and continued, “But, Misery is stronger than the two combined. They tried to team up and overthrow him in the past and have failed.”

  Leandria shrieked, “That was great! It was nearly as epic as Ziplocke’s failures!”

  Graul snickered and the Goblin Lord scowled at the two Greater Goblins. Daverius took a seat next to the others on the steps and rubbed his face.

  “So, if these two Fiendish Lords are self-absorbed as you say, then it should be easy for us to find a way into one of their portals and enter the Stronghold,” the Human said.

  “Aye, but we are waiting on more information from our spies and saboteurs,” Ziplocke explained and repeated, “saboteurs, I like the sound of that name. Saboteurs.”

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  Daverius clenched a fist with one hand and rubbed his face with the other. After a moment, he said, “You could have your agents move faster if you used your Rift power.”

  “And waste my precious energy?” Ziplocke asked.

  Grual nodded at Daverius. “Told you, he is cheap.”

  “Get used to it, Human. He will fail you like he did his people,” Leandria said.

  “Hey!” Ziplocke cried.

  Graul gave Leandria a high five. “That was brutal!”

  “You consumed a Hold Core! You have plenty of power to spare,” Daverius said.

  Graul looked up and exclaimed, “I forgot about that! Just Portal us into the Stronghold.”

  Ziplocke rubbed his face. “I can’t Rift into the Stronghold.”

  “Why not?” Leandria asked.

  “Because the Fiends put protections in place to prevent that sort of stuff. We will have to use their Monster Portals to enter,” Ziplocke answered.

  “But you were able to Rift out,” Graul said.

  “That’s different,” Ziplocke replied.

  “How?” Leandria asked.

  “Wait a minute. You three didn’t have this conversation yet?” Daverius wondered.

  “It never came up.”

  “How is it different?” Leandria insisted.

  “It just is, okay!” Ziplocke snapped.

  Daverius snapped his fingers to get their attention. “I think the plan with the Lesser Goblins was good. We just need them to bring us their information faster. Please consider using your Rift aspect to Portal them to us?”

  Ziplocke wrangled his hands. “But I don’t want to waste important energy.”

  “Believe me, you have enough. I can even help you with creating more Portal arches,” Daverius offered.

  Leandria sat up and asked, “You could do that.”

  “Of course I can, wait a minute. You have a Goblin Lord with a Hold Core, and you all have not thought about creating Portal arches?” Daverius asked, his voice rising.

  “I thought about it,” Graul pointed out.

  “Don’t get him started,” Leandrai said and rolled her eyes.

  “It was a good idea!” Graul exclaimed.

  “So you have Portal arches?” Daverius asked.

  “Yes, but we don’t use it anymore,” Ziplocke replied.

  Daverius’s eye started to twitch.

  Leandria nudged Graul with an elbow. “Here it comes,” she whispered.

  Daverius’s arms started to shake, and he balled his hands into fists.

  Graul snickered and replied, “It’s going to be good.”

  Daverius screamed, “I can’t take this anymore!”

  Leandria sighed. “I expected more. Like maybe some fire.”

  Graul nodded in agreement. “Right? I mean, he is supposed to be an Elite.”

  Ziplocke glanced at his fellow Goblins and said, “Enough you two.” He turned to Daverius and added, “Okay, relax. We can bring back the Portal arch, okay?”

  Daverius took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Portal arch? As in only one?”

  “Yeah, why would we have more?” Ziplocke asked.

  Leandria and Graul looked with interest at Daverius’s face. But the Human simply threw up his hands. The two Greater Goblins sighed with disappointment.

  “I will make more,” Daverius said. “This is what I need, something to keep me busy before I lose my mind,” he added.

  “I need to see this,” Leandria said as she followed the Human down the steps.

  “Me too!” Graul exclaimed.

  Ziplocke raised his legs again on the armrest and lounged. A tiny dart of flame struck him in between his eyes.

  “Hey!” He roared.

  A dozen Lesser Goblins ran away snickering. Daverius arrived at the single Portal arch that was no longer operational. He crossed his arms and rested his chin on one hand. His eyes studied the area. A normal-sized Goblin paced back and forth in front of it.

  “Scram Lummox!” Graul snapped.

  The smaller Goblin jumped and ran away.

  “What are you thinking about?” Leandria asked the Human.

  “Where to put the Portal arches,” Daverius answered.

  Graul pointed to the floor next to the lone Portal arch. “Next to it seems like a good idea.”

  Daveirus nodded and tapped the channeling tools that he wore around his neck and wrists. With perfect execution, he formed Glyphs in the air with his arms and hands. His muscles strained, and he gritted his teeth as he Shaped the native stone to form a circular dias. Leandria whistled.

  “Now that is impressive,” she observed.

  Graul snickered. “I was hoping he would have fainted.”

  Daverius rolled his eyes at the two Greater Goblins and asked, “Do you have engraving tools?”

  “Hmm, let me ask,” Leandria said, and she spoke to several Lesser Goblins.

  The tiny green creatures became excited and ran off. Over the course of the next thirty minutes, the diminutive creatures brought a wide variety of items that were most certainly not engraving tools. These items ranged from pebbles, stones, gems, and bones, and in one instance, they brought forth the smallest Goblin Daverius had ever seen. The Human rubbed his face.

  “I regret that I asked,” He muttered.

  Leandria and Graul were laughing. “No, please keep waiting. At this rate, they will eventually bring you what you seek.”

  “No, I have to do this myself,” Daverius said.

  With gritted teeth, he shaped a rock into a lump of metal. This was extremely difficult, and Daverius wobbled on his feet.

  “Ooh, he is going to fall over!” Leandria exclaimed.

  Daverius recovered, and the two Greater Goblins groaned with displeasure. Daverius focused on the newly formed metal and formed the Glyphs in the air in order to Shape the steel into an engraving tool. It took an enormous amount of Will and effort to Shape a native element. Sweat poured down his cheeks, and he collapsed to one knee. His head hurt, and his vision blurred.

  “He is going to faint!” Leandria cheered.

  Daverius recovered, but he needed to sit down with his back against a jagged wall. This was good training for his Will, but he may need a few hours to recover. He twirled the engraving tool he just made.

  “Looks good,” Graul acknowledged.

  At that moment, they heard a clattering of steel at their feet. The Lesser Goblins had dropped off a dozen engraving tools. Daverius shook his head.

  Leandria and Graul laughed so loud it almost looked like they would explode.

  “The look on your face!” Leandria cried and pointed.

  Graul wiped a tear from his eyes. “This is the happiest day of my life. Oh, I wish we could get that expression again.”