Session 12: The Boss's Room

The hallway presses in around you, stone walls bowing inward as if the earth itself plans to crush you. Each step echoes off the uneven floor as water drips from overhead stalactites. Your Father paces ahead, sword raised and shield at the ready, glancing around each corner as if bracing for an enemy attack. He remains silent until reaching a corner. He glances in, tightens his grip on his sword, and gestures for you to halt. “Stay out here, son,” he says after surveying the area.

“What, why?”

"Something's going to happen. You won’t like it. Stay out here. Guard the hall." His grip tightens. Without waiting, your Father slips into the room. Even out of sight, your ears pick up the clank of his armor. Then, sudden silence—just gurgling, liquid, then footsteps again. The cycle repeats. Each time your curiosity builds, until a metallic scent wafts out. Blood. It creeps into your nose as your Father returns.

Though his helmet half covers his face, you can see his lips are ridged like the stone around you. His hands are steady, but drenched in orange.

“Were they always like that, or is it new?” you wonder, but can’t confirm

“Let’s keep moving,” he whispers, raising his shield and sword again as if nothing’s happened. He passes by the doorway, and as you pass, your head begins turning subconsciously, but you turn away, not wanting to confirm your suspicions.

You continue wandering through the caves. At each turn or divide in the tunnel, he always takes the leftmost path and marks the right wall by rubbing the charred torch end to leave a black mark. “Last thing we need is to get lost,” he says, finishing a new marking. As you continue, you find more “rooms”; none are big, only the size of an office cubicle, and filled with barrels or boxes. Some have scraps of food or little knick-knacks. It's evident by the mold growing on them that none have been touched for some time, until you find one exception. You smell it before you see it. There's a faint smell of smoke, as if there’s a fire nearby. Then a larger room, the size of a walk-in closet, filled with new barrels and boxes. Opening a crate reveals fresh vegetables, grains, firewood, and even wine. Nothing’s organized, and things are thrown into barrels without rhyme or reason. The sole exception is the wine barrel, which is already a third drained.

“We’re getting close,” your Father says, looking through the barrels.

“Close to what?”

“The Boss’s area,” he whispers.

"How do you know?" He points to the barrels.

“This is obviously the main pantry, and if the boss is the type to eat those who oppose him, he’d keep it near his chamber.” His words are cold and calculating, but you understand his logic. You grip your blade tighter, dreading what awaits you further in, but prepared to press on in the same formation. Leaving you all the more shocked when your Father turns and walks back the way you’d just come.

“Dad, where are you going?” you ask, watching him descend the way you came instead of higher towards the Boss’s room.

“Going to clear the rest of the cavern,” he says, gesturing to you to follow along. “The last thing we need is him calling reinforcements mid-fight and cutting off our escape route.”

“So we’re going to…”

“Yes, son, we’re going to kill every goblin in here before going back for the boss,” he says, pointing his sword back down the cavern you’d come from. You’d hoped that the other goblins would scatter and run once the boss was defeated, but his logic is sound as ever. You return down the tunnel you came from, turning left again but marking the left side now.

“Oh, I see,” you think, recognizing his method. “If the mark is on our left, we’re heading out. If on our right, we’re heading deeper.” Satisfied with your understanding, you map the caverns as you search—the tunnels curve in an oval pattern, side rooms branching off around. As you explore methodically, you discover another entrance that leads to an outcrop above a road. After making a complete circuit, you return to the opening from which you entered. You call Gideon, guide him to the entrance, and he recognizes the road. Your Father sees this, then nods and smiles at Gideon.

“Head back and get William with the cart,” he says, ‘We should be finished by the time you get back.” He sends Gideon off with a pat on his back. The hunter sets off with a dash, racing down the road with the sun at his back. You follow your Father back in, following the marks back into the cavern. You reach the main pantry again, and he takes a moment to pause before setting off in the practiced position, shield high and sword ready.

Your Father’s steady footfalls lead up towards the Boss’s room as the scent of smoke grows thicker. Finally, you hear more than your Father’s footsteps and your thumping heartbeat. Ahead, you can hear talking, no language you recognize, but you can feel the anger in the tone. As you turn a corner, you notice the torch isn't making the hallway any brighter. Already, you see a shadow move and raise your blade on instinct. Your Father holds up a hand to stop you as he continues ahead. Once you reach the corner, you peer around, finally seeing who the voices belong to.

The room is enormous compared to the rest of the cave. Almost big enough to play basketball in. At the center is a fire with a large pot boiling above it. On the far side, you can see the moon faintly flickering in from an opening. Just below the makeshift window is a pile of furs and pillows that look more like an animal den than a proper bed. Sitting around the fire is a pair of goblins, one desperately cutting vegetables and the other carving a deer carcass. Behind them is another, larger creature, but it doesn't look like any goblin you know of. His body is covered in fur, and his arms hang down past his knees. He wears metal armor on his chest and stands head and shoulders above the other goblins.

You watch the larger creature’s yells make the two goblins flinch. That must be the boss.

“Da li je vecc zavrseno?” he yells, spilling the contents of his cup on the cave floor. The goblin cutting the deer looks up and speaks in a shaky voice.

“Mozda cce nam trebati jos malo mesa da bi bilo dostojno tebe, sefe. Sta ako-” his words are cut short as the Boss picks the goblin up by the arm and dunks him into the pot. The goblin screams and thrashes, and steam erupts where the thrashing splashes water into the flames. The Boss grabs a halberd lying near the bed of pelts and uses it to cover the pot, trapping the howling goblin like a sewer grate. A few moments later, the goblin’s cries grow silent as the pot continues to boil. The Boss takes the halberd off the pot and returns it to the fur pile, staring down at the remaining goblin who’s cowering in the corner. The Boss looks down at it as the goblin rolls onto its back, holding its arms out to the side.

“Idi donesi mi jos vina!” the Boss commands, throwing the empty bowl at the goblin’s face.

*thonk*

“Gahh!” the goblin cries, holding its bleeding nose for an instant. It hurriedly scoops up the bowl and dashes toward you. As the goblin charges, your Father swiftly steps back, extending his arm to pull you with him. You attempt to retreat, but his firm grip on your back and sword hand holds you steady, forcing your hand forward as the goblin approaches.

“Dad, what are you—”

“Gah!” Your words stop when you feel something push against your hand and hear a small cry of pain from in front of you. Your eyes go wide when you turn. Impaled there on your blade is the goblin that came rushing out of the Boss’s room. The steel tip just barely poked out from the back of his neck as orange blood gushes from the new hole. You stare in awe for a moment, watching as the orange blood trickles down your blade and onto your hand. The bowl drops from its hands just as you feel the warm blood on your fingertips.

“Good kill,” your Father says, releasing you. “Now we just have to eliminate the boss, free the prisoners, and take everything we can back to the village.” His casual tone makes your stomach flip. His words make it sound like everyday chores, as if taking a life was nothing to him.

*Clang*

Your sword drops to the ground, and you follow suit, coughing and gagging, but having nothing to throw up.

“Okay, that water definitely messed you up,” your Father says, shaking his head. “From now on, we are never trusting unfiltered or unboiled water ever again.” You want to scream at him, say it’s not the water or any bacteria in it. It’s his casual attitude about murder, how he can kill and mutilate without so much as a shrug.

“Get your bow ready,” your Father commands once you’ve recovered enough to stand.

"What?"

“Get your bow ready,” he repeats, his whisper cutting through the silence like a sharpened dagger.

“No.”

“What?”

“NO!” You nearly shout it, but your Father stops it with a hand to your face. You throw off his grip, knowing instinctively that he did it to keep you from alerting the Boss, but not caring. “No, I’m not going with you.”

“What do you mean?” he asks, reaching out to grab you. “You’re coming and that’s—”

“I’m not,” you cry, widening your stance to resist his pull. “You… You… I bet you love this.” You brace, ready to resist whether he pushes or pulls, but nothing comes. You open your eyes and see him standing there, mouth half open and head tilted.

“What do you mean by ‘I must love it here’?” he asks.

“I know for you, this must be some kind of dream come true,” you begin, relaxing your stance. “Being able to go on adventures in your own world, casting spells and slaying monsters, but it’s not fun for me. I’m not a killer like you. I can’t even stand cutting chicken for dinner, let alone watch the light fade from a creature's eyes as I stab it… I… I don’t… I can’t...” The words falter and stall in your mind. Your elf nose picks up the scent of goblin blood pooling on the floor, making it hard to breathe. You’re spiraling so hard you don't even notice your Father’s hand till it’s on your shoulder. He forces your chin up with his thumb and stares into your eyes.

“Then don't be a killer.” The words seem to drown out everything. Not just any other sounds, but for a moment, you can't smell or taste anything either. His eyes fill your vision, and his hands are the only thing you feel.

“What?” you ask, taking a deep breath.

“Don’t be a killer then, be a hero.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look,” he begins, not breaking eye contact with you. “I know you have your qualms about killing. It makes me proud that you have such high convictions, and truth be told, if you come in here, you may have to bend them. But if you don't, then the chances of the prisoners getting hurt rise exponentially. ” The silence hangs like an anchor on your neck, dragging you down. Only the original footsteps or groans from the Boss’s room indicate the passage of time in the enveloping darkness of the cave.

“Why?” you ask, still not understanding.

“Because God knows what states they’re in or what that thing would do if it starts losing,” he says, a little too quickly. “You watched it throw its own follower in the pot. Imagine what it’d do to a prisoner to distract me.” The silence hangs over you again, and your Father releases your shoulder. He turns and stares back at the entrance to the Boss's room before speaking again. “I’m not gonna ask you to kill,” he says, definitely, like a promise. “But I will ask you to help me save them.” You take a while to answer. Looking back at the firelight dancing on the cave wall, listening to the faint sounds coming from there, your stomach twists when you imagine what they could be. You pick up your sword, clutch your bow in your hand, and nod. Your father returns the nod, drawing his blade and gripping his shield. “Let’s go.”