Greenways Goblins (Resurrection Quest Book 1) Read online

  Resurrection Quest

  Book One:

  Greenways

  Goblins

  Daniel Schinhofen

  Copyright © 2019 Daniel J. Schinhofen

  No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form by an electronic or mechanical means – except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews – without the written permission from the publisher.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarities to real persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright © 2019 Daniel J. Schinhofen

  All rights reserved

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter One

  Limping into the room, Dick waved at the few other people already there. “Harry, Tom, not surprised you two are here already.”

  “Fuck you too, Dick,” Harry said as he set his Kindle aside. “Carl is helping Kattie with something in the office.”

  “Surprise, surprise,” Tom snorted. “You think the others will make it today with that storm outside?”

  “Marie and John should. He got back from Cali yesterday,” Harry said. “Still chasing his dream of singing, even in this shit weather.”

  “Dedicated and-or crazy,” Tom muttered as he got up. “Either of you want a pop?”

  “Coke,” Harry said.

  “Fuck that shit. It eats battery acid,” Dick sneered. “Dew me.”

  “One Coke and one Mountain,” Tom said, pulling out their sodas and putting them on the giant table. “And one cream for me.”

  “Only cream you get,” Dick laughed.

  “I’m sorry, what did the cripple say?” Tom asked back, passing the Mt. Dew over to Dick.

  “I said I still fuck more women now than you did in your whole life. Let’s be fair: Harry’s two times is still three more than you, right?”

  “Fuck, you’re starting with this shit already?” Kattie grumbled, coming into the room with a cup of tea. “You all need Jesus.”

  “I don’t, though Harry could use him to go fix his roof,” Dick laughed.

  “Tom could use Jesus’ sister. She could bring him closer to God, at least in name,” Harry snickered.

  “Guys, really? Come on,” Carl said, rubbing at the bridge of his nose under his glasses.

  “The others showing?” Dick asked.

  “As far as I know,” Carl shrugged. “Does it matter? We have enough already.”

  “Was curious. I mean, the weather has been shit,” Dick said. “They still calling it increased solar phenomenon?”

  “That was what I’ve been reading on the net,” Carl said, sitting down behind his laptop. “Though the news is saying that missing persons’ activity has spiked over the last day.”

  “Must be all them E.T.s coming to grab people during the confusion,” Tom smirked.

  The doorbell cut off any reply, and a moment later, the two oldest players came into the room. “Man, talk about crappy weather,” John said as he followed Marie into the room. “I had the wipers going full bore and still could barely see far enough ahead to drive.”

  “I live in a desert for a reason, and rain ain’t the fucking reason,” Tom grumbled.

  “You are the sourest person I’ve ever met,” Marie said, sitting down next to Tom. “Life still kicking you?”

  “Yeah... If things don’t improve, I’m going to have to get onto welfare. I’ll be as big a deadbeat as Dick.”

  “Disabled is the term for me, asshole. Not useless, like you.”

  “We going to start the new campaign tonight?” Harry asked to break up the other two.

  “Yes. Everyone created their characters, right?” Carl asked.

  Five affirmative answers were followed by one negative. “No, you still need to help me,” Kattie said.

  Tom, Dick, and Harry all rolled their eyes, but kept their mouths shut. Carl nodded, “Okay, what did you want to be?”

  “An elf,” Dick muttered.

  “Of course I want to be an elf,” Kattie snapped. “I’m far from thin, gorgeous, and young in real life. You’ll just play a dwarf like you always do.”

  “I made a half-elf,” Dick shrugged. “Half-elf magi. This system is odd for magic, but I think I can make it work.”

  “Panty-waisted weakling elf,” Tom snickered.

  “You made the melee character, didn’t you?” Dick replied.

  “Dwarf brawler,” Tom nodded, pushing his Coke-bottle glasses up his nose.

  “I made—” Harry began.

  “Trow scout,” Dick and Tom said in stereo.

  “Closest you could get to a hobbit or halfling in this system,” Tom chuckled, “in that they’re short and mischievous. Though if I recall, they are ugly and shy... oh wait, that part fits for you.”

  “Assholes,” Harry muttered.

  “It is what you always play,” Marie commented. “The short rogue.”

  “Fair enough, Marie,” Harry said. “What did you make?”

  “Human magi,” Marie replied. “I hope that some kind of healing can be had at later levels.”

  “You going to play a crazy knight who has to turn his horse around three times to charge again, John?” Kattie asked. “He was a blast.”

  “I made a human entertainer,” John smiled. “Might as well get my dream in the game.”

  The doorbell interrupted the conversation again. The sound of boots stomping from the front door brought their eyes around as Kevin came in. “My truck almost got stuck,” he groused. “I went off the road to avoid a dog that ran across in front of me, but I got it back on the road.”

  “Should have hit the dog,” Dick said. “Then he wouldn’t do that again.”

  “Some of us like animals,” Kattie sneered at him.

  “We were discussing characters,” Marie said, cutting them off. “What did you make, Kevin?”

  “Celestial-touched light-bringer,” Kevin replied.

  “Of course he’s a holy paladin,” Tom muttered under his breath.

  “Everyone is here,” Carl said, getting up from his spot. “I’ll just check on dinner.”

  A few minutes later, they were all seated around the table, digging into plates of pot roast. Conversation fell off as everyone focused on the food. Carl was checking things on the internet while he ate, sharing tidbits about the storms and the increasing numbers of people being reported missing.

  “Listen to this one,” Carl began. “Family of four supposed to go to a relative’s never showed up. They found the car crashed off the side of the road, but n
o sign of injury or the people at the scene.”

  “I’m not saying it’s aliens… but it’s aliens,” Tom said, doing his best to copy a well-known meme.

  Most of the people around the table laughed, but Carl was undeterred. “Okay, smart ass,” Carl said, “how about the honeymooning couple at Niagara that ordered room service from the room, but five minutes later were gone with all of their stuff still there?”

  “Still aliens,” Dick snickered.

  “I’m surprised we still have power or net,” Kattie said. “Didn’t L.A. go dark yesterday?”

  “Large swaths of the country have been going dark and then coming back on,” Carl replied. “Solar flares are knocking shit out.”

  “Solar flares are acceptable, but UFOs aren’t?” Harry asked. “Seriously?”

  “Look, Dusk to Dawn said—” Carl began before he was cut off by boos.

  “You’re not taking that crack radio program as truth, are you?” Dick laughed.

  “George Bell said last night that—” Carl started again.

  “How the fuck was he broadcasting last night? My radio only had static,” Tom asked.

  “He was running online only,” Carl replied. “Look, his two theories are that the Mayan calendar was interpreted wrong and this is what they were warning us about. The other is quantum flux, caused by increased activity from the black hole that was just found.”

  “Great, so it’s not aliens after all. It’s either quantum flux that will kill us all or it’s the end of days,” John chuckled.

  “Human sacrifice,” Tom said.

  “Dogs and cats living together,” Dick snickered, picking up an oft-recited refrain.

  “Mass hysteria,” Harry finished.

  “You three, as much as you snipe at each other, do that shit awful well,” Kevin said. “Evie says you didn’t call her for her birthday last week,” he directed at Harry.

  “Does she ever call me on my birthday?” Harry asked. “Just stay out of it, bro. We didn’t get along when mom and dad were alive. Evie and I aren’t going to get along now.”

  “We’re done eating. Can we get to playing?” Dick asked.

  “Almost done,” Carl said, still reading something on his laptop. “Grab your sheets and put your figures down. I’ll be ready to go in a minute or two.”

  Everyone grabbed their dice, character sheets, pencils, and anything else they needed for the game. Most of them looked over their new characters, trying to get into the flow of what they could do.

  “Anyone else use the expanded rules for creation?” Tom asked.

  “Fuck that shit. It doesn’t get you anything,” Dick said. “Only nerds and four-eyed friendless weebs would bother.”

  “I looked at it,” Harry shrugged. “It could get you another language or little shit like that. Didn’t feel like spending the time; my arthritis was kicking up the other day. I’m going to have to stop mining soon. My body just can’t take it anymore.”

  “My body can’t take it anymore, either,” Dick said as his back spasmed and he winced. “Fucking safety bullshit.”

  “They still dragging on paying you off?” Marie asked.

  “Five years and counting,” Dick began the rant they all knew by heart. “Two back surgeries, one for my hip, and three for my left foot. All of them are now outstanding medical bills and the insurance company is still dragging me through court. The truck was defective, the mine had been warned about it, and they gave it a cursory inspection and put it back into rotation. As my lawyer said, I’m lucky to be alive, but I’m done for. The only part of me that still works right hasn’t seen action in two years. Which is still more than Harry gets, not to mention Tom.”

  “Fucking Dick,” Harry sighed.

  The lights flickered and everyone looked up. “Damn. You got storm lanterns, Carl?”

  “Yeah,” Carl nodded as he cut another bite of his dinner. “Kattie, can you get the emergency lights?”

  Everyone looked at Kattie, sitting there reading a book and oblivious to the rest of them. “Doesn’t she still need to make a character?” Tom asked with a sigh.

  “I made her an elf scout,” Carl said. “She’ll be fine.”

  “I’ll go grab them,” Kevin said. “They still in the closet with the camping stuff?”

  “Yeah,” Carl said as he stood up. “Let me clean my glasses and fix some coffee and we can start.”

  A few minutes later, everyone was back at the table. “Okay, this starts like many games do: on a road in the middle of nowhere,” Carl said. “Your ragtag group of random wanderers are closing in on a village as the sun starts to sink toward the horizon. The air is filled with the scent of farmland—”

  “Bullshit,” Tom smirked.

  “Cow shit, too. It’s called ‘manure,’” Harry snickered.

  “The scent of fruit and grain fills the air,” Carl continued, ignoring them. “Off to the right side of the road, the wheat waves with the light breeze. In the near distance, a grove of fruit trees stands. A small cloud of smoke rises from beyond the trees, the wood smoke just now catching your notice.”

  “Should we check the wheat?” Tom asked.

  “Why?” John asked.

  “To find out what day of the wheat it is,” Tom deadpanned.

  “Come on,” Kevin sighed. “Let Carl describe the scene to us.”

  “I’m going to step off the road into the wheat and stealth,” Harry said. “I don’t like this lead up.”

  “Fine, I’ll need you to—”

  A blinding flash of lightning followed immediately by a deafening crash of thunder echoed directly over the house, cutting off whatever Carl was saying. The lights went out and a few people got to their feet. Kevin turned on one of the battery powered lanterns and set it on the table.

  “Hang on, everyone, let’s get some light first. We can check to see if anything is broken in a moment,” Kevin said as he pulled up the next lantern.

  “What’s going on?” Kattie asked. “Why’d it go dark?”

  “We lost power,” Carl replied. “Just give us a minute to check on it, then we’ll get back to the game.”

  “Oh, we started already? Don’t I need to make a character?”

  “Your scout is right here,” Dick said, tapping the sheet in front of her.

  “Elf scout? Okay, I can do that,” Kattie said. Pulling one of the lanterns closer, she went back to reading.

  “Let’s go check the fuses,” Harry said and took the next lantern.

  “I’m behind you,” Tom said, fixing his glasses again.

  “I’ll follow up,” Dick added. “Carl, we’ll check it. No worries.”

  “Okay, then I’ll just get some more tea for Kattie while we wait for you three,” Carl said.

  After fifteen minutes, the three men returned. “We can’t find anything wrong,” Harry told him. “Might be an electric company issue.”

  “Phones aren’t working,” Carl sighed, “and the net is down. We’ll just run the module. I’ll check with them once we get power back up.”

  “Fair enough,” Dick said, hissing when he took his seat again. “Fuck, I’d give anything but my block and tackle to not be broken like I am.”

  “Okay, now that we’re all back,” Kattie said, her book no longer on the table. “Can we at least start?”

  “Carl took your book away?” Tom asked, surprised that her meek husband would do something like that.

  “It’s too dark to read with just the lanterns,” Kattie snapped.

  “Okay everyone, let’s focus on the game,” Carl said, cutting off the impending argument. “As I was saying, you’re all on a road heading toward a village in the middle of nowhere. A farm with an orchard is off the road to your right. Wood smoke is coming from behind the trees—”

  There was another blinding flash and crash of thunder. Several people cursed as they tried to regain their sight, realizing that they couldn’t even hear their own voices. Something passed in front of the blinding whiteness tha
t was all they could see, but it was gone before anyone could identify it.

  As the world came back into focus and sound returned, they stopped yelling and cursing. Jaws fell, eyes widened to extreme measures, and all of them stared at each other and their surroundings.

  “We ain’t in Kansas anymore, Toto,” Tom whispered.

  Chapter Two

  “Tom?” The question came from the shortest person standing on the road. “What the fuck?”

  “Harry?” Dick laughed. “Wait… are we…?”