[Interludes Vol. 1.5] In which we meet Mint, a goblin with a mission.

[Interludes Vol. 1.5] In which we meet Mint, a goblin with a mission.

~~** Interlude | Mint **~~

I’ve been playing this VRMMORPG for as long as I can remember, I knew all the races and factions inside and out and had raised nearly a dozen characters to the counter stop. However, I had only heard snippets of the so-called Bloodmaw Goblin Tribe in all of my playthroughs. In the beginning of almost every main story quest, when first encountering goblins, a certain NPC named Yx is met, who wanders the world looking for the last remaining Bloodmaw Goblin, hoping to find them in order revive the lost tribe.

Yx would appear whenever a quest took you to one of the many goblin factions around the world, whether for negotiation or subjugation, continually lamenting about how not a single goblin they had come across contained the origin blood of the Creator.

There were speculations on some forums that there would likely be a payoff to doing the questline in a future expansion of the game. Maybe Yx would finally locate the last Bloodmaw Goblin or some hidden tribe and it would lead to a new playable race opening up? I admit to being excited about the idea since I loved the worldbuilding lore and the difficult magic system that required detailed learning of the Rune connection system for creating and using magic.

I never would have thought that while exploring the game’s world randomly one day, in an effort to be the first player to report one-hundred percent map completion, that I would stumble across them. The last remaining Bloodmaw—An NPC named Ark Wyze.

It didn’t make sense to me at first. Ark Wyze?

The name Wyze was unmistakable to anyone who had ever played a magician-class character.

Salondra Wyze, one of the most powerful mage NPCs in the game and the only Tower Master to have reached the ninth circle in the last one-thousand years... there was a book in the private library in her mansion which spoke of her once having a son who met his end as an adventurer.

No traces of him or his party were ever found.

If Ark Wyze was her missing son, why was he a goblin and not a human? Salondra was known for her active hatred towards the uncivilized races, whom she considered to be a blight and plague upon the world—and to which goblins were at the forefront.

The look on the face of the last Bloodmaw Goblin was etched in sorrow.

“Why have you sought me out, Adventurer?”

Engaging with the NPC, there were two dialogue choices to answer with. The first was to say that you were here to take the head of the last Bloodmaw and prevent the resurrection of the tribe that Yx was aiming for. The second was the exact opposite, offering to help restore the Bloodmaw tribe back to its once legendary greatness through any means necessary.

Naturally, I wanted the secret storyline I had found to continue onwards, so I chose the second option.

“I would have chosen the first option, Adventurer.”

Huh? Did the NPC know I had a different selection available?

“No matter. For you to have found me, it can only mean that damnable thing, Yx, eventually will, as well.”

He knew Yx? The story was starting to get good!

“I no longer have the strength to witness losing my loved ones yet again. I can feel the age seeped into my bones, Adventurer, and I know that I’m nearing my end. Since you aren’t here to kill me, would you like to listen to an old goblin’s story? I would say old man, but I’ve long since lost my humanity...”

Holy crap! Am I going to get to hear the backstory of the Bloodmaw Tribe straight from the source at last!?

I quickly chose that I wanted to listen to his tale and was invited to follow him to a nearby cave. Upon entering, it was an absolutely unremarkable cave with nothing in it... that was, until his hand glowed and the wall opened in front of us, turning into a long passageway.

“Just a little bit further...” the NPC spoke.

When we reached the end of the passageway, I saw an amazing sight. A single elaborate cavern expanded into view. It looked like a small palatial mansion!

“Surprising, isn’t it? I tried to reconstruct it from the original, but it has been so long, I’m sure I’ve forgotten more than a few of the details...”

An option came up to ask about the original.

“When I was a lad, I wanted to be an adventurer and see the world. I never would have expected that on my first goblin subjugation quest that I would be captured and made to be breeding stock for them.”

A small mirthful chuckle exited the mouth of the NPC.

“Given the choices being to breed them or die, I hope you can understand that as a youth full of life, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to letting it end prematurely. Still, I couldn’t have known that it was my destiny to be part of something as great as the Bloodmaw Tribe. That’s not to say I didn’t have my points of contention with them. I had many, and we clashed often due to how different our societies were. But do not for a moment believe that the Bloodmaw Tribe wasn’t civilized—They were! It’s just a matter of perspective, you see...”

“I see... I have no time left to test your true conviction. I will ask for your forgiveness then, for what must happen to pass along the origin blood... is not very civilized, I’m afraid...”

The NPC’s hand began to glow and I was hit with an unguardable paralysis spell.

“When you wake up, I will be dead, and you will become the last Bloodmaw Goblin. Goblin instinct will take over for everything else, so whether you consume my body or not out of necessity, I will not hold any grudge. I ask only one thing of you from this moment on... please name the child you will give birth to... Mint. I at least wanted to give her a second chance at life...”

What happened after that was something R18+ that shouldn’t have been in a video game meant for minors to play.

I felt extremely violated, yet I couldn’t close my eyes to it.

After it was done, the NPC who had initially appeared as a goblin to me began to change shape into that of an old human male with a white beard, looking at me with an apologetic face.

Then, pixels filled my vision until there was only darkness.

[Your quest has ended. Would you like to begin your life anew as Mint the Bloodmaw?]

There it was! Wait? Did that mean this character was being deleted?

Damn, I had some good items on this one... but... argh, it’s a new playable race!

Fuck it, YOLO!!

[Transferring player now... ]

[Emergency Quest: Survive!]

[You must escape. Failure to do so will result in permanent death!]

Huh?

Where am I?

I... can’t breathe!

I felt a desperate urge to get out of wherever I was!

I found myself clawing through a tight passage on my way towards a single speck of light below me.

I had to hurry!

I was almost there, just need to push my hands through and pull myself out of this hole...

Plop.

I was suddenly in a dimly lit cave, surrounded by many goblins and a single human male. They were all talking, but I couldn’t understand any of the words they were saying.

Looking at them, I saw names above each of their heads.

What looked like an umbilical cord was stretching out from me and going into the one named Pepper. There was a middle-aged goblin called Old One. Four small goblins: Diana Artemis, Button, Glace, and Ebony. Two goblins who looked to be in their late teens with the names Jewel and Berry, and the lone human... who was rather attractive, actually... Ark Wyze.

Did I somehow get sent back into the game’s past? Is this a divergent storyline?

Ah~, I was tired as could be. I needed to log out for now and make a quick post on the forums before taking a nap. My gamer blood was surging and I couldn’t wait to see how this storyline continued.

...

Uh... where’s the logout button?