Survival Life as a Goblin Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! I got another Tier Reward asking for more Goblins! My Original Writing has fans and it makes me happy to know that! Hmm, maybe if I get far enough with this story I can look into publishing? Could be cool to get an Illustrator to draw up some pictures for it; could make it a Light Novel type of book.

Anyway, time for the Tribe to learn Pottery and Ceramics! Clay working is going to increase their Quality of Life! Plates, Bowls, Cups, Pots, Jars, Flat Stone Stoves! All good things to make!

Maybe our Goblin Shaman will even start collecting his Medium Materials!

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-Day 88-

“We’re going to do what?” Breelin, one of the females Gobkoh was trying hard to memorize the name of, questioned when Gobkoh had gathered the Tribe together that morning. He’d already gathered some flat-ish stones to work on, as well as some dry grasses from the mountain. Now he just had to explain what they would be doing.

“We’re going to practice pottery.” Gobkoh repeated himself. “We’ll be using clay from the pond area to form items that’ll make life easier for us.”

“Easier how?” Tayalin, another female, asked her Chief.

“We can cook better, for one.” Gobkoh grinned when he saw several eyes light up at the idea of better food. “Also we can make things to eat out of or off of. We can create pots to store stuff inside of. I might be able to make something else too; but until I know for sure I’ll keep that a secret.”

“Hey, no fair Chief!” Gobmyr chuckled at the secret.

“Yeah, yeah, if I can make it work you’ll all enjoy it. So don’t worry about it for now.” Gobkoh waved off the other male. “I’ll show everyone how to gather the clay and how to shape it for stuff; so just follow me and watch.”

With that Gobkoh led his Tribesmen to the bank of the pond. He raked his fingers and claws through the soft dirt and tossed it away. Another handful of dirt was collected and tossed away before he sank his fingers into clay. Pulling up a clump of the material he showed it to his Tribesmen.

“This sticky, grey stuff is clay.” Gobkoh explained. “When you mold it, then it stays in that shape.” To demonstrate he rolled the clay into a ball and then made a depression in the middle. Working his fingers around the edge, he thinned and stretched it out a bit. When he finished he held up the item.

“It’s a bowl.” Rialin blinked before she grinned. “So we can make this stuff into whatever we want?”

“Not everything,” Gobkoh shook his head. “But we can make a lot with it.”

“This looks interesting.” Vawalin, another female he was learning the name of, commented as she looked at the little clay bowl.

“I’ll try.” Hylalin, a soft-spoken female, shrugged as she and the others began to collect clay. When all of the Goblins had collected a good amount of clay they headed back towards the cave. Gobkoh collected ash from some of the fire pits and dusted each one of the flat-ish stones with the ashes.

“Just copy what I do.” Gobkoh instructed as he picked up some clay and slapped it down on the dusted stone. Seeing his Tribesmen following his example, Gobkoh smiled as he slowly added some dry grass to the clay. Adding fibrous material made clay stronger when it dried and helped keep it from breaking when it was fired. Gobkoh led his Tribe through the basics of pottery for the rest of the day. Several trips to the pond had to be made, and plenty of ashes had to be gathered too. Even a trip to climb up the mountain a bit to collect more dry grasses was necessary after lunch.

“So what do we do now, Chief?” Gobyog questioned as he looked at the multiple bowls, plates, pots, and lids that he’d copied Gobkoh making.

“Now we give them a few days to dry.” Gobkoh informed the entire Tribe. “While we’re waiting for them to dry, we’ll work on digging a big pit.”

“Why would we do that?” Gobwren asked confused.

“Because once they’re dry, we’re going to fire them.” Gobkoh replied and saw multiple curious faces looking back at him.

“What?” Eryslin, a quiet female with a gentle disposition, tilted her head.

“We’ll put them in this big pit we’re going to dig; then we’re going to surround all of our clay works with kindling, dry leaves, sticks and the like. After that we’re going to set all of that on fire. We’ll keep the fire going for around four hours or so then we’ll let it die out and cool for about two days. Once that’s done we’ll pull them out. If we do this right it’ll become what’s called ceramics, instead of just dried clay. Ceramics are stronger and last a lot longer before they’ll break from use.” Gobkoh explained to the curious Goblins.

“That’s crazy.” Gobtay blinked as he looked over his own multiple pots, lids, plates and bowls. “Why did we each make multiple of these things though?”

“In case they break while firing.” Gobkoh answered. “Sometimes when the dried clay gets really hot like this it’ll break or crack and fall apart. Having multiples like this ensures us that enough will survive the firing for everyone to have one of each item.”

“I really think you’re way smarter than any other Goblin, Chief.” Fayelin, a female that liked to fish, chuckled as she looked over her own creations.

“Probably because of my Skills and stuff.” Gobkoh shrugged. He didn’t feel the need to tell his Tribesmen that he had memories and knowledge of some type of life before this one. He couldn’t even remember what he’d been last time; so it probably wasn’t important.

“Well, let’s get digging!” Gobmyr called out, “This big pit isn’t going to dig itself!”

“He’s not wrong.” Gobkoh agreed and the Tribe came together to start digging, except for elderly Yualin. She was given a pass, of course. No need to have their elderly Herbalist doing manual labor after all.

-Three Days Later ~ Day 91-

Gobkoh watched over the large fire pit that was burning. Their potential ceramics were buried underneath the sticks, and being fired. Now it was just a matter of getting them hot enough to turn red. If they could turn red without cracking or breaking then they just had to slowly cool while buried under the ashes. Once that was done, a simple flick against the sides should produce a clear sound. Then they’d have ceramics.

“You think the big ones will survive?” Rialin asked her male as she watched the large pit fire with him.

The two of them, with help from a few of the other females, had made four large ‘cooking pots’ to make large amounts of food in. Gobkoh was hoping to introduce soup to his Tribe with the large pots. If they were lucky all of them would survive the firing process.

“I’m more worried about the grill grates.” Gobkoh watched the flames. “They’re thin so they’ll have a much better chance of cracking and breaking under the heat of the firing process.” He’d taken it upon himself to make grill grates, straight rectangles of clay rolled into thin bars and crisscrossed over each other. He was looking forward to doing some actual grilling during the warm summer months. He hoped his ‘Self-Sufficiency’ Skill would help them survive. He’d made each of the five grill grates himself for the express purpose of trying to apply his bonuses to them.

“I’m sure at least one of them will survive the process.” Rialin assured her male with a smile. Gobkoh pulled her into a side hug with a smile of his own.

“Let’s hope so; I want to grill up some meat before the seasons change and it gets cold.” Gobkoh pecked her cheek. Rialin kissed his cheek back as they leaned against each other.

“Yualin helped keep track of seasons with En before.” Rialin spoke as they watched the flames. Other Goblins would occasionally toss more sticks into the flames to keep the fire going strong. “She says we were all born near the beginning of the first month of spring. So we should have about three more months before the leaves fall and it starts getting cold.”

“We’ll have to make sure to stock up on supplies for the winter. Don’t want to try and hunt much if the forest is covered in snow and ice.” Gobkoh shivered at the thought of being in the icy cold with only their pelt tunics and shorts. No, thank you!

“Should we check on those ‘stove’ things you showed us how to make?” Rialin asked with a grin. Her male had so many ideas running around in his head. While they’d waited for the clay works to dry, he’d had them use the dirt from the pit and water from the pond to start making something new. Gobkoh called them stoves. They stacked and molded the wet mud like the clay; even adding dry grasses to it, and then lit fires inside of them! As the mud got hot and dried out it became solid and hard, almost like rock. On top of these circular walls Gobkoh had laid the largest flat stones the Tribe could find. The stones were lifted up and away from the tops of the stoves by four extended blocks of mud. This was to let air flow, according to Gobkoh.

“Sure, they should be fine now that they’ve been used a few times.” Gobkoh chuckled as they walked over to what was now a designated cooking area. One of the stoves was currently in use by a female Goblin named Kaylin. The female had spread some oil from an odd plant, that Gobkoh had no knowledge of, over the surface of the hot flat stone. The plant in question was called ‘Varettayl’ and had multiple bulbs on it that smelled funny. Insects seemed to hate the smell and wouldn’t eat the plant. Just to refresh his memory Gobkoh used ‘Analyze’ on the plant again.

[Varettayl – Produces an oil within its buds that repels insects]

[Non-Toxic, Component – Oil: Can be used in cooking if heated]

‘A plant that naturally produces cooking oil.’ Gobkoh could only shake his head. He had no memories from ‘before’ about any plant like that. From his knowledge you had to press seeds to extract oil.

“Chief, these stoves are amazing!” Kaylin smiled brightly as she saw Gobkoh and Rialin approach. Kaylin let the oil get hot on the flat stone before placing pieces of Jackalope meat on it. The meat sizzled and Kaylin grinned while adding some herbs to the meat’s surface. The smell was good and already other Goblins were taking notice.

“They’re really useful.” Gobkoh nodded to her. “If the grill grates survive the firing process, then I’ll show you all how to grill.”

“Grill?” Kaylin looked interested. “What’s that?”

“A different method of cooking,” Gobkoh explained. “We’ll remove the flat stone and put a grate over the flames. Then we’ll cook with the flames directly, sort of like cooking with the fire pits, but this way you have much more control of how much heat the meat gets.”

“Sounds good to me.” Kaylin grinned before smelling her cooking meat. “So good!”

“We’ll leave you to it.” Rialin laughed as she and Gobkoh walked away from the cooking area.

“Hey, Chief, we got the wood you asked for!” Gobmyr called out as he and two females, Layalin and Jisalin, emerged from the forest pulling a drag sled full of chopped wood. Both females had axes with longer handles, meant for felling trees and hacking thick branches. They needed plenty of wood for cooking, for firing ceramics, and Gobkoh wanted to get a good amount drying for winter. If he could do what he planned then their cave home would be cozy and warm during the winter months. It was another reason to keep practicing with his ‘Spirit Unification’ Skill. Earth Magic would make his idea a lot easier. If that failed he’d have to make it work by hand. That was still doable, but would take much longer.

“Great work you three, split it up the same way as before.” Gobkoh instructed and the three Goblins nodded to him. Things were shaping up well so far for the new Koh Tribe. They were increasing their Quality of Life. They had hunting, fishing, and foraging options. Just a few more things and they’re Tribe would be set for the long haul.

“What should we do for the rest of the day?” Rialin asked her male. The Tribe still had plenty of food, so they didn’t need to personally go out and hunt. Pelts were stretching and drying, while hanging from trees along the edge of the flat grounds. Antlers and bones of various animals the Tribe had hunted had been saved at Gobkoh’s instruction. He was hoping to use some of the bones and antlers in Medium Crafting. Plus it would be a good way to mark their home around the cave. Markers that this territory was the Koh Tribe’s and trespassers should be aware.

“Want to explore more?” Gobkoh questioned his female. “We haven’t gotten to the other side of the pond yet.”

“Sure!” Rialin agreed and the two went into the cave to get their armor and gear on.

-A Few Hours Later-

“There’s a lot of stuff around here.” Rialin commented as she looked at some flowers with her ‘Analyze’ Skill. They came up as Medicinal, so she collected some for Yualin and Saelin.

“There is.” Gobkoh agreed as he looked around the area. They were currently in a glen in the forest. The couple had walked quite a ways now. It had been productive though, they’d found a few Medicinal plants to take back and they’d scouted the area passed the pond. Looking closer at a plant that looked slightly familiar, from ‘before’ at least, Gobkoh used ‘Analyze’.

[Common Soapwort]

[Toxic if consumed in large quantities, Component – Can be made into soap by soaking the roots, stems, or leaves in water]

“No way!” Gobkoh cheered as he looked over the flowering plant. He’d worried about cleanliness within the Tribe and enforced bathing with the wealth of water they had from the mountain spring and pond. But having actual soap would make things so much better! “This is a great find!”

“What is it?” Rialin questioned as she came over to her excited male.

“Use your ‘Analyze’ Skill on this plant.” Gobkoh encouraged her with a smile.

“Okay…” Rialin did as she was asked and perked up when she got the information. “What’s soap?” Her eyes lit up a second later as her Skill gave her the answer. “Oh! That is useful!”

“Right?” Gobkoh chuckled. “Let’s take a few back.” With that he used his claws to start digging around the base of the plant.

“We’re taking the whole plant?” Rialin asked with a tilt of her head.

“If we plant them near the cave they’ll grow back every spring, we can make soap over and over again. If they drop seeds and grow some more of themselves then we’ll have a secure source of soap to keep clean with.” Gobkoh explained his reasoning as he lifted the plant, dirt and roots included, from the ground and handed it to her.

“I get it.” Rialin nodded as she held onto the plant while Gobkoh started digging up another one near it. A bit later and both Goblins were carrying a soapwort plant as they walked back towards their home. They were taking a slightly different way back, but with the mountains on one side they just had to follow and they’d get back home regardless.

About thirty minutes later the two were taking a quick break. As they rested in the shade of the trees, Gobkoh decided to get in a bit more practice with his Class Skills. He activated ‘Spirit Sight’ and looked at all the tiny colorful lights that were the common Spirits. It was as he was looking around that he noticed something new. Off in the distance, between the trees, a bright green glow caught Gobkoh’s attention.

“What is that?” Gobkoh wondered aloud as he stood up.

“What’s what?” Rialin looked around, not seeing anything.

“There’s a lot of Plant Spirits all gathered together over there.” Gobkoh pointed as he motioned for Rialin to follow him. The two Goblins slowly made their way towards the mass of little Spirits that Gobkoh saw. When they reached the area even Rialin understood why there was more Spirits than normal.

“That’s a big tree…” Rialin commented as she craned her neck to look upwards. The tree they stood in front of was very large, easily three or four times thicker than any of the others in the area. It had thick branches and its leaves let only the tiniest specs of sunlight through to hit the forest floor. “I wonder how tall it is.”

“Tall would be an understatement.” Gobkoh looked at the old tree; though ancient might be a better descriptor. Noticing a fallen branch near the large roots of the tree; Gobkoh was stunned by how many Plant Spirits were still surrounding the small, comparatively, branch.

‘Wait… This could be a good item for my Medium!’ Gobkoh thought as he approached the fallen branch and picked it up. It was taller than him by a bit; probably about five feet in length from end to end. The branch was mostly straight, a slight curve to it at one end. The thickness of the branch fit into his hand comfortably enough though, his fingers just able to touch as they wrapped around it. Even after he picked up the branch the little Spirits still floated around it or landed on it. ‘Yeah, I’m keeping this.’ The Shaman nodded to himself.

“Hey, Gobkoh, look at these feathers I found!” Rialin got his attention.

“Woah…” Gobkoh blinked at the two feathers Rialin held in her hand. One was a striking silver color that faded into a pitch black near the end. The other feather was a vibrant red color with golden edges. What shocked him more than the colors was the Spirits that clung to the dropped plumage. Grey Wind Spirits flittered about the silver and black feather, while the red and gold feather could have been a flame for how many Fire Spirits were on it.

“Neat aren’t they?” Rialin smiled brightly at him. “Can you use them for the Medium thing you told me about?” She wasn’t expecting to suddenly be pulled into a hug. She was even less prepared for her lips to be captured in a kiss. She quickly returned both, however!

“You’re amazing, Rialin!” Gobkoh praised his female when he pulled back from her lips.

“Thank you~” Rialin giggled happily as she snuggled into his chest. “So, I guess that means you can use them then?”

“Yep! The Spirits seem to like those feathers a lot! This fallen branch too; though seeing the tree it came from that’s not really surprising.” Gobkoh chuckled as he held Rialin close.

“Should we head back so we can plant these Soapworts and you can make your Medium?” Rialin asked after several moments of enjoying their closeness.

“I guess we should,” Gobkoh kissed her forehead. “We don’t want to worry the others, right?”

“We shouldn’t, I guess…” Rialin giggled as she pulled back from the hug. Gobkoh took the branch and the two feathers and gave a bow to the tree. He faintly thought he heard numerous small giggles for a second, but when he stood back up he didn’t see anything with ‘Spirit Sight’ at all. At least no Spirit that wasn’t a tiny ball of light anyway.

The Goblin couple returned to their resting spot and picked up the Soapwort plants. They continued on their walk back home from there. Coming to a lower area Gobkoh realized he recognized a certain plant and had to blink at seeing it here.

[Moso Bamboo]

[Non-Toxic, Material – Can be used for Crafting and Building]

“What’s this doing here?” Gobkoh questioned as he looked around. This whole lower-lying area was covered in a large swath of bamboo. No trees grew in this area at all, and it almost seemed like this patch of forest had been cleared out and planted at some point in the past. The question was, if that was indeed the case, whocleared the forest in this area and planted bamboo instead?

“This bamboo stuff is hard, is it a tree?” Rialin asked as she tapped one of the large stalks with her claws.

“A type of grass, actually.” Gobkoh smiled at her. “Also, it’s very useful for building things.”

“Really? Are you sure this is grass? It’s not like any grass I’ve ever seen.” Rialin blinked at the tall stalks.

“Yep, but we can come back for it later. We’ve got enough things for now.” Gobkoh chuckled as they left the massive bamboo grove behind and headed back home. Neither of them noticed the eyes watching them from between the bamboo stalks.

“Goblins?” The figure questioned with a blink. “Since when do Goblins live anywhere close to here? I haven’t seen any in the whole time I’ve been here.” A sudden chime made the person start and then looked down. “Is it that late already? Grandpa will be annoyed with me if I don’t get back with the bamboo and the shoots soon!” With that the eyes disappeared back into the stalks, headed back to their Grandfather.

-Koh Tribe Cave-

“We’re back!” Rialin announced as they returned to the flat ground surrounding the cave. Several greeting rose up from their Tribesmen as they walked through their area.

“Let’s get these planted and give them some water.” Gobkoh nodded to the two soapwort plants. Rialin agreed and they quickly found an open spot near the forest. Digging out a good sized hole for each of the plants, they gently placed the transplants into their new home and covered the root ball with fresh soil. A few quick trips to the pond with their roughly-hewn wooden bowls and the new plants had been watered.

Next came explaining what the two plants were and why they’d brought them back. After the Tribe understood the usefulness of the two plants no further questions were asked about them. Rialin happily delivered the Medicinal plants they’d found on their exploratory walk to Yualin and Saelin. The elder Goblin was happy with the new samples and quickly set about teaching her new apprentice about them.

“Now, I guess I should see about making this Medium.” Gobkoh reasoned as he sat with Rialin next to one of the fire pits. Rialin watched on, curious as to what her male would make with the items.

Taking the branch, still covered in Plant Spirits, Gobkoh used cordage to wrap the curved end of the branch. Tying the feathers onto the wrapped end with the cordage, Gobkoh tied both separately and gave them some slack. The feathers moved gently in the slight breeze. Both still retained the Fire Spirits and Wind Spirits respectively as they hung from the branch. To top off the Medium, Gobkoh took an antler from a past Stripe Deer kill. To his ‘Spirit Sight’ Skill it had small amounts of Earth Spirits and Dark Spirits attached to it. Nothing like the two feathers or the branch, but the Spirits stayed with the antler even as it was moved and attached to the Medium with strips of Brush Rat Leather and cordage.

“There we go, not too bad for a first attempt.” Gobkoh smiled at his new Medium.

“It looks kinda like a fancy ‘Antler Spear’.” Rialin mentioned as she looked over the Medium her male had made. “Except the Stripe Deer antler isn’t as good for stabbing as a Jackalope antler is; and the curve wouldn’t be good for a spear.”

“I like it,” Gobkoh nodded at his work. “Do you like it?” HE asked Rialin with a grin.

“Yep! It looks neat! I hope it can help you with the whole Spirit mana thing.” Rialin smiled at him, a bit of worry in her eyes.

“I won’t know until I test it out,” Gobkoh admitted to his female. “But I’ll make sure I’m careful when I do.”

“Good.” Rialin nodded happily. Gobkoh chuckled at her satisfied look. Rialin was wonderful. Looking over his Medium he used ‘Analyze’ on it.

[Shaman Staff – Medium for Spirit Magic, Attuned to Plant, Fire, Wind, Earth, and Dark Aligned Spirits]

‘Huh, guess I’ll get more use from this when using those Elements for now. I wonder if I added new things later if more Alignments could be gained for it. Would it lean more heavily towards one or the other if I added something that had even more Spirits attracted to it?’

Rialin snuggled into his side with a content sigh and he wrapped an arm around her waist. A pleased smile came to Gobkoh’s face instinctively.

‘Questions for later.’

-End Chapter-

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The Koh Tribe is settling in and making some advancement thanks to Gobkoh. Ceramics and pottery, stoves, soap, more medicines. All good things!

Gobkoh and Rialin explored the area beyond the pond! Found some good materials for the Goblin Shaman’s first Medium! Also some good material in the form of bamboo! But who was watching them from amongst the bamboo? Does the Koh Tribe have even more neighbors? They don’t even know about the ones from up on the mountain! Who is this new person?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I can update this again, later!