Drabble #24: Another Way

[redwolf]

Digging up an old challenge from Livejournal:

This is inspired by a suggestion from womanroaring. The defences of the Goblin City prove to be positively insurmountable, and Sarah and the gang realise they have to find another way in (i.e. they can't just stroll in through the front gate after taking out a rather ineffective robot). How do they get inside? There are lots of possibilities here - a desperate magic spell, a forgotten secret passage or a rancid sewer. You could even take this to an extreme and explore an AU scenario where Sarah never made it to the castle at all, hiding out in the Labyrinth after realising she has lost and formulating a plan to get her brother back while evading Jareth. What you do with the scenario is up to you - the only real requirement is that your story basically explores a scenario where the Goblin City battle didn't happen.

Given our entries from recent months, let's continue with the suggested limit for this month of 500 words. Though remember that shorter pieces are most definitely welcome!

Your entry should take the following format, posted as a comment on this entry:

Word count: # of words
Drabble: $your_beautiful_drabble

Remember: Feedback is LOVE. So do reply to your fellow labyficcers' drabbles if so inclined. (Though be careful of concrit unless specifically okayed by the author beforehand. Authors generally write for love.)

Comments

Campaign

[redwolf]

Word count: 500
Drabble:

The assault on the Goblin Kingdom was both more drawn out and way more boring than Sarah could have anticipated. Her summation of their attackers had painted them in a far from favourable light, but she had been much too generous in describing them as idiots to the point that she was certain she had worked with clay that showed more signs of intelligence.

The fools had planned to head for the kingdom with their equally useless cronies in tow. In a shock to no one, it appeared that nobody in their party had a clue on how to get to their closest neighbouring kingdom. To remedy this minor concern, Jareth had ensured that a friendly barmaid just happened to be on hand to slip them a map.

When word had been sent by their operative that the merry band were finally pointed in the right direction and on their way, Sarah had expected that it would only be a brief time before they arrived at the main gates to declare war. However, as no one in the group had sufficient skills at teleporting, and no access to funds to pay for the service, they would be travelling by horseback and taking the scenic route.

Jareth’s map ensured that instead of storming the public gate as they expected, they would widely skirt all inhabited areas to arrive at the runners entrance.

Sarah supposed this did give the Goblin Kingdom a known time span on how long they had to finalise preparations. However, she didn’t account for a small oversight in her calculations that when they did arrive they wouldn’t actually know how to send a message to announce their intentions.

As there was little damage they could do in the area, it was decided that the best course of action was to ignore them.

While the ringleaders argued about how to proceed, their minions took advantage of the lull to get drunk and Sarah used the respite to put her own plans into motion.

One of the guerilla tactics Sarah had suggested was leveraging the skills of Doug and Thadie, who had an interest in the intersection of magic and technology, and their proposal had gone beyond her expectations. They had developed a lure that the goblins happily delivered behind the lines. Whenever one of the men stepped away from the encampment, they would encounter a crystal that smelled like the most decadent of freshly baked goods and the moment they touched the surface they were transported to an oubliette.

By the time the wayward interlopers finally stumbled over a method of communication, their entire retinue had vanished. Unfortunately, they decided to use a wish and, as there was malicious intent behind it, Jareth did not arrive alone.

Using a scrying crystal, Sarah watched the pair drop to their knees, the rather obvious damp spots on their trousers showed their terror at the sight of a fully armoured Goblin King and the enormous shadow glamoured guardians who appeared around them.