Realm of the Dig-Lord

It is just past sunset outside Alne, and it is freakin' cold.

While the extreme effects of temperature are not necessarily something Adventurers have to worry about so long as they have a healer nearby, the discomfort of a breezy night with winter's chill is still worth respecting. It isn't cold enough to seep into the bones and hurry prospective treasure-seekers into warm beds, but it's enough that some few people may have the heretical thought that perhaps glamour is not as important as a parka right now...

Defying a cold night, a Spriggan Adventurer has put out the call to adventure, spread by word of mouth via Chimlink and tavern mutterings. There's a goblin problem, and supposedly treasure involved, but not in one of the places the Hunters' Guild has asked to be cleared. Most people have turned away from the idea, citing the appeal of a hot meal that doesn't suck as a primary motivator. Besides, if it was really a goblin dungeon with loot inside, wouldn't the Landers have pointed it out already? It must be nonsense if the game hasn't generated it.

The would-be leader of this expedition waits by a standing stone on the road for possible takers, his crimson shoulder cape making him stand out against the moss-overgrown rock. His name is ATT SYNE, and he dearly wishes he had a proper hat. Instead, he's munching on what looks like a hot potato, taking bites out of it like an apple. It steams in the cold air. It is the most disarming possible thing he could be doing, if he's up to no good.

Adventure, huh? Sounds like fun!

It's pretty cold, though, so BlackRose is donning a robe made of faux furs to keep herself warm. She may be tough, but even the best of the best need a little protection now and then from the elements. (Yeah, it's virtual reality, but it's STILL DARN COLD!)

Spotting the young man with the cape, BlackRose walks over to him and smirks a little. "I'm BlackRose, you must be the one who put out that call for adventurers, right?"

     A goblin problem, huh? And not in one of the locations from the hunter's guild? It was enough to pique the interest of Pela Clarpuff! To help herself with the elements a tiny bit, she has slightly longer socks on to cover more of her thighs, but otherwise hasn't changed her outfit much.

     The small woman doesn't so much as walk up as almost just 'appear' nearby, slipping out of the forest where she had blended in. Except her maid outfit. Because it's hard to hide in a maid outfit. She, uh, doesn't really say anything, just standing vaguely nearby, watching the gathering party silently. She does give a very slight head-bow though. Acknowledgement for the possible party members!

    Not far behind Blackrose is Miyako, having dithered a bit before making a decision on what she wanted to do today. Some things - like clearing Aincrad tower - she's been feeling a bit ambivalent about. So she joins another quest team.

    "What do you mean, it's 'not a game-generated quest'?" she'd demanded of another back in Alne. "So frakking what? You think that's a good reason not to help people who need it?" She stalked off from them muttering about 'just NPCs' like it's some sort of curse.

    Eventually, she catches up with Blackrose and waves casually to the fellow in the cape. "Yo," she greets them. "I hear somebody got a goblin problem?"

The waiting Adventurer polishes off his potato while the duo approaches, and the maid-ninja just kind of appears. He jerks slightly with a start at the latter's entrance, but touches a finger to his brow like he was tipping the hat he silently wished he had. He pushes off the stone, straightening and clearing his throat as he surreptitiously wipes away crumbs left over from his impromptu (but, blessedly, not soggy-cracker-flavored) dinner.

"That's right. I'm Att." His Inspect data confirms it clearly:

                         Att Syne / Spriggan Mastermind                        
                              Guild: Plant Hwyaden                              

"Goblin problem is right," he tells Miyako. "I was scouting the forest for some material nodes, and I ran across a goblin camp that wasn't on any quest lists I'd ever seen. Looks like they're digging something up. I figured, it's good XP, and whatever they're digging for is probably worth something to someone." He shrugs. "So we form a party, go in there, clear out the goblins, and split whatever they've got equally. Well..." He makes a waggling gesture with one hand. "I *was* hoping to use the spot for building something, but that depends on if we can even clear it, right?"

Another spriggan shows up to the literal call to adventure.  Another cold night, but on the other side of that, it's a good time for adventure.  After all, Goblins are usually good low-level mobs to farm.  On his back is both a bow and a harp.  Walking up, he greets the group with a low bow before listening to the overview.  

"If you haven't met me, I am U.L.P.  Nice to meet you!" he says with another shallow bow.  "So it sounds simple...scout out the camp, figure out if they're doing any shifts are patrolling...and divide and conquer."

"How nice to see you again," BlackRose says with a smile to Miyako. "Seems we're turning up together a bit." She chuckles. "Not that I mind." She then turns to the other spriggan and says, "U.L.P., that's an interesting name, I'll give it that." She nods a little then says, "You can call me BlackRose."

Then her smile fades and says, "Divide and conquer? Personally, I prefer a more direct assault as opposed to spreading out..."

    "Nah, nah," Miyako says, shaking her head. "Leeeeroy'ing it only works if you're 5-10 levels above the other guys, at least. Preferably 20 or more. Which we're -not-, not anymore. So we play it smart and don't get dead."

    She looks briefly over at ULP and nods. "Welcome to the team. Another Bard, I see?"

Oh no.

"I'm lost." A mysterious cowled indivdual grumbles, hands cupped near her mouth as she breathed warmer air onto her fingers. While vaguely aware of her position, getting turned around was a little too easy.

And it miserably cold.

Still, there was a reason for everything - a reason to subject yourself to miserable conditions. Higher than profit, more valuable than resources: Experience points.

Strike that - experience points and also your shady sempai putting out a call for assistance.

"Att? Att!" The mysterious figure stagewhispers across the chilled terrain, heralding a garishly levelling-geared 'caster' stepping into view. "I got... turned around. Count V and I were out in the field overnight and found some goblins in the field - do you think it's related?"

Blinking her eyes, the figure looks at Miyako and BlackRose. "Oh! Hello. I'm Whiskey Sour, but you can call me Whis." She bows. "I'm a support player. Please take care of me."

Summoning a staff that is little more than a long branch with a gnarl-crook at the top, she plants the length in the ground and leans on it while smiling. "I'm fine with whatever approach people like." She offers, in the can-kicking way of all supports worldwide.

"Exactly that!" he says with an upbeat tone towards Miyako.  "We should compare notes to make sure we don't overlap our support spells..." Until Whis comes out of the forest, apparently turned around.  "Hi Whis, how are you doing?" He asks, neutrally of course.  

Towards Blackrose, he shakes his head.  "Are you new to the game?  That's fine if you are, but with how things are right now it'd be smarter to take it slow and safe.  Risks are inherent in any situation, but managing those and not overcommitting is too."

"Besides, just because we do things like this, doesn't mean you won't be going at them head-on."

After confirmation that he /was/ offering the quest, Pela does approach a little closer, giving a slight bow. "...Pela." She states, of course, her inspect information would have said that too, but it's best to introduce yourself! Goblins digging for something? Hmm.

"...Can assist scouting." She adds after ULP arrives and gives a vague plan, "Bard?" She questions towards him, after noticing the harp. "Twin blade. Enchanter. I mostly use debuffs." BlackRose states her plan and she shakes her head.

"Unmarked location. Possible elite monster." Four other people. She can handle that for a quest. Right? At least right now while she's not standing super close to them! She glances towards Miyako, giving slightly more polite of a bow. "...Same guild. Hello." Ah. A fifth person. That makes her shuffle just a bit uncomfortably. But she does give a little bow of her head towards Whiskey Sour in spite of this.

At first, BlackRose scowls and looks like she's about to start an argument, but then she pauses as Miyako speaks as well, and she softens up a little as she realizes that there's a point. With a sigh, BlackRose looks down at her feet before looking up again. "You're right, we should definitely take this tactically." She's not speaking with sarcasm either as she knows that they have a point.

    Miyako nods, offering a wave to those arriving after her. "He's right, Rose, give it 10-15 levels and you'll be smashing goblins like tenpins." She grins and claps the girl on the shoulder. "So keep on grinding. You'll get there."

    

"Yes!" Whis replies brightly. "Att is my senior in Plant Hwyaden. I just got lost in the field for a bit, I'm not used to this area." She explains apologetically.

Looking concerned at Pela for a brief moment, Whis wears curious interest rather than any form of offense. "Is there something wrong?"

U.L.P. looks towards Pela as she addresses them, and gives her a nod.  "Bard and hunter.  So using the terrain to my advantage is what I am about.  It'd be nice to have someone watching my back if we go this route," he responds pleasantly enough.  

Whis seems to be avoiding his questions, but that's fine.  With a breath, he turns towards BlackRose.  "A mature move on your behalf, many people don't accept advice like that.  Being open-minded and listening to your party members will make you go far."

"I suppose we should wait for everything Att has to say."

~~Shady Sempai~~ Att Syne glances towards the stage-whispering point, and then double-takes when he realizes who it is. "Whis?" Blink, blink. "It might be. There wasn't any goblin spawns that dense in this area before the Apocalypse." He opens his inventory with a gesture, materializing a second paper-wrapped [Hot Potato]. He tosses it to Whiskey Sour. "Warm yourself up, huh?" U.L.P. gets an upwards headjerk of recognition. He's glad to have familiar faces around.

Att starts passing out party invites. Names and health bars appear in the corner of his field of vision as he does and people accept them. "Yeah, being a little tactical about this is probably the best bet we've got until we're sure what's in there. I'm sure there's going to be plenty of straight-up fighting after that, though," he adds with a smile. "Come on; I'll get us as far as the edge of the camp I found, and we can plan it from there." Att steps away from the standing stone, lifting his hand in a beckoning gesture, and starts towards the dark treeline.

A few minutes into the forest makes it clear that this entire biome is the work of a designer rather than anything approximating nature. Undergrowth just doesn't spread on places where there needs to be paths between trees, and idyllic rolling hills conceal twists and turns and break up sight lines cleverly. It makes the game designer in Att appreciate the tricks used on weaker machines to save having to render everything, but he has to appreciate it quietly. He creeps up one embankment, pressing his stomach to the grass and peeking over the hilltop...

Firelight illuminates the far side. There's an open space with a number of stumps in it between the party and the first torch-stand, spaced haphazardly around the clearing. A big pit has been dug into the side of a hill and the ground in front of it, revealing buried tumble-down ruins revealed by whatever excavation is happening here. Four goblins with spears watch over what looks like a rotating work crew of human-sized skeletons, hauling dirt and broken-up rocks out an open doorway into whatever the now plainly artificial mound is. They're piling it wherever there's clear space.

On the far side of the clearing from the party, there are crude tents for goblin-sized creatures. It looks like there are nearly a dozen of them packed around a central fire, with a big one occupying a place of glory in the middle of it all. More goblin-sized shadows move around over there, though not as many as one might expect.

"That is not normal goblin behavior," Att says quietly. "And that's way too many for me to handle alone. So..."

     Okay, so definitely scouting has been decided upon, so she moves towards U.L.P since they seemed to be interested in scouting too. "Ready to scout." She seems to miss a beat when Whiskey Sour asks her if something's wrong. "N-nothing wrong. You are fine!" She gives a very slight smile, but doesn't elaborate beyond that.

     "...I wonder what the goblins are digging for." The prospect of finding that out seemed more interesting than the goblins themselves, really. Goblins are goblins! "..Maybe artifacts?" That would be weird though! U.L.A explains his classes and she gives a simple nod. "I will cover your back."

     When the invite is passed out, Pela accepts it promptly, and when Att leads them towards the camp, she habitually slips into the underbrush while following. Once at the hill overlooking the camp she scans it quickly, "Ruins. Hm." Definitely interesting! She starts to count the mobs, watching them silently to see what all is happening. Let's see, an elite one, and a large amount of goblins. "...Maybe wait until sundown. Goblins sleeping. Easier to take out. Especially large one." She motions towards the glory seat.

Nodding to Miyako, BlackRose nods. "You're probably right. I'll do some grinding after this." She then looks to U.L.P. and adds, "Truth be told, I'm usually not like this. I tend to get a bit argumentative at times, but..." She frowns a little. "When I've got others who agree with your decision, it's really not my place to argue."

Looking at the goblins, BlackRose nods a little, as something definitely seems a bit off about them. "Maybe if we spread out and draw them into smaller groups? But who should go with who? And how many groups should we form?"

    Miyako nods. "Definitely unusual," she agrees. "Ruins, you think? Maybe there's something interesting..." She grins. "I need to see this." She slips up with the rest to take a look, crawling on her belly so as to avoid notice. Not afraid to get dirty for the cause, this one.

    "Definitely not normal," she opines. "Are they cooking on that fire? Or just huddled up for watmth?" She hmmms. "Not sure if we can wait... who knows what they might find down there."

"Mmm...closer you say?  Fair enough, an overview of what's happening is better than just guessing I suppose!"  He says, with a hum, before quieting down as they go incognito to get closer.  As they finally get to where they need to go and get a good lookout.  U.L.P. scratches his chin for a moment.  

He looks towards BlackRose with a small smile, "You don't say?  Well, it's not wrong to dig your feet in and argue for your course of action.  Just knowing the time and place is key.  However, I think you're on the way to knowing that."

Hmmm...

"There has to be a caster controlling those skeletons.  Hmmm...trying to draw them off without sounding any alarms is one thing, but the skeletons are going to present another challenge altogether."

Accepting <Hot Potato>, Whis occupies her chatting face with warm potat (which unlike normal game tasteless mash, now tastes like real life tasteless mash - such is the way of potat).

Added into the party, Whis is revealed to have the not-at-all shady sounding Heretic class (though, being honest, Att currently takes the Tasteless RPG Cake as 'Mastermind'). "Perhaps the Goblins are as interested in increasing their power as we are? Even if Goblins are cowards in combat, some of them are quite bold. I guess the same can be said of us Adventurers - cowardly, sometimes bold, and prefer attacking in numbers." She observes with a light laugh.

"Maybe... two groups? One group to draw attention, and the other waiting to support them? That way, it's not complex, and we can concentrate our power."

ULP offers that there has to be a caster, and Whis agrees. "Or something like that. If we can figure out the leader, and defeat them, the rest may cut and run. That's a victory too, isn't it?"

"Well, it's not quite pitch black yet --" It's past dinnertime; it's cold, and dark, but not the deep blackness of the middle of the night in a forest like this. "-- but we've got plenty of time to move in if we want to approach under cover of darkness." Att squints at the encampment. "Hmmm..."

Miyako's sheer amount of lore can draw a conclusion on what this place is: a barrow, or burial mound. The goblins have breached into some ancient burial site, and are actively digging it out. Who knows what they could unearth in there? Artifacts are a good guess. Human-sized skeletons are, too.

Pela, meanwhile does some quick counting. Four Speargobs are lingering nearby, with three around the edge of the depression and one near the open doorway. In the camp, two more goblins are by the fire: one is tending what looks like a stew-pot, and the other is tending the fire, both totally ignoring the commotion in the ruins. Four more distinct skeletons have come and gone through the doorway so far, but they cycle in and out too quickly to be going terribly far.

"Two groups seems sensible," Att agrees. "If we can flank them and focus our attacks to reduce their numbers, we can clear the exterior and then go in to find whoever is controlling the skeletons. If they're not just mauling the goblins, U.L.P. is right; /someone/ has to be. Probably an elite shaman..."

     The counterpoint of 'we might not have time' is ... reasonable. "...That is true. Perhaps someone can make noises, draw off the goblins?" She squints a bit to examine the tents, trying to see how many shadows she can see in them. "Perhaps... light tents on fire? Cause panic. I have fire spell, though weak, should be enough to light one. What about you?" She looks towards Whiskey Sour. "If we can make them scatter, they split up, not us." Assuming they do that. She quietly muses a bit about the skeletons, a caster. Right. "...Issue is finding the leader. Maybe the large one. Could be in the ruins?" Since the rest of the party seems to be decided on the two groups, one flanking, she just nods at that, and begins to mark the less obvious mobs for the other players. "...That's all of the goblins outside of the ruins. Probably not dug deep, skeletons are cycling too fast." She points out the four skeletons coming and going.

    "Damn what I wouldn't give for a decent pair of binoculars," Miyako mutters as she watches the goblins. "Looks like a barrow of some sort," she muses. "I have no desire whatsoever to deal with undead at night. We hit them quick and hard."

    She takes a deep breath, then tightens her grip on her naginata. "I do darkness, shadow magic, not fire." Spriggan, here, not Salamander. "I could do an illusion, make the fire look all creepy and such."

With a hmmm, BlackRose looks at the others gathered and then at all the goblins down below. "Maybe we should divide them up, one to each group, and then take them on as separate groups?" She frowns a little. "Of course, there's still the issue of their leader, as well as if there's some kind of motive we don't want to know about?"

With that, BlackRose grips her sword with one hand. "Just give the word and I'll move out when we're ready..."

"Fire is a possibility..." the bard considers as he takes more of an examination of the area itself.  What were the ways in and out of the camp, were there area's where they could get high ground on the camp?  

Mostly trying to find places for ambush and traps would be more effective..

Whis smiles politely. "I know a few fire spells, too. If that's what you want to do, I'll support you." She replies to Pela.

"If we light a tent on fire, it'll cause panic -- but it'll also probably draw out someone responsible who starts getting the Goblins to put it out. Then, we add some extra feathers to the one shouting orders. Simple, right?"

Whis beams, steepling her fingers.

By 'feathers' she means 'and also a length of wood, and a sharp point, and massive cranial trauma'.

"I'm so excited, arson has been great for solving problems. Sneaking..."

Whis frowns lightly. "Sneaking leads to hungry urchins."

A MAP, BECAUSE MAPS ARE COOL
    .TTTo.
    .o^^^:
    .o^o^B
    ..^^^:
    :.::::
    ...@..

LEGEND
@ Party
. Open Space
: Hilly Terrain
o Goblin
T Tent
^ Pit
B Barrow


Att gives Whis a sidelong glance, but frowns in understanding. Sneaking does lead to urchins.

"Okay. There's six of us. Pela, Miyako and Whis can torch the camp and make it scary; me, U.L.P. and BlackRose will mix it up with the goblin guards near us as soon as you get their attention. Sound good?" Att looks between party members, hand resting on the pommel of his sword.

     Miyako gets a simple nod from Pela at her mention of not having any fire, but an illusionary option. "...Make the fire look bigger than it is? Hm." She muses on that absently. "...Safest area to attack from is probably over there." She points at the three off at the edge. "Fire to draw attention towards tents, then attack the spearmen while they're distracted."

     Whiskey knows a few fire spells. "...Ah, good, hopefully larger than mine. Fire dart, pretty small." But enough to start a fire probably, especially if she focuses all of the darts on one. "Would like front line attacker with distraction group." I mean sure she kind of is one of those since she's a twin blade, but she's small and squishy. "Spells are not subtle."

     Oh good Att basically had the same plan as her, that makes it simple. She nods, and starts to make her way around towards the back of the camp, sticking to the forest as much as possible. Just assuming the other two the group she's in will do the same. Even if they ended up going opposite directions, so long as they met up it would be fine.

U.L.P. nods towards Att, looking back over.  "BlackRose.  Between the hills there right at the entry way to the camp.  If you challenge them there they will most likely not attempt to immediately flank you, which means you can handle them one at a time.  I'll get up on the hill and arrow down at the ones in the back and keep them harried so you can engage them without being overwhelmed."

"Sound good to you?" he asks his new partner.

Shrugging a little, BlackRose looks to Att and U.L.P. and says, "I guess that works for me." A pause as she looks to the other two and then responds to U.L.P. with, "All right, if you say so." She pats her sword and smiles. "This hasn't failed me before and I doubt it will anytime soon either!"

With that, she looks to Att and says, "I'm all right with that if you're all right with it. Just tell us when to move out."

    "I'm cool with it," Miyako answers after a moment's consideration. "We'll cast from just behind the ridgelie of the hill, okay?" She looks briefly to Pela and Whis for confirmation.

    "And yeah, Rosie, part of me wants to just drop a Black Hole Sun on the camp and be done with it, and if I was still level eighty-three I'd do just that." She chuckles ruefully. "Took me years to get that far. Gonna take more time yet to get it back, I'll wager."

"I don't think any of us are front-line tanks, unfortunately," Att sighs. "It's a real problem... we're just going to have to be reactive enough to cover one another's backs when things get hairy." He nods, then pulls his legs underneath him and crouches on the near side of the hill. "That works, yeah. Head over to the right, around the barrow, so we're all in range of one another." He gestures in the direction he means. "It should give you plenty of room if they try to close in on you, too."

Att removes his hand from his sword, instead pulling a quarterstaff out of his inventory. "Alright; let's split up. Everybody get in position. Thirty seconds, and then we light it up and go all out. If we drop the goblins fast enough, some unarmed skeletons shouldn't even be an issue."

"Oh. It's sort of a Plant Hwyaden special, if you'd believe it." Whis admits, at the interrogation of her flammable powers. "But it's much bigger than Flame Dart. Though, with goblin construction..." Her steepled fingers tap together and a completely atonal bright smile.

"A flame dart is probably more than enough, even with how cold it is."

Following Miyako and Pela towards the ridgeline of the hill, she fiddles with a pinch of this and that into her canteen, swirling, and drinking the results.

"Fourteen..." She breathes.

"Thirteen. Twelve. Ten. Nine." And so on. She levells her staff at 'three', adjusts her aim with her thumb at 'two', and narrows her eyes at 'one'.

"Rupture the earth, Flame Wall-!" She hisses, causing a pillar of flame to erupt along a bridge between two tents, the blaze bright and visible as it bursts into full life.

A nod comes from the bard before he slips out with the group.  He moves up the hill closest to where BlackRose would be ready to take a stand.  Right now, it's just a matter of waiting for the signal and fire from the other group.  

Right now, he focuses on keeping low, and out of sight.  Beyond that, he waits for the signal.  He might be able to snipe a goblin if they are far enough out of position.  The Skeletons wouldn't be that big of an issue with the other group...so as long as the Goblins headed for them, then they could clear this.

Taking a breath, and smiling at the pounding in his chest, he is ready for this.  He signals for BlackRose to call out the goblins, and he tracks them.  If any of them go off course towards the other group, he'll use the hill's height to shoot arrows at them, hopefully, able to take them out before they go.  If not, he'll keep them harried as they go after BlackRose.

     Pela confirms that plan from Miyako. "Sounds good." She says simply, flashing a little grin, getting out a small ninja-scroll from her inventory as she moves and unrolling it. "...I miss my skills, too." She comments under her breath.

     "...Really? Plant Hwyaden gives you special spells? Interesting." In position. "...Goblins are really bad at everything, aren't they? Except numbers." Aaaand a countdown. She lifts her ninja scroll, quickly beginning to read the series of words off of it. "...Pierce them, FLAME DART!" Her flame dart is sent flying towards one of the central tents, hoping to have the fire spread between multiple different tents.

BlackRose moves out quickly, trying to keep a low profile, but unfortunately, it's not easy when you're more of a strength-oriented character like she is. Nevertheless, when she draws the attention of the first goblin, she engages it as quickly as she can, while calling out to U.L.P. on another one to focus on.

"Let's go!" BlackRose says as she attempts to use her swordsmanship on the goblin while hoping U.L.P. can do his best to cover her.

Miyako smiles a little, and gets up on one knee just behind the ridgeline, where she can just see the encampment. She holds the naginata in her left hand, the string of feathers hanging from it flicking about in the breeze. She lifts her right hand, muttering under her breath as she starts to inscribe runes on the air, the characters glowing as her finger moves on.

    "... and teach unto them the fear of the night," she chants, raising her voice as she finishes. "Shadows Linger."

    As flames erupt from the others' spells, her own latches onto them, making them seem to loom larger, casting darker, flickering shadows, as if something was -moving- just out of sight.....

The first phase of the plan goes off without a hitch.

Whiskey Sour's Flame Wall and Pela's Flame Dart ignite the tents. The skins stretched over the wooden frames don't burn immediately, but the frames themselves do, quickly bursting into a roaring flame. The fire jumps between the jam-packed tents in the encampment, hungrily igniting every bit of flammable material left scattered around -- which, in a goblin camp, is basically everything. The two goblins working by the fire shriek their alarm, cut off by the Flame Wall and the sudden near-explosive eruption of fire all around them. The goblin guards near the dugout turn and shout in alarm, the nearest two of the four running towards the camp.

The shadow magic takes hold just then. The flames seem to move with a living, insatiable hunger. The shadows reach out for the Speargobs, who freeze in place and slowly stumble backwards rather than get closer to it. Are there eyes looking at them from the flames? From beyond the flames? Their paranoia ratchets up, and they're gripping their spears and utterly failing to do anything useful. The two goblins inside the camp are definitely going to be consumed by the blaze in short order, disintegrating into shards and orbs of colorful light and scattering what loot they had on the ground near them.

The two other goblins are shocked and unnerved, but not quite as close. They start scanning the woods for the source of the Flame Dart. One of them gets run down by BlackRose basically immediately, her approach quick and quiet enough with the cover of the roar of flames and the ensuing chaos that her first target gets hacked into before it can even react. Both of them turn to face her, and, as expected, they move to flank, but U.L.P.'s covering fire dissuades one and damages the other, efficiently keeping them from boxing her in. She has both of them in front of her, jabbing with spears and howling monstrous war cries!

Att draws himself up on the top of the embankment he's crouched behind, swinging his staff upwards over his head. A violet arc lingers in the air. "THORN BIND HOSTAGE!" Glowing violet vines burst out of the ground, ensnaring the second, uninjured goblin facing BlackRose, rooting it in place, bright magical thorns glimmering dangerously. "Cut the vines," he calls.

The two goblins on the far side of the pit, near the fire, are presently stunned into inaction by fear and flame. The skeletons continue to haul debris out of the interior of the barrow, totally ignoring the fight as it breaks out.

     Well, that's a neat effect, mixing the shadow magic with the flame spells to make them even more intimidating! Even if the fires might not have been the most effective, it definitely looks that way now!

    She quickly shifts equipment, switching to her Tanto to prepare for any goblins that come charging them, thinking they're just squishy casters. But no goblins came charging, and Pela quickly scans the situation to see how it's changed. Okay. She takes a deep breath, beginning to go down low into a half-crouched position, and then she's off, sprinting at high speeds to leap up and over the fires, quickly flashing as she activates Flash Step to be those eyes staring at them from behind the fire. For just a moment, before she is, instead, a pair of tanto coming through the fire. DPS mode activate! She attempts to stab one with two strikes right to the chest, digging the two blades deep to deal as much damage as possible!

The arrows continue to rain down, giving BlackRose the cover she needs.  Eyeing the scene, it looks like everything is going to plan, two goblins are inactive, some are trying to flee but instead run into BlackRose and his arrows.  The Skeletons are doing nothing, which definitely tells him there is a controller somewhere.

Right now, one problem at a time.  

He takes this moment to line up a shot on the uninjured one, as the other seems mostly in hand by the heavy blade.  "Heartseeker!" he calls out, unleashing an arrow from the bow.  It seems to just fly unerringly towards the heart of the creature, aiming to end it's whole damn career right then and there.  

If they can clean up fast, they can get the other two goblins before the boss shows up.  Then it's just the undead workers and them left.  Hopefully!

"There's one here!" BlackRose calls out as she points at one of the two goblins attempting to jab at her with their spears, before she attempts to go after the other one. The one she called out gets a good jab in, causing her to wince a little as she feels the spot on her exposed stomach where she got hit. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

Regaining her composure, BlackRose returns to focusing on the goblin in front of her with her sword at the ready. She attempts to take it on while hoping U.L.P. keeps her safe.

"Don't fight the undead if they don't aggress on you!" Whis encourages the arson team, mantling the embankment and aiming with her staff. Sighting down the tip of her staff like the sights on a gun, the Druid adds a few bright blasts of light - from the Holy spell, radiant sun-beams of blessed light - into the goblins flat-footed from the fire.

"Don't let them get around you, either! They're vicious when cornered!" Whis councils.

With a spare moment, Whis hums a bright tune. Her free hand glows with the generic red light of an Attack Buff that leaps and flows from her towards Pela and Miyako to enhance their own offensive maneuvering.

    Miyako nods, seeming to ignore the skeletons - though at least keeping an eye on them - as she focuses her illusions on the goblins. She draws it out, making the flames seem to flicker and snake towards the govlins, as if attempting to trap them.

    The illusions, of course, have no real physical effect on the goblins. What does, however, is the next spell she casts. "Shadow Dart." Gleaming black shards spit forth from the orb of unlight, lancing out to the 'entrapped' goblins to slam into their backs.

Pela's scare tactic (catactic...? no that's dumb) startles one of the Speargobs into running for the hills. It gets brutally stabbed for its efforts, going down in a hurry at the edge of the growing inferno. The other one snaps out of its stunned state and rounds on her, swatting at the maidsassin with the butt of its spear and then winding up for an impaling strike. The force of the attack is blunted somewhat when Whis' Holy spell rains down, sunbeams interrupting its wind-up and setting it off early with a more shallow version of the attack. The grounded one expires from the Holy damage, bursting into colorful loot, while the buffed Shadow Dart catches the other entrapped Speargob in the back. It staggers, leaving it open for a finishing blow...!

BlackRose has sword meet spear. The goblins aren't particularly imaginative combatants, but they're fierce, attacking with quick, vicious jabs and wide sweeping swings. She takes a few nicks and scratches, minor HP damage showing as glowing red marks across her body and a distant burning sensation like an extremely dulled scrape or cut, but beats it down with raw power, rewarded with a colorful explosion and a shower of small-value coinage. The second one, trapped as it is, can't possibly evade the Heartseeker, reduced to a sliver of health by the one extremely precise hit. It reaches behind it and draws out a horn, taking a wheezing breath --

Att flings himself down the hill, sliding on the slope and jumping across the gap. His sword comes out in his right hand, staff in his left, flashing through one of the glowing thorned vines. A brilliant explosion of magic engulfs the goblin, destroying it before it can call proper reinforcements. He exhales a sigh of relief, turning to look down at the skeletons with tension in his shoulders.

The skeletons amble back towards the door, disappearing inside. A moment passes, and they don't come back out. The flickering firelight from the burning encampment illuminates a bunch of skeletal shapes just inside the door, moving a huge stone slab with a slow grinding noise. They're blocking the entrance to the barrow from the inside!

The shot was true, the Goblin was almost down, but instead of running, it moves for the horn.  However, Att was on it, a sword cutting down the goblin before he could complete the call.  This does at least tell him there are more nearby.  Maybe not close enough to immediately help them, but close enough to be a factor.

He files that away for later and looks around.  BlackRose has her opponent easily enough.  The fire is spreading, so that's good.  However, the skeletons are retreating?  Then he sees the 'door' move.  

He slides down the hill towards the camp, firing another arrow off.  "Rain of the artic, answer my call.  Ice Rain!" he says, as the arrow splits into hundreds of shards, aiming to imbed themselves into the slab, aiming to slowly spread out and freeze the door in its place.  It's not enough to STOP IT forever, but enough to slow it down for someone close to deal with the skeletons!

     Good advice from the support, doing their job! "I would be a terrible maid if I let myself get surrounded." Pela comments absentmindedly. No, it doesn't make sense. More importantly, ooh tingly, attack buffs! Those are always great. "Thank you." She says quickly.

     But there's still goblins to deal with. Or, well, a goblin in her immediate area to deal with. Luckily they took care of one almost immediately, and she's left with just one left for their are--- oof. A spear-butt right to the stomach sends her a couple of steps back. The blunted follow-up is quickly deflected -- not quite all the way though, striking her side instead of her center of mass.

     Her eyes narrow, the irises becoming little slits as her blades begin to glow bright red. "...Heartseeker." And she moves immediately into a flurry of movement, stabbing the goblin that was rude enough to stab her four times rapidly, each strike aimed to slide between ribs straight into the goblin's heart.

Her ear flicks. Wait... what??? GRINDING noises? She's briefly distracted. "Wh-- no!" She turns and stomps HARD on the ground, her foot glowing as she does, sending a massive tremor towards that closing door to try to disrupt the skeleton's attempts to close the door! "TREMBLE STEP!"

With only some pesky skeletons to deal with, BlackRose is about to move in when several people deal with the door that's closing. Still, the skeletons are still there, and it would be a waste of time to let them remain standing. "I've got a bit of a bone to pick!" BlackRose says with a slight smirk as she rushes in.

Approaching the nearest skeleton, BlackRose swings her sword horizontally, attempting to cut the skeleton in half with a good hard slash.

While it was a good strategy to ignore the enemies that were ignoring them to focus on the disgusting flank-happy enemies with pack tactics and vicious, evil goblin machinations...

That strategy has consequences. Like them grinding the stone slab shut.

"Push! Push push push!" Whis urges, planting her feet and sweeping horizontally with her staff. "Land, answer my call! Earth Pillar!"

Following her gesture, as BlackRose rushes up (and quips masterfully), over her head and interceding into the way, is a horizontal outcropping of rock that bursts into being in the cave mouth.

Good news! They have to break the thing to close the cave off!

Bad News: People taller than Whis will have to stoop. Blame your sliders or God.

    Miyako shakes her head. She'd have been fine with just leaving it be, since the skeletons weren't attacking anyone. But then someone went and Leeroy'ed. Ohwell. Time to smash skellies.

    She sends several more Shadow Darts against the undead, targeting each at the skulls, as she advances from the ridgeline towards the barrow. Then she sees Whiskey's barrier go up and sighs. "That's not going to help," she mutters, and eyes the skeletons still in the cave. "Enh, what the hell. Answer my call! Earth Pillar!" Her own target is the floor directly beneath the skeletons, slamming all the way up into the ceiling with enough force to pulverize bone, before dropping back to floor level.

Whis looks to Miyako. "Oh, I was stopping them from closing the door. Can't let the enemies break line-of-sight, right?"

She pumps a thumbs-up at Miyako. "Nice fighting!"

Pela takes out her maidly fury on a goblin that very understandably stabbed her a little bit. The Heartseeker makes the creature scream pathetically, and then expire in a burst of color and fading sound. It drops a potion along with its tiny amount of gold, which comes to a stop at her feet. Looting the bodies probably isn't the most important thing to do in the middle of combat, though.

Meanwhile, the door slowly grinds towards a close... but not unimpeded.

Icy shards rain down, digging into the worked stone slab they're moving. An icy sheen covers it and then spreads towards the doorframe, slowing their progress to a crawl. The skeletons on the other side continue to haul on it, mindlessly applying strength that makes basically zero sense but moves it anyway to their assigned task. Their formation is briefly thrown out of alignment by the trembling of the earth below and around them, ancient dust showering onto them from above, giving them a momentary pause to let the rest of the party close in.

BlackRose's quip does only marginally less damage than the actual swing. The briefly-immobile skeleton gets hacked in half, its lower body collapsing into a heap. The upper half continues to hold on, contributing nothing but taking up space and adding weight to the object they're trying to move. The stone spike that lodges itself in the entryway proves a particular challenge, and the skeletons try to overcome it with brute force. In the corridor behind them, there's a gobliny yell, and a pickaxe hits the top of the stone spike, starting to fracture it and let them move the slab further into position. It very big, very heavy, and very nearly closed.

Shadow Darts don't do much against the undead; they're in heavy cover, and apparently minorly resistant to boot. The Earth Pillar absolutely does, going upwards with a satisfying *CRUNCH* and then dropping back down to shower broken bones across the entryway. Att follows it up with another grand staff gesture and the Plant Hwyaden special, "Flame Wall!" Fire comes up in and behind the space the slab occupies, burning what's left to cinders, and merrily crackling away to boot. The goblin that was back there doesn't make any sounds.

The only problem is, the ruin is a little more... ruined, now. There's definitely a hole, but unless you want to crawl in while enemies get a chance to step on your head, it's not a great plan to go that way until it's broken open. The slab is big enough and stuck enough that it's not going to be a quick fix, either. There's going to need to be a little construction to get at the goblin skelemancer. (Necromancer gives it too much credit.)

"Good work," Att says with a little sigh. "We'll, um..." He gestures at the nearly-blocked entryway. "Well, let's regroup and then crack that open during the day, I think."

     It turns out there were people who were better equipped to stop a door closing than a ninja. And that person happened to be Whiskey, almost definitely. I mean, she can't make spikes of earth grow out of the ground! Well okay maybe she could, but it would require more skill with magic than she has.

     As Blackrose dashes in, rather than joining her, Pela shifts to a supporting role, sheathing her tanto to begin casting. Until... it's pretty obvious that they're not going to be able to get in right now. She pauses, scratching her cheek a bit as she muses.

     "...Yeah, I'm not crawling through that. ..." Pela shrugs helplessly, starting to gather the loot that fell at her feet and was decidedly not in a giant ball of fire right now. "...We should put out the fire before the forest catches fire, too." She adds, starting to work on that before she disperses to whatever she was doing before she came here.

With things handled - for now - and the path not TOTALLY terrible, Whiskey squints and leans forward, looking at the cave entrance. "Well, that's blocked. Whoops."

Turning to the majority of the group, lit by the crackling bonfires of the goblin camp, Whiskey presses her fingers and thumbs together over her chest to sign a heart. "Commends for everyone! Thanks for the party!"

Pela suggests they should put out the fire. "Oh. Probably."

She waits for a few beats. "Oh. Oh you mean-- Sorry!" She turns to the blaze. "Sphere of oceans, banish harm: Bubble!"

A deluge in sphere form is repeatedly bonked on the cheery blazes until they are well and truly soggy.

    And it's all over. For now. Miyako studies the crushed skeletons and the obstructed doorway for a long moment before turning away, walking over to join the others as they gather. "Somehow I get the feeling that the skellies aren't going to wait for us to come back," she muses. "Who knows what they'll get up to. This isn't a scripted event that waits for someone to pick up a quest prompt."

"Mmm...Att, give me some cover?  I am going to do something to make it harder for them to do anything while we regroup and stab at this in the light." U.L.P. says, before moving around and setting up traps.  Covering up puts, setting up new deadfall traps, tripwire traps, and so forth.  Taking time to jam something hard into the door and tear it off so they couldn't close it easily.  

Also, he takes the horn.  He wants to give it a once over, to make sure it's not just a normal horn, or if it would just somehow summon more goblins.  More or less, he was aiming to not do anything that would kill all of the creatures, but make their lives harder and make their own regrouping much more difficult.