Gobi-Go-Boom

    How it all came to be is-- A mistake in the making.

Xander and Uta ended up in the same place and in the same situation is perhaps because they both had this crazy idea on some, similar, fundamental level: Let's try to befriend the Goblins!

In Xander's case it was to see if he could even trade with them. In Uta's? She just wanted to give them Valentines cheer!

The end result is what is happening right now....

    "Run faster!" Xander barks out as he does a near three sixty throw of a fireball toward some goblins. "And just keep running!!"

There was Xander and Uta both running for their lives as the mass of Goblins gave chase. As in an entire tribe of goblins across the grassy plains. Spears being thrown. Arrows whizzing by. Just an angry mob of goblins!

The goblins were even all yelling things in their goblin speech. Angry Goblins were, well, angry! They also apparently had two adventurers on the menu to do whatever to. Maybe sacrifice to their god? Perhaps even attempt to eat! Who knows what goes on in the mind of Goblins.

    Ripple to flashback.

    Uta peeks in the distance. The tree she is hiding behind is the last opportunity for hiding before walking out in the open to approach the Goblin camp.

    "So this is it. You can do this, Uta. Time to change."

    A martial artist's gi might have looked threatening, she reasoned, so she bought this special event item, a white-sweater-and-pants outfit with a red bow-tie from some fellow who got bored with it after Valentine's day was over. Looked elegant and non-threatening enough -- should be good for a diplomatic mission, and it will go well to sell the whole Valentine's Cheer thing!

    Uta inhales, taps on her menu, and selects Valentine's Outfit.

    Her gi/nurse's outfit combination disappears, to be replaced by a frilly white dress covered in red hearts. Also, her nurse's cap is replaced by a red rose in her hair.

    She looks down, winces, and mutters under her breath, "...please kill me..."

    She hurries to undo her last move, but right then, loud goblin noises erupt all around.

    "...I didn't mean that... /literally/!"

    Deep inhaling. "Alright. There's no time to change back, but... you can do this. Just... go out and start talking. You can totally sell the goblins on the whole Valentine's cheer thing. Just relax, and remember that nobody can see you. Especially Xander. Boy, if there is /one/ person I'd hate to be seen by in my current state..."

    Flashback end, ripple back to the present.

    "WHAT DO WE DO NOW?"

    Not too far away, a certain red-scaled Salamander is moving through the trees. If anyone managed to get sight of Atif there, alone and ignorant of any people (or goblins for that matter) being nearby, might be surprised to see him actually looking kind of moody. No cheerful smile, not a whole lot of energy. Just a slow trudge through the mob-filled land, while scrolling through... something, in the menus.

    The rumbling sound of many, many, MANY feet approaching makes him perk up, however, before anyone catches sight of him (as far as he would know anyway). Even if the perking up itself is mostly on account of rising worry.

    A few quick leaps between the trees brings him to where he assumes he would get sight of the commotion... only to end up finding himself right on the path of Uta and Xander running along.

    "Hey!" He calls out, hand and tail both lifting up. "What are you--"

    His words drift off when the first goblin pops into vision from amidst the trees and various undergrowth. And another. And another. And another, and another and...

    Oh no.

    Eyes widen, and red tail snaps taut, pointed directly up to the sky. He's frozen in place long enough that when he does spin around and set into a sprint, he ends up right beside Xander and Uta.

    "WHAT HAPPENED?!"

Normally, Kita just tends to tune out chimlink chatter, perhaps because most of what comes through from the Alliance isn't particularly of interest to her. However, there are certain voices that get into your subconscious. So, when a certain familiar Salamander calls for help, that is enough to have caught her attention.

However, crossing distances quickly is not something that Kita is able to do by foot. Instead, she has to fall back on her summoning skill. The sound of racing hoofbeats comes from the direction of Alne. However, this is no ordinary horse. No, the creature that Kita is currently riding looks to be skeletal in nature. It has a purple glow around it that makes it look creepy, flames licking from the feet an eyes.

"What the hell, Xander? No, like seriously, what the hell?!" She shouts, pulling the reins and turning the horse so she can intercept the two fleeing from the goblins. Even her skeletal mount is a bit uncertain about the goblins, neighing and tossing its head from side to side.

"You know what, I don't want to know." For now, she remains mounted, though the skeletal horse seems skittish and unsure, staying ahead of the group.

Solo hunting can be a challenge. Especially when you're not really able to hunt players as well as you used to. Kasai had been hunting solo, currently perched in one of the few trees on the plains, waiting for an animal to cross below him so he can strike.

His hunt is interrupted by what sounds like an earthquake, "The hell.." He lifts his head in order to see, at first the massive cloud of kicked up dirt. It's only when he focuses that he can see the mob of goblins, "How in the hell.."

He's never seen a goblin train like that, they must have somehow aggroed the entire tribe. And now they were all headed his way. The plan remains the same, it just seems the target has changed. It's time to hunt pissed off goblins.

Xander and Uta are in trouble. Things are looking grim for the frilly dilettante and the mercantile fighter. And of course, now they're running away from the mass of angry Goblins. Uta's cry echoes out over the gutteral screams of the humanoids...

                                    + <                                    

A moment later, a sizzling ball of fire explodes across the plains from the crest of a nearby hill. There, outlined in shadow is a cloaked Imp, her hand smoking dramatically as the action input menu fades away next to her hand. "You fight." Proteus answers Uta's question. "Let's go, people! Break them up! Take them in small groups!" Proteus begins moving in to meet whatever group of them peels off to go after the Imp, menus popping up around her as she already prepares her next move.

    How the hell did Xander find him and why the hell did Wynfei get excited to go on a duty. He's not been doing that actually, honestly what the hell here he is now and he was within the trees with Atif as well, facing through them until all hell breaks loose. He drops to a low branch and swings backwards, "Come on move!" he calls to Atif as they start running.

    "As I said!" Xander barks back to Uta, "Keep. RUNNING!!" The Salamander continues to run with all that his legs would give him. This is one part when he is glad those years of training came in useful!

Eventually the Goblin train should break, but it doesn't. For some reason, either by Uta or by Xander's mistakes, these guys are not wanting to give up. When Atif joins up with them and their running, Xander rumbles but he doesn't explain; Not yet. Same goes to Kita who comes in with her steed, along with the others.

    It is Proteus that causes the goblins to break the chase slightly, but like with Xander's own fire-attack, they don't seem to be easily spooked given their large numbers.

What does spook them is when they realize there is now /more/ adventurers, which is slightly what Xander was hoping for. The Tank does spin himself around, shield coming into hand, along with his sword. "Now. Yes." he agrees with Proteus, "We fight!" Because this, all those gathered up, could in fact change the tide of how this is going.

Though Xander knows he'll owe explanations later.

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    GOBLIN WAVE 1 - POSE (1 of 2)

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    The goblins are giving chase. Xander's earlier fire attack did cause a few to break off. Though when Proteus does a sneak attack, it catches several of the Goblins off guard, sending a few retreating back home.

It is those that remain that continue to give chase, at least until they see the line up of adventurers. The Goblins all come to a stop, just as Xander does. One in the back line, slightly larger than the others and with a staff; A mage of some kind; Roars out something in goblin speech.

The goblins all roar together before a group of them charges toward the adventures with shield and sword in hand. Once they get closer up, they all jump in and attempt to strike at the Adventurer's gathered hoping to get a piece of that adventurer HP and maybe raise their questionable courage.

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STAND BY FOR POSE 2 & ROLLS

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    GOBLIN WAVE 1 (2 of 2)

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RCH -
<> Goblin Wave | HP XX|X
<> Roll fail vs Xander
<> Roll success vs Uta
<> Roll success vs Kita
<> Roll success vs Atif
<> Roll success vs Proteus
<> Roll success vs Kasia
<> Roll success vs Wynfei

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    The Goblins charge in full steam. One of them goes to attack Xander, but misses! The others seem to make their mark with their blades. Adventures now each have a goblin in their face.

Thankfully these suckers will be easy to dispatch!

<><> +roll Attack type (with card) vs 4

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    Xander uses his shield to take the impact of the Goblin. His teeth snarl as he does, before he uses that same shield to push the Goblin back and takes a swing with his blade!

"That one in the back! With the staff!" He calls to the others. "I think that is the one calling the shots! If we can get to him! They might scatter!" Might being the key word.

As the Goblins come running in their direction, Kita tries, in vein, to control her skeletal mount. However, the beast is soon overwhelmed. Trying to toss them off, the motion is enough that it also sends Kita down to the ground, the girl landing hard. "Oof." It knocks the air out of her chest, making her gasp before she rolls, scrambling to her feet while she tries to get some distance betwen herself and the hoard.

Her breathing is a little ragged when she does rise, the impact having left scrapes where her bare skin hit the ground. "I. Hate. Goblins." She manages between quick, shallow breaths.

Soon enough, the magic that maintained her mount vanishes, leaving the Goblins gnawing on little more than purple smoke. When they turn eyes on her, she curses under her breath. "Stay back."

Extending her scraped hands in front of her, she draws out a series of runes which glow in the air, then become little wisps of fire magic, launching into the chests of the Goblins closest to her, trying to knock them back long enough to catch her breath. A paniced look forms on her features, with the creatures just a little too close for comfort for her.

There are two Salamanders on the field, though, so once the spell is cast, she runs, trying to seek some measure of a safe position behind Xander. He is the tank, afterall. It should be his job to protect squishy mages.

    Uta heeds the order, and swings in place to face the goblins, magical musical staff pointed threateningly at the incoming tain.

    "Alright then. Let's-AAAAAAAAAAH!!!", she screams as she's pushed back, off balance, a hand reaching to where an arrow has perforated her chest, the area glowing red all around.

    "...this is NOT what I meant by spreading the Valentine spirit!", she whimpers with a cracked voice". She makes a motion as if for pulling out the arrow, but she stops at the last minute."

    "No, no, terrible idea... we'll deal with that later."

    She looks up again, even if her eyes are still pulled in a tense concentration, just in time to see a goblin slash at her.

    In a blur, the Goblin hand is grabbed, the offender is pulled off-balance, and her elbow falls between the creature's neck and shoulder, incapacitating it for the moment. Her movement continues in a flawless spin, leaving her standing on guard, alert to her surrounding.

    Just in time to witness Kita's skeletal equine get overwhelmed by all the attacks directed its way.

    "...did they goblins just... beat a dead horse?"

    She shakes her head, "BAD UTA. You've been hanging around Kauchemar too much. Stop thinking of horse puns, and ATTACK!"

    A scream is let out, and the arrow-transfixed musical kung-fu nurse charges for the next gbolin with a battle cry. "Things might be bad. Xander might be here, but at least /GWEN/ can't see me!"

Just as expected, Goblins begin to peel off. "As long as they keep losing members of their group, all we have to do is hold on and we can outlast the rush." Proteus says to no one in particular. Xander points out the leader, and her purple eyes flick in the direction of the target. "I see." She says. "Then it will be a matter of..."

What it is, however, will be waiting as a goblin comes in and slashes at Proteus. She leans back, the blade hissing before her before the followup cuts across her chest, leading to a loss of HP and a grunt of pain as the sizzling damage-line slowly begins to fade. "Damn!" She grunts, and the Goblin comes in with a followup to gore the archaeologist...

But the goblin doesn't notice the menu subtly popping up next to her hand... < K O

The next swipe comes in clashing against a sudden surge of fire... And Proteus grins. "Gotcha." The goblin only gets a moment before the Flame Shield detonates into a point-blank blast... And suddenly the momentum has shifted, Proteus going immediately on the offensive while the goblin recoils. Her hand is already moving again: ( U

An Arcane Bolt blasts outwards, taking the Goblin in the chest as Proteus leaps forward. She spins, slamming a foot into the falling enemy to kick the disintegrating enemy into the next enemy, buying her time for the next attack: V S M

The earth rumbles, and sudden blast of earth crashes up from the ground in the shape of a clenched fist, rupturing and scattering the enemy group as she crashes more and more towards the target.

    Wynfei trips and rolls, for a monkey that wasn't graceful. Still he flips up and looks at the oncoming horde of goblins. "Alright, if we're fighting, anyone who sling dem spells do so." he says as he quickly moves to intercept a Goblin that was moving to flank them.

    Wynfei sees a goblin swing at him and he ducks under it and as he ducks. The Monkey Cait-Sith spins and slams his tail into the face of the goblin. Wynfei hops backwards and sees another goblin moving to take the spot of the goblin he just hit. Wynfei grins and gestures for it to come at him.

    Atif might have about a HUNDRED questions regarding the situation he has somehow gotten himself in the middle of. But that all can wait. WIth the fireball that broke the goblins' ranks to encourage the dearly gathered to turn face and prepare for combat, he's spinning around, too.

    "I didn't think we were supposed to have a horde like this outside of a raid or something!" He notes quickly with an akward laugh.

    His eyes track over to the other end of the aforementioned horde, however, over Xander's words, considering the man's assessment -- and then nodding. "Okay, then we just gotta hold the line so the ranged folk can throw a fireball or some-WAH!"

    His line of thought is rudely cut off by a collection of goblins emerging on him. His arms instinctively come up -- but as it happens, the scales that cover most of his arms do only so much to protect him, and the cutting blade chunk off noticable bits off of his HP bar.

    His gaze sweeps a bit further to the side even during that, however. His tongue clicks to the roof of his mouth, and--

    "FEEL THE HEAT!"

    In a sudden burst of motion, he suddenly leaps and flips sideways, his legs sweeping in a wide arc of a kick through the air -- with a red glow of ethereal flames tracing his motions, creating a fantastical whirlwind of fire behind him as he moves across the battlefield. Even if the actual kicks themselves are done partly blindly, just as an effort of getting himself moved along the lines.

    ...And he ends up springing down before Proteus right after she's sent the most immediate line of goblins flying from ahead of her. "Hello!" He calls over his shoulder to her, crouched down for a few seconds with one hand set onto the ground, tail pointed up high. "Looks like I'm your buffer field today!"

It seems being up in the tree wasn't very helpful, as Goblins can jump father than Kasai had anticipated. Stupid rookie mistake.

The branch he's on starts to shake and rattle as several goblins come at him up there. He manages to maintain his balance, but now they're coming to attack him. Hidden blades slide out from the gauntlets and he jabs them into one of the goblins torso.

He jumps backwards off the branch, flipping over and grabbing the branch from below. He uses the blade to stab one of the other goblins from below, before he drops down to the ground, landing in a clear spot, but most likely soon to be overwhelmed by even more goblins.

"If we survive this you've got a lot of explaining to do!"

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    GOBLIN WAVE 1 - POSE (1 of 2)

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    The Goblin facing Xander quickly spins around and parries the blade. The Goblin grins at the Salamander, before attempting to move back in for another strike, while yelling something in goblin speak.

The Goblins in hot chase after Kita get a face full of fire. They screech and possibly goblin curse as they run toward the one in charge and some even heading back home. A few get the full impact and explode into pixel wisps!

The Goblin might get a hit in, but soon finds itself being flipped around onto its back, exploding into pixel wisps from Uta's impact right there in front of her.

    Proteus meanwhile takes a few goblins down as she rampages through them. A few explode, a few run away, and a few go to regroup with the next line.

Wynfei may get a hit by a Goblin, but those that follow in are not so lucky. The same goes with Kasai who takes out several more goblins before they can even dare to run back to the other line.

Atif does an amazing display for fire, causing the Goblins to explode on impact or run away, patting their little flaming bum flaps as they go to rejoin the ranks.

This means that Wave 2 is now on the move, which comes with a mix of Archers and more sword welders, but the adventurers are moving ever closer to the leader of the pack; Or at least the one calling the shots.

        !! WAVE 1 DEFEATED !!
        !! MOVING TO WAVE 2 !!

<> <> NOTICE - Kita Is Being Defended by Xander - Xander Take 2 <> <>

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STAND BY FOR POSE 2 & ROLLS

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    GOBLIN WAVE 2 (2 of 2)

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RCH -
<> Goblin Wave | HP XX|X
<> Roll success vs Xander
<> Roll success vs Uta
<> Roll success vs Kita (Xander takes)
<> Roll success vs Atif
<> Roll succes vs Proteus (Atif takes)
<> Roll fail vs Kasia
<> Roll fail vs Wynfei

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    The second waves comes in fast and hard. The archers line up their shots, raining arrows down toward Xander, Uta, and Proteus, along with where Atif stands as a protector. While the melee fighters move in for Xander, Atif, Kasai, and Wynfei.

The goblin group heading for Kasai and Wynfei however have trouble hitting any marks on the two, as their blades seem to slice short or only at air. Having trouble keeping up with the two fighters it seems.

<><> +roll <Attack type> (with card) vs 4

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    Xander watches as Kita comes in behind him for Cover and he does try to provide that. Sadly he doesn't have time to take notice how shaken up she is, but he still says to her at least, "... Thanks for showing up. Wasn't sure if--", However what ever else he was going to say is cut off, because goblins, which he tries to use his shield against a few; Not having the greatest of success.

Xander gets a breather in the conflict and says over to Atif, "Don't think game logic! That /will/ get your killed. They don't exactly operate on that logic anymore!" Though he does mutter under his breath, "... at least for the most part." Though he tells Kasai quickly, "I will!"

    Yet, Xander has bigger issues. He might manage to block an attack or two, but he takes a few hits leaving behind marks on his body. Then when the archers let loose, he grabs Kita and goes to protect her, "Get down!" He roars out. Several of the arrows get him, including one going right into his leg.

The dark scaled Salamander lets out a low growl in pain, before he chucks his shield to the side and unleashes and massive torrent at fire at the goblins in front of him with a draconic-humanoid roar.

"Thank me later." Kita is quick to add, coughing once before she manages to catch her breath fully. Her chest still hurts from the impact, but that is something to deal with after they are out of mortal peril. Of course, when Xander grabs the Imp and takes an arrow for him, well... "Fine, we're even." One can't argue with a man willing to throw themselves into danger for you.

The problem though, is how close the Goblins are. Kita's hands tremble slightly as she shakes them, trying to ward off the panic attack that is rising up and threatening to choke her. "Try not to let them get too close, if you can. And don't die." Easier said than done.

Staying behind the front line fighters, Kita strokes a line through the air, then completes it into a half-circle. Her delicate fingers trace out three runes, which cause the entire shape to begin to glow an eerie purple with arcane energy. "Let's see how they like this."

She flattens her palm to the image in the air, then draws it back, causing the dark magic to come with, forming into a ball in her hand. It causes her fingers to flicker with purple flame, the heart of the magic black as pitch. She draws one arm back, and then tosses the ball of magic towards the heart of the oncoming goblins. There, it seems to splash outward, coating the entire area in darkness, making it harder for the enemy to see.

    The hail of arrows descends towards the backliners. Where Xander takes charge of protecting Kita with her shield, Atif also backs himself up towards Proteus while he looks up towards the oncoming barrage of death. But. He doesn't have a shield himself, so how's he supposed to deal with this. "Don't worry," he rumbles in assurance to the archeologist behind himself regardless. With his fiery display earlier, maybe he's intending to blow the arrows away with a blast of fiery air, or...

    ...But actually, no. He ends up making use of his larger silhouette, and imposing *himself* as a shield in front of Proteus, with his arms sweeping from side to side rapidly to try to knock off whatever arrows might get past his frame regardless. As might be expected, this results in arrow after arrow sinking all along his chest, one in his thigh and a few more right through his arms, even, where his forearms ended up smacking into the pointed ends rather than the shafts.

    "...Hhh." And yet, he turns a quick smile over his shoulder back to Proteus, pincushion as he might be now. "I got you."

    He bounces forward again right after that to clear the space for her -- and to engage with the team of sword-wielding goblins headed for them. He quickly intercepts one with a fierce slam of a knee into a green midsection -- and gets promptly rewarded by a blade cutting along his side. Hissing with the simulated pain, he backs again briefly, arms brought up in a cross form to catch a blade between them. Even that might end up cutting through, unfortunately, since the scales probably aren't *actually* armored.

    While the blade's caught between his arms, though, he pushes one foot against the ground behind him, leveraging his weight forward -- and then, an uncrossing of his arms knocks the goblin back, and his arms glow with red heat. An illusion of flames, if not real flames outright. His other foot stomps forward, then, and he pushes on forward, both fists launching into a rapid barrage of fiery blows.

    "ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAAAA!!"

Atif arrives and Proteus glances over to the friendly lizard-type. "Oh, hello there." She says, her smile growing a moment. "Normally I stick to the support position but in this case... I can make an exception." Arrows begin raining down around her, and Proteus skids in one direction, than another, the slippery archaeologist evading some of them until the strikes focus right in on her position. She looks up, grimacing and bracing for impact...

But Atif takes it instead. One eye cracks open, and she glances over to the wounded Salamander. "Hmm. Thank you for your help, Atif." She says, moments before she turns her gaze to the Goblin archers. "I have had enough of that." She says, ominously. Chaos reigns amidst the mass combat, but Proteus seems to be within here element at this point, her cloak flaring behind her dramatically as muscles suddenly bunch up under her clothing, bulking intensively... and she launches into the battle, bulling forward as sizzling bolts of energy scythe into the enemies, Proteus sliding and skidding all over the place on washes of water and blasts of air while she seems to move in unpredictable and strange ways. Suddenly she's hanging over the archer group, and she smirks. As gravity reasserts itself, she quickly inputs another command: > X O

Her hands spread apart as a sphere of water manifests there, and her hands compress it into a spinning disc of deadly water. She brings up the Whirling Disc, and yells as she hurls it down at the goblins. "Take THIS!" She cries out, magically directing the disc to swing past and scythe through the archers, depriving the melee troops of their own support.

One arrow. Two arrows. Three arrows. FourFiveSix arrows. SevenEightNineTen arrows. With each flash of red light upon impact, Uta stumbles backwards and grows faster and faster into looking like a cushion pin. As if some sense of irony was at work, each projectile nails a bull's eye on a different red heart on her outfit. Head bowed down, long hair falling forward to cover her face, she emits a low grumble. "...I /hate/ Valentine's Day..."

    She begins what is either a long string of curses, an ominous chant, or maybe a dark incantation... possibly all three at once.

    Black and purple tendrils of darkness exhude from her form, and eventually coalesce into a writhing human-sized bubble surrounding her.

     Her face is lifted abruptly, teeth gnashed, eyes burning red with ominous rage. "I. Hate. Valentine's. DAY.", she screams, each word louder and angrier, her face a mask of rage, her staff swung up and then straight ahead in an arc, as if she were casting a fishing line. Her dark aura starts getting sucked up the staff, being shot out, and when her motion segues into a horizontal arc with the staff still being held at an angle, pointed at an archer, then sweeping onwards to point at the next one, and the next one... while the bubble gets sucked in and shot out as a long-range spray of darkness aimed at the far away bowmen.

    ...Bowgoblins?

At least Kasai is managing to keep himself out of trouble. Goblins are attacking him, but with his speed and natural skill from just the sheer amount of time he has been playing games like this, he evades their attacks.

Kasai weaves in and out of the Goblins, having switched from his hidden blades to his short swords.

His blades are engulfed with flames, as he carves his way through a pair of goblins, "Find the leader!" He calls out to the other adventurers in the fight, "If we take him out, the other should flee!"

    Wynfei dodges the strikes coming at him, he yawns a little bit as he backflips away. He glances to the others seeing other attacks streaking in towards the goblins. "I don't have a Valentine so meh." he says as he twists out of the way from a spear strike that was aimed towards his chest. Wynfei blinks and moves in towards the spear using goblin, he quickly lashes out with a tornado kick, jumping and spinnning at the goblin and kicking it square in the head to send it sprawling. "Let's finish this!"

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    GOBLIN WAVE 2 - POSE

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    The ball of darkness comes from Kita, blinding the archers in darkness and making it impossible for the 'leader' of this war party to see. There is much goblin chatter that is heard. They sound scared and are starting to lose the ground against the adventurers!

This confusion is only added as several goblins see flashes of fiery red from where Atif is striking away at goblins, causing them to explode into wisps as he makes quick work of them.

Proteus attacks in the dark, makes several goblins start to run, panicking. They can't see where her attacks are coming from. Only that these water discs seem to dance out of no where. One of them getting a little close to the leader even for his liking!

    Then within the darkness, more darkness comes! As Uta unleashes her anger into the dark void created by Kita early on. Then comes the burning flames from Xander. More wisps of digital light, more xp, and more coins for all!

Kasai's blades go to cut down several more goblins, along with Wynfei, who just adds to the chaos that is now ensuing. The Goblins let out screams and shouts. The leader could be heard barking out stuff and it isn't too much longer do they all go running away.

Apparently the leader choosing that living is far more important that continuing-- whatever caused all this! That is, well, for Xander and Uta to explain.

        !! Goblins flee the field !!

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    Xander watches as the Goblins make their hasty retreat, before reaching for his leg and going to pull the arrow out. Then he reach over and uses some healing magic to deal with the worst of it. ".. not going to be immobile in this game too.." He mutters out under his breath.

Though his eyes slowly look at everyone and he softly says, "... Thank you." To each one of them, as he just lets himself sit on the ground. "Is-- is everyone alright though?" Then he looks over to Uta, "... And why were you there anyways??"

The goblins are routed. The land is at peace. At least, for the moment. Proteus hits the ground in a crouch, straightening and she looks at the environment around her. "What a mess." She says to herself and sighs, before first going to Atif. "Hey." She says to the lizard. "You're going to be all right?" She asks. Once Atif has confirmed their situation, she looks around. "Anyone got healing around here?" She calls out, stepping over towards... Oh, huh.

She alters her path, walking over towards Xander and Uta. "Greetings. I'm glad you both seem to be all right." She says, nodding to the pair. Perhaps notably, there's no tone of accusation or sarcasm. Not even an unspoken 'I Told You So'. Her eyes turn to Uta, who is of course dressed for the season. "Mmm." She hums. "I didn't think you were so into the seasonal costumes. Do you dress up often?" She asks Uta.

Uta, her health bar not exactly in its greenest state, is currently busy casting some healing spells to shatter the arrows she's collected, and wincing at each exploding flash of polygons. She turns to answer while Xander while doing this, stammering an embarrassed "...I ...uh... wanted to try and see if it was possible to... er... communicate with the Goblins?"

    She leaves it at that.

    At Proteus's first, general question about healing, she hurries to raise her hand and answer, "I got healing! I'm a nurse by profession, and I have healing spells and potions."

    At Proteus's second and third questions, addresses specifically at her, she blushes a deeeeep red, and simply answers, "I... it's not about dressing up. It's /diplomatic attire/."

As the Goblins turn to flee, Kita can't help but let out an audible sign of relief. Her still trembling fingers get shoved into the pockets of her long jacket, neatly hiding the lingering effects of having the monsters that close at hand. She passes it off quickly enough, looking concerned towards Xander. "Be careful, take an arrow to the knee and your Adventuring days are over." Her lip quirks slightly.

Then, her stormy eyes look between the two 'troublemakers'. "So what exactly did you two do to piss off a horde of Goblins? I mean, I can imagine that they might have gone after Uta for the fact that she's adorable, but..." Kita raises a brow at Xander, "You aren't their usual type."

Of course, then she hears about Uta's attempts to communicate and groans, tilting her head back. One hand reaches up and pulls the lip of her witch hat down before being tucked away again. "Goblins are bad news. I wouldn't recommend trying to make nice with them, not unless you want to be killed, or worse." Or worse?

    At the end of it all, Atif is left standing a pace or so in front of Proteus. Weight leaned over slightly, shoulders heaving, arms hung down and body utterly riddled with arrows and signs of slashes from blades.

    In spite of all that, when Proteus asks after him, he straightens up and turns to give a thumb up and a warm smile. "All good." Nevermind that a quick inspection would probably reveal that his hp bar is at a rather *alarming* spot.

    He steps up closer to Xander and Uta, then, considering the latter while she speaks -- and consequently blushes for the comment on her outfit. Atif, for his part, gives a friendly smile on this and offers, entirely innocently, "I think it looks nice on you."

    But, going back to Proteus' earlier question of healing, he lifts up a hand, a bit of light flickering between his scaley fingers. "I can give healing to whoever needs it!"

    ...Shouldn't he be giving it to himself first?

    "You too huh?" Xander asks Uta raising a brow. "... Mine was imply offering them some cooked meat and coin. Trying to see if they would parlay." Xander grunts sighs softly where he sits. "Seems they will parlay. They take everything and give nothing in return!"

Xander then motions to Kita, "What she said. I had a feeling it was going to go south, but uh-- I don't know. I think by us both being there, even without knowing the other /was/ going to be there. I think we triggered Adventurer hunting season." The Salamander looks at Uta's outfit at last. "... Or they thought you were like some princess, I was your knight, and thus wanted to capture you for their King or something."

    After a little respite, Xander goes to stand up, wincing a little as he didn't fully heal himself; Just enough to not have his movement hindered. He looks over to Kita, "Good thing it is all digital and not lasting huh?" Though his brows do knit a little. "... Though that does make me wonder..."

Thankfully Atif pulls his attention away from that and points his index claw at the other Salamander, "Healer. Heal thy self before treating others." Then he lowers his hand.

"I don't think they're that smart." Kasai says, as he listens to Xander's explanation of what happened, "Most likely something triggered their aggro and somehow you dragged it all the way here...Their range might be a lot longer than it used to be."

He hmms faintly, "The leader got away though. As long as he's out there they may keep coming back. We should hunt him down while their numbers are lowered."

Proteus arches an eye. "A nurse! That's fortunate. When you can spare a moment, I would appreciate if you could tend to Atif. They helped protect me significantly during the battle." She looks back towards the Salamander and waves him over, and blinks at his offer of healing. "Physician, heal thyself." She offers to the Salamander, though she blinks as she looks over to Xander as he offers the same advice. "Well well." She says, with a little smirk, before looking back to Atif. "Seriously. If you die this is all pointless. What is with people and having no sense of self-preservation to the point of self-destruction?" She asks the air, and then looks back to Uta while shaking her head.

There is a little smile at the response involving the dress, and she tilts her head, the tail lashing back and forth like a cat staring at her next prey. "Goblins don't appreciate beauty. Whatever excuse you want to use is fine, though." She chuckles for a moment. "But it's all right. You survived, and that's all that matters, right?" She looks over Uta. "Maybe they were put off guard by your cuteness?" She offers, her tone only slightly teasing.

    The last arrow is exploded into smithereens with a grimace, so Xander can finally have his response. "To be fair... I was kind of fearing that a peace-offering-grab was on the books. So..."

    Uta flicks her menu open, and after tapping a few options, her fingers hover on the final selection for a moment. She gives Atif the kind of look one would theoretically give if faced with a puppy and being asked to kick it or else bad things would happen -- so, eventually forced to take a stand on the issue, she responds with a poilte, "...thanks!", and moves on. Her outfit shimmers back into her starting gi/nurse's outfit hybrid.

    "As I was saying, I was afraid the goblins would attempt to grab my offerings of a crate of healing potions..." She reaches into her gi, and pulls out a vial filled containing a clear liquid. "...so I had decided to withhold the last ingredient of the recipe from them until the transaction proved a complete success." She twirls the vial. "Without adding this, well, I'm not exactly /certain/ of the effect, but if I were to make an educated guess, I'd wager that our opponents are currently guzzling down some pretty powerful laxative." Her mouth pulls into a mischievous grin

    Uta replies to Proteus, "We all survived, yes. That is what matters."

    Following Proteus's suggestion, which gets a nod, she approaches Atif, raises one hand, and intones the same chant she had intoned before, causing her hand to glow, and one arrow stuck into Atif to become progressively and progressively more luminous, until shattering into one million triangles, before moving on to the next arrow. Despite her concentration, she seems still able to follow conversations, getting a confused look at the mention of 'aggro' and radius from Kasai, for instance. She looks around, and when her eyes settle on Kita again, her chanting stops abruptly. The glow on both her hand and the arrow she was working on fade away, and the nurse underges a complete color drain once the implication of the artist Imp's word sink in. She opens her mouth. Closes it. Open. Closes it. Gulps. "...wait, by saying that you meant..."

    "OK FOLKS, never trying to communicate with the Goblins again...". she whimpers.

"Probably." The gothic Imp shifts her weight slightly, her tail lashing once behind her. "Just might be a smart idea to maybe ask for some backup /before/ you wander into a monster den. Just a thought." That one brow remains raised, "You thought of this while on the Cactus juice, didn't you?" It seems to be the source of a lot of little problems these days.

"I imagine two of you being there probably didn't help matters." Her stormy eyes look over to Kasai, "Have at it. I've got no interest playing chase the goblin back to what will inevitably be some kind of trap." She smiles, showing fanged teeth. This leads her to nodding at Proteus' comment, "It's not exactly pleasant either, from what I've heard. So I'm hoping to avoid that experience as long as I can."

As for Uta's relization, Kita just shrugs. "I've heard rumors. I'm not exactly keen on finding out if they're true or not. Avoiding them unless you plan on stabbing a few seems like the smarter idea." With a glance at the two, she lightly bites at her lower lip, just over a scar there, "Maybe do some research? Find some monster type that doesn't try to murder Adventurers on sight? Or maybe bring in a Were Fang or something, since they look more like monsters, themselves."

    Atif is probably blissfully ignorant of what kind of line of thought went through Uta's mind with his compliment. He just keeps on smiling. ...However. He does blink his eyes rapidly from her explanation of her end of the... uh... negotiations. "... That's kind of terrifying..." He murmurs low, with a quiet cough.

    Proteus and Xander both get a long look and a slow blink, followed by a look down at himself. "...But everyone else is alright, then?" Thankfully, before he is given an answer and he has a chance to argue any further, Uta is alread on the case. He watches her reduce one of the arrows sticking off of him into pixels, and his lips purse briefly before they are pulled into a smile. "...Thank you." He does, at least, finally start channeling Light magic into himself, too, to speed up the process.

    "...So even if the mobs are starting to act more intelligent, I guess a lot of them still kind of... follow that orginal 'programming' of always being hostile?" Atif wrinkles his nose at this notion. "That's... kind of sad..."

    His head cants towards Kita at something very, very particular she said, however, and both his brows and his tail quirk upwards. "...'Cactus juice'?"

    To Proteus 'well well', Xander gives a gentle shrug. Seems they can at least agree on something; Maybe there is hope yet! Probably not, but who knows!

Xander looks over to at Kasai, "I would agree if not for the traps." He explains to him. "They didn't do traps before the expansion and I mean, these are actual, working traps. Also the way they are tactically setting up is different as well."

The dark scaled Salamander's tail twitches a little. "The Landers can be taught new things. The monsters, such as goblins and gnolls are learning techniques. If people keep under estimating them, such as you are doing right now.."

    Xander shakes his head softly, before moving his hands to rest on his hips. He listens to Uta a little before he says softly to her, "Pretty smart." When it comes down to the vial.

He then looks at Kita, "Uh. Actually," He places his hands together, "No." He says firmly followed by a nervous smile. "I had this idea awhile back once I realized they were not following their original behavior and even further when the two bosses on Floor One set up the trap for us."

Xander glances to the side. "Also the big guy in the bandit camp you met. You remember him right? Technically he is a monster." His fiery, gold eyes look over to Atif. "And I don't think all monsters are following that exact line. It's just hard to determine who is and--" Then cactus juice.

"Fuck no! Don't touch! Don't touch! Just-- stay-- away from it. Trust me on that. Please." Xander says with a look of fear in his eyes. "... the stuff is worse than death." He might be-- slightly exaggerating.

Proteus looks over at Kita appraisingly, and nods at that advice. "You sound like you have a good head on your shoulders." She says, approving of the effort Kita's going through. "Maybe we'll have to try working on some projects sometime." She smiles her own little sharklike smile as she looks away from the fellow Imp.

She waves to Atif nonchalantly. "Nothing I can't walk off, thanks to you, Atif. Don't worry about me. But you're right. The monsters are acting more intelligent. They've changed their aggro patterns and their patrols. They're doing things differently. They're /making/ things. Be careful. We might have to take more stern measures to contain them before they become a major threat like what happened elsewhere."

She ignores the talk of Cactus Juice, pretending that conversation simply isn't happening. For the sake of everyone present.

"I am not going to stroll into the camp unprepared." Kasai says, "But that being said, I do not think it's best to go alone, either. At least at the moment. Playing solo is a lot more dificult than it used to be."

An annoying feature of the expansion? Or a result of the apocalypse? Who can even be sure anymore. "If they're making equipment, the same as our smiths are, that's decidedly not good. It means that if we're not careful they could outpace us on technological advancements.."

Uta understands the question about thinking of this plan while on cactus juice as being directed at her. "...no, actually, I'm naturally like this."

    Atif's comment about her laxative stunt being terrifying gets a grin in response. "Hey, it's par for the course, isn't it?"

    And then back to Kita. "I mean, that can't be. This is a videogame... they almost certainly have /ratings/, right? And if not, well, I'm sure-"

    She looks around and listens to all the comments about things having changed, landers learning things, monsters getting smarter...

    "...except we can't think in those terms anymore..."

    "Cactus juice...", she murmurs to herself. "I'll have to look into that. Maybe it can be used for potions..."

"Just a few scrapes." Kita confirms, offering a more charming smile towards Atif, then giving the Salamander a wink. "Nothing a little TLC at home won't fix." Having a gaming partner who substitutes as a healer is helpful that way.

She gives a nod towards Proteus, "I try. If you need something, feel free to let me know. Usually I'm kept busy with the Lost Adventurer Network, but I can usually carve out some time for other projects." The Imp pulls a pencil out of her pocket, twirls it between her fingers, then tucks it behind one ear.

"Olympus Alliance has a workshop that's open to anyone. At least I think it is." Her tail curls around her ankle. "If you're worried about advancing technology, you could always see if they have anything you could help with there." She suggests to Kasai, then shrugs.

As for the infamous cactus juice, Kita just laughs. "There's a strange fellow who is selling all sorts of cactus related ingredients. The juice just seems to have... interesting effects." There is a knowing look cast at Xander. "I wouldn't suggest drinking it around anything too breakable." She pauses, then adds, "Or if you have issues with making a total arse of yourself, since that seems to be the general effect."

    "I... guess so?" Atif mumbles with an akward smile offered to Uta. Perhaps he figures it's in his best interest not to dwell on the subject of the trojan potion, and the fact that Uta of all people is the one responsible for it.

    Kita gets a confused look from the red-head. "What's... Tee El C-" Just before he finishes saying that, he freezes. Apparently understanding just hit in, because his face suddenly turns positively, absolutely *red*, and he looks instead to... that tree over there! Yes, that tree isvery interesting. So... green. "...Right, right."

    Xander's reaction to his question about cactus juice causes Atif to actually take a single step back with surprise, whole body stiffening up for a second or so before relaxing again. "U-...uh, okay...?" He rumbles out uncertainly. Kita's provided explanation on the matter draws his crimson brows knitting together in thought, then. "...Oh. So it's... like a really potent booze...? Or a drug...? I don't know, I never drank on the Outside so I don't know what it's like..."

    Xander listens to everyone, but he doesn't have much to say or add. Nor does he seem to be trying to justify /why/ he went alone, seeming to keep those matters and his thoughts on it to himself.

What he does say though is simple. "I need to get back to the tower to help with the town rebuilding." Before turning away from everyone and walking away, though he does look back to Uta, "And seriously. Stay. Away. From. The. Juice. I can not emphasize that enough-- but hey!" He places his hand in the air. "If you ignore me, your own funeral!" Xander's eyes drift over to Atif, "And seriously," Seeming to agree with Kita, "You don't want to turn into an ass like me."

He looks at the group once more before he says to them all, "But-- Thank you again. All of you." Before he looks away and walks back off.

Watching Atif turn bright red has Kita's smile spreading wider, followed by a soft laugh. "My god you're adorable." Yep, it doesn't seem to take much to fluster the red Salamander. She waits until his attention leaves that particularly interesting tree, then blows him a kiss, winks, and waggles her fingers in his direction.

As for Xander, he at least gets a smirk from her as she starts to walk back towards town, "At least it's a nice ass." She smirks, "He's right, though, try at your own risk." She tucks her hands back into her jacket, lightly shivers at the growing cold, and adds, "I'm heading back to town. Unfortunately I don't have enough MP left for another summoning spell, so I guess walking it is."

Raising a hand, she offers, "See you around."

    Uta scribbles down in parchment. "Note to self:

    One, stay away from the cactus juice.

    Two: try at your own risk.

    Three: get some cactus juice for experimenting how well it would work in potions."

    The parchment is rolled, and menu-shimmered away along with the quill and ink used to write on it.

"Uta, Uta, Uta...." It's no sooner that the Spriggan has said such things that a certain Nightmare Were Fang leans over the other side of her. "You do realize that Yuuki is not fighting the 'Game Mascot'. But someone that looks like her." Well at least she's being nice and not trying to break the illusion (it's impossible if it's gone on for 6 months as is).

Instead that is followed by her grabbing the back of Uta's nurse outfit-gi, picking her up due being both much taller and natural strength for her species, and carrying her down to the Square. Sets her down on the pavement. Even though she's probably still not quite going to get it. And walks over to the center of the Main Square being used for the arena. Doesn't bother with any boosting enchantments as her natural voice is easily enough to provide both volume and clarity. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Gather 'round for the main event of the weekend, the inaugeral match crowning the implimentation of the Duelist's League! Tournament Champion Duelist Yuuki vs the combiner of musical, medical and martial arts -- Uta!"

Yeah, -none- of that statement from Uta surprised Kauchemar by this point. She just rolls with it. Though after her first announcement Kauchemar steps back a bit, and leans towards Yuuki as she does and lowering her voice. "We want a good show to get interest in the League. Try not to curbstomp her... -Too- hard."

It's a good thing she backed up, because it's a bit of a surprise as Uta comes in swinging. Or casting may be more accurate.

"Would you look at that! Our underdog realizes (maybe) what she's gotten herself into, and goes straight for trying to keep her opponent from setting up at the start. Let's here some applause for how brave and questionably crazy she is for taking on the Champ!" Kauchemar at least does her job of getting the crowd worked up.

Kauchemar is here to have fun too! And make sure they build a good reputation to get the PvPers' attention. Both things she can do very well in this situation.

"And Yuuki takes the opening attack head on -- literally!" It's hard to not get excited when the Duelist is in action. "She takes the hit like, of course, a champ and immeadiately applies pressure to her foe -- air pressure! And you thought that sword was just for slicing and dicing!"

There it is. There's the realization. Kauchemar feels for the girl, but to say she wasn't a bit amused by the reaction would be lying.

An empty bottle is thrown. "Looks like she got so worked up she forgot what bottle contain--"
She's cut off mid-sentence by the rising pitch of the song. As a skilled musician and singer herself, Kauchemar abruptly makes a connection between the bottle and what was happening. Evident as she quickly pulls her shield off her back and holds it in front of herself just to be on the safe side.

As the bottle shatters. Turned into sharp glass shrapnel.

Kauchemar peaks around the shield floating in front of her. "--Well I see she's learned to improvise at least. Wonder how the Champ will handle this!" She may of been a bit thrown by the strange tactic but it doesn't slow her MC stride too much.

"And Yuuki sweeps aside shrapnel swifter than a swiffer!" With no stray fire coming her way Kauchemar steps back out, though the shield remains floating at her side. Just to be safe. This was an advantage of having a posessed weapon, she could still focus on other things like commentating. "Both the combatants are quick on their feet, but Yuuki is putting it to use to try and disorient her opponent before she finally goes in for a strike!" Disorient works. She'd say confuse but that's too easy with Uta.