Obsidian: Cave

The Eastal Free League has been suffering rather badly as of recent times, ever since the most recent Wave hit. The Hunters Guild has been remarkably busy. The City of Fort Ouph has practically been filling with Adventurers due to the forest to the West being in a bad state. And now, things are getting worse to the north.

But the quest that this group is on their way to, did not come from the Hunters Guild. That is, not directly. Instead, they were met by an Adventurer. A young woman with the looks of a typical Monk class - a black haired human. Her request was somewhat unorthodox.

The team may recall her explaining that there is a quest in this area they are approaching, which would always fail - she had specifically not triggered it since the Apocalypse; A sort of repeatable 'Kobayashi Maru', according to her. Yet her friends had ignored her wishes, and insisted on going there to help a small group of Landers out on an escort mission. She explained that she couldn't take any more attempts at that 'horrible quest', but that the team was a lot higher level. Her request was simple. Go make sure her party doesn't die, and extract them if things go bad.

This mission has brought the team here, in front of a rather bland looking cave, in the middle of the forest. Those who had fought the Rock Eater a while back might even feel a sense of Deja Vu - except the Cave Opening is smaller this time. Stepping in and using their magics and their torches, they will quickly notice that the halls themselves are very thin. At best, they can travel with two people side by side - unless someone really wanted to squeeze. This is making any kind of Evasion tactics a lot harder here. Luckily, they've got some people with them skilled in Shield artes.

In the distance, they can hear shouting and clanging of metal. Followed by a scream! Various torches lining the path towards where the sounds are coming from! What's worse, there is this terrible stench in the air. Not quite poison, but certainly not pleasant.

It seems that upon arriving, they are already on the clock!

    Merek had decided to come, even though he would not be in the best of ways after the fight with the plants. The man seems to be a bit distant, and he knows that Deja Vu, that feeling. Which means only one thing, that things will likely go sideways. The man sheaths the Shadow Eclipse along the back, while he adjusts the beltcape and takes a nice drink of the potion that he keeps on the belt. Defense Up, he offers that to anyone else that would like a potion. "What do we know about the Quest?" he asks the Monk while he nods.
    There's a nice little steel like badge which he wears, with an insignia.

After the previous situation with plants that stole clothing, Kotono and Miyako had taken the time to get their clothing repaired while enjoying some burgers together. After that, they took the time to take it easy until they heard that there was a request from the Hunters Guild to assist an Adventurer with a Quest. There were no other details, just that she needed help, and Kotono wasn't one to turn down a request for help.

Arriving alongside Miyako, Kotono twirls her blades a little and says, "All right, this looks like the spot." She smiles a little and looks to Miyako. "You ready for this?"

    "I'm getting 'I've done this before' vibes." Amalthea muses to herself at the sight of the cave. Nevertheless, the old Paladin offers to take to the fore of the group into to the tunnels, shield slung to her arm and sword already unsheathed.
    "Huh. Kobayashi Maru? Isn't that the test Kirk had to cheat on to pass?"
    Well that earns a frown. Especially the stench and when she hears the clash of steel and shouting further down the path. Definite frown.
    "-Everyone ready yourselves. We're coming up on a fight."

Goldenblade is generally a busybody for helping people out, always trying to get involved. So, following after Merek, who seems to get tied up in everything, she winds up following along to get to the site of the event. That leads her to the young adventurer woman and her request: to rescue her party, who're trapped in some sort of rescue quest crisis. She's not exactly clear on what, since her pop culture awareness doesn't encompass anything so recent as original series Star Trek.

But she nods as the woman explains about the horrible quest, and she can certainly try to help them. And perhaps with two parties, they can win through? Or at least extract the other players?

    So many things, so little time, however the request for help wasn't going to go unanswered. It was just who Setsuna was. So here he was , looking at another cave , probably filled with giant bugs, and as the explination is given his smile disappears. Looking at Amalthea he answers, " Yeah, its the one that was meant to show how you handled losing. Basically unending waves of ships until your ship blew up." Setsuna's geekdom is revealed as he answers the question a bit more. He raises his staff as the glow of magic begins to appear, answering Amalthea's call to arms.

Gwen has nevcer run into this quest but hwen an Adventurer call in for this? She will look to the monk she gets the ref.

"Bloody hell a Kobayshi Maru quest?"

Oh she knows what that means, somewhere someone is getting farked.

"The very one Amalthea."

Once they arrive? Gwen will switch to a shorter sword and has a Ka-bar knife on her belt, it's close fighting in a cave she muses.

"We're on the clock already people we need to move."

She notes at the sounds of battle.

"We're in a cave expect close quarters fighting." Gwen's already moving in taking point she may even be ahead of Amalthea.

Since the last wave in Eastal, Mikage has spent a lot of her time traveling between there and Ninetails on various missions for the Alliance. However, sometimes it is personal interest that drives things. This might not be a quest from the Hunters Guild, but it is a chance to check out a quest that she'd never had the chance to experience in the old version of Elder Tale Online.

Hanging back, Mikage had listened to the task at hand, keeping to her usual quiet. Whenever there were larger gatherings, she tended to sink into that silent state. Rama sticks close to her side, the white lynx obviously picking up on the young woman's anxiety.

It is also the lynx, who has a far more sensitive nose than she does, who smells the stench first. Miki just lifts a scarf up over her nose, even as Rama starts to paw at his nose a few ties. "Sounds like trouble already..." She draws out her sword, ready to follow the others into whatever awaits them below.

"If it's a matter of cheating to pass, then all we need to do is hope that another Enigma Fragment makes its appearance," Prophylaxis, the Doctor of Tolbana, is still in the vicinity of Eastal after his recent encounter with a certain pants-eating plant. He has of course replaced his pants since then, but his mood still seems to be somewhat more downcast than usual.

"Come on," he says, tightening a length of unremarkable cloth around his face as a mask. That scent is undeniably bad news. "If we move quick, we might still be able to pull them out. But..."

...What if this is all part of that uncompletable quest? What if the adventurers they're going to rescue are just... More gears turning in the supposedly impossible adventure?

    'Help people not die' is always a good reason to do things... and this time, it's her fellow Players, not NPCs! Well. The NPCs are important too -- sometimes they seem like real people, but sometimes they don't, and Mizuki still hasn't figured out what's going on there. And sure, adventurers respawn, but... noone wants to be out of commission for a day.

    An unwinnable quest? Mizuki was on this server so briefly before the apocalypse, she hadn't heard of it. There HAS to be a trick to it. But gamers had a year to figure it out, so maybe there really wasn't? Has it changed since the apocalypse? ...

    "Has anyone else attempted it since the Apocalypse? What happened to them?" Mizuki asks the monk before they set out to the cave. She nods as Amalthea remembers the reference.

    Once they reach it though, it seems time is already of the essence. "Tch... Refreshing breeze, breathe in clean air! Aero!" With the shield of air around herself, she charges in -- prioritizing speed over stealth, but trusting that the sound of battle will make it harder for the monsters to hear her approaching all the same.

Unbeatable quests, unwinnable battles, they're all par for the course as far as Haseo's concerned with this game. CC Corp absolutely blows with quality assurance. Though in this case, it might actually be tied to one of those glitch monsters rather than this person just being bad at the game. That said, there's no point in openly voicing that, especially since it's more likely that are in fact, just bad at the game. These glitched monsters didn't start showing up until after everything went to shit, after all.

With everyone giving advice you'd get from a newbie guild and asking dumb questions, and over all being sociable which is hella cringe, Haseo takes the time to unwrap the scarf around his arm, moving it up to his face to block out the smell as he pushes towards the source of the scream.

Miyako nods to Kotono with a grim little smile. "Yeah, I'm in. And hey, look," she says. "We have all the Mimi's." She pats Kotono on the back and follows along with the rest, keeping a sharp eye out for possible danger. And grumbling about missing out on the second round of burgers. "What do you think of this 'Kobayashi Maru' stuff?"

    And as usual she has a song in the background.

        ./~ We'll rant and we'll roar, like true yankee whalermen
        ./~ We'll rant and we'll roar, on deck and below
        ./~ Until we sight Bayhead off old Martha's Vineyard
        ./~ Then it's straight up the channel to New Bedford we'll go.

The screaming gets louder as they get closer and closer. There's a clang, as a sword gets embedded into the top of the rather low cave ceiling. A young warrior, looking like some young shonen protagonist - headband and all - gets his blade stuck as he attempts to bring his blade down on a Goblin. Followed by the goblin jumping at his head and stabbing him into the shoulder. There's a cry of pain - legitimate pain - as the boy grabs at his arm and stumbles back.

"Ah-ah-eh... ehmm... MINOR HEAL!!" A blonde priestess calls out in desperation, healing the young warrior. But the pain doesn't so easily disappear. "Firebol~!" The mage in the back calls out, as a pair of Goblins jump her and push her to the grab, starting to stab her with their blades. Those arriving may notice the red glow of damage radiating from her - her health quickly dipping down!

Another young looking monk in the party manages to kick a Goblin away from the young warrior, slowly backing up. "Onna Shinkan! What do we do?" He calls out at the Priestess. "I... I don't know! Why is my healing not working!?"

Bright lights from the party follow behind them. "I hear someone coming!" The monk calls out.

---

The team rushes forward, Mizuki's light and multiple people rushing forward making the shadows of the cave hard to follow. By the time they are halfway towards the people they are meant to rescue, there's a sudden shout in the back! Miyako, Prophylaxis, Setsuna and Kotono are under attack by four Goblins that seem to have come out of nowhere! As the group turns to make sense of what is going on, they spot an offshoot passage. But in turning around, another ambush seems to take place. Multiple crossbow shots coming from the front, as a series of smaller goblins take up position and fire directly at Gwen, Amalthea, and Merek.

Things turn to chaos quickly! Setsuna manages to dodge the first dagger swipe - dripping with green, and Kotono gets in the way of the strike intended for Miyako. But this means that Kotono and Prophylaxis are both struck by the daggers. And there is an immediate reaction. Those here, all of these Adventurers, have been pleasantly allowed to enjoy the protections of being an Adventurer. Of feeling but a modicum of pain when a strike comes in. But this... this is different.

In the front lines, Amalthea, Gwen and Merek are just distracted enough by the cries of pain that come from Kotono and Prophylaxis. Earnest, honest, full fledged sounds of pain. Perhaps it's more surprise than anything. But those daggers truly feel like daggers biting into their flesh! And the three front liners are soon met with the same treatment, as those Crossbow shots just barely get past their defenses. In Merek's case, just barely nicking his cheek - yet the pain is viscous and immediate!

And in the midst of the chaos, another man enters that cave. There's a sudden 'SHICK', followed by the sound of metal hitting stone, as a short sword embeds itself into the skull of the Goblin that'd been repelled by Setsuna. It doesn't even make a sound, as it detonates into typical light of a monster.

The man steps forward, his head covered in a silver-gray helmet. A broken red plume barely hanging off of its top. A white fur underarmor barely peeking out from his chestplate. His arms, his body armored in medium armor - enough to protect all the sensitive areas. Yet balanced against the need to be able to move. A buckler on his left arm, and he's holding a simple torch on the right as he approaches the other Goblins that just attacked the Adventurers' back lines. His pace is utterly calm.

"One."

BGM CHANGE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhkDYsJHLJQ

"I dunno too much about it, but I'm thinking we can look into it later over more burgers." She smiles a little as they advance, but the smile disappears as things suddenly take a change for the worse.

Goblins are attacking the group, and they are attacking fast!

Thinking quickly, Kotono steps into the path of the dagger intended to strike Miyako, yelping a little as the attack hits her and knocking her back a little. But she doesn't mind if it means protecting her friend.

For some reason, though, the pain feels real and hurts a lot. She drops to one knee, holding the wound on her arm where she was hit. She finds that she's bleeding too. "What? What's going on?" She wonders aloud as she tries to get back up without grimacing too much. "Something's definitely wrong here!"

Well, that's not a sensation that he'd have expected to feel in a place like this. All prior encounters have largely abstracted the damage that they experience, but this? This is real, visceral pain. The kind that cuts like a hot knife through the brain. Prophylaxis screams out of pain and surprise in equal measure, before reaching out with a hand burning with flame to grab hold of the creature responsible. Burning Hands was never quite so literal.

"Bleeding," he murmurs-- or more, observes, cold and calculating. Unusually so, for the Doctor of Tolbana. "Disinfect, close the wound," he mutters, pouring a vial of... /something/ over his gash. It stings like an absolute nightmare before, his hand still aflame, Prophylaxis presses a burning palm into the gash. The doctor screams as the wound on his side burns over with a brief flash of ethanol-blue flame. The scent of cooking man-flesh fills the air as his skin boils and sizzles, but when he draws his hand away, the wound is sealed... And burnt. Terribly burnt.

But he's upright, and turns his eye toward the strange man in the strange armor. "A Lander huh," the doctor mutters. "I don't suppose you've come here to slay goblins."

    Merek was not prepared for what was about to be the case, and even while he sees the bolt coming, he tries to draw his weapon. Then the bolt would sling across his cheek, splattering blood which is glowing red upon the cave. The man winces while he begins to shift the weapon forward, while he sees the man beginning to fight. "Impossible, unless restrictions on the neural gear was," the man looks to Goldenblade, and to everyone else, "The wounds are real! We need to save those people!" He then charges along while he tries to swing his blade into the goblins at the front where he tries to charge forward and in making the path onwards to Adventure.

    The goblin gave himself away being a bit to loud. Setsuna can relate, however that doesn't mean he gives the goblin the free hit. His staff glows with magic and spins as he parries and dodges at the same time as he gets an up front seat to the new lander has entered the scene. He inspects the rather imposing guy right in front of him wondering who he is. Man this dude was intense, like should come with his own theme song.
     The cries of pain snap him out of the what the hell moment into another as he looks around people crying in actual pain . He swings back around and assesses quickly before spotting the rescue group in the back. That was new, was it just the goblin weapon., or something else. There was time for that later as he spots the other party in the distance. "Spirit of stone , aid those before me. " The dirt and dust would rise around the other adventures and provide an extra level of protection, along there skin. "I'll protect them for the moment, someone needs to clear a path!"

There are moments where Mikage is /very/ thankful that she doesn't charge ahead in large groups like this. It means that by the time the light adjusts enough in the cave for her to get a better idea of what is going on, things have fallen into absolute chaos.

Rama slinks back closer to her at the sound, ears flattening back as he growls, trying to warn away the enemies. The sounds of pain and the shift of panic, the words that seem to suggest something is different don't quite hit home yet for her, since she has managed to avoid taking damage, thus far.

The Lander, however, gets a long look. "Yeah, that one looks like he can handle himself." Lander or not, the guy looks freaking intimidating.

Defense is not her strong suit, so she moves to try to support the others against the goblins. Seeing no clear path to a melee attack, she runs her palm along the flat of her sword, channeling ice magic into it. Then, she slams the weapon down into the rock beneath her, creating patches of ice beneath the nearest of the goblins, hopefully causing them to lose their footing.

    Mizuki charges ahead based on the logic that the adventurers would have cleared any monsters they ran into, and so now the cave would be empty up to them. Well, there might be some untriggred traps at worst. So she's astonished when attacks come from all around her at the rest of the rescue team -- she's only not targeted YET by luck, it would seem. "They were waiting to ambush a /rescue/ team?! Even for an unwinnable quest... why??" Things get more confusing as folks shout about the wounds being real. What does that mean?!

    At least there's one up side: Ranged attackers in side tunnels means there is a place where a group of enemies is that there aren't also allies. What is known as 'fireball formation'. So Mizuki answers those crossbow bolts with a fireball, spitting one down a tunnel to fill it with flame!

    For the moment she tries to stay towards the middle of the group. This rescue now demands even more cautious tactics than expected, and she is after all a squishy DPS when her buffs aren't up. What other tricks might the... goblins? Have up their sleeve?

    Also, another Lander apparently followed them in. "Who are you??" she shouts, over the chaos.

    An ambush. Of course it was an ambush, and Amalthea curses herself for handily walking clean into it.
    "What the HELL?" She says on hearing cries of genuine, honest, pain from the others. It's a fatal distraction as she fails to bring her shield up in time. A crossbow bolt embeds in a chink in her armor.
    "Hngh?!"
    The agony is astounding. It's not normal. It's definitely not normal as she staggers back and clutches her wound, biting her lip hard as her eyes glaze over briefly from the pain. It takes her a full few seconds to recover herself as she rips the bolt out of her wound and tosses it aside with a clatter.
    Then one badass of a Lander emerges. "Who is..." No, no time to wonder about that, she has to rally and she has to rally fast.
    In an instant her sword comes to life, glowing with a brilliant white light as she brings her shield to bear and raises her glowing blade. "Setsuna, keep those kids safe for now, we'll try to clear things up!"

    "... How short sweet life, but do not mourn, from ash to ash and dust to dust... Bury, Enlightened Strike!"

    Such is her declaration as she storms forth from the front line and starts laying into as many goblins as she can.

Goldenblade is caught in the middle in this frantic, close-quarters melee, too far from the front-line to help out, too far from the ambush on the back line to be a target as well. She has a number of daggers, herself, though, and she can hurl them from the middle of the pack, though it's tricky to line up shots. Easier, almost, to wait for a goblin to pop up close in, attempting a close attack on a party member, and ... THERE! She flicks her wrist, and a small projectile is hurled, striking the target. She continues to insinuate herself toward the ambushers, flicking coins with a flash of copper at high velocity and hitting them as they present themselves. When she gets close enough, she'll draw blades, but in the tight quarters, she'll be using a pair of daggers instead of the longer swords she normally uses. The Lander helping them is new to her, and confusing, but she understands about fighting attackers, and since he's fighting them also, that makes him an ally. Not much chance to work anything out past that right now. But she'll appreciate any help we can get.

Time is running out that much is clear as she takes a look at the path ahead nad she can see a blonde priestess someone else is using magic, so they are still alive, it's not too late Gwen thinks. She's got to move in short sword in hand as she moves in.

"A wipe is happening we need to move!"

She's moving in and then as she's distracted by the other party in pain. She has a crossbow bolt get past here defence she's used to getting hit, she's got good armour. Oh dear god, it hurts she's been hurt before, she's in pain. she'd been hit in training with her weapons on Earth it har hurt but nothing like this. She has been hit with a crossbow bolt it's sticking in her and it hurts she's paused for a moment.

A mix of pain and a WOT on her face it hurts, oh god it hurts...She even lets out a cry of pain a very real one. Shiruba and Amalthea have never heard a sound like that out of Gwen.

"Cover the other party support them!"

"Howling wings strip flesh from the bones of the wicked!"

Gwen will fall upon the goblins with a fair bit of effort. She rapidly strikes with air magic charged slashes and stabs.

    Goblin ambushes are all kinds of annoying. That's long been Miyako's opinion. ... Actually /all/ ambushes are annoying. "Fardling mcnuggets!" she yells as she spots the goblins, and her fingers fly as she prepares a spell, the glowing runes inscribed on the air before her.

    Problem: There's a dagger flying at her, and she's in mid-cast. Interrupting can be ... unpredictable. Solution: Kotono steps in to take the dagger for her. That's... well, she'd normally chide the girl for it later. After she's got the goblins dealt with (for which read 'dead and looted').

    And then Kotono goes down, crying out, and coherent thought takes a brief vacation. "DARK BALL!" she shouts as she hurls the blast of darkness towards the goblin crossbowmen...

    ...and without bothering to check her results, uncaring if it succeeds or not...

    "Ko-chan!" She throws herself to the ground at Kotono's side to help her.

There's no time to wait for an answer just yet. These tunnels are a maze, and given the behavior of the monsters thus far, it's only a matter of time before they're ambushed again. A sound, utterly negligible under the din of combat all around him, cuts through Prophylaxis' awareness and pulls his gaze over toward a series of side-tunnels surrounding them...

...And the goblins steadily making their way out of the darkness to fall upon them all.

"Suffocate and die," the Doctor of Tolbana grunts as he places a hand against the cave walls. Pillars of thick, solid stone blast /down/ out of the sub-tunnel ceilings. Though the summoned stone will soon fade, the damage to the structure may be severe enough to irreparably collapse their openings and cut the goblins off before they can emerge.

"I don't know how long that might hold them," he says, then. "But it's better than nothing. Keep an eye out, everyone. There are sure to be more tunnels."

"Lander, huh?"

Haseo speaks in a tone that makes it sound like he's ready to spit after saying that. Unfortunately he's wearing a scarf, so spitting is ill-advised.

"Well, whatever. You're welcome as another body. I'm sure somebody here is willing to patch you up if you scrape your knees or whatever"

Haseo pushes past the wounded front line, not bothering to slow down and breaks formation. They're old enough to take care of themselves, besides, he's not a party player anyway. First thing's first though, try to get some info out of the goblins.

The scarf on his face is quickly fastened back on to his left arm.

Though the cave is narrow and hard to traverse, luckily throwing a punch isn't too hard even in confined space like this. No, the hardest thing over all is GETTING to a goblin without getting shot at, but with the large amount of bodies and over all chaos, it isn't too hard for Haseo to use that to his advantage, eventually 'sneaking' up on one of the many goblins before throwing a right hook at its face.

It doesn't do much damage, he's not even spec'd for fist fighting, but the point is to daze as he follows up with his left hand, grabbing on to the pest's head.

"Come on, Skeith!"

Green panels form around the arm, piercing into the goblin's body as Haseo yanks away. As usual, the move doesn't do any damage, instead extracting from their body.

The armored and helmetted Lander answers Prophylaxis in an almost military manner; "I am here to slay Goblins." Which is all he will say on the matter as he stabs the buckler he's wielding into the head of one of the Goblins that gets too close, concaving its skull and slamming it to the ground, before grabbing a stone from his belt along with a sling - moving his torch to his other hand - and spinning it rapidly before sending it straight at a Goblin that was just about to jump Amalthea to make use of her momentary distraction by 'pain'. "Three." As he uses a moment of reprieve to grab the sword he'd thrown earlier.

The critters seem to be coming from various small passages, rushing towards the Adventurers and Landers. Merek tries to interpose himself before more reinforcements can reach the Lander and Adventurer group ahead. Their cries of pain continue to sound, not being silenced as Setsuna calls forth Stoneskin! Merek slashes two of the Goblins apart, while the rescuee-group stumble back to try and approach the rescue squad. "Quick, we had to retreat." The Priestess grabs the hand of the Mage and tries to pull her up, after the Fighter knocks the Goblins off of her. The Young Warrior manages to use the stoneskin to avoid another blow of the Goblins from actually piercing them, and starts retreating. But they have a bit to go.

Ice Magic rains down on another series of Goblins as Mikage starts supporting the party. Shards of ice ripping through their small ugly bodies, sending them to the ground and detonating them into that same light. A Fireball flies the other direction, over the heads of Gwen, Amalthea and Merek as a fireball impacts on the crossbow squad - nailing most of them! At Mizuki's demanding request, the Lander does not answer yet. He just keeps moving forward.

"I am going inside." He simply declares, trying to pass by the Adventurers. It doesn't look like he's specifically here to rescue the Lander and Adventurers. He's here for a very specific, very targetted, and very singular purpose.

A Goblin rushes out from a dark corner at Amalthea. But as her blade is enlightened, it comes down on its body, ripping it in half without as much as a squeek from it. Another one comes from the passageway, only for a loud 'ziiiiiiiiip' sound to fly past Amalthea's ear as one of Goldenblade's attacks rips right through its chest mid-jump. As it detonates into pieces, its dagger goes with it. And it doesn't seem to drop anything.

The Crossbow goblins attempt another try at lining up on Gwen, but she manages to close the distance in time with her air magic strikes - slashing its body apart! A Dark Ball fires from Miyako's position in a lobbing motion, just barely scorching the ceiling of the cave, then coming down and detonating on another's position!

The sudden quake that follows shakes the entire cave! Stalactites drop down on the Adventurers, threatening to cut into their bodies! Only those who've been hit by a Goblin Arrow or a Goblin Dagger seem to truly hurt so far however - and will certainly feel those stalactites far harder than others. The others are doing okay! They're still working with normal Adventurer pain resistance.

Not moments later, the ground shakes again, as a series of Goblins slam on the other side of Prophylaxis' magic barrier. Her can feel their strength. Something larger is on the other side. Something that really... REALLY wants to come in. As he is forced to strain, the Lander passes him and proceeds further forward. In that moment, he and some of the back liners may notice something hanging from his chest. Hunters Guild marks.

Silver.

At the same time, in the front, Haseo manages to Datadrain one of the Goblins. Luckily, this time it appears to be a rather minor enemy. There's no real backlash at all this time. Instead, as the Goblin's level is drained from... barely a bit above one, to one... he gets this image. A momentary flash. The image of a Goblin Shaman using some kind of warping 'object' in a green 'soup' that goblins put their daggers in. Its grin growing more and more menacing, until that flash of memory disappears.

The Lander and Adventurer party up front finally is coming their way, while the Goblin Slayer passes along the front lines. Those who Inspect him would note that his name in fact indicates: Goblin Slayer. They've almost rescued this group - as long as they can keep the defense up. But the question is... do they go with the mysterious Lander deeper into the Caves, or do they all Retreat?

    Merek sweeps along into the goblins while he takes a moment to lift up his sword while parrying away one of the strikes that come his way. He swings that weapon into one of them, while he shifts the flame from the blade to a hand, while swinging with the fist into another, while he begins to make a path along. He does look to the party, "I think we need to figure out why this quest is doing this, I'm following that guy."

    Mizuki was just about to say they should retreat when the Priestess gives voice to the same thought. She nods... but the Goblin Slayer is going in deeper? "Hey, uh, are you sure?" She follows him, not because it's a good idea but because you don't let someone go alone into something like this. But then she catches sight of the hunter's guild tag. Silver? That means he's way higher level than her, right? "Ah. I see. Well, if you're sure..." SHE's not sure, but if a silver-rank hunter thinks he can, it's on his head. She moves to protect the other adventurers, flinging kunai with supernatural precision at the goblins assaulting the Young Warrior. "Keep moving! Can she stand okay?" she nods towards the mage.

As the Goblin Slayer pushes is way through the group of Adventurers, Rama backs away from him as well, nearly tripping up Mikage as she tries to adjust her footing and raise up a shielding aura to protect herself from the nearby Goblins. "Rama, you're not helping!" She calls out, and the cat seems to finally realize the problem and takes a place behind her.

"What the hell is he doing..." Miki mutters to herself, but then is forced to deal with the more pressing problem of the goblins who remain nearby. Sometimes, the best defense is a good offense. Her sword, still struck into the ground, is yanked upwards, the glowing magic still lingering across the strange markings in the blade.

This time, she stabs into one of the nearby walls with another resounding crunch of stone on metal. Ice shards slip up through the stone, eventually clinging to rocks along the ceiling which freeze over and begin to fall down onto the Goblins around them.

Goldenblade boggles as Haseo breaks ranks, and she's got no clue what he's doing. It looks like it's important, she guesses, but she's got no idea what actually happened. The Lander that says he's here to slay goblins is more than welcome to that. She'll do some of that, too, using both daggers to slash at the little pests in the close-quarters fight. This is worse than trying to brick up a chimney from the inside! Blades flash, goblins drop. At least they're not tough, but there's so many of them, they're a threat through sheer numbers.

And when Goblin Slayer moves deeper, well, it looks like we're /his/ backup. But as a silver-ranked adventurer, that makes sense. She only just made Steel rank. She had no idea that there were so many more advanced Hunters around, but if this guy's a Lander, they could have just made him however they wanted, right? Her daggers slam into the goblins, the momentum of her attacks throwing them back even as the blades cut through them, and she'll keep pace behind him. Wherever he's going, it must be pretty important. This is our quest, isn't it? Is she following the right group?

    Setsuna continues to walk forward and continues to use his staff to protect him as he moves towards the group. "As the earth fades I summon the wind to create a wall, shield them from harm." A wall of air appearing in front of the party they were sent into rescue. " Hey you guys, " he yells at the adventures needing help, "If you can move you need to help those who can't. Get out of here." Seeing the others moving forward he shrugs, " Looks like we are taking over clearing the cave anyways." Looking at the group moving forward Setsuna follows, still taking a mid to back position.

    Pain is serious business.
    Especially when it -breaks the Laws of Alba somehow-. Sensing yet another odd feeling of discomfort beside the astounding feeling of discomfort as Haseo Data Drains a goblin, the old Jedi can only blink in mild disbelief as a goblin about to capitalize on her moment of being stunned gets torched for its efforts.
    "... Thanks." That's to the Goblin Slayer as she casually hacks that goblin in twain with her lightsaber-- I mean sword.
    But with the younger adventurers protected she focuses on offense for the time being. "Get them out of here."
    Bracing her shield, she scuffs the ground with her boot once and snorts.
    "Alright you little green bastards, all aboard the pain train." Muttered as she charges. Using her shield to bash, smash, crush, and batter aside any goblins in her way as she intends to follow the goblin murdering lander in deeper.

Kotono's defensive skills are put to the test, but she somehow manages to fend them off. Despite her being a bit on the tired side after that and still hurting a little, Kotono's not backing down. She looks to Miyako and says, "I'll be OK, don't worry." She twirls her blades and says, "Let's teach these goblins a thing or two!"

Silver? He's a silver adventurer...?

Prophylaxis' eyes widen at the sight of the glittering talisman dangling from the Lander's neck. "Is that... Really? Fascinating, but--"

A flash of green light sends digital geometry dancing around one of the goblins. Again, Prophylaxis' head whiplashes to stare agog at that edgy-looking assassin with the white hair. "That... How did you do that? That skill you used, what was it? I've seen it before, but--"

That was an Enigma piece. This definitely was not.

Today... Today just keeps getting stranger and stranger and stranger.

"We're getting to the bottom of this," he mutters-- then winces as something batters into his barricade. A shock of pain races through his brain as /whatever/ is behind that barrier continues to batter at his defenses. It's only a matter of time before it succeeds, but...

"Goblin Slayer, is it...?" The doctor says, glancing over at the Lander. "There's something big behind my barrier, and I can't hold it for long. So I'm going to drop the wall half-way on the count of two and hit it with a spell. On three I drop it completely. Can you take care of it?"

Ordinarily, that spell would be 'a fireball,' but given the circumstances and his present mood, Prophylaxis is not feeling particularly like being reckless. "One," he intones, sweat beading on his brow. "Two--"

The rock wall cracks and crumbles. The moment line of sight is established, he gestures with his off-hand, a cold blue light emanating both from his palm and from around his neck as yet more pain pulses through his nerves. A wave of painful chill washes into the creature behind the wall, before...

"Three!"

The stone crumbles completely, letting the goblins through-- and letting the Goblin Slayer at them...!

Gwen says "We need to extract the party and get the hell out of here."

Gwen notes as the fighting keeps going it's pretty damn hard and the lander? The one here to Slay Goblins? He's fighting with as much fury and skill as an 'Adventurer' Who was this man? This quest was supposed to be unbeatable and she suspected the Landers were not supposed to make it. To hell with that, utterly to hell with that. Those were not cries of pain some 'npc' would make.

She then senses something as she sees Haseo do his thing she has no idea what's going on but again she feels a disturbance in the forces.

"Breaking a law of Alba..."

She mutters then she calls out to the Priestess.

"Get your party out of here!"

She doesn't even pause as she down one o the Goblins preventing it from going in deeper. She's going to go deeper.

"This nest needs to be destroyed."

Gwen keeps going sonic leaping for another Goblin intending to cut them down and keep going deeper. She's not about to leave the Goblin Slayer alone. She also notes that the Party they came for is making a retreat and has good cover, good! She also is going to have many questions for Haseo. That is for later however...

    Miyako nods and helps Kotono get back to her feet. "Right then," she says. "Time to take out the garbage."

    A swipe of her hand across the menu produces her familiar naginata, and she gives the polearm a twirl before following Kotono down the tunnel after the goblins and the Goblin Slayer. "Something is /awfully/ wrong about all this," she mutters to the other spriggan. "I vote we kill them all until someone tells us what it was."

    And down the tunnel they go, with Miyako supporting her friend from behind, using the polearm's reach to stab past Kotono and carve wounds into the goblins foolish enough to engage her.

Mission accomplished. Information obtained. It's not much, but it seems their Shaman is the reason for their weird status affliction abilities. So it's either take them out, or try to get the information from them on how the hell they made such a thing in the first place, since Haseo sincerely doubts they came up with this recipe on their own.

"Alright. Can't convince you to wait to kill the shaman that's probably up ahead, but if you're gonna do that at least leave the room in one piece? Gotta find out how they're making this poison crap so we can stop it."

Leaving the Lander to do his Lander business is probably for the best. The guy's one minded focus is something he actually empathizes with anyway, though it's not like he's going to openly admit it.

In the meantime, Haseo decides to actually provide some DPS by running up towards another goblin, stumbling and fumbling over the cramped terrain and bodies as he pulls out his greatsword. A weapon that's actually factually extremely awful to use in confined spaces, and sure, Haseo could just thrust with it awkwardly...

But terrain is in fact, extremely fake if you just channel your inner gorilla and muscle through it. The imp grits his teeth as he swings the massive weapon over head, the blade loudly scraping across the ceiling, walls, and everything that could and does prove a hindrance as he aims to smash the goblin in half.

It almost seems that, with the Ambush's initial shock over, that the Adventurers are handling the situation a lot better. Stalactites coming down - being shielded away with ease - and Goblins rushing to their deaths, it almost feels like they are just clearing up for a moment. Yet, through all the softer talks and callouts, one voice remains firm;

"Four." As his blade swings in a short and efficient sweep, as a Goblin attempts to ambush him from the side. It almost seems like that helmet should be stopping him from even seeing at that angle! Yet, the blade cut moves with a fine-honed hew and reaches its target.

Merek follows him in his footsteps as they come upon the Rescuees - who are finally making it properly around the half-bend and approach the crew. "Follow these Adventurers out." He declares to them, while looking at them, before turning towards the Priestess, who is staring at him. "How much Mana do you have remaining?" He demands to know.

The young looking woman lets out a startled, "A-about a fifth."

"Are you willing to keep going?"

"I..." She looks at him, then at the Adventurers following what seems like 'in his wake'. "Yes."

"Two of my party members were taken down. But the two Landers are still safe at least." She lets out a relieved sound at this realization. The Priestess adds.

"Good." Goblin Slayer is very short in his answers as he passes her by. The Priestess hefting her staff and quickly moving with the rest of the team - while the other Rescuees continue to be protected by Setsuna's spells. The wall of air halting two crossbow bolts coming their way. There's a few fellow Adventurers near the back of the cave who receive the other two of the party. Mizuki amongst them - keeping any surprise goblins off of them. Daggers raining into two of them as they wriggle out from the underside of Prophylaxis' stone wall; the structure beginning to break down. Goldenblade moves into position shortly there-after to cut down a hand that reaches through, trying to grab at the Adventurers.

Amalthea moves past the Goblin Slayer - as he's listening to Prophylaxis - at this point and cuts down two more Goblins on approach in one fell sweep, before she hears the Goblin Slayer speak once more. "This is what you Adventurers would refer to as a Monster Nest. You must cut off the head of the snake." Kotono follows, keeping the rear along with Miyako, slamming her daggers into another set of goblins. Miyako following these blows up with her spear - holding off more of them and continueing to protect the fleeing Landers.

The Goblin Slayer himself turns and slowly approaches and grabs a stick from the ground, and then takes out a small flask. He begins to soak the top of it in some kind of oil, and then lights it on fire. "It is no problem. As long as it is a Goblin." He answers...

Right as the stone breaks, and the barrier comes down. A chill moves right over the body of a larger Hobgoblin, its fist freezing in place right as the Goblin Slayer throws that oiled flaming stick right at its eyes. The searing hot oil splashing into its face. Partially frozen, it can barely even grab for its eyes.

And by the time it has managed to do so in its half-frozen state, the Goblin Slayer is standing right in front of it, and eyes his blade to stab it righ in the throat, cutting off its airway... and then completes the cut, slashing off its head. The thing falls down, and shatters. But not before the Goblin Slayer grabs a piece of rag from its tattered clothing, and uses it to clean his sword, and looks back to Prophylaxis.

"There will be more coming. If you have more of that stone magic, I would ask that you place barriers as we continue to travel."

That said, he proceeds on forward, using his torch to light the way. "This way. Their ambushes will get worse before we get to the center of this."

At this point, Gwen's sonic leap reaches a goblin once more, cutting them down just in time to avoid it from firing its crossbow at the red plumed Lander. Haseo joins Gwen not a second later, ripping a few more of them apart. This opens the way deeper into the cave. Slowly descending down...

The party continues a fighting attack forward, until finally, they reach a door. "Those of you who have Electrical Fuzz, use it the moment this door is opened." He requests, before nodding to Amalthea and Gwen. He lets the tanks open the door...

Revealing a rounded chamber with a Goblin Shaman standing there next to that green pot that Haseo had seen. Flanking him are two enormous Hob Goblins... wearing light armor and holding short swords.

"Someone has allowed these Goblins to learn from them." The Goblin Slayer mutters behind the Tanks, before rushing in with the rest of the team and using his stone swing to throw a fierce throw at the nearest Hob Goblin. "Do not allow the Goblin Shaman to cast any spells." He directs the group. Right as the Hob Goblins come in on those entering through the door and with some remarkable skill, swing their blades at those entering.

Notably, there is something behind the Goblin Shaman. A red pulsing crystal - which, at the top of its shine... suddenly seems to produce a single Goblin right next to the Cauldron. It lets out an angered cry, holding a dagger. The Goblin Shaman says something in Goblinoid language - resulting in the small Goblin to dip its dagger into the 'soup', and rushing straight for the front lines!

It had only been luck and good positioning that had protected Mikage from getting hurt thus far, but it seems that luck has run out as they delve further into the depth of the monster nest. Her hand motions Rama to her side, and that is just enough distraction to allow one of those tainted daggers to find the back of her calf. Rama is quick to respond by lunging at the Goblin's throat, but it is too late for Miki, who drops to one knee, pulling the dagger free and shaking from the pain of it.

In the real world, she had never felt anything like this. It causes her to break out in a sweat, her pulse pounding in her ear. Rama is quick to come to her side, nuzzling up against her chin, but she offers him no words of support.

"Need to... keep going. We'll deal with this... later." She pulls the scarf off of her mouth that she'd been using to block out the stench and instead, ties it around her leg, which might stop some of the bleeding, but it makes the pain worse. Hand on her sword, she pushes herself up, limping forward.

She isn't fast, but what Mikage can do, is utilize her natural ranged gifts. Leaning heavily on the sword, she forms her hands into a claw shape then swipes them through the air. Where her fingers moved, a glowing after image of claw-marks appears, forming into four blades of wind and water magic which lash out forward, aiming for the nearest of the hobgoblins.

    Amalthea only briefly passes The Slayer. And when she does she makes not to slow down, as to not get too far ahead of the -obviously veteran- Silver ranked Hunter, Lander or not.
    Though she arches a brow, she can't help but smile faintly at the Priestess' bravery in willing to continue and come further into the cave while the rest of her party evacuates.
    "Mm. Just stay behind us and we'll do the heavy lifting and keep you safe, girl."
    So moving forward, when they reach the door, and she gets the signal... Amalthea's boot slams the door wide open.
    No words here as she storms into the room.
    And spreads her arms at the nearest hobgoblin, to assert her dominance.
    Before she flips her sword in her grasp, taking ahold of the weapon by the blade to start laying into the beast with the blunt end of her sword's pommel and crossgaurd like a battering hammer.

    They must cut off the head of the snake. Mizuki nods as everyone gets together in one group, with barriers and tanks on the outside to keep them protected. She tries to conserve MP as they fight their way to the boss room, throwing kunai or darting in to provide aid anywhere the tanks are struggling.

    And then they're at the door. Mizuki crouches, ready to pounce. She lets the spells fling in first then tries to pounce the shaman, plunging daggers into him and raking her hindclaws across his body. "CONCENTRATION CHECK!" It's very satisfying!

    But behind him she sees... "A goblin generator? Since when is that how goblins work?!"

Painful as it might be, Kotono attempts to focus mainly on the goblin shaman, trying to show it just what happens when you mess with the wrong girl with a pair of blades. "Yeah! Comin' at ya!" She yells as she twirls around with her blades in her hands.

    Merek looks then to Haseo and seems to think about it for a moment, then he tries to draw away one of the Hobgoblins, while he speaks, "Alright, if you think it best! Can't you do what you were doing before to it?" he asks. Then he watches while the Priestess begins to use magic, charging in to take on the shaman, only to take a strike from the sword along the side and front, splattering that glowing blood upon the floor. He winces while he lifts up a hand, "Firebolt!" That swings along into the shaman, while he tries to keep fighting. "I'm not leaving you all at this point, guys."

Goldenblade is wildly grateful for more room to move around in, she's a mobility-type, and she dodges aside from the initial attacks, surging forward, hurling herself into the fray and slashing at the hobgoblins, seeing as how the shaman seems to be fully engaged. She's still using the daggers, the blades cutting deep into hobgoblin flesh as she makes this a wickedly close-quarters fight, evading their short swords as she cuts into them.

    As they all rush in Setuna casts a buff to raise his speed, the moment they enter he dashes to the side of the room avoiding the sharp objects trying to make him bleed. There would be no blood on him. As he comes to a stop he looks at one of the hobgoblin and begins to cast, " Dirt and stone, rock and gravel, form and match my movement. " The summoner punches the ground and up infront of the hobgoblin rises out a pillar shaped into a stone fist trying to clobber the hobgoblin in the jaw.

    Miyako follows along behind Kotono, keeping the other goblins off her friend's back with pinpoint jabs of her naginata's blade. "Kill the damn thing so we can all go home, Ko-chan!" she yells as she picks up one goblin on the tip of her blade and hurls it across the chamber to smash against the wall and de-rezz.

    "Look out!" she calls suddenly as one gets close while she's thus distracted. "Get away from her!" she orders the goblin, and it's quite happy to focus on her instead. Feeling the blade sink into her flesh with real pain is as much a shock to her as it was to the others, and she cries out sharply as she jerks back from it, stumbling and going down to one knee. "Look out, Ko-chan!"

The good news is the Landers are on the way out save for Goblin Slayer though she'll run a quick inspect on Priestess for a moment as she moves on the plan seems to be working out pretty good at this point. Goblin Slayer has a plan it seems and Gwen is going to help take them down.

"We can't leave it here to fester, more will gather or be born here. Then we'll have to deal with this nightmare. We need to scourge all of it."

Gwen nods to Goblin Slayer.

"It's what I do, Amalthea lets hit it."

She'll bust down the door as she does so and will be one of the first to charge at the Goblin Shaman to try and hack into him.

"He's going for poison! Someone Inspect the crystal!"

With that she's upon the Goblin trying to do her damnest to put an end to them.

"HASEO DO whatever you need to do fast!"

Combination attack successful, Prophylaxis steps over the disappearing pile of hobgoblin pixels and grimaces. "A monster nest... There's been a significant uptick in the number of goblins in the area. We recently rooted out and destroyed a cult of goblins led by a shaman that were corrupting the forests to the west of Fort Ouph. If this is a Monster Nest, then is this the source of the infestation...?"

Taking orders from a Lander may be distasteful to some adventurers, but considering this man appears to be called Goblin Slayer and they're actively slaying Goblins, Prophylaxis is more than willing to toss up a stone barrier wherever he can to block off all the side-passages he's able to see. Between constructing barriers and deterring occasional goblin ambushes that slip by, Prophylaxis' MP bar is beginning to dwindle to dangerous levels. "...We'll need to get through this soon. I'm holding back enough to cast a couple of big spells if we need to but--"

The chamber. That /cauldron./ That //crystal.// Prophylaxis' jaw tightens as he sees the goblin pop into existence at the shaman's side. A tide of goblins sluice towards them-- and crash into a point-blank wall of flame surrounding the Magus. "Damn," he hisses, hurling an Electrical Fuzz spell of his own at the shaman-- but you can't /double/-blind something, and the Priestess is faster on the draw. "This is the heart of it, then? What the hell is that red crystal!?"

"What is it I did? Said it before last time someone asked, but I'm gonna say it again because I can't keep track of every idiot I tell. Like hell I'm gonna tell ya."

Haseo scoffs at the question of what it is he's doing, if only because he has enough brain cells to not openly admit he's not breaking video game laws with people that probably take offense to their favorite game being violated.

Still, it seems the Goblin Slayer hasn't fully killed the Shaman yet, so now's as good a time at any to get the information he's after. Where the hell they got this voodoo poison crap.

Like with every approach before, Haseo just kind of beelines his way towards the Goblin Shaman, left arm stretched as panels once again appear around it to create a claw-like shape.

"TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON, YOU BASTARD!"

Haseo slams his glitched arm into the goblin like some sort of barbarian, pointed fingers digging in as he viciously attempts to extract /SOMETHING/ from them.

Mikage takes up the rear of the team, but that doesn't make her any less dangerous. The Champion of the first Adventurer Colloseum league rends her claws through the air - and the shearing wind follows, slicing into one of the Hob Goblins' chests, halting its downwards strike just before it can lay into Merek once again. Amalthea then steps further into the chambers and brings her pommel down on its head - slamming and cracking it - causing the Hobgoblin to go down to one knee, bleeding from its head, but not truly down yet!

Mizuki enters the room and tries to plunge her daggers into the Shaman. But it brings out its hand and its staff, and a wall of stone blocks the strike! Shards of the stone do ripple across the Shaman's body though, halting its cast momentarily. Kotono comes in right from behind in that moment, but is intercepted as another Goblin appears to be 'produced' from that Crystal, and is cut in half before it even gets to do anything!

"I do not know if it is a generator. There are those from the Tower of Mages who say it's more like a Teleporter." Goblin Slayer answers as he stabs his blade into the head of the smaller Goblin that was produced earlier. "But in general, we call such crystals the Heart of the Monster Nest. This one is relatively shallow. So it's probably not the only one in this region."

The Priestess' Fuzz spell rushes over the Shaman, blinding it and making it harder for it to target. At the same time, Merek comes forward and brings his blade down - cutting into the Shaman's arm. It lets out a pained and annoyed sound, before a black wave of energy slams into Merek's chest, pulsing for a few moments, and then sending him straight into an nearby wall.

Goldenblade stops the other Hobgoblin from reaching Merek and making use of that moment. Her blades quickly cutting along its belly, creating a viscious scar of light! It reaches down towards her, only to get upper-cut slammed by the stone pillar launched by Setsuna! Gwen ducks right between the pillar and the Hob Goblin and makes for the Shaman, bringing down her blade and is met by another one of those 'dark balls' that hangs in the air, halting her strike for a moment, and then sending her off similarly to Merek. Still, part of her thrusting strike lodges the Shaman back!

"No, that infestation is nowhere near this. If there is a Monster Nest there, it is in that region." Goblin Slayer corrects Prophylaxis. Always glad to help giving information about Goblins. "But if you are dealing with multiple Shamans, there is something far more dangerous behind it." He reminds Prophylaxis.

This is when Haseo steps in and tries to Data Drain the Shaman! The wave of his Datadrain hits the Shaman, grabbing at it. Tugging, lifting it for a moment as it makes angry noises. But its Level is not dropping. Instead, Haseo gets another vision. Just for a moment, but it's there. The image of a great turmoil in the air. The sky split open - darkness at its midst, and tornado-like waves of golden-brown clouds surrounding it for as far as the eye can see. The entire sky filled. A booming voice blasting in his ears, echoing as it demands it - the Goblin Shaman - follows the will of its ally! Then, for a moment, a singular image. That of a Hound.

Right before the Data Drain breaks off. And the Shaman is released. It's not so weak that Haseo could level it down, but it seems he still stole something from it! This maneuver does leave Haseo feeling exhausted for a moment, and he feels like his gauntlet is reaching its limit for the day.

At this point, the Shaman begins attempting to cast something. It stands above the Cauldron, and a green PULSE suddenly sweeps through. It's not the act of the spell yet, just an effect of the cauldron it seems. It ripples through everyone, but doesn't appear to do anything to those present. The Shaman doesn't seem to care though, as it raises its hand - and green arcane magic begins to rise from the cauldron into its hands, preparing some kind of large area of effect spell.

While it does so, the Hob Goblins retreat, while a trio of Goblins wielding Crossbows appear from the red crystal, and start firing at the crew from the back lines - the Hobgoblins serving as interference - refusing to let anyone get to the Goblin Shaman! Truly, a wall to get in the way.

"Priestess, focus on healing." Goblin Slayer calls out as he approaches one of the Hob Goblins from the left - calling for Merek to come attack the one on the right. "Focus the Hobgoblins first, then take out the Shaman before it can complete its spell."

    Merek looks up from the wall while he takes a moment to consider all the goblins, then he's standing up while he follows along to the Goblin Slayer, watching Haseo. "You alright? We need to clean up the hobgoblins first!" Then he comes up from the side to sweep along into the one on the right while the goblin slayer takes the one on the left, double striking while he nods, "These nests aren't a joke. Thank you for the assistance," he notes, while he draws a shield of light to protect him up. "Goldenblade, you alright?" he asks his partner in Adventuring. Well she followed him into this mess, the man needs to make sure that she's alright.

It looks like things are coming down to the wire, and Goldenblade is fighting fiercely. When the hobgoblin's attack comes close, she zips out of the way so fast, she leaves a trail of flame. Merek's question draws a grunt, and a reply of, "Hanging tough so far." She's geographically challenged, sure, but once the fight starts, she seems to know just where she ought to be. In this case, it's behind a hobgoblin, removing its kidneys with her knives. That evasive speed is uncanny, leaving the hobgoblins open to her attacks from unexpected angles.

Kotono braces herself for impact, but then she finds that Miyako has taken the attack for her. "You didn't have to do that!" Kotono says before looking at the shaman. "And as for you, I'm gonna teach you to mess with my friends!" She rushes at the shaman and attempts to stab it, but ends up missing completely. "No!"

    Setsuna always wanted to be an adventurer, until he took a crossbow bolt to , well anywhere on his body. Even the one in his shoulder he cries out as he drops his staff and grabs his shoulder. He makes some sound which sounds like pain and cursing mixed into something that is hard to really make out. It hurt. " Kill the dirty hob?" he trails off in pain, or maybe the pain censors him with more pain.
     Grabbing the staff with his left hand he stands up trying to not move his right arm much. Channeling magic into the air he glares at the hobgoblin in front of him. "Rain lightning." Obviously pain takes the fun out of things so no magical words, no chants. Instead dark clouds form over Setsuna's staff as lightning strikes down on the Hobgoblin one after another after another. If the hobgoblin twitches anymore might even add one more for good measure.

When the arrows start flying, there isn't much that Mikage can do to avoid them, with one leg barely holding her weight. An arrow slams into her shoulder, nearly knocking her off balance as she stumbles backwards. If this were any other fight, the pain wouldn't be clouding her vision and threatening to close it in around the edges.

There isn't even a thought of escape, not this far down into a monster nest. Instead, her eyes begin to faintly glow. It is a tell tale sign of a Were Fang self-defense mechanism. The urge to shift in order to protect herself. Yet, gritting her teeth, Miki pushes through it, grabbing onto the arrow and pulling it out of her shoulder with a whimper of pain.

Rama's ears flatten back even as Miki reaches for the bow on her back, knowing that with these injuries, firing it is going to hurt like hell. "Stay behind me, Rama. If I fall, find Cyrus." Pushing herself through that pain, she channels light magic into the arrow as she draws it back, then fires a shot which flies just past one of the crossbow goblins, the impact aimed at the Shaman.

    Though she may have scored a good hit in on the initial hobgoblin, Amalthea does not fare so well when another blow catches her unsuspecting, before she can get her guard back up.
    Stunned, dazed by the pain, the old Paladin staggers backwards, gritting her teeth as she...
    Plants her hand on the nearest wall and decides to take a breather.
    This means she's out of the fight, right? It would seem that way as she struggles to catch her breath, vision a haze of red as her HP sinks precipitously as the others do their damnedest against the goblins.
    "Ah... Ah hell..." She rasps out, vision blurred as she plucks her sword up from where she had dropped it...
    And HURLS her blade, end over end for the goblin shaman.

    Mizuki smacks into the wall. It's really looking like shouting CONCENTRATION CHECK when attacking a mage is just never a good idea.

    Well, this 'Goblin Slayer' NPC certainly seems to be knowledgeable, which is fitting enough. It seems odd though... this isn't just an exposition NPC, he's a competent, even powerful, warrior as well.

    As Mizuki recovers and steps around the wall to fight, Haseo freaking Data Drains the Shaman. It's the same thing Kite tried to do! Someone else has it too? What's going on?? "What was THAT?" But then, the goblins are attacking. The Hobgoblins have a row of crossbowmen ready. "Oh shit. Well two can play at that game..." she quickly does a series of handsigns and stone armor covers her body, the bolts unable to penetrate it. And now... well, they're at the boss. Time to put the MP she's been saving to good use! She takes a deep breath and then spits another fireball into the group of Hobgoblins!

The scarf has a limit? Or at least he feels like it. Haseo has his suspicions, but he's not willing to push it further. If it actually does break, he doesn't even know where to begin with finding a place to repair it.

Everyone is talking. Haseo continues not to listen because teamwork and friendship is actually and factually a hindrance. He just sort of melds into the shadows, his greatsword replaced with a scythe as he does so.

"Edge of Shadow!"

He reappears behind the Shaman in a flash, thrusting the point of the scythe into the goblin's backside as he pulls the weapon up and through them as brutally as possible.

    Miyako watches as Kotono engages the shaman, while she carves up hobgoblins that try to get at her friend's back. She is /quite/ determined to allow none through. "Come on you fargling rock turds! Are you ready to die?" she shouts, beckoning the creatures closer. She easily cuts down a pair, but then sees one snaking past her to get at Kotono's back.

    "Oh no you don't," she growls as she rushes towards the goblin. "NOBODY touches Ko-chan and lives!" She throws herself in the path, her back to Kotono's, and even as the goblin's blade cuts into her she slices its head off with her naginata.

    She slumps as the creature derezzes, polearm clattering to the cavern floor, and ... there are still more of the little bastards coming. Can't have /that/.

    Grimacing with pain, she lifts a shaking hand to carve her runes into the air and work her magic. Hoping it'll be enough to kill /every/ goblin left. She bites her lip to keep from crying out again from the pain, even as she draws the last of the runes. "Die," she orders the goblins. "ICE RAIN!"

    As the spell does its work, she finishes slumping to the ground, looking up at the shocked Kotono with a pained little smile. "Yeah, I did have to, Ko-chan..."

The fight isn't over yet there are some hobs left to deal with to get to the Shaman as he's mange to slip lose. H aso is being pretty glitchy for lack of a better term. The Hobs are asailed by others in the party, it's going pretty well as Haseo now does something else to the Shaman. However in evadin the latest of attacks Gwen loses hold of her short sword which goes skittering away from her hand. She doesn't try to recover it, she pulls the Ka-bar knife that Kaydon made for her. She's soon breaking into a run after the Shamen to drive the knife righyt into the Gobin, if she hits she'll twist the blade then pull up with it.

"Wow," Prophylaxis deadpans at the edgiest edgelord to ever edge. "You're a real friendly guy, aren't you?" He's pretty sure he's met MRI machines with better bedside manner than this weirdo. And here he thought Haseo was the type to monologue about the DARK POWER WITHIN HIS HAND or something like that! Oh well...!

But, then, maybe he should focus first on dealing with... this.

"I'm beginning to think I might know who could be pulling the strings," Prophylaxis mutters, flame already dancing on his fingertips. The goblins are shifting positions, moving tactically. He barely catches sight of those crossbowgobs taking aim in the mid echelons before a barrage of bolts is slung his way. The Doctor swears softly-- and then not-so-softly as the barrage overcomes his arcane barrier. Blood blossoms from the a wound on his shoulder, but it's too late.

"Burn," Prophylaxis snarls as the hobgoblins fall. He pitches the smoldering sphere of flame like a pitcher hurling a fastball. It soars into the midsts of the Goblin Shaman and his crossbow-wielding lackeys... And then explodes, unleashing a catastrophic wave of heat and light that turns any goblin it so happens to overcome to ash...!

Merek and the Goblin Slayer rush from either side of the Hob Goblins, forcing them to turn their backs towards one-another and unable to assist one-another in their defense. It creates enough of a gap that other have an easier time getting to them. The blade of Goblin Slayer comes down in a fierce stab for the left Hob Goblin's knee, ripping it down to one leg - while Merek slashes the one on the right twice with his own blade!

Goldenblade ducks low under Merek's strikes, stabbing into the side of the Hob Goblin and ripping her blade right up to where she believes the kidneys ought to be. Blubber and goo soiling her daggers and weakening their next strikes.

Kotono tries to strike at that moment, but the Hobgoblins are still in the way! They're not yet down, and one of them moves their arm, blocking her stabbing strike. She digs her dagger in, right before she's swung away by the green ugly thing! Miyako following it up with a fierce air spell - cutting parts of it to ribbons. And in retaliation, Setsuna brings down the icey lightning. Rippling electricity connecting with the lightning, bringing down the right side Hobgoblin!

A fireball blasts against the left Hobgoblin - blinding it just long enough for the Goblin Slayer to make use of; he brings his blade out, and then brings it up into the other Hob Goblins' face through its opened maw - "Five." - Shattering it in one blow just as the assault on the Goblin Shaman begins! A Fireball detonates immediately on their area, rattling against the Goblin Shaman's barrier! It holds, but it did not protect the three crossbow wielding goblins - who are flash-fried in under a second!

Then, an arrow! It pierces right through its shield and hits the Goblin Shaman right in the arm! Normally, it might have been able to keep casting. But Mikage uses the Goblins' own weapons against them. Firing one of those poisoned arrows - the Goblin Shaman lets out a loud cry, its entire spell faltering and grabbing at its arm. Letting out pitiful sounds and falling to its knees. It begins to 'beg for mercy', motioning its hands, making sobbing sounds!

Edge of Shadows! Haseo comes down upon it, cutting off its other arm. Gwen comes from the other side, ripping off the other arm! The pieces of body both go flying, the Goblin crying out in a screetch of pain, or is that anger? It's hard to tell, as it is silenced not long after by a blade suddenly RIPPING through its head! The bottom of the body remains in place, as Amalthea's blade stabs into the crystal right behind it - shattering it. The top of its head laying upon the blade of the sword for a moment... before the Goblin falls backwards onto the ground, and shatters along with the crystal!

As the battle comes to a rest, the Goblin Slayer grabs his blade and moves over to kick the pot over. The green goop splashes onto the ground, sinking into the ground. And he kicks it again to make sure it's properly upturned. "Better destroy this place before any other Goblins learn from this." He remarks, before he looks towards the faltering wall that Prophylaxis had created earlier. Loud screetching in the distance, as the Goblin Slayer begins to move. "Take care of your wounds and stay here. I will clean up the rest." He demands of the Adventurers. "The status effect should wear off in a few minutes time. I understand that Adventurers are not used to that pain. Be glad none of the arrow heads or daggers got stuck in your bodies."

And with that, he motions for Prophylaxis to let him through so he can do what he does best. Though notably, the Priestess quickly follows him. "Wait. Wait." Disappearing around the corner with him.

To Slay Goblins.

    Merek looks to the Goblin Slayer while he nods, then he takes a moment to sheath that Shadow Eclipse. The man looks to all of the people, while he begins walking to each of them to begin healing, "In that case," the man looks like he will be keeping people along with their HP back up. The man then looks to the place that the man went, "Can you imagine. I think this might be what all of the enemies feel," the man notes with a nod also as well, while he watches.

    It's over. Haseo's not talkative, but that's kind of understandable. If you have a secret power, just how much can you tell people about it? Kite didn't explain either.

    The Goblin Slayer sets off. "Hey... I'm unhurt. If there's going to be more nests like this... it'd be good to know how to destroy them, right?" Unless there's another argument against it, she'll follow to support.

    She's honestly not sure if 'destroying this place' is meant in the colloquial sense or is a game mechanic that requires specific things that need to be repeated.

Returning the smile a little, Kotono helps Miyako to her feet. "I don't know what's going on here or why we're hurting so much, but I do know that something isn't right here." She supports Miyako as best as she can. "We should get you treated before we go for burgers. I don't want anything to happen to you." She looks at where the goblins were and narrows her eyes a little. "You freaks ever try that again and I'll slash you so fast you won't even realize you were hit at all!"

The crystal shatters, the cauldron is upturned. The only things he could have studied here, blown to smithereens...! But honestly, Prophylaxis doesn't feel too badly about it. "You don't have to tell me twice," the doctor grunts and slumps against a cave wall, still half-paralyzed by the all-too-real pain shooting through his nerves. "Of all the times to not have healing magic... Potions will have to do." He pulls one out of his pack and uncorks the top before tossing back its contents.

The Goblin Slayer begins to move on, but then...

"Wait," Prophylaxis says, "Before you leave. I know somewhere a powerful goblin lives. If you would help us slay it and its comrades... I'd be glad to lend my own services as well. I am Prophylaxis, the Doctor of Tolbana, and you seem like a man who might make good use of my services."

Goldenblade nods mutely to the Goblin Slayer. Waiting here will give her a chance to get her wind back in any event. She looks around the place, making sure no enemies remain, and then giving it a second look to make sure one of their temple bits remain standing. "Are you all okay?" she asks the rest of the party members.

When the Shaman falls, that seems to be about all Mikage can handle when it comes to the pain. The pale Were Fang slides down to the ground, leaning on one of the stone walls as Rama moves to stand protectively next to her. There are no further threats, but he seems to be on guard, perhaps because he can sense them close by.

"He said... it will wear off." She closes her eyes, trying to take slow, deep breaths and keep herself calm. The fingers of her good arm move as she swipes through her menu, swapping from this party to her friends list in order to send a direct chimlink. << Yeah. I'm going to need some help. Mmm. At that cave I told you about. No, didn't go well. I'll tell you later. >>

Then, with a painted sound, she pushes herself to her feet, still using her sword to help get there. "Can't say it was fun... but I'm out of here. Let mister tall, dark, and goblin-obsessed deal with the rest." Then, she limps her way towards the exit, to meet up with... whomever was on the other end of that chimlink.

     Setsuna watches as the slayer pushes the pot over and he sighs and shakes his head a little before looking over at Prophylaxis and then the others as they all begin to recover. The necromancer walks over to the pot that was tipped upside down and picks it up , looking to see if anything was left and tilts his head. Underneath the pot is an indention of the ground of ...well something. "Huh, I wonder what made that." He looks into the pot it self and shakes his head, "Damn not even a drop." He tosses the pot aside and looks around. " So then are we collapsing this place ? "

    Miyako nods, leaning on Kotono. "Something's... messing with the way stuff works... this isn't the first time." She sighs and walks slowly towards the exit. "And yeah, we both need a potion..."

    That burger does sound awfully nice, though. But this is not a day for Pineapple Salad.

    "How far is it back to town?" she asks, musing.

The goblin shaman is torn apart by the party and it's over for the moment. It's spell fizzled out and she's honestly glad. She looks at the litle thing begging for mercy? That was a new one it's enough to pause her for a moment. She looks at it and watches as Haseo finishes it off. Well that's the end of that as the Crystal is also taken out and it seem to be the end of that for the moment. She'll look to the Goblin Slayer for a moment he knows his stuff. She'll leave him and Prittess too it.

"Yeah, it bypassed the magic that dampens pain, I forgot ... what pain felt like..."

She'll take a moment to check out the iotem she goe and after a bit her eyes widen at this.

"Woah."