Goblins & Blades

    The goblins on the fifth floor have become armed and fairly, if not very dangerous. Keeping a path clear to get from the sixth floor to the fourth floor is not an easy task.

In this case a scouting party of adventurers have been exploring the sixth floor, but more supplies are needed. This meant a group has to go back to the lower floors and that means getting to the possible safe point on the fifth floor; That is the hard part.

Leading the group is Xander Scaleharth, with his new faithful mount at his side. The massive tiger-like creature with its dark scales, spikes, and horns is lowly growling. The Salamander having to pat it gently on the side to calm the beast. "Easy.." He would whisper from time to time.

As they move through the ruins, Xander reminds the group to keep their eyes open for /any/ movement. The goblins knew these ruins better than they did. The goblins knew how to move in the shadows and strike in surprise. Their only hope was to remain observant.

    The beast at Xander's side lets out a low growl, the ears slowly go back, as it begins to bare its fangs. It was the only warning the group would get...

Goblins came from above, from the sides, the team was quickly surrounded! Xander quickly drew his sword and shield, moving to counter one of the imps leaping from above to protect one of the less experienced Adventurers. "Get to the others!" Xander barks over to them. "Tell them we need back up now!"

    The word would eventually get out, the group would have to move quickly to get to where the scouting team was, the question is what would be the shape of the group once everyone arrived... That answer was easy to spot...

They would be in a battle, some of the adventurers low on health, others trying to retreat. Xander's mount is missing; perhaps sent off or who knows. Not even Xander was in great shape. The team would need to act fast and deal with these darn goblins!

    Merek comes into the battle with his twin weapons drawn, swinging them into the goblins. The man wears the potion belt along with what looks to be a hood with a nice beltcape about the waist. The man draws a potion from the waist, then he throws that right into the goblins, while it explodes about with flame.

Schneider had been loitering with several people at the Scale encampment, and had received word, along with others, that relief was needed by one of the scouting groups. So he is riding along with the relief group, he's here for support firepower. Literally. From Pekoback, he chants, "Tai-to Ro! Blow my enemy away! ANTHEM!" and he fires a fire spell into the bad guys more or less at random, there's too much going on right now to pick individual targets out now. There is a burst of flame as it strikes a target satisfactorily. It might even have hit a goblin, but that's not important right now. Hurling fire is the thing. Fire landing is secondary.

    Setsuna had been on his way to Karluin ruins already and had just made it to a small foothold camp the Scale Emblem Alliance had established to coordinate clearing Karluin. Really this was becoming how he spent his weekend it seems, interesting way he had decided to spend his time off of work. As he is checking in he hears the call for reinforcement and sighs , "Always something." Retrieving his staff and with a billow of robes that only a mage can pull, the necromancer is off to raise corpses.
     Arriving on scene Setsuna only gives a brief moment to actually figure out what is going on before he begins to cast, choosing something big and flashy. "Mother of Gaia, here my call. I summon the wrath of nature. Rain down your thunderous fury." The skies darken over the goblins as lightning streaks down, whether it hits any one is something Setsuna will leave up to fate as he approaches his alliance mate. "Howdy Xander? I'm looking for a scouting party that needs to be saved from goblins. Have you seen them? "

Progress through Karluin has been painstaking. The goblins are thoroughly entrenched in the city and rooting them out has been a full time job. But even with the obstacles in their path, there are still things that need to be done to ensure the climb continues unobstructed. Scouting the sixth floor has been imperative, its labyrenthine nature necessitating a thorough and comprehensive understanding of exactly how to get from point A to point B. But...

Well, there /are/ still goblins in the way, and that means that there's still a substantial risk to any group that dares to go scouting up past the fifth floor.

News of a goblin ambush was not surprising to hear. Prophylaxis had been in the area as part of his role in conducting the reclamation of Karluin. Mounted to a grunty who very much does not want to be here, but also doesn't /really/ know where 'here' is, Prophylaxis arrives... Pulling a cart full of potions and restoratives.

"Xander!" The Doctor yells over the din, "Herd your team over this way! We're doing a mobile resupply. Heal up while we cover you!"

Vertina is right on the Doctor's heels and ready to help. Or she was until they actually get close to the actual location the other team was lost, then she sprints ahead to protect him and his very important cart, her clawed cestus already beared and ready. She even uses the claws of one to pry the cork out of a bottle held in the other, which she quickly chugs down to give herself an additional boost of energy. She's been finding Alchemy has it's uses outside of just potions and poisons. "Find the missing team, Doc, we'll keep the little blighters off your back!"

With that she lunges into the nearest cluster of goblins in a flurry of punching and kicking to make the most of her alchemical boost while it lasts.

Uta had been looking for Prophylaxis. In recent times they have started cooperating on some pharmaceutical research (yay Team Medical!), and today, as it is usual for Uta, she came looking for the Doctor of Tolbana.

And as it is also usual for Uta, she completely forgot that today she wasn't supposed to come in, because the doctor was busy with other topics.

So, when she did not find Prophylaxis, she started asking around if anyone had seen him, and people gave directions to where they saw him go, which eventually lead Uta to where the action takes place.

So here is Uta, walking in, gasping in surprise at what she sees.

"Experienced videogaming players told me that in many games, one finds health restoring items in random places as you progress... but nobody ever explained /who/ leaves them around. But now, now I know!", she says, hyper-focusing on Prophylaxis's cart and completely missing, well, the rest.

"Doctor!", she says as she tears her attention away from the cart. "I want to be your disciple! I want to become The One Who Leaves Potions Around for The Hero to Find! I- I mean, that would technically make me the Healing Potion Fairy, and..." she grimaces. "...I'm not sure I'd like to be called /that/ but-"

Her eyes pop open in a mixture of rage and terror.

"GOBLINS!"

She slams the bottom tip her staff on the ground, and holding onto it, she begins to sing an upflifting, catchy song. The song itself, along with the aura of light and magic that emanates from the top of her white lacquered staff in the shape of a caduceus, is meant to raise the spirits in the fighters, and boost the power of their attacks.

    "You're looking at them!" Xander barks back at Setsuna's more calm demeanor. This is amongst the explosions that Schneider and Merek are causing around the group, to knock some of the Goblins back, but that armor and weaponry is keeping the goblins on the attack.

Once the others arrive though, the Salamander quickly motions to some of the scouting party, "Go go go! Head to the fourth floor from where the others have come. Move it!" Trying to get some of the adventurers to safety as he can.

    It is the heat of the moment, he spots Prophylaxis with some potions and tosses one of them to a few of the retreating scout adventurers just to make sure they won't get killed on their retreat before taking one as well, using the cover from Uta's own attack to take a quick swig. "... Fucking Goblins." Is all he mutters under his breath.

He catches Vertina then rushing into a cluster of Goblins to give them a what for in a fist of fury.

            ----------------

    The goblins are indeed getting smashed around, ignited on fire, and blasted, but they don't stop. A few come from above, a few more leaping out from the shadows. Many more just charging directly in!

They are all wearing that gear they shouldn't have and all ready to defend what they see as their territory-- or whatever. Swinging those swords, lashing out with the daggers. Everyone is a target!

    [ Defend/Evade vs 10 ]

    "Xander, fancy meeting you like that," Merek then notes to the man, while he nods a bit. "I am going to cover rear, I can heal the entire party if I need." With that, he will begin to position along the back of that formation, taking a moment to lift up a hand, beginning to mark a rune in front of him, "Fireball!" The man spellslings the magic into the goblins.

Goblins go down and explode into pixilated bits. They shouldn't be wearing armor that good, but Vertina's clawed battlegloves are good at getting into the seams to rip them apart anyways, while her kicks hit with enough force it just bludgeons right through a layer or two. But for every goblin that goes down several more swarm in. A few even leap out of the shadows like would-be ninjas, but with a combination of sixth sense and lightning quick reflexes Vertina leaps out of the way in the nick of time, doing a handstand backflip to propel herself from their immeadiate reach and closer to covering Prophylaxis' position with the recovery goods. "We need to clear them out in bigger numbers!"

The Salamander draws on her inner spirit of fire, consolidating it into a crackling ball of red and orange flames. Which she releases from her hands with a light lob, and then pivots hard on her grounded foot...

"PYRO STRIKER!"

... to kick it with the spinning momentum and hurtle the flame sphere into the goblin hordes and explode like an fiery grenade.

Schneider now has a slightly better grasp of the situation. The bad news is that the situation is a crapton of goblins all over the place. Riding around, he wheels his peko and faces the largest mass of goblins he can see, and chants, "Brain, Brain dead. Obey your blood oath, come forth from the land of Avalon. Fire of Gehenna, become a fiery blast and burn everything around us!" Dark forces accumulate, and suddenly, he shouts, "EXODUS!" and releases a huge gout of fire right into the middle of them.

    Setsuna looks at Xander and shakes his head, " You get to worked up on these things. Ever considered your going to give yourself a heart attack or something with all the stress?" As a few goblins charge him his boots glow stepping into the air for a moment, above the Goblin's reach before jumping back down into a safer place. " Ok I do agree these Goblins really must go." His staff takes on a dark purple glow as he taps his ground sending out a wave of darkness to collide with the goblins.

"Uta," Prophylaxis says from atop his potion-cart-hauling-Grunty. "The first lesson that you must incorporate is this: There is nothing which says that the one who hands out potions is not a Hero! Closing a wound is much harder than tearing one open with a dagger or sword!"

Case in point, while Prophylaxis is in the middle of his lecture on the intrisic heroism of the healing arts, a goblin runs up and shanks him right in the back! The doctor makes a sudden noise of surprise and pain before turning right around and vaporizing the offending assassin with a swift blast of flame to the face.

"...Where the hell are they /getting/ these!?" Prophylaxis grunts as he yanks the dagger from his shoulder and quickly downs an antitoxin potion. The knife disappears into his inventory as he dismounts and tosses back yet another healing potion. "Either there's an armory in the keep, or /something/ else is going on...!"

Uta stares in silence and admiration at Prophylaxis' words. That is, until the goblin shanks him.

"NOOOOOOOO!", Uta exclaims, hand extended in desperation.

Goblins turn at the shriek, spot her, and rush at this new target. "Oh no no no no no," she utters, as her hands start shaking.

More nervous than people have ever seen her, she looks around for a direction to get /away/ from the monsters, but finds herself surrounded. "Stupid useless wings!", she exclaims, and darts so quickly that all that's left behind her is a blur, crackling blue lightning bolts, and a smell of ozone.

Darting from place to place, she alternates between dodging motions and lightning-enhances punches and kicks to the Goblins, hitting as hard as she manages to, each punch underlined by a short uttered 'AH!', Karate-style, each punch and kick enveloped by a tangle of lightning bolts, each tangle of lightning bolts discharged all around the enemy on each impact, each few impacts causing the enemy to shatter into polygons while Uta's breathing becomes less and less a regular martial artist's controlled art and more and more gasping for air.

"These monsters aren't supposed to be this hard to break!", she yells to everyone at once and nobody in particular. "What's going on here?"

    Alright, finally he's back, the monkey Cait Sith is running, and well he did get lost a few times. Too many wrong turns but hearing the fighting and roars, Wynfei continues running trying to catch up with the group that's already engaged with the Orcs. He's fought them back well when he was higher level then he is now but he feels he can do something.

    As Wynfei closes in, he quickly scans the area from the distance he's at, and he sighs a little. "I shouldn't have taken that extra nap after I ate." he grumbles at himself. Still he's not far but he knows it will take him a few to catch up to the others.

    Fire is going everywhere, there is fire from Vertina, fire from Merek. Just tons and tons of fire! Xander who just recovered finds himself even getting ambushed once more, before igniting his sword in flames of rage, as he lashes it out on several goblins.

Either forcing them back or causing them to pixellated! Downside however is that is obvious that the Holy Knight of a Salamander is-- pretty exhausted. It was hard to say how long he has been fighting, been awake, or even how defense he already had to do to keep most of the scouts alive.

Just that he is /NOT/ in top form and its showing.

    Xander looks over to Uta, "The goblins have been armed by something or someone-- we have no idea what, how, or who." He swings his fiery blade at another goblin. "Just it has made them a really big pain the /ass/!"

    Which the goblins are being because they keep coming still. This way and that way, trying to leap in from behind with no honor. Trying to even now throw explosives at the group!

            [ Shield/Evade vs 10 ]

Backstabbers -and- grenadiers?! This is getting rediculous. "And I thought the mob adds in a Boss Raid Battle were annoying -- Heads up!" Vertina leaps into action with a phenominal burst of speed. At the same time tuning the refractive nature of her ki aura with a few quick hand gestures. "Mirage Phase"

One Vertina leaps, but multiple afterimages leap as well, intercepting several of the bombs to keep them away from the tired and wounded, carrying the explosives in the opposite direction before they go off and reduce the light clones to pixilated glimmering smoke.

Vertina grabs one of the explosives as well, but doesn't intend to hang onto it. Instead she wall-jumps off the ruins, "Here, you lost this, take it back!" and heaves the bomb down into the goblin ranks with the force of a mountain landslide!

    Setsuna frowns as his dark wave barely stuns the goblins and then it'starts to rain grenades, which is truthfully unexpected. As they come closer Setsuna raises his hand pulling bones from the earth and creating a shield of dark energy and bones in front of him, "Bone shield." . The grenades shaking the shield, but it holds, "I don't think I want to live somewhere where it rains damn grenades! " Taking a breath his shields collapses and forms into a skeleton minion as it charges in to fight the goblins head to head.

Schneider looks up as the goblins hurl explosives towards the relief party. With a casual gesture, flames roar up, surrounding him, and the explosves denonate on the outside of his shield, leaving the exploder wizard unscathed. "This is nearly as bad as the floor boss fights," he agrees with Vertina. Less fortunate at avoiding injury are the assailants. He chants, "Slayer, slayer, dark thunder of Balmor! Bal Volt!" At the final exclamation, he gestures dramatically and hurls raging fire into the goblin attackers.

"I'm fine!" Prophylaxis answers, sensing Uta's anxiety and distress. "Don't let seeing me take one dagger to the shoulder shake you. One who practices medicine must always keep a cool head and an iron will. Even when everything is on the line and the situation seems like it couldn't get any more dire, your hands must be steady and your mind clear!"

To wit, another goblin rushes towards him, apparently trying to take advantage of his brief lapse in concentration... Only to eat a wave of high-velocity water as Prophylaxis darts away to safety! His staff whirls and digs deep into the ground, arresting his backwards momentum even as a spell begins to materialize around its ornamental head.

"At least with an attack group this large..." Prophylaxis mutters, then roars. "Kill them all, but make sure to capture their wepaons! We cannot allow them to fall into goblin hands again!" And with any luck, they might just be able to trace them back to their source. But first...

The air crackles with activity. The scent of ozone stings the senses. Electricity arcs away from the Doctor's staff, blossoming into clouds of dazzling lightning around the largest groups of goblin assassins!

"Will do so, doc!", Uta replies back.

The energy of the lightning bolts being exhausted, Uta stops for a moment to look around and take stock of the situation.

Angry Goblins everywhere, leaping at her.

Well, that was easy.

Uta jumps out of the way with a sonic boom, does a cartwheel in the air, and lands on a Goblin's head, the impact of her soles generating a metallic note.

"...A natural," Uta comments.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa", she intones the pitch of her voice matching the note, perfect as a tuning fork.

And then, hurtling towards a motley bunch of goblins, all of different builds (tall, short, bulky, stout...), she begins hitting them on their helmets with the appropriate tempo (and gusto), producing quite the catchy melody with the improvised armor metallophone, with the added flourish of her voice harmonizing over them.

Appropriately placed kicks to the stomach or the face produce rhythm and the bassline. Those 'oofs' aren't supposed to sound that good... but they do!

    Merek looks to the party and nods a bit, then he takes a look to the people they are protecting. The man begins to place both hands forward while he speaks, "Oh the one who guides the nameless Lost, I call upon your faith and bring it to those in need. For the world you gave all, and to the world I bring your blessing. Interdimensional field creation, Healing Force Field!"
    Then a field of healing will cover all of the people, that field takes up the size of a small town, with shimmering beginning to heal the people. Those within it will feel a warmth, some might even speak to it as a benevolent kindness within, washing away.

    The sounds of fighting is getting louder as Wynfei rushes towards the fighting, he leaps up along a wall and from there he leaps higher into the air. He sees the goblins with many weapons and grenades. He knows that he has to give the players some breathing room. To him it felt like he was moving fast but others would see the monkey Cait Sith high in mid-air. "EMPYRIAL ARROW!!!" he brings both hands together, his arms outstretched in front of him. It looks like he is standing in mid-air. But he's still moving, his right above a large cluster of the goblins. Deep purple and blue energy flares out around his arms and begins roiling down along them to his hands. Energy sparking all around and a large blast of energy streaks down towards the horde of goblins. Wynfei knows he shouldn't use this so early but the Adventures needed some breathing room and possibly time to regroup.

    The blinding, magnificent blaze of energy steaks down towards the goblins. How Wynfei aimed teh blast he is trying to take out a large swath of them even if he misses that would give them pause. He would land amongst them. He bounces on the balls of his feet and gets into a fighting stance. His clothing and gear has changed since the last time he was seen. "Get the injured and pull back and heal up if need be, I will try to buy you some time."
    

    Bombs kicked back, Lightning streaking across the field of battle. Undead being summoned and Uta attempting to do the impressive; Though it seems to fall on 'deaf' ears, but it was impressive!

Merek sends out a wave of healing light, healing up the digital wounds of all and placing the goblins that are growing in smaller number at a disadvantage. Xander uses that chance to also leap into the fray, even with his tired start to slash and stab the Goblins, helping lower their numbers one pixel at a time.

    It is Wynfei though that cuts down the numbers with one, powerful, shot! The energy slamming through several goblins, including directly into a cluster. When he lands, the ground behind him explodes into pixel glory, like he is the true action hero of the moment.

Sadly that moment doesn't last, because here comes those remaining goblins, who just don't get the message; You really shouldn't try to fight this many elite players in one area.

            [ Shield/Evade vs 8 ]

"It doesn't matter how good the gear is, if the ones wielding it are just running to their deaths like scrubs to templates, then the best sword is about as useful as a pool noodle!" The goblins are being routed, and everything Prophylaxis knows about the behavior of this particular class of monster is that they're keenly driven by cowardice and opportunism. Pressed into a wall like this, they're most likely to default to rampaging desperation. They might even beg for their lives if given the chance.

He does not intend to give them a chance.

Goblins rush towards him, only to be met by the sudden eruption of massive stone walls from below. With a gesture, Prophylaxis conjures a second stone wall opposite to the first. Clasping his palms together...

He sends the two racing toward one another like a pair of hands snatching an obnoxious mosquito out of the air...!

Vertina has started to draw a bit more aggro than she can handle. She deflects several attackers, but one of the goblins finally manages to blindside her with a bum rush while she's got her claw-gloves grappling with another fighter. She oofs witht he impact and sent sprawling across the ruined ground. Several of the remaining goblins see this as an oppritunity to dogpile the martial artist...

But don't get a chance as a big energy attack blasts through their ranks, toasting several and sending others sprawling. She tilts her head a bit to see where the blast came from. "Wynfei?! Where have you been?!" She kippups onto her feet and back into a fighting stance. "Not that I'm complaining about your dramatic timing!"

Doc says to try and grab their weapons to research later. Sure, we can work on that. "Give me some cover guys!" She bolts from her position to charge one of the bigger goblins. One arm reachs out to grab the blade of his sword between the claws of her battle glove to lock it up. And then she uses the other in an upward strike to try and eviscerate the little slaghole and wrest the weapon away while he's dying.

Schneider stands his ground as the waves of goblins attack, chanting, "DAMEDO! Magic shield!" and conjuring an invisible barrier just before spears and arrows, thrown with the intent to skewer him, are halted in midair by the transparent barrier. He grins savagely. "You just don't give up, do you?" he asks rhetorically. Shaking his head, his challenge is just one word: "DAMNED!" The power in his voice is matched by the churning flames he conjures, which boil over the closest goblins even as they scatter from the point of impact. It's hard to get more than a couple even at the best of times.

    Setsuna takes a deep breath as he is starting to tire, "Ok this starting to get a lite boring, in fact so boring my magic is starting to leave. " As the goblins charge back in he flickers back, not as well done as say some of Kauchemar's blink or even Vertina's mirage but he does get back and presses his hand to the earth , " Earthen fist!." A giant fist rises from the earth striking at the group as Setsuna notices the blue bar of his magic tick ever closer to empty.

Uta's getting a bit too excited with her attempts at forcing the Goblins into some sort of metallophone ensemble. The distraction proves fatal, and her singing is cut off by an abrupt shriek (of hers), after which she crashes to the ground face-first, a massive glowing gash crossing her whole back while a cackling Goblin holding a sword too good for the likes of him approaches her.

She pushes herself up with trembling arms, one eye squinting and the other closed, she mutters something. One last superhuma effort, face tense in a mask of pain, and she topples to fall on her back, screaming when her luminous wound hits the dirt.

The goblin does not seem deterred by all the noise, and when it hunches over her, drooling and snarling, well... he isn't prepared what comes next.

Namely, Uta's staff being swung directly at his face, the serpents in the caduceus aimed directly at his cheeks.

Yes, those snakes are sculpted at an impressivel level of detail. They even have actual poison in their teeth...

    Glancing over to where Vertina is, "Hey Vertina." he smiles and he keeps to where he is. Having landed where he can keep a large group of the goblins near him. He smiles, "We an talk a bit after we clear this group out." he says. As the goblins rush him, Wynfei does have to give some ground but as he does. He laughs, "This is going to be fun." he says as he rushes in, "I got you covered Tina!" he called. "Everyone try to funnel them in towards me!" he calls willing to be the fun that is focused upon, drawing aggro. He lets out a breath and his eyes flicker with energy and he lunges forward towards the goblins. A kick is swung so fast towards one goblin that it may not even see it coming, upon hitting it would send it flying backwards, if he misses he will throw a punch in towards another that's standing next to the initial goblin he attacked. Wynfei is a blur of motion as he begins forcing his way forward, "Come on you green rodents! COME AT ME!" he roars as he sends another flurry of punches and kicks as he tries to force himself forward.

    Merek draws both of his blades while he takes a moment to swing them into the goblins along with the flame that trails with that. The man nods a bit to the party, "We need to make sure everyone escapes!"

But before all that happened... Uta feels the massive wave of healing wash over her. "What.... what is this thing...", she wonders, not interrupting her singing. "...I've never felt such a powerful wave of healing before..." She looks around, and sees that everyone who was wounded now has a restored HP bar. "Who did this? The timing was perfect!" Uta being Uta, she must have missed Merek invoking the healing very close to her -- Also, immediately after shrieking, which happend /very shortly/ after the healing, she screams out, "TERRIBLE TIMING FOR HEALING! Just... just a few seconds later...", she says, in tears.

    What goblins do remain after their numbers are beaten down by all the attacks the Adventurers throw out, are quick to retreat back into hiding once they are given a final challenge; Cowardly fellas, huh?

For now, the group may get a reprieve, but it is well known that such events like this could happen again later down the road.

So long as the goblins are a problem here, things like what happened today, could once more take place-- and perhaps with a less ready group of adventurers.

    Xander exhales slowly as the battle is one, "Its-- good to see you Wynfei. Been awhile... and thank you all as well. Looks like the scouts got away safely..." Then the Salamander just takes a knee, resting against his sword for a moment.

He does force himself to look up. "... Are all of you alright?"

Schneider sends a couple fireballs after the fleeing goblins, but they mostly burst against the stonework without effect. He looks to see that they're not coming back, or trying some flanking move, then looks around among the players. He nods to Xander about being all right. "Doing fine. Let's get back to camp, though. This is not a place you want to hang out."

Vertina grabs the sword as the goblin dies in two seperate pieces and both pixilating, figuring it pretty much counts as a loot drop at that point. "I've got another one!" she calls to Prophylaxis as she holds the weapon up to be seen. With the other hand she gives Wynfei a pat on the shoulder for the helpful timing, and strolls back towards the Doc's cart, letting the sword rest on her shoulder for now. If there are any goblin spies still watching, hopefully seeing the Adventurers walking around with their spiffy weapons claimed in battle will make them think twice about future actions... but probably not.

"Not here, it's way too dangerous," she comments to Proph and Xander, "But maybe later I could try analyzing a few of them with Divination."

Uta blinks. "Xander! You were here as well? Are you alright? Wait, no, you asked first. Uh..." She points a finger at thin air, but other people will be able to recognize she's pointing at where she's seeing her own HP bar. "...I think I'm fine, yes. Nothing a few rounds of healing and a hearty dinner can't fix." She starts to rush towards Xander in concern, but the gash in her back glows bright, and she stops with a grimace. "...I will now approach you quiiiiiietly and calmly...." she says. "...if you promise to hold 'fluffy' still, over there..." she say with a general motion in the direction of Xander's Switchblade Tiger Monster Mount, with tears of pain forming in her eyes at each movement of her back.

Goblins! They're nothing but a bunch of maggot-spined cravens with a far too effective self-preservation instinct.

And weapons that are far more effective than they have any right to be.

"Collect as many of the fallen weapons as you can find," Prophylaxis directs to the remaining Scale Emblem regulars on the battlefield. "I want those stockpiled and examined. The sooner we can figure out where they're coming from, the sooner we can get cut off their supply." Whether that's from within the tower, or from without...

But first they need to learn more, and for that, there's work to be done.

"I'm fine," he says to Xander. "We need to get your wounds looked at, too. And everyone else's." Beat. "Good job, Vert. Bring it with you, if you'd please."

    When all looks to be resolved, Merek nods a bit to the party, while he thinks about it, "If you all need anything, you can talk to me," he notes, "I'm working with a poison that will be useful for the goblins, might be a week away before it's prepared," he will add.

    Setsuna sighs as the goblins reteat and walks towards the other, " So that was fun. Xander you throw the best parties. We will need to do this again sometime. " Offering a hand to Xander to help stand he looks over at the fluffy kitty mount and then at Xander andd then back at the kitty. " I never thought of you as a cat person. Where do you keep its litter box?" It was an attempt to lighten the mood given everyones sudden need for figuring out what is going on with the goblin weapons.

    As the goblins fallback and retreat, Wynfei doesn't go after them at all. He watches the goblins flee taking a moment to just be back in the fight again. He turns around and begins heading to the others, "I agree. Where is the camp?" he asks. He sees Uta and smiles, "Hey Uta, nice to see you again. Though next when you use your staff, as you attack, use your hips." he offers. "With a staff you have a lot of leverage, don't hold back swing with your hips and turn into the strike as you do so, you will get better results." he explains. Having remembered he used to train Uta. "Oh and we will get back to your training now that I'm back." he says to her.

    He looks over to Vertina, "You still a badass." he smiles to her. "We all did well, and I'm sorry for getting here so late, I kinda got turned around a few times. You can ask Xander, and Vertina, directions aren't my strong suit." he laughs.

    Xander listens to the conversation around him, he does give a whistle, which showing up is that tiger, scaled lizard-cat of his with that razor tail tip.

He glances over to Uta, "Healer, heal thy self." He says with a tired, but gentle smirk on his face, as he goes to take Setsuna's hand to stand back up once more. "Thanks..." He says softly.

    When Setsuna asks about the monster mount of Xander's, he looks over to it. "Remember that Dread Branch? I broke it... That is what it randomly summoned." He motions over to the feline as it pads over. Then the Salamander hops up on it and gives the feline a few rubs along the neck, toward the cheek fluff. "And it's litter box is the land, at Rylen's lil' ranch."

The Salamander looks around, "But I agree with Schneider, we should move out, before those goblins find some new courage and even with Wynfei here," He chuckles. "I am sure he can't taunt them away forever." He may have missed a statement or two aimed in his direction, but honestly the knight of a tank just wanted to get off this floor and down to one of the safer levels.

"You were neither early or late, but precisely when needed -- bad sense of direction or not," Vertina replies with a laugh. Then glances at the saber catlizard when it's brought up. "Uh... yeah... nice mount Xander, don't get me wrong. But now I know dang well not to break the thing carelessly. But at least you don't have to walk your hurt tired butt home." She turns to start walking back to the entrance of the level. "When you folks do get healed up, come over to the Tavern and I'll see to it you get some proper food and drink in ya."

Uta replies, "...thanks Wynfei. Will have to take that into account." She takes another step and winces, having to prop herself up with her staff. "I'm looking forward to more training sessions. You've certainly learnt a lot of late, and I'm eager to learn from the experts." She blinks at Xander's suggestion. Once. Twice. A beat. Another blink. "...I can actually do that"

She closes her eyes, and intones a slow and peaceful melody, soothing yet powerful, and tendrils of light interwine with the sounds, and wash all over her, restoring her HP bar and, most importantly, causing the gash to start to fade away...