Asura continued to twist, twirl, and rotate the rocks that were held within him into the dirt and stone ahead of him. Once a rock started to get worn he ejected it before sucking up another one. His mind was able to do this without actual thought, he had worked with dozens of others before and he hadn't been above supervising when one of the higher ups was a lazy ass sitting in his vehicle fucking his phone. A goblin was helping though and he was using a wooden pickaxe. That wouldn't last long given the gravely consistency of the cave wall.

The pair happened upon a soft pocket of soil as an explosion occurred outside the tunnel. He was mildly curious about it but was soon distracted by Dire Rats rushing towards him and the goblin. Luckily they could only come from one direction. Then again their own escape was soon blocked by Mother Slime. When a Rat got near Asura contracted briefly into a more condensed ball before lunging towards its face with a Smash. Yes, his jello buttocks was clenched as he did so.

@Zeroth @Rune_Alchemist @ghastlyInc @CollectorOfMyst
His mass analysis proved Danny's theory about unusual monsters being former humans correct, as, aside from the Lizard that used to be the Goblin's captive, all the newcomers had the same comment. Before he could wonder about how the system could tell them apart from "normal" monsters or even what the system was something more immediately important happend. "Dire Rats! Three of them! Scott, you want to help, now's the time!"

Seeing this as his chance to make up for his lack of help earlier he tried to prepare a Mana Orb without anything happening. Rather than worry about that too much though he instead focused on what he could do. After rejecting the idea of a physical attack he was left with just one plan and no idea of he had enough left to do it.

He carefully got close enough to one the Rats to affect it with Lesser Force and tried to use the skill to telekinetically poke it in at least one of it's eyes as hard as he could. Of course this cost him the remainder of his mp and after getting the familiar system message he helplessly fell to the ground. "I'm all out of mana!"

Scott jumped as Colchain let out a loud hiss. He looked around to see that the lizard had moved to the dead goblins, presumably to eat... and it seemed that a bunch of rats had the same intent. And in the split second it took for him to process this, they attacked.

”Colchain!” he cried. He stood frozen, watching.

And then Ash dived into the fray.

"Dire Rats! Three of them! Scott, you want to help, now's the time!"

Help. That’s right. He could help. He began to dash towards the small battle, not knowing how much he could do, but he intended to try. He didn’t know how much mana he had left, but mustering whatever he had, he tried to cast a shield spell on first Colchain, then himself, and then Ash.

---

@Zeroth@floodtalon@SilverPaw@Searat

BOOM!

Seemingly without warning, Jason's entire world was overcome by pain as the flame-touched crystal exploded inside of his body, throwing him against the wall. 

Groaning as he gathered himself off the ground, Jason realized his senses were completely shot; sound was muffled and distorted, sight was blurred, and a throbbing pain attacked his head.  Damn it!!! There was no time to be incapacitated, he needed to get back out there NOW.

Summoning all his will, Jason began to focus his senses, creating a feeling similar to a sleep deprived person trying not to let their eyes close. However, as a side-affect, the pain in head seemed only to worsen.

'Mourningstar', the wisp that had confronted Jason over taking control of the situation,  darted off at something, seemingly readying an attack.  Groggily, the injured slime turned to look at where the wisp was going, and what he saw, nigh drove him into a frenzy.

Three lizards had decided to attack Edward, Asteria, and Momma Rat.  Were those lizards FUCKING STUPID!?? Right now, by interfering not only did they put Jason's comrades in danger, but the entirety of the cave as well.

How DARE they interfere!!?? To have unintelligent fucking TRASH MOBS place Jason's plan in jeopardy  was UNNACCEPTABLE!!! It may the mental fatigue talking, but any and all who interfered with his control over the situation were FILTH that needed to be PURGED.

Suddenly, Jason was hit with another wave of mental pain, but this only served to make him more irate.  Consuming a mana crystal, he loosed a terrifying [War Cry I], filled with his fury at the lizards, "FUCK OFF MY COMRADES YOU FUCKING FILTH!!!!" Seeing that Asteria was already fighting one of them, Jason turned his hatred on the other two, summoning a [Rock Spire I] (aimed at where Jason had found the poison sacs before) beneath one of the two lizards before quickly consuming a mana crystal and doing the same to the it's comrade, pour seemingly endless hatred into each attack.

Ardur The Pixie

Off to find a Wizard Lizard >>>> Running is always an option /// day 8 // Afternoon

The pixie lost his smile as Ash began to talk. She didn’t have to call him an idiot he knows what he is. Still, her words were brutal and seemed a little depressed. “I didn’t attack them I was just trying to learn from the goblins.” He spoke as she began to turn and walk away. Well, he did attack them but only after seeing an opportunity to possibly blind crispy. He supposed it didn’t matter much. What was done was done and there was no going back but perhaps they didn’t have to fight.

Running wasn’t something he would figure the others would do but it could very well be their only option. There are many dangers here and with what he has seen from the others might not be enough. Intellect and strategy might not be enough to defeat the goblins or make this cave safe for all of them. This is a conversation he would much rather be having with Ash but before he could speak up another lizard in their party had gone off to get some food and was attacked for it.

Three dire rats came at the lizard looking like they were defending one of the goblin bodies. Ardur instinctively took flight and got himself off the ground and too safety before looking back down at them. The goblin corpses were drawing in unwanted attention. The monsters were being drawn towards the smell of blood.

Ardur did take just a moment to check his surroundings before making his next move. It was always a good idea to stop and check your surroundings. From what he could tell there was a few small skirmishes dotted around the cave. Now that the goblins got pushed out it seemed the other monsters were beginning to become bolder by the moment. Another thing caught his eye, something was moving toward them and it wasn’t trying to hide its presence, “That’s a big slime” luckily it was still ways off but didn’t show any intent on slowing.

Turning his attention back to the others and seeing the wisp slowly float to the ground. The situation here didn’t look to good. The small group still seemed a bit tired from what he assumed was fighting the goblins. Seeing an opportunity to strike and try out the focused shield spell the pale pixie swooped back down. Concentrating on the shield spell as he flew low and fast at the dire rat on top of the lizard. If he remembered right, then the dire rats had better senses than the rest of them. With that being known then the rat’s sense should also be quite a bit more sensitive as well.

Focusing on his shield and speed, Ardur attempted to punch the dire rat on the lizard with his shielded hand. He hoped that the force of him hitting the rat’s ear and its sensitive hearing would at the very least disorientate the rat long enough for the lizard to get away. Whether it worked or not Ardur would still advise the others of the large slime. “Come on we can’t fight them there is a huge slime rolling our way, we need to go.”

@Zeroth
@Rune_Alchemist

---

Rain's heart was beating like a hammer in her scaly little chest. Had he seen her? She was pretty sure that dumb goblin had.

It felt like her last moments all over again. Goon coming to kill her. Dumb goon with more weapons than he knew what to do with.

This was going to be it. Again. She could hear his footsteps, or was that just her imagination?

That had been a lot of Goblins and the big bastard. Making weapons and a fire and now they were all going to come down upon her and -

No.

It was one goon first. She'd kill him before he could make a noise. She wasn't going to be the victim. Not again.

She was a predator.

She listened carefully, tensing and preparing herself, to determine where the goblin was coming from.

As soon as he was close enough she would pounce for him. [MUFFLE II] would continue to be of help here.

Jugular. Viscous shredding. She could vomit venom down his throat if he tried to scream before her paralysis got him.

One chance, and she was going to use the element of surprise and pure viscous violence to solve this problem.

She wouldn't be a victim again.

She wouldn't.

“Hey, you need to stop moving around so much. You’re really hurt so just stay still and let me heal you.” At least, Oberon thought the Slime was injured. It was kind of hard to tell since the hole that had been blown in the side of the gelatinous mass had already closed up, leaving not even a burn mark as proof of what had just happened. Regardless of what it looked like however, the fact was an explosion had just occurred inside the Slime, so it was probably missing a few hit points.

Holding a hand out in front of the Slime, Oberon focused his mana and cast Minor Heal on the creature. It was hard to tell if it was having any effect, in the same way that it was difficult to tell if the Slime was injured in the first place; the blob just didn’t really… change much. There were no cuts knitting back together or bruises faded to indicate that he was actually doing anything worthwhile any more so than it he had cast his skill on a rock.

Oberon activated his Magic Analysis as he stared at the creature, whose name he should probably ask for at some point, hoping that the newly upgraded skill would give him some clue as to how many hit points it had. He used his Analysis on Minor Heal as well, just in case it told him something useful he didn’t already know. Regardless, he would keep casting Minor Heal until it either stopped working or the Slime told him to stop.

Speaking of his new abilities it seemed pretty serendipitous that levelling up Magic Analysis would grant him to ability to learn about a spells element right when he was aiming towards learning how to use fire element mana. He had finally learned Mana Shape as well, only a few moments before an explosion had ripped this Slime open and practically deafened him, so when he next got a chance he was ready to begin working on that. Although, peaceful moments never seemed to last long in this cave before something happened to interrupt it.

@Guy0fV4lor

Naji watched the dire rats swarm the slightly less than sentient lizard his new boss had acquired and said boss. Well, the melee both parties were currently in anyway. Spotting anything in the flurry of scales and brief haze of magic Scott was attempting was a little difficult. He took a moment to carefully eye Scotts movements while he attempted to cast, making sure to memorize the movements carefully. A lot easier to teach Ash magic when he had even a vague concept of how that worked.

Meanwhile he gawked silently at the battle, taking it in with a surprising calm. It was kind of like a bar fight really, and the chaos had a weird homey comfort to him. Danny, the poor bastard, seemed to be struggling with something before releasing a mighty shout of being short on the old magic triple A batteries. Couldn’t help him, since Naji was pretty sure he could only heal or shield things, if he had enough mana to do that at all. Scott was in the process of throwing shields on pretty much everything with a pulse, so that was probably also unnecessary on his part.

Taking comfort in the fact he was pretty much useless at the moment, Naji gave a small ”Nnnnnope!” Before giving his wings a hefty push. Launching himself into the air, albiet an alien sensation, put him hopefully high enough to be out of range of the rats, but hopefully close enough to swoop in provide support if needed. He did feel a little off kilter though, the eye he was currently holding onto perhaps being a little too much for him to fly with. With a shrug, he gripped the remaining optic nerve firmly before giving it an experimental swing....and chucked it with as much might as his tiny delicate body could muster at the nearest rat.

---

A lot of things happened at once. There was the sudden explosion of slime, the crazy mess of angry mobs, and the sudden aggression by the other members of what was assumed as Jason's posse. More importantly, there was a lot of yelling, scaring Digbie a small bit. More importantly than being scared, Digbie was encouraged by his fear to perform his namesake talent even better. He had a job to do, and while nothing was aggressing him directly, he was going to continue the task that he was assigned.

So, he kept digging. This time, Digbie decided to put some of his talents into his skills. He had 3 mana crystals, he could do this. With every hit Digbie landed on the soil, he utilized {Soil Manipulation} in small discharges, aiming to soften his path with each strike against the stone and dirt before him by means of shifting it and shaking it, making it's structural integrity weaker. Along with each strike against the soil, Digbie activated {Tremor Sense} passively in a small radius around him to prevent some bad customers from trying to get the drop on him. Not only that, but {Tremor Sense} would help him understand if he was about to regret what was going to happen with his digging.

---

The first Dire Rat that Ash attacked squeaked in alarm as her fangs sank into the scruff of its neck. It struggled as she dragged it back--it didn't seem to have taken a large enough dose of the paralytic venom thanks to its thick fur, but Ash could taste blood. Nonetheless it managed to get away from her with its thrashing, but she had accomplished her goal of getting Colchain free. Danny darted in, and the air took on a soft glow much like his body as he focused his Lesser Force into a distinct blow, jabbing the same rat in the eye as it tried to back away from Ash. Again it squealed in pain, now with one eye closed and already beginning to bruise.

A glowing aura surrounded Colchain, who hissed in confusion as Scott's shield settled on him. When he realized it didn't hurt, however, the wild lizard turned his attention back to his enemies. He lobbed a ball of Poison Spit at the other two Dire Rats before they could assist their packmate, and they scattered to get away from the acid.

Just as the blinded rat seemed to get its composure back, Ardur came diving out of the sky with one glowing fist. With this much momentum, the added protection to his bulked up fist, and his choice of one of the most sensitive targets on the rat's body, this blow was tremendous. Already damaged, the rat couldn't recover in time to brace itself--with a meaty crack Ardur's punch struck it at the base of the ear, and this weaker point of its skull fractured under the force. As it spun around and collapsed to the ground the Rat's eyes glossed over, blood trickling out of its ear as it twitched its last.

Naji took to the skies to avoid the fight entirely, but as the remaining two rats tried to refocus their efforts on Colchain the pixie intervened. With a spin like an Olympic hammer thrower he let the goblin eye fly. Though it was made of squishy bits, it was still the size of a large marble, and it surprised one rat as it struck the beast in the side. The creature rolled over, but before it could come back to its feet Colchain lunged on top of it, snapping his fangs. At the same time, however, he once again exposed his back to the second Dire Rat, which wasted no time in leaping through the air at him...

In the distance something rumbled loudly...

---

You used Magic Analysis II!
Effectiveness at 100%
---Telepathy---
This skill seems to channel the user's thoughts to you somehow. It seems that it only works with physical contact. It seems simplified thoughts or emotions work best. It doesn't seem like you could communicate two ways through it. It does seem to take a fair bit of MP to work.
---Analysis Complete---

As Mourningstar fired her Mana Slice, the crescent wave whistled through the air faster than a Mana Orb. The three lizards had barely finished their first attack when the spell struck the first of them, leaving a deep wound just like it had been slashed across its back with a sword. The creature hissed and writhed in pain as blood spattered the rocks, but it wasn't quite dead yet. The other two realized that they, too, were under attack, and the group began to spread out--but just as they separated, a large rapidly moving mass of fur hurtled over the edge of the hole at them. Mother Rat immediately went for the weaker target, seizing the wounded lizard by a foreleg with her fangs and jerking hard enough to flip it over. As its injured back struck the ground it snapped its jaws, but caught only air before the big Dire Rat sank her teeth into its throat next.

The second lizard turned towards the big rat with a hiss, but then an even faster blur raced up out of the stash hole. Asteria not only lunged, but actually used her new-found dexterity to get a grapple on the lizard, forcing it to the ground. Its shorter legs couldn't push up against her entire body weight on top of its head, and it didn't have enough leverage to try and roll or to reach her with its fangs. She tore strips of flesh out of the back of its head and neck, causing it to hiss and thrash in agony--but before the arterial spray from its throat bled it out, the creature managed to get out a spurt of its acidic spit. The blob struck Asteria in the belly, pushing her off the dying lizard. And as the acid burned into her skin, she felt a sudden wave of nausea. At the same time as the burning, she also felt a cold clamminess spread over her skin.

You have been Poisoned! You are taking periodic damage!

With two lizards dead it didn't seem like the third one would have any chance. The creature looked like it might have fled if given the chance, but just then a terrifying roar reached the group. Every head, including the lizard's, turned toward Jason as he screamed like someone caught up in a fit. The lizard hissed on reflex, a threat display towards something that scared it--but that didn't stop the Slime's spell from piercing it underneath, the rock spire puncturing its soft belly and skewering it a few inches above the ground as it rose upward.

With this first threat handled, Oberon cast Minor Heal on Jason. The healing spell didn't completely restore the slime on the first go, but Jason would feel a distinct comfort and lessening of the pain around the place where he had exploded. As Oberon analyzed his own spell mid-cast, he felt his MP drain a little more than usual, likely from the fact that his Analysis skill had become more powerful.

You used Magic Analysis III!
This is a Monster. Effectiveness reduced to 30%.
---Slime---
Slimes are capable of magic but most do not possess it naturally. They are more suited for physically manipulating their bodies. This one is unusual. This Slime has a few magical skills. This Slime's magic is mostly attuned towards the Earth element.

You used Magic Analysis III!
This is your own spell, which you know well. Effectiveness boosted past 100%.
---Minor Heal I---
The first rank of the Minor Heal spell. The most basic of healing spells. In most cases, only surface level wounds are affected. Cannot cure diseases. Will accelerate certain conditions such as malignant tumors. This magic is of the Nature Element, as a function of natural life force and biology. It can only be cast on a single target at a time. It can be cast at range, but the target must be within sight and near enough that the caster can distinctly make out their wounds.

With multiple casts, Jason was restored to Full HP, but Oberon found himself Out of MP, as the System informed them both.

Meanwhile, in the tunnel, Asura took to his usual strategy of waiting until the Rat lunged at him and then Smashed it with all his strength. The counterblow must have broken a rib or two, as the creature's squeak was cut off by all the breath being driven out of its body with a loud snap. It fell to the floor of the cave, struggling to get up as it panted noiselessly.

But rather than finish it off, or indeed even react to the attack at all, Digbie simply kept digging. He at least used his Tremor Sense to keep track of vibrations around him--but there was a problem with that. Because of all the ruckus going on both inside the tunnel and out in the rest of the cave, the goblin found himself experiencing something much like radio static with too many tremors coming from too many directions to make anything out with clarity. So he was forced to rely only on his ears and peripheral vision to detect something angry and furry coming at him.

The second Dire Rat sank its teeth into Digbie's green buttocks, drawing blood before getting a grip on his loincloth with its claws and beginning to rip and tear!

---

You used Material Analysis I!
Effectiveness at 100%.
---Huge Leaf---
This is a very large leaf from a ???. It seems to be a mundane plant structure used for photosynthesis. It is Fibrous, Organic, Flammable, Fragile, and Water Absorbant. It is of Excellent Quality.
---Antidote Fern---
This purple fern contains a natural antibiotic chemical and also promotes the immune system, making it useful for fighting off certain sickness-inducing status effects. It is Fibrous, Organic, Flammable, Fragile, Water Absorbant, and Waxy. It is of High Quality.
---Blood Snare Vine---
A thick red vine from a Blood Snare plant. When exposed to fresh blood, tissues under the outer layer of the vine contract similarly to muscles. The original plant most likely uses this to constrain creatures for some purpose. It is Fibrous, Elastic, Tough, Organic, Flammable, and Water Absorbant. It is of Excellent Quality.
---Bowhorn Antler---
This is a horn from a ???. Despite being an antler grown naturally from a creature's body and having blood vessels inside it, it has more similarities to high quality wood from something like a hardwood sapling. It has an excellent blend of toughness and flexibility. It is Hard, Flexible, Sturdy, Waxy, Organic, and Solid, and has Low Sharpness. It is of Average Quality.
---Analysis Complete!---

Shortly after her analysis was complete Orchid noticed the female goblin trying to take part of her stash--and reacted in a way that not even these primitive creatures had truly expected. True, when she grabbed the female by the throat the three males looked on with interest, wondering if they were going to see dominance established in a manner similar to Rattleskull and Crispy's usual methods. Then Orchid planted a violent liplock on her opponent. Gob Boy #1's jaw dropped, Gob Boy #2's eyes bulged out of his head, and Gob Boy #3 slapped his hands to either side of his head with an exclamation that summed up the entireity of a truly groundbreaking discovery.

"GIRLS CAN KISS GIRLS?!"

The female goblin was equally stunned, but she still managed to snarl and started to raise one of her pilfered rocks--until Orchid put that trench club under her chin.

Orchid's threats were more of the Goblins' usual speed, though delivered with far more eloquence and precision. The female's expression remained angry, but it was clear her resolve was wavering. She trembled as Orchid described her foe's evisceration and humiliation. Finally the female threw down the rock and backed away.

"Fine! Didn't want none of your stupid stuff anyway! I'm not scared--Gonna get my own better stuff!" She turned away and headed out towards the woods, calling one last time over her shoulder. "Don't need you to teach nothin' neither! Not dumb like those three dumbs!" She stomped away, tiny green fists clenched.

The three other goblins watched her go, then turned back to Orchid. They took note of her shield and club now that the drama was over.

"Hey, dat almost look like Venture stuff! You really make dat?" said one, eyeing Orchid carefully as he tentatively reached out to touch her Wicker Shield.

"Where you learn do dat?" said the second, scratching his head. "And...ain't youse one of the younglings?"

The third simply stood there, slowly shaking his head back and forth.

"Girls can kiss girls...?"

Crispy had completed making several torches, and now had found a Hard Stone that he was using to sharpen a Sharp Stone even further. Once the sharp stone actually had an edge on it sharp enough to even split a blade of grass that was dropped on it, he began wrapping vines around the end of it to give himself a stable grip--though it was still primitive, it was clearly a step above a Sharp Stone, a Stone Knife. Another goblin, at the firecaster's demand, had brought him another Healing Herb from the goblins' limited supplies. Using it as a fresh bandage over his eye, it seemed like he was starting to regain some of his sight.

Meanwhile Rattleskull had completed a second weapon, a Wooden Spear of longer length and greater sharpness than the usual plain Sharp Sticks. He handed it to a goblin that looked a little older than most, though not so much as Crispy and Rattleskull himself. The goblin had broader shoulders than some of the others, evidence that he must have been a fairly accomplished warrior. Rattleskull began to coach him on using the spear, and though the furry monster boss didn't seem anything like a true arms master, he at least seemed to have enough experience to know that holding the spear down towards the base, along the first third of its length, allowed one to use greater leverage and get more thrust into their attacks.

---

As the curious goblin approached, he bent down on his knees to see what the blue thing under the rock had been. That was when Rain came over the rock and lunged at the exposed back of his neck. The green humanoid never managed to cry out before she had a vice like grip on his throat with her fangs, and her paralytic venom quickly took effect. He seized up in something like a fetal position, though his eyes were wide and twitching with fear.

However, a second goblin happened to see one of his compatriats huddled down on the ground like a dummy while all the rest of the tribe were working on weapons and preparations. Seeing an opportunity to show off his own dominance, he headed towards the downed goblin.

"Oi, you dumb, what you doin' over here...?!" he began to call out...

@Zeroth @Rune_Alchemist @ghastlyInc @CollectorOfMyst @ReusableSword @Kangutso

Without any mp Danny had to trust the others to take care of the rats and keep him from dying, at least seeing them deal with the Goblins gave him some hope they could handle it without too much trouble. Hope that was quickly dashed by a third and unknown Pixie delivering a warning about some kind of giant Slime coming their way before punching one the Dire Rats.

Despite the risk of distracting one of or more of his allies at the worst possible time the Wisp felt he had no choice but tell them he was helpless right now. "I need a mana crystal, I don't have enough MP left to move, let alone fight off these rats and that slime!" He just had to trust that they would be able to help him, and while he hated being helpless and an easy kill he knew he was better off then he would be if he was facing even a single rat without MP on his own.

While Ed was restraining himself from going berserk, the others took action on the situation at hand. He only needed a moment to regain control, but by the time he had, he could barely believe what his eyes shown him. It had just been a moment, but every enemy lizard was eliminated with brutal efficiency. Laying on the ground, prone; he could not help but feel embarrassed that he had not done anything useful to help his group when they were ambushed. 'If it weren't for the intervention of the others present, God knows what would have happened to us...' The young dire rat's attention was then directed to Asteria. She had been hit by the acid square on the stomach and most likely took significant damage. 'Oh shit.' Ed's eyes widened in both shock and concern for his ally and fellow former human. Ed had pushed himself up from his prone form, grimacing in pain as he tried to walk towards Asteria.

Applying weight on his acid burned hind leg was not a wise thing to do, but he could not let such a trivial thing such as this stop him from checking on Asteria's well being. It took him longer than he wished to admit, but he had moved close enough to his injured ally to see the extent of the damage done. To say it was unsightly was an understatement to the appearance of the wound. There were barely any traces of fur or undamaged skin where the acid had landed, all that remained were pinkish red flesh that still sizzled with the acid. "Christ above..." Ed then racked his mind to remember what the safety instructions from the 7th grade science lab said what to do during an accident with acid. 'C'mon! C'mon! Think!' Ed felt like a headache was coming along when he had remembered the the most prominent step in dealing with an acid burn. 'Run the burn with cold water.'

To his dismay, faucets and the like did not exist in this cave and he had to make do with what he had. He turns his gaze on the corpse of the recently deceased lizards and had a gruesome idea. He limped the nearest corpse and tore open it's stomach with his sharp claws. He sifted through it's entrails and removed the lizard's stomach with a couple inches of esophagus and intestine still connected. His fore paws were not very good at manipulating objects but Ed drained the contents of the stomach as best as he could, squeezing out any and all solid and liquid present. Once satisfied with his work, he made a knot on one end and headed to the pool with the lizard stomach in paw. Hoping that he could fill the lizard stomach with water, making it into a makeshift water skin he could use to help Asteria. He knew he was going beyond his body's natural limitations, but kept going as he was determined to do something to help her.

---

Huge slime?! Oh wonderful, today just kept getting better and better.

A combination of attacks from all of them made the first Dire Rat fall quickly. Ardur slammed his fist into it the weakened beast, finishing it off splendidly. The rats would be easy, but they couldn't fight on two fronts. That was just ridiculous in their current position. The optimal choice here? Fleeing and then letting the slime and dire rats fight, and then finish off whoever was left. She was confident in their abilities to handle them in their weakened state, but judging from the small tremors in the ground, they didn't have the luxury of time. She wasn't sure if Colchain would even understand complex directives. Likely not.

"I need a mana crystal, I don't have enough MP left to move, let alone fight off these rats and that slime!"

Danny's voice bought her out of her observations and thoughts.

"I heard you the first time!" Right, she needed to act. Not think. Action was needed here. She had a Mana Crystal on her, and she couldn't use it, so it was only natural to let the one who could have it even if she wasn't too keen on giving the thing she came out here to get in the first place up.

"There!" Vomiting up the Mana crystal, she spat it in Danny's direction. Hopefully it'd reach him and not be too damage by the venom. She couldn't reach him and protect Colchain and the others at the same time. "Try focusing on actively regenerating your Mana or something too! Everyone else, focus on keeping that slime busy! I can handle the rats!" She shouted to Danny, activating her 'Overwork' skill once more. Assuming fleeing wouldn't be a viable option, they'd have to quickly finish the rats and focus their efforts on just one large slime.

She wanted to ensure this rat was poisoned, however - so instead of simply going right for its throat with her fangs, Ash quickly stuck one of her claws in her mouth, soaking it in her venom. It'd likely burn, but that wouldn't matter so much to her. She might not make it in time to ensure that Colchain was completely unharmed, but she could at least pull the rat off of him again.

Ash Lunged at the Lizard Lunging for Colchain, baring her fangs and grabbing it with her hopefully venom soaked claws and filling her mouth with venom once more. As soon as she sank both her claws and fangs into the rat, she'd use Venom Shot at close range on the beast.

Orchid sighed as the other goblin girl fled. She made a mental note to kill her somehow. For now Orchid needed to make some more weapons. She looked at the other three goblins who she seems to have managed to charm, though they were probably just horny and dumb. ”Cripes… Alright, listen up you fools.” Orchid clapped her hands to get their attention. While her ultimate plan was to kill Rattleskull to take over the goblins, it wouldn’t be much use if all the goblins died when she takes leadership. She needed at least these three to survive so she had some workers. To that end, she needed to ensure their survival, however slight it would be. She points to one of the goblins who was curious about her shield.

”I’ll show you how to make this shield. Gather materials and make three, one for you, and one for the other two.” Then Orchid turned to the second one to answer his question. ”I’m young, not stupid. Had to learn to survive. You’re gunna learn if you want to survive. Now go gather some good sticks for spears. I will teach you how to make stone spears.” And the last one who was still in shock at Orchid kissing the other goblin girl, she snapped her fingers to get him to pay attention. ”Oi. Back to work. Find me more sticks like this.” Orchid handed him the Bowhorn. ”And vines. Or wood bark like this.” Orchid took out what was left of the fibrous bark she made the cordage from. She still had a good amount left, but she knew she’d run out by the time she finished making the spears.

”Now hurry. If you get back quick, we get done quick.”

Once the goblins gathered the materials, Orchid showed them how to make the wicker shield. She wasn’t a very good teacher, more of a “watch and learn” type as she showed them how to weave the sticks and fibers together tightly. She didn’t even know how to use a shield properly, so hopefully these goblins would learn how to do that quickly too. Next was the spears. This she was much more specific about. First she took a hard stone that had a bit of an edge; it wasn’t enough for it to cut anything, but it would be enough to shave down the bark off the sticks. ”First, take hard stone with little corner here. Shave stick down. Makes it easier to hold, and lighter.” Orchid worked quickly and easily. ”Shave, not chop. You don’t want to break stick. You break the stick you don’t get another one.” Next, she took the sharp stones that the goblins had brought her and carefully started to whittle the center of the stick. “Not too big, but not too small. Has to be just right.” Orchid didn’t rush herself for this part; she made sure to do it slowly, carefully, to emphasis how sensitive this part of the process was.Once the notch had been made, Orchid went over to Crispy’s fire to burn the end a bit. ”Clean with fire. When use with fire, makes stick harder. Won’t snap as easy. But don’t put in too long or you’ll burn it.” Soon Orchid would have a single stick with a two-prong end, charred and harden.

Now sharpen the spear stone.” Orchid took the sharp stone she was using and carefully grinded it with the hard stone she had, giving it a bit more of an edge, but not too much. She mostly grinded the side of the stone so the stone itself would fit into the spear shaft more easily. ”Don’t make stone too thin. Breaks too easily. Just enough to fit the spear.” but there was one more thing Orchid did that would be difficult even for her; she added a few notches on the bottom side of the stone, creating two little hooks at the end. Orchid explained what this was as she started to fit the stone speartip to the stick. ”Need little notches there because stone, even after sharpening, is still a bit too big. With this notch, when you stab something, the stone won’t go out. “

Finally, Orchid took out the fiber cordage. She still had a good amount left but she knew that once she used it on these spears she’d barely enough enough for another spear, or any other big project. She’d need more cordage. ”Finally, take this string, tie it all together. Don’t need much. Do it like this.” Orchid made sure the three goblins could see how she tied the strike around the spear shaft and the stonehead, and when she made it tight enough she cut the rest of the cordage off with the sharp stone. She tested the head by wiggling it around; didn’t move. She gave it a few thrusts, weighing it in her hand. It wasn’t a very long spear, barely reached Orchid’s shoulder, but it was a good length if she was behind a shield, and she was almost certain that it could be thrown. Not that she’d recommend it, but it was possible.

She handed the spear off to one of the goblins as well as the rest of her cordage and looked at the three of them. ”Now you make your own spear and shield. When you three done, I teach you how to fight with spear and shield. Now leave me alone. I need to do something.” Orchid took some meat out of her bag to roast it over Crispy’s fire. She was hungry, and all she had left was some goblin guts. Liver and Kidney, chalk full of fat and nutrients and essential to survival. She ignored the fact they came from goblins; to anyone else these organs could’ve belong to any creature inside the cave. Once Orchid finished her snack she went to make one more weapon for herself; the garrote.

This one was simple. She took the blood snare vine and added a few remaining goblin teeth onto the side, sticking it with some tree resin. This way if she had to choke someone with this, the teeth would dig into their skin and cut them, which would make the bloodvine grow even tighter around their necks. And to ensure that her own hands didn’t get caught, she simply took two sticks and attached them at the end of the vine, making a small notch on each end to make sure the vines had a snug spot to lock into. Now she had a garrote. Perfect to kill any goblin who annoys her.

Which means she had one more thing to do before she was going to go back to the other goblins. She was going to hunt down that other female goblin and either make her submit, or make sure she isn’t going to be a problem. Taking her shield, club, and garrote, Orchid went hunting for bitches.

---

@Zeroth@floodtalon@Gardevoiran@King Cosmos@Kazemitsu@Silverpaw

As the three lizards perished, Jason's rage began to dissipate, the fact that one of the pixies had also healed him helped out immensely.  Reaching out a pseudopod to the pixie, he activated [Telepathy I], 'Thank you my friend, I am in your debt.'

Seeing that Asteria had be hit with some acid, and was burned quite badly, Jason immediately took action.  Rolling over to his injured comrade, he affixed himself to the gushing artery of one of the dead lizards and began to oscillate his body, sucking as much blood out as he could, before turning to his wounded ally and gently squirting the collected blood on her wound, attempting to somewhat wash away the poison.

Once he had used about half of the blood he'd collected to clean Asteria, Jason turned his attention to the crystal stash, noticing a familiar glimmer of something atop the pile.  Moving closer, he realized his mistake far too late. The familiar glimmer he'd seen? It was a green crystal, and he just looked through it at the crystals below. Jason groaned in agony as a flood of information assailed his mind, bringing him great pain, almost like a more intense version of the telepathy backlash experienced earlier.

Re-gathering himself, the slime telepath/mage-in-training began to wish he had invested in that material analysis skill so he could figure out what the hell these green crystals were. Come to think of it, how DID he begin to develop that analysis skill? The only in-depth information on materials he had so far garnered.... WAS FROM LOOKING THROUGH THE GREEN CRYSTAL!

Ecstatic over this new realization, Jason snatched up the green crystal between a pair of pseudopods; the holy grail of analysis skills had been right next to him the whole time!!!  Steeling his mind for the incoming self-inflicted onslaught, Jason looked through the crystal at Mourningstar, grimacing as the information overwhelmed his mind.  Readying himself again as the crystal's effects faded, repeated this process on Asteria, then Mama Rat, then on a rock that he was readying  [Stone Shot II] with, then on one of the fire-touched crystals, the aftereffects seeming to lessen each time Jason repeated the experiment. Mentally exhausted, the slime mage snapped back to reality, there was no time to get distracted!!!

Setting the green crystal back in the pile, and moving over to M.S., Jason activated [Telepathy I], 'Move back.' he commanded, 'Big was me now not me too big to fit, me can fit, can help small was me now not me'

Nature Mana! So his healing spell already utilised a different form of mana than his Mana Orb and presumably his Shield spell; that information would potentially come in useful later on and he would have to add it to the list of things he wanted to experiment with when he next got the chance. That was starting to become a very long list.

For the moment however he needed to restore his mana and unfortunately he had left all of the mana crystals he had gathered behind in his haste to come help this Slime. Turning towards the creature to let him know he was leaving, Oberon couldn’t help but recoil as his vision was suddenly filled by the pseudo-pod reaching towards him. As the cool membrane of the Slime touched his forehead and the voice sounded out in his mind, however, he relaxed as he began to realise that the action was not hostile.

“Don’t mention it; that’s why I picked Pixie in the first place. Just try not to eat any more bombs.”

As the Slime rolled away with some sudden purpose Oberon also sprang into action, running back to where he was practising earlier and picking up one of his discarded mana crystals. Crushing it in his hand he let his mana refill before grabbing the other crystals off of the ground and taking to the sky with Lesser Flight.

You have used a Mana Crystal. MP is fully restored.
2 Mana Crystals added to inventory.
1 Flame-Touched Mana Crystal added to inventory.

Ascending until he had a vantage point that allowed him to see more of what was going on, Oberon turned in a slow circle to get a better idea of where everyone was and what was happening. Aside from the explosion it seemed like a group of lizards had attacked some of the others, but that situation had already been swiftly dealt with. There was some commotion happening over by the wall as well, with a large slime that had arrived with the others pressing itself forcefully into the wall for no obvious purpose.

Despite the abrupt burst of activity there didn’t actually seem to be anything that needed Oberon’s immediate attention. Slowly drifting back down to the ground the Pixie’s mind was already starting to wander back to what he had just learned; his healing spell used a different kind of mana than his other spells, but as far as he could tell they didn’t feel any different to cast. That could just be due to the fact that he was casting a spell that was innate to his species however, so he was just casting on instinct. It was possible some creatures just had certain affinities for certain kinds of magic after all; he might have an easier time casting nature spells than, say, fire or ice spells.

Well, that was something he could think about more later; for now he should probably fly around and make sure no-one was hurt in that lizard attack. Before he left he cast a Shield I spell on himself, observing the spell as he did so to try and glean a bit more information from his upgraded analysis skill; he was fairly sure the spell was non-elemental, but it never hurt to make sure.

Taking to the sky again with Lesser Flight, Oberon flew over to the small gathering of creatures he had seen earlier, the ones surrounding by dead lizards. Landing in front of the Dire Rats, hopefully making his entrance obvious enough that they wouldn’t be startled, Oberon approached them cautiously. “Hi, I’m Oberon. Do you guys need any help? Are any of you hurt?”

@Guy0fV4lor@Searat@SilverPaw@Zeroth

---

---

Asteria tore several chunks out of the lizard with great relish. She could not have possibly imagined that it would manage to turn its head within her grip, aim at her belly, and hit her with a poison volley. The acidic attack burned and Asteria faltered backwards, fell to the side and curled into a ball as she hissed out in pain. It was worse than anything that had happened to her in this world so far, probably worse than anything from her previous life too. She breathed through the pain, clenching her jaw tightly together, mind singing a litany of fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck as she struggled to think or do anything useful.

To top it off, she felt nauseated and clammy, and the system informed her she was poisoned. “Oh, fucking hell,” she muttered, not having the slightest clue how she’d survive this and desperate to do so. There had to be something, anything she could do, right? If goddamn magic existed in this world, there had to be a way for her to get out of this alive and well. For one thing, she had allies. “Guys,” she croaked weakly, but no one seemed to hear her. Edward ran somewhere else, possibly to find her something. Jason came by and sucked the blood from a lizard only to wash her with the still warm liquid. Asteria was honestly too weirded out to do anything but watch.

She thought there was still a wisp nearby, but she felt horribly weak and had to close her eyes for a moment. It was as if she could feel the life draining out of her. In a desperate attempt to try and save her own life, she focused on the energy within her, feeling out the magic she had felt earlier. She tried holding onto it, to guide it into locating and purifying the poison within her. Asteria didn’t exactly know if it helped at all, but what else was there to do? As if in answer to this question, a high-pitched voice suddenly intruded as a newcomer introduced her- or himself and offered help. Asteria opened her eyes blearily, sight somewhat hazy from being teared-up as she was. At this point, she had no way of knowing if the pixie in front of her was a hallucination or real. Nonetheless, she forced herself to croak out a sentence. “I’m poisoned. Heal me, please.” She then closed her eyes to rest just for a bit. She thought that the rest might actually turn out to be permanent this time and would have laughed hysterically if she had the strength to do so. As it was, she simply panted harshly, no option left to her but to wait, lying curled up as she struggled not to drift off.

Asura gave a huff as the rat struggled to get back up. That crack had meant a rib or two, maybe more, had broken. But this was a wild animal and they fought the hardest when wounded and cornered so he didn't let it get back up. Instead he sent a col of himself out and wrapped it around its neck before squeezing as hard as he could. Every breath it let out he squeezed harder, just like an anaconda or other constrictor would do.

Any damage it could do now would be negligible, so he turned his attention to the goblin and M.S. The goblin had continued to dig and for its efforts its ass got bit. "Next time focus less on digging and actually help kill the things that will actively interrupt." He growled out grumpily. Lunging he Smashed the dire rats flank since it was so focused on Digby. While he attacked he sent a pseudopod to M.S, letting her know he was fine with pictures. How he had smashed and was strangling the dire rat and assaulting the second.

While he 'talked' with Mother Slime he gave his other tendril, the one choking the rat, a savage twist to try and snap its neck while he kept that stranglehold on it. Multi-tasking probably wasn't a good idea but he tended to be good at it.

---

Rain shifted positions as the bastard fell to her paralysis, moving to properly rip out his neck when she heard another call out and begin moving closer. This one was going to be dead before the second arrived, she couldn't imagine anything surviving what she did. But...

These motherfuckers. Why. Won't. They. Fuck. Off!?

She was all too aware that the majority of her body was much too visible. She could use this corpse for a hiding point, staying still and out of sight until the next one came close. A repeat performance, this time with better cover.

Unless the paralysis ended and he slumped flat. That would be annoying. So very inconsiderate.

She let his blood flow over her. By the end of this she could use the sticky substance to coat herself in dirt. Such a shame to hide such pretty colors, but surviving was more important.

As the bastard got closer she prepared, carefully remaining undetected and using [Muffle II] if she needed to move.

And when he was close enough....

She'd strike, going for a repeat of her last couple stealth attacks and kills. No noise. No witness. Just... Death. Death for the stupid motherfuckers getting in her way to greatness.

“Oh, shit… Ok, no problem.” Oberon stepped forward and knelt next to the prone creature. Now that he was closer it was easily apparent that this Dire Rat was not doing too well; the voice that had responded to him had sounded worryingly weak and he didn’t like the way it was curling in on itself. Unfortunately, his options right now for healing were somewhat limited; Minor Heal would help restore the rat’s health to full, but unless something was done about the poison, depending on what kind of poison it was, that might just be a delaying action more than a cure.

“I can restore your hit points, but I’m afraid I can’t do anything for the poison. Not yet anyway.”

Reaching out and placing a hand against the Dire Rat’s flank Oberon cast Minor Heal. As he did so he used his Magic Analysis to try and observe the Mana being used, trying to see if there was anything different about this Mana compared to the non-elemental Mana he had been trying to shape earlier. He already knew his Minor Heal used Nature Mana; the question was whether or not he could work out how it did that and whether or not he could use that Mana for his other spells.

“Can you do me a favour and say ‘Open Status Menu’ and tell me what it says?”

Oberon cast Minor Heal again for good measure, once more observing the way the Mana was produced and what it looked and, potentially more importantly, felt like as the spell was formed. When he felt like he had a good grasp of what he needed to do Oberon cast a Shield I spell on the rat, but instead of casting in the normal manner and letting instinct fill in the gaps he tried to do it manually and he tried to cast the spell using Nature Mana.

“Finger’s crossed this makes a healing aura or something. A ‘heal over time’ spell would be great for things like this.”

@SilverPaw@Zeroth