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As she flicked the last of the goblin blood off Glacier Chain and their cries went silent, Alja snorted in displeasure. She almost wished she were still drunk--[i][color=d1fffc]so THAT'S what that feels like?[/color][/i]--so the damned smell of the goblins wouldn't be as bad. But Graves' blood magic, plus the excessively hot and humid day...more so than any other she could remember experiencing in Pariah, actually, now that she thought about it...had her sobered up relatively quickly. And now that she was sober, she came to another strange realization: she'd never felt hunger in PO before. But the way her stomach was pinching up was unmistakable, and she found herself wishing even more that she'd snagged one of Seele's sandwiches back in the tavern.

The first goblins they'd encountered were...well. Low-level mooks, at best. And that bothered her too. No ambush in the approach to the dungeon, and now that they were INSIDE of the main structure...just goblins? Something about it didn't sit right with her. She almost wanted to bring it up, and maybe call the whole thing off. But, she grimaced, the group would never go for that. They were here for a raid, and they were going to get that damn raid. Without her, it would just take longer, and the less time they had to spend raiding with this weird series of glitches or features--whatever they were--the better.

A brief conversation was had regarding the murals--[color=d1fffc][i]ah, Graves, what a charmer[/i][/color]--before they formed up in their separate groups, ready to split, as she did, Alja called over to her friend: 

"[color=d1fffc]Hey, Leafy! If we beat this raid, I'll make you that steel warbow you wanted a while back, and a whole quiver of arrows for it! I've got the mats now, so count on it![/color]"

Satisfied, she stretched, rolling her head and cracking her knuckles as she joined her raid team, just as Seele was finished up giving a cute little pep talk. "[color=d1fffc]Right, I'm all specced for max damage, ready to go.[/color]" Glacier Chain took on a dangerous glint as unstable Tundra Glass crystals coalesced on it, just waiting for an impact to set them free. Then, right as she felt the tension building in her stomach knot harder, Alex raised...a really, really good point, actually. And the tension began to untwist a little. "[color=d1fffc]Know what, Alex? You're probs right. The sudden dungeons rising, the weird glitch-like stuff; really feels like a hidden local update, now you mention it.[/color]" She sighed with a measure of relief. 

"[color=d1fffc]Anyway,[/color]" she began, "[color=d1fffc]I'll take left flank, a little closer to the front so I can buff up Rael if I need to. If you're cool with that, all?[/color]" She looked back and forth between Rael, Graves and Benkei, waiting for the go-ahead to get into position and falling back into the old stance, flail on her shoulder. [i][color=d1fffc]I'm getting nervous over nothing. I'll clear, then I can log off and...I dunno, make some soup.[/color][/i]