Xiao Mei, Asteria
Exploring Near Crystals and Cave Walls (D1)@SilverPaw@JobstAs Xiao Mei rushed back to the safety of her mother’s side, Asteria tried to ward off the two Fanged Lizards that Lorek had tried and failed to hunt. But rather than scare them, it seemed she instead attracted their attention. One of the Lizards was clearly hurt, so they must have taken her hiss as a sign of aggression rather than one of warning. Instinctively, they sought to keep more potential attackers at bay, and both once again launched their Poison Spit at the group of rats.
Mother Rat would no longer be calmed by her offspring, and with a snarl of her own she leaped away from the oncoming globs. With that well known rodent agility, she landed on a nearby rock and then bounded off again, teeth gnashing and claws slashing. She didn’t even look to see if her two daughters would follow her into the fray, or if they had been struck by the poison...
Edward
Battle Royale (D1)@SearatEd jumped off the rocks and fell upon the Wisp with ravenous fury. The creature squealed as his fangs bit into it and his claws slashed at it. Wisps, as he had just seen with Mei’s sneak attack, were not the most physically sturdy of creatures. With this one having just been hit by the goblin’s rock, it was no match for the already physically powerful Dire Rat.
As Ed finished off the Wisp, the rest of the battle continued to rage. The first of the other Dire Rats, the one that had been bludgeoned, shook itself off and once more launched itself at the goblin. The green creature managed to get his hands up in time to defend himself, but the rat still sank its fangs into the meaty part of one hand. The goblin screamed, but tightened his grip and then attempted to smash the rat--in the process using it as a makeshift bludgeon on the still-entwined Slime and Fanged Lizard. Both of the creatures reacted in shock at the blow, separating from one another. The Slime didn’t seem too awfully worse for wear, aside from the fact that the lizard’s acidic spit seemed to be continually damaging it, but the Fanged Lizard was shaky on its feet. It fired a glob of poison spit right into the goblin’s eyes--just as the second dire rat that had been shot by the Wisp ran up the green monster’s back and sank its teeth into the greenskin’s neck. The Slime, meanwhile, now grappled with the first Dire Rat. With the other rodent already weakened, it seemed almost too easy for the slime to begin enveloping and crushing the life out of it.
The goblin would be down any moment, as would the other rat, but the lizard, the slime, and the second rat still had some fight in them despite their weakness...If Ed played his cards right he could get a second kill, but did he want to risk charging into the melee…?
Asura, Edith
On The Trail (D2)@Kazemitsu@ShwiggityShwahAs Asura and Edith rolled away from the pool and followed the trail into the darker area of the caverns, they soon moved away from the green herbs. The moss, however, continued to grow here. It seemed that with the darkness and dank, there was some slight ground water dripping from the stalactites above them. It made a good environment for the algae or fungus, whatever it was. And the trail continued, no matter how thick the spongy green carpet became.
But soon their rounded forms, spinning just a little too fast for their “eye” sight to register in time, softly bumped into something and bounced off. When they unfurled themselves, they would see that they had come to a simple rock ledge--if they had still been human, it would have been no more than a step or two high.
On top of the ledge was a flat shelf, where less moss grew. But it was hard to see much else, as the cave had become almost pitch black at this point.
Something big burbled out of the darkness. Something that sounded like a rat squeaked once, then went silent with a squelch. As if sensing the presence of two more creatures, the big burbling thing came forward.
A blue slime, easily twice and a half as big as Asura or Edith, slowly lurched towards them out of the darkness…
Lorek, Danny
The Pool (D1)@Bishop@DuthguyAs Lorek ran away, he at least managed to use one of his crystals to restore his MP. But his HP was still in dire straits, and what was more as he ran he blindly found himself now over the watery pool from before. At least he was out of range of anything except other wisps now, as the lizards couldn’t seem to spit as far as he could shoot his magic. But the green herbs were getting very thin here, there might not be many of them left.
Angrily, he cursed the wretched vermin who had done this to him. The rage and hatred, the metaphysical blackness that burned his soul like bile that refused to come up, came to a boil inside him…
You are experiencing a fast rate of Skill Progression.
Your Curse Affinity grants you a higher growth for one of your skills.
Your experiences have granted you a new skill!
Skill Gain: Curse Word I
The simplest form of curse, using your words to focus all of your malice upon a target. By channeling your power through these words you obtain a true “curse,” causing your opponent to take slightly more damage from a single attack that hits them afterward.
Meanwhile, as Danny rushed to help his fellow Wisp, he let himself get too focused on someone else’s needs. He neglected to watch his surroundings, and it cost him…
He and the random Pixie collided with one another, nearly knocking both of them out of the air. As they each shook it off, the pixie made angry sounding, childlike noises at him, before dive bombing him with a flying kick as its wings fluttered...
Jason
The Hole in the Wall (D2)@Guy0fV4lor
As Jason used Stone Shot to shoot the severed Goblin hand inside him, the Wisp let loose its second Mana Orb. The two projectiles collided in the tunnel, and the result was a sudden splatter of goblin flesh and blood, and the slight clatter of bones against the cavern walls. Jason managed to flatten himself against the tunnel floor, and surged forward in an attempt to get under the Wisp. The Wisp, unsure whether or not this was an attack of some sort, pressed itself closer to the ceiling of the small chamber. But as the two avoided each other, and Jason achieved his goal of getting back towards the entrance of the tunnel, the Wisp managed something he hadn’t seen yet.
He had seen enough of other Wisps in the cave at this point to realize that they only had a few Mana Orbs to shoot before they ran out of MP. However, if they were out of MP, how did they continue to float? Or return to floating after only a few moments, without actually using a Mana Crystal? It stood to reason then, that some of their magic could be activated with very little MP, or perhaps didn’t rely JUST on magic to function. Much like someone who has exercised themselves to exhaustion can often take a deep breath and get in just one more repetition, the Wisp strained itself just once more.
Its Lesser Force grabbed a gooey chunk of Jason’s body and squeezed. A single Mana Crystal, like a soap bar under pressure, shot out of the green slime’s membrane and clattered to the floor between the two combatants...
Rain
Nearby the Bonfire (D2)@Old Amsterdam
As Rain pumped her skillpoints into Poison Glob...there was no notification that she had gained a new skill yet. It had been at 0.1, and she had pumped 5 points into it...but no Skill Gain. What was up with that?
But, she successfully stealthed her way closer to the bonfire, where she could observe Crispy and that female hunter from before as they seemed to be talking about a trade of some sort. That female goblin was oddly eloquent for some reason. And the last time Rain had seen her, she had been chasing Ash after the Lizard Tribunal’s hasty dispersal. What could that mean for Rain’s other allies…?
She managed to get within range. One of the goblins moved suddenly, but he was looking up at the ceiling, not at her. And it looked like Crispy had discarded his torch for the moment, and was focused on what the female was doing...
Orchid
Looking to Trade (D2)@Lucius Cypher
”I can make something you do not have. But to make it, I need something only you have.” Crispy looked at her clay, then followed her gaze to his torch. He raised an eyebrow, and took in a breath. ”I want to know how you make fire. Your magic. I try to make fire but it is hard and difficult. I know fire can do muchz make much. With fire…” Crispy started to say something, but then stopped. “We goblins can be so much stronger. But only if I know how you made it, how you control it. Teach me, and I shall teach you what I know.”
Crispy held up his torch and cleared his throat--
”I have been in this cave for only a week. But I have seen much. And I know how much of a struggle it is for us goblins. We don’t have magic. We aren’t strong. And a lot of us aren't that smart.” The flame-touched goblin furrowed his brows. Orchid looked to the three goblins who were obviously just here as muscle. She removed the makeshift bandage on her shoulder to show the goblins her scars. Though the herbs healed most of the damage they could still see the ugly hole where she was stabbed.
“Alone we are weak. A few of us might become strong, like Rattleskull or you, Crispy. But if we don’t work together and share our power? We will die, like all the other goblins before us. Teach me how you make fire. And I will teach you how to make weapons, armor, and many things that will make us goblins rule this cave. And then the world!”
“YOU TALKS TOO MUCH!” Crispy flailed with his torch and stomped his foot for a moment. He gave Orchid an “evil eye” before he finally got to say his own piece. “And...how you talks so good and so much? You only been borned a week...you already hunt? Made dat sword? Made fire?” Now the fiery goblin seemed more suspicious than anything. He dipped a finger in Orchid’s clay and rubbed it for a moment, then stood straight again. “Hmm…” He finally turned back to his fire, putting what was left of his torch back into the blaze before turning back to Orchid with crossed arms.
“You weird, youngling. But show little bit of what you trying to trade. I’ll teach den.” He gestured towards the bonfire with his head. “You can has wood if you needs it. But just a little!”
One of the three goblins glanced upward. He looked like he had seen something--or rather, like he thought he had seen something, but upon actually looking couldn’t really find anything...
Digbie, Mourningstar, Oberon, Orochi
The First True Party!? (D2)@King Cosmos@CriticalHit@Gardevoiran@floodtalon
As Mourningstar practiced refining her Mana Orb using what she had learned from Mana Shape, the orb came out with a slightly different shape. Rather than a perfectly round sphere, it became elongated and somewhat thinner. It took on a crescent shape, and once fired, spun through the air more like a thrown blade than a straightforward projectile. But doing it that way took significantly more effort, and as of yet it didn’t seem to have any real effect on what the orb actually did...perhaps with practice she could continue to refine that thinner edge, or increase its speed…
Oberon, on the other hand, took a less hands-on approach at first. His first step was to use his Magic Analysis skill until he understood what Mourningstar was doing. For the second step, he took a calming, almost meditative route and did some introspection over his own magic and how it felt to use it, to manipulate it. He compared it with his observations, with what he had learned. And only then, after coming up with a clear image in his mind, did he begin to practice.
Skill Rank Up: Magical Analysis II
Gain more detail about Magic oriented Skills and Spells. Lose less effectiveness when analyzing Monsters, Materials, etc so long as they are magically inclined.
You are experiencing a fast rate of Skill Progression.
Your use of Magical Analysis grants you further insight into the nature of a spell!
Your practice has culminated in a new skill!
Skill Gain: Mana Orb I
A simple blast of magic. At the moment it only does as much damage as a strong punch on average, unless the enemy is weak to magic. As it gets stronger it becomes a generic, non elemental energy blast.
As he threw his concentrated ball of Mana, he felt it practically jump from his hand. With an almost angry sounding crackle, it crashed into one of the rocks nearby and singed it before dispersing. Success!
