Ash, Digbie, Mourningstar, Oberon, Reoth, Torrent
As Ash attempted to examine the Mana Crystal, this time she could see a dim glow within the blue crystal's depths. Back in the cave she had been able to see the glow with her own eyes, but this light seemed to be deeper within the crystal, rather than emitted from its facets. When her concentration was broken, however, her vision returned to normal after a blink. The crystal's blue color was now much lighter, and the glow was only slight within the less-dark setting of their shelter.
You used Analysis!
---Rags Nar---
This is an Elite Adult Goblin. You have learned his name is Rags Nar. Goblins stand between three and three-and-a-half feet tall on average, and while their physical strength isn't to be underestimated, they are much like human children. However, their natural cunning and viciousness is far more vile, and while they can use tools they have a limited intelligence. They tend to form savage tribes with little in common save for the constant drive to survive, and a lack of emotional control that causes them to do whatever they feel necessary to satisfy any primal craving they happen to feel at any given moment. They aren't typically capable of long-term planning and have difficulty with abstract concepts. They don't possess a great deal of magical power, but are sometimes capable of learning it. A goblin's bones aren't that different from any other creature of its size, and are thus suitable for certain types of crafting. Its hide can be tanned into leather, but it does not produce an especially durable product.
However, an Adult Goblin typically grows towards the taller side of average. Under normal circumstances, a goblin will reach puberty between 3 to 4 weeks after birth, and will finish their maturation entirely within 3 months or so. The accumulation of power due to high levels of ambient magic or unusual experiences, however, may accelerate this growth.
An Elite Goblin is a fully mature Goblin that has overcome the challenges of survival, or lived long enough, and developed into an outstanding example of the species.
Rags Nar has a higher than usual MP pool for a Goblin, but as far as you can tell he has no Magical properties. He is wearing a Broken Haubergeon (Below Average), Filthy Underwear (Bad), Vine Greaves (Good), Treebark Bracers (Good) x2, Scrap Leather Boot (Below Average), Iron Dagger (Well-Made), and a Wooden Pot Lid (Above Average). He is not quite as strong or durable as you are, but is equally as fast. You have the impression that he may possess several combat skills.
---Analysis Complete!---
You used Magic Analysis IV! You used Monster Analysis II!
---Adult Four Horned Goat---
A goat with, well, four horns. Magical mutations have made this herbivore's temper extremely volatile, however, and given it the nasty benefit of a natural poison in those horns. They have been observed to eat grasses and other plants that are poisonous, and it is thought the food it has access to will affect the strength of its venom. Every so often a normal goat will give birth to this creature, but most shepherds would rather slaughter them or toss them into the wilds than try to tame them. They are extremely hard to domesticate, and seem to be dominate breeders if left in contact with normal goats. It has much lower MP than you do. As far as you can tell it has no magical properties. It is somewhat more vulnerable to Fire and Water elements, and somewhat less vulnerable to Wind and Ice elements.
---Rags Nar---
This is an Elite Adult Goblin. You have learned his name is Rags Nar. Goblins stand between three and three-and-a-half feet tall on average, and while their physical strength isn't to be underestimated, they are much like human children. However, their natural cunning and viciousness is far more vile, and while they can use tools they have a limited intelligence. They tend to form savage tribes with little in common save for the constant drive to survive, and a lack of emotional control that causes them to do whatever they feel necessary to satisfy any primal craving they happen to feel at any given moment. They aren't typically capable of long-term planning and have difficulty with abstract concepts. They don't possess a great deal of magical power, but are sometimes capable of learning it.
However, an Adult Goblin typically grows towards the taller side of average. Under normal circumstances, a goblin will reach puberty between 3 to 4 weeks after birth, and will finish their maturation entirely within 3 months or so. The accumulation of power due to high levels of ambient magic or unusual experiences, however, may accelerate this growth. Goblins are one of a small number of monsters who can reproduce with multiple species without hybridization. A female goblin will always give birth to a goblin even if coupled with a male of another species, and a female of another species will almost always give birth to a goblin if coupled with a male goblin. However, some species may still pass traits on to goblin children. An example you would be familiar with: Rattleskull, as a Bugbear, had goblin children who will likely be more predisposed to developing greater physical strength and endurance, and may grow more body hair.
An Elite Goblin is a fully mature Goblin that has overcome the challenges of survival, or lived long enough, and developed into an outstanding example of the species. Their bodies will be further developed, though no pure Goblin four feet tall or taller has ever been observed. Their experiences have often granted them greater intelligence than their brethren, so their plans are much more complex and they are always high in the tribe's command structure.
Rags Nar has a higher than usual MP pool for a Goblin, but as far as you can tell he has no Magical properties. He is somewhat more vulnerable to Fire, Ice, and Lightning elements, and somewhat less vulnerable to Water and Wind elements.
---Analysis Complete!---
You used Analysis!
---Rags Nar---
This is an Elite Adult Goblin. You have learned his name is Rags Nar. Goblins stand between three and three-and-a-half feet tall on average, and while their physical strength isn't to be underestimated, they are much like human children. However, their natural cunning and viciousness is far more vile, and while they can use tools they have a limited intelligence. They tend to form savage tribes with little in common save for the constant drive to survive, and a lack of emotional control that causes them to do whatever they feel necessary to satisfy any primal craving they happen to feel at any given moment. They aren't typically capable of long-term planning and have difficulty with abstract concepts. They don't possess a great deal of magical power, but are sometimes capable of learning it. A goblin's bones aren't that different from any other creature of its size, and are thus suitable for certain types of crafting. Its hide can be tanned into leather, but it does not produce an especially durable product.
However, an Adult Goblin typically grows towards the taller side of average. Under normal circumstances, a goblin will reach puberty between 3 to 4 weeks after birth, and will finish their maturation entirely within 3 months or so. The accumulation of power due to high levels of ambient magic or unusual experiences, however, may accelerate this growth.
An Elite Goblin is a fully mature Goblin that has overcome the challenges of survival, or lived long enough, and developed into an outstanding example of the species.
Rags Nar has a higher than usual MP pool for a Goblin, but as far as you can tell he has no Magical properties. He is wearing a Broken Haubergeon (Below Average), Filthy Underwear (Bad), Vine Greaves (Good), Treebark Bracers (Good) x2, Scrap Leather Boot (Below Average), Iron Dagger (Well-Made), and a Wooden Pot Lid (Above Average). He is not quite as strong or durable as you are, but is equally as fast. You have the impression that he may possess several combat skills.
---Adult Goblin x4---
Goblins stand between three and three-and-a-half feet tall on average, and while their physical strength isn't to be underestimated, they are much like human children. However, their natural cunning and viciousness is far more vile, and while they can use tools they have a limited intelligence. They tend to form savage tribes with little in common save for the constant drive to survive, and a lack of emotional control that causes them to do whatever they feel necessary to satisfy any primal craving they happen to feel at any given moment. They aren't typically capable of long-term planning and have difficulty with abstract concepts. They don't possess a great deal of magical power, but are sometimes capable of learning it. A goblin's bones aren't that different from any other creature of its size, and are thus suitable for certain types of crafting. Its hide can be tanned into leather, but it does not produce an especially durable product.
However, an Adult Goblin typically grows towards the taller side of average. Under normal circumstances, a goblin will reach puberty between 3 to 4 weeks after birth, and will finish their maturation entirely within 3 months or so. The accumulation of power due to high levels of ambient magic or unusual experiences, however, may accelerate this growth.
---Adult Four Horned Goat---
A goat with, well, four horns. Magical mutations have made this herbivore's temper extremely volatile, however, and given it the nasty benefit of a natural poison in those horns. Every so often a normal goat will give birth to this creature, but most shepherds would rather slaughter them or toss them into the wilds than try to tame them. It has much lower MP than you do. As far as you can tell it has no magical properties. Its fur is quite thick and its hide can be tanned into good quality leather. Its bones and hooves are especially sturdy. Its horns are fairly hard, but hollow, and of course poisonous. It is stronger and more durable than you are, and slightly faster.
---Analysis Complete!---
Ash barely poked her head out of the cave, while Torrent stealthily made her way to a better vantage point. None of the goblins seemed to notice her. Oberon started to prepare for a fight, but stopped to see how things would play out. He felt his Mana Orb drain his MP like it normally would, but instead of firing it, it fizzled out with a display somelike like a sparkler firework. Rags Nar and the other goblins who hadn't gone up to Digbie glanced towards the Sprite with trepidation, but the leader at least seemed to be brave enough to keep his hand on his weapon. Before things could escalate any further, Digbie gave them his response.
"Rags Nar," Digbie began. To clear some things up, those 'pets' are my friends, and you guys gots some nerve, showin' up here without so much as an offerin' for my friendship!" Digbie's voice shifted to a more barbaric style. He didn't want to confuse these goblins with his big words., plus he needed to make himself sound convincing. "Still, you guys have my attention! If you want me to come and help, you'll abide by MY two demands! First, you tell me why you have come to receive my aid, and second, you come back here tomorrow, and bring one of these 'perty wimmin' with you, so I may have someone to raise under my wing!"
"Do these two things, and I'll come and see if you truly need my aid tomorrow!"
"Great Demi-Gob, youse is big brained!" Rags Nar said with a grin. "We comes to ya, cause we gonna be da biggest and bestest gobs all roun' here! Dere is udda tribes, ya see--but ain't none of 'em good as us! But, on udda side of da forest, dere's a bunch of dum gobs what listens to a dum Bugbear, named Rattleskull! He think he tuff, but since da last time we fights I went and got more gobs! And dey ain't da only ones!" The two warrior goblins returned to Rags's side, and though all of his gesturing made his goat try to rear up, the goblin holding it by a rope gave a desperate tug. "Wif yore help, wes can rule all da udda gobs! Cave Gobs, Riva Valley Gobs, Deep Wood Gobs, Big Riva Gobs, Mountain Gobs--maybe even da Orcs, way up in da mountains! We saw youse try to blows 'em up!"
With the goat finally calmed down (though it had swung its head around and clonked skull-to-skull with the horn-blower, nearly knocking him out), Rags Nar crossed his arms and nodded.
"Okay, Demi-Gob! We brings ya our perty-est guhl-gob tomorrer, den we shows ya our hideout! Is big old tower, dat-away!" he gestured to the north east with his thumb, which kind of defeated the point of not showing them, "Is kinda crumbly, but lets us sees far away, and even has bit underground! Make good cassle, for Gob king!"
With that, he leaned off his mount to kick the rope-holder in the head, and the nearly naked goblin began tugging the Four Horned Goat until it finally turned around. With the others falling in around him, the goblins began to leave the campsite...
Ardur, Asura, Momma Slime
As Asura explained things to Momma Slime again, she continued to pout. Since she hadn't been allowed to eat the Lizard, she instead munched on one of the two Healing Herbs Asura had left for her...then suddenly, she perked up.
"Ahsoowah! Mageek Wesesitese!" she blurbled, bouncing up and down. If Asura remembered correctly, the Resistance Skills did require someone to heal completely before they triggered--likely because if the body was "adapting" to damage, it had to rebuild itself, like a muscle that got stronger after working out. So Momma Slime must have had some form of leftover damage, and now that she had healed the skill had triggered.
Ī̝̹͐̂̆̈͋̿̚͞N̨͇̰̗͓̑̉̓͐̐ͧ͌̌ͪ͜͠V̬̦̰̥͙̬̹͕̞ͩ̃́̏͠A̯̮̱̘̲̜̯̠̐̈͒̃̿͢Ļ̷͔͙̝̻̝͓ͣ͐ͭ̀̆́I̧ͫ̅͏͉̹̭̭̺̻D̟̠͈̙͍̬̊̋ͯ̓̄ͯ́̀͟ ̰̝̰͍͔̖̤̟̑͒C̸̛̣̠̪̎̒̉̏̎̓ͧ̃ͣ͘O̳̺̮̫͐̊͗̓̇͝M̨͑̀̋͌ͦ҉͍̺Ṁ̨̞̗͍̥̲͖͔̊͊͒͒̉̒̚͠A̶̳̦̺̹̳̦̔̈́͌̇͑ͨ̅N̮̬͛͛̂ͨD͉͙̻̓ͨ͗̈̋̉
As Asura focused more intently on that sizzling sensation, and even tried to access his Mana for the first time ever in the attempt to convert it into stamina, the feeling grew stronger. And although he began moving towards the strange call he was feeling across the pool...the notice for HP Drain actually triggering didn't pop up again. That meant that his stamina had to be increasing...but how long could he actually stave it off?
Now that Ardur was out and about in the world again, he intended to "put an end" to all of this. As he seemed to be thinking out loud, he headed towards Jason's Cave in the distance along with Asura and Momma Slime. He used his new Inspire skill, and could practically feel the tingle traveling up his vocal cords as he spoke loudly and proudly. But, as he went on, he could feel his Mana rapidly draining as well...
“This is a call to action, this is a call to arms, all lives for one, together, there are no false alarms.” This alone felt just as draining as the chant he had used for his Fireball right before Jason's attack. Yet energy surged through his body. Much like "hyping" oneself up before a big game or some form of competition, he felt a rush. The magic, too, seemed to buzz in his head. “I have the will, to protect, to lead, to nurture. I have the will of the sun to bring balance to the cycle and release these undead from their earthly bonds." He envisioned what he wanted to happen, he called upon the sun's power. He felt as if those few rays he could see coming from the cavern's ceiling were just a little bit brighter, but was he really seeing that or was it just his imagination? He visualized an orb, light and fire, and the freedom of these seemingly trapped souls within the cavern.
“The sun takes and gives power. These souls are the power I give to it so that I may will its power here and now.”
His intent was to "release" the souls. But now he declared them an "offering?" He envisioned an orb--but also a bright, penetrating flash?
Spell Casting has been interrupted by ERROR.
It is likely you do not possess the Skill you are attempting to use.
Attempted Skill unclear.
You have not specified an alteration of the attempted Skill.
Possible Alterations Attempted: Magic Break? Fire Enchantment? Light Enchantment? Cleansing? Please Insert Alteration.
Your Spell Chant consumed too much Mana.
You have no MP remaining.
You have overdrawn your MP.
You are experiencing Mana Burn. Natural MP Recovery slowed by 50%.
As this notice popped into Ardur's head, his body let out a sudden flash--it was like that final burst given by a lightbulb before it's filament burned out. Like the neon red-green-blue or other colored flash that stayed in your eyes for a moment even after you closed them. And, as far as he could tell, nothing else about the cavern had changed...
Except for the fact that there were no Mana Crystals left.
They had all been crushed to powder, and that powder too had begun to dissipate. As the two slimes and Ardur got closer to Jason's cave, they would also see that many of the Healing Herbs growing around the Pool were now beginning to suddenly wither...
And coming directly at the trio, from the direction of the cave, were now 3 Skeleblins--different from the ones they had fought before. And, flying drunkenly up above the yellowed bones, there were 2 Pixies. One of them seemed to have had its entire body crushed at some point, and one of its arms was dangling from a wound that had almost blown it off at the shoulder--yet still it moved. The other was also clearly not healthy, having a few joints out of place and several wounds that looked like bite marks. Coming from around the edge of the pool, seemingly to join up with the rest of the undead, was a Dire Rat trailing its own intestines...
"Ahsoowah, not liek dem..." Mother Slime said, quivering even as she followed the Amorphous Slime and Hipixie.
Asteria, Ed, Mother Rat
Just before Mother Rat could pounce, Asteria took the initiative. As she brought the goblin girl down, the greenskin started to let out a cry--until she felt Asteria's claw on her throat.
“Stay still and silent, and you live. Try anything, you die. Understand?”
"H-how---mmh, mhm!" She had started to say something, but shut up as soon as Asteria threatened her. Eyes wide and lips trembling, she looked towards the pile of sticks, and her hand twitched towards her belt...but she dared not do anything that might be construed as a threat. Mother Rat jumped down from the tree, landing hard on the goblin's back and prompting another muffled squeak of pain from the girl--but Asteria stopped her with quiet chatters. The adult dire rat tilted her head, not quite understanding.
“Goblin? I don’t know what your name is, but you’re coming with us for a bit. We’ll let you go once we get far enough that your group won’t catch us even if you tell them all about us. So, just cooperate, would you? Refuse, get dead. Simple, right?”
"O-oh, okays..." Asteria roughly shoved at the green monster, and with her mass and beastly strength it was easier to roll the goblin over than one might think. The girl whimpered and gathered her limbs close to her body, holding herself. When Asteria gagged her, the girl started to cry. But as Asteria started to try and get the goblin on her back, she found that there was too much weight and not enough leverage. The goblin stood up, but Mother Rat was instantly at her legs, growling and hissing, and the goblin made no attempt to run away.
"Mmfh, mmhmmfh!" The goblin pointed at herself, then at Asteria, while hopping from one foot to the other as Mother Rat ran around her legs and menaced her. She seemed to be indicating that she would follow without trying to run.
When Asteria nosed the ground, she would find that it was still slightly wet from the light rain of the previous night--but that water was either sinking deeper into the ground or drying up by this point of the day. She could smell, however, that the fresh grass out on the plains to the south was lush and healthy--maybe the rain had been heavier out that way, or maybe the plants held a lot of water. She could also smell the scents of the goblin, the same ones Ed had picked up.
Ed had to carry the sticks, as Mother Rat didn't understand what he was trying to get her to do. When he stopped her from menacing the goblin girl, she reared up on her hind legs and rubbed her face with her forepaws again. Why was this Pack so strange?
When the Goblin girl saw the Rat Man for the first time, she gasped through her gag and trembled even harder, shrinking in on herself. She kept glancing between Asteria and Ed as she was forced to go along with them, and she sniffled and cried the whole time while darting her eyes around like a terrified animal.
“When I was up on that tree, I saw a bit of the surroundings. The forest stretches far into the north-east. Straight to the east is a human house, maybe a forester’s hut. There was just one smoke trail I saw, but who knows if there are more or not? South, there are plains, weirdly empty. May be some swamp, lake, or something a shade darker than grass way southwards. Westwards are mountains. Wherever we go, we need to secure a water and food source. Warmth too, depending on where we head to. I’d suggest staying away from the cave, the humans, and the mountains. So, either the forest, or better yet in my opinion, the plains. But if you’d rather elsewhere, just say. The goblin girl stays with us until her group won’t be able to chase us down even after we release her. It’s inconvenient, I know, but if she reports back to the whole goblin group about us, we’re dead meat in any case. I should have just tried to get Mother Rat to stop somehow,”
"If you are angry at me, I understand completely. It was a lapse of logic and judgement and I'm sure it would have been safer, perhaps even better, if I hadn't displayed mercy and just took her life outright...but I just couldn't do it. No. I wouldn't do it. Hell, I don't know why. I mean I've been killing out of necessity or self defense for the past few days, what's one more life taken to guarantee we make a safe escape? But When I looked at her, she seemed different from the other goblins we encountered in the cave. For what malicious cruelty you would see in a normally in a goblin's eyes, she only has a timid curiosity a child would. And I, for one, know that Edward Marsh is the kind of person that would never harm innocent people and even a lesser chance to harm children...but after recent events, I'm not too sure myself."
When they finally stopped for a moment, the girl sat down--or rather, collapsed on her knees and then fell back on her butt--and tried to breathe deeply through her nose. The constant tension of fear had probably tired her out much quicker than normal. Asteria offered her a Healing Herb, but she couldn't take it unless they removed the gag. When Asteria did, the goblin turned her head and coughed and spluttered until all the wood chips were out. She wiped at her tongue--that taste had probably been quite unpleasant.
"I, I not hurts t-too bads..." she said, "B-but I's hungry..." She accepted the herb hesistantly and munched on it while the other two examined their surroundings and debated the next course of action.
"I agree that we should definitely avoid the mountains and cave right now. We should check the hut out later, maybe in the middle of the night, but yeah. As of now, we ought to avoid people. I'm sure they won't take too kindly to our current forms. The plains is our best bet, but we can be easily seen there and there is no guarantee we can find a stable water and food source. But I will keep my promise and will find them as long as we still agree not to eat her. None the less you need to take a break from carrying her, just wait and rest here for a bit and I'll get us something to eat. Maybe even some spare herbs if I find some."
Ed could smell several new scents of plantlife now that they were further out in the plains. The tall grass was more than high enough to completely hide Asteria and Mother Rat if they were so inclined, and came up to Ed's chest even if he stood at his full height. He and the Goblin both had trouble walking in it, and had to push the grass in front of them over to one side. If they did this too much, however, it seemed they would leave an easily seen trail...
Aside from plain old regular looking tall, green, thin stalks of grass that made up the majority of the plains coverage, Ed also saw several new things. The one that had the closest scent to Healing Herbs was a tall flower patch of some kind. On long stalks, between 4 and 30 inches in length, big flowers with hairy leaves bloomed. The flowers were a light, almost neon blue at their tips and darkened from gray to black towards their centers--their petals were long and ray-like, growing from the center in clusters of at least a hundred petals or more. There was also a type of grass with green and red pellets of some kind growing in clusters along its length, the heaviest of these causing it to hang over like a fox's tail. The pellets were hard, like kernels of corn, and the reddest ones seemed the hardest while the green were softer.
Then there was a plant with blue and yellow blossoms, less than an inch across. Their stems were rather woody, and they were between 2 and 3 and a half feet tall, some growing even taller than Ed and the goblin. A few of them had a green, sticky substance leaking out...it didn't smell too pleasant to Ed, kind of a soured milk scent. However, every once in a while he also caught a whiff of something minty, kind of like the flavor of Healing Herbs. Butterflies seemed to flock towards these plants. And near these same plants, another set of flowers grew. The same height as the others, these stems ended in pinecone-like protrusions, and had long, drooping purple petals. The cones were almost as large as Ed's fist, and the petals twice as long as his fingers.
But every so often there were also what looked like thorny weeds among the grasses and plants. If they wanted to harvest anything, they might need to be careful so as not to cut themselves. The thorns looked like small sewing needles, rather tiny but very sharp at their tips.
"U-um, can Jezee g-go now?" asked the Goblin, looking pleadingly at Asteria.
Danny
You used Magic Analysis I! This is a Monster, effectiveness reduced to 35%.
---Slime---
This Slime possesses no magical qualities that you can detect. Its MP is lower than your own.
---Analysis Complete!---
As Danny floated further away, out of the little nook in the wall, the Slimes were unable to follow him. Now he was completely out of their range. The one with the rock made a sound like a wet fart and popped the stone back out--it only arced a few inches into the air, and landed a foot away from the slime on the ground, harmlessly.
But even though Danny had a good distance head start on his adversaries, he decided to go for one more attack--a Rank II Mana Orb, which used more MP than the Mana Dart he had already used and the Lesser Force II he had been using.
The crackling energy blast tore through the slime, causing it to squeal in a loud, watery pitch as it shrank back. The green slime didn't seem to want any more of this, and began to huddle against the back of the wall. The yellow slime, however, saw the Wisp begin to fall.
Danny was out of MP!
And, as he managed to levitate just enough to soften his landing on the ground, he could no longer see any Mana Crystals around...The yellow slime began to lurch towards the edge of the rocky crevice, slowly dripping down the side of the wall...
??? Jason ???
You don't know everything...yet you will continue? You will make something, for yourself?
Jason went down the right passage, feeling as if he were on the world's longest rollercoaster. Lights and sounds were beginning to dim all around him...had he chosen wrong? He could barely hear the voice...
You were a Slime Mage. You were a warlord. You wanted power. You wanted to be born anew. You wanted to make something for yourself. You ARE Jason.
Suddenly Jason burst out of a white, misty cloud. He was back in the monochrome world, back in this empty, frozen space. The red light from the core had grown much brighter, much larger--it was like looking at the sun in the clear blue sky, except it was right here down on the earth, not up in the air.
He had freed himself of the mass of souls--he saw Rattleskull reaching for him with a roar, but the Bugbear, too, was drawn back into the writhing mass. They were beginning to lose cohesion, losing themselves, and they were being drawn towards the core like dust towards a vacuum...
"You make it out after all, Ja-Soon. Maybe ya not so dum afta all." Bonie Bitz had appeared again, sitting on top of a grayscaled rock and watching him with a smirk. She pointed--though time was still frozen, it seemed everything around them had moved somehow. Jason could now see Asura, and Momma Slime, and...was that Ardur? Why was he so much bigger than before? They were heading for the Dungeon Core...and a large number of Undead were heading for them.
"Da Core don't need ya no moar. Ya spirit free...if ya got da strength to BE free." She looked out towards the cave entrance, and sighed. "Ya lucky, Ja-Soon. Ya only had to hold yaself for a short bit. Bonie die long time ago. All da Old Gobs dies, too. Udda gobs too busy fightin' and not dyin' to tell da old stories. And now dey leavin'. And Bonie can't go wif 'em. Not strong enuff no more."
She pointed again. Back in the Nesting Area, there was...a tiny, golden glimmer?
"Betta hurry. Won't stay lucky foreva."
But behind Jason, the Dungeon Core was still pulling at him. And he had said himself that it needed to be dealt with. Something was different about this place, wasn't it? Didn't he want to see the Core, see how it was different in this place? Didn't he want to know what was happening to Rattleskull and the others? Maybe he could fix it. Bonie had just said she didn't have much strength anymore--HE had the power. Only he could do it. Only him...
Orchid's Tribe
You crafted an Item!
Fiber Cord (Average) + [Crafting Method]
Your Crafting IV skill prevents the degradation of your item!
Your crafting method is more efficient.
Your Crafting IV skill boosted the quality of your item!
Obtained Item: Vine Bracer (Above Average)!
A simple bracer made by wrapping vines in a compact manner. You have used a particular pattern to double up the layers of cordage. It is very vulnerable to Fire and Slashing damage. It provides only a small boost to your defenses.
None of the other goblins knew where Sqwal and Jezee had gone, although a few had seen them wander off into the woods at different times. Bigs jumped at the chance to follow Orchid, probably because he wanted to find something to fight and use his sling on. Crispy was more hesitant, as even though he had a green bandage wrapped around his arm now and the swelling had gone down significantly, he still couldn't use his fingers much at all and it hurt if anything even brushed it. He kept it tucked close to his body and carried a torch in his hand, and his stone knife in his teeth in case he needed to switch fast.
As the other goblins obeyed her orders--without as much sass as she had been used to before her evolution--Orchid and her little party headed into the forest. They searched in a wide arc, and after several minutes came across some trees to the south where it looked like something had been clipping the smaller branches off, and there was a brief sign of some kind of struggle.
They all immediately jumped on guard as something came rustling through the tall, thick grass up ahead--but it was soon revealed to be Sqwal, practically crawling out on his hands and knees.
"I sawed dems! Da big blue rat thing! Didn't look like a rat, looked like a gob wif rat fur and a rat head, but I sawed it! It and two udda rats, normal ones, dey took Jezee! And dey could talk!"
At this revelation, Crispy looked to Orchid.
"Yoona wuz right, Boss, can't trust dem udda monstas even if dey speak gob! We needs ta get Jezee back, kill dese ones, and den leave dem uddas alone til later!"
