Xaltwind

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

Grabbing onto Steppe Archer's hand, Druid Girl got back up onto her own two feet - her tiny pixie circling about overhead in a frantic state, only alming down oonce her summoner ws standing once more. It, at that point, flew over to Steppe Archer's face and gave her the most teeniest of unfeelable peck on the cheek, apparently showing affection to the nomad for having assisted her 'master'. This little scene caused Druid Girl to giggle, tiredly, but good naturedly.

"Someone's popular." She said, smiling.

At Steppe Archer's question about being taught spellcraft though, Druid Girl wrinkled her nose and scratched her own cheek with her free index finger. At this point, she hadn't even heard Big Red jump down into the goblin pit, as all her focus was given to answering the rather sudden and out-of-the-blue question. It wasn't that she didn't want to, or wasn't happy to be appreciated and relied upon, buuuut...

"I... I'm sorry." She said finally. "I really wouldn't know how. Druidic magic is something you need to learn from an Arch Druid, like my master. It's not something a novice like me could teach. Most I could do is tell yuo what plants you can and can't eat." The final bit was said with a bit of a laugh, as she rested one hand behind her head and gave a sheepish smile.

At that point, however, a loud thud caught her attention and the caramel-skinned girl spun around. Apparently, their lizard friend had found something down in the pit, and brought it back up to share with everone. Unfortunately, it was yet another body of what was most likely the party who had attempted this quest before they themselves. Druid Girl's cheery mood almost evaproated in an instant, a dour look in her eyes and her lips formed a frown. That was two out of four dead... But, hold on.

Just as she was about to state the obvious, Big Red told them something strange. The tunnel he'd gone into was a dead end? That didn't make sense... They hadn't come across anything that looked like a place where the goblins stored their equipment or kept their food or tools... Wait, did goblins even do that? Maybe they just dropped stuff on the ground and went to sleep on wherever? But then, where were the other two adventurers? Had they escaped somehow? That seemed unlikely... Surely they would've headed for that grumpy farmer's homestead, or made their way back to Palisade Town if that were the case.

At Steppe Archer's suggestion though, the girl snapped back to the present and nodded in agreement with her hunter-friend.

"Yes. You should drink an antidote, big fella. Those arrows and weapons looked... Usanitary..." Druid Girl grimaced as she tried to phrase things delicately.

On that note, she walked over to the crumpled heap that was the former swordsman. Kneeling down, she turned the youth onto his back and gave him a look-over. A boy, about the same age - perhaps just slightly older - than she and Steppe Archer. His eyes were widend and his mouth was agape. Arrows stucfk out of his lower back and his neck was limp and obviously broken. It was hard to tell, but most likely he had died from falling into the hidden pit and broken his neck, rather than the arrows having killed him. Not that it really mattered, poor guy was dead as a rock regardless. Strangely though, unlike the Priest they had encountered earlier, this one didn't have bite-marks or scratches all over him... Though he did smell of urine... Was it his own? Or had the goblins used him as a toilet after his demise? She... She really didn't want to think about that.

Standing back up, she moved around the cavernous room, walking over to the goblin bodies - or what reamined of them, after Big Red's rather savage treatment of them. She picked up the knives, the hatchet and the sword, walking back to her group and laying the weapons on the ground. She left the goblin bows alone, as they looked far inferior and much too shoddy to be something that Steppe ARcher would want.

"I suppose we can take these with us. No point in leaving them here. We'll uh... We'll need to clean them first though." She said, picking up one of the hunting knives and holding it out for the others to see. Her pixie flew down close to it, revealing something... Unpleasant.

The blade was covered in a layer of what looked to be muck, a brownish and yellowish color that was anything other than appealing to look at... Or smell for that matter. Druid Girl's face looked like she was straining herself to keep her own gag-reflex from kicking in.

"They've... Uhm... Coated these things in, what I can only assume, is their own urine and... well... uh... _feces... I'm guessing they've done that with the... err... arrowheads... too... Yeah... Be... Be careful when you handle them, alright? They could cause some really nasty infections." The nature-savvy girl warned, putting the knife back down in the small pile of weapons. "I don't think there's any other places to go besodes that pit though." She said, in response to the archer's idea of looking around for more tunnels. "If there were, the goblins would'be been a lot more careful when running at Big Red... And they probably wouldn't have all popped outta the same place either." She reasoned. "It's strange that there's just a dead end down there though... I... I'll have a look too." She finally stated, heading over to the hole.

Unlike Lizard Fighter, Druid Girl wasn't built to just take leaps of faith, her frame wasn't sturdy enough for that. Instead, she had to use the cruddy log-ladder that the goblins had made... And it wasn't easy. The grooves and cuts in it were uneven and shallow. Her standals weren't great for getting grip along the log's frayed and crumbling bark either, and about half-way down, she lost her footing and fell backwards, landing promptly on her squishy buttocks. The two above could hear a plethora of very unlady-like phrases being uttered in a rather loud and irritated voice, finished off with some concern about her butt now being bruised.

With her pixie-friend following her, Druid Girl gave the tunnel around her a proper once-over though. Like Big Red had said, there really wasn't much down here. A slightly inclined vertical shaft leading up, and a short tunnel leading up to a moss-covered wall. Wait a second...

"That's strange... Why's only that wall covered in moss? And all the way across? That doesn't seem right." She said aloud, walking closer to the strange, unnaturally occurring vegetation.

Placing a hand carefully upon the growing plantlife, she immediately realized something. This was dead. It wasn't growing so much as it had just been slapped onto the surface behind it. Brushing some of the vegetation aside woudl reveal planks. Wooden, shabby-looking planks. So, this was a door? A hidden blockade meant to make intruders turn back? Steppe Archer had been right on the money with that notion of her's!

"Hey! There's a door of some kind down here!" She called back up to her allies.

Attempts at forcing the blockage open though, proved unsuccessful. Druid Girl's shoulder and overall bodymass wasn't quite large or strong enough to knock the door down.. But that begged the question, how the heck did the goblins get in and out of there?

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

With Big Red lurching forth and approaching the last survivng goblin archer, the little long-nose began to panic and shriek... Only to be silenced with a glurgh-like sound, as the arrow from Steppe Archer wizzed by Big Red, and Druid Girl's, sides and pierced the little monster's eye, giving him a wicked letheal face-piercing. Interestingly, as the goblin flew backwards form the force of the shot that had killed it, it didn't land ontop of the hay like the rest around it. Instead, its body seemed to sink down into the dried grass and just... Vanish?

Druid Girl stopped her run towards the lizard, looking a bit confused at the strange sight. However, she was brought back to attention when the voice of Stppe Archer called out, asking if she could heal the red behemoth. Nodding, she trodded over to her allies and looked around them, making sure none of the goblin corpses were getting back up and readying a sneak-attack. When she was certain that none of the little blighters were just playing dead, she positioned herself infront of Big Red and gave him a look-over.

"H-how can you still keep standing?" She asked, blurting the words out with eyes as wide as dinner plates.

Truly, this fellow was incrdible. He got arrows sticking out of his stomach, shoulder, arm and lower leg, as well as having a big ol' gash close to his knee, but yet he remained standing on both legs and didn't show any signs of buckling under his own, immense weight. How was that even possible? Were lizardmen immune to pain or something? Her master hadn't taught her anything of the sort, but then again, he hadn't dealt a lot with the lizard-folk to begin with... In any case, the big lummox needed some TLC for sure!

"Alright, just hold still, okay?" The druid said, as she hung the sickle on her hip and handed her torch over to Steppe Archer.

With both hands extended, she chanted the same words as she had said prior when healing the nomad-girl. The faint blue-white light was once more radiating from her palms, aimed straight at Big Red's broad chest. Soon the reptile would feel a similar, although slightly slower, effect to that of what the archer had experienced. The arrowheads were slowly pushed out by an invisible force, and the gash across his leg from the hatchet also began to close. However, because he had suffered far more injuries and in multiple places, the healing spell took longer to work and finish on him.

Once the initial wave of healing was done, Druid Girl repeated the chant and process once more. Although the first wave of the spell had done little more than close his wounds, this second healing dulled and diminished the actual pain in his body. Of course, just like with Steppe Archer, the pain wasn't actually gone or dismissed, but it was lessened a decent bit, since he'd been given healing twice. Still though, this healing spell did have a price. Once she was done, Druid Girl slumped onto her own legs, leaning forward and keeping herself upright by using her arms as support-beams.

Looking at her, one could see beads of sweat on her neck, forehead, arms and back. She was breathing heavily, as if she'd just finished running a marathon and was all out of breath. After a few seconds of labored breathing, she turned her face up and gave her friends a sheepish smile.

"I... I think... I might be out of big spells for ... For the day... Eheh." She let out a little laugh to try and lessen any worries about her condition. "Well... What now? There doesn't seem to be anywhere else to go in here, and there doesn't seem like there any more goblins either." She asked, and pointed out - apparently having forgotten about the wooden bonk-noise Big Red had made earlier when sweeping
.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

The ballet of bloodshed that unfolded before her eyes was so intense, that for a bit, Druid Girl could do nothing but stand and stare at the spectacle. Big Red single-handedly fought off multiple assailants, all attacking him at the same time, using every bit of his body as a weapon - and apparently a sponge for sharp things as well. Her archer-friend swiftly took down two of the three goblin archers, despite their low profiles and the relative shoddy lighting in the cavern, this huntress still managed to land her shots! To say these comrades of her wwre impressive was an understatement to no small degree! Were they really just rookie porcelain-ranks?

Druid Girl's internal questions were soon interrupted though, as she realized that her friends were perhaps not doing as well as she'd thought. Big Red was looking like he was getting more and more agitated, acting and sounding more like a wounded beast rather than a warrior. As for the Steppe Archer, she had originally thought the girl had knelt to take better aim... But no, she was hurt! The nature-lover's eyes shot wide as she realized this, and that she had been completely useless thus far in this skirmish. But what was she to do? Big Red seemed to be able to handle the goblins on his own, especially since four of them were already undoubtedly dead, but just how many more cuts, nicks and arrows could he suffer before going down?

As for Steppe Archer... She was a sitting duck. No way could that little lioness run or avoid any incominbg attack now that she'd more or less been hamstrung! She had no spells that could reach the goblins from this distance herself, and no ranged weapons other than the small stones in her bag... No, attacking wasn't what she needed to do now! She needed to tend to her comrades before they became too crippled to defend themselves.

While the goblins who had wielded knives were getting back onto their feet, the goblin archer screamed in anhorrent anger and fear, loosing another arrow - this one aimed at Big Red's legs and feet. It was apparent that after witnessing one of its brethren being squashed into a goblin-patty, it had decided that the big scary lizard was a much more immediate threat than the distant girls. Once the two other gobs were on their feet again, they wouldn't charge at the lizard again, but rather began scrambling for the knives they'd dropped when swatted away. They seemed smart enough to realize that attacking him without any sort of tool would be tantamount to suicide. Not taht it wasn't such in regardless, but at least with weapons it was less of complete suicide.

With sickle in one hand and the torch in her other, Druid Girl ran as fast she could, sandal-clad feet making faint sounds as she ran across the hay back towards the chamber's entry. Once reaching her wild-haired friend, she knelt down, dropping the sickle by her side and extending a hand. An anxious, worried expression plastered across her face, with those golden eyes having a mix of fear and concern in them.

"H-hold still! I'll heal you right now." She said, flustered and nervous in her tone.

With a shaky hand, she placed it close to the archer's leg. Beginning to chant the words to her spell, a soft, white-ish blue light began to emit from her palm. And so, painlessly, the arrow in the huntress' leg began to slowly be pushed out of the wound it had made, seemingly by some invisible force. Once the gritty and shabby arrowhead finally plopped out, the wound itself began to close and the bleeding ceased. Sadly, apart form sealing the injury up and stopping the blood, the magic did little to dull the pain much - it eased it a tiny bit, sure, but it wasn't gone.

Looking over at the bloody arrow that now lay next to Steppe Archer's leg, Druid Girl furrowed her brow and then look straight at her companion's face once again.

"You should drink an antidote soon, just to be safe." She urged, before grabbing her sickle from the ground and rising back up. "Big Red! You alkright? I'll come help you, just hang on!" She called out to the big brute, before - carefully - positionign herself in such a way that the goblin archer wouldn't be able to have a clear shot at the downed archer, as she ran towards the lizard figher's aid.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

At the behest of Big Red, Druid Girl took the torch she had hanging on her hip and, with a practiced move, allowed a fresh new blazing star to be born! ... Or, well, a new source of limited light anyway. She also began to move along the edge of the oval-shaped chamber, sending her little fairy in the opposite direction, while Big Red seemed content with just wading into the hay and swinging his goblin-corpse-broom from side to side. It was a bit... Macabre to watch, and while she had begun to understand that this big lumbering lizard was of a very practical mind-set, he seemed to be lacking in the whhole, common sensibility-department. They'd have to have a talk once they got out of this place, or so she thought.

Her search was interrupted though, as the voice of their archer-friend, sounding rather panicked and frantic, rang out across the underground locale. She urged them to fall back and that this place was a trap, which seemed likely enough. Calling out to her fairy, which turned around and tilted its head quizzically, before then zipping on past the Steppe Archer and back and up a bit in the sloping tunnel they had arrived from, Druid Girl began making her way back towards the entrance of the cavernous room. She did not get far though, as Big Red's sweeping suddenly met with an abrupt stop and a very noticeable 'Bonk!'-sound, that sounded far too much like something wooden and far too little like rock or dirt.

Neither of the three adventurers had much time to respond though, as almost as soon as the wooden... Whatever... had been disturbed, a series of shrieky cries were heard. NExt thing they knew, a set of three planks went flying out from underneath the hay in the center-most part of the room, and the three goblin archers from before suddenly popped out like jacks-in-a-box. Two of them let loose arrows aimed at Big Red, while the third was aiming for the stationary Steppe Archer further away. But the ambush didn't end there, for another set of squealing was heard, and four more little green gremlins soon followed out of the hole, each wielding slightly more intimidating weaponry than those before, including an actual hatchet, a longsword and what looked like quality hunting knives for the last two. Without letting a moment after their marksmen had fired go to waste, the four new melee-combatants charged ahead, two on each side, at Big Red straight infront of them - apparently dead-set on bringing the big hulk down first.

Druid Girl let out a mixed gasp of surprise and horror at the sudden attack. Amusingly, the pixie who had flown back up the tunnel didn't encounter any goblins at all... It seemed that these little bastards had hidden themselves under the hay, and then just waited to attack as soon the adventurers got too close. The thing Big Red's goblin-broom had clunked into must've been some sort of primitive alarm or signal that told the goblins when their enemy was close enough! Still, this was very bad, seven goblins were now attacking them all at once! Grabbing the hilt of her sickle tightly, Druid Girl was unsure what to do... If Big Red got injured or knocked down, he might drop his torch, which would set all of the hay on fire - and probably kill everyone here. Even if Steppe Archer and herself didn't get incinerated, the smoke would likely choke them before they could get out - especially since the distance back out out of the cave wasn't insignificant. On the other hand, if she charged ahead and tried to help her lizard-friend, the archers would have an unobstructed path to shooting her down, and she had neither shield nor armor to withstand a volley of arrows, nor any defensive spells.

What was she to do?!

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

Druid Girl would sigh a breath of relief at Big Red's low laugh and rumbling assurance that he was fine. Although the mention of possibly poisoned arrrows amde her slightly worried again. From the looks of their little greenskinned foes' weapons and armor, they didn't exactly keep their tools in a state of well-maintained way... More like, they actually seemed to purposefully coat them in... Stuff... And let them rust and get mangled and chipped... Was it some kind of tactic to make their implements of carnage seem more menacing? Or were they just negligient? Questions for later, as the Steppe Archer remarked that she was perfectly healthy, beaming that sunny smile of hers. Druid Girl couldn't help but chuckle quietly at the boundless positivity that the nomad girl had, even in a dark and dank place like this.

Big Red's comment about the priest being 'happy to have protected them in a place with nowhere to run or take cover' did little to ease the druid's displeasure about the whole corpse-shield-deal though. She was pretty sure that, even if she were to die, she wouldn't want someone to use her limp and lifeless frame as a bulwark or cudgel... She'd rather be laid to rest in peace within the comforts of the dirt and soil... Wow, that wasn't a dark and gloomy thing to consider at all. The girl shook her head to shake such depressing things from her mind. Didn't need to think about where'd she end up once she was dead right about now... Especially not now. She stilll had at least another ten decades to go before that was a concern, right!?

It seemed their lizardman-friend was intent on using the corpse-shield-idea further, albeit thist ime he grbbed two of the dead goblins rather than the fallen priest. Speaking of him, Druid Girl approached the dead youth and knelt down. With some shaky and fidgety hands, she gently began to run her fingers and palms across the boy's cold, dead frame, until she finally found something that made her stop. Reaching inside his bloody garb, she withdrew a small item, his tag. It was of porcelain-rank, the same as her and her allies. She looked at it with a frown and sad eyes, before gently tucking it into her belt-pouch and rising once more.

"Yes, let's move on. I can't imagine there're too many of these little monsters left now." She said in agreement with their archer's sugestion to press on now that they had the momentum.

The pixie took the iniative, and zipped on ahead down the tunnel where the goblin archers had previously been, following one of the rocky walls as it descended down an uneven and craggy incline. If one wasn't careful, their foot could easily get caught in a small crevice or trip over a stone or slip on some loose pebbles. Granted, the downward slope wasn't steep at all, so it wasn't like you'd fall to your death if you tripped, but landing face-first on any kind of stoney ground wasn't exactly pleasant. The trio marched on though, their red lizard warrior in the front, followed by the druid and archer in tow.

When the tunnel, which was coiling downwards, eventually ended and gave way to a new chamber, the three adventurers became privvy to an unexpected sight. Apart from the cavernous room having a much taller ceiling than before, there were also an abundance of hay on the floor. Like, a very considerable amout, enough to make the stoney cave floor below it alsmost impossible to see. These goblins must've been plundering that poor, unpleasant farmer's haystacks and barn somehting fierce, if they'd managed to gather enough of this stuff to cover the entire floor. The room was a good size too, though apart form the hay, lacked in any other immediate features or noteworthy assets... Except for one glaring thing.

"... Wha- What?! Where're the goblins who ran down here?!" Druid Girl blurted out, blinking in disbelief at the sight.

Indeed. The room was an uneven oval shape, but apart from the tunnel they'd come doqwn through, there were no other exists or cracks or holes along the other walls. It was just solid rock, plain and simple. So unless the goblins had turned invisible, they should've by all accounts been in this room... But they were not. Why was that?

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

As the three goblins who charged and lunged at Big Red learned the obvious lesson of why you don't attack something that's eight times your own size, the Steppe Archer made short work of the little git who had aimed to attack her. Big Red's corpseshield protected the lizardman against another volley of three arrows, before a gargled outburst of unintelligible noise errupted from further down the tunnel. Apparently, the archers weren't keen on trying to shoot at him anymore, for the moment.

That being said, the goblin that went for the Druid Girl faired little better than its brethren. Although initially forcing the nature mage to evade a shaky shank-attempt by its rather crude weapon, the girl soon gained the upper hand in the one-on-one, due to the simple fact of her longer arms. The goblin managed to stagger back and avoid a swing form her sickle, but was then too eager to charge ahead - finding himself with a new nose-piercing, as the girl swung her instrument upwards once more.

Shrieking and flailing wildly, with the crescent metal tool still protruding from the top of its elongated, ugly snout, Druid Girl proceeded to pull the sickle sidways, ripping through the little creature's nostril and nose, causing it to hang limply like a goopy, drippy, lumpy sock. Screaming in rage and pain, the goblin could do little else than clutch at its destroyed smelling-organ, before another swing of the sickle came from the side and tore through its throat, causing the little greenskin to topple backwards and gurgle pathetically as it struggled vainly to resist choking to death on its own blood.

The archer's attempt to shoot at the goblin archers further down the tunnel proved fruitless though. The pixie had ffollowed the five charging goblins, not the archers, and so the shot had just taken flight into relative darkness, striking against the stone walls of the cave and breaking harmlessly from the impact. Of course, the shot itself had the effect of putting fear into the little missile-slinging wretches, as they squawked and shouted, before the pitter-patter of their tiny feet could be heard.

.. Except the sound was growing distant and fainter... It seemed they were retreating further into the cavern.

With the immediate ambush dealt with, and their foes lying bloodied and broken at their feet, Druid Girl had her little fairy fly about the area around them, looking behind corners and behind small outcroppings. Just to make sure there was nobody lying in ambush just within their vicinity. When nothing was found however, the little glowing thing returned to its summoner, sitting itself down atop her head like a little, glowing light bulb.

Druid Girl let out an apparently held breath, letting her shoulders soften a bit. She took a breath, then another, and then looked around at her companions.

"Are you two okay? Do you neeed any healing?" She asked, voice a bit frazzled but otherwise fine. She hadn't personally killed something in a rather long time, so the actual deed of having taken a life - even if it was the life of an evil, wicked, filthy and unsavory goblin - was something she'd need to get used to again. After all, she usually let the more battle-focused members of her previous parties deal with the actual death-dealing, while she'd focus on support and post-battle clean-up.

"How many... How many is that now? You two downed five at the entrance, and we got another seven here." She asked and monologued a bit aloud to herself. "Hopefully, there aren't many left. "

She then flicked her sickle to remove some of the blood from it, as well as wiping the rest off on the dirty rags of the gobo she ahd herself had killed. Then, the caramel-skinned, golden-eyed lass turned to Big Red, a frown on her face and her eyebrows lowered. If they hadn't been in a situation whert she needed to keep her weapon ready, she probably would have had her hands on her sides as well.

"Also, you!" She said in a serious tone. "I appreciate you protecting me, but you can't do something like that." She said, pointing with her free hand at the corpse with six arrows now stuck in it. "That one was an adventurer, just like us. He deserves better than to be treated like some makeshift shie- What the what!?! You've got arrows in you!! Are you okay!?" HEr upset and scolding lecture and tone quickly changed to that of genuine concern and worry, as she dropped her sickle and quickly ran over to the lizardman to inspect his shoulder and bicep, grabbing gently onto his arm with her soft slender hands..

"A-Archer! Are you okay? You didn't get hit too, did you?" She asked hirriedly, peering around Big Red's side to look at her lion mane-haired friend.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

"Hyah?!"

That was all of the noise Druid Girl could make, before burly and scaled arms swooped down, grabbed onto her and pulled the girl into a forceful embrace. It wasn't very pleasant, nor comfortable, but then again, neither was getting perforated by arrows. Speaking of, Big Red would soon learn that arrows already launched from bows moved much faster than even his reptilian reflexes, and een though one of the projecticles missed the mark entirely, the other found their way into the lizardman's massive frame. It seemed that despite their supposed weakness, goblins - or at least their archers - had enough power to pierce the hide and scales of a lizard.

Fortunately for the giant warrior, the arrows truck non-lethal areas of his body, with one imbedding itself in his great, big, broad shoulder and the other in his upper arm. As the giant grabbed the corpse of the deceased adventurering priest before himself and his sheilded maiden-in-distress, another volley of three arrows came whistling. Luckily, these three all struck the rather cold corpse-shield, rather than either of the live adventurers.

Shrieks and garbled noises could be heard from further down the tunnel, and soon the pitter-patter of tiny feet was heard. Within seconds, a group of no less than five goblins, each wielding their own weapon, ranging from a hand axe to what looked like broken-off femur to a dagger dripping with who-knows-what. The goblins using bows however, seemed to have stayed behind, not advancing with their fellow kin to rush in attack their invading enemies. The five attackers ran at somewhat different pace though, meaning they weren't all moving at the same speed, nor were they lined up next to each other in unified order either.

Druid Girl, having witnessed Lizard Fighter's rather macabre use of a fellow fallen adventurer as an impromptu barricade, was about to let loose a barrage of scolding words, but were thankfully interrupted due to the arrival of the new wave of goblins. While she was thankful that the big oaf had saved her supple butt from being turned into a pin cushion, she wasn't exactly thrilled about how he had managed it. Still, now wasn't the time for such matters.

The little fairy that the nature mage had summoned flew off, racing at the goblins and then beginning to however and circle above them, shedding its light over the quintet and making them less obfuscated by the glooomy dark of the cave. Reaching for her hip, Druid Girl unlatched her sickle - the spear she had been given by Big Red wasn't going to do much good right now, nor was she going to have time to start chanting and casting a spell, what with the little monsters almost already upon them.

The young girl scooched a bit away from Big Red, though not far, standing a bit to his left side. As the creepy, long-nosed freaks got close, three of them leapt at the red lizard, yelling and cawing like little madmen, while one raced towards Druid Girl and the other seemed to want to squeeze past the two frontliners to get to their archer-friend in the back.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

The Druid didn't say much in response to either of her companions. Her mind was too pre-occupied with keeping herself from both screaming and crying at the same time. That poor woman had just been minding her own business, probably heading home - perhaps to her own family - and then these... Creatures... Had attacked and killed, along with violated, her and stolen every last crumb she had brought with her. She clenched her fists hard for a bit, before taking a deep breath and calming herself down. Now wasn't the time to lose focus.

Prodding about for traps and digging through the pile of bones would turn up nothing however. Apart from some bugs that scattered when Big Red disturbed the clattering, dry pieces of white bones, there was nothing of interest there. Nor would he find anything while looking about with his torch, apart from more rubbish and filth on the ground. The Druid Girl's pixie would circle about the room as well, but return with equally empty hands.

Once agreement was made to press on, the trio began their path down the next incline. This tunnel was a bit taller, allowing for the lizardman to stand fully upright, but it was still narrow enough that neither of the girls could flank him. They themselves could walk along one another just fine, but Big Red was taking up the vast breadth of the tunnel in the front... Which would make it difficult for the Steppe Archer to shoot any arrows at this point, as she was more likely to hit her companion's massive back, less she was skilled enough to shoot between his legs or under his armpits... Or ricochet arrows off of the walls and ceiling...

Still, as they moved, something further ahead caught their eyes. At first, the threat of more goblins put them all on edge... But when the shape did nothing to approach or run away, they slowly inched forward. Eventually drawing close enough to see that the shape was that of a human! In fact, it was a young man, clad in white - albeit now dirtied robes - with wheat-colored hair. Strangely, he was sitting down, slouched somewhat forward with his back towards the tunnel's wall. He didn't seem to even notice the approach of the other adventurers. This was likely one of the members of the previous group that had come down here a day or so ago prior.

However, as they got even closer, and Druid Girl's little fairy flew forth for a closer look, the group became privvy to unsettling developments. Specks and blotches of now dry, reddish brown dotted the youth's apparel. Especially along the arm and his left side. His downcast face also displayed traces and lines of dried blood, and the fact that he wasn't moving, let alone seeming to breathe, gave way to unpleasant feelings and concern. At least for Druid Girl.

Squeezing her way past Big Red, with no real concern for any danger that may lie in ambush just around the bend of the downward sloping tunnel, the young girl hurried over to the boy's side. He looked to be about the same age as both Steppe Archer and herself, perhaps a just a bit older? As she knelt down and lay a hand on him to rouse him, the body of the priest shifted and slid to the side, collapsing in an unceremonious heap. At this point, they could all see what had happened to him though. A long gash ran along his arm, and multiple small punctures and scratches adorned his chest... Worst of all though, was the seemingly torn out throat he had, seemingly having been chewed open.

Again Druid Girl had to clasp both hands over her mouth to surpress both a gasp and a yell. The sight was rather terrible indeed. The boy had been completely and utterly mauled to death. it was likely that he had suffered the gash and the scratches first, only to have had his throat ripped out at the end. However... Wasn't it strange?

If he was in such a condition, why had he been sitting as if he had been resting or using the cave walls as a back-rest? Surely in the state he was in, he would have been panicked and frenzied, trying to do everything to run away... So why hadn't he been lying in the middle of the tunnel, spread out like acollapsed deck of cards?

Thwonk! Thwock! Twang!

The unmistakable sound of bow-strings, coupled with the quickly approaching whistle of arrows, seemed to be a clear indicator as to why... Druid Girl raised her head in surprised terror, as three curde arrows quickly made their way from further down the tunnel towards her kneeling-down frame, next to the collapsed, former adventurer.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

It was a bit unsettling for Druid Girl to watch as her companions moved over and slew the helpless goblins. Naturally, she understood that these little blighters had to be killed as part of their quest, but there was just something about killing things that were helpless and unable to defend themselves that made her feel... Bad. Still, she shook those thoughts from her head as the archer and lizard both voiced their personal view on what to do next. Complete opposite oncepts, of course. Still, didn't seem like Big Red was going to be open to debate on the matter, as he'd already struck up and lit a torch in preperations for descending the cave.

"I guess there's nothing for it. Besides, if we spend too long clearing them out, the Guild might think we ended up dying and send a new group to look for us." Druid Girl stated - given that they weren't the first team to have accepted this quest.

That being said, she felt that just having the lizardman's torch wouldn't be quite enough, so she took it upon herself to once again utter the words of one of her lowest-tier spells:

"Lend me your glow, tiny fey, summon pixie!"

Once more, the pixie that had been called upon over by the ransacked wagon, appeared out of seemingly thin air. Or perhaps this was a different one? It was sort of hard to tell, given the creature's petite size and hard-to-distinguish features. With the little fey buzzing around her like a moon circling a planet, the druid went to pick up some of the stones she had thrown and stoved them back into her pouch. She then unhooked her sickle from her hip and made sure the staff on her back was secure and not hanging too loosely. After having prepared as well as she could, the caramel-skinned girl walked over and joined Big Red, though stayed a little ways away, as the big brute was meant to lead the charge and take the brunt of any would-be resistance.

The sun was now almost gone, and night had more or less fallen entirely. The sky was dark but clear, dotted with many of the small stars as well as the two moons. A slightly unseasonally chilly wind was blowing through the clearing, playfully tugging and toussling Druid Girl's and Steppe Archer's long hair. The noises of the day died down and the quieter, softer sounds of night began to slowly emerge. Of course, those who didn't pay attention to the difference in such things would likely not notice anything save for the cicadas ceasing of chirping.

When they all confirmed that they were ready to move, the trio would finally set off into the cave proper. Immedaitely, they would notice that there was a slightly slanted, downwards angle to the dirt and stone-covered ground just inside the opening. The ceiling wasn't very tall, which would make things a bit more tiresome for the lizard, as he'd have to occasionally duck and angle his head weirdly, less he want to bump his noggin on the solid stone walls and ceiling. The walls of the cave weren't anything special, just plain grey rock and stone. There were small, irregular patches of either black-ish moss or fungus growing in places, but other than that, nothing of note.

After a bit of walking however, they soon found themselves reaching a more levelled and more flat bit of ground. The ceiling at this point was also slightly taller and the passage less cramped. They came into what looked like a chamber of some sorts, finding a pile of mismatched bones lying off to one side, and a bunch of broken junk on the other. Among the pile of broken wood, scrap metal and torn rags, they did spot something unusual though...

"Is... Is that a wheel?" Druid Girl asked, blinking at the sight of what looked like a large, wooden wheel, though broken and dented rather severely. At that point, the memory of the poor woman by the side of the road flashed back intot he yuong girl's mind, and she placed a hand over her mouth to quell any noise she might've been about to make. "Is it... That wheel? DOes that mean that... These goblins were the ones who attacked her?" She asked in a low, hushed tone. Her face was a mix of anger and appalled disgust.

While standing in the chamber, not much larger than your average, tiny studio-apartment, the pixie that the girl had summoned went about flying around, inspecting the area and things strewn about. There seemed to be only one path heading further down, and the path they had come from leading back up. There was no sign or indication of any goblins though... They hadn't seen nor heard anything yet... And nothing had tried to stop them. There hadn't even been any traps or obstructions so far. Things were going very smoothly... PErhaps this was just a very small and very weak nest?

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

Well then, great...

... I decided on this a while back, but as of now, I'm resigning from the position as GM for this RP. I've asked that people send me PMs or messages of some kind when their motivation drops or they're not enjoying themselves, so I can try and understand what I'm doing wrong or how I can change things to make the RP more enjoyable. But people don't seem to want to do this, which means I can't improve as a GM and can't fix whatever it is I'm doing wrong.

If anyone wants to continue this RP, feel free to let me know, either in this thread or via PM. I'll assign you Co-GM status and all the necessary administrative perks and doodads you'd need to run the RP. Please do so ASAP though, as I'll be removing this thread my subscriptions after the weekend.

Not exactly how I wanted my vacation to start off, but hey, I was kind of half-expecting it to turn out this way, given the almost weekly drop-off rate we've been having.

Sorry guys and girls. Again, let me know if any of you want to continue the RP and I'll make sure you can.

Oh, and of course, thanks for the time and efforrt you all put into this. It was a fun ride, until it wasn't.