[h3]Nira and Femus[/h3] Nira's wings fluttered as she dashed through the air to try and cut the Dire Rat off. The creature's ears twitched as she approached, and it turned around with a hiss. She darted about it, staying out of reach as it snapped at her. With the rodent pulled up short, Femus took his chance and charged up his Mana Orb's second rank version. With a brighter flash than before, the magical blast took shape in front of the Wisp--it almost looked like he had duplicated himself. Then the spell took off, just as the Rat prepared to spring at Nira when she came just a bit too close. The Mana Orb collided with its side, trailing the smell of ozone and burning fur. The Rat squealed as it was bowled over...then hit the ground and went still. Femus, however, felt a sudden exhaustion settle over him, and he began drifting down to the ground... [quote=System:Femus] You have no MP remaining. [/quote] He had already fired a first-rank Mana Orb, and in his training experience he could usually get three of them off before he ran out of power. The second rank, however, cost a good bit more--he could usually only fire one, then he would have to Meditate to recover enough MP to cast either version of the spell. So using both of them back to back, even though he had a little extra MP thanks to his earlier meditation, had completely drained him. He had extended a hand to someone else, but now the talking Wisp was incredibly vulnerable...what would the strange Pixie do now...? [hr] [h3]Sato[/h3] When Sato explained his reason for training, Lansa tilted his head. It seemed Sato knew something these goblins didn't, and the idea made him grin. The Boss narrowed his eyes at this and loomed a little more forcefully over the younger goblin. "So youse be sayin', doin' all dat stuff makes ya stronker?" Lansa glanced around. Say-Bah was a fair distance away, having delivered the bowhorn carcass and now off to do something else. Ass Slashin was nowhere to be seen. Ballz was sitting on a bundle of tree roots, just...staring angrily into the distance. Ahcha was over near the lean-tos, ordering a bunch of the younger goblins around for something or other. The Hobgoblin returned his icy gaze to Sato. "Alright, Sore-Toe. If yas tell me how dat stuff work, den I gives ya sumtin' good. But ya don't tells nobody else, got it?!" [hr] [h3]Farmstead[/h3] "Ah, so you've...I think Adventurers usually call it Leveling Up?" The farmer's wife nodded as Miiba took the cup. "I was always told that they were messages from the Maker, and the Spirits." As the little goblin explained her circumstances, the woman's expression changed to one of curiosity, then one of surprise, then suspicion, then concern...fear flashed over her face when Miiba yelled. But she stood her ground, and even knelt down to be closer to Miiba's level. The green girl curled up, and stared into her water. Gwen bit her lip...then she reached out and drew Miiba into a hug. "I'm so sorry, Miiba." she said softly. "I don't know who you are, or where you're from. I don't know if you're telling the truth, but I want to believe you are. And I [i]do[/i] know, you're different from any Goblin I've ever seen or heard of, and I want to give you a chance. And I wish I could comfort you more." Slowly, the mother and housewife pulled away, but she held Miiba gently by the shoulders. "As long as you can convince my husband that you can earn your keep, I don't have any problem letting you stay here for a little while longer. I'll see what I can do to help you, and I'll try to make everyone else be nice, okay?" Taking her hands away from the goblin girl, Gwen stood and brushed off her apron. When Miiba told the story of the bird, her face lit up with realization. "Ah, that's a Guildhawk! They're specially bred messenger birds, used by Adventurers and the Guild to send information and keep track of Quests!" She seemed proud of herself for remembering that, and explained it like a teacher with her pointer finger extended. "My Lear used to be a hot-shot Adventurer, you know! And he helps novices, like Geir and Mirabelle, get work experience and training. I bet with some of his Guild contacts, he could find out more that would help you!" [b]Just then, outside the window, a mountain exploded.[/b] From this far away they could barely see the blue flash in the sky, and the actual mountaintop was hidden from view by the thick trees of the forest. But they definitely heard and felt the blast, and saw the massive column of smoke rise into the air. Gwen screamed and jumped in surprise, and from outside there were shouts from the others. The children, still in the house, came running to their mother with wide eyes. The eldest girl, Clarice, was holding the baby who had begun crying for all he was worth. What had happened?! [hr] [h3]PixieSlime Party[/h3] As Asura surged forward, he transformed an extended limb into a needle-like point. The leaping frog lost sight of the red slime under its own inflated bulk, but it felt exactly where he stabbed it. His attack went in deep--and the frog screeched in agony as its body began to deflate, the rapidly escaping air making a sound like a wet fart as split flesh flapped rapidly back and forth. It fell to the ground on its side, bleeding heavily from the wound and kicking its feet. It was just one thing after another this morning, wasn't it!? Ardur had barely put his stuff down when the frogs came hurtling out of the woods, and while Asura rushed to attack the Hipixie put his hands out in front of himself and began to take aim. "Feel the Sun King's wrath, and burn to ash!" he chanted, and this time instead of the glowing veins spreading up his forearms, a red ring began to form in the air in front of his hands. Before he could question what had caused that difference, he had to finish the spell. "Fireball!" The Fireball formed within the circle, which had formed a secondary ring as well and now looked like some kind of planetary model. Then it blasted forward, flaring brightly as it impacted one of the other frogs just as it began to inflate. It let out the air it had been sucking in surprise, and the flames spread hungrily over its body. The creature began to flop back and forth with panicked screams. Momma Slime rolled and bounced along, and her massive bulk crashed into the equally-sized third frog head-on. She had actual mass behind her size, however, and the inflated amphibian merely bounced off with a distinctive [i]sproing[/i] sound straight out of a videogame. It hit a tree and ricocheted back, crashing into Momma again with enough force to budge her backwards just slightly. But Steve scuttled over the blue slime's membrane, then jumped off her "head" to land on the frog's snout and sink both fangs into it. The animal croaked and shook to try and get the spider off, but Steve's large eye on her abdomen flashed. From her position on its flat nose, she was eye-to-eye with the frog. It suddenly stopped moving, and the two seemed to be in some kind of staring contest...then it tipped over, in slow motion, while still inflated. It had completely lost consciousness, despite not really being wounded... It looked like they would be able to make short work of these creatures--but then, the frog Ardur had cast his spell on managed to right itself. It was still burning. As it opened its mouth, a long tongue shot out, and though Ardur tried to block it the massive muscle seemed to be coated with a sticky slime. Unable to free himself, the Hipixie planted his feet and pulled with his considerable muscle--but it seemed like he might still get pulled in! Would Asura finish off his current target, or help his allies? And which of the other two battles would he assist with? [hr] [h3]Rat Party[/h3] Ed and Asteria dashed around in a panic. Mother Rat instinctively understood the need to hide; she couldn't understand the humans' speech, but her ears were sharp enough to pick it up. Limping, she had almost made it back to the den even before Asteria shoved her inside along with all of their loot. By this time Ed had hidden or given Asteria most of his own belongings, along with the stolen items, and flopped over the ground in what he desperately hoped was a convincing imitation of death. As the female Dire Rat sneaked away through the grass, Ed could hear larger footsteps coming close. "Describe it again?" "It was like...I dunno, I could just barely see a piece of wood or something sticking up out of the grass, moving around like something carrying it. When we checked the shed I thought some stuff was out of place, but I don't know what all was in there." "You think it had anything to do with whatever that was, jumping out of the grass?" "I think that was...a bug monster of some kind. But that's Oldstone's shed, him or his boy can tell us if anything was taken. What could've gotten that close without us spotting it?" "I don't think a monster bug would've taken wood, if it took anything. Wasn't any food in there as far as I know. But Goblins can be pretty sneaky." "We'd have seen Goblins coming, they'd never get near the village without a big raiding party. They're cowardly, but as dumb as they are they know it takes at least three of 'em to bring down a proper warrior." The footsteps stopped. "Hey, look at that!" Ed dared to barely breathe. One of the voices whistled. "Myrminors. Shit. If they're sending Scouts this close to the village, then we'll start seeing them in a couple days." "That's a Ratman, ain't it? Eugh." Something stiff, probably the end of a wooden weapon, poked Ed's leg. He couldn't even risk opening his eyes. "I think that answers your question of what was in the shed." "Ratmen. Double shit. But there must have been more than one of them, if they killed three of these bugs. Where do you think they headed?" Rustling in the grass--were the humans looking for the missing items? Would they find Mother Rat in the den? What if they found the Greatclub, and just for funsies decided to make Ed's skull go splat... "Look, out that way. Wasn't that where that fire was last night?" "Sure was. Think the Ratmen caused it?" "They might have, or whatever caused it might have chased them out of the forest. Maybe they headed back there with their loot...Do Goblins and Ratmen trade?" "I don't know." More rustling...in the opposite direction! One of the humans was leaving! "But whatever it was, it's driven Monsters towards us. We need to report the Myrminors for sure, we'll need to put out some poison or do something to keep them from digging tunnels under the village. Then--" [b]The mountain exploded.[/b] Asteria had just found [b]two Nullven plants[/b], but just as she plucked them she saw the blue light flash through the sky. It looked like a shooting star, only it traveled in the wrong direction, up towards the heavens...then it struck the distant mountain's peak. The explosion sent billowing smoke, still flashing with the aftershock of that blast's blue flames and black lightning, high into the air. Ed could hear it, could feel it making the earth tremble, but he couldn't see...whatever that was. Was it coming towards him? What had caused it? Where were the humans!?