[h3]Farmstead[/h3] "I see..." Lear looked between Scott and Miiba for a few moments, tapping one boot against the ground. "Unless you're both lying to me about knowing each other, and have set up this elaborate plot beforehand...It lends both of you some credence." He turned to the goblin girl. "Miiba was a young girl, and you," he looked back at Scott, "were a teenage boy. And you both came from a world--maybe the same one--with no magic." He rubbed his chin. "I guess I could have tried this earlier, but it only just now came to me after hearing the two of you talk about your worlds not having magic or monsters. Do the terms "arpeeji" or "mongah" mean anything to you?" He waited a few moments to hear their answers, but it seemed like he already expected what they had to say. He also waited for Scott to answer Miiba's questions as well, then broke in at the next opportune moment. "Scott, Miiba mentioned a "shadow man" that she saw before she woke up as a Goblin. Do you remember such a figure? Did they give you any kind of...quest? Or...a special ability? Something you haven't seen other monsters use?" Lear did not seem like the scholarly sort, nor the dishonest one. Yet it was clear the gears in his head were turning, perhaps quite intensely, and he seemed to be reaching a conclusion of some kind. What that meant for Scott and Miiba--and their current relationship status with this man--was anyone's guess. [hr] [h3]Monster Party[/h3] As the Giant Rat took off with Digbie in tow, Oberon hurled a desperate Fireball high over the rodent's head. It hit the ground a few feet in front of the animal and immediately flared up, consuming several of the bushes and roots along the forest floor. The rat's forepaws scrabbled at the earth as it pulled up short. Light surrounded Digbie as he hung from the predator's jaws and the energies of Shield wrapped around his body. It was good timing, too, as Torrent chose that moment to charge directly through the flames. She could feel the heat licking her scales; her Fire Resistance seemed to help a great deal, but it still stung. To this conflaguration she added her own patented variation of Fireball, and the rat squealed as the explosion set its greasy, matted fur on fire. In the process it dropped Digbie, just as the goblin was swinging a magically charged kick at its face. Digbie felt the familiar weight of Earth Mana flowing through his body, and his leg was surrounded by a golden aura as he punted the ROUS square in the nose. There was a crackling sensation in his limb, and though he felt no pain he could tell that the flames around him were swiftly burning away the Shield. Moments later, however, Ash's soothing magic surrounded him and Torrent, healing what little damage they had taken thus far. The rat thrashed in agony, reared up on its haunches and covering its doubly injured face in its tiny hands. Oberon's Mana Slice caught it just above its ankles, cutting off its back legs as well as its tail. Still burning, the giant mammal gave one last desperate shriek as it tried to pull itself towards the stream...but the pain was too much. The Giant Rat went into shock, as its hide sizzled and smoked. Then it died. At this point, the sun was well on its way to setting over the mountains. Long fingers of red light fell over the campsite, and shadows were creeping up from the base of the trees. Oberon and Torrent had created a rapidly spreading flame in the brush that made quite the light display... [hr] [h3]PixieSlime Party[/h3] [quote=System:Asura] ERROR. System is already monitoring Health Points and Stamina Points. Command "Full Display" not recognized. You are taking Poison Damage! The poison is beginning to fade... [/quote] Asura wasted no time in immediately trying to capture the Bugbear. As he used his Limited Shapeshift to give his body a "sticky" quality, he still felt the immense weight and impact of the goblinoid's foot as it slammed down on top of him. That poison was still burning through his system as well--if he had to guess, based on how he had felt during past battles, he was probably around halfway through his HP. But his strategy worked--by Clinging to the ground, Asura was able to trip up the Bugbear. By this time Ardur had ordered Steve to use her webbing, and her upgraded Web Spit had increased its range so that she didn't have to get any closer to the creature than she already was. As the big monster fell forward, it caught itself with one hand--which was promptly stuck to the ground by webbing. While Ardur cast Shield on his fist in preparation, Momma Slime rolled forward at full speed. She clocked the Bugbear right across its chin before bowling on through, rolling in a wide arc so that she would soon be able to repeat the attack. The Bugbear shook his hairy head and grabbed a Pointy Stick from the back of his hips, where it had been looped through the ratskins he wore. With this improvised spear he began trying to pry the webbing off of his hand in a panic--just before Ardur's powerful strike crunched into his kneecap. The creature let out a bloodcurdling roar. And then two humans burst out of the underbrush. The boy was too tall for a child, but too scrawny to be an adult. He lacked facial hair, but had a subtle athleticism and maturity in his features. Most would probably place him somewhere between the ages of thirteen and fifteen. He wore a thick, long sleeved garment that didn't look exactly like wool or cotton, but wasn't made of leather either. It was a dark, earthy brown color, while his trousers were a lighter shade. His gloves and boots were matched, leather laced with rawhide, buckled with metal, and dyed solid black. Over all this he wore a thick cloak colored a rough forest green, patched here and there with bits of brown or other shades of green. It might have been a bad attempt at blending in, but seemed more likely due to the age of the garment. He held a smaller kind of round shield in one hand, and a sword in the other that seemed appropriate for his size, but still a little heavy for him. The second figure was clearly an adult, tall and broad of shoulder. He wore full plate, with the vulnerable areas covered by maille. Trunks of the chain mesh seemed to be attached to the doublet worn under the armor--of a similar style to the heavy garment the boy wore--and the underarms had small curtains of it actually riveted to the cuirass and pauldrons. The armor had a gothic style with fluted decoration and articulated joints, but it did not gleam in the sun--rather, it seemed to have been painted or burnished with something that kept it smooth, but dulled its sheen. A bit to the opposite that one might have expected, the only places where the metal underneath gleamed in the sun were places where small scratches and pockmarks, perhaps older dents that had been buffed out, showed through under the burnishing. Despite this seemingly impregnable gear, the man also carried a kite-shaped shield. It was split into two colors, blue and cream, and bore a black sigil shaped like a portcullis. Like the boy he wore a sword at his hip, but it was much more splendid in design. At the same time, another loop on his belt held a flanged mace, and hanging from the leather on a chain was a slightly ornate dagger. "There it is, sir, I didn't lose it after all! But...what?" The boy had his shield held up in front of him, and the point of his sword peeked around its edge as if prepared for a thrust. Slowly, he began edging towards the battle, but he kept a careful eye on all of these different monsters... "Other predators will take advantage of weakened prey, boy! Watch yourself!" the knight called out. One hand rested on the pommel of his own weapon, but he watched from a little further away as the fighting continued... [hr] [h3]Rat Party[/h3] As Ed shivered in the wind, nothing yet had happened near his end of the barrow. Up on top of the mound, however, Asteria concentrated her Mana to the tip of her claw and began to trace the strange sigils on the turning plates...In doing so, she caused them to begin to move. As the plates turned, the shadows cast by the large moon overhead fell over each of them. It was a thin, light shadow, for after all moonlight was only a reflection of sunlight. But as Asteria traced the sigils, her own Mana left a tiny spark of its own light...and at one point, she felt--not mechanically, but intuitively--something click. Almost naturally she was drawn to the second panel. Again, after a few moments, it felt right in place. And the same for the third. Suddenly, some of the symbols began to stand out. Her Mana seemed to linger. And her eyes lost focus for a moment...before she could read them. [center][i]It is currently: Year 268 of 3.E. Last Week of Dragon's Season. 5th Day (Kimaday). 07:45 Evening. In alignment: 1. Adalwulf's Lance / The General [/i][/center] But there was no jingle, no sound of opening doors, no click of a lock giving way. The panels could be moved just as easily as before. They simply refused to make sense in any other configuration...up until about a minute had passed. Then they stopped making sense at all again--until, once more, they lined up properly with the shadow cast by the moon. The only change was that 7:45 became 7:46. Once she heard Ed calling her and returned, Asteria read the warning on the plaque and then ventured using her Mana Sense... [quote=System:Asteria] You used Mana Sense I! You feel an uneasy peace surrounding this place. There is a reverence here. It is as if you are being watched. [/quote] [hr] [h3]Ghost Party[/h3] "Gotcha, dum ting!" the spear goblin crowed, but as Danny jerked away it lost its grip on its weapon. The greenskin clenched both fists with a screech. It lunged at the Poltergeist, or it would have, if Jason hadn't picked that moment to deliver a ghostly sacktap full of rage. The difference this time, however, was that as Ghost Touch activated, Jason's misty form actually became visible not only to Danny, but the other goblin as well. It wasn't his entire body, only the dense "fist" he had formed, nonetheless it appeared with a flash of blue-white, flame-like energy surrounding it as it rocketed into the goblin's low hanging fruit. The monster's battle-cry turned into a long, high pitched creen as it froze in place. One eye twitched for a moment, before both eyeballs rolled back into its head and it fell like a log. Danny brought his stolen weapon around in both hands. The air seemed to ripple around it as he channeled his Lesser Force, in an attempt to swing faster, hit harder...and that soft red outline appeared around the weapon as well as he activated Point Strike. The disarmed Cudgel Goblin tried to block, but it had nothing in its hands. CRACK! Chipping a piece of wood out of the cudgel's top, Danny split the Goblin's scalp wide open. The thin skin bled heavily, but the bone underneath was far more important. The monster's eyes bugged out as its cranium was smashed inward, bits of gray matter and dark blood staining the heavy club. Danny had struck it right where the plates of the skull met, and smashed the bone like a piece of pottery. The goblin spun in place with a gurgling convulsion before it dropped like a sack of topapoes. They couldn't see the one with the net anymore--from the sound of something crashing through the brush, he had high tailed it out of there now that it was clear things were going badly for his party. One fled, one dead, and one...unconscious?