[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/0198b54e-ab2e-74fa-825f-dc6351dd29bf.webp[/img]

[color=2cc785]"Ssssslip and sssslide."[/color]

[color=888888] -Salbjörg of the Deep[/color]
[/center]

Salbjörg did not run far. Her intent was not to retreat, merely to pull away so that the others could do some of the heavy lifting. She might have been a powerful, beautiful monster, but that was all the more reason to share the work so that her perfect features didn’t get marred. Oh, and the broken rib made it hard to enjoy moving around. But she did come back to the threshold of the door and looked back inside with anyone who was nearby.

She only caught the tail end of Zogi’s dance, but it was enough time for her to remember what she had left in the other room. That’s right, it was the napping goblin. At least her choice to stay behind had bought Salbjörg the necessary time to escape. Then Zogi, perhaps feeling heroic for whatever reason, decided to dive on the boy just as the sword was coming for the little goblin girl. That was a good thing, but then why did he get trapped under the boy’s boot and obliterated like that? It seemed like the boy had gotten stronger because of his "sacrifice" too. How pointless. 

But Muste was up next! Surely he had a brilliant idea to save the goblin girl. If they lost both goblins she would need to use the rats to stay warm, and that wasn't the most ideal. At least Zoppy looked cute if you swaddled her body in something. But after the squid man cast his spell, the only thing he managed to do was make the floor slippery before departing. The boy managed to hit his head, but so what? Her chest warmer was still in there and even harder to get to now!

Then the oracle hovered out there. Surely they would show these cowards and weaklings how it was done. His attacks didn’t seem particularly effective, but at least he didn’t run off like squid face after casting a single spell. More importantly, it seemed like he had cast some sort of suffocation spell on him, if his difficulty to speak was anything to go by. And he took so many attacks from the boy without as much as flinching. To top it all off, he disarmed him. Yes, Salbjörg understood now. She was looking at a ten. Certainly nothing below a nine.

And then… Was Zoppy seriously going to sell the boy’s weapon back to him? 

This would not do.

While she was powerful enough to take what she needed by force, it wouldn’t hurt to play nice here. The less that goblin struggled, the better. The crystal in the other room had dropped off a few objects, which was yet another brilliant move on the Oracle’s part. The shiniest among them was a blue crystal, which Sal picked up without as much as a word. Of course it was cold to the touch, but that didn’t matter right now. She hurried back to the other room where the boy was drawing closer to the goblin girl.

[b][color=ffffff]"But -hic- that’s my -hic- sword…"[/color][/b] He groaned.

[color=Green]"But... Diz iz Zoppy'z choppy fing!"[/color]

Salbjörg wasn’t about to let the boy regain his weapon, by force or any other means. The floor was still slick, so she got a running start and slid on her side. [color=2cc785]"Choppy thing!"[/color] She exclaimed before tossing the mana crystal to Zoppy. With the goblin’s greed sated, she picked up the sword as she slid by. 

[b][color=ffffff]"Wa-hic-"[/color][/b] The boy realized he didn’t have time to spare. He reached into the pouch at his side and pulled out a shiny river pebble. He had planned to show it to his sister back home, but he needed a weapon now. So he tossed it to the goblin before grabbing the lucky bird by the neck.

[color=Green]"Dankz!"[/color] she said before hugging her new shinyz.

The snake woman slid all the way to the wall before planting her feet on it. Opposite of her, she could see the boy had done the same. it Seemed they were about to engage in some good old fashioned jousting. It shouldn’t be too hard. He didn’t have any more of her bone needles to pluck her with, and his wooden sword had been reduced to a low quality plush toy. Which was probably still dangerous, but couldn’t have been as powerful as a wooden sword. R-right? 

They both kicked off at the same time. Her arms were naturally longer than the boys, and so it was easy for her to swat his forehead before they got too close. He groaned and swung his lucky bird, but it missed entirely due to them both spinning out of control. They jousted like this a few times, but each time Salbjörg was able to score a hit on him without suffering any retaliation. She chuckled to herself before they jousted again. This time the boy parried the wooden blade with the soft body of the bird and slammed it into Salbjörg’s side. It probably wasn’t a super hard hit, but it was right where her rib had cracked and that didn’t feel very nice. For the next round of jousting, Salbjörg knew she needed to change her strategy. She [i]really[/i] hard off the wall and swung her legs in front of herself. The boy tried to block with the soft bird toy, but her elevated heels easily stomped the toy into his face, and they both slid away from each other. 

Unbeknown to Salbjörg, something had been laid behind her.

*SQUISH*

…

It appeared that Salbjörg had slipped into some sticky goo. Of course she had been focusing pretty intently on the boy, but why was this part of the floor sticky? Everything was so slick and slippery! And this spot was grippy? Oh, and it was all in her hair too! She had been sliding so fast that she managed to stick everything from her shoulders down to her legs. She had managed to throw out her arms to keep the back of her head off the floor, but now her arms were stuck too! She tried pulling and, while it would be possible for her to escape, her fractured rib was going to make this an [i]agonizing[/i] experience. 

The boy sighed. [b][color=ffffff]"This is -hic- boring. There’s gotta be -hic- something more interesting deeper -hic- in."[/color][/b]

[color=2cc785]"Wait!"[/color] She called out. [color=2cc785]"You, um…"[/color]

[b][color=ffffff]"Y-hic-es?"[/color][/b]

[color=2cc785]"You Um, you…"[/color]

[b][color=ffffff]"...-hic-?"[/color][/b]

[color=2cc785]"You-"[/color]

In that instant, Salbjörg’s body was covered in a cloak of smoke. It didn’t take long to thin out, and when it did, the snake lady wasn’t there anymore. Instead there was a refined young lady. She had some of the traits of the weird snake lady, but she was human! Rather than being a giant, she was of average height, looked petite, and didn’t have any of the other menacing traits like her elongated pupils. She was even smiling. 

[color=2cc785]"You saved me!"[/color] The woman smiled, and her perfect teeth somehow caught the diffused light of the dungeon and sparkled. 

[b][color=ffffff]"I-hic-did?"[/color][/b]

[color=2cc785]"Well yea!"[/color] Even her voice sounded chipper and energetic now. [color=2cc785]"I don’t know how, but whatever you slid me into over here seems to have cured me! I’m back to my old self!"[/color]

[b][color=ffffff]"Really!"[/color][/b]

What a fool. [color=2cc785]"Yea! So you should use those big strong arms and pull me out now!"[/color]

[b][color=ffffff]"A-hic-nd?"[/color][/b]

And? [color=2cc785]"Um, oh! You want a reward, huh?"[/color] She giggled. [color=2cc785]"Well, how about you pull me free. Aaaaaaand, I'll give you a kiss!"[/color] She cupped her lips and started smooching the air. All boys dreamed of becoming men, and what better way to show off your masculinity by kissing the fairest of the fair?

But the boy only groaned, turned away from her, and started to crawl towards the other room. [b][color=ffffff]"Girls -hic- are so gross."[/color][/b] Salbjörg instantly reverted back to her true form and began thrashing in place, shouting obscenities. Between her speech impediment and the pain ripping up and down her side, she couldn’t form words that monster or human could understand.