"Shield Rush!" Garble flew across the battlefield, slamming into the warted face of a humanoid, his shield intercepting a down-swinging blade that had been well on its way to making Smolder's day less comfortable.
"Thanks, Bro." Smolder vanished without further ado, her presence only known when a taller combatant lurched forward and fall flat on its face, Smolder smirking from behind him with daggers twirling.
They were deep in the Goblin Caves, and those goblins were coming from all directions, trying to wear them down with numbers more than any individual strength. "Be washed away in cleansing fire. Field of Heat!" droned out Sandra as she threw her hands wide, flames erupting all around her and spreading rapidly, forcing the rushing goblins to dance and wail in agony.
The dragons could feel the heat, but it was not hot enough to get through their resistant scales. Spike brought down a staff on one armored goblins head, ringing it like a bell before twirling in place, a bubble of light exploding around him, knocking the goblin away. "Thought I was easy prey, did you?"
A great goblin, easily twice the height and width of the others, slammed down a club on Sandra. A shield of wind flared to life, turning the club aside, and she fell back a step, squeaking with surprised horror. The big creature clearly wasn't as paralyzed by the fire as its smaller kin.
"--Rush!" Garble slammed into the thing with his sword already out, piercing into the thing with a triumphant smirk that lasted such a brief time before he was swatted aside like a bothersome insect, sent tumbling with a quick blow of the stout club.
Spike was already waving his staff. "I got it!" But he wasn't targeting the big goblin, instead warm green energy rushing free of him, suffusing Garble and chasing away the riot of pains, his more obvious injuries abating visibly.
At least some soreness remained, and Garble pulled himself up, teeth grit. The great goblin loomed over him, his club gripped in both hands, ready swing, and Garble shouted, “Adamant armor!” Magic washed over his armor, glowing a faint cyan color, and he brought up his shield too. The club slammed into it, a metal clang ringing out, and Garble was pushed back, two furrows forming around his planted feet as he slid but remained firmly upright.
Smolder finished cutting down a couple goblins, the horde had thinned out and all that was left was the huge goblin. She grit her teeth. The big ones were always way harder than the small ones. She crouched down, and intoned ‘Vital Strike’ in her head, the two blades began to glow a dark red.
Garble grit his teeth in a half grin half grimace as he shoved the club aside, only to have to take cover behind the shield again, holding it above him as the big goblin started angrily slamming his club on the top again and again. The loud clangs rang out in Garble’s ears, and he grit his teeth. His armor was still glowing, and that was nice, but each strike still hurt and wore down his arms and legs. He braced himself, waiting for his oh-so punctual party to actually do something.
"On the big guy," shouted Spike as he wove his staff in slow figure eights, channeling power into their tank to keep him standing despite the abuse, not that it lessened the discomfort that came with being the angry target of the enormous goblinoid. "He's counting on us."
"I got this," spat Garble, his voice perhaps not as sure as his angry words, shoving his shield up against a strike and forcing the goblin to stagger back a step.
Smolder landed on his back in that moment of vulnerability. The goblin flashed the same angry red as her weapons as she smirked viciously, the sound of its agonized cry music to her ears, but it was not collapsing, instead grabbing for her in a sudden swat, sending her flying aside.
"That's my sister," roared Garble, flames washing from his outraged mouth in a cone of destruction, forcing the goblin to retreat a step, bits of smoke rising from its dirty clothing.
"And my friend!" Spike landed on it, staff first, connecting with its head with the low sound of wood striking a hollow nut. The goblin wobbled and collapsed beneath Spike, leaving him flying in the air.
Smolder rolled upright. "Hey, I totally softened that thing up for you guys, you saw that."
Sandra pointed with her staff towards the exit in the caves. "You were all great. Did you see how I was thinning the crowd?" She giddily danced in place. "Grab the loot, let's get out of here. We are real adventurers!" It seemed she couldn't decide which facet to focus on.
“Hangon hangon hangon,” Spike said, waving his hands. “Weren’t we here for a reason? We took that enterprise request, right?”
Sandra picked up a big two handed axe and placed it in a bag far too small for it to fit in, it disappearing completely anyway. “Yeah, we were supposed to get, like, some kind of crown, right? Did the big one drop it?”
Spike shook his head. “No… he just dropped--” Spike picked up a tattered looking goblin cloak, and a rickety wooden key. “... Well, definitely not a crown.”
Sandra shrugged. “I mean, we already beat a buncha goblins. We probably don’t need to get the crown, we got a cool axe! And gold!” And she opened up her menu. “And remember! Garble finished learning Shield Rush, so he can finally get a new shield!” She nodded. “It’s been a productive day.”
“Yeah, but… we also kinda beat the heck outta these guys,” Spike said. “We can probably go in a bit deeper and find that crown. I mean, it can’t be far, right?” Spike walked to the door, inserting the wooden key, opening it up.
Inside the next room was, lo and behold, the crown, sitting on a pedestal. And around that pedestal was a series of glass spheres with varying sizes of holes in them, and gears and levers.
“Awh!” Sandra said. “I knew it! It’s a dumb puzzle. Look we don’t really need to finish the enterprise. We can just let someone else do it.”
Smolder raised her eyebrow. “But it’s like… right there? It’s like a few feet away.”
Garble hiked a thumb at Spike. "Hey, pony boy, time for you to shine. Show us what that bookworm you call a nanny taught you."
Spike crossed his arms, folding his staff over his front as he glared at Garble. Despite that, he marched over to have a better look into the room. "Huh… that looks like the Triple Gambit from Wonder Mare #74. A classic!"
Smolder snickered softly. "He wasn't wrong, just saying, now…" She casually picked through the room, plucking up anything that looked remotely valuable. "One of these, one of those… Ooo…"
Sandra watched Spike intently, her eyes widened at his slow but methodical progress. "Wow, you've actually seen this puzzle before?"
"Not… exactly like it, but close enough." He ducked suddenly, an arrow flying over his head. "Oops, has to go the… other way." He stuck out his tongue mildly as he worked the glasses in strange fashions. "And the crown will be ours. Besides, we have to turn in the crown or we don't progress up the tower, remember?"
"Yeah, we have to get to the top," agreed Sandra without enthusiasm. "Get you all home…"
Garble suddenly swatted her shoulder. "Hey, don't go getting cold feet now. We're a team, right? Friendship, etc, whatever."
"Yeah, of course." She squared her shoulders and stood upright. "You're right. It's just… we're doing so well. I'm… really going to miss having you around, you know, when you go home."
Spike continued to rotate the spheres, each sphere rotating other spheres, and trying to reach his hand in, snaking it around, straining with his hand to try to go in there, focusing too much on it.
Smolder joined his brother and Sandra, one eye on Spike, but most of her attention on her loot. "Not a bad haul, if I say so myself, which I just did." She waggled a bit of metal, like a dagger, but it didn't appear sharp and had clear jewels embedded in it. "You have that magic bag, right?"
"Oh right!" Sandra quickly pulled it free of her clothing and held it open, allowing a rain of loot to rain into its darkened interior. "You sure you don't want one for yourself?"
Smolder shrugged. “I mean, it’s all kinda going to the same place in the end, right?”
Garble raised an eyebrow. “You sure you’re a dragon, sis? Because I’m pretty sure I want to make my own personal horde out of all the gold we’re getting.”
Smolder smirked. “Which we can divide up when we get home.” She twirled a dagger. “And I can focus on stabbing, instead of having to scramble for gold.”
Sandra closed the bag and drew the string tight. "Doing alright in there?"
"Doing fine." Somehow, Spike had trapped himself inside one of the clear containers, still wriggling and working the others as if he had planned that. "Think it's… uh… close…"
With a loud click and a ringing bell, all the glass shattered as if they were made of sugar instead, raining tiny bits all around as Spike fell to the ground, the crown landing perfectly on his head. "Yep, got it!"
With their quest complete, they began to amble for the exit. Spike had one hand on his new crown, holding it in place. "You know, I think this crown may have something."
Sandra raised a brow. "Besides being a quest turn in?"
"Besides that," he quickly agreed, lowering it to where he could see it. "Time for some vitamancy! Reveal to me your secrets!" Green magic sprang from his hands and his eyes together, numbers and words dancing in his eyes as he identified the item he held. "Ooo, nice. This thing has a skill."
Garble was suddenly interested. "A bulwark skill? Something awesome?"
Smolder tossed a dagger in the air, clapping her hands before it came back down to be snatched. "Something for me? Don't keep us in suspense."
Sandra flinched and looked away. "And there I was ready to leave it behind."
Spike placed it on his head. "It comes with a story. You see, there once was a king--"
Garble put his hand right over Spike's face. "Gonna cut you off right there. Skip to the part that matters."
Spike huffed, crossing his arms across his chest. "Alright, summary, king, also healer, country attacked, took up arms to fight them."
Smolder lifted her shoulders with a half smile. "So… sounds like a 'you' then?"
"Yep! It's a class unlock, I think? I'm not sure how to… do it though. I don't want to put the whole crown in my guildchain, then how would we turn it in?" His eyes were turned upwards at the crown on his brow as he walked along.
Sandra set a hand on his shoulder. "I almost cost you getting it, I can at least help here. Those jerks taunted me with stories of things like this. They already got some advanced classes like that. The secret is the story."
Spike clapped his hands together, staff held between them. "I had a feeling! This story felt, you know, important."
"You have to put yourself in that position, in your head." Sandra tapped her temples before adjusting her glasses, her hands already so close. "Become the healer king, fighting off the enemy, and it'll happen. You'd better do that before we turn in the crown though, since you need to have that until it's unlocked.
Garble shrugged softly. "Does this healer king or whatever use magic to fight people and hide behind tougher people like you do?"
Spike squinted at him a moment. "Hey, I've used my staff too, but no. This king was on the front line, fighting right alongside his soldiers when he wasn't throwing out a choice bit of healing magic."