Dan took the stairs three at a time, leaping toward the top. They ran from the back of the building up toward the front, and were floored with the weird synthetic material that was meant to resemble marble and made out of Olympian Pantheon knows what. What mattered there was that Dan was pretty sure they'd be slippery when wet. At the top of the stairs there was a small level space before the door into to the second floor, which he had barricaded from the inside with a stiff, aluminum framed stacking chair wedged under the door handle. There were also a barrel, which had been in the utility room and full of salt for the sidewalk and parking lot and was now full of water from the second floor men's room mixed with three quarters of a container of dish soap from the break room, and a spear. Kind of.

One of his co-workers had left a sharp, large-ish chef's knife in the break room. Dan considered taking it for a short sword, but had not the slightest clue how to knife fight, and was a bit troubled by a saying he had heard (even if it was of questionable veracity) that the loser of a knife fight died in the street and the winner died in the ambulance. He didn't know how to use a spear either, but figured that with his presumably superior reach, he could at least poke the pointy end into a goblin before it could get to him, given his newly super human agility and reflexes. Especially if he could engineer a situation where he would have the high ground, and his enemies were off balance. This second trap wasn't much, but he hadn't had much time. Or any relevant skills or training. So it was that he reached the top of the stairs and found his broom stick with a kitchen knife duct taped to one end waiting for him, just as the goblin chieftain's strange aether aura flared and the creature burst through the door below. Like glass, goblins were apparently unfamiliar with door handles. Somehow, the fact that that thing had slammed through the door bodily instead was not comforting.

Dan kicked the barrel of soapy water down the stairs as the chieftain, momentarily disoriented from running through a particle board door, gathered itself. At the sight of the rolling plastic barrel and cascading water, a look of what might have been apprehension flashed across the brutish creature's face, and it barked a loud warning to its pack mates. Dan had hoped that the electrocution stunt downstairs might trick his opponents into thinking that he was some kind of wizard with the power to control water and turn it deadly, giving him just a sliver of a psychological edge, enough to make them hesitate a bit. That seemed to have worked. The distracted chieftain barely had time to flare its aether aura before a sling bullet cracked its forehead. It clearly had the ability to use a variant of aether to strengthen and to shield itself, as while it staggered it did not seem badly injured. He would have aimed for an eye, and with "Unerring Aim" he believed that he may well have hit his mark, but their eyes were small and he feared that while breaking the eye socket would be painful, it may not slow the thing down much.

One of the two other remaining goblins in the chieftain's group had meanwhile collected the spear that Dan sidestepped on his way to the stairs and followed its leader into the stairwell. All the while, Dan's senses were on overdrive, more information flooding in every fraction of a second than he could have imagined experiencing an hour before - not that he could have imagined any of this an hour before. In particular, his danger sense and tactical precognition worked together and warned him how to move so as not to die. Even with just the five senses healthy humans were born with, enhanced to superhuman levels, and his improved agility, he probably could have dodged the spear the enraged monster threw up the stairs at him. It was a tough angle for the goblin to make the throw. But he'd watched it pick the weapon up from his sensory locus in the hallway, even as he was sprinting up the stairs. His sense of danger had warned him that if he moved to his left this much, he'd be injured, and if he moved this much more, he'd be dead. His tactical precognition (which he was far from figuring out the exact mechanics of) had let him know exactly how to bend. So it was almost laughably easy to slip the spear, even as the momentum in his limbs from launching the sling bullet tugged at his body, in full accordance with Newton's First Law.

The monster that threw the spear seemed to Dan more feral, bestial, than its fellows. Needle teeth bared in an ugly snarl, the thing charged up the slippery staircase, with far more blood lust than self preservation instinct. It lost traction three stairs up and reached a clawed forelimb out to the wall to stabilize itself. That was all the chance the human needed, and a lead orb sunk into the alien beast's head.

Monster Defeated, Goblin Berserker (lvl 4). Aether Gained.

The remaining member of the chieftain's escort had run into trouble extricating itself from the electrified puddle flooding the central hallway below, but finally managed the job. But as it scampered to the wreck of the stairwell door, the chieftain grunted a warning, and the smaller monster pulled up short. The barrel, which had been lumbering leisurely down the steps all the while, came to a gentle rest at the fur cloaked beast's feet as it regarded Dan with a strangely measured glare. He had the monster's attention now, and while fiercely inhuman, the creature was disconcertingly clever.

The human whirled his sling and the goblin glared. Dan didn't want to attack while it was watchful and ready; given its aura abilities that might not do anything but waste a bullet and expose himself while he loaded another. His tactical precognition seemed to agree with that assessment, though that sense seemed more precise on defense than offense, possibly due to synergy with danger sense. On the other hand, if the chieftain retreated, gathered reinforcements, Dan could be in real trouble. He was quite cornered. Even now, the nine goblins in the second floor had gathered to the sounds of battle behind the stairwell door and were clawing and scrabbling and pounding at it, trying to get in, though his chair barricade held firm. But the way back outside to the rest of the troop led through the flooded hallway, and the chieftain had no way of knowing how to transverse it safely. It also, thankfully, did not seem to know that it was not a wall but a door immediately behind it, one that would lead up and out into the rear parking lot.

After a standoff that lasted subjective aeons and an objective few seconds, the chieftain glanced up at its dead tribe mate. The living goblin's coal black, beady eyes hardened, and it howled. Then it charged the stairs. It slipped a little on the first step, and was met with a sling bullet to the forehead. The monster was ready for it. Its aura surged and absorbed the impact, and the alien barely slowed. A second slip halfway up, a second sling bullet to the head, a second surge of aura dissipated the force. Then, nearly to the top, it slipped again. This time the bullet took it not in the head but in the left knee. Earlier, it had used its aura to shield its entire body when Dan loosed his sling, but every time the human had aimed for a goblin's head. The chieftain had the pattern. Besides, it couldn't have infinite reserves of aura. So while the goblin's aura flared and shielded its head, its kneecap shattered and it fell heavily, just before the platform at the top of the stairs.

Dan's hastily concocted plan had worked so far. Now he really, really hoped the monstrous goblin was legitimately injured rather than playing possum, and that he could trust his precognition. He grabbed his broom stick, kitchen knife halberd and jabbed hard into the base of the chieftain's thick neck. The monster swiped at the broomstick with its sharp claws, its aura flaring, and snapped the wood, but the knife bit deeply into it. Dan took the second spear, the one he had caught mid-flight downstairs, and stabbed again. The chieftain blocked with its right forearm, broke the spear, but in Dan's aether sense the creature's power was fading away. With a final effort it snarled, marshalled its aura and leaped up. There was no space to dodge the monster's bulk so Dan squared and kicked as hard as he could with his right leg, connecting solidly with its thick chest. At the same time the beast raked Dan's shin with a vicious clawed swipe before the kick flung it bodily back down the stairs. If everything had been equal, kicking that monster, coiled thick with muscle and almost Dan's match in total mass, would not have gone well. Wounded, weakened, attacking from slippery footing against an enemy with the high ground and the ability to forsee its movements, everything was stacked against the goblin. It slid to the bottom, the chef's knife still sunk in its neck, and was still.

Monster Defeated, Goblin Chieftain [Aural Warrior], (lvl 6). Aether Gained.