A hop, skip and a jump away from our brief acquaintance with Daryl, we were approaching the first of the Goblin nest on this street. Surprisingly there were other people scouting the place out from across the road. I'd learn yesterday, the goblin sentries outside didn't seem interested in chasing me down, so long as I stayed far enough away to not be a threat.

The people outside were a mixed bunch of adults, but one of them looked vaguely familiar. The big black guy in the back looked like a slab of muscle imitating a human being, but if I was right, he was one of the few people in this world I might actually call the cops for if I saw him being robbed. The white woman beside him had straight red hair and a pale or I guess, by definition fair complexion, the last guy guy was short round and for some reason seemed quite happy. Jeans, t-shirt and light spring jackets were worn like a uniform, further convincing me that I might know one of them.

They were eyeing the goblin house and seemed to be in deep discussion. If they were thinking of clearing it, then this might be a good opportunity to scout some potential new allies. I was just about to call out to them when...

Attention Sentient Beings

Incorporation of [extra-universal energies] into [Native Inhabitants] has been deemed successful.

However, to improve the [survive-ability] of [Native Inhabitants] Several adjustments have been deems necessary.

Additional but non-essential information can be obtained from [Celestials].

Please note, update will take place in

1h59m53s

Two hours, uh, OK then, plenty of time to clear the goblins out and secure shelter, I think. "Jenny, Zoe stay close, we need more people to safely clear that place in time, I don't know how long the update will take, but I'm thinking we won't be safe while it does."

"Why you think that." Jenny asks me. We continue to walk over to the other group in plain sight. Don't want someone thinking we are trying to sneak up on them.

"We wouldn't need the timer warning if we were going to be safe during the update."

We're close enough to the other group now that I'm sure I know the Big man in back. "Yo, Mr. G, long time no see!"

The other group is startled despite the fact that they must have seen us approach, I frown, but whatever. Mr. G looks our group over, then scrutinizes me, "I know you, son?"

Heh, not surprising, I really hadn't seen him for about half my life, but he was somewhat memorable in being a nice guy by my standards. Instead of answering right away I look over his companions. The woman has on some sort of glowing gloves and the short fat man suddenly has a sword and round wooden shield in his hands. Jenny and I have our weapons in hand since we have no extra inventory slots, but Zoe likes to pull hers out as needed. She jumps in front of us and her Hammer appears in her hands. It's still such a funny sight to see that little girl with such a huge hammer, I have to struggle to not laugh.

The round man doesn't even try and lets out a loud laugh for a few seconds. He lets his weapons fade back into his inventory as he laughs. The woman looks confused for a moment but then her gloves too disappear. She, was standing behind the round man with a hand on his shoulder as her battle stance. Weird.

I look over and answer Mr. G "Probably not, I was only at the Sanctuary a short time and that was a long time ago. I was Leon Johnson back then." Well, technically still am, but I never considered that to be my real last name. It was chosen at random to fill a state requirement, I always planned to pick a new one when I turned 18.

Mr. G looked at me, trying to remember, but I'd be surprised and impressed if he did. A lot of kids passed through the Sanctuary Group home. He shrugs his shoulders a bit, "Can't say I remember you, boy, but glad to see more of you kids survived."

We introduced our parties to each other had a short catch up on what we've all been through the last few days. Apparently the Group home was straight up over run that first day, but only a few staff members had been there, all the kids having been at school. These three were safe at home and went back to the Group home to check on the kids that might be there. The man was Rick and the woman Debrah, I found out Mr G's real name was Gavin Gardener. Despite looking like an Irish steryotype, Debrah spoke with a casual Caribbean accent. They made a fuss over Zoe of course, but she didn't want to be cuddled much.

Mr. G had chosen the [Cleric] class as one of the best available healing classes. Not surprising given his personality, but to look at him, you would think all he was missing was a heavy suit of armour. He was level three already. Rick was [Warrior] which gave a bonus to all weapon types and to light armour. A jack of all trades melee fighter then. Debrah was an Enchanter, with short term battle buff or permanent one if she got the right crafting materials materials. Both her and Rick were level two.

A short test between Mr G and Zoe, revealed that although Mr G started with a higher bonus to strength, Zoe's stat points made her slightly stronger than him now. Not to say he was a pushover, he was still naturally strong and who knows what the update might do.

Mr. G's group had been working together but hadn't known about the party function. They in turn gave us [Message Paper]. Some sort of tree monster took over the Group home, they killed a few to get in and see if any kids were there. The [Message Paper] was a drop from them that let you send a note to someone so long as you knew their name and had met some time after the apocalypse.

All of this took half an hour, then we decided to group up and assault the Goblins. Everyone was shocked when I suggested Zoe and rick as the front line. They all wanted to protect her. The girls were especially angry with me.

"Are you out of your mind!" Jenny yelled into my face.

"Yeah, boy, that's pretty low, putting a little girl in front of you to fight..." even Mr G thought I was just some sort of coward.

I let them yell at me for a bit, with Zoe interjecting that she "Wants to help, too." Finally I got sick of it.

"So let me get this straight!" I ask them loudly, "You want to protect Zoe do you?"

"Well of course we do, she just a little girl." Rick says while he tries to put an arm around her shoulder, but Zoe move away with an angry huff. Everyone else agrees with him though.

"And your plan to do that is to make sure she has as little experience protecting herself as possible? This makes sense to you, does it? What's going to happen one day when she's by herself and because you decided to coddle her all that time, she gets killed? hmm? In case you haven't notice, Zoe is level three, she's quite strong and I'm pretty sure if you tried to leave her outside she would just ignore you!"

Zoe just grinned at that last remark. I had a feeling about that after watching her jump at Daryl earlier. We hadn't told them about that encounter, but maybe we should have. We could have avoided the 'let's protect the weak little girl' argument altogether, but I don't want them looking at us as murderers just yet.

After that mess, the actual attack on the Goblins was somewhat anti-climatic. Jenny and I took out the sentry from long range. We all marched right up to the front of the house. There was a large open entryway past the front door, so the first plan of using the hallway to constrict enemy movement to our benefit was out the window. Instead we set up just outside the front door. Zoe and Rick in front, then Jenny and myself, then our Healer and Enchanter. In order to use her, battle enchants Debrah had to touch us, so she would lay a hand on a shoulder during the fight as well as keep an eye out for extra company. Her Battle enchants only lasted 10 minutes right now, but that should be enough time.

Once set up, Jenny laid a trap just inside the door, then we yelled and made enough noise to attract the attention of the green bastards. They were making enough noise inside to cover our set up. After that it was a slaughter. They came, Zoe and ricks skills put them down quickly, while Jenny used her [Scatter Shot], traps and [Stun Arrow] to keep them honest. I wasn't sure I would be able to use anything other than [Quicksand], but with the use of the skill book we earned at the last Goblin dungeon, I was able to send my skills [Splash], [Fire Shot] and [Flame Thrower] past Zoe and Rick to keep the goblins off balance. I kept expecting them to come from the side of the house, but they never did. Mr. G kept Rick, Zoe and occasionally Jenny, when she set another trap, bathed in healing light.

Suddenly a purple flash knocked Zoe back hard. She flew back and clipped Jenny, causing a stray arrow to hit Rick through the shoulder. Mr G, was on it fast and another ray of light bathed rick from head to toe. The Arrow was pushed out as his shoulder healed but he couldn't use his shield while it was happening. Zoe and Jenny were picking themselves up, Rick was taking cuts from spears as he tried to defend with one hand, and Mr G was trying to keep up with the damage he was taking.

In the back of the current group of Goblins were two with robes and wands. Mage of some sort. I stepped forward with a short burst from [Flame Thrower]. When the goblins in front reeled back I sent a barrage of [Fire Shot] at the Goblin spell casters, but they seem to just shrug them off. Then they sent some purple magic shots at me. I flinched badly with my hands in front of my face expected to be knocked back like Zoe, but instead it only did minimal damage, while [Stone Skin] kept me on my feet.

For a moment they were as surprised as I was, then we sent more magic at each other, but little damage was being done. Rick finally healed properly, and Zoe was up as well. We were just inside the front doorway now, so they were working overtime to keep the spears away from me. I couldn't figure out what to do about the mages though. They were too far away for either Zoe or Rick to reach and there were too many goblins to give Jenny a clear shot at them.

My MP was draining fast, I wouldn't last long with this battle mage imitation. One last try then I need to fall back fast. I took a long look at the Goblins as they got ready to cast another spell, then sent my last new ability from the level five upgrade through the ground with [Subterranean Attack]

Ice Blade

30 MP 1MP/s

Elemental Creation

Damage 10-19

---

Cold, sharp, and deadly. Meet the wife

I didn't expect it to work, since [Ice Blade] was definitely a melee attack skill, but a spike of ice shot up out of the ground and into the stomach of the rightmost Goblin. All three of us were somewhat surprised, but, I quickly used my remaining MP to spam the skill into them both. They were pinned into the air by several spikes each when a roar came from the back of the house. I retreated drained. I took a spear in the ass on my way out the door. Wow, that hurt, I cried out, but the pain disappeared quickly, thanks to Mr. G. Man, how were Zoe and Rick standing it, getting healed is one thing but getting stabbed still hurt. I was regretting sending Zoe to the front lines, even if that's where she wanted to be...

Another roar came from the back of the horde. I didn't bother to turn around. With no MP, there was nothing more I could do, and I was already in the way of Jenny's arrows. I ducked back to my position crawling over several dead goblins. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't feeling pretty good though, those two casters almost ruined our whole game plan, and we didn't really have a back up. Then I remember something, the last Goblin Leader hadn't roared though, it screeched...

I got back to my position and preceded to [Meditate], I briefly felt a hand on my shoulder and suddenly I lost the extra magic damage enchant on my staff, instead my Regen shot way up as it acquired a wisdom enchant. Thank you Debrah! She went back to Mr G's side while I recovered my MP.

We had a problem though. My [Quicksand] and the narrow doorway were they only things keeping us from being overwhelmed earlier. Now I had to turn it off while I recovered and the area in front of the door just inside the house was cleared while I fought the spell casters. Zoe and Rick were trying to keep the area secured while I got enough MP to use [Quicksand] again, but it would take a minute.

"I'm almost out of mana!" Mr G yells from the back line. Excellent, for a second there I was worried this was going to be easy.

"We got a Problem!" Rick yells out suddenly. Then he and Zoe stagger back hard and out of the house steps the Last Goblin. Except it's not just a Goblin.

Green HobGoblin Champion

Level

Type

Health

Mana

10

Elite Humanoid

288/300

50/50

"Well, yeah, no, that makes sense." I sigh. No matter though, at this point my regen was actually higher than my Mana Pool, I needed to a lot of short rest breaks when I went over board.

"Everyone, get away from dat ting!" Debrah yells out.

"Don't gotta tell me twice!" Rick runs by with Zoe in one hand.

I and everyone else back up. We're all out on the front lawn now, and somehow, we've managed to pull a crowd. Not many people were out, but I guess the battle noise called to some of the bravest. There are at least 20 people on the other side of the street. Some run away with the appearance of the Hobgoblin, but the rest slowly, then loudly cheer us on.

I don't know why but it makes me smile. The Hobgoblin roars again, but outside the confines of the house it sounds more screech-like than before.

"I got no Mana!" Mr G reminds everyone.

Zoe runs over to him, "Here!" She hand him an axe? Where did she..? Is that the Goblin Leaders axe? I completely forgot about that thing! That little kleptomaniac and I are going to have to have a talk later.

We circle around the Hobgoblin. It's armed with a club and shield, leather pants and no shirt. Taller than it's brethren, it's at least 5 feet and mad. It's keep roaring at us, until Jenny puts an arrow in it. It roars again and turns to Jenny so I put a few [Fire Shots] in it's back until it faces me. Zoes hammer comes out of nowhere to bean it upside the head. It's a skill that returns her weapon to her as long as she hits her target.

The hobgoblin is mad now, Jenny's next arrows catch nothing but shield. "Melee on three!" Rick yells out, then counts to three. He, Mr G, and Zoe rush the Hobgoblin from three sides. It deflect the axe and ignores the hammer, while forcing rick to defend a wide swing from the club. There are a flurry of blows traded before all three retreat. Light bathe Rick as Mr G heals him, he got the worst of it. The Hobgoblin is mostly fine as it only had to tank Zoe's hammer. This is where a level difference shows, because even though Zoe earned two levels during the fight, she's still five behind the Hobgoblin.

Everyone is two levels up, except Jenny and I. we only gained one. Still, that means it's up to us to do most of the damage. With [Quicksand] I slow it down and Jenny precede to empty both her quiver and her storage. I send [Flamethrower] through the ground and fire shot through the air. Everyone else tanks it when it looks to rush either Jenny or myself. It has some sort of stone skin ability and a shield charge like Rick.

Zoe's ground slam cause a localized tremor to put the hobgoblin off balance then the three wail on it, while I recover mana and Jenny refills her quiver. Debrah, circle us all, boosting Health or Mana regen as needed, or amplifying damage and armour.

After a while we have a pattern going and soon enough The Hobgoblin lets out a loud screech and dies. Zoe runs up and grabs its club, but then throws it aside with a disappointed look on her face. Weird girl.

The crowd that gathered cheers for us and starts to move closer. I see Jenny twitch but she doesn't shoot anyone. before they get too close I tell Rick to take Debrah and gather everything. They loot the Hobgoblin and move inside to gather everything from the small fry. Zoe gather all the spears she can. She must have at least 60 of those by now.

By the time the crowds are patting us on the back asking pointless questions and generally being a bother, we are all reminded of a certain deadline.

Attention Sentient Beings

Incorporation of [extra-universal energies] into [Native Inhabitants] has been deemed successful.

However, to improve the [survive-ability] of [Native Inhabitants] Several adjustments have been deems necessary.

Additional but non-essential information can be obtained from [Celestials].

Please note, update will take place in

0h18m24s

My God, oh did so much time pass!? I look at my status and see my stamina has less than a third left in it. Geez, time flies when you're having fun.

No time to chit chat, the crowds go silent when the window pops up. I gather my group and we start to loot and move the goblins outside the house from the front doorway. Some people from the crowds start to help, but I make sure no one takes our hard earned coppers and pouches. when we finish, the ones that help ask to stay in the house until the update is finished. I guess they think the same as me. We could be knocked out for the update, defenseless.

Everyone who wants to is allowed in, we secure the doors and windows, then wait. there are only a few minutes left. Debrah secured us a room upstairs. It's crowded with 6 people, but the rest of the house seems worse with all the strangers. We lock the door and wait...