Corvayne lead the charge across the plaza, hitting the goblin swarm from the side. He pumped his arms swing his spear as if it was a scythe while using [Cross Skill: Thresh]. The effect left black trails and five swipes hade formed huge patches of shadowed ground, spurting limbs that grabbed at goblins. The curve of darkness cut into the surging swarm like a knife, snagging feral goblins who had been out of range of the slicing attack while dragging other frothing goblins into the ground.

He didn't stop swinging, as the shadowy muck would expire in seconds due to scores of goblins rushing to kill or die. He had to drive his spear forward a few times as pools of shadow dried up, forming gaps. Those were the only safe places to try to attack him, as a few unfortunate monsters discovered the hard way. A few tried leaping over the puddles and were skewered for their effort. He kept stabbing between swinging his spear to form more puddles, as a few goblins were able to use a sinking ally as a stepping stone to pounce at him, teeth and claws out, red and yellow and white eyes all empty. Corvayne felt his mind tuning out his aches and pains as he worked his spear, spilling blood from the horde of monsters pouring into the kill zone he formed in what felt like an endless stream.

After a swing Corvayne turned to see how his friends were doing. Grunt was at one side of the wedge he had formed, and the big man had found a very large bird bath and was using it in wide swings to decimate goblins, each swing sending goblins flying. Corvayne only had a moment to look before he turned back to his central spot and used his foot to test the vanishing shadow patch. Still solid to him, even if another goblin was sinking in up to it's waist not three feet from him. He drew his spear back, and swung it again, activating [Cross Skill: Thresh] and forming a new wall deeper into the torrent of green monsters.

Lady Blood Claw had enhanced her strength and done some sort of enchantment to her blade that allowed her to use it one-handed while her other hand swept over the mass of goblins, spreading something like spores that made a section of them stumble around, suddenly drunk or dazed. Even with one hand, she was able to hold the huge metal blade and swing it in the wide arc needed to start [Circle of Death]. Blood sprayed over goblins and they hissed and even more diverted from the swarm to the three of them, standing in the gap between the half broken wall and a pile of rubble.

Corvayne could feel his upper body start to strain as he used another [Thresh] to form a new patch as the first started to dry up. He ground his teeth and kept stabbing. His wedge had pulled away large number of the monsters from the crowd forming around the goblin soldiers. He wasn't sure if they could save those defenders, but if the soldiers could hold out for another minute or two they'd be the only living goblins in the plaza. That they would wasn't even close to a sure thing as the sheer number of attackers manged to pry the shield from one goblin soldier and with it he got pulled out of formation, a trio of goblins dragging him into the swarming mass. He was certainly dead, but that left nine they could...

The crowd of goblins attacking the wall started shrieking and like a wave of startled birds and pulled back from the formation. The goblin soldier who had been pulled out was bleeding and crouched on the bricks, protecting his face and trembling, perhaps waiting for death, when a hand reached down and pulled him to his feet.

Nyx pushed the goblin away from him and gestured back to the wall, then walked next to Grunt. With the wayward soldier out of the way Nyxion extended his shield bubble. The leader of the soldiers showed the good sense not to waste surprise help and barked a command, using the moment to arrange themselves in a line linking up with Nyxion.

The leader saluted them. “I know not what strange giants you are, but by Ionis I appreciate the help!”

Nyx glanced over at Corvayne. Not again!

“I can't help but stand with other spear men.” Corvayne called back, then Nyx's fear effect seemed to lessen and once more the horde crashed into their line. Corvayne and Grunt and Lady Blood Claw surged around Nyx's combined shield and fear, catching the last ends of the goblin swarm. He put down a patch of shadow then drew his firebreathing dagger and stepped out and swept out a burst of concentrated flames across a swath of goblins, starting a good thirty of them on fire and breaking up their ranks. From behind him bouncing green [Disrupt] orbs and arrows picked off goblins.

He waved with a shadow hand raised above his head as he focused on jabbing and stabbing. It felt like no time at all passed when the last feral monster went still. He looked back, a line of carnage following them. He turned and saw the goblin leader doing the same, then step towards him and offer a hand. Corvayne strode forward and shook it.

“Corvayne.”

The goblin had a solid handshake despite the size difference. “Constantius. I didn't think anyone was going to make it out of the plaza when I saw them swarm. We owe you our lives.”

Corvayne looked around. “I take it this place is overrun?”

“The feral host pours from here. Swarms of mad ones and worse hide in the shadows. And I suppose, at least one miracle.” The goblin leader bowed at each of the fighters, even Seru who had hobbled over. Constantius turned back to Corvayne. “Even seen your kind before here, but never saw them aid us in a fight nor speak to us.”

“You've ran into other humans?” Corvayne gestured to himself and the others joining him.

Constantius shook his head armor shifting a little on his green form. “Not personally. Last sighting was ten years back, and survivors say it just scythed through them.”

Corvayne turned for a moment to look around the plaza, past the pile of goblins to the buildings catching the setting sun as the shadows grew. “Well, we are looking to go up a floor in the tower, as in, get out of here.”

“Blue stairs up? There are a few in this city. Most of them are in towers, and I've only seen the inside of those buildings because that's where the objectives are. Leaving, there's only a handful at Last Bastion and the outlying colonies. That's if you don't want to go into swarmlands.”

He was catching a lot of names. “Is Last Bastion a town? How far is it?”

“A day's march. Was trying to drag our ass back to the gate about an hour away. Sundown's close, and you don't want to be out in the open at night.”

Corvayne didn't need any elaboration to agree with that. “Let me confirm with my team. I have a talent or something that lets people understand me.”

Wick shrugged. “I understand him just fine.”

He turned to her. “Why didn't you say anything?”

“I thought you were doing a good job?” She stepped forward and offered her hand. “I'm Wick, the other leader of this band. I like the idea of getting the heck out of here. If you can guide us to the gates and get us to safer lands, we'll be happy to team up with you to fend monsters off.”

“Sure.” Constantius turned to a goblin pulling a body off his shield. “Also Groveller, you owe that fancy one some boot kissing. I've never seen the insane bastards get scared before.”

Nyxion brushed his uniform. “A hero like me strikes fear into the hearts of monsters.”

“If hero you wish to be called, then hero you are. All right green-hides, march.” The goblin pointed and his troops started heading down the street in what Corvanye thought was south. He checked to make sure his team was good. Only Grunt and LBC had taken even scratches during the fight. Seru seemed more motivated to move faster, forcing Mister I to fuss over her. She ignored him and caught up with Corvayne, nudging him with her elbow.

“Can we trust them?” She asked quietly. “Goblins are...”

Corvayne nodded. “I know you're worried about bad goblins. I think we can trust them, however. They look genuinely in awe of us, and also... I think there's a reason we can all understand them. I think they are this floor's 'people of the tower'. Like the villagers on floor three. I don't know if that's for sure true, but I'd rather trust and get disappointed again and again then get into an extra fight without trying.”

Wick stepped ahead and looked over at Seru. “I have enough doubt for both of us. Right now? I like the idea of getting the fuck outta this place.”

They caught up with the patrol in a block. Humans had longer legs, so even being sore and tired Corvayne didn't find it hard to stride up to the front with the commander. “I have good dark vision. Are you able to operate in shadow if we can't make the gate?”

“We'd be fumbling mostly blind. I heard in the old days we were better in the dark. One of us, Cat, has the knack. See her yellow eyes? Near worthless during the day.”

The Goblin in question was wearing an eye patch and pulled it off as she looked at Corvayne with two eyes that were solid yellow with a black slash. Corvayne thought about it, then decided not to show off his still-forming eye under the bandage. It probably wouldn't be all that funny to anyone.

“Okay. I can see well in both light and dark. I'll try to keep an eye... my eye out for trouble. You said it's an hour march?”

Constantius nodded at Corvayne then continued speaking while marching. “We share many traits with those monsters on the outside, but they are crazed zealots. We specifically send groups in here to try to cull their numbers and possibly ascend and evolve our skills. Otherwise they spill out into the surrounding lands and we get wars and raids on our farms.” The goblin leader paused for a moment. “I don't know how easy it will be to get you to a stairway inside of Last Bastion. The high command will throw a fit just at the idea of big monsters aiding us, let alone bringing giants into the city.”

“Our only goal is to get out of the tower. Or whatever you call the collection of floors those stairs lead to.” Corvayne shrugged.

The captain raised an eye. “You too eh? There's always a few goblins convinced we are in some sort of giant maze. That there's a start to the stairs and an end. A hundred years back we sent our best five heroes up through the stair to the stars. Never heard back from them.”

They walked through a shallow stream flowing along the road and climbed up onto a wall that lead them over a flooded series of blocks. While only about fifteen feet above the water, it gave a better vantage point to see how long the major roads stretched, towers lining the way to the setting sun. Corvayne blinked his eyes and looked down into the murky water instead, seeing brickwork and fish swimming with a faint current tugging plants. Some of them were swimming in gentle circles in a fountain that raised above the water. Perhaps rain or a flood had deposited them there and trapped them to go around it in endless circles. He looked back at the goblins and decided, meeting a few gazes that he could only think of as curious, to share what he knew.

“Well, we came from outside the tower. I think after floor 10, there's an extra strong monster that guards the exit. Maybe they fought it, won, and couldn't find their way back? This is the 9th floor, and there seems to be a lot of paths through the tower. I would imagine when they found new worlds, they'd also want to come back and tell you all about where they went.” They passed another section of the wall they walking on heading west that was still lit by sun, extending deep into what looked like a lake growing between all those buildings. If not for all the monsters, he'd love to spend a day exploring a ruin like this.

“Do you wonder about other floors?” He asked as they stepped down a set of stairs back to street level. Corvayne glanced back and Wick waved from the top of the wall. He saw Lady Blood Claw start walking a little faster, perhaps to come up and ask him something.

The goblin was thinking as they marched together under another road that crossed over on raised bridges. Great vines coated the stairs up to the cross street. Only the building tops were catching fading sunlight at this point. It was getting dark. Lady Blood claw slipped beside Corvayne before Constantius finished thinking to speak. “Only really brave and crazy goblins, the thinkers we sometimes call them, are willing to even go past the third step of the stairways up or down. I'm a little brave and a little crazy and a thinker, but the star scape if you go all the way up is terrifying to me. Wonderful, but terrible. The next sky up fills me with... wrongness. Like something in my guts knows it's wrong for me to go up. Maybe if I become a graybeard in a good fifty years I'll not care, and pick up a notched sword and march up and try to get out. That's after I've paid my dues to The Last Bastion. The Bastion is why I have clothes, friends, a blade. Without it? I could be like the insane things in the ruins here.”

Corvayne nodded. “And you'd give anything to protect that thing that gives you meaning.”

“Everything up to my honor. There are good and bad goblins. I won't lie to you and say I'm leading you to paradise. But I've always said, that there's anything to stick to out there is because of the people who try. Those beasts out there? Can't figure if they are really mad, or if they got so selfish that they lost everything. It's possible to find ones that are more timid and slowly bring them to awareness. But in the same way, it's possible to lose your mind. Thinkers sometimes do that, lose themselves to a single desire. They repeat the same actions over and over until they break or spirals down, returning to an animal state.”

The goblin looks both ways, his voice becoming conspiratorial. “That was our goal. There's a fallen one somewhere out there we think, stirring up the tribes. They say it's why there's all the chaos. First a surge of thinkers, the kind of numbers never seen before in our history, then a surge of fallen, three in a week, then you showing up. Giant thinkers who speak rather then kill us.”

Lady Blood Claw was lemon yellow while walking up to Corvayne and shifted to gently flowing colors. The Goblin glanced at her and raised a scarred brow. The Lady nodded at him, and he nodded back. He appreciated that the Goblin, as well as Lady Blood Claw, because they gave him time to think and respond as they marched. For walking through a possibly hostile city the conversation was relaxed.

He worked what he generally wanted to say and started speaking. “Outside there are worlds separated by great rifts of nothingness. Huge spheres that would take years to march across, separated by distances that would take someone walking a million life times to breach the gap. Ships sail these vast distances, and spread humans to many worlds. My home is a...” He had a pause as he thought how funny it was that he almost said desert. “A lush world. A place of mountains and great trees and few monsters. I guess you'd feel a little sad there... there are no goblins out there. Just humans.”

The goblin nodded. “Maybe some day we can boast like that. Right now we need to find what brings the madness and the swarms. Sometimes we get years of peace, when the city slumbers and there are few raids. Time to clear land, build new walls, love, and explore. We dream of peace without the endless horrors. If there came a time soldiers were not needed, I figure we'd follow the steps of the heroes.” The goblin leader stopped for a moment. He pulled out a map, checked where a statue ahead was, then gestured to the ember glow of sun lit clouds and directed his group to follow him west a block. Wick and Grunt were leading his friends behind the goblins, with Nyx taking up the rear with Seru.

The leader cleared his throat a moment and once Corvayne was looking back at him nodded. “If you don't mind talking about your equipment, would you tell me how you found your spear? We have hard earned trinkets from the ruins, but nothing we own is able to cleave great swaths of monsters or call shadows.”

“The spear isn't anything special. I guess it's nice and sturdy? No. Those shadowy limbs are something I got from beating a guardian of the fifth floor. And the spear strikes I use, anyone can do that if they train. Watch...”

He took a few steps ahead of the group, looking carefully with his good side to make sure he didn't trigger another horde from a goblin watching the road, then activated [Flows-Like-Water], doing little flourishes with his attacks to empty air rather then efficient lethal strikes.

“That's magic if I've ever seen it.” The goblin said while he rubbed his chin.

“Err... try [Thrust].” He called it out and showed them the enhanced version of a basic strike, a little bit of shadow forming as he strode forward. Constantius stepped a little ahead of his men. Corvayne could tell from his expression that he was sort of humoring Corvayne.

The goblin called out. “[Thrust].” and emulated his stab, with a small snap of sparks as his iron spear darted forward. The goblin was so surprised that he nearly stumbled.

“What? What did I do!?” Constantius looked at his own spear then over to Corvayne, the first break in his gruff persona Corvayne had seen. Then the stony goblin laughed and tapped his spear head, smiling. It reminded him of Wick's reaction to using magic. If he had years and years, he might have right there and then decided to stay on the floor and help them clear out the city. He was a little sad he couldn't commit to it. Wick looked annoyed enough he stuck his neck out for them, even though it looked like they were going to get safe passage to the next floor from a few moments of fighting. Still, he thought about Wick and how she extended help to a stranger who needed it. He would pay her back and pay it forward.

No, there was more to it. Whatever the Watchers had done to him, he would take the good from their bad. The good being that he wanted to help others. “You might not be able to ever use that sweeping ability. Different weapons have different abilities. I can, for some reason, use a bunch of different weapons as if they were something else. I'll show you a few things you can do with either your blade or your spear. Who knows? The hero who cleans this city out and brings peace to the floor, it might be one of you.”

As he spoke they turned the corner around a building and Corvayne saw the gate out to open road, faint white stone contrasting the dark landscape beyond. Standing between him and the gates was one last road block...

Three feral goblins. Corvayne steeled himself. He'd kill one, or they'd call out, and a whole host would swarm down...

Lady Blood Claw looked over at him. “Trap?”

The soldier with them just laughed. “Not likely. A few of them try to wander out of the city and if it's not overflowing, they get scared and run right back in.”

Bolstered by the soldier's words, Corvayne walked forward and dispatched all three with [Flows-Like-Water].

He shook his spear off and looked at the goblins. All of them had been watching and listening, and he could see they were eager, perhaps starving to learn how to wield a force that to them was one and the same as magic. “How long is the walk to your town?”

Constantius cleared his throat. “A night camped and a good five hours if we don't take breaks or hit wandering monsters.”

Corvayne smiled. “I think that's plenty of time to show you guys how to do a few tricks.”