The group had backed off, heading up the stairs. The door kept being torn open, the creatures managing to create an opening large enough for them to force their way through. The first monster managed to make his way halfway up the stairs before the fire from above took it down.

In the time it took to kill the first gnoll, another pair had managed to make their way through. However, the attack kept the monsters huddled around the corner of the stairwell, piling up as they struggled to get around the stabbing spear and fire.

“Got him!” Sarah crowed, shoving the spear into an eye, the entire thing balanced on the stomp of her slowly regrowing arm. The creature groaned, staggering back; but surprisingly was still alive. Not for long though, as another barbed arrow went into its upright body, forcing it to fall backwards.

“We’re meant to be holding the line, not killing them!” Neil complained, even as he hunkered down beneath his shield. He surged upwards, using Shield Bash to bounce the leaping gnoll back into the pile of its friends. The monster, on its back, looked upwards, then started howling. “Ooops!”

“Too late now…” Lance muttered. He released the rope he had created, watching as the spiked trap fell, pivoting on the end of its extended reach. The entire thing was built like a rake, since Lance had found himself unable to create a full heavy ceiling tile. Limitations on the amount of mass he could conjure.

On the other hand, swinging in from the landing and sideways, it hit the monsters as they came back up, pushing them into the railing. A railing that had been weakened and cut nearly all the way through.

Yelping and howling as they fell, three of the gnolls tumbled away, leaving an arrow and a Fire Bolt to push it off, sending it tumbling after their friends.

“Now! Back the way we came!” Lance snapped.

Neil was already headed forwards, tumbling down the stairs to hit the next monster coming out of the door with his shield in its face. Then, keeping the weapon high, he started slamming his mace into exposed limbs, cracking the monster and triggering his Bloody Thorns upgrade to push the others back.

In the meantime, Sarah had set her spear aside as she yanked out the pistons one-handed. Being the only one with upgraded strength, she was the best option even if she was still one-handed. At least between her upgraded healing ability and some spells, she was no longer bleeding from the missing limb.

“Back, forth, that was a real ACME play there,” Matt called to Lance, even as he did the opposite. Of course, from the angle he now achieved, he actually had a chance to fire into the stairwell and through the door.

Snorting, Lance waited as Neil managed to shove his way into the fight with the help of Sarah who had retrieved her spear, the two of them and surprise managing to bull their way in. Once the door was no longer being held closed, it swung open with the pitons removed; letting the rest of the team thumble back in.

Almost immediately, Keeley threw up an Entangling Vine to the left, blocking off one part of the fight. A cackling Lightning Bolt impacted on the left, taking one of the gnolls in the face as Yanesh triggered his own upgrade, while Lance drew and loosed smoothly, putting Splitting Arrows, Explosive Arrows and just normal Mana Objects into the midst of the monsters.

With a large portion of their force already killed, the negative aspect of intelligent creatures began to take effect. Rather than mindlessly throwing htemsleves at the team, the gnolls began to retreat, backing off and fleeing as fear took over their mindsets. This just left them open for the rest of the team to use their ranged skills, leaving Sarah and Neil to mop up those too injured or brave for their own good.

In less than a minute, the group was standing around; heaving in oxygen as they attempted to calm down pounding hearts and settle jittery nerves. Keeley and Yanesh both slumped right onto the bloody floor, their bodies unable to carry them anymore, only Sarah moving about stabbing monsters again and again to ensure they were dead.

“You okay?” Lance said, a little breathlessly as he came up to her.

“Fine. Just fine,” Sarah said, facing the man. There was a wild look in her eyes, as panic and fear and bloodlust warred within the woman. “Just a hand right? And it’s already stopped bleeding…” She waggled the stomp at him.

“We could umm….” Lance paused, then continued. “Upgrade it? You?”

“What? Give me a cybernetic arm?” She scoffed.

“Maybe. Or maybe get you regenerative powers,” Neil said. “Pretty sure I saw something like that.”

“Yeah?” Sarah said, burying her spear in the middle of a corpse. Her eyes went distant as she pulled up the Shop, one leg jittering.

Seeing himself ignored, Lance backed off and took position facing the dungeon portal, drawing an arrow and nocking it. Best to be ready, even if he himself was a little nervous and still calming down. That entire fight was all too close for…

“Balls.” Sarah swore.

“What is it?” Neil called out, the man having chosen to take off his helmet to finish cleaning the matted blood from his scalp. It seemed as though his helmet had dug into his head, tearing it open earlier. Nothing major, but like all head wounds, it had bled heavily till it had been healed.

“I didn’t get enough coins. Didn’t kill much this time…”

Lance paused, flicking his gaze up. Huh. Those four that had tumbled off, they were all counted as his kills. Along with the rest of his attacks, he had a decent amount now.

“How much do you need?” Matt called out from where he was crouched, a hand on Keeley’s shoulder. “We could loan you…”

“What? No. They went into a dungeon already. We need to catch up!” Keeley said.

“She’s right,” Sarah replied, shaking her head. “I couldn’t take it from you.” Then she looked at the original group, eyes pleading. “It’s four hundred and thirty coins, but it’s a damn good upgrade. It’ll mean I’ll have my hand back in half an hour.”

“That is very good…” Neil said, looking jealous for a second. “I only have a hundred and thirty though but you can have it all.”

“Ninety,” Yanesh said.

“One eighty.” Lance looked around the room, watching as the monsters began to disappear before he continued, gesturing to the broken door and where they were. “Let’s get into the center. We’ll farm the monsters as they come out while Sarah heals.”

“Thank you guys. Really.”

“Eh, it’s an investment in our front liners. This way, we’ll need to heal you less,” Yanesh said, grinning a little. “Just, you know, make sure to stick in front of me.”

“Yeah…” Tears in her eyes, she accepted the transfers and immediately bought the upgrade.

“Rest up, buy anything you can if you can.” Lance said, making sure everyone was watching the entrances before he pulled a couch over so that he could rest and still keep an eye on the dungeon entrance. “We go in in a half hour.”