After the failed attempt to burn a troll, Rosa used her inspection power and realized they'd somehow been given protection against fire. She muttered a string of curses involving roboGod and real God and the troll's mothers, then collected herself and tried to think of another way to help.

"It's OK," Alex said, patting her knee and putting a…flower garland around his neck? "I go down. We help Mason."

"Take these!" she pulled a handful of the new combat brews from her storage and shrugged, feeling useless. "Give them to all the players. It's not much...but it'll help."

Alex nodded and raced down the steps, then nearly crashed into a pale-skinned Carl, who as usual appeared out of nowhere.

"Hi, friends," he said with a bit of a slur, then sagged as the Belarusian caught him.

"Carl!" Rosa tried not to trip down the stairs, putting a hand to the man's clammy forehead.

"Poison," he rasped. "Don't suppose you could..." he winced, then muttered something incomprehensible. Rosa blocked out the world as she summoned her alchemist's kit.

"Contact? Injested? How'd it happen?"

Carl groaned then gestured to a cut on his cheek, which Rosa swabbed aggressively.

"Ow," Carl managed, but Rosa ignored him. Alex’s eyes went far away, then he frowned and shook his head, muttering something about needing a poison cure spell.

Rosa just focused. She analyzed the venom with her kit, which wasn’t precise but having several antidotes already on hand she hoped this one would be similar to…

The solution went clear, and Rosa practically sagged with relief. It was something she’d seen before. Or close enough.

"What the fuck is even happening," she muttered. "Fucking players scattered. Fucking goblin army. Fucking giant green creatures that can't be burned."

She shook and held the now cloudy antidote to the sun, looking for a bit of light to shine through. It would have to be acceptable.

"Fire and acid," Carl muttered, licking his lips again and again. "Played, uh, video games where they…” he stopped and sighed, then took a deep breath. “Protected 'em from fire. So you just use acid."

Rosa blinked and shoved the antidote into Alex's hand as she understood. "Make him drink it, then get the hell out there."

She turned back to her kit and scanned the recipe list. She'd seen several kinds of acid but hadn't paid much attention. There was something for wood. Something for metal. There!

She’d seen one that might have been perfect. It didn't burn metal but in theory would melt flesh just fine.

"Wait. Give me a minute," she said, then met Alex's eyes. "I think I can put acid on all your weapons. Maybe we…dip them in a vat, or something. Then you can kill those trolls."

The older man nodded, forcing the vial into protesting Carl's mouth without even looking.

"Big baby," he said, then took the fight brews and ran for the gate. “I’ll be back,” he called. “Make acid.”

Rosa started pulling ingredients, mind racing as she realized she didn’t have any clean flasks or beakers left. After a moment of panic, she went to her general storage and took the last big, clean container she had.

The man who'd quickly become like a father to her groaned and rolled over, maybe dying if her cure hadn’t been right. But she suspected she had no time to try again if she’d failed.

She dumped the first solution into her crock pot, and prayed.

* * *

Blake was pretty pleased with his entrance, all things considered. Oh sure it wasn't good that Nassau was under attack. And Mason looked a little like three pounds of shit in a one pound bag. But that was basically Mason's new style.

And sure, the trolls weren't ideal. Or the wizard.

Alright things could have been better, he admitted. But at least he'd have good reason at the end to be covered in sweat and grime. A minute ago he was a dirty traveler riding a weird statue. Now, he was a hero!

"More mind control, or a temporary construct," Blake muttered, honestly not sure what made more sense. His new goblin allies were already getting slaughtered by their fellows, which unlike orcs, seemed to have no hesitation or really even surprise at the betrayal.

It also took about as much mana to overcome their minds, maybe even more. Blake frowned as Mason ran forward to face the trolls, mentally commanding two of his arcane constructs to follow. He really didn't like that wizard lurking about.

His Psionic Shield wasn't made to stop magic, and he didn't have Ilya here to save him. For now he kept his psionic constructs immediately beside him, and stayed ready with Telekinesis to do...something.

Mason splattered troll blood all over the place.

Blake's constructs helped protect his flanks, but Blake was careful to pull them back for now, accidentally exposing Mason enough for a troll to charge in and swat him with a massive club.

Blake cringed as Mason just barely turned his arms to absorb the blow, but still got knocked flying back. He slid and sort of rolled across the dirt and rocks, stopping just in front of Blake.

"No time for a rest, brother. Hip hip. Off you go."

Mason groaned and stood, muttering something rather hard to hear and probably rude.

Several goblins beside the red-plumed leader tossed their spears at him, and Blake caught them with Telekinesis, then charged a good 5% of his mana and skewered their throwers. Mason raised an eyebrow and glanced at him.

"Should have locked you in a tower…weeks ago."

Blake grinned. Though he wasn’t sure he should have spent the mana. Goblins weren’t exactly that hard to kill, and his constructs would likely butcher them all if Blake didn’t get blown up by the wizard, or the trolls didn’t smash them…

He started Meditating with his Partition'd mind as he watched for danger. His constructs were trying to keep the trolls busy, but at least one lost an arm, the other's torso looked a little cracked. The trolls were hurt, too. But they looked like they regenerated as fast as Mason.

"Any chance we have a plan?" Blake said as Mason glanced towards Nassau.

"Stay alive. Kill the leaders," Mason said, then rushed back towards the green giants.

"Right." Blake looked back towards the fancy helmeted goblin and clutched his demonic amulet. He’d worried a little about using it at first, but it always slackened again after the initial constriction. So he figured as long as he didn’t get carried away it wasn’t a problem.

Also, apparently the range of Mind Rend was rather short. He could only sense the capability to affect a couple of the closer goblins. So if he wanted to get to those leaders he was going to have to get up close and personal.

He would just have to go introduce himself.

"Come along," he said needlessly to his psionic defender, then decided it was probably time for Navi's 'combat' debut as well. He made the shift mentally, then walked alone towards the goblin army.

PierceGrey

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