Before they did anything, Steele insisted on moving closer to get a more accurate assessment of their enemy's strength. Laurence wanted to maintain at least the illusion of them being co-commanders, even if Steele kept taking charge in the moment before he could think of what to say, so he accompanied him.

They crawled to the edge of the slope slowly and cautiously, lying flat on their stomachs to avoid presenting a profile for any goblin archers who may turn to look their direction.

Laurence saw at least twenty goblins at once, and three or four kalvex. These were ordinary sized ones, only about up to his shoulder in size, but big enough for goblins to mount.

Nothing about the dungeon's setup made sense, though. Shouldn't the village be posted at the top of the cliff, so their cavalry could charge down at any attackers? As it stood, they'd have to charge up to reach the group, and that would severely weaken the advantage of cavalry if the adversaries could swipe you off your mounts at will.

And now that he looked at them...

"Something's off here..." Laurence murmured. "See how the goblins all seem to orient their patrols the wrong way? They're all facing the cliff over there instead of being prepared against our assault."

"Sounds like a strategic advantage to me."

"Yes, but what are they worried about coming down?"

Steele shrugged. "So the idiot goblins have their wires crossed. Not like anything could come through there." He pointed to the distant glint of the treasure room. "Inviolate."

"Maybe..." But the way this dungeon ignored everything he thought he knew about how these places worked worried him.

They eased their way back from the edge and rejoined the others just inside the passage outside the maze. Now that the adrenaline and everything from the fighting had fully worn off, Laurence found he was even more tired than he'd realized. He wanted nothing more than to sleep for a solid ten hours. Alas, that would have to wait until they'd reached the treasure room.

But in the meantime, there was other important business to attend to.

"How many of you have leveled?"

This time, no enemies respawned to endlessly interrupt their attempts at recovery. Laurence almost wished they'd run an assault on the second room maze sooner, but wasn't sure they'd have survived without the levels they'd gained from fighting the scarabs.

While Laurence recorded the number and levels of their enemies, Steele had spent the time sketching out a map of the village and its inhabitants. He pointed out the main patrol routes, the number of tents and huts, and the gathered faces grew grimmer as the numbers added up.

"A head on attack would be suicide, but--"

"I'm starting to think any attack would be suicide," muttered Jeff. He seemed considerably more cautious since his run-in with the wrong end of a gremlin's horn.

"BUT, I'm confident we can work out a way to win this."

"We can't turn back," Podge said, low and serious. "We're here for a reason. To level, and to level a lot. Like Steele said, we can't do that if we turn tail and run."

"If we go rushing in, we'll all be killed. That does us even less good."

"We have this maze." Podge gestured behind them. "Can we lure them in, pick them off while they're forced to go one or two at a time? The close quarters will keep the goblins from leveraging their ranged superiority. No offense, Jeff."

"I'm offended." He didn't sound offended.

Laurence was quick to object before anyone could get ideas. "You don't want to be trapped in close quarters with a kalvex."

"Ideally, we don't want to be anywhere near a kalvex." Jeff shivered. "I've already been stabbed with one horned creature today, I'd rather not make it two. Too bad we can't get over to the cliff on the other side. That would be an ideal spot to set up. We could fire down at them without the vulnerability the slope provides."

"Is there any way to get over there?" Xander asked, sounding relieved by the suggestion. "That sounds much better than a straight frontal attack. Especially if it'll limit their mobility."

"The valley seemed pretty wide," said Bradley. "Could we just go around?"

"Goblins are known for their archery. Even if we can evade everything and get to the cliff unnoticed, that leaves us climbing a sheer cliff, exposed to ranged attacks from behind. Will we really be able to climb all the way to the top before they notice us?"

Laurence closed his eyes to re-envision the scene. The switchback path was centered opposite the entrance, and the village arrayed around that. The ravine did spread out beyond the village to the left and right for some distance. There was some space to either side. . . theoretically, they might be able to avoid the village altogether, crossing at a distance. The cliff would be significantly harder to summit without the path, meaning it would take considerably longer.

And if the goblins had a shaman, it was game over. Arrows might be evadable, though it would be chancy, but an enemy mage dropping rocks on their head?

"I don't think we have enough space. We might be able to get across, but we'd need to get down first and the slope ends well within range of the patrols."

The hallway they were in continued all the way to the ground, broadening as it went, but still walling them in on the outsides. They'd have to cross a moderately large space while within easy view of the village.

"But it's possible. We just need to be stealthy about it."

"None of us are stealth builds..." Podge protested.

"When has that ever stopped us?" Frire Duck slapped a fist into his other hand. "We can beat this like we've beaten everything else until now."

"Don't say that. It's not that easy."

"Of course it is. We survive. We win."

"Surviving is a whole lot harder when you have a kalvex trying to bite your face off."

"I'm not afraid of a little cow-puppy."

"You should be. Have you ever faced an angry cow that wanted to trample and gore you? Or an angry dog intent on maiming you, for that matter? I promise you, they will kill you if you're not careful."

"It's a dungeon, everything wants to kill and eat us."

"There are just too many of them," Xander interrupted. "We shouldn't risk everyone on one run for the cliff. I know it'll make things harder, but I think we should go one at a time, and have a backup plan for how to split them up, or thin their numbers if things go bad."

"Bombs?" suggested Jeff.

"And you have bombs with you, do you?" Steele scoffed.

Bradley raised a hand. "Split up and lure them off?"

"Long distance sniping?" Jeff's hands tightened on his bow. "I bet I could pick 'em off from the cliff. I... I can go first, and cover the rest of you."

Steele reluctantly nodded. "That's not a bad plan, actually. Alright. What about you, magic boy?"

Laurence bristled at being called 'boy', but he reminded himself of Levi's philosophy about avoiding unnecessary conflict. There would be plenty of essential conflict coming up soon enough.

"I'll help, yes. Of course I'm in. Gust is short range, but Air Blade... if I can see it, I can cast at it." Whether he hit became increasingly questionable at longer range, any minute imperfections in his aim throwing off the entire targeting, but this distance wasn't so great that he'd never be able to hit.

He moved over next to Jeff. "So I'll go second, then? Or should I hang back here?"

"I'll go second," Steele said. "If we end up fighting on two fronts, we need someone to hold the top of the cliff road. Mageboy can come after me."

Laurence struggled not to fire an Air Blade into his stupid face. It wasn't easy. "Alright, then that's the plan. Jeff? You ready to go?"

Jeff swallowed, nodded, and set out cautiously down the slope toward the goblin village.