It was excruciating to watch Jeff pick his way down the slope ever so cautiously, testing each foot before he stepped. It took nearly a minute for him to descend halfway, and there was a lot of ground to cover once he reached the sandy floor of the massive artificial ravine.

Laurence's eyes kept darting from his party member to the goblin village, watching for any sign of their having noticed the ranger's descent, but Jeff's caution seemed to be doing its job.

Jeff stuck to the left wall, creeping along beside it as close as possible. Laurence briefly worried that the wall itself could have scarabs or gremlins hiding in it, but so far each room had been distinct in its theme. If this one was goblins and kalvex, it probably wouldn't have the lower-tier creatures too.

But despite Laurence's concerns, Jeff reached the corner and disappeared around it without incident.

Then began an even more anxiety-inducing period of waiting, unable to even see what was happening as Jeff rounded the far edges of the ravine, out of sight of his friends above.

Seconds crawled by. Minutes passed far, far too slowly. Laurence hadn't imagined it would be so much harder to wait without being able to see Jeff's progress, but it felt interminable.

Then Jeff appeared, looking small already from this distance, creeping across the sand. He moved with the same excessive slowness, crouched to minimize his profile.

Laurence could imagine trying to cross that expanse of sand, the urge to break the plan and just rush forward to reach the cliff, but Jeff moved methodically and unceasingly.

Then he was at the cliff base, and Laurence saw how truly ridiculous the climb would be. The opposite cliff was actually higher than where they stood, and he saw now that the entire room sloped down toward it - not as steeply as the hill down from where they stood, but the ravine definitely was deeper on the far end than here.

Jeff started up the side of the cliff, a distant figure moving with extreme caution.

Twice he had to backtrack, climbing back down and moving to one side or the other before resuming his upward climb. Once, he hung off the wall with one hand and one foot, leaning backward so precariously Laurence was sure he was about to fall, as he carefully used the tip of his mana-charged bolt to carve another handhold for himself to reach the next section of rougher wall.

Still the goblin camp went about its routine, unvaried, as though they noticed none of it. Still, Laurence didn't dare to relax. His eyes darted back to Jeff, finally nearing the top.

And they were going to have to do this six more times?

But it was better to take forever to move everyone to the cliff than to tangle with so many dangerous creatures on open ground. Between kalvex cavalry charges and goblins' archery prowess, Laurence had no doubt they could wipe the floor with the party. Half of them were still below level ten themselves, and being outnumbered by on-level or above-level creatures... well, they just needed to get themselves a better high ground before tangling with them. Preferably one with an inviolable safe zone readily to hand.

Laurence found himself holding his breath as Jeff finally crested the final ledge, pulling himself up onto the clifftop.

For a moment everyone waited in tense silence, half expecting something to jump out and attack him that instant.

Nothing did.

Jeff raised one hand to gesture 'wait there', then cautiously moved back away from the cliff edge until only his shoulders and head were visible from their lower vantage. He seemed to be scouting out the hallway to the treasure room.

Then he jumped back with a shout that echoed across the ravine. An instant later light flared as he began firing manabolts at top speed into something in front of him.

The goblin camp came alive in an instant, as though everyone had been waiting for the sound. Kalvex roused and trotted toward the cliffside, shoulders low and fur bristling. Goblins readied bows or grabbed spears. Shamans - four of them! - emerged from huts with orange-glowing Destruction power beginning to build around them.

Steele took off down the slope at a dead run, skidding on the scree and sending sand flying with no consideration for stealth.

Laurence couldn't see what Jeff was fighting, but what he knew without a doubt was that his teammate was in deadly peril. He needed to finish his fight quickly before the goblins finished mustering! Laurence cast about desperately for any way to help. He needed to get higher so he could see. What he could see, he could fire at. He looked around wildly, hoping for a convenient stone outcropping to climb onto, but this particular hallway had fewer pitted holes than usual. Nothing he could grab onto to climb up.

As Steele sprinted down the slope, goblins were loading themselves onto the kalvex, three or four goblins to a mount. Some held ranged weapons ready, others drew long curved halberd-like weapons which they gripped in both hands.

But contrary to Laurence's expectation, they neither turned to face the charging warrior behind them, nor did they charge up the cliff to confront Jeff. Instead they gathered around the base of the cliff path, weapons lowered and ready.

"You going?" Bradley hissed. "They're going to need me."

Oh, right, they'd had a plan. Laurence was supposed to go after Steele and before Bradley. He glanced after the running warrior, already over two thirds of the way to the cliff, then to the goblins assembling below. None of them faced their direction.

Then Jeff punted a gremlin over the side, kicking it into the air, then slamming it with an overpowered manabolt that threw it right out in a beautiful arc to splat at the feet of the kalvex-mounted goblin horde.

"I'm going if you're not." Bradley rushed past Laurence, following Steele's footprints in the sand. Steele himself had already started up the cliff, eschewing Jeff's careful route and opting to create his own handholds with his manablade. Laurence thought it was dangerously excessive, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

Xander followed, then Podge, and Laurence realized he'd run out of time to try and think. He couldn't abandon his team, they'd need their wizard, and he didn't like his chances if he stayed behind alone either.

Then disaster struck. Podge, who'd been rushing to catch up with Xander, lost his footing and fell in a clatter, his armor scraping and screeching against the scattered stones that made up the slope.

Laurence started toward him to help, but got caught up in the minor landslide and lost his own footing, his feet sliding forward right out from under him. He didn't have time to gasp as his back slammed into the sandy, pebble-strewn slope.

But their combined falls had raised a cloud of dust, enough that even the mostly-oblivious goblins noticed.

Laurence heard one shout what sounded like a command, but now he was on ground level with the village he couldn't see the gathered forces clearly with all the tents and huts in the way.

He grabbed Podge's arm and hefted him to his feet. "Run!"

Steele was already climbing, but everyone else was further behind. Bradley was still only three-fourths of the way to the cliff, Xander less than halfway, and Laurence and Podge had barely rounded the corner when the pair of fully-loaded kalvex charged out from between the huts. Their original trajectory was slightly off, but it took them only a kick and a shout from one of their goblin riders to correct into chasing down the invaders.

If Laurence had the breath to curse, he would have been.

"I'll hold them off, you run," Podge shouted, jogging to a stop and setting his stance.

Laurence grabbed his arm. "No! We're all getting out--"

Podge shoved him away with enough force that Laurence stumbled and almost fell again. "GO!"

But it was already too late. Before Laurence could take more than two steps, he felt several impacts to his back, hurling him forward to the ground. His health dropped twice, three times. He pushed himself up but before he could jump to his feet, a kalvex horn as big around as his arm tore a jagged line across his back, then a heavy impact crushed him to the ground as it trampled him into the sand.

Goblin shrieks of laughter were the last thing Laurence heard before his health dropped to zero.