A pair of mages take to battle

[[Roll: 20]]

Just as Libet expected, by the time she reached the wall the lead troops had begun to cut down the defenders from behind. Her side's hobgoblin used that opening to force herself through, leading a charge into the village.

Her vantage point gave Libet a view of the village for the first time. Like Fishbone Village, it had a few scattered huts, as well as some walls around the encampment. But while Fishbone Village had a large tree in the center of their village, with a treehouse built in it for the elders to live in and rule from, this village had a gigantic skunk skull sitting in its center with a cave visible below it.

Several of the huts were partially or completely collapsed, and goblins ran out of them to try to fend off Libet's tribe. None seemed to be elites though.

A pair of goblins emerging from one of the huts ran through a deep puddle, up to their knees in water, as they ran straight towards where the hobgoblin's force was entering. Seeing this, Libet raised a hand towards the water and tried to hold them in place. She was intending to use a similar trick to when she fished, but something clicked in her mind, and the water they were wading through froze. The goblins gasped, using their spears to try and break the ice, but to no effect.

A spear thrown by another Skunk Skull goblin came flying towards Libet's face, but a burst of wind magic made the spear fly off in another direction. She turned her attention to the goblin that had attacked her, before summoning a fist-sized fireball and throwing it at the goblin. The enemy was forced to duck behind cover, only for another of Libet's tribemates to attack from behind and stab it.

Suddenly, a loud voice emerged from the massive skull in the center of the village. "You shall pay for attacking our village. Beg for mercy now, and you can choose between being a breeding slave or a sacrifice."

Most of the goblins were superstitious and stopped what they were doing in fear of the mysterious being speaking to them.

But Tria, who'd been slaying enemies with her magic closer to the center of the village, laughed. "I'm not a fool, brat!" She clenched her fist, and a rock shot up from directly beneath the skull with enough force to send it flying into the air.

With the skull knocked away, a pair of goblins were revealed, the energy around them telling Libet they were likely mages.

Thanks to Tria revealing that the voice had just been one of the enemy goblin mages, the Fishbone Tribe's forces resumed their attack. At the same time, Tria herself approached the two mages.

"You will pay for this!" one of the mages shouted, creating a blade of wind that slashed towards Tria. But a wall of fire appeared in front of Tria, devouring the wind.

The enemy mage swung her arms over and over again, sending more wind blades towards Tria that were blocked by fire magic.

But Libet, who'd been approaching to lend backup, noticed that the second mage from the enemy tribe was chanting something and likely preparing a massive spell. Grabbing hold of a bit of water from a nearby puddle, Libet sent an orb of water to wrap around the enemy mage's head. Her chanting turned to choking as she suddenly swallowed a mouthful of water.

Although interrupted, it seemed the spell had been close to casting and went off, albeit with less effectiveness. The earth split in front of the mage, the ground opening up in a straight line towards where the Fishbone Tribe's forces were clearing out the last of the gate's defenders. Several of the Fishbone Tribe's forces, and a few survivors from the Skunk Skull, were swallowed up by the gap in the earth, screaming before the ground suddenly close back up around them and instantly silenced them.

Fortunately, the hobgoblin leading their charge had managed to grab onto the side of the chasm before falling, and was only buried from the waist down. Libet suspected the other targets of the spell were suffocating in the ground.

"Nice work brat, seems they had an intermediate earth mage. I'll make sure you're rewarded for interrupting that spell." With that, Tria sent a rock flying that hit her opponent in the ribs, bringing her to her knees.

The mage who had her head caught in Libet's water bubble tried to claw at it to free herself, and tried to cast water magic to break the effect, but Libet had experience holding the spell together in spite of resistance. Soon enough, she passed out due to lack of air.

Tria saw this and waved Libet over, producing a pair of leather collars she'd had loosely wrapped around her wrist. "These should seal their mana for now. Let me show you how to activate them." With that, Tria recited a brief incantation in an arcane language, and tied the collars around the necks of the defeated mages. "You stay here and guard our valuable captives. I'll handle cleanup."

Libet nodded. With their magic sealed, Libet didn't need to worry about the mages attempting to slip away. One was unconscious and the other had several broken ribs. The main risk was another goblin from the Skunk Skull Tribe coming over to try and liberate them. So Libet stood guard, intimidating any nearby enemies who may have tried something.

While she did that, the other goblins from the Fishbone Tribe dealt with the remaining enemies, capturing or killing every single goblin in the village.

When it seemed the fighting had ended, Tria returned to Libet. "Again, nice work brat. Maybe you just needed the smell of blood in the air to focus~" she laughed. "Most of our force will stay here to ambush their remaining forces when they return. However, my squad will be leading our new prisoners back to the village. As for your reward, I'll have to discuss it with the elders, but you can expect at least one breeding slave."

Libet, who still had her human values and had been acting purely to keep herself out of that very position, wasn't sure how she felt about receiving a breeding slave. But for now, she was exhausted after her first real battle, particularly mentally. She hadn't fought on the front line, but she'd exerted feats of magic she'd previously thought beyond her. For now, she'd return to the village with Tria and the prisoners. After that... she'd have to see how things unfolded.