Nina rocked back and forth, watching the goblins move. Her face was set, determined. Waiting. Beside her, Will grunted in pain, hand on his arm. “We’ll need to get into position when they reach the case.”

Nina side-eyed him, looking dubiously at his arm. “We? Sure about that?”

He grimaced. “I’ve got enough to keep your back clear, at least.”

Gerald walked up between the two, clapping them on the backs. “We’re in this together, kid. Let’s see how long we can keep her in the game.”

In the rear, Annette hunched over her staff, held up close to her mouth, as she muttered over the hive.

The group looked at her warily. “Hey, uh, Annette. You good?” Will asked.

She glanced back at them, giving a hasty thumbs up. “Just gathering everybody up!” She said, as the few remaining bees looped lazily through the room to gather on the staff and exhaustedly lap up honey.

“...Okay! Just keep an eye on our backs!” Gerald said as they turned back to their ambush plans. “I’ll keep them occupied with my hands, Nina will take ‘em down, and Will… Well, stick close to her and keep them from mobbing her too hard.” Will nodded. The last few stragglers of the goblin pack moved past, keeping a wary eye on the party.

Nina prowled forward, into the gap between the armed horde and their Boss. “Let’s get a few of them on the way.” Silver hands sprouted from the ground beneath the laggards at the back of the pack, tripping them and pulling at their limbs to keep them disoriented. Will and Nina pounced, carefully cutting down a number of the fallen. The nearest sword wielding goblins turned, screeching in annoyance. They paused long enough to filter their weaker relatives to the back before continuing on.

Gerald snorted. “No love lost between mobs, huh?”

The group continued on in this way until the beasts reached their item case of choice. Setting themselves up, the small ambush force readied their weapons. “We’ll need to be ready for whatever they pull out of there.”

-=-<^>-=-

Annette finished gathering up her remaining bees. There weren’t many left, just a few handfuls, and they practically oozed across the surface of her staff, re-energizing themselves with some sweet honey. “Looks like we’re almost ready…” she muttered under her breath. She spared a glance for the others.

The goblins, being beasts of a themed Domain, were a sight to behold in their once fresh pressed suits and ties, going absolutely feral over a newly transparent glass case. One of the unarmed members stepped forth, reverently placing its hands on either side of the case. Slowly, it lifted the glass from the display. Nestled within was a small, unassuming idol. It was a palm-sized, humanoid statuette, faceless and featureless. Annette squinted a bit, trying to get a clearer look. Did the face just… move?

“SKREE-ah!” The goblin carelessly tossed the glass cover to the side, screeching in glee as its hand wrapped around the idol, blocking it from sight. The glass shattered across the floor as the horde began to turn around, precious cargo situated firmly in the center.

She shook her head. “I’m getting distracted. Everybody’s here and rested, so let’s get going.” She lifted her staff, turning from the plight of her friends. “Okay little buddies. You have your orders. I want you to sting… that one.” She said, pointing out her target.

The goblin looked back, and tilted its head. “Grah?”

-=-<^>-=-

Nina stood, blades up, with Will and Gerald beside her. She glanced over her shoulder at Gerald. “Domains are a bit tougher than you let on, huh?”

He snorted. “Going into an unknown and unexplored region of a Domain might lead to that impression, true enough.” He sighed. “It was going fine up ‘till the Boss. The absolute worst part of going in blind is hitting a bad matchup. That’s why early Domain explorations had such high fatality rates. With none of us being particularly specialized against unending swarms of enemies, we were bound to get mobbed.” He said, gesturing at the herd of screeching, excited goblins. He patted Nina on the shoulder. “I’ll make sure the next one is a little easier on us.”

She smirked at him, turning to face the horde. “I’ll hold you to it.”

The goblins' excitement ended. Their ranks formed up, the sword bearers making a solid defensive line around a single individual, tightly clutching the prize of their excursion to its chest. The herd stood for a moment, jeering and gesturing at the small group of humans arrayed against them. Then they charged.

Nina tensed, dashing out to meet them– and then stumbled as the entire horde fell, screaming and batting at themselves.

“Wh– huh? What’s going on?” She looked around, eyes wide.

“YES! It worked!” They turned to see Annette, eyes wild and hair frazzled, pumping her fist.

“Annette? What did you do?” Will walked up to one of the creatures writhing on the ground, carefully prodding it with his sword. It swiped at him half-heartedly, but otherwise kept screeching in pain.

“Well, something Gerald said earlier gave me an idea! When the Boss got that sword, it started making more deadly goblins using that item, so we knew we needed to keep them from getting the original of another item, right?”

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Will nodded, casually spearing a fallen foe as he did so. “Right, that’s what we were about to get ourselves killed over.”

She nodded vigorously. “Mhmm! Well, it occurred to me that there was another ‘original’ that the Boss was using, but hadn’t absorbed.”

As they turned to follow where she was pointing, understanding filled their eyes. Gerald chuckled, shaking his head. “Of course that would work. Of course it would! It's a mirror themed Boss in a mirror-themed sub-Domain, for crying out loud!” He laughed at the lone goblin shackled to the wall, screaming in rage and pain as bees swarmed all over its body. Then he frowned. “Bees die after they sting though; how long do you think you can keep it up?”

“Gerald, Gerald, Gerald,” she said, wagging her finger at him. “You forget– They’re magic bees!”

A slow grin spread across his face. “Well then. Let’s make sure our friends here know how much we’ve appreciated their company.”

The group gathered around the nearest fallen goblin, looming large. The fallen creature looked up, recognizing what was coming through the haze of its pain. A single tear fell from its eye as Nina cracked her knuckles. “Hey friend. It’s been fun, but I think it’s time for you to go home.”

-=-<^>-=-

Holding a scrap of cloth torn from a relatively clean suit off of a goblin, Nina wiped her blades down. She glanced at Gerald beside her, his head cocked inquisitively. “Sooo… What do you think it’s doing?”

He gave her a long look, before shaking his head and sighing. “Well, I would guess that, for some reason, it can’t throw out any of the other creatures right now.” He gestured at the boss, currently spitting goblins out of its reflective shield, each screaming in shared bee stings from the moment of their birth. “I mean, an animated chest of drawers would be more effective than the goblins right now. There are other mobs still chained up,” he said gesturing across the walls at a variety of shackled mobs; a living suit of armor, a mimic, and a swarm of goldbugs in a jar. “So, I’m assuming it’s locked in somehow on the goblin still. But that’s just a theory.”

“Well, when you’re done with your dungeon theories maybe we can finish this off?” Will said, rolling another screaming goblin off to the side of the room.

Gerald waved lazily and started ambling over. “Yeah, yeah, let’s see what else this Boss has in store for us.” They gathered themselves, getting in formation to finish the fight.

Will led the way, taking cautious steps forward. As they neared the edge of the slight platform the shield sat on, it began to vibrate lightly, the hands on either side gripping tight, knuckles going white. Holding his sword up before him defensively, he stepped up onto the platform. Suddenly, the nearest hand reared back on a too-long arm, and whipped out in an open handed strike. Will braced, palm on the flat of his sword as an impromptu shield. The gangly, knobby arm swung with impunity, connecting with Will’s guard!

“Huh,” he said. “I guess it doesn’t have magically enhanced strength?” He casually pushed back against the arm, toned muscles flexing lightly, and easily brushed the attack off. “The arms are about as strong as they look.”

As he spoke, a guttural cry arose from behind the shield. Both arms descended on him… and ineffectually batted at him, trying to push him away. He held a hand up to protect his eyes, and turned to the group, scoffing. “It’s about as strong as my 7 year old cousin.”

Nina stepped up, blades flashing out. With a thud, much of the length of each arm fell to the ground. She stalked to the rear of the shield, where a renewed wailing could be heard. “Let’s finish this up. I’m tired of fighting reflections.”

Nodding dutifully, Will trailed behind. Annette and Gerald followed, tension bleeding out of them with each step. Gerald clapped Annette on the back. “Well, newbie? How was your first Domain?”

A look of consternation briefly passed her face. “I… It showed me how I’m lacking, I think. With my current skills, I wasn’t useful at all in combat and…” she sighed in frustration. “Watching everyone fight and bleed and almost die while I couldn’t do anything but send bees in to sting every now and then… didn’t feel good.”

Gerald nodded. “I can understand that. Take it from an old man with a support skillset– that’s usually how it goes when you are just starting out. Also,” he said, raising an eyebrow at her, “This was your first Domain. You saved our asses at the end with some well placed stings. And, you’ve probably absorbed enough mana to make some kind of Advancement.”

She froze for a moment, looking at him in shock. “... I forgot! I’ve never Advanced before… How does it work?”

“Well, everyone does it a little differently. Ultimately, the entire process is about directing the mana you’ve gained to whatever it is you want to enhance; your muscles, your brain, mana reserves, etc. In your case,” he nodded to her staff, “You might want to consult with whatever deity or entity you’ve contracted with for advice.”

She nodded vigorously, eyes going distant as she got lost in thought. “I will! I will…”

As they stepped around the back of the shield, the near constant cry of the injured Boss cut off. They found Nina and Will standing over an emaciated corpse, hardly more than skin and bones, smaller in stature than any in their party, except for the arms which were– or, had been each several times the length of the body. Nina pulled her blade from the creature's chest as Will looked down at the body with a grimace. “About as big as my cousin, too…”

Gerald stepped over with a grunt. “Your cousin’s an ugly son of a bitch, eh?”

Nina snorted.

“...No comment.”

Shaking his head with a smirk, Gerald looked at the shield. The relic they’d come to claim. “Well folks. I think this is it.” He glanced up the length of the thing, at least as tall as he was. “Hmm, good thing we got a spatial bag for this. I wouldn’t want to throw out my back trying to lug this behemoth back. Will, help me get this in the bag.”

Will nodded, stepping forward. He grabbed the straps of the shield and suddenly it began to change. He stumbled a bit, his balance being thrown off as the once monstrously large shield began to shrink down, getting smaller and smaller until it sat comfortably on Will’s arm, right where his old shield had sat.

“Huh. Guess we won’t need the bag.” Gerald said. They looked out across the room now that the relic was no longer blocking their vision, and throughout the large hall, dead goblins and unopened display cabinets were dissolving into lightly iridescent smoke, rising up and fading from existence. “Shame about the swords.” The red crystal blades, scattered about the floor, were likewise disappearing, breaking apart into twinkling crystalline particles.

“Hey,” Nina said. “That thing’s still here.” On the ground where it had been dropped, the latest acquisition of the goblins. The nondescript, humanoid idol.

Gerald grinned. “I knew there had to be some loot here! I guess you can get more drops the longer you let the fight go on, but you have to keep the Boss from getting any of the originals?” He whistled low. “The right party could make a killing here.”

As he bent to pick up the idol, Nina gasped. “I know what we can use the bag for!”

-=-<^>-=-

They stood back in the storage room, outside of the mirror once more. “Oh yeah… I forgot about her.” Will said, scratching his head.

“Annette, hold the bag open!”

“Okay…” Annette said, holding open the spatial storage bag they had brought along to store the relic they were hunting for. She grimaced as her friends leveraged the still body of Nina’s reflection, which they had been fighting only a few hours ago, into the bag. “Oh, this feels wrong somehow…”