Duty Session 398: Karluin Reclamation - Keep

    With war looming and Aincrad Tower being both a major target and a potential stronghold for the Yamato forces, it becomes of critical importance to secure the various regions where people might be living. While SEA cleared the dungeon some time ago, there's still pockets of goblins living deep within various caverns and regions. It only makes sense to get rid of them lest they grow bold and stab the adventurers - and worse, the Landers - in the back when the tower itself eventually comes under siege.

    The Hunters Guild has sponsored this, a small raid on an organized group of goblins who have dug in to a well-fortified area. Fukaziroh volunteers, having been in the area and both wanting to help out and wanting to continue to improve herself. She stands ready in the plaza, waiting for others to join in the group. She's ready, armed and armoured, and looks eager for a fight!

Up to now, other than a personal interest on one of the other floors, Kauchemar had not spared much attention to the efforts upon the Tower. But with the non-combatant citizenry of Eas now taking refuge in Tolbana, it was a different matter. If they sought to retreat farther into the tower for safety, Karluin would be it. So it needed to be prepared, and capable of handling the influx of habitation. So as one of Wake's personal appointees on the matters of Eas making their presence in Tolbana of worth, she's here.

Goldenblade is here to fight goblins and spoiling for a fight. She doesn't remember much of her last dustup with the Palace Landers, but she's got a ferocious look in her eye, and getting in her way doesn't look like a good long-term plan. "Reporting in," she says as she arrives. She works with Wake and supports her, like Kauchemar, but she seems to have a grudge against the Palace Landers. They -did- wreck her wagon. Well, she's going to take her grudge out on some goblins, now.

SpritesHero is also here, though there's little indication of either outright enthusiasm or a sense of duty. Aside from a nod to Fuka and a brief skip of his eyes over the other Adventurers who have assembled, he remains both still and silent, arms loosely folded over his chest and feet planted firmly on the ground a shoulder's-width apart.

Haru has placed more interest in the Tower in about the same time Wake moved many people over in this area. There is no shortage across the lands of things to do, with or without war efforts, and securing safety of the people resonates more than the capture and hold missions. Guild sponsored activities get his name into the party. "Also," the young man adds in, step more somber than usual without going full Strange Mood lands, moreso a slower introductory pace for those unfamiliar with the Artificer.

    Fuka grins to see who showed up to join the group. She's actually feeling confident now, not that she had any shortage of confidence before, and perhaps a bit cocky. "Okay team, let's show these goblins what we're made of!" she cheers.

    But before the group can proceed, Before you actually make your way to the castle, the local tactical officers (most of whom are wearing Scale Emblem badges!) have some information for the group to peruse and a few bowls of tasty soup to warm themselves on. There's a number of useful documents in the dossier they provide, including the most likely tactics and enemy types you're likely to run into, and basic maps of the castle and its lower floors.

    Diligently studying the intelligence might just give the party the insight they'll need to succeed in the assault. And it might just be that the scouts have missed something absolutely critical in their initial analysis. Maybe even evidence of a secret entrance that can bypass the front gate entirely?!

Kauchemar huhs. "Wasn't expecting to find a meeting at the beginning of a dungeon." There's a fair amount of information but not anything that really makes much sense to her. She's a Muse, not a Strategist. "Someone else mind the tactics and just point me at what you need me to deal with."

Goldenblade looks over the briefing materials, and says, "I wonder how much of this is still relevant?" But she notes down as much as she can. "Goblin guards, watch schedules, routes, and all that. "We're going into the thick if it, it looks like. Cleared out, my ass...."

SpritesHero hovers masterfully over the table of charts, intelligence, and maps. He cuts a magnificent figure, dark and brooding, as his gaze and hands rapidly flicker back and forth with a flinty-eyed intent.

He also has no idea whatsoever as to what he's doing. But maybe he remembers something from his last run through here? Eventually he pieces together a few sheets of what he deems to be pertinent facts, and hands them over to Fuka with a shrug. Oh well.

Haru wasn't expecting a meeting prior to either. "But," he goes over the map, "good to walk in with information first. A little bit of legwork. A little bit of recon." He stares at the intel. Stare. Staareee. "Yeah this doesn't mean anything to me," he says after a good run through of the finer details presented.

    Fuka peers at the maps, trying hard to figure out what to do. This isn't exactly her area of expertise though. "Okay, this is a terrible strategy guide. Where are the videos? Where's the guy telling us to like and subscribe?" she complains, but not exactly seriously. Still, there doesn't seem to be anything new that she can add to SEA's briefing. They'll just have to take it how they may.

    Prepared with as much information as you're able to glean, the party proceeds onward to the so-called 'dragon bridge.' Flanked by two turrets on either side and a ramshackle and hastily repaired but never-the-less imposing front gate, even approaching the keep will be difficult and fraught with danger. Goblins fire down with bow and crossbow alike, and upon getting close to the gate, pour over a tub of boiling oil down on your heads! If you don't break through the door quickly, this could get painful in a hurry!

"Dragon bridge? Why are goblins naming things after drago--" A crossbow bolt thunks in the ground near her hooves. "--I guess it's not important. Looks like they're still lurking about." The Nightmare pauses, erecting a summoning circle and calling for a water elemental. Which she sends surging across the bridge towards the doors!

Only for the goblins to dump out oil, and we all know how oil and water don't mix. It sends the elemental sloshing down over the side of the bridge in a gurgling, bubbling mess.

"... Well, that happened." Kauchemar shrugs it off and hoofs it for the other side. Should of stuck to her speed in the first place prehaps.

Goldenblade was briefed on this. But that doesn't help much when boiling oil's being poured over your head and you're fighting ten goblins at once. They don't die nearly fast enough when they're overwhelming like this, and she takes several hits, grimacing at the damage. "Gah, c'mon," she curses, "Die already." She stabs one though the face. There are ten more left. "This isn't 'fast', is it?" she asks, dodging a barrage of arrows.

The bridge, the bridge, the dragon bridge. Haru aims to make his way across it without suffering the slings an arrows of angry goblins. Let the first goblin without agro fire the first bolt. Nay, a veritable salvo of bolts. He pulls up a series of small magical shields that mitigate some of the damage, but hardly the lion's share of it.

"It did," Haru agrees with Kau, pulling an arrow out of his shoulder and the damage lines that make him look like his blue and gray outfit needed to be peppered with festive red lights.

Well. This is looking a bit bleak, isn't it. Certainly, charging through a front gate, fortified and manned by alert goblins, is perhaps not a strategy that will echo throughout history. Or at least not for the right reasons.

At any rate, it becomes pretty clear early on that the pig-poop has hit the metaphorical fan. For starters, amidst the bolts and the smoking oil, Robert rapidly loses sight of his teammates. He grimaces, ascertains the general direction of 'forward', and charges through the blinding smoke with only the occasional stop behind a convenient bit of cover.

At length he reaches the other side. There's some soot visual effects across his cheeks, a tasteful singeing of his clothes, but no red.

    Fuka summons a powerful bubble of air, using it to both deflect arrows and turn aside bubbling hot oil. Well, in theory at least. It does keep some arrows off the group and turns aside some of the hot oil, but it doesn't defend against everything. Instead, the group has to advance and try their best to weather the storm and break through the door quickly! Fortunately they manage to break the door quickly even if nothing else goes right.

    "We'll be fiiiiine." Fuka pipes up cheerfully, even as her body's leaking. It's okay, she has healing potions! Not that the group has time just yet to take care of that.

    After a harrowing experience just getting into the keep, it's reasonable to hope for a break to catch your breath. The passage ahead is made of featureless grey stone, and you'd be forgiven for thinking the dark crevasses in the masonry were simply evidence of the keep's age.

    And then a goblin fires a bow through one of those cracks, and it becomes abundantly clear that they're all just very cleverly designed murderholes. Arrows fly relentlessly from seemingly every direction. The only way to safety is back out onto the bridge or straight ahead into danger. You'll need a miracle or straight up clairvoyance to avoid being struck by at least one of those arrows, or maybe just some well-timed magic to disrupt their aim.

Goldenblade is not putting up with goblins and murderholes, not a chance. So she puts on the afterburner, so to speak, dashing forward so fast it leaves a burning trail that blows back through the slits, forcing the goblins inside back. She's past each slit well before any of the goblins know to get ready to fire, and there's a clatter as bolts strike the wall behind her ten and fifteen feet after she's passed. She is not hanging out to deal with these jerks.

Kauchemar pauses for a moment at the beginning of the corridor of death. "Hff." She makes a few archaic gestures with one hand as the specteral flames ignite around her eyes. Then starts to simply stroll down the corridor. It looks like she'd be an easy target with her almost casual pace... until the goblins start firing, and every shot that crosses her path is just a little too soon or a bit too late to actually hit the Nightmare.

Because what no one else sees is that she summoned a few Spirits that have passed through the walls to hex the goblin marksman, causing their attack timers to go all wonky and throw off their sequence while Kauchemar strolls by, her own divining skills telling her which ones are being haunted at what moment.

Haru looks to Fuka during that well of cheerful enthusiam. Even with all the damage that has been collectively sustained. "Just equip that smile and get on through," he offers Fuka in a similar upbeat voice of 'we can do this'. The right mindset may have very well helped. Step after step shows a narrowly avoided sling of arrows this time around. The magic caster is no ninja, but he also isnt the only target so it gets distributed enough that he makes it on the other side to give Fuka a nice and chipper. Smile. Behold the power of the Smile! Of course, next up is another challenge as they have to brave the depths of this castle.

    Fuka lets out a shriek as suddenly arrows everywhere! It's like the goblins want to stick pointy things in them all or something! She tries to call upon the winds but can't manage a full chant in all the chaos. Fortunately she's heavily-armored, and she still has potions... once she's done leaking and there's an opportunity to rest and recover.

    Finally, the group breaks through the front line and makes it into the depths of the castle. Fukaziroh takes the opportunity to heal up a bit, also spending some of her rapidly-dwindling mana supply offering some minor heals to anyone else suffering from the current lack of excellence.

    The problem is that this inner region, despite being a brief lull, is approximately where the maps stop being helpful. The interior of the castle is a veritable maze of barricaded corridors, and while the goal is the throne room and whoever might be leading the defense of the keep, finding it is no easy matter. If the group can't find a safe route that will get them there quickly enough, they might just have to make do with taking out a different target.

Kauchemar remains with the group, snorting softly. "This place is testing some of my less used skills." And now they are in a maze and need to find their way through. At least this she has a proper monster for, as she summons her Tabby Slime to use it's cat-like senses to find a well traveled path. They want to murder goblins, so they just need to find where the goblins went after all. And goblin stench is not hard for a predator to pick up on, even a goofy slime one.

At last, a chance for...

No, no. Of course not. That would be a bit too much to ask for, wouldn't they. He pokes his head out into the open to stare at a very casual-looking Kauchemar. Concern registers, but really he ought to be far more concerned for himself. She's fine. He nearly gets plugged in the chest, and is saved only by a lucky stumble.

At this point he decides not to ask and opts for the straight forward approach. He inhales sharply and, with a burst of motion, darts into the castle's depths, leaving a burning trail in his wake.

Goldenblade has no clue about the maps and where we are in this maze, but she can just follow everyone else, right? So she does. It's a bit embarassing, having no idea where you are, but following blindly is better than going off by yourself, right?

Haru may not have memorized the maps in the legwork section of the adventure, but it turns out that not memorizing them worked out for the best. It means it wasn't conflicting information that his Core brain functions wanted to deny were possibilities as the group ventured further in. Deep breaths. Focus. "Thats good though," the white haired Artificer says with closed eyes. "Putting less used talents to the muster promotes growth," he says positively. And this psuedo 'follow the Force' approach pays off in locating a safer path alongside the information shared amongst the group.

SpritesHero similarly has no clue about maps. Does it bother him in the absence of any other input? Not at all. He holds the map up in front of him, squints at it, rotates it first to the left then to the right, then stabs a finger at it. "This way, maybe," he decides. And naturally that shrug of his shoulders is meant to instill confidence.

    "Less-used skills?" Fuka asks Kaumare dubiously. "I'd say we're kind of unprepared entirely. But hey! If we're good enough, we don't need a plan right?" she grins. It's not a Haru smile. It's a slightly-manic Fukaziroh smile. She feels the tension, she just refuses to give in.

    Fortunately someone else has a better idea than Fuka does how to proceed. She hasn't got the foggiest idea, and not even the best air magic's going to help with that.

    After some trial and error, probably quite a lot of both actually, the group manages to find a quick route to the throne room! Yay, who says they don't have the skills?!

    The only trouble is that the place is locked up tight and reinforced by a series of sturdy, if jury-rigged, fortifications. Brute forcing their way through should be possible, but they'll spend a lot fewer resources if you can use more subtle means to open up the door. Maybe if they can tease open some of those rusty old locks, they'll have an easier time of getting in?

"I mean," Kauchemar replies casually to Fuka as they reach the doorway, "that Summoning is typically my secondary methodology." She looks up at the rusty locks and such, and then takes a few steps back. A few gestures follow and a somber utterance under her breath. The haunting sound of galloping hooves ring from the aether just before her Nightmare steed emerges from the shadows. Kauchemar points at the huge locked gates. "Give a helping hoof with that, won't you? Put that earthen strength to use." The Nightmare glares at her as if resenting the menial labor, but then does as he's told. By bucking up and slamming both his rear hooves into the door to help wrench it open, rusted hinges or locks be damned.

SpritesHero slides his eyes towards Goldenblade, offering a quick dip of his chin and a sideways jerk of his head. Tongue neatly pinned between his teeth, he slides a flat knife into his left hand and a bit of hooked wire into his right. He then sets about comfortably unlocking every un-stuck lock he can lay his hands on. Or isn't otherwise getting torched, smashed, or otherwise picked by more direct means.

Such as Kauchemar's hooves.

"Well. If we ever lose a city, we know we can just put Kauchemar under a protective tarp and wheel her up to the gatehouse," he suggests with an impertinent grin.

Haru summons up a small earthen sprite to start wailing on doors gracelessly with its big earthen arms. After a moment Haru starts tapping his feet and realizing there is a rhythm to this assault. Earth Sprite whack-whack-whacks as a steady metronome that the Artificer feeds in gradual more Earth mana into him like a rhythm game. Who says breaking and entering can't be fun?

Goldenblade nods to Bob and will take the locks on the other door, the one he's not working on. She's not quite as swift at them as he is, but she's not lollygagging around, her tools out, she makes short work of her share of the locks, and then that's done. Her tools are slipped back into inventory, the entire operation conducted silently, because of course it was.

    While Fuka's actually having fun with this absolute horror of a mission, she's getting a bit frustrated too. Fortunately, the worse the adventure, the better the storytelling afterwards! Always assuming there's an afterwards of course.

    That frustration leads her to have a burning need to do some damage. A BURNING need. Seeing the fortifications and knowing that subtlety and caution would serve them better than brute force, well, doesn't persuade her really. "For everything, burn, burn, burn, there is a season, burn, burn, burn, and a place for all the ashes...~" she chants, channeling raw flame to her bidding.

    Screw subtle.

    The group manages to assault the fortifications, both with a bit of subtlety and a lot of not. Finally, the last door barring the group's passage swings open, and they can finally confront the leader of Karluin's goblin occupation.

    ...And, as it turns out, a sizable portion of his entourage.

    Sitting in a resplendent throne is a goblin of unusual but not tremendous size. What sets him apart, however, is the noble cut to his clothing and haughtiness to his demeanor. His presence is undeniable, as is the sparkliness of the gem-encrusted crown he wears. The king himself is not an extraordinary challenge, aside from his intelligence and charisma among goblins-- it's the small horde of elite goblin soldiers that stand between your party and the king. A powerful shield wall of hobgoblin knights encircles the king himself, their massive pikes raised to receive any charge. They're backed up by a teeming mass of goblin irregulars, knights and foot soldiers wielding all manner of weaponry, and who are themselves supported by a rear-guard of crossbow snipers. Fighting your way to the king will be an absolute slog, but if you can defeat him here, it'd be a significant blow to the cohesion of the goblin occupation.

Screw subtle indeed.

There's a momentary twisting of his lip, followed by an expansive sweep of his arm that sends a roiling cloud of malevolent darkness off into the packed horde of goblins.

One would think that in such a target rich environment it would be difficult to miss. And yet "miss" Bob does. His spell washes over the goblins, coils, twists, tenses...and with a forlorn sigh dissipates into thin air leaving Bob with a somewhat embarassed, sheepish expression. Well that was anticlimactic.

Slipping unseen into the room is not difficult for Goldenblade, who moves like a shadow when she wants, and when she filters into the room, it's to see a goblin king and a bunch of elite soldiers. Well, she'll see just now elite they are. Sidling up behind one, she strikes from cover. Assassinate takes a life, the rearmost goblin in the group drops. Because it takes a life unseen, she does not break stealth. So she moves to the next rearmost goblin. Assassinate. She learned this trick from the movie Sergeant York, and it turns out it works, as she takes out goblin after goblin. Assassinate. Assassinate. The rest of the party is giving them plenty to pay attention to, so she merely wades in from behind and takes them out one by one. Assassinate. Assassinate.

Once the doors are busted open Kauchemar strides in with her demonic steed flanking her side. Who immeadiately neighs bleakly at seeing all the goblins. "Oh, shush, you don't have to eat any this time. Just condemn them to darkness." Which seems to be enough for the monsterous equine to calm down a bit.

Darkness can be felt congealing around the pair, almost to the point that the air feels thicker. More foreboding. Then Nightmare and Nightmare Were Fang both open their mouths wide to unleash the horrendous banshee-like scream their species is capable of, bellowing damnation upon the horde of goblins before them. Some drop their weapons to clench their ears, others fall to spasms on the floor until they finally die. Others die from their heads literally exploding from the negative energy vibrations.

Haru has fists clenched in the immolation of Fuka on Fire mode, "Yes! Yes! Give in to the Hot side," he assists with a voice not unlike an Emperor that needs to be checked for throat cancer. Its good that Fuka is getting frustrated, because Haru is doing his own form of compensation in terms of levity. Because this whole thing? Way. Above. His. Pay. Grade. The Artificer is less of a debuffer and more of a support role in the upcoming battle. Burning through his magical reserves he conjures up shields that last one hit before they break like so much crystalized sugar and glass. Solid mitigation, but not nearly enough to meet the demand. "OOM," he denotes, stepping back and contributing basic resouce-light magical attacks into the fray. Pew pew.

    "Give in? Never! I'm *always* on the hot side!" Fuka says with a wink and a laugh back at Haru before they enter the final chamber. And speaking of final... "FINALLY!" Fuka yells with a good mix of cheer and exasperation. "Come on everyone we got this!" she says, cheerleading with all her heart. "They're just tiny little goblins right? Even I'm bigger than them!" she insists. True there's a lot of them, heavily armed and well-prepared, but so what? It's not like this is an OLD group of goblins. This has to be a last gasp of a group trying to cling to the old home or something like that, not a real goblin king.

    Fuka tries her best to tank, shielding the group, but she's lost a lot of health already. She ends up not having what it takes to hold the aggro of a substantial number of goblins and still survive, so she does what she can. Fortunately she's not alone, and the others are capable of handling their end of things just fine.

Kauchemar eventually dismisses her monsterous steed once he's expended his share of their mana. But that time most of the goblins are dead, and the would-be king has fled through a hidden passage. "I swear, goblins are worse than rats when it comes to infesting a location. Oh well." She's not beyond helping herself to some of the loot they've left lying about. To victors go the spoils and all that.

Goldenblade is content to watch the others collect gold. She'll take a bit, just to cover per diem. Gas, groceries, the usual. "That didn't go badly," she allows as she checks her blades prior to re-sheathing them.

SpritesHero's expression is slightly miffed, but the expression is subtle indeed. And gold is gold, right? His expression twitches once more, even as he flicks a single coin into the air and catches it. Without glancing at heads or tails, he neatly tucks it into his inventory.

    "Pffff we were FINE." Fuka insists, her health bar flashing red. "No problem! Couldn't have gone better!" she claims. "Or at least so we'll tell them, right? Remember the goblins were all TEN FEET TALL and had huge jaws with giant teeth, and they carried... er, pikes and crossbows just like these ones did. Um... maybe forget the teeth. Huh. Well anyways, we got through it. But it's not the destination that matters, it's the goblins you incinerated along the way!"

Haru begins to recall the tale, "So there we were, sitting at the war counsil table like 'This keep, she'll be hard won.' And Kau was like 'Hard for who, I am the night'. We stormed across a wall of gobbos with glee, deflecting their arrows like rain in the moonlight. The door shattered to a mighty mare kick as we oriented ourselves." He takes a deep breath, "Deep into the dungeon we delved, finding the heart of the infestation until we found the king and collectively delivered an eleven hit combo strike like the heroes we are." Exhale.

"It was a good time and no one can tell us differently," Haru says. Smile.

    "Eleven hit combo?" Fuka asks, musing at that. "Who would believe that? Haru, you need to pick and choose your tall tales. Ten hit combo at the most!" she says, shaking her head.