Duty Session 58: Goblin Scouts in the Field

A porcelain quest has been offered to the Hunters Guild. There's reports of Goblin Scouts in the Eastal Free League region, close to the ruins of a place called 'Shibuya'. The region is largely open fields, with a lot of tall weeds. But there's old roads in the region that still carry some people who go to that region to gather some special herbs that can't be found anywhere else. The request requires the disposal of these goblins.

Difficulty:    Moderate
Rec. Party:    3+
Rewards:       1
World Rewards: None

Xander
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

    The hunter's guild has placed out a request. They need some adventurers to go deal with goblin trouble on the mercantile roads.

Xander was one of the Adventurers who has decided to take up on the job, as for one, he needed to study the AI behavior of the monsters and secondly, meant possibly some more silver in his pouch.

The Salamander leaned against one of the roads posts, waiting for other Adventurers to show up, as he looked over the edge of his sword. His tail's tip slowly moved side to side as he waited, watching one of the Caravan's pass by. Wrinkling his nose at the odd scent that comes from it.
Shaskur
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

Shaskur saw the duty posting. She needed both the XP and gold, so it seemed like a reasonable thing to do. Much of her skills overlapped with that of a scouts anyway, and she used to work with a teams in her guild to scout out new raid areas pre-apoc. Hopefully this would be a breeze, but she was still careful, things were different now.

She walked along the road to the meeting point. She saw a solitary salamander with raven-blue scales leaning against a road post. Very distinctive, and this was the meeting point. With a slight shrug Shaskur walked over and raised a hand it greeting, "Yo. You here to scout the goblins too?"

She then looked around again, expecting to see others but it really was just the single salamander here. "Is it just us?" she tilted her slightly.
Xander
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

    "So far, seems that way." Xander admits, as he looks over to Shaskur as she walks up, he does a quick examine of her, mostly to get her name, before opening up the menu and sending her a party invite.

Xander wore a long tunic, with some leather armor, mixed with some plate. He had a shield, and the sword which he sheathed back to his side. He stood up fully and extended his hand to her in greeting. "If we are all that is going to be doing this, we will need to do our best and /hope/ for the best."

He then gives her a warm smile, "But, either way, it will be nice working with you."
Shaskur
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

Shaskur accepted the incoming party invite, and then looked up at Xander as he stood fully. She accepted his hand to clasp and said, "Well, I suppose it's just scouting. The smaller party may have advantages." And then Xander warmly smiled at her and her eyes twinkled slightly in amusement, "Lets see how it goes, and maybe I will feel the same."

With that done a couple daggers seemed to appear in her hands. The daggers appeared to be fairly simple steel ones that tapered to sharp point, definitely nothing rare there. Otherwise she was head to foot in black leathers, a facemask drawn up so only her eyes were visible.

She starts to absently twirl one of the daggers in her hand as she looks out at the nearby plains that they will be scouting shortly.
Xander
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

    Xander gives the imp a nod of his head, before he then waits a little longer, before looking up at the sky as the cold wind blows by. "Well... Let's get a move on then." And leads the way.

The plains they walk into has long brush, even Xander standing at six-foot has seeing his own feet as the brush nearly coming up to his waist. It isn't long till their a few snaps, "What the?!"

    Xander does a quick step back, his tail flicks, as his gold, fiery eyes peer at what he can see from the brush pushed down. "... I think we have a problem here, Shaskur." He says to her, before glancing at all the traps that surround them, before he rumbles. "... Clever.."

"How well can you see the traps?" He asks the imp, showing that he does have the greatest advantage of spotting the problem until he is almost on top of one.
Shaskur
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

Shaskur takes a look around, and she knows the traps are there, but this long grass is not the kind of environment she is used to. She is much more at home in urban or underground environments. Still she does her best to move slowly through the grasses.

"Careful, these are well hidden." She mentions back to Xander, and maybe it was because she focused back to communicate, but just then she stepped down and heard a dull click.

Jumping straight up there was a loud SNAP, just as the trap missed only by a hair. The loud noise though do not make for a stealthy approach.
Xander
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

    Things were not going well. The traps were making life difficult as neither of them could navigate the dense grass, with nearly getting their foot, tail, or who knows what else snapped at by the traps.

This was enough attention to bring the Goblins in and it was not something they could avoid.

Xander growled lowly, as his eyes narrowed. His frustration was fairly high and his annoyance was right in there. Not at Shaskur, but how this was feeling like a nightmare slowly becoming real.

    As he drew out his sword he told Shaskur quickly, "Goblins are normally quick to scare. So let's give them a scare!" With this, he pulled out his sword and golden runes came to life on the blade.

The Salamander spun the sword around in the ground and attempts to shake up the earth, creating a feeling of a minor earthquake around them, as he allowed for Shaskur to do what she needed to do.
Shaskur
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

The goblins rush in weapons held high. Rusty daggers, short sword, and one even has an old farmers pitchfork. And then Xander spun his sword the ground rumbled, causing the goblins to stumble. Taking the opportunity Shaskur quickly darted in to slash at a couple. Red damage indicators appeared on them just before they vanished into fragments, but there were still more there and they had recovered.

Shaskur quickly found herself on the defensive as the remaining goblins surrounded her. They may not have the best equipment, but it didn't matter when there were enough of them. With dagger in either hand she tried to deflect the blows, but more made it through and her health bar started to decrease.

Calling back she said, "Xander! I could use a little help here!"
Xander
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

    The earthquake is a success, as the Goblins quickly scatter and run away from Shaskur. Xander pulls his blade out of the ground and then goes to extend his hand to her once he jogs over to her location.

This gives him a moment to notice her porcelain white skin, which is complete contrast to his darker tones. "You alright?" Though his attention shifts as a more armored Goblin shows up.

Xander narrows his eyes, making sure first Shaskur was alright, before facing the armored Goblin. He makes his sword and shield ready, before he goes to charge at the larger Goblin, brandishing his sword in attempt to grab the Armored Goblin's attention so Shaskur can have an opening.
Shaskur
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

Shaskur takes the extended hand and replies, "Yeah, I'm okay. I lost a bit of health, but you handled that quickly enough." She nodded in appreciation. Then she turned to see the approaching goblin.

This was no ordinary goblin. He was armoured and equipped. This was a bad sign, it meant that this wasn't just a small goblin force, if they had fully equipped elite troops then it must be a full goblin settlement.

Shaskur narrowed her eyes as she peered at it, and then Xander seemed to prepare himself. Taking the queue, Shaskur slightly slipped into the long grasses and silently moved around to flak the goblin. Dagger ready to find a conveniently placed back when the goblin engaged Xander.
Xander
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

    Xander managed to keep the Armored Goblin distracted for Shaskur to get a nice hit in, though the Salamander Rune Knight took a bit of injury in the scuffle. A few digital marks on his body, but they will heal up with some time.

That is when he spots a few more Goblins that were watching their little dance with the Armored One, but as soon as they realized they have been seen, they seem to scatter. "... Damn Goblins." Xander mutters, before looking over to Shaskur, "Come on! We can't let them get away!"

Though that meant tracking them through dense grass to their hideout and that was no easy task!
Shaskur
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

The goblins are too well equipped, and too plentiful, for this to be all of them. "They have to be coming from somewhere." Shaskur says as she starts to look around the area where the last goblins were seen. "They aren't that smart, they must have left tracks."

After a few moments of investigating she came across what she was looking for. Small footprints in the ground and grasses that are bent enough to indicate the passage of several individual, and it continued towards the east. "Xander, look here. It seems that they've gone east along this way. Follow me."

With that she silently stalks along the path she has found, daggers in hand ready for if they come across anything.
Xander
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

    Xander was having trouble keeping up with the goblins. His teeth grit tightly, but when Shaskur called over, he gave her a nod, and then followed her lead in silence.

As Shaskur lead them on, using her skills to follow the tracks, the Salamander was not far behind the Imp. It was only when an arrow goes sailing past and another that he uses his shield to deflect, did he peer at the goblins ahead of them.

"I'll get the ones in the front." Xander said lowly. "You get the ones in the back." He wasn't a rogue. He wasn't designed for stealth. He was a tank, a fighter, and a sorcerer, all rolled into one scale-hide package.

With a twirl of his sword he went directly for the goblins, before swinging his sword in their direction, hoping the get the Goblins before this became far worse of a problem.
Shaskur
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

Another group of goblins, no surprises there. What was a surprise though was the hooded goblin with a bow in the back. As soon as they came into sight, arrows started to wiz through the air at them. Xander without any hesitation moved out in front and bashed an arrow away.

As he called out a plan Shaskur leapt to the side, avoiding another arrow at her. It seemed this goblin archer was focused on her. Moving with the momentum she began to run, dodging and flipping as the arrows kept coming for her, and occasionally swipping them away with her daggers if they got too close.

Xander moved in and engaged the other goblins, cutting them down with a practiced ease. Smashing his shield into others to send them flipping backwards only to land on another goblin. He was a storm, but a storm that Shaskur couldn't spend the time to appreciate at this moment.

With the mass of the goblins distracted by Xander, Shaskur continued to weave closer to the archer, too fast for the archer the arrows always seemed just a hair behind where Shaskur was. She really did need to invest in some throwing daggers for situations like this. Still, weaved her way closer, the goblin archer firing arrows more frantically. That is until Shaskur passed by, and then the goblin was frozen in place, looking slightly confused before suddenly bursting into motes of light.

Standing upright she looked over to catch the last of Xanders battle.
Xander
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

    Shaskur does some amazing foot work, moving between the arrow shots, taking down the backline. She is quick, nimble, fast. Sadly all her amazing skills are not something that Xander can take great notice of.

He does check her status from time to time, by a quick glance over, but his focus remains on the Goblins he is having to deal with. Working on overpowering them and striking them down into digital wisps of light.

When he gets to the last one, his pupils become tight slights, as he lets out a near draconic, humanoid war-yell and cuts a goblins head directly in half, as it shortly explodes into wisps of light.

    The Salamander breaths heavy, teeth snarled, before he closes his eyes, inhales deeply and calms himself. Also taking a moment to evaluate where they are and where they need to go.

For this, he makes his way back over to Shaskur, "Looks like you held up pretty well." He says, though the smile was there, it is a tired one. "Still make out where these guys are coming from?" He asks tilting his head gently.
Shaskur
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

Her eyes twinkling again she replies, "You held up pretty good yourself." But then she look around at the area and hums in thought before turning back to Xander. "I think we've already confirmed this is a lot bigger than the initial estimates placed it at. I think we should probably report back about this. I bigger party may be required if we hope to push further towards the source of these goblins."

Turning back to Xander she says, "You did alright. I'd party with you again." And with that she reaches out to clasp hands another time, "Well done."
Xander
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

    Xander takes her hand in kind and gives it a firm shake. He smiles to Shaskur, "You as well." Then tosses her a friend invite before she fully heads off. "If you ever need help, feel free to give me a call." He taps his ear softly.

"I'll see what I can do." Xander looks back toward where they been. His brows furrow softly, as his jaw clenches a little. While his eyes scan the area looking for any signs of more goblins.

Alas, there were no more nor any sign of where they may be hiding at. He hrms and goes to make his way for the road and to turn in the job for his monetary reward.
Shaskur
Overworld - 10 - 0 - 0

Shaskur's eyebrows raise at Xander's friendliness, that was beyond what she was expecting, but she quickly nods and accepts the friend invite. "Yeah, let me know if you ever need help yourself. I'm mostly specialized in the.. more quiet approaches to things, as you may have noticed."

After the take one last look around Shaskur follows along with Xander as they return to the Hunters Guild to receive their reward.