Duty Session 201: Goblins in Mac Anu

Schneider has put out the call for brave adventurers to venture forth against the goblins in Mac Anu. He thinks he has been clever by choosing a sewer outlet farther from the city, where it drains into the wilderness, both because it's less likely to be heavily fortified and just to be contrary. The sewer, even out here, is an architectural marvel, though possibly more complicated than is good, when you have goblins. It makes rooting them out harder. "Dark Schneider, here," he calls out as people head through the plains region, shouting out as he spies people making their way closer, assuming anyone out this far must be responding to his posting.

Goblins. Why did it have to be goblins?

Well, when there's problems with goblins, you need someone who knows what they're doing. And one of those is none other than the acrobatic assassin Kotono, who's quick to arrive in the area to assist with the dispatching of goblins. Of course, her pal Miyako is coming with her as well. "Here we are! We're ready when everyone else is!"

    The necromancer answered the call from the guildmate, he needed to get out of that whole HQ area. It was only after saying yes that he realized what he had said yes too, another trip into the sewers to slay more goblins. Hearing the voice Setsuna shouts back, "Yo Schneider!" Approaching closer he looks to the others and when he feels like they are ready he speaks up. "So last time I was in there , there was a lot of small spots that were not great for evasion. I would recommend any form of blocking or barrier abilities. Also if anyone can read a map then speak up. It will be more then helpful."

    Indeed, Miyako is glad to have some time away from Shibuya, having spent so much time in the catacombs there over the past month. So today she's taking the time to accompany her friend Kotono on a quest. And maybe dinner that night.

    "So," she asks, "Is this going to be a stand-up fight, sir, or another bug hunt?"

Schneider nods to Setsuna, telling him, "Glad you could make it!" He nods about shielding, that's all he has, defensively, he's not particularly agile. "I can read normal maps," he says after a moment's hesitation. "Stuff in the game is generally weird, though." He smiles to Kotono and Miyako as they arrive, telling them, "Welcome aboard!" At Miyako's question, he says, "A bit of both, I think. When you start getting the better of goblins, they often go to ground."

He'll lead the way into the remote sewer entrance, and the goblins ambush us almost immediately, turning Schneider's initial plan of infiltration on its ear. Which is slashed when an arrow whizzes by his head. "Ah, crap," he mutters as the goblin guards make themselves known, and the crossbowman reloads.

They've got daggers and a crossbow. Not a good combination.

"You can't hurt what you can't hit!" Kotono says teasingly as she makes a few taunting gestures with her hands. "I'm too fast for you to handle!" Kotono says as she attempts to bound around the goblins...

Only to find herself getting hit by a crossbow bolt. "Oww!" She yelps, rubbing her side where she got hit. "That'll teach me."

    "Well," Miyako muses, producing her naginata and giving it a twirl. "Well, at least it's just goblins." Did she just invoke Murphy? Yes, yes she did. She just barely ducks aside from the oncoming crossbow bolt, catching herself with the shaft of her weapon to turn it into a twist about. "Right then, starting in media res, got it. Panzer Vor!"

    Setsuna seems to be on heightened alert the moment they enter the sewers and when he hears the strum of the crossbow he instantly tucks and rolls, "I Forgot! They like ambushes and boats!" It really was to late for him to say anything now but at least he tried. He begins a zig zag pattern towards one of the goblins drawing a line of fire straight up it's body with his staff. For a moment the goblin looks like he got cut in some anime scene or something.

Schneider brings up a magic shield to protect us from the slings and arrows of outrageous goblins, sadly not far enough in front of the party to protect Kotono. Miyako engages the lead goblins and lays into one of the melee defenders, quickly DPSing it down. Setsuna's alertness saves him from the ambush, and he begins killing the ambushers with his staff. It seems to be going well, but the goblins are reinforced at the last moment by a dozen more, prolonging the fight and putting the party on the defensive.

Suddenly, from further down the passage, a Lander appears. "What's /he/ doing here?" Schneider wonders. This Lander we encounter seems inclined to help us to fight off the goblins, it seems, having come up behind an archer with his long dagger in hand, cutting the archer's throat while it aims at us. That's what he's doing here. Killing goblins.

    Setsuna was not expecting to see him of all people down here...it's surprising before he remembers the good doctor was aware of what was down here. " I bet Prophylaxis told him about it. They are on acquaintence terms. " Setsuna takes his staff and spins a circle around him. A magic circle appearing under his feet as he rips up chunks of earth and sends them at the Goblins that are not being 'slayed'.

There's nothing like a little help, even if it is unexpected. And it's here that Kotono goes from defensive to offensive. "Eat blades, you goblin jerks!" Kotono yells as she attacks the goblins that are intent on coming after her and her colleagues. "I'll teach you to mess with us!"

    Miyako blinks and pauses in the midst of casting an ice-binding on a group of goblins, recognizing the familiar red-crested armor. "Well, heck, fancy meeting you here," she says, tossing off an irreverent salute. Mostly ignored, she shrugs and carries on, implodoing her ice-bind with a word to scatter chunks of frozen goblin across the room.

This one is quickly dealt with. Between Kotono's blades cutting goblins to ribbons, Setsuna's chunks of earth (mixed with sewer water, guaranteed to cause disease, as if that mattered to goblins) smashing them, and Miyako's ice attacks freezing the goblins, with Shneider's Bal Volt spell splattering any that deadly net fails to catch.

The party proceeds on by themselves, Goblin Slayer vanishing as quickly as he appeared, and with as much conversation (ie, none). The tunnels are twisty, nasty, and all alike, and anyone who's ever been in a maze of twisty passages that are all alike knows the feeling of being lost. A map is produced, but it seems that consulting the map was the goblins' trigger, and they ambush the party as they try and consult the map.

    The summoner takes a deep breath before slowly exhaling trying to gather enough focus before he raises up several chunks of earth to hover around the party. " This is very difficult so I ask that you read and tell us what ay to go very quickly. " It was more then just moving the earth, but keeping them protected from the attacks. However he would do it, he would hold the line and make sure no one got hurt this time.

    Miyako nods, carefully unfolding the map and scanning it quickly, comparing the paths shown to her memory of the turns and twists the party has passed through since entering. "Right, just a mo..."

    Humming softly, she traces a line on the map, and then finally.... "Here! We need to go left, then three straights!"

The sewers really stink and are not the best place for fighting monsters. It's especially easy to get lost in them.

Fortunately, Kotono seems to have been practicing her mapmaking skills, and with the help of Miyako, she too begins to utilize her map and helps guide the others through. "That's what I was thinking Miyako!" She chuckles.

Schneider brings up his magical shield with a melodramatic gesture, augmenting Setsuna's rocky defenses allowing Miyako and Kotono to scrutinize Miyako's map and navigate the party out of this maze. It's a running scramble, sloshing through the muck, quick map discussions held by Kotono and Miyako as Setsuna and Schneider's shields alternate to provide continual cover. Finally, the party winds its way from those twisty passages to a broader, deeper, lake-like area that grows quickly deeper, forcing the party to halt or swim.

A hobgoblin is beating a drum for a small goblin war galley, and the goblin archers aboard rain fire arrows over the party. The ones following the party are still harassing us also, complicating the situation.

    "Ahh, gobs on a boat." Miyako chuckles lightly. "Always fun, messing about in boats. I remember... ohh, I must have been maybe eight or nine at the time?" She shrugs. "We were the referee boat for a yacht race. Dad let me fire off the signal gun to start things."

    She leaps onto the boat and goes straight at the goblins with her naginata, not bothering with spell-work in such close quarters. "It was fun... but it was also really heavy, and the noise was a bit scary."

    The summoner digs deep as he reaches into his bag of stock summons and brings out a few of those little cute fire sprites. Usually summoners would bring these out for candle lighting or something to that effect. However Setsuna seems to draw out a bunch of them. As if he had some special affinity with fire. With a few simple commands they have geneated a rather decent recreation of a fire ball, that as a team they throw at the goblins. " As I said , the goblins here like boats too."

Kotono also leaps onto the boat. That's the easiest part.

The not-so-easy part? Having to deal with being overwhelmed by goblins. She finally manages to break free, but she's a bit bruised up from that ordeal. "That's worse than getting stuck in a pretzel pose without anyone to untie you!" She says as she dusts herself off.

The boatgoblins' arrows are unable to penetrate Miyako's shield as she naginatas them all, Setsuna's fire spirits incinerate the ones she hasn't stabbed, though Kotono is injured fighting off the goblins on the boat, who threaten to overwhelm her before Setsuna and Miyako cut them back. The goblins who had pursued us through the maze of passages before meet Schneider's GUNZENRO spell coming the other way. It incinerates them where they stand.

With the goblins defeated, the party is able to commandeer the boat and pole our way through the deeper water to a goblin camp. A shaman and several hobgoblins can be seen, and unfortunately smelled also. It looks like this is a main camp.

    Setsuna watches the others move in to the camp and sprays a blast of bubbles into the camp, floating about and seeming to always be in the right place , the right time to block an attack . " I will cover the defense, just do what you need to do to bring it all down. " With the plan laid out he watches as he continues to shift the bubbles where needed.

This is the camp of goblins? And they've got a shaman?

Kotono seems eager to be taking them on. Unfortunately, though, she gets overwhelmed again. "No! Stop this!" She yells as she struggles to keep herself from getting turned into a cloud of violence.

    Miyako steps up as she surveys the goblin camp. "Well," she muses, "Guess we're going to do this the hard way." She starts inscribing runs in the air with a fingertip, conjuring another ice bind to entrap the creatures. "I've got your back, Ko-chan," she calls to the other Spriggan as she starts unleashing javelins of ice from the spell-circle that forms behind her.

This goblin nest, due to its size, requires complicated teamwork, or possibly Goblin Slayer, but neither are there. Setsuna is able to cover the melee fighters as Kotono rushes in, but she's not fast enough to DPS the goblins down. Schneider panics and rushes in, but he can't stem the tide of hurt they're putting out despite his self-buff shaking the ground under his opponents. Miyako's magical support, however, the ice javelins spear into goblins and the party eventually overcomes the defenders, though a body-count afterwards hints that a few might have run off in the confusion. Well, that leaves the party in possession of the battlefield, and Schneider pokes around, looking over a bit of map curiously.

In the end, they managed to take care of things. The map is only a partial one, though, meaning there's more work to be done. But that's for another place and another time. Right now, Kotono is worn out and just wants to go find some place to rest.

    Miyako looks over the map, sketching out a quick copy of it to tuck away in her inventory, before turning to offer a shoulder to Kotono. "Let's go get some food, huh? I know a nice little tavern..."

    Setsuna sighs relief as he watches the battle come to the end and his bubble shields pop. It as a hard battle but it was over, as the map pieces get found Setsuna seems to have horrible luck. His piece seems to be a duplicate of what he already has. " Good job everyone , however I don't know about yall but I spend to much time in sewers as it is. So I am going to get the hell out of here." Setsuna stretches and then begins to walk off, however its a slow pace others could catch up or follo.

Schneider nods about map and about food also. "Yeah, let's get out of here," he agrees with Miyako and Setsuna. Those with the map are useful is navigating us out of here, and Schneider's quite pleased to get the hell out.