Duty Session 208: Karluin Reclamation - Town
Even with the defeat of the fifth floor boss, Karluin is still a monster-infested ruin filled with precarious traps, ancient dangers and just plain old fashioned half-collapsed architecture. Though dilapidated, the goblin settlement in the area is deeply rooted and will need a good deal of effort from intrepid Adventurers to clear out... But it'll all be worth it. Once reclaimed, the fortress of Karluin will be a second or third home for Adventurers making their way up the tower. It's not like they have much choice; the way up is right smack dab in the middle of the old fort, and leaving it to rot will just make getting to the sixth floor that much more difficult.
The long task begins with exterminating monsters still lurking in the castle-town surrounding Karluin's mysterious central keep. Only then can the walls be secured and progress can begin on securing the fortress' heart.
Difficulty: Medium
Rec. Party: 4+
Rewards: 3
World Rewards: Free Karluin's Ground Level
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
It'll be their job to make sure that they /stay/ up.
This may be easier said than done. Something is making an /awful/ racket in the distance-- it almost sounds like a building being demolished.
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
"Damn Doc, you sure throw some hell of a party. " Setsuna says as he looks at the remains of the fortress, he hadn't been here for the floor boss so hadn't seen the scene yet. " Did you try to tell these guys the party was over. I mean they don't have to go home but they can't stay here." The necromancer was jesting as he was looking through his inventory, health potions check, mana potion check. Seemed like he was all good. Setsuna was eager to get out there and start clearing things, " I wonder if they had a mad scientist room somewhere."
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
"What's that noise in the distance?" he asks worriedly.
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Even though she has fur, today Mizuki wears a dark grey hooded cloak over her ninja outfit. Maybe it's still cold... It covers her face and body, mostly, but sometimes the tip of her muzzle is unshaded, and of course the ends of her digitigrade feet poke out underneath. Occasionally a bit of flame curls around her feet or out from her muzzle as she uses natural fire magic to counter the cold. She's quiet today... until someone else speaks.
Mizuki chuckles at Setsuna's comment. "It was already ruins when we got here. The boss fight wasn't THAT epic..." A bit of a smile can be seen on the tip of her muzzle poking out from under the hood. "Although, it WAS pretty epic. There was a giant goblin wearing mecha-size power armor with lasers!" There's also a bit of movement under the back of the cloak as the tip of her tail twitches excitedly at the memory.
She turns her head to Schneider. "It sounds like a building being knocked down. But why would the goblins bother doing that now?"
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
She notes with a grin s the somewhat infamous fashion tank shows up tp join the party.
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
"Come on," he says, leading the party in past the gates and around the makeshift barricades and the platoon of Scale Emblem archers and casters manning the garrison. "We've got a demolition crew further in. Hopefully they've cleared us a path through-- Wait."
The sound is gutteral unmistakably rude, even though none of them can understand a word of the noise gurgling out from up head. Suddenly, a hail of crude arrows sail through the air, digging into the roughshod battlements! A detachment of goblin outriders charges into view. Each greasey-skinned rider is mounted atop a mangey, slavering wolf. They nock another barrage of arrows just as the garrison mounts its own counter-attack. Soon the thoroughfare is home to a veritable shoot-out! It might be best to just find cover and wait this one out, but...
"Cover the garrison as best you can," Prophylaxis orders, a barrier of gleaming energy building outward from his outstretched staff. "We can't let this position be overrun!"
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Setsuna hears the obscenities follows by barely being missed by the crossbow bolts. "Oh yeah! Well your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries!" As if such a taunt was preprogrammed to get a response more bolts come towards him as he ducks down avoiding being shot. " Yeah well same to you assholes!" As he ducks and weaves through the arrows trying to reach a source of the bolts to bash in their head with his staff.
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
"DAMEDO! Magic shield!" he shouts, casting, and a transparent hemisphere appears before him, arrows deflecting away. Goblins at range? This sounds like a job for Bal Volt, and he raises one hand dramatically, shouting the words, and raw energy torrents into a goblin archer, knocking him from his mount.
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
"Right watch out for traps he left. That man is quite clever I can only guess what he might have done here."
She takes a moment and then gets ready to move but as the attack comes Gwen will push herself into the line of fire, good she might keep others from getting hie. Bad for her? Several shots get past her defences and now Gwen has a pair of arrows in her which she's going to try to pull out and down an antidote right away. She has not forgotten the cave, nor would she ever.
"Keep them off the garrison!"
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Mizuki turns towards Prophy as he speaks... then laughs as he suggests that possibly the noise is traps left by the Goblin Slayer. "Ahahaha! ...I hope he still gets XP for it."
Just after they clear the barricades, her ears twitch. "Look out!"
And then her cloak is skewered by goblin arrows!
...But she's already leaped out of it, twisting through the air with her long red scarf flowing behind her and doing acrobatics across the barricades to dodge the arrows, at one point blocking an arrow with a kunai and then throwing it perfectly to intercept another arrow! Eventually she lands behind Gwen, using the tank as cover to spit a fireball into the enemy lines! Although, it seems Gwen's taken arrow fire... "Oh no, it wasn't more of that awful poison, was it?" She shivers and bristles at the thought of anyone having to feel full, un-dulled pain for this adventure.
Once the fight is over, she retrieves her cloak, making a 'tch' noise at the damage and derezzing it.
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Alas, he's stopped short on his charge when the sound of heavy footfalls cuts through the din of combat. Out from the same place the outriders sallied through comes a tightly-packed phalanx of heavily armed-and-armored goblins. Each one carries a tower shield and a powerful melee weapon. "Tch, they must have raided an armory in the fortress..." Prophylaxis grunts. He watches as the garrison's arrows plink helplessly against the goblins' steadily advancing shield wall. A direct attack is going to be rough here... "Take out the ground underneath them if you can. If we can disrupt their formation, we'll give our friends behind us an opportunity to help take them down!"
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Setsuna takes his revenge for being shot at before moving with the group and frowns at the sight of the goblins dressed in the armor. " Well damn, I didn't think they would be smart enough to do that. " At the suggestion to take out the ground he smiles. "Well if you insist, I supose we can rip the rug out from under them. " The summoner stands straight for a moment, " Mother of Gaia, I summon your powers to move the earth itself. " His staff takes on a golden glow before he smashes it on the ground sending a large compression wave along the ground towards the goblins. " This should bowl them over."
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Mizuki drops to all fours to chase the wolves, then suddenly stands self-consciously... but they have new foes to fight. "Seriously?!" She dives behind cover. "I'll cook 'em in their armor!" She pops her head out from behind cover to sweep a plume of flame over the phalanx, but it's turned aside by their shields all the same as she has trouble positioning it right to go through the cracks. "Ugh... easier said than done, I guess... You're right, I shoulda used earth..."
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
But for now, at least, it seems that good tactics carry the day. Setsuna pulls the earth open to swallow up the goblin phalanx as Schneider and Merek pile in with the fire. Alchemical napalm bursts alongside plain old ordinary magical fire, superheating the goblins in the hole like coals in a kiln. The creatures scream in agony as their armor cooks them from the outside, the added weight preventing them from scrambling to safety. Soon, there's nothing but a burning pit in the ground and even that disappears with time.
Prophylaxis holds a hand up to signal a temporary pause, just to make sure there isn't /another/ unit of goblins coming their way. When it seems the coast is clear, he nods and gestures for the others to follow as he leads the party...
To another set of makeshift defenses surrounding a collapsed building. A bunch of Adventurers (and a handful of well-paid Landers!) stack what look like barrels of gnomish explosives to try and blow through the blockage, while others stand guard at the defenses, though they all seem rather beleaguered. Maybe they've been turning away similar assaults to the ones the group just defeated?
The foreman pauses when he notices the party approach and hurries over with a desperate look on his face. "Doctor, thank God. We've got a party stranded on the other side of these buildings. They were holding the fort down on the other side while we were getting ready to clear the place properly, but all that shaking collapsed our only safe path through. We need to get this rubble cleared ASAP!"
Prophylaxis looks to the others, then nods, "You heard the man. Let's do whatever we can."
"If we can't get through," the foreman gestures down a nearby alleyway, "There've been goblins coming down that street over there. Might be a way through that way, but with the kinds of forces we've seen march through, it's been too dangerous to send anyone in to check it out."
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Setsuna approaches the wall and frowns before he bashesit with his staff. If he had any stats in strength he would need a new staff, however he doesn't . " I think it would be best if we went around. Maybe if we hurry we can get to the otherside faster then it would take for us to get through here." It's his recommendation as he looks at the party for a moment as he hopes for consensus. "Unless one of you thinks they can get through."
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Yeah, at least the armored goblins didn't have LASER TURRETS or that might've gone differently.
When Prophy holds up a hand, Mizuki's ears perk up, and rotate around, and then she shakes her head.
"Oh no!" Mizuki exclaims when the adventurers explain the plight of the trapped team. "Don't worry, I'm sure we can find a way through!" She puts that were fang strength to use, easily moving large pieces of rubble... but finally coming to a piece too big for her to lift! She tries to use earth magic to reshape the rubble around it but she's no demolition specialist, and only makes it worse.
Once it becomes clear they're not getting through, she slumps her shoulders. "Sorry. I could climb over..." She looks back at the party, "But I guess that wouldn't help us, huh..."
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
The Foreman's expression is grim but determined as he nods, "Don't worry, Doctor. We'll blow our way through from this end. We'll get our folks out of there."
"Right, we're taking the long way," Prophylaxis decides as the party's final efforts fail to bear fruit. "Come on, over here. And-- keep your guard up."
The alleyway that is the only way forward is a cramped, dark and dismal affair. It's a claustrophobic place that seems to press in tighter on either side the deeper they go, and the dim lighting and boarded up buildings surrounding them make it the perfect place...
For an AMBUSH!
Cackling with glee, a dozen goblins leap from behind boarded up windows and out of pots, drop in from rooftops and climb out from gutters. Each brandishes a wicked weapon dripping with foul fluid that can only be... "Poison! Everyone, guards up! Don't let yourselves get hit if you can avoid it!"
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Schneider is having none of that, however. With the magic shield up in time to keep him safe in the ambush, a quick, "ZAKO DAMERO!" blasts a goblin, pounding him straight into the ground from this angle, and he looks around for any more targets.
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Setsuna was feeling the tension in the air as they enter the alleyway , or maybe its claustrophobia setting in. Then as if the GM suddenly picked up the dice and rolled before saying roll initiative, the ambush starts. Goblins everywhere, and one of them charges at Setsuna, knife in hand as the necromancer does his best to shove the knife away and fortunately into another goblin. "Well that was close." With his own not in immediate danger, he turns and tries to help another of the party members.
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
"So when's this over I had an idea though I'd like us ..."
She never gets to finish as the ambush happens and while she responds fairly fast cutting down her attacker? They manage to score a hit and Gwen? Starts to not feel very good and soon she'll have a debuff icon. She's taking dot damage for one, she also feels woozy, she also has a fever if anyone was to check.
"Damn it... them and poison again..."
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Mizuki pouts slightly at the failure, but onward they move, glumly.
At least the closed spaces and darkness don't bother her so much. There are benefits to being a cat!
Unfortunately, 'immune to stabbing' isn't one of them. Before she knows it, there's a knife in her side. And it's almost certainly poisoned! "AAAGH! NO!" She lashes out with fire and claws that might wound her assailant and keep others from approaching, but as the poison kicks in and she feels weak and dizzy, it's probably enough to stop her from actually killing any of the goblins unless they get exceedingly careless or are driven into her attacks while already weakened.
Once the immediate danger is over, she inspects the wound to see if it looks any different than the usual red pixels. "That didn't seem like it hurt more than usual... but I've got debuff indicators..."
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
The others aren't so lucky. Merek manages to shield them and prevents the worst of the immediate damage, but the barrier still allows the dogpiling goblins to nick half the party with their poison daggers...
And then something goes *ZAP* and Prophylaxis staggers out from under a pile of charred goblin corpses. He's smoldering, himself, an after-effect of using an electrical spell as an emergency goblin-zapper, and shares the very same debuff Gwen is suffering from. "Not... today," he snarls, and stabs a syringe full of /something/ directly into his arm. Immediately, his HP begins to creep upward as the DoT vanishes. He moves quickly to follow-up, jabbing both Gwen and Mizuki with identical syringes. The remedy takes effect immediately, staving off the worst of the accumulating damage. "Not after the /last/ time you bastards got me with poison. I came prepared...!"
The rest of the party is able to tear through what remains of the goblin ambush. Despite getting the drop on them and being armed with poisoned weapons, the goblins are pretty easily dispatched once they no longer have the element of surprise on their side. Soon, the party exits the alleyway, and finds...
...Something /awful/ waiting for them.
"God," Prophylaxis murmurs as he stares up at what looks like a sort of vertical shanty-town. It's a hodgepodge of strapped-together construction built up around a sturdier inner core, and positively /crawls/ with goblins. "There are so many of them...!" But it doesn't seem like the party has been noticed either. "But if we can get close without being detected... We might be able to bring the whole thing down!" And /that/ would be a massive win for a first incursion. "Keep your eyes open, too. There might be some way past the blockade from here. Maybe if we take down the shanty, it'll clear a path?"
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
As they leave the alley, Setsuna is starting to feel the wear and tear of clearing the place. He had thought it would just be come up , kill goblins for an hour and then go home. Then he gets to the point where he sees the shanty and then hears the good doctor suggest the sneak. Setsuna looks at Prophylaxis like he is crazy, then the group, then himself, then back to the doctor. " I mean I suppose we can try that." Taking a deep breath he begins to try his best to channel dark shadows around him, but this really isn't his expertise.
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
At least she doesn't have to endure the poison for long! She looks up at Prophy gratefully. "Thanks..." although she still seems a bit annoyed at her failure.
Things don't get better in that respect. She simply nods; she doesn't need to SAY that a ninja cat is extra-good at sneaking, right?
But there's only so sneaky you can be when someone unexpectedly STEPS ON YOUR TAIL. Mizuki yowls in surprise and covers her mouth, then darts for cover!
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Except maybe when she's the cat that got stepped on. Whoops!
But it's not meant to be.
Maybe the problem is the shrieking cat. Maybe it's that they're all trying to cloak themselves in darkness in broad daylight. Whatever the case, it isn't long before the shanty goes up in a cacophony of noise and alarm. Someone had spotted the party on approach! "Damn," Prophylaxis cusses, erecting an emergency WALL OF STONE moments before a cascade of thrown projectiles rains down on the party from above! "This way! Down this alley!" It's not the best solution, considering what just happened to them in the /last/ alleyway they ran through.
But it's the only option they have. There are too many goblins that are now painfully aware that there are forces moving to tear down their makeshift home. The deluge of projectiles is too thick-- so thick in fact that the party might not even notice the shadow flitting along the wall...
"I think we're safe," Prophylaxis sighs, rubbing a hand across his forehead. "We're going to have to keep that location in mind and come back to try again sometime. Come on, we might still be able to find a way around the rubble at lea--"
A scythe cleaves through the good doctor...'s mirror image. Prophylaxis snarls as he dodges narrowly out of the way of the wicked sickle arcing through his emergency illusion. "Thought I saw something... But this--"
It's a terrifying sight. A menacing figure with a jolly red cap that seems a bit too close to the color of fresh blood for it to be a coincidence. Rows of jagged teeth, filed to dagger-points spread a rotten, yellow grin. It lifts its scythe high again-- and darts forward, vanishing in a sudden flurry of murderous motion.
This thing can only be one of the legendary Red Caps, high-tier goblin assassins which dye their namesake hats in the blood of their victims and rejoice in the carnage of murder and slaughter. Its scythe is almost too fast for the eye to follow, but... If they can kill this thing, it will remove a powerful threat from the backstreets of Karluin.
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
The red caps, then, goblin assassins and then some, but Schneider knows a thing or two about them that few do: They have a strange vulnerability to certain rare kinds of magic. Luckily, Schneider -knows- that rare kind of magic, and his words twist as his hands glow white as he says what he says. The words are, perhaps, so holy that they game does not permit them to be heard by mortal ears. Or maybe Schneider's just mouthing the words? Whichever is the case, the red capped goblin finds Dark Schneider to be his match, unable to use his unholy stregth and speed at all against the exploder wizard, who fights him with his flaming sword, which glows also with a holy light. Or possibly cerenkov radiation.
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Setsuna looks at the redcap with the scythe and grins at the weapon of choice, " I mean he has good taste in weapons doc, maybe these guys aren't so bad. "As if to be proven wrong Setsuna is slashed at losing a sleeve in the process...though the benefit of wearing robe like items is that they are so much fabric it is hard to see the body, and Setsuna reveals his arm was missed, mostly. There is a digital cut across it. " Damn it never mind, he's an asshole destroying clothes. " As he snaps his fingers and the summoning circle appears from underneath him two dead goblins rise up and take a run at the redcat. However they were dead for a reason and get cut right back down. " I should have seen that coming."
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Mizuki's not sure which is worse; being chased by goblin archers or the sound that just came out of her. She doesn't need more people teasing her for being a cat; she's been feeling kind of self-conscious about it lately but were fang powers are too good not to use.
...Besides, the nonhuman traits help reinforce the idea that it's an avatar and in some sense not him. That and the reduced power just make the human form seem more disconcerting...
...But the appearance of a Redcap pushes such concerns out of Sam's mind for a moment. He's got a fight to focus on. He's familiar with the basic idea of a redcap, at least, but what are they specifically in this world? Aren't they a kind of evil fairy in D&D? Here apparently they're a variety of goblin...
Well, they die to damage like everything else, right? Mizuki manages to avoid direct hits but accumulates scratches and bleeding DoTs from close calls. Schneider comments that perhaps this is a clothes-destroying boss. "Tch, he better not..." When she finally gets an opening to attack, she takes a deep breath... and coughs and sputters as wisps of smoke curl out of her mouth. Out of MP! She chugs an ether, but the moment is past as she loses her chance to contribute DPS for that boss cycle, making the battle take that much longer...
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
"DIVINE WIND!"
Gwen breaks into a flurry of wind and light elemental sword strikes as she just lays into the Red Caps in a frenzy...
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin
Armed with holy incantations on his lips, Schneider parries the unholy creature with a sword that shines like the highest choirs of angels. Maybe 'Dark' Schneider should change his name? 'Sunny' Schneider sounds a little more on-point right now. Maybe 'Sunshine' Schneider? The creature certainly seems to recoil from him like a vampire exposed to sunlight! Gwen joins in as well, a flurry of rapid sword-strikes that each flash with the brilliance of the dawn's first light. The creature hisses and darts away, clearly giving both holy sword-wielders a wide berth... But it seems to rally as it turns its attention to Mizuki, taking advantage of her momentary distraction with the MP potion to try and cut her down in a single stroke...!
But just then, there's a wave of heat unlike anything the goblin has ever felt before. A towering surge of flame blasts upward, stretching beyond even the rooftops... And then it condenses down, imploding into a distinctly humanoid shape before the roaring blaze gives way...
To Prophylaxis, glowing like the sun at high noon. His eyes radiate intense heat and overpowering light, rivalled only by the sphere of flame igniting in the palm of his hand. "Spirit of Flame, I walk alongside thee. With the light you and I share, let us burn away all shadow..." He gestures, "FIREBALL."
The ensuing explosion is...
Somewhat more apocalyptic than usual. Though simultaneously also more /contained/ somehow. Instead of radiating outward, the blast stretches upwards, consuming the Red Cap completely. It doesn't even scream.
All it does... is leave behind a pile of ash and a handful of teeth.
Prophylaxis sighs with exertion as his self-buff fades. He sags into his staff and groans, "There. One down, at least... Good job, everyone. Now, let's find that adventuring party."
PLOT TWIST: The Adventuring Party was in fact literally just the Goblin Slayer and his friends, up to do some light goblin slaying. They were never in any real danger! Ha-haaaa!
(Ending C complete, try again and rescue the actual adventuring party next time...!)
Aincrad Tower: Ruins of Karluin