Duty Session 252: Karluin Reclamation - Keep

With the goblin forces largely cleared out of the bulk of Karluin Castle Town, and without any means of penetrating the fortress' mysterious underground yet, the reclamation effort has now moved towards taking back the main keep at the city's easternmost side. But with the goblins backed into a corner, and their new leader surely commanding the keep's defenses personally, reclaiming the citadel will by no means be a small task. Still, the quest to clear Karluin at the Hunters Guild remains open, with a new list of terms promising salvage rights of the valuable loot hidden away within the castle's ancient coffers.

Prophylaxis
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Karluin isn't quite free of goblins yet, and that's a problem. While their strongholds have largely been eradicated, there's still a constant flow of goblins from /somewhere/ in the city. Prophylaxis suspects that the problem lies deep underground-- the trouble being that nobody has found a decent and /safe/ way to actually get down there yet. Every potential passage has been closed off either by goblin sabotage or deliberately by Scale Emblem operators to better secure already claimed sectors of the city. Until they can deal with the last of the goblin fortifications, there's little chance of a safe incursion into the depths.

Hence, a full-scale siege has begun to seize Karluin Keep, the imposing fortress on the eastern side of the city, and the most significant surface stronghold left under goblin control.

Prophylaxis has sent notice to the various hunters' guilds and through his channels in the Scale Emblem-- he plans to stage an attack on the Keep, and is looking for assistance. Until they arrive, he's going to be waiting in a plaza with a bowl of stew, a bundle of maps and charts and a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Better enjoy what comforts one can while one can, after all.
Vertina
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

After the glorious spectacle they got to see last time of a barricade tower crumbling in the fiery wrath of (mostly) Scale Emblem members, Vertina is all too willing to come help with pushing their purging siege farther into the city ruins. Besides, she hasn't had much other adventuring as of late since one of her main adventuring companions is wrapped up in one of those weird Fae Moods, and other than some chat when she brings her food and drink Wisteria isn't really up to doing much else. So a daredevil needs to find other stunts to spend her time and get her thrills on, and this is just the sort of thing to do it.
Amalthea
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    "So we're finally storming the castle?" Amalthea asks as she makes her arrival known. "I figured it was about time, so here I am, Doctor." She says, resting her hand on the pommel of her sheathed blade, shield slung on her left arm. "Anything to pull me away from the paperwork is fine by me."
Schneider
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Schneider has heard about this mission through Scale, of course, and how could he turn down the opportunity to incinerate more goblins? He comes with his own carafe of wine, sipping from it and musing on something or other as he awaits the chance to cut loose against our erstwhile foe, arriving fashionably late, though not so late that he'd miss any of the goings on. He says nothing, just nods in greeting to the adventurers he knows - that's many of the assembled - and he smiles thoughtfully. Oh, those goblins will burn.
Miyako
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

    Miyako heard about the Quest through the Hunter's Guild, and - well, was taking a break from banging her head against the Chaos Gate runes one more time. "So, what the heck," she said, "I'll see what it looks like up in the stupid tower with stupid Scalies."

    So she shrugged and hitched a ride up the tower to see what was to be seen. Goblins? Meh. Been there, annoyed that. "Never been on this side of a siege, though. Done some town defense, is as close as it gets."
Lin
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

There are entirely too many goblins around here. A plague of them. We are besot by goblins. No matter how many parties of adventurers beat them away, more always rise. This suits Lin just fine. When he hears of the siege through the Hunters' guild, he eagerly sets out.

Lin bounces up to the gathering party with a cheerful "Hiiii!" and his usual lack of gravity.
Prophylaxis
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Good! Everyone is here, even some people that Prophylaxis didn't expect to see up here. "You say that," he answers Amalthea with a knowing glimmer of malice in his gaze... As he moves towards a nearby box (apparently being used as a makeshift table) and unfurls several of his charts on top. Then he drops a stack of reports on /that./ "You all get to help me figure out how we're going to do this! This is going to be a dangerous mission, and I want all of us to know exactly what we're going up against. Make sure to review enemy tactical information, and check the maps our scouts were able to provide. They're good, but they might have missed something important."

That's right, Amalthea...

MORE paperwork!!
Schneider
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Schneider has come up against an unexpected challenge: Paperwork. He's buried under intel reports and such things, when all he wanrs to do is blow up goblins. But .... if this is really that pertinent, he'll read through it all. Maybe it's really important? "This stuff is horribly organized, boss," he complains.

Just the same, he's meticulous about going through each page, even the reports that maybe seem at first to contradict each other. There is a way to make sense of it if he works everything out. "The goblins are pretty serious business, it seems," he offers.
Miyako
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

    Paperwork. Oh grief. "I came up here to get *away* from this crap," Miyako mutters. "What the heck kind of code is this, NSA cipher?" She pages through several maps and reports before tossing them aside in disgust. "Right, stick a fork in me, I'm done." She sighs and settles back in her chair to wait while someone else explains it to her.
Vertina
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Vertina picks up a few of the papers.... but most of it doesn't mean much to her, she's not a tactician or good with strategy beyond the basics of a game playbook, so most of it isn't really much meaning to her. Finally she sighs and flops the sheets back on the table, muttering something about how this is why she's usually letting Amalthea or Prophylaxis take the lead in such matters.
Amalthea
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

    That look. That look in the doctor's eyes.
    "... No."
    He can't.
    He wouldn't.
    "... No!" Amalthea breathes as the maps and charts and files are all produced.
    "Noooooooooo!" She Darth Vaders, before heaving a sigh.
    Rolling up her sleeves and donning a small set of glasses, the old Odysseia Knight narrows her eyes sourly at the doctor before she starts WADING INTO THE MAPS.
    Looking over one sheet, then the next, then another, then another, she finally slams them down.
    "Here. This is the best way in and these are the most clear looking paths." She mutters pointing out a series of corridors on the maps.
    "If I were a small green-skinned little bastard, I'd set up traps here, here, and here, and use this hallway as a funnel into a killzone so let's avoid that."
    Taking off her glasses she heaves a sigh and starts wading into another pile of papers with a grumble.
Lin
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Lin's slender frame edges in around the collected maps and charts. Maps and charts! His favourite! "Come on, it's not so bad." He smiles brightly at Miyako, waving expansively at the pile of papers. "It's just a bit messy where they wrote all the keys! And.." He leans forward to tap at a map. "I think that's just a stain from some kind of food. Or an ink spill."
Prophylaxis
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

One of the benefits to being packed with an unusual number of ex-paper pushers is that the Scale Emblem is surprisingly well-equipped to deal with mounds and mounds of paperwork. "It's not coded," Prophylaxis says patiently, "Now kindly pass me form B-72-D."

This is hell. Truly, bureaucracy is... hell...

But with all these eyes looking over all these papers, something becomes clear: "It looks like the goblins are... coming from somewhere under the bridge? That's odd. Maybe we should check it out before we hit the topside?"

The bridge in question, Dragon Bridge, is an imposing structure that leads from the edge of town to the fortress off to the east side. There's a narrow ledge off to either side, just wide enough for someone to squeeze by if they hug the wall without going tumbling into the snow far below. But once they're there...

"Looks almost like an aqueduct," Prophylaxis says with a sniff. The air stinks... of goblin. "I don't see any passages... but that doesn't mean one doesn't exist. There might be a secret entrance somewhere around here. Let's split up and search for clues."

And of course, that means knocking on every rock and crevasse in the hopes of locating the one that happens to be out of place in just the right way that it might hide a secret door of some kind. How awful...!
Schneider
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Schneider has studies the reports, but when we're faced with actual scenarios, his planning turns out to be less useful than he'd hoped. He'll try his hand at using the structural layout of the place creatively to get the drop on the goblins that are almost certainly waiting in ambush - because goblins are /always/ waiting in ambush - but his plans are in the 'more easily said than done' category.

Luckily, the sun shines on a dog's ass sometimes, and Schneider seems to have gotten lucky with some of the structural elements. He'll take full credit for luck. "I just noticed this bit here, and it seemed reasonable," he explains.
Miyako
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

    Miyako tosses a balled-up bit of paper at Prophylaxis' head, then quiets to listen to the explanation of where the goblins are. And finally the group approaches the bridge.

    She then wanders about somewhat aimlessly, looking for signs of a secret door, but spending more time just taking in the view. It's no wonder she doesn't find anything.

    Eventually someone else finds it, and she wanders over to join them.
Lin
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

The plan is set and the party's going to turn theory into practice. "Secret passages. Even if they aren't coming through it, there's got to be something interesting through it." He traces the stones with a curious fingertip, looking over them for the place where you'd hide a door. "If I were a door full of goblins, where would I hide?"
Vertina
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Vertina is antsy after that paper pushing interruption so she's all for actually getting onto the field. Or bridge, as the case may be. By that point she's revved up and raring to go to do something that isn't reading or fancy military talk, so practically leaps right into action even if it isn't fighting. "Doc's right, they probably hid it like they hide traps. Figures a bunch of green rats would hide in the closest thing to the sewer."

She's no expert at this sort of thing, but as a kung-fu chick she's got pletny good balance and dexterity. She can at least explore some of the harder to reach points that smaller goblins could get into, feel along the walls looking for the thin cracks that could be a movable portion with her claws, and listening for hollow spaces behind the visible structures. You never know, she might just get lucky.
Amalthea
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8


    Amalthea passes over form B-72-D with a grumble.
    But when it's time to actually get up and go she's a bit more excited.
    To the aqueduct, Robin!
    Dananananaaaa.
    Once actually over the ledge and into the side-path, Amalthea has her sword drawn and is READY FOR GOBLINS!
    No goblins come out.
    Amalthea puts her sword away with a grumble as the party begins searching for the path forward. But once the group does find the secret passage, Amalthea tries the door and--
    It's locked.
    "Hold on just a tick." She murmurs, pulling a pin from her silvery hair and stuffing it into said lock. Taking a moment to lick her lips as she futzes and putzes with the mechanism, soon enough there's a resounding ~click~.
    "Got it."
Prophylaxis
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Wouldn't that just be a funny little thing, if they prepared so much to go and fight goblins and it turns out that they never actually run into any goblins to fight? Ha ha ha that'd be hilarious and not at all an oversight by the hypothetical omniscient deity-developer that threw this adventure together.

Nope.

There's definitely something hidden here. Schneider's keen eye is able to identify a section of wall that doesn't quite look right, narrowing it down for Vertina and Lin to discover that... there does in fact seem to be a set of tracks leading to one section of wall in particular. Climbing up and over reveals a narrow crevasse behind the masonry... and a secret, hidden, and very locked door.

But not for long. Amalthea manages to pop the lock with a *click* and the door swings open to reveal...

An... empty corridor.

No. Not quite. It /stinks/ of goblin. Imagine if you will an entire sewer utilized exclusively by goblins, but then there are more goblins living /within/ said sewer, doing awful goblin-things. It stinks of goblin to the goblinth power. And, worse...

When Amalthea takes that first step in... A very poison-coated (with what, specifically, is best left unsaid) spear trap suddenly lances out of the left-hand wall. It misses her by a hair, but the message is clear.

"Traps," Prophylaxis groans, "Of course it's trapped. Goblins wouldn't just roll out the welcome mat for us, would they?"
Schneider
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Schneider has gotten through so far by luck, climbing down into the secret passageway that reeks of goblins' dirty socks. Or something goblinny, anyhow. A misstep almost costs him his leg to a trap, and after that, he is much more careful about how he proceeds, tiptoeing along and avoiding all the traps he can see. That's the problem, really, though, he doesn't have a good eye for spotting traps, and the passageway costs him far too many HP as various spring-spears, pitfalls, tripwires, and the like importune him as he proceeds along.
Lin
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

With an almost complete lack of action, Lin's a lot more thrilled than he would have expected. Maybe the goblins got the hint? No, they don't get hints. Maybe they ran off? Do goblins even do that? He looks on with interest as Amalthea picks the lock. "Sneaky little things. How do they even build this stuff so fast? It takes us forever!" When the door swings open he wrinkles his nose, recoiling from the smell before reacting with a joke. "I signed up on this to lob fireballs at green guys. This gross misrepresentation will be reported to the Hunters' guild." Carefully and cautiously, he makes his way into the tunnel with everyone else.
Vertina
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Vertina pauses. Cracks the knuckles of one hand in the palm of the other, and grins that slightly unhinged action girl grin of hers. "Finally, my kind of challenge!" And takes off charging down the hallway before anyone can stop the Salamander from doing so. But that's okay, Vertina is actually in her element, and uses his crazy kung-fu stunt skills to jump over, slide under, and leap up to dash along the walls in order to avoid the death gauntlet of traps and trickery and get to the other end. She's just too fast on her feet and too agile with her reflexes to get pinned down by any of them.
Amalthea
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    In through the door and Amalthea stops short, a spear screaming by her face and clipping a single silver hair in the process as she lets out a low whistle.
    "Well I saw that coming." She says.
    She did, she really did, in the map challenge.
    It takes her a moment of scanning the hall before she carefully decides where to step next. And again. And again. She makes slow headway down the hall, stepping over trip wires, false flooring, and more spear triggers as--
    Vertina goes blazing by.
    It makes her chuckle as she takes her time.
    "Just remember, 'The Penitant Man Kneels' at the last second, dear."
Miyako
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

    Oooh. A dark tunnel. Miyako hasn't seen one of *those* before!

    Wait, yes she has. Lots and lots of them. Like the Shibuya Catacombs. Those were a lot more fun.

    *ZOING* Trap! Look out! Okay, so not just a plain old dark corridor. Time to get sneaky. If nothing else, she's gotten kind of good at that over the past few months. So she pads along down the hall, deftly dodging aside whenever a trap goes off, barely needing to move.

    She glances over at Amalthea and adds, "Don't forget, in Latin 'YHWH' begins with an 'i'."
Prophylaxis
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

"I'm pretty sure the answer to that question will reveal far too much about the underlying principles of this world to be provided any time soon," Prophylaxis sighs in a Linward direction as the party proceeds down the horribly trapped corridor. Fortunately for everyone whose name is not Schneider, they manage to make it through unscathed... But only because the person whose name IS Schneider manages to set off half of the traps in their way, leaving a clear path for the others to kung-fu leap, magically dodge or simply snoop their way across.

The trapped corridor opens to a vaulted chamber that positively /reeks/ (even more than the hallway) of goblin. The entire place looks like it's been converted into a goblin shanty, with lean-tos and shacks inhabited by snoring, snoozing goblins set up against what look like...

...Movable blocks. They're sitting in a recessed floor, as if the entire place had been set up to allow the blocks to be shifted this way and that. Each one carries a lit torch and is covered in strange and unfamiliar glyphs which are mirrored by similar engravings on the ceiling. In other words...

The goblins have turned what appears to be a moving block puzzle... into a slum.

"Right," Prophylaxis huffs. "We're going to need to clear them out anyway if we want to get through. Let's burn the place down and see if we can't solve the puzzle on our way to... wherever it is we're going to."
Schneider
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Schneider grumbles as he sees the goblins have moved in down here and made themselves at home. "Hang on," he says to the party. "Let me clear this place out..." He looks around, chants, "GUNZENRO!" and a truly prodigious flame engulfs the goblins' camp, but he can only keep the flame up for so long before the injuries received from wading through the traps becomes too much to bear. He concentrates on regenerating, then, his self-heals kicking in and slowly regenerating his HP. So, he's not useful, but he's less dead.
Amalthea
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8


    "Oh I remember, I remember *that* full well." Amalthea replies to Miyako, muttering something about 'typical tombs' and fall away floors.
    Meanwhile in the next room, Amalthea scowls.
    "My husband played this game." She says as soon as she sees the pushable blocks. "There were zombies in it. And push blocks like this. ... And considering this place SMELLS like a sewer, I'm surprised there isn'ta chess-based series of keys before a boss fight with something called a 'Tyrant'." She grouses as she starts pushing blocks around like Leon Kennedy in a sewer level, grunting with the strain at first before she suddenly glows green and her strength is suddenly vastly augmented for the job at hand.
Lin
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Danger lurks around every turn in the hallway. It's just like the maps and charts had pointed out. What they didn't point out, however, was how bad the smell was. He creeps through the hallway, keeping one hand on the wall to either guide or steady himself. "You're probably right, but it's healthy to wonder. Also... what happens if someone Handles a goblin and gets it to build?" Keeping track of the traps as everyone zooms through them isn't so difficult, but with his head in the clouds of goblin ziggurat construction, he stumbles into the massive chamber at the back of the party.

The sight of writing on the blocks turns his eyes wide. "Glyphs! This is just what I've been researching." The Pooka is rapidly lost in thought. He hums quietly, making quick sketches of glyphs.
Miyako
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

    Miyako hmmms as she examines the words on the wall, comparing them to the glyphs on the rocks. "Well. Haven't seen one of these in a while," she mutters.

    She stands back and lets Amalthea move the blocks around, casually adding, "The answer is obviously 'what do you get if you multiply six by nine'. Shouldn't be too hard."
Vertina
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

When they get into the next room Vertina lets out a soft groan as she realizes what it is, of sorts. "The only thing that would make a block pushing puzzle worse is it involving filthy goblins!" That said, she leaves the deciphering part up to the more intellectual members, and in the meanwhile has started to hacky-sack up one of her balls of dirt and embers, from foot to knee to knee and back again. Biding her time. Waiting until someone says they're ready. "Alright! You might want to keep your heads down a moment...." She bumps the ball overhead, then spins around on her pivot foot as it's dropping back down to her. "METEOR STRIKER!"

Her spinning kick connects with the ball of smoldering rock, lighting it completely on fire as she sends it hurtling into the blocks and slum barracks. Setting several of the ramshack hovels on fire, bouncing off some blocks to make them move, ricochetting around to light a few torchs, put out a few others, and in general rebounding around to burn most of the goblin trash out of the way so the blocks can be moved more easily.
Prophylaxis
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Prophylaxis isn't going to be much help for this one, unfortunately; He's got other things to do! Schneider's HP and status bar don't exactly look too healthy, and with unknown threats still waiting up ahead, he needs to be healed up. "Hold still," the doctor advises before plunging a syringe full of high-quality healing potion into Schneider's arm... Followed by a series of antidotes and mana potions. There are a lot of needles involved. "That should do you, now..."

He looks up to where Vertina has reduced the goblin shanty to a smoldering ruin. Goblins are running this way and that, shrieking and burning before collapsing into heaps of dissolving red pixels. With the goblin trash thoroughly trashed, there's plenty of room for Amalthea to shove the various blocks where they need to go...

But where is that? Lin is on the case! Some of those glyphs match the ones on the cubes. Once the right blocks are pushed under the right runes and their corresponding torches set alight, the ceiling begins to pulse with light... And a wall on the far side of the chamber slides open. Prophylaxis looks to the hidden passage with a crooked grin on his face, "Well! I hadn't expected something like /this./ Come along, we can deal with the goblins later. I want to see what's down door number two...!"

It's another dark corridor, but one that winds considerably deeper underground. When it finally opens up after a long, twisting meander, the tunnel reveals a room... With a massive vertical shaft leading even /further/ into the earth. Prophylaxis' brow knits as he slowly, carefully makes his way to the nearest ledge. His staff ignites, an electrical fuzz spell burning atop the scepter to illuminate the darkness. "I think we can get down this way. Come along now...!"

The moment everyone is on that first step and make ready to hop to the next platform down, though...

Well, it turns out that Prophylaxis didn't need to conjure up any light at all!

The wall lights up behind them... And unleashes a beam of pure, obliterating light. The party is barely able to scramble to the next platform as the beam slams into the opposite side of the shaft with an audible sizzle of evaporating stone. "...Uh," Prophylaxis looks down. There... are more of them. Dozens. One or more on each platform, lighting their path but just /waiting/ for someone to step in front of them to unleash another one of those terrible beams. "Well. This sucks...!"

But maybe if they can block the beams somehow... Or if they just move /fast/, they might be able to get through (relatively) unscathed?
Schneider
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Schneider is carried, not literally, through the puzzle chamber and into the hidden passage, and he won't complain about Proph supplementing his own regeneration capability. Skulking along, though, heading deeper, the nearby wall lights up as some ancient sigil glows, revealing itself to be a trap, firing awful light at the party. Schneider winces, though, and fights back with his one standby spell, useful in so many circumstances.

"Kaizard, aruzard, kisk! Hansay Glossik! Unleash total destruction! Sage of Hades use the seven keys to open the gates of Hell!" he chants, "HALLOWEEN!" That's punctuated with a thundrous explosion, and the forbidden spell scours clear quite a large swath of traps with unholy heat, scouring the wall clean of several layers of rock, and melting much of the rest, so that the rock face begins to run, and the molten rock covering over any breaks in the wall through which arrows might come. The traps are incinerated into ash and vapor.
Lin
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Lin's somewhere out in the mists of imagination. He sings quietly to himself, the tune and lyrics easily recognisable as one of the 42 songs. As he sings, symbols on the wall light up. "Now we've got to..." He runs off to some torches, arranging them to a backdrop of explosions and kung fu. He hums a triumphant note as the secret door on the far side of the chamber slides open. "Another fabulous victory brought to us by the power of reading!" This enthusiasm is short lived. Reading doesn't protect you from lasers. With beams of light flashing through the air, he panics. A shouted Arte pulls the rocky ground up behind him, and he ducks behind it until the flashes stop.
Vertina
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

"If you don't want to be on fire don't live in an easily flammable dump!" Vertina shouts after the fleeing Goblins. No point in chasing them, most of them will die from fire and injury before they get too far. And they have bigger matters to deal with.

Like lasers. The Salamander nearly steps off the platform as one of the beams shoots to life, hopping back with a yelp. ".. Okay, this I can't just dodge-fu through, I'm not -that- fast. But." She closes her eyes, does a few hand gestures, and through some earthbending cleverness creates several stone pillars in front of the lasers. They'll break down quickly, but it's long enough for her to bolt through.
Miyako
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

    "So," Miyako muses as she starts scribbling runes in the air. "We're going from tetris to laser tag? Dang. Somebody was having fun with this one." She shakes her head and swipes her hand across the runes, the motion smearing them into a ribbon of shadow that wraps around her in a swirling veil of darkness.

    Thus enshrouded, she jogs casually down the betrapped corridor, laser-beam after laser-beam vanishing into the shadows that swirl around her.

        "Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December,
        And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor..."
Amalthea
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8


    Vertina, through copious fire, makes the block pushihg much easier for Amalthea.
    "Ah, thank you, dear." She says as the wall slides open and the good Doctor wants to see what's down the hidden path.
    So moving right along.
    Until the doom light comes flaring to life.
    "..."
    Nope.
    Nope!
    Amalthea stomps the ground, forming a small jutting outcrop of stone and rock to stand up in front of her and give her ssssssssome cover as she starts to book it and gets VERY singed for her efforts.
Prophylaxis
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

However many beams emitters there /used/ to be, there are clearly far fewer after Schneider has his way with the masonry. Molten rock dribbles down across a number of the beam traps he didn't straight up obliterate, leaving a reasonably sane path for all the others to begin their descent. Miyako has the right idea, covering herself with a shroud of shadow that protects her when a beam gets too close for comfort. Meanwhile, Vertina throws up a number of stone barriers in front of some intact emitters, giving the rest of the team safe passage for just long enough to make it through. It almost seems as though they're going to get by untouched, when a beam comes for Amalthea at an angle that her shield can't cover her from......!

Before refracting off into the distance at a strange angle, as if bouncing from a mirror. Prophylaxis' nods to her, his staff glowing with arcane energy. "Looks like I was in time. Mirror Image is a hell of a spell. Lots of things you can do with light-bending magic."

With that, the party finally reaches the bottom of the shaft and pass through a final pair of stone gates. The doors hinge shut ominously behind them, and the doctor raises a hand to signal a stop--

When a golden boomerang abruptly buries itself into the ground in front of them, doing the job for him. Runes ignite to illuminate the chamber, spotlights shining upward at a figure standing atop an elevated dais. It's some kind of... mechanical creature. A construct-- an Elemental Machine, maybe? But its silhouette is clearly not meant for construction or demolition work. Its form seems to flicker as it springs forth at frankly unreasonable speeds. It's little more than a red and gold blur as it moves and strikes, hurling more of those golden boomerangs or simply racing in to land a powerful blow before dashing away again. "Damnit-- of all the times to /not/ have our trapper," Prophylaxis grimaces, "Someone hold that thing down! Trying to hit it like this will just burn through our MP reserves!"
Schneider
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Schneider makes his way past the stone gates, stopping abruptly as a golden crescent slams into the ground at his feet. He jumps back, blade out, but swordplay doesn't seem to have an effect on this enemy. Still, he remains in close combat, taking hit after hit, relying on his regeneration to keep him going as he fights this enemy with a mix of magical blasts and swordplay.

The damage he's going is small, and the damage he's taking is not inconsiderable, but he seems to be regenerating through it. Luckily, he's not left alone to suck up the front-line damage, but without his regeneration, he would be waking up in a root town.
Amalthea
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    A boomerang embeds in the ground in front of the doctor.
    And then. Then a Robot Master attacks.
    Shield braced, a few boomerangs spang off Amalthea's armor while the wily bastard darts around, before Amalthea gets fed up.
    Hucking her shield aside and not bothering with her sword she...
    Flying tackles the construct and rolls onto her back to hold him up like something out of a DBZ episode.
    "Hit him now! Don't worry about me!"
    She has HP to soak some friendly fire if need be to hold the thing down and keep it from wriggling free.
Vertina
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Extremely speedy opponent with equally speedy projectiles? Yeah, Vertina has something to deal with that. The martial artist hunkers down into a position, executing a series of rapid hand gestures as she does so and drawing both air and light elements into her ki aura.

"MIRAGE PHASE"

And it's multiple Vertinas that leap from her spot, angling off in different directions to draw fire from the enemy as they charge in. Super speeding boomerangs whiz through the air, popping the duplicates one by one... but the real Vertina skids into position behind the magitek automaton as the mirages are dealt with, adjusts her angle, and leaps towards the construct.

Only for one of the boomerangs to whizz past on it's return arc and catch her in the shoulder and throwing off her leap. Vertina hits the floor and tumbles to a stop, groaning a huff of smoke between her lips as she lies on her back. "Forgot *groan* boomerangs return like that..."
Lin
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

It's chaos. Stinky, seizure-inducing chaos. Lin dashes out from his rocky shield, running as fast as he can to safety from the lasers. This was supposed to be goblins! He signed up for goblins! So when enemies finally show up, he's completely unprepared. Lin catches a boomerang blow early on, sending him to the ground with a pained grunt. "I would like to once again complain about the..." He pauses to catch his breath. "Number of goblins inside this supposedly goblin infested area. I will be writing a letter to the guild."
Miyako
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

    First the block puzzle. Then laser tag. Now a speedy gonzalez. "Well," Miyako muses, "This has been interesting." She shrugs and shakes her head as she steps to one side to put her shadow-veil between herself and a boomerang shot.

    Time for her to move quickly. Dodging from one side to the other makes it hard to cast, so it takes her longer than usual. "Come on now, just stand still so I can kill you!" Okay, it's a bit of a cliche villain line. Still, it's somewhat apt. Eventually she gets her spell off, and a rain of ice slashes down - mostly managing to make the foe's path slippery and difficult, instead of causing real harm. Still, it's enough for everyone else to bring him down.

    "Right then, that was interesting," she muses. "Thanks for inviting."
Prophylaxis
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Even with the fighting mechaniloid's impressive capabilities, it can't deal with the kind of firepower being leveled against it. Vertina's own high-speed maneuver forces it on the back foot from the outset. While it's able to keep up with her-- and even manages to retaliate with a boomerang to the back-- it's still forced on the defensive. This proves crucial when Miyako's icy spell covers the ground with slippery slush. The machine goes to dodge and seems to grimace as its footing fails, sending it tumbling right into Amalthea's grasp. Her teeth would rattle as the machine vibrates, twisting this way and that to try and break free-- but it's held still long enough for Schneider and even the beleaguered Lin to land telling blows...

But not /enough./ The thing breaks free, its body shimmering with a crimson heat haze as it inexplicably begins to move even /faster./ The only way they're catching it is if they could... read the future...

There's a sound like a crystal shattering. Prophylaxis turns and lobs a fireball at a seemingly random section of the battlefield... And the Elemental Machine tumbles right into the blast.

Its expression turns to one of surprise a moment before the fireball erupts, turning the machine into a pile of useless scrap.

...Well. Not quite. A series of crystals are left in its remains, each one crackling and buzzing with barely constrained kinetic energies. But more importantly...

There's a passage leading further into the underground, right up ahead. The thing is... sealed, for now, but it's both large enough for a sizable raid group to use and- more importantly- well-hidden enough that the goblins probably haven't had a chance to reinforce it yet.

"...Well done, everyone," Prophylaxis says with a satisfied nod. "I mean, we didn't get to burn down too many goblins, but finding not one but /two/ hidden passageways and even what might be a path into the underground labyrinth... That's more than I had expected for a first attempt! We'll try to siege to castle properly next time, but I think this is a good place to stop and regroup!"

He looks to Lin and shrugs helplessly. "Hey, there /are/ goblins, we just kind of... went around them this time. Come back again and you'll have all the goblins you could ask for."
Vertina
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

Vertina gets to her feet, and quickly grabs up one of the scattered crystals from the mechanoid's destruction. Then peers out the way they came. "Figures the Goblins would infest a place with an ancient death machine guarded by TRAPS."
Miyako
Aincrad Tower - 2 - 0 - 8

    "Better traps than three thousand eight hundred and seventy-two orcs," Miyako says as she picks up a few bits of valuables. "Sometimes, you just have to be grateful for what you've got."