Duty Session 389: Sher Kar Challenge

Goldenblade has put together another mission to the Sher Kar burrows to clear it of the giant ants that have taken over. She explains, "We will trek overland to the site, and from there, we will go underground and deal with the ants." That said, she's purchasing food supplies and other basic gear here in town, and hoping that more people will show up for the expedition. But with the war coming on, most adventurers are taking care of their own last-minute business.

Some people call it Luck, some people Karma. Some call it Fortune, some call it Providence, some call it the Will of the Cosmos, and some the Random Happenstances of an Uncaring Universe.

But regardless of what you call it, Uta happened to be in Westelande, looking around with her usual distracted air, and asking for directions to the dock area... of Carmina Gadelica Marina.

When the mistake was cleared up, and she learned of the ant menace, she forgot about everything else (as she is wont to), and joined Goldenblade in her effort to make the place safe for the Landers.

"It is a cultural landmark of momentous value!", Uta begins, while inspecting a length of rope up for purchase. "It is unacceptable for a whole culture to have their most important rituals held up by monsters. No, no, this won't do. We must do something about-" A blink. "-what was it that we were trying to save, again?"

The cross country hike to the site took some considerable time, but with just two, the pace was pretty quick. Goldenblade has a tendency to get sidetracked, but is easy to prod back on course. She seems to be in several sorts of conflicting moods recently. But she manages to lead the way to a pit that looks like a quarry, a big pit open to the air with several ramps down. A handful of ants are clustered at the bottom, and will have to be dealt with before going inside.

Uta holds her staff, and begins to intone a song. Tendrils of light and color dance on the handle, winding around it in helixes. Her vocal technique got better since her Strange Mood. More melodious, more powerful.

The latter, however, turns out to be a tactical mistake. The ants perks up their feelers, alert, and spot the Spriggan before she can complete her incantation. The dart for the party, with surprising speed, ready to attack.

Goldenblade charges down one ramp like an avalanche. Whatever else is going on, she's highly motivated, which does not turn out well for the ants, who seem to be unable to keep up with her DPS. The narrowness of the ramp means she can easily spread out and fill it, and there's nothing getting past her twin blades. But they're ants. They can just run up the side of the walls, and that leaves Uta vulnerable as she pulls aggro off Goldenblade. It's frantic close combat for both of them after that, but finally ends well.

Ants defeated, a closer look reveals several ways inside. Which one leads to dead ends, and which leads to important places is not readily apparent, and will require some investigation.

"Hold on, Rylen taught me a trick here..."

Uta spreads her arms and closes her eyes. Palms held downwards, she swipes them around, and paces about. "It's a technique where you open hidden passageways in the rock. Of course, you aren't going to go in blind, so you need to first 'get a sense' of where you're going to shift the Earth. It's kind of like when you try to find an electric wire inside a wall with-" She stops, pivots on one foot, and turns to her left, still closing her eyes and sweeping her hands to and fro. "...if I can take my time, I think the results might be accurate to the point where-"

She snaps her fingers and points in a specific direction while her eyes both open at the same time. "a-HA! That way!", she exclaims.

Goldenblade is clueless as we search the ground for a path that leads to the ants' vulnerable lair. The ground is covered with back and forth trails of them going back and forth, possibly caused by the ants going back and forth across the ground. But Uta is able to clue in on one particular indication, and leads the two into one particular tunnel. "A fox-and-hound, eh?" Goldenblade says, knowing about tracing electric wires through walls. She owned an old house, and is old enough to do her own home repairs, mostly. Who knew?

A maze of twisty passages, all alike, is a good rough description of the underground lair, though as we get to one part, Goldenblade notes, "You may not know, but this used to be the home of the Sher Kar. The ants kind of took over, and we're techically clearing it out so the Sher Kar can take it back over, But they're monsters, we can't just ask them to let us by. We'll have to sneak by them, if we can, without killing them. If we kill them, this whole mission is pointless."

Goldenblade has indeed recognized the Sher Kat section of the maze, and there they are, grubbing in the dirt, though they look up at the arrival of fresh meat^h^h^h^h adventurers.

"I did, in fact, not know." She keeps pacing on in the dirt, her soles making muffled sounds as they compress the earth under the Adventurer's weight. "Which leads me to the next question. What -is-, exactly, a Sher Kar? I am not sure I-" There are- what is that noise? A growl?

Uta doesn't even flinch. She shoots one hand up, to point in the direction of the noise, and tenses her finger to cast magical energies to superimpose her will to that of the Monster. A few steps. Another hand shoots up, to control the second monster. A few more steps, and a third hand- wait, no. Let me count.

One... Two...

Oh, it's only two hands. She apparently had to release the first monster to stop the third.

"Paula?", the Spriggan states, quiet. "...I think we should run!", she whimpers, no longer quiet. At all.

Goldenblade says, as they show up, "That's a Sher Kar." Which is maybe not enough advanced warning. Goldenblade is entirely skillful enough to sneak by the Sher Kar, and Uta has initial success at handling the Sher Kar, but when she runs out of hands, it's all over. "Yes," Goldenbladde replies as Uta suggests running, and they both dash out quickly, leaving the Sher Kar behind. But they can both hear the Sher Kar following them. "Ah, last time, we gave them a bit of thumping and they didn't want to follow us," she explains. "Hopefully, when we next encounter the ants, the Sher Kar will scuttle back to their tunnels."

Speaking of finding ants, Goldenblade and Uta have halted their headlong rush in a very small chamber /packed/ with Guardian Ants, who look surprised, as much as an ant can look surprised.

"I suppose I've learnt a lesson from our last encounter with ants. Don't spend time ramping up a spell."

Just like before, ants rush towards the Adventurers, but unlike before, Uta keeps silent. She just stares determinately. Until the closest ant is within range, at which point, her eyes narrow, she lets out a "YAH!", and after a short run, she digs her staff onto a shallow, wide depression in the ground and pole vaults to slam both feet into the face to the monster. Due to the close distance, she ends up practically 'squatting' horizontally while holding onto her improvised pole, and with a motion, she pushes herself off the face of the Ant, which falls sideways, to spin around, using her staff as a pivot, and kick multiple enemies in the process, using each face as a springboard for the next round, each blow underlined by a "YAH!", "HAH!", or "TAKE THAT!"

As the ants give sign to get wise to Uta's antics, she does a backflip and lands on her feet, to jab at the opposing ant's legs. At which point, she either impacts (causing the monster to lose balance) and follows through with an elbow blow, a spinning kick, and a chop to the head, or, if she misses with her staff, she immediately spins and lifts it, to topple the opponent, at which point she follows up by jumping on the giant insect with its legs spinning helplessly in the air.

Much shattering was had that day.

Goldenblade pulls out one of her big moves, running one sword across the back of it's twin, striking sparks, and then switching blades to do the same with the other blade. Both blades now have razor edges, and positively gleam with menace. The blades, when they hit, cut very deeply. Uta is equally deadly in close quarters, after all, she's a musical KUNG-FU nurse. Many people forget that middle part to their dismay. And the ants are pummeled hard, smashed with the staff, punched, kicked, and toppled besides. It is not pretty. For the ants.

The guardians struck down, Uta and Goldenblade proceed further, find themselves in an egg-filled cavern. Grubs and tenders fill the room, the grubs grubbing and the tenders tending them. When Uta and Goldenblade appear, the grub-tenders scuttle forward to defend their charges, and the grubs grub forward, seeking food, and Goldenblade says, "Let's just cut loose."

Uta nods. We're among professional Hunters here, this is not her first Ant Rodeo.

Well, ok, it is, considering she didn't have to face ants before, but she did face spiders, so that's close enough.

"Switching to support," she declares, and takes a step back to allow Goldenblade to get into the thick of the battle.

She intones a song that alternates between breezy and oppressive, high and low pitch, and the tendrils materialize the familiar red/green couple of beams. She direct the red one at Goldenblade's current target, to sap it of energy, while simultaneously aiming the green beam at Paula, to restore her HP bar.

Goldenblade is, perhaps amusingly, not tanking this in the manner expected. Rather, she vanishes in a puff of smoke, and then, quite suddenly, the workers and grubs approaching the only party member left, Uta, start poofing into pixels. Apparenty these monsters are weak enough that Goldenblade's song-buffed ninja strike from stealth is enough to one-shot them. And when she's able to one-shot her opponent, it seems not to break stealth. So it continues, until the swarm is no longer, and Uta and Goldenblade are clear to smash the eggs, themselves, which is one of the goals of being here.

That done, Goldenblade suggests, "Let's get back to Breg Epona."

"Let's," Uta confirms, with a nod. She crouches briefly, just long enough to pick up and inspect a drop -- a mandible. She stands up, and begins to walk towards the exit. Her usual distracted expression restored after the intensity of of the figth, she says, "I have a sudden hankering for omelette, and I have no idea why..."