We finally found the staircase, albeit that the last one made of smooth stone which could easily fit the whole group. As this one was crumbling after everyone stepped on each step and we soon found that the rest of the floor was similarly withered.
"So, what's happening here?" LOD said, asking someone in the distance. The rest of the group was in dead silence, so his relatively quiet voice carried all the way back to where I was.
"Oh, right. You guys are new to this. The walls are just fragile, so expect backup from other walls to swamp you easier," someone in his group explained.
"So, we won't just fall through the floor or something?"
"We could, but unless we're using exploding attacks or something, it shouldn't be an issue," another voice replied this time and no more questions were asked.
Finally getting to the next floor, we were greeted by a small hoard of fifty goblins and were swarmed by some arrows fired as soon as we entered.
Our ranged attacks, with my binds and lots of AOE magic from the mages, easily delayed the few that attacked us and their arrows were either dodge or tanked by the front-lines as we got into our positions. We took up positions, but three tanking groups were more centralized than before with the other parties closer behind them than in the previous floor.
The ranged attacks, accompanied by the myriad of arrows from our archers, quickly killed most of their original group. And by the time our tanks met their group, the remaining ten died in only a few clashes of blades. But as the final archers died, the walls crashed from all around.
What seemed like a hundred more goblins now swarmed us, and our tanks immediately changed their positions to surround the other parties. The rate of our magic and ranged attacks increased, but covering all of the charging mobs proved impossible and they barely got into positions before we were half surrounded.
Soon enough we were completely surrounded, a barrage of arrows rained from the skies from unseen archers from the other room. And, although they had slaughtered their own men with it, the damage they did to our members took massive chunks out of their health.
The arrows soon stopped as a wall of tentacles enclosed around us. Our tanks ignored it, since focusing on their own conflicts was their only concern, but the few mages still focusing on their magic cried out in confusion. That is, before coming to their senses and calling me out for not doing that earlier.
With the fear of their arrows whittling us down out of their minds, the rate of their attacks had lowered. In it's place, a series of precise and fatal spells which were aimed at helping the most wounded tanks, so they could get more dodging room.
It clearly worked, because even though my wall was constantly barraged by arrows, melee attacks and the pressure of more goblins charging at it, it lasted long enough for all of the mobs inside to die by our attacks with time to spare. So by the time it initially burst open, we were in a position to wait and allow them to surround us again before I reissued the surrounding bind.
This time was also used to regain our formation and, with my useless surplus of health, I started healing two of the more battered tanks. Then I recast the bind before the gap in it was large enough for arrows to rain upon us again.
Holes in this one appeared far quicker than the last one. Well, it seemed to since most the goblins inside now were at full health, or near to. With only a few of the front-most ones starting at low health because of my previous bind. So by the time it collapsed, there were still goblins actively fighting within.
Repeating this format, we managed to maintain ourselves long enough for the melee mobs to die, but reaching the archers proved to be just as hard. Since speed wasn't the forte of Samurai, which made up most of the melee in out party, it took ten or so waves of arrow fire before all of them died, or were at least tied up in melee.
I wasn't really involved in this, instead of trying to rush up and help the rest, I spent my time checking how many levels I grew. Surprisingly, it was twelve, adding to a running total of seventeen level ups in the dungeon so far. Thinking back to the fight, I did do a decent amount of healing and assisting kills with my binds. So, I guess I deserved it.
-
When the battle was finally over, we proceeded to the next room. There, unlike the other floors, we were bombarded yet again by arrow fire. On the good side, we had healed up before leaving the room and found the staircase to the next floor without much exploring. But, since the attacks came from the top of that staircase, their archers had a massive advantage on us since we couldn't currently counter, or even see them.
Our party as a whole didn't have a plan for such a fight, so it took us a few volleys of enemy arrow fire to finally decide on a retreat. With the plan of dragging them onto more even grounds. So we went back into the central room we started. Though, we quickly ran into another problem whilst waiting for them to follow; I didn't have the health to heal any of the people attacked, so most of them had to wait on Thorborg's under-leveled healing spells or for some samurai with minor healing abilities to make up for it. Which didn't work with the little time we had.
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Holes soon poked through the nearest wall, until it completely crumbled with the surge of goblins dashing their way madly. And unlike the other floors, the goblins wielded long swords and spears and rode in on boar-like monstrosities.
The mounts weren't overly armored and they only numbered 20 odd, but their speed closed the rather significant distance between us without even flinching to our range. Our fractured front-line was demolished the moment they touched it and our smaller parties were split up into two main groups.
Group one couldn't escape in time, so got hit the hardest and completely isolated from the rest. Due to this, their health fell dramatically without much the other groups could do about it. Thankfully, Group two managed to support my group and enclosed us against the wall. As for the other groups, I couldn't really see them from where I was, but by glancing at the health meters, they seemed to be together on the opposite side of the room.
My binds refused to work since the tentacles took so long to rise from the ground that their mounts could simply run out of range of it. And doing an area of affect bind was out of the question since our parties were separated to such a degree. Therefore, I could only attempt to get some health with a melee attack every now and then from behind their lines.
The individual conflicts between the tanks and the mobs were remarkably stable, with their ignoring their mounts speed and fighting blade to blade for the majority. Occasionally one or two would dart away, building up speed to crash into us but our formation was strong enough to rebound them with minimal delay every time this happened.
Additionally, magic wasn't as useless as my binds, so individual foes would occasionally be frozen solid, allowing the most wounded front-liners a break from their attacks. So, although it looked originally bleak, our side at least was holding out well. And the enemies' numbers thinned out rapidly when we noticed how well the other team of three mini-parties was beating their share. It wasn't really surprising, since they had both groups four and five who were more focused on doing damage, than tanking and healing like the two that made up our formation.
What actually shocking me was how well group one had done, who were undoubtedly in the bleakest position. Not only had their health almost evened out due to a mixture of defensive buffs and minor heals, they had also maintained their position solidly in spite of being bombarded by the archers who finally joined the fight and the constant shoving of the mobs near them.
-
The number of attackers my crowd was facing diminished, so we finally started to push forward and help group one. And even if we were really only kill stealing at that point, they seemed grateful for the help.
Letting groups two to four chase down those who remained, my group healed group one with group five giving ranged support. The archers put up a surprising amount of fight considering the circumstance, yet when it came down to it, they practically dissolved when the combined parties got into range.
We regrouped soon after to descend to the next level, which, in a nice turn of events, was completely unguarded this time.
As we entered the sole room on this floor, one aspect of it was really highlighted. It's sheer height probably made up half of the tower's as a whole, two staircases wrapped around the walls to the next floor.
Looking up in sheer awe, it became clear that one of the two ways up had a massive gap in it. With a stone or two trickling down on a step on the other. The problem of working out which one lead to the dead end wasn't easy, mainly because of how dim the room as a whole was. But one of the members with cartography lead us up the correct one.
-
After painfully walking up every single damn step, and trust me, there were a lot, we came one last room. This one was in even worse state than the last, almost the entire roof being left on the floor as mere rubble, almost making a makeshift podium in the center.
And, standing on this pile of rubble, a single goblin stood. Though, unlike the others who were archers and warriors, this one wielded a long but flimsy stick and had a comically large black witches hat that completely hid her head. Well, the slight cleavage from her seriously revealing robes was a thing I almost wished I didn't have to see. I analyzed her as we moved out, into the room with her.
Mob_Name The Grand Goblin Necromancer Species Goblin: Necromancer Level 50 HP 2000/2000 Skills Reincarnate, Staff hit, Shrouding aura, Summon_Basic, Undead_Healing, Do you wish to view further details?
Say 'Yes' for further details, say 'No' to exit.
Clearly wary of our approach, she dramatically stood up and a thick fog formed around the pile. Seconds later, we heard the sound of rocks rolling down and an eerie low-pitch grumble.
But even if it was completely obvious from her being a necromancer, I was still staggered by the sheer amount beings that appeared from the fog. Well, when the fog finally revealed them, I was more than impressed at the forty or so zombies that limped towards us.
They weren't all goblins, with even more basic rats emerging from beneath the rubble. However, I became less impressed with their stats since the rats were about level five, and the goblins were between level twenty and thirty.
In contrast to our fighting style before, in playing the defense, our melee members just charged at the central pile. I used individual binds on the zombie gobs, seeing the rats as insignificant and doubting my bind could hold the boss. Though I eventually did try the latter, and it was broken out of almost instantly. I shrugged it off.
The rats, albeit without affecting their fellow rat's morale, died instantly when stepped on by our tanks and rapidly became extinct without us even trying to. However, the goblins did put up a fight, with something removing speed for some respectable attack compared to their brethren we fought on the earlier floors.
It made sense, since their weapons and armor were remarkably pristine, regardless of their prior deaths. And, whilst watching their health due to curiosity, their health was sporadically falling, with some instances of actually rising due to the necromancer healing them.
Regardless, we kept up our attacks, slowly getting a further advantage. That is, until the pile of rubble randomly collapsed, throwing everyone, but the necromancer, through the air.
Some unlucky goblins were thrown so hard, that they managed to fly through the weak walls to plummet to all the way down the tower... Seeing that, everyone who could brace themselves for the next phase did so, whilst the others tried getting back on their feet.