1.24 – Hold the Line

Rika tried to step back and position herself deeper in the tunnel. In the back of her mind, her own voice screamed at her. A relentless howl of red-tinged rage, focused on the greater goblin at the rear of the coming pack. It took every last shred of her focus and will just to keep herself from rushing forward, charging recklessly through the goblin warriors in front of her. But she resisted. Somehow.

“Chryson,” she forced through gritted teeth as she hunkered down and took a barrage of axes and makeshift swords on her heater shield. “What the fuck is happening to me?”

“You are under the effect of a Taunt ability. Your class feature, Mental Redoubt, has reduced both its duration and effectiveness. As described in your class description.”

Reduced effectiveness. Was that why she could hold herself back from rushing the greater goblin? Already hitting level ten was paying off. Before upgrading the feature to rank two, it had only affected the duration.

Finally, the Taunt’s duration ticked down to zero. As the effect vanished from the corner of her vision, it was like a collection of puppet strings had been cut. Her arms and legs responded as she wanted them to, the bloodthirsty cry screaming in her mind silenced, and her actions once again became her own. She attacked.

Dark Strike II: 9 seconds.

The effects of the level two Dark Strike were far more noticeable than before. The umbral sheath that formed around her weapon was more solid, and the eruption of power when she struck true was larger and more explosive. And, most importantly, more deadly. The goblin warrior fell, and Tempo ticked back up. Another goblin warrior rushed forward out of the pack, shield up and axe brandished. She countered with a Shield Slam of her own, gaining another stack of Tempo for herself while also breaking the charge. She fell upon the disoriented goblin, her axe tracing a glinting arc in the torchlight from beyond the tunnel. The goblin screamed as she laid into it with two heavy strikes. Tempo hit four, and the goblin died.

As she righted herself, a fiery line of pain seared across her left arm. Her stacks of Tempo vanished as a crude iron sword shredded the sleeve on her padded jack, tore through skin and muscle, and ground against bone. Warm blood flowed down her arm and soaked into the sleeve of her padded jack as she wrenched away from the warrior. A flash of gold, and the flesh on her arm pulled back together. She shoved the goblin back with her shield, creating enough space for a good swing and earning herself a new stack of Tempo.

She settled into a steady rhythm of axe and shield; shoving, swinging, and blocking the goblins’ counterattacks. Tempo’s description was true to its word—momentum really was everything in battle. As her stacks grew, her attacks hit harder, clearing space by dropping her enemies faster, and allowing her to strike true once more. But whenever she took a hit, the buff dropped, and she had to start the process again. Despite the drawbacks, its power was obvious. If it advanced as she leveled, like all the other aspects of her class had, she could only imagine how powerful this ability would eventually become.

At the back of the goblin pack, the greater goblin bellowed once more. Again, it beat its shield with that massive hammer. And again, Rika found her attention fixed on the creature. Again, she had to put every ounce of her concentration into keeping from charging into the pack, heedless of the damage she’d take, and throw her fury at the greater goblin.

Taunt (partial): 3 seconds (duration and effectiveness reduced by Mental Redoubt II).

While she could resist the worst effects of the greater goblin’s Taunt, it still effectively hampered her against the goblin warriors pressing down the tunnel. Fighting against the mental effects took all her concentration, and just forcing her body to obey enough that she could block was a monumental struggle.

And all the while she knew, with a certainly the likes of which she’d never felt before, that all she needed to do was attack. If she would just surge forward, heedless of the axes and swords and spears in her way, throw herself at that bastard in the back, her body and mind would be hers again. Her muscles and sinews would happily obey, her bloodlust and fury would be sated—if only she were to tear into the greater goblin and ignore all the other flies buzzing around her.

As she struggled against the compulsion of the Taunt, she took hits. Axes, clubs, and swords beat against her shield, dug into her flesh, and cracked at her ribs. All the progress she’d made in rebuilding Tempo was wiped clean. Obliterated by her need to just hold herself back for a few seconds. Erik at least saw to her wounds. A Quick Heal flashed, and the pain in her side faded as her ribs twisted back into place. The regeneration knit her flesh back together and stanched the bleeding from her ever-increasing number of lacerations.

The Taunt fell off, and she breathed a heavy sigh of thanks to Mental Redoubt. After enduring the greater goblin’s Taunt for a second time, she wasn’t sure which she appreciated more—the reduced effects that allowed her to hold herself back, or the reduced duration that meant she only had to endure its effects for a few seconds.

Released from the Taunt’s grip once again, she slammed her axe down in an explosion of Dark power. She couldn’t be certain how long she had, but she was going to make the most of it. If she could take out as many of the goblin warriors as she could between the Taunt falling off and becoming ready for the greater goblin to use again, she could reduce the load it placed on her and Erik both.

For now, she at least had the tunnel. It was narrow enough that the goblin warriors didn’t have quite the space needed to get around her. At least not without exposing themselves. Any that tried took an axe to the skull. Or a shield. It mattered little to Rika which one they got—the result was the same either way. The tunnel also limited how many goblins could come at her at once. As they surged down the tunnel, those in the back pushing those in front of them, all they really did was march toward their deaths. As long as she could keep resisting the greater goblin’s Taunt, she could hold this position indefinitely.

Enemy Slain: Goblin Warrior – Level 12

As the warrior fell, and the surge of power in her stomach grew, a buff in the corner of her vision winked out. From the Jaws of Defeat was no longer active, which meant she was no longer “heavily outnumbered.” For the first time since the greater goblin had shown itself, Rika looked up and took stock of the fight.

The tunnel directly in front of her was piled with dead goblins. Enough to create an almost palisade with their bodies. In order to attack her, the goblins had to scramble over their own kind, usually exposing themselves. The greater goblin still hung back, shouting at its lesser kin and slamming its shield every so often to activate its Taunt. The pack itself had thinned. Out of their original twenty, only seven remained.

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It was time to go on the offensive.

Rika vaulted over the palisade of corpses, crashing shield-first into an advancing goblin warrior. She swiped at it with her axe, and it died screaming.

Tempo I x6: 6 seconds.

A swift kick lifted one goblin off its feet and slammed it into the wall. She pinned it there with her shield, then drove the spike on the back of her axe into its neck. She took several hits for her trouble, dropping her Tempo stacks, but by now she’d stopped caring about that.

As valuable a buff as it was, she couldn’t focus on it to the exclusion of all else. Battle had an ebb and flow to it. A back and forth. Tempo allowed her to press an advantage, capitalizing on her progress. She would ride it as far as she could, to be sure, but when it fell off, that just meant she needed to build it back up again. Fighting on the front lines as she did—especially now, as her party’s only combat-capable member—taking damage was inevitable. No sense in letting it distract her.

The soothing glow of Mend cradled her as she cut down another goblin. Four to go, plus the big one. Once more, she saw the fear in their eyes. The Ferocity buff from the greater goblin’s Wardriver ability was still active, but that didn’t make them immune to fear, it seemed. Not that she could blame them.

She must be a sight. A lone fighter covered in blood, most of it belonging to her now slain enemies, standing against what should have been impossible odds. Yes, she had support, but she was also an unbreakable line, a wall they had to push through, but that they could only break themselves against.

And with each swing of her axe, her blood sang.

The power, the strength, the endurance—she reveled in all of it. She wasn’t invulnerable. Far from it, in fact. She could hurt, she could bleed, and she could die. That was what made it such a thrill. She was dancing on the edge of a sword. The violence she gave was returned in kind, a contest of strength and will that, so far, she had won. In that moment, the danger tasted like sweet wine. The greater goblin’s nameplate and level floated there, ghostly white in the darkness, and it called to her.

Rika drove a Shield Slam into the goblin warrior closest to her. It hit the ground. She crushed its skull beneath her boot. Three.