Tony, Loki, Jester and I walked through the main lobby of what the ninja introduced as the Guild Hall. Apparently Shiroe, being the cheeky little sausage that he was, had hatched up a scheme when they first all landed to buy out was was essentially the bank/guild creator/marketplace of the entire settlement. With that power he got almost all of the premiere guilds to join a council that he himself technically ran behind the scenes. He had essentially blackmailed the entire player-base of Akihabara into living within a society. If I had a glass to cheer him with I would have... The man was far more mischievous than his chat-persona gave off.
"Shiroe has certainly been keeping his cards close to his chest." Loki, needless to say, was most displeased at the fact that he had not been made aware of such shenanigans, especially considering he was the god of them.
We passed by many random players who were processing bank transfers and item identifications, their attentions sliding off of us as if we were just another strange cosplayer. Some of the 'NPCs' that Shiroe had informed us about were staring at us in interest however. Regardless we passed by the tellers and shifted up the stairwells, finding guards dressed in black and crimson armour staring at us as we passed. The ninja informed us that they were from one of the council's combat guilds, Black Sword Knights.
The architecture resembled a Japanese interpretation of Western Medieval Architecture. Several of the styles clashed between floors as we moved past them, changing from renaissance on one floor to Gothic on another. The entire building was a hodgepodge between numerous styles including traditional Japanese as Tori gates could be seen every now and again through the middle of hallways... It was a bit disorientating.
"These guys really need to pick a style and stick to it, this is giving me a worse headache than that waste of building they call the Senate." Tony rubbed his forehead for a few moments before catching up with us all, Jester tapping him on the back in a consoling manner. "What is a Senate?" The playboy groaned just as he began his explanation for the blueberry-cupcake that was Jester.
Our trip upwards was momentarily halted as Aegon appeared in our midst, his snow-covered cloak slowly divesting itself of the wet substance as the tropical temperatures of the continent we were all on melted it into a thick puddle below him in less than five seconds.
"Greetings, I'm here for the mission..." I smiled at the dragon-boy as Tony grinned widely.
"Sup Draco! Good to see you here." Aegon frowned at the unfamiliar words before walking forwards and clasping hands with the playboy. Meanwhile, Jester was rushing up behind him and poking him whilst talking to her god; which she called the Traveller. Loki simply nodded in his direction as Akatsuki was flicking her eyes between us all, silently questioning where Shiroe had gained all of us as his friends.
After a minute of small talk that consisted in Aegon being teased by Jester and dragged ahead of us by Tony. so that he could introduce Jazz to him, we took off once more for the council chambers, which Shiroe was currently presiding over a meeting. Conversation was harmless and cordial, mainly focussing on the mission and what it could mean for the Chat. Of course the chat was not mentioned at all and was even obscured by Loki's Seidr, which I thanked him for quietly.
As the conversation died out a pair of lapis-gold doors opened wide, the inner blue light leaking through from the magical sconces inside the council chambers. All of us looked to one another for a moment or two before we slowly entered, the voices of the councillors leaking out in a mild echo.
"The princess is ready to go, we just need to assemble the players in the square."
"Hmm, good, the sooner we can deal with the Goblin threat the sooner we can go back to negotiations with the people of the land." Some murmurs broke out after the smooth voice finished his statement.
"Yes, well, the crafting guilds will eagerly await the resources and materials of the Goblins after the combat guilds have finished them off."
A scoff broke out from a harsh, almost militant, voice. "As long as your steam ship works as you've said it does."
"It works Issac, Crusty has even tested it out..." Pride shone through the voice's tone as we rounded the corner and observed the massive round table with 11 members seated.
"I can confirm that the ship is capable Issac." A man in massive blue armour outlined in gold and sporting a wicked set of glasses and crisp blue eyes spoke out smoothly. No doubt he was the Crusty that the other figure had probably referenced.
"This session should end here, we all have our work to accomplish and our tasks are time sensitive. Crusty, if you could come with me after and meet some fellow players who wished to volunteer for the upcoming fight?" The blue armoured man nodded before standing, the rest of the councillors breaking away and moving to the edges of the room. All of them were discussing things amongst each other as the armoured man and Shiroe; who had ended the meeting, stepped towards us.
The introductions were short and precise with some basic questions as to our typical roles in combat. Crusty was exceptionally knowledgeable in tactics and combat and was discussing the finer points of Loki's potential within a party when he verbally ran, smack bang, in the middle of Jester who was currently creating miniature dildos that attached themselves to the behinds of multiple council members. The man took her magic at face value, magic being a typical skill amongst other players, but looked slightly weary of the sheer scope of her powers; she was also creating an illusionary duplicate of herself from which she cast her magic through.
Luckily for the blue-berry cupcake that was Jester Lavorre, Tony stepped in and began discussing his capabilities, in a general sense, and what his overall plan was for the upcoming warfare. This was enough to break the man away from his musings on Jester and rebound onto a topic he was far more comfortable with... Strategy.
"We plan to use the party system to form communication blocks. These blocks will consist of 4-5 players, those blocks will then relay information and get relayed information by a cohort leader, a cohort consisting of 4-5 blocks of players. The entire battlefield, by our estimation, will have 15 cohorts that are spread across the more traversable sections around the Goblin Land." Crusty snapped his fingers and had a glowing map float above his hand, supplied by his right hand woman who was rocking a pencil skirt and a white stewardess blazer.
"Our main goal is to funnel the efforts of the Goblins into two corridors. One corridor will be where our main force is located and also where they are most likely to attack. The other will be a bridge section that connects the Goblin Land to an NPC village." His secretary coughed, bringing him up short.
"Mermen have also become a problem near the NPC village but we have determined that the Goblins are the cause. For now the situation is stable but we will be requesting some of our cohorts and reserves to reinforce the area once we get a full understanding of the forces coming through corridor 1." Tony, Loki and I nodded our heads in understanding.
Loki broke the small silence first and as I began considering different aspects of the terrain and possible conflict. Loki asked some minor questions but they were more about supply lines and communication centres for when the battlefield information became too tough; a problem they had already solved with an entire 500 man comms team and supply team.
I interrupted their long technical discussion fairly quickly, wanting to point out a major waste of potential combat strength.
"What about this ship? Can it be used to hold the bridge or perhaps destroy it in the interim? It would be wiser for us to concentrate their forces in once direction and funnel them, as you have suggested, into the canyon you pointed out." Crusty paused and considered the idea for a moment, his secretary nodding and making some notes in her clipboard.
"That, actually alluded me... An intelligent use of our naval forces. However, the mermen could be an issue for the vessel." I frowned whilst considering the issue for a moment, Jester breaking in at the last second when I felt a eureka moment incoming.
"WHY don't you guys just use your normal GUYS???" She danced around me before draping herself over the shoulder of the large armoured strategist, turned general.
"What do you mean?" Shiroe stepped in now, his fingers pushing his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose.
She shrugged. "I mean... Why use the BIG BAD SUPER GUYS to fight some low level MeRmEn when you can send your new GuYs!?~" Aegon laughed at the expressions of Shiroe and Crusty before his brain kicked into gear once more and he realised that he was outclassed by almost everyone there... Which led him to an idea.
"Ahem, I can lead that particular mission if you wish. My brother once served in the naval forces and had taught me a thing or two about facing adversaries in the water." Crusty nodded and grinned wickedly, his own pair of glasses being shifted upwards now.
"Excellent..." Aegon shuddered at the expression and tried to fade back into the background.
The secretary stepped in now, her face stern and calculating as she spoke up. "What will the rest of you be doing?"
I grinned alongside Loki, grinning at the trickster god before turning back to answer her. We both spoke at the same time.
""At the front line."" The god of trickery laughed manically whilst I just smiled widely, even Tony was giving us a creeped out look.
"I'm going to be air support, I'll bombard the shit out of their bigger units and provide some oversight for the cohorts." Tony gave his position calmly whilst the secretary began compiling our preferred positions into the wide-spanning strategy of the war ahead.
"Oooooo! oooooo! I want to SHOWER IN THE BLOOD OF MY ENEMIES AS I RIP THEIR HEARTS OUT, with a lollipop 😈" She summoned a spectral demon emoji that hung above her head for a moment, fading after the secretary nodded. Shiroe was blinking at Jester, as were most of us, but decided not to broach the topic of her bloodlust.
"Great, now that we have all that sorted... Don't we have a princess to listen to?" Shiroe and Crusty paled considerably before, literally, running away as fast as they could; fighting one another to reach the connecting hallway as fast as possible. My words weren't even responded to.
"I guess that's a yes Elsa." The playboy, turned friend, spoke with a jaunty little attitude that made me wish to use my powers on him to eradicate his warped sense of timing and humour.
"Good JOB eLsA~!" Jester sang the words mockingly before rushing off after the two raucous men.
Loki just faded into the background using his Seidr whilst Tony and I followed suit, rushing after the mad Cleric and the two hysterical men. I didn't know what my life had turned into but it was sure fun, that was for certain!
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