If the last roleplay wasn't the best action roleplay of the series, this one might be. It's more of an invasion piece, though.

It's split into two sides. Most of it focuses on Dash and Konall leading an invasion to help support the Knob Goblins rebelling against Kadlin. We also see what's happening on Kadlin's side.

It's massive, epic and awesome, so I'll let readers dive into it without further ado.

 
Kadlin stared into her crystal ball, looking through her various viewing wards at the rebellion in her knob. It was getting out of control. It had started out as peaceful protests and people trying to put limits on her power through a representative democracy, council, or other similar ideas. Those fools had been easy to slay, and their blood and souls had provided the magical energy for her newest group of knob smashers. She'd expected the example she made to last her a couple months. It had barely lasted her a week.

Fighting in the corridor of triumph. Fighting in the kitchens. Fighting in the Southern water closet. Why had she even put viewing wards there? It sickened her. She should destroy the knob. Where had that thought come from? Herself, or the being trapped inside her sword? It had become so hard to tell. Another sign that her mind was advancing, if it began to think like such an intelligent one.

* * *

The young Knob Goblin Cursi instinctively held a hand over the wound, but it did little to stop the blood pouring from the wound. Okay. That was okay. He just had to get away from the fighting to tend to the wound, if his cursed vision would just work right.

Besides, he figured he'd die in this fight. That wasn't the point. If he died trying to drive out Kadlin's Bearsmasher's presence from the Goblins, he could live with that.

Er.. You know what he meant.

Unfortunately, although there weren't many Goblins siding with Kadlin, many of those who sided with her had been mutated into killing machines. A group of a dozen Brutes had turned the tide against Cursi's much larger band of rebels, tearing many of them in half.

And then the knob smasher came in, covered in shadow except for its glowing red eyes. Cursi stood paralyzed in fear as its massive bulk forced its way through the cramped passages, claws ripping through all that got in its way. Oh no! There were three more behind it, waiting impatiently for their turn at the destruction.

Most of the Knob Goblin refuges had gotten out of the stronghold. Unfortunately, there'd be more brutes waiting for them. And more poured in from deeper in the blackened heart of the Goblin stronghold.

It seemed hopeless.

A battlecry echoed down the hallway, "For the glory of Blood Clan and for the gods! What do you mean that's not epic? Well just kill them."

Cursi didn't recognize the wave of Vikings who swept by him. The swordsman looked familiar. Slender but not thin, broadsword in his hand. Cursi had seen him battling the Knob Goblins before. This time, he and others were charging the brutes.

They weren't alone, either. Furries! Furries of both genders and all kinds, it seemed. Well, two kinds, Rabbit furries and fox furries. One of the foxes, the one with swinging a baseball bat. She and the staff wielding female fox immediately went for a brute.

Konall charged in nearly frothing with anger. He fanned the flames of his berserker rage as he pummeled the next brute with the hammer end of his haxxor. Pieces of black flesh flew off the injured knob smasher as it roared in pain and rage. The creatures was injured by Konall's blows, though it immediately fought back. Katherine Swift had Konall's back, using that thorned whip of hers to maximum advantage, taking advantage of the cramped fighting conditions that slowed the smashers but didn't limit her.

As big as the Goblin Brutes were, larger and more dangerous still were the Knob Smashers. One found himself under the attention of Vixen and Runic, who circled the large enemy. Vixen swung her staff, catching the brute with a strike to its knee. It barely seemed to notice.

"Blast it with something!" Vixen yelled.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it." Runic pulled out an elemental grenade, throwing it at the brute. It exploded and froze the brute's head over. The brute dropped down, trying to smash the ice off, leaving it open for repeated shots from Vixen's staff. The creature fell to its knees and then on its face under their combined assault.

"Try it again, honey." Todd smiled as he stepped up beside Runic, changing the tune he'd been strumming on his guitar.

"Huh?!" asked a confused Runic.

"Just do it!" Todd growled, dodging a stray fist from the struggling Brute. "Blast him good!"

"Whatever," Runic said as she jumped back into the fight. To her delight, she found herself moving faster and striking harder, however. Her spells were definitely more powerful and she was eager to show the enemy Knob Goblins exactly how powerful she was, thanks to that strange bard.

"Don't mention it, babe." Todd chuckled as he sent a few more hits out to her. "Oh.. you didn't."

Moans echoed down the caverns as zombies came from all directions. Konall switched to sword and shield and charged, blessing his and his companions weapons against the undead. The squeak of the damned filled the air as zombified rats charged in as well. Dozens of rats. Given the strong ties between the former Feline Empire, the Muri-Dan and the local rats, it would be no surprise if their numbers ranked in the hundreds or thousands.

Vixen, Lapine, and Bandit focused on a group of Knob Goblins. Although the new Goblin Smashers would seem to make them seem outdated, they were still ferocious, dangerous fighters capable of bringing it to a target or three. Or ten, but in this case, three. It wasn't just the bigger, more obvious threats giving our heroes problems. Dash was finding out first hand that even the Knob Goblin soldiers and chef mages seemed more powerful, more determined and deadlier than ever.

Whatever Kadlin promised or did to those still loyal to her, they fought with a fanatic pace. Although our heroes weren't lacking in skill and determination, either. Eventually they began to turn the tide in their favor, if only a little.

And then the ceiling cracked. Shards of rock fell, scraping and gouging. Then bigger chunks fell. and finally five knob smashers fell through the wreckage into the room below, their massive bulk able to move freely in the newly renovated space. Above them a knob chef issued orders while hurling fireballs at the heroes below.

Konall hit one of them with an arrow, pinning him to the wall twenty feet back. "Gods, I need an army. I can kill anyone in this place, but I can't kill everyone. This is important. This is the end of the world." He hammered several other mages with arrows, then drew sword and shield to join in the melee again. Killer, Angel, Runic and the rest of their allies were bearing down against ever increasing odds. It wasn't just the numbers, either. The Goblins must have been holding back the worst monstrosities for a serious challenge. Some of them were just downright weird.

One in particular caught Katherine's attention. "Did your sister really combine a pig and a spider?"

"I hope not," said Konall. His snarky comment was preempted by a rush of zombie rats around his feet, and a bear that had been turned into a knob smasher version of itself. It tore at his armor, bashing him around. Konall couldn't get any solid footing because he kept stepping on rats, and so his blows were weakened. He tried to block, but a powerful swipe knocked him to the ground. Still, the berserker fought, even while having bits of flesh ripped off as the rats swarmed over his body.

"Hold on, Konall, I'm..." Katherine started to say. She found herself interrupted by a stream of hot sauce, cutting her off. She turned to see four Knob Goblin chefmages staring her down. ".. going to be a while."

As Katherine dove to the side to avoid their blasts, Sebastian and Vixen were holding their own, for the time being.

"Hopelessly outnumbered and overmatched, backs against the wall," Vixen said. "Reminds me of the good old times back home, actually... home sucked.."

"Stakes are a lot higher this time," Dash said. He parried a glaive from a Goblin Elite and dropped the Goblin with the hilt of Dash's blade. A couple more Goblins fell to Vixen's walking staff. The rest of the first wave fell soon after.

"They're not so tou- " Vixen started to say when a Knob Smasher, twice the size of the previous entries, shimmered into view behind them as it grabbed both heroes by their heads, lifting them clear off the ground.

Konall found himself pinned under the dead body of a knob smasher, which was crushing him, but had thankfully killed the rats that had been biting him. He shoved up, but couldn't lift it. Fortunately, something seemed to be trying to blast the bodies off of him. Enough chunks flew off from magical blasts that he was able to shove the corpse to the side and pull out a throwing axe, just in time to put an ax in the skull of the goblin elite that was coming up behind Lapine. Konall decided to give an order he had never given before. "Everyone retreat."

"Great idea," said Bandit, pushing past Konall. She pointed to Dash and Vixen, still in the hands of the overgrown Knob Smasher. "So you're saying leave them?"

Konall looked behind him. "Son of a Jotun." He pulled out his haxxor. "Backstab him." He didn't wait for a reply as he charged.

"Geez, he's bossy." Bandit circled around and swung her trademark baseball bat at the beast's back, hopping up to try to catch the back of his skull while Runic, almost looking bored, started firing more chi spells at the brute.

The smasher looked behind him briefly and Konall cut through a goblin and then haxxored the smasher in the chest. "Let's get out of here."

Dash staggered and tried to say something, but nothing came out. So, instead, he gathered Vixen up, thankful Katherine was already providing cover fire for the escape with her whip.

* * *

Kadlin's own goblin soldiers ran furious into her throne room attempting to kill her. Four had already made it past her brutes. "Down with the murderess!" they cried. Already knob goblins were turning against her loyal followers not in small bunches, but in hordes. She would have killed these few rebels in front of her with magic, but she had no power to spare. She'd been working her spells, and her undead body no longer generated the life energy she needed to fuel her magics. But as a vampire she now had other sources.

She turned into mist right as a spear drove through where she was, reformed behind the knob soldier, and lifted him to drink his blood. The others were hesitant to attack her while she was using their companion as a human shield. Fools! But then if they weren't fools then they wouldn't be attacking her.

The life was in the blood, and Kadlin felt this goblin's energy seeping into her as she fed. The others tried to flank her, but she dropped the corpse and leapt out of their reach, summoning her glaive to her. She might have focused more on mind than body, but she was still more than competent with a polearm. With vampiric strength she parried attacks and cut her enemies weapons in half. She pinned one to a wall with her glaive through his chest, ripped the spear out of another's hands and broke it, then threw him into a chair. Some part of her brain noticed that her berserker strength was kicking in. The last soldier backed away from her in fear. He turned to run, but she grabbed him and drained his blood, then proceeded to finish of his companions.

Now to deal with their souls. As a shaman she would have sent them to the afterlife. Could she ever have been so wasteful? It was hard to imagine. The glaive had shown her better uses for souls.

* * *

Katherine struck out at several Knob Goblins, keeping them from swarming Konall. "You'd think they'd be smart enough to at least not follow someone who's going to be destroying the world."

"They don't know what she's up to," said Konall. "Even Kadlin doesn't know." Slash. "The spirits know," cut "and so do those who speak with them." Stomp. "Few others realize how far she's fallen. The goblins only know she's killing everyone."

"Poor idiots," Katherine said, shaking her head and pressing the fight.

"Ignorance is bliss," said Konall. "Trust me, I've become an expert on the subject."

Sebastian Dash joined them. "I know it doesn't look like it, but we're starting to turn the tide. The revolt's going well, but it isn't going to last long without support."

"I know," said Konall. "I prayed and I prayed. Nothing. We need to bring Kadlin down while she's still here. If she leaves, this will all be for nothing."

"So we stop her here," Dash said. "Or we follow her and stop her."

"Yeah, well stopping her is the only thing that matters right now. And I'd hate to do all this fighting for nothing. By the sword of Odin what's gotten into me? I never used to regret a bit of war just for fun."

"Guys," Katherine said with a sigh. "What's the point of coming here if we just abandon the Goblins revolution?"

Konall finished another prayer ritual and answered. "If we don't get Kadlin, everyone's dead with no afterlife. That's worse than being in a bad place for a time."

Dash crossed his arms across his chest, knowing the momentary pause in the assault against them wasn't going to last long. "Todd said something about calling in our favor from the penguins. I say we take him up on that. We should be able to get some backup from KOKOL too. I don't know how much they can spare, but anything should help at this point. Can your Blood clan spare anything, Konall?"

"I sent my troops out to take out some of Kadlin's chef mages who were doing some sort of ritual. Thinky was leading them, with help from the guy who calls himself Warlord. We've got the rest of our forces tied down guarding the base. I've got nothing left."

Dash nodded. "We'll make this work. We'll have to send Todd to rally what help we can get, and he'll need support. We could send Vixen and Lapine, but considering their time with Dark, that might not be the best of ideas."

Katherine shook her head. "But they weren't actually with him, right? They were acting as double agents. They even got Runic and Bandit out of his control!"

"If we don't get help, we're toast. I don't care who goes, I'll rampage myself if I have to. JUST SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!" Konall was getting impatient. And Dash quickly realized he was forcing it, becoming angrier so he could berserk, so why not make use of that?

"So lead the charge, big guy," Dash said. "I'll grab Lapine and Runic and join you; their magic should help even the odds against your sister. Figure who else we need, though. We can't take a fight against your sister lightly."

Todd chuckled. "Hey, man. If anyone's gonna be grabbin' Lapine and Runic it's gonna be ME!"

Dash nudged Todd forward. "Would you settle for Vixen and Bandit?"

Todd shrugged. "Bandit, maybe. I know Vixen too well to try- not that she ain't worth the effort."

Dash glared at Todd. "This is serious, Blackpaws. The Goblins need backup or the revolt is going to fail, and we have to deal with Kadlin. Therefore, I need you to call in that favor from the penguins, and I need you to get in touch with the Kingdom of KOL. Do whatever it takes, just make sure we get support!"

Todd took a step back before stopping himself and smirking. "Okay, okay sheesh!" He turned toward his task, "He ain't the only one savin' the world- but he's the only one to get so tight assed about it!" he muttered.

"Let's just find Kadlin," said Konall.

* * *

Kadlin's crystal ball showed her the heroes gathered in one of the barracks. They may have had their retreat, but just by fighting back they had inspired the rebels to continue in their foolishness. She needed to make an example. "Mind mages!" she ordered. "Send all the soldiers to the barracks labelled rotten pig, southeast side lower half. Everything we have."

One of the mages sputtered. "But we'd take lossa dead pullin' out. Shouldn't we leave some to control-"

Kadlin cut him off. "I said everyone. I want the four of you down there too."

One of Kadlin's smashers came up to her. "You wants your personal guard to help 'em?"

Kadlin shook her head. "Yes. I can fend for myself here."

* * *

Konall finished the brute that had pinned him up against the wall, in time to see a pair of knob smashers heading his way. Meanwhile, Sebastian Dash, Runic and Lapine were attempting to secure the other entryways to the barrack. Unfortunately, a seemingly endless wave of Knob Goblin chefs and battle tested guards were making this task impossible. Sebastian Dash deflected a stream of hot sauce with his energy reflecting mirrorsword, seamlessly switching to Dash's traditional Bad Beats to press the advantage. "We can't afford to lose any ground, Konall. If they keep surrounding us, retreat isn't going to be an option for much longer either!"

Konall reached for an arrow in his quiver and, finding it empty, pulled one out of his leg and shot it at an enemy. Then we stand and fight and pray for the best. Though the gods ignore my prayers for a heavenly army.

The endless battle was starting to wear on even Dash's legendary reflexes. Of course, Lapine's magic and Runic's mystical ninja moves were helping, but they had their limits as well.

And then the side wall caved in. A trumpet blast sounded and a shower of crossbow bolts from repeating crossbow bolts flew like horizontal hail toward the goblins, coming from... mob penguins? Konall looked over and saw Angel giving orders as the mobsters. "How'd you?" The Viking started.

"I basically laid out Kadlin's plans for them and showed how she'd destroy them if she won this fight. Plus I may have taken their largest meat stash and may be holding it hostage."

The other side wall fell in and another lethal wave fell as arrows, hatchets, and all manner of projectile came at the goblins from another side. Warlord came over the top, his scimitar gleaming. Angel smirked. "I also met up with Warlord and told him you were in trouble. After Thinky was downed- don't worry he's still alive- Warlord started giving orders and since he was the only one who knew what was going on people followed. "

"Good job," said Konall. "Everyone, charge!" Kadlin's forces were weakened by the barrage, and the charge of Konall's men into their weakened and scattered lines shattered them. One by one the heroes rejoined the fight, quickly claiming the barracks and pushing down the tunnels.

* * *

Kadlin spat, disgusted. Her troops had failed her. The battle was turning, her forces would be defeated in minutes. She turned into a bat and flew out the nearest window. The knob was a loss, for now, but it wasn't of high importance. Her tower should be completed by now, and she could finish the ritual there. It was virtually impregnable.

Like I said - epic.

If Vixen and Lapine were written by their handlers, it woulda been another four handler roleplay- but they were handled by me. Hopefully well.

I love how it's basically split between a Kadlin solo and a huge co-write, too. It works really well.

This is also a big roleplay in the overall story due to where Kadlin flees to from here.

I enjoy the rare times a roleplay brings me together with just Mitch and Cameron, the handlers for, respectively, most of the furries (M) and the Bearsmashers (Cameron). The result is always exceptional.

Still four pieces left before the big Finale. This was a huge mission, as you can tell.