Same as Always

Korra only chuckled a little seeing the girl getting so riled ucontp and excited about ripping into goblins. It wasn't like others didn't have the same feeling their first time in the dungeon, but it was always a dangerous thing. It was this initial fight and the results that often separated career adventurers, the shut outs and the legends. It was thinking back to her first adventure into the dungeon and the adventurers she was with that made her cringe. She was so young she listened to their moronic advice until she began meeting the real heroes of the era and supporting them instead.

It was only when Marzipan began to feel exhausted that the true trial by fire for the dungeon would take place. Korra folded her arms leisurely, though she shared her own stamina with Kirin, Korra's stamina had broken through recently and her magic was potent enough for Kirin to have bountiful strength. She didn't have much to fear from goblins like Marzipan might. "A big problem a lot of people have in the dungeon is how different it is. When you fight people or go hunting outside, you try to finish the fight as quickly as possible, using all of your strength and speed to clash with all you have for survival; On the surface you can win." Korra began to explain with a weary chuckle as she plucked a few notes on her lute finally. With a low song of a few words, Healing Hymn would trigger after a few seconds while Marzi was fighting. From her bruised frame or bleeding scratches, flakes of light would start to peel off taking with it the injuries that had once been there.

"This is second hand advice, from the monster of our generation; You can't win against the dungeon, you can only survive. You should use only enough strength to finish the fight and save the rest as reserves. Speed and efficiency is very important if you want to make it to the safe zones, here, getting tired is the same as dying." Korra explained reaching a hand out towards Marzipan when she needed a break. Kirin didn't hesitate to continue brushing goblins off from it's body stamping and stabbing them viciously as they tried to climb up it's body for the more vulnerable bard at it's back. It wasn't easy for the goblins to reach Korra through Kirin while she waited for Marzipan to tire out.

 

Korra couldn't help giggling a littlle seeing Marzipan was unwilling to take her hand at the moment, she tilted her head a little letting the girl continue fighting off the goblins, but Korra wouldn't heal the woman repeatedly or persistently. Instead she watched Marzi take blows here or there letting them pass without aiding her. It was largely because even Korra knew that despite having high magical power, she couldn't afford to keep healing every injury as it came. She watched Marzipan fight but tried to shake her head noticing the girl still fighting, even if she was getting more efficient, Korra noticed her getting tired a while ago let alone.

With a warm grin, she shook her head at Marzipan. "Pride is a very useless emotion and feeling in this sort of place. Outside is fine, but when you're in here you should leave it at the door." She explained feeling that Marzipan was insisting on fighting while tired. She tried to reach out and grab the girl's shoulder to pull her towards the Kirin if Marzi didn't fight it. "You can't fight at your best condition, it just keeps getting worse and worse. The best adventurer is able to fight at a moderate to reasonable condition persistently instead of being in a critical or good condition. The better you can maintain being 'okay' the longer you'll last~ Just because you start 'Good' doesn't mean you'll last longer after all." Korra tried to explain.

She'd explain all the way until trying to drag the woman onto Kirin's back. If she was successful, the creature would stamp forward to break through the line of goblins before breaking into a slow run to out pace the green skinned creatures behind them. The majestic creature would take turns here or there to make sure they didn't get too far from the entrance, but it largely tried buying time for Marzi to catch her breath. If the woman fought Korra's efforts though, the creature would simply take on a larger role of murdering goblins quicker with it's large size and weight to clear them out faster until the dungeon had trouble keeping up with the death rate.

 

Korra chuckled a little to herself shaking her head slowly after Marzi got on. If Marzi got on the way Korra insisted, then she would have taken the position on the front while Korra sat on the back side saddle with an arm at the girl's waist. Despite Korra's attitude and outlook however, the hand at Marzi's waist wasn't an advance but an anchor to keep the girl on board. Korra was used to being on Kirin and the creature did all it could to support her, but everyone was different, Korra had a habit of holding onto passengers to make sure they didn't get flung off too early by Kirin who had a habit of using people as human projectiles. As the creature ran to give Marzi time, Korra continued to offer advice from the rear watching the tide of goblins behind them.

"In the dungeon, you're never going to be in 'good condition' for long. You spend much more time in an 'acceptable' condition; Not good, but not bad either. Most dungeon divers survive in that precarious state of being tired and wounded but strong and alert. It's not unreasonable to be covered in injuries and persisting down here in that condition. You too shouldn't be worried about being in 'good shape' and should just keep focused on not being in 'bad condition'. If you do, either you won't last or you won't get far." She explained, though as if anticipating that Marzipan woud just get confused, Korra flashed a warm grin her way. She did have a few experiences that supported this after all. "Once I knew two kinds of people; One was strong, he liked to brag and never fought unless he was at 100%. He'd let his companions die around him while he tried to get his strength back so he could heroically continue at his best at all times even as he pushed others to their deaths demanding protection. The other one, she was kind and always sacrificed for the people around her. She died, fighting with everything she had, leaving no reserves to try and protect her companions from every scrape, scratch or bite, she ran straight into her grave by pushing herself too far."

Korra explained with a mellow grin. "Being at your best isn't important, don't worry about being in good condition, just don't be in bad condition; Not good, not bad, but okay-- Understand?" She tried to clarify as Marzipan's breathing evened out. Korra shook her head in response to the thanks though a warm pat on the girl's hip in reply as she spoke. "Don't say that. I can't let someone as lovely as you suffer too much. Just watch your head, and don't land on your face--" Korra would say suddenly that being as much warning as Korra would give as Kirin suddenly slid to a hault, it's back rising just enough for the momentum to be carried to Marzipan at it's back. This, unfortunately, was a technique that Kirin used a lot; Firing it's passengers like a human projectile. It worked well for her normal partner, he would simply dive into a crowd of monsters and tare his way out but for Marzipan it might not be such a mundane experience as the steed snorted trying to launch her back into the fray when it felt she was rested enough.

 

Korra chuckled nodding back in answer to the girl's concerns and expression that seemed to show she had no words to properly describe the tug it made her feel. "Of course~ If you try too hard and attempt to take the burden completely on yourself, you'll die without a doubt. Protecting someone in the dungeon is hard-- receiving and protecting yourself is hard enough but trying for others makes it even harder. That's why I don't usually let Kirin fight-- the feedback would probably destroy me~" She explained with a vague shrug knowing that needlessly exhausting yourself was dangerous. There was no one incompetent enough to require that much attention after all, doing so was usually overprotective and self destructive.

Seeing Marzipan fly forward though, Korra couldn't help a smooth giggle as she leaned forward over Kirin. "I told you not to land on your face~" She explained with a warm cheesy grin. This after all was a means of testing others for Korra, people who reacted properly were likely to do extremely well without support, but people like Marzipan who were so quickly caught off guard by Kirin's unique method of teamwork needed coaching still. "You should have a lot of awareness to survive down here, eyes on everything, mind on nothing~" She teased practically chuckling as she spoke watching the girl once more dive into the green monsters of the dungeon.

"It looks like you use two swords though mm? I wish I could help you with that as well, I don't quite know 'technique' as much as my partner would. It does seem though that your rhythm is very aggressive isn't it?~" She asked cocking her head to one side remembering her various trips with Kessler into the dungeon. Their styles were noticeably different for Korra who paid a great deal of attention to the fighters to better support them. "Maybe you'd have fun doing some practice with him later..." Korra mused wondering about how best to raise Marzipan up.

 

Korra nodded along watching the girl largely relaxed. Normally she wouldn't have a chance to do nothing in the dungeon as she was now, there was always work to be done, but she wasn't here to make things run smoothly or to make things easy for Marzipan as she usually did for others. This was just to expose the girl to the dungeon and let her have a sense of worry from being surrounded and understand the tension of such a situation. She herself didn't feel much from Kirin's back, as a fighter she was someone who never had to fight alone with her summon supporting her, it was for reasons like this that Korra could survive despite being a supporter when she couldn't find an adventurer to support.

"I can only understand a little from watching my partner fight. Kessler was the one in my little team of 2 who knows all there is about physical combat~" She explained idly with a mellow chuckle, most of her advice on fighting came second hand from that one after all, Korra herself wasn't someone specialized in fighting and had little interest on fighting in the dungeon. When she had to, she'd have Kirin clear out a few areas of the first floor for some walking around money, but otherwise she sat back and supported those who were more experienced then her in that field. "Him, my regular adventurer, Kessler; The one who fights unarmed down here. He'd be able to give you better advice as a fighter, he's the only one I've seen with a lofty and impossible dream of becoming strong enough to overthrow Gods and Goddesses after all." She non-nonchalantly announced someone else's childish secrets without a care.

Hearing Marzipan's question though, Korra flashed a mellow grin in response, trying to lean her head against Kirin's mane to watch her. "It depends~ There are some times I'd be down here with a small group for days on end-- sometimes as much as a full week. Othertimes, only a few hours. It really depends on your goals and the depths to which you plan to travel you know?~" She mused knowing that people only ever stayed as long as they needed to. What was more important was what brought people into the dungeon since that would determine how long they stayed.

 

Korra couldn't help a warm grin at the woman's concern, though she didn't take the time to explain his nature, but the man was rather well learned after all. Instead, she nodded back at her shock with a sweet chuckle finding it adorable herself. "Right?~ I always thought it was a cute dream. To become strong enough to change the world with strength? It's idealistic and silly but it suits him." She explained though her words might sound insulting in some ways, she was always playfully amused by idealistic dreams, even her own.

Though when she asked about spending several days in the dungeon, Korra nodded back guessing that the girl might not understand. "It's a hard struggle to make it down deep, people rarely make it deep enough to be satisfied on their first day. Some would spend a whole day traversing a floor, and then spend the night on the stairs where it's safe before continuing down. It's more profitable to spend a long time down deep getting the richer higher quality crystals then it is to come down every day for some spare change you know?" She explained, that was why there were people who formed active parties and did dungeon rotations and dives. Otherwise people wouldn't need big groups in the dungeon or so much preparation if they could just drift around the first floor and become famous.

Seeing Marzipan looking deeper at the crystal though wasn't uncommon, it was a rare thing that others didn't see outside of town, when they did it was usually rare or more impressive looking. These normal goblin stones though weren't very polished or dazzling, they were pretty mundane and typical after all. "Maybe not what you expected mm? The ones you find from Kobolds are larger and more impressive, it would be hard for you to fight them off at this stage though. Kobolds are as fast as wolves and smart enough to work as part of a team unlike the goblins that simply rush mindlessly." Korra explained while Kirin took care of protecting her.

 

Korra chuckled back finding Marzi's reaction to be adorable. A lot of people often felt that way, she couldn't fault Marzipan's reaction, it brought a smile to her face, she couldn't help feeling somewhat nostalgic. "That's true isn't it? Later on some of the higher class adventurers, the seniors would throw these ones away." Korra joked knowing that the ones who taught her the right path would often throw goblin stones away to make room for kobold stones or Ant stones. Her request for going deeper made Korra nod back in understanding, gently patting Kirin urging him forward behind Marzipan who was exploring. It wouldn't get too life threatening until the next couple of floors Korra thought, so this much should be okay as long as they don't let their guard down.

Gathering a large amount of soul stones was usually Korra's job. Hanging onto them so adventurers weren't marred by their weight, Kirin's saddlebags were there for that exact reason since Korra herself couldn't manage the weight of a party's spirit stones on her own. While Marzipan fought the goblins though, Korra maintained her position on Kirin's back, there was no need for her to slip off of it unless a truly dangerous fight were occurring after all. She kept their injuries maintained with her healing magic, every time she saw Marzipan get one that's debilitating or when Kirin lost too many scales she'd do the same. "It's not so bad, I've not had to slide off of Kirin yet. How about you mm?" She murmured though despite her relaxed posture, her eyes were very observant and careful, every goblin that joined was counted, everyone that was killed subtracted, the overall number managed properly. It was only when a certain threshold was crossed that she'd finally slide off of the creature and get a little serious.

 

Korra flashed a smile, much like Marzipan thought, Korra didn't make too much of an effort in this instance. Normally her job would be more active; pull corpses of monsters out of the way if they didn't turn to ashes, healing, sending Kirin in to support Marzi on the front line if it wasn't pulling back corpses with her. Instead, if Marzi paid close attention, she'd see that out of all of Korra's jobs that she was supposed to be doing, the one she was investing time in was collecting the stones for Marzipan. The reason however was very important; not everyone had a full time supporter to clear corpses, not everyone had healing or back up. An adventurer's first dive into the dungeon was always a trial by fire, one that didn't come with 'help' so Korra tried not to provide more then necessary so Marzipan would get a proper experience.

The roar though made Korra flash a bothered expression, it wasn't something typically heard on the first floor. Remembering the attack of the shadow creature, she could only slowly adjust her posture from a relaxed and lazy laying to a more composed and serious side saddle position. It was Korra's serious position when she was supporting from Kirin's back, one that was currently accompanied by a deeply furrowed brow and a racing mind. "Mm... Roar's like that are uncommon up here... There isn't a beast that roars on these levels." She murmured bringing a hand to her chin, it wasn't absolutely out of the ordinary though, it was however a bad sign. "It's either another adventurer on their last leg with some wilder blood in them or... a Variant that we need to report and shouldn't cross swords with." Korra complained internally knowing that neither were good, but both required counter-productive approaches.

You would need to rush in to save an injured adventurer after all, but you'd have to rush out and away from a variant to report it for more qualified warriors. It left Korra in a difficult spot, these types of things were unfortunately life and death decisions. For the woman who only cared about pleasurable company and soft affectionate hugs, this was an unwelcome side show. "Get up front-- We'll check it out. At best it's someone being attacked by a kobold that wandered up too high. At worst, it's a variant who will kill us if we can't outrun it." She explained with a heavy breath and tense atmosphere about her.

 

Korra nodded with a mellow smile, just a person in trouble wasn't as big a deal, she'd seen her party members die around her every once in a while after all, some stranger wouldn't be such a big deal for the girl who'd already experienced trials by fire. Gore had never really bothered Korra in the past, she took things at only a single speed when women weren't involved. There was little that could really perturb the girl, it bordered on mental illness to some, Kessler in particular made those types of accusations at her. Upon seeing the struggling adventurer, Korra wouldn't even bat an eye lash.

Instead, what Marzipan would see is a war tiger man swinging a large club trying to fight off a small group of monsters. Though their numbers were few, the monsters he was fighting off were clearly not goblins. Covered from head to toe with mangy furs, clawed toes and fore hands, a hunched back that seemed unnatural when still, a fierce muzzle and pointed sharp teeth. It was a monsterous creature, like a dog or wolf but with claws and teeth that seemed like they were more suited for bears. Korra recognized it immediately with a heavy sigh and a furrowed brow. "Kobolds, they work fast and as a team, really frustrating. They'll drop down to all fours and chase you like a wolf if you run, it's no wonder he chose to fight." Korra complained remembering fighting against them in the past. They were a rather infuriating group.

"Be careful, they'll bite if you get too close too, don't let them slip behind you either~" Korra offered suddenly sliding off Kirin mid-run, the creature kept going carrying Marzipan with it, Korra slid off, her boots skidding along the stone floor from trying to halt herself after sliding off the mount. With Korra off, she'd have to fend for herself, but she wasn't particularly worried about being solo in the dungeon as long as Kirin wasn't far. She let the creature carry Marzipan into the fray, it's thunderous hooves stomping loudly, the constant sharp crackling of energy jumping from it's legs with every step. It's goal was to come to the wounded adventurer's side while leaving Marzipan with the Kobolds until the man was safe.

 

Korra maintained a reasonable distance, keeping an eye out for other creatures and goblins that could have been roaming about. She didn't want them to get snuck up on after all, while Korra was keeping a watchful eye though, she touched the lute in her hand with a warm grin. "Healing Hymn; Gone in a flash before our time. Up in the skies together, the vow we have made has kept us strong; Don't fade away it's time to shine~" She sang plucking the strings as she went, a dexterous hand flowing over the myriad of strings blending together into a calming sound. As her song continued though, the War Tiger's wounds would begin peeling, silver flakes of light flaking off taking with them his injuries as she sang. "Burning Bright~ As we reach out for the same horizon, Burning Brighter~ Running out of time while chasing the light." Even Mazipan would experience that same feeling of injuries peeling off of her body as if molting them.

All the while, the majestic steed that had been lazily supporting Korra until now stood between her and the other monsters the Dungeon intended to throw towards them. While the creature itself wasn't immaculately fast or dexterous, every sweep of claw or bite only left behind a white mark across it's white scales as they washed against it like a tide. The Creature snorted a hazy crackle of lightning in response to the monsters' assault and reared back. Ruby Red eyes shining with hostility and contempt as it used it's weight and body to block the tide firmly like a stone that permitted no water to flow past it. The normally docile creature wasn't one that would tolerate violence towards Korra or the things she endeavored to protect.

It was at times like this that Korra's mellow gaze didn't rest. Keeping track of Kirin and those she supported, her eyes darted across the battlefield as if trying to absorb everything simultaneously. "Don't get clawed up too much, if I'm mind down, Kirin will go away~" Korra lectured knowing that if she spent too much trying to keep the pair fighting capable instead of fighting fit, that Kirin wouldn't be able to continue existing on this side without her to anchor him down.