Once the party had teleported back to the cabin via Dimension Door Keyleth had allowed the party to get a long rest knowing that it would take a couple of hours for them to reach her village but not before making sure that the entrance to the cavern was blocked off, once the party had rested up they made their way out of the forest and to a rural village about twenty minutes away from the forest.
Once they were in the village Keyleth was greeted by someone who they could only assume was a family member. "Keyleth, I'm so glad your safe." The human woman greeted her as she hugged Keyleth. "And all thanks to you." She added as she turned to the party.
"It was mostly dumb luck we wouldn't have found the cavern if I hadn't decided to look for some midnight reading material." Marie responded with a shrug as the human woman walked over to her. "Either way, we can't stay here long, the only reason we were in that cabin to begin with was because bounty hunters chased us there."
"We are a warrior tribe, any bounty hunters who come here will have a bad time." Keyleth responded as she turned to Marie. "And from what I remember of last night, you wanted a duel right?"
"That's right, you said that there were duelists in the village?" Marie asked and Keyleth nodded before motioning to a makeshift arena of sorts. "You guys host tournaments in there?"
"On special occasions yes, sometimes duels, other times with swords." Keyleth nodded as she turned to the arena. "The tournaments are usually saved for those who are wanting to win a maiden's hand in marriage, my turn is coming up soon."
"Don't expect me to sign up for that." Marie responded as a sweat-drop rolled down her head. "I'm already taken."
"All the spots are taken up anyway." Keyleth responded as she shook her head before noticing the look on Theresa's face. "I realize that this seems unusual, but I have several suitors, being a warrior culture, it is customary for any potential suitors to earn that right first."
"And they say chivalry is dead." Theresa thought as she glanced towards the arena. "Quick question, if your village is a warrior culture, how did those cultists capture you?"
"I was hunting in the forests near that lodge when they ambushed me, killed a couple of them before they overwhelmed me." Keyleth responded as she shook her head. "I didn't find out that they were Vecna cultists until I woke up as their captive, now I believe one of you was looking for a duel but wasn't interested in a duel?"
"Marie might not be interested in the tournament, but she is interested in a duel, how quickly can you find an opponent for her?" Theresa asked with a nod and Keyleth motioned for them to follow her.
"It won't take long at all, follow me." Keyleth responded before leading the party to the arena.
*elsewhere in the world*
By now Brandon's party was further into the Underdark and where following the Drow Scout Party from a safe distance, that is until they reached a cave with a familiar orb in it.
"A destiny orb?" Brandon asked as he eyed the orb before frowning. "No way this is going to be that easy, Theresa told me that her party's first orb was an easy one and even then, they had a bounty put on their heads for it."
"Do you think Sophia would mind if we cashed in on that bounty?" Caitlin asked earning a funny look from her teammates. "What? It's a tournament isn't it?"
"Maybe, but that party also features Tyler's sister and Marcus's girlfriend alongside Yugi Moto himself." Brandon responded and a massive sweat-drop rolled down her head as Caitlin processed the last bit of information. "Your good Caitlin but I think Yugi might be a bit out of your league."
"If it was anyone else, I'd argue so much that we'd alert the party." Caitlin responded as she motioned to the Scout Party, "But this is Yugi Moto we're talking about, the same guy who put away the original Orichalcos threat that I had so much trouble with during its resurgence." Caitlin added before quickly shaking her head. "I think I'd rather take my chances with whatever's leading this Drow group."
"That's probably wise." Miranda nodded in agreement before glancing up at the party. "Besides that, whether we think this is too easy or not, we had better deal with them and grab the orb, me, Brandon and Marcus dueled the Gate Guardian earlier…..."
"And that's something I don't want to revisit ever again." Brandon groaned as he ran a hand down his face. "Seriously, what was Pegasus thinking when he made that game style?"
"I don't know but it likely involved enough wine to fill five wineries and still have some left over." Miranda responded with a chuckle before shaking her head. "As I was saying, Caitlin if you want to duel next, be my guest."
"Thanks, still not sure what Deck Master I'll go with though." Caitlin admitted as she scratched her head. "Haven't really had a chance to go through the database."
"You'll get a chance, but we'd better get moving, those guys are on the move." Marcus chimed in and the party looked up to see the Drow on the move before following them.
*later*
The scouting party went further into the Underdark unaware that Brandon's party was following them, after a few minutes the scouts stopped to talk.
"Anyone here know Undercommon?" Caitlin asked as she scratched her head as the party struggled to understand what the scouts were saying, they shook their heads and Caitlin sighed. "Maybe I should've gone with Drow for my race instead."
"It's not that bad, we're near our destination." Brandon responded with a nod as he got an idea. "Let's jump them and take their destiny orb."
"Good idea." Miranda nodded before they started to sneak up to the scouts, the stealth check prompt popped up and each party member did a roll.
Unfortunately for the party, Brandon rolled a natural one. "What was that?!" The leader of the scout party demanded as Brandon loudly face-planted in front of the scout party and they span around. "Surface dwellers, you don't belong down here!"
"Yeah, well, unfortunately for you our boss hired us to deal with you and your matriarch." Brandon responded as he got back to his feet and the Drow scoffed. "So, if you'll just give us the destiny orb, we'll be on our way!"
"Don't count on it Tiefling." The leader responded before glancing at the rest of the party. "And for that matter, how did you get past the Gate Guardian?"
"All I'm saying is that that duel was the most boring and tedious duel I've ever taken part in." Brandon responded as a sweat-drop rolled down his head. "Why don't we cut to the chase? Our friend Caitlin is looking for a duel so how about she duels you for the destiny orb?"
"Fine, I could use a laugh." The drow leader responded before he brushed passed Brandon and Caitlin stepped forward. "Sending a woman to fight your battles is a sign of weakness."
"Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't your society a matriarchal one?" Caitlin pointed out and the leader frowned. "I don't think your matriarch will be happy to hear you say that."
"She'll know that I was referring to surface dwelling women." The Drow leader responded before the deck master selection screen appeared before them. "My deck master is Nuvia the Wicked!" The Drow announced as the strange fiend appeared on the field (4/2000/800).
"My deck master is Zombra the Dark!" Caitlin announced as the superhero in dark armor and a red cape appeared on the field (4/2100/500). "You realize that your deck master will destroy itself if you summon it right?"
"Summoning a deck master counts as a Special Summon." The leader corrected her as he folded his arms. "Even so I have no intention of summoning Nuvia, now as you said my society is a matriarchal one, so you'll go first!"
"Gladly!" Caitlin responded as they drew their opening hands and said looked over hers. "I start by activating Terra-Forming! I use this to add a Field Spell from my deck to my hand." Caitlin explained before she started inputting commands into her duel disk, once the card she wanted was ejected from the deck she added it to her hand and let her deck auto-shuffle. "I won't keep you in suspense, I activate Skyscraper 3: Fusion Metropolis."
"A fusion deck?" The leader scoffed as the scenery around them changed to a large city within the Fusion Gate. "What good would that do you?"
"Right now? That much, that's why I'm summoning Elemental Herp – Blaze Kid!" Caitlin announced as she played a card and a teenaged superhero in a similar costume to Elemental Hero Burstimitrix appeared on the field ready for action (3/1000/500).
"What a pathetic monster, on my turn I will crush him!" The leader responded as he clenched his fist to emphasize his point and Caitlin frowned in response. "Now finish your move!"
"I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Caitlin announced as she set the cards and the leader drew his card. "Not the first time my heroes have been underestimated, hell they were underestimated a lot during Jaden Yuki's time in duel academy." Caitlin thought before smirking. "But with the new HERO support cards in my deck he'll be in for a nasty surprise if he thinks that I'll be defeated that easily."
"I draw!" The leader announced as he drew his card. "And I activate Allure of Darkness! This card…."
"Allows you to draw two cards in exchange for banishing a dark type monster." Brandon interrupted him and both the leader and Caitlin turned to him. "I run a chaos deck and I'd be stupid to not include Allure of Darkness in the dark half of my deck."
"True, in any case, I draw again." The leader responded before he drew two cards and pocketed a third. "I set a card in defense mode and two cards facedown." The leader announced as his three cards appeared on the field. "And it's your move." The leader announced and Caitlin drew her card.
"He calls my monster weak when he's opening by playing defensively?" Caitlin thought as she added the card to her hand. "Then again, it's not like the early Elemental Heroes were powerhouses! Sparkman was the strongest of the normal monsters in terms of raw power but even then, there were older monster cards that he would be destroyed by without help." Caitlin thought before looking over her hand and grinning. "I activate Reinforcement of the Army! With this I can add one Level Four or lower Warrior type monster from my deck to my hand!"
"Add all the cards you want! They won't help you!" The leader scoffed as Caitlin searched through her deck and added the card to her hand.
"Are you sure about that?" Caitlin asked rhetorically as she sent her Spell Card to the graveyard. "I activate Skyscraper 3's effect! Once per turn I can Fusion Summon one Hero fusion monster from my Extra Deck by banishing it's components in my hand and on the field." Caitlin added before grinning. "Oh, and one more thing, when he is used in a Fusion Summon Blaze Kid counts as Burstimitrix, so I fuse him and Elemental Hero Avian together!"
"What?!" The leader demanded as the hero in green briefly appeared on the field (3/1000/1000) before fusing together with Blaze Kid. "What sense does that make?!"
"You ever heard of the concept of a sidekick?" Caitlin asked as she retrieved the card from her extra deck. "Don't answer that, Blaze Kid is Burstimitrix's sidekick and is a valued partner! Especially when he's being used to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!" Caitlin announced as she played the card and the tall, muscular winged humanoid that was red and green in color appeared on the field (6/2100/1200). "For starters, with Skyscraper 3 on the field all Hero fusion monsters gain five hundred extra attack points." Caitlin added as Flame Wingman's attack went up to 2600. "And since Blaze Kid was used to fusion summon Flame Wingman, I get to draw a card."
"I'm still not impressed." The leader responded as he rolled his eyes whilst Caitlin drew her card.
"I don't remember asking for your opinion on my monsters, and just for that I'll activate my Deck Master's ability! Hero Call!" Caitlin announced as Zombra the Dark let out a roar. "In exchange for this, Flame Wingman is the only monster I can attack with for the rest of the turn which is a moot point since he's the only monster on my side of the field but in exchange? Well as he's a hero monster he can inflict piercing damage since I control a Skyscraper card!"
"What?!" The leader asked as his eyes widened and Flame Wingman glowed.
"Are you impressed yet? Because this is a prime example of you putting your foot in your mouth!" Caitlin responded before she pointed at the leader's defense monster. "Flame Wingman, attack his defense monster!" Caitlin commanded and the humanoid flew forward before the monster was revealed to be Mystic Tomato (4/1400/1100) which was quickly incinerated bringing the leader's life-points down to 6500. "And that's not all! Since Flame Wingman destroyed your monster that monster's attack points come out of your life-points!"
"You will pay for this!" The leader growled as the flames hit him bringing his life-points down to 5100. "My tomato has an effect of his own allowing me to Special Summon one Dark Type Monster with fifteen hundred attack points or less from my deck! But not before I activate my Trap Card Flat Level 4!" The leader announced as his facedown card flipped up. "As a monster I control was just destroyed by battle this Trap Card allows us to summon a level four monster from our decks."
"Awfully generous of you." Caitlin commented before they started searching through their decks. "I chose to summon Commissioner Morgan." Caitlin announced as she played a card and a tall police detective appeared on the field (4/1500/1200). "Fortunately for you, I can't attack again thanks to my deck master's ability."
"It won't matter soon! I will let the cards I summon speak for themselves!" The leader responded before, to everyone's surprise, an infamous pair of arms appeared on the field (1/200/300) each.
"The left and right arms of Exodia?!" Caitlin asked once she did a double take. "Why would you summon those things?!"
"I have my reasons, now finish your move." The leader responded and Caitlin frowned.
"I doubt he plans to summon Exodia Necross, that monster is powerful but it's really situational, not to mention as slow as a race between a turtle and a snail." Caitlin thought as their decks auto-shuffled. "Maybe Backup Soldier's his plan? If it is then I could blow it out of the water with either Mystical Space Typhoon, Seven Tools of the Bandit or Trap Jammer, either way I'd better be prepared for anything." Caitlin thought before going over her hand. "It's your move."
"About time!" The leader responded before drawing his card, he didn't even look at it before activating his remaining facedown card. "I activate Dark Spirit Art – Greed! Unless you have a spell card to reveal in your hand, I will sacrifice the Left Arm of the Forbidden One to draw two cards from my deck."
"I only had two Spell Cards in my hand to start with and your looking at one of them." Caitlin responded as she motioned to the city around them and the leader nodded before the arm vanished and he drew two cards. "Though that does raise more questions about his strategy!"
"I summon my Deck Master!" The leader announced and the others did double takes as Nuvia moved to the field. "As you pointed out earlier, if this was a normal summon, she would be destroyed but as summoning your deck master counts as a Special Summon my deck master is safe."
"For now." Caitlin responded as she shook her head. "Or did you forget about the other part of her effect? The one that means she's about to lose four hundred attack points?" Caitlin added as Nuvia's attack points dropped to 1600. "If your planning to destroy Morgan, then that's gotta be the dumbest move I've ever seen in my career as a duelist!"
"Who said that was my plan? I activate Swords of Revealing Light and Nightmare's Steel Cage!" The leader announced as he played the Spell Cards and the golden swords rained down before the hellish cage surrounded Caitlin. "Five turns, I have you imprisoned for that long!"
"And?" Caitlin asked as she folded her arms. "You have one Exodia piece in your graveyard, unless your running three copies of each piece, which comes with its own problems, you'll never get the pieces into your hand!"
"That's where my Deck Master Ability comes in! Once per turn by sacrificing one weak Dark Type Monster I can take one Dark Type Monster from my graveyard and put it on top of my deck." The leader explained as Right Arm of the Forbidden One vanished from the field and Left Arm was put on top of the leader's deck. "My plan is foolproof!"
"Is it?" Caitlin asked with a raised eyebrow. "Heavy Storm might be banned but I can easily destroy these Spell Cards through other means and by then your Deck Master will be the ugliest sitting duck ever!"
"We'll see about that! I end my turn." The leader announced and Caitlin drew her card.
"I activate Reckless Greed! I skip my next two draw phases to draw that many cards." Caitlin announced as her facedown card flipped up and she drew her cards. "Next I activate Commissioner Morgan's effect I sacrifice him to add an Elemental Hero to my hand." Caitlin added before her monster vanished and she started searching through her deck. "Once I'm done it'll be your turn." Caitlin added and the leader nodded before drawing his card just as Caitlin's deck auto-shuffled.
"I pass my turn." The leader announced and Caitlin skipped her draw phase. "And just so you know, I have four Exodia parts in my hand."
"I had better end this quickly then." Caitlin responded before going over her hand. "To be honest, I have everything I need to end this now, all thanks to Commissioner Morgan."
"What do you mean?!" The leader asked as Caitlin picked up the card.
"I'll show you! I summon Elemental Hero Tornado Force!" Caitlin announced as she played the card and a man in a similar costume to Elemental Herp Avian's appeared on the field ready for battle (4/1900/1200). "I couldn't summon him last turn because Morgan's effect states that I can't summon a monster the same turn I use his effect but when Tornado Force is summoned whilst a card with Skyscraper in its name is on the field, he destroys all cards my opponent controls!"
"No!" The leader yelled out as a tornado washed over the field being generated by Tornado Force destroying all of his monsters including Nuvia. "We will meet again!" The leader added as the holograms disappeared before he ran off with the rest of his party.
"Should we go after him?" Caitlin asked as she looked up in their direction. "They are just going to alert the matriarch!"
"I don't think the Matriarch will be that thrilled when he mentions how he practically defeated himself." Brandon responded before motioning to the bag containing the destiny orb. "But until then we have a destiny orb to claim."
"Right." Caitlin nodded as the ping to indicate that a boss had been defeated before she grabbed the bag and the destiny orb, once they got the extra XP another ping rang out. "Hey! We leveled up!"
"I was wondering when that would happen." Brandon nodded with a grin before motioning to the direction the party had ran off in. "In the meantime, we had better keep up with them." Brandon added and the others nodded before they walked off.
