Festival: Eye of the Storm

Introduction:

By now, the Storm Festival has been raging throughout the lands of Yamato for days. If nothing else, the rough seas have, at least, seemingly slowed down the Palace Landers, offering only a brief reprieve against their attacks. Enough time, however, for the other Adventurers to explore some of the unusual happenings that this festival has to offer.

In this case, it is a mysterious cave, once hidden beneath the waves, that is now open thanks to a strange fluke of the way the weather patterns have blown surf and sand. However, the entrance looks to be in a precarious state. There is sand and debris that seem ready to fall at the first brush of a passing Adventurer. With the constant buffeting of storms, they may only have a slim window to get in and out before the dungeon is lost, possibly forever.

So, a group has been gathered by the local Hunter's Guild, tasking those brave enough to dare the unknown. The job? Find out what lies within the cave system and discover what secrets may be hidden there ... and, of course, make it out alive.

The skies are still dark above as the party gathers. The rain and wind have quieted, but during this time of year, that seems like something that won't last for long. It is time to move, or risk never getting another opportunity.

A slim opening of oppritunity to investigate a hard to reach location is just the sort of exploration challenge Shiruba needs for a break from all the war and attrition going on.

Briefly she glances up, inspecting the sky above as it is, for the moment, comparitively calm. "This may be our best chance, or we may not have any chances left to try."

For now her peregrin is just perched on her shoulder, idly grooming wing pinions with her beak so she's ready to move when the time comes. She has slowly gotten better at maneuvering inside structures, even she can't get an altitude dive for her top speed.

    Merek takes time to put on his dark attire, with boots to the gloves that have a gauntlet adjustment to them. He pulls up the hood in the weather while he watches the party gathering when he too comes upon them. He wears a katana on the hip, the blade black with steel and looking well made with golden circuit pattern, it seems that he crafted a weapon for him, it's single-edged with a nice little hilt and width to the weapon. "I think we will learn a lot of new things."

     Slowed palace landers, and the storms raging have made for a pleasant few days for Pela. She had time to explore. And do what she usually did, look around, and search for interesting little things in nooks and crannies. And in this case, it was a mysterious cave that had been hidden beneath the waves. Which is always neat and interesting, to be honest.
     And so Pela gathered with the party, ready to delve into this little once a year chance to peek in a place that few have gone before, for this dungeon. In preparation for the possible storms, her usual maid outfit has been actually swapped out to a more water and rain resistant one, a nice treated leather outfit with a good amount of padding underneath in case she gets buffetted around by winds, and bare footed to ground herself in case of lightning. Held at her side is a small prototype blade with two inlaid crystals. "...Yep. ...The best kind of quest for discoveries and lore. ...And we are probably the first here in who knows how long."

War? What war. The war against training? That makes sense, for Arashi at least. The dire-shire was looking a little tender as she approaches the cave, not far behind Shiruba. It figures that the day after Arashi started her training with Vertina that she ended up getting a call from the guild to go fight some stuff in a cave. ... At least that's what she got out of it. "I didn't even know this cave was here.." Good thing!

"Where is Mr.Clerk?", asks Uta, staff held in one hand, while the other is held across her lips, pensive, while her gaze is lost in the distance. She paces around the entrance area. "Is he hiding? He can't be hiding! He know that this time he has no excuses! He -will- have to sign me up for the Peko Race- wait, where's the track?"

She seems to notice the entrance to the cave for the first time. She kneels over to examine it; she stares into the unknown. "Is it an underground race this time? Cool."

    Setsuna stands in the back of the gathered group with his skeleton manservant, who often times is a knight, stands by him with an umbrella in it's hand keeping any extra rain drops or such that may blow from the trees off the necromancer. "I am all for going anywhere that is inside. I was at that whole Kirin thing and I am still ringing water out of those clothes. I swear they have a hidden debuff that says eternally soggy." With his speech said Setsuna begins to walk towards the entrance and says, " So an entrance only gets it name if we use it. I would recommend we do not steal this poor gateways name."

    What's wrong with investigating a mysterious cave that may close up at a moment's notice with the inevitability of sudden death, for no known likelihood of success or reward, with the only reason to investigate being 'because you are brave'? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Fuka's not fearless of course, but she's more afraid of refusing to make memories with friends than she is of dying and losing memories. And if her friends are foraying into uncertain doom - or at least adventure - she'll be right there beside them?

    "Heeeeey Uta!" Fuka waves, cheered to see another friend here to adventure with. More memories, yay! "Glad you could make it! This'll be fun, don't you think?" she says, assuming Uta is present for the same reason Fuka herself is.

Schneider has been laying low during the storm festival because rain's not his style. Fire is his style, and while he /can/ make fire happen in the rain and storms, it's not really his thing. Got to give the air elemental farmers some quality time, amiright? But mysterious caves being uncovered are almost a certain guarantee of interesting loot and that will draw the Exploder Wizard out of his place of refuge and snacks. The storms are still keeping the Palace Landers in port, so he'll take the chance and go see what this thing is about.

And when he sees what it's about, of course he'll join the party investigating it. Count him in! He will accept a party request and form up where everyone seems to be gathering, listening to the conversation and speculation. He's got a few reasons to check out undiscovered places, not just for general loot, but also looking for anything of what he thinks of as archeologgical interest.

    War is Hell. So Miyako will tell anyone who asks. So she's very glad for chances to get away from it. Peaceful talks with the other side. Private time with her girlfriend. Singing in taverns to entertain the Landers and her fellow Adventurers.

    And what got her really interested today, the chance to see something *new*. A previously unknown, brand new Dungeon.

    "Got to agree," she calls to Setsuna as she appears from the shadows. "Everybody ready? Got your spikes, your ropes, lanters, ten-foot poles?"

The Palace Landers have caused far too much trouble this Storm season. From interrupting the regular Peko race to attacking the Divine Beast of Air, it certainly doesn't feel like they've stepped their offense down at all. But everyone needs a break, Yamato's staunchest defenders included. Prophylaxis peers down into the depths of the cave, stormy waters sloshing this way and that only a few feet away. "If we're not fast, these waters will wash in and seal us in. If we're going to do this, we'd best be quick about it."

At least they have a rather large party for this excursion. Unless there's some kind of black-level threat down there, they can probably handle whatever they might find.

Probably.

A chance to investigate a cave? Haru knows that all the good minerals in caves. Minerals that will become gems. Gems that will become accessories. Plus a mysterious one? Say no more! The Artificer is all in, even with the wet weather. With a Fuka that will probably need to drag his noodle armed self out at the end? Sold so much that he overclicked the quest and probably glitched it.

"And thus the group approached the cave of wonders," Haru intones in narrative 'toss a coin to your Fuka' fashion as he motions out to the cave. "I wonder what they shall find," he adds with silver lined mystery. The casting orb rolls from his left hand to his right. Right to left.

Haru does look at Uta. "It is," he goes on, "with the special non-Peko variant and lots of side challenges along the way. Traps. Treasures. Wonder." He does magical fingers at Uta and then also at Fuka. "Wonder."

Storm festival is always the worst. You know what wet dog smells like? Imagine being stuck like that pretty much 24/7. Kaydon is glad the weather has let up a little bit at least, as he stands with his arms crossed not far from Arashi, "If you didn't know about it, it could be new. Maybe opened up during an earthquake or something, who knows."

Challenge 1: Mysterious Fathoms Below

The ground beneath their feet is slippery and covered in a fine layer of what seems to be sea-growths. Water drips from places along the walls where the stone has not kept it contained over many years. There is sea weed that now lies limply, without the ever-present flow of water to hold it up so it squelches as they step through it.

Even so, it's obvious that this was once a man-made structure. The sea has eaten away at it, but there are signs that this was carved by the hands of someone long ago. Along the first hallway, there is a pair of statues that look to have once been people, but age and water have eaten away until they are only vague shapes of what they had once been.

However, each of the statues still holds a spear that is crossed to the other, effectively marking an 'X' in their path. There is a hum of some sort of enchantment here, a small wonder that it still has power after all this time. However, as the first person steps forward, they seem to encounter a barrier which blocks their way. It is clear, but when touching it, ripples out like water. It's quite possible that this has held back some of the destruction that the ocean might have wrought.

Then, a disembodied voice speaks in a musical voice that sounds as if it were trapped beneath water...

"What lies beyond was sealed long ago. Dangerous things now claim this place. Prove that you hold the might of the storms to delve further..."

A crystal in the hands of one of the ruined statues begins to glow, an obvious target for them to prove themselves.

Challenge:
Air vs 10
Water vs 10

Failure: The enchantment considers you unworthy. A debuff is added to your status bar called 'Ocean's Weight'. You move slower and feel sluggish and overburdened until this is removed. It may only be removed by a someone with the Light or Pharmacy concepts, in a separate scene. It places you under a -1 debuff for all your rolls going forward until removed.

    Merek will take the time to sheath the weapon, then he nods while he looks to the next challenge, that one seems to be the test for them. "I will," he then takes an axe which he keeps with him, black with double-edge, while he pulls the power of frost into it, and swings along to swing a bolt of lightning into the gem. It looks like that will actually meet requirements for him to be able to meet the challenge.

     Oh gosh going barefoot might not have been the best decision for this cave. It's so squishy and squelchy! ...But her bare feet let her grip to things and adjust in ways that shoes wouldn't let her normally, so Pela doesn't complain much. She just walks forward carefully, her tail shifting here and there to help her keep her balance while she moves, ears perked and eyes scanning the area.
     Really, she enjoys each and every sight that's coming in. This is the sort of thing that she'd lived for before the Apocalypse. Exploring places like this. Alone, before. But now she walked with friends beside, ahead, and behind her. As they approach those statues and listen to that disembodied voice... there was a quick scan of the room to see if there were any other possible solutions, before Pela just... immediately darts forward, swapping out gemstones mid-movement and inserting a new spell battery into that small blade. A burst of wind that creates a small blast shoots her forward into a quick slice at the gemstone, infusing it with air magic. And then she continues forward as if nothing had happened. "Storms... we have a lot suited to this."

"Heeeeey Fuka!", Uta greets Fuka back, excited at the thought that her friend is here for the same reason she is: joining the Peko race. "Glad you could make it as well! I do, in fact, think it will be fun!"

Miyako gets a, "I'm not touching a ten-foot pole with- wait."

At Haru, Uta blinks. "Oh, uh, non-Peko variant? I..." She blinks. She looks over her shounder. She looks back at Haru, and while scratching her head, she says, "...I seem to have forgotten my Peko again, so, uh, it works out for the best." She loks down, furrows her brow, and scratches her chin. "Of course, of course. It's the Storm Festival. It only makes sense we'd race with Air Pekos. Kinda like air guitars. Except they're pekos."

She turns to the rest of the party. "Good luck to everyone, and may the best Pekoless Peko Rider win!"

"Well, uh...", Uta hesitates. She raises her staff, intones an erratic, staccato song; tendrils in varying shades of green dance on her staff, and coalesce up into the gem; as the song progresses, the curved, helical tendrils deform into angular, crackling bolts of lightning, until, when the light in the gem reaches maximum intensity--

DISCHARGE!

Shiruba blehs, pausing a moment to kick some soggy seaweed off her foot. "This place has been hidden for quite some time it would seem. Look at all this flotsom and jetsom that's washed in with the tides." Ears flick as she looks around, listening to the enchanted voice that speaks up. Might of the storms? Should be easy enough for her, right? She is the self proclaimed storm themed arcane hunter after all.

But just to play on the safe side, she opts for one of her creations rather than using her bow and arrows. So you get to witness one of those rare occasions where she casts a spell directly instead, forming a spheroid of stormy air and lobbing it at the crystal.

It seems to be enough. At least nothing weird that she can notice happens afterwards.

"Dangerous things.. huh. Wonder what could survive down here isolated for so long..." Curiousity seems to be outweighing any concerns over 'dangerous things' for the time being.

    Setsuna looks about casually as he walks through the dungeon for a moment as he suddenly steps and almost ends up slipping. Grabbing at his knight he manages to pull himself up before hitting the ground. "Damn floor is slippery." Then the ominous warning speaks up and Setsuna grins, "Ancient dungeon, ominous warnings, loot is going to be awesome at the end of this." Looking at the gem he follows suit as he wraps a shield of air around the gem and then collapses it into the gem itself.

That Storm Festival had Giganpor going all over the continent lately. To sample storms, to learn from the natural phenoms, and to figure things out for himself.

That had lead to his being pretty darn quiet when the group was gathering. So much so that sand and water had obscured him for a bit. At least until he realized the group was moving and hurried inside. That introspection on the storms and lightning, air, and such was distracting. Even if he was starting to feel like he was making progress somehow!

Hurrying to catch up with the group, however, the human form of his being in armor has him eyeing the first challenge. Those statues look a little familiar. Then he brings up his pole axe, "Dangerous, huh? We're Adventurers! Let's see what you can do!" Then he spins and thrusts the spear point of his pole axe at the orb hard, with water surrounding it and bursting out as he does his best to pass it. And probably barely does. Then he turns to head for the barrier.

"Oh, sorry I ran behind a bit. I was admiring the spectacular weather out there." He comments to the group as he moves along.

    Well this shouldn't be so hard, right? Water is Arashi's best (secret) stat to boot! No problem. A bit of ice added to the touch, and grabbing hold of that spear should be a piece of - *THUNK*. Well. That ... got really heavy all of a sudden. "...You've got to be kidding." DEBUFF. Right there in it's own little section and without a timer. "... Ugh.. and I was sore already."

    "Wonder!" Fuka repeats, winking back at Haru. She's not at all sure what he's on about right now but she'll play along, and even encourage him, because that's just the sort of girl she is. "Also probably traps. Treasure, we can butt hope!" she adds, the special emphasis she puts on the word, not to mention her grin, making the spelling of her intended word clear.

    Once inside the cave, Fukaziroh looks around in wonder at the preserved cave and its contents, also feeling the magic and considering the consequences. That is, until the voice speaks, and in her mind at least speaks condescendingly. She scoffs at the words of the challenge. "Prove I have the might of the storms? PLEASE." she says, putting a palm up to the barrier and pushing against it. She frowns, pushing harder. Then she begins to chant, summoning air and water mana to her hand as she continues to push with all the force a TINY BATTLE FAIRY can muster! Which is quite a bit, actually, though it's entirely useless. Still, after enough strain and enough channeling of air (and water) mana into her hand, the barrier begins to give way and she slooooowly pushes her way though.

    On the other side, she smiles and looks back. "SEE, mysterious voice?! Piece of cake!"

Schneider navigates the treacherous footing well enough. He's not as agile as he'd like to be, but there's only so much time for training. He listens as the voice challenges us to prove ourselves. But the way Dark Schneider proves himself is as odd as the man, himself. Prove he's holdin the might of storms? He might be. But what he casts is fire, /inside/ an orb of water. The water contains and molds itself around the fire, but the fire in all senses burns like normal fire. Which it normally won't do when surrounded by water. It takes a one-track mind like Schneider to make fire that will burn underwater, without evaporating the water or quenching the flame.

Cave times. Time in the caves. Haru approaches with a careful step onto the ground. Water and seagrowth against rocks can lead to a lot of slipping and sliding around. His orb lights up in a soft black-light-esque glow to it, not unlike his Obsidian Light spell. Travel magics! He is drawn to the statues when the party makes headway in enough to see. "Nice," he says as there is an admiration for the masonry work on the statue themselves. This is taken back a step when they start talking. Of course they start talking. This is a Cave of /Wonder/.

There is a look to Fuka on the 'prove thy worth' request. "Tell it to chim Kirin, eh," he smiles. The entry system isnt that kind, of course. As for himself, Air and Water. Not his strongest elements, but he is familiar. A moment to think. Haru takes an artistic approach. His hands draw up the moisture in the air, getting the water to reach a certain point and then with a flash freeze of air and water, freezes it in place to create a Castlevania style castle of ice using the crystal as the mainstay of the model. Something is missing. Mist. A hand roll to add in the flair. There we go. Storm mastery diarama.

Prophylaxis actually rather likes the storm festival. Something about a howling tempest outside your window, hammering the glass and the wood with a ceaseless deluge of rain, the scent of petrichor that rises when the clouds briefly cease their assault-- it's a nice, calming thing for him. The storm season is one of the few times Prophylaxis moves his primary place of residence to the Scale Emblem headquarters at Castle Reach, in fact!

But not this year. This year, there has been far too much to do at the tower.

"Careful, this seaweed is slick and the stone is sharp. I can patch up wounds, but an impalement is something a little more serious," the doctor says, cautiously making his way into the cave... Though he stops when he hears that hum, and stares up at the statues barring their path.

"Amazing. This looks like some kind of temple. What's it doing down here...?" Prove that they hold the might of the storms, is it...?

The doctor squares his jaw and steps forward, holding his staff high. "Stormsong," Prophylaxis orders, as the wind suddenly begins to howl-- even this deep underground. Electricity courses across the stone and leaps to the staff's headpiece, "Unleash the power that is your name. Call Lightning!"

A dozen arcs of white-hot skyfire leap from the pooling electricity all at once, surging into the elemental crystal mounted to the doctor's staff. With a thrusting gesture, he directs all of that lightning to course forth in a stream of blinding, coruscating power, flooding into the barrier as a singular, mighty bolt!

    Miyako galumphs through the mud and rocks, picking her way carefully along. "It is rather beautiful, isn't it?" she comments to the belated Giganpor. "Glad you caught up."

    She winks at Uta. "Cute, cute. But then, so are you. But, air pekos? Really?"

    The spriggan chuckles playfully and nods to Fuka. "I love a good storm, but I prefer to view it from inside, by a nice roaring fire, preferably curled up with my girlfriend." She grins and produces a ... folding fan, from her sleeve. "But I've ridden out storms at sea before. Sure, I spent one groaning and whimpering 'cause I was seasicker'n a dog, but still." She flicks the fan open and waves it, fanning her face, seeming to be unimpressed by the pressure. "Shall we go in, then?"

Power of the storms? Great. It's going to be one of those dungeons, "Why can't we just fight a bunch of mobs or something." Kaydon mutters, more to himself than anything else. "Oh well, already here. Guess we'll make it count."

He pulls the damascus blade off his back and twists it in his hand for a moment to adjust his stance, before he takes a step forward and unleashes an uppercutting strike that creates a small whirlwind behind it aimed directly at the obvious target.

Just as quickly he sheathes his blade, and takes a step back to look at the rest of the group. Seems like almost everyone has their wits about them, this should go okay.

Challenge 2: The Fallen City

With enough magic poured into the statues, the spears are pulled back with a creeking of stone and the barrier drops, allowing the party to continue their path of exploration into the strange dungeon.

The hallway opens only a few hundred feet beyond into a massive, open cave that seems to have been lost to the sea for unknown years. There is still water here, that has not drained away with the passage of the storms. It floods what appears to be stone buildings, or at least the remains of them.

After making their way down the a slippery path, they find themselves wading in waist-deep water through what must have once been city streets. Now, it is overgrown with sea life. There are subtle signs of Undine culture here, so the buildings seem to have been made to withstand some of the ocean's pull. However, the architects probably did not plan for this placing being abandoned for so many years.

Still, the signs of familial life all around them with only the sounds of the water and their own footfalls in the echoing cave is... eerie. That is, until they begin to hear something unusual. It starts like a hum and then seems to rise, echoing off of the walls in different directions, making it hard to pinpoint the source.

The strange song seems lulling, putting them into a dream-like state if they are not careful. They need to find the source or they might end up stuck down here as part of the scenery.

Challenge:
Song vs 10
Cartography vs 8
Enchanting vs 8

Note: Cait Sith and Were Fang have an effective -1 to this roll due to their enhanced senses.

Failure: Your character slows to a stop and begins to dream while still awake. They see visions of their favorite meal, surrounded by people that they love. The feeling may be bittersweet as it may include family or friends not in Elder Tale, or some who may have even passed away. Pose/Speak accordingly as if they were experiencing this.

    Welp, despite the debuff, Arashi trudges ever onward, intent on completing the job she was sent to do, along with the others. As hall opens out into the huge cavern, and that strange song starts to slip into her ears... she focuses on the other one. You know. The Other One. Merek would know which one the Other One is. Considering her profession, she starts to gaze across the room, considering surfaces and such before starting to walk, "If I'm guessing right, whatever that is -shooould- be over here.."

Schneider continues his path of exploration into the strange dungeon, rubbernecking, because this is all pretty cool. Even wading through waist-deep water. The mood of the place begins to seep in, though, and he can even sort of hear the sounds of families sitting down, laughing and talking aroun a meal. Yakisoba, like mom used to make when he got a good report card. He can smell it, too, and he hasn't seen his family in a year, when he promised his mom he'd call every week when he went off to college.

With a tear in his eye, he sits down at one of the tables, laughing, joyfully recounting his exploits and listening to how they've been this past year and longer, mom's delicious yakisoba and the voices of his family echoing as he sits chest deep in the water with such a look of relief on his face that he's finally escaped this game.

"I have proven myself worthy with thunder and lightning!", Uta exclaims, raising her staff! "I- I don't think I want to be associated with the Palace Land kingdom this brings to mind, tho'."

"BARREL. We can only hope the treasure is contained in a BARREL," Uta hurries to correct Fuka.

"It was an Air challenge! What better proof for Air Pekos?" Arms held at an angle, legs arched as if on a saddle, she trosts on as if riding on an imaginary mount. "Aaaaair Peeeekos...", she says to Miyako. "I'm totally winning this- wait, are you flirting with me?" She turns to Haru, "Was Miyako flirting with me- no, no, actually, don't tell me. You've been hanging out with Fuka. You're going to make this weird, that's the last thing we want right now." She turns to Fuka. "Was Miyako flirting with me?"

And that is when it happens! The song! It lulls, lulls you into some sort of magical almost but not quite sleep! Perchance to almost but not quite dream?

"I know it well," Uta mumbles. Her staff still ready, she sings, as loud as she manages, to harmonize a faster, more upbeat voice over the hum, trying to reduce it to a mere bassline.

    Setsuna groans as he feels the water slipping into his shoes. "I really hate the rainy season." Every step squishes and he just has to wade deeper and deeper and he is not the happiest of campers as they go further. Finally he gets tired of it and climbs on to the top of his skeleton knight and accepts the piggy back ride. It doesn't get him completely out of the waist deep water but its better then nothing. It is the split focus and the necrotic magic that flows and resonates between the two that protects him from the danger of the songs, infact how the rest of the group hears it over Setsuna's complaining is really impressive.

     The ability to move forward granted, and Pela continues to move forward, ears and eyes honing in as she moves forward. A massive, open cave that's been lost to the sea for who knows how long... it was honestly almost mesmerizing in its own right. Something Pela could just quietly explore for hours if she had the time. As the party moves forward, starting to wade into the depths of water, she was carefully moving forward. And then... she starts to hear it. A hum? Pela's ears perk, turning towards where she thought the source was, listening to it and starting to lift her hand reflexively to start weaving a protective spell.
     "...Something's going o...n..." Pause. Her eyes start to go dull, as she walks forward... and her steps slow. And she eventually stops. Her arms reaching forward, grabbing for something in the water and lifting it up to her mouth; all that comes out is saltwater luckily, so she's not actually eating anything. "...Hi, Nanami... when did you get here? ...Oh wow... they put out a new chapter of that manga, that's great. I wonder what our favorite maids are getting up to today." Her ears are twitching, and she's smiling, though tears are starting to quietly stream down her cheeks. Her words continue like that, and even with her best friends, it seems she's pretty awkward. "...I'm sorry for basically giving up..." Yeah. Definitely bittersweet.

It is a good thing the cave appreciates fine arts and crafts! Haru gives a low whistle as the hallway opens into a massive cave. Echo echo echo. "Now that is one big cave of wonders," he says, wonderfully delighted by the showing. It doesn't stop him from watching his step until they start wading in water. Hands are held above his wait to hold his casting orb like they are doing a military crawl forward with rifles. Only this is with an orb. "Barrel, eh," he grins to Uta as they travel on. Fuka's version may be correct! He eyebrow waggles at the flirting ask. Yes. He would make it weird. Waggle. Then leans around Uta when Uta asks Fuka. Background eyebrow waggle.

The orb begins to glow more than its night-light effect. "Oh this reminds me of the sparring," Haru whispers to Uta and Fuka both when the lulling starts, "Go the -beep- to sleep. Go to sleeeepp." Of course, he does not want to be going to sleep. A finger rolls around the orb to put Wave Arte Glyphs to protect the Enchanter for Enchantment. "Enchanter Life," he whispers.

Giganpor seemed to be doing fine at first. Then he started to slow.

It's not long until he just... stops. And seems to be talking to not the group, but to others. "Mom, could I get some more? You and dad always make the best yakitori..." He seems to pause, "How was the work day? Did you have get the promotions?"

Oh yes, Giganpor appears to be thoroughly entranced. And somehow dreaming or something?

"... oh, school was fun. Dad, could you pass the soy sauce? Oh, don't tell me someone tried something at the office again... when did you two get here, anyways? Oh, more of your negime yakitori! Thank you!"

    Fuka grins at Miyako's comment. "Air pekos indeed! Only the cutest of riders can have one!" she insists. She and Uta are covered then. Possibly some of the others. She's not sure what Uta's on about with this one either, but she always encourages her friends in their efforts, obsessions, and often delusions. "Also have to agree with you on viewing it from the inside by the fire, but sadly I don't have a girlfriend!" she sighs forlornly, a great big heaving sigh that just *has* to be exaggerated for comedic effect.

    She's in a good mood again after (barely) passing the challenge, giving oohs and aaahs at various efforts of magic and artistry to pass the first challenge, though particularly captivated with the results of Shiruba, Prophylaxis and Haru. Uta gets a fierce grin as well, as well as a whispered, "You'll surely be worthy of an air peko with that effort! And maybe a girlfriend! I'm pretty sure she WAS flirting with you!"

    In a seriously good mood after that, Fuka belatedly starts feeling the effect of enchanting music. Her first reaction is to invoke the power of song, but she realizes Uta has that well in hand. So she goes with her second reaction instead; using her own enchantment abilities to trace the effect back towards its source! The echoes may be hard to track down, but magic has a signature and direction all its own to someone familiar with its peculiarities!

"No one can tell me I am not worthy," Miyako intones, smiling. She looks over at Uta briefly and asks her, "Did you want to be flirted with? Then yes, I was."

    She hums along, smiling as she walks, letting the warm, familial feeling wash over her. Humming turns to words, her choice of tune inspired by Uta's words. "Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun / Roll out the barrel, we've got the blues on the run..."

    The Spriggan settles down at a seat, producing her guitar from somewhere, and starts to strum a tune. "... you really like that one, don't you, mom?" she asks, teasing but friendly. "Sure, sure. You know I love it, too." She starts to play, sprightly and cheerful.

        Ohhh come by the hills to the land where fancy is free
        Stand where the peaks meet the sky, and the lochs meet the sea
        Where the rivers run clear, the bracken is gold in the sun
        And the cares of tomorrow can wait, till this day is done....

They make their way through the gates once open, only for Shiruba's eyes to go wide. By now one should be use to places like this somehow occupying large spaces underground when it shouldn't be possible with all the dungeons they've been through. But the fact that this is almost like an entire hidden city is pretty impressive. And apparently has it's own background music? Shiruba doesn't pay that much mind as she gets to looking for a way through the area.

She probably shouldn't of done that. But one can't really blame her for being more focused on wading through the water trying to figure out just what they've found down here, looking for important indicators...

Which puts her right into the enchantment's grasp, and stepping through a doorway goes from exploring the ruins to walking in on a huge dinner spread. "What the--" But before she can really think about what's going on she's grabbed by her older brother, the one that was busy working that fateful night and hadn't been able to spend it playing Elder Tale with her, and put into a chair at the table.

Fortunately this is a 'good' dream, so other than her doting bother it's Gwen and her parents instead of Shiruba's directly related family. Because of course it would be. Gwen would be the one to know food is her weakness.

Everyone else is probably just seeing her chew on dust and old seaweed without being able to tell what it really is.

Wet again. Kaydon trudges through the water, muttering to himself. He's a Marine, if he's not complaining about something he's probably dead.

His footfalls start to slow down as they get deeper in, until he stops, seeming to be staring off into the distance, "What?" He tilts his head looking confused for a second, "Of course I'll take a slice." He holds out his hand to grab a non-existent piece of pizza from a buddy that he hasn't seen in years.

Mostly because Kaydon saw Frank die overseas years ago.

He starts chatting about things, clearly imagining himself standing around a barracks room and hanging out with several of his friends, "Nah man, you know I had duty that night and missed the party. But I've heard all about what happened. Hah, yeah." He continues on like this, re-living stories that may or may not have actually happened.

No, this is far more than a temple. This is a veritable submarine civilization. A place where a people-- the Undine, likely-- called home for... how long? Does this perhaps have something to do with how the Fourlands Dukedom managed to survive isolated for as long as they did? Or is this akin to the old subterrannean cities of the Gnomes...?

But then, just as he stops to contemplate, Prophylaxis hears... a sound. A song, gentle and cloying, caresses his brain and suckles at his thoughts. For a moment, he remembers... that old man's sushi-ya, under the hotel in Meguro, he remembers going there with his mother and father... His movements slow, but at the last, before he slips away completely--

There's a crack of flame, a towering conflagration blasts up around the doctor, scalding his skin and cutting through the song serenading his soul. Prophylaxis gasps, his skin burning in places like smoldering paper. He glances around at the rest of the party and... "Damnit, a siren's song...?! Pela--" The doctor shakes the little baker's shoulder, "Wake up! Shuriba--"

Is straight up munching on ancient raw seaweed.

The doctor's expression curdles in mild disgust before he goes over to nudge the huntress with his staff. Nudge nudge. "Come on, you too. God, that's just... so unhygenic...!"

Challenge 3: The Barrier is Broken

The group is able to, eventually, find the source of the strange song. It seems to be some kind of defensive measure that the Undines had set up to keep outsiders from entering their city. However, like everything else here, it was left without anyone to tend to it, meaning that the magic had gotten a little out of hand.

However, without the music keeping things at bay, there is a shift in the atmosphere. The sounds of splashing echoes in the deep. Even before they see the enemy, the aggression flag tells the group that they are now in-combat.

At first, there are no signs of what might be attacking. That is, until there is a splashing sound all too close by. Piranhas school around them, snapping at their legs, their hands, at any place they can get a hold of. The fish bite at metal, their powerful jaws actually managing to damage the Adventurers' gear in the process.

They need to find a way to drive off the fish, or they are going to end up in a world of hurt in very short order.

Challenge:
Hunting vs 8
Light vs 10
Physical vs 12

Failure: There is a Piranha attached to you in an obvious and uncomfortable place (your choice). It makes a chomping sound, constantly and very slowly drains HP each time it bites you. This can only be removed in a separate scene, by utilizing the skills of a trained cook, who can turn it from annoyance into tasty meal.

    Merek will sing to himself, taking the time to try to find where the song is at. Most everyone else will probably manage that, the song he's generally using seems to be Songs of the Ocean. When he thinks about the city, the man looks about the place. "This... Well, interesting. You think it might be a place that Undine were?" he asks, while he considers. When they make it by the barrier. The man lifts up a hand while the magic of Light will begin to keep away the fish, with defense and with healing.

     A hand on her shoulder, Prophylaxis shaking her, calling out her name. Shouting to wake up. Her ears twitch. It seems so distant though. Until the source of that song gets cut off, and her ears perk, and her eyes flick around, and aggression flags appear. She's looking around in a daze, one hand lifting to wipe the tears from her face (making them more wet in the process with seawater, which honestly isn't making the situation any better) as she searches for the source of aggression, her shortblade drawn again.
     And then... there's a splashing sound. And biting fish. Biting at metal. And her armor. And just. Her immediate response? Is just to dart forward in a burst of sonic acceleration, swiping at the fish wildly as she makes for the nearest safe area in a still-mostly-just-instinctual state to try to escape the attacking pirahnas. Once she is in a relatively safe place, probably clinging to some convenient pillar or stalagmite or something to get her out of the water, tail wagging wildly as she looks around, eyes slitted slightly. A slow grumbling, defensive growl in her throat as she shakes off the last of the trance-causing magic.

Once the source of the song is dealt with Shiruba gets a little groggy, shaking her head to try and clear it. "That was... something..." She can't quite put it into words. Sure she hadn't been in the best of opinions of her parents before, but it was still a little hard hitting with what she'd seen instead. Maybe it was just a manifestation of Gwen's parents having adopted her as part of their family? And always had better options when it came to food...

Anyways, we're back with the real world action. Maybe a little slothish while recovering. That is until there's a shrill "KEE KEE KEE" from her animal companion as Windburn makes her 'alarm' call and flusters her wings. "What?! What no--oh!" She jerks back just in time to avoid a nasty surprise latching onto her tail. "That's what the music was suppose to keep calm!"

This time she's got Thundersnow Howl readily in hand, the grogginess gone as adrenaline surges in response to the sudden assault. Arrows of electrified ice fire from the bow, leaving piranha's dazed when struck. Making them the easy prey instead as Windburn swoops in to snatch one from the water... and then flying up and slamming it into a wall with her talons, because she's not going to try and bite nasty little bastard fish that are likely to bite back.

    Setsuna continues to ride upon his skeleton knight and is still not the most happiest of campers. Even more so when he hears the sound of splashing, his eyes glow as his magic activates and a pair of little red broken triangles appear in his eyes. Looking into the water he can see the source of the splashing, "You know it says something when the fish come to you. It's like they are asking to become food." With his dagger in hand and the knights rusty sword in the other Setsuna swings high upon his skeleton knight mount.

Splishing. Splashing. Just after the music is dealt with, there's a feeding frenzy on the way. "Oh... Oh -those- .. Hell." Seems maybe the warhorse encountered something like this before. ... It was a long time ago. "Don't get bit!" she calls out before Starshadow is brought about to start stabbing at the bitey fish. Spear fishing! "I -hate- these things!"

Finally getting woke up when the song stops, Giganpor looks around. And just stare a bit. Whatever he saw distracted him a lot as he moves towards the next area.

So distracted is he that when he focuses his senses on the splash he winces and... well... there's a chomping sound. And Giganpor now has a series of piranhas attached to his head. Literally there's no hair to him now. It's all piranha munching his head.

And that has him looking very, very annoyed. He tries to pull one off, then winces and realizes it's a debuff. That's stacked on him.

He sighs, "Let's get this over with already..." He starts to trudge forward, his mood obviously not there. And whatever he saw is obviously upsetting him.

Schneider is brought out of his family meal stuppr and is bummed to find himself back in the game. "I should've known it was too good to be true," he complains as he rejoins the party, now moving through pirhana-filled waist-deep water, and he yelps as he's bitten on a place covered by neither armor nor his group insurance policy, and surrounded by a hungry school of more of the same. He looks around, till shoot a signal flare over there, maybe the light will distract it.

The good news is, many of the school are dustracted by the signal flare's bright flash. The bad news is, the one that's got a grip on him doesn't go away, and so he winces as he wades on. Trying to remove it by hand is wildly painful, but the HP drain is slow enough, he'll just get someone to take care of it after this is over.

The Artificer is quick to put his orb away for this one. The last thing he wants is for a fish to gobble it up. Haru is being circled by sharks! Wait, no, smaller. Piranha! "I got this," he says in full confidence. The blue jacket gets rolled up to the elbows on both sides. A hand splashes against the water's surface. Thats right. Fish time. He has been preparing for this. Every collapsed mine shaft that needed unearthing. Every wall that needed pushing. Every golem that needed punching. Noodle Arms, your time to shine has come.

The Piranha leaps from the water to attack Haru. A beautiful, slow motion jump with gnashing jaws and dead fish eyes. Haru has perfect form. Way of the Noodle. Punch! Its beautiful. Accurate. CHOMP. His fist goes wrist deep into the fish's mouth and immediately gets clamped on. "Nnnggggg," the Enchanter grimmaces, having a fish for a hand. "Ok. Positive side is I think I punched its heart out." Monch Monch. "Not positive side, I think it doesnt need it to keep eatting my arm." He starts flinging the thing around to no avail. It has him good with those chompers.

        And the cares of tomorrow must wait, till this day is done....

    Miyako blinks, shaking her head. "Mom? Dad? Where's - " And then she sees the decayed, seaweed-strewn surroundings about her, and sighs, looking down.

    She's not crying. She really isn't. It's just water condensing on her cheeks. Yeah.

    A wordless grunt is her only verbal reaction to the piranha attaching itself to her hand. She lifts her head just enough to glare down at the creature. At least it was smart enough not to attack her guitar. S

    he flips her hand slightly, catching the fish in her palm, and crushes it in her grip. "Shut up and let me dream," she snaps, and shadow engulfs her hand... nothing is left when she opens her fingers but a trickling of dust.

    "Now," she says, taking up her guitar again and plucking out a quick tune, "Where were we?" Stopping once she's gotten started is hard, even with the illusions gone. She might need some help to get going. Or maybe she just needs to - wait, no, she is NOT crying, remember?

The music is silenced. Pela has snapped out of her reverie, and Prophylaxis watches her advance with a complicated expression writ large on his face. Those were tears-- what is it exactly that she saw...?

"It seems as though this whole place was inhabited once upon a time. Why is it that they left, I wonder...?" Not that he'll have to wonder for very long. The water begins to boil around them, though no heat is being supplied. "Mmn?" The doctor asks, "Eh-- ah!" Piranhas! Piranhas are in the water!! Is this why the Undine left!? Prophylaxis sounds an utterly undignified squawk as he doubles back, the air around him twinkling with starlight that abruptly begins blasting fish after fish out of the sky in a veritable storm of magic missiles!!

Somehow, he makes it out of the fishy fray... unharmed. But his fellows are uh, not quite so lucky...?

"Support Life," Uta replies at Haru. "Where 'support' is a verb. Look, I've verbed the noun. Properly, this time!"

Fuka's words do elicit a reaction: namely, wing-flailing, "I'll take just an air peko!", is what she replies to Fuka, and at Miyako, "No, no, let's make it that I didn't want to be flirted with. That's going to make things weird, and we don't want that. W-" A pause. "...Are you crying?"

Dangit, Uta, no! Haven't you read the narrator's text? She's not crying, it's seawater!

"It would seem so, Merek, if the seaweed and seawater and song and- PIRANHAS?!", Uta exclaims, as the durability bar of her boots plunks down. "Oh no no no no no no no-" Uta exclaims, and intoning a song which makes helical threads of light dance on her staff and focus on her gem, she begins to shoot blasts of light to the fish in a-

"BARREL!", she further confirms to Haru, out of the blue. And goes back to blasting fish.

"DON'T STEP ON MY BLUE SUEDE SHO- wait, no, that's Elvis. Uh... DON'T GNAW ON MY WHITE BOOTS!", Uta exclaims. "If you ruin them, Gwen is going to have to make a new pair, and- OH GOODNESS SHE MIGHT GET INSPIRED!"

*Pew! Pew!* More light is shot at the ravenous creatures. "Dang, these Peko Races get wierder and weirder every passing year- Wait, wait! Setsuna is riding a Skeleton Knight mount! Is that allowed in a Peko R- uh. Wait, yes. Yes, it's a pekoless peko race. Duh!" She slaps her face. "I wish I had thought of bringing along Vern..."

    As the group continues onward, Fuka sees Miyako's reaction to coming out of the siren's effect. Somewhat guiltily she realizes that in her own excitement to chase down the enchantment's source, she missed the troubles several people seemed to be having. Seeing the tears and *definitely* not commenting on them, Fuka makes her way over to the poor Spriggan girl and puts a comforting arm around her. Not saying anything, just being there for a time in place of an absent girlfriend. There is, after all, more to Fuka than silliness and flirting.

    She only breaks the comforting moment when they have to continue on through deep-ish water. Splashing her way through the water, Fuka's probably closer to drowning than anyone except perhaps Pela. And unlike the ninja maid catgirl, Fuka's wearing metal armor. It might well be a toss-up which is at greater risk.

    Still, when the party comes under attack, armor is not a terrible thing. It saves her feet from attack for one thing. She's bitten several times, but no one bite is particularly harrowing and she beats away several annoyances before they can wriggle in to bite somewhere particularly unpleasant.

    Screeching in rage, Fuka stops struggling and starts up a chant, calling on fire and light in the newest spell she's learned. This she fires into the water, roasting one fish and leaving a bubbling and boiling source of illumination for a short time, which reveals a whole bunch of fish in the area, making it a lot easier for people to see and eliminate them!

Kaydon thinks he's got a good idea as he starts rapidly stabbing the water with the hidden blade in his gauntlet. He actually does manage to get several of the bitey little bastards with his strikes, until one does manage to latch onto his arm and not let go.

He roars out in frustration and punches the fish with his fist from his other hand, trying to get it to get off of him, "Are you fucking kidding me!? Come on!" He smacks it a few more times, pulls out one of his knives and stabs it. Even dead it seems like it's last breath is dedicated to staying locked onto Kaydon's arm.

Challenge 4: Path of the Leviathan

Eventually, the school of Piranhas are able to be harried off, giving them a bit of breathing room. It allows them some time to continue their explorations. However, the 'aggression' flag remains active, suggesting that they aren't quite out of danger just yet.

Soon enough, they find that one whole edge of the city has been collapsed upon, as if something massive had come through. There are signs that Undines may have still been here when it happend. Weapons lay strewn across the floor, stuck out in places within the rocks, tarnished by rust and eaten away at by sea water.

There are a few massive scales that seem to be lodged in places in the wall of the cave where it has fallen in. Scales that must have come off from a Leviathan that had come through and nearly destroyed the city. It would explain some things...

Monsters often come in the wake of a Leviathan, which would explain the strange protections and the beasts that have now started to come in once they lowered those barriers.

Even as they appraise the situation, there are signs that this collapsed section of wall may be weakening. That would be a problem for all but those outfitted for breathing under water indefinitely. Water starts to spout from places, the force of the storms outside beating at the stone.

They had best find a way to shore up the wall, or risk having to have an impromptu end to their explorations.

Challenge:
Construction 8
Earth 10
Water 12

Note: At least half the group must succeed. Other roll options will be accepted if they make sense (Page Rem for difficulty rating.)
Failure: The group is forced to retreat from their explorations. This will end the +event. Roll well.

     Let's see. The school of pirahnas are taken care of for now, though the enemies don't seem to have completely disappeared. Something is aggressive on them. Pela is moving more carefully now, moving in and continuing through the water. Weapons and massive scales are in the area... and ... is that a leak? Oh gosh that's a leak. Pela takes a deep breath, before slipping a small rectangle of paper from within her clothing to start to cast an earth spell to help shore up that hole! And... well. There's an issue with that little paper slip that she was using to cast with: It's soggy. And while it might be fine for casting water magic, earth magic ended up just kind of fizzling out because of the damaged spell slip, and it breaks into red pixels. "...I need to make more spell batteries." Pela mumbles under her breath. At least theres' other, more effective earth mages in the group.

    Merek lifts up that axe while he begins to use his magic to make thorns that begin to adjust to the wall. Each of them will begin to make a buffer against the water, while he draws them into pattern to keep them protected. With that, he will nod to the party. "Alright, I wonder what we will find in this place," the man says, taking his time to look to everyone, "It's not safe, though what we will learn, that's amazing."

Giganpor huhs, then eyes ahead of them. "Oh, that's not good... hey, get some earth pillars going! There, there, and there!"

He moves forward and starts to hammer on different areas, working stone into holes as water starts to poor in.

He does look occasionally at the scales and other things, even grabbing a scale to try to use it to plug a hole he doesn't see someone at.

It's Giganpor's mighty hammer that's at least trying to knock pieces in to shore up the wall, even if he has to call them up himself!

By the time he's done, the wall's at least not going to burst down on them. Hopefully.

He looks at the others, the chomping sound from his new hair style being heard just a bit weird considering he's normally a red head. The Were Fang scowls at the construction before he looks to the rest of the group. "Well? What else can this place throw at us?"

"What's this?" Shiruba kneels down to examine one of the weapons left rusting on the ground. "There was a fight here. A bit fight." She stands back up and looks around. Then points at one of the large scales wedged in the stone. "Oh, there! That's a Leviathan scale. Which means..." She pauses a moment, reflecting back on the previous encounters with the giant sea monsters. Between the one coiled around the Undine city, and the ones they had to avoid on the Ezzo rescues.... "That actually checks. Monsters swarm in the wake of Leviathans. If one smashed through this city, the monsters would of followed to pick through the remains, and got trapped by the wall collapsing? Is that what it meant by dangerous things, though?"

Alas, the time for theorycrafting is cut short as a spout of water splatters out near her. A sharp-eyed glance picks out several more spots splittling froth through the cracks. "That must be some hefty pressure on the opposite side."

Shiruba pulls a shard of obsidian out of a pocket. Using her Spell Fletcher ability to infuse it with more elemental energy, turning it into a dark jagged arrow, which she nocks into her bow. Points at one of the leaking gaps, and fires. The projectile plugs the hole easy enough... and then more of the dark crystal can be seen forming along it, as the fragments of obsidian expand, fusing more of the rock back together.

Schneider is a fire wizard, and all this messing around with earth and water is not part of his skillset. He'll try his best to fight off the monsters, left in the leviathan's wake, but the situation has him at a disadvantage. Like, a serious disadvantage, and that's beside the pirhana still clinging onto him and draining his HP. He can't shake that off, either, and now it's trying to bail this place out. Where's his bucket? He hasn't got a bucket. Between pirhana and buckets, this is not a mission he's contributing to very strongly, and he'll have to hope that the rest of the party can cover for him.

    Setsuna is so glad to get out of the waist deep water as he climbs off his mount and looks at Uta, " Obviously I am proving that monsters should be allowed to participate in the Peko races. I have petitions I am trying to get circulated as well." Then his eyes are drawn to the scales as he walks up to one for a closer look. "Is this what I think it is?" It is only due to the rubble that he notices the wall starting to crumble, "Oh crap we need to protect this place. These scales they could be priceless. " Without a moment notice he raises up a mass amount of braces from the ground made out of amalgamations of bones as they do there best to brace the wall while the others work to make sure it doesn't fall.

Haru 'Fish Hand' Nox appraises the situation with a stern eye from his monocle and a gnawing monch from his fin tailed friend. "My Enchanter senses are tingling," he says, the fish wiggling, "or it could be blood loss." Both could apply. He looks at his one good hand, "Noodle arm, not today. We need to bring in the big guns." Yes, he is talking to his arms. Perhaps there is also a poison debuff on him or he is being weird. Both could apply.

The white haired artificer begins chanting a Wave Arte. "Terra. Vocare. Terebro. Numerus. Terebrare. Hostis." The water nearby shifts as the rocks come to life and a large Earth Sprite with whirling drill arms rhythmically makes its way in. Instinctively the fish on Haru's hand begins flopping left and right to the beat of the music. "Terra," he says up to the large Sprite, "Support Life. As a verb." To harken to Uta's lifestyle commentary. The large summon that looks a lot like it belongs on Transformer Isle makes its way through, using its body in some places as a support and drilling in others to make way for support constructs the same way of drilling and filling a cavity.

Fish stabbed. Excellent. Stupid bitey nibbling jerks. With the frenzy dealt with, Arashi takes a moment to make sure the brine and scale are cleaned from Starshadow before returning it to her back before moving along to see the devistation left behind. "... Wow. This must have been a hell of a thing." Either an event from long ago, or something in The Lore, one or the other.

The thoughts will have to wait since the wall seems to have some integrity issues. "... the storms are wearing on the wall.. Hrm.." a chance for redemption! The direshire moves to try and make use of her high water stat.. only for it to putter out -again- and cause ANOTHER hole to appear, soaking her before she gets out of the way. "Did my -best- thing get debuffed directly? What the hell.. Ugh.." she needs a towel. Grumble.

"A Leviathan scale...? I'm surprised you could identify such a thing, though I suppose it makes sense." Prophylaxis strokes his chin thoughtfully, all consideration of piranhas long behind him now, "Weren't the Fourlands Dukedoms initially composed of Humans and Undines who were driven from their homes by the arrival of the Leviathans? Perhaps what we've found here is one of those ancient cities. If so, then we should let them know. Perhaps there'd be some merit in reclaiming the place... Though perhaps not, as well. These ruins would take a sizable amount of work to rebuild, and it's not like the entrance is easily accessed." And Prophylaxis would know a thing or two about rebuilding ancient ruins. He's overseen the reconstruction of two such (above-ground) ruins, after all.

But that same experience also tells him that this wall is failing /quickly./ The doctor thinks for a moment, then drives his staff into the ground. He doesn't conjure stone to buttress the wall-- not directly. Magic's effects fade with time, and they do not want this stone to collapse and let the water beyond flood them out. Instead, he uses his magic to move large stone blocks that have been strewn about the room into position to reinforce the weakest sections of wall.

"We should hurry," he says, "I don't know how long this will last."

    When Fuka's arms slide around her, Miyako looks up, into the girl's face... and that's all it takes. She slides from the chair to her knees and throws her arms around the tiny Sylph, buries her face in a shoulder, and cries, openly and unashamedly. "Mom... Dad..."

    Eventually, she's gathered herself enough to carry on, and gives Fuka one last squeeze. "Thank you," she says, a hitch in her voice still, and pushes herself to her feet.

    Minutes later she finds herself staring at a collapsed hallway, lined with occasional leviathan scales. "Rocks fall, none of us die?" she asks, calmly.

    She thinks for a moment, then taps out a quick rhythm on her stomach with the fingers of one hand before starting a song to guide her own magic, aiding the fortification efforts.

        Every morning at seven o'clock
        There's twenty tarriers a-workin' on the rock
        The boss comes round and he says keep still
        Come down heavy on your cast iron drill
        And drill ye tarriers drill!
        Drill, ye tarriers drill
        For it's work all day for the sugar in your tae
        Down behind the railway
        And drill ye tarriers drill
        And blast
        And fire.....

Now this is something Kaydon actually knows he can do. Fish attached to his arm or not, he'll pull out his sledgehammer and a sheet of metal. He moves up towards the wall, and starts to hammer the metal out, arm glowing in order to channel the fire into the metal and make it workable.

He hammers out the sheet until it's wide enough to make a decent bit of coverage and hold back the water pressure.

"Well it ain't a pressure clamp but it should hold long enough for us to make it the rest of the way..." He hopes.

    Busy with dealing with bitey fishies, Fuka completely misses Haru's mighty punch as he demonstrates to the pirahna who's boss. Yeah, they'll have to look after that one later. She's quite dismayed at his ongoing injury, and also kind of amused and *definitely* trying hard not to show it. Unsuccessfully, almost certainly. She'll heal him at some point unless Doc or Uta beat her to it, but ... seriously, that's kind of ridiculous.

    She takes in the sight of the cavernous city with awe. "Who would have imagined something like this under here?!" she muses. The sight makes the whole trip worthwhile really. She also gets her first sight of what a true leviathan can do. Yeah okay, scary as heck. But she doesn't have much time to consider all this.

    When the water starts coming in, Fuka looks alarmed. "If that collapses..." she says, and doesn't need to finish. Either they stop the leaking and collapsing, or they get the hell out of there. If they can't stop the collapse and are still inside, they're all going to die. Well, anyone who can't breathe water anyways.

    Fuka glances over at Haru. "This is your moment then, big guy." she says. There may be others in here with greater earth magic, but she knows the faith Haru has in his earth magic, and in particular his earth elemental summons. While he works his magic she does what she can to shore up weak points, using her not-weak powers of earth magic to bind collapsing sections together temporarily, buying time so others can shift and repair and reinforce as needed.

    As the work proceeds and it seems like they'll actually succeed in shoring up the stonework to prevent a collapse, Fuka grins at Haru. "I might actually have to stop calling earth magic 'boreing' now!" she admits, in clear and warm praise for his efforts. "Fish-hand!"

    Yep, Fuka's found something new to tease Haru for.

Uta trudges out of the water with her feet bare; while the very top part of her thigh-high boots still holds on, almost everything else has been bitten to shreds. The rest of her outfit isn't in a better shape. Modesty is fully preserved, of course, but there are holes and gashes and bite marks, all over her outfit, and her skin. One of her gloves has pretty much shattered already, and the other is mostly an armband by now.

One of the main reason the main part of her outfit is not in as bad a shape as the limbs? Every time a fish threatens to come even near to her chest, she'd ignore whatever she was fighting at the moment and made sure to DEVASTATE the new attacker with a single punch. People who paid attention will have noticed a small detail: today Uta has a small addition to her usual outfit -- a necklace with a pendant, in the shape of a small hook, on whose right side two songbirds are perched; the right side ends in an amber gem, a color that matches her eyes. She seemed particularly protective of the item.

"Let me know where to sign that Petition," Uta would yell at Setsuna. "I fully support this request!"

Uta is, by now, teetering and, given the amount of red light that mars her appearance, possibly suffering a good deal of (digital?) blood loss. "I... I think I..." She blinks. Her vision swims. She raises her hands, and sweeps them around. "Rockslide!", she exclaims. The Earth begins to rumble and shift following the movement of her hands, but as she's about to pull the ground to buttress an unstable-lookint section of the walls- a spell of dizziness. She spins in place, leans off to one side, and has to spread her arms and stumble for a few steps before she can steady herself again. Leaving the Earthwork incomplete.

In response to Arashi, she says, "...you have a point. I should research how this whole thing happened. What event led to this."

"A lost city of the Undin- I WANT INTO THEIR LIBRARY!", Uta exclaims, fists clenched.

She points at the Scales. "Quick! Someone who can appraise them, Appraise them! Monster Handlers! Anyone!"

Miyako's tears get nothing but respect for now. Fuka is on this. No need to add further confusion.

Challenge 5: The Wakerider

The wall of the cavern is reinforced, at least for now. Yet, even as they manage to buy themselves a bit more time, there is a rumbling in the ground beneath them. Something massive is moving and threatens to undo all their work.

The creature that emerges seems to an unusual amalgum of beast and fish. It has a serpentine tail, four stubby legs with fins that are sharpened to points, and a large, bulbous face with large, round eyes. INSPECT identifies it as... 'The Wakerider'. A title that makes sense, perhaps, as creatures like this often ride the wakes of Leviathans, taking advantage of weakened or dying prey that are left behind.

However, this one seems to have been trapped here by the collapsing wall of the cave. Now, without the protections guarding the city, it is free to go on a kaiju-style destruction spree, smashing buildings as it makes way towards them, paying little heed to anything else in the way.

It is time to fight, if they wish to survive...

Challenge:
Physical: 11
Magical: 11

    Setsuna looks at Uta, " Yes the slime lab will begin excavation immediately. We need to make ssome rock eater slimes and train them to devour things like rubble. Then we could use them to dig up this forgotten city." Yes Setsuna is already plotting this new bsuiness venture for the slime lab as a new beastie comes out to play. Worse it is destroying everything in it's path. Looking at his knight the necromancer tosses the rusty broadsword to the thing. "I want it's head. Remember no disentigration." The skeleton chatters it teeth and response as the blade begins to glow with dark magic as the knight charges forward slashing at the Wakerider's neck, obviously trying to follow orders and take it's head.

     Okay. The wall's reinforced. Her friends seem to be mostly fine though some of their HPs are kind of dropping slowly for one reason or another. And... Uta's being Uta. Also Fuka's being Fuka. Honestly, all is right in the world. "...Okay. ...We can go to their Library, Uta." Pela responds with a small nod. Honestly, there's no reason to stop that at all. And also she's not even going to try messing with those scales. Nope. That's outside of her expertise, even if they're pretty. And interesting. And also there's some giant creature in front of them.
     Pela looks towards the beastfish thingy. Inspecting it brings up a name. A name she had only seen or heard of occasionally. And this one... is... well. It's here. Smashing buildings and destroying things. Pela frowns. She puts her sword away. And she pulls out... a small loaf of bread from her inventory. She takes several bites from it. Chews. Swallows. And she takes a deep breath. Her blade is drawn. Energy crackles along its length, and focuses on the enemy.
     Soon she's darting forward, her blade almost seeming to follow a predetermined track that brings her electrified blade sinking into a weaker part of the wakerider's body. And similar attacks follow in quick succession. Each one just as viciously accurate as the last. It seems Pela has something to work out, even if she seems extremely calm the whole time while fighting, dodging, and striking the Wakerider. The Mellowing Melonpan brings calm to all things. Even vicious stabbings.

@emit
%Clearly Arashi is having an off day. Between the 'Ocean's Weight' debuff, Vertina's training, and being -drenched-, her attempt to go in after this Wakerider is less than stellar. This -would- be about the time to slip into the shadow and attack from above but, well, that particular skill is locked until training is done! BLAH.

As a result, Arashi's attempt to just -beat- this monster with her weapon fails, not spectacularly like with the wall a moment ago, but the way she ends up basically tossed by a flick of the monster's limb, and ends up sprawled on the floor, she just heaves a sigh.  "I need to git gud. Damn."learly Arashi is having an off day. Between the 'Ocean's Weight' debuff, Vertina's training, and being -drenched-, her attempt to go in after this Wakerider is less than stellar. This -would- be about the time to slip into the shadow and attack from above but, well, that particular skill is locked until training is done! BLAH.

As a result, Arashi's attempt to just -beat- this monster with her weapon fails, not spectacularly like with the wall a moment ago, but the way she ends up basically tossed by a flick of the monster's limb, and ends up sprawled on the floor, she just heaves a sigh. "I need to git gud. Damn."

Schneider is not in any good frame of mind right now to deal with monsters, not after getting eaten by pirhana, illusionarily taken home, dragged back into ETO, and watching helplessly as this place they're exploring almost gets sent back to the bottom of the ocean with him in it. This is not a thing he wants to do. On the other hand, this is just a monster, made out of, well, pixels or something, e guesses. Not important. He casts. He knows what to do with monsters, even big ones.

"Deep Doomsday," he chnats, and dark power grows around him. "To the spirits of land and air, bound by the pact, fulfill your obligation now." What pact that may be is left unsaid. Presumably the spirits know. He barks out the final word: "Megadeath!" and gestures at the Wakerider, who gets to experience the intense flame of his spell. For as long as he can survive the HP loss, anyhow.

"Yeah? High Five!" Haru says in celebration to Fuka's admission of how much Earth magic Rocks. Of course he does high five Fuka with the Fish Hand, the flopping writhing fish that is /still depleting his health bar/. "That'll have to be part of the secret handshake. People will know something fishy is going on if we do it in public, though."

Haru appreciates the extra attention Uta is spending towards protecting her chest. He thinks the next thing to do is to put a little Air magic enchantment on the necklace that zaps the first thing that comes close. Chest defense mechanisms.

There is a certain level of being impressed by Shiruba's... well Shiruba. But the earth magic in particular, "Fascinating," he says while his summon is going to town on the structure. He will have to catch up with Shiruba about that one later!

Bigger fish to fry now. A big'n. Battle for survival time. Serious mode. In his right hand, an orb for casting. In his left hand, a fish. Dual Wielding? Questionably. The Enchanter works on debuffing Wave Artes. However when he rolls through one chant, a fin slaps him in the face. Ok, no dice on that one. And another time the fish starts to wiggle and moves the orb so that the Arte circles are moved. Haru did not account for the dual wielding penalty when he is not the chosen one. Foiled by Fish!

    Fuka returns the fishy high-five, though she looks up at it dubiously after doing so. Then she wipes her hand off on her coat, which is at least well-drenched and so quite good for cleaning. "Since when do I care what people think of what I do in public?" Fuka instead replies, grinning fiercely.

    Unfortunately Fuka's good times get interrupted. "Oh you are NOT collapsing this place after we saved it!" Fuka bellows as she sees the Wakerider tear through a building. In a group of this size, she's usually one to fall back in a support position and deal with a boss mob from afar or protect the others with buffs, debuffs and heals. However, with the threat this thing poses, there's only one suitable answer. Move in, cut it off, cut it down! She charges along with the rest of the frontliners.

    "Wait no disintegrations?" Fuka protests. "How about fireballs then? Or hey, DECAPITATIONS!" she grins, swinging wildly. Well, actually not all that wildly. She's actually remarkably precise in her swings, careful of where they land, though they at least look pretty wild.

"Lets mess this thing up!" Kaydon is still pissed at the fishy debuff he's suffering from, and the memories that were forced into his head. So now he's going to take it out on this would-be kaiju.

He launches himself forward, damascus blade coming to bear as he rushes at the beast. He jumps, landing on it's back and starting to hack away at it with his blade, landing several slashes before jumping clear before it can hit him. Sure it's bigger, but that means it's slower.

He'll keep moving in and out, striking the target multiple times and bringing his custom made weapon to bear on it the whole while.

Well, that's certainly not the prettiest thing in the world. In fact, it's downright ugly. Prophylaxis stares at the... half-fish, half-beast, all-awful /thing/ and wonders to himself how it managed to survive down here all this time. But monster biology is, sadly, not his specialty.

What is, however, is making sure that none of his party members go down fighting this thing. The doctor's staff whirls and strikes the earth, sending a pulse of pure, blue water toward each of his fellow adventurers. They begin to glow with cyan light, the scent of spring cutting through the fishy stink clinging to the air. Each and every one of them is imbued with a potent <regeneration> buff, offsetting whatever damage they might have taken, or that the monster might yet inflict. "Feel free to go as wild as you like. I'll keep you all standing upright."

"I wouldn't mind finding a library either!" Shiruba adds over her shoulder. "... But I don't dare mess with thise scales, they might be supporting part of the wall." The wall they just made sure wasn't going to fall apart.

Only for another monster to come along wanting to make the wall fall apart!

"That's a really big fish... lizard... thing?" Shiruba is no monster specialist, so that's the best she's got off the top of her head when there's fighting that needs to be done as well. "I know we're not all ranged fighters, but this might be a good thing to not get too close to. One stomp or stray tail swing could have you headed to the church."

There is a silent communication between Hunter and Animal with nods, as Windburn flies off her shoulder so Shiruba has full proper use of her arms, instead perching on one of the ruined structures. The wolfgirl pulls one of the special elementally conductive arrows she designed with Miho, drawing it back in her bow. First the elemental gems inbedded in the arms glow, then the entire weapon starts to crackle and spark as electricity is charged into the arrow. To the point it almost looks to be made of lightning thanks to the ionized glow sheathing it, glowing a hot yellowish-red.

Shiruba raises it up to take aim, holding the charging attack as long as she can, then finally "VERMILLION HARPOON" and releases the projectile crackling through the air.

Flying far and fast the arrow hits with reasonable force of it's own... But it's the KRAK-KRAK-KRAK-A-THOOM that follows as it releases that intense charge like a quartet of lightning strikes when it impacts that really does the work!

    Merek doesn't know what to do when they reach that Leviathan. It's not going to be all that easy, all the same he takes the time to lift up both hands while he brings about flames to it and his feet, "Ragnarok's Wisdom!" Then he swings along into the enemy while he fights.

Giganpor just looks upa t the thing, and lets the others go at it for a few minutes. Meanwhile, he starts to move to get into position.

When the time is right, Giganpor leaps right on the thing like it's one of those big worms from Beetlejuice or Dune as he brings up his hammer and then comes down on it as the entire weapon's head glows a bright green, "RIDDLE OF STEEL!"

The dual impact of gravity and a nice big strike to the head just seems to resound out of the cavern as he then starts to stab at it and dig in the axe head to make sure he's not dislodged.

The fishy hairdo is still there, too!

"Sold, Setsuna. We do that. This place is -priceless- for its archaeological importance! It's, like, the Pompeii of ETO!"
    The monster appears, and Uta, panting because of the recent strain, clenches her staff, and stares, in a lowered stance of readiness. The Wakerider. This is it.

Rhythmic splashes mark her barefoot steps as the Spriggan, covered in still glowing gashes, rushes over to the monster. A scream, a leap, a flight in the air with multiple twists, like a gymnast at the olympics, she lands with both her feet on the monster's head, and-

Sea monster. Slippery. If the Wakerider technically counts as a 'fish' (does it?), well... then Uta has just performed the Mother of All Slipping-On-A-Fish'es. She slithers along, screaming, flies of over its back, and plants her face on the ground behind it.

She remains there, prone, inert, moaning in pain...

Shimmer. A magical barrier of sheer darkness materializes around her, sort of exists for a second or two, then promptly pops and evaporates like a soap bubble filled with cigarette smoke.

"Fuka... was that good Shield'ing?", Uta's muffled, exhausted voice asks

    Miyako hmmms to herself and scowls as she sees the monster waiting for them. "Welp," she muses. "I see we have the Library's guard dog." She shrugs and watches it for a moment, as the others engage it.

    "I wonder what it would taste like?" she muses. "Deep fried slabs, maybe? Or grilled, for sushi?" While she muses on the subject, her fingers trace out her famliar runes on the air before her. "Probably pretty tough, too. Maybe a citrus marinade... means we need something salty for the sauce... teriyaki based?" She continues musing on the subject, even if the 'system' won't let her actually cook it herself. "Not to self, pick up cooking skill at some point?" She'll forget again before the day is done, most likely.

    The situation, she finally decides, needs a song.

        Oh the weather outside is frightful
        But the FIRE inside's delightful
        So since we've a library to go

    And with that, water vapor in the air rises towards the ceiling, consengin into snow... and then into ice... and then forms into darts that rain down at impossible speed towards the monster, slamming through its scales and into its flesh.

        Let it SNOW, let it SNOW, Let it SNOW!

Finale:

The monster is defeated, but the damage is done. Much of the city has been crushed to rubble beneath the massive bulk of the monster. Even so, there are a few artifacts that they might be able to scavenge from the location to bring back for study.

However, with the storms starting to pick up, the group knows very well that their repairs will only hold a short time longer. Soon enough, this place will be lost once more to the surf.

At least the story of what happened here can be carried to the outside world. The story of an Undine city, which was threatened by the passage of a Leviathan, who fought bravely to keep it at bay, building defenses to hold back the monsters that came in the beast's wake. However, they had not expected the Leviathan to damage the very cave wall, causing it to collapse in on itself, spilling monsters from the sea into their home.

The people of this village had been forced to flee for their lives, leaving behind much of their belongings and abandoning the city to the monsters and the ravages of time. Now, at least, their tale can be brought back to the Hunter's Guild, and perhaps to those who might be able to piece together where the descendants of those Undine now dwell. It would be good to bring back a story of bravery and survival in these dire times.

    "Yako you're making me hungry!" complains Fuka, surveying the damage done and received. She's fine, having taken some hits but nothing Prof can't heal thanks to her defense. Shiruba's fine advice notwithstanding, she goes where she feels she can do the most good in a battle. Sometimes that's the front line, sometimes the back. Sometimes just planting herself in front of a squishy caster and keeping them safe. Swap-life, it is. The soul of a drifter and a rebel who refuses to be pinned down to one position.

    From her still-standing position, she regards Uta. "Well, you definitely blocked the ground with your face." she critiques. "Quite thoroughly too! And that bubble at the end? Ten out of ten for style! I think we still need to work on a few things though. Still, good hustle! Great effort! You did wonderfully, Uta!" she praises. And this, at least, isn't mere snark.

     By the end of the battle, Pela is standing there, breathing heavily and holding two blades. It's not quite obvious when she pulled out the second blade, but it's almost like a scene of carnage. You know. Except it's just red pixels. Pela quietly puts away her twin blades, and then starts salvaging what she can from the city, aiming specifically for things that seem as if they had cultural significance. And also she spends the time -- what little they have -- to see what kind of gardens or herbs there might be traces of lingering in the depths of this place. After all, she did have a quest to go places where the few have gone.

The monster is beaten... but the damage is done. Between it and the storm they won't have a lot of time. Still, they have a story, and that's the starting point for most historical reviews.

"Wish we had longer," she mutters, even as she goes full Archeologist and grabs a couple of the discarded weapons. A piece of foundation as an example of the construction style used here.

Surely Gwen won't mind her hording them in a closet until they get Shibuya back and she can make proper displays in the museum again.

Maybe another day they can try and research where this tribe of Undine went when they fled.

    And it does seem as if the weather is all too close to 'frightful' once again. Depressing. Especially here, with the ocean likely to crash back in on them when it does. "Yeah," she offers to Shiruba, picking through what she can find and tucking things away into her inventory. "Anyone finds anything about music, save it for me, okay?"

    She starts humming the Raiders March as she continues her hurried salvage work, her own inner archaeologist leading her to bits of jewelry, tableware, small weapons, carved bits of stone, and even a book or two. Most of what she finds are odd trinkets, perhaps intended to decorate the homes of the owner, or holding other purposes yet unexplained.

    "How much more time we got?" she asks, fully intent on continuing her salvage work until the very last millisecond possible.

    Setsuna frowns as he hears the storm moving in. "Hate to say this but we are below sea level in the middle of stormy season. I would not be surprised if this place floods when it gets bad. We need to move and mark this on a map for another day. " It is said matter of factly as Setsuna eyes those leviathan scales with the eyes of greed. He would definately be coming back for those scales, never know maybe there are more. " If anyone is good with maps please make every effort to mark this dungeon location so it is not lost." With that setsuna starts to head back towards the entrance.

"That pesky ground never knew what hit it!", Uta mumbles, her low HP and dizzines probably accounting for her less than coherent speech pattern. Or maybe it's just Uta being Uta.

She pushes herself to stand, dusts herself off, and first of all, after a moment of panic, makes sure her is pendant intact. It is, good.

"For -us-," Uta corrects Miyako. Gently, without accusation. "We are a team of song hunters now, remember?"

She rubs her chin. "I should definitely Loremaster the event that led to this catastrophe. And start a project to re-discover these ruins after we get out." She turns to the rest of the party. "Anyone wanna help with- wait. Wait."

Shock. Dread. A gasp, which promptly follows into dejection as her shoulders and dark wings slump. "...the faceplanking... I... I lost the Peko race... I faceplanked and came in last place while everyone rushed ahead of me..."

It takes her a few seconds to come to term with this shocking realization. Some more time to cope. And then to do what is proper.

"It's okay, Air Peko," she says, petting thin air next to her. "You'll always be an imaginary champion to me."

Schneider looks around, takes in the scene, and will hurry his backside, fish and all, back to the entrance. Parachutes don't work underwater and he's all out of airships, which would otherwise be super-useful about now. He will hustle as things grow more urgent, but it looks like he's following the crowd, which has come to a conclusion and is departing Dodge post-haste. That's the speed setting he's using also.

Squishy caster, ho! He keeps Fuka's versatility active enough while he is in the back rooms. Haru claps in celebration for the job well done. Its more like he is punching the fist with his other hand, though. "Top Marks," he notes, "that thing was a beast." Literally and figuratively.

They are standing in a historical site. Haru is loathe to leave without capturing more here, but time is not favorable. "A time to do a more underwater exploration another time, perhaps," the Artificer laments as he spends what little time they do making note of the culture of these Undine. Its hard to be taken seriously with the fish hand, though. "Maybe as an underwater course, eh?" he asides to Uta and the racing. Water Peko!

    ... oh. Right. "Right! Us!" Miyako calls back to Uta. "Song Hunters Are Go!"

    The Spriggan grins and goes back to salvaging everything she can, until there is no choice but to flee before the innundation.