Duty Session 415: Tomb of the Lost Emperor

Let's go back a bit to before this whole war with the Palace Lands started. Before things went nuts on that front Gwen had been given a very important mission. There was a ring long ago which belonged to her family. Mifa has tasked Gwen with the recovery of the ring from the tomb.

She was also of aid giving maps of the tomb's location, along with what information she could gather about it. It's not much other than there are traps and the likelihood of wildlife or monsters having moved in.

Gwen was outside the entrance bouncing in place. The towering Sylph is pretty happy from the looks of it, heck she's excited.

"So we don't know what's inside per say but I do know what we're looking for. Mifa has warned us that the tomb is indeed trapped so we should be on our guard for those. Finally, there is a high chance monsters may have moved in since this place was built. As for the item, it's a ring. When this is over I have a BBQ lunch for everyone as well and maybe some outfits too!"

Well Gwen's waiting on that at least, right?

Old abandoned tombs, full of traps and possibly monsters. Sounds like something out of an old movie, right?

Well, this is no movie.

It's ready to be explored by whoever's brave enough to go in there.

One of them is Kotono, who arrived as soon as she could, and upon reading the map, she commits it to memory. "Looks like quite the interesting place I have to say. Of course, I have to wonder what kind of traps might be lying in wait."

    "Gwen, dear, I'm sure we are all just delighted to have the opportunity to help you." Wake pauses a moment, the smallest curl of a smile coming to her lips, as she adds, "But I think something comfortable to wear in the chambers on cold nights would not be amiss in the least."

    Speaking of garments, today The Right Clothes have wound themselves into a light blue dress, slit just past the left knee. The neck is high and modest and patterns of roses wind about the bodice.

    "With the group you've gathered, I am quite confident." The Baroness is always confident, though.

    Miyako has spent most of her time in the Palace Lands supporting the small camp-turned-town at Seeker's Landing. She hasn't been along on any of the trips to visit the major kingdoms, but for the one. So the chance to get out and see something interesting has grabbed her attention.

    Besides, who doesn't love an Indiana Jones movie?

    "Ought to be interesting," she says, agreeing with Kotono. She pulls the other Spriggan into a quick embrace before they split up to follow the rest of the group.

And of course Gwen wasn't going to be delving into cultural ruins and not have Shiruba close by her side. Though even the wolfgirl rolls her eyes a bit. "Gwen, call down. You keep bouncing like that..."

Shiruba pauses, and then smirks. "You're going to hit your head on the ceiling." Gotta get in some ribbing of her surrogate sister's height.

Yeowang has arrived. In lieu of her usual casual clothes, she's going for something of a ninja look, dark top and pants, and while she's not wearing a hood just at the moment, it's an option. Of course she's left out the ninja sword, but for those that know her, that omission isn't going to keep anyone from getting hurt. She looks up, nods to Gwen. "Ring. Barbecue." She's got it, it seems.

She's standing casually ready, though there is a sense of purpose to her eyes. She's in heavy training lately, and this will become part of her training.

Now before this whole war started, it was a simplier time. A better time. Simple Haru was intrigued by the idea of the item being a ring. Accessory Forging is what he does and trying not to get killed by rolling boulders, blade traps, or hungry mummies are just footnotes on the page to his Simple Artificer life. He can't help but get a little excited about this too with the Towering Sylph bouncing. He bounces too. Get psyched, Simple Haru, get psyched. "Rings," he bounces, "all about that. Going to want to Appraise it and make commemoratory versions to celebrate through Accessory Forging." Because thats totally how it works. One ring to rule them all with a buncha not-ruling rings.

    Fukaziroh loves exploring, at least in groups. She almost never goes out seeking strange things on her own, preferring to do her exploring with friends. So when Gwen invited her to go on a tomb raid, er, she jumped at the chance! "I know I'm as delighted to be here as you all must be that I'm here!" she says enthusiastically, with a little quirk to her grin that should make it somewhat obvious she's expecting people to take that with a grain of salt. "I could use a new outfit or two. How about 'Ruins Explorer Fuka'? I hope it comes with one of those bowl-thingy hats! Or how about a nice bandage outfit for the tomb scene? Old fashion never truly goes out of style right?"

    Merek walks along with the party, not sure what all might be inside. He will nod a bit with Gwen, "Alright, well either way we should probably be prepared." He checks on the equipment with him, and will take the time to pull the blade which he uses from the hip.

Gwen looks to Shiruba for a moment and is amused.

"It's not like I didn't do that visiting your family back in Japan. I won that fight with your doorway too!"

She looks to Yeowang and grins.

"You got it and Baroness I'm sure something can be done on that end."

Gwen looks at Fuka intently for a moment and gets a wide smile on her face.

"Oh I think we could do both!"

Once everyone else is sorted out Gwen will take a look at Merek and then one to Haru.

"Well it's a very old ring that my patron would like to see recovered but you can inspect it once we find it."

Gwen will take the lead and once into the tomb the party would find the entryway is not dark. GLowing enchanted crystals light the way giving dim light in this otherwise dark place. Oddly there are statues everywhere. Some human, pooka and so forth. There is however a concerning pattern they all seem the same, same for the corridors it's some kind of maze it looks like. Gwen meanwhile pauses seeming to try and ferret out air currents herself to help find the way through this.

Kotono doesn't mind getting an embrace from Miyako. She'd reciprocate by...

Sorry, we can't tell you that here.

Once they're inside the tomb, Kotono stays behind Gwen and lets her lead the way inside. She knows there's no telling what's inside this place, and Kotono doesn't want to risk running into anything that she shouldn't. Her footsteps are slow and deliberate to avoid alerting anything that might be nearby.

And it seems her footsteps are properly timed so that she actually winds up sneaking around instead of moving around.

    While wandering the maze, Fuka keeps up the occasional bit of blather. "A maze of twisty passages, all alike." "Oh I've seen this in a game once. We need to search the ground for signs of the way the crypt-builders must have moved all the rock and heavy equipment!" "Anyone have the faintest clue what sort of signs that would be?" "Hey, can you smell fresh air from this corner? No I didn't just deal one out!"

    She does seem to be onto something with that last one though, and at least has a solid idea which pathways are dead-ends, helping steer the group away from places most likely to get them lost or waste time or run into literal dead-end traps.

"Yeah, by leaving a bigger dent in the door frame than your head!" Shiruba teases back. "It's not my fault Japanese housing isn't built for tall people."

But as they head into the tomb it's time to actually get down to business, and it doesn't take long for an experienced Archeologist to realize what's going.... and that gets Shiruba almost as excited as Gwen was at the entrance, if the way her tail is wagging is any indicator. "Oh, look! A maze purposely designed to look similar from all directions to confuse any would be grave robbers!" She hmms, rubbing her chin. "But the constructors would of needed some way to navigate without getting lost themselves..." She pauses as the falcon perched on her shoulder squawks, peering upward. Shiruba tilts her head back as well, and then points. "There! There's notches in the ceiling to help tell directions. The one direction no one would really think to look readily -- up!"

She pats Windburn on the head. "Good girl, putting that bird vision to use."

Yeowang comes inside, takes a look around. It's kind of a mystery what would lead one way or another, but maybe ... this magic thing, she can sometimes use, her sense of the air currents and flows, though, is more mundan analysis. She licks a fingertip, and when one side grows marginally cooler, there's a very slow breeze coming from that direction. She will mention this, and along with everyone else's information, maybe that will present a solution.

    Before Wake will proceed, she will properly curtsey. Manners must be observed. "It is a pleasure to be working with you all." She slowly rises from the deep curtsey.

    Upon entering the dungeon, she remarks, "Well, if you have seen one hundred dusty tombs, you have seen them all, I suppose. Unique to start with the maze, though."

    The Baroness considers her surroundings with a calm expression for some time before acting. "When lost in the dark places of the world, being nigh undetectable can provide much perspective."

    She slides gracefully into a handy shadow and in moments is out of view and silent. An unfortunate side effect of sneaking about is it is rather impossible to maintain a pleasant conversation, and so she focuses on the work at hand.

    Miyako hmms softly to herself as the group passes the first group of statues. "Hail the Eternal Guard," she says, in a sepulchural tone, taking a formal bow to the closest of them. "Rest well." She smiles softly as she walks along, building a mental map in her head. Several junctions later she reaches up to catch Kotono's shoulder. "We need to go this way," she says, indicating a different direction. The same one the notches Shiruba points out point towards.

"Thats all I need," Haru asides to Gwen about the ring. He only really wants to inspect it, not so much hold onto it. Its not every day that the object in question lines up with his profession. He tones it down a notch or three as the large group starts making their way to press inward. He appears to be the only one struggling to find the way forward, setting the tone for months to come. Best of luck, Simple Haru, you shall need it. A hand focuses on the rolling air currents, but none of them match up quickly. It requires a few more retraces. Fortunately the party has figured it out so it becomes a lot like one of those group trivia games where someone hits the answer before you figure it out. He rolls his focus orb from one hand to the other and follows along.

    Merek will try to sense the currents, though it doesn't look like he's doing wonderfully with that. All the same, he will take the time to follow with the party which seems to know. "Well, you think we will find what you're looking for?" The man nods a little bit to Wake, "It is good to see you," he will offer.

Gwen closes her eyes chanting a spell she pauses for a moment and notes

"I sensed an air current this way."

Those tracking air currents would find there is a very faint draft that points to an exit. Combining that with the efforts of those who are working with their Cartography skills will be able to find a way out. Those who snuck ahead would be able to warn the rest of the group of traps that might have harmed or waylaid the entire group.

Gwen seems to be in very good spirits as they push onwards things go well for a while what could be awaiting them? Why traps that would make any D&D GM giggle in delight. There are flame traps here letting loose gouts of fire from time to time, so many fire traps. Gwen does not like the look of this and she's going to start casting water spells to try and dampen the flames.

"...Someone thought they were hot stuff with this."

Haru's way of handling the fire traps is by jumping through with correct timing. That requires both correct timing and good jumping. Neither of them coordinate rather well and the Enchanter gets singed on his way forward.

Sometimes the best thing to do is avoid danger if you can.

Of course, that requires good timing. Sometimes, Kotono doesn't always have the best timing.

"I think I got this," Kotono says as she attempts to leap forward, but it's just a little too soon.

A searing blast gets her just as she goes by.

"Ahhh!" Kotono yells as she rolls on the ground. "Hot! Hot! Hot!" How embarassing!

Shiruba stops mid-step and jerks back as a jet of flames shoots out. Followed a few moments later by several coming from the floor at a different angle. Windburn krees and flaps her wings briefly to keep her balance on Shiruba's shoulder. "Yeah, that was almost a little too toasty..."

Shiruba squints, watching the flames. Or more importantly watching where they shoot from, which direction, and at what intervals. "Okay, I think I see a way through. Be careful, the timing is very precise..." It takes some back and forth, and watching for possible extra triggers on the floor, but she manages to outwit the trap that would otherwise leave them burnouts.

    Miyako walks casually along the passageway, treating it as if it was no more dangerous than any of the other corridors the party has trod along so far today. Every so often her hand flicks out, a small throwing knife tossed into a precise point on the wall -- disabling one of the traps for those who come after her.

    About halfway down the hall, however, she misses one, and is caught square on by a burst of flame!

    She drops to the floor immediately, twisting herself into a roll, trying to extinguish the flames before she loses too many HP. She comes to a stop just before running into a floor-mounted flame-jet! Lucky girl!

Yeowang follows the group and frowns as we see the flame traps up ahead. No mechanic, nor magician, nor scout, she has only her native speed to keep her a step ahead of the flames. She certainly -seems- to be fully in control, maintaining balance and poise, combat readiness, after every seeming frantic leap. It's a very controlled sort of motion, even with the tumbling and dodging, she remains safe in passing the flame traps.

    "I'll say it's hot!" Fukaziroh says admiringly. "But I think... yeah, best be timed juuuust right." she says. Though to be honest she doesn't really have the patience for that. The flames don't look too bad, and multiple people have gotten singed. She shrugs, waits for a flame to pass, then uses a little wind-assist to swiftly pass through the traps, relying on quickness rather than cunning to see her through. She ends up quite nearly setting her butt on fire by doing so, but in this case better lucky than good! Or at least, better both lucky AND good!

    Merek will lift up a hand, trying to keep the flame away, only for him to not manage anything. Well, he will nod a bit to Wake, "I think it's likely that they all share architecture, with culture." The man nods a bit, while he follows along with the party. "I don't think that I am being much use, I admit."

    The Baroness just appears next to Fukaziroh and offers a polite wave to Merek. "We simply must do this more often. I don't get to explore these old ruins nearly enough." Hearing Kotono call out, Wake quickly glances at the young woman, decides that the damage is not life-threatening, and steps closer to offer her a hand.

    "You know, that reminds me of the first time I attempted to disarm a trap. It was a long time ago, but I performed dreadfully. It can seem a bit embarassing, of course, but trust me, if you have not accidentally wiped your group with a botched disarm.. twice in a row.. you simply have not dealt with many traps."

    Wake's smile is suddenly much warmer and reassuring. "It happens to the best of us, dear."

    Once Kotono is settled, the Baroness will step forward and get to work. She comes close to a trap here and there, but each time she nearly mis-steps, she corrects herself. "You know, they were rather clever. It's not a terribly obvious pattern at all, is it?" Clever or not, she finds a path that is fairly easy for others to follow and manages to evade any troublesome burning sensations.

Gwen uses water to keep the flames back and put out anyone who might catch on fire here and there. Shiruba is able to spot several pressure plates as the group goes prevent more than a few people from ending up on fire. Kotono Yeowang and Fuka are too fast for the flames. The Baroness spots a nasty overhead flame trap on the way saving Gwen from ending up being roasted. Those who were not so lucky can survive their ordeal at the very least.

The party soon ends up beyond the traps, this should be smooth sailing from here. Those traps should have kept any wildlife or monsters out of here which could be a danger to people. Right? Well, there's something else here. Ranks and tanks of terracotta statues each one with a unique face some are old vets with scars. Others look to be raw young recruits star to move and attack. The disturbing thing is? They are fighting like you would expect well-trained Landers to. They will break into squads focus on attacking the more dangerous sorts. It's as if an echo of who they were modelled after has remained in these statues.

Meanwhile some have sussed out the Baroness is quite dangerous to dogpile her only to have Gwen interject and take the attention of them.

    Fuka's fairly obviously amused, though not unsympathetic, when people fail the flame challenge. She is, however, quick to offer what little healing she can. It costs mana, but she's on a bit of a training kick for physical warfare and not only would she never begrudge healing, she also is fine with not saving up mana for the remainder of the expedition.

    Unfortunately for Fuka however, the next challenge is one she's not very comfortable with. Sure she can smash the warriors, but there's too many. Cut down their options in attacking? SURE great idea! She breaks into a practiced chant, sweeping an arm to draw a line of flame along the ground. One which, being made out of clay, the warriors just stomp on through. Oops. She takes up her axe to help smash through the army, though at this point she doesn't even try to cry her normal boisterous battlecry. Not even calling them all potheads, which is kind of an obvious joke for her. Nah, she's a bit subdued for trying to rely on fire when it was obviously not the right move... yeah Haru, you're not the only one who ends up feeling bad when they fail...

Once they've made it through the fire hazard gauntlet the next chamber practically has Shiruba vibrating with amazement. "I was not expecting to find a full sized recreation of terracotta soldiers!" After some steps Windburn departs her shoulder and perchs atop a statue, which Shiruba walks up to investigate shortly after. "Can you imagine the time and crafting that it would take to make each one of them unique? They didn't just copy and paste sprites for the numbers. If only there was some way to collect one for a museum display..."

That of course is when the statue starts to move, Windburn giving a pitched cry as she's dislodged from it doing so. Which is enough of a warning for Shiruba to kippup away from the swing. "Didn't expect them to be animate, either!"

As she backpedals she notices several of the terracotta soldiers in the back rows lifting large bows to provide support fire to the forward melee and shieldbearers. "Heads up!" Instead of her own bow Shiruba snaps the Glaive of the Fallen from her belt and throws it hard, so it arcs high and wide through the air to intercept a large portion of the volley. "We best keep moving!"

The statues come to life.

Kotono's alive too.

The girl uses her blades to fend off the statues as she moves through the area. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall!" Kotono comments with a slight smirk. "This is actually fun!"

    Miyako looks out over the field of statues. "Well. I did say 'Hail the Eternal Guard', did I not? Looks like we've found the rest of them." She would LOVE to have a camera here. She really would.

    "Gorgeous workmanship," she comments as she walks along the line of soldiers. "Beautiful. I don't see any toolmarks or anything." She leans in to inspect one more closely.

    She's just finished her inspection when... the statues come to life!

    The spriggan ducks and rolls away from the statue's blows, springing to her feet just in time to leap above the attack of another. She humms softly for a moment, then sings out a series of notes, a sequence familiar to fans of classic movies. Light explodes out from her in rainbow hues, spiraling about to catch dozens of the golems in its wake. Each one touched simply returns to its post, resuming its watch and standing firm, as immobile as they were when the group entered.

A Terracotta Army! Haru has read about these. Seeing them in person is delightful. A low whistle from his lips as the monocle glints during an appraisal. "Fine craftsmanship indeed. Durability is even topped off." Because they are enemies, Haru, that the group has to fight.

Simple Haru is but a Simple Artificer. Unburdened by the complex whims of Wave Artes just like the Golems are unburdened by their effect through good resistances. Unfettered by the delicate nuances of large scale group fights. The white haired man cycles through his prepared spell list as the battle rages on, but its a case where an Attack Debuff sticks before it does its next attack, so the impact is neglible. Carry on, Simple Haru, carry on.

Yeowang looks around as the golems, or statues, or whatever they are, come to life. Fireproof. But not likely invaders, probably original defenders? Otherwise, they don't just wander around the world, looking for dungeons to camp out in? Or do they? It's never clear in this game, at least not to her. She's decidedly non-gamer-savvy, and she hasn't managed to learn a lot of the tropes and commonly understood things after over a year, despite trying. Well, in her defense, she's doing a lot of things at once, and one of them is trying to recover her RL martial arts skill, which she will explain is a good deal better than what the game allows her to do. That's part of why she'd been training in the hinterlands of this continent in the first place.

That said, her in-game skill is considerable, and not to be underestimated by anyone that doesn't want a boot to the head. These statues get boots to the head, and pretty much everywhere else, and a thorough kicking is delivered in what seems like an entirely savage manner, though her expression suggests serenity and calm. She doesn't get excited, at least not when she's winning, she concentrates fiercely and kicks seven kinds of crap out of the statues. Who even knew statues had seven kinds of crap /in/ them?

    "Why, this is like the real work, done for the Chinese emperor himself," Wake comments. She wanders among them, taken in by the craftsmanship. The Baroness is wary, but she was never able to see the real terracota warriors. It's clearly fascinating to her.

    When they start to move, it takes her a moment to react. Surprised as she is, the enemy is able to quickly strike her several times.

    Fortunately, Wake has given up the solo adventurer lifestyle. She only works at the side of her friends. Indeed, it likely saves her life in this case, as Gwen's appearance simply turns off the damage and swiftly draws away the attention.

    "My dear, if I spend the rest of this dungeon thanking you it will only be the smallest tip of my appreciation and affection for you."

    With a powerful tank to protect her, Wake is able to get back into the fight. Admittedly, she's quite a bit more wary than she had been earlier.

    Merek will take the time to look at what needs to be tasked next, then he lifts up a hand to begin to draw a protection shield upon the party. He assists with that and will take the time to tank and swing with the people while he nods a bit.

The statues are fighting pretty viciously. During this, Gwen will call back to her sister.

"We're in Fantasy China? Didn't you think might not happen?"

If it was part of the game? Gwen would muse they'd just hit randomize for each soldier. Still, though it is quite a feat.

"Could have scanned the devs."

Gwen thankfully is okay for the most part and the whole party has made it through the army. The statues sadly, will fragment into shards of terracotta and then turn into shards of light.

There are some statues here who do not attack or even seem to move. It's time to get going and Gwen will push on at the head.

"So far so good! No one dead!"

Gwen seems eager to push onwards.

It's not long before an armoury is reached. Weapon racks are everywhere and oddly shaped wrack which could be part of a puzzle.

"I wonder if we put the right weapon in the empty wrack."

    Merek looks to the weapons that are there, and nods to a rack. "This one, seems to go there," he will note, while he places one of the swords to the proper rack. With that, he will follow with the party, "What do you think about the other weapons? You know, these puzzles. I wonder why they are the way that they are."

Whew. Shiruba takes a moment to catch her breath after they make it to the armory, chest heaving a few times before she gets herself back in order. "I think Gwen might be onto something. Spread out and search the room. Look for a weapon or for parts of one that might fit the available spot." Which is precisely what she starts doing. "Nope, too wide." Sets the broad bladed sword back aside. "Nope, spear is too long." Also set aside. A dagger is found. "Too short." Sigh. "Well I'm finding all the ones that don't fit, that still helps."

She's also being careful to put everything back, because a proper archeologist always respects the items they find even if they don't claim them.

Kotono stops suddenly, looking around the room.

"OK, there's definitely something we have to do here," She says as she begins to look around the room carefully. "Have to be careful, though, as we don't want to trigger any traps..."

The Spriggan moves carefully, looking at everything with a scrutinizing eye.

And then she spots something.

"There's some kind of mechanism here!" She calls out to the others. "If we place the right weapon, the way forward will open!"

    After her most-dramatic and highly visible oopsie of the previous battle, Fuka's mood receives an uplift by a puzzle. She's not super good at puzzles, but she sure does appreciate them! Anything where the world feels more like a game is bound to cheer her up a bit!

    "Let's see. We need a weapon with the right kind of handle. OOH I bet the hilt will be shaped like a key!" she grins in delight, scurrying off to begin methodically searching through weapons. Not just looking for a key, but looking for anything that might be thematically appropriate for the oddly-shaped weapon rack in the middle of the room.

    Miyako hmms softly, casting a glance at Kotono, considering for a moment. "Alright then," she says, and joins Shiruba in searching. "But what shape is it?" She picks up several small items and goes over to compare them to what her friend found. None seem to match, but she gets a better idea of what to look for. She returns the items she'd brough to where she found them and goes back to looking.

A puzzle room. Haru loves puzzles! However its quickly clear to him that its the kind of puzzle that requires a certain skillset. Skills with locks? No. He shakes his head. Not that kind of Enchanter. What about weapon forging? No. Not that kind of Forger, accessories only. He thinks about crafting a key. Thats... no, thats a different profession too. His blue eye scans around. Now he could search. No. The area looks rather well canvased by the size of the party. But he isn't going to sit around and wait to be carried through this adventure. No sir, this is Simple Haru! He rolls up his jacket sleeves and starts pushing on the door. Put those noodly caster arms to good use. Noodle Arms Origin Story, unlocked.

    The Baroness Wake is quite pleased to be in a room that shows no signs of battle. One look makes it clear that she's far from the storied assassin she was before the Cursed Wave. The lady is far more effective in a ballroom than a battlefield.

    She eventually finds herself quite unable to find what she's looking for and holds up a tool that some worker probably left behind.

    "Perhaps this pointy thing is it?" It appears to be an awl. More apparent is that the Baroness will provide no assistance with this particular challenge.

    Seeing that no one is terribly interested in her find, Wake turns to Yeowang, strategicly changing the subject. "Your style seems to have improved greatly since I last saw you work. Your training regiment must be nearly flawless by now."

Yeowang finds herself in a dimly-lit armory with the party and trying to find a way through. She's no good with secret doors, her world has clearly marked exit signs, and if the door won't open, then a swift kick is what you apply to change that state. So, given the way forward blocked by some sort of complicated .... thing. Event/condition/trigger, it's all gamer-stuff, she will wait until what needs to be done is clearly apparent, or her assistance is requested. When it is, likely for hauling on recalcitrant doors, she will lend her shoulder and back, and she gets surprising strength out of her normal human proportions. Well, it's a game conceit, she knows she's not, at five-eight, nearly as strong as a six foot four Austrian bodybuilding man. But if she's lost martial arts skill, she's gained considerable power, hitting as hard as the 2-meter tall bull-men she sees occasionally.

There is some good news with the team effort between everyone searching, or otherwise trying to gets the lock open? They succeed the blade is found by Shiruba Fuka and Miyako. Once it's locked into place the way opens. There is the sound of grinding stone and a passageway opens. A new hallway is found beyond lined with more Terracotta Soldiers. There is good news these ones don't wake up and attack the party. The bad news is there's another room, it looks like some kind of war room. A large terracotta soldier who has finer armour and the trapping of an officer rank of some sort is looking over a table with small figures on it. Ones that suspiciously look like the party on a map of the tomb so far.

He turns his head and silently mouths what could be an order to attack readying a polearm as a few other officers join in the assault.

"What the heck are they all guarding here?!"

Calls out Gwen as she moves to engage.

    Merek looks to the Captain, while he takes the time to sheath his sword. While he waits, the man draws a flame to both hands along with his feet, then he becomes a flurry on the enemies as well as the Captain, "RAGNAROK'S WISDOM!" The man sweeps along into the swings along with the kicks.

Shiruba continues to stare. "A terracotta command center for a terracotta army. That's such level of detail, including realistic environments for the displays." Of course this time the soldiers being animate is much less of a surprise. "Uh, hate to disrupt your war meeting... but we're disrupting your war meeting!"

Shiruba gestures with a pointed finger, and Windburn launches from her shoulder into the crowd of soldiers. Too bad she can't get the height or the space for a power dive in here, and the sparks crackling with the beats of her wings don't do much to animate statues of earthen materials. But she still proves to be distracting, swooping around as soldiers try to strike at her.

It gives Shiruba enough time to properly arm her bow and start taking shots at various clay warriors, at least.

Yeowang follows, watching the terracotta statues warily, but it seems they've left it up to this one fellow. He, or it, must be pretty butch if he's the only one, so she'll face off with one of her best skills. It's the leaping kick that sends her into the air to kick the statue in the head. In the head. It's a savage attack, and the roundhouse kick connects with a jarring sound, dropping off a good-sized chunk of HP.

Once the initial rush is done, she hangs tough, striking hard kicks and strong punches, punching it like she would a heavy bag, which is resembles in a number of ways. Though heavy bags don't move around. This one does, though not too much, and she's content to pound the hell out of it while it focuses on the tank, burning through its health as fast as she can.

Simple Haru is fired up. Boxing stance. Jab jab cross. Jab jab cross. Why is an Enchanter using his fists? Because he is Simple Haru. The path to the Noodle Arms is not an easy one. Some claim it is impossible. Others, inefficient. But where others dare not tread, Simple Haru sees opportunity. This is where the Hero's Journey begins. There is a call to action! A supernatural event, the boss. The power of effort, love, and friendship collects into his fist as he punches it.

Crack.

"Ow," he says, "ow ow ow ow. Ow ow ow." Simple Haru hops back there, evading the attacks as his avatar's hand swells and he takes damage by punching a statue.

Attacking alone isn't always the best option. Sometimes it's best to keep moving when you fight.

Kotono uses her agility to strike and run these clay figures.

It's an unusual strategy but it works well, Kotono finds. She helps her comrades take down the statues. "Go back to the museum!" She calls out.

    This time around, Wake remembers something important. The place for DPS is BEHIND the tank, not wandering about making the tank lose sleep. A relaxed tank is a happy tank!

    "Ahhh, so the terracotta warrior was not simply a one time thing. I do grant them a nod for nailing the look and feel, of course. Oh, yes, and of course they are trying to kill us!"

    Wake stays behind Gwen, waiting to get the timing down. And then she sees Haru's punch get delivered. For a moment, she's surprised. "Apologies, Haru, I didn't think you had it in..." and then she sees the hand get.. very injured. "Oh dear.."

    She moves forward suddenly, looking for the moment very much her former self. Every once in a while, there are these fluke situations where even she forgets that her skills were wiped away. And in this particular situation, her fists smash through terracotta in sprays of dust, driving the thing back and away from Haru.

    Still riding a high from that fun puzzle hunt, Fuka seems cheered by the sight of more terracotta soldiers. "Oh hey!" she beams. "We got a shot at some payback here! HEY POTHEADS!" she yells. Brandishing her axe, she falls in behind Gwen in a practiced motion, letting Gwen take aggro for her yells while preparing to dart out and flank hard. "I know how to fight these now." she says at a more normal volume, preparing to charge. "Cover the front, I'll cut them down from the flank!" she suggests. "And I want one as a souvenir!" she adds, laughing as she launches herself at the enemy.

    Seems the physical battle serves the little sylph much better than flame walls. She has a great time, both giving and taking hits, even coming to Haru's rescue and putting herself between him and his assailant while he tries to recover from punching the bad guys. "You need some weapons!" she notes. "I suggest REALLY BIG WEAPONS!" she adds, demonstrating with a peal of delighted laughter.

    Miyako steps in. Pauses. Looks around. Pauses again. Looks up. "Hmmmm. Okay, we're on-set, so where's the camera?"

    Okay, maybe she shouldn't have mentioned the movies, because this really reminds her of the climactic scene in 'Hidden Fortress of the Xiangxiao Ninja Clan', and she actually liked that movie. So when the statues start to animate and attack, she just takes it in stride, pulls out her own weapons, and goes to town.

    Wrong move, it would seem. She was going to /town/, and they were coming from the /city/. Even so, her blades leave explosions of blackness behind with each strike, ripping chunks out of the terracotta guards. It's just... ripping chunks out doesn't seem to slow them down much. She's slowly but surely being pushed back.

    Then she finds herself locking eyes with the Terracotta General, her blades crossed with those of one of his chief adjutants. "HEY!" she yells at him. "YOU CAN'T FIGHT HERE! THIS IS THE WAR ROOM!"

    The General seems ... unimpressed.

If any of these things have a sense of humour they don't show it at the quips and some very well thought out jokes by those invading this place. Gwen meanwhile is diving into the thick of things clashing with the General keeping him as busy as possible while everyone else is dealing with the various officer or the wider area attacks that Gwen just can not entirely stop. There almost seems to be a half-second of respect for Haur's action by the thing he's fighting but it's a good thing that he's got backup as it could have got ugly, real fast.

Soon the Commander falls and all do but one of the officers, the last one will move back. It almost seems to be trying to make sure something is in place before it's cut down by the party.

Gwen meanwhile start searching the room and in a hidden compartment on the war room table? She'll find a small box within appears to be the ring she was looking for.

Meanwhile the party would find the way is ... warded shut.

"Good news I think I have what I came for! So once we're done here it's BBQ time!"

The seale wy would give off a message of the party's level is too low to contiune as well...

Victory!... But that ward is like the spider dungeon. "Wow. This must be pretty high level to still be locked." Shiruba shrugs. Picks up one of the shards. "Well, this isn't nearly as fancy, but it will still be good for display for a bit."

Of course she's right on Gwen's heels as soon as food is mentioned. "Yes, delving works up an appetite!"