Adventure: A Sharp Tale, Retold

It has been several days since Soujiro formed a party to go explore a part of Elder Tales before the Apoc happened. It isn't that he was not thorough with the details. It is that Soujiro doesn't go /into/ those details normally. He leaves that sort of thing to a strategist like Shiroe or big minded friends like Nazuna. Both are absent in his life and he makes due with: 'It is this end-game raid event in southern Ezzo. Getting there is a challenge for a single party, but I know an old sea cave that can get us right at the start. Should bypass the roamers and the glitches.' There is a lot of unknowns, to which Souji makes it clear 'Exactly why we need to go scout it out first!' before pulling in full raid resources. This is the advance party.

It meant sea travel to Ouph and overland travel north afterwards. Currently the party is camped out in the forrest. Tents are pitched and a camp fire is going. VIv is chopping wood because stronk. Klein is making food. Miho is doing equipment maint. For Souji and Vertina, they are on drink duty, coming back from a nearby stream with buckets that will later become boiled drinking water or base materials for refreshing or intoxicating beverages.

"Vertina, did you used to be an athlete," Souji asks as the two are walking back. The Samurai does it all 'here is a pole with buckets on the end' style and put two on each side. There is always time for TRAINING. He continues asking as his head turns to ponder on the tall Salamander's form. "You have this strong and balanced way of walking like a track and field pace."

Vertina lugs kegs of brew around the distillery all the time, so hauling some buckets of water back to camp is pretty easy in comparison. Doing it hung on poles across their shoulders is just the most practical way to carry several at once, and yes, it does help to keep one limber before going on a much more intensive leg of their adventure.

"Indeed I was," she replies with a cockeyed grin. Its not really that hard to pick it up from the way the tomboyish Salamander handles herself. "Played soccer, trained in Karate and Ti Kwon Do." She paused a moment, grabbing the handle of one bucket to pull it back up the pole, then resumes her paced stride. "Left most of the deeper thinking stuff to my sisters. And kicked the butt of anyone that tried to bully 'em for being smarter."

Soujiro Seta is a complete nut when it comes to challenging himself, moving the pole along his shoulders to his hands in front of him. The Samurai begins to curl them as he walks and is graceful enough to do that and walk without spilling a single drop. Form and strength! Not only that, its an idle thing he is doing. His easy-on-the-eyes face is turned towards Vertina as they talk. Eye contact with kind eyes to hers. Warm smile. "Thats great! I bet you have a couple stories about when someone tried, and failed, to bully your sisters." He asides as the two start making their way into the permiter of the camp with the flames licking warm hues against their forms. "With a swift kick to their heads with that kind of line up. We have to train in footwork together sometime!" Never skip leg day.

Vertina laughs. "You'd never think of being able to make sharp turns on the field while keeping control of your footing and a ball would turn into combat tactics, but here we are." She ducks partway to avoid a low branch. Or it might be a normal branch and it's just that she's tall. The buckets sway on the pole a little, but save a stray drop or two don't lose anything. "We've cleared out a lot of the ruins since I trained down there with the goblin trap gauntlets but I still know a spot or two with a few we can practice against."

Klein considers himself a man of many talents. Beyond just the normal combat skills one would expect of a wandering samurai, he has shown his expanse of knowledge over these two years. Assisting with construction work with hammering a frame together, haggling for better deals with merchants, and being surprisingly adept with a needle and thread are just some of his talents.

Cooking is not one of them.

Be it roasting fish over a fire or even trying to make a simple sandwich, there's always some sort of bad luck working against Klein in the culinary arts. Those fish roasting on sticks over a fire? The sticks snap off and send everything into the middle of the fire. A sandwich which should be easy to make, even by those with no effort put into the Cooking skill at all? The ingredients' durability goes down to zero just as he would take a bite. But this is different.

There are others counting on him to make a proper meal, and he was going to give it his all!

This is what leads to an odd sight to Vertina and Soujiro Seta as they return with the fresh water. Klein, sweat visible on his face which had nothing to do with the flames, carefully stirring a stew resting in a cook pot. He doesn't take his eyes from the meal for a moment as he raises his voice in greetings to the duo. "Hoi you two, was starting to get worried about you! Everything alright at the stream?"

"Its always amazing to think what what our bodies can do in a world like this," Soujiro says to Vertina. Sparkle. Why sparkles? Its making the Cluck Clucks back on the boat jealous. They have to wait /days/ to get more Souji sparkles. Wonderful, cruel world.

Sparkles are interupted by Klein and the cooking situation that is going on. "With your cooking we would have been able to find our way back from the ends of the forest," he laughs, moving those buckets on a pole to the camp site proper as he lowers to set them down. The young human stretches out. "Nothing one amazing athlete and a samurai couldn't handle," the blue haired man says with a warm smile that just radiates sincerity in its tone. He would be a good hostage negotiator. Things are going to be OK, everyone! "Maybe Vertina can help with the cooking?" he looks to her, hopefully, like the savior of their stomachs has arrived back at the camp.

Vertina sets her buckets down. "I'll need some of the water to make sure we've got enough mana potions and status cures prepared, but the rest we can drink or do with as people see fit." The pole is slid out from the handles and, being one of her practice staffs, tucked back into her inventory. Sometimes having a pole is just useful, any experienced dungeon delver knows that.

Then turns around to inspect the stew... and politely doesn't say anything. It's a wonder how even something as simple as throwing a bunch of meat and vegetables into boiling water can be made hard just by not having certain skill sets within this world. Something that didn't even really occur much to her until she learned for herself, then you start seeing the differences.

But instead of saying anything about that she just sees to fixing the matter, taking a small vial and uncorking it. "This will help thicken the broth a bit and add a little seasoning." She shakes a bit in.

Besides, she's got a backup readily at hand if need be.

Deciding to take Soujiro's comment as a compliment, he just nods his head once before carefully taking a sip to taste test the meal. As far as things go...it's rather bland, but for a meal that he's making without any aid, it tastes like one of the best things on this earth. But to the others, well...he's certain he's going to get some pointed comments later. "It certainly wouldn't hurt! I done the best I could here, I swear..." This is why people with any skill in cooking is important. One day he'll get better!

Klein blinks in surprise as Vertina uncorks a vial and holds it up for inspection, drawing his gaze away from the stew. "Go right ahead! Anything that can save me from getting stabbed by spoons later is appreciated." Not that he really expects to get stabbed with anyone of this group...but it wouldn't be the first time he been tossed out of a kitchen. He offers Vertina the wooden spoon he's been using to keep the stew mixed properly, just in case she wanted to fully take over.

Soujiro Seta walks over to give Klein a friendly clap on the back. "If you made it, Klein, I'd eat it," he says to the Samurai friendo. Simple as that. Souji is Support. Either the food is great or its Iron Stomach training. Win-Win so long as you have the right perspective. "No spoon stabbing required. Though," his head tilts to the side as he looks at the spoons. The young samurai wanders away, wondering if he could create a battle spoon. Or throwing spoons. After a while he starts balancing spoons on their head, trying to stack one on top of the other for a chain. "Camping is great. You get to hang out with your friends, share stories, wake up, slay monsters. I appreciate everyone coming out for this," he says as he adds a /third/ spoon to balance. This defies reasonable logic, but this is Elder Tales. "It really was one of my favorite memories from before the expansion. I hope everything is still there."

Vertina accepts the spoon with a nod. She doesn't mind, this is why she took up Cooking in the first place. To be able to help out like this, be it feeding an expedition or feeding the refugees back in Tolbana. "Anything is better when you've got friends along," she agrees. Shakes some of the vial contents into the stew, resumes stirring, occasionally adding a little more to make sure it gets stirred in evenly. "Thanks for getting the stew started, Klein. It'll be ready sooner than if I began after we returned." It's job done, she corks the vial back up and tucks it away. "Hey stuff like this is what I joined Scale for. The excitement, the challenges, the kicking monster ass side by side!"

Stepping away from the cookpot, Klein lets out a shaky sigh of relief. He was fully expecting something to go wrong, like the bottom of the pot could have given out. Having Vertina take over is the safe option for everyone involved, and he gives her a thumbs up as thanks. "Hey, glad I could help out! As long as I got the time, i'm always happy to help others out with whatever needs doing." Klein is just the kind of guy who likes seeing others doing their best.

Glancing over at Soujiro, he does raise an eyebrow at the spoon-balancing going on. Not by the fact that it's happening at the first place, but that the blue-haired samurai already has three balanced and might be adding a fourth soon. "I never got the chance to do this content back before the expansion, but I always heard lots of complaining on the forums. Usually by though that were trying to rush through and couldn't just enjoy the experience." Shrugging his shoulders at that, Klein starts to get a smaller fire going to start boiling some of the water brought back. That he can easily do, anyways. "The journey is what makes the destination that much more worth it."

Soujiro Seta balances three spoons on top of each other. One end is on his index finger sticking straight upwards. That is impressive as is. Then there is a second balancing on top of that one! And a third. Souji carefully goes for a fourth spoon. Careful. Carreeefffulll. He places it on top. Four spoons. One must have deft hands, as is expected from the quick sword saint. "I think so too," he says as the fourth spoon only stays on for a few seconds before the tower of silverware clutters to the ground. He laughs, "every day is an opportunity to challenge yourself, meet new people, and then challenge things /together/." The young man kneels to go pick up and clean up the spoons. "Scale has been really good about that. The Tea Party, even better," as nothing can truly replace those days before the party disbanded. It was magical.

"What was your favorite experience, Klein," the blue haired samurai asks, moving to grab a bucket to be used in boiling up some tea to go with this evening's stew. Only way to combat the negative griping of forums is to appreciate the good moments in equal or greater measure.

"Some people don't see it that way," Vertina comments while stirring. "But each to their own... as long as they don't use it to ruin the fun for others." Looks like three spoons was the limit. Fortunately Soujiro is cleaning up after himself. "Victory is made better by the challenges you overcame to achieve it. Nothing comes for free, regardless of which world we're in." Something she knows very well from experience. But she's just too stubborn to give up.

Klein stares carefully as Soujiro adds the fourth spoon to the stack. At this point, an errant breath could knock everything over. He clenches a fist in triumph as it stays steady, only to hang his head in disappointment as the spoon tower goes crashing down. He does point a finger towards Vertina, glad to see that she gets it. "Exactly! If everything was just handed to you, then the reward loses all value. I got something waiting for me once we finally make it all the way." That pizza that was left behind is something more than just a pizza in his mind. To Klein, it's going to be proof that he had one heck of an adventure.

Leaning back slightly, Klein looks skyward as he takes a few moments to think. It's not because he has to search his memory, he's just recalling some faces he hasn't seen in a while. "Oh, that's easy. From before the expansion, that's going have to be the time I spent with my guild. Fuurinkazan may not have been the biggest guild or the strongest, but we always had each other's backs. Dungeon diving or just checking out a new rumor of a quest, we just had fun doing whatever. Been ages, so i'm sure they're fine back home, but I still hope they never got involved in this mess." Realizing that he might have gone a bit too somber there, he points a finger again towards Vertina. "What about you, Vertina? Any memories that really stick out to you, before the expansion?"

Soujiro Seta is, also, all too interested in hearing what Vertina's favorite memories are. He gives an affirming smile to Klein's story before it turns over to her like an errant leaf drifting along its proper course. The time he spends boiling water and preparing the tea leaves is entirely secondary to what could come next.

Vertina pauses in stirring stew. She had been listening but wasn't really paying attention that they were waiting for her to also reaccount until they all go quiet. "Oh.. uh." Pause again. It's one of those moments where she stops and wonders really how much she should devulge. Then decides it's not worth fussing about. "I know it sounds lame, but just -being here- is it. Able to do these things, with other fun and exciting people. Since... well..." she sighs softly, and gestures down at her legs. "You were right about me being an athelete Soujiro.. but I had that taken from me by an accident. The meat space me can barely walk, and that's after extensive therapy."

But then she shakes off the somber moment. "But that doesn't matter, not when I can be here and -live- again, and help out other people doing exciting things. Enjoying every minute I have."

Soujiro doesn't really chime in, but it already seems like he's just waiting for his turn. That, and the tea is being properly brewed. "I can absolutely see the appeal in being here, then. Having to learn how to walk again couldn't have been easy." He could see why someone like Vertina would be happy being here, but then again, she's a proud member of Scale. There's something driving her on, just like many others. And he already pried enough into her past. "So pretty much me in that regard, then! Honestly, even if there's nothing material from all of this, we can say we had a great time camping out here, right?"

Soujiro Seta is more a space case than waiting for his turn to share. Happy to be around people, but often looks like he doesnt have a lot going on upstairs. He has this warm presence about him that has him interested in seeing other people. Seeing the world. Its full of such wonderful things that time left to deep introspection is a special treat. Not his bag of tea. Now the tea in front of him? That is his bag of tea! He starts steeping loose leaf style on a plate of ceramic green tea cups for everyone. "Thats right, it is the journey. No matter the destination, the path there is enjoyable!" he chimes in with a smile so big he has to close his eyes. He hands a cup to Vertina and Klein while getting one of his own.

"Its really great you get to do what you love here, Vertina," the Samurai says, focusing on the positives as he cups one hand over Verts in handing over the tea, "so its not lame at all. I feel good knowing that we get to share this new path with you." Pat pat. Close contact with those eyes to her. Then he slips away to get his own cup and takes a sip of his tea. Ahh, so good. "This turned out really well this time. Meals always taste better when made with and for company."

"You could just say I've gotten really good at making the best of any situation." Vertina appreciates the accepting condolences though. "Yeah, it was heard, but I'm too stubborn to give up just because life took a bad turn. Besides, if it wasn't for the VR Therapy giving me access to the game I wouldn't be here having all the epic adventurers with the rest of you!"

She scoops a bit of stew out of the kettle and takes a sip of it. "Speaking of, the stew is about done. No one will have to worry about going on an empty stomach."

Klein can't help but let out a laugh as Soujiro offers him a cup of freshly brewed tea. He's seen the sword saint in action, but is more a fan of this samurai when he's not in combat. Sure, he can be a little nutty about tea, but that just makes him more colorful. "Glad to see we're all in agreement, then! Doing what we love just because we can. That's the best way to see this through." Taking a slow sip of the hot tea, Klein lets out a low 'hmmmm' in appreciation. "That's also right. This is the first meal I managed to actually make, so there really is something for company!"

Klein remembers hearing how VR technology was being used for therapy in the past, but never met anyone who had undergone it. "If life gets rough, as long as you get back up, it can always get better." Hearing that the stew is almost ready causes Klein's stomach to grumble audibly, and he lets out a nervous laugh! "Well then, to good food and good friends! And I can wait until everyone gets back with their own chores." The samurai hides his embarrasment by taking a gulp of tea...which is still very hot. "Aaaah!"

Stew! Now that is what Souji is talking about. He puts his cup down to replace it with a bowl and one of the previously balanced spoons. "Thanks for the meal Vertina and Klein," the blue haired samurai says with the energy of being served at a dinner even though they are out in the woods. "I've always been a a gamer," he says as he scoops up some stew and pours it into his bowl. "Had everything set for the expansion the moment it released to start exploring new content," the blue eyed samurai in Edo period kimono states as he steps away. There is a little matt he uses to sit on with his legs tucked under neatly. "To good friends and good food," he holds the bowl up before nomming on the first bite. "This is good. You can really taste how the broth brings out the meat and veggies," he noms some more.

Vertina sips some tea, then takes up a bowl of stew for herself. "Here here to that. And don't worry about waiting for the others Klein, there is more than enough to go around." She flicks her fingers in mimic of a lighter, shooting a few small embers under the kettle to keep the fire going. "And it won't get cold any time soon, either." So right now, chow time!

Klein stands up to get his own bowl from the cookpot. The others were already helping themselves, so it just means they can share the blame together when everyone else gets back. That, and he was starting to get hungry just smelling the stew that was thankfully saved by Vertina. Taking a leisurly seat on the ground, he takes a careful bite of the before nodding his head to himself in satisifaction. "Already knew what I was thinking!"

Chewing a bit on some meat, he makes a shooing measure when Soujiro tries to thank him. "I just did the basics anyone can do. Much of the credit has to go to Vertina and whatever she put in to help with the taste." Things could have been so much worse! Even eating the soggy cracker food would have been better than starving.

And thus the party has a wonderful night out camping. They lift each others' mood, pass compliments, and get to sleep with full tums and nourished spirits. All things that they will need for the trials to come once day breaks.

The party finds itself on the northern shores of the Eastal Free League in southeast Yamato. Waves lap in dull crashes against the cliffside rockwall that buffets the water from pressing further inland. A cool coastal breeze sends with it the scent of sea salt into the air. Across these clear blue waters is the Ezzo region. That region is known for its end game content before the Apoc. After the Apoc it was a place of terror thanks to rampant glitching on already challenging creatures and environmentals. Several adventurers that were logged in there during the expansion event were stranded there until rescued. Shouji was included in this group. A fingers point from the blue haired samurai, "That is where we need to go. To the Denadoro Mountains." The sea breeze makes the his ponytail and lush hair waver like a heroic cape as the finger trails to the water itself, "We are going under the water, not over it. There is a sea cave that will allow us to traverse if we can find it. I recall the general area it was in, but the entrance isn't obvious. We will have to search. I'm counting on you, everyone. The trials to reach the summit starts picking up right here." He sounds downright excited at the idea, like they are standing at the entrance of a dungeon or raid that has never been attempted before.

Thus the expedition party makes it way down to the rocky coastline where waves threaten to smash them back against said walls. Traveling down here is not easy and leaves the party vulnerable to any sudden sea-side attacks. From the Ezzo waters. Which are top tier dangerous. A skilled Water or Earth bender might help keep the tide away from the party while they search. Meanwhile an actual search party is needed to find this elusive cave opening either through instinct or through the good old investigative method.

Successes Counted as a Team: 3 Successes Needed
Searching (8), Divination (8), Earth (10), Water (10)
Failure Effect: Something has hungy eyes on you from the waves, wait too long and it may invite you to dinner

Miho has been enjoying the trip so far, Miho for those who had not met her yet such as Klien was totally average in height well for a lady from Japan. Though she came off like she felt small. She was spirited and didn't seem too bothered about where they were going. She's using various physical earth based sword arts to help keep the water away. Using it to crack theearth and make barriers and the like.

"So how long do you think this trip will be? Soujiro?"

Ah, water, my eternal nemesis. One day, Vertina will tame you as well! Today... is not that day, but it's close. She just needs to speak with a certain warrior equine again.

But at the moment, they're not going into the water, so she can relax a bit. Besides, with a full stomach and a good night's rest it was hard to be anything other than excited. Soujiro may be retreading former paths, but this was new to her, she had never pushed the levels to visit Ezzo much, when she had the rest of the game world to thrive in.

"It's been a while since people have been out here..." the Salamander muses as she looks the area over. Nothing stands out to her in this medium though. "Still... there's a chance..." She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and steeples her hands together, turning her gaze onto other aspects to view. The length of time and disue make it a strain, but eventually her eyes snap open and she points out a direction. "It's faint, but I can still detect the presence of people having been out there." Then raises one hand to rub her temples. "Buuut I don't think I want to do that again any time soon. This place gives my divine senses a headache." Just from how.. off normal Ezzo has become.

A night of camping out on the way to Denadoro Mountains along with some good stew can do wonders for the spirit. Spending it alongside friends in search for rumored content from before the expansion? This is exactly a night of rest needed before a grand adventure takes place. Klein's not a morning person, even with adventure about to be underway, which may be why he drank leftover tea from last night before they departed.

Making sure his headband is secure despite the breeze trying to tug the cloth free, Klein scans the coastline from above. "A cave hard to find, right? If it's a shortcut like you talked about last night, then it has to be pretty well hidden..." Well, it's not going to find itself if they don't go searching for it, right! Getting tired of standing above, Klein speeds his way down to sea level to aid in the search.

Klein never really invested any real effort into training his Search skill, which occassionally bites him in the rear. If he had been searching for the cave on his own, he wouldn't be able to find it at all. But where he lacks in finding hidden routes, he makes up for helping to clear the way. No chanting needed for the magic Klein calls up, he just stomps down onto the rocky beach, sending up small pillars of stone along the very edge of the beach. These makeshift wavebreakers stops the worst of the waves from reaching the beach, and he leaves the searching out to the experts.

While camping, Viviene had been on the outskirts of the camp patrolling around for any danger. She retired to rest later than the rest and was also the first one awake, munching on some sort of basic ration in the morning, rations with that soggy cracker taste that might be appaling to some..

But with the group now having arrived at the beach , Viviene had opted to take a frontal position among the group, while small applications of air magic and lightning were applied to the water, lighting up areas within the water as it zaps from one location to the next - looking for any possible places the water might be leading into a cave entrance just through watching how the lighting travels. "A bit make shift, but this might lead us along the right track at the very least. Just have to keep following it up with another zap." She does take a look around, thoughtful. "I don't think I've been near this area in a real long time.." she trailed off, trying to remember.

"A few more days, give or take," Soujiro Seta tells Miho. "We would be going on foot under the water and then there is the climb itself. Then the return trip." A grin goes to Klein, "Finding a hidden passageway. Cool, right?" this is what being an Adventurer is all about.

Soujiro is not the brightest person in the group. However he is incredibly insightful and comes to similar logical conclusions without being able to really explain how he got there. He is very 'in tune' with the present. As such he relies on his instincts to lead him to familiar sights and sounds from where he saw the cave entrance before. He doesn't overly communicate where he is wandering, since he doesn't know himself, but it does naturally lead the group closer to where the entrance should be. It resonates well with the premonitions that Vertina is having. People once used this route before. It was rare and 'better travel methods' made it obsolete, but it is around here. It is close. Ultimately it is Viviene who finds the entrance along with the sparking static from the Zap Arte. Like wisps of electricity it sparks up in crackles, finally cracking against a wall. Then a second sound shows it crackling out of sight. It found something.

Miho and Klein produce the rocky earth needed to cause the waves to crash against a barrier instead of into the party as they search. A real shieldwall against the tide is created so that the other three can work without being tackled by angry waves ever handful of seconds.

The entrance to the cavern is small and easy to overlook as a rocky alcove. It could fit two people at a time and initially looks as if it would stop after a few feet in. Instead of the path stopping, the cavern walls wind around in a S-like maze formation deeper into the cliff. The footing here is slick and the rocks unforgivingly jagged in spots. It is dark here and it is damp. The crashing of the waves echo behind the party and leave the familiar sea breeze for stale, stilled air. Lights go up from magic or torchlight that help make it visible where the party is going. Hopefully no one is afraid of tight spaces! The worst of the descent below the Ezzo seabed has yet to come. The party has to start going DOWN as well as forward around the slick, rocky maze that affords little room to move around.

Going downwards is incredibly easy to lose your balance. Falling down a flight of stairs if bad. Falling down a tight corridor of jagged rocky walls is extra bad. The Adventurers will have to watch their footing or enlist in magical assistance to keep from becoming unbalanced and damaging themselves.

Successes are tracked by INDIVIDUAL
Earth(10), Air(10), Physical(10)
Failure: You lose your footing several times during the descent and have an 'Armor Down' debuff. This makes Shield and Evasion checks Harder during the Adventure, reducing those rolls by 1. A scene with a trained Armor Forging concept check will remove this condition.

There's the cave! And it's... short? No, it's a bend, but it's not readily visible from the entrance, making it easy to miss that there is a cave at all. Especially with the rocky scenery around it. "Not hard to see why this was the road less traveled," Vertina muses. "We're lucky you knew of it at all for us to look for it, Souj." Looks like it won't be easy to navigate, though.

That is perfectly fine with her. Challenges are better!

Vertina starts making her way down, digging her heels into the rocky floor to protect against slipping, and using the claw spurs on her gloves to get extra grip on the walls to brace herself. "Odd that it's so jagged," she muses after rubbing against the wall to get past a narrow ledge. "Normally the tide wears stone down smooth"

Viviene opts to ensure her footing and the like by using raw force to insert her arms and feet into the side of the cavern as she proceeds forward, and down the tunnel grasping or otherwise using raw physical might to anchor herself down as she moves from spot to spot with little hops, essentially hulk-climbing her away towards their destination at the bottom of this rocky maze. Her small stature is a blessing in this tightly enclosed area, though sometimes her oversized greatsword nearly collides with a stalagmite and nearly dooms her, but she seems to save herself even if just barely. "Hah! I need to remember this place, this'll be great for training!" Viviene was clearly having a blast challenging herself with this form of exploration, even if a little improvised. "You know, you have a point. Rock would be smooth if its so close to water like that. Maybe it doesn't get deep enough?" she theorized to Vertina on the way down.

A snap of the fingers while Klein is in the middle of making more wavebreakers with his stomps. "Usually the secret passages are already in ancient castles or dungeons, not along the coast side. That's what makes this stand out all the more!"

A torch crackles with flames, with the red-haired samurai holding it up carefully in his left hand. He was about to question why they were going into a dead end, but swallows those words as they ventured further within. A whistle comes out, echoing among the rocky pathway. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained, but this is taking it to a whole new level. Makes you wonder what waits at the end, if it's already getting this difficult."

Those jagged rocks are a pain, even if you don't step on them directly. Where others are using pure might or special tools, the scruffy samurai is picking the path of least resistance among the rocks. His steps are rattling the ground, which helps Klein figure out which step forward would be the most stable to step on. He's just glad he's not wearing a kimono like Soujiro. "Perhaps it's the wind? Narrow passage, storms along the sea can really drive up the wind, which just focuses it even more coming down here. We might need to see about clearing the path if enough people come down this way."

Miho says "I honestly didn't think anyone would want to come out here again, with how unstable reality is here. With the stories I heard from people who escaped here. It's pretty clear we're not on a casual walk now are we?"

She looks to Viviene for a moment like she's grown a second head. "I heard of extream training but...that takes the cake."

She keeps going and she'll be shockingly strong for her size as she uses brut force to keep hger balnce and from falling s she goes. Also having a tail helps a heck of a lot too.

"That is pretty strange Klien i go tto wonder what might be going on here. Or why it was built."

The Samurai in his red armor finds his footing to be tragically unsteady in places. Those Tremble Steps are truly trembling. As a result, Souji crashes into rocks repeatedly on his way down that cause his armor to crack up and saddle him with a debuff for the next few days. "Yeah," thunk, "we really," thonk, "liked looking for content back then." Crash. Fortunately he is the only one. Everyone else manages to keep good footing as the slickness subsides to humid condensation against the earthen stones.

The cavern begins to open up once the descent levels out. It is now wide enough for all five of the party members to travel comfortably side by side along the rocky cavernscape. The pressure here lets them know how deep they are beneath standard elevation. There is no sand or grit to the rockbed here, just raw stone. The ceiling is almost four meters up in places and as low as three in others. A steady drip of filtered seawater dropping in the cavern fills small pools. This sound echoes. There is no big choice in the path here. It is one straight, mindless line forward as if some creature bored this hole during a migration long ago and ripped the earth asunder with similar jagged rocks that line the sides. People could get hurt if they are not careful, but it is more avoidable than the entrance.

The first days of travel are uneventful and it seems as if this tunnel is never going to end. The true challenge is saving off boredom in a bland passage. The fact they have crossed the threshold of Ezzo's wave corruption is what should make they concerned. An entire wall here could be glitched suddenly and flood them. None of those fears materialize in the end. It is the sign of life that gives some hope that they are nearing an exit. The life in question is not friendly, though. Long, spiderlike legs clack into the cave as a chitinous set of creature scavenge for scraps. Part Crab. Part Spider. Completely 'nope' of the highest degree. These large monster crabs are as dark as the bedrock and one of their pincers is large and they come in a small group with hungy red eyes and frothing mouths. The group doesnt have space to move around them and the only way out is through.

Successes Counted as a Team: 3 Successes Needed
Team Concepts: Bludgeoning(8), Fire(11), Hunting(8), Handle Animal(8)
Failure: Fatigue, cannot use a card on the next check

Yes, the trek through the tunnel is long and boring. But you just keep doing it over and over like any training regiment would go, boring or not.

Until you find something else exciting.

Most people would see crabs with spider-legs as some horrific abomination.
Vertina sees it as an answer to the boredom problem.

"If they drop any meat save it!" she calls to the group, before rushing towards the monsters. Recklessly, sure, but it's not without some idea of what to do. She provokes one of the spider-crabs to swing at her, then slides past it's pinchers with her quick footwork. Which puts her underneath the monster.

Which she viciously dispatchs by shoving the afforemented claw spurs of her gloves into it's less armored underbelly, and ripping it in half almost literally. Massive damage to a weak spot, almost never fails!

Klein hops down the last few steps and rushes over to check up on Soujiro. Luckily, it looks like his armor has taken the brunt of it, but he winces nevertheless. "Glad you're okay, buddy, but that was a nasty fall! Let's see about getting that repaired once we're out of here." Standing back up, he nods his head to Miho as she makes her way down. "Maybe you're right and it was built. All I know is this place is already giving me the creeps!" Some people might try to put up a cool vibe and act unaffected by their surroundings. Klein is all for really telling people how he feels.

What comes ahead of that is one of the biggest threats for any Adventurer: boredom. Pure and complete boredom forged by nothing new being found, the enviroment never changing and simple trail rations on the road. "Remind me bring along some cards next time."

As they continue yet another day of wandering down the same bland walls, the samurai frowns as he starts to see glowing red eyes. Sure, it finally means something different is happening, but these have to be monsters. And as they appear in the light- "NOPE NOPE NOPE, SOOO MUCH NOPE!" His katana was drawn quickly enough to look as if it had just appeared in his hands. The temperature of the tunnel suddenly picks up as first his hands ignite, then it flows into over his blade's length. Charging forward, Klein starts swinging directly for the joints behind the pincers, going to disarm the spider-crabs and leave them not as dangerous. "Why does there always have to be spiders in video games?!"

Miho was seeming to have fun with this entire trip so far. She was chipper, it really did seem to needed to get out of the forge but there's something alrease a head something that there is only one response to something that nope. Fire, Miho takes a deep breath and the exhales a massive torrent of flames. She does not do this once but several times in rapid succession.

"BURN! So much nope here! BURN YOU MONSTERS YOU HAVE NO PLACE IN ANY WORLD!"

When she's forced into melee combat she will note to Klein.

"I think it's just universal..."

opting to stand at the front of the group, Viviene prepared her massive greatsword, she prepared to act defensively and using it deflecting blows away from the rest of the party, unfourtantly, many of the blows came at a bad angle for her to deflect away, making her have to use more raw force that finesse to keep things going, but otherwise she is doing her very best, even if an uphill and slowly losing battle to keep the crab-spider from attacking the rest of the party, and defending with that oversized greatsword of hers. The exchange still caused a great deal of damage around the area, as the two strong forces kept clashing.

Soujiro is looking pretty good to Klein. Nothing can put a raincloud on this sunny face. He'd die smiling if need be! "Your concern fills me with determination to train even harder, Klein." He looks at his cracked armor. "Train harder and, yes, see that this gets repaired when we get back to a Root Town."

Both hands go up as Soujiro attempts to hold the crabs at bay with a Samurai's Challenge taunt followed by an /attempt/ to pacify the creatures so that traps can be laid down. The Nope goes in both directions as one of the large pincers grabs Soujiro in it and starts thrashing him around. Hulk crab smash. Smash smash smash. Little swirls are in place of Souji's beautiful blue eyes. Train harder, Soujiro!

Hunter Crab = Hunted Crab. Vertina's slick slide and slash really opens that crabs up to reveal that these things pack some juicy crab meat! A few follow up blows send it into crackling sparkles that drop 'Crab Meat' as loot. They are going to eat good tonight! Speaking of good food. Can you smell what the Klein-Miho are cooking? Cooked crab. Klein's flaming blade cleaves the spider-crab's main weapon, literally and figuratively disarming them one after the other. This includes Soujiro, who rattles himself back to sense and removes himself from his pincer prison. Miho's raging fire finishes off the creatures following the wake of Klein's assault, finally converging on the crab Viviene is struggling with before the party takes it down. The party gets crunch crab shells and crab meat as loot as well as a heaping helping of XP. The monsters out here are no joke.

The first beams of light come from further down the cavern. Freedom. But. Freedom to Ezzo, which might as well be called Avernus, Stygia, Hades, or any number of 'you dont want to be here' environs. Even the air here feels like it is laced with threats that could pop out in any moment. Heck, there could be a monster attacking them right now from a mile away because it has a glitched range. That tree over there? Yeah, it has a branch backwards as if the art asset got garbled. Rocks float inches above the ground in some places as if it can't tell what 'ground level' is. Best be careful and stay here only as much as they need to be. Soujiro points to the Denadoro Mountains. It is not far from where the cave exits and they can get there in the same day. Day. Thats right. Being underground made it hard to tell what time of day it was. The party lucked out in it being so close to morning and having plenty of light to travel with. The same isn't true when they reach the base of the mountain.

The Denadora mountains are steep and have a chilling breeze that pushes down from the top like a snoring dragon. The trail upwards is accessible to any Adventurer that can weather the harsh gusts and savage wildlife. Dull gray rocks are mixed in with the white of snow and the vibrant green of pines as they ascend, fending off minor encounters as they go. Most notably this comes from a series of large birds that hang around near the top of nearby rock faces. They inspect as 'Zu' and what makes them so difficult is their patrol patterns. They have the whole sky to roam around and no shortage of perches to rest on. These large black birds dive down like hawks when they find prey, gashing with infected talons in fly-by attacks. A skilled archer can knock one off course on its dive, but the best bet is to move around their aggressive range through stealth or stealth assisted Wave Artes. If all else fails you can defend against the attack before the debuff takes you to sad town.

Successes are tracked by INDIVIDUAL
Ranged(10), Shield(9), Dark(9), Sneaking(8)
Failure: Bird Flu, you have flu like symptoms until a scene where you are treated with Pharma

Viviene has opted to, during travels, take out her guitar and start playing some music, taking any requests or just playing whatever comes to mind, it turns out that she IS a bard despite all her weaponry, so at least the quiet moments between anything interesting or dangerous at least had some music alongside them. Viviene seems to know a variety of music from the real world, games or otherwise. She's even able to use subtle magic to shift her song to include an emulation percussion or woodwinds alongside her guitar.

As they soon find themselves outside of the cavern, Viviene looks around for a while and takes in the situation. "Okay. Floating rocks is fine in a video game, but anyone see that branch? What the heck is with that?" she noted to the others.

The danger of the birds is ever present, and Viviene has taken to shrouding herself in darkness, sticking to the shadows of whatever is provided, or even within the shadow of one of her party members if they were tall enough, shifting from place to place and remaining quiet, only revealing herself to the party when the danger seemed passed.

Vertina snatchs up some of the Crab Meat drops. Her having Hunting as a racial trait and using a hunting aspected weapon likely increased the chances of that drop, and she is going to take full advantage of it later. They still have a trek back off the island they're going to need to be fed for, after all. "No worries about having to resort to rations on the trip home now!" Pause. "We probably don't want to stick around long enough for more to show up, though." So, onward! To the cracks of light above!

And a mountain. More hiking! We're really getting a workout on this Adventurer, and she isn't complaining... Alas, the fun and excitement of mountain hiking is put on hold by obnoxious Zu birds deciding they want to be the unwelcoming wagon and divebombing the party.

"Well, those aren't chickens." Vertina takes out a flask of bubbly red liquid, unstops it, and chugs it down. "But I bet they roast just the same!" With the alchemical concoction amplifying her Salamander fire breath she exhales a massive plume of it that sprays outwards, covering a wide diameter of the air that forces the Zus to break off their dives with smoldering wings and tailfeathers.

Klein's entire body is sizzling by the time he's done helping with the last of the spider crabs due to the overuse of fire magic, but it's for a really good cause. "Maybe it should be less universal! Ugh, they're already bad enough when you can just squish them with a shoe." The edges of the katana are glowing a bright red as he sheathes the blade, but he's happy enough to not care. Picking up some of the extra crab meat, Klein stares down at it for a moment. "Maybe I shouldn't tell Asuna where I got this..."

Out into the air of Ezzo, Klein tries to ignore the hairs on his neck standing on end. With how twisted the landscape is, it's already clear they are no longer in a place that's safe for humans. If he's a little more on guard since they arrived, well, everyone has a reason to be. "I heard things were bad in Ezzo, but not -this- bad..."

The hike up the mountain is already dangerous enough due to the high altitude and change in temperature. Add in the Zus that keep trying to either claw out his eyes or steal his katana, and a few birds will have singed tail feathers before they're finally driven off. It doesn't change the fact he's also tossing a few fireballs to assist Vertina in having roasted Zu for dinner. "I think we're supposed to remove the feathers first, but I have to see how they taste."

Miho says "I'm not Gigan but I'm pretty good with armour. If you need tailoring though that's beyond me."

She could make you needles etc sure, but the sewing? Nope that is beyond her. She does hwoever make sure to keep laying the smakdown on on monsters. When that is over she'll grin at Klein

"You are pretty good..."

The party decends now going onwards. Thing seem to be going well as they near the mountain.

"Well now we shoul... oh for the love of..."

She'll draw her Katana and ward them off, she gets pretty lucky at deflecting the bird's assaults.

Miho says "Reality broke here I never seen things myself till now..."

She pauses at the idea of eating Zu.

"So long as we make sure we don't get sick..."

"I'll take you up on that, Miho-chan," sparkles Souji to Miho. His universal friend in all things creation of arms and armor. Univerally crafty Salamander.

A samurai does not sneak! What is he, a ninja? Souji keeps his wits about him and those razor sharp reflexes that... well to be fair they have been failing him a ton so far. Not today! As a bird dive bombs the sword saint, the blades come out and redirect the bird towards a wall. Crash! This group is fighting their way up! Hacker birbs meet Vertina's firewall. Access to Adventurers: Denied. One completely misses the divebomb due to Viv's darkness shrouding magic, much to its surprise. The surprise doubles when a fireball roasts it into a chicken. The next Zu is also roast colliding into a wall at fast speeds and finally answering how roasted chicken can be in the walls of the Castlevania games. Add in the almighty Anchor HOOOOWWWLLL and the Zu get deflected by Klein and Souji, Roasted, and then retributed. The party has to soak a lot of their energy into anti air defense, but the item drops are stacking up. Zu feathers, birb meat, and talons.

It starts becoming more and more clear that the party is heading towards a raid zone style area. The path gets wider. The ground gets flatter. They are high up on the mounatains now. All that is missing is a save point. Oh look, there it is. Souji points out a nearby cave alongside the final part of the ascent that is large enough to fit forty or more people in it. There is even an unlit camp site. "This is where we would stage before the event," the blue eyed man says as he recalls those times. Sitting and waiting as people get ready. Socializing and talking about what strategy they were going to use. Regrouping after a wipe and talking about what they have to do differently. It holds a lot of memories for the young man. "We should take a short break before heading in. This is the last time we will get a breather before we see what is beyond." Soujiro loves a challenge but he is not reckless. Also he thinks it is disrespectful to not be prepared to give it his all. Maybe say a little prayer to ward off any bad luck.

REST ZONE - A Difficult Challenge is Before you, Prepare
Each member may roll a restorative concept with no cards (Pharma, Light, Cooking, Brewing, or Song) at 10. If successful they can assign a person who will recover a spent card of Uncommon rarity.

More meat to save for later. They have a trip back down to make, after all. And no one wants to march on an empty stomach. Vertina gives Soujiro a pat on the shoulder after the fight and he points out the cave. "Good idea. We should be ready to give it all we have."

Once everyone has found themselves a spot in the cave she pulls out several flasks. "Here guys, drink up. I'll save the strong stuff for the journey home, but some light drinks will help everyone relax and stay hydrated." Turns out she's only getting out some berry juices, so no fancy effects. Just making sure no one is thirsty (or going to stumble into a raid battle drunk).

Reaching the camp site after a long slog uphill, Klein continues to nibble on a leg of roasted Zu. After they finally got the message, the giant birds appear to have gotten the message. "Hmmm...I say this has to be a five out of ten on the Zu meat. Some secret herbs and spices will really bring out the best of this meat."

Considering they're nearing the end of their journey, Klein reaches into his inventory for a little something he got a few weeks back. Some premium rum he had to barter with a pirate fellow, but he'd been promised that it would be worth it. "Some strong drink to go along with dinner!" Klein goes to take a hearty swig...and spits it out just as quickly, staring at the bottle with a betrayed look. It's easy to see why when he tips it over, pouring out the clear liquid inside. "Sea water?! Ugh, you can never trust a pirate."

It may not have been the booze he had been hoping for, but Klein settles for the flask of berry juice offered to him by Vertina. "Thanks! I was going to offer everyone something to warm us up, but...that's not going to happen."

Viviene looks to be in pretty good shape, though beat up from the encounter with the crab-spider, she decides to rest with the camp this time and just enjoys the time strumming her guitar and playing a tune here and there, helping to ease her own spirits and the parties. Her performance isn't legendary or anything, but its clear she has dedicated time to playing the guitar. "I was around when it all happened.. just didn't expect to have such lasting effects." she mentioned to everyone about the oddities in the region. "Its been nearly two years." she said. She grins at Klein. "You should have known better. A pirate would never sell off their rum!" It might be noted that shes eating those rations again. Perhaps habit?

Miho Says "We can do that later then. I don't have the tools on me to fix it out here."

Things go well enough with the comment baout a break? That's a good diea Miho will floip back and use some healing item she's had stoyed away on her and lay on her back. She'll take the drink from Vertina an downs it.

"Thanks."

She looks to Klien for a moment.

"The power of the Colonel right? We don't want to be drunk before a fight, right?"

She looks to Viviene for a moment.

"We're lucky it has been confined to here. That's true what pirate would sell off their rum?"

A roasted Zu leg is tossed at Viviene, partly for being called out and partly out of concern. "How you eat some real food?! I thought that stuff was banned!"

Viviene catches the Zu leg in a hand then looks at it for moment, then the remains of the ration, and tosses the ration back to Klein. "Fine. Fair trade. Sort of habit, reminds me of the meals I had during boot camp and basic." she noted as she begins biting into the Zu leg, tearing apart the meat upon it ravenously. "Thnkmhs." she follows it down with some of the juice provided. "Thanks, both of you." she said more properly.

The party spends a brief moment of respite in the cave. "Thanks Vertina," Soujiro says as he takes the drink and sips on it. He has this aura of restfulness about him that is simply relaxing to be around. It lightens up the cave by melting away the stress of the recent climb. The days they have spent together. The laughs and the challenges. He laughs at Klein and the sea water, "A good prankster! He would make a good entertainer at a seaside tavern." The topic of the Apoc and the Cursed Wave brings up the topic with Viv, "I don't understand it myself other than it looks pretty bad. The early days in Ezzo were," the samurai considers, "difficult for many people. We had our level reset back to 1 and there were end-game monsters everywhere. They breathe on you wrong and you go back to the Cathedral in one hit." He sips on his drink, "The landscape looked like corrupted game code. It affected the things living here, too. I don't know if Ezzo will ever be whole again, but things live here." He chews on some delicious food. He knows he is forgetting something important but he cant place his finger on what. He is about to remember.

Leaving the cave and proceeding onwards gives the impression of the formal raid arena. The mountain reaches its craggy arms over the top in arches that cap off the ceiling while letting beams of the heaven shine through. The ground is cold and icy up here. The air is thin and howls in this mountaintop cathedral to the elements.

At the far end of the area is a large serpent coiled up itself. Two large feathery wings surround its sleeping form. It is immediately evident that something is horribly wrong here. The feathers are molted. The scales are flecked with red blood that have long since dried over and given the scales a mixed hue. Fallen weapons and shield litter the area by the dozen. An inspection shows there are two creatures there. One is 'Kuroe' and flickers in a glitched state with no health bar at all. The other is 'Mune' and of its several health bars only one remains. It is already injured. By the look of things here it has been injured for some time now. Both show that they are still engaged 'in combat' with something and can't leave the combat status.

The creature known as Kuroe is a woman with a fox mask on over her face. Two long fox ears stick out as pure as the snow at this mountain top. Flowing gowns with a similar soft white color. The head of the large, dragon-like serpent hed rests in her lap as she gently strokes the sleeping creature. She barely recognizes that someone has entered the area until her head raises slowly as if waking from a dream. "How long has it been since we have had challengers," she says as if she can't remember. As if her memories are lost to her.

Soujiro remembers her though. "Kuroe," he says as he steps in, "what happened here?" He has memorized the lines to this encounter by the sheer number of times he had to run it to get the Fantasy grade ingrediants for the Kogarasumaru. A dragon-like serpent and a fox across a multitude of phases. It looked nothing like this. Intead it is somehow sadder. More 'real'.

"Soujiro Seta," she says, uncertain until the name comes from her lips behind the mask, "I've long forgotten that name but somehow it feels so familiar." A dead silence. "Are you here to end your promise?"

That last part strikes the Samurai deep. Losing his blade was one thing, but it wasn't just a weapon. It held a strong companion within it. One he forged a bond with. When the Apoc took it all away, he had not realized what that could have done to Kuroe. He wondered. It even drove him to seek answers. But this? He looks to the group and says, "I won't ask you to fight. A dragon is a powerful raid-boss. Even with its reduced health we stand only a slim chance at finishing Mune off. But," and he turns back the serpent and fox, "I won't go back on my word, even if I have to die a hundred times to do it, Kuroe, I will chip away until it is done!" He slowly pulls his katanas out, walking into the arena. If the yelling didn't rouse the creature, its base instincts to fight anything that enters did.

The fox drifts away as if she was ethereal, leaving only the serpent. It uncoils, standing on the base of its tail and unfurling a pair of broken wings. A winged serpent of massive proportions. Its injury is well marked as a huge blade impaled right through its chest, left to cut and fester there in a wound that does not permit it to die nor heal. It does not hiss, it roars lunging forward with a gashing maw at the party.

Difficult Encounter - Mune
Two Offensive Successes are required to progress
Party will suffer two boxes of damage, reduced down to 0 for each successful defensive check
Support Checks can provide +2 to a single roll, including checks already rolled

Offensive Checks: Melee (10) or Fire (12)
Defensive Checks: Shield (10) or Earth (12)
Support: Enchantment (8) or Song (8)

Vertina has no idea what's going on with the exchange between Souj and the fox-masked woman. But the serpent rising from it's slumber does get her attention, taking a step back and tilting her neck to watch it uncoil upwards. Unfurls its wings. Damaged wings. Is it going to be able to even use them anymore, or maybe that's something they can take advantage of...

While primarily a fighter, Vertina has played more than enough sports in her time to know a proper gameplan is important, and sometimes for the sake of someone else with more suitable skills you play off your usual position. Which would be why instead of going for her usual direct approach Vertina does a few quick hand motions to focus. "Time to play a little defense." And then slams one of her feet into the ground.
This causes several large chunks of rock to push up from the surface around what's become the boss arena, giving herself and her allies places to take shelter from the winged snake's attacks. "Take cover and strike when you've got an opening!" Ideally roughing up the terrain will also make it harder for the snake to slither about with it's size, if those wings aren't fully functional.

The half-eaten ration tossed his way is grabbed out of the air, but Klein stares down at the food like it insulted his mother. He remembers those days living off foodstuffs like these, early on. Upon the realization that food could indeed have flavor has been a highlight of those early days. The fact that there are apparently people still willingly eating food like this still is honestly a disturbing one. He's going have to make sure to drag this Viviene for a proper meal in the future.

The area at the top of the mountain screams boss arena to Klein's senses, and at first, the samurai is hyping himself up for a furious battle. But then he notices the heavily injured 'Mune', and a part of that gamer spirit recoils. It seems the corruption of Ezzo has seeped in deeply for the dragon to not be allowed to recover its' health. And the fact that Kuroe apparently recalls Soujiro? This is far from normal, and something he'll need to ask about later..

Klein hangs back as Soujiro talks with Kuroe, getting the feeling this is something he shouldn't intrude upon. It's only after she fades away and the wounded dragon stands up that Klein follows into the boss arena with his weapon drawn. With a party this small against a (wounded) raid boss, the odds are heavily stacked against them. Igniting his katana, Klein swings low against the snow-covered ground, sending out a trail of fire to streak out among the earthen pillars. After a moment, they ignite upwards in an intense wall of erupting flames, sure to lick at any flesh that dares cross. "Play it safe, everyone! Nobody needs to be a hero today!"

Viviene noted the possible connection between Kuroe and Soujiro, but she was gearing up, moving to prepare her own katana, she is prepared, as Klein, Miho, and Vertana a defense, she joins alongside Soujiro in the initial offense, revealing a sword arte that is clearly a custom designed one, mirroring that of a technique made famous by another series of games as she charges towards the dragon with her sword at her shoulder, tip towards the beast, shadowy, arcane force and a kick of her feet traverse her laterally towards the boss at incredibly high speeds, as she strikes at the dragon, the thrust seeming to slip through defense and strike multiple times, as Viviene announces: "STINGER!" to the world, a move that avid action gamers might recongize!

Miho isn't sure what up with the Fox0mased woman and Souji either She does hang back a bit as she seem ready for trouble. It's concenring is this thing as it should be or has the death of this nation broken something else? She has to wonder what broke the world here what warped it so? She does not know either and the fox? She'll have to ask about that later as she move to intercept it's attack it's not going so well. She does both tanking and DPS so she's not a real master of either when you get down to it...

The head of the serpent-dragon lunges forward and into a rock pillar from Vertina. Its massive head crashes through it, slowing it down considerably and allowing Soujiro to jump up onto its head. "Heeeeyyyaaaahhhh," the sword saint yells out as Mune rears his head up, standing three stories tall so that the samurai can fall off of him. Soujiro doesn't fall to his death, he begins to slash in a spiral down the snake-tower as red damage lines light up the boss like a Christmas Tree. He rides the wave of gravity and anime-esque attack logic all the way to the bottom of the boss where he slides across the icy floor to be stopped by another Vertina pillar.

A lunge isn't its only attack. Mune whips its tail around, smacking the ground like a heavy maul in rapid succession. Several of these blasts look like they are going to put out Klein's firey wall, but it holds and returns the fire-like chip damage back onto the boss. The forward advance of Miho and Viviene gets in those crucial blows towards the body with that Stinger! attack. The assault continues with key Artes at play as cooldown timers on skills are constantly being stressed as well as everyone's mana/energy reserves and potions.

The hit points of the final health bar of this raid boss ticks down painfully slow. The party is shaving off percentage point after percentage point of that massive bar. Mune isn't even reacting to the damage anymore than it would if it was being pelted with pebbles and papercuts. Strong as the party is, they are a fourth of the required force to bring to bear against a raid. Can they deal the final blows in time?

These creatures have a rage time if you can't pass the DPS check in time. Who is to say /what/ that really is given the boss already started in a combat state and has a giant blade sticking through its chest? When the final health bar hits fifty percent, Mune lets out a deep roar so loud that the stone archways begin to crack and sunder. Large rocks fall down onto the battle arena to herald the shifting from hungry lunges into a fervish thrashing of its body, its wings, and its bone-crunching maw.

The battlefield becomes chaos that requires everyone to move away from falling debris, avoid a thrashing body, and still find a way to bring Mune's health bar down the final fifty percent before getting wiped out. The environment is the only way to get a strike in on the large creature, either through pulling down the Light of Heavens itself in divine lances or a physical method by using the glacial ice to pull it down onto his large frame. There is a pattern to this stage of the fight and quick thinking or quick instinct will help suss out how to land the stunning blow or avoid getting knocked out cold.

Difficult Encounter - Mune, Phase 2
One Offensive Success is required to progress
Party will suffer three boxes of damage, reduced down to 0 for each successful defensive check
Support Checks can provide +2 to a single roll, including checks already rolled

Offensive Checks: Light (12) or Water (13)
Defensive Checks: Evasion (11) or Pharma (11)
Support: Cryptography (8) or Divination (8)

Danger! Potential physical and emotional damage! One really pissed off boss, barely showing that it's already been severely damaged!

Yeah, Vertina is drinking it all up like a good adrenaline junkie. But she's not going to let it get to her head, either. Not when there's a lot riding on the very savage fight they're in.

It looks like one of the rocks is going to fall on her, but at the last split-second Vertina erupts into motion to avoid it slamming to the ground. She moves with such intensity, thanks to the plumes of flame released from her hands and feet, that she leaves a trail of fire in her wake. Soon the boss isn't the only thing snaking around the arena, as Vertina winds and weaves around falling rocks and thrashing serpent body. "Catch me if you can, ugly!"

They're in the middle of a very deadly boss battle, he really shouldn't be letting himself getting distracted. But...his flame walls are holding and the pillars are hemming Mune in. He points a finger at Viviene and shouts to be heard over the dragon's roar. "YOU! TEACH ME, LATER!" He recognized that move easily, and he might just have to beg Viviene to learn how she pulled that off.

There may only be one health bar on this wounded creature, but it's proving to be quite a lot for just the five Adventurers that have challenged it. With an impending enrage in the future, who knows how long they have before Mune goes all out? He really don't want to retreat after everything they been through to get here. But Mune is proving to be too difficult to get near while it's thrashing around, and it's all that Klein can do to keep himself from becoming pixelated paste on the floor. Diving to leap out of the way of a falling rock pillar, Klein rushes around like a headless chicken, just hoping for a chance for a breather to turn the tables back on the dragon. "As an old cartoon used to say...bad day, bad day, BAD DAY!"

Viviene has started focusing on evading attacks, darkness shrouds her form as she appears at one location then another, leaving behind small shadowy wisps of herself at her previous location, but she is unable to completely mitigate the incoming attacks, there are times where she seeks to draw the Dragons attention away from Soujiro so with harrying strikes he can continue focusing on his assault, and it also leads to her getting a nasty taste of the Dragon's repirtore of attacks. She does her best to keep up, managing some evasions, but the timing required and mastering cooldowns on this level is something she has yet to experience. "This is my first dragon.. 'n my first raid boss. HAH! THIS IS A BLAST!" even as she's getting knocked around, she's enjoying it.

Viviene as an aside to Klein, she responds in the middle of the chaos. "Gonna cost ya!"

Even in the middle of one of the most chaotic fights he ever been a part of, he flashes a thumbs up to Viviene. This almost causes him to get slammed into the earth by one of Mune's wings, but he manages to sidestep just in the nick of time.

Miho generally did not go near the tower pushes, she was often cleaning up the messes of the Waves that they seemed to cause, however. Mihos tanking skills are not doing so well as the battle with Mune rages on. She's glad to have good company for this. She just comes a bit short and she gets mauled and the attacks will get past her to her comrades.

"Damn it... "

She needs to look into forging new gear. This was her first dragon as well and this was a heck of a way to do it. Still, everyone was still up.

"We just need to burn through the last of its hp..."

Danger! The sky is falling! Rocks are falling! Thrashing boss snake is falling in an angry thrasing way that threatens to bring the whole arena down. Vertina blaze dodges away at the last moment, showing exactly how to execute a perfect dodge with that slow motion bullet time which leaves fire in its wake that a time traveling car would be proud of. Morning cartoons are also preparing to sign deals with Klein with his classic 'Rock and Roll Scramble' that sees him avoiding rock after rock like a bullet hell game gone wrong. Viviene isn't as forunate, having the option of being in the path of a rock or a thrashing tail. Tail it is, showing how bad it is to get hit with over a third of her bar being wiped out in a single enraged hit like this. Miho suffers a similar fate, making it clear it wasn't an unlucky bout of the RNG. It just hurts that badly. This isn't an MMO fight, its a Soulslike fight!

Soujiro darts out of the way of a falling rock before it turns him into a Soujiro Pancake. He looks upwards to the light. The Heavens. This was part of the raid mechanics back then. He remembers that there is a way to stun Mune to stop the thrashing. "I have an idea, hang in there, everyone," he yells out amongst the thunderous crashes. It will requires some acrobatics. The sword saint jumps up on a landed rock and then jumps up onto one that is falling. In true anime fashion he runs up the rock, platforming upwards in a way that would make Samus jealous with rock leap to rock leap. This continues until he gets into the light beam from the top of the arena. Both swords are held out as he leaps into, seemingly the air. The white light glows over him and his swords for a moment. Truly a saintly picture of him up there, enriched by light and charging up an attack. As if rocketed from the sky itself, Soujiru descends in a white beam of light down onto Mune's head, cracking it and landing him onto the ground in a daze.

"The blade," Kuroe says. Remember Kuroe? The nice fox lady that has some sort of mysterious and unexplained history with Soujiro and Mune? She is offering advice now, free of charge. "Remove the blade!" And there it is. The sword in the snake. It looks pretty lodged in there and has fused to its body over an untold period of time. It will take everyone to rip this thing out and, hopefully, be the final blow to this boss.

Difficult Encounter - Mune, Phase 3
Finish it. Everyone rolls a Physical test. The sum determines the outcome: 0 - 40. 41 - 60. 61+. The sum is reduced by 5 due to 1 box of injuries sustained.

Pity they're in middle of a raid boss fight and don't have time to truly marvel at the saintly strike that is Soujiro. But everyone is pulling their weight so it's all going to come up good in the end, right? The snake is at least temporarily stunned, so that's a good start.

Remove the sword? Okay... you don't need a weaponsmith's eye to see that sword is wedged in good and even partially grown over, though it does help. She considers for a moment. "I'm going to try something," she mutters, and darts off to the side. Pulls a clump of root out of her inventory, clenching it in her hand. The roots start to squirm to life, rapidly growing and winding upon themselves as she channels nurturing Earth energy into it, until it grows into a large ball of vines sprouting sharp barbs.

Which Vertina winds up with, takes a few quick steps for some extra momentum, and hurtles the Bramble Ball at the side of the sword stuck in the snake!

Swords are made to cut up and down, or pierce in and slide out. She's hoping slamming it from the side of the blade will vibrate it with enough force in a direction it isn't made to move easily to help break it free from the scale and flesh that have started to refuse around the blade.

While everyone is scrambling around and trying to stay out of the way of Mune's fierce attacks, Soujiro seems to have a plan in mind. Klein just waves a free hand towards his fellow samurai and focuses on keeping himself and the others alive! He manages to get in a good position to see Soujiro showing that he didn't gain the title of Sword Saint for nothing, unleashing a beam of light down from the heavens.

It seems to do the trick and Klein is about to rush in to start cutting up the dragon up close, but Kuroe's words could be heard across the relatively quiet arena. There was that giant sword in Mune's chest, but he figured it was just there for decoration. Sheathing his katana, the scruffy samurai rushes in to grab a hold of that blade and starts to tug, but it really does seem held in place good. "Uuuuugh! Who put this in him, a grumpy green giant?!" Taking a moment to collect himself, Klein starts to tug whenever he draws in deep breaths, sparks of electric energy covering his arms. "Come...ooooon...!"

With Kuroe's advise given, Viviene is springing into action, though she takes a second to recover from the brutal hit, having been implanted into a wall and prying herself out, she begins charging through the area, weaving, flipping, and otherwise performing acrobatic stunts to get closer to the dragon, as she gets close, the area .. darkens, A spriggan classic is performed : edge of shadow . It is used in a means to hide her presence while she strikes at the wound the sword is in from multiple directions, aiming to loosen the sword, with two final, unseen, heavy strikes with loud clangs, as the last two strikes are timed to try and help pry it out, using the sheer mass of her greatsword to aid with such, timed right after Vertina's bramble ball comes in to alter the angle of the sword.

By the end of her strike, she is visible again, using her huge greatsword as a crowbar to help pry the blade out, alongside Klein's efforts to pull the blade out, she lets out a furious roar of effort despite her small size. "Hya..HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The Sky is falling, oh lord it is a fallen. Miho is not dead, that's good for her and it means she can help the party fight back. Which is just what she's going to do. She'll look at Soujiro as he says he has a plan. Then she sees what's going on. She hears the fox lady say go for the sword?

"Got it."

With that the smole Salamander makes a charge for it and will boun and leaps trying to grab the blade and pull it free like she's trying to do her best impersonation of King Arthur.

This wasn't part of the raid. The raid boss having a giant sword stuck in their chest also wasn't part of the raid, so it is time to wing it. If the mystical fox lady says remove the sword, Souji is going to trust her and try to remove the sword. He gets two good hands on the hilt and begins to pull. His hands go numb from the grip and the sheer vibration from Vertina's Bramble ball. It is no longer just a sword now, it is a vibrosword. This makes it easier to pull, for sure. Klein is there with Soujiro, the two of them heaving in synch. As the darkness opens the sound and the crowbar helps pry it open from Viviene. Its a lot of sword and a lot of snake to work out. Finally the last hands grab on, a group of adventurers banded together in a common cause: The Sword in the Snek.

Mune revives from his stun as the blade is slipping out. Something about having a large metal object forcibly removed from your body tends to rouse you out of your stupor. He wails, hisses, and thrashes in pain. The party holds on for the wild ride of riding a thrashing giant snake with wings while holding onto a sword in a snek. Where else but in Elder Tales would such a story be possible? In the end, the party is able to rip the blade out before they are ejected from Mune's back. The final rip and tear shows that it is done. The health bar of the boss is ravaged by the blow as the bar quickly reduces to nothing. It stops, finally at peace after all these years. The pain is gone.

"Thank you, Adventurers, for putting my suffering to an end," the serpent says, tongue hissing out of its mouth as it begins to wisp away in orbs of light. "In my pendultimate battle, fierce as it was, I was victorious against your kind. One fled and this wound did not heal." His tail is gone now. His wings. His sight goes milky white. "Kuroe. You stayed?"

"I stayed, Mune," says a large white dire fox that sits by his side, form that of a ghost that has long since perished from this world. "Foolish fox," he chides. "Stubborn snake," she replies. The two laugh as if they have known each other for a long time. "I think I will not return this time, Kuroe. I can feel the winds here and they are unfamiliar." And now he turns his head to the Adventurers, "But if I do return, I would see our match anew. It was..." but by then the white wisps have reached his head. They fade away, lifting up into the skylight made by the battle and taken away to whatever lays beyond.

Like a breaking heart, the retrieved blade shatters into shards, sounding of crackling glass and metal before it snaps. One for each of them, by the Goddess' decree. Soujiro reaches down for his part of the blade. It was part of the quest to forge a weapon in the game. This time around it feels different. He looks to Kuroe, "You are also free, Kuroe." The white fox looks directly at the sword saint. Her many tails flick behind her. "I will see Mune again, but I will not be upstaged by an Adventurer. Our Vows hold, Soujiro Seta." The fox begins walking and takes on the form of the lady with a white mask on once again. "Shall we go see Glenn?" she asks everyone as if they should know who Glenn is. You know, Glenn. That guy.

"Wow, that's deep." And Vertina isn't talking about how far the sword was previously in the giant serpent, either. She clasps her hands together and bows to the fading boss. "It was our honor to make your final time here a memorial one. Mayhaps, another day on another plane..." And then he's gone. While the kitsune/foxwoman is appearing more as a ghost than anything else it would seem.

She crouchs down to retrieve one of the pieces of the blade, then tilts her head towards Soujiro. "Vows?", she asks, though doesn't press the matter farther if he doesn't feel like explaining.

"Well, anyways." She turns the shard over in her hand a few times. "Once we find a safe spot, or that cave again, I'll make sure we're fed and such before the trek back to the starting point."

The party is united in a joint effort, to free a blade held fast from the dragon. It's a tremendous effort, with everying giving it their all. Just when it seems that Mune is about to regain his wits, they managed to pull the blade free. What Klein was not expecting was the dragon to speak. "It was...well, I hope." And maybe, it will be a proper battle next time, not one where one party has been in pain for years.

With the battle now at an end, Klein does turn to look at Soujiro before glancing down at the Battleworn Blade Fragment held in his hands. "I honestly think we need a full story sometime. And...the name Glenn doesn't really ring a bell here, but i'll go wherever Soujiro wants to go."

Miho has no idea was not normal she'd not done this rate before. She was too busy making things for the most part. Well abck when thing were a game this is no longer a game now is it? Miho comes in for a a three point landing. She looks up an sheaths her blade now.

"I'm glad you both are free."

A lingering nightmare like that for the dragon. Was this more of a mercy kill she did not know. She waits till it end before she'll speak up.

"Vows? Also I do not think Frog from Chrono Trigger has naught to do with this."

So she's really curious now... and will follow the party once they head out. She'll also take a look at her own drops making sure they are secured.

Viviene having watched the conversation that followed, and listening quietly, its soon after she is retreving a fragment of the sword as she quints at Soujiro "Is this a quest you started ages ago or something?" she asks curiously, then looks between the others as the woman asks if they should see Glenn, and gives the fox woman a shrug "Who's Glenn?" she does not pick up on the references of an old old game set within this quest line or field, and seems to just scratch her head in more confusion. "I think I've met a shop NPC named Glenn."

It takes Klein a few moments after Miho mentions the name Frog that you could see the train of logic leaving the station on Klein's face.

'Frog...Chrono Trigger?...wait, Mune...Denadora Mountains...Masamune?! Wait, Glenn?!'

Confusion to sudden realization floods this gamer's face, and he slams a fist into an open palm. "Wait, Glenn? Green hair, speaks in an olden style accent, a knight? That Glenn?...okay, I absolutely would love to meet Glenn, ma'am." Klein would even add in a deep bow at this.

Chrono Trigger is a game recommended for any RPG nut, and if this is who Klein and apparently Miho think it is...well, best to be on his best behavior. When else could you meet your favorite character, or at least the Elder Tale Online version of them?

Soujiro Seta explains a little bit as Kuroe, the fox spirit, disappears for now. "Before the Apocalypse hit, I was a top level Samurai. Part of the Debauchery Tea Party," he tells the party. It wasn't that he was hiding any of it, it just didn't seem relevant until all this happened. "One of the raids we would do is this one right here. Kuroe and Mune, a love letter to an older story." And Miho has already guessed the kind of story that was being told. Tale as old as time in many legends. The game's renditions made some liberal references for the fans. "That is how I first forged the Kogarasumaru, an extremly difficult to get Samurai exclusive weapon." He looks at the fragment and puts it away as if it was as fragile and sacred as a family urn. "Kuroe was bound to that blade and a faithful companion in combat. When I lost my levels and my equipment, I often wondered what happened to her." A smile on his face, "Now I know. As for the Vow, its nothing complicated. I promised I would always look over her and she promised the same to me. I couldn't stand the idea that she was 'enslaved' to me and want it to be our of mutual respect."

Who /is/ Glenn after all. Soujiro addresses it. "Glenn is, or was, part of the quest chain. After this raid you are to go see a were-frog named Glenn in some elusive marshes to hunt for the lower half of the blade and its hilt." Thats right, Miho, Frog has EVERYTHIHG to do with this. He smiles to Klein when he, also, gets it. Gamer life!

Vertina glances in the direction Kuroe disappeared off in. "If everything was reset, it'd make sense she was back here, then. Sounded like she was waiting for you to return, too." Then shrugs, as most of it is going over her head with the finer references. As she explained earlier to Soujiro and Klein she wasn't a gamer, she got into VR games because of it being used for physical therapy treatments. "All the same, seems we're done here for now. Let's go find a spot to camp and rest up before the slog back to the landing point."

Sojiro's words have the small spriggan thoughtful as she is seated and catching her breath now. "Huh, Landers can exist like that alongside an Adventurer? Thats pretty cool, sounds like you have a good friend there." She is thoughtful at the mention of marshes. "Marshes huh? Rough terrain that, everything tries to kill you there, not just the monsters. I only got in on this game right before the apocalypse hit, I was like level three when it hit. Not that I was focused on leveling at the time." she said, as she stretches her arms and goes to begin helping find a suitable spot to camp. "Lets go find a good spot to camp. That was one rough fight."

Klein is looking at the blade fragment in his hand with a whole new light, as if he stumbled upon an holy fragment. He's already starting to make a few plans in his head, but the mention of camp and heading back snaps him out of it. "Huh? Oh, right, we got several more days of travel to get back to safety. Oh...and Soujiro?" He carefully puts his blade fragment into his inventory as he looks towards his fellow samurai. "Thanks for letting me come with you. You better count of me coming along with you when we go to see Glenn!" With that, Klein quickly downs an emergency potion from his inventory. His mana had gotten rather low during that fight, and he only saw that now that everything is over.