Duty Session 522: Totally Typical Tomb

Yeowang has called people together in a clearing in the woods. Shibuya is the closest place, but it's definitely overgrown wilds here, whatever it used to be. But part of whatever it used to be, this part was a graveyard, and when there's trouble, it's work for adventurers. She explains, "The explorers believe this is the source of the undead that are causing trouble for Landers."

She looks distracted, though. She hasn't pinned up her long hair, it hangs to it's full length, at her hips, flat across the bottom, and rather than her adventuring clothes, she's pulled her dark coat over her getting-work-done-in-town clothes, which look a bit too neat to really go exploring in. Well, she can afford a new wardrobe, she's one of the wealthier players. Many players own a business. She owns a bank.

Soujiro Seta is one that reponded to the call to get some adventuring done. He notices that people must be tired, Yeowang included. "Then thinning out the undead monsters will be a great break from all the hard work people are putting in lately," he smiles, stretching out. Not big into the lore stuff, he hasn't been overly taxed by recent events. A chance for training is more than enough to get him out and about.

A bit of walking, following the directions from the Hunters' Guild, and we start to see the tombstones of the original cemetary. Of undead, there is initially no sign, but as the party approaches, it becomes apparent that there are skeletal rats swarming around and over the graves. Tiny things, not hard to fight, but so many! And when they catch sight of the party, they rush toward them! Yeowang nods to Seta, agreeing, "Indeed," and she will take a martial arts stance.

Soujiro Seta walks towards the undead as they rush. He takes a measure of their speed, evading the first strike and blocking the second. The samurai doesnt draw his sword for the opening, defeating the foes in front of him with the saya sheathed blade, his hands, and his feet. Handicap warmup! The tunnel is a bit different, knowing that they dont have the full manpower to handle it. It doesn't stop him from seeing of two people can do what no less than three are required for. Log that Horizon.

Yeowang's hard martial arts style and Seta's own combat skills are more than enough for a swarm of skeletal rats that go down with one hit, sometimes several with a wide swing of the scabbard. To one side of the mausoleum is a bricked up tunnel leading into the hillside, which almost certainly leads into some subterranean structure, but it will take someone who knows a bit about building to make the entrance safe.

The possible entrance is dug out successfully, but before Yeowang and Seta can enter, the structure collapses, and the ground for many yards in sinks, indicating quite a lot of earth to move. Yeowang says, "Let's find a different entrance," and will head around, searching, and quickly it's apparent that this had been some sort of ancillary entrance, as the main entrance has marble starts that lead deep underground, and she will lead the way along that route.

The stairs end in a platform over a pit of dark earth. At the bottom of the pit is a horrifying amalgamation of flesh. What looks to be hundreds of zombies all melted together into a writhing pulsating mound of horrible. The thing flops pseudopods made of rotting humanoids along the rim of the pit to try and crush and draw in the party. Yeowang looks pretty disgusted.

Soujiro Seta approaches the zombies with the swordman's sword still in its sheath. He sparks a flame in his hand, a technique he learned from training with the Elemental Bender and puts his own twist on it. Wide arc of flame spill forth. Flame Hands. Any that survive the elemental attack get flame fists.

Continuing through the tunnels under the mausoleum the party reaches a large stone room with a large stone bier with a skeletal sphinx resting atop it. The skeleton has a key dangling inside her rib cage that matches the style of the gate.

The Sphinx stops the party with a greeting. The human looking skull has lots of pointy cat teeth. Somehow it's able to speak perfectly well. It asks the party a riddle with the standard sphinx caveat, get it wrong and get eaten. "Well, here's a puzzle out of history," Yeowang observes. "Or at least out of popular mythology."

Soujiro Seta approaches the puzzle with little in terms of puzzle solving in mind. He uses his strength to move the bits abour and press on.

Yeowang has to think about this one a bit, while Seta takes the direct approach, but he quickly finds out that this is a dangerous tactic, and he's pressed hard. Yeowang, still thinking, eventually says, "Ah, yes," and answers the riddle. Just as the sphinx was preparing to have lunch.

The party unlocks the path forward and proceeds, through various paths and passages, into the heart of the tomb. There is quite a facy crypt there, and a coffin. It is child-sized, to human eyes, but a gnome vampire arises from it and attacks the party, bouncing from wall to wall, slashing at the part and trying to mesmerize with his deadly glance.

Soujiro Seta engages the vampires with a Dauntless sense of resilience that keeps him in the fight with the creature til the very end. The whole light effect is good at counteracting a vampire's signature drain technique, hurting instead, to make quick work of the encounter.

Yeowang's melee skills are formidable, and while she's never faced a vampire in a tournament, she manages to hold her own. While her blows are not enough, by themselves, to defeat the undead curse, she can prevent him from endangering her or Seta, who's mastery of holdy forces in the end is enough to covercome the gnome.

After a fierce battle the Vampire falls to the ground, rather than vanishing into a reverse rain of pearlescent orbs of light, it blows away in a dust leaving behind a skeleton. Which then crumbles away.

With the Vampire defeated the undead curse is lifted from this graveyard.