Duty Session 524: Fireball Solves Everything

After the successful venture into the mysterious tower library Daiyu had looked more into other similar quests offered by the Hunter's Guild. The one she found perked her curiousity not for the possible religious ruins, but for what they supposedly contained. Having not heard of these 'Igneous Stones' before but having a general idea of what they might pertain to by the context of their name, she has decided to investigate for herself, and sent out a general invite to get some help. Now that she was no longer concerned that people wouldn't be interested in assisting her in such matters.

As the responders gathered they are met by a Lander NPC for the guild, who gives them the general exposition on the matter and provides a map to one of the nearby structures.

"I've been looking for fire crystals" Ayame explained, the sylph's shield unslung and situations steadily on her arm, covering her from knee to shoulder, her other gloved hand lazily twirling a wand "These stones sound like they'll at least point me in the right direction" She chatters at the Guild, looking around with interest in the new place, eyes peering over her half-moon glasses

Yeowang is always up for adventure. Or, training, as she things of it. Every challenge overcome is one more step on the path to excellence, even if it's not entirely clear how. The Experience Point thing hasn't really been explained to her, but she's aware that the more she does, the better she will get, and she's all about getting better. Overcoming challenges is second nature to her, challenges exist to be conquered, and she has the mindset to tackle any problem. Or possibly kicking its teeth down its throat. She is not kind to problems. "Crystals, is it?" she asks. "If they have value, then good." Training /plus/ reqards is a daily double.

Haru, frequent crafter, occasional adventurer, picked up a Hunter's Guild request to keep that healthy balanced diet of adventure-to-paperwork ratio. Can't very well make clear minded decisions about the world if you dont go out and do things in it. The Igneous Stone in particular held interest. Because. Fire.

Having been aptly called aloof in the past, the aloof Adventurer is amongst the assembled paying as much attention as he can to the Lander's exposition. Haru opens a book and writes two crisp lines about the matter before closing it. "Naturally occuring in volcanic regions and hot springs locales," Haru freely shares with Ayame. Knowing where mana-enriched crystals are is a requirement for any successful Enchanter as much as knowing where wheat is becomes required as a baker. "Not the sort of places you go alone. If you want to go mining, we can go sometime Ayame." Also of note, "And we should bring someone who knows how to, accurately, mine. Terra does a good job but those crystals are a bit too explosive for her excavation talents."

Gwen had bruned a lot of supplies on the latest project she needed to get out she needet to go dungeon craweling. Given the invite she jumped on it and was here bouncing in polace also clad in her Heavy Blade Armor again and just about leaning on Ayame with a grin on her face. "Good to be running with you Ayame!"

She'll give a wave to Yeowang and she'll also be eying up Haru as well with a almost Morri like look if someone's paying attention.

"Thanks for the invite Daiyu!"

Daiyu accepts the map from the helpful NPC and takes the lead. "A multitude of reasons, but in the end, all here for the same goal." After a bit of a walk the group comes upon a circular stone structure, a door barely visible beneath the vines and moss. "Must be an entrance." With one nimble hand she snaps open a tessen fan almost as if from thin air, and slices through some of the vines.... and one of the stringe wards, which gets her shoved back from the door as one of the protective wards activates with a repulsion enchantment. "Oof. Wasn't expecting those to still be active. We'll have to disarm or just demolish our way through... seeing as the place is already IN ruins."

Gwen smirks and she looks ahead. "Welcome to Dungeons in this world, think about it. It's quite the set piece is it not and I'm glad I dressed light!" She'll not be overheating at least. She'll press on ahead she takes a moment looks and think she's going to burn this one down as she starts chanting fire spells. Oh lord Haru! Someone stop her! It might be too late...

"You see, I've got a necrotic gem, for Dark, and Water and Air elemental shards, and an earth elemental crystal" Ayame chatters as she trots along with the others "And a phase crystal, which holds Light. I think there must be one for Fire, as well. Then I can see about making a wand or baton that has each of these, if I can find something to balance it." She glances at them all, amused.

"Gwen. Delighted to see you" She looks at the heavy armor the other wears, and then adjusts the shield "You see, dear Gwen, the point of the shield is to minimise the amount of armor I have to wear." With a flash of a smirk "See? Gloves, knee boots. And the rest of me, bar my face, is covered by the shield as I cover myself with it. Yes?" An exaggerated look of shock

"We'll see what we find from here" She tells Haru and Yeowang "But I would be interested in your thoughts of an elementally-balanced item. Whether it would produce something useful or not. If not, at least it's an interesting attempt at something."

She glances around at the wards, curious, and immediately begins to murmur below her breath, a soft chant as she tentatively pushes at the wards as she approaches them

Yeowang follows Daiyu as she leads the way forward, and is then stymied by the wards. "Disarm or demolish?" she wonders. "But Wards have very specific rules and conditions for them to work." She looks over as Ayame asks Haru and herself about something crafty. She looks to Haru, he will have to answer that, she has no familiarity with crafting in this game, and can only reply with an 'over to you' sort of glance. It's quite complicated enough without getting into the item building rules. On the other hand, the rules of Wards are ... if not straightforward, then straightforward enough for her to understand. The trick to undoing them is ... will, you have to know how the rune is formed to know how to undo it properly. But runes on fixed objects are a special case, and she -can- do something about that.

Haru is here for one of many reasons. The reasons, they are many. The many, they have reasons. Haru ponders them thusly, as he is want to do, as they come across the circular stone structure. "Disarm, we are a well versed group for such a puzzle solving endeavor," he informs Yeo. He gives Gwen the wave from an earlier greeting just in time to be like, "Gwen! Fire is a destructive force. It must be used with respect for the destructive, chaotic elements within." Yes. Haru knows things. Things and stuff. Stuff he realizes has to do with Fire anyway as he looks over the wards. "Here," he motions to the Pendragon, "focus the magic here and we can start on bypassing the circuit like the intelligent adventurers we are."

"There certainly are Fire Crystals," Haru asides to Ayame as he works with Gwen on the Enchanting Circuit. "Two elements I excel at are Earth and Fire, so fire infused minerals are a forte. The multi-elemental weapon sounds like a fun project. The Crown of Hope used a similar concept, but as a technique, not an object. Happy to share notes." Notably there is burning behind him as he has to direct Gwen away from the moss and dry debris before the runes get scorched. "And when the Statue effort is in conclusion, can help with Enchanting if you need one." He isnt the only Enchanter in town, but many hands can make for lighter work on large projects like that.

"One of every type so you can better understand how they interact with each other?" Daiyu asks Ayame as she adjusts her spectacles. Which are actually a relic, and doing so helps engage their capacity to focus on word and script. For the most part. That the wards are more crafted with the string and wood than written makes it an imperfect attempt. "The wards are not complex, but the medium they are placed in is unorthadox." Fortunately others with a combination of understanding the rules of the world, working with enchantments, and just good old fashion fire manage to clear the vines from the door and disengage the wards locking it. With the structure, a trapdoor. Which leads them down torch lit passages to another door, this one locked in the more practical manner. Daiyu closes her fan, instead bearing the long narrow claw-nails atop her nimble fingers. "Should be just like one of Shenmi's magic boxes..."

Yeowang is glad she can help with the puzzle and the rules, but when she follows downward, the next obstruction is something outside her area of expertise. Being crafty was never part of ber background, nor is she particularly adept at the sort of fine manipulation that might serve in the stead of skill. She will have to hope that her allies can work out how to get through. Her small skill with fire is certainly not enough to contribute.

Gwen Grins at Ayame for a moment. "Well then I have some ideas for what you could wear to look amazing while you fight like that." She grins even wider now. You fool she has ideas, the worst part is? There's no sense of malaice comming from her about this. She pauses at Haru for a moment thinking abotu what he said and will try to shift on how she's using her magic as she makes ready for the next challenge.

He blaade light up as she starts attacking the horde with fire arcs of flames.

"I AM THE ASH BRINGER!"

What's she babbling about now?

"I'm afraid I've no skill at enchanting" Ayame smiles to Haru and Daiyu "And precisely! I want to see how things work. If it makes nothing at all of value, then we know it's the combinations and relative strengths of the elements that makes something magical. If it makes something useful, then we know it's the individual strength of each element. Either way, that's something really useful, yes?" She asks them both

Her own bolts of fire are less than precise as she chatters, advancing before the shield. At most, it's suppressing. At worst? It's random.

"Gwen. You're not allowed to have ideas anymore" She chatters, the runes around the edge of her shield lighting up as she goes

Precision instrumentation. Tinkering. Accessory Crafting. "Gwen!" he can't hold back the Tank on a Heated Rampage. He tries though. "This is an apt opportunity for you to showcase all that you have been taught in the fine arts of Goldsmithing. Accessory crafting requires deft, careful hands and," and there she goes. Burning it all down. "Keep that up and I'll show /you/ Ash." Tooltip popup Ashlight Dreamstep and Ashfall Snowblind, the Ash series by Haru Nox. Order now to buy one, get one half off.

"Improvise," is what Haru says with a deep breath and exhale. He smiles, showing its the 'Yare Yare' sort of good grief moment. He takes the heat and his forging tools to mix the charcoal and heated metal to draw circuits onto the door. Once Daiyu has wrapped up with the locks he says, "Stand back," and fingers snaps, showing what both a Moonlight Enchanter and Moonlight Goldsmith can do by removing the hinges in one fell swoop. "Now you can smash it to bits," he enables, as a door without hinges or a lock tends to... fall.

"I have some familiarity in the combination of elements," Daiyu comments while she works. "The hardest ones are those that polarize each other as opposites. Fire and Water, Air and Earth... though not so much Light and Dark, as they exist as much because of each other as they do opposite." Be it by lockpicking, minute fiddling or just using a burning blade to break what the locks are fastened to they fall away and allow the party to venture farther. Unfortunately the next passage has become home to a swarm of dire bats, who are thankfully asleep but that could change at any moment.

"Proceed with caution, try not to disturb them." Daiyu whispers, before slipping off into the shadows herself. "At least Yamato's are not flying foxes."

In the Palace Lands those are actually part fox and part bat, not just bats with foxlike ears.

Haru travels under the guise of darkness, or his name isn't Haru Nox. Which it is, it is Haru Nox. So he uses the Darkness(tm) to travel. No commentary on the bats or being stealthy. It is mostly(?) successful but the Elder Tales system that be has a tendancy to pull upon the CHAOS at times. Law of Alba has been violated, Haru's magic blips. Well thats embarassing. He sloooowwwwly crab walks to the side to see if he doesn't body pull the bats before his Obsidian Light comes back off of cooldown.

Ayame advances, keeping her shield up, though this time, a low tone emits from her wand as she holds it to the metal rim of her shield, the white noise filling the air and masking the sounds of their steps as she continues her quick little steps along.

"I shall defer to your expertises in matching elements together" She smiles back to them, her voice pitched to an undertone "I suspect much will be of the placement, as much as the elements themselves, but if nothing else, it will prove a useful proof of which is correct, yes?" She asks lightly.

The talk of elements and crafting quickly goes over her head, and she can't even understand most of it. Proceeding with caution, though, she can understand, and she will move as quietly and carefully as she can. She was not particularly skilled in stealth, prior to the game, but recognizing the need for it, and mindful that her class name heavily implies that skill, she has trained it. She is not expert, but it seems she is good enough to avoid disturbing the dire bats. Blind -and- deaf, it seems.

Once the group is past the dire bat chamber Daiyu deshadows amongst them, picking up the conversation with Ayame like nothing had interrupted it. "Learning what does not work is an important step in learning what does. Now according to the map this should be the antechamber, near the end of the ruin--" She's interrupted by the sound of parchment ripping as a vine snags in the map while trying to swipe at her. Unfortunately there are many, many more of then, a wirthing mass of botanical tentacles infesting the room. "... I wonder if these are related to the Rose Guardins. No matter."

Daiyu retrieves from her inventory a sizable smoke bomb. Haru probably recognizes it as she tosses it amongst the vines. And it explodes into a cloud to engulf several of the viney masses. Which start to wither and crumble, hot fumes vaporizing off their forms as precious moisture is chemically burned away from within.

Yeowang is not one to be held back by a mere impenetrable forest of vines. She kicks her way through, and the wind from her kicks cuts like a blade. This was not an intended feature of her attack, but she doesn't understand the skill system very well. She's used to punching and kicking people, and the magic that surrounds her attacks sometimes just, well, happens. In this case, it happens very similarly to a scythe in a wheatfield during harvest. Which is useful, even if she doesn't understand it.

Gwen says "I have even more ideas now!"

Gwen pauses and actually seems to falter at Haru's wordss it looks like she's learning something thought. It seems she has a deep rooted things about bats in games, who knows what could have caused it given how Western Games are like. Someday they may find out, but lets be honest sneaky stuff just is not what Gwen's good at and she knows it. At best she could be cover for someone else to hide behind. Such as Haru she looks over to her and Ayame.

"I have an idea, if the's one thing I'm good at is air magic."

She will turn sharp currents of air into weaponsto carefully slice through the plants at key points.

"Time for a bit of weeding." She's a lot more controlled at this than her using fire...

Haru takes note of the 'smoke bomb'. Clever girl. "Ok, Gwen. Now it is completely appropriate to burn things down to ash. This is thick plant life that is in our way." He stands proudly. "Let loose." Still standing. Eyes close like a proud pappa. Proud. Pa... why isn't there any fire going on? His blue eye opens and his hands fall back down. Yare Yare. A finger comes to the bridge of his nose to push up his glasses. Note: Haru has a monocle, not glasses, so its only half as effective as a Shiroe move. "Fine, then I shall demonstrate!"

Haru's signature 'weapon' is four floating orbs around him. Ioun stones. They function as a focus for his magic. The Artificer begins chanting a lengthy spell as these floating orbs begin to get a 'motion blur' that is red behind them. The red begins to become manifest in rope. No. Vines. Like a bad missile boat mecha, dozens of these vines erupt from the Wave Artes user, gaining thorns akin to the similar Thorn Bind Hostage and a special infusion: Fire. They seek out the other vines in the room, wrapping around and with all this /Air/ going around, causes a swirling inferno.

What does one do when subjected to a swirling inferno? Hand to face, "Muahahaha!" with only the monocle visible. Haru Chuuni Moment Achieved. Adventurers gain 10 percent more Chuun.

When you have repetitive Chuun, things turn over quickly. This is where you get Churn. Ayame responds with slashes from her wand, which billow air into the chamber and slice through this and that. Little in the way of wanton destruction, but a lot in the way of letting them breath as she simply continues to advance behind that damned shield.

"Haru. Can you stop Gwen thinking?" She pleads "It will be awful."

Then, to Daiyu, she smiles slightly "Exactly. It's a useful thing to study, yes?" She asks, and then says brightly "I'm starting to study the city guardians. Law is becoming my speciality, you understand? It's how we found a technique to detect the Crowned." Chattering. She doesn't know Daiyu. So.

Brows raise in an expression of impressed interest. "Haru, we must discuss this technique of yours at a later time. It looks to have potential." But Daiyu keeps her focus on the task at hand, leading the way through the open path amongst destroyed vines and ash. Into the final room.

And into a musical number apparently.

"... Unexpected situation," Daiyu murmurs, even as she opens both her warfans to deflect a barrage of ice that somehow matchs the rhythm of the monster's singing. Only for him to start spinning and making cold air vortices. "I will clear a way." The hulijing leaps into action, spinning fiercely herself, and doing so in the opposite direction as the Snow Monster's rotation so she can pull the frigid air and the small minions away from the others! Thanks to her fans and tails giving her own vortex a much wider reach and stronger suction.

Ayame stares at the oncoming snow golem. And the secretarial, strict sylph shakes her head, sighing and stating a serious soreness at the slightly silly situation.

She advances behind the shield, and whips out her wand; a babbling stream of words coalesces into icy words, flashing into being ahead of the party, wards catching and simply shredding the oncoming ice balls into nothing more than a pleasant flurry of snow.

"The only person who can stop Gwen from thinking is Gwen," Haru asides to Ayame after his Chuuni moment subsides. And ashes fall everywhere. Its like someone flamethrowered a jungle up in here. "Which they are not necessarily /bad/ ideas, per say. They are just," he looks to Gwen, "Very," squint, "Gwen."

While walking onwards, Haru looks to the fox-Daiyu, "Yeah, it is potentialy the most amazing display of Fire and Earth magic since I made an Arte about Volcanic Ash." Clearly Haru is proud of that one. Proud like Proud Birb.

Then there is the whole Snowman fight ahead of them. "I wonder if this has to do with thermodynamic laws. Head being 'pulled' creates a temperature reduction elsewhere to raise it someplace else." No sense braining this thing, Haru, it wants to kill you.

Ponder. Haru looks like he is thinking deeply about something while all the other attacks are going on. One visible blue eye shut. Chin scritch. All evidence points to one thing. This is a FIRE TEMPLE and You (Sir and or Madam) do not belong here! A finger points out at the snowman. Objection!

In a flash of volcanic heat, a fully formed Phoenix flash summons right above the boss. Majestic wings of fire buffet the arena to counter the traces of cold. In a screeching sound that sounds like a raging inferno it dive bombs straight down at the boss, erupting into so much flame like, you guessed it: The Ultimate Fireball. It solves everything. Everyone now gets to enjoy hundreds of floating feathers in the air like sakura blossoms that provide bits of warmth (and healing) to the arena.

Yeowang faces off with the cold monster and slows her breathing, entering a hyper-alert state because this fight looks like it's going to be complicated. This is her It's Complicated technique. Using her martial arts insight, her ability to sense the flow of elements, and whatever sorts of mysticism powers martial arts in this game, she steps into the fray with complete confidence, and is a step ahead of every attack that comes her way.

The smaller monsters are taken down first, in order to prune the number of variables, and then she concentrates on the boss. The boss is much more complicated, both because of his number and type of attacks, but also because of his innate toughness, which can only be overcome by perserverance and steadily remaining in the boss's blind spot. It's almost uncanny how she seems to know where he'll be before he does, she's always able to tell where he can attack, and she avoids his attack arcs quite precisely, scoring what hits she can as events unfold.

Gwen frowns "Haru didn't you feel the humnidtyy in here? Fire wouldn't have worked so well and it would have taken skill in fire magic I just don't have to pull something off."

SHe watches Haru and grins for a moment.

"You are the superior firemage, and I know it."

She winks at Haru no hard feeling there, right? She shoots at look at Ayame and notes.

"You know I kept Morri from ... going after you, right?"

There's a brief tone of ice there, now the have to deal with an snow Golem.

"A snow golem here?!"

Again Gwen will turn and start attacking it focusing air magice into her blade and about her she'll take the monster on head on.

It is hard to pull off strong Fire magic in the chamber, but when you have a Phoenix at your call, it becomes managable. The raise in heat has a notible effect. The Snow Monster may be resistant to Fire magic as an attack, but altering the environment through it raises the temperature in the chamber enough that it is weakening his icy attacks, and making his minion mini-mes slow and sluggish with the swelter. Defensively he still has a large stack of HP, but with his offensive power dwindling the party is able to get in with their assaults to shread that health away piece by piece until the Boss finally succumbs to the damage. His cane drops to the ground as he pixilates, shattering into several pieces to be picked up.

Stoked by the Phoenix heat the blazers defrost and reignite. Ice melts away, revealing a stash of the Igneous Stones they seek. Unfortunately, there is barely enough to fill the quota required to turn in the Quest.

"Alas. Still, that was an interesting adventure." Daiyu stoops down to pick up one of the shards of the ice monster's cane. "But for loot, these shall have to suffice."

Yeowang picks up the cane fragments and examines one curiously before tucking it into her inventory. She will help to gather what we are here to gather, and is pleased by the heat breaking the cold monster's cold, which makes the rest of everything much easier. She nods to Daiyu about the loot sufficing. "I am never sure what to do with the loot. It always seems useful, but not for anything I need to do."

"Back at the wedding," Haru asks Gwen. He thinks back to it. He had a lot to drink. Weddings are difficult on him. Especially that one given all the CONTEXT involved. "I always assume you keep Morri from coming after me. I am one few eligible bachelors bouncing about," he starts listing off his positive qualities, "I am attractive, intelligent, single, occasionally funny, occasionally broody, talented, I own a store, and hold a title." And he has the noodly-est arms around. "Morri's ship chart probably has 'Port Haru' somewhere in there and she is planning plunder like the Spanish Inquisition."

The Artificer collects his share of the loot. "The main reason I adventurer, or did, was to find interesting items like this." Monocle lights up. Appraise mode! "Enchanting materials and the precious gems and metals for Goldsmithing are not easy to come by. Fortunately there are people like Yeowang around that run tight trade routes so the markets have what I need for day to day. Without that. Oof. I can only imagine having to find silver and gold mines all the time just to make a ring, let alone practice the craft or stock my Atelier."

"Morri really shouldn't have any interest in me" Ayame protests "I really try to keep away from that whole - side of things" She explains with a little wave of her hand, collecting a little of the loot and sighing as she looks it all over.

"Not what I needed, which is a shame. Drat. Have you come across any fire crystals before? If so, where?"