Duty Session 525: The Deadly Caves Of Toxic Death!

There are many reasons one might take up a Hunter's Guild request. Money. XP. Something to do on a Friday night when you feel alright and the party's here on the west side (of the Guild reception desk). The party is assembling and set to leave out later in the day. Everyone gets a party invite and directions. Your party leader for today is Haru Nox.

Ya doomed.

The often crafter, occasional Adventurer of the Silver Sword directs with the sharpness of a golden blade onward to a section of the desert that looks... like... desert. Really it could very well be they are lost. Dunes. Dunes as far as the eye can see. Oh look, a high level scorpion and its friend, mister snake. Surely they will guide us.

They do. Sort of. They make a small reach of arid land clear to the party as a mirage and direct towards a narrow ravine. The approach is met with flair. With pinazz. With Shenmi? No. "I, Mister DesertGuide Guideington the third, welcome you to," begins a reasonably insane Salamander, "The Gorge," yes he is talking with his hands, "of Death!" Spoiler alert.

"You will find the entrances to the caves downnnnnn," DesertGuide drones with an extended hand, "nnnnn there!" Pitons! Rope! Death (spoiler alert). "This rope ladder will get you to the bottom of the ravine," the guide snaps up, giving everyone a handshake one at a time before leaving as fast as a used carsalesman having made a sus sale, "Go there, rid this place of its worst vermin. Good luck." And then? He gone.

Haru, being well adjusted to the High Earth, High Fire climes of a desert, watches him go. "Off to a good start," he coughs into his hand. The silver haired man turns to the group, "Quick refresher before we head in. I am Haru Nox, Artificer. So Wave Arte support and summons. Back lines. No scouting detail of the area before this, so bring your A game and do your best." His one visible blue eye looks at the ladder and starts down it when formation permits it to.

    Asuna loves the desert! Okay, she loves dessert, but hey, ronin gotta samurai and the best way to get on with her life is to go out there, grab adventure by the lips, and then stab the ever-loving hell out of it. She barely pays attention to the Salamander's rant.

    "The third? The family must have a truly rich history of delivering meaningless dialogue while opening a quest."

    She mutters to herself and focuses on Haru. It's mostly the same thing she always hears, so nothing too shocking.

    "Asuna. Like the little name thingy says. I'm a ronin. I hit things until they do me the kindness of no longer existing. Will tank in a pinch, off-tank is more my sweet spot, but hey, we all have to die sometime, right?"

    See, that's Scale Emblem humor there.

Or just because it involves monsters. Or needing to exterminate said monsters. It's just important that it's monsters. So it doesn't hurt to have more than one summoner on task

So you have both the Noodle Arms and the Nightmare Bard representing. The latter giving the so-called guide a scrutinizing look. "Oh, yes, that is a completely valid and reassuring opening speech." Pay no mind to the sarcasm dripping from Kauchemar's voice even as she leans a little closer to the man, smiling in an uncomfortably gleeful way. Maybe it's the fangs that give it that appearance. "But you need to work on not looking like you're about to wet your breeches."

Once she's done ribbing the NPC a bit she turns back to the rest of the group. "Well, if you don't already know Kauchemar, the Nightmare Bard and Sage of Song of Eas, you have my pity."

Schneider has joined the party. This is a momentous occasion. Or maybe not. He's generally more impressed with himself than anyone else is, and he doesn't feel particulatly special, which is a shame because he's the only Exploder Wizard in the game. His class says Rune Knight, when inspected, and while that -is- a pretty uncommon class, it's not as butch as Schneider sells himself as. Rune Knight is absolutely a position role, capable of taking any position in a party, though not the best at any of them. But Schneider sells the DPS role very hard.

He also sells the suave and debonair thing, which is more RP than actual savior faire, but it's not like he's really four hundred years old. You can only pick up so much life knowledge by 18. "Scale also," he introduces himself, though he thinks everyone here knows him. "Schneider. Dark Schneider. I do Fire." And pretty much everything else, but Fire is his strong suit. He does have a handful of unexpected skills, or skills you wouldn't expect from an Exploder Wizard, but he downplays them.

The way down does not bother him unduly, he may be a caster, but he is not a noodle-arm type. Rune Knight is one of the game's many Hybrid Casters, and he carries a sword on his hip like he knows how to use it. It's a bit plain compared to his cape of dragon scales and his fancy coat, he's looking for better, but there's so many things to do.

This is the sort of place there could be goblins hiding inn it and she also seem to be in good spirits too. She pause at the guide for a moment she grins. "I understand... and we'll have it handled. Do not worry about that!"

The elf beams at this she will adjust her cloak it looks very new too ans she grins at this too.

"Hello Kau, Schneider Haru and...who is this?"

She looks Asuna over with intrest her ears wiggling a bit as she does so.

"We do," Haru agrees with Asuna, and adds, "but it won't be happening on my watch." Says the man with nooooo Light magic whatsoever. "Kau and I are skilled summoners, but neither of us are main tank material. I'll be counting on you for the tank rotation." Because health is a party resource!

Haru considers during the descent, "Kau have you gone further into Song Sagery as of late? Your perfomance at Elly's wedding was stunning. Inpsiring even." The real secret to the garter catch: Bardric inspiration.

"Between Schneider and I, makes me wonder if we can't just burn the vapors clean," Haru considers, looking at the elf when he starts thinking. Off in his own head, as he is want to do. While staring at Erufu. Even though she is saying something. That requires a response.

Not today, social cues!

After descending the rope ladder, the Adventurers take stock of the caves. Currently the stocks are trading low on the market, but thats when you buy! Who wouldn't want some of this place, what with its greenish wisps of vapor that waft out of some of the caves. The vapors pool for a moment before a gust of hot desert wind dissipates them into a Disney Cartoonish looking skull. Spoiler alert, Death is involved.

No matter what way the party goes, there is a risk versus reward going on here. The difficult caves require more preparation for the hostile atmosphere. Potions. Antidotes. Lung capacity! If you are the Legendary Armorsmith of yore, you might even be able to craft a land-based Scuba or hazmat suit for the occasion! More than one way to die in this cave-- er survive in this cave.

Schneider nods a greeting to Erufu as she greets him. It seems like she hasn't met Asuna, and he seems surprised, but he introduces, "Erufu, this is Asuna, one of Scale's fine chefs." Who he takes shameless advantage of. Food is food. "Asuna, this is Erufu, she adventures with Goblin Slayer sometimes." He descends by jumping down the crevasse. This would be suicide for most humans, but he has one more thing that most humans don't have: A parachute. He pops it about halfway down, and while he lands hard and tumbles, he recovers and attempts to play it off. He will gather up his chute at the bottom and cram it back into the backpack. He will have to pack it properly before he uses it again. But he loves using it and does so at every opportunity.

As far as burning the vapors away, he will have a go at it, but it doesn't seem to do much good. "Not flammable," he says with a grumble, and will begin sorting through his antidotes and medicines for ones that will help. He does seem to know what he's doing. One of those unexpected depths.

Erufu says "I I will keep you covered don't worry. I have a lot of experiance in this!" Given how many times her party gets dragged into a hole by the Goblin Slayer. She looks for a moment at Haru and Schneider for a moment.

"You sound like /Him/. I had to forbid him from explosions..."

She makes a face seriously they sound like Orcbalg.

She is now in bnusioness mode the good news is she has some antidotes but are they powerful enough to handle this?

    Asuna gives Kauchemar a look, smirking. Then Erufu gets her attention. At this stage, pretty much everyone knows a bit about everyone, so it's a bit amusing to be unknown.

    "Hey Erufu! Don't listen to anything people say about me that doesn't involve excellent pizza. On the personal side, I don't recall taking a red pill or a blue one, but I'll say this much. I'm never wearing a damn thing on my head from now on, in game or out of it!"

    The descent for her is the rope ladder. She'll go first. Mostly cause there's no way in hell she's letting someone look up her skirt.

    There are challenges to address, though. Asuna is not amazing with poison, but she does keep her inventory stocked with a variety of potions she's come across. And what do you know, there is something useful in there today.

    "Time to see if this trade was worth it.."

Kauchemar peers over the edge for a moment. "Alas, Haru, between everything else going on and how hard it is to top one stellar accomplishment, I have not other than passive plunking on occasion. Even my capability is having trouble with my accomplishment being something new, but the leads spun from it suggest investigation of something from before."

She pauses. Then shrugs and takes out one of the flasks of air she learned to make from Goldenblade and sucks on it like that one spindly nerd with the inhaler in Phy Ed, then starts climbing her way down.

Unfortunately she doesn't have enough of them to share with the class.

"What about if we added an alchemical catalyst to the mixture?" Haru ponders, as Fireball solves just about everything. The idea of solving the situation with Fiyaah(tm) lingers in Haru's brain after that. One can not simply ABANDON the idea of solving something with fire because it isn't reasonable. What kind of example would he set for his Phoenix? He draws a circular rune in the air that draws the vapor in like a vacuum to be corked into a conical flask. "Theory, to be tested," he announces, with all the vigor of a man of SKIENCE! A red liquid is mixed in a vial, heated until it bubbles. Yes. YES! Uncork the gas bottle and add the liquid in. Wait for it. Wait for it. Ah crap, he created a grenade. Quickly the Artificer tosses it into the distance where it explodes. "I've been hanging around Daiyu too much," he observes in deadpan, taking out a book and making some notes. It still would make a good gas grenade. Not all is lost.

Thankfully Schneider's medicinal approach is more grounded. If you are going to get poisoned, get materials to get un-poisoned. Asuna, much more reasonably, finds that water is a better means of binding the poison to make a spicy-spicy sauce! Also the water is a bit of a filter. Kau and Elf? They are in the Haru corner of 'Newp, that didnt work' in terms of quantity.

At the end of the day it isn't enough to go around for the potent poison of the hard mode cave path. Baby mode cave path it is! They take some time to consider which cave to head into and, when they settle on one, a Lander rushes in to block their passage. It is a lanky old Salamander hermit with unkempt hair, a long beard, and wild eyes. He is dressed in tattered rags and shakes a cane at you. "Go away," he rattles, as one might expect when being told to get off of his lawn, "This is no place for you!" He is giving quite the stink eye, and this from a guy who lives with literal poison stank all about. Maybe the party can convince him to let them through. Or, maybe, the party bribes him with creature comforts of society. Like a new cane. Maybe food that is neither scorpian or snake in nature.

"You know," Haru looks to the notCrazy Salamander before looking to Kau, "making Headwear accessory trendy again might be a noteworthy feat. Tiara sales? Down. Crowns? Nope, I went as far to just make Signets for Gil and the symbol of reign is more likely going to be a scepter until someone vilifies that." The Artificer makes noodly armed bludgeoning motions.

Schneider smirks to Erufu at forbidding explosions. That will not work with Schneider, of course, the man lives for the boom. Waltzing, metaphorically, through the less toxic area, he peers critically at an old Salamander trying to get us to go back. "Not likely," he says with a laugh, but will whisper in the fellow's ear quietly. There is urgent conversation, and Schneider retrieves something from his invenory, and low key passes it over in a handshake-pass, pushing it into the fellow's hand, but the fellow shakes his head, and there's something of an arguement. He tries to push past anyhow, but the Salamander is a bit touger than he looks. Finally, Schneider digs out a decent-sized gem from his inventory, and that seems to satisfy the old codger. It doesn't satisfy Schneider, but he's allowed past now.

"Yeah. Certain styles of headwear are definitely passe right now."

They come upon a gristled old Salamander in rags lurking about the cave. Could he be... well, if he is, it's a surprise there's a 3rd at all.

He waves around his cane. So Kauchemar firmly grabs the end of it with one hand, holding it off to the side. "My good sir, you may be absolutely right... but that means it really isn't any place for yourself, either. Maybe you should consider also stepping away from the entra--" She's cut off with a *BONK* as, despite his age, the Salamander proves to be strong enough to yank his cane free and then smack her over the head with it.

Ornery Age: 1 Bardic Charisma: 0

    "Maybe a necklace?" suggests Asuna.

    She doesn't like having an NPC tell her what to do. But she is a reasonable person and uses negotiation skills! She does not threaten. At least not audibly. It just so happens that she likes to negotiate with a hand on the hilt of her blade. It helps her focus and center. And it is super useful when negotiations go really poorly.

    "So what are the other alliances up to, now that the shiny statue is done? I haven't made that much food before. Catering for whatever that crazy group was up to over in your neck of the woods, Kauchemar." By which she probably means Eas.

Erufu grins at Asuna for a moment. "I heard your a very skilled cook it's to be true though some others have a nickname for you..." she seem to be teasing but what is it? Will the elf say? Who knows. "Given the crowns I agree to be cautious." She'd trust Goblin slayer and a few other landers but she lives quite a bit with many of them.

The antidote she took isn't enough to fully protect her, she grimaces turns an odd shade of green and is going to push on ahead. She's not looking so good and she look to the Salmander they have run into and bows slightly at them. She's still a bit pale she look ot the man for a moment and will dig in he her pockets for some coin and finds that and some of the instant ramen made by Hifumi and she'll attempt to haggle a deal of new food and money for supplies.

"I do get good sales on necklaces," Haru agrees with Asuna there, "those, rings, and bracelets there are a lot of demand for. My first ever craft was a flower crown for some children of the Land, though. I'd hate that memory to be mired up because of," he makes a circle with his finger, "reasons." On the topic of other alliance stuff, Haru offers, "Im the Craft Commander of the Silver Sword in New World Alliance," the diametrically opposed Scale faction, hiss! "So I'll be going back to revitalizing Shibuya, just as Elly does with Eas and Scale does," he looks to Schneider to confirm this one, "Karluin? I heard that has been going well with Tower trade." Haru is already up to his neck in paperwork and logistics, he hasn't had a chance to do deeper into the Tower-Towns-Layers-World stuff over there since the Statue event.

Good sir. Fine sir. Move aside sir. Haru begins to turn his attention to the Salamander, "Those are all valid points you are making," the silver tongued, silver haired, silver monocled man begins, "but consider that we are Adventurers. If there ever were people to go into a place called 'The Gorge of Death' and be equipped for it? It would be us." He motions hands to Schneider and Asuna, "Members of Scale who brave the Tower. Masters of Fire, Mystery, Sword, and Spice." He motions hands to Erufu, "Peerless accuracy with a bow, bane of goblins," and motions to Kau and himself, "Summoners of Spirit and Phoenix, Sages of Song and Moonlight Enchanting." Strike a pose, team.

True, Kau gets a good cane bonking. Its well distracted by the handsake-bribe-pharmadeal with Schneider. Which the old man has zero street smarts. Whats this? Contraband?! In MY CAVE? Thankfully Asuna smooths over the whole mishap. Its a GIFT. If it works in Harvest Moon it should work on you, ya crabby ole NPC. Affinity high enough for successful trade minigame with Erufu. Elf has gained Food. Try not to shoot it!

The old man starts walking off, muttering to himself. Something about Adventurers in HIS day being taller. It leaves the cave open to explore. Therea re some rare leftover signs of the cave having been used for some purpose in the past. Perhaps Gnomish? Currently little remains. It is mostly a hang out for all sorts of venomous beasts and monsters now. The first few caves do not pose exception challenges for the party. It is your standard trash mobs for the region. Snakes, scopians, and an occasional spider show up. A few caves in, however, something different apperas.

Is it the fire nation? Is the fire nation attacking?

No.

It is the true bane of adventurers: doors. At the end of a relatively small cave is a multi-locked gate. People could probably lockpick this this, given time, but there is no time. No thyme either, if Asuna was looking for spices. This place teems with large flying insects the size of a small dog. Instead of stinging, they are biting the adventurers. With teeth. Gnashing, hangry teeth. Maybe they are just hungry and want a snack? The ability to forge armor would help with a defense against the nibbles, otherwise a good ole gust can send them back to their hangry homes.

    "Landers are sometimes... testy."

    She was going to say something else, probably, but this isn't a Scale Emblem Alliance party! One has to be just a touch more diplomatic in these situations.

    She likes the first part of this next stage of the dungeon. She stays up front, chopping up monsters with ease. There's tanking to do, but it's very managable. No need to do anything too fancy and everyone can just do what they do best. Which involves a LOT of fire, in this group.

    Then there is this door and a bunch of flying...

    "Owch! You little sonnova.."

    She reaches into her pack, quickly throwing together a snack to distract them. It's impossible to say if she /intentionally/ enrages them with an intensely spicy treat, but she finds herself back on tank duty again realllly fast.

    "Might we hurry this uh--OWCH! You little filthy, flying, piece of digital excrement!"

    Take your time, everyone! She's got this.

    No, seriously, hurry.

"He's just lucky I have a thick skull," Kauchemar mutters under her breath as the group moves on. Only to be confronted by the most horrible of things in a dungeon -- locked doors!
And the second most horrible of things in a dungeon -- mobs to make unlocking the locked door have a psuedo time limit.

But it's monsters, and monsters is something she is better suited for, shifting to draw her staff. Lifts it over her head, and her glamrock mane and tail flutter as winds blow from seemingly nowhere around her. To come together into some manner of wind elemental, which naturally takes the form of a small tornado whipping across the cave to suck up as many of the insects as possible and hurtle them back out.

"Honestly, the shadow swarm was scarier. I'm not even going to blow a proper quip on this." Even though she did anyways. That's why it's funny.

Schneider shrugs to Haru about what's up with Karluin. Scale and NWA do find themselves in opposite corners often. He grumbles sourly under his breath, but nothing aloud. No point in airing that out with the Landers. It's old, old news, but it's a source of ... not quite animosity. Wariness, though. Definitely distrust, which is why he will only offer a shrug as to what may be up with Karluin. He smirks, though, at Haru's introduction, but will bow when he's introduced for what good it does.

Proceeding on, he looks up at the insects, and sighs, drawing his cape around him. It's apparently been sprayed with Deep Woods Off. Or it seems to be armored sufficiently to deflect the bugs' bites, and he smirks as he flips up the collar in a smug way, and proceeds to fool around and try to get the door open. He's no expert in doors, but then again, he's no expert in bugs. He makes do.

Erufu grins at the old man as he seems to know of her adventures this gets her beaming heck he seem to know everyone. She's also turning a bit red at this, she will follow shortly with the others seemingly in a good moos but wait there's something else here. Humm she looks it over for a momen and get an idea as she'll blow them away with an spell.

She looks to Schneider with a bit of concern. She is on the other side of a lot of things, but she was there hunting those goblins and pissing off whoever did it.

Shoo fly, don't bother me. I don't care if you have creepy hooman teeth like a blue hedgehog that got reanimated in a reboot. Its giving me the shivers. Air Blast! Haru boops one away, followed by a few more. Boop. Boop. "You know," Haru says, "this is oddly cathartic." Boop. Boop.

Notably the booping doesn't work on the Enraged! buffed versions on Asuna. "They are not boopable, Asuna." Boop. Boop. The non enraged ones get pushed away.

Too much Glamrock between Kau and Schneider being here. All that hair. All that wind. "Its like playing table tennis with monsters," Haru asides to Kau as her elemental does the work. Really between all the Air Booping, Elf's included, Schneider has no trouble with the door itself. Asuna is getting the worst of it with the angry bug. Not that it poses a /real/ threat that cant be evaded, dodged, or smacked around.

Door Defeated! Onward!

The party cannot proceed any further through dry terrain. The cave dips into a large pool with barely enough head space to catch one's breath above the surface. It is time to Swim!

At first the scene is pleasant. It is underwater where there is no foul smell. The scenery is graced by colorful plants instead of the dead and barren landscape earlier. It is not long before a group of curious creatures torpedo into view.

The Fire Nation?

No. First off, its underwater, secondly no expects when the Fire Nation attacks. Anticipating wont help.

Its a group of dire Platypi! Plat-y-pis with dem blood-shot-eyes. Ready to slash and make you die. Spurs of venom you can't deny. Your options here make you ask 'why'? Because they are to maneuver, fight underwater, or hide from the creature. That last part didn't rhyme. Sad Platypis.

Schneider shrugs at Erufu's concern. It's her house to clean, and as far as he's aware, it's never been cleaned. He's salty, but it's old news and hopefully no longer going on. He will proceed into the pool, and where that pool leads. But then, there's more pressing concern, what with Dire Platypi swimming around, and he chants, "Roots of shadow, tendrils of light, smoke over water, fire in the sky, DEEP PURPLE." And the water no longer contains Dark Schneider. At least as far as the platypi are aware. He will swim forward, keeping a distance from them, but while they ought to notice him, they do not. It's not invisibility, but it's pretty effective ar masking his presence.

    When the door is cleared, Asuna ducks through quickly. For tanking purposes, clearly. That she has one of those friggin' things still latched on to the back of her outfit is of no consequence. Rushing into the water gives that thing a simple choice: flee or die. It just keeps holding on though, until drowning damage does the rest.

    No sooner is the insect pest gone that she runs into something new! She has a soft spot for dires of any kind, so she simply can't bring herself to harming them much. Besides, a jet of water here or there will do the trick and keep them at bay. Getting through with nary a scratch, she feels better about the whole debacle with the bugs.

Kauchemar may be a nightmare, but she typically takes to water like a hippocampus. Or a selkie. Which she has a history with, but that's neither here or there. The point is she dives into the water to swim through the passage with little hesitation.

Maybe she should of had some hesitation, as it turns out the passage has poisonous fusion dances of ducks and beavers swimming in it already, and they look pissed as having their territory disturbed.

The only real option is to swim harder better faster stronger through, and avoid getting jabbed. She may be a horse but she wants nothing to do with THOSE spurs!

Erufu says "No they are not wait what is boopable?!" She seems confused as she starts shooting magically charge arrows from her bow. Arcane magic dances about each shot as she seem very keen as she'll fight under water and is glad to be dealing with them she's holding he breath for the moment and hopes she can finish up before she runs out of air.

Haru has been easy on his mana reserves so far. Why? Adventuring can be relaxing if you want it to be! Even fun. Go to distant lands. Destroy the monsters there. Loot stuff. Test your limits! Like right now. What would happen if he summoned his Phoenix in water? There is one way to find out. The Summoner floats there and extends out his hand in a traditional 'finger gun' sort of way. Bang!

In a flash, a bird of fire appears, crackling with dark energy around it that creates a salvo of charcoal feathers as thick as daggers towards Perry and Friends. The salvo merges in with the Black Arrows and Deep Purple with the kind of Alpha Strike that every dungeon run needs at least once. Sure, some try to stay out of the blast radius, swimming for their adorably deadly little lives, but Asuna's water blasts them right back into the death corridor. Kau doesnt even need to water-dodge all that much. Teamwork!

Platypi all Platydie in spectacular fashion. Onward!

The next cave has a nation of bears that are, yes, on fire. Its as close to the fire nation as you are going to get, ok? There has been this big demand for Fire Nation attacks so we talked to the producer and pulled some strings. Here you go. Flaming, poisonous bears. Technically they should be called 'Venomous Bears on Fire' because their claws /will/ injection poison into you and it will hurt. A lot. An experienced Hunter would point out that attempting to eat meat drops from such a badass bear will also kill you. Really these things are all about death of the 'it burns' variety inside and out.

On the note of bad bears bearing down, they give the party little paws before pouncing. Animal handlers can attempt to calm these beasts down. A Werefang could use their monster form to transform and show who is the real badass here. Of course, not all options are violent once. Sure, they are more likely and more fun, but you could just play dead. That works on bears, right? And burning bears believe burning bodies become boring as well. Considering Haru and Schneider, fire maniacs that they are, they are PROBABLY going to burn the burning bears. This should surprise no one, even the fire nation.

Kauchemar manages to drag herself out at the end of the water passage, pausing to shake some of the moisture from her mane. Well that could of gone better. "This place is starting to get on my nerves."

Which is the perfect time for the flaming poisonous (VENOMOUS) bears to make their presence known as well. "What is this suppose to be? Burning Man Care Bears Edition?"

She stomps a hoof into the ground and gives her tail a lash, opens her mouth in that freakishly wide fashion she does to bear her viper fangs, takes a deep breath so she can nightmare death scream properly.... and gets smacked upside the head for the second time tonight before she can because she was putting too much ephasis into the theatrics first.

By, may I remind you, a paw. That's venomous. And on fire.

Pardon Kauchemar as she darts back to the water pool to dunk her head to keep her mane from igniting and doing a terrible Ghost Rider impersonation.

    

    Asuna has one burning question on her mind. And she needs to know. She has this look of intense concentration when she emerges from the water of dead playpuse.. platyp... the monsters.

    "Kauchemar, were those guildies of yours?"

    She kids! Rarely.

    "Oh hey, bears. Poison bears. That are on fire. Haven't seen those in a while."

    She rises to the occasion, though! This is not a time to use fire or stab. She is going to... HANDLE ANIMALS!

    She doffs her fire proof (but not Schneider proof) mitts and starts getting to work, soothing the savage beasts. At least until someone reduces them to their component atoms. It's tanking! With a smile.

Schneider has snuck past the platypi without drawing their attention, but the poisonous bears on fire, he can't avoid. Well, there's not much point. They seem not to be hostile to people that have an affinity for fire, and that is a thing Schneider has by the bucketload. "Deep Doomsday!" he chants. "To the spirits of land and air, bound by the pact, fulfill your obligation now." He takes a slow breath, then intones the final word: "MEGADETH!"

The flames are explosive and cataclysmic, and the fire so intense that several bears are badly burned attempting to evade him - none even think about trying to oppose him. They may be poisonous bears on fire, but Schnieder has established a pecking order and they are way below him.

Erufu can only guess what will come after the monsters under water but a bear? Freaking bears? That was not what she was thinking about what she attempts is to sneak by and this goes very poorly.

The man with the monocle begins chanting a Wave Arte. It is a Fire Arte. The small orbs that float around him get a streak of red-white light behind them. Ropes. Tendrils. Vines. When he finishes the chant, they all erupt from around him in true Lovecraftian horror to wrap around the burning bears. The technique looks like the Thorn Bind Hostage technique with one very important difference: Fire. The bears burn brighter as the vines constrict. Fiiiyyyaaah! Whats better than this? How about when they take any damage, they get more burnings. Of course, they also make for great bindings to 'sooth' the bears, which Asuna does a great job of. The vines provide a nice temp when dialed back and, hey, they also make a good snack.

Meanwhile there are a lot of fried bears on Schneider's side of the inferno.

Kau gets the bonks. A theme of the dungeon. Perhaps the bears, and the Guideingtons are related, joined by their desire to bonk the Nightmare.

Erufu's stealth is, actually fine, but the stealth is happening with so much explosive fire, bonking, binding, and bear petting that its like the one person in the group that wanted to go stealth while everyone else is causing raw chaos. In that effect, yes, no one notices Elf stealthing. Perfect distraction, team.

The remaining bears bid bearwell to the barty. Onward!

The narrow stone passage the group has been following opens into the central room of this cave. It is a wide space strewn with pincers of dead, or molted, manticores. Scorpians and snakes scuttle about. In the center there is a curious creature the size of a calf. It crouches, snacking on some meat. The manticore had the body of a lion, the face of a monstrous humanoid, and the tail of a scorpian. Its fangs are sharp and threatening. They rend through the manticore's snack with unsettling ease.

When the Adventurers arrive, the creature looks up. It hisses. The creature's hair raises on end and it begins a frantic fance where it leaps left and right. Wait! We have seen this move. It was at Elly's wedding. Manticore, are you doing the Shibuya Shuffle? It makes sense, given its diminutive size and erratic behavior, it could be a hip youth that just wants to dance. Low, threatening roar. No, it wants to kill you.

Despite it being on the low end of difficulty on the mant-o-meter, it still is a manticore. The fight is not going to be trivial. The creatures are easily distracted and a trained Monster Catcher can confuse this beast with traps. An Oracle can drive it bonkers with the brain-whispering. Otherwise? Might and Magic time.

Kauchemar has not had the best of nights. Or dungeon delves. But the repeated smacks to the head haven't completely thrown her off at least. Just left her a bit more on the irritated side.

So when they come upon the minature manticore, well, she's ready to do some venting. Cue the hellish psychotropic coloration of her eyes flaring brightly.

With which her 'venting' boils down to her using her Oracle power to 'speak' to monster directly to their mind to barrage the foul creature with every short joke, overcompensation and 'male performance issue' insult she can rapid-fire at the speed of thought. It would probably make a good comedy routine if anyone else could hear it.

But as is it at least a good distraction at destroying the things will to really fight. And she didn't even have to lay a hand on it.

Schneider walks pretty tall after showing the bears what fire is all about. He's quite pleased with himself, and he looks at the manticore without much concern. Even though he's used all his big spells, and only has his lowest level spells left. He raises one hand dramatically, and chants, "Fiery Power Blast of ..." and loses it, lauhging so hard at the manticore's bizarre behavior. That manticore shuffle, ohman. He will remember that for a long time.

Sadly, he should be remembering he's in a fight, and a monster is trying to kill him. He forces a breath, steadies himself, and forces out, "Fiery Power Blast of the Damned!" and the low-power blast strikes the manticore. It will take several of those for him to contribute to the fight.

Things don't go so well for the elf but in the end she's bale to get past the trial with her companions is enough to get past it. Still she was not noticed all things pan out until the boss is found. She will take a moment to look at the Manticore for a moment and she'll start to attack fiing arrows as she closes to make use of one of her knives on it. She really should avoid melee but it could be worse.

    "He's so... cute!"

    Asuna has been hanging around Uta quite a bit, so this is to be expected. She really does find the little monster a fascinating thing. The sad loss of her nearly-befriended, burning, poison bear is put behind her. Who needs them, anyway!

    She will move in close to the creature. With each step she's hastily weaving together a simple trap. It's all been setup ahead of time. No monster hunter worth their salt doesn't come prepared with a simple snare ready.

    And so she flips out what looks as innocent as a carpet, but with just a little push will swiftly leave the enemy rather hampered with a sticky, durable net made of spider silk.

Alright. What is that thing? Haru runs a finger along the silver of his monocle as the purple lens lights up with white etchings. "Its a minicore," the Artificer observes, "or a young Manticore." Both fit. He is curious what a smaller version does to the stats and weak points so he starts out with a strong analysis spell. One he freely shares to Adventurers capable of learning it in LOONSy sharing efforts, as it causes a series of arcane glyphs to appear in circles around the room. They reflect a pale purple light as the symbols begin to drift, highlighting target points to strike and producing a significant debuff to the creature's defense. Enchanter life.

Asuna and Kau likewise provide debilitating distractions in the form of traps and mind games(tm). It leaves the fight open for the magical and physical assault provided by Schneider and Erufu. Still, a tough battle is hard won. The fight is too close to call until right at the end. Each blow of the monster is devastating, debuffs or no. Each claw burns with poison far longer than the moments of impact. Each bite is capable of rending huge chunks of the Adventurer's health. It is with the last blow that the situation is resolved in favor of the party of heroes. One last shriek echoes out as the manticore shatters into polycons to leave the combatants, resources depleted, to collect their spoils before a return trip.

"Makes me wonder what is in the hardmode caves," Haru says, picking up his share of the loot, "but I assume its normal sized manticore." These things /are/ good for alchemy. He considers that this whole area is. Not so much Enchanting or Accessory Forging, but he will point the pharma and alchemically inclined in this direction if they haven't had the pleasure of beating burning bears.