Duty Session 533: Fireball Solves Everything

When Klein first spotted the poster back at the Hunter's Guild requesting Igneous Stones, it sounded like easy money and experience. The problem was, even if it was an easier repeatable quest, it'll be idiotic to try to do it all on his own. But hey, that's what friends and chims are for! That, and Klein might have promised spending some of his share of the rewards for food and drinks on him afterwards...

Rubbing at a stubborn spot on his katana, the rugged ronin busies himself as he waits for the rest of his PUG to show up. Nearby, a Lander from the Hunter's Guild was waiting patiently for everyone to arrive before delivering their message. "There are a number of abandoned temple-like structures dedicated to The Burning Goddess throughout the forests of the Eastal Free League. It is believed that at the heart of each of them lies a brazier carrying special Igneous Stones, rumored to be particularly apt at stabilizing flames. They are in high demand, and the Hunter's Guild offers rewards to anyone who can bring a few back." He hands the team a map to the nearest structure, and a map of the structure itself. "Good luck, noble Adventurers."

With that, the Lander moves a bit further away from the path, to wait patiently for everyone to return.

Soujiro Seta was absolutely at the Hunter's Guild picking up a handful of quests. His quest log is often near full, even if the rewards are not level appropriate. He just likes doing stuff. The chim from Klein didnt take long. Its like texting someone in the same room.

Cue a montage about tea, things Souji fought recently, and a really set of tea leaves he plans on brewing tonight for some wonderful ladies that are into him for his tea. Clearly.

"Temple like structures remind me of those old adventure books or tombs that get raided," he says over to Asuna, totally not insinuating her to see if she has a Laura Croft style glam for the occasion.

Shiruba gives the string of her magic longbow a light tug to make sure it's in proper shape. Never know just what they might come up against on these Dutys and last thing she needs is her weapon failing. Not that it ever would with how precise care she takes of it. Plus she does have her throwing glaive backup. "Last time I was in a party attempting this we barely found enough of the stones to fulfill the turn in requirements. Maybe this time will go better." She can always be hopeful.

"It was a popular theme for movies too at the time," Shiruba doesn't help. Or totally helps depending on what Soujiro's intention was. "Preferably nothing that melts faces though." It's another one you can blame on Gwen and her parents for exposing her to more American movies.

    Danger? Adventure? Loot? Count Asuna in. Though she wouldn't really consider herself a PUG type.

    She wanders up, doing her best to sneak up on Klein. She waits until the opportune moment to say a very abrupt hello.

    "Hey Klein!" She's so using her outside voice for this. "So what's this about stones?" She kinda ignored the details. Klein asked her to join him, she's not going to pass up the chance for some team samurai action!

    She seems more relaxed than she has been of late. At least to those who know about these things. Souji's comment gets a smile.

    "Hmm, you know, it does, doesn't it, Souji?" She never played games, but she's been in ETO for two years now. So of course she knows about Lara Croft. "So what do you think, Klein? Should I try to run this in cosplay?" Is that even a thing? Cosplay in an isekai?

Goldenblade has arrived after the party announcement went out, she's always up for a quest. "Igneous stones this time?" she says. "I'm in. Haven't been to a creepy temple filled with monsters in forever. I'd be glad to help." Plus if there's already a tank in the party, she can focus on DPS. Not that she's bad at tanking. But bashing monsters is where the XP is, right? Well, so she's been told.

"I'm ready to go," Goldenblade announces, smiling broadly as she pats the swords on each hip. It's just that and a belt lined with pouches, she doesn't have a lot of inventory. She travels light. There's more gear back at her base, next to the Peko Ranch, but she can generally get most of what she needs locally. But she's kind of minimalist most of the time anyhow, so it's mainly all about her swords and armor. And Fire. So much about her Fire.

As far as the quest goes, she says, "You can find more if you keep looking. I had one very like this, and we found plenty of stones." She looks around to the group, and says, "Anyhow, ready whenever you all are."

    Fuka is always up for adventure, friends, food, and combinations of the above. And while eating friends might be an adventure of sorts, fortunately, that's not the sort of combo she's into. She'd much rather adventure and celebrate, or commiserate, later.

    "My thing's always been games rather than books or movies." Fuka notes, following Shiruba in to fulfill the call of adventure. Whether she was invited or just decided to tag along is anyone's guess. She pauses though, and looks aside at Asuna. "Cosplay?" she asks, interested. I mean let's face it, Asuna's hot... cooking is quite appealing. But she's into dressing up too? Fascinating. "Morri would *love* you, I bet!" Fuka adds cheerfully. Nope, not Gwen, Morri. That's how you know Fuka's brain is heading for the gutter. That and her mouth just opened. Usually also a good sign.

Recruiting people near and far is always a good idea, to get the word out, even if that near was in the same room. "I'm always reminded of the more generic Fragment dungeons. Some of those got really bizarre later on."

Giving a thumbs up to Shiruba, he points excitedly as he understood that last part. "Let's hope not! I don't want to look like one of those wax dummies later."

Asuna gets a big grin and a laugh. "Basically what he said, I didn't really pay too much attention besides the part where it stabilizes flames."

The lady of the golden blades has prior experience with this quest then? Good, knowledge of what is to come helps a lot. "So just have to keep pressing on if we want the max reward then..."

Klein hides a shudder upon hearing Morri's name, but this one line of thought has him rubbing his chin with a soft smile as he glances to the Flash. "Might be better to ask Gwen, but...honestly, might be fun to do that some time, Asuna! Just don't want to get too overconfident." After all, safety first. Respawn timers take -forever-.

Klein motions everyone forward once they're all gathered together, walking towards the cliff face where the nearest ruin is said to be. Honestly, if their map didn't point it out earlier, Klein would likely have walked right past them due to all the vines covering the front door. It takes some hacking and slashing with his katana before the party can finally see the ancient doorway, covered with wards and colored strings. If someone could read their ancient script, or knew the enchantment which gives them their power, they could probably understand how to best deal with them. Knowing the exact rules which regulate their activation and removal could also hint at the proper defusing procedure.

Klein is not skilled with deciphering runes or figuring out the fickle way on how magic works. And considering that the front door is made of wood? The samurai cups his hands together and starting shooting out a stream of fire. "I think it's safe enough to just cut through the front door..."

Shiruba just rolls her eyes as Fuka brings up Morri. "Please don't scare him off until after the Duty is complete."

Okay, so they're going to just burn through the first door? Shiruba pulls one of her non-magic arrows tipped with pitch, strikes it on the ground to ignite it, draws it back in her bow.... and it's not the bow or the string that snaps, but the arrow. Right in two. She yelps, and quickly stomps on the smoldering arrowhead on the ground to extinguish it! "Must of been a flawed shaft."

The goal of seeding a costume themed adventure is done. Who would suspect the smiling samurai that looks like he is everyone's best friend. Just look at him, clothes and long blue hair flicking in the breeze like the a doggo happily sticking his tongue out a window.

The Scale Samurai (1 of 3!) follows the Scale Samurai (2 of 3!) and gives a silent agreement to the Scale Samural (3 of 3!) on the wardrobe idea. Anytime you can make an adventure more fun, go for it!

Ever the one pick up on the instinct, Souji claps his hands together and starts to erupt fire in sync with Klein. Its not quite a DBZ scene of fusion-ha with fire, but close. "Give it another shot, Shiruba," he says as he looks back over his shoulder. Shot. Because. Bow. Although the look on Souji's face is that of unintentional punnage. Because there was an easier, more Morri pun he could have used otherwise.

Goldenblade nods to Klein as they head out, towards another ruin and she has a look around as we go. "You always have to go for it. No one won anything with half-assing it," she says. This is why she's so aggressive in the game: she doesn't go half measures on anything. Ever. Take this wooden door. Sure there's locks and hinges and various ways to trick open a door. But it's a wooden door! And she has a solution for wooden doors. Her best spell: Convert Wood to Ash. Spell procedure: FIRE. It's her only spell, but it's pretty effective. Why should Scale have all the fun?

    "Who is Morri?"

    The Flash should really not say things like that. It's dangerous! Not that she knows that. Not yet!

    "Ohhh, so you do want to see me play dress up, Klein? I think I need a fancy pair of glasses to do it though, right? And very short shorts? Plus a tank top so tight I can scarcely breathe."

    She bounces lightly on her feet, her weapon drawn. As she lunges forward, the weapon is coated in flames and driven into the door. The heat of fire pours off it for a moment, and then she is leaping back.

    She does... something with her inventory and swaps out into the kind of shorts she was just describing. A few seconds later, and the top is in place. She's grinning at Klein, "Wow, it's a remarkable coincidence that I just so happen to have these." She's Asuna, people give her weird stuff all the time. And the glasses, too?!

    Fuka peers at Shiruba. "Whaaaaat? I don't see any of the guys complaining about the idea of Asu-nee in a Morri outfit. Wouldn't expect any of them to complain!" she says brightly. Asuna might complain, but then again maybe not! Never know until you bring up something incredibly wrong, right?

    She peers at the ward-covered doorway. It's almost trivial for her to trace the magical flows, to understand the nature of the locking mechanism and the magical encouragement of growth for the vines. Given time, she could open the lock with nothing more than a finger and time. But before she can do so, Asuna distracts her.

    "Okay, I think I speak for almost everyone here when I say 'wow'. And it's going to cut off circulation for a bunch of us I bet!" Fuka grins playfully. "Also hot! Really hot. Like you guys are burning through the vines and the door hot! Not the first solution that came to my mind, but I can't deny it's effective!"

As Asuna lists off each bit of the Tomb Raider's famous outfit, a mental picture forms in Klein's head, and he puts a bit more into burning the door down to distract his thoughts. Making sure the way is clear, he turns around to congratulate everyone, then pause solidly in place upon seeing Asuna. It takes him a second to fully take it in before he smiles softly and nods his head. "Honestly? I think you pull that off better than Laura does, Asuna."

He quickly turns around and moves in first, hoping that the others didn't see his smile grow into a goofy grin.

The Adventurers enter the building over ash and smoldering embers, and it does not take them long to discover a trap door leading down a musty stairwell. Torches flicker; long shadows are cast against the walls built out of uneven stones as the party descends a long flight of stairs. At the bottom lies a massive oaken door riddled with padlocks. The more roguish types can try and pick the locks, while Accessory Forgers can try and tamper with the hinges. Maybe those adept in the art of woodworking can find a way to cut through the wood? Of course, a well placed fireball can always burn the door down.

Staring down at the wood from the top of the stairway, Klein rubs his chin in concentration. Those locks were obviously a no go, and the most he knew about cutting through wood is that you need an axe. He's not a bandit, he's a samurai! So, with that, Klein puts his empty palms together and concentrates once more on fire magic, creating an orb of fire. He then carefully raises his right arm over his head...and just lobs it down the steps, bouncing cheerfully on the way to the door. Once it does hit the door, there will be a powerful explosion. "Always wanted to do that. Fire down the hole!"

There is an appreciative look from Soujiro over to Asuna. Enough to gauge the outfit choice with a validating, "Its a good look, Asuna. What do you think is best about it, Klein? If we pretend that our magic is guns and the fire are bullets, we could be tomb raiding." Fingerguns from the Samurai as they shoot little bolts of fire and light. Wave Artes are not what he specializes in, but this is Souji. He is /always training/ including non-martial Artes.

Going along with the 'Finger Guns' idea for a bit, the fun loving samurai dashes forward like Elder Tales just became a Time Cop game. Pew pew. He does a variant of the Ember Ignite Arte he learned from Tian to pop little bolts of fire at the door. Klein based fire grenade launcher fire and Souji large arms (swol samurai) fire. 00-Samurai. Dun Danna nun nun dadun danananunnun.

    Normally, Asuna is pretty focused on the task and not terribly fun. She's turning over a new leaf. Plus she is with her two fellow Scale Samurai. This crowd just gets her. And Fuka just plain eggs her on in the best way.

    "You like it, Fuka? I'm so happy to hear that. Some random woman gave it to me months ago and I wasn't sure what to make of it. I tried to turn her down, but she was so persistent!"

    Souji's enthusiasm, as always, is contagious. When the time comes to meet another door, Asuna rises to the occasion. Or descends to it. She leaps down, then rushes ahead. This time, her blade isn't drawn. Instead, she glides to a stop and drawing her hands from her hips like guns, absolutely bathes the next barrier in pure fire.

    She waits for the perfect moment, then looks to Klein with a grin. She makes a point to strike a pose and blow the 'smoke' off her index fingers. "I think I'm getting the hang of this tomb raiding business."

The failed fire effort is well behind Shiruba by the time they make it to the next challenge, figuratively as well as literally. In part because they come upon something that she can actually assist in properly. Before anyone can even really ask she's pulled the Blades of Zahab, her Relic woodworking tools, out of a belt pouch and gotten to work on loosening some of the parts that the locks are affixed to, instead of trying to deal with the locks or the hinges directly.

    Fuka scoffs at that. "Like it? I love it! The only strange women who give me clothes are Gwen and Morri though, not that I'm complaining. I'll take you to meet them sometime!" she offers. Glancing over at the guys, she further offers a roguish eyebrow-raise, as if expecting them to be pleased by her suggestion. Not that she's particularly subtle about the gesture. The party's women can no doubt see it too, so there's no chance of Fuka being surreptitious about such a thing. Surreptitious is just not her style.

    She should really focus on the adventure, however. And seeing Shiruba go to work, Fuka smiles. "Working on the door with THIS group? Shiba, you're the bravest woman I know!" Fuka warns. Then begins to chant. Anyone who knows her magic style will recognize several of her runewords, calling on range, fire, and earth. Repeatedly. That means it's an empowered spell of range, fire and earth. That means it's probably best to clear out of the way. And if anyone doesn't know her chanting's meaning, well, the cracking of ground underfoot and the raising of the crucible cannons, not to mention the glowing red openings that rotate to point at the doorway, ought to provide plenty of warning too. With a howling explosion of fire and splintery stone, Fuka levels a blast at the doorway that will ignore locks and hinges alike, seeking to batter the door down with concussive flaming force!

Goldenblade smirks as we wade through the charred embers of the door and proceed onward to ... another door. "This doesn't look like it's going to be a hard run," she suggests, pushing the flame hard into the door, though flame doesn't really have any mass, or have much force behind it. Now explosions have force, but you need some explosive gad for that. Her knowledge of chemistry ends with the annual training she got on ensuring spaces are free of explosive gasses prior to welding, which most years she slept though because she wasn't a welder. Now she wishes she'd paid closer attention.

Klein's Italian-brand fireball may have made quite a bang, but it did little more than spread soot everywhere. Thankfully for him, he's not the only one packing fire, which quickly burns the mighty oak to cinders, especially due to Fuka going all out. "It's a wonder they manage to keep replacing the doors, if our group is any indication..."

Klein gives his own fingerguns to Soujiro, sans sparks as he heads down the stairs. "Don't expect me to do all the backflips, though. I would get dizzy after just one!" Though Asuna may not need any training in tomb raiding herself! Winking at her, he blows the smoke off his finger guns just as he reaches the bottom of the staircase. "Yep! You're a natural at this!"

As the Adventurers bring their light sources into the next room, a blood-chilling sight meets them: the walls and ceiling are covered in dire bats. They seem to be asleep, and that is a good thing: they are far too numerous to fight, so the adventurers' best bet is to sneak past them, possibly shrouded in a spell of Darkness. Or, you know, wipe the whole lot out with fire.

It's when he's casually entering the room, holding up a hand of fire that he realizes that he might have gotten too careless, and he instantly freezes up. Moving slowly, Klein starts to tiptoe towards the opposite side of the roo--

*CRACK*

And of course, there was a fragile bone that just broke under Klein's boot. Nearly every bat in the room instantly wakes up and stares at Klein, an uneasy look on his face. This moment of silence is broken as suddenly they all start to fly for the scruffy samurai, and Klein breaks into a full out sprint, one hand held tight onto his bandana. "Why meeeee?!"

Those able to watch him in action could swear they could almost hear some familiar music... ( https://youtu.be/MK6TXMsvgQg )

Asuna gets a grin from Soujiro like what a paintball teammate might get. Go get 'em! "Thanks for softening it up for us, Shiruba," he spreads the recognition around, making sure the wins are celebrated and the not-wins are supported. Souji's Saint Aura provides a +5 to all team based fun.

The party is in good health overall so Souji isn't concerned with putting a little extra pressure with the bats up ahead. "Then let's make it more challenging," Souji asides back to Goldenblade's comment about the dungeon run being too easy so far. The samurai is an athlete, he is always for pushing things to new heights. He points over to Klein when he starts getting chased by bats. "Kite and kill," he says as the natural charisma turns into a Samurai's Challenge, taking a portion of Klein's bloody bats as the two kite them around. Well, Souji thinks they are kiting them around. He looks so happy doing it as he jumps, rolls, and evades with the sort of speed that even Yuuki would appreciate. Hardcore Parkour off walls and even a bat's head Super Mario Brothers style. It's almost as if Souji can read ahead of the world clock by a few seconds. Or. The Goddesses are also charmed by him and have blessed him with dumb luck. Or they wanted him to be in the right place to drop kick a bat near Asuna and Asuna is really the blessed one. Does anyone REALLY understand the Goddesses? Souji might. He may even have tea with them. Listen to their problems. Wait. . . That might be why he has that Divination. Learn more on Samurai Mysteries, airing Tuesdays at 9 on ETOatNight.

"I'm making it easier to blow up," Shiruba replies as she steps away just before everyone else starts bombing the door open.

Somehow that didn't wake up the swarm of bats on the other side. Yet Klein stepping on something fragile did. Game mechanics, go figure.

While not particularly sneaking Shiruba does have enough Dark magic to shroud herself in shadows and slip down the corridor while Klein has so kindly distracted the flying vermin from them.

Goldenblade considers setting all the bats on fire, but there's just too many of them. So much for an easy run. "What's the point if there's no challenge?" she replies. A bit of planning is called for! So she will try and move very quietly psst the bats without attracting their attention. But she had not counted on Klein alerting them to our attempt, and her sneaking is revealed, and that's got nothing to do with the big thump as she walked into a small rock pile in the dark at her feet, which falls over with a clatter that rouses more bats. She'll have to dump fire at the ones that get too close as she sprints the rest of the way through thr bat cave, trying to keep the bats out of her hair. They go for women's hair, she's been told, and that would be all kinds of yuck to get a bat thrashing around, tied up in her long braid.

    "It's a piece of cake, Goldenblade!" agrees Asuna. Strolling through the ashpile that was a door, she seems to be in an even better mood. "This Morri must be pretty popular, since everyone else seems to know her." But then, it's back to business!

    When you are on a hot streak, you don't change things up! Sure, it's the hot hand fallacy, but it doesn't matter. Asuna is having fun, she's with some of her closest friends, and the bats are just.. flying rats!

    She wields fire poorly, this time around. Okay, it's fair to say it's visually impressive, how she makes herself a whip of fire and cracks it menacingly at the bats. They aren't terribly impressed, but before she can suffer the consequences, a bouncing, probably ecstatic Souji zips by, punting the threatening bat across the room.

    Sure, Asuna failed, but she makes a point of moving through the room with unnecessary, but flashy dives and rolls. In the end, if you end up looking cool, nobody can say you've lost, right?

    Amused, getting in the mood for explosions and hotness of all kinds, Fuka blows air into her cupped hands, somehow managing to make a hollow hooting sound when doing so as if she'd just blown across the top of a bottle, or the top of a pistol perhaps. Those who are astute may realize that she actually did palm an alchemical bottle, so ... okay, not that mysterious.

    Fuka pads along in the wake of larger people as the group advances. She notices the bats and, like the others, considers fire as a solution. But then Klein steps on something and Goldenblade ends up making noise too. Well, better them than her! She hates bats, though they can be cute individually. She hates *swarms* of bats at least. "Oh hey, thanks for distracting them!" the little Sylph calls out quietly amid shrieks and banging from others, calling upon a little of her own magic to wrap herself in darkness, muffle noise and reflection, and make her own way past the obstacle. Coming up behind Asuna, who was rather flashy, Fuka grins in a manner that is probably supposed to suggest fangs she doesn't have. Miming a cape, she gestures as if opening it. "I vant to suck..." she begins, then coughs and continues in her normal voice. "... as little as possible, to be honest. I *like* winning!"

Klein is a great distraction, unintentional as it is. While Soujiro may be jumping, rolling at the speed of sound and dodging with ease, Klein is using an older school of evasion. That being the Run Around Like a Headless Chicken school of thought. But with Shiruba and Fuka slipping on through easily, Soujiro helpfully taking some of the hate, leaping over Goldenblade and directly through the mobs chasing her, and Asuna's spectacular firewhip, everyone makes it through relatively unharmed.

Klein is the last to flee from the bats' domain, with the monsters seemingly tired of getting little for their chase. The bats return to nap once more, leaving Klein to gulp some air. After a moment, he stands back up and grin. "Whew...great job, everyone, and thank you for the help, Soujiro. Saved my bacon there!"

The Adventurers reach what, according to the map from the Hunters' Guild, is the antechamber to the inner sanctum. The smell of mildew is overpowering, the floor is littered with puddles, and the silence is broken only by the occasional drip of water. If, that is, we don't count the screech from the tangle of monster vines which has taken root in this room: vegetal tendrils attempt to grab at the Adventurers, too many for mere physical beating and slashing. The stench makes it hard to fight, so some aeration could come in handy. Perhaps one could concoct an impromptu weedkiller, or someone familiar with plants might be able to identify some weak spot of this species. Given the level of humidity in this room, fire looks like an unlikely solution, but that is certainly not going to stop some Adventurers from trying.

For someone who's still trying to catch his breath, this antechamber is just mean. Frowning, Klein places a hand on his katana and shifts his stance before quickly drawing his blade. A blade of wind lances outwards, stirring the air inside the chamber, and he quickly sheathes and redraw the katana, repeating the Sword Arte. "Note to self, get some spring cleaning in here for the next group!"

Goldenblade will stand and fight the monster, but it's fast and too big for her swords to accomplish much. On the other hand, she has all day to chop at it as she's far, far too fast for it to catch up with her when she puts on the afterburners. The other thing about afterburners, of course, is rhat they burn, and even this soggy monster will burn as she keeps the flames going for quite some time. It burns wetly, with heavy smoke, but it does burn eventually.

".. Just what I didn't need, grabby plants." Shiruba sighs in exasperation. But doesn't attack. Directly at least.

Instead she walks into the chamber as she engages on of her magical shields, a minature cyclone whooshing to life around the Cait Sith to slice away any botanical tendrils that try to grab onto her. Because it's just a Oh Hell No when it comes to anything with tentacles or tentacle like in behavoir.

A samurai has grace! A samurai has skill! A samurai has a lot of fun. Soujiro is having tons of it with the bats and it is almost a disappointment when there are no bats to be beaten. This is what happens when you bring a samurai to a ninja mission. Nothing ends up covert.

BUt it does end up more interesting! "I wouldn't let you go in there alone," Souji gives Klein a clap on the back of the shoulder, "can't have you having all the fun!" If he had a jovial laugh it would be extra, but there is that warm, quiet sort of friendliness to it all that gives off the idea that if a teammate jumped into a bottomless pit that Souji would be right there beside them.

Though the stench hits. Its hard to have those feel good vibes with nausea. This is unacceptable! The samurai swipes his hand in front of him and goes to the menu. "I was planning on saving this until after the adventure," he says as he hands out cups of tea that produce a refreshing 'air' effect around the person. It works as a good ward of the smell. "So I get the chance at brewing an even higher quality result after!" Souji: Not really into crafting but samurai do love their tea ceremonies.

    Fuka peers at Klein's cheerful thanks, squinting dubiously. "You didn't say you had bacon. Now I'm hungry!" she complains, not seriously. "I will accept meat or sweets in compensation." she adds, this time entirely seriously. Or at least seeming like she intends to be taken seriously.

    As the group steps out into the antechamber, Fuka wrinkles her nose in disgust. "We're going to have to fight whatever dealt that." she states. Then, getting an idea, she invokes one of her specialty spells. Charging herself with air mana, she is protected from the attacking vines by the reactive pressure of tiny jets of powerful wind. As a side effect, it turns her skin slightly green, giving her a jolly and festive look as she whirls through the miasma, fencing and otherwise defending herself, though it's her magic defending her far more than it is her sword. And as a bonus, "At least this makes it smell like mint!" she calls out, laughing. Anyone's guess whether that *actually* smells like mint to her. It was just a name after all. Minty Miracle. Or *is* it just a name?

    Asuna, faced by a hideous mass of vines, throws herself headlong into danger. She could be careful, she could calculate the dangers, or she could just let a slew of vines race towards her to be smashed with a brutal shield move at the very last second, just as a few of the most agile of them starts to wind around her waist.

    The result is that the vines are beaten back. Repeatedly. Just one little, severed vine remains wound around Asuna's waist. Before it can fall to the ground, Asuna holds it in place with her left hand.

    "Klein! Save me!" she calls out. Sure, her acting is HORRIBLE, but she just can't resist trying this on him.

Klein's air blades are doing a decent job of cleaning up both the air and cutting down a few nipper plants. And Soujiro...pulls out tea? Klein almost stares at him in disbelief for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and taking one of the offered cups inbetween an Iaijustu quickdraw. His confusion over Soujiro quickly turns into realization before he takes a long sip, breathing in deeply of the tasty tonic's aroma. Letting out a satisified sigh, he nods his head towards Soujiro. "I'm surprised you haven't tried running a tea house yet." It would be constantly packed, considering it's Soujiro he's talking about. "Then one cake of your choice is on me after this, Fuka. WITHIN LIMITS!" This last part has to be shouted. Because this is -Fuka- he's talking about.

Bad acting or no, Klein is quickly to run over, smacking the 'offending' vine back down with his katana. "Don't worry, I am here, milady." Grinning and going full ham, he sheathes his sword and gives Asuna a deep bow. Standing back up, he tries to be stoic for a moment before busting into laughter again. Giving Asuna a wink, he starts to lead the way towards the final room now that the way is finally clear.

So this is the central room. The central brazier is frozen over, as are torches all around the room. The room is bathed in a chilly blue tint. Some sort of tall, lanky, icicle-nosed creature with a perpetual grin has taken residence in the innermost chamber of the temple. He seems to be some sort of Snow or Ice Golem? Somehow he's wearing a straw hat, glittery shirt, carries a walking staff made of crystal, and rambles on about his skill in turning things into snow through simple skin contact, and how he refuses to acknowledge days whose temperature rises above a certain threshold. His attacks consist mainly of icy blasts and generating vortexes by spinning around. To make things harder, he's protected by a gang of minions that look a lot like him, only smaller. One can try to counter his elemental attacks with equivalent, or opposite, elemental techniques. To note that his cold-based powers make him especially resistant against fire.

While some people would properly determine that a creature of super chilled ice would be resistant to fire, Klein is running on gamer logic. Old RPGs taught him fire beats ice, so obviously that applies here in a snowy domain! Setting his body alight with crimson flames, this samurai charges right towards the mini-masters maneuvering about. The fire moves down his blade and he swings with extreme force. Fire beats ice, and he's not about to be disproven otherwise!

When we pull into the cold room, Goldenblade shivers, then says, "I think we need to warm this place up a bit." A snow golem? Abominal snowman? Whatever it is, it's going to have to face Goldenblade's golden blades, with the power of the inferno that ends the world. The Ragnarok Blade technique dumps so, so much fire that the ice is completely overwhelmed, and so much steam billows out as she stikes with one blade, then the other, melting, burning the snow monster savagely with each swordstroke. It's looking bad for Snowy.

A lot of people assume to use Fire against an Ice monsters.

But Shiruba's sharp Hunter skills think of something else that might be effective, maybe even more so, than fire would be. That, and after earlier she's not too certain about how stable her flame arrows are. So instead, she pulls a different type of arrow from her quiver, nocks it into her bow, and after a firm pull to aim, fires it into one of the Snow Monster Mini Mes. Causing it to shriek as it slowly melts down even without fire being involved.

Snow Monster better watch out, because with there being less minion mobs she's drawing her sights on and firing at him now, too! If he didn't know what burning felt like before, he will now.

"Arrowheads coated with salt," Shiruba explains to her party. "They're made for critically hitting Dire Slugs and other such creatures. But salt also melts snow without flame, and there being so little heat in this chamber..." she pauses to fire another shot. Maybe her rubbing salt in his wounds will make it easier for others' Fire magics to take effect, like debuffing his elemental defenses.

Open a tea house?! Soujiro gives it thought while the vines are being cleaved left and right. "I wouldn't have the time to adventure if I did that," he observes, "and tea shared with friends after an adventure tastes the best." A little bit of backlighting and Sword Saint Soujiro Seta Surely Shines.

The act of chivalry from Klein to Asuna gives off a heart warming smile. A literal glow! No, that is his katana, Kogarasumaru, that glows. Still, its nice as they press on to the ice box. "This is what is so great about Elder Tales," he yells into the storm, "we end up fighting a giant snowman after all this fire was thrown about." With a glee that is reserved for Soulsborne players, Soujiro heads on into the fray to take on taking melee offenses. He has drilled enough times with both Asuna and Klein to have the 'Switch' Sword Artes down, being right where he is needed exactly when he is needed.

Its not an easy battle, by far. Boss battles are the best for that. However an observant party member may notice there is a buff called 'Vengeance' that is rising up in numbers during the fight.

During a particularly nasty swing of the golem's arms, Souji does a fast dash in to intercept with both of his katanas out in a stylish 'x' to catch one arm. Kind eyes turn to the serious ones. He doesnt need to /say/ anything. His body language does it for him. 'You touch my friends and you will die'. The samurai pushes upwards in a spark of fire, giving the boss a stagger enough for a Naruto-approve motion blurr that sends him across the other side of the Golem. Two huge red lines appear when he reaches the other side, the vengeance buff going away for a heavy kerthunking of the health bar and enough extra emnity to rocket up the hate list in the fight.

    It's time for the big, bad, scary boss at the end of the dungeon! Asuna is so excited. Sure, she's kinda botched some of the stuff they've faced, but really, is anything a big deal when you are enjoying a cup of tea?

    Since Klein 'saves' her, she playfully teases, "My hero must get a reward from the damsel in distress!" For now, though, Klein is only granted an impish smile.

    When the scary boss is finally the point of her focus, though, Asuna is... confused. "I have so many questions... but the answer to every one of them is FIRE!!"

    Hey, it sounded good in her head! Her attack is mostly a bunch of blows from her rapier. Sadly, the venomous powder doesn't have quite the heat to do much to the boss. Worse, he lands an attack on her in return! Thankfully, the switch out saves her before things get too serious.

    With chattering teeth, Asuna mutters, "Is it c-c-cold in here, or is it just me?" as she leaps back out of range.

    Fuka cheers when she's offered cake. Within limits, but still, cake! Fortunately she's actually reasonable and would never take advantage of a well-meant offer. Only imply she might, as shown by her pout when Klein sets conditions of reasonableness!

    As payback, when Klein smacks the vine away from Asuna, Fuka butts in. "I bet that's not the only thing clinging to you he'd like to remove." she suggests to Asuna roguishly, going the whole wink wink routine that probably makes her look more like she's having a fit than that she'd being suggestive. "If you need any suggestions on what reward to offer, I might be able to help!" she adds. Still, she's grinning, so she probably doesn't mean much by the comment.

    Following along with the group once again, Fuka peers at the snow golem. "Frosty?" she asks. No, not quite. Probably some other festive character. Some game designer had fun. Well, no worries, Fuka's a master air manipulator. Yes, fire is a traditional opposing element, but the group has plenty of fire. Fuka's going to use her air magic to mitigate the impact of incoming winds and icy blasts. It's not glamorous, nor nearly as fun as lobbing fireballs, but it's honest work!

The battle is long and difficult. Despite the chill gnawing at their bones, the Adventurers take care of the minions and move on the main boss; Blow after blow, which result sprays of ice and snow from the boss, the HP bar is chipped away, until the Snow Monster explodes into a mass of tiny particles of ice which waft to the floor; for a few brief minutes, it looks like a natural snowfall is taking place. There are so few Igneous Stones that they will all have to be brought back to the Hunters' Guild to satisfy the mission's quota, but the icy crystal shards which formed the boss's walking stick are now lying on the floor for the adventurers to pick up.

But Klein isn't going to be picking it up anytime soon. The battle was long and difficult, and what was meant to be a way to augment his swings to melt through the adds turns out to be the only thing saving him from a Frozen debuff. But that's why there are three Scale Samurai, and Switching in and out with Asuna and Soujiro takes down what is too much for just one.

He continues to stand close to Asuna, burning the last of his MP to keep Ragnarok's Wisdom up to warm them both back up. "I-I t-think h-h-he's a cartoon c-character?" Don't ask him, he's an otaku for video games.

It's honestly impressive how a man literally on fire is still stuttering.

Final Fantasy victory fanfare pose with the ice crystal in hand. Pump. Pump. Pump. Pump it up. To. 1000.

Soujiro does stop after six or so. The real victory is the rewards at the end. Not all are items! He puts his item away and gives his fellow SEA friendos a smile before turning to Fuka, GB, and Shiruba. "That was fun. I'm going to go back and clear a few of the trash mobs before heading out, but if everyone is meeting up someplace later throw me a chim and I'll bring some fresh tea." Limitless GRIND ENERGY.

Goldenblade is panting hard after the long fightm but she's not too cold. She may not have Ragnarok's Wisdom, but Ranganok's Blade blazes quite nicely even after the fight, keeping the freezing buff at bay. She looks at the icy crystal shard and slips it into a belt pouch with a shrug, she has no immediare plans for it, as both cooking and cold drinks are beyond her. She hrms to Seta, and says, "I'll go with you, if there's any left. But not the bats. Way too many bats, and they're not bothering anyone. Probably keeping the mosquitos down. Kill the bats and everyone gets Malaria. That's Ecology for you."

    "Fuka, I find that comment curious! Though I do wonder just what you have in mind for a reward." Seriously, though, Asuna does not know exactly what Fuka is going to suggest. Will it make her blush? Or will it make her run away?

    In any case, Asuna stays extra close to Klein for purposes of warmth. Obviously! She grins at him and bumps her shoulder against his arm. "So, after all this is done, the sweets purchased and consumed, are you going to head back to my place for that reward? I have something there that I know you will like very, very much."

    

    "Seems like everyone else is already on their way. Souji, Goldenblade, leave some for the next group! Thanks for the fun!"

    Whatever Fuka was going to suggest for a reward is wiped away by Asuna's extremely forward invitation to Klein. "O-oh my!" she blinks. "Well, clearly you don't NEED my suggestion!" she claims, deliberately exaggerating the reaction to make it clear that while she might claim to be shocked, she's really just saying 'have fun you two'.

He returns the shoulderbump playfully, giving Asuna a soft smile. Though she easily flusters him with how she phrased that! "But-I-wait-that's...argh!" Narrowing his eyes slightly, he points a finger at her. "And here I was trying not to keep you up all night." He returns Asuna's tease with one of his own, and said just loud enough so Fuka can still hear him even as she leaves. Regardless of any reaction from the shorter girl, he'll stick his tongue out at Asuna before he starts to leave. After all, someone was promised cake, and he's not going back on his promise.

    That comment gets Asuna to blush. How dare he beat her at her own game! Wait, he's joking, right?

    Right?

    She'll have to follow him to find out. Besides, there's cake to be had. And it will give her more chances to tease Klein. And ask Fukaziroh for advice on how to more effectively tease Klein. Whatever comes of all this, she's smiling more than she has in a very long time.