Duty Session 534: Tomb of the Lost Emperor

    Hifumi has been focusing on his resturant, but he does have a life outside of that, which includes his paramour. The lovely wolf knight has encouraged him to get out and help with more than just food, and to see about helping to clean up some of this whole Palace Lands debacle, and so he finds himself gathering a group to go hunt for possibly helpful lost treastures that might help out in the long term.

Haru heard that there was a desire to go out and check out the tomb. He has been there in the past. Could it have changed? Worth checking out. He signs up and joins the party on the expedition.

Goldenblade is always game to check out old tombs. In RL, it was just a touristy thing, but here, there's often monsters and treasure, and always XP, so she will join up cheerfully. "This promoses to be interesting," she declares.

Erufu was always glad to get out and about she'd head about the tomb and was happy to lend her bow to this adventure. "Wonder what kind of tomb this is. Other than full of hopefully treasure?!"

It's a tomb. It likely has dark and potentially dead and spooky things. So it doesn't take much to draw the attention of a certain Nightmare that has a dabbling in such things. "Amazing the things nerds will recrea--" then Kauchemar notices Erufu is here and stops that train of thought, not wanting to provoke the wrath of one of Moon Tree's super in character members.

And then there was Prophylaxis.

...

Why /is/ he here? This isn't exactly the kind of place one might expect to find the de-facto leader of the Scale Emblem, but here he is anyway! Being his snoopy, sleuthy self. "Mmmmmm," he pages through a handy notebook. "An ancient tomb in the middle of nowhere? Sounds almost like a reference to old Qin Shi Huangdi. Maybe we'll find some enchanted terracotta...?"

    Hifumi smiles "Ahh but will we have rivers of mercury and mountains of precious metals?" crippling injuries leave you a LOT of time to watch TV between VR sessions. "Everyone set?" he says and then true to form five boxes appear in his hands from his inventory. "Here you go." he says handing out some Tasty Rat Bento with Triffid Salad rather than ume rice.

Haru gives a thumbs up. The Artificer is all set. He is familiar with what they are going to run into, or /have/ run into. He has pulled up his report on the area from last time and is curiously tracking the differences. Maybe this time there is a kaiju warrior and it will erupt into double rewards like some sort of MMO RNG event.

Goldenblade looks over to Proph, who seems best suited to the Tour guide role. She nods to Hifumi about being ready to go, and will take the bento with a skeptical expression. "Mercury's not the best thing to mention as you're handing out food," she grumbles. "But yes, I'm ready to go." The food is tucked into her inventory until she's forgotten the conversation. To Proph, she asks, "What's this Qin Shi Huangdi business anyhow?"

"Huh. You've changed up the contents," Kauchemar remarks after noticing the salad in place of the rice. "Good way to keep people coming back. Let me know if your business operation ever needs a jingle... not that we have media to play it on, but hey, Bard has gotta Bard." She snaps her fingers, Binder Shield summoned at her ready.

Erufu looks confused as Kau for a moment she just looks confused.

"Nerds?"

Got to give her credit she never seems to break character /ever/. She looks to Goldenblade and nods. "Aye did not an alchemist in recent years prove it was deadly and not the cureall some thought it was?"

"If it has either, nobody put anything shiny in their mouths. I don't want to have to find out if heavy metal poisoning is a /thing/ we'd have to deal with here," Prophylaxis receives one of those bento boxes and tucks it into his inventory for the time being. "Though I'm sure with this kind of food, nobody will be tempted to do anything unwise. I hope?"

    Hifumi makes his way down into the valley that was indicated and down to the ruins that conceal the door. Making his way inside and there are lights, and statues, and a maze of halls "Well... I hope someone brought chalk... or better the cartography skill." he chuckles a bit as Snapdragon his flower drake settles onto his shoulder.

Goldenblade nods to Hifumi, and says, "So many of these places are built specifically to confuse those who would explore. Presumably they're assuming everyone in the future are would-be grave robbers." It doesn't help her find her way, and she is entirely lost, so she will try and follow someone who looks like they know where to go.

Kauchemar has her possessed shield. Hifumi has his botanical drago. Summoners and their monsters am I right?

But right now having a spirit monster at hand has more uses than it's defensive body. Kauchemar draws on it's spectral nature and, with the help of her relic if Bith's Shade, turns herself entirely shadow-like. Using it like those alien movies used a cloaking effect to move stealthily through the maze.

Haru takes the time to look at the glowing crystals enchanted along the entryway. He taps a finger along the silver rim of his monocle, sliding it down until the purple lens shows white script on the inside of the lens. "Light circuit that uses Dark mana as a base to provide a low current into the reserve so an Enchanter doesnt need to come and renew the mana source," he says as he makes notes. The statues are of interest artistically speaking. They did just make a giant one of these. It is checked for blessings as well. No. Not as noticed.

Erufu has an idea about this maz as the group pushes on into it.

"This is likely the case Goldenblade." The elf now mutters a spell attempting to use an simple air cantip to figure out which way the air is going.

Prophylaxis seems to be enmeshed in whatever he's doing in his notebook, but it seems as though the good doctor is... Following /some/ kind of sense of direction? He's twisting and twining through the corridors as though he can tell where he's going, ears occasionally twitching this way and that like an ant's antennae.

"Hmmm..." He murmurs, scribbling something down in his notes, "Interesting..."

    Hifumi looks around, he's really not well suited for finding places, and so he sends Snapdragon out to hunt for a path. The rest of the team doesn't seem to be having much beter luck than he is though the occasional insight is found or clue is followed. And then Snapdragon lands on a statue by what looks like just another hallway only this one doesn't seem to branch. "Ooh hey I think Snapdragon found it." he announces, before the awkward weight of the small drake upsets the balance of the statue dropping a terracota salamander directly on Hifumi and filling the doorway with shattered pottery and a groaning chef.

    Those following after and presumably helping Hifumi up will note the trap filled corridor of flaming gouts and other such traps of doom... temple... things.

Goldenblade finally follows after Hifumi after we wander around lost for a bit. She nods glumly ro Erufu and once we're past that maze of twist passages all alike, she looks out on the trap-filled corridor. She takes a breath and sprints, but without the afterburner dash she's known for, it seems she's not quite fast enough to avoid getting hit by the flaming traps, each one singing her a bit. She winds up at the end of the path looking very frazzled.

Kauchemar reappears next to the others at the start of the next section. "Guess it's time to do the utilitank thing." She rolls a shoulder, and then uses summoner magic to embue her shield with an aura of water element, using it to protect herself from the flames as she makes her way through the literal firetrap.

Haru documents the long maze like it was an old school dungeon crawl: with grid paper. Thats how you know if you are going the right direction. Which is the wrong direction if you want the missable loot. The same is true with the traps, ducking under a blade trap as he makes a note, dodging backwards before a dart trap, and otherwise looking like spiderman until there is a fire trap. That appears to hit him and do -no damage- while he writes in. Perks of being bonded to a divine beast of fire. "Making a note here, huge success." Checkbox.

Erufu is having no luck so she's quite happy with the ait from Hifumi in finding the way but then comes the fire. She just pauses stares and sighs.

"It's almost like Orcbalg or an ancesotor of his designed this place..."

She will then pause and start looking about to place just where the emitters and any other pressure plates might be.

Grid paper is in fact how Prophylaxis was navigating, too! Hooray for BEING OLD. Geriatric adventurers, unite!

(Prophylaxis is not anywhere near that old, but he IS old school.)

There are flame traps. Prophylaxis pauses to put his notebook away when one nearly catches it on fire. "Rude," he says to the flame sprayers, before tapping his staff against the ground and unleashing a wave of bitter frost to seal the jets off at their root. "Almost destroying a man's notebook. Hrmph."

    Hifumi summons up Nori, the little seaweed spirit squirting a fine mist of water behind Proph as the chef walks along, making sure the ice stays nice and thick while they travel so Hifumi avoids the roasting that tropes say he probably should have ended up with.

    Then it's ahuge cavern filled with teracotta soldiers "You were right Doc... looks like it IS one of those call backs." and then battle is enjoined "And... we have to fight them because of course we do because tomb in a land of magic..."

"See, I was entirely right about some nerds recreating a cultural and historical site and turning it into a death trap." Kauchemar draws her staff, and strikes it against the ground. Again her form is engulfed in darkness, but this time it isn't hiding her. It's making her presence all the more intimidating and fearful, especially with the staff topped in a horned skull and shield inset with gemstone that glows like a hellish eye. The magic is potent enough to make even the animated statues take pause when they shouldn't really be afraid of anything.

And a few moments hesitation is all Kauchemar needs. Because the soldiers are made of dirt and clay, and she uses their pause to summon her rockmoles to go on a biting clawing frenzy to try and eat the golems of early materials.

Goldenblade can at least conrtibute here. She may not be clever enough to find her way through a maze, or fast enough for a trap-filled corridor, but she can fight. Blades out, she stikes out at the Terra Cotta golems as they attack us, dancing away from their blows, skirting in to strike with one blade or both before spinning away out of their reach.

They are tenacious foes, but Goldenblade is determined, and no shirker, neither exhaustion or wounds slows her as she strikes at one or more of the monsters, her damage accumlating until one by one, at her hand or anothers, they burst into pixels. When the last monster is slain, she twirls to a halt.

Haru makes a motion and summons out an earthen golem of his own, Terra, as he sits on the hulking Earth Sprite's shoulder. It is more like a robot fight at this point, with heavy handed kerthunks while Haru makes observations between the two. The golems themselves are more enchanting. Appraisal. Confirm. Golems. His is an elemental summon. Thunk thunk. Thunk. Thunk? Thunk. Thunk!

Oh dear it seems Kau was right, not that the elf will ever admit it and one has to wonder. Is there really anything left of the person who logged on that night at this point? Either way she's quyick to get her bow out and start laying down fire at the animated statues letting the arrows fly!

"So I was," Prophylaxis huffs as the hall of golems begins to spring to life. "Should have figured that a legendary tomb in not-China could only belong to one person. If this is modeled after the Qin Emperor's tomb, then we're probably only about halfway there. Conserve your strength if you need to, we've still got quite a ways to go if my reckoning is right."

His staff taps against the ground. A pulse of wintery cold blasts through the battlefield... and wraps each of his allies in layers of frigid armor. "There. Ice should do nicely to deter their blows. Careful now."

    Hifumi hmms and summons up Snakeroot the little root and leaf snake seems unassuming for this fight, that is until it tunnels under the army, and random slabs of stone slam up to block blows or lift and fall over to land on terracotta soldiers. Hifumi keeps his concentration up feeding the little summon the MP it needs to keep up the earth assault and defense. And with time, unsurprisingly they manage to power through an army of golems even smart ones.

    "Well that was a thing... hmmm now the armory... and a treasure hunt... well I guess we're digging through all this stuff...I do hope we don't have to go through the whole broken army looking for one particular like officer's sword breaker or something stupid."

"Well, I don't detect anything specifically cursed, and I know curses, so..." Kauchemar grabs a random sword and yanks it out of a pile. "Just start pulling... Nope." Tosses it. Pulls another. "Nope. Would help if we knew to look for a specific weapon, or to piece one together."

Goldenblade looks over the mechanism, then smiles. "Well, this is a bit obvious, is it not?" she asks. It's not generally obvious, though it's clearly apparent to her as she considers her weapon forging experiences in the game, and she slowly tours the displayed weapons, looking for a very specific set of characteristics. She eventually does find it, in a sword that doesn't look much different from the others, except possibly a longer hilt or lighter crossguard? The difference isn't clear, but she selects it very surely and places it in the mechanism.

Haru looks back to a previous note he made waaaaaaaay back almost a year ago. 'Punched golem: Not effective.' He looks at the golems that his earth elemental punches and amends the note 'Terra Punched Golems: Effective.'. He inspects the room for mechanical devices and makes notes there for historical referenes. Gears and springs with magic? Weight and balance detection? Scribble scribble. Time to put those noodle arms to use. He raises a sword and... puts it back down. Writes another note: 'Buster Sword: Still improbably heavy without superstrength.'

An armory? Prophylaxis frowns at the massive array of weaponry. He glances furtively at his staff, then back at the pile of gear.

"I don't suppose we could just... take THIS loot, could we...?"

Erufu seems none the worse for ware after the fight with the army, she's in good spirit as they find the armory and she'll get to work looking abut. She seems to have caught on to the puzzel pretty quickly but she's not having much luck in searching for the right weapon...

    Hifumi looks around and eating his bento for the strength buff starts hauling weapons for Golden to investigate and diferentiate from all the other weapons. But sometime before she's managed to find the right one he's laying on the ground holding his lower back. "Ooh... who knew you could get a back ache debuff?" he asks waiting for his regen to get it until Goldenblade finaly manages to find and hang the right weapon opening the way. "I'd love to just take a bunch of junk weapon loot but... there's probably a real loot in here somewhere Doc." he says heading after the others into the War room... and abattle with smart golems with a captain golem leading them. "I ... guess talking is out of the question?" he says as he readies for combat.

"I don't think they were crafted with articular mouths anyways." Kauchemar steps to the front. Though not to fight directly, instead bringing up her Binder Shield in front of herself. This time it ignites in hellish flames of it's own.

Which just goes with tanks making defense their best offense, as every time she uses the shield to block an attack, the infernal flames field by the spirit leap forth to burn whoever was unfortunate enough to hit it. Far from the fastest form of fighting, but taking off those few HP numbers is usually enough to weaken the aggressors for someone else to be able to take them out.

Goldenblade says to Hifumi, "You don't want these old weapons, anyhow. I mean, they're pretty, but who knows how well they were made? If they were made as showpieces, they won't hold an edge or survive combat." She will follow along until we encounter the captain of the Terra Cotta Army with his personal squad of soldiers.

Goldenblade wades in, blades flashing, engaging the mooks first and fighting them left and right with the hard determination she's known for. While Kauch tanks, she will DPS for all she's worth. When the mooks are finally dispatched, though, she vanishes from sight as the others engage the Captain. But she has not given up on the party, and most of the party members know this trick. She uses it often enough.

Appearing behind the Captain, she strikes a paricularly savage blow. Assassinate has struck again, and the Terra Cotta Captain is doomed.

"I suppose I'll have to content myself with the promise of actual loot at the end of this long tunnel. If this is based on Emperor Qin's tomb, there's /probably/ some pretty nice stuff waiting for us, I'd guess?" Though it's really more of a hope. The Doctor is of no help sorting through this pile of trash-loot; he's a mage, not a stabby kind of fighter! But the path forward soon opens regardless of his relative uselessness.

And finally, it's another fight. It turns out that when Adventurers have a plain ol' brawl to deal with, things tend to go in their favor one way or another. Again the doctor conjures a barrier of frost around each and every one of his compatriots. This time, though, the wards bristle with hooked, icy spikes, each one made to catch and interrupt an incoming blow.

"Fight to your heart's content," Prophylaxis instructs, unleashing blasts of ice and stone of his own, the kind that smashes nicely through things made out of terracotta. "I'll keep you all upright."

Erufu is able to help somewhat with the puzzel but in the end its Goldenblade who carries the day. "I do think I owe you an ale for that Goldenblade!" She calls out as she trots into the war room. She just stares for a seocnd draws her bows and will enages the golems placing shots to keep them on their toes.

Haru has Terra help him with the heavy equipment, but there is one problem. Terra doesnt have hands. She has drills for arms. It is like lifting a greatsword with chopsticks and gives Haru a moment to see if the summon's dex has increased. It has not.

When the boss room shows up he looks back to Terra. "Alright," he says as the silver haired man closes his book. "Time to get to work." The earth summon beguns to hum with the sound of a magitek generator, its core whirling with intense mana. Legs brace down like a bipdeal weapon, drill arms seperating into cannons. "Lets make this quick," he says as he connects the targeting circuit to his monocle, activating the relic for a weak point. Aiming. Two of his ion stones float over to make a 4 point diamond with the two drill arms. The other two create a line line a railgun as he verifies a line to the weak point and... Fires.

An intense wave of raw arcane energy rips forth, hot as lava, pure as the dark mana. The earth elemental unsummons after the firing, Haru descending from the high loft back to the ground. That took off a bar or two.

    Hifumi joins in the fight, his summons and knife fighting really all he brings to a battle... except for the salad that came with everyone's bento. That combat regen buff really helps out in protracted battle. It is a hell of a thing but in the end the adventurers succeed and then there's one of those anoying notices that they've hit a level gate. "Worst part of this world... level gating was bad enough when it was a game mechanic." which is it's own reminder that Hifumi has simply decided to live in this world and treats it as a totally seperate world with no real concern that someday some people would like to go on back.