War of Dragons 2: The Depths of Thor

The underground tunnels near Dol Dona make up an extensive labyrinth that spreads for miles and miles under all of Thor Kingdom. Its reverance for its former Gnome population is well placed, what with the various small fortresses and the multitudes of traps that they have encountered so far.

It's practically impossible to tell, at this point, just how close they even are to Dol Dona, beyond the fact that the monsters have gotten easier to deal with. Lower levels tend to suggest closer to a Root Town. The problem is that Dol Dona's underground is well known for specifically being a very dangerous region - so the lower level monsters, while suggesting they are <closer>, doesn't mean they are <close>.

Right now, the group has just entered a new tunnel region that is sloping down, with a few openings going different directions. One of the ways passes over a large bridge - missing anything like railings - over a deep chasm that seems to go on forever. Another passes into a deeper tunnel that goes dark half-way through. They each go at different angles, and it's hard to tell which one they should be taking.

But while they are considering their next route, there's a new group of Slimes dropping from the ceiling above them. Seemingly 'phasing' through the ceiling itself, like thick waterdrops coming from above - suggesting there may be a lot more of them above them in the porous ceiling.

Schneider is not an experienced gamer, or he would know that cities sometimes have dungeons underneath them, and that dungeons might require a larger than normal party, or a advanced tactics. What he does know is that we've been underground for a while, that this place goes on for miles, and that important places are found behind narrow bridges with no railings. Because the ancients had zero clue about building codes or safety. It's almost certainly documented somewhere, but all the ancient and historical buildings he's ever seen are full of places where OSHA would have hysterics.

Of course the slimes may force us one way or the other if they're not dealt with. Uta would hate him, but he has no particular hesitation toward fireballing slimes, but he will wait for Prophylaxis to make that call, as he's never sure what the correct game response is, as his game experience consists of ETO and he doesn't have the depth of lore and experience with the game genre, or the experience with Elder Tale Offline that Proph has that help him to understand what's going on.

Kaydon had helped clear sub-root city dungeons too many times when things first went crazy. And too many more times prior to that. When the levels start dropping, he knows they must be getting closer and closer, "We're definitely heading the right direction now. Let me know if you run into any rat filled cellars."

When the slimes start to drop out of the 'sky' it gets his attention, "I'm on it." He says as he steps forward and brings his gunblade up into a defensive position, putting himself between the slimes and the others trying to find out which path is the right way.

Prophylaxis /is/ an experienced gamer and, besides that, has spent an overabundance of time crawling through the dank underbellies of far too many cities. Still, Dol Dona's is special, in that the Root Town is already mostly underground, so the caverns yet further underneath it are... even /more/ underground. There's a whole host of unseen nasties somewhere above the rest of the party just waiting to get the jump on them, Prophylaxis can /feel/ it.

Or maybe that's the caffeine withdrawal.

"Slimes," the doctor states with a dead-eyed stare. Uta isn't here. So: "Fire at will. Keep them off our backs. Everyone else, help me figure out a way out of here."

Unfortunately, NOBODY that the doctor brought with him actually has the cartography skill. But, this far underground, there are things he /can/ do to help try and find their way. The doctor strikes the earth with his staff, sending a pulse radiating through the land. He waits for a moment before proceeding. "This way sounds more hollow," he says, hurrying towards the chasm. A couple of rock pillars erupt from either side of the gap, joining together to form a makeshift handle on one side of the bridge.

Down they are iuntending to go and down shey shall go. She's keeping alert given this area's reputation. "We should keep alert for trouble..." Slimes, oh god Miho has issues with slimes ever since the cube incident. So she didn't look happy as she would deal with any that got near her. She would be following after Prophylaxis for a moment getting the idea he's basically the team leader or so she would think.

"Right if that's the way lets go..."

While she had been following at the rear to make sure they weren't being followed themselves, once the group gets farther into the tunnels Shiruba makes her way farther forward with the group to properly fill her ranger role as scout. Caves and tunnels could always be a little tricky, seeing as they tend to look all alike when they're made of the same kinds of rock. Unless one really knows what to look for. "If they use these tunnels, there should be some kind of directional indicators, but they're likely hidden. Or in code. Or--"

She's cut off by the *plort* of a slime dropping to the ground. Along with several more following. "Slimes... why did it have to be slimes..." she mutters, mostly for the reference parody. Slimes. And when they didn't have Uta along... actually, that's probably a good thing because she'd try to catch them all instead. Anyways.

"Keep them at bay, and I'll see about finding our way onward." Good thing Kaydon did bring someone with cartography skills. Or she brought Kaydon. It's a bit back and forth with their working relationship as guild moderator and Mr. calls himself a mercenary to avoid higher responsibilities.

A pulse ripples through the earth, trailing outwards, then coming back in, creating a sense that... well, Schneider is not quite correct in his assumptions. Most assuredly, a bridge should point towards the next part of their journey. There's just one problem. Even just the pulse from Prophylaxis touching the stone causes parts of it to tremble off. Subtle enough not to be noticable at first. But were they walk upon it, they might have been in some deep trouble!

Instead, they take the path downwards, as Kaydon shatters some of the slimes apart. The detonation from the Gunblade scattering Slime-parts into every which way. Schneider on the other hand, intercedes and gives Prophylaxis the time he needs to analyze the data he's getting, as they head down the slope towards the dank cave waters. Miho no doubt being thankful, what with her issues with slimes.

He could tell there is an opening ahead, but it's a long swim. An Undine would have no problem doing this for free. But they didn't bring an Undine. Shiruba, closer to the waters, starts figuring out the route to use underwater, making it easier for the team to get through the route.

But now the problem is... getting through!

Schneider chants, "Tao-To-Ro! Blow my enemies away! Anthem!" and a fairly small fire spell, by Schneider's standards, incinerates slimes. Moving on with Proph leading the way, we find ourselves stopped by the water. Schneider doesn't have any diving spells, but his Armor of Fire sends up countless bubbles when he jumps in the water with it running. Sadly, he can't breathe the bubbles, and he returns to the surface, coughing and gasping. That plan didn't work.

After a few moments Shiruba points at the water. "There!" She scurries closer and crouches down at the edge. "There's a passage here, but the rock has been shaped to be barely at the surface of the water to conceal it."

The wolfgirl considers a moment, then gets to her feet. "Fortunately underground water formations are common enough I've worked on techniques to help with this." She concentrates to form one of her elemental shields around herself, trapping hopefully enough air inside for her to breath to find the other side, and dives in.

Kaydon smashes his way through slimes, giving SHiruba all the time she needs to figure out where they need to go. The problem is that where they need to go is underwater.

When Kaydon enters the water he sinks like a stone immediately with his heavy armor. He manages to crawl back to shore, but he's going to probably need help getting through.

Even without his armor he'd probably still wind up doggy paddling.

Miho is cutting into the slimes with the others, there is a rather scary look on her face. Miho clearly wishes to destroy the slimes as painfully as possible. She thankfully is all right when all things are over. shell follow after Shirub and mutters about water. She taps a thing on her menu and she's in a swimsuit now. Then dives on in after Shiruba!

Rather than risking CERTAIN DOOM, Prophylaxis decides to go... this other way! And what a way it is. Fortunately they have someone to act as a somewhat more competent guide, but if Prophylaxis has learned anything, living in this world, it's that... he's really bad at swimming. For some reason. In spite of being halfway decent at it out in realspace.

The doctor grimaces at Shiruba's discovery and can only sigh as the others slip into the drink. He taps his staff against the ground, flash-freezing himself an air-tight suit of ice armor. Well, air-tight except for the length of waterproof surgical tubing wrapped around Apollo's Reach that he's using as a snorkel.

It works. Kind of!?!

Some of the Adventurers traveling with the team - here to help guide them as members of the Uncrowned - have a bit of an easier time with the diving. A lot of the Palace Landers excel in survival skills above anything else.

The moment they get to the other side, some of them having to drag their drowning allies along to the other side before their HP can reach zero, things seem... rather bright.

They've been traveling, using lights for the most part. But this region is made with a lot of stoneworks. Beautiful glyphs are written on the wall. Gnomish, rather than Alven. Capable of being read by people who are particularly good with Scripture. But that's not the most notable thing they encounter.

Instead, it's the Adventurer that is collapsed on the side of a wall, grabbing at a glowing wound on their chest. Their health quickly fading from some kind of wound. And just when the team is about to move forward to help them...

They shatter into pieces, leaving some items on the floor, as well as a Gravestone. There are some here who would have recognized them for having worn an outfit from Shiyang's squad.

Schneider looks over as the adventurer fades out just as we arrive, just barely too late. It's sad, but life goes on. Possibly. What definitely goes on is the attempt to decipher the glyphs, and Schneider casts one of his research spells, but the studious expression does not fade into a confident smile, just a sigh and a mutter. "Somehing about golems," he mutters, but can offer nothing else.

The group manages to find their way... and there's a wounded person up ahead! But as they approach Shiruba stops. "Wait isn't that a uniform from--" And the man pixelates. She frowns, remembering what they've been told about how the Palace Land kingdoms treat those that respawn. If they're not already Crowned. Or maybe even if they are and fail...

However she is promptly distracted from the distressing thoughts by Schneider pointing out the walls, and walks over to pick over for herself. After a moment she taps another portion. "This is similar to something I've seen for 'crystal' before, but it's not exact. That could be due to being on a different server..." She sighs, and shrugs. "There's not enough similarities for me to piece together more."

An injured adventurer!? Prophylaxis leaps into action, heedless of what clothes that man might be wearing. He hurls a syringe into the man's arm, stabilizing him for just a moment, but--

Too late. A gravestone is left behind. Still, the doctor was able to get close enough to tell /something./ "That adventurer was killed by some kind of stinger," he murmurs, before shaking his head and turning his attention to the writing on the wall. But he seems distracted, muttering, "...He looked like one of Shiyang's posse. What was he doing down here...? On lookout, maybe...?" The doctor frowns, his hand on his chin.

"...There's something about a repair station. Golem... Repair Station... Crystal... Hmmn."

Ears perk. A stinger wound? Shiruba glances over her shoulder, "Stinger... doesn't really narrow it down between the combination Beasts present here, and a variety of monsters that would be possible. My guess would be a patrol, and he managed to crawl off here before parishing." Pause. "Which means whatever did it might still be nearby, we best be careful."

Kaydon frowns when the adventurer dies before they can get to him, "Damnit." Another one they'll have to uncrown, sooner or later, "Any idea what killed him?" He asks, as he moves to see if he can locate anything from the dropped items. He hears Doc mention a stinger, "Some kind of giant insect then. Better keep an eye out..And get some fire ready just in case."

Schneider comments, "'Stinger' doesn't narrow things very much, here in the Palace Lands. Are there Elephant-Scorpions? Tiger-Wasps? It could be Hawk-Bees, there's no way to guess. Maybe the golems tended them, and so were immune to the stings? We'll need to be very alert, though."

Miho swims well like she was some kind of Marine Salamander from some isolated islands, wait. It's mostly the raw physical power she can bring into play now tht get her through it. She pops out of the water, taps a button on her menu and her normal clothing returns before she sees the Adventurer go down. There's nothing that can be done now thoug she is going to search the room for signs of what killed them or what might be useful.

"Aye...we should be on our guard Kaydon...also we need to meet up more often you know same for your Shiruba."

She gives the Doc a look

"Glad we got you along same to you Schneider."

The Uncrowned with them glance between eachother as they spot Prophylaxis being so ready to help the man. They recognize the uniform of Shiyang's team as well, it'd seem, to they are a bit concerned that someone would be willing to aid a Crowned. As much as they'd love to Uncrown one of their brethern... there's still a certain kind of 'hatred' aimed towards those of the Palace Lands.

Kaydon in the meantime does find something amidst the mess on the ground. Where Miho finds a few coins, Kaydon manages to spot a scroll. Picking it up, it's low on Integrity. But handling it carefully, he makes sure it doesn't shatter and can put it into their inventory for later. A quick glance reveals some kind of Encoded Message. (OOC: Message Shiyang for more details!)

Schneider scans the area. It looks like the region splits into multiple directions. One bends off towards more stoneworks, the other leads to a larger route. Making their way further forward, they soon enter caverns that -- to some -- look more familiar. Massive regions of hallway and torn apart caverns. Areas where it's clear that it's been made larger both by Lander and Monster 'hands'. Claws and scrapes everywhere.

Notably, they pass a 'curtain' of overgrowth to get into this area, and the moment they pass through, the way back is almost impossible to tell apart from the rest of the overgrowth!

There's monsters running through the area in the rather high levels. This is clearly a Raid Area. But more notable is their goal.

Right ahead of them, on the other side of the massive hallway...

An enormous metalic gate. Enormous Alv runes written upon them.

They did it. They found one of the larger caverns. There's big old gates with old runes on the other side... and of course nothing can be easy and the area is full of monsters. Monsters that may be mobs or adds for even bigger Boss monsters in a Raid.. Wow...

Shiruba lowers her voice. "Don't make too much noise or move very far. Subterraining monsters are often drawn to sound because it's too dark to see." She scoots over a little and then hunches down to examine the ground a bit by pressing a hand against the surface to get a feel for what the rock is actually composed of. That's a start for what would need to be dealt with living down here. Then she stares out in the cavern, eyeing little nicks and scuffs in the rock floor and even walls, made by many feet that are small and sharp for grabbing the hard terrain. Wolven ears twitch, listening for the scuttling sounds and even the occasional rumble of things not in clear view. That rumble could be something digging, or even chewing, it's way into rock.

After a few minutes of observation Shiruba gets back to her feet. "The majority of monsters here seem to be bug-like. Giant insectoids, arachnoid, and so forth. But," she pauses as she holds up one arm and points out. There's a hole, rather large in size, in the floor, and even from here it's clear it's not natural. "Those pits are more likely dug by something large and worm-like. No telling how deep they are or what's waiting down there to eat whatever falls in, so I would suggest avoiding them."

Kaydon has to get into range to get a look at the gate, figuring he can gather whatever information he can manage from it. When he does manage to finally get an inspection in on it, and he reads through the information, he frowns visibly, before heading back.

When he returns to the group, he takes a look at Miho, "That gate is going to be a problem." He says, matter of factly, "It's some kind of decontamination gate. What it's decontaminating, who knows." He looks at Miho to confirm what he's seen.

Finally, it looks like they've reached... the outer gates of Dol Dona. Gates that are extremely tightly sealed, and don't seem like they're going to be opening any time soon. The doctor frowns, too, at the veritable herds of high level monsters swarming around the area. "How do they avoid them when they come out...?" Prophylaxis mutters, then shakes his head, "No, based on the body we found, it's clear that they don't. Damn, we could have used whatever information he had known..." At least that's a decent reason besides 'is a bleeding heart' and 'wants to preserve Adventurer lives at all costs.' It might just assuage some of the doubt he'd noticed in those gazes.

Not that he cares much, of course. He's a doctor first and foremost.

"If we're going to get in there, we'll need to prepare to deal with these monsters... Or circumvent them. We'll also need to figure out when those doors swing open. Otherwise, we'll be waiting around out here in the middle of monsterland until they do." And that's just not feasible. Unless...

The doctor glances into the dark corners of the chamber. With a word, he conjures up Kein Eintrag's minimap and starts making his way to odd nooks and crannies... Singing. Whenever he does, small mounds of earth rise from the ground or from nearby walls, forming corridors and natural barriers that create well-hidden dugouts. Ones that are impossible to distinguish from natural rock formations, maybe even the results of cave-ins, but which are all strategically placed to protect anyone hiding within from outside assault.

In other words, perfect bunkers for hiding in the area... and dealing with the raid mobs when the time comes.

He spends a moment after his work is done chatting to a few winding coils of ivy nearby. Unfortunately he doesn't get much out of the conversation, but does come away with a look in his eye. "I'll have to come back for more of that 'Deadly Ivy' later," he grumps.

Miho has also got a look at the gate, she goes full gremlin mode ziping, hereand there as she takes a look at it. "What was it made to decontaminate? We should be concerned and oh look at this metal! I want some to take back!" She gets a tool out and gets IMMORTAL OBJECT for her trouble. You can see she's like a kid who just had her birthday gifts set on fire infront of her...

"No way we'll be able to sample it." Kaydon notes, "Immortal object." But still, if he could get his hands on some Starmetal to work, imagine the kind of weapon he could build with that.

Schneider huhs to Proph, and asks, "Wait, this is the main entrance to the City? I thought this was going to be some super-secret back door or something?" He's now way off base. "Can I do anything to help?" he asks. But probably nothing here particularly needs to be exploded, so maybe not?

"This is an entrance. The back door, basically," Proph shrugs. "The actual main gate is way up above us. But this is going to be our way in."

Shiruba mmhmms. "Once we can deal with the monsters long enough to get close, and not tip them off when we're coming in doing so."

Schneider ohs! "A back door, that makes so much more sense," he agrees. "Yes, for sneaking in, back doors are better. Hopefully we have ways to defeat any alarms and such when we do try and sneak in? If sneaking in is a goal? I think I don't understand our actual goal?"

Schneider looks over the Dread Portal and says, "This seems to be some kind of Decontamination Airlock. The Landers here seem to think 'decontamination' means 'kill it with fire'. But why make a door that kills whatever enters? Maybe it's just to kill monsters? I guiess that'd keep them from coming in the back door...."

"It's not the worst idea. Keeps things out unless you shut it down. Gotta be really hard to maintain something like that, though." Kaydon muses, as he scratches at the underside of his muzzle for a moment, "And it'd have to be manned, which would mean some kind of control room."

Miho seems very concerned about the purpose of this gate and she looks around for a moment. "Some kind of infection? Curse? Your right there had to be someone or something running though it might have been the nearest Kuni?"

"Probably whatever killed that scout we ran into earlier." Kaydon says in response to Miho, "I mean if there were some sort of hypothetical anything-wasp down here I'd want to kill it with fire too."

A lot of high level raid monsters, and who knew what else was crawling around some of the other tunnels. A dead Adventurer, abiet one of the enemy, who probably should of been pretty aware of what was doing here with how much effort Thor Kingdom puts into hunting and survival skills.

All good reasons to make sure no one gets seperated or lost when they come back down here.

Shiruba pulls her cartography tools and a piece of parchment out of her inventory. "Best to make sure we can return to this location without much hassle." She scribbles an icon for the gate at one end, and the cavern before it. Jots a few notes down while fresh in her mind, and will fill the rest back in as they return to the surface. At least now they know the underwater passage is there and can properly prepare people to traverse it next time, amongst other things. "Even if we want to avoid notice it's going to take a reasonable sized group to deal with that raid cavern."

Miho searches around for more hints to what the gate did, but finds no traces of what might it have been cleaning up. "The monster thing sounds like the most logical thing we have to go on for what it did... I just hope it isn't something else..."