Magical Mayhem

Mifa had informed Gwen of a wonderful place to train her magic. So she's got it into her head to take her Patron's advice and go check it out to work on channelling her power. It seems to be some sort of old ruin brimming with magical power and symbols so this seems to be the place. Gwen's in very chipper spirits at the moment, she's bouncing in place as she waits for people to arrive she's even got a plat of snacks out on a small table she's got from somewhere. Hopefully the fact Morri isn't seen means her mother is nowhere here.

"Once we're all ready we can start hunting for the best spot for me to train and I owe you all one for your help."

She's also in a wizard or witches out with one heck of a hat too.

OOC https://ami.animecharactersdatabase.com/uploads/chars/69407-719659719.png

Better get your snacks while you can, they're already disappearing once Shiruba is here. Though after a couple of bites she pauses and gesture's at Gwen and her witch's outfit. "Is this suppose to be one of those 'dress for the job you want' sort of deals?" She's not going to ask how that hat is every going to stay in place. It's probably a Tailor trick.

Haru is magical. Thusly, magical training sounds like the sort of thing the edgelord chuuni mild mannered bish summoner artificer he-who-shall-be-named second-of-his-name human should show up for. "If it gets results," is all he has to say about it. He isn't about to judge. Correction, he /is/ about to judge, but only after seeing some results. With the way the dietic and system artes of the world work, it would not surprise him if they found a secret to extra magic by having a certain hat on. Hats are important.

Goldenblade assumes the hat is held in place with hatpins. Women always have hatpins. Long pins, 8 or 12 inches, and razor sharp. But Gwen's here to do the magic thing. She has come to help, but magic is something she's firmly against, so she's here to back Gwen up if the magic turns out not to work. Anyhow, Haru is here, he can help with magic.

Thalia had been plotting and planning for a while. She'd heard tales of this mysterious Gwen, the cosplay master, and she just had to meet her.

How fortuitous it was that word came through the grapevine that there was going to be a training exercise. Not that she's -invited-, but, well. She's going to show up anyway.

Thusly, the Spriggan shows up, dressed like she always is and slowly making her way closer and closer to the gathering group. She's sneaky, but she's intentionally being not too sneaky.

Especially when she pops up with, "Nice hat."

Did someone say SUPPORT???? Wait, no. Shiryuba said SUPPOSE back in pose 2. But the word MAGIC was definitely used several times, and no one helps with magic more than the world's second most magical rock (The Mythical Pebble of Pig Smiting has him beat in spades), Borywick 'DosBox' Rockborer!

And speaking of hats, Dossy has changed the Dodecahedron on his hat for an emerald Tetrahedron to this event. He's trying to show off.

He certainly wasn't expecting snacks, though. Or such noteworthy turnout. And whenever things happen that he doesn't expect, the same thing happens every time.

"Uh... Hi, all." He says, eloquently (that was sacrasm).

Gwen has been using magic for everything but walking honestly more or less and she grins over at Shiruba. "It's helping with the training so yes." She beams at this. She does notice Haru has arrived. Goldenblade knows far too much about how Gwen is doing this in all likelihood. She grins at both.

"It's good to see you both and we should get started...why hello there!"

She spots Thailia arriving as she looks her over ideas for outfits for the other woman going through her head.

"Thank you don't know who you are but you are welcome to join us. I'm Gwen Pendragon owner and operator of the Chain Mail Bikini +1."

Once the introductions are done she'll start to head into the ruins.

"Need to find the strongest area of magic here so I can start the training, right?Oh hello grab some snacks and join us!"

Good news for Dos he's finally found Gwen!

Magical vs 8,
Apprisal vs 10
Searching vs 8

If Gwen thinks Goldenblade knows too much, then Gwen is in for a rude awakening, because Goldenblade only knows two things about this training, and one of them is Jack. She will look around keenly, she's trying to help, but she has no idea what she's looking /for/ which makes her search somewhat useless. "Magic, eh. Four leaf clovers, maybe?" she mutters as she quarters the ground.

Shiruba gives a nod to Thalia. "Good to see you in person." She'll probably recognize the same voice that spoke up on the chims before. "I'm Shiruba. Moderator for the Silver Sword." She's the boss you probably didn't know you had.

But now Gwen is ready to get down to business, so the wolfgirl plops the end of her snack in her mouth and licks her fingers. "Alright then." She rolls a shoulder, then paces around the area, looking for a good skill just by keen eyes and know how. Kind of wish her scanner relic could more accurately search for such things but just 'strong magic' is a little too vague.

Thalia beams at Gwen. "I'm Thalia Maxwell. I've heard loads about you, and I totally need to visit your shop." Gwen will one day find out how mych the Spriggan loves outfits. It could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship based on looking awesome.

She snags a few little munchies from the offerings on display before she starts wandering around, squinting a little as she extends her senses as she can, hunting for denser magic.

"I feel something over here..."

Dosbox quickly snags an apple (to keep Prophlaxis away) and munches on it while Gwen is giving instructions. Find the most magical spot? That's easy. He has been working heavily with this concept in his magical excavation research, and the application of finding the highest concentration of magic has been helpful in finding the highest concentration of gems as well...

Did Dossy just nerd rant inside his own head? Yes, he did.

DosBox gets to work, covering himself in a thin layer of darkness, blocking out all observable light to block all interference. Then, he 'looks' for the magic in the ground. In Minecraft, it would be similar to installing an x-ray mod...

There, he spots the 'leylines' that he always envisions the magic of the earth as. Simple as rocket science to a rocket scientist.

Casting away the layer of darkness, DosBox walks right over to the highest concentration of magic; he just so happens to stand right next to Thalia, "Oh. Hi again. Fun quest a few hours ago, right?" He chomps, perhaps a little loudly, on an apple.

Finding the concentration of magical energies in the area is not difficult for Haru. Enchanting follows similar requirements so its like asking where he thinks the wires may be running in a building for an electrician. "Magic," the Artificer says to Goldenblade, knowing the whole 'magic is for slackers' idealogy. It comes with finger wiggles like he is going to summon whoodovoodoo.

The hand comes across Haru's purple monocle as it lights up. A pale purple light sweeps the region like a blacklight, highlighting out traces of magical resonance in the area to follow. "Follow the purple light road." And then he looks over to Shiruba. A head shakes. "And I'm Haru Nox, also Moderator for Silver Sword. Shiruba wanders around a lot to find new places for Silver Sword to engage in, so you probably never realized she is in charge of expeditions and combat." He flicks to Shiruba, noting, "And likewise for me unless you decided to get in serious with crafting and logistics."

Thanks to Thalia, Haru, Dosbox and even Gwen is leading the group deeper and deeper into the ruins. It does seem to be taking them all toward a place of vast magical power.

"I have somehow managed to thankfully avoid any real rank in my own guild." Yet she seems to be the cat herder of her guild one way or another.

The group would find their way into a more intact chamber which is covered in magical runes, someone was doing something here, but what and who?

"Huh what do we got here."

Gwen will start to check out the room now, using magic to study it but something is happening, when she does so. There's a rumble and a sound in the distance...what's that?

Magical vs 9, Earth vs 10, Searching vs 10

The Spriggan seems to come out of her Magic Hunting daze to peer down at Dosbox. Her expression is unreadable for a moment before it softens. "It wasn't too bad," she says with a shrug. "I've been on way worse ones. ... Stupid ants."

Also, she is suddenly confronted with people in charge of her. She just waves politely. "Hi! If you need me for anything, let me know. I'm pretty good at the fighting, and have a little skill in crafting too!"

As they go deeper into the ruins, Thalia seems to lose the thread a bit, frowning as she can't feel or sense things as clear anymore. Though, she does notice the rumble. "Wha...?!"

Goldenblade can only shrug to Haru. Magic in RL is definitely for slackers that want to find an easy way through life. It's annoying that it works here, then, and isn't particularly easier or harder than physical work. This takes much of the wind out of her complaints, but she still feels like she feels, and it's not like anyone pays her much mind unless they need something built.

As Gwen goes to check out the ruins when the rumble erupts. She's lived in Japan since the early sixties, long enough to know the feel of an earthquake, and her senses are keen in that regard, even as she considers the lay of the land and how the ruins aer constructed and what might be done to remediate some of the risk.

Haru makes it easier for Thalia with a point to Shiruba, "Fighting." To himself. "Crafting." Then both fingers up, "And the complaint department is William." Take it to HR!

The Enchanter is a master of earth magic, taking a stomp onto the ground and sending out a network of tremors to locate the source. Tremorsense, ho! We have a <GM_Insert_Thing_Found> going on over yonder and he relays that back. "Elly does a good job of things," he lets Gwen know, "what with that and Eas. Similar with myself and Shibuya."

"Yeah. Haru runs the show at base so people like me don't get bogged in all the paperwork!" Once they get inside Shiruba starts going into full Archeologist mode... unfortunately she's paying more attention to just the ruins as a whole, and not to more specific things. Like people wandering. Or ominous rumbling. She's tryin to figure out why this is the place someone would suggest because so far it hasn't really struck her as anything other than just being old ruins.

Dosbox realizes as they begin to enter the ruins, that there are some people who don't know him. "Oh. I am DosBox. I adventure, I support, I make jewelry. If you need help with magic, too, I am also really good at that. Enchanting focus."

With concealed awe, DosBox watches as Haru makes the magic happen. As Haru is basically DosBox's idol, he's doing his very best not to fan girl by pretending he doesn't think it's a big deal that Haru is here. Searching DC 2

Thalia seems to have lost track of things for the moment while others are staying on the ball from Goldenblade figuring out something is up with some kind of quake while Shiruba and Dosbox? are sussing things out on their own vis various means. So far yes something is stirring below them. Something sure is waking up and it's not happy.

The good news is most of the party is ready for something that is about to happen but for Gwen.

She's gone ahead a bit and run face-first into something big, something undead. It's a skeleton in long flowing tattered robes, it had a crown upon its head and it does not look amused. Gwen casts a spell, it works for a moment then something goes wrong. The Lich stares at her, she gets this quivering look pauses and then lets out the girliest scream anyone has ever heard her make.

Why? Because the spell backfired and her undergarments have teleported away. She may have picked this mishap up from Kazuma somehow as for one article it ends up falling from above on Thalia, and the other is right on the Lich's head. It is now even less amused and Gwen is looking mortified.

The Lich lets out a howl and attacks with a spell.

Shield vs 10,
Physical vs 10,
Evasion vs 10

Goldenblade has worked out that something's moving under the earth, but what it might be is still a mystery until the lich appears. That's really only got one solution, as far as she's concerned, and she whips out her swords and is instantly in beatdown mode, striking the lich with her basic opening attack, not less potent for being basic, because it hits like a truck when delivered by a bricklater with two swords.

One moment, Thalia is trying to find the magical thread again. The next, she has underwear on her head. She blinks and turns bright, bright pink. "W-what!?" The Spriggan looks around as the Lich shows up for real and she just straight up vanishes. The air pops as it runs back in to fill the space she was just in.

She reappears close to Gwen and stammers as she reaches up to pluck the garment from her head, handing it over with shaking hands. "T-these are y-yours, I think! They're very nice! Cute even!"

Now she's rambling. But the Blink spell kicks on again as she's handing the underwear back, and she vanishes, leaving them to flutter towards the ground unless Gwen takes them.

Lupine ears snap to attention, the shriek being enough to yank Shiruba out of being Ruin Nerd. "What the hell?!" She bolts ahead, only to find Gwen derobed and a Lich looming over her. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" Assuming the worst Shiruba bolts forward, getting between Gwen and the Lich's magic while bringing up one of her magical shield. One specifically designed, courtesy of Fukaziroh, to resist against Dark magic. Little Sister Guard Floof Mode Engage!

Haru isn't even sure what the deuce he is seeing right now. All the same, he cloaks himself in arte that draws the color out of his avatar except for his eyes. Monochromatic. It gives him the ability to draw away from the magical attack in enough to catch the fringes of it. "Gwen is a tank," he reminds Shiruba and something that Gwen reminded /him/ back in the battle of Carmina. Though a tank sans undergarments is in dire peril, indeed.

Dosbox becomes petrified at the sudden appearance of something that fills his heart with dread... Women's underwear. He emits a high-pitched squeeking noise before encasing himself in rock to protect himself from them. And also the Lich.

It's a good thing the entire party is on the ball. For Gwen is utterly off her game, this was not something she expected to happen and it caught her off guard. She's stumbling backwards from the thing which allows Shirba's shield will protect Gwen from a follow-up attack which will give her time to get back on her feet and start to shake some of it off.

While Haru is indeed right the aid isn't unwelcome. Goldeenblad also gets the thing attention by cutting into it with her blades causing deep jagged lines.

Gwen will certainly thank Thalia later, but she's turning red as a tomato right now and words fail her as she's trying to not die. Oh, she'll attempt to get them back but right now her life is not worth her pride. Dosbox in a rock? The lich does not notice or care about it. It's very unhappy with everyone it does not like what's on its face either. Gwen is somewhat back together now and she's angry as she's yelling Divine wind and attacking the lich with a fury rarely seen with her.

Magical 10,
Physical 10,
Melee 8,
Ranged 8

Haru gives that Lich a whatfor before whatfor itsfor nextfor attackzor hits zem. Its hard to tell that he is attacking at all, though. One of his Ioun stones floats upwards and pulses. It is the only indicator of an attack until there is a pulse-smash into a critical part of the creature's skull and a howling wind that follows like a sonic boom.

Thalia blinks back into existence, shaking her head as she draws her twin blades. Her violet eyes glow faintly as black energy spirals from her hands and into the straight edged blades.

"We've got this!"

She blitzes in towards the mighty undead, her feet barely seeming to touch the ground as she charges. She feints a frontal strike, only to baseball slide between the Lich's legs (the benefit of being small!) She rockets to her feet, pivoting to face the creature again as she drives both weapons towards where a living humanoid would have kidneys.

She's cute, but brutal apparently.

now that he has encased himself in rock, he can no longer see. This means he can no longer see the undies. It also means he can't see the Lich... But wait! The lich, inherently a magical creature, is lighting up like a christmas tree thanks to the magical sight DosBox is using!

DosBox slides a whole in the rock he is in just enough so he can slip his hand out and sling his go to lightning at the Lich. Due to his blindness of everything that is NOT magic, he is safe from the bra the Lich is currently bearing.

Goldenblade isn't sure what sort of crypt this lich thing crept out of, or why it's here. In some respects, that doesn't matter. It's attacked her friends, though, and for that, it's going down. Her skill in close combat is excellent, though, better than one might expect from someone just waving a pair of swords around, maybe the return of her old trainer has her going back to basics, but she lays into the lich with some basic sword strokes, enhanced by fiery blades that stike with a thunderclap on impact.

"Party Roles take a back seat when family is in danger," Shiruba quips back at Haru. Though she does relent once Gwen is back on her feet and shifts to her usual position farther back in the lineup.

Not that it makes her any less dangerous to the enemy, as she draws back on her magic longbow and fires a powerful wind blast at the Lich to keep him farther back from the group. Those things tend to have a nasty touch attack so knockback is really useful right now.

"Have more faith in Gwen, she is strong," Haru quips back to Shiruba, the point being missed even if the attacks are not. They have been through much worse situations to consider this 'danger' and he isn't about to think less of her because of a wardrobe situation. He has too much respect for her to do that.

The lich is just being dogpiled by angry Adventurers right now there's not much it can do, a barrier goes up trying to stop Haru's attack. The barrier shatters and the thing reels back from the force of the attack. Dosbox engages with stealth rock action and scores a horrible hit on the things. Thallis is on the lich with a savage fury. The thing has no time to rest, why? Goldenblade is upon the monster in short order with the force of a thunder strike. and the strike from Shiruba hits it. The creature is almost down but not quite. It lunges for Gwen, it slips upon her dropped undergarment slip and goes down so hard the last bit of its hp expires and it explodes in a shower of shards of light.

Without a word Gwen dashes to grab her fallen clothing, opens a menu put them on and hit the clean function quickly as she can.

"Fashion victory," Haru notes, as clothes really did save the day in the end. Or lack thereof.

Thalia can't help but smile in grim satisfaction as her blades hit home. Along with everyone else's efforts. She dances back to make room, and before she can even go for round two, the creature falls, shattering to motes. She sheathes her blades, and turns ger back on Gwen to give her a little privacy. Not that she needs it with menu based attire, but it's the principle of the thing!

She waits a beat before turning around. "That was fun. Everybody okay?"

The lich disappears from DosBox's sight into a fireworks show. He waits for a few seconds (reasonable delay time for Gwen to make the unmentionables disappear, before he lets his rock break apart. He moseys up to Gwen and says, "Ah... I am okay. Are you? That was... I didn't see them, don't worry!" He blushes fiercely. DosBox is a terrible liar.

Goldenblade looks entirely satisfied with herself when the monster despawns. "And good riddance to bad rubbish," she says to the spot where it vanished. She nods to Thalia about being OK and inspects her blades, finding them in good shape, and sheaths them, looking around for more sense of danger. She looks to Gwen, and will ask, "Is this the training you had intended when we came here? Or was this something else?"

Shiruba sighs softly. "Haru, just because I helped her in a tense moment does not mean I have any less faith in her capabilities." She also has a bit of a sore spot when it comes to Undead in general. Especially when it involves Undead and those close to her. But the Lich in the end takes itself out in it's haste.

"Well..." Shiruba rubs the back of her head with one hand. "That's a new definition to wardrobe malfunction."

Haru gives Shiruba a look for a moment as if to acknowledge what she said, then dismisses her entirely by looking to Gwen. Words matter. As does silence. "How you doing over there, Gwen? Face is a little red. Also I figured with your swimsuit options those would be," he considers, "different." But nice. Lich slaying. They get their own unique item text now.

Gwen looks to Thalia for a moment "So you thought it was cute thank you!" She's still turning a bit red but not as bad as before. She looks to Goldenblade. "The information my contact had was it was a magical nexus one could train it but it seems they had been ill-informed..." the levels of magic are dropped off now to a far lower level. It seems the lich was the source of a lot of the magic it seems. She looks to Haru and is not angry.

"I just wasn't expecting it! It's not rational and this is all I can say!"

Meanwhile somewhere behind the party Morri is watching and someone might catch sight of her.

"Let's just not tell my mother about this!"

She then laughs at shiruba's comment

"I guess your right! I wonder if I could weaponize wardrobe malfuctions hummm."

She also looks over to Goldenblade.

"I know your not fond of magic but thank you for your help."

"We should do a sweep but I can't see much more to keep us here right! So thalia you seem curious about something." She looks over to Dosbox. "Is there anything I can do for you as well!"

Shiruba shrugs a bit to Gwen. "Maybe this was just a clever way to get you to try to use Magic more in a quest?" That's all she really has. The people that come up with special information for Adventurers like this sometimes aren't always clear in their context. She's had to 'convince' Li Ho with food more than once to get the panda to be less obtuse and 'wise old one' in his advice. "Still, doesn't hurt to look around."

Goldenblade offers Gwen a shrug about not being fond of magic. "And now you see why," she says, referring to the whole crazy chain of events that just happened. "If you still want to practice it after seeing what it can do," she says thoughtfully, not realizing that magic was entirely useful in fighting back as well, "I can't stop you. I won't tell you how to live your life, though."

The Spriggan smiles brightly, she's so damn cheerful (almost) all the time. "I did! Hopefully that doesn't happen again. It could have gone real bad," she replies to Gwen. She rests her hands on the hilts, looking around. "Taking a gander might not be a bad plan," she says as she steps closer to Gwen.

"You know, I've heard a ton about you. How good you are at cute outfits. I think I want one, what do I need to do to get you to help me with that?"

Dosbox gives a nervous chuckle at Thalia's mention of the outfits. To Gwen, "I think I have an appointment with you at some point, hopefully. Unless... Ah... You know, I don't think I ever ACTUALLY contacted you to set an appointment, did I?"

Gwen nods to Goldenblade for a moment. "I'd be ignoring a lot of my class ablities if I did give it up. It would make me a poor tank so I am what I am at this point." She then grins at Thalia.

"I would be happy to! I have had a few ideas for you already." She grins at this, there's no malaice in it at least while she turns to Dosbox. "I think you do and you should be good for it."

Good, someone else for Gwen to focus her fashion senses on for a while. "Well I don't see anything else here, guys." Shiruba stows her bow. "Maybe we should leave before that creepy lich or something else regenerates down here."

"A few ideas already, huh? I'm intrigued and would like to subscribe to your newsletter," Thalia says with a grin. "I'll swing by the shop soon for a visit and a consult, or whatever you've got in mind." A pause. "I know a little tailoring, so I will gladly exchange work for goods."